Good times in SC

We only stayed in SC for 3 1/2 days, but we managed to pack in some good Meldau fun!

Playing with the poodles:

Pretending to be a poodle and climbing in and out of the doggy door:

Hanging out with Grandpa:

And getting lots of help from him and Oma:

Bustin' moves on the soccer field! Eliza wanted to run on the field the whole time Abby was playing. She loved cheering for her aunt abby too!:

Wearing Oma's shoes:

Eliza also wanted to wear a dress b/c Oma was wearing a dress!

Eliza had so much fun, she STILL is asking for Oma, Grandpa and Abby. We can't wait to be living close!

Beware the pretty days in March

Eliza took a break from her frolicking for a second in front of this pretty yellow bush in our yard. March seems to be teasing us with just enough spring days to make us starved for the winter weather to finally be gone. I can't wait.

We've introduced a big change into our lives and especially Eliza's-- The Big Girl bed!! AKA- We installed the toddler bar on her crib.

Steve was not very excited about the idea, but I pointed out that if we didn't do it now, we would have to wait until mid-July probably, so as to not overwhelm Eliza with too much change all at once with our move.She's done a lot better than Steve expected, haha. Here's him putting her down for a nap. He's such a sweet dad. Lots of times on his lunch break, he takes Eliza up to her room and he reads her stories and puts her down for her afternoon nap for me. Love it!

But despite the relative success with the institution of the Big Girl Bed, some set backs have included Eliza waking up in the middle of the night knocking on her closed door and calling to us, "where are you?" and we go in and find her crouched by the door in a fetal position moaning quietly to herself. Sooo sad. So now my idea is that we leave her door open a crack because apparently when she's half asleep, she can't manage to open her door like she's usually able to.

The whole thing has left her a little bit tired:

(takin' a break from fun in the driveway. She decided to lie down on the cement just a second after this too.)

Another one of Eliza's most recent obsessions (besides calling for Abby, Grandpa, and Oma) are to "drive" the car and press all the buttons, change the clock time, adjust the radio and air settings and turn on the wipers. It's funny, and she'll do it for like a half hour at a time.

Also her favorite song right now is London Bridges, ands he LOVES for me to rock or swing her back and forth while singing it, not just during the "lock her up" verse (By the way, how creepy are the lyrics to that song??). She usually has me sing it at LEAST 5 x's in a row. She also loves to have me sing the ABC's. She's been learning tons of letters and also can now count to six without help! Sweet!

I'm starting to get stressed about our move and also a little sad about some of the things we'll be leaving or PEOPLE and FRIENDS I'll be leaving behind. I went to the gym and then lunch with some of my friends who I know from work. I'm gonna miss them a LOT a lot a lot!

(Acacia and Donna. Acacia's my gym buddy and Donna's Eliza's best friend/babysitter)

(Amy K., Acacia, Donna)

(Tired Eliza, Me, and Amy K! Amy's the best! She makes me excited to go to work. She has one of the most amazing personalities of anyone I've ever met. She's awesome and rocks the roller derby scene in Charlottesville, and is an amazing counselor/art therapists)

I was worried Eliza wouldn't last long at the restaurant since she was so tired from her Big Girl Bed. Instead, she gobbled up some Thai rice soup and fell asleep in my arms after a verse of London Bridges. Incredible! She NEVER falls asleep in my lap. I enjoyed it, though, because I got to hang out with my friends for hours instead of minutes. Fun!

Guess WHAT!?!

So I guess it's as official as it's ever gonna be!

We're movin' to Lexington, SC!

I have accepted University of South Carolina's Graduate Assistantship offer and have enrolled in their Master's of Social Work Advanced Standing Program.

It was a hard decision. I was accepted to Fordham University, the other school I applied to that was in NYC. And as hard as it was to say no to the adventures of NYC! However, the $20,000 tuition difference and cost of living comparison really helped us make the decision. And who knows where we'll end up after May 2010 when I graduate!

The thing is, everything's happening so fast now! But it's also all falling into place fast too! We feel really lucky.

