This summer, we're trying to pack a lot of fun into a few short months!
We'll take the boys to our family beach cottage in the early days of summer. Hard to believe that my boys, ages 3 1/2 and 2, have never been to the beach. It just hasn't worked out for timing. But this year is our year! We saved up our time off of work so that we could really enjoy some much-needed vacation time down there. This is the quietest beach with white, sugary sand and gentle waves since the beach is framed by two barrier islands that block much of the rough water. The beach was a vacation staple of my family while growing up. We'd go there every summer when we could. The cottage is owned by my mom's parents and it is such a fabulous place. Every time I go to the beach, I am truly able to unwind and relax and remember what's important-- people, not technology. There's always time for a good read since less time is taken up by staring at a computer screen or phone screen. Having some days off of work to soak in some family time and introduce my boys to sand castles, seagulls, and waves makes me yearn for May! I'm hoping it will be a great time of relaxation to kick start our summer!
Then in July, I am getting to have a few days by myself. This will be a much-needed mom-vacation. A little break from diabetes care and from my job. I'm going to spend some time with friends and enjoy some girl time when I can shop and watch girly movies and giggle and hopefully do some baking and sight-seeing. I'm really looking forward to this trip! I know I'll miss all my guys, but I know some time to myself is important, too.
In August, Aaron and I are heading out on a road trip-- just the two of us. Our boys will stay with grandparents (we have 3 sets in town) and our dogs will stay with other grandparents (or maybe those grandparents will just stay at our house). Aaron and I are embarking to Maryland to visit my dad's mom. In the 6 years we've been married, Aaron and I have traveled to Washington state (where he's from) a few times, but we have haven't ventured to my family beach cottage more than twice (which we're remedying in May), and he hasn't been to Maryland at all. I want him to see where my dad grew up. We plan to do a few short day trips while we're there, like going to Amish Country (one of my favorite things), going to Gettysburg, and Washington DC. Eating steamed blue crab is also a must! We are really looking forward to some uninterrupted time together during this 12 hour road trip! I know we'll miss the boys fiercely, but it is very important for married couples to get some time alone to reconnect and refresh. I'm excited about this time I'll have with him, and I know my boys will be well-cared for.
Summer is not typically my favorite time of year. This year, I have found, though, that I'm actually looking forward to summer. After our wacky winter, and having to wonder if my boys needed jackets, or heavy coats, or no coats at all was tiring and frustrating. It will be nice when I can just dress them in shorts and a t-shirt and call it good. Our summer trips will also make the summertime seem to fly by. This is the first year when Aaron and I are actually able to take a substantial amount of time off and I am so thrilled to do so!
Bring on the summertime!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Friday, March 25, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The Thrill of the Hunt
My husband (who grew up in Washington state and is an avid hunter) equates listing our house for sale with the beginning of an elk hunt. It's a thrill to start out on the hunt, to glass the ridges (use binoculars to try to spot elk high up on the mountains), to walk in the woods for miles (BORING!), to see the elk, to shoot it, and to breathe the sigh of relief that an elk is yours. Then, he says, the fun stops and the work begins. You've got to find the elk that you shot, and then drag its massive body out of the woods.
So, the process of house selling involves thrill, boredom, excitement and then loads and loads of work!
We are at the work part, my friend.
On Saturday at 9:00am, we received a text that someone wanted to see our house at 11:30 that morning. We knew we were already taking the dogs to the vet for their 10:00am appointment, so we were planning to leave the house at 9:30. We quickly changed our plans and rushed around to straighten everything up and vacuum well. Aaron decided he'd take the dogs to the vet by himself, so that I could stay behind and clean some more and then take the boys to my mom's house. He'd then meet me at my mom's house after the vet appointment. So, we rushed around and cleaned. It was a hot, humid day and I didn't blow-dry my hair after my shower, so it was curly and wavy and frizzy and Michael looked at me and said "Um, mom, you look a little crazy." Noted.
We successfully got the house ready and everyone out of there by 10:30. We had a nice visit at my parents' house while we waited for 12:45 to roll around so we could go back home (we were told the people would be looking at the house from 11:30 to 12:30). We walked in our home and didn't find a realtor card. We thought, perhaps, no one even came by. However, I purposely turned on every light in the house before we left, and when we returned-- the lights in the spare bedrooms were off, so I knew someone had been here. Although I patted myself on the back for getting the house looking really nice, I wandered into our master bedroom later that night and saw that I left a bra out of my drawer and when I was cleaning the sinks in our bathroom, I forgot to unplug them again, so there was standing water in them. Shoot, I thought. What if I ruined this showing?
The next night (Sunday night), I was folding laundry and Aaron was standing in the kitchen. I had been texting my mom and one of my sisters-in-law, and I heard my phone go off, so I assumed it was one of them. Aaron was holding his phone, too, and said "whooo. We just got the same text message." I thought for sure it would be about a family member being pregnant or something. But instead, he said "we just got an offer on our house." I gasped and we both ran to our computer to check my email so we could see the offer.
It was full price.
We are so very humbled and blown away.
We immediately accepted, and officially signed our paperwork on Monday. We are under contract to sell our house! The home inspection is scheduled for this week, and the new buyers want to move in the middle of April.
So......
We got our elk, the thrill is done. Now we've gotta drag that gigantic elk out of the woods. So..... let the hard work begin. I've got an entire house to pack up in less than 27 days. Eeek!
We're limited in where we can look for a new house since we have to have cable Internet so I can work at home. Satellite Internet won't do. This shouldn't be an issue but it totally is! I don't know if cable Internet is getting phased out or what, but SO many new subdivisions do not offer cable Internet. It's frustrating sometimes. We actually found a beautiful home online in a great location, but darn that satellite Internet! We're going to look at a house this afternoon that says it has cable Internet, and the cable company says they service that area, so I'm hopeful.
Keep us in your prayers during this process!
Until next time,
Much love, Reba
So, the process of house selling involves thrill, boredom, excitement and then loads and loads of work!
We are at the work part, my friend.
On Saturday at 9:00am, we received a text that someone wanted to see our house at 11:30 that morning. We knew we were already taking the dogs to the vet for their 10:00am appointment, so we were planning to leave the house at 9:30. We quickly changed our plans and rushed around to straighten everything up and vacuum well. Aaron decided he'd take the dogs to the vet by himself, so that I could stay behind and clean some more and then take the boys to my mom's house. He'd then meet me at my mom's house after the vet appointment. So, we rushed around and cleaned. It was a hot, humid day and I didn't blow-dry my hair after my shower, so it was curly and wavy and frizzy and Michael looked at me and said "Um, mom, you look a little crazy." Noted.
We successfully got the house ready and everyone out of there by 10:30. We had a nice visit at my parents' house while we waited for 12:45 to roll around so we could go back home (we were told the people would be looking at the house from 11:30 to 12:30). We walked in our home and didn't find a realtor card. We thought, perhaps, no one even came by. However, I purposely turned on every light in the house before we left, and when we returned-- the lights in the spare bedrooms were off, so I knew someone had been here. Although I patted myself on the back for getting the house looking really nice, I wandered into our master bedroom later that night and saw that I left a bra out of my drawer and when I was cleaning the sinks in our bathroom, I forgot to unplug them again, so there was standing water in them. Shoot, I thought. What if I ruined this showing?
