5 Months

Another month has come and gone, and truth be told, the 5 month mark has been rather unremarkable. We've been filling our time with cousin play dates, trips to the park, and a lot of relaxing at Grandma's house.

One would think we would have ourselves a great schedule by now, since we aren't doing much else. But that doesn't seem to be the case:)

Sleeping: Haleigh goes to bed anytime after dinner...sometimes its closer to 7 and sometimes its closer to 9. But then she typically sleeps all night, waking around 6:30 for breakfast. On a good day she takes a 2 hr nap in the morning, an hour and a half nap in the afternoon and 1 or 2 short naps somewhere in between. Again, no real schedule.

She seems to prefer sleeping on her side, but I have found her sprawled out on her belly the last few mornings right up against the side of the crib.

Clothes: everything Haleigh wears is now 6 months and it seems to fit just right! She is in sz 2 diapers and they are almost too small.

Favorite activities: watching us eat (she appears to be very interested in food!), sitting up in the bumbo, eating her hands, bath time, having her diaper changed, being tickled, the outdoors and playing with Annaliese.

Dislikes: being hungry

We are close to sitting up, and she can do it on her own, unassisted for about 10 seconds as long as she doesn't see something worth reaching for! We also seem to be teething because her hands are constantly in her mouth; however this does seem to improve some days and then get worse again. But still no teeth to be seen. 

The Antique Tractor Show

Last weekend, we met up with Kim, Thane, and Elias at Berthesen Park in Lynden for the Antique Tractor Show. We arrived just in time for the tractor parade, in which we saw a wide range of tractors from new to very, very old!

 Annaliese, just making sure Haleigh was doing ok!

 Bapa giving his grandkids a little lesson about wheat.

 They had this tractor that the kids could ride in...it was hilarious to watch all the kids furiously turning each steering wheel and looking every direction except for where they were going:)

 Bapa and Uncle Thane checking out an old tractor.

Love!!

Because the parade was going on when we arrived, none of the other exhibits were going on...we were hoping to be able to watch an old saw mill in action and see them do a threshing. However, it was pretty hot outside and we wanted to make it home before the kids fell apart:) 

On a different note, we started potty-training Annaliese earlier in the week. Overall she is doing really well, although we have had a few accidents, which is probably to be expected. And thankfully all of the accidents have been at home or Auntie Kim's house. Success story: On the way home from the tractor show, she announced that she needed to pee and we needed to find a toilet! Thankfully, we were right by a gas station that had the nicest bathroom I have ever seen and she successfully peed in the toilet:)  We also went shopping this week to buy her some princess underwear...she definitely does not want to get Cinderelly wet! (To Annaliese, all princesses are Cinderelly!) Accident story: Auntie Kim had a lot of fresh blackberries at her house...Annaliese really liked the fresh blackberries. Annaliese made a run for the bathroom but didn't quite make it and pooped all over the back steps/kitchen entry way. As a result, Kim's kitchen floor got cleaned, Thane power-washed their patio area, and Annaliese got a bath at Auntie Kim's house!! And the next morning, Annaliese got up and told me that she needed her diaper changed. But she said, "But I not poop in my diaper. I pooped on the steps yesterday. And I took a quick shower. It's okay." She makes me smile:) 

Blueberry Picking!

It's blueberry season!! We met up with Kim, Thane, Elias, Kelsey and Mallory to go blueberry picking in Lynden. Annaliese proved to be a pretty good blueberry picker, although Kyle was by far the fastest of the family! Between the three of us, we picked 18 pounds of blueberries...they are now frozen and ready to be added to oatmeal, pancakes, muffins, cereal, or ice cream! Haleigh was supposed to hang out in the stroller but she didn't really like that idea. Auntie Kim decided that she had enough blueberries and took Haleigh for a walk around the property.

 The berry farm had this wagon available for people to use...the kids loved it!

 Auntie Kelsey and Mallory

Might as well use the stroller for something!!

Back at Kim and Thane's house, we sorted the berries, picking out all the stems and any squished berries before putting them in bags to be frozen. 

