Moving Journal Part 4 {week at my parents}

Catch up on parts 1,2,3 Yes, I realize I'm far behind! We've been super busy settling into our new house, with plenty of stories of home ownership to come.

Monday, 10/22

This morning we woke up and G helped her grandma make breakfast--pancakes :-) She loves helping in the kitchen, and Grandma has a step stool perfect for her to stand on. While the breakfast cooked, G played with her aunt's old doll house and watched some TV with Grandpa. After breakfast she went outside for a little bit with her grandparents and I laid down since I was (am) really worn out. Then they came back inside and we all played some. Grandma made us an awesome shrimp pasta lunch and I got things packed up. G was getting really tired, and I wanted to utilize nap time while driving, so that I could have some peace and quiet; so our plan was to leave just before nap time. It worked out pretty well. She slept for nearly two hours and we made good time.We had a brief diaper change/snack stop and continued on our way. She whined/cried the rest of the trip, but we arrived at my parents in one piece, and I can't complain (looking back).
Grammy helped us carry our things in (and we left some for papaw, too), and we settled in. I was really hoping to be at my parents for about a week, so that we could have a sense of routine back to our lives. 

(aside, I'm really starting to wish I had written this as it occurred, because I'm having a hard time distinguishing what day which event happened)

My mom made spaghetti for dinner, and Gianna enjoyed playing blocks and with the toys Grammy got down for her--which includes my old baby doll crib and my sister's old rolling ride-on-horse. She also tried on her Halloween costume for them and my dad helped me give G a bath (since my parents tub is really deep, and I am very pregnant). 

My mom also got out the PURPLE PIGS. These are little mechanical pigs (with purple fur), that snort and scoot across the floor rhythmically. I really wanted to get a video of G playing with them, but I knew she'd stop being hilarious the second I went to get the camera, so I just enjoyed it in real life. Sorry to all those who couldn't see it. It was seriously an AFV moment.

She thoroughly enjoyed the pigs--giggling and squealing right along with them--chasing them down, but never touching them. Anytime they'd get to close to her, she'd dart away in laughter. She was intimidated and intrigued all at the same time. We'd ask her to bring a pig to us, or give the pig a hug--and she'd get so close, opening her arms really wide in an attempt to get near them, but then she'd get too scared and would make a little timid face/action. We were all nearly dying in laughter. (It looked like she was going to hog tie them, but couldn't figure out how to do it, to cute!) At one point, I handed her a blanket to see if she'd cover the pig and then grab it (like maybe then it wouldn't be as intimidating), and that was a sight to see, too (her trying to cover the pig up). My explanation of the situation really can't do it justice, but it was a great ab workout for my parents and me. (She eventually got less timid and would grab them by their wiggly tails!)

Bed time wasn't really different from the previous days, consisting of crying/screaming, and then me staying in there until she fell asleep. I hung out with my parents and went to bed too late...again.

Tuesday, 10/23

On Tuesday, we took Sonic for lunch to Grammy at her school. It was a lot of fun, and quite the treat with a JUICE BOX (which G now super loves). We also played at her house alone, since both the grandparents had to work. G got to feed the dogs with Papaw in the evening, and was timid at first, but like with the purple pigs, she got braver over the course of the week. She especially loved chasing the cat--once even tugged on his tail!

I got a bummer phone call that said our stuff was going to be arriving at our new house on Thursday morning--which meant I had to head back there earlier than planned.
After much thought and deliberation, my mom figured out that my dad would drive with me to our new house, and assist me as needed. G would stay on her first overnight alone, and my mom would take off work to care for her so that I could then return to their house for the rest of the week--until my husband would get to our new house around Monday. It seemed like a solid plan, so we gambled on G being okay with nearly 36 hours away from me, and decided to make it happen. I'm SO grateful that I didn't have to drive with her after only 2 days break, and also glad she wasn't there to endure the (as you will read about) hectic, long, and cold/rainy day that Thursday would end up being.
For dinner this night we "went" to the school's Chicken and Dumpling dinner (which is one of my favorite foods, but I am also picky about it) fundraiser. We were all pretty disappointed (they ran out of green beans, eventually rolls, and the music was WAY too loud) , but the evening was saved with more purple pig play.

Wednesday, 10/24

G and I ran to the grocery store to stock up on sure-fire-foods for her, so that Grammy had some reliability on the eating front (and I wanted more fruit too----sorry mom, your house isn't super healthy-friendly). G loved the outing, and tried SO hard to help me carry the little shopping basket (we usually either use the big cart she can sit in, or just grab a few things in our hands). She also helped me pay at the always frustrating self checkouts.

I packed a little suitcase for myself and tried to pysch myself up for the first night away from my baby girl--and it wasn't even with my husband (bummer!).

My dad and I left after mom got home from work; and had a really enjoyable drive. It was probably some of the most quality conversation time he and I have ever had--and we've grown a lot in our relationship over the past several years. I can honestly say that it was one of my favorite parts of the whole week. I hope dad found it as enjoyable as I did. We stopped for dinner at Culvers, which my dad had never had, and it was pretty good--especially the free sample of custard they gave us. I've only had the concretes (which have the mix-ins), and had never realized just how awesome the plain custard really is--give it a chance!

We got into Kansas really late, and crashed into bed.

