The L.A. Dime

I’m updating the kids’ scrapbooks today and here’s Clay’s “at one year” entry:

• You are babbling all the time; some of your sounds sound a little like Chinese but almost like you are getting ready to say something quite important
  • Sometimes you and Sophie will have your own conversations where she makes a sound and you will mimic it
• You love shoes – anytime you see one, you pick it up and will carry it all over the house
• You have discovered books and will sit in front of your bookshelf for a good 20 minutes pulling out each book, looking at it and then sticking it back on the shelf; you’re not patient enough to sit when I try to read to you but we’re making progress
• You love to dance! Anytime we put music on you swing your arms around and bounce up and down with a big smile on your face
  • You and Sophie will also play musical instruments together so anytime you can bang 2 things together that make noise, you are a happy boy
• You don’t really like sitting still in shopping carts or highchairs at restaurants – although as long as there are snacks involved, you’ll tolerate it
• You’re eating all table food now and love fruits, veggies, tofu and chicken; oh, and you absolutely love milk; after trying a few different ones, we finally found a sippy cup (one with a straw) that you liked and now are drinking from it any chance you get; you still also get super excited when you see the YoBaby yogurt and open your mouth really wide before I even get the spoon close to your mouth
  • You really seem to enjoy eating – and lots of it – you are currently eating the same (if not more) than Sophie and will slam your hands down in a fist if your tray is empty and you are still hungry
• You still take 2 naps a day – one around 9:30ish and another one around 3:30ish….you fall asleep on your own and we’ve learned that you like to lay on your belly, but on top of your soft blanket so you can bury your face in it and wrap your arms around it
  • No more pacifiers but you still take a bottle before bed (which we are going to start weaning you off in the next couple of weeks)
  • You’re sleeping through the night almost 100% of the time
• You started walking about 2 weeks after your first birthday…it started with walking by holding our hands, and then pulling up on furniture so you can “walk along” the couch or bed  and then standing up from a sitting position, until finally, you took your first step
  • Now you almost run from room to room, seeing where we are or following Sophie around; you are really enjoying our new backyard and have learned how to turn around and go down steps on your belly
  • We’ve started putting shoes on you and anytime I get them out to put on your feet, you giggle – almost like you’ve figured out we’re going someplace and you are ready for whatever adventure is next
• You enjoy exploring and doing what Sophie does – whether that’s playing in the sandbox, or the baby pool (you really, really like the water and taking baths) or playing with Babies or trying to color
• You are 32.5 inches long, weigh 24lbs, 8oz and have 8 teeth

While we already had the kids’ combo bday party in LA before we moved, we’re going to have a little ice-cream social for Miss Sophie to celebrate her real birthday on Sunday. Here’s what she’s like on the brink of turning 4:

• You are an incredibly big sister! You are always looking to see what Clay is doing, want to help take care of him, make him laugh and tell me when he “has poopoo”; you enjoy having him in your room to play with you and although the sharing of toys isn’t always the easiest, you do involve him in whatever you’re doing
• You have entered the “why” stage! While it sometimes feels a little like you are questioning us about things we tell you to do, or not to do, we think that you’re actually just trying to understand why things need to be a certain way
• You do well with the “5 more minutes” approach – whether that’s getting out of the bath tub, leaving a play date or finishing up something up that you consider fun
• You have done wonderful with this cross-country move from CA to Baldwinsville, NY – we spent a bit of time leading up to the move talking about what was going to happen and what your new life would be like….at first you would just listen but after a few weeks, the questions started….I was worried about leaving your friends behind and while you still periodically ask about them (and your CHA teachers), you are embracing our new neighbors, school and friends with your typical happy-go-lucky smiling face and ask “do you want to play?”
• You wake up asking what our plan for the day is – you absolutely love, love, love school and get annoyed when it’s the weekend; you are always ready for an adventure, doing something new or just being out and about
  • That need for “doing something” can sometimes make it hard for you to play in your room or settle on an activity at home
  • We allow a little TV here and there – your favorites are “Dinosaur Train”, “Dora”, “Sesame Street” and any movie that has Princesses in it
• You still like to play with your Barbies, dolls or wooden animals and will make up stories for them to act out; you’ll often ask us to be one of the characters and it’s always exciting to hear the conversations – many times that’s how we learn what happened at school or events that really had an impact on you
• Your new favorite toy is my old phone – we set it up so you could play music on it and we can often hear you listening to it in your room and dancing around or taking pictures
• You are very confident – you happily walk into a brand-new classroom without fear, sit down next to someone and start playing; you also just had your first all-day play-date without us and the reports back that night were that you were more mature and better behaved than some of the kids 2-3 years older than you
• You have been in the water as much as you can this summer – you’re not swimming yet but as long as your floaties are on, you are good to go….even in the Gulf of Mexico while visiting Nana & Opa

Thanks for all of you who have been checking on us!! I’ve had a few picture requests so here we are….I wanted to have everything pretty much done before taking pictures so other than finding some rugs for the kids rooms, we’re pretty much there:

“Crooked Arrows” is currently shooting in Boston. It’s Brad’s fourth movie to be made and the first one planned for a theatrical release. Since our new address is only about a 6 hour drive away, he took a few days last week to visit the set, meet the actors and even do some quick re-writes. “Crooked Arrows” is the first Lacrosse movie ever and is set to premiere in April of 2012 — spread the word!! Oh, and it stars Superman….aka: Brandon Routh

A quick update…

We drove from KY to NY last Thursday and on Friday morning at 7am, the big moving truck rolled up to our new addy in Baldwinsville. Since then, we have unpacked almost every one of those boxes, taken many, many, many trips to Target and gotten things put away. We bought a new grill and patio set so are looking forward to taking advantage of those during these last few weeks of summer/fall.

