The Daily Hailey

Thank you all for your love yesterday on our anniversary post! Weren’t the photos amazing?? It was pretty crazy to get back into our wedding gear from eleven years prior, and relive some of the poses, while doing a few new ones 🙂 No burn AT ALL on our wedding photographer, but I like these SO much more than our original wedding photos! But I also like us better now than I did then ❤️ I think thats a good thing. 

So, about the day. I truly didn’t think we had any plans, so I had a new movie in mind and we have steaks in the freezer. I figured we could have an extra special at-home date night. But as it happens, Brady had planned presents and a date for us!! I admit, I felt a little sheepish, not having any gifts for him, but he still loves me so it works out 😆

The morning was a bit chaotic, waking up late (where did my alarm go???) and getting the kids to school. Brady had asked me to call him when I was home and settled. So I did, and he sent me upstairs to find a pretty white bag with a present in it for me! 

Pretty 😍 He did good. 

Shortly after our phone call, a vehicle pulled up to my house, and wouldn’t you know it – another delivery for me! 

Again, very good. I love the vase, too!! 

I watched a movie with Cher while the kids napped, and once it was over, we hung out together in my bathroom while I got some makeup on. Then I brought my curling wand, hairspray, and a mirror down to the kitchen and curled my hair there so I’d be available to greet the big kids upon coming home from school. 

Jerilee showed up around 3:30 to be our babysitter for the night, and Brady was home right around there, as well. He got cleaned up a bit, we chatted for a few minutes before hauling out. We wanted to go to a new restaurant in Saskatoon, and they weren’t taking reservations, so we figured the earlier the better! Who goes out for supper early on a Friday, anyway?! 

Everyone. The answer is “everyone.”

We waited for about an hour to get into our new location of The Old Spaghetti Factory. New old. Humor. But, my friends, it was SO worth the wait. We got a spot in a teeny little booth overlooking a busy street. 

We ate BIG food…

And finished it off with that super delicious ice cream!

Even when we go out on dates, Brady and I have a hard time slowing down and savouring our time together, especially in a restaurant. Because at home, with a bunch of kids, you get used to speed-eating in between serving different kids more of different things and just being extra hands on. But with the long wait to be seated, and then to order, and then between little courses, we enjoyed about 2.5 hours at the restaurant. It was super nice. 

After supper, I had a few things in mind I thought we could do, just the two of us. We have some gifts in mind that we should be buying for people sooner than later, but Brady insisted, no errands. It was a rule. I don’t think he gets how cathartic it is for me to get into a grocery/department store without kids 😆 But I was also fine with it. Rather, we went to relive a regular date night that we did a lot more before we had kids. And you guys won’t even believe me, but try. 

We used to go park somewhere nice, and read books to each other. 

I know. I know. It sounds like we said that to cover up the fact that we were going to just go make out somewhere. We definitely did that, but reading books was not our cover. When we said we were going out to read, we legitimately read. Brady bringing that up to me yesterday actually sparked a memory that is SO funny and I’m going to have to share on its own post. My goodness 😂 We were so weird. 

So, we drove to the train bridge, threw the van into park, and turned on the interior lights. We like that area because we like to people watch and at least in warmer weather, watch the water. Last time we lurked at the train bridge for a while, we saw cute people who appeared to be newly dating. Lots of runners and joggers. Kids. Its fun. It was dark and nighttimey this time, but it still worked 🙂 Brady had found our old books that we used to read, and we chose “The Twinkie Squad” by Gordon Korman. He’s SUCH a fun author for those junior high type of books. 

We read for about 1.5 hours. 

It was fun ❤️ Buuuuut then we had to pee, so we left, lol! We hit up a nearby Safeway for a pee break and some snacks, but were unsuccessful in finding the snacks we wanted the most. Maybe Costco can help next time we get there. 

All in all, it was a really really lovely evening out. Eleven years of marriage feels really good. Its not perfect, I know I don’t even have to say that. We’ve of course come across some hard times, but who hasn’t? I’ve always been content in my marriage, and I’ve always been able to say we’re happily married. While its not new, this last year was a time I really saw how healthy my marriage is, and for that, I am SO grateful! I know things only stay healthy as long as you care for them, and care for my marriage I will continue to! I praise the Lord for my healthy, happy, loving marriage ❤️

Today marks eleven years since Brady and I got married ❤️ We were SO young, and so in love. We acted on faith, and continue to. Our road hasn’t been a perfect one, but no one’s is. I wouldn’t trade ours. 

I’ll admit that this post is a year late. We had this fun blog idea for our tenth anniversary, but as it happened, if you remember, last February was unbelievably cold. Not fit for photos in the slightest. But thats ok, because eleven happens to be my favorite number anyway 😊 

We loved our wedding. There is very little I wish had been done differently. It was a spectacular day. VERY us. More than our wedding, though, I love our marriage. 

