The March, a birthday, and a bathroom renovation that will eventually be done! 7QT

I haven't blogged in the last week, because the Officer took time off work to renovate the bathroom, so I've actually been able to hang out with my husband in the evenings instead of blog. It was nice, but now he's back to arresting criminals, and I'm back to toddler bedtime and blogging. I do have lots of fun things to recap since last week though, and 7 quick takes with This Ain't the Lyceum is the perfect way to do it.....

1. Last week I made the trip with the girls to D.C. for the March for Life. Wow. It's always so inspirational. If you have never been, go next year. There are a million reasons why it's hard, cold, or inconvenient to go, but just try to find a way. There are a million unborn reasons why it's so very important.

2. Then last Friday my sweet Belle turned four, and we had such a wonderful day. Wow, 4 was really a fun birthday... she was just so excited all day. We had spent the night with family to go to the March, so she woke up with lots of cousins who made her cupcakes and colored pictures for her. Then we came home to celebrate some more. I asked what special meal she wanted for her birthday, and her only request was an ice cream cone (she is absolutely my daughter), so 4 candles in a carton of ice cream it was.  

adidas jacket, ponytail, and ice cream.... she makes me so proud :)

3. To end her fantastic fourth birthday some more cousins came over for a last minute celebration. Everyone had so much fun, and Belle was excited about every single detail of her day. The only gift she asked for was a sled, so hopefully we get enough snow at some point this winter to actually use it. Her birthday fun will continue next weekend when we throw a joint Frozen birthday for her and Bug. 

4.  The other gift we gave her for her birthday was a homemade pillow. I got a sewing machine and just learned how to use it (thanks Mantha!), so for my first sewing project I made Belle a pillow. I think it turned out pretty well, and Belle thinks it's perfect. So far I've only tried sewing easy things with straight lines, but I'm really enjoying learning to sew! 

5.  This week the Officer worked really hard on the master bathroom renovation. He finished tiling the shower, which of course took longer than he thought it would, but he did such a great job. He even tiled a little built-in shelf, since I told him (using my vast knowledge of tiling and renovations) that it wouldn't be that hard.

6. All of the girls loved having the Officer home in the evenings all week. 

7. For my last take I have to mention the littlest member of our household, who has just smiled along through our fun and hectic week. She also started eating baby food, and loved it :)

4-year-old Belle

Today my sweet Belle turns 4. Four years ago today she finally arrived 10 days late after a grueling 40 hours of labor. She was worth every second of it. I love that kid so very much, and I'm so proud of the little girl she is becoming. I can't believe I get to be her Mommy!

sweet baby Belle, even if she looks just like Lettie

I remember when we first had Belle feeling all nervous about our oldest child. The oldest child teaches you how to become a parent. I think there is so much pressure on the oldest to set the tone for the family. The oldest will teach the other children so many things (for better or worse). Belle is the perfect oldest sister. She is always willing to help take care of Bug and Lettie. Belle teaches them so many things and is usually such a great example to them.

she loves her little sisters so very much

Belle is so smart. She pays attention and remembers everything, and she loves to ask "why" about a thousand times a day. I love watching her learn and play. There is joy in everything she does, and she truly makes our house a happier place. I can't believe how quickly these 4 years have flown by. I wish I could keep her little forever, but time just keeps moving on. We are treasuring these years with her at home, when she still thinks the world of her Mommy and Daddy, she always wants snuggles, and she loves to spend hours reading books, doing puzzles, and playing with tangrams and magnatiles.

You can always see joy on her sweet face

I love you so much my sweet Belle. I hope you always know that, and I hope you have a wonderful 4th birthday!!!

surviving the flu, a bathroom renovation, and two-year-old antics

Linking up at This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 quick takes

1. Last week we survived the flu, and I was the biggest baby of the bunch. I think that Tamiflu might be the greatest drug ever, but apparently the kid's liquid tamiflu tastes horrible... or so my children told me about 800 times twice a day for 5 days. They usually love medicine, but they definitely did NOT like "the white kind". After the second day the Officer and I somehow convinced them that it was super cool to be like a grown-up and just drink the nasty medicine with no complaints and no more spitting it in Mommy's face, so that was good. If you ever have to get your kids Tamiflu see if they can flavor it.

Luckily Lettie actually didn't get the flu. This is an old picture, but this is how pathetic our house felt last week.

