Settling in, Part II

We've been in the house two weeks now, and I don't feel like we have done much more than create an even bigger mess. We have finished painting the kitchen and Savannah's room, aside from a few touch ups. We are almost finished painting our bedroom, except for the last side of the tray ceiling that is directly over our bed- gues we need to move the bed and get on with it. The base coat in our bathroom is finished, but I am going to stencil some seashells around the top of the walls so I need to get on that, too. Maybe this weekend, sometime. Kevin came down yesterday and now the whole downstairs is finished, as well as the hall upstairs and the bottom 3/4 of the stairwell. We have some super tall vaulted ceilings that are difficult to reach from the stairs. We are going to try to get them with a ladder tonight, I think. The jury is still out on the main color- it is a little more orange than I thought it would be, especially since I was going for something in the khaki family. Kevin said it looks like a great Gator house, since the kitchen is blue- definitely not what I was going for (as much as I love the Gators...) But the more I look at it the more it is growing on me, especially since I know there wouldn't be any chance of changing it for a long, long time.

Savannah's room looks fabulous. I still need to hang her things on the walls, but the color is great. I haven't even taken any pictures of anything yet, everything is such a mess still it is embarrassing. Once there is some order, and some things hanging on the walls, I will definitely post some pictures.

Savannah has had a pretty rough week, as things go. She had her first runny nose over the weekend- along ith a fever that came and went and hovered around 100.9 until it hit 101.5 yesterday morning. She cut two new teeth in a 24 hour period earlier this week and there is another on deck, ready to come down- that will put her at 5. Not bad considering she only got her first one a month ago :) She hasn't been practicing walking too much this week- she hasn't been feeling up to it. She is still saying Da Da all the time, and Peyto. She has started saying Hi, dragging out the "i" which is super cute. She said Cow today and has tried to say Duck and Quack but can't get the "ck" to match with the first sylables so it sounds like "du.....ck". Her favorite thing to do these days is go out in the backyard and watch me throw Peyton's ball for him. She just laughs and laughs while he runs around and around after the ball.

I started working last week. I am taking care of a 10 month old little boy named Blake. His mom is an RN in Labor and Delivery and she works nights and just recently added a 3rd 12 hour shift (in a row!) so rather tan put Blake in day care she found me. Savannah and I both go over to their house on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8-4. She is thinking of changing her schedule so she doesn't work 3 in a row so we may be going on Monday, Thursday and Friday, which is all the same to me. Blake is adorable, he is sorouch bigger than Savannah. They get along pretty well so far. She wasn't feeling too sociable today and kept crawling away form him but for the most part they play well together. Jessica (Blake's mom) bought a double stroller so I can take them on walks. They are so cute in the stroller, just quietly riding along together. They have a little pug, which Savannah just loves. We have had a lot of fun together, and it is nice to get out of the house a few days a week.

I had a friend email me, asking about pictures from Savannah's birthday party and I realized that I haven't posted pictures in a long time. I don't even know where my camera is right now, but as soon as I get things organized I will definitely update the pictures. I need to figure out how to put flickr slideshows on the blog, it is so much easier than making Rock You ones. Maybe I will figure it out, someday.

Settling In

We are officially homeowners.

We now reside in our brand new, filled with boxes and paint cans with half painted walls, house. We are the proud owners of a garage that, although it has a brand new, just-installed-today opener, is filled to the brim with even more boxes. Today I caught sight of my kitchen counter for the first time since Friday afternoon when we first arrived at the house. I still don't even know where all of my clothes are. We haven't even finished moving- there's about 2 carloads of stuff still in the living room of our apartment, including our vaccuum cleaner, which would seriously come in handy right about now.

The rest of the family is settling in pretty well. Tebow has made herself right at home and spent a few days happy in the bacyard before she learned how to climb the fence. Now she is spending her time inside or in the garage. Savannah is sitting on the floor right now, going through the things in my diaper bag. She really hasn't been affected by the move that much. Peyton has had the hardest transition of us all. I am not really sure what his problem is but he has been moping around the last few days. I am not sure if he misses the house full of people that was here this weekend or what but it is really pitiful to see.

It has been a very busy few days. Our refrigerator was delivered on Saturday, and then Verizon came out to install our cable, phone and internet. When they told Brad it would take around 6 hours, I thought they were exaggerating- but the guys were here for about 5 hours, amazingly. I spent the night at our apartment with Savannah on Sunday and stayed up until about 1 am cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen. The apartment is now cleaner than it was when we moved in. We seriously better get all of our security deposit back.

Today was the busiest day of all- other than when we had the UHaul here Saturday. First thing this morning the alarm company came out to activate our alarm system. Not long after they left the garage door company came to install the garage door opener that was our housewarming present from my Dad (thanks Daddy!)

After that guy left I was here just waiting for ou new furniture to be delivered- the most exciting part of the whole move for Brad and I. Let me tell you, it left a LOT to be desired. We bought a whole house full of furniture: a sofa, loveseat and tables for the living room; a dinind room table and chairs; a king sized bed (headboard, footboard and siderails) with side tables for our bedrom, and a 6 piece couch for the loft. So our house has been fairly empty since we moved in. We have been sitting in tailgating chairs and eating on a sheet on the living room floor. Miserable. So the delivery truck arrives and the first thing they do is tell me that the siderails for the bed are out of stock. I don't really understand how that happens. Who buys siderails without buying a headboard and footboard? Not to mention the fact that we bought all of our furniture 3 weeks ago to ensure that everything would be able to be delivered together. So there is nothing the delivery guy can do, so whatever. So I put up a baby gate and Savannah and I hung out in the kitchen while they were here to stay out of their way. Right before they leave they tell me that the ottoman that goes with the upstairs couch was busted- the casters are missing- and someone will call to arrange another one to be brought out but in the meantime they are leaving the broken one here. Nice. So after they left I walked around looking at everything. First of all, they left the dining room table faving the wrong way, in the middle of the room witht he chairs scattered all around. The couch adn loveseat were in the sak=me kind of disarray. Then I walked into my bedroom.

