House Cleaning...

(I wrote this yesterday but didn't get to post until this morning!)

Hello! This is the first post I've written in the car:) We are somewhere in Missouri, a couple hours from Dave's folks on Lake of the Ozarks. Collin is fussing, the kind of fussing that leads right into a nap.....or escalates into a screaming fit. Stay tuned!

Just catching up on life this time, lets see... (okay, that was the beginning of a fit, but I slithered into the back seat and was able to get him asleep relatively quickly - hurray!! shhh!!:) 

So, in the recent past, Abby has been a little  out of sorts, sick and she was having some sickness. In the house. Yeah, not good. We have hardwood throughout our house, everyone has told me that it is so wonderful for cleaning up and when you have pets/kids...yup. If that is where they get sick or spill, etc. Abby treked upstairs to go in the kids' rooms on the carpet. Thanks, Ab. I don't do well with the dog hair in the house, I really couldn't handle this. So, I was going to get the carpets professionally cleaned (Dave did clean them with our steam vac thing right away). I called this local company and the gal was so sweet, she gave me all the info and possibilities, I said I would talk to Dave and get back with her. She penciled me in for Monday the 12th just so that I wouldn't lose the time if we decided yes. Sounds great.  Well, I called back and got the machine, left a message that said we would like to book it, just need to tell her what we decided and then find the time to actually do it that day. I never got a call back and every time I remembered, it was after hours. So, I set an alarm to call them at 8 a.m. on the 12th to see if there were coming/schedule it. After another sleepless night with Collin, I was woken (on the bed in his room) at 7:59 a.m. to knocking on the door and Abby flipping out. Guess who was there and ready to clean the rooms?! I stumbled downstairs and told him that didn't know he was coming (especially so early!) so he told me he would go do another job ("couple of hours") and then come back. Perfect. Now I have to get two kids up, move the furniture out of their rooms and do breakfast! (It was only one guy and you pay more to have them move furniture, I had planned on Dave and I moving everything out the night before, but wasn't going to move stuff unless we had to - it was the kids bedrooms!) 

So, I started moving things out, comforted Kate  - no the man will not suck up all your toys:) The guy came back at 9:30 a.m. and started bringing stuff upstairs. He helped me move one thing and was pretty nice overall. I am happy they got cleaned but just hate these kinds of things. I feel like sometimes we have so many random service people coming out to the house, I've told Dave in the past - I need a break! I don't like have strange guys in the house, especially with the kids. And they always ask questions I don't know the answers to. It just throws my days off, I am trying to be more open to spontaneity, but......:)

Putting the rooms back together later that night was more work than I expected and we rearranged Collin's room, but I like it overall right now. We do not love the log furniture we inherited from the previous owners, but are working with it for now. I'm anxious for those of you who visit us to see the new guest room/nursery! 

Collin has started solids and I really love this time of babyhood. It is super messy and fun. The diapers have changed! And that is fine, I thought at first that he was going to have some trouble with digesting the cereal and few veggies/fruits we tried, but all seems well now. He is a hungry boy and I just adore that messy open mouth that is diving towards the spoon for the next bite:) We have started very slowly compared to what we did with Kate, I think just because I am more busy and forgetful:) He sometimes seems so distracted when nursing and some morning hasn't been interested in it, so I am thankful to fill him up with some solids for that reason too! Granted, Kate can be quite the distraction, but he is just so difficult to keep focused. I am starting to go up to his room or back in our room to remove him from the main rooms, I don't always like to be separated, but then again, sometimes it is a nice breather for me too:) Provided he settles down and actually nurses.

I got this, Mom!

Kate has been loving running lately. When we go for walks or to the playground, she'll take off and run, never before have we had to worry about her going to far or venturing off, but we've hit that milestone now! I'm now trying to instill the concept of "staying where I can see you!" But it is pretty fun to see her run and love it. She wants to do another "running race" (5K) sometime. She also loves to practice volleyball. She knows how to bump and set and wants to practice all the time. I try to get some soccer, t-ball and tennis in there too, but right now, she is a running and"bolleyball" girl!

Didn't get her running, but she likes to push her brother:)

Kate has always spoken very clearly and well, but she does sometimes start words with a "v" and I always find it so funny. As I said, she plays "bolleyball," we live in "Bisconsin," Jesus talked to his "bisciples" :) I'm trying to think of the other ones...super random!

Dave and I are very excited to have his new boss starting at the hospital soon. Mike will be starting in September and many of you know the craziness that it has been for the last 1.5 years, Dave met the new guy and likes him, thinks he will be good for the hospital/department. So, it will be wonderful to go from 3 CRNAs to 4....though it is still not the 5 that it was when we moved up here. There is still a lot of uncertainty, his schedule will change and obviously the dynamics of the group. Surprisingly, his boss is moving into our neighborhood! They have two boys that are 5 yrs and 8 yrs old, so that is also exciting to be getting a full-time family as neighbors! 

Since they went down to 3 CRNAs as the beginning of the summer, the guys have not been allowed to get any time off. So after some lobbying, the hospital agreed to give them some time in August. We haven't been down to the Lake of the Ozarks in a long time, they have come up a few times, thankfully, but we are making our first family of four trip down to Missouri! We are looking so forward to the break, the weather should be wonderful. If we can survive the trip, it will be awesome! (so far, not bad at all, but shhhh...he is still sleeping. I'll throw you out of the car if you wake the baby!!!) :) 

Kate reading Daddy's anesthesia journal...

Collin loves to make faces