Surviving the Domestic Jungle

We are in the process of moving and let me just say, it is painful! Just awful doing all of this pregnant. I have to rest every ten minutes because I don’t want to overexert myself and my youngest Hailey is being very helpful by taking things out of boxes that I just put in!! Its 10am and I have done the stairs countless times and I’m ready for a nap! Pregnancy does not mix well with moving. I, of course, am beyond excited to move into our new, superior house! The main way it is superior is wood floors everywhere but the bedrooms (finally no stains on the carpet!!) and one story!! That is what makes me the most excited! No more baby gates to struggle with and I no longer have to worry about my or my children falling down the stairs and it will make  moving in a breeze! Its a really pretty house and soon enough I will be in it and not whining and complaining. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving so that I can take a day off from all of this. We are kind of moving quickly and the stress and all the details to remember is overwhelming at times. I’m so grateful for my great friends and family for all the help they have provided. I really do have some special friends. Without the help a few of them have provided, or will provide in the future, I don’t know if we would have been able to pull all of this off so smoothly. I really have come to realize how wonderful having good friends can be. It makes me want to be a better person and friend because of the generosity I have been shown. There will be a big ‘Thank You’ bash at my new house for them as soon as I can get organized! It might be 2015 by then but it will happen! Wish me luck in all of the staircase climbs and box packing!!

I have been busier than the busiest little bee! We went yesterday to look at our new house because we are moving to a new city for a fresh start surrounded by people who love us and want us near! We are really excited about it all and it all seems to have just fallen into place and we are so thankful to the great friends who have helped us every step of the way. Some of those friends we have to leave behind and some of those we are reconnecting with. Reconnecting is always better than leaving behind but life has this funny way of bringing you back together at the exact right time. We are pretty stressed and moving is difficult for me being that my baby bump is getting pretty big and all the stairs and lifting is a challenge but it has to be done and my husband has to work so what’s a girl to do?? Our new house is the perfect balance of what my husband and I like. I prefer houses that are filled with character and different designs (unlike the cookie cutter box we live in now) and he prefers the brand new with all new ac units! Well, best of both worlds in the new house because we have an older house with a fabulous open layout and little cute details and the WHOLE house has been redone and there are low-e windows and new ac and new wood floors and basically everything is new so we are both incredibly happy with it! I cannot wait to move in, decorate and have my friends and family over and make it a home. One of those friends will be my best buddy from high school that I saw for the first time in about ten years! We never had a falling out or anything but life took over and we took different paths and through the miracle of technology, we found each other and I spent the whole day yesterday with her and introduced her to my family and just laughed and laughed and had a blast! Lesson of the day: Reconnect with an old friend! Its so good for your soul!!

What happened to Thanksgiving? Has it grown legs and walked away??? The amount of Christmas stuff up is ridiculous! I walk through my neighborhood every night (its hard but I’m keeping up the routine!) and there are pumpkins, scarecrows and fake corn on wreaths and there are also Santa’s and Christmas lights and I’m not sure what is going on and why we have forgotten about the ever awesome Thanksgiving? Now I love Christmas decorations just like the next person (taking them down I HATE) but I feel like we need to give each holiday its own attention. I actually saw a Christmas tree in one of the neighbors windows! That tree is going to be up for quite sometime! I usually set mine up around the 1st of December which is early in my family! My mom is the classic Christmas eve tree decorator and shopper! She was great about it when we were kids but now that we are grown ups, she has slacked off a little. One year on Christmas eve when she was claiming to be Jewish (my step dad is so I guess she can get away with it) there was no tree so I being the ever resourceful person I am, went into her yard and pulled in one of her big Sago Palm trees and decorated it with some white lights! It was a very Texas Christmas! Now that she has 5 granddaughters and a grandson on the way, she better step up the Christmas decor! I just feel like Thanksgiving is fading into the background and it really is a special time and a special holiday. Christmas is the better holiday but still lets not forget about Thanksgiving! It wants attention to so hold off on all you Santa statues and embrace your pumpkins, squashes and corn!!

Last night, at the end of my already busy day, I fell. Now, it wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t almost 7 months pregnant. It is pretty much one of the worst things that can happen while you are pregnant. You want to talk about scary!!! I was coming down the stairs holding my daughter Hailey and couldn’t see the pile of shoes at the bottom. Basically, as I stepped down, my foot rolled over a shoe and slowly I fell on my knee, placed Hailey down then fell on my other knee and then my hip. It was weird how it was almost a controlled fall but it wasn’t like I fell like a ton of bricks. I want to say it was almost graceful. It didn’t feel graceful at all when my foot and knees were throbbing but after I realized what happened, pure fear took over. Everyone knows falling while pregnant can be dangerous but thankfully my little guy was a rocking and rolling in my tummy and my knees broke my fall. It was still so scary and took me a good hour to calm down and stop being over reactive. I have never fallen in any of my pregnancies so I was feeling a little insecure about the whole thing. Of course I still had the Girl Scout meeting to go to which got my mind off things (thankfully) but man is pregnancy not fear filled? I’m thankful this is my last one so I never have to be afraid of miscarriage or falling or any of the other things that accompany the experience. There are many good, wonderful things about being pregnant but boy can the fear consume you if you allow it. I love feeling his kicks but when I don’t feel he is kicking enough….Worry! I know babies need to sleep and not kick all day everyday but  would prefer it that way! I cant wait til he’s born and the fear gets even worse! At least now he is protected in his little world by his clumsy, anxiety ridden mother because when he is born I cant protect him from bullies or girls that break his heart or disappointment. I guess when I put it that way, the fear that comes with pregnancy is like a dream by comparison to life!!!

