We Bought A House!

So it's been awhile...

Let's just skip past the fact that I haven't written in months, and jump right in, shall we?

It's crazy to me to think that I've been blogging since I was still a newlywed, about 6.5 years ago.  At that time, we had just bought a house.  The house had 3 apartments in it.  We lived in the one on the top floor and rented out the other 2.  The situation was the perfect set-up for us as broke newlyweds.  Ha!  But in my mind, I was hoping we would only be living there for about 5 years.

3 years later, we got the opportunity to move into the first floor apartment.  Back then we had been struggling with infertility, so even though the downstairs apartment was smaller, it was prettier and much more convenient.  So we excitedly moved in, not thinking about how small it would seem once we had kids.

Then we had a baby.  While I was in grad school.  And things were fine for about a year after Scarlett was born.  But then all of a sudden it was like the walls started closing in on us.

There were toys EVERYWHERE.  Our living room was a glorified playroom.  All of our closets were packed full and there was literally no room for anything else.

Somehow the smaller our apartment seemed, the louder it seemed, too.  We lived next to a fire department, so there were sirens going off at all hours of the day and night.  And I completely appreciate the service of the firemen and paramedics!!  Don't get me wrong. It's just a very loud place to live, next to them.

Also, every Saturday at noon, they would test the tornado siren.  I can't even describe how loud that is every week.  You can hear it miles away, and yet we were yards away from it.

Also, living in the bottom apartment isn't the quietest place to be when there are hard wood floors above.

And we lived a few yards from a semi-busy road where many tractors, semi-trucks, and loud motorcycles ride.

All of that plus a toddler just did no mix.

We had begun our house-hunt in the spring of 2014.  And the Reader's Digest version of the story is that in the next 12 or 13 months, and through a series of events/circumstances that could only have been ordained by the Lord himself, we bought and are now living in what I'm pretty sure must be the perfect house for our little family.

 

It is on a quiet street.  It is further away from the road than our old house.  There are woods owned by the park on the north side, woods owned by our neighbor on the south and east sides, and one beautiful house surrounded by open fields across the road.  We went form noise everywhere to feeling pretty secluded.  It is so peaceful!  And we have a yard!  Small, but big enough for us.  It is perfect.

Here is the view out of our big picture windows in the living room:

(That's Scarlett watching the birds one day before we moved in. Ha!)

And a view of our front yard on a rainy day last week:

We are feeling SO BLESSED.  I can't even tell you how much easier my life feels since this house is actually big enough for us, and so quiet and peaceful (have I mentioned that it's peaceful? Ha!)

This past year has been such an experience.  It was so difficult getting into the swing of things at my new job, and I felt stressed and depressed a lot of the year, and took it out on my family at times.  Things just seemed so hard!  But now we have moved into the new house, and I had my last day of work for the school year on Wednesday.  And I am able to spend my entire summer with my family in this new, wonderful house.  It's just a reminder that God is here, and even when life feels so hard sometimes, there will be brighter days.  I feel like as bad as some days were last winter, they're that good plus a whole lot better this summer.  I feel like I've made it through that storm, and I fully intend to make the most of every moment now until the next one comes along!

***

Thanks for sticking with me if you're still reading this even after my rare postings lately.  Now that I have some free time, I want to try to blog more often this summer.  I've gotten really into You Tube lately, and might try to do a few videos this summer as well.  I want to film a home tour sometime next week if I can get the guts to do it! Ha!  

Friday Randoms

- My sweet husband ordered some flowers to be delivered to me on Valentines Day.  He wanted to surprise me since he was leaving for Houston that weekend.  The only problem with that is that I decided to go out on a last-minute day-trip to Columbus to visit my sister, so they sat in the freezing cold all day.

I got home at about 9 that night and my flowers were frozen and droopy.  I was so bummed!  Luke emailed Pro Flowers and told them what had happened, and they re-sent the order.  Now there is a huge bunch of lilies in my living room making me smile every time I walk in.  I took this picture last weekend, and they are even prettier now because they're all open and beautiful.

- Have you been watching Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show?  Luke and I have been enjoying it so much!  We DVR it every night, and then watch it the next afternoon or evening when we both get home.  We're obviously too old to stay up late enough to watch it live.  Anyway, we pretty much laugh through the entire show. 

- I've finally gotten brave, and I've been using my camera in manual mode lately.  It is really fun to experiment, and not nearly as complicated as I would have thought.  I wish I had more time to experiment, and I can't wait until it's warm enough to take more pictures outside, but for now it's fun to experiment during free time on the weekends.  I have been trying to take comparisons between automatic and manual modes.  There's a big difference, and I think I should have figured out what this thing could do earlier!

