Weeks of May 3 and May 10, 2015

 Week of May 3

Sunday - I got up and ready to go to church.  When Liam woke up he had a 100 degree fever so we had to stay home again.  :-(

He seemed to be feeling pretty fine so we went outside to play for awhile that afternoon.  While we were out there I started getting a runny nose.  I thought it was just allergies, but it kept getting worse as the night went on. 

Monday - I woke up feeling pretty lousy.  I definitely got the crud that Liam and Caleb both had.  Fortunately I had my essential oils so I made sure to keep those on me frequently. 

Tuesday - At first when I woke up I was feeling better but then I started getting pressure in my sinus cavities and felt like I was getting a sinus infection.  I started putting Oregano oil on my three middle toes (I know, sounds weird, but it's the VitaFlex points for sinuses on the feet) and I kept doing that every 20 minutes along with Thieves oil and diffusing oil in the living room.  By that evening I was feeling so much better.  I almost couldn't believe how quickly that oil worked.  Also, Liam finally had a fever-free day! 

Wednesday - I felt about 90-95% better.  I definitely kicked this crud the fastest out of all of us which is pretty exciting considering I'm pregnant which makes me tend to hang on to colds for a long time.

Thursday - I had my 32 week doctor's appointment.  I texted Christa that morning and found out that our appointments were only 15 minutes apart again!  Caleb was off work this whole week from Orscheln to give him time to work on his school work so he stayed home with Liam.  My doctor ended up getting called out for a delivery so I was waiting for her to come back.  Christa ended up being in the room next to mine so she came in to my room and we hung out while we waited. 

Friday - Caleb had to get his final done for his class.  He is all done with his class now except for one more book review that he needs to finish. 

Liam and I worked on making oreo balls.  I wanted to fix my dad a dessert because it was his birthday on Friday and I knew they would be coming on Sunday.  Caleb told me that his brother Micah also really likes oreo balls and I could take some to him on Saturday too when we went to his graduation.  The oreos have to be crushed up so I put them in a bag and gave Liam a hammer and let him go at them.  There aren't many things that he is allowed to hammer, so he loved it.  Except for when he just tried to eat them instead. 

 While i was warming up the chocolate to dip them in, my microwave sparked and the chocolate caught on fire.  Whoops.  I use the microwave A LOT for steaming vegetables for Liam and my steamer pots have a tendency to boil over.  Caleb thinks the issue is that some water got in a seal by the door and it rusted and the microwave got some rusty bits in it and that's what sparked it.  I'm kind of bummed because I got that microwave from my friend, Yvonne, who has since passed away, but I knew it was a matter of time before the microwave would need to be replaced.  I do have an extra microwave that my parents had bought for me when I was in college.  It's just hanging out in my closet so I can get that one out now and open up some more closet space.  :-)

Saturday - Caleb's brother, Micah, graduated from Hannibal LaGrange University.  It was very weird to not even recognize hardly any of the graduates.  I can't believe it's been 4 years since I graduated.  A lot has happened since then, but it still doesn't seem like it's possible to have been that long.  Liam was really good during the ceremony.  He needed two diaper changes during it so he and I got to get up and take walks.  After the ceremony we went to Gabriella's for lunch.  The last time Caleb and I  went there for our anniversary I had been disappointed in the changes that they had made to their food, and this time it was all better and back to normal.  It was the wonderful deliciousness that I remembered from before.

My big boy decided he didn't want to sit with his mom and dad anymore and went and climbed through a chair so he could sit in the row ahead of us.

At the end of every graduation at HLG they sing the alma mater song.  Caleb had put Liam up on his shoulders and Liam decided he didn't want to hear the song.  I thought it was pretty hilarious.  I couldn't get my phone out in time to take a picture but Caleb's Aunt Rhonda was able to get one on her camera.

 Liam got to hang out with Grandpa Bill after lunch.

He totally zonked out on our way home...or at least until Paris.  He always wakes up in Paris.  Silly stop sign.

Here's some more pictures from the week:

Seeing how many duplos he can shove in around himself.

