Rest of Christmas week:
Wednesday - We went to Caleb's parents' house to celebrate Christmas. We had a good time!
This pretty much sums up how excited the boys were all day.
After we left there we headed back to Centralia to go to our church Christmas Eve service. After the service we unloaded the van and then reloaded it and went to my parents' house.
Thursday - We had Christmas with my side of the family. Fortunately Liam was able to take a good nap so he was in a happy mood. We had to go back to Centralia that night.
Friday - Caleb had to work so Liam and I hung out at home. I tried to get as many Christmas presents opened/put away as I could. Liam also enjoyed playing with his Christmas presents. He was so excited when he figured out who his new dog was when I turned on Clifford!
Saturday - Once again we hit the road and went to Winchester, IL for Caleb's Smith side family Christmas. All of Caleb's aunt and uncles were there along with most of his cousins. It was good to see them all!
Week of December 28
Sunday - I got a text that morning that my dear friend Karisha was finally in labor for real this time. :-) She gave birth to her precious little girl, Kessallyn!
Liam was rather crabby during church so we hung out in the nursery.
Monday - Once Caleb got off of work we went to the hospital to visit Karisha. Liam was excited to meet his new friend. After we left he kept saying "baby!!" We went out for dinner. We were going to go to Steak n Shake since I really wanted a burger and they are reasonably priced....but then we drove past Five Guys and we had to turn around.
Liam was writing me a message on a card at Five Guys :-)
Tuesday - When we got married we were given a matching couch and loveseat from my youth pastor. They were quite a blessing to us. However, over time the couch got really saggy and quite uncomfortable. I started feeling like it was giving me some back problems so we had to get rid of it. We had also been given a futon by one of our pastors in New Albany and Caleb had it in his office upstairs. We just moved that downstairs and used it as our normal couch.
Liam has had some futon-related injuries this week and got two more on Tuesday. He likes to climb on the futon and flop around when he gets excited. What he continually forgets is that the arms of the futon are wooden. He slammed his poor little forehead so hard against the arm. I was holding him in my arms while he was crying and I watched it bruise immediately. I could tell it was going to be a pretty gnarly bruise so I immediately got out some Red Thyme oil and used that on his forehead. It still got darker but it didn't bruise as much as he normally brusies. Yay! Also that night before bed Liam whacked his face again on the futon and got a fat lip. I told Caleb we absolutely had to do something different. I didn't care if we went and spent money on a brand new couch or got a used one, we just needed a new couch. A while back, our friends Glenn and Leah had offered to give us their old couch. There was nothing wrong with it, they just didn't have room for it anymore in their new house. The only hold up was that they live in Springfield Illinois and we don't have a truck to go get it. Since we were about to go visit them for New Years, Caleb called his dad and asked if we could borrow his truck for our trip so we could bring the couch back. That made this momma's heart feel better. I hate when my little boy hurts himself.
Wednesday - Fortunately Liam let us sleep in until 8 am! After that we all got up and I got bags packed for us for the next few days. We went to Jefferson City and met up with Caleb's family at Culvers for lunch. It was Caleb's mom's birthday so we got to celebrate her birthday, along with being able to leave Liam with them while we went to visit Glenn and Leah and to swap vehicles.
We had been on the road for awhile and I needed to stop (as always) to go to the bathroom. We stopped in Louisiana, MO and when I came out from the gas station Caleb was looking underneath the truck and told me to go wait inside because the truck was leaking fuel. I started praying that it would be an easy fix because it sure didn't sound like an easy fix. By this point we were about 2 hours away from where Caleb's parents live so if they needed to come rescue us, it would be a chilly wait. It turns out that the problem was when we got on the road Caleb filled up the gas tank. Ironically, the guy next to us at the gas station had a diesel truck too and had an extra gas tank in the bed of his truck that he was filling up that then drains into the normal gas tank. I asked Caleb about it because I thought his dad used to have one. Caleb said he did but he didn't know if he still had it. It turns out, he did still have it and it was hooked up in the bed of the truck but it was covered up with a bed cover thing so we didn't know it was there. So since Caleb had filled up the normal tank, the extra tank was still draining into the normal tank and it was over flowing. We had probably been leaking fuel for over an hour. -_- It ended up being an easy (but expensive as far as fuel lost) fix by turning off the extra gas tank. Phew!
