Hugs not slugs

The first day of school was yesterday. I was definitely more nervous than Andy, I think. This marks the first time that he HAS to be at school by a certain time, not the laissez faire complicated math formula we've done it in the past which is the kids get dropped off relative to when we have to be at the office relative to when we woke up in correlation to how many times the kids woke up in the night inverse to when what time I went to bed. Plus, drop off is a solid 45 minutes to an hour earlier than we normally dropped off.

But we made it. I dropped him off and he was happy about it. No tears from either of us. I was nervous about looking the part. I did shower in the morning, but in between discussions of whether Andy had to wear socks and whether Meg really intended to stand outside my shower and cry the whole time I was in there (seriously), I ran out of time to put on makeup and blow dry my hair. I could just hear my mother in the back of my head saying something about not drying my hair. My answer was to put it up in a ponytail. It was fine.

Meanwhile, I shouldn't have even worried about it. I took this picture of Andy sitting at his table (his teacher is in the foreground). Check out the woman wearing a hat and a racer back sports bra. Seriously? Who wears that indoors? Of course, people who can rock the outfit wear it, but I didn't feel self conscious once I realized I was at least wearing a top. Overall, Andy did fine. It's hard to believe he's actually in school!

Meanwhile, speaking of tops, Meg is rocking a new look these days. This kid refuses to wear her clothes a lot of the time. We're having struggles where I turn around and she's removed her diaper and is wandering around al fresco. See the look she's rocking here? Crocs (thanks Frances!), a pajama shirt on her head, and Fancy Nancy underpants over her shorts. I really need to frame this one for later.

Hits a little too close to home

I suppose it's official

Andy got a letter today from his kindergarten teacher. I guess it's official, my boy is going to school next Monday.

Meanwhile, Andy and I got into a bit of an argument about whether he's going to first grade or kindergarten. Well, argument is too strong. He insists he's going to first grade, "First grade is kindergarten, Mommy." I insist he's wrong, but realize there is very little I can do to make him realize he's wrong so for perhaps the first time in my life, you know, ever, I'm holding my tongue.

The great sleep battle of 2010

Meg has turned from being my champion sleeper to being my champion refuse-to-sleeper. Seriously. It started in the spring. She was probably ready for a big girl bed, but she refused and wanted to sleep in her crib. So when we listed the house, the toddler bed went up into the attic. Naturally, with Bjorn out of the picture and me pressed to keep the house clean, she decided it was time to screw with me. She started throwing herself out of the bed and it was anything I could do to get her to sleep.

Then we went on vacation for two weeks and it just got more complicated. She and Andy would share twin beds next to each other and she did fine, assuming you could get her to go to sleep. It was often lots of bringing her back to her bed, practically begging/threatening/bribing to get her to finally knock off. After the trip, we were at my folks for a few weeks sharing a room with Andy. She was refusing to go to bed and instead would immediately pop out to find us. Even after she finally went to sleep, she'd occasionally wake up and trot through the Jack and Jill bathroom to get to us. Lack of sleep on my part combined with sheer frustration of the situation were making me seriously batty.

Now that we're in the new house, we got a baby gate to keep her in her room. Our bedroom is downstairs and her's is up so I worry about her roaming the halls at night and falling down the stairs. Plus, she really needs to get back to going to bed at a decent time/pace. After a little over a week in the new regimen, the results are mixed. She does eventually go to sleep in her own bed, sometimes with one of us rubbing her back, other times not. Bjorn's apoplectic about it (I'm only marginally less so) as she screams and cries so loud, she also made herself throw up, until she just wears herself down and finally nods off.

Even with that, she's crying out sometime in the early morning (say between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.) and ending up in our bed. Thoughts on how to fix this, short of simply drinking more?

Kindergarten

Andy starts school next week. REAL school. I am psyched, and not just because I won't have to pay $200 a week in daycare. I am psyched for him to be going to a real school and starting to read and all the fun stuff that comes from elementary school. The whole thing seems a little surreal. I went by to register him and I swear it even smelled like an elementary school. Good thing I have good memories of elementary school. Middle school, well, not so much, but I really did love elementary school. When I wasn't crying and wailing about being forced to go, that is.

The downside of this will be now school is mandatory. Before, we could just blow off a week for vacation or skip a day because I was off and wanted to play. Now it will be harder, plus I'll need to set the example that school isn't optional, it's really important. It's also going to be different because unlike daycare where you can quit if you don't like it, public school isn't really like that. Plus, he'll have to be at school at an exact time every day. Punctuality isn't especially my strong suit.

Any tips on helping make the transition easier for all of us?

Settling in

Oomph. After the initial thrill and excitement of getting moved in, my interest in further unpacking and sorting is definitely on the wane. So much has been done and so much is still left to be done, like putting books away, sorting through linens and putting the kitchen stuff to use in a way that makes sense to our lifestyle. I was so used to where everything went in my old kitchen that's it's going to take some time to assess it and figure out what makes sense where.

A nice problem to have is that we have a three-car garage now. It's the natural entry point into the house from the garage into the laundry room that leads to the kitchen. Unfortunately, there are lots of empty boxes out there now so it's less useful than it could be. Plus, the movers somehow misplaced the screws to put Andy's bed back together. If you recall, he's got a cool loft bed from Ikea. I love it and, it would be perfect for his new room. Sadly the movers broke it into it's original parts and the bolts to put it back together are missing. I am holding out hope that they're somewhere in the mess in the garage and that once Mark breaks down the boxes, I'll find them. Otherwise, I'm going to have to see if  Ikea will see me 50 replacement pieces.

