A Day in the Life...

We are trying to figure out a normal schedule/routine for the summer, which has been difficult so far because we haven't had a normal week yet (the week following vaca is NOT normal), and then yesterday was a holiday, so this week is not normal either. And next week the AC dudes come, so...yea.

Anyway, we will still try to figure it out and probably get into a routine just about the time the little man appears, only to move us out of routine for the next year. Ah well. One day.

So, I thought I would write about my normal Monday, which this week is today. I actually like Mondays, in general, because I get a lot done and there is a sense of recovery from the weekend and accomplishment.

Get-up between 6 and 6.30 and get showered, eat breakfast, get the girls breakfast started, and have a chance to sit and be quiet.

7, get the girls up, dressed, sheets stripped and beds made up with clean sheets (both the girls and mine), they are great helpers with this (usually)

7.30 head downstairs to breakfast, yummy oatmeal with sweet potato raisins and milk, followed by a piece of pb toast.

8, clean up breakfast

8.30 circle time! we talked about the month of June and how we are getting close to the baby coming, because after June comes July. Today Annelise was able to answer her catechism questions and say her Bible verse and pick out the songs (The Lord Our God, and Father Long Before Creation) because HC was in a little bit of a mood and did not want to participate.

9, laundry begins in earnest, sometimes we will go outside and weed for a while, and water the countainer plants that need it. today we cleaned the playroom, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen and folded clothes as they emerged from the dryer. Read a couple books, had a snack time, broke up a couple squabbles between the girls, etc.

11.30 eat lunch. yummy pb sandwiches with blackberry jam (almost finished with it and we will get to start eating the strawberry jam that I made from scratch and canned last week), peach, and yogurt. I had leftover Ethiopian food from our dinner on Sunday, yummy tibs, LOVE it!

12, upstairs for naptime. Annelise is now sleeping in her room, and HC is sleeping/resting in my room, since the little man's room is being painted and rearranged. Now I clean up from lunch, and sit and catch-up on emails, watch last night's episode of the Bachelorette, and then get up and get things done. I would clean the bathrooms, but the downstairs ones are clean, and I need to wait until after naptime to clean upstairs.

3, HC will get up at 3, and we will have special Mama/HC time, reading a book, or drawing something cool. Actually today she has been asking to cut up pieces of paper, so we will likely do that.

4, Annelise will wake-up, or we will get her up. Normally we would go outside and play big wheels until Dada returns home, or go to the pool, except that Tuesday the pool closes at 4. So today we are going to run back over to the produce market because they were out of cherries yesterday and Dave is craving them. And then we will prep dinner (actually I'll prob do that in a minute once I get off the computer), which is either chicken fajitas...yumm-o, OR personal pizzas with a salad and some corn (which may I add is super yummy).

5, Dinner is served, and Dave will be home at some point during the 4-5 hour which I love. And then up for bath and jammies and ready for some good singing about God before turning off the light.

6.30, Dave and I will clean up from dinner and sit and relax for a moment. Then he will get to work on some project, like making a storage box for the patio furniture cushions, or we will play a game like yahtzee, or we will sit and talk about work/life/kids. And then we will watch, with great anticipation, WipeOut, which is our ultimate FAV show that only plays during the summer.

9, lights out for us, sometimes it is earlier, but because it is Wipe Out night, we will stay up a little later to catch it. Love it!

What Happened to May?

It is May 31 and I have no idea what happened to May. We finished up swim lessons for Hadleigh and Annelise. Both did marvelously well, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to develop as swimmers. Once Annelise turns 3 they can be in the same swim class, so I'm really looking forward to that development for next spring. We bought them both floaties to use in the pool this summer which is a new thing. I have been against using floaties because I think it gives a false sense of secuity and also messes with proper technique. However, these seem to give them a little more independence and confidence in the water, and since I'm large and in charge I could really do with a little break from having them climb all over me in the water. HC did very well in her swim lessons, but seems to lack confidence in the pool with me. I guess it is easier to be brave for someone else, than with your mama. But I hope by the end of the summer things will be a little better. And, of course, Annelise is all about her independence, so watch out for that one in the water!

We also finished up school this month. I am glad to see it end and get into a summer routine, which has yet to happen, but here's to this week! I'm looking forward to some trips to the zoo, and lots of time in the pool, and some extra fun play time with their friends. School in the fall is still up in the air, we will have to see how everything pans out this summer and then make a decision. I hate not knowing what we will be doing, but it is also nice to put off the decision.

We had a little scare with our AC early in the month, but it ended up being a $50 fix (sigh of relief), but the scare led us to make some decisions about our air conditioning. We have been putting off the decision for 2 years, but it is finally time to take the plunge and get something that will better suit our house. Because we have a split level, it is hard to heat and cool the house (every level is at a different temp, so the downstairs might be 70, but the upstairs is 80, etc). After several bids we finally decided to put another ac/heat unit upstairs in our attic that will heat and cool the upstairs. I think this is a good decision, albeit an expensive one...blah! So, in light of that we needed to get an electrician to put in a sub-panel and do some rewiring (since the previous electrician wired the 4th bedroom and bathroom onto the same circuit as the kitchen...this was before our time). Now everything is in its rightful place and we are ready for the AC guys who will come in another week or so.

Now our home projects are severely limited, so this weekend we painted the little man's room, and we touched-up the hallway, and are finishing painting the doors. Past that Dave worked on the porch, knocking down a brick wall, and for Mother's Day he bought me a beautiful set of table and chairs that we are enjoying (now that they have been sealed). He also made a beautiful side gate to keep the kiddos in the backyard. It's so nice to have a handy husband!

