Spring already!

Spring arrived already. And up until it sprang we had had some beautiful weather, but since then the rains have returned.

What a gloomy day, I have chili bubbling in the crock pot because this morning it just felt right! We made it out of the house to the song and story time at the local library which was a nice reason to get out of the house but we still got soaked getting to and from the car! The kids love the children's librarian and she does such a good job! (This activity is one of our favourite new discoveries of living here in Newcastle)

Levi has been on a mission to drive us crazy the past couple of days, just being so disobedient, defiant and seeming not to care about any discipline we try to offer. He is in a season of not really needing to nap every day, and when he does nap, he ends up going to bed later, sometimes not falling asleep until close to 9pm! But he still gets up at 6 or 6.30am and then is just so difficult. If he doesn't nap, he's crashed before 7pm but afternoons are miserable. It means that day to day I'm not sure if naps will happen and his little body is struggling with the adjustment. I just wish (again) that we were in a space where we could figure out a good and consistent quiet time routine for him so he had some down time even when he wasn't napping but the set up means he would be disturbing Nora and that doesn't seem fair, and also means he is starting to have his hour of medically okay-ed screen time most days because it keeps him still and quiet :)

Nora is sleeping much better on the whole. She is 90% weaned now, praise God for the simplicity of that process. She still nurses once usually around 9 or 10 pm but other than that she's taking milk in bottles. (Can we please talk about the fact it might be less expensive for our family to buy a cow than keep our kids supplied with organic milk, we are now getting through close to 4 gallons a week!) She started only take a few ounces at a time which had me worried and shoveling yogurt and cheese into her at every opportunity to keep her dairy up, but in the past couple of days shes taking close to 8oz at a time for each of her 4 feeds! She is also eating like champ so I think she is realising that there is no middle of the night snacking any more! It has and will mean a few more rough nights for us as a family as she shows her discontentment with just being offered a pacifier at night but she's getting used to the idea and complaining less. Of course the day after we started weaning she came down with a cold and now I think shes cutting some more teeth so poor kid has been through the ringer but she's still managing smiles.

I am sure Nora's weaning and night time unsettled-ness is part of the reason Levi has been overtired as he gets disturbed by her when she is loud and awake. And the sleep disruption is certainly not helping Jeremy and I be the nicest to each other either :)

Not that we have anything big on our plates or anything like trying to buy a house, oh, wait...yes, we do.
On that front we finally found a house we love. Its fantastic. Checks most of our boxes and would be great, but for that reason it's a very popular listing and there are already a bunch of pre-inspections happening so we know we are only one of many people wanting to make this place home. They are reviewing all the offers at the same time on Wednesday afternoon and in a market of cash buyers, developers and houses going for $150,000 above asking price we are not holding our breath. We are praying and trusting that God has a place for us, but facing the reality that it is not likely to be this place, even though we would love, love, love it if our offer was chosen.

Life goes on, busy and crazy in a very normal way. Happy Spring to one and all! I am certainly eager to see the ways in which this spring holds new life for me and our family.