Making Friends

 Dinner Party

Last night we had guests over to our house! Our living room is mostly complete; we got our couches, rug, lamps, tables, china cabinet, throw pillows and wall decorations up. The only thing to do in the future for that room is get better curtains...it just has a set of shear curtains right now.

The family room downstairs has the office area all set up and decorated...Sterling's doing. The new sectional couch is down there, the 32inch tv and the awesome ottoman we just got. We can't really decorate the walls yet because we plan on doing so many changes in that room; we will replace the tv with a huge one and mount it on the opposite wall from where the current tv is. That means moving the sectional as well.
Sterling is going to build book shelves to go on the shelf that runs all the way around the walls. Put our dvd collection and book collection on them...on both sides of the fireplace he is going to put in (in the center of the wall). He has worked hard to clean and paint that fireplace stove. It looks great now!

The boys have a bunkbed in their room and tons of toys too. But I can't do much organizing in there until their other bunk bed/desk/drawers piece of furniture is delivered from the store.
The kitchen looks great; all we did there was add a refrigerator/freezer.
The dining room has a tiny table that was my craft table in Italy. There are no decorations on the wall. But we bought a fine dining table with two benches and chairs that will be delivered tomorrow! Then we'll decorate the wall and that room will be complete. (Crossing my fingers that the table is not too big for our dining area)

We had our friends the Liefker's over for dinner yesterday, despite our unfinished dining room.
Brenda, Ben, Braeden and Bryson. And as soon as they arrived Brenda told me the exciting news...she's pregnant! She's about to start working a new job and was surprised to learn she's pregnant. So now that shakes things up a bit.
She is dealing with the first trimester sickness.

We gave them a tour of the house.
All the little boys played downstairs in the boys' bedroom and the tv room (where they love throwing all the big pillows off the couch, jumping on the couch and the ottoman and pulling out the games we placed inside the ottoman. 
Sterling and Ben started getting to know each other in the office area of the downstairs where Ster keeps a bunch of his projects and things right now.
Brenda and I chatted upstairs and then I made dinner; pizza spaghetti skillet. After dinner we ate homemade chocolate chip cookies Brenda made. Yum!

Sterling taught Ben how to play Mancala...a game we have. Then after dinner Ben taught Brenda and they played a few rounds while we all socialized.

They asked us how we met and we roughly told them the story. Then they told us the story of how they met. Some of it was that they dated then they broke up. She started to move on and was dating someone else. He tried to pursue her and once she agreed to just see him and hear him out it didn't take long for him to propose...they were not even dating each other. lol.

A few things I really like about the Liefker's:
They are religious and actually go to church. Not our religion but a religion.
They lived in Germany and came back recently. So I don't feel bad at all talking about Italy because they have had some amazing experiences in Germany themselves.  Usually I feel kind of bad talking about Italy because people are so envious. I don't want to be bragging ever. 

Braedon and Bryson are really nice boys. They are not bullies. And all four of our boys get along so well. They have so much fun together! Ty doesn't like to play with them as long as Luke and Braedon do. Ty will come hang out with the grown ups or the baby sometimes. But I guess Bryson does that too. Maybe it's their age. The older boys have fun with friends longer.

Baby Shower

A day or two ago I started itching to plan a cake. I need a reason to make and decorate a cake! A baby shower would be awesome! Then I realized that maybe, just maybe, my friend Martha is going to have or wants to have a baby shower. Her due date is coming up, late January, and I have not heard a thing about a baby shower for her. It is her third child but it's her first girl. And she does have plenty of girl clothes so she doesn't need those. But maybe she'd like a diaper and wipes party? And I can make a cake to show off and share.

I text messaged Martha and she said she doesn't have any plans for one but would love one. So now I am planning her baby shower!

