Coping

In 1 short month, Trenton and I faced 2 impossibly painful hardships. At the beginning of March, Trenton lost his Dad. At the end of the month, we lost the baby we were expecting in October. We are both very similar in the fact that we cope by staying busy. So during this particularly crappy period in our lives we chose to stay busy working on our HOME. There is something so comforting and exciting about the overwhelming scent of pine as you walk through the doors of Home Depot. That store promises enough projects to maintain my denial forever!

Our first project was to tear down our rickety front porch and rebuild it using composite material. I'm always so impressed by Trenton's ability to research, purchase, and execute whatever project it is he's working on at the time. And he consistently does so without breaking our very fragile bank.

I'm not going to lie...it was a pain having our kids under foot during each step of the process, but I tried to remind myself of the memories and work ethics they were gaining by "helping" with the construction.

Our second project was replacing the carpeting throughout the entire house.


During the 4 years we had our dog, Gary- he went ahead and peed and pooped on almost the entire surface area of our home. I experienced such frustration as I desperately tried to remove the stains from our very light colored carpet, only to have the stains resurface days or weeks later. Then I gave birth to two babies who, by nature, have the ability to wreck anything they come in contact with. Needless to say, keeping my carpet even moderately clean was becoming an unnecessary, full-time job. That may not seem like a big deal, but when I was working so hard to keep the rest of my home clean, the dingy carpet stuck out like a sore thumb. So for our 6th anniversary, Trenton and I gifted each other a much darker, multi-toned, can-stand-up-to-crumbs-and-poo-and-puke colored carpet.

We saved almost $800 by moving furniture and removing the carpet and pads ourselves. By "ourselves" I mean, Laurie, Steve, Tad, and Trenton. Since I had just had surgery, I couldn't do any of the heavy lifting, which of course meant I was stuck with the tedious tasks of removing all the staples and slicking Kills odor blocker on anything that stood still. The kids had a ball!

It's amazing to me that all of our belongings can fit in the kitchen, two bathrooms, and garage.

Once the carpet installers showed up, I snapped a few shots...



It looks a lot lighter in pictures. The actual color is called "Fireworks Explosion." I think it looks like it should be called, "Salt 'n' Pepper," or "Vomit Concealer," or "Mud Prints No More."


And Trenton finished the front porch...

A huge thanks to Laurie, Darrel, Steve, Shannon, my Mom, my Dad, Doug, Christy, Tad, Linsey and everyone else that offered physical and emotional help, childcare, and tools. You are seriously the best!

Since I was taking pictures of the house, I decided to throw in a few of my kids' rooms. These two rooms truly are my happy places. Every single decoration and fabric has special meaning to me. I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those hoarders on the show Buried Alive when they grow up and move out. How could I possibly get rid of any of it?








The pictures of Emma and Ben were taken on the 17th of April. Ben was 20 months old, which is exactly how old Emma was when Ben was born...to the day.


Until Next Time,
Love,
Janet, Trenton, Emma, and Ben