Greyson Glenn

Greyson Glenn was born on Thursday, January 23 at 6:46PM.  (He's already ONE MONTH OLD TODAY!!)

 Weighing in at 7 pounds 13.8 ounces and stretching 20.75" long he was a pound smaller than his brother, making him seem like a little peanut.

 The day had begun as any other.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  Mama took Kale to the library, picked up some milk and headed home.  There had been a few pains here and there, but having had contractions for several weeks, I didn't think much of it.

 Around lunchtime, I realized I should be watching the clock and paying attention to the growing pains.  Made myself egg salad, sat down to eat, and continued to watch.  Took Kale upstairs to read and had a hard time sitting still.  I told Kale, "I think I might have to go to the hospital today to have this baby!"

 After getting Kale laid down, I sat in the living room with my pen and paper and kept track of contractions.  I realized this might be the real deal.  I called Justin and my mom to let them know to be on alert but that I'd call them back as I wasn't fully sure.  Having been induced with an almost 2 week overdue Kale, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Here I was on January 23, not due until the 27th; I was in disbelief this could be it!

 An hour later, I called Justin and Mom back and said "you need to come."  Justin arrived at 4:30PM from work.  I was sitting in our entryway on a large exercise ball laboring while Kale sat next to me on the bench playing his guitar and singing loudly.  I asked Justin to relocate him and quick.  My mom arrived at 5PM and we were out the door.  Before Justin got in the car, he gave our dog, Cedar, a treat.  I had to give him a bad time about that but he clarified saying he was trying to keep him in the garage; he wasn't giving him loves!

 On the car ride to the hospital, I was calculating my contractions to be 3-4 minutes apart.  I was asking Justin to speed.  We arrived to the hospital at 5:30PM.  They took me to triage and the nurse asked if I could pee in a cup (that's her on the right in the above pic).  When she realized I couldn't talk to her, she immediately put me on the table to get the monitors on and to check me.  I was so worried she'd say I was dilated to 4cm or something smaller.  Justin later said he was worried she'd say I was in false labor.  I was at 8cm!!!

 They took me to my room and the doctor was shortly behind.  At 6PM they checked me again and I was at 9cm and instructed to let them know when I was ready to push.  No IV, asking health questions to Justin while I was in labor to which I had to correct a few of his answers!  By 6:20PM I was pushing and after five pushes, our second son was born!

Many people say he looks like Kale did as a baby and we certainly see the similarities.  Pretty cool that they'll have each other as brothers.

We enjoyed our first night in the hospital alone.  They first person we got to tell the news to was Kale.  When I told him "It's a boy!" he said "Oh, okay!" and immediately asked what we named him.  When I told him "Greyson" he gave the same response.  The second night, Justin went home to stay with Kale and my Mom and to get a good nights rest.  The hospital room was much quieter this night without Justin and without as many nurse interruptions, but I enjoyed my quiet time getting to know my newest son.  I also had some weepy times thinking that I'd never have the same alone time with Kale again and wondering how our world would be different.  God gently reminded me to be still.

Our first family photo (minus Cedar).  Kale wasn't too interested in the baby.  The hospital room, hallway and break room all had much more allure!  Kale has adapted well to Grey, though.  He loves his "baby Grey" and often wants to check on him, help "carry him upstairs", etc.  It has gone so much more smoothly than we were anticipating.

My mom, bless her heart, stayed with Kale who prefers Mama for pretty much everything.  Thankfully, he did quite well for her.

Here we are, ready to head home from the hospital after our two night stay.  Since Kale had been born after midnight, we were given a three night stay.  This seemed quick, but we were ready to head home.

Justin's parents arrived hours after we got home and stayed several days enjoying their snuggle time with their tenth grandchild.

My parents were able to come about a week later after weather had calmed down and enjoy some time with their fifth grandchild.

Our first Sunday heading to church as a family of four!  Like a typical newborn, Grey slept through the entire service and didn't bat an eye during worship.

We're adapting well at home...working on feeding and sleeping schedules and balancing two young boys.  With God, all things are possible! -Matthew 19:26 (Kale's memory verse from Sunday School!!)

Attic Reno 14

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our attic has been "operational" and in use since the end of December.  All that is left to do is install the banister on the stairs and raise the door that leads up to the space to meet code.  Here's what we have so far.  I'm enjoying picking up artwork and other fun decor as I find them rather than rush to find everything at once.  A work in progress!  The first picture shows the area as you first come up the steps.  Found that artwork on clearance at Kohls and fell in love with it.  It shows a man and woman, arm in arm, walking through a rainy city scape.

