Observations

As of today, we are 13 days from our move. Here's our plan: Kylie and I will fly to TN. Karen's brother Teddy will fly from TN to Portland. He is kind enough to drive a big,ole uhaul truck across the country filled to the brim with all our stuff. Karen will accompany him by driving our car across the country. 2900 miles folks! I'll meet them in VA after dropping Kylie off with her Nanny & Grandpa in TN. Then we'll unpack, go get Kylie and bring her to Virginia. Whew!

We really need to sell our Portland home so please keep praying for us.

This morning, I was able to knit an entire row on my blanket while Kylie was playing next to me. A milestone! I've been really looking forward to this day. Before now, she's not tolerated it or I've been on-the-go after her, keeping her out of trouble. But I was able to sit and knit and talk with her. Awesome!

Of course it might have helped that Kylie had some new furniture to play with. We moved our tv stand into the family room. I'm trying to sell the stand on Craigslist. But Kylie has had a field day filling it with every bit of her toy food. She loves to prepare "snacks" for us and her toys.


We were worried that Kylie was coming down with a cold. But now we are pretty sure that she has a runny nose and fever due to a molar tooth coming in.


As a rule, I take my picture-of-the-day of Kylie sometime before 4:00. But my collection wouldn't be complete without some early evening shots. Here is Kylie unwinding before her bath. She completely relaxes in her Momma Karen's arms.


Getting dry after her bath. Her nose is a little puffy because she had to cry just a bit when she had to get out of the tub. A sure sign that she's ready for bed are the nighttime tears. Doesn't she look cute all tucked in her big towel?


And here are a few more recent shots:

Ballerina video

Here's a 25 second clip of Kylie dancing. She's pretty subdued here. Normally she's running, flapping her arms more and spinning faster but this will give you a sense of her free-form wonderfulness. I particularly like the part where she bends over and then launches herself up and how she calls herself a ballerina. Enjoy!

Bug nightmare and more

The plans for our move are coming together. Yet it seems the more we book and arrange for things, the more questions arise. We're all just pushing on the best we can.

There's nothing like a little reality check to put things in perspective. Last night, I was sitting at my computer downstairs and Karen was sitting at hers upstairs when we heard Kylie cry out. "Mommy! Momma!" she yelled. We both ran to her room in a flash. "Bug! Get it off!" she was saying through her tears when we got to her. There wasn't a bug. Just a toddler nightmare.

We made a Kylie sandwich, Karen holding her and me wrapping my arms around both of them as we whispered and stroked her to calm her. We all stood there and rocked together for a moment and then we felt the tension leave her body. In those few heartbeats, all that existed was us. And I was reminded that all that matters is our family. Not where we live or how we get there. Just us. It was a good reminder.

Here's a few pictures.
She had something sticky on her fingers. We had swim class yesterday so Kylie has the after-swim class look to her hair. I just had her hair cut a bit ago but dang if those bangs aren't almost to her eyes again.

She's dancing around the family room. I've got to get a video of her dancing. It is so free-form and fabulous.

This is an every day occurrence. Kylie sits in her toychest calling it a bathtub. She takes off her socks and throws them over the side of her "tub". Then she either pretends to wash my hands or her stuffed animals. I also like this picture because you can see all the toys scattered all over the floor--another daily occurrence.

And this one is sweet because all folded up into her squat, Kylie looks almost as small as that little toy bus.

Here's the scrapbook page I finished last night.
Second birthday

Lollipops and Craigslist

On Friday, we were sitting in the drive-through at Dutch Brothers Coffee and the barista asked if Kylie wanted a lollipop. She loved it and proclaimed it, "Delicious!" She loves this new word. Everything has been "delicious" lately. This was her first ever lollipop. She was still eating it when we got home. I flapped around her like a nervous hen, convinced that she would bite it off and choke on it. But she did great!


Karen flew to Virginia last week and found us a home. We'll be leasing a house for a year. This will give us a chance to learn the area before we purchase a home. Plus, we have our Oregon home to sell first. While she was away house-hunting, I was busy packing and selling furniture on Craigslist.

I love Craigslist. What an awesome site. I've used it many times over the past few years. But, the process of selling your stuff can be a little frustrating. This past week, I put up between 15-20 ads to sell some furniture, kid toys, etc. I've had people who've said they are on their way to buy something and they don't show up and don't call. And man oh man! I have had some stupid phone calls. The phone calls surrounding selling our sage green couch were the worst.

Caller: The couch is sage green?
Me: Yes
Caller: "Are you sure?
Me: Deep sigh and think to myself, "Really? You are asking me if I'm sure about the color of my couch?"
But I take another deep breath and say, "Yep, I'm sure the couch in my family room that I'm looking at right now is sage green."


Caller: "Does it look like it does in the photo?"
Me: Think to myself, "Are you familiar with what a photograph is?" But I answer, "Yes, it looks like it does in the photo".
Caller: Do you have the dimensions?
Me: Are you looking at the ad now?
Caller: Yes
Me: If you look at the top of the ad you will see the dimensions.


Caller: Do you have a truck to bring the couch to me?
Me: No sir. When I wrote "cash and carry on the ad" I meant that you will need to pick up the couch from my house yourself.
Caller: Do you take checks?
Me: No sir. When I wrote "cash" on the ad, I meant cash.

