Party on the Plaza

Our neighbor invited us to go up to Party on the Plaza tonight. It is put on by Anderson Township monthly and there is music and food and drinks with everything for $3 or less. For my Ann Arbor friends and family, it reminded me a lot of Top of the Park just not quite as big. Chris was on his way back from a business trip so I lugged the kids up along side my neighbor with her 4 girls. It was a lot of fun. The kids had fun running, exploring, dancing, feeding the fish and ducks, and just being silly together. I enjoyed being out of the house and watching the kids go crazy. It was also nice to do something that reminded me so much of home. Chris got back in town around 7pm and met us up there for about 45 minutes. In all we were there for a little over 2 hours. I'm so glad Stephanie invited us and we were able to go.

Below are a few videos I took of the kids dancing, I think they're pretty funny :) Enjoy!

New Appliances are HERE!

So when I went to buy the appliances I  found a refrigerator that I LOVED and we measured it 3 times at the store to be sure it would fit. And when it got here today.....it didn't fit. But have no fear, my amazing husband is here! After seeing that the refrigerator bowed at the top to be about 1/4" too high for our opening he decided to call our contractor and have him saw the bottom of the cabinet off in order to make it work. And now if fits and you can't even tell what we did to the cabinets. So here's the final product:

And we used the new stove to make chocolate chip pancakes, the long oval burner in the middle worked great with our griddle!

And here's the dishwasher, we haven't used it yet, but I know we will soon :)

I'm so happy to have working appliances that look good too!

New Appliances

From about day one of moving in it was clear we were going to need new appliances. When the former owners bought the house 6 years ago they redid the kitchen, but either didn't put in new appliances or put in really cheap appliances. I would guess that they didn't do new ones since the dishwasher is a style they don't make anymore and when you use the oven everything on top of the stove gets hot too. Besides the appliances being crappy we really miss having an extra refrigerator in the garage, we had one in Dexter and it was SO handy! And we had a double oven range in Dexter that was spectacular so we wanted to get one again.

So  I've been looking up appliances and researching them for the past month and finally today I decided to take the plunge and get it done. The size opening in the cabinets for the refrigerator limited us greatly on size. It looked like we were going to have to get a smaller refrigerator that would leave 1-2 inch gaps all the way around, yuck. Then I came across Kenmore and they had ones that would fix the EXACT size of the opening, they were the ONLY company with the right dimensions for us. We've done Kenmore in the past and had no problems so it seemed like it would be good. They also had a matching gas range with double ovens and a matching dishwasher - score! I took Brenden and Rylan with me to Sears today and we found exactly what we wanted AND they had a buy more save more so we got an additional 20% for buying 3 appliances - Wooo Hoooo! I'm so excited to have new appliances again and they come Thursday so I don't have to wait much longer!

So here's what I got!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms in my life! You are all very special to me and have helped me in countless days. I hope that you know how much you are loved and needed.

As for my family, they have treated me to a lovely Mother's Day Weekend. Chris started it with bringing home flowers on Friday:

And Jake gave me one of his gifts as well, a tea cup he colored with a poem on it and a packet of tea to enjoy:

And then today, Jake also brought me a nice note that he made of all the reasons why he loves me - some of them were quite funny, like that I make him nutritious dinners :) And after I got up there were cards from Chris and the kids and Michigan Themed gifts now that I'm an Ohio momma :) My family knows me too well!

Chris has let me sleep in both days and the kids are on a mission today to give me a yelling and screaming free day - the only thing I asked for :) It's a rainy day so we'll probably lay low and just hang home for the day. There was talk of going out to brunch, but really I'd rather just cozy up on the sofa and relax for the day. No matter what, I'll be happy as long as I have my family!

