Little "Apartment" on the Prairie

Welcome to our new home in Nebraska. Our apartment isn't entirely unpacked yet and definitely not decorated... so here's some pics of the outside that I thought you all might enjoy. Our apartment complex is on the 'outskirts' of the 'city,' so we have a lot of nature to look at... one of the main attractions of this place.

Here's Christian on our patio, watching Will play.

Here they are running together. Will LOVES the outdoors.


Here's the view to the LEFT...


and to the RIGHT...

and straight on from our patio door...
(yes, that's a corn field back there :) ...
and that's a meadow/ rivery thing -when it rains a lot- in front of it.
we're up hill from it, so no worries about floods.)

AND... since I took those photos, some sunflowers popped up!




Oh, and this is the view from the 'study.'
Oh, yes, we have a 3rd bedroom in this place!!

So, all in all, we are settling in well enough. Christian and I have been contending with some allergies and Will took a little time to feel adjusted at first, but we are really enjoying the view, our surroundings, and feeling like we're out in a new 'frontier,' if you will. It's also been wonderful to have this month 'off' before I begin internship. We've been cooking some cool new stir-fries together, taking Will to the park most days, and just plain relaxing... it's great. So... although the new culture down here may take a bit to get used to, I think it will be a fun adventure.

Oh, and I forgot that we've realized that in living in NE we have fallen DRASTICALLY behind in all the Husker trivia and, well, knowledge in general. My father kindly bought us a NE Huskers history book, so hopefully we can pass off as good enough fans. :) (ps the very small mall here had at least 3 Huskers apparel stores in it...)

Back Again :)

Okay, I've come back out to blog yet again. I can't believe I've been falling so behind lately. I suppose we've had a bit on our plate. So, since we last posted, I finished my final course work, ended my most recent clinical position, and began working full force (when Will was at his sitters in the afternoon) on my dissertation. Although it was difficult to finish, I knew it would only be that much harder to write/analyze/etc if I waited until I began working full-time on internship. I'm really hoping to preserve my evenings and weekends with my family as much as possible... as I'm anticipating it may be quite difficult to be away from Will so much. So, yes, I finished collecting my data, analyzing it, and writing it up for my committee. They have agreed on a defense date of August 28th and may yet still give me some revisions to do before then. Otherwise, in preparation for the defense, I simply need to work on a powerpoint presentation of the study... as I've heard that the more I explain in my presentation the less they will be able to ask me during the official 'defense' portion of the oral exam.


Okay, enough talk about academics. :) We move to Nebraska in ONE WEEK!! We are pretty far in our packing and I'm taking a break now while Will sits on Christian's lap. We are experiencing everything you might imagine in this type of situation... excitement, anticipation, anxiety, hesitation, and maybe a bit of mourning for leaving this area we've lived in for so long. We keep taking little opportunities to eat at some of our favorite restaurants that are local to this area and arranging little outings with our close friends whom we will miss intensely. And yet, we are also very excited to start 'anew' and experience an entirely new city (... or rather, town?... not sure what Norfolk would be considered...). It'll also be refreshing to be so close to most of my siblings and my parents again. We may not be able to live by them for long, so it'll be nice to have at least this opportunity.


Okay, on to the pictures! This first batch is from the zoo in Columbus, OH. My sister, Ruth, had her second child, Brianna (or Bree), in February and we were trying to figure out a way for us to visit and meet this new niece of mine when we finally came upon the idea of meeting in the middle for Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast staying at adjacent hotel rooms and allowing the older cousins (Will and Aidan) to socalize while we took turns holding precious Bree. Here are some of the pics (although I can't believe I didn't manage to get a picture of the baby!!!... someone really needs to examine my brain one of these days).







Next, this was a little pic I took in July, during one of my packing days. Will found his 'leash'/backpack thing and decided he wanted to wear it around the apartment. We haven't been successful in the past at getting him to be okay with wearing it so I thought a little playtime with it might enhance some positive associations. :) ... that and he looked a bit like a little camper to me.



Alright, now we come to a good-bye party that Christian's lab threw for him. His boss hosted the party and here was the cake that they had:



His boss, George, also honored Christian with an engraved clock to commemorate Christian's time with the lab. George gave a little speech about Christian too, it was really special.


...and Will, of course, had a blast running around the party as the only child in the house. :)


And it wouldn't be a true blog posting from us if we didn't include on of Will getting messy, right? This was from July 4th, were we gave him a cupcake to enjoy. :)


Of course, he had to attempt to cover himself in the process...


This is a jacket we got from his cousin, Aidan. It's so adorable... but maybe a bit too small for him already. I couldn't resist a little pic of it.


While I was packing up Will's closet I came across his infant car seat and to my surprise Will thought it would be fun to pretend and sit in it. :)


Haha... so, this is funny. Will's been 'experimenting' with this new look. He does this thing that his father does when he's discipling where he looks stern... and it's so hard to take him seriously, but here he is with it. I don't know why he did it at this point since he was in a good mood... again, I think he's experimenting with it. ... gauging our reactions. :)


Here he is outside. We're going to deeply miss these grounds at our apartment complex. During the summer we go on at least 1-2 walks with him a day and he LOVES it. He's going to be an outdoor sorta guy.


