Brad and I are officially homeowners now! We closed on our house a week ago and the former homeowners will be out tomorrow and we'll be in! We had to move out of our current house on Thursday and we are currently staying with some friends. They've gone to the beach and we enjoyed a very nice, relaxing weekend in their house. It's sort of like being on vacation actually.
Since we had to be gone on June 26th but we weren't moving into the new place until July 1st, we had to figure out where our stuff was going to go. We decided to rent one of those pods that I really hate seeing on my street because they are an eyesore, but seemed to fit our purpose quite well. Because I just feel like they are so annoying we tried have one in our driveway for the absolute shortest period possible, and it was delivered on Saturday and left on Monday. Brad decided that he could load the pod himself as long as he got some help with the furniture. He emailed a few of the guys from church and a couple showed up on Saturday evening to help out. It was sooooooooo humid outside and those boys worked really hard. Brad thought he was tuckered out by the time the furniture was gone, but Sunday morning he woke up bright and early to pack the boxes onto the pod.
I made him smile for that one, but he really felt like this:
Too bad he had a whole day of moving to go!
...and a WHOLE lot of boxes to move!
So he got started. Luckily the day was warm, but not humid and so that made it a little more bearable. I stayed in the house to finish the packing and to watch sweet baby L. I discovered that an empty house is a lot more hazardous to babies than one that is full of stuff, so we made a little area just for her and her toys. She even tolerated it pretty well for an hour or so.
Gotta taste your surroundings!
At the end of the day (and it really was the end of the day, after dark and everything, poor Brad) the pod was loaded even though we had more stuff! We rented the 16 foot unit although we really thought we could fit it all in to the 12 foot unit. Well, clearly the 16 foot unit wasn't even large enough, so thank goodness we didn't end up with the 12 foot!
(note the sweat on the shirt, hee hee)
We ended up taking three more loads of junk over to the house where we're staying to store in the basement. It's sort of ridiculous! We just have too much stuff!
We cleaned and cleaned the house and on Thursday sweet baby L and I came out to the house where we're staying and said goodbye to our old place. It was sort of bittersweet. It wasn't our house and we always knew we'd be leaving there, but it was a place where there were so many HUGE life changes. All our fertility treatments took place there, we learned that we had permanent fertility loss there, and of course the wonderful wonderful part... we brought L home to that house. She learned to crawl and cruise and eat things there. On the other hand we're moving to an awesome new place. A place where we'll be for a very long time, even if it's not the place where we end up forever. Sweet baby L is going to learn to really walk there (although she walked by herself for about three feet the other day!) and learn to talk there and really go through all her preschool years (at least) there. I'm so looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.
I'm also really glad that the former homeowners couldn't be out until July 1st! We are really enjoying this short week of respite. This weekend was wonderful. Saturday we spent some time driving around to pick up the last few things that we'd planned to buy for the new house. Sweet baby L now refuses to sleep in the car for more than about 15 minutes at a time, so Sunday we stayed here and played all day. It's fun visiting people with older kids, because we can definitely try out the things that they have and see if it is something that sweet baby L is interested in. We had a great time playing outside with bubbles (sweet baby L's first experience!) and this push car. Sweet baby L was fascinated with both for a long time!
Watching daddy make bubbles.
Daddy's supreme bubble making technique.
Sweet baby L likes bubbles!
After some bubble time, daddy pushed sweet baby L around the driveway. She's just babbling and babbling about it.
In that one she's squealing. She really liked being pushed around in that car.
Then they started going end to end on the sidewalk, and Brad would run with her. She is going to be some kind of daredevil because she thought that building up speed was the most fun!
Hold onto your hats!
It was a really great afternoon.
Brad and I are also enjoying finally being back to cooking! We've spent so many weeks eating out every single night (our kitchen was packed a week before our June 13th move so we really thought it was going to be a one week sort of thing), and we are so happy to be back in the kitchen! Last night I made some enchiladas with zucchini, corn, onions, chicken and cheese as the filling. They also had a tomatillo salsa on top which wasn't hot at all. After I filled the enchiladas, I had a bit of filling left which I put in the fridge to maybe bake tonight and have as a dip. Sweet baby L was sitting in her high chair eating her cheerios and staring at us eating our food and I decided just to try and give her some of that filling (it was all pre-cooked stuff). I put a big spoonful on her tray and cut up the chicken chunks and she went after it! She ate every last bite. I didn't give her any salsa although I debated it after she gobbled up the rest.
I'm definitely going to work hard to serve meals this month that we can just feed her straight from the dish. To me, this seems to have several benefits. When L can feed herself it makes a more enjoyable dinner for everyone. She likes feeding herself and it keeps her occupied and with us at dinner, and it allows both Brad and me to enjoy our meal without feeding her as well. I think it will also help us in our "quest" to knock the bottle by 12 months. The more independent she is with eating, the easier that will be. I also like that it keeps her eating new foods and new combinations of the foods that she's already tried. I can't believe she ate those onions, but hey! I'm glad she did!
I can't believe that she's already 10 months old! We're going to find the bunny sometime this weekend and we'll have photos next week!
