After three exhausting and fairly sick months I think I'm finally coming out of it. Sometime soon I'll have to post some more recent pics from the fall and Christmas. In a few weeks we'll also know for sure if the little firecracker growing inside is of me is a new brother or sister for the boys.
James pulled a doozy on me over Christmas which I'm certain he wouldn't have pulled it off if I hadn't been pregnant. It was December 23rd and I had taken my evening cocktail of anti nausea pills that quickly puts me to sleep. So there I lay at 830 at night asleep on the couch when all of the sudden I awoke to the doorbell! James didn't seem that surprised, he jumped up and answered it while I tried to awaken from my groggy sleep. And in walk none other than my parents from 200o miles away!!! They got me good, I had NO idea they were coming. This was a nice surprise and we had a great time in between all my getting sick and resting ;-). Fortunately I was just starting to come out of the worst part of my morning sickness.
We are now heading into the new year with great anticipation for what this year will bring. It seems we don't ever seem to have a dull year around here. Each year brings some life altering change to our lives. So I guess we'll just wait and see what all this year brings.
Happy New Year!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Sunday, November 16, 2008
MIA....
Well, I have two posts that I never finished. One was on Jonathan breaking his arm about 5 weeks before summer was over. The other was on my FIRST worship leading experience...leading... from the piano... in front of over 100 ladies. Well I never really finished those posts so there ya go.... maybe I'll go back in time at some point and finish those.
On to new news. Ok we'll start with the back story... the way back story, but I'll simplify it.
*when james and I got married we wanted 3 kids
*after having Ian (my baby that screamed for 9 months due to digestive issues) we put that plan on hold
*we then decided to look into adoption
*that led us to foster care... for a while
*after foster care we decided to open the door to more biological kids
*2 years later we still just had the two boys, totally content with either 2 or more children we didn't really mind either.
*We had decided after a while to schedule an appt to make things permanent, we didn't really want to keep things in limbo forever.
*I had a recurring bad dream that led us to cancel that appt about a week before it was to happen.
*About a month after that we were at church for a meeting about the womens retreat and the boys were playing. They went outside and locked themselves out. When they came back inside Ian told me proudly that he prayed a lot outside. He then said "mommy I prayed for you to have a baby".... we laughed.
*3 Weeks later..... two little lines appeared .
On to new news. Ok we'll start with the back story... the way back story, but I'll simplify it.
*when james and I got married we wanted 3 kids
*after having Ian (my baby that screamed for 9 months due to digestive issues) we put that plan on hold
*we then decided to look into adoption
*that led us to foster care... for a while
*after foster care we decided to open the door to more biological kids
*2 years later we still just had the two boys, totally content with either 2 or more children we didn't really mind either.
*We had decided after a while to schedule an appt to make things permanent, we didn't really want to keep things in limbo forever.
*I had a recurring bad dream that led us to cancel that appt about a week before it was to happen.
*About a month after that we were at church for a meeting about the womens retreat and the boys were playing. They went outside and locked themselves out. When they came back inside Ian told me proudly that he prayed a lot outside. He then said "mommy I prayed for you to have a baby".... we laughed.
*3 Weeks later..... two little lines appeared .
I can't describe the emotions I felt looking at that test. I laughed and cried all at the same time. I couldn't beleive it... really. I told James later that day. I was shocked to find out that he was really excited... I wasn't sure how that would go. So a while later we took the boys to yogurtville. I reminded Ian of his prayer and said well God answered your prayer... what do you think he said. Jonathan pipes up "No" in a sort of disappointed way. I say "no try again" A light goes on over Ians head and he says "YES?!?!?!" I confirm. Then a second light goes on and his eyes get even bigger and he says " BUT MOMMY I PRAYED FOR TWO!!" to which I explained sometimes God answers yes to some of our prayers and no to others. We'll let time confirm that one.
So here I sit somewhere in my 9th week of this pregnancy. I've managed to avoid most of my morning sickness thanks to a zofran prescription. I've been looking back on my previous pregnancy journals and things seem to be progressing along just as they have for the last two.
