I didn't get too much of a chance to write about the crazy moving process. Or, I should say, the pre-moving process. At least, if I did, I don't remember it. It all felt very crazy to me. I was offered a job on Friday, decided over the weekend to take it, and started the next Tuesday. I spent part of Monday wrapping up things at Early Childhood CARES, then drove up to Salem to check out some of the childcare options. I was greatly disheartened by all the places I looked at. Maybe I had made the wrong decision...
But luckily, one of the directors from EC CARES had emailed a friend (who would have been my supervisor, ironically, had she not taken a job elsewhere…) about childcare options in the area. Several people had mentioned that the YMCA was a little weird this year, so I didn't check that out when she suggested it. Also, they never returned my phone calls, so I guess that was a good indicator. But, we did find a place that I really liked for Isaac. The teacher was perfect. She actually knew what I was talking about when I said "What is your educational approach?" and explained how her classroom was set up - and I liked what she said. Isaac really has been doing well there, so that was a good choice. It is funny - it is in a Lutheran church and sometimes things he says remind me of when I went to grade school at a Christian school in Newport. It's similar enough at this age that it doesn't matter to me if it's Protestant or Catholic.
The other nice thing is that Sonia will be able to go there when she is 15 months old. That brings me to another dilemma that I am facing right now. I brought up that I would like her to go there, but I wanted to give her some time to adjust. Right now she is with my relative Sharon and they have a really nice relationship. I feel like relationships at this age are so important and it breaks my heart to just cut off a relationship suddenly. Sharon can't watch Sonia for all of Friday though, and I work full time.. plus we live pretty far from each other, so Sonia goes somewhere else on Fridays, and I don't love the place. I tell myself it is okay because it is only one day a week, but I'd really rather feel good about a place that I am leaving my baby than just feeling "okay" about it. So when Sonia turns 15 months old, luckily the very next day is a Friday! So, hopefully Sonia can start at Isaac's school that Friday. It turns out though that they don't do just one day a week. So I need to choose two days at least to start with. I am thinking maybe Monday and Friday, but maybe this weekend I can make a decision. Then maybe after Spring break we can change it to being four days a week with Isaac and Thursdays with Sharon (I go out to Aumsville so it is totally on the way and makes sense to have her there on that day). That way she will have some time to adjust to the new person. Any thoughts?
So, once the most important part was figured out, we then needed a place to live. Papa really took over that search. I looked at a few places, but I was feeling so overwhelmed by the childcare search and adjusting to a new (and admittedly less functional) workplace, plus Sonia had not quite finished up her time at Parkside (I gave them two-weeks notice), so I was dropping her off in the morning in Eugene, driving up to Salem, then driving back in the evening to pick her up on time. Isaac was going with Papa to Salem and staying at his school during the day. Then finally Sonia started daycare in Salem, so we were all driving back and forth as a family to Salem every day. That was possibly just as insane, but at least we were saving on gas money! That month we definitely got a good perspective on just how much Papa was probably spending on gas each month while he had been commuting.
When we were all going together, we started looking at places to live after work. We looked at a lot of places. Then, when we got home, we would look again for more places on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, etc. We did have some fun talking about what kind of house it would be fun to buy some day. One house we looked at renting - the guy who showed it to us was from the rental company and he cracked me up. He met us and said, "Well guys, this house is old and weird." After we looked it over, we had to concur, but it was kind of a funny way to represent it. I guess at least he was honest. If you are familiar with that wood shingling that is sometimes on the outside of houses - well, it was on the outside. It was also on the inside wall of the master bedroom. Pretty weird. They had an old doorbell, which was kind of cool, but I didn't know what it was until I asked. They had the 3rd bedroom which was directly above the garage. We realized that would probably not be ideal during the summer or winter because of the temperature fluctuations. I think the bathroom was weird too. Anyway, we didn't end up renting that house, but it was funny. The one we did find costs a little more to rent than our old place, but it is a house for the first time, and we figure we are saving enough from not commuting that it evens out. Also it gives us a chance to adjust and get some supplies we will need when we have our own house, like lawn care supplies….a little bit at a time. Plus our sanity is being saved immensely by having an outside place where we can tell Isaac to go play if he is getting crazy. We also have a "kids' room". Although they don't sleep there (Isaac is finally in his "own bed" though - futon next to my bed!), we are able to have all their toys and books and clothes there and it is awesome for defining where the mess can be. We also do have a bed for each of them for when they are ready and for naps on the weekend. We really enjoy it, and our neighbors are really nice.
Now for something completely different. Isaac and Sonia both got skin rashes within a week of each other. Everyone asked if it was detergent, but we didn't change detergent… Sonia had little dots all over her torso and neck, but not on her legs or arms. Hers were about three days after she had a fever though, so maybe it was related to that. I had to take a picture of Isaac's though, because it lasted all day. I still have no idea what caused it. It was just on his belly, and around his armpits. Isaac is not the kind to try new foods, and I don't know what he would have tried that he hadn't been exposed to before. So far I have not seen any reoccurrence of rashes on either, but it's a little scary. I really really don't want either of them to have food allergies.
Silly Sonia.
She likes to put things in her mouth that she is not supposed to. Then, she will spit them back out if you tell her to.
The only problem is, sometimes she does it with food that is supposed to be eaten.
Isaac took this picture of Sonia the other day. Just a nice weekend morning!
So there we go - a few stories about our move, and a few updates since then. I think I have just a few more pictures before we are caught up. One of my cousins said her new excuse for not blogging as much is "I have four kids." I only have half as many, so I don't think I have an excuse….but I'm still going to try. "I have two kids and a full time job and don't have a routine around blogging… so you get what you get." Hopefully we haven't forgotten anything earth-shattering, little sweet ones. And hopefully, the more organized our house gets, the more regularly I can write little updates on our corner of the world.