The little man is doing well, and we are both growing at a good rate. I had been feeling well (ya know, big, but fine) until mid-week and then started having some pre-term labor. Joy! So, per the midwife, everything is still fine, but I need to keep my feet up a bit more, so that we keep this kid in the oven for a bit longer. My body is working over-time so I'm tired from all the contractions, but we will all make it. I need to make it to July because I don't need a baby younger than 38 weeks...of course all this probably insures that I will make it to 42 weeks...ah joy!

Our last big May happening was our vacation, which I will leave for another post, but let's say it was awesome, and maybe I wish I was still on it. =)

Climb, Climb UP Stone Mountain

Last Friday morning I rolled over in bed to face Dave, who smiled and said, "It's going to be a beautiful day, let's hike up Stone Mountain!" My response was something to the effect of, "when hell freezes over..." and then, "I'm not carrying anything or anyone!" For those of you non-Atlantans, Stone Mountain is a huge rock/mountain outside Atl. You can walk around it, you can take the vernicular up to the top, or you can hike the 1.3 mile trail over boulders, straight up the side of the darn thing. You can also camp there, or go fishing in the lake, in the summer you can watch a laser show where all the "locals" come out and holler about the South rising again (oh did I mention there is a LOT of history about the Confederate states and memorials about when each state seceded from the union, anyway! Now since it is all owned by Dolly Parton, there are also other amusement park-like attractions.

In any case, an hour or so later, we had the girls loaded up into the car (they were so excited) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast and then onto SMP. I was skeptical of making the climb with the girls, but I tried to trust Dave, and to my great surprise we all lived through the excursion. Hadleigh hiked the entire thing, which I found amazing because it is not easy, and Annelise hiked most of the way up and then Dave carried her on his shoulders back down. And I did not need anyone to carry me either! The nice thing is that since we were hiking with the girls, I had an excuse to go slow. And then it does make a difference when you make the hike at 8am in April, rather then at 5pm in July! I even received some cheers from fellow hikers (claps and everything), I'm sure they were secretly hoping to watch me roll down the mountain.

So I guess we can check that one off our list for the year, although I have a feeling Dave and Hadleigh will make that trip again this summer.

Pregnancy #3

The funny thing is when you are prego it seems you might as well walk around town with a sign around your neck saying, "please give me some advice, I really enjoy it when perfect strangers give me advice."

When folks see me walking around with 2 girls they are desperate to know the gender of my baby, which is fun because having a boy seems like a bit of a novelty since I have two girls already, and everyone seems to glory in that excitement with me. And then the questions/comments start...oh yea it is a boy because you are carrying low/high, wide/long (pick your flavor), etc. And then it is, oh you are gaining more weight because it is a boy, or oh your boobs are huge because it is a boy... And finally it moves to his would be personality...he is going to be mellow because he is the 3rd...he is going to be a terror because he is the 3rd.

This is all interesting to me and I just nod because they certainly don't know anything more than I know, and I don't know why folks feel a need to predict what my life will look like when he arrives, or why my boobs are huge for that matter.

One of my friends was recently shocked to hear that Annelise was late because everyone knows that ALL 2nd babies come early. My response was, "Lies! Lies! They are all lies!" Several of my friends had longer/harder labors with their 2nd child...why do we need to fill our heads with possibilities? I know I do the same thing, and I need to stop it.

Someone once told me that she willed her baby out 10 days early...well, I don't think there is a person on the planet that willed their baby out more than I willed Annelise out, and she was 2 weeks late (and I even tried castor oil).

Anyway, I attribute all my prego woes to the fact that this is my third baby, and most all the moms I've talked to have said that each prego gets a little harder (don't know how that chic with 19 kiddos does it)... I feel everything more, I definitely am bigger (not sure if I'm bigger in the belly, but I'm definitely bigger in the boobs...can't wear a lot of things that I wore last time around), and my sciatica is really giving me trouble this time around. Other than those little complaints it all seems to be going well. The little man is growing, his heart is strong, he is very active, and must have a head of hair because my heartburn is kicking it up a notch.

I'm not too anxious for him to arrive yet. I'll be happy to meet him, but I can definitely wait on it. I have big plans for the summer with the girls and I want to take full advantage of every minute I have with them before he comes. Summer will begin for us in 2 weeks and I have lots of fun things planned for us, family vacation, a nephew's high school graduation, trips to the zoo and the pool, VBS, hopefully a trip to visit a Germany friend, and then lots of fun time sitting around reading and singing and coloring and playing and building...and then my life will change forever again. Hopefully we will be able to agree on a name before he makes his debut. For now he could be named after a theologian, a hymn writer, a family member, a city...and many things in between.

Imagination

Over the past week the hallway between the playroom and our guest bedroom has become packed out with toys, blankets, animals and pillows. The girls are hard at work playing. On Monday alone they spent 1.5 hours straight in the hallway without any need for me to help them, or even break-up an argument...it has been heaven. HC told me that it is their house, and they sleep, and talk and eat there. I love it!

I occasionally enjoy doing a project with them, like dyeing Easter eggs, but more often I enjoy giving them loads of unstructured play time in the hopes that their imagination will really come alive, and it looks like it is paying off. It is so fun to watch them in their little world, cooking up something in their little kitchen, sailing on the "boat" in the backyard, and playing race cars on their big wheels.

I think this is one of the reasons I'm not enthusiastic about preschool 4 days/week for HC. I just hate the thought of her having to sit in a classroom, I imagine they will do fun projects, but wow, she will have to sit in a class for the next 12 years (at least) of her life, why start now? And I also get nervous and wonder if the reason some kids get "bored" so easily is because they are told what to do 6 hours a day and so they can't think of what to do for themselves. I don't know, I'm sure it all depends on many factors and that is why everyone has to make decisions that are best for their family and their children, and I have to make decisions that are best for us.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to some of my neighbors and the issue of preschool with HC came up. One of the ladies was a bit pushy, like well, she IS 4, she is certainly capable of going to school 4 days a week. I tried to explain that wasn't exactly the issue. She then asked is HC liked school...I tried to explain that that wasn't exactly the issue either (and HELLO, she is 4, what she likes/doesn't like is a factor, but not the most important thing, she also likes picking her nose and eating her boogers...so...).

