Getting better with the new camera. Thanks Jan.

Monday's Moment of Zen

Saturday is a special day

We decided to dedicate this last Saturday to some much needed spring cleaning, and we thought that having some fun with it would be great motivation. Here are some of the highlights.

My car was kicked out of our garage last summer to make room for a few things and we decided it was time to clean up our act. The love seat you see moving around is up for an overhaul soon.

Our junk room 3rd bedroom was also home to lots of odds and ends, and we tackled that too.

And last but not least, our bedroom had more than a few corners we'd neglected to tidy up recently, so we worked on those as well.

Well, if nothing else, it was fun to see a few changes around the house this weekend. Saturday sure is a special day.

And we're back!

For those of you who don't know, we didn't have Internet at home for a few months of this year. We felt like it was taking away from family time and since Jared and I both had access at school it seemed redundant. Unfortunately, this meant the blog did not get updated and we basically fell off the face of the planet.

But today...all that changed. We are back. So email us - send us pictures - and comment to your heart's delight because we will now be able to see it all. And I'll be emailing all my friends who I've scandalously neglected.


In other news, I've recovered a couch. I know. My life is riveting. But I had a really good time. Our friends finished dental school and went off to be real people - leaving their well-loved couch behind. I felt it still had some life in it so I've recovered it. It was actually a sofa and love seat, and as of yet only the sofa has been recovered. I don't have a before picture of it, but the love seat is pictured to show what the sofa looked like before its face lift. My parents came and helped - well, they did most of it because I was very pregnant at the time. But I'm really happy with how it turned out.



Before:


After:

We made it! ...mostly

Yes this is our amazing gingerbread house. We literally slaved over this for a whole 3 minutes, but by the time Will knocked it down a few times before the icing could harden we realized the futility and just ate the candy instead. I think Will was a little upset there wasn't a decorated house in the box.

Our Christmas tree was much the same. I also spent literally minutes decorating our tree, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that there was a whopping half dozen ornaments. I won't make you jealous by showing you a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine it in all its glory.

So, we survived this semester for the most part, but only barely. All of our Christmas gifts got out late, you can basically consider this our Christmas card, and at this point we're just trying to catch our breath before school starts up again and church moves to nap time. Just another adventure!

On the bright side, this has been a wonderful year. Our two terrific boys are growing faster every day and we're all enjoying the Christmas season together with family. There's definitely something magical about spending Christmas with little kids again. Will got a little trampoline from Santa and Wes got some clothes. Ah well. We got video of Wes laughing for the first time - and - although we did not get it on video - I got an "I love you Mommy" for the first time from my toddler.

It's officially all worth it.

Last Sunday I became what I used to mock! (Such is life!) I dressed my boys in matching outfits for church. And I do not regret it in the least. They were adorable, and - miracle of miracles - well behaved. How could you not love these smiles?!

Brothers

Will is so cute with Wes. When Will is getting a little fussy, we ask him to help us take care of Wes, and immediately he grabs what we need to help the baby. We know this won't last forever, but we feel so lucky that Will is such a great big brother. (Man - that kid needs a haircut. Oh well. We are juggling a lot. Something's gotta give.)

New Addition

The new baby boy is here! Wesley Michael Roberts was born on October 5th and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. As much as we loved hearing “wow, that’s a big baby” from the hospital staff, we’re just glad that he’s here and that everyone is healthy. The hospital stay went well for everyone, and even got to go home a day early.

Wes has been a real joy. He has been sleeping and eating well since before he came home from the hospital, and that has made recovery much easier for his mother. We have enjoyed getting to know his personality, and so has William. He is already very happy to be around his little brother and has been very affectionate. He asks to hold the baby often, and comments whenever Wesley makes a noise or cries. I don't know how many times he's taken us by the hand over to his little brother and said "look--cute!" We're glad they're getting along, and we enjoy hearing William remind us that "it's a baby."

As for the delivery, it could probably be summed up in one word: wonderful. We checked into the hospital in the morning and went to maternity triage where Mikail waited calmly to be checked out while women nearby where struggling through contractions. Mikail was 3cm dilated when we arrived, and her doctor told her that she would probably have gone into labor that same day. The surgery went very well and before noon, Wesley was here. Everything went so smoothly. We felt calm and happy and when Jim and Marlaine brought Will to see us at the hospital, we felt a special kind of happiness seeing our family together for the first time. We are so lucky.