I have named this group of people with all of the love in my heart, but I have a few very special people in my life who have been willing to go check our lot and give me updates. I know, I know, it all only physically started yesterday, but its setting the ground work, and its SO exciting!!!

After receiving information from two different sources, we decided to head to go look for ourselves. Brady finished up his work day a little bit early, and we drove to see our lot. Eek!

Ok, so it probably looks a lot like it did yesterday, BUT its already different! The track hoe had broken up a lot more ground, and our sewer lines had been trenched in and covered back up. Something so seemingly small is actually pretty exciting for us 🙂 The kids were super excited to watch the progress again, and were very very beautiful.

She was legitimately modelling for me here! My diva in her little camo pants <3 

Of course, they got bored eventually…..

So we left and headed to the next place. Walmart! They’ve been holed up and sick for so long, something as simple as buying a few groceries at Walmart counted for a lot! They enjoyed the change of scenery, for sure. We headed home after Walmart with promises of a yummy supper of pigs in a blanket.

Aaaaand then became the 1.5-2 hour endeavour that is locking ourselves out of the house, the spare key not being where we expected, or anywhere, buying fast food while we waited for answers, driving across the city, getting a key, and making it back home just in time for the kids bedtime. So it wasn’t the smoothest evening to say the least, but we did make it back. And thankfully, none of our frozen groceries spoiled!!

So while the day didn’t wrap up quite the way we were expecting, we had an exciting day with our home build continuing, the kids being happy, and actually getting back into our place! Win win win 🙂

Thank you so much, creepy crew, for keeping me in the loop on whats going on at our lot. If anyone is ever around it and cares to update us, or sees something cool going down and doesn’t seem us idling nearby in our van, please don’t hesitate to message me on Facebook, or comment, or call, or text, or email. Get ahold of us however you can, because we want to know!!!!!

My loving mother acted as our pick-me-up this afternoon when, on her way home from a massage, she ducked by our lot and called me immediately with SUPER exciting news!!! Geranksy Bros was on site with their track hoe, ready to break ground!! My mom is spectacular, and went as far as to ask the man dropping off the scoops if he was planning to do any work there today still, or if things would just start up tomorrow. He confirmed that she was somehow related to the build (being my mom carries a lot of weight apparently 😉 ) and then he told her he would start “ripping” today. That means exactly what it seems like it would mean. He had a big spike on the arm of his track hoe, and he basically just hacked at the ground to tear it up. A pretty important job when its winter and the ground is frozen-ish. My mom asked if it would be appropriate if we came and watched, and he had absolutely no issue with it!! So about ten minutes after Brady got home, we were loading everyone into the van to race to the lot! The kids were in jammies, we were in sweats. Snacks were packed for the kids, and the camera was in the glove box. We were ready.

It may seem like a small thing, but it was monumental for us to witness the first chunk of ground breaking where our home will soon be! The kids watched wide-eyed, and Dekker commented on how he was digging where we had been digging before 🙂 I’m glad he remembers.

So this is it 🙂 It has officially started! I guess its technically been started for quite some time now, but now its tangible. I can’t wait to see the progress along the way. And I hope you guys can’t wait either, because you might hear a lot about that on here.

This is the start of something wonderful!!

It has been seven years since Brady and I were married. It both feels like a nice long stretch, and also like we just got married!

I am 100% confident that Brady would agree with me that not all of those years have been easy or even “good,” so to speak. We’ve had our share of stuff, like everyone else. Bumps and bruises are part of life, married or not, kids or not, whatever the circumstance.

Our last year has felt a bit out of control. In the last year, we’ve had a baby, raised the three kids, listed the house, continued Brady’s business successfully, sold the house, moved, and begun the process of building our next home. Its been loaded. I can safely say that the last two months have stretched us incredibly. We have both struggled hard in a lot of ways. For those of you who read often, I’m sure you can tell thru my writing. I work very hard not to be negative on here, but I know I’ve failed at that more than usual in the last couple of months. I am trying. We are trying.

