Without further adieu, we present to you (in the most choir like voice you can imagine) ...
The Nests' 12 Days of Christmas
In the year of 2014 the good Lord gave to me
12 cheese & wine nights
11 bites of sushi
10 years of marriage
9 doors a sticking
8 (hundred) cups of coffee
7 flaming tacos
6 medical procedures
5 different jobs
4 stand up comics
3 (thousand) diapers
2 moves in 2 months
"is that dog still a howling?"
and everything we could possibly need!
It began in silliness but ended in reflection of how God has provided during a year of unexpected events & I wanted to take the time to elaborate on what we chose to include as we look back on the past twelve months.
12 cheese & wine nights- Cheese & wine night started once we were parents & it wasn't quite so easy to be spontaneous in the evening, heading out to dinner on a whim. Robby planned an evening with a lovely array of cheeses, a bottle of wine & catching up on some episodes of whatever show we were enjoying at the time. We loved it so much we decided to plan on one date out per month & one date in. So, four years ago "12 cheese & wine nights" would be completely accurate. This year it might be more like four times twelve ; ) We have fed the kids dinner, put them to bed & had soooo many nights on the couch enjoying our date night in we can hardly count. It used to be cheap & sometimes it still is but we have gotten hooked on driving to the Central Market that is only about 10 minutes away....bad news or good news depending on how you look at it. We have often added salami, fresh cut prosciutto, nuts & crescent rolls stuffed with Brie, apple & a walnut. I also convinced Rob a few weeks ago to let me call & order cookies from Tiff's Treats. I had never heard of this until we returned to Dallas but am completely suffering from cravings for a dozen warm cookies delivered to our doorstep for a mere $20 (including tip). He swore he hated snickerdoodles until he tried some from our delectable delivery....bottom line....he is now suffering from the same craving. Cheap or a splurge on our date night in has been fabulous for our marriage. We enjoy talking laughing & pausing shows a hundred times before the credits finish to return someone to their bed. We highly recommend adding this to your date repertoire!
11 bites of sushi- It was not our intention to have two food related items in a row but we couldn't avoid including the recent addition of sushi to my diet. For about 7 years we have gone to sushi restaurants. Same story every time, I ordered something cooked off the menu while Rob enjoyed his platter of raw fish that completely grossed me out. He asked that I try one piece every time we went & I obliged without putting up a fight. Honestly for about 6 & a half of those years I choked it down. Once we got back to Richardson, we had a night out at a place called Sushi Sake that is literally within walking distance. I'm not sure what happened but I tried a piece & absolutely loved it. We have gone there EVERY date night since we moved into our house in June. We had decided to go to Texas Land & Cattle one night & at the last second I yelled "exit here! Let's get sushi." I am thankful Rob gently guided my taste buds to something so delicious. Too bad it is not priced like McDonalds ;)
10 years of marriage- We are celebrating ten years of being husband & wife NEXT WEEK! In some ways we feel like it has flown by while on the other hand part of it has felt quite slow. We have experienced challenges throughout the "getting to know your new roommate" time period. having the fabulous idea to buy two puppies three months into marriage, moving halfway across the country, filling our home with little ones, medical issues, job changes & simply learning to love each other well. Looking back, we were babies at 21, 23 & still in college! What a gift it has been to have one another to walk through ten years of life with & we look forward to what is ahead.
9 doors a sticking- We moved into a rental house at the end of June. This place fell in our lap as some may describe. A friend of mine knew the family that had lived here previously & the same week I was interviewing for my job (in April) they had purchased a home with a closing date when we were hoping to move. Timing wise it was amazing, the location is wonderful & the space is probably much more than we need but we are making good use of it! It does have some pretty concerning foundation issues that many homes along the creek have. I really could care less about the cracks in the walls but what is driving us insane is that there are nine doors that either do not close or have to be man handled to open. This is most frustrating when trying to keep kids in our out. It is also frustrating that Bella can push her nose against a door that is partially closed & get in to (commonly) wake up sleeping babies or sleep walking children can come straight into our room unnoticed. Other than that issue, we are thankful for a fenced yard, huge trees, the many pecans that have taken over the backyard, space in the kids rooms for beds & playing, a guestroom & an office for Robby's at home work, close proximity to the creek & walking trails (& Tiff's Treats), tile floors that look the same clean or dirty, a little bar area that Bella's cage & bed fit into perfectly & a fireplace & mantle to hang stockings from. We have talked about what is next & are not really sure. I brought up that I feel like we will be in transition until we buy a house here that we know we will be in for longer than a year or two lease. Robby made a good point about how living in transition helps us remember that the earth is not our home & that in comparison to eternity, we really don't live here for very long. So again, not sure what's next but keeping that in mind versus trying to find or remodel to have the "perfect home"is so helpful.
