Walking Until Winter

I love our neighborhood.  It is quiet, yet full of kids.  Our neighbor to the left, to the right, and across the street all have children.  And their neighbors have kids and their neighbors have kids...and so on and so on.  Right now, with Alessia being so young, she obviously doesn't go out and play with them, but I look forward to them "hanging out" in the years to come.

For now, my favorite thing about our neighborhood is the amazing walking/biking trails.  It goes through and around the neighborhood.  It takes you to the playground and pool and around the ponds. Both Alessia and I look forward to our daily walk...sometimes walks.  The weather lately has been gorgeous so I've been taking full advantage of it.  We've been walking 45 minutes to an hour everyday.  It's a win-win situation.  Alessia gets some fresh air, we both get out of the house, and I burn some calories (I say that as I'm downing a Coke).

We love to feed the ducks and geese!

She's gone from hating the stroller to loving it.

All bundled up for a chilly walk.

Sometimes our walk puts Alessia to sleep.

I'm starting to get nervous though.  The weather isn't going to stay gorgeous for long and I obviously can't take her out once winter gets here.  What are we going to do?  I got the idea of swim lessons.  Maybe go once or twice a week.  Perfect...right?  Wrong!  Swim lessons are almost $80 a month.  That's C-R-A-Z-Y!  She's 7 months old.  All we're going to do is float around in the pool while she pees in it.

I'm not trying to be cheap, but doesn't that seem unreasonable?  I thought maybe $50, at the most.  So, for now, we will walk until winter.  Don't worry...I'll bundle her up.

It's Been a Little While

The other night as I was laying in bed, I remembered I had a blog and it occurred to me that maybe I should use some of my free time the time when Alessia is asleep and Kevin is gone to start writing again.  Considering I pretty much spend every waking moment with a 7 month old, it would be nice to "talk" to an audience that actually comprehends what I am saying.

Basically, the last month has been C-R-A-Z-Y!  We packed and moved...again.  But hopefully we are here for awhile.  We've unpacked...almost.  The totes in the garage don't count since they technically are not in the house.  We need about a thousand things, but hopefully we'll get those purchased in the next year or two.  I've learned to manage without a colander and a can opener for now.

Alessia has her own room, which makes both of us happy.  I really do think she likes it since she loves to play with her toys in there.  However, since moving she hasn't started sleeping any better.  It varies day to day.  Before we moved, I was doing so well with the sleep training, but somehow we got away from it.  I no longer nurse her to sleep, but instead we picked up a new habit of patting her bottom and back whenever she wouldn't fall asleep or if she woke up in the middle of the night.  I don't know why it started, who started it, or how it started, but now she wants it.  And I want it to stop because now she can't put herself back to sleep when she wakes up.

So, we started the sleep training again yesterday and it is miserable listening to her cry.  I check on her and try to reassure her that I'm still here, but I feel like the worst person in the world.  I just can't keep getting up two, three times a night.  And sometimes staying up for two to three hours at a time. 

Luckily for us, our horrible sleeper is a great eater.  She LOVES food.  Everything is puréed for now, except for her bananas.  I've tried to give her some chunky stuff, but that really gets her gag reflex going.  The only thing she isn't a fan of is apples, which I thought most babies loved. 

Unfortunately, we haven't really had a chance to venture out and explore our new surroundings.  Since hockey season is in full swing, Kevin is beyond busy.  An adventure for us is hitting up Kroger with a 7 month old or trying to find a stud in the wall to hang a shelf (which we are horrible at).  We are planning a trip to the pumpkin patch soon so I'm super excited for that. 

News Flash: I'm Still Alive

As you all know, my blog has taken a back seat since we got home from Italy.  Things have just been way too busy and hectic.  I always vow that I'm going to quit slacking and make time to blog at least once a week and then something else comes up or I find something else to do.  But I'm going to make that vow again and seriously try to stick to it.

For now, I'll catch you up to speed on what is going on in our lives in as few words as possible.  We are not going back to Europe, Kevin got a job as the goalie coach for the USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, we bought a house in Ann Arbor outside of Ann Arbor, and we move in on Sept 6.  If  you haven't already seen the release of Kevin's hiring, please check it out: Reiter Tabbed as Goalie Coach for NTDP. 

In Alessia news, she is now rolling and doing the army crawl.  She loves to scream and talk, especially when we are watching movies.  And she started solids last week...right now she is only having sweet potatoes (not a big fan) and bananas. 

Sweet potatoes are not a favorite of Alessia's.

In Tricia news, I'm just trying to stay sane until we move in.  I've learned to function on practically no sleep again since Alessia is waking up multiple times at night and boycotting naps and I'm probably going to leave my parents' house ten pounds heavier than when I came because my Dad won't quit buying candy bars (and I have no willpower).  In all seriousness though, I am SO EXCITED to finally have a place to call home.  I'm already decorating the place in my head and cannot wait to reopen all our wedding gifts to see what we got.


I'll leave you for now with the promise of being back in a few days.  And if I break my promise, which is quite possible, then I'll be back in a few months.