FINALLY...*deep sigh*

Maybe I underestimated how much time moving takes. Scratch that...I think I underestimated how all-consuming it really is, since our move didn't take much time at all. It was a whirlwind of unpleasantness that, thankfully, is now mostly over. It didn't leave much time for updating blogs, however (ahem, sorry about that). Anyways, we managed to box up our house, load it up, unload it, and unbox it all within one week. Joey and I are now back in A2 (as of yesterday) for a few days to close on our house. I'll have to write more about that later, since I'm in the middle of crazy phone call swapping with Joey thanks to some house selling drama that's going on now :(

So, to provide the abridged version:
1. Two weekends ago we went down to take possession of our apartment. Cue the illnesses that Oscar and I got that have already been written about here. We also got some super sweet new toys for the O-man (that I've included photos of here).
2. We got back to A2, had family pictures taken (yay! Will have to post about them once we receive the proofs), and Sunday afternoon 8/22 we began our packing.
3. We packed Sun, Mon, Tuesday, and Wed. the movers came to load up. When they finished Joey headed down to Indy, met them there, and despite having a scheduled unloading of the next morning they asked if it was OK to unload right then (!!!). Joey obviously said yes, and hence our move was completed in ONE DAY. (Oh, and cue Joey getting sick right when all of the moving was in full-swing)
4. Myself, Oscar, and my mom followed Thurs. morning, and the unpacking commenced.
5. We unpacked Thurs and Fri and were able to spend this past Sat. doing some relaxing and organizing.
6. We returned to A2 Sunday (yesterday), me to stay for a while and Joey will be leaving Tues. evening or Wed. morning to go back to Indy.

Some cool stuff to note:
- Oscar had his first food this past weekend: avocado. We mashed it up and without a baby spoon on hand I fed him with my finger. He promptly puked it all up.
- Oscar had his first swim this past weekend as well. He was OK with it, not sure about the cold water at first but seemed to enjoy himself once he got used to it. He has a cool floaty thingy to sit in, and he just lounged. Didn't get super excited, though, and when I noticed that he was slumping a bit and getting water in his mouth I figured it was time to take him out.
* I managed to forget my camera this past trip, and so we used my mom's. Will post photos/videos of both of these events when I get them off of her device.

I'll also have to locate my camera cord so that I can post some photos of our new place. Who knows where that might be now that our belongings are strewn across two states, in my mom's house, our apartment, a storage unit, and probably still in our cars as well :P

In the meantime, enjoy the photos (descriptions in reverse order):
- Oscar with his cool green and yellow ball that helps him sit up
- Oscar with Rody, his new inflatable horse-like friend (that Joey finds creepy and that I LOVE)
- Oscar and daddy from the first trip to the apt.
- Oscar napping on the guest bed right after we moved it in, also during the first trip to the apt. two weekends ago.

marcel the shell

Working on getting photos uploaded and ready to go so that the Indy weekend post is appropriately illustrated. In the meantime I wanted to share something that has nothing to do with babies, our move, or us at all. Watching it made my day, though, and so I thought that if some of you hadn't seen this yet it might be fun for you, too. Enjoy.

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

hives

So, did anyone else know that when a kid is recovering from a virus they might break out in hives? If the answer was yes then I'd have to say that this information would have been helpful a day or two ago. If the answer is no, I'd have to say ME EITHER...

In case you hadn't guessed, the man developed some yucky hives yesterday and freaked his parents out good. He was totally fine, then all of a sudden it was like 'huh? What's that weird bite-looking thing on his face?' Then, 'ohmygod, it's on his tummy and even bigger.' I called my mom to see if she knew, but since they weren't bothering him we left them alone and mysteriously the rashy-looking thing cleared up right quick. Then this morning was back with a vengeance...so much so that we called his doc's office and found out that it's common for babies to have some hives appear right after getting over a virus. They also said that apparently when they're really little, they don't always itch (hence Oscar seeming totally oblivious).

Either way, they'll come and go over the next day or so and we'll just keep an eye on it. In the meantime, we got out apartment!! I'm in Indy now and will post more info and pictures (of much more fun things than hives) before the weekend is out.