Another argument I have heard is that I need to get HC ready for kindergarten...well, having talked to some kindergarten teachers that teach in the GA public school system, I have zero worries about HC being ready, she will be just fine if we decide to send her to public school. The same is true if we were to send her to private school, she will be just fine.

So, for now, I have both girls registered for preschool this fall, but I only plan on sending HC two days a week. And Dave and I continue to talk seriously about not sending them at all, but that decision will have to wait until the little man makes an appearance. Until then we are enjoying lots of fun playtime and lots of imagination time which is super fun.

Almost a Big Day

Sunday was a big day, not only was it Easter, but we celebrated 2 years of living in our home. This is a huge milestone to me. For the most part I have enjoyed being a home owner...besides the fact that sometimes you have to spend money on things that aren't "fun". I love our home, and our neighborhood and am continually thankful that we live here, despite our best efforts to live somewhere else.

I love that our house is a little older and has projects that need to get done. I love that we can live in it as it is and do not need to do any projects if we do not want. I love that we have lots of space to play, and have people over, and that we will never have to move because of a lack of space. I love our flat, green, backyard which is perfect for gardening and for playing. I love our neighborhood. I love going outside in the afternoon for a stroll and stopping to pet dogs and cats, and to smell flowers, and to have an impromptu playdate with neighborhood children. This home has been such a blessing to us.

I was also thinking that 2 years is the longest I have lived anywhere in my adult life, but I was slightly off. The longest I have lived anywhere is 2 years and 1 month, so on May 4 I will be able to celebrate a new milestone. It is interesting to go from being a wanderer...moving 11 times in 10 years, 2 of those across the country and 2 of those across the ocean...to being a mostly rooted person. You can almost write my address in pen theses days. But I'm certainly thankful to have ended up here, and I hope to be here for a long time.

We Belong in the Zoo!

That is an Atlanta Zoo bumper sticker you see all around town, and the zoo is one of the many reasons I like being a semi-urbanite (that seems like a decent descriptor for our current location). There are so many fun things to do in this city and many of them are within 20 minutes of our house.

This morning we loaded up the girls for a much needed Family Fun Day. We have been lacking in this department recently. Most of our Fridays have been taken up with painting, or yard work, or shopping for paint or plants. It was really nice to go to the zoo, although it was far from quiet. I thought most schools were out for Good Friday...not the case...all the schools that are not on Spring Break yet were at the Zoo...just in case you wondered.

In any case, we love just wandering around, seeing the favs...giraffes, lions, elephants, and meerkats. We don't need a map, because we know the zoo from our many excursions there, and we are not in any rush to see as much as possible, because we can always go back tomorrow if we wanted. I think we spent a good 45 minutes just feeding the parakeets, which is one of my fav things to do.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to many more trips to the zoo this summer before "Walter" arrives...it's too hot to be outside in August anyway, right?

Egg Hunt

This past Sunday was our neighborhood egg hunt, which was followed by our playgroup egg hunt, which was followed by Hadleigh's school egg hunt. I think we are good on the egg hunt front.

In preparation for our 3rd neighborhood egg hunt (the egg hunt was the first neighborhood activity we attended 2 years ago, we had just gone into contract on the house), I bought some plastic eggs at the store last week. HC was with me and super excited. When she saw them she exclaimed, "Mama, there are teddy grahams inside those eggs!" (Last year we removed all the candy and put in teddy grahams, which obviously was a big success, I cannot believe she remembered). When she realized that in actuality there is candy in the eggs, she was overjoyed. Fortunately she has forgotten about her basket of eggs and candy which is allowing Dave and I to make the swap.

We managed to squeeze the egg hunt in between two sets of rain on Sunday, one in the morning and one in the evening, but we were happy that the sun came out to greet us for 30 minutes while we chased around some eggs.

Two Projects Down...

...a million more to go, right? This weekend we finished our second big house project. The first was the front yard, the second was painting the entryway/hallway/stairway. This also included painting all the wood varnished trim, even the running boards on the stairs.

I mostly helped tape and plastic everything off because we rented a machine...sweet deal! Dave worked the machine and we had everything primed and painted the first day. The second day we worked on the trim...this actually was one of our biggest projects (in theory), but it went fairly smoothly and fairly quickly. Yea! And it looks awesome. It is a grayish-green color, so sometimes it looks a little more green than gray, but whatev, I like it.

I am also convinced that having all the white on the trim and running boards makes the upstairs hallway a lot brighter. Dave just thinks it is brighter because we replaced a burned-out light bulb. We'll see.

I was also able to go through all my bins of girls clothes and sort. I sorted out all the clothes that a boy could wear...all those green and yellow jammies and onesies, and I sorted out the girls' current clothes. This is such a pain, but glad it is done. Now if it can just stay warm for a while, I will put up all their winter clothes. This week I hope to plant some flowers on our porch...thinking about a lot of coneflowers...hopefully Mom will help me pick something cool out. And finally Dave and I need to decide if we are going to move HC and Annelise into Annelise's old room (which is pink) or if we are going to paint Annelise's old room...quick decide!

The Elf Goes Swimming

I love my girls, but it is hard to imagine having two children who are more different from one another. Annelise made a big splash when she came into this world, and I continue to be surprised by her little personality. I could say the same thing about Hadleigh, it is so interesting to see how she continues to develop in temperment and personality.