Both kids started a new daycare/preschool this week. Meg did great the first day, not so much the other two days, which makes me sad. Although Andy won't need aftercare (yet) due to my current work schedule, I wanted him to get familiar with it should he need to go on occasion. Also, I wanted him to meet a couple of kids that will be going to his elementary school. Getting back to some schedule is going to be a good thing. Meg especially is staying up too late (mostly because she won't go to bed). She transitioned out of her crib while we were on vacation so I got a baby gate to keep her in her room. I worried about locking her in, but her room is on the second floor and I fear her roaming around half awake looking for me. I did ask the doctor about it first who said it was fine. Of course, she now goes in her room and wails loudly about wanting to get out, but that'll settle down eventually, right? Right?

Andy starts kindergarten a week from Monday. Wow.

And we're moved in

The second set of move came on Thursday and took all our stuff from Public Storage to the new house. Naturally it was 103 that day so it was nice and roasty. The packers had stuff labeled but it was confusing what was "bedroom 1" and what was "bedroom 2." Was that counting from the top of the stairs at the old house or from the master down? As a result, stuff somewhat ended up all over. The trickiest was thinking about the old basement -- half that stuff went into the new office and the other half was toys, games and Wii  accessories that are going into the game room (or "Texas basement" as I heard someone call it."

Although it was still a wreck, we managed to unpack enough sheets and clothes to sleep here the first night. I had intended to go back to my folks' place, but once we were here, I didn't want to leave!


Mark and Jennifer arrived late last night from Virginia, Mark permanently and Jennifer just for a visit. They have been amazing to help entertain the kids and unpack. As a result, we're probably 75 percent done with the boxes. Stunning actually how far along we are. Verizon came today and we now have TV, phone and Internet. Without a radio, I was listening to the intercom radio on the top 40 (or top 12 station). As a result, I know the words to all the latest Lady Gaga, Eminem and Katy Perry songs.

I will post pictures, once I find my camera and the cords that attach them to the computer.

We did it!

After years of talking about it and months of planning, we are finally moving into our new house. I know, I can't really believe it either. We went over tonight to check it out (the previously owner technically had until 10 p.m. tonight, but Bjorn stopped by during the day to see that it was totally empty. Score!) Bjorn picked up dinner and we ate before taking a swim. Considering it was 104 today and it was our new house, it was pretty darn perfect. Sure, I'm terrified of the kids being near the pool without me and I'm plotting how I'm going to better secure it, but after years of schlepping to the pool with all our gear, it was so incredibly nice to just go in the back yard and go swimming.

Right now, the house doesn't seem like it's twice as big as our old house, but once the furniture comes tomorrow, I have a feeling we'll see how big it is. Yippee!

So who is coming to visit?


Commonwealth Swim Club, I won't miss schlepping our noodles over to you. You may have been across the street, but that can be a long way with two cranky kids.

One step closer

Big day today -- we close on the new house this afternoon. Granted, we can't move in until next Wednesday evening at the earliest, BUT we are (almost) one step closer. Bjorn called yesterday and got all our utilities set up and I have settled on a childcare center for the kids. I have them starting a week from Monday. Andy will only have two weeks at "camp" until school starts, but I want him to get a chance to meet a couple of kids who will go to his new school so at least he knows someone before he starts.

I kind of can't believe it!

On the go

Oh heavens. The last few weeks have been so crazy I'm not exactly sure where to start. So here are the highlights:
1) We spent two weeks in Hobart, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
2) We flew back to Dallas and put an offer on a house. Despite multiple offers, we got it!
3) I flew back to Washington to finish out a week of work and pack up the house.
4) The kids and Bjorn stayed in Dallas with my folks who have been amazing.
5) The kids started a new preschool/camp where my sister teaches and her kids go.
6) With the help of awesome friends and family (and paid professionals), I got the house packed and moved. 
7) Bjorn flew in and we drove my minivan with the two cats 1,300 miles to Dallas in two days with a stayover in the less than glamorous Dickson, Tennessee.
8) Our house back in Virginia closed.
9) I started working from home as a 25 hour a week part-time employee.

Yeah, I think that's the highlights. Pictures to come later. We also close on our new McMansion next Wednesday and move in the Wednesday after that. Yeah, it's been a busy summer.

House!

And we have a house! Check it out. I am not sure we can afford to air condition it, but we certainly have room for visitors. I hope you're planning your trip.

Tasmanian Devil

And we're back from the most amazing vacation ever -- two weeks in Australia visiting Sydney, Hobart, Port Arthur and Melbourne. What's most amazing is that we did it with two little kids. Andy for the most part was fine and seemed to really get a lot out of it, except when he was whining, insisting on watching more My Little Pony and refusing to eat anything. Meg was a different matter. She insisted I hold her most of the time and seemed only be consoled by me. Flattering, yes, but not so much at three in the morning.

The trip overall was amazing. Qantas Airlines is quite a step above the American airlines. Seriously. They are like the good American airliners from 10 years ago, they served meals on every flight, were clean and even offered special kids toys to keep them entertained. I was impressed.

