Looking up.

Things are looking up. :)

Had my first appointment with our new OB today.  It went well.  The nurse said that she actually goes to this doctor herself, and she also said he's super laid back and very gentle.  I was so glad to hear that...when you pick doctors off internet reviews..it's kinda a shot in a the dark.  We went 2/2 on doctors here so far.  Both the endocrinologist and our OB seem really nice.  I'm really glad.  It's weird..when they don't know you, ya know? They don't know I'm a nurse, or that they can trust my history- and it's not something I just throw out there when I meet someone ...like "hey I'm a nurse." But then they ask your occupation, and I tell them I'm a nurse, and then I feel silly that I didn't tell them from the beginning.  Silly little dilemmas.

We went to a new church this week and really liked it.  That was a HUGE answer to prayer.  We won't be able to go back the next two weeks because we'll be out of town, but are really excited to go back again.  It was so encouraging.  They have a mom's program during the week that I am on the waiting list for and hope to hear that I've gotten into soon.

We found a couple of really nice parks, and the weather has been AMAZING so that is awesome.

Our neighbors are really sweet.  They're all retired, but super kind and always talk to us when we're out.  There is a young couple who lives in the building next to ours, they have a child too.  I may stalk them into being our friends.  We'll see how that works out.  Hahaha.  I'm not ashamed.

One thing I'm especially thankful for.  Texting and phones.  :)  It's amazing the ability to call and ask, or shoot a text, to friends for prayer or just to update on life. Or for sweet photos of little ones that we miss.  I LOVE it!

We go on VACATION this week!  A Disney cruise with Brad's parents.  We are PUMPED!!  We also get to meet our precious new niece..I can't wait to get my hands on her and love on that little girl!!  How we adore our nieces!! Noah is super excited to see his cousins too!  I'm excited to see how Noah does with a little baby.

That's about it for now...but I am thankful!  It's been a great week! Hope for you too!

Guess what...

So this little family of three is soon to be a family of FOUR! 

We are SO excited!  

I know I've sounded a little sad in the previous posts...but our joy over this little bundle is unexplainable!!  

We're due around March 14, 2013 and cannot wait for our little man to be a big brother!  That boy loves himself a baby..so I just can't wait to see him love on his precious little baby brother/sister.  

We are so thankful and excited for this new development in our life!  (Moving across the country wasn't enough of a change...we're throwing in a baby to go with it!) 

Yay!!  Have a great week!

The days can be long.

So since moving..and realizing we don't know many people here, the days seem to be a little longer. 

It's not that bad, because sweet Brad gets home much earlier from work now, so we have lots of time together as a family at night, but I find I'm having trouble filling the days for Noah and me.  

See since we relocated...Noah has taken to waking up at 6:15.  He hasn't done this in so long.  And with me not sleeping...it's been a little challenging.  6:15.  I know that's not really that early..Brad is long gone for work at that point, when I'm working I've already been at work for 45 minutes by that point...but I'm not sleeping.  So when you finally fall asleep around 2am...and then get back up at 6:15...it's a little challenging.

Although there is NOTHING better than sweet little man's smile when he wakes up.  He's into hugging now..so if I say "big squeeze" when I pick him up out of the crib I am rewarded with a huge hug.  MAKES MY DAY. Love that sweet boy.  

Last week we ventured out to a park...I was hoping I would maybe stumble upon a play group, but no luck so far.  I have no doubt though we are going to find some great friends here...but man are we missing those Austin friends of ours.  I am realizing more and more that one of the reasons being a stay at home mom was such an easy transition for me in Austin was because I had simply beautiful friends that also were staying home with their kiddos.  Noah and I spent many of our days, at least part of them, with these friends and their kiddos and we adored it! So we are craving some time with other women and children.  

Anyways while we were at the park, all the kiddos talked to me...but not so many of the mama's. One kiddo actually pushed Noah down and kicked him.  Then looked at me and started kicking him harder before I got over there.  WHOA mama bear just about came out.  Noah was just fine and I know these things happen, but it wasn't an encouraging start to our first park trip.  

So this week has been a little tough emotionally.  But I have hope! 

