Three weeks ago my mom came out for a long weekend. It was a joy to have her here. She played with Harrison, took us to the Zoo, out to dinner and even a trip to the mall so that Nathan could get a dress shirt or two as an early b-day present. Most of all she spent her energy on Harrison so I could rest a little. Mom was the first family member to be told of TJ # 2. I dressed Harrison up in a shirt that said "Big Bro", took him to the airport and surprised her. The funny thing is she was too excited about seeing us to even notice. I think after about 5 minutes of chit chat she finally said, "what's this?".
Here are some pictures from her trip:
Looking at the Polar Bear:
Looking at the Giraffes
Harrison and his new smile. He now breaths in and squeals real loud while squinting his eyes and smiling really big:
And right after the funny smile:
After mom left Michael and Linda came to town to help us get a good start on the house. The original plan was for the Jones' to arrive on Wednesday, attend a conference with Nathan on Thursday, then we'd close on Friday at 12pm and then get to work. Unfortunately nothing is that easy :) Especially when working with a government agency that in inefficient and delinquent. HUD forgot to perform a led paint test three weeks ago and in order to close on a HUD home the test must be done and led paint can not be found... otherwise they mitigate it. We found out that the test had not been done on Thursday when the closing company explained to us that all of our paperwork had not been completed. We tried to get everything rushed on Friday so that come Monday we could close. After a lot of phone calls that ended in voice mails Nathan's parents decided to fly back to austin on Monday evening. Last friday (2 days ago) we were officially told that the house passed the inspection (PTL) and that HOPEFULLY we could close on Thursday. Thankfully Nathan's parents are flexible and are coming out again this week to help. We are praying for no more bumps on the "closing on a HUD house" road (we could tell you more stories of our last month in this process but they're not all that fun to read about).
You know who is lots of fun:
On a really positive note WE FOUND RENTERS!!!! A week ago I was having lunch with a group of women who all work at CCU. They were asking me how our house process was going and I explained a little and mentioned that we would be renting out our town-home. One of the the women at the table said her and her husband were thinking about renting a town-home and would like more info. I sent her the info, they came to look at it last Saturday and Wednesday it was official! They move in during the middle of June which gives us a little less then two months. Perfect! Finding renters was my biggest worry. Nathan's been very optimistic but I wasn't sure how long it would take and I was worried about paying two mortgages. Thankfully, the Lord's blessing seems to be going ahead of us.
With baby number two comes another set of life changes. I'll be stepping away from CCU and staying home full time come August or September. Please, if you think about it, pray for us with this transition. When we found out I was pregnant I felt a very strong sense that we weren't supposed to juggle Nathan's work schedule with mine and childcare anymore. That I needed to take a step of faith and resign even though financially we don't know how it's all going to work. We have some pretty practical ideas on how to cut our budget (even more then when I went down to part-time) but we don't want to if we don't have to. We also have some ideas on how to make up the cost but those ideas will only turn into reality if the Lord moves in certain ways. We feel very strongly about me staying home, we know the Lord will provide in ways we could never expect.
A few updates on Harrison. He's now 19 months old and a ball full of energy. He's a lot of fun and a lot of work. I'm reading a book on parenting right now that says from 1-3 are the most taxing parenting years because they take a lot of physical energy. That seems to be it with this little guy. Here are a few highlights:
- Harrison loves his schedule. First thing when he wakes up he wants breakfast and then he wants to watch Baby Einstein which he says in a very cute way "eintein, eintein!" while he points at the TV.
- With a loud voice he likes to say "HI!" and "BYE-BYE!".
- He still calls Bentley "B".
- Because of his grandma's recent visit, his new favorite things are airplanes. He points in the sky hoping that one will be there though they seldom are. My mom thankfully bought a toy airplane and sent it to us this week. Now when he's on an airplane kick, we just pull it out. Its less disappointing then pointing at the sky and seeing nothing :) Nathan keeps taunting me with the thought that he'll be a pilot... think of the irony of that!!!!
- For weeks he's been saying DADDY in hopes of seeing him, but just over the last couple days he's been saying Mommy too! It melts my heart every time.
- This week he's starting to repeat back "luf you" every time we say I love you.
- He is insistent on taking baths every night, brushing his teeth and washing his hands.
- He's still fascinated with the toilet but has only really used it two or three times now.
- Every time we let him down to walk he shoots his hand straight up waiting for us to hold it before moving forward.
- He is now receiving 1.5 minute time outs and gets one about twice a day for not listening or acting out inappropriately (we're going through a "I'm frustrated" or "overly excited so I will hit you" phase...) Time outs seem to do the trick and after every time out he says "Sorry". SO cute!
- He's still on two naps for the most part. He'll do two for a few days then one then he gets overly cranky and it's back to two.
- He likes to sit on Bentley and yesterday I caught him trying to tell Bentley to go to his bed. He pointed to his bed and said "B Bed".
- Most of his words are hard to make out unless you've heard them for the 50th time :)
- He still goes to Mrs. Beth's to play with Samson and Emery every Monday afternoon and he loves it. He no longer cries when I leave him. He just runs off to play.
- He still eats a lot but now he's more picky. He's taking a break from chicken but LOVES blueberries.
- He likes to climb up on the couch and the chair in his room now. It's just about the right height for him.
- We bought him his first pair of Keens that match daddy's last weekend (size 6, already!).
- He likes to add an eeee to words like "toeees" and "orangeees"
- He likes to run fast and scream loud through the house especially after a bath.
- He's stopped the "ugh ugh" whine and now mostly uses words to try and get us to do something for him. I'm very relieved!
- He's pretty much a little man now. It's crazy to think about how he was a little peanut that just didn't seem right to leave in his big crib the first night to a tall little boy who can almost climb out of his crib.
We are having a blast with him and we're trying our best to take in every moment before #2 comes along which I 'm sure will make things very different. This is the only time we have left with one child. Seven months left, that's it. It's hard though to stay as energetic as he is now with being overly tired, moody and nauseous. Hopefully the nausea will be over sooner than later.
Thanks you all for your love, support and prayers!
-Libby
No comments:
Post a Comment