We’ve been on the East coast for nearly a week now.  The flight out was not so bad (even though we decided to bring a fourth bag for all the winter coats at the last minute).

Adjusting to the time change and different beds/houses/hotels was a little more difficult for Stella than it had been in the past.  Partly I’m sure due to the major life change/upheaval of selling our house and moving out and partly because we had a few days of a change in routine.  Now that she is two routine seems to be the most important component to having a happy child and of course as we have seen in the past, sleep is key – both of which, the first few days of our trip lacked.

We spent the first two nights at my good friend Katina’s new house in Ashburn.  Stella got to play with her daughter Bailey and her TONs of toys, Stella keeps asking to go back to Bailey’s house.  We then headed up to Penn State for a weekend of football and catching up with some old friends.  Unfortunately Penn State lost their football game but it was still a nice weekend.

Now that things have settled down a bit and we have begun to relax here in State College for the week we all seem a bit happier. It’s the first time since August I think that I’ve “slowed down.”

We’ve had time to enjoy each other as a family and take a little time for ourselves. Stella seems to be conquering potty training this week (could it be we have more time to focus on it?) and we are all catching up on our sleep.

I always say travel helps you stop and think and just enjoy the now. I continue to be reminded of this every time we go on an adventure.

I do have to admit though in the midst of another terrible two tantrum with Stella that I had doubts about what we are doing. Part of me worries that are we doing something wrong not having a “home” and just living a normal day to day life right now for our children. But given our personalities (mine and Justin’s that is), that would just be boring. So we must take a little of the bad with all the good. And hope that all this exposure to different sites, smells, cultures, accents, experiences, etc. will only build smarter and more adaptable children.

Speaking of exposure…as you could imagine all this H1N1 stuff has me a bit worried with travel. We chose NOT to be vaccinated. Justin and I never get the flu shot and felt that perhaps all this is being blown out of proportion with the media. Only time will tell. I continue to be diligent with everyone (including Justin) about washing our hands and have now purchased liquid sanitizer, antibacterial hand wipes and Clorox wipes to wipe everything down (strollers, toys, tables, chairs, ourselves…) periodically. I’m sure we will get a cold or something by the end of this month but right now we are focusing on staying healthy: eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, exercising and washing our hands.

We are here at Penn State through next weekend for another Nittany Lion game day. Hopefully they will have a victory next weekend. On Sunday we are back to DC to visit with some friends and then head to my Dad’s on Monday for 2 weeks and to celebrate Thanksgiving.

I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of my extended family and catching up with some friends.