Last night I had dinner with the lovely and brilliant (and funny) Becca of Academomia. Over margaritas (me) and pinot grigio (her) we talked about careers and kids and husbands and more. It was a wonderful few hours, even when it rained and the deck of the restaurant cleared out, leaving just the two of us, sitting under a red shade umbrella chatting away.
Today we are working through the realtor and home stager recommendations. It's a loooooong list. I agree with most of it, but have vehemently rejected those that involve spending any money (like "consider purchasing a leather chair for the corner" - um yes, a leather chair would look lovely there, and had that ever been in the decorating budget, we would have purchased it, but it is not and there's no way we're buying any furniture when we're about to move to a neighborhood with homes 1,000 sq. ft. smaller than ours) and those that involve too much work (repainting Claire's room- it's a soft yellow, and maybe some people won't like it, but hopefully it's not a deal breaker). They also don't like that our dining room is a playroom, but tough. We don't have dining room furniture and we're going to switch it around and move out most of the toys, so it will just have to do. Today's tasks mainly revolve around the walls (removing all hanging frames and personal pictures; fill in holes; paint over holes and any other smudges; clean baseboards; clean light switches) and the front and back yards (trim, blow, power wash, mulch, plant). I'm tempted to make a sarcastic remark about how much fun we're having, but it is actually a little fun. And it's definitely nice to feel like we're DOING something as opposed to just frantically making lists and going to appointments and hearing a whole assortment of people tell me just how much I have to do. The productivity is soothing.
The Fort Worth research remains a little daunting. For those who know the area, we're looking in various downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods like Berkeley Place, Mistletoe Heights, Tanglewood, and others nearby. JP will be working from home (our one piece of good news last week- his company approved him to work remotely, which was HUGE for us and such a relief) and I'll be downtown, so I want as short a commute as possible. We live 7 miles away from my office now and I see no reason to extend that drive. My biggest struggle is finding a daycare for Claire (and Landon, but only for a few months). If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I just need a longer list to begin my research and phone calls. Hopefully we can get our house listed soon so we can heard to Fort Worth for some day trips. JP has still never seen his future city, he's just acting on blind faith and full fledged support for me and my dream job. He's a keeper. A keeper with a very long moving to-do list that he hasn't complained about once.
Back to removing everything personal from my house, along with trash cans, any decor item smaller than a cantaloupe (taken straight from the staging sheet, I kid you not), and pretty much anything else pretty and/or useful. The goal is to make it look like no one lives here. The problem of course is that four people do live here. We'll get as close as we can.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Lilly Ann
This has been a difficult week. Getting back from vacation to the feeling of being behind on the 27 million things we have to do to move, finding out we have significantly less money available for the move than we thought (see tax bill, no bonus for me, delayed bonus for JP), watching both kids break down in tears at every daycare drop off this week, enduring a home staging appointment that nearly caused me to have a nervous breakdown, informing daycare of our impending move and watching the front desk lady cry because she's going to miss her daily visits from Clairebear SO MUCH and realizing we still don't have a daycare (or even a list of potential daycares) in Fort Worth and we love this one so much how can we possibly leave it?, writing to do list after to do list, firing our original Fort Worth realtor and hiring a new one, reconciling ourselves to renting, getting the news simultaneously that the rental market sucks and we can be pre-approved to buy a house after all, driving 90 minutes to get fingerprinted (because there are no federal facilities in Austin that can do this, apparently), beginning the packing/home staging process which at the moment is making my house messier rather than cleaner as it's supposed to, and having ACTUAL law firm work to do under the eyes of a still visibly irritated partner and wondering how all of the other stuff will get done when we only have nights and weekends to do it and we have the kids and somehow, two months from today I'll be on my second day of work at the new job.
And then, this morning, we put Lilly to sleep. It was time. She's become increasingly anti-social and aggressive, never with us or the kids, but with any other person who comes in the house. In the past few months, I've had to race home from work to rescue a nanny from Lilly's honestly scary growling, hissing, and paw-swiping, we have to lock her in a closet every Monday morning before the maid comes, she attacked our home inspector when we forgot to put her in the closet before he came, and she tried to attack a friend of Landon's when he came over to play. And she's scary- she's pouffy and growling and she doesn't back off until she's so worked up that she scratches and hisses at JP and I when we swoop in to put her away. We talked to the vet, he agreed it was the right thing to do, and I thought I was prepared.
She slept with us last night and I took her in this morning. It was so, so much harder than I thought it would be. I adopted Lilly when JP and I broke up during my junior year of college- she was a 9 oz. ball of dirty white fluff, abandoned in a box on 6th street. She was my first baby. And despite her escalating aggressiveness with others, she's been wonderful with my babies. I called JP immediately afterward but just sobbed when I heard his voice so I hung up on him and decided to write something instead. I can't go to work until I stop crying and I really need to get to work.
So, Lilly Ann, 2003-2012, a few of my favorite pictures (she was born pre-digital age, so I don't have any of her as an adorable tiny kitty who fit in a coffee cup and slept on the open organic chem textbooks on my desk in college).
It was right and I don't regret it, but man did I love that fat occasionally cuddly often ornery heartbreakingly sweet in those last few moments little kitty. And I'm really glad this week is over.
And then, this morning, we put Lilly to sleep. It was time. She's become increasingly anti-social and aggressive, never with us or the kids, but with any other person who comes in the house. In the past few months, I've had to race home from work to rescue a nanny from Lilly's honestly scary growling, hissing, and paw-swiping, we have to lock her in a closet every Monday morning before the maid comes, she attacked our home inspector when we forgot to put her in the closet before he came, and she tried to attack a friend of Landon's when he came over to play. And she's scary- she's pouffy and growling and she doesn't back off until she's so worked up that she scratches and hisses at JP and I when we swoop in to put her away. We talked to the vet, he agreed it was the right thing to do, and I thought I was prepared.