As for G and Grammy--apparently they had a great evening. Grammy gave G homemade pumpkin pie shakes, which she gobbled up, and gave her a bath with fun, new bath toys (like paper dolls for the bath tub, they stick on the wall with various clothes and accessories).

Thursday, 10/25

Dad and I had a scrumptious free buffet breakfast (where I loaded up on fruit to compensate for the fast food of late) and headed out in the crappy weather to let the movers into the house. It was cold and rainy--at least not snowy. I had to play 'BINGO,' as the mover guy called it--as they carried in furniture and boxes. I had to mark off the appropriate label number to insure all our belongings (and no one else's) made it into our home and then direct them where to put it. It's clearly easier than physically moving yourself, but it was a lot of up and down on two flights of stairs for a 32 week pregnant lady. It was a long day--made even longer by discovering a super leaky faucet (so bad, I know it had to be gushing gallons a day) and a water heater issue. My dad helped a lot during the day; helping me hang curtains, organize boxes and furniture, and even helping me make the beds so we could come home to beds ready to sleep in. He also turned off the water so that the faucet wouldn't cost us more money. We also decided the water heater was unsafe, and I figured we'd have to call the warranty company (which we did--and ended up replacing--more on this in another blog). After an extremely long day, we grabbed some disappointing Wendy's and headed back to my parents. It was a long drive home, with not nearly as much conversation, but still an okay drive (except for the fact that I was having contractions and in a good deal of pain, assumably due to over-doing it, though I tried not to). We got back to my parents and, again, crashed into bed.
G and Grammy had another great day--full of play, food, and meetings. My mom had taken the school day off, but still had to go up for inconvienently timed parent-teacher conferences. Her friend (the school librarian) watched G in the library and they read stories while mom did her conferences. Then Grammy took her to the Home-and-School meeting, where G was apparently a big hit. They went shoe shopping and out for Mexican. Spoiled Rotten I tell you! :-)

Friday, 10/26

I had a really lazy day with G, who woke up in the middle of the night for the first time in a while. I guess she knew I was back...because mom said she slept great for her. G and I spent the morning in our jammies, trying to recover from the past few days. I was feeling a lot better from the previous evening's round of fake-yet-painful contractions. We watched more than normal amounts of TV and didn't change from our jammies until after nap time. We all had a lazy evening too, since both mom and dad were tired from long days at work, but G had tons of fun feeding the dogs, playing blocks and purple pigs, and enjoying her grandparents. Mom and I gave G a bath with those fun toys, but not before having pumpkin shakes all around! They are so good--G forced Papaw to share hers, even though he had originally declined one.

Saturday, 10/27

G didn't sleep well over night...as in it was the worst night of sleep she's had in a long time. I don't know if she was afraid I'd leave her again, or what...but she was awake around 5:30 and cried on and off every 30 minutes, even though I stayed in her room until I thought she was asleep again. Around 7:15 I ended up putting her in my bed, where she actually slept another hour! She hasn't slept near me in nearly a year! I was too exhausted to get up at 7:15, and she hadn't slept well enough to be ready for the day either...so luckily it worked out. After we got up, and had yummy waffles for breakfast, mom and I took G to the flea market. We were looking for some good quality toys, but didn't find any...except mom did buy G a big stuffed Clifford and baby boy two onesies.

The highlight of the morning was that one of the markets had a fall festival going on--complete with pony rides! Sadly, my husband missed G's first pony ride, but I captured it in video and photos. She enjoyed it and still remembers it fondly, though it was getting to be her nap time--so her facial expressions in many of the photos are simply tired. After nap time, my grandparents and aunt and cousin came to visit. It was really nice to see them, since it had been since last Christmas, and G warmed up pretty well to them all--giving hugs all around and showing off some of her best tricks.
After they left, we had pizza for dinner and went to bed at a half way decent hour.

Also on this day my mom helped me finish the crib skirt that I made for G's new room (hot pink). I appreciate mom's help--she did the hard part of attaching the pieces I had hemmed to the white top part. Mom also got out my old tent for G to play in--and she started saying BOW (how her BOO comes out), it was super cute.

Sunday, 10/28

Church was fairly successful, without too much of a problem--though Grammy instigated a "BABY!" outburst from G when she drew a face on G's drawing paper. It was cute but loud. After mass we went to the store for groceries and slippers for G. My mom bought her the cutest little pink house shoes. G loves wearing them now and I feel better knowing her piggies aren't freezing in the nearly-winter weather (we try not to run the heater tooooo much, keeping it around 71). We went to the best Mexican restaurant EVER for lunch, where G had a Chicken and Cheese 'roll up' (or quesadilla) and ate nearly all of it! She was super pooped and took a pretty decent late nap. I hung around with my dad and G and Grammy played in the test some more. I did some laundry and packed up our things in preparation for our drive back to Kansas. My mom's school had their Halloween party this night, so G donned her duck costume and we enjoyed playing the games together--and even made a pretty pink/purple cross bracelet at the All Saints Day table. G's favorite 'game' was the tunnel maze they had set up for the littlest kiddos--where they got a bag of like 4 pieces of candy just for going through. She also liked the bean bag toss and ring toss--she 'won' candy even though she 'cheated' by walking up really close. Hey--she's only 1! :-)

Grammy and Papaw gave G a bath together and the three of them loved the final moments of the evening together, with plenty of loving and hugs. She was certainly going to miss them--but probably not as much as they miss her!