Basement

Our basement project is pretty much finished (our bathroom isn't finished and there are other small things we need to finish) so I thought I'd post some before and after pics.

We framed it in last winter already! We then took an extended break until late summer/early fall and then once I went on bedrest we quickly got everything done. I forget exactly when it was done, but it was shortly after Gibson came home from the hospital.

Joe and Elv prior to starting...

Joe helped Kevin, from our church, frame it all...

This shows how long ago it was with by how little Layla is!

Joe's dad helping with insulation. Joe's dad and brother have helped with a lot of it!! This is the future family room...

Layla's future bedroom and where Elv is, is the future bathroom...

Layla's room...

Family room...

Layla's room getting drywall...we didn't do any of the drywall ourselves.

Family room getting drywalled...

The family room all painted. Joe's dad and brother helped with some of the first coat of paint and then we finished it up in between Gibson's feedings:-).

Joe busy painting Layla's room...

Layla was SO excited when the carpet arrived. She was running and dancing all over the place and would then just suddenly drop to the ground.

Mike and Joe trying to figure out if the window would come all the way out after we figured out that one section of the couch wouldn't fit going down the stairs. The window did not come out easily. We needed a "window guy" to help get it out.

Gavin and Layla having fun watching the couch get moved in (well, part of it)...

We bought the couch from some friends over a year ago and then got the chair from my grandparents when my grandma passed away in the fall. We got lucky that they match!

We still have some finishing touches to make such as needing hardware on the cabinets, some outlet covers, a mini fridge, more decorations, etc...

Layla and I in her room the day her furniture got moved in...

She's using the furniture that I had in my room at my parents' house after I graduated from college (that I only used until I got married about 9 months later)...

And she's using a crib from my cousin until we want to switch her to a toddler bed...

I love Etsy for all things handmade! I love that you can get anything to match what you need it to match!

We weren't sure how she'd sleep the first night, but she did great! She was very excited about her new room. When we tucked her in the first night she cried for me once we shut the door, but once I went back in and talked to her again about her new room she settled down and then went right to sleep. I also wasn't sure how she'd adjust to seeing Gibson in her old crib/room, but that's been fine too. It didn't take long at all and she knew that was where he slept.

Although it only added 3 more rooms to our basement (one bedroom/office/playroom was already done), it it so nice to finally have it finished and feels like a lot of extra space to us!

Looking Forward to Spring

I'm so excited that it's starting to feel like spring. I know that could change, but even if we get some more snow, spring is still right around the corner! I didn't even mind the rain today--better than snow! Today was my birthday and it was a great day spent with my fam. I haven't been feeling the greatest so Joe was nice enough to work from home today so that he could help a bit with the kids. That was very nice and he even said he was able to get lots of work done. I have had a great birthweek even though we haven't done anything too exciting. Saturday we went out for dinner and went shopping without kids to celebrate!! Joe's parents watched the kids which was really nice. Time alone with Joe was really the best present I could have asked for! :-)

I brought up the Bumbo the other day even though Gibs is probably a little young for it. Layla has been enjoying it. Here she is reading The Spark (the Calvin magazine), she is probably reading the article about Jonathan and his daddy and grandpa:-).

Being a good big sis and dangling toys infront of Gibson to try to get him to enjoy his tummy time.

Showing off their matching wrist rattles. Who says wrist rattles are just for babies? :-)

Remi stayed at our house while his family was away so Layla had fun tormenting, er, playing with the dogs. Surprisingly both dogs allow her (some of the time) to sit on them. Elv only will if he's busy chewing one of his toys.

Gibson isn't too into the Bumbo. Yesterday he fell asleep when I put him in it...

And the other day he wasn't so happy about trying it out:)...

I just started Gibson on Prevacid this week to hopefully help with his tummy and reflux issues. Poor little guy still gets so unhappy while and after he eats. I'm not sure yet if it's working. He was on Zantac, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Our ped said that most the time it's not from something that the mom ate, but I'm also trying to cut back on my dairy. Layla was allergic to dairy and the arching of the back, scrunching up of the legs and not wanting to finish bottles is seeming all too familiar. I'm sure it's not that, but just to make sure, I'm cutting back on dairy to see if it makes a difference.

Tuesday we were able to enjoy the nice weather with my cousin and her kiddos. We have that same double jogger but need to get a new tire for it, plus Gibs seems a little bit small yet to sit in that kind of seat and loves his carseat so we just took this one. It definitely feels like you're pushing a lot more weight with a double!! Better work out I guess:-). It felt great to finally get some excercise! Hopefully we'll go for lots of walks this summer. With being pregnant all last summer I never felt good and therefore never felt like walking in the blazing heat. So thankfully I won't be pregnant this summer and we can go for lots of walks:-). I wasn't sure if Layla would get bored during the walk since during mall trips all I hear is "walk, walk" (meaning she wants to walk, not ride), but she really liked the stroller ride. It probably helps to move at a fast pace rather than going slowly through mall racks, I just need to learn to shop faster I guess:-).

