Adjusting to Issaquah

We are adjusting, slowly but surely to our new abode.

I spent the entire day yesterday cleaning the Hilton's house.  As I vacuumed the bedrooms upstairs I got a little sad... looking at the room Elsy would sleep and we would have little talks at bed time, the corner I rocked Tommy in when he was just born, those kinds of things.  As I walked out I decided to take this picture.  It doesn't look like it did when all our stuff was in it, but I thought it looked nice and was a good document of the place we called home for the last 18 months.

Logan watched the kids while I cleaned.  When I got home Elsy's clothes didn't match and both of their hair was crazy... but they were happy and well fed and rested so I would say he did a great job. 

Look at that bed head.

Tommy had a really rough few days after the move and I thought Elsy was doing really good but then I started paying more attention and I realized the subtle things that marked she was going through a lot of stress.  Thinks like her carrying her teddy bear everywhere she went (it is her major comfort item), that sort of thing.  And then one night I realized I hadn't been laying by her and talking with her like I used to at bed time (because it was hectic trying to get both kids to sleep together) so I did.  I asked her if she liked the new house and she said, "Yes" and then I asked if she missed the old house and little tears welled up in her eyes and her voice cracked and she said "Yes!"  It was so sad.  But she has really enjoyed "sploreing" (exploring) the new areas.

At the beginning of the week our house was in shambles.  I am happy to report it no longer looks like the above, although I am not ready to post pictures yet because there are still a few misc. boxes and I want to decorate the walls still.

The kids just love the porch.  Elsy was quite skeptical the first time and was afraid she would fall off.  But after seeing Tommy's confidence she warmed up and they spent a lot of time out there.  One of the sad things I didn't realize about our new apartment is that it is right on a busy street that is quite loud.  The kids have had a hard time adjusting to the road noise at night and during naps but I think we are making progress.  

I was super worried about them sharing a room together and the first two nights actually weren't to bad, but it has gotten quite a lot worse.  The last two nights in a row I was up for almost 3 hours straight trying to get them to sleep.  Right now I am to the point where I ignore Tommy's crying (because he can't get out of his crib) and if Elsy gets out of bed I just grab her by the shoulders and lead her back to her bed without saying anything.  We had a crying fest tonight but they are both asleep finally.  I sure hope it gets better because I am pretty darn tired.

I feel bad because living in a mess of boxes and not getting any sleep has kind of made me cranky this week.  I realized I needed to snap out of it when yesterday I started playing with Tommy and Elsy asked, "Mommy, you happy!?" as if I never am.  Yikes.  She is so intuitive.  She also has taken to saying sadly (and sometimes tearfully), "Mommy, you not being nice to me" when I am being impatient and bustling her to the side.  I always feel sad when she says that, but I am also kind of grateful to her too because she calls my attention to it and I can take a breath and try and slow down and remember what is really important.  Thank goodness for little kids... but it is still sad when she says it.  :(

Last year I made all the Activity Day's girls this key chain to give them on their birthdays.  Since there were leftovers I put one on my keys.   I keep telling myself that I need to give this new area my all, to "Bloom where I am planted." 

On Tuesday a girl I had met in my new ward called me up and asked if I needed help unpacking or if I just needed a break and wanted to go on a walk with our kids (she has a baby Tommy's age).  I politely declined because I didn't want her to see the state of my house but also had a lot to get done.  When I got off the phone instead of feeling happy and welcomed, I felt super sad.  I tried to forget about it but when Logan got home I was laying on the floor with the kids and he said "Hi!" and I burst into tears.  Poor guy.  I had spent so much time telling myself the move was fine and a fun, new chapter of our lives that I hadn't let myself be sad about the friends and wonderful places we were leaving behind.  I had been sad, but I had been blocking out the emotional side of it.  It all came crashing down though and you would have thought someone had died with how much crying was going on.  I realized I didn't WANT to be invited to a new ward because I had a ward that I loved back in Redmond.  My friend Melissa had been the person to invite me out for the first time in Redmond and I didn't want this new girl to take her place, or the place of anyone for that matter (bless her heart though, I saw that new girl at church today and she really is a gem! and we really probably will be friends haha).  So I had my meltdown.  It is way super duper hard to leave people you love. :(

So then I have my key chain telling me to bloom and I kind of don't want to because its exhausting to cheerfully get to know new people and find new places to grocery shop (and even harder to find the food you like in the foreign grocery isles) and new parks and whatnots.  Especially when you know you only signed a year lease to your new apartment so there is a high chance you will leave again soon all to start it all over again. Ugh. 

