Seven.

Celebrating seven years ago today.....


It's been an adventure....

In seven years we've lived in 7 different houses in 5 different states. We've been through a couple of deployments. We've gotten a couple of cats and then gotten rid of a couple of cats. We've gotten a couple of dogs. We've had two babies, and lost a few pregnancies. There have been biking accidents, skiing accidents, and car accidents. Twice I've received calls from a stranger telling me to come to the hospital when Micah was injured, one of those being the ICU where a Chaplain was waiting for me. We became home owners. There have been holidays, birthdays and anniversaries celebrated together, and some spent apart. And even though I never could have anticipated all of that on our wedding day, I wouldn't want to go through all that craziness with anyone else.

I don't know where we'll be next year, or even if Micah will still be in the Army. But I do know we'll be doing it together. And that's enough for me:)

Happy Anniversary Micah!

And I thought dressing a boy wouldn't be fun.

But it is! Dressing tiny people in whatever you want is always fun!

And every teeny tiny man needs a teeny tiny Fedora. The adorable tie onsie was a gift from one of Micah's high school friends. (Thanks Lindsay!)

Pretty in pink.

I love this tree outside of my kitchen window. It's blooming right next to one of the lilac trees and I've been cutting branches off them and putting them all over the house.

Flowers (and food) are so much easier to photograph then squirmy children with cheesy smiles.

Skylar felt like big stuff "climbing a tree like Diego" even though she said it hurt her hiney. But sometimes it's worth hurting your hiney to feel this cool.

And speaking of hurting your hiney, I'm ready for my jeans to fit again. Finley can go to childcare now so we are off to the Y this week. I really hate taking him this young and exposing him to all that nastiness, but pulling a wagon around the neighborhood just isn't going to cut it.

And I have extra motivation now, because guess who comes home to visit us in just 44 days?

Thanks Orkin Man!

Spring has been the season of home maintenance around here.

I guess it was inevitable. The honeymoon phase of home ownership had to end.

There have been on going plumbing problems from that lovely pink tiled master bathroom resulting in two holes like this in the kitchen, one in the wall and one in the ceiling.......

Fortunately on the night the water came through the ceiling, Gayle and Jenn were both here. That was a huge blessing, because in addition to having a newborn and fearing that the ceiling would collapse, I simultaneously realized Sabot was missing (he was loose in the neighborhood somewhere having the time of his life) and then as if on cue Skylar dropped a pot of hot chocolate on the white carpet in the playroom where she was having a tea party with Aunt Jenn.

Anyway, obviously I am in need of a drywaller.
And I still have unresolved plumbing issues in the other bathroom. My trustworthy plumber Carl broke up with me. He won't return my calls. The antique hardware on the shower got the best of him.

Then there was the process of securing lawn care for the summer.

The fence needs to be stained.

And then the pests moved in. Carpenter Ants to be exact. Apparently they destroy wood faster than termites.

I've gotten multiple estimates for each of these things, which means we've had a constant flow of colorful people in and around the house. Some professional, and some not so much.

There were a pair of drywallers who came by. Frick and Frack lost all credibility when they offered to "take me out for drinks and show me a good time" while I had a newborn in my arms and a three year old running around my legs. They were so interested in the house that I started to feel like they were scoping the place out. I didn't sleep well that night.

Then there was Mickey. He showed up at the door dressed in white jeans, white high tops, and a white t-shirt. In the end, he just might be my drywall angel sent from heaven, in spite of the fact that he has no social skills and looks at Skylar with great fear and trepidation. (In his defense, she does come on a little strong....) Decent guy, great price, lets hope he shows up to do the job on monday.

Then there was Dan--not a tooth in his poor head. Not one.

I think my favorite of all was Charlie the Orkin Man. Charlie is a jovial little guy and passionate about killing bugs. When I answered the door he greeted me with "I'm Charlie the Orkin Man, what's buggin' you today?" Then he reached down and picked up a roving carpenter ant and said "Hi little guy, you've met your match" squished it between his fingers and stuck it in his pocket.

