Back again

OK...so where did I leave off? Ah yes...packing. Thankfully we moved into a furnished apartment, but we still had a TON of crap to bring along, mostly for the short people that live with us. In the end, we had enough room for everything, but just barely. We drove both vehicles - my VW with the kids and the Explorer which housed everything else.

Everything was packed and pretty much ready to go on Thursday night, so that all we had to do on Friday morning was leave. Well, of course, that took longer than it should have (what doesn't with kids?) and we were on the road by 8am (our goal was 7, oh well).

I got the first shift with the kids. And then, much to my surprise, there was silence. For 3 1/2 hours. Ava was hypnotized by the DVD player and Reese, well, she just slept that long. I had to go to the bathroom BAD for about 2 1/2 of those hours, but I didn't dare ruin the driving mojo that was occurring. Our first stop was in Portage, WI, where we picked up my mom who would be accompanying us the rest of the way. We ate lunch with her and my dad and then got back on the road again. And again, we made it another 3 1/2 hours without stopping...all the way to Bourbonnais, IL where Scot's dad and stepmom live. It really couldn't have gone any better. Reese squawked a little, maybe about 20 minutes total out of 7+ hours. And Ava, she took full advantage of her movie viewing priveleges. Her eyes were glazed with fatigue in the afternoon, but she held on. I'm sure she was thinking, "They're going to let me watch t-toons ALL day? There's no way I'm missing out on any of that!" She finally did end up falling asleep for about the last half hour of the trip.

Once we got to Chuck and Sandy's, Ava had a ball running around with some of the other kids in the neighborhood. We made some s'mores and we were all in bed by about 9. It was a long day. We hung out at their place on Saturday too - it was nice to get a break from driving and not have anything to do.

We got back on the road again on Sunday morning and drove 2 1/2 hours before stopping at a McDonalds. Got back in the car again and drove another 2 1/2 hours to Paducah, KY. The drive went just as well.
Unlimited DVDs = happy toddler
Driving motion = happy infant
We stayed at a hotel in Paducah - we took Ava swimming in the pool there, which she really enjoyed.

And then our last day of driving finally arrived. On Monday we followed just about the same schedule as the day before and arrived at our apartment in Atlanta (actually the suburb of Kennesaw) at 6 pm. After all the buildup over the last few months, it was wonderful to step into our apartment and just be here.

It's a great little place - 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and it didn't take but about 30 minutes for us to take it from ultra tidy to a complete disaster :-) There's a pool and a playground in the complex and it's just off a main drag that has great shopping and restaurants.

So, we've been trying to get settled in over the past few days. My mom is still here and leaves tomorrow - it's been nice to have her around so I could go grocery shopping and do other things without 2 kids in tow at all times.

Scot's first day of class was yesterday - there are 5 students total and they nominated him to be the class leader because he looks "the oldest" and "the most responsible". LOL - as it turns out, there are 2 guys who are older than him, otherwise they are all the same rank - Captain. It's going to be a rigorous 11 weeks for him - it's all classroom this week and then they already get in the flight simulators next week.

I know you all want to see pictures...I will try to post some of those in the next day or two. Everything is on our laptop now, which I'm not used to using...so I need some help from Scot to figure out where he put everything, when he has the time.

Catching Up

So a lot has happened in the month since I've last posted. I went back to work on April 6th after 12 weeks off. I wasn't ready to go back - in fact, Scot had to pretty much pry Reese from my arms that first Monday morning...BUT, it was all a little easier to deal with considering I only had to be back for 12 working days before I'd be on another hiatus. Sending Reese to daycare was also a lot easier than it was with Ava since we've been-there-done-that. And she was 4 weeks older than Ava was. And she is a much easier baby. As it turned out, Reese made a relatively easy transition to being in daycare. She struggled with the bottle on the three Mondays she was there, but coasted the rest of the days. On the days I picked her up, she was often sitting in an infant seat and smiling while she watched the other kids.

Work was fine (while I was there). It didn't take long before I felt like I had never left. And like everywhere else, Medtronic hasn't been immune to the recession. We won't be getting raises and they will be announcing 1500 layoffs in the next month - so the morale isn't great, most of us are just happy to be employed. I would have been busy with the salary planning that goes along with performance reviews during my return, but that wasn't a factor given the circumstances.

Reese celebrated 3 months on April 10th. At 3 months, she is smiling and cooing a ton and has found her fingers which she loves to stuff in her month. I wish I could say she kept up her rock star sleeping habits, but those fell by the wayside the day I returned to work. Since then she's been getting up one or two times a night. Well, it was good while it lasted...I can only hope things turn around soon.

My last day of work was Tuesday, April 21st. Scot and I spent Wednesday and Thursday packing and cleaning for our 11 week exodus to Atlanta...

And my dear blog friends, that's about all I have in me for today (I have been writing this post off and on all day and this is all the farther I've gotten!). I will try to finish this up tomorrow, though we're heading out to the Georgia Aquarium for the day so it won't be until a little bit later. TTFN!

Bring on the sweet tea

We made it! And the trip, all in all, was relatively painless...

More to come soon...

Wordless Wednesday - Sisterly Love

...or something like that.