Alligators, Soccer, and Swim Lessons

About a month ago when we moved Jake brought home an assignment to do a report and project on Alligators. We of course waited until the last minute to get it done. The week before it was due we helped Jake gather facts about Alligators on the internet and out of a book his Grandman gave him, but we waited until the day before it was due to put it all together. And I have to say, Jake did a very nice job. We looked through pictures and picked ones out to print. He then cut them out, pasted them on poster board, and wrote down facts under the pictures. And for his report he put the facts he found into sentences in a 4 page report. Not too bad for a seven year old, and he even got a check plus for both the poster board and the report :)

Before we moved here I looked online to see if I could find anything to sign the boys up for so that they would have something to do and another way for them to make friends. During my search I came across a Soccer League through the local YMCA that looked perfect. It was for one night a week of practice for an hour and games on Saturday. The coordinator was nice enough to help me get signed up by faxes and emails since we wouldn't be moved before the sign up deadline. The league began this week and so far was a huge success. Brenden is on a team of 5 & 6 six year old boys and girls and practice for one hour on Wednesdays at 6pm. And Jake is on a team of 7 & 8 year old boys and girls that practice right after Brenden. Chris was out of town for this week so Rylan, the boys, and I headed up just before 6pm and stayed until the end at 8pm. All the kids did great, the boys played  with other kids when it wasn't their practice and Rylan played the whole time. It seems like it will be a very good league for the boys. They have one more practice before games start, but they are both excited for next week.

 

And last for me, Swim lessons. I have been having a terrible time trying to find a dive coach job since I've been here. I've had a lot of leads, but nothing has been able workout. I thought I might have a chance at the University of Cincinnati job, but it turns out it wouldn't pay enough to make up for any childcare expenses I would have. So instead of completely giving up I took the suggestion from my neighbor and applied to be a Swim Lesson Instructor at the Mercy HealthPLEX.. It is quite an impressive place, it seems to be a Rec center, spa, and doctors office all rolled into one. They offer lots of different stuff and have daycare for kids when you're at the center. I had an hour long interview today and at the end I was offered the job and told she would also list me a supervisor material if I wanted to do that in the future when the kids were older. If I work 10 hr/wk I will get a membership for myself that may include being able to drop off Brenden and Rylan while I teach lessons - Bonus! And its only about 2 miles away from my house - Double Bonus! And since I have coaching experience I might be able to help their swim team as well - Triple Bonus! I know I haven't been a swimmer for 20 years and I haven't coached swimming in 15 years, but I love coaching and I'm good at it so if all I can do now is teach swim lessons and maybe coach a swim team I'll take it!

Foxes, Hot Tubs, and Big Girl Rooms

About a week or so into school Jake brought home a note saying that their class was doing 5 fairy tale plays and would I help Jake to make a simple fox costume. So of course I left it to the night before to get done, we had about 2 weeks to figure something out. With some help from people on facebook and from what I could find on short notice I was able to come up with this:

My little fox :) The "costume" consisted of a Cleveland Browns hat with a headband on top if it with 2 "ears" that were cut out from paper bags, colored with brown crayon, and stapled onto the headband. I then found a brown shirt, brown shorts, and a brown and black scarf at Target. I tied the scarf around him and used it as a tail, you can kind of see it in the right picture. We then put him in his fuzzy brown Crocs to finish it off. The costume was due for dress rehearsal on April 26th and the actual play will be May 3rd. Jake is playing the fox from the gingerbread fairy tale. I think we did pretty good! And hopefully he'll do just fine in his play (he's nervous about remembering his lines).

I think I mentioned that the house came with a hot tub. We haven't used it too much, but the kids - especially Brenden - have indicated that its their favorite part of the new house. Jake and Brenden had been hounding me to go in with them so Friday night I finally caved. We had been outside for quite a bit and I had gotten cold so I thought it would be a good way to warm up and let the kids have some fun before Chris got home from being out of town. They had a blast, but it was a bit cold for me. We're only keeping it around 97 degrees for the kids, but I would prefer it to be about 10 degrees warmer. Anyway, we still had fun and the kids did NOT want to get out! So I let them stay in about another 20 minutes after I got out and managed to snap a couple of cute pictures of them:

And now for my little girl that is growing up! For the past few nights Rylan has been crawling into the boys beds and getting all cozy - pulling the covers up and laying on the pillow. So last night she wanted to get cozy in the twin bed in her room. After she got all comfy and tucked in I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the big bed and she said yes (or nodded yes). So we got her all ready for bed and asked her again and she climbed in and got cozy before she could even have her milk. She was certain that she wanted to sleep in the Big Girl bed and even had her milk in bed instead of her rocking chair. And she did great! Not a peep from her. She was upset when she woke up this morning, but I really think she forgot where she was. And she did great at nap time as well. Since she did so good I decided to take down her crib this evening and rearrange her room, below is what we came up with:

I swung the bed around from where it was to go along the wall with the window and put the white dresser that was blocking the closet on the wall where the bed was. And then where the natural wood dresser and rocking chair are is where the crib was before. It's a nice layout, but I need to get a rug for the floor to help with some of the noise from the hard wood. You can look at pictures from my previous post to see how it looked before.

