Rowan is down, and the big kids are up playing with duplo in the loft. I’m on the couch, sipping a latte, listening to the wind, blogging. Its a quiet day. We had an incredibly early start, and all of the kids are in rough shape already. So I sit down here quietly and they play up there quietly, and we try to interact as little as possible. So far, its working.

We all went to my 32 week prenatal appointment at 9:45 this morning. We met Brady at the clinic and were called in right away. I’ve been feeling suspicious over the last couple of weeks that a surprise is coming. I honestly don’t know what I’m waiting for, but my gut has been telling me I needed to ask. So I babbled through my appointment about some weird instinct/gut feeling I was having, and that I was a bit nervous. My student doctor asked for details, and of course, it took me quite a while to gather any info from my unreliable memory. I finally made her a rough list.

I am feeling LARGE. LARGE. A month ago, at my appointment, I had grown like crazy, and it showed in my measurements. I feel like I am larger still, and considerably less mobile.

I am TIRED. I know I’m more than allowed to be tired and feel run down, but I could flop down and nap at any moment, and I’ve never been like that. Ever. Not in pregnancy, not freshly postpartum, not in daily life with three little ones. Never. I feel like an animal who is about to deliver their young. Like right before they deliver.

I have sooo many contractions. Not painful ones necessarily, just braxton hicks, but they go up HIGH and they are SOLID. I don’t notice them until I bump my belly into something, or touch it mindlessly, or rest something on it, and it is rock hard. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but that s EXACTLY how I laboured with Rowan. I was induced in the hospital, contracting like mad, rock solid belly all the way up, and felt no discomfort with it whatsoever. So noticing it happen more and more is a bit ominous.

Basically, to sum it up, I feel full term. VERY full term. I shared these things with my student doctor and she took it all in, but also had lots of reasons for things. I’m iron deficient, so thats something that plays a role in fatigue at least. Also, its my fourth baby, yes yes, I know. Things like that. I was kind of annoyed, but curious to see how the rest of the appointment would go.

I gained less than two pounds, and my measurements hardly changed, so I am back to measuring right on my weeks. Those factors alone show evidence that likely the baby isn’t growing at some unreasonable rate, I’m likely not much further along that we originally thought, and my fluid levels are probably fine. Baby’s heart rate was fine, his movement is still consistent, and I’ve had none of the obvious scarier things, like bleeding or crazy sickness.

So, we called it a draw with the baby and we left. He really threw us for a loop last month, but now, apparently all is back to normal. I don’t know whats going on, and there might still be a surprise in store for us. Who knows? Not us. At least, at this point, we now see our doctor every two weeks, so if we have any concerns, or I still feel quite this nervous, we’ll be able to get in sooner to talk again.

Now, we’re home, and the kids are starting to fight. I think I’ll feed them and throw a show on for a bit while I doze a bit on the couch. The kitchen cabinets for our new house are arriving this afternoon, and I couldn’t be more excited about this part!!!!! I can’t wait to see them all carried into the house, ready for us to put them together and plan out our beautiful new kitchen 😀 Should be a good distraction too!

I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect planner for a long long time, and I think I’m done trying. So for the last few days, I’ve been learning the Pages program on our laptop, and have been trying to create a very basic template for the EXACT planner I want.

I much prefer paper to simply using my phone calendar, though I use that as well. I just get annoyed when all of the things I want to schedule on the same day don’t all show up at once! I have a lot of things to keep track of, and our life is only getting busier, so I need a good, big, useful planner.

Many of the planners I’ve seen are expensive, and contain many pages that I wouldn’t find useful. I’ve slowly been compiling ideas of exactly what I need/want to see, and I’ve done this through looking online, making lists, and buying LOTS of planners that I never used for more than a week. Ask Brady. I love planners, but I want them to be what I need, and they just never are.

Recently, I came across one that is the closest to perfect that I’ve been able to find! It was a bit more flowery and viney than I’d normally choose, but I was more than willing to bypass my personal preferences that way for the perfect planner. Until I discovered that it was about half the size I was hoping for. It was then that I decided to just make my own template and see if I could do it.

