BIG Changes

Ok y'all, I feel like this is becoming a regular thing lately. I come on here to update everyone on the newest happenings with my family, and I end up sharing life-changing news. Well, it's happening yet again!

Tyler and I are moving. (yes, again). And this time, it's not just 15 minutes away. Tyler, Silas (Giggs and Sabby) and I are moving back up to Northwest Arkansas! This has been quite the whirlwind month for me. On December 4th, we moved from our beloved Heights home to Bryant, a small town about 15 minutes outside of Little Rock. Our plan was to live in the house for about a year, then move and make our current home a rental. That was the plan.

But, on December 4th, as our movers were unloading us into our new house, that all changed. I received a call from a friend in NWA. She was hiring a person on her team at Walmart and thought I would be a good fit. Wow! I thought. Walmart -- how exciting! Such a challenge, I know, but one that I was really, really interested in. And the job is right up my alley. Plus, it's NWA! I mean, I'd be lying if I said I had never wanted to eventually get back up to NWA to be close to family. And now with Silas, it's even more important.

So I interviewed for the position and found out earlier this week that I have been accepted for the position! Again, this is something that I had not planned on. At. All. I know it will be a huge challenge to make this transition, especially with a baby, but I knew if I didn't go for it, I would always regret it!

Tyler has been so great throughout all of this. He loves his current job, so it's been hard for him to think about finding something new. But he is, of course, excited about being close to family.

So what does this mean for our little family? Well, for right now, Tyler will stay in Little Rock and work while we put our *new* house back on the market. He will also look for jobs up in NWA. Silas and I will head up to NWA. I will begin work and my mom and Amanda are so generous to watch Silas until we can find the right day care. I am SO blessed to have their support!

So right now, I ask for your prayers during yet another transition for my family. Pray that we sell our house quickly. Pray that Tyler finds a great job he loves. Pray that we can all be together again as soon as possible. And pray for me as I start a new job -- I know it'll be a lot at first, so be prayerful that I can learn quickly and stay confident.

I am so beyond excited about this change. But I am nervous! I am uprooting my family -- that's a lot of pressure! Yes, we are going "home," but Tyler and I have built a life in Little Rock, and we will be leaving some dearly LOVED people. So needless to say, I'm sure there will be moments when I doubt this decision -- heck, I have moments already! But I know that God has laid this path for me for a reason. And I'm jumping in with both feet and trusting in His plan!

Lastly, pray that this is the LAST life-changing news for a while! I'm hoping that 2015 is a great year for our family -- and mostly one without any more big changes.I'm not sure my fragile emotional state can handle anything else new! :)

Month Six

Silas' sixth month included some BIG changes -- both for Silas and the whole family! This was the month of our big move. We sold our house back in October and had to move on December 3rd. So much of November was spent packing (when not celebrating Thanksgiving, of course).

Well, after some drama (you know, because things are never simple at our house) we ended up moving on December 4th -- Silas' 6 month birthday.

Silas was a good sport for me while I played around in our backyard.

Jo Anne and Bill came down to see our house one last time before we moved, so we took Bill to see the Big Dam Bridge. Not going to lie, taking Silas up there gave me a panic attack. Quite literally. Thankfully, everyone was going with me strapping him in VERY tightly to the stroller. And keeping full control of said stroller. haha. 

Just one of the many fun pictures I get from Tyler while they hang out before I get home from work. 

Silas has continued with oatmeal cereal. We have even added a few veggies (sweet potatoes, peas and green beans). So far is NOT a fan of anything green. But we just keep on trying!

Again, cute picture from Tyler :) 

Tyler took Silas to Walgreen with him one day, picked up a bag of Haribo peaches, and quickly learned that Silas was a big fan. Such a big fan, in fact, that he screamed every time Tyler tried to take them away. 

We enjoyed a game night with Bo, Bess and John. Although the kids pretty much went straight to bed, I know they had a blast. 

He started becoming MUCH more mobile this past month, resulting in getting caught a few times in his play mat. 

We were so excited to get to go to the wedding of one of my dearest friends, Leslie. It was such a fun reunion with a group of girls I literally grew up with. I swear, these girls knew me most of my entire life, and still somewhat like me. So I consider that both a miracle and a blessing! ha!

