Oh.My.Yum

It happened! Robert' allowed me to reign over the Kitchen this week!! We went through our normal routine this morning of desperately trying to come up with a menu for the next week- this is such a difficult process for us because we are both picky- and each picky over entirely different things. We have about 10 things we eat on rotation-- and the Winter Season is great because we get to add 3 more meals that are too heavy for the Summer.

Anyhow, once we finally figured which pairings we would settle for this week; I had a great idea. With it being my last week to be at home and be allowed to take my time prepping anything, I wanted to make dinner every night. For some of you, you're probably thinking 'Big deal- you're a stay at home mom and wife; you should be cooking'. Well, 1) I tend to agree; but my darling Husband (bless him) actually prefers to cook. It's his way of 'winding down' from the day. And quite frankly, he cooks delicious meals so I could care less. And 2) I didn't have a whole lot of 'teach me to cook' time growing up. I'm sure if I asked, I easily could have had a hand full of people devote their time to me- but I was young... I just didn't care.

So, tonight's meal was an absolute success!! I prepared a lovely Garlic Parmesan Salmon over baked asparagus with Garlic noodles. Boy-oh-boy do I love Garlic. It was such an easy prep, quick cook and even faster devour. Rob kept telling me it was good during dinner, but due to our Fall table décor, I could see that he had eaten just about every bite (I know he's not a fan of asparagus, so it wasn't surprising that he didn't really touch it). What I loved most about this recipe is that it is actually a 'make for one' recipe. I had to double all of the ingredients to make dinner for us both. I can't stand having such an enormous amount of leftovers. I followed this recipe: http://www.caloriewarrior.com/garlic-parmesan-salmon-asparagus-foil-pack/    Truly, fabulous!!

What an amazing feeling to know I came up with a meal that satisfied my man! My top meals are usually my roasts and, of course, my Paprikash. Roasts are easy and my Paprikash-...... well, I'm elated to say that is an Ihasz family recipe that has been passed down to me. If there is one 'chef' out there that I aspire to be, it's my Mother-in-law, without question. Since meeting Rob, my mom has blown my mind with some of her meals- and I am SO lucky that for my birthday 2 years ago, she made me an amazing recipe book so I can learn from the Master herself. In fact, tomorrow's meal will be form that box- and is one of my Husbands favorite. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimidated, but I'm excited to give it a shot!

Today was also an exciting day for little A- she is officially all signed up for Daycare. The minute we walked in, I felt at ease. Even in her room, she immediately start playing and laughing at the other babies, it was the most adorable thing. She's probably not even going to realize I'm gone on Monday. I love that our daycare has an open door policy, and is only 3 miles away from my office-- my hour long lunch will allow me to pop in while I'm going through this transition....or just want a hug.

Again, not a ton of pics today- I feel awful, but I did manage to snap a photo of our tasty dinner! I promise to me more on top of it tomorrow :) Wish me luck!!

XOXO

Despite her face, she loved the Garlic noodles!!

Jumpin' back on the Saddle

Remember a couple days ago when I was stealth and mentioned Audrey will be starting to spend more time with kids? It's officially coming true- and starting next Monday! After a truly amazing year of staying home with my peanut, guilt has gotten the better of me (and loneliness, I won't lie) and I am officially employed once again!!! I'm actually REALLY excited about this opportunity, to some it may sound dull? But that's kind of what I'm looking for. I've accepted a position as a Sales agent for a company that sells Life Insurance. The kicker? It's a call center so I can drive into work, plop on down and just sit for the day. After the running around in a million directions that I do at home, this is basically a vacation I think ;-) The hours are great, Monday- Thursday, 8 to 5, and on Friday's we are out at 2! The pay is surprisingly great and there is a lot of potential for Bonuses.....and no nights- no weekends- no holidays. I have NEVER had a job of no nights, no weekends, no holidays. Again, for me? This is basically a vacation. It's business casual so I get to rock my plethora of cardigans and on Fridays it's super casual so I rock my plethora of yoga pants as well. Doot Doot!!

