WHEW!

I know it's been almost 2 months since I last posted, but it's been a total whirlwind since we moved back to NC in April and things aren't still completely settled. Our hope was to move back "home" and get back into a routine -- this wasn't the case.

I decided to leave on the same day as Chris and Vivian, which meant missing out on a couple of events at school -- a retirement party for one of our faculty members and the awards ceremony for my program. However, it meant that Chris wouldn't have to be by himself (with Vivian, of course) for a week dealing with the movers in a new house. Not a good idea.

We took 2 days to drive, which was much, much smarter than the straight-through drive we did in March. I called our landlord on the morning that we were to arrive at the house. I left her a voicemail that we were coming up and that I had no way of getting into the house. Although our lease went into effect on the 15th, our landlord never sent us keys. Several hours later, I finally heard back from our landlord. She gave me the garage access keypad code. That was it! As soon as I walked into the house, I knew she hadn't done anything that we had requested to have done prior to moving in. We also didn't have hot water. We expected her to come over that weekend to do a move-in inspection with us. That wasn't the case. She didn't come over until a month later, after we had e-mailed her our inspection form and after we hired a licensed home inspector, engaged an attorney, and sent her a certified letter that stated she was in violation of the contract AND was breaking NC housing laws.

Fast forward 2 months: We finally got out of our lease. We have a settlement agreement in place and will be terminating our lease at the end of this month. The jist: She feels like she did everything she possibly could. This is what she told our attorney. She didn't fix several of the issues in the house. I'll give her some credit: She did hire a professional plumber to fix the hot water heater leak and leaking hose bib. However, she refuses to fix some things because she doesn't see them as problems.

The other news: We are under contract to buy a new house!! We're closing on June 22nd. We're very happy that everything is working out! Perhaps we can finally get a routine under way, rather than dealing with our nightmare landlord on a DAILY basis. We're very excited about the new house. It's just a few miles from our current house, so we aren't going too far this time! :)

On the baby front: Vivian turned 18 months old yesterday. I can't believe how big she's getting. Her vocabulary has exploded even more over the past 2 months. She can tell you (for the most part) what she needs. She even tells us when it's time to go upstairs, when she poops, and when she's ready for bed. I'm pretty amazed at how well she's doing. We recently bought her a play kitchen, a Kangaroo climber with slide (she got that this morning), and a couple of outside chairs. She loves to play inside and outside. She still loves to read and watch Fraggle Rock (only 1, sometimes 2, episodes before bedtime). Vivian has also enjoyed 3 playdates since we've been back.

We've joined Marbles and Durham Museum of Life and Science for fun things to do. Vivian will also be starting The Little Gym this coming week. We're hoping to start swimming lessons next month at the Y. Preschool starts in 2 months.

Oh...and I almost forgot: Chris and I had a date last month!!!! We went to go see Wicked. The last time we had a date was to see Rent and that was when Vivian was 6 weeks old! I'm hoping that with our hockey season ticket package and the Broadway season tickets we can get out a bit more than once every 16 months!

Here are some pics to enjoy!

Vivian's 2nd haircut


Getting ready to go down the slide


SLIDE!!!

Saying Goodbye

It's hard to believe that the time has come to say goodbye to FL. The movers are coming tomorrow. Chris and Vivian are leaving tomorrow after the movers leave. I'm staying a few extra days with Lilli so I can attend a couple of school-related functions. One of the faculty members is having a retirement party and the student awards ceremony is next week. I've been nominated for an award, but I don't know what award.

The past month since we got back from NC has been a busy one. I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends with school -- talking to faculty members, talking with the librarian who specializes in my field, making sure all required forms have been signed and sent to the appropriate departments, and finishing up classes. I was also recently recognized as a Preparing Future Fellow at the Celebration of Grad Student Excellence a few weeks ago. There were only 2 fellows at the university this year, so I was really honored to be recognized.

We've also been tying up loose ends with other things, such as having another autism check at 15 1/2 months and 15-month pediatrician appointment, and a 16-month weight check appointment. Vivian dropped off of her weight curve, but is now starting to track along the 50th percentile curve. She gained 3 ounces in a month and is now about what she weighed at 12 months before getting sick. Overall, she's doing really well and is running around everywhere. This has made packing a challenge when she likes to crawl into boxes and take things out of the boxes.

