No one is sick at the moment. We are living in a relaxed environment. Brady has time off this week. Our family can truly breathe. Yet, I’ve come to the realization that I am still struggling to calm down. My subconscious knows how much we have coming up and going on in our life, and while I feel like I can rest, to a degree at least, my mind is constantly whirring with ideas and lists and events.

I finally bit the bullet and made a big ugly list just the other day, and we are starting to comb through it and get as much of it done as we can. I often make these big, scary lists, and we accomplish a solid 70% of it before we just peter out and it never ever gets done. This list is different. This list HAS to get finished off, and it HAS to get done very very soon. I greatly anticipate crossing each and every thing off of it!

Brady made a bunch of calls this morning and got lots of house things organized. We set up a meeting with the landlords of our rental, arranged for SaskTel to come install hookups, transfer renters insurance, etc. We spent a ton of time planning out all of the shelving in our new build as well. Brady is the master of shelving and custom closets, so we went big in our designs and will be ordering almost twice the shelving material that our floorplan usually orders. Whoops! Its ok though. I’m really excited for our new closets!!!

In the late afternoon, Kim texted me and asked me out on a date for dessert. She picked me up right after supper, and first, headed over to go look at the new house! The entire house is wrapped in vapour barrier now, minus a few little spots under the peaks and such. Siding has officially begun on the north side of the house!!!!! That particular part doesn’t seem to be going especially quickly, but I suppose if the vapour barrier is up, interior stuff can keep moving. That being said, I saw packages upon packages of insulation through the front window!! I can’t believe its all happening so fast! We’re sure thrilled.

I had a lovely date with Kim. We bought ended up with hot chocolate, and a piece of cake the size of our head, and packed up the majority of it to bring home. We made a couple of quick little stops before she drove me home, but it was really nice to just duck out for an hour or two with a friend! I can’t wait for that to happen more when we actually live in town 🙂 When I arrived home, I basically high fived Brady and he headed out to hang out with some guys from church. He really enjoyed his outing as well, but I think its nice to be together too. Funny how I miss him when we haven’t seen each other even just for the evening. I’m fairly attached to my husband, if you haven’t picked up on that. Big fan.

Time for some Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then bedtime. I’m SO tired today, but anticipating more home stuff getting done tomorrow! Eek! Life sure doesn’t slow down!

Today was a solidly loaded day! I felt very booked today, but I haven’t had a solidly busy day in a while, so it was good to be out and about. Lots and lots going on.

The day began early, with the big kids lulling before 7:00 and Rowan sleeping until after 9:30, when we woke him from a dead sleep. It was a bit of a disjointed morning, but we did ok getting breakfast and such. Once we were done with breakfast, the kids and I headed off to Kims for a play date. It was a great success on many levels. The kids ate great, and played well, and her son that is currently potty training did well through our entire visit! It was perfect! Except that Rowan boycotted his nap. BAD. I haven’t had his struggle so hard to sleep in SO LONG! He wailed and mourned and stood up instantly. He kicked and fought and cried and cried and cried. I know, it just sounds like he wasn’t sleepy, but I know my kid, and he was wildly overdone. He’s always slept fine at their house, in the exact same place, in the same room, etc. But it was what it was. So he came down to play with everyone else instead. It was a bit rough, but he was happierish for the most part. When it became apparent that he was no longer going to cooperate with anyone for anything, we headed for home. It was much earlier than we’d normally leave, but Rowan HAD to nap.

When we got home, I put Rowan down and he was quiet pretty much instantly. The big kids were quite out of sorts, and being fairly misbehaved, but it was too late to nap their sorry, overtired butts, so instead, we ended up bickering for most of the afternoon. It was hard, I won’t pretend it wasn’t. My mom was home, which helped a lot actually, but I still was feeling quite tired from running so much interference between Dekker and Laela.

