The Craft Closet Make-Over (Before & After)

I have totally fallen out of the blogging world, but I really need to get back in, just to keep track of the exciting events in our lives!

One exciting event in my life right now is the discovery of the book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. I always thought of myself as a pretty good organizer. And still do! I'm like a Tetris master when it comes to getting things to fit on shelves, in drawers and in closets. (As long as no one actually wants to use anything and thereby upset the perfection of stuffed crammed in.) So it frustrated me that my house was ALWAYS a mess. I love my house. Love the layout, love the land around it...but I hated my house. Hated the mess. Hated the nicotine-stained walls. Hated the cluttered closets and not being able to tell my kids where to put things to help clean up because, well, even I didn't know where it went! Very few things had a permanent home!

I had tried FlyLady. Great ideas; however, my house was not getting better. When I read Ms. Kondo's book, I discovered why. I have too much stuff! Bless this wonderful country that I am lucky enough to live in for all the abundance I have to enjoy, but I was (and still am a bit) drowning in stuff!

I loved that Ms. Kondo had tried a number of the same things that I had tried. And they failed for her too. The reason - too much stuff!

So, in February, I started on her suggestion of purging by category and went through every article of clothing, blankets and towels we own. (With the exception of my husband's clothes. I figure he's a grown man and can do that himself. Though I may just offer one of these days because he has a "healthy collection" and may not mind if someone else pares it down.) I literally rehomed BAGS of clothes! Lots of baby clothes to relatives having babies, donations to thrift stores and some just straight to the trash. (This isn't to say we are no longer having babies. I just had enough blankets I could have a set of quads and be set! Not to mention the onesies that had been through 2 or 3 of each gender of my kids and still not worn. And the little kid socks that drove me nuts because I didn't know what size they were! Gone! It was obvious there are certain types of clothing that I prefer, so why was I holding onto all the rest?! Who knows, but it felt SO GOOD to have all the clothes fitting in the drawers or bins assigned them.)

While I was in my room purging clothes, I took a good look around and noted how much I really didn't like my room. The walls were stained nicotine yellow. The "curtains" were a hodge-podge of blackouts that fell off the broken rods that came with the house any time I tried to open them. And I really wasn't a fan of our comforter, even though it was a hand-me-down from a very fashion-forward sister-in-law. While I LOVE her home, it is not my style. She can pull off the formal look. She can keep beige carpets immaculate. Even with kids! Not going to happen around here. So out the comforter went. Along with all it's decorative pillows and the matching curtains and ascots I was storing. (There were only three panels, so it never made sense to hang them on my two windows.) It was a huge relief on my part. One giant black bag of stuff - gone in one fell swoop! (My husband was a bit concerned, as it was February and still pretty chilly at night, but I assured him we had plenty of blankets and layered them on and got busy searching online for comforters. Within a couple of days, I had it narrowed down to five, pulled them up on the screen, he picked his favorite and we were done!) Happy to report that that lead to coordinating curtains with new drapery hardware - hooray for being able to open the curtains and not having them fall down! - painted walls, replaced worn-out outlet covers and receptacles and even crown moulding! And now I'm LOVING my room!

A couple of things that really helped were 1) having a place to drop off bags as soon as they were full so they didn't sit around with any possibility of unpacking, 2) extremely supportive cheerleaders - a huge thank you to my sister, Amy, and friend, Lieschen for all your encouragement, support and suggestions! (Not to mention motivational pictures of your completed projects!)

But I know what most people are waiting for is the before and after, so let's get to the fun stuff. (I have since purged toys and games and painted and reorganized the game closet when I painted my bedroom. LOVE that closet now too!) It's so exciting to FINALLY see progress! Yes, there is usually a mess while I work on the latest organizing project, but it's a lot smaller than it used to be because there is less stuff to make a mess with. So, once a project is finished, I take a quick break to do a final clean up of whatever area was destroyed in the purging/organizing process and then move on to the next one.

