3 days

This past weekend did NOT feel like it was 3 days long. It was over in the blink of an eye. I guess that's what happens when the baby won't sleep all night and starts acting like he's hitting the terrible twos 14 months early.

sigh.

I'll update more tomorrow. For now we are getting ready for our first houseguest- yay!

photo friday: mama + kai

Today we are spending a 9.5 hour day away from home. I'm watching Henry all day. Currently he's napping.
 Malakai tipped over and scraped his face on the coffee table {which is why I'm frowning} and since seeing himself on the computer cracks him up we played with Photo Booth on mama's MacBook to make him feel better.

Happy Friday, enjoy the long weekend!

Thankful on a Thursday

Stopping in to say I'm thankful for...

131. Malakai's temperature returning to normal

132. A good friend coming to stay with us next week

133. the motivator that next week's house guest has been to finally finish unpacking

134. our trip to Portland last weekend: getting my ring cleaned {so sparkly!}, walking around downtown, and lunch at The Original where we discovered this:

{voodoo donut burger}

135. Malakai sleeping through the night more often + falling back asleep on his own this morning after being awake is his crib for a few minutes. Who taught him that trick?

136. Listening to him talk in his sleep. I could {and will} write a whole post about the sleep walking/talking that goes on in this house.

137. the rain, for making it more bearable to be stuck inside with my sick boys.

138. our upcoming Memorial Day "get away". AKA house sitting at my parents' place while they go away for their anniversary.

139. the peace I feel knowing that God always provides and how that changes our financial outlook.

140. coffee with a mama friend while our boys play on the floor

What are you thankful for this week?

another break

Among all the other things that make daily life busy, plus getting ready for a houseguest next week, and having plans here and there this week both of my boys are STILL sick.

Ben hasn't been this sick in a long time. As long as he's not contagious and able to function he usually pushes through and goes off to work. Malakai has never been this sick. His fever is hanging on this time.

{this was the adorably pathetic view from the kitchen this morning}

Now that I've filled their bellies, they are napping their way back to health. I'm off to get some more house work done. 

I'll try to be back on Thursday, but it'll be short and sweet if I am. Thanks for understanding, dear readers, I'll miss you so.

my boys

Both Ben + Malakai are really sick. Coughing, sniffling, achey, sleepy, crabby- sick.

Malakai's fever from last week went away and ironically the nurse I spoke to about it mentioned that if it came back to be sure to call in again and get him an appointment. Exactly 7 days later he threw up out of nowhere so I took his temp. The fever came back and was up to 101.8 degrees. I spoke to an on-call doctor who said that he didn't need to go to urgent care and it could wait til Monday if he still had a fever in the morning.

This morning he was up to 102.3 so we took him in. Ben stayed home from work feeling nauseated and just all around crumby. I think he has a severe respiratory infection. So all three of us went in.

I love Malakai's pedi, Dr. A, but sometimes she does too much "just in case." His ears and throat looked great and his lungs sounded clear. He was crying for no reason and burning up so she wanted to run some additional tests. A urine sample, a blood test for white cell count, and a chest x-ray.

whoah.

She stepped out to let the nurse know and when Ben and I chatted about it we decided that we need to find out just how "necessary" these tests were. The urine test, no biggie, but the rest would be very expensive and our insurance only covers preventative care or "well" visits. Dr. A came back in and we expressed our concern. She totally understood and said if we were comfortable keeping an eye on him at home to see how he does that we could just do the urinalysis. So that's what we did and it came back normal.

It's most likely just a virus and I hate that there's nothing we can do for it. Not to say I want to pump my babe full of antibiotics, but it's hard to just give him some fever reducer and love and hope it goes away sooner rather than later.

Now my boys are home and both sleeping it off. Malakai had some ibuprofen at the pedi's office and I'm hoping he stays cool. Holding him in my lap feels like putting on a heat pack straight from the microwave.

If you think of us please say a prayer that I don't get sick so I can continue to take care of everyone and that my boys get better fast!

photo friday: sand

I finally got the chance to sit down and upload some current photos. This took a lot less time than if I were to finish the post I referenced last week with photos of Ben and I from back in the day. Hopefully I'll actually get to that next week...We have a LOT of photos from the past 5 years.

