Mana and Papa's Visit Plus More

Mana and Papa came to visit on the 4th of July to our new house... They brought treats and toys for everyone!!

Here, Finnegan and Penelope are playing in the super cool pool that they brought. And it was a God-send, as I CAN NOT find the one that should have been moved with our home items. :)

My bathing beauty!

Mana played games with Finnegan. They had a wonderful time. Lots of fun playing games and reading lots of books.
Here is everyone with Mana and Papa!!


This is Miss Sillyface... (her, not me!) This is a new face for her... One Finnegan still has trouble making!! :)
Here is the start of the climbing and crawling.
He found Mana's shoes and decided to try them on and take them for a stroll.
She likes tools.
My sweet boy is beginning to read. We've read this book several times. But last week, he asked me to read it. We were changing his diaper so I asked him to tell me what letters he saw on the front of the book. After he told me what sounds each of those letters make and then he told me what word those sounds made. I was so proud of him!!
We put some new batteries in the super fun chair. Penny loves to play with it... when her brother isn't pushing her off of it :)

Our New Mover...

We have a new mover. Within a week, our 9month baby has gone from crawling to pulling up to a kneeling position, and then pulling up to a standing position (within one day) and now, today, she started slowly cruising along the furniture. Finnegan didn't take his first cruising steps until late July so she stands to be about 3-4 weeks ahead of her big brother. She's always been a mover, and can't sit still compared to her brother. So we'll see if she starts running before her first birthday (on Sept 23rd) :)

So how are the kids??

So many of you have asked and so I think I'll take a post to address your questions... So how are the kids and how are they adjusting? All in all, they are doing well.

Finnegan obviously is the one that we notice when things aren't ok and when things are getting him down. He is happiest here at the house, or when we're out for a short errand. Other than that, he seems to have more trouble switching gears than he did previously. And with this, as with everything else that we're noticing could be his growing little self changing or the effects of the move... I'm sure we'll never know! Finnegan really misses his friends. It was doubled edged sword that we spent so much time with our little friends in Washington before we left. It was bitter sweet to spend those last days playing and hanging out. But more than ever, my sweet boy is asking for his friends. He wants to play with them and go places with them. He brings them up on his own at least once every other day or so. And when he's really down (a couple of times when we've been here) he just cries, "I want to go to Liam and Rylee's!" UGH! Just breaks your heart when your little one wants the two other little people that make him just so happy!! We have had a breakthrough in this department in the last week, however. We went and had dinner with some neighbors who have a little girl name Juliette. She is about 6 months younger than him and despite a few toy disputes, had a wonderful time. And the next night he asked to pray for his new friend before bed. We're really struggling with Finnegan's impulsive attitude these days. He knows right from wrong and knows the attitude and actions that we expect. But my poor son can't control his impulsive desire to hit, push and kick his baby sister. He will actually walk out of his way to encounter her!! UGH! Any suggestions out there mommies?? We've tried time out, spanking, loss of privilege. He just doesn't get it in those impulsive moments... Finnegan is mostly enjoying a new activity class that I take him too. It's not as inviting as Gymboree was for him and he needs a little encouragement to engage himself in the class. But he does end up enjoying it for the most part. Finnegan really enjoys the large floor plan of this house. He can run and run and run...inside the house. He really likes to do that! And just like when he was in WA, he love to be outside with daddy doing chores and playing in the dirt.

Penelope is also having her ups and downs. As stated before, her major "down" is that her brother tends to beat up on her and she cries a lot during the day. She's even gotten to the point where she cries when he even just steps towards her sometimes! Though despite this one problem, she has so many "ups" on her side of the list. She's started to crawl just a couple of weeks ago and has just started to pull herself up on the furniture. She pulls herself up to her feet on occasion. She has had her second hair cut this week, well, just a trim. She has a "wing" on her left side of her head that just sticks out. We cut it for the first time in Feb and this week was the second time. Her hair is come in slowly, but we can tell it will be a similar color to Finnegan's hair color, but sometimes I catch a glimpse that it will be darker... or sometimes we think it might turn reddish. She is sleeping so much better now that we've stopped all the overall craziness in our family. She was sleeping through the night before our trip to MD in April. But once we crossed 3 time zones for a short period of time, it went downhill from there. Then, for the following 6 weeks, until we moved here, she couldn't recover. Now that we have returned to a time zone, and been here for a couple of weeks, she's returned to sleeping through the night, which is a blessing for all of us. She is eating more and more solid foods, which is fun for everyone. I am much more relaxed with the foods than I was with Finnegan. But trying the same old standbys. She loves her daddy and LOVES it when he comes home from work. She is an all around happy baby and I feel like I'm finding my groove with her. Her personality is coming out too, which is exciting for everyone! She's much more inquisitive than Finn was and she LOVES to be with people... well, people that she knows. She still is struggling with a horrible cold that she's had for about 4 or 5 weeks now. She only really coughs a handful times a day, but it is just a horrible sound coming from her. I took her to the doctor during our first week here in MD and the doctor wasn't too concerned about it (as she doesn't really have any other symptoms).

Overall, the kids are adjusting to the new house, the new weather patterns, and the new sights. They both have their days (as all kids do).

Home Repairs

When we purchased our first home on the other side of the country, it was (at that time) only 5 years old. It was owned by a bachelor with a live in girlfriend. The owner's best friend lived down the street with an identical house. So, I have a feeling that there was some healthy competition between each other. This house on the other hand, was lived in by a family of at least 5. Along with a huge dog, birds and an iguana. This house has been lived in... literally. And this house is only 6 years old. This new house is infested with mice and cockroaches (even if slightly -- it is). There are holes to be patched from the tiny visitors and traps to be set. Ken has been ever so busy since we moved in to make this home one that we can grow our family in the coming years.

