Long time, no blog!

A LOT has happened since my last post! The girls had their 2nd birthday and WE MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!!!! In this blog post, I'm going to do my best to highlight what's been going on with my little family.

We moved into our beautiful, glorious, spacious, new home last weekend (June 25th)! We had a lot of help patching, scraping, painting, cleaning and preparing this amazing house we found for our family! As I mentioned in a previous post, this particular house had been repossessed by the bank, as the previous owners had defaulted on their loan. The first time we saw the house, we saw that we loved the layout, but there was quite a bit of work to be done to get it looking the way we wanted and we weren't sure we were ready for all that work. (The house is only 12 years old, but had quite a bit of wall paper, popcorn ceilings and ugly paint that we weren't too keen on) Well... when the house dropped to an amazing price, we made our bid, regardless of the work. Two other buyers jumped too, but we just happened to be first, so it was ours! Just to recap, it has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and lots of room! I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!!! We were definitely experiencing some growing pains in the 1400 sq foot home, that was once Matt's bachelor pad. We made the best with what we had, but God sure answered prayers by allowing us to move into what will be our home for many, many years to come. It also has a nice, big pool in the backyard, which is proving to be a lot of work, but is also very fun! I love to look out my back windows at the sparkling blue water! Don't worry... we are making every precaution and then some, to make sure the babies are protected. We have had many bids on a fence that goes around it, and will be having that done as soon as the other house is sold (more on that in a minute). We were also given a pool alarm as a housewarming gift by a good friend, we have a dead bolt lock and child proof handle on the back door and a gate separating the babies from the kitchen, which leads to the backyard. AND... I'm not going to let all of these precautions let my guard down. They still have a very aware mommy and daddy, so have no fear about the babies' safety and the pool. To wrap up about the new house... Matt and I agree - the grass is greener, the flowers smell better and life is just plain sweeter in our new home!

As for the old home, we are looking to close on July 20th. It has been pushed back time and time again for one thing or another (waiting on the buyers' credit score, getting the foundation repaired at the buyer's request, etc.) There have been quite a few hiccups along the way, which makes us that much more happy to get this sell over with!!! At this point, the only thing left is the appraisal, which should be this week... let's hope and pray it appraises for what we sold it for, or we are going to have a problem! It will be a HUGE weight off of our shoulders to be done with that sale and only own one home, so please pray it goes smoothly from here on out.

The girls are doing wonderfully and they absolutely love our new house! As a matter of fact, I brought them with me to vacuum the old house a few days after we moved in and they cried when I pulled in the driveway and said, "new house, new house"! They each have their own room, and are now sleeping separately. The first night, they cried for about 30 minutes before falling asleep and sleeping soundly thru the night. Every night after that, they've done great. Abby is probably taking it the hardest, whimpering a bit each night, but she settles very quickly. Ally and Izzy are more concerned with the fact that the other two are going night night too.... they don't want to be the only ones having to go to bed. Each night they help me and Matt put sisters to bed (rotating who goes first each night). They also help me get sisters up and say, "Good morning, Sunshine!" as they greet each other in the morning. I'm finding they're sleeping really well (as am I) with the new arrangement.

They're doing all sorts of new things since my last blog. What I hear most every day: "I help, I help". They love to help me do anything and everything. They want to fasten themselves in their car seats and high chairs, they want to put their own clothes and shoes on, etc. I'm trying my best not to stifle their new-found autonomy, but (between you and me) they really are very little help! Another new thing: They've really started role-playing with each other. For example, 2 of them act like the mommy and daddy and the other is the baby and has to go to time out or "Pime out" (as Abby calls it). The baby cries, the other 2 cuddle her, change her diaper, etc. It's really neat to watch how their play has evolved. They love to pretend to change each other's diapers, which sometimes goes a little further than pretend, and they walk around with their diapers hanging half off until I see it, but what can you do? I guess I could potty train them, but I'm still just dreading it. It's going to be a lot of work.... let me rest for just a little while longer....

A friend of ours gave us a cd of a song she sings with the girls, "Sing" by Karen Carpenter. You know the old song that goes, "Sing... sing a song... sing out loud, sing out strong!" Anyway, the girls absolutely LOVE this song. They sing it in the car and it's so cute to watch them sing it. I'm going to try to get a video of them singing it, and will post for you to see. It completely warms my heart. They have also learned their colors! Abby and Ally do the best... Izzy doesn't pay much attention when we're learning them. They know red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, pink, black and white! I think Izzy will start paying more attention soon, because she's seeing the other two getting lots of praise, so she's starting to focus a little more! :)

They're all talking quite a bit, putting sentences together and often surprising me with words they know. Ally cracks me up, because she mimicks everything I say. I swear, she thinks she is Abby and Izzy's mommy, which is funny because technically she's the youngest. Anything I say, she repeats: "sit on your bottom", "don't shut the door", "eat your green beans". Matt pointed out yesterday, she has so much fun going around with me putting the other ones to bed, until she realizes she's really not the momma and has to go to bed too. She's quite the informer when a sister (ok... Izzy) is doing something she shouldn't, and often, I can send Ally to check on Izzy and make sure she's being good. She'll come back and say "Izzy's good" or "Izzy climbing" or "Izzy shut the door" and she's pretty much spot on every time. Izzy tends to go thru stages... one week she'll be a little doll, minding her mommy and not getting into trouble and one week she's just full of mischief.

Our Pastor and good friend, Andrew, used our family as a sermon example a few weeks ago in church. It was a bit embarrassing, but very true. His point was about how God knows each of us intimately and loves everything about us, each of us as individuals. He talked about how the girls were all born on the same day, but how different they all are. He talked about how different each little girl is: How Abby has a lot of light brown hair with big eyes and is timid, like a little doe. He talked about how Izzy has a little bit of blonde fuzzy hair and is a "firecracker", and he said Ally had very little hair. Ok, so he didn't say much about Ally, except that she is bald, so I'm going to add that she is a little bossy pants, but gives the best cuddles of any baby on the planet and cracks her mommy up every day. He described how the girls can be in a different room from us, and Matt or I will know who's laughing or talking or crying just by the sound. How even though they were all born on the same day, we know each one of them intimately and love every individual quality, just like God does each of us. Being a parent really does give you a new look at how God must view us as His children and how great His love is for us.

Yesterday was July 4th, and we took the girls swimming in the pool for the first time. All three of them loved it immediately. My grandparents and mom came over to help and we all had a lot of fun.The girls wore their little bikinis and hats and rode on their little floaties. They also jumped off the stairs and the edge of the pool to us and weren't afraid to get their little faces in the water. I think they'll all eventually be really strong swimmers. I was so busy taking care of babies, I didn't take any pics, but I think my mom took a few and I will post them (as long as the pics don't have me in a bathing suit for all the world to see)!

I will post pics from the girls' 2nd birthday party this week and will also add some recent videos and pics of the girlies very soon, but for now, naps are over and so is my blogging time!