Wow! The month of September flew by!
It was full of so many new things and lots of inconsistency. No routines for us pretty much, lol. I guess that is what happens when you are
living between two locations and traveling 1.5 hours every four days or
so. All month long we have spent most
Mondays through Wednesdays in Louisville and then Thursday through Sunday at my
parents’ lake house in Rough River. I am
pretty much burnt out on all the traveling so, even though I love the low
stimulation that the lake house provides for the kids and I, I am going to do a
lot less back and forth next month.
Reading with Mamaw at the lake
Eating s'mores at the lake
fire!
House in progress...the reason we are living out of suitcases right now :-)
Ben officially started his new job this month on the 9th. The majority of the month was training in the
office and getting acquainted with what he would be doing, but by the end of
the month he was able to get out to the power plants some. He has really enjoyed it so far and is
looking forward to the challenge of growing in this career. It has been an adjustment for all of us since
he tends to work much longer hours than we were used to with the Navy. We were a bit spoiled in his last few months
with the Navy because of some really short hours so having him not get home
until 6pm some days is pretty crazy. I
know it’s not that unusual for the normal work force, but it will just take us
some time to adjust to our new normal.
It has been a month of adjusting
to change for me. I am not a person who
likes change a lot and especially not last minute changes. To make a long story short, we have had a lot
of changes, many of which have been last minute changes and that has been
pretty stressful for me. Thankfully, as long
as my parents are in town, they have been able to help watch the kiddos so I
can still get my exercising in to destress, but it has still be hard for
me. I love all the time we are able to
spend with family and the extra help they provide, but I am very much looking
forward to moving into our new home and truly being able to start our life here
in this new city…and to finally have a bit of consistency and schedule. I have been able to do a lot of help with the
cooking, especially for big family dinners with my brothers and sister- in-law,
which I have really enjoyed.
Reading with Grandaddy
Snuggles with Granpeg
Swinging with Papaw
Reading with Papaw
The kiddos have been doing great, especially in light of all the
traveling and changes this month.
Alethea definitely still does not really understand what is going on
yet…at least we don’t think she does.
She talks a lot about going to church and seeing her friends. (We haven’t been going to church this month
because we have been spending the weekends in Rough River, just our family of
4.) She frequently tells us she is going
to see her friends and loves her friends.
She talks about Molly, Eli, Laura, Abigail and Elise a lot and doesn’t
quite get why we can’t go see them.
Unfortunately, given our circumstances, she has not had any contact with
kids her own age which we are hoping will change next month as we start visiting
churches and searching for opportunities for her to socialize. I think that is the hardest part of the whole
moving process is watching her come to grips with not being able to see her
friends. It definitely breaks my heart,
and often brings a tear to my eyes, to hear her talk about her friends in such
a sweet way.
Gardening at Granpeg and Grandaddy's
She caged herself in Apollo's cage, lol
Helping pick watermelon
Sitting in Grandaddy's recliner
Eating on the deck at the lake
A house divided...but not really :-)
Running is good for all of us :-)
In other news, she is continuing to grow like a weed. Just when I think she is going to slow down
her growth some, she has another growth spurt, lol. At 31 months she was 39.75inches tall and
34lbs which makes her off the charts for height still and average in
weight. This makes for crazy clothes
shopping for her especially due to the fact that she seems to have a long torso
in proportion to her legs and she has no butt to keep pants up. So, as a result, she wears 4T and 5T shirts,
3T and 4T dresses, and then 3T and 4T pants (and still 2T in shorts and
skirts). I am so glad, I stopped buying
clothes ahead of time a long time ago because I never would have guessed she
would be 2.5, but in sizes almost twice her age, lol!
"Take a picture of me!"
Such a big girl!
She can ride a tricycle on her own :-)
This month has also brought a lot of typical two year old issues. Plus I am sure some of the behavior issues
are linked to her dealing with all the changes and emotions associated with
those changes, the best way a two year old can.
The first issue we have been struggling with is the fact that she has
really been fighting naps. We shifted
the nap back to 2pm and had success with her napping better for the first part
of the month, but that last week or so she only took 2 naps the whole time. She can be yawning like crazy, but just
throws a party in her bed come nap time, lol.
It can get a bit frustrating at times, but I am just hoping this phase
passes soon. My prayer is that, once we
move into our new house and there is much less stimuli, she will nap better. The other issue we have been dealing with is
typical curiosity of a 2 year old in a house that has 4 levels for her to get
into. It can be a bit much at times to
keep up with her and keep her out of trouble.
I am not enjoying the increased about of disciplining and getting on her
case I have had to do. L As a result of all the craziness I have been
much more impatient with her and I have been struggling with a bit of Mommy
guilt about my attitude towards her this past month. I have really been trying to work on my
attitude and responding more lovingly, even amidst disciplining her.
Oh, just reading in the drawer of her play baby bed :-)
Snuggles with my babies
She has continued to amaze us with her grasp of language and
concepts. It has been fun to see her
pick up on different phrases that she has heard and make connections to come up
with her own phrases. The other day one
of my grandparents friends came to the house and my brother invited them in,
but they were reluctant to come in. So
Alethea decided to say, “Well you could at least come inside and say hi to the
puppies!”, lol. Another funny one was
when my dad used his nickname for me which is “sis” and Alethea mimicked the
phrase my dad used putting her own twist on it and she said “isn’t that right
sissy poo”. The “sissy poo” part was
her own adaptation that I believe she took from me jokingly saying “sissy poo”
while pretending Declan is talking to Alethea. J Those are just a few of the funny things that
come out of our sweet little girl. She
always keeps us on our toes and often keeps us laughing out loud!
Such a good big sister
Getting messy at the playground
Building in the sand at the park
Swinging at the park
Making "soup" at the park
One month of waiting down, a little over one to go! Thankfully we have definitely learned that
God blesses the waiting and we are looking forward to seeing what He has in
store for October.
