Happy Halloween!

I had a whole post typed out about "the yuck" and my 28 week appointment but I deleted it.  I will post an update on "the yuck" when I feel like Jack has officially gotten over it.  I thought he was doing better but alas, he's really not.

Instead, here is my little Yoda.  I only took him to four houses for trick-or-treating since he has been feeling off.  He was way more interested in picking up rocks and putting them in his bucket. 

"Hey Mom, look!  People give you CANDY!"

Someone thought he was a lamb.  I can't say I blame him.  He sort of does look like a lamb.  Maybe a light saber would have helped his costume a  little.

Yoda is sorting through his loot.  I think he picked up more rocks then candy.

Now hopefully Yoda will use the force and sleep okay tonight.  No "yuck" in your crib buddy okay?

Nursing in Public Debate

I swear, The Bump is a source of good debate material!  Yesterday there was quite the heated argument about nursing in public on one of the boards.  I was surprised to see that while most women support nursing, about 50 percent supported nursing in public without a cover.  I saw post after post stating that women who are nursing should use a cover or a blanket.

This is such an interesting argument to me.  I wholeheartedly support breastfeeding.  I really hope that I am successful this time around as I was not with my son.  He had reflux issues, had to be "taught" how to eat and I suffered from constant supply issues.  I pumped almost exclusively for 6 months and then had to start introducing formula.

I only successfully nursed in public once.  I remember feeling so scared that someone would comment but in retrospect, Portland is so liberal that it is doubtful anyone would have spoken up.  I used a cover and tried to be discreet.  Afterwards I felt so confident in myself!  The opportunites to nurse in public were very far and few between for me but when they did present themselves, I always tried to keep other people in mind.  I used a cover, or left the room if I thought I would make anyone uncomfortable.  This was due to my own body image issues, not because I thought people would be offended by nursing. 

I wish more people would be accepting of breastfeeding in general.  If more people would accept it, nursing in public wouldn't be such a huge issue.  I plan on trying again and if I am able to nurse successfully, I will have no issue nursing with or without a cover depending on how my baby tolerates it.  I just have to get over some of my body issues first ; )

The Genius Argument

I belong to a community of message boards (The Bump) and today's heated argument was about whether your child is advanced or super-duper smart.  I have always felt Jack was a little behind based on what other posters say their children are doing.

Back when I first had Jack, I was on these message boards a lot.  I eventually had to stop posting.  Mostly because of my PPD and constantly comparing my child to the other kids.  I was jealous of all the moms whose kids slept through the night, had no problem nursing and on and on and on.  I am not sure what made me start posting again.  Maybe I have finally found my groove feeling like I have a good, healthy, normal kid.  Maybe it was boredom.

At any rate, some of this comparing has come back recently.  I see a lot of posters saying their toddlers can count to 10, say the ABC's, etc.  I think to myself "Wow, Jack can quack like a duck and that's about it".  My child says quite a few words but not pronounce most of them correctly, understands most of what we say, repeat some things, say some animal sounds when prompted and point out body parts.  If I compare that to what other kids his age are doing, he is behind.

Today, someone pointed out that they felt most posters who brag about how smart their kids are probably embellishing the truth a little.  Huh.  You know, I have often felt the same way. 

I know most people want to think their kids are smart.  I for one think Jack is smart in some ways but not all.  He is certainly not well advanced when it comes to speech and language.  He was pretty advanced in his motor skills and still is.  He crawled fairly early (not super duper early), walked early, uses utensils pretty well, drinks from a cup, etc.  I am not deluded and think that my child is a genius.

You know what kid is smart?  My nephew.  When I was visiting in May, my nephew was 18 months old.  At that time, he could name all kinds of things.  He could say fruit, shoes, what's that?, nose, dog, etc. etc. etc.  I commented to my sister several times about how smart he was.  And you know what?  She never once claimed he was a genius.  I think people with smart kids know it and don't feel the need to broadcast it.  People who claim their kids are smart probably just feel like they need to prove themselves.

There are all levels of smart and all children develop at different rates.  Just because my 21 month old doesn't recognize colors yet or count yet he isn't stupid.  In the reverse, if your child does, that doesn't mean they are a genius. 

I am not sure what the point of this post is.  Maybe that the comparing in my head should stop.  Because it will never get anywhere.  I need to accept that my child is fine and developing at a normal rate.  And I am never going to claim my kiddo is a genius unless he can solve world hunger by the time he's 2.

