7 Quick Takes (Indiana Inaugural Edition)

— 1 —

We made it to our new home state of Indiana quickly and safely over this past weekend.  And I am coooooold!  My new agenda is to find some actual winter clothes!  They have to be cute, warm, easy to both chase a kid and nurse her in.  This is going to be a quest, I gather.  I have a look in mind, it's just a question of money and that last caveat (who sells nursing-friendly sweater dresses??).

— 2 —

We are crashing at my in-laws' place just north of Indianapolis for now, but the day after we got in, B's dad took us up to Fort Wayne (just over a 2-hour drive) to help us look at apartments.  We looked at three and made a decision that day.  We gave the movers a call, and we'll be moving in next week!  For some stupid reason, I forgot to check if it has a dishwasher, and I've been having mild panic attacks all day that it doesn't (it's not listed on their website).  I guess it's good that our pact is you either cook or do the dishes, and I'm usually the cook.  But I also love to bake, and I'm on my own as far as "hobby cleanup" is concerned. No turning back now, though.  I guess I'll just find out on Monday.

This apartment also requires me to scale a flight of stairs, which I'm not so keen about. It will be the first time in almost 4 years that I'll be living on the second floor, but there's no one above us and we have our own private (indoor) staircase.  We also have our own one-car garage, a patio, and we're a mile away from an great park/YMCA, and another mile from an awesome library that has a "Born to Read" program for young babies!  The icing on the cake (other than the fact we don't need to buy a snow shovel) is that we're an easy five-minute drive from B's grandmother and his aunt and uncle.  I'm actually really excited to live around all this family.  They all have already offered to babysit, too.  They love Cora!

— 3 —

And who could blame them?  She is pretty cute!  And she already shares my love of maps!

Learning to navigate her new home!

— 4 —

Cora has had some interesting physical development milestones lately. My MIL found an old baby fork in her drawer so she put some of last night's dinner on it and gave it to her to see what would happen. After Cora gnawed on the back end of it as she usually does with spoons, she turned it around and fed herself off the fork!

Baby Cora can also get into the crawling position, but only seems to be able to crawl backwards.  She can then drop down on her stomach, pivot, and barrel roll.  And as of this week, she can get herself back into a sitting position.  Her favorite thing to do, though, is stand up.  She can't pull herself up yet, but she's trying soooo hard.  She also has tried to just stand up from the middle of the floor (unsuccessful as well). We usually just sit there and hold her up or prop her up on some furniture and sit behind her.  I'm not sure if she'll ever really crawl, since I think she'll want to walk instead.  According to my mom, that's what I did, so hey, it worked for me.

— 5 —

B and one of his brothers went to a political debate that was being held here in their hometown on Wednesday.  It was the gubernatorial debate for the Indiana candidates.  Aside from trying to teach Baby Cora how to say "gubernatorial," B also mentioned that the Libertarian candidate looked like he 'smoked pot in the woods.'  I saw the picture of him and immediately recognized Rupert from "Survivor" fame!  He does look like a barefoot hippie . . .

One of these things is not like the other . . . [Source]

— 6 —

I don't talk much about the baby products I use, but I did a TON of research on strollers a year ago, and I think it paid off!  I knew too many people who were disappointed with their pretty-but-flimsy travel systems, and we didn't need the car seat part of those anyway.  Instead, we used a Snap-N-Go (bought at a consignment store for cheap) until Cora was big enough for her "big girl" stroller around 6 months, but I still LOVE what we got for the long haul.  

Behold, the Baby Jogger City Mini:

In the course of a week, she went from wearing a onesie and no pants or socks to THIS giant bundle!

We had to wait to use it because if you look closely, the straps are still at her ears, and that's the lowest they go.  I also have a tray that goes on the front, but she has no real need for it yet. The maneuverability of this thing is great, and it folds soooo easily! My only beef with it is that I can't fit my giant diaper bag in the bottom, but it hasn't been that big of an issue yet. I keep a quick-changer system in the back pocket and then just throw my small purse in the bottom.

I promise I'm not being compensated for this, I just really love our stroller!

— 7 —

B and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary the day before our movers came for the packout.  Our big "celebration" this year involved eating freezer pizza and drinking champagne while my neighbor looked after Cora for a few hours.  And we also got ready for the movers, namely by throwing stuff into the hall bathroom. I've forced B to join me in taking the same picture by the lamp each year (and amazingly all 3 of our anniversaries have been celebrated in Pensacola, even though we lived there just over 2 years).

Also known as "The Decline of Formality"

I also took one this year with just the two of us.  I can't decide whether to do it with the children or without each year.  I like to see how the family changes and expands, but we also do pictures for Christmas cards each year that shows that.  What would you do?  For now, I think we'll just take both.  Hooray for digital, right?

For more Quick Takes, check out Conversion Diary.