"Empty Nest"

I had a bit of an empty nest last week for a few days because Erik took the two older kids on a trip to Maine to see his brother graduate from college. I stayed home with my attached-at-the-hip newborn. It was a really nice time just to snuggle and coo at William, a chance that doesn't come along very often with three kids. But I will say that I got very little of my uber long to-do accomplished. I greatly underestimated the amount of time that a nursing child takes, even though his two older siblings are gone!

In order to make myself feel more accomplished, I thought I would post some pictures of our most recent projects. Before William came, we switched around four rooms of our house. It was like moving, but not changing houses! Grace's room turned into the nursery again (its nice to be back in there, since Matthew never had it). The guest bedroom turned into the older kids' room (we took the plunge and put them together). The office/Matthew's room turned into the guest bedroom. And the computer/office moved from our bedroom to the basement.

The old guest bedroom, with a test paint swatch:
The chaos that poor Matthew slept in (used to be the office):
The new guest bedroom (still needing some finishing touches, but much improved!):
Grace and Matthew's new room. Grace took the top bunk, and eventually Matthew will take the bottom. He tried it a few times, but decided he preferred the crib, so we left it in there for now:

Please note that I was able to take the "after" pictures of their room because they weren't home and it actually stayed picked up! :)

Strawberry patch

We started a raised garden last year with all sorts of things- cantaloupe, zucchini, watermelon, tomatoes, rhubarb, jalapenos, bell peppers... and strawberries.

We got one tiny watermelon, a mouse or something ate our one cantaloupe that we waited all summer to grow, we had more zucchini than we could give away, more cherry tomatoes than my kids could eat, and had so many jalapenos we made a spicy jelly out of them for cheese and crackers.

Then there were the strawberries. We didn't get a single one last year. But the plants took off. In fact, they took over where the cantaloupe, zucchini, and watermelon were planted. And I was ok with that.

And here are the rewards so far, after just one evening of picking:
I'd say two thirds of our garden this year are strawberries. In fact, I wouldn't call it a garden, I'd call it a strawberry patch. Which for us, is better than a garden! Don't worry, we'll still have those tomatoes, peppers, and jalapenos, but if you want zucchini, this year it won't be me sneaking it into your car at church!

Six weeks

I can't believe that William is six weeks old today. It really seems impossible (prepare to hear that a lot over the next year!). He has been smiling, especially at his mama. He has been smothered with love by his siblings- even Matthew wants to hold him and wants to pray for him every night! It is hard to believe that if I was a working mother I would be back at the office, a reality that I am blessed not to have to face.

I must say that the transition from one kid to two was a whole lot harder so far than from two to three. Of course, I am still living in la-la land. Meals delivered by sweet friends and only just went to the grocery store myself last night. I did take the kids to get the oil changed in the van, hauled them all to Grace's ballet class, and got Matthew's hair cut, which I saw as a huge accomplishment for the week! :) Mind you, it did take me two trips each time we had to load into the car and out of the car. I did get a look with the baby in the car seat sitting in front of store as I went back for another load of little ones!

Check back here in a couple weeks when I am sure to be pulling out my hair... :) Meanwhile, here is the sweet smiling boy (in an outfit that swallowed him just three weeks ago)!