Crunch Time

One week from today we will start up that moving truck and say goodbye to Colorado. I am, both figuratively and literally, not ready.

I haven't gotten much done in the way of packing this week. My back decided to seize up on me yesterday and render me almost completely immobile. Am hoping my chiropractor can get me in today and make me "right".

I spent yesterday in the salon getting "blonded" again. I think I might have overdone it as it is REALLY REALLY blonde. Maybe I just need to get used to it?

My mother-in-law left last Saturday. I think she was ready to go. Declan can be a handful and I'm not sure she knows how to handle all his energy. To say he is a spirited child would be an understatement. Nevertheless, we appreciated all her help. My mother is here now and I feel much more comfortable having her in charge of Declan. If he has one of his "days", I get less stressed about it.

Yesterday we got pre-qualified for a mortgage. This has lifted a huge weight off of our shoulders as well as presented a whole bunch of new things to worry about. I wasn't seeing much in the way of rentals. It's difficult to find a place that will accept two large dogs plus a cat that is in a nice neighborhood and a place we would actually want to call home. One place I found wanted $6600 up front just to move in. Knowing we can buy opens up a lot more options to us. Unfortunately, it means shacking up at my parents for a few months to scrape together a downpayment and get a few more things in order. Oh well, at least we won't be homeless. Thomas will be gone for most of the month of June anyway so it won't be so bad.

Eva is not sleeping through the night still. She has been up once to twice a night for the past week and I am seriously sleep deprived. In addition to that I have been eating like crap, drinking too much wine (because what else is there to do after a long day of packing and cleaning?) and not exercising. I can't wait to be settled again and get back on the wagon.

So, that's what's up with me.

TGIF

Tonight marks the last evening we are together, alone, as a family. Tomorrow morning my mother-in-law comes to town and my mother flies in the day she leaves, which is a week from tomorrow. Then.....we leave for MN and move in with my mom, dad, sister and their 3 cats and dog. It's going to be a full house.

Right now our mortgage broker is working on finding a lender that is willing to lend money to someone who already has a mortgage. It's not looking good. So far we've been offered approximately enough money to qualify for a studio apartment in the 'hood. Looks like we might need a year of rental income before we can actually count that as "income". Is that the worst thing in the world? No. But it really sucks. There are so many good deals out there right now and such low interest rates that we hate to wait too long.

I will repeat my "Moving to MN Mantra".......this will work itself out.

Anywhoooo......

This week is filled with "To Do's". We have a list of projects that need to get done around the house. Projects that we have been putting off because we just never planned on leaving so soon. It actually just so happens that we planned on being here a few more years. The deck needs to be stained, as does the fence. Walls need to be repainted, baseboards fixed, tiles need to be replaced on the roof, etc, etc. I also need to get serious about packing. You don't realize how much crap you've accumulated until you have to put it all in a moving truck. Which, by the way, has been rented. Yay!

Today I spent the afternoon shopping. I have no summer clothes as it's been over 2 years since I've really shopped. Last year I was pregnant, and the year before that I was still fitting into my fat clothes. How come it's so difficult to find things when you need them and so easy when you don't (and have no money?)??? Thank god for cheap Old Navy bermudas and tanks. My summer staple.

Sleep. How I miss thee.

I remember being pregnant with Declan and being warned about the sleepless nights that go along with motherhood. However, it wasn't until he was born that I truly understood what it means to be "tired". Because the childless clearly have no idea.

And now that I have two, children that is, I get even less sleep than I did when it was just one. Because now I have an infant that demands a bottle at 2 a.m. And sometimes she just wants to hang out and play with mom. Or sometimes she needs a diaper change, and every once in awhile she just decides that she's really pissed off and wants to wake everyone and stay angry for no good reason. And if it isn't the baby getting me up, it's the toddler. It might be that he has wet his bed (through his "nigh nigh" diaper), or maybe he's decided he wants chocolate milk....or apple juice. It could be a nightmare or that he doesn't want the dog in the room. Sometimes he decides he doesn't want the fan on anymore or he needs a certain truck in bed with him. One time he wanted ice cream. The list is never ending really.

And because I'm not a fan of "crying it out", although I'm getting there quickly, my strategy has been to give in to whatever demands are made just so I can get back to sleep as quickly as possible. But I still average about 6 hrs of sleep a night which is why I always look.......rough. And I'm almost always cranky. My poor husband knows exactly what I am talking about. And one day I will write a blog about how it is that men can somehow sleep through every "Moooooommmmm!!!!" that is hollered through the night. This is a great example of "selective hearing".

