Andrew's First "Vacation"

Well, the Foster's House Hunting Trip in CA was a success!  We came home with a signed lease, a bank account with a Federal Credit Union in CA, and most importantly, we did not get kicked off the plane for having an uncontrollable baby!  Yay!

Our 5 day trip was exhausting, but worth it since we now have the peace of mind that we will have a place to live when we make the big move in just a few short weeks. 

Andrew was a complete trooper, despite 9 showings, 5 nights in a small hotel room, 4 plane rides and 4 trips to visit day cares (and a partridge in a pear tree). 

To keep our little cherub cherubic, we tried several tactics:

Shhhh!  He's sleeping!

Reading the "magic' Yummy Book.

Airplane rides in the Airplane!

Funky Monkey Blue always does the trick!

Just finished eating!

If all else fails, scotch and wine helps!

Our first day in California, we drove around Livermore and pulled into a community near the lab.  We thought this must be a sign!:

And another good sign, the Greek "taverna" we ate at in Livermore, had the same beer that we drank every night on our honeymoon - Mythos! And a miracle occurred - Andrew slept through dinner! (We weren't so lucky the next night, it was our first time having to leave a restaurant due to Andrew's behavior!)

Another first for Andrew, was sleeping in bed with Mommy and Daddy.  We had a crib in the room, but it didn't seem to go over well the first night, so we thought if we're in CA, and have a CA King, why not let him sleep with us?  Well, this leads to yet another first - the first time Andrew peed the bed.
Here are some pictures of Hotel Room fun:

A cow right outside the window!

Practicing our new skill - Sitting up!

Andrew looking out over Philly as we approach "home" for the last time.

California Dreamin'

Well, it's a new year, and the Foster's are starting a new life, in a new state, with a new job (cue stress!).  Most everyone's heard by now - Mike has been offered a post-doc position at Sandia National Lab, in Livermore, California.  Livermore is about 40 minutes outside of San Francisco - check it out at www.cityoflivermore.net.  Mike took the below pictures while driving around the area after his interview in December.

We got the unofficial offer on Mike's birthday, December 21st, but there were a lot of details that still had to be ironed out. So, although I still spent the week after Christmas getting ready to put our house on the market, I was (in pure Melissa fashion) anticipating bad news. Fortunately, my worries were needless (as usual) and Mike got the official offer on January 6th and our house went on the market the same day.  Did I mention we have a wonderful realtor? 

We are leaving on January 18th to go house hunting.  It will be Andrew's first plane ride! Which of course, means that Mike and I are both pretty anxious about this trip - stay tuned for a report on how that goes!

Our goal in house hunting is to find a rental starting February 1st.  This is all moving very fast... did I mention it's slightly stressful?  ;)   We are looking for a McMansion with at least 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a pool... so, everyone start planning your trips to California - there will be plenty of room! 

I am posting some pictures of our first house - the house we brought Andrew home to - for posterity.  We bought our house unexpectedly in May of 2008.  The reason why I say this purchase was unexpeceted, is because we were not house hunting at all, and still had quite a few months left on our lease in Jenkintown.  But, our fabulous realtor is always on the look out, and she had just listed this cute Cape and thought we would love it... and she was right - thanks Mom!  We put our blood, sweat, and tears into this house (even though it didn't really need it... but we like projects).  To name a few of the projects Mike completed: he updated both the bathroom and kitchen, put in new insulation upstairs, installed ceiling fans and a gas fireplace, as well as dug numerous flower beds.  I'm sure that I'm missing several other projects, but I have been continuously impressed by Mike's natural talents and determination.

  

It didn't feel right not having at least one picture of Andrew in this blog, so here's the winner!  He's just shy of 5 months old in this one.