Merry Merry Christmas!

We played Santa last night and filled his little stocking with two balls, crayons, monsters inc coloring book, little Sesame Street figurines, and a mike Wazowski ornament. We also set up his "big" (affordable) farm house with animals and noises and more balls.

He came down those stairs and Bryan got video and he went right for that farm. He said all the animals names and put the balls down the silo (even tried to shove a pig down too). It was so cute!

Good thing we're with the grandparents this year, so Bradley got truly treated to a good Christmas! He got great stuff, we got great stuff and we've spent the whole day with family loving on each other, cheesin' for pictures and taking naps.

Merry Christmas! It's a wonderful one this year. :)

The new home

I'm sitting here with a glass of cabernet folding laundry and watching Love Actually in my new home.

I can because Bryan came up early. He drove up Tuesday night and within the last 36 hours, we have unpacked everything, hung up all our pictures, and cleaned up. The house is done!!!*

We are home. We've had our friends Isaac and Julia over twice for meals. Last night, I made a salad, homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade garlic bread with craft beer and two kinda of wine. We ate on real plates. Drank wine from glasses. Sat at a table with a tablecloth with pretty salt and pepper on it. It was home.

Today, I went shopping with Julia and we took the kids. Half great, half nightmare. Toddlers are wildly unpredictable and so very quick to change moods. Multiply by two (how and why do people have more than one kid?!?)

Bryan was so sweet and hung up all our pictures, decorations and art. He was not too pleased with my precise directions, but it looks great and it's over! It's up. It's done!

And now I can relax and fold laundry and enjoy my movie (and perhaps some pie). I'm home. We're home. This is home.

Note: pictures when I clear space on my phone!

*except curtains. We need to buy some rods and double check the length from our last place.

We made it to Champaign.

Hello from the new apartment! We landed Saturday and got the keys and promptly went to our friends house for food, drinks and a nap for the baby.

Yesterday, the movers brought everything into the house, so naturally, I stayed up so very late to unpack everything. I finished the kitchen (boy, am I glad we minimized!), the dining room and the living room (save for electronics and picture frames).

It feels so nice to have our stuff again. We've been living with friends for a week now, and it's great to be in my bed, drinking from our cups, sitting on our couch, playing with Bradley's toys and using my bathroom stuff. It feels like home!

Tour coming soon. I love it. It's freezing (literally 0 degrees) and snowy, but it's home. I am so happy.

Alert! The kid knows we're moving!

Okay, I'm not sure he knows what it means to move, but I think he is understanding that something is happening. Something big.

Toys are disappearing. Decorations are disappearing. Parents are packing.

So our baby has become so clingy. He's always a mamas boy, but since Thanksgiving, Bradley has been calling Mama and giving hugs and running for me and sitting in my lap.

(Side note: Wow, now that I read that, it's the sweetest thing I've ready, but I've been encouraging him to play with something or be with someone else, but maybe I need to just soak up this love because he might really need me now and also he won't always want this. Wow, tomorrow I'll hold those hugs longer.)

He knows something is happening. 

We've tried explaining the idea of moving, teaching him the sign for moving and talking about it. But I think nothing can prepar him.

Tomorrow, we have pods coming. Then we have movers coming. Oh, and Bryan teaches until 1. My babysitter is in class and my friend is sick. Bradley and I will attempt this (praying for a nap for him while all this goes down). But I'm not worried. I'm not stressed. We can do it. 

And we move so soon. Saturday. I can't wait to see what it's like. This chapter was short. Onto Chapter Champaign.

Tip from the husband: don't worry.

Okay, as wives are known for doing, I share my opinions with my husband about everything, sometimes including opinions about how he could be better. Ha!

Well, Bryan just handed me one.

"Don't worry," he says.

Oh yeah, don't worry. How? Howwww? I just don't know how not to worry. And also, now? We are moving! In less than forty eight hours! 

"Just don't worry. Just relax," he says.

Well, I'm going to try it. I'm going to pack up the remaining things in my house, unpack from our last trip, coordinate the pods and the movers, take my Chinese final, perform my last comedy show in Oklahoma and fly to another state this Saturday. And NOT WORRY.

Let's see how it goes. Experiment: Listen to Husband. Commence.

Only after this photo dump from thanksgivings!

Thanksgiving Eve

Last night I (may have) had te rest of our bottle of wine. Right before passing out, I told Bryan the long list of things we had to do before we left for Florida. Then I passed out, feeling good to get that off my chest.

I woke up this morning ready for a lazy day of packing and naps. Bryan woke up with a list.

What is happening?!

He completed the list and gave me a list. I ran all my errands, came home to a sleeping baby and a husband who finished his list plus downloaded movies on the iPad. 

So I thanked him (wink) and we took a nap. Our kid is still sleeping!

It's time to eat up our leftovers (last nights pizza and Japanese curry from a friend) and then head out for the airport. 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My family does it right (hahahaha debate). We get a giant turkey, all the family comes in (on odd years) and we eat, watch football, hang out, play football and eat pies! 

Ode to Champagna!

Oh, Champaign-Urbana, Champagna!

Thine wonders shine

Through google maps and text message.

Those who have been,

Those who have lived near,

Those two dear friends living there now:

All tell of your coming glory.

From the dusty small town,

From the metropolis of WalMart,

From the six minute commute,

From the quiet, dark corner of Oklahoma

Comes the Buckleys.

Oh, Champagna!

Thy has many wonders.

Thine hast a Chipotle, a mall

A Target, a Target, a Target!