Childless people have no idea what a luxury it is to be able to lay down and go to sleep at 10 pm and know that they will most likely sleep until the sun comes up. I would give my left tit for a full night's rest. To not be woken up for cartoons at the ass crack of dawn. You know when you hear that first cry and you've just barely woken up, and you're laying there praying to every God you can think of to pleasejustletthatdamnbabygobacktosleep over and over and over again? It's about that time where I start thinking about how nice it would be to just check into a hotel room for a weekend and lock the door.

A girl can dream.

Cock a Doodle Doo

The baby has me up with the roosters this morning so I am going to take this opportunity to update the ol' blog. Eva never got the memo that humans shouldn't be awake before 7 am and was bright eyed and bushy tailed at O'Dark Thirty (aka 4 am) this morning.

Thomas got the official OFFICIAL offer from TSA yesterday. Nothing was officially OFFICIAL until he passed the background investigation and drug test which finally happened this week. Apparently they don't want sketchy crackheads having access to top secret files on what kinds of explosives the bad guys are thinking up these days. Imagine that. His OFFICIAL start date is May 10th. I will be a Minnesotan again on May 7th. We'll pick up the moving truck on May 1st and spend the next few days loading it up with all of our wordly belongings. On May 5th we'll close up the house that will no longer be our home, say goodbye to Colorado and east on I-80.

Thomas is SO excited to start his new career. I am filled with so much anxiety I can't sleep at night. I tend to worry about everything. It's starting to look like we won't be able to buy a home this year. I just don't think it's good timing for us financially. Which really blows because now is such a good time to actually BUY a house. And I worry about that. I worry about things that are out of my control. I mean, it's not like we're going to be homeless right? The challenge is finding a rental that meets all our needs. And really being honest with ourselves about what we need and what we want. But isn't that always a challenge in life? I have faith that it will all work itself out. I just wish my brain would shut down while I am trying to sleep.

So, enough about that. Easter was last weekend. And let me just say how much fun it is to have a 3 year old on holidays like Easter. We did an egg hunt for Declan and he was just beyond excited to hunt for all his eggs. If I ever get around to uploading the video I'll post it. I think he's still waiting for the Bunny to come back and leave more blue eggs for him. And another chocolate bunny. In fact, I would like another one too as a certain short person ate mine.

May 3rd

May 3rd. That's our new date. The date our new life in Minnesota starts. And while I'm excited to see what new adventures will fill this chapter in our lives, I'm sad to be closing the chapter n our lives in Colorado. I know I've said that so many times and I'm sure most are tired of hearing it. I love living in Colorado! I've always felt at home living near the mountains. It's my happy place. We recently spent a weekend in Avon, near Vail, with my brother. Thomas took the dogs for an early morning hike before we left. Can you see why we hate to leave? When I was a kid my family vacationed every summer in Colorado. Whenever we would head east on the interstate to head back to Minnesota I would stare at the mountains we were driving away from just so I could imprint the memory of them in my brain. I hated having to head back to the flat midwest. Of course, now that I am living near the mountains I miss the lakes of Minnesota. Will I ever be satisfied? Thomas and I have already decided that we will come back regularly to give our children their very own memories of Colorado.

So, now that we have an "official" we have been able to start scheduling some projects. Laura, Tom;s mother is coming out for a week on the 17th to watch the kids while we pack. My mom flies in the 24th to take over and drive back with me. We are going to throw a "goodbye" BBQ on the 17th as well to have one last hurrah. I still have to get a moving truck reserved and we are quickly running out of boxes. Right now most of our non-essentials are packed. Without our "art" and pictures, the house feels so bare and lonely. Maybe it will make it easier to say goodbye.

I am looking forward to this weekend. It's the end of the weight loss challenge I have been participating in. And while I have no chance of winning the loot, I still lost a good amount of chub. If I can lose 3 lbs by Sunday than I will have hit the 20 lb mark. But unless I plan on eating nothing but egg whites and spinach over the next few days I don't see that happening. I would like to lose 10 more. Anybody want to join me on another challenge? I'm giving myself till June. I do better when I have to weigh in with other people.

I've got a "Girls Night Out" planned for Saturday. Can't wait for some wine and italian food with my girlfriends!