The long awaited update...

Okay, I am finally feeling better. And I actually even have a little bit of time to update my blog!

Hooray!

Soooo, back in December Matt's boss came to him and told him that they needed him to get some real experience flying the airplane before he could instruct people here. And the place to get the experience is in Southern Maryland. So we had two choices, either Matt could be gone for 3 months and home for 1 (and repeat this pattern for at least a year) , or we could all move to Maryland. Easy choice for us!

At that point we had been here a little over a month and felt like it would be best to move the kids sooner rather than later. They both liked it here okay, but they both felt okay about moving again. Matt had a few flights to finish his initial training and then it was a pretty sure thing that we would move.

Then a million little things happened (weather, scheduling, military stuff) and Matt wasn't able to get his flights in. Months went by and we kind of hung in limbo. I kept telling myself "I can't do this or that because we're moving soon." It was really not a fun place to be. It's just hard not to know when (or really even if) you are moving! We didn't want to tell anyone at the risk of appearing even more flaky than we already appear for moving twice in 6 months. The only thing worse than that would be to have told people we would be moving again, and then not move. :) So we waited...

Finally Matt was able to get his flights done and then in a matter of days he was off on buisness travel to Maryland! Just like that! It confused me that they sent him so quickly but then I got it. By sending him to Maryland they were able to use him right away, while leaving me to organize the move. At lease it's all still so fresh in my mind that I know exactly what I'm doing. And what I'm in for. :)

Coming to California and not having a place to live was Crazy! So I knew I needed to fly out and look at houses. I had been looking online at houses and schools since December, so I had a pretty good idea of what was out there and where we wanted to be. My wonderful sister Amy was able to fly down , spend some time with lonely old me, and then watch Alexis and Christian (who opted out of the house-hunting trip) so I could jet set off to Maryland with Addie. A million phone calls later and I was off to Maryland too!

Flying 2800 miles with Addie wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. She slept for the first 2 hours of both flights out there. My first flight was a shortie, just to Vegas. I had the whole row to myself and it was dreamy! On the longer flight to Maryland I sat in the aisle (not the most conducive for breastfeeding) next to a very nice lady who obviously had experience with babies and helped me the whole flight. Picking up toys, handing me things, playing with Addie, she was very sweet!

The house hunting trip was very productive. I had been looking online at homes since December. I pretty much knew what was out there and because I was able to call some people at the church there, I knew the neighborhoods to look at. I was thrilled that we were able to agree on a home and put the offer in before I left on Saturday. I had been super worried that we wouldn't be able to find something in the allotted time, but we did!

And it looks like we got the house, so hooray for us!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! In the midst of all of the house hunting trip planning chaos I got a phone call from our renters in New Mexico. It looks like he is being deployed and they are activating their military clause to get out of the lease. UGH! So then there was a whole new mound of uncertainty! Again, should we buy or rent?! We both still feel good about buying in Maryland, but it's still scary to have to worry that the house in New Mexico might go empty for awhile! We've had quite a few people inquire about it and my dear friend Stacey has even shown it for us. So pray for us! We need it!

So that's our lives in a nutshell. When I get stressed and feel like I'm getting ready to wig out (which happens frequently!) I just remind myself that this is a good thing! Even though it's tough right now, we both feel like Maryland is where we need to be. At least for the next six months. ;)

Ouch!

My boob hurts.

Bad.

My body is achy. My head is pounding.

First thought.

Breast infection.

But could it be the 5600 miles I've traveled since last Tuesday?

The 9 month old traveling companion that, bless her sweet little heart, has had some major sleep issues?

The fact that I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep lately because my sister left today and I wanted to hang out with her?
(in addition to the aforementioned trip and hanging out with my handsome hubby!)

The stress of the move?

The other stresses...

Lex and Chris really stepped up to the plate tonight. They watched Addie.

I napped. I soaked in the bath. A super hot bath, the kind that makes your skin all red and, by the time your done with it leaves you sweaty faced, that kind of bath.

I've been a bad blogger. This blog is in need of some serious updating! Because real soon our home is going through some real big changes!

And I promise the updates won't be all complaints. :)

Promise.

California

I know I've been kinda MIA lately. There's a good reason, I promise. 

