Fun Times

Things are going really well in my life these last few months.  I am not one of those people who claim that things are always sunny.  There were parts of this year where life wasn't fun and had gotten downright hard, like when we had to move twice in 4 months.  Or when, two nights after moving to our apartment, our 2 car garage filled with all of our belongings flooded due to 70 mph straight line winds during a thunderstorm.  Good news:  We had Renter's Insurance.  Bad news:  Renter's Insurance doesn't cover this type of thing, as it's called an "act of God".  Now, if a pipe had broken and flooded our stuff, we would've been covered.  If our washing machine had broken and flooded our stuff, we would've been covered.  But not straight line winds combined with a torrential thunderstorm.  Everything we lost (and it was substantial) was a complete loss.  That wasn't fun.  Prior to moving to our apartment, I had Goodwilled, Craigslisted, and donated about 50% of our stuff.  The stuff in the two car garage that we were storing was the good 50% that we were keeping.

Anyway, life has been rough at different times for us, including this year during 2013.

And quite possibly that's why I am so keenly aware of my life going so well right now.

It all started when we found this house, which we dearly love (and fell in love with the moment we walked through it).  God was so gracious to give us favor to get this house when there were quite a few other offers on it at the same time.  Then, God was so gracious to bless us with another baby... which we didn't think was necessarily in the cards for us.  We are thrilled with this baby boy.  Then we have had an incredible summer and beginning of fall buying furniture for and decorating this house.  Maybe my real calling was to be a decorator - I sure do love doing it.  Or maybe it's just more fun for people to interior decorate their own house.  Either way, it's a blast.  We have found some amazing deals on Craigslist.  It has become a challenge/skill/hobby for us.  I don't earn a paycheck myself and I don't clip coupons, so finding a crazy good deal on something of quality on Craigslist is fun for me.  I also had the 3 kids' portraits made from an incredible children's photographer - and I am loving having those around the house.

Adrian continues to love his job.  He just crossed the 2 year mark with this company in the beginning of August.  He loves what he does - and is crazy good at it.  (I know I couldn't sell lasers...I'd get a couple "no's" from potential customers and would be blubbering over a white mocha at the nearest Starbucks on the road).  Or I would have long-term chronic insomnia just based on the fact that the largest portion of compensation comes from commission.  Thankfully he's not like me in either of those ways and loves achieving and succeeding in his job.  I like being the cheerleader in the background when he calls during the day or comes home to fill me in on current deals.  I know all his customers' names and potential deals - and it's fun to be included in corporate America from the backseat.  I really love being kept in the loop with the deals.  It's much more thrilling than watching Dora and The Fresh Beat Band reruns.

I am so happy with where Andrew is at, especially this last month and a half.  He loves, loves school (JrK) - and has started playing on his first soccer team (and come to find out, is really good at it).  With as much as he has flourished these last 6 weeks, I'd think he was at the prime of his life if I didn't know better.  I love his school, I love his 2 teachers, I love the kids and parents.  We are right where we are supposed to be.  And being a soccer mom to him like we have been to Peyton these last 6 years is a blast.  Built-in weekly entertainment.  And we sit in our soccer chairs and cheer and yell and scream and laugh and video tape the whole time.  Stinkin fun.

I'm loving having mornings just me and Abigail.  Since Andrew has school every morning M-F, it's just my girl and me.  We go shopping for the house, go to Starbucks, and I can even take her with me to get my hair cut or a pedicure... she's a 3 year old girl and very compliant to do whatever.  And she thinks if I bring her to the Disney Store at the mall (to simply browse), that I've brought her to Disney World.  And thanks me for the rest of the day for taking her to Disney World.  Which also feels good, and like my Craigslisting, it feels like I am saving money on such an expensive trip when she thinks she has been there repeatedly.

Even though the little ones have not been napping this past week like they usually do, they play nicely and let me nap.

I am nesting with this pregnancy much earlier than I did with the last 2 pregnancies.  I am only 18 1/2 weeks along and I have been in full-gear nesting for about 5 weeks.  I think it's the combination of the new house decorating excitement, nesting, my OCD and perfectionism tendencies, and drinking stronger coffee in the morning - but I have been planning, goal-setting, and then executing (organizing, cleaning, and decorating) every square inch of this house for about the last month and a half.  Adrian and I always motivate eachother with our own personal motivation.  One starts cleaning and organizing and the other catches it - and we get twice as much done.  Nearly every time.  He has bought and built shelving for the garage and organized everything in the garage.  And organized, decorated, and cleaned his office.  And his closet.  And the kitchen.  Those rooms are his terrain to organize and decorate (along with the movie room).  The rest is mine.  I have bought and made files for every piece of important paper work in our family - owner's manuals, birth certificates, investments, insurances, social security cards, passports, tax returns from the last 7 years, you name the paper work, it has a file.  I created, labeled, alphabetized, and filled 62 hanging files to be exact.  Combined everybody's personal files... Viola!  One completed filing system for all 6 of us now.  This brings my Type-A personality great joy and deep satisfaction.

Nothing is breaking or breaking down (cars) in our house or lives right now.  This has not always been the case in recent years.

Adrian and I together are setting short-term and long-term goals and making deliberate moves to achieve them.  (we're nerds, I know.)

I am well into my second trimester and feeling great (wasn't the case first trimester so I am so aware of how currently feeling good in pregnancy feels).

Simply put, these are fun times for me.  I am also aware of the fact that at any given moment, life can change, and sometimes change drastically - so I don't take this for granted.

But I am loving this now.