Really? SERIOUSLY??

So several things have happened lately that cause me to stop and say, "Really?" Most are too simple to put in a blog all by themselves, but all compiled neatly into a listing, hmmmm.

#1:  I hurt myself in my sleep. REALLY? Yes. I went to sleep all cozy comfy and woke with a crazy neck pain. I obviously slept wrong, but this pain has lasted for days. I would say that you have to be pretty talented to hurt yourself in your sleep, but in truth there is only one explanation. I am getting old. Just get me a cane and my pill organizer now.

#2:  We have an official closing date on our Houston home so I made calls to all our utility companies to schedule their shut off dates. Most were easy enough. The water company, however, was not. I called and was promptly told that I would have to hold to speak to anyone. So I held. For 20 minutes. It was crazy. When I finally got someone on the phone, I was told that they charge $25 on the final bill for disconnection services. REALLY? If I just refused to pay my bill, they'd shut it off for free, right? But because I want to do this all legit like, I get charged a fee. SERIOUSLY? Ugh.

#3:  I was looking for Halloween costumes for the girls. Most of what I saw were short skirts and tank style tops. REALLY? Even the cat costumes were short and skimpy. Okay, first these are costumes for toddlers. I don't plan on putting my girls on Toddlers and Tierras, so I don't need them to dress like street walkers to get some free candy.  And second, this is ALASKA!! Retailers, when will you learn to adjust your merchandise to the weather in your area? When we were in Houston, I struggled to find costumes that my girls could wear and not die of heat exhaustion. And here? It is 30-something degrees outside and I can't find a warm costume anywhere! When I asked some of the "locals" what they did with this crummy situation, they said that they put their kids coats over the costumes and when they go up to someone's door, they quickly open their coats and show their costumes as they say "trick or treat". Okay, so now I will have a 3 year old street walker who is learning that flashing will get you free treats. SERIOUSLY?? Seriously.

Now these next list items are theme related. Michael had to leave on a business trip. He is off to the east coast for a week. Off where the temperatures are warmer, there are actual restaurants at which to dine. Oh, and he is doing all this sans kids. Now this item might require a "REALLY?" all its own, but it isn't like he had any control over this. The company says go, so he goes. So I will forgo the obvious one here and just skip to some of the things I've had to deal with since he left.

#4:  The forecast is calling for rain. All. Week. Long. REALLY? It is cold here, if any of you were wondering. And there is very little to do with toddlers. There are a few small parks that we will go to if it is dry out. We just brave the cold and bundle up. And in truth, the humidity is so low that 32 degrees really feels more like 42 degrees so it is bearable. But add rain to the mix and we're stalled out. The rain brings in the humidity which makes the cold feel as cold as it really is, if not colder. Sadly, even a break in the rain offers no relief because the park equipment is all covered in water. This means that little fingers get wet and freeze almost on contact. So when it rains, we stay inside. The irony here is that the rain started the day Michael left. The day after his return? All sunny and clear. SERIOUSLY?

#5:  Last night I was starving with very little in the condo to eat. I was able to scrounge up something for the girls to have for dinner, but for me the choice was simple. Get the girls in bed and then order a cheesy, meaty yummy pizza. They actually have a Pizza Hut here--wonder of all wonders. And I love Pizza Hut. And guess what? Michael doesn't. So whenever he is out of town, my Pizza Hut radars start going off. I was thrilled at the prospect of eating my pizza in front of the TV with the girls all tucked into their beds. So I busy myself with the task of feeding the girls, bathing the girls, wrestling the girls into their pajamas and coordinating two bedtime routines. All the while, visions of pepperoni were dancing in my head. Once the girls were in bed and asleep, I got online and ordered my pizza. Yum! I hit the submit button and go to get my money. Just as I was pulling out a twenty, my cell phone rings. It's the guy from Pizza Hut. He is informing me that they do not have a delivery driver and won't have one for at least another week. REALLY? Wish I had known that before I put the girls down. Now I am trapped in the condo with two sleeping girls, no food and a very empty belly. Sigh. Cereal for dinner it is. (Oh and I had to use the milk remnants from Sarah's Happy Meal because I emptied my milk jug yesterday.)

#6: And of course, because Michael is gone, Sarah's diarrhea has relapsed. SERIOUSLY? Yep. She was completely over it. No episodes in at least a week's time. But the day Michael left, we had 2 episodes and had another one yesterday. Lovely.

So there you have it. Never fear, I am sure there will be more. In fact, I am getting ready to head to the grocery store with the girls. If you've read my blog for anytime at all, you know that my track record of stress-free shopping experiences at grocery stores isn't the best. So it should be a REALLY interesting day.

Waiting

I wish I had some really cool update to off you, my faithful readers. The truth is? We're still just waiting. Waiting for our van to arrive, waiting on our stuff to arrive, waiting to close on a house. Waiting. Just waiting.

Actually I did get word that all our stuff arrived in Anchorage a few days ago. They've moved it all to storage where it waits until we say "go" and then they'll bring it all to us. Oh tease of teases! To know our stuff is so close and yet still out of reach. Grrrrr. It is lovely to know that as soon as we close on a house, our stuff won't be far behind, but not so fun to know it is soooo close and we can't access any of it! So we wait.

We are getting closer on the house thing. We are just waiting on an appraisal. As long as that comes in within an appropriate range to what we are paying, then we will be all set. Then we will simply be waiting on final paperwork so that we can close by mid-November.

Once it is all said and done, I'll post house pictures along with a post detailing the hunt for said house.