It was just shortly before supper that we gained Brady back. Today was his FIRST day working in OUR HOUSE! He had really anticipated this day, so he was revved up to go. He spent a few hours this afternoon working at our place, and our laundry chute is officially installed! He also came with exciting house updates for me! Not only do we have more of an idea of a realistic schedule, but lots was going on there today! The shingle guy finished up the roof, the electricians were on site and are aiming to be done tomorrow, the siding was being delivered, and the siding guys were starting to wrap the house in vapour barrier. We even have a main bathroom tub/shower combo installed!!!!! I think one of my favorite things about watching the build go down is coming on site and seeing SO MANY CREWS there on the same day!!! It just feels like things are clipping along at a great, efficient pace, which I am thrilled about. Eek! SO much got done today, and the next parts are very exciting parts as well!

We had a great supper of tacos, which I ate way too much of, and then I quickly got ready and headed out to the city for Jerilee’s official debut as a new sales director with Mary Kay. She’s been working towards this goal for a good few months and finally reached it, and this Monday evening event specifically focused in on her success with the company and encouraging her in what is to come. It was lovely to watch so many people there love her so well, and have her back. It was also great to hear her recount the last year, and how things have changed and improved and the work that she has done to get it moving. I’m a very proud bestie over here <3

I headed out around 9:30, grabbed a couple of coffees for tomorrow morning, and went home. My dad is away this week, and I felt SO warm driving up and seeing my mom and my husband hanging out together in the living room. They sat and chatted all evening. I’m so pleased they have such a fabulous relationship, to the point of that not being an uncomfortable situation. Some of my favorite people right there.

As today has been incredibly full, I’m done writing about it for the day. Tomorrow should be much more low key. Knock on wood!

Before I overload you with pictures of my kids from today, I’ll start with a few from the last day or two…

They couldn’t NOT try them on!

NOW to Easter! The kids survived church this morning, hunted for some chocolate this afternoon, and got super hyper this evening. It was a good day 😀

Happy Easter from our family to yours! He is Risen.

Brady and I took the kids to the city for a bit of an errand day today, but it was the BEST kind because we had very few places to hit, so we took our time and the day went pretty smooth. The main goal for the trip in was for ducting. Brady is granting my wish of a laundry chute in our new build, and he is installing it next week. After much research, we decided to go the route of ducting. Its the cheapest, the easiest, and as long as its all taped off on the inside, it should be nice and smooth and work just as well as a laundry chute box built from melamine or whatever else. So the was priority 1. Priority 2 was finding Dekker a spring jacket. The one he had last fall was too small on him then, so its definitely time for something new.

First and foremost, we picked up some lunch. With our relaxed days like these, we take forever to get out the door in the morning, and therefore, we got to the city right around lunch. So we snagged some food and then began our errands.

The ducting was easily acquired at Home Depot. All of our supplies were purchased for less than $100. Win!

We ran a few other little errands in between the priorities. At Walmart, I accidentally bought a Keurig Rivo. It wasn’t my fault! I totally blame the rollback price!! The kids approved though. WordPress is fighting the power and won’t load up any of the adorable pictures I took of them :/ They celebrated though, I promise.

The jacket took more digging. Rowan and Laela both have little adorable fake leather jackets, and thats what we had for Dekker originally as well, but after browsing a bit online and through one or two stores, it does not seem to be the style this year. Everywhere we looked, we found basic, swishy windbreakers. And that was IT. Lots of them were even pullovers. To me, they felt dated, but we were just looking for something clearly different. We finally found what we were looking for at Old Navy. I rarely shop at Old Navy, but we made a quick change of course, just to check it out, and found an army green, heavy but not bulky, well fitted spring/fall jacket. It was incredibly pricey, in my opinion, but on clearance, it was a price I was expecting to pay for something at full price, so we went for it. Dekker loved it, and wore it for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back, the kids had slept a bit in the van, but clearly not enough, and they were pretty much finished. Anything that wasn’t quite what they had hoped for sent them into a devastating meltdown. So many tears tonight. Rowan was probably in the best shape, which is strange, because he is definitely the one who is still the most nap dependant. But hey, I’m not complaining!