All About Baby #2

I am officially 28 weeks and 1 day pregnant. That means in 11 weeks or less I will have another little boy in the house. My doctor performs repeat c-sections at 39 weeks. I have a feeling I am going to go into labor a little earlier than that though. I could be wrong, but that is my feeling.

First off, I am getting a little more nervous that another baby is going to be here in 11 weeks. We are nowhere near ready. With Jack, his nursery was being cleaned and organized at this point. I am having panic attacks that I am going to go into labor early and won't be ready for baby #2.

That being said, Jason and I have talked about fast-tracking getting ready. We haven't bought a crib yet. Not sure if we will at this point. I plan to keep the baby in our room for the first couple of months using a Fisher Price Rock N Play so he won't need a crib at first.

What else do we need to do? I need to go through our shop and pull out all the newborn gear: My breast pump, all the bottles, clothes, swing, bouncer, tub, etc. I have a day off in the beginning of November and I plan to start the sort then.

Second, I need to come up with a storage system for the boy's room. They are going to share a room and with another crib in there, it's going to get cramped. I am going to utilize the closet for a storage system of some sort. I am thinking of something along the lines of a Cubicle storage system with baskets. We have some room in the dresser, which I will use. The Cubicle will have a ton of space for onesies, burp clothes, blankets, etc. That way, we can squeeze another crib in there without it being too incredibly cramped. Jack's toybox is coming out into the living room where my desk lives currently. This whole wall will become a baby/toddler play area. Toybox, play kitchen, bouncer, swing, etc. My desk is going to be moved into our bedroom so I can work from there while Jason stays home with the boys.

This is not going to be easy. Living in a 720 square foot house with two small children is NOT ideal. We have plans to move in the next year or so pending the sale of our house.  We must make do at this point.  We have no choice!

In other baby news, we have most likely chosen the name of this little boy.  Most people are going to hate it but that's okay.  That's the wonder of having a baby:  YOU as the parents get to chose the name.  Not other people. 

Funny story about this name.  Jason and I were chatting on Saturday night and I was getting increasingly mad at him.  Every name I suggested he would say "Eh".  Meaning "I don't really care for any of those".  The problem was that he wasn't offering any suggestions himself.  I asked at one point "What names DO you like?" and he couldn't answer.  At one point, I read off the name Calvin and he says "Oh, I do like that name".  Calvin!?!?  I emphatically told him I hated it.  I love the nickname Cal but I just can't get happy with Calvin.  It reminds me of an old man's name.  A creepy old man.

By Monday, the name was growing on me.  Calvin.  It doesn't sound THAT bad.  It's certainly better than Egbert or Alcanzer. 

By Tuesday, I had agreed that Calvin would probably work.  I love the name Cal so I plan on using that more often than Calvin.  I swear I have some weird pregnancy hormone thing going on because two days ago I was laughing about the name.  No I really like it.

So, without further ado, Calvin Charles Lastname.  Charles was my brother's name and it's also one of my nephew's middle names. 

I know this could change at any minute but for now, we both like it and that's what matters.  I probably won't share with everyone (most of my family and Facebook friends don't read this blog anyways) but if we do, I am ready for the negative comments. 

I have an argument though.  There are a lot of famous people with the name of Calvin/Cal.  Cal Ripken the baseball player, Calvin Coolidge the President, Calvin Klein the fashion designer and John Calvin the religious figure.  So if people tell me "ewwww" then I will point out that I am sure Calvin Klein doesn't think his name is ewwwwww.

Sorry this post was all over the place.  I am tired and getting to the point in my pregnancy where I am uncomfortable so I am not sleeping well at night.  Must.Get.More.Sleep.

Jack's Favorite Things

If Jack were able to talk or write, this list would be completely from his mouth. These are a few things that he loves right now. As you know with toddlers, they are fickle and the things they love changes on a daily basis.

* Balls. Throwing them, talking about them, looking for them. When we were at OMSI the other day, he spent almost an hour playing with nothing but.

* Elmo. He loves Elmo's World on Sesame Street. If he could watch Elmo all day, he would. He asks for it by name "MoMo?".

* Doors. He loves to open and shut doors. This holds true for cabinets, regular doors and things like his toy box. He loves to say "door" and if we are on a walk, he makes a point of showing me all the doors. One day at my in-law's house, he said "door door door door" for 15 minutes and ran up and down the kitchen pointing at all the cabinets.