The next night (Sunday night), I was folding laundry and Aaron was standing in the kitchen. I had been texting my mom and one of my sisters-in-law, and I heard my phone go off, so I assumed it was one of them. Aaron was holding his phone, too, and said "whooo. We just got the same text message." I thought for sure it would be about a family member being pregnant or something. But instead, he said "we just got an offer on our house." I gasped and we both ran to our computer to check my email so we could see the offer.
It was full price.
We are so very humbled and blown away.
We immediately accepted, and officially signed our paperwork on Monday. We are under contract to sell our house! The home inspection is scheduled for this week, and the new buyers want to move in the middle of April.
So......
We got our elk, the thrill is done. Now we've gotta drag that gigantic elk out of the woods. So..... let the hard work begin. I've got an entire house to pack up in less than 27 days. Eeek!
We're limited in where we can look for a new house since we have to have cable Internet so I can work at home. Satellite Internet won't do. This shouldn't be an issue but it totally is! I don't know if cable Internet is getting phased out or what, but SO many new subdivisions do not offer cable Internet. It's frustrating sometimes. We actually found a beautiful home online in a great location, but darn that satellite Internet! We're going to look at a house this afternoon that says it has cable Internet, and the cable company says they service that area, so I'm hopeful.
Keep us in your prayers during this process!
Until next time,
Much love, Reba
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Currently...
Just a random snap-shot of tidbits that I had the spare time to write tonight as the boys are in bed and Aaron is playing xbox.
OPENING: A couple of books! I'm about a quarter of the way through Someday, Someday Maybe. I'm trying really hard to get into it because I loved Lauren Graham's role as Lorelai on Gilmore Girls and I really want to like her as an author. It's a bit difficult to get into this book. I'm hoping it gets easier as I read more of it. A few weekends ago, my mom and I went to an anniversary sale of a local antique mall. At that sale, I bought three books by one of my very favorite authors: Lillian Jackson Braun. She writes a cute mystery series called the "Cat Who..." books. I've read too many of them to count. I have not read them in any order whatsoever, and I love series like that-- when I can just pick one of the books and the characters unfold enough each story that it doesn't matter if I read the series in order or not. I found a plethora of these books at the antique store, but I limited myself to three (found in three different booths!) and now I know a source where I can go back to buy these books on discount. Usually I buy them on Amazon or am gifted them at birthdays or Christmas. The book I cracked open today was The Cat Who Went Into the Closet. I learned my lesson, though, not to leave the book on the back of the couch when I prepare dinner. Otherwise, a curious two-year-old might rip out the first three pages. Oops. Lesson learned.
EATING: This week, I've made this recipe of cookies twice. Once was just for us, since we like these cookies so much. The other time I made them was with the intention for Aaron to take them to church on Wednesday night since there is a meal provided, and normally we bring some type of dessert. Aaron and I switch weeks for which one of us gets to go to Wednesday night church, since it starts right before the boys' bedtime. This week was Aaron's week to go, so I made a batch of cookies for him to take with him. Right before he got home, I realized that the whole tin of cookies was still on the counter. I had way too many for breakfast and have had a tummy ache for about 6 hours now because of it. Lesson learned. (I'm sensing a theme.)
WEARING: A t-shirt and pajama pants since I'm about to go to bed after I finish this post. Today, I only had to leave the house to go pick up the boys, so I wore a t-shirt and shorts since it's in the 80's here and humid. Normally, I'm all about the fall weather. This year, we had zero fall weather, and approximately twenty days of "winter" weather and now we're back to "fake spring trying to be summer." I'm continually checking online sales to see if I can strike a deal on some cute summer dresses. My favorites so far are these: dress 1, dress 2, and dress 3. I know all of them are basic, but I'm hoping that gives me a neutral palate to use some fun jewelry with! (I'm not typically a jewelry wearer, but I'm trying to branch out).
WATCHING: Aaron and I just started watching the first season of "The Americans" last week. We finished episode 4 tonight. We don't get to watch it every night, since we're pretty busy and spread out during the week-nights, and we try to make sure we can devote a full hour to the show so that we can watch it intently. We are both really liking it so far, and I'm really excited that Amazon Prime has the first 3 seasons! We'll be set for a while. I was getting pretty tired of our normal show options, so this is a good change of pace. During the day, I still have "Fixer Upper" or "Flip or Flop" on in the background.
STILL REMEMBERING: The adorable baby shower that two friends and I hosted for another friend of ours this past weekend! Our friend is having a baby girl and it was so fun to go totally pink with all of the decorations! Baby stuff is always so cute and it was so fun to celebrate with a friend!
This weekend, the county we live in, and the neighboring county begin spring break, so that means Aaron does not have a soccer game to coach on Saturday. We are using part of our free weekend to take both dogs to the vet. Yippee. We did this last year on our "off weekend" from Upwards as well. You do what you gotta do. I don't want to wrangle two dogs and two young kids into the vet office alone-- so we maximize our time and tag-team it. Our vet office is small, and they can accommodate both dogs sharing one appointment time, so it really doesn't take too much time out of our day. On Sunday afternoon, our church is having their big Easter Eggstravaganza, and Aaron and I are going just as parents this time. We are looking forward to watching the excitement on our boys' faces as they play games and hunt for eggs! I'll be sure to take pictures! Also, I haven't forgotten that I am planning on doing a "Things My Kids Say" post, and a post about the baby shower for my friend, and a post about our summer plans! If there's anything that could really make me excited for summertime (and it's hot weather), it's our plans!!!! Stay tuned!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
OPENING: A couple of books! I'm about a quarter of the way through Someday, Someday Maybe. I'm trying really hard to get into it because I loved Lauren Graham's role as Lorelai on Gilmore Girls and I really want to like her as an author. It's a bit difficult to get into this book. I'm hoping it gets easier as I read more of it. A few weekends ago, my mom and I went to an anniversary sale of a local antique mall. At that sale, I bought three books by one of my very favorite authors: Lillian Jackson Braun. She writes a cute mystery series called the "Cat Who..." books. I've read too many of them to count. I have not read them in any order whatsoever, and I love series like that-- when I can just pick one of the books and the characters unfold enough each story that it doesn't matter if I read the series in order or not. I found a plethora of these books at the antique store, but I limited myself to three (found in three different booths!) and now I know a source where I can go back to buy these books on discount. Usually I buy them on Amazon or am gifted them at birthdays or Christmas. The book I cracked open today was The Cat Who Went Into the Closet. I learned my lesson, though, not to leave the book on the back of the couch when I prepare dinner. Otherwise, a curious two-year-old might rip out the first three pages. Oops. Lesson learned.
EATING: This week, I've made this recipe of cookies twice. Once was just for us, since we like these cookies so much. The other time I made them was with the intention for Aaron to take them to church on Wednesday night since there is a meal provided, and normally we bring some type of dessert. Aaron and I switch weeks for which one of us gets to go to Wednesday night church, since it starts right before the boys' bedtime. This week was Aaron's week to go, so I made a batch of cookies for him to take with him. Right before he got home, I realized that the whole tin of cookies was still on the counter. I had way too many for breakfast and have had a tummy ache for about 6 hours now because of it. Lesson learned. (I'm sensing a theme.)