En route to Kim and Thane's house from the berry farm, we made a quick stop at the ice cream shop! It was a pretty hot day (mid 80's) so ice cream tasted delicious!!

 (A nice lady offered to take our picture so we could all be in it...but she missed Kim, Thane, and Elias!)

Getting every last drop of ice cream!

Packing up and Moving on

I've been asked by several people why it is that we decided to move. And really, it all started when we sold our house back in October and then never found another one to buy! We put our house on the market to see what would happen...and because we wanted to get off of the street we were on and into something just a little bit bigger. Well, we sold it without any problem...

As we searched for a new house, we realized that what we really wanted would cost more than we wanted to spend. I didn't mind working full time, but I also wanted the option to work less hours if the opportunity arose and with many of the houses that were available, I would need to be working full time. We were having a hard time justifying spending that much money on a house. We also travelled a fair amount during the Holidays and it was so neat to see Annaliese with her grandparents and her cousins and we realized the value in having family close by. After months of discussing, praying, and tossing around different ideas, we decided to move to Bellingham.

My parents flew down on Tuesday and helped us pack everything up. We decided to pack our stuff using the U-haul U-boxes; U-haul delivered several boxes, we packed them up and then they drive them up to WA for us. My dad and Kyle did a fantastic job packing them up...it was definitely a tetris game with our belongings!

 Our stuff lined up along the walls of the barn

 We had 4 of these boxes...we packed them and they deliver them to Washington for us!

 Trying to figure out the best way to get our very heavy mattresses down the steps

 Annaliese watching Grandpa and Daddy bring the mattress down the steps!

 She's a big helper!

Haleigh did a great job keeping herself entertained while everyone else worked:)

Once everything was all packed, we hit the road! Our first stop was to pick up some dry ice...I had a cooler full of breastmilk that I had pumped while I was working and I wanted it to come with us! The second stop was McDonald's for breakfast...all our food was given away or packed. And then we were on our way!

Haleigh rode in the truck with  Kyle and I...

and Annaliese was tucked in the middle of the Yukon with Grandpa and Grandma.

Kyle and my dad were pretty stellar drivers...they drove the entire way! On Thursday, we made it to Weed, CA. It was a bit of a rough night; Annaliese didn't want to go to bed and Haleigh woke up several times. Day #2 was a solid 12 hours of time in the car and we spent the night in Centralia, WA. It was a much smoother night and we all woke up a bit more rested! Both of the girls were excellent travellers; Haleigh slept a majority of the time and Annaliese kept Grandma and Grandpa entertained. They told stories, sang songs, ate snacks and colored (Thank you Amy for the present!)

Pretty drive!

Now that we are here, we are trying to figure out what life is going to look like. Annaliese loves having Mama and Bapa (Grandma and Grandpa) around and wakes up in the morning asking to play with 'Eliesa' (she has some name for cousin Elias that I can't quite figure out.) Kyle has had several interviews and we have started checking out different churches and gyms. I have restarted my half marathon training plan and it has led me on some beautiful trails!

A few more Good-byes

These past few weeks have been filled with saying good-bye to people. While it has been so nice to hear the well-wishes from so many people, it has also been emotionally draining. The hardest part for me is that Annaliese isn't going to remember much of SLO and her friends here. She gets so excited about the time she gets to spend with Holden or the days spent at Amy's...and she won't remember it. 

 Good-bye party for Kyle with Alpha folks at Village Host 

 Annaliese with Kailey...Annaliese spent 2 days/week with Kailey while I went to work.

Stacey...one of my coworkers

 Parker and Claire, along with Annaliese, Haleigh, Grandma and myself in front of Bob and Linda's house. (Parker and Claire are Bob and Linda's grandkids and Annaliese was able to play with them whenever they came over!)

Jenn and I on the last day of Bible Study

Annaliese and Holden Prentice (Kyle hung out with them while Jenn and I were at Bible Study:) 

There have been so many others that we had to say goodbye to, and we are grateful for each and every friendship that was built during the time we were in San Luis Obispo. And while we are sad to part ways, we also bring with us all of the wonderful memories that were made!