8 (hundred) cups of coffee- We figured this number out by each of us drinking one cup of coffee a day & then some. I have mentioned before that Robby's family owned & ran a coffee shop for about 10 years. My dear husband has always been an avid coffee drinker but much like sushi, I had a major aversion to it. And much like sushi, something clicked one day while I was pregnant with the twins & I never looked back. I am one of those robotic people now that go straight to the coffee pot instead of pouring milk for the kids ; ) Sadly enough I rarely finish my morning cup due to helping others with their breakfast or other minor incidences of who knows what. Perfect example....I went to my closet one afternoon & glanced to the bathroom counter top to see two dirty diapers & an almost full cup of coffee. It made me laugh outloud & then think "Yuck! How could I have left those diapers there inches away from my toothbrush?" Anyway, we are enjoying Caribou dark roasted coffee currently, Rob likes his black & I like mine with milk, Starbucks Cafe Mocha iced coffe & a couple packets of Stevia in the raw...go figure. Some might say that isn't a coffee drink at all.
7 flaming tacos- We have laughed endlessly about the taco shells that caught fire in the oven the night we were carving our pumpkin "Tootles." We were thankful it was easy to handle & the only damage was that the pan that was engulfed in flames now has the outline of the taco shells we burned that night. Thinking about Tacos in general....we have loved being back in the Lone Star state for the Tex-Mex places on every corner! We love Torchy's Tacos & Pappasitos the most & try to limit the amount of times per month we say "I'm not hungry for what we were going to cook tonight....let's order!"
6 medical procedures- Wow...who (other that God) could have forseen the many medical issues we have experienced this year? The six that stick out the most in chronological order...
- Charlotte running into the tailgate of the truck face first while riding her scooter....6 hours after I left town! A trip to the ER with her Daddy yielded no stitches & a little glue.
- Robby's ruptured appendix the week we moved into our house which required emergent surgery & a few days in the hospital plus a month of recovery that included no lifting of any children...that was not fun in any way.
- Charlotte seeing a pediatric cardiologist for an EKG & Echocardiogram after our pediatrician heard a murmur at her well visit...all checked out just fine.
- Me starting to have "episodes" that prompted me to see an internal medicine doctor who referred me to a Neurologist. I got to have my first MRI & in office EEG which yielded a "potentially abnormal" result.
- That "potentially abnormal" result bought me a ticket to have 26 electrodes placed on my head for 72 hours. It was not nearly as bad as I thought & thankfully gave the doctor the information her needed to diagnose me with a seizure disorder. Since then we have seen another neurologist for a second opinion. She agreed with his findings & treatment so I am medicated now & slowly improving.
- To top off the end of the year, Robby is dealing with a tailbone issue which will most likely require surgery to resolve completely. Looks like we will start the year off with attempting to meet our deductible...again!
As mentioned before, we could have not imagined what this year would hold regarding need for medical intervention but God has provided abundantly through jobs that have offered excellent insurance, family & friends who have helped with watching kids while we go to appointments, providing meals here & there, picking up things at the grocery store or driving me & the kids around. Overall, we feel like we are falling apart ; ) but, we already knew that. "So we do not lose heart, our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16
4 stand up comics- Though our home may be filled with lots of crying on any given day, it is equally filled with laughter. Our little brood which keeps us on our toes has the capability to make us laugh so hard we tear up. As months pass we see them developing such drastically different personalities from each other. They are all funny in a unique way & we are so thankful that God made them exactly like he did. Some hilarious things as of lately..
