Michigan

It was probably a wise decision to move at the beginning of the summer. The Michigan summer is softening the blow of moving. The decision to move was about what was best for Annelise and not necessarily about what I wanted. The week of the Fourth of July was particularly rough for me. I’d been here for a couple of weeks and was starting to miss my life in Virginia. I missed going to our usual places. I missed running into people we knew. I missed having coworkers that were also friends. I missed all the casual encounters. Michigan was feeling very lonely. I was working more than I did in Roanoke. I had been looking forward to creating new traditions and due to my work schedule would be missing the fireworks in our town. If the point of moving was so that I could have more and better time with Annelise I was beginning to feel like I’d failed.

I’m still missing Roanoke, but things have been looking up. This past week was my last working four shifts, so hopefully fewer hours will mean more time with Annelise. We’re starting to make connections here and finding new “usual” places. On weekends we pretend to be tourist and go to the tourist spots. I still have out of state plates and flash a Virginia license so we seem legit. Last weekend our waitress told us to enjoy our visit. I told her we’d try.

Annelise is doing wonderful. I think she really loves the extra attention from my parents. She’s taken swimming lessons, has developed a love of baseball and has mastered a two wheeled pedal bike. Well maybe not mastered, still has some trouble with the starting and stopping. I know she misses her Roanoke friends too, but having so many cousins around has been a good distraction.

Izzy and Kikapu are doing well. We just celebrated Izzy’s 12th birthday. She’s getting up there in age so at this point any birthday could be her last so we did a little extra this year. Annelise went shopping and picked out some new toys. And we baked cupcakes that we let the dogs eat. They seemed a little hesitant when we placed them in front of them, but eventually realized that they wouldn’t get in trouble for eating them.

Here are some pictures from some of the fun things we are doing..

Taking trips to the Library. She was very happy to discover they have Clifford and Curious George Books.

2015-06-29 12.00.43 — Reading her books while waiting for me to select mine.

We went to the Country Dairy Ice Cream Social. Annelise enjoyed touring the farm, watching them milk the cows, and bottle the milk. She was very fascinated with the milking process and watching how the cows give us milk.

2015-07-04 13.37.57 — Posing with Grandma and Grandpa

2015-07-04 13.44.22 — She followed the cow around for awhile and finally got brave enough to take a picture with her.

2015-07-04 13.48.03 — Ready to tour the dairy.

2015-07-04 12.54.54 — It took her a little while to build up the courage to touch one of the cows.

We went to Ludington to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. It wasn’t what I had originally planned but it turned out really nice.

2015-07-04 22.04.56 — Sparklers on the beach while waiting for the fireworks

Annelise is on a Strider Team sponsored by the Grand Rapids Bicycle Company. Watching a bunch of three and four year olds ride around has got to be about the cutest thing. Her skills are definitely improving. Now that she can ride a pedal bike I’m hoping by the end of the summer we can do some trails together.

2015-06-29 18.48.27 — Working on riding skills

Signing her up for swimming lessons was a little bit of a gamble. Annelise doesn’t like water. Even baths can be a struggle sometimes. She’s never really had any experience with “swimming” or even playing in water. She simply doesn’t like to get wet. I want her to learn to swim and hope she can enjoy the water especially now that we are so close to the Lake. I hoped that having her take them with Cousin Lincoln would motivate her to try. It went much better than I expected. She liked worried the first day and I wondered a couple of times if she would burst into tears. When it was over she said she didn’t want to come back the next day. She was disappointed that she couldn’t swim like a fish. I told it would take a few more lessons. After the first few days she looked forward to it and was disappointed when the lessons were done.

2015-07-01 10.00.38 — Getting ready to jump

One of our favorite summer activities has been the Lewis Farm Market. Annelise has enjoyed going with her cousins to see the animals.

Watching the singing and dancing chickens

Getting up close and personal with one of the new birds.

Celebrating Izzy’s Birthday.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. My last day of work in Virginia was June 2nd. We left for Michigan on the fourth driving straight through. This would be Annelise’s move to Michigan and I tried to take as much of her things as possible. On Friday the fifth I was scheduled to have physicals with both of the hospitals I will be working for here in Michigan. So the day was spent driving from one doctor’s office to another and being poked numerous times. On Saturday I attempted to get Annelise’s things situated in her room and the play area my parents had designated for her.

