Craziness

This Packer household has been in overdrive this week trying to get our basement finished, house cleaned for guests and ready to leave for a little vacay to Phoenix!!  I have been running around like a crazy lady trying to get everything done as well as pack myself and 2 little kiddos!!  While we are gone a professor from ACU and his family will be staying at our house so I had to make sure it was super clean and seeing as we have been under construction there is a thick layer of dust coating just about everything in our house!!  Thankfully, my wonderful husband let me hire a cleaning company to deep clean my entire house so that I wouldn't have to do it all myself on top of everything else!!  The basement is being finished up as I type this post so once the carpenter leaves I will be getting straight down there to get everything set up and looking somewhat presentable.  Unfortunately, I won't have time to do any decorating at all so it will be straight up necessities for now.  We are so excited to have it finished though!!  Maddox absolutely LOVES it down there and we don't even have any of his toys set up yet.  He throws a huge fit every time we make him come back upstairs!!  As soon as we get it all set up I will post pictures :D.

This little break to PHX with Collin's family could not have come at a more opportune time.  We are so thankful to get to spend time with family going to Rockies games, golfing for the boys, shopping for the girls and just relaxing by the pool!!!  I probably won't post until after we get back from our trip but when we do get back I will post about the basement and all of our adventures in Arizona!!

Addison's 9 Months Old

Well, my little lady has officially been out longer than she was in!  She is such a sweetheart and we absolutely adore her!!  She had her 9 month appointment yesterday and turns out she is much smaller than her big brother ever was!!  She weighs 17 lbs. 12 oz. which is the 45th percentile and is 27 1/2 in. tall which is also the 45th percentile.  When Maddox was 9 months old he was 22 lbs 13 oz. which was the 80th percentile, he was 28 3/4 in. long which was the 70th percentile.  Its fun to have a petite little girl around!!  Not a lot has changed for her in the last month but here is what she is up to now...

*Size 6-9 month clothes mostly and a few 9-12 month things.
*Size 3 diapers.
*She is going to start crawling ANY day now!
*She is starting to try to pull herself to standing but hasn't accomplished it yet.
*She has 2 teeth...both bottom middle ones.
*She says mama and dada but I don't she associates it with us yet.
*She thinks her brother is hilarious and just cracked up with he runs around like a crazy person.
*Her hair is finally growing in the back!
*She got her first set of pig tails today and they were just PRESH!!  (pics below)
*She still loves bath time with brother.
*She goes to bed at between 6:30-8 pm depending on the day and wakes up between 5:30-6:30 am (not my fav)
*She takes one nap a day at around 1 pm and it usually last between 2-3 hours.
*She gets 5 bottles a day of 6-8 oz.
*She will no longer keep a headband on but will let me clip a bow in her bangs.  Hopefully she don't start pulling that off too it will make this momma very sad!!

She is a happy girl most of the time but of course has her moments. This morning when I was taking her picture was one of those moments so they are the best but the pic tails make up for it :D.  We are so thankful to have our sweet baby girl in our family!!  And I'm not gonna lie I think she looks EXACTLY like me when I was little in these pictures!! :D

Oh my sweetness...those pig tails are just a heart melter.

Basement Update

Things are moving right along down in the basement!!  YAY!!  Last week they finished out the plumbing so we now have a working shower, toilet and 2 vanities (the bathroom and laundry room.) The walls are painted.  And the doors and baseboards are installed.

This week they are doing finishing work like touch up paint, wiring the electrical sockets and light switches, and installing the shower door.  The carpet gets installed next Monday.  Hopefully after the electrician comes on Tuesday we will be able to hook the washer and dryer back up and use it!! (I can't wait!!)  We picked out the couches we think we are going to get for the family room at IKEA.  I'm hoping we will be completely finished in just a couple more weeks!!

Here are a few pics of what's happening down there.

Laundry Room Vanity

Hallway from the play room to the family room.

Bathroom.

Shower.

Happy Love Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day with your loved ones!!  For the 11th straight year we went to Wendy's for our dinner!!  It's a fun tradition for us!!

Basement Update

Well we are 3 1/2 weeks into our basement project and things are moving right along. This past week they finished the rough plumbing and electrical and passed the inspection for both of those.  They also hung the dry wall and passed an inspection for that as well!!  It looks so much different down there now that we have walls!  This coming week they will be finishing up the carpentry (installing doors and baseboards) and I think installing the bathroom vanity and toilet and possibly tile.  I has been fun watching the transformation!!   Here are some pics of the space with walls.

