New Year Among Us

I've been missing my blog. I could say I've been missing it for years, but I've missed it a lot the past few months. I opened it to write today and realized I have about a dozen posts I wrote and never published. I'm not sure what I was afraid of or why I didn't want to share them, but I guess I had been treating it somewhat like a diary. That's ok too, but c c I'd rather get back to just writing! So, I'm going to (once again) try to bring back my writing. I'll have to figure out a way to schedule it, similar to scheduling 4:45am workouts. But as with all scheduling priorities, I'm sure there's time.

Here's to 2016 being the best blog year yet! Between 3 kids, a trip to Africa, and all of the other antics that come up in between, I should have plenty of material!

Thanks, 2015, for being a year for the record books:

Wallis baby #3 born!

Move across the country!

Career adjustment

William in kindergarten 

House flood

Lots of calls from God

Busy, hard, and great year.

There's always a back story

In early 2012, after we had known we were moving to Monterey, I googled "church in Monterey, CA" so that we could find somewhere right away after moving. The first thing that came up in my search was Monterey Church. I looked on the website for a little while, and I was drawn to the church because, though it was a non-denominational church, the core values were based on the Nicene Creed being broken down by scripture. Austin and I grew up reciting the Nicene Creed each week at church, so I felt like this was a bridge between our Episcopal upbringing and the newer style of service.

The first Sunday we were in town happened to be right after the church building had suffered a fire, so it took us a little bit of time before we figured out where church was held and how to get there. Sometime in the summer of 2012 we visited church for the first time. We were eager to find a church home, though I laugh as I admit our eagerness was for William - not for ourselves. We didn't think WE necessarily needed to be in church each week. I mean, we were good with Jesus right? We just needed to raise William in a church. So that was our driving force. We went to church that Sunday and we were almost offended by the service. We thought we had walked into a TV infomercial for Compassion International. The pastor's wife sat on stage and gave her account of her experience on a mission trip in Ecuador with Compassion. I'm not saying we didn't believe in being the hands and feet of Jesus, but we certainly didn't think we were going to church for that. We were going to church to be preached to about our own lives(read: to be served); we weren't there to hear how we needed to give all of our money to third world countries(read: to serve). To say we were turned off is an understatement. So much so that we didn't go back for a few weeks.

We finally went back, at William's request, and would you believe that we found ourselves sitting in a service where the pastor was once again pushing Compassion International and the church's new partnership with Compassion for a mission trip to Bolivia? They wanted people to sponsor children and sign up to literally go and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Two visits, two strikeouts.

or so we thought.

We eventually gave the church "another chance" (because that's absolutely how we viewed it - US giving THEM a "chance") and we slowly (veeerrrrry slowly) got involved in what would become our church home. We first decided to join the kids church ministry, then later joined a small discussion group (d group) and eventually the corner of Alvarado St in downtown Monterey began to feel more like home than 2183 11th Cavalry Ave ever did. I haven't blogged much about the incredible changes we saw in our lives during those 3 years. I should, and maybe one day I will, but part of the reason is because it was so mind boggling. I won't sit here and say I thought we had it perfect, but I sure didn't know the work that needed to be done - and I didn't know what God was capable of doing through us. We thought we were being good parents by taking William to church - in reality, God was using William to get us to church. I had no idea the things God would tear down in order to restore them more beautifully than we could have asked, and I learned so well that when you approach God with expectancy for Him to deliver, He never disappoints.

In 2014, after having been so "offended" by the conviction to join with Compassion International, Austin and I each separately decided to sponsor a child. Austin sponsors a girl William's age from Bolivia, and I sponsor a boy who is also the same age from Africa. Shortly after Austin chose to sponsor Jhanayna, he also felt called to go on the next trip to Bolivia. I did write about that - and about how "bad" the timing was. We would have an almost 3 month old baby, it would overlap with Relay For Life, I would have been unemployed for the 3 months prior so money wasn't falling from the sky - we had a lot of reasons to say "not now". But, when God says go - who are we to say no? And God had very specific reasons for the timing of when He called Austin to go.

Neither of us knew what to expect out of that trip, but what we didn't expect was for there to be any work or change in our lives back home. We thought God would use him to serve people there and that was the purpose of the trip. That absolutely happened, but so much more happened. While on that trip, Austin said he felt the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit in ways he didn't even know possible. He felt like God was calling our family to be involved in Compassion mission trips for years to come. Trips aren't cheap or easy to come by, but He felt like God was clearly speaking to him and that He'd make a way.

That back story is all preparation to announce that in January I will be going on a mission trip to Burkina Faso, Africa! 

Before you start swinging a bunch of doubt around in your mind - let me go ahead and tell you all of the reasons I should "not" go on the trip. We don't make as much money as we used to, so our expendable income is minimal. By most accounts, we just can't afford it. January is a prime busy time for my work. I have a 6 month old baby, plus oh yeah 2 other kids. Africa isn't the safest place in the world. Wait wasn't ebola near there? I'm sure you can think of more.

But you know what? I can think of one reason why I should go - and that reason trumps the rest. God has given us so much - SO much. He didn't give us that because we deserve it. He didn't give it to us because He loves us more. He didn't give it to us because we worked harder for it. He has given us all that we have so that we may use what we've been given to show His love to others. I may be able to sponsor a sweet boy and provide for some of his needs, but I have no doubt that when I fly to Africa I am going to learn so much more from them than I could possibly teach to them. To be honest, I am well aware that I have no idea what I'll learn.

I am excited to go on this trip. I am excited to meet Salvador, who I have written back and forth with for almost two years. I am excited to see what Jesus meant when he said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you do for the least of these you have done for me". I am excited. Am I scared? Sure. I'm scared about relinquishing control over my kids' daily lives. I'm scared about relinquishing control over my own daily life. (newsflash: I have control issues, and I have way less control than I think I do) I'm scared to get vaccinated (as dumb as that sounds!) I'm scared of a lot of things. I'm even scared of the blessings that could come of it. I'm excited and scared, and I'm hoping that you'll join us in prayer and support as I go on this journey.

I'm not asking you for financial donations. One day we may need help in this calling, if that's the direction it goes, but right now I am not asking you to donate to my trip with money. I do have friends going who are in need of financial support, and if you want to support this trip please let me know and I can put you in touch with people who are still knee deep in fundraising efforts. I know the other people on the trip were called to the trip just as I was, and God has plans for how to fund each of our trips differently. If you're a part of that plan, fantastic. But mostly, I'm just asking you to pray with us and join with us in our excitement over this journey!

My Floors Are Like Facebook

It became apparent to me this weekend that my floors, in their present state, are a lot like facebook. Or, I should say, like our lives on facebook. Apparently, when presented under the right light, they look fantastic. I posted a few pictures last week of the kids in the living room, despite the mess beneath them. The response I got on facebook, in texts and in person was shocking. 