After purging toys was craft supplies. This closet has long been a dark abyss. When anyone would ask if I knew where something was or if we had something and the answer was "somewhere in the craft closet," the project was instantly abandoned. Even I avoided going opening that door unless I absolutely HAD to! And when the AC repairman or the electrician would mention they might need to access the crawl space, I started praying they wouldn't and, once I opened the door and they saw inside, I'm pretty sure they determined right then it was NOT going to be necessary, no matter WHAT they had to do from the outside!

Yes, it was really that bad. Brace yourself. I give you THE BEFORE:

Entirely unstaged. Who would make this kind of mess up?! Please note the thin, bowing shelves and bright pink walls.

Yep, closing in on the ceiling. (And, yes, someone painted the ceiling that same bright pink. I couldn't get in any closer, due to a certain pile in the way...)


This is honestly mortifying to look back on. How did we live with it this way for so long?! Believe me, I wouldn't be sharing this if there wasn't a happy ever after.



I sorted as I pulled things out - things either went into a specific pile or directly into the donation box. Some also found its way into the trash or recycling, and some didn't belong in the craft section in the first place.

My sweet husband will tell you that the next phase took entirely WAY too long. (He's right, but I was moving as fast as I could given...well, that's another post. ;)  )

As I plan on this being the house we retire and grow old in, I want everything to be the way I want it to be. So I textured the walls, primed and painted them. (I textured, primed and painted the girls' room at the same time, since I was using the same color and it's nice to be able to knock out more walls of our house during one donning of painting apparel.) James was kind enough to stop by Ace Hardware one day and bring me home new 3/4-inch plywood shelves. Prior to painting, he also helped me install new 1x2 shelf supports on three walls. (Note: this may seem a smidgeon overkill, but not only did I need to strengthen the shelves, the organizers I purchased for the middle shelf needed at least 2 more inches of space to fit.)

Oh, yeah. I also ordered some over-the-door shoe organizers because I had more piles than drawers! It was AWESOME to clear some of the piles off my floor even before I started painting! You can see in the picture on the left the white texture on the walls and the new shelf supports. It was starting to get very exciting about then!


While I was in-between phases of working on the walls, I organized my bins and sorted my paints so that they would be ready to go back in the closet as soon as the walls were mostly dry and shelves put back in.

I had ordered more of my favorite brown granite vinyl and had it already on the shelves ready to go so the day the walls were painted, the shelves were reloaded. (Couldn't even wait a day for paint to REALLY dry, but I was careful to make sure nothing leaned against the walls.)

After that, things slowed a bit again, as the pegboards took a bit of planning. They ended up not working as I had originally envisioned. I installed my paper organizer and then measured around it for my pegboards.

I seriously love our local Ace Hardware. I gave the man my measurements, he gave me the raised eyebrow, but cut my boards anyway and I came home happy as a clam.

I would say it has taken at least two weeks to get the pegboards installed. I was hoping I could just lay my items on top and configure the layout that way, but I ended up needing to actually hang everything to see how it all would fit best and then cut my dowels to fit.

Believe me, that was a lot of little dowels to cut and glue in place. Some aren't quite straight, but the kids enjoyed helping and the dowels will still work, so....

Anyone else have one of those twirly things that holds your craft scissors? The one they've had at Costco for a while? While I like the scissors, I hate having to pull them out to see what kind of edge they are going to cut and I really don't enjoy trying to find a way to store round things. The minute I knew these would work on my pegboard, I donated the wooden part. Maybe someone else will love it for their kitchen (or their fireplace... ;)  )

One of my favorite things about my husband is his willingness to help me. Once I had everything laid out, I took my pictures to know how everything best fit, took it all off, measured and mitered my frames and he spray painted everything for me. This was probably not the best week to spray paint with the heavy monsoons we've had every evening, but we were careful to keep it all covered and were able to install it all last night. Even though it was bedtime, I just couldn't wait to get everything put back in the closet once and for all!