I’m very close, and I will show you what I’ve come up with when its complete, as well as tested out. When I know its good, you’ll know. Sorry I’m being so vague, but the reason I’m posting about this is because I would like to know what other people look for in the way of organization. I personally never use the pages that look like standard calendar pages. Do people use those? What do you require to make you feel organized, and like you’re not going to forget something important? What extras would you add? I LOVE the idea of having a space for gift ideas, or maybe a monthly “project” page. Any ideas? What do YOU guys look for? I don’t want to miss anything!

Like I mentioned yesterday, the plan for today was a brief Costco run and then we drove to see the house. We actually stuck to the plan, even though I feel like they always change! The kids were all looking super cute today, and attracted a lot of attention. Lol! I can’t blame people for looking on. I heard one woman whisper to her friend “Look at her coat, and her sunglasses!”

We grabbed the few things that we needed before heading to a nearby Tims for coffee and a pee break. I forgot to pee at Costco and I’m at the point of pregnancy where I almost can’t sit while I’m wearing jeans and have to pee. Quite the challenge. So we drive two minutes down the road and stopped to grab coffees.

We drank our coffees and drove to see our house. We were incredibly relieved, after our Thursday visit, to see some more progress. To be honest, it wasn’t quite as much as we had hoped for, but two different trades were on site, and one had been there last Friday or sometime over the weekend.

Downstairs plumbing had been dug in!!! Now, I believe they just wait for an inspection, then cover it up and pour our basement floor!!! Thats scheduled for next Friday.

The taper has finally arrived! We’re a bit nervous that he’s only coming now, knowing the rest of the scheduling, it seems like he’s late to start. Especially because he is simply a “he” and not a crew. But such is life. I’m still hopeful! If he works through the weekend, he should keep up.

Loooooook! Its a real house!!

Lastly, the siding guy was around, but he was around on Thursday, and we have seen almost no change, so while we’re not sure what he’s actually doing there, he is holding up absolutely no one. So I guess if he’s got nowhere else to be, why rush?? We realized, though, after the siding color debacle, we haven’t taken any pictures! So he’s the REAL color!!! The one side of the house is close to done, but the other is still about a third of the way up with the old color, and the back is untouched.

Its so pretty 🙂 I’m very very happy with the color. So much more what we were expecting.

Our evening ended a little rocky and the kids were in bed earlier than usual, but they really really needed it. Dekker has picked up a nasty habit of waking the entire household on purpose before 7am. Its pretty horrific when you’re not used to it. We’ve stopped napping him completely in an effort to have him sleep a bit deeper and a bit longer, but he is in ROUGH shape by the end of the evening, that’s for sure! Its a new challenging stage we’ve entered, but naps had to be kicked to the curb somewhere along the way, and it appear that now is the time 🙂

One day, we’ll have our next babe, and we’ll be settled in our beautiful new home, and THEN we can find some form of what “normal” is going to look like.

And the moment we find that normal, Dekker will start kindergarten! Bahaha! Oh life…..

Brady and I expected to go to church today, especially since two members of our church were actually getting married during the service! However, yesterday felt like a very heavy day, so we opted to stay home and sleep a bit extra. It wasn’t a bad day yesterday, but I have been feeling incredibly bogged down recently, and it is both emotionally and physically exhausting. For the last few weeks, I’ve been saying that I feel incredibly “full term.” Very, very pregnant. I am now at the point where I am almost always out of breath. I know this is a common thread in pregnancy, but it doesn’t usually happen for me until much closer to the end. So I’m just tired, and I know my body. It needs rest. So this morning, we rested.

I had a latte in bed, thanks to my husband and our Rivo, and we took our time getting up. The kids played a we watched a bit of tv in between. Really took things slow. It was SO nice! We had made plans to have my parents over for supper, and because we are who we are and they are who they are, we had the perfect plan, which involved sweat pants and an easy supper. When they arrived in the mid-afternoon, we were all still in comfy clothes, I was prepping a bit for supper, Brady was doing dishes, the big kids were playing, and Rowan had just gone down for a second nap. It was very nice and quiet and comfy. They came with a bouquet of flowers in hand, as well as some homemade cookies, to celebrate our new “home” for the next couple of months. Really, they were the perfect house warming gifts. I couldn’t have felt happier than with fresh cookies in my kitchen and a GORGEOUS bright springy bouquet on my table. This house already feels incredibly comfortable, but the gifts were a lovely cherry on top.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with the kids talking non-stop to their grandparents, Rowan showing off his mad hand holding walking skills, Laela and Dekker showing off their new chapsticks with kisses, and some visiting amongst the adults 😉 It was a lot of fun, and very low pressure.