This year Hadleigh has been in preschool 2 days a week, and Annelise has been in preschool 1 day a week. Since September I have been attending a women's Bible study on the day that Hadleigh was in school, and Annelise as with me. That has been great, but a couple weeks ago I decided that it might be fun to spend some quality time with Annelise. So, I enrolled her in a swim class...and since she is 2 I am getting in the pool with her (large prego in bathing suit...ugh...all in the name of bonding). She LOVES it. We have only had 2 classes, and yet talks about swimming at least once a day. We are going to a real swim club, which I love because the teachers are very knowledgeable and teach the kids correct technique. They do lots of little activities with the kids which really helps them adapt to the water. Already Annelise has shown great progress and this last week our instructor gave her harder activities because she is definitely ready.

Of course I was a swimmer, so I love that she is so anxious to get in the pool, and take instruction and swim. I'm hopeful that Annelise will really be swimming by the time our pool opens up, and I'm also hopeful that will motivate Hadleigh to step up her game. HC will be taking swim lessons later this spring. She did really well last year, but she is just more timid...it's good to have a little fear of the water, but I really want her to have the skills she needs for the summer.

One of these days I'll get a picture of the munch in her swimsuit...she is SO cute!

Enjoying the Sun

Yesterday we ran outside because it was absolutely gorgeous. We have had a lot of drab, dreary, rainy days recently, so any hint of the sun is worth the run outside. It is gone again today, but hoping it will be back for the weekend.

Big wheels in the front driveway are the activity of choice these days. I also try to be a bit persuasive here, because I can sit down for this activity (doesn't involve me pushing on the swings, or spotting the girls as they climb up to the slide...hoping I will get over that soon).

One nice thing about dreary days is that it is easy to just stay inside and get things done. Things like spring cleaning! I'm checking things off my master list and feeling majorly accomplished. I'll likely be doing summer cleaning again in July before the baby comes...gotta love nesting! But anyway, a lot of areas of my house have been cleaned and rearranged, so I'm feeling cleansed of dust...although we still have some strong holds...read MAN ROOM...and CLOSETS! But I did clean the laundry room this morning so dust mites BE GONE! Annelise is walking around the house with her vacuum, which is very helpful.

My parents make it to NJ tonight which means in 6 days they will be here for a month. We have a couple lists of things that we hope to get done while they are here...including getting away for a much anticipated "babymoon"...it's all a surprise, which is much easier on me, thanks Dave!

One Long Post

I could make this post into four different topics, but think I will just leave it in one long post format...unless pictures become irritating. Somehow loading them up with blogger has become a bit of a bear. Actually loading is fine, it is arranging them that is mostly painful! I'll write about our events in chronological order.

Landscape

In January Dave and I made our to-do list for the house for this year, and at the top of the list was the front yard. We thought this would be a fairly fun, fairly inexpensive (as opposed to a new kitchen) project. Coupled with the fact that I had begun to feel better and Dave really wanted to rent an excavator, we decided that would be our first project of the year. One of our friends had used a local master gardener and so we gave her a call and began working with her to come up with a design that would fit our style, as well as the style of our house.

So we set aside one weekend, which happened to be the only weekend in February when it wasn't snowing, raining or just overall cold and nasty, and we set to work. Dave used the excavator to pull out three HUGE laurels (just the rootball of one weighed about 200 pounds), we ammended soil, transplanted some jasmine and camelias and pulled up grass, which is a serious job. And then we planted, and mulched, and laid sand with flagstone edging around each bed. Wow. It is actually finished now (it took a little longer than one weekend, and then we ran into a bit of rainy/snowy weather), and looks fabulous. I would have a final picture, but it is raining today, so I cannot run outside to get a full view shot. We planted some italian cypresses, and arborvitae, crape myrtles, knock-out roses, maiden grass, rosemary and lots and lots of dwarf boxwoods. All in all it really looks fabulous and gives our home more of a mediterannean feel, which is good, because it is sort of a med house.

Baby

I am now somewhere around 22/23 weeks prego, which is insane. I finally was able to wean myself off the meds I was taking, and have been meds free for about 3 weeks, which is fab. We also founf out that we will be having a little boy in July. We are excited (although as long as it was really a baby and not a lemur we would have been excited anyway it went), and are now trying to come together on a name, of course that will be for us to know and the world to find out in July...we still like to have some surprises, besides once the baby has been named you can only tell your neighbor how horrible the name is, I do not need commentary while trying to decide.

Now that we know we are having a boy, I am starting to think about the baby's room, which is fun and bizarre. I obviously was not thinking about a 3rd child when we moved into this house because we painted Hadleigh's room blue (which Hadleigh and Annelise now share) and Annelise's room pink, with a red wall. I love the girls' blue room, and since Dave made the girls' beds it is nearly impossible to move them into the pink room...so we need to paint the pink room. I have picked out some bedding that I like for when he moves into a big boy bed, so I'm going to use that to help me decorate his room. I don't think I will get new crib bedding, I mean, do I really need to? I have red and green sheets, and these days you aren' suppose to use a bumper because of SIDS, so...I'll keep that money in my pocket.

Girls' Weekend

The last weekend in February I was able to fly up to Indiana to visit with my college girl friends. The major bummer was that one of the gals did not make it because of the blizzards in the northeast. We were super sad because we are all prego two of us with our third child and one of us with our fourth, but alas we are looking forward to a July 2011 get-together once we have all weaned our little ones. In any case it was relaxing and fun to be away for a weekend.