Below the craft scissors, I used four Ikea Variera bag organizers to house wrapping paper and the extra dowels. (I way overestimated!) And the dark blue box holds all my gift bags. Yes, they are neatly sorted by size and occasion so I can find what I am looking for. The two clear plastic bins on top of that hold my crepe and tissue paper collections.

Two quick tips I have for anyone looking to frame pegboard and paint dowels: Large binder clips work right well in place of clamps to hold the frame to the pegboard while wood glue dries and notching a box to hold your dowels in place will keep them from rolling on you or getting that weird line where they lay on whatever you might be painting them on. (Yes, you could also paint them vertically, but it seemed like I would have to flip them over and double the time it took to paint them in the first place.)

My next category to purge and organize is paper. Super excited to find the cardstock I know I have somewhere and get it all put away in my awesome paper organizer!

And there you have it!

BEFORE (Yikes!)

AFTER (Awe....)

Since I'm in love with my game closet, here's an after of that one too, just for fun. I added the upper and lower shelves and hooks and ball claws to hang sporting equipment. The vacuums don't really "go" with the game theme, but it's the most logical spot for them, so they get to stay. :)
<-----before ikes="" p="">

Left side

Center

Right side

<-----before ikes="" p="">Crazy that it still looks so full! I think that after I get through purging my home by category, I will go through again by room. (Looks like someone snuck another volleyball in there on me... )

"I'm Pointing to the ... "

I love it when kids tell you exactly what they want. :) One morning, Wyatt just opened the fridge and said,

"I'm pointing to the chocolate milk." :)




A fun fact about Wyatt is that he was already dressed for the day. This kid LOVES "slippery jammies"!

"Wing It!"

Callie had a speaking role in the Second Grade musical, Wing It, tonight. She played the part of Baby Harriet, one of four baby birds that don't want to leave the nest. She is the last one out. From our vantage point, we couldn't really see her until the end. Landon was part of the chorus and right in the middle. One of our favorite school performances to date. You can actually hear all the kids!

   

Here is our unedited video. Not the greatest, but, hey, it's free! :)

"I Can't Marry You Yet."

I've been working on a lot of organization projects lately. And trying to finish others that have just been waiting for me for the past year - like spray-painting the air return vents in the hallway. (Thank you, Timmy, for sending the screws on a one-way trip to nowhere.)

Anyhow, after our second time of being late to school not only for the whole school year, but the second time in two weeks, I treated myself to taking just Wyatt and Rachel and running to Ace to get the last few things I needed to complete some projects. A little retail therapy, if you will. It always makes me smile to see how much joy Wyatt gets from pushing those cute little shopping carts around. He's my go-to man when I don't need any big stuff. My proud mommy moment is that I did stop to lift him up to look at the fluffy little chicks for sale. Not that we need any more!

We were home by 8:40. No sooner had we walked in the door when Wyatt asked if he could sleep on my bed. What? Yep. Fever. Poor little guy. He slept until almost one. And, bless her little sweetness, Rachel went down at 9:30 (I'm thinking I need to establish some sort of napping routine here) and also took a long nap.

It was heaven-sent that a friend was over and willing to hang out for 15 minutes so I didn't have to wake anyone to go pick up Timmy from kindergarten at 11:05.

With all the getting kids settled, I hadn't had a moment to work on projects yet so I hurried out for a quick coat of stain, some spray-painting and drilling some holes when we got home. While I was working, Timmy came out with a piece of paper and a pencil and asked, "Mom, how do you spell Eleanor?" Eleanor? Had to double check. He repeated the letters and then said, as he was writing, "I can't marry you yet." Apparently, Eleanor wants to marry him, but he doesn't want to get married yet.

A little while later, he again asked me how to spell her name. I asked him if Eleanor is a girl in his class. "Yes." Does she like you? "Yes." Is she nice? "Yes." Is she pretty? "Well, she wears a different shirt every day."

