Strawberries, Naps and Bluegrass

I kind of took a break from swimming today...

Farmer's market!
(fresh organic strawberries = happy boy!)

Napped with my girl.
(she really likes my new napping in daylight policy)

Ayden woke from his 1.5 hour nap
and fell back to sleep on me for another 1.5 hours.
I soaked up every moment.

This is what David did while we were resting.
(water proofing around the footer)

It was messy stuff...

My parents joined us for dinner at our new favorite spot.

A little blue grass music.
The girl out front got up and clogged a little.

The proud horse shoe collector.

What happens when I stop swimming for a day...
There's always tomorrow.  I'll get caught up again eventually.

It's nice to take a breather once in a while but it is crazy how quickly things fall apart when we don't constantly stay on top of them.  The extra snuggles are totally worth it but sheesh!

How quickly does your house fall apart when you take a break?

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Farm Field Trip"

And two years ago today: "Precious Moments"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Long Walks

We paid both of our cars off a few years ago and plan to drive them until they won't drive anymore (either then or when upkeep becomes more expensive than car payments would be...).  My car is a 2002 and has had several maintenance issues that needed some attention for a while now.  David is really good with cars and once we learned about the issues we planned to save the money on labor and just have him do the repairs himself.  Well, life got in the way and the convenience of having someone else do it finally won out in the "saving money vs. paying for convenience" decision.  I chose today to have it taken care of because Fridays are our free days and we would have plenty of time.  Our appointment was at 10 and they said it would take about two hours so during that time we did something we haven't done in a really long time...

We took a LONG walk.
Ayden is eating an apple and enjoying the scenery.

When we lived our neighborhood, we took really long walks almost everyday.  Now that we live in the country and Ayden is older, he usually walks right along with me down our driveway and back or he just wants to play some other outdoor game.  We walked to a couple of nearby shopping centers and went to a cafe/bakery for lunch and then walked back.  Ayden was pretty quiet the whole time, people watching and taking in the ever changing scenery. Today was a sunny day in the low 80s but there was a wonderful breeze.  I was definitely tired when we finally made it back to the car service building but I felt good.  I hadn't been that active for that long in a WHILE.  It made me realize that I miss taking long leisurely strolls.  You've got to give a little to take a little in everything you do.  There are SOOO many things that I love about living in the country but one thing I do miss about living in the neighborhood is how easy it is to walk out your front door and have a nice, long,  stroller walk on a sidewalk (stroller being a key part since you can get lost in thought rather than supervise a toddler...).  But, if we still lived in a neighborhood where I got to do it all the time, our big walk during our long wait today probably would not have been quit so enjoyable for me.  

After we got all the car stuff squared away (which ended up being MUCH cheaper than we anticipated.  Score!) we came home for lunch and nap.  I was so tired that I put dinner in the crock pot then relaxed while Ayden slept.  I spent some time on my phone and then took a small nap myself.  I have found that if I nap out on the couch where it is brighter, little noises can wake me up enough every now and then to keep me from falling into too deep of a sleep and I set an alarm for 20 minutes, I actually feel much better than when I wake from an hour long nap in our bed in the dark bedroom.  I set my alarm to wake before Ayden so that I'd have time to wake up myself before I would need to be chipper for him.  I actually ended up having to wake him up because I needed to get to a chiropractor appointment.  From then on I had to remain in "just keep swimming" mode.  We got home at 5, I made the sides for dinner while Ayden played, David got home at 5:30, we ate, we changed, we went to our nephew's preschool graduation and then ended the evening at a bon fire at their new farm.  David and Ayden played in their creek while I sat and chatted with some other ladies.  It was a beautiful night for it and we were all tired when we got home.  I was so glad I took the time to rest today or I may not have made it through all of that!  

I have a CSA recap post in the works.  We almost ate everything we got.  Let's just say we may have met our salad eating quota for the year in one week.  Haha.  We pick up our next box at the farmer's market tomorrow!

What are your pros and cons for country vs. suburbs?  

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Plane, Art, Zoo and Baseball"

And two years ago today: "Saving Money?"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Things That Make Ya Go, "Hmmm"

We had our 26 week midwife appointment today and everything checked out perfectly!

I think Ayden is really beginning to understand what is going on (as much as a 2 year old can anyway...) and it is so cute!

He seems to have made another developmental leap recently. His expressive language is getting more complex and he is starting to say the funniest things!  My current favorite is, "Well... It just so happens that my birthday is tomorrow!"  He also says things like, "Mommy, stay here, I'll be right back" as he heads off to do something he knows he shouldn't.  Or instead he'll say, "Mommy, look sideways" so I won't watch him.  Little stinker.  When given choices a lot of times he'll say, "Hmmmm....Maybe hmmm....how about _____" and usually add his own option.  Almost every night at dinner he'll say, "So ummm, in there is cups and cakes (pointing to our china cabinet that once held a cake on a cake stand MONTHS ago), and there is my kitchen with my food..." and then he'll proceed to give us a little tour of all the things we can see from our table.  He is also starting to do his best to "read" all of his books.  Today in the car he was flipping through The Cat In The Hat and made up his own rhyme, "They sit and they sit for just a little bit" (for the page that says that they Sat, sat, sat).  Here are a couple of clips of him reading to me with a bonus clip of him playing soccer with David.  You'll see that he has his own rules about soccer...