ER Visit

Last Wednesday was an eventful day in our household. I was hosting playgroup to celebrate HC's birthday and we had 7 mamas and 14 children over for the morning. After lunch and cake the kids decided to go outside to play on our new swingset. There were a couple moms outside, and I was inside rounding up a couple more kids to go out, when I heard several moms call for me, and Annelise, who was crying and bleeding was thrust into my arms, by another mama who had seen her fall off the second step of our swingset and cut her head on a paver in the ground. Unfortunately we did not have a nurse among us, but we did the best we could. I started ordering people around, grabbing wet paper towels to clean off her head so I could see what exactly was going on. As I did (sorry) blood started squirting everywhere, so I held those towels to her little head and one friend called 911 and another called Dave and we waited for the paramedics to arrive. Annelise finally calmed down and the firemen (thank God for firemen) looked at her head, by that time a lot of the bleeding had clamed down and they said she should be fine to be driven to Childrens' Hospital for stitches.

You cannot see her stitches, but her hair is greasy from the neosporin we have been putting over the stitches.

One mama volunteered to drive me and Annelise (so that I could keep pressure on her head), and another mama voluteered to stay at the house with her kids and Hadleigh, so we were off to the ER. After about an hour of waiting, Annelise was running around the waiting room, totally happy and content. Fortunately Dave made it in time for the stitches, although Annelise was a total trooper, I do not do that well with that kind of thing. He held her hands down and she and I sang songs while the doc stitched her up. The Doc was quite amused by the situation, I mean what 2 year old sings "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Praise Ye the Lord" while getting 4 stitches? She is fine and on the mend now, although I have had several nasty dreams about the whole situation. I was fairly calm and put together when it happened, but the next day I basically cried the day away. Dave is going to take her stitches out later this week, so we'll see how that goes. Now we are officially broken into the ER, since this was our first visit...I think I would have rather had an ear infection or something, but I suppose after 4 years with nothing we needed to go out with a bang. And of course, I am ever so thankful and indebted to my wonderful mama friends who took care of us that day. It was chaotic, but in retrospect I am glad that everyone was there with me.

Hadleigh Claire's 4th Birthday

Hadleigh's birthday was on Sunday, she is 4. Four seems old to me, and she continues to seem old. Dave's parents were able to come down for the weekend to celebrate with us, which was fun. It's always nice to open presents with Grandpa and Grandma in person.

And then on Sunday afternoon we had 3 little friends come over to play. The kids played outside and then we had burritos and guacamole for dinner. Dave made a leaf cake for her, because she requested to have a "fall party with yellow, red and orange." Apparently the fall party at school made quite an impression on her, so that seemed easy enough to do for her. She had a great time and topped it all off with sleeping in panties that night. So far, so good. After all the potty issues we have had with Hadleigh it is nice to have a smooth transition, we will see if it lasts.

Other House Projects

Now that the landscape is done we have moved onto a few other house projects. One of our neighbors has a friend who works as a house stager and home decorator, and we had called her last fall to get some opinions on what color we should paint our house (the outside, which we never did, but we did like her suggestions). We had a couple other projects that we wanted to work on inside and I have felt nervous about color selection recently and just want to get the right paint color the first time. So, we hired Kelly to come back and help us make some decisions. The main project is our entryway/stairway/hallway. She came last week and was able to give us some great ideas for entryway tables and rugs with just enough info in my head that I felt confidant to make all the other decisions. We found an awesome table at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so that saved a bundle, and then got a new frame and mat for a painting Dave had given me after our first fight, 7 years ago. It was fun to visit Home Goods and Hobby Lobby and get some great deals, so besides paint, that is done (we did however settle on a color, but will wait to paint until my parents get here at the end of March). We also decided to have her come back and Redesign/Stage our family room. We have rearranged that room a dozen times and just have had a hard time coming up with the right configuration. She came over yesterday while I was out, took all the pictures down, everything off the bookcase, and all the furniture out and then decided on how to arrange it as she brought it back in. I love it! She had picked up a couple things that we knew we needed, like a couple of throw pillows and two lamps, but that was all I had to purchase in order to make my room look great. Well, we also decided that I need to get a large mirror for over the couch, but that is it. I'm so happy, it is so open and feels large. There is lots of room for the girls to play and it feel clean and simple. The perfect place to sit and read and entertain. Love it!

That is about it, enjoy the pictures.

Snow Days

Last Friday it snowed in Atlanta. I mean, it really snowed. About a month ago it "fake" snowed, it was a light dusting that was more ice than snow, and the "snow" was not good for anything, useless for making a snowball or snowman, etc. We did not even go outside and play in it, we just drove around in the ice and did donuts. =)

In any case, it really snowed on Friday, which was so much fun! I love the snow. After naptime we bundled up the girls in all their crazy mismatched snow gear (thank gooness for a recent bag of hand-me-downs that contained a snow-bib outfit for Annelise) and went outside. The girls had a great time helping Dave make an 8 foot tall snowman, swinging on the swings and going down the slide, eating the snow, and throwing snowballs at one another.

Saturday was super fun too because the snow stuck around in the morning, and we made another snowman, snow angels, and just enjoyed walking around in it.

It is always a fun change of pace around here to get some snow. It does make me miss our days in Germany, though our last winter we got enough snow to last me a long time. But then again, it is winter, I figure it should snow! It makes spring more enjoyable when we have had a good winter. And now that we have had our god snow, I'm hopnig that spring is right around the corner!

A Look at the Week

This is not terribly fascinating, but thought I would jot down a look at my week, this week. Now that I am starting to feel better I am able to get out of the house more, yay, and think about things other than how terrible I feel and how happy I'll be when it is all over.

Today. We are sticking around the house. First because we usually stick around the house on Mondays, but also because Dave accidentally ran off to work with HC's carseat...so not going anywhere fast. We changed all the sheets, are in the process of doing all the laundry, made cookie dough for a V-day party at HC's school, cooked my 2nd to last pumpkin that I have left from the fall, mixed up dough bread that I will bake for dinner tomorrow, and played outside (oh and I did manage to squeeze in a shower. phew. I think I'm mostly done for the day, but still need to cook dinner, Indonesian PB chicken...yum...

