Mid Week Sunny Days and Sick Kids

It is a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel the warmth through the window, the sun's rays casting a glare on the computer screen. A slight breeze sneaks through the open screen, filling the room with the scents of spring, green plants, flowering bushes, wet soil.

I have a baby sleeping in my lap, her head nestled into my chest. Aside from Saturday when she was sick, she hasn't napped on me for weeks (even months?) and I'm enjoying a little extra snuggling. The oldest girl is on the couch, home sick from school due to a middle-of-the-night puking episode, watching cartoons. As her silence turns into comments and questions and her still body starts to move and kick to the music playing from the television, I can tell she is starting to feel better.

The middle girl is currently at school, playing and learning and crafting. She is happy to be with her teachers and friends, but I know she is hoping her older sister feels well enough to do a little playing together when she gets home.

It is a quiet and relaxing kind of day, except for the noise coming from our basement. We've had a steady soundtrack of construction below us the past couple weeks while we get work done in our basement. It will be wonderful when it's done, especially the recessed lighting, but I won't mind when our house can be put back together.

But still, even with the sounds of nail guns and sawing under our feet, it is a peaceful moment. The color is returning to Hope's cheeks as Nora wakes up and wanders the living room and we prepare to pick up their sister. Hoping for more sunny days to follow, preferably with well children who can go out and enjoy the weather.

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo, christine

Bye Bye Bye

We got rid of our baker's rack.

Well, it is actually sitting in our garage right now, but the idea is that it is out of our house and does not have a permanent spot here anymore. It's transitional home is parked next to our car, but it's next permanent home is not here. Not ours.

I realize this is hardly news. Did you even know we had a baker's rack? We did. And now we don't. It served a great purpose for holding some of our kitchen stuff in the tiny kitchens with minimal cupboard space we've had. But lately I've been feeling overwhelmed by all our Stuff (yes, with a capital T) and I as I glared around our house, (oh yes, it was glaring, I was not looking around or anything so pleasant. I was on a mission of get crap OUT), I realized that we could consolidate and donate and then not need that extra shelf anymore.

And oh-my-goodness it feels so good that I am sizing up everything right now to figure out if we could get rid of more. I am ready to go through this house room by room, shelf by shelf. I want to be brutal right now. I mean, we don't really need a table to eat at, right? It would totally free up our dining room.

Okay, so that might be going a little overboard... but I am in a serious clean-this-house-out mode. So much so that it is keeping me awake some nights as I visualize our belongings and debate their worth and whether or not I could bring myself to let them go.

I totally want to let them go.

I'm not always all that good of getting rid of stuff. I mean, I'm not a hoarder or anything, but if I've started to attach some sentimentality to something it's pretty hard for me to say goodbye. So when these Let's-Get-Rid-Of-Stuff moods make an appearance I want to make sure to take full advantage of them.

Which means I'd better focus right now because they don't always last long.

Anyone need a couch? (I'm kidding.)

xoxo, christine

My sweet babe, who has nothing to do with this post, yet everything to do with my heart.

A Work in Progress

We are redoing our upstairs.  Of course, what was supposed to be a relatively inexpensive do-it-yourself project has turned into more than we bargained for.  Such is the life of house projects, no?

Which means we have workers at our house, going on week two.  And I am starting to go crazy.

Last week we were stuck at home, and it was Hope's Spring Break.  Not that we would've gone on a trip to Florida or California or anything.  But it would've been nice to spend time out of the house.  Perhaps get to the zoo, the park, away from the mess that is currently taking over.

I am continually discovering that getting out of the house is just as much for me as it is for the girls (perhaps even more so).  My patience seems to be less accessible when we're at home all day.

Our schedule returns to normal this week, and I am hopeful that the workers will be out of the house by mid-week.  I am anxious to get the upstairs done, our house back to normal, and the girls back into their regular routines.  All of which will probably take more than a couple days (especially the "finishing the upstairs" part), but the sooner things calm down the better.

It will all be worth it in the end, I know.  The upstairs will look great when it is done.  I'm just looking forward to when "the end" is now.

Happy All Around with Pink

We put up new curtains in the girls' room this past weekend.  (And by "we" I mean Adam put them up while Hope, Paige and I supervised.  Which, by the way, was a good thing we did because Adam put the curtains on upside down.)

I have wanted room-darkening curtains since I was pregnant with Paige.  Or since she was three or six or nine months.  Or maybe it's just been since she turned one.  Whenever it was, it's been a long time.

And now, they're up.  I am happy because now the morning light will be limited and (cross my fingers) result in later mornings, the daytime light will allow for easier naps, and the evening darkness will (hopefully) contribute to an earlier and easier bedtime this summer.  And Adam is happy because I am no longer bugging him about it.  And the girls are happy because they like anything new, plus it's something new for them, plus the curtains are pink.  A triple joy.

Seeing how thrilled this small thing makes the girls, makes me even more happy with our redecorating.  And it makes me excited to do even bigger redecorating. (Which might not happen for awhile, but I'll start dreaming.)