Bryson has, of course, changed immensely since August! He's been sitting on his own for a good while and started some army crawling and rocking on all fours at the end of September. Last week he learned how to sit himself up on his own and has been doing a little "real" crawling as well. We're definitely at the strange stage of all of a sudden not seeing your baby where you left him. : ) He babbles lots, is about 17 1/2 pounds, and loves his Mommy. He does say "Mama" a lot and sometimes seems to make the coorelation, but I don't think it's quite purposeful yet. Both front bottom teeth have broken through. One did a few weeks ago, the other did this week. They have been a booger for him, and I think that is what has given us many screaming, near sleepless nights. "This too shall pass!" Not getting much sleep still, but he had a few good nights this week, so maybe we're moving forward. : )
Emma is quite the social girl. She loves to know everyone's business and prays for EVERYONE most nights. Of course, as she prays for family and friends, she turns to me and has to inquire as to what they're doing and whether they're sick or not. SHe is always excited to go places and see people. Unfortunately, she's also in a major separation anxiety period. We're doing a lot of role play and talking about things ahead of time. She tries so hard to be a "big girl" and not cry, too. Hopefully we'll be out of it soon so Mommy can get a little space. I'm trying to just enjoy the fact that she wants to be with me and hope she doesn't one day want to be away from me all the time. : (
I think I've reached my limit at the computer and don't have enough clarity of mind to think about anything else for now. I think that comes with lack of sleep. : ) Oh, I love them to death and am enjoying life whether I can remember much of it or not. ; ) It's off to church tomorrow evening for our fall carnival with my little princess and penguin. : )
Friday, October 30, 2009
Forever Behind
10 weeks of life have passed since I last got to write. Crazy how much has happened since then. DJ got married. We've been to 3 Clemson games--rained EVERY time! We went to Bonclarken with the high school group from church. We went to the beach with some friends. We put our house on the market. We bought a lot at the other end of the street. Our past 10 weeks in a nutshell. Hopefully, my time to sit and reflect will allow me to give further detail, but we'll see...
The week of DJ's wedding was incredibly busy, but it was great and a great honor to be a part of this milestone in her life! I must say the timing was difficult for me with Bryson being just under 5 months. He also hit a growth spurt that week-end, so I was having to get to him or have him brought to me every 2 hours or so. Thankfully, he took a bottle once or twice in there. The wedding was beautiful as was the weather, and it was great to see lots of friends!
Clemson games have been hard but worth it. 2 kids, a full day, and rain = exhaustion. Ben's made it to one with us. Emma is quite the fanatic these days and can just about spell Clemson Tigers now. She usually leaves about 3 or 4 letters out of the cheer. She loves to "play Clemson Tigers"...she runs, jumps, falls, etc. and we sit or stand nearby and do Clemson cheers. Not Ben's favorite thing. : ) It is funny bc she insists he do the actual Clemson cheers, nothing generic. : )
The last week-end in September we pulled the trailer and went to Bonclarken with the high school kids. Lou Ann bought a house about 1 minute away and so graciously let us stay there for the week-end. It was wonderful! We got to be with the high school kids a good bit but not be on a schedule that was murderous for the kiddos.
The next week-end we went down to Garden City Beach with 4 other families. 9 kids from Thursday-Sunday. Fun stuff! The kids did great together, and it was a wonderful time with friends. Nothing is closer to Heaven for me than the beach, so I am always grateful to be there! I think I have to ward off depression for longer periods every time I have to leave it. The house was great and had a hot tub and a heated pool. We only used the pool once, which surprised me. But I did get in the hot tub two of the three nights. It was perfect weather, so we spent most of our time on the beach. I had a great time hanging out at night, but most of us had to force ourselves to stay awake. : ) We got to see a shark on the beach Sunday morning before we left, and Emma still talks about it! She and her friend Linnea were so excited to see and touch a real shark. Their parents thought it was pretty cool too.
Side note--Emma is supposed to be in bed, but is in my bathroom singing Jingle Bells! Girl after my heart! The only miserable part is that I can't get more than 5 minutes to myself in this house.