The headboard and footboard were leaning against the freshly painted wall where the bed is supposed to be, and the bed frams is still in the box, leaning against another wall. The new mattress and boxspring is no where in sight. Which I didn't even notice at first, I just saw things leaning against the wall. Then I went upstairs and the pieces of the sectional are just pushed into the room, still covered in plastic. One of the recliners was even upside down in the middle of the entrance to the room.

Is this the kind of customer service you can expect now? I mean, really. Is it so wrong for me to expect that they would put the bedframe together? And where is my matress?

So I called Brad, and he said he would stop by the store after work. Then he called me back and said the store had called him and they were going to deliver the mattress tomorrow between 1 and 4. Well, tomorrow was supposed to be wide open for me to be able to get things done before I start my new job (watching a 9 month old) on Thursday. So much for that idea. Now I have another 3 hour window, where of course they will come as close to the end of the window as possible. Nothing ever goes easily.

I will upload some photos soon, they are all on my computer which is upstairs, blocked by the futon and Peyton's crate. There is some serious organization needed around here!

One Whole Year

Dear Savannah,

Oh my, how fast this last year has passed. I think fast is an appropriate word to describe everything about you. I felt as if my pregnancy flew by. One minute I had just taken an at-home test (or two or three) and stared at the two pink lines in utter awe. The next thing I knew we were sitting at the doctors office at 39 weeks planning your induction for the following day. It all went by in the blink of an eye. After my induction began you were born in record time- less than 6 hours later I was holding you in my arms, all soft and pink and tiny and mine. You came home with us and we completed our little family and not a day has passed in the year since that I dont stop and thank God for the blessing that you are. Right now while I am sitting here typing this letter to you, I can see all of the events of your life flashing by- your first bath, your first long car ride to see GiGi and PaPa, when you first held your head up. All these events that to an outsider would seem so insignificant but to me are the most precious memories that I am holding onto so tight- I never want to forget the smell of you right after a bath, or how you felt, so tiny in my arms wrapped in a soft pink towel, your eyelashes still stuck together and your blue eyes dancing in the light. Your so, so soft skin against mine and your little hands and fingers playing in my hair. And then I open my eyes and you are standing at my feet, trying to climb up into my lap. You open your little mouth to yell your protest that I (heaven forbid) don't instantly react to your demands and I can see your first little tooth sticking up from your swollen gums. There were times when your daddy and I wondered if you even had any teeth to grow, because it took so long for one to pop through but you made it- just two days before your first birthday I saw and felt that precious tooth. I called everyone right away- Daddy and GiGi and Grandma and shared the news and they were all so excited.

I can remember when we first laid you on the floor on your play mat or a blanket and you would stare up at your toys overhead and bat at them with amazement and I wondered if you would ever be mobile. Then you learned to roll over and then pushed yourself up until one day you began crawling- slowly at first and then it wasn't long before you were everywhere and into everything. The first time you pulled yourself up I was so thrilled for you- such an exciting new achievement and then you started doing it more often and walking along the furniture, too. In the last two weeks you have really started standing up al over the house- going right up from a sitting position. The other night you took 3 little steps from grandma to me- can we really call these your first steps? You are so close to walking, I can see it happening any day now. It is so funny to watch you think about taking those steps. You will lift your right leg up and take a litte step but you refuse to use your left leg at all- which is odd because you use your left hand much more predominantly than your right. When walking along the furniture you are so stubborn- you refuse to let go of your handhold, which is funny because you are such a daredevil in every other aspect of your life! You love to climb all over the couch when we let you up there- reaching over, trying to pull at the blinds on the window. The other night Daddy and I were talking in the living room and you were playing over by the slider, where we have some boxes stacked up. Obviously not stacked high enough because out of the corner of my eye I saw a little towhead from behind a box- you had manuevered behind the boxes and climbed on top of one and were attempting to crawl across the stack. This is not an uncommon event. You are definitely a climber.

You love to talk, repeating your favorite words (baby, dada, Peyto) over and over and then filling in the spaces between with mindless gibberish. You love to dance- this is a newfound delight. Whenever you hear any music, be it from a radio or just a tune from one of your toys, you start bopping to the beat. I find this hilarious because I have absolutely no rhythm and hate dancing. Of course, this doesn't stop me from grooving with you- when we are home alone and there is no one there to witness my Elaine Benes-like moves. You get a kick out of this, laughing hysterically at me. You love Cookie Monster and Elmo- you like to mimic Cookie Monster and can lower your voice and growl while you are playing, crawling, whatever. You delight in making your parents laugh and repeat whatever made us do it in the first place.

We are moving into our new house in just 8 days and I cannot wait for you to have more space. Right now we are getting even more cramped in out apartment as the walls become lined with more and more cardboard boxes. We went to the hosue this past Tuesday and walked through it with the builder and it is just beautiful. It is everything we had hoped it would be an more. We picked out the color for the walls in your nursery and I cannot wait to see everything put together, finally. Our backyard is perfect for your doggie and you to play in. We haven't bought your birthday present yet, but are going to get you a sandbox once we are in the house. I cannot wait to watch you play outside in the sun. This summer will be so much fun, with your new baby pool and Elmo sprinkler that you got for your birthday. I think Peyton might like the pool even more than you!

Right now you are standing in the middle of the living room, clapping your hands while laughing at Peyton. My heart just melted for the umpteenth time today alone. I love you so much, my beautiful Savannah Belle.

Al my love,
Mama