Life Updates & Motherhood Joys – BeautyBeyondBones

You know you’ve been gone from blogging for a while when a) your site defaults to its settings from 2 years ago; and b) when you login, you’re prompted with a “How to Make a Post” tutorial suggestion.

Anywho, HELLO FRIENDS! Gosh, I have missed you all so much.

I’m currently sitting in the kitchen of our new house, next to our sleeping baby, Penelope Grace! (No, she’s not a double-namer, a la the early 2000’s…I’m looking at you Chad Michael Murray, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mark Paul Gosselaar).

Nope, she’s my Penny girl.

But this is a monumental day…not because of the outcome of the election (we’ll get there…) BUT because it’s the first time I’ve whipped out my laptop since giving birth back in July! Let’s just say, I don’t want to miss a second with Penny. Which is why my hair is a mess, moving boxes are still needing to be unpacked, and my toenails are unpainted for the first time in…I kid you not…probably 18 years.

Gosh, I have SO much to catch you up on. I feel like I’m sitting down to coffee with an old friend from high school, and this “quick coffee date” is really going to be 3 hours of nonstop chatter.

First things first:

Penelope.

Oh my gosh, she is everything I’ve ever dreamed of and prayed for. She’s three and a half months old now, and God has just B L E S S E D us with such a happy baby. That is what everyone says when they meet her: That she is a) happy and b) chill. Which is the truth. I’m not exaggerating when I say: she wakes up with a smile, and she goes to bed with a smile.

I sing Edelwisse from The Sound of Music to her every night when she’s falling asleep, and as soon as she hears the first three notes, this big smiles goes across her face. It’s so cute.

Speaking of, I’m teaching her how to sing, and by golly, she is able to match pitch! It’s incredibly impressive. I’ll post a video on IG tonight of when she first discovered her “singing voice.” It is just precious.

And of course, she had to be a princess for Halloween…Cinderella to be exact.

But this girl, her joy is what I love most. She is always beaming. She seldom cries…only when we have to fan her butt during diaper changes lol TMI??

I am just so grateful to God for her. Motherhood is everything I could have ever wanted.

Second order of business: we moved.

Yep…after 2 months in my parents’ lower level waiting for our house to be ready, we are finally IN!

And boy, does it already feel like home. It is nowhere near where we want it be in the end…we haven’t even unpacked our artwork yet! But at least the nursery is finished!

Our house is 99 years old…next year is its 100 year anniversary, and yes, we’re going to have a fun 1920’s themed party to celebrate ? It is right down the street from my parents’ house, as well as my brother and sister-in-law’s house. This neighborhood is so cute…it’s Mayberry. Like something out of a movie! The kids all ride their bikes to school and come home for lunch every day. There’s a central neighborhood park that has movie nights and other gatherings for the community. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere. CERTAINLY not like Manhattan. It’s safe, it’s so friendly, it’s beautiful. I’m so glad this is where Penelope is going to grow up!

And yes, we do see my parents and/or brother’s family just about every other day. Talk about fabulous.

OK – Next order of business…and, okay, hello…howwwww am I only NOW getting to this? But thank you, Lord, for the outcome of the presidential election!

Steven and I stayed up until 3am watching Trump’s victory address. What a win for America, my goodness.

It felt so strange to not be writing about politics this time. If you are an “OG” and have been with me for a while, you may recall my post from 2016, “Profile of a Trump Supporter“…which, let’s just say, garnered some attention. A couple of my friends actually cut me out of their life because of that post. So yeah…suffice it to say, I was chomping at the bit to write about this election’s fiasco with Kamala and Trump. I’ll just button it for now with these two words: Candace Owens. I invite you to check out her YouTube series on Kamala’s family lineage…simply wild.

But I will say this:

All over my social media on Election Day, I kept seeing post after post from mothers posting their daughters, with a “Voting for my daughter” caption, followed by a Kamala Harris endorsement.

And I’m going to be honest, that thinking is just so backwards to me. Voting to protect the “right” for your daughter have abortion access?

It makes me so sad.

I also voted “for my daughter,” but in a very, very different way.

I voted for her right to live in a safe and secure country. I voted for her right to free speech. Her right to worship freely. To be protected from harmful gender ideology that preys on and sexualizes children. I voted to protect her from boys in girls’ sports and locker rooms. I voted for her right to live in a healthy and prosperous America.

But I think I’ll stop there, before I get too into the weeds, and just say how grateful to GOD I am that Donald Trump won.

Some other final things of note:

Penelope is getting baptized later this month! Which is really exciting: in the church where Steven and I got married, and by the priest who married us.

I’m nearly back to my pre-pregnancy running routine. I’m back to six miles a day…Penny goes with me and loves it. One more mile and I’ll be back to my old workout routine.

I’m cooking again! Not that I ever wasn’t…but I’m now back to making delicious, rather involved meals….as oppopsed to just kind of “survival cooking” when Penny was first born!