Finally- June.

Mama finally stole away for a morning off from the kids and unpacking so she could update the blog (as she's been getting some pretty serious threats). Unfortunately, she doesn't have any pictures of our new house because she's resolved not to debut it until things are put away and you can actually see more than just boxes everywhere.

While mama unpacks, Henry and I have been charged with keeping ourselves busy. Per the norm, I do it by rolling over onto my belly and watching Henry until I get tired. Then I cry for someone to come flip me over.

Mama's not sure how I got a hold of this puzzle, but it sure made me happy.

And it tasted good too.

Yesterday, mama took us to our new pool- despite Henry's best protests that it was too hot to go swimming. Mama told him that's why you go swimming, but he didn't buy it. Until he got to the pool, that is. Henry had a fun time and was even brave enough to fetch some toys that were under water. They were on the step, so he was able to bend down without completely immersing his face in the water. Turns out, I was the only one who had to deal with the heat, because I had to sit in the stroller just watching. Lucky for me, there was another family at the pool who had an inflatable infant seat. They let mama try it out and she got bold and brought me into the pool. I had a great time swimming, but I was a little embarrassed because mama only had a swim diaper for me and not one of my pretty bathing suits. And don't worry everybody, mama only took us as far as the steps of the pool, so Henry and I couldn't get away from her. I had so much fun that I fell asleep on our walk home.

Finally, here's a video mama took while still in Ohio when she was trying to get me to roll from my belly to my back. I still refuse to do it and it's been trying on everyone. I have not been sleeping well and now mama's trying to get me used to sleeping on my belly. (And for those of you worried about the SIDS risk, our doctor told us that once a baby can roll over, the SIDS risk is greatly decreased, so they can sleep on their bellies, especially because that how I usually end up anyway.) Mama's other strategy is to load me up on as much cereal as I can handle before bedtime. Yesterday I ate two bowls! It's sort of working.. Last night I only woke up about 4 times (but that was after it took until 10pm to get me to sleep). Mama got tired of walking down the hallway 10 times a night, so she kicked Henry out of his bed and he's sleeping on the floor in his sleeping bag. Mama would feel more guilty, but she's been sleeping on an air mattress for a week and her back hurts (papa moved downstairs to the couch). Good news though, mama and papa ordered a grown-up mattress of their own. After graduating from their twin mattress when mama was pregnant, they received an old full mattress as a gift from the Pisapias. But now, they've sucked it up and bought one. Mama says I have to get to sleeping good again, because once the new bed is delivered, she's not going to spend all night taking care of me.


Since we can't indulge you in any pictures of our new house, mama instead composed a list of things that are different in North Carolina.

1. Trees. We thought we were pretty lucky at our old house with a natural area behind us. Well, it had nothing on Winston. (That's what they call Winston-Salem.) Mama thinks the whole city is like driving though Pokagon State Park. Not bad.

2. Strip malls and new cars. All stores are in strip mall form here. No free standing stores. And everyone drives nice cars. Really nice cars. The kind that make us a little self-conscious driving a 11 year old Toyota that until now we thought was pretty nice. Which leads to the next difference...

3. The green movement hasn't hit here. So where everyone has their fancy cars, 80% of them are the biggest trucks and SUVs we've ever seen. They do have recycling here, but we got the teeniest little bin that holds about a day's worth of recycling in the Turner house. But things are improving. I guess that Winston just recently rolled out a program where you don't have to sort out your recyclables, which has really increased the amount of trash that is recycled instead of sent to the land fill.

4. People really are friendlier here and they really do move slower here. Both of which are jarring to mama, who only prefers direct eye contact with people she knows for some time and also prefers not to waste her time waiting for people to do their job. It's the midwesterner in her, and she's just going to have to deal with it.

5. No one rallies behind one NFL team down here. We've met fans for everyone but the Carolina Panthers. This is kind of silly, but it is fun living somewhere that people live and die by what the Packers (and our personal hero, Brett Favre) are doing. Go ahead and mock it Aunt Jenni, but we know you really love the Colts. But I think once basketball season arrives, we'll get a taste of that love again with the Demons Deacons. Unfortunately for us, we don't follow college hoops. But for now, we'll use it to our advantage, because I think people already like us more because papa is wroking at Wake Forest. The big Wake banner hanging on the front of our house (a present from our new landlord) also helps us fit into the neighborhood.

6. While it is considerably warmer here, it's really not the bad. Here's mama's theory. In Wisconsin, the temperature was always just at the point where you knew if you just took it easy enough, you wouldn't have to sweat. But here, you sweat no matter what. Once you make it past the point, it's not so bothersome. The biggest difference is that the sun is very intense here! We pale Turners can feel our skin getting crispy even under our trusty SPF 50.

7. The very best difference of all- no mosquitoes. Although, there are many, many other bugs everywhere. But who cares? We can step out side at any time of the day or not and not be attacked by an angry swarm of skeeters.