* Spaghetti or anything in a tomato sauce. I could probably cook up insects and smother them in spaghetti sauce and he would eat them. And in the reverse, he would probably eat any noodle known to man.

* Sleeping with mom. This mom is not a fan. I used to be. Jack slept with me until he was about 15 months old. But now that I am pregnant, huge, uncomfortable and we are trying to get Jack to sleep in his own crib, he yearns to be near me even more. He does come to bed at around 5:00am for some snuggle time which I like. But having a toddler roll around, smack you in the face constantly and kick you in the gut is not fun.

* Time with Nana. Jack ADORES his Nana. He loves to go to her house on Friday and sometimes cries when we head home.

Like I said before, this list could very much change by tomorrow. But for now, this is a love affair.

Fir Point Farms

I have been looking forward to today for over a month. I wanted to take Jack to his very first pumpkin patch/farm for some fun fall activities. He was too little last year but this year I knew he would enjoy the animals and all that comes with a pumpkin farm. My friend Michelle suggested Fir Point Farms when we were on our way back from the State Fair over a month ago. She told me about all the activities and what sold me? The homemade warm donuts. Me and donuts? BFF's.

The weather was very nice today. Not too warm and not too hot. The drive was very short. Once you got outside the city, it was about 15 minutes away. We got to the farm early enough that it wasn't super crowded. I had done my homework and knew how many tickets I would need to purchase for Jack and I to do all the activities that we would want. I also stocked up on quarters for goat food.

Jack had a blast! He loved all the animals. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the goats eating out of his hand, but after a couple of tries, he would pick up one nugget of food and try to stick it through the fence. He "talked" to the goats, cow, chickens, bunnies and pigs. He loved watching the baby piggies eating and digging in the dirt. A couple came over to the fence and he thought that was the cat's pajamas.


Jack and I went on the barrel train ride together as well as the hayride. He really enjoyed both. He thought the tractor pulling both were pretty neat. But his favorite activity of them all? The giant slide. I paid three tickets for him to go up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down. Seriously, no wonder he took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. All that climbing and sliding is enough to wear anyone out. I was very surprised that he wanted to go down all by himself because as you can see, it's quite the slide.

Jack didn't care much for the nuthouse (it's a little log cabin with the bottom few inches of the floor filled with hazelnuts) or even the pumpkin patch but I did get him to show me a tiny pumpkin just right for his size.

Another activity he enjoyed was the pony ride. At first, he was scared to sit on the pony even after petting him. Once the ride got started though, he held on like a big boy and even enjoyed himself. I think I have a picture of him cracking a smile.

And the donuts did NOT disappoint. There is nothing quite like pumpkin or apple cider donuts straight from the fryer. Good Lord, I could have eaten a whole bag of them.

Fir Point Farms has a nice farm stand with all kinds of produce, candles, fresh pies, cider and other yummy treats. I purchased some cider because it's hard to find real apple cider. You either have to buy it at the farmer's market or at Sheridan Foods. The grocery store's version of "cider" is really just apple juice.

It was a fun morning. We will definitely be going back next year, although Jason will have to wrangle Jack while I carry our new little one.

And for those of you in the Portland area, here is the farm's website:
http://firpointfarms.com/

My Husband Rocks!

This is such a different post from my whiny vent the other day isn't it? I promise my husband doesn't read this blog so he does not know that I was upset the other day.

This weekend was particularly rough. Jason was gone most of the weekend, which is fine, but he didn't tell me about it beforehand. I had planned nice dinners both nights and was looking forward to having some family time. Instead, on Saturday he went to the gun show (classy right?) and then attended a bachelor party. Fine. I still made dinner even though I didn't eat it. At least the leftovers were available to the two of us when we were ready to eat them.

I was in a bad place on Saturday. I had to work most of the day and was cranky. Jack was cranky. By the end of Saturday, I was angry with Jason. I felt like he didn't want to spend time with his family. I felt like his friends were more important than we are. And after a conversation last week about us not being able to afford to celebrate our anniversary (his words not mine) I felt like maybe he didn't want to be married anymore. Especially since he purchased a very expensive item this weekend. So he can buy a $600 toy but not spend anything on our anniversary which we supposedly cannot afford? I was not happy.

I didn't say one word to him about how I was feeling. Sunday rolled around and I was in a better mood. I didn't have to work much and when Jason woke up, he told me he had canceled his plans with his friends to stay home. I promise you, I didn't say anything to him. He must have known.

