growing up & getting out

There's been a lot of little changes for Livie since she got sick 2 weeks ago.  She's growing up.

For one, we took her bottle away that week.  The doc recommended I do it before 18 months, and well...she wasn't drinking it when she was sick, so it seemed to be an opportune time.  And she hasn't missed it a bit :).  BUT she has been more hungry.  She's refusing to drink the milk out of her sippy cup...so she's been making up for all those calories in her meals and snacks.  This little girl is NOT picky about her food!  One of her favorite new things is eating sandwiches (instead of me breaking them up for her). It's pretty cute.  

Also, I've limited her paci use.  I'm really trying to only give it to her during sleep times, when I need her to be quiet, and when she's really fussy.  The first few days were terrible...but she's starting to get used to it.  Now I just find her putting all sorts of things in her mouth...

Also, since she's been feeling better, she's developing quite the personality :).  She was kinda crazy before, but now...she's just really crazy!  She'll run around the house yelling (yeah, she has a loud voice) about all sorts of stuff, laughing, and getting into a lot more.  It's so great to see her so happy.  Oh, and she's discovering the world of accessories too.  She's been loving these purple mardi gras beads lately.

  

On Friday, Chad took off work a little early and we headed to Norris for the night with some of the Hermans.  Our plan was to work at the lot on Saturday, but in the morning it was raining.  So, we decided just to stay at the lake for the day.  Around noon, the weather changed and it turned out to be beautiful, hot, and sunny.  Such a treat :).  We had fun playing with the kids in the hot tub, fishing, having a lunch picnic on the trampoline, and just hanging out on the beach.  Livie LOVED it - the sun, the sand, the water, the kids...she's going to be a busy one this summer :).

 

the lot, mystery dinner, and baby bump

So, we're still working cleaning up the lot.  No digging has happened yet.  Last week, our dig date was given to another Noah Herman Sons client :).  And the business comes first, right?  No big deal though because we still need our building permit...and Chad has been swamped with work lately, so it may be another few weeks before we even get that.  Although it would be fun to get things going...it's nice not to be rushed or have a timeline with this house.  

Here was the lot yesterday...a gorgeous day of 65 degrees and sunny!  Our house will be framed by the two big trees. 

Here's our wood pile (so far).  And neighbor Louie :) off to the left.  He's probably upper 60's/low 70's, originally from Hungary, but worked for CAT for years.  He's now retired and loves to "shoot the breeze".  Chad has gotten to know him a little over the past few months and really likes him.  He's laid back, friendly, and just a do-it-yourself kinda guy.  He told Chad yesterday, "I had to take a break from working outside today cause we're going out tonight."  :) - Such a cute old man. 

I did help a little yesterday...cleaning up sticks and branches from the side of the ravine that Chad had burned earlier.  These little flowers were everywhere...truly beauty from ashes.

 The ravine that soon will be a lake!

Chad made this seat out of a tree stump :).  He says it'll be right at the waters edge...

perfect for sitting back and fishing.

 

Last pic at the lot...a nasty deer skeleton that I kept running into.  

Just proof that deer are on this property!  

Then, last night Chris and Amanda hosted a mystery dinner called "Murder at Mardi Gras".  It was so fun!  They always come up with crazy ideas for the posse to dress up and be silly.  There were lots of laughs as everyone played out their characters.  And Traever ended up being the murderer...doesn't he look so suspicious in this picture?

And here are the couples:

  

 

And, my baby bump :).  I haven't taken a pic since about 12 weeks, and thought it was about time. The first pic to the left is when I was pregnant with Livie at 23 weeks.  The pic to the right is from today...at 23 weeks.  A little bigger with #2!

 

sick livie

Livie has been sick the past two days :(.  Over the past 48 hours, we've had our fill of fevers, puking, crying, napping/sleeping, and laundry.  No fun...especially for her.  I've been seeing a lot of this face lately:

But she's been super cuddly...wanting me just to hold her and rock her.  In fact, that's about all that makes her happy.  Tonight I managed to get a few smiles out of her :).  