This past weekend before Malakai got sick, we took him to the park, had a picnic and he experienced sand for the first time.

He was really hesitant at first, but warmed up quickly. He only tried to eat the sand once and loved watching the big kids play with the wet sand.

We spent a lot of time in some shade in the grass as well. All he wanted to do was pick the grass and then shake it from his fingers.

Later in the week, in an effort to get his temp down, I let him hang out in his diaper for a little while. He was loving it. 

Indulging in two of his obsessions, the tile floor and his red socks. I just love the way he's posing {all on his own} in this photo.

Dada decided to have some fun and put his pj pants on his head. Oddly enough we can't get him to wear hats, but this he tolerates. 

And today, despite his inability to breathe steadily due to his congestion he enjoyed banana + blueberries pureed in yogurt for lunch. 

So now you're all up to date on our photos. yay!

This weekend we are heading up to Portland {depending on Kai's wellness of course} to take one of my best friends out for a birthday lunch, get my wedding ring cleaned, and maybe do some shopping. 

Happy Friday!

Thankful on a Thursday: effort

It's funny how much the little details of life can have an effect on the big picture. Often it's the small stuff that really blesses me, but the things that irritate me are also fairly insignificant. If I'm not careful I let these small annoyances really sour my mood. Just last week I was writing about how blessed I felt, and this week it's going to take a little more effort to come up with 10 things I'm thankful for. It's not because I'm less blessed this week, or even less thankful for those blessings. It just seems that over the past few days I've let a bad attitude creep in.

There are numerous things contributing to my negative outlook. My son had his first fever on Monday and still has a terrible cough, he's so congested that he has a hard time eating and he fights the aspirator. The dishes piled like crazy this week. Our front room and guest room are riddled with boxes. We have a giant list of house projects that once I check one thing off I seem to be adding two more. My husband and I need to go on a date, just because.

All these things don't give me the right to have a nasty attitude and spread it throughout my household. I feel it and hear it in my tone. I take things that my husband says the wrong way and get irritated with him over the smallest things like his alarm going off when he's in the shower and I'm still sleeping {sorry love, I know you didn't meant it}.

So I'm turning it around. I've always said that you can choose your mood. I'm choosing to be joyful, grateful, and loving.

Today I'm thankful for

121. The flowers that keep blooming in our yard. It's like opening a gift each time a new one pops up.

{cell phone photos, I have less time lately to take real pictures and upload them}

122. The clutter and chaos that surrounds us, because it means that I'm busy playing with my son.

{let's zoom out from the previous photo}

{this is after having cleared it off once that day}

123. how cuddly Malakai is lately. It might be because he's not feeling good, but I can't help but enjoy his little hugs.

124. sleep. Malakai has slept 7 straight hours the past 2 nights and gone down easily when he does wake. This has been glorious as he doesn't sleep through the night normally and he needs the rest!

125. funny stories. my roommate from college and her husband are both counselors and they always have some interesting and often hilarious anecdotes.

126. watching Malakai experience sand for the first time at the park. {I'll try to post photos of this soon}

127. the rain. I love the sound of it pounding hard on the windows. It also makes it more bearable to be stuck in the house.

128. babbles.

129. phone conversations with far away friends. even when they're cut short.

130. shopping for bridal showers. It's so fun to celebrate love!

So, what are you thankful for despite the stress of every day life?

some time off

Just an FYI I've been taking some time off from the blog to spend with my little guy. I only blog during naps, and since he's sick he's been having trouble napping. I also desperately need to get some things done around the house. Hopefully I can share some updated pictures with you soon, I promise it doesn't look like this anymore! {at least not every room}

I'll surely be back tomorrow for my favorite posting day, Thankful on a Thursday.

I'm also going to do my best to visit all of you who commented from the D-Listed blog party.

Have a great Wednesday!

oh yeah, I almost forgot!

Malakai made it from the Top 50 to the Top 25.

