3 Years Ago Today

Three years ago today we bought our first house. We got our keys from the agent and walked into our 3 bedroom, 1 bath 912 square foot home. It was perfect for us! I was in my Junior year of college and Rob was about to finish his first year of full-time ministry. Just the two of us, hanging out, loving each other and enjoying life.

We'll probably move out in 5-7 years we told ourselves. Our goal was to stay in our home until we had two kids. We knew the dining room was a limiting factor, it's nearly impossible to fit a family of four around our table because the dining room is so small. I had another year of school left and we probably wouldn't start trying to have kids until sometime after that. Then of course you have the 9 month wait for the first baby, the 1-3 year wait between kids, and the customary 9 month wait for baby #2 right? HA HA HA! God laughs at our plans!

Exactly 3 years later we have 2 beautiful gifts from God named Leeann and Titus. But as we hoped, we are able to move into a bigger home to accomodate our bigger family. EXACTLY 3 years later, isn't that just crazy? It's hard to believe and ironic in a weird way. God has blessed our marriage and our family in ways that we just can't fathom. Why is He so good to us when we are so undeserving? God is good, all the time!

Two More Days Til Move Day!!!

We take possession of our house on Tuesday! Yay! We don't have to be fully out of our house until Friday at noon and it looks like we'll be pushing it pretty close to then. We'll move most of our big stuff on Thursday evening so that'll probably be our first day officially in our new house. Which means that I'll spend all of Friday morning getting our current place ready to hand over to the buyers. They seem like really nice people and I certainly want to leave the home as I would want it left for me to move in. Bottom line, it's going to be a long week!

We spent all of yesterday packing, packing and packing some more. I hate packing! We've got most everything packed (our house looks like a maze of boxes!) but it's the random little stuff that drives me nuts. What box do you pack that random do-hicky in and what room will it go into in our new house? Do we really even need it? What the heck is it anyway? Hmmm... life's little wonders!

Friday night Rob got a babysitter and took me to the Olive Garden for my Birthday--it was really sweet. I love the Olive Garden! He and Leeann baked me a cake on Thursday and when I got home from my long wait at the DMV he sent me on a "Leeann's Clues" hunt. (It's a spoof from Blue's Clues which Leeann loves to watch). Rob traced part of Leeann's hand onto sticky notes and sent me on a treasure hunt around the house. I finally found my card smooshed between two plastic totes. It was a very cute Veggie Tales card and it had $40 inside of it. I'm saving up to buy a really nice camera of my own to use for my new photography business. Eroica has a super-nice camera that we use for business but it sure would be nice for us to both have one, especially for weddings. Besides, I'd love to take it along with me wherever I go so I can get some great looking shots anytime (It's funny how I was so excited about my Kodak a couple of months ago but now that I see what expensive camera's can do I'm no longer so content!). Unfortunately they are not very cheap... but I'm going to try real hard to get one soon. We've talked about letting me buy one on 'credit' that I'll have to pay back with my earnings by Christmas. Credit meaning I borrow it from our savings and pay it back with interest :0) I'm willing to do that if it means I'll get my camera sooner. As soon as moving is all done I'm going to do a little research until I find one that makes me drool!

I simply can't wait to be moved in and settled into our new house. Our life has seemed so chaotic since Titus was born! First the baby, then Christmas, then house shopping, selling, signing, buying, packing etc. Not to mention starting a new business to boot! Sometimes I think I live a crazy life, but I wouldn't want it any other way~ I truly love my life! Unless you think I'm WAY too crazy I should let you know that I'm no longer doing day care from my home. I don't think I ever blogged that in the excitement and stress of packing and such.

Baby Joel vs. Baby Titus

If you've been a long-time blog follower you will remember me asking for prayers for Baby Joel who was born 6 weeks early weighing in at a mere 3 lbs 2 oz! He and Titus were due within a day of each other, so gestationally they are the same age. Joel has a heart condition that you can learn more about by reading his blog http://www.joelbaby.com/. He is doing very well and he'll be having surgery on April 17th to repair his heart condition. Please continue to pray for his health and for the upcoming surgery. Titus and Joel got a chance to meet each other a few days ago and I want to show you the pictures. Joel seems a teeny bit bigger than Titus now, but they are virtually the same size which is so neat to see. It's taken Joel a while to start gaining weight but he's doing very well now. We are excited for him and his parents and the progress they've made. So... without further adue... pictures!!