So what happened on Sunday to turn me around? Jason stayed home with us, his family. He went to Jack's tumbling class with us. And he surprised me with plans for our anniversary. Apparently his excuse for not being able to afford it was a cover-up because he had made plans already.

At this point I am feeling like crap. Clearly, my whiny vent was a little premature. Clearly I don't give my husband enough credit. After all, he is awesome most of the time. We are all allowed to be "bad" once in a while. He isn't any different.

What am I looking forward to in the next month? Spending my 5 year anniversary alone, with Jason. We are going out to McMenamin's Edgefield for happy hour and then dinner and then an overnight stay. Alone. Without Jack.

In a nutshell, my husband rocks. He planned this all himself. And I love him for this.

Weekend Review

Let's not mince words here: My weekend sucked.

Not because my kid was sick or out of control or anything. Only because I was on-call for work and literally had to work all day on Saturday. Of course this was the day that my husband was not home at all. So dealing with a toddler who didn't want to nap coupled with the fact that I was attending to work was hard. I didn't even have the energy to eat dinner on Saturday night (I made a lovely chili in the crockpot along with cornbread). I don't even know why I bothered making dinner when Jason wasn't home to enjoy it.

Sunday was a bit better. I was on-call again but since it seemed to be slow at work, I managed to get a couple of minor errands in and Jason and I took Jack to tumbling class. I planned on having my little sister over for dinner as well. I *was* going to eat dinner on Sunday no matter what.

The weekend is over and while it was not great, I survived. This next weekend is going to be much better. I plan on taking Jack to Fir Point Farms. It's a farm with a pumpkin patch. It's his first time to a pumpkin patch (he was too little last year). That is our grand plan for Saturday and Sunday is another round of tumbling class.

Lord help me I just hope this upcoming weekend is better than the last.

Funky Funk

Every few months I get annoyed and irritated with my husband. It's always the same issue over and over again: His work schedule and the amount of freedom he has.

The past few nights we (meaning me) have been trying to get Jack back into a normal sleep pattern again. Since we have been home, Jack has actually sleeping and going to sleep pretty well. The occasional night he will wake up and I will try and get him back to sleep but not always.

This is where my vent comes in. My husband works swing shift. I am used to this schedule. However, when my husband goes out with friends two or three nights a week after work, leaving me home alone with a toddler having issues sleeping, he has absolutely NO ROOM to criticize my parenting.

The husband goes out after work often. Which I normally don't have issue with. This week it's really bothering me though. Jack has woken up twice in the past week and hasn't been able to go back to sleep on his own. This means he comes into bed with me. I refuse to listen to him screaming when something is clearly wrong. Last night, he had a completely soaked diaper and soaked jammies. I am not going to just let him cry. I am going to remedy the situation and change him and then bring him to bed with me so we can both get some sleep. Earlier in the night I had no issue getting him back to sleep so it's not like he is waking up and screaming just to get his way.

Jason came home at close to 3:00 and says "So you gave in to his demands huh?". I explained that he had woken up earlier and I got him back to sleep with no problem. The reason he was in bed with me was because he was stressed about being wet and I had to change him. I asked Jason to go check his bed and see if it was wet. Guess what? It was.

I'm sorry but when I am doing 99% of the parenting myself you had better believe that any advice (even from my husband) is going to get my hackles up. He is constantly saying things like:

You can't let him control you
He needs to learn
I know it's hard to hear him cry but.....

Sorry dude. You don't have to listen to him screaming in the middle of the night. You don't have to deal with behavior issues when I bring him home from daycare. You don't have to feed him his meals or bathe him.

While Jason is home on the weekends, he chooses to play his computer games rather than help me. Yes, I could ask for help, but more than half the time, I get a big sigh and an eye roll. That pisses me off. The man has it very very easy. He doesn't have to cook, clean, any house projects, take care of the child (except at night time when he's not out with friends and even then, it's easy), take him to outings, grocery shop or anything. Hell, I pack his lunch for him. He has it easy.

I feel taken for granted a lot of the time. When I try and tell him that he has it easy, he agrees but once in a while it would be darn nice to get a "thank you". And stop telling me what to do. When you start staying home and taking care of the kids full time than you have every right to criticize and judge.

