Leg 1 Of Our Journey...On To Lexington!

After leaving Columbus it was on to Lexington/Georgetown to spend a few nights with my family before we move halfway around the world (well, halfway across the US anyway...but it seems much further).

We had a pretty pleasant drive...of course it was only 3 hours of our 18 hours we had to drive. We really enjoyed spending time with family.

(Grammy just couldn't leave anyone out so she had to give 3 horsie rides at once)

(The highlight of the trip for Alexa was making cookies with Grammy)

Alexa had a ton of fun with her cousins, especially when we went to the pumpkin patch. I was so excited that the timing worked our for us to go since it's my favorite pumpkin patch and I may never get to go again. Plus, it was really special since it's Blake's first fall and pumpkins. It was a great time, especially since our friends Kyle and Isaac were in town so they came with us.

(Sweet Brother and Sister)

(Kate, Graham, Alexa & Blake)

(Alexa and Graham walking in the "Rat Run")

(Grammy and Poppy with the Grandkids...I was sad Blake was asleep in the Bjorn so he couldn't be in the picture)

(Blake and Big Cousin Graham)

(Blake's first experience with Pumpkins...he's so cute! :-)

(With Kyle and Isaac)

We got to meet my new nephew Owen who is so tiny and just precious. It made me think that I may just need another baby:-)

The timing was also perfect to be in town for our friend's Mark and Traci's baby shower for their twins! It was so great to see them and all of our KY friends and I loved getting to see her pregnant. I am so excited for them! We had so much fun with everybody.

(With our friends at the shower)

As expected, it was hard to say goodbye to my family and of course I cried some more. I think it would have been much worse but I don't know if it has fully set in yet that we are moving and will be so far away. It felt like we were just there for a visit and then going home to OH. It also helped that my mom and dad are planning to come to Dallas for Thanksgiving. It's in writing here Mom so now you can't change your mind:-)

After 4 nights we loaded the van back up (I felt like we were moving again with all our junk we had to load back up) and started out on the 2nd leg on our journey to Dallas.


On to Owensboro...

Officially Homeless...Goodbye Columbus:-(

It was a sad goodbye to Columbus and friends. It was really nice to have a girls night the day before closed on our house. I got to go to Cheesecake Factory with my good friends Shannon, Alicia and Bethel. It was such a great time but it was sad knowing it was the last time I was going to get to go out with them.

We closed on our home Thursday AM while the movers were at our house loading the truck and packing the last minute things. We were so excited to finally be closed after our last sale fell through the day before closing! Yay, we are officially out! While the movers worked I was able to meet one my friends at the mall to meet her new daughter Ana that they just got from China. It was a little bittersweet because we really enjoyed getting to meet Ana and play with her and her big sister Audrey but it sad knowing it was the last time we would see them. After we said goodbye it was back to the house to help the movers finish things up.

(Audrey, Alexa & Ana)

When I got back to the house I was busy helping the movers finish things up and cleaning things for the new owners. When the movers left my friend Shannon and her girls came over to tell us goodbye. When I had to say goodbye to her I had my first tears because it was so sad to say goodbye to my college friend that I was so fortunate to get to spend the last 3 years with in Ohio. Hopefully we can live near them again and Alexa and Blake can grow up with their buddies.

(Shannon with Blake and her baby Juliette...Blake looks so huge next to her!)

(Alexa and Ava saying goodbye)

Then it was time to say goodbye to the house. It was kind of sad to see it all empty. Alexa kept saying, "those guys are taking my stuff!" and I had to keep explaining they were taking it to our new house. The funniest was when she wanted a Popsicle and I told her I didn't have any scissors because they were packed and she said, "we have scissors, they're right here" and opened the drawer and said "hey, somebody took my scissors...put them back!" She managed to make friends with the movers though and kept saying "those guys are my friends" and taking them bottles of water.

(Our empty living room)

(I'm over living with boxes everywhere. This is my new table that was delivered the morning the mover's came. I can't wait to see what it looks like!)

(our empty dining room)

After we said goodbye to the house and pulled away with the van loaded to ceiling we went to our friend Alicia's house to goodbye to her and Bryce and Jillian. It was another really sad moment and after some more tears in the car it was on the pick up Nic at his work and leave Columbus for the last time.

On the the next let of our 5 leg journey to Texas! It's going to be a long two weeks as homeless gypsies until we settle into our new home.

Heading To The Lonestar State

Well, I can't believe it since I told Nic before we got married that he would never get me to move to Texas, but 7 years later we are Texas-bound. The movers come in 2 days to load our truck and then we close on our house on Thursday. I can't believe it is almost here. I am a little excited and a little sad. I am really sad to leave our friends here in Columbus and to be so far away from our families. And I'm nervous about how hot it is going to be but I can't lie, I am NOT going to miss the horrible winters here:-)

I'm not sure Alexa really gets it yet. She goes around wearing Nic's cowboy hat singing a song he taught her about Texas but I don't think she understands we won't be coming back to this house. We sold our kitchen table and she came downstairs and asked where her table and chairs were and I told her we sold it for the move and she said, "put it back!" I don't think she really likes change much. Blake is just having a ball crawling all over the place getting into the boxes that aren't sealed yet! Since we won't see everyone as much now, I'm really going to try to update more on our new lives in Texas.

