tire horse swing

holly is a go getter.  

unlike myself, she actually ends up trying most of the little projects she decides to do.

exibit a:  the tire swing horse

joanna

joanna newsom is awesome.  i don't think adam could ever be convinced to like her though.
she reminds me of this and makes me want to knit this and this and this. (psst! i bought the book)

in between

i like to complain a lot about our situation.  i'm not saying it doesn't suck sometimes, but i am immensely blessed at the same time.  i have a husband with broad shoulders that can carry my load when i cannot.  i have three beautiful boys who keep me busy and feeling needed and loved, and who are a never-ending source of entertainment.  i have friends who remind me to focus on God and good when i am so distracted by the awful moments, and friends who give me a roof over my head.

in the moments in between, we have been making cookies (i highly reccommend these.  we use white whole wheat flour.), knitting up a storm(i REALLY need to have a knitwear photo shoot and share it with you), marching through the woods and around the pond here in our boots, frequenting itunes(preordered the new iron and wine!!!!) and pandora, and getting LOTS of sugar from Gideon(he has huge cheeks these days which means there's plenty of cheek kissing to go around).

so about the new house.  i have come to the conclusion that nothing in my life is EVER certain and as soon as one part/thing is fixed, another will break, usually at the most inconvenient and embarrassing moment.  monday night we put in an offer on that farmhouse.  we haven't heard anything yet, but that doesn't mean anything, because there are multiple siblings that inherited this property who have to agree on our offer.  i'm not gonna lie.  it have potential to be very awesome.  we are definitely waiting to see what a home inspection shows(the house was built in 1875).  the 13 acres is really the main appeal.  it's perfect for the farming we want to do(the point being to become self sustainable or as close to it as we can get).  so i'm trying very hard not to emotionally move in.  if this doesn't work out we have our eye on a log cabin on 8 acres.  we'll see. if we're meant to be there, the details will be worked out.  here's a sneak peek:

he looks pretty good walking through that kitchen...
i think it might get a facelift along the lines of this or these IF it becomes mine :)

here's to dreaming!

farm boys?

 new bebe smartwools from grammy(thank you thank you!)

 

someone's been continuing to put on weight

i know it looks like he's not enjoying this, but gideon's favorite entertainment is isaac...

yes, that would be peanut butter covering ezra's face

gideon's outfit is reflecting our most exciting outing today: going to see a farm that's for sale...

...while trying not to get too excited...

...

we'll let you know how it goes.

and for your listening pleasure, my favorite brandi carlile song:

oh!! i forgot to throw it out there that the avett brothers are playing here soon and that would be worth pumping for.

house update

so remember that blue house i put up a picture of a while ago that we were waiting to go to settlement on?  well things(contractors) took too long and the bank dropped us for the short sale: translation - we aren't waiting on that house anymore.  kinda feel like a huge stressful burden has been lifted.  stay tuned.

five weeks

gideon is five weeks old today.  HE WEIGHS 11 LBS AND 6 OZS.  i knew he was a chub, but i didn't think he was a 90th percentile chub.  maaaybe it's time to stop the on-demand feeding...

 

also, he might need a new sweater and hat pretty soon.  all the newborn sized stuff i knit him is starting to get snug.  ridiculous.

christmas at pop and grammy's

 riding the carousel at concord mills

making chocolate covered pretzels and then smothering them in sprinkles

 the christmas tree has three new wallace bells for three new grandchildren(elliot, abby, and gideon)

christmas pj's

we've(erin and i) come to the realization that we probably will never again get a good picture of all of the cousins together, at least not until gideon(being the youngest) is like 7(making emma, the oldest, like 13?) because they are a bunch of squirmers.  caleb and abby there but just with the five it was A LOT OF FUN.  NOT.

i'm pretty sure out of the like 20 pictures like these that i took there is one where ezra and elliot are cute and another where emma and isaac and gideon are cute, so there might need to be some photoshopping in the near future.

Gideon Jude Leach

totally had random nurses that weren't assigned to me coming in to ask to see my belly.

 very disappointed to be having a c-section.  basically my whole pregnancy was wonderful until the last week when my protein was high enough to be signs of kidney distress(like with ezra but only half as bad), so they told me to come in and have a c-section.  part of me wishes i had said no and waited to go into labor(i was only 4 days from my due date), but there would have been the risk of my kidneys getting worse in labor, so we obeyed.(grr)

 very flattering first photo.

born 12.1.2010 at 10:21am weighing 7lbs 15.9ozs at 20 1/2 inches long

thats a lot of 2s and 1s and 0s.

 just call it 8 lbs. already...

 daddy and gideon in the OR recovery room... nursed 20 minutes the FIRST TIME!  this is only an accomplishment because epidurals and spinals cross the placenta wall and a lot of babies are too groggy to nurse well right away.

 nonna, uncle stephen, and grandpa came to visit

 grammy brought isaac and ezra

grammy has gotten 3 new grandbabies this year.

 bearing gifts.  they have matching big brother shirts.

 daddy's bed... not comfortable.

 great grandma robertson

 shrimp in a carseat

 finally home to keith and nancy's house(where we'd been living for two months)

the sunday after he was born, we woke up and helped adam's mom get the boys in the car to go to her house in nc for a few weeks, went to church, came home and moved all our stuff to steve and holly's house, where we've been living since.  yes, i do have an excuse for not blogging in so long.  i've been a little busy.  i haven't even told you about the car!

hah remember when that old lady pulled out in front of me and it took progressive two months to total our car?  well we bought another one to replace it in time for gideon's arrival.  when gideon was 5 days old a tree fell in front of us on rt 4(going like 55mph) and we hit/ran over it.  we totally could have been killed.  it was huge.  the people in the left lane were about 10 feet ahead of us and it smashed their engine in.  they REALLY could have been killed.  i was freakin out standing on the side of the highway with my newborn in the wind(the windchill that day was like 15 degrees) and a random stranger lady let me come sit with him in her car until the police came so i could nurse him and figure out if he was acting normally.  long story short we are getting the car back today(8k in damages later... progressive probably hates me... two accidents that weren't my fault in a year), about a month of no car again over.

 i feel as tired as i look in this picture.

 i think this is the first time adam's actually let me take a photo shoot of him

belly button fell off ...day 12 i think.