The first time someone complimented them I thought they were just being polite. I had just posted about my misery with the disaster, so surely they were just trying to cheer me up or make me feel a little bit better about the rubble. But then this compliment became more of a trend, and I got numerous texts and comments from people - in all seriousness - telling me how cool the floors looked. I got words like chic, industrial, modern, enviable...yes, enviable. Obviously the pictures aren't really portraying the truth of our current state of living.

I know we aren't in a third world country living in poverty, so our "current state of living" isn't all that bad. I know. But when I walk in our house I don't think any of those words. I think of words like disgusting, ugly, messy, dirty...and on and on. When presented in the right light, leaving out the deep craters in the concrete, the spots of missed layers of the flooring, and the overall mess of the room, I guess the floors look pretty good.

Kind of like that selfie that took 10 tries and 5 touch ups in an editing app. Or any number of deceitful edits and cuts we make before we post stuff. I wasn't in any way trying to make my floors look good, I just found it interesting and was reflective on just how deceiving Facebook can be.

Glad that rant is over. And also glad we are one step closer to our house FINALLY being put back together! That's right, we got Sheetrock today. Whoop!

Those floors though! Aren't they enviable? (Just don't walk barefoot. Ick!!!)

It's About the Journey

I've been wanting to keep the blog updated with the move in process, but I kept thinking it'd be best to do it after the fact. It'd be good to look back and see the full picture. But, we had a little setback yesterday and I realized the cliche phrase is probably true: it's not about the end, it's about the journey.

The move in journey hasn't been easy. Finding time to actually unpack and move in while chasing a toddler away from electrical outlets and washing just-one-more-bottle hasn't always worked out. Our house often reminds me of a game of whack a mole. I think 'wow! Look how complete our bedroom looks!' Then I walk into Loretta's room to find a disaster, and things that belong in our bedroom. Next thing I know, our bedroom is a disaster while Loretta's room almost looks cute. That occurs throughout the house, every day. How we manage to have less space in a bigger house (after donating literally 15 huge moving boxes full of stuff) still blows my mind. But, despite all of that, we are making it and this craziness almost feels like our new normal.

We had the babies in a day care center for the time of day when I work. However, for a lot of reasons we decided that wasn't working out. So we have hired someone to watch them in house while I work. This topic deserves a post in itself because there are so many layers to this which I won't dive into today. it's all an adjustment, but I do think it's a better balance and definitely better for the babies. We're in week 2 of this new arrangement and it's going well. A new normal is upon us, yes?

Well, Yesterday after the babies and I picked William up from school we needed to run a quick errand. I hadn't been to target in almost 2 weeks, so naturally I found a need. We were gone for a total of 1.5 hours and in that span of time the hose to our washer busted and water began spraying in our laundry room. By the time I got home with the kids water was running down the driveway. I left screaming kids in the car while I frantically tried to figure out how to shut it off and get austin home. I took the kids out for a few more hours while austin cleared the 1.5 inches of standing water in our downstairs, and I got a damage restoration company out to assess. Where I saw some water as a mere headache for the next 24-48 hours, he saw water damage in the walls, laminate floors needing to be ripped up and replaced, kitchen cabinet issues, and overall probably 3-4 weeks of unrest until we are 'settled again'. I laughed when he chose those words. Laughed out loud. Settled again? When were we settled before? 

May 13. That's when. On May 13 I had the next 6 months 'perfectly' mapped out to a T.

But, here we are. Our downstairs is filled with dehumidifiers, wet boxes, bubbled up flooring, torn up baseboards and loads of fully wet clothes which were so conveniently located in the laundry room ready to wash. It's about the journey?

It's about the journey.

Work. In. Progress.

Everyone is different when it comes to decorating a home. Me? I like to find a place for everything and then leave it. Done. I'm not one who likes to re-paint just for fun, I don't like to move stuff around to suit my mood, I don't like to switch furniture between rooms...I just like to find a way it works and leave it alone. I'm sure if I lived somewhere long enough to need some updating of furnishings I'd do that, but so far that hasn't happened. I don't have a pinterest-worthy decorating style, I don't have a lot of flair - it's pretty simple over here. I love when I walk into homes that feel cozy and personal, or that are eclectic and different. I love seeing people's personalities shine through their decorating, but most of the time I hope my personality doesn't shine through mine because if it does, that means my personality must be a little boring. Ho hum. That's me.

But. 

Moving across the country with 3 kids doesn't offer a lot of opportunity for "unpack, put away, wipe your hands and done". No, it offers a whole lot of opportunities for me to give myself some grace on the fact that there are a pile of pictures in the corner of my office that have yet to find a home, a box in Loretta's room of "hmm, i think this stuff goes in one of the kids' rooms but I haven't looked in it in a month" and a lot of piles. Piles here, piles there. Piles of papers to file, papers to shred, things to do, things to throw away, things to donate, things to put away. Piles everywhere. "opportunities for me to give some grace" can be read as "opportunities for me to try to avoid ripping my eye balls out". 

I hate it. I don't like decorating as you go, I don't like not being done, I don't like not feeling settled. Props to the mamas who do this while husbands are deployed or TDY or otherwise unavailable with more kids than me. Props to the people who move to a new house and a week later have a house-warming party with everything all settled. Props to anyone who does it better than me, cause i feel like we've worked our butts off nonstop since ... well ... tax season I guess, and yet there's just sooooooo much left to be done. I look forward to the day I can walk through and do a photo tour of the house for the blog, but that day may just be a mirage in the desert. 

This house already feels much more like home than our house in California ever did, really. It is probably a combination of the psychological difference between renting and owning, the fact that we painted the house and made small updates to make it our "own", and the fact that we hand selected it rather than just taking a street number off of a list given over the phone by the housing office. I'm not sure what the driving factor is, but I do enjoy how much it feels like home to us. It very clearly feels like home to the boys too, and of course it's all Loretta has ever known. 

We had a great and very productive painting weekend in July before our household goods arrived - which turned out to be a brilliant idea. My mom, step dad, sister in law, niece and nephew came over and some people painted while others herded kids around for the weekend. I wished I got to paint more, but I mostly took care of kids (and took many trips to Target!) which was a contribution to the weekend in itself. 3 kids 2 and under doesn't make for a great formula for painting, but when they littles were out of the house things really moved along. We got our living room/kitchen area, boys' room, and our bedroom painted. Loretta's room was started and then finished a few weeks later, and Austin painted our closet before hanging a closet shelving system. The only areas of the house left unpainted are the hallways, bathrooms, playroom/guest room and my office - and those may remain unpainted for the long term. We have gotten a lot of things hung up on walls, but now we seem to be at about 85% completion in every room...and finishing just seems so unattainable. The playroom/guest room is done I suppose - but that's just because there wasn't much to do besides throw in some toys and a bed :) The kitchen is done, and was first priority for obvious reasons. Our bedroom has quite possibly my favorite wall I've ever decorated...but we still aren't "done" in there so I can't take my proud "finished" pictures. The boys' room is waiting on Austin to build beds, Loretta's room is waiting on us to re-finish the dresser and add the small touches, my office is waiting on...more space I think...and I just get exasperated feeling like we'll never be done. (can you hear my exasperation? i think it's coming through as I type)

You see, we both work during the day and when I'm done working I'm chasing the boys' and loving on the baby. Then we eat, do bath and bed, then when that's done we usually have 2-3 hours which we spend cleaning, working after hours (this is the real hold up here - i blame work) , and then when all of that is done we can "unpack, organize, decorate". Except not in the rooms where babies are sleeping, and not in areas that would be too noisy...

