Blog Catch-up (LONG post)

I've been neglecting the blog lately.  So I decided to do a really long catch-up post, so I can try and start to keep up with what has actually been going on.  This post may someday be broken down into multiple posts, to someday go into a book, but for now this is what I have the time an patience for. 

So, first off, for anyone that I don't keep up with on facebook, we moved.  Not the blog this time.  And not just up the road a few miles.  Across the country, again.  We now live in Washington State.  Kinda crazy.  I like to joke that we took the long way up the west coast, made a quick 2 year stop off in DC.

We are loving our new location.  The weather has been very pleasant (although it's rained quite a bit, which is very unusual for the area, so I'm told.)  Harrison is loving school.  Noah started a preschool taught by a girl in our ward, and it's been the perfect thing for him. Both schools are less than a 5 minute walk from our temporary housing. I am loving the slower pace of life here, and the fact that I haven't been anywhere that is crowded yet.  I went to Costco and Walmart on the first Saturday we were here, and was amazed to find them less busy than I ever saw our Walmart or Costco in MD.  Such a nice change.  Another change I've had to get used to is that everyone goes the speed limit here.   I think it's a good thing, I've just had to train myself not to speed.  But since everything is within a 5 minute drive, I really don't mind.  I have yet to drive on the freeway, except to drop off the rental car at the airport.  I used to drive on the freeway several times a day: to get Noah to preschool, or go grocery shopping. I've noticed that I have a lot more free-time because I'm spending a lot less time in the car.  But most of my "free-time" has been spent on finding a home, and now working with the lender on getting everything ready for closing.  Oh, yeah, did I mentioned we are BUYING a home? 

We are so excited.  We should be moving in by the end of the month, just in time for our temporary housing to run out.

So now back to the catch up.  I'll just be catching up from where the photos started on our camera when I unloaded them on the computer here.  I know there's other stuff that I haven't blogged about yet, but those pictures on on my computer that is now sitting somewhere in storage.

One of our last weekends in Maryland, we picked up some Fried Chicken from the Dutch Market in Germantown.  We were told it was the best around, and it did not dissapoint.  We decided to take it up to black hill park and have a picnic there.  On our way up, we realized it was Monarch Fiesta day again.  We of course stopped off to particiapte in a bunch of the festivities.   We had a blast.

 

Harrison got to release one of the butterflies they were tagging.  This is him waving good-bye to the little guy.

Compare with last year: 

When we decided we would be moving for sure, and let the kids know, Harrison requested that we go to the top of the Washington Monument one last time.  We had gone before, but we all were excited to go again.We got tickets for labor day, and it was a great day to spend downtown. 

it was a gorgeous blue sky day, and we got really great views of the city.

After we came down, we met up with our friends, the Gathrights.  It was so great to get together with them one last time.  I only wished I had taken more pictures.  

We attempted to go see the White House, but shortly after we arrived, they cleared the area.  We hung around for a bit, and were able to see Marine One land and take off again.  

September is kind of a blur.  We were really hoping to get moved before school started, but with the way things worked out it was impossible.  So a few days before school started, we scheduled our move for the middle of September.  We had about 3 weeks to prepare.  Thankfully Sam's job really took care of us.  They arranged everything from the movers and packing to shipping our car, getting our flights, and setting up temporary housing for when we arrived. Since we were anxious to get moved, we decided to do our house hunting after we arrived.  I didn't take many pictures of the move, but here's what I've got:

The kids were pretty good about keeping themselves entertained while I tried to get the house ready to be packed and shipped.  My mom came for a quick visit on a business trip, and gave Olivia some fun stickers.  Needless to say, Olivia loves stickers.

The boys of course kept themselves entertained with Legos: 

The also rediscovered some new technology: The Television Set.  We've been without since we came to Maryland, but our Hotels and temporary housing came fully equipped.

They are still getting used to the fact that I don't control what comes on when, and we can't pause it.  Kind of makes me laugh.

The kids were really so good during the move.  They were pretty excited about it this time around.  The boys LOVED staying in the hotel our last night in DC.  We had a suite, so they had their own room, own TV and own bathroom. Harrison said, "This is the best hotel EVER!" 

