Today is one for the records...

I really want to start writing more, so I can go back and relive some of the moments that I cherish most everyday.

Connor finally started getting his first tooth a couple of weeks ago at almost 11 months. Melanie has 2 now.

Saturday, March 1, Jason was cooking & I was feeding the babies. His back was to them & Melanie was kind of yell-grunting to get his attention. She finally raised her hand and, as if something just CLICKED, she said, "HI! HI!" Jason turned around and she was thrilled. She's been doing it ever since. She says hi to the car when we get out, says hi to the sign at daycare when we get there and when we leave, and she said hi to the door today when Jason brought her in from the car. It's absolutely the cutest thing I've ever seen. Although her first word was "mama" or "ama," she uses that word anytime she wants something, to be picked up, fed, whatever, but I feel like "Hi!" is really her first word because she understands she is communicating AND she repeats it when you do it. She's even said hi to the grandparents on Skype.

I'm almost done pumping. I've made it 11 months. While I feel lucky to have been able to nourish my children, give them antibodies & other good stuff, it has been A LOT of work. I hate having to go sit in a room alone for 30 minutes when we are visiting with friends or family. It's a pain to watch babies, keep them out of stuff, keep them away from the pump & hoses & keep them from pulling it off onto the floor. It's frustrating to be tethered to a machine! Only 21 more days. Oddly enough, as much as I hate it, I get a little freaked out about stopping. This is the ONE time in my life I will lactate. I have no plans to have more children, so once I stop, there's no going back. It's such an amazing thing, so have provided the ONLY food my TWO babies survived on for the first 6 months of their lives. We did supplement with formula here and there, but most of their meals were breast milk. It really is an intense feeling to know that you have provided for 2 amazing little people in so many ways.

Now to the reason today is one for the records: Jason lost his job. It's been a long time coming. He really needed to make the change himself, but we were hoping that the company would, after him working there for 6 years, lay him off and give him a severance. He didn't get a severance.

So where does this leave us? Well, for a while the plan has been to move to Arizona. The cost of living is considerably cheaper than it is here on the beautiful California coast. For starters, we will pay $1200-1400 rent for a house the same size we are in now (4 bdrm, ~2000 sq ft). Now we pay $2800. We are going to start looking for jobs there & see what happens.

What will I miss? The temperate weather. The house we moved into together after only being together 5 months. The room where he proposed to me. Our babies' first room. And memories before this... Living in Motel 6, one coworker's guest room (John Perlin), & another coworkers extra room for 7 weeks while I looked for a place here. Having a clothes bar in the back seat of my Passat for my closet & plastic drawers in my trunk for other stuff. My apartment where I lived alone for 5 years.

And our friends. Dan, Holly, Aubrey, Gayle. I will miss them a lot.