Rowan decided to give us a run for our money and keep Brady and I up almost all night last night. We were able to joke through it a bit, and I commented that this probably officially makes us parents now, since this was really our first ever night like this that we can remember. Gruelling, though. I was not a fan of that fun thing where Ro would cry and I’d rock him to sleep and then he’d wake up the second I’d lay him down. Not a fan at all. Luckily he’s super adorable, and I’m pretty sure he was just hungry. This kid is growing at warp speed. I feel like his milk intake increases drastically every single day, and I’m just never ready for it! I’ll be very interested to learn what he weighs at our appointment next week!

I’m sure no one feels particularly motivated after a night like that, but as I will say another hundred times before this week is up, there is a LOT to do! But I learned very quickly that everyone was feeling fatigued, thanks to the littlest one, and it was not a day to leave them to their own devices while I tried to get stuff done. Instead, we did our normal morning breakfast and took our time, and then we all went downstairs and I listed my butt off. I mentally went through my house room by room, and made lists and lists of jobs that need to be done. While the list is huge and I’m completely overwhelmed by it, its good to see how many jobs I’ll actually be able to do. I struggle in the evenings to think of small jobs that I can do while Brady does the big ones, or the ones with lifting, or the tall ones. I have lots of places to clean and prepare! Its good to have it on paper now. I love crossing things off.

This evening, I am so looking forward to concert choir! I know, the busiest week in the world and I’m bailing for a couple of hours to go sing in a group. But I committed to it, and missed three weeks around Rowans birth. I must get back into it! And a little break will be nice. Not that I can do too much work in the day with all the kids around me, but I think my brain would appreciate a break from thinking about the house and all the stress that comes with it. I felt absolutely sick about everything yesterday evening, and then after such a short (or long, depending on how you look at it) night, a change of scenery will likely do me some good.

I hate titling these posts. As I sat here with my post idea, and tried to figure out what to name the stinking thing, I said to myself “I wonder what this week will look like.” And from there was born Wonder Week. Its not a short form of the question even, but what I am officially naming this week.

Welcome to Wonder Week 😀 Its a busy place.

This week, we are planning to absolutely kill it around here! We want to finish up our home so it can be ready to sell. One week. We really don’t have a ton left that I can do on my own, and thats left me feeling at a bit of a loss. There are some heavy duty cleaning jobs that need to get done, and I can definitely do those on my own, but I can’t have all of the strong chemicals out while the kids wander the house, or inevitable, wander around my feet while I have Rowan hanging off of one arm. Its just not possible, leaving the evenings after Brady gets home very, very busy. Its ok, we’re both ready and willing! But I sit here in the day, itching with anticipation to start working, but instead, twiddling my thumbs. Grrr! I am not always in favor of house cleaning, and its weird to finally be in the mood to do it but not be able to. The older two kids are sleeping, and Rowan is in and out, needing a bottle any minute now. Also, while I feel decent, the fact is my body is still at least a little bit in postpartum mode, and I’m tiring out pretty quick these days. My back is sore, and my right leg is still just as useless as it was when I was pregnant. Not ideal.

So here’s what I’ve accomplished so far today. This morning I did a bunch of emailing to several realtors as well as a mobile mortgage specialist from our bank. I have an appointment set up to meet our mortgage specialist later this week. Also, of all of the realtors that I wrote to, one called me almost right away and actually has already come by and taken a walk through of our house!! I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say for ideas and plans for our house, but he is in full support of our desire to get on this whole thing really, really soon. I feel relieved after talking to him, and also scared that it will all look so great and be all ready, and then never sell. *shivers* God is bigger, God is bigger, God is bigger.

Strangely, after that meeting, I just felt tired. I think I just have so much put into this that I’m always nervous and stressed, even when I don’t feel like I am. So instead of taking a break right away, I did a nice scrub down of the stove top and face with all the knobs. It is completely caked in grease that we have neglected for way too long. I got the majority of it, but I’ll need to run over it again before the big day comes. But after leaning over the stove for those ten minutes only, I know that my body is begging to rest. Sooo annoying, but I must listen before I break. I broke the other day after we worked a bunch and I could hardly move the rest of the day. I don’t want to listen, but I know I need to.

