A two-wheeler and a bigger bed

Eight months later and I'm finally posting an update! Sorry for the delay -- it's been a crazy year in Pittsburgh.

Vivian turned 3 on December 11. We spent the day at the National Aviary where she was able to feed the birds. She didn't even freak out when a bird landed on her head.

We finally closed on our house two days before Christmas. We were able to spend Christmas here with Chris's brother and sister and family friend. Vivian's most exciting gift was a Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguin) doll. She kept asking Santa for "hockey stuff" and since Santa wasn't able to bring it, Sidney Crosby came with Santa to deliver the doll on Christmas Eve. She was so excited! (I wish the real Sidney Crosby would come to our house. He's an amazing player.)

Speaking of the house, we bought a money pit! Not a little money pit -- a big one. The combination of poor construction and non-professionals doing all the updating in the house made for a very expensive house for us. So far, we're about 25K into the house. That includes the termite remediation (yes, I saw a termite swarm right on our front porch), rewiring the electrical, fixing two natural gas leaks, painting almost the entire interior of the house, fixing the roof leak (imagine pouring water coming out of the ceiling and down the wall), fixing the sink leak, fixing the toilet leak. I'm sure there is more..but you get the picture. Servicemaster was on speed dial and knew me by name every time I called! Unfortunately, we can't sue the inspector. We tried suing the previous homeowners but the attorney told us we would spend more in legal fees. So, we're pretty much stuck.

Vivian started a new school in January and is doing really well in the 4 year old classroom. The kids are anywhere from 6 months to 10 months older than she is, but she's keeping up with them and in many cases, is doing better academically and socially. She is friendly to all of the kids and they're so excited to see her each day. She's been learning Spanish this past month and has a really good vocabulary doing. She can say hola, adios, buenos dias, buenas tardes, buenas noches, por favor, gracias, de nada, como te llamas, me llamo vivian, all of the colors, and numbers 1-10. We're so proud of her and she loves practicing at home. She's also started to read basic words by sounding them out. English is such a difficult language to learn -- perhaps why I did so much better in Spanish and Japanese!

We bought a new Honda Pilot. After not being able to leave my garage during a snow storm, it was apparent that we needed a 4WD car (not a RWD one). So, we're back to being a 2-car family, which is amusing because we only drive on the weekends!

We've been able to explore a lot of the Pittsburgh area. The museums are amazing here -- Carnegie Science Center, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, National Aviary, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, and the Heinz History Center. Vivian has also enjoyed attending a couple of baseball games. Chris and I have season tickets to see the Pirates (the only affordable sports ticket in town). I love baseball and I'm so glad that Vivian enjoys herself at the games. There are so many events and concerts here. So far, we've been able to see James Taylor but are looking forward to seeing many more concerts in the near future. We just bought season tickets for the Pittsburgh Children's Theatre. It's a great theatre company that puts on kid-friendly shows all around the area at the local high schools. 

This year we've been able to take a vacation to Cleveland, where we saw Chris's cousin and his wife and 3 kids. They loved spending time with Vivian. I hadn't been to Cleveland before, but I really enjoyed going to Lake Erie, the children's museum and the Great Lakes Science Center. We're definitely planning on another trip soon because it's only 2 hours away.

I'm still working on my dissertation and made a quick (32 hours in the car for a 90 minute meeting) trip to FL last month to defend my prospectus. I successfully passed...so now I'm collecting data and am on-track to graduate next spring. I need 159 participants and that will take some time. In addition, I started a contract job 3 months ago. The work isn't too exciting, but I'm so grateful for the 2nd income!

My mom came to visit last month and Vivian enjoyed spending time with her. I took a few days off of work and pulled Vivian out of school so we could do some touristy things. Chris and I even got to have a date night -- a baseball game, of course!

The big news: Vivian recently got a 2-wheeler and a bigger bed! She is doing so well on her bike. She's already asking to take off the training wheels. Vivian asked for a bigger bed. She didn't want her crib anymore, so she got a bigger bed last Thursday night. She loves it and all of her "friends" have plenty of room now too. She's such a funny little girl. I can't believe she'll be 4 in four months.

Overall, we're keeping really busy and are hoping to take another vacation to Columbus or Niagara Falls sometime in the near future before winter comes -- you know, in about a month. HAHA! It's been a really hot summer here (90s) but not really humid. I can't believe that summer is almost over! :(

Here are some pics of Miss Vivian!

3rd Birthday

Seeing the Christmas presents for the first time

Sidney Crosby!