5 months re-shoot

Aaaand, success! Got a few of him sitting forward :)





Is it just me, or does he look fake in the first one?

5 months!!!

Here are two photos from the 5 month shoot this morning. I'm hoping to get more (fingers crossed I can get one or two with him sitting forward and actually holding/grabbing the 5). But I figured it would be nice to give our little model a break for a few min :)

the plague

So I may be slightly over-dramatizing, but I think we were hit with the plague this past couple of weeks. In my last post I think I mentioned Oscar's croup and my fever. After that, right as I thought both of us were getting better, I lost my voice just about completely and Oscar got his own fever. We took him into the IHA after-hours clinic on a Sunday and I attempted to croak out to the doctor what was up with him (I'm sure we were everyone's favorite family in the waiting room...2 out of 3 people looking and sounding not so good). It looked as though he may have a very slight ear infection, and the poor guy also had some sort of hand, foot, and mouth disease, also known as herpangina. It caused some uncomfortable looking blisters and redness in his throat :( So he's on Tylenol and antibiotics, and the nurse informed me that she thought I probably had a virus which meant that there wasn't much to be done for me.

Since then, in the past week or so, my voice has come back and given way to a much worse cold (so gross...there's just so. much. mucus.) Oscar has been getting steadily better, although he still has some congestion going on. It's really funny when a mama who can't breathe out of either of her nostrils is trying to keep her kid from blowing bubbles out of his own nose. Anyways, now that everyone is thoroughly grossed-out I'll report that now it FINALLY looks like we may really be on the mend. Fingers crossed.

To make things even better (please note the sarcasm) Joey was gone for three days this week in gorgeous Santa Barbara. He was getting wooed by some AFM companies since he has to buy a very expensive piece of equipment for his new lab. He missed us, we missed him, but hopefully his being gone will keep him from the worst of the Wallace family illnesses. Oscar and I stayed at my mom's, who was very generous considering she was housing two sickies and our crazy dog. Needless to say, we survived, we're home now, and planning for our upcoming move. Oh, and sorry, but I don't have any photos to post right now. We're taking his 5 month pictures tomorrow (a week late) and I'll post a couple of those very soon.

relocation insanity

And here is where I insert the obligatory apology for not updating more frequently. Seriously, sorry about that. I do have a good excuse, though, what with all of the craziness that goes into moving for a new job. A few notes on what we've been up to:
- Lots of work on the house to ready it for listing (building a mantle over the fireplace, lots of caulking and painting of woodwork, boxing up non-essentials, etc.)
- Listing the house (meeting with our realtor, getting more tips on things we can do to stage, staging the house, etc.)
- Scheduling showings (keeping the house clean AT ALL TIMES, coming home during workdays to get Lucy out, stressing when we don't get feedback)
- Going to Indy again
- Renting an apt. in Indy (!!!)
- Receiving offers on the house (!!!)
- Accepting an offer on the house (!!!)

I'd like to point out that those exciting last 3 points happened this past weekend. I'm not saying anything about how excited we are to have received an offer, since we're far from done. There are still inspections, contingencies, and all of those other scary things that happen before a closing. Wish us luck.

We do, however, have a place to live when we get to Indianapolis. We're renting for a year in a nice complex with a fitness room, pool, and all of that good stuff that we don't get in our house. Our place is just over 1000 sq ft and has 2 bedrooms. Come visit us!

Other not so exciting/fun things that have happened include Oscar getting his first illness, and his mama catching something yucky from him :( Our little man started with a dry cough last week, and it progressed to immense stuffiness, coughs that sound like a seal barking, and not much sleeping to speak of (except for during the day...not much help at all to his parents). The doctor said she thinks it's croup, and he's probably past the worst now. I managed to come down with a 101 degree fever Sun. night, but aside from some wicked post-nasal drip I appear to be on the mend now.

OK, not much else to post, and this has gotten long enough. Now enjoy a few pics I've taken in the last few weeks, and I promise to post again soon.