Kitchen's Done!

Here are a few before images just so you see what we started with:

And now, here are the after pictures:

We still have a few small things like putting outlet covers back on and finishing putting back a few boxes of kitchen stuff. Overall it seems like we have more room as far as cabinets go. The only layout change was moving the fridge, but it makes a big difference in the feel of the room!

Kitchen after week 1

Here is how we left the kitchen before our week in Michigan. I need to finish uploading the finished product pictures and get them up too. The counter top is in and we have almost everything put away. In addition to the kitchen being done, we also had to have the roof shingled. Not what we really wanted to do now, but with all the rain in April, we found a water spot above Lydia's bed. We will wait until the fall to have the porch and garage roof re-done.

Kitchen counter tops were installed before we left for Michigan

Looking good so far.

Week in Michigan

While our kitchen was getting remodeled last week, we headed up to Grand Rapids to spend time with family. My mom and dad were so gracious in putting up with us and our mess and all the craziness that comes with a family of 5 with three toddlers.

Here is a brief snapshot in opposite order...since this is the way the pictures loaded. Oh, and sadly, my camera battery died during the week and I didn't have my charger around. I missed pictures of Kara's bridal shower, but should be able to get some from others. I think we also missed out on taking pictures of our adult dinner out at the BOB celebrating David's graduation and birthday!

We went to Grand Haven and let the girls put their feet in the water. They had so much fun splashing, throwing rocks and washed up pieces of wood back into the water. They would have stayed for hours. I can't wait to go back to the beach with our bathing suits and warmer water!

Picture didn't turn out that well, but what would be a trip to Michigan without going to Robinette's Apple Orchard for donuts! We even got to meet up with my friend Melissa and her 3 kiddos. The day before we met up with Melissa and Gretchen and all our kids at a park. I forgot my camera for this and sunscreen too--good thing Melissa is more prepared. I need to get sunscreen and a first aid kit packed in my diaper bag for summer and all our trips out to parks.

My mom took Kelly and I to the Fredrick Meijer Garden's with the kids. The flowers were beautiful and the kids loved splashing around in the Children's Garden.

The kids had a great time at John Ball Park Zoo. Kelly kept saying it isn't as big as the Indy Zoo, but it really is a nice zoo and has some things that the Indy one doesn't. The kids loved the lions (or as Harrison calls them, Aslan). Check out Rebekah's goo-goo goggles.

We went to the Holland Tulip Festival and the kids got to pet some animals and see some tulips.

Baby Arnold at 35 weeks and Baby Phillips at 23 weeks. It was so fun to be able to spend time with my pregnant sister Kelly and it will be great fun for our boys to be so close in age.

Happy Mother's Day. I may be worn out by the end of the day and ready for the kids to be in bed, but I am truly blessed! My girls are sweet and loving and as I write, this new little boy is kicking me (I think he is ready to come out soon!).

Our trip to Michigan started with us watching Randy run a mini-marathon in Indy. He trained hard all winter and spring long and it was great watching him complete the race and in good time too! Way to go honey!!

What do you do when you are in Indy watching the mini with a triple stroller and a dog and need some coffee? Put the dog on the girls lap and head into the hotel where the line at the Starbucks is almost out the door. At one point, Lydia came out of the stroller and Maggie got the seat up-high. We had plenty of stares to be sure!

New Kitchen

Our kitchen remodel started on Monday! After some work by Randy and I to get everything out of the kitchen and boxed up. We also set-up a temporary kitchen in the living room. Hopefully the new kitchen will be completed in just two weeks, with us gone for one of the weeks.

Packing up the kitchen:

Temporary kitchen during remodel:

Kitchen after Day 1:

Kitchen after Day 2:

too tired to add any pictures of day 2. Only thing to change is the dry wall is up! Looking good so far. Escaped with the girls to the Children's Museum up in Indy for the day with some friends. Randy had a late day of working, so I had a very long day with the girls and am glad they are all asleep now. Ready for some ice cream!

Cloth Diapers

Randy's crazy idea a few months ago was to cloth diaper baby Joseph (yes, that is his name! Weird to type it out!). I thought after going through three girls all in disposable diapers, that it would be difficult to switch and even a little pointless since we aren't planning on more kids after 4. Since it was something Randy brought up, I thought I would at least look into it and I found that from the websites and from friends that have used cloth, that they are much better and user friendly than my initial opinion.

Why we decided to go for it?

1. It is much better for the environment. I can't even count how many diapers we have already disposed of from the girls, but at least we can start now, right?

2. Cost savings. It did cost us around $400 dollars start-up to purchase the diapers. 8 Grovia and 12 grovia inserts, 12 Rumparooz, shower sprayer to connect at the toilet, diaper bag, and some extra liners. This should be all we need for the next few years in terms of diapers! No more late night trips to Target when we run out! The estimate for a year of disposables is $1000, so overall we should cover the initial cost. In addition the resale value on the cloth diapers is pretty good, I expect to get at least 30-50% of our $400 back!

3. This one may sound counter-intuitive, but we also think cloth diapers may cut down on the smell! Our disposable system is to put the dirty diapers in the garage, which is fine in the winter, but boy is it smelly during the summer. With the cloth diapers, we will keep them in a tight fitting container in the laundry room and plan on doing laundry every other day.

