The toilet

Renovations continue. Status report: I now need to buy a new toilet. Though not budgeted for, hubby called me Sun. night to inform me that we needed to buy a new toilet now, despite my telling him that we don't need to waste money buying a toilet for the downstairs bathroom when ours works perfectly fine. When asked why we NEED a toilet now, hubby replied, "Um, I think it has something to do with your Dad hitting it with a hammer." "Why did he do that? Did he have some sort of accident?!" "Nope, it might have had something to do with me telling him to hit it with a hammer." Then Dad chimes in, "It was FIFTEEN years old! It needed replaced." Now, someone tell me why a toilet needs replaced when it still works perfectly fine.
I can't wait to see what else was conveniently "broken" and replaced while I'm away.

So it begins...

We started renovations this weekend, with Dad and Ryan plugging away full steam. Our floors, after a LOT of drama, are finally here and waiting to be laid, the cabinets are boxed and ready to be assembled, and the other floors and cabinets are ripped out and ready to be dumped. The kids and I are staying with Mom and Dad during the reno, and they're just loving it. They have been so busy with all Mom's toys and playing on their new swingset in the backyard that they haven't even noticed Ryan hasn't been around today... much to poor Ryan's chagrin, but I assured him I don't think they'd notice if I were missing either. Nonnie apparantly hung the moon. Caleb, blessedly, is almost over his cold and feeling better overall, though still not sleeping well because his nose is really stuffy. I'm looking forward to a nice day tomorrow, it's the first anniversary of my thirtieth birthday, and though no hullabaloo is planned, I've informed all that I'm not cooking and they are to order in for dinner :).

Why it's worth it...

Who could resist this...

correction

make that 5 days. Yawn.

A tuffy dose

Ok, I got Caleb's cold. And I haven't slept in 4 days because of his cold. Nuff said.

Caleb's first sickness

Well it was only a matter of time. Caleb seems to have caught his first cold. He woke up last night with a stuffy, snotty nose and a slight fever (99.9). Today he did much better than I thought, with a happy disposition overall, very very slight stuffy nose, and he was just a bit more tired than usual. Tonight, he's sleeping upright in his swing seat to keep his nose clearer, as he seems a little bit stuffier, but strangely his temperature was low (97.6 forehead, and 96.6 rectal... wierd, huh?). I'm not sure what that means, but I'm going to keep an eye on it. Also, tonight when I was feeding him I noticed a very tiny little lump (about the size of a b.b. pellet) on his neck near the base of his skull, so that's just one more thing to add to the list of things to discuss with the doc at his 4 mo. appt. I'm not too terribly worried, as it's not tender and it seems to "float" under the skin, but if you all could say a little prayer for him, it would be appreciated. It's never easy when your littlest cutie is sick, but thank goodness so far it's not too bad.

Rolling Over

Caleb finally learned to roll onto his tummy to sleep at night. He's been trying for weeks and weeks, but he finally got it night before last. It hasn't been the miracle I hoped for as far as sleep goes, but it has helped a lot. Now he settles down for naps for a bit longer, and at night he's sleeping for about 4-5 hours at a stretch, though often his sleep is interrupted by a stuffy nose or a diaper changing need. I'm just happy he can get comfortable, though. Now to learn how to roll OFF his tummy!

She learned my REAL name...

Over the intercom today I heard Sarah calling as usual... well, sorta. Typically at 7:30ish I hear, "Momma, where are you?! I'm ready to get up!" or some such thing. This morning it was, "Momma, can you please come fix my bed?" (I learned later she had pulled the corner of her sheet up and it was bugging her). However, because I was nursing I didn't run in immediately and she, being Sarah, just couldn't let it go, the calls escalated in volume, intensity, and later morphed into, "MELISSA, can you come and fix my bed PUH-LEASE!" As if that was the code word she discovered to get me to do her bidding. She must have noticed that I really hop when Ryan hollers my REAL name for something rather than just calling me "honey". Uh-oh.

My Vida Loca

Life with 2 preschoolers and a baby is a real whirlwind. I find myself bouncing between cooking, cleaning, nursing, admonishing the girls, supervising activities, and goofing off all day long. The kids are pretty good about it though, and have adjusted to less attention well overall. Occaisionally, though, I hear, "Mommy, I think Caleb needs a nap now," and that's my cue that someone needs more attention. Thank goodness so far Caleb is a pretty laid back kid, and rolls with the punches as I change hats from cook, nursemaid, maid, wife, and Mommy. And add to that the kitchen renovation shopping and you've got a tired Mommy. Here are a few recent pictures of our days together. Those girls are just the light of our life, and Caleb is such a cool cat... an adorable bundle of cuteness who I couldn't live without!

A day of blessings

We had a great day today. It started with Caleb sleeping 6 hours last night... IN A ROW. That was great, and I was almost chipper when he woke at 11:30 last night after a 6:30 bedtime. Then, the rest of the day, he NAPPED! Yes, he slept two 1 1/2 hour stretches and two 45 min. stretches, and he was extra alert the rest of the time, so we got to really enjoy him. Also, I got to work out! Sure, I had two preschoolers helping me by bopping around and attempting to do the workout, too, and I had a 3 mo. old staring up at me from his bouncer the whole time, but I did it, and it worked for us. I even think the girls thought it was fun. The girls had a nice time today making necklaces, painting with the new construction paper I bought them, and playing on the computer. And I even got time for a shower! Then Ryan called and told me he saved his company a half million today while he was in meetings with a client. So I think we all had a pretty good day. I'm just so thankful for our family and all God gives us, even in the hard times, but today I'm esp. thankful for days like this when everything seems to come together.