 Liam recently got a new turtle that has several different types of buckles on it.  Sometimes it really frustrates him.  Caleb apparently buckled all of the buckles wrong one night and when Liam got up the next day he was distraught over it.  LOL

 He apparently doesn't like crust anymore.

 He loves wearing my reusable dish cover as a hat.  He kept it on the whole time he ate one day.  I cracked up laughing every time I looked at him.

 We were about to go to the grocery store and Liam had to take a bag with him.  I found out later it had his pieces of waffles that he hid the previous day.

 Caleb found a baby bird in our front yard and took Liam out to see it.  At first we thought it couldn't fly but it changed it's mind when Liam got one step too close.

 The baby bird.

 Liam has started teething again so he's back to chewing on everything in sight.

One day I heard Liam wake up from his nap.  I went in there and he was just babbling away to the bunnies outside his window.

 

Week of May 10

Sunday - Mother's Day!  I woke up to some wonderful post-it notes with notes Caleb had left for me.  Then my parents came to visit and went to church with us.  Liam was quite a ham at church.  He loves waving at people and clapping for people and preaching from his little Gideon Bible.  All of this happens while his Dad is preaching, of course.  My parents hung out with us for the afternoon. 

Liam was fake snoring on Caleb.

 That night Caleb fixed some popcorn.  It became a family popcorn night.

Monday - after graduation on Saturday and hanging out with my parents on Sunday, I was super tired.  I'm thankful for veggie tales and Curious George movies that can entertain Liam while we snuggled I took a nap.


Thursday -  At church on Wednesday night John had given us some freshly skinned rabbits.  He wanted me to cook it up and then he and his son were planning on coming over Thursday night to eat it.   I told Caleb that I can't handle cooking raw meat like that and I would need his help.   Caleb also called me after he got off work and told me that he was picking up another guy from church and he was also going to join us for dinner.  On top of that, my sister came to visit after she got off work.  We had a full table and it was fun!  Caleb grilled the rabbit and it was pretty good! I had never had rabbit before so it was a first for me.  Caleb also cooked some deer tenderloins and deer heart along with grilling potatoes and I cooked some green beans.  I was so stuffed afterwards.

Friday - Friday morning Amy hung out with us.  Liam was kind of crabby, but I think he enjoyed his time with her.  :-)  That afternoon Caleb finally got his book review finished for his class so he is officially done with school for this semester.  I also had an appointment at the eye doctor to go pick up my contacts and glasses.  For some reason they wanted to make sure my contacts fit properly on my eyes.  I've been wearing the same ones for years now, but ok. 

After I picked those up then we went furniture shopping!  We have never bought any new furniture before.  The only new furniture we have ever had are our night stands that my mom bought us to match our bed.  I really wanted to get a new couch.  We just got a new-to-us couch a few months ago from Glenn and Leah, and it's a nice couch, but I have wanted a reclining couch for quite some time.   We had been saving to buy a house so I previously didn't want to spend the money on one.  Now that we have decided that buying a house in the near future isn't the best option for us, I started dreaming of a new couch again.  I found one that I liked on Slumberland's website that was a decent price (reclining couches are expensive!)  When we went to the store I tried it out and I liked it.  Liam climbed up on it and started fake snoring, so we took that as his approval.  We looked at a few others that the sales lady told us were similar in price (they were close to double the price) but we didn't feel like the extra money was worth it.  The couch was close to everything we wanted, and with having two boys, I didn't want anything that was super nice.  Liam has a shirt that says "I'm why we can't have nice things" and he has it for a reason.  We did also buy a warranty thing on it that covers stains, rips, any sort of breakage, etc. for five years with in-home service!  It was $70 but we felt like it was totally worth it.  I told Liam that he can rip that couch up in 4 1/2 years if he wants to.  ;-)  So at least we know that this couch will last us for a minimum of 5 years.  I'm sure the sales people weren't upset when we finally left.  Liam thought the place was one huge playground.  He was running around like a hooligan and climbing on everything and waving at every body.  At least they weren't busy.

 This is the couch we bought  :-)...Well, one just like it anyway.