 Justin built, painted, and installed the cupboards and drawers.  Some of the cupboards contain pull out shelves and others contain closet rods.  The drawers on the bottom get larger, as they were built into the knee walls.  It seems they pull out forever!  LOVE. THEM.

 We absolutely love the sky light!  We also added the beams and like the look of the dark wood against the light blue walls.

 I decided on the colors of aqua/teal blues and oranges.  Found two different bedside stands at an antiques/repurpose store.  The one on the right is an old crate.  We've only bonked our heads on the ceiling a few times.  No helmets required just yet!

 The sitting area is probably my favorite spot of the space.  With a new baby in the house, I nurse here quite often.  It's been fun to watch the snow fly from up high!  The awesome chair and ottoman were purchased at IKEA and the artwork here we found on clearance at Menards.  Yes, Menards has artwork that is beautiful.  Who knew??  In case you can't make out the picture, it's a river with trees in autumn.  It reminds me of canoeing on the river with my family when I was growing up.

 Justin also built and installed the bookcase in the sitting area.  It covers up the "stink pipe"!  Clever, huh?  :)

 More cubbies and drawers are in the closet area that leads into the bathroom.  Justin is fully moved in.  I, on the other hand, only have a few drawers moved.  Haven't had a lot of time to take care of that just yet!

 Having had a natural birth, the tub has already gotten a lot of use as I'm pretty diligent about getting my doctor recommended 2-3 baths a day!  It's a 6 foot soaker tub for my long legs!  The antique "step stool" was purchased at the same location we found the workbench for the vanity.

 Justin decided to leave the cubbies open in the bathroom shower area.  I was fortunate to find these laundry basket hampers at Target.  They are plastic but have the look of a basket.  LOVE. THEM.  Judging the middle basket, looks like I need to do laundry.  Again.  We did install a floorboard heater to help out in the shower area.  It has come in handy this winter.

 The shower tucks in behind the old chimney which provides a little bit of privacy as well.  I told Justin when I shower, I feel like I'm in a luxury hotel.  That made him smile.

 And one last shot looking from the shower area toward the vanity and the closet space beyond.

Justin did a great majority of the work and spent most every weekend working on it from April through December.  Single ladies: a note of advice.  Marry a handyman.  'Nough said.  

In all seriousness though, a single "thank you" is not enough to tell my husband, though I know that's all he needs.  This space is a wonderful getaway within our own home.  With our newborn, it's been nice to have him up there with us for night feedings and keep his cries hushed so big brother can sleep through the night.  I can escape up there for quiet baths or to read my daily devotion.  It is a quiet, calming space that I am so grateful for.  We are truly blessed to enjoy it now that it's nearly finished.  Thank you, Justin!!!  And thanks to so many who have helped us along the way from our dads and their carpentry work to neighbors and friends hauling lumber up for us.  Feeling blessed.

Attic Reno 13

This blog entry is all about our vanity.  I had dreamed about an old worktable serving as our vanity.  I'd made a couple of phone calls to area junk/antique/craft stores and located this one.

 We then picked out sinks and made the cuts and then the real work began.

 We found a product to give it an antique cracked look.  You simply paint your base coat and allow it to dry and then apply a top antique white coat that cracks exposing the base coat underneath.  Then for the top, we applied another product to coat and seal it from water.  We initially thought putting tape around the edges would be beneficial so it would not run over the sides but decided against that before we applied it.  Thankful that we did.

 The vanity fit like a glove in its new location.

 Our plumbers did the initial caulk job.  When they had left that day, I went up to inspect and found this:

 I was pretty much horrified after all the work we'd put into the vanity.  I was ready to try and fix it myself but it had dried too much.  Justin ended up ripping it off and redid the work on his own.

 You'll notice the shelf on the bottom.  Justin added that.  It is repurposed from an old cupboard door that we took out from our laundry area.

 And the final finished product!  We plan to put baskets underneath the sinks.  Anytime I'm in a store with baskets, I'm looking, but haven't found what I have in my mind just yet (or they are not in my price range)!  We're enjoying a fully operational bathroom (and have been since end of December...the blog posts have just been a little sparse!)