(I've tried to load pictures, but it won't let me right now, so I'll hopefully add some later)
We've had an eventful May, though not always in the best way. We started the month by finding out that Philip's car, the Ford Focus, may get good gas mileage but the fact that you make less trips to the gas pump is negated by the fact that we've had to replace all the tires twice in the past 3 years! Note to everyone looking for a car: The Ford Focus apparently has a design flaw that causes the tires to wear faster, we were told that you can expect to get about half the miles out of tires and that's with impeccable maintenance! We've driven about 70,000 miles on the Focus and it has had 3 full sets of tires.
The next thing was that our dishwasher, which we had just paid to have "repaired" started leaking again. So we had to decide whether or not to call the repair place again, or save that money and just get a new one. We decided to get a new one. Of course, we were in the process of trying to find a new fridge at the time because we needed to return the one that we had borrowed from my parents to hold us over, so yeah!
Then, Wednesday night, right before we arrived at the church building we heard a deafening shot. I opened my door to see that our back passenger side tire had completely blown out!
Oh, it has been one of those months! But again and again, I'm reminded how blessed we are to be able to handle all these things. Actually, most of the time, I just laugh it off and shake my head. The humor comes in, I think, when the day before our tire on the van blew out I nearly said out loud while going over our bills, "We should be set for awhile, we've replaced all the big stuff and everything else is under warranty. Glad that's over!" Ironic? The very definition of it! ha! :)
We also had our front door replaced this month. It looks so nice! We ordered it a while ago and it finally came in and they had a nice day to be able to install it. I told Philip that he should be really glad that he didn't try to do that little project by himself. It looked like a very involved process! It's also a lot less drafty than the old door, which may or may not be the original door to the house (it's been a hot button debate issue -- not really, but no one's really sure!). During strong wind - which is a typical weather condition in Illinois - you could feel the gust coming at you from all angles. And since our front door enters our kitchen, and I spend at least half my day in the kitchen, you can imagine that it got pretty cold sometimes!
We've also had a lot of fun in May. We've been working to complete the nursery, which is almost done! (Pictures to come soon -- fingers crossed!) We finally were able to celebrate Easter and Mother's Day at the same time. Our boys cooked pork chops for the grill. All us girls had to do was come up with baked potatoes, salad, and dessert! Callie really enjoyed her Easter egg hunt. She even started hiding the eggs from herself after she found them all to keep the game going!
A lady that Philip works with is moving into a new house, and while going through their stuff to move, found some girl clothes that she gave us for Callie. (So sweet for her to think of us!) Included in those clothes were "Momo" (Elmo) pajamas that Callie has just gone crazy over. The only problem? They're about 2 sizes to small for her at this point! She looks absolutely hilarious in her pajamas, but she gets so excited, I can't take them away! The first night she found them, I could hear her from her room while I was all the way downstairs from saying "Momo! Momo! Momo!" over and over again.
Callie is learning more and more everyday! I know I say this in nearly every blog post, but it's so true! She counts to 10 out loud and with a little bit of help, she can even count objects now (up to 10)! Every once in awhile, she even does it by herself, but she usually adds one when she says it out loud. For example, she'll count while pointing to each block "1 - 2 - 3- 4 -5" and then she looks at me and says "6 blocks!" It's so sweet to watch her figure things out though.
Potty training is stalled for now (please excuse the pun). Every once in awhile she will ask to sit on the potty, but still no connection between sitting on the potty and the action that sitting on the potty requires. We'll get it someday! She's a smart girl (if I do say so myself) so I'm sure once she gets it, it will be a very quick process.
Her favorite thing to say lately is while she's eating. If she really likes something she'll say "Mmmm-Mmmm Liscious!" (Delicious) It cracks me up! Especially because she says it with such passion and flair. Yet another thing I really need to try to catch on video!
She's quite the performer. She sings and dances and is very theatrical! She does this fake fall where she dances back and forth across the room saying "Whoa! Whooooaaa! Whoa!" and then "falls".
Callie is going to be starting her first swimming lessons in June (hopefully, I have to go over there and get her signed up). I'll be taking her up until I have Gabe, and then it will be a Daddy and Callie bonding time on Saturday mornings.
My pregnancy is going well. It's definitely been a different experience than my first one! I've been piling on the symptoms lately, including more and more lower back pain, feet and face swelling, different muscle pains and cramps, and the strangest one, random nose bleeds! I'm recognizing more and more contractions lately, so we'll see if I make it all the way to June 15 or not. The same thing happened with Callie though, so I'm not too worried. In fact, I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet. I figure if I don't pack it, he can't come before I'm ready! (Or he can and I'll be calling my mom from the hospital trying to guide her around my house and pick up the things I need . . . regardless, I should probably get it done!)
Philip's work is going well. Unfortunately, there have been some layoffs lately because the state has failed to fulfill their financial obligations to most schools, library systems, and anything else you can think of. (Anyone else find it more than a little disgusting that I have to live on a budget while the state takes and spends my money and more -- then they want me to pay them more because they are not fiscally responsible?? I'm more than a little disgusted!) But, in light of the layoffs, Philip was upgraded from a cubicle to an office. We just keep praying and we know no matter what happens, God is with us through it all!
Philip also had his birthday last Sunday. He's the big 2-6 now! So old! ;)
I hope you recognize the many ways that God has blessed you this week! I sure have! God bless you and yours this weekend. We love and miss all of our family that lives far away. Keep us updated about you; we love to hear about your lives!