Welcome to Wonder Week.

This whole situation feels gigantic.

God is bigger. God is bigger. God is bigger.

We haven’t had whats felt like a “normal” Sunday in quite some time, and today felt pretty darn close! Except that we were late…

Our church service starts at 10:45, and we live about a half hour away. We always aim to leave around 10:00, knowing it always takes longer to get the kids into their coats and out the door than we bargain for. Its usually five or ten after. Today we were just in the van around 10:15, and in case you’re reading this years later, our third day of spring this year gave us tons of snow and freezing rain. Our drive took longer than usual and we just about made it on time! I believe the music had just started when we arrived. It worked though. Other people were still filtering in, and it gave us a bit more space to get the kids out of their stuff.

The service was the absolute smoothest service we’ve sat in maybe ever. I say “sat in” because we didn’t have to haul anyone out once. Laela played happily and fairly quietly the entire time. Dekker was especially cuddly and gave us tons of hugs and kisses the entire time, but was very happy, rather than giving hugs out of discomfort. And Rowan slept in his bucket the entire time!!! We never bring his bucket into the service because he always wakes up when we arrive but he slept until the very literal last minute of the service, and started to fuss while our pastor prayed us out. It was crazy, and awesome.

We visited a bit after the service, as usual. This was only Rowans second appearance at church, so lots of people still hadn’t met him personally yet. But besides that, Dekker was in a great mood! All of a sudden he has this newfound confidence, which does my mother heart a lot of good. Not like he was striking up conversations with people he’d never seen, but he was just less shy, and suddenly a bit more playful and endearing. The crowd didn’t seem to put him off at all. It was refreshing and exciting to watch. I have to wonder if his new glasses are at least partly to thank. He loves those things. The prescription is the same, so its not a matter of his vision being any different, but I think he feels like a rockstar in them.

After church, we ate lunch and had to put the very sad kids down right away for their naps. It seems a bit cruel maybe, but we all visited at church for quite a while, and then we ate lunch for so long because it was so yummy, and by the time that was over, it was already a half hour past their usual nap time. Yet, they obviously needed the rest, and both older kids slept for about two hours. Rowan had a couple really nice wakeful times but his naps were long and snorey and sweet. Both of my parents got some nice long cuddles with him.

Everyone woke up at the same time and we played a bit more before supper. Once again, we seemingly ate forever, and talked about all of our plans about housing, and what the next steps are. The steps include basically killing ourselves over the next little while to get things done, basically. Brady needs to make another run to our container to store some more stuff, I need to do a bunch of emailing and calling to make contact with a few possible realtors, and we have our same fixes and cleaning to do that keep getting pushed back. I know that things don’t have to be perfect, but I want to be able to photograph my house in a way that will show off how beautiful our house really is, and will create a really solid listing.

Dekker and Laela are in bed, and Rowan is having a bottle. Next on the agenda: work!! Sooo not in the mood right now, but its gotta get done and we don’t have much time. Goals are goals!!!

Brady had to work this morning, which is not our favorite thing, to say the least. But luckily, he finished up his stuff in just a few hours and was home before lunch. When he got home, we had the Tims breakfasts he brought for us, and then very seriously got to work around our house. I’m sure our “very seriously” isn’t everyone elses “very seriously” but it was a really good day for us. People speak of this rewarding feeling they have after a solid day of work, and I can rarely relate to such a feeling, but this evening I am SO sore, and while its incredibly painful (pelvis still out of place, and now angrier than ever) it proves that I really put my back into it today.

