It’s not usually that a mama gives birth and closes on a new house in the same week.
But as crazy as it seems, my family embarked on exactly this journey just over a month ago. The transition to two kids and a major move into a construction zone has been nothing short of interesting. Now completely moved into our home we are settling into what is now our new normal. The adventure was a little nuts and continues to be as we live in a work in progress. I had heard that we were crazy for doing this and I agreed at the time, but I’m realizing the timing was actually perfect.
I’ve been very open about my struggle with postpartum anxiety and how I planned to combat it this time around. A fixer upper isn’t what I had in mind, but I can tell you it’s been an unexpected blessing. I felt a huge sense of purposelessness the first time around. A feeling that lead me back to work 3-weeks earlier than I had planned. With house projects up to my ears, I’ve had to leave my newborn way more than I ever expected in her first weeks of life. I’ve been painting like my life depends on it! I mostly try not thinking about having to leave her, but just the couple hours a day gives me purpose.
I was creating a home for my family.
God’s timing is perfect and although we planned for my mother to visit after we moved, things didn’t work out that way. Due to construction on our home, we had to push back our move in date. To most, this would be super frustrating, but for us this meant we’d be able to do more painting before the move. A toddler with selective hearing and a newborn who could not be around paint fumes didn’t mix with the work that needed to be done, but with my mother in town, it meant I could sneak away to the house for a couple of hours each day to work. She’d also be able to run interference as I packed our apartment. Thank God I’ve had no issues with my milk production and was able to supply my new baby with plenty of breast milk while I was gone. Giving her a bottle so early wasn’t ideal, but going from bottle to breast has not been a problem for her.
Pumping and painting our fixer upper was the name of the game for a couple weeks.
Now on our own, we are living out of boxes and sharing a room as a family of four. The dust is endless and the home cooked meals are few, but we are thriving. I know that soon enough we will have a home free of dust, only for the floors to be filled with toddler toys and baby essentials. This season I am grateful for a home I get to put my design stamp on and sweet girls that get to make memories we will cherish for a lifetime. It’s becoming ever so clear to me that making this home for my family while on maternity leave, and not have to struggle between doing house work or snuggling with my girls after my 12-hour shift is exactly what God planned.