Are you seeing the problem? I'm seeing the problem. The problem is I expect to be able to have a "completed" house while also having 3 little kids. 

So, I'm trying to have a little change in perspective. I'm trying to remember that Loretta doesn't know if she has a dresser in her room or a pile of "move to the garage" items where a dresser belongs. She does know when she's being loved on. Charles doesn't know that we have his baby pictures sitting in a pile on the floor. He does know when we're watching him tornado-up the house (as we affectionately call his playing). William does know that he doesn't have a bed, but he doesn't care because he knows after our shed is done that's first on Austin's weekend to-do list and he loves that his dada wants to build him a bed. And most importantly, I know 20 years from now I won't remember what my office looked like, or if I do I won't care. I will remember the joy I got from my kids. 

So, if you happen to venture out to Killeen to see us and you walk in to find a very incomplete house, just know it's because we're busy with things far more important than pictures. I know that, even if I cringe and point out all of the things I wish we had done. It's just a work in progress, and maybe it always will be.

While feeding Loretta

Don't read if you don't like talking about breastfeeding. There. There's my disclaimer.

Ok, here's the deal: I don't like breastfeeding. Actually, I lean towards dislike. At first I felt guilty for thinking that, so I never said it out loud. But then I realized I don't really have to like it. I am not a bad mom for it being one of my less loved roles, nor does it make one a good mom just because she loves it. I wanted to love it, I just don't. 

With William, I attempted to nurse him but we had a few forces against us and after 3 weeks of emotional and mental trauma over milk that never came, his wise pediatrician gave.me the most comforting advice and I gave it up. I always wished I had been able to, but giving it up was the best choice I could have made at that point. I was focusing so much on his caloric intake, and my inability to provide it, that I was missing out on bonding with my new baby.

With Charles, it worked! I was so over the moon with excitement that it took me a couple of months to realize I actually didn't like it. Sure, I liked providing everything he needed. I liked not paying $30/week for his food. I liked not washing 6 bottles every day. But I didn't like the act of feeding him. I planned to stop around 6 months, but before I had the opportunity to make that conscious decision it was made for me: I got pregnant and my body quit making milk. Can't explain it. Doesn't always happen that way, but it did for me. Again, I spent 3 weeks constantly trying everything I could to get it back - but it was gone. Then, at the advice of a loving friend, I gave up. And again, at that moment, there was no wiser choice. It felt like such a loss of control and failure to not make a conscious decision on when to stop, but like all decisions in life - it wasn't really mine to make.

Then there was Loretta. Just like with Charles, it worked! And while I was happy it worked for all of the reasons I already knew, I also already knew I wasn't a big fan. I don't like nursing in front of anyone. If I had it my way I wouldn't even do it in front of anyone. I'm not attempting to not-offend others, and I'm not so self loving that I think anyone actually cares, but I do. I just don't like it. I don't like having to think about where we are going at what times and mapping out a nursing path. I don't like covering up, and I don't like being uncovered. And pumping. Enough said there, right? Point is - There are a lot of things I just don't like about it.

So yesterday, while I was nursing Loretta, I caught myself in a perplexing mind trap: I wanted her to grow up a bit so we were past the breast milk/formula stage, and yet I wanted her tiny fingers to never grow at all. I wanted her precious little nose to stay just how it is. I didn't want her to stop fitting on one arm. I didn't want her to grow up to walk and run and go to kindergarten. I just wanted her to freeze and be my newborn baby forever.

So even though at times I'm tired of nursing her, or wish I wasn't, or counting down the days until I won't - I need to remind myself that one day I'll wish I was. I'll wish I was the only one who got her 3am giggles. I'll wish I was the only one who could (almost) always soothe her. It's a trap, this parenthood thing. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I enjoy every stage and watching them grow, but I don't want them to ever grow at all. It is possible this is the last of our Wallis babies, so I cherish each moment just a little bit longer. 

I don't like breastfeeding. But I'm still very thankful that I can, and do. I have guilted myself too much over the fact that I didn't LOVE pregnancy (what, with the emotions, cramps, lack of good sleep, and endless heartburn) and I don't LOVE breastfeeding. Look at that mom over there, she does. Aren't we supposed to? But then I realized - I love my babies. That's what I'm 'supposed' to do.

It's a BIG Day!

Today is a BIG day. A big day for so many reasons!

My junior year of high school on August 24 I remember rushing out of band practice as fast as I could. I didn't chat with everyone for the extra five minutes because I needed to go home. I had a phone call to make.

There was this boy just down the road who was turning 18, and I needed to call and tell him happy birthday. It didn't matter that we hadn't talked in over a year, or that he probably had a girlfriend, or that he may not even remember my name. I needed to wish him a happy birthday. Because that's what I did. I always thought of him on August 24, or when our football teams played against each other, or when I drove past his neighborhood. And because in those days we had to dial phone numbers by hand, I still know the number i called. I had to call and tell Austin happy birthday.

Today my wonderful husband turns 33. Gasp! So old :) Today we celebrate the fourth birthday in a row together, which I'm so thankful for! Today we get to celebrate the leader of our family and our house, and my favorite person in this whole world.

But, that's not the only reason it's a big day. Today the second biggest boy in our house starts KINDERGARTEN. I'm actually writing this post in advance because I'm not sure I'll be able to write about starting kindergarten on the ACTUAL day he starts kindergarten, but by the time you read this he will, in fact, already have started. He'll be in the works. He'll be an elementary schooler. How did that happen? Wasn't it just a few short months ago when we brought him home from the hospital? When he took his first steps? I know - i know it sounds cliche, but really - that's how it feels! I can close my eyes and see him standing in his bathtub fully clothed, washing his "buddies". Or sometimes when I am holding Charles as he sleeps on my shoulder, if I close my eyes I trick myself and think that's baby William drooling on my neck. How is he in kindergarten?

He's been in preschool and day care since he was 3 months old, so naively I used to think him going to kindergarten wouldn't be that big of a deal for me. But then I walked in the GiGANTIC school for meet the teacher night, where I will just drop him off and let him enter in like leading him into a pack of wolves. I saw the cafeteria the size of Texas. I saw the 5th graders walking around like they owned the place. My baby isn't ready for that! My baby still needs the miniature potties with 2 toilets and no door because supervision is required. My baby still needs to be playing on the playground all day. My baby isn't big enough!

