Wow, today was a long day. With two parent/teacher conferences in the morning, I wasn’t able to start my packing marathon until about 11am, but I packed nonstop until 4, when I had to leave to get more boxes and pick the kids up from daycare. Now they are in bed, so I am going to try to pack a few more boxes before ending the night with a much earned bath and Netflix! Tomorrow morning I go to the storage place to pay for our unit and then we can start moving some boxes and small furniture. Tim has some work to do in the crawl space and we need to empty the attic. All in all though, we are in a good place. The buyers have asked to move closing to either Wednesday or Thursday, instead of Friday.

I made sure to let the kids play for awhile this evening after dinner, and we cuddled in their beds (which are now just mattresses on the floor) I know their lives are going to be rearranged soon, and I really want the last few hours in our home to be happy ones. God continues to provide in so many ways, and everything has fallen into place for this to happen. 🙂

Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. 🙂

When you were a kid did you ever measure the passage of time in how many sleeps you had until an event? For instance, five more sleeps until Christmas.

Well, we are officially three more sleeps until moving day, which means two full days to get everything packed up and ready. And while I am feeling overwhelmed, I’m also feeling grateful that we are so close to it actually happening. Anticipation of something is always the hardest part- so the sooner we get this done, the better!

On the way home I passed our church and saw that my sister in law’s van was there so I asked her if she was there with her children. She said yes, so we decided to have an impromptu playdate and let the kids run around and expend all their energy. We got McDonalds and they ate, ran, and played while we got the chance to catch up a little bit. The kids enjoyed the unexpected time with their cousins, and we weren’t worried too much about bedtime because they are off school tomorrow.

Tomorrow is filled with parent teacher conferences, and an incredible amount of packing. 🙂

The screaming woke me up from a dead sleep. My foggy mind sought clarity in the dark room. I was in my bed. Tim was next to me. But there was screaming. I jumped out of bed and hurried to the kids room, convinced I’d find a child covered in vomit or some other unpleasantness. My eyes adjusted to the dark room, and I saw only half of Baby E on the floor.

When we were staging the house we took Baby E’s bed out of the bedroom to make the room look larger and when we moved back in, we just decided to let him camp out on the floor, which he has enjoyed every evening. But at 2 am, in my confusion, I could only see half of him sticking out from under C’s bed. It took me but a moment to piece together that he must have rolled under there in his sleep and somehow became wedged. Sure enough as I bent down to retrieve him, I realized his oversized head was stuck between C’s mattress and the floor. It took a little maneuvering, but thankfully I got him free painlessly and readjusted him on his pillow. Tim and I stumbled back to bed, tossing and turning the rest of the night until our alarms insisted that we start our day.

To be honest friends, I’m feeling pretty down tonight. I think it’s a combination of feeling overwhelmed with packing and all that has to be done before we move, and the fact that we are selling our home at the end of next week. It has pretty much turned me into a weepy mess this evening. The thing is, I know we are doing the right thing. We are trusting God to provide and follow through. But the waiting is hard, and the unknown is scary- and that’s where I find myself. I catch myself looking around each room, trying to memorize each detail and replay each memory, and if I’m honest, it’s exhausting.

I hate change. I hate it. And yet, what are we if we never change? We sit in quiet resignation, pretending we are living a full life, but in reality we are squandering our time and wasting away. So change we must and change we will. This is a massive thing for our little family, but I am trusting that God has already gone before us.

I can trust Him because I know Him to be good. 

Traditionally this has been my least favorite day of the year… the first Monday after the time change. The commutes are typically horrendous and by the time we get home it is dark. However… Today was also Baby E’s birthday, so I decided that today was a very good day indeed. When I picked the kids up this afternoon, I took them to a local playground for a little while.

We lost the light pretty quickly, so we headed over to the boardwalk to expend a little more energy. We were checking out the fish ponds when the kids started to complain about being hungry. They asked to go to the candy store, which thankfully was closed. Then they asked for ice cream. No. Well how about an apple? How can I argue with an apple?

There’s a store near the beach that sells farm fresh produce so we went there in search of apples… and man were we not disappointed. They had a bunch of the largest apples I have ever seen in my life. The kids picked out the biggest ones they could find, while I grabbed some cherry tomatoes and salted peanuts. We paid for our food and headed back to the boardwalk and down the long pier.

