Silence

We are moving tomorrow & will not have internet until Monday. It is scheduled for Monday 1-5pm. So, that means midnight on Monday night knowing Comcast!!! Anyway, there will be a brief silence in our little section of blogger world.

Thanks to everyone who is helping us move!!! LOVE YOU!! We promise to one day buy a house so that we will be there longer than a year and a half! :o)

Why are we moving?!

Why are we moving again?? That's what I keep asking myself as I pack. I remind myself each time that we will be in a better place, but this move is not an easy one! Little miss has to help me do everything! I've been letting her help & giving her jobs. She's been doing great with the jobs I give her. Besides the packing & cleaning, Sydney has been quite cranky.

It finally dawned on me this morning that she is probably cranky and clingy because I am packing and we are by far not in a routine. Her nap times and sleep times are the same, but the day-to-day things have changed greatly. That's the part that makes me say, "What in the world was I thinking?!" Hopefully after we get all moved in at the house, she will get back to her normal cheery self.

Well, she's playing quietly in her toy corner, so I better get moving and get a few things accomplished.

She said "snow"!

This morning, I pulled the curtains back over the sliding door & Sydney ran to it. She LOVES to go outside to play...even if it's just on our balcony. Anyway, when she got to the sliding door, she said "snow". I was already walking away. I turned around and said, "Yeah! That's snow!! Good girl!". I was so excited. I didn't really expect her to know what snow was for a while. It was a pretty cool moment in this mommy's morning!

It has happened...

All of my life, I have dreaded the day that my brother would be engaged. I know that may sound funny, but I have. My fear wasn't him growing up or being replaced as a mom would feel. It was more of whom he would pick than the actual engagement. Nathan and I have always had a decently close relationship. Of course, we've had our moments as any siblings would. For the most part though, we genuinely like to be around each other. So, my fear was that I would not get along with "her" whoever the "her" turned out to be.

That all brings us to Saturday night. I knew when he was walking out the door to pick up his girlfriend for their date, he would return through the same door as an engaged man. With all of the years of dread I had running through my veins gone & excitement overwhelming me, I stayed up to hear "the story".

His way of proposing to some could be seen as mean (See Steph's blog for the details of the night.), I saw it as sweet. She knew he was going to propose eventually (we were already bridesmaid dress shopping). He wanted more than anything to give her the surprise that many women get. He didn't just want to pop the question in an obvious way. He wanted to give her "that" moment. I thought it was sweet that he cared so much about how she would feel in the moment that he proposed. "The story" went as he had hoped and planned. It was precious seeing the excitement come out of him as he told my mom & me. He was bubbly, and I was relieved.

Kacey is a great girl! My fear has always been that I would not get along with the love of his life. My dream has always been that our families can be close & our children (no rush kids!) will know each other. I am thrilled that he picked a gal that I can call my sister & am happy to teach my daughter to call her aunt. She makes my brother happy & she's a girl that I can easily just hang out with. That's all I could ever hope for.

So, you two: CONGRATUALTIONS! I hope the transition from dating, to engaged, to married is an easy & fun one for you! I pray that God will bless you with years of happiness & that you will grow to be one in mind, body, & spirit. I couldn't be happier & can't wait to officially call Kacey "sister". Love you both!

How society defines success...it seems

This blog has been roaming around in my mind for a while now. I haven't really been sure how to word it, so I have just left it up there instead of putting it out for the world to read. My fear is that my blogger friends...or any of my friends for that matter...will think I am speaking of them. I'm not. I'm not quite sure what sparked my initial thought, but it has stuck with me. Anyway, please know that I am not speaking of any of you. :o) Here goes...

Our society has really been bothering me lately. Maybe it's always been this way, I don't know. I've always heard the phrase "keeping up with the Joneses". So, I guess it has. It just seems like people our age are so quick to have the big house & expensive cars. When you look at the price of most new cars, they start at $20,000! Many people have 2 new cars & a nice new house. Now, I'm not judging those who can afford it because there are many who can afford it. But can they all REALLY afford it?! My fear is that we have grown up in nice houses thanks to the hard work & dedication of our parents. What we didn't stop to think about is that they worked their tails off to get those places. They started small, sacrificed, & now are able to have the nice things. If that is how they got there, what makes me think I can get there at 28? It seems many believe it is their right or they deserve a nice car or house. Who said anything about that?! I don't remember anyone telling me that when I got out on my own I would deserve a nice car. I've always been told that you have to work hard & earn it. Of course, God provides all. I do not dispute that.

I just fear that my generation has gotten quite greedy. It seems that banks, credit card companies, and others are capitalizing on that greed. I mean, any company who would send a pre-approved letter for a credit card & allow a high school student to get $30,000 in debt before she graduates is evil in my opinion! (No, I was not that student, I saw it on the news a few weeks ago.)

Ryan and I are trying very hard to not get roped into that greed or feeling of deserving things. Of course, we would love to be driving nice new cars & live in a nice house of our own, but what would that cost us? Right now...it would cost us everything. I know that is not what God intended. He did not intend for us to be so majorly in debt that we can't sleep at night.

