Luuuucy...

...we're home!

Yep.  2,000 miles.  Three and a half days on the road.   We are very glad we made the decision to drive instead of fly.  Our route took us through western Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and finally Washington…a part of the country that we would probably have never seen otherwise.  Granted, 90% of it was boring, flat, nothingness, but the 10% up in the mountains made it worthwhile.  Awesome.  Stopping to see some friends and family along the way didn’t hurt either. 

Stories (and photos) from the trip will have to wait.

Luckily, the apartment was available when we arrived, so we didn't have to stay another night in a hotel.  Unpacking and repacking just that one suitcase every day was starting to make me crazy.  

It's a beautiful apartment complex and neighborhood.  Very upscale.  Feels awkward, as if we're "living above our paygrade", but I think we'll survive.  Our apartment is very open and the provided furniture is really nice.  I'll put up pictures when we've finished unpacking and organizing and things look halfway decent.

I'm loving the weather!  This place looks like a rainforest, but surprisingly the humidity isn't noticeably different from [some days in] Kansas.  The weather forecast had me a little nervous - a solid week of rain following our arrival.  And it did keep up a drizzle for our entire first full day here (didn't keep us from getting out for a much-needed walk!), but since then we've seen the sun at least a few times a day.  It is wonderful.  High temps have been in the 60's, but when the sun comes out the air warms up just enough - not too hot.  And no wind.  No! wind!  We are going to get so spoiled.

Daniel is in his third day at the office.  So far they have just been working out the kinks in getting everyone's computers and stuff working, but next week I think they're really going to get started.  It sounds like a nice place - big windows with views of the Sound and Whidbey Island, and only about a mile from the apartment.  

Well, Hollie's been doing great.  Her sleep seems to finally be getting back to normal.  During the drive she got into a pattern of going to bed really late and waking up really early (only sleeping about six hours) and taking two long naps in the car...and continued that for our first two days here.  This morning however, after waking up at 5:45, she and I went and sat on the couch and she dozed off again...for another two hours!  A good step back toward normal.  

We're trying to get by without using any baby-proofing like gates or cabinet locks, so it has been about 80% clever organization on our part, and 20% reminding Hollie to please not to dig in the trash can.   

When we got here, she definitely had an instinctive feeling of being in someone else's house, which kept her from really getting into the exposed TV cords and unraveling the toilet paper rolls.  It gave me a nice grace period to get things, at a minimum, safe.  That feeling is slowly wearing off, but it has been a good learning experience for her - she can take everything out of the kitchen drawers and cabinets and I won't stop her (let's face it, I can't), but she needs to put everything away (with help, for now) before she moves on.  I know that it's only a matter of time before she starts to truly feel at home...then we're really going to have to keep an eye on that toilet paper.  

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  And congratulations to my little sister...graduated from high school yesterday.  I can't believe it.  Sorry I didn't call you...I will this weekend.  

First appointment with my new OB is next Tuesday!

Much more to write about...coming soon.