Swing Set

One of the many changes we made around here this summer was getting a new swing set. We had been looking for a good wooden one that wouldn’t break the bank. Honestly, I was having no luck. I had been searching craigslist for weeks and just couldn’t find anything. A friend said she would sell hers to us but then we weren’t sure how we would transport it since she lives and hour away.

Finally I was shopping at Meijer one day and we were just browsing the toys. I think we were actually looking at trikes to see if we thought Natalie could ride one yet. I stumbled across the sign for all the swing sets and they had clearance tags on them!! I about jumped up and down I was so happy. I find the one that we had wanted expecting to see a tag for 25% off. I honestly would have been happy with that. Well, it ended up being 50% off!!! It went from $800 to $400. I had to call Hubby and make sure it was ok with him and that he would pick it up on his way home. He was just as happy as I was. I hurried and bought it because it was the last one.

This is picture before anything was started. 

I didn’t really know how much work putting up a swing set would be. We went to pick it up and it came in 3 boxes that fit in our pickup truck. I realized then that Hubby was in for a lot of work. Of course we (by we I mean he) had to dig out a layer of grass and dirt and build a border, then put down weed barrier. After that he had to go get 2 truckloads of wood chips and spread those out. Then he could start building the swing set. I’m not even sure how long it took him to finish the whole project but I know he worked hard on it. I love him for it. I just had to entertain Natalie on the many days and nights it took him to complete the project.

I know he put so much work into but watching her enjoy it is just priceless. Her and her new sibling will enjoy it for years to come.

Here are some pictures of the finished project.

Baby #2 or not?

There have been many talks in the Buckner household of when we thought we would be ready for baby #2. We thought we were ready so decided to try, then a few unexpected things happened and we decided that we weren’t ready after all.

We had been going through a normal “rough patch”, like most marriages. We had a vacation all planned out with lots of extended family. We went to Wisconsin Dells for 5 days. It was really what we need to reconnect and reprioritize our life. The vacation was amazing! (Pics and more about that will come soon).  We get back home and are going through our day-to-day life. We were still set on waiting another year or so for baby #2. With Natalie it took us a year of trying to conceive so even though I was worried about that we both thought it was best to wait.

Around September 9^th I got a really bad cold or allergies. I still am not sure if it was a cold or not. My nose wouldn’t stop running and I just felt terrible for the next week. I finally asked Dh to pick up some meds on his way home from work and I threw in “oh yeah, grab a pregnancy test too just in case.” Honestly, I have learned not to get my hopes up. I figured I was just taking the test to make sure I wasn’t pregnant because I wanted to take meds and I had been really sick. I should also mention I was on day 39 of my “cycle”. I still didn’t think anything of it because my body is really wacky which is why it took so long to get pregnant with Natalie. I waited until after Natalie went to bed and ran in and took the test. I set it down assuming it would be negative and I glanced over and sure enough it was positive! My hands started shaking and I started crying. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was happy tears or sad tears or just tears of shock. I took a few minutes to try and put on a straight face. I went out to the living room and asked Dh if he heard the timer go off because I was baking bread (I really was). He said no. I then said “I figured out what Natalie is going to be for Halloween” “Oh yeah what?” He responded. Gulp “a big sister?” His jaw dropped immediately and he puts his arms out to me. We cried together. We sat there for probably 5 minutes and just said wow. We both agree that this is a blessing in disguise.  We are both really grateful. It took us a little while to let the shock wear off. We waited until after my first appointment at 9 weeks to tell family and I think everyone was as surprised as we were.

So we are officially pregnant with baby #2!!! I am due May 17^th, 2011 and I’m about 16 weeks 6 day right now. Life is good. 

 

My belly pic at 15 weeks 3 days