When vacations strike at just the right time (or wrong time - depending on how you look at it), all we can do is sit back and thank our lucky stars for such opportunities when it feels they are needed most! In the midst of life being quite unbalanced for each of us in our little family, a pre-planned trip politely interrupted some of life's most hectic moments.
We may not have been ready for it (until a mere 2 hours prior to boarding our flight), but we made it - safe and sound - to hubby's favorite place in the world.
Ocean City, New Jersey, of course.
The unsettling feeling of not finding a home for us to move into in our desired timeframe of 2 weeks from now sure is stressful. Figuring out a move, insurances, finding a new OB and pediatrician, traveling up to Atlanta soon for J's med school graduation, the unknown fears before starting a new life full of medical residency and intense hours, all while being pregnant and having tons of doctors appointments between E and myself meant pure relaxation for our minds and bodies at a time when we were unknowingly begging for it. Thank you, not-very-well-thought-out vacation. We needed you!
It's hard to find balance these days -- we don't have a home of our own, and the place we do call home has hardly been home when all we've been doing is packing up and taking off so often. We returned home from our trip yesterday and will leave again tomorrow on a 5 hour road trip. The show must go on and the house hunt must continue! Next week, we will head to Atlanta, and hopefully, hopefully, be able to move into a great home shortly after that.
Nap time for E, or any sort of schedule for that matter, has been thrown out the window, along with much more. Thank God we have been blessed with a fairly flexible little girl, who remains happy and content in all our days of chaos. To her, life is fun and spectacular and quite the grand adventure. And seeing how she fully accepts all the imbalances with a squealing giggle and peppy-dance-run-thing she does when she's excited - well it reminds us just how grand this adventure is that we are on!
I've told myself over and over on this journey, "Don't wish the days away". And when life is turning in many different directions, I'm doing just what I've told myself.
I'm not wishing for these days to just be behind us, or for time to speed up and get to that 'comfort' zone in our lives (like that ever happens anyway), but instead I am embracing these days.
Loving each moment we have with each other, and loving each day we have with our newly 18 month old as an only child still. We're watching her unwavering growth, quickly transforming before our eyes. We're changing and growing together every day as we learn to have new conversations with our toddler and wonder where the heck she comes up with some of this stuff, where she learns these words, and questioning her every joyful and curious move.
And when we're feeling as though we don't know our next move, something always pops up. You know, life always has that little way of pointing you in the right (well, hopefully the right) direction when you least expect it.
We know that will happen. Something will point us in the right direction. A house will pop up. It may not be exactly where or what we want, but we will move in somewhere. And we will start new memories there and look back on those and miss them one day. When things get rough and tough while J is working insane hours and I'm with our children, a break will come, eventually. And when babies wear us out to the point we feel we can't even stay awake for one second longer, something will give us the drive to thrive. It happens. It's all a part of life. (Somebody please remind me of this when I'm getting to one of those points!) Life is always moving forward, that's for sure.
It just keeps on moving forward. Even when all we want is to press the pause button.
Pretty sure we had a few of those moments on our trip! Moments where I'd look around and wonder how life can actually get better than in that very moment. Spending time together with no computers or internet (aside from our phones) and taking long walks along the boardwalk/beach and streets lined with gorgeous homes and pretty-in-pink blooming trees while E grew her vocabulary by a few words each day we all spent together truly truly made me wish there was a pause button.
Our job for 17 days was to just enjoy each other for a while. And eat, and rest, and be thankful for having such a beautiful place to be as a family.
We spent my 27th birthday AND Mother's Day in Ocean City. They were special days indeed, on a very special trip for us.
A trip filled with family, love, fun, friends (The Wood's came to visit for a little!!), cold weather, warm weather, tons of rides, our first trip to Storybook Land to celebrate our 18 month old turning another half year older, beach days, kissing boo-boos to make them feel better, and lots of comfy baby girl snuggles.
In the middle of a hectic month for us, does it get much better? H to the No!
When life gets a little crazy, it's all just a part of our story. Our story that will twist and turn and at some point, lead us to a resolution.
Life has it's funny way of throwing things at us when we sometimes least expect it, and whether it's just as quick or a drawn out chapter, it has it's funny way of handing us the tools we need to push through to the top.
