I feel like I'm going backward.

With these last three posts, I feel totally out of order in everything. I should have thought harder and put them up with some sort of timeline awareness.

Rae Ann moved into her little house this last Fall (after visiting Nathaniel's gravesite but before out-of-town family came for a visit). These are pictures from when Mom, the girls, and I visited her LittleTinyComfortableEmbracing home!

Her little house is on the corner of two little residential streets, and across the road from a sizable park.

Mom drove the girls and I in her truck to pick up a bunch of boxes that Rae Ann had just emptied. My packing adventure was just beginning so I put her, what, already very used, cross-country traveling boxes back to use.

I know I haven't posted any pictures of our house after the big paint job, but this is as good as you'll get. For some reason, all the pictures I took of the finished paint job have vanished into the recesses of Nate's computer. I can't find them to save my life. It sure looks good, though, huh? Just go here if you need a reminder of what it looked like once not too long ago.

I love this shot of Hazel. She stood in the front door and watched Tutu drive away after we unloaded all the boxes I had picked up at Rae Ann's house.

And here are the boxes. I thought, "Well, that's enough." Not so. I started back at Starbucks within a month of picking up these boxes from Rae Ann. Every time we had a large order delivered, I would snag as many boxes as could fit in my car broken down. Oh, and Leslie's mom brought a bunch from her work. I get laughed at still for my adult diaper boxes from Laura...Pretty much everyone who sees them want to sneak a peek inside to see what's in the box.

And this was the start to my pile. Pretty soon filled boxes covered the blue couch and took over the dining room.

Hazel found a blue bunny in box of toys I had packed up. She was thrilled. She never looked at it twice when it was in her play room, but suddenly it became "off limits" and so, by default, it was the best toy in the house.

Hazel wanted in the kitchen. For what specifically, I'm not sure, but probably just to wreck some havoc. I miss my kitchen. I miss my house. And I'm sure you're tired of hearing that.

Piper in her swing! I have fond memories of sticking her in the swing while I watched Dr. Quinn episodes back-to-back-to-back. I loved relaxing in the playroom, picking up all the toys and sitting down with my lunch while Hazel napped. As cold as that room could get with the huge windows, I always loved the view, and I could hold the cold at bay with a fire in the fireplace. It was such a cozy room.

Okay, so that gives you a view of another day in our lives, something that happened back in early October. What a beautiful month that was! I miss the Fall and now I'm definitely looking forward to Spring (skip Summer) and then Fall again! Where will we be in just a few months? Still here probably, in Nate's parents' basement, but I'm praying for another move. Can you believe it? I'm pretty crazy to wish for a move.

October 2010

This video is from early October, making Piper about two months old. I have a little song I sing to her and she started responding to it very, very early on. Hazel passes through the video on her way toward bed. She's saying good-night to everyone in the house.

Karen's brother Keith was visiting Oregon with his wife, Georgia, and son, Nick. They're from Kentucky and it's been several years since we last saw them. We were over pretty much every night they were in town - it was so good to see them again! To top it off, Grandma and Grandpa Moser came up from California. Rick and Karen had a very full house for awhile. (I should point out that we hadn't moved in yet. We hadn't even talked about it at this point.)

I have a few pictures from one of our family dinners.

We have no idea when we'll have the opportunity to see those guys again. It's a long trip from Kentucky! Hazel still remembers their names, though. She often brings up Uncle Keef, Aunt Georgia, and Nick, along with Gweat-Gwahma and Gweat-Gwahmpa Mosher.

I'm playing a little blogging catch-up! Hope you don't mind.

Changes.

Many, many changes are taking place around here these days. We're packing up the house currently....Well, I am. Nate's busy with work, either in his office or at job sites (of which he has a couple going right now). Hazel is doing pretty well helping me pack, taking stuff only out of certain boxes. I'm struggling to find my brain in all the chaos, though. I'm packing for three things: moving in with Nate's family for 6-8 months, moving into our new place following that (Gresham/Boring/Sandy area - you know what I mean), and then long-term (the stuff that won't be able to fit into the rental).

