Quick Baton Rouge Update

We made it!

We drove all Sunday night (the 18th) and arrived at our house in Baton Rouge on Monday morning.

Alice and the animals did really great.

We spent the rest of the day unloading our 22ft moving truck.

Can't say Stephen and I were the most cheery people that day.

The neighbor has a very sweet and friendly golden retriever that Alice quickly befriended.

Thankfully the dogs befriended him too.

Home sweet home:

The rest of the week Stephen had orientations at school and I did some unpacking and organizing.

Our furniture and kitchen stuff doesn't get here till Wednesday, which is much later than we expected.

So there is still a lot to do once the furniture comes (unpacking clothes and books etc.)

Stephen is very excited about his program.

The more he meets the students and learns more about the program the more he likes it.

It's turning out to be full of conservatives (very rare to find in a political science program).

And even quite a few Christians.

We went to a BBQ on Saturday with his fellow students and I was the only wife and Alice the only baby/child.

Everyone was very nice but it is very different for me to be the older one in a group.

It was also funny for me to hear all the conversations going on around me about political science/theory.

Even a box of cookies spurred a political discussion.

It made me so happy for Stephen.

It's such a better fit then the military get togethers were they talk about sports, being hooah and getting drunk.

Today is Stephen's first day of school.

Alice wanted to go with him :o)

But alas she has to stay home with me a deal with the cats' revenge for the long car ride.

They peed in our suitcase.

Did I mention we don't have our washer and drier yet?

:o(

Tennessee House

Well, 1 week from today we are moving to Baton Rouge, LA.

I figured it's about time I showed you our house here in Tennessee.

That and I had to take pictures for the property manager to rent it out.

Which it did in about a week.

To a military family who haven't even seen the house.

Which must sound crazy to you non-military folks.

But it happens in the military world because you move to places you've never been and it's easier to have a house waiting for you than have to hold up in a hotel without your belongs trying to find a house.

The tenets at our house in Hawaii rented without seeing the house because he was in Iraq.

So last time you saw our house it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

There is a 3rd bedroom that was our guest/craft room.  It was full of boxes so I didn't take a picture of it.

So that's it.

We've had a good year in Tennessee and have especially enjoyed our time with our wonderful church family at Covenant Baptist Church.

We are going to miss them all a bunch.

It's especially sad leaving the place where Alice was born and where people have known her since she was born and watched her grow.

But a new adventure awaits!

Onto Baton Rouge!

Reading Time with Daddy

Alice: 11 Months

Appearance:  Her hair is a blonde-ish, red-ish brown.  Her eyes are a blue-ish, brown-ish green.  I say she is a very ambiguous baby.  Her eyes are going to be green/brown hazel like mine when they finish changing.  I have no idea what her hair will be.  I would say its mainly light brown and in certain lights it looks more blonde or red.  We'll see :o)

Quirks:  She does this thing where she sticks her tongue between her gums and makes a "tttsss" sound.  It's kinda like a chuckle in that she does it when she finds something amusing.  For example, every time she sees my belly button she points at it, smiles and goes "ttttsss".  It's like she's saying "That's so silly mama."

New Skills:  Opening cabinets and drawers.  Not so fun for mommy and daddy.  Climbing (see photo below)

Likes:  Blueberries, pureed beets, flaxmeal and puffs.  Children.  Cuddling.

Dislikes:  Eating (unless it's above mentioned foods).  She just is not that into eating solid food, baby food or small pieces of food.  It's only with a good deal of coaxing that she eats.  Good thing I didn't plan on weaning her anytime soon.

Firsts: She got her first, and second, tooth this past month.  She didn't fuss at all about it!  I hope it's that way for the rest.

How she felt about not being allowed to play with the camera.

"I am sooo over this picture taking thing mama."

She climbed this step ladder all by herself (with my supervision of course, though she started up the first step while my back was turned).

Beet love.

Flaxmeal love.

Puff love.

She likes playing at the common area in our neighborhood where there is a playground that has little rocks all around it.

She likes to play with the rocks and test mommy's reflexes as she tries to put them in her mouth.

Though I have now taught her "no mouth" and she rarely puts them in her mouth anymore.

Sleeping on daddy before church.

Helping mommy with dinner.

Random pictures of Alice sleeping.