Moving Details

We put our house on the market Saturday, February 8th. 6 days and 3 showings later, on Valentine's Day, we got an offer! We were excited but also shocked because we had been mentally preparing for it to take a few months. Their initial offer was pretty good so we only went back and forth a couple of times and had a contract by lunchtime. Since we were not expecting such a quick sell, we had not made much progress on figuring out where we wanted to move. As in, had NO clue. We I kind of lived in denial those first few weeks and kept pushing off house hunting. We finally went one weekend with our realtor and looked at 4 houses but none of them felt right.

Will's parents have a few houses around town and were gracious enough to offer one of them to us until we decide what we want to do. That took a LOT of pressure off of us to find a house. We want to take our time with our next home because we want it to be more long term. There's not much on the market that we like so we are highly considering building again and we've been told that is taking about 7-8 months right now.

Will is also going through some exciting job changes that I will hopefully be able to elaborate more on pretty soon! We need to get all of that ironed out before we sign any documents and begin the building process. So that being said, last weekend we moved out of our old house and into our "temporary" house although at the rate we've been making decisions it may not be so temporary!

Last week was a crazy busy week full of moving and party prepping, but all of us and our belongings are now under one roof. We also officially have a THREE year old living with us who had a blast on Saturday being loved on by all his family and friends!

Saturday the 22nd was our last night in the old house. Putting the kids to bed that night was when the reality finally hit me that we were leaving our first house. I am really good at living in denial, let me tell you. We built it one year into our marriage when it was just the two of us and our two dogs. We brought home two beautiful babies. We painted and hung pictures and changed guest rooms into nurseries and nurseries into toddler rooms. We celebrated all of Liam's first holidays there and a few of Liesl's including Christmas, one first birthday, and countless milestones including Liam's first steps.

I never got around to taking my own pictures of our house before we started moving out, but these are the pictures our realtor took...

We also took a video tour of the house going through each room talking about memories. I hope the kids will enjoy watching it later. I will probably be crying in the corner. :) 

And some pictures from our last days...

Liam loved getting to sit in the big moving truck! 

Last bedtime in the old house... :(

Donuts and cartoons on moving day!

Our first night in the new house. The kids have transitioned so well!

We close tomorrow so we went back over yesterday to see it all clean and collect the last bit of stuff. We visited with our neighbors and took one last (actually, first) family picture in front of the house. 

 We love you, 244 :)

Oh Hey! We Moved!

Soooo, we moved this past weekend!

It's been a whirlwind week already and it's only Wednesday! Even though we've had TONS of help from family and friends that we are super grateful for, moving with two small kids and planning a 3rd birthday party to happen at the house you just moved in to that very next weekend is no small feat! Hopefully we will have internet by tomorrow (fingers crossed!) so I can blog in more detail about it all. I hate, hate, hate blogging from my phone and frankly don't have time right now so I'll be back soon! 

SIX Months!

Liesl Penelope, you are SIX months old!!!!

I can't believe we have been a family of four for half a year now. It feels like you've always been here, but at the same time you still feel like my teeny tiny little baby. I don't know where the last 6 months have gone. 

Maybe you feel like my little baby because you are turning into a peanut! Your stats have gone WAY down, but you're still healthy as can be. Your pedi just thinks you're going to be petite like me - sorry bout that. I promise to always get your jeans hemmed :) 

At your 6 month appointment the other day you weighed 14 lbs. 10 oz. (25th %) and are 26.5 inches long (also 25%). However your head circumference did not disappoint measuring in the 75th percentile! You are wearing 3-6 and 6-12 month clothing depending on the brand and I guess a size 1 shoe. Your jellies that you wear nearly everyday are 0-3 month and fit perfectly - you have tiny tootsies! I think I need to hoard a size 3-6 for the summer though because I love them so much. You are in a size 2 diaper. 