BUT! I am happy to report completely honestly that I think Brady and I are in the best place in our marriage than we have ever been! This last year has grown us so much closer! People often say how the difficult times bring people closer, but I hadn’t seen that to be true until this year. We still argue and get irrational and petty over things, but we are much quicker to focus on whats important and apologize. I feel as though we are quicker to forgive as well. I think our communication has just gotten a bit sharper, and its made a big difference in our life together.

I want to be clear and say that I am in no way trying to brag us up. No one is immune to hardship, and that includes us!! No one plans to struggle in their marriage, yet I think we all do from time to time! I just want to remember this time as an incredibly close one. A year where we struggled HARD with things in our life, but that he and I were a solid team through it all!

God is good. He is AMAZING. And He is to thank for these successes. So thank you, Lord, for giving us such a crazy year, yet letting us find comfort and peace as well. Thank you for providing us with partners for life who fit the bill juuuuust right. You clearly know us incredibly well.

Thank you, God, for giving us the unbelievable gifts of the children you’ve allowed us to parent in this world, for those to come, and for those who we never got a chance to meet. You are good, and we are blessed.

I love you, Brady. Thank you for sticking it out with me for seven years. Here’s to seventy more! *clink*

Last night was pretty rocky. Dekker woke up to pee at 2:30am and decided to talk loud enough to wake the entire household!! Not the best wake-up call ever. He must have just felt refreshed because he just chirped away and talked and talked, no matter what we did to try to shut him down. Thanks to that system and the general frustration that came with it, I was awake at least until 4:00am. And then the kids were awake and LOUD at 7:30. Brady, my ever loving husband, told me to stay in bed while he went and got the kids up.

This was an especially loving gift because last night, I caught the cold thats been going around. HARD. It is an unfriendly, aggressive cold. I highly recommend NOT getting it. Anyway, I lay in bed, eventually sat up and did some stuff on the laptop before pulling myself out of bed and joining the fam.

Here is a rundown of our family today. Brady is on the tail end of his cold, so he’s doing better but is definitely still under the weather. I am right in the beginning of his cold, and if I remember correctly, Brady lived on DayQuil this last week and his cold still kicked his butt. Should be interesting for me who is NOT allowed to take DayQuil! Eek! Also, because I didn’t sleep very much last night, my body didn’t have much time to do its usual reboot, so to speak, so all day today, when I walk, my legs pop in and out. If I shift my sitting position, everything slides around. Its crazy how rest didn’t do for my body as much as sleep does! That one was new to me this morning. Rowan is developing the same cold, so he is always tired and grouchy, but thankfully, he sleeps pretty decently when he’s sick. I’m hoping last night was just an off night for everyone, and they all rest better tonight. Dekker has been rocking a fever on and off today. Nothing too high, but going up to 101-ish. He has the chills, and is insistent on wearing a hoodie with the hood up, yet he’s sweating through it. Not fun. And Laela has no visible signs of sickness, but she is super lethargic and droopy today. So she’s either just solidly fatigued, or she’s about to be sick.

Brady and I were going to have a date tomorrow afternoon, but that is going to have to wait. My parents had graciously offered us an outing, but we can’t leave these kids anywhere with anyone knowing the shape they’re in. Believe it or not, tomorrow marks SEVEN YEARS of Brady and I being married! At this time seven years ago, I believe I was at my wedding rehearsal. Perhaps it was wrapping up, and my sisters and I were heading to a hotel in the city for a night of hot tubs, TLC, and snacks! It was a great evening, but the next morning was even better. I’m sure I’ll chat more about that tomorrow. Tonight, I just want to sleep! I’m so thankful for the beautifully warm weather today. It should be just the perfect climate for hot tubbing with a cold! I can’t wait! First, a bowl of soup…

Friday is always a good day, because don’t we all love a good weekend? I know I do! Today was an especially good Friday because Brady had to work after having most of this week off, and he has the weekend off, as usual. So we only lost him for one day between some time off. Yay!!