Ethan and Silas meeting for the first time.

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! We headed up to NWA to spend it with both families. Thanksgiving day, we were able to spend our time with the Herriman family, and got to see almost everyone!

Silas with his great-uncle Bill.

Love our family! 

It was so great to be able to spend some much needed hang out time with Josh and Rachel.

No words for this one. It's obviously a favorite!

We spent Friday with my family, playing board games and eating way too much.

This was one of my favorite outfits, put together by my wonderful husband. He was going for practicality rather than looks. And yes, I had to meet them in public and Silas was seen by complete strangers looking like this!

It's amazing to me how quickly Silas will "learn a new trick." Within a week he went from barely being able to hold himself up for a few seconds to fully sitting for more than 10 minutes!

It may be hard to tell in this picture, but he has begun pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Makes me nervous we will have a crawler in the near future! Yikes!

Well we are loving our new house! Seriously, it might sound strange, but living in a smaller house has been the BEST. Tyler even commented that I seem happier (guess I was a nightmare! ha!). Being in a smaller house means less to clean. It also means we are all together a bit more and don't  have to march across a huge house just to get a glass of water. I'm so thankful we are here for this time!

Again, just another fun photo shoot with my sweetheart! So glad I got to capture this grin! It's my favorite!

6 Month Photo

6 Months!

We had the BEST Christmas pictures taken! Seriously, I'm obsessed with them!!!!

Gah... I mean. I just can't.

Big Move

Considering that Tyler and I are moving in ONE WEEK, I figured it was time to make it public knowledge. I think I've been in denial up until this point. :) So here is the full scoop on our big move:

We will start at the beginning. Way, way back to the beginning.
From early on in our marriage, Tyler and I knew that we ultimately wanted to have a rental property or two. We have joked that we "will never be rich with the jobs we have." That is to say, we like the jobs we have, and have every intention to keep them. And our goal in life is not to be rich. That isn't our plan. We just realize that in order to help [ok, I'm going to get all Dave Ramsey on you for a second] build wealth so that we can fulfill our long-term goals, we need to look into other options.  And we both felt most comfortable with the idea of owning rental properties. We discussed and dreamed about the idea of rentals, but it was nothing more than just that -- an idea.

Now fast forward to our current house. Our dream house. Our forever house. We put our blood, sweat and tears into this house. I'm rather proud of it. We saw this old, outdated house and were able to fix it up into something somewhat modern. It still had work to be done (as is the case with any older home) but we had really transformed it.

Even while I was pregnant and the early weeks of Silas' life, we still thought we would stay put. We still talked about the idea of investment properties, but let's get real -- who has that kind of money lying around? It just wasn't feasible for us in the anywhere near future.

Then one weekend, we went up to NWA to visit our family before I started back to work full-time. It was on our way home from this trip that Tyler and I had an epiphany. We got into a huge talk about the "big picture" and our long-term goals. And, plain and simple, living in our forever home was going to keep us from these goals. So we talked about it, prayed about it and did some research. And we made the big decision to sell our forever house and move out of town. 

It took us about two months to get the house ready and on the market. All the while, I was fervently praying. We had made this huge life decision to move to a smaller town, and I had doubts. Were we making the right decision? Do we really have the guts to sell our perfect, wonderful house? Would my added commute be worth it? Yadda, yadda, yadda. I was worrying and second guessing and oh ya, worrying a little more. So I prayed and prayed and prayed some more. I prayed that God would make it perfectly clear His desires for our family. If He wanted us to stay or go.

We put our house on the market late on a Wednesday night and had it sold by Friday. It was incredible. Within 36 hours we had a great offer to a great couple (you know, it always helps if you feel like you like the people who are buying your house haha). Wow, my head was spinning. We had sold our house and will had no where to live! YIKES! But nonetheless, we sold our house and my prayer was answered.

