Road Trip - Move Cross Country

The trip from Washington to Alabama was....long (and so is this post). I tried to tell myself it would be fun. I'd eat snacks, and listen to great music and audiobooks. I'd watch movies and Tim and I would play road trip games. Wellllll, Polly Positive those were great ideas in theory but then Rhonda Realist kicked in and the optimism faded after about a day and a half in the car. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a miserable trip by any means...it was just a long time to be confined to a seat everyday for a week straight. With a crap load of stuff. And two dogs. And a baby.

We traveled an average of 500 miles a day. There was a lot of "Yes!! Only 3 more hours!" We actually traded in both of our vehicles (yay for not having to figure out how we were going to get car #2 to 'bama) and got a GMC Acadia before the trip. It is spacious and wonderful and I'm not sure we would have survived the trip without it.

We thought Mak would do a lot of sleeping in the car but she really didn't. Boredom started to kick in for her around the time we got to Chicago. We did lots of rattle shaking, singing songs, making funny noises and funny faces, petting the puppies and eating.

Lots and lots of eating. Hey, even babies like to snack on the road! While I was stuffing my face with Hershey bars, Lays potato chips, and gulping down lots of pop and coffee, the little lady was downing an unheard of amount of milk. We brought some frozen milk that we kept in a cooler, but we could only use that until it thawed. Thankfully I was able to pump on the road, but there were times we didn't think the supply could keep up with the demand. We stopped at the store to buy formula just in case because we didn't like the idea of not having at least a back up bottle. The first formula stop was a fail...we went to open it to allow her to try it out and discovered it had an expiration date of April 2013. Um, yeah. Later we stopped to get more, but it didn't matter anyway because when we gave her a taste she made a ridiculous face and would not take it. Oh well. We made it without formula, but I had anxiety about supply the whole time.

The dogs did MUCH better than we expected. We knew Rocky would just sleep like a champ.

But we were worried about Taylor. They both had to go to the Vet before the trip to get up to date on shots and get health certificates, but Taylor also got a special prescription to help her with her travel anxiety. The stuff definitely worked, but our little puppy girl looked so dopy and had blood shot eyes the whole trip.

Fortunately, we got to visit some friends and family along the way, which really made this road trip seem like a vacation within the long journey.

We stayed the night in Missoula, Montana; Miles City, Montana (Did I mention what a huge frickin state Montana is!?!), Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan (not on the way but a great detour to see friends and family); Etowah, Tennessee and finally Dothan, Alabama y'all. 

In Montana there were hardly any billboards, but when there were they were mostly for the Testicle Festival. Yes, you read that right. You can visit their website at www.testyfesty.com if you're curious...I would not lie. Miles City, Montana was special in other ways though because Makaela gave us her first REAL laugh there. It melted our hearts after a long day in the car.

Twins at a diner in Miles City

In North Dakota we had the best burgers of our life. And possibly the least expensive burgers of our life. We went to a place called Clara's. It was the ONLY restaurant within an 80 mile range. I may or may not have thrown a hissy fit and said I was not going to eat (the place looked a little terrifying from the outside!) When we walked in it looked like a big VFW hall. It was packed and I think EVERYONE in the restaurant turned to look at us when we walked in. We were clearly outsiders. I could hear them thinking "Oh there's some more big city folk passin' through." But man oh man am I glad we stopped because the burger was amazzzzzing. Ahh my mouth is watering as I type.

The next stop for sleep was all the way in Minneapolis. We were champs of the road that day. That was our longest stretch, but we decided to take advantage of little miss Mak's good behavior and our ambition to get to our new home sooner rather than later. We always had to search for pet-friendly hotels, and as the trip progressed learned that La Quinta Inn tended to work well for us. They were pretty much every where, they had free breakfast and were pet friendly without a pet fee! We were literally just stopping to sleep, so we didn't really care about any other amenities.

Minneapolis was cool because we were back in our Midwest roots territory. They had restaurants we missed which brought huge smiles to our faces and bellies. In fact Tim snuck out and got White Castle. The people in front of him ordered ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY sliders. I thanked him (and his bowels thanked him) for not ordering such an insane amount. After I went to sleep Tim got a little wild and decided to give himself a Joe Dirt makeover. It was super sexy to wake up to the next AM.

Our next stop was CHI-TOWN! This was our only truly planned stop of the trip. We had made arrangements to meet up with S and A and were beyond excited. They greeted us at our hotel with cupcakes and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. I mean...could life get any better? That night we ate at Giordano's for their famous deep dish pizza. It was the best deep dish OF MY LIFE. I wanted to eat the whole 10 lb pie. We love any time we get to spend with this couple. I wish we could be neighbors and have dinner dates and fun outings everyday. That is my dream lyfe.

A preview of Mak with long hair

Mak looks like she could be Chjanea's child. Am I right? Love that they were twinsies in matching colors.

