There has been lots of cousin kissing:

.

Outside, eating on our deck:

Played with Auntie Megan:

Watched fireworks:

Had more picnics out on the patio:

Written on the sidewalk:

Had an empty house for 3 weeks (the movers were 2 weeks late!):

Walked the trails behind our house:

We’ve only gone out to dinner a few times since being here (vs. the few times a week in San Mateo):

Gone on lots of hikes:

Doesn’t Lucy have a hard life?

Lissa and Tessa:

We are having a blast here!  We love Boise and I think Lu loves it more.  She loves seeing Momma and Daddy so much AND she gets to see TESSA!!!!  Tessa is her very favorite person in whole wide world.  It is so amazing to see them play together and interact.  There is no doubt in my mind that we made the exact right decision in moving here.  I’ve never seen Lucy so happy.

Lucy has become quite the talker.  We’re getting some full sentences out of her and so many new words everyday.  She can now have pretty basic conversations on the phone.  Telling us “I love you!”.  Lu is also learning how to jump.  She likes to “Jump! Jump! Jump!”-she gets about half an inch off the ground but is has to be the cutest thing ever.  She has also learned how to put her shoes on.  She’s been taking them off for months but just this week, learned how to put them on.  She loves to pretend to “go nigh-nigh” in Mommy and Daddy’s bed.  She also knows yellow, pink, white, purple, blue, and red.  She can also count to five now and chimes in on the ABC’s quite often.  She doesn’t know all of her ABC’s but she does know quite a few.  She’s also started going down the big slides (with Mommy and Daddy of course).

I can’t believe that in a little over a month she’ll be 2.  Where has the time gone?

This morning, I was getting ready and Lu and Daddy were playing.  I hear her say from the other room, “I got it off!”  Shaun yelled into me, “Did you hear that?  She said ‘I got it off!”  I’d say that’s her first real sentence that was formed correctly and that she hasn’t heard us say numerous times.  Smart girlie!!!

Lu’s Uncle Larry and Cousin Matt are here visiting and I will have a big post with pictures from that but in the meantime I have some pictures from earlier this week.

A friend from my Mommy board who lives in Kansas is in the area visiting her family.  We met up at the mall on Wednesday and had so much fun.

Mel and I met while pregnant on Baby Center and our group of girls always talked about Starbucks, Target, and Sonic Burger.  We just so happened to go to a mall that had a Target, a Starbucks and a Sonic Burger.  Kismet!

We met at Target, got some Starbucks, and then went and played.

Lu and Emme!

The four of us (kind of).  A better one of Emme:

A super silly one of Lu:

I finished the trip with a Cherry Limeade Slush.

I used to LOVE these things and I was so excited to have a splurge BUT this was utterly disgusting.  It was so sweet and just tasted of syrup.  I drank about a fourth of it and had to stop.

Oh well!

Can you believe that we move in a week?!?!?!

It was a busy and fast visit.

Lu got to feed the fishies:

Pet the horsies:

Picked oranges:

Went swimming at Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Sheri’s:

Blowing bubbles:

Having fun:

Lu LOVED the pool and swam for a good hour.  She was stroking her arms and kicking her legs and LOVED jumping off the side.  She’d yell “Okay READY.  1-2-3!” and then she’d jump in.  She went under a good 10 times because she wanted to.  It was so cute.  She’s really become quite the little swimmer!

We also hung out with the doggies:

The next day we went to the beach (where it was incredibly windy!) and played with my oldest friend’s son Ben.  Lisa and I have been friends since we were 12!:

Isn’t Ben cute?

We went back to Mimi and Papa’s for dinner and Ben did some farming!

The kiddos played!

And then they modeled!

Ben LOVED Lucy:

Look at my girl!

And I picked up Ben and guess who HAD to be in Mommy’s arms?

Lu was such a good girl on the drive down and back.  I hope she can be that great when we have to drive to Idaho!

This weekend she started counting.  She can do 1-2-3-4 then 6 and 10, then “more, more, more” and we do it all over again.  She also started singing “Row, row, row” for Row Row Row Your Boat and her colors are coming along.  She gets red, blue, yellow right about 75% of the time.  Sometimes she’ll get pink and other times green.  Her talking continues to improve and we’re getting more 3+ word sentences.  She’s such a happy and sweet girl and she’s seems to be getting over her shyness a bit.  She was great this weekend and loved playing with her cousins and Ben.  She loved all the animals and gave lots of kisses to everyone.  She’s pretty attached to her Mommy and Daddy but I think that’s to be expected at this age!

