Business as Usual

It's interesting sometimes how promptings come or feelings come to do some things. Sometimes we follow them and other times we just kind of ignore them. Well maybe not ignore them but acknowledge them debate over them and then just keep going on with business as usual.

Jared hasn't liked his job for some time now. I had been praying that his boss would finally retire or disappear somehow as he was the main reason for Jared no longer liking his job. Jared would look for work elsewhere off and on but either couldn't find anything, wasn't qualified or it paid less then his current job. So life went on business as usual.

2 weeks ago yesterday Jared called me close to the normal coming home time. He said he had been let go and was on his way home. I honestly didn't believe him. Jared has a tendency to tell white lies to me with the intent to tell the truth so when he does tell the truth sometimes it takes awhile for me to believe it. I started to get mad. It made no sense to me. He had worked there for 9 years. And Jared didn't seem the least bit upset which was hard for me to handle. But he had apparently already had some time to digest and calm down.

So here we are at a crossroads. What to do? School? Another job?

We tried to keep it a little on the down low only because Jared didn't want sympathy calls or chats. Mostly because he wasn't sad about it. I knew he didn't like his job but I just didn't get it.

After listening to him chat with his mom about the whole thing I finally understood. We were being blessed. Jared didn't want to quit his job because we would have no insurance for Benjamin and he wouldn't be able to draw unemployment while looking for another job. We had felt prompted it was time to leave but due to some concerns we kind of ignored it. Heavenly Father had a different perspective on things though and made things possible.

We are trying to figure out what is best for our family. We both agree that Jared needs to go back to school but then money still needs to come into our household. So that means somebody is going to have to work. While yes I was terrified believe me I've done a ton of crying but I have faith in the Lord that this is what is best for our family and that everything will work out.

Free Range Baby

This is what you get when you let your baby go free range!

I did have to think for a moment and decide to laugh at it instead of getting frustrated. I quickly grabbed my camera to make note of the moment. Benjamin loves to be naked and this is the downside to giving in.

Domino's Falling Into Place

The bathroom remodel is done (for the most part). We finished it on the 22nd which we started it on the 8th, so not too bad (first post here). I love the color.

After the mirror came down I got the joy of fixing the holes left by cutting out the dry wall that was torn, spackle it, sand it, and then Jared textured it. I also fixed the wall where the towel bar had hung because it had ripped away from the wall. I need to be nicer too it going forward!

I taped everything and then painted. I thought I was going to paint all by myself since it was my project really but while taking a break on the 1st coat Jared went in there I thought to inspect my work and wound up doing a bunch of painting. My arms sure were sore. I had a hard time sleeping for the next couple of nights and was a grouch until I took some pain pills.

I did the second coat on the 22nd while Benjamin was napping mostly and then we went to Lowe's and picked out a new mirror. Which is not what we originally planned for but I love it. It has more character and opens the space nicely.

The only things left to do is fix a few spots where the paint didn't stick or got missed with a tiny brush and eventually get a new light treatment. I think we've decided on one but it's about $100 dollars which is a little pricey for now.

After Jared hung the mirror he brought in the rug and the shower curtain from the other bathroom to seal the deal. It does look great!

Following Promptings

Jared went this morning to take care of our friends dogs. After he left their place he followed a prompting to pull over and look for my key to our car that I had lost back in August (for the original post see here). Jared didn't even look for the key for a minute and found it. He came home and told me about it and how he had felt back in August that it was in this section of tall grass. Now since it is winter the grass has died and fallen down and he was able to find it.

Count your blessings! We had bought another key to replace it but to have it actually work on our car was going to cost about $300 dollars so we were just sharing Jared's key. I'm so grateful for that blessing right now! I am also grateful that Jared followed that prompting.

The part missing for a little over 5 months!

The whole key again!

Bed Time Routine

I've taken 85 pictures today. I bet you can't guess what the main subject matter was of?! Okay maybe you can. Benjamin is growing so fast! He will be 8 months in 4 days. Crazy!

We started a bed time routine about 3 weeks ago of bath time, fresh diaper and PJ's, nursing and then sleeping. It took about 3-4 days for Benjamin to latch onto the routine which can start as early as 7:30pm or as late as 9pm (depends on our day and Benjamin).

So tonight we had dinner around 7:30 and Benjamin was in a pretty good mood. I personally thought he would play for a bit after dinner. I took him into the living room and Jared packed up dinner (thank you!) and Benjamin did play for a little bit. But then he took off down the hall way. I got up to go get him but he was sitting in front of the bathroom door saying "ba...ba...ba...". I asked him "do you want a bath?" He sat up a bit closer to the door. Jared and I were both amazed. He knew the routine and knew where to go to start it and wanted his bath.

