Happy Feast Day to...

... John Paul Charles Crane!

the newest inhabitant of the Corner at 19 weeks

We had our 20(ish) week ultrasound last Wednesday.  Thankfully Alex had a day off from school right smack dab in the middle of the range wherein I was supposed to schedule my ultrasound (sophomores and juniors may not love the PSAT, but I sure do), so we were blessed to continue our tradition of making it a family affair.  It was truly a family affair as we took both Michael and Liam with us to "see the baby" (at the "doctor's house," as Michael informed us when we arrived).

Baby was very squirmy and gave the ultrasound tech a run for her money to get a decent picture of his feet, but he was not the least bit shy about making it abundantly clear that there is no need for pink frilly stuff around the house just yet (none of the boys had even a shred of modesty when it came down to gender-reveal time at the the ultrasound).  Liam was not impressed (it was lunch time), but Michael definitely enjoyed watching the ultrasound and finding out that he is getting a new little brother!

Also, we had the coolest ultrasound tech ever and before we left she printed out a special picture just for Michael:

We're absolutely thrilled to be expanding our pack of wild monkeys boys from two to three.  We're naming the baby John Paul Charles after Blessed John Paul II (can't say that for much longer--so excited to celebrate his canonization less than two months after our little JP will be born!) and two of the patriarchs of our families: Great-grandpa Charles Crane and Great-grandpa Chuck Rappana.  Our new little one is starting out life with quite the heritage--the namesake of three amazing men.  (If you missed the stories behind the other names around here you can catch up on Michael's and Liam's.)  Of course, if we ever send him to Catholic school I'm sure he'll be one of at least a dozen John Pauls in his class, but totally worth it.  I mean, seriously:

Also, I survived being one of at least seven Ashleys in my graduating class, so no big deal.


So happy feast day, little JP!  We can't wait to meet you in March!!!

That thing where I write stuff on the internet sometimes...

You know when you put something off for a little too long, and it becomes kind of overwhelming?  And your mom tries to guilt you into taking care of it (true story), but you just can't find the time?  So you you put it off even longer, and it becomes just too monumental to even contemplate?  So you keep pretending to ignore it?

And then you finally work up the oomph to tackle it, and as soon as you sit down to get started BOTH children wake up from their naps within moments of each other?

And then you finally convince them to play more or less contentedly without you and sit down to start again, and one of them promptly fills his diaper?

And then... and then... wait for it... oh, I guess we can move on!

So, I didn't mean to take an unannounced, two month hiatus from blogging--it kind of just happened.  (Rescue smaller child from pillow he is trying and failing to crawl over.)  So, how to catch up?  Well, I suppose the last two months could be summarized with:
-we bought a house and moved it
-I quit (one of) my job(s)
-we're pregnant (!!!)

You know, just the usual life stuff!  (Break toddler's heart telling him he can't help type the blog post.)  Okay, not really usual at all (except being pregnant, that's feeling pretty normal by this point).  (Rescue smaller child from train table he is trying and failing to crawl under.)  So yeah, it's been a crazy, stressful, wonderful, overwhelming, epic two months for us.

We finally found the house of our dreams (for, like, the third time) and this time everything worked out.  We're all moved in and the frantic, chaotic unpacking of the first week has settled down to a box or two every week or two.  It's home.  It's wonderful.  I'll take and post pictures of it someday (probably).

I quit my job at the Augustine Institute, and so for the first time in three years I'm only working one job, and I'm loving that fact (only one part-time job--there's still the whole motherhood/housewife thing, naturally).  However, that one job does involve teaching three classes a week, each of them an hour's drive away.  So I'm away from the house for five hours at a time three times a week.  This week is the fourth week of classes, and I'm just now starting to feel like maybe it won't kill me.

And we're expecting a new addition to the family in early March.  I was kind of waiting to announce it until I found some cute, clever way that didn't involve time/effort/craftiness/etc.  Well, that search proved fruitless (and by search, I mean I thought about getting on Pinterest and decided it would just be depressing, and nothing else occurred to me  in the grand total of ten minutes I've spent thinking about it).  So no clever announcement (so sorry, baby), just a lack of words to express our joy and excitement.

We are blessed, life is crazy, I'm exhausted, and God is good.  That about sums it up.  I promise not to wait another two months before I blog again.  Seriously.

There Be Giants

This little boy has quite the imagination, and I absolutely love it.  You know what I love even more?  That his blossoming language skills are giving us a priceless window into that active little mind of his!

While we were in the Black Hills last month we were the privileged recipients of multiple stories about giants.  Driving through mile after mile of national forest certainly provided rich fodder for Michael's imagination.  Nearly every car ride involved at least one conversation along these lines:

M (after watching out the window): Mama! Daddy! A monster!

Mama/Daddy: A monster?  Where?!

M: In trees.  Monster!

Mama/Daddy: What kind of monster is it, Michael?

M: Giant monster!

Mama/Daddy: A giant?  Is he friendly?

M: No. Cross.

Mama/Daddy: Oh dear.  What does he want?

