Just Going with the Flow!

When I get too focused on all the work that needs to be done in the "unpacking" and "setting up" of our new home, Kayli has a way of "reminding" me to stop for some fun...She just LOVES the new swingset that came with our house!

but, there are still boxes to unpack...

there's a trip to the furniture store, to look at couches, and lay on, I mean, look through rugs...

there's the hunt for the piece to the hot tub hose that's leaking and needs to be replaced...

and after all this work, I mean fun, we're just not quite ready to wake up on Monday morning!

But, after a little while in front of the mirror, Kayli starts to perk up and begins her day as she loves to do, by "cracking herself up"...

then, it's off to school, where Kayli practices writing on my dry erase board before the bell rings...

and another week begins...

We Moved!

    Well, our life has certainly turned upside down and inside out in the last couple of weeks!!! Kayli’s hives, doctor appointments, round-the-clock medicine, etc. continued right up to, and through our moving. We both had “more on our plates” than we bargained for, but TOGETHER we survived the move!!! We are so thankful for all the help we received from our family and friends! Getting a new house is SO exciting. Moving is NOT!

    As we neared our moving date, I was feeling sentimental about leaving my old house of 16 years! Kayli was feeling sentimental about leaving behind the only house she’s ever known. We read books about moving. We talked about houses, families, and memories. We talked about all the great memories we have of time spent in our old house, and all the new memories we would create in our new house. We took pictures… and said good-bye to all that was familiar, and hello to all that is yet to come...

Friends came to help...

                                                                 Kayli had to stop, now and then, to soak the itchies...

                                              there were a few "SURPRISES!!!"...

My sweet pea continued to take her medicine and somehow function despite her groggy state...

Our neighbors,

Mike and Linda,

invited us over for a farewell pitcher of Margaritas...

Bruce and Teri,
our other good neighbor friends,
came to say good-bye too... Kayli was glad she brought her toys to entertain Bruce!

Kayli spent some quality time with her favorite canine pals, Lexi and Toby...

We took some pictures and said good-bye to our favorite Pooh Bedroom...

         
Kayli got to go on a "sleep-over" at her toddler friend,
Lily's house, while I stayed behind to orchestrate the move!

Natalie brought Kayli home from school on Friday,
to her NEW HOME!
She just had to try out the new swingset! Wheee!

                                       

Kayli enjoyed her first dinner at the new house... her favorite Mac N' Cheese...

Marion, Jim, Nick, and Kayli kept busy at the new house while Jake and I went back to the old house to get the refrigerator items, and once at the old house discovered that there was also an array of items the movers forgot to pack! (A hose, a stool, a lampshade, etc. etc. enough to fill up my car!)




 Jake just wanted to see the house one last time, and reminisce a little bit...

And, it was about midnight that I sprung up in bed with the realization that I had left all my cookie sheets, muffin tins, and bread pans in the bottom drawer of my stove! I climbed out of bed and hunted down a scrap of paper, then managed to find a stray crayon, to write myself a note about this, as if I would forget by morning! The new owner will take possession of my home tomorrow afternoon, so I had to get over there before he took possession. Oh, and of course the AT*T installation was scheduled for the whole morning where I would be held hostage from 9-11! Yikes!

So, Suzanne offered to come over, but by the time she got here, the cable guy was leaving, so she, Kayli, and I all got into the car and headed over to the old house. Once there, we retrieved the pans that were indeed in the bottom drawer, then took some time to walk around the empty house. It looked so big and EMPTY!

On Sunday, Kevin and Karen came over to deliver our kitchen table we had been storing at their house. Kayli "helped" Karen put the legs back on the table...

Natalie and Linsey came over to "put my kitchen together" and at the end of that day I sighed a big sigh of relief at all that had been accomplished!
Later that night, after we had emptied and refilled the new hot-tub, Kayli just had to try it out, even though it was still COLD water, like a pool...she still loved it!

Monday morning came way too fast! The great thing, though, was...sleeping later and leaving later, because we are only 5 minutes from work and school, WOOHOO!!! I KNOW we're gonna love that!!!
Here's Kayli on her first school morning in her new house, all dressed and ready to go, and we even have a few minutes to spare before we have to head out the door! Hmm, what to do with this extra time in the morning? I know, I know, it will be absorbed quickly!

Oh, yeah, it’s been a TOUGH Couple Weeks!

So, since my last entry, I’ve just been muddling through the whole preparing- to- move- process; getting loan estimates, insurance quotes, inspections, repairs, buying/collecting boxes, starting the packing, and trying to pretend that I was remaining calm, cool, and collected at all times, NOT. Then, since really that is apparently not enough stress, my “right hand man”/para/all purpose, all reliable assistant at work decided she needed a job that gave her more hours and more money (can’t say I blame her for that) BUT, that’s definitely a rug being pulled out from underneath me as I was just gaining momentum at work. Then, just because apparently this is still not enough to completely throw me for a loop, my sweet pea, Kayli developed some Horrendous Allergic Reaction to something and broke out in huge-raised- welt-like hives, head to toe, and maintained this status round-the-clock for 5 days! She itched and scratched and whined and took her medicine like a trooper and then began the cycle all over again. We had been to the doctor’s office twice, purchased every allergy medicine known to man, and added oatmeal baths to the list. I was so frustrated because, like every good mother, I wanted to be able to “fix this” and I couldn’t! I wanted to relieve my child from her misery and I couldn’t. I could comfort her, coach her, encourage her, compliment her, hug and kiss and snuggle with her, treat some of the itching, but I couldn’t make those hives go away! AND… apparently since this was not enough to keep us busy, Kayli’s face, hands, and feet decided to swell up! She could not put on shoes or even her flip-flops, she complained that her feet and her eyes really hurt. We had to make a trip to the Urgent Care Clinic, where we got to hang out from 10 til’ 2 in the morning, as the doctor kept rushing to another room to attend to a “real emergency” and eventually came back to tell me that Kayli needed to start taking a steroid medicine, and I would need to start keeping an epi-pen with me at all times, in case she started having trouble breathing. Oh yeah? Well this is all starting to make ME have trouble breathing and my heart is racing too! As the grand finale, while still at the hospital, my child decided that enough was enough, and even though she had been such a trooper all week, gulping down every medicine I handed her, the good the bad and the really bad tasting stuff, tonight, in this moment, she was putting her foot down and just saying “No”! She was not going to swallow one more foul tasting medicine! So, I got to do what almost every mother has had at least one opportunity to do in their child’s lifetime, and that is hold her down, kicking, screaming, and choking, as the nurse squirted a full syringe of sticky, yucky medicine down her throat! Lord, have mercy. A few more days, and the swelling went down, and now we’re back at school, and now I’ve shifted my focus back to moving, NEXT WEEK!

One minute she looks like this...

the next minute, it's this...