Sunday Download

I've not been here in a while.

Ack....this is why I worried that starting a blog would be worse than starting a journal was for me as a teenager.  Just another guilt project that taunts me from the shelf.  I'm going to just let this happen as it happens.  I'm not setting limits or requirements on it.  It will be hit and miss; real and chaotic - mostly because that's just how things are now.  :)  We are re-defining perfect.  On that subject there is much to be written, but I'm not ready for that to go down in black and white yet.

Charlotte and I stayed home from church this morning for one more week ('till after her ped. appointment) but we went to church with Auntie Jen in Maine via the miracle of the internet.  :)  Charlotte paid close attention.

The week's Charlotte news is that she is OFFICIALLY OFF THE LOVENOX INJECTIONS!!!  We went back to the vascular surgeon for a new ultrasound on her arms.  The artery now has good flow and things look fine.  Whew.  Now she's only on a 1/2 an aspirin per day for a while.  Pretty amazing recovery from open heart surgery.  We are now watching the real Charlotte emerge.  I realize that new bitties are pretty sleepy and slowly develop their personalities but it's been like night and day for her.  She's kicking up the growing notch and has now blown out of all the three month clothes.  :)

As of last week, she'd gained 2 pounds since the day before surgery.  Tomorrow is her 4 month check up and we'll see how much further she's come since then.  As for therapy appointments and such, she's working hard.  Practicing exercises for holding her head up, bringing hands to mid-line, and now we've introduced something call a 'Nuk' for some oral stimulation that helps with tongue lateralization.  Practice, practice, practice.  The big kids are great help in keeping her busy and entertained.  :)  Natalie's phrase again this week is, "You can't ever give her too many kisses."  So. True.  It even reminds me to kiss my 'bigs' in spite of the fact that they are quickly becoming taller than I am.

In other life news, spring is in the air and we are looking outside more and more.  Through a fairly good snow dump we had last month, the back 40 (not really) is now semi-flattened.  Nature is quite effective.  When we bought this place last summer you couldn't even see the back fence line.  Blackberry bushes were taller than my hubby (6'4") and wicked sharp.  I just never went back there.  Alan has taken to spending some time most mornings with a machete and thick pants to carve his way to the ends of the fence.  Think Prince Philip and Sleeping Beauty climactic scene.  :)  I have actually gone on an explore in my own yard - 6 months after we bought it.  We may find the end of it yet.

This weekend involved trimming up fruit trees, ripping out the rest of the deck*, ordering chicks, cleaning out the chicken coop, and getting sucked into buying the 'cute' bunnies.  The girls waved some of their cash, batted their eyelashes, and off they went back to the farm store with daddy.


*The deck needed to come out.  I did NOT suggest we start a project and get into it and wonder "What the heck was I thinking starting this now?"  Nope.  Not at all...  We're using the wood for garden boxes out in the front and will be getting pavers or brick to make a better surface for the front area. 

Anyhoo....During all this clean up and discovery, I found some REALLY COOL window frames.  Apparently, Alan had found them early on in his clearing project buried under dirt and berry bushes, but being resourceful he saved them and brought them to the back of the shop...which is where I came upon them.  Oooooohhhhhhhh.....I feel a decorating project coming on.  This is saying a lot for me.  I despise crafts and feel that 99.99999% of my creative energy goes into house maintenance, child rearing, and home schooling but somewhere deep down I saw some potential.    Snagged two of them and THIS is what I did with one of them.  Didn't buy a single thing.


The other frame is feeling like a laundry room whimsy piece and there is one more out there for future inspiration.  I'm just going to let it weather a bit more.   

Now I just need to get those family pictures printed off.....(has been on the to-do list for a reeeaaaalllly long time) and hung up in the panes.  Will post the full after pic soon.  Promise.  Pinky promise.

*Yes, that is the color blue that you see there in that picture.  It is rather well-know that I have a passionate distaste for the color blue and most of it's shades.  That said, I am noticing that having almost every. single. room. be based in black, white, and red might become somewhat tiring for my family.  I'm branching out slightly in color schemes.  Only slightly though.  It's taking EVERY. OUNCE. OF. SELF-CONTROL. I have to not rip up the kitchen due to the 'bathed in blue' theme going on there.  It's on the list....just later.  Or sooner if I run out of projects to start....