Classes begin June 1st.

My mom and I found an apartment for Steve, Eliza, Mika, Finnegan, and I to call our new home! I'm super excited about it, and we got a great deal on it too!

Plus, it's like 2 minutes away from Mom, Dad, and Abby's house (driving)! It's kinda funny to think that I'll be living in a place like 1 mile down the road from the house I grew up in. Especially since I kinda never thought I'd move back to SC after moving out and away at 18.

But we're moving in on May 27th! And I'm getting REALLY excited!
Steve has pretty much gotten the go ahead to start a free-lance, work-from-home chapter of his employment at Core Knowledge! Pretty Awesome in this economy to have the convenience of moving a few states away and keeping your job but just doing it from home! So this means that Steve will also be doing more of the "full-time" stay-at-home dad chapter of his life too! And we're both excited about that!

Some boring details that I'm really excited about with the new apartment...
They waved the security deposit for us!
It's only $729/mnth!
It's on the ground level which was an ABSOLUTE requirement. I hated living on the 3rd floor in our first apartment in C'ville with a newborn where I had to lug strollers, groceries, dogs, and a heavy car seat with the infant in it. YUCK.
And our apartment's back landing faces the trees and walking trail which will be great for Eliza and the dog.
It's a 2 bedroom, 2 full bathrooms with a full size washer and drier and a dishwasher, kitchen pantry, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, storage in the back, and air conditioning (a must in SC! especially for Steve who's a wimp in the humidity).

A great perk, though, is that Steve and I both get a free Gold's Gym membership with our 12 month lease! LOVE it!

So, some fun stuff and also a relief that I was already able to find a great spot for us while I was here this weekend.

I also had two interviews today with two different agencies that I might intern at for my fieldwork hours during fall and spring semesters. One of my interviews offered me the internship on the spot, but I'm waiting to hear from the other one that I would rather have. I'll write more about those later on when I get some answers! I felt like the interviews went very well, though, so that's neat!

In the meantime Eliza's having a BLAST with Oma, Grandpa (pronounced kinda like Popa or Hapa!), and Abby.

When I got Eliza up this morning, Mom, Dad, and Abby we're already gone, but Eliza was like, "Abby! Hapa! Where-rrr-ruuu?" She's in love with them, and totally wants to know where everyone is all the time and get them to sing, talk, feed, run, hike, and dance with her. It's so great to see and makes me REALLY excited that we're going to be living together again! and that Eliza will get to have so much nurturing and interaction with her Grandparents and one of her aunts!

And I'm enjoying a break off from work and get to see my momma, baby sister (I call Abby, Boo. It's always been my pet name for her), and dad. Good times!

We'll be heading back Sunday so if anyone wants to call me on the drive, that'd be great!!

Random Tuesday: some sickness, some drawing, some parenting

Many of you know that Eliza and I have been sick for a while. It's so sad (but cute) when Eliza's sick.


I've also been sick and have had some sort of cough/cold for over a month now. And unlike Eliza, I am NOT cute when I am sick. And I've felt bad coughing and wheezing and blowing my nose in front of clients at work.

I finally broke down and went to the doctor today, and he thinks it might be walking pneumonia. NEAT. So I got medicine and an inhaler. And I REALLY hope I'll start feeling better.

But one reason I kept putting off the doctor's appointment was because ELIZA IS CRAZY!!! She cannot be contained!

(I know you're thinking, this SWEET little girl?)

Eliza is obsessed with opening and closing doors recently and managed to like lock the nurses out of the back office for a while while we were in the waiting room.
Then when I was back in the room meeting with the doctor, they had me change into one of those hospital gowns to listen to my lungs and stuff. Eliza was reeking havoc around the room. She climbed into the cupboard under the sink, opened up drawers and started to empty out file folders. Then she asked to be set up on the table thing that has the paper covering it. She had been pretending to snore on it earlier so I thought she'd do that again. Instead she tore and shredded all of the paper off of the table and threw it onto the floor.
Then while the doctor was checking my ears and stuff, Eliza managed to reach the doorknob, open the door and make a run for it down the hall. I ran after to her, trying to pinch my hospital gown together in the back with one hand and catch Eliza with the other! ahhhhh!
We had already gone to the park earlier (where Eliza took a bath in the muddy puddles in outfit #1 of the day) and she hadn't even had a nap yet, so I didn't think she'd have that much energy... but I was sooo wrong.