Now, on to my second vent. I wish *I* could go out with my friends. Heck, I wish I could go get my haircut without having to ask my husband to watch Jack. It's annoying and I deserve some time by myself or to have a girl's night. Having a girl's night is hard because I am alone with Jack during the week. I can't ask my in-laws to watch him unless it's a Friday because they get home from work so late. My options are limited and I have to ask them well in advance if they can babysit. If I want Jason to watch Jack, I have to make darn sure he doesn't have any pending plans. He often will make plans and not tell me leaving me high and dry.

I am in desperate need of some time with my friends. I can count on two hands (barely) the number of times I have been out with friends since Jack was born. It's sad. And it's starting to take a toll.

This is a whiny vent and like I said, it happens a couple of times a year. I need a good night's sleep, a tasty meal and perhaps a massage and then I will feel better.

Saturday Cooking

I was really in the mood to bake and cook today. After not being able to cook or bake in my own kitchen for over a month, I really wanted to get back in the swing of things.

Fall is in the air and what better way to celebrate fall than with a spice cake. Betty Crocker's recipe had way too many ingredients that I didn't have on hand so I went to my trusty website for finding any and all recipes: http://www.allrecipes.com/

I found a lovely sour milk spice cake recipe. I wanted to jazz it up a little by adding some raisins and apple and I am glad I did! The apples made the cake incredibly moist and I don't think it needs frosting. If you absolutely have to use frosting, I would suggest just some whipped cream.

Here is the linky to the recipe. If you feel inclined to add raisins, add about 3/4 cup of raisins. If you want to add apples, peel the apple (I used a Honeycrisp apple) and cut it up to about the same size as the raisin. Use about 1/2 cup.

And the obligatory picture:

For dinner, I had thawed some pork chops and didn't want to make any old mashed potatoes. Boooooring. Instead, I decided I would make Jason's favorite side dish: Macaroni and cheese. Not just any macaroni and cheese but his mom's recipe. It's pretty good. She adds a little heat with cayenne pepper and white pepper.

Here is the picture of what it looks like before baking:

And here's the after picture:

Yum right?

And the recipe:

Macaroni and Cheese

4 cups cooked elbow macaroni

4 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1.5 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and then whisk in the flour. Let the flour cook to a golden brown.

2. Slowly add the milk while whisking constantly. Let the milk heat to almost boiling. It will get very thick. Just before boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Depending on how cheesy you want the sauce, add more to your liking.

3. Mix in the elbows and then pour into a greased casserole dish.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I served the mac and cheese with our baked porkchops and green beans. Yes, we like canned beans in this house. After having frozen green beans for several years while living with my mom, I grew tired of them. Canned all the way.

To cook the porkchops, make a breading out of plain bread crumbs and whatever spices you like (I used smoked paprika, granulated garlic, salt and pepper). Dredge the pork in the breadcrumb mix and place on a pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes or until done.

Voila! My day of cooking. I think I am going to take it easy tomorrow.

A to Z of Me

I borrowed this from my friends Katie and Hope.

A. Age: 33. I honestly had to think about this. Sad.

B. Bed: Queen.

C. Chore that you hate doing: Cleaning the bathroom. I hate everything about it.

D. Dogs: None. My Mom got one when I was about 18 but that's about it. I prefer cats.

E. Essential way to start your day: Does this involve actually waking up? Coffee with some sort of flavored creamer.

F. Favorite color: Sunny yellow. It's so bright and happy!

G. Gold or silver: Silver please.

H. Height: 5'7"

I. Instruments you play: I played the flute for many years and also know how to play the drums (not well), tuba and piccolo.

J. Job Title: Senior Application Analyst

K. Kids: One boy, 20 months old and another one on the way!

L. Live: Portland, Oregon. Known for it's rainy season that goes from September through May.

M. Mother's name: Deborah

N. Nicknames: Pachey

O. Overnight hospital stays: My c-section when I had my son.

P. Pet peeves: People who don't drive the speed limit whether it be driving too fast or too slow.

Q. Quotes from movies: I love the movie "JFK" but can't for the life of me think of any good quotes.

R. Right or left handed: Right handed

S. Siblings: Two sisters and a brother who passed away in 1986.

T. Time you wake up: Dreadfully early. 5:00 during the week, even earlier if the hubby brings the boy to bed with him. On the weekends, I am extremely lucky to make it to 6:00.

U. Underwear: These days it's granny panties for me. I used to wear thongs under my professional work clothes. Those days are long gone since my work attire is jeans and a t-shirt.

V. Vegetable you hate: I am not a fan of a lot of raw veggies. I will eat them cooked but raw? Gross. The veggies that fall into this category are carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.