M: A giant hungry.

Mama/Daddy: Oh, he's hungry.  What does he like to eat?

M: Fruit 'nacks.  Yeyyow fruit 'nacks.

Mama/Daddy: But we don't have any yellow fruit snacks in the car.

M: Hide! A hide in trees!

And so on, and so forth.

Is it a giant?  No, just a happy Michael playing in the creek.

From the giant's perspective... let's hope he only likes to eat fruit 'nacks.

The giant's tower, or just Mt. Roosevelt outside of Deadwood?  It doesn't much matter--M was thrilled with the "hastle."

Living like I used to dream...

I've been meaning to write this post for over seven months now... I feel like if I don't get it out now I'll never get around to it.  Goodbye, perfectionism.

"Don't Get Comfortable" by Brandon Heath was one of my favorite songs my last couple semesters of college.  My favorite line is, "I am gonna show you what I mean, I am gonna love like you've never seen, you are gonna live like you used to dream, this is your new song."

This was my theme song.  For a good chunk of my senior year of college I knew that I would be moving to Sydney (yes, Australia) after graduation to get my PhD in neuropsychology.  I spent my spring break that year in Sydney visiting a couple schools and scoping out my future life.  I was so sure about this next step that I only applied to my top school.  Backup plan?  Who needs a backup plan?  I had the whole thing planned out, down to what I would post as my Facebook status announcing that I had been accepted to the school and would be moving to Australia: "Ashley is about to live like she used to dream."  Yep--we're talking waaaay back in the day when you had to write your Facebook status in the third person unless you wanted it to just look dumb.

And then my application was rejected.  When I got the rejection letter in the mail I immediately went out and bought an international calling card so I could call the admissions office to see if there had been some mistake.  They said I didn't have enough research experience to be considered for the program.  It sounded like some information might have gotten lost in the translation from American to Australian, because I was pretty sure my semester spent on one research project should be enough to get me in the door.  I said I would send more information, and they said they would take another look when they received it.

A couple weeks later I got another letter.  Nope, still not accepted.

Fast forward a couple months, and I'm planning on moving to Denver to study for my MA in Scripture.  A bit of a paradigm shift, but I had nothing better to do (seriously, that was how I felt about it).  I was excited about the program (learning Greek!!!), but I wasn't sure I was going to like Denver.  I mean, it's not Sydney.  So how could I ever really like it?

Fast forward to the end of my first semester.  I'm ready to move back to Nebraska and finish my degree via distance education.  But I guess I'll finish out this first year.

Fast forward to the end of January.  Some girls I'm in Bible study with are headed out to an Irish pub for some live music with friends from high school/college and invite me to join them.

Fast forward to the next January.  I marry the guy I met in that pub.

Fast forward to the next January.  We have a baby.  Etc.

Fast forward to now.  It sure doesn't look like what I was dreaming about my senior year of college.  Heck, it doesn't look too much like what I dreamed about ever.  I always wanted to get married and have a family.  But I never spent my time dreaming about that year and a half we would live with my husband's parents while dealing with a schizophrenic housing market.  I never dreamed about those last, awful, stubborn 15 pounds of baby weight that just wouldn't come off, even after all most nine months, dang it!  I never dreamed I would have two babies who needed me so desperately multiple times a night every night for months and months.  I dreamed about the beauty and joy of marriage and children--I didn't spend much time dreaming about the pain and the sacrifice and the dying-to-self bits.

But you know what?  I am living like I used to dream--I just didn't know how to dream big enough.  Good thing God doesn't limit us to our own dreams.  Good thing He dreams so much bigger for me than I can dream for myself.  Good thing He didn't give me what my poor little misguided 22 year old heart desired.  Thank you God for unanswered prayers (but not the ones I'm praying right now, because clearly I know better now... right?).

And all the joy and beauty that I did dream about doesn't even begin to compare to the real thing.

So I'll keep dreaming.  And I'll keep praying that God teaches me how to dream.  Because nothing brings more peace in the end than allowing God to conform the desires of my heart to his (but ohmygoodness is it a painful process sometimes).

There, that wasn't so hard.

Family photo out takes

Kinda scraping the bottom here on day 6 of the 7 day challenge... but here you go!


While we were in the beautiful Black Hills we took advantage of the scenery (and Grandpa and his camera) to get an updated family picture.

Somehow I didn't realize it until I saw all three boys smiling in these pictures, but both boys have their daddy's smile.  The way their smiles reach all the way to their eyes is my favorite.  Ever.

So we got a couple great family shots.  We also got some very special treasures, which I thought I'd share with you all tonight.  Enjoy!

Michael's not quite on board with the smiling thing yet...

I know it looks like he's about to punch his brother and I'm blocking him and Alex is scolding him, but that's not what was happening.  I don't think...

Michael hamming it up and Liam done focusing... there were quite a few pictures like this.

I love Liam's expression here.  The shots where he's looking at the camera and smiling are few and far between from this session, but these out takes are priceless in my opinion.

Mr. Michael McMischief Pants

This one wins the prize in my book!