We celebrated my birthday with Joe's family on Sunday. Layla had so much fun she couldn't stay awake on the way home. Unfortunately that meant she then didn't want to nap once we got home.

Gibson woke up a little early from one of his naps the other day so I held him so that he'd keep sleeping until it was time to eat. He was opening his little mouth so cute I thought I'd take a picture:-)...

New Buddies

Gibson was so excited to meet Madison this week! Since Lindsey had a c-section she isn't able to lift heavy things, such as her 30+ pound son, so the kids and me went to help them out on Tuesday. I am so glad I could help Lindsey out in this way since her and Jonathan came here many times to help me with Layla during bedrest!

Gibson and Maddy had lots of fun playing together:-). You can definitely tell that Gibson weighs a couple of pounds more! I think they are around the same length--Gibs is just a little bit longer.

Not sure what is up with Gibson's scowl:-)...

All four kids...it took a few tries and this was the best I got. Layla didn't want to smile. I can see all four sets of eyes (plus one of Elv's:D), so I didn't think it was too bad:-).

And since I like to compare, here was Layla and Jonathan when Layla was almost 2 months and J was almost 3 months...

Layla was whiny off and on all day. I think a big part of that was that she for some reason was scared of their dogs. She's been around dogs her whole life so I don't know why she suddenly doesn't like others' dogs. She liked having "Uncle" Darrell hold her when he came home and so then Jonathan wanted to be held too:-)...


Gibson just hanging out in his crab outfit yesterday...he wasn't even having a crabby day:-).

It's rare that I see Layla sleeping during the day (meaning I can go in there at night and tuck her in and she won't wake up or if she does, she'll go right back to sleep, but I don't dare try that during the day!). She took a late nap yesterday afternoon so I went to wake her up so that she didn't sleep too late. She didn't wake very easily--she was pretty tired! I just think sleeping children are so precious so I thought I'd take a pic:-)...

Grampy and Gigi hadn't seen the kids in a little bit, so they stopped by earlier this week to visit. I'm pretty surprised that all three kids are looking at the camera! Don't mind the laundry basket in the background--I was packing to go to Lindsey's the next day and in addition to taking all the kids' stuff, I also took a loud of laundry since our wash machine decided to break on Sunday! Of course it was right after Joe had left for a trip!!

Happy 2 Months!

Gibson is already 2 months old! Well, sort of...technically he'd be 2 months on the 30th, but there obviously wasn't a 30th day in February. We already love our little guy so much and it has been so great to see how well Layla has responded to being a big sister. Don't get me wrong, she has her moments of not being very nice--such as this morning she stuck a sticker (that didn't have much stick left thankfully) on his head--but overall she has adjusted a lot better than I would have thought! She is excited to see him each time she wakes up and wonders where he is if he's not awake (which is quite often:D). He is not sleeping through the night yet:-(. Typically he now does like one 4-5 hour stretch, then a 3-4 hour stretch and then a 3 hour stretch and then it's morning:). Then I try to give him about an hour of awake time after each day time feeding and normally about twice a day he actually stays awake well for the whole hour. He still seems so sleepy, but I think part of that is that it's still sort of like he's less than a month old rather than two months. He still gets a little fussy after eating, but I think his medicine is helping a bit for his reflux. He still spits up too, but it kind of just depends on the day. He is eating about 4 1/2-5 oz 7 times a day and I'm still pumping. I pump about double what he eats so our deep freez is already SUPER full (and we've already moved some to someone else's freezer)! It'll be nice though once I'm done pumping to have all that milk like we did with Layla.

Gibson at 1 month...

Nudey pic at 2 months...

For comparison, here's Layla at 2 months...

Layla with her doll at 2 months...

Gibson with Layla's doll...

Kisses from sissy...he doesn't look to enthuised:-)...

Tummy time together:-)...

He doesn't know yet that this shirt isn't entirely true:-)...

Their first matching shirts...and I'm sure not their last:-). Although I'm sure they'd be matching a LOT more if they were the same gender:-). I've sort of been looking for big sister/little brother shirts, but it's hard to find big sister ones in sizes less than 2T!

Hanging out with their Minnie and Mickey dolls (Layla thinks that Mickey is hers too and sleeps with him every night now)...this was taken about 2 minutes after the other pics of them in their matching shirts and of course her pants are off!

I love my brother!!

My three kiddos:-)...