Change is in the air...

Dan sent me an email from work one day a few weeks back that said 'I have something I want to talk about tonight'.  I replied and told him that was ominous and that I wasn't patient and what would he like to talk about. (because, you know, talking over email to your husband about important things is DEFINITELY the way to go).  He wouldn't budge, but that night, he asked me if I was open to relocation.  We had a discussion about where exactly we were talking about (Let's be honest, some cities would not be acceptable). 
After some talking, we decided we'd be up for it.

Things moved fairly quickly from there and this past week, Dan accepted a new job.  He'll be doing something that he's wanted to do for a long time. 

And with that, comes change.  A change of careers.  And a change of address.  From Lawrenceville, GA to Boston, MA.

As we've shared the news that we're moving with people, there have been several common questions that keep coming up.  To make this easier, I figured I'd share those answers here.

Q: "Boston?  Like the Boston, MA, Boston?"
A:  Yes, that one. 

Q: "When are you moving?"
A: We're still figuring that out, but it'll be mid-October.

Q: "Where are you going to live?"
A:  We'll rent for a year, probably pretty close to Dan's new office in Burlington, while we learn the area and figure out where we want to live long term. 
(and on that note, we'll be renting out our townhouse in Lawrenceville, in the event that anyone knows anyone who is looking for a place to live :) ).

Q: "Will you come back to visit?"
A:  Yes, of course.

Q: "It's cold in Boston.  Did you know that?"
A:  Yes.  And I'm sure there will be several days this winter where we don't enjoy it.  But 3 months of 90+ degree days makes the cold seem like a good thing.  Plus, we think the cold and snow will be fun - we like actually having distinct seasons.

And my personal favorite:
Q: "You do realize that they are going to make fun of your southern accents, right?"
A:  Oh yes - well aware of that. 

A day with a 15 month old.

One day with a 15 month old can certainly wear you out...
So that Dan and I can remember what these days entailed once we get a bit removed from them, we've put together a play-by-play for the day.


Sydney woke up at 8:00 and had breakfast:

Thankfully today's breakfast didn't cause quite the same mess as the poptart I gave her a few days ago:

 
After breakfast came some play time in her playpen which we lovingly refer to as Baby Jail so that I could clean up.

After a bit of playing with mom came errands.

Sydney is a big helper during trips to the store:


She may be a back-seat driver, but we let it slide since she's so cute:

Once we got back home, it was nap time (for Sydney, I wish for me too :) ). She slept from 10:30-12:00. An hour and a half is a bit short for her. I'm pretty sure the fact that she stands on and smooshes her crib bumper down so that it is practically flat helped her be able to stick her leg through the crib slats and get stuck.


So naptime ended with mommy rushing in to save Sydney from the horrible crib. One lathered-up-with-baby-oil leg and some creative maneuvering later, Sydney was free. A bit bruised from the adventure, but otherwise okay:
(After all of the tears, she wasn't exactly in the mood for pictures, so this is the best I got:)

After lunch, we had more play time:

She REALLY loves Bella:

And shoes:

Still playing with the shoes:

and then had to watch a show before she took her afternoon nap. Curious George is a favorite in our house these days.

Naptime was from 2:30-5:00 and she certainly woke in a better mood than she did after her morning nap

Naptime was followed by some playing in her bedroom:

 Then, a quick snack (on the kitchen floor) while I cooked dinner:
(I promise she liked her snack... not sure what that face is!)

After dinner, we went over the mall right near our house for some window shopping and people watching:

A busy day like this will certainly wear a girl out -- she needed a Daddy-ride up to bed.

Hilton Head

When I left off last time, we were heading down to Savannah to spend the night with Uncle Matt and Aunt Natalie.  After a quick night with them, we headed to Hilton Head to spend the weekend with my friend Susan and her family. 

The camera didn't make it out to the beach for any play-time shots - we were entirely too busy chasing Sydney around - but you can rest assured that she LOVED the beach and the ocean.

We did find a few minutes to grab some family shots though:

15 month stats

We kicked off our vacation this morning with Sydney's 15 month doctor's appointment.

The official stats for all of those keeping track:

Weight: 22 lbs. 3.5 oz.
Height: 31.5 inches.
That's the 40th percentile for weight and the 80th for height. Tall and skinny. :)

And with that, we are beach-bound to enjoy the sun and sand!

The Fishy Face

I was finally able to catch the infamous fishy-face on video.





I also caught some funny outtakes in the process:

Some of our favorites....

Sydney has certainly been keeping us busy these days.  

A few of our favorite games include

Weighing herself.  You gotta make sure that those yummy dinners aren't going to the belly :)

 

I was sorting laundry the other day and looked up to find that Sydney was helping by dragging the basket of gym clothes into the bathroom.  She also found Daddy's (sweaty) hat in the basket and managed to get it onto her head. Backwards.  Like the cool kids wear it.

  

My attempt to remove said sweaty hat from her head led to a super fun game of chase.  Mostly fun for Sydney.  Less fun for Mommy. 

Sydney makes the cutest little 'fishy face' when you ask her to.  She will willingly oblige to our requests to 'make a fishy face'.  That is, unless you have the video camera out.  As soon as she sees the camera, she will ignore all requests for 'show me your nose/fishy face/head/whatever and will race over and will plop herself down in your lap and try to push the buttons until you let her watch the videos that you've already recorded. 
It should be noted that when we watch the videos back with her, she will respond to whatever it is that I've asked her to do on the video (show me your nose/your fishy face/etc).  Apparently the mommy in the video requires listening to.

She LOVES being outside.  She'll do a little happy dance if you ask her if she wants to go outside.  Sometimes though we have to settle for just looking out the front window.

 

Sydney is already proving that she is all girl.  She loves trying on mommy's shoes. No picture of this, but the other day I did catch her in the closet just rubbing on my dresses.  Not trying to pull them down or anything, just touching them.  Definitely a little girl :)

Happy 4th of July