Just for you Mom

Roll Roll Roll

So apparently Liza is quite the mover now! This is what she has spent most of her time in the last few days doing:

We're having a good time during our last few weeks in NM. Jordan has been really busy at work but yesterday was a regular day off and today we've continued relaxing and just spending some time together as a family. Heidi has been having a good time too. Her friend Louie stayed with us Thursday night and Friday, and now Bentley (another doggie friend) is here until Thursday the 2nd. Heidi has been doing a lot better with another dog here. She likes being able to play more and she eats better with another dog waiting to finish her left-overs... I'm not sure what this means for us concerning a companion for Heidi...

Last weekend we went to San Antonio to visit Jordan's brother Noah and to go to Caleb's (a friend of Jordan's from the Academy) wedding. We had a really great visit. We got to spend some time with Noah, go to Sea World, see some of Jordan's USAFA friends, meet Jeff and Sara (some friends of ours from Alamogordo who moved a year ago) for lunch, and rid our car of an ant infestation. Yes, that's right. An ant infestation. It was gross. Noah (thank you SO much by the way) helped me vacuum out the car several times. It didn't work until we found the nest under the hood. After we got rid of that we didn't have anymore problems... eww.

Since we were driving back from San Antonio on Sunday we decided to postpone our Father's Day until yesterday. Jordan had the day off so he had a nice time relaxing and catching up on some sleep from going into work VERY early this last week. Liza and I made him a painting. It was a mess. It was supposed to be her feet and hand prints, but Liza didn't want to cooperate at all! I guess she had her own ideas of what she wanted her painting to be. We made a mess but it turned out well and I think Jordan really enjoyed his Father's Day. We also went to the new Transformers movie which a nice chance for just the two of us to get out on our own.

Here are some recent pictures of Liza:

Liza and Heidi's friend Louie

On our way back from San Antonio, I was feeding Liza and she sneezed with a big mouthful of Squash...

After Sea World Liza was hot and exhausted. I put some wipes on her to cool her down

These next few pictures are from the mess we made with Jordan's Father's Day present.

busy 2 months

Well, it has been a very busy several months. Here's a recap, since I have been noticeably absent here for a long time.

Our house was on the market for 3½ weeks before we had an offer on it. During those 3½ weeks we had a fair amount of interest, but no bites. So we both left town for 2 weeks, and while we were gone somebody came and looked, liked our house, and decided to make an offer on it. I was in classes all day, so Sarah had to take care of the whole process by herself from about 1500 miles away. She did a great job. After about 15 seconds of negotiating, we settled on a price that both of us were happy with, and we soon enjoyed the thought of selling our home soon. Tip: if you are selling your house--and especially if you are selling it without a realtor--I would recommend not leaving town for an extended period of time.

The next 6 weeks (before closing) were very busy. I was in California for some classes, and when I came back I had to go to the Air Force Academy for a presentation, and then we had to get busy. There were a few things to do around the house in preparation for the sale (not very many) and then actually take care of moving out.

As we found out, moving is a little bit stressful. And we're wimps--we didn't even have to do anything. The Air Force provided movers came in, packed up all of our stuff, and loaded it onto a truck in 2 days as we sat around sipping lemon water. If we had a pool we probably would have been sitting by it. It was still a bit stressful though.

The buyers of our house were moving in very shortly (2 weeks before closing), but before they did we had time for one last gathering, so we had a housecooling party. It was--naturally--BYOC, and we ate ice cream and we gave away presents instead of accepting them. The presents were not that desirable though, so don't feel bad if you missed our party.

A week after we moved out the buyers called us and said that the air conditioning wasn't working. I went over to troubleshoot, and after seeing that it was still plugged in I realized that it could not possibly be worth my time and money. We called a friend who is a contractor, and he brought an electician over after work the next day and fixed our house-wide electrical problem for a completely reasonable amount of money.

We spent a great Memorial Day weekend in Phoenix with the Gertisers, and when we came back I took Tuesday off for our 2nd anniversary! We got to go out to a very nice restaurant for dinner and then went to see Star Trek. Sarah's present had not arrived in the mail yet, and in fact it still hasn't, so she is anxiously waiting without even an expected delivery date.

Two days before closing the buyers called and said that there inspection had revealed an undersized pressure relief line on the water cooler and they wanted us to fix it so that it wouldn't explode. After much angst, we had that fixed in a day by the same friend. Thanks Troy!

Closing went remarkably smoothly, and even with the angst over the water heater it turned out the easiest week I have ever had in my life. I worked for two days and between my actual job and the house sale, I made over $10,000. Not bad....

So now we are houseless. We are staying in the house of some people on base who are gone all summer. It is a nicer house than the one we used to own, and it is furnished with nicer furniture than we have. Also, our whole family is here together, so despite being houseless, we are in no way homeless.

