Sophie was the easy one???

Wow, where to begin? I guess I can start with the title. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Sophie our "fussy" one is fussy no more! On last Monday before we moved I took her to a dermatologist for her skin. I sooooooo wish I would have done this sooner. Her eczema was just so bad and the doctor said she was probably just dying itching. So, after being told that we COULD use a steroid cream on her for short term use, along with lots of moisturizing with Aquafor, and a switch to Aquanil for bath time, we have a VERY different little baby on our hands. The effect of the steroid cream was pretty much immediate. We saw a drastic improvement just in the first day or two of use. Now she's a happy baby who squeals and coos and smiles when she's awake and sees us. Talk about relief! I just wish I would have thought to take her in sooner.

So, with Sophie doing better and the help of our "supernannies" -- Laura and Sarah -- Scott and I were able to get stuff packed up and ready to go for our move.

Thursday was a beautiful day and Ethan and Grace were soooooo excited. However, nobody was expecting this trip to go off without a hitch, and we hit our very first one when we got to the airport. Before leaving, I bought a Duoglider (double stroller) from a friend to make it easier to transport Sophie (her carseat can just click right in) and Grace (who is our notorious run-away). Well, I had never used it yet and I couldn't figure out how to open it up. I knew there was a latch somewhere that needed to be released, but I couldn't find it. So, picture a scene where Sophie is crying in the car and Ethan and Grace are running all over the place and Scott is trying to get all our luggage checked in by the skycap outside and there you have me trying in vain to open up the stroller! It was at this point that I realized we might be embarking upon a nightmare.

(Here's a shot of that unopened stroller)

I finally found the latch, and got the kids loaded up in the midst of Ethan throwing a fit because he wanted to ride in the stroller and Scott running to get one of those cart things to load up all our car seats (because they don't check those on) and various carry-on bags that we needed to take with us because we had already checked our limit of luggage.

Getting through security wasn't too bad and we eventually got to our gate. However, we have this tradition where anytime we fly out of the Salt Lake airport we always buy a book from this one bookstore, and we hadn't done that yet. I'm insane or something because I decided that I HAD to go back to the bookstore to get something for the flight, which looking back on it I really don't know what I was thinking because its not like I was going to have any time on the flight to actually read it. I could tell Scott was kind of nervous about it because our flight was scheduled to leave in about 40 minutes and pushing the stroller with Ethan and Grace in it would take at least 7 or 8 minutes each way leaving not much time to browse around finding a book. So, fast forward about 25 minutes later, and the next scene you can envision is one of me running through the airport pushing a double stroller and inwardly freaking out that I'm holding up the whole plane. When I got to the gate Scott was literally one of the only people left there holding Sophie and with a look on his face that told me he was freaking out the same as I was.

(Here are the kids pre-bookstore jaunt)

(Also pre-bookstore jaunt)

So, we got on the plane and the nightmare continued when for some reason I totally was having these panic attacks all during take-off. Seriously, I don't know what was wrong with me. I don't usually get super nervous about flying, but I was freaking out. The funny thing was that Grace wanted to hold MY hand and the whole time I was clutching hers with a death grip!



And now for the next scene to picture. Sophie was a super champ and had fallen asleep in Scott's arms almost immediately (and slept the whole time!) and I was in the row behind with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Grace was going on day 2 without a nap and Ethan was so excited he was literally bouncing up and down in his seat. He kept saying over and over again "This is SO. MUCH. FUN!" I'm glad it was fun for him, because for the next 3 1/2 hours I had to deal with them fighting over the toys I had bought for the plane and listening to Grace whine and cry that she wanted to get up and sit with dad and still feeling slightly weakened from my sprint through the airport followed by my panic attacks at the beginning of the plane ride. The whole time I just kept telling myself that at least this was a shorter nightmare than driving would have been.