Charlie loved Jack and he became besties with Skylar. He went from floor to floor whistling and telling little bug jokes and reporting back to me with his findings. He was full of insect trivia and freely shared it. Charlie is doing great things for God and Country.

But in the end, it's all good. I am thankful for a husband who works hard to provide this house for us. And he sent me these beautiful tulips....

Plus I have this hot little mess to keep me busy and call me "mama" 1437 times a day.......give or take a few.

And the easiest baby EVER with fat little cheeks to kiss (they get all glittery from my lipgloss, poor guy).

And we have had the best weather this week. Mid 70's, sunny and absolutely beautiful. The kind of weather that makes me forget all about the winter.

Trip.

This past weekend we went on a spontaneous getaway to celebrate Mother's Day. My friend Lindsey and I have been talking about vacationing together this summer. So we decided it was a great idea to load up our 4 kids three and under and travel with them for a weekend to give the idea a test run. The change of scenery and free hotel happy hour was our gift to ourselves.

As far as Skylar was concerned, it was the best Mother's Day ever.......

A hotel, a pool, the zoo, the children's museum, restaurants, her friends, ice cream, cotton candy.....who wouldn't love spending Mother's Day weekend doing all those things?

Maybe the two completely exhausted moms who mistakenly thought they were going to get a mini vacation.

Favorite smells.

Ralph Lauren Romance for Men. One of the best smells ever. (It smells better on a husband than a three year old girl though).

Baby heads. Nothing beats a freshly washed and lotioned baby head.

Freshly cut grass. I used to roll in it when I was a little girl. I still want to roll in it. But I don't. Maybe I should.

Spring Canyon. The aspens, the fresh mountain air, the many years of memories.....

Spring flowers. I'm partial to Lilacs, and I can't wait for my bush to bloom. But in the meantime, dandelions (presented with a "Happy Mother's Day!") will have to do...

Mulch. It smells like wet earth after a good rain. I hired a lawn service while Micah's away and they brought in truckloads of it to revive the landscaping. It makes me want to take up gardening. I'm sniffing mulch like a crack addict. That probably sounds really weird. I'm weird.

A charcoal grill. Especially when somebody else is doing the BBQing.

Mint leaves. As in, mint going into my mojito. Ahhhhh. Welcome back spring.

Umbilical whaaaat?

On Sunday Finley finally lost his umbilical cord. The books tell you it takes 7-10 days. Skylar's hung on for 24, and Finley broke the record with a whopping 30 days. (Does this mean he's going to be living in our basement when he's 40?)

Anyway, much to my horror, there was a belly button abnormality lurking under the remains of that nasty cord. It looked like intestines were coming out and....oozing. I decided that was impossible, because wouldn't a baby be screaming if his intestines were coming out of his belly button? So I waited and watched it, and every time I changed his diaper it was equally horrifying. Had it been Skylar, we would have whisked her away to the ER in a nanosecond, but now I was an experienced mother of two who didn't panic at such trivialities......ha.

But I realized that it had to be something less serious than it appeared to be, so Monday morning I made him an appointment and we went in to get the nastiness checked out. As it turned out, he had an Umbilical Granuloma. Gross to look at, but no big deal.

In the meantime, he was finally able to get his first real bath. And once again, the complete personality differences between he and Skylar were loud and clear.

Exhibit A: Not a peep was made from the time he hit the water to the time he got dressed. He was a picture of perfect contentment.
Exhibit B: Skylar screamed from the time we took her clothes off and for several hours after.....

In fact, Finley even fell asleep in the water, he was so relaxed.

Thank the Lord, she came first.

One month.

Finley is one month old today. I stood on the scale with him and he weighs 10 pounds. That means he's gained a full 3 pounds in the last 4 weeks that he's been home. He's going to be a chunker! Yay for fat happy babies!He wore his first collared shirt to church today. I think he felt handsome.
The cargo pants were way too big, but he's a boy so it doesn't matter. I'm going to have fun dressing him up like a little man:)