Life lately

The past few weeks have been somewhat difficult. Difficult in that Ian is working like a crazy person (oh how I love public accounting) and there have been many changes in our household. We returned from vacation, Pop returned to Baltimore, Bella finished up summer school and started church school. Not to mention we battled the sickies and had another round of out of town guests. We are running on empty and it's starting to show.

Vacation was AWESOME! It was great to have quality time with my family and I enjoyed every moment of having my dad and Ian around to help with the girls. The days were laid back and relaxed and I loved it. I wish we could have spent more than a week in Siesta Key, unfortunately life called and we had to return to reality. We said goodnight to the sun every night, ate every meal together and made so many memories on our first family vacation. All the preparation and packing/unpacking was a little stressful, but it was well worth it.

Ian's busy season is in full effect. He works LONG days and nights and it's exhausting. He returns home from the office late and works after the girls are in bed. The girls miss their daddy and I miss my husband. But such is the life of a tax widow, right? I could go on and on about this, but his career affords us the life we have and for that I am grateful. I'm especially looking forward to the two days of PTO that he acquired this past weekend as a result of having to work over Labor Day weekend. We even survived an entire week of Ian working at home due to the RNC Convention in downtown Tampa.

Bella finished up summer school and we said good-bye to her friends and teachers. We LOVED her school, but we couldn't justify paying the tuition for a two-year-old. We look forward to Bella returning to this school next summer and fall, but in the meantime she began another school at a local church. I had high hopes of the church school, but nothing compares to the school she attended in the summer. It's still pretty early into the school year and I have to give it a chance. Friends of ours love this school and I'm sure we will learn to love it, too. Plus, it's fun being part of a community and a network of moms/friends who I see on an almost daily basis.

We battled colds and gastrointestinal infections last week. Poor little CeCe Rose contracted a nasty GI bug and ended up in the ER for vomiting and dehydration. After a few hours and a bag of IV fluids, she was discharged and we were able to nurse her back to health from the comfort of our home. I picked up her germs and had a day or so where I was practically down and out. We made it through and even managed to disinfect the house before my sister, brother-in-law and nephew arrived.

I finally met my nephew, Luke, in person. We spent a long weekend entertaining our guests, which included a trip to the aquarium and beach. A house full of kids was interesting to say the least. It was fun but exhausting. I'm just so glad to have finally met Luke! I love that my girls have a cousin who they will grow up and visit with. I predict a lot of memories to be made over the next few years.

Well, I'm on borrowed time this afternoon. Bella is having a sleep over at Grandma Ruth's and it's just CeCe Rose and I at home. It'll be a nice quiet evening at home and I'm looking forward to that. I plan on an early bedtime for both CeCe Rose and me. We have a busy week ahead of us with school, play dates and other outings. I really regret not taking a nap this afternoon... sigh.

Love always,
Ian, Kim, Bella & Cecilia