Getting the rental car when we got to Cincinnati was also an ordeal -- although we were able to fit all our luggage in the minivan thanks to the "stow -n-go" in the back. That was a minor miracle because we were expecting to have to get a cab in addition to the rental car in order to get all over our suitcases to the hotel that night. By the time we GOT to the hotel it was already almost 9 and the kids had had a long day. But of course, my children cannot sleep in hotel rooms when we're all together, and it was past midnight before they finally fell asleep.

On the way to the rental car

The next day we were able to move right in to our (unfurnished) apartment and the festivities continued to follow us. Starting with a trip to Wal-Mart. I'm sad to say that I became one of THOSE parents you see losing it with their children while shopping. None of us were going on much sleep here, and we were trying to get way too much stuff at once, but what else could we do? We attempted to furnish and stock the apartment as cheaply as possible, although cheap is a relative term considering -- t0 date -- we've made FOUR trips to Wal-Mart, 2 trips to Goodwill and have managed to fork out over 600 bucks on STUFF.

A shot of the city as we were driving over the bridge

We're all sleeping on air mattresses (which is KILLING my back, so as soon as possible I plan on finding a used queen sized mattress for us to buy). And the only "real" furniture we have is a kitchen table, a TV stand, a DVD player and a television (and an un-usable TiVo box which we dragged with us but which we will most likely not be able to use because of needing to spend even MORE money to get all the wires to make it work here).

I've already had a visit on Monday from our downstairs neighbor who wanted to know if we will be home all day every day. Apparently she works from home and my children are "extremely loud starting from very early in the morning." She looked visibly relieved when I told her we'd only be here for the summer. In her defense, the kids had been spiraling OUT OF CONTROL that whole morning due to sleep deprivation. The irony was that by the time she came up to talk to me it was nap time and all three kids had fallen asleep and it was actually blissfully quiet. I met our upstairs neighbor yesterday, and she negates the downstairs one because she is so nice and friendly. She also works from home, but in contrast to the downstairs one she has offered her help for whenever I might need it.

And now for the reason why I'm able to blog away during the middle of the day -- for the third day in a row, the kids are all asleep at nap time:




(I've finally given up on trying to get Sophie to sleep in the pack n' play -- she just doesn't stay asleep in it -- and we've reverted to having her sleep in her carseat. I'm just hoping she doesn't develop a flattened head and need to wear one of those helmet things to correct the shape.)


Despite all the headache of moving with 3 young kids, we actually really love the area we're in. Our ward on Sunday was awesome and we've already gone over to some new friends' house to play and been invited to go with a play group to the zoo. Our aparment complex has a pool -- which is AWESOME as a bribe/threat with Ethan -- and there is also a little playground which, while dinky, is something to do during the day. So, really I shouldn't complain.

Our only dilemma now is trying to figure out how to get Scott to work everyday. The nearest bus stop is a lot farther away than we were led to believe and in order to get there in the morning we'll most likely have to drive him since it takes about 25 minutes to walk to, and he's going to need to catch the 7:10 bus in order to get to work on time. While this might not seem like that big a deal because its not all THAT early, it is a big deal when I'm still not getting a full night's sleep because of a nursing baby. Today he just took the car, which is fine, but it costs money to park the car downtown and there will be days where I will not want to be stranded at home all day long. I'm hoping before long that the baby will be sleeping for longer stretches at night, and then it shouldn't be a big deal to take him to the bus stop every day.

Random side-notes:

I bought Peter Pan for the trip and Grace really likes it. However, when I asked her if she wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween she said "No! I want to be Peter Pan!" Ethan wants to be Daisy Duck.

Also, I'm currently addicted to Pop-Tarts. Frosted cherry ones to be exact. Grace is now officially addicted to Otter pops. We bought our first box of the season yesterday.

Grace has way too much attitude for a 2 year old. I feel like I'm dealing with a teenager already.

And I know this is really lame, but I don't know how I'm going to live without TiVo for the summer. How am I supposed to watch episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" over and over again? Or any other show for that matter? iTunes only has so many shows for sale. *sigh*

Okay, that about sums everything up. I know this is long, but its been a long past week. I hear Grace waking up, so I guess my peace and quiet is over for the day.

Ta-ta for now!