Fresh Starts

A lot of changes happening in the Van Vliet household! Where to even start?
~I guess I can start with our house. My husband and I bought our home when we were 20, just married and both working. We knew then that it was an investment for us and not a forever home. Once we found out we were pregnant with Aubrie and that God was calling me to stay home, we trusted that God would help make the finances work... and it has 'worked' the past 2 years but we have been on the look out for a different home that would suit us better not only financially but also to give us freedom to do more as a family together. My husband is an extremely hard worker (like 60-70+ hours a WEEK hard) and when he is home, we all just want to relax together. We have been praying for about a year for an answer to our finances/time together. Last week, we got our answer! We will be buying a townhouse (no yard work for hubs, a pool, close parks, a bike trail) in the town my hubby grew up in.. close to a lot of family, closer to church, and much much more affordable for us. I am SO looking forward to being debt free other than our home and able to put money away, take our girls to do fun things, and most of all, just not worry! We will buy another home again when the time is right.. let's face it when we have time/money for the upkeep of a home and when the girls are a little older.


~Today was a hard day. My oldest was having a hard time listening and I've been busy packing so the morning was already off to a rough start. Aubrie and our dog Missy were running around playing like normal and all of a sudden I heard Missy growl and I couldn't get to Aubrie fast enough and Missy had nipped her hand. I ran to grab Missy to put her outside and she proceeded to bite my hand. Aubrie was of course terrified and hysterical, I was furious. This is so unlike her.. she has been great with both babies, so patient, and we really have not had to worry about her. I knew after this happened that we just could not in good conscience keep her around our babies..(if anyone hurts my babies they are out obviously) so I had to take her to the shelter. It was so so hard and I'm sitting here worrying about her but feel like my hands are tied because I would never put my babies in any danger and they are much more important than an animal. Dogs truly do become part of the family though and I didn't think I'd have such a hard time.


~In other news, I've been slowly weaning Emma.  I nursed Aubrie for 13 months.. baby led weaning..everything. My nursing journey with Emma has not been as pleasant.. much more difficult with a 2 year old running around, a few infections, Emma still not sleeping well at night because she's wanting to nurse constantly. I thought I'd try a couple days of formula and so far it has gone great! She's 6 months now and that was my goal with her.. to at least make it to 6 months. So far, she's on a better sleeping and eating schedule which is essential for me at home with both of them and making our nights much better because I can actually get sleep, making me a much more patient Mommy during the day. O glorious, uninterrupted sleep... you truly don't know how precious sleep is until you never seem to get it. ;)

~Here's some recent iphone pics of our days! Enjoy!

The recipes out of this book are amazing!

Beauty

Gotta love Target

We've all had a cold for 4 weeks now. Ick.

Aubrie put Emma's headband on her ;)

No I never leave her side if she's on the counter in the Bumbo. :)

Sweet pink baby toe nails

First solids

Paleo Dinners

First french braids

With Papa

Aubrie likes to feed her baby too

Aubrie told me this was Mommy rocking Emma. I think someday she'll be an artist.

Can you tell we've been talking about the potty?

Waiting for Beppe

More yummy Paleo Dinners!

Matching babies make me happy ;)

We had Nanny over for a tea party

I truly did not mean to coordinate them for church on this day.

"Bye Mommy! See you later!"

Going to Nanny's house!

Shopping day!

"Just like Mommy! Both have strollers! Both have wheels!" Melt. my. heart.

She's Here!

Emma Grace has finally arrived! She is so precious and we are loving getting to know our new little one. The adjustment seems to be going well so far and Aubrie loves her 'baby Emma'! I'm trying to soak in all the time I can with both girls so they both know they are so very loved. Praise God for my little blessings!

Merry Christmas!

It has been such a fun Christmas season having a, can you believe it, one year old in the house! It is so neat to see Aubrie's face light up every time we see Christmas lights, or she notices our "pretty" tree (pretty is one of her favorite words and she whispers it every time she says it).
Darren and I have taken her to one street close to us that has a few of the houses' lights tuned to music and she just thinks it's the coolest thing ever. (We kind of like it too) :)
Watching her sheer joy at the little things has reminded me to slow down and just take things in a few times a day. What if we saw things through the eyes of a child.. every little thing is new, 'pretty' , and o so exciting! If things like lights and trees are that exciting to a baby, I feel like as adults we should be that joyful about the real reason for Christmas. It saddens me to see what Christmas has turned into.. how many times have I been asked, "Are you all done with your shopping?" vs. "Can you believe that God sent His ONLY SON as a baby here to earth to suffer and die for us?" Hmm..something to think about! Now that I'm a Mommy I am that much more amazed that God would do that. I can't even describe the depth of my love for Aubrie and to think that God willingly would send His son here, to save a people totally undeserving just baffles me! I am so thankful for His compassion, love, and grace!
We started off our weekend with Daddy coming home an hour early from work! We were very excited! He has the next three days off and I am really looking forward to some much needed family time. He works so long and hard for our little family that we don't get to be together often so the rare times we get a few days together I am ecstatic. Aubrie loves it too! We have family Christmases the next two days then a whole day just the three of us! We love having large extended families and being with them but we also think it's important to have our own traditions that our kids can remember. We decided Christmas morning will be our time together.. I'm excited for future memories and to build traditions with Aubrie and any other littles that God chooses to bless us with.
I pray you all have a Merry Christmas and remember to celebrate Jesus this weekend!