I’m still here!

Ever since my sweet Noah was born I’ve been having a harder time blogging.  It’s hard to come up with a decent chunk of time to get a good post written.  Oh well. Take right now for instance.  I really should be getting myself bathed so that I can go meet a friend with all 3 of my children in about an hour.  I most likely will be about 10 minutes late because I’m choosing to blog right now.    Ok, so here’s what life has been like recently:

1. STILL waking up multiple times a night to soothe and comfort my youngest…. I am always tired.  And I’m tired of being tired!

2.  We picked up our first batch of produce from the CSA Farm To City program.  We have enjoyed every bit of what we got except for the radishes.  We’re trying to eat them, but it’s hard to eat something when I really really don’t like it.  Our goal is to not waste any of it.

3.  Noah is sitting up on his own and loving it.  He loves to reach for toys around him, and once he gets the toys he has a blast banging them together.  I’m guessing this is a boy thing.  But it really could just be a baby thing.   Noah is also eating food.  He is not a fan of baby food… and I really don’t blame him.  Bland food isn’t my preference either! haha… so he’s been getting more and more table foods… I think I need to get the magic bullet soon so that he can eat more of our foods.  I don’t see a need to spend more money on foods that he isn’t going to eat!

4.  Grace is done with preschool.  sniff sniff.  My first baby girl is going in to Kindergarten next year!  Yikes!  She’s super excited about going on the school bus next year.  Here’s hoping that the excitement will last by the time she has to take that first step onto the bus.

5.  Becca is finally starting to talk more.  Or rather, I can finally understand more of what she’s been saying.  It’s been wonderful to actually have some sort of conversation with her…. the poor girl must have been so frustrated with me never knowing what she was saying.  I still don’t understand everything she says, but it’s such a big improvement.

6.  Mrs. Woolworth is still alive.  We love our cat dearly, but seeing her age rather quickly over this past year has been hard and sad.  She seems to be getting kind of mangy looking if that makes any sense.  She also seems to be getting frail even though she’s been eating lots of food.  Rich and I sense that the end is near for her.  16 years is a pretty decent life for a cat.  It’s going to be hard to see her go.

7.  Rich is almost done at the Charter School!  Yippie!!!  This summer is going to be great with having him around more… except for when he’s in Bolivia.  I’ll be missing him a lot!  Working at the church is going well.  He loves it.

8.  I’m doing pretty well.  I feel like I can finally handle the 3 kids now.  I haven’t been too brave in going out places by myself with them yet, but I’m getting there.  I’m also starting to lose a little weight (finally!) from my last pregnancy.  The first year after I have a baby is always the hardest for me physically, so when I start to see little bits of my old body coming back I get really encouraged.  I have a feeling that this summer is going to be the time for me to get my body back.  I’ve been walking a lot and eating healthily…. I may even start running by the fall.

9.  My garden seems to be coming along nicely too.  I have a great veggie garden started, and I’m excited to be able to put the fruits of my labor on the table!  The flowers are looking pretty too… but I have a harder time taking care of those.  I think growing food is more up my ally.  Flowers that I really don’t have to maintain are more my thing… although I do enjoy learning how to care for my garden as I go along.  Fun fun!

