Some Changes

With Spring so close to being here, I have been thinking about changes. We have a lot of changes going on around us and with us. As I said with our Sunday drives, we see signs of new life everywhere. We are also noting changes in our family.



My first and favorite change to share is that the princess is now standing up and well on her way to walking and making her Mom's life more interesting.



Here she is with my baby sister, Traci, looking adorable and bearing the same mildly amused at the world expression that her Mom did at that same age. Since I know her Mom better than I know the princess at this point, I'm hoping this does not mean, "just wait until later", like it would have with her Mom. If her Mom was bearing this expression it usually meant she was plotting her next covert mission that she then accomplished while I tried to do insane things like pee or take a 30 second shower without her.



Of course I am just kidding because unlike her Mom at eight months old, the princess has not yet figured out how to push the kitchen chair over to the kitchen counter where she could then somehow scale her way to the top of the fridge where the childproof capped medicine lay waiting for her to conquer! So far, Pookie seems content to pull herself up to just stand at the furniture and sing songs at the top of her lungs so I think her Mom will not be getting those paybacks we were sure would come her way after all.



BTW, all of my sisters except one are my baby sisters and both of my brothers are my baby brothers. I figure I can get away with this until they are fifty or so. This particular baby sister is only two years younger than me and if she looks younger than me, that is because she is. Just don't tell me that about my older than me by two years sister looks younger than me and it will be fine.



On to the next change. We have been planning to go back to the Outer Banks this summer and enjoy the same fun we had there last year. I can't even express how much I loved, loved, loved being there. It was my favorite summer that I think I've ever had in my life. Just magical really and exactly what I needed at the time.



Due to some of Austin's life plans and my ongoing health issues, we have decided it would be wisest for us to stay right here for now. I have cried over this life change. I am at peace that we are doing the right thing, but I still am sad about the thought of missing our time at the beach with people we have come to love.



As a part of that decision, we also decided to get this so we can more fully enjoy being here by doing lots of local Staycation things:



This is an older version of a car that Nathan had when we lived in our last house. He really enjoyed that car and he is really enjoying this car. This is also one of the reasons behind the Sunday drives that we are now taking. I didn't think I'd be excited about the fact it is a convertible, but I have now realized that I can do this:



Yes, I did this with the truck all the time. But with no top restricting me, I can take drive by shooting pictures even easier than before! So Nathan drives with the top down feeling the wind rush by and loves it and I can snap pictures the entire time and I love it. Life is good. Even when it isn't exactly what we'd pick. Changes. Just a part of what keeps our life moving along.