With our due month quickly approaching, and my energy levels slowly dwindling, it has really forced me to slow down and really think about how much our life is about to change again, so soon and so beautifully. The truth is, I feel amazing. There is something extremely special about sharing such a miraculous time with a little girl who is really starting to understand that there is a baby in mama's belly. My belly gets hugged and kissed and rubbed and kicked...not on purpose, but goodness, these bellies can sure withstand some toddler abuse I've come to know! I know a big part of it is already knowing how amazing it is to be a parent, and questioning how our hearts could possibly expand enough to love another little human being as much as we love our first little Love. But you know, that's what makes our heart the strongest muscle in our body.
If you ever wonder what we do throughout our days, well I shall tell you that it's quite simple, we spend time together. Our pastor mentioned this on his sermon last week that time is love, and that really stuck with me and I have been meditating on it all week. Some days, guilt tries to creep in telling me that I'm not doing a good enough job buying Ari Love the best toys, or that she is missing out for not having her own room, and maybe that our home isn't big enough or nice enough, or that when I'm too tired to do much we spend too much time watching sesame street. But you know what, nothing compares to the way she sleeps between her daddy and I with one hand on my belly and one foot on her daddy, softly singing as we all drift off to sleep. I wouldn't trade waking up to the scent of her delicious head under my nose, or her waking me up by playing with my eyelashes and proudly exclaiming "hi mama!" One of the most comforting and biggest lessons that I have learned from our church and from living this minimalistic lifestyle is that God just wants to spend time with us..and so do our children.
Many days, we don't even leave our little nook, but we dress up anyway and pretend that we are princesses. I let her play with my wedding ring that her wonderful daddy gifted to me and I tell her the stories in detail of how we met and fell in love. We play with recycled boxes and highlighters and write all over each other then take a 2 hour bath before our afternoon nap. Actually, bath time at all hours of the day has been our go to activity here lately and Ari loves it. We pretend that we are mermaids at the spa haha We spend time paying deep attention to the smallest of details of the roses that her daddy surprised us with and stare in awe at each perfectly formed petal. Some days we sit on the ground and eat hummus and guacamole while singing the abc's and then take another bath. I don't know any of the shows that people are watching these days because we don't have television, but I will tell you that I have laughed and cried more while watching sesame street than I ever have watching television, especially the episode with Jason Mraz singing, that one is our very favorite. I really hope that she will grow up knowing how much she has taught me about the most important things in life, and I will do my best in teaching her what little things that I have learned along the way.
