40 bags in 40 days: a long overdue recap

During the 40 days leading up to Easter we chose to participate in a decluttering challenge called "40 Bags in 40 Days" lead by Ann Marie who blogs over at White House Black Shutters, one of my favorite blogs these days. It wasn't so much about getting to 40 bags as it was about being motivated to rid your space of clutter and be happy with your home and the belongings you choose to keep in it. I really enjoyed it and am so thankful for the continual motivation it has given me to keep our home free of "junk" that clutters our physical spaces.

In my initial post I shared our current pictures which will stand as the "before" pictures to the following "afters". Although, for us this is an on going challenge in some spaces more than others. If you'd like to check out the progress along the way, you can follow my instagram account or look up #bngblogdeclutters on instagram, twitter, and Facebook. 

Being pregnant made the decluttering even more challenging. Some days I was too sick, some days our entire family was too sick. Other days I was just tired, but I'm happy with our progress and how far we've come. 

I can honestly say there is only 1 area that is still in need of some big decluttering, the kitchen. I decluttered the surfaces and a few small drawers during the challenge and a few more recently. However, due to the size of our kitchen it is a huge challenge to even have the floor or counter space to empty cupboards to declutter while entertaining children. So we are saving that project for a time when we are kid-free. It's not even something I could do on my own if Ben were to have the kids for example because I cannot safely reach the top shelves or lift some things that would need moved. All that to say, we will get to it in the future but it's not even messy enough (because it's too small to be) to be too worried about it. 

Here is a reminder of what our house layout looks like...

Our main living space in the back of the house is almost always free of clutter so there wasn't much to be done there. I have however, started a new rule for the kids both for decluttering reasons and for my own safety- all toys are to stay in the playroom or the hallway just outside of it (because it's wood floor where they like to race their cars). This minimizes clutter but also keeps the danger-zones down to a minimum. Last pregnancy I had a not-so-fun run in with a toy on the floor, so I've been extra careful about avoiding silly accidents like that.

This is what that space looked like after decluttering back in April. We have since updated our dining set, garbage can and paint in this room. I will post an update on that and the nursery when they are complete.

Currently the garage is in disarray yet again because it's our "catch-all" space when we've got big projects going on. Over the long weekend we painted the living room, hallway and the playroom that will be little sister's nursery. Furniture was displaced to the garage for the most part and the work station for paint supplies was set up out there. Pictured below is a before decluttering and after decluttering (before painting mess). Most of our work here was purging toys, clearing off the work bench and rearranging to make zones for things. Separate spaces for toys, tools, laundry, pantry items, overflow shoes, and craft supplies. We still have some organizing to do, which will mostly be taken care of once we get some shelving up. Ben is planning on building this shelf for the toy storage bins.

The boys' room got a big change when we got them bunk beds at Ikea in March. It was the ONLY way to fit 2 twin sized beds in their shared room. It's been a roller coaster of a transition, but they love it and the space it saves is amazing. We're also in the process of repurposing their closet which mostly holds Ben's music equipment by moving that out and making space for the extra chairs to our new dining room set, which are taking up too much room in the garage. Plus I don't like the idea of them being exposed to extreme temperatures and our projects as they go on out there. This room currently has no toys or books, it's just for sleeping and getting dressed because Desmond can't handle nap time if there are toys to be had. He can barely be kept from climbing all over the beds! This will change as he grows older and as we need to move the toys from the playroom/nursery to their room.

The playroom/nursery got a pretty major declutter, and now that it has been painted will be completely rearranged. This will involve taking the desk out and either selling it or storing it at my in-laws. The closet here houses all the kids' hanging clothes, baby stuff up on the shelf, baby blankets, and items that they have yet to grow into or have grown out of in a dresser. The dresser also doubles as child-proofing for the entrance to our crawl space which is in the floor of this closet.

{I'm already so much happier with this room just after painting and removing the textured ceiling!}

The front living area which we just call "the front room" is more of an adult space and a major blind spot from where we spend most of our time, so we have a baby gate up at the start of the hallway to this room to keep it limited access. Malakai can open the gate but he knows not to without permission. Here we have our desk and computer, a piano, a sitting area, my sewing/craft table, preschool supplies and more. The coat closet also houses craft supplies and gift wrapping in addition to the current seasons jackets, hats, scarves, etc.

