Alice at 7 months

Little Alice has changed so much since we moved that she really needs her own blog post. She could barely sit up when we left Ithaca and was falling over after about 10 seconds. Now she can move on her own from her belly or back to sitting up and she scoots all over the room. She is starting to really crawl on her hands and knees but she still mostly scoots. She also occasionally likes to push herself up onto her hands and feet like a monkey and of course all of this is narrated by adorable babbling. She has two little teeth now too and she is eager to use them. She is eating baby food and gnawing on everything but especially shoes that are left out. Alice is as sweet as ever. My only complaint is that she has stopped sleeping through the night since we moved but we are in the process of Ferberizing her and unlike her sister she is proving to be text book predictable so we have great hope that we’ll be catching up on sleep soon.

I took these pictures a week ago. I had just bathed her and was lost in admiration of her cute little body. Here are too many pictures of her because I just couldn’t decide. I think she is so beautiful.

The Big D

We have now been in Dallas for nearly a month and I have so many stories I just don’t where to begin. We’ve got a DMV story, a late moving truck story, a double ear infections story that sent Norah to the emergency room, a thrice broken fridge story, and most recently, a cock roach story. On top of all that, Bryan takes the bus to work so he pretty much brings home a good bus story daily.

Where to start? I think with thanking our friends Crystal and Dave Hunt who took us into their home for a whole week after we promised we’d stay just a night. We left their nice home to “move” into ours with what we had brought in our car but found the house to be uninhabitable due to impressive amounts of dog hair so we turned around went right back to the Hunt’s until the landlord could get it cleaned and do some repairs. They sheltered and fed us, guided and directed us, and let us mooch off of their Costco membership. To Crystal and Dave I say thank you.

We’ve had a string of house related problems since moving in but I think we have just about taken care of all them and are very close to feeling settled. I am still so glad we rented this house over an apartment and the location is great. It seems like we are only 15 to 20 minutes away from everything. We’ve joined a YMCA, the Dallas Zoo and the Museum of Nature and Science so we have some great hang outs to escape the heat. Speaking of the heat, it hasn’t been nearly as bad as I expected though I hear it will get much worse. It reminds me a lot of all the warnings we got to brace ourselves for the cold Ithaca winters. I keep thinking “this isn’t so bad” and I thought the same thing about Ithaca’s winters at first too. For now at least the heat is still a novelty that I’m enjoying.

Bryan LOVES his job and I do too. He tells me that a major part of his job is just staying current on tech news which he would do for free. He has great co-workers and a great boss and he is genuinely excited about his projects. Win! The best part of his job for me is that he leaves around 7:30 every morning and is back around 5:30. It is the best thing ever.

Well that is a solid update so now for a smattering of pictures:

These are from the zoo, obviously. Can you believe how close we got to these giraffes?

Moving Part II: Memphis and Little Rock

From Loveland we drove all the way to Memphis and then took a day off to explore.Memphis was very tourist friendly. The downtown area has a trolley line that you can ride all day for just $3.50 and it took us everywhere we wanted to go. Here Bryan and Norah are waiting for the trolley.We had a big breakfast at the Arcade restaurant which is famous for being a favorite hang out of Elvis – see the charming trolley in the backgroundThen we went to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks walk the red carpet to the hotel fountain. It was pretty silly but Norah got a kick out of it and the hotel itself was magnificent. Then we went to the National Civil Rights museum. I wish we could have spent more time at the museum because it was dense with exhibits and information but Norah was falling apart. Some of the museum highlights were the sit-in lunch counter, and the Rosa Parks bus. When Norah sat in the bus a recording was triggered of an angry voice telling her to sit in the back of the bus. It really startled her and even scared her a little and she went right to the back of the bus (unlike Rosa). After the museum we rode the trolley past the Mississippi river and the girls fell asleep so we drove past Beale streetand headed to Little Rock. The only thing we had time to do in Little Rock was eat BBQ. We went to the award winning “Whole Hog Café”

