The ball is rolling!

Our plane tickets have been booked for our trip out to visit Colorado! We're flying out Thursday, December 16th just after 8am. We're coming home Sunday, December 19th in the afternoon. It will be the first time Levi and I have both left Oliver. I'm a little terrified about that, but I know he'll be in good hands. Still, it will be hard to be away from him.

After we arrive in Colorado, we're probably just going to do a bit of driving around. We're looking at the South Denver area, and we're probably just going to check out several neighborhoods. So far, the list includes Highlands Ranch, Parker, and Castle Rock for certain. There might be some other areas, but I am most interested in the Highlands Ranch area. It was rated by CNN money by one of the 100 best places to live in the country! Colorado has 6 of 100 of the best places to live. I'm impressed.

Anyway, Highlands Ranch seemingly has everything we need...there's a Sam's Club, a Whole Foods, Target, Wal-Mart, Starbucks...all the essentials. ;o) Parker is another viable option, as the homes I've browsed online are a bit less there than Highlands Ranch. It might seem crazy that I have been looking at homes online, but I figure the more things I have taken care of beforehand, in case we do go, the better. Besides, it's not like it's wasted time. I haven't got much else to do! =)

We also plan on meeting some of the company folks that Levi works with, which will be nice. We'll probably have dinner with them one night. We also have family in Castle Rock, and we'll probably have lunch or dinner with them one night, too.

There isn't much else to say, since we don't really know what else to expect. This is just a go out and look around kind of trip. Other than look around, I don't know what we'll do! We aren't going to bother looking at houses when we're there, because we haven't even got the faintest idea of whether or not we will decide to move there. I doubt we'll look at hospitals, either, though I have found the Cadillac of ALL labor and delivery units at a Denver hospital!! They have an $8 million L&D unit. Wow. It looks like a spa!

I will keep you all updated as the story unfolds. Keep us in your prayers!

Please keep us in your prayers.

We have big decisions ahead of us!

We have been asked to relocate from Georgia to Colorado. We are in early negotiation stages, and are currently slated to fly out in a few weeks to check out the area we would be living, which is just south of Denver. Nothing has been decided yet, but hopefully after the trip out, we will have a better idea of what we want to do.

It is a rather large decision, as we are due to have our baby at the end of April. I would want to move out as soon as possible (if we decide to go) in order to find a doctor and a hospital and such. I am hopeful that things will unfold and God's will will become clear. I have faith that it will...I'm just trying to pray for patience. It's not easy, but it rarely is.

There are so many things to think about to prepare in case we are going, but it is such a weird time to think about it all. With just five months to decide, the time crunch is the worst part, I think. I feel like we ought to go before the baby is born because it will give Oliver a chance to adjust to being in a new place (with a two hour time difference, eek!) before he is no longer the center of the universe. Although I know he could adjust if we moved after the baby is born, I feel like it would still be easier if we went before. And I'd have to find a new pediatrician for both children, which sucks because I totally love my pediatrician here. I'd have to find a new OB (which won't be hard, as a friend of mine from high school is a CNM in Colorado Springs, and she can recommend the best OB in the Denver area) AND find and tour a hospital (Denver is full of hospitals, but I'd have to find the one I liked the best). I would basically be moving and then almost immediately having major surgery. Hooray! =P

I am keeping myself busy trying to prepare for the possibility of going. House hunting, researching hospitals, and trying to talk myself into how great it will be. Not that I'm completely adverse to going, it's just very sudden and such. There are just a lot of things to consider and it hasn't been easy thus far. I feel very strongly that God will give us peace if it is the right choice, and honestly I feel very at ease with the whole situation for the most part. There are some stressors involved, but there always are. I honestly think we'll know when we go visit...that we will either love it or hate it.

Please remember us in your prayers! We need all the help we can get.

Blessings abound!

