Getting Settled and a Photo Update

Have I mentioned that I'm so grateful we have a home? Sometimes you have to go without one for a couple weeks to really appreciate it. This is actually the first time in our married life to have our own house - no one below us, above us, beside us, etc. We have a yard! I'm so excited to learn about gardening in Florida - from what I have heard we can start planting some things in late September. We got here just in time! We have pretty hibiscus in the front yard, and a fig tree (with figs!) in the backyard along with a bird of paradise, palm trees, and a large oak that provides a fantastic shady area. There are a few things that I have yet to identify. We have some purple flowers in front and I went out one day and was sad because I thought the wind had blown all the blooms off as they were scattered on the sidewalk. But then I was surprised to walk out the next morning to a whole new set of blooms. Apparently that species' flowers fall off and grow back almost daily. This morning an opossum ran across our front yard. Do they really play dead when they're scared? I thought about chasing it to find out.

The entire house is tile - which I'm ok with since I've heard cockroaches like to live under carpet in these parts, yuck. One of the first things I bought was a steam mop for the floor. It works great and once Jack is mobile it'll be especially nice to know the tile is sanitized! We've been in our house a month now. I think I unpacked the last box last week. Did I mention it takes a MILLION times longer to unpack and get settled with young children? Like instead of a few days, more like a month. We have a handful of pictures on the wall now, and it's feeling more like home every day. We have a spare bedroom - even comes with a bed! Start planning your Florida vacations stat :) We LOVE visitors!

Grandma Lewis got to spend the first night with us in our new house before she flew out the next morning. Here we are having a picnic lunch.

The ergobaby carrier has been a lifesaver. Keeping Jack close and mom's hands free.

 Thanks to Great Grandma Nancy we had a 'dining table' of sorts. She refinished this beautiful child's desk. Now that we have our own dining table Sawyer loves to use the desk for all of his art projects.

 This lil guy bedded down in a suit case until we were able to buy a crib. Worked out pretty well really.

 Sawyer enjoyed the easy access to his brother.

 Sawyer was great at unpacking. If only he was as good at putting things away, instead of strewing them everywhere.

Look mom a SQUIRREL! Florida is so exciting!

 Do you ever sleep like this?

 The pool is a BIG hit!

 Did you need something mom?

 I told Jack to look cute for the picture. Such an obedient boy!

 Sometimes shaving cream fun doesn't last long enough for mom to accomplish what she wants to...

Looking adorable, like usual!

 Sawyer LOVES his little brother. He is so sweet with him most of the time. He likes holding him and always has a kiss for him. It's fun that Sawyer can make him laugh now too.

I still can't believe he dialed 911

Karate Kid

"Hiiii -

 YA!"

A Glimpse in my Rearview Mirror

Not a bad view. In fact, I quite like it :)

Every morning before it gets too steamy I load the boys in the trailer and hop on my bike. I LOVE that there is a shady paved trail that takes off right from our neighborhood. The forest is alive with little creatures singing, chirping, buzzing, and humming. We've seen a tortoise a handful of times cruising on the path, and we can't leave the house without seeing lizards. Sawyer and Jack love it!

A/C Issues

I'm furious!!

So after I bragged that our Ford Escape had no problems for the big trip out here, the a/c went out on it. Which we've found is basically a state of emergency during the summer in Florida. So we took it to a mechanic - one that the auto parts store recommended. We paid them $100 to diagnose the problem. They said it would be $300 to fix it. So we had them do the work. We picked it up Thursday afternoon and then drove in to Orlando Friday morning. The a/c stopped working again during the drive! So we took it back to the same shop and they want to charge us another $600 to fix the real problem. Seriously? So I wasted the first $400 on what exactly? No wonder mechanics have such a bad rap. Ugh it's so frustrating! I know fixing cars is expensive, but that just doesn't seem right to me, especially since they won't work with us AT all on reducing costs the second go round. You've got to be kidding me thinking I'll throw another $600 to the same shop that just took $400 and did nothing. I wrote my experience on a google review so other people would know, and I'm going to report them to the Better Business Bureau. What would you do in this situation? Am I right to feel upset, or am I overreacting?

U.S. eh!

In October 2011 George decided to start the process of becoming a US citizen. He had been a permanent resident since he was 17-years-old. A green card must be renewed every 10 years and costs about $500, whereas if you become a citizen it's a one time deal and I believe it cost us right around $800. It's been a fairly simple process, but as with all things government, it takes 'processing' time...10 months in George's case. He had to submit a bunch of paperwork. They wanted to know every date he had been in and out of the country. He lived in Seattle and had family in BC so he had no idea how many times he'd even just made day trips back and forth between Canada and the US. He also had to take the civic test. I actually learned a few things while quizzing George for that. Did you know there are 435 Representatives in the House? I didn't. Friday morning was the naturalization oath ceremony in Orlando. There were 101 people (1 from Albania!) representing 29 different countries, and the ceremony took about 2 hours. They had everyone in the room sing the Star Spangled Banner and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. The guy we were following said pledge of alliance instead of allegiance, uh whoops!