A Happy Birthday

Today was my 24th Birthday. 24. Crazy! I woke up to Lucky Charms in bed with some yellow flowers to brighten my day. Rob spent the morning working in the garage while I bathed the kids and got them, and myself, ready for the day. We headed off to sign papers for the house at 2 then I headed to the DMV to renew my license. I wanted to renew it after signing the papers so that I wouldn't have to spend the next 8 years with a sticker on my card. So, after the customary hour of wait time at the DMV I was told I had the wrong paper to show my new address. So I went home and got the rest of the paper work and brought it back only to be told that wasn't sufficient either. So I went to the title place who told me that things wouldn't actually clear until Tuesday. By that time the DMV closed so I know have an expired license. I'll have Eroica drive me to the DMV tomorrow and just concede to 8 years with the silly sticker. Oh well, such is life!

Then Rob and I took the kids to Costco and enjoyed some pizza for dinner. We went to check out some laminate flooring for our new house. We then went to Home Depot to see if we could find the matching pieces for the thresholds and we mosied around there for a while. My daddy is going to come down next week and help us install some laminate flooring in our new house. Right now the dining room is carpeted which isn't kid friendly! I look forward to spending time with my daddy and also to a new pretty floor!

We then headed to small group which was fun. I got a Birthday cake complete with candles. I like Birthday cake, especially with ice cream. Leeann and Rob made me one today but I haven't gotten to have any yet. I'll get some tomorrow I'm sure! Leeann spent the whole day saying "Leeann Birthday Cake". I guess she'll have to wait until tomorrow to get some, cause she's in bed now.

Our house is over come with boxes and yet there are still so many more boxes to be packed. I can't wait until my life resumes some hint of normalcy!

Well... I'm going to go now. It's late and I should take advantage of this childless time to pack yet one more box... or maybe two...

Life at high speed

Time flies and life is busy. I feel like I'm a broken record as I type that!

We're full swing into packing as we sign papers this Thursday and we take possession of our new home next Tuesday. We don't have to turn possession of our home over until Friday though, so at least we have a couple of days of wiggle room. I'm beyond excited for our new home, but I really do hate packing. It's difficult to be motivated to do so with the kids around and needing attention. One box at a time though, we're getting there. The boxes are stacked high invading our living room. Sometimes I feel like a mouse in a maze!

I've been busy the last couple of days with Precious Portraits also. Today and tomorrow we took and are taking preschool pictures of individual kids at North Albany Preschool. It'll be a total of 24 kids, so Eroica will take one class for editing and I'll take the other. We promised to have the proofs back to the parents by March 1st (yup, right smack dab in the middle of moving) so this week will be beyond busy! I'm having fun though, and learning lots day by day!

Things at church are going great, we've had an architect in to begin some preliminary drawings for our 20 year plan. It's exciting to be a part of such a huge project. We're looking ahead to build a church to reach people for Christ who might not even be born yet! I'm amazed at the unity of our leadership as they forge ahead with this project. Nearly 100 people in our church are part of 9 different teams that are all working together on this project. Eroica and I are heading up the communications team which makes us very very busy right now! As soon as we are moved in I also need to start working on putting together this year's Vacation Bible School. It's the most exciting week of the year at our church and it's neat to be a part of that too!

Speaking of being busy and packing... I should go do some more of that now. I just wanted to let you know that we are still here and still alive!

It's Our Valentine's Day

Rob and I choose to celebrate Valentine's Day on June 15th instead of February 14th. Rob's Birthday is at the end of October, then we have our anniversary December 15th, then Christmas, then my Birthday just after the traditional Valentine's Day. Unfortunately we didn't have a reason to give gifts for the other months of the year... and V-day being so close to all the other days didn't really make it all that special. Not to mention the fact that on June 15th roses are back down to their $10 a dozen instead of $40, it's extremely easy to get reservations at a nice restaraunt, and we never have to fight for a babysitter. Instead, we like to babysit for other people on Valentine's Day and it works out nicely.