- Charlotte- while shelling peanuts at the kitchen table "Mommy, do peanuts come from elephants?" Robby thought my answer of "No sweetheart, they come from peanut trees" was even funnier. She has also made me laugh with comments about my brain not working correctly which is how we have described my recent diagnosis. She said the other day when I accidentally rubbed shampoo all over my face instead of soap "I think we need to go see that doctor & he can open up your head to figure out what is wrong with your brain." Haha!
- Eloise- During the elephant/peanut conversation we could hear Eloise screaming from the other side of the house. Robby had only been home for a few minutes & after he finished laughing about peanut trees he took off to the boys room where I had left her reading in the chair. I was right behind him when he found her up on the dresser. He said "Oh Eloise, I am so sorry! I didn't know you were stuck! How long have you been up here?" The child with no sense of time replied with a tear streaked face "four hours!" Oh my goodness we were laughing so hard. I reassured Robby that she had in fact been in the kitchen moments before he arrived home ; )
- Owen- This skinny little guy can wiggle out of almost every piece of clothing he owns! We often find him shirtless, pantless & sockless in his bed following a nap or playtime. When you walk in to find him he is saying "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh!" He has taken off with his talking & pronounces the end sound of every word with great inflection making us grin. We watched him in the backyard one afternoon as he found a pecan, carried it to a rock then proceeded to pick up a brick & smash the pecan to get to the yummy inside. We were impressed.
- Anson- Oh Anson, he panics when his "baby" ie blankie is out of sight & is happiest carrying two blankies around the house. He says "Thank you" constantly like no matter what you say, he replies "Tankoo" & has recently added our names after. He loves to dance & copies any crazy move we do. He is also capable of escaping from his clothing & was found the other morning with a Tarzan style footed pajama...one arm out which is pretty impressive considering his chub. He has also picked up on some of our CC memory work & knows the six parts of the circulatory system with hand motions. He can sometimes do it without prompting.
Robby & I enjoy our siblings so very much & laughter is a big part of our relationship with them. We pray that the laughter our four experience will be remembered with fondness as they grow older & that they will always find joy in laughing till they cry....or snort like some of us do ; )
3 (thousand) diapers- Rob calculated this one & we rounded up to 3,000. He is better at estimation & math than I am so I trusted the number he reached. That's a lot of diapers & that is only this year! We have had one, two or three kids in diapers at the same time since 2009. Changing thousands of diapers is just part of the mundane & necessary tasks parents perform day in & day out. There seem to be lots of those throughout a day which make me feel like I am in the movie "Groundhog Day." There is great joy to be found in caring for little ones in mundane tasks or in exciting, out of the ordinary things. God has really provided us with the energy & patience to go from sun up to sun down & occasional hours in the middle of the night with our bunch. We are far from perfect but there are evidences of his grace that help us remember that He works in us & through us.
2 moves in 2 months- Wow, that was wild, a little bit fun but mostly exhausting. We were so thankful that Bob & Jeannine welcomed us into their home bringing along four kids, a dog & plenty of boxes that lined the back wall of their living room. Living there gave us the ability to recover a bit financially, have grandparents that love our babies as much as we do care for them while we worked & jump start relationships living in the same town. We spent May & June there which included three birthdays, Mother's Day & Father's Day. We moved a lot of our stuff into a storage unit when we arrived so that was a big haul to get it all to our place in Richardson. It felt good to unpack & settle as much as we could with Rob in recovery mode & me working full time night shift. I'm tired just thinking back to that time!
"Is that dog still a-howling?"- We knew that part of the song wasn't there but we had to include Bella & thought it appropriate that she be included in the part of the song that gets repeated a lot....because she howls a lot. You might mistake her for a beagle or a hound dog around 5:45 am EVERY DAY! She is still kicking at nearly 10 years old & must have a bladder the size of a pea. She is gray in the face & still has the cutest little ears that perk up when you say "squirrel!" She tolerates love, affection, kids trying to ride her & being trapped by two girls that love to play "pet shop" or "veterinarian." It's a lot of work to have a dog on top of the kids but we're not sure what we would do without her other than sleep until 7am of course ; )
and everything we could possibly need- If there were more syllables in that part of the song we could say that He has provided more abundantly than we could have imagined throughout the past year. We are grateful for those who have prayed for us & cared for us in 2014. We are hopeful that we can be on the "helping" end next year ; )
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