We spent three days in Sydney at the beginning and got to see my uncle, nephew, and aunt who live in Turramurra. We stayed in a hotel near Hyde Park and was within walking distance to the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor. It was cool. We took the ferry one day to Tarronga Zoo. The zoo itself was swarming with people, half under constructions plus the kids were still cranky from the travel, but the ferry ride on the harbor was amazing. I think I took a dozen photos. With the jet lag, we were waking up at 4 in the morning, which was handy with World Cup matches on at that early hour.

Afterward, we caught a flight to Hobart, Tasmania, where we met up with my parents, both my sisters (no nieces though) for the Egan Clan Rally. It was pretty awesome. We were staying in two bedroom flats so it was great fun to catch up with everyone at the bar or in another room. Bjorn and I bought some gin on our way into the country which served us well. After the first day of the rally where we toured the City Hall and Parliament House (Hobart is the state capital), we headed to Port Arthur, home of one of Australia's most famous prisons (and also site of a sad and deadly shooting a dozen years ago that is still painful for the area like Columbine). We got to ride another boat around Stewart's Bay. I've never seen such clear ocean water. We also saw seals (well, a seal)! Pretty awesome. Mom found us these amazing little cabins near Port Arthur where we went out one night for some great star gazing. Fortunately, Mary was there to help use her geoscience background to tell us about the southern hemisphere. I swear I've never seen such bright stars. It was like we were in a planetarium they were so close to touch.

Afterwards, we were back in Hobart for some lectures on genealogy and more festivities and the big banquet that included lots of photos from when Mom and Dad hosted the rally in Dallas in 2006. Before departing Hobart, we had dinner with our hosts at their home built turn of the century. It was pretty amazing to see a private residence, much less one that had so much history. Before leaving, Bjorn rented a car and we got to visit the Zoo Doo outside Richmond, Tasmania, where we got to feed and pet wallabies and kangaroos. I loved it. We also got to watch Tasmanian Devils at feeding. Ugly little creatures, they are.

We then headed to Melbourne for a few days before catching our flight back to the U.S. My uncle and nephew also came down from Sydney to see the rest of the family. We also went out to the home of another Egan rally member who lives outside of town. They have six grown kids, and three were at the house that night with their families. It was so warm and inviting. My kids also had playmates their own age for a night. They loved it. And we all loved getting to talk to their kids who are our age about what life is like with kids in Australia.

There were some funny things about the country.

* There are a remarkable lack of trash cans. A hotel room with two bedrooms and a kitchenette might have one tiny powder room sized trash can for the entire room.
* The country doesn't seem to believe in napkins. We would order dinner and they would bring like one cocktail napkin for the whole table. If you asked for more, you might get one more, maybe two.
*  The sizing on clothes was wacky. Granted, Bjorn is not petite, but the men's XXLs in Australia would fit me.
* Everything is abbreviated. Australia is Aussie, Tasmania is Tassie, football is footy. The best though? McDonald's is Mackers.
* The country is incredibly diverse. I would say half the people we saw in Melbourne and Sydney were of Asian or Middle Eastern descent.
* There was no Foster's beer served anywhere. When I asked someone about it, they laughed. Apparently it's a big joke that it's for export only and is pretty much considered crap beer locally.
* In Australia, apparently service in restaurants is optional. I know we're rude Americans, but we had two encounters where the wait staff thought we were "rude" for inquiring about our dinner. I thought it was sort of hilarious actually.
* Otherwise, the country was incredibly friendly. People would help strangers carry strollers up the subway steps and practically everyone we met was excited for us to be there and wanted to help however they could.

Traveling with family was in some ways a pain trying to coordinate the needs and wants of a group of eight, but in general, it was really awesome to do it all together.

Post No. 398568 about my kids' sleep habits

One of the things no one tells you about having kids is that for the next 10 years, you will talk about sleep. The thing about it is, I really like it. And I really don't like it when the kids decide I don't need it.

Case is point, Meg is too big for her crib now. She can get out of it (and/or throw herself out of it) so it's time. I knew this which is why months ago I bought a big girl bed for her that she promptly refused to sleep in. Then the house went on the market and the toddler bed went into the attic. But now, she and I are having a stand off about it. Last Thursday she cried and wailed and threw herself out of the bed finally in a stand off that lasted hours. I finally got her to sleep on my bed and then transferred her to her room where the crib mattress was on the floor. Around 5 a.m., she "fell out of bed" and wailed and wailed. I picked her up and brought her into my bed where she proceeded to kick me and flop her head on my boobs for about two hours.

Tonight, I tried to get both kids to sleep in Andy's room. He's got an adorable loft bed and the bottom bunk is really just a mattress on the floor. Perfect. I started bedtime around 8:30. We read two books and then left. I tried this for about 45 minutes until Meg kept getting out of bed. I tried to take her back into her crib and she pretty much hooked a leg on the crib rail before I could get her in there so I knew that wouldn't work. I took the mattress out and put it on the floor. She cried for a bit once she realized I have a baby lock on the door handle preventing her escape. I told her I was going to lock up and I would come check on her in five minutes. Ten minutes later, she was asleep. Phew!

The bonus of this whole exercise? Andy went to sleep before 10. Sadly, he hasn't done that in a long time.

Oh, and speaking of sleep, props to Jennifer. She babysat the kids while I flew to Dallas and I believe graciously helped fix them. She also took them to the mall for Pillow Pets. I can't believe I actually bought something because of an annoying ad during kids TV shows, but they are really pretty cool.

