Blackstone

I have been thinking lately that I need to document our lives right now here in Chicago. I LOVE living in this apartment, quirks and all. I love that we don't run into our neighbors often and we have complete freedom to live how we want here. This apartment is funky, it doesn't have real doors on the "bedrooms" and feels more like a studio at times, but its a space that matures and changes with us. Our family is an organic single entity. Living like this makes us all one. (or maybe just having small children makes us function as one.) When one person wakes up, everyone wakes up. When the kids go to sleep, it's lights out for the whole house. I am followed from room to room by Dean all day long (including the bathroom) and Mara squaks and screams if we leave the room without her. She would follow too if she could. There are so many little things that I take for granted and whenever I go back and look at pictures of our living situations in the past it brings back all the little details. There are some things I probably don't want to remember, like the smell of mold in the kitchen and along the wall that is shared with the abandoned church to the north, or the smell of 3 floors worth of our upstairs neighbors' kitchen sewage seeping into our apartment for 2 years through a cracked foundation under our floor. And shoot, sometimes I wish I had my own room, with real doors. and maybe a lock. I guess that day will come, but until then we can continue our Tabernacle "holy of holies" curtain-wall vibe and enjoy each others company before some of us turn into angsty-emo teenagers.

I will add pictures of our house on here later.


Here are some pictures of late:

Mara's first time eating solids @ 6 months. and yes, spencer is balding. what a stud. 

Her hair always sticks up like this. Not unlike the rest of us...

How have we managed with out a dishwasher for 3 years? 

The mold culprit. I cleaned it and let it dry completely and then added a layer of polyurethane to help seal the wood better. It still molds. 

my kitchen helper. she likes to suck on carrots and cucumbers right now. 

kitchen helper #2

i love gas stoves. 

Mara in her crib. She doesn't actually sleep here, but much rather prefers being plastered to my side with her head in my armpit all night. 

but she's cute, so i let her. 

Dean painting his birdhouse. 

We hung it on a bush in the backyard. 

Everyone's favorite game: I get on Mara and then Dean climbs on my back and plays peek-a-boo with her over my shoulder.