Plumbing Conclusion

So the plumber got to our house at 4:30.  I kept the girls out of the way while he used his heavy duty snake to clear the pipes.  He said that our pipes are more narrow than newer pipes, which meant that the job was going to be tough.  Well, he did it… he got the snake through the pipes after I don’t know, maybe 45 minutes to an hour.  He knew that he broke through the blockage, but he said that there was a chance that it could get blocked up again as he pulled the snake out.  Ok, whatever… as long as I got the use of my sink, dishwasher, and washing maching back.  So he reassembled the pipes under the sink and made a few necessary repairs and replacements as well.  He filled the sink with water to test it all and it the pipes were still stopped up.  Bummer.  So he had to run the snake again.  Not a fun task.  But I guess this is one reason he makes the big bucks, right?  After struggling with our pipes, he once again got the snake through the pipes.  He said that he kept hitting a tough blockage though.  He tried and he tried, but he could not break through.  Sigh.  After cleaning up he came to talk to me (Rich had to leave with the kids for Bible study).  He said that for the second time in his 24 year career, he could not fix it.  Great.  Now what?  He said that he wasn’t going to charge us for anything (amazing!) and that we’d have to get other people in who specialize specifically in drain blockages.  Ggrrrr…. I was thinking how expensive that would be.  Right before he was about to leave he had the quick thought to go downstairs and cut the pipe.  Hmmm…. ok, well, if there’s a chance it would work I was all for it.  So, downstairs he went.  He cut open the pipe at the perfect spot and was able to clear out the blockage (mostly potato peels) and he was able to physically see that the pipe was completely clear.  Yay!!!!  I was beyond happy!  So, long story short… our pipes are fixed and I have full use of my sink, dishwasher, and washing machine.  Life is good.

Plumbing

Ugh.  Ugh…. ugh… ugh.  For the first time ever, I had to call a plumber today.  You see, yesterday I noticed that the kitchen sink wouldn’t drain properly.   I had to turn the garbage disposal on to get the water down – which I thought was odd.  But I do have 3 kids now, and ended up forgetting about the sink not draining.  After dinner I noticed that there was rice all over my washing machine.  Ummm??  How?  Rich and I guessed that the washing machine and sink share the same drain.  Hmmm… ok.  So he gets the draino stuff and it doesn’t work.  Grrreeeeaaat.   I ended up falling asleep last night thinking about how I was going to have to NOT use dishes until the sink works again.  So this morning I get the number of a plumber… way too expensive.  I ended up calling a friend who knows plumbing and she came over to take a look for me.  She even went out and got a 25 ft snake for the pipes.  The woman knew what she was doing and was working on this for over 2 hours!  Sadly, the conclusion from all of her hard work is that we need a plumber to come in.  boohoo!  That’s a lot of money.  Sigh.  A lot of money that we don’t have.   (pout pout).  Thankfully there’s this plumber who is doing some work at our church today and he is going to come over later this afternoon.  He’s slightly less expensive than the first place we called… but still… it’s a lot of money.  I’m praying that I’ll be able to wash dishes and clothing by the end of the day!!!

Needs Sleep

The girls have been sharing a room for a couple of months now… Grace on the top bunk and Becca on the bottom.   Becca really likes being in a big girl bed now – and for the most part is really good at staying put when it’s time to sleep.  Recently though, nap time has been a big issue.  She isn’t sleeping long enough at all.  The girl is almost always grumpy, and if you know her, you know that she is generally quite the oposite.  Grace has been having a quiet time in her bed while Becca naps.  The problem here is that I cannot get Grace to stay quiet.  She makes lots of noise and ends up waking Becca up.  I know that a simple solution would be to just have Grace out of the room, but the problem with that is she still needs a quiet time too.  Plus, I don’t get a quiet time if she’s downstairs with me.  This is all very frustrating.  Even though it’s almost 4:00, I just put Becca back to bed.  She wouldn’t stop crying and was up from her nap waaaay to early…. so now she’s in bed crying to get up.   What am i supposed to do with her?  I’m on the verge of giving up… but I won’t.  I’ll keep trying to help her get the sleep she needs.

Easter

My sweet Becca on Easter Sunday.

The lovely Grace.

The girls were using their hats as baskets for the Easter egg hunt at my Aunt and Uncle’s house.   Lots of fun… and very chilly outside too!

A Week Long Job

I’ve been a little busy recently.  This past week Rich and Grace both had Spring break.  Normally we would have made it a week of fun with family outings and lots of relaxing.  This year though there were other plans.  We redid our floors.  And by we I mean Rich.    He started bright and early Monday morning as I was getting myself and the kids together to be gone ALL DAY.  He ripped up the carpet and pulled up every single staple as well.  It was a long day for him and for me.  I thankfully was able to spend time with Sue and kids in the morning.  Right after lunch we went to my in-law’s house and stayed there until it was bed time.   The next morning, the kids and I were out of the house bright and early again.  Here’s a picture of the girls with the carpet and staple free floor.

