Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jig

We are moving back to our Talbot house end of April! We knew this day was coming and that our renters were house hunting. Even with the anticipated move this summer for the next stage of Phil's training the suddenness of our move was a bit shocking and the night we found out I couldn't sleep. My mind was in overdrive mentally list-making all the things to be done in the next 4 weeks. Now the idea has settled in and I am in get'er done mode; I have already contacted the utility companies, sent in our 30-day notice for the Peoria rental and am gathering moving boxes. I will start packing room by room in the next week.

Ah, to coordinate a move with three small children is proving to be the biggest stress for me. Just because I like to stress and worry about small things, I like to have a plan and I haven't quite solidified my plan of action for the chaos of moving day and all that jazz that comes with the actual day. Coordinating naps, nursing, feeding, etc. The minutia that makes up our day, the structure that we all thrive on. I know it will be crazy and accept that but I just want to have a game plan to control the crazy and make a smooth transition for all.

This move is bittersweet for me. I am excited to return to our home, to be closer to family and old friends yet I already miss the many dear friends we have made here in the West Valley. A handful of friends will be joining us for rotations on the east side and other friends are being flung back to California and Tucson. Change is hard and ever constant on this medical school journey. I need to get used to adjusting because we have several more moves in store over the next 8 years. We have been out here for 2 years and that is really just enough time to get comfortable and make friends. Oh well, we will make new friends and catch up with those friends we have missed.



I can't believe the last time we were at our home Max and Kate looked like this! Not to mention our grass looked amazing. Pretty sure we have some hard work to do to restore the yard to its former glory.



We are grateful our renters stayed as long as they did, that they cared for our home while we were away and that everything has worked out just so.

Now, onto packing...

A Tender Mercy

Last week Phil was out of town,  in Washington DC for a convention. We missed our dad for 6 long days and it gave me a glimpse of what is to come when Phil will have month-long away rotations. Kate cried for him in the mornings but it got better the longer he was away and they liked to hear his voice on the phone.

We kept busy while he was gone and one morning with the kids antsy to get out of the house we packed everyone up to go for a walk. We grabbed the kids' cars, I strapped on Rhett and put light jackets on Max and Kate and one for myself. I was a hot mess of no make-up, bed head thrown into a ponytail, exercise clothes and hid my tired eyes behind sunglasses. We went out through the garage and I realized the garage door opener was in the truck. I didn't want to unlock the truck and get the opener, Max and Kate were already hovering in the driveway ready to roll and so I just grabbed the house keys and closed the garage door, hopping over the sensor. We went on our merry way and enjoyed the sunny yet windy day.

30ish minutes later we roll back up to the house, it is lunch time, nap time and we are tired of being in the wind. I unlock the front door and SLAM! It won't open all the way. Um, crap. Last night I had flipped the security lock, the one that only lets you open the door about an inch and can only be opened from the inside. Great. I say a prayer after mentally slapping my forehead, or maybe I really did slap my forehead? I walk around the perimeter of the house, checking every window and door. Everything is locked up tight. I occupy Max and Kate with buckets and shovels and return to the front door. It is mocking me as it sits cracked open.

Luckily I did bring my phone with me. I call my friend J'lene and tell her how stupid I am. She immediately asks what she can do to help. I tell her the only way into my house is through the truck to get my garage door opener and my truck keys are in the house too. She asks if I have roadside assistance on my car insurance and I tell her I don't think so but I will still call and check.

I have my insurance information in my phone and scroll down to the contact and hit dial. I am caught off guard when he just answers with a "hello" as I was expecting the office line, he says he is working remotely. My phone called the first number listed which happened to be the agent's cell phone. I apologize for calling him directly and tell him my situation, how I am stuck outside my house with three small children and my husband is out of town. I was just going to hang up and move on but he says he can check my file for me to see if we have roadside assistance. We do not have roadside assistance or AAA. The sweet man offers to use his personal account of AAA and send them to me. He had to pull some strings to do so, changing the address on the account to my own.

Long story long, 30 minutes later a AAA truck arrives. Hi name is Clyde, "like Bonnie and Clyde" and he tells me he will need to see my AAA card and/or ID. Um, crap. I know I don't have an account and I am worried that I will get the insurance agent in trouble. I figure worse case scenario I am paying for the cost to save us. He breaks into the truck, the alarm blares, scaring the dickens out of Kate and I rush in to open the garage door and grab the keys to turn off the alarm. I calm Kate down, usher the kids inside and get my wallet. I hand him my drivers license and he takes it, looks at it and hands it back. He thanks me, wishes me a better day and drives away. Whew!

I am so grateful that the day turned out as it did. We were truly blessed and I don't mean that lightly. So many things worked out beautifully:

• I had my cell phone on me
• I called J'lene who suggested calling my car insurance company
• That I actually had my contact information in my phone
• That the number it dialed was the agent's personal line
• That the agent was so generous in assisting us
• We have very little discretionary money to spend on foolish mistakes like I made. I would have had to hire a locksmith to come out and break into the house or truck. 

The agent let me know that he added roadside assistance to my account. I made sure I called him back and thanked him profusely for helping us. He truly went above and beyond in serving us. I made goodies for him and his office staff.

I am grateful that Heavenly Father was aware of us and I know that is why things played out so well. That little prayer that I desperately uttered when the door first slammed was critical. I am thankful for J'lene in that she was willing to drop everything to help me; drop her kids off at neighbors, pick us up or bring us lunch, whatever I needed/wanted, she offered to do all of this! I love that we have numerous friends that we can call on, they are our med school family and I love them dearly. We were watched over while Phil was away and I wanted to note this event to remember the kindness of others and that we are loved and blessed.

