We are not in MN anymore

So in Minnesota we lived in a lovely little town where everything was a quick walk away. HyVee, the grocery store was .9 miles, the farmers market downtown was 1.2 miles and Blast, our favorite ice-cream shop was 1.5 miles away. Yesterday I decided to put both kids in the double stroller and walk to the closest park. I figured it would be a mile or so walk each way. I used my gps to track how far we walked and it was about 2.5 miles each way! Luckily Nick picked us up or we never would have made it home before dark.

After our park time we went to the grocery store and Adalynn finally got the cart that looks like a yellow car. This is a very big deal right now and yellow is the most desirable car to ride in. After picking up some groceries we stopped at Whataburger so Nick and Addy could get a milkshake to split. Adalynn definitely has her dad wrapped around her little finger Because she took more than her share any way you look at it.

Yesterday we also went to open gym at the gymnastics center. One of Adalynn's spiritual gifts that I can already see developing is that she is such an encourager. She was trying to play with some bigger kids and even though she coul d do the same things they were doing (balance beam, swing from bars) she would clap for them and say "Yay, you do that by your own self,". She is so precious and sweet and it makes me really proud to see her encourage those around her.

Guys, relax

Tonight Nick was grilling outside and we were all sitting on the porch. The outside Christmas lights were on, Charlie was sleeping in my arms and Addy lined up all of our chairs to "make a choo choo train" and continuously yelled "hey guys, it's time to sit down and just relax!". If it isn't relaxing to be yelled at for 20 minutes, I don't know what is. But then she said "It's time to be quiet and relax and talk about Jesus". At a time when there is so much uncertainty in the world, I love knowing that she is growing to know Jesus.

Today is the third Sunday we have visited Hays Hills Baptist Church. Addy loves going to her class and looks forward to it all weekend. It has been the warmest congregation we have ever been visited and I am looking forward to getting our family really involved there.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in San Antonio this year. We drove in Wednesday afternoon and spent some time with Lolly and Pops. They always know how to keep Addy entertained. She marched to the park playing her drum and got a wagon ride home. We slept there, tried to take Christmas card photos in the morning, an proceeded to Randy and Vicki's for Thanksgiving lunch. Addy was super excited to see Blakeley, Bella and Morgan and everyone was thrilled to meet Charlie for the first time.

After lunch we went to Grammie and Grandad's for dinner. Everyone wanted to sit at Addy's table and then we all got in the hot tub after the meal. Addy was so tired at the end of the night that she asked to go to bed and went to sleep within minutes (that NEVER happens). Charlie slept all afternoon so he wanted to be held all night. Grammie and Aunt Rita didn't mind snuggling with him for a bit so Nick and I could get some sleep.

We came home and decorated for Christmas. Our regular tree wouldnt fit in the tiny river house so we bought a very small real tree. It is shorter than Adalynn but she seems very happy with it. This is my first time having a real tree, I never would have but Nick really wanted it. Lets hope it lives until Christmas! Addy loved decorating the tiny tree and wants the lights on all the time. We are going to make some more ornaments this week for it since we didnt want to hang glass ones where they culd be so easily broken. The river house is starting to feel like home and we are loving being all together here after such a strange transition from Minnesota.

The holidays are starting!

It's the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I could not be more excited for our first holiday season as a family of four. My mom and Addy are baking gingerbread so the house smells delicious, The Grinch is on in the background and we are headed to San Antonio tomorrow to celebrate with family. Nick flys in tomorrow evening and we are staying a night with Lolly and Pops and having lunch with the Wood clan on Thanksgiving then moving to my parents house for dinner and another night. I can't wait to introduce Charlie to everyone in Nick's family and mine! I have lists of Christmas activities I want to do with the kids, Christmas gifts to buy and make, and Christmas cards to send out. We are doing a very homemade Christmas this year since we have more time than money thanks to two kids and two moves. Adalynn is jumping right into the spirit of things though and I know this will be our happiest Christmas yet! Nick and I are making a cranberry infused vodka for our families and the kids are making handprint trees on canvas wraps for the grandparents. I love being in this house, out in the country feeling but still close to Super Target and Chick fil A. It's seriously perfect for me and Nick and Addy loves going for long walks, picking up rocks and sticks, and running along the truck trails. Charlie seems pretty ok with things too but at two weeks old there is not a whole lot to complain about. He had his first real bath today and didn't hate it but cried about being cold getting out I'm sure in a few months it will be hard to get him out of the tub because he will be so busy playing. God has surely blessed me with a very happy season in life.

