Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Life Lately

Life lately has been fun (for the most part!), sweet and busy. There are so many little moments I'd like to share with all of you, but they happen so quickly I don't have time to blog about them! However, here are a few highlights. 

(I am still struggling with photos on my blog and am looking into switching platforms to hopefully be able to show you better pictures. I had some photos for this post, but they are too poor to post. Sorry about that!) 

We spend so much time outside now the the weather is beautiful. I bought Liam a red tricycle back at our Encores sale and just within the past week he is finally tall enough to reach the pedals and pedal himself. This was a big feat for him as he had been working on that for awhile. Now, he constantly wants to take a "quick walk around the block" (it's about a half-mile loop :). We aim to walk after dinner on most evenings and Monday night was the first time he made it all the way around by himself on his tricycle. 

His other favorite outdoor activity is baseball. We "borrowed" a plastic tee, bat and ball that had been hanging out in Boppy and Mimi's garage and I don't think he has stopped playing since we brought it home. He has a decent hit and loves sending it off down the sidewalk. He has also been enjoying a lot of golf with his little clubs. 

We have many, many friends in our neighborhood so we are often outside with them playing, playing, playing. Caleb, Evelyn, Peter, Lucy, Iain, Owen, Abraham, Whitaker and Jubilee all live on our street so we see them daily. Liam always wants to be outside when his friends are out playing. It is so wonderful to have such close friends (both for mama and Liam) who we enjoy spending time with. 

I know I say this all the time, but this age Liam is at is truly my favorite so far. He is so much fun and is truly my little buddy. He is almost always with me doing what I am doing, reading books, playing trains, doing puzzles, talking, singing and going outside. His mind is exploding with information and questions and thoughts all day long. I am certainly tired by the end of the day, but for the most part I am able to keep up with him. 

Rob is working hard on his summer teaching class and preparing for his PhD exams in August and September. He teaches early in the morning and then stays on campus to read and study. His exams will be upon us before we know it so it is essential that he prepares as much as he can now. He's also been biking to school most mornings in preparation for his overnight bike trip with men from my family in August. 

As usual, I have about ten projects going on at once! I took on some more free-lance work from my old job here in Bloomington for about three weeks in May. We are always so thankful for the money it provides us and see it as God's provision to us. There are always extra things it helps to pay for. But, it is hard for me to keep up with everything at home and do about two hours of work each day. This time I did a total of 34 hours and most of it was in the early morning. I found it worked best for me to discipline myself to be in bed by 9:30 or 10 and get up and work from about 5:45 to 7:15 and then a little bit more later in the day. I was glad when that was finished! 

Another thing never far from me (literally) is our new baby. He is growing strong and healthy, praise the Lord. We had a third ultrasound today to re-check a part of his brain they thought was enlarged at our 20-week ultrasound. I was nervous going into the ultrasound, but as always, God is faithful and proved to me once again that he can be trusted with the lives of my children. Everything looks great and he is a strong little boy. I am 24 weeks today so moving right along toward September. Thankfully, I've felt well for the most part, but I can tell I am not in as good of physical shape when I was pregnant with Liam. Pregnancy while having an older child is so different. Gone are the days when I slept til 10:00 and watched tv in the middle of the day! I've found it does help me to go to bed early, get up early, pray, do some kind of exercise and shower before Liam gets up. 

We've certainly had our trials over the past month including a big, unexpected car repair bill and a leak in our AC unit that took over a week and a half to fix because water leaked into the wall. It was not fun having our dry wall ripped out and workers coming and going. But, since it's a rental, we didn't pay a dime and I had to be patient and thankful for that. I've also been in a crazy organizing mode as we work to clean out our office and turn it into Liam's new big boy room. It is astounding how much stuff one small family can collect in almost five years of marriage! That room is driving me nuts, but we're almost there and hoping to have Liam set up in there this weekend. I am not sure how he will do with the change, but I'll take some pictures and update you later. What I am most excited about is the adorable toddler bed my brother Ben made him. We met them in Ohio this weekend and had a fun time hanging out with them and picking up the bed. I can't wait to show it to you all once we get it set up with new bedding. 

There are many things ahead of us to be excited about -- moving Liam to his new room with a big boy bed, Ryan and Lauren's wedding, three family vacations, *hopefully* a quick babymoon and of course, a new baby. I was reminded by our sermon on Sunday that we should not presume upon God to go with us as we make all our plans, but instead we should seek him and ask him for wisdom and guidance as we make decisions, big and small, in our lives. An excellent reminder and teaching for my often impatient and controlling personality! 

Hang in there with me as I sort out my blog and hopefully I will be back soon with pictures! Love.

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