10 on 10: March

One photo every hour for 10 hours on the 10th day of the month.

(More like 17 on 10 but whatever. I took 60 pictures today for this project, so be happy I narrowed it down.)

Our mornings always start with warm milk and a show for the sleepy heads. The show of choice has thankfully moved on from Barney to Caillou. PBS Kids is our default for the weekdays and we queue up Caillou or Blues Clues on netflix on the weekends.

Rhett woke earlier and was ready for a nap around 7:30. He has been doing better at nights, sleeping through 1 or 2 am and then waking in the 6 o'clock hour. I remember this with Max and Kate and know that my little alarm clock will wake me at this time for the foreseeable future. It has only been after Max and Kate turned 2 that they sleep through the 7 o'clock hour. I am going to have to wake before the birds if I ever want to get a head start on these kids and steal some time to tend to myself. But that won't be happening until I get a solid 8 hours!

Max woke before Kate and I snuck him out of the room and let the sister catch a few more winks. Our house is much happier when she wakes on her own time.

Mr. Catnap still only sleeps 1 hour or less. Yet he always wakes up happy. Wouldn't you spring this face out of bed?

Today was cleaning day.

I sat on the floor to take pictures of the kids snacking and this beauty happened. No coaching from mom.

Naptime treat! 3 loads of laundry, 2 bath tubs scrubbed, 3 kids fed multiple times over, 5 poopy diapers (3 were from Max! a bit too much fruit lately?), breakfast and lunch dishes washed and all three kids down at the same time... I earned it.

Making use of my sewing machine in the guest room/Phil's man cave-study room. He has been out of town this week and I haven't sewn or crafted really since Rhett was born. Since Phil pretty much lives in this room I am not able to craft and let's be honest, I don't have the time or choose to use it elsewhere.

One taggie teether with crinkly sounds and bells for Rhett and two star wands, blue and purple respectively. All were a hit when they woke up. It makes me happy to make simple things and then see how much my kids enjoy them.

I love him. Everywhere we go people ask if he is always this happy. The answer is yes.

We borrowed a jumperoo for Rhett and he loves it!

So do Max and Kate. When Rhett isn't in it Kate puts her bear in it and bounces Bear around. 

I finished raking the leaves up in our backyard. Eight 33-gallon black garbage bags worth! I kind of miss yard work and the satisfaction of looking around after I finish and admiring my handiwork. This is good because I will most likely be taking over the yard work when we move back to the Talbot house. Phil and I both enjoy working outside and Phil is pretty darn good at it too.

The rest of the day went on without further photo documentation. Dinner, baths (Kate pooped in the tub and freaked out as she does when anything foreign or moving enters the waters), jammies, tending Rhett and then some mommy time for Max and Kate once Rhett was down. 7:30 bedtime for the olders, checked on Rhett and he had just been hanging out in his bed for 45 minutes or so. I nursed him to sleep and then finished my Saturday deep cleaning. Blogging, shower and now bed for me. Phew.

I used the point and shoot for these images and I reallllly miss my Nikon and the control I have over my images. But I am glad that I still did today's project regardless of the camera.

A mish-mash

I have things to write about but am lacking the energy and motivation. My kids got ahold of my Nikon and somehow busted the toggle button clean off. That little button is quite handy, it lets me move focus points, scroll through recorded images, go through menus, pretty much everything. Didn't know how handy it was until I went to use it and noticed it missing. Blasted kids.

That little button that costs $10 on ebay requires the entire back of the camera to be removed and will cost me close to $150 in parts and labor. I am not brave enough to go messing with pricey electronics and am leaving that to the pros. So now it sits at a repair shop, I was told it will take 3 weeks. Three weeks! Don't they know how long that is?! I am almost 2 weeks into the wait and am anxious to get it back. I miss it and miss recording our life. I know that my missing camera is partly responsible for my lack of blogging. It is usually when I have images waiting for me to edit and post that drives me to stay on top of things.

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I had a nasty sore throat last week that turned into laryngitis, wiped out my voice for a few days and is now a lingering tickly cough that only plagues me when I want to sleep, why is it always that way? Last night I was up from 11pm-4am; cough drops, water, nothing helped. Not fun and it makes me so grateful that I am healthy most of the time. After a really rough night with very little sleep I woke up with a prayer that I would be a nice mom. We made it with a few mommy and toddler tantrums but ended on a good note.

We worked out in the backyard this evening, raking up all the leaves and the kids loved it. They love to be outdoors and it was nice to work together. They were suprisingly helpful. Max held the garbage bag for me as I shovelled in leaves and Kate liked to use her hands to scoop up leaves and put them in the trashcan. Rhett hung out on the back porch in his bouncer. We will do more tomorrow.

Max has been calling Kate "babe" or something similar as far as I can make out. So adorable. He must have picked that up from me and Phil? Though we usually just refer to each other as mom and dad in front of the kids, "go take this to mom", etc. Who knows where he got it?

We have made it a point to always say please, thank you and you're welcome when talking with the kids. It has definitely paid off and now Kate says "thank you mommy/daddy, you're welcome mommy/daddy" in the same breath. We love it.

I am tired of being tired. Tired of being soft and a bit chubby. I know I need to get active again and my body is actually protesting my inactivity. I am also sure it will help me be more balanced and sane. I have called the nearest high school to see if they let the public on the track during school hours. I haven't heard back from them yet, punks. My grand idea is to go to the track after we have gone through the morning routine and the kids are itching to get out of the house. I can push Rhett in the BOB and Max and Kate can ride their cars around while I attempt to run. This would solve so many problems for me! I can exercise in the morning, let the kids get their morning energy out and then we come home, eat lunch, they nap and I can shower. I should just go and see if we get kicked off campus.