Inhale - oooooo, exhale - ahhhhhh, Inhale - ooooooo, Exhale - ahhhhhhh. Inhale - oooooo, exhale - ahhhhhhh.

That's the sound of me breathing again, albeit from the bottom of many large boxes. I finally have internet again!!! Yeah!! I won't even go into the story of the internet connection - no,no - the story of flooded toliets, flooded hallway from leaking air conditioner, and flooded Laundrey room, Dining room, and Family room from a broken washing machine hose is much more exciting. That's been our week. I haven't done much unpacking amidst trying to get service people coordinated, phone service hooked up, keeping the kids off of carpet that is pulled up all over the house (new carpet that is) drying out, and rescuing wet boxes from the diluged areas of the house. This first week in our new house has been quite an adventure.

We've already met several neighbors though who have brought over cookies, phone numbers, etc. and who are all just great! Once we do an excorsism on the plumbing here everything is going to be great

Post Script

I forgot to mention another very aggravating moment of my day yesterday with the Penske man. A few weeks ago, I called multiple rental truck facilities to rent a truck for our move since, of course, our realtor's complimentary truck was unavailable. I went with U-Haul because they offered the best deal. Penske guy has called me multiple times, so when he called yesterday, I told him I'd be glad to use their truck if he could give me a better deal. As is always the case, I have a significant amount of background noise (my little sis always thinks she's catching me at a "bad time" - it's always like this!). So Ryan was screaming his head off and instead of politely (remember he's trying to sell me something here) saying "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I am not able to hear you very well", he says in an extremely rude tone "I can't hear a thing with that kid screaming in the background!" Listen buddy, this is my life. Good ol' Kevin couldn't match my other deal, wished me luck, hung up on me, and will be getting a complaint letter in his file as soon as I unpack my printer.

A Moment of Desperation

Of course I've been too busy yelling at my kids packing to blog ever since Jenny added "changing our blog to Blogger" to her packing/to-do list. And I kept thinking, wow, this is a fresh start in a way, I should post something momentous or witty or philosophical. Instead, I'm choosing to confess what happens when you dare say the words "things are under control" like I stated multiple times when we had grandparents over for Nick's birthday cake on Sunday.

It's appropriate now to mention that last week Ryan started bailing out of the crib and was so proud of himself that he didn't nap all week, which means I got no packing done during the day as planned. It's also appropriate to mention that when he is not tormenting Nick, knocking down his block towers or tearing apart his lego creations, he is smacking the baby or trying to ride him like a pony. Sweet Ryan, oh he really is so sweet and tenderhearted, but he has a knack for rising to the occasion when stress is oozing from my pores.

I've moved the kids over to my parents in an attempt to keep them out of the boxes these last few days. After packing into the wee hours of the morning, Ryan started the day off by pouring himself a glass of cranberry juice, which translated to an entire container spilled onto the kitchen floor. After washing the floor three times and still sticking to it, I decided we were going back to our house to "get a few things done". After a series of sibling fights, baby not napping, and a box of packed, unfrozen freeze pops leaking out of a box onto my carpet, I threw in the towel and we spent a few hours eating lunch, playing tennis and going on a hike in the woods. Enter nap time.

I needed 15 minutes of sleep SO BAD because I know I'm going to be up very late tonight since Shawn is teaching tonight and we have a lot of things to do when he gets home like unload our whole attic. I was desperate. After a series of crib bailings and an unsuccessful attempt to get Ryan to lay down on the bed with me, I finally broke. I went to the car, brought his carseat in and strapped him in it, in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn (note: his older brother happily sits on the couch doing the same thing, unrestrained. Why does one of my children LOVE TV and the other can't watch it longer than 60 seconds??) I laid down for 20 minutes and here's what I found when I woke up. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this, friends, was at least a successful mission.

T minus 1

Tomorrow is the BIG day! The last 30 days have lead us up to these final moments that I'm madly taping up the last boxes as we get ready to make the big move tomorrow. I can't believe how fast 30 days can fly by. We are so excited to move into our new home. I think we feel like we've finally found our resting place and neither of us plan to move again - ever.

Things I've discovered during this move:
1) Never leave the sharpie in reaching distance of your 1 year old.
2) Sharpie does mostly wash off skin if you get to it quickly but forget about the clothes.
3) Did you know Noggin is just like preschool for kids and it's on 24/7! (that's their theme) Really...it is. Emma has already learned so much the past couple of weeks that I've let her watch waaaay too much t.v. since all the toys are packed. Yesterday she informed me we need Mr. magic toilet brushes to keep our toilets sparkling clean and apparently she needs to take Cialis. Why oh why do they have these commercials on Noggin? Apparently housekeepers and old men must be watching a lot of Noggin.
4) Moving a blog is much easier than moving your whole house - no packing required.
5) Friends are invaluable. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done this week without good friends who offered to watch my kids for a few hours so I could pack, paint, and whatever else. It almost makes me want to cry. In fact last night I did when my neighbors who are awesome friends threw us a little goodbye BBQ. Saying goodbye to good friends is hard even if its only a few miles away.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog. For our previous entries please head to ldsmommy