Around The Home

Thus the beginning of routine! Isn’t it a beautiful thing?

Even though we do not have children in school, there is something about the school year that I feel brings routine to everyone. The weather is a bit cooler and darker, which means we may turn in a bit earlier. The days are filled with fewer day activities and more time at home. All good things in their own unique ways.

After saying goodbye to our friends from Minnesota on Monday, we spent our Labor Day with family. My dad had built Mazy a sandbox, which she hasn’t stayed out of since! She had a little plastic turtle filled with sand, but had quickly grown out of it, being that she was playing more with the sand OUTSIDE of the sandbox than in! We knew it was time and my dad had generously offered to make her one. It is PERFECT and oh the sand castles that have been built in there already!

Mazy LOVES to help, so helping refill the sandbox wasn’t too much of a struggle! Plus, she could do it with Grandpa!

Love. This. Picture.

Mazy even coerced her Auntie to join her! The imagination that runs through this sandbox now…oh the memories it will build! Thank you, Dad!!

Like I said, Mazy’s imagination is just running wild! Teddy (my old one from childhood) looks a bit creepy, but Mazy wanted to decorate it with stickers and have it eat with us because “Teddy hungry.” Mazy has SUCH a caring and compassionate personality! After my blood draws, she always has to look at my bandaid, kiss it, and check up on it. Now when she hears sirens too, we’ve been trying to teach her that sirens mean they are helping people. So when she hears them, she says “sirens make all better.” Yes, sweetie, they do.

My little supper date to DQ, thanks to a gift card! And yes, I indeed had their butter and toast, though it wasn’t as good as it was in Minnesota.

Made another batch of playdoh (recipe to come).

Mazy’s face says it all, over how excited she was for a new batch!

When Mazy told me she was getting ready for school, I had no idea she was getting all decked out! Isn’t she the most adorable “student” you’ve ever seen? She was so proud of her choices…

Just me and my girl!

Naps can be hit or miss, though one day when I thought she was napping, she made sure all of her stuffed animals napped, with pillows, so she wouldn’t have to!

As you can see, she was QUITE busy during that quiet time!

Thanks Ace Hardware for having free popcorn Saturdays!

The pathway down to the pool needed some work. There were just stepping stones surrounded by stones, which made it a bit awkward to walk on. Where we put Mazy’s new sandbox, we dug up all the bricks from that, along with those from under the grill, and decided to repurpose them! Then the bricks from the old pathway, we flipped them over and laid them in a horizontal path to the driveway. We are not brick layers and there are MANY imperfections, but for working with what we had, we are impressed with how it turned out. AND, we didn’t have to spend a penny on it!

Amongst all the house projects, we also managed to make a batch of salsa (recipe to come). Tried a new recipe this year and it’s FANTASTIC. Thanks Kari, for lending us yours!

Health Update: My body is regulating itself to the increase in medication, which brings much relief! I have felt good this past week, which has been encouraging. Now whether or not my body can keep ridding itself of the excess fluid for the next 3 months is unknown, but just trying to leave it in God’s hands. Every morning I wake up with energy and no shortness of breath, I am so thankful. I know what it feels like to not have any energy and barely have enough breath to get up from a chair, so during this time, I do not want to take it for granted!

UPDATE: I received a call from the U of M and my fluid levels are not going down as they should be. So, I have to monitor my body even more closely and if there is any sort of weight gain, I have to call them. They increased my potassium since that was a bit low again and they will be giving me a call on Thursday to figure out what to do next. They are also going to talk to my surgeon’s nurse to figure out what to do as well. So until then, we will just wait on God’s perfect timing! I am a planner, but situations like these make me let go of that. It’s hard to wait, but it also forces me to just enjoy each day, knowing that I’m not sure what will come of the next!