Oh and strawberries!  I forgot to mention her love of strawberries.  She ate her weight in strawberries this weekend!  On the car ride home I kept hearing “Wawbewwies!  Wawbewwies!”  She ate a basket on the way home and then I cut her off.

She just gets more awesome everyday.

Another crazy busy week in the Titus Household!

The big bright spot is little miss Lu!  She is talking more and more and letting her preferences be KNOWN.  One area that she is VERY clear about is her wardrobe.  On Monday, I tried to put on her pink sneakers and she absolutely did NOT want those.  She wanted her red Chucks.  I also tried to put on her pink Paul Frank sweatshirt and she wanted the green one.  It all totally worked together but isn’t what I would put together.

She’s also been picking out shoes for Mommy.  She’ll pick out shoes the 100% go with my outfit but that I wouldn’t necessarily pick.   They’re always a little bit more colorful than I would put on but I ALWAYS wear the ones she picks out and she loves it. 

Yesterday, I picked out her pants and shirt with some white sandals and she was ADAMANT that she wear the Chucks again but this time she wanted the PINK sweatshirt.

Check her out (this is my new favorite picture):

There’s either a Sienna Miller or Nicole Richie picture out there on the interwebs that looks JUST like this.  I can’t find it though.

She’s got style!  Poor thing is stuck with un-stylish me!  Hopefully she’ll infuse some her style into Mommy.  I could use all the help I can get!

Saturday morning, Daddy got up with her and I hear “BUBBOES”  “BUBBOES”.  Daddy said, “Lu, bubbles are for outside, maybe Mama will take you to the park later and you can do bubbles.”

Her response?  “BUBBOES!” “BUBBOES!”

I walked out to this:

She got her bubboes!

Now, I bet you’re wondering what the first half of the title means.

Watch and see

Mimi’s:

Gram’s:

Lucy did all the painting except the stems.  Mommy helped her with that.

They were a big hit!  Both for Lucy to make and for Mimi and Gram to receive!

We had Mother’s Day weekend it seemed.  We went to the zoo on Saturday and then had a more relaxed day yesterday.

At the zoo, there were Zebras!

Giraffes!

Lucy! (Saying WOAH!)

Gorillas! (My favorite)

There was a baby gorilla but he was camera shy.

More Lucy taking it all in.

Lions!

No Tigers…

And BEARS-OH MY!

Brown:

Sad Polar:

Grizzlies!

The bears where the only animals that really looked sad and made me sad.

There were also, smelly penguins:

Snow Leopard!

Rhinos!

A happy Lu and Daddy.

A cute, but blurry, picture.

Up close and personal peacock.

Kangaroos!

Come and knock on my door….(Shaun had NO clue what I was referring to when I started singing that):

Overall, it was SO fun and Lucy had a great time.  She was such a good girl. 

Yesterday was a chill day.  Mommy did get some presents.  “Flowers” and a handmade picture frame from Lu.

(She’s eating in that picture-QUITE appropriate)

And Shaun got me some more of my perfume.  I had just run out so it was perfect timing.

He got me the BIG bottle.  I got the smallest bottle last time and it lasted 2 years!  I be this will last me at least 3.

In the afternoon we went to the park, to Talbots for some more Duplos, and then out to Indian food for dinner.  It was a nice day.

The Duplos were a huge hit.  When I took them out of the package Lu cheered and then started showing me the blue, yellow, red, and orange ones.  There are 2 blue tinted clear ones and she calls them “bubbles”.  You should see the towers she can build now!!!

Lucy LOVES her Legos.  She used to only be able to take them apart and then about 6 weeks ago she started stacking them about 3 high and then about 3 weeks ago she started making TALL towers and then last week she started making THINGS with her Legos.  We got a car and a sort of building thing last week!  INSANE.  Here she is making a tall tower.

Last weekend, I was BBQ-ing some chicken for lunch and Lu decided the plants needed watering.  She made her Daddy proud.

Lucy is a great eater.  She LOVES food and can throw it down.  This week she got a little TOO excited by her rice and got it everywhere.  I feel like overnight she turned into this kid:

We had her Spring Gala this week and she did a bit better than the Winter Gala where she ended up crying in her teacher’s lap.  We didn’t get the best seats but we still got pictures and video.

Here’s Lu walking in.

Noticing all the scary people.

Still noticing.