We've been given the opportunity to snap up an apartment being built by Nate's Uncle Richard. We jumped on it.

We were out visiting Joe's Donuts in Sandy several weeks ago when Nate suggested we drive by Richard's property to see the house and shop he's currently building. On the way, Nate told me about the two apartments Richard is building on either side of his enormous shop. One apartment is 800 square feet, the other is 1,000. Richard has had renters for the 800-square-foot apartment since the beginning, but the other one was available when Nate walked through it some time ago.

Nate told me that he had asked Richard to consider us as renters.

I balked.

What incredible timing! (Sense the sarcasm.) I'd just been thanking God for our house, how it has worked so well for us and fit us so snuggly. We have some really wonderful memories here. On the heel of thanking God for providing for us in such a huge way, here comes word from Nate that we really should consider moving.

I knew he was right almost immediately. As wonderful as this house has been, we've been having to count the cost of living here lately. There's rent and then wood or oil to heat the house, electricity to run the furnaces (and everything else in this heat-leaking place), trash, water, etc. All the standard utilities, really.

Nate went on to tell me how much the rent would be for the apartment....I'll just tell you that it's pretty sweet. And then he gave me the even better news that that rental price covered utilities also, as well as Internet and cable. Just trust me when I tell you that moving from our house to the apartment will save us between $1,500 and $1,800 a month in living expenses, easily. That includes the fact that we'll have to pay for a storage unit while we live there.

So now I'm packing. We've given word to our landlord that we'll be moving out and we agreed to vacate by the 14th of November. I've been getting some help with the packing from my best friend's mom and sisters, so that's been so wonderful! Laura (Leslie's mom) is keeping me focused and on track.

The organization is what's kicking my butt. I'd say I'm fairly organized, with a few junk drawers here and there, but I'm having to be ultra creative in how I'm packing right now. My long-term pile of boxes is currently pretty small, although it will eventually be bulked up by some furniture when we start really shuffling things around. We're going to have a moving sale not this weekend but the next (I think....It'll be joint with Nate's parents).

So we've been really taken care of on several fronts:
1. We have a place to go until the apartment is done being built. We'll live in the great room in the basement of Nate's parents' house. It'll be tight, but I'm feeling encouraged about it actually. Any suggestions, though, on how to get your kids to sleep comfortably and deeply in one room together, a room that is also serving as kitchenette and office?
2. I have help packing!!!
3. Starbucks just hired me back. I'll be working Wednesday mornings, Friday afternoons, Saturdays, and Sundays. As tough as it's going to be to head back to work, I'm so grateful that I can do this small thing to contribute to our household income.
4. Because the apartment on Richard's property isn't completed yet, we are able to make layout and design suggestions, which has been super fun so far. And that's just a bonus to all the gifts that God has lavished on us lately.

We are truly blessed!

Piper learned to suck her thumb. I feel very mixed about this. She'll use a pacifier if I give her one, but she's super thrilled about her thumb. I can't take that away in five years (if she's still sucking it then). She sure is cute while she's at it, though.

I snapped this picture on my phone the other morning. Nate came into the kitchen to say good morning to Hazel and the first thing she did is thrust "Green Eggs and Ham" at him and say, "Read to me! Read to Hazel!" So he took a seat on her stool and she climbed into Piper's carseat.

Okay, so just as a final assurance, things are good. They're better than good, in fact. We're excited for these changes, we're excited at how much money we'll save in our monthly budget, we're feeling very taken care of. We've been gifted with some incredible opportunities! The drawback is that I'm sprinting in circles. I might yell at you if you call me at an inopportune time. Just giving you fair warning. Amen.

POST 300 (aka "The Beach!")

The last time Hazel was at the Oregon Coast was, well, a LONG time ago. She joined Nate and I on one of our trips to Rockaway and she was 5 months at the time. That's too long. I've missed the coast, so I asked Mom if she'd want to go with me and the girls to visit again. This was the first trip where Hazel has been old enough to interact with her environment, and this was a plain old first for Piper.

