Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Works for me wednesday no.4 - $2.50 furniture. kinda.

Haven't done WFMW in a while... but what's been working for me on wednesdays lately is surviving. (aka: everyone is fed and clothed.)

Anyway, Bought this at a garage sale for $37.50.

Put the bottom half in my living room for toy storage & entryway type stuff.
Sold the top half on craigslist for $35.
So, basically, I paid $2.50. That's a good deal in my book.
Granted, it'll cost more once you factor in the cost of new knobs, because the current ones definitely will go! Is it just me or does anthropologie have the prettiest hardware?

I like these.

and these.

and these

and these
and everything on their site! 

I'm going with as much color as possible in my house since all the walls and floors are BEIGE. so.much.beige. with medium-brown wood trim. mainly yellow, grey, coral, green, and blue. (is that even a color scheme? or a rainbow? i don't know.)

Anyway, which are your favorites? I can't decide. Well, we have some time to decide since those are each 8 bucks a pop! Gotta save up my cash-o-la. I suppose it's only fair to add in the cost of the knobs to the piece overall - 6 knobs = +$48.

New living room storage + knobs= $50.50 (if I order anthropologie knobs, that is...)

Fifty-fifty. That's fun. Anyway, it still works for me!

You can read more of my thoughts on buying from craigslist here.
Selling on craigslist tips - coming soon :)

Happy Wednesday!
What's working for you today?

and for some bonus cuteness on your wednesday...
can't get enough of her :)



click icon below for the original "works-for-me-wednesday" post

works for me wednesday at we are that family

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

19 months

quarter sized bruise courtesy of a recent face plant off the porch steps. 
19 months today. 
Busier, sweeter, & more adventurous than ever.
She loves when we make up songs & requests to sing them over and over. and over. If you grew up in Sunday school in the 90s you might remember that song where you spelled the word B-I-B-L-E? 
the B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me, I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-EEEE. BIBLE!!" 

Well, growing up, my family sang a few versions of that song. To the same tune, my parents would spell our names... 
Our R-E-N-E-E, yes she's the girl for me, she's our daughter and we love her so, our R-E-N-E-E..." 
You get the idea.

Conveniently, Addie's name ends in an E, so Grandma Cathy (now called, Mimi) first introduced her to it. She loves this song. She requests it often. "Addieeeee" is how she asks for it. After we'd been singing it for a few weeks, she started spelling her name... kinda. (Not that she understands she's spelling her name.)
"A-d-d-d-eeeee, Addieeee!" 
                 or 
"A-d-d, Addieeeeee!" 
 Sometimes she gets it right though.
"A-d-d-i-e, Addieeee!" 
 #narcissist 

Her favorite word is probably "no." She immediately answers "no" to every question before thinking. Then, if it's something she actually does want, she asks for it. 
For example... 
me: "addie, would you like some water?" 
her: "no" 
me: "ok." 
her: "wa-wa. pease. wa-wa." 
me: "so, yes please you would like some water..?"
her: "pease." 
#toddler


She LOVES Emma. She asks for her every morning. When I tell Addie that Emma is still sleeping, she puts her finger to her nose and blows out. She thinks she's mimicking me saying "shhhh." :) 
#sister



Her other favorite playmate is her cousin Lanie. The girls are 5 1/2 months apart. Addie giggles when I tell her we're going to see Lanie and says "Nay-nee" all the way to see her. They usually greet each other with a big hug. They even share toys pretty well considering they're toddlers. I'm so so so so so thankful Addie can have a cousin who is her playmate and friend. 
at uncle "day-day's" basketball game.



19 months was also the first time she asked to wear something specific. 
Ben's shirt. 
It doesn't get much cuter than that. 
I tied it up in the back because she kept tripping on it. The sleeves were too long and kept going over her hands. This looked annoying because it made it hard to pick up things, but when I asked her if she wanted to take Dad's shirt off, she said "no." 
Also, first fort :) She didn't really get it. Maybe next month. 

Speaking of Ben, she LOVES when dad comes home :) 
I usually give her a one or two minute heads up to when I think he'll be here. She talks about it for the next couple minutes, sometimes waiting at the door looking out the window. 

When she sees his car pull up, she starts giggling and saying 'da-da, da-da." 
If she's not waiting right at the door, she comes running when she hears it open. 