Because:

  I am LOVING all the family time we are having.  Brad has been home while I've been cooking dinner almost every day..rather than me having to time it so it's warm when he gets here...that is such a relief of pressure.

We took a walk last night with Noah in his wagon.  Adorable.  He loved it!  I told Brad I really want to take advantage of taking walks together most nights since the winter will take these away soon enough.  

We're going to try out a new church on Sunday again, really praying we find one quickly to dive into. 

Brad LOVES his job-which totally reassures me everyday in this decision.  

We have had lots of time with our extended family since moving here..and know there is more to come...we still haven't seen some of Brad's family that lives in Indiana so we're excited to get to see them! 

I get to see one of my dearest college friends Debbie on Friday.  I love EVERY time we get to spend together, and she lives not too far from here.  Which is fabulous, by the way. 

We have many awesome friends that still live in Indiana or Chicagoland area and we're going to get to see them SO much more often...and I LOVE that! 

I slept last night.  I actually fell asleep while trying to order 101 free pictures from shutterfly- the coupon of course expired at midnight and I slept right through it...but I don't care! I slept.  Maybe sleep will soon become my friend again.  

Brad is awesome and so encouraging, and does not at all get upset with me when I talk of missing our friends back in Austin, or our church (such as when I cried through service this week here hahaha), or my job (which seriously ruined me for any future job)...he just supports me and encourages me.  How blessed I am to have that man as my husband.  

Our home is a home.  And we are loving relaxing in it.  And Noah seems to totally dig it and not get so claustrophobic during the day.  

And most importantly I have hope because I know my God.  I know that when He leads us, He goes before us.  I know that while this time of transition is a little lonely, he has so very graciously allowed us to have time with people who are precious to us already since being here..and we have been so grateful. And he is So GOOD.  So I know that we are going to LOVE it here.  And that is exciting to me.  

That's it for today...kinda a downer of a post.  But I find it a bit therapeutic to write it out.  :) Have a great week!

Insomnia.

So...the hours of 1-5am are QUICKLY becoming my least favorite part of the day.  It's currently 3:36am, and I've been up since about 1:30.  Guess who will be taking a nap during Noah's nap today.  

This girl.  

You would think I would be productive but I watched a useless movie on lifetime movie network (that I've already seen), and now I'm blogging.  (And pinteresting...and finding all sorts of things I want to make/do) 

Any chance Noah will sleep in tomorrow?  HIGHLY unlikely because this mama decided he was ready for bed at 7pm.  (We had a long day of cleaning/organizing- and he had a short nap.  So we decided he could go to bed and we could enjoy relaxing. Sweet boy didn't make a peep he was exhausted...but I'll pay when he's up here in 2-3 hours.)  

But you know what...I am SO excited.  Today my mom and dad came up and helped us put the finishing touches on the condo. I use finishing touches pretty loosely...it had a LONG way to go before they got here.  Around 10am this morning I specifically remember thinking there was no way we would get it all done.  I was so wrong.  By the end of the day we had a loaded storage unit, an organized garage, a newly installed garage door opener, a clean house including hands and knee mopped floors, dusted furniture, vacuumed carpets, and NO boxes.  (To be honest..one box left of miscellaneous things that will have a home once I get Noah's closet reorganized..but who's counting.) I seriously can't tell you how amazing it felt tonight to sit down in a home that was livable.  

The last month has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.  Really longer that that, but especially the last month as we were living in chaos in Austin preparing for the move, while saying goodbye to those we love, and then moving here and being apart for a week at a time -twice. 

But tomorrow...I just get to be a wife and a mom.  I don't have to clean or organize.  I have normal daily things to do, and that's it.  I get to just be with Noah, and spend time with Brad.  It means so much to me.  So I am so thankful tonight, even though I can't sleep.  (Maybe that's why- because I'm so crazy (and I mean that literally) excited about the house.) 

I use parenthesis a lot.  

Here are some pictures of the new place.  We are loving it here so far.  It's very clean, and feels very safe, and the neighborhood is SO quiet.  The apartment in Austin most definitely was not quiet...so we are LOVING this.  

