Finally....a house!

After a long and frustrating search...we have a contract on a house...and it is perfect! We saw this house in Benicia when it first came on the market and we said how wonderful and perfect and expensive it was. :) Luckily no one swooped it up and the price dropped...and now it shall be ours!
We are in the early stages still so please please please wish us good luck that it all works out. Here are a few pictures. We will take more when we go there for the inspection.
Backyard...it is small but perfect!


This is the waterfront park across the street!

Pool Party

Last weekend we went to Madie's 8th birthday party at the pool. Caroline had so much fun in the water. It was her first time in a swimming pool and she spent the entire time in the water. Her little fingers were like prunes at the end.
Spending time with Daddy

Art and Jazz Fesitval

On Saturday we drove to Benicia for a Jazz Festival and to spend a little more time in the town. We have an offer on another house there and are hoping to hear back tomorrow. It is such a great place and we would love to live there. The Festival was very laid back. Caroline loved running around and charming all of the people there. My parents met us there and it was a really fun day!




She is very into pushing things around...her stroller, the shopping carts, chairs etc.

Fun at the park

Caroline loves the park! Now that she is walking it makes it easier to take her to the park. She giggles on the swings and likes to explore everything else. Such a big girl!

Cow says "moo"

When I got up this morning (Scott got up with C so I got to sleep a little longer...yay!) Caroline was being chatty and I asked her "What does a cow say?" She said "moo". I was so impressed! She is really starting to understand more and respond appropriately. Everyday gets a little more interesting with her. She is learning body parts a little too. Reading her books to her is getting more fun now because she "reads" right along with you. :)

First trip to the ER

Poor baby girl. I knew she wasn't feeling great yesterday because she snuggled with me on the couch all morning. Caroline usually doesn't sit still long enough to snuggle. She has her molars and a few other teeth coming in, so I assumed that was the problem. She perked up a little throughout the day but when she woke up from her afternoon nap, she was blazing hot. I took her temp...104.1. She has never had a fever that high so I freaked out a little. Luckily we didn't have to drive her all the way to the hospital on base (45 min) and Scott knew that UC Davis had a pediatric ER. He did a rotation there years ago...these things come in handy. :)
Diagnosis--croup...again. Her breathing is labored when she gets upset, which is scary. The last time she had it she recovered in a few days so hopefully this time it goes away as quickly. They gave her a steroid shot and by the time we put her to bed she seemed a little better. She is still sleeping now (at 7:35am). She hasn't slept past 6:30 in a long time!

Trinity 2009

We had a great time at Trinity again this year. It is a little less relaxing with a 14 month old, but still a great vacation. We used to spend our days sitting around (either on the beach or on the deck) reading books. Now we spend the day following Caroline around! She had a good time too. Despite sleeping in (another) new place, cutting her molars (as well as two other teeth), a terrible diaper rash, and blisters from her water shoes, she did great. :) It took a a little time for her to get used to things, but by the end she was having fun. Trinity is not a clean place so she was covered in dirt and sunscreen the entire time. It took me a few days to get over her being so dirty, but eventually I relaxed a bit.
There is a walking bridge at the resort and we spent a lot of time walking back and forth across it. C loved the bridge!
These pictures are in no sort of order, but here they are!
Walking across the bridge on our way to dinner at the restaurant.

Brian and Scott jumping off the bridge.
These next few pictures tell a little story. My mom and Scott took the dogs to the water to swim a little. Caroline and I followed in Joseph's car. She was playing in the dirt a little, but seemed happy.
I left her side for maybe two minutes to get some pictures of the dogs swimming. Here are Oliver and Sadie sharing a stick.
I come back to her and find that she has been eating the dirt. Picking it up and licking it off her hands. Gross. It was in her teeth, all over her tongue and her hands were black. Apparently my kid likes to eat dirt!

Hanging out in the car before our walk
Joseph and Caroline sitting in their new chairs that Grammy got them.
Getting ready for the lake!
Putting on swimmy diapers

Scott decided to rock the "porn-stache" at Trinity this year. Really cute honey. Thank god he shaved it off when we got home. :)
We have an annual wine tasting night with a bunch of our friends there. This year the wine was Zinfandel and the wine Scott and I chose won! My parents wine came in 2nd and Stuart's 3rd. Of course Scott and I got ours from my parents but we picked which one to take.


Running with mommy is exhausting!
Reading books with daddy



She wasn't so sure about the lake at first, but by the end of the week she liked floating in the water.

Here we are

We are now in CA and have been for two weeks. We just got back from our vacation at Trinity yesterday. It was so much fun! I will post more on that later.
The move was pretty uneventful. The packers packed and the movers moved. Caroline and I flew across country and Scott and dad drove. I have to say that flying with a one year old is probably one of my least favorite things I have done. It was horrible. She was great for the first 2 hours, but the first flight was 5 hours and that is just WAY too long for a little one to sit. She and I were both in tears by the end (well actually she screamed for most of the flight) and I seriously considered just living in Phoenix so that I wouldn't have to get back on a plane. The second flight was only an hour and a half so it was much better. We have decided that we will not be flying again any time soon....not until she is interested in watching movies. Life is too short to go through that again! :)
Now that we are back from vacation we are getting ready to find a house. Hopefully we will find something soon!!

Change of Plans

I feel like every time I post I am saying how crazy things are...but they just keep getting crazier! We are looking forward to a time when things will calm down a little and we can just enjoy life. :)
So here is the update:
As I type, we have packers at our house boxing up just about everything we own. They are super efficient and have already packed the entire house and are working on the garage. It is only 2:30! I didn't think they were packing the crib today so I left C's loveys in her bed...including Earl E. Bird. This is her silly looking bird that is her favorite thing ever. She sleeps with it and carries it around all day. i guess I was wrong because before I knew it her room was empty! So I spent most of the morning going to toy stores trying to find a replacement. Luckily I did.
The biggest news is that in a week and a half we will be homeless. The house in Benicia fell through so we have no house to move into. Luckily we have awesome parents that are willing to take us in. :) It will be a full house, but they are super excited to spend some quality time with Caroline (and us, I am sure). As for the Benicia house, basically it didn't appraise (it came in WAY under what we agreed to pay) and they were unwilling to adjust the price. We have decided that it just wasn't meant to be and will find something perfect once we get there. We will probably focus our search more on Vacaville or Green Valley at this point. We have seen a few things online that we like, so we will see how it goes.
So that is where we are right now. Hopefully I will start taking more pictures soon and I will have more to add to the blog. :)

He passed!

Everyone knows that Scott has been studying non-stop for the past 6 months for his final section of the Boards. He took the exam in Kentucky last week and we found out on Friday that he passed. He was so nervous, but I had no doubt that he would pass. He is now a Board Certified Radiologist. Congratulations baby!