3.25.2012

new look.

A short while back I asked you to check out my new blog, and thank you for doing that.  I've changed my mind--- which is probably of no surprise to anyone and am sticking with The BP Special.  My original line of thinking was to do more personal stuff on this blog and nutrition and healthy eating stuff on the other one, but why not do both here?  Hopefully, I can strike a balance.  So I'm bringing the few posts from Meal Tweaking over here and we're becoming one big happy blog [not really any different than it was but hopefully with more food and nutrition].

Along those lines, I have a new look and I'm really liking the mellowness of it.  I'm adding the ability to follow, so if you feel so inclined to join me on here, I would it!  I've had people suggest before that I add an email option, so you can now sign up to get posts sent to your email.  Mostly, I'm just so thankful you're here reading, and I hope I can give some help/inspiration/encouragement to you when it comes to healthy eating and nutrition.  If not, I can definitely provide some super cute baby pictures.

Speaking of which, my baby is 10 months old today!  How can this be?  Seems like only yesterday he was a critically sick newborn fighting for his life in the NICU.  Today he is healthy, happy, thriving, and his third tooth has broken through (YAAA!).  We are so thankful, so blessed.  Happy 10 months to our Jack Jack!




3.20.2012

mud mud everywhere and progress being made.

Our backyard got really muddy really quickly once it started raining after we moved in.  It wouldn't be such an issue if it weren't for pup 1 and pup 2.  Once pup 1 lost her white coloring and pup 2 [our golden/lab retriever] turned into a chocolate lab we knew we had to take action pretty quickly to eliminate the muddy backyard.  Tommy was pretty bummed out because we bought this house on the premise of not having to do any work, but I reminded him that's just not us.  He dreamed up/engineered out his plan and got to work.

Our backyard before 

He has no problem with the mud-- we're the ones with the problem.  And the green stuff was Tommy's first attempt at fixing the problem.  He tried to plant seed and used this stuff on top of it. 

Again, Eli loves the mud.  Tommy is progress. 

A ton of rock! 

Seriously, so much rock. 

The mud.  So much mud. 

Tommy tilled up this pathway.  This is where the water seems to puddle and the path we guessed the dogs would take the most, so we are turning this whole area into a pebble walkway.  Tommy tilled up this section of the yard to prepare it. 

Then he rented this awesome machine [which saved him so so much time and energy] to remove the mud.  It's still in our yard, just in a different location.  He took all of the extra mud and dirt out of this pathway and leveled it down. 

Just another shot of him bein' boss with the machine. 

Seriously couldn't have done this project without these guys.  My brother and his friend helped us immensely with this project!  And of course, we had record breaking heat days while they were hauling rock and digging trenches.  85 degrees in March-- yeah, that would happen while we're doing this project.  Bradley and Bradford, so much thanks to y'all!  We would be sittin in mud if it weren't for you.  Did I mention they're on spring break right now, too?  Yeah, they're great guys!  



I have no afters yet.  It's looking awesome and so far we are so pleased, but it's not done.  So I'll be sharing those later-- probably after the weekend.  The hubs needs to go to work and sleep at night, so I'm encouraging him to wait a few days before finishing this up. 


3.19.2012

new home.

We love our new home!  We are so thankful to be in it.  We seem to be in a great neighborhood and have met some really nice neighbors.  Unpacking boxes is so time consuming.  If I never hear the crinkling of that paper again it will be too soon.  I am so thankful we had movers bring our stuff in.  Maybe wishing now that I had had them unpack.  I didn't think about how much paper there would be and how many boxes I would have sitting in my garage.  Anyway, just happy to be here.

We have started a new project already, of course.  The dogs always seem to make things a little more complicated, so we are working on the backyard.  And by we, I mean Tommy.  He's working really hard on it.  Big changes to come, and I will have lots of pictures to share.

In the mean time you won't believe-- or maybe you will-- what our week of eating has been like.  This seriously busy, seriously tired family has stayed in our house for 7 nights and I have made dinner one time.  Spaghetti at that.  Took me 15 minutes total, and my mother-in-law finished the noodles for me.  We've been eating some junk this week, and my body's starting to rebel against it.  I've got to get back into the cooking groove, and the making healthy meals for my family groove.

Now for the fun part, the pictures...  

Our new home on closing day!  Our front porch. 

We're happy homeowners. 

The "before" color of Jack's room.  A little too bold for my taste so Tommy got to work. 

This room seems to be everyone's favorite. 

My favorite area-- the loft! 

Living room/dining room.  With a mess of stuff. 

Master bath.  We're so excited to have 2 sinks!  Talk about luxury. 

Our moving truck.  We had that thing loaded.  Feels like it was longer than just a week ago. 

Our garage.  This is such a luxury for us since we didn't have a garage in Maryland.  It's loaded up with boxes but it's also got my car in it! 

View of the living room from the loft and all of the work I have to do. 

3.08.2012

excitement.

I woke up this morning so expectant, so excited about this time in our lives.  Today is closing-eve!  Tomorrow we close on our very own house.  It is such a sweet thing and something we appreciate so much  more now than we did before.  It's not just a house.  This is a new place where our family will dwell.  We will make it our own, and we will be thankful each day how God has blessed us with this place.  A lot of things had to line up for everything to work out so well, and God took care of all of them-- including selling our house in one of the worst markets!

In our new place I hope to have so many sweet memories with my family.  I hope to love people well at our new place and be a welcoming home.  We are so enjoying our Jack- we always do- but my goodness 9 months is a really, really fun age!  And I hope to do so much more enjoying of my sweet family in our new home.  Pictures to come soon!  Until then, I've been scanning Pinterest looking for inspiration.  


3.05.2012

catch up.

So much happening over here.  Since I last posted, we have officially closed a house in Maryland!  Wow!  And we are now in closing week for our house here in Tennessee!!  We close on Friday and are so thrilled and feeling so blessed beyond measure.  Really excited to have a place for our own family, but also feeling so thankful for our family who has housed us and loved on us so much during the last four months.  This whole process, as trying as it's been, would have been truly awful without their support.  So thank you to our sweet family!

Meanwhile, Jack Jack is on his 4th ear infection since 4 months.  Wow, saying that makes me tired.  Bless his sweet heart.  The bacteria seems to be resistant to 2 different antibiotics and maybe a third.  We've been at the pediatrician a lot.  Also, praise that he does not have an obstruction in his intestines or twisted intestines!  We were afraid of that last week for a brief moment-- thankfully, it's just poop.  But our poor boy is backed up in a bad way so we are trying to get him to drink juice like crazy and mix it with Miralax.  He's onto us...  Aside from all this he is incredibly awesome and my heart breaks when he's hurting.  Some pictures from the past few weeks...  

One of those days.  Neither of us look too happy here.  And I do have sweet potatoes all over me- there was a sweet potato revolt, to put it mildly. 

Snuggling with Nan, trying to get this boy to drink some juice! 

Bathtime with Grandma!  This boy loves a good bath. 

Wearing his Great-Grandfather's cap while practicing walking. 

A lot of teething lately.  I'm expecting to see something break through-- soon, I hope! 
Jack's favorite new game.  Nothing like playin with Daddy. 

He carries these balls around with him everywhere.