This month has been a memorable one for our little Traxler Tribe. Beginning with Adella receiving her baby blessing (on Feb. 3rd) from the most important men in her life -
to ending with us gearing up to move into our forever home. It's true, we're leaving Virginia after a short 7 month stay to head even further west. Our next move takes us to Charles Town, WV. This will be our 6th move (in only 3 different states) in 6 years of marriage and I'm thrilled say it is indeed our FINAL one!
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| Just a quick photo I snapped on my iPhone. Better photos to come. |
Trust me, never in a MILLION years did I think I'd choose to live in West Virginia nonetheless raise my children there. While growing up in MoCo, MD I heard and held on to a pretty healthy dose of stigmas about West Virginia (roadkill, lack of diversity and culture, "country talk" & grammar, buffets on every corner, etc.), BUT here is the thing - it is so stinkin' affordable. Yes yes, it does come with the hefty price of a longer commute into Falls Church for Dave (1 1/2 hours each way). That is the trade off. One I never thought we'd be willing to make...until now. I truly think for us it took having 3 kids in 2 years to see that more land and a bigger house in a rural setting would actually suit our goals perfectly. Dave is able to work earlier hours (7am-3pm) so that he can be home in time for dinner and to help with bedtimes each night which is great! That was actually one of the first things we found out and confirmed before even placing an offer on the house because otherwise it'd be a no go. As for the house itself, the address is Charles Town, but really it's on the outskirts and only 2 miles from the Virginia state line, it sits on 3 acres - some has been cleared during construction, but many mature trees still remain, it overlooks a beautiful equestrian farm and with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3400 sq. feet which will fit the needs of our family for a long long time.
After moving to this condo last summer and dealing with Suzie's breathing issues which lead to her diagnosis of asthma we knew extending our lease for another year was not going to happen. Not sure if it is related to environmental factors, but it's not worth the risk of staying to find out. With housing prices in this area going up (and interest rates still low) we felt it'd be best to buy sooner than later as to not price ourselves out of the market. Turns out Loudoun County, VA is no cheaper than MoCo and if we moved back the commute would be about the same for Dave, so we started looking a few months back. We looked all over, but didn't find anything in our price range that was in an area we'd want to live in (aka not run down ghetto-ish) AND that had enough space. I know a family of five can squeeze into 1500 sq. feet, but it just wasn't something I was willing to attempt. We were feeling pretty discouraged with the options available in MD. Who would want to purchase a home they'd be bursting at the seems of from the moment they move in? Out of pure curiosity Dave decided to check out prices in Martinsburg/Charles Town/Harpers Ferry area just to see what they were. Well, as you can see one thing led to another and we happened to find a new build that had a contract fall through recently so the builders were motivated to sell (but then again builders are always motivated to sell). In any case it ended up working well for us when they accepted our initial "low ball" offer. We'll close on the house tomorrow and move in on Saturday. Dave and I have been giddy all month talking about the different types of fruit trees we want to plant and wondering if Ian, Suzie and Adella will end up asking for a real pony one day since they'll grow up seeing horses right across the street.
Our other notable February happenings include Adella turning 3 months old, a candlelit dinner of delicious seafood prepared by Dave for Valentines Day, a family outing to the Air & Space museum by Dulles airport, Ian's first haircut with the clippers and the twins turning 17 months today.
Adella continues to be as sweet as sugar. She has round the clock smiles to give and her soft coos and little giggle are things I wish I could bottle and keep forever. My favorite moment with her is in the mornings when she wakes up, stretches her arms, opens her eyes then focuses on my face her immediate reactions is the best open mouth smile that of course melts me every time. During this past month she has moved out of our room in the bassinet into the crib in her nursery. She has held strong with the same routine the twins were on of sleeping 5 hours, nurse, 3 more hours of sleep, nurse, 3 final hours of sleep then up for the day at 7am. And now that she's just about to her fourth month I'm feeling just like I did with the twins at this point - so very very ready for a strait 12 hours of sleep! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that after our move when I make the transition to not responding to her nighttime cries anymore she will do as well as her big sister and brother did and bless us with only one night of crying-it-out. Oh that would be wonderful!
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| cute outfit from Auntie Jamie & Uncle Brook that I am obviously pretty excited about |
On the 14th during the day I had the Ian and Suzie color Valentine pictures for Dave which we taped to the wall with a sign saying - We Love Daddy! - for him to see upon coming home from work. It was a hit :-) And he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and proceeded to prepared a scrumptious meal for us to enjoy once the kiddos were in bed. A perfect way to enjoy the holiday without having to find a babysitter.
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| We LOVED seeing all the planes at Air & Space, especially the space shuttle Discovery! We'll be back for sure. |
After visiting the Air & Space museum we hit up Cafe Rio for some yummy grub. Ian was too cute bopping around in his high chair while he got his groove on to the music playing. Too bad I can't figure out how to upload videos from my iPhone to Blogger - the .MOV format doesn't seem to work for some reason :(
I find myself in awe more than not of all the things Ian and Suzie learn each day. Seventeen months brings with it more body coordination, more verbal & ASL words, more fine motor skills (coloring and using a spoon...properly), lots of laughter, bigger appetites, temper tantrums when mommy just can't understand what is needed/wanted, veracious stair climbing, interest in other people and the all important ONE MONTH CLOSER TO NURSERY! I really am banking on that making our Sundays much more do-able.
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| Ian getting his first haircut with the clippers from daddy while mommy distracted him during dinnertime with an app that shows pictures and makes the sound of different animals. It was a success on all accounts! |
It has also been so amazingly sweet to witness the kind ways Suzie and Ian hug, kiss and love on Adella. My heart was not prepared for how much joy I'd feel when seeing such sibling love. It is so important to Dave and me that our children care for and respect each other. To see it at such a young age is lovely. I hope to do all I can to continue to foster that natural instinct throughout their childhood lives.
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| Getting a closer look |
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| Look Mom, I can hold 3 balloons at one time! |
A big thank you to my sweet friend Shauna for making and sending us these wonderful crochet flowers for my girls. They are beautiful!
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| First hair accessory Suzie doesn't immediately pull out, yay! |
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| With teamwork anything is possible. Like pushing the office chair over to a box so we both can climb on it! |
March promises to hold lots of new adventures for us. Bring 'em on (getting a head start with my country accent)!
