Random March ~ Perhaps the craziest month on record!

Oh March, you brought us some of the absolute most wonderful days but also some of the most stressful and tiring too.  While I have written about many of the month's big and small events already, I like to go through the pictures on my camera phone now as regularly as I can because it usually gives a unique glimpse into our lives that I don't often capture with our real camera.  I am getting a little better at snapping quick pictures with my phone lately.  Here is a little look at March from the lens of my phone camera:

Of course, we started the month welcoming this precious little rainbow to our family. 

And quickly learned that he was super sweet. 

And also has a temper. 

And he's quite the little thinker. 

And is the favorite little brother in the house to his two big brothers. 

After only one night in his first home, we packed him and his whole house up and moved 4 hours away. 

He handled it all like a champ. 

He enjoys his sleep in his own little bed, but he hates when mommy flashes the camera in his face. 

He is super snuggly too. 

And we enjoyed dressing him up, of course. 

On one of our first pleasant days in our new neighborhood, I took the boys out to their new playground to play.

Evan was happy there was a merry-go-round although Brody was not quite as thrilled.  He didn't mind helping push it though. 

And Evan never misses an opportunity to fight off some bad guys.

Mattox enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air too. 

Evan shows off his strength as he climbs. 

Evan definitely did not inherit my motion sickness.  He is not bothered by these spinning contraptions. 

Wearing big brother Brody's Little Brother shirt. 

We got to see the first cherry blossoms on our old cherry tree in Charlotte one last time when we went back to finish the moving business. 

And we enjoyed dressing up our littlest leprechaun in his green for his first St. Patrick's Day. 

My three little leprechauns.

I enjoyed lots of cuddles from my littlest man.  I wish I never had to put him down. 

And yes, I guess technically this is a selfie, but no one has been around to take our picture together, and I just want to remember how sweet he looks cuddling on mommy. 

The boys enjoyed playing on a big skidder on Arbor Day at our state Farmer's Market.  Daddy set up a booth for his organization, the North Carolina Forestry Association, along with many other groups to teach people about trees and forests. 

Brody enjoyed pretending to drive. 

As previously noted, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with these awesome folks. 

Oh my goodness, I just love holding him.  

And big boy Evan headed back to school after a nice three week break.  He will finish up his 2nd grade year in June, get about a month break and start the 3rd grade after the 4th of July.  He has really adapted quickly to his new school and has made lots of friends with his classmates.  We have also been very impressed with his new school and have noted that he is learning a lot more than at his old school which was a constant disappointment.  He has weekly spelling tests, learns proper grammar and writing, has science and social studies lessons daily, and has much more productive math exercises.  We are so very thankful for a good learning environment.  He had never had a spelling test before so he wasn't as prepared for his first test, but his second one he got all but one word right after we spent the week reviewing his words every day.  It was actually kind of funny because he misspelled "surely."  His words have been ones that do not follow the normal rules of phonics.  He spelled surely the way many of us southern folks (I am sure his teacher was one of them) say it:  "shorely."  Haha!  

Just a quick prayer request!

For all of my dear blog friends, I am just requesting a little extra prayer for our sweet Mattox tonight. He failed his initial hospital newborn hearing screening test on his right side, and he is going tomorrow for a recheck.  For many babies, it is absolutely normal to fail this test the first time, but because Mattox's daddy had a similar hearing issue in his right ear that resulted in the need for surgery to correct the issue, we are understandably a little anxious.  We, of course, would like to avoid surgery for our little man if at all possible, but we are just going to place all of our cares and anxieties upon the Lord since He has lovingly brought our little man this far.  We know surgery would not be the worst thing in the world, and we hope that our little man will grow up being able to hear all of the lovely sounds of life like his brothers' laughter, his daddy's beautiful singing voice, and his mommy's not so lovely singing voice.  Blessings and many thanks, friends!

And on a brighter note, guess who slept through the night for the first time at just six weeks old!  I am a lucky mommy!  :-) 

UPDATE:  At our hearing retest last Friday, we confirmed that it does appear that Mr. Mattox suffers from some hearing deficiency in his right ear.  His left ear was getting nice receptive ability though so we don't think he is missing out on much.  We will pursue more testing with the audiologist and then possibly an ENT to find out what the cause is.  We know this is not the worst diagnosis, and we are just so thankful for our sweet little boy's good health.  I have even caught a few little smiles lately even when he is awake and I am talking to him.  If he has indeed inherited his daddy's ear problems, it will likely be a surgical fix.  His daddy had a deformed anvil in his right ear that needed to be removed and reshaped, and his problem was not even discovered until he was in the 6th grade.  He has no trouble hearing in that ear now although he does suffer from some selective hearing which usually just means not hearing things his wife tells him.  He did seem to develop super sensitive hearing in his left ear, and earlier in our marriage, he would have to sleep with his left ear down in his pillow because he would hear every little sound and have trouble sleeping.  I think he has lost a little of his hearing sensitivity since then probably due to his work around loud logging equipment even though he is careful to wear hearing protection.  So even if our little man needs surgery, it will likely be much later in his life, and he will likely develop supersonic hearing capabilities in his left ear until that time.

Our Room

For the next peek into our new little nest, we will tour our bedroom which is now basically complete although I do have some future projects in the plans.  Our room is a good size and almost as big as our last one.  It has nice high ceilings and lots of natural light which makes it feel even bigger.  We still like our blue and gray color scheme and did add a few new things that we had wanted for a while.

