Moving and a new place

And with a good-bye comes a hello.

Guys, I would totally be lying if I said I was thrilled about the new place when I first walked in.

When we moved in, I thought we were going to die or at least Madeleine. She figured out how to undo the deadlock and escape the house within an hour of getting here. Then we noticed that there were so many things that she could get in trouble with, like long window binds cords that she sucked on, no shelving that was out of her reach (we are in the handicap unit), and glass closet doors (she threw a chair at) just to name a few. Matt and I spent the next few days frantically trying to toddler proof. On top of that, even though this is a new complex, we had so many issues with hasty construction. At this point, 9 days out, we still have broken AC and don't have card access to our front door. 

But there is also a lot of good. The washer and dryer are amazing. With the help of them and the dishwasher, we have less than an hour of cleaning per day. I spent two hours a day doing dishes at Butler. I cannot believe how much extra time I have. The handicap unit means that there are more things at toddler level, which is nice for a few things. Madeleine was thrilled to run her own load of laundry a few days ago. We also have our own tiny back area. It's not fenced or anything but it does mean we have a place for outside toys. 

As for actual move , it was pretty easy. My mom and brother came out from Utah, and my brother helped Matt so much with the actual moving. People from church came and watched Madeleine while I packed since we were only given 42 hour notice that we were moving. The actual move took 6 hours and we spent two days packing and unpacking. By the end of the actual move day, we had everything more or less unpacked. It was amazing! The whole move cost us just under $64. Pretty sweet. :) I think I made most of my goals. Matt and I were able to go through every single thing before we packed them. I consider that a major win in itself.

Bye Butler

We turned in the keys today to our Butler home today.

 We've been living at our new place for a week. 

We lived here for two years. As this blog can tell you, this was a great home to us. It gave us summer days on the back porch and a yard to make snowmen in. Madeleine learned to walk here and all of us enjoyed the shade of the oak tree in the backyard.

Matt had me do the final walk through. When I opened the door for the last time, the house echoed. It was strangely empty. 

I thought I would be more sad about leaving, but I don't know if it was the tick that fell on me when I opened the door or the fact I already know where we living next, but I was okay with shutting that door one last time.

Bye 222E Halsey St., you were a good home. I wish another family got to live there after us, instead of being knocked down.

Moving

Guys we are moving between a week to two and half weeks. We still aren't sure the day and I'm feeling the stress. The actual moving thing isn't too stressful especially since it's only two blocks, but the expectations I'm putting myself are.

Goals

1) Minimalize as much as possible
2) Move for under $150
3) Keep it as zero-waste as possible
4) Pack, move, and unpack in 3 days

Matt and I snuck into new apartment earlier this week. Because there are a lot less windows it seems a lot more cramped. It has really motivated me get rid of more stuff and only bring the necessities. Also while I was in there, I saw my new washer and dryer. They are amazing. I'm so excited! (And I'm never excited about laundry)

Because we don't have a set move date, I don't have a firm timeline on moving so I feel a bit more disorganized. On top of that, Matt has a big presentation next week and is working on publishing his paper by the end of the month.

To do

1) Get rid of any excess paper floating around the house

2) Go through books

3) Go through my clothes (dreading this one) 

4) Sell TV

5) Get rid of rugs

6) Go through food

7) Go through toys
8) Madeleine' s clothes

9) Condense and reduce bathroom crap

10) Sell air conditioner

11) Get rid of extra furniture
12) Figure out a better way to organize sewing stuff

That's what I'll be up to for the next 8-20 days. I'll try to check in. :)

Welcome to our home! (Part 1)

I always feel like when I move that I'm some type of cowgirl that has to break in and tame my house.

Each room has its own challenges and getting the place to feel like home is even more frustrating.
And they each seem to fight me too!
Frustrating.

So far we have conquered 4 out of 5 rooms of our home.

Madeleine's room has been the most difficult,

But the rest of the home is starting to come together.