We got to Glenn and Leah's house (and almost couldn't fit the beast of a truck into their driveway) and they had delicious food for us! We also played a game and just hung out until midnight. Then the guys decided it was time to watch a movie, but us pregnant ones decided it was time for bed.
Thursday - I slept in until 8:30 and Caleb slept until 9. There was no one there crying to wake us up. No one demanded breakfast. No one needed their diaper changed. It was a wonderful morning. :-) After we did eat breakfast, Leah and I went shopping for maternity and baby clothes (we both scored some of each at awesome prices!) and the guys went shopping for guns or something.
We left early that evening and headed back to Missouri. We went a little out of our way and drove through Hannibal. Ever since I ate at Gabriella's for the first time about 4 years ago, it has been my favorite restaurant. Caleb said we could stop there if I wanted to. Of course I did! Our waiter was one we have had several times before. He is the son-in-law of the owners. He asked us where the rest of our family was. We had eaten there several times with Caleb's family, especially when we lived in Indiana and we had to drive through Hannibal to go to Caleb's family's house. I couldn't believe he recognized us and remembered Caleb's family because it's been a few years since we were all there together. We had been to Gabriella's a few times this past fall and it was still as delicious as I remembered except the portions were smaller. This time, however, I noticed several changes they made to their food and it was slightly disappointing. You know that yummy white cheese they serve at Mexican restaurants? It wasn't the same yummy white cheese. The chips weren't as good as usual and I thought they had changed their salsa recipe. It was all still delicious, don't get me wrong, but just not AS good. I will still go back, just not go out of my way to go back. BUT, Caleb and I got to eat without having to say the words "Hey, can you eat this please?" or "Are you done?" or "Can you eat one more bite?" We also got to hold hands as we walked in the building. It was a perfect date.
We got home that night and unloaded the couch. It was a pretty light couch and I promise that I didn't lift it any more than I had to, which was basically just lifting it a few inches to get it up the slight step on the back door. The rest of the time I just drug and guided it through the house. :-)
Friday - We slept in again and then got up and ate and headed to Eldon to go pick up our squishy little boy. I was missing him pretty bad. :-)
We took Clifford, who had to undergo facial surgery after receiving a bite to the face.
Saturday - We took a meal over to the Trentham family since their life is a little crazy right now. I got to get some more sweet baby Kessa snuggles.
Here are some more pictures from this week:
Liam really likes our new memory foam kitchen rug we got for Christmas.
Week of January 4
Sunday - Kessa came to church! Liam enjoyed trying to get a peek of her during church.
Wednesday - I had an appointment in Columbia so I got to take off and leave Little Bit at home with his dad. I love getting to get away every once in awhile.
Thursday - I had to go to Columbia to try to get some stuff figured out with health insurance.
Saturday - My parents came over to spend the weekend with us. We went to Cheddars for dinner. It was delicious as normal.
More pictures from this week:
I don't know what they were watching, but apparently it wasn't suitable for George to see.
This cold weather is giving this boy cabin fever.
I went to clean Oscar's aquarium and he seems to have just about outgrown his holding cell. Looks like we need to upgrade.
I got Liam's new foam letters out. He loved it, but we had to put it away shortly after because he wouldn't quit pulling the letters out and chewing on them.
Liam heard a board blow in the wind on the porch and he thought it was his dad. He got so excited.
Eating his green beans the big boy was.
Our new throw pillow.
He loves helping me vacuum
Holding the cord for me when it got stuck.
Week of January 11
Sunday - Liam helped his grandma fix pancakes. I think.
Liam doesn't even like to sit with me anymore during church.
Wednesday - Liam got grounded from the tv. He started throwing quite a fit over not being able to watch what he wants when he wants. I'm not ok with that, so he didn't get to watch any of his favorite shows until Saturday and even then we have greatly cut back on how much he is allowed to watch.