Today has been so wonderful.  The day started off with some morning cuddles from the hubs.  I checked Facebook to find an apology message from a guy who has been nothing but horribly mean to me for the past ten years (for whatever reason, I really don't know why and he couldn't tell me, either).  It was nice to have that behind me, though I forgave him long ago.  My sister also sent me a text later in the day apologizing for her behavior yesterday, and that was refreshing, too!

After breakfast, the little boy and I headed out to meet Aunt Sesame (Stephanie!) and Miss Ada for some play time at the mall.  We had a great time running and playing, but most of all, sliding.  We were fortunate to be there at a time where there were few kids, and all the kids were small enough or patient enough to deal with two toddlers who wouldn't climb the stairs and had to have Mommy pick them up and put them on top of the slide.  =)  We did a bit of shopping, and had the kids sign up for the Kidgits' Club, a $5 a year program that gives the kids little prizes and such when they go to the mall.  We also get coupons for kids' stores, too!

Afterwards, we were going to eat pizza, but the square had no parking, so instead we went out for sushi!  The kids even got to eat a bit...Jus, one of the owners, knew that Ada loves the crabsticks, so she made her some little rolls with just rice and a crab stick on top...cute!  So of course Oliver wanted a bite.  I ended up pulling all the crab out of my California roll for him to eat.  Oh, and he ate all of his turkey, pears, and apples, too.  Fatty!  lol

I came home to find that one of our $100 rebate debit cards had arrived!  The blessings really overflowed today.

Tonight, Levi and I will be eating lasagna and hanging out.  We're on the last season on Battlestar Galactica, and we also have been playing Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Wii!  Should be a fun night for all!  Praying God blessed you today, too!

Practicing letters, expanding our vocabulary, and a family rant.

I know Oliver is only 17 months old, but we have been playing with flash cards for about six or eight weeks now.  He has a great time with them, and any time we ask if he wants to read a book and go over to the shelf, he says, "Cards?"  =)  It's adorable.

Today while we were doing our cards, which cycle through A-Z twice, we got to the first Y card which was yo-yo.  I LOVE this card...because he will say both the letter Y AND the word yo-yo, and BOTH are suuuuper adorable to hear!  So I started playing around saying, "Y-Y-Y!"  And he loved it!  So we started saying each letter three times, and he can repeat almost every single letter.  My heart!  It's over flowing with pride, for serious.

He has trouble with H, L, M, and W.  We'll keep working on those.  But hey!  That's still pretty good!

We're also trying to teach him names.  He can simply NOT say Oliver, but we're working on it.  He can say "Ada", which is my best friend Stephanie's little girl's name, and that's cute.  He also learned "Robert" (Well, Woe-burt or Wah-burt), which is Ada's Daddy's name!  I doubt he will learn Stephanie's name, because it's just too darn long.  So sad for Aunt Sesame!

I am so overwhelmed sometimes (thank you, pregnancy hormones) by how smart Oliver is.  It makes me so proud!

Today, though, it got me in trouble.  I was visiting at my mom's house, and my sister was there.  My mom wanted to turn the tv on for Oliver, and I told her he doesn't really watch much tv, just one thirty minute video almost every day, but not always.  My sister, on the other hand, lets her 19 month old watch hours and hours of tv a day.  I don't think this is the best thing for MY child, but she can do what she wants with hers.  And my nephew is really really smart, don't get me wrong.  So it went from me saying that Oliver doesn't need to watch tv to my sister saying that I think Oliver is smarter than her son...which is so not true!!  Babies are smart.  They all are!  I don't think there is any way you can rationally say that any baby is smarter than another.  Anyway, my sister  got really upset and stomped off and muttered things under her breath (a habit I LOATHE, because we are dang grown ups, give me a break) about how she couldn't wait to move out of state with her husband (they live with my parents right now and want to eventually move to Colorado...I don't know what is stopping them) and I couldn't help myself...I just said, "Good, bye!   See ya!"