The following week, Tyler and I met with our realtor. The day before, Tyler informed me he was going to be "extremely picky" with what he wanted in a prospective rental house. Ruh-row. I can see the writing on the wall with that comment. Tyler had very specific ideas, which I fully respected and understood. It just meant that if we didn't find something that met those specifications, we would be homeless. Ok, not really, but we would probably have to move into an apartment for a short time (which I was not excited about.)

So I prayed. I prayed a very specific prayer that God will give us a house with x, y and z. I prayed that Tyler would be excited when he walked into this house and that his nerves would calm. I prayed the house didn't need too much work because I didn't think my fragile little self could handle much of a renovation.

We went looking with our realtor the next day. The first house we visited was perfect. It checked all our boxes. It had x, y and z. Another prayer answered.

We put in an offer, it was accepted and we will be moving in next week! I hesitated to make anything too public until now because a part of me has been too scared something will not work out and everything will fall through. But seeing has I'm moving in 7 days (and still need to pack. oops.) I figure it's about time to clue in all of my friends.

The "plan," and we all know how those work out, is to live in this house for a year or so, and then move to something a little more "permanent," making this house a rental house. 

So yes, Tyler and I are moving the week after Thanksgiving. It's scary and overwhelming. But God has answered my prayers all along the way throughout this entire process. I know He will continue to guide our family. And I'm excited to see that process...

Month Five

Month five has been wonderful! I have so much to be thankful for. Work finally started to slow a bit (still busy, but definitely more manageable), which has allowed us to be more social -- something I have rather missed! :)

We started October by visiting the Food Truck Festival in town. So fun! There were about 25 local food trucks lining a downtown street.

We tried several different places, including this Baja hotdog, which Silas had his eye on. ;)

Bo, Bess and John met us for a bit. John and Silas especially loved the bonding time.

The next day, one of my favorite families came in town to visit! Whitney, Andrew, Eden and Cade all made the trip to visit us for the day. It was so much fun! We ate lunch at All Aboard (a fun kid-friendly restaurant where trains deliver your food), went to the park, played with the pups (which I think the kids may have enjoyed more than the dogs. haha!) and met some more friends for dinner. It is so sad how long it had been since we had all gotten together! 

All the kiddos. Cade was rather proud of himself to be holding Silas. ;)

Such a sweet pic!

So incredibly thankful to have had some good quality time with my bestie!

Not that this is incredibly important, but Silas had his first spirit week at school. I couldn't help but dress him up when I could! This was pajama day. I mean, come on. The cuteness is simply overwhelming.

Silas had his 4 month shots, which went MUCH better than the first time. I immediately followed his appointment with some Tylenol and I can't help but think that made all the difference. This picture is pre-shot at the doctor's office.

Another cute outfit that I just had to get pictures of. He obviously loved bathtime -- he is so happy during and after!

My small group girls had our annual Traks  night. We dressed as Rosie the Riveter, and if I do say so myself, I thought we looked rather adorable!

Another spirit day at school -- rainbow day. Tyler didn't see this outfit until a few days later when I showed him a picture. Let's just say this wasn't his favorite outfit.

The next weekend we had another group of visitors. Josh (Tyler's best friend) and Natalie came to visit while Josh visited UAMS for school. It was so great to have them in town. I just totally forgot to get any pictures! 

They left and my parents showed up about 20 minutes later. Haha. My parents hadn't seen Silas in a few weeks and I don't think my mom could handle it any longer! They had so much fun seeing all the changes that Silas had made. He's quite the pro at his bouncy chair now, as you may be able to tell from this pic of Silas and my dad. 

Annie also made the trip down for the afternoon, so Silas was definitely not starving for attention!

After church on Sunday.

Silas was still dealing with some congestion and the following week it picked back up again. This makes everything more difficult -- eating, sleeping and keeping clothes clean (I never knew such a tiny person could create so much snot!) Anyway, things started to FINALLY improve. Thank goodness too, this momma was about to lose it. 

That week was also crazy because we finally, finally, had everything finished with our house and were ready to put it on the market. We listed the house Wednesday night and it sold Friday morning. (More scoop on that later!)

That weekend, since we didn't have to worry about any surprise house showings, we had a bit more free time than expected. So we made a trip up to Searcy to watch the HU men's soccer team! Way to go Coach Odie! It's always great to see his team in action. 

