Monday morning brain dump

• I just updated the blog background. A little chevron always makes me smile
• I have been having the.most.adorable conversations with Kai. Three used to make me shudder. For some reason, this time around, it is the cutest age. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this is my baby… and this is the last of age three that we will experience. I don't know, but what I do know is that God blesses me daily through this kid. 
• Kai is asking alot of questions about Joshua. He went to the cemetery with me on Saturday. So.many.questions. It was good. I really enjoyed talking to him about Joshua. I want all of the boys to really know about this slice of their family history. It is more important to me than I realized. Kai kept asking "who died?", and I would explain that K was an identical twin, and that they both were born too early, and they both were very sick…  and he would respond, "oh" - almost reverently.  He would then ask a few more questions. And then he would say "that makes me feel a little bit sad." -And then he would say, "who died, mom?" ;) Love that kid. 
• I am faithfully continuing my 365 photo project, after letting it go about 9 months ago. I had forgotten how fun it was for Dave and I to peek in at what we were doing a year ago, a few months ago, (or during those really forgetful times, a few days ago). It's mainly for us, and for a neat way to document the different phases in our lives, but if you want to scroll through my 365, feel free. Click here, or on the button on the right that says "365 "photo-a-day". 
• I sometimes feel as if the very breath of God is warm against my cheek when I am seeing things through the lens of my camera. I don't know how to explain it, but I know some of you just "get" this. 
• I am leading a Bible study, "Faithful, Abundant, True", on Tuesday nights and every other Thursday morning at my church. Wow. It's good, and intense, and so exciting to teach and learn from! Yesterday it took me a couple of hours to prepare for the week. I am falling more and more in love with the Word of God. I am finding a deep passion for discovering, pulling words out, finding definitions, cultural contexts, and application. I would *love* to go to Bible school someday and continue to educate myself in these things.
• Jay is starting chess club today. he is so excited, and it makes me smile. He already beats me in chess, so this can't be good for me. 
• We are doing all kinds of home improvement projects, and they are so fun! Dave is making us an awesome headboard and bed frame. The headboard part is built and just needs to be stained/finished. It is so pretty, with a shelf on each side and lighting built into it. Of course there will be pictures soon. I am also working on decorating some old windows. The boys helped me with this initial design. I will work on the final product soon, and then figure out where to hang them. :) I love stuff like this.  And I adore the fact that the boys made those little banners on top. They had huge grins when they showed me, because much like the color yellow, and chevron designs, sweet little banners are so "me" - and how cute that they know this?! 

-Oh, and my newly painted chalkboard pantry doors are very sweet too! 

• I am working out for the first time in a l o n g time. Right now I am rotating between the 30 day shred and Pilate's. It has something to do with the fact that Dave has been dieting, had a personal trainer, and is now working out regularly. 1) I began to feel like a wuss in his presence, 2) I started to see how much better he felt and how much energy he had. So, I am trying it. I have never in my life been athletic, played sports, or worked out much. When Jay was a baby I started doing Pilate's regularly, and kept it up for a while. I definitely got stronger during that time! That's the biggest thing I am working towards. I need to build strength! After 5 babies, and years of pregnancy/nursing/being somewhat physically sedentary there is alot of work to be done. The cool thing is that I just started last week, and I already feel like I am gaining ground. Dave has been a wonderful encouragement, even working out with me. I begged him to validate the fact that I was winded and sore after the first day, and he was kind enough to say that it was fairly comparable to what he has been doing at the gym. He's so nice. ;) 
• Michigan weather is bi-polar, and it caused me a few issues this morning. Over the weekend it felt like an early spring. We all knew it wouldn't last, but it was pretty pleasant. Last night it froze. Rain turned to snow/ice. So…. my van doors were frozen shut this morning, I could barely chip away at the heavy coat of ice on my van windows, and the roads were slippery when I took the boys to school. I had to keep reminding myself of all of the things that I have been teaching and learning lately. Just yesterday I taught our 2nd through 6th graders at church about *patience*. We talked about keeping our cool under adversity and pressure. So…. when I was chipping away at the ice, could not open my doors, was trying to hold K up while doing all of this, the clock was ticking away, and I was c o l d, I had to pause and take a very deep breath before continuing on with my duties. I *almost* threw a big 'ol childlike fit over it all. Seriously, I started grumbling through my teeth and felt my blood pressure rise. Two of my own kiddos are in the class I teach, and those 4 big beautiful eyes were glued on the mommy/teacher this morning. No time off for this lady. 
• This song has been having a huge impact on me lately. All about obedience, surrender, following, being light. It's been on repeat on my playlist alot these days. 

