SLO in Arkansas: January 2010

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Crazy Snow!!!

We got some awesome snow here in Jonesboro this week. I think we got somewhere between 7 and 9 inches, which is way more than our usual 1 or 2:) It was also Tyson's first time to really see snow and understand what it was, which was so much fun too. Luckily we were able to borrow a little sled from some friends, and Tyson and Silas had a blast sledding down the hill right in front of our house.

Silas got a workout running with Tyson up and down the hill in the crazy snow.

I don't know what it is about kids, but the cold just does not phase them one bit! Tyson looked like a popsicle/snowman with all the snow sticking to him. I put Vaseline on his cheeks before he went out and he had frozen drops of water sticking all over his face and eyelashes, and he didn't even notice! We had to drag him back inside to warm him up, even though he wanted to keep playing.

Here is one of Silas chasing Ty down the hill. Tyson loved the sled and had a wonderful time playing in his first big snow. He thought it was fabulous to eat too. I made him some snow cream this morning, but he actually liked the plain snow better:) Crazy kid!! I am so happy we got a great snow and that Tyson has really gotten to enjoy it. We got a little stir crazy today and ended up having several families over from church for a little get-together. The older kids and dads got to sled and play outside, while the moms and younger kids held down the fort in the house. It was a great day and everyone had such a good time. I am so thankful for winter's little gift to us of a few fun play days at home with our friends and family:)

Friday, January 29, 2010

5 Months

Jace turned 5 months old this week. I forgot to post his stats from his 4 month appointment, so here they are. He was 14 pounds 10 oz and 25 inches. He is right in the 50% percentile for both height and weight I believe. I think he is a little skinny, but let me just say, the boy is packing it on now that he has started solid foods!! I am interested to see what he weighs at his 6 month appointment. He eats like a horse all day:) So far he has had oatmeal cereal, prunes, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes and green beans. He pretty much hates the vegetables and likes the sweeter stuff. For now I am mixing a few vegetables in with the fruit he will eat to get him used to it. Seems to be working so far:)

He is a pretty smiley and happy boy. I am finally getting some of those happy drooly moments on camera.

Look at my little guy sitting up by himself! He is holding onto his toy which helps him balance, but he sits in small spurts by himself. He is definitely ahead of Tyson in this area. We practice every day, and he tumps over quite a bit, but seems to really like sitting up for now.

My little sugar bear. Tyson wore this little bear outfit too and I love it! I took this picture this morning before we headed out for an adventure in the snow:) We have had quite a snow storm here today and have had lots of fun. I will post about our adventures soon!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Brothers

I finally got some pictures of my two little fellas together! Luckily Tyson was feeling in a pretty cooperative mood which made things a lot easier. He only dumped Jace out of his lap once! Look how big Jace is getting!! This is an outfit Tyson wore at 8-9 months old.

Please excuse the brown mess on Ty's face. I really do try to keep this kid clean, I promise!!

Jace's eyes are not as dark as Tyson's but they are getting there. I love how they both have those big bright eyes though:)

My little man playing around. He is 5 months old today!! Yesterday while having tummy time he got up on his hands and knees. He may be crawling long before his brother ever figured it out. I am not ready for that yet. I love how much more interactive they are getting as Jace gets older. Tyson has been very entertaining for him, and Tyson loves to tickle Jace and show off for him constantly. Jace has started rewarding him with smiles and laughs, which of course eggs him on even more. They are so precious:) Ok, we are off to Ladies Bible Class...gotta run!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Kitchen and Dining Room

These are not the best pictures of the kitchen and dining room, but they are better than nothing! I guess the windows gave me trouble because I just couldn't get the lighting right to make them clear. At least maybe you can get an idea of what they look like:)

The previous owners completely remodeled the kitchen recently, which was wonderful for us. I love it because we have similar taste, so we love most of what they did. I am not the biggest fan of the yellow walls, but that can be easily changed.

Anyway, they put in cherry cabinets, all new appliances, and beautiful dark green quartz counter tops. I love the back splash too. It is a pretty small space, but laid out well and efficient. And since they put cabinets all the way to the ceiling, there is actually quite a bit of storage in there. Of course I can only reach the bottom two shelves, but nothing a little step ladder can't fix! There is a small eating area so we were able to keep our little table. I am thankful for that since I prefer the boys eating in the kitchen rather than in the dining room on the white carpet!