With our house still just sitting (empty) on the Market, I just couldn't handle the thought of not working and having to cover rent and a mortgage. Bless my husband for solely taking care of us as long as he has. As a girl who has worked since she was 15, I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to not work. Anytime I bought groceries, I felt guilt. Anytime I felt tired, I felt guilt. Anytime the house wasn't immaculate, or laundry wasn't completely finished, or Rob was making dinner.... I felt guilt. I'm sure that guilt isn't about to go away either. Now it's in going to be towards Audrey though. Guilt that I have to wake her up early so I can get to work on time. Guilt that she is probably going to start getting sick more because, well, that's just what happens when you go to Daycare. Guilt that I might miss a big moment because she's not with one of us. I know we were both- all three of us actually- were so lucky that the past year worked out the way it did. If you know me well, you know I'm constantly saying 'It all happens for a reason'. Now that we are out here, I'm seeing all the reason for everything in our last year. Every decision opened up our lives to allow this huge change- without even knowing it, we were setting ourselves up for St. Louis. I'm really excited to eventually discover the reason behind the difficulty of selling our quaint little South Euclid home, lol. It's bound to be something wonderful! I know this is really a great age to have Audrey start daycare. She's on solids, she can entertain herself- but is still incredibly entertained by other babies. She is more than ready to start developing her social skills--- yeah yeah, I know she's my kid; social skills will probably be the least of her problems ;-)

So, that's the big news in a nut shell. Oh, we also signed ourselves up at our O'Fallon Family YMCA tonight! So excited for that! It's about a gazillion times nicer and more convenient than our old YMCA in CLE (sorry!!). The have a general family swim time that will allow us to take Auds swimming throughout the Fall and Winter, which is obviously a big deal when you have 2 parents who competitively swam. They have great class schedules, which I love- I have been dying to try a spin class!! They have a fab weight room and even have a 'Masters Swim' for Rob before he heads off to work in the morning. Our YMCA is also only about a 5 minute WALK from our front door which is truly spectacular- and did I mention they have a daycare? I might just start working out for the free daycare ;-)

XOXO

 

Deeply apologize for my lack of pictures today- we spent our day checking out

another Outlet and Mall... not a ton of photo op moments :-/

A Family win

AT LAST! The Dolphins pulled out a win for us today :) You know what I think the common denominator was? The 3 of us watching the game as a family. At least that's what made my day feel like a winning one! We started a new tradition today of 'family breakfast AND family dinner'. Daddy treated us to a delicious breakfast of Biscuits and Gravy, while I prepped the crockpot for our first Paprikash of the Fall/Winter season. What a day of delicious food. Football Sundays are our favorite days to just lounge around in comfy clothes and snack, so we figured a big morning and big evening meal would work better with our stomach schedules. SO- if anyone has any mouth watering crockpot meals, we are super interested in expanding our Sunday dinner menu.

Yesterday, we had a great time at Oktoberfest. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, nor did it have as many crafts that I could go crazy buying, but it was a blast to grab a beer, and wander around all the polka perfection taking place. I just could not get over the fact that it was 84 degrees (it may have actually gotten to 86 at one point). Just perplexing that I felt I needed to wear flannel and boots- but I physically couldn't. Next weekend, we are in luck and it's calling for the weather to drop to 66- now that's what I'm talking about! Now we can go pumpkin picking in true Fall style.

After we got home and let ourselves unwind a bit, we took a walk up to this lovely little Irish restaurant at the top of our street. It was actually really cute- I love that we have that and a BBQ place that is only a small walk away; and both have great patios! Anyway, we set aside our pickiness and tried a 'true St Louis treat'- Fried Ravioli. It's friend beef ravioli, covered in Parmesan Cheese and comes with a side of Marinara Sauce. Rob basically died and went to heaven, even Audrey seemed super on board. I missed the memo :-/ Fried Cheese? For sure- totally my thing....fried beef? No thanks. Everyone who plans to visit should brace themselves because you will be forced to try it as it is a local delicacy!

