More Words

I wrote that last post last night. After about 7 hours of constant crying. Not constant, maybe just 20 minutes of every hours. The other 40 went like this: 20 minutes to nurse, 10 to burp or be changed, and 10 more to feign sleep until she got put down and woke right up.
Anyway, that doesn't start until about 3 or 4PM. So up until then, life isn't really that bad around here. My positive attitude and optimism decrease rapidly when there is screaming in the background. Anyway, it is only noon right now, and she has slept peacefully in her little car seat for over an hour after sleeping 5 hours in a row last night. I thought I would throw out some of my happier thoughts  now before they are suffocated later by chaos and screaming, lest anyone out there think I am about to go off the deep end.

It is spring at our house. Last week there was a flock of about 50 robins (not counting the ones in the tree or the neighbor's yard) in our back yard poking around for worms, using the sandbox lid as a bird bath, and otherwise being birds. It was wonderful entertainment for the kids, until they thought it was more fun to run screaming outside to scare them away and watch them fly off. Watching that many flapping birds I was reminded of a scene from "The Birds" and a little creeped out.
There are five very tall white iris plants blooming along the back fence. I wonder how long they have been there and I never bothered to notice?
The red azalea bushes are blooming. The bumble bees are out. It was fun watching Becca trying to talk to one while it was hovering around the back door. "Buzzz! Buzzzzzz! Don't come in my house! Buzzzz!"
Mike has just buried the front flower beds in pine straw, in hopes of keeping the kudzu and poison ivy vines from covering the whole house while we are gone. I can't say we will miss the yard work while we are in a rental.

I wrote a post about disappearing baby socks when Becca was born. In the two years since there have been no improvements in the design of baby socks. Though we do enjoy looking at and tickling her new baby feet.




I am looking forward to movers coming and packing up everything I own and moving for me. Then, I can unpack only what I want to deal with (read: clean up) and leave the rest safely out of reach and in storage until we are ready for it. I would love to say before they come I will have everything sorted and minimized and we will only be moving the stuff we will need but I have realized that is not going to happen. So I will deal with it on the other end.

We will be losing about a third of our living space. I am hoping with some strategic organizing we can make it work without feeling too squished. I have been browsing through a few home dec blogs and think I can make it work with spaces like this "cloffice" and entry closet mud room.
And by hiding all the toys. I have a plan. I am really hoping to be making regular trips to Nana's house, Aunt Lauri's house, and Aunt Tammy's house. And I can't have my kids going over and being bored right? I will completely ignore the fact that they are prepared hosts and have a stash of toys for little visitors and will bring a milk crate or so full of ours to use. Then I will leave them there. After a trip or two, I should be able to spread out our toy closet pretty well leaving just a minimum here. Think it will work? Then the kids can't get mad at me for giving their stuff away but I only have to deal with it once in a while.
I am really looking forward to going with Mike back to his homeland.
I am trying to ignore little annoying things like:
I will be totally lost for months
we might get snow over spring break
I will lose my husband to a long commute
I have to learn to drive in the snow

And focus on the good things like:
I hear the roaches don't grow the three inches long there
that insects freeze over the winter instead
The schools are better
We will be living across the street from the school so no bus stop or carpool line
We have a nice line up of babysitters as soon as our kids get comfortable with their relatives
the scenery is beautiful
We get to play in the snow
We can have Sunday dinner with Nana
I think I can arrange some sort of regular delivery of homemade bread in exchange for something ridiculously easy like loaning out my kids to help in the garden or doing the dishes or dusting the piano
When Andrew asked me if we could plant a garden, I told him he could go dig and pull weeds in papa's garden and he was happy and I didn't have to dig anything
We can have a houseful of relatives for birthday parties and holidays 
Maybe our allergies won't be so strong there
Someone else is in charge of mowing the lawn and fixing the leaky roof
There is a playground in our backyard
We are just a commuter train ride away from a million tourist attractions in Washington DC
I am looking forward to planning a fun sibling summer camp with field trips and guest teachers and satellite locations by drawing on all our new resources (read: can we come swim in your pool, feed your cats, dig in your garden, or explore your back yard?)
We are a manageable distance from a central meeting point with our dear friends here so moving away isn't so bad

I am looking forward to starting over in a new ward. No history to determine where you serve or who you sit by. I can basically paint myself as whomever I choose. An interesting thought. I could decide to be a blond or a red head and no one would know I was faking it. No one knows I can use the computer and make me the perpetual newsletter writer or that I am a teacher and will have me teaching primary until I have memorized the lesson manuals. Not that these were bad callings, I actually enjoyed them all most of the time. But it is always interesting to see where the Lord directs them to put you when they know nothing about you.

We decided to move now and not wait until school was over or the house sold because:
We love daddy and didn't want to lose him indefinitely
I am a crappy single parent. I need back up.
Four kids can be an amazing opposition force to getting and keeping a house ready to show to potential buyers.
We thought our house would sell better and faster if it wasn't full of our stuff and people could see the gorgeous floors, big kitchen, and other details hidden in layers of kid crap.
Our kids are on the shy side and could use the attention of being the new kid when it comes to making friends.
Our kids are pretty smart and will do fine academically switching schools in the middle of the year.
Our kids are pretty smart and need to be here this year to get tested and placed in the programs they need for next year.
We miraculously had all the pieces fall into place in just a few days after weeks of frustrating dead ends, about the same time I realized I couldn't fix it all by myself and started praying for some help. Affordable house, free commute, convenient location, good school district, workable budget to carry to house payments.
And I won't have to give away my kids to keep my sanity the next few months. Or at least now I can give them away to family.

See? Not completely off the deep end.