The desk got a major overhaul when I finally went through our file system. I also put some little used files that we still need to keep around in a file cabinet in the garage that we acquired from my in-laws (thanks guys!) which made room in the drawers to actually access the files we need to use on a more regular basis. I purged a LOT of kids' artwork but also kept a lot, reorganizing it by school/church/etc. I also removed a lot of stuff from the top of the desk to give us more work space.

My craft cabinet got emptied out and rearranged. I do still have crafting supplies all over the place, mine and the kids' but they make more sense now rather than a little bit of this and that all over there are kid craft storage areas and then my craft and sewing storage based on material and need. Some of it is in bins underneath the oversized chair (which I love, but most people don't).

I boxed up a lot of books from the shelf, things we want to keep but don't need to display. I also got rid of some and did away with some knick knacks and picture frames. In doing so I tried to make this room a bit more kid friendly so as Desmond grows older he can come in here without being a hazard to himself or our stuff. This will also help if we need to move our preschool homeschooling back out here once the baby's room is in use for little sister.

In our room (which I haven't taken progress pictures of yet) we started by clearing out everything underneath the bed. Clothing has been a big challenge because while pregnant I'm constantly reevaluating my wardrobe based on what no longer fits (so it needs stored), what does fit (so it's in the closet or dresser) and what will likely fit as baby + I grow (in an underbed box). It's an on going process, but I did get rid of a lot of non-maternity clothing that I hadn't worn in ages. Ben also got rid of a lot of clothing and shoes so that helped free up space in our closet. The shelf above the hanging area in our closet has always been difficult for me because I can barely reach it. I toss things up there (we had stored anything from bedding to sweaters there) and it just became a heaping mess. Ben cleaned it out and now half of it is for clothes I've "outgrown" and hooded sweatshirts/other things too large for the dresser or hanging and the other half is our bedding.

Our dresser has more space thanks to purging things and I cleaned up the area next to my bed where the yarn had been been taking over from half done crochet projects. I also have a vanity in this room which I use for some clothing storage but mostly cosmetics, hair products + accesories as well as belts, jewelry and a few keepsakes (my sad and dusty wedding bouquet being one). This needed major decluttering and dusting which took a while but it is so much more useful now that it's done. I do my hair and makeup here rather than our one tiny bathroom.

Speaking of, we did a lot of purging of items in the bathroom as well. Expired vitamins, medications, lotions and shampoos we weren't using, etc. It's not exciting enough to post pictures of, but it's nice to have the space. We also got a new shower curtain with a see-through panel at the top that lets more light in and makes the room feel a bit bigger.

So there is our progress in an attempt to declutter and simplify the way we live. It has been a much longer process than just the 40 days, but getting organized and serious about it over that time really created new habits in us that will help us to live with less clutter, which is essential in a house this size and our growing family!

mystery ailment + a cleaning challenge

I've lost count, but  it's been close to 10 days or so that I've been waking up to terrible cold/allergy symptoms. What's odder still is that each morning is worse than the previous. I've never had an illness where I get progressively worse over such a lengthy period of time. It's miserable. It's also really obnoxious trying to figure out what is wrong with me so I can treat it and move on with life.

First I assumed allergies, all the discomfort was in my sinuses and the Willamette Valley is literally the worst place in the U.S. for seasonal allergies. I've lived here all of my life and didn't begin to suffer from pollen allergies until 5 or so years ago, but even still it was fairly mild. These symptoms are not at all mild. 

A few nights ago I woke with trouble breathing, my throat felt like it was closing up. I woke Ben up and we googled strawberry allergies. I'd been handling and eating fresh strawberries every day since I had gone picking 9 days earlier. I noticed that day I went that my mouth felt tingly after just a couple berries, which was uncomfortable enough to make me stop. I hadn't thought too much about it as I ate strawberries in my smoothies and ice-cream and made strawberry jam and sauce, until I woke up feeling so weird. 