WEARING: A t-shirt and pajama pants since I'm about to go to bed after I finish this post. Today, I only had to leave the house to go pick up the boys, so I wore a t-shirt and shorts since it's in the 80's here and humid. Normally, I'm all about the fall weather. This year, we had zero fall weather, and approximately twenty days of "winter" weather and now we're back to "fake spring trying to be summer." I'm continually checking online sales to see if I can strike a deal on some cute summer dresses. My favorites so far are these: dress 1, dress 2, and dress 3. I know all of them are basic, but I'm hoping that gives me a neutral palate to use some fun jewelry with! (I'm not typically a jewelry wearer, but I'm trying to branch out).
WATCHING: Aaron and I just started watching the first season of "The Americans" last week. We finished episode 4 tonight. We don't get to watch it every night, since we're pretty busy and spread out during the week-nights, and we try to make sure we can devote a full hour to the show so that we can watch it intently. We are both really liking it so far, and I'm really excited that Amazon Prime has the first 3 seasons! We'll be set for a while. I was getting pretty tired of our normal show options, so this is a good change of pace. During the day, I still have "Fixer Upper" or "Flip or Flop" on in the background.
STILL REMEMBERING: The adorable baby shower that two friends and I hosted for another friend of ours this past weekend! Our friend is having a baby girl and it was so fun to go totally pink with all of the decorations! Baby stuff is always so cute and it was so fun to celebrate with a friend!
This weekend, the county we live in, and the neighboring county begin spring break, so that means Aaron does not have a soccer game to coach on Saturday. We are using part of our free weekend to take both dogs to the vet. Yippee. We did this last year on our "off weekend" from Upwards as well. You do what you gotta do. I don't want to wrangle two dogs and two young kids into the vet office alone-- so we maximize our time and tag-team it. Our vet office is small, and they can accommodate both dogs sharing one appointment time, so it really doesn't take too much time out of our day. On Sunday afternoon, our church is having their big Easter Eggstravaganza, and Aaron and I are going just as parents this time. We are looking forward to watching the excitement on our boys' faces as they play games and hunt for eggs! I'll be sure to take pictures! Also, I haven't forgotten that I am planning on doing a "Things My Kids Say" post, and a post about the baby shower for my friend, and a post about our summer plans! If there's anything that could really make me excited for summertime (and it's hot weather), it's our plans!!!! Stay tuned!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Monday, March 14, 2016
Goals and Reasons for Absence
I love to write. I love that blogs are actually a thing, because in a way, they are like a diary but also accessible by others. Maybe some novelists were discovered through their personal stories on their personal blogs.
In some ways, having a blog is refreshing. It's a means of escape from the world. This is a place where I can write just as me. I can write about being a mom- which is how this whole blog came to be.
I can write about what it means to me to be the mom of a Type One Diabetic. It's rough, but it has also strengthened me. It's also a reason for absence from more regular posts. Being the parent of a Type One Diabetic preschooler takes an immense amount of brain power. And it also involves sleepless nights. Therefore, when I could choose to stay up late or get up early to write a post, I choose to sleep or rest instead.
Back to the essence of the blog- once I discovered link-ups, the blog became a way to connect with more people. Each link-up is like a prompted writing post and I LOVE those! The link-ups foster a sense of community and for that, I am grateful.
In my life recently, I have been very overwhelmed and tired. Part of that is due to what I've mentioned above about being the parent of a child with a chronic disease. Part of it is due to working at home. My job is computer based, so I'm already sitting in front of a computer for 8+ hours a day. During my breaks or lunch time, I like to do non-computery things like fold laundry, load & unload the dishwasher, vacuum, or TAKE A NAP. These are all luxuries that I couldn't do during breaks if I was in an office setting, and they'd all be waiting for me when I returned home in the afternoons (aside from taking a nap, which would no longer be an option since I'd have chores to do). When I was in an office setting, I'd write blog posts on my breaks and my lunch. At home, it's different. When my shift is done, I jump in the car to get my boys and when I return home, I chill on the couch with them until it's time to make supper. The rest of this week, though, I'll be working overtime, so I do apologize in advance if I don't post again this week.
I do read blogs everyday. And God bless the people who keep a regular blog. I have about 10 that I check daily and about 6 or 7 of them (it varies which ones) have new posts to read. This is how I start my day. I lay in bed and read some blogs before it's really time for my feet to hit the floor.
Part of my blog irregularity is because sometimes I don't think I have enough fodder to make a post exciting. I also struggle with knowing what to write about sometimes. I don't want to only do link-ups, although it's nice to have the topic already picked for me. I feel like the other Type One parents who read the blog don't care to read about link-ups, so I do try to write about diabetes as well. Not only for an audience, (because, is there really one?) but I write about diabetes because I want to reread these posts some day in the future and see how far we've come.
I also love to write about my kids but I like to include so much detail (again, for remembrance purposes) that sometimes, it gets overwhelming to try to capture all the detail and then the post doesn't get written and the memory fades.
Sometimes I feel like I just don't have enough brain capacity to keep up with it all.
Sometimes, life just gets in the way. Sometimes, it's the slowness of life that gets in the way. For example, on Friday March 4th, our house was shown. On Saturday March 5th, I received an email from my realtor saying the person was deciding between our house and one more and they requested to see the property disclosure form (where we have to say if we replaced the dishwasher, ceiling fan, etc). My realtor said she'd keep me posted. I haven't heard anything since. Today is the 14th. I checked my email like a crazy person last week (and admittedly, today) hoping that there'd be some news. Even to say "they chose the other house." We've been in this position at least 3 other times since listing our house last May. We've been told "they're deciding between your house and one more," or "they're deciding between your house and two others." So we wait. And wait. And sometimes we are told "they chose the other house." Sometimes we're told "they found another house online that they were going to go see this weekend, and I haven't heard from their realtor since." So waiting is hard. It's hard not to get our hopes up. I so desperately want to be closer to family and to live in the school district where I want my boys to attend. I know that one of these times, when someone is deciding between my house and another, that they'll pick my house. I know it will happen. But the waiting is hard, and it's discouraging.
I find that in these discouraging moments, I overeat. Today's confession: I made cookies during my break and I ate about a quarter of the cookie dough. So sad. I kind of want to blame my messed up eating habits on my headache medicine since it all kind of started at the same time. But I also know, I have to exert self control, and in that, I am not doing well.
But tomorrow is a brand new day. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
So I'm praying that I'll get motivated to eat healthier. I'm praying that my email inbox will show a response about our house showing. I'm praying that my oldest son's blood sugars stay in range (today, all but one blood sugar reading was IN RANGE! HALLELUJAH!) I'm praying that my youngest son sleeps past 5:45 in the morning! Time change fooled him only Sunday when he slept til 6:45, but today he was back at his 5:45 wake up time.
When I find spare moments to write, I plan to do another installment of "things my kids say" (I've been keeping a list). I also plan to write about the girl baby shower two other friends and I threw for another friend of ours this past weekend. I will also write about our summer plans. It's gonna be a good summer! I can feel it!
So keep checking back. I appreciate everyone who reads this blog.
Until next time,
Much love, Reba
In some ways, having a blog is refreshing. It's a means of escape from the world. This is a place where I can write just as me. I can write about being a mom- which is how this whole blog came to be.
I can write about what it means to me to be the mom of a Type One Diabetic. It's rough, but it has also strengthened me. It's also a reason for absence from more regular posts. Being the parent of a Type One Diabetic preschooler takes an immense amount of brain power. And it also involves sleepless nights. Therefore, when I could choose to stay up late or get up early to write a post, I choose to sleep or rest instead.