XOXO

Auds favorite game- pull every book she owns off the shelves

SUCH a Daddy's girl

 I just love this face

Learning the guitar from Daddy

Settling in

I know, I know- the whole point of this blog is to keep ya'll updated. I'm sorry---again. If I'm not unpacking, then I'm playing with A; or trying to navigate us around our new area; or running out for yet another thing I didn't realize/forgot we needed. By the time I settle down, I'm only sitting because I literally have no more energy- or I'm in desperate need to hang out with my long lost husband.

We were lucky enough that our movers were only about 5 hours late with all of our belongings on Sunday--just in time for the Dolphins game to start (a game which we recorded and didn't finish until 10:00pm, 11:00pm EST) .It was a crazy day of figuring out what was staying at the apartment and what was going to be heading into our storage unit. I still managed to get several boxes incorrectly placed. I'm amazed at the amount of stuff we managed to keep in our teeny tiny house in South Euclid. We always just forgot about whatever was in the garage/attic/basement. It's only Thursday and I've managed to get us down to TWO boxes- one large, one medium (although the large is mostly empty). I've gotten very creative with some of our 'random crap' that we just can't part with, or seasonal shoes and clothing. I don't know what we are going to do when Christmas comes- Audrey's room is basically bursting at the seems. Perhaps her wishlist will include passes to cool museums or tickets to a kids show. What is crazy is that her room is literally double the size it was! It is really cute though ;) Once the apartment doesn't resemble a dirty crazy storeroom floor, I'll photograph it for everyone to enjoy.

Great news to report on baby girl- she's back to herself. Sleeping through the night, regular nap times (well, minus today), we even manipulated her into taking 2 cups of milk a day by mixing it with PediaS
ure shakes. For those of you who are unaware, Auds has refused all milk and formula since she had that horrible hand/foot/mouth disease. Our Dr. says its nothing to go crazy about- but first time mommy over here doesn't believe him, lol. She seems to really be enjoying herself here. There are a lot of kids in the complex and Audrey LOVES other kids. Luckily for Audrey, her ability to spend time with other kids will be increasing soon, but that news will wait... (No, I'm not preggo....yet).

We are really excited for this weekend, we are heading to St. Charles for their Oktoberfest Festival! Now, while the weather is predicted to be 84 degrees for the next 5 solid days (Come on- isn't it Fall? geeze) This family loves a good fest. and this one? Well, this one has a Wiener dog race, fabulous vendors for me to spend at AND (brace yourself) Glockenspiel Performers!!! I'm not even kidding. Yes, you are all welcome to join us for this fun- and can crash on our floor after while we inhale Taco bell and watch Stepbrothers over and over again until we pass out form the awesomeness that will be that day. Ugh, I love the flipping Fall!

Real quick, before I go relax on the couch-- it has been SO difficult adjusting to this new time zone. One hour difference from our family and loved ones? Might as well be different decades. We has consistently messed up recording our favorite shows because everything is on earlier now! The one great bonus- Football Sundays start earlier! I'm fully aware several of you are thinking 'yea, you can see the Dolphins lose earlier now'... well- whatever ;-) GO FINS!

XOXO

Last breakfast on the floor!!

Pretty Solid battle wound from moving :(

Please note the untouched Toy box to her right....

Gobble Gobble!

Rough Day today :-/

Relaxing in her birthday gift from Papa & Grandma I.

We're getting there

What a fabulous day! Everything felt almost back to normal! Since we've arrived, I think A and I have done a great job of adapting to our new environment; well- A especially, I knew that I wouldn't have a problem. I think she's really happy here, she slept through the night last night- which resulted in an early morning.. Rob and I are still debating which is the lesser of the 2 evils:  wake in the middle night, but then sleep until 8:30? OR sleep all night and wake up around 7? I take the former, Rob takes the latter---- any opinions?!