Well, this year we babysat for some friends of ours who have 3 kids. One of them is 4 year-old Hamish. Leeann has always been fond of Hamish--he is a cutie! Well, after about an hour of rough-housing with the kids Rob put on the Incredibles and Leeann snuggled next to him on the couch. Until she saw Hamish. She scooted close to him, looked up at him and said "hi". "Hello" he replied. She sat there for another minute then she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He did the polite thing and kissed her back. After another minute or so she leaned up for another cheek shot and he didn't think that was good enough. He put his arms around her, grabbed her face and went in for a lip shot. He looked up at Rob as if to see if he was in trouble and said to him, "It's our Valentine's Day."

Does it get any cuter than this?

Isn't it Ironical...ly Awful?

So here's the deal. I didn't sleep much last night and I'm a little cranky this morning. Titus can only sleep if he's swaddled right? That's just the way it's been for almost 3 months now. Well, last night he decided he didn't want to be swaddled anymore. The problem? That meant no sleep either. He would wake up every 2 hours or so and I would feed him and reswaddle him because his little arms would have broken out of the top of his blankets. So finally, at the last of FOUR feedings last night I got smart (or so I thought). I took his arms out of his sleeves and put them down into his jammies. Then I swaddled both blankets around him. I thought: there's no way he's getting out of this one! WRONG... I woke up to him crying this morning with his little hands poking out the top of his jammies. Arggg! Anybody, anywhere have any idea how I can avoid a bazillion more sleepless nights due to this perdicument?

The worst part is that we made a deal last night that he would sleep clear til 5 because we're going to have a super late night tonight. So much for that tactic. We already have double booked plans for a wedding reception and a funeral at the same time... and part way between either we need to pick a highschool boy up from school because he's staying with us tonight. So really we can't do anything, I'm not sure which one we're going to try to make. And so resume, the days of our lives!

I Love My Kids

I don't know if I have much else to say today. I love my kids that's all there is to it. They are both sweet, well-behaved (for a two-year old and a 2 month old that is... keep it in perspective) loving little people. It makes me smile to see them smile and it makes me laugh to see them laugh. I like my little ones!

Cancer Survivor

If you have ever followed my link to Rebekah's Page http://rebekahspage.blogspot.com/ I'm sure that you were extremely touched by her story. I hope that you will take a few minutes to head over there and read the latest post titled Please Read On... I bet it'll make you cry, it sure made me cry!

Fussy, Fussy, Fussy

Wow, today has been a tiring day with Titus. He's been just plain fussy. Not the cute little random noise-making-fussy... but the all out screaming-his-head-off fussy! I know, I'm spoiled because I'm just now experiencing this. He generally only cries when he's hugry but today he just couldn't be settled. When in need of advice--call a sister! Suzy helped me calm him down by telling me to put him on his tummy over my knees. It did the trick for a while. He wasn't as easily calmed by it this evening though. I wasn't sure who was going to lose it first, me or Rob. I was trying to get some work done for church this evening so Rob was on after dinner kid duty. We passed Titus back and forth for a while trying anything and everything to get him to settle down. I finally got out some gas drops, Rob swaddled him up and rocked him and finally got him to go to sleep. I hope he feels better when he wakes up.

I was happy to have Rob here this evening so I didn't have to go through it myself like I did this afternoon. It's hard because I can tell that he hurts but I just don't know what to do to make it better. It might be harmful in the long run though because if Titus tests Rob's patience too much then he might be hesitant to let me escape for a little while. Hmmm, the catch 22 I'm in. He's a good daddy... we both just need to find the infant instruction manual. Does anybody have one of those handy?

At Aunt Shelly's

Leeann, Titus and I decided to hitch a ride from a family in our church up to visit Rob's family in Washington. Rob couldn't come along *tear* but we're having fun anyway! We are staying at his sisters house with her husband and four kids... they are lot's of fun. This morning I sent Leeann downstairs at 8:00 and Titus and I slept in until 10:00. It was so wonderful!

Yesterday we went to visit Rob's mom who's in the hospital for a couple of days (hence our trip up here). She has some medical problems and the latest landed her a trip to the hospital unfortunately. The fluid inside of her stomach is infected and they are treating her with IV antibiotics so she has to stay for several days. She was originally supposed to be home Wednesday or maybe Thursday but that's been set back to Friday or later. The kids and I were going to stay with her during the day while Carmin (her husband) was at work. She took such good care of us when Titus was born that I was hoping to return the favor, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. We have to leave tomorrow evening to hitch our ride back home. I enjoy being up here a lot but I sure am missing Rob. I'm kind of pathetic because I even find myself missing him when he's just at work for the day. So going several days without him is really hard.

