Up All Night- The Growing Prysocks

Well hello friends, David here. If you're one of those people who happen to read our blog by some fateful Google-related coincidence and don't actually know us, then brace yourself because you're about to get some massive updates. But we know this post will be mostly old news to most of you, because you read Facebook.

We moved back to Texas! You'll notice that the blog is no longer "adventures in alexandria" because we're now in North Richland Hills, Texas. Yes, that's right, Texas forever....or at least for now. To make a long story quite short, the DC cost of living was getting out of hand and it was clear that our finances would not allow for us to start a family, which we were hoping to do. God graciously opened a door for us to return to Texas. I was transferred within my company to our Dallas office and so I am still doing the same job, in-home family counseling. We live in a duplex in North Richland Hills (yes I know that's not Dallas, and yes I drive a lot). We really like our place and it's much more spacious and affordable than our apartment in Alexandria. Maybe if you're lucky you'll get pictures sometime.

And the other big news....we're pregnant! Well, Stephanie's pregnant, but I helped! Jonah Matthew is due around July 9th and we're very excited. We thought and prayed about this for while before we started trying and, again, God graciously answered our prayers. We're going to be doing a natural childbirth in a birth center which includes the Bradley method where the husband is highly involved as the coach. We are currently doing an 8-week class on this. The birth center is literally a short walk from a major Dallas hospital and the midwives (yes, midwives) are very experienced and knowledgeable. Yes, this means no medication and no doctors, and yes I know you have questions/concerns. Perhaps we'll talk more about this in a future post.

Steph has turned into a domestic aficionado and we now live off our own homemade laundry detergent, homemade household cleaners, and we've switched out paper towels for only kitchen rags. In addition, we are cloth diapering. Yes, cloth diapering, as in fabric that you must wash after the dirty work is done. Steph is also making cloth wipes in lieu of disposable wipes. And she batch cooks, makes freezer meals, and sometimes makes us our own homemade bread.

"But David? Have you and Steph turned into bark-licking, granola-eating hippies who meditate on the moon and do tai-chi and watch Avatar every week? What has Virginia done to you? Is this what happens when people live outside of Texas? Are you going to disappear into a hippie commune? Are you also churning your own butter you freakish Amish wannabes? When did you start using words like "in lieu"? Can I borrow five dollars?"

No.
Virginia made us more careful about our money, appreciative of what we have, and closer as a couple.
I don't think it happens to everybody, but it might be safe to stay in Texas anyway.
Not likely, unless the price is right and the commune has good wifi.
No, but I wouldn't put it past Steph's incredible domestic food-making abilities.
Just now, be impressed.
No.

Since moving back to Texas and even some before then, Steph has done some amazing things for our home. We are deliberately a single-income family and she takes her role as housewife and future mother very seriously. She has been an immense blessing and an example of a Proverbs 31 woman. What she does not only saves us money, but makes our home a better place to live. Certainly I'm not saying that how we do things is the best or only way, but it works for us and I only mention these big changes as means of sharing what's new with the Prysocks. Most of these changes are for financial reasons and the environmental friendliness is just a welcome added benefit. Honestly, I also think it's because it's just fun for Steph to find homemade, economical ways to do things, and I love her for it.

Jonah is going to have a great mom and we're both really excited. The room is about half done and for decorations we are doing robots. Yes, I said robots.

"But his name is Jonah! Why not do whales?? Yeah it's a little morbid and possibly terrifying to a baby, but it could be good!"

That's what I said! But Steph didn't want the obvious choice, she wanted robots. Here is her reasoning. And I paraphrase, "You're a nerd and you like nerdy sci-fi stuff and I love that and so I wanted to have robots as a tribute to your nerdiness. Also, you're awesome." Or something like that. How could I argue with that? Now, she says robots and I'm thinking "Cool! We can do a BSG Cylon-theme!"

But no, that is not what she meant. "Well then surely we can do Terminator!"
"No," she says. "And don't call me Shirley." What she meant was something more like this:
Which I'm pretty excited about. It's cool because it's robots, but it's also whimsical and baby-friendly. When it's all done we'll post pictures of what the room actually looks like.

So there's my not-so-brief update of where we're at. Right now it's pretty much all about the baby and we have been so blessed to have the encouragement and support of our family and friends as we prepare to grow our family.