together again

After a long weekend of moving, and a long week of moving in, we are ready for a vacation (luckily we fly to my parents in two days).

We packed up the truck Friday evening and Saturday morning. My husband's cousin and aunt were miraculously passing through town, and helped us out. How amazing is that? There help was so needed, and so welcome.

We drove out Saturday, and unpacked the truck Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we met with our new branch (more on that another day), then drove back to our old house. On Monday we cleaned, with a short break for an ultrasound ("there is an 80% chance it's a girl") and lunch with a friend. Then we drove back. Tell me we know how to celebrate a birthday around this place. (It was Kiddo's 2nd.)

Tuesday on we've been unpacking boxes, Husband has been working, and we're all surviving.

Things I am grateful for:
*After a week, we are now the proud owners of a fridge, which keeps food cool for long periods of time. Tell me this is not a wonderful invention.
*We eat as a family every night. Okay, so it's usually a picnic on the floor (where is the table? oh yeah, covered with boxes), but we're together. My husband comes home in the evening, and stays. Jobs are amazing.
*Jobs also come with salaries. Even more exciting.
*Despite a fatigue that seems insurmountable, my kitchen is almost in working order. We have a toaster, and multiples knives and cutting boards, our wok, our popcorn popper, and a myriad of other things that I somehow lived without, but no longer have to.

And the list goes on. Here's another one. I accidentally threw my wallet away with some trash at one restaurant we ate at. Through a conversation at dinner that was completely atypical (we were going to use my plastic, not my husband's), to pay, we figured out it was missing, and through the Spirit were prompted as to where to look. Because let's be honest, this restaurant is no where near where we used to live, or where we live now, and it's just good we found it then. The blessings just keep coming.

a low moment in parenting

My room, which has a hardwood floor, has a healthy layer of dust around the edges. It seemed to appear overnight a few days ago, and I haven't been able to convince myself to clean it up before the big clean for the move. This morning, I wished I would have made a different decision.

I was getting dressed, and Kiddo was in the room with me. She headed to a pile of dust, I thought to pick up a piece of paper that was mixed in. I wasn't thrilled about that, but at least it kept her busy while I changed. A moment or so later I saw her pulling her hand out of her mouth. What?! Was she really eating dust? How gross was that?

As I reviewed my options, realizing that dirt could not easily be extracted, she said "Tandy. Mo pease." And I'm not sure which is worse. That she found a piece of candy (a nerd) in the dirt and was eating that, or eating the dirt. Note to self: clean more often in the new place.

MOVING!

We have a place! We can move this weekend. We can all be together again.

And, well, this still feels dreamlike, but once we're all there, then my husband and I can actually spend evenings together, because neither one of us has to write a dissertation. I know, it blows your mind. Mine too.

what we're up to

Kiddo likes her personal space, so she creates her own when needed:
I thought she was playing in her room after lunch, but it was actually the bathroom. She found this screw driver in the back of a drawer. She knew exactly what to do with it: change the batteries on her boat. (She was not happy when I took it away.)
We had snow on Saturday. Kiddo went out with her dad that day. On Sunday she convinced us to use some of our lazy morning to go out with her again. This morning she and I went out again; it wasn't until we were outside that I realized it was sub-freezing temperatures. The good thing about that? She wanted her hats and mittens on.
And, our apartment hunt seems to almost be over. Thank goodness. Thank you, my dear husband, for doing the bulk of the work on this one.

we've been had

Kiddo is having trouble going to sleep tonight. The first attempt seemed to take, until she woke up two hours later. The second attempt was accompanied by crying "DADA!" "MAMA!" at intervals, hoping to get us to come back. We were being strong, and trying to let her get herself back to sleep, which usually works. Then she pulled out her trump card. "Poopy diaper. Poopy diaper."

What could I do? I went in to change her diaper. We do this routine quite often at naptime, so I was hoping I could change the diaper and move on. Except her diaper wasn't poopy. And I certainly wasn't able to quickly move on. Was she saying it to get me in the room? I think so.

Attempt three is still underway by daddy. This time she got us in the room by yelling about how she bumped her head. Again, I must ask, are these things really happening, or does she just know that we respond to these calls?

heard around the house

Mama: Move away from the screen.
Kiddo: No, no, no
(she likes an up-close media experience, for tv or computer it seems)

Kiddo: Aright, letz dance. Sance. Sance. Sance...

Mama: What should we have for breakfast?
Kiddo: Bed [bread]. Jam. Bed. Jam.

Kiddo: Pants off
Mama: I'm not helping you. If you want them off, take them off.
OR Daddy: No.
Kiddo: Shirt off.
Parent: No.

Kiddo: Read book. (applies to all books, with or without pictures)

Kiddo: Sing.

Mama: What should we do today?
Kiddo: Puter [computer].

Kiddo (after being picked up or wanting to be carried): Carry you, Mama.


All of the above are the soundtrack to my life. The next one is much more rare.

Kiddo (after being picked up): I yuv you mama. Soft. Mama soft. Mama soft yike doggie.

Thanks kiddo. I yuv you too.

two against one

Given my husband's work schedule finishing his dissertation, I am used to him not being around. The time it really gets lonely is when I head off to bed and realize there is no one to leave the light on for. And this absence has been harder for other reasons.

On the first night my husband was gone, Kiddo woke up crying about 4. I evaluated my options, and decided around 4:15 to go change her diaper, put her back to bed (which involves a little singing, a little rocking, putting her in her crib, and lying next to her on the floor until she falls asleep), and hopefully get back to sleep. This worked, I was almost asleep when she started crying again. At this point I gave up, and brought her into bed with me. A bad idea, I know. This is why we're still in our old house, cause she doesn't sleep well with others. It took her a long time to settle, including a milk run, and countless times of her draping herself over my head and neck. (Why does she think she can fall asleep that way? Why do I think she can fall asleep that way?) Around six we both fell asleep for another hour and a half. I was not in a good mood for a while.

I promised myself we would not do this the next night.

And we didn't. Last night, she woke up crying at 10 pm. But she had had a runny nose all day, and her cry sounded like she was about to lose her voice. So I pulled her into my bed at 10. It only took her about 30 minutes to settle this time, with the usual kicks and cuddles that accompany this process. But I was also worried about her ability to stay in the bed, and kept considering my options to keeping her safe. When I finally quieted my head down, my second baby started a rollicking party of his/her own inside of me. I was a little overwhelmed by the kicks from outside and in. Another long while later they were both calm, and I finally got to sleep.

Until 4, when I woke suddenly, looked for Kiddo to find her not in bed, called out her name, and heard her little feet running back to me. Thirty minutes of settling, then finally sleep. I thought maybe she wanted to be in her own bed. No.

Oh I miss my husband, but these last two nights, I've really missed my second parent. (And, I know he's wanted to be here too. Soon.)