Aaron is 7 months

Time is a 'flyin. I can't believe I just wrote that title to this post. Aaron is growing so fast. I've heard it said that the days are long but the years short. I completely agree. Before I know it months have gone by in this little guy's life.

Aaron is at both an incredibly awesome and totally drive me crazy stage of babyhood. He rolls all over the place and gets himself stuck all the time, but he hasn't quite figured out how to scoot or crawl yet. In fact he isn't quite sitting yet either. He does a really awesome balance for a few seconds until something distracts him and then over he goes! Since we have all wood floors, I'm chomping at the bit a little to get him moving independently in a way that doesn't involve him bonking his head. He seems less motivated to do that then his older two siblings were by now. Maybe because they'll happily come to him to play.

Spencer and Aaron have a particularly fabulous relationship. They love each other so much. Spencer can make Aaron laugh and laugh and laugh. He'll spend more time playing with Aaron than doing anything else. It's pretty fantastic.

Aaron loves to grab anything he can get a hold of. He's delighted beyond reason when he happens to grab my hair.

I've never seen a child of mine take to eating as well as Aaron. He loves everything and anything that he can eat. He's surprisingly quick to learn how to eat too, especially since he doesn't even have a single tooth. That's part of the drive me crazy stage he's in. He has these stretches nearly every day where he's just so sad and crying because he's obviously in pain, but the actual teeth are coming in really slow. Sometimes he struggles to nurse because of it, and I just am sad for him.

Aside from those patches Aaron is the sunniest, happiest little baby. He has the best smile. He lights up and squeals in delight whenever he sees people he likes. It's fantastic. He still goes to anyone who wants to hold him. He has no concept of stranger danger. It definitely could develop still, but for now he just loves everyone equally.

People always say that they don't know what they would do without a particular child. I feel a bit the same. Our three kids are pretty close together, so it's been quite the whirlwind the last four years. I've almost forgotten what it was like to have just one or just two. It just seems normal to have all three and have their cute little personalities mixing together. Aaron definitely makes everyone happier.

Photo Dump

I take photos almost exclusively on my phone these days. I love the moments I can capture. Here's some from the last few weeks.

Aaron looks rather nonplussed, but I was super excited for his first time sitting up on his own in a shopping buggy.

Aaron just loves hanging out with his older siblings these days.

On one hand they each look so unique, but when I look at this picture I just think they're like little carbon copies of each other, just a little bit different color each. I'm biased, but I think they're the cutest kids around.

These two are such good buddies. Spencer can get the best laughs out of Aaron, and they just love each other to pieces.

Genevieve has taken to getting up in the 5AM hour most days. It's not pleasant. But afternoon naps where she crawls up on my chest and falls asleep? This from a girl who can't sit still for more than two seconds in a row? Those I'll take any day.

Spencer poured his own honey for his bread. 

He was quite pleased with himself. I'm just pleased he's gotten to a stage where he'll get his own food, vast quantities of honey or not. This is kind of a big deal for him. I don't talk about his food struggles on here much anymore, but suffice it to say he still has a hard time and making his own food is a huge win.

Aaron for the picture win!

Bill and I were comparing cute pictures of our kids on our phones to each other last night and I was struck by how very many pictures there are of Genevieve surrounded by piles of food. That girl. She is a tornado. She loves her some dry pasta though. And I think this is her favorite seat in the house, pulled up into the pantry ready to pilfer.

Why yes I have six rolls down my side. This squishy boy of mine loves to eat more than anything else and I love watching him. He is such a delight.

Emo Genevieve.

Walked in to see this the other day. Such an acrobat.

My fireman prince! Two costumes on top of each other in this one.

Spencer told me he made a fort for Aaron. Aaron was pleased.

The kids wanted to go see the train that runs near our house, so I squished them in the jogging trailer and headed out. It was awesome. Pushing 90 lbs' worth of kids is a good workout by the way.

Hiking

I created my annual photo book a few weeks ago for 2014. As I perused it when it arrived I realized we went on exactly three hikes the entirety of 2014. That's got to be an all decade low. Granted, I spent half the year so, so, so heavily pregnant and the other half with a tiny baby, so this isn't a surprise or a problem, but this year seems like it will be much better for hiking.