Back to the essence of the blog- once I discovered link-ups, the blog became a way to connect with more people. Each link-up is like a prompted writing post and I LOVE those! The link-ups foster a sense of community and for that, I am grateful.
In my life recently, I have been very overwhelmed and tired. Part of that is due to what I've mentioned above about being the parent of a child with a chronic disease. Part of it is due to working at home. My job is computer based, so I'm already sitting in front of a computer for 8+ hours a day. During my breaks or lunch time, I like to do non-computery things like fold laundry, load & unload the dishwasher, vacuum, or TAKE A NAP. These are all luxuries that I couldn't do during breaks if I was in an office setting, and they'd all be waiting for me when I returned home in the afternoons (aside from taking a nap, which would no longer be an option since I'd have chores to do). When I was in an office setting, I'd write blog posts on my breaks and my lunch. At home, it's different. When my shift is done, I jump in the car to get my boys and when I return home, I chill on the couch with them until it's time to make supper. The rest of this week, though, I'll be working overtime, so I do apologize in advance if I don't post again this week.
I do read blogs everyday. And God bless the people who keep a regular blog. I have about 10 that I check daily and about 6 or 7 of them (it varies which ones) have new posts to read. This is how I start my day. I lay in bed and read some blogs before it's really time for my feet to hit the floor.
Part of my blog irregularity is because sometimes I don't think I have enough fodder to make a post exciting. I also struggle with knowing what to write about sometimes. I don't want to only do link-ups, although it's nice to have the topic already picked for me. I feel like the other Type One parents who read the blog don't care to read about link-ups, so I do try to write about diabetes as well. Not only for an audience, (because, is there really one?) but I write about diabetes because I want to reread these posts some day in the future and see how far we've come.
I also love to write about my kids but I like to include so much detail (again, for remembrance purposes) that sometimes, it gets overwhelming to try to capture all the detail and then the post doesn't get written and the memory fades.
Sometimes I feel like I just don't have enough brain capacity to keep up with it all.
Sometimes, life just gets in the way. Sometimes, it's the slowness of life that gets in the way. For example, on Friday March 4th, our house was shown. On Saturday March 5th, I received an email from my realtor saying the person was deciding between our house and one more and they requested to see the property disclosure form (where we have to say if we replaced the dishwasher, ceiling fan, etc). My realtor said she'd keep me posted. I haven't heard anything since. Today is the 14th. I checked my email like a crazy person last week (and admittedly, today) hoping that there'd be some news. Even to say "they chose the other house." We've been in this position at least 3 other times since listing our house last May. We've been told "they're deciding between your house and one more," or "they're deciding between your house and two others." So we wait. And wait. And sometimes we are told "they chose the other house." Sometimes we're told "they found another house online that they were going to go see this weekend, and I haven't heard from their realtor since." So waiting is hard. It's hard not to get our hopes up. I so desperately want to be closer to family and to live in the school district where I want my boys to attend. I know that one of these times, when someone is deciding between my house and another, that they'll pick my house. I know it will happen. But the waiting is hard, and it's discouraging.
I find that in these discouraging moments, I overeat. Today's confession: I made cookies during my break and I ate about a quarter of the cookie dough. So sad. I kind of want to blame my messed up eating habits on my headache medicine since it all kind of started at the same time. But I also know, I have to exert self control, and in that, I am not doing well.
But tomorrow is a brand new day. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
So I'm praying that I'll get motivated to eat healthier. I'm praying that my email inbox will show a response about our house showing. I'm praying that my oldest son's blood sugars stay in range (today, all but one blood sugar reading was IN RANGE! HALLELUJAH!) I'm praying that my youngest son sleeps past 5:45 in the morning! Time change fooled him only Sunday when he slept til 6:45, but today he was back at his 5:45 wake up time.
When I find spare moments to write, I plan to do another installment of "things my kids say" (I've been keeping a list). I also plan to write about the girl baby shower two other friends and I threw for another friend of ours this past weekend. I will also write about our summer plans. It's gonna be a good summer! I can feel it!
So keep checking back. I appreciate everyone who reads this blog.
Until next time,
Much love, Reba
Monday, February 29, 2016
Improvements: Update
So today we finally finished the list of improvements I mentioned a couple of posts back.
We wanted to caulk around our shower/tub combos in both of the bathrooms. Aaron took care of that last week. I don't have a picture because it's not all that exciting- just necessary.
We also replaced our kitchen faucet.
We chose Moen brand. It's a brushed nickel finish, so it doesn't show fingerprints which is awesome! I wasn't sure I'd like the pull-out sprayer, but I really do love it.
We also put hardware on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Previously, we've had no hardware on them. I don't know why it took me over 5 years to install cabinet hardware. I totally love it! Here's a closeup of the hardware, then a photo of our kitchen, hall bath, and master bathroom.
Finally, we painted over the red stripe in the former "man room" (current office). We also removed the Detroit Red Wings wall decals. I think the room looks less busy now.
Hopefully, potential buyers will like the improvements. And in the mean time, we'll enjoy them ourselves!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
We wanted to caulk around our shower/tub combos in both of the bathrooms. Aaron took care of that last week. I don't have a picture because it's not all that exciting- just necessary.
We also replaced our kitchen faucet.
We chose Moen brand. It's a brushed nickel finish, so it doesn't show fingerprints which is awesome! I wasn't sure I'd like the pull-out sprayer, but I really do love it.
We also put hardware on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Previously, we've had no hardware on them. I don't know why it took me over 5 years to install cabinet hardware. I totally love it! Here's a closeup of the hardware, then a photo of our kitchen, hall bath, and master bathroom.
Finally, we painted over the red stripe in the former "man room" (current office). We also removed the Detroit Red Wings wall decals. I think the room looks less busy now.
Hopefully, potential buyers will like the improvements. And in the mean time, we'll enjoy them ourselves!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Friday, February 19, 2016
What We're Looking for in a House
Our house has been on the market now for about 8 1/2 months. Pretty typical time line these days. We had briefly put our house on the market in April of 2014. We received one offer in June of 2014 and the buyers pulled out of their contract. In August 2014, we took our house off the market. Our oldest son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes two days later. God protected us during that time in our lives. He knew it would be way too stressful to have our house on the market while we were in the throes of learning diabetes care.
Fast forward nearly one year to the end of May 2015. We chose to put our house back on the market. Aaron and I had painted both of our bathrooms a bright white in March and April 2015. We had our patio screened in to create a screened porch in September 2014. We felt like it was time to put our house back out there. Within two weeks time, we lowered the price by $7,000. We really wanted to sell. Another month passed and we lowered the price by another $1,000. We had a few lookers within the first couple months, then things slowed to a crawl. In October, we had an eager couple come look at the house and we received an offer. It was low. We bantered back and forth for a week, but we couldn't come to an agreement. A few more lookers rounded out 2015. We've had two showings this year so far. We're debating lowering our price again by another thousand or so. They're building two new homes across the street from us and a couple lots down. That tells me that someone thinks living in this area is desirable, right?