Today we enjoyed a lovely family breakfast at this delicious little chain, The Egg and I. If you know me- absolutely restaurant/diner that serves breakfast is fabulous in my book :) Audrey had a first 'Big Girl' moment by ordering off the kids menu. She inhaled 1/2 of her ham, cheese and egg white omelette and a cup of fruit. She even had several pieces of my French Toast. I love being able to share real food with her! After, we took  ride to check out some storage units as our furniture is arriving- TOMORROW!!! Yay! Rob's boss made a couple calls, applied a bit of pressure, and really came thru for us. We cannot wait to start eating meals at a table, watching TV on our couches, drink wine out of a glass- just feel like we are at home again.

We ran back to the apartment so Audrey could take her nap, during which I (thought I) discovered a great little festival across the street from our place at a local rec center. We got all packed up, super excited- only to find out that I once again mis-read the date. It's not until next Saturday. Luckily, I married a man who knows me extremely well and said 'Let's go to the outlets, you're going to love them'. Boy, was he right! Kate Spade, J.Crew, Disney Store, Toys r Us! We had such a lovely family day- it felt like normal.

We ran a few other errands, headed back to the apartment so A could release some energy crawling around for a bit, the headed out to Texas Roadhouse for some delicious rolls.... oh yea, steak too. Once again, Audrey shocked us with the amount of food she put down- a whole jar of chicken/noodles, broccoli and a whole hot dog! Obviously she's my kid :) But that wasn't the most incredible part of our night. Our waitress came over with the bill, only to inform us that someone covered our tab! They 'paid it forward' and picked us! I was a little embarrassed by how many ways/times we had to explain this process of paying it forward to my darling Husband; but now that he understands- he is actually really excited to pick someone else who could use a happy turn around in their day.

Wish us luck tomorrow, although- I really can't see how it can be anything other than easy. Perhaps everyone should just wish us luck for the Dolphins game! Much love to our family who will be at the game live, cheering on our fins; we are so incredibly bummed we couldn't make it this year. It is one thing we look forward to every year- Ihasz FLL trip and Christmas, that's about it!

XOXO

At last!!

Thank God Almighty- we're here at last!!! This week was one for the books, as in- I only want to relive it while reading it in a book....a horror novel perhaps. Between prepping the house for the move, having to pack for both Audrey and myself to last for 7 days, having to entertain my one-year old for 2 straight days, while still limiting everything she did because I didn't want her in the way of the packers/movers- I was exhausted. Then today happened.

Let's back track a smidge, we were lucky enough to spend our last night in Cleveland at the Rudy's. Erin and I got to enjoy one last night of 'couch lounging/taco bell inhaling/forcing Jon to go get us ice cream'. It couldn't have been a more perfect way to end my stint in good ole' Cleveland. That is, until my darling daughter decided at 2:00am- that she simply didn't want to sleep any longer. Now, for some of you mommies out there, that doesn't seem like a big deal- and you'll probably hate me for what I'm about to say next- but my baby has slept thru the night since she was 2 months old (on the dot, no joke). So this sudden change over the last couple weeks has been utterly horrible for me. So, at 2am, she started chatting and laughing with herself- something I find quite adorable so I just continued to lay and listen, then it turned into crying at 2:30am. I feel so awful when my nugget's cries could bother anyone else, so I immediately grabbed her and pulled her into bed with me- where she proceeded to roll around on me, hit me and crawl all over me until my alarm went off at 4:30am. If you thought it was bad already- just stop reading..... It was at this moment Audrey decided she didn't want me out of her eyesight; and then also decided she didn't want me IN her eyesight either. Basically- she wanted nothing and everything at once- but she got no satisfaction from anything. SO my poor host, Erin, came down to my rescue (after being rudely woken up by my mini me) so that I could pull all of our bags out of the house to the curb for the taxi. Without her, I actually have no idea (and don't want to think about) what I would've done. I was about to sit Audrey in the car and shut the door while I did my running. Now enter- the cab driver. What an absolute imbecile. Couldn't find the house, couldn't manage to assist with loading the taxi, kept complaining of how tired he was- as I sat in the back crying because my daughter wouldn't stop screaming at me. When we got to the airport, he again provided me ABSOLUTELY NO help what-so-ever. In fact, as I tried to open the trunk to get out Audrey's stroller- he waved a set of keys at me in the rear view mirror. Luckily for me- I speak lazy taxi driver and went to his window to discover that the keys were needed to open the trunk. Thanks Buddy- I can see the pride you take in your job.