The sun really got me on this one, but the dining room is right next to the kitchen. There are some built in storage cabinets on either side of the doors leading to the deck which are nice. I love how bright and sunny it is. We have never had a dining room before either, so we are enjoying this room so far:)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Maternity Leave

It happened this week. Well actually it has been a long time coming, but this week it happened 100% for sure. I hit the wall. Fully and head on I hit that wall of "I can't do this anymore." And guys, it wasn't pretty. I struggled to work all throughout my pregnancy with Jace which was tiring to say the least, even though it was just in the afternoons. And then we didn't have any maternity insurance, and so I had to keep working to pay for all his hospital bills, etc. And that really did not leave any time for a maternity leave either. So I was back working my regular schedule about 2 weeks after little man was born. And it stunk.

And then we decided to sell our house to cut back on our expenses so I could work less. Yay!! Until we had to actually go through the process of listing, showing, selling, packing and moving. And I kept working. And it stunk even more.

And now here we are on the flip side of the big move, mostly unpacked and trying to get back into a good routine after the chaos of the holidays, and I am working every day. And then I go back to the office after the kids go to bed to finish all the paperwork I can't get done during the day, and then I come home exhausted just in time for bed. And then Jace hasn't slept through the night once yet since he has been born, and people, I am TIRED. Tired of being tired. Tired of being cranky, and irritable, and stressed out and overwhelmed. And then since I have been so stressed, Jace has decided to quit nursing well and that in and of itself has been a HUGE stress on top of everything else.

And today I can honestly say...."I can't do it all anymore." And it kills me to write those words. I am not a quitter, and I don't give up. I get it done if it needs doing. But I can't hold it all together anymore and the ones who are suffering are my family, and I am not ok with that. So today I quit my job. And I quit nursing too. Sigh. That is a lot of quitting for me, and a lot of change too. But it's going to be ok, because I am going to start taking care of myself and then I can get back to taking care of everyone else like I want to. Ok, so I was a little dramatic there...I didn't actually quit my job, but I did tell my boss I needed a break, and she agreed. So on Monday, I will start my official maternity leave, which I should have been smart enough to just take when I had the baby and maybe I wouldn't be at this point today, but whatever. She told me not to come back for at least 2 months, and to take off until this fall if I needed. And then I can come back and pick right back up once I feel refreshed and can handle things better. How amazingly awesome is that??!! I feel so relieved just thinking about not having to run out of the door the minute Silas walks in I can't stand it:) I am already plotting and making lists of all the fun things I am going to do with my family once we actually get to spend some time together in the afternoons!! I love it.

So I have done the hard part and admitted I can't juggle everything I was trying to juggle, and now the even harder part comes at letting go of worrying about money and not having enough if I don't work ,yada yada yada, and just resting, and recovering, and knowing that God will take care of me and my family no matter what. And that it is not all up to me to make it all work. I know it will be ok and I choose to rest in that today and in the days to come. So here I come maternity leave. I am more than ready to love on my sweet baby and all my boys and enjoy being with them, and not stress out if we stay in our pj's all day and I don't get a shower, because I don't have anywhere to be but at home. Home sweet home:)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Downstairs

Alright, today we will be showing off our Master retreat:) This was a feature that really sold us on this house. The house is a split level and like most split levels has a basement in the bottom. Unlike most basements, this one has been turned into the master bedroom by the previous owners, and it suits us really well! The left side is used as the bedroom area, with our bed and nightstands. We still have to order a nightstand for Silas!! There are double doors leading to an outside patio to the left of the bed.

The middle part of the room is our "grown-up" area. There is a huge wood burning fireplace which has already been fantastic in this super cold winter. We love having the fireplace in our bedroom...it is awesome going to sleep with it crackling next to the bed:) Anyway, we have a recliner and stuffed chair/ottoman in the middle so we have a nice little sitting area to enjoy the fire, read books, etc. There is also a TV over in the corner, which you can see in the next picture.

The right side of the room is filled with built in bookshelves which we love!! We finally have room to put out all of our books and treasures we have collected from our travels around the world:) Underneath the window we put a writing desk for me to use as my home office area. We have the desktop computer, as well as my laptop for work. I love having a work area where I can keep all of my stuff organized and in one place. The desk was in our kitchen at the last house, which didn't give me much peace and quiet when I was trying to get any work done! I have a great window over the desk which lets in tons of natural light, and plenty of space to keep everything I need right at hand.

This is the back wall by the bedroom door. We bought an over sized dresser which has been great since we lost quite a bit of closet space from our last house. The closet is at the foot of the bed on the other side of the room, along with our bathroom. The master bath is a whole other story though! It is tiny and awful! We have torn the ceiling out of it already as we had a water leak the first week we moved in, and that has inspired us to tear the whole thing out and re-do it:) We haven't started the whole demolition yet, so I will be able to do some good before and after pictures of our bathroom. We had originally planned to paint down here, but the yellow color is working out pretty good so far. We are still looking for some new bedding to match. All of the window treatments were left by the old owners, but they are custom made for all the windows, so we decided to keep them. The furniture is new too. We had been using an old bedroom suite handed down for 3 or 4 generations in my family up until this point. We kept it for the guest room, and have really enjoyed the new stuff so far:)

So there you have it. Our very own downstairs retreat. It has been so perfect for us, since we do most of our daily living upstairs with the kids during the day, and then we have a cozy place of our own to go in the evenings and hang out. It is a great place to wind down by the fire, watch some TV or read, and be in a place that doesn't have toys everywhere! Hopefully we can keep it that way:)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

More Christmas!