Finally, the big news in our lives is putting our house on the market and buying a lot down the road. It has been so neat yet a little stressful watching the Lord's hand move in this process. Way earlier in the year, we talked to the owner of land in a culd-e-sac at the other end of the neighborhood. She's pretty old and not totally in her right mind. She was going to sell us just over 3 acres of it. In the back and forth process with the land surveyor, her and the county, we found out it couldn't be subdivided (~9 acres) unless the road was extended. We had been praying for the Lord's direction as we were moving ahead hard since it is like my dream place to be in Rock Hill. We took the news from the county as a clear cut closed door from the Lord even though I was a little disappointed. Well, several months later, the week-end of DJ's wedding, our neighbor who sells land put up for sale signs. I was so eager to jump on it but couldn't bc of the busyness of the wedding events. I began to pray about it, asking the Lord for it as well as guidance as to a "doable" price (the first time around as doors closed, Ben said he really wasn't comfortable paying what she was asking anyway). I felt the Lord leading me to an amount (I hate saying that bc it's so hard to understand that when people say it, but it really did feel like he was just putting the number in my mind as I prayed). Almost a week later, Ben called our neighbor to see it and talk about it, and we prayed for guidance. I then told Ben the amount I felt the Lord had "given" me as I had been praying. I was a little scared to say it aloud bc I knew that really bound me, and if the price was higher, I would have to let it go...you know how sometimes you struggle to share convictions bc of the accountability and reality of it. Anyway, he walked the property with him, told him we were definitely interested in 3 acres (advertised to be subdivided),our neighbor told him what he was asking for it, but that he would sell it for the exact amount we had already been given from the Lord...w/o Ben asking to negotiate or anything. They shook on it right there, and we got busy on the process! I have been humbled and amazed by how specific the Lord was in the process! The additional amazing details...we bought it for $30K less than what she asked a few months prior. And, the county works with our neighbor so much that he worked them into allowing it to be subdivided! Isn't it amazing how the Lord protects us!?!? We also qualified for a 90% loan instead of 80%, and we received a "note" for the down payment for 90 days. So basically, the Lord gave us this HUGE gift at very minimal cost. We closed this past Monday and became the owners of 3.2 acres down the road. We went down and walked it and talked about some things on our way home and then prayed and thanked God for this amazing gift and asked Him to bless it for our family and His. What an exciting and humbling day and process! We are so eager to build, but we can't get started until we sell our house. We have it up for sale by owner now and look forward to hopefully selling it soon. I am having a bit of a hard time fighting the anxiety of moving and renting and moving again, but I have seen the Lord's hand, so I will continue to give the praise and control. I think we've decided on a house plan that we can make minor changes to and be extremely happy with. We were back and forth on having plans drawn, but it's a huge expense. I had to really pray hard about it and get back to looking on-line. I felt like we'd seen everything, and I really just wanted to draw up our own. After praying about it though, the Lord opened my eyes to looking in a different light, and I found a great plan that we both like and can adapt it without having to pay big bucks.
The week of DJ's wedding was incredibly busy, but it was great and a great honor to be a part of this milestone in her life! I must say the timing was difficult for me with Bryson being just under 5 months. He also hit a growth spurt that week-end, so I was having to get to him or have him brought to me every 2 hours or so. Thankfully, he took a bottle once or twice in there. The wedding was beautiful as was the weather, and it was great to see lots of friends!
Clemson games have been hard but worth it. 2 kids, a full day, and rain = exhaustion. Ben's made it to one with us. Emma is quite the fanatic these days and can just about spell Clemson Tigers now. She usually leaves about 3 or 4 letters out of the cheer. She loves to "play Clemson Tigers"...she runs, jumps, falls, etc. and we sit or stand nearby and do Clemson cheers. Not Ben's favorite thing. : ) It is funny bc she insists he do the actual Clemson cheers, nothing generic. : )
The last week-end in September we pulled the trailer and went to Bonclarken with the high school kids. Lou Ann bought a house about 1 minute away and so graciously let us stay there for the week-end. It was wonderful! We got to be with the high school kids a good bit but not be on a schedule that was murderous for the kiddos.
