the Den

We bought a great house in the country that we love, however it does need a few changes to become our dream house. We have projects that we want to do that range in levels of possibilities and will take years to do if they ever get done at all. But it's so fun to dream. :) We decided to tackle the den downstairs first!

Our den started out with horrible wood paneling with wood built-in shelving. Ugly. Very, very ugly. Tim first took down the paneling, the shelves, and the lath and plaster. It made quite a mess, but it was so great to get it all down!

Behind the paneling was a lovely pink wall and what used to be a window. Next came framing, insulation, and drywall. Tim put all the wiring for the TV, all the components, and the speakers behind the wall so that we could have a wire-free setup! What an amazing husband I have!

I painted the walls and the bricks on the fireplace. Here is the finished product minus the fireplace mantel. Not too bad if I do say so myself. :)

5 months old!

Kendall is 5 months old! The time has flown by so quickly!!

Kendall can now:
· Roll over (though she stills needs some help at times) from front to back
· Get an object in her hand and get that object into her mouth
· Sit up with a little bit of support
· Laugh (though she doesn’t do it often)
· Sing along with George (her seahorse that plays music) and tell amazing stories :)

We started her on some antibiotics on Monday for a chest infection. She’s still coughing from her bout with RSV and coughs up green junk when she actually gets it out instead of swallowing it (I know…gross). But last night I only got up with her 4 times with minimal coughing! The medicine seems to be working! It’s bubble gum flavored, so you would think it would be yummy, but Kendall hates it. Obviously we still need to teach her how to enjoy the finer flavors in life. :)

It’s been a great 5 months and we’re looking forward to many more months!!

Baking!!!

I suddenly found myself in an extreme baking mood just a few days ago. I found 12 frozen bananas in my freezer (I later realized that I missed 3 that were hiding in the back. Oh well... that'll be the next batch) and made a quadruple batch of banana bread. I do not have a normal sized loaf pan, so I made a bunch of mini loaves, some normal muffins, and some muffins shaped like hearts (thank you again Anna for the muffin pan--the heart shaped ones are the most fun). It took a few hours, but here are the delicious results.

But that was not the end of my baking night. Raspberries were on sale at Hy-Vee, and of course, I couldn't pass them up. So I got three little packages and made a raspberry rhubarb pie. I admit, I cheated a bit and bought the store made pie crust instead of making my own, but hey, I was hot and tired by that point. Anyway, it leaked a little around the edges, but I'm sure that won't be a problem when it comes to eating it. :) Yummy!

the Motorcycle

Sadly, not a whole lot of riding the motorcycle has been happening for me this summer. I've really missed it. But at least some people have been able to ride. :)

Hannah, being the oldest got the first ride.

Emily

Abigail

And thanks Uncle Tim for the rides! They really enjoyed themselves.

Some baby pictures

So it's been about 6 months since I've written anything on my blog (there are a number of reasons behind that, but I won't get into those). But it is now time to start up again! I had an OB visit this morning--I am at 24 weeks and the baby is looking really good. The last few times I've been there, the ladies doing the ultrasounds have told me that the baby is measuring pretty big. So I'm either due a little earlier than my due date or I'm just going to have a ginormous baby. :) Anyway, here are some pictures of the little one.

Here is the classic profile. Has a little hand in there too.

And here's a close-up of the baby's face. He's got a fist up by his mouth and his toes are almost touching his nose. Obviously showing off his amazing flexibility. :)

And perhaps the coolest of all, the 3-D pictures. Looks like an actual baby! I think he's got Tim's nose. ;)

Breathing problems...

This morning I had yet another breathing episode. Tim skipped all his classes and braved the roads to come pick me up in Ankeny and bring me to the allergy doctor in Des Moines. My blood oxygen level was 99--completely normal and healthy. He listened to my lungs and followed the wheezing noise up to my throat. He diagnosed me with Vocal Chord Dysfunction which means that instead of opening up further when I'm trying to breathe, my vocal chords contract so that I wheeze and have trouble catching my breath.

There are a lot of things that can trigger VCD--respiratory infections, odors, singing, emotional upset, post-nasal drips, allergies, and exercise. Who knows what triggers mine. It might be the allergies. It might just be some added stress in life, though most of the times I've had problems, I have not been stressed at all. We may never know for sure what my triggers are.

To try to treat it, I will first try to control it on my own. To do that I can practice lamas breathing and relaxation tricks to try to get my throat muscles to relax and start working correctly again. If that doesn't work and I still have attacks, I may have to go to speech/breathing therapy to teach my muscles in my neck, throat, chest, and abdomen to work like they are supposed to.

The hard part will be that I have no idea what triggers it for sure, so can't do things to try to prevent an attack. And once I do have an attack, there's no magic medicine to stop it--no medicine that helps at all actually. The good part is that its not just allergy attacks getting worse and worse! I won't have to cut all cat-owners out of my life! ;) And with practice, it can even go away completely someday. I'm praying that it does soon.

Weekend in Minnesota

On Saturday we traveled to Minneapolis first to visit my/our friends Kara and Kiel Johnson. They just bought a house and were having a housewarming party! We got to stay for 3 or 4 hours before I had a breathing problem, and Tim worked his magic and got us a great deal on an awesome hotel room. (More about my breathing problems later.)

We met up with Gabe, Naomi, Caleb, and Laura for church and lunch at Olive Garden, then headed to the Mall of America to visit the aquarium for Caleb's birthday. All in all it was a great weekend! We got to spend a lot of great time with our friends!