Breathing room

Breathing room.  It's something you don't get a whole lot of as a parent…especially as a parent to littles.  They're touching you.  Talking (and talking and talking) to you.  As in, their hot little breath is so close to your face you could detect exactly what they ate for their last meal...even if you hadn't been the one who shopped for, prepared, served, and cleaned up after it.  They NEED you…like really, really need you.  Brandon commented that feeling the "need to be needed" is not something I will struggle with for a very long time.  So true, darling.

When we looked at this house, we both said it felt like a place we could breath.  There's plenty of space inside and out for everyone to do their own thing, but not so much space that it's a huge chore to care for.  Since we knew we'd be homeschooling here, space was important.  And not just square footage, but space in all the different nooks and crannies of our lives.  In the Slay house, we operate best with a little extra space.  Tight schedules, crammed spaces, maxed out budgets…they all make us crazy.

Leeway.  Margin.  Breathing room.  Now you're speakin' my language.

So far, we've reaped mostly benefits from having a little wiggle room in our lives.  It's been lovely to be able to wake up to a sweet little voice calling "momma!" from his room instead of an alarm.  Nope.  This chick isn't afraid to admit she sleeps till 7 or 7:30 every morning.  Most mornings, we're all able to eat together.  It's been so nice to be able to prepare ONE breakfast for everyone instead of feeding folks in shifts.  Cooking a hot breakfast for my people is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.  I'm just crazy like that.  I'm pretty sure there's not a wound a buttermilk biscuit can't heal or a trouble a pancake can't fix.  We're talkin' the answer to world peace here.

So, yeah.  We've just kinda been chillin', getting a feel for what homeschooling is going to look like for our family, and resting in our wiggle room.

Oh, and of course, I have photos of my favs : )  I think all of these were taken within the same week.  So, yes.  Within the same week my children ate barefoot on the front porch and (kinda) caught snowflakes on their tongues.  Craziness.

Time out.  Sniff.

I was super sneaky and got a few shots from the hallway.  These two have become the best playmates.  It's done my heart (and ears) good to hear giggles coming from these two instead of whining and screaming.   

Mr. Independence.  Since he IS about to be 2 and all.  

Yep.  This is all we got.  No snowcalypse in Canton.

Squint your eyes.  Now move your face about 5 inches closer to the screen.  There.  See those five white specks?  Those were the "fattest" of the flakes. 

4 days later…and no they're not freezing.  It was in the 60's, and Eve is only wearing a coat because she was in a leotard and tights.  

Who is this BOY?  My baby is gone.

No worries.  The tights came clean.  I was certainly worried about their welfare since she's worn this getup 3 days straight and starts having a panic attack when I tell her it's in the process of washing or drying.  She's been on an "Angelina Ballerina" kick here lately.  I'll take a sweet little ballerina any day over the girl who MOONED HER BROTHER BEHIND MY BACK AT THE DINNER TABLE LAST NIGHT.  How'd I know her brother was telling the truth about her offense?  In her rush to sit back down before I caught her, she forgot to pull her pants back up.  So when I turned around, there she was…"minding her own business", chewing her bite of pizza, with her booty naked as can be seated on her chair.  

I'm not really sure how I started out talking about breathing room and valuing time, and I ended with my 4 year old's bare butt, but oh well.  I'm rolling with it and calling this post "done".  Goodnight.