Aaron and I have made another home improvement and are going to make a few more home improvements over the next week (hopefully one week will be sufficient!) About two weeks ago, my dad came over and installed a new faucet for our kitchen sink. An updated faucet was something I had been thinking about since we were first looking to buy a house back in 2010. I'm surprised it took me over 5 years to actually do it! We love our new faucet and now I know how easy it would be to replace a faucet in our next place (I say "easy" like I'm the one that did it-- although that's hardly true. I observed and I cleaned out some pipe while my dad and Aaron installed the faucet. But it looked fairly easy, and we paid my dad with a chocolate chess pie and homemade lasagna.) :)
Tonight, we went to Home Depot and bought cabinet/drawer pulls for each cabinet and drawer in our kitchen and bathrooms. We currently have no cabinet/drawer hardware at all. I believe we got a really good deal. We picked these (or at least something very similar) and Aaron says he can install them tomorrow afternoon or Sunday evening. Cabinet/drawer pulls are something we've thought about doing before-- pre-kids and when we didn't have a "home improvement budget." I'm glad we both agreed that it could spruce up our kitchen, and I'm glad we decided just to go for it and stop hemming and hawing about it.
We also bought some caulk and a caulk gun to fix our bathroom shower/tub trim. When we painted, we inadvertently used a putty scraper instead of a paint scraper, to scrape stray paint marks from our shower/tub combos in our bathrooms. The putty scraper didn't have as sharp of an edge as a paint scraper has, and it kind of messed up the trim between the shower/tub combo and the wall. We are hoping that a fresh line of caulk will make things look seamless again.
Finally, we bought a gallon of fresh white paint for one of our spare bedrooms, which is currently my office for work. When we bought our house, we decided to keep one room painted blue (as the previous owner's had left it), and we decided to paint the remaining spare bedroom ourselves. This room was designated as the "man room" and we went with a Detroit Red Wings theme since that's Aaron's favorite hockey team. We chose "Wing White" and "Wing Red" from Glidden. We painted the room "Wing White" (which is really just a can of Glidden white paint in your choice of finish-- satin, high gloss, eggshell, etc). We then painted a "Wing Red" stripe about 14 inches wide around the center of the room. Then we hung a Pavel Datsyuk Fathead on the wall, and also hung the accompanying Red Wings symbol Fatheads around the room. Needless to say, this was a very personalized space. Aaron outgrew the need for a "man room" and when Noah was born, this room became his bedroom. Then when I had the opportunity to work from home, I needed a designated office space. Noah benefited from moving into Michael's room to share with him, and I took over the spare room as an office. I don't really mind looking at a bright red stripe along the wall as I work, but we both recognize that this room is a bit too personalized for potential buyers. After all, we live nowhere near Detroit, and although we're not Alabama football fans (Auburn Tigers all the way! War Eagle!), we recognize that the bright red isn't the crimson hue that Alabama fans desire in a "fan room"-- so we don't really have hope that the room will appeal to a potential buyer who might be an Alabama fan. It certainly won't appeal to any fellow Auburn fans who sport orange and navy. So, we bought a can of Glidden "paint & primer in one" in the eggshell finish. We also looked up how to save the Fathead decals to preserve them for our next house. The plan is to remove the Fathead decals and paint over the red stripe this week.
We will then take pictures of the improved spaces and send them to our realtor to update the pictures on our listing.
I have high hopes for these improvements! It's nice to be able to make the home more functional for us as we wait to sell it. Each home improvement gives me a little boost as we endure these days while we wait.
So, since our house has been on the market for a while, we've had lots of time to think about what we really want in our next place.
We've toyed with wanting acreage. We've thought it might be nice, instead, to be in a subdivision with streets our kids could ride bikes on, etc, as they grew. We have debated choosing an older home, and we've thought about picking out a newer build.
We know for sure what school district we want to be in, so that keeps our area pretty tight where we're looking. The schools around here keep growing, so the school zone lines are semi-liquid. We know we don't want to pick a home that's near the current school zone border because we don't want to have to switch schools partway through elementary, middle, or high school for the boys. When Michael goes to school, he will have an individual education plan due to his Type One Diabetes. I really don't want to have to re-hash all of that in a different school if we chose to live on the school zone border and had to change schools. Therefore, we want to be safely in the middle of the zone for the school where we want our boys to attend.
We also know for sure that we need cable internet. Working from home requires me to have cable internet. Satellite internet just won't do. It's not an approved source of internet accessibility due to its speed. Some newer subdivisions in the area have not provided cable internet services, and rely only on satellite. This automatically rules them out for us. We have to be certain that our new place has cable internet-- otherwise, I'd have to return to working in the office on a daily basis and I don't want to do that! My schedule working from home is so conducive to being available for my children's needs, that it would totally throw a wrench in the plan if I had to return to the office everyday. This necessity for cable internet has led us to look at more established streets, and therefore, older homes, since not all newer subdivisions have cable internet capability.
It's so funny to think about what was important for us when we were first looking for a home. We wanted brick-- no questions asked. We wanted a flat lot, because we were thinking about starting a family and wanted a nice place for kids to play. We wanted a fenced lot. We wanted a master bedroom closet that wasn't attached to the master bathroom. I wanted a regular window with blinds in the master bathroom, rather than a frosted window. (Why? I have no idea, but I remember wanting it that way). In our first home here, we got everything on our wish list.
We wanted to live about 20 minutes away from our parents. Check. Well now, I'd like to live 3 minutes away from them. Driving 20 minutes everyday to pick up my boys is a lot. I'd like to just trot down the road, pick them up, and be home within 15 minutes of initially leaving the house. :)
We wanted brick. Well, now we don't care if it's brick, siding, whatever.
We wanted a flat lot with grassy play space. Although we'd still like a grassy area, we don't mind having a few hills because we have two young boys and we know they're going to want to explore outside all day long in a couple of years. Hills are fun!
We still want a fenced lot since we have kids and two dogs. But it doesn't matter to us whether it's privacy fence or chain link, etc. We know that a fence is always something we can improve later if we choose to.
I no longer care if the master closet is attached to the master bathroom. I'd just like to have a nice bathroom and a nice closet.
I don't care if the window in the bathroom is frosted. If it is, I'd probably still put some kind of blind or curtain or valence in the middle of it, anyway.
We're much more flexible now.
I have a fantastic amount of kitchen cabinets in this house, and that's something I'd like to keep in our next house.
We now know that we can hire a contractor to install a screened porch, and we know we can change out faucets and paint colors and use carpet shampooers, etc. I think we're in a good spot to pick a home that offers the square footage we want (and if not, then at least offers a lot from which we can add onto the house), and potentially this next home could be it for us. We are looking with future intentions-- can we make this what we want it to be over time? Can this new place be our forever home and accommodate us as our family grows?
We're going into this with "flexible" on our minds.
Fingers crossed and prayers rising in the hopes that our house will sell soon!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Fast forward nearly one year to the end of May 2015. We chose to put our house back on the market. Aaron and I had painted both of our bathrooms a bright white in March and April 2015. We had our patio screened in to create a screened porch in September 2014. We felt like it was time to put our house back out there. Within two weeks time, we lowered the price by $7,000. We really wanted to sell. Another month passed and we lowered the price by another $1,000. We had a few lookers within the first couple months, then things slowed to a crawl. In October, we had an eager couple come look at the house and we received an offer. It was low. We bantered back and forth for a week, but we couldn't come to an agreement. A few more lookers rounded out 2015. We've had two showings this year so far. We're debating lowering our price again by another thousand or so. They're building two new homes across the street from us and a couple lots down. That tells me that someone thinks living in this area is desirable, right?
