Our New House

Here are a few photos we snapped on February 27, 2013 - the day we closed on the house.

Yipee!

The home was already built as a model so we didn't choose any of the finishes.  There are some things that I love and some that aren't my taste, but I'll be just fine living with for a while.  When you walk in the front door the 2 story foyer gives the space a nice open feeling.

Open Foyer

There is a mud room between the double garage and the main floor.  With kids this is a serious plus feature!

Just may be my favorite room in the house - the MUD ROOM!

Family Room

The family room opens up to the kitchen with a small breakfast table area.  I wish there was a bump out for the kitchen table, but it's totally enough space for now.  One of the first things we did after moving in was to put lights up where all the pre-wires were and change out that double sink for a huge single basin one.  I couldn't stand the high chair trays not fitting the sink when I washed them so Dave was able to fix that for me ASAP.  This is the first time since we lived in Utah in 2006 that I'm not cooking with gas.  I miss it.  I'm not a fan of the glass cooktop (sooooo hard to keep clean!) and it's harder to gage/control the temperature of things while I'm cooking.  Only way we'll get a gas stove here is if we buy a stand alone propane tank (which is how our fireplace is set up) and I don't see that happening anytime soon...maybe not ever.  

Kitchen with Breakfast Table area

Dining Room

The dining room and study have the 3 piece molding in them which is a nice touch.  Dave and I would like to add french doors one day to make the study one room that doesn't need to be child proofed.

Office/Study

View out foyer window from upstairs hallway

Master Bedroom 

One of my honey-do projects for Dave is to switch those bathroom doors to swing out into the bedroom so they don't block the sink or shower.  I think that was a poor design on the builders part.  

Unpacking was a slow process and decorating will be even slower.  Things like that are a bit tricky to do with 2 toddlers and a baby.  It's funny though, I'm totally fine with that and am excited to take time to really decide how I want to decorate each room.  It also allows me time to find, buy or upcycle the right furniture for the right spaces.  With our townhouse Dave & I had it 80% painted within 3 months of moving in.  This time around I'm content with the white walls until we've been here for a year since the builder will come back and do drywall touch ups and I do not want to repaint.  I'm lazy like that these days.

Sunrise view from the master bedroom

Morning view from our front porch 

First snowfall in our new home

We are the first of seven houses on the gravel road behind the equestrian farm.  The other six are further down the street and all share a cul-de-sac.  One of the things we liked most about the house was the location of being on its own.  It is still amazing to me that we have views of trees out of every window with no houses in sight.  We've met the farm owner, whose name is Sue (love her British accent!) and her farm hand who is a really nice older gentleman named Dale.  He amazes me.  Just from what I see him do out our windows he is one hard working man and keeps the farm in great shape.  On Easter a new foal was brought to the farm and when my friend, Gina, came to visit we went over to say hello.

 Gina, who is a horse lover, helped us city folk become more comfortable with petting them.

 She even got up close and personal with one of the ponies!

There is a veterinarian who lives in an older home a little ways away from us and has a pen that he puts stray or unloved animals in to enjoy the rest of their days.  Currently it is occupied by a sheep that we walk over and visit each week.  At first Suzie was really afraid when the sheep would say, "baaaaa," but now she can't stop saying, "baaaaaa," back!  I adore the prospect of our children growing up with an appreciation for nature and animals.

   

It's Been A While

**I hope to re-cap the holidays and events of the past few months with picture posts in the near future.**

As May comes to a close and we roll on into June I realize it's been a whole THREE MONTHS since my last entry and I figure I need to document things before I forget them completely.  I could blame my lack of blogging on the slower pace of country living that we've embraced since moving to West Virginia, but I'd be lying.  If you look back in my last two posts there are clues as to the real reason for my blog recent absence.  It has to do with one very cute little girl and the pillow on my side of the bed that looks pristine since my head is hardly ever on it.  Sleep depravation sucks.  I held Adella while she slept a lot when she was 0-3 months and I even re-read what I wrote in a previous post, "I'm setting myself up for failure."  Oh how I wish that didn't come to fruition, but it has and in a big way.

From the time Adella was born until nearly four months old she slept in my arms during the day, mostly out of convenience.  I have a much better understanding now of just how critical a skill it is for babies to learn to self sooth and fall asleep on their own.  

