One Crazy Month Later: A Catch Up Post

So Much So Quick

So Donnie and I will be married this August for 5 years and have lived in 5 different places :) But this last move/month has seemed to be a whopper. Perhaps because we also had Donnie's graduation from Nursing school (still looking for a full time job as a Nurse so please pass the word), Ara's 1st Birthday, I sprained my ankle right after moving in, Ara and I went on a trip to Pittsburgh, PA with my Mom and then Ara and I just came back from another trip to Kansas to visit with my Dad's side of the family.

So in the last month of being in our new local I have been home 2 out of the 4 weeks and unable to walk for 1 out of those 2. Needless to say we are still unpacking and I've only just started actually putting pictures up on the walls this week with the help of family and friends watching Ara.

But here are a few highlights of the crazy time this past month has been.

Husbie Graduates!

So he may have not filled up the car with gas the night before (as requested) and he may have forgotten key parts to the baby bottle assembly that resulted in leaking bottles and an unexpected mid-day run back to our apartment and I may have caught the 48 hour stomach plague and felt like crap HOWEVER, Donnie has graduated from Chamberlin College of Nursing, passed his boards and is officially licensed to Nurse in the state of Ohio! So proud!

Moving

I have figured out a few tips/tricks regarding the process but I think my favorite this move has been my duct tape labeling system which I totally stole from Pinterest. This is how my looked:

This really simple thing seemed to make sure that each box ended up in the appropriate room even in my absence. Long story short: we were able to move in to our new place a whole week early at no extra charge, but I still was in the process of packing as our dear friends loaded the truck.

Sprained Ankle: aka How I Ruined my Husbie's Vacation

Okay so I was going down ONE stair outside of our apartment carrying the littlest pooper and *TWIST* I'm screaming for him to come grab her from me and then I collapsed on the sidewalk. Grrrrr. Long story short: I HATE crutches and decided to use a walker instead. While Donnie made fun of me he also had to pretty much be the sole caregiver to Ara for a little over a week while I elevated, iced, soaked and took pain meds. I now can walk but take an anti-inflammatory med so that I don't want to cry when I go up and down stairs, sit cross legged or inevitably bump it on something.

Ara in wONEderland

I LOVED planning this party and I'm so happy to finally share these pics on here :

   

   

   

Pittsburgh, PA:

So my Mom travels a lot for her job and this trip (since it is one of the few she does by car) Ara and I were invited :) I was still a little limp-ish on my ankle, however we had a great time! We hung out at the hotel (where Ara crawled a ton)...

swam in the pool (Ara's first swim and she LOVED it)...

did some shopping with Grandma at the Waterfront...

     

 and did a Mommy Daughter Day trip to the Children's Museum.

Kansas:

One of Donne's co-workers wanted to to her hometown in Kansas for a friend's wedding but needed someone to split the gas cost with! Soooo Ara and I tagged along! So we got some much needed love from my late Dad's side of the family :)

Great Gramma and Ara got some cuddle time. It was so nice to hug Gramma goodnight each night.

Aunt Rana and I got to craft, cook and watch movies together. Her salsa is the Chuck Norris of salsas just so we are all aware :) 

Ara got to play with Uncle Robert:) who also cooked us a yummy steak meal and made us pecan pie and another super delicious shortbread/pudding dessert which I ate for breakfast :)

Cousin Courtney got some quality Ara time :) aka she got to chase/walk her around a bunch.

Ara chased Jack EVERYWHERE, but would grab a little to eagerly so Jack soon learned to run away.

Basically Ara didn't get one bit of attention while we were there ;)

So glad to have been able to go out to see them and sooo excited that Aunt Rana was there at the same time. It worked out so well AND I didn't drive out by myself in the middle of a blizzard on a whim as I threatened Donnie I was going to do all winter.

Settling Down/In

Hopefully we will be calm for a bit now. I'm starting to get the town home look less chaotic and I might even be slowly carving out a sewing space for myself downstairs (woohoo)  There are projects in process/on the horizon, but it is good to be home and whole trying to find our groove again.

 Thank you so much to all of our friends and family who have supported us in so many ways while Donnie has been in school, thank you to everyone who helped us move, thank you for all of the support (almost literally) while my ankle was sprained, thank you for those who helped set up Ara's Bday party, thank you to Mama for taking us to Pittsburgh and thank you so much to Amanda for being transportation to Kansas :)

Maybe I'll post less more frequently from now on :)