The other day I noticed Skofeild trotting back and forth from the laundry room to our bedroom. This is typical occurrence during meal time, for some odd reason he prefers to fill is mouth with kibble, trot to our room and pour it on the carpet. It hasn't really bothered me until now, now that Acalias is scooting himself around the house and discovering things with his mouth. His tiny thumb and index finger can grasp onto even the smallest things around the house. I left his side to change out the laundry and returned to find him with a piece of kibble in his little fingers aiming for for his mouth. Great! I have some fun times ahead of me trying to shield this little boy from all the foreign objects that he could possibly put in his mouth.
I pulled out his play pen, he tends to last about an hour in here before he gets antsy and wants out.
I can't believe he's now 9 months old! I need to take outdoor pictures but the weather has been horribly cold and snowy out here. As I've mentioned he has been putting everything into his mouth, including the ruler I used to measure his growth. It was too much of a distraction to have in the picture so I guess I wont be using it anymore.
He has been making this irresistible face every time he's excited, I love it he is too cute for his own good.
He has no problem voicing his concerns, complaints or demands. He still isn't crawling. I blame it on our slippery wooden floors and he is a heavy boy.
He can wave but not when asked to. He really likes attention and people watching. On our flight home from Florida he insisted on standing on my lap. He'd catch some one's eye and throw a flirtatious toothy smile and I could hear the rows behind respond "awhhh, what a cute baby". He's so funny, I wonder what his personality will eventually be.
We finally got him on a routine. Finally. I was tired of feeling like he ruled our household. 6:30-7:00am Breast feed Acalias, I get my workout out of the way after feeding.
11:00 Nap #1. During this time I plug in my PlayAway (audio book) and get some housework done. Acalias typically sleeps for 45min to 2 hours.
1:00-7:00pm Feed him solids for lunch & dinner. I typically feed some vegetable & fruits. He'll entertain himself with toys, Skoey, random objects around the house, we run errands and so forth. We try to attend play group and story time each week so that he can interact with people other than myself and Derek. Occasionally he will take Nap #2 before dinner.
8:30pm Warm bath, a bi-lingual bed time story, breast feed and in bed by 9pm. The first night we did this he wailed for an hour. We were heart broken and I wanted to give in but I'm tired of him running the show. Tonight he only cried for 5 minutes. It's so nice to get a couple hours to myself before bed.
Derek had Spring Break this past week and we had planned to visit Pittsburgh, PA and hunt for housing in Clarksburg. Derek studied for COMLEX on Monday and Tuesday while I recovered from my Florida trip. We then traveled toward Clarksburg on Wednesday, it was a long drive and when the rain started coming down hard we decided to rent a hotel and spend the night. Although Clarksburg is a bigger city, they don't have many rental options for inquiring renters. We picked up the local paper and called on the listings but most apartments had a 35lb limit for pets. I felt a knot form in my stomach thinking about the lack of options due to our dog (aka our first child). As we continued down the small list several managers allowed pets but only with a $325-$700 non-refundable pet deposit. We were hopeful and checked out a few places and this is what we found...
Please excuse Derek's unsteady hand, the elements made it tougher than usual.
If you think that's bad it only got worse from there. Not only would I have to worry about Acalias, Skofeild or myself potentially getting hit by a speeding semi truck but some of the rentals should have been condemned. I rented far better when I visited Costa Rica for 5 months and Tonga for 3 weeks, countries that are considered 3rd world!
Towards the end of the night we felt hopeless. We picked up a magazine for homes for sale and thought maybe that option would be better for us. The average rentals that we looked at were $600-$800.00. I felt like the rental rate was increased for the non-locals, not only was the housing terrible but the economy isn't that great in such a rural area. We searched for homes in the $35,000-$50,000 price range, if we found a home our mortgage would have been anywhere from $211-350. We wrote a list of all the homes we'd like to visit, said our prayers and went to bed.
The following morning we called more listings in the papers and a few Realtors. We visited a few homes and they were all in bad shape but a whole lot better than the rentals we had found. The homes were 10 minutes away from the hospital but I still didn't feel right about it. I had been a housing counselor for a year and I can recall many clients who purchased houses in the price range we were looking into. Most of them returned, overwhelmed with the amount of work they had to put into their new homes on top of paying higher utilities, taxes and so forth. I didn't want to get ourselves into a similar situation. That evening we didn't feel like we had covered much so we decided to stay another night. We discussed the pros and cons of purchasing a home, said our prayers and went to bed. Acalias thinking 'Wasn't I wearing shorts a few days ago Mom? Why is it so cold? More time in my darn car seat again mommy?'