Rowan slept amazingly well this morning, and I actually had to go in and lull him a bit this morning after 9:00am. I wouldn’t normally wake the sleeping baby, but we were headed to Kim’s for the day, and I wanted to actually get on the road! Rowan rubbed his eyes all through breakfast and wouldn’t eat very much, which hasn’t been the case the last few days, as you know. I went with it, fed everyone the best I could, and we got on the road a bit later than expected, as tends to happen. I snagged a couple of coffees on my way out of the city for Kim and I, and drove to her house. Rowan slept for the last chunk of the trip.

We had a really nice time playing at Kim’s house. She made cream of mushroom soup from scratch for she and I, which the kids rather chose hotdogs and veggies. Rowan, again, wouldn’t eat very much at all, and rubbed his eyes thru the entire meal. Kim set up a playpen for us, and I put Ro down right after lunch.

When it was time to leave, Rowan was still out cold, all wrapped up in his blanket. He was very subdued when I woke him, but he handled it well. I figured he’d perk up soon. But rather he slept the last chunk of the drive home again. Weird day for him!

As our evening wore on with our kids, Ro continued to fuss and refuse food. He couldn’t really be comforted. We finally gave him some Tylenol in hopes that he is just super uncomfortable in a way that we don’t recognize, but it hasn’t done much, if anything, up to this point. We wrapped up the day just watching a bit of tv and trying to keep it relaxed, and I enjoyed some really really soft cuddles with Dekker. Of course, from that, I learned how lethargic and toasty he was. Turns out, he is fevering again. My goodness!! What are we all fighting around here?! Kim, I’m so sorry if we brought sickness into your house!! I had no idea they were sick!

Dekker and Laela are already in bed, meds given and little bodies all tucked in. Rowan is having his bottle right now, and is mostly sleeping through it, so I don’t suspect he’ll last long at all. Our kids have always been amazing with sleeping through sicknesses rather than being up all night with them. I hope tonight is the same way for all of our sickies!! It seems like this whole house just needs to rest!

Happy weekend, all!

So I told you guys recently that we are, in fact, building a house!!! I held onto that information for as long as I could, but as soon as we were confident that the build was right around the corner, I had to share!! As things tend to happen, we hit a small road block right after that announcement, and found out that the town we’re building in has a few different procedures than your average city builds. It makes sense that it would be this way, but since we’ve never built a house, and our builder has never built in this particular town, we sort of had to roll with the punches. Either way, our permits have finally been seen by all of the appropriate parties, and we got the news TODAY that everything has been approved!!!!! Barring anything too crazy jumping out of the woodwork, the next step is digging the basement 😀 There can (and will) always be surprises, of course, but I’m hopeful that we will finally start to see some tangible changes in the near future. Eek!!

We’ve had a lovely time this week. Besides my body pain and Brady’s cold and the kids fevers (my gosh, its been a busier week than I remember!) we’ve had a lot of fun perusing home stores and continuing to dream about whats to come. Brady goes back to work tomorrow, so it’ll be sad for that fun to end, but its good. Its been a bit of a slower month for work for him, and part of me always gets nervous when there is a bit of a lull. That being said, his time off this month has been perfect. In the days he’s been home, we’ve planned and accomplished a TON! Plus, we’ve been able to settle in a bit better and just spend some together time when I’ve felt anxious and overwhelmed. Its been perfect. I’m confident that God knows whats going on, and will continue to cover us as needed. He is good.

We finished the day up with Jerilee coming over, buying supper, and watching an episode of the Bachelor together. It was a lovely, relaxed way to wind down. And tomorrow, the kids and I will go hang out with Kim and her kids, which will also be perfect! We always have a great time with them, but specifically, the kids will be sad not to have Brady home tomorrow, so the outing will also be a fabulous distraction!! Wins all around!

Its been a great week 🙂 I have full expectations that it will wrap up beautifully.