Our main focus was the entrance to our house. The floor is just basic lino but it had a seam directly in the high traffic area. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad had it not gotten so freezing. It all curled up and chunks of it kept breaking off and tripping people. It needed replacing. So we bought some other basic lino a while back, and today was the day to swap it out. Peeling the old stuff off was going to take forever just using a pry bar, and we debated just laying the new stuff overtop, but instead, we opted to do the best job we could do, and did some research. We didn’t have a heat gun, but I offered my hair dryer, and it worked pretty well! It took two of us to get it all removed and all the glue up, but it was fun to actually do one of the bigger tasks together. I am sooo thankful for our relaxed kids! Dekker, our self-appointed “tough worker” wanted to help for a while, but when his toy saw wouldn’t do the job, he and Laela just stood in the doorway and watched.

We realized after a few strips of flooring that we were melting glue, and it really smelled like it! So we completed this job towards the end of the kids naps. (Conveniently, I’m not pregnant! So no big fume worries for me!)

In the beginning of nap time, we didn’t want to make too much noise with the dryer constantly turning on and off, so we decided to do some of the jobs that were more on my list next. We cleaned out our bedside tables, which has desperately needed doing for so long, considering our bedside tables are open shelving units, so no mess can be hidden. We tidied up a few piles of random messes that had been accumulating in our bedroom. Our room was pretty much the first room that we considered to be finished, but it really wasn’t. It was the most finished, for sure, but there were still big messy piles of mostly garbage. So we got those taken care of, finally. Our room looks pretty much awesome now, if I do say so myself.

Once the kids were up, Brady lay the new flooring down in the entrance while supper cooked. We had these delicious sweet and sour meatballs over sour cream mashed potatoes. Our church has graciously given us a bunch of meals over the last week or two, to help us out after bringing Rowan home, and what a tasty help they have been! While those things were going on, I grabbed a magic eraser and cleaned the front of our cabinets. They used to be white, and then they were grey, and now they’re white again!!! However, the doors and drawer fronts alone used up a whole magic eraser!!! Its not a big deal, as in we have tons of them, but those things usually go a lot further! Turns out our cabinets really really needed help! I haven’t even touched the door frames or the space around the doorknobs yet! I also cleaned inside the washer, the outside of the washer (how does a “washer” get so dirty?!) and put a load of laundry through.

Supper was unbelievable. Dekker loved it, which is not common with anything new or even new looking. Laela ate it happily, as she does with everything. And Brady and I ate lots too. It really hit the spot after a day of chores. After supper, I did the dishes and Brady nailed the entrance baseboards back on. Then, it was almost the kids bedtime and they really needed baths. So Brady bathed Dekker and Laela together in the tub and I took a stab at bathing Rowan in the kitchen sink. He’s a bit tall for it, and tried to stand a number of times, but luckily, I was expecting that and prevented many head bonks. It was actually a pretty adorable bath.

Now everyone is in bed, except Brady and I, but we need to soak in the tub first. Priorities, guys!

Speaking of priorities, we have a goal in mind for our house, and when we want to list it. I’m always scared to share that kind of thing because its so much more embarrassing to fail when so many people know, so I won’t this time. But we’re very seriously getting on these last few jobs, cleaning, and preparing. In a BIG way. So if we’re not particularly available over the next little while, don’t take it personally. Or just come to us and be prepared to work!! We welcome all 🙂

** On the not of listing this place very, very soon, I need tips and names and information from you guys who have, in fact, done this before! A realtor we could afford would be great to know, as well as someone to appraise the place. We’re hoping to sell privately, but we’re also sort of scratching at the door to get this show on the road, and I’m not sure we’ll last too long!! Advise us!!!!!

***** 1000 POSTS!!!! Thanks for being such loyal readers and keeping me motivated to write! I cannot believe its been ONE THOUSAND POSTS!!!!! *****

Instead of 6:00am, Rowan bumped his early morning feed til 7:15! He must love me. On a normal day, I DO NOT feel ready to get up so early, but for some reason, I felt nice and rested this morning!! I knew getting up early would give me the opportunity to get a lot of work done around the house but, for whatever reason, I was blanking on what job I could really even start on my own. I wrote a status update on Facebook saying how rested I felt, and was thoroughly blessed by a text very soon after from a friend that resulted in a date! An honorary sister of sorts from high school had a baby a few months back and I had yet to meet him. Also, having not seen each other in forever, she had never met any of my kids!! It was more than time for us to get together, so she packed up her son and made the trip.

