2 months.

Our little boys have been home for two months now. Here are 20 ways that my life has changed since April:

1. One word: laundry.

2. Another word: dishes.

3. I forgot how physical life with small children is, with all the carrying and dressing and wrestling into carseats and putting to bed. Consequently, I feel wrinkled and dirty all the time. I now see why many moms look frumpy. And I’m too tired to care.

4. Our family can easily put away a 9X13 casserole in one sitting.

5. I’m hard-pressed to be able to finish a complete thought, much less a sentence.

6. I forget things. A lot. (see above)

7. I’m more refreshed by a much smaller amount of alone time.

8. I am hungry. Constantly.

9. I still read books, but not nearly as fast.

10. You probably already figured this out, but I have even less margin for clutter. For instance, I recently cleared out and dropped three big bags of books off at the thrift store (books, people! my most-prized possessions!), for no other reason than I felt claustrophobic in our living room.

11. I rarely listen to background music, either at home or in the car anymore. I canceled my Pandora One subscription. My introverted brain can only take so much noise at one time.

12. I love and appreciate my husband even more than I did three months ago. He was an amazing father of two but he’s an even better father of four. After 11 years, this is the sweetest season in our marriage.

13. I forsake my to-do list quicker and play with my children more.

14. I stay home more. I finally have time for things like making homemade kefir and a sourdough starter and puttering around in the garden each morning. Life with small children is both busier and also delightfully slower.

15. I feel so out of it with church relationships and ministry. I used to be the one who knew everyone and what was going on in their lives, and now I have to look to others to do it (and they’re doing wonderfully, I might add)!

16. Along the same lines, I’ve transitioned to a new role at CPC: that of receiving. Our church family has generously and joyfully served us in the past months and it’s been beautiful (and very humbling).

17.  I now drive a minivan. And I love it!

18. I treasure one-on-one time with any of my children so much. Having just two at a time feels like a vacation. I love the ability to have real conversations with my big kids. Also they suddenly seem so old.

19. I’m simultaneously more tired and have more energy.

20. I can hardly believe I was scared of adoption because of how hard it would be and how much I’d have to give up. Of course it’s hard. Of course we’ve had to give things up. But the joy of knowing these two precious human beings and the way they’ve changed our life makes everything else pale in comparison.

We’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.