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).

Moving Journal, part 3

part 1 and part 2 are also available for your reading pleasure

Friday, October 19 -- the day we bought a house!

So we woke up, feeling much more refreshed after the previous day's craziness. The hotel had a decent hot breakfast buffet, and we headed out on some errands after that. We went to our bank to get a cashier's check for nearly $9000. That's always fun, no? We got some cash and a roll of quarters (to do laundry at the hotel), too. Then we went to the paint store to get paint for our new house (yay!). After that, we went to our title company's office to CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE. They were really nice there, and even had an area for kids to color and play with toys--thank goodness because G need some distracting. After some painless signatures (it really isn't as bad as some make it sound), we got the keys to our new house!

G is holding our new house key!

The day really had just begun, though, because we had a full afternoon too! We grabbed some rare-for-us fast food, Taco Bell, and headed to our new house. The paint guy was already there. Yes, my husband agreed to pay (thanks to a living social deal) someone to paint the hideously red-orange kitchen into a nice shade of perfect green. It's technically called Garden Sage, and we chose it from 20 or so swatches, without fully knowing how it'd turn out. When I envisioned the green kitchen I wanted...this shade is absolutely it, I couldn't be more pleased!

Moving Journal part 2 {Thursday Chaos}

Thursday, 10/18

G didn't sleep well overnight, either, waking several times, crying from 3-3:30 am, and getting us all up 30 minutes earlier than necessary at 6:50 am. We ate breakfast at the hotel (not free, unfortunately), and packed up again. We had planned the easiest way to get the car, car seat, 6 bags plus a diaper bag and backpack, toddler, and pregnant woman (plus husband) to the airport. We decided that my husband would take the car with two bags and backpack (and car seat) to the economy parking lot (so that it'd be there upon his return). I took G and diaper bag with me on the hotel shuttle bus, since the driver would help me load the other 4 bags. This was great to begin with. My husband didn't have any trouble getting his light load to the airport, and G and I did fine on the way there. The driver unloaded our bags, but the trouble began with trying to get us across the 6 lane road separating us from the drop off point and the door. Eventually, my husband ended up running away from his bags sitting outside the airport door (I know this is a TSA violation to leave bags unattended, but they were always in our sight, so don't tell on us). He met us at the cross walk, grabbed G and two bags, while I ran/rolled the other two toward the doors.

Getting from the doors to the counter was the biggest circus. No one offered to help, so that's nice. We eventually made our way (remember, 6 bags, a car seat, a diaper bag, a back pack, & a toddler) to the counter, where there was PRAISE GOD no line. 

Moving Journal part one

In order to preserve some memories of this eventful move, I'll be posting a kind of diary so you can all follow along.

Monday, 10/15

I kind of panic that there's too much to do and things are going to be too stressful....what else would I do but bake? G and I decorate the cupcakes together, we take some to our neighbor and her kids, and the rest to the gym play-center ladies. Everyone appreciates the gesture and delicious butter cream icing, colored purple and orange for Halloween. My husband gets a haircut and I entertain G alone since he doesn't get home until nearly 8. We eat up leftovers and pack more. We try to relax before the chaos starts.

Tuesday, 10/16

The packing crew arrives. I'm still in my pajamas and don't care. I show them around and request they do the kitchen last, so G and I can have breakfast. I also run the dishwasher one last time, and work on packing our separate things more.

G and I take the CRV recyclables to the place where we get money back. (If you aren't familiar with CRV, look at your bottles and cans, many say "CA cash refund" or something to that effect. California charges you a 10¢ 'deposit' when you buy items that are labeled as CRV...and while it's great if you toss them in your weekly recycling collection, you don't ever get that money back. Thus, for the seven months we lived in CA, we watched our stash of CRV items pile up in a big box in our garage. On our final day in California, we turned them in for a 'refund' of about $18.)

We return to an increasingly barren house, as our belongings get packed away. The crew finishes around 1 pm, so I am able to put G down for a nap around 1:45. After nap time, we go to the shoe store. She tries on some ridiculously cute winter boots, that I can't bare to pay $35 for. She also falls in love with a pair of rainbow slip on shoes that don't come in her size...poor thing has tiny wide feet. I buy myself a pair of boots (brown leather, very nice) for the first time in years. We also go to Kohls to buy another suitcase because I need more room to pack...but they are too expensive there, so we head to Target. G picks our her first suitcase, a pretty blue roller one with front and back wheels.

