The Kids. The Move.

This Girl:

My little companion. 

Our baby angel. 

She turned 3 months old recently, and is such a delight! 

Her patterns have evened out. She is easier to feed and soothe, and is all around enjoyable. 

She's smiley and interactive. She loves her little toys, and to sit up in her chair. 

Is there anything better than a bumbo chair? She loves it. 

We spend lots and lots of our time together snuggling. Loren is my babe who loves and needs a little extra TLC. She loves to be held tight and close. She loves to burry her head in my neck with mine buried in hers, as close as we can possibly be. I love that she will fall asleep in my arms right where she prefers to be. We might have to pay for bad habits later, but right now we are sticking to our own rules. If I really should put her down, I'm probably just going to hold her for 10 minutes longer. Can't get enough of my babe. 

Twinner day with dad, and biggest smiles.

I think Loren looks so much like her dad. I am seeing double when Justin is holding her. 

I am having flash backs to the time of Miley and her 2 closest baby friends, Rory and Taylor. 

Now flash forward to Isla, Evelyn, and Loren. 

Truly, nothing beats going through early motherhood years with your closest friends. 

These Kids:

Getting Big. 

 zonked-out-on-the-couch-after-soccer-and-dance-little-slice-of-heaven-saturday-afternoon-nap.

Niether one of them nap anymore. Every so often we'll have an afternoon like this, but it's rare. Is there anything better than a peaceful snooze at home on the couch?!

 While we are on the topic of sleep... These two share a bedroom now. Getting practice in before our move to Utah.  With sibling rivalry and Scotlin's sleep walking/talking habits I was nervous how this would go over at first. But, they have done pretty well with this, and are learning that we all have to sacrifice a little right now. 

Sometimes, when they play so well together at night, I'll purposely let them stay up laughing and giggling in the 'club house' (the corner of their tiny closet) instead of putting them to bed. These are some of the moments we live for. I could never break up the fun. 

St. Patty's Day at Preschool!

Pink eye for spring break. :( We've had better days. 

They love to have friends over, and have started asking for friends to play with everyday. I wish our climate yielded to more time outside, but we make do with lots of indoor play time. 

I love being home so the kids can play at our house. 

The move is upon us. We are quickly starting to wonder what we will ever do without the Leeco Family next door. Jacalyn has been so good to me lately. Stopping by the house with dinner in hand on a weekday night, or movies and popcorn for the kids while they're sick. It seems like every conversation I have with her lately we are talking about how weird it is that our time as neighbors is coming to an end, and how sad we will be to part. Jacalyn teases that she is putting her house up for sale once we move. Let it be no secret at all that we adore this family! 

Jacalyn appeased me for a few photos. She hates getting her picture taken! How could I resist some of my favorite people in one shot?! We'll have to recruit Victoria out for summer visits when we are finally settled. Don't think we can live without our Leeco girls!

It's a great deal of work to get out of the house these days. So once we finally do, sometimes it's tempting to take our time getting back home. Most weeks, after swim class when the kids are completely worn out, we'll just go for a drive. Even though the skies are grey and the roads are icy, all three kids fall asleep in the back seat, and for just a minute it feels like a little piece of solitude. A total waste of gas, but worth it for a moment of peace.
As I drive I love to think and ponder and take in the beautiful Nova Scotian countryside. The endless pine and rock takes me to a place where I can reflect upon our journey here as it quickly changes, and approaches an ending point.
I find it hard to believe how long we have been here, and at the same time how quickly it has passed.
I let a few tears fall freely at times when I think of our experience here, and how much we are leaving behind. People we have come to love, pain that has helped us grow, and learning that has brightened our future.  We have planted our hearts in Nova Scotia and embraced it as our home, and now all we take with us are our memories. Halifax, Nova Scotia will always have a little piece of my heart.

We have started selling our furniture and down sizing our home for the move. Already our home is becoming unrecognizable. Slowly our comforts here are no longer ours. It almost brings a bit of anxiety, like the ground is crumbling underneath me to see the home we have tried to hard to establish come apart. But, we know we need to press forward and keep believing in better things to come.
The kids have been terrific with moving preparations, even eager to help. Miley had one moment when she saw another family come and purchase the slide we had given to her and Scotlin for Christmas. She began to cry and explained that we'll never have that slide again. We did our best to console her. She has been very brave. Justin and I promised the kids a trip to the toy store once we arrive in Utah, so they can pick something new of their own.
I have had simliar moments of sentimental breakdown. I have been doing well keeping up with ads and getting our items sold, but once someone came and took my kitchen table is when it really hit me.
A woman puts her heart and soul into her kitchen table! It's where she nourishes her family, and where they gather together. Our table was more than ready to part with our family. We had outgrown it, and let's be honest... it was pretty much a piece. BUT... I as I saw it leaving our home I couldn't help but think of all the meals I had prepared there, and all of the many people we have invited to sit around it with us. One minute, it's ours, and adds character and personality to our home, and the next minute it's gone and belongs to someone else down the road.
In the end they're all just things. And it goes to show just how much we can truly live without.
Our goal is to completely downsize and simplify our lives. I think we are well on our way.

There will definitely be things about NS that we will miss, but we feel and know our time here is up. We have done what we came her to do, and now we are ready and excited to move on. We're looking forward to what the future has in store. We plan on enjoying our final months here... now if only it would warm up... :)