Friday night it was about to storm and we heard a knock on the door.  It was our next door neighbor giving us some flowers that she had in her front yard.  She said the rain was going to knock them over anyway so she wanted to give us some before the rain hit.  John had also brought me some flowers when they came over on Thursday night, so I now have three vases of fresh flowers in my kitchen!

Saturday -

Liam's buddy Jonathan came over while his dad ran some errands. Liam LOVES to play with him.

 A few months ago for parents as teachers we made sock puppets.  Liam hated them back then but now he loves to wear socks on his hands. 

 Caleb tried getting Liam to put on a puppet show but he was too excited waving at me and yelling "MAMA!!"

Some more pictures from this week:

He WAS wearing overalls and a shirt.  He decided he didn't want to wear those anymore.  He was just hanging out like that.

 He eventually got his overalls and shoes off.  He was still dressed like this when Caleb got home.  I told him not to ask.  I didn't feel like getting up to go get him dressed if he was just going to take it all off again.

 I have such a green thumb that my house plants grow mold and mushrooms.

 Liam is quite entertaining when he eat.  He used his monster truck as a fork.  He has had quite an attachment to this truck this week.

 We also bought a big jar of pickles this week, mostly because I had a need for the jar.  Liam inherited his father's love for pickles.

Here's one last video I'll leave you with.  Liam is super into Veggies Tales right now.  He gets upset if we turn on anything but Veggie Tales.

Weeks of April 19 and April 26, 2015

Sunday - My parents came to visit for the day.  They brought Liam a new-to-him Little Tykes cozy coupe car.  They also brought the broken pack n play that died the last time Liam and I were at their house.  Caleb wanted to take a look at it and see if he could fix it.  He ended up cutting open the padding around the rails and found that it was definitely broken.  I had him take pictures of the broken parts and told him that I would contact the company the next day. 

Monday - This was just one of those days where everything seemed to be going wrong.  I don't remember exactly what all happened, but I do remember that when I tried to contact the pack n play company I got a busy signal when I called their phone number and then according to the BBB they are no longer in business.  Hmm...I wonder why.  So, never buy anything used that is Simplicity brand!

We also hadn't gotten our tax refund.  I contacted our tax accountant and she looked up our refund and said that the government wasn't accepting our Earned Income Credit and that instead of getting a refund we were going to have to owe $2200.  O.O  *gulp*  [Fast forward about a week, I got a letter from the IRS and they changed their tune and said that we were still getting a refund but it would be a few hundred dollars less.  Our tax accountant is sending them a letter explaining why we are owed what she has recorded.  We are still waiting to hear back about that, but the smaller refund did hit our account!  Phew!] 

I got Liam's swing hung up in the backyard.  Our new swing set isn't made the easiest for putting different swings on it, but I got it figured out.

 

I was going to have him try out his slide but this booger was hanging out on it and I couldn't tell if it was dead or alive.  I think it was alive but it was cold so it wasn't moving very fast.

Caleb worked more on hanging up some of our pictures on the wall.  Liam had to go get his hammer and he wanted to hammer every nail too.  :-)

Tuesday - I had intentions of getting laundry folded and put away, but I was having a hard time finding motivation to get it done.  Fortunately my friend, Lydia, texted me and asked if we were busy because she wanted to come visit.  What a perfect excuse to put off laundry for another day!  Liam and his buddy, Ellie, played so well together once they got over the fact that neither one of them could hog all of the stuffed Curious Georges.  I didn't get any good pictures of the two of them because if trying to get a non blurred picture of one toddler is hard enough, trying to get a non blurred picture of two toddlers is almost impossible.  Lydia did bring me some essential oils that I had ordered!  We combined our orders in April to save on shipping and it gave us a good excuse to get together!  Also, I just so happened to order the two oils that they temporarily discontinued a few weeks later due to a shortage.  Good timing! 

Thurdsay - I had my 30 week appointment.  Caleb wasn't able to get the day off work and my sister was planning on coming for the day but she ended up having to work too, so guess who got to tag along to my appointment!  I took the stroller so I had a place that I could restrain Liam in while I had my appointment.  He made me totally scatter brained though.  As soon as they called me back Liam smashed his fingers in a drawer in the end table in the waiting room.  So, he's screaming and I'm trying to calm him down and console him while trying to unlock the wheels of the stroller and get over to the nurse.  I finally got him calmed down and put in the stroller so the nurse could take my weight and blood pressure.  After that I went to leave my pee sample but as I was leaving the bathroom I realized that I forgot to leave a sample. 

