The Creek

When we bought our house, we knew that there was a creek just across the road from it. Little did we know how beautiful it is! We all love it!

Little Joshy just loves the water and splashing in it. I love these pictures of him and Ben:

We sat him down to let him splash, and he eventually took right off crawling into the creek. Typical third child with no fear!

This picture is blurry, but it shows the pure joy he has with water!

Seth and Sam found their first crawdad in the cistern

And here’s what Joshy thought about leaving the creek. It’s ok buddy, we’ll be back lots!

Thank you, Lord, for providing us with something above and beyond what we could have imagined!

Joshua: 10 months

Josh had a great month! No ear infections or teeth; and content because he can crawl and be close to his brothers. Here’s what he’s been up to:

-Pulling up on everything (even on a TV tray we were using as a side table, which unfortunately came tumbling down on him, giving him his first big bruises!)

-Eating primarily only finger foods. LOVES blueberries, grapes, peaches and raspberries. Also loves peas and of all things, broccoli.

-I’m officially done pumping!!! He’s doing just fine on formula. Any time I start to feel guilty about not finishing the year off for him on breast milk, I tell myself that I gave him 300 days of breast milk, and he’ll have 60 days of formula…I think that’s a pretty good ratio. I cannot even describe how wonderful it is to be done pumping!

-He LOVES being outside and all the fun things to do, like shredding flowers, eating rocks and dirt, etc.

-Loves water and splashing.

-He jabbers quite a bit, but doesn’t have many consonants that he can say. At his 9 month check-up at the cleft palate clinic, we found out that this is because he physically can’t. The sounds “b”, “d”, and “p” all require a close off of ones airway to the nose, which he can’t do. So while I was reveling in the fact that he only says, “mama,” the reality is, it’s one of the few sounds he can make. (I’ll take it, though!)

-His cleft palate surgery is scheduled for September 3. It will be a one night stay at OHSU, with about a 2 hour surgery for the repair.

-Have I mentioned how much he loves his older brothers? I love hearing them all giggle in the car together. Seth and Sam are so good with him, and often are more vigilant on making sure he’s safe/doesn’t eat things, than Ben and I are. Seth, especially, just dotes on him. I love it!

The Big Move & Our New House

We really have had the most fabulous first week in our new home in Scappoose. Ben’s work had a shut down week, so he had the whole week off. We were able to just slowly settle in and spend lots of time puttering around the property and house. Ben and I just kept looking at each other and saying, “We’re so happy!” We feel very blessed for the house God provided for us.

And while the actual purchase of this home and selling of our old home was a pretty harrowing and stressful couple of months, the actual MOVE day was super smooth and easy. We were blessed with a ton of help, and had our first uhaul load ready to go by 10:30 am on Saturday morning. It was so sweet: our neighbors Frank and Joyce loaded up their van and trailer and followed us out to the house to help as well. We are going to miss them a lot!

Seth and Sam were so pumped about the “big freightliner” and spent the whole day “helping” (i.e. in the way of the movers). They were so earnest in wanting to load and unload the truck, and Ben was as patient as ever in having them under foot.

Here’s our last night in our old home:

When all was said and done, I wasn’t too sentimental about leaving our old home. As I said before, the process of selling it was so stressful, that by the end, I almost couldn’t wait to be rid of it. I’m thankful for God preparing my heart to leave and having no regrets about where we were going to. (I will admit, I did tear up a bit as I took one final look at our beautiful deck, shed, and rock garden we created.) I pray that our old home can be a blessing to the new owners and that they love it as much as we did for the last 7.5 years!

As I said before, we are just loving our new home here in Scappoose. I think both Ben and I wondered if when we got out here we’d say, “What were we thinking?” The house truly is a very outdated fixer upper. However, it has such a wonderful location and great bones—and just so much more space! The house is 2100 square feet, and the property .7 acres. And a bonus that we didn’t quite realize: an amazing view of the sunset. We have watched and taken pictures of the sunsets almost every night from our front lawn. Here’s a few:

Here’s my new view while doing dishes:

The deck is shaded by the most fabulous maple tree (that you see on the right of this picture). While I’m sure we’ll rue all the leaves in the fall, we are loving that we can eat every meal outside without the sun on us. It is just a gorgeous tree!

Seth and Sam have just been in heaven with so much space to wander and play!

Our property goes all the way back to that chain link fence you see in the back of the picture. And beyond the fence, across a little road is Scappoose Creek, which we were given permission by the neighbors who own it to play at whenever we want. It is SO beautiful, but I’ll save those pictures for another post.

p.s. The reason I’ve been so slow in posting is because we’ve had quite the time getting internet here. Apparently, although we are only about 5 minutes from town, we’re are out in the boonies enough for horrible cell and internet reception. That’s been a challenge! We actually had to get a home phone number for the first time in almost 8 years!

Happy 9 Year Anniversary

I would like to make a huge understatement: parenting is hard. Really, really hard.

Yesterday Ben and I spent our 9 year anniversary in the thick of parenting. With moving in a week and a very busy work schedule for Ben, a babysitter and date night just wasn’t going to happen. But, we were determined to have a fun evening by packing a picnic and heading to the Portland Rose Gardens. It is one of our favorite places and the kids would have fun, right?

