Back in Grantham

This may have been my longest blog slacking yet! So much has happened and is still happening that finding time to blog is not up there on the list of things to do. But tonight, Emma is sleeping, Aaron is away at a game, and I'm tired of doing homework...so here's the update...

We got up here about 2 months ago and it's going pretty well. We first moved into a MANSION a few miles away temporarily until we found a more permanent place. I can't describe the place so I'll post pics instead.

After about a month there we moved to a rental house right behind the soccer fields off campus. Can't beat the location! Aaron walks to work every day, I can walk over to games (or go home at halftime if its too cold!), and we barely have to use our cars. Talk about spoiled! On the other hand...we're sharing it. With our house still not sold we needed something CHEAP so we're splitting the house with someone else...a new bible professor at Messiah. She's really nice and easy to live with so its all good and fine. Of course, it'll be nice to have a place to ourselves sometime soon (hopefully!) but you do what you have to for a while.

Aaron's enjoying his time at Messiah. This is the last week of regular season and the team's doing well. He's also obviously gotten to spend time with Brett which has been great. His other roles have taken a back seat during the season which has been nice so he hasn't really felt overwhelmed. We also get to see so many of our old college friends being back here with the team!

My roomie still lives nearby so thats been nice for me to have someone to hang out with. Nevermind the fact that we now live close enough to see our families regularly. Can't beat it. The Faro's have come down for quite a few games already so we see them. We went up to Amy's baby shower last weekend, went to go see Ben's homecoming, my fam has come once and is coming again in a few weeks. Not much more you can ask for, especially when there's a little one involved. And we're even close enough that I get to meet up with Jillian!

With all those positive things...we still miss the people in Charlotte and have some loose ends there. Our house still being "our house" is a problem obviously because we can't really settle here until we are completely out of there. Makes things tough for now. But in God's timing something will happen...I just wish His timing were mine! But now at least we have a place to stay when we can go back and visit those people we miss!

Emma's handling all the transition pretty well. I would classify her as curious and busy these days. She's recently gotten two teeth, learned how to roll both ways, and can pull herself up on things. She still hates to be on her stomach so crawling is nonexistent. She's managed to bypass crawling by log rolling around the room to reach what she wants. Creative, I know. I'm fairly nervous about keeping up with her when she learns how to put all this movement together. I think I'm gonna have my hands full! She's so much happier now than she was in the beginning. We have tons of fun playing and going for walks...just love to see that little booger smile and hear that chuckle.

So I'm sure I missed tons of detail but thats all I got for now. Back to the books for me. Two months till I'm done with school and can get a little of my life back! Can't wait.

giggles!

this little giggle-fest occurred while we were packing up the house to move to PA. another post about the past few weeks will be coming soon. for now, enjoy the comic relief :-)

Roll It!

Well, Emma finally rolled over. It took four months to get to the point where she could be on her stomach without crying long enough to even try it!

Three in Six

By the time Emma is six months old she will have lived in three different states. That’s quite the stat for such a little girl. She was born in NC obviously, we’re currently spending three months living in Chicago for the summer, and about two weeks after we get back we’re moving to Pennsylvania. Sheesh! I’m trying not to think of all the details and transitions because I basically get an anxiety attack when I think about everything that’s been going on.

The past few months have been very difficult for us. We’ve been in the midst of some big decisions and weighing the sides has been rough. But we’ve finally arrived at a decision and Aaron took the assistant coaching/assistant athletic director position back at Messiah. Parts of this decision are pretty exciting because we’ll be living near some close friends again and Aaron will get to be a part of Messiah soccer again from a different vantage point. He’s pretty excited to do what he’s been doing the past six years in a smaller, more personal environment. He’s also gonna get to be on the sidelines for Brett’s senior year which is pretty stinking awesome. It also moves us closer to be able to see Ben play more as well. He’s really missed so much of their soccer careers living so far away and that’s always made him crazy. Plus, we’ll be so much closer to both our families which will be great for us and Emma! AND Emma’s going to have a cousin soon so we’ll be closer to the little Keller Baby!!!! I’m going to be an aunt and that’s pretty sweet J

While we’re excited about all of that, Charlotte has become home in the past six years and leaving really stinks. We’ve made some really close friends over the years and they’ve kind of become our family away from our families. The thought of leaving so many of those people kind of makes me sick to my stomach. But we know that those friendships run deeper than location and we’ll just have to be intentional about staying involved in each other’s lives from a greater distance. I guess every decision has some bittersweet moments.

The little lady in our lives is doing pretty well. We’re starting to have more days when she doesn’t cry all day long. So that’s nice. I think maybe she’s been overtired because she hadn’t slept much during the day. But I’ve been putting her down in her crib these days and she sleeps longer which makes for more happy moments when she’s awake. Thank goodness. Her little personality is coming out more and more which is so much fun to watch! She smiles so much more and almost plays little games with you. I think we may have a little character on our hands.