The flight was pretty good.  We had 3 legs - DC to Detroit, Detroit to SLC and SLC to Pasco. We had a 3 hour layover in Detroit, which got shortened to 2 by a delay in DC.  Not a big deal. But then as we were leaving Detroit we got held back to get some luggage on the flight.  Not sure why they held up the flight for that, but we sat on the tarmac for 30 or so minutes.  We had a 45 mintue layover in SLC, so we missed our flight.  And it was the 2nd to last flight of the day.  At this point it was 8 PM in SLC, which was 10 PM our time.  Our kids were kind of loosing it.  They offered to put us on standby for the 9:30 flight, which would get in at 1 AM our time (DC time), but made no guarantee we would be able to get on, but we had confirmed seats for the next day.   So with kids screaming and going crazy, we decided to stay the night.  But, good old Delta, claimed that the delay was due to weather.  And denied us a hotel stay.  I am so glad we were in Utah - my parents were able to come pick us up at the airport, and we stayed the night at their house.  Without any luggage.  Note to self: always pack a change of clothes in your carry on!  I usually do this, but since our flights were being paid for, and we didn't have to pay to check anything, we checked EVERYTHING, except for what we would NEED to have on the flights.  Knowing that we had 2 connections to make, we didn't want to have anything extra.  But we all could have used a change of clothes!  But we made our flight early the next morning, and made it here only about 13 hours late.  

That day I went and registered Harrison for school.  Here's a picture of him the next Monday when he started: 

And going into class on the first day:

He made immediate friends with a little girl who remembered him from church, Abigail.  He seems to be loving school, and enjoying life in general.

Temporary housing has it's good points and bad points.  One of the good points: housekeeping.  It's not that big of a deal - they come once every 2 weeks, but it is nice to have someone else helping out with toilet scrubbing and vacuuming.  And it also helps me to make sure the house is nice and clean so they can do the detail work for me.  One of the bad points: it's furnished, but minimally. So there's no good place for the boys to build with Legos.  So this is what much of our apartment looks like much of the time: 

Okay, I think that's all I can blog for now.  I'll have to do the boys birthdays later.  But I'll leave you with a couple views off our balcony.

Things I'll Miss

You may have noticed some of the negative things I think about the house we've occupied for the last 11 months... So I thought I'd document some of the things I will miss - the things that made me want to stay a little longer.

It really looks pretty decent from the outside - besides the missing shutters, it has a nice color scheme. And the moss, from a distance, looks like green grass :)

The cherry blossoms. Our street is lined with cherry trees, and so for a few weeks in the spring, the view is breathtaking. It would just make me happy every time I caught a glimpse of the pinkish white blossoms out my window. And driving home was always an amazing sight - the houses are lost in the wall of beautiful blossoms.

The wildlife. I don't thing I've ever been surrounded by more wildlife in my life. Let's see if I can name what we've seen/heard/smelled in our own backyard: Deer. Lots of deer, from big bucks with antlers, to tiny new fawns, and graceful does. Sometimes in groups of 10 or more. Sometimes greeting me on my door step.

This was our first morning here. See the little fawn staring back at Harrison? Before I got my camera out there were at least 7 grazing in our backyard.

Woodchucks, skunks, squirrels, turtles, bunnies, and foxes. And the birds. Oh my. Flamboyant red cardinals, bright blue jays, noisy geese, disgusting vultures, high flying hawks, and many more that I do not know the names for.

The view from my kitchen window. We have 3 large windows in the kitchen, right next to our table. And just outside is our oak tree, with the cherry tree to the left. I can see out this window from my desk, and since it faces east, it gets great morning light. It just always makes me happy when I look out, and the view changes dramatically with each season.

This is Noah cruising with Jordan in her Barbie Jeep in the back yard.

Our neighbors. We have a pretty quiet street. Many people are the original owners of their home, so their children are grown. Our best friends are the newer comers to the neighborhood with kids. Grady (3) across the street, and Henry(2) and Meghan (6 months) a few houses down. Jordan comes to visit her grandparents (who share a backyard area with us). They are pretty sad to see us go, since we doubled the amount of kids on the street when we moved here.


