Changes big and small...

So Samantha is now 19 months old. She is doing really well, so verbal and active. Keeps us on our toes. She is so cute, gets a lot of compliments. We have been keeping busy with music class, a moms club, and we are going to start an art class. This week my parents came to help with the start of the semester. We ran a lot of errands, got a lot done around the house and had a lot of fun. My parents brought up Sam's kitchen playset and a few other toys that she has enjoyed playing with again. She has had a ball with nana and papa and I know we will all miss them tons.

One big thing in our lives is that Sam is now weaned. She wanted my mom to rock her (she says rocka for rockabye), even though she would not get milk. She went down pretty well, but woke up early the next day and did not really get a nap, so I tried to get her to have milk the next night, but she wanted Nana again, so we just went with it and when I rocked her last night she did not even ask. It is a bit sad, but I am so glad she got to dictate how it ended and it was not the battle I was afraid of.

Here are some random pictures from this week.
Here is Dad with Sam in her shirt that says, "Grandpa's pride and joy".
Here she is with Nana and a rubber band. She put it on her arm at some point and my mom asked about her bracelet and she said, no rubber band.

Here she is when she wanted a handle on her cup. She stuck it in the pitcher and got what she wanted.

Her she is getting a story from Nick from a book my brother and I had read to us.

And playing with papa.

Ah, WV

So we are getting a bit more comfortable in WV. Sam is napping well and sleeping pretty well. She has had a few playdates and she starts music classes this week. They still have a few things to fix on our rental, including the leaking roof, but it is getting better and hopefully they will patch the roof on Tuesday. And my parents are coming today to help out!

Here are pictures from the ribfest. Sam had a ball jumping in the inflatables.

She also got really excited by the giant corn statue.

Here she is drawing at the welcome ice cream social at Marshall.

Here are some various pictures from our move. Both the dogs were in the eclipse with me and drugged with some supplement to keep them calm, highly recommended.

This is what Nick drove.

Things are looking up!

So we now have internet and television. We have had a busy weekend with all the installation and the delivery of a new to us fridge. The one here was in awful condition, so even a nearly new one is a huge improvement. We signed up for membership at the YMCA, which has classes and an on site drop in daycare for while I work out. It will be nice to get a break while Nick is at Marshall and I teach only night classes. And they have indoor pools. Last night we had dinner at a colleague's house. Sam had a ball playing with her 3 year old. We stayed kind of late, which lead to a later bedtime of 9 or so. Then Sam was up for about an hour in the middle of the night, but she ended up sleeping until 10:30 today and probably would have gone longer if I had not checked on her. Latest she has slept in for forever. And she followed that by a 3 hour nap. I guess she is making up for all the interrupted naps she has had by the men working here to fix the huge issues with the house. She also ate well. Tomorrow is a visit to the rib fest in town and an ice cream social for new faculty. Staying busy even in this tiny place.

Crazy

life is crazy, no internet yet and over cell minutes. dealing with so many annoyances . a leaking roof, etc. but sam is good, a bit clingy and eating almost only chicken and ranch. she is such a good sport.

Aack! Long update on the moves

Life is crazy. So we spent countless hours trying to find a place to rent to be sure we had a good fit at Marshall and because the market is too bad to sell our house. It was hard to find a place in a small city that would take 2 dogs. We had to get a colleague to check out a house and never made a trip up here since we only had 1 or 2 leads at a time, we did not want to take Sam on an 8 hour drive and it is hard to leave her since I still feed her at night. We finally settled on one kind of out of desperation. We loaded up on Saturday and had a much too small truck, so we had to make runs in my parent's neighbor's truck to store a bunch of our stuff at my parents. Which was stressful and made for a long day. Then we had to wait up to check in our renters (Nick went I stayed at my parents, but I did wait up). Then on Sunday we drove the 500 miles with Nick in the truck towing the Vue, me in the Eclipse with the dogs, and my parents and Sam in my mom's Buick. We finally arrived and the place was not a good fit for a toddler. It had a strange layout, which we knew a little about, but not things like the front yard had a huge wall above the street. It had a busted door that a tenant had kicked in when she forgot her keys, peeling paint, nails sticking up in the floor. So we called the realtor and she came on Monday. She was super nice and had forgotten we had a toddler and totally understood, so she said she could fix everything up or we could find something else and be let out of our lease. We had tried to find something all morning, but nothing was better so we were afraid we would have to live with work for a month+, and nap time is sacred. And then on top of everything else, when my parents finally got Sam to sleep when I was on the phone with a potential house, the dogs barked and my mom got up to get me and stepped on a dog crate which slipped and she fell and broke her toe. It was scary and we are lucky she did not get hurt worse. After trying to take care of her, we went back to a last ditch effort, so Nick called one more in the paper but we could not see it until 7:30 that night. We got an extension until the morning from the realtor and went to see the new place. This is long, so I will try to get to the point. We took the new place, but it has issues as well and to get it on Tuesday we had to take it as is and clean it ourselves in exchange for no security deposit. It is a mess! These girls left trash and did not know how to use a broom or mop. But it is a better neighborhood, with a park nearby and a small fenced yard (we would have had to do a run in the back of the other one) and sidewalks. But because the last tenants moved out without paying their water bill, we have been unable to get the water on, one hassle after another. So we ended up dumping our stuff on the first floor of the house so we could return the truck and moving to a hotel. The dogs are staying at the house. Water should be on tomorrow. And we can start moving things to rooms and unpacking. It has been so hard not having everything we need. And poor Sam has been sleep deprived and thrown off her schedule which we worked so hard to get her on. But she has mostly been an angel, such a sport it is amazing. And my parents have been so great. Camping out in the first house, working so hard, and my mom has been in pain and still going. They are such a blessing, especially doing this for us to move away from them. We will miss them so much. And can never repay them. But even with all the stress, we have been laughing at this crazy ride called life. If you don't laugh, you'll cry, right. Anyway, please say a prayer for us that we get water. And that we do not have a major mold issue with the stagnant air for a month. I am hoping for no more moving for a long time (or about a year at least) and after I decide I really don't need most of this stuff we hauled from Atlanta. Simplify!

Quick update...aka Moving Sucks!

So after a week of working from 7 am to midnight or later (Nick pulled some almost all nighters) packing, cleaning, painting, etc, we ended up renting a much too small truck and spent the day loading it and several loads in a pickup truck to store at my parents. Thanks so much Ben and David, could not have done it without you. Then after the super long day of loading and unloading, we had to finish cleaning and move all the stuff up to their attic. And then get together last minute stuff. What a week! And now tomorrow we drive for 500 miles. Fun, fun. We may not have internet much for awhile, but I will post as soon as possible. Wish us luck!

Oh, and I forgot to post Sam's 18 month stats. I do not have the form out, but she was 20 pounds 10.5 ounces (5-10th percentile) and 75th percentile height. I think it was 32.5 or 33 inches. So the doctor was pleased with her weight gain and now she can also have peanut butter!