Thank goodness for Timmy and his lack of understanding faith in the postal system or I would have forgotten this precious moment. Following the 2nd Grade musical tonight, I stopped to close the gate and decided to check the mailbox. There was Timmy's letter to Eleanor. He used a glue stick to seal it. :) Good luck, Eleanor!

Tacos, Baby Giggles and Allowance

I have been reading my Facebook "on this day" happenings and it sometimes makes me sad because I used to write so much and I'm just not finding or making the time now. But I love reading fun little things about the past decade so I'm going to start trying to write something every night. I'll add pictures later as I can, but my parents gave us a nice new camera for Christmas and I'm still learning how to use it so there are a lot of pictures to go through and delete!

Favorite parts of today: first, it was REALLY cold. For Arizona, a high of 50 is cold. A lot of that is because we don't have the clothing for it.

I took Rachel and Wyatt to Ace Hardware to get some brackets with which to hang the family calendar I'm working on putting together. (Oh yes. This will need a picture later!) They had a sign with a cute picture of a baby chick on it advertising that they will have baby chickens soon. Wyatt was so excited! Even though he could see inside from where he stood, he wanted to be lifted up so he could see the chickens. He took it well when I lifted him up and repeated for the third time that the sign said, "Coming soon!"

We then proceeded to pick Timmy up. Our van is in a state of crumb-iness right now. And Wyatt added at least a bowl's worth of Honey Nut Cheerios this morning. (Of course, blaming it on Mom's driving. Forgive me, but I do have to stop and start at stoplights, son.) Anyway, Timmy climbed in, found an Apple Jack and popped it into his mouth. Wyatt saw him chewing and asked in his cute Wyatt way, "What are you eating?" And then to my entertainment, promptly added, "A taco?" Because who doesn't have random tacos laying around in their car...?

Rachel is becoming more and more responsive these days. She is so quick to smile for me and has been "talking" for a couple of weeks now. She will laugh on occasion when I tickle her under her chin, but I don't think she quite understands the feeling yet. The kids keep trying to get her to laugh and ask me where to tickle her. So hard to be patient! But she is growing like a weed! She definitely has some healthy baby fat. I like to call her my little butterball, but I've definitely seen more rolls on kids. She's just perfect! (And did I mention she is sleeping through the night? Not every night - she woke me up a few times last night - but I've made it through the night a couple of times without getting woken up.)

And last, but not least, allowance. We really need the kids' help around here. When they are all willing at the same time - which happens about as often as snow in Tucson - they are a force to be reckoned with. When no one wants to help, I might as well be asking their stuffies. Soooo...I decided to try a new tactic. I firmly believe that kids should feel some natural inclination to help. However, this isn't happening, so monetary motivation it is! However, I hate them asking me for nickels for every little job they do, so here's what I came up with this time for our older three:

Each child receives $2/week. I went to the credit union and took out $10 in nickels a week and a half ago. (Yeah, that whole thought that this could work for Wyatt and Timmy was kind of wishful thinking.)

I have told the kids that I would like their rooms and the bathrooms cleaned on Saturday mornings and as soon as those jobs are done, I will give them their $2. The bathrooms have been cleaned, mostly thanks to James, but he has dragged at least one of them in there with him both weeks. The bedrooms could stand a little improvement, but progress is progress, no matter how slow!

Each child has a cup with their name on it. This is their wallet, so to speak. I count out $2 in nickels with them and ask what they need to pay first. Tithing. How much? 20 cents. Correct. So we pull out four nickels. (The beauty of doing this on Saturdays is that there isn't enough time to forget whether or not they have paid their tithing or for accidentally having those nickels get mixed back in.) Then we split the remaining $1.80. Half to savings (they give me $0.90 and I show them on the iPad the transfer from our checking account into their savings, which is linked to our account right now) and the remaining 18 nickels go into their cup. During the week, if I want someone to put their shoes away, I will ask them if they would like to take care of their shoes or pay me to do it? So far, the older kids have all taken care of their shoes.

