Is This Thing On?

After a four-month hiatus, I thought I'd check in. If you're my friend on Facebook, you probably understand why I've been a bit absent:

That's John's chest hair, not me!

Surprise! Boo Deux (working on her nickname) made her 7lb, 3oz debut on March 9, 2016, via a scheduled csection. One that I'm glad to have had, because it turns out there was a "true knot" in the umbilical cord, and had I waited to go into natural labor (or really, any longer to get sliced and diced), she might not be with us. 

But in happy news, she is, and Boo is undertaking the big adventure of being big sister. And she's rocking it. She used to get upset by babies crying so I was a bit nervous. I shouldn't have been. She coos and sings to her sissy like a pro, and claims she already smiles at her.

It's been a month and so far, so good.

Boo had colic and was a high-needs baby. We haven't hit the 6-8 nightmare weeks to see if colic is in our future again, but I can say that this one sleeps way more already, and is far chunkier. She has some awesome cheeks, and I can't tell what color her eyes will be yet. Boo's were undeniably dark brown, but this one is still holding out. John is guessing hazel. 

And a dimple! Jackpot.

That baby is warmer than any of us. She slept the entire time we took a walk to get rid of some cabin fever.

I'll be back to work in mid-to-late May. Right now, I'm enjoying the forced slow down in life, and I'm trying to figure out how to be an organized mom of two. I'm realizing that I'll definitely have to shower at night, meal plan, and lay out everyone's clothes the night before to avoid total anarchy. John is a huge, huge help but he leaves for work around 5:30am so the morning routine is on me.

Okay, let's be real. You are all like, "WTF, Amy?!? You didn't say anything about being pregnant on social media, and you did all that traveling in Europe while pregnant?" Guilty. Our families didn't even know until almost November.

Let's get to the why. First, I wanted to walk everywhere and eat whatever and occasionally have a beer or glass of wine (in super moderation, naturally) without being judged or told to take it easy or linked some stupid article. Women have been birthing babies for like ever, and I don't need to sit on a couch to have a healthy pregnancy. In fact, I'd argue that all the walking I did was beneficial. And Europeans are way more relaxed on the restrictions in pregnancy and are doing juust fine. So that's how I rolled. And naps and plenty of days curled on the couch in exhaustion happened; that's just a boring blog entry ;)

I received prenatal care in Lux, and packed plenty of prenatal vitamins. Without going into detail, I prefer the American healthcare system, but suspect it may be because I had a super awful OB, who, besides making me wait HOURS every time, told me I was too fat (at 19 weeks, and had gained the proper weight) to figure out the sex of the baby. Eff. Her. Since I was on a travel visa, I didn't enjoy "free" healthcare and ponied up big bucks for blood tests, etc. but Baby was healthy and that's what matters. 

Which brings me to the second reason I didn't make the pregnancy common knowledge: I had miscarried last February like, a day before I planned to tell the world I was pregnant. We had even taken family photos with Boo holding a sign saying "Big Sister September 2015." Call me superstitious or overly cautious, but I didn't enjoy telling the few we had told "never mind," and bringing up the pain again and again. But I'm not ashamed of what happened. Miscarriage is common (1 in 4 women)  and shouldn't be treated as a secret or taboo. I just didn't feel like dealing with all that while in Europe. 

I paid $40 and learned the sex on my California trip. John was on FaceTime from Lux and it was fun. Boo pumped her arms and shouted "Yessss!" When we told her it was a girl.

Now we have our "rainbow baby," (the beauty and joy after the loss/storm) and life is fantastic. I'll probably try to write a bit about juggling two kids while working, but I won't force it.

Oh, and we bought a house two days before I had the baby, because our motto has always been (seriously, ask John): Go

Big or Go Home.

We even put our motto on our Kickstarter table at Tabletop Board Game Cafe.

