Welcome to Baton Rouge!!

I am so sorry it has been over a week since I have updated, but our lives have been quite crazy this past week. As most of you know, we made the move to Baton Rouge last Monday. I will start from there:

The MOVE:
Our movers can on Friday afternoon and loaded pretty much everything we own into our trailer. Most of our families were there, and they keep saying, "It's not going to all fit, Amanda. You need to start deciding what is necessities and let the rest go to storage." Well...somehow, someway it all fit!!! I am so mad at myself for not taking a picture of Will's truck. It looked awful!! Rednecks are coming!! ha ha The washer/dryer had to go in the back of Will's truck along with Jack's basketball goal, 2 riding cars, and so much more. ha ha Our plans were to leave around lunch on Saturday and then stay the night at my Dad's house in Birmingham. I wanted to attend one of my friends from college's wedding. Then on Sunday morning leave out and make the rest of the trip and hopefully arrive early evening.

Most of you know, that is not how it worked out. Friday night we learned that Will's great uncle died suddenly of a heart attack. That day I had also learned that a family member of mine died suddenly of a heart attack. With this news, we decided we not only needed but wanted to stay for at least the visitation to show our support for the family. Saturday afternoon Jack started running a fever. He was crying nonstop and we knew we had better check it out before we tried to make a 8hour roadtrip. Will & I spent 4 1/2 hours at Urgent Care in Madison with Jack where they took blood, had an xray, swabbed his nose, checked his oxygen, you name it!! My poor baby was a trooper, but it was tough. They checked him for everything. I am so thankful because there is so much going around. Turns out he had bronchitis. Antibiotics/breathing treatments and within a day, our Jack was back.

Sunday we spent the day with family and trying to finish packing. We left out around 10ish on Monday morning. We decided to go as far as we could (hopefully the whole way) but to be flexible enough that if the boys were done...we would be too. Luckily, the boys did GREAT!!! Max rode with me most of the time. Jack rode the entire way with Will and for about an hour and a half Will had both boys and pulling the trailer. What a man!! ha ha After many stops, we arrived at our new home around 11ish. Almost 12 hrs on the road, can you believe that?

1st Week:
UNPACKING!! Even at this point I have a few boxes left, but the first week was spent trying to find where everything was going to go. I had not seen the apartment before we arrived, and to be honest I was a little nervous. I trust Will but it is tough giving up all that control. But, he did great!! Our apartment is cozy but very nice. There is a swimming pool(that opens this weekend!!!), a playground literally 100 ft from our door, a sand volleyball court(aka sandbox for us), and tennis courts. It's really nice!! I will post more pic of the apartment when I feel they are blog appropriate. ha ha I have never lived in town before and I like it. Short term of course, but I do like it. I took me 3 minutes to get to Target the other night. There are at least 7 supermarkets within 5 miles of our home. Can you believe that? No Publix(which I love), but I did find one pretty close to it.

Here are a few pics of the boys on the playground:









This past weekend we ventured out and tried a new Italian restaurant, BRAVO. It was so good. It is in a BridgeStreet like area outside the Mall of Louisiana! The Mall rocks!! There is a carousel for the kiddos and a bunch of stores I have never heard of before. I think that has to be good!! ha ha

Sunday afternoon, we decided to get wild and crazy and drove to New Orleans. It is exactly 1 hr. from our apartment. Sorry, I forgot my camera, that is how spontaneous it was. We spent the afternoon walking along the Riverwalk and watching a Cruise take off. Made me want to jump on board!! We drove through the French Quarter because the boys were spent and we didn't bring a stroller.

Speaking of a stroller!! One of the only stipulations I had about moving away was that I needed a good double stroller. I wanted my own that I would allow me to feel like I could go wherever I wanted. Well..here it is






I LOVE IT!! I think I have already put 100 miles on it since the first of the week. The boys are really enjoying it too. Max usually falls asleep if he's in it more than 5 minutes and Jack loves to be up front. I took the boys today on a walk near the LSU campus around this lake. It was beautiful!! Hot, but beautiful. I did get a little lost trying to leave and ended up in the middle of campus, but I made it home. Here are a few pics from today!

Little turtle out on the lake!


These pics are from my stroller!


Isn't that beautiful!

A few things I have learned about Baton Rouge that I was not ready for:
1. TRAFFIC
I am learning not to leave between the hours of 3-6 unless absolutely necessary. It is bad. Living in the city is great because of all the choices, not so great for rush hour(s).
2. Giant Mosquitoes
I have NEVER in my life seen them this big. If I can I will try and take a pic of one for y'all!! They are HUGE!!

Well, I guess that's enough for now!! I'll keep you updated on all our adventures!!
Oh, and being back with my husband isn't so bad either. ha ha He is able to come home for LUNCH everyday!! I am blessed!!