 Some other 19 month old activities include...

big girl swing

painting

petting goats with old friends

 pushing her baby doll in the stroller. the stroller isn't just for pushing a baby though...it's also fun to crash the stroller into stuff & play with the buckle. 

She imitates a lot of what i do with Emma with her baby doll... rocking, swinging, stroller rides. It's pretty cute. (Plus, it's my Bitty Baby from when I was little. So that's pretty cute too.) She also calls her baby "Emma," despite our attempts to give it a different name. Actually, every baby she sees, she calls "Emma..." She doesn't really get that some babies have other names. 
19 months. 
Busy, fun, curious, & exhausting.
We have our good days and our not-so-good days.
But on all days, I love her. 
More than I ever knew was possible. 
She is a blessing and a joy.  
I love you, sweet Adelyn Joy. 



Monday, July 28, 2014

the best worst date ever.

We had a gift card to Applebee's. This wouldn't typically be our date restaurant of choice, but hey, we had a gift card. Which was perfect because we wouldn't have been able to go on a date if we didn't have one.
We put the kids to bed, picked up the brother-in-law/ babysitter, and headed out.
We chatted on the way to the restaurant, were immediately seated (it was almost empty on a Friday night at 8...), and sat down with simultaneous deep breaths and happy sighs.
Quiet.
It had been a rough first week or two of being home with 2 kiddos while Ben started working. We needed a night alone.
When the waitress brought our appetizer, I appreciated not having to share my dip in a whole new way. No one was asking me to cut food or blow on something. No one was spilling or shouting.
We both smiled & laughed about the new season we're in - having a full blown toddler & a newborn.
And then enjoyed some normal adult conversation.
Uninterrupted.

Until I found a bug in my salad.
I shoved my salad towards Ben, totally grossed out.
We waited for our waitress to come back and check on things, but she was chatting with her other server friends and eating. hashtag.quality.service
Finally, Ben decided to bring the salad to her.
"Ohh my gooosshhh," I heard her squeal. 
He reassured her it was fine and she took it away.
She didn't offer a replacement. And I didn't want one.
The manager came over and apologized. Kind of. Actually, it was more defensive.
"Oh I'm sorry. I just hope you don't think our restaurant is gross or something. I mean, that never happens here." 
We were polite and did not make a scene. It wasn't really her fault.
We finished dinner & ordered dessert. (Go big or go home!)
It came out lukewarm and all the ice cream was melted.
We ate dessert and figured, oh well, at least it works out that "the manager will take care of you... we're going to cover your meal."
What this actually meant was just the cost of my main dinner dish.
So, we paid money for this dinner.

You know what though? It didn't really matter. We soaked up the time together, enjoyed the conversation, laughed a lot, and now it's a funny story. Plus, a few hours out away from kiddos... Bam! And that is why it was the best worst date ever.

"selfie masters" according to my bro-in-law. 

Friday, July 25, 2014

Title

You may or may not have ever wondered where the blog title comes from. And you may or may not care. :) But just in case...  

It comes from one of my favorite songs, an old hymn "Come thou Fount." I didn't used to like this song. Or any hymns for that matter. They seemed old, boring, and fuddy-duddy. But when I graduated from college, got married, and realized that in fact, I did not know everything, and not everything old was lame, I grew to really like hymns. And one that I grew to love was "Come thou Fount." 

The more I thought about the words, the less confusing the meaning became. 
And the more it so perfectly articulated a very deep longing in my soul. 

Tune my heart to sing thy grace.

That's ultimately the point of life, really. That my heart, and therefore my life - day in and day out, in the mundane and the exciting, in the good and the bad - would sing his grace. 

Not that I would walk around literally singing about grace all the time (and for this, you are probably grateful)... but that my actions and words would sing His grace.  
Perfectly? No. 
Increasingly? Yes. 

Here are the two of the verses to this hymn that I just love. 

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace.
Streams of mercy never ceasing 
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above. 
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it -  
Mount of Thy redeeming love. 

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be! 
Let thy goodness, like a fetter, 
bind my wandering heart to thee. 
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
prone to leave the God I love; 
here's my heart, O take and seal it, 
seal it for thy courts above. 

And, for a home-decor shout out to this good ol' hymn, how cool is this? I know the reclaimed wood thing is trendy and will probably be out of style sometime in the next 5 minutes, but I still hope it hangs in my house some day. 

