To teach, or...?

 We had a lovely, boring, average week. It feels good to just be home and not have anywhere to go. I did end up driving across the desert several times this week, but still..

We had plans to meet with our builder on Wednesday, but he couldn't meet us so we got a last-minute babysitter and drove to Blackfoot Tuesday night. We are on the builder's books to break ground next spring, but nothing is for sure. It will all depend on what the prices of materials are next spring for him to come back to us and say, "Your house will cost X to build," and then determine if we can afford it or not. So in the meantime we are saving like crazy to have a substantial down payment on the loan if the price is right. If not...we either wait another year or decide to do something else. We'll just see what life brings us in the next year and try not to have our hearts set one way or the other. 

Wednesday I took the kids to Idaho Falls for the chiropractor appointment and Beckham's six week check up, but I already wrote about those details so, moving on.

Thursday morning I turned the garden water off that had been running all night. It left the most perfect mud puddle that Emmett and Logan discovered and it kept them happy for two solid hours while Beckham napped. I call that a win! They are only this little once, and mud washes off easily. I'm totally down for it. They played in it again that evening while we were busy doing yard work. Friday morning I zipped over to Idaho Falls again to buy a used Bob stroller for a screaming deal. As an officially 6 weeks postpartum lady, I am now ready to get back to exercising regularly. I started a program specifically catered to return to weightlifting along with nutrition coaching. It should be great!

Saturday Justin saw an event going on downtown on Facebook, so we decided to head down there and enjoy. It was a "Christmas in July" food/toy drive so we brought some canned goods and got a free burger out of it. The boys enjoyed the huge blow up toy. I ran into the principal and met the new superintendent. Mr. Chambers asked me what my teaching degrees were and if I wanted to come teach this year. We bantered for a bit about it, but then he asked what about part-time. That shut me up for a second, and he said he was dead serious about me teaching 2-3 classes and that's it. I asked what classes would he have me teach and when and he literally said, "Whatever you want." 

Okay hold up now this is getting interesting. I want two middle school Earth Science classes first thing in the morning and then I'm peaced outta there, thank you very much, the end. 😂 

So I'm going to chat with them more about it tomorrow but I am seriously considering it. We'll see if this ends up being an opportunity I decide to take or not.

I returned to singing time this week. We learned "Have I Done Any Good?" It was okay. I wish I could split the kids Jr/Sr. The needs ranging from 4-11 year olds are hard to meet simultaneously, and it's usually the big kids that end up totally bored/over my activities. Oh well - I'm doing my best with a smile and I can't care about it being superfantastic every time.

lol...his goopy eye FINALLY has cleared (took 3 weeks for the right eye to clear and 6 weeks for the left).

6 weeks and other updates

We had Beckham's 6 week checkup today with Tabitha. Sigh... it's weird that I won't be seeing Tabitha every month anymore! A relationship with your midwife is a special thing and I will miss her. I guess I'll just have to keep having babies so she stays a part of my life! She's truly an angel on Earth. 

Beckham is thriving. I took him to Dr. Orchard who is THE chiropractor to go to when you need specific help with things. He flipped Beckham from breech to head down at 38 weeks, so he's basically magical. Beckham has had very mild reflux, but still enough that he was uncomfortable and I was sick of having to have Justin's help getting his burps/farts out. Sure enough, Dr. Orchard found a hernia which fixed him right up. Tabitha did some newborn exams on him, weighed/measured him at 11 lbs 4 oz and 22" long (seeing him this long has me in shock that Logan was born at 22" - wut).

At about this same time, I decided to start helping Beckham learn to sleep at more predictable, regular times. I like to let my newborns nurse as much as they want in the first several weeks to really establish a good milk supply, so any time Beckham would fuss I would nurse him, and I would nurse him before his sporadic naps, etc. I purchased the sleep program "Taking Cara Babies" and wow - I am astounded at how quickly/smoothly Beckham has adapted to her methods. The first day went like clockwork, and that night he gave me his first four hour stretch of sleep! Not only that, but he went back to sleep after nursing effortlessly until waking up for the day at 7:30. Amazing. Similarly the next night he went a solid four hours and then slept a solid three more. This felt like a miracle after 5 1/2 weeks of nursing on demand every two hours, and some nights every hour. Today is day three of practicing this new approach to sleep which is giving me the time to knock out all these blog posts.

In other news, Justin and I have met with a lender and a home builder to map out what building a house out here in Arco will look like for us. Things are very early and we don't have any specifics yet, but we're getting excited to image we'll be in our own home within the next year or two.

where did all his dark hair go?!

Chase and Dad went fishing and caught TONS! So much that Mom and Dad shared their spoils with us. My boys love salmon!