Vivian wrote her name

Dyeing easter eggs

Seeing Bruce Hornsby

Big girl bed

Pittsburgh!

The last two months have been absolutely crazy -- with lots of travel involved!

At the end of September, I drove (10 hours each way) to Tallahassee for a couple of days to defend my prospectus. A few days later, Chris received word that he would need to be in Pittsburgh for a final all-day interview. So, less than a week later, we went to Pittsburgh for a few days. Chris and Vivian flew and I drove with Lilli (8 hours each way). Driving through West Virginia was absolutely gorgeous! The mountains were covered with so many colorful trees -- oranges, yellows, reds. WV is a beautiful state, although it gets a lot of bad press. Pittsburgh felt and looked much different than it did when we came in July. Welcome to Steeler Nation!!! It's all about football this time of year. We met with our real estate agent again to look at some additional houses. We found one we really liked, although we were hesitant to make an offer until we received an official word about a job.

A couple of days after we returned from PA, I had surgery. I did well through the anesthesia and my results came back fine.

About a week later, Chris received a job offer so we immediately put our house on the market that night. Then the real craziness began! We had to prepare for a move within a month. I had to find temporary housing for us in PA, schedule doctors appointments, schedule movers, try to find a new school for Vivian (from a distance), etc.

Vivian was a hockey player for Halloween -- complete with a Hurricanes jersey and authentic (our neighbor plays hockey) gloves and helmet. She loved it! I think she had more fun handing out candy though!

We sold our Honda Pilot so now we're a 1-car family. I wasn't sad to see the monthly payment, insurance or high gas expense go so it was a good choice. If we need a 2nd car at some point, we'll probably get a small commuter car. However, Chris will take the "T" (light rail) to work everyday so I don't see the point in having one.

A couple of days later, I left for a conference in Jacksonville (8 hr drive -- Chris had to get a rental car in NC while I was gone). I was able to present but then became very ill and wasn't able to leave my hotel room for a day and a half. I came down with a nasty cold. I drove home a day early. I would rather be sick at home than stuck in a hotel 8 hours away from home.

We had a going-away party for Vivian and her preschool friends. Vivian's last day of preschool was just a few days later. I think I cried more than Vivian did (who didn't at al). I'm certainly going to miss her school. What an amazing place!!

The following day, we moved to Pittsburgh! We spent a day in DC and went to the National Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles. The Space Shuttle Enterprise is there, as well as the Concorde and SR-71 Blackbird (and a few hundred other planes). It's quite impressive. We also went to the National Zoo. I'm excited to be 4 hours away from DC. We're looking forward to making additional trips there in the spring!

We've been here 4 days now in corporate housing (which is a small fortune -- 2x the price of most mortgages). We had planned on renting the house we're buying from the sellers, but they kept jacking us around so we said "no thanks." (Now they're begging us to move in.) They wanted us to pay 8K up front -- 2 months rent, 2K security deposit (in additional the 3K in earnest money) and 2K for a DOG fee. Oh...and they're still marketing the house because our house in NC was on the market.

The great news: Our house went under contract the day AFTER we left NC. We were on the market for 3 1/2 weeks and had 9 showings. We got a great offer. The buyers don't have a house to sell, so everything should close in about a month. They want to be in before Christmas, which means we need to plan another trip to NC to pack the remainder of our stuff and schedule the movers. I'd like to be in before Christmas too!!

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with our family and friends in our 900 sq ft (very packed) apartment, but it was great to have the entire family together. We are planning on having many more events like this now that we're all located in close proximity.

I shopped with my friend Matt on Black Friday and then we all went out yesterday afternoon for more shopping. I had to stock up on winter gear (thank you LL Bean)! We're expecting snow later this week.

December is going to be another busy month -- Vivian's birthday, Chris's birthday, heading back to NC to pack the rest of our stuff, closing on 2 houses (hopefully) and Christmas! Hopefully January will calm down a bit.

September -- already?!

I can't believe it's already September. The summer flew by. We broke records with the amount of 100+ days we had here. The heat wave was pretty unbearable. Have I told you lately that I HATE living in the south?