She slept with us last night and I took her in this morning. It was so, so much harder than I thought it would be. I adopted Lilly when JP and I broke up during my junior year of college- she was a 9 oz. ball of dirty white fluff, abandoned in a box on 6th street. She was my first baby. And despite her escalating aggressiveness with others, she's been wonderful with my babies. I called JP immediately afterward but just sobbed when I heard his voice so I hung up on him and decided to write something instead. I can't go to work until I stop crying and I really need to get to work.
So, Lilly Ann, 2003-2012, a few of my favorite pictures (she was born pre-digital age, so I don't have any of her as an adorable tiny kitty who fit in a coffee cup and slept on the open organic chem textbooks on my desk in college).
It was right and I don't regret it, but man did I love that fat occasionally cuddly often ornery heartbreakingly sweet in those last few moments little kitty. And I'm really glad this week is over.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Calm Abiding
I went to yoga against yesterday. I've now spent a grand total of 3 hours in a yoga class in my entire life, all of them in the last 3 weeks, and I'm kind of obsessed. It came to me at a good time (or, really, I came to it). Yesterday's lesson focused on shámatha, a Buddhist "calm abiding" meditation using a dhárana, or single point of concentration. In short, by focusing on something other than all the things bouncing around in your head (aptly described as the monkey brain), like your body position and breathing, you give your monkey brain a branch to rest upon. And my little brain monkey needed a rest. As an added bonus my legs and arms were stretched to their max and my core muscles got a workout, but none of that compares to those few blessed moments that I was able to clear my head and focus solely on a spot beyond my closed eyelids. I leave that class feeling so relaxed and happy- a feeling that continued even after I came home to a house that was still missing a back door (it's back on now and looks FABULOUS), a shorted out electrical switch in the attic (that JP attempted to repair and nearly electrocuted himself; the trained and licensed electrician comes tomorrow), and an ever growing to-do list for getting our house on the market. I'll be at the studio every Sunday until we move, no matter how much JP lovingly mocks my non-aerobic monkey brain workout.
In the spirit of calm abiding, we spent some time hanging out in our master bedroom yesterday. Growing up, I don't think I ever once saw my parent's bed unmade. They went to bed after me and they were up and dressed with their bed perfectly made long before we woke up, so I can only picture their bed in a state of throw-pillowed perfection. JP and my bed is not like that. It's our oasis, a completely kid-free zone from bedtime until morning, but we never make it up, and everyone in the family is generally in and out of it throughout the day on the weekends. It's the place I sneak away to read one more chapter of my book mid-morning, the place I find JP asleep with the covers over his head, hiding from his to-do list in the afternoon (he always falls asleep within 60 seconds of laying down; drives me CRAZY, mostly with jealousy), it's the tickling, teasing, board book reading gathering place with the kids after they get up from their naps, my retreat when I have a headache, and the place I push JP in order to cuddle for just a few minutes in the middle of the day when I don't want to think about to-do lists anymore either... it's not in the physical center of our house, but on the weekends, it often serves as the spot our day ends up revolving around.
After a fun and productive weekend (I made food for every day of this week, and cookies, mostly so I could eat a cup of dough- my appetite is confused after my random two days of intense skiing), today has been the opposing of a calm abiding. I did our taxes and discovered we owed an additional several thousand dollars, a result of not sufficiently withholding extra money from JP's paychecks (a result of having never had two full-time incomes before). I found out that I officially did not get a bonus. I figured, but I had a secret hope that I qualified under the "merit" portion. As it turns, no amount of perfect reviews or partners crying because you're leaving can make up for missing the 2,000 hour threshold (and no amount of 200+ hour months can make up for your first 3 months being under 100 hours because work was so slow during the first quarter of the year). I talked to JP as he was picking up his newly repaired and repainted car and he told me his new company doesn't pay bonuses until April (we thought it was end of Jan when their fiscal year closes). And all this info sprinkled in while I talked to realtors, inspectors, electricians, home stagers, and lenders. Also, Claire sobbed at daycare drop off. I want my dhárana back.
It'll work out, because it always does. We'll probably have to go to an apartment first (or rent a house, but my Ft Worth realtor confirmed that there is not much of a home leasing/rental market in the area we want to buy, which every single person I've talked to has volunteered as the best neighborhood ever, and which trulia.com has taught me only ever has 2-3 homes for sale at a time and the ones I like sell within 48 hours), which means moving twice and I don't know what we'll do with the dogs. But given our tax bill and other things, I don't think we could buy right away even if we wanted to, and other than the issue of the two giant dogs, renting for a while does make an annoying amount of sense.
So that's today's news. I'll process it tonight and come back tomorrow and research the hell out of the rental market and find the Best Rental Ever and everything will fall into place on a path that will end up giving us the Best House Ever, etc. a few extra months down the road. Until then, look at my baby boy:
How and when did he become so very big kiddish? He's supposed to start Kindergarten in the Fall. (Maybe. Yet another decision tree to research and decide upon.)
And then there's the Bear, who is on the cusp of big girldom herself. She eats everything with utensils, puts on her own shoes, offers strong opinions on her clothes (and everything else), and apparently used the potty successfully today at daycare. Not that I wouldn't love to get rid of diapers, but what on earth? She's 19 months old, this is supposed to be my baby. My last baby.
We haven't told Landon about the move yet. Now that our vacation is over and we're about to get a sign in our front yard, we'll tell him soon. He's going to be sad to leave his friends- most of them have been in the same class together for 3 years, but he's a nice mix of mellow and outgoing, so I think he'll adjust pretty easily. Claire won't care as long as her books and her family come with her. And as always, as long as we're together and we can snuggle in bed on the weekends, everything else is secondary. No matter how much I cringe at thinking of moving twice in the next year. And oh, I cringe.