Later this week.
Going on a field trip with HC's class to the post office. Wowee. Register my girls for preschool, even though I probably will not send them in the fall (this is a just in case this baby is INSANE and my life is INSANE move that I'm hoping we will not have to use). Having a friend over for dinner. Going through prego clothes and figuring out which of the borrowed ones I will actually wear, and putting all my normal person clothes away until July. Finish my reading for Exodus, the fun Bible study I am in this semester. Grocery store. Have Dave sign and send back our business taxes. Waiting for our last form so I can send in our taxes...the sooner we do it, the sooner we get our money back. Stare at the rug in the entryway that we might be keeping, and wait for the 2nd rug to arrive so we can compare/contrast, and plan what color we will paint the entryway...yay (our project for March). Meet with the master gardener one last time (our Feb project) to plot out the new beds for our front yard which we will be planting next weekend (anyone want to help us?). She is also going to give Dave a lesson in pruning and caring for our exisiting plants/trees, etc. Finish opening all our Christmas cards, since I was too sick to think about it in December. Go to playgroup. Bake regular bread, bake pumpkin bread, bake cookies, and I'm sure some other things. Wait anxiously to find out if our friends will be able to move into the house across the street from us.

Yea, guess I'm feeling better.

My Annelise

Hadleigh has gotten a lot of press recently, so I'm going to write about Annelise, my little munchkin. "Munch" is one of her nicknames, along with "Anna" and "Lieska" and occasionally I'll call her "Elf" (after the angry elf from the movie).

I swear she is 2 but should be 3. When you ask her about her age she claims to be 7, maybe in elf years. I think she is a genius, but I suppose every mother thinks that about her children, but no really, Annelise is one smart chick. It's not everyday that you meet an 18 month who wants to give up diapers entirely. Everywhere we take her caretakers remark about her. She is fairly articulate, so we don't have the communication troubles that we sometimes had with Hadleigh. And she just seems to carry herself like a little person and not like a toddler.

She LOVES her friends, loves going to school and playgroup. She plays with all Hadleigh's buddies at playgroup and most of them seem to accept her as one of their own. She talks about each friend and what she likes about them. She has a little shy streak in her, but she is much more outgoing and daredevil like. She loves talking on the phone and singing to folks on the phone, and she has a wide range of songs she likes, from "Away in a Manger" to "Doh a Deer". Annelise and Hadleigh are very close and A misses H terribly when they are apart. It is super sweet and makes me doubly happy to think about how well they get along together when I think about the possibility of keeping both of them out of preschool next year (still trying to decide about that).

She loves doing things by herself and helping out around the house, which both girls are good at. She is great at entertaining herself and both girls can play for a long while together without needing me. Annelise is growing to enjoy books, which is really nice, and I love having the time to just sit with her.

Annelise is starting to memorize some scripture and repeats it back with such fervor and enthusiasm, and she always asks to pray.

Annelise has always had a will, and it does pop out from time to time. She seems to be pretty sly about it, but we are onto her. Several things have gone by the wayside since I have been prego and sick, including cooking, cleaning and discipline. Now that I am feeling better we are having to do some serious reminding about the rules of the house. The whining is the worst, it just seems to come on hard and then go away for a while. But at this point Annelise seems to just go along with the rules of the house. She pitches a fit every now and then, but most of all is a very amiable little girl.

She LOVES the baby in my tummy and always asks if she can say hello. I love that. My other favorite recent saying of hers is "thanks SOOO much" which she always exclaims after I give her a drink or something to eat, or something else that she has asked for. I love it.

So that is the update on my little munch. She will only be the littlest for 5 more months, and I intend to treasure every moment.

Flashback

In 1993 I spent the summer in Mozambique, Africa. It was an insane trip. Getting there took us about a week. We flew from the states to Ireland, to Russia, to India, to Zimbabwe. Then we got on a train tot he border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Then we got held up at the border for 12 hours, which is not a place you want to hang out. THen we jumped into a covered truck and drove 2 hours in the night to a missionary compound. We had fire bombs thrown at us...did I mention Moz was in a state of civil war? And when we arrived at the compound they told us 2 months ago they had been kidnapped by rebels and held hostage. NICE! The next day we got into another truck and drove the rest of the way to Beira, Mozambique (with a UN escort).

We stayed in a YWAM facility that had a school and clinic for street children. Our job for the summer was to help refurbish the building to house missionaries and street children. It was kind of insane. I think I washed my clothes twice during the 6 weeks we were in the country, and we took bucket baths (with 1 gallon of water per person) about every 8 days. It's fun to be 16 and not care.

Anyway, I made tons of great friends on that trip, and on Saturday I was able to reconnect with one of my good friend, Chris and his wife Carrie and their newly adopted children, Mykah and Jackson. The last time I saw Chris and Carrie was in 2001, which is insane. It was actually before they even hooked up and married which all happened in 2002. Since then they have been busy, he finished med school, went back into the Army and is doing his residency in HI, and they now have 5 children. Their other 3 stayed out in HI, but Chris came out to Atl to meet Carrie who was flying in from Swaziland with their other 2 children, after a 2 month, intense, adoption trip.

Now they are all united back in HI and I am sure the fun is just beginning. In any case, it was super fun to see my old buddy, Chris. One of these days our two fams are going to hook up for a mission trip, with Dave as a dentist, Chris as a doc, and Carrie as a nurse, we should be unstoppable. I am not sure what I will do, though I said I was NOT going to take care of the kids.

I Used to Care...