Quickly I have to find women to help me plan and throw the shower. Martha gave me some names of her friends in the ward. Once I have a committee we will meet sometime this week to plan the event...get the ball rolling. I am excited! :)

Martha wants to make little hair bows for her baby as an activity at the party. I think it's a way cute idea. Better than just baby shower games. I'll have Martha pick out her perfect baby girl shower cake and I will make it. 

Friends/Neighbors

I also really like the Nopes who are in our ward and live just across the street. They had us over at their house with their (I think) 5 kids for New Year's Eve night. We have not had them over to our house yet because we didn't have furniture and now we have a newborn. In a week or so we'll have them over for a meal or something.

And Druceal I made friends with recently (a play date at her home)lives just across Twilight street from us. She has two kids and she does cakes, painting and homeschooling.

There are many wonderful and sweet women in the ward that I know I will make many friends. I am excited for this year. To start doing cakes and photography again. To have playdates/baby showers and events where my friendship grows with the women in the ward. And to host events at our house which is awesome.

The bad thing about living up on the top of the hill is the wind. Now, there is wind all over Rapid City! But it hits the back of our house so hard! Atleast it's not the front of the house it hits all the time. 

Athena Comes Homes

Athena was born on Wednesday January 15...three days ago.
In the hospital she slept as expected; sleeping all day and night except to be fed and held. She loves being held.
We had one night in the hospital. The next day once she hit 24 hrs old the nurses took a blood test from Athena's foot to see how Jaundice she was. She was jaundice so they told us to schedule another jaundice blood test for the next day.

At home Athena has been sleeping most of the day. In the evening I have tried to hold her and wake her up so she would sleep better at night. It worked the first two nights at home.
The very first night at home she did not want to go to sleep and kept me up until almost midnight trying to figure out what she wanted. It turned out she wanted to be swaddled so she couldn't move and wrapped in a blanket so she would be hot.

Yesterday I did not wake her in the evening and she did refuse to sleep until about 1am. Luckily my amazing husband took her and stayed up with her when she refused to sleep. I had pumped a little milk that evening when Athena was refusing to wake up and eat when it was her feeding time. So Sterling bottle fed her while I slept.
This morning he got up with the kids and I got up to tell him to go back to bed. He deserved to sleep in! He did go back to bed for a bit. Couldn't sleep in too much because we had a doctor's appointment for Athena. My parents took the boys to church and we went to the doctor.

Athena has had to get her foot pricked and blood taken every day since she's been born. Poor girl! Her jaundice level has risen every day! So every day we have to go back to the hospital to see if it gets better.
We have been giving her time in the sunlight, about two hours a day, multivitamin drops for the vitamin D in them and lots of liquids to help her get the nutrients she needs and poop more. She has been pooping about 4 times a day. I have also been taking vitamin D pills my dad has. But even with all these efforts her jaundice level continues to increase. Today her level was 16. If it goes up to 20 then the hospital will send us home with a UV blanket to keep her wrapped in.

Luke was very yellow and weird colored after his birth and his eyes were yellow too.  He was very jaundice but did not get a UV blanket.  Tiberias was a little jaundice but it was not a problem.
Athena doesn't look jaundice. Her eyes are fine and her skin is more red/pink than anything else. But her jaundice levels are so high.

We have to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning. Or, I do. Sterling will stay home because our furniture is being delivered from the furniture store.
My parents have been here for over a week and have been so helpful! They have cleaned the house and taken care of my boys...spoiled them even. But tomorrow morning they are leaving first thing! Luke has the day off of school for Martin Luther King Jr day. So Ster will stay home with the boys and I will take Athena to the doctor again.

Sterling will not go into work all week. He's on daddy leave. That will really help me by not making me go out in the morning to take Luke to school. Ster can take Luke and the two youngest will stay home in the warm house with me.
It is hard not to clean the house and do my normal stuff...being at home. But I have to rest and recover from the delivery. So I will take advantage of Sterling being home...put him to work. Get him to clean and do laundry and take the boys out for some fun now and then.

