Work + Play

Jacob woke me up at 4:20 this morning to nurse and I couldn't get back to sleep. I thought this would be a perfect time to blog.  I don't get here as often as I'd like these days.  The house is dark and quiet.  I'm enjoying a hot cup of coffee and a sugar, dairy and gluten free waffle with peanut butter on top. I'm thankful that the commissary carries some specialty items now, like gluten free, because the nearest health food store is a bit of a drive. Anyhow, these are Van's and it's my first time eating one.  Delish! I'm glad to have found these.

I thought I'd give a bit of an update of work and play through some recent photos.  First, this is where you will often find me....

Sigh...he's growing so fast!!  I love when he lets me rock him to sleep because often he wants to be rocked for downtime and cuddling, but then wants to be put in his crib for sleep.  He is my first to really need a set routine.  By about 6 p.m. every night, he wants to be taken to his room, dimly lit and just nurse, cuddle, and rock.  We do that for usually 30 minutes to an hour and then he goes to bed.

This is my beautiful girl and I, before the Taylor Swift concert a couple weeks ago.  We bought her tickets for her 13th birthday in July and finally the date arrived.  She and I had a wonderful evening out and it was a great concert!!! So much fun!!

  Remember my Gully Washer Post? Well, Thanksgiving weekend was put to good use working on the house.  My husband, the visionary man he is, saw a way to add another bedroom after he did the demolition to get rid of all the water damage.  It's small, but a bedroom for our oldest son.  He now has his own space and the two little boys are sharing a bedroom.  Yay!  This is still very much a work in progress and with a budget will still be a work in progress for several months.

Now when you walk in my front door, you enter a hallway.  On the left, in this photo, is the bathroom.  This is where we did a ton of ripping out  Yes, that is plywood and no it's not staying on the walls.  Behind that area is where the new tub and shower will go, when we get one.  Not putting up walls until we are ready to install all that.  The plywood is a temporary, cheap way we can have privacy to still be able to use the toilet in there. 

And here is the new bedroom.  We still have lots of work to do in there, but it's framed and usable right now.  The opening off to the right in this photo is the entry into our great room.  This room, which we used to call the living room, will be smaller since we've added the bedroom and will now be an office and sewing area. 

Moving in...he's already enjoying his privacy and space. 

Oh My!! I still have all this work to tackle....still.  Boxes with books and my craft stuff.  I have to figure out how to reorganize all this now, with less space.  I ended up with a nasty head cold and just keeping up with the normal housework and four kids was enough!!  So, this area is crying out for my attention.  I try not to look at it because I just don't even know where to begin.  ;-)  Sigh...

Here is my Nathan working on the house with dad.  Yes, that is a power drill.  This boy loves to work.  If you get out the tools and dad, this is his favorite form of playtime.  And he's just so adorable!!

Now that I have more space in my room, I've put in a treadmill.  I have a goal to lose more weight (you don't need to know how much...haha!) and run a 5k before my 35th birthday next summer. How did I get so old, so fast!?!  Oh, and I want to be in a pretty dress for my husband's retirement ceremony in May.  Have you heard of the couch to 5k program? Well, I thought I wanted to lose more weight before starting it, but I started this week.  Hooray!  I think it'll take me a bit longer than 9 weeks, but I'm sticking with it.  Week 1 has been good and tough...what a workout!  I'm a sweaty, sweaty, exhausted mess by the time I'm done, but then once I cool down, drink more water, and shower, I feel amazing after the workouts.  Hooray again!  If you want to know more about it, click the link below.

Here is the Treadmill Plan that I am following.

I mentioned before that I'm trying to learn a little photography.  So, I'll leave off with some photos I took while playing with my camera settings.

My roses are in full bloom right now.  I love them!!!