Our back yard. The only thing I would add would be a fence. But then again, I don't think the boys would have become friends with Jordan, if we had a fence. It's very large, and we acquired a nice swing set at the beginning of the summer, which we are hoping to put in our new yard (it will take up almost the whole yard, so we'll see...) There's plenty of space for throwing the Frisbee or setting up the slip'n'slide. And we have a nice deck adjacent to it that we've enjoyed grilling on all summer long. One thing we wont miss - mowing it. Our lawn mower just died (we got it off craigslist for $10 when we got here, so we're not complaining). I think a weed whacker will probably be enough at our new place :)

All the storage space. More than 1/2 of the basement is unfinished, and so we have a ton of storage space. We keep all kinds of food storage, water storage, bikes, scooters, out of season clothes, seasonal decorations, and anything else were not using at the moment down there. And there's still LOTS of room for the kids to run around and play. Right now it's full of packed boxes. We'll have to be a lot more creative with our storage in our new place.

All that being said, I am so excited about our new place. And discovering all new things to love about it. And of course, all the things that I wont miss out this place...

Moving...again

As I mentioned earlier, we are moving again. And, no, we did not buy. I know what you are thinking. Why not? We get this question a lot. Especially from people who bought during the boom years here. "How could you not buy now?" Prices have dropped considerably, but we feel that if we did buy now, we would need to commit to the house for 7-10 years, and right now we can't find anything that we are willing to give that kind of commitment to in our price range. And for this NOVA girl, I'm not so sure I'm ready to even commit to Maryland for that long. I still have people surprised when they hear I grew up in Northern Virginia. "Then why are you living in Maryland?" Sometimes I wonder that myself... No, really we do love it here. Another reason we aren't buying just yet - we can find rentals for less than it would cost us to buy. And with nothing appreciating these days, it just doesn't make much sense to us to buy. So, we continue to save our pennies, and look forward to owning someday, soon.

Now on to why we are moving. We've been struggling with this decision almost since we moved into our current rental home. Our current home was a great deal. We have a large backyard, and lots of storage space, for a great price. About $500 less a month than we saw for any other single family home. But, that came with some issues. The house has been a rental property for almost 20 years - and the owners (out of state) don't feel the need to keep anything up. So, we've got old carpet, old linoleum, original leaky windows (have I mentioned our utility bills in the winter? Or summer?), moss for a front yard, smelly basement... I could go on. We offered to put in some labor to help improve the place, but they weren't willing to do that. So we made a list. A list of things we would want fixed in a new rental property, and things we were willing to give up. And then we thought about it, and I think we were just about to the point where we were willing to deal with the situation for a couple more years while we figured out what we really wanted. Our lease was for a year, but then was suppose to go month to month, so we figured we could keep our eyes peeled for something better, and then take it when we saw it. And then we got the letter. Rent increasing (by more than 6%, mind you) and a commitment to stay another year. That was more than I could take. So we started looking seriously. Luckily, Sam's brother, David, was staying with us for the summer, and was kind enough to watch the kids night after night while we looked at properties. We finally found one. We'll have a little less space, and a much smaller yard, but we'll also get newer windows, gas heating, gas range, fenced yard, garage, secluded shadey park across the parking lot, walking distance to the elementary school (a good one at that), a short distance from the chapel, with a bigger kitchen adjacent to the deck, and a master bathroom that more than one person can stand in at a time, with a walk in closet. Oh, and no smelly rooms. That was on the top of my list. It's a townhome, but an end unit, so we only share one wall, and we have our own driveway and garage. And the landlord is great - they live just down the road, and they lived in the home up until a year ago when they started renting it. They just contacted us to see if we would be willing to keep up the yard if they paid to have it professionally landscaped. Yay! A landlord that cares about the house! So, here it is:We move in a week from Saturday, and then Harrison will start school on the following Monday, so it's a busy time for us. We'll post more pictures, when we get settled (in about a year, right?)

The Great Move

As I informed you in an earlier post, we made it to Maryland alive. No, really, the move wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There were a few bumps in the road, but nothing some happy meal toys, a shake and a fresh pair of clothes couldn't cure.

When we arrived at the airport, after rushing through final cleaning, turning in our keys and parking permits, and letting the boys get a final round of play with their new dear friend Adelle, we were informed that our plane was 2 hours late due to some bad weather in NY. It was kind of a sad way to spend our last 2 hours in San Diego. But we made the best of it with some happy meals at McDonalds. We usually opt for just getting the boys a burger off the dollar menu - since they don't eat a whole happy meal anyway, but splurged and got them each a happy meal, complete with toy. The little Anakin racers provided entertainment that lasted the whole 2 hours. And annoyed a few travelers as the boys raced them up and down the terminal floor.