Benjamin loves bath time! We recently moved his bath time into the hall bathroom so we can stop taking out all of our shampoo's etc as Benjamin decided it was fun to stand up and grab at them. And then also his toys can run a little a muck in there.

As the tub fills up Benjamin loves to sit there and try to catch or stop the water with his hands. Once the tub is full I have to move him to the back or middle to get him away from the drain as he will pull the plug. He loves his rubber ducky and the blue number 2 for chewing on. If we give him the wash cloth dry he will soak it and suck the bath water out of it. Jared decided last week that it was because he was thirsty. So we've started giving him water to drink after meals and he really is thirsty. He loves to drink out of actual cups because that is what he sees us doing.

After Benjamin plays for awhile I wash his hair and his body. Then we pull the drain and he watches the little whirlpool that gets created as the drain sucks all of the water gone. Jared usually enters at this point and picks up the towel. I grab Benjamin and hand him over to Jared. We then retreat to our bed where Jared has laid out the diaper, PJ's, pacifier and anything else that might be needed.

It's so amazing to us that Benjamin knows the routine and expects it. If we try to stray he lets us know what we should be doing.

Here is Benjamin standing up getting ready to do a seat drop.

Here he is after a seat drop which he is very proud of.

It's a Girl!!

My good friend Heather had a baby girl this morning! I got to see this new bundle of joy! She is so tiny and quiet!

Benjamin got a little jealous of me holding someone besides him. It's amazing how fast they grow.

Gwendolyn VaLoy (last name withheld)

Such a Ham

He is just so adorable! I love my son! I love being a mom!

The Domino Effect of Home Repair

Yesterday morning we woke up and I had some household chores on my mind. I made a massive to do list this past week of chores to get done well maybe not chores but deep cleaning and chores and some projects. I've been making my way through the list slowly. Yesterday I thought I would get a few things finished since Jared was home and could help with Benjamin.

I started in our bathroom after getting Benjamin down for a nap. Jared came to say hi and saw the faucet that had been under our sink for who knows how long. We bought it some time ago because the faucet leaks in our bathroom. Jared decided he could probably do it in about 20 minutes because it was a simple home repair.

Enter Murphy's Law...

The overflow drain broke off of the current sink while Jared was taking the facet off. Debate number one should we purchase another sink or try to install the nice composite counter top and sink given to us a few years ago by Jared's parents. I personally had been wanting the new counter top installed since we got it. So Jared yanked the sink out and pulled off the trim/backsplash around the counter top and the counter top itself.

After cleaning up the top of the vanity and bringing the new counter top up to install we found out it was too tall. About an inch too tall. The counter and the mirror were overlapping. Debate number two break down the mirror or try to cut the counter top down or cut the mirror down. After talking to some workers at Lowe's we decided to try to just cut the mirror down some. Jared scored the mirror and it did not break free cleanly. So we taped the mirror some and Jared worked carefully not to cut himself or damage the wall too much.

Once the mirror was removed he was able to quickly and easily install the new faucet and sink. I gave the sink a thorough cleaning before he did it though. And now I have a large project in front of me. I have to clean up the walls, fix the holes, texture the walls and paint everything before we can pick out a new mirror.

All because I decided to thoroughly clean our bathroom.

A Leisurely Morning

Here it is 10am and I haven't done anything but get Benjamin dressed (only because he peed through his PJ's) and had some peanut butter and nutella toast for breakfast. It's been a wonderfully leisurely day. Benjamin actually slept in, he has been adjusting to his Daddy being back to work this week. This morning he slept through family scripture study and prayer and started to wake up so Jared ran back and cuddled him back to sleep. I took over so he could leave for work. Benjamin was a little restless but eventually slept and then ate and slept some more. He woke up happy at 8:30 and we just hung out on the bed (Benjamin in a clean diaper) until 9:30 watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Benjamin was getting tired of the bedroom and I was getting hungry. So we decided to get him dressed and make me some food. He really has gotten crawling down now and still desperately wants to walk. This morning he crawled down the hallway almost all the way (I had to distract him from climbing on the Christmas boxes) and then into the kitchen and back out to the living room and all around it. He has been entertaining himself with his different toys.

I've been working extra hard on cleaning our house, getting things piled up for the DI, throwing things away, rearranging things and baby proofing our home. With Benjamin on the move this is a necessity. I moved almost all of my piano music into the upstairs closet on the shelf so then that left me two empty baskets which are now being used to hold Benjamin's toys that are upstairs. Which makes cleaning up his toys so much easier and Benjamin likes climbing up on them to dig toys out. (win win)

Well Benjamin is down for a nap now at 10:40am I think I might go downstairs and finish this blog and work on cleaning things up down there. I've emptied the hall closet down there and it's all over the family room. I told Jared two days ago when I started on it that I cleaned the family room and dusted and then exploded the closet all over it. :) That's how I work. Clean it up and then make a bigger mess.