Our House Hunting Labor Day

We are currently under contract for a house back in Kansas! It's a four bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, two story home. It's a bit higher than we had wanted to go, but the sellers are paying nearly all of the closing costs, so that helps. We feel very fortunate to have the ability to buy a home, especially one with room to "grow" into. I love that it is a two story, and look forward to Christmas morning when the kids run downstairs to see the tree, presents, and snow falling out the window. There's a lot I want to do with the house, but it's nearly impossible to do it all now and for a planner/impatient person such as myself, it's definitely hard to wait. I've actually got my notebook next to me with sketches of the room sizes and plans for how things will go into each room (plus what we "need/want" to fill them with). I have to do lists, eventually to do lists, to buy lists, to buy eventually lists....buying a home is exciting!

Tales from our roadtrip, day 3

Or.... "The one in which we see the most beautiful spot on Earth"

Literally. I think that the views from high up on the mountain road, looking down upon Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, is seriously the most beautiful spot on Earth. At least that I've ever seen.

Lake Tahoe 2012

The best views are seen while you are driving, or you could precariously pull over on a teeny tiny strip of pavement to take a photo. We decided to stop for photographs at a nice, mostly-safe, vista point. It, however, has trees blocking some of the best views. It's still pretty. Do an Internet search of Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe photos and you'll see what I'm talking about. Just imagine seeing it in person, though, it's 10x better.

Tales from Our Roadtrip, day two

Or, "The one in which we get attacked by bee like insects and I win 22 dollars."

As I stated in part I, we did not sleep well at all the first night. We also got up earlier than normal for G on Thursday morning. We needed to get up by 7:50 ish, and we were up at 7:20. Boo.

it fits!

Our first adventure was a minimally-nutritious (but fitting of a vacation) breakfast in bed. G absolutely LOVED her first taste of donut, but still ate some cheerios and grapes. We got ready for a morning aboard a water ski boat and headed down to the lake.

Tales from our roadtrip, day one {image heavy}

I wanted to title this "The one in which G foils my plan and screams for 2 hours, then falls asleep 10 miles from our destination" but it seemed pretty long. You now have a summary of day one of our road trip vacation to Lake Tahoe.

happy during the first hour

We had wanted to go to Lake Tahoe since we moved to the area. It's a super beautiful place, only 3 hours from where we live...how could we not go? I finally got my husband to okay spending some cash to go on a mini-vacation, booked our hotels, planned a few 'excursions,' and waited until the end of August.

Yosemite National Park with a toddler (in 26 hours)

My parents decided to come for a California visit, as you may have read, and that spawned a brief trip to Yosemite National Park. My mom was in town for two weeks, but my dad was only here for a week. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on lodging and we didn't want to use up all of his time here at Yosemite.

Thus, we settled on a one-night stay in the park--leaving early on the day of, and leaving kind of late on the day after. We departed our house before 9 am on Thursday and got home around 6 pm on Friday night. With a toddler and grandparents, those times are pretty decent. We spent a lot of time in our sport wagon (as I've affectionately called our Rendezvous, since learning of it's insurance classification), and that's never fun with a toddler. I packed plenty of car snacks and toys/books--and even had stuff on my iPhone as back up. Hell broke loose when she didn't nap as planned and my phone died mid-Super Why!

I remember the scenery being lovely and I am glad we went, but it certainly wasn't a 'vacation.' G screamed on much of the drive there, and a few of our stops within the park were cut short or cut-out completely because of her needs. I know that is part of going on a trip with a 15 month old, so I am not complaining. I would do it again--and my husband and I already want to go back for longer when our kids are older.

My first suggestion to those of you considering going to Yosemite National Park with a toddler would be to wait a few years, because going with a preschooler or older would be a lot nicer. Just being honest.