July and August zoomed by very quickly. In July, I spent 2 weeks in Pittsburgh. Vivian and Chris joined me during the 1st week so we could have a vacation this year. The second week I was busy at CMU attending a week-long summer school for my dissertation research. Vivian did really well on the airplane with Chris. She still talks about it and wants to go back to Pittsburgh. During our vacation week, we hit up all the tourist sites -- the zoo and aquarium, Cathedral of Learning, Children's Museum, Carnegie Science Center, PNC Park for a Pirates game. Oh..I should mention -- Pittsburgh was also having a heat wave while we were there. It was really hot and I felt sorry for many of the people who didn't have AC! We also met with our real estate agent several times to look at houses and actually found one we really liked. Can't wait to see what the future will bring! :)

August was pretty non-eventful, although I spent several weeks dealing with Vivian's school. We're considering moving her to another school but it really depends on what happens with her current school. We're on a wait list for another school, but she technically can't start until she turns 3 even though she's starting in the 3s classroom at her current school on Tuesday.

This fall is going to go by fairly quickly too. I'll be in FL twice this semester -- once to defend my prospectus and once to present at a conference. I'm trying to schedule surgery that I've been putting off for a few months while my schedule settles down. Hoping that goes okay too.

All in all, we're just hanging in there. I'm looking forward to being done with school and getting a real job so we can have 2 incomes again, which we haven't had since before Vivian was born. I'm also excited to get out of NC and head north! :)

2 1/2!!

Vivian turned 2 1/2 yesterday. I can't believe it. It's funny to think that last year she started walking and talking and now she's running around, practicing her yoga postures (she calls it stretching), and talking all the time! I'm still having a hard time comprehending that in 6 months she'll be 3. The next 6 months will go by quickly and I'm curious to see what kinds of developmental stuff she'll do. She just started asking "Why" about a week ago. Our standard answer now is "why do you think?" Sometimes she'll actually answer with something that makes sense based on the question.

To celebrate her birthday, we bought a few gifts: a doctor's outfit, a tub of Duplo blocks, and a gardening kit. She loves to play outside (even though it's almost 100 degrees with horrible humidity and a ton of mosquitos -- can you tell I'm happy to be moving in less than a year?!) and dress up in all sorts of outfits at school, so we figured we'd get her a few things for home.

We also went to the NC Museum of Life and Science. There's so much to do there. We've never seen the entire place in one visit, so it's great that we have a membership and can keep going back.

Other than celebrating Vivian's 1/2 birthday, there hasn't been too much going on. I quit my job - as in gave about an hour's notice. There was a lot of crap going on there and it was just best for me to leave. I submitted Chapter 1 of my prospectus to my advisor. Chapter 2 is not too far behind. Chapter 3 is going to need some work. Describing the methodology of what I'm doing is not hard. The problem is that I actually have to show them a fully functional intelligent tutoring system at my prospectus defense -- so that will take some time.

We've been busy planning our trip to Pittsburgh next month. I'm so excited to finally get to see the city and CMU. We're also meeting with our real estate agent while we're there. We've narrowed down our house search to a few areas just south of the city (Mt Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park). They have nationally ranked schools, which I'm quite pleased about. However, I'm not excited about the "school tax." It's basically like sending your kid to a private school -- about 10K a year. But, I am looking forward to seeing my friend Matt and going to a Pirates game!

Here's some pics of Ms Vivian:

Playing dress-up at school


New doctor's outfit for home


Kisses from the cow


Playing the drums


Sitting with daddy


Twirling around in the music room


Playing doctor with Tigger-Pooh. He's getting a shot.

Lots of Updates

Okay, so I really need to get better about updating my blog. A lot of things have happened since February.

We ended up getting new carpet, which turned out to be the best investment ever! Our house looks brighter and newer and we don't feel congested all the time. I don't have to vacuum 3 times a week anymore either, which is a huge benefit.

We also remodeled our master bathroom. This was a much larger undertaking that we original thought due to very extensive mold growth on 2 of the walls. Chris and I did all the demo work (okay, mostly me because Chris was at work all day), including taking out the tile floor, cabinets, sheetrock, and moldy insulation. We found that the outside wall didn't have a vapor barrier on it and the wrong sheetrock was used for a moist environment. Our contractor did an absolutely amazing job and we're very, very pleased with the end result. We have two new vanities, a new tub, new tiled shower and semi-frameless door, two new mirrors, new toilet, new light fixtures, new exhaust fan (that was a bit of a complicated process to figure out how to install and vent), new door knobs, new paint, and a new beautiful tile floor. We love it!

We haven't traveled at all, although I finally made it down to FL again -- 6 months after I planned on going back down. It was a very productive week, but the drive absolutely sucks (all 10 hours of it) and it's very expensive (hotels are ridiculous, especially around graduation) to stay there, so I probably won't be back down for awhile.

