We're Heeeeerrree!

(Post typed Monday, 9/21/09)

Hey, ya'll.

After many days of purging (possessions, not deep dish pizza), packing, meeting with family and friends, chaos and 570 miles on the road, we're now living in Raleigh, NC. We left Cincinnati Saturday morning around 8:00am after a long night and early morning of cleaning our old house and stuffing junk into our cars. Five states, four stops and eleven hours later we arrived at our house at 7:00pm.

"Eleven hours?!", you say?

Yep, eleven hours; one and a half of which was spent waiting to bypass a bad accident on I-75 North of Lexington. I've never understood how one crashes when everyone is travelling the same direction at relatively similar speeds. Knuckleheads.

Anyway, we've essentially been camping the past few days as we won't get all our junk until Tuesday morning when the moving truck shows up. Our air matress has a pin hole leak some where and I, being the most portly of the family (thank goodness!), end up with my butt and back on the ground by morning. On the plus side, we devised a novel way to refill the leaky matress... a 3000 psig scuba tank! From flat to full in 3-5 seconds!


Nisha wasn't around when I selected the house to rent back in August but she says I did good. Whew. Its an ok house in a great location, close to stuff and access to a walking trail that connects to a nearby park. We're a bit worried, though, that our stuff won't fit when the moving truck gets here. This house is about 900 ft^2 smaller than our old place and has no basement, a one-car garage, and no storage shed. Drew Carey had an outdoor pool table; I wonder if Nisha would go for an outdoor laundry room.

Nisha, er, Doc, starts her new gig in a few days and is really excited. I, on the other hand, will go in to an office in Durham until the end of the month to wrap up and document stuff I've been working on and at that point it looks like I will be looking for a job. Bummer. Anybody need a good engineer? Hopefully the job search won't take too long!

Changing every day

...so this is about right...posting every 2 months? :o oops

Lots of things are happening and we'd like to update you with newer pictures.

Here's Charlie (Norah's cousin) and Norah playing together. Aww they're so cute!


Norah was going through a phase where she would scrunch up her face and breath in and out of her nose really fast...weird kid.


Oh doesn't Norah look so innocent.


I told you she is a weird one!


Our friends invited us to take pictures of fireflies with them at dusk. It was really neat to see, but incredibly hard to photograph.


Norah trying out her high chair.


Ok, so that was just a pretty high chair that wasn't too functional, so we switched her to a plastic one which she likes to get dirty. Pretty much every time she eats, she has a beard.


We though Norah would love an inflatable pool, but pretty much I used it inside to keep her temporarily occupied in the morning while I prepared the bottles and food for the day.


And this is why the pillows were in the back of the pool!


Finally, our morning routine had to change. If Norah woke up before I took a shower, I could set her in this bouncer and put toys all around and she would be fine...if you notice now I have to buckle her in...because she can CRAWL!! (We'll save that for another post. :p)

Long Overdue

Ok ok ok, Justin and I have been super busy. I'm spending almost every waking hour on my schooling and Justin spends his time watching Norah and trying to get things done around the house...but just to be nice I thought I'd sacrifice a little sleep to show you some new pics.

Here's a few where we are still in NC.

Awwww Daddy and Norah.

Ooops, I scared the little girl!

That's more like it!

Norah's playing in her BUMBO that we acquired through Craigslist in NC.

Awwww Mommy and Norah.

Daddy tickling Norah. (1)

(2)

(3)

...finally we're back home and Norah found her way into her stuffed animal basket.

She thinks she is sneaky!

Mommy wanted to give away her child sized cowboy hat, but Norah thinks she's pretty darn cute in it!...OK, we'll keep it. ;)

Off again to do some more visiting. J Dad took Norah on a walk in her baby pouch.

Then J Bro thought he'd have a turn...he looks like a natural!

Back home and Norah's feeling goofy.

...and more goofy. (She got into the diapers!)

...and then into the diaper box!

Silly girl.

Feeding time! This is one of the first times we fed her solid foods. (it's baby oatmeal cereal. Not bad really)






...and we're out!

Road trip pics

Since I was so busy with my conference I didn't have a chance to take hardly any pics. The pictures that I did take were with my phone, in the car, and of Norah! So here they are:

Justin was kind enough to drive both ways, so I could entertain Norah...well actually be entertained by her!



She LOVES books now!



Norah getting some attention from Daddy...no we're not still driving here.



Do you think Norah has enough STUFF?? I had to hang a towel on the window because she somehow always ended up on the hot side of the car...and the books/blankets on either side of her head to stabilize her head when she slept.



Norah was caught on camera being attacked by a jellyfish!



...oh just kidding.

Just the Two of Us

It sure is nice down here in NC!

The fam woke up (officially, Norah was ready to head out into the world at 3:30am but was coaxed back to sleep after a snack) around 6:30am today for Nisha's Seminar at the EPA. After Mom was dropped off around 8:00, Norah and Dad headed back to the apartment to plan the day.

Norah insisted that we spend some time in the North Carolina sunshine (its gorgeous down here) so I researched some easy hiking spots and found William Umstead State Park In between Durham and Raleigh. We found an easy 1.5 mile trail and headed out, Norah slung in a Baby Bjorn (thanks to the Parkers!) The trail snaked through a forest of longleaf pines, maples and all sorts of trees I'm not smart enough to identify and along a stream. Good Daddy/Daughter bonding time.






After the hike Norah was jonesing for BBQ, so, like any good Dad would do I took her Allen & Son Pit Cooked Bar-B-Q just North of Chapel Hill. Oh baby. Good stuff; even better when washed down with a big tub of iced sweet tea.





After the tubs of BBQ and sweet tea (ok, Norah had a bottle) we nodded off for a quick nap and awaited Mom's call to be picked up.

Good times.