The last week in March we headed to Akron for Andrew to take a class he needed for graduation. My friend Nicole was the nicest person in the world for letting us stay with them for a little over a week. It was so fun to see our friends and be back in familiar places.
We started our trip out with a big group date night to dinner and a movie (Hunger Games).
We had fun just hanging around the house with friends...
Playing at the library...
Playing at the park...
Brenden is so sweet to Penelope. They are the perfect little buddies because they are both so kind and mild tempered.
Meanwhile Eleanor and Kyleigh have fun together because they are both big girly girls and tend to be quite feisty!
And Eleanor got to spend plenty of time with her bestie, Hannah...
We had such a great time and we're looking forward to our visit in a couple of weeks for Andrew's graduation.
Considering February is the shortest month, it sure seemed to go by slow for me! This could have something to do with the fact that Andrew was out of town twice and I've been experiencing some nausea due to a little something called pregnancy. I was very lucky not to be sick at all with Penelope and only a little with Eleanor. This pregnancy has been so different, I spent most of January and February feeling pretty sick. I know some women get it much worse so I hate to complain. I'm about 14 weeks now, and I haven't felt nauseous for about a week now (Fingers crossed it is gone for good!), but I am still super exhausted and still getting really bad headaches. I'm afraid I'll never have enough energy for 3 kids, but we are excited to see our family grow! I miscarried last September, and this little baby is due this September so I'm glad we'll be able to turn September into a happy month. Eleanor is convinced it's a boy (because according to her we already have enough girls) so I really hope it is a boy so she isn't too disappointed.
Anyway, here is a peek at what the girls have been up to. I'm not even going to apologize for all of my pictures being from my phone, because it's better than nothing, right? :)
During Penelope's nap time poor Eleanor is sometimes a little neglected while I accidentally fall asleep on the couch. Here are some of the things I find her doing when I wake up:
She wanted to take all of her little peoples swimming in the bathroom sink...
Building tents and putting every piece of junk she owns inside...
We have a nice little sitting area in our bedroom so I actually set up this tent for her to watch TV in so I can take a little snooze on my bed. Works like a charm :)
Lining up/arranging books and other things... Who is this kid?
I made my first Gumbo to celebrate Mardi Gras. Probably one of the only real meals I cooked all of February.
Eleanor planted some tomato seeds with dad and she loves checking on their progress everyday. She is really learning how to smile in pictures and I LOVE it! (Penelope on the other hand runs away or gives me a grumpy face when it's time to take pictures)
She still loves to dress up. Here she is dressed as a "Jungle Guide"...
We found a cute little nature center with a few terrariums of animals like snakes and frogs and turtles. I noticed Eleanor was crying while she was looking at the frog and I thought maybe she was scared so I asked her what was wrong and she said that the froggy didn't have a mommy. There was one frog and she was really sad for him that he was all by himself. It was so sweet that she was worried about the lonely little frog. I convinced her that his mommy was going get them something to eat for lunch and she was fine again. There was also a cute little treehouse and some binoculars and nets to "catch" butterflies. The girls love it...
This is how we ease into the mornings around here sometimes (ok, a lot of times)...
Here's a glimpse of what things are like when Andrew's in charge:
We have been loving the warm (80 degrees!!) weather. We set up the kiddie pool and spend almost all afternoon everyday outside playing in the water.
Here's grumpy-face Penelope...
And new-found smile Eleanor... She's so confident in her new smile she's even been practicing some new poses...
We've also spent plenty of time exploring all of the parks around town (and as you can see from the blue mouths, eating popsicles)... Even if Penelope won't smile for the camera, I still think she's adorable. She is such a sweetheart (which is actually what Eleanor calls her most of the time, it's pretty cute) and it is so much fun watching her and Eleanor become little buddies. Now that they can (kind of) communicate with each other they are getting along so much better and really having fun together.
On Saturday we went to Lake Norman and let the girls play in the sand and put their feet in the water. We were at the south side of the lake which you can't swim in, but the girls still loved it and thought we were at the beach. Good to know we have a "beach" about 35 minutes from our house. Afterwards we headed over to Chickfila for some ice cream. Since it was St. Patrick's Day they were serving green ice cream, which Eleanor thought was pretty neat, she keeps asking if we can get more green ice cream!
On Sunday we went and took a tour of a hospital where I'll probably be delivering baby #3. It was really nice, almost felt more like a hotel than a hospital! Eleanor was a little disappointed because she thought we were actually going to the hospital to pick up our new baby. We had to explain that it will be a few more months. So now (I think) she understands that the baby will come after Penelope's birthday. Towards the end of the tour Andrew kept them occupied with ice chips at the refreshment center outside the room we were looking at. They were getting pretty restless and we didn't want to deter any of the first time moms on the tour from eventually having more children.