We had such a nice afternoon together, if I can be so bold. It was so nice to catch up! Well, I don’t even know if I can call it that, because we didn’t go too terribly far back. Just to the point of having kids, basically 🙂 It was fun to swap stories and experiences and opinions. I think we agreed on a lot, which isn’t a necessity but is always pretty refreshing. The kids were very comfortable with her around, to the point of Dekker asking her to read him stories. Her little boy was SUCH a ray of sunshine, and seemed to really have eyes for Laela, never without a smile just for her. He took a really nice long nap while we all had lunch together downstairs. Its so nice when our guests are comfortable enough to eat in our basement on the sunken couches.

Eventually my kids went down for naps too and we chatted a bit more while she fed her babe. But the show must go on, and she had to head out soon afterwards. But it was such a lovely, refreshing visit for me! It was so nice to have someone in the house to talk to and relate to. And it was great to fill a good chunk of the day with something/someone much more important and enjoyable than housework and planning and stress.

Friend, you know who you are 🙂 Please come again!! You were such a bright spot in my day!!

We have waited for today for the last week, and it finally came! We got our call yesterday evening that Dekkers new glasses arrived! However, the call came in shortly before closing, so we couldn’t exactly race into the city to pick them up. However, we had plans to come in today anyway, so it worked out.

Rowan had his newborn hearing test at 3:00, and without mincing words, that whole experience was a bit of an ego hit. I brought our entire family to the wrong hospital. I brought Rowan in on my own, because you’re not supposed to bring other kids, and thank the good Lord we only made it as far as admitting before we figured it out. Of course, they called their audiology department and they laughed at me and told me they’d call the right audiology people at the right hospital. They also did me the favor of giving the right people my cell number so they could promptly call me back and laugh at me some more. But it was ok. I rolled with it. Such is life, right? The receptionist gave me directions for how to get to their offices, and told me that my being late wouldn’t cause any problems. A relief, right? So Brady and the kids picked me up and took Rowan and I to the right hospital. Where I got us lost almost instantly. I knew the directions in my head, but I went down to the ground level too soon, and my goodness, that is most definitely not the right way. I asked numerous people (in scrubs and white coats!) where to find audiology and NO ONE KNEW!! They all kind of kept pointing me in the direction I was already going, and said things like “It makes more sense for it to be that way than going back.” Helpful, right? Helpful until I found myself in the ICU. I think it was at that point that I officially looked just as lost as I felt, and someone came to my rescue. I told her where I was trying to go, and she began saying “Ok, go all the way back.” I think I wilted a little bit right on the spot, and she just gave me a really sympathetic smile and said “Why I don’t I walk you there?” I didn’t backpedal, or worry about her inconvenience like I normally would. I just responded “Yes please!” and off we went. She took me just about all the way, and pointed me down the right hallway. What a relief! And wow!, had I been in the wrong place! I went to register Rowan and the receptionist brushed off my apologies for being late and awkward and weird and having a bad sense of direction. She said it was incredibly common and not to worry about it. We didn’t wait too long before we were taken into a room about the size of my closet for the hearing test. I LOVED the girl that ran the tests! She left Rowan quietly sleeping in his car seat while she checked him all out, and we had a good laugh about my adventure getting there, as well as the joys of having kids and how things change from one to the next. It was really comfortable, and nice to sit for a few minutes! When we were done, she walked me to the end of the hall and directed me how to get out. And guess what. I didn’t get lost. It was stupidly, embarrassingly easy. So like I said in the beginning of this post, my pride definitely took a hit today, but I think thats good for us once in a while anyway, so I laughed about it and called it my exercise for the day.

