Nursery Tour-2006 {Day 4}

I figured since I showed you a little bit of our oldest son's nursery yesterday, and I was searching picture files for that one shot with his name, I might as well copy the rest of the pictures I had of his room and share that with you too.

Please remember, this was 2006. I was using a point-and-shoot and it looks like it was night for some of the pictures. I've also chosen not to edit the pictures, so brace yourself!

We lived in a little raised ranch house in Iowa. This is before the house in the country. Before we knew we were going to have Jonathan, his room was first a guest room, then Gary's office. About as soon as we heard his heart beat, I started clearing out the room that would be his.

We ripped out the carpet and Gary refinished the floors. Gary installed a bench under the window, and I used a hand sander for the first time before painting the built-in bench.

We left the bottom of the bench open for storage. It was great until Jonathan was crawling around and would get into stuff! Still it wasn't that bad. I wish the bench had been a bit deeper--I intended to be able to sit and read while I nursed him, but it just wasn't quite wide enough. I remember being so uncomfortable while trying to feed him in the middle of the night, recovering from a c-section and exhausted. How I wished that bench was wide enough to lie down!

I made the lumpy bench cushion from pillows stuffed into a long tube of material I sewed. It worked ok, but that bench was never as comfortable as I had envisioned.

I got the curtains from Target from gift cards I got at my shower. The other Classic Pooh stuff came as hand-me-downs from two different friends. The crib had been my nephew's but had been given to my in-laws to use at their house when my nephew no longer needed it. They were happy to give it to us--it wasn't even set up at their house, so that worked great!

I used the space under the crib for more storage. We kept his bathtub in there, and a bouncer or something like that, when we weren't using it. I eventually made a crib skirt which hid the things underneath and that made me happy!

Of course I hung his name above the art work. Still like how that looks!

 I so so badly wanted a changing table. Because of the built-in bench we didn't have many options on where to put things in his room, so I measured and marked where an inexpensive (craigslist) changing table would go and it was just too crowded! We opted to spend the money on this toy bin organizer, and let me tell you, we still use this thing! It worked great for seeing shirts and onesies and for keeping diapers and everything handy. We changed Jonathan in the crib with the mattress on the highest setting.

I bought the little shelf at Michael's and finished it with the name letters. I still use it too. I also did a great job marking his calendar with little bitty milestones! I found that blank Classic Pooh calendar at a thrift store and loved it!!!

 I left the door of the tiny closet open for this picture so I could show Jonathan's neatly folded and organized clothes. We had so many clothes! Gary's brother has two sons just a little older than Jonathan and they were happy to give us all of their hand-me-downs. We also got a lot of stuff from our parents and church members, and a couple good sales at Old Navy and The Gap, like this Inspi(red) shirt that matched his Daddy's. Cuteness!

The ABC pocket chart was mine when I was a girl. My Grandma made it! Most of the books belonged to Gary. The POOH thing with the annoying flash glare is a picture frame, with cute pictures of me and Gary as babies. The shelf itself was built by my Dad and was in my room when I was little. It's been in each of the boys' nurseries.

Thanks for indulging me on walk down memory lane! This squishy little sweetheart is now 7 and looks like this:

 Yup! Still cute!

Signs for My Boys {Day 3}

I remember just the other day I was convinced I needed to hang my baby's name in his room. We weren't telling what his name was until he was born, so I took lots of pictures of his room to share with our families, then I hung the carefully sanded and stained wooden letters I got at JoAnn.

It really did complete his room.

When we moved out to the country when this baby was a 18 months old, the letters were one of the first things I hung in his big boy room.

We didn't find out the gender of our 2nd baby before he was born. I bought letters for both the girl name and the boy name. Don't do that--just wait. When our baby was born, I carefully hung his name letters over his crib. I loved it!

When baby #3 came along, I knew better than to buy two names worth of letters again. Besides, his room was fancy and I thought I'd just write it on a board in his nursery collage. I never got around to it and something was always missing from that very popular nursery!

I moved the older two boys into a room together and painted both of their names a bright color to go with their room. When they moved rooms again because Mommy likes to switch things up, their names went with them.

