Moving Day

The time has come...



The time is now...


Yup, today's moving day. A day of excitement, sadness, physical labor, emotions all over the place...


I feel like I'm on hormones or something.


Prayers for a safe, enjoyable day would be GREATLY appreciated!


I'll post pics as soon as I can.

A New Day

I must admit something:


It's been a rough few weeks around our house.


While the children's sicknesses seem to have hit the road for now, Hubby and I have found that we've been having these deep-down feelings about moving. And these feelings kind of crept up and unloaded on Monday.


- Nervous over our current house not being sold yet


- Anxiety about Saturday's big move


- Sentimental feelings and tears over leaving this home, the memories made here, the awesome neighbors staying behind...


I don't think that either one of us realized these feelings were there. The past few weeks have been CHOCK-FULL of doctor's visits, paper-signing, busyness at work, trips with families...go, go, go and not enough time to sit back and dig deep.

However, long drives to NJ and then to the mountains in one weekend (yes, with the kiddos...and yes, we're nuts) produce a lot of time to think. And it all came to a head.

Are we doing the "right" thing? Do we really want to move? Where is this fear coming from? Why am I so edgy? Will our current house ever sell, or will we be in complete trouble in a few months, still trying to handle both homes?

Then a realization hit me yesterday. I'm so tired of wondering "what if" and if we are doing the "right" thing. What's the "right" thing, anyway? Who said that everyone needs to live this cookie-cutter life where things always fall right into place without any hitch...any stretching...any growth?


AND...


(here's the real kicker)


God wouldn't clear the way for us to buy this house and then leave us sitting at the curb, handling the rest on our own. Pretty much my brain blew up yesterday and said, "Hey, dummy...God's still here. Why are you thinking He's not in control of this whole 'selling the house and moving' situation?"



Ouch.



Yup, we thanked God 'til we were blue in the face for giving us our current home...we thanked Him when our children were born...we thanked Him when our offer was accepted for the home we are moving to...we thank Him for safety, family, friends, love, etc., etc., etc....BUT, we then stuck Him in a box and basically told Him we'd handle the rest from here. And by "handle" I mean keep the stress, worry, fear, and anxiety right on our shoulders and not surrender it all to Him.


And I know that you know what I'm talking about. It really sucks the life right out of you, doesn't it?


So, today's a new day. Today is when we use that realization and actually do something with it.


I'll continue on with the packing, house-showing, working, moving, being-a-Mommy gig...but it's now with a lot less worry and a bit more excitement. Because, although my nickname might be Wonder Woman, I realize that ultimately I'm not in control and can't do ANYTHING without the One who put me here.


Here's to a new day...

The ER Visit

Sickness still abounds in our house.

I'd say Friday was the real kicker of the week. Danae woke up, still had a slight sore throat that started the night before, but seemed totally fine and insisted on going to pre-school. She did her morning pre-school thang, and I did my normal work thang with the boy in tow, and all was right with the world

Then it got all funny.

At naptime I noticed Danae had a slight fever...maybe 100-ish. I gave her a dose of Motrin, and both kiddos took their glorious 3-hour afternoon naps. When Danae woke up, I again noticed the fever was still there. Same temp, with Motrin given just 3 hours earlier. She acted completely fine for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Side note: During that afternoon, the little man decided it was due time to show just how much he could get into things around the house.

This picture says it all. "Sooo...you're saying I shouldn't eat my sister's paint kit, then leave the evidence in the background? Ooohhh...."

Right after dinner, I touched Danae's belly to check her and was pretty sure her skin should have been on fire. Her temp at that time? 106.

Yeah, you read that right...the Exergen temporal scanner (that I won from Metropolitan Mama...she's great!) read 106. I kept checking...and checking...and checking. Seriously, I swiped that kid's forehead at least 15 times in a row, and each reading was between 104.5 and 106.5. I called the doctor, who directed us to go to the ER, and we were headed out the door.

At the hospital, a nurse triaged her, gave her a dose of Tylenol and a dose of Motrin, and we waited for the doctors to see her. The fever broke after 40 minutes, and then they called us in. After almost 4 hours in the ER, Danae was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. They gave us the antibiotics and sent us on our merry way.

So, prayers for continued healing would be AWESOME! Hubby is also battling some type of virus/fever thing, and I have allergies/a cold. I feel like I dispense medicine and vitamins so much that I should be a pharmacist. Bring on the healing!

An idea for Wal-Mart

Hey Wal-Mart...I have a new idea for you.


This came from personal experience, very recent in fact (today).


After fulfilling the large shopping list in hand, with both kids in tow, we managed to get back to the car in one piece.


Got one kid in the car.


Check.


Got the second kid in the car.


Check.


Time to start unloading the massive cart, but...


WHERE'S THE CART?!


For a split second I thought I was completely losing it. How did I get to the car with two kids and no cart? That's when I heard the rattling noise and saw my newly purchased storage bins and cookies healthy food flying through the parking lot in their apparent Wal-Mart Corvette.


And that's when the sprinting ability kicked in and anyone who may have been around saw this woman making a mad dash for a runaway cart, which was, in fact, seconds away from hitting a car.


Yeah, just what I need. Another random bill to pay.