We went looking for houses all day today, and tonight I'm blogging from... 

CALIFORNIA!!! 

Oh wait, that doesn't sound exciting enough. Let me try that again. Tonight I'm blogging from... 

CALIFORNIA, MARYLAND!!! 

(there really is such a place! and we really are staying there!)

For those of you who might be scratching your heads, yeah, it looks like we're moving to Maryland! SO much going on. I'll give more details later, just wanted to do a quick update. 

Wish us luck! Lots more houses to look at tomorrow. 

PS - Maryland is beautiful!

The Sweet Life

I started crying as I was cuddling with Addie around 5:00am this morning. It wasn't from sleep deprivation, even though she'd woken up at 2:30 and hadn't gone back to sleep. It was from the overwhelming joy I was feeling with this crazy motherhood thing.

See, we've been having some serious sleep issues around here lately so Matt and I are trying this 33% Ferber, 33% Sears, and 33% Ray method of sleep training... yeah and, it's not working. So she woke up, I fed her, she fell asleep, I laid her down, she woke up again. I gave her a few minutes to see if she would self soothe herself back to sleep. She didn't sleep, but she did quietly play in her bed and I just kept hoping she'd just fall asleep! If I know she's awake in her crib, I can't sleep, so I checked on her every five minutes and read the NieNie Dialogues till all hours. Probably why my tears were flowing so easily.

Anyways, after 2 hours of her quietly playing in her bed she started getting whiny. So I gladly snuggled my sweet, chubby little baby. I rocked her and sang A Childs Prayer for what was quite possible the billionth time in her little life. And as I did I was taken back almost 13 years ago (can I seriously have a child that old?!) when I sang that very same song to my Lexi-lu. And then fast forwarded two years to when I sang that very same song to my little baby Christian.

How did I get so blessed?!

9 Whole Months - By Addison

I don't have a lot of time to write my nine month post today, I've got way too much to explore and do! But I guess I can take a quick break from my crawling adventures to update everyone about my month. I've been crawling for about 3 weeks now. I love it! I never stay in one spot anymore! My family even says it's hard to hold me because I'm always moving!

Here is what 5 minutes of my very busy life looks like. This is something I love to do, climbing up the coffee table! These pretty books just taste so good! And the pages... I love to fold them and turn them!

I always try to pull them down... here I've almost got it!

Success... but ouch, my finger! Mom!!!

Thanks mom, that hurt! Should I try to get the other one?

Nah. Hey mama, what are you doing?

I did work pretty hard to get that book down... should I stay and play with that?

Nah, climbing on mom is way more fun!

I love you mom!

See what I mean when I say that I'm busy?!

All that crawling around is a really good workout, so my brother gave me a sweatband. By the look of my face it looks like I was sweating while I was eating some food!

Another of my favorite places to explore is my dads closet. It has a cool mirror on it and I always see the cutest little baby, and she always does what I do!

Playing follow the leader...

I wish I could touch her!

I rode on my first airplane this month. It was pretty cool. I only cried a little bit and that was because I was so tired. Here's how most of the flight looked... everybody loves giving me kisses!

Los Angeles was pretty fun. I almost got eaten by a shark. I wasn't worried though.

I met Curious George... whoever that is!

I saw some Sea Lions, and they were pretty cool. I guess.

When we got home I found a new favorite way to sit in my high chair.
Can you tell that I love eating avocado?!

Carrots are pretty good too!
I love trying to feed myself!

I found a new toy this month too.
It's so convenient!

And delicious!

Here I am later on that very same day. Inventing new toys is hard work!

I am always helping my mom around the house.
I help her with the dishes...

the vacuuming...

...and the laundry.
She seriously wouldn't get anything done around here without me!

Okay, as you can probably see, this place falls apart when I take breaks.
Gotta go, I think the TV needs some fixing...

See ya next month!

Love,

Addison

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!

Today is Christian's 11th birthday! Ahhh, where did the time go?! If I was a better blogger (and had more time today) I would go through and scan some way cute baby pictures of him. But alas, I'm pressed for time (and I really am not 100% on how to use the scanner).

