Things I Love

I am such a blessed little lady... I just wanted to take a little minute and just remember a couple of things I am especially grateful for, and more importantly, what I've come to love.

My new favorite part of the day is about 9:00 p.m. Ava is quietly sleeping and I am usually rocking my little Gi-Gi (Hallie's new nickname.... given by Ava) to sleep. I love holding her in my arms and smelling her. (Is that weird?) She is such a sweet little baby and is my saving grace most days. I have had to come to love her. Of course I loved her from the beginning, but my little heart has just blossomed with love for her. I am so grateful for her and her sweet little personality.

While I rock Gi-Gi to sleep, I look around my apartment and think. I USED to think about how little, cluttered, and old my apartment is. Sometimes, I feel like my cinder block walls are going to close in around me. But the other night, I just thought about all the memories I have here.
I have come to love my aparment..... Here's what I love....
* My washer. It's so noisy that you can't talk above it while it's in the spin cycle. It shakes so much that after every load, I have to move it back into place. I have to twist and bend around our garbage and Ava's chair to even get a load in... but I have clean clothes every week. The other night, it was shaking so bad and it was so loud, that Nate had to sit on it so we could even have a conversation. It made me laugh.
* My little fridge. Although it's small, it holds just enough food for our family. It usually houses a couple of gallons of milk, butter, some fruit, and yogurt. Put just a couple more items in it, and it looks full! Plus, it short so I can reach on top of it without having to stand on a chair.
*Our little oven. It has one rack, and all the burners touch each other, but it has cooked some delicious meals.
*My table. It's become my second countertop. I use it for a variety of things. Mainly cooking, but Ava and I love to do crafts on it. It usually holds our laptop, school books, newspaper, and we set our groceries on it before we put them away. Currently, Gi-Gi's Bumbo sits on it.
*My dishwasher.... wait, I don't have one! But I love doing the dishes every night with Nate. I usually wash and he rinses. It gives us 15 minutes every day to catch up with each other.
* My carpet. It's mismatched but it keeps my feet warm. Plus, vacuumming only takes 10 minutes. I only have to plug my vacuum in the bathroom, and I can reach my whole apartment. Love it.
* My glider. It's black microfiber, and it is so comfy. It's a good thing, because I have spent many nights in that thing.
* Our tiny bathroom. Whenever Nate and I want to trade places, we have to hug each other to switch places, but that means I get an extra hug every day. :) When I was prego, there was no way that both of us could be in there.
*Our tiny bedroom. It's barely big enough for our bed and a nightstand. Nate has to crawl over me every night, but I don't mind.
*The girl's room. It's barely big enough for Ava's bed and the crib, but it's so close to our room that I can hear every noise the girls make at night. If they need anything, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump away.
*I love that I can walk from one end of my living room to the other end of my kitchen in a total of 10 steps.
* Cleaning is quick and usually painless.
*It has helped increase my creativity. I am constantly trying to figure out how to hang things from cinder block, and I am constantly thinking of ways to rearrange things so that I can fit even more things in our apartment.

Most of all, I love what this apartment represents. Nate and I didn't start out with a house. In fact, we aren't even looking at getting a house for a few years. But this apartment represents sacrifice and hard work. We have had to sacrifice some things in order to get Nate through school. We haven't gone on a vacation in a LOOOONNNNGGG time. We are wearing clothes that are 4 years old. We've had to survive with one car (until now. My mom sold us her car for super cheap..... ). But I feel so blessed because I know that Nate is working so hard to secure a future for us by getting his education. One day, we'll have newer clothes that don't have holes or stains on them. One day we'll go on a vacation. One day we won't have student loans. One day we'll be able to spend more than $10 without feeling guilty. But for today, we have a cute little 600 square foot apartment and we have the cozy comfort of each other.