So I was off to my in-law’s house again.  Only I didn’t show up until after lunch time.  For the life of me (haha… I think that’s something my Gramma says) I can’t remember where we were in the morning.  Oh well.  But we were there for nap time and dinner.   I once again came home with the kids late at night.  I think it was well past their bed time this day.  Here’s what I came home to that night.

This is the beastly sanding machine that Rich had to use to get the floors looking like the above.

Rich said that using the sander was super difficult.  Super is my word… not his.   He said that it weighed about 40 – 50 pounds and that it wanted to go in every direction.  So the guy had to use pretty much every muscle in his body for the entire day to get the floor sanded.  Crazy, huh?

Wednesday morning I went to Kate’s house.  That was fun   I really was trying to find something different and fun to do with the kids.  There’s only so much to do in a house that isn’t your own, and movie watching was getting old quickly!  We hung out with Kate and Sue all morning and ended up going to Wendy’s by the Home Depot to meet Rich for lunch.   He was returning the sander and had to get the stain/sealer and polyurethane.  After lunch (which was good – yet difficult to handle with two little girls who were very tired and a little grumpy from being out so much) the girls and I once again went back to my in-law’s.  We stopped home quickly though so that I could get a change of clothing for us all because we were spening the night.  Sigh.  Rich’s parent’s were away in New Jersey for the night so there was extra space which was nice, and I didn’t feel like I was intruding or messing up their schedule.  I mean, there’s only so much of Jessica that they can handle I’m sure   I made corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots for our little family and for Rich’s brother’s and soon to be sister in-law.  It was fun to actually have something to do that took a good amount of time.  Rich came and joined us around 6:30…. here are pictures of what he did during the day.

Rich was thinking that he’d go back home after eating dinner with us all to put on the first coat of the polyurethane.  Um, yeah, not the best idea.   He was so tired that I was nervous he’d fall asleep at the weel on the way there!  So around 9pm I ventured back to our house and put on the first coat.  It felt good to have a small hand in redoing our floor.  I was utterly exhausted by the time I was done though.  I went back to my in-law’s and fell asleep quickly.  Rich left very early the next morning for breakfast with a friend and then to do the 2nd coat.  I went to Frances’s house for the day which was nice.  We were there ALL day.  The kids had a blast and I seriously enjoyed being with grown ups.  The help with the girls was nice too.  Rich came and picked up the girls around 5:00 to head on over to kinship and I took Noah with me to Phoenixville for a friend’s birthday party.  It was a fun and late night for me.  So good to have a break from the girls!  I didn’t get home until after midnight… and when I walked in, the floor was done!  I was crazily happy!!!  It looks fantastic and I’m just so pround of my husband!  Friday we were able to stay home which felt great.  Rich worked hard getting the molding nailed in and I did my best to keep the kiddos out of the way as well as doing some painting in the dining room.  Saturday we worked hard painting.  I was able to go out by myself in the morning.  I went shopping and had a great time.  I didn’t buy much… a couple shirts and then some plants from produce junction, but it felt so good to have that time to myself.  That night Rich went out to play poker with some people from church (haha… that probably sounds so odd to some).  He deserved and needed the time out as well.  While he was gone I finished painting the dining room and put back the furniture.  Actually I think that was Friday night… when he went out and I finished up the painting.  Saturday we spent the afternoon cleaning off the furniture and putting it all back together.  Rich hooked the cable and internet back up and voila!  We had our improved living quarters back.  Here’s a couple final shots.  I took the first one to show the painting and floor in the dining room.  The second is to show the floor leading in to the living room… it’s not a great shot of the room, but that’s ok because it’s the floor I wanted.  Anyway, here’s the fruit of a long and hard but worthwhile week!

Yes, I know they are  sideways.  I forgot to rotate them and don’t feel like taking the time right now to fix it.  But you still get the idea.