But I had an amazing teacher at BYU-I named Sister Kay.  I took her for several classes because I just loved her.  She was harder than a lot of other teachers but I felt she truly prepared me for the future classroom.  During my last semester on campus I took her for my Senior Practicum.  I had had her two other times.  She gave us this lesson on the first day of class and I realized I hadn't known anything about her and when she shared how she had experienced some terrible things growing up and became an orphan with her sister and how she had struggled with the church in her youth and all these heartbreaking things happening to her over and over and what she got out of all of that was she learned she needed to "bloom where she was planted."  She gave everyone in the class a little pot of flowers and told us to do just that.  She told us, "You are the only you and you are in the spot you are for a reason.  Nobody else can bloom the way you bloom.  Make the best of your situation."  I realized if she could do that, then I could.  That lesson has always stuck with me.  So, even though it is hard I am going to try and bloom where I have been planted.  We prayed about it, we know we are supposed to be where we are.  God planted us here and he knows that only we can bloom the way we bloom.  So I better make the best of it.

After two days of unpacking I decided to take a day off and I took the kids to the library.  We lucked out because there was story time that morning.  The kids were hilarious doing all the dances and lap songs.  Tommy had so much fun but was also so bashful.  And then Elsy knocked him down and he was screaming and bleeding in the echoing library.  Aye yi yi...

Across the street from the library is a little fish hatchery.  So we went and I let Elsy feed the fish her granola bar through the chain link fence.

On Wednesday I went to my very last Activity Day activity. :(  So sad.  Janalee, one of my partners, made me cupcakes with fairy dust sprinkle sparkles all over them.  I just love her, and Lacie my other partner.  I am going to miss them so much!  

We went to the Family Discovery Center in the stake center behind the Seattle temple.  It was such a fun place and I learned a lot!  I want to go back.  I found out I am 1st cousins with Benjamin Franklin... like 13 times removed though haha!  We had a lot of fun finding out all the famous people we are related to.  You don't have to go to the center to do that, though!  Just go to relativefinder.org and log in.  It is super fun!

This week was Logan's birthday! I didn't get any pictures sadly, just home videos.  But we had a fun breakfast and then Cameron and McKenna babysat so we could go out to dinner together.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory and I sneakily told waiter it was his birthday.  He was so surprised when they brought our cheesecake with sprinkles and birthday singers.  We had a great time together and I am always grateful for those times we get to go out just the two of us.  The table by ours had a little kid that was causing a ruckus and we both laughed and said "I am so glad that is not us" at the same time.  Haha, we must be married.  Happy 28 Logan! 

Every day we are unpacking a little bit more.  Elsy and Tom's new favorite thing in this apartment are all the door stops.  They sit and wack them and they make that funny "Doiiiiiing" sound and they laugh and laugh and laugh.  I went around and super glued all the heads onto the spring part because I didn't want Tom to choke and die.  Then I super glued my fingers to the super glue bottle.  That was fun.

On Friday Tommy woke up with a fever and was so sad all day long and all night too.  And then he woke up Saturday morning fine and hasn't had a fever since  I think maybe it was teething related.

We went to IKEA to get some "housewarming gifts" as Logan called them.  He got a new desk and I got a beautiful big houseplant to go in the corner of the living room.  We also got new nightstands but I am not sold on them yet... and am wondering if I ever will be. Poor Logan, he spent so much time putting it all together.

We are hoping we can get back into the regular routine this week, although we still need to go back to the old house and clean out the garage still.  I am ready to hang pictures on the walls to make this place feel a little more homey.  This weeks goals:  get rid of ALLLLLL the boxes, get the kids to sleep ALLLLLL night long without crying, and go ALLLLLLL the way to TriCities on Friday. Okay.  Here we go!

Moved

We moved yesterday.

I think we are pretty exhausted since I'm laying in my bed with my pjs on and it's not even 9pm.  