::Sigh::

Also today...
I guess this is a milestone. Eliza drew on the wall with crayons for the first time today. She LOVES to draw, which we're very happy about. The world is her easel! but I'm not sure if I'm really happy about that.
Observe:
Steve's still going strong, though. Working hard like always! I'm so grateful to have such a hardworking (and extremely talented) husband who is also such a committed and loving dad. He is so good with Eliza, even after he's already put in a long day at work. Yay for Steve!
On the days that I work, Steve wakes up at 6am and catches the bus so that Eliza and I can have the car. Then he works his 8 or so hours and comes home by 3pm, so that I can run to work. Then he chases after Eliza outside and inside for a few hours, feeds her dinner, bathes her, gets her in her jammies, reads her stories, then sings to her in her crib. All by himself.

He rocks my world!

Great News: His and Hers and Eliza's

Amy's News:
I got an exciting piece of mail today!

USC has officially awarded me with a Graduate Assistantship!

So this makes me feel really special/lucky, especially since it involves a stipend AND grants me in-state tuition rates! This would save me about $14,000 for the year (I'm excited that USC thinks I'm worth that)! That's like a part-time job, but I will only have to work one day a week.

I'm really excited about what the work might entail too. I will just be working probably assisting a social work professor in research. And since I think social work's pretty much the most fascinating subject, it sounds like a great deal to me!

Yay! This has USC looking pretty darn good for us! I'm planning on making a trip down next weekend with Eliza to visit Mom, Dad, and Abby and check out USC a little more.

Steve's News:
I also had exciting news today. I got a phone call from NPR and they want me to do a painting for their 10th annual wall calendar (2010). I'm thrilled about it--it's a great opportunity and I love listening to NPR! I'll be sure to let you know when the calendar goes on sale (probably not until Christmastime or so).

And Eliza learned to sing the Hot Dog! song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so that's good news, right?

East to West

Four generations of Morrisons

Eliza got to meet her Great-Grandma Beckstead for the first time a couple of weeks ago! My grandma had a birthday, and Eliza and I surprised her by flying cross-country to see her in Washington. The whole Morrison family was gathered together--my dad and his four brothers, along with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We all hid in the dining room and surprised Grandma when she walked in. She didn't suspect a thing.

It was great to see her again--the last time I saw my Grandma was when I got married, so it's been a while. She is such a funny person, she had us all laughing.

My Uncle David and Aunt Kathy were nice to let us stay at their place, and they didn't even mind when Eliza vomited all over their living room (more on that later).

Eliza loved meeting her (second?) cousin, Cadence. They were good pals and had a good time wandering around together.



It was lots of fun to see everyone and have everyone meet Eliza. Sadly, though, she got very sick while we were there, and a lot of bodily fluids that normally stay inside came flying out into the world. Poor girl! And on the plane trip back home, she threw up on the first flight. Fortunately, I was prepared and had brought a change of clothes in the event that this very disaster occurred. Unfortunately, she had a massive diarrhea explosion on the second flight...Washington to Virginia is a long trip. So that's why when we arrived home, she was half-naked and looking a bit frazzled (see previous post).

But aside from all this unpleasantness, it was delightful to see everyone again, and to watch my Dad's family meet Eliza for the first time. Thanks again for helping us fly out!

Here are more pictures.

Eliza dancing with Grandma
Eliza sitting on Grandpa's lap, listening to the harmonious sounds of accordion music
Eliza helping Uncle Davey with the accordion
Eliza sharing a flower with Grandma

Eliza sharing a flower with a plaster bunny

My dad hitting a wiffle ball with such inhuman strength that it shattered on impact (zoom in on this one!)

This is a painting I gave to Grandma as a birthday gift