Liam turns a year old and Olivia goes back to school!

As you may have noticed from the last post we no longer live in Hammonton NJ, but moved to  Richmond Hill, GA at the end of June.  Probably the easiest move we have made in the past 14 years of moving for the CG.  All we had to do was go south and in two days we were at our new home.  Well, actually it took three days because the first day we got a late start and hit Friday rush hour through Baltimore and DC.  We spent two nights in Virginia to recharge our batteries.  Overall it was a successful move, however our home goods not so much.  The driver for the moving company tried to cram our stuff along with another coastie's into one truck, which resulted in a lot of damaged furniture and broken items.  They were not paying attention to fragile boxes, shoving them under heavier ones to make things fit.  What are you going to do, the price you pay with moving in the military.  I have learned to not be too attached to material things, which is actually a good thing.
So far we really like Savannah, GA!  It has a lot to offer from a very colorful downtown (reminds me of New Orleans), to beaches, water ways, shopping, food, and family fun activities.  Richmond Hill is about 30 minutes south west of downtown Savannah.  There is a farmers market, coffee with antique cars on Sundays, water sports, and many fun festivals and events at the local park.  The schools here are outstanding, receiving a 9 out of 10 rating, which is a big reason why we moved here over other places in Savannah.  Our home is across from a community pool and park, we literally walk across the street.  There is a YMCA I hope to join shortly, I can walk there through a trail at the end of our cul de sac.  The grocery store Krogers and restaurants are also walking distance from our house.  Pretty much I don't have to get in the car to do anything, which is awesome!
I also like the people of Savannah, GA.  They are positive, friendly, and literally would give you the shirt off their back.  For instance, I was about to enter a restaurant the other day and a man sprinted from his car to open the door for me.  Talk about southern hospitality!  I have always heard about southern hospitality, but never felt it until we moved here.  All 4 years living in Alabama I never felt it, which leads me to believe it only lives in some parts of the South.  But so far, I love it and it is so good to be around people that are not grouchy and rude.  I think the weather and outdoor lifestyle has a lot to do with it.
Although one thing I am not happy about is that it is not much cheaper to live here vs NJ.  I was looking forward to moving south because I thought everything would be cheaper like it was when we lived in Bama.  The bills, gas, grocery, housing, etc are surprisingly comparable to NJ, one of the most expensive states we have lived.  In NJ due to high cost of living we received around $300 a month in COLA/cost of living adjustment or extra living expense pay.  Unfortunately we don't receive COLA here, which has been a major adjustment along with not receiving Cha's regularly flight pay of $200 a month, making things tight the past month.  Next month he will start flight pay again, but we will have to find a way to juggle the pay cut while retaining the same cost of living.  Maybe I will return to work when Liam is in preschool.
The past two weeks has been full of many firsts in the Bush household.  Liam turned a year old on July 28th and Olivia started Kindergarten at Richmond Hill Primary on August 3rd.  Our babies are growing up so fast!
It is absolutely surreal that it has been a year since I gave birth to Liam.  Time flies when you are having fun, ha, more like preparing and dealing with a move.  I try my best to be in the moment and appreciate our children in all their cuteness.

Talk about cute, just look at that face!  Charlie and I are truly blessed with some great kids.  Someone asked me if I edit my pics of Liam and only post the smiling ones.  Nope, what you see is what you get.  The boy has a permanent smile on his face 24/7 and it is hard to find a pic were he is not smiling.  Liam is just love, which radiates to all those around him.  Strangers passing by will literally stop in their tracks to interact with him, I call it the baby tracker beam.  One time in the grocery store I passed a lady and she stopped to look at him, as we got to the other end of the store she was still starring L down and called out, "is he always that happy?"  Yep!  He is our ray of sunshine, always giving hugs (I especially like the ones I receive when he gets up from bed), and flirting with all those he comes into contact with.  Maybe he is going to run for office someday,  God help us!
Liam's B-Day was not very eventful, since we just moved.  We had a family celebration at home with his own personal smash cake/over sized cupcake.  He loved it, it was chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.  Liam is a chocolate lover like his sister.  While he was eating the cupcake he was humming, which is a sign Liam is in full enjoyment mode.  Sometimes when I rock him to sleep he will make the same humming sound, which brings me to the point that Liam is very musical and has some serious vocals.  While shopping he was doing what I like to call his velociraptor screams, not that he is mad, just bored and wants attention.  One of the employees said he is going to be a great singer someday.  Just like O, L loves to watch music videos and dance.  If he hears a beat he will start to pump his chest and bounce up and down.

Liam continues to grow, grow, grow!  At his year appointment he was 30 inches tall, weighed 23.2 lbs., and had a head circumference of 18.9 inches.  He didn't gain that much weight since his last appointment in NJ, mostly because he started crawling and has been burning more calories.  But he continues to be long and have a huge head.  Since the move his sleep has been a bit disrupted and he wakes between 4-6 am demanding a bottle.  I think it a combination of stress of the move and a growth spurt, but who really knows.

I bought this reclaimed wood ruler to measure our kids growth through the years.

Liam's 1 year checkup was nothing like his 6 month checkup.  He used to lie patiently on the doctors table, but now he wiggles and squirms.  He won't even let me carry him, all he wants to do is get on the ground and explore.  As you can see he was a bit frustrated about being measured and it even looks like he is telling the nurse,"please stop, that's enough lady"!  Overall Liam is a healthy happy boy.

Liam continues to be a good eater and is now transitioning from purees to solid food.  He will still eat a puree, but would rather eat what you are eating or drinking.  His favorite food is pizza and I love to make our own and create his own baby size pizza.  Liam could live off of pizza crust.  Above he is eating his first PB&J, which he devoured.  Liam has also transitioned from formula to whole milk, which he did with ease.  He also figured out how to drink from sippy cups, regular cups, sport water bottles, and straws instantaneously.  With Olivia it seemed like it took her a year or two to figure out how to drink from a straw or regular cup.  They always say the second child does things sooner and faster.

Curls, curls and more curls! Liam has these Shirley Temple curls that go from one ear to the other.  O had some curl when she was a baby, but Liam seems to have more and more pronounced curls.  He resembles my nephew Brandon at this age, who had similar hair.  I have always wished for children with curly hair, however I know it probably won't last long since Cha and I have bone straight hair.

Liam plays well by himself, something that his Sis has only done the past year or so.  He loves cars, trucks, and trains.  My best friend Abby gave him this super cute car ramp by EverEarth for his B-Day.  The cars go immediately in the mouth like most everything.

It seems like yesterday that O was as big as Liam.  How is our baby so grown up and going to Kindergarten!?! She still loves school and going on the bus, which stops right by our house.  She didn't even complain about being at school all day long.
Olivia's personality is outgoing as ever and the move didn't hinder this social butterfly.  Every time we go to the pool she makes a new friend and her first day of school she said she made two.  I hope she continues to be so well adjusted.
Olivia also had a check up the same day as Liam's year checkup, lets just say I spent the whole day at the doctors office.  O is very tall at 45 inches and 44.8 lbs.  She had to get a shot, which she was not happy about.  Up until now she has been very brave about receiving shots, but not anymore.

The night before the first day I decorated her folder.  O picked out all the stickers and I applied them. Not my best work, but I knew O would like it.  This girl is all about glitz and glamor, the more bling the better.

There she goes!  Another school year has commenced and I am so happy for O to start learning and making friends again.  I pray she enjoys her experience at Richmond Hill Primary, just as much as she did at Warren Sooey.  This year I volunteered to be home room mother for O's classroom.  I cannot wait to organize and put on the parties.  So far so good with our new life in Georgia!