Can you spot George?

George did it! And just in time for the big vote in November :)

(Another perk for George becoming a citizen is that he can now do night vision goggles at work, yes!)

Man of the House

Happy Birthday George! I'm sorry I didn't have much time and/or energy to do something spectacular for your birthday, but I did write up this little ditty for you. I hope you know that I appreciate and love you so much ._

YOU ARE THE

PEANUT TO MY BUTTER

TWINKLE IN MY EYE

HOWDY TO MY PARTNER

BLUE IN MY SKY

SPRINKLES ON MY SUNDAE

FURNACE FOR MY SHIVER

FLIP TO MY FLOP

CURRENT IN MY RIVER

MILK TO MY SHAKE

SPRING IN MY STEP

HELI TO MY COPTER

PAPA OF MY BABIES

HOVER TO MY LOVER

BALL TO MY BOWLING

MAN, YOU KEEP LIFE ROLLING

YOU ARE THE

BEAT OF MY HEART

RHU TO MY BARB

SHINE TO MY SUN

LOVE OF MY LIFE

(Inspired by this song 'Perfect Two' by Auburn I heard it a year or two ago and thought it was hilarious.)

We enjoyed eating out (without children!) and a movie with ice cream at home.

South Carolina

While we were waiting to get into our home, we (Grandma, the boys, and I) took a road trip to South Carolina to visit my Step Grandma Nancy. She'd never met the boys before, and I hadn't seen her for about ten years, so it was a great visit, and way past due! She lives in North Myrtle Beach, just minutes from the ocean. It was fun to get to visit with her and learn more about her younger years. She was a professional golfer and pulled out all the newspaper articles that had been written about her. She was good! Nancy is so generous and treated us to good food, great talks, and comfortable accommodations. She was a good sport to put up with such a busy crowd such as ourselves. Thanks Nancy!

Grandma Lewis was such a good sport entertaining Sawyer whenever I needed to nurse Jack.

Great Grandma Nancy & Jack

Nancy pointing out a squirrel up in the tree to Sawyer and Jack.

We also swung inland to visit my second cousin, Lisa, that lives in Columbia. She just recently had baby Colin (two-weeks-old when we visited). She was so friendly and totally reminded me of a southern belle. Haha, she would laugh if she knew I said that.

It's kind of funny that an 18 hour road trip came as a relief. It helped me forget about how unsettled we were. And it was great to reconnect with relatives I hadn't seen for years, and I'm grateful that we actually have some family out here on the east coast!

The Move

You would think we are professionals at moving across the country by now - and we are getting pretty good at doing it cheaply! After looking in to u-hauls and moving trucks (for around $1700), we decided to buy our own flat bed trailer (6' x 10') and shrink wrap our goods onto that. The shrink wrap worked amazingly well and held up fine through all the weather George encountered on his drive east. As it worked out, we couldn't get in to our rental home for a couple weeks so the trailer sat outside and only a minimal amount got wet - nothing damaged fortunately.

We also decided to leave all our big furniture behind, except for our bed. I have become craigslist queen and almost have our house completely furnished for under $500 with items that I think are pretty good quality...this includes washer, dryer, couches, end tables, twin bed, queen bed for spare room, crib, dresser, bookcases, high chair, area rugs, nightstand, kitchen table and chairs, and a slide, kiddie pool, and patio furniture for the back yard. I'm ok letting others buy at retail value, I love craigslist and garage sales!

 Bora (the Ford Escape) and our shrink wrapped trailer containing all our goods...not too bad for a family of four.

 Saying bye to papa before he headed out on the long drive to Florida. Sheesh Jack, let that belly hang out!

This photo of Sawyer pretty much sums up his last couple weeks in Utah. He was a wild man and ran around crazy while we tried to pack up for the move. Thank goodness for Grandma, Grandpa, and Sara's help - taking him so we could get things done! We did have to call the poison control center one morning as he had gotten into a bottle of allergy pills and spread them all over the bathroom. The guy I talked to on the phone said that if he'd eaten more than ten he'd have to go to the ER. So grandpa and I got busy counting the remaining pills. Thankfully we counted 59, and the bottle only had 60 and grandpa knew he'd already taken one. So Sawyer actually hadn't eaten any, just spread them everywhere. He is SO busy. Another milestone in this 21-month-old's life is that he dialed 911 from our house phone last Saturday. What are the odds that he could do that number combo? They had to send a cop out, even though it was an accidental call. Awesome. I suppose he will be cutting his own hair next?