And boy do I worry. What if he doesn't make friends? What if he gets bored because he's too smart? What if he gets in trouble because he's bored? What if he gets made fun of for being so smart? Or - gasp - What if he makes fun of other kids? What if he isn't polite to his teacher? What if he bullies kids on the playground? What if he gets bullied? What then? The teacher told me that for math they'll start with identifying the numbers 1-5. William did that when he was 2. She said, "sometimes kids already know that, so I'll push them to go to 10 or maybe even 20". William did that when he was 3. William does addition and subtraction. He's too smart. I don't say this as if I'm bragging because my kid is better than others - he's not better. He may be smarter, but that doesn't mean better and it certainly doesn't mean easier. But what if he gets lost in all of this? While his friends are learning number 10 what if he stares blankly at the wall and is stunted? These are the things that keep me up at night.

But, despite that, today is a big day for our big boy. I know he will be ok. If my above worries come to fruition we will navigate them as needed. If he's too smart and needs extra work, we'll do that. If he needs to be placed in another class, or homeschooled, or if he's just fine right where he is - we will navigate it as it comes. After meet-the-teacher night he told me he started to get a little bit scared, and I reminded him what the Bible says in Joshua: the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I was speaking to myself more than him I think, but it's true. God already has it mapped out for us. He knows what challenges we will face, what successes we will see, and He knows what we need. So I just need to take a sip of coffee and breathe. He's got it.

As if the birthday of my love and the first day of kindergarten for the boy who made me a mom aren't enough to make a day big, it's also a big day because it is finally...FINALLY...the start of our new "normal". Over the last 3 months we have had an emergency c section, extended stay in the hospital, packed up our home and said goodbye to some of the most influential people in our lives, lived in my mom's house for a month, bought a new house, lived amongst boxes and have slowly started to make this new place our home. Our new normal is different, but I am so happy to finally have something that resembles a normal life. A routine. A schedule. Today is the first day I will work from home for my expected length of time, attempt to reach my goals of working out, blogging, taking care of the house, and picking kids up earlier so we don't have such a rushed life like we have in the past. Today is the day we get to start this new schedule which came by such a blessing from God. God calls some moms to work, some to stay home to work with the kids, and He has called me to do a little of both right now. Today is the day that really gets to start.

Whew. A birthday, kindergarten, and a bold call from God. I think I need a nap!

He meets us in our grief

 The first Sunday we were in Texas was Father's Day and sadly we did not go to church. The next week, though, my brother invited us all to try his church so we got up early and drove 45 minutes across town to his church. They love it, so I was excited to visit while were in town.

However, when we got inside and the first song started I was suddenly overcome with grief for what we had left behind. I hadn't really grieved the loss of our church since I had been in town, though I missed it every day, but I was suddenly filled with thoughts like, 'I don't want to do this. I don't want a new church. I want OUR church'. Then something amazing happened; God happened.

After the song the worship leader stopped and said he had been reading his Bible that morning and was in Psalm 27. He was lead to share Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid?". He encouraged everyone to think of what it is we are afraid of and then pray and give it all to God. 

At the moment when I was overcome with a fear of starting fresh and starting over, He met me and reminded me that regardless of where I worship, He is there.

We went back to their church last week and it was much better for me. William, being me in Austin's body as I often say, had told us the day before that he didn't want to go to a new church because it didn't feel like GoKids. But he was also more comfortable in week 2 and was excited to tell me what he learned. I told him we could make that our Houston church if he wanted, and reminded him that we will be finding our Killeen church home very soon. we have shared some verses about fear and strength with him, and it is no coincidence that the 'remember verse' the last 2 weeks for his class has been Joshua 1:9

"This is my command: be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go"

He is perfect, and He has met us where we are.

What are we up to?

The short answer is: a lot! But, I'm going to do my best to document what we have been up to over the last month or so.

It's been almost a month since I waved goodbye to California and its been pedal to the metal since.

I spent almost a week in Houston with the babies at my mom's while she took off work. Between the two of us we were busy all day every day - relaxing vacation? I think not! Loretta was welcomed with much love from our Houston family with a shower at Aunt Dana's house. She went all out! We had an awesome time, and while the shower was for Loretta, Charles made sure to make his middle child self known! 

Austin and William joined us on Father's Day and they were warmly welcomed - for their help and just because We missed them :)

William and austin enjoyed their special road trip with Pop. William has informed me multiple times that he knows how to get us back to Monterey to visit our friends! 'We just spend one night in Odessa, sleep all the way through New Mexico, spend one night in Phoenix then Lancaster then we get to Monterey!' - simple as that :) they went to a Diamondbacks game in Phoenix and from what I hear, William was a great little traveler.

Once Austin got here our hunt for his new-to-us truck began. And it was exhausting! We'd spend half an hour driving to a dealership, half an hour looking, load all the car seats in trucks, drive them around then reverse it all back to the house. 2-3 hours to see one truck! I forgot how long things take when you have 20 miles to span with 3 kids. But, we eventually found Boss 2.0 and I am LOVING driving our big ol' truck! (Err, his truck...)

After a week of adjusting and settling, William started a day camp in my mom's neighborhood on June 29. He was a little anxious he wouldn't make friends, but he did great and now he's excited for next week's camp again. On his first day austin, Loretta and I drove up to Killeen (with the great company of ms Alexis) to close on our house! 4 hours driving up there, a few hours in town waiting for the loan to fund, and 3.5 hours back. It was quite the day! But, in the end, we are home owners once again!

We have made a few trips to Gallery Furniture, lowe's, hobby lobby and many other places trying to get what we need to get settled in our house. I use the term 'need' pretty loosely as we obviously have more than we could ever need, but we sold our old living room furniture before we moved so we needed new couches, and Loretta needs a room finally - plus paint, etc. so we've been busy little shoppers! I think our list of things to do grows each day. Register for schools, day care, get work set up, turn on water, and on and on.

Meanwhile...while we have been preoccupied our kids have just continued to grow! William is a BIG KID. He likes alone time and is loving having space ofnhisnown to run off and play. Oh Gosh was in town for a week and he brought his girlfriend and her 2 daughters. William ADORED the girls and loved having kids his age (or older) to play with. It was pretty crazy at times with 6 adults, 5 kids, 3 dogs and a cat in the house - but I thought it was really a blast. The kids had so much fun! William is loving his camps and he is in tennis camp this week with Papa. Papa said he is pretty competitive. Hmm. That's surprising huh? ;) He has had a hard time, at times, with the transition...he misses our church, his school, and a lot of people in California. I'm thankful that he can verbalize that to me, and I'm thankful he's doing well adjusting in the meantime. More adjustments to come when we leave Houston and get settled in Killeen, then when he starts school, so keep praying for him!

Charles...my middle child never to be forgotten. He turned one right before we left California and he is alllllll toddler. He is all over the place and has no fear! Once his initial confusion over Loretta wore off I think he decided he loves her! He brings her blankies anytime he sees one laying around and he loves to give her hugs and kisses. He also loves to steal her pacifier when she has one, so he's a classic big brother already. His party animal nature hasn't worn off - he's still more comfortable in crowds of new faces than with one new face, and he was Mr. Social on July 4th. He got his first haircut finally, still eats like a champ, loves to swim and keeps us on-the-ready at ALL times. He's such a blast!