I suppose the early sunset sent most people inside because we had the pier nearly to ourselves. We walked out to the furthest area, found a place to sit and proceeded to have a picnic of giant apples, cherry tomatoes, and salted peanuts. We sang happy birthday to Baby E and the kids ran around for a little while. It was about 7 by the time we got home. We ended the evening with dinner and bedtime. 🙂

Baby E turned three years old today. Wow, that happened quick! He woke up this morning with a huge smile on his face and whenever I mentioned it being his birthday he would give me a huge grin!

Nearly every single day of Baby E’s life has been documented, and as I scan through the photos of the past three years, I am so incredibly grateful for the gift we have in him. He is a beautifully blended combination of both his sister and brother. He has the determination of C, with the sweetness of Big E. And while he may be ornery around complete strangers, his love for his family is very intense.

He enjoys oatmeal, pizza, cake, and salami (in no particular order.) He likes cars, trucks, trains, and planes. His favorite movie is Moana and if you aren’t watching he might grab your ear, and try to convince you to return the heart of Tafiti. He’s remarkably clumsy, but I think he has finally grown into his head. He likes to wear baggy shirts so he can watch them dance around as he runs. His favorite book is Llama Llama Red Pajama.

Three years happened in a flash. He’s not a baby anymore, he’s a big kid. Oh and if you ask him how old he is, he will still insist he is five.

Excuse me for a minute as I climb up on my soapbox. It’s a familiar one, I’ve been here before, but it’s been awhile so here goes! As I was getting the kids ready for church this morning, I grabbed a pair of jeans for Big E to put on. I checked the size and they were 5’s, which is what he is wearing now, but when he put them on they looked strange. They look to be about 2 inches too short, very narrow in the legs, and he was having a hard time buttoning them. All over, they just looked too tight. And that’s when it dawned on me, those weren’t his jeans. Those were an old pair of C’s jeans. I dug around his clothes and sure enough I found another size five, but one I was sure was his.

Let’s take a moment to compare both of these pairs of jeans. They are both size five, but that is pretty much where the similarities end. The jeans on the left, the ‘girl’ jeans are significantly tighter and shorter, while the ‘boy’ jeans on the right are longer, with wider legs.

So guys, the last time I checked, five year old girls are not any smaller than five year old boys, so what’s the deal?!?! I’ll tell you what, go to any store and try to find your young daughter jeans that aren’t skinny. Try to find her something modest. It’s tough. You will find plenty of leggings that are passed off as pants, and lots of skinny shirts and jeans. The skirts are short. The shorts are ridiculously short. Some of the necklines are low. The double standard in children’s clothing would be remarkable if it wasn’t so tragic.

For the longest time, C hated wearing jeans. I can see why. They must have been terribly tight and uncomfortable for her, even though they were labeled the correct size. This isn’t fair for our daughters, and it isn’t fair for the women they are going to become. I guess there’s not much I can do, but shout from my soapbox and shop for my daughter in the boys section, which will be happening the next time she needs clothes.

PS- this sweet fellow turns three tomorrow! Poor kid, last year his birthday was overlooked because I was recovering from surgery. This year we are moving out of our house, so it looks like we probably won’t be having a party for him. But this evening we did have his favorite meal (Ledo’s pizza) and we ended with some cupcakes! Happy Birthday tomorrow, my sweet boy. All the hugs and kisses!!

Today was a packing and errand running day. We made it to Home Depot to pick up some repair stuff for the house. 

Big E was sitting in his car seat eating goldfish crackers when I asked him to get out. When he didn’t respond I asked him again, and still he sat eating goldfish. Finally, with a stern voice, I told him to get out. He looked up at me and said, “Mommy, I’m not God!!” Umm… what?!? “I can’t do everything at once!”

It’s hard to believe that it was warm enough on the second day of November to get some italian ice and hang out on the beach, but it was. This time next week it will be dark when I get the kids, so I’m doing it while I can.

I’m taking the day off from work tomorrow so that I can spend a good portion of the day packing up the house. There’s a lot to do and time is flying, so I need to buckle down and get it done. Hopefully by the evening I will have made significant progress.