Stay at home mom

Back in December I made a pretty big decision, to start staying home with Bella. I almost went cold turkey, but somehow managed to regain some sanity. Or maybe I gained a little in-sanity, because now I'm going to school one day a week, and I'm home with Bella the other 4 days a week.  The one upside to doing both is that I have a good excuse anytime I fail at one or the other.

But, as with most things, I dove in head first. (That explains a lot doesn't it!?) We chose to get a 3 year curriculum program from North American Montessori Center that will take us through age 6. We converted the back sunroom into a classroom, and cordoned her usual toys that don't fit the Montessori model into the playroom. I'm hoping to blog more about this homeschooling journey soon. For now, here is a photo of Bella, very proud of herself, after successfully completing a clothes pinning activity.

And because I dove in head first, I got a bit of a concussion (like how I stuck with the whole pool diving metaphor?). I was grumpy, the house was a mess, I found myself still in pjs at dinner time, and realized that I hadn't left the house in 4 days. Oops.

So I'm getting my feet back under me. Trying to take smaller steps and feeling better about the whole thing. Hopefully keep you posted on that front, but I'm proud to report that I managed to put on actual clothes today and got some on Bella too, YAY!

We also got a new cat, and a new dog. Post to be done soon with the full story (can you tell my new resolution is to blog more?). But suffice it to say that our new additions are providing much entertainment, a lot of laughs, and a lot of frustrations. Here they are, Pippen and Josie (cat and dog respectively), who will likely get a few posts of their own here and there.

Vinny's car finally kicked the bucket (or rather...became so decrepit it wasn't worth fixing), so we also have a new car, which Vinny is immensely pleased about.  It's a 2011 Acura MDX.  He had it all of about 2 weeks before he knocked the side mirror off backing out of the garage.  But it is back in mint condition again, and hubby is happy...what can I say about that, other than 'life is bella.' :)

The Navy finally got back to us about where we'll be moving in July. They tell us they won't know anything official until congress approves a budget (so needless to say we aren't holding our breath for the official letter), but we are told that their plan is to send us to Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina. We're thrilled to be moving closer to our NC family, but sad to be leaving our RI friends and our MA family and friends. I'm nervous about the whole thing. I've logged a pretty ridiculous number of hours looking at houses in the Camp Lejeune area. We're using spring break in a few weeks to go down and look at houses and hopefully relax a bit.  I'm hoping for a bit of warm weather too.  Very tired of the snow we've been under up in Rhode Island this winter.

An upcoming move also mean our house is on the market.  We're going to attempt to sell it, but may end up renting it if necessary.  What that really means, is that until further notice, the house has to be able to be clean and presentable in an hour or less.  So the elves have been put on high alert and we're actually attempting to clean up after ourselves.

And last but not least, a snapshot from our life.

(And for those of you who notice that she's shirtless...I said I got clothes on her today, I never promised that they all stayed on for the whole day)