Turns out strawberry allergies (like most food allergies) have a lot of symptoms and "levels" of allergic reaction. Some people get that slight tingly feeling so they limit their consumption but indulge once in a while, others break out in hives, and then there's always the extreme cases where you go into anaphylactic shock. It was hard to determine if I was having a mild reaction from too many berries, if I had developed a worse case of seasonal allergies, or if I was (am) just suffering from the worst cold I've ever experienced in my 30-something years. 

My awesome husband woke up the next day to scrub down the entire kitchen and freeze the remaining fresh strawberries. He's some kind of wonderful, that one. I've avoided strawberries for the last 3 days and haven't really felt any respite. In fact, I've still been waking with additional and/or worsening ailments. 

I'm now suffering from sinus pain/pressure, running and stuffy and dry nose and sinuses, headaches of varying types and severity, swollen glands and tonsils, sneezing, watery/itchy eyes, a sore throat (dry, scratchy, burning, tight) that has been worsening each day over the last 10-ish days, on and off ear pressure/pain, hot flashes, fatigue... and the list goes on.

{smiling through the discomfort b/c my boys were snuggly for 5 seconds}

Now I'm certainly not trying to whine about this, but merely communicate that I'm truly confused by what is wrong with me. In an effort to find some relief I've tried apple cider vinegar, local honey, Claritin, Benadryl (at night), tea, lemon, tons of water, resting, not resting and more. Nothing helps for long, or at all. I'm totally stumped. So I guess I'll just do my best to wait this out. Although if it lasts past 2 weeks I'll be sure to get myself into the Dr. to make sure it's not tonsillitis or anything that I should be taking antibiotics for. However, from what I've heard from friends it could be seasonal allergies and I could suffer this way into July! Say it ain't so!

I have been able to get a little bit done around the house in addition to the normal day to day. I'd been inspired by the Summer Simplify Decluttering Series by Ann Marrie over at White House Black Shutters. I did the first week's list of "what is good and what needs to change" and then took up a little decluttering each day.

On the first day, I started very small and just went through the kid clutter on the fridge...

Then I went after our desk, which is ALWAYS a problem...

I do admit, I still need to go through the "in process" and "to be filed" boxes you can see to the left. Another day's project for sure.

And here's what Ben did with the kitchen, which I affectionately refer to as "the galley"...

{He's a smarty and put away our coffee maker since we only use it for Small Group meetings, which are on summer break. I use a french press for my own morning coffee. }

Our BIGGEST project will be the garage. It's FULL of random projects and our laundry room is also in there. We had a garage sale a month ago and while we immediately go rid of 3/4 of the stuff that was left over, there is still quite a bit to be donated, stored, and otherwise reorganized. Then we also put in a new door from the garage to the garden area and that project isn't quite finished so all the tools and such from that are spread across a ginormous table. It's pretty scary in there and unfortunately I have to go through it to get to the garden, and in the midst of it while doing laundry each day.

Sadly I haven't done anything since Friday because I've been feeling so crumby and we kept pretty busy on Father's Day (I'll share our gifts to Ben a bit later). Tomorrow my mom is having surgery (yes again- nothing to do with her cancer, but please say a prayer if you think of us) so Ben is working from home to allow me to be with my dad during that. I'm hoping to feel better for that of course, and to get on with the decluttering starting Wednesday.

where my time goes...

I've been terrible about updating around here lately. I knew it would happen once Desmond was born, but there's no way I could've predicted just how busy and different life would be. I feel like I have about 30 different projects going all at one time between work and home, all in different stages of "doneness" and all demanding my attention. Nothing demands my attention more than Kai + Des though, and they always win.

However, when I do get a chance to work on something here is how I spend my time:

* laundry. every person in charge of the laundry with a family of 4 knows how ridiculous and NEVER ENDING this chore is. It's always overwhelming, always. Right now there are about 10 categories: 1. Mine + Ben's dirty laundry. 2. The boys' dirty laundry 3. dirty linens 4. mine + Ben's clean clothes that need put away. 5. The boys' clothes that need put away (currently occupying the crib in the playroom-yikes.). 6. linens that need folded and put away 7. Des' clothes that are soaking in oxi-clean 8. clothes that are in the process of being washed/dried. 9. things that are hand wash only. 10. Clothes in the closets/drawers/on our bodies.