Grammie stays to Play

Nick headed off to Minnesota for work yesterday. I know he will miss the kids but I am jealous of the sleep he will be getting! Grammie came in to stay and help me and play with the kids. She got in Sunday evening and we went to Chili's for dinner and stayed up late watching Frosty the snowman for the 87th time. This morning I took Addy to the open gym in Buda for the first time. She has loved gymnastics since we started it in Owatonna and I am so glad to have found a good gym nearby. It was so much fun! Today was our first experience with a foam pit and Addy loved it. There were a bunch of kids and it was so much fun watching Addy have fun. Grammie and I took turns playing with Addy and holding Charlie. All of the little girls were very interested in seeing him! This afternoon, Aubra and Ryan came up for a visit. Ryan was such a good sport playing kitchen with Addy and pretending to drive her and all of her babies on the couch for hours. Charles snuggled into Aubra's arms and slept away most of the afternoon. We are so lucky to have friends like Aubra and Ryan that feel more like family. They are so sweet to our kids and I can't wait to meet their kids someday and try to show them the same love and attention. We all miss Nick but it sure is fun having Grammie stay the night. She and Adalynn have been doing all kinds of crafty and baking projects while I alternate snuggling with my sweet boy and running around cleaning like a crazy person. I am amazed by how much more energy I have even with next to no sleep than I did at 9 months pregnant. Nick being in Owatonna is making me very nostalgic for our home of just 8 months. I wish I had thought to do this there, write about our daily life. I loved walking to the grocery store, park and dry cleaner with Addy in the stroller and playing with the neighbors in the communal backyard. We made wonderful friends during our short time in Minnesota and learned so much about contentment, making the best with what you had available and living within our means. I loved finding new activities and experiences for Adalynn like the Steele County Fair with it's exotic petting zoo and cheese curds, the Mall of America in Minnapolis, gymnastics with Miss Bree, the Lake Kohlmer beach with Aria, Lillie, Miles, Jareth and Laney and endless park visits with all of our neighbors. Addy loved watching Nick and his friends play company softball and stopping for an ice-cream cone at Blast whenever we had time. Although money was tight, it was such a fun, memorable time for our family and we were blessed to live there.

Branching Out

One of Nick's only problems with living at the river house is the lack of neighbors, specifically neighbors with children so Addy and I could make friends. I am kinda shy and already have friends an hour away so I am ok without tons of neighbors but Nick insisted I try. He has a way of being right about a lot of things and the more I fight it, the more embarrassed I am when he turns out to be right again. So I have been looking for activities online without much luck for over a week now hoping to find something that would be a good fit for a toddler and a newborn.

Well today after the dry cleaner I stumbled upon (read: God led me to) a park when I was kinda lost looking for a different park where a moms group was meeting. I was really excited that Addy got to play with other kids close to her age and I was able to talk to some moms about things to do around town. I have been looking up their suggestions while Addy and Charlie nap and I am excited to join this group.

In other news, both kids slept most of the night last night and I no longer feel like a zombie. Charlie only woke up to eat once and Addy stayed in her own bed until 6 am. We all needed that. Nick is working in Fredericksburg today and I can't wait for him to get home so we can enjoy more family time! Sweet Addy has been wanting to do everything he does lately including wearing his shoes and a tie and typing on her learning laptop saying she has to do work. She has heard so many work phone calls with Nick working from home that she now answers her play phone "Hello, Nicholas Wood". I love my precious little family.

First Alone outing with two

This morning Charlie had his newborn screen at 9am. One would imagine it would be no problem to get out the door by 8:30 when you get up at 5:30 but we barely made it. Charlie fell asleep after his middle of the night feeding at 4, Addy woke up and wanted to sleep with me at 4:45, and Charlie woke up to eat again at 5:30. As you can guess things were tiring and a tad hectic around here this morning.

We made it to the doctor and almost missed being called to the appointment because Addy had to go potty and Charlie proceeded to pee on everything while he was being weighed. It was like a waterfall in there.

