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.
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