Adventures in Moving

Here's a few funnies that need to be documented, having to do with moving.

Our neighbors that we "share" a backyard with have a dog and 2 young kids. (There should be a fence between our houses, but there isn't yet. And it's a long story.)  During the first
week or two, the little kids were outside playing in their backyard and saw that we were home.
They came across their yard, across our yard and to our back patio to say "hi" to us as we were
going about doing our stuff. Because I didn't want to encourage them to keep doing this, I told my
girls not to say hi or even acknowledge these kids. I know, I am a big MEANIE! But seriously, we share a backyard people, I don't want these kids coming over all the time! The kids stood there smiling for a few minutes and then the older little girl ran off. The littler boy just stood there. And stood there, saying "hi".  I probably got lots of demerits in heaven for ignoring this little boy.
  The next day, this little boy came back to our back porch to say hi again. And to play with all our tools that we had been using in our garden to plant and dig up grass. Luckily his dad came outside and saw what he was doing and came and got him. Ugh.  We had one more episode where he came over but this time I had put the tools away so he wouldn't hurt himself so he was playing with our lawn mower. I immediately went outside and was trying to tell him it was dangerous in a way he could understand, (seriously he's like 2) and his mom came over and grabbed him while I was out there. Luckily that was the last episode since. *sigh*  Gotta get a fence built people!

Then there's the neighbors dog. It's a bulldog, or as Bronwyn called it one day, a bullydog, which I find much funnier and more fitting. It's supposedly older, but that hasn't stopped it from barking, growling and charging at Reed while he was out working in our yard, and just yesterday chasing my older girls into our house. And the neighbor lady came and got the dog out of our garden. But that hasn't convinced her that she should leash him yet when he's outside. How a dog that's old moves that quickly, I'm not sure. But he doesn't seem to be suffering from his age at all. Today Bronwyn was outside playing and suddenly I heard the most terrified scream come from her, followed by her quickly coming inside. She proceeded to tell us that she had seen the dog outside and was afraid it would come and get her.  *Sigh* Again, we have GOT to get a fence. I don't want to make friends with the dog or the kids, I'm so mean, I just want my own backyard for my own kids. I'm so selfish, it's okay, you can tell me that, but for the first time in 3 years we have our own big backyard and I don't want to share!!

When we first moved in, our grass was dry. Like crispy dry. Like going to give up the ghost and have to be completely replaced if we didn't water it soon. 4 weeks later with sprinklers now working and Reed being a very attentive yard owner, our grass looks like everyone else's in the neighborhood. Green! Healthy!!  Our house is looking so much more loved. LOL  I recently painted our front door with some leftover paint from my sister Jenn. It's lovely. Looks black far away, looks dark navy up close. It's SO much better than the washed out gray color the door used to be. Now if we can just finish the fence, sanding and staining it, and get the front flower bed put together, our house is going to be looking AWESOME outside!  :)

Last Week's Accomplishments, Next Weeks Goals

Here's a recap of my accomplishments last week:

    *Painting the girls bunkbed
    * painting our nightstands
   * Bronwyn's birthday dinner and cake and presents
   * Mirren's potty training begun
   * garden finished planting

    I ended up painting the bunk beds and nightstands in my kitchen, because it just made more sense. Luckily, knowing that I planned to start potty training on Thursday really pushed me to finish all my painting by mid afternoon Thursday. The only  casualty of painting indoors was Mirren who found a tiny puddle of paint that I hadn't cleaned up yet (I was busily cleaning my brush) and dipped her finger in it and then tasted it. Oh the face and the crying!! I don't blame her, yuck!! I wiped out her mouth a few times, brushed her teeth and she was good to go, no worse for wear.

Bronwyn's birthday was a bit of a crazy day what with potty training starting that day. I didn't have a whole lot of free time from finishing my painting, making her cake, trying to clean up the house so we could relax and enjoy our evening, keeping Mirren on the toilet and making things happen in the toilet, etc. BUT we got some decorations put up and she was feeling like a special girl. :) We sure love her! She makes life more fun and full of lots of energy and enthusiasm. She got her very first barbie and a barbie hair salon that has been getting lots of use. She likes to use the hair brush and the pretend scissors on her sisters. I'm definitely keeping any real scissors FAR from her reaches in case she should get any ideas. . . .

Day 4 of potty training today and things are going swimmingly. And totally as expected! She hates sitting on the toilet, loves the potty treats and is slowly becoming acclimated to the fact that her life is currently based on toilets. ;)  She loves the praise when she does her stuff. I've got the older girls bribed to cheer her on and Mirren just eats up all the attention and cheers! It's so fun to see her feeling so proud of herself.

Reed finally mowed our lawn for the first time since moving here and we finished planting the remainder of our garden. Aah! I love a good productive day outside. I love looking outside and taking pride in the work we've put in out there to make things look neat and well taken care of. 

Goals for the coming week:
    * I've been given the go-ahead to buy more paint!!! Woohoo!!  I think Reed is just anxious to get more moved in. I'm painting the master and the girls bedrooms very first so we can get some real beds and things put away in there and start really living here. If I have enough paint, I'll finish doing the hallway but I doubt I'll have enough to start the front room/kitchen area. I've been allotted 1 gallon of paint so I'll have to see how far I can make that stretch.

   *Gotta finish sanding the furniture I've painted and then putting a coat or two of poly on them so the paint is protected. And then we can set them up and use them! Woot!! I'll take pictures but I'm still having rotten luck with our computer and uploading so we shall see if I can put finished pictures up.

