It's been well over a year since updating this blog. I often feel like composing a post here, but just don't. What's that saying 1% inspiration... 99% perspiration... ?? I have tons of ideas and just don't act on them often, hints my house is messier than I want it to be. Projects are semi done or the 'to do' list stays constant for many weeks at a time. I'm not sure why we live like that, except 'life' happens and time keeps moving whether or not we use it wisely or how we intended to do so. With that... here's a brief update on The Long Family of Casper....
~ After living with family for over a year (September 2014-November 2015), we bought an almost 800 sq ft., 2 bed, 1 bath, 100 year old house in November and have enjoyed having our own space since then. It was a blessing that my parents allowed us to invade their space while we restructured our way of living and went from a 2 income household to a 1 income household. Nate and I have often said we sure aren't the 'traditional' family and we continue to stick with that... I am working full time with the school district and Nate takes care of our girls along with some IT, design, etc. freelance work on the side when he has time or when he is needed.
~ Our oldest is 5 now. 5! How did that happen? She's a great swimmer, doing awesome at piano, loves to make her own music (she even beat boxes on her own), has an interest in basically all aspects of life, and gravitates toward older children when she's in a group of kids. Lately when I look at her, I see Nate when he was 5 if he had long wavy blond hair. People have told us she looks like him, but I never noticed until recently... she's a mini Nate, but much prettier. ;)
~ Our 2nd oldest is 2 and is hilarious! N makes us laugh, but B has this way about her... she's just a fun loving, goofy, little person with a very loud voice! She can be so loud and talks non stop sometimes. One week her older sister didn't feel very well and we really noticed how much energy B has and how she constantly uses it to play, sing, entertain herself and others... she's basically the cutest 2 year old I know. :) And people say she's a mini me, so... who knows.
~ Baby 3.0 is on his or her way!! We have seen baby on ultrasound, but didn't get the best pic and aren't sure if this is boy or girl. So... we'll be surprised. I can say as I get older, as I have more kids, it's harder each time. N's pregnancy had it's ups and downs, B was a bit worse in different ways, and this baby has just been hard. I think it's due to me being the most out of shape I've ever been right before I got pregnant, the stress we've dealt with the last few years, and then making changes that we do feel will be overall beneficial compared to if we had not made any changes. We were getting a bit anxious to have another kiddo, and are very happy that the Lord blessed us with #3 and so far a healthy pregnancy. Our small house isn't ready for a baby yet, but I'm sure ready to be done being pregnant! Today I actually feel pretty good... somedays I don't go anywhere and stay in bed. Either way... in about 6 weeks, we should be meeting this little one and will make the adjustments to a family of 5. Our girls are excited! N asks so many questions about birth... B just says she "loves your baby mommy!" and cute things like that. :) They are gonna be awesome older sisters. Nate and I have names picked out, but haven't shared them with each other yet... it's fun to anticipate what we will call this baby. I have a name that could be either boy or girl and sometimes call baby by that name (when husband isn't around) so we'll see what name suites when we meet. :)
~ Jobs. As mentioned above, I still teach/tutor with the school district and have an amazing team to work with at Lincoln Elementary. Ultimately we do hope that I can be the stay at home parent, but Nate is truly enjoying the time he gets with our girls and we take this time as a blessing from God since we didn't think either of us would be able to be home with them this soon. And beyond 'ultimately', we actually would both love to work from home and be with our kids and work as a family. There are so many things that could allow this to happen and we are looking into different options/businesses/opportunities etc. Our hearts desires are to be a debt-free family that lives minimalistically and uses our talents to bless others.
So far... we are working on the 'debt-free' and have made some effort toward living with less... downsizing has it's challenges and when you work for a public school district and your time is not your own for most of the year, it's hard to keep that momentum and con't to purge and adjust. I do hope we are blessing others around us... we just feel led to work toward doing more in the future.
Well... as I type I can see Baby 3.0 wiggling and rolling around... I can hear my girls and Nate breathing after drifting off to sleep (our house is so small I can sit in the living room and hear their soft noises from both bedrooms) and should probably head to bed myself. I've had many sleepless nights with this pregnancy, which is new for me, and am praying that's not a sign that this one won't sleep well. We shall see... ~Chelle