We ate a delicious supper of home pizza and cold veggies, and now the kids are tucked away in bed. Early. Because they are crazy.

When the kids are awaaaay, the adults…. eat brownies!

Nope, you’re right, Rowan’s birthday was over a month ago. He turned one on February 23rd. We were all too sick to celebrate, and we’ve been in something of a whirlwind since then, or rather, long before then. We had bought some yummy treat-ish finger foods for his birthday supper, but we were all living on toast and soup at that point, and we never got there. Well today was finally the day that we basically squeezed in a birthday party. And if I’m being totally honest, I think it was the perfect party for all of us.

First, though, Brady had to go into work to finish off one hour of work. Lame, I know. But he brought home breakfast sandwiches and coffee for all of us. Win!

Rowan napped earlier than usual today. After his incredibly difficult last few evenings, we watched for him to get a bit sleepy, and then put him down in the late morning. He had a nice shorty nap and woke up happy. I had kept the kids up rather than napping them, so when Rowan woke up, we all settled into the living room and watched Home. We watched it once at our last rental and it was a hit. The music is upbeat and the characters are cute and likeable. We also found the “bad guy” to be portrayed well, not shown a ton, and we learned that he wasn’t actually “bad” in the end. It wasn’t a story of defeating anyone, but understanding. The kids love it.

After the movie, we loaded the kids into the van, my parents got into their car, and we all headed over to our new house. We finally got to tour my parents through it, which we’ve been anticipating. We’ve only been able to show the kids, and we’ve obviously seen it, but we haven’t had a chance to show anyone else in person. It was fun to traipse through and show new eyes what we are so very excited for. It was also nice to see what had been done since we were last there! From what we can tell, all of the plumbing rough ins are in, lots of electrical is done, but they’ll be back on Monday, and the roofing guy was even on site, hammering away while we walked around inside. The shingles are a solid half done, which I am thrilled about.

We came home and put Rowan down for another shorty nap, and once he was up about an hour later, we made his supper of popcorn chicken, smile fries, and a big ol bowl of strawberries. Everyone ate great. The kids love meals that are dip-happy, and this was DEFINITELY a dip friendly meal. Rowan didn’t care much for the chicken, but I blame that on the eat of consumption of the fries. He ate lots of fries, drank lots of milk, and filled up on berries. We sang for him and had cake afterwards. We had made him a brownie in a round pan to make it look more like a birthday cake and less like a square, haha! But it was incredibly well received, as you can imagine. The kids buzzed until bedtime, and looking in their monitor, they are most definitely still buzzing. But I can’t blame them. I want more of that cake this evening. And some more strawberries.

I’ll leave you with pictures. I hope your day was as comfortable and low key as ours.

Happy birthday party, my littlest little! You are completely, perfectly, unreasonably loved.

We’ll keep todays post short, because I am feeling somewhat exhausted. I’m not sure why it was as hard of a day as it was, but there were SO many tears, very few minutes of rest, and I felt very overwhelmed. It helped immensely to have my mom around. As I’ve said before, I try very hard NOT to load her up with parental jobs. I know my kids are mine, and I am capable of handling them, but it was a HUGE relief to have someone who the kids adore around to play with the ones that are cooperative. Not that she can’t handle when they scrap, but thats the moms domain, in my opinion. So we survived the day, and Brady came home and took the lead on the evening and bedtime with the littles, which was also an enormous help.

I have lots going on in my head and heart these days. I feel a bit overwhelmed, and I know some of that stems from whats to come in the next couple of days and weeks. That combined with my son who appears to be teething WAY harder than ever before, and all three of my somewhat overtired kids, I am not in the best shape I’ve been in.

Thank God for God.

