We Are Moving To

Tucson!!!

Arrival date:  Early June


We are SOOOO excited.  Can't to get there, and enjoy ALL the free babysitting we can muster up!
:)

5 Nights Left

5 nights left in this house.

Things are rapidly being packed, labeled and loaded up.

Or burned.  Whichever is more appropriate.

I'm looking forward to being DONE.

Temporarily. 

News on the big move tomorrow!!!

For now, though back to shoving as much stuff as we can into boxes...

Shop Transformation

Less than a week ago, we had a fully functioning shop.

Today, it looks like this:

And a couple of pictures of the cutest worker that we have.  :)

He loves loves loves helping!

A few Things

1.  I'm getting weary.  I'm not trying to be a complainer, because I know people do this all the time.  The past week I have been covering for co-workers who have been out sick, and I have pretty much been working full time.  Wow...that, on top of moving...I'm so tired!  It's good...cause I love my job, but...wow...that is not easy!

2.  I have been forcing myself to work out.  I can really come up with a lot of excuses to avoid my workout.  I do my best to work out 5 days a week.  I have to PUSH myself out to go do it.  I know I will feel better after (and I can eat more too!).  So it is a struggle every day.  And I'm doing it.  I'm committed.  I'm really looking forward to moving to the base.  They have a few aerobic classes there, including spin classes, which I love.  They also have a little area to work out where you can let your kid play at the same time, so that should help with my goal.

3.  Jeremy's dad arrives tomorrow.  We are so happy to have him...we are going to put him to work!!!  :)  We are steadily packing away!  One box at a time.  Lots and lots of tape.  Packing paper.  I'm a little scared, cause it is going really well.  We have had lots of time to prepare for this move, and I don't think it will be down to the wire.  We will see!!!

4.  My child is angry.  Its is really something I'm not familiar with, because I'm really not an angry person.  I've been working really hard on teaching him to redirect his anger to appropriate outlets.  I'm open for suggestions!

5.  Two dogs for sale.  If Jeremy wouldn't stop me, they would be goners.  Haha, just kidding (sort of). Truly, they are really getting on my nerves.  Just them standing at the door looking in irks me.  And that is not to mention panting or snoring.

6.  Noah has surprised us this week by identifying Goofy, Mickey, Minnie and Pluto in a book.  Also he pointed out the duck, dog, cat, goldfish, and bird in "brown bear brown bear".  Lastly, he correctly pointed to his classmates when asked their name.  He didn't ever do that again, but names are hard!

Have a great week!!!

A Post To Make You Feel Better

These are a few pictures of my house right now:

Clutter, random stuff, on every single counter.  Doesn't everyone have plastic wrap, apples, a razor, a pink sippy cup, and a dozen roses (beautiful, and a surprise too!)?

Patched walls, dressers pulled out...more stuff on counters...

 Big empty spaces, which were filled with boxes, emptied, and begin to be filled again...

 and a shop that is slowly being torn apart and put in boxes.  

that is really just the beginning, but I thought I would give you a glimpse.  :)

There are times when i don't mind the clutter.  I just embrace it and move on.  Ignore the random stuff everywhere.

And there are times when I just want to cry, and I feel like I'm reaching my breaking point.

Last night was one of those.  We went to bed early, and I slept in.  Over 11 hours all together.  And I soooo needed it.  I woke up feeling SO much better, and ready to tackle the mess and boxes again.

We will be TOTALLY in our new house in two weeks and two days.

We did a drive by yesterday, and it is great!

It is in a great location...I can't wait to post some pictures.

Does it make you feel better about your mess?

Groceries and Dinner

Nothing really important to say tonight.

Just a few pictures of my boy exploring his world.

We went grocery shopping tonight.

I picked the less-than-fantastic grocery store, that sells pig feet and fist sized slabs of butter.

But they have "car" grocery carts.  With double steering wheels and lots of room.

And we got milk, cheese, bread, lunch meat, lots of fruits and veggies, and two packages of mini chocolate ship muffins.

N packed down a whole package (4 muffins) while driving his car grocery cart.

190 calories.

Wonder why he didn't eat any dinner.

After the grocery store we stopped off at Mc Donalds.

The dinner of champions while moving.

We ate salads though, so that has to count for something.

He climbed to the top of the play yard, and SHOT down and out the tubes.

He was going SO fast. 

And loving every second of it.

It was a good way to stock up the fridge and keep the kitchen clean at the same time.

Doubt that will be the last time in the next few weeks!

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend ramblings

It's been a long weekend over here!
As I have blogged about in the past, our house is under contract, and we are moving to the base.
Since we don't know how long we are going to be there, we are moving a lot of our stuff to a storage unit.
We are hoping that it will make the next move easier, with not having to deal with doorways, stairs, etc.
So we put Christmas decorations, maternity clothes, office furniture and more into the storage unit this weekend.
We are going to try to live with the bare minimum.
Like no bed frames, dressers, or soap.
Just kidding about the soap.
The moving truck will only go to one location.  So essentially, we will have to move everything out of our house and back to the storage unit before the truck comes.
We are hoping to make things easier in the long run...
Maybe, maybe we are just trying to give ourselves good luck for a good assignment for the next move.  ;). To be seen.