On Sunday we had a brief celebration of my birthday. Monday it was back to the doctor’s office to have TB tests read and then on to Human Resources at each hospital, one in Holland and one in Grand Rapids, to sign all the hiring paperwork. On Tuesday the 9th I headed back to Virginia with my dad. Wednesday and Thursday were spent packing and loading the Uhaul which my Dad drove back to Michigan leaving on Thursday afternoon. I finished everything up on Friday and headed out myself Friday evening. I had hoped to get an early start and drive straight through, but due to the late start we stopped in Ohio and finally got into Michigan in time for the Asparagus parade on Saturday.

After watching the parade we unloaded the truck into a storage space. On Sunday I got a brief break before starting work on Monday. I’ve sort of hit the ground running. Last week I started with Holland Hospital. Two days of orientation and two days working in the lab. This week I started with Mercy St. Mary’s with two days of orientation and then yesterday I was in the lab. Tonight I start my night shifts with Holland and next week I start on nights with Mercy.

It’s been an interesting experience starting with two different hospitals and going through two different orientations at the same time. It’s been exhausting, and a little overwhelming at times. A lot of new information and things to remember. I was beginning to wonder if it would have been better to just get a full time job with one of the hospitals instead of splitting my time between the two. But I think in the long run having the flexibility of being part time and per Diem is going to be worth it.

It’s been hard being away from Annelise so much. Leaving her here while I went back to Virginia to pack was the first time we’d been apart for that long. And working days for the past two weeks has made me really appreciate the extra time I have with her when I work nights (although not the lack of sleep). Since we are staying up in Hart I have more than an hour commute to both Holland and Grand Rapids. So I’ve been up each morning in order to make 7:30 am and 7:45 am start times. In the evenings I’m not getting home until supper time and then it’s pretty much bath and then bed. I miss so much of her day. I find myself looking forward to being back on nights and also not working so many days each week.

The drive hasn’t been too bad. At times it was a little rough because I was commuting with rush hour traffic. When I’m travelling at off hours its not so bad. I kind of like having work so far away and having this nice break between it and home.

Annelise seems to be settling in well. I think its starting to sink in that we have moved and that we are not just visiting Grandma and Grandpa. She still talks about her Roanoke friends like she’s going to see them next week. She mentioned school the other day and I told her I would try to find something for her here and she said, “No mom, my Roanoke school.” And when we were talking about finding a place of our own she said, “How about a house in Roanoke?” Having cousins around to play with has been a good distraction. She’s spent a day with Aunt Bethany, and cousins Henry and Miles each week. And she gets to see cousin Lincoln frequently. The other night we attended cousin Max’s baseball game and now Annelise wants to play baseball. So maybe T-ball next year? Aunt Sheri and cousin Ben stopped by one night and she started showing off. And this weekend more cousins will be here. Trying to explain all the family connections is sometimes a challenge.

She hasn’t been too happy about my working days. After two days she asked me what we were doing the next day and when I explained I had to work and she was going to stay with Grandma she looked at me and said, “AGAIN! You’ve got to be kidding me!!” I could almost hear echos of my dad in that statement. She’s also started talking to firefighters on her play phone. “To see if they went to the fire.” she tells me. On a cute little side note, her play phone has several canned messages and when it said “Hi Cutie Pie!” She said, “Don’t call me Cutie Pie I’m trying to talk to you!”

Izzy and Kikapu seem to be adjusting to our new home but for all I know they think were just on vacation. I was worried about Izzy for awhile. She did the entire Virginia to Michigan back to Virginia and return to Michigan trip. Kikapu stayed in Michigan with my Mom and Annelise, but I thought Izzy might be too much so I kept her with me. Of course I couldn’t explain anything to her so she was a nervous wreck the entire time. She always gets nervous when I start packing things so watching us pack up EVERYTHING had to be very traumatizing. On our final trip to Michigan she shook the entire trip. I think I stopped that night because she needed a break as much as I did. The first few days here she was glued to me, but now she starting to relax.

I’m adjusting as well as can be expected I guess. I’m getting use to sharing space with my parents. I still feel like everything is haphazard. I didn’t have much time to settle before starting work and I’ve been too exhausted to do much in the evenings. I can find my clothes and that’s about it. I feel scattered and very disorganized. I have belongings here, two different storage spaces and even some things (including all my bikes but the crossbike) in a friend’s garage back in Virginia. It will probably be awhile until I feel settled.

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Annelise napping in her bed a few days before the move. Notice the chain on the wall so she can count down the days.

The birthday cake she made for me.

2015-06-07 12.32.26

Back in VA packing up the house. All the stickers from her weekly photo shoot during her first year. After the picture I would peel them off her shirt and stick them to the wall. Felt a little sad taking them down.

2015-06-11 19.32.05