We are listening to perhaps the greatest pieces of music ever. I found an artist who turns classic rock songs into lullabies! Because let's face it, singing Mary Had a Little Lamb to baby for the 100th time can get a little old. My favorite so far is Walk This Way by Aerosmith. The artist is Dennis Caplinger and his CDs are called Rockabye Baby.On a much more update-y note, we've finally made it to New York! I'm typing to you from Brooklyn! "You talkin' to me?" Haha I haven't actually heard anyone say that yet, but I'm ready to bust it out if need be. Before I tell you about all the new and exciting (scary) things about our new home, let me tell you about how things went down after Evan left.
My mom was in town for about 2 weeks to help me with Blake. Let's just say I couldn't have done it without her! Taking care of a new baby is exciting, but more than that it is EXHAUSTING! Perhaps because it is a 24/7 job. Seriously. This little lump of a human depends on you for everything: food, shelter, entertainment, bathroom issues, everything! And the only breaks you get are when he's sleeping. But, even if you sleep every time your baby sleeps then you'll get nothing done (including eating and showering). So to all of you women out there who are trying to decide whether you want a baby right now, just ask yourself if you are up for being out-of-your-mind exhausted for the next 40 years. If you are, then join us in mommyhood!
So after my mom left, I was on my own for about 5 weeks. Just the Blakester and his mommy. And of course the morning after my mom left, Blake decided to projectile vomit and include a little blood with it. So that was perhaps the most frightening thing I have ever experienced. I took him to the ER and in the end he was fine. The blood had actually come from me, go figure. So after 3 hours in the ER and a raging headache, let's just say I didn't make it to church that Sunday.
After that incident, Blake and I did pretty well on our own. When I needed to go places, he tagged along. And some days we just stayed in our PJ's all day long. Unfortunately our all day everyday mommy and me time came to an end when I had to go back to work. I managed to only have to go back to teach for the last 2 weeks of school. That was fun for about 1 minute, and then I wished I could have been a situation where I didn't have to return to teaching just to get insurance coverage over the summer. My students were excited to see me, which made me happy. But those 2 weeks felt like the longest 2 weeks of my life. I made the mistake of watching videos of Blake one day at lunch. It made me miss him too much. Fortunately Blake's 2 grandmas and 1 uncle were able to come out to watch him. I know they enjoyed their time with him.
After school was out and celebrations were over, the next big mountain to tackle was packing...and cleaning. I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I hate moving, but I hate moving. Grandma Jordan was able to help with packing, which made my life a little easier. But, I always underestimate how much time packing and cleaning will take. I was packing boxes until the night before the movers came. Then on to cleaning. I was glad I had the foresight to start cleaning stuff while I took a break from packing because I would probably still be there cleaning if I hadn't. Aunt Tori was nice enough to let us stay at her apartment the night before we flew to Virginia. As a thank you gift, Blake pooped on her! She's such a great aunt that she didn't kick us out and even let us sleep on her pull-out couch. The next morning we were up and on a plane to the East coast!
Blake pretty much slept the entire 4 hour flight, which was nice because I forgot how you have a negative amount of room when you fly Southwest. The guy sitting beside me wasn't too thrilled to be sitting by a baby at first, but when Blake slept the whole flight, I think he warmed up to the idea a bit. He even let me use his tray to make Blake's bottle (because with me and Blake there wasn't enough room for me to put mine down...ya that's how much room we didn't have.) The flight had quite a bit of turbulence. (You can read about my experiences with turbulence and why I hate flying here and here.)
So we made it to Virginia and Blake finally got to meet his Grandpa Wilding! (I am under strict orders not to call him G-pop, even though that is what he wants to be called...Camille!) Blake also got to meet some of his extended family and church people I've known growing up. And in reality he won't remember any of it and we have no pictures to prove he actually met those people, so it's like it never even happened!
Finally, this past Sunday we made our way to New York! It took longer than the estimated 6 hours because the interstate was SHUT DOWN! Yep, shut down. So we had to take a detour. But the problem with detours is that everyone takes them, so you are sitting in your car next to the same car you'd be sitting next to on the interstate! So after driving slower than a snail for a few hours and paying what seemed like at least a zillion dollars in tolls, we parked on the street in front of our apartment and started to unload...except we were on the wrong street! Haha what a great way to start off life in New York! I kept looking for Evan (keep in mind that this is at midnight and it was raining). I was looking at front doors and trying to squint so I could see him. Then my dad said, "Oh, we didn't go far enough!" So we all hopped back in the car and drove another 200 yards to the real street and started to unload everything. Then, as I started to get out of the car, there was my long lost husband! I gave him a hug and a kiss, then he forgot about me and has been playing with his son ever since. Eh, who can blame him! Blake is so cute he makes you forget about everything else!
So here I am in Brooklyn, New York. I haven't been out of the apartment by myself yet. Blake and I rode the subway for the first time with Evan the other day. Blake did really well. But that's because he doesn't have to worry about getting lost and ending up in New Jersey. (I don't even know if the subway goes to Jersey!) And even if I did get us lost, he wouldn't be the wiser. I on the other hand was so overwhelmed that I couldn't pay attention to what Evan was trying to explain to me. Let's just say that I'll need to ride it about 20 more times before I feel comfortable doing it by myself.
So far, I really like our apartment (minus the fact that you can tell when our neighbor is smoking because you can smell it in our apartment and the friendly little mouse I saw for a split second in the kitchen the other day.) But I would find things wrong with any place I lived, so all in all I definitely approve of the place Evan picked for us to live. There are a few things I will have to get used to:
1) Cars honking...a lot. I guess honking is just something you do whenever you feel like it here. I usually reserve it for emergencies or when the person in front of me has a green left turn arrow and hasn't budged because they aren't paying attention. But that's just me.
2) Not having a car and relying on public transportation. There are pros and cons to having a car here. But in the end I don't think if I had a car I'd be going out anymore than I am now.
3) Being a minority. I'm coming from Utah where Caucasians abound. I think there were 3 African American children in the entire school where I taught. But I think I've only seen 5 white people since I've been here. Ok, maybe 6.
4) Rude McDonalds people...oh wait, that's everywhere.
5) Loud Spanish music blaring from cars. When I say loud, I mean it hurts my ears a block away.
But hey, that list isn't too bad, right? It's not like I have to get used to not having clean water, or not having a shower.
So that's what life has been like over the past 2 months. I can't believe we are finally in New York. Now if only our stuff would get here. But that isn't going to happen any time soon because it hasn't even left Utah yet. Ridiculous.