* dishes. pretty much the same story as laundry, although these get done quicker because 1. it gets gross faster and 2. there isn't room in my tiny kitchen to have dishes piling up.

* gift sorting. this is kind of an odd one, I know. We had a pile of gifts from Christmas and my birthday that was kind of taking over our living room (along with the clean laundry to be sorted). I don't give Kai all the new toys at once, nor Des for that matter. First I had to sort through the clothes, de-tag and wash the ones that fit now and put away the ones they'll grow into later. Next I dug out all the books and when I need a good distraction while nursing or putting Des down for a nap I'll grab a new book for Kai to read. Next are toys, which are all in a plastic tote until their time to shine. Last is the giftwrap/bags that I'm keeping. I'm almost done with this project as I had some time over the weekend to tackle it.

* Taxes. Right now I'm in the collecting stage, we still have 3 documents we're waiting on before I can get started.

*General cleaning. I sweep the floors every day and vacuum about twice a week (sometimes more). Kai helps me clean the playroom every couple of days and I'm constantly wiping down the dining area after he eats. I try to dust and wipe the whole house down, and scrub the bathroom at least once a week.

* General clutter. Every flat surface in our house has the tendency to accumulate clutter. Birthday cards, grocery lists, user manuals, books, vitamin containers, pens, paperwork, etc. Sometimes we'll go weeks without really putting these things where they go. It never takes long to clear off the desk/table/dresser/etc. but cleaning up dirt overrides clearing off clutter in my list of priorities.

* 2012 calendar. For the past 3 years I've done a photo calendar with pictures of the previous year's events on each month. I'm behind every year. This next calendar may have a starting month of March...

* organizing photos. I'm the most behind on this project. Before we moved here (almost 2 years ago) I had been in the habit of deleting photos that weren't great and renaming them by the date and putting them in folders by month and year. Once we moved, unpacking and getting the house ready took a priority over this project and I still haven't been able to catch up. Just about every photo from 2011 is in an obscurely labeled folder on the desktop. ugh.

* blogging. It's one of very few things that I consider "me" time, but I also do it for my family. It's my alternative to scrap booking or journaling.

* Reading. I NEVER get to do this, but last week I read The Help. I can't wait to see the movie!

* appointments. I used to make all the appointments, but now I have Ben take care of his own. So now I just schedule doctor, dentist, eye, and other appointments for the boys and myself.

* work. I've taken on a new job, which means more projects. I work on recruiting and scheduling volunteers at our church for nursery through 5 year olds. I make sure there are supplies for lessons, snack, clean up, diapering, and more. I organize curriculum for the two's and will soon be taking over the curriculum for 3-5's. I brainstorm ways to better the classrooms, volunteers, and more.

* finances. I keep track of our income + expenses, although this is something we've been talking about having Ben take over.

* small group. Ben + I just decided to host a small group through our church. It starts this week and I'm so excited! I need to prepare a snack/dessert and clean my house from top to bottom. (see all of the above items).

I'm sure I've missed something, and of course this is just all the indoor stuff since it's winter and we aren't tending to our yard + garden yet. Plus there's all the things that Ben does! He helps with the household stuff when I need it, but he also has plenty of other things to do like take out the trash, clean and organize the garage, maintain the cars, take care of all things technology and electronics and more.

tile to laminate: our first big house project

On Saturday we accomplished our first big makeover on our home. Everything else we've done, like peel wall paper and paint has been fairly low-key in comparison. On Saturday Ben and 3 other guys tore up our tile flooring in the dining room + kitchen to replace it with laminate wood flooring to match the rest of our house. We've been wanting to do this since we bought the place 18 months ago.

Reasons we hated the tile:

• First, it was just plain ugly. 
• It was super unforgiving when it came to dropping dishes or little ones falling.
• It was installed incorrectly (which made removal easier) so it had many cracks.
• Grout is disgusting and annoying to clean. 
• It broke up the main living space of our already small home, making it look smaller.
• It was cold and uninviting.
• I could think of a thousand other reasons...

Needless to say I was a bit jealous that I didn't get to take a crack at it with a hammer along with the guys. Ben said they all had a lot of fun with the demolition. Malakai and I went to my parents' place to hang out for the day to stay out of the way and to avoid inhaling tile + saw dust. 