Our stairwell entry.

Our bedroom from our bathroom/closet area with my little helper posing for a picture.  I told him to say cheese...he stood so still but refused to crack a smile.  Silly boy. 

Kitchen.  

 Noah's room.  We decided not to set up a guest bed in this one due to space..but visitors you come right ahead.  You can have our bed or an air mattress. We don't care which we just want you to be here and be comfortable! :) 

I'm pretty excited because Brad is going to fix Noah's dresser now that we're moved.  We love that dresser so even if it doesn't fix I'll just remove the doors.  It will be eclectic. :) 

Our living/play area from the stairwell.  We have 400 more sf in this than the apartment in Austin, so it feels much less crowded.

It's a condo, a second floor condo but our stairs are private.  It feels pretty homey so far.  We'll be very thankful to find a home next spring, but we're very excited for where we are right now.  I'm learning to be content and present where I'm at..instead of always looking for a house.  It only stresses me out, and we've been so blessed.  So here are pictures! :)  The quality is not great as they are from my phone, but the boys are both sleeping away blissfully unaware of this girl's inability to sleep and I don't think they would enjoy their pics being taken right now.  

Have a great week!! 

18 Months.

So Noah turned 18 months old last week during the move.

18 months.  Goodness gracious.  

I can honestly say that while this age is the most challenging thus far, it is by far my favorite.  He is a BLAST.  Cracks us up every day.  (Don't get me wrong...we definitely have our fair share of trying times too..but man he's funny)

I feel like over the last month, even just the last week or so he's really taken off on development.  Here's what he's doing now at 18 months. 

Runs...ALL THE TIME.  We here his little feet pat pat patting away as he runs all over.  Especially this week as he has been at Mom and Dad's and they have more space than we do.

Words: Mama, Dada, Mommy, Pop (Poppy), Papa, Nini for Nana, MiMi, Go-Go, Ball-Ball, No (we do not like this!), Noah, This, Wa-Wa (Water), Ooshs (shoes), Up Peas (Up please)

Points to his ears, hair, mouth, nose, toes, feet, belly button.  Can't get the eyes down..always points to his ears haha

Recently has started to try to tickle people's feet..cracks me up.  He especially does this to Nana and Papa-even when they're wearing shoes.  

He loves to stand on the couch and fall face first without trying to catch himself.  Today he was doing this on the ottoman.  He'll count (Ah-Da-DAH -which is his 1, 2, 3) and then fall.  Hilarious.  I never realized that I'll count to three when we're playing until he started doing it.  Pretty funny because I don't even count to three when I'm disciplining him.  

He loves to "drive" anything and everything.  This week he's driven all of pop's lawnmowers, and his tractor, and his truck, and Papa's van.  He just runs from one to the other.

He has quite the appetite.  He'll eat almost anything. Sometimes when he's done eating, and I haven't caught the drift he'll just open his mouth and let it fall out.  That's a great experience. 

Says NO.  A lot.  We're working on it.

He had to say goodbye to his best friends this month.  Watching them play and hug each other for the last time was precious to me.  

He signs for more, please, thank you, and occasionally help.  He also will sign for Jesus when we sing Jesus loves me- um best thing ever.

When we pray before meals, if I am kneeling down praying with him, and his food is in front of me, he will try to put food in my mouth.  Hahaha.  Hilarious. 

Still loves to throw balls around.  We think he'll be left handed.  He really seems to favor that side.

When he runs he punches his left arm.  So funny.  I need to get it on video.

LOVES to be outside.  Since we've been at my parents he runs to the door every morning first thing and tries to open it to go outside. 

He has quite the voice.  He loves to yell.  Not in anger really (but sometimes) but often just to yell.  

He loves to giggle.  

Lots of kisses and hugs, and recently has become super affectionate with Mama. Makes my year.

That's probably it for now.  This little one brings us so much joy, and teaches us so much at the same time.  We are learning every day it feels like and I hope that he is too. 

Hope you have a great week!

The Joy.

Reading that last post, I sounded so depressing.  I forgot to tell you about the joy.  There's lots of it. 

