Spring Break with Emily!

Our first visitor to actually stay with us was Emily! Here we are driving home from the airport.

We were all so happy to see her! The kids weren't used to going three weeks without her! (For those of you who don't know Emily, she's our babysitter extraordinaire, little sister/big sister and sweet friend!)

We spent a lot of time at the beach while she was visiting. Here's Noah and his "favorite friend"! (The water was still a little chilly!)

We dressed Julia up in Abby's headbands -- trying to hide her balding spots!

Emily was always willing to hold Julia which was wonderful because my arms needed a break!

I don't feel like we did anything very exciting. But we did enjoy the sunshine and the water. We took the kids to the fountains a couple times.

And we got to catch up with Emily. Here's Julia showing off her smile.

And we did some baking, too!

I'm pretty sure Noah isn't wearing clothes in any of these pictures....I seriously need to work on that.

We played with some Play-Doh. Emily made a very life like cheeseburger and fries. : )

Our last trip to the beach before Em left! Noah leading the way.

Here's one of my favorites!

A Tour of our House

Here's a quick look at we're living for now. Luke and my dad spent three days looking at every available rental in Venice and the surrounding area. Here's what they came up with! I think they did a good job. We really like this house and are happy to be living here for the next year!

A view from the street.


Here's what you see when you walk in the front door. (Remember this shot -- master bedroom and garage are to the right. Kids' bedrooms are to the left.)

And here's a view looking back at the front door.

Kitchen.....obviously. : )

Noah's room.

Hallway from Noah's room to the girls' room.

Julia and Abby's room. The previous tenants had painted it pink already!

Walk back across the living room to get to our room.

The patio is off the kitchen. You can also see our little garden. More to follow on that!

Julia

I remember taking thousands of pictures of Noah during his first few months. I definitely took fewer with Abby. And now, poor Julia! I'm lucky to pull the camera out once a week for her!

So here's an update on this rapidly changing little girl:

I read a previous post where I had said she was a "little fussy". I was definitely wrong about that. Julia is VERY fussy. For awhile, she would cry pretty much any time she was awake. Thankfully, she's improving. We've even had a few peaceful car rides!

Julia will be 3 months old on the 21st. As of two days ago, she weighs 13 pounds and 3 oz. I think she's starting to look chubby!

Here was our first try at a bottle. It didn't go so well, and all attempts since then have been equally unsuccessful.

Her personality is starting to show. She gives those big cheesy baby grins, and she's starting to gurgle and coo. It's a much welcome reprieve from the squalling!

Julia's starting to sleep better at night. She's usually up once in the night, but we've had a few 9 hour stretches and one 11 hour stretch!

She falls asleep almost every time we go to the beach. I carry her around on her tummy, and I think the waves must lull her to sleep. She also likes to let her feet touch the sand and water.

And here we are on Easter morning! All dressed up in her big sister's hand-me-down dress.

Welcome to Venice!

I almost forgot!

Luke pulled the van off the trailer (which was being pulled behind the U-Haul) in Tampa so he could pick the kids and I up at the airport. It was midnight, and about 10 seconds (literally) after pulling into the Venice city limits, Luke got pulled over for having a head light out. It was only a warning, but we thought it was pretty ironic!

The Big Move

After months of planning, we finally made the big move from Cleveland to Venice. It was a lot of work to get all the details worked out, but this is how it went....

Luke rented the U-Haul, and picked it up on Friday. Much to Luke's dismay, my piano didn't sell on craigslist, so it was the first thing to be loaded up. Then he started packing everything else around it. We got a 24 foot truck. When we went to pick it up, I realized it was enormous and that there was no way we could every fill it. Boy, was I wrong! We needed every inch of space! Here's Noah being a big helper to his daddy.


My mom flew back into Cleveland to help watch the kids and finish packing. Here she is keeping Abby entertained while I did some last minute packing!

On Saturday, our dear friends (we miss you all so much!) had a going away party for us. We shared lots of fun memories, mostly having to do with Luke's poop chair invention and moving a friend's shed from his backyard to ours. (When I get around to unpacking the external hard drive, I'll put the pictures I have on here, just so we can laugh about it again!) Then we played Catch Phrase and ate cake.

On Sunday, the church officially commissioned us. We also had Julia dedicated that morning. And afterwards, we had to say goodbye to everyone. It was an incredibly meaningful and emotional time for our family. We are blessed to have an amazing support team and church family.

The moving van was loaded up and in the church parking lot waiting for us to finish. Luke's parents and a friend made the drive with him. Mom, the kids and I stayed at the Hudson's house that night and flew down to Florida the next afternoon.


We are thankful to be finished with the move. It took a lot of thinking to get everything all done. I'm still tying up loose ends -- I spent the morning making phone calls and changing addressess -- but we're here, and that's a blessing!

That being said, we miss our friends so much! We've been trying different churches each week. I'm confident that's where we'll make most of our friends, so I'm anxious to settle on one! Thank you to all of you who have emailed and called and sent cards. It's definitely helped ease the loneliness!

Luke found a great little house. We really like the location, but it's a little on the small side (after living in a huge house for the last 6 months, we've had to adjust to our close quarters!) so we've had to get creative with our storage. I'll post pictures of it soon. I'll have to take them first, but it's nap time here, so the bedrooms are full of little ones!