Here is a picture of our diaper stash:

Now that we have the cloth diapers and the baby isn't coming until June, we thought we might as well try out cloth on Eve and Lydia. Perhaps it will even get them to be potty trained quicker! Aren't they cute in the diapers! So it has been a little over a week since they have been in cloth diapers. No more diaper buying for us. To be honest, it really isn't that hard or time consuming. Rinsing the poop is a little gross, but not more than what a mom and dad already have to deal with in handling toddlers. I can see a babysitter not wanting to rinse out a diaper, but the actual taking on and off of the cloth is easily mastered.

When the new baby comes in June, we will probably still keep all three in cloth. I don't think we will even need to buy any more diapers since Eve and Lydia are only going through 5-6 diapers each per day, but I will keep you posted.

I did not think I would turn into a cloth diaper advocate, but I would recommend at least looking into it...it is not has hard or gross as it seems!

Coffee, carrot cake, and a blog post (long overdue)

Sometimes when you don't post something for a long, long time...you even forget how to do it! It has been awhile since filling in the details of the Arnold household. In some miraculous way, I have 3 sleeping girls. I am enjoying my morning coffee at 2:30 pm (dentist appointment this morning and didn't want coffee breath for the hygienist...and then the morning got away from me), and I also have left over carrot cake. I could make a list of things I should be doing right now instead of blogging (finishing lecture for tomorrow, writing last quiz, emailing students back, writing final exam), but instead I will take a break from work and fill you all in on our life these past days, I mean weeks, I mean...months!

Family news:

• We left our sweet little blue house on S. Dunn St and moved into a house with more bedrooms and a much bigger back yard. The move happened over Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to my parents for their help with the move and all our friends who pitched in as well! We all adjusted to the new house, and feel pretty settled. Already had to replace the windows, showers and tubs, paint every wall, Randy has started a fence (with some rain delays), Randy is also in the process of changing out some doors and hardware. There are many, many more projects to be done, but they will just take time.
• Guess what, we are having a baby! And it is a BOY! And he is coming in a few weeks, due date is June 13. I hope to do the vbac and I hope he comes early. If not, I will be very tempted to schedule me up a c-section. The pregnancy has gone very well so far. I am pretty blessed to have easy pregnancies and often forget that I am even pregnant at all, except for the extra ice cream that I treat myself too.
• Starting next week, we will be out of a kitchen for two weeks...hopefully only two weeks! Kitchen remodel is beginning and I am so looking forward to seeing the end product! New cabinets, countertop, and flooring! As long as the kitchen is finished before the baby comes, we should be all good.
• I will finish up teaching next week with the final exam being on Wednesday. It has been a good semester, but I am ready for a break. Not looking forward to all of the end-of-the-semester emails from students wanting to bump up their grade...don't know why they all wait until the end of the semester to get help!
• Rebekah: Our little girl is now 3 1/2 years old. She is starting to ask a lot of "what does that mean" questions, mostly about vocabulary. Just soaking everything in. She still LOVES babies and is looking forward to hugging her new brother. She can be so sweet with her sisters too. It is fun to see her talk and interact with them (when they are getting along). Our precious time is at bedtime when she wants me to sing "Amazing Grace" and rub her arm. She just closes her eyes and enjoys it. She can sing the whole sing on her own as well and often does as she "plays" the piano. Currently when Rebekah colors a picture, it will be a rainbow, with people underneath, a sun above and grass down below. Very predictable, but she is good at it. It can be hard to get her to try at something that she isn't good at. She doesn't like it when it isn't exactly how she wants it to be....a little bit on the perfectionist side. As we transition between needing a nap and not needing a nap, we have been experiencing lots of meltdowns. I just pray they ease up when she turns 4!
• Lydia, 2 1/2: Our sweet little princess is a little honey. Usually the first to share with her sisters, or help me with a chore. Get her really mad, however and she will bite you (mostly Rebekah...we are working on this) or she will turn into a wet noodle that you can't pick up. She will say the sweetest things and has a large imagination. Her new thing is to pretend that Rebekah's room is her room. She also cares for a large assortment of dolls and animals and takes really good care of them when they are sick. She also has somewhat mastered the potty. She wants to go once in a while, but will go right away. She will even do it by herself! Rewards are helpful and I think if I had time to really focus on just her and the potty, she could have it down in a few days. She had a few weeks in big girls pants, but then too many accidents have put her back into diapers. She will use the potty at least 1-2 times per day. Candy is a big motivation for her...somehow all the girls have their mom's sweet-tooth!
• Eve, 2 1/2: Little peanut... I mean princess! This girl is a silly little thing. She just figured out how to climb down from the bar stools. Seriously, this is a wonderful thing. Her sisters have been doing it forever and it is always a pain when she climbs up all the time and we need to help her down. Little things, I know, but a big step for her! She also has been wanting to go to the potty like her sisters. She sits and sits and sits....almost as bad as that potty book about Prudence...and sits and sits and seriously, the girl has no idea what she is doing on the potty! Today I can announce that before nap, after sitting for 30+ minutes, she made some tinkles! We all celebrated with the potty dance and chocolate! Not sure if it will become easier for her, but I sure hope so. Eve is always carrying around something, be it her kitty, or her spoon, or a medicine dropper, or a bracelet, or some little trinket. She is so funny about always having her "thing". Eve and Lydia have moved into big girl toddler beds. They are doing really well, except naps can be rough. The have a lot of fun together and really just love to laugh. Sometimes it is hard for me to be stern and separate them for naps when they can be so funny.

This is probably way to long...I promise....to any of you still readying at this point, to be better at blogging so the posts are not this long! I will try to post later this week about our adventures in cloth diapers...just on day 3 with Eve and Lydia! Also, check out the Picasa pictures. Just click on the girl's picture to go to the album.

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