5 Weekends In A Row

Blessed by this father/son pair!!

A LOT has happened in the past 44 days since our last blog post...including the fact that we were at home in Nashville for 5 weekends in a ROW! I think that must be a Nall record for us :) Coming off of the "Nashville to Birmingham traveling extravaganza" from January and February, it was a real treat to stay put as our family of three for the entire month of MARCH! I would have an occasional inkling to hop on the blog and give an update, but there seemed like too much to say and not enough energy to say it! And now even more time has passed so there's even MORE to say but instead of continuing to put it off...I figure that it's better to give a short update than none at all...and you know this is just a few of the highlights! Let's hit on a few of the most common questions of the times: 

Are you all settled in your new spot? We love our new spot in Nashville! As you may have read in a previous post, we decided to keep our house (the Nashville home that we own) as a rental property ... and we are currently renting a different place! It's a super cute spot in a convenient part of town and we have friends in the neighborhood and it's been a wonderful fit for our family. We feel more and more settled each day. Let's just say that moving with a baby is a whole different kind of move. It's not like the previous moves where after the first 7-10 days everything is spick and span and in its spot. We have amazing friends that have come over and helped me crank out different projects - and that has been a huge blessing - but I also reminded myself to put "relationships over perfectionism" and that has been a great way to sum up the past couple of weeks. When you move with a baby and have feedings every couple of hours and a precious life to take care of instead of your main focus being to unpack everything and find a spot immediately...you are reminded that the sweet lives in front of you are more important anyways than having things in their spot! If you were to come over for a visit, you'd say it looks like we've lived there for awhile and like everything is in order...but I still know of a few projects here and there that can be done *wink* But yes, for the most part, we are settled in (physically speaking)...but I can say that it feels like we haven't skipped a beat as far as picking up where we left off with our community of friends. People have been SO welcoming...from coming to the house to bring meals, reaching out to us at Church, and just simply loving us well in the day-to-day! 

Do you all miss Birmingham? Of course! We were very happy in Birmingham!! It would be hard to live in a spot for two years and all of a sudden move and NOT miss it!! That's just my take :) I have said all along that we could be happy wherever the Lord leads...because the Lord is the one leading us AND we are together!! We did not have any clue that the Lord would be leading us away from Nashville TO Birmingham two years ago when He did...and we did not have any clue that our next move (after living in Birmingham) would be BACK to Nashville!! The whole thing is part of the great adventure the Lord has us on as a family! We have friends that we have known for years in Birmingham (from me growing up in Chattanooga, from B growing up in Dothan, from college years at Auburn, etc) and we have friends that God connected us with during these past two years in Bible Studies, through our Church family, through the Men's Baseball League, dear neighbors, and divine appointments of people that walked with us through pregnancy and birth of our first baby!! The neat thing about this day in age is that we can stay connected with these people, just as we had been with our Nashville friends while away...these relationships will always be something that we treasure about this great city! 

How is Nelson doing? Nelson has been a champ through each stage of this whole move! He is so chill and easy going and really the one that God has provided to bring us back to the reality of how much we have to be thankful for and what truly matters...even when all around us changed very quickly! He just turned 8 months on April 7...but month 7 of his life (the month of March) was FULL of a lot of changes and new milestones!! You may have read in the last post that as of February 26, Nels went from wearing his snowboard 22 hours a day to wearing it just at night - which is generally a 12 hour time frame from the time he goes to bed around 7pm to the time he wakes up in the morning around 7am. He also moved from sleeping in his co-sleeper crib in our room to sleeping in his crib in his new room. He started sitting in a high-chair! He started playing on his A,B,C,1,2,3 bright and colorful rubber playmat! On March 21, he started crawling! We've even set up the pack-and-play in the living room for him to play in at times because if we don't watch him like a hawk, he is into everything!! We've been able to use the Ergo Carrier more since he's free of the snowboard!! He loves playing peek-a-boo! He blabbers all the time to the point you think he's going to start speaking in sentences!! We started using sign language for certain words (mommy, daddy, shoes, dog, milk, more, all done) and many more to come! He is such a happy baby and truly lives up to his Instagram hashtag of #AdorableNels!!

How are Nelson's feet? They are doing great! We had a check-up on March 28 and the doctor confirmed that they were right how they are supposed to be and to keep up the great work!! So that means that we continue to have him in the snowboard for 12 hours in the evening and we always stretch his little feet before we put him in his shoes. The doctor pointed out how she could tell that Nelson liked his shoes (Nelson LOVES his shoes and whenever he spots them in the room, grabs for them and wants to eat them) which means that the parents have made a point to make the shoes fun. Apparently there are some children at this phase of the club feet journey that still cry and fuss when the shoes come out because the parents have probably had negative body language and attitudes toward the shoes. It has been our goal since day one to make the shoes a positive experience - and we can't thank you enough for YOUR prayers for and with us in this journey because by the grace of God, we do truly see these shoes as the blessing that they really are!! He is now at the point where he will go for his next check up at the end of May! He got fitted for a new pair of shoes at his last appointment (since the others were almost too small) and tonight is his first night in his new shoes!! Growing boy!

How are you and Brandon? We are doing well! Right after the move was when we had a few "come to Jesus" type of moments of really talking through communication and expectations (the two words that have and I think always will be such a huge part of our marriage) but to God be the glory for how He is working in and through us. Funny now that I can't even remember all the details of what those talks were even about - even though in the moment they seemed like such a big deal! I think we can both attest to the fact that after a "heavy" talk, we are learning to forgive and forget and move on. Our time together is so short that it's neat to see how what used to be more of us analyzing this or that or beating the horse into the ground on a topic back when we were first married - now is something that we can deal with, drop it, and move on...which is SUCH a blessing to see that growth. Brandon has been such a blessing to me to give me time to get out and have some time to run some errands, go to the grocery, go by Babies R Us, go get my nails done, etc (!!!) in the evenings sometime so that I can have a "mommy moment" and he watches Nelson. And now that Nelson is down for the night by 7pm or 7:30pm, that gives B and I a great window of time for some quality time. We've learned to make the most of our family time as the three of us while Nels is awake in that small window between B getting home and Nels going down for the night. The other day B even said, "Ya know babe, sometimes I wish Nels got to stay up later...I love playing with him!" Melted my heart!! I am so thankful for a God-fearing husband that works hard for our family which allows me to stay home with our son! It's something I don't take for granted. God is continuing to show us how HE is the only one that is going to satisfy our every need! We pray to be more like HIM ... as HE is the ultimate example of how we are to love and forgive and walk through this LIFE with one another!! 

So much more to say...but hopefully we'll have a window of time to share another glimpse into the Nall family before another 44 days go by!!