My mom came and helped and I think if she hadn't I'd still be packing plates in my kitchen up to my knees in boxes and garbage.  She came and work work worked and then when she was done she took the kids out and kept them entertained while Logan and I got the truck loaded and unloaded, with the help of many wonderful people.

This week has been really hard on this little guy.  He has been completely exhausted and has not been happy to leave his one and only home.  When we got to the new place he wandered around bumping in to boxes and bruising his head over and over again.  He was babysat a lot this week and has started to develop some extreme separation anxiety.  And on top of that I think he is teething.  I hate that you never really know when a kid is teething sometimes.

We have been living in a mess for the last week and a half but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel now.  The only room officially and completely unpacked and in order right now is the new master bathroom.  It gives new meaning to the word 'restroom' now I guess.  I keep finding myself wandering in there to just enjoy the order for a second.

Grandma found this ice cube maker in the kitchen and filled it with Cheerios to keep Tommy occupied...which was a fun idea but it mostly kept him occupied spilling instead of snacking.  Hehe!

Elsy had mixed feeling s about the new house but seems t be enjoying it.  I did get sad today because she was watching home videos and a video came up of us at the old place.  She said she wanted to go back there. :( She has been a trooper and was singing to Tommy last night to try and help him sleep.

We had eight wonderful people show up to help load the truck and six more to unload.  I had to take this picture (even though it is bad quality) of the seven people it took to get the dining room table out the front door.  I tried not to let them see me smiling...

Here is the new place!  I was super nervous for the kids to share a room but last night wasn't so bad.  I just sang to them for a long time and they woke up about an hour earlier than normal but it was expected.  Tonight they went down even faster... I'm hopeful it will be alright.

This is what the dining room and kitchen look like currently.  I feel like we have done pretty good for only one day of unpacking but there is still a lot to go.  I'll post pictures when we are all moved in.

This week my scripture I focused on was D&C 88:125, "And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace."  I tried to love my kids and Logan a little better this week, as if I was putting a piece of clothing on that made me love more.  It was a really good experience.  I found myself doing a better job of explaining things to Elsy when we had misunderstandings and taking a deeper breath when I was feeling impatient.  It was really helpful to think of this scripture this week for me.  I did have a funny experience, though.  Logan was at a late night meeting for the startup and I was trying to get the kids bathed and in bed.  My back always starts to hurt during bath time because of leaning over the side of the tub, Tommy usually gets pretty fussy because it's the last thing we do before bed time (and also jealous because he has to get is out first), and Elsy always seems to get rather rambunctious and crazy because she knows I'm trying to hurry because Tommy is clearly melting.  This particular day Tommy was trying to lay on me while I was trying to get Elsy's clothes on and my back was hurting.  Elsy was laughing obnoxiously and Tommy was whining and laying on my shoulders and trying to grab my hair and I could feel that impatient feeling welling up inside me and it was about to burst out.  Luckily I remembered my scripture and took a deep breath.  Then that quote came to my mind that says something along the lines of, "They will never adore you his much ever again."  So I tried to enjoy the moment of Elsy giggling and Tommy wanting to cuddle me...but the wrestling match reached a pinnacle point where I fell over from trying to balance Tommy on my entire right side and get Elsy's legs into her pjs at the same time.  And I just started laughing because in all my trying to enjoy the moment I just realized that this actually WAS a crazy moment and I was being stupid for trying to enjoy it.  So I just started to laugh at my lofty ambitions.  Anyway.

I already miss our old ward!  Our new one was very welcoming but the kids were just a mess because of the 1pm meet time.  I may have said we are never going to church again today, but I'm not sure how serious I was quite yet. :P

We have a busy week lined up for us of needing to unpack, stock up the new house, and finish cleaning the old house.  We are trying to enjoy the little things about the new apartment but are sad to leave the spacious home we were so blessed to get to live in.  It's a new chapter for sure and it hasn't all set in on me yet.  I think we are ready for a break.

Goodnight!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from the Beans!