Thursday - I went shopping with Liam in Columbia. During my first trimester I usually lose all interest in my favorite things to do, like couponing or sewing or stuff like that. Now that I'm in my second trimester and I feel more normal, a trip to Target was in order. I got a killer deal on diapers. I don't use disposables that often anymore, but when the baby comes I'm sure I will take a break from the cloth diapers, so I'm all set!
Friday - Caleb went camping with his friend Glenn. We decided to go visit Christa and her boys for the afternoon. But first, I wanted Liam to take a morning nap. I laid him down and he fussed a little bit and then I would just hear random babbles for quite awhile. Eventually I decided to go in and check out what he was doing. He has started a growth spurt and could now reach the box of tissues on his dresser. He had an extravaganza.
So after that I decided to give up nap time and get him to eat lunch so we could get on the road to visit Christa. I called him into the dining room to eat his lunch and found him in the kitchen like this. He wasn't actually sleeping, but this is what he does when he really needs a nap.
That night he didn't want to go to sleep. He screamed and had tears rolling down his face after my first two attempts to get him to go to bed. I gave up and let him stay up. I watched some of my National Geographic shows on Netflix while Liam played on the floor. I didn't mind too much because it gave me company until it was time for me to go to bed.
Saturday - Caleb came home from camping. We were watching Curious George with Liam and there was an episode about donuts. I thought that they sounded really good and then Caleb made a comment about how good donuts sounded. That was it. My pregnant appetite couldn't handle it anymore. I had to go to the gas station (at 3 pm, mind you) and go get us some donuts.
Other pictures:
Liam had his first PBJ sandwich. He promptly threw it up in his crib during nap time.
Watching a show with Dad using the headphones.
Week of January 18
Sunday - We had a baptism at church! It's always great to celebrate a baptism. Liam also found his ear holes. While we were singing songs waiting for Caleb and the man to get ready for the baptism, I look down and Liam has his tiny fingers shoved in his ear holes. I don't know, maybe he doesn't like my singing.
Monday - Liam and I went to the park. We had tried to go on Saturday but it was way too windy. Monday it was perfect though. We had to leave when some lady brought her lab-sized dog to come play ON THE PLAYGROUND.
Liam was hunting squirrels but I told him trying to kill them with kindness won't get him very far.
Swinging on the tire swing
We had plans of going to the bank but I forgot that it was MLK day. My days all mesh together and I rarely know what day of the week it is, let alone federal holidays. Fortunately the library was still open. Liam got some new books to read and I got To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to read it in high school, but I rarely enjoyed reading books that I had to read. Caleb got the dvd for Christmas and I wanted to watch it but decided I should read the book again first. I got sucked into the book this time. I finished it by the end of the week. And whats bad is that I didn't remember a single part of the story from the first time I read it. Nothing. I guess a lot has happened in the past 10 years since I read it last and that knowledge had left my brain.
Wednesday -I had my 16 week OB appointment. Caleb doesn't work on Wednesday mornings so I got to go solo. Everything looked good. The doctor told me that I need to gain at least 1 pound in the next 3 weeks so she told me to get a donut when I left. She gets me. There's a reason she's my doctor. :-D After I left there I also shopping by myself. It was so nice. I checked out every clearance end cap in Target.