I was excited for a chance to bust out the black and gold. ;)

We spent the afternoon with April and Odie and ending up going to dinner with several other people as well -- such a fun day! Boo for no pictures.

I ended up getting a little sick that weekend so the rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. 

I received this picture from one of Silas' teachers. No doubts that he is a happy boy at school!

The next week was Halloween. I finished Silas' Halloween costume and immediately had to take pictures! Although his costume was completely DIY (made mostly of torn fabric and fabric glue), I think it turned out pretty great!

Dobby, our little house elf!

As soon as I put Silas in the chair, he proceeded to spit up ALL over! ha! So typical.

Cute little booger.

Tyler and I spent October 25th weekend making a quick one-day trip to NWA. A family friend had a death in the family. So we left early Saturday morning, went to the funeral, spent time with family and came back that night. All with a 4 month old -- WHEW!

Needless to say, Mimi wasn't too upset with the surprise visit.

Silas meeting his great-aunt Kay.

Brooklyn and Silas

Mal and Silas.

On Sunday, Fellowship had their Family Fest. Since my last work event of the year was scheduled for November 1 (the day after Halloween), I knew we probably wouldn't get out on Halloween night. So we went out to the festival. Although Silas was WAY too small to enjoy everything, I still loved walking around and seeing all the kids in costume. Of course, I had to dress him up as well!

We ran into Ann, my FMS small group co-leader. She makes a great Dorothy!

Sweet little dinosaur and Dobby!

I convinced Tyler to "participate" in the costumes. I'm actually rather pleased he was willing to let me put a scar on his head! Our sweet little Harry Potter family! Seriously, can there be anything better?!?!

I finished up the week of Halloween working towards my final event of the year. It was a great success, but meant that nothing very exciting happened.

Silas refuses to roll over. From his belly or his back. I actually think he may roll from back to front before the other. Or he may just get up and walk :) Who knows!

We also started eating oatmeal cereal. He was NOT a fan at first! It took a few tries before he could somewhat tolerate it. Now, he's eating it like a champ!

He is definitely a messy eater. It ALWAYS ends up all over him and results in an immediate bath.

After my gala for work, my parents let me know that my grandmother was not doing well, and they expected her to pass soon. Sure enough, my dad called me back later that day. My grandma passed away on Sunday, November 2, 2014. Although it was sad to not have her here on earth, I was overwhelmingly happy to know that she was at peace. She is now in heaven and feels no pain. How wonderful that is!!

We all packed up and spent Silas' 5 month "birthday"celebrating the incredible life of Viola Williams.

Harry LOVES his boy cousins! It's so fun to see him be so sweet and gentle with Levi and Silas!

Boy cousin love!

Brooklyn, Harry and Silas

I LOVE this picture! This is one of the only pictures I have of Silas' pitiful cry face! It's so heartbreaking! (And I promise he loves his JoePop!

I love this picture of me and my grandma. She was an incredible woman! Another post will come soon!

Things to remember:

-Silas really got the hang of his bouncy chair. Which means he knows how to use his legs a lot better. This means that while he's eating, trying to fall asleep, or really doing anything, he kicks his legs like he's bouncing.  Makes feeding him super interesting. 

-Silas is a multiple-personality sleeper. Some nights he only wakes up once or twice. Other nights I see every house of the night. Literally. It's kind of like a game of roullet at this point. 

-He still isn't close to rolling over. I think he will be potty trained before he knows how to roll over. Haha!

-He is getting fairly close to sitting up. He can prop himself up. But only for a few seconds before he falls over. 

-Silas has "discovered himself." I mean, seriously??? I thought I would make it until at least the first year without having to deal with this. So what starts at 4 months will probably last the rest of his life. Geez...ting

-He has started hitting with his right arm. Sounds strange -- it's just hard to explain in text. His right arm basically is never at rest. He swings it and hits whatever is around him. But mostly he beats his chest or my arm as I hold him. :) It's super cute. 

-Silas has started belly laughing! Oh how I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

-He definitely loves his Daddy. Tyler can get him to belly laugh more than anyone.