I don’t actually know if people ask themselves this question, honestly. But I wanted to write about the answer today, just to give an update to those who care 🙂 Rowan’s reflux has been a hurdle we didn’t anticipate, and we haven’t particularly enjoyed the period of figuring it out. You remember that stage, when your kids stop nursing or taking formula, and start drinking from a cup instead? If they’re anything like my kids, there’s a transition time there where they drink WAY less, while they’re figuring stuff out. Rowan is not only going through that much earlier than I am comfortable with, but he’s also not been eating enough to be sustained on such a small amount of milk. Its been nerve wracking. Also, now, he’s very actively crawling and pulling up all over the place, so its less possible for me to see if he gaining any weight, because he’s starting to stretch out and thin out a bit from his mobility. Its been a strange and challenging time for me. But, after today, I feel like we are FINALLY on our way!!

For breakfast, we started with our usual for Ro. We chucked a handful or two of Cheerios on his tray and left him to chew on those while we got everyone else organized. While he had his cereal, I decided to give this baby oatmeal cereal a go. He had it way back and wasn’t a fan, but now that he’s better at solid food, I figured round two was upon us. I made maybe 3 tablespoons of the stuff, and he demolished it. So I’ll keep that in mind, obviously! Brady was scrambling eggs at the same time, and somehow, Rowan ended up with two eggs scrambled for him. And he ate them BOTH! Easily! I thought I was setting myself up when I cracked a yogurt cup for him, but wanting to get some extra calcium into his body, I went for it, and he ate the whole thing!! How was this happening?! Because that wasn’t QUITE enough, he had an arrowroot cookie, and then he was done. It was a crazy breakfast. I was amazed.

I thought he would be tired pretty quickly with SUCH a full tummy, but rather, he was super energized. He was up until lunch, where the bottomless pit continued, and swallowed an apple sauce cup, half of a bun with peanut butter, and half a banana. And then two more digestive biscuits, because why not. He slept VERY well after lunch.

We ran errands after nap time, and he didn’t cry or whine for food at all! When it was supper time, though, He was pretty good to go again. He had 1.5 perogies, and about a tablespoon of steamed veggies. It wasn’t his biggest meal, but he did better drinking from his sippy cup over supper than he did all day, so I’m thinking he just knew it was getting close to bedtime, and his body probably was rather wanting his milk, which I understand. He has yet to figure out the sippy cup confidently, so he doesn’t get as much to drink. He drinks a really good amount before bed though, which we are SO thankful for! He isn’t dehydrated (trust me, we watch him closely) and I just try to feed him some nice juicy stuff in the day, too, with milk or water stirred into it if possible.

I’m so thrilled to see him come so far with his food. I know lots of people have babies who are eating as well as he is at this point. He is three weeks away from being a year old (oh my gosh!) so its good that he’s eating so well, but its not common for our kids. They’re not super eager with the solid food, and we don’t push it. But we’ve had to, and its felt scary and unfamiliar. But he is doing famously!!! And while he hasn’t fattened up in a big way, He is a strong, stocky little boy. His big legs tell me so 🙂 I’m so pleased with his progress. It warms my mommy heart, and makes me feel like we have succeeded past the worst of all of this. Onward and upward, Rowan!!!

I love you, Ro!

After a bit of a broken night, Brady and I decided to leave our outing day for tomorrow and make today a lazy laundry day. The kids were a bit iffy, but we were pretty determined to make it a good day. We haven’t been able to unpack around here the way that we’d like, so their toys have been pretty limited, but we pulled out a bunch of their toys and had yummy food and tried to make today the best day possible.

It was pretty clear, though, that all of the kids needed a nap around noon. As we were putting them down, Laela told Brady “Lala hot.” Brady felt her head and agreed that she was hot. He asked “Are you sick?” to which she replied “Lala nap.” I checked her temperature and discovered that she was fevering. She is SUCH a trooper when she’s sick, though. I brought her Tylenol, and while she drank it, she kept losing balance and didn’t seem to want to tilt her head back much, but once we lay her back down, she smiled at us with her droopy eyes and said she was “okee.” Amazing little girl.

