We are here.

We made it! Of course, we've been here almost two weeks now. I don't have any pictures yet, but we are starting to get settled in; there are still boxes yet to unpack and many things yet to do before little Jack comes to join us. I should be working on all those things instead of typing. Oh well.

Here are a few first impressions:
1. Very nice people. We have been VERY warmly welcomed. I am so grateful for all the people who have been so nice and friendly!
2. Tree lined streets and farms. Very green. Beautiful. Rural.
3. I am never going to learn my way around. All streets looks the same. . . two-lane, tree-lined, winding, and headed where? I don't know. That is the point.
4. Deer are EVERYWHERE. One day I counted 11.
5. Fireflies make me feel like a little kid.
6. Intolerably hot. Santa Monica spoiled me BIG TIME. Also, I am 38 weeks pregnant. That doesn't help.
7. Shopping . . . not so much.
8. No traffic. That is nice.
9. Very hilly. Running with a stroller is going to be a challenge. Plus, there are no sidewalks.
10. I have to walk down two flights of stairs, outside, down a hill, to the back of the building to do laundry. When it snows and I have a newborn and a toddler who likes to run away this is not going to be very fun.
11. The hospital where I am going to deliver is tiny. I know size is not a reflection on quality, but having come from working at Ronald Reagan UCLA which is regularly ranked as one of the best hospitals in the country, this hospital feels a little small. I mean, does it still count as a NICU is there are no babies in it? I shouldn't be nervous. Can't help it.
12. On Monday I picked 4 pounds of blueberries. Yummy! They are already half gone. If Jack doesn't show up soon, I am going to go pick some more.
13. An ice cream shop with 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream . I don't know if Maggie, myself, or Joe was most in heaven.

Maggie is adjusting somewhere between pretty well and not great. I don't know if she just happened to have a sudden onset of terrible two's coincidentally upon our arrival or if her behavior is really move related, but I am sure having a very pregnant (i.e. grumpy, hot) mom who is unpacking boxes instead of taking her to the beach doesn't help. Also, we accidentally set the fire alarm off in her room when resetting the fuse box while she was sleeping. It scared the poor little thing half to death, so she doesn't really care for her new room very much. I am hoping that she starts feeling more comfortable pretty soon. I am nervous about bringing a new baby into her world that already feels like it is sitting on it's head. But, she loves babies (and not much we can do about it now anyway). I am sure that it is just a matter of time before this place starts feeling like home to all of us. In the meantime, I am going to eat blueberries. Lots and lots of blueberries.

This is what we do while we wait

This whole move has been surprisingly harder on me than I thought it would be. I am really enjoying soaking up a little last minute family time, both with Joe's family in Utah and now with my own family in IF as Joe makes the drive east, but I have cried much more than seems reasonable, especially considering how much I wasn't really excited to move to L.A. three years ago. I am hoping that I can contribute at least some of the tears to being 36 weeks pregnant, but as Cathi once said, it is funny how the place that you don't want to move to always seems to become the place that you don't want to leave. That is certainly how I feel about Santa Monica. I have been the most sad over the last week when Maggie has started crying and asking to go home. I feel bad taking my baby away from her home, which is funny since it won't take long for her to forget it completely. Maybe that is why it makes me so sad. Now, I am just hoping that NY quickly becomes the next place that I don't want to leave. Wish us luck in our new home.

Bye, Beach

Right now Joe is somewhere in Illinois driving a big, yellow Penske while Maggie and I are hanging out in Idaho Falls waiting to fly out and meet him in Ithaca. It still seems a little unreal, but I am pretty sure it will feel a little bit more real on Wednesday night when I touch down in NY and see our apartment for the first time. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of our last family trip to our little beach in Santa Monica. Tear.

The other day I asked Maggie, "Are you cute?"
"No," she responded. "I just crazy."

 

Not exactly my best picture ever, but I think there is something so sweet about a toddler sitting on a baby belly

A few things I will miss about Santa Monica . . .
1. Friends
2. The beach
3. The beach
4. The beach
5. 65-80 degree weather everyday of the year
6. Sunday evening walks in perfect weather along a bluff overlooking the beach
7. Family coming to visit (Jeff and Sam, I think you might be our only hope! Come visit us!)

A few things I will not miss!
1. Traffic
2. Apartment managing
3. Joe's commute (i.e. traffic)

A few things that I am looking forward to . . .
1. Waterfalls
2. Lush, green
3. New England in the fall
4. Making a snowman with Maggie
5. Finally visiting DC
6. A new adventure . . .

Party like you're three!

Many afternoons and evenings have been well spent playing in the courtyard with these cute kiddos. Maggie learned Lucy's name before even her own. Thanks to great neighbors and friends! They will be missed.

Packing

What have I been up to lately? Well, obviously not blogging. I have been packing up my house, selling furniture, and generally living in a state of disorganized chaos. We will be moving to Ithaca, NY in about 2 weeks for Joe to pursue an MBA at Cornell.

Yes, it does look like a tornado hit our living room, and bedroom, and bathroom. I guess that is what happens when you sell all the furniture that used to hold items. When you get rid of your dresser, naturally, your clothes end up . . . . where exactly? I think the whole problem is that I don't exactly know. I am wearing a skirt which is literally the only clean piece of clean clothing I could find this morning.

Maggie is being a pretty good sport watching her world turn on it's head. Of course, she really has no idea what's going on, but she has started to say "but I miss it" when she watches things (like our kitchen table and her changing table) being carried out our front door. I assured her we would get a new table, so she keeps reminding me that getting a new table is something that we should do. Also, she wants a "cute" new rocking chair. She is fascinated with the idea of a snowman and keeps saying "build a snowman in New York. when it's snowy." I think she might be a little disappointed when she realizes that snowmen don't actually sing and dance, but at least for now, she is really excited to move to New York just so that she can build a snowman, when it's snowy.