This one has been on repeat alot too. This turns any moment into a full-fledged-hands-in-the-air-awe in-my-heart moment of worship.




Have a great week, friends!

Progress

It still has a long way to go, but yesterday was productive!

It is now functional, with a dash of cute. The additional cute will have to wait for the dry wall to be completed. Just between you and me (and this little thing called "the internet"), that could be awhile.

Our master dry-waller is a bit occupied these days.

I suppose I could do the dry wall - if it was like a life and death situation. But really, what is the likelihood of that?!

Yeah, it'll just have to wait.

Once that is done, I'm thinking the area behind my beautiful new recycling bins will be painted black, the floor will be black and white tile, the walls will be a subtle, but cheery yellow, and the windows may just have a black and white damask curtain on them.

But - until then, this family will be recycling to our hearts content!!!!

Going green (ish)

Today - I start recycling.

I know, I know - I should have already been doing this.

Really, I do know that. And I have known it for some time now. I do care about taking care of what God has given us. You just have to believe me here.

I have just had so much in my brain, on my plate, and on my calendar for the past several years that I couldn't crunch one more thing in. So, for the sake of convenience, space, and time - I threw everything away.

Well, today is the day folks! We have this little porch area leading out of our kitchen to our basement stairs that I am going to clean out and use as my recycling area. It started out a little area for our large freezer, then we added coffee grinder and file cabinet. We are in process of dry-walling this porch.

Well, it has become a problem area. A big problem. Why? You might ask.

Here, see for yourself:

Dave's tools.

Clothes that I need to bring to the Good Will.

Boxes that need to be burned (Ohhh... or maybe recycled?)

And lots of asian beetles on the window... (can I recycle them???)

 

Oh look! A freezer.

...And a tow strap.

And more clothes for the Good Will.

And some Carharts.

And, do I see some windshield washer fluid in there??

Oh dear...

 

Okay, okay - enough with the pictures.  You get the idea...

This week, this is my project. 

Not only will it be cleaned out and organized with bins for recycling, but I want it to be cute.

Oh boy.

Wish me luck.

Such joy...

I  just had to show you his face!

Wait for it...
 
It's coming...
 
The grin! (Both of them!)

Love builds

Sometimes love means hoping so much for the most independence for a sweet  little boy that he can possibly have.

Sometimes love sees a bright possibility - and follows through to make it happen.

At times that means such love  will motivate one to spend a day digging 12 deep holes, encountering tough dirt and rocks. An aching back and many hours...

It means using Saturdays - which could have been spent doing whatever he wanted to do, to work hard. Calculating angles, measuring, cutting, drilling, tasking.

Hours, and strength, and ingenuity.

He loves his little boy.

He gives me  insight into the way Jesus loves.

His little boy loves being able to go outside by himself with his walker now.

This and This and This {I am astonished by the creative post titles that are flowing out of my brilliant mind!}

Some times my blog, which started as a means to post pictures and updates for my out of state family and friends, begins to have a more "article-esque" feel than an "update on my life" feel. I like variety, I like having it be a personal extension of myself and allowing it to evolve and diversify as my life does. Some times a thought or idea hits me and I must just sit and write it out. Whether it really belongs on my public blog or not is still rather questionable in my mind, but my finger pretty much always does push that "publish" button. *Grin* If some time passes between "update" posts, I usually get a request or two from family members to get going on bringing them up to date on the newest happenings and post pictures of all that is current in our family. It is flattering to know they care - so this one is dedicated to my dear family. Really - I couldn't let another day go by with out posting because he is now doing this -

*swoon* {This little miniature man's sweetness is too much sometimes!}

And last week I did this -

Loving that I can do my hair in 4 minutes flat now!!! I don't have to blow dry or anything! Gel and a little "flipping" with the flat iron and I am good to go. PERFECT for this busy mama! And now that our bedroom project is done we can move on to the big boy room - and we are doing this - Of course I was so loving what we had done that I wasn't thinking about the implications of the sign I put up. Once I realized it I did this - What?! You think that astounded look was staged? Pfshhh.. you should've been there! I was shocked. -Guess they will have to be putting their own clothes away and making their own beds now. I can't go in there... Getting towed is SOOO embarrassing.