• He started by vacuuming the carpet floors (after they were professionally cleaned). He vacuumed for five hours. Each room was vacuumed three times (horizontally, vertically and then diagonally). Why so much vacuuming, you ask? Even after being professionally cleaned, the floors were imbedded with loads of dog hair and dirt. The amount of hair and dirt that he was pulling out, was unbelievable.
• After this job was complete, next it was on to cleaning under the appliances. The fridge was first, where we found our first welcome home guest... a dead mouse. Under the stove/oven, was lots of grease and caked on dog hair and miscellaneous items that had rolled under the oven. Not to mention the pathway of mouse droppings that were back behind the cabinets. He took the oven apart and cleaned each part individually to rid it from all the grease that was around the door hinges and front window.
• He then worked to blow out all of the mouse droppings, dust and debris from the basement. During this adventure he found the entrance of the mice as well as the nest behind the furnace.
• He fixed both the basement door and the front storm door (which didn't close easily) and put wd40 on ALL the doors throughout the house, as they all squeaked!
• His weekend project has been to scour the kitchen, laundry and half bathroom vinyl floor (after I've cleaned both twice). He spent several hours cleaning them on his hands and knees, and has now been "finishing" them with a special sealant. They look completely new. Totally amazing!
• I have painted the living room and kitchen with primer (it's almost done).
• I've cleaned the glass cook top stove that was caked with grease around each burner.
• He's purchased our washer and dryer as well as a new lawn mower and trimmer with coupons and saved a slew of cash!

Basically, my husband is amazing!! He's done more, waded through more, and taken on more projects than we knew this home needed. And all without a gripe or complain. And completed all to the fullest and completely. More home repairs to come and hopefully we'll make this house into our home real soon!!

Tears...

I cried today... for the first time in 2 weeks. It's been 2 weeks since we got on an airplane and traveled to a new city, still miles and hours away from anything that we know. And today, I cried for the first time... I missed my friends, and I missed my familiar life and the normal that things were. But this is not what caused me to cry.

We'd been planning to attend a play group with a new church we'd visited. The moms meet once a week from this small church and the kids play. I was pretty excited as Finnegan had been asking to play with friends. We packed ourselves into the car, and headed to the specified location. We got there, and knocked on the door... no answer. I knocked a total of 4 times, hoping that perhaps they were playing in the basement or in another area of the house. No one answered. Then, we had to make the walk back to the car, while trying to explain to my sweet boy why we were leaving. As he climbed into his carseat he was crying... not just crying, sobbing. He wanted to play with friends so badly, and we were now leaving empty handed, and heading back to our lonely home with just his mommy and baby sister. He cried, and then I began to cry. The transition is becoming more and more difficult as we only visit a church once a week, and then have 6 days before our next visit, and hopeful meeting with people that we can befriend.

It breaks my heart to hear my son cry over wanting friends... and wanting a playmate. We have a sweet neighbor who brought over dinner for us on our first day here, and she has a sweet daughter who is just over 2 yrs old. So, we'll hope to call her this weekend to see if they can come over and play...

Pray for our hearts, that we won't be weary for making friends and finding people who we can relate to and will open their hearts to us.

xoxo

Move to MD Photos

Here are some photos from our recent travels from one coast to the other...

This one was taken a few days before we left. This is my dear friend Shawnta and her mom, Theresia.

And here is Finnegan with Liam and Rylee, his two pals (Shawnta's kids). He still asks about them and wants to know when we're gonna play with them. It really breaks my heart!!

This is the truck as it sits in front of our WA house.

Walking through the airport.

Our first hot day in MD... Oh it was hot!

The truck has arrived at our new house...

He got to sit in Mack' Chair. He was so excited!!

This is Penny... showing off how dirty our floors are. She has several onesies that are stained because of all the dirt. I'm afraid to dress her in anything that is white or light colored for fear that it will be the last time she wears it. :)

Playing with his water table on a hot day!

Enjoying the play room together... this was a luxury that we never had at the other house. And actually it's not a playroom at all but the formal living room that we're not willing to buy furniture for... so this is what we make of it... we have more toys than we know what to do with, so putting them in their own room makes sense... and then they don't clutter up the rest of the house.

More moving tasks.

Each day, we tackle a new project. We are still living amoungst boxes, and half painted walls and grossness of unwanted pests. I've worked each day to do more cleaning and unpacking. The kitchen is the closest to being completed. There is just one drawer that doesn't have anything in it, as we're still dealing with a mouse problem!! UGH!!

Mice... I don't like them. Especially when they are INSIDE my house! UGH! Luckily, we've not seen one. We think they've gotten the idea that there isn't food around anymore. But now we're picking up the pieces of the house and cleaning up after them!

Today, our cars arrived from their trip across the country, and so we had to return the rentals. We had to take the one all the way back up to the airport. And it was a long drive. When we returned, Ken's been fixing the front door, and now has the oven torn apart and cleaning it. I mopped the bathroom floor again yesterday... the old fashioned way -- on my hands and knees with a scouring pad. I got it about 80% clean. And will attack it again later in the week. I'd like to get the full kitchen primed later this week, so that we can paint the final color and be done with this area.

We've made the formal living room into a the kids playroom. It gives them a place downstairs to play and keeps me from desiring to buy furniture to fill the room with, that won't fit in the other house when we return... :)

I do have photos to post, and I know that I haven't... but I will in a couple of days.