For example:

We are going to live close to Chicago- we have so many memories of dating in Chicago so I'm super excited to make new memories as a family.

We have family all over the place up there.  That's awesome!

We have so many friends still in Indiana/Illinois.  I am SO VERY excited to spend time with them! 

Fall weather...remember how I love me some fall weather and colors.  SOOOO excited about that. 

SNOW! YAY! (I'm sure my opinion on this might change.)

It's kinda like an exciting adventure. You have no idea what's waiting. I felt that way when we moved here and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made.  It will be exciting to do it again.  

I'm sure there's more...but I just wanted to say we are excited.  It's hard not to get caught up in the sadness and forget the joy...but there is so much.  We'll talk again soon.  Don't know when blogging will happen in the next couple of weeks as we have LOTS to do.  Have a great week!

So..we're moving.

I've been dreading writing this blog..because I'm a big ball of emotional craziness.  We are moving.  Not to Taylor, Tx as we planned...but to Chicagoland area! Every time I say it or type it out it seems a little more real and a little more crazy.  Good crazy.  But still hard to grasp in this brain of mine. 

(p.s. even now I have a few tears.) 

So let's talk about how this happened.  You might remember that about a year ago we sold our house, with the full intention of moving to Taylor to do life with some peeps that we love oh so dearly. For the last year we have looked at houses in Taylor (for real, I have the Taylor real estate market memorized)  and despite all our efforts, haven't been able to agree on a house. About the time March came around, we settled that no matter what, when June came we wanted to have a decision, and we were leaving this apartment.  (so we thought)

Over the last few months a possibility for a job for Brad up in the midwest showed up on our radar, and we began to pray over that.  While we really struggled with the idea of leaving here, we both felt strangely led towards this job.  We prayed over it, and decided to really be open to whatever might come of it. 

Fast forward to the last month, Brad interviewed, and we prayed, and the deeper he got into the process the more and more we felt like this is exactly what we're supposed to be doing.  How the timing worked out has just been amazing too, and the peace the Lord has given us over Brad leaving his current job has been something we just can't question.  Greg, Brad's current boss was so very gracious, and we are so so thankful for how wonderful he has been to our family the last three years.  So leaving on good terms was extremely important to us.  

So, an offer came, Brad accepted, and he starts his new job on August 13th.  The job is one he is really excited about, and he will be working with a close family friend.  We're so thankful for the opportunity.  It seems very final, probably because it is, and if we (read: if I) think about it too much I get pretty emotional.  Please don't get me wrong...I am so very excited for Brad and this new job, I'm so excited that we'll be close to family, and I'm excited that after praying this over as a family and feeling such a strong sense of peace we can completely trust that the Lord is going to protect us in this.  I can also look at where we were five years ago when we decided to move across the country and how fearful I was about that...and I look at where we are now and I know that Jesus has been with us all the way.  He will be with us in this.  So I am joyful.  My heart just hurts..because we are leaving friends who have loved us so well, and who we cherish so deeply.  We're also leaving a church that we adore, and have grown exponentially while attending.  And I am leaving my dream job.  (I'm not kidding about that- I know I only work one day a week, but I love it.) 

So here we go.  We're not really very sure where we'll be living exactly.  The job is in Illinois, we'll live somewhere close to the IN/IL border..no decisions on where yet. Hopefully we'll nail that down by the end of this week.  No idea where I'll be working, I'm applying in both Illinois and Indiana for licenses and jobs. We'll figure that out  soon enough. Here's a song and verse or two that have been keeping my heart peaceful over the last few weeks.  

Standing on this mountain top

Looking just how far we've come

Knowing that for every step

You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much you've done

Knowing every victory 

Is your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts will say

Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did you leave us on our own

You are faithful, God you are faithful

You are faithful, God you are faithful

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts will say 

Never once did we ever walk alone

Carried by your constant grace

Held within your perfect peace

Never once, no we never walk alone

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did you leave us on our own

You are faithful, God you are faithful

You are faithful, God you are faithful

Every step we are breathing in your grace

Every step we are breathing out your praise

You are faithful, God, you are faithful

You are faithful, God, you are faithful

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.