Moving Plans

Gosh we miss this guy!

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That right there is the biggest reason for my major push to get down to Texas ASAP.

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However now that it is fast approaching I'm starting to feel really nervous and anxious about this next leg in our life's journey.

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More than anything we just want to be back together as a little family, all this time apart is really not a good thing. I mean I guess distance DOES make the heart grow fonder. You realize all the amazing things that you probably were taking for granted before.

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Being back together is like the "honeymoon phase", because it's been so long you just want to do everything you possibly can to be nicer, better, kinder to each other. But besides that, it really isn't a good thing.

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So me and the girls - and my dad, a.k.a. my chauffeur/adult conversation - are heading off for the land of Wichita Falls, Texas on Wednesday. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it...from what I understand you're not missing much (no offense if you have heard of it and happen to like it).

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We will be splitting the L O N G trip in to three days instead of squishing it in to two as to hopefully avoid to much melting down from the children. My dad will then fly back to Utah on Saturday and then it's time for my little family to be together.

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Marty has Saturday, Sunday AND Monday (thanks to the holiday) off that we get to just spend time with each other.

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One of the things I'm most scared of - judge me if you must - is that I've never lived more than about 9 miles from home. That's right...never more than a quick drive to see my family. I spend all sorts of time just hanging out at my parent's house, playing with my sister, seeing family at any time I want. Where am I supposed to go just sit and spend time in Texas?? I'm sure it will be fine though as we adjust. Easy? No.

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So, back to moving plans. The movers can't come to our home in Utah until the 15th of September...so until that we're just going to be on a long vacation living out of suitcases at some temporary housing on base. Sounds like an adventure huh? Thankfully Marty's mom volunteered (a.k.a. was bribed by her son most likely) to be here on the 15th with the movers to make sure things get handled appropriately. Then we wait until they arrive in Texas with our house.

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Yes, we could have waited until after the 15th to head down so we arrived at the same time as our stuff. But I tell you I just don't have it in me. I can't go much longer without seeing Marty. And neither can my girls. We had planned a while back to try and go over labor day, so when we found out that the movers weren't going to be able to be scheduled that soon...I almost had a nervous breakdown. So we're going anyway.

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So that's that. I don't know how to say goodbye to family. I think I'll just pretend that everything is normal and slip out quietly. I don't want it to be harder than it already will be.

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We'll be without internet for a while as we get settled. So, goodbye people!

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Hopefully I will be back in touch with the outside world sooner than later!

Pocket Full of Sunshine

Sometimes a kid who is TOTALLY wearing on every last nerve of yours does something irresistibly funny or cute and totally redeems themselves for the hours of whining and crying and begging that had gone before.

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Enter Brielle - I know some people find it hard to believe that Brielle, of all children, could possibly be anything but sweet and happy. Normally I would agree and her recent attitude problem has been a shock to me as well.

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She REALLY misses her daddy and for the first time in all the time apart from him has really started acting out in every way possible. Crying over nothing, whining constantly about EVERYTHING.

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Today we were driving in the car.

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The end of the song "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield happened to be on. You know the one? She repeats the same tune over and over singing these lyrics:

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Take me away: A secret place.
A sweet escape: Take me away.
Take me away to better days.
Take me away: A higher place

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I'm not a huge fan of the song, but for some reason just left it playing.

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After the song gets over Brielle asked me, "Does all she do is just yell in that song? Or does she start to sing?"

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I laughed and said "I guess she yells a little huh?"

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Then I hear from Brielle - yelling but still on tune - "Take me away, a secret way, take me away, take me away!"

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TOTALLY REDEEMED!

It's raining, it's pouring

Do you ever feel like when it rains it pours? Maybe you don't...but I sure do. Just when you think "it can't get harder or worse" you are hit with a big ol' slap in the face of harder or worse.

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This doesn't always happen...and I am nearing 6 months pregnant so maybe I'm just an irrational/emotional mess. I'm sure Marty would probably have to go with that reasoning.

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He keeps being like, "Don't fret so much, you're really stressing too much over these things." And I want to be all, "UH, HELLO! I'm stressing too much? I'm freaking trying to get a house all ready to move, keep two kids happy, grow a third child INSIDE my body, figure out preschool, health insurance, apartments, transportation etc. in a place I'VE NEVER BEEN!" And then he's like, "Just get here, things will be easier when you're here, it'll work out." And I actually do feel better...so maybe the irrational/emotional thing isn't that far off.
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Anyway, I got very side tracked there.

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The other night I got the kids to bed and was sitting down to relax. I heard a little bit of a yell/cry come from the girls room and was about to go in and check it out but it didn't continue. I figured it was some sort of bad dream or something and they were back asleep.

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When I decided to go to bed (MUCH later than I should have) I thought I should probably check on the girls before turning in. I switched Claire over to her toddler bed a few days ago - which has gone surprisingly well - and just thought checking on her was wise.

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I went in to their room and the light of the nightlight was just enough to kind of make out shapes. I saw Brielle laying the opposite way on her bed, and looked and could make out Claire's blanket. It looked as though she had scooted down in her bed and maybe covered herself up with the blanket.