We promised the boys an ice cream cone at McDonalds, but finding that they were out, we opted for a shake to share. They loved it.

The boys each toted their own carry-ons and backpacks. Filled with their clothes for the trip. They were very good about wheeling them through the airport, although Noah looks less than happy here. He's just protesting getting his photo taken, not actually pulling his luggage...

Here's Harrison just after arriving at my parents house. He unpacked everything right in their entry hall. Note the PJ's. This is not what he wore on the trip, but due to a bout of air sickness after landing, he changed into some more comfortable and clean clothes. Luckily he had them in his carry-on, so they were very accessible. We stayed at my parents home for just over a week, and had a very relaxing enjoyable time - just what we needed. More on this in later posts.Home at last. Here is Olivia (I know, you can't really see her) just inside the door the night we arrived. This was our first morning here. We "camped out" in our house until the rest of our things arrived.

funny things

A few funny things the boys have said since we moved here:

As I was starting our first load of laundry Harrison asked, "Mom, where's the washer for my clothes?" I guess he's used to seeing rows and rows of washers where we can wash everything at once...

Harrison was anxious to play a computer game, so I was trying to get the computer set up. I was missing a few cords, and so it was taking longer than Harrison would like. He came up to me, after asking me several times if it was ready yet, and said the following:
"Mom, is your computer running slow, or just not like it used to? Simply log on to finallyfast.com, do what it says, and then your computer will be finally fast!" This was almost verbatim of an ad I saw a couple times on JetBlue on our way here. He must have been watching the same channel I was...

We went to Costco as a family, and our our way out they checked the receipt as they always do. Harrison grabbed it from Sam's hands and then looked at me in dismay. "Mom, where are the funny pictures?" At our San Diego warehouse they would often draw silly pictures on the receipt for the boys. Here in Maryland, it was just a straight black line. I explained to him that they do it differently here, to which he replied, "I liked it better in San Diego!" I had no idea the drawings on the Costco receipts meant so much to him...

There is a lot of wildlife in our neighborhood. There are deer in our yard constantly, a fox which I have heard about, but have yet to see, and the boys favorite: the squirrels. There are 2 that are constantly climbing up and down the tree in our front yard, which the boys can see from our kitchen table. They have named them Harrison and Noah. One of the first days we were here, Noah asked Sam, "Doesn't that squirrel have to hold someones hand when he crosses the road?"

Tonight at dinner Harrison was asking Sam where he works. He said, "The J. Craig Venter Institute." Harrison replied, "Insti-toot. That word ends in toot. That's potty language. You shouldn't say that word. Do you know Craig?"

We are alive

Despite lack of activity here on our blog, we are alive. And although our move began with a 3-hour flight delay and some air sickness, and we currently have a sick 8 week old, we made it to Maryland, and we are getting closer to being settled in everyday. My camera has been neglected as I have tried to get through the boxes, but I do have some pictures to post, which I am sure I will eventually get to. But for now, this will have to do.

We Did It!

Well, I should say, Sam did it. He fit all our stuff (after the great toss, sell and donate extravaganza) into a 6X7X8 trailer. And there it is, all full of everything we took with us to Maryland. Yep, that's it folks. And amazingly, nothing was damaged or broken (when I saw them unload the cube from the truck, I was pretty worried that nothing was going to make it...) And it did look pretty meager in our new home. But we have since purchased 2 desks, 4 dressers, 3 bedside tables, a bookcase, rocker/ottoman, changing table, couch... I'm sure I'm missing something. It has been quite a whirlwind. And our living room still lacks any real furniture. But we are getting there. And loving all the space. Inside and out.

Home

Today Sam gets home. Today we have a home. Or rather, will have a home when we get to Maryland. At least, I hope so. I guess I'll feel a little more secure in that fact when checks have been cashed. But a lease is signed and we are getting anxious to get moved in there. And we are so excited to have a single family home, complete with a big back yard, and deck. And a master bathroom. But I think I'm more excited to have my husband back. It's been a long week...