When we got back to the van, Dekker asked immediately where we were going next. The twinkle in his eye was unmistakable. He knew.

“We’re going to get your brand new Lightening McQueen glasses, Dekker” I said. He burst out laughing.
“Thats pretty silly, mommy!!!”

I don’t even need to really say how that pick up went…

I tried to take a nice, outside picture of him but clearly, it was MUCH too sunny 🙂  

Lightaqueen!

He was SO thrilled! He wore them beautifully throughout the evening, and by his attitude, you could tell he felt like a million bucks!

We wanted to celebrate the excitement and go out for supper as a family, but it was around 4:15, so a bit too early. We had very few things we needed to get from the city at all, but needing to stall, we decided to get all four of the things off of our grocery list from Superstore. Judge if you must, but the free cookie makes everything better, and our kids appetites don’t appear to be spoiled by it, so we just go for it. Never at home, but Superstore is an exception. So we grabbed our few items, plus a couple of makeup things for me, and then headed over to the bakery for the kids cookies.

Happy kids 🙂 Cookie kids.

And the cookie kids cute little feet!

We finally headed to supper, at the Broadway Cafe. Fast food is sooo much easier, and I never have to worry about the kids being kind of noisy in a Wendys, but Broadway Cafe is yummy and also kid friendly, but nicer. And they actually did awesome! We all had really yummy food, and besides Laela’s really loud, high pitched, happy screams, we stayed relatively under the radar and were just a normal family, eating supper.

Dekker had so many questions about the pictures on the walls and what the cars were named.

This was Laela’s first time eating supper just sitting on a chair instead of in a high chair. She did awesome! And yes, she still has chocolate all over her face from the cookie.

Aaand thats the extent of what Rowan did through supper. He didn’t make a sound. He sat in his bucket beside me, and fell asleep. No soother used, no rocking of his seat even. Just slept.

It was a TOTALLY successful day! I’m very happy with Rowan and the positive results on his hearing test. I’m excited to see Laela understanding more and more every day, and starting to pretend. And I’m thrilled with Dekker’s new glasses, and how much he likes to wear them. He looks awesome and he knows it, as he should.

I had a different blog planned out for today but, to be completely honest, today was sort of a gong show, and I don’t have too much left in me. Not enough emotion or patience or really desire to write something out well. So instead, I will simply tell you that the kids were a special group today. Dekker was probably in trouble more than he was out of it today. Because of his crazy actions that put him in trouble, Laela was freaked of him, and screamed like crazy every time he approached her. It made it hard for him to right his wrong when he couldn’t get near her. And then when she would approach him, he would freak and whine and completely shut down from listening, resulting in further trouble. It was never ending.

Rowan was incredibly user friendly today, which was both wonderfully refreshing, as well as ominous. He was quite so easy because he has slept all day. It sounds great, but I’m a bit nervous for tonight. We never have a problem getting him back to sleep after a night feeding, but he hasn’t slept this much in the day for a while. Nerve wracking. But it was a squishy, cuddly day with him.

Once everyone was napping, I gathered up a ton of the craft stuff and office supplies that was spread out all over the house, and started organizing. It honestly took most of the afternoon, but of course the job spread. So not only do I have all the office supplies tidy and by the desk, but I also have all the craft stuff tubbed, the junk drawer under control, and my bedside table looks great. Its been sooo messy and held so many things for too long. Now, its pretty again. Oh, and I took out a ton of garbage.

I hid from Dekker and Laela until Brady got home. After a day like that, I had a pretty unbelievable headache. We whipped up some leftovers for everyone, and ate all together. Dekker broke a big rule towards the end of the meal and I sent him to his room. I don’t revel in my kids being punished in any way, but I had to laugh. From the dining room, we heard him wailing. He used to just cry, but now he says all kinds of things. Today, he said “Aw, that was sad!” and “I’m super sad!” I had to laugh at his perspective, but I was also incredibly proud of him expressing how he was feeling with words instead of through screaming. We have working towards that for so long!

