ALLLLL the Sweat Equity

 Well the rain has stopped and it is officially HOT here. Especially because our AC kicked the bucket last week. Thankfully only the downstairs AC died completely so we've still had the upstairs one doing its darndest to keep us from melting but it's still been mighty toasty here, especially with the heat index getting up to or above 100 degrees multiple days this past week! But we got lots of bids for the replacement and we have a guy coming out to do that on Wednesday. Only 3 more days to go! Haha.

These past couple weeks of June I feel like everything I do involves lots of sweating. The kids started swim lessons which were a steal of a deal through the city and they have been loving. But it's every evening from Mon-Thurs and I definitely almost passed out trying to get Emery changed in the concrete box cooker of a family dressing room one of the nights last week. 

The kids have had a great time with swim lessons! And I love that there are 2 teachers for their class of 5 kids. Not bad ratios at all! 

I've also been busy working and literally sweating over the Murphy bed. Holly came to visit us last weekend which was wonderful and I was determined to have the Murphy bed done in time for her to come... however, I had misjudged how much contact cement I would need so I ran out 3/4 of the way done with the veneer. And of course, there was NO water based contact cement available to buy locally so that set me back a couple days because I had to order off Amazon and wait for it to arrive. So, long story short, it wasn't done by the time she got here. But we had the mattress for it set up for her and she tells us that it was super comfy so that worked out.

I was soo nervous to work with the veneer having never done it before! I watched a ton of youtube videos and psyched myself up. Then, the day I was planning on doing it, it was POURING rain! So the humidity in the garage was ridiculously high which I was sure would ruin the contact cement and make it not adhere properly. But I was determined to proceed because I was trying to finish in time for Holly. Soooo I looked up all the ways to dehumidify a space. I set up fans and set bowls of baking soda and buckets of charcoal all over the garage and bought a humidity monitor. And despite my best efforts, I never did get the humidity down below 67% or so, but I forged ahead anyway. And you know, it wasn't as hard as I feared! I only really messed up one piece as you can see below but I managed to fix it with a tiny strip of veneer and I feel like it turned out ok. 

I'm actually really surprised that I was able to cut and adhere such a tiny strip of veneer. I had to cut it twice because the first time I accidentally cut it with the grain running the wrong direction. But second time was the charm. 

It was really nice having Holly visit us. Emery got lots of practice with her "h"s trying to say Holly's name. We went to a cool new park in downtown Dallas, ate BBQ from a food truck, celebrated Eric's birthday and had family dinner and just generally got to hang out. The kids had a blast having Holly around to play with and I loved being able to spend the evenings just chatting with her. I wish she lived closer to us. And I realized after she left that we didn't take any pictures together while she was here! Bummer! 

After Holly left, it was back to work on the Murphy bed in the evenings. I don't think I've ever sweated more in my life than I do in our garage in this summer heat sanding, staining, filling, sanding, staining, etc all in a respirator. But after many set-backs including a big one on Friday where I was just sure I had totally ruined the doors, the bed is ALMOST done. The doors just need to be sealed and the handles attached and then the whole thing can get installed. Halllelujah. 

So I was kicking myself so much on Friday because I followed the directions on the wood filler that I used which had told me to stain the wood first, then do the filler then sand and stain the filler. Clearly this was WRONG! I was literally crying Friday night sure I had not only thrown away hours and hours of hard work but that it would be irredeemable because I was worried if I tried to sand it down and do it over, I would sand through the veneer! It was definitely a rough evening and I was more than a little frustrated/devastated. I may have thrown the staining rag... twice. BUT thankfully we had a game night with some friends that evening that was a lot of fun and proved to be a great distraction.

When I woke up Saturday morning I was literally dreading trying to fix the doors. I felt like I was about to go take a test I knew I was going to fail. But I said lots of fervent prayers and asked for prayers from my family and bravely took up my orbital sander. And I guess God decided to have mercy on me because I was able to sand down without sanding through the veneer! And as much as I hate all the extra time it cost me to do it all over again, I actually like it better now. I feel like it pulled out the grain even more and accentuated the character of the wood and I really like how it turned out. I feel like it is some kind of metaphor for life. Like how even when we screw things up, God can make it work out for our gain, we just have to accept ALLLL the sweat equity involved in the process. 

