I Love St. Joe!

Well, our first vacation as a family of 4 was a success! We survived the 5 hour car ride and laughed very hard.

We were gone for six days, but it felt like six weeks because of how relaxing it was. We rented a 4 bedroom house which was beautiful and actually very baby friendly. :) We would spend our mornings visiting local parks, museums, or the neighborhood pool. Nap times came after lunch and then once nap time was over - we would hit the beach for the rest of the day. Havana LOVED the beach! This was her third trip to a beach and she has loved it every time (wonder where she gets that from? :). Jason and I would take turns chasing her around while the other one would lay out with Jonah. So nice!

We would head home, feed Havana dinner, and then once she and Jonah were in bed we would get take out and eat it on the deck overlooking the river. I really can't remember a setting that we visited daily that was so romantic. I loved it. We would stay out looking at the moon over the river until the wee hours of the night. I would unwind with a relaxing bath each night in an amazing bath tub. I never would have thought that a trip with two children could be so relaxing and romantic - but it was just that! Aw, I love vacation! :)

We came home and had high hopes of getting our AC fixed. Yeah right, nothing in this house can be easy. We apparently have a HUGE leak that will require us to replace the AC part by part. However, the Home Warranty people are shopping around for the parts and once they find the price they like - they will ship it to the repair men... so, we have been two weeks now without AC and the temps have been in the 90s. So. Hot.

Thankfully, we've been able to borrow some window AC units from a friend and so have made our downstairs somewhat "comfortable." Jason, Havana, Jonah, Tucker, and myself have all been living on the first floor of our house... and it has been a little cramped, but still nice. Jason and I are sleeping on the couch which is an adventure of sorts. We're living on top of each other, the house is impossible to keep clean, and yet... I'm incredibly happy just being with my family. I am blessed.

There were certainly some stressful times. Especially before we were able to get the window units. You know me - I'm very dramatic, but all the house repairs have finally started wearing on Jason. The day we found out that it would be at least another week before we might get everything repaired Jason left for work and said, "I'm sorry our lives our so hard right now. This time I agree, our lives our bad." Ha. Clearly, our "lives" are not bad, but these stupid home repairs are adding up and becoming one big headache after another. There were a few times when I was so hot in our house that I found myself wanting to snap at Jason and even Havana even though I wasn't upset with them at all. Most of the time I was able to bite my tongue, but once Jason asked "what's the matter?" when I was short with him and I said that I wasn't upset with him, but that I was hot. I found it to be one of those moments of growth where I couldn't allow my circumstances to run my attitude. It isn't fair to my husband or my children to take out my "heat" on them. They are hot too. Snapping because I'm tired, hungry, hot, or whatever is wrong on my part. When I do it - I must apologize.

Fast Forward a few days...

Both children are sleeping (really, I've been blessed with two children who sleep 12 hours) and I'm in the living room with Jason. He's watching a football game he recorded earlier and I'm working on my blog. :) Tonight college football started up... we watched the Ohio State tonight. Jonah even wore his Ohio State shirt. Jason was proud! Jason is on cloud nine that he is watching a 2nd game in the same day. Back-to-back games makes him happy. He is currently watching the Bengals vs. the Colts. He's cheering for the Bengals and I'm screaming for the Colts. It is only pre-season so I'm still willing to update the blog during the game. :) I'm very excited for a football this weekend between the home rivals of UK-UL. Go Cards! :) Jason and I never turn the TV on when Havana is awake. Just a rule we have. She only gets a few shows a day at certain times of the day, but other than those shows, the TV remains off. So, on nights like tonight when games are on while she's awake - we have to DVR them and start them when she goes to bed. I'm okay with that rule because I like being a family that never has the TV on - even the news! Not worth taking my time away from my family.

Tonight Havana crawled on her knees. Not her hands and knees. Just her knees. I don't know why, but it made me laugh until I cried. She looked so big and so funny. I don't know what made her do it, but I'm laughing now remembering it. She had speech therapy today- I see improvements - huge improvements in her speech, but she is still so far behind. Poor girl. I really pray that she can begin to express herself better, but also praying that she does not become insecure with her ability to say words.

This week I signed up for a women's Bible study that starts on the 15th. I was a little hesitant to make that commitment for a few reasons... the biggest one being that Havana will have to go to the nursery for two hours every Wednesday. She doesn't do well during the one hour every weekend - how will she handle two additional hours? We talked about this a lot over vacation - was it right to push her? However, we decided that 1. This would be good for me... to meet other women and grow in my faith. 2. It could help Havana to continue to become comfortable with the nursery rooms at church - she will now be going three times a week (weekend service, B-stud, and once with mommy to clean the toys in the nursery). Also, in the B-stud time slot - she will be with a small group of children and the same ones every week. So she can make friends which might help her become more comfortable. Overall, we are praying for her to do well and praying for her to love church as much as we do.

Jonah man is doing so great. He will be 4 months tomorrow! Wow, I can't believe he's already 4 months old, but at the same time sometimes I feel like our family really blossomed after his arrival. The last 4 months have been the happiest times we've had (house problems and all)! :) We are so lucky to have such a content and precious little boy. He's become a chatter box lately which makes us laugh. He is doing very well with purposely reaching for and playing with toys. I love his double handed grip on things as he brings them to his mouth.

I love my family... thanks for letting me brag about them! :)