What A Week!

As you know, we bought a house last week and moved. Here's a sample of what the week was like:

Monday

I hardly slept Sunday night because I was so anxious about closing. I mean we are buying a house. We are real adults now. Plus we have to move. Who likes moving? Not me! Anywho, the day went pretty well. Stuart had taken the whole week off so he was home to help watch the boys while I did more packing. At 3:45 we drove to the title company to meet with our realtor and sign our lives away. We finally go in and my first reaction was to the mound of paperwork. They aren't joking when they say it's a mile high. And we begin.....

An hour later we are the proud owners of a 1939 3 bedroom/2 bath with a finished attic house (we technically we don't own it yet. Prime West Mortgage technically owns it but in a mere 30 years we will!)

We leave and rush to pick up the kids who are no doubt terrorizing our friend's house. Stuart gathers up some friends and heads over to the new house to rip out the carpet (there is original hard wood underneath) and demo a few things. I take the boys home to start dinner. 10 minutes after we get home the power goes out all over base house. Great timing. No biggie, we'll just play outside for a little while. 2 hours later-still no power. So I load up the boys and head to the new house to see how things are going. The big boys are having too much fun together but progress is happening. Thinking the power might be back I head to the old house. No luck. It's now 9 pm and we have been powerless for 3 hours. Come on... I load the boys up one more time so that we can sit in air conditioning. FINALLY at 10:30 the power is reestablished. The boys finally get to sleep and I crash.

Tuesday

We all wake up ready for the day (not!). I know that it's going to be a long day of packing, loading and unloading. It was. Loooooong day. Stuart's dad got into town around 9 pm. After helping unload some more stuff they headed back to the old house. I completely packed the kitchen then off to bed we all went.

Wednesday

As soon as the boys woke up we headed to the new house so that we could be there for the DirecTv and Time Warner installers. The boys did a lot of running back and forth since all their toys were either packed or at the old house. Stuart and his dad showed up around 10 and the boys and I headed back to the old house to do more packing (what else?). Nap time was a little hairy since Stuart had take Tyson's bed apart but we managed. Loading, unloading...

At 8 I head over to the new house to attempt to put the boys to sleep in the same room, in a new house, with new noises and no daddy to help out. They actually went to sleep relatively easily. Phew.

Stuart and his dad make it back with their final load of the night around midnight. Everyone is tired, hungry and dirty. Of course we have no shower curtain because it's packed. And we have no towels because guess what, they are packed too. (All these things you would think I would have remembered to keep aside). So I rig up a shower curtain out of blankets and we decide to air dry/use clothes. Not the greatest but at least we'll be clean. Now the kicker-no one lit the pilot for the hot water heater. Seriously? And guess where the hot water heater is-yup, in the boys' room. So Stuart's dad crawls in and locates the pilot. More bad news, we have no long lighter to light it. Off the a gas station the men go. Everyone is finally clean and tucked in around 2 am when cries start. I guess Tyson had been woken up from all the entering and exiting of his room. His cries wake up Tucker and now both think it's time to get up and play. Wow, I'm really tired. Back and forth we went until the boys fell asleep around 4 am.

Thurday

The boys awake at 6 am. How can this be possible???? Somehow we trudge thru the morning. Stuart's dad heads back and leaves us to chaos. I start unpacking the kitchen and Stu heads back to the old house to get yet another load. (By-the-way, not to pound on this subject, but moving with a 3 year old and a 1.5 year old really sucks. It's hard. The kids don't know what's going on. They want to get into/tear apart everything. All you want to do is sit down and cry and scream.)

Thus goes Thursday, unpacking by myself while Stuart loads and unloads. Fun.

Friday

Ahh Friday. We actually got some decent sleep in our own bed! Much of the same happens on Friday as did on Thursday. Except Stuart headed to Home Depot (our new home-away-from-home) and spent 5 hours there! Let's just say he owed me dinner for that. BUT he did get the old dishwasher out and got the new one in. Woo hoo. The highlight of the day was getting the kitchen put together (not decorated though) so that maybe one day I can cook again (not that I really want to cook, I'm just tired of eating out for every meal-plus it's expensive)

Saturday

Is it really Saturday already? The best part of the day was getting mail. I love snail mail. Even though most of our mail is bills or junk, it's still fun to get. Oh and the best part is that the mail box is on our house so the mailman walks up and puts it in. Isn't that nifty? I didn't know the postal system still did that. Plus all I have to do is open my door, take one step out and presto! I have the mail.

Sunday

More unpacking. We skipped church. Quite frankly we had no clothes to wear. Sorry.

Monday

I was dreading this day. Stuart had to go back to work. All by myself, all day. Since we lived on base before, Stuart would come home for lunch everyday. This was a very nice break for me and the boys. Now we live too far away for him to come home. Bummer. On a positive note, the boys have been doing really well with the rooming together thing. Night time has been wonderful. They go right to sleep just like before. Nap time is another story. I am in and out hurdling back to bed but I win. They will fall asleep-eventually.