I love our relationship and how we’ve melded together. We’re both so different, but as tends to happen, we’ve become more similar over time.

I feel so fortunate to have a husband who is happily invested 100% in his family.

A husband who shares my goals and my heart.

A husband who never takes the easy way out or cuts a corner.

A husband who loves his family fiercely.

A husband with his priorities in order. God. Wife. Kids. Everything else. It seems that kind of man is hard to find, and I’m grateful to be forever united with Brady. 

We laugh a LOT.

I love our perfectly imperfect bond. Keep it tight, Lord! 

Eleven years in, with hopefully SO many more left! 

*

Thank you, Cher, for taking these pictures for us. In winter.

When your back was on fire. We now have photographic evidence that we’re just dorky as we were on this very day, eleven years ago! ❄️ 

I’m confident today is Laela’s last sick day. Her spirits are way up, and I’m sure if I had told her she could go back to school, she would’ve been all over it. But she was still a little fevered, so I figured one more day. 

Yesterday was a rough one. 

Thank you, Cher, for taking these pictures, unbeknownst to me ❤️ 

She just lay. If I offered her a book, she’d take it, and read it, and then lay it on her lap until Waverly inevitably toddled by and took it. Her fever was pretty persistent, and I could tell she was starting to feel pretty miserable. I gave her Tylenol and it didn’t break the fever. I sat beside her and wiped her face and neck with a cool cloth. She LOVED that. I could’ve probably done that all done. She loved it, and I felt peace being able to do something for her in the moment. She was looking pretty ok, but she started to drag hard towards the end of the morning. Still gorgeous though. 

She opted out of lunch and went down for a nap. After her nap, she was noticeably happier and lighter in the heart. She was in WAY better shape! Dekker even brought her some homework (her teacher knows how much she loves school that she sought him out to bring her some!) and she completed it immediately. One journal entry, three pages of math, and three pages of spelling. 

This morning, she really seemed a lot better. She sat up, coughed up some gross morning phlegm (I know, delicious) and then popped out of bed. At first, I thought if was obvious that she should go back to school. But I felt her neck, and she was toasty. Too toasty. I double checked as she ate her breakfast, and she was definitely warm. But! She ate breakfast better than she has in a couple of days, and coughed less. So I know she’s on her way back! 

This morning, it appears she is giving Solly a turn being sick. For the record, he isn’t sick. Yet. But Laela tucked him in on her little couch with her blanket. She gave him his water bottle and appointed herself his caregiver, sitting beside him and reading him story after story. Even Wavy joined in. 

Hopefully this is the end of Laela’s bout of sickness! And hopefully no one else gets it 🤞 Wish us luck!! 

I am SO thankful for how this morning has gone. 

Now that we have a basement, all the rowdiness lives down there. All of the toys and games are there. Dress up. Noisy toys. Messy stuff. Upstairs can get plenty messy too, but upstairs is for reading, colouring, and puzzles. That general idea. So you can imagine the kids are usually ravaging the basement all morning. 

Except this morning. This morning was extra special. 

Laela is home from school again today, so she opted for a couch, a water bottle, a blanket, and a book. Rowan followed suit with his stuffed fox and some Little Bear books. Solly is here by default, haha, because he doesn’t care to play downstairs on his own very much. He loves our pink wingback chair, so he’s been stretched out across it most of the morning. He also is on his way to Laela’s cold. And Waverly likes to be where the action is. Plus, she likes to dance to the music I play most of the day on the Echo. 

I admit, as I sat on my chair and looked around at my peaceful children, I had the worry that naps would be a total bust because no one was expelling any energy. And then I sent that worry packing, because I’m SO grateful for these special moments when everyone chooses to be close to one another. 

Its like a really good friend. How many of us have said that a good quality in a friend is when you can be around them totally comfortably, not talking? I know I’ve said that! And that is these kids today. When they do speak, its either quiet whisper-reading, or a whispered “Can I read that one when you’re done?” Its amazing. And for the record, the only one in the room who can read is Laela. But they’re all SO content. I refuse to overthink. It is TOO GOOD!

Its good for my heart to know these times are possible. Its in there! ❤️

In order to mix up the posts about who is suffering from what, we decided to keep Laela home 🤦‍♀️ 

Its really nothing serious. She’s been clearing her throat a lot for the last couple of days, and while we haven’t heard her cough really at all, she said she has been through the nights, and keeps saying she thinks she’s lost her voice. Now, she hasn’t, but she’s pretty loaded up on phlegm. I know. Yum. 

This morning, I went in to get Laela up for school, and she was SO tired. She was awake, but she had NO get up and go in her. And her cough was out for all to hear. Throaty and chesty and deep and growly and gross. I asked her how she was feeling, and she insisted she was good. Did she want to go to school? Yup, she did. But 🙌 could she roll out of bed? Barely. I sent her to the table with her water bottle to wait for breakfast while I got the rest of the kids up. 