Sometimes I still do care what other people think about the different things I am doing, but a lot of times I am just happy to do my own thing and let everyone else do theirs. I think I have the responsibility to make decisions that are best for my family and my children, and I would think that everyone else is doing the same thing. If I don't want to do something, I'll probably just tell you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, or that I think you are wrong for doing it, it just means that I'm not doing it. (I must mention here that while there are some things that I really don't care what others think, there are some things that I really DO care what others think...I'm not totally ice-man.)

It's no surprise that these days I'm a little more emotional than normal. I get a little more worked up about things than I normally might, and I care a little more about things than on an average day. I'm fragile. But last week I got some news that pushed me over the edge...wait for it...it is earth-shattering news...I have to find a new preschool for my girls. Ugh! This fall, our current preschool is only offering one option for children who are 4. The option is to go to school for 4 days. And for my family that is too much.

Everyone has their own reasons for sending their kiddos to preschool, but mine go something like this...I just want one morning a week where I have the opportunity to go to the grocery store alone, or get a pedicure alone, or sit in my house and read a book alone, or clean the house and cook alone (which I used to do before I got prego). And I want my girls to go to a place where they can play outside, do some fun art projects, sing some fun songs, and enjoy being kids. I do not care about curriculum, I honestly do not expect them to learn one thing (it always seems to surprise me when I realize that they learned something), not because I do not want them to learn anything, but because that is not why I am sending them to preschool. I am confident that Dave and I can teach them everything they need to know at this point. So learning is not important to me (right now). So, if that is my motivation, why in the world would I want my girls to go to school 4 days every week?

I totally freaked out when I realized that was the only option, because I knew for us that would not be an option. And then because we do not know what we want to do for future schooling for the girls, the whole situation was blown out of proportion. You know the drill, Dave and I are sitting on the couch after the girls are in bed. I'm retelling the situation...crying...asking him if I'm a good mother...and it deteriorates from there. We have since found a decent option with another preschool where I will have sign up both girls for 3 days, but (since Dave has Fridays off) I will only be sending them 2 days. Because we have to register in a couple weeks we will go ahead and try to get the girls in the classes (though it is a pretty popular preschool, so I am not fully confidant that we will be able to get into the classes). If we cannot get in, we will try to get on the waiting list, and see what happens. And in the mean time I'm going to start thinking about what life might look like if both girls are home with me and the baby in the fall. Who knows, maybe that is the best scenario for our family?

News, News, News

Before I write any more, I must finally write about my most pressing news. We are having a baby. Thank goodness that is finally out there because I have had to wait a LONG time, so it feels, to write that news. We are very excited to be welcoming another McShnazzy into the world sometime during the month of July, the earlier, the better in my mind...whoever made up having to wait 42 weeks for a baby was a very sick person, and I hope that I will never have to do that again. The funny thing is we have been met with some pretty funny (in my mind) remarks/questions. Of course everyone is excited, and then maybe feels like they need to ask additional questions about the matter, such as, "was this planned?" OK, that is just a little weird to me. I mean, maybe if it is obvious that there is a reason why someone might not have wanted to get prego, like they are finishing their PhD and are due the week they are defending their disseration, or something like that. The other thing it seems to imply is that I can plan these things...and while I realize there are things I can do to prevent such things and also to try to make such things happen, I do not think I can make a baby appear inside me, no matter how hard I plan or do not plan. I am sure there are some women who can do this, but I am not one of them.

The other comment I continue to receive is about this baby coming in July, which might not be that big of a deal in other parts of the country, but for anyone who has lived through a Georgia summer, it is hot and humid and well, hard to be prego during these months. I really do not care when I have a baby, and my general response has been, if I had not wanted to be prego during the summer I should just not have sex from September-December. I mean...it's fairly simple to figure out.

The final thing we generally hear is, are you hoping for a boy? Well, that is a loaded question for me. I love my girls, and I certainly do not wish they were boys. I highly doubt that I will burst into tears at my ultrasound if they tell me I'm having another girl. I will be thrilled with another healthy baby, no matter what kind. However, if I never have the opportunity in my life to be Mama to a boy, I will be sad. I would like to have that experience, I would like to have my girls have a brother, and I would like Dave to be a Dada to a son. But, we are not "trying" for a boy, we were trying for a baby. If we were certain we wanted a boy, we would have fostered to adopt, or found some other situation where we could be fairly certain we would receive a boy.

Anyway, enough ramblings about that. The girls are thrilled to death about the baby, which is a fun experience I did not have when I was prego with Annelise. I was just happy when Hadleigh showed up to the hospital, pointed to Annelise and said, "baby!" Thank goodness she knew what that was! So this is a new experience for us as a family and a super fun one too.

I myself am usually sick and feeling foul around this time of pregnancy, and this one is no different. I have opted for medication this time around which is helping, while it is helping me keep everything down, I am still really tired, and have little energy for anything other than sitting on the couch. I have found that as long as I sit on the couch all day I feel great, but the more I get up and move around and do things, the more I feel puny. So, we are doing a lot of sitting, reading and watching movies these days. The girls have been great and understanding, and Dave, as always is incredible. He is holding down the housework/laundry, etc. And Dave's mom brought 25+ frozen homecooked meals with her when they came to visit, so we have been enjoying some wonderful food (including cheesecake cookies and cherry pie and banana bread). She is incredible and it has been a wonderful blessing to have a freezer full of food during this time.

And now I must spend some time with Hadleigh before Annelise wakes up from her nap.

Books for 2009 and 2010

I must admit that I am probably not going to be able to list all the books I read this year, because I simply cannot remember some of the things I have read. For example I know I read "Cocktails for Three" by Sophie Kinsella, and I know I read a couple other boks of hers, but cannot remember the titles. Ah well. In any case, here are some of the books I read this past year in no particular order. I'll only comment on a few of them.

