oops

Last night as Jacob and I were playing hookie from church I made a not-so-great discovery. I went to our chest freezer (which I had recently cleaned all the junk off of) to get Jake a kid cuisine for dinner. I opened up that 7 cubic foot brand new freezer and everything on the top was luke warm and there was a wierd smell! The thing had come unplugged and ruined almost everything in there. I had been working diligently for more than a month trying to get meals made in advance so that all we would have to do is pull them out and cook them. Almost everything had to be trashed. Probably a good ten meals worth of food and that is not counting all of the other items like popscicles and frozen pizzas. I just decided to save what I could, so pretty much the stuff with no meat was ok to leave in there and thank goodness there were 2 whole frozen chickens in there right next to eachother and they were the only things still frozen. Since the chickens survived I had to clean out the freezer right away so I could restart it. I was bending myself into it trying to mop up the popscicle juice before it froze again and I got a cramp in both my shoulders!

That is certainly what I get for trying to get everything done in advance! I cried so hard poor Jacob walked over to it and said "I'll fix it mommy". I wish we had not been alone, but I couldn't help my reaction, it came flooding out. This is kind of funny to me that I cried over our ruined food, but not my wedding ring being destroyed. I think things just piled up on me last night. I just kept thinking if it were any other project that I had done that didn't work out I would have just scrapped it and moved on, but the food I was counting on to make my life a little easier when Jayda arrives. I am ok today. I haven't shed anymore tears. The only reason I am even blogging about it is so that I won't forget that it happened. All this drama already surrounding our daughter. I hope that isn't a sign that she is going to be a drama queen!

Two lessons I learned:
1) Look at the little orange light on the front bottom of the freezer to make sure that it is still on every day! (who knows, Jacob could have unplugged it on purpose)
2) Don't skip church!

Easter 2008

1 all day party
1 potluck
2 egg hunts
1 kids choir performance
1 ham consumed
1 Daddy who worked a lot of hours planning the church service
1 very tired Mommy
1 extremely happy/content little boy who is the proud owner of a very full Easter basket!

I need a nap

Nesting

I have decided that I kind of like nesting. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I get a task done that I have on my mental list. I hate nesting, however, when I work myself to the bone and get stressed out when I am not sure if I will ever be finished of all the blasted things on my stupid list! I have, indeed, been able to cross a few things off and wanted to share them with you. Many of you know that I am not the most creative individual on the planet and am not too fond of artsy projects, but for some reason a lot of the things I have been doing are along those lines.

Here is the list:
Weed the garden
Prep the soil
plant a garden
make letters of the kids' names for their respective sides of the room
make a baby sling carrier (my old one was eaten by battery acid)
Make curtains to tie in the kids' room
organize their small closet for best efficiency
Make meals to freeze
clean out the car
maintain a clean house for when visitors come over

The garden took forever, even though the space is not that big, the weeds were very thick and I had to weed by hand, then hoe, then dig trenches so that I could add in compost to liven the soil. I then bought all the plants and planted them. My back was killing me at the end of each day, thank goodness we had some warm, breezy weather I could work in. I would have included a picture, but as you remember from my last post I have a very destructive child and most of the flowers I planted are laying beside their stems on the ground (it is apparently fun to hit flowers with toys).

Next I went to Michael's for the letter stuff. If you buy the cutsie letters from the baby stores they are 20 bucks each, so I said forget that, I will buy plain ones and paint them myself (they ended up being about 2 bucks each). I was wanting to make the room not-too-girlie since poor Jake has to share it as well, so I went with brown and pink and so I had to make curtains to tie in the colors a little more. I am extremely proud of my effort. I didn't even use a pattern and the curtains took a long time to do, but I like how they turned out.




I have organized the closet three times now, but I think I have finally settled on a configuration. I ordered a double hanger from Bed Bath and Beyond. It is a second bar that hangs from the top bar to pretty much double your hanging capacity. There are just so many dresses for a little girl and I want to make sure they are all hung up nicely. Hopefully Destructo can keep his hands off them so I am not constantly cleaning up clothes from the floor of their room.

Now entering the home stretch I can relax (somewhat) and just try to keep up with the daily grind. Last time I had a baby our house looked like we hadn't cleaned it in months! I am determined not to let it get that way again this time. Now all I have to do is make sure Billy keeps up with the dishes (without a dishwasher I have asked him to be the lead on that one, it is difficult for me to stand there with the hot water on for so long. The dishes kept piling up on me). I also have requested that he cleans the carpets before Jayda arrives, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one! Boy, I can't wait until she comes so that I can finally take a break (yeah right). Nesting is a cruel mistress.

Ode to Motherhood

So...after I posted that wonderful blog about my darling boy he went and did a horrible thing. What kind of horrible thing can a 3 yr old do, you may be asking yourself. Well, During his nap time today Billy came home from work feeling a little sick and walked up to our door and found Jacob hanging his head out of the broken screen just hanging out there. He came in the house and after a little while we decided to let Jake get up since he was obviously not going to sleep. I went up to have him clean up his mess and make sure there was nothing else he was doing that was naughty (as if haning out a second story window is no big deal)and I found a little surprise on the floor. No, not that kind of surprise, I would have preferred that believe me. I found my wedding ring on the floor in front of the bathroom totally demolished. I have not been wearing it lately due to swelling in my fingers and leave it in the bathroom on top of the medicine cabinet. I knew he could get to it, but he knows he is not supposed to touch it. He put that sucker in his mouth and bit it flat as a pancake. He bent the side of it and four diamonds fell out (or were swallowed, but I am not going to go digging to find the answer to that one). I am reasonably sure that it is beyond repair and we couldn't afford to get it fixed even if it could be. He said Mommy go buy a new one. To which I replied, they are very expensive, would you like to go to college? He said no, I could have all the money. I said you are going to college, I am just not sure if you will get any money from mommy to pay for it! He ran away playing and came back a little while later and said mommy, I am sorry for breaking your ring. I said I am very mad that you broke it, but I love you very much. I just keep telling myself it is just a possession, it is just a possession (yeah, an expensive one that I might not be able to replace to the same caliber) it is just a possession. You can't take it with you, right?

Jacob

I cannot believe that my little baby boy is three years old. It seems like just yesterday he was barely able to speak. What a difference a few years makes! He is so inquisitive and eager to learn. He asks questions about everything and will usually be able to repeat it back to you the next time that subject comes up. He is very sensitive to other people. He tells me he loves me and kisses my tummy when I am not feeling well and tries to protect me when Daddy playfully sits on my lap. Jake notices when people are upset and his immediate reaction is to give them a hug and snuggle with them for the minute that he can spare from his playing. He is very strong-willed and independent just like any other toddler, but does not want to be called a big boy and cries to put on a diaper when I want him to practice using the potty. He loves, loves, loves other kids and thrives on going to visit his friends and playing enthusiastically with them. He loves it when they run around chasing each other and of course never seems to get tired at all. He is a busy bee and I wouldn't change him in for anything (no matter what I might say in the heat of the moment). I remember one time Kaelea told me that she loved every stage that her kids went through, she missed the previous stages, but the changes in them were exciting and new and it was a blessing to see them grow and change and develop. I was skeptical when she said it, but I believe it now. I love watching Jacob turning into his own independent person with thoughts and feelings and ideas of his own. I greatly look foreword to getting to know him better as he matures and changes into a wonderful godly man. He is a wonderful blessing in our lives and we love him very much.