Every year since Logan and I have been dating I make crepes for Valentine's day breakfast.  If you need a good recipe check it out, its the best.Creamy Strawberry Crepes.  While Elsy loved helping to prepare them she decided she didn't like them.  She tried them a few times and kept saying "I think I like these!" but in the end it was a no go and she and Tommy both ate a million strawberries for breakfast.  This year we all said what we loved about the person on our left.  

Logan also surprised me with a beautiful orchid (there on the table).  I just absolutely love plants but I am afraid I have my mother's green thumb... which is more like the black thumb from "A Troll In Central Park".  I just don't do a very good job keeping them alive.  But Logan keeps diligently buying me plants because he knows they make me so so happy... and maybe one day I'll figure it all out!

It was an awesome Valentine's day!  We had a wonderful stake conference.

Then we all took naps and when we woke up Logan decided we needed to go on a walk, despite the rain.  We went to Ferel McWhirter for probably the last time, which was so sad.  It is perfect because it has a little farm and then a bunch of really short trails that are perfect for walking through with kiddos.

And since we had our rain boots on Logan took us all offroading.  Elsy kept laughing and telling the water to "Stop tickling my feeeet!!".  She told all about it in her prayer tonight before bed and it was so cute.  Tommy fell in the mud so got to ride home without his pants... and then got beans all over his shirt at dinner and got to spend the evening shirtless.  That boy is so much happier naked, I tell you.

All day long I have just been feeling so blessed and happy about my little family.  I love them and they love me and really what more do I need?  A few times I felt like rushing to get something done but I was able to realize that all that matters are these three people.  Not rushing to get the dishes done after dinner or hurrying the kids to bed to do a blog post.  So maybe the living room is still messy but after dinner we all played David and Goliath (Elsy throws rolled up paper at Daddy while Tommy runs around yelling) and I read Elsy an extra story at bed time.  I even rocked Tommy while he was sleeping and just looked at him for a while.  I wish every day was as slow and perfect as today was.  

Earlier today Logan said, "God has been kind to me."  I couldn't agree more.

***

Maybe I loved today so much for being slow because I have been working so hard this week.  Harder than I have in quite a while!!  I have been trying to exercise each morning (although it doesn't always happen) and then have been trying to pack and clean.  Its been quite exhausting but also strangely fulfilling because I have something to do every moment of the day.

Elsy is still a kitty cat and always tells me to make an 'Elsy Bowl' which is just a little place to sit between my legs (see above) or she likes to have an 'Elsy Bowl' between Logan and I.

Look at those darling eyes!  My mom always tells me Elsy's eyes are always sparkling and it is so true.

Earlier this week it was super sunny so we went to the Ferel McWhirter.  It was Tommy's first time getting to walk around and Elsy showed him the ropes.

I have a list of chores to get done each day and one was to vacuum the couches.  Elsy was so excited and kept jumping away from sharks and climbing the mountains.

I love this bum shot haha!  And Tommy joined too for a little while but he fell a lot and lost interest.

I have also been trying to finish the STUPID dresser!  Ugh I have worked way more hours than I thought I would.  I sanded it all, painted the drawers (with the help of my good friend Lacie).   Then I painted the whole thing with tea and then a home made stain (I was following a tutorial off Pinterest).  It ended up being a really pretty ashy grey color (see right picture).  But the tutorial said to add another stain on top of that (see left) but when I did I didn't like the red tones that were coming through.  So I sanded the half that I had stained and then put the home made stain on again to make it all grey again, because I had loved it.  Only to realize that if you let the homemade stain sit for to long it changes colors so my dresser was yet again half grey and half a strange weird brown color.  

I was so frustrated but after talking to my mom about it I decided to try again.  She said you might as well do it right so you like it even if it does take forever.  So I spent yet ANOTHER day sanding the side off and making a new batch of homemade stain (which is only vinegar and steel wool set over night) to stain... to find out that I had sanded the side so much that it wouldn't absorb the stain well and was really really faint grey.... so I waited a day and stained another coat on to find out the stain turned the weird brownish color again!!  I am so done with this thing I am just leaving it all weird and multi colored until I have the patience to address the issue again....  I know my mom said to do it right but I just no longer have time with moving this weekend.  Okay sorry about my rant.  

Logan laughed because I kept referring to it as "the stupid dresser".  He said I am a professional now because I have been through a lot... but I don't think I agree because if I was a pro my finished product would look like the Pinterest beauty I was trying to copy but instead looks like a multicolored mess.

