8 out of 10

Well, it's been over a week since I slowed down long enough to blog. It's been a very busy week and two days, but it's been a good busy. I've accomplished quite a bit including most of the items on my Top Ten Things I Need to Do list. (I still need to get gifts for Pat and Kate and get my Texas driver's license, but 8 out of 10 isn't too bad.)

John solved the bedroom problem by choosing which bedroom he wanted and which bedroom should be Norm's. We had already designated our room (the master bedroom--kind of obvious) and the guest room (or Mooma's room as John has named it.) I have not bought a new monitor. I just put my old monitor in the hallway between John's room and Norm's room and that seems to be doing the trick.

I found a preschool for John and signed him up for Tuesday and Thursdays from 9AM to 1PM. The preschool is at First Presbyterian Church in Allen, Texas. This is ironic as the preschool that I went to and that 2 of my nephews and 1 of my nieces goes to in Virginia is at First Presbyterian Church. The preschool is about 20 minutes from my house which is farther than I had hoped for, but was the closest one I could find that was over before naptime. All the recommended preschools in McKinney were from 9AM to 2PM or 2:30PM and I just felt that was not the right schedule for John. Luckily for me, he still takes a 2 to 3 hour nap each afternoon starting around 1:30PM.

I bought a washer and dryer. I decided on a Frigidaire front loader washer and the coordinating dryer. So far I am really happy with both.

I stopped in The Colony (the closest "wet" town) on my way home from picking my mom up from the airport and she was nice enough to purchase us some bourbon and some gin as a housewarming present. The three of us (my mom, Brian and I) have enjoyed drinking both for the last week. Yes, I am finally drinking alcohol again after about a year off because of being pregnant or being too damn tired. I have to say, it's right nice to sit back and enjoy a cold beer or a bourbon and ginger after a long hot sweaty day in the Texas heat. It was around 105 for a week, but has now dropped to the more reasonable upper 90s to 100.

We are fully out of the apartment. (Yay! No more lugging the boys and Zoe up and down the stairs every time we go anywhere or return.) All of our stuff is in the house although much of it is still in boxes. We have made good progress in putting stuff away. The furniture issue seems to be decided--at least we've decided what room everything is going in. We still need to arrange the furniture the way we want it to stay in both the family room and the upstairs game room.

My mom was here from last Friday (the day after our stuff arrived and the first night we slept in our new house) until this morning. She was so wonderful while she was here. John and Norm were so happy to have some quality Mooma time. I was so happy to have an extra set of hands, especially a set that is so capable and willing to help. Our biggest adventure while my mom was here was our first trip to the Dallas Zoo. Brian's sister, Kristin, was kind enough to give us a family membership to the Dallas Zoo as a housewarming gift. It was really hot on Sunday when we went to the zoo (around 105), but we still managed to have a great time. Unfortunately because of the heat, a lot of the animals were not out and about. John was crushed to find out that Texas is too hot for polar bears, actually there are no bears at all at the Dallas Zoo. His next great desire was to see the tigers. (Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle is one of John's current library books and storytime favorites.) Unfortunately, it is one of those "natural habitat" exhibits and no tigers could be seen from the viewing area. At that point, John decided he was ready to go home. We convinced him to look at one more area and went to the children's zoo within the larger zoo. There we saw farm animals (sheep, miniature donkeys, pigs, ducks and horses). As many of you know, John LOVES farm animals. At this point, John decided the Dallas Zoo was pretty cool. Also in the children's zoo, there was a playground and a cool wading river. John had a blast playing in both. He decided to sit down in the wading river to cool off and ended up spending the rest of our trip without any pants on because his shorts were so soaked. Oh well! Luckily, he's only two. Next zoo trip, I will pack a spare set of clothes for John.

John looking cool in his stroller and hat.

I thought the Galapagos Turtle was really cool. John was not that impressed. It was not a polar bear or a tiger.


Me being silly in an attempt to make John smile. He thought I was silly, but I was not a polar bear or a tiger.

The tiger exhibit looked promising.

But this was all we saw.

But then we went to the Children's Zoo and we saw sheep!

and ducks! (I think they were trying to find some shade.)

Brian and John sat down to watch the fish swimming underwater.

This was my favorite "neigh": Lil' Joe.

As you can see, Norm was really into the zoo.

Brian and John went wading in the "river."

As you can see, John's shorts were on their way to being soaked.

Norm and Mooma got a break from the heat on the porch of the "Discovery House."

Anyway, we are slowly getting settled into our new house. Luckily, John and Norm are doing great sleeping in their new rooms and it's not too bad trekking upstairs to feed Norm in the middle of the night. I'm off to unpack more boxes, but will report back soon with pictures of the house once it's not such a mess.

In other news, I'm feeling crafty again and have supplies for several projects.

For baby gifts.

For Norm's room.

For John's room.

I'm not very motivated to knit these days--probably because it's so blooming hot. Will hopefully get back to John's sweater before too long. I've also started prepping Norm's birth announcements for mailing. Hope to have those in the mail within the next week. Wish me luck!

Hope you all are doing well! Have a good weekend if I don't check in again before then.