That's Just How it Goes

Sometimes you wake up and the day just seems so full of promise... the sky is blue, the birds are singing, it is as if joy and wonder await you around each and every corner. Then there are those other kinds of days when the most you can hope for is that everyone in the family will finally stop vomiting.

Our Easter started out well, we went to sunrise service at Town Center (which is like a community park) came back home for pancakes, naps and Easter egg hunting. Will had a cold, so Will's parents and my Dad both decided to visit another time, so things were quieter than we had originally planned but we've been on the go so constantly that it was nice to take a bit of a break. Then Will got stomach virus, on Monday Jacob got it, after his third bath we got him to sleep around 1 AM, I woke up about an hour later with the same thing. Yuckarama. Finally, we are all feeling much better. I have some pictures from the Easter egg hunt I'll throw up (ha ha, pun intended) a little later.

Random Stuff

We are deep in the process of packing. Of course we will be moving twice - which means that everything has to be put into two categories - things we need (or might need) and things I know we can do without for three or four months. This is harder than it sounds. Toys, - we need. My collection of cookbooks from the 60's can go to storage. Clothes & towels - we need. Sewing machine - storage. Wedding photos? - Storage. But some things are harder - how do you possibly know which books to leave out and which to pack? Raising a Puppy for Dummies? Pack. The Iliad - Pack. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare? - That's a hard one but I ended up packing it, mostly because it is huge. So, what made my summer must-have reading list? The Baby Book by Dr. Sears. Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Job Interviews for Dummies, all three books of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (last one is coming out in August so I need to be ready), and a St Francis of Assisi devotional. The exercise really gave me pause - of all that we have, how much of it do we truly need? What separates a want from a need? How does what we choose to keep close, those things that we cannot bear to be without, define us?

Little things that Jacobs says lately really crack me up, for instance Will's mom has a birthday this weekend. I asked Jacob how old did he think she was and he answered - "She's real old, like maybe 7." Will took Jacob to pick out a little toy and he came home with a sea turtle. I said Hey Jacob did you get a Sea Turtle? He looks at it for a moment and says, no maybe it's an "A" turtle. I took Jacob to see his first movie in the theatre today. We saw Horton hears a Who. He really enjoyed himself but it ran a little long for him, the last 20 minutes or so he was fast asleep in my lap!

In addition to crawling, Bella is now able to move up into a standing position - of course she has to hold or lean on something. I would need to look in the baby book but this seems way ahead of when Jacob did these things. I think she's moving fast to try and keep up with what she sees her big brother doing. It is good timing in several ways though - first off she is into EVERYTHING but everything breakable is packed so it works out. Secondly, it might mean she will walk early. This would be great because the main rooms of the new house downstairs are all tile and the steadier she is on her feet when we move in the better. Being a seasoned mom I know tile is the right choice for us in the long run but I worried about her taking a tumble while she was still learning.

I'll end with two recommendations for great services and products that we've had recently.

I ordered and received a grocery cart cover for Bella from this site: http://www.angelynrose.com/servlet/StoreFront it is so well made and there were such cute fabrics to choose from. (Aunt Shirley on Will's family' side - if you are reading this thank you because this is what we did with the check you sent for Bella!)

On Friday morning we took the kids to have some family photos made. I whole heartedly recommend Portrait Innovations up at the front of Kingwood! It was quick, fun, inexpensive and we got really great casual pictures.

These booties are made for crawlin'

As I wrote previously, Bella has been spending a lot of time lately up on all fours just rockin' and she gets mad because she so wants to crawl but can't quite figure it out. Even at night if she wakes up she'll start trying to crawl in her bed and she gets all up in the corner by the headboard and she is just so determined to GO. But she can't. So then she starts making this grunting sound. Bless her, it really isn't the most attractive thing and she does it all the time. We always tell her, "Today may be the day Bella!" and it turns out that today really WAS the day and she now officially crawling around. It is sort of a sideways crab crawl but it is a full on crawl, up on her hands and knees.**********Whoa, Will just walked in with a Haagen-Daz bar for me, have I mentioned lately how very much I LOVE this man?!!!***********Anyway, now she is apparently at peace with the world and fell into a deep sleep right after supper tonight. It seems that we may have a bit of a respite from the constant grunting.

Something's in the Air...

As it is each Spring, Houston is now blanketed in a thick coat of bright yellow pollen. Kleenex anyone?

I was reading the Pence's blog and thinking about the election. I was thinking about how wonderful it is to have some diversity on the ballot this year. I think it is awesome that my daughter will come of age in a time where women have moved to the forefront of politics and as a person of Mexican-American background, I believe it is high time that we had some alternative viewpoints, and frankly, some different colored faces up on the TV screen in election year. Regardless of political opinions I hope everyone can take a moment to appreciate this - it is truly history in the making and I believe that our children and country will ultimately benefit.

On Saturday morning Bella decided to start my weekend off with a spectacular series of diaper surprises. Typically, we aren't up taking baths at 7 AM, but I'm glad we did because otherwise I might not have gotten these post bath photos!

We braved the pollen and spent Saturday afternoon at Jesse Jones Park. We had a picnic and were taught by "settlers" in period costumes how to dye Easter eggs using all natural ingredients. One thing I learned was that it takes a LONG time to dye eggs with all natural ingredients, and Jacob lost interest after about 5 eggs. He had done blue, green, and yellow but then there was a bit of a mishap with the walnut egg stain and so we ended up with mostly brown eggs. Afterwards we went to the playground.

Last week the lot for our new home was cleared, so of course I had to go by and take a picture!

My head is spinning....

On Sunday morning we had the first showing of our house. On Sunday evening we found out that we had received an offer. It was lower than what we could accept and so early Monday morning we counter offered, then we waited... and waited. Finally around 8:30 Monday evening we found that the counteroffer was accepted, however they asked us to include our dining room table and chairs in the sale of the home! After some hesitation we agreed and so we went to sign the paperwork tonight. The inspection will be this Saturday, so hopefully all will go well. If so then we are set to move out at the end of April. While our new house is being built, we are going to be able to make a temporary move into a home just four houses down from our current house that is a rental property belonging to our neighbor. The really weird thing is that the current tenant in that rental property is the father to the girl who is buying our house! So just like that we have sold our house after only a few days and we've secured a place to live - hooray! I am so relieved! Now we just pray it will all go smoothly.

Some of you have noticed how beautiful my blog is looking these days, we love it! Shout outs to my good friend Amy and her newly launched blog design business, I have linked to it in my links section so check it out. She is uber-talented and I know she will make the cyber world a better place. Friends don't let friends have ugly blogs!