The socks he is wearing in that clip of him singing "You Are My Sunshine" are his current favorite socks to sleep in.  He always requests the "giraffe socks" and let me tell ya, they are the most attractive socks that he owns.  Haha.  We are also still singing "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph" every. single. day. around here. Seriously, there's never a dull moment in our house these days!

What is the funniest thing you've heard a two year old say?  A lot of times it's not what he is saying but how he is saying it.  Sometimes his facial expressions, tone and hand gestures are what make things so funny.  Probably because we can hear how we ourselves say things through him.

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Errands In the Rain"
And two years ago today: "The Best Part Of Everyday"

26 Weeks Pregnant

26 weeks pregnant today!

We have hit a few milestones since my last pregnancy update.   Getting passed 24 weeks got us to the point of viability.  Of course we want Logan to bake as long as possible but if for some reason he were to come early the chances of him surviving jumped up drastically once we passed that point.

My most favorite part of pregnancy is feeling all of the movement and that has picked up big time in the past couple of weeks.  There are a couple of predictable times of day where I can count on kicks and wiggles.  One is first thing in the morning when I start talking for the day.  Another is mid afternoon which is when I got this video clip:

I think that it's safe to say that his hearing is okay because now he jumps after really loud noises.  Sometimes things are still surreal. When I think back to Ayden's pregnancy now that I know him I can't believe that it was him in there.   Now that I have that hindsight it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that in a couple of years, once we know Logan as a little person, I'm going to think back at this time and cherish it that much more.

If we ask Ayden who is in my belly he'll say, "Baby Logan" and I have started to talk to him about how Logan will nurse since I'm thinking that will be an interesting transition.  Ayden himself hasn't nursed in a while but still asks every morning.  He moves on as quickly as he thinks of it but it is still on his radar and he'd still do it if I offered or acquiesced before he had a chance to become distracted.   We still have time before Logan's arrival but I'm not sure it's enough for him to completely detach himself from it...  We'll make it through whatever happens though! I was at a chiropractor appointment last week and there was a 7 week old baby getting an adjustment next to us.  Ayden was SO interested and was asking so many questions.  He said the baby was cute and sat with his head in his hands just looking.  She was the smallest baby he had ever seen and his reaction was very reassuring to me.  Ever since he seems to have a better understanding of what we mean when we say we will have a baby at our house soon.  I really think he is going to like being a big brother.

As far as how I am feeling, I am doing great overall.  I am having some lower back pain but it is manageable and the chiropractor visits are helping.  At my consultation we found that my pelvis was tilted and twisted and he said that it was no wonder I had such a long labor with Ayden.  I have been going 3 times a week for a few weeks now and have graduated to twice a week starting this week.  We will eventually get down to once a week until about 37 weeks and then increase it again as needed since the relaxin will have really kicked in by then which makes it hard to keep alignment.  According to my midwife and the chiropractor himself, none of his patients have had labors longer than 8 hours and though I am not expecting to have one that fast, I am hoping that giving Logan a straight passage out will decrease it from the 42 hour experience that I had with Ayden...  It just makes sense to me!  My energy level seems to be dipping again but like I wrote about a couple of days ago, I'm going pretty much non-stop all day everyday.  I try to listen to my body and at least find sitting tasks when I feel tired and even nap if it's really bad but like most second time moms, I don't have the luxury of tons of free time that I had while pregnant with Ayden.  I will definitely start making naps a priority when labor is near, just to make sure I'm as rested as possible when it comes, but until then I'm just going to push through and keep being as productive as I can.  Night time sleep is starting to get tricky too but that is just all part of it.  I look at any sleep issues as my body's way of preparing for the exhaustion that comes with a newborn which is actually a good thing. Any discomforts aside, I am still enjoying this pregnancy just as much as I did Ayden's and I'm also cherishing it as if it might be my last since it very well could be.  We'll never say never (especially since we won't be using any hormonal or permanent means of birth control) but 2 always felt like the right number for us.  26 weeks down and 14 to go.  Hard to believe that the third trimester will be starting in just two short weeks.  Time is seriously flying by!

Did you see a chiropractor during pregnancy?  If you did with subsequent pregnancies, do you feel like it made a difference with your labor? 

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "5 Tips To Make Your Life More Simple {5 habits for a tidy house}"

And two years ago today: "4 Months Old"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Dear David

Dear David,

As I sit here and try to summarize what you mean to me I can't help but smile as tears prick my eyes.  Over all of these years I have had person after person say to me, "You'll see.  When you get married everything will change." or "You'll see, when you have kids everything will change." and you continue to prove each of them wrong everyday.  Over the course of our relationship you have shown me a love so fierce and it brings me to life.  You make me feel more beautiful with every passing year and you'll never know how much that means to me.  Here I am, 30 years old, mother to one and pregnant with another and I have never felt more beautiful and cared for in all my life.

