Keep on keepin' on...

(This is the second of 2 blogs in 2 days- must be a record, huh? If you haven't seen the one below this, read that first- 'On the road again')

Hello, all! Mom here. Things have certainly been hectic since we arrived here in Fort Worth. After driving around and looking at at least 12 houses, we found the one we're in and snatched it up since it wasn't in the ghetto and didn't cost too incredibly much per month! The day we moved in, the movers brought our air shipment and stuff I had in storage since I moved to Australia, Daniel came home from work and we started unpacking and working out what we were sleeping on, etc. It was a few days later that we discovered a little gift the previous owner had left for us--- fleas. Oh, yes, for those of you who have been unfortunate enough to have had fleas in your house, you know it's not fun. After lots of vacuuming, doing foggers 3 times and a professional pest control flea spray (paid for by the home owner), 2 weeks later we were free of fleas. We had a problem with pet hair in my used car as well, so several people have joked that with the car pet hair issue and fleas, our children are not getting pets for a long time. VERY true. If anyone buys us a pet (other than maybe a fish) for Christmas or a birthday or something, you might just find yourself with a new pet. =)

The house is great for a rental. We live right on a corner which turns out to be a pretty busy street, though you wouldn't know it as it is just a regular street through a neighborhood. Both of the girls' rooms are on that side of the house so I think the cars sometimes wake Carly up at night and she ends up in with us. Thankfully Daniel convinced me that we should get a King size bed! Every time we have had both girls in bed with us I have been very thankful for the extra room. We have a garage but it's currently pretty full of boxes from both shipments/storage. We received our sea shipment a bit earlier than we expected it- about 2 weeks ago now. Yes, we still have a few boxes to go through...things take at least 4 times longer with kids, I tell ya. We are on the West side of Fort Worth so we are a bit over an hour from Daniel's family on the Dallas side. If anyone wants our address, just email us at jenhenderson1@hotmail.com and I will give you all of our new info.

A few days after we moved into our new place, Kate had her 4 month checkup and immunizations (she was about 4.5 months by then). Kate definitely didn't enjoy the shots but I found it even more heart wrenching as in Australia they combine the shots so at Carly's 4 month I think she got 2 and here Kate got 5 separate shots...ouch. They pronounced her to be in good health, she weighed 14 pounds 13 ounces (6.72 kilos) and was 25 inches long (63.5cm). At about the same age, Carly was 16 pounds 3 ounces and 26 inches long but Kate definitely has more hair than Carly did (though she had a fair amount herself). If you want to take a trip down memory lane, take a look at the photo album from when Carly was about 4 months old.

Daniel really likes his job at Apex Capital Corporation. He is doing development with a team of guys he gets along with well. We live about 5 minutes from work so he leaves just a bit before 8am and he is usually home by 5.30. He likes the way the company works, the co-owners, the people he works with and is slowly sorting out all of the different systems he needs to know everything about! They have not expected too much too quickly but are also giving him responsibility so it's a good mixture. He is going through a course they put all employees through- Factoring 101. Apex provides capital to truckers through 'factoring'...I don't fully get it myself and I think most people don't...I guess that's why they have all employees go through Factoring 101! It's several hours 2 days a week for 6 weeks. He should be a walking encyclopedia on factoring by the time he is done. Maybe he can at least explain it to me. =)

We have had a few setbacks along the way...I thought I broke my wrist the other week but found out it was just a Ganglion cyst that had popped out (thank goodness) when I ran into the wall (yes, I am full of grace). It's pretty sore but not a broken bone! Kate has had oral thrush but thankfully we already had a pediatrician from her 4 month checkups so that has been a breeze to get medicine. Kate continues to have many of the colic symptoms that Carly had as a baby. Some days are great while others include lots of crying. I find the juggling act between children is very challenging and patience-trying at times (very normal, I know).

