We are (second) homeowners!

Friday we closed on our new house. Let the great rental property adventure begin!

I'm still pretty nervous about it, but trying to trust Doug and all the work/research he's put into this already. I know it can be a great source of passive/retirement income someday, so I'm at least trying to be supportive and willing to give it a try.

A virtual tour:

I loved the bright yellow door.

kitchen and doorway to the mudroom/laundry room. Small but surprisingly decent amount of storage space.

living room

view down hall, 2 closets, 3 bedrooms/1 bath

view from the kitchen into the dining room

bedrooms

bathroom

All in all I thought it was small but kinda cute and in a decent area close to a popular city and by freeways.

Doug's brother moved in for a couple weeks so it won't sit empty. We are doing some minor things like painting, changing locks, and Doug has to get his rental property license finalized and then we will begin looking for a tenant. I hope everything will go smoothly!

So we will be staying put in our house at least another year or two. I'm excited to get my spring gardening started, my parents are in Israel and when they return mom will come help me get things tilled and planted. I'm excited! I always said fall was my favorite season, but I really really love spring. It's so beautiful with everything budding and growing and the days are warmer and brighter, fall and spring may be a tie for favorites!

Easter weekend

Doug and I had a wonderful weekend together. Saturday we went on a family walk that ended up being about 3 hours. It was so nice.

we got this retro baby backpack on craigslist and are all liking it

altho maybe some was a little too jostled around...

EWWWW

I made this tasty sausage and veggie pan for dinner then we went back out. Doug, with the help of my dad and his brother, had re-sided the North wall of our house. It had a bunch of holes in the siding and underneath Doug found rotten wood and not enough insulation, so now not only does it look better but it is a more solid wall too!

So I helped him hang the shutters and started weeding my flower beds while August chilled on a blanket nearby.

Sunday we went to my parent's church, I had really wanted to hear the traditional Easter hymns, especially "Lift High the Cross" but we were a couple minutes late and missed it! :(

After church we went to my parent's house, they hosted Doug's parents too and we had a really nice dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, kale salad, homemade rolls, broccoli, and several different desserts. In the afternoon I snuck off for a quick nap and then we all just hung around and talked until Doug's parents left, and my dad made my favorite pancakes for us :)

We got some nice family pics:

someone else took a little Easter nap too :)

Happy Easter, He is risen!!

Wisconsin Road Trip

Mom, August and I took a weekend road trip to Wisconsin last weekend. My mom is from there, one sister still lives there and another close by in Illinois and another in Iowa. All the sisters returned to Wisconsin for the weekend since we were coming and we had a nice little visit. I was worried about taking August on the 8 hour car trip, but he actually did pretty well. Napped, looked at himself in the baby mirror, and kicked happily for hours. Of course taking him out every couple hours for a new diaper, nursing, and to stretch his little legs.

When we got there we just did a lot of visiting, we went out to the farm and looked at baby calves, and of course we did a lot of eating. Good times.

Some trip pics:

August with his grandma, great aunt Judy and great aunt Charlotte

My grandparents farm. They are both gone now so the land is still being farmed by Uncle Lowell. I still love to go there, climb up in the haymow, smell the smell of farm and manure, brings back good old memories of playing there with my siblings and cousins. I miss my grandparents.

The grave of great-great-grandpa August who was the farmer that came from Germany.

Carver's rock, this is what's left of the blacksmith shop of another great-great grandpa who rescued some people out of the stream who were drowning.

baby on a hay bale

baby calf

August wasn't too sure about sitting on the tractor with great-uncle Lowell

He was happy to see daddy again.

The trip home was a little worse. We left later in the day so we missed prime morning nap time for him. Then when we got back over the Michigan state line mom noticed a tire was leaking air. So we pulled over and got a plug put in a nail hole by some dealership that was about to close. They said we'd make it home. But 20 minutes later it was leaking again. Now all the tire stores we closed. We made it to autozone and got a can of fix-a-flat. That lasted another exit until leaking again. Mom's new car didn't come with a donut, instead it has this stuff it injects into the tire (like fix a flat) and fills it up with air. So we finally tried that. And it worked! We made it 80 more miles on that, but we were praying every mile! And August was of course screaming a good half hour just to add to the fun. Even Bob Marley could not soothe him and that almost always works. I sat back with him rubbing his head until he finally fell asleep. We got home very late. I had to work in the morning and mom was going to babysit so she slept over. We had the air mattress set up. The next day I went off to work and later mom told me the air mattress had leaked and she was sleeping "like a hot dog in a bun." :( kinda funny, but sorry mom! Maybe someday we'll have a real guest room!

Daddy and August thought it was snug as a bug!

5 month update

Little guy is 5 months old. Time is flying! He's got the start of one tooth. He alternates between getting up just once a night to every now and then he'll still wake up every 2-3 hours. He's still only on breast milk and for the most part doing really well. He can sit supported in the Bumbo but not on his own. He can stand supported for several minutes, strong legs! We know he can roll over both ways but he hasn't done that in quite a while. He's still in our room, maybe this will be his last month. We'll see.

Every month I get this jumparoo out of the closet but I still think it's too big for him, he loves to push his legs against you when you're holding him, but doesn't seem to understand what to do when he gets in here, he just sits and then his arm goes down the leg hole and he gets scared and needs rescuing.

He sat in his chair long enough earlier last week to let me rake out my front garden beds, I'm excited to see my plants grow!

Enjoying this little chewie on his new tooth. That night was a doozy, every time he woke up (every hour that night) he woke up screaming and he never does that. Luckily that was just 2 nights. And Doug is debuting his first haircut by yours truly, not bad if I do say so myself!

Baby still loves bathtime. We seem to only do this weekly, he just gets too dry if more often!

Treated Matt and Rachel (and Miralie) to Indian food as a thanks for watching August these last weeks while we had our Apologetics class.

A boy and his cat. September is a little more curious of August these days. She'll come nearby and sniff him, but she still keeps a good distance.

5 months seems both so long and so short. I definitely feel busy these days. Hardly time to myself or for house cleaning, blog writing, homework, book club book reading, Bible studying. Always behind on my to-do list. Never enough quality-time with Doug, often just talking about logistics and passing August back and forth. I am thankful we're in this together, and it's good, but definitely miss "our time".

August has his appointment with the cardiologist for his heart murmur this Thursday, so pray for him! Thanks :)