In this one, she's saying "cheese":

Truth is, although it's been a rough couple of days, it's made me just stop my schedule...and spend time loving her.  She really has been the best baby I could have ever asked for.  And she's going to have to grow up SO much in just 4 months.  So, I'll gladly baby her now :).  

spring cleaning...or nesting??

So, I'm not sure if what I've been doing lately is just spring cleaning...or if nesting is kicking in early.  I have had bursts of energy...and I keep thinking I would LOVE to enjoy this summer and not spend it getting everything ready for our baby.  So, I've been making lists of things that I know should be done before the baby comes...before June would be nice too!  Here's a sample of my lists :).

• clorox/repaint downstairs bathroom
• wash windows
• clean up yard
• clean out garage
• go through baby clothes/baby things
• dry clean coats
• clean out cabinets/cupboards
• put single jogging stroller on Craig's list
• complete continuing education for OT

Ambitious?  Well, last week, I did tackle two things.  I washed my windows one day :)...and I went through ALL Livie's clothes and baby things another.  

Going through the clothes and baby things really took about 2 days.  One day, my sister-in-law, Michelle, had me go through PILES of girls clothes for Livie and the baby.  My girls are the 8th and 9th girls on the Herman side...so we get hand-me-downs from 7 older girls.  It's a little overwhelming...cause a lot of the clothes are still soo nice and soo cute...and it's such a blessing to not have to buy a lot of clothes.  Anyway, that day I came home with about 2 laundry baskets full of girl clothes.  Here's what my guest room looked like the next day when I started to sort through everything:

making a little progress

Livie enjoying her new tutu from Grandma H.  She wore it around and played with it most of the afternoon while I sorted through clothes.  Such a girl!

So, here's everything organized in drawers for the girls :).  Call me a dork...but it felt so good to have this done and know I don't need to buy them ANYTHING for a long time.  These pics don't include the dresses hanging in the closet or play clothes for the lake either.  They have SO much!

Livie's 12-18 month winter 

Livie's 12-24 month summer

Livie's shoes

baby 0-3 month summer

baby 0-6 month winter 

and lastly...all 6-12 month (summer and winter) put into bins

Next week?  Maybe tackle painting the bathroom?  We'll see.

monday morning

I knew monday morning was going to be a little crazy.  Mondays when I have to get out of the house before 8:30 always are :).  But yesterday, besides getting out of the house, I was in charge of bringing breakfast to my girls Bible study.  Not a big deal, just needed to have things ready.  So...I tried to be prepared and have everything prepped Sunday night.  And when I went to bed, I thought it was all going to go sooo smoothly in the morning :).

When the morning came, Chad woke up sick :(.  Bad stomachache and headache.  So, he decided to take the morning off.  Livie slept in until 8.  This is not normal for her.  But I just thought maybe she was exhausted from Sunday activities.  And really, I was soo thankful that she was sleeping in...it gave me time to get everything ready for the morning.

We left the house a little late, but usually all the girls are a little late...so no big deal.  Then about 20 minutes into our 40 minute drive, I hear this gagging noise from Livie in the back.  She proceeded to PUKE not once, or twice, but THREE times ALL OVER herself, the carseat, the floor, and even onto the front console.  It was EVERYWHERE.  And my mind was racing...kind of like this, "Is she okay?  She looks okay.  I can't believe that just happened!  What do I do?  Do I take her home?  But then we'd be really late to Bible study and the food would be cold.  Is the food clear of puke?  Oh good it is.  Do I just drive all the way to Gretchen's?  But 20 minutes seems like an eternity away.  Ugh... and it smells sooo bad!  What do I do?  Maybe I could stop at Lindsey's and clean Liv up?  She lives just up here.  Would she still be home?"

So, I called Lindsey and she was still home :).  Praise the Lord.  She helped us out soo much!  I was able to give Livie a bath, get her into clean clothes, wipe up the majority of the mess in the car, and cover the carseat with clean towels for Livie.  Thank you Lindsey!!

I mentioned that the food was okay :).  And seriously, that was a miracle.  Livie had puked all over the left side of the floor...and the food was all on the right side on the floor.  (Her car seat is in the middle seat).  Again, praise the Lord.  And we did make it to Bible study, late of course, but we made it.  Livie seemed to be feeling okay...I just hope she didn't get the rest of the kids sick with something.  There are 9 kids and 3 on the way between us 7 girls!  It's a little crazy...but we love getting together, talking about the Word, and catching up.  The kids tend to entertain themselves most of the time :).

