....and we're back! If you can believe it my last baby blog post was October 27, 2011. The holidays are always busy but let's be honest here, shit hit the fan for the Elys last December ;) Long story short we have had a busy 10 months starting a new jobs (UA Sales, Stay at Home Dad) leaving jobs (Part Time Mgr at UA, Weapons testing), Selling our MD Home (in a terrible market), living with the kids at my parents apart from Jace, Buying a new House (the Mt. Lebo House on a Cliff:) and then making this house a Home!
But true chaos cannot be understood until you do all of this with three darling high energy children (more on the definition of 'high energy later'). To their credit, they dealt with it better than their parents in many cases. Time seems to have passed by so quickly but during this very stressful time some days it also seemed to be at a complete standstill. Regardless, our babies have grown up SO MUCH. In this new blog you may see more about our house renovations, movies, cooking, dieting, running, family life and of course lots of stories and updates on Elsie, Bridget & Jude - the loves of our lives, joy of our days and frustrations of our nights. You will probably see lots of videos, quotable quotes and definitely LOTS of pictures once I figure out Picasa.
We aren't quite settled but we're getting there. For now I'll bring you up to speed via pics. More details on the new house, neighborhood and life in the Burgh in a later post!
Jude turned 1! Holy Moly how did that happen?! Remember how on Elsie's 1st birthday she had her first cupcake? Yeah. This wasn't his first...and he also finished Bridget's.
Yeah, this is basically how Jace and I felt all summer. Sadly for us I think this miraculous event happened only twice.
We had to say bye to our amazing nanny Caitlin! We all miss her and are so thankful we had her in our lives during this crazy time. She went above and beyond especially during the showings for the house!
Then we said goodbye to our first home! So long brand new townhome with modern conveniences and things JUST the way we liked them :-) The kids were sad to leave our neighbors and their friends behind but luckily the prospect of seeing family, the farm (Elsie) and Cooper (B) soothed the pain.
Summer on the Farm was AWESOME for the kids. They had a blast and despite some potty training regression (B) some major attitude and mind games (E) and way too early morning wake ups (J) we survived. Grandma took the brunt of it and there aren't enough thank yous in the world to repay her.
WAY too many fun things to do :-)
At the end of the summer all three kids got baptized and they were fantastic and we were so proud. (Sorry for the crotch shot, not a single pic that didn't have someone's underpants. Focus on the cuteness.)
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I feel like we brought her home from the hospital yesterday and here is my big girl totally psyched for school. For all those fearing for her shyness and Jaceness (awkwardness) have no fear, she is a Miss Congeniality and it seems that there are other kids who love stuffed animals, games and tv as much as she does.
Poor Bridget was DEVASTATED when she realized it wasn't her first day of school too. Heartbreaking and adorable. She survived once she realized Elsie is only at school during her naps and she doesn't miss much.
17 Months of Cuteness
Jude bug has grown in so many ways. He had surgery on his crusty boogery eye to unclog the tear duct (amazing), is enormously tall and has a shockingly large vocabulary - which is not surprising given the 3 ladies he lives with. He is the biggest social butterfly of the three and has made us more friends in our neighborhood than we can count. He's a ladies man these days and is kind of irresistible or rather will not rest until you love him back. Still the typical little brother who loves to steal things from his sisters but has adjusted SO WELL in the new house. He's finally back to sleeping in until 8AM thankyouJesus and both little ones nap simultansoulsly which has been huge on the home renovation front.
Curly Shirley
This little lady cannot really be described. Pistol. Firecracker. Wild Woman. Passionate. Irresistible. Hilarious. Stubborn. Her hair is kind of indicative of her personality. As it gets larger than life so does the hair, and we love it.
Sweet Elsie P - Apple of my Eye
In truth Elsie is a very good girl. She's grown up a lot lately...we're mostly proud that this summer she regained the appetite she had at age 2. This is huge news. She now ASKS for food (healthy food) and we don't have to bribe her. It's incredible. For those of you who have garbage disposal children (Jude) you can never understand how amazing this feeling is. She has done amazing in Kindergarten, made lots of friends and is starting to read all on her own by sounding out words. It makes me so proud and I get a little teary eyed every time. IF ONLY she would go to bed before 10PM.More on her soccer skills soon. That is deserving of its very own post ;)
Lastly, I can't forget Gauphine/GDolph/Gandalf our first feline child. It was a rough time for him as well. He lived with Grandma and PapPap from Feb-August and I honestly can't tell you who was happier when he left (him or Judy:) We had a rough few days in the new house, he trapped himself under a seat in the car in the garage and would NOT come out for over 24 hours. Finally he emerged and locked himself in the basement bathroom for another 24 hours. AT LAST he started eating and drinking by the 3rd day and by the 2nd week he stopped sleeping in the closets. Here we are 6 weeks in and he spends a good chunk of the day outside and he EVEN spends time snuggling with each kid and letting them pet him. Even the G-Man has matured this year.
Until next time (promise it won't be 12 months)...