I love all of these pictures. I'm just going to throw them at you. Take your time. I know, my girls are pretty.

I really did take some pictures of the, ahem, recently painted house (I can't say newly painted anymore because I'm just plain behind in posting the pictures). They're still on the camera, which is still attached to Nate's hip. I'll swipe them soon and post the photos. The house looks good. The deck looks amazing! Our weather is definitely Fallish these days, so I've been lighting fires in the family room fire place to keep us warm and motivated at the start of each morning. It's been cozy, especially when i trek outside for more wood and it smells like campfire around my house. I love it...

We have some big changes going on in the very near future, so I'll post about that pretty soon.

6 weeks later...

It's so crazy to me that six weeks have passed (or flown) by already. Piper is, well, she's here.

She survived an attempted murder at the hands of Hazel. Poor little Miss Hazel B. is actually totally oblivious to the humanness of Piper. I had to try to explain in the most simple terms that Piper feels pain like Hazel does, so hitting her across the head with a plastic tray table is not a good thing. Oh, and kicking her in the head is also totally unacceptable.

Hazel is two. Let's just say that to set the record straight. She's two. And she's finding her inner teenager. She loves to look at me out of the corner of her eye and say, "No." Half the time I haven't even said anything to her, let alone asked her to do anything or hand an item over.

Piper is crying now - shoot, I thought I had longer than 30 seconds to write up a blog post. Nope. Ah well. Anyway, to be brief: She is six weeks tomorrow. She has begun to make very focused and intentional eye contact. She has trouble burping and it's super annoying in the middle of the night when it takes an hour to get her to burp. She has baby acne now, which is so awesome. She was born at 6lbs 8oz, left the hospital at 6lbs 1oz, and she currently weighs 9lbs 5oz. I'm so proud of her! She has no chin to speak of (thanks, Nate; and I'm not just being mean, he owns that that trait is totally from him).

I'm recovering just fine. Thanks for asking. I had mastitis two weeks after Piper's birth and I'd really rather not repeat that experience. I'm a bit paranoid that it'll happen again. Yuck. Oh and I really suck at this whole two kids thing. I can't seem to find any balance. It usually ends up working out that one kid is totally ignored while I'm taking care of another. Everyone says that I'll get this figured out eventually, but I'm not so sure. I'll tell you in a year if I have it down yet.

I feel I should insert this bit of information somewhere, but it's awkward wherever I put it because it just doesn't flow. I'll just say it and be done with it: Our cat Franki died. Well, we had her put down. She was fading fast from throat cancer. I got up one morning and she couldn't meow any more. We didn't know what was wrong with her at that point but I had been communicating with a vet friend about Franki's weight loss and deteriorating condition so I took Franki to Jen that afternoon and had her put down. It was so sad for Nate and I. And now I think we have mice in the basement.

Okay, more later. I have pictures, they're just not on this computer. Again.

Did you know it's Fall already? My red apple candle is gloriously sputtering on the dining room table, I have wasil makings set aside, the leaves are changing color, I decorated in the spirit of Fall today...It's going to be an excellent season!

Hazel's Last Few Months in Pictures.

9 MONTHS:

Hazel spent a Friday with Mom while I worked. I got a frantic call in the afternoon from Mom, telling me that Hazel had been stung on the head by a yellow jacket. We weren't sure if she was allergic or not, so I called the pediatrician as I raced over. They told me what to look for and wished me luck. Hazel was just fine. Mom, on the other hand, was freaking out. She covered what she thought was the bite with a mixture of water and baking soda, so Hazel looked a little freakish when I got to the house. We decided to rinse out the baking soda so that we could see whether or not she'd actually been bitten. She was fine - completely unfazed and unharmed! But the best part of her day was this fancy hairdo, compliments of the baking soda...

This was the best family picture we got in Magone, and it's too bad it's from my phone (all these pictures in this post are off of my phone - I'm very sorry).

