Sunday, January 19, 2014

This is where we are

I made only one real "resolution" for the new year (I use the term loosely) and that was to write more, so catching up on the blog seems like a good place to start. I feel like my life has been all chaos for weeks now (and while it may all have been internal chaos, it's hard not to let that spill out sometimes) so let's get our bearings, shall we? Hint: Skim to the bolded parts and down to the photos, which are mostly of Georgie, if you're in a hurry.

In case you missed it, we moved from my parents' house in Draper to a lovely little apartment in south Provo at the beginning of November. While moving was a pain and the process of finding/applying/planning to move was a hassle, we had a ton of help and we love our little place. It's just right for us - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and just five minutes from Novell so Tim doesn't have a long commute (booyah!). (Oh yeah, and Tim is still working for Novell's eLearning training department.) We really like our ward and we just starting teaching one of the classes of 5-year-olds in Primary. There's a lot of grass and a little playground at our complex so once winter's gone, we will be outside a lot. I keep waiting for the whole apartment to be clean enough to post pictures, but that may never happen. So pictures to come. Promise.

I didn't do a good job of announcing this but we are having another girl, due March 14th, which is in 8 weeks if anyone's counting (!!!). We are not really ready for another baby emotionally or mentally, but my nesting instinct kicked in high gear last weekend so I at least have a list of what needs to be done around the house to get ready. I feel like this little girl's got a strong personality already and we're 99.9% sure her name is going to be Rosalind - we already call her Rosie, so hopefully that sticks once she's here! Still thinking about middle names if you have any suggestions. We're really hoping she comes a little early so that the midwife who delivered Georgie can be there before going out of town for 3 weeks, and so that it will coincide with UVU's spring break and Tim can miss a minimal number of classes this semester. 

Speaking of school, Tim's still plugging along at UVU with one or two classes per semester. He totally rocked his advanced writing class and computer-something class last semester with two A's! And all on his own - I proofread his papers and offered moral support but he made it through that English class like a pro. We dream of the day when he will be done but that's still quite a ways off.

I'm still working for Northridge Publishing but I'm down to just 15 hours per week, mostly so we can qualify for Medicaid and partially because I just can't find more time in the week with Georgie being so, you know, energetic and active. Work is work; some days I love it, other days I wonder if I'm crazy to keep at it. I've been trying to get caught up and ahead so I can actually take a little time off once I have this baby. I'm planning on continuing to work after baby girl #2 comes along, so let's all start hoping now that I find a way to make that happen!

Speaking of Georgie, she could be her own post, so just the highlights: she's 15 months old, 30 inches tall, and almost up to 20 lbs. The last two months have brought tons of language development and it's SO FUN to actually communicate with her! She has about a dozen words she says and her own version of five signs. She's silly and crazy and loves to climb on and into everything. Her favorite toys are her books, bubbles, and anything she can dump out. She won't let me put anything on her head or in her hair (unless she doesn't notice when I clip a bow in) but she will wear all of her headbands as necklaces at the same time. She has super erratic eating preferences so some days, all she does is ask for food and on others, I am lucky to sneak in a few bites here and there. All her good sleeping habits went away when we moved and with the holidays and bouts of illnesses in the last few weeks, haven't returned, but she sometimes sleeps through the night and she generally takes at least one nap a day. I really really really miss that second nap. She basically adorable and hilarious and absolutely maddening about once a week.

Other than that, we're...well, we're okay. Some days are fine, some days are rough. It's been two months since my dad passed away and while "normal" has gotten more normal, we still have a lot of grieving and processing to do. Having a 15-month-old who needs to be fed, put to sleep, played with, and generally paid attention to all the time makes it hard to find time or space for mourning; getting ready for another baby makes it even harder. We'll get through it eventually but it's just going to take a lot of time.

And that's where we are right now.