2 Weeks!

Today marks two weeks til the movers come and pack out our things! It's all getting so real! I go through moments of excitement, to anxiety, to sadness and then I just want it to be here already so we can just be done with it! Just a little recap of where we are in our life. We have tickets to fly out of here March 2! It'll be a long trip, but also the most bearable option that we had! ha We're shipping our car up there and staying in temporary housing before we fly out. When we get there we've been saving up for a minivan that we'll get pretty shortly after we get there! YAY! Then we plan on staying on base for at least the first year, just because the hospital is on base and I would feel better about being right there for the birth of Baby Girl #3!

This move has been different emotionally for me. Last time we moved, it was so hard leaving MY home! Leaving my family and my close friends was really hard. This time, it's been a struggle just because I feel like I've kind of already checkout out of this place. It's not a good mindset to be in. I feel like there are probably two different military wife/mom mindsets... the mom that checks out like me and the mom that takes every advantage of every last moment. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I will miss about this place. But I never thought I'd have that "itch" to get somewhere new and start over! I've been really praying and working on being content and productive in the place I'm at instead of spending all my time and efforts planning and thinking about the future. I was reading through the Proverbs for a bible study I'm doing and this Proverb stuck out to me: "Commit to the LORD whatever you do and He will establish your plans" 16:3. It's just a nice reminder to live my life for the Lord every day and try not to worry so much about planning because the Lord knows my future and will take care of us!

We've been checking things off the list as we await our last days here. One thing we did was make one last visit to Disneyland! It was awesome because my parents and my brother and his family came down to meet us too! It was a hard trip though knowing it would be the last time we saw all of them for who knows how long. :( But it was just so nice for the girls to be with their family. It's going to be the hardest part of all of this being SO far away. I try to convince my parents to just find jobs up there and come with us... haha Even though it's pretty unrealistic, but wouldn't it just be great!?

 

Sara talks about moving to Alaska ALL the time. Today, I had a plan to start packing up some of their toys, so that when we open it again in 2 weeks the toys will be exciting again. Sara looked at the bag with a confused face and asked me "Mommy, are we moving to Alaska.... orrrr Disneyland?" haha I guess you know you've been there too many times if your 3 year old is asking that. We talk all the time about how the packers are going to put all their things in a box, but for some reason maybe seeing the suitcase, she had a really hard time with knowing that she won't see her toys for probably a month!

Jason's Tech Sergeant promotion ceremony! Yay

The girls are growing up so fast. Sara likes to tell us that all the time too. A lot of the times when she's telling stories she starts off with "When I was Jordyn's age" or "When I was a baby". It's quite amusing. They are the best of friends, and the worst of friends. haha Typical sibling things. Jordyn has really taken off with her talking the past couple weeks. Although, I'm sure if any of you were here you would have no idea what she's saying! She's still a Mama's girl, we'll see what happens when the new baby comes! Yikes. But it's been so fun being able to watch them learn and explore together. The other day I laughed because we were at church playing with a handful of other kids and there's Sara and Jordyn just wanting to play together. Crazy girls.

Jordyn transitioned early to a Toddler bed before we move!

Sara's favorite thing in the world right now... Trolls

So there's our life in a nutshell at the moment. If you're reading this, we'd appreciate a quick prayer. Just for peace and contentment. Also, just a prayer to not get too stressed out about little things while we're in the process of moving. And prayers that the girls will transition to the new place easily.

About a Girl!

Three girls! People have so many opinions and assumptions about this and so I figured I'd share what we ACTUALLY feel about this..

Jason and I always talked about having 3 kids. And guess what! We're on our way to having three kids! We always joked about how we'd end up having three girls, and quite honestly we're perfectly fine with that! We just feel so blessed to be able to complete our family with one more little one. So to answer one question I get QUITE frequently... No, we were not "trying" for a boy this time around, we were trying for a third child and can't wait to meet this little girl! And to answer the next question I get all the time... No, we will not be "trying" for another child just because we were "hoping" for a boy. I think 3 is more than enough for us. haha, Unless God sees otherwise and wants to give us another.

16 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

Something else that gets me is the fact that some get the impression that we're disappointing by the news of having another girl. There was no disappointment in the ultrasound room when we found out! Only laughter, smiles, and hugs. I'm sure deep down Jason would have been excited to have a little boy, but saying he's disappointed about having a girl instead just kinda ruins the excitement of this child. It's not like we're thinking, "Oh... a girl... well, I guess we'll just have to deal with it and try to love it anyway." Jason is a wonderful Daddy. And he'll have so much to teach all his girls as they grow up.

So that's my rant on our girls. haha I'm actually really happy I was able to prove almost everyone wrong by creating another girl rather than a boy I "needed to have." If you told me I needed a boy, I still love you... ;) But I didn't "need" a boy, I just needed another little baby to love and cuddle with. :) As for the little girl's name... we new before we found out that the middle name would be James, boy or girl. We have a first name picked out, but I think we're still chewing on it before we tell the world! So stay tuned.

In other news, it's Christmas Eve! And we're getting closer and closer to our move date to Alaska! This with the military make it a little harder for me to plan way ahead... there are just so many little things that have to line up first before we can get exact plans nailed down. As of right now, we'll be headed out March 1. We're still debating on living on or off base, I think we'll decided once we get up there. We just sold our beloved "Chelsea" car because she just won't cut it in Alaska! So we have a good chunk ready to buy a mini-van when we get there! We'll be flying up there, and having our "Pipper" Pilot shipped. I think that covers most of the questions I usually get regarding our move. We're still pretty excited, but I think it's just hit me how hard it's going to be for us being up there. It'll be so much harder to get home for things with three small kids. But we'll find the positives and adventures in all this.