- Luke and I are having a date night tonight!  Having a baby changes a marriage so much.  It is awesome to see your spouse become a parent, and you basically fall in love with them all over again.  But then real life and major stress sets in, and things become difficult.  At least for me, it is hard not to take my frustration out on Luke and snap at him.  I will probably write a whole post on this at some point, but the nutshell version is: it is so important to give each other the benefit of the doubt, be patient with one another, and forgive each other.  One of my favorite quotes is, "A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers."  It's also important to take time out together.  I am excited spend some quality time with Luke tonight.

- I have to say, I think 7 months is my favorite age so far.  Scarlett just keeps us constantly laughing.  She loves to sing and dance! It's so funny.  She rocks back and forth while she yells "ahhh."  She also just has so much more of a personality now.  And we seem to be coming more and more out of her whiny stage.  And to be completely honest, I'm trying to enjoy the fact that she's not mobile yet!  Ha!  I know our days are limited, because the past few days she's been trying to push herself up on her knees when she's on her stomach, and I know she's going to be creeping and then crawling before too long!  She also can push herself backwards on her stomach.  I guess we better do some baby-proofing!

 

Happy Friday!

 

Snow Days

...from Scarlett's point of view.

"Being a 6-and-a-half month old is hard work.  I don't ask for a lot -- just constant attention and entertainment every waking moment of every day.  During our snow days, Mommy likes to try to get housework, like laundry, dishes, and cleaning done. Ha! No deal.  If she's busy doing that, then she's not playing with me!  Sometimes I give her a break if she gives me a toy to play with. Oh, who am I kidding?  They're not for playing, they're for chewing.  Anyway, she must also sing and dance and just generally act goofy if I'm going to let her put me down for more than 5 minutes.

 

"Sometimes Mommy lets me get close to this elusive creature.  I don't know what it is, but it looks like my stuffed animals.  But it moves and makes funny noises.  We have stare-downs sometimes.  All I want is to grab a handful of her hair to put in my mouth, but Mommy won't let me.  It's a rough life sometimes.  At least I got to sit on the big bed for awhile.  Happy Day!

"Not to brag or anything, but I've recently learned to sit on my own.  I still need to be surrounded by pillows, because if I topple over, I'm pretty sure I will die.  It happened once, and I somehow survived.  I think Mommy's hugs and kisses have healing powers.  Otherwise I would have been a goner.  I still screamed loud and long enough to warn her she better never let that happen again though!

"Also, no big deal, but I can drink out of a sippy cup now!  And I'm even drinking water like Mommy!  I'm practically a grown up.  We practice this a lot during our snow days, and I've gotten pretty good at it.  I only drool or spit about half of every sip now instead of the whole thing!

"While I'm busy being awesome in my bouncer and speaking in my native language of squeals, whines, and pterodactyl sounds, Mommy works on cooking some yummy, healthy meals to eat during the cold and snowy days.  All I want more than anything in this world is to taste some of the food Mommy and Daddy get to eat!  It seems to be some sort of delicacy that they do not deem my palate to be sophisticated enough to eat.  So instead, they give me some cold, mushy junk every day.  It's not that bad, I guess.  It tastes exponentially better when delivered to my mouth accompanied by airplane or choo choo train sounds.  But I just know the food that Mommy and Daddy are eating is better!  Maybe someday they will let me try it.

"Sitting here watching Mommy cook sure is tiring!  Plus she stuck this green thing in my mouth that always makes me feel sleepy.  Mommy and Daddy call it "the mute button," whatever that means.  Mommy also put my soft blanket with the silky edges on me, and whenever I so much as touch that thing, my eyes just fall shut.  I protest because I don't want to miss a single moment of our exciting snow days!  But Mommy is cruel, and won't take the magic mute button or soft blanket away. I succumb to their powers and fall into a deep sleep."

 

"I don't like to take long naps, so I will probably be awake in 20-40 minutes to do this all again!  Mommy seems giddy with happiness that she gets to spend so much time with me during our snow days.  I'm pretty awesome like that.  And not to mention adorable.  She says winter is not so bad with me around!"

Zoo Trip

Monday was my sister's birthday, and to celebrate, she, my mom, Scarlett, and I took a trip to the Akron Zoo!

We had so much fun, and although Scarlett slept just about the entire time, I'm pretty sure she at least loved being pushed around in her stroller all morning.

Scarlett was totally pumped, obviously...