Tommy continues to give us a run for our money.  At meal times I will often turn my head away and swing it back and say "Ahhh!" in kind of a gaspy way to surprise him and make him laugh.  So now he will sit in his high chair and do the same thing over and over "Ahh!  Ahh!" thinking he is so funny.  He also learned to say "Uh oh" this week which I guess is his first word.  He drops his cheerios off the high chair and says "uh oh!" He hates getting dressed or his diaper changed and is always trying to climb into the dishwasher.  I can't find a single thing to keep him occupied for more than five minutes except Elsy's Sophia the First water bottle but that only keeps him happy because Elsy crys and it makes him laugh.  Every time we climb up the stairs he makes a beeline for Elsy's bed and climbs up and grabs it off the bookshelf there by her bed.  We got him an Iron Man one but he could care less about it.  Its the reaction from Elsy that he is looking for.  He has two more teeth trying to pop through so I think he has been a little uncomfortable this week. 

He has learned the art of yelling to get Mom's attention.  I watched him and when Elsy took something away he looked around to find me before he started screeching.  Its kind of a cross between a yell, a scream, and a gurgle and he is always doing it for everything .. if he is frustrated he can't open something , excited about a ball, mad that Elsy stole from him, or sad that he hit his head on the wall again. My favorite is whenever I go somewhere without him he follows me to the door and grabs his shoes expectantly in hopes he will get to go to.  He may be running us into the ground with his energy but its also what makes us totally adore him.

We found a leotard that my aunt Kaylene passed on to us and Elsy loves to wear it now.  She is way into Little Einsteins and says she is wearing a purple dress like June does from the show.  Its funny to hear her humming classical tunes and singing funny lyrics to them throughout the day.  She is such a singer and lays in bed forever before going to sleep singing and talking with her stuffed animals.

Elsy has two phrases she is always saying these days.  "Mama watch me do...!" (which all comes out like one word almost "Mamawatchmedo!") and "Mom, tellllllll me about it!" The first she says because she constantly wants me to watch what she is doing, and she will wait until I am looking I can't get away with saying "Uh huh!" while continuing what I am doing.  She never finishes the sentence and tells us what it is she wants us to watch her do.  I think she wants it to either be a surprise or she doesn't know how to describe what it is she is doing.  When I look she is always doing the smallest, randomest, silliest things like sticking her fork in her straw (which is at every meal) or standing on one foot, or blinking several times quickly.  Its kinda exhausting to be honest.  But that was what Logan said he loved about her this morning at Valentine's breakfast so maybe I should have a different perspective on it.

The other one, "Mom, tellllllll me about it!" she started saying last week when she got back from play group.  I will say something and she will ask me to tell her about it.  Or she will randomly say, "Mom, tell me about screwdrivers" or "Mom, tell me about scissors" or point to a picture and say "Mom, tell me about this!"  This one is kind of fun but she wont take a quick short explanation or she will just ask again.  So I have to tell her alllllll about how food is made or why we do this or that.  

Both of my growling children at the dinner table.

Tommy got a big boy car seat!  They may say it is safer for kids to be rear facing but my kids get to sit forward as soon as they turn one.  My argument is that I drive safer if my kids are happy and I am not distracted trying to put a pacifier in a mouth or throw food and books back to them, and both my kids are happier forward facing.  Today Tommy was just giggling because he was facing forward.  And I love looking back and seeing both my cute kids faces... chowing on gram crackers.

Last night we got a babysitter and got to go to our friend Kurt's birthday party.  It is always fun to spend time with Logan one on one.  They had karaoke at the party and Logan and I decided last minute to sing "I Lava You" from the Pixar short.  Sadly we were super off key at first because we only ever sing it when Logan is playing it on his ukulele not with all the other accompaniment.  But by the end I think we finally got it.  We laughed on the way home because we were embarrassed and we were that off key couple everyone just smiles through.  Oh well, we both know we really can sing pretty decently.

This is my child containment strategy while packing this week.  A big box full of Easter grass and Easter eggs.  They love it.  Tommy couldn't figure out how to get out and I watched him as he just decided to lean on the side until it all fell over... that is now how he makes his exit every time I put him in.