Before we left S and A treated us to Big Star for some delicious tacos. Big Star is THE spot in Chicago right now and although there is normally an hour wait, we just strolled right in. Unheard of! Obviously, I feel pretty cool right now.

S also took some family photos for us, with her gorgeous neighborhood as the backdrop. Gosh I love that place and we l-o-v-e these photos!

And then we were on to Michigan! This was a last minute change of plan. We had some extra time, needed more of a break and heard that Tim's Nana was in town and it was her birthday. We knew we had to make the detour and we are SO happy we did. It gave us the opportunity to introduce Mak to some of our family and friends back home. Although we were only there for a short time, we squeezed in a lot of quality time.

When we got in, we headed straight over to Nana's house to surprise her and enjoy some cupcakes.

Clearly, it was instant love for Mak and her one and only Great-Grandma. We stayed the night at Tim's sister's house and Mak got to play with her cousin G. G was adorable with Mak; it was so fun to watch them play. G will make a great big sister one day!

Luckily since my aunt lives right down the street from Tim's sister, we also got to introduce Mak to her. It made my aunt feel really special, and we loved spending the time together even if it was short. 

Later we visited C and A at their new place. C and me kept it a secret from A and totally surprised her when Tim, Mak and I walked through the door. Why oh why did I not get any pictures of the three of us ladies?!?! I suck! I did however get these hilarious shots of C's son J with Mak. Can we say love at first sight!? Haha. These two are getting married in about 25 years. 

Before we left we met up with the Martins at Starbucks. They were so sweet to drive to the other side of town to spend a little time with us. I just adore them. Again, no photos. WTF Erin. 

As much as we didn't want to say goodbye, we had to hit the road. Next stop, Tennessee. We were on a mission to make it to Tim's parents house to stay the night. Truth be told that was a VERY rough ride. Mak was NOT having it and we weren't sure we could make it all the way down there. Once Tim and I switched seats (I became the driver and he sat in back with Mak) things took a turn for the better. I think little one just needed some daddy time. We made it to Etowah, and got to enjoy time with Tim's parents. We ate some down home cookin' at a great little small town place. There was lots of gravy and cheese and butter and it was glorious. Oh, and Mak got to meet Papa's favorite friend. Yee-haw. 

One week after we set off on our journey we made it to our new home in Alabama. It felt really good to be "home" (and to get out of that car!)

Baby bird Mak

First trip to the pool

We've traded in our hoodies and boots for bathing suits and flip flops! Our new community has a pool that we are fortunate to live right across the street from. This is actually really nice because we can see if it is open before we get all suited up (it closes 3487 times a day for thunder).

Before Tim left for school we took Makaela on her first trip to the pool to go "swimming." We were excited!

I didn't have my bathing suit yet because this was before our household goods had arrived, so Daddy did the honors of taking her for a dip. She was not super impressed with her first pool trip, and truth be told this was totally mommy and daddy's fault. The timing was off and she needed a nap.

But we didn't give up. When my brother was here we decided to give the pool another go. This time we planned ahead and picked the right time of day.

And guess what? She LOVED it! 

She spent nearly 45 minutes playing in these fountains. She loved plugging them up with her toes and then letting go and having the water squirt out and splash her. The next time we went I took her into the actual pool and again she loved it. Yes, my love for my child overpowered my hatred for bathing suits. 

Mak was like Z's personal lifeguard...always had her eyes on him. It was adorable. She likes when we splashed and made waves and she kept her feet kicking non-stop. The water really seemed to relax her.

She was KNOCKED OUT afterward. Score!! 

We only wish the pool was open all year. We'll just have to squeeze in lots of fun before they close it up Labor Day weekend. 

4 month photos!

Our little girl is growing up. I know I say it every month, but I just love watching how she grows mentally and physically. She's already been around for FOUR MONTHS... I haven't had a full night of sleep in FOUR MONTHS....details.

There were some major leaps this month. All of a sudden our baby smiles and laughs and has jabber jaws. Her hair is growing. She recognizes her name, she looks for mommy and daddy, videos keep her attention, she plays with the dogs. Gosh does she love those darn dogs.

She always wants to be on the go. She loves playing airplane with Daddy. She wants to sit up or stand constantly. On the occasion that she is actually laying down, her legs and arms are always going. She has even rolled over from her back to her tummy a few times, and supports herself up on her arms. You go girl.

Checking out the baby in the mirror always guarantees a smile. She is also pretty impressed with her own farting ability, and honestly, so are we.

Story time is a favorite of hers. She tries to be a helper by turning pages. In fact she loves helping in general...like when she "helps" change her diaper...

Oh and her new favorite toy...that would be her piggy toes. The girl is obsessed. At least we never go anywhere without them, right?

This month for her photo shoot she was very interested in the camera, meaning she was too busy to smile :)

One year ago...

Yesterday marked exactly one year since we found out we were going to be parents! It is hard to believe this little nugget will be FOUR MONTHS old at the end of the week.