For supper, we mixed up the delicious mix of pizza bun topping and threw it on some fresh buns, with chips on the side. We had fresh cookies for dessert, and the kids were pumped. MUCH more for the cookies than the pizza buns, lol! Our kids and their weird issues with messy food. But it was all delicious, if I can be so bold.

We played and visited a little bit more before toys got tidied, teeth got brushed, and the kids went to bed. It was a really lovely evening, and the kids were in a good place.

My parents stayed until about 8:00pm and the kids fell asleep shortly thereafter. Now we rest up once again! Brady has Monday off but then reality hits and he’s back to work for the week. So tomorrow, we do Costco and drive to see the house and check the progress. Last time we went through, we thought there looked to be a bit of a hold up in one area, so we’re hoping to see some movement on Monday. But until then, we watch The Good Wife and eat caramel drumsticks.

Our plan for today was to get some stuff done around the house. Nothing is too crazy out of control, but we had to make a plan for a couple of things, get a few more boxes put away, do laundry, and catch up on dishes. We had quite a bit of laundry to do, so that was a priority, but also a bit ominous, as we’re still in the process of getting our clothing all organized and where it belongs. As for dishes, we weren’t terribly behind, but we don’t have a dishwasher here, which is new for us, so its a conscious effort to actually wash the dishes by hand every day.

Brady put the first load of laundry in, and came up with really fun news for me 🙂 The washing machine here is the same one as the set we bought for the new house, only ours will be one step up in size. Yet, this slightly smaller washer EASILY fit ALL of the kids clothes into one load!! And it was a BIG load of laundry. Just an example, there was fifteen pairs of jammies in there. Just jammies. There were jammies and blankets and five pairs of jeans and the whole load of clothing I picked up for them from Value Village yesterday. I am THRILLED that we will have even bigger machines in our new house!!!

We did learn, however, upon using the dryer, that the previous tenants likely didn’t even ONCE empty the lint trap in the year they lived here. 

Sooooo lucky for them the house didn’t burn down! And also lucky that we were able to muscle the lint trap open and clean it out!! No good, though. Kind of super duper yucky.

We got lots of laundry done, did the dishes, and got organized for tomorrow. Brady hauled some of the big boxes downstairs that were previous living in the bathroom, and we could finally bathe the kids. Please don’t judge us, haha, but yes, the kids were SUPER overdue for a bath.

I ducked out to buy some groceries for supper tomorrow while Brady bathed the kids. He sent me a picture to show me how happy bathtime was going while I was away, and upon arriving home, I took one of the true feelings going on in that tub.

It had actually gone really well, minus just a few tears. Dekker hates the bath more than anyone else, still, so he fought a bit, but not as bad as sometimes. This tub is one of those crazy old fashioned ones that is the average length but much wider than the current tubs, so they kids could really move around each other, which they seemed to like.

Now, everyone is out of the tub, freshly jammied and brushed and smelling good. Time for hot dogs and chips and some family time before bed. Everyone slept SO well last night, and they even slept in, which was a treat. Here’s hoping for round #2 tonight!

We had a relaxed day planned. Brady had a chiro appointment in the mid morning, and we had decided to all go in together, and then hit up Value Village afterwards for a few things. I sorted through the kids clothes a couple of days ago finally and was able to see what they actually need and don’t need. So I had a few things in mind that we could shop for. We walked out spending about $60, and for that, we bought Dekker a pair of jeans and two shirts, Laela some rubber boots, three shirts, and a dress, the new baby a jean jacket for summer time, Brady about five work shirts, and a purse for myself. I’d call it a very successful haul.