Tuesday

Stuart just called and we cleared housing. Bye-bye Matador Street!

I'm tired. Really tired. The boys have energy. Lots of energy. Is it acceptable to just live out of boxes till they are empty?

We Are

H-O-M-E-O-W-N-E-R-S

I am tired. I hate moving. My back hurts. My head hurts. But I have the internet again!

More to come with pics and moving stories!

AHHHHH

Today is Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday. The day after is Sunday (are you catching on?). The following day is Monday. The 22nd of September. The day we CLOSE on our HOUSE! Oh. My. Word. Craziness!
I have one word to describe my life right now-box. As in multiple boxes. A little more than half our house is packed and stacked hap-hazerdly around the house. All have to be tall enough so that Tucker can't climb on them and out of the way enough for us to manuver around. Chaos! Semi-controlled chaos but chaos none-the-less.
At least the boys are having fun...

My Boy Is THREE!

Tyson's Born!

9 lbs 4 oz 21 in

One Year Old
Two Years Old
Three Years Old

It's Official

We are moving. I packed my first box, followed by nine others. This barely made a dent in the packing job but at least it's a start. Luckily we saved all the boxes from our last move (a trick that we quickly learned due to the frequency of our moves); unluckily they were all in the back of the closet in Tucker's room surrounded by all the things that haven't been used in over a year but were too important to put in the attic or the shed. Anywho, I decided to face my fear and jump in...
The boys thought this was the greatest fun ever. Mommy was making a mess and I didn't care what they were doing. (I did care but didn't have the strength to correct them.) They also found a way to keep taking the tape gun and getting the tape all out of whack. But at least the packing has started...

Countdown:

2 Days till Tyson's birthday (yay!)

7 Days till we close on our house (yes it HAS moved up)

15 Days till we have to be out of our current house

Correction...

...diapers are NOT getting cheaper. Just thought I should clear that up for those of you that thought I was some mircle worker and getting my diapers for less than yours; I'm not.
By-the-way, have I mentioned that we are moving in a little over a week. A WEEK. I think I need to go lie down....

No Peepee

So Tyson turns 3 on Wednesday and we have yet to have peepee or stinkos (that's what we call them) in the potty. Tyson has seen mommy and daddy go in the big boy potty but he has NO desire or interest in using it himself. I'm not sure if he really knows what the urge to go feels like. He DOES know when he is wet or otherwise, he just lets us know after-the-fact.

Any advice from you moms that have potty-trained kids?? I feel like we are never going to get out of diapers and these things are getting any cheaper!

Roomies

So we tried something new. We put the boys in the same room...
When we found out that we were having another boy, Stuart and I began planning their future together. Sharing toys, sharing clothes, sharing a room, etc. It was great to think that we could finally have a guest room. And all our toys would be gender specific. And Tyson could pass his clothes down to Tucker (though it might be the other way around in a couple of months). Toys and clothes we got covered. Now to the big dilemma-sharing a room!
When Tucker was born he slept in our room. Then he moved to his own room around 4 months old. It has been this way for till Wednesday night. We didn't want to put them together for fear of one waking the other up. They both wake up at different times in the morning and Tyson usually takes a longer nap in the afternoon. With our house buying adventure, we know that we want to put the boys in the same room. It would be better to start that now and not when we are in a new house with new rooms and new noises. So for whatever reason we chose Wednesday night to try this.
We started talking to Tyson earlier in the day and he wasn't exactly on board with sharing his room. Regardless it had to be done. 8 pm rolled around and "roomies" commenced. Tucker was so excited he could barely contain his desire to get up and bounce around the room (in fact he didn't contain this desire, he DID it for about 30 minutes). Finally the tired monster won the battle and both boys crashed. Alright. Not too bad for the first time. Stuart and I went to bed feeling quite pleased.
Thursday nap time-a completely different story. I hurry both boys into bed and before I can even close the door Tucker is up and screaming. "Lay down, it's nap time." Followed by tucking in. Repeat this for an hour and 15 minutes! I gave up. I had to separate the boys or else that evening would be you-know-what.
Thursday night-a breeze. Both boys went to sleep upon being put in bed. What was so different about nap time than bed time??
Friday nap time-repeat Thursday nap time but this time I gave up and separated them after 30 minutes. There's no need to drag it on.
Friday night-separated after an hour. I'm not sure that this whole roomies thing is going to work. At least they are asleep, all-be-it in separate rooms.

Countdown:
5 days till Tyson's 3rd birthday
13 days till we close on our house
18 days till we have to be completely out of our current house

Anxiety Poll:
130% anxious about the move. I really don't want to move. Again. For the 6th time.

Rain, Rain Go Away

So it has been raining since Sunday night. Ordinarily I would love the rain. There's nothing better than curling up in a big blanket and watching movies or reading. Reality-I have kids. And these kids LOVE to play outside. In fact they need to play outside, everyday. Since it has been raining we have been trapped inside the house. We are all going stir crazy. The boys have found toys that they haven't played with in months and scattered them from one end of the house to other. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the rain I just wish we had something else to do that would release some of the pent up energy.