I'm not entirely sure what to do if someone keeps paying me to do their jobs. I think we will probably teach the kids about debt, but there will have to be an immediate consequence as well.

As we get going on this, I am working on getting a family calendar on the wall that also lists jobs for the week/month whatever we decide on so that they can be held responsible for those as well. James and I need help and our kids need to learn responsibility. Also that they will not be getting paid for every little thing they do. But they WILL be paying Mom for everything they should be doing for themselves but choose not to. So far we have: putting shoes away, clearing dishes and now (I washed everyone's sheets yesterday and taught them all how to make their beds) making their own beds.

I realize that $0.90 won't add up to a Barbie doll incredibly fast, but I am excited at the thought of them getting to purchase something with their own money. I am also planning on allowing them to earn extra money for certain other jobs in the future but, for now, I just want to keep it simple and consistent. I also want to take them to the store soon and let them buy something with their own money so they can see 1) that it is theirs to spend as they wish and 2) just how fast money can go.

As for the little boys, Timmy would be in the hole all the time. He doesn't really seem to care about money. He's better off being bribed to do homework or pick up with cookies or time on the iPad. Wyatt is enamored with nickels, but I don't think he gets that concept either. So I think both of them will earn a nickel every morning for making their bed and 20 minutes on the iPad for another job.

It's not that my focus is all about my house, but it is really hard to function in chaos. I wasn't able to hang my calendar today because I need the stud finder and the drill. Let's hear it for organizing the shed this year! And, hopefully, a few other things!

Rock, Paper, Scissors...

Timmy adores Rachel! He even tries to help her open her eyes so she can play with him. (Yikes!)

He wants to play with her so badly. He did this before and pulled it out again this morning:

"She always chooses rock."

I love that he always chooses scissors so she wins. :)

Baby Rachel

Thursday, October 8, 2015 was a very special day for our family.

I went in for my 39-week appointment and started having contractions on the way to the hospital (where the doctor's office is). They weren't strong, but they were pretty regular. I had been having quite a few regular contractions over the preceding week, just not very strong.

I will admit I was very ready to have my baby in my arms. My belly was getting sore from being stretched out and I was so big that it was hard to do much of anything.

The doctor was blessedly on time for my 11:15 appointment. He did a quick ultrasound and everything looked great. He didn't even bother measuring baby, just said, "She is what she is." Which would have bothered me, but I was pretty sure something was going to happen that day. (I had even brought my bag and the car seat.) The hormones were so strong that I just wanted to cry. I didn't want to be induced but I was so ready to have that sweet baby in my arms already. (Truly, I love being pregnant, but, at that point, I could honestly tell myself I was ready to be done.) I think Dr. Maciulla could tell that I was miserable and on the verge of tears, so he called over to L&D to see if they had any openings. I was just over 4cm dilated and had been 70% effaced the previous week. So I was well on my way. Just needed some stronger contractions.

I have a fear of induction. I never want to force babies to come before they are ready. But I really felt that she was. So I agreed to labor augmentation, since I was already having contractions on my own. I asked if we could break my water and see if that would send me into labor on my own. He agreed, with the stipulation that we try pitocin first to make sure my body would respond because once your water is broken, you can't just sit around waiting for labor to happen. Agreed.

I made the necessary phone calls while waiting for a delivery room - James, Mom, Anna (my friend who was watching the other kids). Still feeling contractions, still wanting to burst into tears for no real reason.

James got there just as the nurse came to take me to the room. (1:00pm) She took my weight and blood pressure. I found it a little eerie that my weight was 66.6kg.

Mary Jo was awesome getting us all set up. I had previously discussed with Dr. Maciulla that I wanted to try to deliver without an epidural. He was all on board, although he STRONGLY encouraged it if baby stayed breech, as she had been for the majority of the pregnancy. She was breech from the time she could find a position until around 33 weeks. And then she flipped to vertex. For two weeks. When I went in for my 36 week visit, she was back to breech. That was a little scary. And kind of cool at the same time. I've never had a vaginal breech delivery. Could be a neat experience, but could definitely incur problems that might not be present with a vertex presentation. So I encouraged her to flip and she did! 37 weeks and vertex! She never flipped again, although that fear remained there because her head never engaged. Not until I was dilated to about 8cm even!