Now, if you can't wait...here is my advice for a short trip with toddler (we were in and out within 26 hours):

Seven Quick Takes

1. I made the most delicious smelling Banana Bread today (err, Thursday). It's not the usual recipe (which you can find here), but it's going to be absolutely scrumptious at dessert and breakfast :-)
G loves bananas (what baby doesn't?), I'm pregnant & love carbs, and my husband loves a quick and easy breakfast. Win-Win-Win!

2. I recently (as in today) posted a review/giveaway for CatholicFamilyGifts.com -- If you are here from the 7QT link-up; I know you need some good Catholic Gifts to give any time of year, so head over and read the review / enter the giveaway!

3. Do you know how hard it is to get a good photo of a 16 month old??? VERY! A. they never want to sit still and B. they want whatever you have (re: the camera) and C. their smiles are only ever genuine, so you wish you had a camera permanently affixed to your head to catch all the little moments. (When does saying "Smile!!" start to work?)
I bring this up because I really want to enter G's photo into Live! with Kelly's cutest baby photo contest. I, personally, know she is the cutest baby everrrrrr, so it'd be lovely to win a free trip, cruise, and potentially new car (if she could beat out the 'big kid' winner). I wish it were a cutest kid in general contest, not a photo contest. If they could meet my little buttercup, they would surely know she's got personality to fill the ocean and spunk to the stars.
{For all the "complaining" or "telling it how it is" I do, you can handle a little doting, every now and then ;-) }

Plan your SoCal vacation with VisitNewportBeach.com

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Newport Beach for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You've already read about our recent move to California--the San Francisco Bay Area to be specific--and perhaps you are a bit envious that we live in Sunny CA. It is nice where we live, but I'm jealous of my friend who just moved to Orange County. That area has more of a California-laid-back-ocean-view vibe than what we have where my family lives. I really want to visit SoCal and have looked up several places to consider. One I recently saw was Newport Beach. It has plenty of water and beach activity, plus shopping and eclectic dining. You can check out VisitNewportBeach.com to see all that the community has to offer. The site allows you to peruse hotels by 5 different filters and make reservations directly. You can search restaurants--including dining for pets! VisitNewportBeach.com has sections for planning a wedding or meeting at the gorgeous beach front community. I think trip-planners will most appreciate the "Things To Do" tab. I'm the vacation planner in our family. I like to find fun activities that we can all enjoy, so it's helpful that VisitNewportBeach.com has 12 different sections of "Things to Do" from which to plan. Under the "Yacht Charters, Boating, Tours & Whale Watching" section, I found that we can rent a personal boat to explore the Newport Bay waters. My husband would especially love that because he is passionate about boats. I'd really enjoy it, but I also found tons of beaches we could visit under the "Beaches, Parks & Trails" section--which is what I'd love to do most. Find a pretty beach and sit on it. Sounds lovely :-)

Which of the activities would you like to try?

There's an interesting feature on the VisitNewportBeach.com site that I think many of you with older kids might appreciate. The Kids Camps section under "Things to Do" describes three different camps with hundreds of options between them. There are day camp options if you are on vacation but the kids want something different--and there are week+ options if you live in the area. Kids can participate in sport camps--like surfing, soccer, or volleyball; science & discovery camps--like physics fun or junkyard challenge; and also options in dance, media, cooking, art, acting. G's still too young for anything besides swimming lessons; but I know if I was a kid, I choose a cooking class. A fun camp plus a sweet treat?? Sounds super fun!
If you need more convincing to travel to Newport Beach...the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach hotel has a promotion for vacationing families right now. If you buy one room at full price, you get a connecting room for kids 18 and under for 50% off! It's a bayside, resort-style hotel that sits on 26 acres with three pools and whirlpools. There's also shuffleboard, ping pong, and a nine-hole (par 3) golf course! Just call 800-233-1234 and ask for the Family Plan to receive the promotion.

Check out this video and I bet you could come up with plenty of reasons to head to Newport Beach!
I'd love to hear one :-)
 

Mother's Day 2012 Adventures

This Mother's Day was my best one yet (though only my second one ever). My husband was off work on Saturday, so that was a nice treat in itself. We went for a long bike ride, played at a new park (and met another toddler family), went to the Farmer's Market, and went to mass in the evening. Sunday we went to Stockton (apparently the Foreclosure Capital of the country) to check out what the medium-size city in the central valley had to offer. We went for a nature walk and chased geese at a regional park, ate a delicious patio lunch, saw some nice yachts at the downtown marina, and {my personal reason for heading to Stockton} got Sonic happy hour drinks.