My favorite room in the house

For all the waiting, and putting our room on the back burner while we did other projects through out the house (Well, and had babies and stuff...), and not really loving our room so much as we waited. {in all it's dingy lavender and very little storage space glory}. Wow was it ever worth it. I have my walk in closet (Which is pretty hard to get a picture of) See in the above pictures of the "Before" - where Dave is kneeling down and pulling off wall board? - Yep, that's right where my clothes are hanging now. :) How fun is that?? And I just added a beautiful new comforter set! I'm so happy about this! I have had my eye on it for awhile, but I am cheap. So I would look at it on line, I would smile, and then look for cheaper ones. I'd always come back to this one for a little peak though - because really, it looks like some one spilled flowers on it. And that just makes me happy. And I love red. Well..... it just so happened that this comforter was on display at the store, and then bagged up and thrown in the clearance aisle. AND - the price was slashed over 50% off. I asked, and there was nothing wrong with it - plus they said they steam cleaned it before they put it in the bag. I may have had some heart palpitations. And then I may have called my mother in law, who had previously asked me what I wanted for my birthday. It is now a part of our "new" room. There are still a few things that I want to put up on the walls, but other than that our bedroom is pretty complete. Ahh yes, good good things come to those who wait. And I couldn't be more pleased!

{36 weeks}

In all of my pregnancies it has been this highly spoken of goal; 36 weeks. "If we can just get you to 36 weeks it will be safe!" I heard it when I started having pre term labor issues with the twins. No one knew how imminent labor and delivery was. Soon we were saying, "If we could only get to 28 weeks..." But we didn't even make that. With my next pregnancy we had a plan of attack. Progesterone shots starting at week 16, medication around the clock starting at 19 weeks, and slowing way down in the middle of my second trimester. -All to just get me to 36 weeks. I made it to 37. The next time around we did things very similar, but with less restrictions. -Hoping for at least 36 weeks. I made it to 38. Here we are again. Even though I know that the longer I go the better, there is still significant relief in this milestone. 36 complete weeks. Things have been pretty calm - I've had a couple of nights where I could not sleep due to contractions, but so far I am still just 2-3 cm and 75-80% effaced. It's hard to express the thankfulness I feel Knowing that it is God who has sustained this pregnancy. God who has given me the best pregnancy I have ever had with no complications. God who has helped me get this close to full term. We are amazed. We are over joyed. We are nearly giddy. We know we will meet him soon and we can't stop smiling. Oh - and we slept in here last night. Technically it isn't completely done, we haven't really moved our furniture in yet, the closet needs doors still, but we wanted to camp out any way. :) Do you remember my vision? It has been surpassed. I still have decorating to do - and I was going to wait to show pictures of the room until every thing was completely done - with shelves and pictures on the wall and every thing, but I couldn't help myself. :) It is truly the peaceful oasis that we set out to create. Oh my goodness, I can not believe how amazing it is to walk into this room, shut the door, and immediately begin to feel relaxed. One of the things that means the most to me is that Dave did it all. He did this for me, he did this for us, he worked tirelessly for hours, days, weeks, yes, now I can even say months, on end. It is so special to us!

One of those days...

The kind where you are on an adrenaline high And you feel kind of giddy... And by the end of it, your face hurts from smiling so much... And you start to think - "Oh my, I don't think I can take any more exciting good things.." THAT kind of day. THAT was my yesterday. See - I have been constantly nagging continually, and sweetly, asking Dave when we could go out and buy paint for our room. I have been SO excited about getting the color in there. But alas, many things needed to be done before the painting - and Dave didn't want to think too far ahead of all the projects which still needed to be done. So I waited, and looked at paint colors every time we were at the store, and planned, and waited.... And then early this week - those magic words "Hey Wendi, I am just about running out of stuff to do in the room before paint can go on the walls. Do you want to go buy paint with me on Thursday? Oh - and I am ready to buy carpet too." So I began to hyperventilate in excitement and did a crazy happy dance while throwing myself at him calmly said that I would look at the calender to see if Thursday was open to go paint and carpet shopping. Ends up it was. So, I knew it would be a fun day. I was also looking forward to it because it was the first Mom2mom meeting of the season (our version of MOPS). We were having brunch, which is always so, delicious!! Imagine my delight when my dear mom2mom friends surprised me with an amazing showering of diapers and sweet things for Malachi! Oh my, what a wonderful and affirming morning. I was just amazed at the generous gifting that was bestowed on us. You mommies will understand - stacks of free diapers excite me like crazy. :) After the boys napped Dave got home and we all headed out to do our shopping. It was every thing I dreamed it would be. :) We now have everything we need for our target date of completion - we hope to be moving back into our room next Friday, the 25th. And - to top the day off - upon our arrival home we found a very highly looked forward to package in our porch which contained this... A good, good day. My cheeks are still grin tired.