2009

Prince Caspian
CS Lewis

The Prodigal God
Tim Keller
I enjoy Keller so much and can read anything he has written and will listen to any sermon he has preached. I love his Bible studies and have done most of them. Of all current theologians, he is my absolute fav.

Total Money Makeover
Dave Ramsey
I LOVE Dave Ramsey. I wish I knew about him when we lived in Germany and were getting out of debt. We have been debt free (besides the house) for 2 years which has been awesome. I used his method of envelopes before I knew about him and even on a tiny budget we were able to pay off thousands of dollars. I love not being bound to financing every little thing, and the freedom that comes from not having a bunch of bills. I look forward to the day when we pay off our home, which we hope to do in the next 15 years.

Don't Make Me Count to Three
Ginger Plowman
Best parenting book I have read to date.

Remember Me? and Cocktails for Three
Sophie Kinsella

Cost of Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Hard stuff...good stuff.

My Hands Came Away Red
Lisa McKay

The Well Trained Mind
Susan Wise Bauer
Love her, love this book, and plan to read more of her this year.

Heaven
Randy Alcorn

Wild Swans
Jung Chang

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Soctiey
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Prob my fav fiction of the year. Very fun read.

Making Small Groups Work
Cloud and Townsend

Family Worship: In the Bible, in History, and in Your Home
Donald Whitney
Eh...not so much...if you want to read it borrow it from me.

Nurture By Nature: How to Raise Happy, Healthy, Responsible Children throught the Insights of Personality
Paul Tieger

Motherstyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths
Janet Penley and Diane Eble

The Unlikely Spy
Daniel Silva

Read with the Girls

Little House on the Prairie
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Milly Molly Mandy
Joyce Lankester Brisley

Winnie the Pooh and The House on Pooh Corner
AA Milne

Mary Poppins
PL Travers


2010

Animal, Vegtable, Miracle
Kingsolver

Hidden Art of Homemaking (need to finish)
Edith Schaffer

The Well Educated Mind
Susan Wise Bauer

The Unfolding Mystery of Christ (need to finish)
Ed Clowney

Case for Civility
Os Guiness

What is a Family
Edith Schaffer

Unfashionable
Tullian Tchividjian

Counterfeit Gods
Tim Keller

Something by Charlotte Mason

The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading
Jessie Wise

Praying the Scriptures for Your Children
Jodie Berndt

A Year with Your Children in the Bible
Jim Cromarty

With the Children on Sundays
Sylvanus Stall

Julie and Julia
Julie Powell

My Life in France
Julia Child


Read with the Girls

Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan
EB White

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum

Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame

The Story of Dr. Doolittle
Hugh Lofting

Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling

Miss Hadleigh Claire

It's been a while since I have done my girlie updates. It seems like the first couple of years there are so many new things to document, and then after 2 it just slows down a bit, so I suppose now that I have two children over two years old (who the heck made that up?) I'll just let these updates be slower in coming.

In eight weeks, my little miss will turn four years old. Somehow four seems very old to me, like you are a real kid when you are four, dude you are almost ready to start kindergarten. Crap! I remember when HC was little it was so hard to figure out what she needed sometimes, was she tired, or hungry, or sick, or cutting a tooth? I thought it would be so nice to get to an age when I can actually know what is wrong and why.

Well, we should be at that age, but I am now convinced it just takes a LOT of work, time and effort to know your children. Last night, Dave and I spent all evening talking about Hadleigh, why do you think she does this, when she does that how should we handle it, how do we help her grow and develop, etc. The nice thing is that between the two of us we were able to answer a lot of questions, but it made me think how important it is for me to really know my girls and to treat them according to how I know them. Tiredness. So for better or worse, here are some things I know about my little girl.

She is really shy. Once she is comfortable in a situation, her shyness goes out the window, but it takes a while for her to feel comfortable. She never walks into a room and exclaims her presence. She doesn't walk up to kids on the playground and ask them to play with her. She will only timidly walk into her Sunday school class, though she loves it. But if one of big friends or little friends comes over to play, give her 2 minutes and she will be telling them all about something important, or will be showing off her ballet move. So, while she is shy, she is very extroverted in nature.

She has a hard time ordering things. I am wondering if part of this is just developmental, but I also think part of it is her personality. For example, if this afternoon I asked her what we did this morning, she would not be able to tell you. After some prompting she could would come up with the answer, but on her own forget it. After lunch I have been reading LIttle House on the Praire to her, and she LOVES it. She always says, "we have to read Laura and Mary and baby Carrie, what's going to happen?" After I read the chapter I will ask her about what we just read, and she will not be able to tell me what happened in the chapter. Yesterday this was really frustrating me, and then I started thinking that her mind works randomly, like her mind makes random associations and those are stored in her memory. The other day before we started reading she asked what was going to happen and then said, "maybe Santa Clause will come again" (which we had read about a few days prior) "or maybe there will be a scream in the night" (which had been the chapter before. So, she is obviously remembering what we have read in some way, but cannot seem to recall the information in the order that I want her to. I have noticed more and more how random she is, especially when I sit down and talk to her during potty time. The things she talks about are wild, jumping from one thing to another...oh the child is just like me. So it is nice to have a little bit of understanding about her brain when I get super frustrated about her not being able to recall something. I told Dave last night, the child can memorize whole passages of scripture in a couple of days, remember all the words to every song she has ever heard, but she cannot remember what she did this morning...how does this work? It's nice to have some thoughts about it now.

We talked about many more things about Hadleigh, and while at first it was tiring, it also became fun to think more about who she is as a person and how we can help her grow up and develop her loves, and talents. I love my sweet Hadleigh.