January Recap + What I’m Looking Forward to in February

Today I’m recapping our January adventures, and peeking ahead at the rest of this month!

January Recap:

Starting to settle into a routine // This was one of the big things I was looking forward to (or hoping for) in the month of January! And I have to say, while things often do change around with babies, Sophie and I have settled into a bit of a nice routine around here! We’re often up for the day between 7:30 and 8:30, and move along through the morning with sweet little rhythms of breakfast, tummy time, and play time. 🙂 I wouldn’t say that we have a rigid structure to our day, but we have nice pockets of time that I feel are predictable – and that’s comforting to me!

^^ My view when I peek into her bassinet in the morning! She is such a morning person! ^^

Meal planning // This was something else I was determined to do at the start of the year! I’m one of those people who totally wilts and gets sad (and has no idea what to make for supper) if I don’t have a plan for meals! I’m happy to say that for probably the whole month of January, I mapped out our meals each week (with the exception of date night or Sunday lunch, when I knew we could figure out something), and I grocery shopped accordingly. Friends, it has been amazing! I do well with structure, and this meal planning has helped us to save money, use food up that we already have, and enjoy some nice meals over the course of the month!

Bjorn’s change of command ceremony // Bjorn became the commander of his Army Reserve unit at the start of January! It was really special for Sophie and me to go see the change of command ceremony and support him by being there! I think you can tell she’s very proud of her daddy! 🙂

Birthdays // My birthday is January 4th and Bjorn’s is the 13th. We both turned 27 this year (yes, I’m 9 days older than him!) and for some reason, 27 sounds pretty old to us! Ha. We really are grateful for each passing year, though – each one is a gift!

Snow days // Bjorn had a teacher workday set for a Monday a couple weeks ago, and with a massive snowstorm (13 inches around here) settling in, the teachers were informed that they should stay safe at home! I was actually going to go to the teacher workshop day with Bjorn and the other teachers to get some more of my continuing ed. credits for my license, but because of the snow day, we both ended up at home cuddling Sophie and staying warm! Then, Tuesday got called off as a snow day for the school district as well. Lots of time to hang out as a family of 3! It was pretty special. 🙂

Football // We are really not into watching sports in this family; however, when the Vikings were playing in such important games, we just had to watch! Since we don’t own a TV, we enjoyed heading over to different family members’ homes a couple Sundays in a row to watch the Vikings play and enjoy fun food and company! But then the Vikings lost and our already-low enthusiasm for sports was curbed once again. Haha. We’d still like to watch the Super Bowl, though. I like to watch it for the snacks, the good company, and the commercials. 😉

New baby friends // Sophie and I have had some fun this month, meeting my friend Jordan’s new baby, Eden, and my friend Courtney’s new baby, Finley! It is so special to celebrate the arrival of a new baby, isn’t it? And Sophie and I are excited about all the future playdates we can look forward to! 🙂

^^ meeting baby Eden at the start of January ^^

^^ meeting baby Finley at the end of the month! ^^

Date nights // Bjorn and I have been a bit spoiled lately! We’ve gone on date nights 3 weekends in a row!! (What? As new parents? I know!) There are two different super cheap movie theaters around here (by around here, I mean a 40 minute or less drive!) and they are awesome! Because, who wants to pay $10.50 per ticket? Tickets here are just $4! (Then you can really feel justified spending money on pop, popcorn, and candy.) These theaters each show one movie per weekend, and if it’s a movie we want to see, it’s really fun! And we are SO grateful to have in-laws who live minutes away, who love to watch little Sophie for a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night! So, in the month of January, Bjorn and I have enjoyed a date night that involves a Mexican restaurant and a movie – several times! We’ve seen the new Star Wars movie, the new Jumanji movie, and “The Greatest Showman.” And one of my favorite things about driving out to these cheap theaters is actually the drive! I’m all about quality time, and longer drives give Bjorn and me time to catch up, talk about our daughter, of course, and brainstorm and dream together! These are great memories.

Sophie just keeps growing and growing! // It’s amazing how quickly time flies and how much growth Sophie has had in just the month of January alone! I won’t share updates here, though, because she turns 4 months old on February 16 and I’ll share her 4 month update then. If you’re interested, I already shared her 3 month update!

VIPKID // This is a new development and one I’m really excited about! I’d been hearing about this online job opportunity for a long time, and I didn’t feel quite ready to jump in until recently. The last I heard, VIPKID employs something like 20,000 people in North America as online ESL teachers! Basically, you teach English to elementary aged students in China, in a one-on-one Skype classroom setting! After praying about it and talking about it with Bjorn, I finally made the jump to apply to VIPKID one evening (actually, while we were sitting at one of those cheap theaters waiting for our movie to start!) and the interview process went from there! It’s a fairly intensive interview and training process, but I have passed all of my demo lessons and training, and just signed my contract with them! I’ve missed teaching, so it is exciting to have this chance to continue teaching during this year while I’m home with Sophie! I do have a referral link for anyone who is interested in applying, by the way! (All you need is a Bachelor’s degree.) Everything I’ve heard about this job is so positive! That’s probably why Forbes has named it #5 out of the top 100 online jobs! I’m sure I’ll update you more as I begin to teach real classes (so far, I’ve only been prepping for and teaching mock classes).

In February, I’m looking forward to:

• Time with my family/friends. When Bjorn has army training, we often stay with my parents. This gives them some  time with Sophie (who is growing so quickly!) and I can also catch up with friends! It’s always a nice trip!
• Bjorn’s long weekend. The school district has a 4-day weekend in February, and it’ll be fun to have Bjorn home with Sophie and me then! 🙂
• Sophie’s dedication. Sophie will be getting dedicated at church in mid-February. That will be a special day! (In case you’re wondering, this means that Bjorn and I will be standing in front of the church with Sophie that Sunday and making a public commitment to raise Sophie to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior as she grows up. Our prayer is that she learns the good news of the gospel and desires to serve God with her life!)

• Trying to get in the frame more. My newest photography goal is to get in more photos, especially photos with Sophie! It’s so easy for me to snap pictures of my daughter all day long, but it takes a bit more intentionality to get myself in them with her! I’ve been enjoying some tips and tutorials from Jessie Martin on Instagram – and she has inspired me! So, hopefully you’ll be seeing more photos on Instagram with me in the frame, too! 🙂

Hope you had a great month of January to start off your year! What are you looking forward to this month?