We are planning a major trip to Pittsburgh in July -- our first vacation since last September. I'll be there for 2 weeks and Vivian and Chris will be there for a week.

We've been dealing with a lot of illnesses lately. Vivian has had a couple of ear infections since January. She also got pinkeye, which was passed on to me and then onto Chris. I ended up getting a sinus infection (again!) and finally took my antibiotics to get rid of it.

In March, Vivian started going to school FT. I started working then doing some usability consulting work, so the work is pretty sporadic. I worked for 3 weeks and then was off for 3 weeks and now I've been back on for 3 weeks and should be wrapping up everything by the end of this week. The biggest problem is that when I'm moderating studies (running participants), I don't get a break AT ALL. No lunch break, no snack break, no potty break, nothing. I typically run 4-5 participants back-to-back. This current study had 3 or 4 people a day, 2 hour sessions each. It's a paycheck, but it's definitely not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life (or even this year).

Vivian is doing really well, other than being sick. She went to the dentist yesterday (her 3rd visit, but first real cleaning) and had NO CAVITIES again! No surprise to us -- she loves to brush her teeth every night and we don't give her candy, sweets, juice, or any of the other typical toddler crap. Oh..and she's getting all 4 of her 2-year molars at the same time. So, all 20 teeth will soon be in.

I can't believe she's almost 2 1/2. She's such a big girl. She's really starting to use her imagination. The other day she found some cardboard and was making chairs and houses for Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Grover. She also likes to put them in her school bus and drive them around the playroom. Apparently "North Carolina" is under the table and "Pittsburgh" is near her couch. She loves to dance and run around naked yelling "naked butts." The weather is now in the 90s, so she loves to splash around in her water table. She still likes playdough and art projects and is doing extremely well at school. She recognizes a lot of letters and numbers and can spell Vivian. She's also fully potty and pooped trained! :) Way to go kiddo!!! Mommy and Daddy are soo proud!

Chris and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on April 15th. What a crazy 3 years it's been. We've had a few more date nights. Hockey season ended a long time ago (poor Canes), but we've still been going to Broadway shows. Last week we saw Chris Botti play with the NC Symphony. He's such an amazing trumpeter! Tonight we're going to see Spamalot. After that, we have no dates planned. Guess we'll need to get something on the calendar.

I'll try to be better about updating the blog. Just have so much going on. With work, I'm not able to work on anything school related which has been really difficult. I hate going to FL and gaining all this momentum so I can come home and lose it all because I have to go back to work. I'm hoping my schedule will get better soon!

Here are some pics of Vivian to enjoy!

Vivian playing with a 1-month-old kid at Celebrity Dairy.


Wearing Daddy's hat


The Easter Bunny brought me Bunny Snacks (and books)!


Touching a chinchilla at Yash's 3rd BD party at the Durham Museum of Life and Science



Touching a bearded lizard


Posing for the camera -- 29 months

The Last 4 1/2 Months

I can't believe it's been 4 1/2 months since I last posted something. Let me try to remember all that has happened. After our trip to GA, I headed back to FL for a few more days, while Chris and Vivian went back home. A couple of weeks later we went to the NC State Fair and I ended up picking up some nasty illness, which I'm still suffering from 3 1/2 months later! We think it was the flu, then it became a sinus infection which didn't completely go away, and then I got hit again about a month ago and am still suffering. :( Unfortunately, Vivian and Chris were not immune to the illnesses. Vivian is currently on her 2nd antibiotic over the past couple of weeks. She had a sinus infection and now has an ear infection. She is also getting a 2-year molar, so we've had a lot of sleepless nights (almost every single night for several weeks).

I started a short-term PT contract in October, which was to last only 6 weeks. It ended up lasting 3 months and turned into a 40-hour + a week job. I finally had to quit before the contract was officially over (after they renewed it 2 or 3 times). Between me being sick and working all hours (including Christmas Day and New Years), I decided the job wasn't worth it at all.

I wasn't able to travel back to FL in October or to CA to present at a conference because I was sick. Unfortunately during this time, my Papa (my last living grandparent) passed away.

We took Vivian trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood this year. She dressed up as Emily Elizabeth from Clifford the Big Red Dog. My child LOVES Clifford. I think we own almost every Clifford book.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Our friend Tim came over and spent time with Vivian.

