Dol Guldur

This my sweet storyteller in January. Crazy for this boy!

This house is so different from a month ago. It looks the same for the most part, but all our stress levels went way, way down. I bought the boys blocks and board games...apparently that is what they were missing. Both of them spend, I would say, close to two hours at a time building and destroying towers, castles, and towns they build. Eli even built a frog torturingdevice! A Beanie Baby frog...And the word torturingdevice was in the autocorrect. Weird. Anyway, I'm not constantly going nuts anymore. Yahoo!

Have I told you how much I love this babygirl? Oh, my.

Update!!

Oh, don't worry. It's only been FIVE MONTHS since I last bloggy-blogged.
Wooopsie!! Hey, I barely keep up with life, so don't be all...don't be all like...don't be that way!

To sum up the last five months: we found a teeny apartment after leaving that tiny cottage-house. Let me just say, the landlords and us...had a major difference of opinion. We moved into the apartment (which was still disgusting after some gross druggie ditched it) and cleaned like we had OCD. On coke. Who just killed someone.
So that was done (although, just to be clear, no drugs, no killing, and less exciting neuroses). The place is fine. It's still only half repainted and waaaaaay too small, but it feels homey enough now.

So then Halloween. Christmas. Eli's FIFTH birthday!! New Years. Valentine's. Saint Patrick's Day. Present day!!

Hello!!

Eli's birthday was a sweet affair. Some lovely children-family Skyped him the Happy Birthday Song. So happy. We had cake and candles and more presents (his day is Christmas) and all was very good. And he got to meet Santa! I really like simple birthdays like this. Eli does too. Well, because he likes anything that involves cake and presents. Duh.

Being pregnant was horrible by the end. My last morning pregnant, I woke up crying because everything ached and stretched and I couldn't sleep to ignore it. But I started having contractions soon after...best mood ever!! They were pleasant little contractions all day. Long story short, I had Little Miss Mady (au naturale) at 3:45 am. And I love  her. She was so calm and alert! She seemed so....just fine. Then they took her from me and she cried. And then we went home together two days later.

Mady is perfect. I'm telling you, she's PERFECT! Patient, sleeps well (amazing amazing amazing amazing amazing), and is just the sweetest thing I've ever seen. The boys at  crazy about her too. Too crazy.

I'm in awesome spirits these days. I'm not pregnant. Winter is giving way to spring. Asher is not terrible anymore. I've been sewing and making stuff like crazy. Andy has a good job with better hours, people, bosses. I have wonderful friends and wonderful family. And I went shopping for the first time in like nine months. For real. And all I bought was books and kids toys!! But books sustain me! And toys are fun to shop for. When you're me.

I think that's enough.

Thank you!