Why blog?

I recognize I have been blogging a lot in the last two weeks...there is a reason for that. If anyone out there has moved to a whole new state in the last few years you may remember the feeling of those first few months in a new city. In a way, it is as if everything you were used to doing, all the daily routines, the same old stores, restaurants, favorite roads, the people you spent time with, are all suddenly GONE. Your life comes to a halt. It really is like shifting gears in an old truck where before the ride gets smooth again, it goes through a bumpy and difficult transition. Most people who know me know that I like to be busy...really busy. The biggest screeching halt of my life was moving to the Caribbean where the word "busy" really doesn't exist in that culture. I learned over those two years that it is truly a wonderful and a GOOD thing not to be "busy". So, things are pretty slow here, but I am enjoying settling in and spending some quality time with my kids.
I have been thinking about the whole concept of "blogging" and I decided to share a few thoughts. I love all the friends and family out there who are willing to share a slice of their life with the rest of us. Especially when I move away from such wonderful friends, it gives me comfort to be able to take a peak at their blogs and see how cute their families are. I also love looking at the adventures that my unmarried friends are having. So, as cheesy as this may sound, "Thank you to all of you who blog!"
It always fascinates me when I go to SL and I will have people who I NEVER expected come up to me and say, "Kristine, I love your blog." Sometimes it weirds me out because I don't know anything about that person, I haven't talked to them since high school, and yet they know everything going on with me. Oh well. I do feel that there have been many relationships that have been strengthened over the last two years, and I love the different insight I gain from reading what people write. It is good to stay connected with people and especially now that I have friends in so many different states, I am grateful for different ways to communicate with them.
Enough about that. Here's a quick update on our family; youngest to oldest. Tucker (our puppy) makes life a little more complicated although he is darling; just not when he is on top of Tyler with his sharp puppy teeth around Ty's legs. I can't really complain about him because he is just being a puppy, but I will just say that he is into EVERYTHING. Yesterday morning, Maddie woke up before me. She went down and let Tuck out and when I walked out of my bedroom she was sitting on the bottom stair in her PJ's with Tuck laying right next to her and she had her hand on him. It was a priceless picture.
Tyler is making some grand strides right now. He is nearly 17 months old and just started taking some steps on his own in the last two weeks. If Ty was my first kid, I am sure I would be super anxious and sad that it has taken this long to start walking, but since he is my third, it makes my life SO much easier that he isn't running around yet. Tyler has mastered crawling up our stairs. He thinks he knows what he is doing when he goes down, but he doesn't have a clue yet. Yesterday was the first time I have seen him take steps from one piece of furniture and across a short distance to another piece. He got really excited doing it and we practiced over and over. Tyler really is the one in the house who helps me keep my sanity. Josh and Maddie are so needy right now, and thankfully Tyler always has a chill attitude.
Maddie is talking up a storm and needs my UNDIVIDED attention whenever she is telling me something. I should count how many times I hear the word "mommy" come out of her mouth everyday. Maddie has heard her friends talking about "ballet class" and for the last two weeks all she wants to talk about is "ballet". "Mommy, can I wear this to ballet? Mommy, when can I do ballet? Mommy ballet is taking a very long time!" So, tomorrow, we are going to "watch" her friends ballet class. She doesn't get to start taking until fall and I hope we can wait that long.
Josh has been such a good sport through all these changes. He said today in his sweet voice after Tuck had been biting him over and over again, "Mommy, I really just wish daddy would have bought a calmer dog." We are on the look out for a boy his age. Once he has a friend his age, he will be loving life. But it sure is cute to see how well Josh and Maddie have been getting along. Josh is used to Dave telling him super long bedtime stories. That doesn't happen anymore and Josh was crying about it tonight, but poor Dave, the second he hits the pillow he is out.
I will have to share more about Dave and I for another time because it is too late. I need to really enjoy the slow times in life because I know that Indiana will start to feel more and more like home everyday.