Five on Friday

So it's been awhile... I know I haven't been blogging much.  We're still trying to find our groove after the  move.  I did not come into moving "home" with rose-colored glasses, naively thinking everything would be perfect simply because we're home.  But neither did I expect the waves of really hard things we've encountered.  I also could hardly believe we were really moving back to East Tennessee even when the move was imminent.  As such, I definitely did not process the change ahead of time, so while I am glad to be here, I'm still in a place of letting go of the things I loved about Ohio.  I miss our house--it truly felt like home, I miss our friends--our Sunday class and my Bible study.  I miss our routine.  I miss knowing where things are in the house (what we need on a daily basis is unpacked and put away, but we're back to having a mish-mash of boxes in basement storage when I had JUST gone through and organized our basement in Ohio).  Moving is just HARD.  And moving with kids is even harder (in my experience).  We've now moved with a 10 month old, with a 1 year old + expecting a baby, and with a 3 year old and 1 year old.  Now that Asa is old enough to feel the change and feel unsettled it's so.much.more.difficult.  He's old enough to know it's unsettling and does NOT feel good, but he's not old enough to understand and verbalize where those feelings are coming from.  So we have seen a LOT of improvement, but his behavior has been his biggest tool for expressing his feelings.  And it's been rough.  We found puppets to be a good way of getting him to express his feelings.  And he's starting to sleep better--that's a huge help, too.

I have tried to remain thankful--in general, not just for being close to family--through the difficulties.  But it *has* taken a concerted effort to do so in the midst of missing our Ohio life. :)  I think it just takes such an emotional and mental toll that I don't have much "left over" to chronicle my thankfulness for others--here or through the ubiquitous Facebook November thankfulness countdowns I read.  Maybe next year. ;)  So I want to say I AM thankful.  I WILL choose joy.  But it's taken everything I have to do that.  I've dug down deep, and there's not much left of "me" to accomplish that.  Anything "right" I have left to give or pour out is not of me, it's of Him.  I am spent.  That is a difficult place to be, but I know it's a good place to be, too.

In the mean time, here's a little run down of what we've been up to:

1.  On Monday I took the kids to Toys R Us to choose toys for the children we selected from the Angel tree.  We wanted to find a boy and a girl so Asa and Anna Reaghan could both participate in a way they could hopefully identify with.  The boy wanted Legos, and Asa LOVED helped me choose Legos to give.  The girl wanted a doll, and Anna Reaghan was mesmerized by all the dolls we had to choose from.  I know at 1 (and 3!), they don't totally understand.  But we pray we are preparing the foundation for them to develop generous and caring hearts!

2.  Later in the week we went to Target to fill a stocking for an elderly person in need in our community.  The program for the stockings said the elderly in our town were a group in particular need this year, so that's what we went with; especially since we were also able to choose children through the Angel tree.  I was quite amused at several points when I let Asa make a selection between various colors/fragrances/etc. of an item.  He definitely "voted" for the styles that appealed to him, but I reminded him each time we were choosing something for an older lady.  At one point, he wanted to get neon yellow and turquoise zebra striped socks!  He was SURE an older lady would LOVE them! :)  I eventually convinced him to think about a different pattern, and he chose some with turquoise and purple hearts instead.  We bought some plain, soft socks as well. ;)  He might not be able to take another person's perspective yet, or at least not in a sophisticated manner, but I do so love his heart that wanted to choose things for someone else that delighted him!  He wanted this "friend" we don't know to have the "good stuff," according to what pleased him.  Sweet, sweet boy.

3.  Tonight we had our traditional Friday homemade pizza night.  I alllllmost ordered pizza.  I am so glad I did not.  Asa loved helping me put on the toppings (cheese, pepperoni, roasted red pepper--which he declared "deeeelicious", and baby spinach leaves).  Then he asked me to turn the oven light on so he could watch it cook.  We ended up sitting on the floor in front of the oven--all four of us--just chatting and watching the cheese melt and the dough rise.  Asa exclaimed about once each minute that more cheese melted. :)  And even Anna Reaghan stood in front of the oven with her little face smashed against the window watching the pizza cook--something we NEVER could have done in Ohio as the crazy oven in that house was not insulated properly and EVERY surface was BURNING hot while you baked.  Poor Asa had a terrible burn from touching the window once. :(  And we had to buy new skillets when we moved here because our old ones WARPED from leaning against the "oven" side of the cupboard right before we moved!

4.  Tomorrow Asa and Matt are going to try to make some hardware store projects.  They are hopefully making a snowflake picture frame at Home Depot and a wooden airplane at Lowe's. :)  Asa is so excited (and his daddy is, too!).  We also hope to finish "greening" the house, at least except for the tree.  Our decorations are pretty much up, but we have a few more wreaths to hang, our Advent candles to set up, and Matt will be putting lights up outside. :)  Asa was so enthralled with the decorations today (we put them up last night after he went to bed) that he HUGGED his favorite ones and didn't even ASK about watching a tv show all day long.  I try to be careful with tv, but I certainly loved not even being asked about it. :)

5.  Little Miss Anna Reaghan is not be forgotten!  She is picking up signs very quickly and using them correctly without prompting!  Asa was already talking a bit when we taught him the sign for "help me," because he would get frustrated with various things and didn't know how to ask for help.  We had to prompt him to sign that for ages.  I taught it to Anna Reaghan one day quite recently, and she is already signing "help me," when she knows she is stuck with a toy or wants something she cannot do by herself--without any prompting from us!  I love it!  She signs please, help me, eat, more, and all done.  And we just added "thank you," which is precious because she does it like she's blowing a kiss.  OH it melts my heart, because she is always hiding a grin behind her little "thank you" hand and has a glimmer in her eye. :)  We are now working on "bye bye" and "sleep."  I have tried to get her to differentiate between eat and drink but she will not.  She just wants something in her mouth NOW, thank you. :) She is saying Mama, Dada (DA!!!), and I think she's been saying "Es" for Sammy and "Suh" for Asa.  I have also heard her say "ish" several times when she wants goldfish crackers.  And she has "yes" and "yeah" down for sure!  The one big milestone I look forward to every time (instead of wanting ONLY to freeze my children right where they are--no more growing up on me, thankyouverymuch) is the language explosion that often happens around 18 months.  I am very much looking forward to hearing more of what's in her head. :)  She gained a hundred (okay, maybe more like 4 or 5) teeth since we moved a month ago, most of those 2-3 at a time and including all but one of her one year molars.  Whew!  They gave her some trouble when they all kicked in at once, but she's quite the trooper and getting some relief now that they are mostly in.

*Bonus:  In addition to Asa's first ear infection the week we moved here, Anna Reaghan was diagnosed with her first ear infection last Tuesday night (and a double at that!).  Thankfully she is totally on the mend and we were able to have her seen before the holiday so she could begin meds.  It was pretty pitiful when it really ramped up and became obvious something was wrong--her balance was off from the infection and she couldn't even sit up straight independently!!  Praise the Lord for getting the FINAL walk in appointment of the evening at the only clinic around here that treats babies under 18 months.

*G-Ma and Mimi (my grandmother) came to play on Thursday.  Asa was on cloud nine. :)  I especially loved hearing him chat with Mimi as he asked her for help getting down from the table at lunch.  He told her, "I love you sooooo much, Mimi."  I think all our hearts melted just a bit. :)