So, our plan is to go by our parents' examples & the Bible. We will work & sacrifice as they did. We will try to teach our children the values that we were taught. If we are blessed by nice things, we will give praise to God for those things. We will not be guilted & pressured into doing things that society deems successful but in reality will suffocate our family. Living this way is not easy by any means. Our world says that if you don't have those things, you aren't a successful. Our job is to take off the glasses that our society puts on us & see what God intended & what He has provided. It isn't an easy job, but we're working on it.

We found a place!!!

We went on Friday afternoon to look at a house & it was a D-U-M-P!! The lady met us at our car & warned us that it had not yet been cleaned. I wanted to say, "Then why in the heck are you showing it?!" After seeing what it looked like, even if the cleaning wizards came in & made it spotless & not stink, there would be NO way I would live in that place!! I am not as picky as you would probably think. My standards are: working, clean, in safe area. I do not have to have a top of the line place. I just want to know that it will work for us & be safe for our daughter.

With those standards in mind, we headed out Friday. As I said earlier, our first appointment did not meet those standards! It was in a safe place, but that's about all it had going for it. After leaving that house, I was very disappointed. Grasping at straws, we drove around to see if we could find any houses with signs in the yard. We found a couple and called on them. To my surprise, we lucked out and found a place that night!

It is an older home, built in the 50s. It has been taken care of & the inside has been remodeled. The bathroom & kitchen have were completely gutted & redone. They are brand new! It is a 2 bedroom/1 bath...a little smaller than we wanted, but has a big fenced in back yard & detached garage. With that being the case & the fact that it is cheaper than we are currently paying, we jumped at the chance. We get the keys in 2 weeks & can begin moving in.

I am so ready to be out of an apartment. Although this is not a house that we are buying, I think I'm as excited as if we were! I will no longer have to worry about Sydney being loud to those below & around us. Neither Ryan nor I will have to walk Sam in the cold or rain!! We can just open the door & let him go out! Plus, we will have a place for Sydney to play outside. I'm sure that to others this is a lot of rambling & not much fun info to read, but for me to write...I'm quite excited!

Valentine's Day & Chuck E. Cheese

Yesterday since Ryan had the day off, we headed out to see if we could house hunt. No, we're not looking to buy. We're not committed to E-town. Not that we don't like it, the 2 1/2 hour drive to Paducah is just getting O-L-D! We're going to wait until Ryan finishes school & see what adventure awaits us before getting settled into a house only to move & have to sell it! Anyway, we drove around Hardin County to see what we could find. We have a couple of appointments set up. Hopefully we'll get lucky. Being in a 2nd story apartment with a toddler who is not always the quietest with her toys is challenging at times. So, hopefully something will work out.

After house hunting, we headed to Louisville. We went to a mall to kill time before our final destination of the evening...Chuck E. Cheese!! I know...it doesn't sound like a very romantic evening for Valentine's Day, but when you have a little one & no babysitter, you get creative. Sydney had never been to Chuck E. Cheese, so we decide it would be the perfect thing for our little family. We had a blast!!! Sydney played & had a ton of fun...so did Mom & Dad! :o) Although Sydney LOVED the restaurant, she wasn't too thrilled with Chuck E. himself. Oh well, maybe in time she'll grow to love him!

Seeing Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. She loved him from a distance!

Yummy pizza!!

Ryan played the game while Sydney pushed the buttons on the top. It was a win-win!

Sydney and I "rode" a roller coaster! She loved it!!

Ryan and Sydney rode the roller coaster, too!

This is Sydney on the fire truck. It played the "ABCs" to which she sang along! It was cute.

If this doesn't show we had fun, I don't know what does!!

Update...longer than expected

So, I was told yesterday that it was time for an update....ERRRRR. I don't have much to say, but here goes.

Sydney's new bed hasn't had her sleeping a ton better, but we are! It is G-R-E-A-T!! We just climb in bed with her & go straight back to sleep. She'll roll over on her side & put herself back to sleep. When we wake up, we just head back to bed. I am such a nicer person these days! ;-)

Yesterday Sydney and I got up & headed to work with Ryan...well, sort of. Ryan was working in Nashville & knew he would have a short day. So, we went with him. He dropped us off at Rivergate Mall (because it was close to the store he was working in). When he picked us up & we headed to Opry Mills Mall! Whoohoo! Two malls in one day! How lucky can a girl get?!

After we were finished with the malls (funny that I actually got tired of being at a mall), he took me to see Nashville's Parthenon. It was really impressive. I never knew it was there until he told me! While we were out sightseeing, my brother called to say he was off work. Yay! We had coffee with the couple & then dinner with Nathan since the girl had to work. It was a good surprise to see her since we didn't think we would get to. :-)

I have to say that it was a little weird seeing them as a couple...not bad weird, just weird. We've been talking about it for weeks, but I haven't actually seen them together. Now it's real. Crazy!! My brother is growing up...cool & weird.