I had fun practicing some more with my new camera

 Mom treated us to soft pretzels along the way

Of course Grandma had to buy Scarlett a souvenir from her first zoo trip:

Afterward we went out to lunch.  It was a fun day!  Spending time with my mom and sister is always a blessing.

Happy Birthday, Julie!

Friday Photo Dump

Here's what I've been up to lately...

This is Scarlett movin' and groovin' in the womb, 2.0. A little over a month ago, I shared a video of one tiny kick here.  If you compare it to the video above, you can see how much bigger she's gotten, and how much more pronounced her movements have become.  If I'm sitting still or laying still, movements like this are pretty much constant. ...until someone else tries to see it or feel it!  She must be shy. (The focus in the video is a little off, so it's easier to see if it's not full screen).

A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law Diana graduated with her bachelor's in early childhood education!  This is a picture at her graduation party.  When Luke and I started dating, she was in middle school!  Time has flown by, and it has been fun watching her grow up.  We are so proud of her!

I had my first Menchie's trip of the spring with Luke and JC on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  This was pomegranate raspberry tart yogurt topped with fruit.  It pretty much made my day.

Speaking of frozen, sweet treats, my mom and I had a frozen strawberry lemonade the other day after an intense shopping day out. I had so much fun spending the day with my mom, buying baby things and finishing up my registry!  ...I needed a picture to commemorate the day.

Last weekend, our friend Doug celebrated his 30th birthday.  We had a little surprise bonfire party to celebrate.  It was a great night spent with friends.  I can't believe so many of us will be celebrating our 30th birthdays in the next couple of years!  I still feel about 22.

 The week before Mother's Day, my sisters (in-law) and I went to "Hot Pots," a pottery painting place.  It was fun, and I painted my mom a little flower pot for Mother's Day.  I can't wait until Scarlett is old enough to take!  I think we'll spend lots of mother-daughter dates here in a few years. 

A friend from church gave me a flower for Mother's Day.  I thought it was so sweet!

I guess this is braggy, but I survived what my professor dubbed "the semester from hell" with all As!  Even my clinic supervisor, whom I was sure hated me in the beginning and thought I was hopeless, gave me an A.  I really tried to take her constructive criticism to heart, and she said she thought I improved 100% over the semester.  It feels good to have those 15 weeks behind me!

Speaking of school, I had a week-long literacy seminar this week.  It was a required class, and it was Monday - Thursday, 9:00 - 4:30 every day.  I had been dreading it all year, to be honest, because who wants to sit in the same class for 7.5 hours?  They were long days, but I did learn a lot.  We had 1 big group project to complete for this class, and 4 days to complete it.  Each group was given a case study about a client, and we had to plan therapy goals and activities for 1 month of therapy.  We also had to make all the materials we were going to use in the activities.  Oh, and also?  On top of that, we had to choose one material, and make 40 of them to pass out to the entire class.  Well anyway, my group worked really hard on the materials we made for the whole class.  The picture you see above is our final project after being tweaked and revised at least 50 times.  We call it our "sound scavenger," and it can be used to find letters in books, with matching pictures that start with each letter to promote phonemic awareness.  The pencil tip can also be used as a pointer to teach the one-to-one ratio of spoken word to printed word.  And there are a bunch of other uses, but I'll leave it at that.  We spent hours and hours constructing these, because we had cut out every letter picture and glue all 26 of them on, 40 times (n-z are on the back).  But, we were pretty excited about the final result, and our professor told us there is a commercial version that is being sold, but ours is better!  We totally thought we should try to patent and sell them.  Anyway, that was a long story, that no one but me probably cares about.  But yeah, it was a long week to say the least!  I'm ready to relax a bit this weekend!

Happy Friday!

Friday Photo Dump

I am in a good mood this morning!  Yesterday was my last day of class for what I've been told is the most difficult semester of grad school in my program.  I have an online final to complete, and one day at my clinical placement left, and then I'll be officially done!  ...for a week.  I still have a week-long literacy seminar, and a month-long fluency (stuttering) class to take this summer before I get a real break.  But it feels good to be on this side of the semester.  My classes this semester included voice, neurogenic disorders, dysphagia (swallowing disorders), and articulation & phonological disorders.  Whoever decided that 4 of the most content-loaded classes should be taken during the same semester apparently had some anger to take out on innocent grad students.  But I survived it, and it wasn't all bad.  

