Taking the plunge...

I am now on Facebook. And I can see myself wasting, er, I mean spending a lot of time on it. It's, uh, kinda giving me a headache from all the scrolling and friend searching, not to mention the countless emails!

On the bright side...

I haven't seen a roach around here in over a week!

Ack!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Or rather, my house decided to fall apart today. Last night, we mopped up about 1.5 inches of water when the toilet overflowed. We put the new washer to the test... it held all our beach towels and guest towels, and we set it on "heavy duty" with "oxi clean" and "steam sanitize." Cool, huh?

We got to use those same settings again when Ian decided to, uh, overflow from both ends during the night. He also got an impromptu bath this morning in which he insisted that his Buddy (sleep toy) join him. Oh well, Buddy needed a bath anyway.

The carpet cleaner is here today because the carpet is just filthy. Apparently he can do plumbing, too, so he fixed the toilet. Then, the light fixture in our room broke. And I found that the fridge had leaked again, leaving two large puddles in the kitchen. Oh, and did I mention that our vacuum cleaner broke, too? Ack! Someone come rescue me!

I don't want to forget...

I need to document these somewhere...

Words Ian says really well with correct pronunciation and meaning: no, up, down, done, bye bye, hi, mama, mommy, dada, daddy, bo bo (is that a word?), bath, teeth, shoes, keys, juice, baby, eye, hot, whoa, among others I can't think of right now.

Dawg= Dog (it says "woof woof")

Bawl= Ball (where did this southern drawl come from?)

Nana= Banana (and also my mother as he points to her in his photo album*)

Nnnnuh= Nose

Uh-um= the way he says "uh oh," so cute!

Peasss= Please

Shide= Outside (sometimes he says "ow-shide")

Ba-Pa= Grandpa

Sween= Swing

Swie= Slide

I'm sure there are others, but I wanted to get down his little Ian-isms before he starts saying it the right way. My favorites are "uh-um" and "shide."

*I made Ian a photo album with pics of family and friends so he will know and remember them, especially since we now live further away. Some funny things about looking through that album:

Daby=Davey (it sounds a lot like "baby")
Don= Uncle Jon
Sfee= Sophie
Baby= Caleb (now why doesn't his cousin get a name?)

Oh, and here's an actual conversation from today:
Ian: "Where's Dada?"
Mommy: "Dada's at work."
Ian: "I want him."
Mommy: " I want him, too."

Because Mama Did

I remember getting Aveno oatmeal baths as a child whenever I had a skin irritation such as chicken pox, sunburn, etc. So when my child's diaper rash is so bad that he walks funny, I wanted so desperately to DO something. Of course, we've layered on the diaper rash cream at each diaper change, but his skin just looks so angry, and he acts so uncomfortable.

This calls for a trip to the neighborhood Walgreens! We find Aveno bath, the baby version, and I let Ian have a nice long soak (well, he splashed more than soaked) in it. I don't know if it made him feel better, but it made ME feel better. Because my mom did it. And now I'm doing it, too.

Do You Like Free Stuff?

Then, head on over to my friend's etsy shop blog to find out about a fun giveaway!

Whaddya Know?

My kiddo is officially 18 months old (as of yesterday). That's right, a year and a half! Only six months away from 2! It's crazy, I tell ya... how fast the past 18 months have gone by and how much he's grown and changed! We have his 18-month checkup on Monday, so I'm sure I'll have an update then. I really ought to document all the fun stuff he's doing these days plus the new words he can say, if I can keep up with them! But it has been a long day, and I'm tired. Tomorrow we head out of town for a couple of days, so I'll catch ya later!

Plan B

So I made brownies at John's request for him to take to work. My favorite mix, Ghiradelli's, now has a dark chocolate version, yum! This was my first thing to bake in our oven here, and it turns out it cooks hot/fast. So, the edges of the brownies were really crusty, but the inside portion was fine. So, I cut the edges off... and it reminded me of biscotti. In fact, it serves quite well as biscotti, as I tried it with my morning coffee. No brownie will go to waste! Pretty cool, eh?

