It's beginning to look a lot like...

...the midwest.

OK, maybe not, but we did have sleet yesterday.

Of course, it was 40 degrees outside, but it still freaked out the natives.

I was off for the day because our sitter's husband just arrived back from Iraq and she had gone up to Ft. Hood to pick him up. I had gone to visit some friends and found out it was sleeting around 3:00. We got on the road at about 3:30 and it took us an hour to get home.

No accidents, just slow.

As I was driving through our neighborhood, I noticed that all of the roofs had ice in the valleys. It was a pretty odd thing to see in south Texas.

Catching up with the Lalemans

It's amazing how quickly time flies by when you don't have much of it to spare.

It doesn't seem like it's been a week and a half since I last updated the old Laleblog. I can also see that I need to update the banner, because it's December and, well, it's not November anymore. And that's November's banner up there.

So what have we been up to since our warm and sunny Turkey Day?

Freezing our butts off.

It got incredibly cold (for San Antonio) last week, and so we've been conserving energy and staying warm. And shopping. Without much success, at least on my part.

Actually, we have been pretty busy. The day before Thanksgiving, we decided to take the plunge and buy laminate floors for our living room and (we thought) dining room. The day after Thanksgiving, we rested, then Saturday, I started taking our the existing flooring.







Those first two pictures are from the realtor posting, so that's not our furniture, but all of the tile in those pictures was scheduled to come out. The third picture, you can see how ugly the carpet was.

So anyway, Saturday morning, bright and early, I pulled out the carpet in the living room and hallway. It took all of 20 minutes. After Monica got up and left with Rachel, I started taking out the tile.

It took me the rest of the day.

To do a little patch by our back door, maybe 15 square feet total, took me almost 3 hours. That's when I decided a bigger slegehammer might be helpful. The part by the fireplace took about the same amount of time despite being a much bigger area. The 10 pound slegehammer took care of most of the work, until it broke.

That's right, I broke a slegehammer taking out tile.

Of course that made the decision not to take the tile out of the dining room that much easier to make.

On Sunday, I started laying out the moisture barrier, which took most of the morning.





Because of the 45 degree angled walls in our living room (our house has all kinds of strange angles), the first part of the laminate required lots of cutting. By Sunday evening, I had about 1/4 of the floor done.



It took me until Wednesday before I finished, and I had to take 1/2 day off work to get it done. We still have transition pieces and baseboards to put in, but the floor is done. I don't have a good picture of it yet becase we moved the furniture back in the room and it's still a bit of a mess.

It looks nice though, so chalk up another home improvement project as a success. There's plenty to do in this house, and I'm looking forward to working on it and making it our own.

I took this weekend off to just spend time with the family and attempt to shop for Christmas presents. Next weekend I'm going to tackle the Christmas decorations.

Turkey-lurkey

Happy late Thanksgiving!

We had a house full of people yesterday, which means that we spent most of Wednesday cleaning and putting the finishing touches on our move in.

The bird came out just fine, and I didn't have to call mom for any help! The ham was really good too, after spending 5 hours on the smoker. Mashed potatoes? Check. Gravy? Perfect. Everything came out just fine, and now Monica and I are spending a lazy day together resting our weary bones.

Last weekend, we spent some time sunning ourselves on the deck as a family. I put up our mood lighting while Rachel jumped around in her jumper. Monica shot some pictures, and Sparky kept a lookout on the yard from the steps.

Happy Bloggiversay to me!

Today marks one year since I started Laleblog, and oh, how our lives have changed in the past 365 days.

Really, they have. Just take a look at the archives.

I started this blog primarily to keep friends and family updated on the Texas Lalemans, since I'm too lazy to write individual emails or (gasp!) actual letters to people. I'm sure this is evident to the many of you who are still waiting for last year's Christmas card from us.

It never fails to amaze me how quickly things change in life, and I'm glad that I started this to help me keep track of where we've been and what we've been doing.

