October Update

Friends and family,

Please forgive my blogging absence. Grad school is no cake walk! What's new with us? Well, we found out we're having a little boy in January. There are pictures available via my Picasa (Link on the right). I think we've settled on a name for him, but we're still "test driving" it at home before making it public.

LeMar's job hunt continues. We're not sure what plan letter we're on now, but it is getting up there. Please continue to keep this situation in your prayers.

Alyssa is enjoying "school" (daycare). They get to play outside in several large playgrounds almost every day. She seems to really like her teacher and to have made friends in her class. We frequently hear about Eddie; apparently he goes to timeout a lot. She loves to read with us at home. She is also on a Disney princess kick right now thanks to our friend Eileen's influences. I definitely know more about these princess now than I did when I was a little girl. She has mastered all of her uppercase letters and a good number of her lowercase letters. She can also almost count to twenty, but she frequently goes awry between 14 and 18 and only hits about 1/3 of those numbers. She is also learning to ride her tricycle, but she prefers to push off of the ground with her feet instead of pedaling. She is less cooperative now than she used to be. I think she is just trying to assert her independence, but it makes parenting her hard right now.

I'm busy with school, as always. I just finished up midterms and my third cumulative exam. Now I need to get back into my research, which has been on the back burner for the last 3 weeks, write a paper for each of, accomplish a group project, and think about finals, which will be here way too soon.

Alyssa's room - Before and After

This was to be Alyssa's room when we first saw the house with our real estate agent:



This is her room now:


Here is a 360 degree view video. I couldn't rotate the video file, so turn your head on its side to the left or rotate your monitor 90 degrees clockwise for the best view.



And here is Alyssa waking up in her big girl bed and her new room for the first time!




She has adjusted great to all the changes with the new house, new bed, new city, etc. She misses her friends from Panama City, and we miss our friends, too. I will be starting orientation at the Chemistry department on Monday. Alyssa will start day care part time on Tuesday, and LeMar's job hunt continues to move at the pace of a three-toed sloth (slowest animal on earth). Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God bless!

The Worst of the Damages

Here is a look at the most extreme damage from the movers:

Before:


After:


They also damaged several pieces of furniture, some out of sight but some quite visible.

Quick update; more will follow

Hello all! We've officially moved to Gainesville. We bought a house and took on some serious re-flooring and quite a lot of painting. My parents were down from Colorado to help out, and it was greatly appreciated. Now that they've returned home, Alyssa is missing them a lot and asks about them daily. Speaking of Alyssa, she is all grown up! Potty training progress continued throughout the move without too many set backs, and in more exciting news, she now sleeps in a big girl bed. Her room is very, very cute. I'll post pictures soon of before-and-afters throughout the house. In case you're wondering how the fish did during the move, you'll be happy to know most handled it well. We lost only 1 of 7 even though they were forced to live in bags for 5 full days. A couple were sick after the ordeal, but we've been medicating them all and it seems everyone else will pull through. Well, it is now after midnight, and I'm exhausted. Check back within the next week for pictures!

Introducing Alyssa's brother or sister

He or she is expected to join the rest of the air-breathing family members in January 2011. For those interested, that puts me currently at 12 weeks along in a "40 week" pregnancy. Alyssa came at 39 weeks, praise God; she would have been 9+ lbs. if she stayed an extra week. I seem to be past all the morning sickness and have moved into the "honeymoon phase" of pregnancy; I look normal and feel great! We are all very excited about the new addition. It will of course make the move, grad school, and LeMar's job situation all the more interesting, but this child is a such a blessing we wouldn't trade him/her for anything.

Speaking of LeMar's job hunt; he has applications pending with FHP (state troopers), TSA and UFPD. Please remain in prayer for his job situation.

We are continuing to get ready for the move which is now less than 4 weeks away. Time flies! We're excited to get down there, but a little sad about leaving friends behind. Good thing we have a blog, email, skype and phones to keep in touch!