Charleston

We have now been in Charleston for a little more than three weeks. Life has been CRAZY getting settled and it feels like we have just been here a few days. The move was relatively smooth and we got unpacked and settled pretty quickly. We were thankful to have Grammy's help that first week. Now we are learning our way around and looking for a church. Last week Nana and Papaw came to visit and we are gearing up for Emma's birthday celebration and a visit from Grammy and Poppa. We are really enjoying Charleston and really looking forward to the amazing fall weather that is about to bless us. I have really been enjoying the weather and the pool and beach. This week Emma starts her Jumpnastic class and the kids and I will begin attending BSF. That will keep us busy two days of the week, leaving the rest of the week to explore and continue to make the house our own. We still have to visit the library and there are a lot of parks and walking trails to experience.

We had our entry way and living room painted last week. I cannot explain the scuff marks and beating the walls had taken. We are loving the new colors and it helped make it feel more like home. (I would love to include a before picture, but I did not take any pictures when we moved in. Mom did and I will get those from her when she comes to visit.) We are just loving the house. It feels like home and is cozy and comforting. It is such a blessing to be in our OWN space and have more room for the kids to play and a yard. We are SO thankful for the way the Lord has blessed us through this house.

The first week here I had a follow up ultrasound to check on the baby and the clot. The clot is still there, but the baby is healthy and strong and even measuring a week and a half ahead of schedule. We will have another ultrasound at the beginning of October to check on everything.

We went out to eat downtown, on the water. Emma LOVED it! Nana and Papaw came to visit for a week and went with us (another post to follow with pics from our time with them).

Emma has developed quite a love for the beach. On her first visit she was pretty scared and the sand moving out from below her feet made her pretty nervous. The next trip was much better and she played in the waves with Daddy. I was excited because the waves were bigger and so much fun, until I realized that was because of the hurricane Katia off the coast...I learned that checking for rip tide warnings during hurricane season is a good idea before taking little ones to the beach! It is a huge gift to have the beach ten minutes from our house and be able to go whenever we feel like it. Emma and I have plans next weekend to go at sunrise and enjoy the beach like I did growing up looking for shells and dolphins while watching the sun rise.

Emma has been loving the pool! Jonah screams the entire time - he is pretty much miserable no matter what we are doing, so we just suck it up and deal with it as long as we can. Here is a pic of them in the baby pool, although Emma much prefers the big pool and is loving "swimming" on her own!

Jonah is into EVERYTHING. He terrorizes the blinds - he likes the sounds the wooden blinds make when he smacks them into the window. He swings the broom around like a sword. He has learned to climb on the furniture. He carries the picture frames all over the house. He likes to hit things against the dryer and hear the noise it makes. He throws his food. He likes to balance his milk cup on his head until it falls and makes a loud noise. He likes to go through any drawer he can get into and empty its contents. He most recently has figured out that he can climb on top of his car garage. He is EXHAUSTING. I cannot take my eyes off of him for a moment! He is a lot of fun though.

We have a lot of "friends" in our yard. This is one of the birds that frequents our back yard. Our neighborhood is surrounded by marshes so we get a lot of water foul. Along with the birds, we have lizards. We have a green lizard that lives on our porch and Emma has named Lizzie. We have skinks (brown chunky lizards) that we don't much like but they don't hurt anything. Mike has taken care of the fire ants in our yard and we have only seen one Palmetto bugs so far (aka ROACH). One of my favorite memories of the week we moved in was taking the kids for a walk and seeing a sign on the pond one house away warning about Alligators. Oh how life has changed!

Emma is LOVING South Carolina. What is not to love? She has her own room. She gets to play outside. She rides her bike every day and goes to the pool several times a week. She is having so much fun and it is exciting to see her grow in her abilities. She did not know how to "Swim" or ride a bike before we got here. Here are some videos to show how she is doing now. We go for walks most days and I push Jonah in his car and she rides her bike for 45 minutes to an hour. I love her giggle of joy in the swimming video. Enjoy!