The 36-hour adventure, or why buying a house is harder than it looks

I flew to Dallas on Friday for a 36-hour trip so I could look at the finalists in the house hunt and hopefully make an offer on something. It was quite the whirlwind. It didn't help that Meg had decidedas  sleeping in her crib is for babies and under penalty of death or Benadryl she is not going to stay in there. That meant I was going on like six hours sleep for the whole thing. I know, no pressure there.

It was so cool to look at the houses though. We have found a neighborhood we like with great schools and apparently a very good football team (it is Texas, ya'll). My biggest complaint is apparently Texas wants to put the master bedroom on the first floor. That might be fine if the kids were six and nine, but with Meg and Andy both still getting up too often for my taste and the thought of them also falling down the stairs at 3 a.m. doesn't thrill me. It also has wallpaper -- the bane of my existence. After spending seven years here removing wallpaper, I vowed never to do it again. And then I fell in love with a four bedroom, four bath with a pool, a study and a three car garage. It will be heaven. Assuming we can negotiate a deal. You know, before we leave for a two week trip on the other side of the world.

The whole thing is coming together. Well, at least the big pieces like the jobs and selling our house (fingers crossed it closes!) Things we still have to do include buying a house, packing and moving. I swear, we've talked to a dozen movers and each one seems crazier and more expensive than the rest.

Wistful

Bjorn was home this weekend. He was barely home for 48 hours, but it took us all no time to get back into our normal family groove. The little kids absolutely loved it. I could tell Margaret especially had really missed him. Andy's old enough to understand more of what we're doing, but Meg really isn't. She's definitely been more clingy lately and picks up a lot of my tension trying to get it all together. We made the mistake of trying to cram too much into such a short time, but it was totally worth it. Except that it wasn't. Seeing him in some ways made it harder because it was just so good to all be together. So today we're all just sad. Part of me is also sad that our life here is coming to an end. Our life in this house -- where we brought both our babies home from the hospital -- is almost up. Bjorn will likely not be back here until it's time to move out.

Fortunately, I'll see him again Friday when I fly down to hopefully make an offer on a new house on Saturday. By then, I think I'll start to get super excited about the options down in Dallas rather than dwelling on all the work that has to be done. I am about 2/3rds of the way on this marathon and I'll admit I'm pretty tired.

Our home inspection was today. Fingers crossed it went okay. We have a weird radon detector set up in our basement, too, with all sorts of signs saying don't touch. I don't think the radon detector has any idea of it's up against with Monsters 1 and 2 in this house.

What a weekend

Bjorn turned 34 today (convenient what we me turning 29 and all a couple weeks ago). He came home for the weekend. It was so nice and normal that I have sort of forgotten that the next time he's here will be when we move out.

My mom came to visit. She bought me a new camera for my birthday to replace the one the beach destroyed and all I could do nice for her was take this awful picture. Thanks, Mom!

I have no idea what he's doing, but I love it.

Andy celebrated his end of soccer season party and got a trophy. Yay for trophies! I used to mock "participation trophies." Now I get it. I then tried to get him into watching the USA v. England game but he decried it "boring" and I decried his attitude one that must be in another room.

I didn't mean to take this artistic picture of her, but look how awesome and perfect her face is?

We had Andy's preschool graduation Friday. The folks at the George Mason CDC really did a nice job. Here they are preparing for a song to sing the parents.

The event was complete with caps. Sadly, no gowns as I had expected or I might have dressed him a little better. Also weird is that while he has "graduated," he's still got the summer there. Good thing he doesn't really understand what it means yet.

Andy standing outside his school. I've been quite impressed with them. I hope we can find something as good in Southlake for Meg.

Under contract

So our plan is all coming together. I'm almost embarrassed to say it for fear it will jinx it, but we got a contract on the house this week, praise heavens and Realtor Viv. Ironically, it's a family moving here from Texas. I wonder if our Texana around the house sealed the deal. I am beyond thrilled about the whole thing, but now I'm starting to get terrified about the next steps, like, oh, packing and moving, plus picking a new house, securing a mortgage and trying to coincide two closings with a trip to Australia, two jobs, two small children and a cross country move. Really, universe, I am not an overachiever like this so it all makes me pretty nervous to try to get everything together.

We have the home inspection on our place on Monday, which is good that it's then since my mom is visiting now for Andy's adorable yet completely unnecessary pre-school graduation today. Bjorn's also flying in late tonight so we can celebrate his birthday. I'm then going to fly down to Dallas next weekend for 24 hours to see Bjorn's top house candidates and hopefully make an offer on something.

As my folks would say, I've got some high-class problems.

Vacation

Over Memorial Day, some friends and I got a beach house. The whole thing was quite impromptu and ended up being a husbands/spouses free weekend with kids. It also ended up being hilarious.

Meg and Liam. It's amazing to see someone else's kid grow up and to see him be so nice to my kid just makes me so proud.

It poured down rain so they went to Funland. I was home with a napping baby and even missed that it rained at all. Bless good friends willing to make my kid so at home.

Happy birthday to us!

It's a shame I couldn't match Meg's clothes in time for this group photo. Meanwhile, Limocello is not just for birthday girls.

She's not just my realtor, she's my tricycle crusher.