As we made our non-plan for the day, a number of other places crossed our minds that we needed to hit up, but they completely fell out of our minds until later that day. We had eaten lunch and put Rowan down for a nap, and while we were watching a movie this afternoon, I started remembering all of the places we had forgotten to go! It was then that we decided I’d go run another series of errands on my own.

It was SO nice to get out and about a bit by myself!! I went to so many places, got through them efficiently, and only bought the things I was intending to buy. I listened to music I loved and had windows open, despite the cold wind. I just felt good being out. Its a hard feeling to explain. I LOVE shopping with my kids, truly, but it was refreshing to just run into place after place for one thing, and not spent 70% of the outing putting people in and out of car seats. The ONE place that I bought one or two things that weren’t necessities was at Dollarama. We kept a few things packed that we use regularly in the kitchen, so instead of digging like crazy through all of our boxes looking for small things, I just snagged a few at Dollarama. An apple slicer, and some cutting boards, to be exact. As I was heading to the line, I thought of one last idea that I’d been tossing around for a while, and I decided to go get the kids their own lip chapsticks. They had some cute girly ones with princesses but the boys one was something that Dekker would know nothing about, so I opted for just regular Blistex. Mint for Dekker and cherry for Laela. Or if you were to ask them, green for Dekker and pink for Laela. Our kids LOVE putting on “lip fuff” and sometimes they accidentally massacre ours, or sometimes we don’t like them to share if we (or they) are sick. So I “splurged” and got them each their own.

I felt really good coming home to my happy family. The kids had eaten MASSIVE amounts over supper, which is awesome, and Brady had been on the phone a couple of times with our mortgage lady, and had really positive news to share from their conversations, so that was another pick me up for sure. The kids were even more pumped about their chapsticks than I had expected, and everyone seemed really upbeat. They were a very pleasant group to come home to.

Now the kids are tucked in, and Brady and I are cuddling in for a relaxed evening of quiet. Tomorrow will be a big laundry day, and hopefully we’ll get a few more things organized and unpacked around here. But until then, there will be coffee and Netflix.

I had planned to blog in the day while Brady was away doing some warranty work this afternoon, but I’m SO glad I didn’t! It was a very rocky day for us around here, and the post would have been really sad. Honestly, I’ve blogged about days like before, and you guys have always been more than supportive, but I just didn’t want to write a mournful post about how terribly I had failed. So I decided to wait and blog this evening. If nothing else, it would give me a little bit of room from the hardship that was the morning and afternoon, and would possibly offer a fresh perspective.

What did come from waiting, however, was a very exciting, eventful evening, which I am MUCH happier to tell you about! Brady and I attended an evening at the elementary school that Dekker will be attending in the fall, and learned about what we could do as parents to help prepare our kids for school. I was able to leave Dekker and Laela with my mom for the evening, but as she’s not really allowed to lift over a certain weight, Rowan came with us. Childcare was offered at the school, which was lovely, and the girls babysitting were really excited to have a little one around among the group of older children they were watching. We’ve never left Ro in a childcare setting before, and the moment he was distracted, we left the room. We stood in the hallway for a minute and after hearing no crying, we headed into the library and grabbed a table. We sat with some people we knew, and grabbed some refreshments while we waited for everything to start. It was very nostalgic for me to sit in the library and reminisce. I used to attend that very school as a student, and while not too terribly much has changed, I know I’ll have a lot to relearn, even just about classrooms switching around. While they didn’t recognize me, I saw a couple of familiar teachers, and that alone made me feel comfortable. I know my kids will be taught by excellent teachers.

I won’t break into details too terribly much, but hearing about what is expected of us as parents, of Dekker as a student, and how we can start preparing him was SO much fun! It made me really really excited! Of all of the things we discussed, I could pick out Dekker’s strengths and weaknesses, if you can call them that. I was able to pinpoint the places where he might struggle a bit more, but that doesn’t mean he’s not “ready,” but rather that I know where we’ll need to focus on with helping him prepare.

