Change is good.

I like to think I'm a pretty easy going person. I take life as it comes. Sometimes it comes on a little faster than I expect, but that's not to say it's bad.

The boys are surprisingly good with change. Someone told me once children don't take well to change. But my boys have moved into the new house seamlessly, and are loving the puppy life. Sometimes I wonder if we were totally crazy moving and getting a puppy all within 8 days, but it really played out well. I anticipated the worst (ie. the cat and the dog hating each other, the boys not liking the puppy, the puppy being a TON of work and the boys displaying bad behavior as a result of the attention being shared with the puppy). We really figured that since we hadn't quite gotten into a new schedule/beat at the new house, that adding a puppy now would be the best idea, so we could all acclimate to the same schedule together, instead of getting settled, and then in a while adding a puppy and changing the whole daily schedule up again.

Thomas and Elliott are adjusting to their new room, and their new bunk beds. We decided that while Thomas was away for a week at nana and papa's, we'd tackle Elliott's soother. I've wanted to phase him out of it for awhile now, but decided it would be smarter to wait until we moved, and then once Thomas was away with nana and papa, Elliott wouldn't disturb him in the night if he had any issues without his soother. Before we got started, I explained to Elliott that he's a big boy now, sleeping in a big boy bed, and big boys don't use soothers anymore. In our conversation, he seemed on board, but when it was nap time, he definitely wasn't happy about it. He knew he was going to have a problem not being contained, so he asked to sleep in the play pen. It took him about 45 minutes to settle, but once he did, he had a good nap. At bedtime, it was the same struggle, he asked again to sleep in the playpen, but spent a good amount of time climbing out and banging on his bedroom door asking for his soother. After putting him back in the playpen 3 or 4 times and telling him it was time to sleep, I decided on a distraction tactic and gave him a bottle of milk. (I know, bottles in bed are a big no no, but in the name of getting rid of his soother, I made this exception.) The bottle worked! He went to sleep only 10 minutes after he'd been given the bottle. Success! We did this nap/bedtime dance for another 2 days, and now he is soother free, playpen free, and doesn't need a bottle (every time) to go to sleep. Sometimes he'll ask for a bottle at nap time, and to keep the peace, I'll indulge him in that, but I can tell he won't be asking for it much longer.

It really has been an easy adjustment period. I thought at least Thomas would tell me he missed our old house and wanted to move home, but so far he hasn't. They've picked out landmarks they recognize that are near the house, and exclaim "almost home!" when we near them on our way back. That makes me smile every time, because I know they like it here as much as I do.

Nothing is perfect, so there is one thing I don't like about Abbotsford. The outdoor pools are far and few between, and they're not free like the ones in Surrey. They also only take cash, and we rarely have any cash on us. Womp Womp Womp. But really, if that's the only fault I can find, so far, then I think we're in the clear. ;) Just wait until winter though, I may complain about the amount of snow. ;)

I hear the timer for dinner, so I'd better get the hungry monsters fed. :)

 Happy Monday!

Thankful Thursday after the hiatus

Hey! Wow! It's been 3 weeks! That went by so fast!

Now that we're all moved, it feels like we've been here for a month. We feel so at home here. It's perfect. And the boys can't get enough of our backyard. So great. The commute for hubby isn't the most awesome, but it could certainly be worse. Here's my thankful thursday post:

I am thankful for:

1. Living in a basement suite! SO cool! (Not as in, cool dude, but as in not hot in temperature.) It is so refreshing down here!  We can spend the day in the hot sun, and come inside and be cool as a cucumber. Perfect.

2. Our new neighborhood. It is SOOOOOO quiet. 

3. 

Our puppy! Echo joined our family  almost 2 weeks ago. He is a Lab x Rhodesian Ridgeback. He has the sweetest, calm demeanor, but also plays really well. He is very laid back, and really only gets "frisky" in the evening. He really likes our cat, who in turn is mostly accepting of Echo. He is great with his house training. We've had a few pee accidents, but those were probably a combo of me not knowing his que's yet and not being fast enough when I do notice them. He sleeps well in the crate in our bedroom, and even though he wakes up between 5 and 630 in the morning to go pee, he settles back down in his crate so mommy can get another hour or so of shut eye. He knows "come" and "sit". We're working on "stay". He makes the cutest sucking noise when he's asleep, as though he's got a soother in his mouth. Adorable. We love him.

4. Our move going smoothly. We had some friends and family join us (thanks again!!) in helping load the truck, and unload the truck. It went surprisingly fast. We definitely had a lot more stuff (crap) than I thought we had, so we had to load up additional vehicles, but all in all it went quite well. 

