A Rare Moment

Lila and Miles hardly ever overlap on naps.  This makes it tricky to get stuff done around the house, or especially with moving, since I don't ever have a time with out at least one little one needing my attention. A little while ago there was an afternoon where I had just put Lila down and Miles was still asleep.  I was very relieved to just have a quiet time for a moment.  However, Miles promptly woke up.   I was a little peeved but then something magical happened.  My little Miles used to sleep with me all of the time.  He has been my best sleeper of all.  I have missed these moments and I had to just take a few photos with one hand with my cell phone because I felt SO happy and at peace to have him fall back asleep in my arms like this.

Lila Pearl Turns One!

 
 Remember this little one???  Oh my goodness!  How quickly a year has gone.  Even more special than getting a house on March 30th was the celebration of having Lila Pearl as part of our family for an entire year.  We adore this baby girl so much.  She is bright and happy and so social!

 After we gave her a house, we went out to eat at Niki's Italian then came home for a couple of gifts and cupcakes.

 Her favorite part, by far, was being sung to.  We sang "Happy Birthday" to her twice because she loved it so much!

 The first taste of straight sugar wasn't too bad either.

Lila pulls herself to walk along the couch edges.  She often lets go and just stands on her own for a few seconds but hasn't tried to take steps yet.  She loves to sing at church and says "Yeah!" loudly at the end of every prayer.  She loves to wave her two little hands and is so proud of the sound she makes when she claps.  She now weighs 21 pounds (50th %) and is 31 inches tall (95th %).   She purposefully says, "Hi", "Dad", "Yeah", and "Mama".  She twists her tongue and makes lots and lots of other cute, talking sounds but we haven't deciphered them yet.  This baby girl is such a joy to us.  Lila Pearl, my sweetest girl, we love you SO MUCH!

Our Home

Friday, March 30th, we closed on our new house.  It is lovely and I feel so blessed that it is ours.  I have spent many hours there in the past week sanding cabinets, priming, cleaning, and pulling down wallpaper.  Its a bit tricky to get things done with the babies.  I've been going over in the evenings after Jason gets off work.  But we're getting things accomplished and I'm trying not to overwhelm myself.  We've decided on just a couple projects to tackle before moving in and then I will try my best to be patient and know that it will take a lot more time (and money) to make our house into the place I really feel reflects what I would like my home to be.  But in the meantime, we feel extremely blessed.   We let Grace be the first one to open the door:

The kids ran through the rooms like maniacs, played hide and seek,

  And ring-around-the-Lila.

 

I admired the butterfly tree in the backyard.  They were every where in this thing.  What is it?  I do not know these Texas trees.

We attended our new ward (church congregation) for the first time today.  It is by far the most diverse (socially, racially, and economically) ward of which I've ever been a member.  We were treated with much love and kindness.  There is a certain amount of stress surrounding all the new changes and the sheer amount of work that it takes to move.  More than the stress, however, I feel serene.  I feel relief and peace.  When we first got to Texas it felt right to be here but also the ward, school, and house felt temporary.  It was okay because we needed to do the work to find out just the right spot where we belonged.  Jason feels like it is good and right but that most of what has happened in the past 2 years has been us just doing what we wanted to do, though we always pray together and ask the Lord to guide us.  It annoys him sometimes that I feel that there is usually always a reason behind everything that happens.  But I truly feel that the Lord has a plan for us and that we have been led and inspired to this exact spot.  I can't imagine how I could have left my parents, siblings, and lifelong friends if it were not a spiritually inspired move.  Either way, we were looking for the place to plant ourselves and now we've found it!