Then she see’s Mama! (I stood up) She smiles!

Daddy took video of the first time they sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider but didn’t keep it rolling for the second time when we got a smile.

Afterward the performance Lu and Daddy planted some seeds:

And then we went to the park:

And then, dinner:

Today we rode the train up to San Francisco and went to a baseball game.  It was a beautiful day for a game!

Check out our views!

Lu LOVED it and despite missing her nap, did FABULOUSLY.  She even started cheering with everyone by the end.  Too bad the Giants lost.

Watching the game:

Best seat in the house!

Tonight I finished up our craft project that we started yesterday.  It’s Teacher Appreciation week and we made Lu’s teachers some cards.

As for new developments, Lu’s character is developing more and more.  She’s one funny girl and loves to giggle.  Her vocabulary is just taking off and she can say “Hi” and “Bye Bye” on the phone now.  Some of the words that come out, Shaun and I just look at each other like, “WOAH”.  She LOVES beets and while chowing down on them last week, she kept saying “Moe Beets Pees!”  “Moe Beets Pees!”  My other favorite?  When Daddy is gone she points at the picture of him with his bike (Yes we have one) and says “Dada. Go. Bike.”

Smartie pants!

Why? You ask.  Well the main reason:

We’ve actually been talking about moving for a VERY long time-WAY before we even had Lucy.  Living in the Bay Area is great but it’s EXPENSIVE and not sustainable.  Even more so now that we have Lucy.

We have a list of what’s important to us and when I went to Boise in February for Tessa’s birthday in dawned on me that Boise fit our list.  Before that, we had always said that we would move to Pennsylvania by Shaun’s family but the fact that we couldn’t find a town near his family that fit our list always stopped us.

Here’s the list.  What’s highlighted in purple is what Boise has that is much harder to find in Pennsylvania near Shaun’s family:

-Family (Pennsylvania actually wins out here since Shaun’s ENTIRE family is there and his brothers live within 3 miles of each other)
-Affordable
-4 seasons
-Good public schools
-Good place to raise a family with lots of young families (Something the Bay Area IS NOT!)
-Walk-able downtown with nice houses nearby
-Access to ethnic food-Thai, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, etc.
-College Town-think major college
-Mountain biking nearly year round
-Very outdoorsy community
-Natural grocery store where I can easily get Gluten Free food and organic, grass-fed meat
-A nice gym where I could imagine working out
-Jobs! That PAY!
-Short commute

Another thing Pennsylvania had but that Boise does not is a big city within driving distance.  In PA we would have been close to New York City, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.  In Boise?  Not so much.

When we were making the decision, we first did a pros and cons list for staying vs. leaving and the pros WAY out weighed the cons.  But then when we were deciding between Idaho and PA we sat down and PA almost won out.  Shaun and I were willing to overlook all of the things that Boise had that PA didn’t because of his family.  Shaun REALLY misses his family (as do I) but then we sat down and did a budget and looked at housing.  It turns out that it is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to rent a nice house in Boise than it is in the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton area.  When we were comparing Shaun said “This isn’t fair-there’s no comparison.”  Add to that our projected heating bill and gas bill (for a long commute for Shaun) and the decision was made with the stipulation that we visit PA at least once a year and for at least 2 weeks per year-it got built into our budget.

So Boise it was!  Before we could move forward though I had to see if I could work remotely.  The only way we were willing to make such a huge life change was if I could keep my job.  I was SO nervous going into that meeting to talk to my manager BUT she gave me a resounding YES!  She fully supports this move and come July 1st I will be working from home!  Shaun will be a stay at home Dad while he looks for a job in Boise and we’ll be sharing a baby-sitter with my sister for about 20 hours per week.

When we went out earlier this month, it was to scope it out and make sure that this was the right decision.  We went to look at neighborhoods to see where we wanted to live, I went grocery shopping, Shaun went mountain biking (everyday), we went hiking.  We did things that we would do if we were to live there.  And, even though the weather was absolutely miserable, we LOVED it.

While out on our neighborhood scouting trip, we came upon a house that was for rent and Shaun called.  The property manager said that he was having a open house and that we should come to meet him and tell him what we like so that he could look for properties for us when we came out.  We were planning to go back in June to secure housing.

Well…we went to the open house and we fell in love.  Shaun kept looking at me like OMFG.  When we got back in the car, my super conservative, hates to waste money, husband said, “We’re renting that house and just swallowing the 2 months that we can’t live there.”

