Moving Day

We picked up the UHaul on Friday morning and loaded up all our belongings in about 7 hours. We learned a few things: we had WAY more stuff than we thought we did, packing a truck takes WAY more time than you think it will, moving is NO fun. Thanks to Becky for taking Levi off our hands for a few hours so we could get things done without his "helpful" hands and "expert" walking skills. 

The packed truck.

After a long day of loading up the truck, it was filled! Unfortunately, our mattresses and other odds and ends were still in our garage. Uh oh! We decided to call it a day and pick up an extra trailer to fill up on Saturday morning. Because everything was packed, we spent the night in a hotel (Levi's 1st time!) and had a great nights sleep and woke up rested for another day of packing. Dave packed up the last of our stuff and then we headed over to a farewell BBQ thrown by our friends the Smarts and the Holmes. We had so much fun relaxing in the backyard, eating yummy food and enjoying some time with our great friends before hitting the road. We all had so much fun that no one took any pictures! I'm a little bummed that we didn't get one last picture of our group but I think it speaks to all the quality time we were enjoying instead of chasing everyone around with a camera.

One picture from the BBQ that I stole from Becky. :)

 After the party, we drove off into the sunset with our matching UHauls. Dave got the big truck and I got the car, trailer and baby.

That's a whole lot of stuff!

 We pulled into Modesto around 12:30am and were welcomed by a train downtown and a sobriety checkpoint. We slept at my parents' house and woke up bright and early to unpack the truck into our new house! We had lots of family that met us at the house and had everything unloaded in under an hour and a half. They had all the beds and cribs assembled by lunchtime, the closets unpacked and put away and the garage organized by the end of the day. It was an amazing amount of help that we were so thankful for!

One more random trip to the Home Depot. Levi is so helpful!

We've spent our first week in our new home unpacking boxes, cleaning and trying to find where everything was put. We had more helpers this week who helped me wrangle Levi and unpack our kitchen and even got two new chandeliers hung up. It's starting to feel more comfortable but still sort of feels like we're on vacation in someone else's home! 

Hannity and Levi are feeling right at home and enjoying all the space they have to run around and play!

We have had a great first week in Modesto, Dave has had fun setting up his office and we've enjoyed getting to see so many of our favorite friends and family already. We've gotten to swim at my parents' house, have a date night out, go to Concert in the Park, Dave's already joined a softball league with a great group of guys (they won their first game!), Levi turned 11 months, we drove to Fresno to see the Lockridge family and we got to celebrate the 4th of July at the annual parade and Harden BBQ. It's been a busy but super fun first week! 

Packing, Moving, Playing

While the decision to move away from the South Bay is bittersweet, the process of packing ones belongings is NOT. We're living in a state of chaos at the moment and I'm so ready to be able to settle in to our new house. A few weeks ago my parents came down and helped us pack up the house. My mom is such a champ that the entire house was packed up in a couple of days and placed in the garage. That was such a huge help and was awesome to check most of that off my "To Do" list. But fast forward a couple of weeks and we're still living in a house that is packed into boxes. Ugh. We left out some necessities that will be packed up last minute but for the most part we're down to the bare bones. No can opener. No TV. Half of Levi's toys. We're sad to leave the only home that Dave and I have known in our (almost!) 5 year marriage but this process of living out of boxes sure makes us ready to GO! Ready for the proof?

One half of our garage is packed and ready to go. The other half houses our washer/dryer and poor Dave's office. He's so ready for a room (inside the house!!) all to himself!

A (terribly blurry) picture of our living room sans TV and plus empty boxes for last minute packing.

Our only kitchen belongings... 4 plates, 4 cups, 4 forks, a coffee maker and one pan. (And a partridge in a pear tree!)

Here is Levi living the good life despite the mess. On one of our many trips to the Home Depot for the new house, we found this great cart that Levi enjoyed being pushed around in like a King. He even waved to all of the common folk we found roaming the aisles. This kid LOVES attention!

Despite the craziness inside our house we're getting out and enjoying some of our last official days in RB. Levi and I met up with the girls at the park last week for a play date. I didn't take any pictures (boo) but he had a blast walking all over and playing in the sand. We also went out to dinner a few times (thankfully Dave is not expecting miracles in the kitchen with one pan and a toaster). 

Borrowing his friend Ruby's trike. His feet don't quite hit the peddles yet...

We also got to celebrate our favorite Dad and the one who makes this move possible, Dave! I wasn't able to be much of chef so we got up early and had some baked apple pancakes at the Original Pancake House. Then we drove up to Terranea to walk off the pancakes and enjoy the million dollar views that we have too often taken for granted. We headed back to the house for a quick nap and then on the the Dodger game! This is Levi's 3rd game and it was such a special way to spend Father's day. We were exhausted by the time we got back home but hopefully Dave felt loved and appreciated. Levi and I (and baby #2) are so blessed to have him in our lives. He provides for us in so many countless and thankless ways and never fails to make us laugh. So until Levi is old enough to really say it, Happy Father's Day babe! :)

There was an empty seat next to us at the Dodger game so Levi filled it up. He also filled up on his first Dodger Dog! Levi has recently learned to clap and will take any opportunity he has to show off his newfound skill... a baseball game is the perfect place for that so he entertained our section by clapping along with every play.

And then crashed out in the car on the way out of the parking lot. It's hard work entertaining a crowd of people!

And one little flashback that I found on Dave's phone...

Levi a couple of days old and still in the hospital.
I hardly even remember him being this little!

We're Moving!