2. Last week the Officer also laid the bathroom tile in our master bathroom... yay for progress! In October he demolished the bathroom, but then I went back to work for a while, and the renovation got put on hold. So, he laid the tile and is going to do the grout on Monday, and then he's taking a few days off work, so hopefully he'll get most of the bathroom done next week! (No pressure my love!)

3.  I'm excited to get the bathroom done, but it means I need to make some decisions on shower tile, vanity, paint color.... everything. I hate making decisions. The Officer and I have a deal with all of our house renovations- he will do all of the work, but I have to make all of the decisions. That might sound nice, but did you know that I hate making decisions?!

I think we are going to use this for the shower tile.... I'm making decisions.... almost.

4. Yesterday my SIL and I took 6 of our kids to the Children's Museum. It was awesome, and it was so nice to finally get the kids out of the house after our flu week. Our Children's Museum has kids' admission on sale for 15 cents on the 15th of each month,  so we will be making frequent trips to the museum.

5. I've been having a really hard time keeping my patience with a certain 2-year-old in my house. I have a million excuses of why I sometimes yell at my daughter, but no excuse is acceptable. She is 2 and often irrational and whiney, but she's my beautiful daughter.  Plus poor girl just got over the flu and has barely made it out of the house in the last 2 weeks. She deserves better. She deserves a kind mother. I'm really working on being more patient with my awesome kid, so prayers for more patience would be appreciated.

Look how cool my Bug is. I love the heck outta that girl.

6. Next week I'm bringing the girls to the March for Life. We live close enough that we can make the trip and stay with some family, and hopefully it won't be too cold. It is always such an incredible and  hopeful day.

7.  Then when we get home from the March we get to celebrate Belle's 4th birthday!!!! 4 is such a fun age. I'm so excited for next week with some beautiful January weather, the March for Life, having the Officer home, and a 4th birthday!

6 months

On Monday our baby turned 6 months old, and we celebrated big by starting her on Tamiflu. Sweet baby girl was prescribed it in an attempt to prevent her from catching the flu that has stormed its way through our household. So far she seems good, and the rest of us have recovered.

her chunky thighs can totally pull off white leggings in January

Now back to little Lettie. Her first 6 months have been perfect. She is the most content baby. As long as she can see someone, she is perfectly happy. Playing in her jumper is her favorite pastime, and Belle is probably her favorite person (followed closely by Mommy). Belle has started calling her, "My dear", which cracks me up... I have no idea why Belle has started talking like a 70 year old woman. The little dear rolls all over the living room floor to get to her toys, but I'm hoping she won't actually start crawling anytime soon, because babyproofing is no fun. She sleeps great all night, but isn't usually a big napper.

I always think that 6 months is the magic number. It usually takes me 6 months to feel like I have all of the logistics of a new baby figured out and to feel like life is completely back to a new normal. Not this time though. It seriously took no time to adjust to life with her. I'm nervous for any future babies we have, because no baby could ever be as happy and content as this lady. Happy 6 months little Lettie!!! We love you so very much. Thank you for all the joy, smiles, laughter, and snuggles you bring to our house every day.

Don't worry, Bug is very loved too :)

New Year's Eve

We are a boring old married couple with 3 young kids, and the Officer often has to work New Year's Eve, so we don't usually have exciting NYE plans.  This year though, we had exciting plans. My dear friend and college roomie, Lauren and her husband had a big group of our college friends (10 adults and 7 kids under the age of 4) over for NYE. They made us a delicious dinner, complete with all kinds of options for lots of different food allergies.... these friends are so kind. The kids all played and laughed, and then they toasted a New Year of their short lives with sparkling cider.

We put all the kiddos to bed with minimal (or frequent) crying, waking up babies, and trips to the potty, but eventually they were all asleep for a few hours at a time.  Then the men smoked cigars in the freezing cold and the women stayed warm inside talking and drinking. We told stories, remembered college, anticipated unborn babies, told really good Catholic jokes (some were missing the punch lines) laughed, and laughed. At 11:58 we decided we should watch the ball drop, so we turned on the tv just in time to miss the ball drop, but we toasted, hugged, and kissed. Then we talked some more, played 7 Wonders, laughed some more, and eventually at some late hour that I usually reserve for late-night feedings, we all reluctantly wandered to bed, only to be woken up 4 hours later by energetic toddlers. It was a night I want to remember. Thank you Lauren for hosting such a fun night- I vote that we make this an annual tradition!

the best Christmas gifts

This Christmas we started a new tradition with the girls, which quickly became one of my favorites. I stole the idea from one of my sisters who has done this for years with her kids (thanks SBBBB). I think it helped the girls focus more on gifts they were giving rather than gifts they were receiving. Of course the girls are going to be excited about their 4 gifts under the tree (something to wear, something to read, something you want, something you need- thank you to whomever I got this idea from!!), but we want them to also be excited about the birth of our Savior, and we want them to learn to be grateful and generous.