Christian is such a goofball! Since Pre-k his teachers have always told me... "He is so smart! And he is also sooo social!" Anytime he's ever gotten in trouble at school (and there have been a few times!) it's because he was goofing around and talking too much.

He's also way girl crazy! Scary! When we got his Pre-k yearbook (and everyone since then!) he was showing me his class and he said "That's my girlfriend. And (pointing to another picture) that's my girlfriend. And that's my girlfriend." I knew I was in for some trouble then and there! His teacher here in Penn Valley told me that he's a total babe magnet. I told him it was all in the big ears. The ladies love 'em!

I love that he is so sensitive! I love sappy songs and when they tell a really good story I'll make the kids listen to them and see if they can figure out the story, and then I'll explain the parts they miss. He has fallen in love with so many sappy songs that way. :)

I also had him trained at a very young age to run up ahead of Lex and I and open the door. Such a little gentleman! He has also been the official bug killer since he was big enough to kill bugs. Even when he was scared he would always buck up and do the squashing for me. Seriously, what a gentleman!

For his birthday I made him baseball and basketball cupcakes for school and a cake for home. Then he wanted to go to a Japanese Steakhouse for a delicious steak dinner. My friend Joy recommended a restaurant and it was sooo good! We had such a fun time! Some pictures from Christian's special day...

Opening some new clothes this morning before school.

I know my cake decorating skills still need some work, but I was pretty proud of myself! I've come a long way! (ps - we dropped our camera the other day and the viewer is all messed up, so I thought this was centered. Oopsie. :)


At dinner...

Addie's reaction to the fire.

The chef was sooo talented! And he agreed to a picture with our birthday boy!

So fun!

Coming home to cake and ice cream.


We can't believe your 11 Bubba! We love you and we're so proud of all you do! Happy birthday!

LA baby!

So originally we had planned on going out to Santz Cruz for our long Presidents Day weekend. Then I got to talking to one of my best buds, Autumn, and we decided we should definitely meet halfway somewhere (she lives in San Diego). We looked online and came up with San Luis Obispo or the Sequoia National Forest, which we both liked equally, so we, being the wonderful wives that we are, let our husbands decide where we should meet. They both chose San Luis, and off our planning began.

It didn't get far however because I one day mentioned to Autumn that Matt really wanted to take the kids down to Universal Studios sometime. "Let's meet in LA!" Autumn said. Hmmmm, LA?! Maybe this could work, I thought. I checked flights and found some very inexpensive Southwest flights and whammo, it was off to LA!

Our adventure started at 11:00 Friday morning with a wonderful hour long drive down to the Sacramento Airport. After parking the car and shuttle bussing it up to the airport, we were on our way! Addie did really well on the flight. I fed her during take-off and she was totally fine the whole time. Granted, it was only a 1 hour flight, but still, she did surprisingly well.

I guess at one point it got a little loud and she couldn't quite handle it. So darn cute!

Our first adventure was to meet up with some of Matt's junior high friends, Dan and Susan. We met up with them in Long Beach and enjoyed a nice dinner at Islands. Of course I only got two pictures and the other one was notso-hotso, so here's the good one. Susan, I'm still waiting for some real dirt on my husband for next time!

Saturday morning we headed down to Hollywood Boulevard!

The Walk of Fame! Here's the fam posing by some of our favorite stars. So fun!


Next was on to Graumans Chinese Theater. We saw all the hand and foot prints, but I'm still not sure who Sid Grauman was... anybody know?



On the 3rd floor at the mall by The Kodak Theater (which was getting all geared up for the Academy Awards this Sunday!) there is a great photo op with the Hollywood sign. So cool!

After that we started getting bombarded by people offering us Movie Star Home tours. At first we just walked on past, but then we decided to get a picture in front of this cool convertible limousine.
Seeing our amazement over this, the driver pounced on us! After we told him there would be 8 people in our group (Autumn and fam were on their way!) he really started to wheel and deal! He offered us a great rate for a private 2 hour tour in a limo. We had originally planned to go to the Wax Museum and Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum, but for only about $20 more we found we could take this limo tour. I know what your thinking, movie star homes? Says who, right?! But it's something I have always wanted to do, as cheesy as it is! And it wasn't just movie star homes, it was all around Hollywood. So after Autumn gave us the green light we agreed to the tour. It was sooo much fun! Here we are outside the limo.


