Moving, cleaning and staying cool.

We moved over the weekend. It was just under 110 degrees. But we survived. We had a great team of men, two of whom we met Saturday morning, and they all kicked some serious moving butt and it only took them about three hours. A huge THANK-YOU to all of you who helped on moving day...and before (this includes watching Max and helping paint too, etc.). Moving is not fun no matter how you look at it. So thanks to all who made it easier for us!

We have two days left in our little yellow house, today is cleaning day for me. I didn't expect it to be a sentimental day. But it is. We have a lot of memories in this little house. As I clean little hand prints another memory fills my mind. So I am actually enjoying cleaning here. This was the house that we lived in when we brought Max home from the hospital. This is the house I took a positive pregnancy test with the new baby. This is our first house as a little family. It's small, there is no privacy, you have to walk through the family room, kitchen and laundry room to get to the bathroom. But, its one of my favorite houses.

It's old. I love the characteristics and charm. There is a HUGE front porch, a great lemon tree and the owner left a lot of things original. We are so close to downtown. We are just blocks from all downtown activities and we could even see the 4th fireworks from the porch. We always get comments from neighbors about how much they love this house and the owner did a fabulous job repairing it. We have great neighbors who have told us they are sad to see us go. The gardening here is great. The owner does the yard work (yay!)! The backyard is huge and shaded.

As I mentioned, this is where we started our little family and that will always be a favorite memory for me. Max crawled here and took his first steps here. He turned into a toddler here. The picture below is another moment when I couldn't find him. I should have figured it was garbage day, and he'd be trying to find ways to watch the trucks go by.



The next time he'll be able to look out the window on his own two feet, he'll probably be 4 or 5. (Or at his rate, next month :)).

So we start our new adventure as homeowners. It's been interesting so far. I promise I'll do before and after pictures (CARLA!!!) so you can all see the changes. As for now, our A/C went out yesterday so we are waiting for the repair guy. But, guess what's covered on our brand new home warranty...yep! The A/C. We never expected to use it two days after we moved it though. (Might I add, one nice thing about the yucky economy is people are waiting for work! Meaning we have had some GREAT and FAST service!!!). Until then, we are enjoying Max's blow up pool...it was 96 inside yesterday...107 outside. Whew!

This turned out to be more of a vent and emotional dispense than a blog post. But I'll look back and want to remember this time. Buying our first home. Pictures to come...

Back to cleaning off all my memories...sniff sniff.

Max's "Mills" side.

When Mommy makes cookies and gives us the spoon to lick, we take it seriously. When we accidentally wipe some on the cabinet, we think about what to do..

...then we do the obvious. Duh.

Boxed up with a Veggie Twist

You know you've heard the saying, "All kids want is the cardboard box it comes in." Well it's true. Especially with my kid. He does love boxes and he especially loves boxes with pictures of vacuum's on them. John and Carla gave us some of their boxes they used with their recent move and they have sure come in handy. As a babysitter. A couple months ago the box in the picture below became Max's favorite spot to sit. He giggled every time he saw it and played with it for long periods of time. Well, it went into hiding for a little bit and I pulled it out again the other day to occupy him while I packed.This kid LOVES vacuum's. Seriously. He loves them. Until they turn on. Then he'll run away or jump on the couch with fear. So for him, the box is perfect.

I know the picture below is not a good one, but I wanted to show a picture of Max with his smoothie. Erik's sister, Nicole, started drinking smoothies to add some nutrients to her system. So we started too. We've enjoyed fruit smoothies from home now and again. But now it's regular for us. Especially since Max won't eat anything green, unless it's a pickle. We add frozen fruit (any kind you like, we get a big bag from Costco), berries, yogurt, bananas, juice (any kind), etc. If you can plan ahead and freeze your fruit, I think it tastes better nice and cold. Add whatever you want. We added spinach for some greens and you can't taste it at all. I wouldn't drink it if you could. But Max doesn't know the difference. (I experimented with bell peppers once too...don't do it. Gross.) And we most recently added (ground) Flax seed. Throw it all in the blender (I used the food processor too, when our blender broke).

Luckily we had a cup leftover from Fenton's that works well for the thick smoothies. But a sippy cup with a bigger sipping hole has worked for him too.

It's a simple way to get some healthy items in your system, and Max's. We've frozen the leftovers in popsicle molds too. Max LOVES them. Cold and sweet...mmmmm...

Try it, you'll like it.

The key...

...to our first home.

We are homeowners!!!! YAY!!!!!

Let the "fun" begin...

Puddin'

Max got ONE spoonful of pudding after lunch today.

ONE small spoonful.

ONE!

Messy kid.

A night out with the ladies

Last night I got to hang out with all these cool ladies... (Back: Me, Carla, Kelly. Front: Melissa, Kristen, Kirra, Mom, Amie Jo..before make-up, sorry Amie)

I got to sit next to this gorgeous young lady at dinner. (My neice Kirra). She got her braces off earlier that morning. She looks stunning. She's 15...watch out boys!!!

Then we walked a block or so to this theater...and saw Wicked!!!!!
It was amazing. The music was beautiful. I had such a great night hanging out with the girls in my family. What a cool bunch of ladies. And so funny.
Thanks Mom for making this happen!!!

Yowza!

Boy, I sure sound like a whiny little brat down there.