And a bonus? He acquired his bff at his (and my!) first gender reveal party! Can't wait to meet baby boy holloway!

Oh, and sweet Loretta. My little love. She has grown and changed so much in a month and - gasp - I'm just like every other mother of a third child. (I've hardly taken any pictures to see the changes!) I'd like to say I'll be better once we aren't in limbo...but maybe life is forever in limbo now. Jumping from one event to the next, she gets lugged around and takes it like a champ. She has some lungs, and she lets me know when she's sick of waiting to eat, but she holds strong just like a good third child would. She's smiling occasionally and it melts my heart. And she's almost at my birth weight! Ok...not almost. Maybe a pound or pound and a half off. But she's growing so she'll get there. She's just dainty and feminine...qualities she must have gotten from someone else :) 

She also stole the heart of Nancy. 3 wallis babies, 3 times her heart has been stolen. Nancy is a baby lover for sure.

That's the update on the kiddos - and that's about the only update on the cat. I don't see her much...so either she likes hiding at my mom's house, or she's just too far down the pecking order for me to even notice her. But she's getting her lovin' elsewhere so that works well. As for Layla, I'm afraid she may be very near the end of her road. Please keep us in your thoughts as we try to discern when the right time will be to let her go. It is quite possible that the right time was a month ago, but I've got a sensitive 5 year old who adores her so my judgment is a little cloudy. She's the most amazing family dog and she, too, loves her wallis babies. 

That's it for now. We will be painting our house this weekend with the help of amazing family members, so we are really really really close to finally being settled. This crazy phase started May 14 which feels like light years ago, but in a way I can't believe the end is so near.

Tuesday's Travels

Austin and I often had a friendly banter back and forth about who had it worse in our moving arrangements: me on the plane for 6 hours with a 13 month old, 1 month old or him in the car for 4 days with a 5 year old, a dog and a cat. (My mom was with me for help, his step dad with him) Obviously we both think we have the upper hand in that argument, but let me plead my case a little bit.

Flying with kids isn't easy. First there is just the fact that you need a LOT of stuff. You need a lot for one kid, let alone 2. And when packing for a permanent move, the segregation of items between 'need immediately', 'need in Houston but can wait a week', and 'don't need until killeen' ... It becomes a daunting task to sort it and inevitably it defaults to too much being pack for the immediate trip.

Here is Yaya with our smarte (aka life saving) carte (the 'e' is necessary why??) and 2 of our carry ons. Notice the cooler in front of Yaya? Yeah...that baby was packed full of liquid gold. If you don't know what liquid gold is, ask a mom of an infant. We had 5 checked bags, or 4 plus a cooler, and 4 carry ons plus purses. 

I make traveling with 2 look stylish huh? It didn't last long, so luckily we took our pictures first thing.

I have a word of advice to anyone traveling with an infant: if it isn't too much trouble, take the baby out of the carrier before walking through the metal detector. Apparently if you have a carrier on they have to swipe your hands with some sort of wand (For what? Traces of...gun powder????) but if you just carry the baby you are free to go through as normal. Would have been good to know before I waited 15 minutes for my hand swiping.

The airport was fairly uneventful, mostly because we got to our gate 10 minutes before we lined up for boarding. You can thank our search for milk and my hand swiping for that.

Another word of advice: when coffee shops don't sell cartons of milk, ask them to warm the milk via a warm water bath rather than steaming the milk. Unless of course you already know your kid likes steamed milk, which we found out mine does not. Oops. Only way to learn that lesson is to offer said steamed milk 8 times and have it end up on every garment anyone happens to be wearing.

Our flight was scheduled to be 1 hour and 5 minutes to Vegas, then a stop but no plane change for 40 minutes, then a 3 hour flight to Houston.

What really happened was it took 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Vegas, we were then told we needed to change plans unexpectedly, an unplanned layover of 2 hours, and a 3 hour flight to Houston. No big deal.

The change of plans actually turned out to be ok. Charles wore himself out and slept almost the entirety of the second flight; he was really a dream. And of course sweet Loretta was an angel.

So - life in Texas begins! A few more key transitions to come, but we are one step closer to our new normal.

Moving Monday: Monterey

In April of 2012 I wrote a farewell to Colorado post. In my memory it was a really funny post, but I just went back and was very disappointed at my humor. So, I'm not going to link to it and I don't recommend you waste your time. Basically, I wrote about the silly things I had learned while living in Colorado and ended with the greatest lesson being that God had amazing plans for unexpected friendships. I ended the blog foreshadowing into my life a bit, wondering if I would one day be writing a similar story of our lives in California and I quoted scripture from Jeremiah when God asks, 'is anything too hard for me?'.

Man. I had noooooo idea.

So, to start, I'll just note some of the fun facts I've learned in my 3 years here which I never would have expected. In no particular order...

All of the songs about California and the images of sunny beaches with bikini bathers are very misleading. The central coast is rarely sunny, definitely not often warm, and you'll find more people in coats than bikinis.

70 degrees is warm, and 55 is cold. 

There really are republicans here. Really! I never would have thought.

But hippies definitely still exist. Like, for real.

I learned more about farming here than in 22 years in Texas. I'm a little ashamed of that actually, but I had no clue I was moving to the agricultural hub that is referred to as the 'salad bowl'.

Along those lines, I will never taste a strawberry as flavorful as at Central Coast farmers' markets.

Traffic in a slow paced smaller town can be just as frustrating as big city traffic. Either that, or I'm in for a ruuuuuuude awakening very soon.

In 3 years, I wished I had an air conditioner about 3 times. Maybe 5. And our heater was turned on even less.

But, despite the social, cultural, and climactic lessons learned here, my bigger shock of all came in the fact that I was completely accurate 3 years ago: California became my home in ways I never thought imaginable and leaving is no easier now than it was last time. 

I have been blessed beyond measure - we have been blessed beyond measure - in our lives here. We've learned about professionalism. I had a great job with some very good mentors and role models, and austin grew even more in his leadership skills as a platoon sergeant to 80 soldiers at a time . We've learned more about parenthood. And not just by having 2 more kids! We've learned more about ourselves, we've learned a ton about marriage and we've grown our family by 2 more babies. Most importantly, we have grown in our faith and love of Christ. It is through Him that the rest has been possible. I came to California thinking I would never have a home here like we did in Colorado, and in a lot of ways we didn't. But in some ways, this is more home than anywhere else has been to date. I realized there is no need to compare or try to morph a new home into the mold of an old home, all I have to do is try my best to keep my heart and mind open to what is next. I'm incredibly sad to walk away and I'm a little afraid of what's ahead. But I can confidently say we are going where God has lead us and He has things in store there which I can't even fathom. It's just not easy to leave all of this.

