Rewind: Last Day at Work

Yet another milestone celebrated on April 30: my last day at Purdue. With the craziness of the whole week I didn't really feel like I got to relax and enjoy it. My co-workers had planned on a reception in the football team meeting room from 2-4 so when our house closing got pushed back it really caused problems. I was a little late but I still got to enjoy cake and visit with people. It was also our cheerleading coach's last day so we had a joint party. It was nice to have a chance to see a lot of people before I left, some just came for the cake but that was okay too. Karl picked up Ally at day care so she could say good bye too. Once the party wrapped up, I finished up some things in the office and loaded the last of my office things into the car and headed to Harry's with the promotions staff. We enjoyed a little happy hour there and it was packed! Some of our interns joined in and my wonderful bosses supplied the drinks. Big thank you to Barb, Heather, Jackie and Andrew for making my last day a celebration. I was sad to leave everyone and no matter how much I've complained over the last 5 years about the long hours, demanding coaches, needy staff members, etc... I really am going to miss working for Purdue Athletics. Now its time to learn how to be a fan....

Rewind: Closing Day

The last few weeks have been so crazy, I haven't had time to do any updating. Time to go back and recap the last two weeks starting with April 30.

We were scheduled to close on the house at 11:30 but at the last minute, the buyer found some standing water in the air vents in our master bedroom. We had no idea it was there or how it got there so Karl had to do some quick scrambling to get some guys out to the house to take a look. After some staring at the house, two civil engineers determined it was just water collecting in a low spot near the window at the back of the house causing it to back up into the vents. The buyer still wanted the house so we agreed to cover the cost of extending the downspouts further to prevent water from pooling near the house. We were thankful it was minor but it made for a crazy morning. We finally closed at 1 p.m. and I had to rush back to work for my going away party. Here are the last photos taken at our first house. We miss it already!

7 Months Old

Today is a big day for everyone- we close on our house, my last day at work, Ally's last day at day care and she turns 7 months. She is at a really fun age and is working towards two major milestones: crawling and teeth. She is so close to crawling on all fours! Right now she moves backwards really well but isn't so sure about going forwards. She has a little trouble getting on all fours from the sitting position because her one leg just doesn't seem to want to get out of the way, but once she gets to her tummy she wiggles in all directions. She moves quick too and likes to make her move towards tables, book, dog treats, cords, electronics and anything else she can get her hands on. She is grabbing things like she wants to pull herself up but she just cant quite figure that one out yet. It wont be long. We already have made plans to baby-proof the apartment by lowering her crib mattress and removing the coffee table.

As of this morning it looks like her lower right tooth is starting to pop through. Of course she sticks her tongue out every time I want to look but there is definitely something there you can feel. She has been a little congested and extra hungry all week so we think it all ties together. She constantly is putting things in her mouth and drooling like crazy but she has been fairly happy through it all.

Ally still is a wonderful eater and sleeper. She is moving on to the second foods and some of the mixtures like apple/cherry and sweet potato/corn. She also enjoys cheerios, strawberry yogurt melts and banana puffs. We give her tastes of other foods like ice cream, frosting, mashed potatoes, breads from our plates too. She is very advanced when it comes to eating and does very well grabbing the small pieces and putting them in her mouth. She can grab off her tray or from your hand and as long as she keeps it in her finger tips, she can land it in her mouth. Ella certainly doesn't mind the ones she drops!

We are really looking forward to warmer weather and all the cute summer clothes she has. She has some 9 month summer dresses that fit but she can also still wear 6 months onesies and 6-9 month shirts, shorts and pants. We have moved onto the size 3 huggies this week so she needs some more room in those bottoms!

With all the craziness of packing and moving, I didn't get a ton of pictures this month but here are some to enjoy.

Moving Day

Well... we are officially out of our house in West Lafayette. The truck arrived at 8:30am yesterday and was completely loaded and gone by 11:30am. It then arrived at our apartment in Chatham (suburb of Springfield) at 9am this morning and was unloaded by noon. The house still needs some cleaning and we have a few minor things to pick up before we leave this weekend but its almost totally empty. It looks so dirty and sad right now! With some major help from Karl's parents and my dad, we were able to get everything boxed, things taken to storage here in town and staged to be loaded in the truck on time. The storage we have here is packed full with furniture from our spare bedroom, winter clothes, lawn care items, pictures, shelves, etc... and we made a sizable donation to Good Will of various items.

Ally, Ella and I are spending this week at Henry and Sharon's. Friday will be my last day at work and Ally's last day at day care. We also close on the house Friday morning and surrender our keys to the new guy. The good byes have started and its sad but its also exciting to move on to something new. Stressful but exciting! We will be in town for a little going away party Saturday night then we will load up the rest of our stuff into our two cars and head for IL on Sunday.

Below is a photo of our giant trash pile that was put out today. YUCK! The before and after photos of the house are soon to come too. I would add it to this post but its on my digital camera and surprise, the cable to upload to the computer went to Springfield! Hey- if that's the only thing I'm missing this week, I think I did a pretty good job packing.

A Serious Effort Towards Crawling