Loading & Cleaning

I fell asleep with Jamey at 7:45 last night.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, I met the movers at the apartment at 9 this morning. They got right to work, and worked hard all day long! They were incredible!! While they carried boxes, beds, and couches, I drank water, Gatorade, and coffee. And I cleaned the apartment.

Then I handed over the keys and shut the door. And silly me, all I ate all day was an egg sandwich and yogurt from Starbucks. So jeremy met me and took me out for food.

I ate an appetizer, entree, and dessert in about 40 minutes. Shoved it in. Then we got back to Amy's house and I ate beef stew and apples for dinner.

We are out of the apartment. After Jamey goes to sleep, I'm going to peel the parking sticker off my window.

Packing Day

The packing crew arrived at 9:30--I was expecting a couple ladies who'd work slowly and deliberately. Instead it was two men who were pretty quick.

I left with the kids for the park and lunch with Jeremy to get the kids out of the way. My intention was to pop into the apartment after lunch to check progress and then maybe go back to the park for a while. The guys called me while we were leaving lunch to let me know they were done.

I dropped off the cable box and then went to the apartment to double check and lock up. They got everything--even the clean dishes out of the dishwasher. And all the furniture was wrapped up and ready to go.

The movers arrive around 9 tomorrow for loading, and they think it's going to be quick.

Now if only the car hauler would confirm a date/time to pick up Jeremy's car, I'd be calm and relaxed.

Our last visit to the beach

For two weeks now, I've been asking the kids if they want to go to the beach. They cry and whine "pool." So we go to the pool.

I didn't give them an option this morning. Although I did negotiate with Ivy: they could watch a movie and we'd go to the beach when it was done.

We were sitting in the sand by 9:15. Spring break season is over, and the beach was quiet. I'm going to miss quiet mornings biking to the beach--the sand, the waves, the bird chasing. I had a pang of sadness that we're leaving this.

Then Jamey stepped on a man of war and cried for a good 10 minutes. We're at the Beach Park now. And Jamey is begging to go to the pool.

Enough Excrement

In the last week, Ivy has wet the bed twice, pooped in the pool, and pooped in the bathtub. Jamey has wet through two diapers, soaking his sheets and just this morning pooped in the bathtub.

I thought the point of diapers was that I wouldn't have to clean up messes like this.

Is it too early for ice cream?

It has begun

Two weeks from today, the packing crew will be here. I have officially started working on my "Cleaning & Sorting List."

I'm a little nervous that the apartment owners are going to be super picky about giving us our deposit back, so I want to make sure it's really clean.

Then I have the insatiable urge to Spring Clean. And Nest.

I spent today shampooing the couches and dining room chairs.

Being Born is Important

Being born is important
You who have stood at the bedposts
and seen a mother on her high harvest day,
the day of the most golden of harvest moons for her.

You who have seen the new wet child
dried behind the ears,
swaddled in soft fresh garments,
pursing its lips and sending a groping mouth
toward nipples where white milk is ready.

You who have seen this love's payday
of wild toiling and sweet agonizing.

You know being born is important.
You know that nothing else was ever so important to you.
You understand that the payday of love is so old,
So involved, so traced with circles of the moon,
So cunning with the secrets of the salts of the blood.
It must be older than the moon, older than salt.

by Carl Sandberg

Naming a Baby

I'm so glad we have at least 18 more weeks before this baby is born. We are having a heck of a time with names. We have a list about 35 names long, including a few middle names, but I can't cross any of them off. Every single name sounds super awesome. Like I said, thank goodness we have lots of time still.

Airboats & Alligators

We went to the Sawgrass Recreational Park on Saturday to go on an airboat ride to see alligators. We've been on the trolley tour at Shark Valley a few times, so we've seen alligators.

The boat ride was a lot of fun! The boat wasn't too loud, and the kids loved being close to the water. Jamey wanted to take his ear plugs out and eat them. The airboat captain chased down a male alligator for us--got him on the run through the grass.

After the ride, we walked through the little exhibits and saw lots more alligators and turtles. The kids got to feed some parrots.

After a long hot afternoon in the sun, we cooled off in the pool.

overwhelmed?

I've been waffling between "sucking it up" and "crying my eyes out" for about a week now.

The work is never done:

• Ivy's room is a perpetual disaster. The kids see it as the opportunity of a lifetime to empty the book shelf, toss all the necklaces under the bed, and stack the stuffed animals in the rocking chair.


• Thankfully, Jamey's room is always clean, because they're always in Ivy's room.


• There are always dishes to wash.


• There are always dirty clothes.


• There is a stack of ironing that never goes away, no matter how much I ignore it.


• Then, there's dishes, mopping, and at least wiping the bathroom mirror.


• And the kids: they want breakfast AND lunch in the same day. Plus 17 cups of milk or water. And apples without peels. And Jamey will peel all the clementines and pull the segments apart before he smashes them into the couch, our bed, or line them up like a
  choo choo."


• Then there's pregnancy stuff: I need to eat more protein to hopefully stave off the Pre-eclampsia. But the midwife doesn't want me to gain a bunch of weight. And I need more fruits & veggies. And the gross dandelion tea and my prenatal vitamin. And don't forget the Kegels! And walk. And exercise. And for heaven's sake, don't have sushi.


• And then the move: I feel compelled to keep the apartment pretty clean in case we get a call that there's a showing. And I have my 3-page list of cleaning to do, but it's still too early. And what should I pack for in the car with us? And for the few days we'll stay with Amy? And who will we give our keys to? And when will we get our deposit back? What if they don't give us our deposit back?

I think that about covers it for this afternoon. My struggle is, should I sit down and have a good cry (every day) or should I just suck it up? It's not that bad. I don't have to stress about the move (for heaven's sake, all I have to do is pack a suitcase). It all seems like so much sometimes. But then I just fold another load of clothes and put more dishes away, and then it's not so bad. And I have a clean apartment.