The last week has been a bit of a blur here on the farm. Poor Nora had another terrible ear infection and we spent many nights up trying to rock the fever away and many mornings cuddling in the rocking chair with her little cup of juice and her bunny, Peepers.

Having said that, all three of us have been feeling under the weather. Colds and tummy bugs have made it difficult, but somehow we have all taken care of each other this week. There have been so many times where I just want to curl up in bed turn the life button off, but then the undeniable cry of my little one calls, and I’m up and going again. One particular middle of the night rocking session is still very vivid in my mind from this past week. Little Nora was up screaming again on one of the first nights of her infection. I trudged into her room, absolutely exhausted, in just my t-shirt and slippers (yes, glamorous, I know) and picked her up only to have the poor thing just fight back. After lots of thrashing, singing and sweaty hair stroking, she finally found a comfortable place on my chest and nestled in. As she moaned herself to sleep, I could feel her hot cheeks burning on my chest, her cold snot dripping from her nose and those hot, salty tears pouring from her eyes and running down my shirt. She sucked her little fingers until finally she fell asleep. And in that moment, I thought to myself, “There is absolutely no place else that I would rather be right now.” It’s a funny thing, how even amidst utter exhaustion and sleep depravity, that we as moms can override our physical needs in order to give into our heart’s longing to just hold our babies a few minutes longer, just because we KNOW how much they need to be held in that moment. I have no doubt that I will never forget that night as long as I live. I love being that little girl’s mom, even during the hard weeks, like this one.

Amidst the icky sickies going around our house, we had a great time with my folks this past weekend! I had fully intended to have my mom help me with getting window treatments done, but we ended up watching the Olympics instead 🙂 My parents have never seen the land where we are building in person, so we trudged out in the snow and drove them to our place and the fields that Eric is going to be farming this season. I think that they enjoyed getting to finally see what we have been talking about for so long.

Of course, time with out of town family is always too short, but we made the most of the time we had and had a blast. Nora loved having her Grandma and Grandpa in town and fondly showed them around our place and Kim and Sheila’s like it was her own. There was lots of cuddling, reading, kitchen playing and dollhouse imagining. And before we knew it, it was time for them to go home. Tears were shed as we watched them drive away down our dirt road. I think everyone cries when they say good bye to their mom, right?

We tried our hand at a few church things this week, too. Eric and I attended a small group on Wednesday night and are very excited to be a part of a new church community! I also went to a mom’s group Thursday morning, and cried on the way back to the farm. I am already feeling so at hone and the way that the people here have opened up their hearts and homes to us has been so overwhelming. I don’t think that there has been a day so far that we haven’t had someone calling to check on us, see if we need any help with anything or just calling to say that they are glad we are here. It has truly been a blessing to be loved by so many people, many who are strangers. We went over to Brandon and Katie’s house for dinner tonight and had such a wonderful time; again, such an act of love for them to invite us over. I’m so grateful!

So that has been our week. It’s a bit jumbled and a terribly unorganized post, but my mind has had no time for organization this week, so that’s what the blog is going to get tonight.