Thankfully it was also easy to get up, it only took an hour. Apparently the tile was heavily glued to the previous linoleum floor so it all came up together to reveal the subfloor.

Then came work on the underlayment and laminate flooring. 

{my husband hard at work}

The biggest reason this project has taken so long to get to (besides time + money) was finding the right floor to match the existing laminate that we have in the rest of our house. We found something REALLY close right away but I was determined to exhaust all our options for a perfect match before settling. We went back to the original match and it turned out great. 

While finishing up the trim Ben's dad and brother also replaced the door from the dining room to the garage. This happened to be our Christmas present from his parents last year, but we had to redo the flooring before it could work. Neither of these pictures show that, but it looks great!

{the finished product!}

After being out of the house since 7:30 that morning and only a 45 minute nap for Malakai after driving him to sleep, I got to come home at about 6pm and see the finished product. It was like walking into someone else's home. Really it was such a funny feeling to leave with the house fairly in tact and come back with it looking completely different. What a blessing to not have to worry about any of the construction and mess and just come home to something new and beautiful!

Here's a direct comparison. The angles of the photos aren't a perfect match, but you get the idea.

Thank you so much to my father-in-law, brother-in-law David, and our friends Brad and Jacob (and their wives) for giving up a significant portion of your Saturday to work on our house and make it more of a home for us as we prepare to welcome little brother! 

growing my first garden

Most of my growing up was on a large ranch just outside the city limits from where I live now. We almost always had a garden. We at least had pumpkins if only from tossing the previous ones out into a patch of dirt somewhere.

The last 4 years we've lived in homes with plenty of yard space for gardening, but I didn't take the time to try my hand at growing something on my own. Most of my hesitation came from having little to no success at keeping house plants or easy plants alive. I'd often forget about watering them or keep them in the wrong type of environment.

A good friend of mine has a very impressive vegetable garden and I finally decided to take a try at growing my own. We already had the raised beds, one full of strawberries that I decided to pay closer attention to this season. Of course the weather here didn't cooperate very well for strawberries and then I ran into a few pests: strawberry snails + sugar ants. I used google and surveyed my facebook friends who advised eggshells, coffee grounds, and human hair! Coincidentally I had just cut Kai's hair so I used all three and was able to save a lot of the strawberries. They turned out okay, but I've learned that ever-bearing strawberries should be moved to new spots and who knows how long those berries have been in the raised bed since they were here before we were.

On Memorial Day weekend I decided to plan veggies in our two other raised beds. A couple weeks before Ben was sweet enough to clear the beds of weeds and debris, then we worked together to add more nutrient rich soil. I planted Jack-o-lantern pumpkins, sweet dumpling squash, "slicer" tomatoes from starts, carrots, and sugar snap pole peas. I built a lattice out of bamboo arches and gardeners twine for the peas to climb. It only cost me $5 which was much cheaper than buying lattice or something premade for them to climb.

About 10 days after planting, the first sprouts started to come through. I was so excited that my garden was actually starting to grow!

Malakai and I would go out every morning and check on the veggies. He loves helping...



I was surprised by how fast things were growing, especially the pumpkin leaves, which were visibly bigger every day!

{I made markers out of a cut up milk jug}

Another week went by and everything continued to grow as I kept the weeds and pests at bay. I didn't use any chemicals, just suggestions I found through google and  knowledgable friends.

I did my best to keep up with the watering, but as our summer schedules got busier it got more difficult. Thankfully we've had pretty cool weather so nothing scorched. Ben then set up some sprinklers on a timer thanks to some timers that his dad let us have. Now we're able to water the garden automatically at 5:30am every day. On particularly hot days I turn on the sprinklers for a bit in the afternoon or evening too.

About 6 weeks after planting our garden had filled the raised beds!

{towering tomatoes + climbing sugar snaps in the background. spreading pumpkin + squash up front}

A little over a week ago it became evident that my garden was trying to take over the world...

{those tomatoes have cages in there somewhere + the pumpkin is creeping into the yard}

I had my friend Jamie come over to look at my garden and give me some advice. She was so sweet to help me out. She advised me on how to contain my tomatoes and how to tell when things were ready to pick. 