If ever you find yourself in Monterey, California I have some great recommendations for tourist spots. I know incredible people who can show you around and whom you'd be blessed to know. I have connections at the best accounting firm in the county. And above all else, I can point you in the direction of the most incredible, Spirit filled and life changing church.

It is with sadness, excitement, anxiety and great expectations that I say goodbye. For now. Just until we meet again. Thanks Monterey, we are truly Better Than Blessed.

William Wednesday

Man, my boy is a pretty freaking awesome big brother!

Life is about to change for this guy. A lot. He's graduating from preschool, we are moving, and he'll start kindergarten in the fall. 

He's a full-on reader. He can read anything. He's pretty solid with simple addition and subtraction. His geography knowledge surpasses mine (though that's no feat). He is incredibly smart, which is both a blessing and a curse. We aren't quite sure how we will keep him engaged when he's so ahead in certain areas. 

He may very well be the pickiest eater in the world and he may have a life goal of arguing more than any other kid in the history of ever. But man, I could not be more proud of that kid, he is incredible. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he goes through some exciting but difficult transitions coming up.

Or maybe just keep me in mind. Let's be honest, who is the first day of kindergarten really going to be hard for?

Efficiency

In honor of my due date tomorrow, I thought it was about time I introduce Loretta Loving to the blog! 

My favorite tag line when someone comments on how my body doesn't know how to be pregnant for 40 weeks is, 'I'm just that efficient. What most women take 40 weeks to do, I can do in 37.' In reality, though, my early birthed children have gotten a little more complicated each time and I do wish Loretta had been able to last a little longer inside. Regardless, she's here now and she's just perfect.

We don't really know what happened that day or what caused her to come early. I'm still a little baffled that I've had 3 babies, all 37ish weeks, and all early for very different reasons. I'm sitting in my living room right now (in a lawn chair - more on that another day) eating take out from the best local Chinese restaurant, remembering the last time we ate there: Tuesday May 12 we ended up with an impromptu date night so we decided to go out for a quick dinner. I wasn't completely comfortable the entire time and as we got in the car after dinner I winced in pain and thought, 'I hope the next three weeks aren't like this!' I had no idea what was ahead.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling very off. I was having fairly regular contractions and some pain, so Austin sternly instructed me to go to the hospital. It was somewhat against my will because I thought I knew what would happen - and I was right. I got there, was monitered, was given a shot to stop everything, and told to go home and rest. Waste of time, I thought. Plus, I hate the idea that I may be 'that person' going in for  no reason! So, I went home, slept a few more hours, and spent the day relaxing and doing nothing. 'Surely I can go back to work tomorrow' I thought.

Tomorrow happened to be the day austin was scheduled to fly to Texas with William, so not only was I determined to not have a baby that day, I was determined he was going on that trip. He was concerned Wednesday night (something about my pain being written all over my face every time I moved) so I promised him that if anything worsened I'd go to the hospital but otherwise it's just how the last few weeks would play out.

At 4:00 Thursday morning Austin let me know things had worsened, despite my best poker face, and told me we needed to go. I said I could call a cab (we had 2 sleeping kiddos after all, and who wants to disturb a sleeping friend to watch their kids for another useless trip to the hospital??) but Austin looked at me like a crazy person and said he wasn't sending his pregnant wife in a taxi cab anywhere. I could either call a friend to come sit at the house and let him drive, or I could be extra dramatic and take an ambulance. I took the first option.

When we got to the hospital the nurse didn't tell me much right away, she just kept monitoring me and asking me to reposition periodically. I told her all about Austin's trip and the things we had to do before Loretta could be born, and she listened so sweetly. Looking back I think she knew the likelihood of Loretta being born that day, but she entertained my controlling and stubborn notion that I had any idea what was to happen. Time kept ticking, contractions kept coming, and I kept referring to Austin's flight and what time we needed to be discharged. He left to get the boys ready and take Charles to daycare, and he came back with William around 7:30. At that point the nurse had hinted at the idea that the doctor might be coming by, and he might want me to stay later into the day. She even casually asked if the Texas trip could be rescheduled. I looked over at William's face and my heart just broke. How could I tell him that his long awaited trip with dada was going to be cancelled due to my inability to hold a baby in full term? I couldn't do it. I even told the nurse (Anne is her name) so. She just smiled.

Shortly before the doctor got there Anne let me know that my heart rate had been 'slightly' elevated since I arrived, my blood pressure was high, and Loretta's heart rate was high. Not only was it high, but her patterns didn't look great. I don't know what that means, but I know it 'isn't great'. My doctor showed up around 8:30 and let me know I was definitely in early labor and things definitely didn't look great. Did I mention it wasn't my doctor? It was his new backup who had never delivered in Monterey. I loved him, so no worries, but at the time I kept laughing at the irony that I specifically picked Dr Alexander to have Dr Alexander - but hey, what do I know?

Around this time I conceded on the Texas trip, but was still hopeful that the various ideas to calm the 2 of us down would work. Dr Feges had a few ideas up his sleeve of how to buy ourselves a week or so. I was 36.5 weeks and if we could get to 37.5 things could look a lot better.  But, right before I was going to eat some food and take a pill my heart rate unexplainably jumped up to 160 and Loretta's jumped over 200. Dr Feges came back, took away my food, and told me it was time to get her out. I had developed a fever and signs of infection, our heart rates continued to climb, my blood pressure kept getting worse - no one knew why, but they all agreed it was just time. We rushed a friend over to take a very confused William to preschool and they got me into the OR once Austin was back. Surgery went well and she was out before I even understood the risk at hand.

The rest of our time wasn't exactly smooth sailing. We took up residency in the family birth center, I had a few disappointing interactions and experiences with some nurses, Loretta had some blood sugar, eating, and jaundice issues, and I spent more time alone than I would have liked while Austin took care of the boys, the house and other arrangements. But, I also had lots of amazing friends and family come through with calls, visits, amazingly fragrant flowers, and endless prayers. I had more positive experiences with nurses than negative by far(besides a few bad stories I could share, the nurses at the hospital here are phenomenal), and though we were there 5 nights which felt like an eternity, at the end of it I got to come home with the most precious baby girl I've ever seen.

The last 3 weeks have been insane. Insane! I could write more about it but really it's about 10 posts worth of information so I'll have to leave some for another day. We've been incredibly busy adjusting and learning while also getting things in order for our move - but despite the busy busy time, we have been so blessed with a sense of peace through it all. 

God had a beautiful plan written out for this little life and He intended for it to begin exactly when it did. I can't wait to see what He has in store next!

Goodbye Facebook? Probably not...

So it's been about 2 weeks since I've been on Facebook. I logged into messenger a few times but otherwise I just haven't been on. At first it wasn't an intentional choice - then after I realized it had been 3-4 days I thought, hey why not see how long it can go? Then, when I started getting 'come back we miss you' emails from Facebook it became a stubborn thing. You can't lure me, you temptress!

Do I miss it? Sometimes. Do I miss your life updates? Duh. Do I find myself running late far less? You betcha. And I'm not on my phone as much, which means I'm either doing something productive or paying more attention to my kids - can't go wrong there right?