A couple days ago we tested out that hypothesis by taking the kids on a little hike just over by Bill's work. It was only about a mile-long hike, and for the first time we had both Spencer and Genevieve walk the whole way. I feel like this last year they have grown so much and gotten so independent and capable, particularly Spencer. Genevieve is doing her level best to keep up with him. She loves to be able to do everything he does. The hike was beautiful. We hiked down to the lake and threw rocks in the water for a while before heading back to get some ice cream. They loved it and were great little troopers. It really frees up our ability to do things with both of them being capable of walking more distance.

Here's a few pictures from the trip. It was a lovely day.

This kid was SO happy to be out hiking. He ran pretty much the entire way, grinning from ear to ear. 

I have like 25 pictures from the hike and exactly two of myself. At least this is a good one. :)

He has the biggest smile. It brightens my day every single time.

house projects

Moving into this house has me itching to actually own my own place. This house has so much potential, but some of the projects are just too big or too expensive to do to a rental. Like we have the most beautiful, but horribly beat up wood floors. If you walk on them in socks the socks catch on all the places the finish is scratched and peeled off. It would be a huge and dusty project to refinish them, but if I owned the place I totally would because the wood really is beautiful. The cabinets in the kitchen have good bones, but the doors are total junk. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to replace the doors and paint them a nicer color. Again, if we owned the place. The whole place could use new paint, new trim, new doors. It would make a huge difference on how old it feels.

There are some things we are able to do though without spending a lot that really improve daily life. We've replaced blinds and cleaned out corners and fixed doors so they don't stick when they close and little things like that. We are working on improving the yard. The driveway floods horribly whenever it rains and it takes days and days to dry off due to the trees. We're going to dig a french drain down the side of it. For the cost of some gravel we won't have perpetual puddles. It rains often here, so that's a big deal.

We're clearing out some of the tiny trees that are trying to take over the yard. A friend of ours has a chainsaw that we're going to put to good use on that project. Bill raked a good chunk of our yard the other day and it's good to see that there is green grass under all the leaves and pine needles.

So it's a step towards permanence. Bill and I celebrated six years of marriage a couple weeks ago. We've wanted a house for a good long while now, but it just isn't part of our financial plan yet. It's getting to where it's not too far away though and that's cool to see. I may be eating my words in two years, but we think Bill will be finished with his degree in that time. I can keep hoping! For now we do little things to make this place better and keep dreaming.

Happy birthday to me

Four years ago tomorrow I got the sweetest gift of Spencer on my birthday. He was quite possibly the best birthday present I'd ever received. Nothing can really compare to that first baby that makes you a mom, and on my birthday no less.

I don't really know what I'll do tomorrow to celebrate my birthday. We have some awesome new toys for Spencer, so I'm sure it will involve lots of playing with them. I have scouts that night, so hanging out with a couple 9 year-olds is on the agenda. Visiting a friend is in there too.

So nothing that special or out of the norm, but another good day, another good year. I've liked the first couple years of my 30s. We've managed to accomplish quite a few goals and are well on the way to finishing some others. I have a great husband and some awesome kids. It's a good place to be.

This is going to be a great year, I can already tell. I have some races planned, some fun things to do as a family, plenty of things to build for our house, a couple quilts to finish or make, and I'm sure lots of other awesome things in the works. We need to get out hiking and camping some more. Bill and I need to go on a few more regular dates. We need to be deliberate about how we spend our time and make the most of it. All good things. I'm looking forward to it.

Growing up

This cute kid turns four tomorrow.

I can't believe it's been that many years since he made me a mom. He changed our world forever and I love him to pieces. It's hard to believe he ever looked like this. It's crazy to look back four years ago. I have to admit, I hardly recognize him. He's just so vibrant and full of personality now, it's hard to remember this little bundle of cuteness.

He has the most fantastic personality. He's funny and smart and clever and a great big brother. He's such a good helper and such a good little buddy. He also happens to stretch my parenting ability to the limits and beyond. He is growing so fast and wants to explore the world and learn and understand things and it's just awesome to help him do just that. I've been checking out a few preschools for him and I picked one that hopefully he will get into in a couple weeks when they open registration. I can't wait to see all he'll learn and how he'll change as he experiences being with other kids so much more and all the new experiences that will come with. Happy birthday, Spencer!