So here's the rub of it all that makes it more than just sleep training her.  Between Adella's 4 month and 6 month check ups she had only gained a little over 1 pound.  That's not good.  Not at all.  By six months pediatricians like to see a baby at least double their birth weight.  Adella was 8 pounds 11 ounces when she was born and only reached 14 pounds 14 ounces at 6 months.  It's been an amazingly difficult balance tying to help her drop one or two of her night feedings when I know she isn't growing as she should.  I've seen a lactation consultant and my supply doesn't seem to be the issue, but Adella had started to nurse for shorter times since the twins prove to be quite the distraction for her.  So I made a concerted effort to sit in her nursery with the door closed while nursing her to help eliminate distractions and hoped that'd increase her milk intake.  And it has helped, but not enough.  Not to mention that while I'm doing that Ian & Suzie are being babysat by Rachel Coleman of Signing Times - yeah, I totally get mommy brownie points for that, not :-/  We started Adella on cereal at 5 months and pureed fruits & veggies at 6 (which was just on the 7th of May) and while it helps her to get a few more calories in, the weight on the scale hasn't gone up quite as much as I'd hoped.

I usually put her down for the night between 6:30-7pm then she is up again sometime between mindnight-1am, back to sleep, up again between 3-4am, back to sleep and up for the day between 6-7am.  I was totally okay with that schedule at 3 months old, but she should be able to drop the 1am for sure by now and even the 3-4am one too.  I have not gotten more than 4 hours (and 4 hours is A LOT right now) of consistent sleep since before she was born - November 2012 - and if affects everything.  Seriously, I feel like I'm barely treading water over here.  The thought has crossed my mind so many times how much harder this would be if I had kids old enough to be in school and have activities to go to or if a paycheck for out family depended on me functioning at full capacity during the day.  So there is some silver lining in all of this.  But really, I have not been firing on all cylindars since....hmmm, well not sure about that one.  Probably since the twins 1st birthday since right after that is when all of Suzie's breathing problems started and filled me with worry during the end of Adella's pregnancy.

After the twins have had their dinner, are bathed and put into bed, Adella nursed and in her crib I then have no energy or desire to spend my precious evening moments blogging.  I spend them in bed.  Since I know it'll only be a few short hours until I'm up again :-(  The current issue Dave and I are discussing and praying about is supplementing with formula.  I know breast milk is best, but what I learned from the twins when my milk never really came in and we turned to formula - a well rested mommy is better!   I wasn't sure how nursing would go this time around and I truly feel blessed to have had this bonding time with Adella.  But now it's time for sleep.  I worry about supplementing then my supply coming to a screeching halt.  I worry about her not transitioning well.  I worry about the added cost of formula (even though it will be no where near what it was with the twins).  I worry if I'm doing the right thing by even thinking about formula.  Then I remember, I haven't had a full nights sleep in over SEVEN MONTHS!  Then the worries are all put into perspective because honestly, I'm too tired to worry.  She will grow.  She will thrive.  And we will all start to do more than just survive.  Oh, happy day!

We love the new house and have enjoyed the location of it so much!

Our first family photo in front of our new home!
I think my dad actually got a shot of all 5 of us looking on his camera.

It has been such a blessing to open the door and let Ian and Suzie walk right out to play.  No worries of fast cars zooming by (did I mention we live off a gravel road?) or running too far away since we have 3 acres for them to explore.  The views are stunning and I hope I never get used to them.  I love seeing the sun rise over the barn across the street.

View from our front porch rockers.
Yes, the grass is super long right now.  That's on the Saturday honey-do list :-)

I've loved watching the baby foal learn to use it's long lanky legs while it's Momma stands close by.  I enjoy seeing and pointing out all the animals in our back yard to Ian and Suzie - deer, ground hogs, cats, turkeys, beautiful robins, blue jays and orioles, butterflies, farm cats and a sheep down the street.  Along those lines there are also some critters we're not so fond of around here, mainly stink bugs which have tried to take up permeant residence in our house.  It's an ongoing battle.  We drive to Martinsburg for Target or Winchester for Costco shopping, but there is an Aldi here which helps.  We are big Aldi fans.  Not everything there is great, but there are so many of those generic brands that work for us and it really helps stretch our food budget.  Of course regular grocery stores are just a few minutes away also.

The church ward here is small.  The smallest I've ever been a part of.  Which means every member pulls their weight.  Dave was called to be the ward mission leader our SECOND Sunday here.  Between his commute and that calling he stays pretty busy.  I get to teach Sunday School to the 16-18 year old youth.  I love it!  They are such amazing teenagers and I try each week to prepare engaging lessons where my ultimate goal is being a moderator of a discussion they have amongst themselves rather than stand and talk for the entire hour.  The Come, Follow Me lesson outlines are great and really lend themselves to this format.  Since we both have 2nd hour callings we put the twins into nursery right when we moved here even though they were 1 month shy of the 18 month mark.  They are the youngest ones in nursery, but my oh my it has helped our Sundays be so much more do-able.  There are still tricky things to figure out.  Like the time the bishop asked us to give talked the same Sunday - 1 adult with 2 toddlers and a baby is NOT the easiest thing in the world to manage, but just like other parents we figure it out as we go.