Aaron and I have made another home improvement and are going to make a few more home improvements over the next week (hopefully one week will be sufficient!) About two weeks ago, my dad came over and installed a new faucet for our kitchen sink. An updated faucet was something I had been thinking about since we were first looking to buy a house back in 2010. I'm surprised it took me over 5 years to actually do it! We love our new faucet and now I know how easy it would be to replace a faucet in our next place (I say "easy" like I'm the one that did it-- although that's hardly true. I observed and I cleaned out some pipe while my dad and Aaron installed the faucet. But it looked fairly easy, and we paid my dad with a chocolate chess pie and homemade lasagna.) :)
Tonight, we went to Home Depot and bought cabinet/drawer pulls for each cabinet and drawer in our kitchen and bathrooms. We currently have no cabinet/drawer hardware at all. I believe we got a really good deal. We picked these (or at least something very similar) and Aaron says he can install them tomorrow afternoon or Sunday evening. Cabinet/drawer pulls are something we've thought about doing before-- pre-kids and when we didn't have a "home improvement budget." I'm glad we both agreed that it could spruce up our kitchen, and I'm glad we decided just to go for it and stop hemming and hawing about it.
We also bought some caulk and a caulk gun to fix our bathroom shower/tub trim. When we painted, we inadvertently used a putty scraper instead of a paint scraper, to scrape stray paint marks from our shower/tub combos in our bathrooms. The putty scraper didn't have as sharp of an edge as a paint scraper has, and it kind of messed up the trim between the shower/tub combo and the wall. We are hoping that a fresh line of caulk will make things look seamless again.
Finally, we bought a gallon of fresh white paint for one of our spare bedrooms, which is currently my office for work. When we bought our house, we decided to keep one room painted blue (as the previous owner's had left it), and we decided to paint the remaining spare bedroom ourselves. This room was designated as the "man room" and we went with a Detroit Red Wings theme since that's Aaron's favorite hockey team. We chose "Wing White" and "Wing Red" from Glidden. We painted the room "Wing White" (which is really just a can of Glidden white paint in your choice of finish-- satin, high gloss, eggshell, etc). We then painted a "Wing Red" stripe about 14 inches wide around the center of the room. Then we hung a Pavel Datsyuk Fathead on the wall, and also hung the accompanying Red Wings symbol Fatheads around the room. Needless to say, this was a very personalized space. Aaron outgrew the need for a "man room" and when Noah was born, this room became his bedroom. Then when I had the opportunity to work from home, I needed a designated office space. Noah benefited from moving into Michael's room to share with him, and I took over the spare room as an office. I don't really mind looking at a bright red stripe along the wall as I work, but we both recognize that this room is a bit too personalized for potential buyers. After all, we live nowhere near Detroit, and although we're not Alabama football fans (Auburn Tigers all the way! War Eagle!), we recognize that the bright red isn't the crimson hue that Alabama fans desire in a "fan room"-- so we don't really have hope that the room will appeal to a potential buyer who might be an Alabama fan. It certainly won't appeal to any fellow Auburn fans who sport orange and navy. So, we bought a can of Glidden "paint & primer in one" in the eggshell finish. We also looked up how to save the Fathead decals to preserve them for our next house. The plan is to remove the Fathead decals and paint over the red stripe this week.
We will then take pictures of the improved spaces and send them to our realtor to update the pictures on our listing.
I have high hopes for these improvements! It's nice to be able to make the home more functional for us as we wait to sell it. Each home improvement gives me a little boost as we endure these days while we wait.
So, since our house has been on the market for a while, we've had lots of time to think about what we really want in our next place.
We've toyed with wanting acreage. We've thought it might be nice, instead, to be in a subdivision with streets our kids could ride bikes on, etc, as they grew. We have debated choosing an older home, and we've thought about picking out a newer build.
We know for sure what school district we want to be in, so that keeps our area pretty tight where we're looking. The schools around here keep growing, so the school zone lines are semi-liquid. We know we don't want to pick a home that's near the current school zone border because we don't want to have to switch schools partway through elementary, middle, or high school for the boys. When Michael goes to school, he will have an individual education plan due to his Type One Diabetes. I really don't want to have to re-hash all of that in a different school if we chose to live on the school zone border and had to change schools. Therefore, we want to be safely in the middle of the zone for the school where we want our boys to attend.
We also know for sure that we need cable internet. Working from home requires me to have cable internet. Satellite internet just won't do. It's not an approved source of internet accessibility due to its speed. Some newer subdivisions in the area have not provided cable internet services, and rely only on satellite. This automatically rules them out for us. We have to be certain that our new place has cable internet-- otherwise, I'd have to return to working in the office on a daily basis and I don't want to do that! My schedule working from home is so conducive to being available for my children's needs, that it would totally throw a wrench in the plan if I had to return to the office everyday. This necessity for cable internet has led us to look at more established streets, and therefore, older homes, since not all newer subdivisions have cable internet capability.
It's so funny to think about what was important for us when we were first looking for a home. We wanted brick-- no questions asked. We wanted a flat lot, because we were thinking about starting a family and wanted a nice place for kids to play. We wanted a fenced lot. We wanted a master bedroom closet that wasn't attached to the master bathroom. I wanted a regular window with blinds in the master bathroom, rather than a frosted window. (Why? I have no idea, but I remember wanting it that way). In our first home here, we got everything on our wish list.
We wanted to live about 20 minutes away from our parents. Check. Well now, I'd like to live 3 minutes away from them. Driving 20 minutes everyday to pick up my boys is a lot. I'd like to just trot down the road, pick them up, and be home within 15 minutes of initially leaving the house. :)
We wanted brick. Well, now we don't care if it's brick, siding, whatever.
We wanted a flat lot with grassy play space. Although we'd still like a grassy area, we don't mind having a few hills because we have two young boys and we know they're going to want to explore outside all day long in a couple of years. Hills are fun!
We still want a fenced lot since we have kids and two dogs. But it doesn't matter to us whether it's privacy fence or chain link, etc. We know that a fence is always something we can improve later if we choose to.
I no longer care if the master closet is attached to the master bathroom. I'd just like to have a nice bathroom and a nice closet.
I don't care if the window in the bathroom is frosted. If it is, I'd probably still put some kind of blind or curtain or valence in the middle of it, anyway.
We're much more flexible now.
I have a fantastic amount of kitchen cabinets in this house, and that's something I'd like to keep in our next house.
We now know that we can hire a contractor to install a screened porch, and we know we can change out faucets and paint colors and use carpet shampooers, etc. I think we're in a good spot to pick a home that offers the square footage we want (and if not, then at least offers a lot from which we can add onto the house), and potentially this next home could be it for us. We are looking with future intentions-- can we make this what we want it to be over time? Can this new place be our forever home and accommodate us as our family grows?
We're going into this with "flexible" on our minds.
Fingers crossed and prayers rising in the hopes that our house will sell soon!
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Monday, February 15, 2016
Boys Update
It's been a while since I've done an update on my little guys. It's also been a while since I've been regular at blogging. That is probably due mostly to working at home. Although I love it immensely, I have a daily production and quality quota to meet-- which means limited time to write a blog post on the fly. I'm also the one who mainly picks up my boys from my mother-in-law (who watches them during the day) since my husband works for another hour after I get off everyday. It's easier for me to get the boys, but that means that I don't really get much free time to write. So I'm taking advantage of a couple of minutes when my boys are fed and my husband is playing with them in the living room. I sneaked away to fold a load of laundry and to write a bit.
