[After proof reading, this post may be TMI. However, if I’m guilty of anything, it’s probably being too transparent. Oh well.]

Morning barely peeks through the curtains of the Elrod house as Jack Hatcher pitty-pats his way across the living room, through the kitchen, and into the master bedroom where he crawls into Mom and Dad’s bed.

“Hi, Dad!”

“Hey, buddy. Lets go potty.”

Tim, eyes still closed, rolls out of bed to help the still-night-training toddler go “tee-tee” in the master bathroom. Bladder emptied and hands washed, fresh-faced Jack crawls back in bed and lets out an all-too-energetic, “Hey, Mom! Smell my hands!” Two tiny, damp hands are thrust into my face, pressed against my nose.

“Mmm, they smell good, buddy.”

“I washed ’em!”

“Good job, buddy.”

Tim is already settled back in bed and the TV pops on, Chuggington filling the screen with a loud and annoying, “Toot-toooot!” After a few minutes of snoozing, I stretch and roll over to Tim. “That was awesome. Wanna do it again tonight?”

A barely audible, “Please!” is the response.

See, life is really busy for us right now. On top of the fact that we have two kids {with one on the way}, have sold a house in three weeks with about eleven showings, three offers, and one inspection, have a contract on a house after having lost two houses {one of which we had a written contract on, the other a verbal}, and are currently packing a whole house, we are also dealing with just a busy season of life in all of the normal things! Birthdays {mine, my mother-in-law’s, and Jack’s being this weekend…can you believe he is turning three? Not me.}, Father’s Day, a beach vacation, and Tim has spent the last month of work doing his normal duties on top of overseeing the production install of our new student building at church. In other words, we are wiped. out.

Last night we had this amazing idea: When we put the kids down for bed, lets go to bed too!

We’ve said that before, but we never really stuck to it. We end up getting caught up in last minute chores, our iPhones, or more commonly, bad TV and a good snack. Not last night, though. We put the boys down, Tim washed up the last supper dishes while I wiped down surfaces and cleaned up a few clutter spots, then went through our own separate bedtime routines. The boys were down by 8:00 and we were in bed with lights out at 8:58. It was strangely wonderful going to sleep with the light of summertime dusk still coming in through the bathroom skylight, illuminating the bedroom and giving everything a blueish tint; like one of those filters you put on pictures on Instagram. We didn’t even really talk to each other, Tim and I. We just went to sleep. Nine and a half hours later, when that beautiful, blue-eyed doll pushed his lemon-scented hands in my face, I was not quite as grumpy as I would usually have been.

Seasons of life come and go. I’m sure it’s just the same with you; busy, slow, painful, happy, redundant, or all brand new. With each season, we must embrace and adjust. Today I am embracing the busy and adjusting by becoming an old fart. No nightlife for the Elrods these days. In fact, you may not even want to call or text us after 9:00 or 9:30.

Wouldn’t want to wake us. 😉

With love, Malorie