A whole year of blogging isn't that big of a deal. A lot of people have been blogging for longer than that. Some, though, never make it past their first post. Making it a habit cough, cough, Sarah, cough, cough is what keeps it going. If you make the time to write, you'll continue to write. Very profound, I know.

Technology is constantly changing, so who knows what Laleblog might become in another year, let alone another 10 years. I only hope that Rachel (and whatever other children we have) can look back 15 or 20 years from now and reminisce on her childhood. I hope that Laleblog will become a sort of virtual scrap book for her.

I also hope to write more about our life as a family, although from what everyone tells me, our lives will revolve around our children for the next 20 years or so.

I hope that for you, my dear readers, this blog has brought you closer to us emotionally, even if it can't bring you closer to us physically. I am amazed at how many people want to read about our lives on a daily basis. I'm glad that this technology has made it easy for us to share our joys and sorrows with you.

So here's to the first year of Laleblog, and hopefully many more to come. Thanks for being a part of it, and by all means, post comments...I read them all, even if I don't respond directly.

And about those Christmas cards...I'll post ours here this year, and you can print it out as many times as you want =-)

Fully Loaded

One garage.

Done.


And it only took me an entire Saturday afternoon.

Now, I know what you're saying, and that's, "But Scott, I see stuff in boxes piled up all over the garage."

Sure, sure, things are still in boxes, but that's a project for another Saturday. I'll pick up some hooks at Target, find some scraps of plywood to make a few more shelves with, and get everything in it's place.

Oh, what, you think I got my truck in there with a shoehorn?


No, no, that's called planning. And it only took me 10 minutes to rearrange the area in front of my truck after I hit my bike.


That's skill, baby. Pure skill.

I've been parking my vehicle in the elements since I could drive. That's 18 years for those who are counting, and I'll be damned if I'm going to keep parking outside when I've got a 2 car garage at my disposal.

Now we just have to find room for the boat I'm going to buy.

Month Five

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn 5 months old. As always, it's hard to believe that you're growing up so fast, but what makes it even more unbelievable is when I look at a child younger than you.


I went with Chris to visit our friends Andrea and Caitlin and their new baby, Annika, last weekend. You couldn't go because newborn babies aren't supposed to be around other babies for a while. I couldn't believe how tiny she was, and it made me think back to the summer when I first held you in my arms. I had forgotten how small you were and how light you were. I'm not trying to say that you're fat or anything, but you have been eating like a little piggy lately.


We moved to our new house and you were really great about the whole thing, quietly playing with your toys and letting your parents get things moved into and around the house. This will be the first house you remember us living in, so I hope you like it.


Your Grandpa Rick and Grandma Connie visited right before we moved, and it was great to have them down. We always like seeing them, and they missed you a lot in the last couple of months. Grandma Connie almost started crying at the airport when she saw how big you had gotten.


You went to another wedding this past month, and you were quite the attraction. I think you may have even made the bride a bit jealous, because you were getting so much attention.


We started feeding you rice cereal over the past couple of weeks, in addition to the full bottles you've been drinking. At first, you made faces and "ACK!" noises when we fed you the cereal. Now, you reach for the spoon, and open your mouth wide when it's coming toward you. Mostly, you get the cereal all over your face because you haven't quite figured out the chewing and swallowing thing yet. You get it in your mouth just fine, but then proceed to push it out with your tongue, and when your mother or I try to catch it with the spoon, you move your head around so much that it ends up all over your cheeks, chin, and sometimes nose.


You also recognize your bottle now, and get quite cranky if you see it nearby and it's not in your mouth within 10 seconds. What's really cool though, is when you reach out and grab it, then pull it into your mouth. We still have to help you get the nipple in your mouth just right, but after that, you can hold it on your own and eat without much help. I even managed to pass you off to Mommy the other day without the bottle coming out of your hands or mouth.