A couple things make this one different. First, Jonathan will be 8 and Ian will be 6 when this baby is born ... YIKES. They are so excited though and it has been so much fun to share the experience with them. Second. I have only ONE thing left from the boys. A pack and play. I had also picked up one of those high chair things that sits on your own chair for when I was watching a friends kids at my house. So I have two things. Everything else is starting from scratch. In some ways I guess maybe I'm glad. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to wear my maternity clothes from 8 years ago.. HA! And the crib we had broke while we were taking it apart for the last time. Thank goodness for Divine Consign and Craigslist.
SO that is the latest from the Asplunds.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Some recent photos.
lazy days
Most basic of water shooters.
You're not going to get me to smile.
Well ok but only a little
HAHA GOTCHA!
Ian being thrown into the pool (underwater during swim lessons)
Jonathan jumping into the deep end.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Simplify... sounds easy ..HA!
After recently moving into a new house and having half of my earthly possessions in storage for a year I've come to learn a few things. First off is I'm utterly ashamed, embarrassed, disgusted and frustrated with the amount of utter crap we have collected, shipped and stored and that was after getting rid of HUGE amounts of things before we left. I feel as though I could fill a garbage truck myself!
The message for our lives for the past year has been simplify. When we first moved into the house we only brought in what we needed for times sake. I was so content to have just those things. Then I would open the garage door to find a garage filled to the brim with only a walking trail through it of STUFF! I was surprised at the heaviness that I felt as soon as it all arrived at the house. So we have systematically been going through boxes and either, keeping, trashing or goodwilling many many items. The range of emotions that goes through my mind vacillates between all the emotions listed above. It is a very draining process. The idea is that in the end we will have only what we need or have a need of in the foreseeable future. And to take that a step further would be to not purchase, acquire or accept things that we don't need.
I've been trying to employ the reduce, reuse, recycle model in our going through items, at least on the big items. I feel that we have done a pretty good job of re tasking items that we already own so we don't need to buy new furniture or get rid of things in order to just go buy something similar but different. For instance.... we put our bedroom armoire in the living room. We also put our big huge long dresser in the living room with mirror above it... this has proved to provide some great storage space in a living room that would have limited storage or decorative furniture otherwise. And to top it off due to our fairly consistent decor theme it all blends in perfectly with our current living room set. I'll have to post pictures next time I get a chance. (read: too tired to do it right now).
So that has pretty much been my last 24 hours for ya.
The message for our lives for the past year has been simplify. When we first moved into the house we only brought in what we needed for times sake. I was so content to have just those things. Then I would open the garage door to find a garage filled to the brim with only a walking trail through it of STUFF! I was surprised at the heaviness that I felt as soon as it all arrived at the house. So we have systematically been going through boxes and either, keeping, trashing or goodwilling many many items. The range of emotions that goes through my mind vacillates between all the emotions listed above. It is a very draining process. The idea is that in the end we will have only what we need or have a need of in the foreseeable future. And to take that a step further would be to not purchase, acquire or accept things that we don't need.
I've been trying to employ the reduce, reuse, recycle model in our going through items, at least on the big items. I feel that we have done a pretty good job of re tasking items that we already own so we don't need to buy new furniture or get rid of things in order to just go buy something similar but different. For instance.... we put our bedroom armoire in the living room. We also put our big huge long dresser in the living room with mirror above it... this has proved to provide some great storage space in a living room that would have limited storage or decorative furniture otherwise. And to top it off due to our fairly consistent decor theme it all blends in perfectly with our current living room set. I'll have to post pictures next time I get a chance. (read: too tired to do it right now).
So that has pretty much been my last 24 hours for ya.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Lots and Lots of Odds and Ends
This week has been all about getting our apartment back into shape so we can turn our keys in with minimal charges... we'll see. This included painting back all the "accent" walls to the blah that they were when we moved in.
Timing.... Apparently about a week after we started sleeping in the new house the covered parking at the apartment that we pay for and the van usually sat under collapsed on a few cars... thankfully we were no longer living there, weren't visiting and I don't believe anyone was hurt.
