POSTCARD: From Home

Hey guys and hello from my favorite state of all, Michigan. 


Postcard from Michigan | biblio-style.com


Eight weeks ago, when I couldn't wait to go somewhere else and see the GD world, I would never have expected to say that, but man, there is honestly not one single place that's better than home. Especially in September. I've long professed this as the most perfect month of the year, and I stand behind that. 


We'll be home just briefly. I'll touch base on what's next later this week, but in the meantime, my sister is getting married and Duke and I are in the wedding party, so we came back to Michigan a couple of weeks before to get settled, enjoy Labor Day at the family cottage, and take care of last-minute things like having my dress altered one last time and ordering tiny pink suspenders for my baby, the ringbearer. Side note: I'm very interested to see how that one works out. He's obsessed with pretending to be a puppy, so I'll die of shame, but also won't be that surprised if he is arf-arfing down the aisle on all fours. 


I probably asked for it when I named him Duke, you know?


Anyway, we've been home for about a week and got all the boring stuff like grocery shopping and turning on the water taken care of. I took a little break from writing freelance and blog stuff, so we've mostly been bopping around our favorite ice cream places and in general just remembering every good thing we love about Michigan in the summer. Which is pretty much everything. 


***


First stop, Lake Michigan. 


Lake Michigan, Frankfort, MI | biblio-style.com

It's not an original thought, but this is the summer when I learned that pulling out of the driveway and pulling back in months later feel equally as good. Similarly, cruising down the roads that we used to drive every single day feel all kinds of brand new when you haven't done it in a while. 


The first couple of days home, we mostly just stayed here. There was plenty to do -- approximately 1,000 loads of laundry to start -- but by the weekend, we started venturing out again. Ryan immediately went to buy a car and check out the Gilmore Museum Motorcycle Show, but Duke and I are staying up north, checking on our old haunts. 


Crystal Gardens, Frankfort, MI | biblio-style.com

Sunflower Fields, Moomers Ice Cream | biblio-style.com

Farmers Market Blueberries | biblio-style.com


***


In other news, Duke is sleeping in his own bed exclusively.


Dreams do come true. 


I've probably mentioned it before, but co-sleeping happened accidentally. When I was pregnant, we painted a bedroom and got a crib like normal people, but then we had a baby who hated sleep and the only way to get a few consecutive hours was to hold him constantly. Almost four years later, his bedroom was where his toys lived, and he was still sleeping between Ryan and me.

 

Then we moved into a camper and even though there were tears a few times, we really pushed him to sleep on the fold-out couch, mostly because the bed is smaller than a queen and nobody would get any sleep if all three of us + the dog (inevitably) squeezed in up there. He got used to it and I got some of the best sleep that I've had in years. 


When we got home, I went full-on into Operation Do Not Invite Him Back Into Our Room. I put him to bed in his own room like it was the most normal thing in the world, and while we now enjoy at least 100 stereotypical "mom, I need some water" and "mom, I need to poop now" excuses between 8pm-10pm, he does fall asleep and stay there all night long.  


I honestly feel like we've entered into a new phase of parenting. He can get his own snacks. He can buckle his own car seat. And now he can sleep without laying on me. Hallelujah


***


Library


I swung by the library last week and honestly, that was one of the best moments of the entire week. The last time I was there was the end of February to return some books right before I went to California in March. When I flew home, we were in full-on lockdown mode and the library has been closed ever since. It must have opened up again at some point over the summer, but you know, I was out west. 


I walked in, inhaled the smell of lots of books, and then hurried because I had Duke with me and "be quiet in a library" is a very hard concept for him. Especially during this "I'm a puppy" phase we're enjoying. So many arf-arfs, no matter where we are. Good thing we're not church-going folk. 


Evergreen Tidings From the Baumgartners | biblio-style.com


***

The End. 


So to wrap it up, I guess I'll say it's amazing how quickly we can settle back into our old routines. Or even new routines really. Everything becomes habituated, you know? Traveling every day felt really normal last week, and now waking up in our bed and pouring a cup of coffee from a preset pot feels just as normal. 


Happy September guys. Fall is coming, that motherfucker. 


First Fall Leaf, Frankfort MI | biblio-style.com


No comments:

Powered by Blogger.