Welcome Fall!

And with it... big changes for the Jones household. This week is my official last week of working outside the house. We had a really great child care set up where Carina split her time between two of our stay-at-home-mom friends and all three of us loved it. However one friend went back to work and the other is having her second baby next month! Peter and I have been praying and mulling it over for some time and feel that now is the time for me to stay home.

It has been my ultimate goal and dream to be home with Carina since the day she was born (even before!) and although finances will be challenging, there is little I love more than wrangling a budget and making it work. Plus I've already started doing some babysitting 1-2 days a week and that gives us a little extra breathing room. I am so excited to plan play dates and fun-filled outings for me and Carina as well as hopefully devoting a little more attention to the cooking, cleaning and shopping (so when Peter is home we have more quality family time). That's the dream anyway!

But enough about me. It has been a while since I've posted a proper Carina update. She is talking, talking, talking! We saw The Cat in the Hat cartoon on PBS this mornng and whenever I sing the theme song, she repeats "Go, go, go!" after me. Tonight at dinner I asked Peter to get Carina more applesauce, stat, and she said "Go, go, go!" It was so adorable. She knows what her hat is and asks for it and wants to wear it. Same with shoes. She is also completely obsessed with Elmo. We have a puzzle and until we find Elmo's face, after every piece we pick up she asks "Elmo? Elmo?" We borrowed an Elmo book from the library this week. We're enablers.

She has become such a good little helper. I give her small pieces of clothing from the washer and she puts them in the dryer for me. I can give her trash to take to the trash can. She handed Daddy cans of cat food to put away after grocery shopping this morning. She is also blowing kisses really well and I love to see her do it when Peter leaves for work in the morning.

We went to Messiah this afternoon for a walk. Pics below :)