After naps, Laela seemed to be in better shape. Her fever was down, and she was decently peppy. Not very hungry, and she didn’t like to be told what to do at all, as in more so than usual, but she was chipper otherwise. Dekker, on the other hand, was in rough shape. Nothing could please him. I checked his forehead too, and then took his temperature, but he was completely cool. He was even complaining about being cold. Less than an hour after that, we sat at the supper table and watched him shivering. Brady put some socks on him, I brought him a hoodie, and we took his temperature again. Sure enough, he had JUST heated up. So he was next in line for some medicine. He cried through his supper, saying he medicine wasn’t working, and he was so very cold, when really, his body was hot to the touch through his clothing. Both Dekker and Laela ate so little at supper, and cried while we made them drink their milk.

We decided to wind the evening down with lots of snuggles and a show. Dekker was feeling much better, and said he had just been cold during supper but that he was all better now. He easily gave in to lots of cuddles though. Laela wouldn’t be contained with cuddles, but snuggled up by herself on a chair nearby and watched. After about fifteen minutes, I suggested bananas. Now that Dekker’s meds had kicked in, he agreed, and Laela will be left out of nothing, so she agreed as well. I was relieved to get something healthy into both of them before bed.

Both of the big kids were in bed by around 6:30, and now, at 6:50, there is no sound coming from their room. Rowan is having some milk now, and when he’s not drinking, he is crying and crying. They are so trashed, these poor kids. And so are their parents. Brady has a cold and today has probably been its worst day for it. And I hurt when I walk. We’re all slightly out of commission. I’m SO thankful to have Brady home for a few days this week. At least we can tag team!

All of this being said, I’m going to cut this post off so Brady and I can wind down and go to bed at a good time! If you’d like to say a prayer for us tonight, let it be for health all around, and a full nights sleep.

I’ve been really really fortunate through my pregnancies. Even though I have the leg and pelvic pain that I have, I can end the day in super pain, and I always wake up feeling incredibly close to 100%. I’ve been lucky.

Two nights ago, I tried to adjust the blankets by pulling them with my feet, like we all do without thinking every single night, and I was shocked WIDE awake when my body slipped out in three places. Both places where my legs attach to my body slipped. I don’t mean slipped like they made a popping sound, but they slid out of place. But the kicker was my pubic bone. That thing should not move. It should be one thing, but if you didn’t know, its two pieces held together tightly by some wicked tight elastics, if you know what I mean. My “elastics” loosen up a lot when I’m pregnant, which is normal. Mine are just kind of rude and tend to loosen up earlier than necessary. That being said, they usually loosen gradually. But two nights ago, I felt my pubic bone slide apart, and then slide back. And my gosh, let me tell you, that was up there with some of the worst pains I have ever felt in my life. It was crazy painful, and took my breath away.

And just like that, I’m back to waddling like a duck and having my leg pain spread up my back and down to my feet. This morning, I woke up, and was still feeling incredibly sore and unsafe on my feet. Its way too early to be quite so immobile 🙁 I praise the Lord for Brady’s relaxed week, and his love for me and willingness to do as much for me and our kids as possible, giving me the ability to rest. I am confident that everything is back where it belongs, but I am definitely sore from the crazy slipping of my pelvis. It was a very shocking, powerful pain.

Its been two days since my pelvis tried to kill me, and I can report that everything is down to a dull ache. I’m being very careful, and have accepted the fact that I’ll be rocking that sexy handibelt that holds my body together very very soon. The only reason I’m not wearing it yet is because I’ve been sitting and resting as much as I can, and you can’t wear it and sit at the same time.

I called around for prenatal physiotherapy this afternoon and to my dismay, I can’t get in for ten days. TEN. I had no idea it would be backed up so far 🙁 I’ll have to see Dr. Mike in between to keep me moving, but physio really can’t come soon enough! I realized after making the appointment that I’ll have my appointment on the two year anniversary of Dekker’s surgery. I can’t believe that’s coming around again already! How far that boy has come <3