Pre clean up

pos clean up pre construction

Framing is finished

Dry wall is up!!

Honesty about Ministry

I'm just going to go ahead and throw this out there and say, ministry is hard.  Not just like a little bit hard but like really really hard.  It's hard emotionally, its hard spiritually, its hard on marriages, its hard on kids, its hard on friendships, its just plain hard.

I have really been struggling with this lately because of the place we find ourselves in at this point in time. I often find myself wondering if others in ministry positions feel the same way or if it is just us?  Are we the only ones who feel like we are drowning in complaints at times?  Are we the only ones who have asked ourselves why are we doing this? What's the point?  Are the tears and pain really worth it?  I don't know maybe we are alone in these feelings.  Its hard to know because we too often put on our happy faces and fail to share what is going on in our lives.  Slowly as time goes on though, my mask is starting to come off.  I just don't have the strength to hold it up much longer.

There are days when I feel like I just don't want to do it anymore.  Its so hard when you feel like you are trying to live out a calling from God and all you get in return is criticism.  Its so hard, as a wife, to hear people speak negatively about your husband when you know he pours his whole heart into what he does.   I think sometimes people forget that the ministers are people too.  They have feelings and what they do isn't just a paycheck.  Its their passion, their calling, their life.  When someone criticizes a sermon or a service its like telling them their kid is ugly.  Its personal, it cuts to the core.

The church is a strange place to me.  It is supposed to be made up of God's people and yet the way we often act is not the way of God.  We so often fail to show love and grace because we get so caught up in our own needs and wants.  We all want a say in how things operate and tend to get upset when things don't go our way.  It's like in sports, everyone thinks they can coach the team better than the coach.  We would never complain at our jobs or argue to our boss like we do at church.  It's just strange to me.

I have to constantly remind myself that the church is made up of imperfect humans and that is going to lead to disappointments and hurts.  The only one who will never let us down is the Father!!  But that doesn't make it any less hard when it happens.

Of course it isn't always bad being in ministry.  I have just found myself in a very discouraging place at this time.  I'm certain Satan know exactly what to do to get us down and boy has he been sticking it to me lately.  I just want to find a way to not be frustrated and hopeless about all that is going on around me.  I need the Lord to fill my heart with joy in the midst of the craziness of being a family in ministry.  I hope and pray that he will bring us out of this turmoil on the other side with a renewed trust in His church and His people. I pray that regardless of how we are treated we will show love to everyone.  I pray that he will give us strength to persevere and overcome the attacks of the Deceiver.  I pray that he will bring wisdom in the midst of decision that need to be made.  I pray that he will prevent our children from being scarred by the thing that come with being preacher's kids.  I pray that in all these things His will be done.
 

Blizzard

We had somewhat of a February blizzard here in Denver this past weekend! I never heard the final number for what we got but it was somewhere around 26 inches...thats is TWO feet people!!  Pure craziness!!   Collin and Maddox got out and played in it on Friday and we were even crazy enough to ventured out for some dinner with friends Friday night!! Thankfully, it wasn't too bad because Collin was home the entire time it was snowing so he was able to do all the shoveling and driving!!  Even so I will still say I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of some warm spring weather!!

Baby Girl is 8 Months Old

Our baby girl is 8 months old.  How can that be?!?!  I don't know where the time has gone.  She is such a sweet little thing!!  She is full of smiles and is a generally happy baby!!  She really only gets fussy when she is hungry or sleepy.  She is starting to get to a stage where she prefers for me to hold her.  If I'm not in sight she does fine with other people but if she can see me she wants me to hold her.  I don't know how much she weighs right now because we don't go to the doctor until she is 9 months old.  We did get her weighed last month when we had her ears rechecked after her ear infection and she weighed about 17 lbs.  So we will see how much she grows this month when I take her to her 9 month well check at the end of the month.  Here is a little of what our sweet pea is up to right now...

*She wears size 3 diapers but I still squeeze her into a size 2 so that I can use up the ones I have left.  

*She is in size 6-9 month clothes.

*She wears size 2 shoes.

*She has 1 tooth.

*She takes a 2-3 hour nap each day.

*She goes to bed around 6:30 pm and wakes up between 6-6:30 am.

*She isn't crawling yet and doesn't seem to be close either.

*She thinks her brother is hilarious. (Except when he is being a not so nice big brother)

*She loves bath time with bubba.

*I just moved her yesterday to her big girl car seat.  She still has to face backwards though.  She seems to like it and really enjoys being able to look over and smile at Maddox!

