Sumter in Spring

Well welcome to our spring for the first time.

It is warm and wet! The sun shines in between the rain and it's always a bit sticky. Some people would hate it and even Chris was surprised by my comments today. I love this weather. I don't mind being sticky if everyone is sticky and honestly, the chance to have soft skin, no sore throats, and no cracked lips is wonderful.

As much as I loved the Northwest, I hated how dry it was. The air here is moist and, right now, relatively cool, with a strong breeze to move the air along. It feels so good and often reminds me simultaneously of San Antonio, TX where I spent a lot of time when I was younger with my grandparents and Santo Domingo, DR where I spent my mission in 2000-1. This type of weather always brings back a lot of memories and now I'm making new ones.

I'm sitting in my kitchen at my table watching my two very cute kids play outside. They are hauling little cups of water from one side of the yard to the other where resides a nice deep dirt pit. The only problem is that JC gets excited and the water never makes it to the mud spot they're trying to create. So Evie has some "sticky mud" and JC has decided mud is overrated, but the water tastes good. It's so fun to watch them and to see how they play. The most random things become entertaining. Just like Lizzy laying in a crib staring at a crab for hours is surprising, watching what a barely-on sprinkler and some Tupperware can do is so much fun.

Another Milestone!

So we have reached another baby milestone with Elizabeth. At the doctor's office they asked me to put her on her tummy, which she hates. And of course, right there she decides now is a good time to roll to her back from her tummy for the first time. It was so cute and the drs. thought she was doing great.

Then two days later she does the incredible: she rolls from back to front and scares me to death! I didn't know she was that close to doing it so I had put her on the couch. It's a very safe place for immobile children, but not so great for rolly polly ones!

Anyway, Lizzy continues to grow and do her own thing whenever she feels like it. Soon she'll be cooing so often it won't be hard to catch on camera.

Lizzy - Growing Strong

Okay, so Elizabeth is officially not getting me yelled at by doctors anymore! She has reached a healthy and happy 9lbs. 2oz. and 22 1/2 in. She even has a cute little belly just like my other children.

So now that we have passed that hurdle (which only puts her in the 3%) she has begun to make her own rainbow. I know, no one knows what I mean by rainbow. It's that growth chart the drs put your child's rate on and then tell you that because your kid doesn't match most other kids you're doing something wrong. Well, if you put my kids on a growth chart for Fosburg kids, we would be doing perfectly fine.

Evie made her own rainbow and had finally crested the 30lbs. mark. JC definately made his own rainbow and weighs almost as much as his big sister. Last weight was 23lbs. Now Lizzy is consistently doing what our family does and will be making her own rainbow too. See, all is normal in Fosburgland.

Congrats to Lizzy!

Financial Success is around the Corner

I can't believe it! We just did something amazing! Today at 1:33pm we paid off our auto loan. I know that's not super exciting, but for us the shortest payoff time has been several years not 8 mos. It feels so good and it's going to relieve a lot of pressure on our finances. We've also recently defered our student loans which gives us room to breathe. Finally, we made some hard choices, ditched the cable tv and the YMCA membership that I loved, and reduced our energy and water consumption as much as we could. Our bills are finally manageable and we can build a bit for emergency savings. We also have enough to fix Chris' car and, if we ever sell the Nissan in Spokane, we'll get to go home for Christmas this year!!! It's so exciting for us. Now we just have the loan we took out for the move into the military and we'll be almost debt free (save for student loans, of course.) Wish us luck!