It's hard to imagine life before the projectile poop,  all the smiles, laughs and snuggles she has brought to our lives. Time flies (generic yet so true)!

Love you punk.

Makaela goes to the movies

The cool thing about our new place is that it is only 10-15 minutes from the Drive-In. We're pretty excited about it because it means we get to stay up with new movies and Miss Makaela can come with us!

Zach and I decided to take Mak on her first ever movie adventure. Or umm we decided to bring her along because there was a double feature WE wanted to see, haha. Despicable Me 2 and RIPD. We had a blast.

We ate lots of popcorn, drank way too much soda and slurpees and Z even threw back a cheeseburger. Oooh to have his metabolism.

I was a little paranoid about the possible bug situation, but we managed to avoid getting attacked. Phew.

Sadly, I have no photos of Makaela from the adventure, but she slept the whole time...and we all know you don't use a camera flash when you've got a sleeping baby on your hands. Sleeping baby = good baby.

A message from Makaela...

Clearly she just said, "I love my family and friends. Oh and my Rocky and Taylor puppies and my Rosie bear are pretty great too."

PS: She LOVES watching this video of herself and will "talk to the baby."

Sweet Home Alabama

Thank you technology gods...we have internet and cable! I feel so connected to the world haha. With that being said I'm finally able to upload the new house tour....woot woot.

Here is our Sweet Home in Alabama...we love it a whole bunch.

It is such a relief that the movers finally arrived. We were without our stuff for almost a month, which we were certainly not prepared for!

This little lady had a blast hanging out outside while the movers brought everything in. Luckily they got here early enough in the morning that it wasn't TOO hot. But the girl is a sweating machine regardless, and did not disappoint.

Now that we have all of our stuff the house is looking a lot more like this...

And we are trying to do a little of this...

Let me just say my big plans to paint the whole house because "it will be so much fun!" and "I want it to feel like a home" may just be going out the window. Turns out it is NOT fun. I'd much rather be hanging out like this chica...

Being an adult sucks...lots of unpacking to do so I better get back to it! 

Hi. We live in Alabama now.

Say whhhhat?!?! It has been a wild ride. After a very long drive across the country, most of it without cell phone reception, we have finally arrived at our new home in Alabama....where we also have little cell phone reception.

I wanted to post a video tour and photos of our new home but we still don't have reliable internet....we also don't have television or any of our household goods, but I digress.

So why did we move to Alabama? Well it all started Memorial Day weekend. Tim found out he had been selected as a Warrant Officer Candidate so he can become a pilot. This has been his dream for a very long time, and we couldn't be more proud that he was selected and gets to do what he has always wanted to do!

We knew this would mean two years of schooling/training in Alabama. His notification said to expect to start class in about 4-6 months. Okay, cool. We can handle that. Then three days later he found out he would be in the July class. Umm what? Please pack up your family INCLUDING A NEWBORN, sell your home, drive across the country and still be sane come July. Oh and we don't care that you already had 7 family members scheduled to visit you in Washington at the end of June. That's basically a summary of what the email said.

And this is why I did not write about it during the whole process. It would have been a series of long posts where I vented about how much we had to do and how concerned I was that nothing would go our way. I'm happy I waited because now I can write about it and say we survived...and things went MUCH better than expected.

In a miraculous turn of events we managed to sell our home that was about 100k underwater. We were pretty convinced we'd never sell it, and would have to *hope* that we could find renters and even then it'd still be money out of our pocket every month...and if that didn't work out it'd probably go into foreclosure eventually...hello sh*tty credit score. So we are beyond thankful and shocked that we found an awesome team of realtors who put it on the market. We found a buyer (with a CASH offer!) in less than 24 hours. We couldn't believe our luck. The process is still ongoing, but it looks like we should close by the 15th of this month. Cheers to a clean start!!

When we found out about Tim's new career opportunity I was still on maternity leave. Obviously, I'd have to put in my notice. But then I made an I'm-truly-crazy-decision and decided to return to work for a little bit before we moved. Ya know, because we didn't have enough other stuff going on. All jokes aside, my Ops Manager offered me a very flexible work arrangement, so I felt it was the least I could do to help aid in a smooth transition. And because I worked with such amazing people, they even through me a going away luncheon. I will miss that place and everyone there...y'all were like family for nearly 6 years!

Long before we found out about Tim's selection, family had bought plane tickets and scheduled a vacation to come meet little Miss Makaela. Some how the timing still worked out and we were able to enjoy some family time before the big move. I'll share all the pictures and fun details from that visit in a separate entry. We literally had movers packing up all of our belongings from under us with visitors there. Thank heavens our family is so flexible and didn't mind showering without shower curtains and sleeping without blankets. Truth.

Makaela has been such a trooper through it all. I can't begin to imagine how we would have gotten through this without a saint-of-a-child.

Lots more to share as soon as we can!!!