Here's an update. All is going well. I mean.......Well, all is going. Erik has a history of kidney stones, probably two a year-ish. Some hurt worse than others. Apparently this one is the biggest one yet. Picture a large (hard as a rock) raisin. Cover it with sharp crystallized edges. Place in your kidney...and eventually pee it out.

It's not out yet, but making it's way.

OUCH!!!!!!!!

He's on pain meds.

I want some.

I owe Kelly the HUGEST thank you of my life for saving the day yesterday. She stepped in and played "Mom" to her brother-in-law. Spending hours in the ER is not fun, regardless of your company. We are really lucky to have you, Kelly. You ROCK!!! We love you!!!!

Making it all fit together.

My morning:

Eat breakfast. Puke. Just a little though. But enough to remind me of the pain I still have from yesterday's puking. Still sore from mid-chest up to my right ear.

Used last diaper. Search around house, find two. Think that will be plenty until Erik gets home from school, with the car, to buy more.

My last hour:

Email Erik to stop at Costco on the way home.

Get text from Erik. Throwing up with flank pain. Another kidney stone.

Erik calls, short of breath. We decide he has to discuss it with his instructor. Big test this afternoon. We hang up.

I call my Mom in case we need her driving help today (Erik's class was held in Napa today). She's in Southern California.

Call sister Kelly at work, she says she can help if needed.

Erik calls, needs to go to ER.

Call Kelly, she's superwoman and on her way. Start thinking of pick-up situation.

Get call from lender requesting more paperwork.

Burn hand on Max's lunch.

Try to keep Max from doing the same.

Call lender back. The last thing you want to hear form your lender is "So where's all your money?" Need to print multiple bank statements.

Scarf down lunch, hope that Max will eat for a little longer.

Head to computer.

Get call from Mom, complain to her. Wonder if I can find a ride to Napa to get Erik and the car. She reminds me it's a holiday weekend. I-80 will be HORRID. She's right. Scratch that idea. Hope that Erik can hang out at Kelly's after he's done with the ER.

Get call from Kelly, can't hear her.

Get text from Kelly, waiting for Triage. It's going to be a looong visit.

Lunch didn't last, but Barney will! Transfer child.

Start to print up statements. All while texting back and forth with lender.

Receive email from realtor. Repairs done but she needs a check today to pay the guy. Think, I don't have a car. I could walk. It might be nap time too. I stink. Nap, shower, walk. Could drop off check and get diapers.

Smell poo. Cross fingers. Safe.

Office door closes, hear tennis ball bang against door several times. He's occupied.

Text from lender, need even more paperwork. Thank you internet!!!!

Pull, print, scan, copy, email...repeat...

Get call from Kelly. He's being seen. He filled two bags of puke in her car. He's covered in puke. He stinks. She has his phone, he'll probably call me when he's ready. Thank her.

Text Mom, fill her in.

Get another email from lender. Still need more paperwork. Geez, go to lunch already.

Fill her request. Wait for the next one....

Wait...type...wait...type...

Can't hear Max. Do I dare???? I do. And found this:




Man, I love that kid.

Forget about the last two hours. Stare at kid, take a picture.

Nothing else matters. Even if Erik has to sleep in Napa tonight. I'll be fine. He'll get better.

Max makes everything fit.

Updated Numbers

Here's a little update through numbers:

2 The number of nights Max has slept through the night after feeling better. He's not 100%, but we're getting there. He's extremely clingy towards me (no complaints) and falls apart really easily. (Throwing his body on the floor, screaming at the top of his lungs with HUGE tears streaming down his face, etc.)

30ish Days until we move. I added ish because at this point we really don't know. It's looking like we got the house (yay!) but, it's still processing. I don't want to jinx us here, but we are thrilled to be able to buy our first house, on one income, in California. Something we thought would NEVER happen. It's a short sale and we have been working on it since January. Nothing short about it. More on this as we get closer to closing...

4 Days Erik has been back to work. Part of the process of us getting the home loan was Erik getting back to work on his regular schedule. He is still in need of a second wrist surgery though. He will work modified duty until the second surgery gets approved through insurance.

97 Days of pregnancy left! Man, following the second pregnancy is way different the second time around (sorry fetus). With Max I was on top of everything. This time...hmmm..not so much. I feel pretty well. Every few days I run to the sink/toilet/grab whatever is closest, you get the idea. My energy level is dropping, making packing any boxes a little more difficult. I take a lot of breaks and am not lifting anything too heavy.

4,789,627 times Erik has sneezed since allergy season hit. I feel so bad for people suffering from seasonal allergies. Erik has suffered since he was a little boy. He swells, sneezes, coughs, drains..it's pretty pathetic. Hopefully it will be over soon, but...

6 The number of times I've said it looks like it's snowing outside. Stupid pollen. Stupid pecan trees.

1 the number of days Erik has off now, per week. He's at work 4 days and school 2 days. So we have 1 day with him. His school schedule will be changing in the next few weeks though as they will start clinicals. He doesn't know that schedule yet.

57 the number of spiders we've killed in our house in the last month. GROSS! That number is not exact, but it has to be close. We kill at least 2 or three a day. All shapes, all sizes. I hate spiders and I will never be the person who lets them free outside. They should all die.

0 the amount of numbers I have left.

40 Years!!!!!!!!

40 years ago a young couple met and fell in love, then tied the knot!

They did a whole lot of this...

...which resulted in a whole lot of these....

...and even more of these....



Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!!
We are so glad you fell in love.
Here's to 40 more!!
We love you!