GUEST POST: My Sister-in-Law, Nicole! [30/31]

Readers, you are in for a treat!! I am SO excited to be sharing this post from my sister-in-law, Nicole! Not only is she a beginner stay-at-home-mama, she's a new mama to boot! Nicole & her husband, Scott, are adjusting to their new life as parents while in the process of renovating an adorable, old home in Minneapolis, MN. She's done some blogging in the past, but maybe if we send her enough love, she'll get back into it! Until then, you can find her on Twitter or Instagam.

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I'm very excited to have the opportunity to do a guest post on Erin's blog! She's done such a great job giving us glimpses into her everyday SAHM world. I'm quite new to the SAHM life and feel like I know almost nothing yet. My daily companion is my 7-week-old son, Peregrin. As my husband and I started discussing parenthood several years ago, we both felt that me being home with our children was the right choice for our family. Now here I am!

Nicole's husband, Scott, & Peregrin. 

One of the biggest lessons I've learned so far as a SAHM is that balancing caring for my child and getting anything done is hard. Obvious, I know, but this reality is still rocking my world. Last week I cooked a meal for the first time since Peregrin was born. That's right. It took me SIX WEEKS to pull off cooking a full meal. Clearly I have a lot to learn. Daily I wonder how other moms run their households, how they balance caring for their children with their many other responsibilities. I cooked for the second time last night. In fact, I made both dinner and a crockpot breakfast that we'll be able to eat in the mornings all week. I did not, however, have the time or energy to clean-up after myself and went to bed with my kitchen looking like this:

                                                   

This piece was created for me by one of my aunts 34 years ago when I was a baby. It's now hanging on my son's bedroom wall and it's a daily reminder of what's really important during this season of life. I could put any number of things in place of "cleaning and scrubbing". Cooking, watching my favorite shows, decorating our new (old) house. These are all fine things, some are necessary, but I don't want to take this moment in time for granted. I'm stunned at how much my son has changed in just seven weeks, how much more in seven months! So I eat whatever is easy, ignore my bare walls and play with my tiny son. 

Of course things do need to get done at home and this is where I need some serious refining. I'm realizing that being organized and having a plan isn't just good, it's vital. Gone are the days where I could pour over recipes to find something new, make a list, go to the store for just that one meal's ingredients and then spend hours cooking. Gone too are the days where keeping on top of our family's finances could happen whenever and as often as needed. Of course, finding time to sit and draft a working schedule for my life isn't easy either so it's going to be a process. In the mean time I'll have to live with more crazy than I'm comfortable with but by God's good grace we'll manage to eat something and the bills will get paid on time, even if just barely.

                                      "What may be done at any time will be done at no time."

True. Being a SAHM is my new job and I desire to do it well, to take it as seriously as the work I did outside the home. I no longer have a boss potentially looking over my shoulder and my deadlines are more loose, if they exist at all. But I believe this is the most important work of my life and it's up to me to provide my own structure so that I can thrive in this roll. Right now Peregrin rises early (6 a.m.!), too early for me to rise before him, but I hope that over time this will change. Everyday I realize how incapable I am of handling all this on my own. I hope to rise before my son and spend time with the Lord at the start of each day. I need His strength and wisdom. I need Him to pour into me so I have anything at all to offer my family. On the lonely days I need to be reminded that He is with me.

Every day is its own adventure right now and mostly I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Years from now I hope to be able to look back on these days and see them as the beginning of a journey of maturation, of coming into my own as a wife and mother. As for tonight, dinner consisted of nachos and ice cream. But hey, I spent the evening playing with my son and I whipped that kitchen into shape so I'm still going to call it a win. 

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I’m linking up with The Nester every day in October for #31Days. You can find a list of all 31 posts as they are published by clicking here.