FEBRUARY

There's nothing like making a resolution to blog more often to ensure that, in fact, I will blog less.  It wasn't my intention to go an entire month without posting, but that's what happened and there's obviously no going back now.  The idea of a month-long post is daunting, but I'll take it as my punishment for slacking and do my best to recap an entire month.

February started out with great weather, warmth, and therefore, lots of outside playtime.  I even remembered to take my camera with us a few times.

We met "Nougat" for the first time, and although the heart rate leans toward a girl, we won't find out for another couple of months if it is a she-nougat or a he-nougat.  And, contrary to what many have said after seeing this picture, the "x" between the legs does NOT indicate its...parts.  The doctor just had to measure the length and confirm that yes, I am due August 24th and I can only hope it isn't a billion degrees.

Despite my obvious laziness in some areas of my life, I have actually been productive in other areas.  Ok, well really, Ryan has been productive and I've been the hormonal force behind him to keep getting things done.  We've been working on finishing the bathroom in the shop.  Somewhere back in November or December, I got the great idea to pour our own concrete countertop.  I found a book that made it sound so easy and we dove in.  After several months of work, cussing, and money spent, we have a pretty cool countertop, the knowledge and equipment to repeat the project, and the wisdom to know we will NEVER do this again.  I'd go into more detail, and I have more pictures, but a project like that deserves its own post...so more on that later.  In the meantime, it is important to know that we have a fully functional bathroom that is far nicer than anything I've used in the last three and a half years.

Ryan has also been working hard to transform our backyard from this...

to this...

and finally, this:

Meanwhile, Laci and I were busy hanging out with the fluffy dog,

and picking flowers,

and petting kitties.

But we're girls and that's what we like to do.

And the reason for all of Ryan's productiveness is so that we can start building our house this year.  For real.  After nearly four years of complaining about my double wide castle, I'll get to start complaining about our even smaller, single wide castle on wheels.  Hence the real bathroom, because quite frankly, I don't think I could handle a travel trailer bathroom for more than a week.  We went to the county last week and submitted our permit application, so I guess that means we're really going ahead with all of this.  I sound doubtful, don't I?  It is the realist in me that is afraid to believe anything before it's actually true because I'm secretly afraid it isn't going to really happen.  That's probably why I haven't even mentioned our plans to build this year until now, even though we've been working on house plans and engineering and drawings since last Fall.

If you ask me, we have all the makings of a reality show.  Let's see, building a house (stressful by itself), living in temporary/cramped quarters inside our shop, wild toddler running around who doesn't like to sleep lately, and one more on the way.  Busy summer to say the least.  I really am excited about the whole thing, but all these things combined get very overwhelming and I have to remind myself to take one day at a time.  Or, as it has been going the last couple of days, one box at a time.  I've been packing up our house, boxing up the the things I don't think we'll need, and labeling like a crazed person in case I need to find something again in the next twelve months...which I'm sure I will.

Somewhere in the middle of the month, the weather turned cold and rainy, then just cold, then rainy again (like a monsoon), then snow.  It only snowed for about an hour, and nothing stuck because the ground was so soaked, but it was still fun to watch from inside the warm house.  Laci had her first fun with markers, and we played with her kitchen, and read every book we own.  As you can see in the pictures, getting dressed and brushing our hair was optional on these days.  Be glad I didn't include a picture of myself.

And I think that about wraps up February.  Except to say that Laci has had a cold, and what started out as questionable sleeping patterns at the beginning of the month have now turned to a terrible lack of sleep at the end of the month.  Also, I have experienced more snot in the last five days than I care to admit.  I'm thinking investment in a rain suit would have been appropriate.

So, here's to March and the hope that I can blog a little more regularly, although I won't go so far as to make any promises.  I'm looking forward to Daylight Savings Time, less snot, more sleep, and hopefully a move into our new temporary home, so that one day, I might actually have a permanent home.