We've had an eventful May, though not always in the best way. We started the month by finding out that Philip's car, the Ford Focus, may get good gas mileage but the fact that you make less trips to the gas pump is negated by the fact that we've had to replace all the tires twice in the past 3 years! Note to everyone looking for a car: The Ford Focus apparently has a design flaw that causes the tires to wear faster, we were told that you can expect to get about half the miles out of tires and that's with impeccable maintenance! We've driven about 70,000 miles on the Focus and it has had 3 full sets of tires.
The next thing was that our dishwasher, which we had just paid to have "repaired" started leaking again. So we had to decide whether or not to call the repair place again, or save that money and just get a new one. We decided to get a new one. Of course, we were in the process of trying to find a new fridge at the time because we needed to return the one that we had borrowed from my parents to hold us over, so yeah!
Then, Wednesday night, right before we arrived at the church building we heard a deafening shot. I opened my door to see that our back passenger side tire had completely blown out!
Oh, it has been one of those months! But again and again, I'm reminded how blessed we are to be able to handle all these things. Actually, most of the time, I just laugh it off and shake my head. The humor comes in, I think, when the day before our tire on the van blew out I nearly said out loud while going over our bills, "We should be set for awhile, we've replaced all the big stuff and everything else is under warranty. Glad that's over!" Ironic? The very definition of it! ha! :)
We also had our front door replaced this month. It looks so nice! We ordered it a while ago and it finally came in and they had a nice day to be able to install it. I told Philip that he should be really glad that he didn't try to do that little project by himself. It looked like a very involved process! It's also a lot less drafty than the old door, which may or may not be the original door to the house (it's been a hot button debate issue -- not really, but no one's really sure!). During strong wind - which is a typical weather condition in Illinois - you could feel the gust coming at you from all angles. And since our front door enters our kitchen, and I spend at least half my day in the kitchen, you can imagine that it got pretty cold sometimes!
We've also had a lot of fun in May. We've been working to complete the nursery, which is almost done! (Pictures to come soon -- fingers crossed!) We finally were able to celebrate Easter and Mother's Day at the same time. Our boys cooked pork chops for the grill. All us girls had to do was come up with baked potatoes, salad, and dessert! Callie really enjoyed her Easter egg hunt. She even started hiding the eggs from herself after she found them all to keep the game going!
A lady that Philip works with is moving into a new house, and while going through their stuff to move, found some girl clothes that she gave us for Callie. (So sweet for her to think of us!) Included in those clothes were "Momo" (Elmo) pajamas that Callie has just gone crazy over. The only problem? They're about 2 sizes to small for her at this point! She looks absolutely hilarious in her pajamas, but she gets so excited, I can't take them away! The first night she found them, I could hear her from her room while I was all the way downstairs from saying "Momo! Momo! Momo!" over and over again.
Callie is learning more and more everyday! I know I say this in nearly every blog post, but it's so true! She counts to 10 out loud and with a little bit of help, she can even count objects now (up to 10)! Every once in awhile, she even does it by herself, but she usually adds one when she says it out loud. For example, she'll count while pointing to each block "1 - 2 - 3- 4 -5" and then she looks at me and says "6 blocks!" It's so sweet to watch her figure things out though.
Potty training is stalled for now (please excuse the pun). Every once in awhile she will ask to sit on the potty, but still no connection between sitting on the potty and the action that sitting on the potty requires. We'll get it someday! She's a smart girl (if I do say so myself) so I'm sure once she gets it, it will be a very quick process.
Her favorite thing to say lately is while she's eating. If she really likes something she'll say "Mmmm-Mmmm Liscious!" (Delicious) It cracks me up! Especially because she says it with such passion and flair. Yet another thing I really need to try to catch on video!
She's quite the performer. She sings and dances and is very theatrical! She does this fake fall where she dances back and forth across the room saying "Whoa! Whooooaaa! Whoa!" and then "falls".
Callie is going to be starting her first swimming lessons in June (hopefully, I have to go over there and get her signed up). I'll be taking her up until I have Gabe, and then it will be a Daddy and Callie bonding time on Saturday mornings.
My pregnancy is going well. It's definitely been a different experience than my first one! I've been piling on the symptoms lately, including more and more lower back pain, feet and face swelling, different muscle pains and cramps, and the strangest one, random nose bleeds! I'm recognizing more and more contractions lately, so we'll see if I make it all the way to June 15 or not. The same thing happened with Callie though, so I'm not too worried. In fact, I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet. I figure if I don't pack it, he can't come before I'm ready! (Or he can and I'll be calling my mom from the hospital trying to guide her around my house and pick up the things I need . . . regardless, I should probably get it done!)
Philip's work is going well. Unfortunately, there have been some layoffs lately because the state has failed to fulfill their financial obligations to most schools, library systems, and anything else you can think of. (Anyone else find it more than a little disgusting that I have to live on a budget while the state takes and spends my money and more -- then they want me to pay them more because they are not fiscally responsible?? I'm more than a little disgusted!) But, in light of the layoffs, Philip was upgraded from a cubicle to an office. We just keep praying and we know no matter what happens, God is with us through it all!
Philip also had his birthday last Sunday. He's the big 2-6 now! So old! ;)
I hope you recognize the many ways that God has blessed you this week! I sure have! God bless you and yours this weekend. We love and miss all of our family that lives far away. Keep us updated about you; we love to hear about your lives!
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