Basement Progress #1

I don't think I've ever posted good pictures of our basement. Above is a picture of what it looked like when we first looked at the house. The sellers had just finished the basement, so it was pretty much a blank slate.

Our usage has evolved over the years: it started out as a dumping ground for boxes and bins when we moved in and I was trying to decide where to put everything. As everything found homes I set up a craft area and a toy area, both of which have changed over the years. We also added some seating to make things more comfortable.

I know I have pictures I took at random intervals of what the basement looked like, but I can't find them right now since they're buried in an external hard drive that won't talk to my computer anymore. Mr M has transferred some of the photos, but not all of them, so someday I'll be able to access them again and then I'll post them. 

When I built our farmhouse dining table, our old dining table got moved to the basement. I removed the legs and set the table top on the storage bases I built for my desk in our last house. The dining table made a great surface for cutting fabric, sewing, and crafting. Unfortunately, it was a bit too large for the space and cut down on our furniture arrangement options. So I put the legs back on and sold the table at our yard sale last summer and bought two desk tops from IKEA. The desk tops rest on the storage bases and provide a good work surface for me. The original desk top got cannibalized long ago for other projects :)

the picture on the right is keeping things real: 

projects on the desk, toys strewn around, little boys "helping"

The toy storage situation started out with the cubbies I built at our last house. They worked great, but were just a bit too big for the space, so I built a slightly smaller storage unit that fits the space much better.  We also added a play kitchen, complete with frig, stove/sink, and wall shelf.

We tried using the basement as our schoolroom, so we bought a love seat on craigslist for comfy seating, but it turns out we like our sunshine and we do school upstairs. (These pictures are deceptive: the basement gets great afternoon sun, but only indirect sun in the morning. Since we do school in the morning, that was a problem.) We gave the love seat to my sister and we moved the tan couch from the living room to the basement, sold the matching love seat on craigslist, and bought our new couches. We also installed a projector and pull-down screen so we can watch movies while reclining on the couch. We don't have a regular TV or cable, so the projector is a good alternative for us.

I put up narrow crown moulding to hide the surround sound wires, but still need to caulk and paint the moulding. From a distance it looks fine, though, which is why it hasn't been at the top of my to-do list.

The wires/cords/cables from the projector to the other pieces of equipment hang across the wall, looking ugly. Since I knew once I hung it on the walls that my state artwork was too large for our bedroom wall, I've been thinking about where else to put it. I finally decided to try it on the wall in the basement above the couch.

super attractive cords

I think it looks so much better- it makes the wall look more finished and less like that end of the room was haphazardly thrown together. There's also the added benefit of artwork partially camouflaging the wires/cables/cords.

I'll be posting more basement progress photos as I finish all the random little projects that I never quite got around to, so stay tuned!

One Month Old

Ocean has turned into a chubby little baby. He's definitely a good eater- he weighed 11 pounds at his 1 month checkup, which is 2 pounds 12 ounces more than his birth weight. He's gone from the 33rd percentile at birth to the 56th percentile at 2 weeks to the 78th percentile at 1 month for his weight. His height is still in the 55th percentile or so and his head is in the 93rd percentile. Smaller than Sunshine's big head, but bigger than River's was.

snuggling with sister

He gulps air while nursing which causes bubbles in his tummy. I have to burp him at least once during each session or he gets too uncomfortable. His burps are quite impressive- multiple loud longish belches. They make stealth nursing impossible :)

He frequently gets the hiccups, which upsets him. He frequently got the hiccups before he was born, so I'm not surprised that he still gets them.

snuggling with daddy

He's a smiley baby- the pediatrician caught one of his smiles while doing his one month checkup and she commented on it being a bit early for social smiles. His smiles are too frequent to all be gassy smiles though.

Ocean has a receding hairline and his hair is thinning :(  I think River lost some of his hair, but it started growing back in before he went bald. I'm really hoping that's the case for Ocean as well.

He's already working at holding his head up and is gaining more control of the wobbles. I carry him in the Boba carrier, and I think that helps strengthen his neck muscles.

He's not sure if he likes the pacifier, but he will suck on it when trying to get to sleep. He's found his fingers and thumbs a couple times, but hasn't figured out how to do it on a regular basis, hence the pacifier. We're thinking he'll probably stick with the pacifier, unlike River. Even at this age River was expressing his dislike for the pacifier and trying to suck his thumb every chance he could.

a rare thumb sucking instance, and I don't think he's flipping us off- wrong finger :)

Ocean sleeps long periods at night- he only wakes up to eat once or twice after I go to bed. So I'm not as sleep-deprived as I could be, though I'd like to get to bed earlier- he likes to stay up and get one last feeding in before settling down to sleep.

funny poses

He still thinks he should be held all the time. He'll tolerate the bouncy chair for short periods of time, but he would much rather snuggle with mommy. I'm enjoying the snuggle time, but it does make it harder to get stuff done around the house like meal prep, cleaning, projects, etc.

snuggling with mommy

He continues to sleep a lot during the day, which came in handy when I was driving Sunshine to her day camps. As long as he was sleeping, he didn't mind being in his car seat, but once he woke up, he complained about it. If we're home and I lay him down while he's sleeping he'll only sleep for a short period before waking up when he realizes he's not being held.