Another week of voting, please vote for Malakai P to get into the Top 10! After that I do believe that judges will make the final call.

a blog party

So I have a list of other blog posts in my head right now, but they're all too complicated for my mush-brain to type out right now. I actually wasn't even going to blog today, but Kai just went down for a nap and I need to just sit and take a break for a bit. Poor little mister has a terrible cough and a fever.

I've noticed a few blogs that I follow doing the D-Listed Mom Blogs, Blog Party 2010 and thought I'd join in on the fun.

It technically started yesterday, but I'm the fashionably late type anyway.

For those of you who are new here from the blog party, thanks for visiting! My name is Shandell, but everyone close to me calls me "Shan". In fact, on the rare occasion that my husband {Ben} calls me Shandell it's worse than that feeling when your mother breaks out the middle name. Anyway, we got married in 2007 {I'm actually planning a post on our background and such later this week} and our 10 month old son, Malakai was born last July 16th. I am a devoted yet fatally flawed follower of Christ, teacher, learner, homemaker, photographer and procrastinator.

I started this blog under a different title when I was about 4 months pregnant in February 2009. Shortly after my son was born the previous name no longer fit and wasn't as unique as I thought so I changed it to Breaking New Ground as at the time we were experiencing many new trials, tribulations + triumphs in our lives. And just as life imitates art {or is it the other way around} we haven't stopped experiencing new things one after the other since then. I think it's called parenthood?

In the last year 2 years my husband quit a job, got a job, lost that job and got another job. I had a pretty eventful pregnancy from a scare at 14 weeks, an ER visit at 20 weeks, left my job at 36 weeks followed by  a month of long exhausting early labor before the little muffin decided to grace us with his presence. Once he was here we barely settled in before having to worry about possibly surgery not once, but twice. Currently I'm a stay at home mom, make my son's baby food, watch my former boss' son part-time, and just 7 weeks ago we bought a home of our very own.

For more on who we are I recently wrote these posts about Ben, Malakai, + myself. I hope you stick around so we can get to know each other. Don't forget to follow me on Google Friend Connect {to the right}, and twitter. And of course comment on this post to let me know you stopped in.

photo friday: yesterday

Yesterday was the only day this week I took new photos with an actual camera. I've been using my cell phone for the most part because I didn't know where the memory card for the camera was. Turns out it was right where I left it...

Anyway, yesterday I also stayed home from working daycare because I woke up feeling light headed, nauseated, dizzy...not pregnant! ha! I was worried I had the flu or something and I also had a nasty headache so I rested {as much as I could with my very energetic and mobile 10 month old}.

I tried working on a photo friday post about Ben + I, but got too nostalgic and kept reading through old emails and looking through old photos so that one will have to wait for next week I think.

So, here are yesterday's photos.

It was so nice out and I felt bad for keeping Malakai cooped up so we went out into the backyard for a little while to soak up some sun. He pretty much stuck to one spot on the big quilt.

He loves to tap things on different surfaces so when there's not wood or tile flooring around mama improvises with this toybox or a book.

Lately he's been putting his arms up in the air and waving his hand around. I'm trying to teach him to do it when I say "sooo big!" but he just grins at me. 

He has been waving hello and goodbye by holding his arm up then opening and closing his hand. Daddy finally witnessed this for the first time last night. It's so super cute!

Malakai's been pulling himself up and subsequently climbing everything for about 6 weeks now. He's recently discovered the dining room table and chairs. I'm constantly chasing him down before he gets a death grip on them. It wouldn't be so bad except the floor is hard tile and he tends to fall a lot. Plus he's working on  his 5th tooth and keeps biting the metal!

Here's a not-so-lovely photo of me and the bean after I finally pried his fingers off the chair.

{for those that saw my vlog, I did dye my hair}

Next week I'm going to try to take more pictures.
Happy Friday + have a great weekend!

Thankful on a Thursday: feeling blessed

I'm feeling really blessed this week. Even in moments that prove difficult {like my teething son's frequent waking in the night} I'm easily able to stay calm and find the good in each moment. God is working on me.

On Mother's Day I was overwhelmed with how special I was made to feel by all of my family and I think that feeling is carrying me through my week. It makes me want to show others how special they are to me.

