On Thursday, I talked about the excitement that came with watching the footings of our home being built and then poured all in one day. We didn’t go see the lot yesterday, because we didn’t know how much would really even get done. We knew someone would likely come and remove the forms around the footings, but then that guys work would be done, and we didn’t know if anything else would be arranged for that day. Turns out, three different people/crews came!!! The footings forms were taken down, someone came to pour gravel to fill in the basement foundation, and someone even came and delivered the forms for the basement walls!!!

This means that on Tuesday (with Monday being a stat holiday) the basement wall forms will be built up, and possibly even poured! We have NO idea if they will actually be poured, but we try really hard to stay out of the way and not pester the trades for information. We don’t want the people who are working on our house to find us annoying, so we try to just be patient and excited, and so far, its worked, and we’ve been well received. Whether the pour happens on Tuesday or Wednesday, we recently realized that there will be a one week-ish delay on everything after that step, to give the walls lots of time to cure before framing begins. I WISH we could skip that step, but it is obviously a VERY important thing. No one wants their basement walls to crack!! So we wait.

We continue to hope and pray for great weather. The next two weeks are forecasted to be fairly mild, which I am so looking forward to! I just hadn’t considered the week pause in the build, and I would LOVE to keep our framers happy with milder weather. A cold snap would delay things longer than they already have been, and we are praying hard for efficiency! But I do not control the weather, thats for sure! So even if we get the cold snap just in time for framers, I will enjoy the warmth as long as we have it!

Time frames and ideals aside, our house IS being built, and it WILL be ours within the foreseeable future! I cannot wait to continue the process, to enjoy it thoroughly, and to move in at the end of the everything. SUCH wonderful times ahead. New baby, new home, life is crazy!!!

Yesterdays post was loaded enough without yet another topic of importance, so I bumped it until todays post. And honestly, I think its great that I was able to. While it was two years ago now, Dekker’s eye surgery is still a very fresh, vivid memory for me. Being a bit further from it now, I’m able to look at it more clearly, and guys, I was SO unwell when he went through his surgery. Laela had only been born a few months before, and I was so traumatized by that whole experience that I was really unstable bringing Dekker to the hospital for surgery. Seeing him scream and be so scared and alone was awful. Awful. I still can hardly picture those moments without crying. And then sitting with him in recovery while he shook and cried blood from his eyes and nose and was, once again, so scared, was terribly upsetting and difficult. That was two years ago. I am much more capable of seeing how far he has come since then 🙂 So while I know you’ve likely seen these pictures before if you’ve followed me long enough, I feel the need to share them again. Memories.

And now!! I know, this picture doesn’t speak for the straightness of his eyes, but it speaks for Dekker as a boy. He is SO much more confident than before this whole ordeal, and I am thrilled with how far we’ve come in the last two years.

I reread some blog posts and some Facebook memories this morning that really brought me back. Remembering the sticky patches on his body from all of the sensors and tubes and such stuck to him. Remembering that the nurses let him bring his Hot Wheels cars with him into surgery to try to help him feel more comfortable. Remember the eye drops. Oy, those eye drops. Remembering how soon he was hungry again, and how we gave in against orders and let him eat buns. That day was SO long ago! I am so glad its gone and done, but I can honestly say that I would be MUCH better equipped if we ever had to go through such a thing again. I know more now, and things would be very different. For everyone.

That all being said, though, I praise the Lord that Dekker has had ZERO regressions in his vision in the last two years!! At his one year post-op appointment, our doctor seemed very impressed that he hadn’t had any drops in his vision, nor any reoccurring turns in his eyes. He loves to wear his glasses, so he’s following the main part of the plan to keep things in tact 🙂 There is no struggle related to his glasses or his vision whatsoever. To God be the glory!

The pregnant side of my emotions is a bit out of whack at the moment, and I blame this on the entire day being wonderful! I genuinely feel like I could burst into tears at any moment. Not out of sadness, or even joy. Just emotions. Today was a loaded day. While we still have some difficult things going on behind closed doors in our life (not like big, deep seeded issues, just not internet stuff 😉 ) but I feel like a lot of important things were accomplished today, and that has made me tired and happy and relieved and overwhelmed all at once. Whew!

Brady had today off, which couldn’t have been timed better than it was. I finally had my prenatal physio appointment, which I’ve been waiting for for about ten days now. I went in very hopeful for it, and I very much clicked with the physiotherapist. I’m a bit nervous for what is to come, though. She is excellent, and a wealth of information, which I really really like. However, it seems like I am actually in a bit of trouble! Haha! Not that things can’t be solved, but basically I’m in worse shape than I thought I was, and there is a lot of work to be done to get me back to a healthy, stable place. I’m nervous about that. She taught me a lot of things already in our first meeting, but most of it was teaching me how to undo certain habits I’ve had for the better part of my life. Those things are going to be hard. Also, I’m seeing that the solutions to my problems don’t come with much, if any, wiggle room. I need to do things exactly right if I want my body to repair. So after my appointment, not only is my body sore while I try to hold it differently in every scenario, but its also sore from my physiotherapist releasing some of the tight knots in my back. Ouchie! It will pay off soon, I’m confident. I was just surprised at how much work is going to have to go into this. Yikes! Who knew?!