We moved into transitional housing when the youngest was 1. Who needs names on the walls when you're only living somewhere for a few months? But after a year of that, we unpacked again in Ohio and this time the youngest two were sharing a room and it became increasingly obvious that middle brother had a name and little brother didn't.

And big brother had a name in his room.. But we had no JoAnn store there.

Let's just cut this pathetic narration short and tell you that finally, at the tender age of 3 years, 5 months, my youngest son now has his name proudly displayed in his room.

It's not above his bed, but it's directly across from it. His bed looks like this.

His is the middle bed in their long, narrow room. At the time his bedspread didn't match (it was the one hanging on the wall now) so that was the only way Momma felt balanced.

On the left is middle brother's bed.

And on the right is big brother's bed.

 Ah. Finally!

Are there things on your mental to-do list that have been sitting there for YEARS! I confess, I have another one. In our bathroom are two portraits of two laughing babies each playing in a tin washtub at 9 months old. Um, I have THREE sons....

Get on that already!

Life Lately-July {Day 2)

Thank you so much for your concern and kind comments about my nephew, Malcolm. I believe they are working, so keep them coming!

I'm waaaay behind on blogging. So you're getting up-to-date on our family happenings in October, only it's about what we did in July. Oh well!

Here's what we were up to, for the record. I'm afraid this one has some tough news too, if you didn't already know. Sigh. This life is hard.

July 2-Our 8th Anniversary! We celebrated by actually springing for a babysitter, going out for Indian food and hanging out at a coffee shop, just enjoying being able to chat uninterrupted. I sure love this guy!

July 5-Sabbath School in the Woods. This moment was good. Very good. One of those that helps makes up for the I'm-a-failure mommy moments. We ended up getting chigger bites, but the five minutes of reading about God's creation while sitting in the middle of it in Grandma and Grandpa's woods in Missouri was really awesome!

July 5-Happy 4th of July!

Now for some background. We've gone to Gibson's for the Fourth of July six times out of the eight years of our marriage. It's tradition! This year was no exception but we couldn't come until the actual 4th so we celebrated after dark on the 5th.

Besides, Gary's dad had just been discharged after nearly a week's stay at the hospital. He went in because he fainted and didn't like some other symptoms he was having. He ended up getting a pace maker to treat his heart as well as getting diagnosed with cancer of the liver because of those other "symptoms" they decided to check out while he was at the hospital. We were all smiling a little bit forced, with conversations a little more sober than we had been looking forward to. Life is not fair!

I'll update you on Jon's status soon. When you pray for baby Malcolm, pray for Jon too!

July 9-Working on a custom order. Love the colors she chose! Sign-making always calls for movie watching too! You can see more signs on my Etsy store.

July 10-Of course the ditch is more exciting than the playground equipment! I was watching three extra kids this day and they had so much fun exploring the ditch! Reminds me of what it was liking hanging out with my cousins when we were little.

July 13-Fun with bubbles! 4 cups warm water, 1/2 c dish soap, 1/2 c sugar. We're using cups with straws because we couldn't find any bubble wands.

July 14-Getting their wiggles out! On rainy days I'm known to take the kids to McDonald's for a $1 cone and an hour of playing really hard!

July 20-This is the first time Jared and Josiah have participated in VBS. They enjoyed it, I'd say! I think their favorite part was snack time when they got to run around outside in the hottest weather of the summer.

July 20-Learning about God's love at VBS. Jonathan was in a different group than his brothers. Sometimes that helps all of them act better. Jonathan loved it and was sorry to see it end!

July 23-Remember our little landscape garden? Not too shabby first harvest! We've continued to enjoy tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, jalepenos and many many cucumbers. It's a great way to garden with minimal upkeep!

July 27-Pre race. Gary participate in his first ever organized sporting event! It was a half-triathlon right by our house. It was a great experience that he talks of very fondly.

July 27-Swimming at the triathlon.

July 27-Biking at the triathlon. By then my phone was dead, so here's a shot of him running, just so I don't leave you hanging. I'm so proud of Gary for doing this!

I have a couple more images I didn't also share on my personal Facebook page so I'm having a hard time downloading them from Instagram and I find it really hard to bother doing all of that from my phone. Oh well! If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm gibsongirl726.

