Happy Halloween!!!

It's been awhile since I have updated our blog... I was on a roll for awhile and then I felt like I was updating too much so I got burned out. Things are going great for us down south. The weather has stayed warm until a few days ago when it dropped into the 30's at night and the 40's and 50's during the day. I know what most of you are thinking... "thats still really warm for October", but hello, when you are uesd to the 70's and 80's and it just drastically drops, it feels pretty cold! I had to put the space heater in Crew's room so he doesnt wake up with icy fingers. It should warm up again soon.

I got a job working as a tutor for children with autism for a company called Positive ABA. It is something I can do that uses my teaching degree while increasing my knowledge of both autism and positive behavior management. It will be very part time (probably between 10 and 15 hours a week) and it is super flexible. Basically I will make my own schedule and I work one on one with a kiddo or two in their home. If I need to skip a day the hours can be made up any time that month. I have been working on getting Crew to take a bottle and also get him on a napping schedule (he went a few weeks with only take short tiny naps and it was tough). He is doing great now and I feel confident that this job will be good for our family. Bri is going to watch him on his days off and my neighbor will watch him when we need her to. It will just be nice to have a few "ME" hours each week where I put my education to use. Plus it will be a great way to earn some extra $ for our home renovations (or maybe a vacation fund!;)) I am not sure when I will start, we are waiting on some finalizations for the new families I will be working with.

We are taking our first trip on a plane in November, when we go out to Kansas to see my grandparents, Brian is coming too. Then I fly to Nashville for a few extra days with just Crew to see my sister. I am way excited for both parts of the trip, it will be so fun to spend time with family. Then for Thanksgiving my awesome inlaws are flying out to be with us and I cannot wait for that either, they are so great! Crew has changed so much since they saw him in June I wonder if they will recognize him! ;)

I was bored tonight so I took some picts of Crew in his Halloween costume. He is pretty much the cutest lion I have ever seen! Brian has to work Sat for Halloween but we are going to an 80's Halloween party and I bought some sweet digs and I guess he will just be an 80's lion since I have had the costume for awhile. We are taking the kids trick or treating first, and don't judge me but I bought a bucket to collect candy for me! He will be 6 months in November and is getting so big. Last I weighed him he is 18 lbs and wearing 6-9 month clothes already! Wow! I have started him on solid foods a little and he likes it alright. I dont blame him for pulling faces when I stick the green beans in his mouth, I have tasted the stuff and its pretty terrible! He will like the other kinds more I am sure. Not quite sure why I started with the green beans, seems pretty cruel now that I think about it.

Things are just great and I am sure I will write more soon!

Renovations

So the other day I decided my ceiling fan (pictured above) was disgusting and outdated, so instead of buying a new one the frugal girl I am just bought new light shades and removed the wicker from the blades and spray painted it black. VOILA (ok I have no clue how to spell that)! It looks much better in our room and it only cost $20. We were so inspired we bought all new wood blinds to replace the white and blue cheap metal ones that were all dirty and gross... another improvement that is making our house look better. Next we are planning on doing concrete counter-tops. I am also going to be painting some furniture black to better match our dark brown couches and bedding (they are light wood right now). We decided a little at a time doesnt break the bank and it will make our house nicer and easier to sell. Also, we bought new lights for the bathrooms and some kind of mirror framing kit to make it look like a real mirror and not just the glass part. I will let you know how that looks.

Crew is doing great, he is getting bigger every day its amazing. He laughs and smiles all the time, which warms my heart. Brian didn't get this 1 year detail he had applied for and we are a tiny bit disappointed, but the last spot was between him and another guy who had 10 years at the job and had lots of experience, so it says a lot about Bri that they were comparable. Keep up the good work baby!

They all rolled over and one fell out

Ok so Crew hasn't fallen off the bed or anything yet, but I thought this action sequence was pretty cute. His newest thing is rolling over, he has only done it a few times. He likes the element of surprise when it happens, and its almost as if he forgets he can do it after and its all new again the next time. I took him swimming for the first time today at an indoor pool and he loved it. What a natural! ;) I also went to a Heritage Maker's party hosted by a friend of mine. It is a great way to make story books and scrap book pages to tell your legacy and store memories. I think I will make a book for the Crewser. I left him with Brian for some father/son bonding. Brian did great and they had a good time, but when I got home he was smiley and giggly and I will be honest, it makes a mom feel good.

Independent Woman

Well lately I have been trying to be more independent, especially since Brian works 50 hours a week and I am home all day with Crew. Let's be honest, I simply have more time to get things done. There have been a few things I have been waiting for him to do, and finally I decided to do them myself. This is not to knock Brian because he works very hard and to be honest when he gets home I want him to spend time with me, not doing chores. So first off a few weeks ago I decided to recaulk the shower and I did an awesome job, I even reinstalled the soap dispenser that fell off the wall (I used grout and everything!). This may not seem like a big deal to some, but I am proud cause I have never done anything like that and I did it without help or supervision (Crew did watch but he made no suggestions). Then I have had no stroller for the last few days because I had a flat and I have been bugged cause I miss running in the mornings. So we bought a tire fix kit and I repaired it all by myself yesterday (granted, Brian had to tell me to take the tube out... who knew there was a tube in the tire?). So here I am, feeling all empowered, and today I felt like cleaning out the pool and putting in the chemicals. Usually Brian changes the filter, but I figured it out and I was still feeling like doing more. I looked in the shed and I saw the ant killer we have had forever and never used (we have a ton of red fire ants). They have never bothered us so we have been lazy and not used it. I sprinkled it all over the hive or hill or hole is probably the most likely term since thats all it is. To make a short story long, I got bit by a fire ant and it HURT SO BAD!!! I have never been bit by one and only stung a few times by a bee and that was years ago, but I swear this hurts worse.

So basically I am mad cause my toe feels like its gonna fall off and I have learned a lesson that anything Brian can do I can do better, but if it involves bugs or animals or dangerous chemicals I will still let him take care of it.

Crew was laughing this morning, I wish we had a video camera to record it. Our regular camera takes short clips but I have no idea how to get the videos onto the computer. He is basically a doll. I spend about 97 percent of my time in awe at how adorable and wonderful he is and about 3 percent staring at him in horror wishing he would stop crying. I figure its a pretty fair trade! ;) Hope all is well, more later.

Why have I been putting this off?

Ok family and friends... (Nicole and Celeste ;))... you got your wish, I am an official blogger now! I am very suprised how easy this was to set up, I had Nicole on standby but I didn't even really need help. Must be those 5 years of college! I thought this would be a good way to share my thoughts and keep people updated on our little family. Crew is doing great, been sleeping through the night since he was 7 weeks and is growing to be quite the little butterball. He is over 15 lbs and will be 4 months in a few weeks. How the time flies! I will write more later but I hope you enjoy! We love and miss everyone who is far away and we wish we were closer.