It's really all going to fit

It's hard to believe, but we are really going to pack everything we own plus a baby and a dog into one trailer and two cars in less than two weeks. We sectioned off part of our dining room in the size and shape of the moving trailer and we've been filling it with boxes. We are almost done and we have filled 67% of our trailer space (Jay's estimate). (Don't worry, Blue will not actually be packed into the trailer like in the picture).


It would actually be quite easy to fit everything into the trailer if we didn't have several big items, like multiple bikes and bike parts, a big jogging stroller, and piles of camping equipment. But those are the things we will be especially glad to have once we are out there.

We have gotten rid of almost all of our furniture, except for a few pieces that break down. And there is very little left in any of the rooms now. It feels really good to have gotten rid of so many things. Here's our bedroom, just a mattress on the floor and two duffel bags of clothes to last until California.


By the way, did you know that 15,000 grey whales migrate past the coast near San Francisco each year? And that the best time and place to see them is mid-January from the Point Reyes lighthouse? The lighthouse is 18 miles from where we'll be living.

(photo from http://www.nps.gov/pore/)

And don't forget about the breeding colonies of elephant seals, harbor seals and sea lions. If you're into that sort of thing.

(photo taken from http://www.nps.gov/pore/naturescience/animals.htm)

We have packed away most of Anja's toys, but we kept out her new toys for the trip, and everything we think may help us entertain her on the drive out west. She absolutely loves this Mozart music box. It plays several different tunes, and each button on the box plays a different instrument:


The house is very unbabyproofed right now and Anja is very mobile, so we have asked our friends to help us watch Anja for a few hours a day so we can pack. Today our friend Carol stopped by for a few hours, and later our friend Leah came over for another couple of hours. (Carol, that nap Anja started when you left only lasted about 10 minutes!) It was great having some help, and Jay finished most everything in the basement while I packed up the rest of Anja's room. It's also nice to spend some time with friends before we leave, at a time when we really can't stop packing to go visit anyone.

Anja would still like to help, though:

Christmas

Just a few quick pictures. We spent 4 days in Illinois with family and now we're packing up the house. Anja had a great Christmas:

Swimming pools and movie stars...

We're going to California!

We are really really excited about what a great job this is for Jay, the terrific prospects I have out there, and how amazing an area of the country northern California is. Here's a photo of the ocean 15 miles from where we will live:


We will also be just as close to redwood forests, and a couple of hours from mountains. More soon!

Swimming pools and movie stars

New Job!

Yesterday Jay received a job offer for a really great position in Petaluma, California. Today he had a phone interview for a job in Raleigh, North Carolina which he will hear back about on Monday. If he is offered that job too, we will have to make a decision quickly. So we will definitely be moving to one of those two places in the next month. This is really good news for us and a huge relief. I have been unemployed since April, and Jay has only been employed part time since September. We exhausted all of our savings months ago and have been receiving financial aid from my parents for several months. It is incredibly difficult to find a job right now, especially in natural resources. We really really needed this.

Well, it just stopped snowing here. It's been snowing since midnight or so and I think we've gotten about a foot. Anja and I are snowed in. Lansing is pretty good about plowing the main roads, but the side streets sometimes aren't plowed for a few days. Our road has not been plowed yet. I've seen a few people get stuck outside the house in the middle of the road already.

I would like to take Anja outside in the snow later if the wind dies down.



It's interesting to see what things Anja likes as she begins to prefer some toys over others. She has always liked this pink elephant, a gift from Alice and Bill. When she hears the music it makes, she always smiles and sometimes comes running.


This made us laugh a lot. Jay found that if you "walk" Anja along the ground with her feet in the air, her legs make a walking motion:

Be careful what you wish for

Except for the first month or so of her life, Anja hasn't been a cuddly baby. I was jealous when other parents would complain about how their baby always had to be carried. Anja just wanted to be put down. Well, lately she has been very clingy, today especially. At the very least, she wanted to be near me, and preferably being carried. I finally had to put her down and let her cry for 10 minutes so I could do some dishes. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped crying. If I moved to a room where she couldn't see me, she would start crying. If I stepped a few feet away to fold some clothes, she would crawl up my pant leg. It is very cute and endearing, but it also made it impossible to get anything done.




Anja totally wins at the standing game. She has really mastered standing in the middle of the floor without any support. She used to crawl to furniture to pull herself up, but she seems pretty happy now that she can just stand up on her own.

Not a big eater

Anja has never been a big eater. Bottle or solid food, she's just not really into it.





Jay left today for California, he has an interview tomorrow. He will give a presentation and fly back on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to some of the things I may do at my internship, and I'm doing okay with the subbing. On Friday I taught at a terrific middle school. The staff and kids were all so nice, and excited about learning. It was a really fun day.