You also will reach out for the dog when he's near. Anytime your hands come near his face, he'll start licking them. You will try to grab his tongue, and then some point later you put those very hands in your mouth. He also licks your feet, which you started sucking on in earnest this past month, too. Hopefully no one judges us by the fact that we let the dog lick you...we just figure that it's going to happen, and the sooner the better to work it into your immune system.


You started turning yourself over this past month, almost as soon as I had written the words in your last letter that you weren't turning over yet. You've almost gotten the flipping over from front to back thing down too, but not quite as consistently as the back to front rolling. It seems like every time we put you down, you're on your tummy within 30 seconds, and usually drooling all over whatever it is you're laying on--our bed, the floor, daddy's chest. Of course, you get one of your arms trapped under you, and that makes you crabby. When we put your on your tummy to start with, and both of your arms are free, you're usually fine for a while.


Your legs are getting very strong, I think from being in the jumper and the excer-saucer at Miss Judy's. Last night, you stood up in my lap for almost 5 minutes, and all I had to do was help you keep your balance. I was doing that with the light touch of one hand. I have a feeling you're going to start running before you can even crawl.


I can't wait to see what this next month will bring. You learn so much new stuff every month, it's hard for me to keep up with it all! Hopefully this month you'll get to meet Annika, and you'll have your first Thanksgiving. I can hardly wait to see what you do with a plate full of mashed potatoes!


Love,
Daddy

Ghosts, gobblins, and...oh, it's already November

I never did find the cord to my camera. I know it's here somewhere, because I used it the day after we moved in. Who knows what happened to it.

Here are the Halloween pictures as promised, just a little late. Rachel wore the ladybug costume to Pete and Carol's party on Saturday, then she wore the little witch's hat (I think she looks like a Keebler Elf) on Halloween. We didn't go anywhere that night except to Chili's to eat. She was out before we got home.

Missing

One USB cable to attach my camera to my computer. When I find it, ya'll will get your Rachel fix.

I have a feeling this is going to be a theme that runs through November as we try to remember where in the world we packed things.

Sugar rush

OK, actually, I only ate one piece of candy last night. Halloween pics of Rachel are on the way soon.

You mean it's only been a week?

It feels like it was a month ago that my parents visited.



Of course I didn't have time to blog about it last week since I started my new job and we moved.



We also managed to go to a wedding last weekend. Congratulation to Kristin and Andy!



Rachel went with us and was quite a hit.



I'll catch you all up on the rest of the week a little later. We're still unpacking, and painting. It's going to take a while.

Back in touch with the real world...

We have been without Internet for just about 36 hours. The cable guy came last night and hooked us up, but I just hadn't gotten around to plugging in the wireless router. Too much other stuff to do, you know.

I find it hard to believe that by the end of the day today, we will be completely moved out of our old house. We're mostly done, but there are still some things in the garage and shed that need to be moved. We've got some people coming over today to help us out for a bit.

On Thursday night, Monica's brother Pete came over and helped us load the big moving truck. Yesterday, my friend Ed came to help us unpack it. Without the help of these two guys, we never would have gotten moved. I can't thank you enough.

The roof on the new house is in the process of being replaced, and hopefully it will be finished today so that tomorrow, we can unpack and get organized in peace and quiet.

I'll write more later about the crap we've been going through this past week with closing and loans and such. Right now, I need to get over to our old house so that we can be done with it.

Snow birds

My parents arrive today, and it's not supposed to be 100 at any point during the weekend. In fact, it was downright chilly this morning, as is evident by this really cute hat that one of Monica's co-workers made for Rachel.

I don't know if Mom and Dad will know what to do with themselves.

I'm also going to post another video here today. Hopefully, those of you who haven't been able to view the previous ones will be able to see this one. It's an AVI file, so it should open up with your video player of choice. As for the other videos, you'll probably have to go to the Quicktime website to download the latest version.