Hrmph

So the house has been on the market for approximately 72 hours and hasn't sold yet. What gives, universe? Don't you know how totally impatient I am? Don't you know how impossible it is trying to keep the house clean with 2 1/2 children in the house? I feel like I'm following behind a bull in a china shop, constantly trying to put things back in order and prevent disaster. Plus, Bjorn's down in Dallas finding all these amazing, 3,500+ square foot monstrosities with pools and playgrounds in a great school district and begging me to come down to make an offer on one. I know these things take time, but I really don't much like waiting. Sure we've been waiting to make this move for five years already, but now that we're here, I want to go now, now, now!

Speaking of going somewhere, my friend Catherine is headed to South Africa. for the World Cup and blogging about it. How cool is that?

And we're live

Isn't this finished basement awesome? And so, so clean!

The house officially went on the market today. I was half expecting that when it landed in the MLS at 3 p.m., that hoards of people would start calling demanding to make an offer on my house. As it is, one realtor wants to come preview it tomorrow. Right now it feels a little kind getting all dressed up for the prom and having my cousin be the only person ask me to dance. I know, it's early, way early, but I am an impatient person. Plus, I have an adorable husband in Dallas breathing down my neck to get down there and buy a new house already. Sure, he has to be separated from his family and venture out into the great unknown by himself, blah, blah, blah, but I think his job has been easier.

The house does look amazing though. It's so clean and empty right now it actually echoes. I'm not sure I could really live like this. Fastidious is not a word anyone would ever, ever associate with me unless it had something to do with AP style. But I will admit it's nice to come home and have the place not look like Toys R Us threw up on my rug.

The one with all the cake

It was my birthday yesterday. It wasn't even an interesting birthday like one that ended in five or zero of even nine or one. Nope, just your average middle, gasp, late 30s birthday and my friends (and husband) are the very bestest in the whole while world. Better still, some of my friends came over without even being bribed to help me get the house (somewhat) properly cleaned and staged. Liz even brought cake. While I'm doling out the thanks, I must say Bjorn's family and gone above and beyond in this whole getting the house ready to list ordeal. They even worked last weekend while I was out of town finishing cleaning, mowing and tidying. Stunningly awesome, those folks.

How much better does it get? Sure, I'm stressed out and sleep deprived, but I also want to cry out of happiness I am so honored by the whole damn thing.

The house lists tomorrow. I am ready to get on with it already, but it's sort of like having a baby, I'm sure. It's not like the work ends tomorrow. Rather, in a sense it's just starting.

The monster

Meg has turned into a monster. An adorable, lovely, cuddly, curly haired, sweet talking monster. We went to the beach this weekend where she played her own special game of Shit My Kids Ruined. At the beach, she managed to break my iPhone, my prescription sunglasses, my camera and my own will to live, at times. Actually, I can't really blame the camera's demise on her. It got some sand in it most likely, but still.

I must say that, my warranty expired on Sunday, but I went to the Apple store yesterday and they fixed the LCD screen for free in less than half an hour. They even didn't complain too much when a little soft serve Dairy Queen ice cream ended up on the floor in their white store with computers everywhere. It's a good thing they were so obnoxious actually. I might have ended up buying myself a Macbook. They looked dreamy and might actually work unlike my current laptop.

The big, big purge

Remind me again why we're moving? Oh right, higher standard of living for less money and the chance to be near my family. That's good to remind myself because moving sure is a huge pain in the neck. I have spent the last several weeks cleaning, purging and rearranging. I've practically got Purple Heart on speed dial just to get all the crap off my front porch. I really had no idea how much stuff I have. Really. I know everyone says that, but I have actually been working on getting rid of stuff for a while. When the big kids moved home, I got rid of a bunch of furniture then. I also routinely go through mine and the little kids' closets to donate and pass along to other kids. Yet I still have an enormous amount of stuff to get rid of.

My attic is just about filled with boxes. Fortunately we're just about ready to list the house next week so I think I've gotten up there just about all that is going to go up there. Jennifer moves into her new place first of next week, which gives me about a day to then clean up the basement and rearrange some furniture from other parts of the house. I have invited some friends over allegedly for my birthday, but in reality everyone is going to help me get the place ready.

It's going to be a real challenge keeping the place neat so it can be showed. I had a long talk with the kids about it last night -- how there can be no laundry not folded, dishes have to go in the sink, beds made and everything off the floor. Mark mostly groaned. The little kids I can boss around, but Mark, well, not so much. My realtor has said she'll throw away any of his stuff he leaves on the floor so that should be interesting.

I have survived okay without Bjorn. I miss him terribly, but I'm excited to hear the new job seems to be going well. I know he was pretty choked up when he left so I felt pretty sorry for him headed off to the big unknown as the advance team until I spent all last weekend cleaning windows and shampooing carpets. Then, well, not so much.

Now, who wants to buy a four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath on 1/3 of an acre in Fairfax? Come on, it's walking distance to Royal Lake, Laurel Ridge Elementary, Robinson Secondary and Commonwealth Swim Club. Plus, it's right off the bus line with easy access to the Pentagon, VRE and DC. I'll make you a deal!

The big, big move

So there's big news in Casa de Bennett, Internets -- we're moving to Texas! Bjorn got a new job down in Dallas, my hometown, and he's moving this weekend to start on Monday. I'm going to stay behind in Virginia with the kids to sell the house with the goal of being down there first of August to be ready for Andy to start kindergarten in the fall. Oh, and in the middle, we have an awesome two week trip to Australia planned. So we've got a bunch of once in a lifetime events crammed into one summer. I had no idea I was such an overacheiver.