A major highway

38,000 students, an airport, a YMCA,

and a real Flat Top Grill.

Here we come to eat your food.

Here we come to attend events.

Here we come to hang out.

Here we come to play.

Here come the Buckleys.

Countdown to Move: 9 Days

I posted two weeks ago that last week would be a crazy week. Well, boom, it was. It was really crazy.

My friend gave birth.

It got freakishly cold.

There was a full moon.

And it was our last full week at home in Oklahoma.

So naturally, the week consisted of packing, stressful "discussions" about packing and moving, eating the rest of our pantry items, and teething.

Yikers.

Also, a spark came back. We remembered our old us. We used to move all the time. At Clemson, one of us was moving at least once a year. Then we moved to North Carolina, then Philadelphia and then, Oklahoma. We have lived here a long time. Longer than we thought we would.

But now were moving. We are us again! We are vagabonds again. Silly nomads into the next chapter. We have only each other, plus the tiny human half me/half Bryan. We have to remember how we used to be. We have to remember how to pack, what to take, what to leave, what to sell, what to tods. We have to do things quickly and efficiently. 

And what we have forgotten, (how did we?) is that we are a really good team. We totally balance. Bryan does not care about perfect, he cares about done. I need to sometimes give up perfection, especially during a move. He is great at packing electronics, squares/rectangles into boxes and getting things from high shelves. I am great at labeling and writing, cushioning with towels/blankets/paper, and throwing things away. We take advantage of comparative advantage (Wow. Wife of an economist, sorry!). We are a whirlwind of get it done. 

So we can sit on the couch and watch Parks and Rec.

So soon, we will be in our new place. It seems so hazy. Like, is it really going to happen?

We will celebrate thanksgiving and Christmas before we are all together in our new apartment. And then, it shall begin.

Until then, pardon my silence as I pack up an entire house with a toddler and celebrate three major holidays (thanksgiving, Christmas, 5 year anniversary) within a month and a half. It's gonna be a crazy ride.

We are so ready for it. Go Team Buckley.

Spoiler alert: Bradley brag

I have really enjoyed my time at home. More than I thought. I told Bryan last night that I'm not sure I'm ready for a 40 hr work week again. I enjoy all these little moments, teaching Bradley, seeing him grow and learn and do things he couldn't do the day before. I like how relaxed I am. I like how clean the house is. I like being able to go to the gym everyday. I like cooking again. I like taking my Chinese class. I like how my marriage is. I just like it.

We have finally finished purging. We went through 9 boxes that have followed us from our first place together and have now just two boxes: wedding memories/dating memories and a box of comedy/humor/college memories. Everything else is shredded or trashed. It feels great!

This year for Christmas, I don't want anything. What is wrong with me?!

Bradley Brags:

He can say so many things now:

-animal noises oink, raaaaar!, neigh, hoo, and corresponding animals: cow/moo, cat/meow, dog/ruff, goat/maa, bird, duck/quack, brown bear/raar, lizard

-food: banana, raspberry, blackberry, blue berry, cracker (omg obsessed!), cookie, cheese, bread, poon (spoon), ork (fork), pepper, ot dah (hot dog), eeee o (Cheerios), pear, apple, broc (broccoli), milk, juice, water, peas

-things: chair, tick (stick), box, shoe, door, car, book, mote (remote), tee (tv), pad (iPad), roomba, up, down, bath, nurse, noo (necklace), pacifa (pacifier), art, yellow, purple, blue, outside

-body parts: head, toes, fee (feet), belly, belly buh (belly button), penis, nose, mouth, eyes, ears, hair, hat

-toys: lee (Lego), car, block, dog, popper, ball, duck, whale

-people: mama, dada, papa, meme, grapa, grama, lou, bryce, baby, Elmo, Oscar, Bert, big bird (bi bir), cook (Cookie Monster, Mickey 

-phrases: lo you (love you!!!), like that, all done, more, please, thank you, noooo, yessss, ouch, hot hot, coooo (cold), mine, hello, hi, byeeeee

I'm amazed. His language skills have taken off! I know this is the age that kids start learning more words, but it is so cool! 

You have to give everything up to be a mom.

My Chinese class has been a really wonderful part of my fall semester. I started out by taking it for my job. Then I quit my job, and I kept taking it (because I already paid for it) because I needed something challenging, regular, for me.

This isn't the first time I've taken a class at the university Bryan taught at. At Ursinus, I took a digital media course and learned photoshop and flash. It was fun and I learned a lot.

My Chinese class has dwindled from with students to three. Me, Bradley's nanny from the baby days and a guy.

We are learning occupations in class, and yesterday our teacher shared the Chinese word for stay at home mom. She pointed at me and said Alyssa is a stay at home mom. I agreed, but I responded in Chinese that I was other things: a writer, a runner, and a Chinese student. The teacher laughed.

But the guy student said that really I was a stay at home mom. That's what you do. You have to give everything up to be a mom, a good mom. and that's important, I mean you're raising your kids.

Ouch.

I'm not sure what to say except that it didn't feel good and I dont agree and I just feel like I'm doing my best and it's all going pretty well. But I didn't say anything. I just said, I can still have dreams! A kid can't keep me from dreaming. (Gosh, now that I typed it, it sounds so adolescent. Embarrassing.)

Whatever. I'm a lot of things. I'm Alyssa. I'm a mom. I'm a student. I'm a runner. I'm a writer. I'm a comedian. I'm also currently Chair of the Moving Committee. So there's that.

And my kid is adorable. Pictures as proof.