Are you participating in the 31-day challenge? Leave a comment and I'll be sure to stop by and check out your series!

Breathe {Day 1}

I'm afraid this post is more ashes than beauty. And even though it's Day 1, it's still kind of a preface. Kind of setting the stage.

For with all of the coming up-to-date happenings, life-in-our-world updates, pretty signs and cute house stuff I plan to blog about during these 31 Days of Blogging posts, this is happening too.

This precious little sweetheart is my nephew, Malcolm. He's the second son of my brother and sister-in-law (who has been my best friend for 20 years).

Baby Malcolm was born at 36 weeks and isn't breathing on his own. The first few days of his life were very rocky and very scary.

In my worry and prayer over baby Malcolm, I've felt impressed to praise. Instead of feeling helpless, fearful and discouraged, praise helps us realize how much bigger and more powerful our God is when compared to our problems.

This verse has especially spoken to me.

Malcolm is struggling to breathe. It's been three days since his last crisis and he isn't out of the woods yet, but I know Who gives him breath. 

Please remember baby Malcolm and his family in your prayers.

Breathe, baby, breathe!

31 Days of Blogging

Hi! I miss you! I miss blogging! So here's what I'm going to do.

There's this little tradition in Blogland of writing on a topic for the whole month of October. I have participated in it for the last three years and have decided to do it again. I need something like this to push me to committing the time needed to blog. I have material, I even have time, but I'm out of the habit and I miss it!

I'm keeping it really simple. A few signs, a few decorating tips, a few outings with my kids, a few life-as-a-homeschooling-mom-of-three posts, a round up of "lately" posts, whatever is on my camera, a compilation or two of what I've been posting on Instagram... Just stuff. Just my life. Just getting into the habit again. I kinda had to--October is my birthday month and this is my gift to me!

Are you participating? Leave me a comment and I'll be sure to stop by!

7 Things

Dear Blog,

It makes me sad how much you have been neglected lately. I could make a lot of excuses to try to make you feel better, but it all boils down to only being able to do so much. Some days my focus is just making it to bedtime without any major meltdowns!

Here's some of what's been on my mind lately, from the trivial to the life-changing.

1. Do you ever see an image in a magazine or on Pinterest and it just makes your heart stop?!

This dining room did it to me yesterday. I saw it first on Pinterest and could only track it as far as this web site (where it's been pinned almost 1000 times). Anyone know where the original image comes from? To me it's the perfect blend of rustic farmhouse modern industrial timeless kid-friendly neutral yet so stylish.

I thought, after staring at the picture, that I just had to share the inspiration. It's certainly what I'd like to have in my own house. A rustic table, a bench, metal chairs and lights, built-in shelving for fancy dishes and cookbooks and pretties.

In fact, I wrote a whole post about it, complete with many more pictures and sources and links...

And 90% of it got eaten by cyberspace. Poof! There went my evening of blogging...

I just didn't have the energy to recreate that post, so I didn't. My blog isn't really a decor blog anyway. I'm trying to remember that and be ok with it, and use it more as a family scrapbook, but sometimes it's easier to just browse Pinterest.

2. Which brings me to point number two, in which I promise to only be vague and confusing, at best, as I muddle through what I've been feeling lately. There's so much background to where these thoughts are coming from, but basically I don't like who I am when I spend too much time on Pinterest. I get jealous. I whine in my head, It's not fair! Why does she get a beautiful fill-in-the-blank?

It steals my joy.

You've heard that saying, right? It's so true. There's more to the story, like I said earlier, but one thing I'm doing about it isn't spending less time on Pinterest, but purposefully editing what I see on Pinterest to be more uplifting. Not just feel-good stuff, but more I-could-do-that DIY stuff, life hacks, homeschool inspiration, modest dress, healthy food, Christian morals, living with less, you know.

Because anyone could compare their life with masses of others and come out feeling empty-handed. You know what? It works the other way around too. As in, think of all of my amazing blessings instead of focusing on what I don't have. I mean, duh, I know this, but the action from my latest bout of self-induced malcontent is to actively change what I see on Pinterest.

