40 Bags in 40 Days

I need to declutter.

I have always been the person that knows exactly where my stuff is. Need something I've had stored away for awhile? I can tell you what box it's in, where the box is, and in exactly what corner the item is sitting. However, this does not mean I haven't forgotten about some of the items inside! Recently I was going through one of these boxes and I realized I didn't even need most of its contents. Clothes I didn't fit in or like enough to wear again, books I never read and am not even interested in, and other knick-knacks that have just been taking up space. I had several boxes that were half-full and the least I could do is consolidate them, but it's time to do more than that. I need to sort through and just get rid of my junk.

We've been seriously thinking about buying a house in the near future and when I think about moving, I know if I never declutter it's going to be way more stressful when I'm packing things up. Often what happens when people move is they don't have time to deal with their stuff, so it goes in a box to be forgotten for another couple years. (That's kind of what I did when I moved out of my parents house when we got married.) So while I'm still settled under this roof, it's my chance to purge.

Recently I heard of a declutter challenge where you take 40 days and get rid of one bag of stuff each day. We have a small house and don't have gobs of stuff as it is, so my bags are going to be grocery sacks. I have enough of those they need cleaned out as it is! I'm not sure that I have near 40 bags worth of stuff to get rid of, but for these next few weeks I've decided to keep my eye out for junk and intentionally work at getting it out of our house. Besides extra work for our trash collector, I plan on a trip or two to Goodwill, and I'll be using eBay and sale sites on the more valuable items. That is, as long as I don't get so sick of stuff that I don't care about a few extra dollars. We'll see. Maybe I'll give myself an allotted time and if it's not sold by then it goes.

The original brain behind #40bagsin40days set it up to coincide with Lent (which starts tomorrow), saying "Why give up chocolate? Give up your stuff!". Well I'm not a Lent observer, and could totally forget that it's even a thing, so I already started. I know where I have clutter, so instead of following her chart or focusing on a room a day, I'm going straight to the areas that need me first. The bag I filled today almost made me laugh, wondering why I saved some of these things in the first place and what on earth I thought I'd do with them! Ripped clothes, gross-smelling-nasty-ingredient lotions... you get the idea.

Here goes nothing the junk!

Thinking Spring

It may still be February, but the weather has been hinting spring!

A nice sunny 49-degree day meant I got to hang laundry outside for the first time this year!

Baby Feet

Welcoming Baby

We got to meet our precious bundle early! 

Jewel Marie Shell was born Sunday, January 29th at 10:20pm. 

She weighed 6lbs. 14oz., and measured 19 1/2 inches long. 

The first contraction woke me up at 5:30am, but I didn't think much about it as I had a few other false alarms in the past week. I wasn't about to get my hopes up just to lose a couple hours of precious sleep if it were another false alarm! As I lay there, I was aware of a few more contractions before I woke again, looked at the clock, and realized only an hour had passed! Now I was starting to get a bit hopeful, so I gathered some extra clothes and diapers for Adam to prepare for him to spend the day away, and then went back to bed for more rest. When Aaron woke I told him today might be baby day, and he asked if I was having contractions again. I told him where I was (still kind of unsure if it was real or not), and he jumped up and said "14 minutes apart? That's close! Did you call the midwife?" I waited a little longer so it was officially morning before contacting her to let her know she might need to come over today. Nothing progressed in the next hour or two, so we decided to go to church anyway, figuring time would pass faster being away from home with other things to distract us. We stayed for lunch and then a few extra hours, but not without me asking Aaron a couple times when we'd be heading home. I had been having consistent contractions the whole time, but nothing had progressed much beyond them getting a tad stronger. Still not unbearable though. Finally around 4pm I had had enough and told Aaron to take me home because I was going to have the baby. I had already gotten everything taken care of for Adam to stay with our brother and sister-in-law, but needed Aaron to bring the carseat in from the car for them. He looked at me funny and I told him Adam was staying put and the two of us were going home for the birth. I could tell he didn't believe me very well, but I insisted and he just nodded and reluctantly followed my order. It's not often I tell him what to do, but I was ready to be done and home and get this baby out! The moment we pulled into the driveway, I had one really strong contraction but after getting into the house it was awhile before another one came. I started second guessing myself. Here I left Adam for the first time at length in someone else's care and this wasn't real? I was confused. I felt bad for assuming things were happening and taking action as if it was the real thing. I laid down for some rest and contractions started up again a little bit later, but this time much closer together and stronger. It wasn't long after that when I was getting ahold of the midwife! I was officially in active labor, and things were moving along really well. From the time active labor started to the time we were holding our baby was a grand total of 5 hours! We got our two big wishes.... Daddy got to catch the baby and announce with much excitement that we had a girl! We prefer waiting until birth to find out the gender of our babies (it's the best thing ever!), and it's such an honor for Daddy to have the exciting role of making that announcement.

If I were to describe the whole experience in one word, it would be natural. Everything went so smoothly and flawless. We had an excellent team of midwives present, but there really wasn't a whole lot for them to do but watch as things unfolded and be available in case some extra excitement did happen. I am so grateful to God that we didn't have any complications whatsoever and the healing process has been a breeze!

  

Adam is loving being a big brother and runs to find Jewel the moment he hears a cry. He has such a tender, caring heart and loves to smother her in kisses. Aaron has been an excellent daddy and husband and did a great job keeping things under control while I rested up that first week. Poor guy had quite the duty taking care of a sick toddler on top of all the household duties, but he was such a trooper. One afternoon Aaron was holding Jewel while getting Adam up from a nap, and Adam puked everywhere. After we got it cleaned up, I was reminded yet again what an amazing awesome man I have as I overheard him telling someone he wouldn't trade that mess for anything; he loves being a dad that much. 

That, ya'll, is a keeper.