The rest of our day was fine...a lot of time was spent cleaning everything up.  I had no idea taking apart a car seat could be so difficult!  But now I know for next time...if there will be a next time??  I hope not for a long while!

Oh, and I was going to take pictures, but then decided it was just too gross.

our baby GIRL!

We had our official sonogram this morning.  And to our surprise baby "wee" is a GIRL!  Guess that urine test wasn't right after all.  We are very excited!  Here's our baby girl :).

perfect profile

love this one...the sonographer clearly marked "butt"...and you can see her labia here

little fingers by her head :)

Also, we may have a digging date for the house.  March 28th??  We'll see...that's just 2 weeks away. 

Last week, Livie and I didn't have much going on.  Did some getting together with friends, cleaning, and just hanging out inside together since it's still pretty cold outside.  One thing that's so sweet about Livs is that she loves to be apart of what I'm doing at home.  If I'm not doing anything exciting, she'll go play by herself.  But if I do anything she thinks is exciting (like pull out the vacuum, start cooking, or even do my devotions)...she wants to be a part of it.  Maybe someday she'll really be able to help me??  That would be nice :).  

livie "vacuuming" with the swiffer

and her first tattoos from grandma herman :).  

she went around for days saying "bug!  bug!"  and pointing to her hands :).   

making progress

This week, Chad came home with official house plans/blueprints.  Yay!  All those ideas from our heads that were sketched (by Chad) on little 8x10 pieces of paper are now on beautiful, big pieces of blueprint paper.  With every step, this new house becoming more of a reality to me.  On the plans, the place looks perfect for us.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out.  I asked Chad if he could picture how everything was going to look (like the entrance, ceilings, beams, stairways, etc)...and he's like "sure babe, I do this everyday."  I'm so glad he's a builder who knows all the little ins and outs of a house.  

Then, yesterday, Livie and I met Chad at the bank to apply for our building loan.  And wow.  I thought it would be like 20 minutes with just a few papers to sign.  Nope.  It was over an hour with a whole pile of papers to go over and sign.  After about 20 minutes, I'm realizing that I probably should have found a babysitter for Livie.  She was everywhere in that little office - almost getting into filing cabinets. Fortunately, Chad knew the lady completing our application very well...and she loves kids.  By the time it was over, Livie and this lady had bonded quite a bit :).  And by quite a bit, I mean Livie even threw a tantrum when it was time to leave.  She's been doing this for about a month now - throwing tantrums when she wants to stay some place and it's time to leave.  Do other 1 year olds do this?

Other things from this week...

I got an ear infection.  Something I haven't had since I was in grade school I'm guessing?  It was TERRIBLE.  I went to the Dr. because the pain was so bad.  And I just felt like my head was under water.  It's getting better with the antibiotics they gave me, but it still feels like I have water in my ears.  For the future, now I know what my kids will go through with ear infections...and I will have MUCH pity on them.  

Livie is transitioning to 1 nap a day.  Doesn't sound that exciting, but it's something to get used to.  This week, she had 3 days when she took 1 nap and 2 days when she took 2.  Things I love about 1 nap?  She naps a LONG time - like 3 hours.  And then sleeps around 12 hours a night.  Blissful :).  Things I don't like?  Everyday is different.  And if we have plans - which we did 4 out of 5 days this week - it's just hard to keep them when she's sleeping 3 hours in the middle of the day.  Praise the Lord she's a flexible kid.

And today is friday :).  Which I'm normally not that excited about...but tonight I am.  The past two weeks Chad has been puting in 12-14 hour days :(...so we haven't seen him much.  But tonite - my sister is graciously watching Livie while Chad and I go out for sushi with some friends, and then on to a birthday party.  It will be nice to get out together!  

And here's some pics of Livie this week:

putting her fingers in any little hole she can find (including ones in Chad's fav pants).  and yeah, that's her blanket on her head.  she hardly parts with that thing.

reading to herself :)

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getting into everything