After the doctor we went to walmart and I finally found some fabric that I liked for potential new throw pillows for our living room.  It's more of like a duck cotton so I wasn't sure if it would be soft enough for pillows.  I asked Liam for his opinion and took his response as approval.

Saturday - Christa was doing a craft fair here in Centralia.  Caleb had men's Bible study that morning and so once he got home I went and hung out with Christa.  Caleb and his dad went to a yard sale at a house where some people were moving and they ended up getting lots of good deals and free stuff.

Caleb's family came over that afternoon to hang out.  Liam got to read some books with Grandpa.

Monday - Caleb had office hours but didn't have to work at Orscheln.  That afternoon he had a meeting with someone from church but he just drug Liam along with him (they just all hung out in the backyard) and I got to have some time to myself!  I love being a mom, but it's also nice to have time to myself.  Sure, he naps every day, but I usually have to nap too and there's only so much I can get done during nap time.  I got my sewing machine out and made the new throw pillows.  Our current ones were looking pretty sad.  We got them whenever Caleb moved to Hannibal, which was almost 5 years ago.  They've gotten a lot of use and are either flat or hopelessly misshapen.  For the stuffing I used some old pillows we had in our linen closet and I also shoved in some of the stuffing from some of the old throw pillows just to fluff them up a little bit more.  They are SO COMFY!  I love them.  Caleb said he isn't sure that they match our couch/living room, but I think they are cute and match just fine.

 While I was stuffing them, Liam still agreed that they would make comfy pillows.  The white pillow is the one I was taking stuffing out of, and the chevron one is the one I was stuffing.  It took me a little longer than anticipated to finish them up.

After I got done with those I took Liam and Caleb was outside working on hanging a strand of lights from the house out to the shed.  It will give us more light outside at night and also it gives Caleb electrical access in the shed.  The landlord had told us that there was an outlet under the house next to the sump pump.  Caleb got under there to plug in his extension cord and found that the sump pump wasn't working and underneath our house was just standing water.  YIKES!  He called the landlord but he didn't have a clue why it wasn't working.  He doesn't live close by so he couldn't come take a look.  Caleb at least got the sump pump plugged in to an extension cord running from the inside of the house and it started pumping.  He got to looking around and finally figured out that there was a cord in the furnace closet that wasn't plugged in all the way.  Apparently it gives electricity to the sump pump.  I'm glad he found that and hopefully nothing started molding under there.  When all of this was going on, it just reminded me how much I dont want to own a house.

Monday night was girlfriend's cafe at church so I got to have another break for a few hours!

Tuesday - We were having a normal day at home but that afternoon Liam was kind of crabby so I laid him down for an afternoon nap.  He slept about 30 minutes and after he woke up I could tell something was bothering him.  I felt him and he had a fever.  That night all he wanted was cuddles.  I dont think Caleb was too upset to come home to a tot who just wanted to cuddle him.  :-)

Wednesday - Since Liam wasn't feeling well, I needed to make a run to Target to get some things for him.  I was able to get home before Caleb needed to leave for his office hours so I was able to go solo!  I can't tell you how many times I kept looking in the mirror in the van to check on Liam even though he wasn't there.

Wednesday night Liam still had a fever so he and I stayed home from church.  He seemed to be feeling fine other than having a little bit of a cough, so I took him outside to play for a bit.

I gave Liam and cup and asked him to pick up all of the helicopters.

 It kept him entertained for about 10 minutes.

 He didn't do a very good job of picking them all up.  ;-)

 Then Liam saw a bunny.  This kid is OBSESSED with bunnies.  He kept waving and saying "Hi!"

 Here's a zoomed in version if you couldn't see the bunny.