Things up here in Chicago are going pretty well. It’s quite different than last year. With the addition of Emma my role is now very different and it’s been hard to adjust to that. I spend more time at home and have to miss so much of the down time that leads to the informal ministry moments. But my first ministry is to my daughter and she seems better off with a quieter environment. So, home we stay. Thankfully God’s provided some opportunities for me to minister to the girls in different ways which has been nice. But the group is great for the most part and some really powerful ministry has been going on. It’s hard to believe there’s just a little over a month left.

Some prayer requests if you remember…
That God sends whatever is needed to continue this Chicago ministry
That our house sells (we’re actually putting it on the market before we get home)
That we can find a house near Messiah that fits our needs as well as our budget
That we will be able to juggle all the details of this transition in the midst of all our responsibilities

Chi-Town

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted any sort of update. Things in our world have been a bit crazy. We’re now up in Chicago and have been for a few weeks now. We have been abundantly blessed to have our own housing this year instead of doing the host family thing and moving to a new place every week. Not conducive to the motherhood lifestyle. So our little house here was abandoned for a year or so and the people that own it basically said we can live in it for nothing all summer. WONDERFUL!!! So we’ve already had guests which makes it even nicer to have your own space. The Faro’s came up for a long weekend and basically to see Emma. My parents just left. They came to keep me company while Aaron’s been in Brazil and again, basically to see Emma. And today, Lani comes for the weekend. It’s been really nice to have company while Aaron’s gone.

I’ve gotten two e-mails from Aaron so far and it sounds like things are going great down there. He’s loving the group of players he has and says the ministry has been good. We’re hoping to hear more now that they’ve moved from the country back into the city. One week left to go until I get my husband back! The group was here for about 4 days before they all left and it seems like it is going to be a great group. Part of me wishes I could’ve gone with them but I’m looking forward to getting back into when they get back.

Emma update…she is getting more and more of a personality every day. And what a personality it is! At 11 and a half weeks she’s smiling more now which is always a treat. She also has become more and more verbal. She will make all kinds of sounds back at you when you talk to her like she is really answering you. It makes for such good conversation J. Maybe she’ll be like her dad and have the vocabulary of a 20 year old when she’s 3! As fun as that all is, she remains a bit on the fussy side. We are learning that she has opinions already (her mother’s daughter!). She definitely knows what she wants and doesn’t want. So far she wants to be held ALWAYS. There’s no awake time when I can put her down and she’ll be calm. She needs to be held, and many times, you need to stand up while you’re holding her. She also prefers to be outside (her father’s daughter!). Makes rainy days even more depressing than they were before! She wants to be held facing out so she can look around and see everything going on. She also does better when we’re out and about than when she’s home (also like her mother). Napping… where are these babies that take 2 and 3 hour naps???? We get about 30 minutes at home…tops. Do the math…30 minute nap, 30 minutes to eat, and a lot of time to walk around and try to keep her from crying! But we keep getting to know each other and hopefully I get better and better at figuring her out!

There’s been so much going on in our lives the past few weeks I’m sure I’m leaving things out but its hard to remember all that goes on these days! I’ll be sure to update again about Aaron’s trip when he gets back as well as other life updates!

Second Wave - The Faro's

"Oh, I'm so tired from all my guests! Being a baby is hard work" Tough life.

Emma is six weeks old now and all the visitation is now over. We probably had a total of 10 days in the past six weeks when we didn't have family here to meet Emma. They were all a great help and it was wonderful to spend time with everyone. And now its time to learn how every day life is going to feel! The first Faro to meet Emma was Aaron's Dad. He was flying through for a conference and decided to make it a long layover. His visit was fast but still good. He walked in to Emma in a bit of a fit but at least he got to see her true colors :-)

The day after he left, Aaron's mom came for a few days. She helped us road trip down to FL for Aaron's triathlon. Emma was a great traveler and barely cried on the long drive down and back. We stayed over with the Faraci's and had good times with them too. Aaron's race ended up to be a bit of a bummer. The water was really rough so they cancelled the swim portion and just had them bike and run. Unfortunately for Aaron, the swim is what gives him an advantage so he was not happy. He still did well but it was a long trip for only part of a race! So I walked around florida with Emma is the Bjorn, asnwering lots of questions from people about how old she was. She's quite the crowd pleaser! And Emma got to see her dad's first race.

When we got back we traded at the airport for Amy. She was the last Faro to come. She spent a few days and was a huge help. She was great with Emma and gave me a chance to get some things done and take my last final for school. She also picked up on some tricks...like the fact that Emma stops crying if you take her outside. Really quite incredible...it works every time. Amy also threw out some great quotes. One of which has been repeated numerous times since she's left. In response to Emma whining..."Don't even. I will Bjorn your butt so fast..." Hilarious. Amy also brought a sweet present for Emma's room that I am super pumped about! Love them!

lovingly nicknamed "crankface" by amy :-)

Looking back on the pictures of the Faro's visits there appears to be a common theme (and Amy's only not pictured because my camera was MIA at the time)

And look how cute I am at six weeks!!!

Next on the agenda...pack up and leave for Chicago in less than two weeks. Just when life might get normal we go and change it up again!

