new

 We're so enjoying setting into our new home!  The piles of boxes are slowly shrinking, the missing items are surfacing one by one (still AWOL: sewing machine foot and preschool workbook!) and we're loving having more space and more time together as a family!

Nathan and Miriam have their own rooms for the first time, which they are really enjoying.  It gives them more room to spread out and play, and also means fewer of the toys end up in other parts of the house, which is nice for cleanup.

We've made a couple of Lowes trips, for a mailbox and other necessities, (and more are in our future!) but it's mostly just cosmetic things that need repaired, which is nice after dealing with more major renovations. :)

We still need to replace a shower, paint a few rooms, install a ceiling fan and ceiling light in the living room and office (done!), and finish the rest of the porch (Micah already did the railings, the fresh white is so crisp and looks great!) among other things, but we're taking one thing at a time and enjoying the smaller, bite sized projects.

Being closer to town has been great too.  The kids and I have had some fun visits with other moms and kids, and we've gotten a wonderful routine of going to the weekly library storytime.  We've been able to get together for dinner during the week several times for dinner with other families, and we even went out on a date and spent more time shopping and enjoying dinner than driving!  Grocery shopping is more manageable with the 20 minute round trip instead of an hour and a half.  And if I drive just a little farther, I can go to Aldi instead, which I love.  Seems like usually my grocery money goes quite a bit further there. :)

Having Micah home an hour earlier most nights is especially good right now...since I came down with my fourth case of the Egyptian flu* and spending time in the kitchen cooking...intensified my symptoms.

Let's just say that a small child eating their breakfast and watching me trying to get myself a bowl of cereal six weeks ago asked, rather logically, if the baby was going to come out my mouth when it was done growing! ;)  

I am 18 weeks now, still having a little morning sickness but its definitely improved!  So far, this has been the pregnancy of midnight salads, green apples & green apple gummy candy, sprite, and cereal.  Oh, and lots of ice cream.  And this is the first pregnancy that pickles have sounded good!  (But no...not with the ice cream!) ;)

 

* (you're sick for nine months and then you become a Mummy.  I know! So cheesy.  Can I plead pregnancy brain making me find that funny...?)