About That

Funny how Jack has been out of the Army for over a year and it still has the ability to toy with us like the ocean with tiny sea craft. Due to someone else's inability to deploy due to diabetes, we will not be relocating to New York. Two months worth of plans, excitement, worry and stress now erased like they never happened. I am disappointed about not moving closer to many of our loved ones, but I have to admit to a sense of relief at not having to actually go through with moving house. We've been here for 4+ years now and the idea of uprooting is a bit (okay, a lot) unsettling. Instead, we are focusing on the perks of remaining in our Chesapeake community for the time being.

The week has also been stressful because our beloved cat Bullock ("Wooly" to Petal) ran a fever this week and required veternary services. He has been diagnosed with Feline Immune Deficiency since well before we adopted him, but his symptoms were minimal until recently. He was hospitalized in September but bounced back quickly so we were hoping it was just a blip. However, the hospital visit resulted in our learning about a very new treatment for FIV+ cats. I did some research on it and it seems like it can vastly improve Bullock's prognosis. Jack mentioned it to our regular vet when he brought him in on Tuesday and the vet said he wasn't overly familiar with the new treatment but that he would look into it. He called about an hour ago and said he thinks it would be worthwhile to give it a shot! I'm really happy about this. Bullock will get a shot once a week for three weeks, then if blood work shows improvement he will continue to get a shot once a month for the rest of his nine lives. We first learned about FIV when we adopted Bullock in February 2009, and we were told that there really wasn't anything we could do as far as his prognosis. It's amazing that not even three years later there is a treatment so effective that, in rare cases, it has completely cured some cats of FIV. When I was a junior in high school, our family lost two kittens to Feline Leukemia, a related but more lethal disease. This treatment also works on Feline Leukemia, so while my family and I were powerless to help tiny Gracie and Orson, I am gratified that the technology to let Jack and I make things better for Bullock now exists.

I have a million things I should be doing right now, namely picking up the living room and folding laundry, but I'm refusing to leave the couch because sweet Wooly cuddled up next to me and I don't have the heart to get up and disturb him.

Isn't he adorable?

Score

The early morning hours are not my favorite time to be a parent. Especially icky is when I'm up before the sun gazing bleary-eyed at my daughter, who's ready to start her day. Shakira and I refer to the state of just waking up as blinky, as in "Petal is often blinky after a nap." To add insult to injury, when you're up in the predawn hours with a begging to be entertained baby or toddler, it's all you. Hours until playgroup or until the library and the stores open. The streets and playgrounds uninvitingly chilly with lingering night air. No, the early morning is definitely not the highlight of my day.

As the end of daylight savings time drew nearer and nearer, I resigned myself to at least temporarily having a whole extra hour of early morning time to battle. It seemed inevitable.

So imagine Jack and my delight when on Saturday morning, Petal slumbered until the totally civilized hour of 8 am. We immediately decided to start observing standard time a day early and pushed Petal's schedule back an hour for the remainder of the day. And it seems to have worked. This morning I awoke at 7:15 to a room bathed with sunlight shortly before Petal summoned me through the baby monitor. I could get used to this.

Timely

I've experienced 26 New England autumns. I don't ever recall snow in October. But somehow it managed to find us in Maryland before the trick-or-treaters have had their chance to knock on our door for the year.

Fortunately, the premature arrival of the chilly white precipitation did not prohibit Petal from heading out to explore. A few days ago, a package from family in Connecticut arrived bearing a Halloween onesie, a souvenir troll plate from last summer's trip to Norway, and an outgrown snowsuit worn by two of my cousins. And today while shopping at Babies R' Us, we happened upon a pair of pink snow boots perfect for Petal's tiny tootsies. The snow began while we were in the mall, and was starting to stick by late afternoon. I opened the back door to attempt photographic documentation of the phenomenon, and was met by Petal's wordless but unmistakable expression of interest. So into the snow we went!

Note the leaf she's clasping in her right hand, she knows it's too early to say goodbye to fall!

Hurry up and wait

Jack's been out of the Army for over a year now, but, not surprisingly, this phrase can also be applied to non-military federal employment. Despite the fact that the guy Jack is taking over from is leaving in 2.5 weeks, HR is taking their typical sweet time with the paperwork and the date of our arrival in the Empire State is still TBD.

Without a timeline, it's hard to take this move seriously. With the exception of asking my parents to store some outgrown baby clothes for the next relative to pop out a baby (Shakira? My dear cousin TechnoBunny? Nothing would make me happier!) as well as some of my pre-preggo wardrobe and some baby items I need to return to generous lenders, I have done zilch as far as packing. My mother-in-law kindly pointed out over Skype that she could see the books in my bookshelf and that I could pack them, but I don't see the point yet. Yawn. Laziness, thy name is Fairweather New Englander.

In complete denial that the military will not be handling this move for us and that there are things we need to be doing, we've been out enjoying a glorious autumn. Petal has visited the biergarten (loved the accordion,) the pumpkin patch (which went much better than last year,) the renn fest (not such a fan,) and apple picking (see below.)

Tomorrow we will finally be getting our act together. Jack has taken the day off of work and we are meeting with a potential property manager and a potential contractor to make some repairs to the basement. Last night, Jack informed me that the property manager might be interested in taking some pictures of our house if "it [wasn't] too cluttered." I just about fell off the couch laughing. Don't get me wrong, I love our home and all its eclectic reminders of our slightly kooky life, but from a real estate perspective, the decor is a bit of a nightmare. I would take a picture but Petal pulled about a third of the books off the bookshelf and I haven't gotten around to putting them back yet. I wasn't kidding about the laziness.

Island Living

There's something about the idea of living on an island that's always been very appealing to me. The plethora of beaches is a big draw, but I also like the idea of a community with defined borders, without the haziness with respect to delineation found so often in suburbia.

It could be in my blood, my mom's family comes from a small coastal island in Norway south of Bergen.

And of course Jack and I were married on the beautiful island of Nantucket

When we found out that we would be moving to New York, we initially thought that we would live in the borough of Queens, birthplace of my father.

But then we realized that we could get much more house for our money in another community, which happens to have the advantage of being a barrier island with some killer beaches.

Long Beach, here we come.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well, now that I have the blog all spiffed up for autumn, I suppose it's time to spill my guts. In a month, we're moving to New York.

Jack landed a job with an organization he's been trying to get into for awhile. For a year, he will be working at JFK airport. After that, who knows?

We're headed up there this weekend to scope out the area and decide if we want to go urban and get an apartment in Queens or opt for more space and fewer public transit options on Long Island. Decisions, decisions.

We're nervous about all the upheaval but pleased as punch that we will be residing so much nearer to New England and all the family and friends we love there. And of course we are psyched to be moving so close to our illustrious New York intimates.

Her Last Day of Babyhood

The hours in which my sweet sweet Petal can be called a baby are rapidly dwindling. Tomorrow she will be a toddler. I usually eagerly embrace each of Petal's new stages and milestones without shedding a tear of remembrance for the previous phase, but the loss of the descriptor "Baby" is really bringing out my melodramatic side. Oh how I love my girl.