And here is Hazel gnawing on our coffee table in the family room! Still no teeth, so I wasn't at all worried about damage. Hah!


10 MONTHS:

Hazel is becoming a big girl! This was one of the first times I let her sit alone, without hovering too much anyway. She was enthralled with this rocking chair, and even more thrilled by her own ability to rock it...


There are quite a few "eating" pictures on this post - just enjoy them. They're good for a chuckle.


I call this one, "I Love My Hat!" My friend Linsea made it and it's the only hat without a chin strap that Hazel will keep on. Sometimes I catch her in her carseat with it half off, but that's to be expected - she has a hard time not playing with it.

I snapped this one as we were getting ready to leave the house. I don't remember where we were heading, but I think it's a cute picture.

CHEESE! The kid loves cheddar.

Making espresso with Dad.

Eating steamed apples. They went absolutely everywhere.



11 MONTHS:

I can't resist her baby behind! I was lucky with this picture, though - the first time I set her down to watch the tub fill up, she peed where she was standing. But not this time! Whew.

I took this picture after we spent some time at the pediatrician's office. Bronchiolitis. Poor kid! Her cough has been awful! She's such a trooper, though. She's really only been fazed by it once, but that was because it was exacerbated by an ear infection.


12 MONTHS:

Tree Killing! We climbed a steep hill. And then crawled back to the car with nothing to show for it. I'm going to get a few better pictures from Mom and Dad and do a separate post on this tragic event, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll tell you this, though: Nate was not involved this year; Hazel nearly lost an eye...twice; I thought I was going to die; my lips lost feeling.



Hazel can ask for anything and I'll give it to her if she's just wearing this outfit at the time. I can't resist her in it.
*Oh, and do you like all the kleenex in the fireplace? Yeah, Nate and I have been sick, so we toss our used tissues in there. It's quite the build-up at this point. I don't plan on having any company over any time soon, let me just say.*

And this last picture has nothing to do with Hazel! Survivor came to our town to host a casting call for an upcoming season. I wanted to join the line, I itched to join the line, I almost joined the line, but I didn't. Nate had somewhere to be, so I would have been standing in the cold and rain with Hazel two hours past her bedtime. Even though I didn't join the line, I plotted my interview and felt convinced they'd cast me, knowing I'd be the highlight of the game for all of eternity. Ah well. Their loss I'm sure.


So this post clears my mind when it comes to my phone pictures. I've uploaded them all and now they're posted. What a relief! Nate and I are staying at Mom and Dad's for a few days (oil furnace is not working and we're out of wood; our house is sitting at a comfortable 50 degrees - and dropping - as I write this), so I'm utilizing their excellent wireless connection and my free time to get some blogging done! Seriously, it's like a vacation. I'm not distracted here. I'm taking care of Hazel, cooking for my family, and getting some laundry done, with naps tossed in there for good measure (for both Hazel and I).

I'm super delayed in posting about Hazel's birthday, but there's a good reason for that. I personally have six pictures of her party and they're all either blurry or dark, or both. But I discovered a wonderful, enormous variety of pictures from her party on Mom's computer, which elicited a huge, "Wahoo!" when I found them. So I'm going to post those next. I can hardly believe my little one is already 13 months old. Weird. But she's a genius. Have I ever told you that? And she's growing teeth like you can't believe. She waited until the timing was just so, as she does with all major developments in her young life. And she's just shy of walking. It's unbelievable.

So I'm off to finish making my chicken parmigiana. Nate is with some of his extended out-of-town family tonight, enjoying a martini and appetizers. Hazel had a super hard night last night, waking up every hour - she just wasn't used to sleeping in her play-pen all night (tonight will be better) - so I thought it best she go down on time rather than having Rick and Karen babysit her for a couple hours (sleeping at their house and then being woken up to come home). That can be quite disruptive to her poor little tired and sick body.

Nate's missing out. I make really good chicken parmigiana.