We’ve lived in the PNW for almost a month – can you believe it?! I certainly can’t.

Here are some general Benroeck updates:

• I joined a MOPS group at our church. We meet every other week and I love it! On the weeks we don’t meet, we get together for playdates. Thank goodness I’m starting to have a social life with other moms and that Clara has some time with other little friends.

• Moving across the country with a toddler is hard. So freakin’ hard. I say this because I can’t devote much time to unpacking. I’m limited to nap times (at which time I always find other things to occupy my time) and after she goes to bed (at which time I’d rather relax/read/blog/talk to Tim/watch TV/eat/do anything else/you get the picture). So, needless to say we’ve only unpacked a very few rooms and I’m losing my mind not being able to access most of our things. I’e been wearing the same 6 outfits for a month straight.

• The good news is that Clara is time zone adjusted, even with daylight savings time. YAY!

• We officially moved into our rental house last Monday; Tim went back to work on Tuesday; Clara got sick on Thursday and Friday; we had doctor appointments Thursday and Friday; I got sick on Saturday and ended up in the ER on Sunday; I stayed sick until Monday and Tim got sick on Monday, too (so he needed to stay home from work); and then I finally started feeling better on Tuesday. It’s been kind of a nightmarish last week or so, to say the least, but now we’re all back in action and ready to get busy enjoying Seattle and making some progress on our house!

• Tim and I painted some rooms in the rental house. This is how we knew we had been watching too much HGTV. It was our first time painting walls and I’m surprised that it turned out as well as it did! In fairness, when I say ‘we’ I mean that Tim did the painting and I did the taping.

• It’s been a rainy few weeks here, but sunshine has poked through on occasion and in those hours Clara and I head outside and to the nearest park, which we love!

This is the gum wall in Post Alley that was cleaned on Tuesday for the first time in 20 years. I (like the tourist I always act like I am) dragged Tim and Clara out late Sunday evening to see it with me.

• I love the loyalty that Seahawks fans have for their team! I need to buy our family some jerseys ASAP. (Yes, I’m totally converting from Da Bears until Cutler is gone from the team. I don’t take this decision lightly, but it’s necessary.)

• I can’t get over how quickly I can get everywhere here! I’m so used to being in huge Chicago that this city seems much more manageable, and I love it! Yes, there’s still traffic, and I haven’t been stuck in bridge traffic yet, but it seems way easier to generally get around on the highways here.

• We have a cable package once again! We didn’t have cable TV in Chicago (well, we had very basic channels) and I love being able to watch HGTV and Bravo regularly. Only the best quality TV programming for me! Now, don’t get me wrong, I wish I never watched TV and could spend all of my time doing more productive things, but sometimes I just need to rot my mind – you know? I think this is what being a toddler-mom has done to me.

I’m sure there are more life updates I’m somehow missing, but that seems like a lot for one month, doesn’t it?!

I’m excited to see what the next month has in store! I’m hoping life simultaneously slows down and speeds up at the same time – in all of the best ways.