For good measure, here is a picture of Maggie dancing her heart out on our coffee table
when we still had one, of course :( 

And, also, just because she is cute, but curse that binky! She loves it so much.

Happy Birthday to you!

Little Maggie-pie,

I can't believe that you are two years old! The last two years have gone by so fast.

You are such a sweet and happy little girl! You have an almost constant smile on your face, and you generously give hugs and kisses to your Daddy and I. Today we were talking about how baby Jack is in my belly. You gave my belly a pat, tried to look down my shirt to see the baby, and then you leaned down and kissed my belly. I think your little brother is going to be very lucky to have such a sweet older sister. You show the same consideration for your baby doll and your stuffed animal "friends." You are often changing their diapers, giving them food and drink (real and imagined), placing them for naps (even sharing your special blanky for nap time), rocking them in your arms, and giving them hugs and kisses. There are a few bikes stored behind a fence that we pass each time we walk from our car to our apartment. You always want to go see the bikes. Today, while we were looking at the bikes, you said, "oh, cute bikes!" (these are adult size, rusty, missing seats and tires). Then, you patted the tires, and when I tried to encourage you to move on, you had to give the bikes a parting hug (I cringed because you were wearing your new birthday outfit and we had just come from church and also, but it was "sweet" as you so often say).

You are also a super energetic little girl. When we went car shopping until 1:00 a.m. one morning, you literally ran in circles around the dealership until we left. One of the workers told us that they had taken bets about when you would eventually crash. Around 11:30 p.m. he told us they had all lost the bet. The next morning when I tried to wake you up for church, you batted my hands away, closed your eyes and made fake snoring sounds. I tried to pick you up, and you batted at my hands again, and continued with the snoring sounds. You love to run, jump, and spin in circles.

You LOVE to sing and dance. When we drive around in the car, you sing any lyrics that you can pick up, and it is impressive how quickly you pick them up. I think your favorite song is "here comes the dinosaurs." We sing and march around the house to this song usually multiple times a day, but you also know the lyrics to many of the songs that your Daddy and I like to listen to.

You are a really good little talker--almost making complete sentences, and you are pretty patient when I can't understand what you are saying. Instead of getting frustrated, you repeat yourself over and over or try to act out whatever you are trying to get me to understand. The other day when your Daddy couldn't figure out what you were saying even after repeated effort on your part, instead of getting frustrated, you just started laughing at him. You are still learning to use pronouns; if you want me to hold you you say "hold you?!" or "sit by your?!" It is so cute, that I haven't tried too hard to correct you. I know that you will figure it out in good time. You can say all your numbers in order to 10, although you skip 5. You also know that the teens come next, and will jump randomly from one teen to another when trying to count until you start back over at 1. You are still working on your colors, and will almost always say that something is blue when asked its color. You also use blue as an adjective to describe a particular thing (e.g. "blue one binky"you might say to try to get me to understand that you want your favorite binky which is actually red and clear).


I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be your mother. You are so sweet, energetic, loving, smart, kind, cute, cuddly, beautiful, fun, and funny. Even though you are teaching me patience (I think that is sort of what motherhood is for), you bring so much light and joy to my life every day. I want to freeze you in the moment so that you will never grow any older, so that you will always be my squishy cheeks, little sweetie. Yet, still, every day I am so excited to watch you learn, grow, try new things, and make new steps.

I love you!
Mommy

Your cake is supposed to be a beach (your favorite place for the best I can tell). The bears are lounging on beach towels and floating in inner-tubes.

IF

Joe and I have had the chance to fly to some pretty amazing places; I learned to love flying. Sitting, reading, relaxing, daydreaming.

Turns out that flying is not quite as fun when you have a bulging belly, frequenting poked and elbowed by a super squirmy toddler who really wants to crawl around on the disgusting airplane floor. Especially when the flight gets turbulent and you think you are going to throw up and the lady in front of you complains that "SOMETHING is hitting her chair." Luckily, it turns out that Maggie loves turbulence. She giggled and squealed so loudly when our decent into Idaho Falls was a little rocky that she was starting to get laughs from several rows of passengers, and I think it was her cuteness that helped me keep my lunch. She was more skeptical when I changed her diaper while standing her on the toilet seat in the airplane bathroom. Anyway, I think there might actually be some wisdom in the age limit requiring a two-year old to purchase a ticket (something that I seriously doubted before I squeezed in one last free flight to visit my family in Idaho).

Still, every jab in my nauseous belly seriously payed off for the time that we got to spend in Idaho Falls. By the end of the week Maggie was cuddling with Grandma and Papa which is pretty impressive because she has been SUCH a mama's girl lately. She had so much fun playing with her cousins Tabs and Kaia that she still talks about them. The other day she asked me if we could see Grandma and Papa. It made me so happy, but so sad because I had to explain that we would have to go on another airplane before we could see them again. Even though we have had fun visits together in the past, this is the first time that Maggie has seemed to hold onto any memory/attachment to her family. I hope that even though family visits aren't as frequent as I wish, that she will still be able to build loving relationships and that maybe next time we won't be starting from scratch.

I think I took a half dozen pictures trying to get a good one of these three silly girls. In every picture Tabs is being cute/silly, Maggie has a huge, cheesy smile (pretty much her permanent facial expression) and Kaia is either glaring at me or looking away completely. Cracks me up. That girl has so much attitude. 

Those geese are aggressive! Maggie had her hand bitten (if you can bite with a beak) twice until she started running from away; then they started chasing. Usually it is Maggie doing the chasing even when her hands are full of food.  Still a beautiful place.