Home Sweet Home

While we've been in Colorado for two weeks, I finally feel like we live here. Our belongings arrived as scheduled on Monday and we got a wonderful visit from the Reed family as the movers were finishing up. They were passing through Colorado on their way to Oklahoma and drove out of their way to see us. :) It was nice to see you guys!
Brian got a bee in his bonnet looking for the remote control for our DVD player. He began tearing through boxes like a mad goat. We've lived here less than a week and we are officially unpacked. :O He finished up the last of the boxes tonight and we have still not found the remote control. :\

I shouldn't have, but I stayed up after the girls went to bed to finish organizing the play room.

So now, a mini-tour. (A full-tour will hopefully be soon!)

This is from the front door -
sitting room, stairs, dining room straight through the back.

This is the cute little armoire we got on Craigslist to hold
all the whatnots that have no home in our slightly smaller kitchen.

I have a wonderful story about the previous owner that I will post at the bottom.

Dining room off the kitchen - overlooking the family room.

Kitchen.

From top of stairs - kitchen and dining room.

From sitting room - stairs leading up to master bedroom on left,
girls' bedroom on right, bathroom in the middle.

From door - girls' room.

From closet - girls' room.

Bathroom.

From the dining room, down a half flight of stairs is the family room.
Off the family room is the girls' play room.

From far corner - door and game closet.

From other corner - where the wooden kitchen and fridge will be set up.

From play kitchen corner - art easel, baby friendly toys, and *the doll house.

From door - puffy chair, creation table, dress-up accessories, baby dolls, and stuffed animals.

*The really nice lady from Craigslist (the armoire lady) gave this doll house to Kellie.
Just straight up gave it to her.

I'm pretty sure it made her year. :) Thank you!

Girls update -

Kellie can spell her name.

Delia can grab her feet.

Acoustics

I'm in the main room of our temporary living facility.
Delia is in bed with her Daddy, cooing and waking up slowly.

She is two rooms away - through the dining room.

I just heard her fill her pants.
This one is going to be a doozy.

What a way to start the day. ;)

My little brother and my sister in law are in town as of last night. They were sweet enough to drive our dog and car up here. And brave enough to continue on through the mad ice that descended upon our town. I owe you two big! Thank you!

Permanence

Do you know what being the wife of a military man does to your concept of long term?

I just ordered a single box of checks.

It felt so...weird. But I have so many books of checks with outdated information - this makes more sense.

Don't you think?

Kitchen Confession

I have purchased and assembled 8 total play kitchens. Oh, I wish I was kidding.

I've been on the quest for the perfect play kitchen for Kellie (and eventually, Delia) for a year and a half now. I fell in love with this one while hunting with Terra Gudgel, but settled on this one as the shipping for the Sylvie was an additional $100 to Alaska. There were many many more before the custom kitchen from backtobasicstoys.com. But the custom kitchen served us well for about a year.

Unfortunately, the custom kitchen was made of pressed wood. If you've ever moved cross-country, you know that pressed wood has a high rate of damage en route. So I asked Kellie if she would rather keep her kitchen or have a new one in her new home in Colorado. She looked at the pictures of the two kitchens for a good thirty seconds. She decided on the Sylvie and hugged and kissed her custom kitchen goodbye before I sold it on Craigslist.

PFD season is in and we received our final family PFD payment today.
We got the house. (Yay!!)
We move in on Saturday.
Our belongings arrive on Monday.

Put 'em together, folks. ;)

We're getting a new play kitchen! My dream play kitchen!

I am just giddy imagining all the fun the girls and I are going to have making wooden scrambled eggs and wooden fruit salad and wooden shiskabobs for their Daddy - in our new home - in our new state. Eeeee!

Thanks for all the loving posts! :) I've missed you guys! And Nanette Jula, I am so up for a cloth diaper MaMa meetup some time. :D Maybe you and your kiddos can come share our new kitchen!

Delia update -
She successfully brought a toy to her mouth today. Repeatedly. (Plastic car keys from Kellie's baby days.)

If you sit her up and (gently!) let her head fall forward until it meets the mattress (yep, she's bent in half at this point), she can (and does) right herself by pushing her legs out from under her so that she is then flat on her belly, holding her head up steady. (She loves this little maneuver and will do it over and over with a smile.)

She scoots. Forward with something to push her feet on. Backward all by herself.

She smiles almost all day long. :)

Kellie update -
She loves to hear the TLF phone ring. If you want to make her day, give her a call.

She can identify most of the letters of the alphabet...then offer a word that begins with that letter.

She loves to point out signs she recognizes. "Mom! See that sign over there? The white and orange one? It says Home Depot." "So, Dad? Do you see that blue and white sign? It says IHOP."

When she played with her water cups in the tub and the water came out of several small holes in the bottom of the cup, she exclaimed, "It comes out like a shower!" When the cup with one small hole came into play, she exclaimed, "It's like pee pee coming out!"