It's hard to believe that we've been here almost exactly a year. We moved here the weekend before finals week and are now moving back the week before finals week.

In the year that I've been here, I finished my coursework, satisfied my residency requirement in 2 semesters (it usually takes a year) took the qualifying exam, took the preliminary exam, defended my concept paper, advanced to candidacy, became a Preparing Future Faculty Fellow, sat on the Academic Honor Policy hearing committee, took a leadership role in our program's student association, helped organize the department's fall orientation, attended the faculty retreat, helped to organize our multimedia studio grand opening, completed a certificate in our program, reviewed conference proposals for two conferences, completed two research studies, submitted a proposal to a conference, and attended a 2-day conference on Program for Instructional Excellence. WHEW! Oh...and I managed to maintain a decent GPA!

And so you don't think that all I did was school, here's a list of fun things we did while living here. We managed to travel quite a bit to Orlando (multiple times), Jacksonville, Pensacola, Panama City Beach (for shopping), Ft. Walton Beach, Destin, Atlanta. Locally, we went to the Greek Festival, Asian Festival, Homecoming Parade, Heritage Day, Maclay Gardens, Dorothy Oven Park at Christmas, Thomasville Victorian Christmas, Howl-o-Ween at the animal shelter, Lake Ella, Tom Brown Park (Vivian still loves the swings), swimming pool, pumpkin patch, Tallahassee Museum, North Florida State Fair, Jewish Food Festival, Springtime Tallahassee, Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, San Luis Mission, and a couple of FSU baseball games.

The next few months will be busy as well. Vivian will be starting preschool in August and swimming lessons in July. Chris and I will be having date nights, since we never got to have that here. We have Broadway season tickets and we are sharing a hockey season package. I'm sure we'll be eating out a lot more (we never do that here), since there are a LOT more gluten-free options in NC. We're going to attend track days at VIR and CMP. Chris has never been to the track before. Perhaps I'll FINALLY get the "family" car onto the track. :)

We're eager to get back home and back to friends, playdates, game nights, and cookouts at our house! I know Chris is looking forward to hanging out with adults again!

Sorry I can't close with a picture of Vivian. My computer has a trojan virus on it (so I'm using one of Chris's laptops) and the server has been packed away. I promise to post some pics when we get settled in a few days! :)

We're back...

in FL. We stayed an extra day in NC. I don't think any of us wanted to come back to FL. I kept telling Chris that we could just send the movers a house key and have them pack up everything and deliver it to the new house. I don't really have to be back here, except for a final exam for my one real class.

We drove straight through on the way home, which was another LONG day. Vivian start to melt down about an hour outside of town. I wasn't happy about coming back here either or being in the car any longer, but we made it.

Our trip was quite successful. We found a house, we found a preschool (Vivian will start there in August), and spent time with some friends. Unfortunately we weren't able to see everyone. We also ate out for every lunch and dinner successfully! Vivian did really well, considering we NEVER go out in FL. Honestly, I can't remember the last time we ate out at a restaurant here. There are only a couple of places I can eat here, so it's really not worth going out.

I haven't been able to go to classes this week. I'm sick with a nasty cold. Vivian is also sick and she isn't sleeping through the night, which means no one in the house is. We're heading to the ped in just a few minutes for her 15-month shots which I'm not sure they'll actually do. It sounds like it's croup again. Ahh..the barking seal! We just dealt with this crap 6 weeks ago.

Vivian became a totally different girl when we got back from NC. She ran all around our 300 sq ft hotel room in NC. Before we went up there she was mostly crawling. Now she's definitely walking all over the place! Her vocabulary seemed to explode too! 15 months seems to be a major milestone.

Some things she says: meow meow (for kitties), baby, Chex (rice chex), bottle (plastic water bottles are fascinating to her), choo choo (for any loud noise), all done, yummy yummy (when she's hungry), dog, hello, bye bye, hi, dada, teeth (loves to get her teeth brushed), cheese, socks, car, shoes, bubble, and poo-poo.

She's a pretty funny kid and still loves to read books. She waves at everyone. It's pretty amusing. She definitely got a lot of attention at the restaurants! Glad to see she's doing so well. Hopefully we'll get everyone healthy again soon. I'm tired of being sick!

Welcome Home!