So that's what we've been up to. The countdown is definitely on until Andrew's graduation, only 55 more days!!
In case you were wondering, we made it to North Carolina safe and sound :) Today is actually one month since we left Akron, so I guess it's time for an update!
Here are some pictures from our last Sunday at church... These two are so much fun when they are getting along. This is Eleanor's nursery class (there were actually quite a few kids gone that day). Kind of sad to think this would have been her sunbeams class, too. Her new sunbeams class just has 2 other boys and she asks if her other friends will be at church every week. Me and my Laurels. The next day (Monday, December 19th) all of our stuff got loaded on the moving truck. The girls and I spent the day playing with friends and running errands around town while Andrew was in charge of cleaning and facilitating the movers. When that was all done we said goodbye to some friends and then we were on the road by about 5. We spent that night in Charleston, West Virginia then we headed to Charlotte on Tuesday (December 20). The movers came to our new house on Wednesday (December 21) and were done by about 3 o'clock. I was so anxious to get settled that we spent the rest of that day and the next morning unpacking, then it was on to New Orleans to spend Christmas with my family. (Crazy to think we had about 95% of our stuff unpacked within 24 hours!)
So after one night in our new house we were on the road again... We got to New Orleans Friday afternoon (December 23), then it was time for some good old relaxation and fun with my family. Here's Eleanor Christmas morning with Penelope's presents. I had a feeling that might happen. Next year I think I'll put Eleanor's name on Penelope's presents and vice versa . My sister Laura was so nice and decorated a gingerbread house with Eleanor. Eleanor and dad taking a break from their snacks. Playing at the park with Uncle Jacob. Yummy po-boys! I think I would be OK to only eat po-boys for the rest of my life :) Despite the lack of documentation, we did a lot of other fun things while in New Orleans. (I know I sound like a broken record, but I really need to take more pictures. It's actually my new year's resolution, so stay tuned for lots of pictures more frequently) We spent Christmas day in Thibodaux with my mom's family, we went to Riverwalk, played lots of Dance Central on Kinect and Rock Band, went to Cafe Du Monde for beignets, ate lots of yummy food, and just got to have a really relaxing time with my family!
Here's a quick video of Eleanor dancing in a souvenir shop at the Riverwalk, she found a hat that really inspired her. Check out her moves...
Since being in Charlotte I've noticed that I managed to pick up a little bit of a midwest accent while we lived in Ohio. You can definitely hear it in words like actually, bathroom, tag, rag, and a few others. It makes me happy that I got to take a little part of Ohio with me :)
Anyway, now that we're back in Charlotte, the girls and I have done lots of exploring. We've replaced Target and their popcorn combo with Sonic's happy hour and the park. I guess times are tough over at Target because the price of the popcorn combo went up and now they charge extra to replace the drink for an ICEE. Plus, I think a Powerade slush is probably a little more healthy for my 3 and 1 year old than a "blueberry" ICEE.
And speaking of healthy replacements (not), we've also replaced ChickFilA with McDonald's in a quest to obtain all of the chipmunk toys. Not to mention we found a McDonald's with a playplace that the girls really like. Here's a video of them doing a little dance at dinner one night. And just a reminder, I'm definitely not a candidate for world's best mom :)
We also LOVE our backyard and the mild weather we've been having.
Here's Penelope at the park... She takes her baby with her everywhere, it's pretty cute and much more portable than Eleanor's blankie.
Here's Eleanor's first day of primary. She is so cute and so creative and so fun to be around!
She was playing in the bathroom cabinets the other day and found my curling iron, which I'm not even sure I've ever used. After I told Eleanor what it was for she wanted me to do her hair, so for the first time ever I curled someone's hair! I think she looks so cute. It is so weird to see her with her hair done because she barely lets me brush it. And, as you can tell, she still doesn't like looking at the camera to take pictures!
Andrew's started classes again so he's gone 3 nights a week for class and stays a little bit later at work on the other 2 days to make up for time that he's gone while at school. It's hard to believe (and exciting to think about!) that this will be his last semester. It will be so nice to have someone around to help at dinner time. I think for the majority of their lives, my girls haven't eaten dinner with Andrew. Kind of crazy, huh?
We definitely miss Akron, especially our friends, but I feel really grateful that we have a job, our health, our family, and of course the nice weather doesn't hurt!