One thing I know for sure, waiting is not fun. But it is a great opportunity to seek the Lord. It's a great time to just relax, read the Word and reflect on what is on the horizon. I am trying to take advantage of this time. To not wish it away so soon. To truly relax in my surroundings and not spend this entire time wishing for something different. Anything I go through serves to make me stronger if I will let it and this transition is no different.

So we wait.

Goodbye, Dear Friend. You Will Be Greatly Missed.

No, we haven't lost a friend or family member. But right now, I am mourning the loss of Claire's nap. I wondered when this day would come. I just never expected it to be when she was under 4 years old. Deciding to drop this nap has been tricky for me because Claire will still nap. There is the occasional day where I put her down and she just plays and reads books for the entire "nap" time, but for the most part she sleeps. Solidly. For at least 2 hours. So why drop it? Glad you asked.

When Claire naps, she invariably suffers insomnia when it is time for bed at night. We will put her to bed by 7:30 and she is usually still wide awake at 9:30 or 10:00. Now, in times past when this would happen, she would just play quietly in her room without calling out to us. We would hear her singing sweet songs to her stuffed animals and reading books to herself. It was really quite sweet. But now? Well I made a fatal mistake several months back. Let me explain.

Claire ended up wetting the bed one night because she needed to go potty and was too scared to get up and go by herself. She apparently called and called for me to come get her and take her to the bathroom, but I never heard her over the monitor until she had already wet the bed and started crying. I felt really bad for her so I taught her how to speak directly into the monitor so that I could hear her better in the night. That worked like a charm until Claire realized that she now had a great little tool for calling us at any point. Her own little walkie-talkie if you will.

So now when she is experiencing insomnia, we get countless calls over the monitor in a sing-songy little girl voice. Things like:

"Mooooooommy . . . . I need to huuuuuuuuug you!"

or

"Mooooooommy . . . . I need to telllllllllllllllll you something!"

A couple of nights ago I went to brush my teeth. The bathroom is just outside her door so when I turned on the light, she could see the light under her door. I barely got downstairs before I heard:

"Mooooooommy . . . . what was that light that I saaaaaaaaaaw?"  Now this one I ignored. I was getting really tired of running up and down the stairs to answer her questions that really needed no answer. But in no time she persisted,

"Mooooooommy!! What was that liiiiiiiiiiiiiight that I saaaaaaaaaaaw?"

Me: Still ignoring

"Moooooommyyyyyyyyyy!!! Why did you turn that light on and turn it off agaaaaaaaaaaaain?"

Defeat. With a hearty sigh, I heave myself up the stairs once more to tell her to stop it!

Now on days when Claire has no nap? She falls right to sleep as soon as her sleepy little head hits the pillow. It is evening time bliss I tell ya. So now we are experimenting with the drop of the nap. She seems to handle being awake all day fairly well. Not too cranky and happy to just sit and watch TV. But I don't want her naps to be replaced with just TV. So I am trying to formulate a plan for a more structured "rest time" for her. Any ideas are welcome. I have found a great workbook for the preschooler. She seems to like it, but it requires me to help her with it and I really want something for her to do that can be independent so that I can still use this time of the day for my bible study, cleaning, relaxing, etc, etc.

The other problem (which is a temporary one) is that we are stuck in this condo with none of our own stuff. So all our books, coloring books, toys, etc are still in transit and there is very little for a non-napping girl to do. So it may be just TV and kid movies until we get into the new house.

And as if on cue, my little darling is tugging on my arm so that we can go play mommy and baby alligator. So I'm off.

So long dear nap, it was nice while it lasted!

Arrival

Well, we've arrived. We made it to Alaska and are actually in one piece. The travel here was interesting to say the least. We boarded a plane at 5:00 PM on departure day and following two long flights and one fairly short layover, we arrived in Anchorage 9 1/2 hours later. That's 2:30 AM for those not inclined to do the mental math. 2:30 AM with two girls who did not have a nap the day previous.

Try to picture us navigating the airport with two EXTREMELY tired little girls, 7 suit cases, 3 pets, 2 car seats and 1 pack-n-play. It was not a pretty sight. Then we camped out at a hotel for the night before loading all of that stuff up in a rental car to make the 3 hour trek to our new town. Or should I call it a village? Campground? It's small here, let's just leave it at that. Small, but absolutely beautiful. Seriously. Mountains everywhere. Gorgeous!

So now I find myself sitting in a lovely little condo where we are now settled. Well, at least as settled as people can be in temporary housing. We feel blessed to have found this place. It's a little run down on the outside but completely renovated on the inside. So once we get past the front door, we feel like we are living in the lap of luxury. That is until it is time for dinner time and/or bath time. I say that because we have no table/chairs for dinner time and no bath tubs for bath time. Seriously. We have a bar and stools off the kitchen which work fine for most of us. But Sarah? Yeah, the 1-year-old is not rockin' the bar stool. So she sits in my lap to eat her meals. She better not get used to that! I didn't like the fact that we have no table and chairs, but that wasn't as surprising as not having a bath tub. We have 3 bathrooms in this place and not one of them has a tub. So the girls are getting to experience the joys of taking showers. So far, they are on board and even enjoying it a bit. Wonder how long it will be before the newness wears off and they start pining away for the bath tub.

Rest assured that I am taking plenty of pictures to share. And share I will, eventually. When the movers were packing up our house, I didn't remember to set aside the software I would need to upload pictures from my camera to our borrowed laptop. So I have tons of pics on my camera, and no way to get them on to yea ole blog. So for now, I will just have to do my best to paint word pictures and when our stuff arrives (in 3 to 5 weeks) I'll update with actual pictures.

That's it for now. Soon I'll share with you some of our house hunting adventures!