Anywho, all that to say...listen up, Wal-Mart. Some of us moms might appreciate brakes on your carts. It could lead to fewer parking lot accidents, less I-just-ran-the-cart-into-the-back-of-Mom's-legs incidents, and a possible decrease in our blood pressure.

Just a thought.

Relaxation and Baby-Proofing

This past weekend was a little more low-key than usual. It was one of our last weekends in the first house we bought (*sniff sniff*), and I liked having a minimal amount of events.

Friday night brought errand-running and a meeting with the bank to sign our lives away some preliminary mortgage paperwork.

Shortly after breakfast on Saturday morning, Peanut displayed her new activity: walking her "dog".

Yes, that would be a little girl's belt wrapped around her little brother's waist. How she got him to sit still long enough to get the belt around him is beyond me. But making Baby crawl around and petting him brought her great joy and us a lot of laughter.

On Saturday, I got to do something that, I feel, has been long-coming. For my birthday, Hubby gave me a gift certificate to a spa for a massage. I have been waiting, trying to pick the perfect time to go. And since this past week was full of more child sickness, lawn mower issues, increased workload, meetings, and the such, I decided that Saturday morning was "MY" morning. Even if someone was vomiting, I was outta here! You see, I'm not one that relaxes well. Even when watching t.v. or even a movie, I constantly feel like I need to be multi-tasking...maybe making a "to-do" list, or doing a cross stitch...something to get two things done at once. So to go to a spa and just get a massage for an hour was truly glorious. (Thanks, Hon!)

While away, Hubby started on a project that I like to call "child-proofing". Yes, we already have a 3 year old and yes, the house should already be child-proof. But apparently it wasn't. You see, when we bought this house, the basement door had a small cat door installed by the previous owners. Since it didn't bother us, and since our Peanut never really touched it or played with it when she was a baby, we left it alone.


But of course, I have always been told that boys are different. So I should have known.

This little guy thinks the cat door is great. Something to swing, throw his sister's toys through and laugh...that sort of thing.

I should have known.

I should have guessed that one day, he'd try to shove his head through, then his body, then tumble down the stairs and land on the carpeted floor.

I was right there, at the bottom of the steps when he landed. After scooping him up and a few tears (on his part, Danae's, and mine), all was done...and the boy went back to the cat door, smiling at me and laughing. He knows he's going to give me a heart attack one day.

So, I promptly called Hubby and said that, even though we are moving in three weeks, that door is to be given the eviction notice.

We parted ways with the door on Saturday. And while my little man crawls over to the new door and looks for his favorite way to make me jump, I now have a peace knowing he can't get to the basement by himself anymore.

On Sunday we decided to meet up with Hubby's parents at a park/walking trail after the kids' naps. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Peanut loved feeding the ducks. No huge fear of animals from this one!

All in all, a fun yet accomplished weekend!

9 Month Update

It's unbelievable to us that this little man...

...now weighs 21 pounds, is 29 inches long, cut his first tooth this past weekend, and is already 9 months old! WOW! I'm pretty sure I popped him out not too long ago!

Caedon is also a fast crawler and loves to get into his sister's toys...probably just to make her scream and cry. Seriously, he'll crawl right up to her, pull her hair, and laugh. Yup, pure boy. But, we'd take him no other way. :o)

Racing Girls

It only took nine months post birth, but I finally did my first race on Saturday: the Turkey Hill Country Classic. Yes, Turkey Hill...as in the ice cream and teas/drinks. And boy did they have PLENTY of free snacks and food afterward! Never before would you see so many little kids walking around with ice cream cups and hot dogs at 9:00am and their parents not freaking out. Really, it's a once-a-year thing, and Peanut has been dealing with an ear infection, so whatever! :o)



Back to the races.



So, since I barely trained (the last time I ran was at least a week prior), and dealt with sickness all week, my time was H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.





Really bad.





Not as bad as if I would have walked (which I didn't, so there's a plus!), but still...really not good. I don't know what in the world I was expecting. In my mind I totally knew I wouldn't and couldn't place in my age group because I didn't train, but still. Oh, and the surprise hill kind of threw me, too. Somewhere I read this was a "fast and flat" course. Right. Within the first mile the course turns a corner and WHAM! There loomed a hill, and I instantly thought, "Yeah...as flat as my behind!" It could also be the age. I'm wondering if turning 30 has a direct effect on race times...hmmm...



No more complaining. I really did have a good time, didn't walk, and really liked the course (despite the "flat" hill). Hopefully some training will bring back my normal race time...

The other highlight of the morning that was the most fun was the kid's race! We entered Danae into the 3 & 4 year-old race, and for the past week the girl kept telling us she was going to win. Even though we told her it's okay if she doesn't win and other kids pass her, she would promptly tell us, "Yeah, but I'm going to win." We should have known we'd have a problem on our hands...



Right when the horn blew and the short 40-yard race started, a little boy darted out in front of her. From the sideline I saw the look of confusion then disappointment come across her face, so I flew to Hubby at the finish line, where he was already holding our crying girl. She just kept saying, "I'm not racing anymore! I didn't win!" HOWEVER...

Even though three boys finished before her, Danae was the first girl across the finish line! It took some calming down and talking, but she eventually stopped the waterworks, got her hand painted, ate ice cream, and had a ball. First girl, fourth overall...that's my racing girl. :o)