 We learned we are sticking around The Cleve for at least a few years, and our dream house (John had been eyeing it while we were in Lux) dropped wayyyy down in price so we went for it. It's a combo of our home in Columbus (brick colonial) and home in Rocky River (old - but super duper updated while retaining beautiful molding and flooring). We move in in around a week and I can't wait! Our apartment is nice but very crowded with baby gear, Boo, and a dog.

And now, I try to nap. Growthy McGrowthSpurt kept me up most of the night.

But first, our professional family pics:

California Dreamin'

 We arrived back in Canton around midnight Monday/Tuesday, then hopped on a plane early Thursday morning to California. The flights went smoothly, but I was super restless. I'm so sick of sitting that long! 

Boo was a champ, as usual. It was nice to be confident in her flying abilities when this jerk lawyer (sigh, of course he was a lawyer) sat in front of us, looked back and said snottily, "Oh no. Kids on this flight?" It took a lot for me to bite my tongue and not go off on him (I'm tired and cranky), but Annora doesn't need to add to her vocabulary. Plus, we had the whole row to ourselves while he sat in the middle economy seat between two pretty

big guys. Who's winning now, buddy?

After we arrived, we grabbed our luggage and hopped on BART to meet Uncle Alex, my brother, in downtown San Francisco for dinner and a tour of his office. Auntie Shelly and Ryan, my sister and nephew, met up as well. It was great!  But, CA is nine hours behind Luxembourg and we were feeling it, so we didn't stay long. 

Boo also got her first real experience with the homeless. A guy was huddled in the terminal in a pile of blankets when I noticed her quietly staring at him while I tried to find our exit. "Mommy, is he dead?" She was relieved when I explained he was sleeping. 

Once home, I started to really feel the cold I had been denying I caught. I haven't been truly sick in quite a long time, so I was annoyed that it had to happen on my California trip when I want to see everyone! So the next few days consisted of me being a huge slug and sleeping/chugging Robitussin and Tylenol while Boo merrily played with everyone. I'm feeling much better, finally. 

A few days after arrival we headed to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, in Moss Beach (next to Half Moon Bay). Many fond childhood memories consist of exploring the tide pools with my Grammy, and I wanted Boo to enjoy the same. We saw harbor seals, beautiful anemones, mussels, crabs galore, and more. The weather was just right.

Uncle Sean and Auntie Shelly showing Boo an anemone.

I thought Boo would be more interested in hermit crabs than she was.

Seals

My nephew is the cutest.

Mussels and muscles

Abalone

Brittle star

 Scallop shell

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, despite Boo accidentally breaking a process jade statue from WWII, sigh. 

After a few epic pillow fights with my dad/Papa, some golf cart rides, and quality time with Auntie Shelly and my RyRy, it is now time to really, truly face reality and head back to Cleveland to find a place to live, pre-K and daycare for a Boo, and start work again.

Walking attire, naturally.

 I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. I love my coworkers, and it means John is that much closer to joining us.

And never fear, Boo's travels are far from over! I'm already talking about a Yellowstone trip next summer, and we will be exploring Cleveland and surrounding cities/states a lot more than we have in the past. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and a few more TBD. Stay tuned :) 

A Few Observations Upon My Return

We've been back for three-ish weeks now. After hopping off a relatively easy set of flights from Lux to Munich to Chicago (Boo happily chattered almost the entire eight hours, oy) to Cleveland, we hopped right back on a plane less than two days later to California. The jet lag was pretty rough, but we survived.

*sidenote* If you do not have a direct flight to your domestic destination, you will have to retrieve your luggage and go through customs before continuing on to your next flight. Plan your layover between domestic flights accordingly. No, they don't re-weigh or make you pay for bags again or anything. I was very pleased with O'Hare's customs system, despite typically loathing that airport and avoiding it at all costs. We arrived late at night, which may have also helped us streamline through. In O'Hare, if you are flying United or American Airlines, right past customs there are agents to immediately take your suitcases for your and check them. Other airlines make you take them to the next terminal and re-check them. SO glad we had United, since I had a Boo in tow and luggage carts are NOT allowed on the tram.

