Week 47 Around Here {2019}

Dreaming... of water (flooding houses, overflowing toilets, waterfalls going down stairs) every night it seems.  I looked up the meaning of these types of dreams and it points to emotional turmoil.  That makes sense to me, as parenting my middle schoolers is quite challenging currently.  I am hoping that remembering I am the "eye of the storm" will help me to remain calm no matter how crazy life gets around me.  But boy is that hard!

Celebrating... my 37th birthday a little early with my sister and my bestie this weekend in Wenatchee.  Shana and I drove over and can I just say what a luxury it was to be in the car with her and to talk without interruption for an hour and a half each way?  It was so awesome. #momlife
Once we got to Wenatchee, Shana and I hit up Costco where she helped me comparison shop for a lot of things I normally buy at Walmart.  So many things will be a better deal in the long run if I get them at Costco!
After shopping at Costco (we got a few Christmas gifts for the kids and some household essentials) we met my sister for lunch out followed by a movie.  Lunch was so good and the movie was okay (3 stars at best) but the popcorn was amazing. Hah! I love movie popcorn, and the feel of a dark theater.  Luckily the company was awesome the whole day and I feel so lucky to have two such great girls in my life.

Turning... 37 on Monday with a gorgeous sunrise Josh alerted me to on his way to work ("If you have a minute, you should really go check out the sunrise this morning.")  Then I met my girlfriends for coffee and a farewell to my girl Jolene who is moving to Alaska with her crew.  Boy are we gonna miss her!!!  Then my friends Crystal and Becky stopped by and surprised me with brownies and gifts- so sweet! Then Carly and I made a cake that we ate after dinner with the guys. 
Josh arrived home from work with flowers for me (swoon) and Wyatt had made me a bookmark that melted my very heart. It has a drawing of us reading books together- my favorite!
My gift this year was a stack of books I got at Book Outlet which I was introduced to by my friend Ashley.  I got 5 books for less than $20!
It was a really great birthday, I felt loved & spoiled all day long, and I feel like 36 was a really blessed year.  Here's hoping 37 is too!

Counting... at least nine migraines in November and praying December is better.  I am only allowed to take 9 doses of Sumatriptan (my migraine medicine) per 30 day period (or I can get rebound headaches), so I am very lucky I didn't have any more headaches than I did.  They are just the worst.  I'm hoping it's just about my cycle and my hormones changing as I age...

Attending... Basin Brawl for the boy's wrestling club and getting to watch them wrestle for the first time in real matches.  Josh's parents were there to watch, which was really special, and I felt SO proud of them all.  I was that crazy mom on the side of the mat, yelling and cheering like mad, near tears when they did good and holding my breath when things weren't going their way.  Josh had a heart to heart with Logan after he lost a match and I just can't even put into words the love I feel for him when I see him being such a good dad. We are all so lucky he is ours.
Jack won a match, and when they held his arm up to show he was the winner, I was so proud of him I could have burst! The look of accomplishment on his face was fantastic. 

Enduring... freezy, foggy weather day after day this week.  It's been so cold and dreary!!!

Loving... Carly's new (to us) curtains!  They are so fun (polka dots!) and will look even better if I ever get around to painting her room.

Reading... Inheritance (on audio) and The Night Olivia Fell.  Inheritance simultaneously makes me want to and not want to take a DNA test like Ancestry or 23 and Me.  I loved listening to the story, and really enjoyed learning more about Orthodox Jews.  Before this memoir, I knew nothing about them.
The Night Olivia Fell was a fascinating mystery that kept me reading to the last page.  It was a solid 3 stars, and I enjoyed the story, but I like a novel with better writing.  I like a little more flair.
I also finished listening to Us Against You.  That, again, was good, entertaining, but not my favorite. It was a bit dark for my taste.

Getting... the twins flu shots finally.  I got mine and Carly and Wyatt's a month or more ago, but kept forgetting the twins.  They weren't very happy to get home from school and find out that's where we were headed.  Luckily it was quick and relatively painless.  Later Jack had a little swelling at the injection site (which is normal) but that was it.

Ringing... in the holiday season with a giant (Paw Patrol, because #duh) tub of Christmas popcorn.  Carly was SO excited when I said yes to this at the grocery store, and her brothers were equally thrilled when they got home from school to this snack.  It's a Christmas classic.

Hosting... book club for the first time at our house and feeling so grateful for that amazing group of ladies.  They stayed until 11 and I think we could have stayed hours longer, to be honest.  Being with other women, other mothers, just fills my cup in a way that nothing else does.

Posting... a house tour of our downstairs (since it was so clean for book club- hah!) on my Facebook page & Instagram. We are seriously feeling so blessed in our new digs.  If you've wondered what the new house looks like, click over and check it out!

Planning... for Christmas bit by bit.  Our plan is to get the kids 2 gifts each (and they'll get one from Santa), plus books for Christmas Eve, which is our family tradition.  They'll also have stockings, with some yummy treats and one small toy.  My budget for each kid is $50, which is very (very!) challenging, but it has to be done because we are living on cash now and I'm not pulling the credit cards back out for Christmas.  You better bet I'll be hunting for some good deals after Thanksgiving!

Being... overcome by an organizational bug that I think is a preemptive hit against all the toys and things the kids tend to get at Christmas.  Also in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving.  Whatever the reason, I am rolling with it, and sorting & purging all.the.things.

Crafting... with this color by diamond art.  If you haven't tried it, you really should. It is so much fun!!! (Thanks, Shana for introducing me!)

Enjoying... sending the twins off to their friends' house Friday night and letting them stay late (until 10pm) since we don't do sleepovers.  They thought it was super cool, and we were able to have date night once we got Wyatt & Carly to bed.  We watched Game of Thrones (we're into Season 7 now!) and had homemade pizza.  So yum!

***

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.

***

Laughing at this:

#truth

Clinging to these:

*