All about us.

Well, I thought I would give you all an update of how we all are doing, just some fun, mostly interesting (especially to grandparents!) facts.

Now that it is fall, our lives are a bit more predictable (as much as life can be) and a little slower. We basically just have our weekly routine that we go through - church, youth group, prayer meeting, kids program, visitation, etc. And in between all that is the personal stuff like family times and working on the house.

Speaking of the house, it is coming along just great. All that is left in the kitchen is to put up the over-the-range microwave which is planned to go in tomorrow! I will be glad to have that put in for several reasons, one of which is I will then have a light over the stove. The kitchen just has one main light in the middle of the room, so it can get kinda dark and shadowy (oooo.. sounds scary! :-) ) on top of the stove. I didn't realize how much I used the light over the stove until I didn't have one any more! But once that is up, the kitchen and dining room will be all complete. Then, the living room is pretty much done. I just want to get all my pictures hung on the walls, and then I will take pics to post for you all to see the transformation it has gone through. It definitely looks different!

Next on the list of things to do are: build a laundry room in the garage, finish the bathroom, and paint and lay floor in hallway. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the laundry room is in the basement here. Not a big deal - unless you are almost 7 months pregnant and have a bad back anyway. It is quite difficult for me to be constantly going up and down the stairs with loads of laundry and such. I have tried not to complain too much about it, but Matt knows how hard it is for me, and really wants to get it moved up to the main floor. We have a large 2 car garage, with lots of extra space on the side, so there is enough room to build a room. It will not be a huge room, but big enough for the washer, dryer, chest freezer, and shelf for a pantry.

The bathroom is halfway done, too. Matt has already torn down the wallpaper (praise the Lord!!! ) and skim coated and primed the walls, as well as paint the vanity a dark chocolate brown. Now we just have to paint the walls, replace the counter top, and replace the vinyl floor. But all that will probably be done either next month or the next. We have all the stuff to do the hallway - it is going to be the same as the living room. It is just a matter of having the time to do it!

Actually, Amanda and her husband (it is still weird for me to say that! :-) ) are on their way here as I type this to spend the weekend with us and help us get some of this stuff done. I am very excited to see them! Last time I saw them was them leaving in a car to go on their honeymoon! Anyways, Andrew has a lot of tools that Matt would need to do all this, and wants to help Matt out. So the two of them plan to get the microwave put in (they have to cut in a vent in the ceiling since there is not one now) and get as much done on the laundry room as our budget will allow. Amanda is going to help me get stuff organized that I just haven't had the energy to do.

Wow, I just realized I spent a bunch more time talking about our renos than I planned! Sorry if I bored you out of your mind! I'll move on to us, now.

Let's start with Matt. He is doing well over all. A bit tired, but that is life, right? I believe I told you all about him having some health issues. Well, he is still having them. He actually has a procedure scheduled for October 19th to help figure out what is the deal. He has been having a lot of pain on the left side right near his large intestine. They think it is diverticulitis, but not for sure. So that gives him some trouble. Thankfully, these last few days it has not been as bad.

I am doing well. Just getting larger by the day, it feels like. It always bugs me when people say, "Oh, you are so small!" because that is not how I feel. I mean, I am usually a TON skinnier than this. Maybe it is the preggo hormones that cause me to get irritated with it, but why do people feel the need to comment on a pregnant woman's size?? Why? I am no longer dealing with nausea, so that is wonderful. Now I am just struggling with the little thing called sleep. I can't seem to do it! On a really good night, I will get maybe 4 hours (not straight - nature calls!) of sleep. So that has been hard. For some reason, this pregnancy I have not been able to get comfortable for anything. And I have tried pretty much everything except duct taping myself to the wall and sleeping like the astronauts do. Hmmm... maybe I should try it! ;-) Other than being so tired from not sleeping, and then trying to keep up with Liam and Leila, who seem to have double the energy these days, I am feeling good. The baby is really moving a ton, which I LOVE that feeling!

OH!!!!! Speaking of being pregnant, I recently found out that some of Matt's and mine best friends whom we went to college with are expecting, due in May! I am SO happy for them! This will be their first. Yay!

So, now on to Liam. Liam is growing by leaps and bounds developmentally. His conversations with us are a total crack up now! He is really getting into the questioning phase. For example, he asks almost every morning, "Whose coming today?" Hehe - can you tell we have a lot of people at our house all the time? He also asks me every time I hiccup (which is OFTEN!) , "Mommy, are you okay?" Most mornings he asks me if I slept well. It is just so fun to have him be so verbal. His imagination and completely taken off, and I hear him talking to his toys all the time. Sometimes his toys even talk to me! It takes me a minute to figure out if it is Liam or the toy car or train talking to me, but I am getting better at figuring it out! I mentioned that we got him a rug that has roads and stuff on it so he can drive his cars on it. Well, he loves, loves, LOVES it! He plays on that all the time. Actually, last week he fell asleep while playing with it. Mind you, he was SUPPOSED to be in bed going to sleep, but I guess he just couldn't resist playing on it. I went in to check on him before I went to bed like I always do (yes, I am one of those moms that do that every night!), and almost stepped on him while walking to his bed! It was really cute. I thought about taking a picture, but was afraid to wake him. Ahh, what a cute, sweet little boy we have!

On to Leila. Hmmm... How do I describe Leila? She is about 70 times busier than Liam ever was! She gets into everything, runs everywhere she goes, hates to play by herself, always wants to eat, loves to dig through the trash can.... I could go on. She keeps us on our toes for sure! She is for sure feisty and we anticipate some major battles of the wills in her lifetime! :-) It is interesting, though to see the difference between boys and girls. Liam is all about his cars and trains and trucks. Whereas Leila loves stuffed animals and play kitchen stuff. She calls all stuffed animals, "Baby." It is cute. It is amazing to me how, once kids turn 1, they seem to take off in their mental development. She is understanding so much more, and getting a bigger vocab. She now calls me "Mommy," but still prefers her Daddy. She can't say Liam, so we call him "Bubba." She will try to repeat everything we say. We have fun watching her learn and explore, even though it wears me out! I mean, just getting her diaper changed and dressed is like a wrestling match! She is constantly moving and kicking her legs and wiggling! Ah, but what a cutie! We love our kids so much!

Well, I have rambled on WAY too long, so I will go. Amanda and Andrew should be getting here maybe within the hour, and I still need to go make their bed and get their room ready! Have a great weekend everyone and happy Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday!

Here is the view from our back porch. I LOVE our view and I LOVE fall!

Okay, I have been asked a few times to take a pic of me. This was a few weeks ago. Not the best pic, but the only one I have. I think I was 22 weeks in this. I am 25 now and a bit bigger. P