Despite all the reserves I am feeling, I am excited for the adventure of starting in a new place. It seems like a great place to live from the limited time I have spent there while looking for a house. We did find a house and will be closing on it two weeks after we leave here so I guess we will be drifters for a couple of weeks. We are looking forward to spending some time in KY with our family and friends before we make the looong drive to our new home.

Some Family Pics

Blake eating his fruit out of his mesh feeder...you can't get this thing away from him

My precious angel at almost 6 months.

I don't get too many chances to get a pic of the two of them sitting still and looking at the camera...much less both smiling!

My two cuties

Blake's first time having solids...he wound up wearing most of it.



I know it's shocking and hard to believe but I am actually updating my blog. My new goal is to try to do this more often but we will see how that works. Things are absolutely crazy for us right now and the only reason I am getting the chance to update this is because I am totally procrastinating. We are moving in a week and a half and I'm supposed to be packing but I am hitting a wall so I thought I would take a break. For those of you who don't know we sold our house in 3-1/2 weeks which was a bit of a surprise and now we don't know where we are going! We had planned to build and were about to sign the contract but we felt the Lord was telling us that wasn't His plan for us so now we are just moving into a townhome for 6 months. We are praying for the Lord to direct us where he wants us. At this point we are not sure if we are supposed to stay here in Columbus or move out of state. If we are supposed to move out of state we aren't sure where yet. Hopefully God will fill us in soon:) Rather than rushing into buying a new home here we thought we would just take a break and find out what we are supposed to do so this should be an interesting 6 months.

It's hard to believe but my little Blake just turned 6 months old! He is such a blessing and a joy. He really is a happy and joyful baby and laughs and giggles so much. He is rolling over both ways and can sort of sit up on his own...he leans over so much to put his toes in his mouth that he looks kind of funny doing it. He's just getting so big that it makes me sad but it's fun to watch him grow and learn new things. Alexa loves her baby brother and is sometimes a little possessive over him. She is such a great helper and always bringing me diapers and wipes but sometimes she wants to act like she's a baby too and get in his seat and exersaucer and wants me to "feed her like a baby". I can't believe she is 3-1/2 and talking so much. Some of the things she comes up with are just too funny! We really have to be careful of what we say around her because she hears and repeats everything!

I really am going to try to be better about posting. In the next few weeks I'm going to try to catch up and post some old pictures of when Blake was born. Please don't mind my Christmas background...it may be awhile before I have time to change that:)

He finally made it! Born at 7:47 Friday night at 9 lbs 7 oz & 21.75 inches with strawberry blonde hair. They are both doing great.

Ultrasound Picture

I'm finally putting an ultrasound picture of the baby up...even though it's from our 20 week ultrasound:)

October/November Update

What an amazing year it has been. It's crazy how fast time goes by but we celebrated the 2-year anniversary of Alexa becoming part of our family on Oct 20th. I can't even believe how much she is growing up and that she is going to be a big sister soon. I also can't believe how these weeks are flying by in my pregnancy and we only have about 4 weeks to go! I'm ready to get this "giant" baby out but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to be a mother of two yet:) I have a hard enough time updating this blog with one child, I don't know how I will ever get it done with two. Hopefully though there will be a post in the next couple of weeks announcing our baby boy's birth! That just seems so weird to even think about and we still have so much to do. His nursery is pretty much done. I have a shelf to hang and then put his name on the wall and we will be done and then I will try to post a picture. We still have to install the carseat and I have a lot of monogramming to do for him but we are slowly getting there. Now if I can just get my Christmas shopping done...I at least got the tree up and the stockings hung but I don't know how much other decorating we will do this year with the baby coming so close to Christmas. Anyway, here are a few pictures from October.

Alexa trick-or-treating in downtown Westerville with her buddies.

Alexa was a Vietnamese "princess" this year.

As you can tell, Alexa loves putting on Mommy's lipstick.

At the Circleville Pumpkin Festival

Me and Alexa with the winning pumpkin

Alexa on her first pony ride...I wasn't sure how she would do but she loved it!

Alexa having a ball on the horse-drawn hayride in downtown Westerville.

It took awhile but she finally put her hand in.

Me and Alexa in Amish Country with Grammy on our Family Anniversary day.

Alexa opening her gifts from Vietnam.

October 20th...Two years as a Family!

My whacky lopsided belly with half a uterus.

The cute diaper cake my friends made me at my baby shower.