I'm editing my boards. Following different pinners. Doing new searches. It's going to take some time to kill the jealousy-inducing monster, but I know I'm using the right sword.

3. Grandpa has cancer. Their Grandpa, my husband's Dad, my Father-In-Law. He's losing his hair, no thanks to chemo. Gary and our boys shaved their heads, even though Grandpa lives in a different state. In solidarity.

Aren't they beautiful? And what a precious thing to do for their Grandpa. Please keep Grandpa in your prayers.

4. Only in part due to Grandpa's diagnosis, Gary and I have made the very difficult decision to withdraw from our mission to the British Isles. I know it's been awhile since you've heard an update. I've really been sporadic about posting or even knowing what to post. I keep hoping I'll find my blogging groove eventually, but for whatever it's worth and for the family record, we have officially stopped fundraising and have quit working with the wonderful organization that was sending us.

I could ramble a good bit about different things that made up our minds, but the most convincing argument is this. Our mission was donor based. We were not getting donors. We're still not sure why, but after a year of active fundraising in which most candidates get 70-100% of the needed funds, we were at 11%. I'm sure there are lots of factors, but our emotional energy was spent and we feel the door was firmly shut.

That decision has been brewing for a couple months and Grandpa's diagnosis just emphasized to us that we need to be closer and more available to family, even if we're still quite far geographically. We'd love to travel, love to share Jesus with people who don't know, but we also need to be more available in times of need.

What I expected when we officially withdrew was relief. This year of trying to get other people interested in our mission has been very taxing on us, always feeling we should be trying harder, we should be reaching out more, we should be should be should be... We were trying to figure out why we weren't getting support, and we still are, but officially quitting should have been a relief!

I didn't expect the mourning.

I didn't expect to feel like a failure.

Between Grandpa's diagnosis and our mission ending before it even began, July was a pretty dark month. You know? No energy. Crying. Struggling with meaning and happiness and what it means to be happy and what to do to get that. Thinking we had been divinely lead one way, only to have the door firmly shut and locked, then sickness to become such a real part of life...

5. We're not depressed and we haven't given up on life. We know there's more to it than that. We were never promised unicorns and rainbows, just joy after sorrow. Beauty for our ashes.

I don't want to turn this into a list of all I have to be thankful for (so much), nor do I just want to throw a Plan B out there and we all do the golf clap and fake smile and pats on the backs and everything will be ok. It's not ok. But it's what we have, and God never fails.

Gary is enrolled in classes starting this month at the college we happen to live a block away from. He's finishing a degree he started years ago, in Theology. We'll see where this road takes us!

6. Meanwhile down the road in a very adequate though not ideal rental home in a neighborhood we don't want to stay in any longer than we have to, I'll be homeschooling our little trio. I'm sure I'll be posting more about them this fall as we kick it into high gear. I firmly believe children are constantly learning, whether or not they are actively given opportunities. But I'm also an educator by training and background, so the fall is when I naturally just want to kick it up a notch!

We'll be learning with My Father's World, supplemented by whatever floats our boat, whatever projects I see on Pinterest, whatever almost-free supplies I see at the dollar spot at Target. (Seriously, they have so much good stuff there right now!!!) I'm excited about the possibilities, excited to figure out what works for us and what motivates each of my learners.

7. One thing we've chosen is to babysit less. It just didn't work with homeschooling last year. Maybe the right combinations of kids, maybe a more predictable schedule, maybe a less transient stage of life. But for now we've chosen to cut back. It'll mean fewer stops at Target for those dollar supplies that really add up, fewer evenings at a restaurant to give a stressed-out mommy a break but spending half of the grocery budget on one meal.

But to be able to focus my attention and my energy on my own kids! To be able to shape our days based on what we need to do, not on who's going to be at our house, to have more control over what influence is in our home--HUGE deal!

I need to link my future self to this post. I know I will need to re-read this when I'm tired of feeling trapped by the budget again. I'll need a reminder of why we chose this. I know it'll be another hard year ahead.

It's empowering to think of it as a choice though, isn't it?

Well, I'm tapped. I was going to make this a 10-things post, but I'm done.

Blessings, my friend.