High winds at sea. The last couple weeks have been in the 90's so we have been enjoying the pool in the back yard, for a few days now we have been in a wind advisory so steady winds in the 20's and justs into the 40's. This has been so weird because we are so used to wind coming from an icy gorge (Columbia that is). The wind here is just as warm as the day. So we get in the pool and about every 10 mintues when a floaty flies out of the pool Ian runs and gets it and then hops back in the pool. Fun times.
Garden. So while I was at Wal-mart picking up some groceries I decided to try my hand growing a few myself. I guess I figured any previous attempts (and subsequent failures) will most likely be overcome by the use of an automated sprinkler system. (and some super hot southern exposure in the back yard). So this year making an anticipated appearance in the backyard are several cherry tomatos, strawberries, zucchini and watermelon. In the fall we'll try our hand at some cold weather crops, lettuce, cabbage, and a few others. I'm not sure when those are harvested but I think sometime in late late fall.
Hindsight. Ever look back and wish that you hadn't bought about 50% of the things you have. I face that dilemma as we speak. My house has pretty much everything in it that it needs. (minus the huge wall storage thing from Ikea that we want to get for the boys room that will take the place of 4 current pieces of furniture (bookshelf, 2 plastic dressers and a real dresser) leaving us with even more stuff to get rid of. So the garage still has no less than 2 dozen boxes of stuff out there. Now I have to cut myself some slack, some of that is Christmas items but even that! We have 2 full size fake trees... who needs two? On top of that we have several mini's and a set of 3 that we used for our trees this year. We also have all of our garage and yard care/maintenance stuff in boxes still. (weed trimmer, leaf blower/sucker, tools etc.) So all in all yeah we have a lot of stuff we need to get rid of but most of all I just don't want to deal with any of it... bottom line!
Let the sleep resume! Since 3 days after arriving in Texas Jonathan has been in Kindergarten. School starts for him at 8 and he would catch the bus at 710. Since we moved he gets taken to school at 730 but seriously... we have to wake up between 630 and 7... just for him, James doesn't have to leave for work until like 850 most days. On good days we can sneak Jonathan out of his bedroom without waking up Ian. Today was a close call, I looked down at Ian just in time to see him let out a belly laugh and a big toothy, dimply grin. I was sure he was awake but upon further inspection, nope, he was just laughing in his sleep. That was at 7... it is no 9:33 and he is still asleep! Those must be some good dreams! All that to say, today is the last day of school and we are ALL looking forward to it getting out!
Surprise surprise. I'm not sure who all reads this so i hope I'm not ruining anything here BUT James' parents are coming for a visit in July (not the surprise). We last saw them when we drove to Georgia for Christmas. I have to say I was at my all time heaviest in my life when we saw them. Sad but true that must not have been a great sight. BUT! When they come this time I will be down about 50 to 55 lbs !!! Won't that be fun, as far as we know they don't have a clue.
Jonathan's turning 7!
He his so excited to have his birthday at Going Bonkers, this is similar to a place called Kids Club Fun and Fitness that we used to frequent. They have this HUGE play structure with all kinds of fun stuff in there, it is more open than the one we were used to, rather than the structure being in a corner it is in sort of a U shape with seating in the middle and a second floor "quiet" room for parents with free wifi!. It also has a second level with video games and a first floor with food party rooms etc. We are doing our first party package and I pray all his friends that we invited don't show up (last year every last one of them did!). This year was supposed to be a small birthday year but how do you invite just a few? I have a feeling the bill at the end is going to be a bit bigger that we had planned on.
Neighbors. We have met some terrific neighbors, sadly the ones right next door that also have a 4 and 6 year old are moving July 4th. But there is still a boy that was best friends with the 6 year old next door right down the street. So Hopefully Jonathan and he will hit it off.
Ok I think I've rambled on about 4x too long but I hadn't posted much in a while so time to catch up I guess.
Till next time!
Timing.... Apparently about a week after we started sleeping in the new house the covered parking at the apartment that we pay for and the van usually sat under collapsed on a few cars... thankfully we were no longer living there, weren't visiting and I don't believe anyone was hurt.