Calm abiding. It'll come back. Perhaps tomorrow.
In the spirit of calm abiding, we spent some time hanging out in our master bedroom yesterday. Growing up, I don't think I ever once saw my parent's bed unmade. They went to bed after me and they were up and dressed with their bed perfectly made long before we woke up, so I can only picture their bed in a state of throw-pillowed perfection. JP and my bed is not like that. It's our oasis, a completely kid-free zone from bedtime until morning, but we never make it up, and everyone in the family is generally in and out of it throughout the day on the weekends. It's the place I sneak away to read one more chapter of my book mid-morning, the place I find JP asleep with the covers over his head, hiding from his to-do list in the afternoon (he always falls asleep within 60 seconds of laying down; drives me CRAZY, mostly with jealousy), it's the tickling, teasing, board book reading gathering place with the kids after they get up from their naps, my retreat when I have a headache, and the place I push JP in order to cuddle for just a few minutes in the middle of the day when I don't want to think about to-do lists anymore either... it's not in the physical center of our house, but on the weekends, it often serves as the spot our day ends up revolving around.
After a fun and productive weekend (I made food for every day of this week, and cookies, mostly so I could eat a cup of dough- my appetite is confused after my random two days of intense skiing), today has been the opposing of a calm abiding. I did our taxes and discovered we owed an additional several thousand dollars, a result of not sufficiently withholding extra money from JP's paychecks (a result of having never had two full-time incomes before). I found out that I officially did not get a bonus. I figured, but I had a secret hope that I qualified under the "merit" portion. As it turns, no amount of perfect reviews or partners crying because you're leaving can make up for missing the 2,000 hour threshold (and no amount of 200+ hour months can make up for your first 3 months being under 100 hours because work was so slow during the first quarter of the year). I talked to JP as he was picking up his newly repaired and repainted car and he told me his new company doesn't pay bonuses until April (we thought it was end of Jan when their fiscal year closes). And all this info sprinkled in while I talked to realtors, inspectors, electricians, home stagers, and lenders. Also, Claire sobbed at daycare drop off. I want my dhárana back.
It'll work out, because it always does. We'll probably have to go to an apartment first (or rent a house, but my Ft Worth realtor confirmed that there is not much of a home leasing/rental market in the area we want to buy, which every single person I've talked to has volunteered as the best neighborhood ever, and which trulia.com has taught me only ever has 2-3 homes for sale at a time and the ones I like sell within 48 hours), which means moving twice and I don't know what we'll do with the dogs. But given our tax bill and other things, I don't think we could buy right away even if we wanted to, and other than the issue of the two giant dogs, renting for a while does make an annoying amount of sense.
So that's today's news. I'll process it tonight and come back tomorrow and research the hell out of the rental market and find the Best Rental Ever and everything will fall into place on a path that will end up giving us the Best House Ever, etc. a few extra months down the road. Until then, look at my baby boy:
How and when did he become so very big kiddish? He's supposed to start Kindergarten in the Fall. (Maybe. Yet another decision tree to research and decide upon.)
And then there's the Bear, who is on the cusp of big girldom herself. She eats everything with utensils, puts on her own shoes, offers strong opinions on her clothes (and everything else), and apparently used the potty successfully today at daycare. Not that I wouldn't love to get rid of diapers, but what on earth? She's 19 months old, this is supposed to be my baby. My last baby.
We haven't told Landon about the move yet. Now that our vacation is over and we're about to get a sign in our front yard, we'll tell him soon. He's going to be sad to leave his friends- most of them have been in the same class together for 3 years, but he's a nice mix of mellow and outgoing, so I think he'll adjust pretty easily. Claire won't care as long as her books and her family come with her. And as always, as long as we're together and we can snuggle in bed on the weekends, everything else is secondary. No matter how much I cringe at thinking of moving twice in the next year. And oh, I cringe.
Calm abiding. It'll come back. Perhaps tomorrow.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Whirlwind
We're back! The trip was wonderful, a truly welcome respite from the nervous anticipation of the past few months and the craziness of the months ahead. The kids were great travelers- even though JP and I were exhausted when we got everyone and everything home at 5:30 last night, I don't think it could have gone better. They slept well, ate well, played well, and traveled well, and it certainly helps that Landon continues to consider Claire's happiness to be his personal mission in life. So I have no complaints, and I love how freaking adorable they can both be at these ages, but man it will be nice to one day travel without two giant car seats, a pack 'n play, and two kids who can't be left alone for a moment (and a Claire who basically just counts as another bag because she has to be carried, though she did helpfully insist on wearing her penguin backpack while being carried).
This will be the equivalent of your neighbors making you watch a slideshow of their vacation, so I apologize in advance, but I have to include some pictures for posterity. Here are days 2-4 of our 2012 family vacation, in brief:
Little skiier:
What JP and I were so excited to run into while coming down the mountain for lunch: (aren't little chains of ski schoolers adorable?)
End of day 2 when we got to take Landon up on a run with us! I cannot even describe how excited we were to get to do that- our baby boy! on skis! with us!!
The parents grinning ear-to-ear, Landon just wants to get on with the skiing.
"Mommy I KNOW!" (when I was telling him to snow plow for the turn up ahead; one of many reasons why we did not attempt to teach Landon how to ski ourselves (the other being that JP and I wanted fast skiing alone time))
Love this one of father and son heading down our final run:
Heading home with two exhausted kiddos after day 2..
Snowmobile tour up the Continental Divide on day 3- SO MUCH fun (that's Winter Park in the background)
The guide matched my snowmobile to my jacket; good man.
