One and a half (plus a few weeks)

Somewhere in the midst of the craziness, our littlest girl turned not just one, but one and a half. It's been fun to have her in Pittsburgh where people knew what the other two looked like as babies and can see how different she is. She'll have her official check-up with our favorite peds doctor, Dr. Hildebrandt soon, so we'll see then her actual stats.  I'm continually surprised by her height (around the 50%--pretty impressive for a Ward!) and how she grows out of clothes more quickly than her sisters. Speaking of doctors, this cold/flu season has not been kind to her and she's been through a couple rounds of meds for a nasty ear infection, or rather, a blister on her eardrum.  We can always tell when she's sick because she's quiet as her opposed to her usual chatter, and refuses to go to to sleep on her own.  When healthy, she sleeps from about 8 pm to 6:30 am-ish with a solid afternoon nap in there.  Compared to two older girls who usually only "rest" now in the afternoon, it's heavenly.

Care-bear's personality develops more each day.  She's a big snuggler, but only when she initiates it.   Right now she can say "Mali" and some version of "Bug-as" for her sisters.  Actually it's usually comes out as "Bubba" but we try not to let Brinn notice that.  She's a great climber, loves the trampoline, and run all over the yard.  Her favorite books now are "Hop on Pop", "Goodnight Moon", "My World", and "Hush Little One".  For an easy-going kid most of the time, she does have a temper.  Don't cross her.  If you do, she'll clench her fists and really do a "NOOOOO".  Just ask the Ryans--they heard plenty of her protests the week we stayed there and attempted to interrupt her playtime with a diaper change or something else horrific.

She's a keeper, all right.  We can't imagine our family without that little burst of blond sunshine!

The First Post from our Sixth Home

That's right!  The Ward family has now lived in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Shadyside, Highland Park, Grand Rapids, and now Churchill.   It's funny that we keep using the phrase "getting there" when describing our current state of housekeeping  We're "here", as in, our home, but we are still very much in process of becoming settled.  Thankfully we've have generous friends helping with childcare and unpacking and everything else in between that needs to be done.

The girls continue to do very well.  We love our backyard swingset, the very nearby park and the close-knit neighborhood.  The warm weather was especially helpful this week and lots of neighbors came over to introduce themselves.  We've already checked out the library, the amazing Children's Museum, and our former playgroup spot.  First Trinity was as warm as ever yesterday and we loved worshipping together there as a family of five for the first time.

Jonathan's job is also going extremely well.  He is challenged and invigorated by the work and PNC has shown to be a great work environment.  They already treated the girls and I to a field trip there where we got the personalized tour.  Even better, we had him home today to celebrate President's Day.  Love those bank holidays!

Yes, we're missing Michigan and everything and everyone that is part of that state, but we're getting comfortable in this new-old life here.    We're excited to see what the next few weeks/months/years bring!

Here we go...(again)

Here we go, Steelers, here we go..

That's right, we made it to Steel Town, USA in time for the big game.  Two parents, three little cheerleaders, one frog and a snail.  (Easy pets were one of our many sweet going away gifts).  If our Stillers had to lose, at least they did to the first football team we ever loved, the Pack.  Way to go, Green Bay. 

Our Michigan good-byes were full of tears but there were open arms waiting for us in Pittsburgh.  We're staying with the best hosts in town, The Ryans, for a week while we wait for our belongings to arrive.  We hope to stay in our new place Saturday night.  The girls have been remarkable troopers and we give a lot of credit for that to all of the helping hands both states.

The next chapter of our lives has begun.  Here we go!