On my way to my appointment, actually, my mom called and had great news! She said our basement footings were being installed! The guy on the job was actually someone I’ve known through my high school years, so they had a nice little chat, and he told her they actually had plans to potentially pour the footings today! He gave my mom a rough idea of when the trucks would arrive, and she immediately called me with the info!

So when I arrived home, the kids were napping, but once Brady and I had eaten lunch, we woke the kids and made our way to our lot in hopes to catch the pour! Two out of three weren’t impressed with being woken up…

Being the responsible parents we are, we kept them in their jammies, threw their coats and boots on, and headed out! My mom called us while we were on the road, and jokingly asked if we were headed to our lot. I laughed at her and said that yes, of course we were. And she proceeded to invite us over for supper! Yay! We’ve been in town SO much recently and haven’t been over to their place once, so it was a lovely invite than we definitely agreed to. After we went to the lot.

Once we arrived, we were told the concrete guys were just a bit behind, and to give it a half hour. So we did. We doddled a bit, checked the mail, and doddled some more. Very soon, though, it was time, and the trucks started arriving!

The guy who was operating the pumper truck was an awesome guy! We asked if our van was in his way, and he assured us we were more than fine to hang around and watch wherever we wanted. When he started unfolding the pump arm/hosey thing (using technical terms here), he kept winking at the kids as they stared out the window, watching. He came over and operated it from the panel he was carrying right next to us, and he even tried to convince Dekker to come help him. “Throw on your hat and come out here, I’ll let you drive it a bit!” he’d say, but Dekker was too shy and wouldn’t have it. I wish he had, though. He would have LOVED it! But thats ok. I love that he offered. He said his kids love to come and watch what he does, and I thought it was so sweet that he was willing to take my four year old on the job site with him.

As his truck was doing its unfolding thing, the concrete truck arrived.

We actually very quickly had a second concrete truck arrive, which seemed odd at the time, but the first one ran out pretty fast, so likely he had just come from another job. But once everyone and everything were lined up, they started to fill the footings. And it was FAST!

We were parked as out of the way as possible, so it was hard for Brady and I to twist around and see the whole thing. Therefore, Brady opted to stand outside the van for a better look. And the little miss insisted on holding his hand through our window. It was pretty much adorable.

He snapped one last picture, the best picture of the day, before we left and headed to my parents for the rest of the evening.

We had pizza and caesar salad for supper, and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. YUM. The kids were really sad to leave, but somehow, all three of them managed to stay awake for the entire drive home, and they are all now sleeping peacefully. Win!

I just feel so overcome by today. In a good way, for the most part. A few stressful, overwhelming, scary things on top of the jubilation that is our home finally coming together! At one point, while the pouring was still going on, the operator of the first concrete truck came to chat with me while I sat in the van. He talked about the size of the house and he encouraged us to enjoy the experience as much as we could. He said it was great that we were coming to watch, and including our kids in the experience. He was so positive. Come to think of it, all week, every trade we’ve come in contact with has been incredibly encouraging, and has had no issue with us watching and taking pictures and being “involved” at the sidelines. We’ve felt included and encouraged and basically permitted to be excited without looking like idiots. People have been warm and understanding. It has helped me feel lifted up during this weird time of sickness, loneliness, and transition in our home. Praise the Lord for the exact right people coming into our lives on the exact right days. Today was a WONDERFUL day!!!

Footings!!! Eeeeek!! Start to finish, today! AWESOME!

Brady finished his work day early, which meant we’d get to spend the afternoon together!! Unfortunately, he brought home some bummer news with him. We were both struggling with it, so we napped the kids and had a good sob-fest. Ok, I sobbed. He was just growly while being simultaneously supportive. We finally could breathe again, so we decided to let the kids nap a bit later than usual (since they had gone down a little later) and we hopped into the hot tub for a regroup session. Stress does bad things to us, beyond just being upset. I’ve started getting mouth sores, and I get really really cold, and Brady’s body cramps up really badly. The answer is obviously the hot tub. So we did that, and decided to make the best of the day. No more talk of stressful things for the day!

So we drove out to see our lot 🙂 I know, we’ve already done this too many times. But we’re excited, and we needed a pick me up. Plus, once again, my mom had gone to check on it for us, and said that there was a TON of progress! She sent some pictures even. I love her for knowing me so well, and knowing I’d want pictures.

By the time we got out there a couple of hours later, the machinery was gone and the job was DONE!!! Eeeeek!!!

Did you laugh? I know you’re all thinking it. Shallowest. Basement. Ever.

(Ugh. For the life of me I cannot get this last picture to load properly, so you can’t see just how shallow the basement is, but the ledge is literally at my waist. SO shallow!!!)

Its ok, we know its shallow. The goal is to have the house raised higher out of the ground to account for bigger, brighter windows, making the basement less basementy. You know what I mean. Its going to be SO BEAUTIFUL! I truly cannot wait to see this thing really start to take shape! I reiterate, if you are ever driving by and see something cool, please oh please take a picture and send it my way!

My question to you out there is this. If you were building a house, or even just looking for your next one, or loving your current one, WHATEVER!, what would you definitely include and what would you be unable to live without? Any “wish I had” or “wasn’t worth it” moments? We don’t want to miss anything, if at all possible! Any tips or ideas would be GREATLY appreciated 😀

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.