Well, like I said, so much has changed since September of
last year. Where do I begin. Perhaps its best in a chronological
synopsis. Here goes.
Just a month after my last post, we adopted a dog from the
Boone Co. Humane Society. She is a 4
year old ‘’Schnoodle” (Schnauzer/Poodle).
We brought the kids to meet her to see how she responded and she latched
onto our family in an instant. We named
her Olive and since she has become a big member of the family, though I feel
she has attached herself more to me than mom.
The winter of 2011 was hardly that, as well remember, with
almost no snow for most the year. We
were able to go sledding a few times with the kids. There were few people on the hill that day
but somehow our sled managed to careen right into another little girl at the
bottom of the hill. Her parents were
very forgiving though I’m sure we ruined sledding for he that winter.
We “upgraded” our vehicles further before winter, selling
our Honda Civic and purchasing 1990 Ford F-150.
It seems we always need access to a truck and its nice to have a vehicle
with 4-wheel drive. Its not much to look
at but it was cheap and it gets me where I’m going. Plus I feel I look pretty cool when I’m
driving my truck.
In February, Jude turned one and our little guy has never
looked back. In fact, he’s hardly can be
classified as a “little guy” at all.
Currently Jude has earned the nickname “Tank” given his ability to
withstand all matter of assaults from himself or his sister. Plus he’s kind of a destroyer wherever he
goes. He’s just over 18 mos. now and maintaining the 90th
percentile in height and weight. He
certainly is a decent match against his sister who has quickly learned that he
is a rough kid who can take as well as dish in a fight.
Also during the winter we learned that we would be blessed
with our third child this year, who joined the family on Aug. 28, 2012. Similarly we kept the baby’s name a secret
the whole time and this time, since we had both genders already, we decided
also keep its gender a secret to us as well.
It was different not knowing. We
had to keep a list of possible boy and girl names and think of gender neutral
themes too.
For this baby we also wanted to try something new too—a home
birth! We had been planning on it after
about week 20 and were all set. We had
read some on it and watched a video about it and thought it would be a neat
experience and something special to tell the kid later. “Hey, you were born in this very room! See
that stain?” That sort of thing.
This time ‘round we also were using doula, or birth
coach. All was set but then, about two
weeks out from due date (baby was due Sept. 4), Lizzie noticed her water seemed
to be leaking. She called our midwife,
who was going to do the homebirth, and she said she was having car
troubles. Lizzie could elaborate
further, with more colorful adjectives, about the phone calls between them and
ensuing frenzy of “WHERE ARE WE GOING TO HAVE THIS BABY!!!”. In the end our third child came that same day
and was NOT born at home but rather, like the other two, born in Ames at Mary
Greeley.
We were able to use the birthing tub at the hospital, which
we had already rented, plus our doula was there for us through it all. If you ask me, she was worth her weight in
gold. It ended up to be a quick
ordeal. Lizzie flew through the labor,
again a “natural” one, and our newest addition—a baby girl—arrived faster than
you can say “GIVE ME AN EPIDURAL!”. We
settled on the name Finch Winifred-Lola Davis, harkening back to our very first
home where BellaRose and Jude lived prior (more on this in a minute).
They say Finch doesn’t like the other two kids really and is
the girl version of me. I’m not so
sure. You decide. Currently she is going by the nickname “Bird”
though we were envisioning Winnie as a possible one. All in all it couldn’t have gone any
smoother, considering we started out the morning not knowing where baby Finch
would be born.
So, clearly the birth of baby Finch was easily the hugest
event of 2012 and certainly since last fall.
However, there is one more that was paramount in our family life and
hopefully in the lives of our children and grandchildren. Yes, finally, in May of this year, we became
homeowners!
Given the knowledge of the new addition looming, we realized
just two rooms wouldn’t cut it for a growing family and more rooms were
needed. It was high time we got a
home. We had mulled the idea of an
acreage around but it was difficult, it seemed, to find a home in our price
range that had a decent spread of land and wasn’t too far from Ames. We ended up scratching that idea and settling
on a home in town. It seemed like we
were searching forever and lost out on house after house to some other
buyer. Finally we found one we liked and
not wanting to lose it, jumped at the opportunity. It was FSBO, which in hind-sight we would
only do with a realtor or lawyer mediating.
The sellers were foreign and just wanted the money now, not
understanding all that was required to close a mortgage. It eventually did happen and we closed May
31.
The home is near downtown Ames, nestled in a historic
neighborhood (the house itself is 112 years old) by the DOT office and Lincoln
Way. We are about 5 mins or less from
the in-laws, which is nice, and the close vicinity to a local park is a
plus. We are also not too far from Jack
Trice Stadium and we are getting our first taste football season. The home is 4 bedrooms and has a
full-basement, partially finished. It
needs a little work but its hard to find a home in Ames with that many rooms,
in that location, for the price we got.
All in all we are glad we made the move and though it was
stressful, it is nice to know we have a
place for the kids to call home, hopefully for the rest of their lives and then
some.
Aside from that, the usual has been going on. I’m still working at WebFilings in town and
can’t complain there. Job security is a
rarity right now so I’m happy to have a place that appreciates me, I enjoy and
supports us. Moreover, I cross a big
milestone soon. Its my 30th
birthday next month!
Elizabeth also started working this past year, waiting
tables at Ge-Angelo’s Italian Restaurant in Ames. She was hesitant at first, not sure if she
was cut out for serving, but has since grown quite adept at it and I think she
finds its almost a release from the rigors of her other full-time job—a
stay-at-home mom.
BellaRose.continues to grow and is a very smart, clever,
witty girl, not unlike her father. She
turns 4 next month and is in pre-school currently and enjoys it immensely. We see many positive changes in her, even
though its hard to watch your little girl grow up. Though she is stubborn and bossy at times,
she has noxious laugh and is also very sweet to her new little sister.
Jude. What can you say? He’s so very different from his
sister(s). As a baby, he was super easy
going. As a toddler, he is super
naughty, going from one extremely dangerous activity to the next. He seems to be always playing with something he shouldn’t or
purposefully torqueing his sister, and he bounces back from injuries that would
keep his sister out of commission for hours, as if to have super healing
powers. A true force to be reckoned
with, the aptly named “Tank” keeps us all on our toes but he is equally as
sweet and loving as his counterparts and we love his rough approach to life
just the same.
Well, I think that’s roughly it for the time being. Our deepest apologies for such a complete and
utter lack of bloggings since the blog’s creation. Even during its “hay-day” it never had all
that many posts. Our already small fan
has surely suffered. How can I persuade
you to stay the course and keep following?
Candy? The promise of hope?
Comical pictures of cats?
Anyways, I sincerely hope to post more. I shall try and we will see. Certainly there’s plenty to blog about, if
only I had time. I will write my
Congressperson about extending the hours
in a day or something…
That’s it, readers.
Sorry for the long hiatus. All
the best and all that. Cheerio!