Here's to another week of packing!  Our official move date is this Saturday, although we will be coming back to do some cleaning we will be sleeping in the new apartment Saturday night.  Cheers!

PS.  Logan has been sitting next to me this whole time trying to learn Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds' song on the Ukulele... he has been practicing and now he is singing and playing it perfectly.... in the amount of time it took to write one blog post.  Dang he is so good. ;)

Quickie

Hello hello.

We are mucho busy here at the Bean household packing to move, cleaning, launching the startup, and preping for a Relief Society activity! Not to mention that dumb dresser I decided to do right before the move. (my eyes just rolled so bad I had to go pick them up off the floor over there by the TV).

So this post is going to be super quick because my other goal for tonight, besides this blog post, is to update the Activity Day's binder so I can pass it on to the next qualified leader!

Elsy is in a toddler play group that includes six littles from our ward that are only each a month a part for like five months, two in one month.  We rotate houses every Monday and we had our last rotation at our house this week.  The kids are to hilarious and started making a train on our slide.  We have Emily, Rowen, Preston, Asher, and Elsy... sadly Parker was sick so he wasn't there for the picture. 

Its always a pig sty but we love it... and I especially love the weeks off so I can get stuff done! ;)

We made several trips to Home Depot and Fred Meyer this week getting cleaner, paints/stains for the stupid dresser, light bulb replacements, and the like.  I told Elsy to pose and she did this... they are hilarious.  Also I wish all stores had seats like this cart.  It was perfect.

Tommy had his one year checkup this week.  It was discovered after his long cold he had a double ear infection.  To sad.  And on top of that he is teething like no other.  I'm pretty sure he spent an entire day or two crying... and maybe I am exaggerating a hair but seriously.. when your baby is crying a lot it feels like it will never end... and it often doesn't because then they cry all night. Another lady was at the doctors with a 2 week old getting their check up.  I asked how she was doing and she said, "Oh you know, still in that sleep deprived stage!"  I couldn't help but feel bad for her because I don't think she realized the sleep deprived stage never ends.  It's not a stage, it's a new way of life.  I don't think everyone is aware of that before they jump into this whole kids business.

Tommy is 31.25 inches long (93 percentile), 23 lbs 9 oz (82%), and his head is 19.5 in (100%).  My kids heads are always off the charts when they show me the graph in the office.  He got three shots which was oh so sad.

Elsy loves the doctor's office when she isn't the one getting seen.  She loves Dr. Bilger and chats her ear off so we can hardly get a word in to each other.  We brought her some sunflowers because we liked her so much and were sad we were moving away. (Yes that is Tommy holding onto the drawer handle and bouncing as fast as he can while yelling... he really is giving us a run for our money.)

I'm always looking for restaurant coupons in the mail and this weekend we went to DQ for some blizzards and cones.  Elsy just lick, lick, licks ice cream cones and suckers so slowly that we can hardly stand it.  The Daniel Tiger song we are focusing on right now is "When you wait, you can play, sing, or imagine anything." because Elsy is having patience problems... and maybe I am too.

Tommy got lots of bites of our blizzards.  He has the funniest expressions!  Logan and I decided it might be worth the extra few dollars to go to Red Mango instead of DQ next time.  But I felt guilty saying that because we got our Mini Cooper from DQ and a part of me feels like we need to have a blizzard now and then just to pay our dues back from the Mini Blizzard Treatment.

Tommy's top two teeth are still coming in and aren't long enough to be seen very often.  If you look really closely in this picture you can see them and the cute little gap he has.  His gap matches my old gap from when I was little.

My goal this week was to not use the word 'hurry' because, I yet again reminded myself, that I hardly ever need to be in a hurry.  And really, when I am in a hurry I don't think I get out the door any sooner than if I wasn't in a hurry.  I kept reminding myself to relax and have fun.  I think I have been feeling a little frantic in my brain about all the things I need to get done before we move next week (especially after I finally decided to write it all down and had a To Do list that was 4 pages long! - refrigerator to do list pages, not regular pages) and so I just feel like I need to hurry throughout my day.  Anyway, still working on that one!  Have a nice week!