We also had a rare opportunity to get some used baby clothes really cheap. A friend from church put up 53 12-18 month items and 64 18-24 month items on our church's online marketplace. When I told her I was interested, she let me know that the 18-24 lot was claimed but she'd give me the 12-18 at a discount. Then her other buyer fell through so she gave us both lots for $50! We were so excited and felt so blessed by their generosity.

So among those things I'm also thankful for...

111. Being able to think about my son's 1st birthday (in TWO months) with excitement instead of sadness over how fast the baby days have gone by.

112. fresh tanlines on my shoulders + remembering how good it feels to get some exercise outdoors.

113. chub.

{"how do I get the cheerios out mama?"}

114. the bond my husband and my little brother have.

115. a great car that gets us where we need to go.

116. the potential in our great big backyard and the raised garden beds.

117. the extra income and socialization {for Malakai} that working part time in daycare provides.

118. new friends.

119. the smell of lilies filling up our entire house.

120. you! thanks for your comments and sharing your blogs with me. I truly enjoy getting to know you.


What are you thankful for?

just down the street

When we first saw our house our realtor made sure to drive us by the park down the street on our way out. It's only 2 blocks from us and is perfect for kids of all ages. It has the typical playground equipment complete with a baby swing and smaller structures for the littlest ones. It also has a full basketball court, a huge grassy hill (that even I wanted to run up and roll back down), a field, and a sandbox with a water pump. So cool, right?

We finally made our first trip about 3 weeks ago when we finally had nice enough weather that lined up with our schedule being a little more relaxed. Right now the most Malakai can do is swing and play in the grass, but he absolutely loves the swing. It makes me heart swell to see him giggle while he's in it.

He laughs so hard that you can't help but laugh with him.

{I may have mentioned this before, but the shirt he's wearing here is one of my faves because Ben + I bought it before we were even trying for a baby. It was too perfect!}

The next day Malakai and I took our first trip to the park just the two of us. It was really sunny and I hadn't purchased sunscreen yet, so we spent almost all of our time spread out on my super huge beach towel in the shade of a tree.

 

I just love that the park backs up to a dead end street (no traffic!) and a beautiful orchard.

Since Malakai couldn't climb the play structures with the big kids, he climbed me and his stroller instead.

It was a lot of fun, but it's always more fun with company. So last week we went with some friends. 

{This is Haley, 13 months. Her mom Jessica and I met on The Bump when we were expecting these two cuties}

Today looks like it'll be another nice one. The perfect excuse to ignore the laundry and head back out to the park with my little man.

PS don't forget to cast your vote for Malakai P today and every day til 5/17!

eating pretty

Why is it that when food looks good it usually tastes so much better? I even get more excited about what I'm eating when it's on our nicer dishes.

Tonight I actually started dinner early {usually I  wait til Ben is home to play with Malakai} and had time to prepare everything and make it look good. We had this wonderful bowl of deliciousness just a couple hours ago. On our nice set of dishes of course.

{excuse the photo quality, took these with my cellphone}

It's obviously super simple, but here's what I did in case anyone is interested.

Ingredients:

• Seasoned ground beef (leftover from last night's soft tacos, I had cooked 1lb)
• White rice
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 container favorite salsa 

Not pictured

• sour cream
• iceburg lettuce
• tortilla chips
• salt, lime juice + hot sauce to taste

Since I had the ground beef cooked already the bulk of the time was cooking the rice. For the two of us I just made one cup and we have leftover. While that was cooking I got the salsa mix ready. 

I love black beans so one day I decided to make a black bean + corn salsa. I didn't have all the ingredients I needed so I just emptied a can of corn and a can of black beans into a bowl with about half a small container of our favorite salsa. I added lime juice and salt and it was GOOOOOD! So I continue to cheat and make it this way because we like it so much. We usually use this mixture for dipping but this time I heated some up and put it on top of the ground beef. 

I cut up some avocado and added that to the top. After I took these pictures I also added some shredded iceburg lettuce and tortilla chips. When we sat down to eat we both added a dollop of sour cream and I added more salt and some hot sauce. So yummy and a great mix of veggies + proteins!