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! 

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day again. My 5th one as a momma to children of my own and it's been nice so far. Eric made me overnight oats for breakfast which was delicious and got me some pretty flowers and the kids did some art for me. Also, Eric wrote me the BEST song ever and the kids danced to it while he sang it. It's awesome. And Levi's card he made me cracks me up:

He says: "It's you and me with the fridge between us and I'm grabbing the "L" from my name. And on top of the fridge is a yellow candle holding up a plate with a can of tomato soup on it!" Ok buddy haha. 

 Pregnancy has FINALLY eased up on me a little bit. I've been having more energy and been getting back to doing some things which help me feel like me such as going out with Eric, working on the murphy bed again, taking care of our plants and doing our own laundry! I'm still nauseous often but not to the level of before and I've gone two whole weeks now without throwing up!! Which I'm pretty sure is a record for me for any pregnancy. This past week I backed my Zofran down to 4mg/day which meant I was a little more nauseous in the evenings again but not like before. I can still help with bedtime. And the nausea is managed as long as I eat something with protein any time I start feeling a little sick.  And I've gotten to start feeling baby move every so often! Which is always so reassuring and helps remind me that pregnancy is about a baby coming... not just about me feeling like death haha. And next week we get to find out the gender! I keep feeling like it's a boy but also kind of slightly wishing it is a little girl to be a best friend sister to Emery. And I'm crossing my fingers for curly red hair although I think the likelihood of that is pretty slim! 

 So yeah, its been a relief to be feeling a little bit better and getting back to a little bit of normalcy around here. For my birthday, Eric and his parents are making the back patio expansion + covered pergola happen so I've been excited planning and imagining for that. Our yard has come such a long way from the patch of grass it was when we moved in! It already looks so much better and is so much more functional with the trampoline, tree and beautiful, colorful flowers all along the fence on the side and a brand new crepe myrtle in the corner by the trampoline. I feel like we will spend even more time out there once we've got a larger covered back patio. I can't wait to BBQ and have friends over! Eric is finally fully vaccinated so we are venturing back out into the social scene which is so nice. Today we get to go to family dinner for the second time since COVID. We all got together for Easter which was so nice and we are all so excited to get together again. I just love Emery's relationship with Maren and Silva and I love spending time all together as a family. Here are some pictures from our Martino Family Easter Egg Hunt:

These sweet cousins are just the best.

We joked that this kind of looks like an engagement picture haha

So yeah things have been looking up a little bit around here. Eric got a job offer from his brother which he thought long and hard about and prayed about and we discussed a lot. Ultimately he decided to turn him down but it did open his eyes to possibilities I think and made him realize that he's ready to be done with MedQ and move on to another opportunity. But he says he's going to wait till after baby comes to search for a new job in earnest. Even though things at MedQ aren't great, the convenience of him working from home with flexible hours is still so needed right now and logistically makes the most sense for us for now. 

Anyway, as is appropriate for Mother's Day here is an interview with my children I actually did a couple weeks ago. I asked them the questions separately so they didn't hear each other's answers and some of the questions I didn't ask Emery because I knew she wouldn't understand them.

1. If you won a million dollars what would you buy?

    Levi: Million Lego piece set. Star Wars of a Mega Star Breaker

2. What do I always say to you?

    Levi: Good morning

3. What job would you like to do when you grow up?

    Emery: Doctor

    Levi: Artist

4. Who is the strongest person you know?

    Emery: Me!

    Levi: Dad

5.Where do babies come from? 

    Levi: *shy smiles and taps my arm*

6. At what age do you become a grownup?

    Levi: I don't know

7. What wild animal is your favorite?

    Emery: elephant

    Levi: cheetah... no! Lion

8. What would you do if you couldn't find your underwear?

    Emery: go to the store

    Levi: *laughs* then: not wear it

9. If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?

    Levi: mac n cheese

10. How much does it cost to buy a house?

    Levi: um... $1000 no $2000! 

11. What are you scared of?

    Emery: Unker (Thunder)

    Levi: monsters

12. What is your favorite game to play?

    Levi: Castles of Burgundy

13. What is your favorite color?

    Emery: Pink

    Levi: Pink

14. How old am I?

    Emery: 2

    Levi: 22

15. Who is the president?

    Levi: Joe Biden!

16. What kind of car do you want when you grow up?

    Levi: It depends on how many kids I have. If I have a lot probably a minivan. 

17. Where do you want to live when you grow up?

    Emery: in my crib

    Levi: Probably Texas... oh! I mean the North Pole!

18. Who is your best friend?

    Emery: Mayin (Maren) and Silva. I like them, both of them. 

    Levi: Jaxon... I mean, Mattie!  With the orange hair. 

19. What's your favorite thing to do?

    Emery: watch something

    Levi: games

20. What's the safest place in the world?

    Emery: bedroom

    Levi: *shrugs* I don't know

21. Who makes you laugh the hardest?

    Emery: books

    Levi: *shrugs*

22. Who is your favorite old person?

    Levi: *laughs* probably Oma

23. What's my favorite thing to do? 

    Emery: watch the kids

    Levi: I can't read your mind! So I don't know! 

24. Who loves you the most?

    Emery: Mayin and Silva

    Levi: Jaxon probably

25. What year is it?

    Emery: May

    Levi: May. No, not May, April! 

I just love the things they say! Also, I asked Emery again recently what we should name the baby if it is a girl and she said "Pink Baby" haha. And she has started calling flies and other small flying bugs "bad guys" haha. My Emery is getting so excited about her upcoming birthday and her brand new big girl bed that she will be getting soon! She and Levi really are the light of my life!

Emery: "For if bad guys coming so I can tell Levi!"

We tried dyeing some Easter eggs naturally this year. They were a bit underwhelming as you can see. The tumeric (bottom left) worked the best. The one that's brown (bottom right) was supposed to be green. I used parsley and chamomile tea but... that didn't really work out. And the top left one was supposed to be pink. I used craisins and strawberries but... I guess purple is kind of close? Haha

They have started wrestling more which is fun until someone gets hurt (usually Emery even though she's always the instigator). 

She kept yelling "The Mighty Untidy Titans!" Over and over again. Thank you Bubble Guppies

Emery has gotten incredibly difficult to feed lately. She pretty much only wants to eat fruit, chips and lunch meat. This evening she climbed on Levi's chair with him during dinner (it is SO HARD to get her to stay seated in her own chair) and he managed to make it a game so she actually ate a little bit of carrots and corn. I call that a win. 

Levi had his kindergarten tour last week! I can't believe how big he is, but also he is sooo ready for kindergarten and I know he will do great! His math skills blow me away. Like this morning he was like, "We had 12 gummies so we split them so Emery and I both got 6." and I was like "if there were three of you how many would you each get?" and he was like "four." 

I heard a lot of giggling going on towards the end of "quiet time." Turns out that this is why. And I couldn't get it all off so now it looks like she has a nasty bruise on her knee haha. 

Emery always asks for her hair in braids. Really she just wants to keep her hair down all the time, but if I tell her we have to put it up (which is pretty much every day to try to keep her from looking like a total wild thing and to help keep the tangles under control) she always asks for a braid. Usually she insists on one braid but this day I convinced her to let me do two braids and it was so adorable!!