*She gets 5 bottles each day and I nurse her first thing in the morning.  I will probably stop nursing completely soon but it's easier to just nurse her than go downstairs to make a bottle.

That's all I can think of now.  Addison is such a joy and I am so thankful that God chose me to be her mommy!  I feel so blessed that I get to watch her grow and learn every day.  She is so precious and I can't imagine my life without her!! See for yourself her sweet smile and adorable face...

If you click this to make it bigger and look at the bottom right picture you can sorta see her little tooth!

I think this chain of events is hilarious!  Just a tiny glimpse of what's to come with sibling interactions :D

Sweet girl was about done with the photo shoot by this point.

Toms Ballet Flats

I LOVE Toms!!  I have several pairs of the classic style and they are so comfortable.  Today, Toms released their Ballet Flats and I think they are just adorable!!  I ordered those press ones above first thing this morning to make sure they didn't run out of my size because I know they are going to be popular!!  I can't wait for them to be delivered and I am really hoping for some nice February weather so that I can wear them!! Yay for an awesome product that also helps those in need!!!

A Tooth for Sis

Sis finally cut her first tooth yesterday.  I was wondering when it was going to happen.  Maddox got his first one between 6 and 7 months and she will be 8 months next week.  Her first one is one the bottom middle one on her right.  I could tell it was going to be soon because I could see that her gums were swollen and she was fussy and chewing on EVERYTHING!! I think her other bottom middle one will be coming in pretty soon too because that side of her gums looks the same as the other has looked.  The tooth isn't in far enough to get a good picture of it yet but once it is I will try to take one.  Maybe when I do her 8 month pics next week I can get one :D.

Basement Update

We are officially a week into construction on our basement.  Things have been quite loud the past week as they have been framing.  Thankfully, the kids have still napped pretty well despite the table saw, hammering, and nail gun going off all day long!  This has made me super thankful for their slightly noisy humidifiers that always run in their rooms that drown out the noise!

They guys finished up the framing today which makes it a lot easier for us to get a feel for the space.  We are now able to see where all the walls will be and how high the ceilings are.  Next week they will work on the rough plumbing and electrical stuff.

This past week Collin, Maddox, Addison, and I went to Home Depot to pick out several things like plumbing hardware, vanities, light fixtures, and tile.  It was quite the trip.  Both kids were crying and we had NO idea what we were looking for.  Somehow we managed to get it all selected and what we didn't get done I was able to select and order online.

After a week of it all I think the only annoying thing is not having my washer and dryer.  It is quite the pain to load all of our dirty clothes up and take them somewhere to wash them.  I have found through this that we do not have a single laundromat in Highlands Ranch or anywhere relatively close for that matter.  So that leaves me with 2 options, the church or a friends house.  The hard things is that each load takes so long so when you have more than one load to do it leaves a lot of time with nothing to do.  I now realize how convenient it is to have a washer and dryer at my house and can't wait to have ours back!!

Below are a few pictures of the progress.  The first set is from before they started last Tuesday and the second set is from this afternoon after they finished framing.  I'm looking forward to watching the transition take place!

Steroid Rage

So I last posted about Maddox's new breathing treatments.  He has been on them just over a week now and is still taking them like a champ each morning and evening.  The only problem is that the steroids are REALLY effecting his behavior!  I mean like he is a complete Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!  One minute he is fine and the next he is throwing an ALL OUT fit because he can't have a cookie or because we tell him its time to go potty.  It is absolutely horrible.  This happens on and off all day every day.  It is also making him super wild.  He just zips here and there all day long...it wears me out.  People have told me that this will get better as he gets used to the way the meds make him feel but right now it is a lot to handle.  Prayers would be appreciated that he would adjust to the way the steroids make him feel and get back to his happy self soon!!

Breathing Treatments

I mentioned the other day in my post about Maddox that we would be taking him to the doctor to look into his recurring croup.  At his appointment his doctor decided to put him on some breathing treatments through the winter and spring months.  So we left the office with and "occu-chamber" and a prescription for an inhaler.  He has to have 2 doses twice a day through the month of May. Hopefully this will help us get through these next few months without any serious cases or croup.

We really weren't sure how he would handle the treatments but he has done awesome!  We told him he gets super powers from them and he thinks that is pretty cool!  I am so thankful he is doing so well with them because I know it could have been a horrible battle to get him to take them!  He actually thinks it is really funny and just smiles the entire time!  I really hope this works because he is so pitiful when he get croup and it is pretty scary when he struggles with his breathing!