Playing Tetris

I'm still here. Just busy. Life is full of boxes. We are playing tetris with everything we own right now...trying to figure out what goes where....what won't fit....what will be passed on. I had 2 yard sales last month. I filled up my van yesterday with things to take to goodwill. I have given stuff away. And I still have TOO much. I think that says a lot about me and about what I think I NEED. This has been a good lesson for me. Albeit, a frustrating one...but a good one.

The most important thing is the kids. And they are happy. They like their "new house." They like Baby Jack (our next door neighbor who is 1 month older than Lex, but about 15 pounds smaller...) They like their "front yard"...which is a communal greenbelt. Haley likes her fancy room (it has wood floors) and being the only person in the house with a ceiling fan. They like having a pool, and are BEGGING to swim in it...we just haven't had a chance yet.

We have to be out of our other house by tomorrow. Many trips have been made. Boxing up stuff, bringing it over, attempting to find a spot, and then going back for more. It is an exhausting process, and I will be SO glad when it is done.

Many thanks to Shannon & Jeremy who brought over a cargo van and helped us move on Father's Day (they lovingly volunteered since the rest of the world was actually CELEBRATING Father's day), and to Jon Michell for helping Curtis and bringing us dinner, and to Gina for letting us borrow him, and to my parents who have spent countless hours helping us (my dad is at the old house right now cleaning it...), to Curtis' parents for watching the kids (moving with kids takes about 3x as much time as moving without), to the Bakers who are coming over tonight to help, and to Brandon & Dave for bringing more stuff over today.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

We are blessed.

Similar Feelings

When I found out I was pregnant with Haley, I was elated. I dreamed about what it would be like to see her, touch her, hold her, hear her laugh, and watch her grow. As time went on, I realized that I would actually have to deliver her, and then I was nervous, even scared. At 9 months, the fear gave way to the joy that it would be to not only have her here with us, but to not have to be carrying around an extra 30 pounds every day. I was exhausted. Tired. Achy. I was just done. I think God designed that on purpose. He knew our bodies would wear out and that our fear would be diminished by the joy of what was coming next.

I am feeling the same way now. And no, I am not pregnant.

But we are getting ready to move. And if you read this blog often, you know it is to a smaller place and a lot of adjustments are having to be made. It has made me nervous, scared, and even sad. But as I was lying in bed last night (I got to bed at 2am)...so exhausted...so tired...so achy....I started thinking, "I just can't wait until we are moved into our new house." I didn't care how small it was....I didn't care about the pain, both physical and mental, that it was going to be....I just wanted to be there. Snuggled up with the family, on the couch, in our new house, starting our new life. And it was then that I realized that I had felt those same feelings four years ago, before the birth of Haley.

So today we begin our move. I'm not scared. My fear is diminished by the joy of what is coming next.

Let's do this.

1st Hat of the Day.

Update on the Seal.

The Seal was Haley. The seal is Haley. She is a mess. I thought it was just a bad case of the croop. She was up all night. LITERALLY. She would sleep for an hour then wake up barking. Oh, it wasn't fun.

So we used 2 humidifiers. Took her outside to breathe cold air. Wrapped her up in blankets and put her in front of the freezer. Tried a steam/sauna thing in the bathroom. All the while Curtis kept telling me "She is going to the doctor in the morning."

I thought it was croop. I didn't think they would see her.

I called the doctor. And they said since she still had labored breathing to bring her in. I did at 9:45. I walked in and talked to the nurse for approximately 42 seconds. She said, "I'll be right back" and brought the doctor in. She proceeded to do a breathing treatment, which didn't work. So she got 2 injections of steroids. It was not pretty. That was followed by another breathing treatment. We left at 12 with instructions to watch her and if it gets worse, we are to go to the ER. Smashing.

But the good news is...She is doing a bit better. I was sent home with a breathing machine that I have to give her treatments with every 2-3 hours as well as steroids and antibiotics. I took her to McDonalds for lunch. She wasn't hungry. If you know my daughter, that's how you know she's sick. But I did get her to eat a yogurt parfait. It only took 45 minutes.

Unfortunately, She still sounds like a seal.

Not a fan of doing laundry?

Here's a tip...

Sell your washer and dryer.

It may not be the right choice for everyone. But we decided to give it a try. As of 9am this morning, we are washer and dryerless. They now belong to a sweet Hispanic couple that live in Fullerton.

And we will now see how long we can live amongst piles of clothes.

My precious Seal.

My poor daughter has the croop. You know...the cough that sounds like a seal. It's 10:23...Curtis just had to take her outside to get some cold air. He's an awesome daddy.

It is better to have had a garage than to never have had a garage at all...

That is a quote from the wise sage, Billy Baker.

We are moving on Monday. A move that I encouraged. A move that I wanted to happen. A move that I am now filled with anxiety about and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are losing our yard and our garage. And to that Billy said, "hey...it's better to have had a garage than to never have had a garage at all." Wise words. But if I never had a garage, then I wouldn't know what I am losing. So I don't know Billy, I guess I'm torn.

We are moving from our house to a condo. It's a big adjustment but hey, it saves us $700 a month. That's a lot of money. Maybe now we can fill our gas tank with that savings! :o)

In the meantime...we are still trying to sell our house in San Clemente. A house that is now selling for 200k less than we bought it for. (Since someone else in the community listed theirs for that much under the market value). But what are we to do? I have mourned the loss of that house greatly. But I am ready to move on to what is next for us.

We also got rid of our Vue today. RIP. We bought that car years ago knowing that we wanted to start a family. It was our first family car. But it is getting old. Repairs needed to happen. And our friend Chris Cox just lost his Vue due to the faulty transmissions that they put in these. So we got rid of it in the nick of time. Oh, and also in case our credit gets tanked with this San Clemente house....we wanted to get a car now while we still have excellent credit. So, Curtis is cruising around town in a cute little Honda Civic which just happens to have good gas mileage too.

So there is a lot of excitement going on...lots of emotions. Lots of packing and trying to sell stuff on Craigs list and you know...celebrating Father's Day and taking care of sick children all at the same time.

But it's good. God is good. Life is good. We have each other and that is the most important thing.

POPCORN HEAD...

I told you Lexi likes hats...but this is ridiculous! She is running around the house screaming 'POPCORN HEAD!'

Cancerous Pots and Pans

Have you read those reports about Teflon and Non-Stick Cookware being dangerous and possibly causing cancer? We've been worried about that for some time since we have Circulon Cookware. Curtis got rid of one of our pans long ago...and I just put our other pots and pans up on Craigs List. (Not that I'm trying to give someone else cancer...but other people don't seem to be as concerned as we are.)

Anyway...I found this news story this morning... it makes me even more glad to get rid of our cookware.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=1289732n


Anyone have any good non-cancer causing cookware they could recommend?

The Secret Life of Bees

I'm going through stuff (getting ready to move) and discovered a copy of 'The Secret Life of Bees.' Would anyone be interested in reading it? It's a great book...I'll mail it to you if you're interested....or hand it to you if you live close by.