This one was shot with my little Canon Powershot yesterday. Rachel has started reaching out to grab things on her own now instead of waiting for them to be brought to her hands.


Click here to see the video

Uno mas

Tomorrow will be my last day of employment with North East ISD.

On Monday, I start my new job with Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD.

I haven't said very much at all about this transition because I wanted to tell the people I work with about me leaving before I told the Internet about it.

I have spent two years and ten weeks working for NEISD. They gave Monica and I a reason to come back to San Antonio, and for that I will be forever grateful. I will truly miss the people that I have worked with over the past two years. The Educational Techology department at NEISD has some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet, and some of the most dedicated in the district. I have also met some amazing teachers at the four campuses I've worked at...you know who you are.

When I interviewed with NEISD, one of the questions I was asked was how I would handle having multiple campuses to take care of, since I was coming from a single-school district. I answered that since I would be mainly responsible for curriculum, planning and staff development, I should be able to handle it just fine. I think over the past couple of years, I've handled my duties very well. There were plenty of areas I could have improved upon, and I never felt as though I was doing a perfect job, but hopefully the teachers at my campuses felt like I gave them the assistance they needed when they needed it.

So with such great people to work with, why did I leave?

There are a number of reasons, actually, some of which I don't want to get into, but for me personally, I felt that the job in Schertz was a step toward where I want to eventually end up, and that's in charge of a tech department somewhere. Maybe it will be in Schertz some years down the road, and maybe it will be somewhere else, but my goal is to get back to the point of making decisions and being able to be influential in how technology is used in education.

While I was able to directly influence how technology was used in classrooms in NEISD, I felt like there were certain aspects of the job that were out of my control. After being the decision maker on things like purchases, curriculum, network, and policy decisions in Chicago, it was quite an adjustment for me to not have those responsibilities.

I feel as though I'll have some of those opportunities again in Schertz. It is a relatively small district that is growing like crazy. The student population is projected to double in the next five years. Their technology department is small, which means I'm getting in on the ground floor of an organization that is going to continue to grow, and I'll be part of the team that directly influences the vision for the use of techology.

Working for a large school district has been an amazing experience for me, and I've certainly learned a lot at NEISD. However, now I'm looking forward--to a new beginning for me, a new beginning for our family as we move to a new house, and a new opportunity for me to share what I know about technology with teachers in a new place.

Farewell, NEISD...it has been my pleasure to work for you.

SCUCISD, bring it on.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

This child is doing it all backwards. If we could just get her to roll the other way, we'll be set.


Click here to see the movie

Month Four

Dear Rachel,

Today you turn four months old. I can't believe how quickly the last month flew by. I just got used to saying that you were three months! We have been really busy as a family, and there are a lot of exciting changes that will be happening this month.


By the end of your fifth month of life, you will be living in a new house, and your Daddy will have a new job. These things aren't a big deal to you, but they are a huge deal for your parents.

Watching you this past month has been amazing for us, as always. Now, instead of reaching out tenatively, you will grab at anything that comes within an arm's length of you. Rattles, your bottle, daddy's face...anything that's close to you, you'll grab, and usually try to put in your mouth. You've also started grabbing your feet, but thankfully, you're not trying to eat those, yet.


In addition to grabbing, you're also holding on to stuff a lot longer to explore it. You will even hold onto your bottle from time to time, which makes it much easier for me to change the channel on the TV and have a beer while you're eating.

You've refined your digit sucking over the past four weeks. At the end of last month, you were shoving your whole fist in your mouth. Over the course of this month, you picked out two fingers you liked, and in the past week, you've decided (much to my dismay) that your thumb is what you really want to suck on.


You've also become very vocal this month, regularly holding conversations with whoever will listen, and you will go on for minutes on end. Especially when your mother and I are trying to listen to something on TV. There are certain words or sounds that you will respond to with a laugh, like the dog's bark, or the word "poop." It still makes us laugh every time you laugh.

