My Baby of 6 years

                  Happy Birthday to our most awesome C!

 

Have an extra super day. We love you BUgs.

Nesting

I am starting to feel that nesting urge. Baby Everest will be here in just a couple months and I am craving him more and more each day. Almost time to unpack the little clothes, burp cloths and blankies. Bring out the boppy and carseat. Tonight I am going to tour the Birthing Center I would like to deliver at, hopefully it feels right. After giving birth at home last time, I feel like most places won't compare but I am willing to give it a shot. I have been having a lot of Braxton Hicks which is completely normal for me (and extremely uncomfortable) they interrupt my otherwise relaxing and routine life.
Probably because of the Braxton hicks, I dream a lot about baby. The smell and feel of newborn hair. The tiny-ness.
sigh :)
Yesterday at church we had a lesson on the talk give by one of the apostles at Conference about "Protecting the Children" It was a very blunt talk about the choices we make when it comes to the children in our lives. The right and wrong ways of providing for them and so on. In the talk he mentioned children who suffer the worst kinds of abuse and torture at the hands adults, as well as children who suffer neglect and/or aren't offered the basic spiritual and emotional needs often because of the selfish desires of their parents. As I sat in my meeting I felt a spiritual confirmation that our choice to have children, and bring them into a home where they would be loved and looked after was a calling given to us by God. That despite our flaws and short comings we have made a promise to him to do our best to take care of his children that he loves sooo much. I believe that with all my heart. Heavenly Father loves his children.
I feel inspired to be a better mother, but also to remember that we are all God's children and reach out and love those I come in contact with. I have been so blessed in my life to know that He loves me, and not everyone has.
Nesting for me, will be more than simply preparing for the physical needs of our new sweet baby, it will be fortifying our home with our Testimony of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, that he has a plan for us, that we have bold purpose.
I know that Everest, like all my children will have his own mission here on earth, and I promise as his mother to do all I can to help him fulfill it. 

I have a lot of thoughts roaming around in my head today that I just wanted to put down in writing, so I am putting them here.

My sister in law is divorcing my Brother, since she announced it on facebook yesterday I feel more free to talk about it more openly. There have been a lot of comments made about the effects of this decision and the right of others to make judgements on the matter, after all marriage is between the couple (and the Lord.)
I agree that there is nothing more sacred.
I also think it is foolish and childish to believe or pretend that the effects of a divorce are not felt by more than just the couple. It is hard to ignore and set aside the heartbreak I have felt through the whole process. I have been supportive and listened through it all, but at the end of the day it all still hurts.
Family, whether by law or blood, still have to choose to love each other, respect each other, be loyal to one another, and when someone in my family chooses not to do these things it is up to me to make judgements, to protect myself and my family from the negative effects.

To all of our family, we love you. We are invested in your lives and the lives of your children. We care about you and pray for you. Please know that we have respect for the lives that you lead, and for the choices you make. However you have come into our lives, you have made an impact, and when you leave don't be naive enough to think that it doesn't change everything.

As a family I think we should have enough respect for each other to acknowledge each others grief during this hard time.
I love my Brother and his kids. I love my Sister in law. I pray we will be comforted during this time and that my brother can feel the love and prayers we send his way.
You are not alone. You are very loved.

A spoon full of sugar

When I am having a hard time getting going on chores and need a boost I do a few simple things that get me motivated.
1. light a candle

having a house that smells good makes me want a house that looks good. (This one is from Anthropologie and completely worth every penny $10)

2. put my apron on

this means I mean business :)

3. Pandora/HGTV

Pandora is maybe obvious, music gets me moving. HGTV, depending on the show, when I see homes being made more beautiful it makes me want my house to look beautiful.


3 things that helps me to snap out of the lazies, they are the sugar that helps the medicine go down.

Date night

Tonight is date night, we have a babysitter ready to go and I am as excited as I always am for date nights. This will be our second date in almost 5 months, which is far too few for me :) We spend a lot of time as a family having family dates and I find them fun and wonderful, but nothing keeps your love alive like a dedication to one on one time with your lover. We will most likely do the same thing we always do, which is go to a movie, we might talk our babysitter into making it a consistent thing like every 2nd and 4th Friday, and that might seem unromantic to some, doing the same thing, on the same night every month, where is the spontaneity?! Well whether or not it seems romantic, for one or two nights a month, I get dressed up just for him. I get to hang out with my best friend without anything else pulling at my attention and it is awesome. We are plenty spontaneous and unpredictable in other ways but in this we are certain, we love each other and want to go out together, period. I love that we have made this commitment to each other to go on date nights, no matter the cost, or limited time we have. With Everest soon on the way I am going to get as much of this as I can :)
Viva la date night!

Weekend plans

Our weekend plans include another trip to DC, maybe just a drive thru one, hopefully buying a car for Jones and wallpapering an accent wall behind Jones desk. Should be fun. :)

make it work

Having income has meant a lot more money than we have generally had when going through a move, but despite having more income we also have more kids and more house to fill than ever before. I also have a better idea of who I am and what I want from each space in my home, the challenge is making my vision and my budget see eye to eye. And as always I have Tim Gunn in my head saying "make it work!"
Today has been an especially satisfying day in that respect because I have been able to take things I already had and paint I already had and with a little hard work I can see that my office is coming together quite nicely :)

First off, free art.

 I printed off some of my favorite pinterest prints, spray painted frames that were given to me by a friend and used washi tape to help make the small prints work in the oversized frames

next, $5 pendant light.
I knew I needed light above my sewing desk, so instead of buying the $69 dollar gold pendant lamps I have seen around, I bought a .98 pot at home depot and some metallic spray for $3.98.

 The  metallic spray didn't turn out how I wanted, too silver so martha stewart came to rescue (she really does know her stuff) and got it just the right gold color I was looking for.

Next I very poorly drilled a hole in the top and used an Ikea lamp cord I had already (costs $3.98) and ta da. Love it.

The whole room is still a mess of  paint and unfinished elements but it is coming together. See my painted desk^

and soon to be painted dresser...Must finish painting dresser...perhaps after a nap :)

The Fred and his Go go!

It has begun. Wherever Alfy goes he has a go go in his hands. I love it. :) if he drops one or sees one he wants he excitedly shouts go go, go go until it is his. Oh the joy of boys.

PInterest to do list

To do List:

Paint all desks and dresser in office White

Add some of this

and some lighting 

Must find some inspiring art to hang in office as well...

Paint a headboard in our room

Create accent wall behind Jones' desk

by painting this wallpaper slightly metallic 

Paint eat in table and seats in the kitchen 

and add huge chalkboard above to hide breaker box.

Goodness, its a good thing I like doing this stuff :) paint paint paint...

A work in progress

A place to call home, almost 2 weeks here and loving it. Still many things to do, paint and hang but it's coming together :)

The office

A master bath

master bedroom

Play room (soon to be C and Mt. room)

Kids bath

The landing

Kids room

Living room

Formal Dining

Powder room/Laundry

Kitchen w/ eat in

Entry

Sorry for the fuzzy pics, I currently only have iproducts to use as cameras. :(

A few favorite moments