Time in Austin

While Marley and I were in Texas, we went with my mom and Joel to Austin for the weekend to see some of our extended family! We stayed at Mimi and Pawpaw's house and Aunt Julie, Uncle Andy, Jack, and Alex came from Houston to spend the weekend with us also. Marley got to open some birthday presents, which she loved! Unfortunately I wasn't together enough to take pictures for some reason. But she looked absolutely adorable dressed up in her new tutu and first set of high heels!

On Saturday, we got to pick Emily up from camp. Marley was so excited to see Emily, a little put off by her loss of voice, but still attached to her from the second she found her! We got to see Emily jumping on the blob for the last time, and Marley got some Camp Longhorn attire.

We also got to take Marley to her first trip to Schlitterbahn! We didn't take our camera in to take pictures, because it wasn't really practical. But I wish I had a camera, because she LOVED it! She had a blast swimming with me, my mom, Aunt Julie, Deedee, Jack, and Alex. I was sad that Asa couldn't be there to see how much fun she had though. She was so worn out that she even took a nap in the stroller in the middle of the park. Being at Schlitterbahn brought back so many memories of when I used to go there all the time with my family. It was always so much fun and the perfect way to end the summer before school started. I hope Marley, Asa, and I can have family traditions like that.Also, while we were in Austin I got to visit two cloth diaper stores! I have never actually been to a physical store and I loved it! I loved being able to hold the different brands and figure out what I wanted to try next. I was telling Emily today that shopping for diapers is just as much fun as shopping for clothes to me! The second store we went to was fantastic and I could have spent hours and plenty of money in there. But Marley will hopefully be potty trained soon, so I will save all that excitement for the next baby!Marley had so much fun with everyone in Austin, and she is still talking about Mimi 2 all the time! She wants to call Mimi 2 and take pictures for Mimi 2... she even says "Mimi Thoo" and holds up two fingers. I can't wait until we get to see everyone again!

Straight out of the box

Looking forward to nap time

Man, am I looking forward to nap time these days. It seems that Marley's two-year-old traits are in full swing lately and there is a lot of crying going on in this house. She cries about what clothes I put on her, even if she chose them for herself. She cries about what food I serve her, even if it's exactly what she told me she wanted. She cries when I leave the room. She cries when I don't leave the room if she wants me to. She cries about the way I make the bed or where I put her books, or where I park the car. I literally cannot do anything right!

Yesterday, I told her that she either needed to use her words to tell me what was wrong or she needed to go to her room to cry. So, she said "uh huh," quietly walked to her room, and then whined for a few minutes while she played. Even if I'm frustrated about her crying for the last 10 minutes, I have to laugh when she does this! She has already done it a few more times today! She's hilarious in there playing with her toys and fake crying! So, after a few minutes, she comes out with a smile and I am in a much better mood after my little break.

But nap time is still glorious! Even though she only seems to be sleeping for about an hour lately, I get to spend that hour in silence, doing whatever it is I want to do (today it's blogging!). It's just the little reboot I need, and I can greet her with a smile when she wakes up. I mean, how could anyone be upset with this little baby?

We Moved!

We officially live on post! Last week was filled with a lot of drama and ups and downs about whether or not we would get to move. But luckily it is all over. It ended up costing us a lot more than we thought it would, but as I said, luckily it's all over. We had the final walk-through yesterday and I handed over the keys with a huge smile! If I never have to call that realty office again, I will overjoyed!

Our new house on post already feels like more of a home to me than the other one did. This one is a little smaller, but it feels cozy to me. It seems to suit us. The washer and dryer are in the kitchen, which is something that would bother most people. But after dealing with them being down a scary flight of stairs in the basement of the old house, I am excited to have them in the kitchen! We also lost a lot of our storage space, but it was a good excuse to get rid of some things we haven't used in forever. Marley loves being able to walk to the mailbox with me now, and especially loves having a front yard to wait for Daddy in. We have huge closets, the neighbors' kids playing in the street, and a shorter drive to everything. It's wonderful and I feel so relieved!

Asa has already has two instances where it was really great that we lived on post. Yesterday, they did a bunch of training in mud and they were given 20 minutes to go home and change. If we lived in our old house, there would have been no way he could change. And this morning, he found out that they moved the PT time up an hour and he would have been late if we were living off post. So, I think he's pretty happy with it so far! Asa likes to have his own space and privacy to hang out in his backyard. We don't have that here, but he is such a good sport to do all of this for me. He does know he gets some benefits from it to, but his main reason to move us was so that Marley and I could be happier. I am lucky to have such a sweet husband!

So, everybody come visit us! See what our house looks like! I promise I will make you something delicious in my new kitchen!

A Relaxing Picnic

Last week was very stressful. We were getting everything together to move on post, dealing with drama from our old landlord, and packing our house up. Since we had been so busy, I decided that one afternoon last week, Marley and I would pack up a picnic and hit up the park for a while. It was a wonderfully cool day, the kind of day that brings back so many memories from other days with weather like that. We had the windows open all day and got to listen to my wind chimes ringings constantly. Unfortunately, Asa couldn't meet up with us for our picnic, but we still had a great, relaxing time!

Marley's First Ponytail

I couldn't believe she let me put it in, and I really can't believe that a week later she still wants to have one!