A New Perspective

Since May, I have had an ear infection about every 6 weeks. It has been driving me nuts, especially since it takes me about two weeks or more to get my hearing back! 

I get pretty down when my ears get infected because I have the hardest time hearing anyone. Thomas still does a lot of babbling, so when I can't hear I feel bad because I can't understand what he's saying. I know it's usually temporary but I always worry that it could be permanent. 

Tuesday I went to an ENT here in town. I had my hearing assessed and it was really bad! I did not realize it was that bad, especially because I thought one of my ears had "opened up" and it was not much better than the other. 

After looking at my ears more, he decided to put tubes in. I feel so silly being an adult and getting tubes! Right away I was able to hear so much better. It sounds differently, like I've got my hands cupped over my ears. As I was leaving it was almost overwhelming hearing things I've not heard in so long! 

Everyone finally sounds pretty normal, but I still sound strange when I talk. I just can't get over how much I can hear! Actually, I almost prefer silence because my ears throb when it's too loud. I have a whole new perspective! I can hear the cars when they drive by, I can hear my foot steps, and I've caught Thomas trying to be sneaky! 

I'm still a little sore from the tubes, but that should go away soon. Hopefully the tubes work and help keep the fluid out of my ears! 

 Derek has been really sweet to help out extra this week, since I've been pretty tired! He really is a great catch! :)

That's pretty much been our week! I got home around 2 on Saturday and I didn't leave the house until this morning. (Except going to the ENT on Tuesday) It's actually been really nice to slow down this week!

And just because I can't make a post without pictures here are a few favorites from this week: 

This was actually from last Friday... Anna-Kate and Granddaddy at the Father's and Grandfather's breakfast hosted by her class!

Our craft at Carpenter's Kids this week! I thought they turned out so cute! 

Tuesday, Thomas thought that his legs would make a better coloring book. He was SO proud too! 

Me and Thomas this morning! You can tell I'm still not feeling my best... haha but he's cute! :) 

Starting Over

I have really been struggling with the blog lately. 

I've been trying to decide what has got me so thrown off lately.

I'm missing everything blogging related and I definitely feel like I'm missing out on great opportunities to write down some of these wonderful memories that we are making.

I am working on a little facelift for the blog, to see if that doesn't help to kick me in gear.

I'd also really appreciate some feedback from you about what you liked or even didn't like about the blog. It is not comfortable for me to ask that question, but I'd really like to know, so please share!

In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the new look!! Chevron has been my absolute favorite pattern lately!

Around Our House This Week

Happy Friday everyone!! We have had a wonderful week around here! 

It started off rough, since Derek and I decided that it was a good idea to jump into a painting project two days after getting home from Christmas travels. We barely got things in order, before we broke out the paint roller. Thankfully, by Monday night we were so excited over the living room's new look that we didn't care how crazy the rest of the house was (or how high the laundry was piled)! 

So... I'm dying to share the big transformation!! 

Here's our living room before: 

The most recent before picture I had were the ones I took when we had just finished decorating! 

and after: 

We still need to hang things on the walls! :) 

I have spent the rest of the week trying to put everything back in order and cleaning! I've finally gotten all of the kids' toys put away and their rooms cleaned. Well... almost cleaned... I think Thomas gets a kick out of seeing how quickly he can mess up his room! :) 

In the process of all that, I've done a little bit of rearranging and some spring cleaning! 

One major change was moving the table and benches out of the little banquette in our kitchen and replacing it with a small play area for Anna-Kate and Thomas! I hated taking our eating nook away but to be honest, it just became a catch-all and was really cluttered. Plus, the kids LOVE being in their kitchen while I'm cooking, so it makes dinner time so much easier! 

Please excuse the crazy paint... the kitchen is on our list to update!

A major accomplishment I had this week was catching up on our laundry!! We have never been so behind on our laundry... it was bad! I took this picture on Thursday afternoon and I put the last load of clothes in the washing machine before I went to bed!

My second favorite thing I did this week was to break out my new cake pop maker and play with it! I made corn muffins, blueberry muffins, biscuits and french breakfast puffs! All but the breakfast puffs were from a mix, because I wanted to test out the machine first. I am hooked! Everything has turned out perfect and the kids are loving having little things that are easy for them to eat!

Last night I got really adventurous and I made omelets!! I was just testing it out, so they just had bacon bits and cheese. I can't wait to try more omelets out! 

These are made with one egg, a little milk, cheese, bacon bits, salt and pepper. I sprayed the holes first (not sure if that's necessary, but I was worried!) I just filled it up to the top and then shut the lid. Towards the end they started to whistle, which meant they were puffing up. I left mine in until the whistling slowed down (sorry, I didn't time it!) and then I took them out and they were perfect! 

I am so excited about these little omelets! Maybe, I can get the kids to eat these too!

Today, Thomas and I are enjoying a "lazy" day... just playing and relaxing. Hopefully we can get in a trip to the park this afternoon! Hope everyone has had a wonderful first week of 2012!