Week 43 Around Here {2019}

{November TBR}

{Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name}

{The kid's orthodontist is so much fun! Haha!}

Making... my November reading list & feeling really excited about it. I have read twelve books so far in October, and feel confident I will hit 14 (maybe even 15) by month's end, so making my reading list for November was super fun because I feel like I will be able to get through so many good books!

• The Lies We Believe
• Things You Save In A Fire
• This Tender Land
• Nothing To See Here
• It's Not Supposed To Be This Way
• In The Woods
• Being Mortal 
• Murder At The Brightwell
• The Witches of New York

Remembering... that I wanted to tell you all I quit Monat.  It seemed to help for a while with growing my hair back (after it fell out from stress) but then it didn't seem like it was helping anymore and with the cost, I couldn't keep buying it if it wasn't FOR SURE helping. I used it for a solid nine months, and I'm glad I did, but I am equally as happy to be done sinking that kind of money into my hair every month.

Creating... our yearly Christmas cards after we got a super cute snap of our family at the pumpkin patch last week.  Shutterfly was running a 40% off coupon, and I had a free shipping code, so I ordered them and now they are done!

Reading... Tuesdays with Morrie, and The Pull of the Moon this week.  I also listened to The Aviators Wife and Gift from the Sea (one is about Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the other is written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh; both are really good!) and also The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker, which reminded me of Station Eleven. I couldn't stop listening. It was so good!
I've finished 75 books so far and that is just mind boggling to me. Last year I only read 68 books total. So to be at 75 books with two months left to go is really exciting! (Could I be more of a book nerd? Hah!)

Nursing... Wyatt fully back to health after a scary week last week.  The oral steroids finally started working their magic (a little slower than I would have liked) and his breathing is back to normal.  I ordered him some new nebulizer parts and I am hopeful that having a fresh mask next time he's sick will help him.  Unbeknownst to us, his old mask had a hole in the tube, so he wasn't getting his medicine as effectively as he should have been.  Old Shelly would have blamed herself endlessly for this, but New Shelly knows that life happens and all we can do is move forward.  Deep breaths.

Adulting... and getting 3 cavities filled, plus my cleaning done at the dentist, as well as getting groceries (even though I did not want to go that day) and attending our school district insurance night.  (Josh's school district is switching insurance this year, so there was a TON of information to gather. Whew!)

Hosting... our old neighbors for chili & cornbread Sunday and feeling so happy to have them over.  We are all missing each other, so it was great to get together.
That day I suffered a migraine, so I took a nap before they came over and bless Josh, he made both the chili and the cornbread from scratch.  Yum!

Cooking... tortillas with Carly's help for enchiladas on Monday.  They were delicious and turned out great and Carly had a great (read: messy) time helping. ;)
I made some chocolate chip zucchini bread this weekend & it was super yummy with my coffee each morning.
I also enjoyed some chocolate eyeballs (a Cunningham kid favorite around Halloween time) and sweet potato fries that I had with our cheeseburgers Wednesday.  I find it ridiculous how much I love sweet potato fries.

Attending... Logan's first choir concert of the year.  I was so proud of him, and it brought back so many memories of my own years of choir concerts.  The only bummer was that Carly hadn't napped that day, so sister was a handful!!!

Loving... how when Carly is coloring she always has out markers only in an array of pinks, reds & purples.
And also loving how we spent our rainy Saturday last weekend- playing Play Doh, all four kids and I, making ice cream and french fries and popsicles; growing Orbeez (those cool little beads that grow when you put them in water) and playing with them for hours; and following all of that up with pizza & cookies for move night.  The kids watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is hilarious, and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Organizing... the very last boxes in the house thanks to the help of my bestie Shana.  You know when a project is so overwhelming that you just don't even want to start? That was this project for me. So when Shana stopped by and was willing to jump in with me, I was almost weepy with gratitude.  Seriously later that evening when I was thinking of my afternoon, I teared up.  I am just so thankful for friends who know when you need a little (or a lot of) help.

Enjoying... our family dinners lately which have been filled with lots of laughter & talking.  It also brings me joy that Josh started reading his favorite book from childhood (The Giver) to the boys this week. They are loving it!!!