Our Ocean City trip was just what we needed to fuel us for our next few weeks of chaos, excitement, and new adventures of our story. Here's to wishing this chapter a happy ending and an even better start to the next!
We may not have been ready for it (until a mere 2 hours prior to boarding our flight), but we made it - safe and sound - to hubby's favorite place in the world.
Ocean City, New Jersey, of course.
The unsettling feeling of not finding a home for us to move into in our desired timeframe of 2 weeks from now sure is stressful. Figuring out a move, insurances, finding a new OB and pediatrician, traveling up to Atlanta soon for J's med school graduation, the unknown fears before starting a new life full of medical residency and intense hours, all while being pregnant and having tons of doctors appointments between E and myself meant pure relaxation for our minds and bodies at a time when we were unknowingly begging for it. Thank you, not-very-well-thought-out vacation. We needed you!
It's hard to find balance these days -- we don't have a home of our own, and the place we do call home has hardly been home when all we've been doing is packing up and taking off so often. We returned home from our trip yesterday and will leave again tomorrow on a 5 hour road trip. The show must go on and the house hunt must continue! Next week, we will head to Atlanta, and hopefully, hopefully, be able to move into a great home shortly after that.
Nap time for E, or any sort of schedule for that matter, has been thrown out the window, along with much more. Thank God we have been blessed with a fairly flexible little girl, who remains happy and content in all our days of chaos. To her, life is fun and spectacular and quite the grand adventure. And seeing how she fully accepts all the imbalances with a squealing giggle and peppy-dance-run-thing she does when she's excited - well it reminds us just how grand this adventure is that we are on!
I've told myself over and over on this journey, "Don't wish the days away". And when life is turning in many different directions, I'm doing just what I've told myself.
I'm not wishing for these days to just be behind us, or for time to speed up and get to that 'comfort' zone in our lives (like that ever happens anyway), but instead I am embracing these days.
Loving each moment we have with each other, and loving each day we have with our newly 18 month old as an only child still. We're watching her unwavering growth, quickly transforming before our eyes. We're changing and growing together every day as we learn to have new conversations with our toddler and wonder where the heck she comes up with some of this stuff, where she learns these words, and questioning her every joyful and curious move.
And when we're feeling as though we don't know our next move, something always pops up. You know, life always has that little way of pointing you in the right (well, hopefully the right) direction when you least expect it.
We know that will happen. Something will point us in the right direction. A house will pop up. It may not be exactly where or what we want, but we will move in somewhere. And we will start new memories there and look back on those and miss them one day. When things get rough and tough while J is working insane hours and I'm with our children, a break will come, eventually. And when babies wear us out to the point we feel we can't even stay awake for one second longer, something will give us the drive to thrive. It happens. It's all a part of life. (Somebody please remind me of this when I'm getting to one of those points!) Life is always moving forward, that's for sure.
It just keeps on moving forward. Even when all we want is to press the pause button.
Pretty sure we had a few of those moments on our trip! Moments where I'd look around and wonder how life can actually get better than in that very moment. Spending time together with no computers or internet (aside from our phones) and taking long walks along the boardwalk/beach and streets lined with gorgeous homes and pretty-in-pink blooming trees while E grew her vocabulary by a few words each day we all spent together truly truly made me wish there was a pause button.
Our job for 17 days was to just enjoy each other for a while. And eat, and rest, and be thankful for having such a beautiful place to be as a family.
We spent my 27th birthday AND Mother's Day in Ocean City. They were special days indeed, on a very special trip for us.
A trip filled with family, love, fun, friends (The Wood's came to visit for a little!!), cold weather, warm weather, tons of rides, our first trip to Storybook Land to celebrate our 18 month old turning another half year older, beach days, kissing boo-boos to make them feel better, and lots of comfy baby girl snuggles.
In the middle of a hectic month for us, does it get much better? H to the No!
When life gets a little crazy, it's all just a part of our story. Our story that will twist and turn and at some point, lead us to a resolution.
Life has it's funny way of throwing things at us when we sometimes least expect it, and whether it's just as quick or a drawn out chapter, it has it's funny way of handing us the tools we need to push through to the top.
Our Ocean City trip was just what we needed to fuel us for our next few weeks of chaos, excitement, and new adventures of our story. Here's to wishing this chapter a happy ending and an even better start to the next!