It was a very exciting day for the house build! Brady and I were scheduled to meet the electrician at 10:00 am for our first walk through. It may not sound super exciting, but it was! It felt very official and important. However, just casual enough that we brought Rowan, haha! It worked 😉 He was very cute and quiet the entire time, so there was no issue.

When we met at the house, it was positively bustling! The plumbers were there, working hard, installing all of the ducting. The owner of our electrical company was in his truck waiting. The owner of KW Homes and his right hand man arrived shortly after us. The drywall guy was there, measuring for his part coming up soon. Even a roofing guy was there, shovelling snow off the house, so he could start shingling. SO MANY PEOPLE! It was awesome to see so many trades there, eager to get work done.

We walked through the house with our electrical guy, and went over where every single outlet, light switch, and whatever else will be. So many questions came up that we weren’t prepared for either. He wanted to position the light above our dining room, and that was a BIG question!! How big is our dining table? Exactly where is the island going? We needed specifics that we didn’t have yet! Thankfully, he was a very patient, professional man, and gave us lots of time to hem and haw over a few inches here and there. The way it was finally decided leaves us with extra space between our cabinets and our island, and still a nice sized dining room. We added one or two additional things but otherwise, there were no big surprises.

One thing we did learn, which we actually find kind of humorous, is that all of the trades hate building the particular floorplan that we’ve chosen!! Apparently its WAY more work with more physical work and less payout! I understand it more, as I learn more about it. It makes perfect sense! The footprint of the house is pretty average, but its as tall as a two storey. So people who only get paid by the square foot will make less off of it. Also, trades who have to go all the way up to the ceiling have much more work going up and down ladders and scaffolding than they would on a house without a vaulted ceiling. However, thank the Lord, people are somewhat desperate for work these days, so it doesn’t seem like anyone is complaining. Win for us, and for them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk through. It lasted just over an hour. When we left, Brady had to head back to work pretty quickly, but I went back to my parents place to get lunch into my kids before they napped.

When everyone woke up from their naps, I invited them to the city to join Brady and I at Dr. Mike’s office, but they opted to stay back and watch Paw Patrol with Grandma. So Brady and I had another little date with Rowan, and got some highly anticipated adjustments. They hurt. But it was definitely worth it! He was really great to talk to about the house, as he always is, so it was fun to get all excited about it again. Always fun to share new news with a fresh audience. Especially since its been FOREVER since we last saw him and I think that time, maybe the lot had stakes in it?? Its been a very long time, obviously.

The kids were completely toast by the end of the day, so they’re all tucked away after a VERY loud supper. Brady and I have had to make a few decisions about house stuff this evening, but they’ve been good, and have felt productive. Now, hopefully, we rest for a bit, and then hit the sack. It was a big and also wonderful day. I can’t believe how much stuff is happening at the house at once! Not only did we see lots of trades on site today, but we heard plans being made about who was wanting to come on which day, who would overlap with whom, and how fast the next couples of weeks are going to go!! Its a bit surreal, in the BEST possible way!

Ok, I’m pooped. Sleep well, all!

Brady has a nice light week this week, so we’ve had him home yesterday and today. Tomorrow he’s back to work but we used our last day together to take care of some errands as a family. But first, we put the kids each in new jeans, and they all fit PERFECT! This almost never happens, and I am so happy when it does! Laela has never had jeans that fit so well that are actually jeans and not jeggings. She and Rowan actually wear the same size of pants now, haha! So funny!

