Normal

Tonight for the first time in I don't know how long, I felt normal. Just normal.

It was unexpected. I didn't really realize how "off" life has been until I felt that sense of normalcy tonight. I mean, I know we've been in transition and uprooted, but I just had an overwhelming feeling of "*this* is how life should be" tonight.

It all started this morning with a trip to IKEA with Darlene. I had found a bookshelf that would fit in a downstairs closet that would hold our board games. So we got that and this afternoon, Mike and I put it together and got it in the closet. Then I had the kids go through the boxes upstairs in the game room to pull out the board games. I loaded up the shelf and before long, the kids were asking me to play a card game: The Great Dalmuti. (We like this card game. Come over and play with us anytime!)

After a few hands (the hands go quickly), Reid asked if I was making anything for dinner. And it so happens I was planning to make french bread pizzas. So I started them, but Mike did most of the work finishing them. The kids and I laughed a lot during our game.

Just something about hanging out with the kids, messing around in the kitchen, and just having fun felt so good.

And now Mike is upstairs watching a movie with them. I got Kira in bed and just wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on how nice it is to feel grounded again.

We Now Officially Live in McKinney!

A lot of our stuff is still on the truck in our front driveway, but we're here and we're not leaving.

Ever.

Final Push

We're loading up the second truck tonight and will head up to McKinney hopefully around 6 or 7pm tonight. The house is looking pretty good and is basically empty except for the small pieces of furniture and a few odds and ends.

I keep reminding myself not to forget the cat! I need to take down his kitty door and make him stay in the house so we can find him when the time comes!

Home Again... wait... where?

We're back in Austin for a few days. We got home today at 11:15am. It was a good drive down. Kira did amazing. Reid slept the ENTIRE way.

When I was a kid, my mom used to tell Tommy and I to "take the shortcut". We would promptly do all that we could to fall asleep. Then we'd wake up and magically be much further along in our trip than we were before. We loved the shortcut. I've tried to teach my kids this, but they're not car sleepers the way Tommy and I were. Oh well. Maybe it's because they can't curl up in the back window of their parent's VW Rabbit under the warm sun and fall peacefully asleep. :)

I told Reid when we got home that he took the super-mega short cut. One of these days I'm going to take naps while HE drives us where ever we are going!

Anyway. I apparently had the energy of the Energizer Bunny when we got home. I organized all the stuff in the garage and started moving things in the house that were ready for the truck on Thursday out there. I cleaned the living room really well, moved the couch so that we could walk through the living room easier, vacuumed baseboards, and yelled at kids who were using the newly found space as a baseball field! :) (Actually I didn't yell at them for doing that. How zen am I?) I cleaned the den and set it up to be my packing station. I'm running my fourth load of laundry of the day and I did some cleaning in my room/bathroom. At this point, I'm kind of hoping that we can load the truck on Thursday evening and just leave that night. I don't want to wait until Friday. That will require me to have everything out in the garage ready to go so that while Mike is loading the truck, I can do the last minute cleaning. I don't think it's impossible. It would be a late night, so maybe it won't work, but I'm going to shoot for it anyway. Maybe if we have just one or two people helping Mike load, he could get it done in a couple of hours and we'd be able to be on our way. We'll see.

So. Phase II is under way and successful so far. Let's hope I can keep my energy up so that everything can get done.

A First

Mike is a funny guy. He lets his beard and hair grow until they're long and unruly. Then one day he comes down from taking a shower and is bald and shaven. Then about six months later, he repeats the whole process.

Well, his beard has been way too long for a while now (I wish I had a before picture to show you), but he hasn't trimmed it because Kira likes to hold on to it while he's holding her. It's like a little comfort thing for her, I guess. And he's such a good dad and loves his little girl so much.

But he was starting to look pretty scrappy. And so yesterday when he started fussing at his mustache for getting into his mouth or into his nose, or whatever, I decided to pounce. I asked him if I could trim his beard.

I've never trimmed his beard before. But he'd just shave it off anyway, so he was game.

So I got out a comb and some scissors and started trimming. Well... it's not perfect, but I LOVE it! I like the trimmed beard at a reasonable length. I don't like Mike all clean shaven so much, but a scraggly beard isn't good either... so I'm happy. (And that's all that matters, right?)

And hopefully I'll get better at it the more I do it.

And Kira didn't seem to notice or care much, so all is still right in her world.

Just So You Know...

This is apparently what happens


When this child consumes

Shrimp.


He stayed on Benadryl for about five days for these outbreaks.

It has finally subsided.

Thank goodness.

What a difference two boys make!

I haven't had to go to the store for milk since Saturday. Our dinners are fitting in one pan. The dishes are caught up and the laundry is done.

I'll still be glad to have them home, though. :)

Wow..