Also, in case you're wondering where there are stain footprints all over the place, yes I dropped the full can of stain (because oh yeah, I had to go buy more because there wasn't enough to do the doors over again after the whole wood filler fiasco) all over my feet and the garage floor! Thankfully I saved like half the can which was enough but holy cow it was like one more thing being difficult about this bed! 

In case the heat and humidity weren't enough of a deterrent to being outside, we also have chiggers back in our yard despite having Moxie come out regularly for pest control. Clearly, it's not working. Eric called them to come out again this week but I'm less than optimistic that we will be successful at getting rid of them since we never did manage to fully exterminate them last summer despite all our efforts. Which is so annoying because our yard is SO pretty now with our trees and our lush grass and our flowers and our trampoline... but it's also infested with nasty pests! So unfair! And yet, we still keep working on our yard. Am I bullheaded or what? I spent a whole hour and a half yesterday at Home Depot trying to order the materials for our pergola! HD's bulk ordering system needs a serious makeover. But hopefully, on Tuesday (after they call me to tell me what the estimated delivery date of the cedar is) we can finally order the materials and get going on the project. 

Summertime definitely calls for new shades for these two cuties of mine!! They are my joy. After LONG days at work or frustrating moments with my DIY projects, cuddling them before bed or seeing their joy as they play with each other, or Emery's excitement when she successfully says "pig" instead of "big" or "ham" instead of "am" makes my day. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's summer now! Well, at least school's out, but good gracious it has been so rainy here lately! I swear it was a much wetter May than usual. I keep waiting for the forecast not to include thunderstorms every single day and it is only just now happening this week. All this rain is making our lawn grow like crazy which is cool but its also making my lavender pretty sad and my poor marigolds got way too damp and succumbed to some kind of fungal infection. Even my mint (which is usually so hardy) is looking ill. I know I will feel differently when I am wilting from the heat as I am huge pregnant in August, but I am ready for some summer vibes! 

In spite of all the rain, we've had a good last few weeks though. I am finally feeling much better. Last Sunday I had a bit of a relapse because I ran out of doxylamine and didn't realize how important it was so I threw up multiple times that day and just felt horrible. But Eric went and got me more and since then I've been doing good again! I only have brief periods of nausea every day and I'm functioning pretty much back to normal except that Eric gets up with the kids to give me extra rest in the morning which is helpful. I am sooo grateful that I am back to doing things and not feeling like death all the time!! I really hope I can keep this up for the rest of the pregnancy but I know that sometimes things get worse again during the third trimester so I'm cautious in my optimism. 

But speaking of pregnancy, we found out the gender of our baby a couple weeks ago!! We are having another GIRL! And look how sweet she looks:

Mom was here for a visit when we found out which was a lot of fun. We got to go out to get delicious Brazilian BBQ with her to celebrate. And now that we know the gender, Eric and I have been talking more about names. It's so different this time because there's so much fewer things to prepare. We already have all the things pretty much so really we just need a name! 

One thing we have done to prep for baby girl though is to rearrange Emery's room and get her a new big girl bed! It was definitely time for that. Grandma and Grandpa got her some adorable bedding and she loves her new bed. The first night she had a bit of a hard time sleeping and woke up a few times but since then she's been doing great and it is sooo much easier for me because I don't have to lift her in or out (which was getting harder as baby has been getting bigger). 

The bedframe hasn't come yet because it is back ordered (ugh) but we just set her up with the mattress not the floor which is probably perfect to start with anyway because then we don't have to worry about her falling out. 

Speaking of Emery, we started speech therapy with Emery again. She actually really likes it and she does so well with it. She is working hard to learn how to say her "p"s and "h"s. It is very hard for her and she has to really concentrate. But I am seriously so impressed with how she attends so well and tries so hard. The speech therapist even remarked about how impressed she was at Emery's ability to sit and listen and try hard to imitate the sounds and do the activities. We have been practicing with her at home too and she asks about going back to speech therapy because she likes it which is awesome. 

Emery is getting so big. She's THREE now!! We celebrated her birthday for days! On her birthday we did a little celebration just our family, and then on Sunday Papi and Nona and John came over for dinner and we celebrated her again. They got her a pink princess dress that she is obsessed with and wants to wear all the time. It's perfect for her. Then on Monday, we got to have our first party since COVID! We had friends over and did a BBQ and I made Emery a barbie princess cake! I was a little nervous about the cake but I feel like it actually turned out pretty well. I am so grateful that I have the personality where I refuse to let intimidation keep me from trying hard new things. I learn so much by diving in and giving things a shot even when I totally don't know what I'm doing haha. 

