Sophia the Climber

Sophia has attempted to climb things ever since she could walk, but yesterday she found success. We heard some whining coming from her play corner in the living room and saw that she was perched on top of the plastic toy bin -- she couldn't get herself down. She did it again this morning, but wasn't as distressed.

This Week

Saturday night was our first night in the new house. It was a relief to get everything over here, but it was probably the least organized I've been on any move. After being married and having a baby we've accumulated a lot of stuff. I didn't appreciate just how much stuff until I had to pack it. It wouldn't have happened on time if we didn't have help from my mom and Franco's parents.

The transition seems to be going well for Sophia. Her sleep patterns really haven't changed. She does seem to walk around and whine a bit more, but that is probably due to teething. I think I felt one of her eye teeth just barely poked through her gums when I checked today. Poor baby -- that would make me uncomfortable, too.

The cat didn't take the move so well. She was in agony that first night. Bella walked around after we all went to bed and meowed -- she was terribly confused. Unfortunately she didn't get a lot of sympathy that night since we were all tired and Franco had to leave for work the next morning. She ended up spending half the night in a kitty carrier in the bathroom with the door closed. She has also had many squirt bottle "baths" since then to remind her of the rules of the house. For whatever reason, Bella thinks that the rules have somehow changed. I've caught her in our bed under the covers at least four times.

Comcast wished me a happy birthday on Wednesday by making me wait around for them all day long. Seriously, all day. I thought the appointment was supposed to be between 8-10AM, but it was actually 10-12. Then, at 11, the guy couldn't find the box outside because the grass grew over it so he called another guy to come find it who couldn't be there for an hour. An hour after the box was found the first guy came back. At 5:30PM the Comcast installation was complete. It was then time to feed, bathe, and put Sophia to bed. A very exciting birthday. At least it wasn't my first 29th birthday... I've already had a couple, so spoiling this one wasn't such a big deal. :) Thank goodness I'm connected to civilization again!

Thursday was the day that we had our alarm system installed and Kevin stopped by on his way home to Bend, OR. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that I stayed up late watching LOST. (It was SO good!) In the middle of the night, when I was up with Sophia, I got a bit creeped out. I kept hearing some scraping that I couldn't identify. After I went back in my room I heard it again... Mickey Mouse was nibbling our wall. Mickey doesn't scare me much as long as he keeps his distance, so I was able to go back to sleep. However, I hope he goes away. Ick.

Today, Friday, I realized that I left an entire shelf of stuff in the kitchen of our old house. This is inconvenient since the renters have already started moving in and I have to coordinate with them to go into the house. I kept thinking I was loosing my mind when I was looking for sippy cups and tupperware, but when I realized that my measuring cups were missing I made the connection that I was keeping them all together in a cabinet before the move. Sophia and I went by and picked it all up this afternoon. Of course Sophia cried when we left the house and went straight in to the car -- she saw her park and wanted to go. It was too wet today.

So, that was our week. Franco is on his way home right now. He was in Florida this morning and won't get back until late, but at least he'll be home. Hopefully we'll get a lot of stuff unpacked this week. When it gets a little neater around here, I'll post some pictures.

Moving Day

I don't even know where to start.

Today we moved. The painters were still there finishing up for the third day. That makes 10 days total of painting... you'd think we were moving into a two-story 3000 sq. ft. house, but we're not. They finally left for good around 5PM. If I were to give them a letter grade for their work, I'd say it ended up being "B" work, which isn't bad. However, as most teachers, I drop the grade each day it is late... that works out to an "F" because I can't give a "G". Too bad, so sad. Head painter guy actually thought we were pleased with his work and asked us to call him if we ever need anything else done. Yeah, we'll do that. Right after they're serving margaritas in hell.

Tonight we are camping in a mostly empty house (there are still too many paint fumes at the new house). It is a great relief that most everything is moved. Of course there is a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, but the worst of it is over. I'd rather unpack than pack any day. Sophia is asleep in her old room that is bare except for a crib. Franco and I are hanging out in our old bedroom as if it were a studio apartment and sleeping on our futon. I will post pictures of our fun day as soon as we get an internet connection at the new house on Wednesday.