Vivian's 2nd birthday party was a lot of fun. We invited her preschool class and a couple of her other friends. A few of our friends came too. The kids enjoyed eating snacks (and gluten-free cupcakes) and playing in the playroom. I can't believe I survived a house of 7 2-year-olds!

Christmas came and went fairly quickly. Vivian got a few new things -- books, play fruits/veggies for her kitchen, and a tricycle from Santa!! We also got a White Christmas! First time in 60+ years that it has snowed on Christmas in NC! Vivian loved playing in the snow.

Chris's brother, Sam, came to visit us over New Year's. We were able to go to a Hurricanes hockey game. It was a lot of fun.

Chris started a new job at the beginning of January and we ramped up Vivian to go to preschool everyday from 9-3, so I could have a few hours each day to work on my dissertation. She's still doing really well at school. She forms complicated thoughts now and loves to sing and dance. She can count to 13 and say her ABCs. She can recognize a few letters. Her favourite activities are playing the piano, doing puzzles, playing with her kitchen, and reading books. She loves hockey games (and anything hockey related) and the Steelers! She's also pretty much potty-trained at school and is getting really good about telling us she needs to go at home.

I'm hoping to head back down to FL as soon as I can rid the sinus infection, cough, etc. I have had an apartment down there since December but haven't been able to go down because I've been so sick.

Overall, we're doing just okay. It's been a really rough few months and I'm eager to have a healthy household again!

We're getting new carpet this week, which I really think has been contributing to the illnesses. It's an old, nasty carpet that has definitely seen the end of its life after 5 kids and an old dog. I can vacuum 2-3 times a week and stuff still comes up! Probably doesn't help that I have a severe dust allergy! :(

I'll leave you with a few pics of Ms Vivian!

Hiding behind the otters at the Georgia Aquarium


Sitting with the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch


Ready to go Trick or Treating


Eating the snow flakes


Dressed up to go see Santa!


Playing with her kitchen dishes. She's eating a fruit salad.


Enjoying the 6" of snow on Christmas Day!

Life at Home and Away

I've been splitting my time between NC and FL, working on my dissertation research, which has been difficult. Of the 6 weeks that Vivian has been in preschool, I've been home for 3 1/2 weeks. It's been pretty rough. I went down to FL for the first week of classes. I met several professors, including the professor whose class I'm using for my study. I got a lot done, so it was very productive. I was trying to make up for the 4 months of NO progress.

I'm currently in GA for the weekend, although I've been away for 9 days now and won't be home for another 6 days! :( Thankfully, Chris and Vivian are driving down to meet me for the weekend...so at least I can see my family (other than using Skype every night for storytime). Vivian currently says "mommy laptop." She sees me on Chris's laptop. Chris says she's doing really well adjusting to me not being there, which I'm grateful for...but I still have severe mommy guilt. I HATE FL..HATE IT, but I need to go down a few more times to collect more data.

When I'm home, we've started exploring our own backyard now that the weather is getting slightly cooler. Okay, so it's still been in the 90s, but that's better than it has been. We went to the Duke Gardens, which are absolutely beautiful, and to the Duke Chapel. We've enjoyed exploring various parks in the area. We also took a trip to the NC Zoo! Vivian had a great time looking at all of the animals. We paid another visit to Marbles, the children's museum, which was a total zoo with a lot of older kids running around -- so we didn't stay long. We also went to the NC Museum of History, which was pretty interesting. There was also an old classic car show that day, so we walked around the capitol area of downtown Raleigh. We also went to the Durham Museum of Life and Science, but didn't stay long because the event wasn't that great and it started to rain outside so we couldn't go see the animals. We took Vivian to the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) to see where our season tickets would be. We all really enjoyed walking around on stage and backstage.

One of Vivian's favourite activities is going to the RDU observation deck and playground. She likes to watch the planes take-off and land. She also (finally) likes playing in the sand!!

Vivian is really thriving at preschool, which we knew she would. She looks forward to going twice a week for a few hours each day. We went to Vivian's back-to-school night where we met with her teacher and talked about Vivian's progress.

We decided to sign her up for The Little Gym again this semester. She always says "have fun Little Gym" and "shake bells." She likes to tell me about her day! :)

Vivian is doing really well overall. Her vocabulary is pretty amazing, as she says over 200 words now and can tell you what the books titles are by looking at the cover. She loves reading Clifford books. We have almost the entire collection!

I'm hoping to take some pics of Vivian this weekend! We're going to the gluten-free vendor fair tomorrow (YEAH!!!!) and then to the aquarium on Sunday!