Our house...

Well, our house on "22 Piney Way" is sold. It was easy and no longer a concern of ours. Here's some other interesting things going on:

Chad busted his back lifting some heavy boxes. This is his second time injuring it in the same spot. What happens is his muscles clench up and turn rock hard, which causes him to not even be able to stand up for long periods of time. He had to go get an injection in his heiney to unclench the muscles in his back. And I regret that I was not there to take a picture of him at that moment as he so kindly did for me in December. Currently, he is on muscle relaxers which make him fairly comatose. I'm not sure how he handles being at work and I've told him several times to be careful while driving. I'm hoping he was awake for my requests. Anyway, with him and his hurt back and me with my chronic neck pain, I wonder, is this what getting old is like? It's a scary thought.

Andrew is getting older and also chubbier. He is now officially for the first time in his life on the growth chart. 3rd percentile and I'm pretty much busting my buttons with pride. This comes after YEARS of pure butter, peanut butter, nutella, and chocolate milk. And that's just what I ate out of stress. Just kidding. Andrew has been on the high fat diet for years, and it's finally starting to pay off. He also had strep this week and I thought I did too, but it was just Andrew. We've had a very easy going week and we're both recovering nicely. He's such a good little boy you'd never even know he was sick.

Aubrey has her first loose tooth ever at 8 and a half. It's probably going to be in there forever because she's freaked at the idea of actually pulling it out. We'll see. She is taking a writer's camp this summer which is right up her alley. She can crank out a story faster than anyone I know. They are always amusing. She's got a great sense of humor. She took the TAKS test this week and she thinks she did pretty well. I'm sure everyone is happy that it's over.

As for me, I'm finding my way in the world. Still doing destination wedding business and working at the bookstore. It's weird because, I like those things, for the most part it is satisfying and fulfilling, but I still experience a pang of sadness when I learn of another friend being pregnant or having a baby. It is bittersweet to me- I am genuinely happy for these fertile friends of mine but a tiny part of me wishes I could join that group. I know technically I still can, but I think in some ways the sadness for me comes because I know that that time- the pregnant and newborn stage- with the two children I have has come and gone. It's all a part of growing up and watching your kids grow and become themselves will always be bittersweet. I love my children so much! In many ways, it has been a blessing to be in the ward I'm in, but especially because many people in my current ward are past the baby- making stage. I don't feel left out as often here. I'm still open to possibilities though. There's always room in my heart for a dream or two. And in the meantime, I've really taken to exercise. Running has always been a blessing to me and I'm finding it even more satisfying these days. I've really tried to make a concerted effort to try to become the person I know I can be- physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. ( is mentally even a word? Because if not, obviously, I've still got some work to do.). So, I've been making some goals like reading my scriptures and praying early on in my day, and being intentional about it, exercising a lot, writing in my journal, going to the temple a lot more, including my kids more in daily household tasks and things like that. I don't even know if I should even share these goals or not because I feel like they're ambitious, and I don't want to appear to be braggy about it, (especially because I'm not 100% at them, yet) and don't want to curse myself, or make myself seem really awesome. But I have found that it really is so satisfying to make goals, whatever they are, and actually reach them: to know the person you want to be and then make progress towards that. Trying to make each day positive and better than the one before. It's nice to have a sense of purpose.