I won’t gab forever about little vague thoughts, but I am VERY happy to learn that the kindergarten teacher, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and principal, who we all met this evening, have the same idea as I do about what kindergarten should look like. There will be gentle pushes and lots of learning, but they won’t be on their own. The teachers are eager to help and teach and PLAY with the kids! They want to teach our kids through the things THEY are interested in. They want our kids to be able to be with their friends. I really left this evening feeling like they wanted our kids to love school. I really want them too, as well. I have high hopes.

When we went to collect Rowan, he was sitting on a girls lap, on a chair, watching a movie. She noticed us right away and brought him over. He was totally calm, though happy to see us. As Brady got Rowans shoes and coat on, I asked how he had done. The two girls nearby gushed about how much they loved him. They said he was the funniest, happiest baby ever. They said he laughed the whole time. “We’d show him his feet, and he’s laugh. He’d touch his forehead, and laugh.” They all seemed pretty smitten with him, and truthfully, he was making eyes at them too. He seemed quite enamoured. As we left the room, the girl who had been cuddling with him said to her friends “THAT was so much fun!” Warmed my heart that he did so well.

Now, we’re home, and after such a crazy day, the kids had a fabulous, happy bedtime, which was a HUGE relief to me. I love those kids. Completely, over the moon, in la-la-love with them! They are all truly exceptional.

Its important for me to intentionally note how my kids are adjusting to things once in a while. With all of these moves, I’ve expected some regression in them. This isn’t meant to give them less credit, or like I think they are less capable, but I haven’t expected them to thrive as much as they would if we were more rooted. I have been pleasantly surprised along the way, seeing very little regression in any of them! Yes, we’ve had some behavioural stuff come up, which I expected with their routines being so out of whack for so long. But I’m very pleased to report that they are continuing to thrive and grow even better in our current place. Brady and I agreed yesterday that we actually feel more at home in this rental than we did in our last few months in the house we had owned for the last seven years. We are finally comfortable, which I’m sure helps the kids as well.

I am finally seeing Dekker picking up on some of things we have desperately been trying to teach him over the last few months. These things include sharing lovingly with his siblings, helping with things without always being asked, and not panicking the second someone else breaks a rule. He still doesn’t prefer to share, but once in a while, he’ll offer Laela his toy when he’s done with it, if he knows she had wanted it before. He shares easier with Rowan, but Ro is still easier to overthrow 😉 That will come, I’m sure. He often sets the kids spots at the table before a meal, and he’s caught on really well to what things Rowan actually needs and what I just use of mine to share with him. This evening, he went to grab the kids milk out of the fridge, but it was a brand new jug, and he was struggling to get it out of the door. I told him as soon as I saw that it was totally fine, and I’d come get it in just a minute, but he insisted on helping more, and carried my skim milk to the table instead. Lastly, rather than immediately ratting Laela out every time she does something he thinks she shouldn’t, or yelling at her, he’s started to explain to her why she’s not supposed to do whatever it is. Then, if she doesn’t listen to him, he comes running to tell on her, of course. But he’s getting there, and I’m thrilled to see it!!

Laela is just talking a mile a minute these days! I know, she’s 2.5, and it makes sense for her to be chatty, but I’ve realized recently why I’m so blown away by this! At 2.5, Dekker was just starting to really form words. While lots of kids have different sounds that mean different things, or they’ll use made up words, Dekker never did. He didn’t want to say a word until he had it pretty close to perfect. So his words came slower. Laela, on the other hand, tries EVERY word. And because of this, she communicates beautifully! My mom finally got to come see our place today, and I was in awe as I watched her go from room to room and point out everything we owned by name! It was pretty crazy, as I really had no concept of just how many words she knew that I wasn’t even aware of. She understands everything. I constantly mix her up for an older child. But she is just growing and changing and helping. If Dekker has a question, she often knows the answer.

