Ciao Lubbock (part 2)

So excited this is a one-way trip.

We have a house! I just couldn’t bring myself to write this second part until we were positive we had a house and would in fact be saying ciao to Lubbock. I am sitting in my house now, all our belongings are loaded up into a 16 foot van outside. When we left off part 1, Tori was about to be born. You can read more about that here. 

We will start with bringing Tori home. My mom was staying with us for a few weeks. And just as it should be, the focus for the first few months was all baby. A couple weeks after Tori was born, Dunte started his job at the Texas Tech Rec. A job that would change his career goals completely.

Tori’s first two years were very similar: two trips to Germany, a trip to Kansas City, school, and juggling schedules. The first year was hard all on its own, without any extras thrown in. The second year got easier, so I decided to add three jobs, graduating and wedding planning just to keep things interesting.

The first few weeks with Tori were tough. I had some breastfeeding issues the first couple weeks, and Tori did what babies do (wake up in the middle of the night… a lot). It seemed Dunte was sleeping more than Tori sometimes, which I wasn’t thrilled about. I would sometimes climb back into bed after putting Tori down in the middle of the night and throw a couple elbows Dunte’s direction before settling down.

After my mom left in the middle of June, we had several visitors anxious to get to know Miss Tori. I loved the company and the help, but Dunte and I were still getting the hang of being a team as parents. In the middle of July I went to Germany with Koko to visit for a month. It was a long visit, and I am still sorry Dunte missed Tori so much of Tori when she was really little.

Despite all that, the Germany trip was amazing. I had so much help, and my family got to spend so much time with Tori. There was always someone to hold her, Tori is blessed to have two uncles and an aunt and of course GJ and Opa who fell madly in love with her during that trip. I got to sleep, and eat and drink amazing German beer. We went to Venice, Verona, and Salzburg. I so wish Dunte could have been there, but I came back recovered from the ass kicking of a pregnancy and delivery. Ready for a new ass kicking of school.

 Dunte and I learned how to work as a team in a hurry. We settled into a routine, then school started. Dunte and I worked out our school schedules so I went to class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Dunte went to class on Tuesday and Thursday. This made for long days for both of us. I would wake up around 6, pump so Dunte could feed Tori bottle. Then go to class form 8 to noon, come home, eat, nurse Tori then head back to campus for a long class with a lab. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I would pack all of Tori’s stuff into the car and take her to the Athletics Communications office. I was interning there and everyone in the office was nice enough to put up with baby noises and distractions so I could still come in and get some experience.  That was the fall semester, and it flew by. On home football Saturday’s I was gone all day working for Tech athletics. I loved this, the full days of being among grown-ups and doing something I felt was useful was nice (even if it meant pumping in a closet during halftime).

Dunte and I made the trip to Germany for Christmas break. Getting there was a little tough, we had a little 2-day layover in Amsterdam. Thankfully a very nice family let us stay with them. An 8-hour train ride finally got our sick, tired butts to Munich. Skiing/snowboarding sums up our winter trip to Germany, which is never a bad thing.

When we came back it was the heart of cycling season. Dunte would go away on weekends and race two or three times and then never fully recover enough sleep before he left for the next one. I started wedding planning, and went to the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championships. Tori was crawling and standing by this point and was very fun. During the spring semester of 2011 I had the Tuesday, Thursday shift. This makes for very, very long days. I still wasn’t working other than my internship with Tech Athletics, and this was starting to make me a little crazy. Tori was a little more self-sufficient and I was antsy. As the semester ended, we celebrated Tori’s first birthday! We survived a year, and to help us celebrate so many of our friends came up to Lubbock.

I am always impressed with my friends and how much they love and support our family. When I was pregnant with Tori, I was unsure how my relationships with my friends would change. Would I suddenly be the friend with a baby that they didn’t have anything in common with? They blew my fears out of the water from day one. They all love Tori to the ends of the earth, and make the very unpleasant drive to Lubbock often. Somehow this random group of college students has turned into the proverbial “villiage” it takes to raise a child.

Mia, Tori and I went to Germany during the summer. We spent an amazing week in Rome and climbed a mountain. Which I just realized I haven't written about in detail! This is a major problem.

Tori’s second year was exponentially easier. Tori started going to daycare at the YWCA, she absolutely loved being around other kids. I was able to work, which made me much more pleasant to be around. Football season came and went, I went to the basketball Big 12 Championships again. Dunte graduated and wedding planning was in full swing. Don’t misinterpret my nonchalant way of describing it. It was hard and so so busy. But it was the kind of busy I enjoy. Dunte and I always joke that if you don’t have 3 jobs, you aren’t working hard. We were working hard. Our conversations often consisted of baby and car swaps somewhere on campus. The whole college experience was leading up to May 2012: the grand finale of the past four years. My family would return from Germany, I would graduate, Tori would turn two, we would get married, and we would (hopefully) find jobs and move.

Up until May, I had no idea what would happen on May 27^th. All the plans were for the day we got married, so who knew what the world would look like the day after. It turns out, pretty much the same. I don’t have any idea what the next few months will look like. I really hope I find a job. I really hope Dunte finds clients and can jumpstart his business. 

When Tori was born, it was basically the same scary unknown. We made it through that with flying colors, so I have more confidence that we can come through this. Dunte and I have both changed so much since we met nearly five years ago.  

Lubbock is dry and windy and far away and sometimes miserable. But Lubbock, and the people who live here have been so good to us. This will always be the place where we became a little family when Tori was born. This is where we had our first home, where we got married. I have moved around my whole life, and now I have called Lubbock home for longer than any other place. It will always mean a lot to me.

I am so excited about the next step. We have so many adventures in our future; I have no idea what they look like, but I promise to keep you posted.

You can bet there will be dancing.