There are so many valuable things that I have learned from you as we have grown into adults together.  From big things like never turning my back on you (or anyone else) during a fight and the importance of really talking things out to small things like how to easily figure a tip and how to spiral a football.  Our lives are intertwined in so many ways that I'm not always sure where one of us ends and the other begins.  You have seen me at my best and at my worst and you have even seen the stubborn streak in me that many would not believe is even there. You are the person that I feel most myself around and home for me will always be where ever you are.

I can feel how you are always looking out for me and how you can contribute to my happiness.  I've even heard you tell people, "Happy wife, happy life," haha.   If you even get the hint that someone or something is bothering me you always rush to find a way to help me fix whatever it is.  There is never a doubt in my mind that I come first in your world.  You make extra efforts to add a romantic flare to the smallest of occasions and that says a lot about what you do for big ones.  Writing and recording a song for me and surprising me with it on our wedding day by far takes the cake!  I know I will hold onto that part of our fairytale for the rest of my life.

We have been on so many journeys together.  High school, college, tough times with friends, pets, moving in together, marriage, jobs, budgets (and my inability to stick to them), moving, parenthood and now building a home and a new way of life together. We really have been through so much! Of all of these things, I have to say parenthood has been the most amazing.  When I see you with Ayden, the son you have always dreamed of having, I see a whole different kind of spark in you.  You love acting like a kid with him and exploring the world through his eyes. At the same time you are so tender, nurturing and caring. I can see the effort you put in to being the dad that you want to be for him and he really is one lucky little boy. The best part is that you bring out a very similar kind of spark in him.  He thinks the world of you! I am also SO excited for you to have another son to experience all of these same things with.

What an amazing example you are setting for our boys.  Their future wives will be just as lucky as me thanks to you.  All of the bells and whistles aside, at your core you are the best partner in life that I could have ever asked for.  You are supportive and sweet and most importantly you LISTEN to me.  You have evolved so much over the years and I know that you've made great efforts to go against nature a little to be the man, husband and father that you are today.  I am so proud of you.

As hard as it is for me to even express the role that you play in my life what I can say is, thank you.  Thank you for being my best friend.  Thank you for being my biggest fan. Thank you for sending me old emails from back in the day that remind us how new love felt. Thank you for loving me so fiercely and with so much passion.  Thank you for going to work everyday so that I can live my dream and stay home with our kids.  Thank you for building us a home with your own bare hands and thank you for being such an amazing father.  I am so happy in my life with you and I am so proud to celebrate 8 years of marriage with the love of my life.  You sure do know how to make a lady feel special and I want you to know that you mean so very much to us.  Thank you for being you.

Love Always,
Your Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Make A Wish"
And two years ago today: "Six Years"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Just Keep Swimming

The only photo I took today...
David asked for a pic of us but Ayden was not in the mood.
"No, Mommy!  No cheese!"

David and I both feel like we are moving non-stop from when we wake up to when we go to bed. The weekends have some downtime, and some nights we cuddle up and watch Netflix together after Ayden goes to bed, but for the most part we have to keep things in motion just to get everything done. 

I'm not sure how we will feel by the end of summer (or at least until Logan's arrival) but for now we both feel full of life. We are physically tired but emotionally and mentally we feel really good. I think it is because most everything we are doing is going towards the joint cause of blessing our lives and our little family and all of those things feel good. Sometimes we'll take a moment and hug and then look at each other in mutual understanding of the craziness that is our lives right now.  That's when I'll start singing Dory's "Just keep swimming" chant from "Finding Nemo" (it's one of Ayden's favorite movies so we've seen I a time or two...) which always makes David smile. 

Anyway, that's the way it is for us right now. We just need to keep this momentum moving in the right direction or we may not be able to get it going again. At least until Logan gets here and then time can freeze as far as I'm concerned!  Just keep swimming... That's our motto for now. We just have to keep swimming. 

Have you ever had a time in your life where you were going full speed ahead from when you woke up to when you went to bed at night?  

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Bust A Move"

And two years ago today: "Block Party!"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Baaa Ram You

We made it out to the sheepdog trials today! (The same organization that was in the movie Babe)

We ended up going in the afternoon because David had some house errands to run this morning and we tagged along.  We take family time when we can!

Ayden actually didn't have a lot of attention span to watch much of it (they were kind of far away and took a while to get the sheep across the field) so after one run we headed over to the sheep and fiber fair.   

"Look at the poopy, Mommy!"
He was concerned that they kept stepping in it.

He also wanted me to close him in here. 

While we were petting sheep, goats and alpacas, david and his dad were busy finishing up the sub floor!

David's dad will be out of town this week so he's going to be working on waterproofing the basement walls while he's gone.

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "A Pat On the Back"

And two years ago today: "Not So Lucky"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.