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That is the go fund me link for our fundraiser to get a water meter. Thanks for looking.

The kids nicknames

Blame it on facebook and their 'on this day' thing! I have found it mostly interesting,  some times very sad, to see things from the past, to see the seasons change through the years, both literally and figuratively.  So I am going to attempt to post a blog or status everyday, one thing I have noticed is how much the kids grow. You blink and they are five years older.  Also, I know I have mentioned it, but in many ways time stopped, life stopped, when our home was destroyed.  It has been just survival since then. Sometimes it is more settled, especially in the last year, but I still have to remind myself that Dolores is not 1.5 and Paul 4, and it is getting harder now that Charlotte is the age it all happened, the whole world crumbling apart. As Pa says many times in the Little House series, alls well that ends well,  we are certainly in a better place because of all of that, but it still happened, it is still a wound healing.

Anyhow, here is some fun that has been waiting to be posted for awhile, how tbe kids nicknames came to be! :)

It started with Paul calling himself 'Paul the dog' (which is also a very annoying game he made up!) He started this shortly after we moved here, around Christmas of 2012, he would go nuts like the dogs did when Chip got home. The dogs were outside mostly, but a big 5 year old jumping around like a dog in a little rv was a lot! But it is Paul's only nickname so it has become a fond memory :) he is still occasionally 'Paul the Dog'.

Then Dolores had to be included in the craziness of daddy coming home.  She started calling herself 'Dolores the cat' she has since added 'the dog, the plane, the styrofoam plane, landing on a jet plane (which comes from John Denvers' Leaving on a Jetplane). These she has added them all herself.

CharlotteBelle has been 'Baby Belle' (like the cheese the babybel brand cheese) and after our friend who is named Belle. Chip added 'Baby Belle Cheese'. She has aquired and few addions because of her love of pasta sauce and dipping thi gs into various sauces or dips. Her offical full nickname is CharlotteBelle Marie Baby Belle Cheese Sauce Awesome Sauce Dipper. Dolores wants to add Ice Cream, but Charlotte does not like ice cream so it isn't happening!

I am not a nickname person, just want to call people their names, but the kids love it and of course Chip does. So they get names from me and nicknames for daddy and each other.

Faces of CharlotteBelle

Here are a few of her at 2 months/9 weeks.

CharlotteBelle is four weeks old!

(Written December 15)

Her birth story will be posted soon. I can't believe she has been here for four weeks! It doesn't seem possible.

So far she has gained over 2 pounds and that was at our 3 week post partum check so not sure what she is up to now.

A few pictures.

39 weeks

*written 3 months ago, kept forgetting to post*

It has been a long time since I posted.  I am going to attempt an update but not sure I can do the last 6 months justice!

Last I posted was about our driven point well, we worked and worked at it but it stopped moving, we hit some rock we couldn't get through.  So the pipe still sits there and we haul water.  It wouldn't be such an issue if we had a car.

To the car. It died at the end of May.  I won't go into the horrid details of those first weeks, it was ugly and really taxing and a true trial in survival.  Over the next month, Chip got a scooter and we found a driver who drives Amish who was willing to drive me to town too, he also let's me fill all the jugs and buckets I can from his well, truly a God send. 

We made it through the summer, our first with no electricity, and it wasn't as awful as we thought and didn't change our minds on power :).  Life without electricity is pretty nice and peaceful.     Frankly we miss Internet and long for it more than ever, but not electricity.Currently I just have a basic prepaid flip phone with mobile web.  Think 2005.  Add in having awful signal here and it is a challenge. I have my old smartphone which I update every other week with rides into town.  That is how I wrote this.  I am hoping it works so I can share pictures and such. 

Now for baby talk! I am technically 'due' November 9th, my birthday, but Paul was born at 43 weeks and Dolores at just under 42, I am feeling it'll be around the 18th, time will tell! (CharlotteBelle was born November 17th) This is also a surprise and I haven't had a good hunch either way, some days I think boy others girl. We shall see.  The kids, especially Paul, are so excited, tons of questions about the baby and how big it will be, where it will sleep.   Dolores can't wait until I can carry her more and for me to have a lap again! I am sometimes ready, others not.  I want to know what life with this new little one will be like, nervous about how I will get all my work done and keep up, but of course excited too.

I think the best thing about now is that life actually seems to finally be getting settled.  If you go and read the post http://where-is-julie.blogspot.com/2011/09/everything-changes-in-blink-of-eye.html you will be reminded of where this all started.  It still seems like yesterday.  Two and a half years, and still some people don't get it. Time stopped that day.  I realized a few weeks ago, while talking to the kids about the coming baby, that even in my mind they were still just a little over 4 and 1.5. It was that moment I realized all over again the gravity of what we have been through.  We aren't just losers, we really have had a really rough time.  In the end, we are in a better place now, even though it is hard and people think we are nuts or are disappointed in our choices.  It is where we want to be, well minus a well :) but in time that will come.

Picture is me at 39 weeks when this post was written.

Paul's lego dinos

Paul's lego dinosaurs

the journey has officially begun!

the story is long and for another post, I just wanted to get back to posting and see how this works with the phone :)  we are living now in the beautiful Ozarks in a peaceful place.  I can't wait to share our journey and adventures :)