Just some little updates...

..Because I am finding that being in my eighth month of pregnancy does not accommodate alot of brain power. Stringing words together in a way that flows nicely is out of my reach right now. Not sure when that happened, but I'm guessing it was some time between the new morning rush and the trying to go shopping with a two and four year old while catching my breath every 5 seconds and trying to make it home before K's bus, washing, folding, and putting away tiny baby clothes, while trying to catch my breath every 5 minutes, and averaging 4-5 hours of sleep each night. So here it is. The post that takes as little brain work as possible. Updates~

School He loves it! He grins every day when the bus gets here. Last year he went to preschool on Mon. Wed. and Fri. from 12:30 - 3:30. Adjusting to every day kindergarten from 8-12 is taking some time, but he's catching on to the new routine. At first when I told him he would be going on Thursday he laughed and said, "You're teasing mom! I go to school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!" I was surprised that he remembered - because that was a while ago, but that is how his mind works. We only have three days done at this point, but I think it is safe to say this is a very good thing. Jay starts his two day preschool next Tuesday. He can hardly contain his excitement! Lil' Noe asks every day "when is MY school mommy?!" - Don't rush things baby boy. You have two more years with mommy. There is definitely a fatigue factor in this household now as we get into a structured routine. The boys had been sleeping till 9 am before school started. I thought, ever so briefly, about waking them up at 7 for a couple of weeks before school started, to get them into the new routine, but really - they were sleeping till 9. I was not going to mess with the beauty of that. So, due to every one getting up two hours earlier than they were used to, there has been a few more fits, tired tears, and some over all general craziness going on. And the boys are doing some of those things too. Since the upstairs rooms of our house are all kind of turned upside down right now, all three boys are sharing a room. I have tried to sneak in to their room and just wake K, but every morning they all wake up as I open the door. All in all, we are adjusting, it is good, and I'm sure will get even better. Baby A few little surprises here. After a couple of mildly questionable signs I decided to ask my doctor to check my cervix when I went in for my shot yesterday. Ends up things are progressing towards labor a bit. I am just about 2 cm. dilated and baby is quite low. We'll see... I have heard of women being at that stage for weeks - sometimes even a month or two. I am currently 33 weeks. My doctor and I are hoping to get three more weeks in. I am taking my medication, which relaxes the uterus, every six hours no matter what now instead of "as needed". I am trying to slow down a bit, but that's tough do in a house full of little people. Wow - check out this for appropriate timing - I am totally having a contraction right now. I have contractions from about month 4 on - so it's no big new thing, they are just really coming more frequently. - And I took my anti contraction med an hour and a half ago. This could get very interesting. Your prayers for three more weeks would be much appreciated! Oh - and my friend Cori took some amazing maternity photos for me that I can hardly wait to show you! House (specifically bedroom project) It's crazy how much "behind the scenes" stuff has to go on in a project like this. Some times it seems like Dave works for hours and nothing has changed. In reality, he accomplishes a whole lot in that time, just not stuff I can see or touch. There are just so many little details. And it takes so much time. As I have been saying "We are getting there". :) Here's just a little sneak preview of what he got done last night. This is my European oil rubbed bronze waterfall faucet that just got installed in my jacuzzi tub {insert little school girl type screech here}. I have only popped into the bed room like 3 times this morning to look at it. A little bit of plumbing still needs to be done to get this all hooked up. Then we have more plaster and sanding to do so that the new dry wall is "perfect". For real - my Dave is a perfectionist when it comes to these things. It is both wonderful and frustrating. :) Once the wall seams and corners are "perfect" we will prime and paint, then do carpet, linoleum, and trim. And then we will move in. And I can do those final finishing decor touches... makes me So happy to think about And part of the decor will be a little bassinet by my bed. And tiny little diapers next to that... And oh my, I can hardly wait!! But really, I will. And I hope Malachi does too... Okay, I've used up my thinking allotment for the day. Sorry family - I may be rather useless for the rest of the day. And it's only 9:50 am... Oh well, they have been very forgiving of my absent mindedness lately.

Not Me Monday...

(Being brutally honest, and living to tell about it...)