It started with a simple connection made for a friend

I don't talk much on here about my work or where my interests lie there. In fact, many people don't know I have a job. It's not something I talk much about, but it is what I do on the side to help keep the finances working while Bill is in grad school and help us have more of a semblance of normality though we are living on a graduate stipend. I stayed with the company I worked with between my two college degrees as a contract employee. I have always felt like it paid well enough and is just the right kind of flexible that it meets my needs right now when my primary focus is being a SAHM to my kids and supporting Bill in his educational pursuits. It has been a huge blessing to have that work all these years.

The thing is, I do have some professional interests. I haven't thought about them for quite a while because I was comfortable where I was, but an innocent request from a friend that caused me to connect two people I know got the gears going in my brain.

It's coming on four years since I graduated from BYU with an MPA. It is crazy to even type that, but it really has been that long. It was kind of interesting timing that I did that program. I started three years after I had finished my bachelor's degree. I had loved my undergrad degree but the job market after college wasn't what I had hoped and I didn't enjoy the career path I was in. Graduate school was a dream come true. It was an amazing experience and I really found some areas I was interested in pursuing professionally. It turned into a bit of a juggling act though because Bill was also working on his undergrad at the same time and we had plans to start our family. We ended up doing an internship for him instead of me and then Spencer came along and that became a much larger focus for me than what I wanted to do professionally. He was three months old when I graduated with my MPA.

It's funny because at that time I decided to forego some of the career things I was interested in to focus on full time parenting. That was a good decision. I was overwhelmed at the time and it was good to focus on only that. Four years later I have three kids and a husband doing a PhD and yet it seems like a great time to revisit some of those earlier interests. You'd think I'd be way more overwhelmed now, but not so much. It's funny how life changes. The more kids I have the better I become at using my time well, at getting done what needs to be done and maximizing the time I have when they're asleep. It's still a work in progress, but I appreciate the ways I've grown from those early days of parenting and just scraping by trying to keep up with all the needs.

So I'm circling back and looking at ways to use my degree. I gained some really fantastic skills through grad school and other experiences over the years and it's feeling like a really good idea to start using them more. I'm already working. Why not work doing things that are fulfilling professionally and not just things that pay the bills? And heck, if it turns into a more lucrative situation than I am currently in, all the better! I never get more time, so if I can use my time better, that's a win.

So I'm not quite ready to leap into things, but I'm one step closer. I'm not going to run out and quit my current stable job, but I am looking at possibilities of doing some editing work, some PowerPoint design work, and some decision analysis work to help people make more informed decisions. I have some sweet tools that go along with that. We'll see what comes of all of this. Suffice it to say I'm excited about the possibilities.

House tour

I think I have unpacked every box that is possible to unpack in our new house, so it's about time to show some pictures of the place. I'm pleased with how it has turned out so far. There's a few places where I need a table or dresser or rug, but not nearly as much as I expected. I definitely didn't spend much time organizing the toys or such nonsense, so since you're all my friends, just enjoy the lived in look. Haha! Here goes, the official home tour 2015.

Spencer and Genevieve's room. For the life of me I haven't figured out what kind of stuff to put on their walls since their beds take up so much space, so we'll just pretend I have it beautifully decorated. We actually don't spend much time in here. The dollhouse got moved out to the living room, so that's where the action is most of the time. They have a half bath attached, which is quite convenient.

Master bedroom. It's a bit bigger than in our last apartment, and it's so nice to have just a bit more space to move around.

 Main bathroom. We lost a bathtub in the move, so this room feels exceptionally squished with the kid's toys and Aaron's tub and lots and lots of towels, plus washer and dryer behind the door, but it is also very efficient use of space, so I'll take it.

 Dining room

 Kitchen

 Living room

 Aaron's room. I found this rug randomly at Lowes for dirt cheap and I kind of love it.

I realized I've not taken any outdoor shots, which is my favorite part of the place, but that will have to wait as it's pitch black outside and 25 degrees. Turns out with the humidity that feels quite frigid. I'm not used to that kind of cold these days!