Rowan is also changing like crazy. He’s been crawling for a while now, and I figured he’d start walking while we were staying at my parents. He started standing on his own a bit there, but he didn’t walk. I felt a bit bummed that he hadn’t progressed as I had thought, and I assumed that yet another move would only set that back a bit further. (For the record, I’m not worried about him being “late” to walk, I just thought it was going to happen at my parents place.) However, being here and feeling how we feel, I’m very confident it will come soon enough. It is warm and comfortable here. We don’t have to worry about him breaking something that isn’t ours, or being rough with someone elses furniture, or knocking things over. Its just our stuff. He can do whatever he wants, as our life is pretty kid friendly. He has mastered the stairs completely. While we ALWAYS still walk right close to him, he is able to go up and down tall flights of stairs now, confidently. He communicates pretty well, pointing and grabbing for things. He says “ya” and “no” and “wow” and a few other words. Its not every single time, but we can tell its intentional. Sometimes he shakes his head “no” also. We can usually figure out what he wants. I couldn’t quite understand him not too long ago, but I can tell we’re getting better at that with each other. He is constantly changing and I’m so very smitten with him. He’s definitely my “boy band” kid.

So there you have it. Another update about the kidlets and how they’re doing life all together. We sure love them a lot, and they show us lots of love in return.

Feeling very thankful for my crew.

Dekker had an appointment to have his eyes checked today. Usually we bring the whole crew, but he opted to wake the entire house this morning before 7:00, which meant that his two younger siblings would be in fairly desperate need of a nap right at his appointment time, around 1:00pm. So for the first time ever, Brady and Dekker just went together, and I stayed back while Laela and Rowan napped. I had a nice quiet rest time, where I lay in bed, watched YouTube, and ate chocolate, while Brady struggled a bit.

I got text updates along the way, and got the impression that the first chunk of the appointment hadn’t gone especially well. That part is the bulk of the actual testing, where Dekker is supposed to answer lots of questions, play games, look through different lenses and glasses, and whatever else they try, in order to get as much information as possible about how much/little/close/far/clearly he can see. He’s usually a bit twitchy in there to begin with, but the orthoptists have always been very understanding. One even said to me once “We don’t expect full cooperation. We’re putting them in a dark room and interrogating them. They don’t like it anymore than we would.” True fact!

Because Dekker hadn’t cooperated, he had to get eye drops put in to dilate his eyes. I think I explain it every time, but in case someone doesn’t know, they do this so that his doctor can look deeper inside and behind his eyes, to get at least a little bit more information. Basically, the drops rarely need to happen if the kid cooperates. I can’t wait until Dekker figures out that connection, but for now, it just has to happen this way.

I was thrilled to find out that Dekker had done remarkably better with Dr. Rubab in the second chunk of his appointment! I’m so glad he likes her and feels comfortable with her. He still isn’t fond of the tests, but she does almost all of the same exercises as the orthoptists and he cooperates much better with her.

When Brady got home with Dekker, I got more details about what happened, and I’m really really glad I did.

Apparently the orthoptist was one we had never had before, and she was brand new and in training. I have ZERO issue with people in training, and I’m not trying to rag on her for being new. I know people have to learn, and I respect that, but I am under the impression that she was clearly frustrated with Dekker and wasn’t hiding her annoyance well at all. In the past, they’ll encourage Dekker to play games that are the kids equivalent to reading the letters across the room, but its with shapes. Dekker usually plays it for a bit but tires of it sooner than they’d ideally want. Apparently this person just harped away on him, and would not just switch games! When she finally did, she tried exercises that I remember only ever doing as an older child, as in well into elementary school. Once all was said and done in orthoptics, it had been almost an hour. So while I wish Dekker had cooperated better, I also understand why he was frustrated with it all.

Dr. Rubab won, though. She remembers Dekker, and they have a good thing going. She played the shapes game with him, shone lights into his light-sensitive eyes, and made conversation with him. Right off the hop, she had even asked him if he still liked cars. He replied that he sort of liked cars still, like he liked Paw Patrol better, and based off of that question alone, Dr. Rubab was able to converse with him that much better! Knowing a kids interests is huge, and I really appreciate her taking the time to learn about him.

