Balancing Baby and Bonjour

Life is good here – it’s now been 4 months since we’ve moved back to the US and it feels good to be home. With saying this, I am missing Europe quite a lot. Our ‘good’ camera broke on our last day in Prague (back in November) and we just got it back from getting repaired and I was a little sad looking at our last pictures taken while in Europe. I will definitely be visiting Prague again later in life – still holds the place for “Best City” to me. Henry will be doing some European business meetings, so I’m thinking of tagging along next time.

Anyway, back to my topic – Springtime. Isn’t everything better when the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the kids can run for hours outdoors. We were blessed with the most perfect weekend. Saturday it was almost 80 degrees and we spend every moment we could outside. We started off by meeting my parents for donuts in the park, came home for a picnic lunch, naps, then went over to Henry’s parents for a BBQ and smores. I even went for a looong run during naptime – when I could have been sleeping – but I’m such a better mom when I workout 🙂

Atlanta update – we still haven’t found ‘the’ house, but Henry is there as we speak ( and will be for the next four weeks; minus weekends ) and he’s looking at what appear to be great houses tomorrow and Friday. The boys got into our school of choice down there (gosh they are competitive) and it’s associated with our church which will be wonderful.
We’ve decided to hold Henry back from Kindergarten since he will just make the cutoff for ‘real’ school – I mean he turns 5 on August 16th and you have to be 5 sometime that week, I forget the exact date, because school starts that week in Atlanta. We chose a program for him called “Young 5’s” and it’s suppose to transition him nicely into Kindergarten the following year. It’s similar to the school he’s currently at – a Junior Kindergarten within a K-12 school. Thomas will be in the preschool program and they will for the first time be at the same school – they are so so so so excited. And when we move to Atlanta they will share a room – the excitement between them is contagious!

Another update related to Atlanta – I’m really thinking about going back to work. Not that I don’t love my children and love spending every second with them, I just really miss my work. There is a position I’m looking to take at Emory Johns Creek which would be a PRN Nicu nurse. Since it’s not a Children’s hospital and the Nicu isn’t always full, they would have a pool of nurses they could call if they needed some extra help. You would work just a few shifts a month – how perfect right? I mean if I’m not sure about having baby #4 then why not take a job where I can help other babies get home to their parents and if the Nicu isn’t full I could help out in the Special Delivery Nursery!

Back to the boys; I don’t know what it is but the boys are really growing by leaps and bounds and getting along so great. It hasn’t always been this way. Yes we still have our fights and troubles with sharing – but it’s improved tremendously. Even with school, when we were living in Switzerland Henry was always getting in trouble ( by their standards which are ridiculously high ) and I was getting calls and letters – some saying that he and another boy were pushing – not a big deal to us parents. But since coming back to the US – he is an amazing student, he can read a little bit on his own, is a fantastic artist and his behavior is outstanding. Maybe it was the language barrier – I don’t know but I just had his parent – teacher conference and he had all good marks.

Thomas is doing great. He’s enjoying being outside, going for walks and playing soccer. He loves his school and is really growing up before our eyes. He’s still having his stomach issues but this poor little boy has had more blood taken from him and more doctors appointments in the past 2 months than in his entire life. He’s been such a brave little boy.

Anna oh Anna – wow how quickly you are growing up. Anna now runs, wants to do everything her brothers are doings and loves loves loves walks ( and walking her baby! ). She still only has 2 teeth at almost 18 months, but they will come in eventually right?? We’ve started making a list of words she says and it’s unbelievable how much she talks – right around 20 words.

And here are some photos to sum up our life lately

Easter 2015

Tommy painting at school

We had a Tornado Warning the other night so I made the boys set up camp downstairs

Saturday morning at the park

Henry helping my mom at work

This boy loves to chalk

Yes the stomach bug hit us, just another reason to cuddle

This girl loves mouth care

Life has been a crazy around here. I still feel like we are in transition ( in which we are being that we’ve only been back in the US for 3 months and have NONE of our things yet, and won’t have them until this summer ). The great thing about this transition is that we picked to live in Harrisburg, PA for 6 months before we move to Atlanta and it’s where both sets of parents live too. It’s hard though, I don’t really know anyone and we are here so short term that even when I meet moms I know it’s short term. Another really difficult thing about this transition is that Henry has been traveling extreme amounts, some weeks I only see him ( we don’t really talk since the kids are usually fighting for who’s turn it is to talk to daddy :)) some weeks for 1 day before he’s off again. When he is away, he is at meetings from 6:30 am until most nights 10 pm, therefore making it very difficult since that’s when I’m usually sleeping. The good thing is that this is short term and yes he will always travel, but a lot of his travel has been to Atlanta. To add to this stress our afternoon babysitter who helps me with the kids so that I can go for a run, make dinner and have some 1 on 1 time with them, was in Bali the past two weeks (rough right??!!). Well she has returned and life just got that much easier.

Now onto this past week.

Henry was out of school for Spring Break so we had a lot of quality time, along with him being able to have sleepovers with his cousins and many play dates. I usually cut Henry’s hair myself, but thought that maybe I’d try a nearby place for a little morning treat. He loved the pampering and was smiling from ear to ear.

On Tuesday morning, Thomas had an Easter Egg hunt and lunch for the kiddos and parents. It was a lot of fun and he had the time of his life. It’s the little things:

Throughout the week we had many of doctor appointments; Thomas has been so pale, tired, having tummy pains and such that I mentioned this at his 3 year appointment. The doctor kind of dismissed it but I asked for blood work anyway, just to make me feel better. Then on Tuesday morning I noticed a open sore with some scabbing behind his ear – it ended up being Impetigo ( a highly contagious skin infection caused by a staph infection ) so that was our 3rd appointment in 3 days. Poor kiddo is going to be so scared of the doctor. He’s better now and his blood work came back normal so I’m just keeping a close eye on him.

Here he is waiting in the lobby for his blood work with is rosary in hand

Here is just a random photo of Anna and Henry kissing – as Henry goes to the bathroom of course

Yesterday Henry had his 4+ year appointment. He had a 4 year appointment in Switzerland but I wanted to make sure he was on schedule with the US vaccine schedule. He received 2 boosters, but they are his last until he’s 11 years old – that seems crazy! They gifted him with a free ice cream cone from Dairy Queen and from there he totally forgot about the shots!

This morning all the kids were home since it’s an inservice day at T’s school. I cut Thomas’ hair ( it was so needed! ), we played and played and now they are all napping!

And here’s a photo of last Sunday evening, all 3 kiddos getting their much needed dose of daddy.

Not the most exciting post – I apologize. I’m really trying to back into the blogging mindset…especially when I realize how much fun it is to look back on them.

xx