He's still a pretty calm baby and only fusses if he's hungry, has a bubble in his tummy, or wants to be held, so the fussing never lasts long. Sunshine was a much fussier baby (stomach issues because I wasn't gluten free yet), but River was also a pretty calm baby.

August Race Recap

before the race started

Saturday I completed my August race, which made it my 8th race of the year and the 2nd towards fulfilling my 40 by 40 goal.

It was 8 weeks since my last race, the 4th of July 5k, and just under 6 weeks since Ocean was born. So this race was done without any training, but was a good check-in to see where my body is at and how everything's feeling. I did the race with my friend C, who's about 5 months pregnant and we had planned on walking the whole race. We were both feeling pretty good though, so we started the race at a slow jog and alternated between walking and slow jogging for the duration of the race.

I remembered my insides not feeling great when I started running after giving birth to River, so I erred on the side of caution and wore my pregnancy support belt. It fits a lot different when it's not supporting a baby :) But it still helped stabilize my hips and put pressure on my abdomen so my uterus didn't jiggle around.

And I felt pretty good while jogging.

While 6 weeks of sitting on the couch didn't prepare me for a 4 mile race, I also didn't injure myself because we went at such a relaxed pace. My lower back is a bit stiff and my upper thighs and IT bands are a little sore, but really, I've had much worse sore muscles on other occasions, so I'm not complaining.

I've been chafing at my inability to exercise, and it felt glorious to be outside and moving again.

The race was 4.02 miles and I completed it in 1:00:18. I went into this race without any expectations at all, so I am more than happy with my finish time.
1st mile- 14:40
2nd mile- 15:22
3rd mile- 15:42
4th mile- 14:21

sunrise through the mist on the fields

The race is a small race on tree-lined country roads that run between farm fields and over small rivers with a view of our local mountains. There aren't any steep hills, just gently rolling hills that aren't challenging at all. C and I both agreed that it was a gorgeous course and definitely worth doing again. It costs only $20 and has a much, much smaller field of runners, which makes it a great alternative to the more expensive and way more crowded other 4 mile race I've run. It didn't hurt that the weather was almost perfect: cool and low humidity at the start, and while it was warmer and more humid by the time we finished it wasn't horrible. The other 4 mile race is scheduled for this coming Saturday and temps are supposed to be in the 90s. Glad I'm not running that one.

2015 races

Month	Race Time
August 4 mile		almost 6 weeks postpartum
July 5k	47:44	38 weeks pregnant
June 5k	41:19	34 weeks pregnant
May 5k	40:05	29 weeks pregnant pushed River in the jogger
April 5k	42:36	28 weeks pregnant pushed River in the jogger
March 5k	35:32	22 weeks pregnant
February 5k	33:55	20 weeks pregnant
January 5k	33:25	12 weeks pregnant

40 by 40

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race

Where'd Summer Go?

who wouldn't want to snuggle with this sweet baby?

Summer is winding down here- random red or yellow leaves are appearing on the trees. The last couple days temperatures have cooled off a smidge and humidity levels have fallen a bit, which means it's actually been bearable to spend time outside.

I know there's plenty of hot and humid days left before fall settles in for good, but it's nice to catch glimpses of it.

I've been enjoying lots of baby snuggles, but it's really hard to accurately type one handed, so I've been taking a break from blogging. It's been nice but I'm feeling ready to get back on schedule. Mr M is working and Sunshine has started school, so we're gradually getting back into our daily life routine. The next few weeks should help me figure out when I can squeeze projects and writing into my weekly routine.

Ocean prefers to be held whenever possible, so I haven't made a lot of progress on projects to blog about. And I'm still healing from giving birth and haven't been cleared to start exercising again, so there's nothing to report on that front either.

Mr M's mom is hanging out until we bless Ocean and she's always up for baby snuggles, so now that Ocean isn't eating every half hour (though it is still pretty frequent during the day since he goes long stretches at night without eating) I've been able to start working on projects here and there. Once I have time to finish writing posts about them I'll start posting again- I should have several ready for next week.

Sunday Funny

I caught Sunshine and River playing in the homeschool cupboard after I unloaded all the school supplies and removed the shelves, but before it got hauled outside. They both like to make forts out of whatever they can find. River found this spot first, but Sunshine made it more comfortable with the blanket.

peekaboo!