Anyway, back to the subject, while during dinner Ryan gets a call from the guy in Nashville that he's been working with. Ryan thought he would be in Louisville Thursday and Friday but found out that was wrong. He was going to be in McMinville on Thursday. For those of you like me who had never heard of this particular city, it is southeast of Nashville. He also found out that he would only be there for 45 minutes. That means a 3 1/2 hour drive one-way today for 45 min of work! Not cool! What did we decide to do? Leave dinner with Nathan, drive the 1 1/2 hours to get there, do the 45 minutes worth of work, then head home. We got in at 2 AM last night!!! But the good news...drum roll please...Ryan has today off. :o) Yay!

OK, so I said I didn't have much to say. This is a pretty long blog for someone who doesn't have much to say. Oh well...

New Bed!!

Last night we converted Sydney's crib into a full-size crib. I didn't realize I would be emotional about it, but I was a little sad. It confirms that my baby girl is growing up. That part I'm ok with, it's how quickly time is flying that makes me sad. ANYWAY, here are a couple pictures, the before & after.

(We had already moved furniture around to prepare for the arrival of the mattress. So, this isn't exactly where the crib sat in the room.)

Here's the new bed! She absolutely loved it. As we were putting the mattress & box springs down, she would climb on them and crawl around like she just got a new favorite toy. Ryan made the comment that he didn't think he'd ever seen anyone quite so excited over box springs before!

As soon as Ryan gave her the OK to go back into her room, she ran up to the bed & climbed up. She immediately laid back & started drinking her drink. It was cute. It was like she knew exactly what it was.

Through the night, she did great. We wedged her crib mattress between the chair & her bed to keep her from falling out the first night. She absolutely loves her bed, so it looks like we made the right choice! :o)

Last night's storm

Last night a storm moved through our area that was intense! Normally, I wake up & am quite happy with the thunder & rain. To me, it is very calming. I wake up, smile, and go right back to sleep.

Last night was a very different reaction. The wind sounded like it was ripping the siding off. The rain & hail sounded like they were going to blow in our windows. Immediately I sat up & woke Ryan up. My 1st thought was to get into the living room to check the news to see if a tornado was coming. My 2nd thought was to grab my daughter & get into the laundry room until it blew over. When I told Ryan that I was scared & wanted him to go into the living room with me, his reaction was, "Ok, let me go to the bathroom first." He obviously didn't see the urgency in the situation that I did!! Once he was ready to go with me, I opened the door & realized that we couldn't check the news with the power out!!

After sensing Ryan's calmness about the situation & not wanting to wake up Sydney who was sleeping through the whole thing, I decided to go back to bed. I did not go back to sleep, but I did sit on the bed. As soon as it came, it was over.

I began listening to a very weird noise. I asked Ryan if he heard the noise. He asked me what it sounded like. After humming the pitch to him, I told him it sounded like the noise you hear when you rub your finger over a crystal glass. He did hear it, which led us out to the balcony. We finally realized that it was the storm siren!! I guess it was on the other side of the city because we could barely hear it. What good it does us in the middle of a storm! If there had really been a tornado, we'd never heard it!

Once the alarm at the movie theater stopped & our power came back on, I drifted back to sleep. Even more amazing than my immediate fight or flight response was the fact that my daughter (who does not sleep well at night) slept through the whole thing!! We put her down at 9:30 last night & she woke up at 8 AM!! Crazy!

Day at the park

Sunday afternoon since it was a little warmer, we decided to head to the local park. We had a great time. Sydney played for 30 minutes & did not want to leave. We decided since it wasn't the warmest day, we probably shouldn't keep her out much longer. Anyway, it was her first time to actually play at a playground. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Joy-filled days

Life with the little one has been quite fun lately. She has started trying to repeat words back to us. Most of the time, she can't say the word exactly. However, she almost always has the tone correct. It is so cute to see & hear. She now can say: "mama", "dada", "gigi" for my mom, "naanaa" for Nathan, diaper, juice, "no", "no" for nose, "mou" for mouth, "mam" for Sam (our dog), and "momo" for Elmo. She can roar like a lion & quack like a duck. It's not bad for a 15 month old, if you ask me.

It is really cool seeing her learn these new things. She's actually beginning to start "conversations" with us. The other night Ryan got up with her. She started saying "diaper, mama diaper". Then she realized it was Ryan. He got her to lay back down (because he didn't know what her version of diaper sounded like). I got up and told him what she said. He changed her diaper. Afterwards, she quit crying & tried to go back to sleep. How cool is that?! She told us what she wanted!! It was a very cool moment in this mommy's night.

Another thing she has been doing is singing. She will sing all kinds of songs. No telling what she is actually singing, though! It is all in her language.

So, my days lately have been fun days of anticipating what cool thing she is going to do next. I thought I would share with you the joy that I have been experiencing.

Oh, and my spell check isn't working so please ignore any misspellings that might be in this blog. Thanks!! :-)