No blog for a LONG time!

To describe the last 5 months....


Change. Adjustments. Joy. New Jobs. travel. potty training. tantrums. Lots of singing!




Going back to life with 1 child took more adjustment than I thought. At times I think it was harder to adjust back to 1 child than it was to adjust to having three instantly. We are excited that baby Starr #2 will be here in November. It's been a good year so far with Caleb, Ava and I. Our house is still filled with kids which makes life good for Ava. She misses the girls a lot but luckily, we have a couple girls that live next door who are about Anniiyah and Makayla's age that she gets to play with a lot.



Our newest challange has been potty training and the "2 year old attitude." If I survive Ava being two, it's a small miracle. She is more fun than I could have ever imagined but she has been become much more challenging than I thought. I keep telling myself "this will pass."



Caleb and I got a chance to go to Puerto Rico alone for 5 days. It was incredible to have so much time together. Soon I will post pictures of Ava and our beach trip with the Henley's.



I wrote the above post in May and never posted it. Oops! It's now October and it's been almost 10 months since I have updated. I miss posting on the blog because it's a great way for me to go back and read about what I was thinking and feeling at different points in time....and for the 4 other people who read it, you too can know what's been going on. hehe.



This year we made it through potty training, transition to a big girl bed, removal of the pacifier, 34 1/2 weeks of pregnancy (so far), Caleb being on disability for 2 months, a new program at my job that took insane amounts of energy, multiple short term service groups, and about 10 trips all over the country. Life has been good and full.

Ava continues to be full of energy. She tells stories and sings songs constantly. Her favorite story is about when she was born. She reads through her baby book and says "This is when I was crying and they gave me to mommy and I was so happy....and this is when Nana and Pops came to take care of me...and pops had a mustache!" She thinks that dad's mustache is hilarious and let's be honest, what mustache isn't hilarious! Yesterday she kept singing a song called "I'm a stick." We have no idea what she is talking about but she just keeps singing. She started preschool this year and gets to be in class with her best friend Zachary and another friend named Sam. We hear some other kids names mentioned but not often. Some days I feel like she is so easy and other days, I want to pull my hair out by her lack of listening. The girl always has an agenda and she will tell me what a good "plan" for the day is. I am nervous for her to grow up:).

Caleb has decided to apply to be a City of Atlanta Fireman. I have a LOT of mixed feelings about this but overall, I am excited for him. The application process was SUPER long and took us almost a month to compile all the documents needed but he got an email last week saying that he need to come to a mandatory orientation for the physical exam...so I guess that's a step in the right direction. We are both praying that God will lead him to know the best decision to make. He LOVES Habitat so much but it doesn't seem to be a sustainable place for the future (have I mentioned how much insurance for our family costs! blah!....the city provides great benefits).

I continue to love the Georgia Law Center more than I can describe. I knew pretty early on in Mission Year from working at Central that advocating for my clients was something that I loved doing. I am grateful to be able to enjoy work and also get plenty of great time with Ava since I am only part-time. I am anticipating meeting the newest member of our family in the next 5-6 weeks. These past few weeks have been really long and I am ready for pregnancy to be over. We still don't have a name so he continues to be "baby boy Starr." I am also excited to watch Ava get to be a big sister. She is very excited for "baby brother."

We have been able to continue our relationship with Anniiyah and Makayla and I love them so much. Continue to pray for their adjustment to home and lots of siblings and another new school (they moved again since being back with mom) and visitation with fathers. It's a lot for kids to handle.

And once again...we prepare to transition to a new phase of life...the newborn stage! I have a feeling that Ava will be all up in baby brothers business all the time! We have been working on being gentle. She told me the other day "I won't hurt baby brother...I will be careful!" She asked me yesterday if baby brother was crying in my stomach.

I will post some pics soon and hopefully update about baby brothers arrival!