The next morning,we called a few more listings but the people didn't want to show their apartments until Saturday. We received a phone call from Derek's friends' Aunt(a local realtor)she had contacted a manager of a four-plex and scheduled a meeting to see the house at noon. We were elated to finally have the opportunity to walk through an apartment after several days of peeping in windows. As soon as we drove up to the complex we were both happy as can be. The neighborhood was clean, the streets were paved and the lawns were maintained (very uncommon out here in WV). We were shown the home and we LOVED it! It's two levels, two spacious bedrooms, a large kitchen, washer and dryer hook ups and 1.5 bathrooms. The manager will even accept Skofeild with no deposit. We were offered the apartment, it won't be ready until mid-May which works out perfect. This is it! I'm excited for all the natural light, we've lived in basement apartments and our current apartment doesn't have very many windows. Notice the concrete driveway!! Feeling so happy, even Acalias can sense it! I am relieved. I have a wide road to run on or a paved trail 4 minutes away. I have neighbors near by. I have a ton of options for socializing just a few minutes away. I didn't see any big rusty loud trucks with confederate flags hung on their back windows. I felt safe. I feel blessed. I know the Lord knows our needs and he hears our prayers and for that I am very thankful.
The majority of the crowd spoke Spanish, I love practicing my Spanish with native speakers. Miami Zoo had a variety of sections like most zoos, I truely felt like I was in the Amazon.
His little feet look so cute in these flip flops. Acalias enjoyed the monkeys, they were so loud and their screaming caught his attention. I really wished I didn't exceed the weight limit for these water balls. I would have loved to walk on the water it looked like so much fun! The entire zoo was an estimated 6 hour walk. We walked around for 4 hours...I guess I forgot that my grandmother just turned 80. We were all so tired afterward but we enjoyed ourselves, we enjoyed watching Acalias' reaction to all the animals.
The Fort Lauderdale beach is were all the locals go to relax. It was tucked in the neighborhoods and the parking was a lot cheaper than Las Olas Beach. Kura had to return to Georgia early for a mid-term exam so we visited the beach shortly before she had to travel to the airport. I love the sound of the waves crashing onto the shoreline. Acalias and I walked up and down the shore line. This time around he thought the sand between his toes felt funny so he giggled.
I love how Acalias is looking at Uncle Greg, his body launguage says, "Hi...I think I like you!" Acalias and Grandpa.
Acalias misses you Aunt Kura, we can't wait to see you in July!
We managed to take a few hours off to relax at the beach. It was a nice breezy day, Acalias was content to play with toys on the beach towel while Kura and I played Phase10 dice.
Acalias wasn't sure about the water. I thought he would love it because he loves bath time so much, I think it was the feel of the sand that threw him off.
Loving all the attention from Auntie Kur Kur:)
On the boardwalk, there were so many bright things that caught Acalias' attention. We left just as the crowd was arriving. There were thousands of young college students there enjoying their Spring Break vacation.
We still had a lot of things to do prepare for grandma's party, we were happy to visit the beach and relax.
Leaving my husband behind at home is always hard but I’ve been so excited for our trip to Florida and Grandma’s surprise birthday party. Acalias did wonderful on our flight from West Virginia to Georgia and from Georgia to Florida. He draws a lot of attention by his 6-toothed smiles and wants to playfully interact with anyone around us. We arrived to Florida on Wednesday evening. Immediately after departing the airplane we were greeted with the humid tropical air. Acalias and I walked through the Fort Lauderdale airport hearing the familiar native language of my father, Creole.
My dad’s flight arrived a few minutes after ours; we met up in one of the terminals and dad helped with my bags and car seat. Dad’s luggage was delayed so I fed Acalias while waiting and while dad chattered in Creole with everyone and anyone around us who spoke the language. I felt like I was in Haiti being so submersed in the foreign language.
After retrieving dad’s luggage we were finally on our way to our destination. My little sister Kura had flown in earlier that dad and was anxiously awaiting our arrival at our cousin’s house. The plan was for everyone but dad to stay away from Grandma. The first night Kura and I caught up with each other’s lives, the last time we spent a lot of time together was at our sibling camp trip in 2009. It's so refreshing to learn that my sister is doing so well in college and has some great goals that she is striving to accomplish. The following day I woke up early to enjoy a long run in the beautiful weather. In Coral Springs Florida there is a paved pathway throughout the entire suburb, a rare commodity in West Virginia. The weather was so nice that I had a tan line of my watch and iPod after a 45 minute run.
Dad snuck away for a few hours so that we could purchase all the items needed for the party. He has a lot of family in Florida so he told grandma he had to visit a few people. Acalias looked super cute in his summer outfit and flipflops.
Next I was happy to learn that all of the packages I had ordered for the party had arrived in a timely manner so we jumped into gear to prepare for grandma’s big day. My sister Kura was my right hand, thank goodness she was around to help especially since Acalias needed my attention as well.
Kura did most of the candy wrapping while I taped questions behind dinner plates. I planned to ask each guest to share a specific memory of grandma.
After preparing the bulk of our items for the party we went out for a stroll during sunset to relax. Acalias enjoyed sticking out his little toes while swinging his feet. He babbled in happiness throughout our entire walk.
