Ketchup and eggs

Random video of a super fun game (?) the boys made up all by themselves. Just cause it's awesome.

We've kept pretty busy the last couple months.

For Christmas I gave Nathan "a year of dates," which meant I have a date planned and paid for every month this year. In January we went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Cincinnati Museum Center. It was very cool... they had an immersive dramatic monologue, tons of artifacts from Bible times, and, of course, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was pretty awesome to see.

In February, we spent a night in a cabin at a retreat and ministry center called King's Domain. We got to spend time relaxing in the cabin, and enjoyed dinner out and a movie.

In March, our date was to the Cincinnati Museum of Art. It was awesome to see a ton of awesome art (and some not so awesome art, of course). Our favorite piece was a Van Gogh painting I'd never seen before called "Undergrowth With Two Figures." Sort of creepy, and with all the vividness and intensity Van Gogh always brings. Love his work.

April's date will be a viewing a play at Miami University in Oxford, OH.

In February we made it down to Nashville to visit Allie, Rachel, and Jake. We had a great time, as always! One of the highlights was feeding the ducks and other water birds.

In March, we attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Jennifer! It was a 1920's theme, so we had fun dressing up, enjoying the amaaazing food, playing Apples to Apples, and having a Nerf war... in heals. It was so much fun!

We got to take Desy sledding for the first time since we got a couple good snows this year!  He didn't have much of a reaction... but he liked eating and throwing the snow! The rest of us had a good time, anyway!

We met Jake and Rachel in Louisville for a very patriotic, very COLD photo shoot! But the pictures turned out cute, and the company was good, so it was a great day :)

Of course, Easter was in March this year! We went to church, had ham for lunch (of course!), and the boys had an egg hunt in the back yard. Nana and Papa even left a box of goodies to open!

Last weekend I went to the Great Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati with 5 friends! We had an awesome suite at the Hyatt right across the street from the convention center (which was awesome. SO convenient.). All of the sessions I attended were super encouraging and helpful- I'm looking forward to teaching my boys. We also got to listen to Gianna Jessen speak (whose life inspired the movie "October Baby" ...yes, she actually survived an abortion), and laughed til we cried watching Tim Hawkins. It was a really great weekend! (the second picture is of the HUGE exhibition hall with all the vender stalls. Crazy overwhelming!)

This week I got to realize an (almost) lifelong dream of mine... I got my own chickens! OK, laugh if you want. I understand. ;) I'm just so excited that I get to do something that I've wanted to do since I was a kid! I got my chickies at Tractor Supply on Tuesday, April 9. They're all red, but are different/mixed breeds. So I probably have some Rhode Island Reds, Red Sussex, Red Commets, etc. I didn't really care as long as they weren't white... I just don't like white chickens. Haha.  So far they seem happy and healthy. We're working on building a coop, but Nathan has been sick ALL WEEK with some nasty virus so we haven't gotten very far. I'm hoping he's finally on the upswing!

So! That's life right now. Hope you enjoyed the ketchup... eggs coming soon!

Desmond - 8 months old - and February

My little one is 8 months old already! He's getting so big! ...I don't know how big exactly because he's not due for a checkup for another month, but I think he's growing very well.

He was sick this last week... had a pretty bad fever for about 3 days, then as soon as the fever went away and he started acting a little happier he broke out in a rash! Thankfully that meant it was just Roseola, and the rash went away within a couple days and he's finally back to his old happy self. It was so nice to hear him laugh a lot today after a lot of grumpy days.

Desmond got his first tooth! I'm wondering if the one beside it will pop through soon too. He's starting to scoot forward a little so I think he'll crawl before too long. Right now he can get most everywhere by rolling :P

Being sick really screwed up his sleep, but even before that he was waking up at least once a night. Usually twice. Still not sure what the best plan is to get him to sleep through the night.

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Sorry I haven't posted in a month! Shameful, I know. So let's flash back...


This is the blanket fort I made for Nathan on Valentine's Day. We had a fancy picnic inside. Nathan loved it :)

Orion loved it too. When he saw the fort he said, "Wow! It's so nice!" Haha, not sure where he got that phrase but it was hilarious.

And these are the flowers Nathan got for me. He picked out each flower himself. I loved them :)


The boys and I made these Valentines. I totally stole the idea from Pinterest :P But I made it unique by using both boys' footprints instead of just one. I think it turned out so cute.

We have started the potty training game. I just decided to set O on the potty one day and was shocked when he actually peed! And that first day he pooped on the potty twice! Since then he will pee whenever you put him on the potty but has only pooped like twice. I need to get better about remembering his schedule and getting him on there! I don't think he really understands what it feels like to have to use the bathroom and that he needs to go/ask to go on the potty. But at least I know he can make himself go voluntarily. We'll get there.

This is just Orion being a goober face.