{peas + maters}

The next day I went to work on tying up my tomatoes with the gardener's twine I had from the structure I made for the sugar snaps to climb. I weaved some of the smaller branches back in to the cages and tied the heavier ones to the cages. Then I tied them up around both plants a couple times for added support. I also trimmed some of the limbs that would have just snapped from the weight of the fruit anyway. I also harvested 50+ sugar snaps. It took me about 45 minutes which ended up being a rather large and lengthy pain in the back. Gardening while pregnant isn't easy!

Earlier this week I picked another 50 or so peas and spotted a pumpkin forming! I'll be picking all the carrots this weekend + planting more in their place.

I shared the sugar snaps with our extended family and will probably have enough to pick new ones at least once, if not twice more. Now I'm just waiting on the tomatoes to get big and red while I pray that bugs + birds don't get to them first! Any tips are greatly appreciated.

I wish I could say that growing our own food has inspired Malakai to eat more veggies...but it's just not true for us yet. He at least tastes them before spitting them out, we'll keep trying!

What's growing in your garden?

Happy Weekend everyone!

Clean Sweep + 16 weeks

I love the weekends, but they go by entirely too fast. We just start to get into a groove of having Ben here all or most of the day and suddenly it's Monday morning again and he's out the door before we even wake up.

We had an impromptu dinner at my in-laws on Friday night followed by chasing Malakai around the yard in the beautiful weather.

Saturday was reserved for finally going through the garage, "Clean Sweep" style. During Kai's nap we  moved the car out into the driveway, swept the floor and taped down labels. We had a section for trash/recycling, donation, garage sale, storage, and keep/unpack.

I wish I would have taken before, during, and after pictures like I usually do. We were so in the zone and trying to make the most of our time before Kai woke up that I didn't think about it. I did take the advice of a friend and took pictures of things that aren't useful but have sentimental value so I could donate them or throw them away. How did I not think of that sooner?! Such a great idea for things like my counselor nametag from outdoor school and the box full of elementary school artwork that my mom snuck over from her storage.

Once Malakai woke up we tried to bring him out to have a snack in his stroller so we could keep working, but that didn't last long. So decided to leave the rest for after lunch on Sunday. Plus we had Ben's grandma and aunt come by to visit. They were seeing the house for the first time. Malakai was in a terribly cranky mood, throwing fits for seemingly no reason at all. I think he simply woke up on the wrong side of the bed and wasn't ready to entertain new people.

Later while I put dinner together Ben took Malakai to play out back. He got these incredible pictures of him discovering the dandelions. It made me wish I had been out there, and surprisingly enough it made me not hate the weeds as much as I usually do.

{look at the little seeds floating away, so pretty}

After dinner Kai decided to make another discovery. That the bed in the guest room (soon to be playroom) is like a bigger version of his. He looked so tiny when he climbed up and pulled the quilt over himself. I know that once our 2nd baby is here, Malakai will probably never look tiny again. 

{my mom made this quilt out of fabrics from my childhood: other blankets, clothes she had made me or my dolls, etc.}

On Sunday we did our regular church routine. Malakai did better with me leaving him in the nursery than he has been lately and was very pleasant with the volunteers and other children. The past few weeks he's been pushing and tantruming...not my favorite. 

Once we got home, Kai napped and we went back to work on the garage. He woke again before we finished, but we had gotten enough done that Ben could do the rest himself. Our trunk is now full of things for donation and everything in the garage is much more organized. There are still a few boxes to unpack, but at least we know what's in them and where we want it to eventually go. Once we have our garage sale we will have even more room. Right now we have our upright a/c from the old house, space heaters, a tv, and a ride on toy taking up most of the space. We're hoping we can make some good money to put towards Kai's surgery. 

Later that night we unpacked our DVDs for the first time since we moved just over a year ago! Shows how much time we have for watching movies around here. We actually decided to get rid of about half of them and added them to the garage sale pile. It felt so nice to know that we'll soon be rid of a LOT of clutter. I am really looking forward to the empty space in our future. 

Next, before the garage sale, we are going to go through all the closets and sort out clothes and other unpacked boxes. I'll mostly be working on this during nap times and Ben will help after bedtime during our rare free evenings. Is it weird to be excited about this? 