The view from L&D Room #3.

Once the slightest hint of pitocin hit my blood stream, the contractions came much stronger and more frequent - about 3 minutes apart! But they were tolerable.

(Why no epidural? With Wyatt, my water didn't break and I labored at home for 5 hours until the contractions started coming almost on top of each other and got pretty intense to the point I was pretty sure we were close to having the baby and I was really not wanting a home birth! 7cm at the hospital, epidural for about an hour and then no epidural action right when it was time to push. So I basically delivered Wyatt without an epidural and I wished I hadn't even bothered. Really, I have had the epidurals with the last three deliveries just in case my c-section scar were to rupture. I do NOT want to have to be put under if I have to have an emergency c-section.)

The last of the big belly before my water was broken

Definitely easier to breathe with less amniotic fluid.
You can see that she was still pretty high.
Little ball in my belly...

\

At 2:00, Dr. Maciulla came in and they broke my water. After he left, I asked Mary Jo if we could shut off the pitocin. Sure! 

Water broken, but doing fine!

I was at 6cm around 3:00 and was still at 6cm about an hour and a half later. I could tell that the contractions had decreased in frequency and strength. I agreed to have the pitocin turned back on, but told Martha, our actual nurse, that I didn't want it increased, that the lowest dose had been doing the job. Sure enough, it did the job again and she never adjusted the setting.

By 5:30, things were getting pretty intense. I had James squeeze my hips to help detract from the fire that would come on with every contraction. An hour later, things were seriously intense and I was rethinking my decision not to have an epidural.

So grateful to have had Martha as our nurse! She was awesome! She would help me change positions to help me dilate faster. She brought in a peanut birthing ball at 6:30. At that point, I was 8cm and in serious pain with each contraction, which seemed to never end. The contractions were coming hard and heavy. One would just finish and another would start. There was no recovery break in between anymore. I wanted to cry when she told me I was at 8cm. I had been dilating about 1 cm every hour or so. Pretty sure I wasn't going to last 2 more hours! But, and I again sing her praises, she worked with me and I went from 8-10cm in about 20 minutes! When she told us around 5:30 she was hoping we could get this baby out before shift change, I was seriously doubtful. I just don't usually dilate that fast. 

It was the most incredible thing getting to announce when baby was "there". I felt her move into position. Dr. Maciulla had stopped by with the resident around 6:30 and they were waiting right outside. I thought he was kidding when he told the resident, "See that face? She's close." Yes, it was that intense.

Once the urge to push came, there was no stopping. No waiting for another contraction, no waiting for someone to break the bed down. But, thank goodness for the right people at the right time because Rachel had the cord wrapped around her neck. I know they wanted me not to push at that point, and I did my best, but I think they had to hold her in position while they unwound the cord and got things ready for the rest of her body to follow.

I don't think I had been able to open my eyes for about half an hour but, once I felt her come out, I couldn't wait to see her! James got to cut the cord and then I saw a little messy white butterball being carried over to the cleaning table. I was so sure she was over 8 pounds! She had measured 7 lbs 9 oz by ultrasound the week before, but boy was I in for a surprise!

I thought I would feel instant relief once she was out, but that was not the case. The contractions continued hard and heavy until the placenta was out as well. And then I had the pleasure of waiting while another resident got to learn to place sutures in my 1st degree tear. I really think that's one other benefit of not having an epidural - you don't push harder than you have to and, therefore, don't injure yourself more than necessary.

Here she is in all her newness:

Baby Rachel Lurie Brimhall. Born at 6:51pm weighing 7 lbs 7 oz and 19.25 inches long.