I'm not proud of the way I acted.  However, I feel very strongly that up until the end there, I didn't do anything wrong.  I wasn't trying to be hurtful, and I wasn't trying to tell her how to parent.  Frankly, almost every thing she does with her children I think is almost the exact opposite of what I would do with mine, but as their parent it is her prerogative to do.  It is very hard for me to be around my family and not act a fool like I used to.  My family is very loud and opinionated and...well, rude.  It is hard for me to keep my cool there sometimes.  All the time.  Anyway.  It was very...ugh.  I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to see my sister, either.  I said goodbye when I left, but she ignored me.  Such is life.

It really makes it difficult when I am trying so hard to break out of the habits I developed living at home.  It is not a very positive environment, and it is a very soul sucking, tearing down sort of environment.  It is hard to try to make my own home an edifying environment...to build up my husband and children and to provide a loving environment for my family.  It's not that I don't love my parents and my sister, it's just that I don't agree with the sort of family life we were brought up in, and I will fight tooth and nail to make sure my family doesn't turn out the same way.

Heh..sorry this turned into a big rant and escalated into a deep discussion about how hard it is to be positive when you grew up with just the negative.  I needed to get that out, though...thanks for letting me, internet!

Back to basics: Gushing about my Baby.

My best friend Stephanie and I were talking about all the changes that are happening to our babies.  Oliver and Ada are 17 and 15 months old...and every day they learn something new!  I keep telling myself I will remember it all, but I know I won't.  So let me tell you about the recent cute updates.

Oliver has started repeating everything we say.  I have had to limit my exclamations to "Whoopsie!" and "Uh-oh!", though it doesn't always work.  However, I find when my son repeats when I say, "Crap!", I feel like one of those parents.  No thank you!

His other new game is finding his body parts!  Currently, he can point to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, chin, hair, head, elbow (Eh-BOW!), foot, hand, belly, and belly button (okay these last two are shockingly similar, but he does say "BE-BO!" when he touches his belly for belly button.  It's from a book eveyone should own called The Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton, an author that every child needs to grow up with.  Other favorites include Hippos Go Berserk and Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs!  Sorry for the tangent!).  It astounds me that his little brain can hold all this information.

I keep meaning to make a list of all the words he knows, but it's so long I always quit.  A couple of months ago the list was about thirty.  I'm sure it is more like fifty now, if you include that animal noises.  My baby!  The genius.  You know those are Levi's genes, right?!  HAR HAR, LEVI'S JEANS!

I love that Oliver still lets me tickle him.  We have tickle fights about three times a day.  He also gets super tickled when I scratch his back.  I think it's adorable.

At bedtime, he snuggles up really close and lays his head on your shoulder and pats your back while you sing to him.  We made up this song to the tune of "Oh My Darling" that is silly, but we have sung it for so long it just because part of bed/naptime.  We sing, "Let's go ni-ni, let's go ni-ni, let's go ni-ni punkin boy, we will have us a good night (or nap) now, and we'll wake up later on.  Let's go ni-ni, let's go ni-ni, let's go ni-ni stinker boy, we will have us some sweet dreams now, and we'll wake up later on."  It's silly, but he loves it.  And I love that it's our thing.  Levi has taken to singing it to him too, which I think is super adorable.  <3

Every day at 5:30pm, we watch a video together.  Usually it's Baby Einstein (today we're  watching Baby Mozart!), but sometimes we watch Wonderpets, because it's on the Netflix Instant Q, and let's face it...Levi and I love to sing the songs.  Mock if you want, but you will love them, too!  This.  Is.  Sewious.  After the video is over, Oliver knows that it is time to eat supper.  We eat, then play, then it's off to bed at 7pm.  We start all over again sometime between 7:30 and 7:45am the next day.

Our boy is growing so quickly!  He amazes me more each day.  I'll keep updating about his awesomeness from now on.  I don't want to forget a thing!