Deep sigh. It makes me wonder about the survival of the human race.

Kylie is handling the shuffling and packing really well. I got her a Berenstain Bear book about moving. It's a little too wordy for her so I made up my own story about how the Bears are moving to Virginia. I think it helps her a bit.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and good thoughts. It really helps me!

Here are a few recent scrapbook pages:
What are you thinking?

Blow

Dance Elmo

Thanks, a question and Kylie stuff

WOW! Thanks to everyone who posted a comment about our move. I'll admit that I waver between feeling excited and feeling anxious and overwhelmed about moving to VA. "Announcing" it on the blog made the move news very real. For the past two days, every time I started to get shaky about it, up would pop another blog comment from you. You support me more than you know, so thank you.

Question: I have 10 or more Melissa & Doug puzzles like the one pictured below. Back in the Winter, Kylie stopped showing any interest in them. I put them away for a while. In April, I pulled them back out but she ignored them. So my question is: "Should I hold on to these puzzles because she may get interested in them again or let them go because she's grown past them?" Developmentally, I just don't know what to expect. I'm leaning towards selling them or giving them away. What do you think?

One of Kylie's new things is to reach over an pat my arm and ask, "You okay Mommy?". Kids are so intuitive. She was all about the hugs yesterday. Hugging me and hugging her stuffed animals.


Her other new thing is to ask 20+ times a day, "How you doin?". I'll say, "I'm doing great Kylie. How are you doin'?" and she'll say, "I'm great too".

She's playing with phrases like, "I'm too big. I'm too little. It's too hot. It's too cold." But she purposefully mixes them up. I'll say something like: "Kylie, do you want some raisins". She'll reply with, "I'm too little Mommy." And then she'll just smirk/smile at me as if to say, "Let's see what you make of that!"

She's likes to play the "favorite" game.
I'll say, "Kylie, what is your favorite color?"
She'll reply, "Green!"
I'll ask, "What's your favorite letter?"
She consistently says, "M!"
Then she'll hold up one tiny finger and say, "My one favorite thing is....(she'll pause for effect letting me think she'll say Mommy or Momma) and then say, "Little Einsteins" and then laugh. This cracks her up every time.


You might remember that Kylie was nervous about bugs. I saw this Match-a-Bug kit and had to get it. It's been a big hit. Kylie and I have enjoyed putting these big, plastic bugs on the windowsills and on this matching board. I like that she can really study and handle the bug replicas. As an added benefit, she's not been freaked out about bugs. Hurray!

Here are a few more pictures of the munchkin.
She colored this crown herself. From this coloring book.

Hello Washington DC

Actually, we will be living in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Here's the story.
In April Karen, like so many other Americans this year, was laid off from her job. Karen is an expert database consultant and teacher. Her career for many years has included lots and lots of travel. I've been used to her being home a week, gone a week, home a week, gone two weeks--you get the picture. At times, it has been really tough on both of us. Her being away from us and me being home by myself with Kylie.

With the sudden layoff, we got to reevaluate our options. Karen's been busy since April doing sub-contractor work. But she's had to travel almost every week. One night she looked at me and said, "I'm sick of the road. I want to see you and Kylie every morning and every night."

The miracle was that days after that conversation the phone rang with a job opportunity in DC. And although it means a huge cross-country move (again!), I know it is right for our family.

There are so many positives to this move: I'll get to stay home with Kylie, we will be closer to family (only an 8 hour drive from TN), it's work that Karen does so well and she's really excited about it, the stability of employment rather than sub-contractor uncertainties, the schools in Fairfax County are all really excellent, the list goes on and on.

The only really big worry is selling our house. Yeesh! Not a good time to try to sell! And paying for a house in Portland and a house in Virginia. Yikes! So please keep our house sale and move in your thoughts and prayers. We've done all we can to showcase our home and make her look as beautiful and perfect as possible. We've got St. Joseph's help. I just hope and pray it sells quickly. In the meantime, we are making plans to move around the end of July/ first of August.

Thank you for bearing with me on making you wait a day. I so rarely have big news. I couldn't resist stretching it out a bit. Thanks for indulging me.

And now, here are some pictures of Kylie.

Big News

Good-bye Portland

Good-bye the most gay-friendly and kid-friendly place I've ever been.

Good-bye to:
Multnomah Falls & Cannon Beach,
to all the glorious parks we've visited,
the Portland Zoo and Children's Museum,
to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and Chinese Garden,
to beautiful Mt. Hood that graces our skies daily and
Mt. Saint Helens that we can see on a clear day.

Good-bye to our lovely house
with the red kitchen and butler's pantry,
with the family room that has the 3 windowsills that Kylie's spent so much time playing with,
to the prettiest blue bedroom I've ever seen,
the walk-in shower and soaking tub,
to Kylie's room that's painted like a garden
and the backyard that changed from having a fountain, to a garden to simple grass.

Good-bye to the place where Kylie was thought of and then born. To her first house. Her Gymboree classes where she has attended since she was 4 months old, her newly found swim school, and all the trees that she loves to pat and kiss.

Good-bye Portland, Oregon

We are moving to..........

(tune in tomorrow for location and story).