First Wave

Emma is now 3 and a half weeks old...it's hard to believe we've had her that long! I haven't written for a while purposely for a few reasons. First, most days I literally didn't have a spare moment to sit down and do anything else other than try to get her to stop crying. Second, because of the first reason, I didn't have much good to say and thats not fun to read so I opted not to write anything. Thankfully, things have gotten a little easier some days. Like right now for example, she's actually sleeping....glorious!

So the first wave of visitors has come and gone. My parents came down for about a week right when she was born, went home for a few days and then came back with Jen! They had actually planned on being here last week because it was their spring break from school. They were a huge help...I didn't cook a meal, pick up a dish, do my own laundry, or clean any part of my house at all because they were doing it all. What a blessing!!! Sadly, I needed to use that time to do my homework instead of sleep but you gotta get it done sometime! Most of the time they just fought over who got to hold her. They're a little bit enthralled with her :-)

Mid-week my grandparents drove up from florida and stayed through Easter. It was so good to see them and I'm really glad they got to spend time with Emma when she was so small. They too wanted to hold her all the time. Well, at first grandpa was scared to hurt her so he just hovered and stared but once he held her he got over it. He was hilarious...anytime she cried he wanted to cry too and couldn't stop thinking of the things that we might need to fix so she wasn't upset. Adorable. So poor Aaron...with all these people fighting for her he never got much time to hold her himself! He's making up for it now :-)

We had a good time all week and there was no shortage of picture taking of course. I'll just choose a few to put on here. We actually had a friend come over that has gotten into the photography business to do a little photo shoot. Emma was a mess!!!! Seriously, screamed bloody murder the ENITRE TIME. I think maybe she didn't like only being in her diaper...maybe she was cold or something. So every picture is of her screaming. Good thing Jen was the back-up photographer all week cause she got some great pictures.

my easter outfit :-)

4 generations!

The next wave of visitors is the Faro side of the family and we're excited for them to come! They come down in waves as well...first Dad, then Mom, and finally Amy. Not sure when the uncles will get to meet her but hopefully it'll be soon! We've tried to use the web cam to have some quality time a bunch but I must admit it can be a little awkward...Emma mostly just sits there and doesn't do anything so you try to make conversation while you just stare at her doing nothing. Better than nothing I guess! While Grandma Faro is here we're actually road tripping down to Florida for a triathlon for Aaron. This may be the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to because I have no idea how traveling 9+ hours is going to go. I'm really glad Grandma will be there to help! Maybe it'll confirm whether I should fly to Chicago or drive up with Aaron...we can look at it as a test run.

So two nights ago we gave Emma her first bath. Her cord stump finally feel off so now we're allowed to put her in water. We were told that babies hate the bath at first so we were expecting a scene. So she's already been screaming for quite a while before we were planning on giving her the bath so we almost didn't do it because we didn't want the screaming to last longer than it had to...but we did it anyway. And as soon as she went in the water she stopped screaming!!! She just sat in there and looked at at us...content as ever. Apparently, Emma likes the water. I guess with two lifeguards/swimmers as parents it was likely. Then she proceeded to sleep for 6 hours after that...what a night! I believe a nightly bath will be part of the normal routine.

So I'll finish this off with my anesthesiologist story for those that asked. Let me just put my disclaimer in here saying that I'm really glad the nasty things I said we at least not directed at my husband. I've heard women say some rough things during labor but my nastiness was directed at someone that really asked for it and deserved it :-) Lets paint the picture...I'm at 24 hours of labor at this point and I've finally decided that I can't take it anymore...I need drugs. You would think that someone that administers epidurals for a living might know what state the patient is in...utter exhaustion and rediculous pain. So she comes in and rambles off her consent paragraph like I'm bothering her by asking for the needle. She's completely monotone and annoyed. Strike One. So I give consent and agree to all the risks or whatever and she gives me the epidural and then I lay back down. Now, it hasn't kicked in yet cause its been about 30 seconds and I have another contraction during which my hands and face go numb and start tingling. And in my stupor state I'm wondering why the epidural is numbing the wrong half of my body. So I'm trying to ask why I'm going numb in the middle of this stupid contraction. To which she sarcastically laughs in my face!!!! Strke Two! Thankfully I knew I wasn't overreacting because Aaron actually turned around and said, "Actually, I don't think its funny". Thats how I knew I wasn't imagining this whole story...he never confronts people like that. Then she sarcastically adds, "maybe if you'd stop hyperventilating..." As if I should be in complete control of myself and my breathing at this point. She basically acted and spoke like I was rediculous for being in so much pain and not knowing what was going on. Strike Three! So, much to my dismay, I get really upset and now add crying to everything thats already going on. And I look at Aaron and say "Get her out of here!" So the nurse tries to get her out and when I think she's gone I say "She's lucky she's not here cause I would have kicked her in the face if I could" Then we find out that she's still there, she's just standing in the doorway. Oops. Aaron said she got a sly little grin when I said that which only makes me want to do it more. Oh well. So thats my story and as much as I don't ever want to be THAT person, I'm writing a letter about her to her practice. Why? Because she's an idiot and they should know.