 So without further ado...

here is the kitchen and the bathroom.

 My kitchen is great.

I actually have a lot of extra room in it.

The only problem I have with it is the lack of a dishwasher,

but come on, I lived without a dishwasher for most of my college life.

I love the window and door to the outside in this kitchen.

It has the most beautiful light in the morning and late afternoon,

and at night I watch the fireflies.

A pretty romantic way to do dishes. 

Madeleine has her own little chair too to eat in. 

If I turned 180 from where I was standing in the kitchen,

you see my little bookshelf.

It  is my "command corner".

Everything in the house runs from the white board.

It has our menu, grocery list, needs, wants, budget, and to do list.

Important dates and documents go up on there too.

I love it and it is my favorite corner of our home.

The bathroom...is small,

so small that I couldn't get a picture of it.

So here are some of the features.

Shower curtain

Storage closet

I love Lucy + shelf.

The sink I couldn't get a good photo of.

Our bedroom and living room will come soon.

:)

First Fort

I finished unpacking some of the bigger boxes.

Once I threw a few of her toys in there,

she crawled in and played long enough for me to finish folding the laundry.

I loved playing with boxes too after we moved.

Candid Photos

Right after we finished the 5k! 

I got 35:30...Matt got a faster time than that, but that's all I remember.

So glad that my family ran with me 2 days before we moved.

Right before we left Utah.

Madeleine with her Papa Ralph at some random rest stop.

Matt and I went on a date while we were in DC

This is from our parking spot at Tyson's Corner.

At the end of our day at the zoo, Madeleine passed out on her dad's lap. 

Great grandparents Farnsworth

Madeleine in the middle of her room, while I unpacked it.

Hanging out on the floor

Outtake.

Half Birthday!

Madeleine has survived to 6 months!!!! 

Honestly, we weren't sure she was going to survive this long with us as her parents.

She weights 14 lb 7 oz and is 26.2 inches long.
The Dr said her hair grow is in the 5th percentile. ;)

 She isn't quite crawling yet,but she can certainly get around the room. She pulls herself up onto her hands and knees and she scoots up her knees and dives. She looks like she is doing the worm...a fast worm at that.

Along with that, she is good at sitting. She topples over when she gets distracted but she no longer needs her hands to support herself when she's sitting. As for rolling...she's mastered it.

She is also quite the flirt. Earlier this month when we went to the Logan Art Festival, she smiled at an old man and he asked her to dance! He said that he wanted to dance with the sweetest girl in town, and that as soon as she was walking, he was first in line. She just wins over hearts with that big toothless grin of hers. Even tonight when we were at Denny's, the man next to us started telling us about his 2 year old because Madeleine smiled at him.

She's also becoming an easier and easier baby.

Despite all the traveling we have been putting her through, she still a fairly good sleeper and happy most of the time. 

Matt and I are constantly laughing at her.

Tonight we gave her some whipped cream for her half birthday celebration.

She made the funniest faces before grabbing for more.

 

Her favorite toys are spoons and baby dino. She loves straws too.

She thinks playing on the floor is the best thing ever and spends hours just wiggling around.

I feel bad that her half birthday was spent by being in her car seat for 18 hours as we drove the first half to Princeton. She was a good sport about it, but after we got to the hotel and decided to drive to Denny's to eat, she cried when she saw the car seat.

Poor Baby.

I'll let you all know how the rest of the move goes later this week, 

but right now we are happy celebrating the life of our Tiny.

Because she's really something.

A Farewell to Cambridge

On April 29th, Matt and I said goodbye to our first apartment almost 2 weeks ago.

It was really hard for me.

After almost 2 years living there that apartment had gone through a lot with us.

June 28, 2011 My parents' basement flooded, which had all of our things in it. We showed up to the office and asked them if we could move in the next day. They said sure, but your apartment isn't ready yet but there is another one. After discussing it for a few minutes, we decided that #150 was going to work just fine for us.