Let's get started.
Michael is three and a half. (Excuse me while I cry). Where in the world did the time go? Good grief! He is a tow headed blonde boy who is the total definition of spunk and stubborn. He has hazel eyes and rosy pink cheeks. His hair and fingernails grow faster than you'd think was possible. He has eyelashes that celebrity women would pay to have. Haircuts hardly even last on him. I know it would probably be more beneficial to give him a buzz cut, but I have a strict mom-rule that says "no buzz cuts until at least age 5." I have the right to keep my child looking like a little boy rather than just a boy, right? His hair is thick and beautifully straight. He can get out of the bathtub looking like Anne Burrell, but then within 15 minutes, his hair is straight and shiny. sigh He didn't get that from me.
Michael is mischievous to a fault. He will test any boundary set before him. As a parent, this is utterly exhausting because I have to keep enforcing the boundaries-- otherwise, it'll be ten times easier for him to break the rules the next time. That's the difficult part of parenting-- being consistent. Oh, it can wear me out in a heartbeat. And this is why my children go to bed at 7:15pm. Because I need some time to sit down on the couch and breathe, and just be still.
Michael is still tall for his age. He wears mostly 3T and 4T clothes. He has a long torso and shorter legs-- like me. We prefer dressing him in longer shirts so that it covers his Continuous Glucose Monitor (which is inserted in his upper buttocks). He wears a size 11 in toddler shoes. He will soon graduate to children size shoes (I think toddler sizing only goes to 12 or 13). He LOVES to run. He also LOVES to laugh and when he really gets going, his uninhibited laugh is the most precious sound in the world. I love seeing my son so happy. It makes all the heartache of diabetes just a little bit soothed during that time. I have a few pictures on my phone of his facial expression when he's fully engrossed in a laugh, and it's such a balm to look back on those expressions. I like to look at those pictures in the middle of my work day. Seeing my kid happy is so so priceless.
Michael loves any movie about the "minions." He has only recently discovered the "Despicable Me 2" movie (we haven't seen the first one yet). And we also recently bought the movie "Minions" (on sale at Target). You can bet that one of these movies will be watched at least once a day. He has some "minion" toys that he plays with on the daily. His favorite minion is Kevin "because he's brave."
His favorite snack food is Greek yogurt in all the yummy flavors (like Boston Cream Pie, Apple Pie, Blackberry Pie, Coconut, Key Lime, Raspberry, Chocolate Cherry). He calls yogurt "coo." He also likes to eat Pirate's Booty Cheese Puffs (low in carbs). He is not a fan of Cheez-its. He says they taste weird. He likes peanut butter spoons, Goldfish, dill pickle spears, American cheese slices, and PB&J sandwiches.
He is fully potty trained. Our next step is to get him to actually completely go to the bathroom himself without us having to be in there. But, oh! It's so nice to have him fully potty trained and to be able to successfully go to the bathroom when we're in public places like Children's Hospital, Target, etc.
He surprises me with his bravery. He is not as much of an animal fan as his brother is, but he did excitedly go into the petting zoo inside the actual zoo today and he really did pet a goat. I was impressed. I safely sat on a bench right outside the petting zoo-- I'm not a fan of animals with horns. :)
Now onto Noah.
Noah is very recently two years old (beginning of January). He has dark blonde hair with a bit of a wave in it (he gets that from me). His eyes are crystal blue (like his maternal grandma). There's no mistaking the color of his eyes and people stop us in the stores to look at them. Weird, but true. Both boys will get a haircut this week. Noah is looking a bit like Trump in a windstorm. :)
Noah is super duper sweet. When he's alone. Noah is our early riser (I'm talking like 5:40am early). When he's up in these wee-morning hours, he can be the sweetest little guy. I'll turn on Elmo's World while I get started on my work and he's good to go. When Michael wakes up and joins the fun, Noah goes into full "second child" mode and starts arguments just for the sake of arguing. Michael can say "Oh, we're watching Elmo's World" and Noah will say "Noooooo" just to get a rise out of Michael.
Noah is small for his age. He still has 18-month size pants that fall off of his little waist. He wears 18-month shirts, and some 2T or 24 month size shirts. He is in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height (based on his stats at his 2-year well check-up). He is in size 7 toddler shoes. This seems big based on his height and weight. Michael was also in size 7 shoes at 2 years old, but Michael weighed a lot more and was a lot taller than Noah is at this age.
Noah is obsessed with vacuums. Obsessed. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. We had to relocate our vacuum from our hall closet to our bedroom closet because Noah would pull the cord all the way down the hallway to the living room every single day and then shriek when we wound the cord back up. If we vacuumed while he was awake, we'd have to leave the vacuum out until he went to sleep so he wouldn't see us put it away. He'd open the hall closet door and just stare at the vacuum and touch it and try to turn it on. So we relocated it so that we wouldn't have to constantly hear shrieks when we wound the cord or put the vacuum away. I tried to only vacuum on my breaks during the workday when Noah wasn't home. Today, however, I was off of work and the house really needed a vacuuming, so as a "treat" I vacuumed while Noah watched me (and he "helped" a bit.) I was successfully able to put the vacuum back in my closet because we were heading out the door to my mom's house, where she has a toy vacuum and a real vacuum-- so that was sufficient bribery to get out the door without any tears. My mother-in-law keeps her vacuum out during the day so Noah can look at it. :) Any object can turn into a vacuum at anytime-- a rolling toddler-size suitcase becomes a toy vacuum at our house. Noah makes his own vacuum sounds to accompany his imaginary play. I'm raising the next generation Danny Tanner. I can only hope that this vacuum/cleaning obsession continues to childhood and the teenage years when I can really use the help!
Noah loves all food and doesn't discriminate. He could eat all day long if we'd let him. For breakfast, he has a Kashi waffle and a few toddler-size bowls of Froot Loops. He loves Goldfish, Cheez-its, Pirate's Booty cheese puffs, Greek yogurt (which he also calls "coo"), and dill pickles for snack. He LOVES ketchup, and is starting to have an affinity for mustard as well. He will request both with his fish sticks. He loves air popped popcorn and could eat the whole amount if we allowed it. But we're really trying to teach him to stop when he's full. He's getting better at it, and we're getting better about really noticing his signs of being full so that we can aid him in stopping his eating. He is so small that it's not a huge issue for us to let him snack since he's obviously using what he intakes, but we'd like to teach him to recognize when he's full as well.
I have high hopes that Noah will be potty-trained this year. He can tell us when he's making a mess in his diaper. He sits on the potty occasionally, but hasn't been successful on the potty as of yet.
He LOVES Elmo and we watch "Elmo's World" at LEAST twice daily. We start our mornings with either "Elmo's World" or "Blue's Clues." If we don't start our day with "Elmo's World," you can bet that it's the next thing he asks for. He loves to have us read books about Elmo. Aaron does a great Elmo impression, and that always gets a giggle out of Noah.
Today at the zoo, he was very content to ride in the stroller. When he was out of the stroller, he wanted to "help" me push it. That was an experience. He was kind of just "so-so" about the animals. When we were looking at the giraffes, he was ecstatic to see a bird instead. This is so Noah. He finds joy in the tiny things when we're all looking for the big things. He did enjoy being lifted up to see the HUGE rhino today at the zoo. He is a cuddler by nature and I hope he always likes to cuddle.
I love these little boys. Such precious precious gifts.