The Story

I thought I would record the events surrounding Olivia's birth. My dad kept a good journal growing up, and as kids we always loved to hear about our birth story. So here goes...

For some odd reason, I was convinced my baby girl would come by her due date - at the latest. I'm not really sure why... possibly because that would be most convenient. Possibly because on my first OB appointment, my doctor said he liked to induce, and offered it to all his patients at 1 week before their due date. On Thursday I was pretty sure I could have the baby at anytime (having had regular contractions for several hours during the night) but when Harrison woke up with a fever, I almost started hoping the baby would wait until he was better. Friday August 1st came and went, with another sleepless contraction-ful night, but no real labor. Harrison's fever was going down by Saturday night, but now it looked like Noah may have pink eye. We started him on medication right away, and that began to clear up. It looked like I'd have well boys by the time the baby would come.

My doctor scheduled me to be induced on Sunday, August 3rd at 7 PM. So, much like my experience with Harrison, we calmly loaded the car and did a few last minute things with no contractions. It just feels weird to go to the hospital when your not really in labor. When you're not really in much pain. I could have driven myself, and left Sam at home with the boys, but I thought the hospital staff might think that a little odd. So we went together. My good friend Isa took my boys for the night, so Sam could stay with me.

Upon checking in, everyone asked, "This is your third? So why are you being induced?" I felt like saying, "None of your business." but instead answered, "We're moving in a few weeks" which is probably just as true as, "I'm done." About an hour and a half after being admitted, my fabulous nurse, Jessica, gave me some medication called Cervidil, which is suppose to get you ready for labor, not put you into labor. My doctor does not like midnight deliveries, so he purposefully induced me at 7 PM thinking they would put me on Pitocin in the morning and I would deliver sometime the next day - during daylight hours. Well within an hour, I was having pretty good contractions every 2 1/2 minutes. I was able to watch some HGTV, but started to get uncomfortable. My nurse decided I was officially in labor, and stopped the medication. I asked for an epidural, and got one with in an hour. Epidurals seem to help my labor progress, and they also allow me to get some sleep. Unfortunately, they had me hooked up to a blood pressure monitor, so every 1/2 hour I would be awoken by the arm band squeezing my arm. So, not to much sleep was had, but I was excited by the prospect of the baby coming soon. I couldn't really feel my contractions, but I would watch the monitor - they would jump from a 5 to an 105 and back down over the course of a minute or two, and they came pretty frequently. Thank goodness for epidurals.

Around three am, my nurse checked me and said I was close, and I should call if I started to feel pressure. Around four I thought I started to feel pressure, but I waited another 1/2 hour or so just to make sure. She came back and said I was fully dilated and she would call the doctor. My Dr. arrived around 5:30, they prepped the room, broke my water, and let me push. Two sets of pushes, and Olivia was delivered at precisely 6 AM. Apparently the nurses started to notice Sam had very little color, so while the doctor was cutting the cord, my nurse was calling another nurse to care for Sam. They handed me sweet little (well 8 lbs 14 oz may be large for a newborn, but she's still little...) Olivia, and my first thought was, "Oh, good, she really is a girl." It was a bit of a relief, since I had been suddenly worried the last couple weeks of my pregnancy that my Dr. could be wrong about the gender - having given away all my boy things, and having obtained quite a bit of pink, I wasn't sure what I would do if she had been a boy. My next thought was how beautiful and perfect she was. She had a very round face, with large chubby checks, a cute button nose, big dark blue eyes and dark hair. Much like my two boys. I was so happy to have her in my arms. I was slightly distracted by my queazy hubby, but he seemed to be getting better. The nurse actually took the camera away from him - worried that he may pass out while snapping some photos.

They took Olivia over to check her out - she was a bit blue still, so they gave her some oxygen, and she started to get more and more pink. After a few minutes my nurse noted to my Dr. that she may have a broken clavicle. It was a little heart breaking to think that my sweet brand new baby girl had already broken her first bone. After getting her cleaned up and swaddling her, they gave her back to me, and I held and nursed her for a long while. Sam was able to stand up, and take some more pictures. She was very sweet, and very alert. She didn't cry much at all. We were so so happy to have our sweet baby girl in our arms, and so grateful everything had gone smoothly with the delivery.