When I got home the first thing I did was check the newspaper classifieds. Some back story: A few months back we were looking at buying a house. I was in the process of talking with a realtor and a mortgage lender. The more we got looking at things, we decided that now wasn't the right time to buy. Too many uncertainties and also we didn't have a 20% down payment. I know it's possible to buy a house without a whole 20% down payment, but when we got to really looking at the numbers, continuing to rent and save up that money (even if it takes us longer) seemed so much wiser than jumping the gun and buying. There are things we don't *like* about our house, but there's nothing wrong with it where it was absolutely important that we move so we decided to be patient and hang out in our current situation. So right after we decided to quit looking at houses, about four months ago, a new one came to market. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, in our price range, fenced in back yard, in town, quiet street, basically everything we were looking for. One day my friend Karisha and I were out for a walk and we walked by the house because I just wanted to find something, anything really, that I didn't like about the house. There was nothing. I was really bummed. I wanted this house, but I knew we couldn't buy it and I would go through all of the reasons in my head of why we cannot buy a house right now. Well, there's not much to read in our city newspaper each week so I always make sure to hit the police report and classifieds for entertainment. I always keep an eye on rental homes and I couldn't believe it when I saw that house up for rent! I told Caleb about it, but it was $100 more a month in rent than what we pay now. We both weren't ok with that, so I took a deep breath and tried to forget about it. But I was reminded about it each week and finally when it had been in the paper for 4 weeks I decided to call about it and see if they would take less for it. The owner seems really nice and we were able to meet in the middle on the rent situation. The more I talked to him, the more I really really wanted this house. I don't necessarily want to go through the hassle of moving, but to have a house that is set up more normal and 10x more functional that we could live in for more long term while we save up for a house is super enticing.
Thursday -We had our monthly Parents as Teachers visit. It's always fun! She also always has good advice for different ways to handle situations I find myself in with Liam.
We also got to go look at that house Thursday night. It made me want it even more. The realtor showed us the house (it's still for sale but will come off the market if we rent it) and I could hardly wait to call the owner and get the process started.
Friday - Christa invited us over for dinner. It was really good timing because we didn't have anything going on the next day, Caleb isn't overwhelmed with school yet, and gas is cheap! Usually when she invites us over one of those three things prevents us from going so it was nice to go hang out with Caleb's family.
More pictures:
I love this outfit.
And this smile.
He made himself a reading nook.
Letting me know he needed a nap.
Caleb has his own personal belly button cleaner.
Spiderman!
Watching his turtle. He loves Oscar.
"Look mom!"
His blankie and his vacuum all wrapped up in one. What could be better?
Aren't we cool?
Oh the things Liam shoves in his pajamas.
Watching tv.
I know gas prices have been low for awhile, but I wanted to document this for my kids to see in the future. This really did happen.
Here's some videos.
Here's an old one that I found. It was Liam's last hair cut.
I don't know what they were watching, but apparently it wasn't suitable for George to see.
Week of January 11
Sunday - Liam helped his grandma fix pancakes. I think.
Wednesday - Liam got grounded from the tv. He started throwing quite a fit over not being able to watch what he wants when he wants. I'm not ok with that, so he didn't get to watch any of his favorite shows until Saturday and even then we have greatly cut back on how much he is allowed to watch.
Thursday - I went shopping with Liam in Columbia. During my first trimester I usually lose all interest in my favorite things to do, like couponing or sewing or stuff like that. Now that I'm in my second trimester and I feel more normal, a trip to Target was in order. I got a killer deal on diapers. I don't use disposables that often anymore, but when the baby comes I'm sure I will take a break from the cloth diapers, so I'm all set!
Friday - Caleb went camping with his friend Glenn. We decided to go visit Christa and her boys for the afternoon. But first, I wanted Liam to take a morning nap. I laid him down and he fussed a little bit and then I would just hear random babbles for quite awhile. Eventually I decided to go in and check out what he was doing. He has started a growth spurt and could now reach the box of tissues on his dresser. He had an extravaganza.
So after that I decided to give up nap time and get him to eat lunch so we could get on the road to visit Christa. I called him into the dining room to eat his lunch and found him in the kitchen like this. He wasn't actually sleeping, but this is what he does when he really needs a nap.
That night he didn't want to go to sleep. He screamed and had tears rolling down his face after my first two attempts to get him to go to bed. I gave up and let him stay up. I watched some of my National Geographic shows on Netflix while Liam played on the floor. I didn't mind too much because it gave me company until it was time for me to go to bed.
Saturday - Caleb came home from camping. We were watching Curious George with Liam and there was an episode about donuts. I thought that they sounded really good and then Caleb made a comment about how good donuts sounded. That was it. My pregnant appetite couldn't handle it anymore. I had to go to the gas station (at 3 pm, mind you) and go get us some donuts.