Life Lately & Baby Motion Sickness

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the past few days. We had a wonderful trip to Kansas City and I've been getting back into the swing of things. We saw my husband's cousins that we are close with, my sister, my BFF and her daughter, and my mom-idol + her two kids. We ate scrumptious food that A)I didn't cook and B)I didn't clean up...it was lovely. The hotel was nice, and though it wasn't horrible sleeping in the same room as G, it definitely wasn't fun. The flight there was fine. G got a little ancy but thanks to my foremomsight, the Elmo Calls app ($0.99) got us through. I'd highly recommend it for those times you need a little something to occupy the kiddo in a pinch (re: 4 hour flights).

Then there was the flight back to San Francisco............

It was actually going even better than the flight out until about an hour in. Literally out of nowhere, G started throwing up. My poor husband, who was holding her, looked at me, like...do something STAT. I had a mini-freak out as time moved in slow motion, but the puke did not. Both of our trays were down, and I tried to fumble with them while grabbing for those little white bags--you know the ones. There were none to be found, and in the mean time, more puke. I pushed the flight attendant button, hoping they'd come running. Unfortunately our flight attendants weren't too interested in us. The guy took care of a few things before heading our way (I could see him the whole time). When he got to us, his face when white and he was like...oh, okay, I'll be right back. More puke. G had stuffed herself full of treats and watered-down-juice; and we were seeing it all again. Absolutely lovely. My poor husband got the worst of it--his whole lap was covered. He is a way better sport than me--he didn't ever complain. I apologized a million times to him, though I had no control over the incident.

{My 20th} Seven Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

This time next week, we will be in Kansas City! It's just a short trip back required by my husband's job, but G and I are tagging along (at our cost) to visit some friends and spend extra time with daddy. He doesn't have anything to do on Friday, so we are hoping the weather allows us to go to some outdoor attractions we never saw when we lived there. We have direct flights both going and coming, but that doesn't make flying with a baby easy, so I'm crossing my fingers for the least amount of stress possible. I'm really excited to see loved ones we haven't seen in nearly 2 months, and the comfort of the midwest has been calling my name since we left. EXCITED!

--- 2 ---

Guess who's been sick this week? Yup, the poor baby girl. We had a short play date at a park last Friday, and the little boy we met there had a runny nose. Apparently it leached onto G and she's been fighting some kind of respiratory illness since Sunday. She spiked a fever Wednesday evening but it's been low enough not to warrant medicine or a call to the doctor. Hopefully she kicks it before the beautiful weekend we are supposed to have.

G's first trip to a Zoo

I love going to zoos, although I don't think I've ever been to more than one (the St. Louis zoo, which is awesome and FREE) until a few days ago.

We took G to the San Francisco Zoo and she loved it, as did we.

She is currently on a big dog kick (almost any animal is 'daw-daw' and she knows 'wooooof' and can spot a dog in any book we read). We don't have any pets, but she LOVES dogs and cats, so I knew she'd enjoy the zoo. We went on the Monday after Easter, and it was very un-busy, sunny, not to cool or hot--so basically it was the perfect time to go. I will get around to writing a review of the SF zoo one of these days.

Here are some photos of our great day.