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I was about to leave when I thought, you know, I really can't see her head or a leg or anything...maybe I'll look a little closer. I moved a little closer to her bed and still was having a hard time seeing her. I got closer and realized the blanket was pretty flat for supposedly having a child under it.

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I started to worry a little and moved closer. The closer I got the more I realized there wasn't a child in the bed.

WHAT?!

Where was Claire!!??

I frantically searched her bed (since toddler beds are so huge she could have been in there somewhere right?) and looked around the room. I checked on Brielle's bed, under Claire's bed, over by the closet...still nothing.

I knew I hadn't heard Claire come out of her bedroom and was really starting to worry. I flipped on their closet light to get a better view and again checked the same places I already had.

Just when my frantic-ness had just about reached it's peak I turned around towards Brielle's bed and noticed her clothes basket sitting there.

Something was different about the basket.

(Yes, once I found her I couldn't resist taking a picture)

There she was, sitting in the basket fast asleep...the funny thing is she had pulled some of the clothes up as though she thought she was pulling on a blanket.

I still have NO clue what she was doing in there. I don't know if she fell out of her bed, got disoriented and fell in to the basket and then in her tired state decided she couldn't muster up the energy to get out of the basket and gave up.

I don't know if she got out of her bed and tripped in to the basket hitting her head and knocking herself out...hey, you never know!

She was fine the next day...a little grumpy...but wouldn't you be too if you spent a good part of the night sleeping in a basket with a wooden bed post as your pillow?

I'm sorry to continue an already long post but I'm trying to do a little catch up on happenings before I go a while without internet...so bear with me here.

About a week ago (maybe longer, I really can't remember) we had a crazy hail storm here at our house. The girls were in awe at watching the little balls of ice hitting the ground. It was actually pretty big hail stones also. Once it stopped we went out to check out the hail for ourselves. Brielle couldn't believe that little balls of ice had come out of the sky!

They ran around in the rain and played for quite a while after that.

Seeing things through the eyes of a child has been one of the best things about being a parent. It's fun to remember the magic of weather again, as I remember thinking it was amazing when I was young as well.

So...now back to life and the countdown to Texas. I will not continue this post, I will save those details for another day...keep everyone in suspense (the one person who reads my blog that is).

*I discovered Blurb a while ago. I had no idea something so wonderful existed but thanks to it I uploaded my blog from 2007-2008 and have put it in to books! It's such a wonderful thing, I'd been wondering how to do that. But now because of it I find myself wanting to write more details and more often as to keep an even better record of our lives. Just an apology in advance if it seems that I am just rambling on and on about things.*

Texas bound...hopefully.

September 7th - a.k.a. Labor Day weekend - is starting to feel like it's a lifetime away...but at the same time it feels like I have no time at all before the day arrives. That is our tentative date to move to Texas. I say tentative because I have learned that if I act as though things are set in stone, something inevitably comes up and ruins all plans. So if things continue on the path they are now then yes, it will be when we head to Texas...if something comes up then we'll be flying by the seat of our pants...yet again.

I have been stressing myself out over the millions of details that go in to us moving to Texas...to the point that on Saturday I worked - admittedly - too hard to pack and clean and ended up having braxton hicks contractions every 2 minutes for a good few hours. It didn't make me stop what I was doing at first, because if I have the motivation and (some) energy then I can't stop.

Unfortunately this freaked Marty out...which I have to say may be more because he feels extremely horrible about not being here to help...causing him to basically beg me to call the doctor to ask about it. I waited until Monday, because I'm that kind of person, and they insisted on seeing me THAT DAY. I was all, "Um, I have an appointment next Friday, don't you think it can wait?" For some reason they didn't go for that. I spent a lot of Monday worrying that the doctor was going to limit my activity in some way or another and that I'd be even more stressed about everything.

After checking to make sure the contractions weren't doing anything - because they had stopped - I got the clean bill of health and was told that it was my body trying to tell me to SLOW DOWN or stop. The doctor told me to lay down and relax more if I feel any more contractions and stuff. I resisted the urge to laugh in his face at the thought of a mother of two small children who is about to move laying down to relax. But I just nodded.

Another bonus is I now have an extra excuse to not pack. Really I have an excuse not to do hardly anything! The other excuse for not having to pack is that the moving company the army hires will do the packing for me. I for some reason just felt weird about that though and was feeling like I needed to pack as much as I could before we have movers come. Now I am not going to....and I'm not going to feel weird or guilty about it. I will just work on organizing and de-cluttering so it's not a horrible mess for them.

Basically we THINK we have a place to live, but that could also fall through last minute. All I know is I am DONE - with a capital D - DONE being away from Marty. Technically we have been apart for almost 4 months. By the time we get down there it will have been 4 months. Yes there was the 2 days I got to go to Oklahoma to see him and the 6 days of leave in there that were fantastic, but besides that it's been very long and exhausting. I never really knew what tired was until now.

So, now we count down the days until Labor Day weekend. It will probably drag in some aspects, but as I pack (at least our clothes for the road trip) and clean and go through my things I'm sure I will feel like I don't possibly have enough time to do everything.

So, I guess ready or not, Texas here we come!