Practicing What I Preach

Over the past year, I have shared little ways that make my life a bit easier, happier, and/or simpler. Also this past year, I finally had some free time in which I could write – I had recently finished my master’s degree, finished my professional licensing, and finished teaching a 1 credit college course. My days were spent working full-time and coming home…that’s it! No thesis to write, no papers to grade, no test to study for. It was glorious! This left me time to share some of the tips I had learned to get everything done (or prioritize what needed to get done). It also provided me with a way to record what I had learned and share it with the wider world.

Well…I am getting the opportunity to put it all back into practice again on a bigger scale. For the most part, I have avoided posting about what’s going on in my personal life and instead tried to focus on big picture things and how my life lessons can help you. Well, all that’s about to change. In the past 4.5 months, my life has been turned a bit upside down and is giving me the chance to practice everything I’ve learned. So, now that my time off is over, you’ll get to read about how everything is going.

The past 4.5 months have been an absolute whirlwind, to say the least, and forced me to prioritize what I was able to accomplish. Unfortunately, my beloved little blog was at the bottom of my priority list because it my paying job, it isn’t my health, it isn’t Way Pup, and it isn’t my husband. I was able to jump on during February to pop out a few posts, but the disappeared again during March when my life became even more hectic. However, I have missed you all and missed writing, so this blog will be more of a pressure relief for me in the coming months (and years).

So, what’s been going on that has made my life so crazy? It all started right before Christmas when I learned that I am pregnant! We are very excited about this for so many reasons, however, first trimester exhaustion is very, very real. January was all about survival. This kid left me feeling more exhausted than I had ever felt before, with a deep, inner fatigue that could only be relieved by sleeping and barely moving. There was also the *fun* side effect of morning sickness…or rather, all day sickness. Thankfully, my morning sickness was primarily nausea, but sometimes it went a little further. When you combine the exhaustion with the morning sickness with working a job that went into overdrive on January 2, I had zero energy left. My poor husband and poor Way Pup were left to their own devices and we wondered how we’d make it through (my sweet husband did a lot of the house cleaning and cooking for us). Thankfully, February came and so did the second trimester, while the extreme exhaustion and morning sickness (mostly) left. This was just in time for my class to start back up again, complete with preparing lectures and grading.

Oh yeah, in addition to working a lot, wrapping my head around being pregnant, and teaching, my husband and I decided that we were going to move from our current house that is 30-45 minutes from everything and everyone to a house that is much closer (think 10-20 minutes) from everything and everyone so we could be closer to help for when Baby Way arrives. So, we added extreme house hunting into the mix!

This craziness has been going on since February. In early March, our extreme house hunting paid off and we found the house we want. Cue all the negotiating, home inspections, back and forth, documents, financing, and fun you can imagine. I had never bought a house before, so it was all new to me. And time consuming. Answering the realtor’s questions, getting answers to our own questions, getting bids to fix the work found during the home inspection, negotiating interest rates with the bank, switching utilities, and coordinating so many little things. However, we did it! We closed on our new house last Thursday!!! …And now we get to move. Thankfully, we’re not in a particular rush because we’re keeping our current house (hoping to rent it), so we have some time, but Way Husband is ready to move for 2 main reasons. One, we hate feeling like we’re in limbo and two, the new house is 5 minutes from his work, which will cut his commute by 40 minutes one way. But mainly, we hate being in limbo.

So, we now have this going on: I’m pregnant with our first baby. I am working 45-50 hours a week as an engineer, which requires me to travel overnight a few times a month. I am also working 5-15 hours a week teaching. We are still taking care of our current house on a few acres, with the chickens. We are still taking care of Way Pup. I am trying to prioritize exercise because I want my baby and myself to be as healthy as we can. I am trying to keep our current house somewhat clean while we still live here day to day. We are packing up our current house to move in a couple of weeks. Way Husband is working 60-80 hours a week. Oh yeah, and I am becoming more involved in our church serving on a couple of committees. If this isn’t an opportunity to practice time management, getting stuff done, and looking for those silver linings, then I don’t know what is! Thankfully, I have this little blog where I can keep track of my craziness and trying to get as much done as possible. Wish me luck!!!