FFF: We moved!

After tossing around the idea for months, we finally bit the bullet and started taking steps toward selling our house and buying a different house in town.  Although we really loved our old house, there were a few things that drove us to move.  I would say the largest factor was simply that we are in a very different season of life now than we were when we bought our first home.  When we first moved in, we had a very limited budget, only one little tike who wasn't even walking yet, and only one vehicle.  That house was such a blessing because it met all of our requirements (4 bedroom, bike-able to campus, space to entertain friends, etc.).  I am beyond grateful that the Lord gave us that house for a season. 

As our family has grown though, several small things began adding up, which made the house fit our needs less and less.  Here are a few:

• Our street was so busy, and cars drove fast (40-45 mph on average), making it unsafe to play out front, and risky when loading and unloading in the car.  (There wasn't a garage or carport to park under either.)
• The adjoining neighborhood where we could go for a walk was nice, but getting there was often not easy because we had to walk down the busy street (no sidewalks) past a few houses to enter the side streets. 
• Our backyard was infested with mosquitoes.  I know, I know, "they are a fact of life in the South"... it's true.  But if I sent Enoch outside to play for 10 minutes, he would come back in with 15-20 bites, bare minimum.  They were terrible.  Even our contractors mentioned how bad they were.  :/  
• Logistically, as our family size grew, our small kitchen and detached laundry room made everyday chores more of a burden.  
• The repairs our house needed were draining our budget and requiring a lot of our extra time.  We enjoyed remodeling but at the same time felt like we really wanted to be spending more time with our kids.  And although we were close to being done with remodels, we learned the hard way that in an older home, remodeling is never truly done. 

And so we did a few final projects around the house (painted the hallways, re-wired the electrical, replaced some light fixtures, replaced the front door, etc.) and de-cluttered a bit and then listed it on the market by the end of summer.   We had quite a few people come and look at our house within the first few weeks that it was on the market.  Thankfully after that it slowed down - keeping my house show-able with three little ones was harder than I expected!  One of the interested buyers suggested that she might make an offer IF we could be out by Sept. 15.  We agreed with our realtor verbally that if she could make a high enough offer, we could make that date work (It was just before Aug 15th when this discussion was happening).  Well, don't you just know that she had some complications come up that she needed to deal with before she would make an offer.  So we waited for a little over a week without much action.  Then, all of a sudden, she came back and made an offer.  Only this time, she was giving us 3 weeks to move out.  We negotiated back and forth in order to get the price higher and other details settled, and by the time it was finalized, we were left with 2.5 weeks to move out!   

Fortunately we had been looking at houses on the market since the beginning of summer.  We had probably been in at least 20-30.  While only 8 or so remained on our list of possibilities, none of them really stood out as THE house for us.  When the offer on our house came in though, we decided that we had better get busy deciding and making an offer on a house before we ended up being homeless!  (We did look into temporary housing, but it was going to cost us a huge non-refundable deposit, and the set-up wasn't quite ideal, so we saved that as a very last resort.)  Anyway, after the offer on our house came in, we reviewed the options we had been considering, and the list quickly narrowed.  A few houses had gone off the market (under contract) and a few others were currently occupied.  Since we needed to be out in 2.5 weeks, we decided it would be best to seek early-occupancy in a home that was already vacant AND move-in ready.  That ultimately narrowed our options down to 3.  We quickly saw which one of those was our favorite, and made an offer.  After some negotiations, the sellers agreed to let us move in a few days before our closing date on our old house (this was such a blessing!).  Then, the Lord provided again for our peace of mind by allowing the buyer of our old house to close early and give us a few days to move out (she paid in cash, so she had the flexibility to do that!).  So basically, we sold our old house on a Thursday afternoon, moved out on Saturday (and straight into our new house), and then bought our new house a few weeks later (we had to wait a few weeks since we needed a loan).

Now that we've been in our new house for over one month, I can say that we love it!  Although it didn't seem like anything special when we first looked at it, I am so thankful the Lord put us in this one over some of the other options we saw.  I love the tile and laminate floors (which I didn't even notice when we first walked through it) because they're so easy to clean.  The kitchen is spacious and updated, and it makes cooking for crowds and cleaning up afterwards a breeze!  Our garage is functioning right now as a second play area, though I can pull up into it on rainy days for loading the kiddos if needed.  Our backyard has a great dirt pile that Enoch so enjoys, not to mention a fantastic play house (custom built by a loving grandfather) that I know our kids will appreciate for years.  There is a huge shop in the backyard that Hugh has really been enjoying. We have a master bathroom which makes getting ready in the mornings so much easier.  The doors to the kids' bedrooms close effortlessly and silently which makes going in during the night cause less issues (this may seem crazy, but at our old house, the bedroom doors were all SO loud.. it sometimes caused problems). Laundry is such a breeze to do, and it gets done more frequently!  Our house is not only in a slow neighborhood, but it is also right beside a stop sign, making it even just a little safer.  And our driveway and side road are flat and easy for kids to use.  Now, it's not a perfect house... I could list a few things that we are considering changing soon, but overall it is a great improvement for us, and we are so, so thankful. 

 the beloved dirt pile

 my laundry room (and helper) off the kitchen

 play space (and cute player) near the kitchen w/ great view of backyard

(Alaythia really appreciates being able to see our dog, Cora, through the glass.  It's one of her favorite places to play!)

 roomy kitchen

 play area in garage

(Hugh has our garage so organized already, which is such a blessing to me because I can send the big kids out there to play while I make lunch, and they have a blast!)

 flat surfaces for little feet

 the amazing play house (with lights)

 our spacious living room, great for game nights and church gatherings

one last one of the kids' favorite thing about the new house... the dirt.  ha!! 

