Catching up!

I have not really done too much blogging (other than uploading pictures) recently because we have been relatively busy.  Busy in a good way.  Unfortunately, Juliet is having a bad battle with a winter cold.  She had a fever for a day or so and is now very snotty and has a terrible sounding cough.  She is not sleeping well at night (read: I got up with her like 10 times last night) so we have canceled all the day's activities and are just staying home.  So fortunately, I have plenty of time for a thorough blog catch-up!

Micah recently switched from the 1pm-1am shift to the 7am-7pm shift.  I really, really like it.  He works long days, but on his days off he is on our exact schedule which has been really nice.  He and I have both been working on improving our physical fitness levels, so one of his newest endeavors is bike riding or running to work.  Depending on the route you take, we live between 7 and 10 miles from work, one way.  I'm proud of him for getting up in the wee hours of the morning (like 4am) to run or ride to work sometimes. Sadly, Micah will be switching to the night shift (7pm-7am) next week.  It should be interesting for us all.  In other work news, as far as I know he still very much enjoys his work in the E.R. 

Not too much has changed in Juliet's daily life.  She is talking in complete sentences and saying all sorts of things.  She will NOT perform (read: talk when you ask her to) around anyone when prompted.  She becomes a mute when basically anyone but us talks to her.  Some of my favorite things that she is saying these days is "I'm good" and "boob".  For example, I'll ask "Juliet would you like a snack?", her reply, "No, I'm good." She says it just like some 15 year-old.  And for some reason instead of saying "booboo" she just says "boob"....which just sounds so hilarious it makes me laugh each time.  She'll say, "mom, I have a boob on my knee" or "mom, my boob hurts."  :)  She is finally potty-trained!  After ups and downs and successful and unsuccessful weeks for three months she is pretty much accident free.  Whew.  What. a. job!  Juliet is loving our backyard and simply loves to be outside.  She currently is drawn to live animals and anything related to babies.

I suppose my daily life has changed quite a bit over the past month or so.  I have begun teaching private Spanish lessons out of our home a few hours a week.  Also, I will be helping teach Spanish classes at our church, each Sunday before the service, starting in two weeks.  Micah and I have started helping with the Youth Group at church on Sunday nights.  Micah goes every other week because of work, and Juliet and I go each week.  The youth pastor was fine with us bringing Juliet along (otherwise we would not be able to help out) and so far she has done great.  I take her snacks and toys and she has learned to be a good whisperer :) I have also just this week started meeting with a lady from our church who is going to "mentor" me.  I was looking for someone older and wiser in San Antonio who could share life with me and simple speak truth into my daily endeavors.  She happens to be the wife of one of the pastors at our church, mother of two grown children, a seminary graduate, and she also happens to be Mexican :)  I was drawn to her by the ways she humbly serves at our church, the way she tangibly takes serious loving all of her "neighbors" and God's call to evegelism, and her Hispanic roots. I'm very much enjoying my time with her. 

I have very much been enjoying our new home!  I love the space, the yard, being a mile from a park that Juliet and I can walk or jog to, and being near McAlister Park.  McAlister Park is probably the largest park in San Antonio and it has lots of running/biking trails.  Like actual dirt/rock/root trails.  It's sooo amazing.  Micah and I have been putting in lots of miles there recently.  While Juliet was at pre-school on Monday, Micah and I went and did a long run there.  There is an outer loop trail that is about 6.5 miles.  Micah did two laps and I did about 1 and 2/3 of another lap....that's about all I have time for because Micah runs too fast!  It was just SO nice to kind of feel like you are not in a big city.  Micah is training to run a 15 miler trail race with some of his work buddies in March, and I'm just trying to burn calories.  Ha!

Well, I think that about catches you up!  This next week will be rather busy in a GREAT way because we have friends coming to visit us.  Micah's old D.C. buddies Grace (our wedding photographer) and Lani will be here for a long weekend and Josue (a friend from Mexico, also Karina's brother) will be visiting with us for the whole week.  Soooo we have a list of things to do that include the Rodeo, country concert, Two-Stepping, Spurs game, lots of eating, the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and of course celebrating the Super Bowl!  Go Russell Wilson-Go NC State-Go Seattle Seahawks!!! (For those of you who don't know, I sat next to Russell in my Communication class at NC State.)

Sleepy head!

Juliet has was not a good sleeper in the beginning, then became a great sleeper until we moved to Texas. She had a hard time adjusting but she finally got to sleeping through the night again (thankfully)!!!!  And since then she has been a great sleeper.  She goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm, sleeps till about 8am, and takes a 1 to 2 hour nap.  A few days out of the week we have places to be and she needs to be up by 7:30...which is really not very early, however, she is NOT a fan. Below is a picture of her one morning when she covered her head up and when back to sleep as I was picking out her clothes. Haha

North Carolina visit

Juliet and I had a great visit home. Juliet got more than enough attention (literally, more than she needed!), she got to see all three of her great grandparents, and I got in lots of family time too. Both with the Sullivan  and the Krishnan families!

Ducks

Our new neighborhood has a lake with lots of ducks. They are everywhere!  If you go to the lake with bread they flock you...

New Year's Eve

We had such a great day I don't even have any pictures to show for it!...I was just too busy enjoying myself to remember to take pictures.  I think Micah has a few, so I will try to track some down to post.  But for now I will just give you 1,000 words since I don't have a picture ;)

We woke-up New Year's Eve morning and hit the road to Austin.  Micah's "cousins" Mala and Giri (form Dallas) and Pooja and Josh (from New York) were there for the holiday so we spent the day with them.  They are just really fun people to be around and I always enjoy my time with them.  Not to mention Juliet LOVES them!  I don't know what it is but they just seem to relate to Juliet so well and always give her lots of attention. 

After our day in Austin we headed home for a late nap-time for Juliet, which she spent laying awake in her bed.  Super.  Around 6pm we headed to the house of some friends from church for a NYE party!  There were only three of us families in attendance and we all have two year-old girls.  We grilled out hamburgers and then roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores.  Being with those two families that are in our same stage of life was just fun and enjoyable!  Then, around 10pm the three of us headed over to welcome in the new year with the Hispanic Community Group from our church.  They were playing some games when we arrived, and then we had a time of sharing reflections of 2013 and hopes for 2014.  We had a time of prayer for the New Year and then ate our 12 grapes (a Mexican tradition!).  It was so good for my soul to be able to speak Spanish!  We made it home just before 1am and all of us were SO tired. 

What a great ending to a great year!