Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to the guy we love!  Tryg was very excited to surprise Daddy with birthday donuts this morning after we snuggled for a while in bed.  And he is very good at sharing Daddy's donuts with him (many times without asking). :-)

Erik's Early Birthday Present

I had yesterday off of work for Martin Luther King Day.  I knew it was going to be a cold day here so I planned to stay in my PJs and take it easy.  However I ended up having more energy than I thought I would.  I have been so tired these past few months that I never know. So, what I thought would be a day in my pajamas in front of the TV, ended up being pretty productive!

So you know those times when something happens to bring disorder or chaos to a part of your life or physically to room in your house? It can be something as simple as the holidays or a busy season at work, etc.  Then, before you know it, that part of your life or house seems to just end up as a dumping ground and the mess just keeps getting bigger and bigger until it seems completely unmanageable and overwhelming?  In my life, those are the times I just want to hit the fast food places and almost forget  how to actually cook or bring a lunch to work. I honestly find myself asking Erik or friends what I used to cook or make because I have totally forgotten and nothing sounds good or easy to me anymore.

Ok, whoa, that was a major tangent!!  What I was going to talk about was our basement!  Apparently I still felt the need to make more "confessions."  Anyway, our basement has two storage guest rooms as well as our family room.  If you follow our blog, you might remember that this last summer I left the water on in front of our house and caused a small flood in our basement. (you can read about that here)  Well, that was the "something" that happened that caused disorder in our basement.  We had to move everything out of the living room and bigger guest room, including all the clothes we have been given for Tryg (from newborn to size 6!) that we store in the closet of the guest room.  We never really put everything back after the water was cleaned up.  Then slowly, both guest rooms became a dumping ground, and soon they became unmanageable and completely overwhelming!  I mean honestly, they got to the point that we could not walk into them and Erik kept threatening to call the TLC show "Hoarders." 

So, somehow I got the energy to tackle both of these rooms on a day that I planned on sleeping in front of the TV.  I didn't take a 'before picture' of the first room. I wish, now, that I did but, at the time I was, frankly, too embarrassed. However, you can try to picture it in your mind...the twin bed in the after picture was not put together.  It was on its side leaning against other stuff that covered the floor. You couldn't step into the room because the floor was full of stuff from baby toys, baby exersaucers, cushions from our patio furniture, an exercise ball, Christmas decor, our Christmas tree box, storage boxes, to gift wrapping supplies.  Horrible.  Overwhelming.  We didn't even know where to start.  However....here's the "after photo:"

So, this room ended looking so good that I decided to take on the bigger guest room as well (bigger room but smaller mess).  Here are the before and after pictures of that room:

These are boxes of boy's clothes all labeled (now) from Newborn to Size 6.  Depending on whether Baby #2 is a boy or a girl, this may need to change!

I knew that this would be the perfect birthday gift for Erik!  He'll miss out on the chance to be on "Hoarders" but I am sure it is more than worth it to have our spare rooms back!  Now we just need to get through the "office" or soon-to-be nursery.

P.S. I still stayed in my PJs ALL day as promised!

Confessions of a Delinquent Blogger

So, it has been almost three months since we last posted on our blog!  We've also had some major holidays in there that we have not accounted for at all.  So, here is my confession....

First, I usually don't like to write blog posts without photos.  It's not that I won't read others' blogs if there are no photos, but I do think it is fun to have photos of the events I'm writing about.  Our problem is that we own 7 (seven) SD cards for our cameras, yes, seven, and not 1 (one) of them has any space on it for more pictures!  Ridiculous!  I know.  I mean, we have pictures for Tryg's FIRST snow on some of these cards.  He's two and a half now, so this is his third winter.  We have a problem.  And as a result, we have virtually no holiday pics and certainly no pics for our blog.

Second, this is more of an excuse than a confession...I was pretty much sick for the entire month of November.  After coughing for about 2 weeks straight, I was diagnosed with "pre-bronchitis" and given antibiotics.  I still coughed for 2 to 3 weeks after that!  I was pretty drained and missed a few days of work, during one of my busy seasons for my job.  So, blogging was not a high priority, even though I am sure you all wanted to hear about how much I had been coughing that day!

Third, the holidays.  Yep, we all get busy during the holidays but I know most bloggers are excited to post about their holiday gathers and such.  Well, lets go back to "confession #1."  Without photos, our holiday posts would be lacking for sure.  I mean Tryg sure had a blast and looked pretty cute digging into his presents and talking about Baby Jesus...and sadly, most of it is not on camera.  However, we had a great holiday and time off of work.  We enjoyed time with both our families as well as friends.  Merry Christmas everyone! (sorry I'm late!)

Fourth, January....well, remember how November is a busy season at my work.  Well, January is probably the second busiest month for my job (March/April being the busiest!).  I have to award all of the degrees for any student who graduated from Bethel in December and also go through all of the degrees for any student who plans to graduate this May.  That is close to 900 students total and I have to look at all of their degree evaluations individually and manually.  And to top it off, last week I had to miss a couple days of work because Tryg had a mysterious low grade fever (without other symptoms) that lasted six days.  Oddly enough, he was diagnosed with the flu on Friday morning after starting a cough on Thurs night but then was completely normal by Friday night -no fever or anything!  Here I was bracing for the worst and possibly missing more work this week, but he ended up being completely fine.  I'm very grateful for that!  I know this flu bug has been very rough on a lot of people!

***Fifth, and most important...we have been keeping a secret from you!  On Halloween morning, I discovered that we are expecting Baby #2!  We are thrilled!!  But we were also hesitant to share the news right away as we had been trying for a long time and some of you may recall, we had a big scare early on when we were pregnant with Tryg (read a little about that here and here).  Well, we have had our first ultrasound with Baby #2 and so far everything looks normal and healthy (without apparent heart, kidney or chromosomal defects).  This pregnancy has felt about the same as with Tryg.  I have been pretty extremely tired but other than that, it has gone well -with fairly limited nausea.  We hope and pray that the rest of the pregnancy and delivery go well and would love your prayer support as well.

Sorry again for the delay in blogging...I'm feeling much better after getting these "confessions" off my chest. :-)  We hope all is well for you!  Watch for more updates on Baby #2.  We're due July 5th!  As of today (Friday) I am four months along.