Moving part I: Ithaca to Loveland OH

Our friends the MacLennan’s had us over for breakfast the day we left Ithaca so here is our last (for now) pic of Norah and Graham together. They're both in jammiesWe stopped in Columbus our first night and then spent the next day in Loveland OH where Bryan went to high school. We stopped by his school to say hi to his old Physics teacher Mr. WagnerMy sister Emily was able to meet up with us for some playtime at a park, Skyline Chili and Graters ice cream. My camera battery died before I could take a picture of Bryan at Skyline which is a shame because it was definitely photo worthy. Adults were eating big bowls of chili with plastic bibs. BIBS people! I felt like I was in Pawnee ha ha. It was delicious though.My little niece Evelyn loves babies. She just wanted to “take care” of Alice everywhere we went. It was very sweet.After we parted ways with Emily we drove around and found Bryan’s old house and spent the night with some close Hicks family friends the Pearson’s. They were wonderful to us and really gave us a break from the road. They made us homemade café rio, and their daughter Becca entertained Norah for us the entire time. It was great. Here is Alice petting Sammy

Alice is 6 Months!

Alice hit the 6 month mark on May 28th. We were crazy busy getting ready to move but we still took notice of the milestone. Alice had had a well visit the week before and the doc asked if she could sit up independently – at the time she didn’t seem anywhere close to being able to do so but she put her mind to it and managed to sit up in time for Mimi and Grandpa Guy to see. Now two weeks later she is sitting up like it is no big deal and babbling to boot. We’ll have to take some video of her cute babbling soon.

Here are some cute pictures Stacy took of her on May 28th

Bryan’s Graduation

Bryan graduated with his MBA on May 26th and that alone would have been a big deal but since we never really celebrated his MS in ECE (because at the time he intended to complete a PhD) I felt like we were celebrating both and the completion of four years of school. So good thing we didn’t miss it right? We almost did. Between travelling for interviews, finishing course work and getting ready to move Bryan had quite a bit going on and misunderstood the schedule for graduation weekend. He thought Saturday was just his class photo and reception and we had decided not to attend the reception so we all kicked back after Norah’s party. Bryan left to take his class picture around 1:30 and then called me at 2:30 to tell me that there was a “little ceremony” going on. He didn’t think there was any chance we’d make it in time so he tried to down play it and insist that the real graduation was on Sunday. It sounded a little fishy so I pressed the issue and specifically asked him if would be walking across the stage to get a diploma or not he had to say yes. The ceremony was supposed to start at 2:30 and it was 2:30 so Guy, Susan and I rushed out the door to make it in time. All of us were in our picnic clothes but at least we made it in time. Norah, Alice and Taylor were napping so Courtney stayed with them for us. There is no way we would have made it in time if we had to pack up the whole family so we were very grateful to her for taking one for the team.

I was pretty upset with Bryan at first but by the end of the ceremony Guy had managed to put things in perspective for me so that I could smile for this picture. It really was no big deal. I took a picture of Bryan with his parents documenting how casual we dressed for a laugh but sadly the picture was blurry.  Bryan and his business BFF JeffWe got all dressed up for commencement on Sunday but between the crowds, crying babies and heat we just wanted to get out of dodge as fast as possible and didn’t stop for pictures. We celebrated in the evening at a BBQ with friends from the branch. We had beautiful weather all weekend and enjoyed being with family and friends and managed to sneak in one last trip to Melissa’s for ice cream. Bryan’s family helped us clean Monday morning which was a huge help and lightened our moving stress quite a bit. Looking back on it all now I can’t believe how much we managed to cram into one weekend.

Norah’s Butterfly Birthday Breakfast

Norah turned 3 on May 26th and we had a butterfly breakfast with friends to celebrate. It was a beautiful morning and we had Stewart Park to ourselves. Our friends must really love Norah to get up and ready in time for a 9:30 party on a Saturday morning.

I got up even earlier to decorate this cake for Norah. One of the wings neared disaster but gobs and gobs of frosting held it together. I’m pretty sure this cake was at least 30% frosting.Bryan made French toast for everyoneAnd Guy grilled the sausages and Paige and Ben poised for this picture There were butterfly wings for the kids to wear if likedSome of them preferred to have their mom’s wear them The Man group – clockwise from the hand block: Brandon, Connor, Ben, Alex, David, RichIn Swings: Callie, Audrey, Drew. Standing: Sydnie, Lindsey, SaraNorah got some amazing dress ups from Mimi that will no doubt be featured again on this blogNorah and Audrey with their grandmas both in town to see the dads graduateCourtney with Baby AliceNorah and AtharvAnd one more cute pic of Norah for good measure