And Desy being cute :)

Reading :)

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In other news, I recently registered to be a Thirty-One consultant! My first party is on Thursday and I'm both excited and nervous. I'm sure it'll go fine, I'm just anxious to see where it will go from there. I'm really hoping a couple guests will want to host parties of their own... the rewards for hosting are pretty great. If you don't know what Thirty-One is, it's a faith-based company that sells bags and accessories. I have a link in the sidebar on the right where you can read about the company and see the catalog.

One of our turtles, Pomelo, died during the night (he's the top turtle in the picture). We have three turtles... Pomelo was always the smallest and the prettiest. We think he may not have been getting enough to eat because of being in competition with the bigger turtles. He was about 4 years old. Goodbye, Pomelo... we'll miss you!

Give a little bit

Here are the stats:
Current weight: 131.6
Goal weight: 115
Weight lost this week: 0.2
Total weight lost: 8.4
Pounds left 'til goal: 16.6

Well... I only lost 0.2 lbs... but at least I didn't gain any weight! Haha. I'm going to get back on track this week and start eating better and exercising more. Nathan and I played Dance Dance Revolution tonight, and man are my legs sore! It's tons of fun.

It's Charlie's first birthday today! Happy birthday, Chuck!

Falling Behind!

Sorry, I realized I haven't been posting on here and you're probably all hoping for more pictures of the oh-so-adorable Orion! So here you go: some recent pictures of the little guy.


We've started using his swing, and it's been super helpful. It keeps him calm and distracted long enough for him to forget about wanting to eat for an hour or two... which I'm very grateful for! It's been a lifesaver the last couple nights.

Bonding with Buddy.

He loves his papa.


We're all doing pretty well. We had a couple really rough nights this week where none of us really got any sleep, but last night was much much better. He "only" woke up to eat once every 2.5-3 hours and didn't do all that much fussing in between. Nathan and I both woke up feeling good this morning, which was a major improvement from the last two days. We'll just keep praying for more relatively good nights!!

A few things I've learned so far...

-A pacifier is, as my dad would say, a "good tool." I was kind of anti-pacifier before Orion was born, but the boy has such a crazy sucking reflex that it's kind of essential. It really does pacify him... because I really can't feed him every ten minutes as he would like me to.

-Babies' skin peels/flakes a few days after birth. Freakout (and lotion) not necessary.

-The swing and bouncer are awesome. We use the bouncer to occupy him while we eat and have the swing in our living room for helping him relax. He's just a very very alert baby, and sometimes we need to just let him sit and chill for a while. It's nice to be able to do that.

-Lanolin creme is essential, especially the first week or two.

-The child loves car rides. And shopping cart rides. We're wishing for a car ride simulator to have at the house to get him to sleep. Because he doesn't do it all that much.

-Old breastmilk stinks. BAD.

-Laundry is now a constant. Especially because of the aforementioned stink.

-The ItzBeen timer is really helpful. I thought it was a silly idea, but my friend Amy got me one after I complained about not being able to remember when I last fed Orion and I love it. It has an alarm that would wake me up every 3 hours when I had to feed him that often right at first, and it keeps track of how long it's been since I fed him which saves me valuable brain cells. I carry it around all the time. Wishing I would have had it the first few days after Orion was born when I was unable to think at all.

-Having a baby in public makes you even more popular than being pregnant.

-Dressing to allow for nursing is just as difficult as dressing for late pregnancy.

-10:30 isn't sleeping in if you were up 4 hours out of the night.

-It pays to be flexible... and you have to learn as you go.


Aaaand... a bonus picture of Charles :)

Misc...

Here's a random post to catch up on a bunch of pictures I had sitting on the camera card! Above you will see proof that we have a garden, and that it is producing something! These are our first two zucchini (that were made into scrumptious zucchini bread). We also have tomatoes, onions, carrots, and yellow squash on the way, and an abundance of romaine lettuce ready and waiting to be used.

Next is Allie and me looking very patriotic on the 4th of July. We, along with Nathan and Andrew, went out to lunch, finished baby registering, had a cookout, and watched a movie that day. It was lots of fun!


See how big baby Charlie is?? He's huge. But he's still a growing boy! ...we need to get that "boy" issue taken care of soon...


Charles has a freakish obsession with water. He loves the shower, the toilet, the sink, his water bowl, condensation, and the turtle tank. Here he is trying to catch a turtle. He gets wet somehow several times a day.


Here are some of my garage sale deals! I recently washed the fabric portion of this car seat and became an expert at taking it apart and putting it back together. It looks brand new now! I got this seat and two bases for $30. Don't worry, I already checked for recalls and we're safe :)



Here's Charlie, along with a bouncer that Robin got for $5! I also washed it, and it also looks new!


Finally, Nathan's favorite, a Yoda costume for Orion's first Halloween. We're starting him off on the right track early. Nathan insists that Orion will wear it. Every day.

Picture Post!

We've had a busy couple weeks, and our work is finally picture-worthy! First of all I want to make you all jealous of the strawberries you see above. These grew in our garden. Oh. My. Gosh. Most delicious strawberries ever. It's a wonder we haven't eaten them all yet. If we let them get too ripe on the plants the ants eat them, so I guess we'll have to pick them a little early.