And, :( I couldn't get my video of him playing outside to load, so you can't hear him say "hello" and "b-bye," but maybe another time.

B-bye for now! Next time... our new place!

Just some random pics and videos

Okay, so this may horrify some mothers, but I just couldn't resist posting these pics and videos.
(For one, I haven't posted a video yet!) Who would have thought that ONE oreo could turn into a mess like this. :) Will's quite proud of himself, and I'm just thankful I put him in the highchair for it.




And here are the videos. They're quite short. And... hmmm... just promise to disregard the mess Christian and I made in the background... In our defense, we were in the middle of throwing some clothes together for the laundry.

Oh, and background... this was the first time Will was allowed to hold a regular cup by himself. We figured, well, he can't get much more messy, right??







And here are just some other pics:

A day out in the grounds:

Will investigating the empty bookcase:

Easter:
(Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Bollinger for the outfit!)

I've mentioned before that I wouldn't know what I'd do if I didn't have the sitter we have. Syeda has been a true blessing. Not only does she take excellent care of Will, but she has 15+ years of licensed experience, has a very affordable hourly rate, and has been very flexible with Will. As you may be able to gather from the photos, this is a Muslim family that Will stays with and with their Indian heritage comes some very spicy foods... just a little interesting tid-bit, Syeda says that Will won't eat any of the food I provide unless she adds some of their own VERY spicy food too. :) And it's true! Will LOVES it when we give him anything with a little more spice. :)

Here we are at their daughter's wedding ceremony. This is Syeda and her husband:


The bride (Syeda's daugher, Huda) and groom:
(I've since heard they're very happy together!! :)


One of Syeda's daughter-in-laws:


And here are a couple little girls that hang out with Will when he's over there. They love him... and I've heard they call him, "Billiam" :)

.... sorry it's been so long.

Wow, I can't believe I've taken this long to get back to blogging. As I type this I wonder if there will be anyone left that will still continue to check in to see if there are updates... or if they've all lost hope!! :)


Okay... since there's so much to catch everyone up on, I'm going to go for some bullet points.

1. On Christmas Eve, I met up with a good friend of mine, Tawnya, with her son Truman (... and their baby to be!!).




2. Christmas was a blast with my side of the family. Will got to see his cousin, Aidan, and all of his aunts and uncles.








3. Early January we got to see Shannon and Caleb with their children. I took a lot of photos of Joy, as we hadn't seen her since she was a newborn and thought she looked a lot like Will.






4. Spent a LONG hard month interviewing for internship positions in January. This preemptively began Will's night-time separation anxiety, but we've been fairing better since then.


5. At the end of January we went to Idaho for one of my final interviews, and we saw all our family there! It was such a blessing to see Grandma and Grandpa Bollinger, hang out with Isaac and Amanda, and spend some quality time with all of the rest of the Campbells: Stephanie and Corey and their MUCH older children; Bridget and Chad with their young boys; and of course, Shannon and Caleb and their kids. It would have been wonderful to have Esther and Jody and Chase there, but we felt blessed to see as many family members as we did. Thanks again for your hospitality!!

... oh, and yeah... I think part of the reason I delayed updating my blog was my guilt at forgeting to get out my camera while we were in Idaho... my mind must have been elsewhere.


6. On February 5th, Will turned 1 and his grandparents were here to celebrate, along with Chase and his girlfriend, Shannon.










7. Okay, number seven. In February we waited and waited and found out we got matched to an internship site in Norfolk, NE. :) We'll have lived in Chicago for several years when we move (10 years for me), so it'll be quite the adjustment.



8. VERY EXCITING NEWS!!! and, no, it's not another baby like my mother guessed :)
Will is toddling!! We've got a walker!!



Not much more practical news here. Will has been mimicking things that we've been saying, which is just so adorable. And he's begun enjoying reading books, which is also quite charming. I've mentioned this to some friends alreaady, but it really feels as if we've moved from being simply caretakers of our son to parents. It feels qualitatively different to have a connection with him where I know that he's digesting everything that I'm doing with him. He watches and attempts to copy... perhaps in a very 1st born sort of way, he wants to be very much like his parents. He's also quite happy and cheerful, as long as he's got attention or at least something to sort or put in his mouth. :) But, yes, his personality is very much coming through. Christian jokingly said the other day that he's quite willful. :) He's a risk-taker and an adventure-seeker who wants to be friends with every new person he sees. He, like many toddlers, has a hard time being told, 'no' to something he really wants and he dances any time something remotely musical is on (this includes commercials). Oh, and this dance... it's a total wiggle of the hips, shoulders, and head. :) I'll have to catch this on tape and post it sometime. :)

Looks like my blogger's not letting me add more photos... I'll try another post.