Oh boy has today been a day!! I’m exhausted and still have many hours to get through. I took both of our cars in for oil changes and got my husbands registration and inspection done. Talk about exciting! NOT! I have spent hours in line or in waiting rooms and still have a girl scouts meeting to go to tonight. Oh and  make dinner. It feels good to have it all done but man am I tired. Id have to say that my pregnancy is smooth sailing except for always being sooooooo tired and unable to take a nap. I miss naps. Whenever I do get one, I wake up in a panic that I have forgotten my children somewhere. I cant wait to have caffeine again. I can survive tired with a little help and Diet Coke is my “help” of choice. Ahhhh delicious wonderful aspartame goodness. I’m just really tired today and lost for a topic. I didn’t write yesterday due to being lazy!! I think I was preparing to be so busy today. Tomorrow is also busy but a little less intense. We are in the process of moving and I like to get fully organized every time we move. I go through EVERYTHING and donate what we don’t need and, of course, recycle!! I have a lot of stuff to take to Goodwill and to the recycling facility and I always feel good about myself when I donate and recycle. I feel like I am doing what I can to help others and the environment and if I haven’t said it enough on here, PLEASE recycle and donate and never just throw away. Where do you think it all ends up? Some magical world where it magically vanishes? No, it ends up in landfills that eventually become disguised as mountains. AWFUL! I am so judgemental about my street when I drive down it on trash day. I literally look at every one’s trash on the curb and decide how much can be recycled (from what I can see) and some neighbors need a wake up call when they have multiple bags of trash twice a week. Ok, lesson of the day: Diet Coke is wonderful, Recycling is MANDATORY (in my opinion) and donating is always the right thing to do!!!!

There is a new cereal at the grocery store (at least it is new to my area) and it is fantastic in every way! It is called Bear River Valley Cereals and it is all natural and environmentally friendly. There are no fake colors, flavors or preservatives and it is the only cereal I can eat without…..issues. Regular cereal does not sit right in my stomach and when I saw this cereal I figured I would give it a shot and it hasn’t upset my system once. Aside from being all natural, it also uses 75% less packaging than bag in box cereals and it also uses renewable wind energy in the production of the cereal. If you read my blog you know I am a recycler and believe everyone on earth should be too so I always try to support companies that actually try to make a difference. I don’t care if my cereal comes in a box with a rabbit or bee or some other animal/insect on the front. My kids might care more about that but so far they seem to care more about what the cereal tastes like. The cereal comes in just a bag and has kind of a mountain theme to it and reminds me of Colorado even though it is made in California. I wanted to write about this cereal because when I find a product that is environmentally friendly and does what it promises, I will always write about it and try and bring it some sort of attention. I highly recommend trying this product and remember when you are done with each cereal bag, put it in the recycling bin!! I am posting a link here and in the Links I Love section of my blog. Check it out!

http://www.bearrivervalleycereal.com/

I am considering giving birth at a birthing center and the thought terrifies me as well excites me. Obviously the part that makes me want to run and hide is feeling all the pain. Ive never had a real contraction or gone into labor naturally so that part I would like to experience being this is my last baby but still the pain just makes me feel a lot of anxiety. I suppose it is the fear of the unknown and other women saying it is the worst pain in the entire world and they felt like they were being ripped apart. Hmmm that is a tad deterring. I like the idea of being able to move around and get in water and have any and all my family there. In the hospital I had three millions cords and wires and just getting up to go pee was a circus! I like no restrictions on family as well. I mean I like being able to chose if I want people there and not that I want my WHOLE family staring at my huge vagina with a head hanging out of it!! My mom pointed out (she is all for the birthing center idea) that women have been having babies without medication for centuries and I reminded her that those women were not as well fed and without medical care and their babies were much smaller where as I have 8.5 pound girls and this is a boy and I am completely expecting him to be huge. She ended that argument quickly. She had all of my siblings naturally and so I suppose if she can do it….maybe I can? I don’t know. It scares the hell out of me and I have so many questions for the unlucky midwife who will be answering them. I don’t mean 10 or so questions, I mean heavy hitting, every detail, every scenario, every procedure and move made questions. I’m not the kind of person who goes to a doctor and doesn’t ask questions. I’m that annoying patient who asks everything and is never done asking questions. In my opinion that’s how it should be. Its your body, your baby, your life!! Ask those questions even if you think they are dumb!! Anyway, I think I will be touring one next week and I will of course blog about the terrifying experience of it all. If while I’m there some woman is giving birth and screaming bloody murder I may rethink all this!! Wish me luck!!