You are still exclusively nursing. I introduced a sippy cup to you the other day because after trying 6 different bottles and various nipples of different size, shape, material and flow, the doctor has confirmed that you are indeed a little miss stubborn-pants. Many, MANY attempts by many different people have all yielded the same results when it comes to giving you a bottle, so we are moving on. You nurse 5-6 times a day and can go as long as 4-5 hours in between but it's usually right around 3. 

You eat one meal a day in the evening, but I'm going to try and introduce a morning meal pretty soon. It's been hard making it a habit with our busy schedule, but I need to expand your palette and that will only happen by eating more often! Right now you scarf carrots, tolerate pears, and like to gnaw on whole bananas. You also prefer all your food to be slightly heated. #diva

Sleep has been WORLDS better this month! You are now sleeping and napping in your crib, unswaddled, in your room and nights are going wonderfully. You go to sleep around 10pm and will sleep until at least 9 on your own, but typically even later. I've had to start waking you up this week to get Liam to school, so we will need to do some adjusting here pretty soon. 

Naps are a different story. You take a morning nap if I have to wake you up, and that just happens wherever we are. If you sleep in late, then you skip that nap and just take your afternoon nap. I try to always be home for that one so you can get a good chunk in. On a great day you and Liam sleep at the same time and you will nap 2-3 hours. On a good day you and Liam sleep at the same time and you will nap about 1 hour. On a bad day you sleep 20 minutes and cry before and after and sometimes wake Liam up from his nap. Thankfully, we mostly have good days. :) You also always take a cat nap in the evenings and 90% of the time it's in Daddy's arms. 

This month has been a big one for milestones! I wrote a more detailed post HERE, but this month you rolled back to belly (3/9) and are now fully sitting up! Your pedi was very impressed with your sitting skills at your appointment and predicted you will an early crawler. I am PRAYING she is wrong, ha! Not because I don't want you developing, but because my mama heart can't take it and I feel like time is just racing by. If I could go re-live one week of newborn Liesl I so would! Your Daddy and I do love watching you grow and learn new things though, and we are so, so proud of every little thing you do! 

You are also sleeping in your crib starting 3/6. We still have your empty cradle in our room, but will be disassembling it very soon. 

You are SO SMILEY! You are in the phase right now where it's so easy to get a smile out of you and you smile with your WHOLE face. I love it and so does just about anyone that meets you, ha! You are also blowing bubbles galore and have been blowing raspberries with your lips for a while, but are now sticking your tongue out and really going to town. 

You are grabbing and examining everything even more now that your coordination is getting better. If I put my face in front of you, you will reach for my nose and cheeks and just explore. Nothing is safe if it's even remotely within your reach. (My spilled glass of champagne is proof of that...) 

Not only are you reaching for your toys, Liam's toy's, my hair, and alcoholic beverages, but you are reaching for ME! According to Daddy you've reached for him a time or two as well, but mostly it's for me and you lunge with your whole body! 

You are still babbling up a storm, and I am starting to recognize some consonant sounds. I've definitely heard bababa, gagaga, maaaaybe a dadada once or twice but the verdict is still out on that one, and a mum-mum-mum which is pretty darn close to mama!  One of our favorite things about you is that you sing yourself to sleep just like your brother did. It's our biggest cue that you're ready for sleep because you will start humming to yourself and will sing yourself to sleep in our arms. We both think it's just about the cutest thing our babies have ever done.

Things You Like:

Being held 

Sitting up surrounded by toys

Watching your big brother. You give the biggest smiles when watching him!

Grabbing at EVERYTHING

Things You Don't Like:

Being put down when you want to be held (even if it's just for two seconds!)

Being held by someone else if you really want me (which secretly makes me really happy even though my arms have been SO SORE this month)

We love you more everyday, sweet Liesl Pie!

Soccer Stud!

Last Wednesday Liam had his first soccer practice! 

Organized children's sports is new territory for us,  so we started small with an 8 week long soccer league through our local YMCA. Liam's team is called the Stingers and it's all 2 and 3 year olds although I definitely think Liam is one of the youngest. He had a blast at his first practice and has been asking all week when he gets to go again. 