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
Let's get started.
Michael is three and a half. (Excuse me while I cry). Where in the world did the time go? Good grief! He is a tow headed blonde boy who is the total definition of spunk and stubborn. He has hazel eyes and rosy pink cheeks. His hair and fingernails grow faster than you'd think was possible. He has eyelashes that celebrity women would pay to have. Haircuts hardly even last on him. I know it would probably be more beneficial to give him a buzz cut, but I have a strict mom-rule that says "no buzz cuts until at least age 5." I have the right to keep my child looking like a little boy rather than just a boy, right? His hair is thick and beautifully straight. He can get out of the bathtub looking like Anne Burrell, but then within 15 minutes, his hair is straight and shiny. sigh He didn't get that from me.
Michael is mischievous to a fault. He will test any boundary set before him. As a parent, this is utterly exhausting because I have to keep enforcing the boundaries-- otherwise, it'll be ten times easier for him to break the rules the next time. That's the difficult part of parenting-- being consistent. Oh, it can wear me out in a heartbeat. And this is why my children go to bed at 7:15pm. Because I need some time to sit down on the couch and breathe, and just be still.
Michael is still tall for his age. He wears mostly 3T and 4T clothes. He has a long torso and shorter legs-- like me. We prefer dressing him in longer shirts so that it covers his Continuous Glucose Monitor (which is inserted in his upper buttocks). He wears a size 11 in toddler shoes. He will soon graduate to children size shoes (I think toddler sizing only goes to 12 or 13). He LOVES to run. He also LOVES to laugh and when he really gets going, his uninhibited laugh is the most precious sound in the world. I love seeing my son so happy. It makes all the heartache of diabetes just a little bit soothed during that time. I have a few pictures on my phone of his facial expression when he's fully engrossed in a laugh, and it's such a balm to look back on those expressions. I like to look at those pictures in the middle of my work day. Seeing my kid happy is so so priceless.
Michael loves any movie about the "minions." He has only recently discovered the "Despicable Me 2" movie (we haven't seen the first one yet). And we also recently bought the movie "Minions" (on sale at Target). You can bet that one of these movies will be watched at least once a day. He has some "minion" toys that he plays with on the daily. His favorite minion is Kevin "because he's brave."
His favorite snack food is Greek yogurt in all the yummy flavors (like Boston Cream Pie, Apple Pie, Blackberry Pie, Coconut, Key Lime, Raspberry, Chocolate Cherry). He calls yogurt "coo." He also likes to eat Pirate's Booty Cheese Puffs (low in carbs). He is not a fan of Cheez-its. He says they taste weird. He likes peanut butter spoons, Goldfish, dill pickle spears, American cheese slices, and PB&J sandwiches.
He is fully potty trained. Our next step is to get him to actually completely go to the bathroom himself without us having to be in there. But, oh! It's so nice to have him fully potty trained and to be able to successfully go to the bathroom when we're in public places like Children's Hospital, Target, etc.
He surprises me with his bravery. He is not as much of an animal fan as his brother is, but he did excitedly go into the petting zoo inside the actual zoo today and he really did pet a goat. I was impressed. I safely sat on a bench right outside the petting zoo-- I'm not a fan of animals with horns. :)
Now onto Noah.
Noah is very recently two years old (beginning of January). He has dark blonde hair with a bit of a wave in it (he gets that from me). His eyes are crystal blue (like his maternal grandma). There's no mistaking the color of his eyes and people stop us in the stores to look at them. Weird, but true. Both boys will get a haircut this week. Noah is looking a bit like Trump in a windstorm. :)
Noah is super duper sweet. When he's alone. Noah is our early riser (I'm talking like 5:40am early). When he's up in these wee-morning hours, he can be the sweetest little guy. I'll turn on Elmo's World while I get started on my work and he's good to go. When Michael wakes up and joins the fun, Noah goes into full "second child" mode and starts arguments just for the sake of arguing. Michael can say "Oh, we're watching Elmo's World" and Noah will say "Noooooo" just to get a rise out of Michael.
Noah is small for his age. He still has 18-month size pants that fall off of his little waist. He wears 18-month shirts, and some 2T or 24 month size shirts. He is in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height (based on his stats at his 2-year well check-up). He is in size 7 toddler shoes. This seems big based on his height and weight. Michael was also in size 7 shoes at 2 years old, but Michael weighed a lot more and was a lot taller than Noah is at this age.
Noah is obsessed with vacuums. Obsessed. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. We had to relocate our vacuum from our hall closet to our bedroom closet because Noah would pull the cord all the way down the hallway to the living room every single day and then shriek when we wound the cord back up. If we vacuumed while he was awake, we'd have to leave the vacuum out until he went to sleep so he wouldn't see us put it away. He'd open the hall closet door and just stare at the vacuum and touch it and try to turn it on. So we relocated it so that we wouldn't have to constantly hear shrieks when we wound the cord or put the vacuum away. I tried to only vacuum on my breaks during the workday when Noah wasn't home. Today, however, I was off of work and the house really needed a vacuuming, so as a "treat" I vacuumed while Noah watched me (and he "helped" a bit.) I was successfully able to put the vacuum back in my closet because we were heading out the door to my mom's house, where she has a toy vacuum and a real vacuum-- so that was sufficient bribery to get out the door without any tears. My mother-in-law keeps her vacuum out during the day so Noah can look at it. :) Any object can turn into a vacuum at anytime-- a rolling toddler-size suitcase becomes a toy vacuum at our house. Noah makes his own vacuum sounds to accompany his imaginary play. I'm raising the next generation Danny Tanner. I can only hope that this vacuum/cleaning obsession continues to childhood and the teenage years when I can really use the help!
Noah loves all food and doesn't discriminate. He could eat all day long if we'd let him. For breakfast, he has a Kashi waffle and a few toddler-size bowls of Froot Loops. He loves Goldfish, Cheez-its, Pirate's Booty cheese puffs, Greek yogurt (which he also calls "coo"), and dill pickles for snack. He LOVES ketchup, and is starting to have an affinity for mustard as well. He will request both with his fish sticks. He loves air popped popcorn and could eat the whole amount if we allowed it. But we're really trying to teach him to stop when he's full. He's getting better at it, and we're getting better about really noticing his signs of being full so that we can aid him in stopping his eating. He is so small that it's not a huge issue for us to let him snack since he's obviously using what he intakes, but we'd like to teach him to recognize when he's full as well.
I have high hopes that Noah will be potty-trained this year. He can tell us when he's making a mess in his diaper. He sits on the potty occasionally, but hasn't been successful on the potty as of yet.
He LOVES Elmo and we watch "Elmo's World" at LEAST twice daily. We start our mornings with either "Elmo's World" or "Blue's Clues." If we don't start our day with "Elmo's World," you can bet that it's the next thing he asks for. He loves to have us read books about Elmo. Aaron does a great Elmo impression, and that always gets a giggle out of Noah.
Today at the zoo, he was very content to ride in the stroller. When he was out of the stroller, he wanted to "help" me push it. That was an experience. He was kind of just "so-so" about the animals. When we were looking at the giraffes, he was ecstatic to see a bird instead. This is so Noah. He finds joy in the tiny things when we're all looking for the big things. He did enjoy being lifted up to see the HUGE rhino today at the zoo. He is a cuddler by nature and I hope he always likes to cuddle.
I love these little boys. Such precious precious gifts.
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
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