4 Years

Yesterday was our 4-year anniversary. I meant to post, but I had it in my head that I needed a picture of us together and that never happened and completely forgot that I had originally intended to post pictures from our wedding. I've tried several times to load my pictures from Sharyn onto my computer (they are on a CD and I've never put them on this computer. They were on our other computer but that doesn't turn on anymore...) but it keeps giving me an error message after about half of them load. I'll have to try again some other day. Anyways, I was able to load the candids that I have, not sure who took these.

I remember feeling super relaxed on my wedding day. A few jitters before walking down the aisle, probably more worried that I would cry over anything else. When we were taking pictures before the wedding (Jeff and I saw each other before to get a lot of the pictures out of the way before the ceremony) I was scarfing down ham rolls because I was so hungry. ;) I remember someone laughing about that. Anyways, we had been dating for 4 years before that so it's not like I didn't know what I was getting myself into. In fact, 4 years felt like way too long and I was definitely ready to be married. I guess that's what happens when you start dating before your 16th birthday.

A few details about our day:

• The entire family (siblings and their kiddos) was able to make it to the wedding. I'm not sure if I ever expressed how happy that made me. That's kind of a big deal when two of the families had to travel over 800 miles to get there! And in case you don't know my family, see the picture below.
• I designed my dress based on a dress I had seen in a magazine. My cousin, Mary-Jane, made it. 
•  My sister Amanda (who was my maid-of-honor) got married 3 weeks before me. We heard a lot of "Your poor mom!" But I think she actually said it was easier because she was able to buy everything at once rather than planning the weddings completely separate. I know I had a lot of fun comparing details with Amanda. There are pictures of us at home with our dresses on somewhere. 
• Jeff has lost a ton of weight since our wedding! 
• We got engaged in September and chose this day to get married because Jeff was in school and he had this week off so we could go on our honeymoon.
• And apparently that's all the interesting facts I have about our day.

The only thing that I remember going "wrong" was forgetting our marriage license at the church. We headed off to our hotel and then about halfway there, realized we didn't have it. We were going on a cruise and since I wasn't 21 yet, we might need it to get on the ship. Turn the phones back on, call my mom and dad. An hour later we were finally on our way again. (Our church is half an hour from my parent's home, the opposite way as the airport.) Of course, as it turned out, no one questioned my getting on the ship and we never needed it.

Happy Anniversary, dear!

Big Brother, Little Brother

Oh yeah, he's going to be a great big brother.

"I super pooped in my diaper."

Yeah...I really wish you'd stop doing that.

I'm not sure why it looks like Adrian was crying, I don't think he was.

The Stork has Landed

Our big huge bundle arrived on March 21.

Isaac Martin. The computer rounded his weight up to 10 lbs so that's what all of his records say. Whew! Yeah, I really did have a big baby! If you recall, my belly was pretty doggone big so I shouldn't have been so surprised.

I was able to have my vbac and I'm not sure when I'll quit celebrating that victory. It was quite the battle to get there which still has me shaking my head. I'll tell more about it later, no nitty-gritty birth story, but there are a few things I'd like to mention.

Adrian is home again after being at friends' and cousins' houses for nearly a week. INTERRUPTED TO SAY: he literally just fell asleep next to me, out of the blue. I guess he was more exhausted than I thought! END OF INTERRUPTION. He's been pretty good so far. Earlier, I was looking for Isaac's pacifier so I asked Adrian if he knew where it was. He told me, "He didn't want it anymore." I had to ask a few times where it was, with the same response, before he finally told me, "I threw it over there."

I think that after a few weeks of adjustment, he'll be a really great big brother.

Psst, Emily posted a few pictures of Isaac on her facebook page.

Favorite Green Blanket

These picture are from a few days ago when Adrian was supposed to be napping on the couch.

I don't have to tell you how well that worked out.

Day 14: Flowers

There are no flowers blooming here, yet (that I'm aware of although I did see some trying to poke their way out of the ground). This is from Mom and Dad's garden last summer.

A Springy Kind of Day

All day long Adrian "zooms" his cars on the couch.

He may also wear his pajamas all day long. You'll never know. Or maybe you will because it's becoming a common theme in my pictures.

We had some lovely weather this weekend and we actually made it out twice yesterday. TWICE! That's huge for me! Pathetic, I know. I fully plan to get out once the little babe arrives. Of course, since it was so warm and puddly (apparently that's not a word) Adrian wore his rain boots. They are from last year and I'm surprised they aren't pinching his toes yet. He loved splashing in all the puddles and slush. (We went out again in the evening with Jeff pushing Adrian in the stroller, all of this slush was completely melted.)

We walked for about a mile and I'm telling you, this little guy is my perfect walking partner right now. He was walking at the perfect pace for my current waddle. He probably could have done another couple of miles but my boot was rubbing a sore spot in my ankle so I was ready to go home. We stopped at the school so he could run around for a bit first.

I don't feel like I'm "so ready for winter to be over," just yet. It feels like we hardly had winter and it went by so fast, but these warm days do get me excited for warmer weather!

Day 10: Something I Made

I've been collecting magazine pages for the last several months with the intention of making paper beads. Have you ever made them? They are really easy, I think I was about 10 the first time I made them. The trick is to use really thick paper so I've been holding onto magazine covers with pretty colors.

I found a size that I liked, somewhere around a half-inch, and used my paper cutter to cut triangles. Then, I used my fingers (I wrecked my paintbrush last time I used mod-podge because I didn't clean it very well...) to spread mod-podge on the side of the triangle that I wanted on the inside and starting on the wide side, used the wooden skewer to roll it up nice and tight. I finished them off with a bit more mod-podge to seal it all together.