We are all healthy and happy. Mom had gotten the flu then Luke got sick. But everyone is feeling fine now. We are so happy because life is amazing!

Kindergarten, Furniture, Buying a House and More

We finally closed on our house! It did not take very long for purchasing a house but we were planning on it being a little sooner. We were going to close on the 6th but because of the holidays it got pushed to the 10th.
After we closed on the house we celebrated by going to dinner at Denny's. We love going out to eat together. It's really fun. And we love Denny's. Unfortunately our Denny's here has bad service and runs out of food ingredients too often.

That week was a bit crazy. On Tuesday the movers brought our belongings from Italy! All week I worked on unpacking boxes and trying to start getting the house organized.  I ended up working more than I should have at the end of my pregnancy but I did not feel any danger in doing so. I just replaced my workouts with constantly being busy.

So we started some stability for Tiberias. Being in a house we told him was our new home was not enough for him. He would say "This isn't our house. We don't live here!" I knew that getting our furniture and his books, toys, etc back would be the start of him settling in this house.
He had trouble sleeping and would wake us up every night...being in the bedroom next to ours. When our stuff came we moved Lachoneus and Ty downstairs to live in the bedroom just at the bottom of the stairs. Ty started sleeping so much better! Maybe it's because the house isn't empty anymore.
So Sterling and I were able to sleep better...except for my being big and pregnant and having to take a restroom break 7 times a night.

Let me backtrack some more...Lachoneus started school! Friday the 3rd of January. All day kindergarten. He has a really nice teacher and a huge class (25 students). I like the school so far. It's a elementary, middle and high school in one building but separated by parts of the school and play grounds.  Unfortunately school playgrounds are almost all there are in and around Rapid City. There is tons of shopping but it lacks parks for kids! Very unfortunate!
Parks and libraries...that is what I love to do with my kids. There is a library on base that has a tiny kid section but it has a jungle room (a fun play room for young kids).
Then there's a library in a college near our house...small kid section. And a library in downtown Rapid City with an amazing kid selection and lounge! Unfortunately you have to meter park to go to the library! No free parking. The longer you stay the more you pay.  :(

There is, of course, a library in Luke's school. So atleast he gets to go to the library and check out books to bring home. He is a beginning reader so it's fun that he gets to bring home books for practicing.

Adjusting to school there are a few things Luke wasn't doing so well with at first; rough housing and staying in your "center" to play. We pretty much encourage rough housing with Sterling in our home so it being "bad" at school is an adjustment.
And even though Lachoneus did two years of preschool where you were given a center to play in and told to stay there until it was time to switch centers...he doesn't like being told where and what to play with.

Adjusting to Luke going to school for me:
It is quieter at home without Luke. He is a five year old and so he talks quite a bit. But I am enjoying having it be quieter during the day. And Tiberias takes naps many days so I get almost two hours of "me" time...or atleast until the baby comes.
I have to adjust to Luke coming home with homework, packing him lunches (he prefers home lunches over cafeteria lunches), taking him to school and picking him up. He does not take the bus because we live so close to the school. The school, Valley View Elementary, is like four blocks over and another four up...something like that. If the weather was warm I'd walk it but so far we drive.

Luke being in school will give me the opportunity to really focus on educating Tiberias on his Alphabet. So far I've been too busy to really do it. Then Luke comes home and I'm working with him on homework from school and homework from me...to make sure he's caught up to where his teacher is teaching. Right now the focus is him writing his real first name and his last name, and learning sight words.

So Luke started school then our stuff was finally delivered to our house. We closed on the house! Then Saturday evening my parents arrived. They came to help with the house, the boys and the delivery of the baby.

 Sunday we all went to church together. Tiberias finally had his first day in Sunbeams. Primary, yay! His teacher had way too many Sunbeams and Sterling ended up helping in the class for third hour. I'm a little worried now about Ty being happy in that class. He hated nursery for like a year now so I was really hopeful that Sunbeams would  make him happy. But now I worry that it won't be organized enough to make him happy. The crying kids and un-organization is what I think Ty doesn't like about nursery.