After finishing the garage Ben took the weekly belly picture. I had to laugh that I was wearing a really cute and put together outfit for church that morning and we took the picture in a t-shirt and jeans. Oh well. 

How far along? 16 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: 7 lbs! Seemed like a lot to me, but I can't remember how much I had gained at this point last time around and Dr. M says it's just fine. 

Stretch marks? nope

Maternity Clothes: still a mix of small maternity and medium sized pre-pregnancy clothing. I've found myself digging out all my long tops. I have a feeling I'll need to store some shorter shirts already. 

Sleep: pretty good this week.Especially last night after all the work we did over the weekend. I find myself rolling onto my stomach and back lately. 

Best moment this week: Ben hearing the baby's heartbeat for the 1st time.

Movement: yes, lots! I can't wait for Ben to feel it. 

Gender: ultrasound scheduled for May 26th!

Labor Signs: nope.

Food Cravings: stirfry, vanilla ice cream, brownies. you know, healthy stuff. 

Belly Button in or out? in

What I miss: my pre-pregnancy jeans. I'm stuck to the same 2 pairs over and over right now.

What I am looking forward to: the ultrasound in just 25 days (yes, I'm counting down). 

Weekly Wisdom: get ready early. I'm so glad we're starting to get all the big cleaning and organizing items done now before I'm too big to lift and bend (although I'm careful about anything heavy). 

Baby Brain Moment of the Week: forgetting the words to things all the time. For some reason, with both pregnancies I seem to have trouble with words for describing furniture and fixtures. Last night I couldn't think of the word "knobs" when talking about the sink fixtures. 

What did you do with your weekend? Was it sunny and beautiful like it was here? 

Thankful on a Thursday: backyard blooms

I am the opposite of a "green thumb"...whatever that is (black thumb?). I cannot keep simple house plants alive, like a lovely winter cactus I had taken home from my great-grandmother's home to remind me of her after she passed. You think that I'd be able to keep it alive because 1. it had sentimental value and 2. it's a cactus, but somehow it still died.

Outdoor plants do much better around me, only because nature takes better care of them than I ever could. This goes for weeds + moss too which have taken root in our grass. Although, in our defense, our grass was messed up before we bought the place (yet we didn't know because it was overgrown, disguising the dead leaves that had killed patches of grass).  I digress.

We gained a LOT of foliage when we moved her last spring. It was so fun to watch things bloom and try to figure out what they were. We have two very large maple trees (a PAIN in the fall) and a dozen smaller flowering trees. One is a plum and one we suspect is an apple that no longer bears fruit. We also have a lot of flowers; tulips, hyacinths, many different colored roses, mini roses, petunias, a butterfly bush, wisteria,  a rhody and a few others I don't know much about.

For our housewarming one of Ben's aunts gave us some lovely yellow daffodils and lilies. We set the pots outside with every intention to plant them. Eventually it was "out of site, out of mind" and then when Ben was mowing the lawn last week he mentioned that the daffodils were growing. I missed getting a photo of them while they were still blossoming, but it cracks me up that nature did a better job taking care of these plants than I could.

{I mean...really?}

Here are some other, prettier, things that have begun to bloom and blossom in our yard recently.

{purple buds that turn into very pretty blossoms. anybody know what this is?}

{this one reminds me of cherry blossoms, but I know it's not. maybe?}

{pink + white tulips that did not bloom last year}

{our wisteria is running out of room to grow. We may move it soon}

{these poor strawberries are being strangled by weeds}

Perhaps some day I'll find enough time, motivation, and know-how to make things look a little better. For now I'm content looking at how pretty the flowers look without any effort on my behalf.

This week I am thankful for:

601. the lovely plants + flowers that defy the odds and bloom anyhow.

602. a week full of gathering with friends just for the sake of socializing and catching up.

603. God's promise of provision.

604. Ben's promotion at work! woohoo!

605. a close knit family.

606. meeting new people and making new friends through my church/job.

607. sweet little movements in my belly increasing every day.

608. the way my husband makes me laugh.

609. the joy of putting together Kai's Easter basket, including his first Bible.