There wasn’t much time left in the kids day by the time we were done with all the time outs and supper, so they played in the kitchen a bit while Brady and I did the dishes, and then we brought them downstairs to tidy toys up. They did pretty good through that, and we even convinced them to “race” up the stairs and to their room. It was relatively smooth, but I feel completely drained. Which is so strange to me! I’ve felt quite 100%-esque for the last while, and I’m finding myself at a bit of a loss with these feelings! I’m certainly not panicked or even really anxious, which in and of itself is refreshing, but I may be getting my first real taste of the exhaustion that so many moms feel at the end of the day. Interesting…

Tomorrow, the kids and I will venture into the city for Rowans hearing test. I didn’t even think of it, but when we left the hospital so soon after he was born, he didn’t have his newborn auditory screening. Whoops! So we were sent a scheduled appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, its late enough in the afternoon that Brady will probably be done work and be able to come with us. Also, just this evening, I received the exciting phone call that Dekker’s new glasses are in!!! I told him about it just before supper, and he headed for the door. He’s really excited to get them and wear them and be all fresh and shiny. I’m pretty excited too, honestly. I found them online and just love them more and move every time I go look at them. Just you guys wait!

Sorry about the somewhat angsty post. I love my life exactly as its been given to me, but some days I just get the shivers, and then a headache. The tub can’t come soon enough!

I went to concert choir tonight for the first time in a long time. Jerilee and I have missed the last three weeks! I had Rowan three weeks ago, so the hooky started there, the Tuesday the week after was filled with appointments that filled the day enough, and the next week Jerilee couldn’t speak a word without hacking out her lungs. So we’re finally out of survival mode and back into life, and it was sooo nice to be back!

We were freakishly early but stalled for a little bit in the parking lot before going into the school. When we finally went in, we chatted a bit with a few people and eventually found seats. It was SUCH a good evening for singing!! I know we’ve missed those weeks but it was nice to come into a more confident sound, thanks to the singers who had attended more diligently and learned their parts. It was so easy to get right back into the swing of things. I am completely excited to perform the songs in April. You should really all come. Its going to be epic.

After practice, we doddled a little bit, waiting to speak to the director to see if we needed to get any new music from the last few weeks, and ended up visiting with her for about an hour and a half! She is a woman who Jerilee and I both hold quite dear, and it was good to finally get a solid visit in with her. We learned more about how concert choir is going to look the day of, which made me even more excited, but we discussed life, an depth, and real things that made me sooo happy we stayed late!

I left my house at 5:30, and expected to be home before 9:00, but I was finally in my room at 11:11. SO worth it! Now to get some sleep before tomorrow is in full swing. My plans for the day fell through, but maybe I’ll get some cleaning or tidying done. Just a few little problem areas in my house that insist on being out of place for some reason. Dang you, countertop. You’ve got a lot of nerve being so conveniently placed and willing to hold everything I own.

We met with a builder today. Before we all get ahead of ourselves, no, we have not sold our house or even listed it. There is still lots to do. However, we spoke to our mortgage broker a month or so ago, and she advised us to get our numbers together and find out exactly how much our build would cost, so we could get a more accurate idea of what we needed, how much to list for, and things like that. We booked the appointment last week with the main salesman/owner of the builder that we’re going with. This morning, we dropped Dekker off to have a much needed one on one date with my mom, and we took Laela and Rowan to their nearby show home to meet.

We met for TWO HOURS! I first have to say that my kids are awesome. Rowan slept silently in his bucket the entire time, and Laela tried to terrorize Rowan and wandered around and unpacked the diaper bag until she got very tired, when I picked her up and she fell asleep on me for the first time in probably a year! It was sweet. And heavy. We stood through the whole meeting and only now is my body screaming at me. Maybe it wasn’t smart for me to free stand while holding my limp daughter for quite that long. But it was sweet and totally worth it.