I really thought April 16 would bring a huge sigh of relief and less stress/responsibility. I was a believer!!! But what I found was that I traded one stress for another. There were so many things at work and at home that I had neglected from about January 10 through April 15, and then there was a sudden realization that I had 6 weeks to prepare for a baby and 8 weeks to prepare for a move. (But really, I better be prepared for that move BEFORE that baby!) so, I found myself no less stressed and no less busy. 

Our moving binder is in tact and it makes my heart happy. I love our moving binder! Hotel reservations, flight reservations, pet arrangements, household good arrangements, Aurora house sale paperwork, Killeen house hunt details -- it's all in one place. The list of contents goes on but I don't want to bore you. Austin made fun of our binder 3 years ago but he was the one who pushed to get it going this time and now he loves it. Dare I say I may have rubbed off on him in some organizational matter??? Nah, I won't jinx it. But it does help keep things together when there are so many moving pieces - and it feels good when we knock something off the to do list (conveniently found in section 8 of the binder).

And even with my recent boycott of Facebook time still seems to just be slipping away no matter what I do.

I thought it was april 16 but I blinked and its may 8. I'm not quite sure how! This weekend is Mother's Day, next weekend austin and william go house hunting, the next weekend we celebrate our crazy baby's birthday, then the next weekend we are preparing to welcome the little surprise bundle of (well, stress to be honest) and joy! Where did all of the time go? Wasn't I supposed to relax a little somewhere in there?

So - yeah, I've kind of been MIA from blogging for waaaay too long and I've recently been MIA from Facebook. But I do hold out hope that one day soon I'll find myself back in the swing of social media. Less than before perhaps, but hopefully not living in a cave. Until then - think of me often :) I'll surely think of you.

Loretta Loving

Ok. It's time. Our mathematical equation to name our child has remained a secret long enough.

When we got pregnant with Charles we instantly started brainstorming names for boys and girls, and at the time the only tiny reason I would have liked a girl was because naming her seemed like an easier task. Naming a boy had some challenges but we seemed to like the same names for girls. But, Charles is Charles and we wouldn't have it any other way. Ironically though, when we found out about our little surprise we couldn't agree on a girls' name to save our lives. So, every bone in my body hoped we'd have a third boy.

Well, surprise again - it's a girl :) I can say that while we are both intimidated and scared and anxious, we are very, very excited. I think austin would even say he wouldn't change it if he could! But, that doesn't mean naming her was easy. We were kind of dead locked and really just lacking much motivation so we had to come up with a system. (Err, I had to come up with a system. Austin was fine waiting)

I would have bet money that no matter what system we came up with, her name would end up Elizabeth Loving. (Bet you can't guess where my vote was!) Elizabeth is the middle name of my cousin who has been one of my closest friends my entire life, it's classic and beautiful, and it just conveniently fell in line with our royal theme. But, we weren't in agreement so we came up with a method.

We each chose 6 girl names and wrote them on a paper. Then we each got to cross off one name from each other's list so we were left with 10 names. We actually only had 9 because Elizabeth was on both of our lists, so again I assumed that was the name we would end up with. Once we had 2 lists of 5 we each ranked both lists 1-5, 1 being our favorite and 5 being our least favorite. This quickly knocked the list down to 5 names because a lot of them were low on both scores. The top names, mathematically, were:

Mary

Elizabeth

Aurora

Samantha

And I can't remember #5. Notice nowhere on the list is Loretta, as neither of us had even uttered the name before. I said we should just sit on it awhile but Austin said 'well Mary wins why not Mary?' (It was conveniently #1 on his own list, mind you) 

We had already agreed the middle name would either be Loving or Aurora, but were both pretty set on Loving, so he kept saying Mary Loving.

Well, Mary Loving was my grandmother which is awesome - but as days went by I felt a little guilty that of the 6 names we would give our kids, 4 would come from one side of my family and 1 would come from his. So while he kept saying Mary I just wasn't sure.

Then it occurred to me - what if we found out what his grabdmother's middle name was? She had just recently passed away and I thought maybe it'd be neat to have both names be a grabdmother's middle name. We asked his mom, because he wasn't sure, and when she told me I just loved it. I asked him what he thought of Loretta Loving and his eyes lit up. And the final judge: william instantly approved.

It's not a very common or traditional name, it's a little old fashioned and a little country (thanks to Loretta Lynn) but we both loved it the moment it came up which is how we knew it was what her name was meant to be.

So while our math didn't quite add up to a winner, it did get us there. No more than 4 weeks from yesterday we will be holding our baby girl, the baby we never knew we wanted but can't imagine not having. Loretta Loving.

Moving Monday Part 4 (or 3...)

Oops. April sucks. No explanation.

But - our house is under contract! It was on the market for 48 hours and we had 9 offers. The lowest offer was $500 above our asking price.

If I had more time I'd write about how incredibly overwhelmed, excited, nostalgic, shocked and blessed we feel. For now, the adjectives will have to do.

17 days from now our first home will belong to someone else, and 18 days from now we will not have a penny of debt to our names. It's bittersweet for sure, but definitely more sweet than bitter.

William Wednesday

What??? Yep, I'm here on Wednesday to talk about my sweet baby william.

Who is 5, and huge and not at all a baby. Except when he sleeps. 

I've always known william was a talented sleeper, but I don't think I really valued it until I had my sweet precious sleepless Charles. Before I complain too much, I know Charles has overall been a good sleeper. Once we got past 6-8 weeks he slept pretty much through the night every night. He stirs easily, and any noise can wake him - but for the most part he slept.  Lately though I've decided he hates for me to sleep, so he peacefully sleeps from 7:00 until whenever it is that he hears me winding down. Some nights that's 9:30, others it's midnight. But he just patiently waits until that moment before he decides to wake up in a fuss needing something or another.

Why not let him cry it out? Well, mostly because that doesn't really help my sleep situation any more than coddling him and in my exhausted stuper I just want the fastest path to sleep. But also because charles and william are now sharing a room and we don't want to end up with 2 kids up at midnight!

Oh wait - william Wednesday. That's what we are here for. William. How dare I digress from my first born?

Luckily so far the crying hasn't woken him which is just amazing. Every morning it leaves me more and more thankful for his ability to sleep through a hurricane.

He is as stubborn as ever. His latest gem of a story involves a 45 minute hold out, refusing to politely ask me to give him the pastry in my purse. Wanna hear it? You know you do.

On Saturdays during tax season william likes to come to my work with me. I usually work about 8-5 depending on the weekend, and he comes from about 8-12. He plays legos or cars or watches shows, but I think mostly he just enjoys being with me. At work we have Saturday breakfasts hosted by different people each week, but my little finicky mini-me eater won't eat most of it so I usually either feed him at home or grab him something on the way. Two weekends ago we had to stop at target to get 2 birthday presents (for his jam packed agenda) so I offered to get him a pastry at Starbucks. That was my first mistake and I take full responsibility.

