Zoey's wised up

She no longer goes merrily into the schoolyard to play with her friends. Instead, five blocks from school she starts saying, "I don't wanna go to school!" The tears start. The nose runs (she's getting over a cold which has morphed into a sinus infection). "I just want to go back to the new telephone room!" It's heartbreaking.

So I have to hang out a little bit longer at school, wipe her nose, dry her tears, explain that I'll be right back and remind her that she likes school. Because she does. She loves being around other kids and playing. She made some art the other week. It's a red blob of paint, circular on one side and then trailing off in random lines, entitled "Red Tree." Although, it perhaps would be better titled, "Blood Stain on my Heart Because My Mommy Leaves Me Here."

Still, it's a process, this growing up thing. And really, she's been such a trooper through all this change. I'm sure she's glad the Astros are done playing, as not mommy doesn't have to watch the ball games every freaking night. It's a relief to me, too, as those games got pretty depressing at the end. I swear, I was in a real funk after game 3. It just seemed so sad for such a miracle season to end this way. But you know, if you can't get people across home plate, you just can't expect to win.

Bye bye house

Just wanted to let you guys know that as of Wednesday morning, our little house in houston is officially SOLD! What a relief for us, that it took less than two months, and that we got just under our asking price. Hooray! No more mortgage and rent at the same time.

We don't really know what we're going to do regarding more permanent residence in Austin, yet, but we will most likely move to someplace else in Austin once our lease is up at the complex. Yes, a one-bedroom apartment is a little on the small side. We could really use at least one more room. But we are making do, and very happy to be "alltogether" in the NEW telephone room. (And I'm still loving having a dishwasher and disposal at my beck and call.)

Zoey's doing well at school, and is only a little discombobulated during nap time. She loves being around other kids. We're just so lucky that she is a flexible, easy-going kid, as she's been subjected to so much change in the past two months: we moved; we weaned off bottle and breast; we started school. I think (as Bethany has pointed out during one of our nice phone conversations) it helped that there was so much change at once. Of course, now she has a cold, but we are in Houston anyway until the end of the week.

Which means I got to be in town for the Astros clinching the pennant. Unfortunately, I watched it at my parent's house, with just them, and all three of us were thrilled as we are all long-time fans. But I would have loved to have been at Rudyard's, where I watched so many games, or with ScottButt or Lynn, who were my Astros buddies during all those years where tickets to the games (at the Dome) were so easy to come by. I remember once walking up to see a game with Lynn L., thinking we'd just go buy cheap seats at the box office and running into a gentleman who simply asked if we wanted two field-level tickets cuz he had extra. Or the time me and Scott went to a game against Cincinnati, a game that came to be known as the "brawlgame" due to an abundance of dugout-clearing fights between the two teams. Or the one playoff game vs. Atlanta I went to that year the astros were so damn good they won over 100 games and then blew it in the first round. I've seen so many games, but Wednesday night's game was the sweetest. I just wish I'd gotten to drive around honking my horn and high-fiving strangers. And if I still had my house, I know I would have heard the sounds of celebration all around me, which would have been beautiful, if somewhat scary. My sister insists that I come back to Houston to watch some of the world series games with her, but I doubt I'll do that. I'll just have to find some fans in Austin to watch the games with me.

Greetings from Austin

We'll, we've been here about a month now and things are going pretty well, especially now that the weather finally cooled off. Zoey took to the move like a pro, and only occasionally asks to go to "mommy's house." I don't really know if she really understands it when I tell her that we now live in "the NEW telephone room." But she likes it here. (She calls it the "telephone room," I think, because she was used to staying in moTEL rooms when we came to visit daddy, and called them "telephone rooms." So this apartment became "the NEW telephone room." That's how she says it, emphasis, long vowel sound, on "NEW.") It's a pretty small place, but pretty quiet, clean, with nice carpeting, a dishwasher and disposal--which I love having--and a washer and dryer. It's a big complex, and sometimes louder than I'd like thanks to the family of 6 or so across the hall that's become the hangout for many of the complex elementary-school kids. I mean, I think the hall (actually a breezeway) has become the hangout. I swear there's always about 6-8 kids out there playing. Oh well. Too bad they're all too old for Zoey.

We've made some friends here, too. Trey answered a craigslist ad and met a guy who moved here with his girlfriend-now wife from the bay area earlier this year. They are both very cool people. Trey even married them a few weeks ago (the pick above is from the laid back stealth wedding ceremony atop Mt. Bonnell). Zoey also met a pair of siblings who lived above us for a few months. They've sinced moved into their new house, but they promised to invite us over for a playdate once they get settled. I haven't yet hooked up with any of my Austin friends, but that'll happen soon enough. Things are looking pretty positive for us.

And it looks like we're going to close on the sale of our house before the end of the month! Maybe even before the end of this week, but I'm not going to celebrate that until all the papers are signed and we have that tiny little check in our hands. Yes, we will probably get a little check. Getting the house ready has been such a stressor for me, as I've had to do it all myself, but it's been worth it. The house looked great, and we had a fair number of interested parties. It's gone way better than I'd hoped.

Zoey started school today. I actually wrote an entry earlier this morning, when I was still very anxious and a bit weepy about this new chapter in her life. But I lost it in the blink of an eye trying to allow popups to this site. Oh well. I'm feeling much better now, as she's so far done pretty well (I've had a few phone calls with the director, who's given me updates.) She had a mini-meltdown mid-morning, when she finally looked up from playing to realize I wasn't around. Then they fed her lunch and well, the kid likes to eat. The real surprise was when I called around 1 pm and found out that she was actually napping along with the rest of the class. I'm going to pick her up soon. And of course, we'll see how Wednesday goes (she's just M-W-F for now).

Anyway, things are pretty good. Plus, the Astros beat the Braves.

Hope everyone is doing well.