July 4, 2011 Matt and I spent hours on the floor of our apartment talking and putting on tiny tiny jewels all over our wedding invitations.

August 11, 2011 Matt came over and ironed all of our temple clothes in preparation to our wedding day. I remember looking at him and thinking how lucky I was going to marry him.

August 12, 2011 I woke up at 4:30 AM, I got ready for my wedding. As I did my hair, Matt came in and made breakfast for me. It seemed so natural that morning for us to share that space together. A few hours later as we got sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, my heart was completely at peace as I thought back to that morning.

August 23, 2011 We finally got home from our honeymoon and reception. While Matt and I both loved traveling, we were so so excited to get back to our home. I called it my "house of dreams" later looking back.

October 2, 2011 We listened to conference while painting all the doors in our home. I was mid-stroke when Elder Neil Andersen's talk came on about children, and we both knew it was the answer to my question about what the heck to do with my life.

May 1, 2012 I cried against the bathroom door as I held a positive pregnancy test. Then I proceeded to rip apart the house trying to find my cell phone to call Matt. (I didn't find it for another week)

December 25, 2012 I cuddled with Matt lamenting that our baby would never come while enjoying the last Christmas of just the two of us.

December 26, 2012 I poked Matt awake at 6 am telling him I thought there might be a small chance that I might be in labor.

December 28, 2012 We brought our baby home.

March 25, 2012 Matt decided we were moving to Princeton, and I danced around the living room with Baby.

 And those are just the major days of that time. That apartment also served as a backdrop to our fights, DIY projects that didn't quite turn out as planned, dancing in the kitchen, quietly doing homework together on the bed. So many sweet memories happened.

The day we moved out, different friends stopped by. Our sweet next door neighbor Marco stayed with us, until we shut the door.

I had such a hard time saying good-bye. Even though I am excited to move on to our next adventure, leaving our home was so bittersweet.

The Princeton Review

Motto: "Under God's Power She Flourishes"

Mascot: Tiger

Colors: Orange and black (big points off for that)

Nearby Cities: New York City!!! and Philadelphia

Closest Hogwarts colors: none. :(

Best movie quote about Princeton: 

"Where do princesses go to college?”

“They go...where the princes go. They go to Princeton."

Famous People that went to Princeton:

There is a really long list on Wiki, but the most important is Andy from Toy Story.

Apparently in Toy Story 3 there are several hints that he was going to Princeton.

That's pretty awesome. :)

This where Matt will be spending all his time. It's the Frick Building and it's brand new.

All new equipment, lots of space, all organized.

Matt is completely in love with it.

We would probably live in this complex, Stanworth Apartments.

And this would be our grocery store.

Along with..

!!! No surprise there, since that was one of my requirements for where ever Matt goes.

The malls look pretty too.

There is even a cute looking Starbucks. Even though we don't drink coffee, I always feel a bit more at home when one is near by. Also in high school, the 10th grad class I TAed for defined civilization as where ever there is a Starbucks. So maybe that influenced me just a bit.

Anyway while Matt was gone, Baby and I went shopping in Park City with our friends Kaitlan and Claire. We also were supposed to go to a Princess Party at BYU, but Madeleine had no patience for it. So I just snapped one or two photos of her all dressed up, before she started crying again.

I really missed Matt. He helps out so much with the Baby. Also, she only sleeps well when she is sleeping with him. See how happy she is? She only sleeps like 3 hours a night this weekend. With him around, it is more like 8. She slept basically from 11 to 10 the first night he was back. I was thrilled.

Matt came home from Princeton really excited and tired. Doesn't mean we are going there though. He still has 4 more schools to visit. :) But what do you think? Can you see us living here?

Matt leaves for Wisconsin next. I'm really hoping he doesn't go there, but I'll still do a post on that one too. I'm a bit nervous and excited about where he will pick. We already know when we are moving out of Provo, now we just need to know where.