So we are in line and we notice the selection is limited. Then we have this conversation:

Mommy can I have the lemon pound cake?

No william, because you won't eat it. You only want the icing.

No I will eat it.

Every bite?

Yes I like it all.

Ok.

Second mistake. Don't ever trust a manipulative 5 year old trying to get sugar. I bought it and as I was going to hand it to him he said 'mommy, I can share it with you. We can split it'

Well, I'm no fool. I know how he would have wanted to split it. Break it in half so that all of the icing is on one side, which he'd conveniently take. Proud of my ability to con a con artist, I broke the pound cake in half lengthwise, evenly splitting the icing.

You would have thought World War III broke out right there in the target in Marina, CA. He. Was. Mad.

I took the pound cake back and put it in my purse, letting him know when he decided to calm down, figure out what he needed to say to me, and ask politely for his food and milk he could have them but until then I was done talking to him. This ensued the quickest target trip ever, followed by 20 minutes in the car driving to my work listening to 'mommy, you HAVE to feed me. It's the law. I'm HUNGRY. You have to give me my food. You are not listening to me...' And on and on.

I quietly let it go on until about 5 minutes before we got to my office when I let him know, 'William, we are almost at my work. You can not behave this way at my work. If I have to call dada to come pick you up he is going to be very upset and you will not be going to Jordan's pirate birthday party. This is your choice. If you are hungry, you will find a way to politely get your food. Until then, I would recommend you stop your tantrum  unless you want to lose the parties of the day'

'But I don't know HOW to politely ask'

'Well, then I guess you're not that hungry'

He rode silently the rest of the way and when we got into my office we had this exchange:

William, come with me to the room to get my food.

But I don't want anything in there I can stay in here.

Ok. I'm taking my purse and closing my door, don't leave.

Why are you taking your purse?

Because I'm not leaving your food and milk in here to tempt you.

Oh. Ok. I will come with you.

We got my breakfast and then about 3 minutes after we got back to my office I won. My stubborn resolve beat his and did an interla victory dance as he quietly said, "mommy, can I please have my pound cake and my milk?"

Why yes, yes you may.

The rest of the day was enjoyable for everyone and both boys had fun at the pirate birthday party.

So, while William may push my limits during the waking hours, testing my own stubbornness and manipulation, he gives me rest between the hours of 8pm and 7am. For that, I am more thankful each and every day.

Moving Monday Part 3

So, I started this on Monday if that helps. I think I have yet to post one on a Monday - but there's room to grow right?

Just over 3 years ago when we found out we'd be moving to Monterey we started the process of determining what to do with our house in Aurora. We bought it in 2007 and we bought it well below its appraisal due to a short sale, so we thought we were just walking into equity. But, by 2012 the market hadn't bounced back enough and to sell the house we were going to have to pay about $10,000 at closing. Not ok by us.

So, against my hearts desires, we decided to contract a rental management company and rent it out. The luxury of living 7 minutes from a military base is that your house will always been in demand for renters. The market was great and overall I would say the experience has been a decent one. But overall I'd also say I've never waivered in my desire to sell it and move on. I don't think I was built to be a rental property owner. I worried nonstop that tenants would fail to pay, or move without notice, or trash the house - and all of those things happened at least once. But, most months I worried for no reason as rent came on time and the maintenance expenses were minimal. We have really been fortunate in having a virtually pain free process.

Last fall, before knowing anything about little loretta or fort Hood, our tenants requested an extension of their lease. It was set to expire 9/30 and we offered a 6 month extension. Their request couldn't have been more percect. It put us right in the prime time for home sales in Denver and we were excited at the prospect of maybe selling instead of finding new tenants this time. Less than a month later I saw those 2 pink lines, and then a few weeks after that we found out about our move. The Aurora house situation was so perfectly timed and I know exactly who was in charge of that upstairs.

It hasn't been as smooth as we had hoped between our property manager, tenants and realtor - and things got a little hairy 2 weeks ago - but I am SO excited to say that on April 2 our house will be on the market!!! Our realtor is optimistic that we will have an offer within a couple of weeks and hopefully it's smooth sailing. If we could close on that sale before we embark on being parents of 3 that'd be pretty fantastic.

And that $10,000 payment at closing? Yeah. Not even close to the case anymore. So very thankful for the turn in the market and for how wonderfully these things all lined up.

3 years ago I thought the cards were stacked against us and was so frustrated that we couldn't just sell it and be done. I was just sure our financial lives would tank due to this rental. Oh ye of little faith. God always knows, doesn't he?

Moving Monday Part 2

One of our favorite parts of living in Colorado was owning our home. We could paint it however we wanted, hang as much stuff on the walls as our hearts desires, build a patio to our liking - it was fun, and it was home. A part of me thought maybe we'd be there indefinitely, as austin was maybe getting out of the army in 2011. Obviously that didn't happen, but it still made it feel so much more like home.

When we moved to California we didn't even consider buying a house. we had no interest in incurring $500,000 of debt for 1,500 sq feet of space. (Still don't!) But, it has been an adjustment for us to go back to being renters while still trying to feel at home. We didn't paint, we did minimal decorating - I know we could have done more to make it cozy and inviting but it was just not an easy adjustment.

So, one if the parts about moving back to Texas that has excited us the most is that we plan to buy a house. The price range is awesome (especially compared to here!) and we can't wait to find a house and call it ours.

Because we had the ability to stay in Houston while we house hunt we won't be making any early trips out to house hunt. We debated having austin fly down there in May, but something about my track record of bed rest and babies born early made us decide to nix that idea. We have enough going on. But that hasn't stopped us (mostly austin) from searching trulia, zillow, and realtor.com on a daily basis to find just what we are looking for.

We want something no bigger than 2,400 square feet - but no smaller than 2,000. Items to think 2,200 is perfect but austin doesn't seem to have a cap on size. I'm just not into big houses myself, and I don't want to clean it :) 

We want 4 bedrooms (again, austin would go for 5) and at least 2 bathrooms but 3 preferably. William and Charles  will share a room (William's request!) and Loretta will have her own (already the princess) The 4th room will serve as my office and guest room, unless there is also an extra space to be an office. I think I prefer a one story house, while austin is indifferent. If it's 2 story we disagree on where we want the master bedroom. 4 years down the road I'll much prefer it on the main floor, but looking at the 12 months ahead of us I'd like to minimize the effort it will take to get from our room to a crying baby's room...or crying babies' rooms. So it seems like a single story would just be easier. 

We have a couple 'internet favorites' (my name for them since our opinions may vary greatly in person) and there is one in particular that I think I'd just love to buy right now.

I'm exhausted thinking about house hunting, making an offer, signing our lives away, and then physically moving into and setting up a new house. But, let's face it, I'm just exhausted all of the time now and I probably shouldn't expect relief anytime in the next 10 years. So, that being said, I can't wait to hold the keys to whatever house God has picked to be the next home of the Wallis family. And I just can't wait to see what is in store for us there!