This week I have not felt like no matter how little/much I eat I have no control over the third trimester weight gain. I'm not concerned over it because really - that would be so shallow! I only worry about the health of the baby. Vain thoughts of my own body have no place in this beautiful process we call pregnancy. I did not put potty training Noe on hold because he started telling me he didn't want to do it, squirming off the potty, crying, carrying on... I am inflexible and structured. Since I am the parent I will always stick to my plans and rules and not take the cues from the kiddos. I do not believe that if the child isn't ready we are both just going to be very frustrated. Not me. I'm totally into cleaning up pee and poop over and over since my child is not ready to take the steps necessary to go in the potty. My endless energy encourages such things. I did not get giddy and excited over dry wall. Dry wall?? How boring. Are you kidding me? Who would take pictures of it, touch it, and smell it? Not me. Upon receiving a delivery of the tub and sink faucets I had ordered, I did not get them out of their boxes multiple times to look at them. Every one knows that once you have seen some thing, you've seen it. It's not like it's going to change in an hour. There would be no reason to get it out over and over to just look. Which is why I didn't do that. My hubby most certainly did not hang all of the ceiling dry wall by himself while ignoring watching our three very active boys during the 4 hours that I was gone Saturday afternoon. He did not tell me previously that it was at least a two person job, and he most certainly didn't reply "Well I meant a two person job for normal people" when asked about it.

I have not been singing the praises of Zantac all week. I always love being pregnant and don't ever have moments where I just want to be done. The heart burn which has kept me up for about 3 hours each night was a joy. Insomnia, and back aches are delightful to me as well. I smile through it all. I have not been dreaming about a new camera. I am always wise with our finances, so of course even thinking of such a purchase is not practical and I would not entertain such frivolity. I did not stalk Facebook today on a regular basis waiting for news of my sweet friend Amanda's new baby. If I had done so - I may have jumped off my chair and clapped when the news I was looking for caught my eye. But since none of that happened, than of course I didn't. I'm not that cheesy anyway. So, that's what I haven't been up to... I'll let you know what we have been doing sometime soon.

Update on the bedroom remodel

There was just no other way to get the dry wall and bathtub into the room but through the window. How fun is that??

Check out the lights - electricity has been this past weeks job. The ones above the tub have a dimmer option - romantic lighting. ;) Ceiling fan is in and lights and outlets are all set. Plumbing is done. The ceiling is insulated, and all new windows are installed (The one that the dry wall and bathtub went through just got installed about 5 minutes ago. :) Mr. cutie in safety glasses is all business. "Big important jobs mom, big important jobs!"

Oh we're getting there!! So exciting!

Will not let go of the vision...

If any of you have ever lived in a house while you were doing major remodeling or in the midst of building - kudos to you! You will understand how important it is to hang on to the vision of the finished product in the midst of the messy work. The dust The long hours The temporary house rearrangement that must go on while one or more rooms are being tore into The noise Like alot of things in life, big projects like this tend to get much messier before they begin to take shape. There is alot of "behind the scenes" stuff that has to go on before you see the beauty that you are working toward. Plumbing, electrical, framing, etc... And it is so important for one like me to hold on to the vision. We started remodeling our bedroom a few weeks ago. Dave grabs any little window of time that he can to work on it. That is a challenge in amongst a busy life. We knew what we were working toward in the beginning and I have to continually go back and remember our plans and then think ahead to when this will be an extremely relaxing little haven for us. But let's just say that is not an easy thing when you see this... Our house is over 70 years old. We have slowly been going from room to room - remodeling little by little. As the need arose for a nursery, upstairs bathroom, and new roof, I some times wondered if our room would ever be next on the list... It was certainly livable. And if you like a dirty lavender color, plaster patches and the worlds smallest closet, then it was a perfectly suitable room. Nothing major was wrong with it until the roof project we tackled last year left a large crack in our ceiling. And then the project commenced. I spent a few days packing every thing and moving it out (with lots of help from little boys who got incredible enjoyment out of unpacking the totes I was packing up...). And then the demolition began. Oh dirty lavender walls, plaster patches, and large ceiling crack that was beginning to show bright shiny stars from above -I will not miss you. We said good bye to the old as our room basically got thrown into a trailer out our window:We have a long way to go. There's much work to be done - but I have vision!! And you better believe I am holding on to every bit of that vision as I see the distribution of copious amounts of saw dust all over every other part of our house. As I live out of rubber maid totes in the small room that used to be Noe's. As I patiently wait... Friends - meet my vision: It's going to be warm and inviting, and above all, very relaxing. The corner jacuzzi tub and the pedestal sink have been bought. They are in our garage awaiting the time of installation - and reminding us that this will indeed some day all come together. :) The faucets, tile, and carpet have been chosen, paint scheme is in place, Walls to my new walk in closet are framed up and the frame for the tub is just about finished... We are getting there... And I have a couple of the cutest construction guys ever working on it all. :) All of this is being done by Dave and Jay. Not.letting.go.of.the.vision.