February Round-Up

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!

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!

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.  

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. 

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. 

Getting a closer look

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!

First hair accessory Suzie doesn't immediately pull out, yay!

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)!

Her First White Dress

 

 The lightly falling snowflakes were the perfect backdrop for Adella's baby blessing this past Sunday.  Luckily at just under 3 months old she fit into the same dress Suzie wore at 1 1\2 months.  Having not grown up with sisters to share traditions like this with I wanted to start one for my girls.  “Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name” (D&C 20:70)  That is exactly what we did and it was oh, so sweet.  Dave gave her a beautiful blessing that was pure and perfect, just like little Miss Adella Mae.

I love these lines from the poem My Three White Dresses by Linda Gay Perry Nelson

Upon my blessing day,

As a little baby clothed

In my first white dress,

My dad held me in his arms,

There to name and bless.

So pure and clean was I just then,

With time to grow and learn

About the Father's plan for me.

 

Two Almost Three

Official Stats-

Weight - 12 lbs. 5 oz. (75th %tile)

Length - 23.75 inches (90th %tile)

Adella turned 2 months on January 7th and will be 3 months old tomorrow, but since there is no doctor visit for her third month these are the only stats we have until her four month visit.  She was born 2 pounds heavier than the twins, but measured in just under what they were at two months.

Our sweet girl has been full of smiles!

Big, wide open mouth smiles most of the time.  I love them!

Adella has become so much more aware of her surroundings between months one and two.  She loves to smile, coo and giggle - especially for daddy in the evenings.  Somehow Dave gets her to cooing up a storm when he comes home.  He says its just because the way he looks at her and says, "Ahh-goo," but when I try I can never duplicate his results.  Guess this is the start of that priceless daddy-daughter bond.  

I read this article a while back and it really hit home for me.  Already when I look back of photos during the twins first months the ones with me in them doing just normal everyday things are limited.  I was either in my pjs or my hair was a mess so I'd say, later - we'll get a photo of me with them later.  But life goes on and later never seems to happen so I'm trying to make it a point to stay in the photos with Adella.  I want all of my children to see how much they were loved on everyday by their mom.  And that just by being them they filled my heart with more joy than I've ever known before.

Sleepy Adella after church one Sunday

In the process of trying to show off her cute owl dress I woke her up, oops.

I surprised Ian and Suzie one morning by wheeling in Adella in her bassinet.  Not sure if they were excited about seeing her or just touching her mobile, but either way seeing smiles on their faces first thing in the morning is something I always love.  

A little side note about the bassinet and cribs - all of them were given to us by my wonderfully amazing SIL, Anne.  Suzie's crib used to be the one her cousin Caroline slept in and Ian's belonged to cousin Chase.  The bassinet Adella is in is one of two Anne gave us as a baby shower gift for the twins.  Without Anne our children's sleeping arrangements just wouldn't be quite the same ;-)

When the twins are down for naps Adella gets to have her tummy time.  She does quite well holding her head up and will usually do so for a good solid 5 minutes before even letting out one peep of discontent.

A bit blurry, but look how high she is holding her head!

I never get tired of seeing these blue eyes

She has started to notice and reach for the toys on her play gym more now.  She also does well tracking them with her eyes as they swing and move around.

Adella Mae has been such a source of light and happiness.  I find myself being so different with her than I was with Ian & Suzie.  Mostly just because the nature of meeting the needs of one baby rather than two at a time is so different.  I hold her.  A lot.  Like all the time.  I was not able to do that with the twins nearly as much as I do with Adella.  The time to sleep train her for sleeping 12 hours at night is coming and I'm setting myself up for disaster because I'm so used to just holding Adella until she falls asleep. I love to see her drift off into dreamland while in my arms.  I almost never did that with the twins because having them learn to self sooth when putting them down drowsy, but awake was just a part of survival.  But with Adella I usually hold her wrapped up in a blanket while I sit on the couch supervising Ian and Suzie as they play.  The natural side effect of this is now my time spent playing/engaging with the twins has been cut short by quite a bit.  I'm hoping to find a better balance in the coming months so I don't feel I'm short changing any of them.