Sterling made crock pot roast, carrots, onion and potatoes for Sunday's dinner.

Monday Sterling went to work. Luke went to school. My parents helped me clean/organize and set up the babies bedroom/storage room that is next to mine and Ster's bedroom. My dad put together the crib. It's so nice to finally get the babies stuff set up. The bassinet is set up by my bed. I do want to find a changing table with drawers for her clothes. My parents gave me the crib we now have. Mom bought it used in Mesquite and brought it up for us...it's really cute and looks great in that room.
My parents also brought up our china cabinet that they have been using while we lived in Italy.
Now it's in our living room and we're figuring out what we want in it...to show our travels.

Our couch from Italy was going to be in the basement in the entertainment room but the movers couldn't get it down there. So it's in the living room right now. We are going to get rid of it though. We bought two couches for the living room and a big sectional for the entertainment room. They will be delivered on Monday the 20th. That's the day my parents leave though. So they miss out on being here when we have a furnished house. However, they are planning to come back in the Summer...see Mount Rushmore and do some other fun stuff. There is actually a lot of fun things to do around here in the summer.

Monday afternoon Sterling and I went on a date. We went to sign a paper at the home insurance place then we went to an early dinner at Applebys. It was yummy but we were in a little hurry to get to the movie. The theater turned out to be extremely close to the restaurant. 
We saw the Hobit Desolation of Smaug. It's the 2nd Hobit movie. I enjoyed the first one a lot more. This one dragged on a bit to me. But the whole time I was trying to figure out where I know the female elf actor from. I never figured it out. I just looked it up online...it's the female actor from the tv show LOST ( Evangeline Lily).
Athena would not hold still for the first half of the movie then was moving off and on the rest of the movie. 

Ster and I had a great time being together without the kids. We were going to go for dessert after the movie but it was raining...had been all afternoon and evening.   We stopped at Office Max to buy printer paper then Walmart for ice cream. Since it was raining and kind of cold we thought being home, making dessert ourselves and watching tv in our jammies sounded more fun than eating dessert at a restaurant. I didn't realize that going home would really be the end of our alone time though. We went home and Sterling started a project while I made dessert.I made Ster's mom's hot pudding cake but it didnt turn out right.
 Luke and Ty were awake over an hour after we got home. We got them to bed then we finally had a good time....dessert while watching The Middle.

Today, Tuesday, Tiberias is not feeling well. His neck hurts and he may be sick.   Plus, it's snowing like crazy. There's already a few inches of snow on the ground whereas yesterday there was no snow.  Mom and I are going to go shopping for couch throw pillows and lamps for the living room.  I'm not sure what time we will go...we are waiting for the snow fall to die down.

I need to cut Ty's hair today...it's too long.  I need to finish packing for the hospital. I need to pick which camera to take, pack my computer and snacks for me. We'll need to pack some food for Sterling too...I'm not sure about their hospital cafeteria.

Tomorrow morning I have to call the hospital by 4:30a to let them know I am coming and see if they have a room ready for me. I can go in as early as 5:30a if they have a room. We'll induce the labor. My parents will be home with the kids...Luke will go to school. Then mom will come to the hospital for the delivery. Dad or Sterling will pick up Luke from school at 2:55pm. I am hoping Athena will be born early afternoon at latest.

The kids and my dad will get to come meet the baby that afternoon at the hospital. We'll stay one night in the hospital, Athena and I, if all goes smooth.

We're planning on taking my parents out to the Texas Road House for lunch on Friday. Luke has no school Friday or next Monday...a long weekend.
Maybe Ster will take my parents to see Mount Rushmore this week or weekend. None of us have seen it yet. It's less than an hour away, I hear.

I am so excited that tomorrow Athena comes into our family! I can hardly wait to hold her in my arms!!