We have 'settled-in' to our temporary place here in Vegas.
It is a two bedroom apartment that is half the square footage of our home we left behind. I'm not going to lie we were very spoiled by our last house and it has been a bit of an adjustment getting the kids used to sharing a room (bedtime and naps are the real challenge). But we have tried to make this feel like home...we may even be sad to leave when our home is built. Or we will just appreciate the new house all the more!Speaking of the new home we have made all the final decisions and now just have to wait for construction. They are laying the foundation this weekend and we are scheduled to close October 29th. Which was a small tender mercy for us since our lease for this apartment is up on the 30th. So for now we just have to be patient and pray all goes as planned.
Meanwhile we are making the most of apartment life. The kids and I go to the pool most mornings. We LOVE it!!
James also LOVES playing in the sand that they have next to the pool. He calls it HoHoHo...we think because it looks like snow? Oh to go inside a two-year-old mind.
Best part about going to the pool all morning....
Long Naps!!
I am also SUPER excited about This new addition to the family. A DOUBLE STROLLER. For the four previous months we just made due with our single strollers which usually ended up with one of us carrying the toddler. I knew that since I would be alone a lot with Dave's new job that arrangement would not work so we did a little research and got this wonderful wonderful stroller. It has been a life saver many times for me, and is honestly the only way I will leave the house alone with these two cute little kiddos.
Just before Dave started his job we decided we would do a little "stay-cation" to play one last time as a family and get to know Vegas a little better. We went swimming everyday at our pool and the Rec Center. We visited Parks, Stores, The Children's Museum and a little of The Strip.
James LOVED the Lied Children's Museum.
James and Daddy at The Flamingo Habitat
Maddie and I with a flock of Flamingos.
On June 18th Dave started his new job as a Pediatric Intern. His first rotation has been doing wards at Sunrise Children's Hospital. He has been able to see and learn so much already in his first few weeks there. He has really enjoyed all of his Attendings and other residents. We have missed having him around all the time, but honestly he has been home more than any of us really anticipated. Some days are longer than others and I am sure he will have some months that are worse than this one, but overall we have been pleasantly surprised! Best of all Dave loves it and is still very glad that he chose to do Pediatrics.
Meanwhile I have been adjusting to being a full-time stay at home mom. I love it very much, but it has been quite an adjustment. To get us out of the house (besides going to the pool) I signed James up for a few classes at the Rec Center near our home. The first one was an early preschool class.
He seemed to enjoy getting out and interacting, but this kid is not one for sitting still and coloring. He is all about running, jumping, talking and playing...hopefully the gymnastics class he starts next week will be a little more conducive to his current attention span.
Just after Dave finished orientation he had one last three-day weekend. It just so happened that the very same weekend my family was having a family reunion near Zion's. So we packed up the kids and met my parents and sister and her family (along with lots of other cousins, grandparents etc.) for a fun weekend of camping. It was absolutely Beautiful!!
The week we got back I decided that it was time we get this pleasant stage of life out of the way....
Potty training is Soooo easy with an iPad....until this happens the first day...
Apple was VERY kind and sent us a replacement for FREE...however it took nearly two weeks due to some miscommunication and fed-ex having our wrong address. In the meantime I had to buckle down and potty train sans iPad...which in hindsight I think was beneficial. I am happy to announce that two weeks later we are in big boy underwear 100% of the time. We haven't had a single night or nap accident and have gone to preschool twice, church twice, the pool several times and the park without an accident (yep I just set myself up for a big one didn't I!). Overall though James has done well. It certainly wasn't a "three day" mess free miracle you hear from your friends or see on pinterest. There were plenty of accidents at home. Some very frustrating moments. And even a time or two that I thought I might be pushing him too soon. But we stuck it out and I am so glad we did!
James in his big boy underwear enjoying a reward popsicle for staying dry all day...yes we are a little white trash letting him out on the porch in his undies...we did make him put on clothes for his reward ice-cream though...for putting himself on the potty unsolicited and without any help.
Meanwhile we celebrated the fourth.
Dave had to work and James had a cough so we just laid low. Some nice people in our ward invited us to a BBQ but I just didn't want to drive all that way by myself (we are about 30 minutes one way from our new ward boundaries). We ended up watching fireworks from the apartment with some of our neighbors.
While the Toddler has been busy with school, swimming, potty training....the baby has been busy being super cute..
She is really a good sport with me messing with her hair.
She got to see her cousin Josh.
And she figure out how to do this!! She isn't exactly crawling....at least not effectively she just gets up on her hands and knees and does a cute little scooting motion which usually results in her going backwards. It is hard to believe that she is 5-months-old already!! She is spitting up less and less (which is still a whole lot!). She is super happy, always singing, cooing and laughing!
Overall so far so good here in Vegas. We will happily report the progress of the house! And we are soooo excited for our visitors coming this weekend! In the meantime we will just keep enjoying these fun kids of ours!!