Anyway, I have my last day of clinicals with some adorable preschoolers that I'm really going to miss next Wednesday.  But aside from that, I have no major plans for the next 10 days.  The forecast looks just about perfect for this weekend and next week, and I'm pretty much feeling on top of the world.  I hope to work on some nursery projects and spend the entire week enjoying this pregnancy and focusing on Scarlett and her upcoming arrival!  I feel like I haven't been able to fully do that in the past 15 weeks because I've been so busy.

Hopefully with the extra time I'll have in the next week, I'll be able to blog a little more often.  I thought I'd start with my Friday photo dump since I haven't done one in awhile.

 

 A few weeks ago I tried a Pinterest manicure.  Pinterest picture above on the left, and  mine on the right.  I just used the bottom end of a paintbrush to make the polka dots.  I don't know if I'm too old to pull off polka dots or not, but it turned out better than I thought it would!

My mom bought this stuffed animal for Scarlett just minutes before I told her I was pregnant.  True story.  My mom just had a feeling that's what we were coming over to tell her.  Anyway, here Gabby is stalking it.  We may need to teach the cats about boundaries before July...Scarlett is not even here yet, and doesn't have any siblings, and she's already having to share her toys.  Not fair.

Luke is in a small basketball league at our church and plays on Monday nights.  Here he is getting the rebound!  It was fun to watch him play, but the league was pretty aggressive, and I was terrified he was going to really hurt himself every time he played.  So I'm secretly kind of glad the season ended last week.  Bring on the softball season!

Life of an SLP grad student.  I kind of love it.

Gabby's specialty is finding weird places to hang out.  I'm always amazed at the tight spaces she can fit into.

I had my glucose test last Friday.  I passed!  This is the gross drink I had to chug beforehand.  It wasn't pleasant, but definitely not as bad as I was expecting.

Th cats' new favorite pastime: to lay on the nursery carpet in the sun every morning.  They lay there until about noon when the pools of sunlight have disappeared, and then move to either the couches or the bed.  Ahh, the life of a cat.  I think mine sleep at least 20 hours a day.  One of my professors shares useless trivia with us every class just for fun, and this week we learned that giraffes sleep just 20 minutes each day.  A friend from class posted on Facebook that she would call them "giraffe naps" from now on instead of "cat naps."  I have to agree that that makes much more sense.  I don't know where the term "cat nap" came from, but unless you're planning on napping for at least a 4-hour block of time, that is probably not an accurate name.  

Speaking of cat naps....while Gabby's specialty is to find weird places to take them, Ellie's specialty is finding the most uncomfortable positions for them.  

Last Saturday, my church had a women's retreat for the day.  The theme was joy.  We had a great speaker, and it was great to just refresh and get some encouragement!  We all got notebooks to take notes in during the session, and then we got to decorate them.  

On Tuesday night I took a nice walk with my cousin Sarah as she pushed Hudson and Hadley in her double stroller.  (Whom I accidentally called "Hudley" last night while talking to my mom.  New nickname for the pair of them, Sarah?  ;-))  Anyway, it was a beautiful evening!  I just had to snap a picture.  I can't wait until Scarlett is here and I can walk her around the neighborhood in her stroller!

Another cat picture.  I just can't help it.  They melt my heart with cuteness.  (I am such an annoying cat-mom).  Anyway, if I leave the doors of my wardrobe open for more than 4.2 seconds, Ellie likes to jump in and burrow behind my neat piles of clothes, completely messing them up.  

Yesterday was Luke's 29th birthday!  Everyone keeps saying to him, "Only 1 more year of being young!" Yikes. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he said, "nothing."  How boring, right?  I figured I'd just make him some ice cream and cake and keep it low key, and next year we'll do it up big.  We had lots of visitors last night to wish him a happy birthday, even though we hadn't had anything "formal" planned.  I think he had a good day!  

At my wedding shower, my mother-in-law gave me a recipe box full of Luke's favorite recipes.  One of them was for homemade chocolate cake and frosting.  Baking a cake from scratch always seemed so daunting for me, and I've been afraid to try it. But I thought I better practice now, so I'll be able to make one for Scarlett on her birthdays (and future children too).  So I came home yesterday from my last day of class and nervously threw the ingredients together, praying the whole time that I wouldn't mess it up! And somehow it all came together okay.  While I was baking I couldn't help but imagine Scarlett helping me bake a birthday cake for Daddy in a few years, and thought my heart was going to explode from happiness.  

Luke got an ice cream maker for Christmas a year or so ago, so I decided to make some homemade ice cream too.  I wanted to make mint, Oreo ice cream, but overdid it with the mint a bit.  It wasn't terrible, but definitely could have been better.  If I was going to mess something up, I'm glad it was the ice cream, and not the cake!