I would request Martha every time if I could!
She knew I could do it! So glad she didn't put in the request for an epidural when I doubted myself. Also so happy that Rachel arrived before shift change at 7pm!

Rachel had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and stopped breathing right after they got her to the warming table. James watched Dr. Maciulla suck a lot of fluid out and they got her breathing pretty quickly. So very relieved she made it through labor and delivery! Her initial apgars were 5 and 9 and her little purple hands took a while to pink up.

She took to nursing really well. She still needs a little assistance with latching, but she sure loves to nurse! Again, grateful for tender mercies. I think if she was my first, there would have been tears on both our parts. However, since one of us has some experience in this department, I have been able to help her and it has been the sweetest thing to again see the sweet little face of a newborn receiving her nourishment from me. It's truly a sacred experience to be able to breastfeed. I have even had moments when I just want her to wake up and want to nurse again. :)

Such a special day to have this new little angel join our family!

39 Weeks and Counting

I have never made it to 39 weeks in a pregnancy before. I'm still a bit in shock that we are 39 weeks with this one. Pretty sure this little lady is going to be breaking the record for biggest baby too! (Currently, Wyatt is the record holder at 7 lbs. 12 oz.)

I was so sure she would be here last weekend that it was a little emotional Sunday night not to have had anything happen and to be back in the waiting game. However, I have decided that she is just giving me more time to get my house ready so I have been cleaning like a mad woman. Well, like a pregnant mad woman. It's a lot harder to clear the floor of a room when it hurts to sit and get up. Right now, there is no comfortable position so it makes more sense just to keep doing what I can while I wait.

I am personally not a huge fan of induction. (Otherwise, she would already be here. :) ) They scare me. Pitocin is not my friend. With my first baby, I received an epidural that knocked everything out below the waist to the point that I couldn't even tell I was having contractions, and then they cranked up the pitocin and I was in the OR for a c-section shortly after. It was not a pleasant experience. And, since my body has proven to me three times since that I can complete labor without it (okay, I had some with Timmy because we really needed to get him out), we are just going to go with that.

Lots of random contractions this morning, not terribly strong, but definitely noticeable! They've kept me awake since 4:30 so fingers crossed that maybe today's the day!

Timmy "Reading"

Timmy is absolutely in love with his school binder. When I picked him up from school today (almost had to claim him at the office because visiting teaching went a little late), he pulled open his binder, opened it to the first page super excitedly and proceeded to tell me that this:

Said, "Welcome to Texas, Timmy! You are an awesome man!" It was so cute and funny! He repeated it a few times, so proud of himself and his binder that loves him!

29 Weeks - The Breech Gymnast!

I had another prenatal appointment today. A huge thank you to Aunt Yvonne for watching the younger boys and another to the Haynies for having the older kids over for a play date. (I used to be up for taking kids with me to appointments, but not since Wyatt ran around the office the last time I took them. My ligaments don't allow me to chase my kids so well anymore - yes, Duck, Duck, Goose was super fun as our FHE activity last night.)

I am currently up about 16 pounds from starting weight so I may just pass the 20 pounds I gained with Wyatt. A little concerned about how big this little girl may end up being! She measured right on at 29 weeks and 3 pounds.

The little lady was still head up today. I have been trying to get her to flip, albeit not as religiously as with other babies, but on my hands and knees at least a few times. She started out cross-legged and then stuck one foot over her head, then the other, and then back. All during the short ultrasound. I don't have any pictures with her feet up, but, believe me, they were there! I was also able to learn that the times someone pushes on the upper part of my belly and it's tender is when she is arching her back against the spot. It can be on the right side or left side and isn't tender as soon as she turns a different direction. Hoping she is just trying to figure out how to turn vertex.

Today's black and white cuteness:

I did ask Dr. Maciulla if there was a certain breech presentation that would preclude another VBAC and it seems that the only real deterrent would be babies size. Basically, we have to be between 4 and 9 pounds. Really hoping we don't even break 8 pounds. But fingers crossed and going to work harder at getting this little girl into position!