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

the beginning of a friendship

Addie came to meet Emma in the hospital, and those moments were sweet. A couple hours after delivery, Ben's mom brought Addie to the hospital. Ben went to meet them in the waiting room and bring Addie back to me. I heard Addie say "hi" to all the nurses in the hallway, so I set Emma down on the corner of the bed figuring it'd be better if I wasn't holding Emma. I'd read that my toddler wouldn't care much about the baby and would be excited to see me since I'd been gone, so I wasn't expecting much. The plan was for Ben to scoop Emma up and go put her in her little basket so that we could have some Addie-time. Addie walked in and the first thing she said was "baby-eeeeeee!" She was so excited. I acknowledged the baby but then tried to have Addie give me a hug and kiss and give her some attention. All she wanted was to see the baby. She gave her kisses and snuggles, and just kept saying "baby, baby." We told her that was Emma (we'd been talking about baby Emma in mommy's tummy). Who knows how much she understood, but she seemed more excited that it was baby Emma than just any old baby. 
Those first moments as our family of 4 were so sweet and unexpected. For once, I didn't even want a photo of it (so, there are none.) I just wanted to soak it all in. What joy! 

When Ben and I brought Emma home, Addie was again excited to see Emma. And this time, I did take a few pictures :) 




These photos are by no means a work of art, but they freeze these sweet moments in time. The beginning of their life-long friendship. So thankful for these girls and the wonderful relationship God is going to give them! 

She is never quite sure why Emma won't take the toys she tries to share...

Monday, July 21, 2014

Blurry

I recently wrote about a new blogging style to match our new life.
Brief. Interrupted.
I'm not quite sure how to articulate the changes in going from 1 to 2 kiddos. It's... Busier. I used to think people didn't take photos of the second kids because things weren't as exciting the second time around. Not true! Every smile and coo is so sweet. The yawns and goofy faces are just as cute. But what's different is my camera is in a cabinet so that #1 doesn't help herself to it. And in order to grab it, I'd be risking # 2's life by leaving her on the floor in a room with #1... Whose affections towards her baby sister are strong, to say the least. And by then, the smile is over. 
Occasionally I catch something though. So, blurry as they may be, here are some moments from last week.

Addie demolished the nectarine which she insisted was an apple. 


Selfie. 



Emma wondering where Addie's pants are

Park. 

Emma likes the park too.


This is reason number #1438 why my husband is awesome. He cuts our brownies out of the middle. 

Ok. So not the world's finest photos. I'm trying to capture the moments mentally. Trying to soak it in. They'll only be this young once. I can see how people who are further along in life say these days with littles are a blur. Sometimes by the end of the week I wonder, what happened this week?! What did we do? Wasn't my kitchen clean this morning? How is my to-do list still a million miles long? 

I'm pretty sure that by the time our house is unpacked and there are end tables instead of boxes, we'll be moving out. Oh well. 

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Week 1

I wrote this a week ago, but then forgot to click 'publish.' So here it is... a week later.

Last week was my first full week as a stay-at-home-momma to 2 without Mr. Cook to assist me. (We had this crazy 6 weeks where Ben didn't work, so we really eased into the whole 2 kiddos thing.)

Summary... 
Addie slept till 9 am the first day. It was awesome. I thought, "No problem. I can do this."
Until she puked up all her breakfast... twice. 
Then she was sick with a bad cold the rest of the week. 
Which meant short naps, lots of tears & clingy-ness.
Not to mention the adjustment from seeing dad all day to 1 hour or so at night.  
We left the house a few times. For sanity.
Because somehow running errands seemed easier than being at home??
We ate the same pre-made dinner Monday through Wednesday evenings. Because back in May when I was doing freezer meals, I made a 13 x 9 pan of ravioli. For 2 adults and a toddler.
Then we ate the same chicken casserole the next few nights in a row. Thank you to a new friend who made that for us!
Addie is now allowed to watch tv shows that we DVR. T-G-F-SS (Thank God for Sesame Street.)
I shopped at Aldi for the first time - it's so cheap. Pretty pumped about that.
I bought a $4 end table at goodwill.
That I started priming. With oil-based primer based on the Home Depot guy's recommendation. Huge mistake. (More on that later. Bottom line: WATER.BASED.PRIMER.)
I think I cried once. Or twice.
But we made it. Because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
All things.