5. 

The ability to go away for a weekend with my bestie! We went down to Lynnwood, Washington and did some shopping. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory! I had never been there before -- it was AWESOME! Totally worth the 30 minute wait. We shared Crispy Cuban Rolls (seriously delicious!),  Warm Crab and Artichoke dip, and got our own cheesecakes, which we waited til we were back at our hotel room to enjoy with a bottle of wine. YUM! We went and got Echo on our second day. We got to do some exploring because neither of us had ever gone to the Peninsula. We picked up Echo in Sequim, Washington. What a super adorable little town! I'd love to go back for a vacation! Next time I think we'll try to get to Port Angeles and Forks. All in all, what a super FAB trip that was. Ange is the best road trip buddy!

6. 

My darling Husband! He turned 29 the other week. We celebrated at the Keg (yay for gift cards!) with our old neighbors who were in town visiting. It was a delightful evening.

7. Our new backyard! Fully fenced, so I don't have to worry about the kids wandering off, and it has some pretty awesome shade because of the deck upstairs. The boys LOVE IT. And I do too!

8. Our awesome craigslist find for Echo -- his new super huge crate. He's going to be a really big dog, so having a big crate for him to grow into was really important. I didn't want to be buying a new crate every time he grew, and through craigslist we found a great deal on a practically brand new one. Yay!

9. Thomas liking his new bunk bed. I had fears that he'd be afraid of the top bunk, and afraid to climb down the ladder, but he's actually loving it!

10. The boys are so good with the new rules for where toys are allowed. We don't want Echo to get into any of the boys toys and get sick, so the toys are only allowed in the boys room, and they're abiding the rules very well. Yay! They're such good kids :)

All in all, I'm extremely thankful that our transition to the new house went smooth, and that we're all feeling quite comfortable here. 

Chip Chip Chip'n Away

Oh boy, we're 17 days til moving day! I'm not sure who's more excited -- me or the kids?!

We happily got to take some boxes over, and get another look around. Every time we go the place and yard look bigger! (I wonder if we're subconsciously telling ourselves it's a huge downsize, so that when we get there, it won't seem so small. If that's our subconscious plan, it's working!!!)  Getting some of our boxes moved makes room for more boxes to be put in our storage spaces. I can't wait until we can just clean it all out though!

I've gotten a lot of cleaning done, and hopefully all that's left as we leave is a quick wipe down of walls/windowsills/counters. The carpets will get steam cleaned the day after we're out, and hopefully that will be it. *Fingers Crossed*!

The boys are becoming such good friends. Yes, they still fight a TON, but they also get along a lot of the time too. Today they were fighting over who got to hug and snuggle me. Not gonna lie, I let them fight over me for a good 45 minutes! 45 minutes of snuggles and hugs is unheard of with 2 little boys, so I enjoyed every moment. *Grin*

Thomas is such a sweet boy. When Uncle Cam came to pick up Emma today, Thomas exclaimed, "Uncle Cam! I love you!" Thomas keeps telling me how excited he is to have a bunk bed. I'm just desperately hoping he doesn't fall and break something! I'm considering painting the ladder to the top with some sort of glow in the dark paint, so that if he has to go to the bathroom in the night he'll be able to see where he's going. I've started to get nervous about Elliott escaping during the night, since he won't be in a crib anymore... maybe we'll install high railings on the side and end of his bunk to keep him in a night? Like a cage... that doesn't sound humane... hahaha

While I feel like I'm accomplishing a lot for this move, I also feel a little like it's overtaking my life. Good thing moving isn't something we intend on doing again for at least 5 years.

Things we are excited about for the move:

- getting a king size bed (because it will fit in our new enormous bedroom!!!)
- being able to send the boys out to the yard and not having to be out there the whole time with them, because it's fully fenced, and our kitchen and living room windows look at the yard.
- cheaper gas in abbotsford
- super duper close to the border
- close to all the U-pick farms (we LOVE to pick blueberries and raspberries in the summer)
- getting a dog, because we're allowed. Yay!
- getting to see Hannah and Grace every day! We love them!


Here's hoping the next few weeks fly, but are extremely productive!

Maybe I should change the name of my blog...

To something like "I only write on Thursdays so I'm thankful"...

I really need to start planning out at least 1 more post a week. Even I'm boring myself these days. Though, if I have nothing else to say except what I'm thankful for, life can't be that boring. I am at the very least keeping things in perspective.

And honestly, life is far from boring. Taking care of 3+ kids really keeps me on my toes. And getting the house ready to move. And attempting to keep it clean/deep clean it for the move. All very time consuming.

