Real Life's Happenings

It has been nearly a week since I posted much, so I'll try to catch up some on what's been going on.

~Primarily, I have been making conscious efforts to spend less online time and more real life time when my family is home and awake.  It's easy to read online while watching tv or while the kids are doing homework, but I've been picking up a magazine instead when I've wanted to flip through and do some mindless reading. Just more unplugging.  Plus, having a very active 14 month old inevitably limits the do anything except chase someone time. :)

I also know that with colder weather coming, we'll be indoors a ton more than I like and there is plenty of down time for online time.

~In addition to that family real life time, George and I have been shifting focus back onto our relationship as husband and wife also--making efforts to remove the mama and dad hats and giving our marriage some tender loving care.  It's been wonderful.  I love the communication and connection. Honestly, what I love the most is that he expresses this so much too.  It makes my heart spill over to see this man, who I adore, in a way that no one else has ever seen because it was me he waited his whole life to share himself with. 

We both truly believe this is essential for our happiness as individuals and as a couple.  Nothing was wrong, neither of us wanted to get to the point where it would be, so, proactively, we decided to shift some of our focus. For each of us, it was different places to adjust. It makes me happy and I'm looking forward to the weekend.
Yesterday after having been so open and communicative with my husband, I heard Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood's "Remind Me" while in the car and cried.  It's that type of place we don't want to be.
My favorite line, "If you still love me, don't just assume I know..."  Yeah, it's that effort that needs to happen. The loving, caring in daily life.

~Speaking of the weekend, Andrew's dad will be in town for a conference and Andrew is thrilled to see him! Reagan will be with BM, so we're thinking about getting a sitter for Lily!  Even if we don't, she'll be in bed and we'll still have our time. I just need to make sure to take a nap, so I don't fall asleep super early haha!

~We're also looking for a church.  We've been talking about what we each want to get out of a church, so that we look in the right places.  The thing about Pittsburgh is there are so many older, tradtional churches and that is just not what we're looking for.  We have a few to check out and we're researching more.

~Lily still won't walk.  Keyword: won't.  She'll do it all day long, if she's holding onto even just my pinky finger, but aside from taking 4 steps here and there, she drops and crawls. Fast. Between her daddy and myself, I don't know where she could have possibly ended up with stubbornness. ;) She sure likes to climb though. The steps, the dog cage, onto the couch, the chair, up onto everyone, into the tub. She has no fear climbing. She is definitely our little monkey.  I guess I should have really known in utero.

She literally picks up things off of her dresser with her feet while we change her diaper! And typically whatever she's doing, she's got one leg hiked up ready to climb. She is a sweet little monkey who brings us so much joy!

~I've been working to declutter and make better use of our space. It's a slow process and the toddler who doesn't toddle yet and her whirlwind messes all day sometimes make it difficult to get much accomplished, but we're getting there. I enjoy my days with Lily and know all too well how quickly they're no longer little, so the wake of her tornadoes don't bother me.

~Christmas cards are also on my mind.  You know why? Because when you get this year's card, you're also going to get last year's and Lily's birth announcements.  Yeah, that.  I'm determined to get this year's out on time.  I still have baby gift thank yous too.  I'm the worst at this. :(  So, I made certain to change it with the birthday thank yous and they went out!  It doesn't mean I do not care or appreciate people. It's just one of those things that gets left behind and I hate it.  So, be on the lookout for a recap of cards coming with this year's Christmas cards.

~I've also been trying to get the blog caught up, but will just post them back to the appropriate dates since the whole purpose is for me to keep this journal. :)  So, if you see random stuff, that's why. I'm also working on getting my pages finished up at the top of the blog.  The Team page was done most recently. :)

That's it for now! It's lunch time for the monkey!

Bananas anyone?