So Long D.C., Hello Baton Rouge

Sorry for the extended absence! I bet you've all been on pins and needles waiting to hear about our last days in D.C., our 18-hour road trip to Baton Rouge, and our first few days in The Rouge. Well, let's start at the begining. And I'll warn you now, this post is basically a straightforward chronological overview of our busy last week. Not as many random observations or attempts at humor here, due to the sheer volume of info involved.

First, CONGRATS to Amy and Mike, proud parents of adorable baby girl Ellie!! She arrived on 8-8-08! How exciting is that?! Amy and Mike, we cannot wait to meet adorable Ellie.

8-8-08 was not NEARLY as exciting for us. The packers came and packed our ENTIRE house in five hours! Isn't that incredible? I must say I am a convert--I will always, always pay for packers and movers now. On Saturday and Sunday, we enjoyed our last weekend in D.C. Oh, and we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, as promised based on your poll. We promise to post the pics soon. We also met up with Tara & Alex, Jenny & Jeff, and Caroline for brunch. Everyone but Lucy enjoyed Bloody Marys and mimosas. Yum.... Then on Monday the movers swooped in and loaded our entire house into a giant truck. Again, I am convert and will never move myself again. That night Lucy had one last date with her boyfriend Sam while we caught up with Sam's parents, Jessica and Rob. We think that Sam and Lucy will have a long distance romance for now.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2008, we pulled out of our driveway at 3625 1st Rd. S. and hit the road for Baton Rouge. It was harder than I thought it would be to leave D.C. and our little house. I think the hardest part was knowing that I won't be seeing our wonderful friends like Jessica & Rob, Jenny & Jeff, Mollie & Javad, Crystal & Sean, Tara & Alex, Caroline & Jake, and Jenelle nearly as much. I fully expect (and hope!) that they will ALL come visit us in The Rouge. Until then, we will miss them all tremendously. We also had a hard time leaving our actual house. Maybe because it was our first house, maybe it's because it's the house that Lucy came home to, or maybe just because we really, really liked it. Who knows. But as Seth said, we know we'll love our next house just as much so no point in shedding tears. But as we were pulling away from the house, I also thought, our house, our stuff, none of that mattered because I had everything I needed with me: Lucy and Seth. Well, them AND some dental floss (I am a crazy flosser), diet Coke, some extra clothes, our wedding photos, and some Hershey's kisses. So we set out with 18 HOURS of open road ahead of us. And I am happy to report that we all survived. Seth drove his truck and I drove our car with Lucy. Lucy was a superstar and only got fussy at the 5-hour mark each day. The entire trip was thankfully very uneventful. Oh I forgot to mention we got to catch up with my sister Maryellen and her husband Joe when we made a pit stop in Birmingham on day #2 of the trip. They made us a real dinner and were such wonderful hosts that we felt like schleppy, poor college students invading a perfectly put together model home. I mean, they have NO clutter and their entire place is spotless. How can that be? It just simply isn't normal. Unless your my little sister who has it really together.

Okay, so since we arrived in The Rouge it has been a WHIRLWIND of visiting and weddings. Congrats to Seth's cousin Sarah and our friends Crystal & Sean, who all got married on Saturday. Between all the I do's and wedding cake, Lucy got some quality time with Mawmaw Patty and Pawpaw Jose, who moved to Houston today. We are sad to see them move, but we are looking forward to visiting them in H-town, where we can all eat lots of great Mexican food, go to the children's museum, hit up some giant malls, etc.! Lucy has also gotten to see lots of Pawpaw Kevin, uncle Marc & aunt Meagan, and uncle Jeff. Lucy is looking forward to seeing more of all of them. Lucy is also looking forward to finding out whether she'll be having a little boy or girl cousin when Marc and Meagan welcome their baby in September!

With the arrival of our 9,000 pounds of junk today (read: all our earthly possesions, most of which really ARE junk), we are FINALLY in our rented house. More to report on that later. I'll leave you with these first thoughts though: beehive, great yard and crazy faux wallpaper. Argh. But for now, I think little Lulu is just happy to be surrounded by her familiar things: the exersaucer, complete with the flower she hates, and her crib.

So that'll do it for now. Now that our internet is up and running again, we promise to update all the time with way more info about our lives than you ever wanted to know. Til then, good night!