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. 

Spring 2018

I literally just hit submit on my final exam for my FAM 160 class. I enjoyed that class, but I am so glad to be done with it. I was really struggling towards to end to stay motivated to sit and do assignments. At the end of the day, I just want to sit down with a book or watch Parks and Rec with Ben. I will not be registering for classes next semester. There is no way I want to be taking classes and trying to move across the country at the same time, possibly also pregnant. No thank you!

I'm nearing the end of IVF treatment. Every morning and evening, Ben gives me 1-2 injections in my abdomen. A drug called Follistim is for egg growth. Ganirelix tells my body not to ovulate. They just added Menopur to my regime, which is also for egg development. Then I have blood work and ultrasounds every 2 days so my doc can stay up to date on my progress. I have 20 eggs on one side, 17 on the other. If everything goes 100% according to plan, we're looking at a lot of embryo options for implantation. Anything left will be frozen for at least a year. Ben and I will have to decide more once we know what we're dealing with. I'm hoping for Monday the 16th to be egg retrieval day. I'll be asleep, just like getting my wisdom teeth out. Tylenol for any cramping later and be on my feet by Tuesday. 

All in all, I feel fine right now. I can tell the eggs are growing. I usually sleep on my tummy during the night, and now it feels like small bags of marbles are in my lower abdomen. When the nurses or doctor ask me if I'm experiencing any discomfort, I tell them it's not bad, and they kind of look at me like "it's coming, don't worry". Thanks guys.

Ben is still working on school stuff. We are still waiting to hear if the AF approves of Ben's choice of The Citadel. Hopefully in two weeks or so. Some other captains already have moving orders to their locations. Ben got an email basically saying "we're working on it, don't be concerned that you haven't heard yet". If The Citadel doesn't work, Ben is applying to schools in Boston, Dallas, and Seattle. And there's always Dayton.

James is down to just 3 days of "school" left. I'll continue working with him throughout the summer, but the supplement program he's been in is almost done. I have LOVED his teacher. I've been thinking about what I want to do for next year, wherever we end up living. I can see us homeschooling in Charleston, and having regular trips to the many gardens, swamps, and beaches. Plus all the historical sites in and around Charleston. If we end up in Dayton, I can see us going to visit Church history sites and Amish communities. 

James is making good progress in language arts. He is reading beginner books, and we are working on his handwriting. He has a love of numbers, and is constantly asking Ben and I to answer math equations. I should be taking advantage of his number love, but I don't love the math curriculum I have. I'm waiting till June when The Good and The Beautiful releases their new math curriculum. 

That's it for us. Spring is finally making an appearance in Colorado. I'm so over snow, and the cold. 

Autumn

We've had a busy summer. I was hoping it would be slow and relaxing, and that just didn't happen. Now I'm trying to keep our autumn schedule from getting out of control.

Ben is working night shifts for the next two months. We're still waiting to hear about our next location.

James starting his once-per-week kindergarten program. It's been really good so far. He also started soccer a few weeks ago. The first game he refused to play, but since then he's played and even scored a few goals. I've also got him in swim lessons, and he's been making huge improvements there as well. Oct 5th he is scheduled for a minor ear surgery at the hospital. When he had his 5 yr check up, he missed 50% on his hearing test. Basically, he just has a lot of hardened ear wax that is stuck. The ENT could get it out, but James was just too wiggly, so they need to make him sleep through the procedure.
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I'm doing well. Currently working on completing my BYU-I application. I don't know when I'll enroll in any classes, maybe after Christmas. Other than that I'm just keeping the house together.

Here are a few pictures from the last month or so.

At the Citizen Cope concert.

Walking around the Oregon State campus. So much as changed! Loved seeing all the beautiful trees and flowers. Definitely miss walking around this place every day. 

Spent a day at the beach/Newport with Heather's kids. I just love the sea lions!

How we watched the eclipse. I admit, I wish we had made it a higher priority. Oh well.

The canyon from the lodge of Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. 

This really is one of the best zoo's. We had so much fun feeding these giraffe's. 

Took a drive up Pike's Peak. 

Picking tomatoes for me. 

Sunday shenanigans. James loves to wear the bow tie to church.

Went to Morrison for Cider Fest.

Pressing apples for cider. 

to house hunt, or not to house hunt

I feel like there more going on now than there was a month ago. Aren't things supposed to get more relaxed in the summer? I'm planning some small school activities, and we'll be working our way through a list of hikes, playgrounds and parks in the Denver area. I'm hoping to keep things really simple. We did splurge and get family passes to Elitch Gardens, the theme/water park in Denver.

Ben's work is going well. He is applying for the Masters program through the Air Force again this year, so hopefully we'll hear back in the fall. He knows why his application last year was never sent in (and who it got stuck with), so he's keeping better watch this time around. He also told me he was notified of us being on a mandatory moving list. It's kind of like the "hey-you haven't-moved-in-a-long-time-it's-your-turn" list. Ben's assignment is finishing up in the next year, and he'll need another job to do. It would probably be at LA Air Force Base. His command is located there, so that would make the most sense. I looked at the houses on base, and it's really close to the beach. So absolutely terrible, of course.🌴 But I really don't want to pay LA house prices, YIKES! 

http://la.tierra-vista.com/san-pedro/los-angeles-afb-tierra-vista-communities/photos/

These are the houses at Wright-Paterson in Dayton, OH. Where we would go if Ben got into the school there.

https://wpafbhomes.com/tour/

So either way, there's a 90% chance we'll be moving by June 2018. I've loved Denver, but I like packing, moving, and unpacking. I love exploring a new place. I wouldn't mind LA because it's warm, and I've hated the Colorado winters. But again, those housing prices! Dayton seems like a better financial option and I think just all around better for our family. There is also a chance Ben could be wrong about LA and we could go somewhere completely unexpected. Denver was not on our radar at all when we found out we'd be moving here. I don't want to get too excited about a particular location, because that will jinx it. This has just been in the back of my mind for a few weeks. 

Family Photos Christmas 2016

Mom pointed out that it has been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. We've just been doing our normal thing for a while. If I take pictures, they are generally posted on Instagram or Facebook. But I got around to downloading some of the photos from our shoot at the Parmenter's over Christmas. I really like James' expressions. 

Summer in November

You guys, it is supposed to be a high of 77 degrees this week in Denver. We have only had rain once, and it has not come even close to snowing. That is not a complaint at all. Far from it. I am so glad the bitter cold has decided to be a no-show this year. Hopefully, this doesn't mean it will stick around into late spring to make up the difference. 

We've been as busy as ever. Ben's job is changing a bit these days as his project is nearing its final phase. He has been on-call for weeks. One evening, he came home around 5, was called back in to work at 10pm. When I saw him the next morning he told me he didn't get home until 4am, and was back at work again at 8am. This week he has a midnight shift, but at least this time he can plan a nap beforehand. 

Sadly, Ben did not get into the school at Wright-Patterson in Dayton, OH. In fact, he's not even 100% sure his commander sent in the application. We'll try again next year. In the meantime, there is plenty of stuff to do here. If we wanted to, we could live here in Denver for years. It is so strange that this is the longest we have lived in one place. 

Things are going well for me. Last week I watched Gavin Monday-Friday, which was a little crazy but we survived. Ben had Veterans Day off, so we took to the boys to the Botanic Gardens to wander around. 

In other news, I'm seeing a fertility doctor and it's going well. The process is long, but things are coming along. I had an ultrasound and more blood work done last week. I should know beginning of December what the next step is.