Without getting into too much detail in such a public place as the internet, It was SUCH an exciting meeting! We learned our cost and got all of our specifications ad changes approved, so we know that when the time comes, we’ll really be able to have exactly what we want. We confirmed that we can bring in our own trades pretty much how ever much we want, as long as we’ve given fair notice. We’ll have permission to go through the house as often as we want, to see progress and make changes. The timeline all looks good too. We’re eager to move and they’re eager to build. Its sooo exciting!

Now to sell. Lots and lots of cleaning to do, with a few repairs and some general tidying. But thats it, for the most part! I can’t wait to see it all take shape so I can FINALLY post pictures!! Hopefully soon!

After getting so much accomplished yesterday, and getting the place so cleaned up and cleared out, some of the rooms are starting to come together!! While we don’t want to stock up and add yet more unnecessary junk to our lives, we do want our house to look nice and presentable. So we made a short list of hypothetical stuff we would like to “stage” our house with, and went into the city. No big deadlines, or expectations. Just a relaxed family day, with some treats and some fresh air. Maybe our “family outings” seem like something you guys would find boring, but the kids love the slow walk through Walmart, or the free cookie at Superstore. Small victories in this family! Even if one of us runs into a store for a bit and the rest wait in the van, the kids like being freed from their seats and running around the van, rolling down the windows, etc. Its easy. And its sooo much easier now that Dekker does so much better in public places. At worst, he ind of grunts and tries to hide when people talk to him. A much more acceptable form of shyness. Waaay better than the death scream. So since he’s grown up a bit in that area, we all feel more relaxed and can all really enjoy our days out and about.

I won’t run down the list of what we all got from each place, since i feel like I do that a lot, and it probably bores some of you. But we did pretty good! We got some very small, basic furniture, and a few basic things to hang up that would look nice but nothing too specific to us. Just pretty things. We returned a couple of things and bought a couple of other little things for the repairs that need doing still. We got a few little things like basic white pillow cases, and a new shower curtain, and I confess that we bought another blanket! Its one of those delicious woven ones that feels like a soft grandpa sweater, yet its a very fine chevron pattern in grey and coral alternating. Best of all, its a king sized blanket, which calls for lots of cuddling with many people under the same blanket!! For only $30, I couldn’t not buy it.

We got fast food for lunch, and the kids ate great, and loved their toys. Dekker got a Hot Wheels car, and Laela got a pink Barbie car! Our first Barbie convertible! We usually opt for Wendys over McDonalds, but going to McDonalds was great today. Not only were the toys cool, but I remembered that they actually have a grilled cheese happy meal, and Laela LOVED it! She didn’t even touch her fries!

Isn’t she such a beauty??

At the end of our shopping trip, I texted my parents to touch base with them and ask if we could drop by their place on our way home. Their Apple TV has been giving them trouble and Brady wanted to look into it, but today is their anniversary and we didn’t want to intrude on their plans. However, their evening plans had fallen through, and were rescheduled for another day, so instead of my parents just saying “Sure, come fix our tv” they invited us for supper! That is the story of how we came to eat fast food twice in one day – we brought Wendys. To my parents house. For their anniversary!! It was kind of hilarious, but it was so relaxed and yummy and we were all just happy to be in each others presence.

We got home a solid hour past the kids bedtime, but Dekker and Laela went down fairly easily, and to be honest, Rowan is still sleeping in his car seat, as Brady and I have been busy bringing stuff in from the van, putting it away, setting up a few little things, and finally fixing the toilet with a flapper that seals! He’s been a total champ all day, hardly complaining at all and just eating like a champ anytime we offer him milk. We’ll go rescue him from his seat on our dining room table soon, top him up to the brim with milk, and see what kind of a stretch we can get out of him! We aren’t being strict about sleep training of any kind yet at all, but we are seeing good patterns forming, and this evening is definitely different! But city days always are, and thats totally fine.

We have a big day tomorrow that I’ll tell you about then, but thankfully it doesn’t start too early, so even if we have a rough night, we’ll be all bright and refreshed in time. But let’s just plan on a great night anyway. I love a best case scenario!