9 weeks, 7 weeks, 1 year...

I am 9 weeks pregnant! I have not smoked at all, not even a drag while Bj was home, for 7 weeks! My baby is 1 year old!! I feel like time is just flying by. We have so much going on right now and I feel like just yesterday I was thinking, "I have a whole month to pack and get ready to move!" Now I am sitting here with more like 13 days and have done pretty much nothing! Whoops. With Bj being gone, 4 kids to keep up with, trips to town every time I need something, fatigue from the pregnancy, stress about getting this place back to the condition it was in when we moved in here, and finding a place to live next month, I have been a bit overwhelmed!

We finally found a place to live next month while Bj was home. It is a very, very small upstairs apartment unit. There are three bedrooms and one bath so it's a little better than what we've got going on now since we've only been using two bedrooms here. The complex has a pool which is right outside our door and a really nice park right down the road that I'm sure the boys and I will walk to as often as possible. My doctor's office is half a mile away so I could walk there when it's nice out, which is very nice. There is a grocery store which is also about half a mile away. I am not going to know what to do when I don't have to plan an entire day around a trip to the store! It'll be amazing! The rent is on the more affordable side of what we had budgeted so that is great! We paid a little extra to be able to start to move in on the 26th and the goal is to be able to wake up in our new place on New Year's morning! Overall, we know it's going to be tough with the limited space but we are very excited to get moved in and start this next chapter. As we've said to ourselves many times, it's only for a year and we can do anything for a year!

Yesterday was my little man's first birthday! This last year was crazy and went by so fast. Colton is such a fun, happy, easy little guy. He makes having a baby so simple! His brother and sisters told him happy birthday about 100 times yesterday, and even though he had no clue what was going on, I think he knew that he was a big deal. We did cupcakes for him on Sunday. I didn't make a super huge deal about it because, let's face it, a one-year old doesn't remember, nor care about, his birthday!

We are trying a new discipline/coping method with Mylee these days. She is such a sweet, amazing little girl, but she's also angry and sad about her dad and I getting divorced. She loves Bj and knows that her dad and I weren't good for each other, but still misses Shane so much that she wishes we would get back together. She takes all of this anger out on me because she doesn't get the chance to be angry with her dad due to his almost complete lack of involvement. This anger is expressed by her not doing her chores, yelling at me, having an attitude with me or her siblings, intentionally acting out, etc. I cannot continue to be punished by my 6 year old! She really enjoys writing these days so I got her a "time-out journal." I picked out a journal at Barnes and Nobles with a Footprints poem theme. I have been in love with that poem since the first time I read it, my mom used to buy me things with it printed on them, and Mylee has decided that, regardless of what anyone else thinks, she believes in God (which I think is incredible!), so it seemed fitting. She gets the journal when I can tell that she is struggling with feelings and she is to write me a letter in it to express how she feels and I will respond and we will try to work through her feelings in a productive way. We have done it once and right away she seemed to be feeling better so I am hoping it continues to help her!

The kids all have a Christmas program tomorrow night that they are SO excited about! Bj and I got them all new dress clothes for it and Austin is thrilled to wear his suit and "bow-tie" (it's just a regular tie but, try to convince him of that!) Hailey has two parts in the play so she is very excited and very sad that Bj won't be there. I probably better make sure to remember the camera!

We definitely have a very busy couple weeks ahead of us! My first appointment is Thursday, Bj should be home by the weekend, then it's Christmas, then we start moving! I probably better start collecting boxes and packing! Oh yeah, and our dryer is broken so I have to find a way to do all of our laundry in the meantime! Like they say, when it rains it pours. I am just glad that I am resilient and I can adjust to whatever life throws at me and make it work! I hope everyone has a wonderful, merry Christmas!!