New beginnings...

Yep, I know it has been a long long time. But, I'm back and ready to start journaling some of the events going on in our life right now. Our current house in under contract and we are set to move out in early June, we're writing an offer on a new house at the moment, Jeremy is negotiating a practice purchase and I'm learning to quilt (yes, the last isn't a big thing, but probably what most of my posts will be about).

Lucy has never had her room decorated -- it is the same boring beige walls and hand-me-down bedding that her brothers had. I've been chomping at the bit to decorate it since about 2 minutes after we brought her home. Jeremy made me wait until we moved. So, I've been obsessing over exactly what to do for her room (and also Hannah's, as they are likely to be sharing a room). I've been completely unable to find exactly what I wanted for bedding, so I've decided to make the quilts myself. The driving motivator in this is that I really want to be able to accessorize the room out with matching cushions, curtains and pillows.

So, a couple of weeks ago I finally purchased a new sewing machine. I've only test run it on scrap fabric, but it is FABULOUS! I can't believe I've been suffering through with my grandma's old 1940's Singer all these years, when the new machine only cost $109. Seriously, all that cussing wasn't worth the money I "saved"! I can't wait to use it!!!

The first of the fabric arrived today. My plan for tonight is to break in my new rotary cutter. I'm scared, though...the fabric is so pretty and I don't want to mess it up!

New pics of Laney!

While I was in Ohio last week, I had fun photographing Laney. I really think being a children's photographer would be so much fun. I could spend hours upon hours taking pictures of kids and be totally content. I love trying to catch different expressions, especially when they aren't paying attention to the camera!

Laney is a real doll -- such a happy, easy going little girl!

Here she is modeling the dress I knit her.

Here she is modeling the hand-me-down hat I knit for Lucy.

I'm totally a freak for black and white right now!

And this is my favorite!!! I can't wait until we move so that I can have this one printed!

Whew!

January (and the beginning of February) have been crazy months around here! I've been very frantically trying to get the house ready to put on the market. Originally I wanted the house on the market by January 1st. Then we revised our goal to January 15th. Then we revised again to February 1st. Now I'm just praying we can get it done by next Sunday. I'm not sure...things are starting to get dropped off the list at this point and I still don't think I can get done what I feel needs to be done.

I really, REALLY, don't ever want to move again. That being said, I think everyone should act like they are going to move once every 4 years or so. I can't believe how much stuff (and dirt) has accumulated around here. It is a relief to get a lot of the stuff that we don't use anymore out of here, plus I think a clean house is therapeutic.

So, I've painted and scrubbed and organized and tossed and donated and, well, you get the picture. I'm just tired of it. I would really like a break from the projects. I know that won't happen anytime soon, because we'll just have to do this all in reverse when we move into our new house.

To top it all off, I spent last week traveling to Guam and then Ohio to help my sister. Her back "went out" (for lack of a more accurate description), she needed surgery (that she couldn't have done in Guam) and couldn't lift her baby. So, I flew to Guam, helped her pack, flew back with her & the baby to Ohio (after being in Guam for 36 hours) and then stuck around for the week to help. The bonus was that I got to see Hannah while I was there. It was a LONG week (not that I mind...I'm glad she felt like she could ask me to do that for her and I was glad to do it, but it was just a lot of traveling). So, needless to say, I really would just like a few uneventful weeks. Not that I will get that, but a girl can hope, right?

Ross turns 4!!!

Last week Ross celebrated his 4th birthday. Somewhere in the last year the last traces of my baby has disappeared and he has turned into one very ornery little boy.

He requested polka dots on his cake this year and I went into his cake project with no firm plans. Poor kid...one of the downfalls of having your birthday right after the holidays is that mom is totally ill-prepared (and just a wee bit burnt out) for your party. I'll admit, his cake turned out a bit feminine in color, but he liked it, so I'm happy.

Lucy "helped" with the cake. See that in the picture below? Yep, she stuck a knife in the finished cake...twice. Sigh...I think I'll pass on the kitchen help next time I need to bake something!

I took a lot of pictures, too, trying to get a good 4 year portrait for Ross. He wanted nothing to do with a normal picture, but had a blast hamming it up for the camera. He was so much fun!

This one is my favorite!

And I like this one, too!

But this one totally captures his personality.

And this one is pretty good, too.

Don't you just love the ears here? He totally reminds me of my dad in this picture!

And I love that his tongue is in focus here, but not his eyes!

His attempt at a nice smile!

Good News, Bad News

Last Thursday I had an appointment with my eye doctor (yes, I really did have to make an appointment to get my eyes checked) during the time that Ross was at preschool. I didn't really have time to drive home again before picking Ross up, so as I ran out the door I picked up my gym bag and decided to head to the gym (which is right next door to Jeremy's clinic) with any extra time.