So, Jeremy spent the weekend moving, lifting and packing.
I did some too, but spent most of the weekend chasing, cleaning, and more chasing.
We are both tired. :)

We will be closing on this house three weeks from tomorrow.
Most importantly, I have a few questions.

• How many pounds can a person gain from fast food or takeout in three weeks?
• Does time-out transition from one house to another as easily as the dog food container does?
• William ever find my kit hen counters again? 
• Will I break down in all the chaos and buy things without coupons?
• Will my "stash" be considered extra or essential? 
• How much does a full time nanny cost?  I might be in the market.

Let me know if you can answer any of my questions!

Humidifier Fan, TV Ban

We have two things going on here.

First, I'm such a humidifier fan!  How have I made it the last year and a half without one!  I bought one last week, and I am so in love with it!  I have noticed that Noah's little colds and overall stuffiness, as well as coughing have been so much quicker and less painful.  We use it every night, and was SO worth the $40 we spent on it.  Jeremy is doing an experiment himself...trying a humidifier out in our room at night to see if it helps with his eye dryness.  After only 4 nights, he is rating it a 7/10.  We will see if that goes up at all!

Secondly, we are on a TV ban here.  For Noah specifically.  It is not a complete ban, he is allowed to watch a little each day (especially in the morning while we are trying to get out the door-makes life a lot happier to have Mickey Mouse on).  But the car DVD player is gone, as well as before bed TV.  Its going to be a bit of adjustment, because my child LOVES TV.  And I mean LOVES it.  And he is so into it, that he freaks out when we turn it off.  Or if the car turns off.  So the TV time is significantly decreased.  For now, until this phase passes.  And I can't wait for it to.

Positive

So I sat down to write a little complain-ey blog.

You know the standard "my kid is so difficult, I'm tired, almost homeless, and way over-stressed" blog.

But before I put my little blog together, I did quick check to look for updates on my sisters' blogs.  

Danielle's, Stephanie's ands Christa's blog.

Suddenly, I'm feeling quite humbled.

How can I do a complaining blog when I have one sister moving to the amazon with 10 days notice wearing only the clothes on her back, one sister on the job hunt, while simultaneously keeping a perfectly clean house and making home cooked meals, and one sister taking multiple classes, which I can't even pronounce while planning a wedding and living so far away from family.  

Okay, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but you get my point, right?

Anyway, I am going to try to keep my complaints to myself tonight and make a few positive points.

1.  We are SO happy to have a contract on this house.  What a blessing to not have an extra house to worry about while we are thinking about our upcoming move.
2.  We are so grateful to have the help of our families to support us physically and emotionally while we go through these changes.  My moms visit was SO nice (and she is an AMAZING cook), and Ken and Terry will be here in a few weeks!
3.  We are happy to have the assignment to IL canceled.  Jeremy is so happy to not be going to a desk job at this time, and to have new opportunities opened up to him.
4.  We are blessed to have a house on base, that will be ready for us to move in on March 1st.  The house is within walking distance (really closer than that!) to a park, the base pool, and a workout center (that has an open area for kids to play).
5.  I am happy to have a job that I enjoy, and I am putting away money towards retirement (which the hospital is matching at a fantastic rate), and to have co-workers that I get along well with.
6.  I am happy to have won my battle with the jewelry store today...I picked up my bracelet, good as new, for free.
7.  I am happy and blessed to have a wonderful husband, who I love very much.  I am grateful that he lets me be my weird, crazy self without making fun of me (too much).  I am grateful that I can wear my frumpy flannel pjs and fart in bed, and that he still loves me.
8.  I am so blessed with a beautiful, healthy son, who is growing and learning so much.  I can't help but smile at how easily he laughs, how focused he gets, and how good those chubby arms feel around my neck.
9.  I am blessed to have two spunky, healthy dogs, who annoy me many many times a day, but who overall have brought a lot of joy and happiness into our lives over the years.  Nothing like a warm fuzzy body with big floppy ears cuddled up next to you.
10.  We are thankful to have spent 4 wonderful years (and 4 days) in this house!  Looks like we will be here for just under a month, and it has been great!  Who would have known what Mississippi had in store for us.  Wonder what is to come?

Company

My mom is here!!!

I don't have many pictures yet. 

Apparently, my camera was left on for several days.

So it is currently charging.

Noah has been a little slow to warm up.

He is a little on the grouchy side at times.

My mom is impressed by how much he is repeating.

And by how well he stays busy "working".

She is helping me by making some behavior suggestions.

And making me for normal that I get frustrated and tired.

If anyone would know, it would be her.

:)

But Jeremy and I went on a really nice date tonight.

We packed ourselves full of calzone, salad and sonic ice cream.

And of course, we ended up at Walmart for  few items.

Such an awesome date!

Tomorrow is cooking day, and I'm super excited to stock my freezer up a little.

We are going to go out for breakfast.  Or lunch, whichever it happens to be.

I took the day off, so I'm so glad to have my mom here to spend it with!