Seven Quick Takes

1. So last Friday I mentioned how we had a leaky pipe somewhere in our house that was causing water under the floor in our bedroom. The plumber found a pipe that had a hole in the master bathroom shower/tub. It was kind of a freak accident, actually, because a screw from the faucet piece had "a lot of pressure" against it (duh? water forces it's way into it) and somehow flew out and punctured a pipe in the wall. This was all concealed by the wall, and had been going on for a little over a week. We noticed it because the laminate flooring started to bow and water would squish out of it when pushed on. A baseboard near my closet showed water damage last Wednesday which definitely signaled something was wrong.
Half of our bedroom floor had to be torn up and also part of the hall way. There were two holes cut into our bedroom walls and my closet was not useable. Our bathroom door also had to be taken off and a blower was put in the other bathroom too. The restoration company brought in five blowers and 1 huge dehumidifier. The loss of use of both bathrooms, noise, heat, and unsafe floor caused our landlord to, thankfully, put us up in a hotel last weekend. While I really appreciate that, it did lead to a certain amount of non-productivity on my part. It was nice to be forced to halt my projects/blog writing/cleaning and savor the time with my little family. I was stressed to the max though, especially when the insurance people told me the entire house's floor would need to be replaced. I was freaking out at that point. Luckily my landlord figured out they only said that for cosmetic reasons, and he was fine with just replacing the small area that needed it (even if the shades of laminate are slightly different). By the end of tonight almost everything should be back to normal. My closet will be repainted next week, so it's still not usable until then.

2. I'm so proud of G and her walking. She gotten much petty in the past week. She's able to stand up if she trips, squat down to pick something up, carry things around without losing her balance, turn right angles, walk in circles, go up small differences in elevation, and has started to get a little gait going on (so I know running isn't far behind). It's like watching a small miracle happen before my very eyes. This precious little girl came out of me unable to do much but wiggle, and now she is prancing around, exploring the world! She's a beautiful sight to see and I really enjoy her personality. She's so fun.

Seven Quick Takes 15

--- 1 ---

We move into our new home tomorrow. Our flight is at 7 am local time and we get to SFO at 9 Pacific time (I've never lived outside of central time, so this will be weird!). I'm very excited but also nervous / sad to leave the Midwestern life I've always known. This week has been really chaotic, but I've really surprised myself (and husband) by being patient & calm about the whole thing.

--- 2 ---

Example one of how this week is crazy:
The moving company sent ONE guy to pack and move our apartment. I guess when they heard 2 bedroom apartment, they didn't think it'd have that much stuff. HA. The guy is great and a really hard worker, but even he admitted we "filled it well" and that it was way underestimated. He had hoped to be done by 4 pm, and then 6 pm, but ended up needing until 10 PM to get everything packed and loaded. We didn't stay that late, because we had a 3.5 hour drive to get to my in-laws (our in-between location). That's a lot of trust to put in someone else...nearly everything we own is not in our possession. For a control freak like myself, it's totally a God thing that I'm not having a panic attack right now.

First kids meal: Wordless Wednesday

Due to all the moving adventures, baby G got her first restaurant kid's meal yesterday. She's a ballin' kiddo & had a fancy Hereford House (voted best steakhouse in KC) li'l wrangler meal.

For $5, we got an all natural beef hot dog on toasted bun, steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots, green beans, red bell peppers, squash, zucchini), fruit cup (pineapple, melon, strawberries), and it was supposed to come with a drink & ice cream sundae (but she didn't need those). I thought that was a super deal!

Link up!

Seven Quick Takes 14

--- 1 ---

We spent this week at my parents' house because my husband was away on business. I was looking forward to "relaxing," but this week definitely didn't go as planned. My mom ended up getting sick and actually sprained or tore a muscle in her ribs from coughing. She wasn't able to play with baby G very much, so we were all really bummed about that. I can't wait for my mom to come visit us in California and make up for her limited playtime this trip. My grandpa and two aunts (and a cousin) came down for a birthday party for baby G. She got her first taste of cake and received great presents. On Mardi Gras, we were supposed to have a party with my mom's 3rd grade class, but since she was sick, the baby and I just delivered cupcakes & party favors. Ash Wednesday brought abstinence and fasting for us, but I still gave baby G a piece of birthday cake because it was finally her real birthday :-)

Forgotten cloth diapers

No, no...I haven't stopped using cloth diapers, I literally forgot about some when we left for Christmas with our families.

When we travel, I always leave the diaper pail empty. I do laundry right before we leave and take the few dirty diapers with us. Who wants to come home to a smelly bathroom and days old diapers? Not this clean freak, that's for sure.

Well this past Tuesday, that's just what we did. We left town the Thursday before Christmas, and it took me about an hour to remember we forgot the dirty diapers in the pail. It was almost worth turning around to get them, but my husband isn't the type to go back. He has even left his cell phone at home for a weekend, despite only being 2 minutes away when we realized it.