Confession: I started working on this post a few days before the end of August thinking that I'll do an August review on time. Well, here we are on October 12th and I am just finishing this up...Ha!! A lot has happened these past 8-9 weeks, and I couldn't muster up any energy to type by the end of the day (like every day). With Zoe going on nap strike today which led to an early bedtime, and my home office finally being set up (!!!), I'm enjoying this time of reflection that I gained tonight. Thank you in advance for reading this chapter-long post of the past couple of months. 😊
August
For the last 9 years, August was deemed as the "hell month" for me as an admission counselor. It was an impending doom of stress and dread but also provided my yearly content of #admissionslife that made up of crazy situations that I dealt with students as the first day of class was approaching. Oh, how I (surprisingly) miss those days but not at the same time.
In many ways, I still had my fair share of craziness in August - lots of highs and lows that took me on a true rollercoaster ride. Fact: I don't even like rollercoasters.
Where should I begin? Well, after a month of amazingly homeless living in Seattle (thank you to our amazing family members (Z's brother and his wife), we returned to the great land of Texas on August 1st and somehow managed to bring back 3 new suitcases. Now, in my defense, I received a ton of hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law's sister who is done having children, and I don't know how to refuse hand-me-downs. I must say that Zoe's wardrobe is probably set until she is 5 years old, and since she is a rather petite gal, she probably will wear these clothes until she is 7. Z also bought white suitcases out of all things (why?!) against my #mommode. Nonetheless, the white suitcases have survived the trip fine without many scratches. The whole crew, including the dogs, was exhausted.
August 5th - WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE! We are super blessed to be able to find a dream home in this crazy (aka everyone wants to buy a house) housing market. We toured this home literally the morning of our flight to Seattle in early July and did the whole closing paperwork remotely. Doing this business with a 2-hour time zone difference was trippy. Zoe decided to pick the most princessy dress from one of the suitcases (one of the hand-me-downs) on this closing day, which cracked us up.
We did not move in right away, though, as we wanted to get some work done around the house. Unfortunately, we weren't able to schedule any big projects on time considering the labor and supply shortages everywhere; we decided to push back on those until next year as the changes were for more cosmetic reasons than functionality. We stayed a week at our friend's house in Ft. Worth but made the trip to Arlington almost daily. Such frequent driving and a house that provided no entertainment for a toddler must be boring, but Zoe truly handled it like a champion.
Move-in day occurred on August 9th which was organized chaos. We hired some crews for move-in cleaning that morning, and our stuff swiftly arrived that afternoon. All I remember from that time was that it was your typical HOT Texas summer and walking around the neighborhood for 2 hours to keep Zoe napped. As usual, she was a trooper and went with the flow. Making another big move (2, in fact, within 12 months) with a toddler can put parents on high anxiety, but she really handled herself well and made our life better.
Also, in August, Z's new car arrived! We had sold my Hyundai Elantra during our move from St. Louis to Houston last summer in order to downsize as much as we could. Z didn't need a car during his fellowship year as we lived in the medical district, and he was able to commute by bus or metro rail. And with myself working from home during that year, we really didn't have much need for a car. Well, that changed completely when we moved as Z's commute was going to be about 20 minutes each way. After much pondering and test driving, he went with a Tesla - Model Y. We liked that it was more eco-friendly (all-electric) and surprisingly family-friendly cargo space-wise.
I am going to omit all the other things we had to buy or fix because August was truly a money pit for us due to coming from an apartment living back to a house. We do absolutely love all the indoor and outdoor space we gained from moving into this house. Our toddler and two dogs love them so much, which makes us happy parents!
The final memorable news in the month of August was Zoe starting swimming lessons! Even though we do not own a pool, her love for being in water quickly made us realize that she needs to learn how to be in the water safely. After some research, I went with Flipkick Swim Academy and I've been very pleased with her learning progress. They focus on ISR (Infant Swimming Resource), which teaches her how to float to breathe and be able to swim to safety. I will admit that the first couple of weeks was hard for me to watch as a parent and for Zoe learning the techniques, especially the floating part. But you have to trust the process and kids will quickly learn! We now struggle to get Zoe to leave the pool because she enjoys the lessons so much.
September
The majority of September was spent on me figuring out how to be a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). While I can probably write a whole novel about this transition and my feelings (the good and the challenging moments), what I can say at this point is that I am now mentally in a better place. We have been refining our daily schedules throughout the month to keep both my and Zoe's day productive and fun. We have had our success and failures so far...haha. We have made a lot of Chick-Fil-A trips as well as exploring kid-friendly places/activities around the area.
September 24 - This was a reunion I will forever remember. We traveled to upstate New York to attend the 49th day of my grandma's passing, which is an important day in Buddhism. It was also the day that my parents got to see Zoe for the first time since October 2019 (!!!) when she was only 4 months old at that time. With COVID and my grandma's declining health at the time, we couldn't easily commit to traveling for the past (almost) 2 years. I'd like to believe that my grandma brought all of us together. Our reunion was so happy, beautiful, and simply picture-perfect.
The ceremony was also attended by Z's mom and our family friend in New Jersey. It was taken place at Korean Buddhist Wonkaksa which oversees the beautiful Schunnemunk Mountain State Park. I felt at peace knowing that grandma was resting in such a beautiful place as she wished.
Zoe had the rare pleasure of spending time with both sides of her grandparents. What a blessed child she is! And what a true joy for me to watch both mothers in absolute bliss.
We ended our trip to New York that night to have dinner with the rest of Z's side of the family.
Z and I split that night - he spent the rest of the weekend with his side of the family while Zoe and I made the trek back to Buffalo with my parents to spend a couple of days. Since then, my mom and brother have flown to TX with me (and Zoe) and spending most of October with us. My dad will be joining us in a week to spend a few days together before they all fly back to NY.
Me being on cloud nine might be the most understated comment ever. I have been so happy to have my mom with me to see her share her mom knowledge with me and watching her pour all the love into her granddaughter.
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