So much going on.

This will be one of those long boring post about everything that's been going on with us lately. So read at your own risk. Who knew that Alissa coming home would make things even MORE busy? I'm not complaining, just surprised. Since Alissa has come home, it's been a constant flow of guests and family coming to her house. Since I work on one side of the house in the home office, I get to be around for all of it. Alissa is making great progress. She's still extremely weak, but we take several walks a day to get some fresh air. You can tell it's getting easier every day for her to walk. The first day, she could barely stand on her own. She's lost 25 lbs! Tons of people have brought food and gifts and just stopped by to see her. Most of the time, she'll put on a brave face and play host to keep everyone smiling, but she's still in a great deal of pain. We've had many, many talks about life in general. With her brain injury, she's become extremely more emotional, so it doesn't take much to get her started on reflecting on her life. She wants to go on and do big things in life and make a difference wherever she can since this all happened. I'm glad something good has come out of this. With the wreck and all the traveling for his job, Derek and I have been going through a couple rough patches. Her accident has affected everyone, and we're no exception. Nothing to worry about, but hopefully things will get easier soon now that she's home. I haven't had time to get anything done, so my stress levels are pretty high at the moment. I've done everything possible to keep Gavin's party simple, but still don't have time to get everything done. It's going to be this Saturday and I'm just glad to see my family and friends and for everyone to get a break from all the stress. And Alissa will be able to come, which is so great! I have some news: First, my big sister Lacy has announced that she and her family are moving back to Waco, from Houston. They literally just bought a huge house in Houston and got settled in! But her hubby got a great new job offer locally and they have decided that it's worth taking. It will be a few months b/c he has to get settled and get new clients before she quits her job there. But I am sooooo excited about her coming back! She's one of my best friends and now Gavin & Connor will be able to grow up together!! Yay! Other news: After everything that has gone on with Alissa, and with great discussion, Derek and I have decided to not wait on......building a house. LOL. Had ya excited huh? I know I've talked about how we have plans on building a house out in the country in about 5 yrs, but we are going to go ahead and get started on the process now. We were two days away from closing on refinancing our home, but canceled it Monday b/c it's harder to buy/build after you refinance. So, we're pinching pennies, looking at house plans, and are about to start meeting with contractors and get started in hopefully only a year from now. His parents have to deed us some land on the new property they bought, and we have to obviously sell our house first, but I'm so excited that the process is not waiting. This way, I won't be worried about building and moving when Gavin is starting school and I could possibly have another baby by then. We've just recently gotten so sick of the location of our house now. And the town has grown soo much that we really just want to get out and get some privacy & quiet. Anyways..... Oh, I took Gavin and had his birthday pictures done yesterday. They turned out pretty cute and I had sooo many to choose from. Once I get them, I'll upload to my blog. In the process, I learned that he is NOT a fan of touching his birthday cake. I'm sure his party will be very interesting when we try to get him to smash his cake :) Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. I'll be back to post after his party this weekend!