Learning his first skill! 

His first game is next week! They play Wednesday evenings and I already know Liam is going to have plenty of family and friends on the sidelines cheering him on. Can I say how super pumped I am about their games NOT being on Saturday mornings??  Having to get everybody ready and out of the house before 9am three days a week is enough for me! 

Soccer practice is a family affair! 

Go Stingers!! 

A pep-talk to myself followed by by some Miscellany Monday!

So I was really going to try and get back into the whole "blogging more than once a week" habit I've long since abandoned. I was mentally preparing a "Five on Friday" post last week that I never found the time to actually write. Then I was going to make up for it by writing a "Six on Saturday" post of all the randomness swirling around in my mind. Nope. Didn't happen. THEN I MADE a promise to myself I would write a "Seven on Sunday" post to really get it all out and catch up. Obviously you can tell how that turned out. I have really been beating myself up about not blogging on the regular lately since Liesl was born 6 months ago. I know life is twice as busy and I have twice the work load since she's come around and I do give myself grace because of that. But at the same time, I write this blog for myself and my family. I have a TERRIBLE memory which is the whole reason I started this blog, and every memory I don't find the time to jot down feels like another day banked in the "you're going to forget this and you will be a sad old woman with no memories" column. UGH. And the thing is is that I do have the time. I know I can find a tiny sliver in my day once the kids are asleep or when they happen to both be napping at the same time (like right now, holla!) when I can sneak away to type up some sacred stories about my babies. So I'm going to be better about it. Even if there are more short and to the point posts with less words (not this one, obviously) then lengthy ones, even if they only have iPhone pictures or unedited ones, and even if they ALL seem to be "Miscellany Monday" or "Random Tuesday" type posts instead of nice organized thoughts, they will be written. I can do it! And my 80 year old self will thank me for it! Ok, that's the end of my self pep-talk! Sometimes it's just necessary. :) 

Now here we go. Some stories about my people that I don't want to forget. 

This one has been killing me with the stuff he's been saying lately. On Saturday Will was gone most of the day clay shooting with his dad. When he got home I practically tossed the baby in his arms and flew out the door with a kiss and a wink for some me time. Later that evening Liam randomly came up to me, threw his arms around me and said, "Mommy, I love you so much. Where did you go? You were gone a loooong time!" I went to TJ Maxx for an hour by the way, ha. 

And this morning I sat on the couch to snuggle with him for a bit before Liesl woke up. I put my arms around him and he said, "No wait," then got up to get a pillow and a blanket for us. He insisted that we both be covered up, and then he curled up next to me for some cartoons. I really love the time we get in the mornings before Liesl gets up. We don't get much one-on-one time anymore right now, so I really try and be present for him in the mornings. (Which is suuuuper hard for me because I'm NOT a morning person.) 

Liesl turned six months old last Friday! I.just.can't.believe.it. Her 6 month appointment is tomorrow, so I hope to have a post up all about her by Wednesday. We celebrated with some retail cardio. And pie because it was also National Pi Day. And eating pie to celebrate both my Liesl Pie and National Pi Day just felt right. And tasted right. 

We had some fabulous weather last week and hit up the park. Liesl tried out the swings for the first time and they were a BIG hit! 

I had to recreate one of my all-time favorite playground pictures of baby Liam... 

Liam feet, circa 2011

Liesl feet, 2014

In honor of today's holiday, we hosted a St. Paddy's Day themed playdate for some of our friends!

Today called for all things green and rainbows! 

Lucky Penny printable HERE

Rainbow printable HERE

My lucky pennies!

Liesl's shamrock bow from HERE

And for a little chuckle...an attempt at a sibling photo. They were actually both smiling and looking in the right direction for once, but the wiggles got the best of them.

The whole gang!

Thanks in advance Natalie for letting me steal this from your IG feed :)

I have more, but the overdue library books aren't going to drive themselves back to the library! 

Happy Monday, friends!