When we got married, oh, back in 1998, we always said that after the big kids got out of school, we would move back to Texas. I had never really intended to be here that long. It was a three month internship (a three hour tour...) But then I met a great guy and the rest is history. But here it is, nearly 12 year later and we're really doing it. I am so excited about the move, excited to be near my family and watch my kids and nieces grow up together, get a huge house for what our modest house costs around here. It's a win-win except for all the family and friends we're leaving here. Fortunately, Bjorn is looking at houses so massive we could bring everyone down for a weekend not run out of places for them to stay.

We've got a neighborhood down in Dallas all picked out -- the Southlake/Carroll area near the DFW airport. I have some friends from high school that live there and love it, we can get a house twice the size of our current one and be in a good school district with a great football team (I've been making sure to watch Friday Night Lights just to keep up. Oh, who are we kidding. I was watching already.)

I have come out to my office and they have been amazing. I'll stay on through the summer and then transition to a part-time role to finish up some projects as well as go to our big meeting in the fall. It's a good solution for both of us, I think. Plus, my adored assistant director is getting promoted to my job. I'm thrilled about that part, too (although having my successor named is sort of like being a lame duck president, I've decided).

Selling the house is going to be hard, especially trying to keep it clean with two kids and a 21-year-old who ignores most of what I ask about keeping his room tidy, but hardest is going to be Bjorn going on ahead for a couple of months. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but certainly a couple of weeks at a time will be the longest we've been apart since we've been married. Sad.

Even though I've been yelling at him for his refusal to pack in general, he's a total champ for doing all of this. How lucky am I?

Personal Record

I hit a new personal record this week -- we had four trips to the pediatrician. Of course, tomorrow is Saturday so we still have one more day to make it a full week. They know my name when I call in now. I'm kind of impressed with our rock star power.

Sunday -- visit for croup and strep test
Monday -- visit for day three of croup and stridor, lead to steroid shot and nebulizer treatment
Tuesday -- still coughing, turns out I was really there for her "steroid psychosis." That's right, her 'roid rage. She was going from laughing to crying in one breath. He cut her dose down to half for Wednesday.
Wednesday -- no visit!
Thursday -- no visit!
Friday -- she went to bed early, like 7:30, and woke up at 10:30 a.m.! I know, who ever heard of a toddler to sleep that late? When she did wake up, she was feverish again and lethargic. I called to talk to the doctor and was able to get an immediate appointment. Diagnosis - sinus infection. Unrelated to the croup, just that her weak immune system couldn't fight both.
Saturday -- fingers crossed!

It's been a long week of ups and downs. And actually there has been a lot of vomit, too. I would like to say for the record that I am over cleaning up vomit (and off myself especially). Sure, sure, that comes with parenting, but there have been at least four separate vomiting incidents in the last two weeks, probably half of which were on me. I think I could go, say, a month or so without it next time. 'Kay?

I am hopeful that we're getting our full of illnesses out now. We've got a couple trips coming up. A beach trip over Memorial Day, not to mention our two weeks in Australia next month. Her being sick is no fun for anyone, especially her, but doing it in a hotel in Tasmania would be suboptimal.

Croup

Doesn't that look like fun? We had our first real bout of croup this weekend that turned into steroids and nebulizer treatments today, poor baby. What's amazing is how a few hours after her throwing up due to her inability to breathe, how fast medicine can turn it all around.

It started Saturday. I heard it in the morning, a slight bark, but dismissed it. Then she woke up from a nap coughing and crying. She had a fine evening and then a terrible, awful, very bad night. We took turns with her in our bed and the other sleeping in Andy's room (note to self -- Andy needs a new mattress that doesn't feel like I was in a sleeping bag outside it was so hard). I had talked to the doctor's the day before who said to give her half a teaspoon of Benadryl (generic of course thanks to the McNeil recall) and to come in the next day for a strep test.

Indeed on Mother's Day, I dragged my exhausted self and her to the doctor where we waited for nearly two hours for a quick strep test and a diagnosis of "Yep. It's croup." He also checked that it wasn't in her lungs and that it should improve. And you know, it really did improve. She took a long, four hour nap and then slept well, just waking up twice. In the morning, she seemed better even -- no fever either. But I got the call from my babysitter only an hour after drop off saying the cough made her nervous and she had a little fever. I picked her up and we went home for a nap. And she did nap except about an hour in she woke up, coughed, cried and promptly threw up all over me. It was awful, because she was scared, she was breathing faster, and because she was breathing faster, it was that much harder. It was just like watching an asthma attack. I called the doctor's immediately and was seen 20 minutes later and probably 20 minutes after that she was getting a nebulizer treatment followed by a steroid shot to reduce the inflammation in her trachea. We left with a prescription for prednisone to give her twice a day for two days and to come back Wednesday for another appointment.

You know, I really like our pediatrician, but sometimes his people skills. Well, yeah, not so much. "Don't worry. We won't let her slip away." Um? Slipping away? That didnt' even occur to me! "At least her trachea won't collapse like it does on some nine-month-olds." Yeah, that didn't occur to me either. At least his clinical skills are excellent. My baby went from blue lips to running around the living room saying, "Chasing, chasing, chasing!" as she follows her brother around. I can live with some sub par people skills if he can give that back to me.