Next is our very exciting painting projects! We painted our bedroom and bathroom lovely bright colors. The bedroom was previously kind of a grayish tanish, and the bathroom was white. I'm really excited to freshen them up! The actual color of the bedroom is actually brighter than in these pictures.




Part of the bedroom makeover project was painting the bedframe, which took waaaaay longer than expected. Priming, spray painting, sanding, priming, spray painting, sanding, spray painting, spray painting... but it's done and it looks great!! It had a pretty finish before but it was SO beat up (plus a piece was detached, which Nathan fixed). I think it looks wonderful. Picture of "before" below.


And the bathroom! ...which we started a really long time ago. Haha! But we finally got it finished. I'm still thinking about painting the trim (I already have the paint) but not sure it looks bad enough to actually get me to do it ;) Love the color!


Can you spot Charlie? He loves licking that spot of the shower... I guess water must gather there. Weird-o.


I wanted to show you my new-ish counter storage. I found these metal planters on the dollar wall at Target and thought they'd be perfect to organize our cluttered counter top. They work great and are much nicer looking than scattered toiletries!


Charlie! He's getting huge. This picture isn't from the last few days either. He's also even more monsterous. I feel bad for the other cats... he attacks them non-stop. I hope he mellows out sooner rather than later... I hope...


I'm adding a new "bump" picture to my 17 Week pregnancy post below. 18 weeks tomorrow! Wow, how time flies.

"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things"

Hello! I'm sorry we haven't written a real update in so long! I could give you some excuses, but I won't ;) Here's a bunch of stuff for you to read. Some new news, some older stuff that I've been meaning to post about for a while.

Family:

Nathan's Uncle Wendell died on Saturday morning. I didn't know him well personally, but I do know he was a hard working, big hearted, big bearded man. He married his wife, Sue, while she was still in high school and they were a "great team." They cared for 65 foster children. He owned a farm on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, complete with chickens, log cabin, outhouse, suspension bridge, and rope swing. The family loved spending every Thanksgiving there. We'll be attending his funeral on Wednesday.

Allie is in Zambia right now! She had to take a trip for school, and got to go to Zambia on a trip especially for nursing students. They've gotten to help deliver babies, observe surgeries, play with kids, and lots of other great things. Sounds like an amazing trip.

Baby is doing fine as far as I can tell! I have an appointment on Friday morning and should get to hear its heartbeat again :)

Garden:

It's all planted! It looks like a lot of dirt right now, so no pictures yet. Although now that I think about it, I really should take a picture of the herb garden- it's downright lush! Our strawberries are flowering and making fruit, which is super exciting!

Many of the plants we started died, but we got to transplant peppers, marigolds, and 4 measly tomatoes. Nathan went out and bought a bunch of nice big tomato plants, which was disappointing to have to do. A few days after we planted them, we were out surveying the garden and were wondering over a big patch of what appeared to be weeds. After taking a closer look, Nathan just started laughing! Turns out we have dozens of tiny tomato plants all over the garden that just popped up on their own. God's a better gardener than we are...

Here's what we planted:
Zinnias (flowers), Onions, Romaine Lettuce, Carrots, Green Beans, Red Potatoes (3 rows!), Beefsteak Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Zucchini, Yellow Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Sweet Corn. I think that's all, but it's likely I forgot something.

Craftiness:

We made a quilt out of old t-shirts! It was really easy and it's super comfy and warm. I don't have a picture of the finished product, but here it is before it was sewn.


House:

We've decided to stop house hunting for now. We came to the realization that no, we can't really afford it, so we'd better get things straightened out before we dig ourselves a hole we can't get out of. We made some financial goals which include paying off my school loans and saving up money, so when those goals are met we will resume our search.

In the mean time, we're sprucing up our living quarters! We're hoping to build a nursery adjacent to our bedroom, hopefully soon. We painted the bathroom (and dug out our nice towels! Yay!), but I don't want to post pictures until I get the trim painted so you can see the finished product. We're also going to paint the bedroom.

Random fun:

We invented the Apple Burger.

Last year at Lebanon's Apple Festival, Nathan and Andrew decided that there wasn't enough apple themed food and resolved to change that. With the apple burger. Nearly a year later, we finally did it. We experimented with about six different methods, one of which was really bad, a few of which were OK, and one that was delicious. Fried apples + burger = so yummy.


Pets:

Our rat, Simon, died a couple weeks ago. He had a huge tumor, so that may have killed him, but we're not sure. We had a deal with Nate's dad that when the rat was gone we could get a kitten. So we did!

Nathan wrote about Charlie a day or two after we got him. We love him, and so does the rest of the family. He's pretty crazy, as most kittens are, and loves to stampede across the house and destroy things. But then he wears himself out and falls asleep on you, which is uber cute. It took a couple days, but we got him litter trained so well that he'll even use the other cats' box if he's upstairs! Good kitty.