100 Things You May Have Missed

1 - Me, of course.
2 - We found a home today.
3 - It's huge.
4 - Colorado Springs is beautiful.
5 - I feel like we're home, a feeling I had only around friends while stationed in Alaska.
6 - Kellie has a stretchy lizard from the Garden of the Gods gift shop.
7 - She named him Leekie.
8 - Delia is rolling over.
9 - When she wants to nurse, she says "Uhn-gee." Serious.
10 - Brian has two pairs of socks left.
11 - My eye is twitching. Lack of sleep and stress makes my eye twitch. It's SO annoying.
12 - We bought a minivan.
13 - Kellie calls it "our new blue miniban."
14 - Brian goes to work tomorrow.
15 - We're all pretty bummed about it.
16 - Delia has a bedtime.
17 - It's 8 o'clock.
18 - Don't mess with her bedtime.
19 - I've missed blogging.
20 - I "blogged" in my head all the time while I was away.
21 - I even took pictures with the intent to post and blog about them.
22 - I'm so excited for our new home, I can't sleep.
23 - We had a blast in Utah.
24 - Kellie remembers her cousins and names them off.
25 - Kellie thinks all her Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and cousins will be waiting for us at our new house.
26 - She also thinks her Alaskan friends will be there for her playgroups...and her birthday party.
27 - Poor kid.
28 - I don't know how to break it to her.
29 - Our gentle corrections don't seem to have an impact on her ideas of our new home.
30 - Delia is often mistaken for a boy.
31 - I think some may feel bad for our sweet little "boy" in "his" brown little ruffled pants from "his" big sister.
32 - I have GOT to laugh quieter!
33 - Andy and Natalie will be driving our car to Colorado.
34 - They're also bringing Zoe.
35 - Thank you Andy and Natalie!
36 - A heap!
37 - I've felt so disconnected from real life.
38 - I'm SO over cheeseburgers.
39 - I'm SO overweight!
40 - Delia and I are ECing.
41 - I swear she knows what we're saying to her.
42 - Kellie is such a sweet big sister.
43 - So compassionate, considerate, and kind.
44 - Kellie got a hair cut.
45 - Brian is an amazing driver.
46 - My cell phone doesn't work in the Temporary Living Facility.
47 - I love cooking meals again.
48 - Delia was blessed while we were in Utah.
49 - She screamed the entire time.
50 - Between myself, Brian, and Kellie - we have consumed 2 pounds of cashews in 5 days.
51 - I can't wait to have our stuff back.
52 - We (hopefully!) move in on Saturday and our household goods arrive on Monday.
53 - I feel like I've known Delia my entire life.
54 - I love having two girls.
55 - Delia has never ever worn a disposable diaper.
56 - Not a one.
57 - I'm hoping I'll be able to make back the money I invested (and re-invested) in trying out different diapers with Kellie.
58 - I'm pretty sure -no sposies ever- is my only chance.
59 - Babywearing is very common here in Colorado Springs.
60 - Instead of being asked, "What is that? Where did you get it?" I hear, "Oh! I've never seen one like that before! It's a pretty sling!"
61 - If I want to live in this house we've applied for, I have to curb my shopping hobby.
62 - I really want to live in this house.
63 - Delia tried to bring a big (to her) stuffed owl to her face today and got soooo frustrated that it was too large for her to lift one-handed.
64 - Her two hands wouldn't work together.
65 - She began squawking at the owl.
66 - Delia nurses in the car seat.
67 - I lean over her.
68 - After 12 hours in the van on the way to Colorado Springs, she got used to nursing in the van.
69 - She now refuses a pacifier.
70 - She knows the good stuff.
71 - She'll hold out.
72 - Kellie has been handling this move and all these changes with astonishing grace and good attitude.
73 - I'm just so amazed at her behavior.
74 - Sometimes it seems as though she is years beyond her actual age.
75 - She's watched enough movies to turn her brains to mush.
76 - I think our portable DVD player is both a blessing and a curse.
77 - Her favorite movie right now is Robots.
78 - The Disney princesses DVD we just picked up is a close second.
79 - Brian and I are really into "The Office" right now.
80 - We're working on season three.
81 - I haven't yet decided if Kellie will be going to public school or be home schooled.
82 - We have a playground right outside our Temporary Living Facility.
83 - There is not one near our new house.
84 - Kellie will be crushed.
85 - Hopefully the new house with all her old toys will hold her attention long enough for me to find a swingset of sorts on Craigslist.
86 - My family is sleeping.
87 - I should be sleeping.
88 - But even after I finish this post, I'm going to take a bath.
89 - Tomorrow will be a long day.
90 - Our 2008 minivan is the newest vehicle I've ever owned.
91 - I love it.
92 - Our 1998 Camry is 11 years old and still purring.
93 - All my hair is falling out.
94 - I talk about it excessively.
95 - This drives Brian nuts.
96 - I'm actually quite comfortable in our Temporary Living Facility unit.
97 - The drive up here wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
98 - It was definitely longer than I thought it would be.
99 - I'm happy to be in Colorado Springs.
100 - I'm in a good place and hope to get back to regular blogging.

Good night all! It feels good to be back!