This topic seems to keep coming up in random locations so I think I am just going to talk about it. Basically, the ‘topic’ is that Americans are very generous with the rest of the world and raise a lot of money for countries like Haiti and we basically do whatever we can to help everyone but ourselves. I heard a statistic yesterday that 1 in every 5 families are struggling to put groceries on the table and I understand that other countries need help but how can we not help our own first? A lot of people adopt internationally, I think this a wonderful thing, but what about all the American kids that need a mom and dad? There are a lot of problems in this country that need attention and I just think we need to pay attention to those first and then the rest of the world. If we continue to ignore ourselves, there will be problems even greater than we have now in the future. I am all for helping others but your neighbor should be the first person you help. There’s an old saying, “You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else” and that kind of applies here. By not loving ourselves and our country FIRST, we are unable to help anyone else properly. This topic is kind of a tough one because without the United States, a lot of countries would have a lot more problems but at the same time our country needs to be our priority. I don’t think it is selfish to help ourselves first either. When you are sick are you able to go run a marathon? Probably not and when your country is hurting, are you going to be able to really help anyone all that effectively? I don’t know for sure the answer to that but I am going to take a guess and say no. To be American is to get involved and to help out your fellow man and I just think that fellow man should live in your city or state or country.

I was reading this article yesterday where the author was talking about what makes flying unbearable and there was the regular stuff like the “armrest hog” and the sick guy coughing and then the author mentioned babies and my god the comments that came from it! I have children, I have flown with them and mainly they sleep through the whole thing and are very good but there are those kids who are just miserable and I feel for their mothers! I think all mothers feel for those mothers because its such an awkward position to be in. You know your baby is in pain or unhappy yet you have all these people around you giving you the “look” and you want everyone to be happy but no one is, especially you! It is hard to travel with kids period but when you have jerks making it even harder it is just awful. Some people were saying that kids shouldn’t be allowed to fly and that parents need to get their kids under control. It was hard to read because how the heck can you tell a 2 month old to be quiet? You cant! They’re a baby! A 4 year old you have more control but even then if their ears are hurting there’s not much you can do. I think all those people commenting forgot they were babies once and their parents probably took them on trips and they probably cried. I could understand an adult crying and screaming being unacceptable but a child is an exception and yes their screaming is annoying but geez, you’re in a long cylinder up in the sky and only get fed peanuts and perhaps you should put it in perspective that the baby isn’t ruining your otherwise relaxing, awesome experience, the WHOLE experience from check in to trying to get a rental car or a taxi cab is just awful!!! Expect to suffer and have a bad day! Expect to breathe dirty air and see a movie you have already seen and have a snack that is perfect for a 2 year old and not an adult and expect to go to the bathroom in a broom closet! Nothing about flying is enjoyable and it is certainly not enjoyable for the mom who is trying to keep her child happy and  instead of throwing her the dagger eyes, ask her if you can HELP her!! Be kind, be compassionate and be understanding that everyone is miserable and if you hate children, don’t leave your house because they are EVERYWHERE!!

Pet peeve alert!! As most of my readers probably know, I walk every night with my girls. Now that the time has changed it is a little darker but that’s not my issue. My issue is people allowing their dogs to roam free in the neighborhood. Why is it so hard to keep an eye on your pet? I understand that sometimes dogs get out and that’s understandable but the night I was walking and had two pit bulls coming after me and my kids is completely unacceptable. If you have a dangerous breed, make sure you keep them safe and the neighborhood moms and kids safe. Last night there was this black dog that was running around and he started to come to me with it’s tail between its legs and I started screaming at it because it is me and my baby and what the hell am I supposed to do should this dog decide it wants to bite me? I know the Mama Bear would come out in me and I would rip that dog limb from limb should it attack me or my children but why should I, an innocent exerciser, be threatened? I constantly see this white little poodle, or some breed close to that, roaming and that’s the kind of dog that ends up squished because people cant see it as well. I don’t understand having pets and not actually taking responsibility for them. For example, I live in cookie cutter suburbia and the people behind me have a dog and that dog has ruined 2 pieces of our fence. In suburbia there is a little code when it comes to the fences which is you fix the planks that face you while the neighbor fixes the ones that face them. Easy enough except that this dog has ruined two on our side so does that make me responsible? Why would it be my problem? I don’t have any dogs. Its not my fault that they got ruined and broke off, its that neighbors fault. Makes me mad to look at these planks everyday, which I have not fixed on principal alone. And I wont fix. If my dog did that, I would either just fix it or knock on my neighbors door, apologize and then proceed with fixing it. Having an animal is like having a child. Would you let your kids roam free to get run over? Would you be OK with your kids destroying your neighbors stuff? Probably not. All I can say is please please please be responsible when it comes to your animals!! They are YOUR responsibility!