Well Wednesday

I've been through the wringers and I am almost ready to give in! I am a little exhausted by the prospect of one more pee puddle to clean, one more nose to wipe, one more mile to run, one more meal to make, one more nap to enforce, one more decision to make, and I am so thankful that I have a family that appreciates me so much and couldn't imagine a day without a cuddle from me. 

I do feel like I want a day to just sleep and just be. Just be. 

I also can't imagine a day like that without having my family around either. 

There you have it. 

Motherhood.

Quick updates: We have new phones, made the big leap to smart phones (Nexus 4) after a little coaxing from my brother Joey. For some reason new phones is always such a big life changing event for me. Greg has his all tricked out...I am learning to make phone calls on mine and am annoyed that it alerts me every time I get an e-mail. 

We bought a van. But let's not focus on the fact that it's a mini-van and instead turn our attention to the fact that it is a (used) Honda Odyssey, which is very nice to drive, very convenient for moving lumber (yes, we have already moved "project pieces" in it), and gets good gas mileage. We are so cool. 

The house is pretty well settled. We are still waiting for our Landlord to move some of his things from our garage, which would be wonderful, but I feel like it is settled enough that I have started working on other projects again. 

I am pretty pleased with my running pace and the distance that I can run now. I am just so amazed at how quickly our bodies are able to adapt. 

We haven't completely cut wheat out of our diets, but we don't often eat pasta or bread anymore. I made pasta for dinner one day when Greg was on shift and had the leftovers for lunch the next day. I felt so terrible and unmotivated. When I did go running it was difficult and I felt very sore and achy afterwards. I don't know that I could ever go back to eating wheat and sweets very much. 

I will probably look back at the above paragraph in a year and laugh hysterically.

 We bought a Berkey water filter system and love it! It was a bit of an investment, but we spent more than our Berkey cost having water delivered last year and the water from the Berkey should be better for us. I love how it tastes, and even though Greg was skeptical (I understand due to the expense) he prefers water from the Berkey.

I've been a little behind in my posting due to the insanity of our lives the past few weeks, so here is a slough of pictures. 

Ben the ham. He is so fun. And he is talking up a storm!

 

 

Cooking chicken

The house (photos courtesy of Greg)

 

Nora turned ten months old. She has a much different personality than Ben and she is very clingy to her mama. Sometimes just her need to be with me constantly is what is exhausting. Moving was hard on her because she couldn't be held all the time.

All in one day, shortly after we moved in, she got all of those scratches on her face. What a bruiser! 

 I think it's because she is teething that she has her tongue out all the time. It is so funny. She even flashes it at us to be funny. 

Ben is all about praying right now. In this picture he was trying really hard to get everyone together to pray for our pizza that was in the oven.

 

 It is such a blessing that our children are interested in each other and are learning to play kindly with one another. They love making the other laugh, which is wonderful...except for at nap time.

This is what a lifetime supply of diapers looks like in our house! I love knowing that I don't ever have to bring home another giant box of diapers unless I choose to.

That being said...I am looking forward to being done with these and packing them up for good.

And finally, look at what we got! No, we didn't pay for it. And no, we don't play piano. But Ben loves it. :) And I can always learn. It has been fun to teach myself the little bit I do know and I hope to learn more, even if it is at a slower pace than I would have been able to if I had learned when I was younger. 

Worst case scenario- I sell the piano. 

It's in good condition, and from what we were able to find online, we think it's from 1917. It does need tuning, and the keys are worn, but it was free.