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...

Just a Little Bumpy

So, I'm walking down the hall with Kayli at the end of the school day, and she says to me "Uh, slow down Mom, I can't walk too fast cuz I have rocks in my shoes from the playground." Well, why didn't you just take your shoes off and empty the rocks out after recess? "Oh, Mom, it's no big deal. They're not pointy or sharp, they're just a little bumpy, that's all!" So, there you have it, my adaptable little girl. No point wasting valuable kindergarten time emptying a few pebbles out of your shoes!

Fun at Kidfest!

Last Sunday, Kayli and I met up with Linsey and Lily at the Kidfest. There were so many fun things to do and see and buy (of course). We were there for 3 hours!

The girls were transformed into fairy princesses...

there was a small petting zoo, Kayli wisely asked me to hold her candy bracelet while she "talked to the animals"...

Kayli was willing to pet the snake but when the handler asked her if she wanted to wear it like a necklace, she immediately responded with "no thank-you"!

Her young friend Lily, who turns 2 this week, was more than willing to let the snake handler drape the snake around her neck! That is, until it started slithering along her arm, and then she tried to grab it, and we all yelled "Don't squeeze it Lily!"

there were "pretend pony rides"...

and real pony rides...


then, a festival wouldn't be complete without the ever-so-popular J*im C*osgrove, especially when you get picked to be in the band!!!




all the kids were so serious about following directions and playing their instruments...

There was an opportunity to surf without even going to the ocean...

the girls got to make some pretty hair accessories, and then Kayli tried to help Lily put hers on...

for only $3.00, Kayli got a "makeover" which included fixing her hair, spraying it with sparkle dust, painting her nails, applying sparkle shadow to her eyelids, and putting lip gloss on her lips! She was thrilled! (I was more than thrilled, since face painting was $6.00 and this was, by far, a better deal!!!



Just look at those shiny lips...

After 3 hours of solid fun, I've got one tuckered out fairy princess!

and she still continued to sleep, even after I transferred her from her car seat to the couch. Yep, I wore her out, now, to get a few things done around here before she wakes up...

The Big Day!

The first day of kindergarten! As Kayli excitedly, but cautiously, stepped into her first day of kindergarten, just a few tears were shed, and they were mine! Luckily, I had a few co-workers/friends nearby, who whisked me away for the ultimate distraction, donuts in the teachers' lounge!  As I nibbled on a chocolate donut, I tried not to think about the last glimpse I had of my sweet pea in her trademark vulnerable position, arm up by her face, as if shielding herself from the big wide world, something she's done since the day I met her at 18 months of age. Oh, how this gesture still tugs at my heart!

We even practiced the night before with "a kiss and a hug" and agreed to part with the words "have a great day!" but the "real life version" is always much harder...

I did my best to prepare Kayli by reading a book borrowed from Aunt Marion called: Miss Bindergarten Prepares for Kindergarten, and then the book that Kayli's new principal sent in the mail as a gift called: Twas the Night Before Kindergarten. There's a page in this book where all the parents cry and then the teacher has to invite them to sit on the magic rug and get just one more hug from the children. As we read that page, Kayli said "Mom, let's just not look at this page anymore cuz it's going to make me cry."

The morning of "the big day" we took pictures and talked about the fun day ahead:

And, just as predicted, minutes from buckling Kayli into her carseat at the end of the day, she was sound asleep! I knew kindergarten would wear her out!