A special thank you to my wonderful in-laws who came to help us pack, clean, entertain Sophia and who also brought lunch for everyone (except the painters). Today was my mother-in-law's birthday -- 29 again. :) They are coming back tomorrow, along with my mom, to help us wrap things up before Franco is scheduled to leave for work on Sunday.

Laugh or Cry

Pardon my complaining, but I find that posting about our painters is a bit therapeutic. Today is Wednesday and, unfortunately, I was correct in my guess that they would not be done. When Franco and I took stuff to the house today I was a little dismayed. OK, scratch that, it was more like my head was going to explode. Nothing is done and quality control seems less worried about the work that they're doing outside the main living area. They got there late this morning because they were at Home Depot buying paint... ran out again. Nope, they didn't leave early to make that extra stop even though they knew the carpet cleaners are coming this afternoon.

We conferenced with head-painter guy about the priorities of what needs to get done first. He seemed to understand... I'm no longer giving him the benefit of the doubt that truly does. He mentioned that he isn't making any money on this house and has bills to pay -- I think he said this to reassure us that he is very motivated to be done with our house. That is the exact moment that my head nearly exploded -- I could taste the profanities welling up in my mouth. If I hadn't eaten before leaving, there would have been a horrific story on the news at noon about a group of painters in Elk Grove. They have no idea how lucky they were.

Instead of freaking out, Sophia and I took a walk around the block (at Franco's suggestion). Then we came home for her afternoon nap. I had some non-dairy chocolate and a real Pepsi and have enough of a handle on things to pack a few more boxes. Whew.

Anybody want a referral for some painters? hehehe. :)

Sophia's Park

We've had some spectacular weather here in the valley this past week -- it actually hit the mid- to low 60's these past days. It's sunny and warm for January and we couldn't have asked for better weather for the big move. Sophia has been so good with all the chaos. Each day we try and reward her patience with a trip to the park (which is across the street, if you didn't already know).

The park has five slides and I've taken Sophia on four of them -- the last one is a corkscrew tube and I'm not sure I'll fit. I'm a little sad that we're moving away from the park just as Sophia is getting big enough to appreciate it. On the other hand, when she is standing at the door, pulling at the handle, whining and crying that I won't take her back out to the park (visible from the window)... I think being a little further from the park might not be such a bad thing. Every time we go to get the mail, we have a park struggle. It's not such a big deal this week since the weather is nice, but when gets back to being January...

Here is the one decent picture that I managed to get the other day as I chased Sophia around with the camera:

She was having a blast. :) Can you believe it is January in this picture??? Look at that blue sky.

Masking Tape Emergency

Yep, I'm here to tell you that my painter guys got in trouble today. I went by the house this afternoon after Sophia's nap to check progress and drop off boxes. No one was there. However, lights were left on in three rooms, a window was left open and the front door was unlocked. After correcting these problems, I wrote the head painter-guy a note, stuck it to one of the paintbrush handles and left. As I was getting ready to turn on the main street, I passed them returning to the house in their van. It took me about 10 minutes to make a U-turn at the next light and get back there, so I had time to think about how I was going to handle this. My cell phone rang when he found the note, but I was driving so I did not take the call.

Two painter guys were standing in my driveway when I returned. I asked painter guy #1 to go get painter-in-charge because I didn't want to take Sophia out of her carseat again. Painter #1 returned quickly and said that he'd be right out. He then proceeded to try and start explaining what happened. I did not smile and gave minimal response. Head-painter guy came out and apologized and said that he left through the garage door. Fine, don't let it happen again. However, then he had to add the stupidest excuse... "we had a masking tape emergency."

Seriously??! As a teacher I have heard some silly excuses, but this is the goofiest thing I've heard an adult say. What has to happen to require a drop-everything-run-to-buy-masking-tape emergency? Why does it take three people? It's like they got a call from the mayor and had to jump in the painter-mobile and rush to save the city. He smelled like "funny" cigarettes, so I'm guessing this was the best he could come up with on short notice.

Painter guy #1 already told me you were at lunch, man.

Rather than tear him a new one, I did the teacher thing... I stayed calm, didn't crack a smile, and told him that it better not happen again. Calm can be scary, if done correctly. :)

One Less Thing...

This morning some people came and picked up our kitchen table and chairs. Franco and I had discussed getting a different table because Franco was tired of fixing the death-trap chairs and I figured that a new set could match our other furniture better. So, low and behold, I found a buyer on craigslist. One less thing to move. I'm also trying to sell the TV in our guestroom... not as easy since so many people are upgrading with the digital TV switch.