Luckily, the employees of United Airlines were MUCH more helpful. Very courteous, very empathetic to my cranky baby, and very quick about getting me through all that 'check in malarkey'. We were actually incredibly lucky and happy for this next news- Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt B were flying out of the same airport at basically the same time- so we got to give hugs and bawl one more time before we took off. When I say bawl- I mean that every single person around us was gawking- tears running down our necks into our shirts...even Grandpa. We only had a short visit, to save face; but simply being able to hug my Mom and Sister really gave me the mental boot I needed for the remainder of this trip.....

I could only keep Audrey content by walking her around in the stroller- so I did just that. Walked and walked and walked- until I happened to notice the clock that informed me our flight was taking off in only 20 minutes! Go figure. We were the last ones to enter our plane and I could see everyone incredibly upset to see us walk on. It broke my heart- I just wanted to yell 'If this was any other day- you'd be lucky and thrilled to have been in the same room with this amazing child and I'. But given the wailing coming my hip, I remained quiet and kept my head down. I know I shouldn't brag about this- but I gave her a dose of Tylenol and was thrilled it was only about 20 more minutes of intensity before she cried herself to sleep for the remainder of the flight.

Finally, we landed in St. Louis. Emotions completely filled my body- crazy happiness to have the morning over, become a family again, and quite frankly- pass Audrey off to Robert as quickly as I possibly could. This last month was not easy in the least. Lesson learned for sure- Daddy will be present next time, haha. Robert got himself into a heaping mound of trouble with me- as I'm in baggage claim, I just pulled off the car seat and base, 2 checked large bags (one entirely of toys), oversized diaper bag, crying baby and stroller; Rob text me to let me know he was at the 'passenger pickup area'... in the car... unable to assist me. Miraculously I got everything up to the area in one load- with 7 different people just stopping to watch me (yes I counted, and I hope they understood by my glare how horribly I was judging today's society by their lack of help and support). Needless to say- it was a quiet car ride until I internally calmed down.

Alas, I did calm down- small things in life, ya know? We grabbed some Taco Bell breakfast, picked up my rental car and came back to view our new home for the next handful of months. I've got to hand it to Rob. I'm actually quite fond of it! I'm incredibly excited for all of our memories and cozy home items to arrive so we can turn it into our place. Below you'll find that you are all lucky enough to get a grand tour from Audrey- not something she was stoked to do, but she owed me.

I'm excited to finally be here. I'm excited to stop toting Audrey around and allow her to re-acclimate herself to our home. I'm excited to fall in love with St Louis and discover all it can offer us. We are so lucky to have this opportunity- so lucky that in our stage of life, we can actually take the opportunity. Cleveland will always have the most special place in my heart. Who moves to a new city and meets their husband days later? But I know St Louis will give Cleveland a run for its' money $$$

This weekend is our 2nd Wedding anniversary. Our family is in Miami- on a vacation we are devastated to have turned down this year because of the move. We will probably have a home cooked meal and eat it on the floor, in front of our TV which is on a food tray table. While the shallow side of me is upset that for the 2nd year in a row- we can't go out on the town, throw back a couple of drinks and show off an incredible love and life we've found together; I'm just so glad we will even be together....I even think it has potential to be my favorite anniversary yet :)

XOXO

*Bedroom Picnic with Brenda*

*So sad to leave Cleveland*

 

*Welcome to my new home!*

*Get your feet off our Dining Room Table, Mom*

*Not as excited about her own Bathroom as Mommy is*