While all of this has been going on, work has been kind of crazy too. We typically work 9 days every 2 weeks, and for the very first time I had to go in on my off Friday to get some work done. I don't mind one bit though, and it is still a completely stress-free but rewarding job. I will probably be busy until I leave now, which is fine with me.

That's our house. In the meantime Liza has continued to grow and learn. She is currently squirmy during 95% of her waking hours, and the other 5% is probably when she is eating (although sometimes she squirms while she eats too). When we put her on the floor she will roll and twist all around the room, making her way over to whatever catches her fancy and trying to put it in her mouth. I expect her to start crawling any day now. She is done with her pacifier, which makes naptime and bedtime a little more harrowing, but only for the 3 minutes that it takes for her to fall asleep. And she is of course very cute.

Phew! We're finished!

This past week was a very busy week for me! Last Saturday we started really organizing our things and packing what we need for our move to OH. We started by going through everything to be sure that the movers wouldn't pack things that we need or didn't want and then we loaded our cars up with as much heavy stuff as we could fit. (We get paid for the stuff we take in our cars to OH by weight) Even though we're not actually going until August we had to make sure that it would all fit when we do leave! We finally finished all of our packing on Sunday after a great Mother's Day.

--- (sidebar) Jordan and Liza made me a picture frame with Liza's hand prints on one side!

Also, Jordan gave me roses and they both brought me breakfast in bed! Here are some

pictures from Mother's Day:

On Monday, the packers came to begin the process of packing all of our stuff into boxes. They worked most of the day and finished up on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon the movers came and packed everything on the truck!

Also, Bill was in town and came over for lunch Tuesday. We had a great time visiting and Liza decided that she found a good place to sleep.

Wednesday I got a chance to organize our stuff where we're staying now and Thursday I hung out at our house while the cleaners came and cleaned everything! (Even the oven and the refrigerator! It was great!) Friday was the rehearsal for my friend's wedding. We had to decorate before and after and Saturday was the wedding! Today we went to church and then to lunch with our friends Caleb and Manda. Finally, this afternoon we've had a chance to relax. It's been great to put my feet up and not worry about anything for a couple of hours.

Liza has been great through all of the busyness but she's starting to get into everything! She surprised me twice on Thursday when she managed to squirm out of a few places where she previously could not. Let me show you what I mean:

When I was paying the cleaning lady and getting my stuff ready, I left Liza in her car seat (unbuckled) for 5 minutes tops. When I came back, this is what I found:



Later the same day you would think that I had learned my lesson but I had not. I put Liza in her bouncer while I did some dishes. When I heard Liza grunting I thought she was just trying to grab the hanging toys like normal so I didn't turn around to look. When I finally did check on her I found her trying to reach Heidi's ball:

She sure is a cutie! She loves to roll around everywhere and get into whatever she can get her hands on. She especially loves to pull on the curtains.

6 months

Things are busy for the Firth Family this week! The movers are coming on Monday so we're working on getting everything ready and organized. Liza doesn't care if we're busy or not she still has growing to do and she's good at it! Here are some recent pictures of little Liza who isn't so little anymore. Today, our precious baby girl is 6 months old!

This one is from a Seder Dinner that I went to just before Easter

Hey I'm awake in here! Let me out!

Leave her alone for one second and she starts eating the flowers...

This one is for the Firths:

Still hates tummy time but it's getting better

Liza is VERY good at sitting up now. It won't be long before she's doing it all the time on her own.

First Cold

Liza has been sick since Tuesday. She woke up with her first cold and has been fighting it ever since, but I think she's feeling a lot better:

Also new for Liza this week is her second tooth! I just noticed it today. It's her bottom right front tooth this time and again, she doesn't seem too fussy about it. We've got plenty of drool of course but I think that other than that it's not bothering her too much.

Together again but not for long...

So we finally all made it back to New Mexico on Saturday! We took a family day on Sunday because this morning (Monday), Jordan left us again! :-( He's only gone for 2 days this time though so I think Liza and I will make it. We're definitely looking forward to some time together at home with no one going anywhere!

That is until our home becomes someone else's home! Currently the plan is to move everything out on May 11th and 12th and have the new owners move in on the 15th! After that, we'll be moving on base to stay at our friends' house. They are out of town until August so it works out perfectly! Liza and I will be leaving at the end of July to find a place to live, and Jordan will follow shortly after at the beginning of August. I know that this time is going to go by so quickly. I hope that we'll be able to spend lots of time with our friends before we go.

Liza is changing so much! She has her bottom left front tooth coming in and she's chewing on everything she can get her hands on. She's much heavier (though I'm not sure just how heavy) and so alert and grabby. Yes, she likes to grab everything. When we sit at the table, we have to be sure to leave a good 12" radius cleared of things not suitable for babies. She's so much fun and such a blessing to have. I can't imagine our lives without her at this point. She's got the cutest little laugh and is so easy to please. I've told this to several people already, but she sure is good for my ego! Apparently I'm the best looking and funniest person she knows! (Good girl Liza, I've trained you well!)