Pig pile!
Jack's favorite occupation nowadays: climbing the stairs. It's even more fun with his little protectors, provided they don't try to stop him or get in his way. He's only had a few falls. Hard to believe that a month ago he wasn't crawling or pulling himself up on things or eating food with textures. He's come an amazingly long way in four weeks.

Chloe came downstairs yesterday with this outfit on, sans skirt, wanting to know if it was okay to wear to the store. Choking back (barely) my laughter, I told her to go put on a skirt or pants. The outfit was obscene without them. So I figured she'd put on something made of denim. No, we had to make the outfit even more outrageous. Someday I'm going to wear a sign saying "Yes, my daughter dresses herself." If you knew what kind of fight she puts up if I dare suggest something more appropriate and easier on the eyes, you'd know it's really not worth the huge amount of energy it takes most of the time. She definitely has a huge artistic streak, though, and I don't want to squash that. Just maybe DIRECT it into other avenues, like painting and coloring. :-)

I'm tired of being sick. I'm tired of being oh-so-careful about my diet, only to slip up on one small thing and then pay for it for days. Tonight I crashed on the couch after dinner, fell into a deep sleep despite the happy noises emanating from upstairs, and felt my stomach start to relax. Now I'm up surfing blogs and feeling the need to pour out my complaint. Stomach still hurts. Not exactly sure what it's unhappy about this time, but it's been extra bad off and on since last August. Allergy testing last November revealed a plethora of allergies I didn't know I had but suspected. The doctor said to stay off those foods for a few months and take some supplements, which should give my body time to heal itself. Yeah, easier said than done. Do you know how many foods contain soy, and dairy, and eggs, and beans, and almonds, and gluten, etc.?

I'm tired of having to push myself through each day when I feel like something the cat dragged in and all I want to do is crawl into bed and never come out again.

BUT...I am so thankful for God's grace! Thankful for this thorn in the flesh that drives me to Him over and over and over again, crying out for strength to get through one more rock-in-the-stomach day. Thankful for my dear husband and precious kiddos that keep me busy and give me something to get up for each morning. Thankful that my heavenly Father cares and has a purpose in this suffering. Thankful for hope and faith that He is able to heal me. Thankful that He does give me just enough strength to push past the discomfort and fulfill my many duties. Thankful for the days here and there when the stomach is happy and I feel well.

Recommendations

If you take your driver's license out of your wallet, make sure you put it back, not in a bag full of other stuff. Especially if you throw that bag away.

If you throw that bag away and realize with horror--too late--that your driver's license was in it and there's no retrieving it, try not to do it around Christmas time when you have seven people coming for the holidays and you're moving right after Christmas. This is a very inconvenient time to lose a license.

If you lose your license, make sure you have your birth certificate handy, as well as your Social Security card.

If you don't have either of those, order the birth certificate and pray like heck the DMV will overlook the fact that that's the only form of ID you have.

Go to the DMV with your four cute kids and a lot of prayer--and get your license in five minutes from an obliging officer who isn't feeling too strict that day.

Yes, all this happened to me. I learned a very important lesson about properly filing away important documents. And from now on my license is going right back in my wallet the minute I'm done with it.

Home sweet home!

So we are finally settled in and I finally have a quiet Saturday when we don't have to be cleaning the old house. It feels good to sit down and update my blog, something I haven't had a spare minute for in too long. We absolutely love our new house. Here are some reasons why:

1. The gas fireplace you can turn on with the flick of a switch. I think of all of us Tucker enjoys this feature the most.

2. The cleanness and newness of everything!

3. Our neighborhood. It's not easy to find a neighborhood as friendly as the one we left behind, but so far our neighbors here in Patch Hill have proven to be very friendly. There's a family across the street with two boys Jack and Tucker's ages. The mom is a stay-at-home mom who has invited me to go on evening walks with her. She and another neighbor have brought goodies by for us, and another neighbor has snow-blown our driveway a few times out of the goodness of his heart. How rare is that, here in staid ol' New England!

4. Proximity to stores, bank, and library. No more having to drive at least 12 minutes to get to anything useful!

5. Being able to decorate however I want.

6. The master suite! We call it our sanctuary. It has its own bathroom and a walk-in closet--sheer luxury! We have made it a toy-free zone too. And there are no bath toys in our tub to trip on either!

There are lots of other happy perks, as well as things we need to get used to and change, like adding overhead lighting in the living room. (It's lovely having my own resident electrician. :-) ) We plan to finish our basement within the next year or two, making it into a great room and extra bedroom, which will double as a guestroom. The boys' room is pretty crowded with the bunk bed and crib. Makes me appreciate all the space we had at the old house. But until it can be finished the kids can still play down there and there's lots of room for storage.

The kids have been adjusting well to the change and love it here. We got back into homeschooling a week after we moved in, and I've been super busy getting the house settled and doing editing and proofreading. Back in December I proofread a book called The Quilt of Life full of inspirational stories associated with quilting. It was a really sweet book that rekindled my interest in quilting. So I went online to see what I could find for beginners. That led me to a site that has a block of the month kit that's great for beginners. They provide the pre-cut pieces and directions and you put it together. It came in the mail yesterday and I can't wait to get started!