embracing the "hippie" within

I'm trying to be more of myself lately. Apparently I'm more of a hippie than I thought. I'm into green living, natural childbirth, breastfeeding, & cloth diapers. I like the thought of buying organic foods, but alas, the budget doesn't allow for it. I occasionally splurge on items here & there. I'm also attempting to get into buying furniture, clothes, etc. all gently used instead of buying new and just adding to the junk that is filling up the world. I'm thinking of home-schooling my kids for at least a few years. I have been treating myself to about a coke a day since we've moved. It helps me cope. I have been reading a book written by a lady who moved over 10 times in her married life & she is teaching me how to cherish NWA & cling to the now. I also got my nose re-pierced. Happy 30th birthday to me! It was semi-spontaneous, slightly annoying for the first 3 weeks, but pretty cool over-all. I'm still sometimes a little self-conscience about it (silly me, worrying about what other people think).

Anyway, I don't know where all of that came from. I just really wanted to share this story with you. It's part of why I love natural childbirth & want to have baby number 3 at home (nope, not pregnant yet!).

twelve months

Benjamin officially turned one year on Friday, September 12th. We celebrated by going to the park for a picnic with our hurricane evacuees :-) My parents, grandma, & uncle have been staying here since Wednesday night due to Ike. Their visit was a nice surprise & it seems as though the area they live only has some light wind damage. Benjamin has been talking a lot & toddling around. He still needs something to pull up on in order to stand up, but loves trying to walk. He can make it at most about seven feet. Our sweet baby is officially a toddler!

grabow reunion

Two weekends ago we attended the Grabow family reunion at Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville. Originally when it was decided to be there we were still living in NWA so it was a little strange since we now live in Oklahoma. The usual traditions of Christmas Bingo & Crazy Bridge were to be had. We also swam, played croquet, & hiked the Sequoyah woods. Drew had an absolute blast playing scary monster with his cousins & Benjamin spread his sweetness around as usual.

osu

We haven't ever officially blogged about our move so I figured that it is finally time. I'll give a quick run-down of how we got to Stillwater, OK. This spring David accepted a clinical instructor position in the Hotel & Restaurant Administration Department at OSU. Tuesday through Friday he teaches a lab where students learn about managing, serving, hostessing, etc. Then he also teaches a class two days a week. OSU is pretty unique in that it has one university owned hotel & three restaurants all used for training. We moved August 1st and are renting a duplex. We have been unable to sell our house in NWA & are looking for a renter. Hopefully we'll find one soon & after a year lease we'll be able to sell it & start looking for a house here.

Check out David's info on the department's faculty page. It has been quite the roller coaster of emotions getting here & we aren't quite settled in, but I am so proud of David!

ben's party

We celebrated Benjamin's birthday a little early with a small party last Friday. He officially turns one on September 12th at exactly 4:29 pm. Benjamin was all smiles as usual & after getting through the top layer of icing, he thoroughly enjoyed the cake. I think he ate almost half of it!