Your are getting used to spending time on your tummy and don't cry or fuss as much as you used to. Earlier in the week, you picked your head up, turned and looked right at my while you were on your tummy, which you hadn't ever done before. Usually, I have to get down to floor level to get you to turn and look at me.


You're still not turning over, but when you're on your back, you will turn onto your side to look at something that interests you. Hopefully, this month, we'll get you to turn completely over.

Bathtime has become a real trip. Instead of washing you in your plastic tub over the sink, you've started taking a bath with Mommy. You love being in the tub and having room to kick around. You kick so much, that you get me wet sitting outside of the tub. You really love the water, and I can't wait to take you swimming.

You've started recognizing that the dog is a living thing, and he is becoming more daring around you. You will follow him when he walks by, and you love watching his tail wag. He, in turn, shows you a lot of love, usually by licking your feet, but he also sniffs around your face a lot.


We bought you a jumper this month, which you love to spend time in. You bounce around a lot, and are starting to figure out that the toys on it are there for you to play with. We love it because it wears you out, which means you fall asleep quickly after you've been in it.


Speaking of falling asleep, you're starting to become quite the little stinker when it's bed time. You will play in your bed for a while, but once you realize that there's nobody around, you start to cry. Loudly. Very loudly. We know that babies form habits around three months, so we're trying to get you to fall asleep without us holding you or standing over you, but sometimes you just need a loving face to stare at. One night, you were wailing like someone had dropped you, and when I walked in, you were just laying in the middle of your bed, pitching a fit. As soon as you saw me, you stopped crying and calmed down. I guess you are just a social butterfly, and want people around.

We took you to your first high school football game last week, and you didn't seem to mind all of the noise. In fact, you even fell asleep during part of the game! Mommy's team got obliterated by Grandpa Martinez's team, but we won't talk about that.

Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick will be here in a few weeks for a weekend visit. We can't wait to see them, and show them how much you've learned!

Love,
Daddy

This one's for you, sis...

I don't know how you did it, Sarah, but somehow, this little girl is taking after you.

In which it all hits the fan...

Isn't it weird how everything happens all at once?

In case you couldn't tell by the new banner, we have accepted an offer on our house. I hesitate to say it's sold because the deal isn't done until the ink is dry on the papers.

A lot of other things fell into place last week, too.

Over the course of the past year, I had applied for 6 different jobs and only got one interview. Trust me, I'm not applying for stuff I'm not qualified for, so it's been really frustrating.

Over the past month, I've applied for two jobs and got interviewed for both of them. Also over the past month, we've had several showings on our house but no bites.

My whole world flipped upside down last week.

Over the course of 7 days, we accepted an offer on our house, looked at about 15 houses, placed an offer on one, and I accepted a new job.

All in one week.

And the fallout from all of this is going to happen all in the same week, too. I start my new job, and we close on both houses in the same week.

Maybe.

The house we put an offer on needs a new roof, and I have a really bad feeling that it's going to be a sticking point on both ends. It's a deal breaker for us if the sellers don't want to fix it, which means we start all over again looking for houses.

October is shaping up to be a very busy month around here.

The giggles

We found out over the weekend that Rachel loves it when the dog does his half-bark "huff."


Click here to see the video

Go ahead Dad, call DCFS

My Dad threatened me with calling Child Protective Services (Department of Children and Family Services for you northerners) if I dressed Rachel in a Cubs outfit because according to him I would be "contributing to the delinquency of a minor."

But he's the one who bought this outfit at my request, so I guess he's partly responsible.



She looks happy enough, though.

Yes, they may be mathematically eliminated, but at least they're not going to lose 100 games. Am I a true Cubs fan, or what?

"Chicago Cubs fans are ninety percent scar tissue." ~ George Will

More video fun...

This one's for Mom and Dad...Monica is in the video. I'm not, because I've been behind the camera. Here's Rachel at 3 months...

Click here to see the video