Regression

So both kids are in the middle of some weird regressions. Meg has discovered waking up at night is fun! I suspect she's 1) teething 2) having dreams/nightmares 3) she thinks me straggling in to give her a sip of water, hold her for a minute and set her back down is comforing and 4) she thinks Mama looks best with bags under my eyes.

To make it more interesting, Andy has been wetting the bed a lot lately. It's weird how it happens. Since around Christmas, he will be fine for two or three weeks in a row with maybe one accident, then he goes like three or four nights in a row having accidents. Naturally him having an accident means he comes to my room and tells one of us (hopefully Bjorn) that he's had an accident. Sometimes he will have changed into new clothes and crawls into bed with us to then kick me the rest of the morning. Other times like today he came in at 2 a.m. needing help with new clothes and sheets. Poor guy was so exhausted he could barely sit up straight. I made him wear a pull-up after this. I explained to the extent I could that his body is growing right now and it's so busy growing overnight that it doesn't have the energy at the moment to tell him to wake up. We'll see how well that goes over tonight.

Adding to the fun is that Meg has had the barfs twice in a week. First instance was Wednesday afternoon so she was home Thursday (after waking up at 3 a.m. to throw up and then rally into such a good mood she was up until 5 a.m. just being happy. Crazy kid). Then yesterday out of nowhere she woke up from her nap and threw up on me. I gave her some Pedilyte and she threw that up later, too.

Needless to say, I'm sleepy today.

You know, I've been debating changing the title of this blog beacuse until recently, they were pretty good sleepers a lot of the time. It just didn't seem right. But now? Now I am in desperate need of a good night's rest.

Beach trip

With all my need to tell the story of getting the baby locked in the car, I forgot to mention we still went to beach and had a grand old time. I want a beach house now. How awesome would that be? Now to just have an extra $500,000 laying around. Maybe next year, right?

Another new crush

Oh Craigslist, how I love you so. Seriously. I love this free service. So I wanted a toddler bed for Meg. I went on Craigslist, did some trolling and found a cute one nearby for $20. Sold. Then when it was clear we needed a second mattress to go with it, I went back on Craigslist, did some sorting by neighborhood and found one less than a mile away for $30. Done. Sure, they're both used, but both are in good condition and perfect for my needs. It's so easy! Why didn't I do this earlier.

Now I'm looking around the house during some spring clearning and holding a virtual garage sale. I've been hawking some of the bigger kids' toys that they never play with anymore. Today I sold an awkward piece of kids' furniture for $40. I know! I got $40 and the guy came and carried in away. Next weekend I think I'm going to sell the weight bench no one has touched in two years.

As for the big girl bed, Meg slept in it one night last week. She did fine going to sleep (it helped that it was late because Bjorn was gone and I tried to do too much so she was exhausted). The problem was when she woke up screaming at 6 a.m., which is before my wake up time. I did manage to coerce her into my bed where we snuggled for another hour, sleeping off and on. It was marginally better than trying to sleep on an airplane, what with the poking and kicking, but I did really love it.

Mark your calendars

I got gas yesterday evening and didn't lock anyone in the car. Go me! I even remembered roll down a window and not hand her the keys with which she could lock herself in. How long do you give me before I do it again?

Child locks self in car; child fine, mother traumatized

A neighbor kindly invited us on Friday to her beach house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It's about an hour and 15 minutes away, not convenient, but she thought her kids and mine would have a great day frolicking on the private beach. We decided to caravan since they'd be spending the night. The first hour was great -- no traffic, beautiful warm weather. We stopped in Dunkirk, Maryland, so I could fill up with gas. Andy wanted to get out to help. In my minivan, the gas thing is on the right so I can't have Meg's side door open while I pump gas. She wanted to get out too, so I offered her my keys to appease her while I got the gas. I thought twice about giving her my keys and then left the driver's side door open, just in case. You see where this is going, right? Naturally the wind blew my door shut and when I turned around, Meg had locked the doors and promptly thrown the keys on the floor of the car.

Fortunately, my friend was with me so we put Andy in her car with her girls to watch a DVD while we tried to figure out how we could coax Meg into opening the door. Of course, she was still in her car seat and couldn't get out. A man at the pump next to us said to call the police and they'd come help. Sure enough, I dialed 911 and the local sheriff came with tools. Within minutes of the call, a sheriff was wedging the door opening to try to open a door lock, press the unlock button and/or slide the door lock up. I was so calm at first. It was all going to be okay! Sure, I'm an idiot, but help is here! It's going to be fine! But then it was 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes and nothing seemed to get it open. Meg was doing fine those. She could reach Andy's pretzel sticks and was snacking away. She was loving the attention, but she was growing weary, too. At about the 35-40 minute mark, her cheeks started to get rosy and I tried not to panic that she was going to suffocate (she wasn't). Then she started to cry and then cry harder.

I asked the officer what to do, call a locksmith? No, they'd do what he was doing and charge $100 bucks. Call Honda? Not one in Calvert County. Call my husband? He's too far away and would have go home to get the keys -- would she be calm for another 1 1/2 hours? Call a neighbor? It's still another hour. By the time Meg started crying in earnest, I asked the officer about breaking the window. He was kind and said he didn't want to scare her, besides, he'd only had one before he wasn't able to unlock. She was starting to get worked up so I was ready. I called Bjorn for the reassurance it was the right thing. The officer broke the passenger window sending tiny glass pellets everywhere. That really scared her, Meg bawled harder but I was so close! I was able to go in and grab her and console her while my friend and the officer triaged the glass. I think it took Meg about three minutes to calm down. I, however, was on edge about it the rest of the weekend.