Sacrament Meeting Sayings

I will readily admit that sacrament is usually anything but reverent for us. We are working on it, but open to suggestions for teaching kids to be reverent. The girls tend to get into loud giggle fits, the boys want to duke it out when they touch each other or make (and fly!) paper airplanes.

But on a positive, today had some cute moments. When the water was passed, Wyatt asked me, "Why does he say, 'Welcome to the Himalayas'?" (Think Monsters Inc.) And during the final talk, out of nowhere he suddenly spouted out, "Super Why with the power to read." Such a funny kid! (Who has obviously enjoyed some television time recently.)

And just when I thought Trevlyn was getting too old for saying fun stuff, she asked me on the way out of church when I'm going to start home-schooling. I told her I really don't know that I could handle home schooling, to which she melted my heart with the response, "You could do it! You know everything!" Riiiiiight.....

(No need to try to talk me into home schooling. I am struggling with the one task of teaching my kids piano lessons. I honestly don't feel that home schooling would be the right fit for us.)

First Week of School!

I never got a first day of school picture last year, so we are at least ahead of the game this year in that regard.

On the other hand, as far as the getting to school early thing go, not so much. We were almost late the first day of school. The bell rings at 7:55 and we pulled up to the curb about 7:57. (I asked the kids as I was pulling up to the curb to quickly stand by the fence. :) No time for individual shots, however.)

The street leading to the school was backed up and the parking lot was absolutely packed! I had planned on walking everyone to class, even had Wyatt dressed, but there was just no way

It's been a fun week. Timmy is such a cute little kinder! Every day when I go to pick him up and ask how his day was, he has told me, "I got my binder!" in the most excited voice. I think he is really enjoying being one of the big kids. He also has Mrs. Benzi, the same kindergarten teacher Landon and Callie had, so that is also nice.

So far, the only homework everyone has had has been to put either a bag of items or a poster together all about them. (Why a certain someone decided to wait until tonight to even start on the poster is being me! But thank goodness for 1-hour photo printing.)

Trevlyn has the twins' first grade teacher, Ms, Scharer, who moved up to third grade this year. I really like her. She is so good at keeping parents in the loop and really working with the kids.

As for me, I have probably let Wyatt watch too many movies and run amuck a bit while I have been trying to get on top of my house. I think the nesting phase has fully kicked in. James took off the week of the Fourth of July and asked if I could finish texturing the living room, as he was eager to paint. I almost made it, but energy ran out before I was able to finish. So he did. It looks a little different, but not bad. (I have textured many walls and ceilings over the past 20 years. At my parents' house and our first house. There are definitely a few little tricks you learn as you go - like don't lay it on too thick. Just more to sand and it takes longer to dry - and you also start noticing what patterns you like better than others.) And, bless him, he got the room painted! I will have to post pictures, but that will be another blog post.

In the meantime, I have decided that the time has come to declutter and organize my house. I have tried before, but it's hard with "help". And, now that I'm not planning on moving again, I can truly decorate and organize and keep only what I want for THIS house. Super exciting! I have been working on the living room all week. One final box and I'm done! I LOVE having decor on the walls! But it was well worth the effort to texture and prime over the tired nicotine-stained walls we bought. :)

Scarred for Life

I'm really hoping not.

When I went to pick up Timmy from kindergarten yesterday, there was a little girl standing by the fence. (Guessing she's in the day care because she looked younger than Timmy and was on the kindergarten playground.) She started waving and saying, "Hi, mommy! Hi, mommy!" And I waved at her - she was super cute - and then she asked, "Mommy, why don't you get out of the car?" Well, finally I did and I think she was a little shocked and confused to see this other lady getting out of her mommy's car and picking up a little boy. (I'm guessing they have a matching blue Sienna. It's a popular car around here.) Hope she made it through the rest of the day okay!

Part I of Branding 2015