Air we go!

A month after my husband moved to California, newborn baby, 4-year-old earache boy, & momma were given the all clear for flight! The next day, we were headed to the airport. As we pull in to the airport our car was searched at a checkpoint. The nice TSA agents finished quickly & as one was shutting my 4year old’s door, he looked her in the eyes & calmly, matter of factly stated, "I have a gun." *Insert wide eyed emoji* "It's a Nerf dart gun!! I'm so sorry! It's a Nerf dart gun!" I said in an embarrassed panic! Thank goodness she understood and did not take him as a threat! After my dad parked in the short-term parking, I pulled out my Goodwill suitcase. No sooner did I gentle put it down on the garage's floor than it popped open! Seriously? My high quality bargain find can survive a bear attack at Yellowstone, but cannot handle being placed gently on a public driveway when I'm super stressed and in a hurry?! After I crammed everything from baby toys, to diapers, to, yes of course, my dirty clothes (why wouldn't there be embarrassing dirty clothes to fall out?) I began to load myself up in such a way that would put any pack mule to shame. I had a backpack carry-on that weighed, no lie, upwards of 30 pounds, two suitcases (thank God they had wheels), a small carry-on suitcase, diaper bag that rivaled an army ranger's rucksack, and an infant in a car seat in a stroller. Check in and security flew by. By the time we were waiting in line to board I was pitting out with sweat. You CAN do this. The newborn will not scream and cry the whole time and everyone's ears will be just fine. You CAN do this!

Suitcases to earwax, I've got it covered

We now had a place to live. It was time for me to start packing what I could take on the plane and what I couldn't pack up in my car for my husband to drive out at a later date. I needed a big suitcase and since I already had to sell some vital organs and appendages to pay for our deposit on our new home, I decided to go Goodwill hunting. I took my dad along with me as he too is a Goodwill junkie. It was between two amazing suitcases. How did I decide you're wondering? It was simple. One came with a pair of dirty socks and the other had nickel inside and a "I visited Yellowstone National Park" sticker on the outside. Clearly I chose the suitcase that not only survived Yellowstone & I could tell survived was the correct term due to what looked like bear claw marks on the outside, but was also five cents cheaper. When we made our pilgrimage home with our new treasures, my 4 year old informs me in tears that his ears hurt. "Well, crap!" I thought. He'd been struggling with ear infections and a year ago we put tubes on his ears. Well, not "we" as I'm sure that is frowned upon in the medical field, but the ENT doctor did. I quickly booked an appointment for him since we were flying out in three days! We were so close to being a whole family again and this was going to be a major set back. The day before we were to fly out the doctor generously made time to see us. As Doc was looking at his ears he says, "Good news, mom. Tubes have come out naturally and there is no infection!" This statement was followed by his taking what looked like long stemmed scissors and pulling out a small chunk of earwax. I knew Doc felt terrible as soon as my son began sobbing. I went to pay my co-pay and am surprised that the two second earwax removal procedure cost me, out of pocket $85! *insert wide eyed emoji here. I keep telling myself, "It was an $85 payment for piece of mind. You'll be home tomorrow! We fly tomorrow!!"

A Good Place to Start

8 months pregnant sitting in an Arts Integration meeting & I get one of those mysterious, ominous texts from my husband. "Call me when you get this." Is this an emergency or is this, "I'm hungry. What should we have for dinner?" Either way, my buns are asleep & my eyes are getting heavy. I decided to use my pregnancy as an excuse. I excused myself and "went to the bathroom" which is really code for "I'm stepping out to play on my phone." "Kate, how do you feel about living in California? I was just offered a promotion out there!!" Let's do this! Two months later the baby came and three days later my husband moved to California to start his new position. I felt like I was on an episode of "16 & pregnant" as I moved in with my parents' until baby was old enough to fly. I hadn’t lived with my parents since early college and my two sons and I were moving into their three-bedroom house. Add onto that, their house quickly became much like a Griswold house hold as my brother and his family of four, my sister and her family of three all came to spend spring break at my parents house. Insert wide eyed Emoji here! For those who are mathematically challenged that would make a grand total of 12 people whose ages ranged from 5 days to 69 years old living in a three-bedroom house. Let that sink in. Are you good now? Can you handle more? Because we are just getting started. My husband had asked me to start looking for houses he told me to search within a certain price range. I kind of got excited thinking, “We’z movin’ on up! This price range must be an indication of how grand his promotion is!” We were renting a two-bedroom house in a very nice area and thought our price tag of $1600 was pricey. I had major sticker shock as two bedroom apartments were more than 3 times our current rent!! I used everything from CraigsList to the Hotpads app hoping to find a nice cheap place. To all my Midwest friends, “cheap places” do not exist in California! I had always heard that the cost of living was crazy in California, but nothing can prepare you for that like house hunting. After I came to terms with the price tags on the housing and that I would not be a cast member of The Real Housewives of California my search became more real. I would like to stop here and point out yet another difference in the housing market in the Midwest verses California. In the Midwest if you want to rent a place you simply call the owner and express the desire to rent the place. They may or may not want to meet you in person before agreeing then will have you sign a year's lease. The next day you get four of your college buddies or coworkers to help you move in and pay them in copious amounts of beer and pizza. Now, for California. You find a place you like. DO NOT fall in love with it because you will not get it. You will need to fill out an application just to be considered for an interview. Next, the owners, who have already interviewed 25 other people, interview you. If they like you, they will call you back with either another interview or, if you are lucky, a rental agreement! Now, you hire a moving company to move your things out of a storage unit you had to rent because the first few houses you liked you were denied and you have already driven the 3 days in a Uhaul across county and have no place to put your things. How did you get the house that you have now in California, you may be wondering. Glad you asked. We had a very sweet property manager give us an extremely helpful tip. Write a “family letter”. In this family letter, talk about who you are, where you work, what your family is like. Practically sell the idea that your family is an all American family that will not destroy the property. So, that is what we did. I even included our first family photo as a family of four taken in the hospital to really drive home the fact I’m a momma with a newborn. I don’t have time to destroy your house nor would I. To think, I haven’t even physically made it out to California yet and am already seeing so many differences!