Now, I consider it a real treat to get to drive the car by myself with the tunes turned up. There is just something therapeutic about it to me. So, I took the car that morning (even though it meant letting Ross in it, which doesn't happen very often). One of the things I love about the car is the USB jack that lets me plug my IPod right into the car. So, Ross & I jammed out to my IPod tunes on the way to preschool.

When I got done with my appointment, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the gym. As I was walking, and trying to get my IPod fired up, I realized it wouldn't turn on. Crap! I've had problems with it before and usually plugging it into a power source fixes the problem. So, I headed back to the car and monkeyed with it a bit, until I realized that there was just NO WAY this thing was going to turn on again -- ever. Sigh...so that is the bad news...I love my trusty little IPod Nano. I've had it for 4 years and it has kept me company through hundreds of hours of running and workouts.

I went to the gym anyway, but was totally off because, well, I NEED music to get motivated. And the guy running on the eliptical next to me who was humming to his IPod (well, maybe it was closer to a grunt) didn't cut it as music for me.

The good news...on Friday, my dear husband was kind enough to stop and pick-up a new IPod Nano for me (plus the Nike kit which tracks runs for you -- I can't wait to try that). It is lime green, which I'm just tickled about. I love green. :-) It has a touch screen and, best of all, a radio receiver (which I love because sometimes I just don't want to listen to any of the 300+ songs I have on my IPod).

And so, this brings me again to some more bad news...I don't think I'm smart enough to operate the stupid thing. I've had nothing but problems with it since I got it...I think I'm going to have to go into an Apple store and ask for a live tutorial, because I just don't get this stupid little thing. Is this a sign of aging? Am I technologically elderly? I'm now at the point in life where technology is just too much for me (reminds me of the VCR that my Grandma had but wouldn't turn on for herself)!

Dear little silver IPod, please come back, I promise I don't love the new IPod more than you!

Sniff, sniff...

Yesterday we spent the day working hard on projects around the house and are one room closer to being ready to sell this place. We did Lucy's room yesterday and it was just a little bittersweet.

The room needed painting -- badly. The wall above the changing table was gross. Not that I don't wash it off on a regular basis, but after the kids have ran their hands and feet all over that wall for 4+ years, it just looks a bit nasty. And the room was covered in toy marks. I'm sure any parent out there knows exactly what I'm talking about. Seriously, can't the toy companies come up with a way of coating toys so that they don't leave a trail of colorful paint marks on the walls when the kids bump them (or, as is often the case at our house, chuck the toys at the wall really darn hard)?

As a part of all this, we upgraded Lucy to a big bed. Actually, she is borrowing Hannah's furniture until after we move and Hannah's room is being turned into a temporary toy room. The plan is to move before Hannah arrives here for the summer break (and, if that doesn't happen, we'll just have to worry about it later). So, I have an empty changing table in my bedroom and an empty armoire in my living room. We're going to sell them, but are waiting for a replacement on our recalled crib (ironic that they just recalled it and we no longer need it and our kids survived just fine). We were supposed to be able to use the set for big kids -- you know, the changing table becomes a dresser and the crib pieces become a big bed. Yeah, that really didn't work out so well (so take this as a warning any expecting parents out their). The drawers in the furniture are baby sized. They are really quite useless for anything larger than toddler clothes. I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me when we were shopping...I guess I'll chalk it up to pregnancy brain.

I'm just a little sad to see the baby furniture go. We've had it almost exactly 6 years. And while I'm totally done having babies and ready to move beyond our baby days, I'm also a little sad to see them go. We have almost completely de-babied our house. The crib is gone. The bouncer is long gone...as well as the bottles, rattles, itty sleepers and boppies. All we have left at this point are a few strollers, a sling (my favorite that Lucy can still fit in and I can't bear to part with) and car seats (though, with the new car seat laws, car seats hardly count as a "baby" item anymore).

I really don't want anymore kids, but every once in a while I wish I could have my babies back again -- just for a bit, though definitely not at night time, meal time or diaper changing time.

The Whole Family

Ah, I have been re-miss in my posting once again. I'd like to say it will get better, but alas, I doubt that is the case for a while. Yes, the holidays have come and gone, but now we are in the thick of getting serious about our move. I've got a massive list of stuff to do around the house so that we can put it on the market (hopefully no later than the beginning of February). Painting, cleaning, sorting, storing, donating...the list is endless right now!

So, I thought I would post a few new (or newer) family pictures in lieu of a writing much today. It isn't often that we manage to get the whole crew sat down for a picture, but we somehow managed it twice in the last two months!