Anyway, back to the move. George made the 40 hour drive in exactly 3 days. He left at 3 p.m. on Friday July 6th and got in to Titusville at 3 p.m. on July 9th. This gave him a week before he had to report for his first day of work. He flew to become current and tried to study as well, and also looked at a lot of different houses, with no luck at finding the 'one'. So grateful he made the drive safely without any car problems, and that we (read two little boys) didn't have to be in the car that long!

We flew in three days after George on July 12th. Grandma saved the day (and actually all 12 days she was here) and flew with the boys and me. I would have had it ROUGH by myself. We had two great blessings on our flight. Our flight was completely full. Except one seat, which thankfully Sawyer occupied. Who wants to sit by a baby and a toddler on their flight?? Thankfully no one, so that's how Sawyer got the last seat available. He does SO much better when he has his own seat instead of being a 'lap child'. Grandma handed Sawyer a little pillow before we took off and he leaned it against the window and went to sleep. Just like that. I was stunned. This is SO unlike him. He was asleep before take off and slept for an hour. Blessing number two for sure. It was so nice to be able to breathe for a minute. Both boys did really well on the flight.

Arrived in Florida! Going on two hours of sleep the night before, a 3-hour drive, and a 5-hour flight with two little boys. No prob! I like Sawyer's dazed/crazed look to match mine. This picture does not show our two car seats, two duffel bags, and two suitcases.

When we got to Florida we weren't exactly sure where we'd be staying (hotel as a back up plan). As it turns out we had some good friends that were just leaving town for a long weekend and they offered their house to us. That was such a blessing in and of itself. The even better part was that they have kids, so Sawyer was in heaven with all the news toys. It was so nice not to have to worry and watch out for him breaking anything, and those little conveniences when you have a baby - like a baby bath, and nail clippers on the table by the recliner...stuff like that made it SO convenient. Mom was amazing and watched the boys while George and I looked like crazy for a good rental home.

Here Jack sleeps in Grandma's arms...this was his preferred position.

 We tried to sneak in some fun to keep the kids (and ourselves) sane. Water usually does the trick!

Anyway, it'd been almost a week and we still hadn't had much luck finding a place. So Kyle and Beth offered all five of us to stay at their home. So generous of them! Grandma took the couch, and George, the boys, and I took the spare bedroom. It was fun in the morning to try to keep Sawyer quiet with his 5 am wake ups. Nope, not really fun actually. Thank goodness for Grandma's help! By this point George had started his new job. Poor guy, I felt so bad that things were so crazy and unsettled still. Everyone thought we were crazy to come to Florida without a house already lined up, and at this point I was starting to agree. But I hate committing to live in a place for a year sight unseen.

Finally we found a house we liked, but it was having some remodeling done and wasn't going to be ready for another week. This house had almost everything we were looking for (fenced-in backyard for a busy boy, ceiling fans. enough square footage, garage, etc.). The only problem with it was that it wouldn't be ready for another week. I wasn't sure if I could handle the transient living as we were going on two weeks of it already. All routines, sanity, and organization had gone out the window by this point. Considering all the houses we'd already looked at, we decided to go with the house that wouldn't be ready for another week. Mom and I decided to take a road trip with our 'spare' time. (Post to come on that.)

I am SO glad my mom was here with me to help. I'm sorry it wasn't more of a 'fun' trip for/with her, but hopefully it wasn't too bad and she'll return to visit so we can play :)

For now we are working on making our house a home. Which I might add, takes about a million times longer with my two little helpers. Life is good. We are so blessed. We are truly thankful for this opportunity. I just had to keep reminding myself that while chaos ensued, but things are settling down around here quite nicely. We are comfortable, happy, and healthy.

Giggles

Jack is 4-months-old! He currently weighs 18 lbs. 4 oz. and
rolls from back to tummy every time I lay him down. He loves his big brother and fairly recently thinks he's really funny too. 

Ohmygoodness!

July was one busy month, whew! I can see how it is easy to get out of the habit of posting. I'll try to get with it again, but no promises :) We are currently in the fight of getting back into a routine of sorts - mostly sleeping. We had high hopes that Sawyer would start sleeping in with the time change, no such luck. First morning we were in Florida he was chipper at 5 a.m., 3 a.m. body time. And it hasn't gotten much better since. Why, oh why?? Anyway I think I'll try to catch up on posts, starting with the big move, but wanted to let everyone know we made it to Florida and are alive and well, just trying to get settled in our new home and also get used to the heat combined with humidity!

Here are a couple photos of my little helpers!