Well, by the time I headed to the Rose Gardens with the boys to meet Ben, I had fought for 2.5 hours with Josh during naptimes; his last “nap” he didn’t even fall asleep. I then sat in traffic for 45 minutes trying to get to the Rose Gardens. By the time I gave Ben a quick peck and handed a hungry, crying baby to him, I was frazzled and frustrated. We spent our picnic with a fussy baby who ate dirt and grass at every opportunity and twin five year olds who ran around like banshees.

A sign of a seasoned parent is that one knows when to cut and run. We were out of there within an hour. Josh, of course, fell asleep 2 minutes from our house without pjs on or a bottle. Poor boy was out cold, exhausted because no afternoon nap. Ben snuggled him for awhile and then we had the big decision to make: just put him to bed as is (no bottle) and risk a later wake up, or count on the fact that he’s so exhausted that he’ll basically sleep through a diaper change and feeding. We chose the later with hopes of a quiet evening with all kids asleep. Wrong choice. Josh took his 10 minute nap as a “re-charge” and proceeded to play until 9:45.

“Happy Anniversary, sweetie.”

But you know what? I think it’s days like this that DEFINE marriage. It isn’t the date nights, cruises, and special trips away from the kids. It’s being in the trenches of life together. It’s collapsing on the couch after an extremely weary day next to your spouse. It’s being okay with an ordinary day for your anniversary because you know that you’ll have a lifetime of special days together.

So, yes, “Happy 9th Anniversary, my love.” Thank you for being in the trenches of life parenthood with me. You are the most amazing husband and father I could dream of. (And next year, can we please go to Hawaii?)

My dinner date(s)

The cause of so much angst and unfortunately I never cleaned this face for the rest of the pictures.

Such a rascal! We get that look on the left a lot when we say “no”

“Please don’t run into someone, please don’t run into someone.”

The roses really were gorgeous. These white-ish yellows are my favorite every year…I love the way they contrast with the dark green leaves—almost like they glow!

We did get some great pictures! (Seth in black, Sam in blue)

Who would have known that someone that tired could stay up for almost 3 hours past his bedtime. Ugh. Did I tell you that parenting is hard? (But very rewarding!)

It’s Official: We’re Moving!

Ben and I have lived in our home for seven and a half years. It was our first home that we bought at the height of the housing market to renovate and flip for a profit (like a lot of other naïve 20somethings). And while the quick flip didn’t happen, the renovations did! Ben built a beautiful deck, a fence, and an amazing custom shed. We replaced all the windows and I painted every inch of the trim white. I also painted the outside of the house and every inside wall at least once. We tiled and updated both bathrooms and the kitchen. We completely transformed our backyard planting hundreds of plants, adding a rock garden, fruit trees, a rose garden, raspberries and strawberries. And while I was pregnant with Josh, we even laid bamboo floor all by ourselves. We learned A LOT about renovations in this home!

More importantly than all the work, this was the place we brought our three sweet babies home to. It has been a haven of wonderful moments and memories. It has housed spit up, diaper changes, sleepless nights, potty training and fits. Those aren’t what I remember the most, though. I remember the laughter, wrestling, hugs and kisses. I remember the boys learning to crawl down the hallway and turning the corner into the kitchen to find me. I remember handing Seth and Sam their bottles at the kitchen sink and watching them toddle back to their cribs. I remember Joshy learning to crawl and desperately trying to get into Seth and Sam’s bedroom to play legos with them. I remember quiet evenings, just Ben and I, sitting outside at the fire pit, proud of what we made into a home. It’s the home where I learned to be a homemaker and a mother. And the home where Seth and Sam learned to build legos, read, and be a good big brother to Josh.

I could spent pages and pages listing my memories, and maybe some day I will. But now, let me tell you a bit about what we’re going to!

We’re moving to a small town Northwest of Portland called Scappoose. Ben and I have been looking at properties up there for more than a year, and our “perfect” home finally came up for sale in April. I say “perfect” because someday it will be—with A LOT of work. Yep, that’s right, we’re moving into another fixer-upper, and this one we’re not just battling 80’s pink and purple tile. We’re talking full-on 60’s motif: the kitchen has brown and yellow tile, and there’s a bathroom that’s we’ve affectionately titled the “Sunset” bathroom due to pink and blue tile that’s covering every inch of the walls and counters. But, it has good bones.

AND it’s on .68 acres and is a whole 600 square feet bigger than what we’re currently living in. Oh, I breathe a sigh of relief when I think of the amount of space. It has four bedrooms, plus a playroom. And the boys can run, play, and build dirt piles for days—and I’ll still be able to have my pretty landscape and yard. Oh we are so excited!

So, in less than two weeks, we’ll be on to our next adventure! We’re looking forward to living in a smaller community and a bigger home with outdoor room for the boys to run. We’re so grateful for God guiding us through a pretty stressful home selling/buying experience and learned a lot of very important lessons (maybe some day I’ll detail the whole story—it’s  been a rollercoaster ride!)

Sammy dressed up like a girl (the toys are his earring, and the blanket his skirt)

Joy

My children bring me so much joy. Thank you God for allowing me to be their mother.

Aren’t they so special?