Horse-drawn sleigh ride! We picked the activity because it was the only one Claire could do with us. She loved petting the horsies, but then kind of lost her shit during the first thirty minutes of the ride, calming down only when I held her tight and sang "Dashing through the Snow" over and over (and OVER) again. Landon enjoyed the whole thing, but his favorite part by far was the stop to roast marshmallows and drink hot chocolate, which we could have down without the whole horse-drawn sleigh part.
On the drive back to the condo, we found a park with a sledding hill with a big bin of public sleds! It was one of the many things we discovered while looking at the park and town through our kids' eyes, a view that really changed the trip for us (for the better).
Landon loved it, as he loved everything snow-related:
Mommy took a turn (I swear it was faster than this looks):
My little Chicago baby:
I loved all the fun and activities, but one of the best parts of the day came at night when we put on pjs, fuzzy socks, and a movie and snuggled together on the couch. (Another best part was when both kids were passed out in the other room at 6:55 and JP and I had the rest of the evening to ourselves ;)
We really did have so much fun and the whole experience was more than worth the hassle of dragging two kids and all their accessories on planes, trains, buses, and rental cars to enjoy the snow and JP and my favorite kind of vacation. Last night as I was tucking Landon in bed he asked, "mommy, when we can we live in that place where I woke up this morning?" Not soon, but hopefully someday!
Now that we're back the realities of the new job and the move have slammed back to the forefront. JP has removed our backdoor in order to re-paint some rusted spots and just discovered the primer is supposed to dry for 24 hours. It's chilly out (low 50's) so we're all bundled up in sweaters in our house. I listed a few old baby items on craigslist for free (Goodwill won't accept them) and got about 27 phone calls in the first 5 minutes. I seriously underestimated the demand on that one. We have a few other weekend projects and then a home staging appointment on Tuesday, pre-approval meeting with the lender for our Ft Worth house on Wednesday, and I have to drive 90 minutes away to get my federal fingerprinting done on Thursday (because there are no acceptable locations in Austin, grrr). And I'll just admit it now, I'm completely stressed about selling our house for what we paid for it (we bought 6 months before the whole market fell apart), dealing with the dogs and psychotic cat and two kids while trying to keep the house spotless and showable, trying to buy a house in a new city before I start my job which means we have to qualify for the mortgage in JP's name only and we're not sure that's possible, maybe moving to an apartment first with our two kids, two dogs, and psychotic cat, finding daycares for the kids that have room for them for the last few months of the school year, and figuring out the timing of it all while not knowing my start date yet for the SEC because they haven't yet completed the background check. AND doing all of this while JP and I both work full-time with as little gap as possible because we can't have a gap in our paychecks in order to fund all of the above. (and without other little helpers like knowing anyone in the area and/or having retired parents who don't work full-time themselves and will swoop in to assist with these kinds of things; not that I think parents of grown children should have to do that, I'm just going to admit now that there's going to be a moment where I'll wish they did).
It will all work out. I know this. But between now and when it's all worked out, it's going to be a little hectic, and hectic was easier when it was just JP and me. For now we just work on the to-do list, which is currently paused on "re-finish and paint back door" and find comfort in the fact that by this summer we should be moved in and settled in a new house in an exciting new city with a wonderful new job. It's going to be great, but I'm just warning you, there might be a few stress posts sprinkled amongst the kid pictures between now and then.
This will be the equivalent of your neighbors making you watch a slideshow of their vacation, so I apologize in advance, but I have to include some pictures for posterity. Here are days 2-4 of our 2012 family vacation, in brief:
Little skiier:
What JP and I were so excited to run into while coming down the mountain for lunch: (aren't little chains of ski schoolers adorable?)
(squee! JP and I both kind of flipped out when we saw Landon;
if I was him, I would have been totally embarrassed)
End of day 2 when we got to take Landon up on a run with us! I cannot even describe how excited we were to get to do that- our baby boy! on skis! with us!!
The parents grinning ear-to-ear, Landon just wants to get on with the skiing.
"Mommy I KNOW!" (when I was telling him to snow plow for the turn up ahead; one of many reasons why we did not attempt to teach Landon how to ski ourselves (the other being that JP and I wanted fast skiing alone time))
Love this one of father and son heading down our final run:
Heading home with two exhausted kiddos after day 2..
Snowmobile tour up the Continental Divide on day 3- SO MUCH fun (that's Winter Park in the background)
The guide matched my snowmobile to my jacket; good man.
Horse-drawn sleigh ride! We picked the activity because it was the only one Claire could do with us. She loved petting the horsies, but then kind of lost her shit during the first thirty minutes of the ride, calming down only when I held her tight and sang "Dashing through the Snow" over and over (and OVER) again. Landon enjoyed the whole thing, but his favorite part by far was the stop to roast marshmallows and drink hot chocolate, which we could have down without the whole horse-drawn sleigh part.
On the drive back to the condo, we found a park with a sledding hill with a big bin of public sleds! It was one of the many things we discovered while looking at the park and town through our kids' eyes, a view that really changed the trip for us (for the better).
Landon loved it, as he loved everything snow-related:
Mommy took a turn (I swear it was faster than this looks):
My little Chicago baby:
I loved all the fun and activities, but one of the best parts of the day came at night when we put on pjs, fuzzy socks, and a movie and snuggled together on the couch. (Another best part was when both kids were passed out in the other room at 6:55 and JP and I had the rest of the evening to ourselves ;)
We really did have so much fun and the whole experience was more than worth the hassle of dragging two kids and all their accessories on planes, trains, buses, and rental cars to enjoy the snow and JP and my favorite kind of vacation. Last night as I was tucking Landon in bed he asked, "mommy, when we can we live in that place where I woke up this morning?" Not soon, but hopefully someday!
