5 Ways My Life Has Changed In 5 Years

One of my favorite lyrics from one of my favorite songs of all time is the line from the Indigo Girl's Watershed - Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good laugh.

Last week, I completed my FIFTH year of a Week in the Life and the anniversary gave me just a chance to look back and have a good laugh. As I flipped through my first Week in the Life in 2010, I was overwhelmed by how much our lives have changed. The years have passed so quickly that I haven't been able to take a step back and see that in almost every area our lives are different. 

1. Our family

We went from three to FIVE. That's a BIG DANG CHANGE. It's affected every other thing on this list. We thought life was crazy with a one-year-old, but boy were we wrong! Our lives are so much bigger and fuller and crazier with a six-year-old AND a four-year-old AND an eight-month-old. It's not always fun and it's certainly not easy, but it's our life and we love it. 

2. Our home

I've painted or redecorated every room in our house except the dining room and bathroom. Many of the changes were due to our ever-expanding family. Our family changed so our home changed with it. However, a huge part of it was I was in such a hurry to settle in five years ago I didn't take the time to figure out what I really liked. While there is upkeep that still needs to happen (hello, kitchen cabinets!), I feel like I have finally found my style and am happy with how our house looks and feels.

3. Our community

Five years ago, our circle was so much smaller. We spent time with my immediate family and a few of my friends from childhood, but that was about it. In 2010, we had two activities the entire week. In 2015, we had upwards of two A DAY. We joined a church. We volunteer on boards and with community organizations. We help at preschool school and elementary school and Cub Scouts. Between church activities and community events and time with our awesome group of friends, our schedules are bursting at the seams as to the relative calm of five years ago.

4. Work

Well, five years ago, I wasn't working and Nicholas was working somewhere else! It was only a couple of months after completing the 2010 Week in the Life that The Other Sarah asked me if I'd be interested in starting a blog and everything changed. I went from spending a couple of hours a week teaching to now spending hours and hours running this blog as well as my social media coaching business.

5. Downtime

As a result of our expanded family and responsibilities, how we spend our leisure time is very different. Specifically, we don't have much leisure time! I almost laughed out loud when I read that I watched THREE HOURS of television one night. I bet I haven't watched more than three hours of television in one sitting in a solid year or more. Maggie is the only one laying on the couch these days. We're too busy going here, there, and yonder. 

Week in the Life 2014

“...but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three on them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in a hurry to get on to the next things: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”

— Ann Quindlen

Big celebrations are fun. Christmas. Anniversaries. They all deserve their day. However, the everyday is where we live our lives and deserves to be celebrated as well. 

Every year to celebrate and document my family's everyday lives I participate in Ali Edwards' A Week in the Life. For one week, I take photos every where we go and of every thing we do. I keep receipts, make notes of our schedule, and generally document every little detail. 

This is my FIFTH week in the life. I can't believe how much our lives have changed since July 2010 when Griffin was just a baby, but I am so so glad I have A Week in the Life to help me reflect on all those changes every year. We're technically doing another one before an entire year has passed but I wanted to capture the spring and our lives with two little ones in preschool so 9 months was close enough!

Here are photos from a week in our lives. 

For more photos from a week in our lives, head to Salt & Nectar.

Week in the Life 2013: August 9

Today was a big day. The last day of Week in the Life and Amos's first haircut. Most of you may know that I have strong feelings on haircuts. However, his hair was legitimately obstructing his vision so we went in for the tiniest of trims. We also made a visit to the comic store and had a little barbecue for dinner. 

Week in the Life 2013: August 8

My camera came back just in time for a visit to the "country" to visit my Grandmother and eat the best barbecue in Kentucky (world?). An evening spent chatting it up with my Charity League girls was the perfect end to the day. 

Week in the Life 2013: August 7

My "good" camera's battery died today so I had to do a little iPhone/old camera magic. It turned out ok. We had some fun in the mall today since it's been very, very rainy here and if it's not rainy it's super humid. Otherwise, it was a good day filled with yoga, bubbles, and our first blackberry from our blackberry bush! 

Week in the Life 2013: August 6

Yesterday, we had friends over to play and had our very first tea party. It was a huge success with Batman and Captain American and Spiderman being invited along. Amos took an almost four hour nap so there was lots of reading and relaxing the second half of the day. Mimi came over for dinner and I spent the rest of my evening watching the rest of Orange is the New Black.  

Week in the Life 2013: August 5

Yesterday was a lazy day. Part of the reason I picked this week was I knew we had no commitments - no places to be. With Griffin starting 5 day a week preschool next week, I'm feeling a little sad about the loss of lazy days spent in our pajamas. I stayed in my pjs until about 4 and there was lots of game playing, iPad playing, and general lazing about. It was awesome.

Yesterday is also the day Griffin learned to photo bomb.  So there's that. 

Week in the Life 2013: August 4

We finished up our time at All Saints with a church service, some time in the pool, and a lovely picnic with our friends. Then, we headed home for family dinner with my mom and stepfather.