W. What makes you run late: This rarely happens but when I do, it's because I am waiting on the husband to get ready.

X. Xrays you've had: My nose. I broke it when I was 13.

Y. What happened to Y?

Z. Zoo animals: I love the zoo. LOVE IT! My husband and I went on our first date there. I am obsessed with the cats (cougars, bobcats, etc.) and I love the Lorkeet exhibit. You can feed them apple juice.

Final House Updates

Of course there is always more to do when it comes to house projects. At this point, I will call our house "completed". I still have to paint in some places and hang some pictures but I want to share the final pictures. For those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook, these are duplicate pictures.

The bathroom before.

The bathroom after. The burgundy tile was ripped out, new drywall was put up, new shower tile and I painted it a nice color called New Penny. Even though it looks a little peach, we love it! I also bought a new shower curtain to brighten the space. Long term: New light, paint the little shelves that surround the walls and a new, smaller pedastal sink.

The living room before.

The living room after. The carpet was removed, the wall heater (it's on a different wall from this picture) was removed, new trim was put in and I painted. I still have painting to do and the blinds to hang back up. In this picture you will see I was going for a "lived in" room with Jack's toys all over the floor. Long term: Area rug, a door mat, and a new home for my work desk.

The kitchen before.

The kitchen after. The countertops and backsplash were replaced and new trim put in. I haven't painted yet but it's on the list to do. Long term: Paint, install a shelf above the stove and change out the hardware in the cabinets.

Jack's room before.

Jack's room after. The carpet was removed, new floor was laid and new trim installed. Long term: Hang his corner shelves, get an area rug, install the curtains and blinds and make room for the new baby's crib. I have a hard time thinking about this!


I don't have pictures of our bedroom right now. Mostly because I hung up some blankets instead of curtains (classy right?) until we can get everything rehung. This room didn't change dramatically anyways since there was already wood floor in there.

These are "lived in" pictures and how our house looks on a daily basis. I don't fake my pictures or clean much before I take them. I hate staged pictures where not a speck of dust is out of place.

That is the end of our month long project folks! I am glad it's over!

Things I Love

I am trying to put a positive spin on the day after a crummy night in our household.

* I love when I can put Jack down awake in his crib for bed and he puts himself to sleep. This was definitely not the case last night.

* I love being back in our own space and the "newness" of our house.

* I love how my husband always thinks of me when he comes home after boy's night. He usually stops for food and gets me something. Even if I don't eat a cheeseburger at 2 in the morning, he saves it for me.

* I love the mattress in the hotel in Denver. I could have slept forever on that thing. I really should call and find out what it is.

* I love learning new things and having something "click".

* I love the lovely fall weather we are having in Portland. Bring on the sweater weather and cozy socks!

* I love being able to feel this baby move all the time. He is a mover and a shaker that's for sure! I wonder if he will be as energetic as Jack was?

What do you love? Add your positives or favorite things in the comment section.

Chaos

Chaos is what my life feels like right now. It's nothing I can't conquer, but it's still frustrating.

My life for the last two weeks has been a whirlwind. Here is what we have been up to:

* Saturday the 24th: Jack went to the ER for a stomach virus and Jason and his peeps moved all our furniture back into the house.

* Sunday the 25th: I moved all our boxes, unpacked and then had to pack for Denver.

* The week of the 26th through the 30th: In Denver for business while Jack stayed home with Nana and Jason. Let's not forget to mention that Jack got a black eye at daycare during this week.

* Friday the 30th: Returned home from Denver to a half unpacked house and half of our belongings over at the in-laws.

* Saturday the 1st: Unpack, wrangle a cranky boy with a mild cold who slept horribly the night before, and run over to the in-laws to pack up the rest of our crap. Oh, and grocery shop because we have no food in the house.

* Sunday the 2nd: Unpack some more, take care of the boy, cook and get my workstation set up so I can actually work, and tons of laundry.

I haven't checked email, my bank account, or done anything remotely productive other than work.

Our house is pretty much functional, although there are painting supplies stacked in our bedroom because I still have touch-ups to do. Jason has some computer stuff still to unpack and I have some boxes to break down and stuff to still grab out of our shed.

I hate chaos and being unorganized. HATE IT. I thrive on cleanliness and organization. I want all the painting to be done RIGHT NOW. I want all the curtains and blinds up in the windows RIGHT NOW. I want all the house unpacked RIGHT NOW.

It will get done. I just have to keep telling myself that. In due time right?