And make no mistake. At the end of the day, I love these girls. 


Here's to week 2 being better than week 1.


Sunday, July 13, 2014

Across the bridge.

Yesterday, we went to a lake near us for the morning. Ben had to do a run for marathon training, so I walked with the girls and then we went to a playground.


See the bridge? This particular bridge was rather steep and wobbly. Plus the "railings" were chains so they weren't very stable. I helped Addie over it several times. She was nervous to take steps on the downward slope to get on the bridge. Then, Emma needed to eat. So I was watching Addie from the park bench. There were several other moms, dads, and kids at the park. She walked up to the bridge, looked around and said, "Hep-pease."
Translation: help please.
She usually says this phrase, along with everything else, a minimum of 3 times. (Anyone else's toddlers do this, or just mine?)
"Hep-pease, hep-pease, hep-pease."
Nobody was paying attention.
She grabbed the chain with one hand and started to put one foot on the bridge. As it wobbled, she pulled the foot back. She did this a few times. Grabbed the chain with both hands. Hesitantly put a foot forward, and then another. One foot at a time. Slowly but surely, she made it down the steepest part at the beginning of the bridge. Then, she walked all the way across by herself, speeding up towards the end. She became more confident as she crossed. Wobbly bridge fear conquered. [Proud mommy!]

As I watched, it seemed like the scariest part to her was the beginning. She couldn't get a solid footing on the bridge. Almost as if she wasn't sure it'd hold her. But, one foot at a time, she realized it would hold her. And as she made it towards the middle of the bridge, she felt a little more confident. She could pick up her pace. It wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Do you have a fear to conquer? Find something solid to hold onto. Take the first step. Then another. Then another. Until you feel confident enough to pick up your pace. And then cross the entire bridge. You can do it!

By the way, after she crossed the bridge, she looked around, almost as if to see if anyone was watching. No one was... (except me of course, but she couldn't see me), but life is like that sometimes, isn't it? You do something that's hard and awesome, and no one notices. But you know what surprised me? She made her "excited" face. She usually makes this face when she figures out something new, or when she does something she really likes many times in a row. And usually, I'm watching. Because she doesn't spend a lot of time unsupervised these days ;)
But this time, as far as she could see, no one was watching. It didn't matter though, because she still felt awesome. Awesome enough to make her excited face. It looks like this.

That's probably how you'll feel once you cross the bridge.
Go for it!

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

A new blogging style.

hi.
So I haven't blogged much since baby #2. But I've wanted to. Thoughts come in and out. They float around in my head. Some are deep. Many are not. And I think, oh, i want to write this down. But then, BAM! They get interrupted.
Snot needs to be wiped off.
Puke wiped up. (I kid you not. Day one of being home with 2 by myself....)
Milk pumped.
Baby nursed.
Dinner heated. (Notice, I did not say cooked.)
And good gracious, people need to get outside and get some fresh air.

So, I was trying to figure out yesterday during naptime, when exactly I will write? Naps are an obvious block of time, but during naptime, I don't have thoughts. I just let my mind rest. I drink coffee, recharge, and then unpack. (Yes, you read correctly. We are STILL unpacking.)

Anyway, it dawned on me last night. Life is full of interruptions these days. And it will be for a while. That is my season. So, maybe I should write in a more interrupted style. If I try to write any other way, it will never happen. Maybe this blog should take a turn. Change to fit our new season.
Brief.
Interrupted.
One thought here.
Another one there.
Random and kinda all over the place.
Because that's how it is over here.

One more thing.
We visited a church one time when I was pregnant. We met a nice family there. The wife emailed me several weeks after we visited to 1.) ask how i was doing with 2 kids (2.) offer to bring me a meal (3.) invite me to a mom's hangout night (4.) invite my husband and i for dinner. Seriously.
How nice is that? I took her up on all of it. Because, well, I don't turn down food, moms are fun and I don't know many here, & we love dinner with other people.
That probably didn't need explaining.

And now, I'm going to have a cup of coffee, a brownie, and a shower. [happy sigh.]
I'll leave you with this.

emma's face says it all. (side note: you can expect most of my photos henceforth to be blurry, dark, and unedited. a'int nobody got time for that.)