Upon entering the room, you see our bed.  We did purchase a new duvet cover at Target because our old white one was over two years old and had been through many washes.  It always appeared wrinkled too because it was smooth and all cotton.  I think this darker gray one with tufts will last us a long time.  I know it seems weird to go with a darker bed covering in the Spring, but since our room is so light and bright, the darker covering just seems to balance it out well.  I also finally purchased some new lamps and new matching side tables.  The lamps are blue and were a great deal from Kirkland's.  The side tables are gray, and we ordered those online.  We had lived with only one side table and a little bookcase on my side of the bed our entire marriage so it was time for a switch.  We likely will not be purchasing a whole new bedroom set for many years to come so we want to make our current bedroom more pleasing to look at.  I also added a shelf above the bed to go with our monogram and to display some special things to us as a couple.  

The bed from the other side of the room. 

A close look at the little shelf.  I wanted a longer one, but I may just get two smaller ones for either side of this one.  Right now, it holds a framed copy of our wedding invitation, some candles, a framed picture of us before we were married, and a framed printable with the saying "Love You More."  I had wanted to put that in our room for a while because we used to always "play fight" about who loved who more.  Eddie would say "I love you," I would say "I love you more," and he would say "Not humanly possible."  I would usually just end it with "Whatever."  Haha! 

I haven't added curtains yet because I am not sure what I want for the three windows in the room.  I like the simplicity of the white blinds for now.  We purchased the gray upholstered rocker so that we could have a nice spot to rock baby Mattox. 

A view of the wall opposite the door and our dresser.  One of the big projects I hope to get done in the next few months is painting some of our furniture.  We have had this furniture since before we were married, and I have never loved the color.  I want to try painting it a light gray maybe and update the hardware.  

Baby Mattox's comfy spot beside our bed.  All of our babies have slept in this little bassinet for about six months of their lives.  I love that it is big enough to hold babies longer.  It can also convert to a co-sleeper if you like that, but I have never used it that way.  It can rock too and has a cute little mobile with lights and music.  

On the other side of the bed hang these special pieces.  The printed poem was given to us by a special friend for our wedding gift. The Hawaiian carved tiki mask was purchased on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  We watched the carver making it in Lahaina, Maui. 

This sweet poem with our names and wedding date inscribed on it. 

And the entrance to our bathroom and the door to our bedroom.  I display one of my wedding portraits in here because where else would I put it.  I grew tired of  seeing it in our living room.  Haha!  This one was actually at my parents' house, but I knew Eddie liked this pose better than the full length one we had.  

Our bathroom is nice and big with double sinks.  I had to get used to the counter heights in this house because they all seemed really high when we first moved in.  The kitchen counters are the same way.  I am used to them now.  I do like the color of the cabinets better than our previous house which had lots of outdated fixtures.  This house is fairly new and has a lot more modern fixtures. 

The shower and door to the toilet (do the French call that a water closet?). 

There are his and hers closets in the bathroom which are a decent size. 

It has a nice bright window over the tub and nice neutral colored tile.  

Yes, my closet appears to be pretty full, but it is actually bigger than it looks.  I know it looks like I have a lot of clothes, but I am actually still hanging on to many of my old clothes with the off chance that I will be able to fit in them again some day.  Ha! 

Eddie's closet looks a little more roomy, but he just doesn't have as much extra stuff stored in his.  

Evan's & Brody's New Room

For the beginning of our new house tour, I will start with the boys' room since it is the most finished room in the house so far.  The rest of the house is pretty complete, but there just seems to be a never ending list of little tasks I want to accomplish.  We aren't going to do any painting except maybe in the baby's room for a while because I am kind of liking the brightness of the new house's neutral paint.  It was freshly painted when we moved in.  Our old house's dark and outdated colors had really started to disgust me.  We didn't paint the downstairs in that house because it would have taken a large investment to repaint that whole area from the dark greens, yellows, reds, and dark tan.  The colors had really started to remind me of all the different shades of baby poop, and I am just thankful to not have to look at them anymore.  This house is like a breath of fresh air right now, and I am just going to enjoy it for now.  The boys' room is not much bigger than their previous room, but the bright windows and openness just makes it feel larger.  They also have a much bigger closet which is a bonus.  I keep some of their older toys (with lots of pieces) in the bottom of their closet as a play area that can help contain the mess better.  Since their closet is so much bigger with a light inside, I have caught Evan playing in there with the door closed to keep his little brother out.  It is like their own little secret playhouse.

The view from the door upon entering their room,  There really isn't anything new in their room except a few new wall decorations.  Evan's birthday balloon makes a nice addition.  Their names were originally in their nurseries.  I really want to make Evan one like Brody's eventually because I love his so much.   His was a large vinyl decal we had made from Etsy that we attached to a piece of Plexiglas over a canvas. 

This shelf is hung high to keep little boys from taking down some of these special keepsakes.  It houses their sports trophies, Evan's dinosaur skeletons he built, and some special gifts and keepsakes. 

Evan's bed.  The bedding is still the same dinosaur sheets and simple blue quilt.  We picked their bedding well a few years ago when we got them the bunk beds, and they haven't needed or wanted to change anything yet.  I finally got a large frame for their brother picture we took in 2013 and had printed to a 16X20.  I just love it so much! 

Brody's bed.  He still loves sleeping on his old boppy, and I don't mind because his boppy cover is monogrammed with his name on it so I want to keep it.  I need to order Mr. Mattox one now. 

The other side of the room holds their dresser, bookcase, and armoire. 

I love the boys' Pottery Barn First Year Frames.  Those are one of the special pieces I must have for all of my kids.  I can't wait to fill Mattox's up with pictures through the year.   His is silver because it was the same one that was Mattie's. 

I used these shelves to display some more of their special baby pictures from their old nurseries. 

This side of the room has their closet.  

It is hard to photograph the inside of a closet, but it has plenty of space for their clothes. 

And the space on the floor is great for their toy play sets and all of their stuffed animals.  These toys are the equivalent of little girls' dollhouses and barbies.