 He also got to play in his new car

Thursday -  Caleb got a bunch of free books from that yard sale last weekend.  He and I had gone through the books and I picked out which ones I wanted to keep.  I put a few of them in with Liam's toys.  When he found the bunny book he was so excited.  (If we weren't having a baby in a few weeks I'm pretty sure we would be getting this boy a bunny.)

Later that morning when it was time for Liam's nap, I told him to go get his blanket.  I meant the one he always sleeps with, but instead he came down the hall dragging the twin size brown blanket we keep in the living room.  Not happening, bud.

Amy came to visit after she got off work!  She just got a new car this week so she got to give it a whirl on the highway.  :-)  That night we of course HAD to go get half priced shakes at Sonic. 

Friday -  After we got up that morning we went out to a few yard sales.  We didnt get anything.  It looked like there were a few better ones in Sturgeon and Hallsville but I didn't feel like driving that far especially with my tiny bladder.  We were going to go to story time but since Liam still had a fever and was a little runny in the nose I figured he's better off not being around any other kids.

We did go visit the fishies over at the Chance Museum place (I'm not sure what it's called)

 And we stopped to smell the flowers on our way out.  :-)

After lunch Amy went back to St Louis and I had to go to the eye doctor.  I wasn't having problems seeing but I only had one pair of contacts left and I needed to get my glasses adjusted because a certain tiny person had whacked them off of my face and bent them a few weeks ago.  The doctor told me that my vision had actually gotten better by three clicks.  I'm not totally sure how much a click is, but apparently it was really good!  She said it's probably because I have been wearing my glasses a lot more.  I told her I was just too cheap to buy a year's worth of contacts.  With my astigmatism in my left eye, just a six month supply for that one eye is $67!  Thats crazy.  Maybe next year I'll just give up contacts all together, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

When I got home Caleb told me that Liam didn't nap very well because he kept coughing.  I got out some more of my essential oils and kept them on him every half hour or so and then diffused them in his room Friday night.  He finally woke up fever free on Saturday morning and he slept a whopping 12 1/2 hours!  He hasn't slept that long in a long time.  If we end up getting more tax refund money back, I have a feeling I know where my half is going.  More oils!

I also decided Friday morning that our house must have gremlins.  After the whole sump pump thing this week, we were also having problems with Liam's baby monitor.  It plugs in to the wall but it also has to have batteries for back up.  About every six months or so the batteries die and it will start beeping in the middle of the night and I have to go change them.  That happened Tuesday morning, then again Tuesday night, and Wednesday at naptime.  I thought it was just bad/cheap batteries so I went and bought the good expensive lithium batteries.  Again sometime Friday night it started beeping again.  I was really getting frustrated because his monitor wont work at all without batteries and our room is at the opposite corner of the house from his.  I have a back up monitor that someone gave to me second-hand, but it tends to have static and it picks up his sound machine and clock and all of that.  His good monitor is voice activated so if Liam isn't making noise then the parent unit sound shuts off.  Anytime it starts picking up sound I immediately wake up, so to have his other monitor constantly making noise I can't sleep at all.  (Caleb is a completely different story).  So Friday morning after I got Liam up I pulled away his dresser to get to the outlet where the monitor is plugged in and lo and behold it wasn't plugged in.  How in the world does it get unplugged when it's behind a dresser?  I've never had that problem with it before.  Obviously there's only one plausible conclusion and that's gremlins.

Saturday - Caleb had Bible Study and Liam slept in.  When Caleb got home he told me that he wasn't feeling well at all so he went and slept for the afternoon.  I started getting a little wheezy and Caleb told me that's exactly how his sickies had started, so I got out the essential oils and kept them on me!

Here are some more pictures:

On his way to church with his essentials....cereal and his bunny.

 Caleb found a chick in his hard boiled egg.

 Liam made a train for Jim.  ;-)

 Liam always has to follow anyone into the bathroom and he usually brings entertainment with him.  This time he found his old bathtub and sat in it eating cereal while he waited for me to finish.

 Lining up his "gators"

 I was making dinner and saw this precious little boy at the door playing with his foam letters.

 I actually forgot to post this picture last week (I think). Liam was eating banana bread for breakfast and stacked up his pieces.  He was so proud of himself and kept clapping