Dressing... Carly and her friend Kamden up as Gecko & Owlette from PJ Masks during their playdate on Friday morning.  Kara and I had so much fun visiting while these two played, and we about died of cuteness after we dressed them up.

Listening... and crying to "I Know You By Heart" by JJ Heller.  Gah, so good.  You know when a song just makes you feel heard & understood? This is that song for me.

I see you packing all the lunches
Loading all the kids into the van
Tonight you'll tuck them in at bedtime
Tomorrow you will do it all again

... You are enough
You matter in this world
Every second I am proud of who you are
Although you feel forgotten and invisible
I see you and I know you by heart

{agreed!!!}

Missing... my kids as babies & small children.  It is so surreal to me that the twins and Wyatt are eleven and eight.  Lately especially I am wistful for the mornings from before we had to wake up and get them ready and send them off to school everyday.  It's hard to find the balance between reminiscing over the past and staying here in the present.
What is helping me lately is what Kelle Hampton says to herself when she starts to feel panicky about time slipping by: "There is more."  So when I start to panic about Carly approaching her fourth birthday, or the fact that there is only a year and a half before she starts school, I take a breath and remind myself, "There is more."  More memories, more laughter, more love.  More goodness, more stories, more things to someday be nostalgic for.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I also agree with what Kelle said about supporting older kids' emotional needs.  I was not prepared for this, guys, and it is a whole different level than even newborn baby twins.  haha!  Middle school might just be the death of me.

Laughing:

Josh sent me this:

{accurate. the struggle is real.}

Loving this advice:

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Week 42 Around Here {2019}

Flashback Photo: Can we even believe how identical the twins look here?
I thought Logan was Jack until I looked at Jack.  Just wow.

Loving... the fall leaves on all the trees lately.  Carly and I stood quietly for a few moments at the twins school on Wednesday just staring as the wind shook leaves from the trees and they fluttered quietly to the ground.  It felt like magic.
Along with the fall, of course, comes some preparation for the colder temps- Josh and I had our sprinklers blown out and a few weeks ago he worked his tail off to make sure my van could fit in the garage, which is just the best!

Visiting... the pumpkin patch as a family on Friday after Josh got off work.  We had such a great time, as always, petting the animals at the petting zoo, playing cornhole and jumping on the new giant jumping pillow.  The kids all chose HUGE orange pumpkins and enjoyed the hayride.  We got a stranger (thank you, kindness!) to take our family picture which I will use on our Christmas card and hands down, the kids favorite was the four wheeler train ride. Carly was even big enough to ride in her own car this year.
My favorite part was petting a baby cow, which I have always wanted to do.  Josh has teased me about it relentlessly, assuring me that petting a cow is not as amazing as I think it is.  But oh, how amazing it was!!! Haha! I walked over to the corral where they were, and the smaller one, whose name was Milo (same as my nephew!) got up and came over to me.  I reached in and began petting him, and he nuzzled his little face into my hands, licking me gently and batting his sweet brown eyes at me. I was in love. Josh captured the whole thing, and it just made my weekend!

Nearly... turning around on the way to pumpkin patch because Wyatt's asthma was acting up so bad.  He was coughing and coughing and coughing and I was massively worried.  Luckily a few puffs on his inhaler had him feeling better and he made it two more hours before needing more.
He certainly wasn't in great shape, but at least he was able to enjoy the evening.

Keeping... Wyatt home from the land on Saturday even though it made him cry.
Josh took the twins with him out to his parents property with him, and normally he takes all three boys, but with how bad Wyatt's asthma has been the last few days, we knew it wouldn't be safe for him to go run around out there, that much further from the hospital and away from me all day. So we opted to keep him home with me and Carly.  They took a fun bath, with lots of toys, where Wyatt stacked as many cars as he could on the faucet; built a Magic Tracks track; and we watched a movie together during Carly's nap.  I feel so bad when asthma steals opportunities from him that I try to make up what I can where I can.

Rejoicing... that Josh's easy chair was finally delivered.  He's wanted one ever since we left Alaska (where the school district housing provided one) and now we finally have room.  Wyatt & Carly tried it out for him when it arrived since he wasn't here and gave it two thumbs up.  Josh is in love with it, and I'm so glad he has a place to come home and put up his feet after how hard he works for our family everyday.