It's official: Lockridge Land is moving back home! After 5 great years in the South Bay and one (and a 1/2) kid(s), it's time to move closer to family and friends. We found a great house, worked with an awesome realtor and friend and everything is falling into place on the big move. My parents came down to help box up the Redondo house and then Dave, Levi and I drove up to pick up the keys on Friday. We've already been overwhelmed by all the friends that have volunteered to help us with chores, painting and errands and it just helps solidify our bittersweet decision to move. We'll miss so much about the South Bay- amazing friends, a great church and the beach, to name a few- but we know this is the best decision for our growing family.

We're not officially out of the South Bay yet so don't worry. We're up North getting some things done with the new house but we'll be back in time to say our goodbyes and pack the truck and Dave will still be coming to LA regularly so Levi and I will definitely be tagging along!

More pictures to come...

10 Months

 Levi Daniel is 10 Months Old!

25 lbs

30 inches

He is off and walking so we've purchased some good walking shoes from Stride Rite and he's loving them. (He's already figured out how to undo the velcro and take them off in the car-- so helpful!) He is loving his new found freedom but he overestimates his abilities a little so we're taking more spills and tumbles these days. All in the name of freedom! He's still a good eater. He's sleeping through the night and taking pretty regular naps.... no complaints from his Mommy there! He's wearing mostly 18 month clothes with the occasional 24 month shirt. He's using Mama and Dada and lots of other consonant/vowel combinations but those are the only two that he seems to be using on purpose. He's beginning to use the sign language signals for "All done" and "more" so I'm going to start introducing a few more. He's waving and clapping and we're working on throwing a ball. For the longest time he favored his left hand (I know it's way too early to know that information, but lots of people commented on his hand dominance) but when picking up a ball he seems to prefer his right hand. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see... 

Levi LOVES people! The other night we were at a restaurant and there were two women sitting over his shoulder laughing loudly. He turns around and waves at them as if saying, "Yes, yes, I know, I'm cute." The two women jumped up and had to come and talk to him immediately and just fawned all over him. He eats that attention up! When we were picking out new shoes, the sales person underestimated Levi's walking skills (or thought I was exaggerating) so I pulled him out of the stroller and he took off for the front door and made friends with a couple of ladies walking through the mall. The ladies loved him and the sales person was mighty impressed and showed us the rack of big boy shoes. He's a pretty easy going little guy and he loves attention from anyone willing to offer it. 

It was harder to get pictures of him for his 10 month post. I pleaded, I joked, I tickled, I bribed but I mostly got pictures of him crawling over the chair, trying to touch the light behind him, and then ultimately just leaving the room all together. Here are my attempts to show you my huge 10 month old!

About to show off his waving skills.

I got a little too close so he took the glasses right off my face!

Trying to distract him with a book. It sort of worked.

 He climbed off the chair and walked out the door. I guess  he was all done!

Half Way to Baby #2

We had our anatomy scan this week and got to see Baby Boy #2's progress. He's right on track and getting big and cuter by the day. It's still amazing to see what they can see during those ultrasounds. "Here's the spleen! All four chambers of the heart! All 10 fingers and all 10 toes!" How incredible! He's definitely a boy and proudly showed off for the camera and even the Doctor commented on what an active boy he is. Uh oh! Although I wasn't too surprised since I've been feeling strong kicks for weeks now. We're not wishing the time to pass so quickly this go around but we're definitely getting more and more excited as the days go by. Lockridge Family of Four coming your way soon!

Picture of a photo copy... not the best quality, I know.

Top Left & Right: Profile (We think he already looks like Levi!)

Bottom Left: Little baby foot

Bottom Right: His little boy bits

We love him already!

Camping

Dave and I have been talking and we figured with a family of (soon-to-be) four (with two boys), we would need to branch out on our vacation plans. So we bought a tent and pledged to make it an (at the very least) annual excursion. Our good friends Matt and Becky and Tim and Sheri also packed up their cars and kids and we all headed down to Cardiff-by-the-Sea for our first try as campers with kids. In the days leading up to our trip the kids all got a little sick. We decided to push through, try it out and figured worst case scenario that we could pack it all up and head back home.

3 families, 3 kids, 3 surfboards, 3 bikes, 3 carloads of more stuff than we could ever possibly need on a 2 day camping trip!

While the men set up camp we enjoyed the new sights and lots and lots of dirt.

I requested a fairly large tent that we could grow into. Levi had his own "room" with his pack 'n play and we had enough room on our side for a queen size air mattress. (I'm sure people will say that's not camping but keep in mind that I am 5 months pregnant please!!)

Dinner time!

After dinner stroll along the bluffs.

Up and ready for some surfing!

Levi was ready for his first surf lesson.

Unfortunately our "worst case scenario" came into play. Levi (and the other two kiddos) went right to sleep around 7:30 that night. We all held our breath and couldn't believe our good luck. We enjoyed s'mores by the fire and some great conversation and then called it a night. About a half hour later Levi woke up and refused to go back to sleep. We tried rocking him, more food, cuddling in our bed, a 2am walk around the campsite in the stroller.... no luck. We finally got him back to sleep around 2:30 and he made it until 5:30 when the sun came up. Levi is a 12 hour a night sleeper usually so this poor guy was a wreck the next day. He was definitely not feeling well and wouldn't nap and was making us all a little miserable. Not to mention that this pregnant Mama needs more than three hours of sleep too! We stuck it out through lunchtime and then put him in the car seat and headed back home. He slept the entire way and has been sick ever since. :( We were sad to leave but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We'll definitely try it again and think that it can (and will) be successful in the future. And we still had a ton of fun with great friends on a new adventure!!!

Levi's First Steps