High winds at sea. The last couple weeks have been in the 90's so we have been enjoying the pool in the back yard, for a few days now we have been in a wind advisory so steady winds in the 20's and justs into the 40's. This has been so weird because we are so used to wind coming from an icy gorge (Columbia that is). The wind here is just as warm as the day. So we get in the pool and about every 10 mintues when a floaty flies out of the pool Ian runs and gets it and then hops back in the pool. Fun times.
Garden. So while I was at Wal-mart picking up some groceries I decided to try my hand growing a few myself. I guess I figured any previous attempts (and subsequent failures) will most likely be overcome by the use of an automated sprinkler system. (and some super hot southern exposure in the back yard). So this year making an anticipated appearance in the backyard are several cherry tomatos, strawberries, zucchini and watermelon. In the fall we'll try our hand at some cold weather crops, lettuce, cabbage, and a few others. I'm not sure when those are harvested but I think sometime in late late fall.
Hindsight. Ever look back and wish that you hadn't bought about 50% of the things you have. I face that dilemma as we speak. My house has pretty much everything in it that it needs. (minus the huge wall storage thing from Ikea that we want to get for the boys room that will take the place of 4 current pieces of furniture (bookshelf, 2 plastic dressers and a real dresser) leaving us with even more stuff to get rid of. So the garage still has no less than 2 dozen boxes of stuff out there. Now I have to cut myself some slack, some of that is Christmas items but even that! We have 2 full size fake trees... who needs two? On top of that we have several mini's and a set of 3 that we used for our trees this year. We also have all of our garage and yard care/maintenance stuff in boxes still. (weed trimmer, leaf blower/sucker, tools etc.) So all in all yeah we have a lot of stuff we need to get rid of but most of all I just don't want to deal with any of it... bottom line!
Let the sleep resume! Since 3 days after arriving in Texas Jonathan has been in Kindergarten. School starts for him at 8 and he would catch the bus at 710. Since we moved he gets taken to school at 730 but seriously... we have to wake up between 630 and 7... just for him, James doesn't have to leave for work until like 850 most days. On good days we can sneak Jonathan out of his bedroom without waking up Ian. Today was a close call, I looked down at Ian just in time to see him let out a belly laugh and a big toothy, dimply grin. I was sure he was awake but upon further inspection, nope, he was just laughing in his sleep. That was at 7... it is no 9:33 and he is still asleep! Those must be some good dreams! All that to say, today is the last day of school and we are ALL looking forward to it getting out!
Surprise surprise. I'm not sure who all reads this so i hope I'm not ruining anything here BUT James' parents are coming for a visit in July (not the surprise). We last saw them when we drove to Georgia for Christmas. I have to say I was at my all time heaviest in my life when we saw them. Sad but true that must not have been a great sight. BUT! When they come this time I will be down about 50 to 55 lbs !!! Won't that be fun, as far as we know they don't have a clue.
Jonathan's turning 7!
He his so excited to have his birthday at Going Bonkers, this is similar to a place called Kids Club Fun and Fitness that we used to frequent. They have this HUGE play structure with all kinds of fun stuff in there, it is more open than the one we were used to, rather than the structure being in a corner it is in sort of a U shape with seating in the middle and a second floor "quiet" room for parents with free wifi!. It also has a second level with video games and a first floor with food party rooms etc. We are doing our first party package and I pray all his friends that we invited don't show up (last year every last one of them did!). This year was supposed to be a small birthday year but how do you invite just a few? I have a feeling the bill at the end is going to be a bit bigger that we had planned on.
Neighbors. We have met some terrific neighbors, sadly the ones right next door that also have a 4 and 6 year old are moving July 4th. But there is still a boy that was best friends with the 6 year old next door right down the street. So Hopefully Jonathan and he will hit it off.
Ok I think I've rambled on about 4x too long but I hadn't posted much in a while so time to catch up I guess.
Till next time!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Stories...
There are stories and explanations for most of the pictures below... when it isn't almost midnight and we don't have an all day track meet tomorrow I'll do some explaining .
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