Before I agreed to that, I said that we had to look at EVERYTHING in that price range (inside and out) and if we still thought this house was the one, then we would get it.  That house was still the one.

We sign our lease TODAY!

Welcome to our new home:

It’s set off the street and the street is not very busy.  It’s half a block from the mountain biking and hiking trail heads (yes! HALF a block!), 2 miles from my sister, 1 mile from downtown, and 1/2 mile from the Greenbelt-which is a running/biking path that runs along the river.  It’s also about a mile and a half from the Y and I’ll be riding there with Lucy in the bike trailer A LOT!

The upstairs has been recently remodeled. And the kitchen is BEAUTIFUL.

Large living room:

Master bath with a deep tub with JETS!

Master Bedroom (which has a walk in closet):

I didn’t get pictures of the down stairs but there are 2 bedrooms down there, a den, an OFFICE, and a laundry room.

The other thing it has? A HUGE backyard (that needs some love and care ) and 2 car garage with extra storage:

And an AWESOME deck that is right off the kitchen.  This house is PERFECT for entertaining.

Goodbye 1200 square foot condo with almost no storage, NO yard, and NO family around.  Hello 1700 square foot house with an additional 2 car garage, HUGE yard, and Lissa, Tessa, and Willy 2 miles away.  I love you!

Needless to say, we are VERY excited.  I wish we could move now but Shaun is working through the beginning of June and then his brother and nephew are coming to visit (which we are VERY excited about) and THEN we drive to Boise, Idaho to start our new, less hectic, more family oriented life.

YIPPEE!

When she posted that she’d be here, MANY Moms decided to come and visit as well.  There were 13 Mommies from the board here over the last few days.  One from Hawaii, 2 from Ohio, 1 from Arizona, 2 from Oregon, 1 from Nevada, 2 from the Los Angeles Area, 1 from Sacramento, and 3 from the Bay Area (including me).  It was a fun but HECTIC weekend!

The first night I had 6 babies and their parents over.  We tried to get a group picture before Lu went to bed (notice the jammies) and here’s what happened.

Aiden, Sophia, Aiden, and Lucy:                       Lucy Sandwich with Aiden bread!

Look at this heartbreaker:

Lu and VV:

Lu basically sat there and everyone took their turn.  Jessica (from HI) was here but she wasn’t feeling picture friendly .

The next day, we went to the Aquarium but had lunch over at my place first with those kiddos who were staying in San Mateo.

Lisa with her daughter, Aviya (VV) and Lu:

After the aquarium it was time to try for a group picture again.  See if you notice a theme.

VV, Becklyn, Sasha, Lucy, and Aiden

Here comes Amy!

Don’t miss him, there’s the other Aiden!

Becklyn and Lu.

Oh there’s Jessica!!!

Once again, Lu sat for the entire thing.  She really likes to sit on benches and couches!!!

The last day some families went to Alcatraz and then we met at the park for a picnic.

Sophia and Aiden:

Sophia REALLY likes Aiden

Group picture again!

Jessica, Becklyn, and Lu

Add a Sasha!

And an Aiden!

And a VV!

An Olivia and a JORDAN!  One of the Mommies didn’t bring her October baby but did bring her September baby-from 20 years ago or so!

Add a Sophia (take a way a Jordan):

Oh look-there’s a Lucas!!

Almost all of them!

Lucas and Jessica have had it!

Minus a Jessica and add an Amy!

The whole group (minus Stacy and Aiden from Marin because Stacy got a migraine )

Top Row (L to R): Jen and Olivia (Sacramento, CA), Kelli and Jessica (HI), Brandi and Aiden (OR), Lisa and VV (OR), Tamara (OH), Diana and Sasha (AZ), Laura and Lucas (Orange County, CA)

Bottom Row (L to R): Jen and Becklyn (OH), Chelsea and Lucy (San Mateo, CA), Rachel and Amy (Orange County, CA), Amanda and Aubrey (NV), and Laurin and Sophia (San Jose, CA)

Looking at that picture makes me tear up a little bit.  That is a bunch of really amazing friends and mommies.  We have about another 100 that need to be in that picture!

Here are the Crappers!

And our last dinner.  One tired Lu.

I miss everyone already.

Onto PICTURES!

There was lots of this happening:

Anytime I picked up or held Tessa, Lu got jealous.

There was also LOTS of eating.  Yes, my daughter is shirtless.  She was “hot, hot, hot”.

