Now that's it December we're officially in the Christmas holiday season and I'm feeling kindof bummed because I CAN'T DECORATE this year.  Well, technically, I could, but it just doesn't make sense since we won't even be here for Christmas AND we're moving right when we get back from our trip.  Yup, we've booked the movers for 12/29/12.  The truck is set to arrive at our place in Pacific Beach at 8:15am!  Did I mention that we fly in from Colorado on 12/28/12?  We arrive around 6pm.  No messing around!  Myke's parents will be out here for New Years and actually arrive the day before we get back from Colorado.  His mom is a teacher so she has limited time off during the holidays and has be fly back to the east coast 1/1/13.  So we're going to move while they are here visiting us.  It will be great to have the extra sets of hands!  

I think the craziest part about all of this is that means we only have 2 more weeks in our current house!  Such a bittersweet feeling!  Myke and I have lived here over 9 years and have brought all 3 of our children home from the hospital to this house.  It's sad to think of leaving it.  It has been so nice being able to walk to the beach or the bay, walk to coffee shops, bars (we did that a lot more pre-kids), restaurants, CVS, three different grocery stores, and much more.  It has been awesome when I wanted to go on a run to just run out the door and be running along the water within 5 minutes.  Ahhhhh.  I will miss those things for sure.  Myke and I have our bedroom up on the 3rd level here (and the kids are on the 2nd) and it has been nice having "the penthouse" room.  In the new house Chloë (to her delight!) will be RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO US!  That will be a change!  Hopefully, that won't mean too many late night visits just since she finds it so convenient!  

Today we went to "Charlie's Best Bread" bakery for morning snack time-

One of the perks of being able to walk to so many local establishments!

The 4 of us split a fresh-made cinnamon roll- yum!

Of course there are many benefits of the new house that we're looking forward to.  We'll be in a great school district, which is one of the top reasons for moving.  Where we are in PB we have a great elementary school, a mediocre middle school and a very poor-performing high school.  As I've mentioned before, private schools are not in the question with 4 kids so close in age.  Unless we win the lottery or something like that.  The neighborhood is very family-friendly- lots of kids!  So that will be fun for our kids to have.  There is also a huge park just a few blocks away, a preschool within walking distance, and the house is only a couple miles from the ocean.  I know I mentioned all of this before.  We're definitely most excited for the extra space in the house for our growing family.  Six people and a dog!  

So anyways, we've been spending our free time packing here and organizing since we need to have everything set to move BEFORE Dec. 22nd when we head to Colorado.  That way when we get back we are ready for GO TIME!   So the next couple weeks are pretty booked with house preparation.  Last weekend Myke and I hired a sitter for the kids and went out and got some of the big shopping done.  We picked out our bedroom set (I'm finally getting the KING bed I've always wanted!), ordered a sectional couch, and found a Murphy Bed for the guest room.  Now we just need a dining table and a refrigerator and we'll have the essentials.  We may just take the dining table we have now as a temporary fix--but it is SO NOT child-friendly as it's a big slab of glass with sharp corners that sits on 2 stands.  A disaster waiting to happen, really.  

Chloë doing a snowman project on the glass table today

When I was looking at bedroom sets for Myke and my room some of the websites has a feature where you could input the wall measurements of the room and then drag and drop the furniture pieces you were interested in onto the picture to see how it would look and make sure things would fit.  Myke was initially skeptical about a king-size bed so I sent him a photo of how it would fit just fine in the room.  After creating your floor plan you could share it via email with others.  So I sent this lovely floor plan to Myke that showed my vision of how the king bed, one dresser and one nightstand would fit gloriously into our new room.  I wish I could find what I sent him...but here is what Myke emailed back to me labeled "reality":  

Hey!, Looks good to me :)

(except for the fact that Myke has gone bald)

I am kind of glad we are getting to attend all the Pacific Beach holiday events one last time before we move.  It's a great way to end our time here.  Last weekend we went to the annual tree lighting on Crystal Pier.  They have music, craft stations and games for the kids, photos with Santa and The Grinch, hot chocolate, etc.  I love going out on the pier--even though I sometimes wonder about how stable the structure is!  The surf was HUGE that day and with every large wave the pier was shifting and moving.  A bit un-nerving!  Apparently, the pier used to go out about 100 more feet and have a large dance hall on the end.  From what I've heard there was a big storm and the entire dance hall fell into the ocean back in the mid-1900's.  Pretty crazy.  I do love the Crystal Pier though!  

On the pier watching the surf

Chloë and The Grinch

On Tuesday I had back-to-back doctor appointments, one for myself and one for Chloë.  Chloë just had to have her ears re-checked after there was some fluid that was not draining properly last month, and causing her to be deaf as a doorknob.  A month of Children's Claritin later, she passed her hearing re-test and is back to normal.  My appointment just involved an ultrasound to check the growth of the baby and the fluid...and to look at the echogenicity (brightness) and size of her kidneys.  YES, we are dealing with the whole "abnormal" kidney thing AGAIN.  With Chloë, then Owen, and now this baby, the kidneys appear "bright" and larger than normal on pre-natal ultrasounds.  Apparently, this is very rare and USUALLY means there is some kind of kidney disease or something like that.  When it happened with Chloë the doctors freaked out, told me my child would likely not live past the first few months of life, and if she did happen to live she would most likely need kidney transplant by adolescence.  It was a terrible time in our lives.  We went through the final two months of that pregnancy not knowing what was going to happen, preparing for the worst and praying for the best.  I had to have bi-weekly ultrasounds to keep an eye on her kidneys, growth and the fluid to make sure everything was functioning.  Doctors were baffled when Chloë's kidneys kept functioning "normally" although they looked so "abnormal".  Apparently, that is rare.  The birth was set up so there would be resuscitation specialists in the room in case she came out and was unable to breathe (apparently it is common for kids with these "large" kidneys to have impaired lung development and trouble breathing when they are born due to the kidneys being so big- the lungs don't have room to grow correctly), it was planned that she would spend her first hours in the NICU for observation, even if she seemed fine, just to monitor everything.  She was scheduled to have a kidney ultrasound on day 1 of life, kidney function blood tests, and then another kidney ultrasound before we left the hospital.  She came out, she came out screaming, she came out fine.  Her kidneys suddenly looked NORMAL on the ultrasounds, they weren't bright.  They were NORMAL newborn size.  She passed every test.  To be on the safe side we have had her followed by a pediatric nephrologist since birth and she has had repeat kidney ultrasounds and kidney function tests.  Always normal.  So far so good.  It's very bizarre and there are many doctors and specialists who still to this day follow our story and our family at UCSD.  So anyways, when Owen's kidneys showed up a little bright and big on one of the pre-natal ultrasounds we weren't very surprised.  Like Chloë, the doctors had him have an ultrasound and blood work after birth.  He is fine, too.  Now this baby has the same "thing".  Go figure.  Myke says we're just genetic freakshows.  I guess I'll go with that!   What are ya gunna do?   

Picture of baby at the ultrasound

Chloë doing some leisure reading while waiting for the doctor to check her ears.

Usually the pediatrician's office has Winnie the Pooh books or something like that...

Okay, going to stop rambling for the time being.  Myke is up at the new house tonight re-wiring the cable so we can hang the TV over the fireplace.  Yes, he is cutting holes in the wall and being very "HGTV".  I can't bare to look.  Kidding.  I'm sure he'll do a fine job.  He needed to get the work done before the painter starts tomorrow.  Did I mention that the previous owner has pink walls in the main living area?  Yah, needs to go!  

Goodnight! :)