Lately.

Sydney's off the CPAP as of this morning.

She could potentially get put back on if she struggles on the nasal cannula, but hopefully she's off for good!

This was taken yesterday, during her last "hat check."

And here she is with me (and my cra-zay-zy hair) today, rocking the nasal cannula.

Can you believe I posted a picture the SAME DAY I took it!?

I can't wait to see her tomorrow and see how much the shape of her head has changed. :) The hats they use to keep the CPAP positioned are really tight (for obvious reasons), so Sydney's head is a little bit oblong. Her eyes should "un-puff" now, too, that they're not being squished shut by that blasted hat.

She gained two ounces last night, landing her at a whopping 3 lbs 8 ounces!

Most babies get to leave the NICU around 36-37 weeks gestation, which leaves us 3-4 weeks left.

WOW.

6 down. 3-4 to go.

But DANG! Ain't she CUUTE!?

Emily is starting to get into all sorts of mischief. 

She's gonna be a climber, just like her mommy was.

(Sorry, mom!)

She's totally thinking, "Shoot. Do I run, or act cute and innocent!?"

She still LOVES Enchanted.

Please observe the elbow dimples.

Best seat in the house.

Until daddy brought in the camp chair, that is. 

Yes, I'm working on trademarking her thighs. Don't be jealous.

Oh--what is Daddy up to, you ask?

Well... he keeps busy. 

You know. With the important stuff.

Vancouver, WA

 A week ago today, Kirby and I went to the temple with nLight in mind. That's the company located in Vancouver, WA. We were heavily leaning towards them, and felt really good about it overall. We did sealings and then asked to be taken to the Celestial room. We sat down, and before I'd even started my prayer an incredible feeling of peace and joy flooded through my body. It was SO powerful. I said a prayer anyways, even though I knew I'd already received an answer, and got hit with another wave of emotion. Kirby had a similar experience.

Vancouver, here we come.

I couldn't actually find any full-city pictures of Vancouver. Only pictures of people's homes that are (or were) on the market. Oh yeah. And a bunch of a skate park. Cool.

But here's Portland. We'll be just across the Willamette river from it, and will spend lots of time there, I'm sure. It will be really nice living close to Oregon, because we can make big purchases there and not have to pay sales tax. :)

We'll be packing the moving van on the 28th of this month, and we are planning to take off as soon as that's done. We'll be making the trip in 2 days. 

And then our new life begins. 

SO. CRAZY.

Vancouver

Kirby has a 6 hour interview today with a company in Vancouver, WA. 

Technically Portland, but the offices are in Vancouver (just over the Oregon/Washington border)? Don't worry. I don't really get it, either. 

 

A cold front has hit the area hard--our flight was delayed a couple hours last night because the pilots of our plane got caught in a storm in Denver on one of their earlier flights, which made them late late late. 

I just got a severe weather warning text. Apparently Utah is going to be hit hard later today with extreme cold, snow, and wind. I wonder if it's the same storm that passed through here? It's funny to me how scared people are of snow here. It snowed last night, and one of the head guys at the company here in Vancouver called Kirby to let him know that there was a possibility that they would be closed if the weather continued to be "this bad." :) To be fair, the roads were CRAZY slick last night, but I still giggle inside.

 

We didn't get to our hotel until about 2:30am, after which Kirby ran (well, drove, technically--the company rented a brand new Corolla for us. Pretty awesome.) to the nearest 24 hour grocery store to get some baby oatmeal (the one thing we forgot to pack.) 

 

What? Our child needs to EAT!?

Meanwhile, I was with Emily in our hotel room trying to soothe her and keep her from waking up the entire lodge while setting up a pack 'n' play with one hand. 

All things considered, Emily did GREAT. She loved ripping up the in-flight magazine, and was surprisingly pleasant three hours past her bedtime. Thank heavens for goldfish. She actually slept through most of the second leg (we had a stop in Vegas... BOOOO...), which allowed Kirby and I to sleep for most of that flight, too!

Now I'm just chilling in our cozy lodge hotel room, taking a break from straightening my hair. Emily is sleeping right next to me. I've got some sweet tunes playing.

Life is good.

Our main purpose in the Great Northwest is to celebrate Thanksgiving with Kirby's family. All of Kirby's siblings will be there, so we are really excited. 

There is about a 60% chance we'll be moving out of Utah in January. Kirby is in final round interviews with some companies, and waiting on offers from a couple others. Looks like our options will be:

 

(Drumroll please...)

Portland, OR

If all goes well today, of course...

Madison, WI

Have official offer...

Salt Lake City, UT

They've told us they want him. Should have official offer in about a week.

Orem, UT

Kirby needs to send in a sample of his technical writing before the interviewing process is considered complete.

Dallas, TX

Kirby's wanted. Offer is in the works.

I'm pretty sure I did a fabulicious jig when we got the official offer from the company in Wisconsin. 

I mean, it's an OFFICIAL OFFER.

With details and salary and health benefits and everything. 

I don't feel grown up enough for this! 

But I am crazy excited.

We should have offers/rejections (let's me optimistic, though, shall we???) by the end of the month, and we've told the company in Wisconsin that we'd let them know by December 6th, so our decision will have to be made by then!

It seriously blows my mind every time I think about it.

Aaaand, that's all I have to say right now.

I need to finish my hair...

The Tent Monster

I left him alone for ten minutes, and this is what I found when I came downstairs.

It's no wonder I love this man.

Sucking it Up

Whew! What a couple of weeks it has been. We're back in Utah, and I feel like I have SO much to catch up on via the blog. This, inevitably, has led to blogging procrastination. I knew I'd have some free time today and I resolved last night to get at least one post finished. :) So here I am, sucking it up and tip toeing out into the whirlpool of catch-up, hoping I don't drown!
How's that for a lame metaphor?

First things first. 

Emily smeared poop in her hair this morning. 

She has some mad ninja skills, I tell you. I didn't even see her reach down whole I was changing her diaper, but SOMEHOW...

Phew. Glad I got that out there. :) Here are some reasons I'm so glad to be back:

FAMILY!

Oh how I missed them. :)

And because I can't just leave you without some pictures--here are some random ones!

Lily pads at Lake Hollingsworth.

Iris.

I went to two different malls in Tampa and was completely blown away. Seriously. I could spend weeks walking around those malls and not get bored--just looking. Here's Emily crawling through a gigantic camera. Both malls had awesome play spots for kiddos!

Me. See those rippling arm muscles?? ;) Joking... joking...

Once upon a time, back in our apartment in Lakeland, I was blowdrying my hair and I suddenly heard Kirby throwing briskly moving our furniture around. I came out to see what was going on, and he was frantically looking for something with a boyish gleam in his eye. I thought he was hunting a cockroach, but no sir! It was this lil' guy. I can't believe Kirby caught him! He was soo tiny! We fed him to Emily. ;)

hie these iz Kirby's 1st Blug {POST

Look at me! I'm posting a blog! Yee-hee!