Upcoming Plans

Not this week, but the next... Ian will be in Mother's Day Out, and I've found a new office environment. With our home internet service which is through AT&T, I can now access the web from ANY Starbucks! I have a feeling I'll find a new sense of productivity partnered with a strong coffee addiction.

Announcement

At my weigh-in this week, I am pleased to say that I have finally reached my pre-pregnancy weight! What, it only took me like 18 months postpartum, huh? Well, I really didn't get myself into gear until May of this year, so to have lost 15 lbs. since then makes me pretty proud... and hungry! :-)

Big Boy

Ian says... I am a big boy because I can turn on my music, ride my rocking elephant really fast, engage in conversation, steal mama's rocking chair, brush my hair, eat a banana, and contemplate the meaning of life while simultaneously eating said banana...

ALL BY MYSELF! (which is the theme these days)

(PS: Thanks to Great Grandma Largent for the super cute overalls.)

Hit and Miss

Some days are just better than others 'round here. Some days we get so lost while out driving, that we just want to hull up at home. Other days, we find things easy breezy, and we think, wow, what a great city with lots of fun stuff around. Some days Ian is his usual delightful self. Other days, he is super cranky and hard to deal with. Some days I feel energized to get boxes unpacked and stuff arranged. Other days I stare at the boxes with disgust and wish them to just unpack themselves... or just disappear.

So, I wanted to give you an update since the last post seemed like I was kinda down. (Well, except for the Container Store part.) At times I do feel a little overwhelmed, but for the most part, things are going pretty well. Here are some highlights:

The roach count is less and less! In fact, I didn't see ANY yesterday, and I saw one today squirming on his back already down for the count.

We had rain! Seriously, it rained for like three hours yesterday for which all of the city was celebrating. It's been a really dry and hot summer here. Our all-dirt backyard is a mud pit right now.

I found a Zumba class! I will be joining Gold's Gym after my initial "free week." The class was grueling and the instructor was upbeat, plus the facilities are nice and so is the PRICE. I looked at another gym in town that wanted to charge us $114 a month! And their Zumba class wasn't all that great, although they did serve watermelon afterward. (But I can go home and eat watermelon for less than 114 bucks a month!)

We went to the neighborhood pool yesterday right before it rained, so we didn't get to stay very long. But it was fun, and we'll definitely go back! Ian stayed very close to the edge of the kiddie pool, but I think he'll build his confidence soon enough.

We are having dinner tomorrow night with a childhood friend of John's who just happened to be living here AND working for John's company! They've haven't seen each other or talked for years until now, but he has a wife and a kiddo around Ian's age, so that should be fun to meet someone in town.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I am going to try and get some work done before Ian wakes up from his nap. He's sleeping much better than when we first got here, and a well-rested baby is usually in a better mood!

Oh... pictures? Ugh, I haven't even thought about taking a single one since we've arrived. Ian has done lots of cute things that I need to get a picture or video of... like sweeping and swiffering, smashing his nose up against the back door window, doing the hokey pokey (he must've learned it somewhere), and making all sorts of funny faces. Plus, we need to get our official "moving cards" out soon. If you know us and need our address for some reason, just call or email in the meantime. Our phone numbers will stay the same.

Tidbits from Today

When I walked into The Container Store, I breathed a deep sigh of delight and decided they should rename the store after me.

While shopping at Babies-R-Us, I discovered that we are close to that phase where Ian points at everything that he thinks he wants.

While trying out an area Zumba class tonight, I realized that probably 90% of the people in the class actually understood the words to the songs.

John's first day went well, but he has another "first day" of sorts tomorrow in his actual office and new job since today was just orientation at the main office.

I only saw one roach in the house today as opposed to an average of 4-5 on previous days which tells me that maybe the Raid stuff is working.

Ian's room is done except for wall hangings, and the kitchen is done except for the organization of the plastics cabinet which Ian will probably just mess up anyway.

Oh, and the highlight of the day was when I accidentally backed out of the garage into our other car thus creating two long scratches on each vehicle... and lots of tears.

Update?