Now that we're back the realities of the new job and the move have slammed back to the forefront. JP has removed our backdoor in order to re-paint some rusted spots and just discovered the primer is supposed to dry for 24 hours. It's chilly out (low 50's) so we're all bundled up in sweaters in our house. I listed a few old baby items on craigslist for free (Goodwill won't accept them) and got about 27 phone calls in the first 5 minutes. I seriously underestimated the demand on that one. We have a few other weekend projects and then a home staging appointment on Tuesday, pre-approval meeting with the lender for our Ft Worth house on Wednesday, and I have to drive 90 minutes away to get my federal fingerprinting done on Thursday (because there are no acceptable locations in Austin, grrr). And I'll just admit it now, I'm completely stressed about selling our house for what we paid for it (we bought 6 months before the whole market fell apart), dealing with the dogs and psychotic cat and two kids while trying to keep the house spotless and showable, trying to buy a house in a new city before I start my job which means we have to qualify for the mortgage in JP's name only and we're not sure that's possible, maybe moving to an apartment first with our two kids, two dogs, and psychotic cat, finding daycares for the kids that have room for them for the last few months of the school year, and figuring out the timing of it all while not knowing my start date yet for the SEC because they haven't yet completed the background check. AND doing all of this while JP and I both work full-time with as little gap as possible because we can't have a gap in our paychecks in order to fund all of the above. (and without other little helpers like knowing anyone in the area and/or having retired parents who don't work full-time themselves and will swoop in to assist with these kinds of things; not that I think parents of grown children should have to do that, I'm just going to admit now that there's going to be a moment where I'll wish they did).
It will all work out. I know this. But between now and when it's all worked out, it's going to be a little hectic, and hectic was easier when it was just JP and me. For now we just work on the to-do list, which is currently paused on "re-finish and paint back door" and find comfort in the fact that by this summer we should be moved in and settled in a new house in an exciting new city with a wonderful new job. It's going to be great, but I'm just warning you, there might be a few stress posts sprinkled amongst the kid pictures between now and then.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Ski Trip Day 1
We've finished our two days of skiing and are about to head out on our 2-hour snowmobile tour with Landon. Clairebear is doing morning daycare today, and then we're doing a horse-drawn sleigh ride with her this afternoon.
It has been such a fun trip. It snowed our first day, so it was a little chilly, and JP and I didn't know the mountain so we kept ending up on these long horrible FLAT greens that he had to steal my poles to pull himself across. But still, any day spent skiing is a good day and we found some great blue and black runs later. Landon did great in ski school and couldn't wait to get back on his skis for day 2. Claire had fun at the kidscamp- her daily sheet described her as "busy, happy, smiley" which sounds like our Bear. We ended the day with sledding and frozen lasagna back at the condo.
A few pictures:
Day 2 was even better- gorgeous weather, great runs, and our little ski school graduate got to go down some runs with us at the end of the day! A preview of what's to come:
We seriously couldn't have been more proud. JP and I just kept grinning over his head as he navigated the slope between us. We love skiing so much, it was so fun to watch Landon enjoy it too!
It has been such a fun trip. It snowed our first day, so it was a little chilly, and JP and I didn't know the mountain so we kept ending up on these long horrible FLAT greens that he had to steal my poles to pull himself across. But still, any day spent skiing is a good day and we found some great blue and black runs later. Landon did great in ski school and couldn't wait to get back on his skis for day 2. Claire had fun at the kidscamp- her daily sheet described her as "busy, happy, smiley" which sounds like our Bear. We ended the day with sledding and frozen lasagna back at the condo.
A few pictures:
heading out to the slopes
a break in the snow!
my guy
my guy with my stolen ski poles
family picture at the end of day 1
sledding!
bedtime stories in the top bunk
Day 2 was even better- gorgeous weather, great runs, and our little ski school graduate got to go down some runs with us at the end of the day! A preview of what's to come:
We seriously couldn't have been more proud. JP and I just kept grinning over his head as he navigated the slope between us. We love skiing so much, it was so fun to watch Landon enjoy it too!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Is This Where Santa Lives?
We're here! As it turns out, this is an unduly expensive, poorly timed trip that I booked back when I was working 80 hours a week and thought I was getting a bonus (and thought I'd be at the firm at least another year, and before I backed my car into JP's and wrought $2,000 worth of damage, and before I knew I was taking a pay cut and paying for a move and buying another house...), but I know it's going to be worth it. Or, I've decided it's going to be worth it and am ignoring any qualms to the contrary.
But I know it is. I treasure the memories of my childhood vacations over almost any others.
The flight from Austin to Denver is only 2.25 hours, so we brought our ancient, giant portable DVD player for Landon (he is obsessed with the movie Tangled and we are so glad he will finally watch something for more than 2 minutes) and a bunch of books for Claire, thinking she (who has always been obsessed with the TV) would just watch the screen next to him. Then we cleared 10,000 feet and tried to turn on the DVD player only to find that the battery was dead, despite charging it the night before. Apparently it must be plugged in to work at all now, much like my ancient laptop. So we were stuck with entertaining the children old-school style, with books and a pad of paper and a few pens. And goldfish. It actually went really well. Landon was perfect, Claire very nearly so, though JP and I were pretty tired by the time we landed. Luckily the kids continued to behave with near perfection.
(Side note: luggage-wise, we ended up with one checked bag and one carry-on bag per person, plus the two car seats. I was pretty proud of that result, and my willingness to bring a single pair of shoes and wear two sweaters twice each on the five-day trip. Such sacrifice. And each kid managed their own carry-on, which was very nice. Claire's backpack held 6 books, a few zoo animals, and a matchbox car- the essentials.)
