Our Apartment in Houston

Houston is a huge city. We live on the outskirts, technically Pasadena Texas, but nevertheless, a Houston address. There were many apartments to choose from, and we had an apartment finder show us a few too. But between the amenities, online reviews, prices and locations, the one we picked was a no-brainer. They are luxury apartments, but since they didn't have a lot of 2 bdrm renters, their prices went $400 down from their market price! (Which is why I didn't find them in my own search; the locater guy knew the inside scoop lol)
Although I like being upstairs because I like to have the curtains open and not have people walking by able to look in, I knew it was more practical to live on the first floor since we have 2 babies and 2 dogs (which we have yet to fly out!) Plus our unit is attached to our garage which has a washer and dryer, and a garage opener---I forgot how convenient it is to be able to just pull the car right in!
It's a gated community, so I feel a little safer, but because we are adjacent to the Armand Bayou Nature Park, and it's a very wooded environment, we have many critters...snakes, raccoons, lizards galore. There are 2 beautiful pools, which we have only used once since it hasn't been quite hot enough yet. But maybe today since John has the day off, we will take them swimming--I already bought a bunch of floaty things. :)
So here are some pictures:

The front gate.


These are bikes they rent for free daily.

This is the front pool.


This is the work center--where we paid our bills the first month lol.

This is the gym-I've used it a few times. Very convenient!

These were taken with my phone--this one's the front entrance.

This is behind the pool closest to us--it's a kid's lagoon.

This is our pool.



This is the door from the garage.






This hallway leads to the master bed.

The masterbath is pretty big-2 sinks and a garden tub--and it's so nice to have so many shelves.


Our room.

2 large walk in closets.


The front door.

The dining area, that leads into kids room.


The babies' room.

I gave Lucas his own big bed, and Olivia has Lucas' old crib/toddler bed. They now get out of their beds on their own and wake me up in the AM :) But they sleep well throughout the night.


Their own bathroom.








I like them a lot so far, and it's slowly beginning to feel like 'home.' It's also in a very nice location, next to beautiful parks and homes. John's work is a 15 minute scenic drive to La Porte. It's close enough to everything we need, but far enough away from city riff-raff. All in all, I am happy to live here and am glad we are waiting to buy a house for a year, since we can now take our time and learn more about each area before we buy.

Home Again

Well, once we arrived back to our apartment, Lucas came down with a high fever. He had the same 3 day bug, so we hydrated him and he slept a lot. He is all better now and fully a terrible 2 yr old once again so don't worry! I knew he was sick once he didn't respond by throwing a toy at the wall when it was nap time lol.
The next day our things arrived from VA--and boy I really didn't think we had that much...but to cram a 3 bd 2 ba house worth of things, into a 2 bd 2 ba apt, proved to be challenging. I have most of the stuff sorted out, still some minor things to hang and put away etc.



Okay, tired now...tomorrow I'll show the apartment pics. Goodnight!!

~~Ketchup~~Back to VA

Some pictures I took with my phone--aren't they pretty?





The flight to VA went surprisingly well--the babies slept on our laps the first 2 hr flight, and then sat quietly and drank their juice on the second 1 hr flight.
It was nice to see mom and Norman and James and the babies remembered them I think! We had a pleasant stay with family--Olivia slept next to us, and Lucas wanted to sleep with grandma downstairs :) But the next day Olivia came down with a high fever of 101.8 in the armpit...so we took her to the hospital to see what was wrong because she had no symptoms and her fever continued the whole day...and the next day and the next. We continued giving her tylenol/motrin per the dr's orders. They had to get urine and blood samples and hydrate her..meaning an IV..she screamed and barfed on them. Then she peed in the bag they taped to her which was soooo great because they didn't have to catheterize her. The blood showed no infections, but high white blood cell count, so she just had a bad virus. The doctors requested we stay another 2 days to monitor her so we did.

Thanks grandma + grandpa Hodge for the cool travel backpack--he looked like he was a frequent flyer!





This was the tiny airplane we flew on the second flight...but it was actually smoother than the first!
Then at the hospital...btw, it was so much quicker and just all around better than CA...so glad we were in VA when she got sick! Not sure how healthcare is here in Houston yet, but it can't be any worse than CA.

My poor baby...


She didn't like being held by Norman yet lol.


Feeling better baby!

This same fountain...kinda sad to be in Hampton Roads and then leave again :(

Then we decided to put these uh, pirate rags on the babies to match uncle James! Pretty cute!


We had the movers get our things from storage, drove by our old house. Took the babies to our favorite park- Kidsburg. Had some good Red Robin. Watched movies. We missed Williamsburg. It's where we truly became a family. I think we will eventually live there again.
We left on thursday night..John drove that little cobalt nearly 24 hours straight! We kept thinking we would stop and sleep etc...but the babies were doing sooo well, we kept on and on and on. And made it home--1300 miles later.

Thanks for having us mom and I really hope you guys make the drive out here this summer!