And inside...
Since we had it all to ourselves the kids were able to run around and stretch out. I know, not super safe... but oh well.

We got to stop and take some pics.

I took a bunch of pictures of the homes, thinking I would remember which belonged to which celebrity (supposedly), but of course I can't remember any of them. The kids remembered that this one is supposedly Miley Cyrus' house, or one of her houses at least. Christian even memorized the address so he could tell all his friends at school!

And then they let us out on Rodeo Drive for a quick 20 minute shopping spree. We kinda felt like The Beverly Hillbillies, so this was as close as we got to the inside of any of the stores. It was still very cool to see.

And Matt found his next car!

Yup, it's a Maserati. It was amazing how many super expensive cars we saw! By the way, did you notice mine and Matt's shirts? I had them made for us and gave it to him on the First Day of Valentines, it says Matt loves Michelle and mine says Michelle loves Matt. After I ordered them I started thinking maybe I should have made them the other way around, so his said Michelle loves Matt and mine said Matt loves Michelle... oh well.

After our Hollywood tour we headed up for a scenic trip up Mulholland Drive. I didn't really know what was so special about it, but we found out that it's just a really pretty, windy road up on a mountain that overlooks LA, or is that Hollywood? I don't know, but it sure was pretty!

Since that day was Valentines Day, Autumn and I had called around and made reservations for us to have a romantic Valentine dinner at a nice French restaurant in downtown LA called Cafe Pinot. Even though we got all dressed up and we both brought our cameras, neither one of us thought to take a picture! And then on the way back up to our rooms we were gonna get some pics, but as we were walking down the hall we could hear poor Addie crying. And then as soon as we got Addie, poor Lexi started crying! She did such a good job babysitting, but Addie can be a handful when I'm not around. She assured us that she will never be having any kids! At least not for a good 10-15 years! That's some pretty good birth control!

The next day we were off to Universal Studios!
I almost passed out when I saw what was being filmed that day! Desperate Housewives!!! I know, it's not the best show, but they play it twice a day, and in the mornings when I'm cleaning and Addie's napping I like to watch it. Autumns a fan too! Hey, don't judge!

We had a blast at Universal, and got some silly pictures.


We saw some fun characters...

But the highlight of my day at Universal Studios was of course Wisteria Lane! For you non-Desperate Housewives fans, that's the street where all the action happens!

This was the best picture of me from Wisteria Lane. In all the other ones I'm looking around starry eyed saying "This is sooo cool!!!" The brown house is Mike Delfino's and the blue one is Mrs. McClusky's, in case anyone was wondering:).

Autumn bought the kids matching shirts for Valentines day. They all wore them to Universal Studios, but it was too cold to take off our coats, so when we got back to the room we got some cute pics.


On Monday we woke up to what looked like a hurricane! It was raining and the wind was blowing super hard! We had scheduled a whale watching trip for 9:00, but that got canceled. We decided to drive out to Long Beach anyway, in hopes that we could catch a later cruise. Turned out that all the whale watching was canceled for the day, but we did get to take a 45 minute Harbor tour. It was freezing! The water was super choppy but it was still super fun!

I always love it when my hair takes on a life of its own!

After the cruise we had lunch at the Bubba Gump restaurant which was sooo cute and fun! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was so cute. They even quiz you on your Forrest Gump knowledge.
Isn't that the cutest room?!

Autumn and crew left after lunch and we drove around Palos Verdes, Santa Monica Pier, and the LA temple as we waited for our flight, which was supposed to leave at 9:55, but didn't end up leaving until after 12:00! We pulled into our driveway (or I should probably say Matt pulled into our driveway with a carload of sleeping passengers) at 2:30. We've been exhausted all week and poor Addie's sleep schedule is totally and completely messed up! We also realized that it probably would have been cheaper and more convenient to drive, and considering the late flight, it really wouldn't have taken any longer! Ahhh, live and learn, right?! Thanks Dan and Susan, and Autumn, David, Taylor and Landon for the wonderful, busy, loud, and super fun weekend! Can't wait for our next adventure!