November in a Nutshell

Things are crazy for us right now. We have lived in Salt Lake for 4.5 years. We've been ready to move on a couple times and it never came together for us. We have been feeling stagnant here for a while. The neighborhood isn't the greatest. Meg has no one her age in the neighborhood or the ward. I don't feel terribly safe in the neighborhood. It's busy and hectic. We've been waiting for Brian to get licensed as a social worker which he did a couple months ago and that made us feel extra ready to move on. Our plan for our next step was more school or to move somewhere rural and apply to have our student loans paid off. We've attempted to make that decision 3 times in the last 3 years. It's been excruciating. Deciding over what we want versus what is realistic. It's been hashed and rehashed. After months of feeling anxious to move on everything has climaxed this month and it's looking like we will be moving in January. Now that it's looking likely we are both shaking in our boots (Brian will like that phrase). We don't do well with change, yet we've been longing for it. Crazies. That's been us in a nutshell for November.

Meg's been her usual grown up self this month. She found a pair of earrings that barely dangles and she wears them every day because she sooo wants to wear dangly earrings and I've said she needs to wait till she is older. I put her hair in a really high bun on top of her head for her halloween wig. One time when she took the wig off and saw herself in the mirror she thought she looked so grown up. Now she wants to wear this hair style often. She is super concerned about her outfit and it it goes. She got the Christmas talk a few days ago. It broke our hearts...literally. We hate how grown up she is. She has been logic-ing this out since last year. She has been asking way to many questions in front of her younger brother, and we felt like it was going to be ruined for him by her constant doubts. She got a big grin on her face and said, "I knew it". That helped it not sting as bad. She double checked that it was the same for other holidays like easter. We explained the huge importance of keeping the secret even around kids her age. I think she likes being in on something like this since she likes to feel old. Darn her. This month she decided to try out to be the class representative to the geography bee. Her teacher only gave them a weeks warning and just told them to study maps. She came home and studied for at least an hour a night and learned most of the states. Turned out the test had a lot about rivers and mountain ranges. She didn't win, but I was proud of her for not being too upset. She didn't win reflections this year and was heartbreakingly devastated. Her best friend won this year which only made it sting more. They say your kids need to learn life lessons like that, but it sure was hard.

Adin, turned seven. Darn him. He has been your typical boy. At least I hope he's typical. He thinks gross things are hilarious. This month he has been a little obsessed with anything Mario. I haven't had to monitor him too much on video game time in the past because he wouldn't play too long. This month, I have noticed play times getting longer and him getting ornerier when he plays too long. The other day when I dropped him off he gave me the typical big open mouth kiss (lip chomp) on my cheek. Meg had already ran off with friends so I watched him go up by himself. I vaguely heard him yell, Love you mom so I rolled down my window and he yelled it again. I told him I loved him too and then he kind of bounced up the stairs to school. I tried to memorize the moment because I sure do love that kid at this and every stage. He got to be star student for a week at school and was pleased because that meant he got the most time at recess. I guess being the first out the door is a big deal. That .2 second really adds a lot. He was watching a cooking show with me the other day and his young naivety was too cute. It was a competition show that he loves called chopped. Watching the show led to him referring to his plates as appetizers and entrees at chuckarama the last time we went. Anyways, it was the final round and there were only two female cheffs left. I asked who he wanted to win. He paused and said ummmm, I want the little bit chubby one....not the brown one. Eesh! To him these aren't labels or judgements. Just a way to explain to me what he is talking about. I kind of like the innocence.

Gracie, oh Gracie. This girl has become incredibly mobile. Thankfully she still wants me to hold her and cuddle her quite often. She is obsessed with the stairs. She loves to climb up them. The problem is that if anything distracts her she will turn around and lose her balance. Every main room we have has stairs in this house. I have put a gate at the top of the most dangerous set, but if we are in the kitchen she wants to go up to the front room and if we are in the front room she wants to go upstairs. She is also at the stage of everything going in her mouth. It's so much harder with bigger kids to keep tiny things off the floor. I'm constantly picking up a little piece of tape or a tiny piece of a wrapper of some kind. She has been obsessed with destroying a project Adin has been working on in his room. She has started to play a little game of chase sometimes in the evenings. I get on the floor and crawl after her and she giggles and giggles. She cut her first two teeth (bottom) last month and has been working on her top two this month. They are coming in soooo slowly and are super painful for her. Poor baby. She is still super scared of strangers. We took her to thanksgiving and she wouldn't let anyone but me or Brian hold her. She warmed up to smiling at people by the end, but still wouldn't let them hold her. I adore having this girl around. It 's been all the more fun this time around I think because the older two are older and get to take part in enjoying her. Plus I'm older and more patient and more cognizant of how quickly time passes by and more cognizant of what a true blessing a baby is. (I know bad sentence) She is one loved little girl. I just feel so over the top blessed to have her. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't have at least one moment where I look down at this baby and just feel a rush of gratitude for her and for being a mother to her and to Meg and Adin. I love love it.