We rode a train to get our bags, road a bus to get our car, drove our car to get to Winter Park -- it was a planes trains and automobiles kind of day. We bought groceries to make meals in our condo and wandered across the road to explore the Village.
As it turns out there's an ice castle with a slide right in front of our condo. Good times were had.
At least until Claire found out the snow was not room temperature.
We moved on to scope out restaurants, ski rentals, and additional play areas. There's red wagons all around the village to assist in the transportation of children and ski gear. Princess Claire declined to disembark at any of our other stops.
We picked up our rentals (Landon's skis are adorable) and an absolutely exhausted, nap-free Clairebear was unhappily surrounded by ski equipment as we made our way home.
Poor thing, she was so worn out, but she worked up a smile for the occasional passerby (JP worriedly noted that she smiles way more at men than women, but I just told him it's because she loves her daddy so much). We ate a quick dinner of pasta and jarred sauce, gave the kids a bath in a ridiculously large bathtub, and tucked them in bed. Now I'm drinking a glass of wine on the couch with my laptop while JP and I watch Batman Begins on TV. I think it's going to be a wonderful four days.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Job Details and Other Things
Thank you all so much for your excitement and congrats on my news. I can't tell you how wonderful it all was to read- I always love comments, but on Friday I was practically giddy every time I checked my gmail account. And it was a trying day. Some partners did not take my news well- nothing terrible, they're just very sad and disappointed (for them, most acknowledged it was a pretty amazing move for me). One teared up. One is actually kind of angry. Others expressed excitement and just told me to make sure I kept the firm in the running when I was ready to go back to private practice. I know everyone will get used to it- it's not like associates don't leave all the time, it just wasn't very fun walking around and breaking the news to people I've worked with for more than three years. This is the only real "grown-up" job I've ever had, it's crazy and a little sad to think that in a few months I'll be making my morning (and afternoon and late afternoon) hot tea somewhere else.
But oh my goodness am I excited. Even when breaking the news to the partner I'm closest to, the one I knew would be the most upset (though I underestimated her reaction), I couldn't help grinning. Truly couldn't help it. I wanted this so bad you guys and I'm so excited about this adventure for our family. Though the 6 hours I spent on Friday filling out all the federal employee background check/employment paperwork was not particularly fun. You have to list all your jobs, addresses, and international travel going back 7 years. Since I'm still a young'n, that required me to list my parent's address from the months I lived there before I got married. I also had to separately list all the countries I visited, which included my post-college self-funded tour around Europe (UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Greece). And it's not like it was a nice text box to fill in, it was a maze of drop-down menus and "saving" and moving to the next screen to "add another trip" and do it again. It took Forever. And I just realized I left out Vatican City, but does anyone really consider that a separate country besides the people who work at the Vatican? I made appointments for finger-printing and photo-taking, filled out more paperwork, and even billed a few hours. I got home at 10 p.m. Kind of ironic one of my later nights at work recently was the day I told everyone I was quitting.
On to the timing details: We're hoping to get our house on the market by the first weekend in February (though it's frustrated by our long-planned, long-ago-payed-for ski vacation that starts tomorrow; terrible timing, as it turns out). We hope to move in mid-March. I plan to start at the SEC on April 1st, though if the stars align and everything moves faster, I told them I would be happy to start sooner. I'll stay at the firm until a week or two before my first day at the SEC (with the rather painful pay cut I'm taking, each firm pay check has increased in importance). I've picked out a neighborhood near downtown that I'm completely in love with, but I am going to need help with daycares, so all you DFW people who commented, expect a post requesting your collective wisdom soon (blogs are so handy for moves to entirely new cities!). And then I think we need some kind of happy-hour meet up with frozen margaritas after I move.
And a few other random matters, since I'll be gone for the next five days and this blog will be temporarily dedicated to exclusive coverage of my kids all bundled up in ski suits:
(1) My dad is doing great. Well, great for a guy with a bunch of broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken sacrum (bones near bottom of spine, which explains why he's been in so much pain while sitting), and a mass of other bruises and hematomas. But he can sleep for several hours at a time, he's working a few hours a day from home (by choice, he's getting antsy), and he's had my brother/his best friend home for the last three days. It'll be a long recovery, and he's going to get a whole lot more stir crazy, but for now he's glad to heal and feel all the love of family and friends through email and phone calls. I continue to refuse to dwell on what could have been (with a 98% success rate) and am just so glad he's home.
(2) JP took Landon to get a haircut on Saturday. Since Landon's first haircut (oh my gosh, look at the little toddler Landon! he's about the same age Claire is now... his babyhood did not go by quickly, but toddlerhood has flown), they've gone to the barber shop together every 6 weeks or so for a little trim. Except this time, Landon came home with all of his hair buzzed off:
Once I recovered from my shock, I decided he looked pretty adorable, and EXACTLY like my little brother when he had his little buzz cut at age 5. Which is funny, because Landon has always looked more like JP than anyone in my family, so maybe the matching hair cut is unduly convincing.
Claire was also intrigued:
And (3), speaking of Claire, she is (a) adorable; (b) suddenly looking much older and it's freaking me out; and (c) never, EVER without a book in her had. Ever.
And now I'm off to bed- tomorrow is a big day of travel before SKIING on Tuesday! Packing for a ski trip for a family of four with two car seats and one kid who still needs her pack 'n play and diapers and sippy cups has destroyed my previously proud reputation as a light packer. Business travel is so much easier- a carry-on suitcase and my kindle in my purse. Now I have 5 checked bags (ski stuff is bulky), 4 carry-ons, 2 gate checked car seats, and a pink blankie to lug around. But I suppose getting to travel with JP and the kids makes up for the extra burden. We're going to have so much fun!
