One of the biggest adventures of the summer was the fact that we bought our first house during my 28th week of pregnancy. Hello third trimester. Hello 115 degree days. Hello empty house. Hello boxes. Hello summer traveling plans. Let's just say life has been pretty crazy since we signed the zillion pages to buy our home on June 24th.

I think one of the main sources of my pregnancy insomnia these past six weeks or so was the anxiety I felt about living in an unfinished house. I know that's silly, but I imagined bringing the baby home to boxes upon boxes and tripping over the things in the messy nursery. Everyone tried to console me by saying "it would get done" and that I would "have so much time when the baby naps" during those first few weeks, but those assurances didn't help. Partially, because I just wanted to have everything done before the baby's arrival and also because I knew those promises were not true. Unlike most moms who stay at home full-time or at least get a maternity leave when their baby arrives, my life is just the opposite. I actually went back to work/school on the day I hit full term. Thankfully, I am teaching fully online and I am taking only one grad course {my last one EVER!}, but it's still a lot to handle during this huge transition. When I randomly go MIA for a week in September, my students have been instructed to just keep working the best they can and I will re-emerge to answer questions as soon as possible. When my baby is napping those first few weeks, I am going to be busy figuring out how one finishes a PhD and raises an infant at the same time.

So the past month and a half of my life {after the season where we just dumped all the boxes in our new place and then went on vacation for two weeks} has looked like... baby/school/students/house... baby/school/students/house... Every day I juggle the most random activities...buying a crib {we didn't even get ours until I was 35 weeks}, washing baby clothes, hanging pictures, organizing closets, writing a syllabus or two, setting up online classes, reading about ESL education, emailing students, installing car seats, and going to labor and breastfeeding classes. It's been crazy.

But we've made so much progress! I say "we" because Micah has helped here and there, as much as he can with a full time job {and our yard is a disaster, so that's one of his big projects right now}, and my parents have been life-savers this summer. They just moved to Phoenix from Seattle, and they have come over multiple times for "work days" where they just help me with projects around the house. My mom alphabetizes books and vacuums, while my dad sets up baby gear and hangs curtain rods, and I am forever grateful.

So I'm now at a happy place that I'm calling "finished for now." Our little house is becoming a home. And even though I have tons of projects I want to do in the future, I finally feel like it is just organized and decorated enough to be a comfortable haven for my newborn and me. I know we will spending a lot of time inside over the next few weeks, and, thankfully, the inside of my home has evolved into a place that feels welcoming and peaceful. Here are some glimpses of our new place..