Epilogue: Bjorn got a new window for me on Saturday, $259 with tax. Worth it.

Latest celebrity crush

Despite my obviously charmed marriage, I have lots of crushes, usually on random celebrity types, i.e. people I will never, ever meet so therefore totally safe. Most are quite typical -- think Pacey Witter from Dawson's Creek, Andy Botwin from Weeds  or Josh from Sports Night (yes, I do watch too much television). Others make my coworkers shiver, like Benjamin Linus from Lost (what? Sure he's not handsome, but he's devious and snarky) or Stephen Collins (think Jumpin' Jack Flash Stephen Collins, not 7th Heaven Stephen Collins. Yeah, I know....)

I'm now at a bizarro phase in my life where I have a crush on a children's book author. Worse, it's not at all because he's cute, but because his books are so darn awesome. There are billions of children's books out there, and most of them are total crap (I'm looking at you Dora). But Mo Willems? No, his books are awesome? I don't love the Elephant and Piggy series so much, but Knuffle Buffle and the Pigeon? Seriously great. Any kids' book that can make me laugh while keeping my kids interested in just great.

Awesome

Tina Fey = Awesome.

Edited to say damn NBC went and yanked this off YouTube. Try this instead.

Family of action

Lots of exciting things going on around here. A list seems appropriate.
1) Mark got a job. And there was great rejoicing.

2) Jennifer is actively looking for apartments, starting around June 1. Happy birthday to me! (We will really miss her, but I think we're all ready.)
3) Meg is potty training. I'm not ready, but she is. She pulls down her trousers in public places annoucing, "poo poo" which is universal for number 1 or 2. About 2/3 of the time, she actually goes. Amazing.
4) This potty training is tough because I can't keep her in clothes in general. She's constantly trying to take off everything so I have worked to find clothes she can't take off, making it that much harder when she announces her need to use the "flush."
5) I am going to have to rethink my strategy.
6) I've been getting my garden beds ready for planting vegetables.
7) I was bummed to realize I'm not supposed to plant my garden or annuals until Mother's Day. Boooring.
8) The tooth fairy came for Andy. He got $1. Just a plain dollar bill, too, although his name was written on it. A two dollar bill or a gold dollar would have been cooler, but my friends' advice to go for something easy to replicate made sense.
9) Shocking to me is how many of my friends give out $10 and $20 for a lost tooth. Seriously? I think Mark would start pulling out his teeth for casholinis like that.
10) Bjorn and I have been working our way through the Star Wars prequels. And you know what? They're really kind of bad. Natalie Portman's hair was pretty awesome, Hayden Christiansen's hair was remarkably bad and Yoda is downright awesome.

Lost tooth!

Andy lost his first tooth this morning, naturally right after I left for work. He woke up and talked to Bjorn for a minute, announced his tooth was really loose and then out it came. Thankfully Bjorn took lots of pictures with his phone (see above, awesome quality, eh Blackberry?) They then took the tooth to school in a plastic bad where his adorable teacher announced and early circle time so he could show it off. How cool is that? Now I have to figure out what the going rate is for the tooth fairy.

Easter pictures

Meg loves this slide that was donated "freecycle" from a neighbor a couple of years ago when her girls outgrew it. She and Andy were bouncing on it when we had friends over on Saturday as captured below.

Good friends. I normally would say "old" friends, but present company would have assaulted me for saying so.

We had an Easter egg hunt first thing this morning. I, er, the Easter bunny put out the eggs last night. Turns out that was a mistake as they were covered in ants this morning. Fortunately for Mark and Jennifer, they didn't want anything to do with the lottery tickets. We won $3 on a $10 investment.  Andy and I met some friends for church. It was a Presbyterian church that we've been to a couple of times. Cool thing though, they handed out bells and everyone rang them whenever they say "Christ is Risen." I liked it. Andy looked dapper in his blue blazer, but it was a little warm for it. At Bjorn's mom's house for Easter dinner, we had a second egg hunt. We had a great time hunting and playing ball in the yard in addition to a fabulous dinner. Luckily, the weather cooperated. It was 70 and mostly sunny all weekend. Just gorgeous.

The Easter Bunny

Tomorrow is Easter. We have plastic eggs to stuff with candy and a few lottery tickets for the big kids. We even left out some strawberries on the back patio for the Easter bunny. I'm a little at a loss about the whole ruse though. Is the Easter bunny just like Santa? I mean, is it a big surprise that he comes and does all this stuff? And does he bring presents other than the eggs and candy? I ask partly because due to the sheer awesomeness of Facebook, I see all these pictures and posts from friends who appear to go to great lengths with their Easter bunny surprises for their kids. Does everyone do that? We're just planning to hide some eggs and search for them.

Granted, I'm quicky admitting I'm not as awesome as my mom who must have dyed two billion hard-boiled eggs with us growing up. Last year I bought the kit and we never ever opened it. I was actually just fine with that, thanks. Maybe next year. Or the year after.

Andy's tooth is still working it's way out. It's pretty loose now, but I have no experience except my own vague ones from probably 25 years ago to know how loose is really loose, so loose I need to go ahead and yank it before he accidentally swallows it. Next question, what's the going rate for the Tooth Fairy these days?