Life Lately (Sept 2023)
A New Job
Andrew started his new job as a New Home consultant for Beazer Homes. He works in South Corona, which ends up being about a 45 minute commute both ways. He leaves home around 9am and returns at 7pm. It’s been a little tough having him leave after we enjoyed a few weeks of having Daddy home regularly, but we’ve adjusted. I love that every morning as Daddy leaves for work, we have a few things we always do:
hug and kiss goodbye, but my favorite are family hugs where we all hug at the same time
yell “Make good choices!”. It’s Daddy’s saying.
listen to Daddy’s theme song (Never Gunna Give You Up by Rick Astley). Andrew sand that song last year at a church karaoke night, and it just stuck.
On his first day of work we of course had to take pictures reminiscent of the first day of school. Since then, it’s taken him a little time to get used to the way Beazer does things, but he is thriving and loving his new job. The other home consultant that works with him is awesome and has helped him get up to speed quickly. We are so proud of Daddy.
Family Adventures
Of Andrew’s 2 days off (Monday and Tuesday), we try to spend at least one of those days adventuring as a family. This last Monday we went to Yorba Regional Park. Grace and Maddy rode on their scooters, and I pushed Harper in the stroller. We visited 3 different playgrounds within the huge park and walked about the lake. I love seeing my girls grow in confidence and bravery. Grace has always been especially cautious when it comes to slides and climbing, but the more we visit parks, the more she is willing to test out her abilities. She climbed to the top of this one intimidating play gym and then looked at us with such pride at her accomplishment as we all cheered. Maddy just got a scooter for her birthday a month ago, and she is already so confident on it. She rides almost as fast as her big sister. Of course, there was one minor incident that included a big rock in the middle of the path. We picked up poor Maddy and put her in the stroller and then had her hold Harper on her lap as we walked back to the car. They both loved that. Harper is such a chill, happy baby. She really enjoyed being outside and looking at the swaying trees and at her sister playing on the playground.
Homeschooling
Grace is Kindergarten age and Maddy would be in preschool, but we have decided to homeschool for the time being…and I love the decision.
Don’t get me wrong, I question myself all the time. Am I doing the right thing? Am I setting my kids up for success or disaster? But there have been a few moments lately that have given me the peace of mind that this truly is the right choice for our family at this time.
One happened the other night as I was putting Grace and Maddy to bed. Lately, the girls have been fighting a lot, so I have been talking to them about how to communicate our feelings more effectively rather than screaming or hitting to get their point across. As I tucked Maddy in, she told me, “Mommy, we didn’t really fight a lot today because we compromised.” COMPROMISED! I know plenty of adults who seem to have a difficult time having civil discussions and finding compromises to problems, so the fact that my 4 year old understands what it means to compromise is a definite win in my book.
The other moment happened yesterday as I sat and watched the girls playing. Grace had filled up a small box with toys that she wanted to bring downstairs. She asked for Maddy’s help to carry it, but they quickly realized that the box was much too small to carry all their treasures. Grace declared, “This isn’t going to work. We have to find something else.” They looked around the room and saw the container that holds their stuffed animals, dumped the stuffies on the bed, and then proceeded to transfer all the toys into that bag. It was bigger and even had handles. I was so impressed with their problem solving skills. Again, I was grateful to be able to observe organic learning.
Harper’s Birthday
My little Harper girl turned 1 year old! Oh what a true joy this year has been. With Harper, I feel like I was able to embrace the slowness of the 4th trimester (the first few months right after birth), and it paved the way for me to enjoy being her mother even more. Harper loves to be carried on my hip, so I call her my little koala. It just seemed fitting that we have a koala themed party to celebrate. It was a small affair with just our little family and my parents. We had dinner, opened a few gifts, and watched Harper poke at her smash cake and suck the frosting from her fingers. She is such a light in our lives, and I am grateful for this past year and all I have learned about being a mom of 3.