My mom was able to come down for the weekend July 4th. We had originally planned on her driving down and bringing us some furniture we have at her house, but when the truck and moving guys, etc wound up getting too pricey, we just opted for a visit instead. We will all drive up to KC in the next couple of months for a visit and to get our stuff. I think Daniel will drive back the car with trailer attached and the girls and I will fly back after a few days. We have seen Daniel's family multiple times and so far have not made the trip over to Dallas with both girls as they have all come to us in Fort Worth. Thank you! I think we will go over sometime in the next couple of weeks for a couple of days.

Carly and Kate have done SO well through this whole transition. Carly has really gone with the flow. We have seen a few behavioral thing come up (she learned the word 'tantrum' yesterday) but it's only been a few times. And I know that challenging behavior sometimes just comes with being 2 1/2! She makes me laugh on a daily basis and her imagination is amazing. Yesterday she pretended that this little ball on a post of the day bed was a head. He had a headache so she put her necklace around 'him', saying it was a band aid. And she also gave him a lecture about being more careful outside and he wouldn't get any boo boos. I thought it was pretty random, but she IS Daniel's child so that's not a huge surprise. =) Carly pretends she is going shopping with her little cart/trolley, asks me what I want at the store, etc. Sometimes I 'go' with her and she tells me to look both ways for cars. She is obsessed with shorts with pockets in them. She enjoys putting her treasures in there or stealing change from my wallet to save for a rainy day. And she is really into taking pictures with our camera (I have posted several 'Carly pics').

Kate is such a happy baby, as long as she does not have tummy pain. I cannot believe she is almost 6 months old! While it does feel like she has been around for a long time, the time has also flown in many ways. Kate sleeps on her tummy, by herself in her crib most of the time (Carly was in our bed for AGES so this is a novelty). She can make tracks across the room in a very short amount of time, it's just going in the backwards direction! I think she will crawl soon. She likes to 'talk' a lot lately and she likes the little jumper/play center we borrowed from our friends Brian and Natalie (and baby Jake). I'm pretty certain her first tooth will come in sometime in the next week or so. She is such a drooler at the moment and is chewing on everything. We have started to smooth her hair to one side because if it's straight down it's so long it gets in her eyes! She LOVES Carly and enjoys bonding with her by rolling around with her on the floor, pulling her hair, drooling on her, etc.

Carly is usually very kind to Kate. She is excited to see her when she wakes up in the morning or has a nap. She says, 'Hi, hugh dubai' (cutie pie)! And when Kate pulls her hair she just says, 'No, hugh dubai'! When we were driving around looking at houses and cars, etc Kate would often get upset and start crying. Daniel started singing 'Twinkle Twinkle little star...' and Kate would calm down. So now whenever Kate gets upset Carly begins singing Twinkle Twinkle... sometimes at the top of her lungs. Sometimes it actually succeeds in Calming Kate down and sometimes she cries louder. I wonder why. Carly loves to dance around to make Kate laugh and is a good little helper, giving Kate toys and putting her pacifier/dummy back in her mouth if she's upset. Probably the biggest change for Carly is not seeing all the familiar people in her life and playing with her friends every couple of days or even every day. She is such a social kid that I think she has gone through a bit of withdrawl.

I took the girls to a Summer session of Kindermusik, a music and dance class that we did a while ago back in Alice, and Carly loved that. It also gave us an opportunity to meet some other moms and kiddos, who we have since gotten together with about once a week. There are a few other people I have met along the way who are very lovely and welcoming. I have certainly felt the change, not having familiar people we could just go hang out with. It's already August so we only have another month or so for swimming but we will get out there a few times hopefully. We were used to hot days in Alice but here it's hot AND humid, which is a really disgusting combination that is taking some getting used to.

Life has pretty much been at full speed for at least 6 months now with Kate being born, preparation for moving, moving, finding cars, place to live, etc, but we are starting to get a bit more settled. We definitely miss Australia, our friends, our church, our home, etc, but we believe that this is where God has us for now so we know we will adjust and it's very nice to be closer to family. This time I have included some pictures but I have a backlog of videos to cut down/edit and get out there so stay tuned! Enjoy the most recent pics for now!