Alright I felt in the bloggy mood today, and I figured it was time for an update. It's almost been a year (yikes). We have been living in Chesapeake, VA for about 8 months. Had a crazy weird transition as we waited for our house to be finished last summer, and moved in a couple of weeks prior to school starting. It was a pretty good situation considering it could have been much worse! We did have to wait a few extra days to get into our house due to some errors on the part of our lender, ahem...but it all worked out! We love our new home. We love our quiet neighborhood and kind neighbors. We love our school. As with all moves and transitions, it's not been an easy one for all of us: I think Ellie took it the hardest followed by me. Kids internalize things so much differently than we do, in fact, just when I think everything is on track, a conversation will happen with one of the kids and I realize just how much my children miss their friends and life in MD. Gradon even asks us when we get to go back to the 'blue house'. He remembers things too!
We have been attending a dance studio thirty minutes away that has been a bit of a disappointment. I had high hopes in the beginning, but so far it's not lived up to my expectations. We'll be trying a different one this summer for a program for Ellie and see how she likes it. We have also not had much luck finding a swim program for Sophia, which is annoying, she really loves it. I think we are also going to get her back into gymnastics. She has been taking tap this year and has been loving it! It really suits her energy. I'm really pleased she's been enjoying it. Ellie misses competitions...a lot. I've got to find something else for her, and another outlet for her to meet some friends. It's hard to come into a new school in third grade, the 'mean girl' attitude seems to already have found it's way into some of the girls at school and I can't believe how unkind nine year olds can be to each other. I think she's doing ok, but it's been a rough year.
Our ward is fine. There are a lot of great people in it, but so far we've yet to build any real friendships. LOTS of military, in all fields. Lots of doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers, etc. Lots of kids, lots of young people. I feel like we are all in our own little pool trying to keep a float. It's a different ward, one unlike I've ever been in, but we're still new, and again, it takes about a year to transition, so I'm going to keep my chin up. Our ward hasn't been as welcoming as I would have hoped. I also have two callings, weird, but that's just how this ward works. Not a lot of people accept callings, so many of us have more than one.
Chris has been doing well this year, I can't believe how well he's navigated intern year. He's done really well taking care of us and finding time to spend with us. We've even had the chance to have some fun date nights...it's been good. Next year will be a different story entirely I think, but I'm hoping it won't be as bad as some people say.
In September we'll be welcoming on last little person to our family. Our little 'caboose'. I'm 18 weeks along this week, and I've held this pregnancy close to me this time and not shared the way I normally would due to a few factors, we miscarried when we first moved here last fall and it really affected me, and I'm a little overwhelmed by the idea of this fourth baby. Next year for Chris is going to be nuts, and I hope I can manage four all by myself. I don't have that community of good friends like I did in MD to help me out like I would have if we were there, which is hard. I know all will be well, I've felt for a while there was one last little person to join our family, I just was nervous to go forward with it. But I'm not getting any younger, so here we go! I'm getting more excited about the baby, we find out on the 15th the gender, and all three kids have strong opinions. Gradon wants a brother, Sophia wants a sister and Ellie changes her mind. She's overwhelmed too by it, she sighs and says 'I'm going to be a big sister to three, it's going to be so much work' toooo funny. She sees the time involved with all these little people.
As for other projects, I'm getting ready to start Gradon's baby book. Yes I know, I'm totally behind! But I think I need to get it done before the last baby comes! I've been going through pictures enjoying his growth over the last few years. He's such a sweet, charming, smart little man. My photography work is very slow. The market here is flooded and I just don't have the energy to fight to stand out. At least not right now. I offer a good product and I'm reasonably priced, but I have three kids and a busy husband and that's just my priority. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm meant to pursue this, sometimes I feel like no matter what I do I can't seem to make any headway, but I know I love it and hopefully at some point I'll be able to put more time and energy into the business.
So that's us right now. Growing our family and staying a float! Looking forward to what the next few months will bring.
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