We're here and we're OK. It's been a crazy week. Ian has been really cranky which hasn't helped our stress levels as adults trying to cope with the move. We've gotten lost a few times while driving around which can also stress you out, although we've explored some, and that's been fun. And the boxes seem to be multiplying! No matter how much I unpack, there's still more to do! John starts his new job tomorrow, and I guess I'll continue unpacking and trying to squeeze in my job somehow. The city is way cool. Tons of shopping. Too bad we've decided to put ourselves on a "spending freeze" in order to save for a house down payment. But that's not going to stop me from a visit to The Container Store, so I can figure out some space-saving storage options for this new place of ours.

By the way, the new washer and dryer are WAY COOL! The last time we moved, we bought a flat screen TV. This time, I'm thinking the consolation prize of a new washer and dryer has made me feel a little better despite the growing mounds of boxes. (Seriously, where did that box come from?)

A breather, of sorts

Well, Ian is at his last day of Mother's Day Out, John is at home with the movers, and I am sitting at Panera Bread enjoying bagel bites, a caramel latte, and free wifi. Why do I get the cushy job today? Well, I am actually working... trying to get all of my work done for this week. We also won't have internet set up at our new house until Monday, so today is the day for any last minute stuff online, ya know, like blogging. (Although I'm sure we'll find a wifi spot in SA when we get there.)

I just discovered that dipping my bagel bites (something new from Panera, miniature versions of their cinnamon crunch bagels, mmm) in my caramel latte is yummy!

Yesterday was a hard day... this move thing started to hit me. We had a farewell lunch with the church staff, a goodbye fondue bash with our Life Group last night, and the presence of some packed boxes have made things seem really real! Tonight, we'll enjoy another night with friends and visit with some other friends who just had a baby sometime before we head south tomorrow.

We've been here in our college town, well, since college! It has been good to us. We loved our time at Baylor, the jobs we've had here have been good experiences, and the friends we've made, of course, will be the thing we miss the most. To avoid getting all nostalgic and teary-eyed, please know that we love you all very much, and you've made an impact on our lives. We will have to commit to staying in touch, even if that just means we keep up with the blogs and such.

Oh, and look for me on Facebook sometime next week! (Or I will look for you... leave me a comment!) I've decided to finally take the plunge especially since I'll probably want something/someone that I know when we're starting out so fresh and new. But it's exciting, a big step in our adult lives, I think. So, we'll see you on the other side!

Beach Photos by Lydia

The Week's End

On Thursday, we bid farewell to the beach. We enjoyed our visit, of course, but alas... vacations must come to an end. Ian went home with Grandpa (whom he calls "Ba-Pa") and Grandma (a word we're still working on) while John and I went house hunting in our new city. We're planning to rent at first to get the lay of the land and save up for a house down payment. The goal was to find a house in a day, and here is how it went:

We met the realtor at 9:30 a.m. The first place we saw was OK, a little dirty and kinda overpriced for what it was. The second place was completely trashed out. (We had pre-picked 5 properties to look at from an online listing. We focused mainly on rent houses since decent apartments seemed to be pretty expensive.) The third place reeked of nasty pet smells. At this point, we were pretty discouraged. We saw the next place, and while it's not perfect... it shall be called home for the next year or so. (The last place we saw was iffy, so there really was only one obvious choice at that point.)

It's kinda cute, ain't it? Well, there's been a drought, so this place has no yard to speak of, just brown crusty grass and lots of dirt. Everything else checks out just fine except we are sad to say that our new washer and dryer will have to be housed in the garage where the hookups are. The neighborhood seems nice, we are literally across the street from the park/playground area, and we can enjoy amenities such as a pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, jogging trail, etc.

So, we pretty much figured this was it. We filled out the necessary paperwork, dropped it off just in time for the realty management company to cancel the next showing of the house. They told us we would hear back on Monday, but we got a call at 4:59 p.m. saying that we had been approved, and the place was ours. So, we accomplished our goal of getting a house in a day!

So, the movers come on Tuesday, and then we'll be off! It's so weird to me since as I sit here, I have no boxes packed, and I'm moving in three days! We will end up packing some things ourselves, so the next few days will be pretty busy. Forgive me if I don't blog much. Once we get settled, I do plan on joining Facebook finally, so leave a comment if you are on FB, and I'll look for you when I get there!