Let Sleeping Babies Lie

Ocean sleeps well at night- 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours at a time, waking up at the end of a stretch to nurse. This means I get more sleep at night, but I don't get much done during the day since he's eating every half hour or so to make up for not eating most of the night.

Ocean's nickname for his first two weeks has been "coma boy" since he pretty much slept 23 hours of every day, only waking to eat, and sometimes I had to wake him to feed him. Even then he'll frequently fall asleep while eating- my milk has soporific properties apparently. River thought so too, because I remember struggling to keep him awake long enough to get enough milk in his tummy.

Despite the struggle to keep Ocean awake while eating, because he eats so frequently during the day he hasn't had any trouble gaining weight. He had a checkup the Friday after he was born and he was already back up to his birth weight. He had his two week checkup Wednesday and he weighed in at 8# 14 oz. That's 1# 10oz more than his birthweight. The pediatrician said he went from the 33rd percentile to the 56th percentile for weight. So mommy's milk definitely agrees with him :)

I've been taking advantage of all the time on the couch nursing Ocean to organize my computer- cleaning out my inbox, my bookmarks, filing photos, etc. I can do that one handed while holding Ocean in place.

Well, last week that was the case. This week I've been making twice daily trips into town taking Sunshine to and from Irish music camp. I can leave River with Grandma, but I have to take Ocean with me so I can feed him before we head back home. He doesn't seem to mind his carseat too much, except when he wakes up and realizes Mommy is not holding him. Since being held is his preferred state of affairs he doesn't hesitate to let me know that he's displeased.

We've got nature camp next week (I dropped the ball on registration and the only opening that worked was the week after Irish music camp, which was not what I had intended for our schedule), and the drive is a bit longer, so we'll see how he does.

Locks of Love, Part 2

look at how long her hair is!

You might have noticed a couple pictures recently (there's a pretty good one in this post) where Sunshine's hair looks a lot different. We've been growing her hair out for the last three years, since we cut her hair and donated it to Locks of Love. Sunshine has also been growing out her bangs for the last year (since cutting them short herself), and the other day I noticed that her bangs were down to her jaw. I mentioned that if we cut her hair, it would be one length and she wouldn't have to worry about those bangs anymore. She's forever messing with clippies to keep the bangs out of her face.

bangs down to her jaw

She wasn't on board right away, but I think that mentioning that shorter hair would be cooler helped sway her. The next day she came to me and said she wanted to go ahead and cut her hair. We talked about when we'd have time, and set the day for two days later. The next day she asked if we could do it then, rather than waiting another day. Hmmm, sounds like me- once I make up my mind to do something, I want to move forward with it and not sit around.

After measuring her hair, we realized that it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love again, if I was careful when I cut it. We went to a salon last time, but I figured I could do it this time.

It did end up a bit shorter than I intended (cutting pony tails off is harder than it looks, even with good scissors) and I'd like to shape her hair a bit, but she's resisting. She likes how floofy it is in back. She's been blessed (cursed?) with Mr M and my thick hair (seriously, our kids have no chance- they will have lots of hair), which doesn't actually do super well in a bob. I want to shape it into a bit of an A-line with some layering in the back, but she hasn't let me yet.

I do think it looks nicer around her face with the hair all one length and not having bangs that are a different length will be easier to style as we let it grow long again.

While I work on getting her to let me do a bit more trimming, we're experimenting with encouraging the curl in her hair. Most of my sisters and I have hair that started turning curly as we hit our early 20's, but Sunshine's has already started showing curly tendencies. I'm not sure if the curls will stick around while her hair is short (my hair is curliest while longer), so we'll see what happens. So far we haven't had a lot of success with it, but we'll keep trying.

sock curls are cute

Gratuitous Cute Baby Pics

A few days ago I was taking pictures of Ocean, trying to get some good poses for his birth announcement. It took two days and multiple tries, but eventually I got some pictures I could use. I also ended up with some other cute pictures that I didn't use for the announcement.

the identifying information-less version of Ocean's birth announcement

Just like River, Ocean was born with dark hair that we noticed right away. Poor Sunshine was a blond baldy for her first year and a half, but her brothers lucked out with the dark hair. I think Ocean's hair is a little longer than River's was when he was born. Hopefully his sticks around as well. Ocean doesn't have the cowlick that River does though.

River's cowlick is visible just above his right eye

no cowlicks for Ocean

Ocean is a smiley little baby- he smiles a lot in his sleep, which is super cute.

Remember River's scrunchy face?

Ocean does it too.

Though this wasn't on purpose- I just happened to randomly catch the expression.

He likes Sunshine singing to him- if he's fussing when she's holding him, she'll sing primary songs to him and he'll calm down.

He's got a very expressive face and I've lucked out on some funny pictures of some of those expressions.

the thinker

concerned

Leave me alone, I'm having a bad day

(really just a matter of timing and catching his eyes open a slit while he was sleeping)

surprised about something