The next week-end we went down to Garden City Beach with 4 other families. 9 kids from Thursday-Sunday. Fun stuff! The kids did great together, and it was a wonderful time with friends. Nothing is closer to Heaven for me than the beach, so I am always grateful to be there! I think I have to ward off depression for longer periods every time I have to leave it. The house was great and had a hot tub and a heated pool. We only used the pool once, which surprised me. But I did get in the hot tub two of the three nights. It was perfect weather, so we spent most of our time on the beach. I had a great time hanging out at night, but most of us had to force ourselves to stay awake. : ) We got to see a shark on the beach Sunday morning before we left, and Emma still talks about it! She and her friend Linnea were so excited to see and touch a real shark. Their parents thought it was pretty cool too.
Side note--Emma is supposed to be in bed, but is in my bathroom singing Jingle Bells! Girl after my heart! The only miserable part is that I can't get more than 5 minutes to myself in this house.
Finally, the big news in our lives is putting our house on the market and buying a lot down the road. It has been so neat yet a little stressful watching the Lord's hand move in this process. Way earlier in the year, we talked to the owner of land in a culd-e-sac at the other end of the neighborhood. She's pretty old and not totally in her right mind. She was going to sell us just over 3 acres of it. In the back and forth process with the land surveyor, her and the county, we found out it couldn't be subdivided (~9 acres) unless the road was extended. We had been praying for the Lord's direction as we were moving ahead hard since it is like my dream place to be in Rock Hill. We took the news from the county as a clear cut closed door from the Lord even though I was a little disappointed. Well, several months later, the week-end of DJ's wedding, our neighbor who sells land put up for sale signs. I was so eager to jump on it but couldn't bc of the busyness of the wedding events. I began to pray about it, asking the Lord for it as well as guidance as to a "doable" price (the first time around as doors closed, Ben said he really wasn't comfortable paying what she was asking anyway). I felt the Lord leading me to an amount (I hate saying that bc it's so hard to understand that when people say it, but it really did feel like he was just putting the number in my mind as I prayed). Almost a week later, Ben called our neighbor to see it and talk about it, and we prayed for guidance. I then told Ben the amount I felt the Lord had "given" me as I had been praying. I was a little scared to say it aloud bc I knew that really bound me, and if the price was higher, I would have to let it go...you know how sometimes you struggle to share convictions bc of the accountability and reality of it. Anyway, he walked the property with him, told him we were definitely interested in 3 acres (advertised to be subdivided),our neighbor told him what he was asking for it, but that he would sell it for the exact amount we had already been given from the Lord...w/o Ben asking to negotiate or anything. They shook on it right there, and we got busy on the process! I have been humbled and amazed by how specific the Lord was in the process! The additional amazing details...we bought it for $30K less than what she asked a few months prior. And, the county works with our neighbor so much that he worked them into allowing it to be subdivided! Isn't it amazing how the Lord protects us!?!? We also qualified for a 90% loan instead of 80%, and we received a "note" for the down payment for 90 days. So basically, the Lord gave us this HUGE gift at very minimal cost. We closed this past Monday and became the owners of 3.2 acres down the road. We went down and walked it and talked about some things on our way home and then prayed and thanked God for this amazing gift and asked Him to bless it for our family and His. What an exciting and humbling day and process! We are so eager to build, but we can't get started until we sell our house. We have it up for sale by owner now and look forward to hopefully selling it soon. I am having a bit of a hard time fighting the anxiety of moving and renting and moving again, but I have seen the Lord's hand, so I will continue to give the praise and control. I think we've decided on a house plan that we can make minor changes to and be extremely happy with. We were back and forth on having plans drawn, but it's a huge expense. I had to really pray hard about it and get back to looking on-line. I felt like we'd seen everything, and I really just wanted to draw up our own. After praying about it though, the Lord opened my eyes to looking in a different light, and I found a great plan that we both like and can adapt it without having to pay big bucks.
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