I have yet to make anything with them, I really just wanted to get the pages off my desk.

I know there are organizations out there where impoverished women make and sell jewelry made from recycled paper beads. Some of them use posters to make big chunky beads, they look awesome. A friend of mine has a colorful necklace that was made by one of these organizations and it looks really cool with the big beads. She said she didn't even realize they were paper beads until someone else pointed it out.

Day 9: Faceless Self-Portrait

Enjoying a cup of Nourishing Tea (great for pregnancy, includes raspberry leaf, nettle, and alfalfa) after finishing up my kitchen duties which were greatly shortened thanks to Jeff helping me dry the dishes.

Day 7: Something New

I'm kind of stretching to find something new today. A baby would have been fun but hey, I can't control that. Here's something sort of new:

Adrian has suddenly started peeing in the potty! I couldn't be happier. Who knows what will happen once we have a "new baby in the house," but for now it's pretty awesome. He's gone a couple times a day for the past few days.

We're supposed to be getting a huge box of diapers from Amazon by Monday and we're running pretty low otherwise. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't have to buy more diapers before then so I've really been pushing the potty training. He's probably getting sick of me asking, "do you have to go potty?" And, "If you have to go potty tell Mommy and we can run to the bathroom!" I'm tempted to whip up a rough pair of underwear just so I don't have to buy diapers...

In other news, Adrian has asked me a couple times today to take out his memory cards or build a track with his train set, but every time he asks, I tell him he needs to clean up his books and puzzles that are scattered all over the floor. And every time, he gets distracted with his books and starts reading them instead. The attention span of a 2-year-old, huh? I can't even get upset about it because it's so darn cute listening to him reading. He picked up Sleeping Beauty a few minutes ago and before opening it up said, "this book is crazy." I'm still laughing.

Day 6: A Childhood Memory

I could probably devote an entire year to childhood memories. Choosing one is way too hard. Since I don't have many pictures of my childhood, I'll choose one that I do have. (Not because there aren't any, but because they are all at Mom and Dad's. And honestly, so many of my memories don't have pictures at all because they happened way out in the woods with no camera in sight.)

This is a page from my senior scrapbook.

Dad always called me and my little brother, Brett, Lil and Will. I remember I just hated it because I was the older one. It never made sense that he called me Lil. Honestly, I don't know if Lil was short for little or for something entirely different, but in my mind it was always short for little and boy did that drive me nuts.

Nowadays, I really am the little one. He passed me up a long time ago. I remember around middle school or high school, as we were brushing our teeth in the morning, Brett would comment that the mirror was so low he couldn't even see his whole head. I, on the other hand, could see my entire head and plenty of room above it.

Yup, there are a whole lot of memories of Bubs/Brettie/Will stored up in my brain. I know there's a video out there somewhere of me tattling that he "pished" me although I can't say that I actually remember that one on my own.

I love my boys

All 3 of them, I'm just waiting to meet the third.

It's amazing how much you can love a person. Like today. Today has been a rough day. Adrian and I are both really tired but for some reason, only one of us realizes it. I managed to sneak in a nap this morning and as far as I know, Adrian didn't get into any trouble while I was out. He told me he played with his cars while I was sleeping. Now it's his turn. He started out in my bed (we're trying different tactics to get him to nap since he still needs it so badly) but when he started digging around, I sent him to his room. He was so upset and kept trying to get back in my room. I may have had a little meltdown at that point. He's been testing his limits lately and doing everything but listening to Mom and Dad. Add a very tired mama to the mix and *sigh* it's just been a rough day. Despite everything, I still want to snuggle up with him and smother him with kisses. If only that would make him sleep.

And Jeff, well, he's kind of amazing. Sometimes I look at him and think, wow, I'm so lucky to have you. Last night, he took Adrian to yet another hockey game. Adrian loves it and it gives me a little time to myself. He'll gladly run to the store for me and lately, he's been offering more than ever. Getting ready for when the baby arrives I suppose. I can't wait to see him be a dad to another little boy! I swear, the best sound in the world is the laughter coming from wherever he is playing with Adrian. It makes my heart melt every time.

Day 2

Yvonne invited me to join her for a 30 day photo challenge. Since there are no rules and since there will be an addition to our family this month, I may be following it rather loosely. Either way, I couldn't say no! Day 1 was a self portrait so you can consider the last post day 1 even though it was technically a day early. Today's challenge is "what I wore."

I had to crop out my feet when I cropped out the cardboard box sitting in the corner...we're running out of room in this apartment. You didn't miss out, they were bare. We don't always wear socks around here and I didn't grab the boots that I would wear if I was to actually venture out today.
I've seen a lot of outfit posts with prices attached which is always really interesting to me, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what each individual item cost. I can guess that the total outfit was under $10. I'm thrifty like that.

Dolmen-sleeved sweater: Elle, thrifted during our sister's trip
Short-sleeved maternity tee: Motherhood, thrifted
Maternity jeans: A Pea in the Pod, borrowed from my sister, Amanda
White beaded necklace: vintage, belonged to Jeff's Grandma Sally
Gold necklace: vintage, belonged to Jeff's Grandma Sally

I really love this gold necklace. When Jeff's family emptied out his Grandpa's house, the kids were all able to go through and take whatever they wanted (this was a couple years ago when it was realized that Grandpa would never be moving back from the adult care home). Jeff and I didn't get to look through everything until we were in town a few weeks later after it was pretty well picked over, but I still found a few treasures, mostly jewelry. I specifically remember grabbing this necklace saying something down the lines of, "I don't know if I really love this, but it's a simple necklace that goes with everything." Then I put it on. I wear it All. The. Time. Literally, it never comes off. I'm glad I decided to take it.