That about sums up the past few weeks in my world!  Spring has been good this year, regardless of how long it took to get here!  I feel so blessed, and can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store!

Friday Photo Dump

This is obviously not a picture, but a video. Scarlett was punching away this morning (her legs have been on the opposite side of my stomach at both ultrasounds, so that's why I'm guessing it's a punch and not a kick) , and I caught her on a very quick video!

Spring is emerging slower than I ever could have imagined this year.  It was 21 degrees when I left my house yesterday morning.  It's been quite depressing if I'm being completely honest.  However, at the end of the day when I emerged from the dungeon practically window-less building where all my classes are, it was sunny and in the 50s!  And the 10 day forecast looks pretty promising, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s for most days.  I was so excited, I had to take a picture while I was at a stop light in Akron yesterday.  I have a thing for blue skies and puffy clouds.

On Tuesday night, I met a friend for dinner, and then decided to do a little shopping for some more maternity pants. It was a bust, to say the least.  I need some dressy pants for clinicals and church.  I'm finding that maternity clothes usually come in simple small, medium, and large sizes, but are all about the same length to fit the height of the "average" woman. Ugh.  I was hoping to avoid expensive stores like Motherhood Maternity, but I'm getting desperate, and I know I'd have more luck there.  My last hope will be Old Navy before I try there.  Being short is such a pain sometimes!  

I was a bit depressed that I had no luck finding any clothes, so I eased the pain by buying something for Scarlett.  I was thinking this might just be a perfect going home outfit since it will probably be so hot in the middle of July!  I thought a cotton onesie would be comfortable for her, and I thought this one was just cute and girlie.  I might end up buying something a little fancier, but I just want her to be comfortable.  I can't believe I'm thinking about a coming home outfit already!  I'm quickly approaching the third trimester-- the home stretch!  I can't wait to meet the little baby we've been waiting YEARS for!  It feels like my whole life has been leading up to this!

I guess that's all I have for today since I already shared all of my Easter/spring break photos.  Happy weekend!

Spring Break and Easter Weekend

I am currently coming off of the high that was spring break, 2013.  I had a whole week off from school, clinicals, and homework (that part was my choice, and I don't regret it one bit!), and it was amazing!  I'm glad I only have five more weeks left until the end of the semester, or it would have been really impossible to be back and sit through 5 hours of classes today.

I didn't do anything too out-of-the-ordinary or special for break, and the weather was (and is still) HORRIBLE for a lot of it, but I still really enjoyed the leisure time!  I spent it:

Watching lots and lots of March Madness basketball.  My bracket was going strong until Ohio State choked on Saturday. Basketball is always a good excuse to spend time with friends and eat good food!

...having a date night with Luke where we went out to dinner and crib shopping.  We picked one out, and it should be here in the next few days!

...having another date night with Luke where we bought a new couch and love seat.  I guess it was furniture-buying week for us.  Our sectional that we bought a few years ago just didn't fit quite right in our new living room, and our cats had punctured the heck out of the leather. No more leather furniture for us! Luke and I both agreed that the new stuff is much more comfortable than our old sectional.  The cats think so too!

...stopped at White House on the way home from my doctor's appointment on Friday because Scarlett wanted me to.  That's what I told Luke, anyway.  It's good to use her as an excuse sometimes...

...attended an Easter egg dying party at Luke's aunt's house on Good Friday.  I think I was about 10 years old the last time I colored eggs, so it was fun!  I tried to get creative, and made an ombre egg

...We were lucky enough to enjoy a little bit of sunshine (what's that?) on Friday and Saturday.  

...On Saturday night, my mom, sister, and I had a headband-making party for Scarlett.  Julie made the headband holder.  This is at least a good starter set!  (I hope Scarlett likes headbands, because her mama sure does!)

...on Easter Sunday we went to church, then had lunch with my family, and dinner with Luke's family.  We were on-the-go all day, so when we got home, Luke and I both fell asleep on the couch before 9.  I wonder what holidays like this will be like with a little one to tote around?  I'm going to have to start drinking more coffee after she's here!  Always nice to spend time with family, though, and to celebrate that He is Risen! 

Now I have 5 more weeks of classes in the spring semester, followed by a week-long seminar, and another 4 week summer class.  And then I will officially be done with school until Scarlett is about 5 weeks old!  Where are the brakes?  Time is moving to fast!  And yet too slow at the same time.  How's that for an oxymoron?

I hope you all had a blessed Easter!