I am a little late getting some of these pictures from Christmas posted. Oops!! We made a super quick trip to Nashville right before New Years to celebrate the holidays with my family. Even though it was short, we had a great time hanging out with the family and catching up. Here is a picture of all the girls, minus my little sister. I can't believe my niece is grown up enough to be one of the "big girls!"

Mikkia (16) and Tyson (2). Cousins!!

Isn't this awesome??!! This was the inside of the hotel we stayed at while we were in Nashville:) We had never stayed there before, but I think it will be our new go-to place:) We had a great suite which was perfect for letting the kids go to bed and we could still stay up and watch a little TV and hang out without keeping them up.

Last but not least a rare shot of me and the boys. Tyson was obsessed with the water fountain down in the lobby and we could barely get him to look for the camera:) I still can't believe we crammed so much non-stop activity in to the month of December!!! We are still recovering and catching up, but it was fun!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

One Proud Mama

My heart is so full today. I am having one of those "it is the best thing in the world to be a mom" days. Nothing extraordinary has happened today in particular to make me feel this way, it has just been something I have been thinking and feeling for a while now. Just the other night after tucking our sweet boys in bed I asked Silas...."what did we ever do to deserve these precious little guys??"

Tyson is so polite and loving and happy and he says little things almost daily that just melt my heart. He pats me on the back, runs into my arms when I walk through the door from work, and says things like,"I love you mama, and I love you sugar." He also calls me Honey, which I find absolutely adorable. He will say, "Honey, where are you going?" You just can't help but smile when you are around that kid:) I am so glad he is mine.

My kids have filled such a special place in my heart and I am overflowing with joy and thankfulness for them. We definitely have our bad days and moments, but I wouldn't change a thing. Our little family has so much fun together too. We take our kids everywhere we go and just love spending time with them as much as we can.

I hate to admit that I wished so many of Tyson's baby days away. Maybe it was just the struggles of being a new mom, and not having confidence in myself as a parent, or being by myself so much when Silas was working in Jonesboro and I was in Searcy. I just wanted him to hurry and grow up, or hurry and get out of whatever phase he was in. It is the exact opposite with Jace. I am trying desperately to cling to his babyness, and it is rushing by so much faster than I could have ever imagined. I am so much more comfortable the second time around, and calmer, and want to enjoy loving on this precious baby and each phase he is in. Today while Tyson was at mother's day out I got to just hold and rock and love on my sweet little Jace and it was perfect. I didn't even have to fight the urge to pick up the house or get things done....holding my sweet baby boy was the only important thing for me to do today. I am so blessed to be able to spend each day with my boys, and I wish every day could be like this. I hate that so many days rush by and they are in bed before I even realize it. I truly am going to miss these days, when they want all my attention, and call me sugar and honey, and want to sit in my lap and have me sing and tuck them in at night. I thank God for the blessing of children today and how much they bring to my life.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

My Sweetie Pie!!!

Here is a little break from the house pictures to show off my cutie patootie. I am so in love with this little guy! He is growing up so fast and is not a little baby anymore. He is super sweet and so lovey. He is doing great going to class while I am in Ladies Bible class and gets lots of loving from the sweet women in there.

He loves the jump-a-roo as much as Tyson did and just kicks his little legs all day long in that thing!

He also likes playing on the floor, but this can be a very dangerous thing at times! He was playing quietly on his activity mat this week and Tyson got all excited about something on TV and started dancing around the room and jumped right on the poor little guy! Tyson didn't even know he was there and it scared him to death when the baby started screaming. Poor guys:) I try to remind Tyson that Jace is there when I put him down on the floor, but the jumpa-roo seems to be a safer bet most days. Although Jace often gets a wild ride when Tyson decides to push him around like a maniac when he is in there. Sweet little Jace just takes it all in stride though and usually doesn't make a peep unless he is getting hurt. He continues to eat well and is inhaling the oatmeal cereal everyday. He goes for his 4 month appointment on Thursday so I will have some updated stats then.

Jace's Room

Just a few quick pictures of Jace's room today. The people before us used it as an office, and we just kept the paint color the same in here too...how perfect!

SLO in Arkansas