Just Like Mommy

I've heard some people think that if it weren't for the way society conditions girls to be girls and boys to be boys, we would not behave in such gender specific ways. Obviously, I agree that nobody is cookie cutter boy or girl, but Elyette has convinced me that even if I tried to make her more boyish, I'd fail. She is very aware that both she and mommy are girls, so she copies my every move. Its funny to observe how closely she watches me and what I do (much more so than she does her daddy) especially when it comes to Jack.

As you can see, she is a natural born mother. She likes to "feed" her baby when I do, and must always take her baby out in the stroller when we leave the apartment. Last night, I sat on the couch cross legged with Jack asleep on my shoulder and Elyette had to come over and sit the same way holding her baby in the same exact manner. She gets this totally serious look on her face when she is mothering her baby, its hilarious! She's a great kid and I have no doubt that some day she will be a great mommy! :)

Living in the City

Thanks to Dolby's corporate housing for new employees, we've been living at 2000 Post in San Francisco until we find a permanent place. We just have to pay taxes on it, which after learning its about $3500 per month for the little one bedroom place we are in, taxes are about what we would pay for rent anyway, but its still a nice little perk.

Anyway, I started this blog post after less than 2 weeks of living in SF, when I have to say, I felt a bit more negatively toward city life and blamed the atmosphere of city living for circumstances that had nothing to do with that. I write now in retrospect of the whole experience 3 months later (February 2008)... I was very excited about living in the city since city life was always something I wanted to experience and we were going to be in a nice little furnished place. I planned to see the sights, enjoy the mild weather, try some new cuisine, show the kids museums, and basically just do things that you can't do as well if you don't live in the city. Here's what really happened.

I of course didn't know anyone in the month I lived there, and I had gotten used to having my unemployed husband home all day with me to keep me company and help me with adjusting to having 2 kids at home. So what happened was, I felt rather isolated and for the first time forced to finally handle both kids alone. Thankfully, Jack was a fairly easy baby, but obviously at only 2 months old still needed mom every second and had little to no schedule to speak of. Poor kid slept in his swing every night (since we had just 1 room for the 4 of us and all our things we're in storage with the moving company).

Elyette, herself had fallen on hard times. She too was forced to deal with the reality of her daddy suddenly gone all day. In fact she didn't get to see him some days since he had to stay late. I think she may have resented me some what for it. We ripped her world apart. We moved her from the only place she'd ever know and took away her daddy. I think she also was afraid I'd leave her, because she made me carry her everywhere we went outside of the apartment and even inside at times. It was just a month ago now that she no longer needs me to carry her anymore. Thank goodness. I've gotten pretty strong though hauling both kids (plus a car seat, diaper bag and whatever else we needed) all over the place. It'll be interesting to see how many kids I can hold at one time :).

I got a double stroller thinking it would enable me to venture out of our apartment and sight see a bit like I had planned, but Elyette wouldn't sit in it, I had to hold her. Any time we left the apartment, even just down to the court yard, pool area of the complex, it was only a matter of minutes before she turned hysterical and started screaming and throwing fits for no apparent reason (Brooke may recall one of the first time this happened on our trip to Safeway the first day in the city:)). I then had to run for refuge back in that little apartment. Unfortunately, she still acted hysterical inside as well, but, thankfully, to a lesser degree.

So basically, I was confined to the inside of a place that contained nothing of mine with a helpless little baby and emotionally torn 2 year old. I thought maybe when Boz got home, we could go out then, but this only happened on 2 occasions (Elyette's Bday and Our anniversary) since by the time he got home and we got out it was just about bedtime for the kids. The 3 weekends that we lived there, didn't include city living either. The first one was spent just me, Jack, and Elyette flying back to Utah to get Elyette's cast off (oh yeah, she broke her arm... more on all that in a future blog) and then driving our car out to California. The second weekend,we looked for apartments (stressful, but nice). and the third was Thanksgiving... a very nice and welcome break from it all! Just after that, we moved to our new place. Which was a huge relief and the beginning of some security for Elyette.

So due to circumstances, our city experience was not as glamorous as we had hoped, but a huge growing experience...one for the books. One thing that did come out of it, as expected, was that we got really good at aggressive, confusing, city driving... oh wait, we got a fix it ticket for expired tabs and I got a $400 ticket and traffic school for running a red...haha, you'll have to ask me that embarrassing story personally. I choose to not air too much of my stupidity:)

"Everybody's doing it!"

So, we've been resisting this whole "starting a blog" thing. I guess that shows a little bit about us. Resistant to following the crowd. Well, we caved. This seems like a good way to let loved ones by the masses know what Boz Millar family is doing. So here's what we are doing: MOVING!

After several months of searching, waiting, and interviewing, Boz accept a job offer from Dolby Labs in San Francisco just over a week ago. He starts Monday, November 5th. That gave us just over 2 weeks to get out of here. Needless to say we've been running full speed these days. Weird to think I've lived in good ol' Provo all of my adult life, and just in one week, life will be taking a major shift. Its been the year of major shifts. All very welcome ones at that; Boz and I graduated, we welcomed our second child, and now we're entering the real world (as I like to call it).

I don't know about the rest of you, but its odd to think of myself as an adult. I seem to think I'm still 18, but in reality, I'm not much like that 18 year old anymore. Much improved I hope :). I owe that to my wonderful husband and beautiful children. I can't wait to experience this new and exciting adventure with them. Life just keeps getting better and better! Thanks to all for the ongoing love and support (we know we've been in the prayers of many for some time)... keep sending it our way. We love you!