Once out the door, we went out for lunch, which the kids always love. We were going to head straight to Superstore after that, but I remembered that I actually needed to go in for a blood test! Oops! I got the requisition last week but with my tetanus shot, I didn’t want my already sore arm to suffer more than necessary all at once. After checking the wait times and seeing that the clinic just a block or so away had no wait time, we ran over there to take care of it really quickly. When we got to the clinic, I was about to duck in quickly by myself when Dekker asked if he could come in and help me. I remember telling him I’d love to bring him next time, to help me be brave, so I agreed! And honestly, he did awesome! The nurse didn’t look thrilled that I had brought him, but I said to her (for him to hear, of course) that he had been SO brave when he got a needle recently and that I wanted him to help me be as brave as him. She understood, and asked him if I was brave. He responded with “Sometimes” so that was that, and he stayed. He held my hand and watched the whole time. Wasn’t put off at all! He was a great help and distraction. Love that boy.

After that, we did Superstore, a quick and unsuccessful duck into both Walmart and Rona. Costco was last, and all three kids fell asleep right before we got there. We hung out in silence and let them sleep for about twenty minutes, but soon it was just time, so we opened the door, which unlocked everything unceremoniously, and they all woke up. Whoops, lol! Our Costco shop was quick and successful, and we made it home in time for Brady to make the whole family breakfast sandwiches for supper! They were delicious, as was the fruit salad. SUCH a good meal. The kids ate great too. I can’t believe how much Rowan is eating now. I’m only able to squeeze 2 oz maximum into him before bed, so I think the bottle is well on its way out. Which I approve of.

Now that everyone is tucked into bed, I’m done blogging for the day. Once again, I apologize to anyone who views my posts in a browser other than Google Chrome. I know sometimes the pictures are sideways or upside down for you. Its a stupid flaw with this layout that we cannot fix without getting in touch directly with the developer, which is not as easy as it sounds. But I can’t leave the pictures out. The kids are WAY too cute!

Last thing! Last thing!!! First official walk through of the new house tomorrow!!! Gotta go show the electricians whats what! Haha! Or tell them kind of what we want and see what they say… One of the two anyway…

I slept amazingly last night, and felt much much better this morning! What a relief! My body is still a bit weak, but I think thats to be expected when its so quickly and unceremoniously emptied. I genuinely felt so much better upon waking up, though. As if I wasn’t even sick yesterday.

Because of that, and my husband having a light work load this week, my mom and I went ahead with our plans for the day. We headed into the city in the late morning with a few goals in mind. And we accomplished them all! Our first stop was at our J&H, where I met up with a contact Brady has there. He showed us the doors he can get us, which are an enormous answer to prayer! Even better than we had in mind! He didn’t stop there, and asked if I had anything else I’d like to see, or ask questions about. It was then that we spent about a half hour in the door handle section. I’ve actually had a lot of weird questions and uncertainties about doorknobs, of all things, and he was a fantastic person to talk to about everything!! He wasn’t shy to tell me his real opinion, but I never felt pressured at all to pick what he would pick. Lots of pros and cons to ponder. It was a great visit to J&H. (Any advice on this kind of thing is welcome!!)

Our next stop was the real reason we went in today. We hit up a really good and seemingly lesser known fabric store to shop for flannel. For each baby we have, we go on a date, pick fabric together, and my mom sews the baby a big stack of beautiful, personalized receiving blankets. I LOVE that part of having babies!! We scoured the store and found some beautiful options! We got enough for four blankets and a good pile of burp cloths. We decided to hit up another store and see what else they could offer us.

First, though, we made a quick stop to get my mom’s adjusted (poorly) and then we hit Tony Roma’s for lunch. We ate shrimp and ribs and everything else delicious. It was amazing, and thankfully, I didn’t get sick. Win for not barfing!

We drove to a nearby town to a fabric store, where we found another four blankets worth of flannel that we loved! Its a decent amount more pricey at that store, but the fabric is noticeably better quality too, so we were smart about it and only picked what we really loved. I’m completely thrilled with what we found! But I’ll show you pictures of what we picked when its all sewed up and ready to swaddle a baby! Before we left town, we dropped in at a local thrift store that I had never been to, and snagged a pair of jeans for Dekker, as well as a little pair of 6 month sweat jeans for the new babe. I have a great amount of stuff for him from the other boys, but these cozy, fake jeans are new to our family! I’ve bought him one newborn pair, and I have a couple of pairs from Kim, but these were $2 and pretty brand new, so I figured I could justify another pair! I don’t always remember what we have in what size.