But oh my goodness am I excited. Even when breaking the news to the partner I'm closest to, the one I knew would be the most upset (though I underestimated her reaction), I couldn't help grinning. Truly couldn't help it. I wanted this so bad you guys and I'm so excited about this adventure for our family. Though the 6 hours I spent on Friday filling out all the federal employee background check/employment paperwork was not particularly fun. You have to list all your jobs, addresses, and international travel going back 7 years. Since I'm still a young'n, that required me to list my parent's address from the months I lived there before I got married. I also had to separately list all the countries I visited, which included my post-college self-funded tour around Europe (UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Greece). And it's not like it was a nice text box to fill in, it was a maze of drop-down menus and "saving" and moving to the next screen to "add another trip" and do it again. It took Forever. And I just realized I left out Vatican City, but does anyone really consider that a separate country besides the people who work at the Vatican? I made appointments for finger-printing and photo-taking, filled out more paperwork, and even billed a few hours. I got home at 10 p.m. Kind of ironic one of my later nights at work recently was the day I told everyone I was quitting.
On to the timing details: We're hoping to get our house on the market by the first weekend in February (though it's frustrated by our long-planned, long-ago-payed-for ski vacation that starts tomorrow; terrible timing, as it turns out). We hope to move in mid-March. I plan to start at the SEC on April 1st, though if the stars align and everything moves faster, I told them I would be happy to start sooner. I'll stay at the firm until a week or two before my first day at the SEC (with the rather painful pay cut I'm taking, each firm pay check has increased in importance). I've picked out a neighborhood near downtown that I'm completely in love with, but I am going to need help with daycares, so all you DFW people who commented, expect a post requesting your collective wisdom soon (blogs are so handy for moves to entirely new cities!). And then I think we need some kind of happy-hour meet up with frozen margaritas after I move.
And a few other random matters, since I'll be gone for the next five days and this blog will be temporarily dedicated to exclusive coverage of my kids all bundled up in ski suits:
(1) My dad is doing great. Well, great for a guy with a bunch of broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken sacrum (bones near bottom of spine, which explains why he's been in so much pain while sitting), and a mass of other bruises and hematomas. But he can sleep for several hours at a time, he's working a few hours a day from home (by choice, he's getting antsy), and he's had my brother/his best friend home for the last three days. It'll be a long recovery, and he's going to get a whole lot more stir crazy, but for now he's glad to heal and feel all the love of family and friends through email and phone calls. I continue to refuse to dwell on what could have been (with a 98% success rate) and am just so glad he's home.
(2) JP took Landon to get a haircut on Saturday. Since Landon's first haircut (oh my gosh, look at the little toddler Landon! he's about the same age Claire is now... his babyhood did not go by quickly, but toddlerhood has flown), they've gone to the barber shop together every 6 weeks or so for a little trim. Except this time, Landon came home with all of his hair buzzed off:
Once I recovered from my shock, I decided he looked pretty adorable, and EXACTLY like my little brother when he had his little buzz cut at age 5. Which is funny, because Landon has always looked more like JP than anyone in my family, so maybe the matching hair cut is unduly convincing.
Claire was also intrigued:
And (3), speaking of Claire, she is (a) adorable; (b) suddenly looking much older and it's freaking me out; and (c) never, EVER without a book in her had. Ever.
kills me
And now I'm off to bed- tomorrow is a big day of travel before SKIING on Tuesday! Packing for a ski trip for a family of four with two car seats and one kid who still needs her pack 'n play and diapers and sippy cups has destroyed my previously proud reputation as a light packer. Business travel is so much easier- a carry-on suitcase and my kindle in my purse. Now I have 5 checked bags (ski stuff is bulky), 4 carry-ons, 2 gate checked car seats, and a pink blankie to lug around. But I suppose getting to travel with JP and the kids makes up for the extra burden. We're going to have so much fun!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
New Adventures and a New Tag
I've told the firm, so now I can tell you: I've accepted a new job. In Fort Worth. With the SEC. I am over-the-moon excited and overwhelmed with a to-do list a mile long. We have to sell a house, move, buy a house, unpack, find new daycares, find new schools, meet new people, find new doctors, find new EVERYTHING. I don't know a single person in the DFW area. Having lived in Texas for 20 years and having gone to undergrad at UT, it's kind of amazing that I don't. I've only been to Dallas twice and Fort Worth twice. I never, ever would have thought I'd move away from Austin to somewhere more Texas-y. But I am and I am SO EXCITED.
I said this would be a year of adventure and it's going to start out with a bang!
(To get the back story, see New Adventures parts 1: the Application; 2: the Interview; 3: the Background; and 4: I got the job! Or, just click on the new tag "Ft Worth" to read them all.)
Squeeeee!
I said this would be a year of adventure and it's going to start out with a bang!
(To get the back story, see New Adventures parts 1: the Application; 2: the Interview; 3: the Background; and 4: I got the job! Or, just click on the new tag "Ft Worth" to read them all.)
Squeeeee!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Three Things
First, thank you all for your comments about my dad. I waited a few days to write because I was having trouble figuring out how to address it. It was a big, scary event and it affected me, and I wanted to share it, but we knew he was going to be okay, so I didn't want to be overly dramatic about it, but it was scary, but he IS okay... so I waited. We didn't really even know the story until my mom got out there Saturday morning and then, after reading her detailed account, I was actually more upset than I was when I first found out on Friday (the idea that he was in an ambulance, alone in Germany, thinking he was going to die, ripped my heart out). But I have good news- he was discharged from the hospital in Munich this afternoon and he and my mom are booked to fly home tomorrow. It's going to be a hellish journey- navigating the airport, flying from Munich to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Houston, with a broken sternum, a bunch of cracked ribs, and terrible bruising all over (most of it on his back and backside, making sitting incredibly uncomfortable), but I know he's anxious to get home and hopefully he can max out the oral pain meds. My brother is driving over on Thursday to keep him company while my mom goes back to teaching and we're planning to head over as soon as he feels good enough to risk being in the same room as two children under 5. I'm just... I'm so glad he's okay.