Sam went home around 9 to take care of the boys. When I called him around 10 he noted that Noah felt warm. I was so sad - I knew the boys wouldn't be able to visit me and Olivia in the hospital, and I was sad I couldn't be at home to take care of my sick little boy. I was also sad that I would have to ask friends to take care of my boys when they were sick. But my friends were so gracious and kind to do so. Sam was able to come back to the hospital that evening - Olivia had become quite fussy, so it was nice to have someone to share the crying with. She had had x-rays which confirmed she did indeed have a broken clavicle. The pediatrician assured me it wasn't a big deal and it would heal within 2 weeks. I think it was really bothering her the rest of the time at the hospital because she was very fussy, and wouldn't sleep or eat well. I was beginning to worry that she had Harrison's disposition as a baby - which would make my life very difficult for the next few months. But I should know by now, you can't jump to any conclusions after just a day or two. Noah's fever was gone by Wednesday morning, just hours before I was coming home. When we got home she began to calm down. I think her shoulder and arm were not nearly as tender, and she began to sleep eat, and be generally a happier baby.

She is such a blessing in our home. The boys are just so excited to see her, and touch her and hold her. Harrison will come inside from playing to "check on Olivia" and will often offer to help calm her down. When she is awake, he comes and waves to her and says, "Olivia, it's me, Harrison. I'm your brother." He loves to hold her, and pat her back. Noah loves to pet her head, and point out all of her "tiny" parts. He has been so gentle, and sweet. He almost always uses a whisper voice when he's around her. He thinks her little squeaks and squawks are hilarious, and likes to laugh at her.

We are all doing very well now - boys are no longer sick, Olivia is content, and I am getting more sleep than I did in the hospital. Grettle gets here tomorrow night, and Sam leaves on Thursday for Maryland to find our next home. Then it's toss, pack and move. I can't believe we have less than a month in San Diego. What an adventure these last few months have been!

Two weeks and counting

I know all of you are looking here to see if we've had our baby yet, which sadly we have not. It has however, been two weeks since we got rid of our TV. We sold it on craigslist and it's been great. We did not go completely cold turkey. Our computer has a TV tuner and tivo built in, but in the past two weeks I've watched exactly 2 hours of TV (two episodes of House, if you were curious). That is a significant reduction for me. I was a serious TV junkie. They boys have also really shut down their TV time. Thankfully they have stopped asking for it for the most part.

There were several big motivators behind this. First, we are moving in a pod and can't take anything but the essentials. And frankly TV did not make the cut. Secondly, I read the ensign article about President Eyring. His wife cut the cord (literally) on their TV and it really inspired me to get rid of it.

So you might ask, what have we been doing with our time? Well, there is the great purge in preparation for the aforementioned move. We are trying to get rid of almost everything we own (an editorial on this to come later). We donate/sell/toss at least a few bags of stuff every day. More importantly, we've been having a more fun together. Noah dresses up more, I read to the kids more, Noah makes more messes, and Harrison plays more with legos.

Can we do it?

After long consideration of many moving options, we have come to the conclusion it will be best to use ABF U-pack. We are pretty sure we are going to go with the Relo-cube option. Now the question begs, can we fit all we own into one 6X7X8 cube? Currently the answer is no. But we plan on only taking beds, our kitchen table and chairs, only our nicest dishes, and clothes/toys. We already have a huge list of things we are selling at the community sale our complex is having next week, and other things (which include our TV - goodbye & good riddance) on craigslist. And now another question: what will 6X7X8 feet of possessions look like in our new place? (Which I hope will be at least twice as big as our under 600 square foot apartment that we currently reside in...) Looks like we'll be doing some shopping when we get to MD!

And the decision is in....

After 3 months on the job search, 20 job applications submitted, 13 interviews (for 7 jobs), 1 exam, 2 code samples, 2 cross country trips, 6 job offers, one counter-offer, and much deliberation, we have made our decision: (drum roll, please)

The J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD.

We are very excited (and a bit overwhelmed in thinking about all the details) but most of all we are glad the decision is made. Harrison and Noah are excited because "there's a train in Maryland that goes to DC where the zoo is FREE. You don't need passes or anything!"

Now we can concentrate on other little things, like the fact that we have a baby due in 3 weeks, Sam's defense in 2 weeks, and arrangements to make to move from coast to coast within a few weeks of the baby's arrival...