That's just a little quick update and rant on things lately! ha More to come later, hopefully it won't be a looooooong time before I hit the keys again. Don't forget to check up on our weekly Bumpdates for Baby #3! And I hope you all have a fabulous and happy happy Christmas!

Can't Do it All

I've been knee deep in my new business since June 3rd, and ever since then I've been reminded that I can't give everything in my life 100%, as much as I'd love to. One thing I've really missed is my blog. So here I am. Being a working at home mama has been challenging. I fight with myself all the time about not spending enough quality time with my kids, not spending enough time on house chores, not spending enough time in my bible studies and devotions, and how to spend my time wisely with my business. Phew... I know I know,  I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but that's where I'm getting at. I've been finding some good ways to prioritize my time and keep me on schedule. Like right now, Sara is sitting on my lap, watching the Croods while I'm typing all this out. ha We're getting some good cuddles in, AND I get to keep saying, "Hey, that's my keyboard silly". There is such thing as too much multi-tasking.

I just finished this bible study with some ladies from church on "Calming my Anxious Heart". In a nutshell, God has taught me not to worry so much. Trust that God has His in my life and that He will take care of me. Another thing I really have taken to heart with this bible study is that I should not dwell on the future. It's in my blood to always want a plan, but I have been spending too much time dwell on what life with be like in the future, or what it'll be like in Alaska, that I guess I "check out" of the place I'm at. This bible verse sums it up: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 

Not only this, but it's reminded me to be content with what God has provided us with. We've really had to start hardcore budgeting recently. We had been spending like we use to, because we were so use to not having to worry about how we would pay for things. Now, it's all about having a plan, sticking to our budget, looking for sales, couponing, thinking before we buy "do I really need this?", and saving for things. I know that God will provide, I just selfishly get upset when we just can't go out to eat at our favorite place because I don't feel like cooking that day, or going on vacation without thinking about costs. But in all honesty, I feel like we're really creating new healthy money habits, and learning LOTS about self-control! Budget almost feels like a whole other side job too. haha 

The LuLaRoe business has been hard and fun. I really do like selling it, but starting up a new company is really hard. It's not like teaching where I worked hard and then always knew exactly when I'd be paid. With this... I'm constantly making money and then turning around and putting it back into buying more things. So it's hard to see the fruits of my labor. But I get to make women happy, and I get to help them feel good about themselves. And that's a fun part of the job. 

Then there's the Home School Preschool! I just started it up today with the girls. I'm following an awesome mommy blogger at simplylearningkids.com and she puts together these Literature Units for toddlers and to go along with it, she has Tiny Tot activities. So both girls can do things. I love it because it's the right balance of school and play. I firmly believe in learning through playing at this age. I don't expect the girls to be reading books before they get to Kindergarten, but it is nice giving them a foundation and hopefully showing them early that learning IS in fact fun! I LOVE being able teach at home and the girls seem to enjoy it too. So I'm hopping to open up a tab so that I can show off things we do for people to get idea or just see what we're up to! If you have Instagram, you can also follow what we do @teachermama1138

Our family has been doing pretty well. It seems like the girls are constantly getting sick.... Sara especially. We didn't do too much traveling this summer. Well, I take that back... we did make a road trip to Las Vegas and then the girls and I went down to visit my family in Arizona. That was a lot of fun. And all my grandparents were so happy to see the girls in person. Jason made a trip back to Ohio. His PeePaw (Grandpa), hasn't been doing too well. He'd been in and out of the hospital, and this is a crazy story about God's timing. We had planned on sending Jason out when I went to Arizona. We figured he'd be able to check up on his PeePaw, or he'd get to be there for his Nannie and give her some support. So Jason flew in and got to Ohio and went straight to his grandparent's house, and his PeePaw at this point was not doing well, but he was at home. Jason was able to spend the evening with PeePaw and his family and they shared some very memorable moments together. And early that next morning, PeePaw passed away. Jason was able to stay in Ohio for the funeral too. I know he was very grateful for the time he got to spend with PeePaw and the time he spent celebrating his life. We also made a family trip up to San Fransisco, which 2 years ago I vowed never to do again... but one of my best friends was getting married and I wasn't about to miss that. Next month, we're making our last Disneyland trip before we move and in October we are heading to Arizona for my mom's side of the family reunion! 

So the girls.... These girls are SO awesome. I love them! Most of the time they play really well together! But oh man... when they don't play well, it gets LOUD. haha Sara is almost 3! Crazy. She is in love with Aladdin and Baymax a (Big Hero 6) at the moment. She still loves to read and she loves playing with my old Polly Pockets. She is such a sweet and caring big sister, but obviously she has her stubborn moments too or moment of weakness where she gets really mad at Jordyn. She's getting good with ridding her scooter and her tricycle and has finally gotten to the point where she can go to the bathroom completely on her own (though she did fall in the toilet the other day because she didn't put her toilet seat on). Sara just started going to the 3-5 year old Sunday School class. She loves it. She always talks about going to school, and since we won't be sending her to school anytime soon... we thought is was time for her to step up to the next class! We're working on skills of getting herself dressed, cleaning herself in the tub, and making her own snacks. Jordyn is 14 months now. She picked up on walking very quickly, and is now almost running after Sara now. She doesn't physically say much, but she has picked up sign language really well. She's a feisty girl. Jordyn loves to dance and she loves to snuggle with her Mickey and Minney. OH, and she loves bouncy balls. Anytime we're out at a store, she gets so excited when pass them. Really, she just loves to play. It's been crazy how much she understands! I'll say "Did you go poo poo?" and then she'll sign "diaper" and go get one, bring it back and lay down right in front of us. haha

We're just counting down the days until Alaska! Oh! And Jason made Tech Sergeant. So that's good news. I guess that's all I've got to say for now. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get back on here again.