Leeann must have eaten something that really did her in. Between 2 and 7 yesterday I changed 5 really icky diapers. It seems like everytime I turned around there was another one. It almost got to the point of funny. So far we had 3 more today in a 3 hour time span too. The final one ended with her in tears because we were leaving the park and my niece KayLee was trying to buckle her into her carseat. She started crying hystarically screaming about her diaper (she was sitting in it with an already sore bottom from the last 7 icky diapers). So I changed her in the back seat which is very difficult to do. She had it all over her clothes and she would scream when I would touch her with the wipes. Of course, all of this has to be in a day where I'm the sole diaper changer. Where's daddy when you need him? I've actually been quite spoiled because he's been taking most of Leeann's diapers when he's home. Titus's blow out last night, accompanied by his large spit up almost sent me over the edge. Not to mention his leaking this morning and his spit up on my jeans (again). By the time I changed Leeann and we were leaving the park Shelly felt sorry enough for me that she brought me a double-chocolate chip blended creme from Starbucks...yummy... thanks aunt Shelly! Somehow that made my misery better. I don't know if I packed enough pull-ups and wipes to get me through tomorrow though. I suppose it just depends on if Leeann's all cleaned out yet. I can't imagine where more would come from.

Anway, I'll stop boring you with potty details eventhough it seems to be defining my life lately. With that I ask you to pray for Janice (Rob's mom) and I'll keep you updated on what's going on there.

The Princess is Dry!

I woke Leeann up for church this morning and peeked into her pants to see if 'the princess was dry' (she has pull-ups with a princess on the front that fade when they're wet)... and much to my surprise, the princess was dry! So after much praise, hugs and going potty, mommy gave her TWO nickels. She held it in all night, which gives me great hope in this potty training thing going quickly. I'm so proud of her! So this morning she is all dressed up in her princess play dress and ready for church.

Daddy already left and I asked Leeann where he went. She informed me that "daddy eat pizza Costco tay?" I think she thinks when daddy leaves that's where he goes... to eat pizza at Costco. It's her favorite place to eat too! For some reason she seems to associate church with pizza lately.

Oh, one more thing. I was reading the cereal box this morning at breakfast and Leeann gently leaned over the table and took it from me and began reading the box herself. She learns so much from us. If that isn't a reason to follow Christ, I don't know what is!

A Precious Portrait...

This is a picture that I took the other day... I was trying to get something we might be able to use for a Mother's Day Brochure. Kind of fun!

Bath Time

I was just noticing that it has been a while since I posted some Titus pictures, so here you go. This was of bath time last week. I'll take 2 month old photos of him tomorrow hopefully, so I'll try to post some good ones soon. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of my super-cute kids!

Just a Couple of Pictures

This is a picture of Leeann and her birth mom Kyndall playing pretend food just before dinner the other day.

Tell me you don't see the resembelance?

Take special note of the onesiee on the outside of her pants and the finger up her nose.

Just Plain Busy

Life has been just plain busy for me lately. It seems like Rob and I have both been running ragged from sun-up to sun-down. With the addition of our Real Estate adventures and of my new job at Precious Portraits... not to mention the new baby... things are just crazy!

I'm loving my new job though. I've had one photo shoot for each of the last three days and I'll have another on Thursday. Most are for my benefit, portfolio and experience solely (vs. paying customers who want to come in and get their portraits done). I've actually gotten some really good pictures and they've turned out especially well after editing. I think I'm really going to enjoy this new stage in my life!

Titus and Leeann are both doing well these days. He's getting big and she's talking non-stop! I'm amazed at how many new words she learns each and every day. It was just a couple of months ago that her vocabulary consisted of very few words. Now it seems like there are few words she doesn't know. We are at the stage though that we definately have to watch what we say around her!

Well, I'm signing off for now, I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here and still alive. May today find you more rested than me!

Mr. Smiley Pants

There are few moments worth blogging about at 5:30 in the morning, but this is one of them...

