What a long month!!!

It's been almost a month, so I had better post something. Alex and I signed the papers on our new house today, and should be able to get the keys as early as Friday. We are very excited to move into our new place and really make it home. We are also very thankful that the whole closing process is wrapping up...it has been such a hassle, and a comedy of errors. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did from lost check stubs, to mishandled paperwork, wrongly dated insurance policies, missing thermostats, and so on. It didn't help that I was out of town for most of it as well.
Alicia and I travelled to Chicago to visit all of my family for two weeks. We were thrilled to see everyone, but two weeks was too long for us to be away from our favorite man!! We started with a few relaxing days at Grandma Linda's as we adjusted to the time change and recovered from the flight. Alicia is at an age where she will not fall asleep outside of a bed, so travelling is very difficult long days, and we are both very cranky by the time that we reach our destination. Alicia wouldn't sleep in her little bed very well, so she got to sleep with me in the big bed for a lot of the trip, a habit that I don't plan on letting her continue now that we are home, but we both enjoyed.
We went up to MI to my three nieces, and their parents of course!! I love my nieces to death and Alicia loves them too. She just couldn't get enough of them, and she wanted to do and have everything that they did. Between her trying to keep up, the cold she got, and her getting two or more molars...there was a lot of crying and not a lot of sleeping, for both Alicia and her mommy!! Fortunately, Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Charlie were there to step in at many moments when I felt like I just couldn't handle it anymore. They are amazing parents who make life with their three little girls somehow flow together flawlessly! I don't know how they do it so well, but I hope they believe that Alicia's behavior is normally better than what they witnessed.
We all returned to IL together for a couple of big birthday parties and a trip to the zoo. I'll write more about these and include pictures soon.
For now though, we are happy to be home and are trying to readjust to CA time and catch up on sleep.