A Year in Charleston

There have been a lot of big changes since the last time I wrote. We moved, had a baby, finished a year of school, and now we're making plans to move again!

We arrived in Charleston August of last year. It was the hottest and most humid time of year, and I was newly pregnant. I was miserable. I feel so bad for my attitude during that time, but I was nauseous all the time. We spent two weeks in a hotel until we found a rental home we were comfortable with. We like our landlord. He's an army ranger, so he understands that things change quickly in the military. He also lets us do projects around the house and deduct the cost from our rent. Ben has installed a patio in the backyard, and I've done some minor landscaping. 

Two weeks after we moved in, there was a hurricane and our county issued a mandatory evacuation. We headed to Atlanta for a few days. Our house was completely fine when we returned, but better to be safe than sorry. 

James went to public school for 1st grade. I was so sick that I didn't feel like we would get much school done at home, and it wouldn't progress as much as he could. I knew he was ready to learn, and I didn't want to be what was holding him back. It was a hard year, since school started at 7:15am, but he really improved in his reading. He's excited to be back at home for school this year. Ben is going to be in charge of science and I'm doing language arts and math. We will probably also get together with the other homeschool families from church for some sports. 

Ben is enjoying school. I can't believe his masters program is almost done. He just had to finish the summer and fall semester. He had a lot of free time this year to pursue hobbies. He rekindled his love of golf, and he recently started driving for Uber and Lyft. He figured he could be earning some extra money when he's not studying or spending time with family. 

Ben was called to teach seminary. The stake knows we plan to move in December, but they still want him to teach for the first few months of school. We will be hosting seminary in our home every morning. Thankfully, seminary doesn't start very early since the schools don't start until 9am. We are excited for this new way to invite the Spirit into our home. 

And now for the biggest change of all, our little Emily was born in April. She is an absolute delight. She adores Ben and James. Her sleep habits have changed quite a bit over her 16 weeks. She really struggled to sleep the first few weeks of her life. She didn't like to sleep in her swing for long, but also wouldn't sleep well in a crib either. She was moved out of our room after 2 weeks because she was grunting so much in her sleep and keeping me awake. We then began putting her to sleep on her tummy because she wouldn't nap more than 20 minutes. She's sleeping like a champ now. Emily has had nights where she sleeps 11-12 hours. 

We are excited to start Emily on food soon. She sits with us during meals, and she is anxious to try our food. I'm just waiting for her 4 month appointment to get the OK from her doc.

We are waiting for hard orders, but we now know where we will be stationed next. Los Angeles will be very different, but we are looking forward to being closer to family. I'm really hoping we can get on base housing. There's not much to do until we have the paper orders in hand, but I am enjoying researching the area.

We have spent one year in Charleston, and we've enjoyed it. It was very hard at first, but we venture out more now. I love the winters here, and absolutely hate the summers. It's just far too hot and the humidity is unbearable. We only have about 6 months left here, so we are trying to explore as much as we can before we move away. I will definitely miss all the pretty window boxes.