Well we are :) Around Halloween we found out that Andrew's company needs him in their Charlotte office. Since I'm from Louisiana and Andrew's from Arkansas/North Carolina we always hoped that one day we'd be able to move back to the south and raise our family there. Somehow living here in Akron for 3 1/2 years made that desire fade a little so when we got the news it definitely made me sad to think about leaving Akron.
This is where both of my girls were born (I even found myself getting a little teary eyed as I drove by the hospital tonight).
This is where I learned how to be a mom from such great examples all around me.
This is where we learned to love the snow -- some of the time :)
This is where Andrew slaved away at Law School and Business school. And as a result, this is where I spent a lot of time just me and my girls making an adventure out of each day.
This is where I had friends who were willing to have The Bachelor/Bachelorette finale viewing parties with me :)
This is where we had several friends within walking distance to our house.
This is where we spent countless hours at Chick-Fil-A playplace, and Target.
This is where I got to be best friends with the Young Women in my ward and really be inspired by them and their testimonies.
This is where I met the most awesome and amazing people.
This is where I received countless acts of service and felt love from friends as if they were my family.
The list could go on and on, but most important and special to me is that this is the first place I've lived in a long time that has felt like home.
Needless to say, it is definitely bittersweet. We will be sad to leave, but I must admit, it will be nice to be closer to family (about 3 1/2 hours to Andrew's parents and about 10-11 hours to my mom). And I guess it doesn't hurt that the winters aren't nearly as long and cold in Charlotte as they are here!
Andrew had some meetings last Monday and Tuesday in Charlotte so we drove down with him the weekend before and saw our house we'll be renting and went to our new ward. While Andrew was at meetings, Eleanor, Penelope, and I just spent a lot of time at the hotel: swimming, riding the elevators up and down, and printing out mickey mouse and Dora coloring pages in the business center. Whenever I talk to Eleanor about moving to North Carolina she gets really excited because I think she thinks we are moving to the hotel! She's in for a shock when she finds out our house doesn't have a pool or elevators or a breakfast buffet every morning or a sofabed in the living room. It was nice to get a feel for the area before moving down, but unfortunately our trip ended on a bad note. Penelope got sick on Monday, then on Tuesday night (the night before we were going to head home and which also happened to be the night before my birthday) Penelope, Eleanor, and Andrew were up all night throwing up. I guess my birthday present was that I wasn't the one who had to wash all the sheets and towels! We had to head home first thing Wednesday morning because Andrew had a final that night we had to get back for and since Andrew still wasn't feeling too great, I got to drive all the way home! The miracle of all miracles is that Andrew ended up doing really well on his final that night and got a B+ in that class. Just one of the tender mercies that I've seen throughout these last couple of weeks since all this moving craziness started!
The movers will be here on Monday to load up all of our stuff. I wish I could just fast forward to Monday night! I am so exhausted and have gotten so little sleep that it feels like I have a newborn baby or something! One or both of the girls has been up in the middle of night throwing up and/or having diarrhea (by the way, I never really wanted to mention this word on my blog, but it is so part of my life right now that it would be a travesty not to mention it :)) Today is the first day since last Sunday (11 days ago!!!!) that we haven't had either happen! Let's hope tonight is the night for a full night's sleep!
Looking back at the last week, or even the last couple of months, I know the only way I've made it through is by relying on the enabling power of the Atonement. Someone mentioned this quote by Boyd K. Packer in church and it really touched me: "For some reason, we think the Atonement of Christ applies only at the end of mortal life to redemption from the Fall, from spiritual death. It is much more than that. It is an ever-present power to call upon in everyday life...While we do not fully understand how the Atonment of Christ was made, we can experience the peace of God, which passeth all understanding."
I'm well aware that there are much bigger trials than moving and having sick kids and having your husband gone a lot for school and work and things like that, but I know the Atonement applies to everyday life and I have definitely felt the "peace of God" as I've relied on my Savior.
Elder Bednar said, "It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides the sanctifying and strengthening power that helps us to become better than we could be by relying only upon our own strength."
Anyway, can you tell my emotions are all over the place right now?? I better just end this post now :) Here are some pictures of some things we've been up to in the last month. They are mainly from the camera on my phone, so the quality isn't that great, but I guess something is better than nothing! (Note to self: take more pictures!!)
Eleanor and Penelope reading books at the library.
"Free breakfast if you wear your pajamas" day at Chick-Fil-A.
My previously-mentioned awesome friends threw me a goodbye party and surprisingly turned it into a birthday party as well! This definitely made up for my actual birthday (aka, barfday)!
And to close, here are some videos of the girls...
Monkey jammies
I was doing some packing/cleaning in my room and the girls came in with some books and took a seat in my closet. You can also notice that Eleanor loves wearing her princess costumes and Penelope loves only wearing one sock.