Second, my firm was closed today, as was daycare, so I spent the day moderately supervising my children and engaging in one of my favorite activities- cleaning out closets! After doing this for much of the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, you'd think I'd be out of closets by now, but every time I go through one, I find more to give away. Claire's closet is now down to a chest of drawers and the hanging items that she is wearing now and those that she will be wearing in the spring and THAT'S IT- not a single box, bag, or shelf item remains. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I did the same with Landon's closet, the guest room closet, and the top-of-the-stairs closet that previously housed a random assortment of items that are now either at Goodwill or relocated to labeled storage bins in the attic. I also cleaned out our junk drawer in the kitchen, something that hadn't been touched since we dumped a box of stuff in there after our 2008 move, the hidden shelves in our study where we throw things through squinted eyes so we don't have to see the mess behind the doors, the hutch behind the kitchen table that previously housed birthday party decor, board games, art supplies, laptop power cords, and 2008 New Year's decorations and noise makers, and our jumble of dvd's in the entertainment center. IT FEELS SO GOOD. I packed up an entire car full of stuff for Goodwill, packed bags of giveaways for friends, and just generally felt 10 lbs. lighter. I gave JP the grand closet/drawer tour when he came home from work. He was appreciative, but he doesn't quite understand the post-clean-out high. The homemade chicken lasagne with homemade tomato cream sauce received far more enthusiastic praise, he just doesn't quite share my loathing for extra Stuff and the way it just sits around taunting you while it takes up space for no real purpose. And I'll admit, the lasagna was pretty tasty.
Third, while backing my car out of the garage this evening to take my "entire car full of stuff for Goodwill" to Goodwill, I backed directly into JP's car. It was a moment of breathtaking stupidity. I have a back-up camera and JP is always parked behind me and over to the right. The crunch of the metal felt exactly as bad as my previous 8 hours of cleaning felt good. My Highlander has some deep scrapes; his Sonata has a huge dent that messed up the alignment of the whole bumper. Fixing that (or, more correctly, finding someone else to it quickly so we don't lose a car for multiple days and without costing too much money in the month of our long-awaited ski vacation that I'm already kind of freaking out about the cost of) is now #1 on my to-do list for tomorrow. Ugh. Though, this close to my dad's horrible accident, I know to be grateful that my little incident will only hurt our credit card, even if I feel like a complete idiot for causing it.
Bonus fourth thing- behold, my somehow suddenly much bigger and more grown-up children as captured with my iPhone because despite my resolution to get back into photography, I haven't yet picked up my camera this year:
Landon, trying on his new ski gear, and Claire, showing my grandma her new laptop (which was a gift from my other grandma- we love having all four great-grandparents in the same building!).
Second, my firm was closed today, as was daycare, so I spent the day moderately supervising my children and engaging in one of my favorite activities- cleaning out closets! After doing this for much of the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, you'd think I'd be out of closets by now, but every time I go through one, I find more to give away. Claire's closet is now down to a chest of drawers and the hanging items that she is wearing now and those that she will be wearing in the spring and THAT'S IT- not a single box, bag, or shelf item remains. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I did the same with Landon's closet, the guest room closet, and the top-of-the-stairs closet that previously housed a random assortment of items that are now either at Goodwill or relocated to labeled storage bins in the attic. I also cleaned out our junk drawer in the kitchen, something that hadn't been touched since we dumped a box of stuff in there after our 2008 move, the hidden shelves in our study where we throw things through squinted eyes so we don't have to see the mess behind the doors, the hutch behind the kitchen table that previously housed birthday party decor, board games, art supplies, laptop power cords, and 2008 New Year's decorations and noise makers, and our jumble of dvd's in the entertainment center. IT FEELS SO GOOD. I packed up an entire car full of stuff for Goodwill, packed bags of giveaways for friends, and just generally felt 10 lbs. lighter. I gave JP the grand closet/drawer tour when he came home from work. He was appreciative, but he doesn't quite understand the post-clean-out high. The homemade chicken lasagne with homemade tomato cream sauce received far more enthusiastic praise, he just doesn't quite share my loathing for extra Stuff and the way it just sits around taunting you while it takes up space for no real purpose. And I'll admit, the lasagna was pretty tasty.
Third, while backing my car out of the garage this evening to take my "entire car full of stuff for Goodwill" to Goodwill, I backed directly into JP's car. It was a moment of breathtaking stupidity. I have a back-up camera and JP is always parked behind me and over to the right. The crunch of the metal felt exactly as bad as my previous 8 hours of cleaning felt good. My Highlander has some deep scrapes; his Sonata has a huge dent that messed up the alignment of the whole bumper. Fixing that (or, more correctly, finding someone else to it quickly so we don't lose a car for multiple days and without costing too much money in the month of our long-awaited ski vacation that I'm already kind of freaking out about the cost of) is now #1 on my to-do list for tomorrow. Ugh. Though, this close to my dad's horrible accident, I know to be grateful that my little incident will only hurt our credit card, even if I feel like a complete idiot for causing it.
Bonus fourth thing- behold, my somehow suddenly much bigger and more grown-up children as captured with my iPhone because despite my resolution to get back into photography, I haven't yet picked up my camera this year:
Landon, trying on his new ski gear, and Claire, showing my grandma her new laptop (which was a gift from my other grandma- we love having all four great-grandparents in the same building!).
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