We’ve met some of our neighbors and actually hung out with the ones across the street quite a bit. They have a 3 year old girl Willa and a 6-month old boy Harrison so the ages work out well. The parents are fun too and we can see ourselves becoming close….plus, the dad is super handy which, if you know us, we are going to have to use quite a bit.

We visited the PreK programs I’d researched earlier and settled on one. Sophie’s been asking to go to school every day so even though I was going to wait until after Labor Day, when the official school year starts, to start her…we’re going to have her do 2 weeks of summer camp. She seems excited and even though she still periodically asks for her old friends and teachers, she’s looking forward to making new friendships.

M&M are coming to visit this week so we’ll probably start exploring the area a bit more then. Brad will also be heading to Boston this weekend to see his 4th movie (“Crocked Arrows”) being shot!!

That’s all for now….pics to follow very soon…..

Took a quick trip to Venice where we had a ton of beach time — Sophie loves being in the ocean and just floats around with her swimmies on and Clay, boy, he loves to sit and splash — and visited Mickey and the gang at Disneyland.

When we made the decision to move, one of my first thoughts was about how sad it would be for Sophie to have her bday party in September without really having had the chance to make new friends in B’ville yet….so we decided to have a combo bday party in July so we could celebrate Clay’s first year and also have some of Sophie’s friends attend before we move away.

It was a beautiful day and we were so grateful for all our friends who came to celebrate. The weather was warm enough for many folks to enjoy the pool, but not so hot that you couldn’t bare to be outside. We had a face-painter and an activity for the kids to decorate crowns. Oh, and an ice cream bar with Opa serving the ice cream!

Been meaning to update you on things but I barely know what day it is or how to navigate around the boxes taking over Hamlin House. We are down to 1 week before the moving truck arrives and the kiddos & I take off for our last plane ride out of LA (Brad is staying 2 extra days to have the house cleaned and do the transition with our renter). Here’s what we’ve been doing lately:

- Boxed up about 90% of the house…I’ve purged, given away and sold quite a few things so it feels nice knowing that we’re only taking things that we still need or matter
- Have switched addresses on most bills, closed out utilities and are starting the new ones
- Have 2 preK programs picked out which we will visit as soon as get to Baldwinsville and choose 1 to enroll Miss Sophie in
- Hosted a dual bday party for the kiddos and am preparing to host a baby shower for our dear friends Laurie & Gary on Sunday
- Brad returned from his work trip to Italy and immediately got to work on doing another script draft for “Crocked Arrows” which is set to start shooting in about 2 weeks!! And ironically enough some of the shooting schedule includes locations around Syracuse so we might even get to go on set!!
- Trying to see as many of our friends as possible – it’s such a hard process to say good bye….when we moved her 12 years ago, we knew 1 person….now we are surrounded by an incredibly awesome, supportive and fun group of friends that have been there with us through various ups and downs…I’ve moved enough to know that friendships change a bit once you don’t see each other on a regular basis but I really do hope to remain close to as many people as possible
- Had my last day of work – it’s been a great 6 years where I grew a lot as a person and a trainer
- Enjoyed having Manfredo out last week to help with repairs around the house and packing all our pictures and larger sized items
- Looking forward to having Pops here this week to help with painting and moving day
- Thinking a lot about what it might be like to be a stay-at-home mom…..never done that and cherish the opportunity to do so….I just hope I’m cut out for it

That’ll have to do it for today…..but I’ll try to come back soon with pics from the bday party

After returning from our trip, the preparations are in full force but some of the major items on the to do list have been scratched off…

What’s been done:
- Researched, got quotes from and finalized contract with moving company (they show up on July 27th)

- Researched, got quotes from and finalized contract to move both cars

- Posted Hamlin House for rent, had 2 Open Houses and found renter (moves in August 1st)

- Found a rental for us
- Purged every closet and had a yard sale
- Started boxing up a lot of stuff (thanks for helping Saundra!)
- Researched and narrowed down Pre-K programs for Sophie

Still left to do:
- Try to visit with as many LA friends as possible
- Pack, pack, pack
- Get house ready (clean, paint and do small repairs)
- Finalize school decision for Sophie

- Prepare for and hold kids’ bday party

- Prepare for and hold baby shower for our dear friend Laurie & Gary

- Figure out what to do with our plants and liquor (apparently the moving company’s have strict rules about taking those:( )

Lots of emotional moments these past few weeks and I’m sure upcoming weeks…..I booked a one-way ticket out of LA last night….feels weird…and good…and sad…and happy…