We enjoyed almost two full weeks in California with my family, including Thanksgiving and my adorable nephew RyRy's first birthday party. We went to the tide pools, had lots of Auntie Shelly/RyRy time, and made the most of it. I'll have a post up soon.

A few observations thus far:

1. For about two weeks, my ears were assaulted by English being spoken everywhere. I'm still not tuning out background conversations yet and it can be overwhelming. I think the same thing happened when I got back from Korea, but I can't remember.

2. There are billboards and advert signs everywhere. It's pretty jarring and ugly. I think it is because Europe is more pedestrian, so you can slow down and see the shop signs in the windows, versus needing a tacky billboard to draw your attention when driving, like here.

3. Boo and I are drinking a lot less water now that I don't have bottles of sparkling on hand, and this needs to change stat. What snobs, right?

4. I do not miss eating pizza with a fork and knife. Ridiculous. And though I haven't had one yet since being back, I feel the same about burgers. Seriously, what?!? Team 'Murica on that one.

5. I also do not miss having to go to an optician for contact lens solution. It's saline solution, people. Groceries should be able to carry the stuff.

6. I need to find a good croissant recipe and a good crepe recipe. Alice hooked it up with her Irish scones recipe, so tea time will be had soon with Boo. We love our tea parties. I'm also making mulled wine for Christmas.

7. Now that my kid is used to walking 3-5 miles every day, I have to keep her pretty active. This isn't a bad thing at all... except when I'm dying from jet lag/a cold and she isn't. I'm going to need to find an indoor activity for when The Cleve gets too cold to walk outside in the evening.

8. I haven't really lived at home since I graduated high school, but having been away so long shows me how important family can be. Not only for helping when I can barely move because I'm sick, but also for the love and support. John and I function just fine abroad, but that shouldn't diminish the importance of our extended family. Plus, he's still in Europe until just before Christmas and we really miss him :( 

9. I've been away from John for 10+ months before when he was in Iraq, but Boo hasn't been away more than a few nights. California distracted her nicely, but every once in awhile she cries for her daddy and it breaks my heart. 

9. When driving, it is nice to turn right on red again, but I miss the very few stop signs and far more yield signs of Europe. And I was fine with the roundabouts pretty much everywhere, though the French are incredibly aggressive drivers. I just found out John drove the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe, and I think he's bonkers. Here's an idea of what I'm talking about (though he did it in rush hour... not sure if more traffic made it more or less scary):

Oh boy, no thank you.

10. American shampoo and conditioner is better. Is it because I was using a crappy travel hair dryer in Lux? Or does the superiority come from the lovely chemicals in our hair products?  Perhaps the climate (though I would argue it isn't much different than here at all)? All I know is that my hair was a frizzy mess over there, and it's finally back to normal. 

11. I was greeted with 1,400 emails, plus 700 junk folder emails to sift through upon my return to work. Also, for my first day back, a case that had no activity since MAY had a filing. It's almost comical. I'm glad to get back into the grind, but the hour + commute is wearing a little heavy on me right now. Once we are settled in the general Cleveland area again (I'm in Canton with John's grandparents until January), life will be a little more adjusted.

12. I've managed to arrange temporary child care in Canton, long-term childcare in The Cleve, and a town home in The Cleve in the span of a few days. I need to stop making it look so easy, so John appreciates what a Herculean effort is really is :p Boo is already loving being in school. I dropped her off and she strode in without so much as a glance back. After four months of being constantly together, I admit I was a little sad. She also didn't want to leave when John's grandma went to pick her up that afternoon. To appease myself, I am going to approach it feeling proud that she is so confident in herself and family that she can take off into the world without a second thought. That is a valuable trait to have.

And we have Izzy dog back!

First day of pre-K in Canton. So excited.

13. It's good to be back, but I am a little homesick for Lux as well. We made some incredible friends, saw some incredible sights, and have so many memories. Boo still talks about the Eiffel Tower, and the "sweet balcony" our apartment had.