   *Potty training will continue. No more updates until we're further along unless you call me/message me that you want to know what's happening in that arena. We'll be in the trenches of potty training for a good 4-5 weeks and you won't want to hear about that. ;)  Trust me.

Well, We Made It

We've been living in our house nearly a week. 

I wouldn't really call it living though, more like mattresses on the floor, 

still looking for hand soap for the bathrooms and living out of suitcases 

for at least another 1.5 weeks.

Why you might ask?  

Because I am a glutton for punishment and decided we needed to 

paint our house now while it is empty rather than in a year when 

we want to get it ready to sell.  

Rather, I am painting our house while Reed is so terribly busy with 

work and being randomly out of town here and there over the past 

week and in the future week.

I'm finally out of paint though, so no more house painting until my budget

allots me more money for paint to finish the hallway,

the bedrooms, the kitchen and front room. 

In the meantime, I'll finally be painting the girls bunk beds, and 

our nightstands so that our house will look and feel more finished when 

our walls are painted and our rooms are actually put together. 

I know, call me crazy. 

I swear I'm not nesting!!!

I finally have a house of my own after 3.5 years without!

I just want to make it beautiful so I can take pride in it 

and enjoy living here for the next year!!

By the way, because all of that isn't enough,

Mirren is starting potty training this week. 

And Bronwyn is turning 4.  

And yes, now you can call me that crazy pregnant lady.

Last Sunday Thoughts

Today was my last day co-teaching our crazy Sunbeam class.
Just because, Bronwyn gave her first talk today in Primary.
She was loud, and I had to keep reminding her to be a little quieter while she spoke, otherwise
people's ears would hurt.
She did great overall though! :)

This will be the last Sunday, hopefully, where I sit and decompress
 for at least a good hour after church,
so that I can go down and face little children again.
I think in my next ward, I will ask not to teach a class I have a kid in.
It's one thing to have my own kids every day, all day long.
And then to go to church on Sunday and deal with my child plus 5+ more of other people's
children of the same young age.
It was challenging, and became much more fun when I got a great co-teacher.

Anyhow, my kids are sad to be moving.
Surprisingly, people in this ward know who we are
and feel sad we're moving. 
It took a while, but we finally got there.
Go us! :)

It's nice to feel that you'll be missed.

On Moving....

Moving next Thursday.

 I hate packing. 

Trying to do it while pregnant (please read this as hormonal),

 with 3 young kids to run here and there and by myself this week has helped me to hit the wall. This is not something I enjoy. 

In fact, I may hate it as much as going to the dentist to have cavities filled. 

It's kind of been a perfect storm though as well. 

Moving alone is not causing me to stress to my max. Nope. 

It's all the interruptions my day has and trying to balance trying to keep doing it all. 

It's the 17 month old who gets into everything and drags it out of the boxes that are nearly filled but not quite enough to tape shut yet. 

It's the 3.5 year old who keeps messing up the few toys I've left out and drags them all over my being packed/messy front room. 

It's trying to keep it all together, when I'm the only one doing so.

It's trying to keep it all together, when inside I'm falling apart from trying to keep it all together. Have I mentioned how much I hate moving? 

I need a moving buddy. 

Someone to hold my hand, hold the kids off, hold the boxes and the tape and the permanent marker, and tell me we got this. 

That we're almost done. 

That there are only a few boxes more, so let's push through together. 

All is not lost, all is just stressed.

I'll keep holding on if you will.

This too shall pass. ;)

And just because, here's a song about moving on that I love.

Sunday Best

Today I talked Aftyn and Bronwyn into bearing their testimonies at church. In sacrament meeting!

I asked them while we were sitting in our seats what they wanted to say. They both gave me an idea and with lots of reassurance that I would be right there to help them, we walked up to the pulpit after the current bearer spoke and Aftyn took a breath and with some hints from me and a couple reminders of what she told me she wanted to say, she finished.

It was so sweet and touching! The things she bore testimony of, that Jesus was real, that He loved her and she loved him, were so amazing to my heart because she said it all so sincerely and with a serious tone to her voice.

Bronwyn got up and was so sweet, and as Bronwyn-nie as possible, bore her testimony and said that she loved Jesus and she loved mommy. With a big proud grin on her face.

I sure love my girls. I'm grateful for their sweet spirits and testimonies. It's amazing to see how big their testimonies are at 3 and 5, almost 4 and 6. I am impressed and maybe only a little worried that I am doing my best job with them, as most mothers do worry.

And lest you think my children are perfect, they both struggled for the rest of the day with listening, being kind, and not hitting or being mean to each other. And that's a normal day around here. Because after all, they are 3 and 5, almost 4 and 6. ;)  But the one perfect moment of the day was a good thing to hold onto.

Glutened

Ever heard the term "glutened"? 

Maybe if you are a member of the elite group I belong to, the gluten sensitive club.

All last night and even up until 30 minutes ago, my stomach was killing me.

It only occurred to me while speaking to my husband on the phone that this feeling

was oddly familiar. And then I remembered.

When I first began having signs of gluten sensitivity, the lining of my stomach would

become exacerbated by gluten, feeling like the top of my stomach was on FIRE.

Not to be confused with the feeling of heartburn.

Oh no. No. This feeling is all around the top of your stomach. It burns, it aches,

it really, really hurts. Generally, it feels like you want to curl into a ball on the couch

and stay there until the horrible feeling goes away.

Yeah, thankfully I haven't felt this feeling in about 6 months or so I'd say. Maybe longer.

What's the best way to deal with it, you might ask?

My solution is: do not eat. Drink lots of water but do not add to the fire in your stomach.

Your stomach needs to reset itself and the best way to do that is with nothing added.

You're welcome.