We were originally going to come up in December to look for a house, but I'm glad that we waited until spring break to do it. Over the past several months, we've looked at hundreds (really -- no exaggeration there) of listings online. We've been working with an agent for the past couple of months. Each week it seemed like we had fewer and fewer choices. First off, not many houses in NC have fences (BOO). That narrowed down the choices a lot and we weren't really willing to negotiate with that.

When we arrived in NC on Thursday, we had 7 houses to view. We drove by several of them on Thursday night (Vivian wouldn't go to sleep until 4 am) and weeded a few more off the list because of the lots. They had "death" decks, which meant that they were built on stilts. "Deck has scenic view" means my kid is going to not have a backyard to play in, nor is the dog going to be safe while she is outside doing her business. Our favourite house -- the listing expired Friday morning. We were supposed to view it on Saturday afternoon. Doesn't make for a happy mommy!

There was another house that Chris really liked -- close to the YMCA, which I would definitely be frequenting again. There were tenants in the house who refused to leave during the showing. NOT A GOOD SIGN! So, we decided to give that house a thumbs down!

At the end of our real estate tour, we had two houses to choose from. Yes -- two!

House A was overpriced (Prestonwood Country Club), had a loft...NOT a bonus room (like the listing stated), and didn't have a fence. The back of the yard dropped off into a stream or creek. Not really a good option, but we could work with it.

House B was in the same neighbourhood I lived in when I first bought my house in NC. LOVED that neighbourhood and several Triangle Mommies live there! They even have a MMO (Mom's Morning Out) program! The yard is fenced (yeah!), there is a bonus room (yeah!), the lot isn't scary (yeah!), and there is plenty of room for our family (yeah!).

Our application on House B was accepted last night, so we're now looking at a move-in date of April 15th!!! We haven't worked out the logistics of exactly when we are moving, but we'll figure it out! :)

It has been reallllllllly nice to be back to NC. We've been able to see several friends in the few days that we've been here, including 3 1/2 month old twin girls (and their parents). I've been able to eat out for lunch and dinner. The options for gluten-free dining here are amazing! They're even better than a couple of years ago. We've been to PF Chang's (we currently drive 2 hours each way to eat there now), Carrabba's, Bonefish, Cafe Harmony (also a wonderful place to eat if you are vegan), and ZPizza (twice). We've also been to Harmony Farms, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and two Harris Teeters.

So...now the countdown begins. At least I have more than 2 weeks notice to move across states...unlike last year!

I am a....

Doctoral Candidate! I should have posted about this a couple of weeks ago, but I've been very busy working on other things (studying for a midterm, preparing for our visit to NC). Advancing to candidacy means that I've completed my coursework (at the end of this semester, technically) and have passed my comprehensive exams. The next step in completing the PhD is the dissertation! It's just a paper. Well, I have to remind myself that it's just a paper -- not the be all, end all paper of my career. Let me also point out that at Florida State, 75% of candidates NEVER finish. Yep, those odds aren't very good. However, I think I have a pretty good shot at finishing given that I started the program while living in another state, working (more than) full-time, getting Chris's house on the market, oh yes...and about 25 weeks pregnant! :) I'm the person who delivered a child during finals week. So...here's hoping that I'll have a PhD after my name in about a year or so.

Our Barking Seal

Vivian caught her first cold about 10 days ago. During my concept paper defense, Chris had to watch the little boy of one of my committee members. Unfortunately, Aaron was sick (which we knew) and passed his germies onto Vivian. So, she caught a cold which turned into croup. Poor kid sounded like a barking seal when she coughed. She normally sleeps with a humidifier, so we also put her into the steam-filled bathroom a couple of times a day. It was miserable, but the meds from the ped helped her out too. She still has a cold. It's hard when your kid can't blow her nose, so we keep the tissues handy!!

Unfortunately, Chris and I also got sick with colds. Chris was able to take meds. I just dealt with it.

We bought Vivian's first pair of shoes on the 13th. She wore them for the first time yesterday when we went to Lake Ella. We took her out of her stroller for a little bit and let her walk around. She kept saying "SHOOOO" over and over again.

I've been looking into various preschools in NC and found one that I really like. They believe in teaching children about taking care of themselves and the environment and paying it forward. They also feed the children organic foods (from Whole Foods) and are very health conscious. I spoke with the director this morning and then we e-mailed each other a few times. I really like him and the philosophy of the school. So..here's hoping we can get in!!!

We have a walker!!!

Vivian took her first steps tonight!!!