She was still hot after dinner when she took Tessa’s bike for a spin.

Riding in Tessa’s wagon on the way to the park.

At the park:

How cute is Tessa??!?!?!

Lu went down the slide all by herself with NO injuries!

Later that night, a bath was had!

With the requisite crazy hair pictures!

On Easter, the Dads took the girls out on a hike while the Easter Bunny did her magic.  It was a cold hike and Lu had to borrow some clothes from Cousin Tessa.  If you didn’t already notice, Tessa is a colorful dresser.  This is what happened when Lu visited her closet.

OH but it gets better!

She’s stylin’!

The Easter Bunny did, in fact, do her job.

Lu’s garden boots:

And Tessa’s:

Mimi sent rolling backpacks with horsies.

Mimi also sent some bunnies to be taken care of:

Lu’s face upon seeing the loot!

Checking it out.

Lissa’s crazy Mom face in this picture cracks me up.

The backpacks were a HUGE hit.

Then we headed over to Grandma Sandy’s (Tessa’s Grandma) for an Easter Egg hunt and brunch.

On the way to the hunt:

EASTER EGG HUNT!

Lu LOVED IT!  She went running around saying “Egg? Egg? Egg?!?!?”  She totally got it.

Tessa was more interested in that blue plate of water you see in the lower right hand of the picture.

Lucy almost got ALL the eggs.

The basket got so full it started overflowing. 

Once inside, we gave Tessa half and Lu half and they discovered what was in them.  STICKERS!

Later in the day, Lu discovered that Tessa’s toy box (that Papa made her) was a great “boat”.

They were quite proud of themselves:

Uh-oh, Daddy picked up Tessa.  This resulted.

On our last night, the girls got a bath and wrapped in hooded towels that Mimi made them for Easter.

We flew home today and Shaun got a bug in his butt to go get Lu a “running bike”.  Shaun’s brother sent a very generous gift certificate for the local toy store for Christmas and Shaun earmarked it for a Strider.  He decided today was the day.

We tried it out.

LU LOVED IT!!!  We got her pink.

We didn’t take her helmet to the store (though we should have) but from now on she WILL be wearing a helmet!!!

Today, Lu got to wear her Easter outfit.  It was too cold on actual Easter to rock it.

And, showing Mommy her tummy:

She’s also at the stage where she likes to lift MY shirt up to show me MY tummy.  I’m pretty sure the plane full of strangers didn’t want to see that!

Lu has started saying things like “Help, please.” and “Up, please.”  And she LOVED Cousin Tessa’s dogs.  Oh my-Mommy and Daddy may be in trouble in the dog department!  The cousins were again-SUPER CUTE.  I can’t wait until they get to see each other again.  It should be SOON!

Saturday was pretty warm and we discovered that Lucy needs some clothes for warmer weather.  I put her in a dress that her Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ricky got her.  How cute is she?!?!?!

Shaun’s comment was that she just melt his heart everyday

Yesterday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It was pretty cool.  It wasn’t as big as I was expecting but we still had fun.

Some cool pictures:

Jelly Fish!

Seahorses!

These aren’t plants-they’re sea horses!

No, really!

Feed time!

Hello shark!

Lu just kicking back:

Cute Lu pics!

She went around yelling “FISHIE!!!!” It was very cute.

Daddy and a very tired Lu:

Here’s Lu this morning playing with a new toy I got her.  It’s magnets and it sings the ABC’s.  When you put the letters into the big thing you see there it says “B goes buh, B goes buh. Every letter has a sound, B goes buh”.  She played with it in the cart yesterday at Target and listened to the ABC’s about 100 times.

This morning I woke up to Lucy singing “A B C D” hum hum “G” hum hum hum hum “L M N O P” hum hum hum “T” hum hum hum hum hum “Z!”  I about crapped my pants. Seriously.  The letters that she did remember were said in the correct place!  That was INSANE!  I have a kid-she’s no longer a baby!

Her 18 month appointment was this morning and here are her stats:

Height=30 3/4”-25th percentile
Weight=19 pounds 8 ounce-Less than 5th percentile
Head=19.25”-95th percentile

She’s trending exactly where she was at 15 months. She’s a peanut but she’s a just right peanut. She’s still pretty advanced in terms of language and talking and HOPEFULLY the tantrums will start to subside as she can communicate more.  All in all, it was a great visit.  She only had 1 shot and she cried briefly and then was okay. She was VERY proud of her sticker that she got.

In short, she’s awesome