We had been in our cute little house since grad school (almost 6 years) and had loved almost every second of it. We mostly didn't love the seconds we spent waiting in line for the bathroom (only one. for five peeps.). We also didn't so much love how crowded our guests felt when they stayed with us (1000 square feet).
So, we agonized and prayed and agonized some more. This isn't really a "pick up and move" economy. Also, I moved and changed schools quite a few times as a kid. Some might say that it strengthed them. I would not say that for myself. We really wanted to move to a home where we would be able to stay for...well, forever, if we needed/wanted to do so.
So, we cleaned up, fixed, and staged our cute little house. Then, we put it on the market. And BAM it sold. Yikes. Sold super fast. And then it was time to find a new house. After seeing no fewer than 30 houses (not joking) we found the one that was meant for us. Or so we hoped.
We're still in the Fort. We've just moved further south (shortening Spencer's commute). We love our house. We love our neighborhood. We love our ward (congregation).
We also really, really, really love our fireplace. :) Come and visit us?
Our cute little old house. Sorry, you can't really see it. We had just that many trees. It was fantastic except for the months of September and October.
Once upon a time...this little guy continued intensive speech therapy for his apraxia. We feel so fortunate to have connected with Susan, our speech language pathologist (through our pedi, whose son has a hearing impairment). She has been amazing. Just what Keeler needs in all ways. Having a toddler who cannot communicate his needs/wants/frustrations/observations through speech was so challenging and so heartbreaking on many days. Sign language has been a life-saving bridge for us. Keeler had a pretty extensive signing vocabulary within 2 months of working with Susan. Seeing him get SO excited about a book and sign his way through it with Susan for the first time was so amazing and so heart breaking all at once. To think that he had probably been dying to participate and communicate with us...
Keeler has made great progress--much better and faster than we ever thought he would in this period of time! His speech vocabulary is extensive now (and he uses signs only when really frustrated with us). We are still working on enunciation and on using more than 1-2 words at a time. He is being evaluated for an early intervention preschool where he would have a speech language pathologist in the classroom with his every day (once he turns 3). We're crossing our fingers that he qualifies!
Once upon a time...Milo kept playing soccer. He played both spring and (now) fall and continues to love it. I am so impressed with Milo's determination and his team spirit. Milo's diffuse hypotonia (low muscle tone) makes running very challenging for him, but he keeps up and loves it! Soccer this fall has been made extra-spectacular by the prescription sports sunglasses he's sporting above. Try not to be jealous.Milo has also developed a serious love of any and all reading. It's pretty much adorable and he impresses us with the number of books he is plowing through.
Milo was really sick in late spring. Really darn sick. It was so sad and so frustrating because we just couldn't seem to get him over it. Ugh. He also had quite a bit of residual back pain related to all of the coughing and struggling to breath. If I wasn't a firm believer in massage therapy (which I was and am), Milo would have converted me. A fellow mom in our area is an absolutely amazing massage therapist and works with children as well as adults. She worked WONDERS for Milo. It was really, really incredible to watch and to see the improvement.
Once upon a time...Isabel did not play soccer this fall (my fault--registration goof up) and she was pretty much devastated. That's a far cry from shouting at me "Mom, why did you make me play soccer anyway?? You know I've always wanted to be a ballerina!!!". (Whoa. Kindergarten girls are a challenge right?) Instead, this fall she's putting her focus on ballet. She auditioned for and got a part in a local production of the Nutcracker. It's at the big (relatively speaking) theater in town and is really a pretty big deal for a 7 1/2 year old. Heaven help me.
Once upon a time...these nuts started a new school. We are pretty much in love with the new school, the principal, their teacher AND (most importantly) our 1/2 block walk to school. This school feels like a much better fit for each of them and, after the struggles Isabel had at the beginning of first grade, second grade has been fantastic so far!
Once upon a time....we did some normal (read: non-traveling) summer things like master bike riding (twins), ride to our new park, ride skateboards (Keeler?? He's TWO.) and ride scooters (again, Keeler. TWO.) and swim with friends. Milo and Isabel took a month's worth of swimming lessons and are pretty water safe at this point. Good thing because Keeler is pretty positive that he can swim (and that I am constantly holding him back from his swimstar potential). As you can imagine, this results in a great deal of (my) time spent restraining him or watching him like a hawk.
Once upon a time...I ran another marathon. I tied my first marathon time but had much more fun this time around. I ran and trained with Allyson, a fellow nurse and my most frequent running partner, and Shikay, my marathon partner from last summer and one of my oldest and bestest friends.
The entire weekend was a blast. No kids (sorry children) and no responsibilities other than running, eating, drinking, and sleeping? Awesome.
This, sadly, will forever be known as "the marathon that Erin overtrained". Bah. I did not follow my own advice and crosstrain, crosstrain, crosstrain. Instead, I ran and ran and ran. And, I developed plantar fasciitis. Bah!! Good news is that it is healing. The bad (really bad for me) news is that I have had to nearly stop running completely to heal it. I have my sights on a few spring races and am praying that I am well enough to do them. (Let's be honest, my family probably is too. Running really is my sanity saver.)
Once upon a time...Isabel did not play soccer this fall (my fault--registration goof up) and she was pretty much devastated. That's a far cry from shouting at me "Mom, why did you make me play soccer anyway?? You know I've always wanted to be a ballerina!!!". (Whoa. Kindergarten girls are a challenge right?) Instead, this fall she's putting her focus on ballet. She auditioned for and got a part in a local production of the Nutcracker. It's at the big (relatively speaking) theater in town and is really a pretty big deal for a 7 1/2 year old. Heaven help me. Reading has also really started to "click" for Isabel. It took us so long to get her vision properly corrected that reading was really very challenging and frustrating for her last year. This year, it's been a completely different ballgame. Phew.
Also, this girl loves to craft so much and it is completely adorable. She has taken sewing classes and needle felting (what? I didn't know what it was either.) classes and nearly bursts with excitement over every one of them.
Once upon a time...these nuts started a new school. We are pretty much in love with the new school, the principal, their teacher AND (most importantly) our 1/2 block walk to school. This school feels like a much better fit for each of them and, after the struggles Isabel had at the beginning of first grade, second grade has been fantastic so far!
Once upon a time....we did some normal (read: non-traveling) summer things like master bike riding (twins), ride to our new park, ride skateboards (Keeler?? He's TWO.) and ride scooters (again, Keeler. TWO.) and swim with friends. Milo and Isabel took a month's worth of swimming lessons and are pretty water safe at this point. Good thing because Keeler is pretty positive that he can swim (and that I am constantly holding him back from his swimstar potential). As you can imagine, this results in a great deal of (my) time spent restraining him or watching him like a hawk.
Once upon a time...I ran another marathon. I tied my first marathon time but had much more fun this time around. I ran and trained with Allyson, a fellow nurse and my most frequent running partner, and Shikay, my marathon partner from last summer and one of my oldest and bestest friends.
The entire weekend was a blast. No kids (sorry children) and no responsibilities other than running, eating, drinking, and sleeping? Awesome.
This, sadly, will forever be known as "the marathon that Erin overtrained". Bah. I did not follow my own advice and crosstrain, crosstrain, crosstrain. Instead, I ran and ran and ran. And, I developed plantar fasciitis. Bah!! Good news is that it is healing. The bad (really bad for me) news is that I have had to nearly stop running completely to heal it. I have my sights on a few spring races and am praying that I am well enough to do them. (Let's be honest, my family probably is too. Running really is my sanity saver.)We're slowly but surely catching up here aren't we?