Thankful... that my kids are as outgoing as I am as I pushed Logan out the door to run across the street and introduce himself to the neighbor boy who was shooting hoops out there last weekend.  They seemed to hit it off and played ball together for quite some time.  Neighbor kids can be a mother's saving grace and I can't wait for the kids to make some friends in our new neighborhood!

Decorating... the front porch with some simple pumpkins I got for $2 a piece at Safeway and loving the look.  The other decorations (the fall bunch of leaves and the Happy Halloween hanging) are things I've had for years and love pulling out each year.

Hosting... our first family sleepover on the new pullout couch after movie night.  It was a super fun night, with all four kids and myself sleeping sprawled out across the downstairs, on couches, the bed and Josh's new easy chair.  Carly especially thought it was fun, and I think it's something we will do again and again.
Not surprisingly, my favorite part was reading in bed before we fell asleep.

Making... homemade maple bars from scratch on Sunday morning to cross one thing off our Fall Bucket List from Enjoying The Small Things.  They were insane. Seriously, so delicious. It was funny because Logan couldn't remember ever having them before and was convinced they would be "way grosser" than store bought donuts.  I convinced him to try them, and let me tell you, after his first bite, he was changing his tune.  Haha!  So good!!!

Nebulizing... Wyatt over and over, morning and night, and often throughout the day, not to mention the times he had to use the inhaler because we were away from home.  This cold has knocked this kids lungs OUT. It's been really scary at times, like on Tuesday when he came home from school coughing and breathing really rapidly, and I had him nebulize, but it didn't seem to be helping, so I counted his breaths, and he was at 35 breaths per minute.  (Normal is 12-20 breaths per minute for his age) I was FREAKING OUT. I took him immediately in to urgent care with Carly, leaving the twins at home to meet Josh when he got home, and prayed that was the right decision.
The only reason I didn't go to the ER was that he was still able to talk to me and didn't seem sick otherwise.
By the time the doctor came to see us, Wyatt's breathing had calmed down to the mid twenties, still not great, but much improved, and I was relieved we were there anyway so the doctor could listen and make sure Wyatt's lungs weren't wheezing or crackling on the stethoscope.  Thankfully his lungs were clear and the doctor said we just needed to give the oral steroids I started at the end of last week a little more time to take hold.
So he sent us home to carry on.
It's so exhausting, I'm telling you.  Keeping my ears perked for every cough, wheeze and breath this kid takes.  Just when I think it's all good and we are fine, he'll throw me for a loop and get sick out of nowhere, or his respirations will tank.
I'm for sure praying the next few days of oral steroids provide some reprieve cause I could use it.

Reading... a book from my childhood, Good Night Mr. Tom and loving it so much.  I haven't enjoyed a book this much since Anne of Green Gables on audio.  It's about a young evacuee from London who is taken in by Mr. Tom in the country, and oh it's even better than I remember it.
A few of my favorite quotes:

"He snuggled down into the warm blankets.  He had never thought that he would ever come to love the rain, but he did now."

"How could anyone not want to live, thought Will, when there were so many things to live for? There were rainy nights and wind and the slap of the sea and the moon.  There were books to read and pictures to paint and music."

I am also working through Love Your Life, Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze and am listening to The Aviator's Wife about Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  That one has had some amazing quotes as well.

"I had done nothing worthy of such a gift other than sign permission slips and write out grocery lists and read trashy novels."   (This one made me giggle.)

"Motherhood has brought me down to earth with a thud and kept me there with tentacles made of diapers and tears and lullabies and phone calls and carpools... Would I ever be able to soar again? Would I ever have the courage? Did any woman? Or did we exist only as others saw us?"

Toward the end of this week I started Tuesdays with Morrie (my tenth book this month!!!).  I knew it was about an old professor meeting with his student and discussing dying, but I didn't know Morrie had ALS, and I didn't expect the book to be so uplifting.  I am loving it.

Grateful... that Ramona seems to be doing better after her recent bladder infection.  I am so glad because I sure love that kitty girl.

Feeling... emotional that my grandparents (and my dad) made the effort to come see me on their way home from North Dakota on Tuesday.  It was so lovely to hug them and visit and to show my grandma my house.  It warmed my heart when she said, "Well your house looks just like you," gesturing around us to the living room. I am just so, so blessed.

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Laughing at this:

#truth

Clinging to these:

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