So that’s how we Andrews’ spent Spring Break of ‘09!

It found us!

The dreaded stomach bug that I’ve seen attack my friends and their families has found us.  Becca apparently threw up in the middle of the night without waking up.  The poor girl ended up sleeping in it!  Ewww!   When she woke up this morning I was still in bed so I didn’t see her, but Rich did.  Rich was awesome too.  He stripped her bed, took care of the linens and mattress, gave Becca a bath, and then turned her over to me.  It was pretty raunchy, so I’m very thankful for his kindness in taking charge of Becca and her mess.  We actually thought that it was a fluke.  A one time thing.  She was acting perfectly fine… and even seemed to have an appetite for breakfast.  So, I fed her.  I gave her an english muffin just in case – and Rich apparently gave her grapes.  Well, about 30 minutes later, breakfast reappeared while she was laying down on the couch.  I suppose her laying down should have been a clue that she wasn’t feeling well still.  Hmmm… I better pay more attention to that kind of thing in the future.  So I cleaned up the mess.  **shudder**  She relaxed and kind of acted like her normal self for the rest of the morning, and I was hoping and praying that the sickness was gone.  I went and took a shower around 11:30 while the girls were watching some sort of educational show on the Disney channel.  When I came back downstairs I found Becca sleeping soundly on the floor.  Poor girl!  I carried her upstairs and put her in bed and she continued to sleep until 3:00!  That’s definitely a long nap.  When she woke up, Rich came home, and I was able to go out to the store to get the mattress cover and pillow covers that are water proof.  Why hadn’t we thought of this before???  Seriously.  If you do not have your child’s mattresses and pillows covered in waterproof covers, go out and get them… it will save you a lot of hassle in cleaning up mattresses and pillows.  Trust me.  I know.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to get the puke out of her mattress.  Thankfully the pillow is washable.  But still… lots of time wasted on all that.  So, I thought for sure we were out of the woods.  Becca wanted a snack around 4:00 so we gave her pretzels.  Rich again allowed her to have grapes.  Why grapes!?  He left for Bible study and about 30 minutes later, I saw the pretzels and grapes again.  This time my dining room floor was the target.  **more shudders**  So, I had to clean that all up.  So stinkin gross!  I keep praying that the rest of us will be spared from whatever is attacking my sweet girl.  If you can, please pray for us.  Especially Noah.  He’s only 5 months old.  Becca had her fingers in his mouth earlier(!) and it’s going to be a miracle for him to escape unscathed.  Sigh.

Dedication 09

We had Noah dedicated on Sunday.   I love baby dedications… it’s always so amazing to be part of teaching and showing a new little one who God is and what he’s all about.  I do hope and pray that Noah will always belong to God.  It was a fun and busy morning.  Our families came… some all the way from NJ… and they stayed until the mid afternoon.  After church we had a lunch celebrating the occasion at a friend’s house.  Seriously such an amazing day!  We are blessed to belong to a church full of friends who love us and our children dearly.

Get well Soon!!

Becca has been sick for the most part since the Fall.  I have been paying close attention to how long she is healthy between getting sick again… this last time, she was only better for 3 days.  That’s it.  3 days.  I mean, seriously??  The girl needs a break.  I need a break.  She was up so much last night from coughing and didn’t get too much sleep.  Her eyes have dark circles and bags under them.  I ordered her to rest on the couch after she barely touched her breakfast because she was starting to doze off, and she’s still laying there.  Having Winnie the Pooh on helps of course.   I’m just so ready for my little girl to be healthy.

4 Months

I took Noah to his 4 month well visit last night.  The little guy is getting so big!  He’s 18 pounds – HUGE!  And he’s still only nursing too.  He’s 25 3/4 inches and has a normal sized head.  He wasn’t able to get his immunizations though because of a fever.  The little guy caught the dreaded fever that the girls had over the past couple of weeks.  So I’ll take him back in a couple of weeks to get those shots.  Other than that, he’s a strong and mostly healthy little baby boy.

Noah looking handsome at 4 months