On our drive home, we detoured to go see our house, and it was SO exciting!! We have windows and doors!!!

Doesn’t it keep looking more and more real?? It was great to see 🙂 Now its all enclosed, they got our front door glass right, and I know they shovelled all of the snow out of it on Friday, so its all dry and ready for the week in there! A lot is scheduled to happen this week, so I’m greatly anticipating the next few days!

We came home after that, and I played with the kids a bit, finally! I’ve missed my little loves SO much! We had a nice time of play, and I rested my body a little bit. We ate big chunky chicken salads for supper, then did up the dishes and put the kids to bed. Rowan refused his nighttime bottle, which is kind of a huge deal! I’m fine with him being off the bottle now that he drinks milk out of a straw cup so well, so I’m curious how he will sleep tonight. If he sleeps through, this may be the beginning of him not taking a bottle anymore! Eek! Works for me!

Today did not at all go as expected! We had plans to go to church together, I was going to help out in the nursery during the service, and we would then go to lunch with a couple of cousins that Caity and Stefan specifically are very very close to. However, I had a very strange night. One of those ones where you’re not sure if you slept at all. In the morning, I felt dizzy and disoriented, and told Caity I wouldn’t be able to come to church. I assured her that I just needed to sleep some more and that I would for sure be good in time for lunch. She understood, and let me get back to bed. She secretly got in touch with a friend from church and had her cover our spots in the nursery, so I wouldn’t be alone while I wasn’t feeling well. Very sweet of her.

After a while, I STILL wasn’t sleeping, and I got up to pee. I didn’t really feel like I needed to, but sometimes a pee break and a drink of water is just what a person needs, am I right?

Fast forward through the next part. I want to still have friends after this post. Some unspeakable things happened in that bathroom. Once the worst seemed to be over, I decided to run a bit of a bath to rest my aching body in. These were not shining moments for me whatsoever.

I felt considerable better after my bathroom adventure, however, and came out to the living room to try and be social. Caity and I watched a chunk of a movie (SO sad we didn’t finish it though!!) and she made us soup and biscuits for lunch. When Stefan came home from church feeling a bit off, we cancelled lunch plans with our cousins and Stef went to bed.

Once again, bypass the details, all three of us were laid out for most of the day. I napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon, which helped a ton, but being a few hours ahead of everyone in whatever sickness we were sharing, I was feeling a bit better while the others were hitting their lower points. Praise the Lord for family who jumped up and took me to the airport when Caity and Stefan couldn’t.

It was definitely a strange way to end a weekend trip away, but honestly, it was cozy. I would have preferred that we could all be together at least, but it just didn’t quite happen that way, and it was really ok. I’m glad we only got sick on Sunday. It would have been SO sad if it had fallen on Saturday!! So this is really the best it could have gone.

My flight home was smooth, but having been sick in the day did not help. I was quite dizzy and light headed, and as I’m sure you know, airplanes are small, and there is very little room to get your body into a position where your blood gets to all of the right places. I praise the Lord for the most compassionate man sitting beside me. He stacked his coat up with mine and offered me his shoulder. I wish I could write more about him, but I’m decently tired and weak, so maybe another time. But seriously, he made the flight work for me. I apologized to him for having me beside him, but I told him he was the perfect person for me to sit beside, and he seemed to like that. He was lovely. Be nice to people! It makes a HUGE difference in a short time.

Now, I am HOME with my beautiful family, once again. I missed them more than I thought I would, if we’re being honest. I can’t wait to snuggle up with my husband for the night, and hug and kiss my kids in the morning!!!! In an effort to make that happen sooner, I will stop writing, riiiiiiiiight…

Now.