She barely ate, and it was clear she needed to stay home. Just coughing and coughing. She’s pretty diligent at covering her mouth, but it wouldn’t have made sense to send her to school, where she could cough on all of her friends. So she stayed. She even has an admirer here. 

Miss Sickie Pants and Fakity Faker over here 🤣 They’re pretty cute. 

We’re ready for a super slow moving morning with paint and stories and music and chatting and eventually, naps. I hope your day is as relaxed as ours, ideally with less coughing 🤞

Yesterday, after we organized the living room, after lunch, and napped the nappers, we opted to go outside! Wavy didn’t last especially long, but it was worth it to get everyone out there even for a little bit. Its like those cheeks need to be red from time to time. 

They played HARD, digging and pulling each other around on sleds. Eventually some of them graduated to the swing set and slide in the backyard, but it still counts. They were all SO beautiful!

Wavy moves the least, and is the smallest, so she was cold the earliest. I brought her her neck warmer but it didn’t end up helping much. Except it made her cuter.

I got out there later than everyone, and I ended up taking her in the earliest, so my bout outside wasn’t so bad. Everyone else’s red cheeks stuck around for a good long while afterwards tho! 

I thank this silvering fox for always having the gumption to get everyone into all of their winter gear and outside, even just for a while. 

I’m so thankful to have a husband who not only has an excellent work ethic and patient heart, but also loves winter. Its aaaaall yours, honey!

I can’t believe I don’t have a before picture. My goodness. SUCH a lame oversight. But alas, here we are, in the “after” stage. Not even talking talking about the basement. Talking about the living room. This is the “before.”

So. Its not done done, but if we wait for that, it’ll still be a long time before you see it. So I guess this isn’t even “after.” During. Progress. Whatever. 

Aaaaanyway! As things are slowly starting to come together at the house, I’ve been itching to make the upstairs make better sense. Now, this isn’t a great picture, but we’re going with it. We had just moved the bulk of the toys downstairs so the place was a lot more open. We were just testing out the coffee table in there and trying to decide what looks best where. Since then, we’ve moved the little recliner downstairs, but otherwise, the same stuff lived upstairs. Its looked a little weird at times, with some areas being cluttered and some being too empty. So this morning, we tried something new and moved it around. And guys. Its SO much better!!!

Isn’t it pretty?? So we have the couch and recliner on the long wall, and the pink chair and love seat along the railing. We need another little white table between those ones next time we’re at IKEA. With the love seat moving, we could put the bookshelves back against the piano.

Now there is a nice stretch of wall for what we’ve been wanting it for! We’d like to have our guitars out, and we’ll ideally have this tall cabinet next to the water cooler eventually, to store the very few knick knacky things we have, and to break up the big long wall a bit. 

Once ALL of that makes sense, we’ll be able to think about what to finally put up on the walls. Thats a whole other post 😉 But for the sake of this post, can you see how nice its starting to look??? Ack!

The question for YOU, my friends, is coffee table? Or nah? Its nice to have, and it all looks pretty cozy, but it takes up space unnecessarily, and isn’t especially practical, considering the toddler we possess. What do you guys think? Besides the obvious, that its awesome in every way. We already know this 😉 

I took a night away. It was SO refreshing. I feel selfish saying it was necessary, because I know I’ve been riding a “break” all week while Brady has been home and I have been resting my body upstairs. But Cher and I planned a long while ago that I would come over for what we’ve been calling “teenager sleepover.” And that was last night!

Brady and I took the kids in first for a Costco shop. I don’t remember the last time we did Costco all together as a family. It was really cute. 

We did Superstore next, but didn’t get a whole lot. We grabbed toilet paper and creamer and got out of there. I was pretty eager to get to teenager sleepover! We grabbed some Subway for Cher and I on the way. 

It was SUCH a nice day with her. We watched some movies, along with one of the terrifying true crime documentaries on Netflix 🙀 We ate so many yummy things, and got in lots of good snugs! We went to sleep SO late, but that only makes sense for teenager sleepover, right? 

Our morning held some tv (Schitt Creek is leaving Netflix March 1st! Binge watch while you can!), more snugs, and breakfast in bed.

Yes. We have matching onesies. 

Yes. We’re dorks. 

We tried to get up and go a handful of times, but it took until the early afternoon before we finally surfaced, packed up some stuff, and headed to the car. Yes. We did wear the onesies outside. 

All in all, it was SO nice to have a whole day away with Cher. We just rested, and relaxed, with zero expectations or deadlines. I’ve been missing her a lot these days, not seeing her even close to as often as I usually have the pleasure of, so this was really, really nice. 