I begrudgingly got up to feed Titus at five, though it'd been a good 5 1/2 hours since he last ate and I should be grateful. He didn't give me a very good burp which he usually does--so I should have taken extra precaution. I changed him because I was worried about a blowout with the sounds that had come out of him since I came into his room, and I picked him up to try to burp him one last time. He was sounding quite wheezy and I wanted to try to clear him up like a good mommy. I held him with his head over my shoulder and not more than 10 seconds later he threw up. Not spit up. Threw up! A puddle was on the carpet, all down the front of him and of course on me too. Just when I wanted to crawl back into bed and make Rob clean him up he looked up at me with a HUGE SMILE! It was the most handsome smile ever and it was like he was saying, "Thank you mommy!". I think I could have done without the throw up, but I'm glad for such great smiles. It makes being a mommy at 5 in the morning far easier to cope with!

We Bought a House!

We officially bought the house on that I've blogged about. Apparently she signed our counter-offer last night--although Rob forgot to mention that to me! Our agent called this morning about some paper work and shared the good news, he thought I already knew though!

So, on or before March 12th we will move into our new home! It's quite exciting! I keep dreaming about decorating bathrooms, and where I'll put furniture and which kitchen items will go in which cabinets. But before I can dream too much about those things I have to dream about boxes, and labeling, and packing etc.

Today Rob and I will take our kids up to our alma mater Corban College (formerly Western Baptist College) for a Homecoming celebration. It's always fun to be up there and see old friends. I'm also going to a baby shower today for a WB friend... babies are fun. Although, I haven't RSVP'd, so Krista or Becky, if you are reading this I'll be there and I'm even going to bring my kiddys!

With that, I need to get a step on my day and get in the shower. Rob is working on some plumbing today and the length of time we'll have to without water varies each time he's under the house. You just never know! I try to have all my dishes and laundry done just in case. That is not the case today however, so I hope it's not too long!

My little girl... getting married!

(This is a picture of Erin, Keane, and Branden... 3 of our 'original' highschool students when they were on a trip to Mexico a couple of years ago.)

Okay, so she's not my little girl... but she's kind of one of them! *tear* One of my high school girls (well, not anymore) is getting married. She called me yesterday and asked if we could meet for coffee, but first she excitedly told me that she had gotten engaged the night before! It's so hard to believe, because it seems like just yesterday she was a freshman in highschool giddily frolicking around without a care in the world. She's such a sweet young lady and I'm certain God has amazing things in store for her. She might be the first, but the rest will soon follow I'm sure. It's exciting to see those you love find someone to love and be committed to forever. I've never met him, but he sounds like a truly worthy guy. He better be! I have so many fond memories of my time with Erin... including her making me drive her by a crush's house so I could see where he lived, and fun at sleep overs and random youth events. She livens up any place, and I'm sure she'll liven up the life of her soon-to-be husband also!

More House Stuff

Our house is officially sold (well, pending inspection, financing going through yada yada yada)! We got our full price offer (which is amazing in itself), and Rob and I are thrilled!

We almost lost the other house though. Although the house has been on the market for the better part of 10 months, lo and behold, another offer came in at the same time as ours. We offered significantly less than it was worth so when we were told that another offer came in my heart sunk... I thought we might lose the house unless she countered both of our offers. If she did that we would both have to offer our best offer, which is difficult to do. We don't want to pay too much for it, but we want it, so what do we offer? It was kind of sad to think about losing it. I got a call from our agent last night however saying that she is more intrigued by our offer because we have an offer on our home already. So she came down a little and I think we'll probably accept before she gets too frustrated with us and just goes with this other person... or before the other person sells their home too and we're back in the make your best offer boat.

I spent so much of last night imagining where things would go, which kid would get which room, how we're going to decorate the bathrooms. I have a big goal of keeping the garage clean, I am determined to be able to park in it. Can you imagine, not having to shuffle kids and groceries in and out in the rain? Or if Leeann falls asleep in the van I could safely leave her there until she wakes up (with the door to the house open of course!) I really am so excited!

OTHER NEWS:

Titus went to bed about 10:30ish last night and didn't wake up until 6 this morning! Oh, that felt so good! He spent most of the day awake yesterday, so I think he might be getting the hang of this night-time day-time thing!

I'm continuing to learn more and more about photography and editing, and the inner workings of developing and running a small business. It really is quite an adventure for me! I hope to get a nice camera before too long. I think that's what I'm going to save my first couple of months of photography earnings for. Bottom line--it's a fun job!

Well, I think I'm going to get my household up and running before any of my cleanliness gets messed up, and before anyone calls and says "Can I show your house in 15 minutes?" I think it's listed as contingent today however, so we shouldn't be seeing too much more traffic.

I hope your day is wonderful, as always!