Baby #5 finally made it's arrival into our lives after HOURS of labor. With Kaylee I was in labor for 40 hours, start to finish and I remember thinking "this is the worst day of my life...I am miserable". Well the labor for this one felt just as bad. I think it has taken the place as worst day of my life. Thursday morning the contractions started and I began all the preparations-cleaned the house, packed the bags, arranged for the babysitters and meals, etc. We told the girls they were finally getting the a new baby sister that day and they were so excited!! But when we went to the hospital they checked it all out and determined I wasn't dilated enough. They were sending me away. I cried a lot. Told the kids they weren't getting a new baby sister that day and we weren't even sure if it would be the next day. All the next day I waited. The contractions became worse and worse. I went to the doctor again feeling exactly as I did when I was having Kaylee "If they tell me no again I will seriously break down". They said I still hadn't dilated passed a 2 but they would send me let me go to the hospital and start the epidural to move the labor along. We had a cut off though. 4:00 in the afternoon. If it didn't happen by then we would have to wait through the weekend. You can image my prayers and the desperation I felt. It wasn't until Friday afternoon at 3:45 that we finally delivered the baby!!!! And here she is!! A whopping 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with a swimming pool!! She still doesn't have an official name but her address is Poppie Circle. So cute!
We had Ben's family come last weekend and help move us in. Peggy was the MVP of the Taylor group. She helped me move in all the furniture!! Just her and I hauling in couches and mattresses, building beds and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. We still had a lot to do though. On Monday as I was trying to get as muich done as possible and realizing I was never going to get through it all quick enough for me I called my sister, Becca, and her husband, Kyle. I asked her to come up that night and she threw her dirty laundry in the car and came!! They were awesome. They did everything I asked, didn't complain, and with their help we finished all my projects that I thought would take months to do. Becca was MVP for the Hancock family. I still don't have a lot of pictures but here are a few until I find my real camera.
The dining room
BEFORE
AFTER:
You know I yard sale so I have to point out all the stuff I got because they look so cute yet you wouldn't think it when you see them at the yard sale. Mirror on the left-got from the dumpster, painted and stained. Kitchen table and four blue chairs-yard sale for $40, painted. Yellow chair at the head-yard sale $2, painted. I love that the chairs are different colors and I love the yellow accent one! Book case in the back-yard sale $20 and I only had to rip a bit of lace off that was glued on two shelves. It already came that cute color! Picture frame on the right wall-yard sale $1, painted. I love how it all came together. Oh yes, and the piano bench that we use until we can find a different bench was only $6 at a yard sale and I love it.
The Family Room is huge. It was a big selling point for me in buying the house. I've always wanted a house with lots of windows and this room is my favorite!! It even has a gas stove that reminds me of the Taylor's home so I like that too. The previous owners painted it brown. ALL BROWN. Brown ceiling, brown walls, brown floor. I did not want it to stay that way. This was the first change I wanted to make to my house and thanks to Checka I got it done. She and Kyle painted it for me as my Christmas present.
Look at this huge, ugly, brown wall. Awful. It had to go.
AFTER:
We painted it a pretty light blue, white trim and added the board and batten. I love how it turned out! It is just happy and bright in there now. Months ago, before we even had an offer in on the house, we bought this couch at a furniture store that was going out of business. It's so big and comfy. I love it. We bought it specifically for this room. We finally all sat down and watched a movie together as a family tonight. I still have to paint another coat of white on the board and batten but once that is finished this room is done! Well, and then my mom wants to get a rug for it-then it will be done. Becca and I talked about how at Christmas it will look so pretty with a tree decorated in blue and silver. It will be a winter wonderland! That is a fun gift to receive.
And why did I want to rush and get my room painted the first week in our new house?? Because Sheri was coming to visit!! Sheri is one of my great friends from Memphis who I am trying to convince to move out here. Her husband had a job interview out here and I wanted my house to be cute for it. She came in Thursday and we hung out all friday morning. It was great. I love getting together with friends and you have so much fun. It felt as if no time had passed between my last night in Memphis when I gave her my washer and dryer to friday when we shared our stories of trial and triumph from the past year together. Ben didn't get to see Berkley until church but it was just fun having them here for the short time it was. I'm really hoping he picks a job here in Medford. And for all my other Memphis friends I encourage you to also start job hunting out here!
I forgot to mention that after lunch with Sheri on friday my parents showed up that night. My dad got there at 5:30 and by the time I got home from Heidi's soccer practice he had already cleared out a chunk of the berry bushes taking over my yard. He is a hard worker and I completely trust him with my yard. He got so much cleared out that we even gained more yard for the kids to play in. There is a walking path behind the pool that we had no idea about because it was so overgrown. It was funny how he would give me different ideas to do and say "you should buy blah, blah, blah" and I would have to say "That will be great but I'm not going to buy that yet. Maybe next year." He would try to explain that it wasn't that much money and I had to explain, again, that it would just have to wait. All in all it was an exhausting week but so nice. The kids love being in the house. Blake loves having his toys back. The girls love walking to school. They have been awesome while I've been working. The only problem with our house is that is it much bigger than any other one I've had before so it is a lot more work. I still have so much to do. Next I need to convince Kaylee to come down and help me :)