On another note, I am getting VERY nervous and anxious about our move. Stuart is calling the realtor to see if we can move up the closing date. That would give us more time to move out of this house without having to box everything up. I don't want to move. I don't want to see how much stuff we have. I don't want to unpack; I loathe unpacking.

Countdown:
7 days till Tyson's 3rd birthday
15 days till we close on our house
20 days till we have our final inspection on our current house

It's Your Day

Happy Birthday Jennifer!
We miss you and love you so much!

Today was kind of sad for me. As I think about birthdays, I also have to think about deaths. My mother-in-law passed away three months ago on Memorial Day. It was very sudden. There are so many things that I wish I could change but I know that Jennifer is in a much better place (and enjoying chocolate cake!). So here's to you-it's your day!

Update

Thank you all for your prayers for my dad! He was released from the hospital this afternoon and is now at home with my mom. He has orders to take it easy for a week and then slowly get back to work. The doctor said that if they had not found the blockage he would have had a heart attack within 6 months-scary!





Countdown:


10 days till Tyson turns 3


18 days till we close on our house


23 days till we have our final move out inspection





What a month we have in store!

The Big D...and I DO Mean Dallas!

As the title states, we made a little day trip to Dallas. It's such a nice trip because it's only 2 hours away and my sister lives there. Our main reason for today's trip was to buy a refrigerator for our soon-to-be-new-house. Fun. We left bright and early, got the fridge and then headed off to my sisters. Of course we had to have a photo op with cousin baby Cake.

My father is one of the biggest Yankees fans thus the reason behind the apparel. :)
(Speaking of my father, say a little prayer for him tonight. He had surgery this morning to place a stint in an artery that was clogged. He is doing well but prayers are always good.)

We made it home just in time to unload the fridge (which is now sitting in our dining room) and change some completely saturated diapers. Then off to a friend's birthday party. The party was fun. The boys are finally at an age that we don't have to hover around them to make sure they don't cause any damage to other's things or themselves. Ahh the joys of children... Tyson got to hit the pinata (place the tilde over the 'n' please) and Tucker showed off his cake eating skills.

Sugar + Past bed time = Pinging kids

All in all a productive day. Now to think about packing...

It's a Monday kind of Thursday

Blah-that is the word I have chosen that best describes the way I am feeling. I was reading one of my good friend's blog and she was talking about her post-pardum depression and baby blues. After reading this I felt that it would be good for me to tell my story and get it off my chest...

After Tyson was born (Sep 2005) I had a really hard time with the baby blues. Before he was born I was working full time and enjoying married life in Las Vegas. We had two new vehicles, too many credit cards and went out to eat more often than cooking at home. But life was grand. Then came my little boy; I became a stay-at-home mom and Stuart took on TWO extra jobs so that we could feed and clothe our new bundle. I thought I was prepared for motherhood but being a nanny and being a full time mommy are soooo different. No one tells you about the sleep deprivation or how your hormones are so out of whack that you don't know which way is up and that you feel like you are drowning in a sea of formula and diapers and your husband doesn't understand because he sleeps right thru the screaming every night and he gets to go off to work everyday and have adult conversations while you are at home staring at the horrible white walls and trying to understand why you cry no less than 10 times per day.

Yes, it was hard. But Tyson got older and things became easier. Then I got pregnant again. And we lost the baby (actually there never was a baby, I had a blighted ovum.). THEN 5 months later a plus sign appeared on the stick...

Nine months later, Tucker made his grand entrance and my PPD and anxiety came right along with him. There are several things that could have contributed to my anxiety: having gall stones in my ninth month of pregnancy, being hospitalized for 5 days when Tucker was only a month old (pancreatitis due to gall stones), having surgery to remove my gall bladder, moving for the 5th time in five years, not having a lot of friends, staying at home all day every day doing the same things over and over and over.

Finally last December I broke down. I sat on the couch sobbing, telling Stuart that I didn't think I could do it anymore. I wasn't a good mother, I wasn't a good wife, I didn't know who I was anymore. That's when we made the decision for me to seek some professional help. I was so nervous about talking to a psychologist but I knew I needed to do it for me and my family. After our first session, my doctor recommended that I start taking an anti-depressant and a sleeping pill (I wasn't sleeping at all, just lying awake thinking about all the things that I needed to do, hadn't done, didn't want to do...). The first couple of months were really good. I felt better. I wasn't as anxious about things and I was putting to use what my doctor and I had been talking about.

But lately things have changed. I don't feel good anymore. I am tired ALL the time. All I want to do is sleep. I have no desire to get anything done. It almost feels like I have mono at times. It just sucks all around. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade being at home with my boys for anything but I want ME back. Ugh.

J-thanks for sharing your story!