Yesterday Sophia and I took a load of stuff over to the new house to see what the painters got done. To me it doesn't look like they'll be done by Tuesday (as estimated). At the rate they're going they might be done Thursday. The only rooms that are truly done are the living room, family room and office. The hall and Sophia's bathroom are probably 80 percent painted but I still see a lot of bare spots. The purple bedroom has the first 1-2 coats of paint but will definitely need a third. One wall is partially painted in Sophia's bedroom. When I talked to them on Friday around lunch, they said that they ran out of paint -- well, they ran out of the main color. How does that happen??? Shouldn't they have noticed, say on Thursday evening when they were finishing up for the day, that the big bucket of paint that they were using was getting kind of light?! Geez. They did have the paint for the kitchen, though, so they started on that.

Two More Teeth!

We've been keeping an eye on some teeth bumps in Sophia's mouth for weeks. Finally, after checking a few times last week, this evening I felt that two more teeth broke through her gums. They are the two on the bottom next to the two in the center -- "lower lateral incisors" according to the baby book. Now she has eight teeth. No pictures yet since they are so hard to see down there. This evening Sophia used them to tear into some pizza crust, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Moving update -- I packed the dining room today. It took six small boxes, which was surprising to me. We also packed some of the office. It is actually starting to feel like we are moving. ;)

Mmmm... Good Stuff.

Today is historic in the life of our little Sophia. This evening, while begging for food off of mommy's plate, Sophia accepted a bit of turkey meatloaf. Maybe not big news to you, but every other piece of meat that we've ever offered her has been spit out after a brief tasting. Not mommy's meatloaf... she actually came back for more! Looks like we'll be eating a lot more meatloaf until I find another form of meat that she likes.

In other news, today marks the beginning of painting the interior of the new house. I picked out a couple paint chips I liked and took them to Home Depot to get samples this morning. Yes, the paint guys could have done it, but I had some time and wanted to see the colors on the wall. An hour and a bunch of money later, I came out of the Depot with blinds, shelf liner, paint and an amazingly patient Sophia who was content to people-watch the entire time.

Happy New Year!

About a half hour before we were going to head over to the new house on New Year's Eve, Sophia fell and hurt her foot. We're still not sure how it happened -- she takes many tumbles a day and never seems the least bit phased. Unfortunately she got hurt this time. She had to sit on my lap until bedtime because she couldn't put any weight on her foot without crying. We did call the doctor and described the problem, but we all agreed that nothing was broken. She didn't even get a bruise.

It is a tough job keeping a one-year-old entertained in your lap for several hours. I'll admit that we watched a lot of PBS kids shows. We also read books. When all of that stopped working, I took Sophia to the high chair to color with her new crayons.

Sophia managed to get a nibble off the end of her red crayon when I turned away for a second. The two microscopic pieces sent her into tears and she didn't stop until I got them out of her mouth. Poor thing had a rough day.

The next morning, New Year's Day, Sophia was feeling better but was limping. We decided to stay home instead of going to Franco's parents for the day -- all Sophia does is run when we go to their house. Lucky for us they volunteered to move the party to our place. Sophia limped all day, but she was happily distracted by Grandma, Nonno, Uncle Bert, Auntie Lisa and Cousin Nadia.

I've determined that it is darn near impossible to get two children and a grandparent to all look in the same direction with a normal look on their face. It is fun to try, though.

Yesterday and today Sophia has still been favoring her hurt foot, but it doesn't seem to bother her as she has been getting around pretty well. Yesterday my mom came for a visit. The extra help allowed Franco and I to pack and move a lot of the kitchen. He and I went to the house during Sophia's nap and cleaned out cabinets and lined shelves. Today we took another car load over along with the kiddo. A picture of the work in progress:

It is a little hard to tell, but the floor was littered with more bags and boxes full of kitchen stuff. I'm happy to report that everything was put away and the kitchen is mostly moved. I would have taken an after shot, but Sophia was tired and we had to leave quickly after finishing.

The year is off to a running start. No fancy cocktails or fireworks here -- we're all sippy cups and moving boxes. Just two more weeks and we can be done with the boxes.... hopefully!