Our Weekend

Happy fall!

I thought I'd check in for a quick hello. Eloise has hit a strange spot in babyhood between the 3-month growth spurt and 4-month sleep regression. She's cranky. Eating way more frequently than she has since the newborn days. (And you all know how much I love breastfeeding around the clock.) She's waking up many times each night as well. It's not my favorite stage so far, and it's pretty draining now that I'm working. But we're trudging through.

Ada's also been really cranky after school now that the routine has set in. In fact, I can't really get her to talk to me during the week unless she's decompressed with some television. She's tired. It's plain and simple, and it's definitely expected, poor girl. Our nights go in such a blur. Stephen's home a bit before 6, we rush dinner, bath, and goodnight by 7:45/8. I feel like I barely see her anymore. Definitely the hardest part of full-time school for me.

Saturday morning, I found myself mulling over how another day in the weekend would be just fabulous. And then I realized that there actually IS another day in the weekend called, well, Saturday. We just tend to have these 6-day work weeks when Stephen is coaching (and I tend to load a lot of my writing onto a weekend afternoon). He loves the gig and we certainly can use the extra money. But you get into the middle of a sports season and realize that you're always going, going, going.

Our family is still very young, and I think this pace of life takes a lot of getting used to. Do you agree? Anyway, Ada and I played together for hours on Saturday. It was a pick-me-up that I think we both needed. She got out the Play-Doh and some plastic horses . . . and we went to town making outfits for them. We had a fashion show. We also started work on a DIY dream catcher to help with some nightmares, but the instructions ended up being pretty difficult to follow. The things you do with an almost 5-year-old. Delightful!

We made the best of the time we did have together as four. We filled up Saturday late afternoon after Stephen's race with all things autumn. The weather has finally cooled off a bit and all those farms are filled with people enjoying food, games, and decorative gourdes. We visited our favorite place a few towns over and plan to go back another day to do the corn maze.

We ate donuts and drank cider. We drove through the country while Eloise napped and gawked at the changing leaves. And I finally got in that 10-miler I've been talking about for the last couple weeks. It feels amazing to run long again. I think I'll try to do it every other week. My body won't permit much more with the lack of sleep I've been getting. So, I'll still call it a win.

On Sunday, we sat in the sun and chatted with our neighbors while the girls played for a few hours. Then we went to a dear friend's 4th birthday party. Eloise napped happily in our friend's arms, giving us an extra hour or so that we didn't think we'd get to spend with everyone. The day grew to a close and it was all about routines again. And then some pretty crappy sleep patterns. But . . . it was enough rest to do the trick.

I caught this post by Mama Natural called Don't Mess With My Family (On Sundays), and it really resonated with me. I don't know if we'll put a big Do Not Disturb sign out in the yard, but I like the idea of taking a day of rest as a family. A Sabbath of sorts. Do any of you guys implement something like this? I'd love to hear what works for you!