Closing is only a little over a week away. We will load up our first UHaul truck a week from tomorrow. It's crazy, really. We've spent the past almost four months hoping to be able to buy this house and move into it. And now it's upon us. Time just goes by so fast and so slow all at the same time.

Take Kira, for instance. She's standing up behind my chair exploring the paper shredder . Wasn't she just born? The months have flown by... and yet, the days dragged with a screaming baby and wakeful nights. It's why you have to appreciate today and why you can't all at the same time.

But today, I will appreciate life. I will pack and clean and take care of a sweet little baby who gets into everything. :) Being able to say things like, "You're my best girl" is pretty amazing. And I'll get us ready to move into an amazingly beautiful house. So yes... today I will appreciate life. (But I'll still grumble over cleaning the kitchen and folding the laundry.) :)

Success

Reid is with a group of about 9 boys from church at a high adventure camp in Oklahoma.  He will spend the week hiking, climbing, repelling, and water skiing.

Zach is with a group of about 13 boys and will spend the week earning scout merit badges.  One of which is the swimming merit badge, so he'll have lots of time in the water.

They'll both get little sleep.  They'll both take few showers.  They'll both have the time of their life.  :)

It is so nice that our soon to be ward has welcomed the boys in.  When we move up there in a couple of weeks, they're going to know everyone.  It's just going to be great.

So this week, I'm going to focus on getting as much of our clutter pulled together and packed up as possible.  We're down to a week and a half before closing.  It's just nuts.  I started working in the living room tonight.  I've gotten a little bit done.  But I'm too tired to get too involved in the work.  Plus I mowed the lawn tonight... which wouldn't have been too tiring except for the massive weeds in the back yard.

I won't be sad to see this house in my rear view mirror.  I'll miss the neighbors, but for the first time in the whole moving saga of the past almost year, I won't shed any tears when we're packing up and hitting the road.

Hello, Hello

Something, something, something VERTIGO!!!

Just a little U2 reference there... Song lyrics are my specialty.



Okay. That's out of my system. Apparently being cooped up yesterday messed with my mind. Kira was a mess yesterday. She napped from 10:30 - 11:00 and then from 1:30 - 2:00. And that's it! I tried her again at 4:30, but she just screamed for 30 minutes. So I got her up and we just dealt with each other for the next three hours. She was bathed and in bed by 7:40.

But... I still like her. And she's still cute. In fact, you should go over to her site to see just how cute she is!


And I'm feeling much better. I'm taking Reid and Zach to McKinney in the morning. I was going to go this morning, but wanted to give myself an extra day to recuperate. Good decision since yesterday was crazy with Kira.

Oh... you probably don't know that Mike took the boys to Sea World yesterday. So I was alone all day with a non-napping baby. Better than being at Sea World with her, I think. I'd be three times as tired today.

But I didn't get the boys packed for camp like I wanted to, so it's a good thing that I've got today to do it. We'll leave early tomorrow morning to make it up there for church at 12:30. Then we'll head over to John and Kristin's to hang out and have dinner. Zach has to be at the church at 3am on Monday morning. Then Reid has to be there at 8am. I'm planning on having Kira and I packed up for the 8am drop off and just head back to Austin then.

We'll see how it all goes. It's all a bit crazy, but I'm sooooo happy that Reid and Zach are being allowed to go to scout camp with our soon to be new ward. It will be nice for them to get to know everyone there.

Okay. Off to start packing their stuff.

Improved Greatly

I think I'm about 95% better today.

I slept well last night and am eating normally today. Only a little queasy in my tummy. But my body feels pretty normal.

So boo for sickness, but yea if it's only going to be short.

Now we just have to hope that no one else in the family gets it!

Did I say a LITTLE Sick?

That's just not true anymore.  Shortly after that post, I started having fairly severe body aches.  Mostly in my joints, but also just all over.  I was able to rest a little while Kira napped, but my aching body kept me from getting too much rest.  It's the kind of thing where it hurts to move and it hurts to stay still... so you just don't know what to do.

So I'm upstairs hoping that none of my family gets this horrid illness and Mike is out getting me some Motrin and some Gatorade.  Hopefully it will pass quickly.  Mike brought me his computer and I was laying here looking at some things when I realized that I must look awful.  So I used his built in web cam to take my picture.  I guess it can't be *too* serious if I can still laugh at myself.

Well, Yuck.

I've gone and gotten myself a little bit sick... I hope I get over it soon. I'm supposed to take the boys up to scout camp on Saturday. It's a stomach thing, so hopefully it will pass quickly and Kira won't get it.

The boys get out today a little bit early, so that's fun. I know they're excited to have school over for the year. Summer vacation, here we come... Now I just need a body that's ready to handle it!