The Room Setup

I started this post over ten days ago...maybe now I'll finish. Here are some "before" pictures of the way Jonathan's room was set up...the world of a five-year-old boy.




Yes, these are honest pictures. This is the Lego rug. Or area.


Now here are some "after" pictures. We sold the dresser and shelf on Craigslist, and I took down all the stuff that had been on the walls to make a fresh start.

We added Grace's name to the room, and we moved her initial next to his on the door. Our talented friend, Emily, made these treasures for us when each kiddo was born. So sweet.

Jonathan and I spent some time brainstorming about how everything would come together, and he got very into the idea of her having a "girly" corner. Jeff liked the idea, too! I had my eye on some curtains at Target that I watched and watched, hoping that they would go on clearance, but they never did. These, from Wal-Mart, did go on clearance, and were a fraction of the cost of the Target ones. They were too short (just like the Target curtains) so I added a panel to the bottom and made a crib skirt to match.

Here's Gracie's little girly sleeping corner. I got the crib at a friend's yard sale. The dolls on the shelf were mine.

Here is one end of the new set of shelves for the kiddos.

The red inserts now serve as Grace's dresser. For now, she has a changing area, and I have faith that she will be out of those diapers someday! But not today.

My helper. This is why it's hard to keep more than one area of the room clean at a time. Or even one area.

Jonathan's bed, still in the same place, with a new alphabet. The alphabet continues on the other side of Grace's crib. The paper twirls are not permanent, but are an example of the many random things that school inspires him to make.

This bed that was originally mine (and then my brother's and then my sister's) had an option to come with a top bunk when it was new. I would LOVE to have a top bunk, not too high, built for it at some point. Jonathan has plans to sleep on the top bunk and have Grace on the bottom. I think that would be fantastic...someday. (He also has plans for baby #3, aka Apple Baby, to sleep in the room with him and Grace so that we can have a fourth baby sleep in the nursery. Clearly, that's not up to him...)

Walking Pictures

She's been walking for just a couple of weeks, and already her methods have changed. She no longer uses this deliberate "hands on chest" position, so I thought I'd post these pictures from a couple of weeks ago before our getaway.

This Year's "Jack"

The whole pumpkin patch thing just did not happen this year, so if you'd like that kind of cute picture, you can look at the ones we took last year. (I don't remember pumpkin patches even being an option when I was a kid. Do you?) Thankfully, though, Grace seems to be over the tummy bug that Jonathan shared with her. (It took him a full week to get over it, and for her, it seems to have taken her just over a day. Interestingly, he hadn't been adjusted for over a month and didn't get adjusted until he had been sick for a week, and she got adjusted the day before she got sick. I'm thankful that she seems to have fought it off quickly. I am still holding my breath a little, though.)

This is our first year that Jonathan designed the face for our "Jack" and Jeff carved it for me. Yay for a break!

I got to clean it out. This was a particularly easy one, for some reason.

We made Jonathan help with the goo. He was really grossed out, and it wasn't even that slimy, as pumpkins go.

Here's Jack.

Jonathan was thrilled with how he turned out, as you can see.

Happy Halloween!

32 Weeks

Photography by Jonathan.

Look Who's Puny Now

A scary picture of me, but a sweet one of Grace. What can I say? I got a shower, but not much else. :)

She's taking a morning nap right now for the first time in about six months. Poor thing.

Ultrasound

Thanks if you're checking in to see when I'm having my level 2 ultrasound.  So much for ASAP, because they didn't manage to schedule me until two weeks after my midwife's "ASAP" request.  My appointment is on Thursday, and I'll be sure to post as soon as I know anything.  I'm irritated to have to wait so long for an appointment, but not too nervous about the ultrasound itself.  Whatever's going on is already happening, and this is just our way to find out about it.  We still are praying and appreciate your prayers for the baby and this pregnancy.

The Getaway

As promised, here are pictures from our trip. It's amazing how quickly the memories of my discomfort in the car, Jonathan's nightly tummy events, and Grace's whining on longer parts of the trip, have faded. The sweet memories are sticking with us for much longer, and I'm so glad we were able to go. It was a refueling time for all of us, and it has helped us face the stress that was waiting for us when we returned. Hope you enjoy these pictures even half as much as we enjoyed our little getaway!

For the first two days, it was rainy and cold at our little beach cottage. Maybe miserable to most people, but perfect for us. We amused ourselves inside. I got to read a looong book that Jeff had found for me (!) and we taught Jonathan to play checkers and Monopoly. I played a whole lot of Lego Duplos with Grace. Jeff did the cooking, and I got spoiled! Here are some other ways we amused ourselves.

We got to see on old lighthouse out on the point, and we even arrived during the hours when they opened the doors to the inside. This was a highlight of the trip for Jonathan.

Yes, it was a bright day! We had sun on the second half of our trip.

"Great milk comes from happy cows!" We had never seen cows munching on ice plant before, but I imagine it's much more delicious than their normal, dry fare. We saw lots of sheep and quite a few deer grazing on the hills, as well, and we even saw deer tracks on the beach.

This is where we spent our last morning, just a short walk from our little house. We could see and hear the waves crashing from the living room windows. It was perfect.