A Fall Family Update

I held a sleeping Lily as I started typing this post because I realized these days are slipping away too quickly. I look at Nathan and realize that your own children do grow up so quickly. Here is a look at our growing family this Fall.

Lily turns 7 months this week and is still as happy as can be. I thought our other babies were happy until she came along! Lily has an instant smile ready for anyone who makes eye contact with her. She still does prefer being held by Mom but also loves playing in her exosaucer which is a huge help when I need to cook dinner.

Her first 2 teeth finally broke through this month and that was a relief for us all. Lily started eating solid foods and so far, she likes the orange vegetables (carrots and sweet potatoes) more than the green ones (green beans and peas). Lily finally moved from our room into the crib in her sister’s room this past week. Well, Lily has been sleeping by herself in the crib to get used to everything while Emma had a slumber party with Nathan for a couple nights. It has been a better transition than I thought. Now, I just hope both girls will keep being good sleepers as they share a room!

Emma is 2.5 and loves our “girl time” after the boys leave for school each morning. It has been nice just to have the girls with me. Some mornings we grocery shop or run errands and other mornings we go on play dates or stay home and bake. Emma loves it all!

Like her big brother, Emma loves reading stories so we often read together in the car as we wait for Nathan to finish preschool. She been wanting to read more books lately, which I am always happy to do. She likes getting to choose all the books when Nathan is gone.

Speaking of preschool, Nathan is 4 and loves preschool! We are very thankful for the amazing teacher he has, because let’s be honest – as a former preschool teacher myself, I have definite opinions on early childhood education! Since Nathan attends the same Lutheran school where Andy teaches, Andy takes him in the morning and I pick him up at 11:30 each day. Yes, PreK is every day but Nathan thrives on the routine and structure. Lately, Nathan has been spending a lot of time drawing. I love watching his drawings develop and details emerge – as he draws people and all sorts of vehicles and animals.

Andy just celebrated his 40th birthday so that was a big day in our house! He’s in full teaching mode, juggling teaching and all his athletic director duties for the school. I try to help by grading tests for him whenever I can and having dinner waiting whenever he gets home (even if we’ve already eaten). He did get away to Philadelphia last month and Boston this month for Colts games. We miss him when he’s gone, but it makes birthday shopping easy as he tries to check off games at all the football stadiums around the country.

As for me? I’m just trying to keep things running smoothly for everyone in our family and in our household. I’m sure all you Moms can relate!  We have enjoyed settling into the house, and are starting to put our own touches on things. It took me 2 weeks to get our living room painted (see below) since I was limited to working during nap time (no ceiling lights). Thankfully, I finally finished painting this weekend and rehung all the pictures. Now, it’s time to choose a paint color for our master bedroom and start painting there, so we can get new carpet installed in these two rooms.

I consolidated piano lessons to one afternoon a week and that was an excellent move. The kids enjoy going to Grandpa and Grandma’s new house while I teach, and I am thankful to see all of my students in one afternoon. I’ve decided that this will be my last year of teaching piano lessons as I work on simplifying our lives and schedules a bit more. Plus, after 15 years of teaching piano lessons, it’s time for a change. I want to invest more time in my family – and blogging!

In other exciting family news, we recently paid cash for a mini-van! It’s a used 2008 Town and Country with 107,000 miles on it – but the price tag was half of what we were anticipating spending. We heard about the deal from a Pastor friend who told my Dad and 12 hours later, we were buying it. The interesting part? We still haven’t seen the van because it’s in Texas! My Dad looked at it, test drove it, delivered our payment and will be driving it up to my sister’s house in Southern Indiana, where we will pick it up next week. I am super excited to trade it my 5 seat Mercury Sable (which has served me well since I bought it in 2004) for a vehicle that gives our family a bit more space. And the fact that we could pay cash for it? We are very thankful.

There’s a glimpse into what is new for our family this Fall. What about you and your family?