610. lunch out with my mom + sister today, even if Malakai maybe might have been a cranky, screaming, thrashing, mess.

What are you thankful for?

the layout

I didn't have the layout of our house to include in this post. Ben just made one earlier this week so I added it and thought I'd share it to put things into perspective. I know it always helps me to see layouts when I'm trying to imagine how everything fits together. I'm a very visual learner.



So there you have it, without all the furniture. Makes it look kind of big. Maybe we should get rid of our furniture...

home sweet home: 1 year.

It's hard to believe that we've been homeowners for a year (officially yesterday). It's even harder to believe that we've lived in this house for a year already. Somehow time goes by much faster once you become a parent.

(hint, click the link above for the "before + in process" pictures from last year).

There are many things we want to do to this house, structurally and aesthetically, but most people feel that way about their home, especially their first home. It could be said that this is a starter home and that we should eventually move on to something bigger + "better"...but I don't think that's how things will work out for us. I want to have my kids grow up in one home and one neighborhood. I don't mind a small home, in fact I prefer it over a large one. I don't want my teenagers to hide in their own little wing of our house that's so far away I can't holler at them when I need to. I don't want to have to text or IM someone in my own house when it's time for dinner.

I'm sure that someday we'll remodel and add on. Thankfully we have plenty of property to build on and still have a substantial backyard. This will most likely be many years down the road, but in the last few weeks Ben and I have found ourselves plotting and dreaming.

What will happen first and probably within the next 6 months (if finances allow) is the replacement of the tile floors in the kitchen + dining room. We plan to just extend the laminate from the living room into that space, granted we can find matching laminate. I'm very picky about this. This project will also include replacing the door from the house out to the garage. The new door is actually a Christmas present from my in-laws, but the floor needs to happen first because of the structure of it underneath the door. Basically some pretty shoddy craftsmanship took place.

Here is the overall layout to start:



Anyway, I've never really posted photos of our home all put together or the decor details. So here is a little tour of our first (and possibly our forever) home.

{a panorama view of our front living space. The door on the left is the front door}

{our piano, wedding, + family pictures. Dandelion canvas screen print from Urban Outfitters}

{details: close up of photos, a pillow I made for my grandpa, a blanket made for Kai, photos + books on the shelf.}

{our bedroom, just off the front living space}

{details: DIY chalkboard frame, photos on our dresser of places we love, frame for Kai's art, my wedding bouquet}

{the bathroom, super boring but better than before}

{Malakai's room, right next to ours. Details: turtle prints top right from Etsy, curtains sewn with fabric from Kauai by my mom, Turtle painting done by my amazingly talented aunt Sarah}

{Guest room next to Kai's room. old photo-See how little Kai is! Details: wine rack as magazine holder, framed map of Oahu where I have family and we honeymooned}

{overflowing bulletin board, craft cart, dresser full of craft supplies + random clothes}

{Living room + dining room: at the back of the house where we spend most of our time. Details: upper left print from Red Letter Words and canvas print of baby Kai, sideways bamboo art in dining room from Target, arrangement of photos from our wedding rehearsal in 2007.}

{Kitchen: to the left of the dining room in photo above. Yep, super teensy. Details: DIY chalkboard on the left, red + black plates behind the sink, Target.}

{Details: cluttered fridge art + countertop, black + white photo taken by my mom, brush paintings done by my talented aunt Lorna}

That's our house, all 900 square feet of it! We also have a one car garage where the washer + dryer, toolbench, waterheater, and tons of unpacked boxes remain. Oh yeah, and somehow we fit the car in there too. 

We haven't decided what to do about the bedrooms in preparation for the arrival of our new baby in October. Oddly enough it may depend on gender. If we have a girl I'd love to turn Kai's room into her nursery, I think the green walls would pair really well with honeysuckle pink accents. Then we'd move Malakai into the guest room and store the bed and other things. If we have a boy I'd like to do greys + blues in the current guest room for the nursery as it's already a great light blue that would go well with some grey contrasts. Those are just my ideas for now anyway!

Thanks for taking a look around. I always think it's fun to get a sneak peek into someone else's home. It helps to get to know them better when you see their personal style. 

Happy Monday!

PS don't forget to enter my current giveaway!