As for his results, she says his eyes have in fact improved! Lots of people with eyes like his (and mine) are given the hope to grow out of their prescription altogether. I was also, but never did, and thats fine. I’m not too worried about him either. However, that improvement is what we’re working towards. She said he’s not quite as improved as she was hoping he would be, but that he is still improving. If we were currently hoping to replace his glasses, his prescription would maybe be a half point higher, but that there is no need to get new lenses for such a small change. He has 20/50 vision. I have no idea what mine is, but based on our prescriptions, mine is definitely higher than his and I can see pretty perfectly without my glasses, so I have zero worries about his vision 🙂

While it doesn’t seem like it was the smoothest appointment ever, I’m happy with the general results. Very glad we got him in and seen, and that Dr. Rubab is so great with him. He’ll go in again right before SCHOOL STARTS!!! Feeling very “twilight zoney” about that…

I really have to say, today could not have gone smoother!!! It was wonderful for SO many reasons!!!

Reason #1. We picked up a microwave AND a Keurig from friends who had extra appliances laying around! I am so thankful they reached out to us and offered, since we have a great coffee maker packed waaay deep into our storage container, and our house has a built in microwave. Our friends saved us a lot of money. Thanks again, guys!

Reason #2. We got all three kids new shoes today! We finally found the box of footwear that isn’t winter boots, and no one fit anything! I’m sure we have Dekker’s old shoes somewhere for Rowan, but they are likely packed away as well, because they were nowhere in sight. Dekker and Rowan got matching velcro skater shoes, while Laela complained about shoe shopping the entire time!! She was so picky and hated everything, until she finally liked a pair of cute little slip on Toms-esque shoes. So everyone was happy by the end 😉

Reason #3. We went to see our house today. We weren’t going to, since as far as we knew, all that was supposed to happen today was continuing siding and the drywall was due to be delivered. However, when the site guy called Brady to give him some dates for things in the upcoming month, he said they were already boarding the place! We couldn’t NOT go see it, so we drove out and came right as the boarders were taking a break. Perfectly timed for Brady and I to duck in and see our house looking like a whole entire HOUSE. With walls, and a ceiling, and not being able to see through closets or anything. It was incredible to walk into a room and to fully be able to picture the size it is without any distortion or any hesitation. What an exciting time it is! (Sorry, no pictures of that yet. Felt weird with the trades all milling around, haha!)

Reason #4. When we got home, we sent all three kids up into the loft, secured the baby gate, and they played completely happily while Brady and I got some stuff done. I like having the kids around when I work, don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect things to get done at warp speed. But with that loft, I so desire that my kids have a safe, happy place to play toys, and that is exactly how its worked out. They LOVE it up there, they’ve been playing really well, I hear lots of good sharing going on, and meanwhile, I could get their clothes organized and hung/folded/put away where they all belong.

Reason #5. Branching off of reason #4, organizing the kids clothes revealed that Laela has one tshirt, and about three tank tops. This is awesome because it means I can justify buying some new tops for her! I’m SO careful not to overshop for her, because its so easy, but now I know what she needs, and that makes me happy 🙂

Reason #6: My kids are GORGEOUS!!

Laela is super vogue in this picture, but she was posing like me after we took a belly shot. Speaking of which…

My belly never gets pointy like this until the VERY end of my pregnancy!!! Eek! How is this happening so early?! (See Rowan on the stairs? He is constantly crawling up and backing down these stairs. Practice makes perfect! It also makes mommy and daddy do the stairs A LOT.)

Now, to throw in the one not-so-smooth part of the day, we broke our new Keurig Rivo this evening. We bought one while living at my parents and have saved it for this place. When we opened it up, one of the cups from the handful they give you was missing. Huh. We decided it was probably just a little factory error and that it didn’t matter much in the big picture. I pulled out the manual and made the mistake of opening it. Several long, thick dark hairs fell from the book. Upon not a whole lot more of an inspection, it became clear that this machine was definitely used and returned. Not only was it used and incomplete and dirty, but it was also possibly unsatisfactory, hence the return. Sooooo thankfully, Brady drove it back and exchanged it for a hair-free, complete model! We might save trying it for tomorrow 😉 But I’m glad the whole situation was rectified!

All in all, its been a wonderful day. I really couldn’t have asked for more! Tomorrow, Dekker goes to see Dr. Rubab for a routine check up, and that is all we have scheduled! Should be another relaxed day of playing toys and settling in! Tho I am pleased to say we are incredibly settled here. We are happy, and relaxed, and restful. Thank you, Lord.