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Alaythia Ruth at 6-8 mos

ready for Uncle Cameron's wedding

It is hard for Hugh and I to believe that Alaythia is already 8 months old!!  The time has flown by.  We treasure this little one so much and love watching her grow and develop and learn.  She is such a gift with her sweet personality, her high pitched baby squeals, and her soft peach fuzzy head.  We can't imagine life without her, and are so thankful that God has been gracious to place her in our family!


Social- She absolutely loves her big brother & sister and especially likes it when they pay attention to her and talk with her.  At home she is quite the little smiler and flirt, but when we go out, she often has a very serious face and doesn't crack many smiles.  Alaythia has a very high, sweet voice that lights up the room, though it can also be loud enough to silence conversation.  ;)  At this point she can make "ba, da, na" sounds, but she still just says them at random in the midst of her babbling.  Another cute thing she does these days is dance.  Anytime Enoch plays music, she rocks her whole body and swings her little arms along with the beat. 

typical photo attempt with all 3 kids

Size- At her 6 mos appointment, she was 19 lbs, 4 oz in weight and 26.25 inches tall.  Her little thighs are so pudgy and cute, I just love them!!!  Although she can still fit into some 9 mos clothes, she is pretty much into size 12 mos now.

love love love those rolls

first time eating solid food

Eating- Alaythia began eating table food at 6 mos, and she moved from puréed veggies and fruits right into solids that were mashed up within a month.  I still try to feed her some pureed apples and prunes just to keep her digestive system moving along, but she really enjoys mashed bananas, carrots, sweet potato, etc.  She eats about 4 oz of solid foods 3x per day.  Alaythia also still nurses 6-8 times per day.  5-6 of those are during the day and then on average she eats 1-3 times during the night.  (Still waking up a few times at night to nurse is a bit of a bummer for me, but she is a quick eater (10-15 min at night), and I do so enjoy holding her when she is warm and snuggly and sleepy at night after nursing her.)

this baby loves her solid food now!

Sleeping- At this stage, she does best with two naps per day - one around 10 and the other around 1:30 (sometimes she only gets one nap per day in, like on our shopping day, but even with that she is such a little champ!).  Bedtime is typically between 6:30-7:30.  She often wakes up a few times per night (no rhyme or reason with that as far as I can see), but her morning wake time is consistently around 7:30 or 8 (she often squeezes in a feeding around 5 am but goes back to sleep after it).  Naps are at least 1 hr, sometimes as long as 2.5 hrs.  Through the Lord's provision, she has learned to fall asleep by herself.  It is so helpful for me because I need to be watching the other two kiddos when I lay her down for her morning nap.  Usually I get Enoch interested in an activity, put Karis in a pack n play with some toys, and then take Alaythia to her room.  I turn off the light, turn on the noise maker, and then shush in her ear for 30 seconds before laying her down awake and happy.  She is often asleep within 10 minutes and rarely fusses at all in the process.  What a blessing from the Lord!!!

bed full of rowdy kiddos

Playing- Alaythia is quite the little wiggle worm. Lately she has been very curious, getting into anything that is near her, and she really enjoys playing with toys.  She can manipulate some features on basic toys, but most of her toys still end up going in her mouth.  

Here is a video from a few weeks ago when Alaythia was first learning to sit up.  She is a quite a bit better now, though she still can't push herself up into the sitting position from laying down.  She can go in circles on her belly (while laying down) and can also scoot backwards in the same position.  When she is sitting up and reaching for a toy, she often assumes the quadraped position and can hold it for a minute or two, but so far she hasn't mastered any motion on her hands and knees.

 
Other memories-

• Alaythia is just entering into a phase of being interested in Karis enough to try to touch her.  Although she sometimes holds her hand sweetly, more often than not, she manages to grab a big handful of Karis' hair and pull.  ;)
• People comment frequently about how beautiful her big blue eyes and long eyelashes are.
• She loves being held by people and doesn't have much stranger danger at this stage.
• Overall she is so calm, content, and easy going. 
• Alaythia loves our dog, Cora.  She enjoys watching her through the back door, and she really loves getting big wet dog kisses right in the face.  Silly girl!

Other pictures:

playing at Granny's house

borrowing Enoch's hat

kicking that leg up, just like Karis

 enjoying some sun

 out on a walk with her favorite four legged friend

 living the dream at WalMart... in the cart!  

(I typically wear her in the ergo carrier because Karis is usually in the cart seat, but she gets to ride in the cart every once in awhile now that she's big enough to sit up.)

 brother loves

pumpkin tasting

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Pumpkin Patch 2015

We went and enjoyed our local pumpkin patch again this year to celebrate Fall. Country Pumpkins is one of our favorite seasonal attractions, as they really out-do themselves every year.  We love going and playing, getting some cute photos, and bringing back a few pumpkins also! 

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FFF: Alaythia Laughing

Here are some baby giggles for your Friday:

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