Other pictures:
Liam had his first PBJ sandwich. He promptly threw it up in his crib during nap time.
Week of January 18
Sunday - We had a baptism at church! It's always great to celebrate a baptism. Liam also found his ear holes. While we were singing songs waiting for Caleb and the man to get ready for the baptism, I look down and Liam has his tiny fingers shoved in his ear holes. I don't know, maybe he doesn't like my singing.
Monday - Liam and I went to the park. We had tried to go on Saturday but it was way too windy. Monday it was perfect though. We had to leave when some lady brought her lab-sized dog to come play ON THE PLAYGROUND.
Swinging on the tire swing
We had plans of going to the bank but I forgot that it was MLK day. My days all mesh together and I rarely know what day of the week it is, let alone federal holidays. Fortunately the library was still open. Liam got some new books to read and I got To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to read it in high school, but I rarely enjoyed reading books that I had to read. Caleb got the dvd for Christmas and I wanted to watch it but decided I should read the book again first. I got sucked into the book this time. I finished it by the end of the week. And whats bad is that I didn't remember a single part of the story from the first time I read it. Nothing. I guess a lot has happened in the past 10 years since I read it last and that knowledge had left my brain.
Wednesday -I had my 16 week OB appointment. Caleb doesn't work on Wednesday mornings so I got to go solo. Everything looked good. The doctor told me that I need to gain at least 1 pound in the next 3 weeks so she told me to get a donut when I left. She gets me. There's a reason she's my doctor. :-D After I left there I also shopping by myself. It was so nice. I checked out every clearance end cap in Target.
When I got home the first thing I did was check the newspaper classifieds. Some back story: A few months back we were looking at buying a house. I was in the process of talking with a realtor and a mortgage lender. The more we got looking at things, we decided that now wasn't the right time to buy. Too many uncertainties and also we didn't have a 20% down payment. I know it's possible to buy a house without a whole 20% down payment, but when we got to really looking at the numbers, continuing to rent and save up that money (even if it takes us longer) seemed so much wiser than jumping the gun and buying. There are things we don't *like* about our house, but there's nothing wrong with it where it was absolutely important that we move so we decided to be patient and hang out in our current situation. So right after we decided to quit looking at houses, about four months ago, a new one came to market. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, in our price range, fenced in back yard, in town, quiet street, basically everything we were looking for. One day my friend Karisha and I were out for a walk and we walked by the house because I just wanted to find something, anything really, that I didn't like about the house. There was nothing. I was really bummed. I wanted this house, but I knew we couldn't buy it and I would go through all of the reasons in my head of why we cannot buy a house right now. Well, there's not much to read in our city newspaper each week so I always make sure to hit the police report and classifieds for entertainment. I always keep an eye on rental homes and I couldn't believe it when I saw that house up for rent! I told Caleb about it, but it was $100 more a month in rent than what we pay now. We both weren't ok with that, so I took a deep breath and tried to forget about it. But I was reminded about it each week and finally when it had been in the paper for 4 weeks I decided to call about it and see if they would take less for it. The owner seems really nice and we were able to meet in the middle on the rent situation. The more I talked to him, the more I really really wanted this house. I don't necessarily want to go through the hassle of moving, but to have a house that is set up more normal and 10x more functional that we could live in for more long term while we save up for a house is super enticing.
Thursday -We had our monthly Parents as Teachers visit. It's always fun! She also always has good advice for different ways to handle situations I find myself in with Liam.
We also got to go look at that house Thursday night. It made me want it even more. The realtor showed us the house (it's still for sale but will come off the market if we rent it) and I could hardly wait to call the owner and get the process started.
Friday - Christa invited us over for dinner. It was really good timing because we didn't have anything going on the next day, Caleb isn't overwhelmed with school yet, and gas is cheap! Usually when she invites us over one of those three things prevents us from going so it was nice to go hang out with Caleb's family.
More pictures:
I love this outfit.
Oh the things Liam shoves in his pajamas.
Here's an old one that I found. It was Liam's last hair cut.
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