Hopefully this will continue to go well. The boys were in twin beds when Jake was 22 months and Brenden was 16 months so Rylan at 20 months I would think should do just fine.

Babies on the Brain

Note: Some of this might be TMI for some


So I've been debating for a while if and when I should do an update on all the baby stuff. 2012 hasn't been the easiest year for me in this department, but two things I have realized is that this happens to LOTS of people and not a lot of people talk about it. After the wonderful outpouring of support I had after my miscarriage in January I decided that even though it may be difficult to talk about, it not only helped me, but it seemed to help others that had gone through it as well.

There is a lot that went on after the initial miscarriage and I'll try not to get too detailed, but basically the drugs didn't take care of everything and I ended up having to have a D & C anyway at the beginning of February, nearly a month after the whole nightmare had begun. Needless to say, January sucked and took a lot out of me emotionally and physically. However, once the D & C was done, it was all finally over and physically I could start moving on and deciding what to do going forward.

So I had decided, and Chris agreed with me, that we would give it a go again for a few months. If we got pregnant great and if we didn't that would be fine too. And if the unthinkable would happen with another miscarriage then we'd be done for sure. Well, the unthinkable happened, but we weren't sure - or I wasn't sure I was ready to give up just yet.

We found out about the week before our move that I was pregnant again and 3 days after our move I was having yet another miscarriage. Before I knew for sure I was very upset at the possibility. And once it started I felt very...normal. I wasn't super sad or feeling alone. I was angry more than anything that I had had the earlier miscarriage in January, because if that hadn't happened then I wouldn't be having another one now. For the next few days I was fine or I was a mess, not much in the middle.

The one saving grace in all of it was that at least it was happening at 5 weeks and naturally. However, I was in a new city with no doctor, not the most ideal situation. I had gotten into a doctor for a check up when we had moved a few days earlier, but hastily cancelled the appointment when I realized what was happening and when I called back they didn't have the appointment and couldn't get me in until the 20th, it was the 9th. So I started calling other doctors offices and one was able to get me in that day. Although the staff was extremely nice and helpful I DID NOT feel comfortable one bit. It was a step up from a free clinic and I swear there were teen moms in the waiting room. It was very sketchy to be polite. The mid-wife that saw me was very nice and helped talk things through and tested my hcg levels to make sure they had gone back to zero. I am very grateful that they got me in so quickly, but I really didn't want to have to go back there. It just gave me such an awful desperate feeling, I feel very fortunate that Chris and I are able to afford quality medical care. I am also grateful that even though that was not the most ideal facility, the people that work there saw that their patients got good care from the staff.

For the next couple of days I was up and down emotionally, but I had a lot going on with still trying to move and family coming to visit that I was distracted most of the time. Because I was so distracted I really hadn't decided what I would do next. I really thought that if I had another miscarriage that I would instantly want to be done. I mean would I really potentially want to go through it all again? Especially since I already have 3 beautiful kids? I was really up and down with no clue about what to do. And then on the 19th I had a moment of clarity where it all seemed to work out in my head. That 4 still seemed right, like one was missing and waiting to join our family. The next day I had my doctors appointment.

I had found the doctor with the help of a friend. It was the original office that I had called and had scheduled, cancelled, and rescheduled. A friend had gotten a recommendation from one of her friends about the office so I felt pretty good going there after the somewhat nightmare experience from the doctors office I went to the week earlier. Anyway, I absolutely loved the new Doctor. His nurse first spoke with me and was very compassionate and understanding of my situation. And then I had a sit down with the doctor to talk about everything before we had the exam. He thought that my situation was merely bad luck since I didn't have anything to suggest otherwise. He was very easy to talk to and was very supportive of my continuing to try. He also told me that he would be willing to see me every week in the 1st trimester if I do get pregnant again, really anything to help ease any anxiety I might have. It was all so nice to hear.

So now we'll give it a go again - at least for a little bit. I don't want to try for too long though since Chris will be 40 this year and I will be 35 next year. And we do have 3 wonderful kids so if it doesn't work quickly then I'll take the sign from the universe that we're just supposed to be The Eby Family of 5 which is pretty darn good :)