15 Mins to think of a title, only to choose this

Busy.

In the past 8 weeks we have, as a family, gone through, enjoyed, and stressed the following things in order:

• Went to Saint Louis for a family visit (sis in law, bro in law & adorable nephew).
• Wished telehubby good luck on an important job interview
• returned back to Raleigh
• found out telehubby got job, yay! Relocation is awesome, closer to family on both sides
• had break down number one when I realized that moving from RDU to STL meant saying goodbye to my good friends in the RDU area
• got excited that I would be closer to Tulsa friends!
  
• couldn't tell RDU friends about move; hubby work related, complicated....
• went on vacation to Oak Island, NC for a week. Yay! Fun! It was awesome, a little chaotic with 3 boys under 18 months in the house. Henry slept in one of the bathrooms (in his pack and play of course, and no, I am NOT joking. He loved it.
• Discovered Henry loves the water. Since I was on the swim team in High School I experienced my first hope that my son would inherit something other than my sense of humor, my talent for swimming and love of the water
• Returned from beach and started operation clean and get rid of items in the house
• Shared the news with Raleigh friends that we had to move, sad, sad.
• Had second break down when I thought of all that had to be done that I hadn't thought of before...discussed renting vs selling our RDU home. We're renting it out for the time.
• My Mom arrived from Tulsa for a previously planned vacation on her part to help me with Henry while we packed and ran around the house like chickens on speed.
• Since we do not have a home yet in STL we decided that I would stay with my parents for a couple weeks while Alan started his new job and found a rental home for us in STL. This meant that I would need to drive, with my baby boy, an 18 hr drive through 3 states.
• Panic!!!
• Bought new car seat for road trip
• Packed enough clothes for 2 weeks for myself and Henry. Had to make it compact enough to fit in a VW Rabbit, plus Mom's luggage, pack and play (portable crib) and a stroller. Seriously like playing Tetris to get it all in there. Discovered Henry is a great traveler! Hotel for 2 nights, drove 3 days. It worked out perfect.
  
• Arrived in Tulsa.
• Started experiencing breakout symptoms of BPPV that are making me irritable, drugged out from nausea medicine and paranoid. Why paranoid? Because I am afraid I will fall with a baby in my arms. Or people are going to think I am drunk because of the slurring of occasional words and walking sideways.
  

We're all just a little exhausted of course. Thankful to be here with no problems and happy to have this adventure as a memory. We are hanging out here until we have word on a home in STL. Telehubby is staying at an hotel/apartment place. It sucks being apart and not knowing what's going on exactly. Could be much worse though.

Dear Henry on the 8th Month

Oh Henry...

This little boy is growing so fast,

Saying Maa-maa or Mum or Mom more and more often and sometimes with purpose and not just a babble you make.

Henry,

You are a master crawler and you crawl with the uptmost speed, even faster if I crawl behind you threatening to tickle your chunky little legs.

You squeeeeeeel with delight and your awws and oooohs are even more cute now that I think you've figured out how to control the volume.

When you are mad you'll kick your legs and sometimes (to our delight!!) you'll say, "Nine nine NINE NINE NINE NINE!!!!" It's really hilarious, my little german.

You were born here in Raleigh, NC but you'll be one of those kids that will be growing up in a different place than you were born. I never was one of those kids. I lived in the same place my entire life until I moved to Raleigh...funny, huh?

Your eighth month has been joyfully stressful: Your Uncle John and Grandma and Grandpa Pautsch take off for India this Sunday (6/20/10) to meet your soon to be official Aunt Anwesha! We'll let you call her Aunt Weezy if you want to, When they get back next weekend we'll be gone. Daddy got a new job in St, Louis, MO. You, I and Nana-Jana will be in Tulsa while Daddy heads straight to Saint Louis to find us a home to rent. It'll be a good time to catch up and visit some of our OK family and friends.

This weekend will be our last one amongst our NC family of friends. I hope we get to see them all. They all love and adore you. One day I'm sure they'll tell stories about Mom & Dad that you won't want to hear. You know, shenanigans.

Either way you are growing most excellently, your sense of humor gets keener every day, and I swear your hair is growing a fourth an inch a day. To cut or not to cut?!?

I love you little boy and I'll never take that for granted.

The 8th Month

Oh Henry...

This little boy is growing so fast,

Saying Maa-maa or Mum or Mom more and more often and sometimes with purpose and not just a babble you make.

Henry,

You are a master crawler and you crawl with the utmost speed, even faster if I crawl behind you threatening to tickle your chunky little legs.

You squeeeeeeel with delight and your awws and oooohs are even more cute now that I think you've figured out how to control the volume.

When you are mad you'll kick your legs and sometimes (to our delight!!) you'll say, "Nine nine NINE NINE NINE NINE!!!!" It's really hilarious, my little german.

You were born here in Raleigh, NC but you'll be one of those kids that will be growing up in a different place than you were born. I never was one of those kids. I lived in the same place my entire life until I moved to Raleigh...funny, huh?

Your eighth month has been joyfully stressful: Daddy got a new job in St, Louis, MO.Your Uncle John and Grandma and Grandpa Pautsch take off for India this Sunday (6/20/10) to meet your soon to be official Aunt Anwesha! We'll let you call her Aunt Weezy if you want to, When they get back next weekend we'll be gone. . You, I and -Jana will be in Tulsa while Daddy heads straight to Saint Louis to find us a home to rent. It'll be a good time to catch up and visit some of our OK family and friends.

This weekend will be our last one amongst our NC family of friends. I hope we get to see them all. They all love and adore you. One day I'm sure they'll tell stories about Mom & Dad that you won't want to hear. You know, shenanigans.

Either way you are growing most excellently, your sense of humor gets keener every day, and I swear your hair is growing a fourth an inch a day. To cut or not to cut?!?

I love you little boy and I'll never take that forgranted.

Moving to the STL!

Moving On

I have news. Big news.

It's been almost 6 years. 6 years since I left "home" and moved down South to take a chance. I took a chance and put a lot on the line and it paid off. I've grown up so much. Made a lot of memories, met some of the best people, made wonderful family-like-always friends, got married, had a baby, saw friends get married and have babies, etc. Memories and stories that will never get old or tired of telling.

What happened? Life happened. Family happened.

It's all good.

We're moving back west. We're moving to Saint Louis, MO. Wow, huh?

It's a long story but my husband pretty much landed his dream job and I am so proud of him. The company is moving us and we'll be moving fast. His first day is the 28th of this month. I've had to be very quiet about this news and I'm happy and sad to share it. It's been really hard not to tell our friends until the last moment but it was a little bit out of our control. Luckily, everyone understands for the most part.

Right now we're in Oak Island, NC at the beach with Alan's family for a family vacation. When we get back to Raleigh we'll have like, 2 weeks to get everything done, organized and taken care of. Needless to say, it's going to be busy and crazy...and sad. :(

So if I'm quiet that's why. It's so hard to say goodbye and it brings up a lot of memories of leaving Tulsa and moving here to NC. I never thought I'd be so lucky to make such wonderful friends and here I am, better for knowing and learning and now moving on to learn and love more in a different place.

I'll really miss it here...and we'll definetely be back for visits. There's still the house to sell, half the family, friends, etc. This will always be where Henry was born, where we bought our first house and where we got married (in the house!). It'll never be the same, but it will be.