I've started planning out what the boys new bedroom will look like. I picked up some bunk beds (with the help of my big brother) over the weekend, and I'm pretty excited for the boys to get into them. We took them straight over to the new place, so it'll still be 2 months before the boys get to use them, but I'm working on bedding now for them. Below are some screenshots of the fabrics I'm going to use to sew duvet covers for the boys. The Car one will be for Elliott, the Planes for Thomas, and the Zig Zag I'm going to put as the reversible side for both duvets. I've picked out some matching accent colors for pillow covers and curtains. I'm pretty excited. It's going to look pretty cool once it's all put together. :)

Thomas had made specific requests that there be orange in his new bedroom. So this is how I plan to add orange without it being overwhelming. I don't remember what colour their room is at this current moment, but I think I'd like to paint it a nice beige like the background of the cars fabric has. And possibly do some accent stripes in the teal and orange. We'll see.

I'm really enjoying planning this all out. We know that for a minimum we'll be at this place for 5 years, so I can make things fairly permanent. I've got lots of ideas for the master bedroom too. We want to get a new bed (the one we've had has been around for a good 20 years), and we're hoping it'll be a King size. I've got designs for how we want to do the bed frame all ready to go. We're going to make a base out of Ikea shelving units laid on their sides. That we we'll have under the bed storage. I'd like to make a "headboard" out of the same idea too. We both have some nick-nacks we'd like on display, and I think this is the best way to get them all up where we can enjoy them. :) 

I really have to stop looking at puppies. I keep finding puppies I want really badly, but we can't get one until we've moved, and realistically, we should probably get settled before we get a puppy. Haha. :) I found one little girl pup that wouldn't be ready to be adopted for another few weeks, but she sadly passed away, and all of her siblings are spoken for. Ah well. All in good time. I'm really just so thrilled to add a fur baby to our family!

Naps are wrapping up here, and I'd better take advantage of the quiet and unload that dishwasher before I've got 2 more sets of hands trying to "help"!

Limbo and Love Yourself

We've known for quite awhile now that we'll be moving this summer. Now that it's finally Spring it feels like time has slowed right down. I think we're all feeling a little stuck. We want to start packing and organizing, but we have 3 months til the move and that seems really premature. We just want to get on with it, already! We're also thinking we'll be getting a puppy when we move, because Josh and I have always wanted to have a dog for the family to love. Sure, we have Little Foot to love, but he's rather unpredictable and that makes it hard to want to cuddle with him sometimes. You never quite know if he's going to purr or bite you (gently). He's also a bit rebellious, (duh, cat), and he'll scratch our furniture, which totally irks me.

I'm going to start filling holes and touch up painting pretty soon, I'm hoping it's not a 3 month long project, but it'll be good to get started now. And of course it's time to start purging all our stuff we don't use. I'm not looking forward to that part. I'm not a hoarder, by any means, but we do have stuff that we haven't looked at in years, but it likely has sentimental value.

The sun shining these past few days has been so nice, but makes it hard for me to be productive in the house. I'd rather be outside with the kids! Not wishing for rain (!!!!) but I think it's time I learned to balance work and play. ;)

Alright, down to the serious matter that's been on my heart lately. I've included a link below; basically it's showing women and different sizes in clothing, who all weigh the same. I'm of the mindset that we are all beautiful; curvy, skinny, in between, tall, short... ect. There was a thing on some plus size websites going around that started calling the curvier girl a "real" woman. And while I do definitely think that the plus size community (myself included) may have needed that boost in confidence, it also brought down women who are not curvy. And that doesn't sit right with me. Yes, bigger girls are real... but uh, so are skinny girls. What would make anyone less "real"? We're all matter. We're all made by God. That's real.

As a woman who loves her body, no matter what size I'm at, all I have to say to those struggling with body issues is;  Your clothing size does not make you any less of your defining characteristics. If you're compassionate, silly, gracious, and a little snarky at times, being a size 2 or a size 22 isn't going to change that about you. You are beautiful, no matter what store you shop in, what size you wear, or how many stretch marks you have, because we all have those. You are beautiful whether you work out several times a week, or feel accomplished after a 30 minute walk once in awhile.

We all have insecurities, we all have things we'd like to change. But wouldn't our world be a very different place if we focused on the bad attitudes that need a shake up? Worked on our internal health as much as we picked at our outsides? Just a thought. So have a look at the link, it's quite neat to see all the different bodies who all weigh the same but are different sizes.


here's the link i'm talking about