5 Favorites

1.

Parenting: Illustrated With Crappy Pictures

I have loved this blog for a while, and I just devoured her book in a weekend (and I'm one of the slowest readers ever). It's weird because I seriously haven't even had most of the issues the author complains about (yet?). Still, the MS Paint-style pictures are hilarious, Amber's writing is hilarious, and Crappy Baby is adorbs.

2.

Birthday Freebies

This was some of last year's since I'm too lazy to take a pic of this year's

Ah, I love my birthday. Mostly because of the influx of coupons, freebies, and good deals that hit my inbox in the week leading up to it. I got a free sub at Firehouse Subs, a free (kid-size) scoop at Baskin Robbins, a free $3 to spend on whatever at CVS, and a free burrito (with purchase of drink) at Moe's. I still have a free breakfast at IHOP that has so far gone un-used, along with a couple other 'buy something get something' offers that I'm not always so keen on because there is actual money involved. (But I did want that burrito on Sunday night, so that worked out well.) I think I just ate more fast food in one weekend than I have in a few months. Happy 29th to moi!

3.

the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)

Yeah, this is a weird one, but they do a great job with this here! They have good hours that can appeal to people in almost all shifts --open Tuesday through Saturday with certain days of the week open until 7pm. This is totally awesome because it meant I didn't have to lug the child with me to get my car registered here. (I did take her to get my license, and it was a huge mistake because she whined the whole time I was attempting my computer test. Doable, but not ideal.) They also have perfected speediness and short wait times. There were actually a lot of people there when I went to do my plates this week, but there were 10 workers, and each could handle anything. And there were another two 'floaters' who did things like checking my car's VIN number while we handled the rest of the paperwork. I got my number at 4:51 and walked out of there with my car registered in Indiana at 5:10. Less than 20 minutes, start to finish!

The only weird thing is that I only got a temporary plate, and they'll mail me the real one. The other states I've lived in just grabbed one from the pile and handed it over. Also, I've heard that IN plates are crappy plastic, but my others are pretty metal. I'm planning to hang my 3 former plates in our garage when we buy a house, so this kind of matters.

4.
this house that we didn't buy

I probably shouldn't think about it any more, but we saw this house last Thursday with our realtor, and it was fabulous. It was also at the top of our budget so we decided to wait a few days. Someone else put an offer on it the next day, and there is now a big "Sold in 7 Days!" sign next to the other one on the lawn. If you want to see more pics, here is the trulia listing. (Yes, it even included the swing set!) Things I've learned: we (actually, it's just me) are totally gun-shy about making an offer, especially this early in our search, and the good houses around here go fast. I'm also probably going to compare every house we see from here on out to this one.

5.

Maximum Cuteness

In the Crappy Pictures book, Amber Dusick introduced me to the phase called "Maximum Cuteness" which goes from about 16 months until 3 years. (I guess kids get mean and nasty about then, or at least that's what Crappy Mama says.) Anyway, Cora has hit this stage, and I am loving it. She had never shown much interest in her stuffed animals before, but now she has started carrying them around and hugging them and such. Then, there was this:

Let's take a closer look at that: 

And last night she fell asleep with her stuffed cat under one arm and her mousey under the other. I can't even handle the cute.

Day Trip to South Bend

On Sunday we took advantage of some nice weather with a little day trip to "see the sights" of South Bend. It was actually more of a nostalgia trip for B, since he is a proud graduate of the Class of 2005.

There are two ways to get to South Bend from here. One is via the interstates, and the other (which is apparently quicker) takes you through the boonies of the Hoosier state. Oh, who am I kidding? You can drive about seven minutes west from our apartment and you're in the boonies. But we got to drive through little towns with rusty barns and barely pronounceable names. Apparently we were also in Amish and Mennonite country. It looked a lot like this for an hour:

Once we got up to South Bend, we bee-lined it to get to mass on time. Notre Dame is mostly a walking campus, so we had to trek fifteen minutes on foot to get to mass. (Hey, at least it's flat! Says the girl whose college campus was on a huge hill.)

Basilica where we went to mass

It's pretty on the inside, too!

After mass, B gave me and baby the "grand tour." This was actually a re-visit for me, as back in 2007 I was given the "baby grand tour." This time we chanced upon some Taco Bell for lunch at the student center (or whatever fancy name that building had). We then moved on to the library, where "We're Number 1" Moses stands.

I was trying to get baby to hold up her "We're Number 1!" finger, but this is the best we got.

And of course we made a visit to Touchdown Jesus.

There is supposed to be water in a reflecting pool behind me.

We're yelling "Touchdown!!" just like we do every Saturday while watching our teams play.

We then took a little break to stop and smell the flowers eat the leaves.