Our little princess with Papi and Nona

Not too bad for my first attempt ever. I will admit the frosting was frustrating me quite a bit though because I made homemade strawberry frosting using dehydrated strawberries and it WOULD NOT stick to the cake! It took me extra long to decorate because the frosting kept wanting to just peel off! I admit I may have just straight up used my hands to smoosh the crumb coat into place a few times. Shhh haha. 

Sweet cousins. Maren's face totally cracks me up in this picture. 

Dawnelle and her boys Cooper and Lincoln were so nice and came to celebrate Emery with us. We love them! 

Karem's kids: Lauren, Danny and Willy with Levi and Emery. Would you believe Willy is actually a few months older than Levi? He's so petite in comparison! Haha. 

So excited to blow out her three candles! 

Anyway, we had planned to have Emery's party at a splash pad but what with the weather we ended up just doing it inside which worked out just fine. I love hearing our house full of laughter and people!! We've waited sooo long for that. Eric and I enjoy hosting and having people over and this was the first time we've gotten to do so in this house because of COVID. Thank heaven we're vaccinated now and can finally start hosting again. 

In other good news, the permit got approved for our pergola! Major summer DIY project, here we come! I can't wait to see our backyard when it's done. I am soo looking forward to sitting out on a chair out there and enjoying our wind chime and lights and watching the kids jump on the trampoline while Eric grills us up some delicious food! Of course before we can do the pergola, I have to finish the Murphey bed. That bed has been a LOT of work. I mean I knew going into it that it would be a big, challenging project that would take a lot of time but each step does seem to take even longer than I expected. I don't mind too terribly much because I like working with my hands and creating something all my own, but I do feel bad that it is eating up so many Saturday hours and I'm not spending as much time with the kids as I could be. But I have a deadline to really try to finish it now because Holly is coming into town to visit us this Saturday! So it will be a lot of work this week but I am really hoping I can finish it before she gets here :) 

The work in progress on the doors for the Murphey bed. It took me literally all day last Saturday to cut all this veneer! Some things I learned: 1) you don't need a veneer saw, a sharp exacto knife actually works better 2) Even with a sharp exacto knife it takes 3-7 passes to make a single cut  3) wear knee pads 4) you can clamp veneer to plywood to sand the edges which works great unless you're trying to actually take off more than a millimeter or so in which case you will split the veneer and then have to re-cut that piece 5) plan for it to take approximately 5x longer than you expect to do the project! haha

So yeah, that's what's been going on here. Oh! Also, Levi "graduated" from preschool! I mean, he will keep going until kindergarten starts on August 11th but his school had a cute little graduation ceremony for him and the other kids moving up to kindergarten and first grade and it was soo adorable! They all sang songs like "The World is a Rainbow" and the graduates walked across the stage and got their diplomas. Some of those kids have been at Cypress Creek since they were 3 months old and Miss Meghan was getting a little teary talking about them. It was all very sweet. I've been really pleased with what the kids have learned and are learning at school. Levi is very prepared for kindergarten. Just this week, he read me a simple book for the very first time! I didn't even know he could do that! I knew he is great at math because he is always talking about numbers and posing math questions to us. He's gotten really good at simple multiplication and division even and his number sense is really good. But I didn't know he even knew all his letters but then he surprised me by bringing home two little "books" and he read one for me sounding out the words and everything. I am so proud of him. 

Levi and his very best friend Jaxon who will be going into first grade in the fall! 

Anway, here are some other random snippets of life in the Martino household lately! 

The kids built a "pillow fort" and were practicing their gymnastics and Ninja skills! I'm kind of bummed gymnastics and Ninja classes are over now but tomorrow we start swim lessons!

Love sunny evenings with these three! 

Lots of rain means lots of mud and the kids LOVE playing in it. 

While Grandma was here, she and Emery made cookies together. Love my little baker! 

Date night! Love them Texas sunsets and pretty lakes! 

Emery actually ended up being sick with a cough and fever on her actual birthday so had to stay home from school that day and hang out with Daddy. But she made sure that she took good care of her babies. She is going to be such a great big sister!