6 Months Later And A New Normal

The past 6 months have passed in the blink of an eye. We have been so crazy busy! A week and a half after Troy was born we got possession of our Steinbach home.....and the beginning of an intense 3 weeks of taking an unfinished basement to move in ready. That doesn't sound so bad, except we had a newborn and we only had 3 days each week to work on the basement, while Trev finished up working at camp all the other days. Which meant there was not a single day off for Trev or any respite for me with all the kids in that first month. But we persevered, Trev and an AMAZING group of friends who volunteered their time worked so very hard, and in 17 days it was done! We did hire out a few things, like electrical, taping and mudding of the drywall, flooring and plumbing. We feel so blessed for everyone who helped us out! We couldn't have done it without you all! Despite how challenging it was for that month it was also a blessing to move in and not be in a construction zone for months afterwards. Going from this....

To this..... (it did take a while to finally unpack everything, I just haven't gotten around to taking more pics of it entirely done)

After we were moved in and somewhat settled, we began our new normal. Trev began working for his brother and that was a big new normal for us. Our camp normal meant if I needed some help, Trev could take a couple of the kids to work with him (depending on the job) or could come home and help me out for a few minutes. He was always accessible and suddenly, with a new baby and 4 kids in a new neighborhood and feeling lonely and kind of trapped at home, Trev wasn't available to help anymore. That was a tough adjustment. I had tried to prepare mentally as best I could but physically my body just couldn't handle all the kids energy all the time. And we didn't have a finished yard for the kids to play in either. Summer seemed to take forever then suddenly we were buying school supplies and finally sending our girls off to school for the very first time. In June we took a tour of the school Chloe and Natasha would be attending in fall. It seemed so odd that they would be in a public school after homeschooling up till now. The night before school, Chloe was so nervous she didn't go to sleep for hours and I was so afraid she'd make herself sick. So we prayed with her and for her HARD that night. The next morning she was ready to go without much hesitation. Natasha was pretty much just excited! She is also growing up. Just before school started she informed us that she no longer wants to be called 'Goober', but instead wants us to call her 'Tasha'. I knew this day would come, at least in my heart she can still be my sweet little 'Goober'. :)

This is them just before heading out to the bus stop and them heading onto the bus.

When they got home from school Natasha's first comments were "This is way better than homeschooling mom!" :D I was so relieved that they were enjoying school so much! They have adjusted very well to public school, but I do miss having them around all the time. Shiloh has had the most trouble adjusting to all the changes that have happened in the last little while. She did very well in the first few months but then this summer she had a rough start with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in July, then catching the Chicken Pox in August and topping that off with another strain of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease while dealing with the chicken pox. Then when Chloe and Natasha were gone to school all day, she suddenly had no one to play with all day, and my body just kind of crashed from the exhaustion of the past 4 months that I had little to no energy to keep up with her. So that's when she lost it. It was just too much and she became whiny, threw huge tantrums regularily and became so defiant. She didn't know how to handle everything that was changing in her world anymore. It was tough go for a little while but she's slowly adjusted. We recently shuffled the girls rooms around because in her own room, Shiloh was waking up so early because she'd hear us walk past her door EARLY in the morning. So now Chloe is in her own room that was Shiloh's old room, and Natasha (who's always wanted to sleep on a top bunk) is on the top bunk with Shiloh underneath. It's working out great so far because Natasha is the heaviest and longest sleeper, so Shiloh doesn't disturb her and being in the back corner of the upstairs, it's quieter and she sleeps in a little longer. YAY! Shiloh's vocabulary exploded this summer and she went from a girl of few words to a girl who won't stop talking!!! Ha ha! She also grew enough to be able to reach the pedals on her trike and did she ever take off with it! She absolutely loves to bike!! When we'd bike to the bus stop to drop off or pick up her sisters, she'd have a fit if we were in a bit of a rush and I told her that she couldn't bike :) We are very glad that she loves to ride her bike!

She seriously entertains me all day with her shenannigans! I love it!

Troy has been growing up so fast! Even though he is on the small side for his age :) He has added so much more joy to our lives that I didn't think was possible. We are so blessed by him! I love now that he's smiling at us and laughing when we do goofy things to make him laugh! He has the cutest dimple under his left eye that shows up when he scrunches his face to either laugh or cry. We are beginning to give him solid foods now. I just truly can't believe how fast the time has gone by! In this picture of him he had spit up all over himself and all I had for him to wear was one of Shiloh's shirts!

I think our adjustment period has been going ok. We still miss camp and the couple times we've been back there, my heart still feels at home while we're there. I don't think I can put into words how much we love it there and the lifestyle and community. It wasn't without it's challenges, but it's a beautiful thing that we are forever grateful to have been a part of for so long. Once, while we were there this fall, a friend who'd spent the previous winter in the Pursuit program and is currently staying on for this winter, took a family picture of us. It was a pose I'd seen on pinterest (I have a slight addiction to that site!). Anyway, I think it turned out pretty great!

And lastly a few 'happenings' in our house lately. Natasha came home from school last week saying she was super hungry. So I asked if she'd eaten her lunch and she told me no because her teeth hurt too much. I was pretty surprised, thinking maybe cavaties, and with halloween the next day, that's not a pleasant thought. But instead it was two SUPER wiggly teeth in front. She wanted them out because she couldn't bite anything. Trev tried to grab them but her teeth were just too tiny, so out came the pliers. That little trooper didn't budge and that evening the first tooth was pulled. The next morning she'd had enough of the other wiggly tooth, so again out came the plier and there went the next tooth! What a brave little trooper! Here is her absolutely perfectly gappy smile and a matching one with her best friend Winter as well!

Next there's a few birthday's to be celebrated and some serious parties will be happening! But that will be another post once I've recovered from the parties and maybe Christmas and the New Year, lol!