Meanwhile, while I was away, Brady worked on reloading our laptop (any laptop nerds able to help us with a keyboard issue, PLEASE message me!) and he set up his drum kit for the kids to play on! 

Its cool to see which kids lean towards what interests. One of our children in particular has a pretty incredible natural rhythm, and expressed an interest in learning the drums. 

I’m really looking forward to having our children help lead worship someday. 

Its been SUCH a nice weekend so far. I hope you all feel the same.

So. Funny story. 

Yesterday, I was upstairs after supper, and Dekker called up.

“Dad?” he called. “Can you come down here for a second?”

Brady and I finished our conversation quick and he headed down to see what Dekker needed. Dekker informed him that he had lost a tooth! Woot! Laela migrated upstairs to see what she was missing the celebration for.

Except, Dekker went on, it was lost. Like, LOST lost. Now that is a less than ideal situation when one has a baby who eats every little spec of anything she finds on the floor (like a puppy) and ideally, she wouldn’t eat a tooth. Brady did a quick glance around and picked up a tooth form the carpet. 

“Here it is, Dekker,” he said. 

“No,” Laela said, taking it from him. “Thats mine.” 

Aaaaand it was. 

Laela, too, had lost a tooth. Which was SO bizarre. We all had a good laugh as they bled into Kleenexes in the living room, but it pretty quickly had to switch to a search party. Where was Dekker’s tooth. Where had he been when he lost his tooth?

Well, apparently he discovered it was missing downstairs. So down we went. No dice. He wandered around, seemingly trying to replay it in his head. He wandered into the bathroom and suddenly, it seemed like his brain clicked. The upstairs bathroom!

Up to the bathroom we went. Nope. Nada. Nowhere. Did it get flushed? Go down the sink? Wait, no! He clicked again. The entrance. It had to have been the entrance, or near the stairs. 

So our mob moved in that’s direction. But it was clear he just didn’t remember. I went to go look under the table. Supper had been over for a good 15-20 minutes at this point, but thats a reasonable place to lose a tooth, right? Right. 

Turns out it was the worst day to LOSE lose a tooth, because after a supper of eggs and toast, little bits of egg white were here and there, all over the floor, all of them looking very tooth-like. Yet, I stooped to their level and was able to decipher one egg white bit that was more tooth-like than the others. So tooth-like, in fact, that it turned out to be the (not so) missing tooth!! Yay!!

I don’t think of us as a particularly large family, though I’m not dumb, and obviously our family is larger than “average.” But this felt like a “large family” event somehow, haha! Simultaneously losing teeth! Whats next?? 

One day, I’m going to update the blog about what everyone is up to, but these days, I know its very Hailey heavy and Dekker heavy. Its just a season of struggle for some of us, I suppose. But today is a Dekker story, so at least you have a little break from talking about me! Lol!

Poor Dekker. He’s back into normalcy this week, walking to school, going out for recess, participating in most everything. And today, he got his first scare since his break. I knew it would happen, because any little bump or jostle really sets him off. They rarely actually hurt, but they scare him. And today, it finally happened at school. 

Dekker got hurt on the slide today. Of course it was the slide 🙄 Why wouldn’t it be the slide? But he was going down, and without warning, someone flew down the slide behind him and rammed into his back. Just kids sliding. Nothing new. But he FREAKED. 

The office admin called me and started with “Hi Hailey… I don’t know…” She was at a loss. He wasn’t in pain, but he was very very upset. She was very careful to tell me she was obviously not a doctor, but that Dekker was using his arm and shoulder and seemed totally fine, but completely out of sorts. I asked if I should be coming to get him, and even he didn’t seem sold on that. He just wanted to sit at the office and cool off. She he did. He ended up taking his math work and doing it in the office, as well. He was carrying a textbook, concentrating on his work, etc. He was fine. But I received a call about a half hour later saying he really wanted to come home. So we brought him one. Only one hour left of the school day. Or the school week, really. No school tomorrow. 

Its hard for me to judge. I don’t want to be a mom who comes running and takes her kid home after a scraped knee or a slip and fall. But I also want to be sensitive to just needing to be away. I had those days in school, and my mom was always understanding of it. That’s not to say I just got to stay home whenever I felt like it, but there were days where I (pardon my millenialism) just couldn’t even. So I stayed home. And Dekker has been truly enjoying being back at school, but today, he needed to come home early. 

I asked him if he was really hurt, or really scared, and he admitted easily, immediately that he had gotten really scared. And I can feel with that. Of course it was back on a slide, and I have no doubt he was just imagining that collarbone break all over again. I’d want to come home, too. 

Judgement calls are hard. I may have five kids but I’ve only been doing this mom thing for about 8.5 years. I’m no expert. I hope one day I’m more confident in these decisions, but today, I’m at peace.