And look at the ducks:

We thought about feeding them some baby puffs we had in our bag but decided against it.
They'll forgive us since they're Catholic ducks, right?

We also hit up the stadium, the Grotto, and the football practice fields. B kept pointing out buildings that apparently didn't exist the last time he was here, although they blended quite well.

Our day was not without calamity, of course. Baby Cora pulled one of her socks off while we were wandering around and dropped it somewhere, never to be seen again. Then our one-sock baby wet through her clothes while we were in the bookstore. B tried to put her new outfit on in a little sitting area, but she's getting to that stage where she hates getting dressed and will try to escape from it. So that's how this happened:

She bit it pretty hard on the carpet, yet somehow still smiled for the camera.

B was hauling her off to the bathroom to clean her up when I realized I had a camera and could get a picture. For posterity's sake, of course. Poor baby.

At least we got one good family picture to cap off the day:

I wish the stranger who took the pic would have gotten all of Our Lady (at the top of the Dome).
Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 4)

Today was no ordinary Sunday. I'm still not sure what an ordinary Sunday will be in this town anyway. But today was definitely not it. Right before we went to bed last night, B asked if I wanted to take a day-trip to South Bend today. So we did!

We attended mass at Notre Dame's Basilica and then walked all around the campus, where B showed me stuff from his college days. (I've actually had his tour before, but it was over four years ago. This one was much more detailed.) I'm only going to show the "what I wore" picture because I'm exhausted, but I promise an honest-and-true photo-dump later.

Join the fun at Fine Linen and Purple

I think I did a LOT better with my outfit than last week, to say the least.

The top is from New York & Company. The blazer is also NY&CO, but bought secondhand from another blogger who was cleaning out her closet (thanks, chambanchik!). The pants (which I also wore in Week 1) are apparently Spoon brand, and I think I got them from the Delia's or Alloy catalog--they're an odd-numbered size, which means I am wearing Juniors-sized clothes at age 28. The shoes are the same as Week 2, and they are American Eagle from Payless. I changed my shoes almost immediately after this picture, since I knew we would be doing a lot of walking.  Also, instead of a ponytail holder, I have my hair pulled back in my Lilla Rose clip. Love that thing.

And the baby? I let B dress her, and then I commented that "she looks like she's about to go camping."

Speaking of the hubs, I couldn't leave you hanging on this Veterans Day without a picture of the handsome veteran I married :-)

Thank you to all our veterans!

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.

Where Life Takes Us Next

B accepted a job offer!

He is starting his new position on November 1.

He'll be doing something at a power plant, but not a nuclear power plant.

I'm sure you guys don't care much about that, you just want to know where we're going!

Well . . .

It's in the Eastern Time Zone. (I'm actually kind of bummed about this; I loved Central Time!)

It's the second-largest city in its state.

One of us graduated high school about 2 hours away from it.

We will need winter clothes to live there.

It is the 74th largest city in the United States with a population of 255,824.

It is known as The Summit City.

It has a large Burmese ex-pat community.  (I heard that on NPR, lol.)

We are moving to . . .

Fort Wayne, Indiana!

Yup.  Sort of back home for B.  He went to elementary school in this city, and his grandmother and various extended family live there. I finally get my "village" to help raise my child, so that's a plus.  However, I now have to dress my child in pants. And a jacket.  I have to learn how to drive in the snow.  No beach anywhere near, but I think there are lakes which you can actually swim in (no gators!).

As for how his job search went?  Well, I had previously mentioned the headhunters and job conferences and all that jazz.  Those amounted to squat for him.  This job was found the old-fashioned way: connections.  His cousin is an engineer up there (at GM, where he'll be working as well) and blasted his résumé out to anywhere she saw fit. B will be working for a contract company, but within the GM truck plant.

I suppose you want to know our timeline, too?  Yeah, I knew that when it happened it would happen quickly, which is why I quit my volunteer job right when he went on terminal leave.  We're moving NEXT FRIDAY (in one week!).  Holy crap.  The Navy is moving us; we had to pay an extra $100 or so because it's slightly farther than his hometown.  They're packing us up Thursday and the moving truck is coming Friday.  Our stuff will go in storage while we look for a 3-bedroom apartment.  We don't plan on buying a house immediately because I don't like being rushed into major life-altering, debt-inducing purchases.  We currently are debt-free, and will be taking a pay-cut for the initial part of this job (and the health insurance is flippin' expensive!), so we can probably get a better house in a better location later anyway.  We'll hopefully have a house in a year, but no rush. Renting has generally been good for us.  Maybe we're nuts, but we like  having other people mow the grass (and shovel the snow!).

So that's our story. Farewell, Navy.  Hello, Hoosiers!