A week before Christmas I took Belle and Bug to buy presents for their sisters and Dad. We got a bag full of quarters out of their piggy banks, and then I took each girl by herself to the Dollar Tree to pick out some gifts. I had so much fun on this one-on-one shopping trip with the girls. They both loved looking through the aisles to find something their sisters or Dad would like, and they loved giving their quarters to the clerk at the check-out. Afterward they loved helping me wrap the presents, and they loved watching everyone open them and play with them. I was so impressed with how well Belle knew her sisters... she picked perfect gifts for both of them. She picked two gifts for Bug, and those were 2 of Bug's favorite gifts. I also enjoyed watching them pick gifts for their Daddy. Everything Belle found that her Dad might actually use she very practically pointed out that he already had it... "he already has socks", "he already has a candle", "he already has tools".... so instead she got him a giant coloring book (he didn't have one of those). These 2 trips to the Dollar Tree with my girls were my favorite Christmas shopping, and it was definitely the best $7.00 our family spent all season.  I look forward to doing this each year with my girls. I'm so glad I got this idea from my sister, and I thought I'd share it in case anyone else was looking for an idea to encourage some generosity at Christmas.

I really think these might have been the Officer's favorite presents. A giant coloring book and an alligator hat that Bug knew her Daddy would just love.

Another shot of the alligator hat, because it is just too good

Whole 30 COMPLETE

We did it!!! We did the entire 30 days and didn't cheat once.... During our 30 days we went to an out-of-town wedding with an open bar, and I tried to convince the Officer that one glass of wine wouldn't be a big deal, but the Officer is an "all or nothing" type and he gave me the "well I'm not going to have one, but you can if you want", and obviously I'm waaaay to competitive to be the one that failed the Whole30, so onward we dieted all the way through a delicious-looking Christmas holiday.

The super disciplined Officer has to pack lunch for his 12 hour work days, and this is what it usually looked like on the diet- this diet isn't easy "on the go" 

If you are considering doing a Whole30, you should absolutely do it (but make sure you do it with someone, because solidarity). The first 10 days were very challenging. I was in a grumpy sugar detox, and at lunchtime every day I was twitching for a soda. It was also a learning curve to make a grocery list that first week, and I had to adjust to spending much more time in the kitchen chopping veggies and cooking.

We ate salad almost every day for lunch with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. We topped the salads with all kinds of veggies, eggs, meat, almonds.... they never were boring

After the first 10ish days I started to feel good, and we figured meal plans that worked for us. We happily discovered that we really enjoyed all of the food we ate, and we never felt hungry. I never had any miraculous energy that I secretly hoped I would get, but I did feel really good.

oh my goodness this was one of my favorite meals - Bacon Apple Pork

The Officer and I both lost weight- I lost 16 pounds in the last 30 days. I've never really lost weight in my life, so that has been awesome. My clothes all finally fit again, and I don't feel like I constantly have to try to get my shirts adjusted just right so they are hiding my belly that has grown for 3 babies in the last 4 years. It's also been freeing to have complete control over food for the first time in my life. I have always been an emotional eater, and after a long day I always think "I need" a treat or a drink. In the past I thought I could never really say no to dessert, but for the last 30 days I said "no" every day, and it was easy by the end.

Belle requested that I take a picture of her food too- this is what their dinners usually looked like... I didn't make other meals for them- except the occasional grilled cheese.

I'm so glad that we did this diet, and we are still trying to figure out what we are going to eat now that we are done. I still can't eat dairy, soy, or peanuts, so I won't be able to go too crazy anyway. We both felt so good on this diet, so we want to keep doing some of it, but not as strict. I hope we don't get back into bad habits- then we might have to do another whole30, but I'm not quite ready to consider that again yet.

Here are some of the other meals we enjoyed if you are looking for ideas: whole30