Nursing the baby while weeding the garden - no problem 

We finally got this windbreak planted in the backyard with Oss tree starts compliments of Mom.

Ugh we killed a baby rattlesnake!!!

crazy boys

A Rose Family Reunion

After the Beal reunion we had a week long break before packing up again to see the Roses in McCall. This time we'd be gone for six whole days. On the 4th we drove to Boise to stay the night with Gabe and Christy. This helped break up the drive since we have to stop every two hours for a good half and hour to take care of Beckham boy. The kids enjoyed his pool and we even did a few fireworks in his driveway. Colin is Emmett's age (two months apart) and they share a love of dinosaurs, so the three little boys hit it off big time playing dinosaurs until we made them go to bed. We managed to get kids to bed in time to watch a movie and enjoy some late night buffalo chicken bites.

Monday morning Justin was planning to help do the food shopping with his brother while I stayed at Gabe's with the kids. Due to some miscommunication, Justin had to come pick us up to do the shopping with him. We ended up waiting around for several hours trying to figure all the food out. Thankfully Beckham was pretty chill with all the waiting in the car and then walking around Costco. Oh my land it was hot in Boise that day! We managed to finally make it to the rental house in McCall and decided to take the kids to the lake right away. The lake in the evening is the absolute best: no crowds and perfect water! I am healed enough that I was able to swim with them which I was so grateful for: that water was absolute heaven to me! That night James and Jon arrived with their families.

waiting in the Costco parking lot 

Tuesday the cousins played while the adults mostly hung out all day. We managed to enjoy the lake a bit in the late afternoon and then Justin and I were in charge of dinner. We brought pulled pork that I had made previously and frozen, so all we had to do was throw it in the crockpot with BBQ sauce and voila. Jon and Judy arrived that night just in time to see Beckham before we headed to bed.

Everyone got a turn to hold the baby

Just nursing my baby at the beach! A gal saw me pull Beckham out of his car seat and her eyes went wide..."That's a new baby!" 

The master game maker

With everyone there, Wednesday was officially time to kick off the reunion theme of "superheroes unite." Justin assigned a character to every family member and created a whodunnit/clue game to be played throughout the week. People could find/win clues and based on their superhero power (which Justin made up) they could also steal/block clues. After explaining everything and experiencing a bit of a mad dash of clue finding/stealing fun, we ventured to the farmer's market and the fish hatchery. After not a great night's sleep and a bit too much walking around, I was feeling yucky so I managed to take an afternoon nap with Beckham. We took the kids to Rotary park before dinner.

playing freeze tag with the kids

Clara loved to hold Logan while they watched their favorite show: Camp Cretaceous! 

Thursday the family all did a two-mile hike but I knew that would be a bad idea for me three weeks postpartum, so I stayed home. I thought I'd make myself useful and tidy up while everyone was away. I also made lunch for the kids for when they got back. We hit Ponderosa state park for our lake time which was my favorite part of the trip. The beach was in full sun but we had a canopy, and the water was absolutely perfect! Bonnie was able to bring up a paddle boat for us to enjoy which the cousins all got a kick out of. I borrowed a life jacket from Hart so I could swim out and enjoy the water with the kids with very little effort. Emmett and Eleanor are BFFs (nine months apart) and played in the sand a bunch. Logan doesn't have a cousin close to his age, but thankfully they include him pretty well. Bonnie made empanadas that night for dinner and I think I ate 5 or 6 - they were so good. Between the amazing food and amazing lake time this was by far my favorite day.

Friday we played some reunion games, adults only. This was a lot of fun with lots of thoughtful planning by Justin. The games and activities were all just right. We headed to downtown McCall to enjoy ice cream ally and look through the shops. After lunch I napped and we did the lake one more time in the late afternoon. I swam out to the docks with Emmett and convinced him to jump in with me. He's still learning to hold his breath/his nose when he jumps in so he was one-and-done. They enjoyed playing in the sand and Beckham slept really well giving me ample time to play in the water one last time. When we got home I started packing things up to make for a smooth checkout the following morning. Most people stayed up to watch Black Widow but I was happy to take a shower, fix my hair, and go to bed.

Saturday was a long day of checking out in the morning and driving home all day. We made a few pit stops in Boise, and then again in Mountain Home for lunch. Beckham truly gets the gold star of the week. He was content as long as he wasn't hungry or had a gas bubble. And I'm going to go ahead and give myself a gold star for hanging in there for a whole week, participating in most of the activities, and keeping a pleasant attitude between two-hour sleeping blocks and rationed Dr. Pepper. All while doing this three weeks postpartum. I know: I'm amazing, and you're welcome.

These sweet boys are always loving on Beckham

looks cozy dude 😂 no worries about his startle reflex, that's for sure

😂😂