Year 2, Day 158: Back To Regular Programming

Tuesday, June 6th.  It's beginning to feel more like home every day. I finished the pantry, my clothes, and worked on my desk/office stuff. Jared worked in the yard a bit. Benaiah rearranged the front room furniture and we are going to “live” with it for a few days to see if we like it better. I think we will because it feels a lot more open with less dead space. Then once we settle the furniture placement, we can start putting things on those bookshelves. There's numerous other projects the guys can work on, but they both have other work to do. Meanwhile, Keturah and Justin have both puttered in their rooms putting their Legos on display. Keturah found her window clings and put those up. She's using the hutch/credenza of my desk as her own personal desk and it fits her personality perfectly! I'm so pleased that she has her own room and can have the freedom to decorate it without us having to say “be careful, we are just renting!” She's got that creative spirit that will make her room look very fun. Justin labeled a bookshelf ready for displaying his Legos and also put the big sets back up on his bureau. We had to pull out a baby play yard gate though because Abishai won't leave them alone.

Speaking of Abishai, we caved on the paci last night, and then I knew he wouldn't settle for nap time today, so I got out the pack and play to contain him. We were able to get him to sleep in the Thomas bed for overnight though. One step at a time for Mr. Big Boy. He also got to play with his water table outside and loved it so much he cried big tears when we told him to come inside. I can't wait to get out more stuff for the yard and buy a blow up pool (hopefully tomorrow at Aldi's!) It's going to get really, really hot toward the end of the week, as it should be, so we are going to need that pool. But today, we got to open the windows and let the breeze blow through the whole house! And when I went to open windows, I realized there's some interesting locking or safety mechanism so that was fun to figure out. Also, there's no windows on the north side of the house (except in the garage). But that's ok because there's tons and tons of windows elsewhere! Just being able to let Abishai in and out is a thrill!

We also finally set down altogether for a real meal that I put together. It was a little hard because we are still without our microwave (it's in storage we think), so dinner was a bit late, but we managed. Abishai was a big goofball at dinner jumping up and down and saying, “Monkey bed! Monkey bed!” and then he randomly slurped just because he could without sucking on a watermelon like he did last night. He just knew it would get a laugh out of us and went for it. He is such the comedian!

Oh, and I finally got to do my normal daily routines from breakfast, to having a lie down in the afternoon (saves my back so I can work longer in the afternoon/evening). Being able to take a breather and take in all the nuances around me was great! Certain things are still annoying, but overall, we feel the house is nice and big and we are finding places to put everything. We'll see how it goes when we start moving more stuff in from the garage. Benaiah needs to organize it first. Anyway, time to wrap up the day. I miss not having my TV shows in the evening. 5 ½ more days until wi-fi! Can't wait! I have no idea how much data I'm burning, and that alone is not fun. Perhaps I can go to Gary and Leah's tomorrow to load up 3 days worth of pictures and blog posts, and maybe do some laundry.

Well, that's it. I'm still exhausted overall, so it's hard to stay awake. Taking 2 multi vitamins that have the special B-6 in them is helping a lot with energy, but nothing compares to a good night's rest. Good-night!

Cute picture of a cute baby.  He wanted to play with my expensive camera and I had a box of old camera in my room, so I let him carefully play with this one.  I said, "You can play pretend with this!" and he said, "Pretend!"

And through the jungle of the front yard we see Daddy and Son riding bikes, slowly, around the block.

First full family meal in the new house!

We rearranged the front room to see if we could open up the room, and I think we will keep the new arrangement.

My little interior designer has been hard at work.  That's the credenza to my desk.  It fits perfectly in Keturah's room.

Keturah has a ton of room in her room - that is until we find yet another big box with her name on it!  But some of it is my Barbies and dolls from my and my sisters' childhood.

Jared is taking this area apart so that we can get the crawlspace to dry out.  He's going to repurpose the wood for a new mailbox post.

Little boys love helping their dads.

We think this fits the front room better.  There is glare on the screen, but to be honest, we really shouldn't have the TV on that much anyway, especially first thing in the morning.

First time with the water table full of water!

I have many a picture of the other 3 kids thoroughly enjoying the water (and sand but I didn't want mud, so we didn't put sand in it) table throughout the years.  It's a summer staple in our home.

What's better than getting INTO the water table?! 

That face of full joy!

And standing up, too!

Let's go climb a tree!

Abishai was trying to go night night in the water table, goofball!

Brotherly love!

Working in peace and quiet away from all the brothers.

Pepperoni is a first causality in our brand new oven.  First time using it!

Pizza, from Aldi's, is always the choice for dinner after a grocery run.

Jared wanted Benaiah to put a fan down in the crawlspace so we could dry it out a bit.  We fed an extension cord through the dryer vent, which is in the garage and goes under the house.  Benaiah not only fit down there, he wasn't really scared to be down there.  He did throw some rocks and made noise just in case of squirrels, mice, snakes, etc.  He said there were lots of spiderwebs, but other than that, no garbage or nasties.

Good-bye big guy!

Jared was busy elsewhere, so I stayed close by in case Benaiah needed something.  I don't know if it was mama instinct or not, but I was nervous about leaving him down there.  We don't have many poisonous snakes in Indiana or rabid squirrels, but still, I wanted to make sure my baby was safe.

Keturah identified these flowers as something from the Lily family!  Yeah for botany class!

Early morning snuggles!  He always brings his whole menagerie of stuffed animals and blankets from his bed with him.  He's been getting up earlier because the sun gets up so early.  Ugh!

The mouse, aka Abishai, couldn't resist getting himself more cheese.

Abishai's regular breakfast fare.  He's LOVING the maple leaf cookies, like he should!  Yum!