The Byrnes: August 2009

It has really been a whirlwind of a summer for us this year. And it isn't because we were so busy like in years past. It started out to be a very relaxed calm summer with lots of time on the deck and good times with friends....ahh now that's summer! Then all of a sudden Randy started working a crazy amount of hours, which we are thankful his job has taken this turn instead of the opposite direction, but it has certainly been taking it's toll on him. He was working close to 60 hours a week and then just when it seemed it might slow down a bit his hours got bumped up a few more, so you can imagine he is just exhausted at this point! And on top of it trying to be dad and husband and trying occasionally to have a little bit of a social life is just overwhelming! And on top of that we found out we were PREGNANT again this summer!!! (We'll see who's really been reading the blog now!) This came as a bit of surprise to us and I have to admit we were in a bit of shock for a little while! Norah and new baby will be 18 months apart, which sounds like s little chaos to me but oh so fun for them to have a sibling so close in age. Even though it did take a little bit for this to sink in we are incredibly thankful for this little blessing of life and know that God has a beautiful plan for this little person to be coming into the world now and not in a year or two. So with that said the first trimester of pregnancy just wipes me out! Ahhh it's tough! I'd choose labor any day over that! For weeks on end just feeling so exhausted and nauseated. But oh that 12 week mark comes along and the clouds part and life is good again! Amazing how thankful I am to feel "normal". Maybe it's God's way of getting my attention and helping me realize how thankful I am for "normal' days....days of feeling well and healthy enough to go about my daily rhythms and routines. And I have been thanking him a lot more lately for the normal days and days of good health.

We did have a few high lights this summer. One was Randy and I got to go away over night and leave Norah with her grandmas (they both got a little time with her). That was beautiful....no agenda, no diapers, just us again and a totally relaxed 24 hours...and a morning to sleep in on top of it! Beautiful! Randy planned it all out and I knew nothing of where we were going or what we were going to do. He's great with that kind of thing! He rented a cabin in Saugatuck and we just hung out and walked around and ate out and had a lazy lounging day. He also surprised me that weekend with a nice new camera that we had been wanting! What a romantic!

Another fun adventure is we headed up to the U.P. for 5 days and got to spend some time in the Pictured Rocks area. We love it there....got in some hiking and lots of amazing outside time! In the summer we have no desire to travel...we just like to play and explore Michigan! It's so beautiful! And Norah loves being outside too. She did great on our hikes and even cried when we were done and took her out of the backpack.

Of course another high point of the summer was time with friends, which we just didn't have enough of but the times we had were great!

So friends our summer held a lot of naps and going to bed early and some play time in the yard and trying to keep up with the garden and occasionally trying to get my house clean and cook a nice dinner! :) We had a few adventures in there and having time loving on our little girl but it was mostly a summer of trying to rest and not feel exhausted!