Charlie had to get a heel stick to take a blood sample and Addy was a big helper with calming him down. I told her she could get a treat for being such a good helper and she wanted ice cream. I sadly discovered that neither frozen yogurt place in town is open at 9:51 am so I took her to Whataburger to get an ice cream she could drink. Yes, I fed my two year old a milkshake in the car. Sigh, so much for the plans I had of always having healthy snacks around and not being that mom. Raisins just wont cut it sometimes.

Grammie, Aunt Shirley and Uncle Daniel came out to the River house for a visit today. Daniel spent the morning fishing while the rest of us stayed in and Addy entertained everyone with her ballet moves that she learned from watching Angelina Ballerina and Charlie sweetly snuggled with Aunt Shirley. I just got the kids down for a nap and am hoping to catch a quick sleep myself.

Toddler-less Tuesday

Adalynn's Lolly told her last weekend that she had tickets to a bouncy house and wanted to take her one day. Addy thought that meant right now so she has been talking about how she wants to go to the bouncy house non stop since Saturday. Lolly came to town today to pick her up and take her for a big girl day out. While she was gone I washed dishes, cleaned counters, washed and folded laundry, cleaned the bathroom and made beds. I also got to have lunch with Nick at a local Bar b que restaurant and ran to HEB. Charlie was very sleepy from being up at 10, 12:30, 3:30, and at 5:30 he was up for the morning so he made it pretty easy to get things done. It's amazing how productive I feel getting our home in order after the move.

I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with my two sweet kids. I had always wanted to stay at home because my mom stayed home with us and I had such a wonderful childhood. Nick taking his current job has allowed me to do be with my kids all day everyday and to know all of their favorite things and share so many special moments (and a few not lovely moments to be honest) and I know exactly who is influencing them during most waking hours each day, me. I will always be so grateful to my husband for this special time while Addy and Charlie are little.

Now Addy is home from her Lolly date and we are playing play dough and doing puzzles. I'm being called away to build a tent and who can resist that.

The first week

We moved in to the river house November 1, 2012. It was the day I was supposed to be induced with baby Charlie but my induction was cancelled. Moving at 39 weeks pregnant is probably ill advised but I was so excited to be back to regular life that we pushed through. My husband Nick's job moved us to Owatonna,Minnesota in early 2012 and I came back to Texas in October because he was traveling back and forth every other week and I was pregnant with a busy two year old. I lived with my inlaws for two weeks and my parents for two weeks waiting for our lease to start. Although everyone was very hospitable and treated Addy and me wonderfully, we were ready to be back to normal and have Nick living with us instead of in a hotel an hour away. We found the river house by chance, we were looking for a rental home in a very suburban neighborhood that my husband compared to the Trueman show. It was nice and safe and every house looked the same and literally had a white pickett fence. Our realtor showed us one and then told us she had another place we might like but it was a bit off the beaten path. We agreed to take a look and were sold before we even saw the tiny house. The Blanco river runs through the 10 acre property holding 1 big house and 3 little cottages (yes Nick, I called it a cottage). We looked at the cottage without intending to get it. We wanted three bedrooms and two bathrooms and neighbors with little kids. We looked around the tiny two bedroom one bathroom cottage and thanked the realtor and drove away. In the car Nick and I both said "We can't live there" and listed off reasons like too crowded, bugs, snakes, the water being so close with a toddler and then drove back by the town homes. We decided we have our whole lives to live in suburbia and this is the only time our family will ever fit into a quaint little place like the cottage on the river. We called the landlord when we were about 10 miles away, turned around and signed a 13 month lease. The first night in the river house Nick and I fell asleep to the sound of crickets and woke up to cows mooing in the distance. Actually we woke up to Addy saying "It's morning time. My get up so early" but then we heard the cows. We spent 4 days unpacking, cleaning, exploring, swimming (just Nick and Addy) and fishing. We drove to San Antonio Monday morning for my doctor appointment and Charles James was born Tuesday November 6 at 1:35 pm. He was 8 lbs 10 oz, 20 inches and so beautiful. Addy loves having a baby around to help with. We were back at the river house Wednesday night as a family of four. This is a place for me to write about our daily lives and my hope is to print it all to share with my children when they are older.