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Not Sold Yet

7 Nov

Our house is finally under contract and we have a closing date of November 30.  While it does make me happy, I can’t let myself feel relief yet. I’m just an “I’ll believe it when I see it” type person and I won’t feel real relief until it’s all over.

For example, today the “buyers” and their inspector guy gave our house the once-over.  We had no notice this was going to happen today and because I thought “hey, our house is under contract so I don’t have to be such a freak about cleaning anymore” – I decided to clean out our closest last night and sort through pounds of paper I’ve had stashed around the house.  Of course, I did not complete those ventures so I have 3 large garbage bags filled with clothes in our room and a basket of papers on our couch with another garbage bag on the floor there.

Also, Andrew found out the husband doesn’t like dogs – well, they met all 80 pounds of Joe-boy today!

This next thing is the most embarrassing one though –

I had a tube of petroleum jelly and a tube of diaper rash cream on our sink in our master bathroom because our kids needed these things last night and I didn’t put them away.

I can only imagine what went through their heads when they saw them.

I just hope the “buyers” don’t change their minds.

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Nia & Nate’s Daddy

4 Oct

There are so many wonderful stories I can tell about this man.  So many times I’ve watched him be a great dad and I’ve told him I think so – but it just seems to mean more if he really sees what I see.

There is nothing more sweet than seeing your little girl light up when daddy walks in the room.  Hearing her say “My daddy’s home” and seeing her run over to him to wrap her tiny arms around his neck.  It is the most comforting and secure feeling and was one of the hardest things to have to come to terms with when those call-up orders came last December.  I just kept thinking about our Nia and how different she would be without him here.

He’s always there to cheer them up when they’re sad – never hesitates to make himself uncomfortable so they can be more comfortable – forgets about eating a bowl of cereal/any food/drink by himself because our little mooch Nia will want some – always lends a hand by giving the boy his bath and night time bottle – leaves work instead of me sometimes when the kids need to stay home or go to the doctor – – –

He makes them giggle like no other person can.  It’s the little things he does – either by tossing them up in the air and catching them (making me worry about head injuries or broken bones) or by rolling the boy back and forth using his head to push Nate around (making me worry Nate’s going to get angry).  Andrew always knows what’s best – he just shakes his head at me like I’m a worry-wart and then tells the kids “Momma’s silly huh?”  Nia, naturally, agrees with the one who’s making her laugh and says, “Yeah, momma’s silly.”  And the boy, well, anything his daddy does is pretty cool with him.  He just smiles and lets out a big baby laugh whenever daddy’s involved.

When Andrew gets angry though – boy oh boy – you don’t want to miss what might come out of his mouth.  I thank his dad because I’ve heard he had some great lines – but I think Andrew had the BEST one EVER the other night.  It was a warning to Nia who hadn’t taken her nap and was out of control – he said, “You’re going to make me so mad you won’t even believe I’m me.”  Granted – she’s only 3 and I think that was a little too deep for her to grasp – but I thought it was brilliant!  I repeated it a few times so I wouldn’t forget it.  “you won’t even believe I’m me.”  Wow.  And, I truly believe he is the one to blame for the “I wanna listen” line.  I mean nothing I could possibly even think to say could have spawned that one.  I think he might have said something like, “Do you want me to get angry? Well then listen.”  See?  As Nia would say, “Daddy did it!”

I think about the kind of dad he’ll be when the kids are ready to date/drive/get tattoos and I can’t wait to experience all of it with him. I’m so very thankful for him – as the father of my children and the love of my life.  Every day I wonder what I did to get so lucky.  I know I would not be the mom I am if I didn’t have a dad like him on my team.  I’m just glad he and I are in this parenting thing together.

Naptime Daddy

Much Better

23 Sep

Because it smells clean, is it?  The want-to-be-normal side of me says sure – why not?  The paranoid-germ-o-phobe side of me says the nice smell is just covering up something gross.  No matter – the smell and look of this hotel room makes it WORLDS better than the one we stayed at two weeks ago.

Something that appeared (I hoped) was chocolate was splattered on the wall –
Crumbs/bottle caps/barbie shoes/hair clips covered the carpet in places –
Some sort of black crud that Nia called poopie lurked under the rim of the shower –
Several stains of who knows what were accenting the couch designs –

The first night there I actually cried about how disgusting the place was.  I cried because I was so upset at myself for worrying so much about it.  Andrew felt awful.  (He spent a lot of time trying to find a hotel that allowed dogs and offered two adjoining rooms so we could veg together like we’re used to while the kids slept.)  He said we could leave but we had just got everything in the room and it was really late – I wasn’t going to go that far – instead I ended up going just about a block away from that far.

I bought:

  • Comet to scrub the tub
  • Disinfecting wipes to remove any spot I saw and clean anything my kids touched
  • One of those new sticky broom things to collect the crap on the floor

I also made Andrew buy two blankets – one so I would feel better when Nia sat on the couch- another so I would feel better when Nate crawled on the floor.  I even built a barricade of sorts around the blanket so there was no way his hands touched the carpet.

I know – I’m a freak. Even when we got home I continued to drive Andrew nuts with my worrying.  He came up to me and said “Why are the bags in the hall?  I had already put them in the bedroom.”  Knowing he would seriously wonder if he needed to get me professional help if I told him why I replied, “You don’t even want to know.”  “Oh, come on,” he said.  “Well, I heard that bedbugs can travel and I didn’t want the bags next to our bed just in case.”

Now comes the best line from Andrew – “Should I burn the bags?”

Of course, that didn’t happen – but it was tempting to me.  Instead, we packed up those same bags last night and are now at another hotel – a much cleaner hotel.  At least it smells that way.

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But Why?

21 Sep

I can’t believe this has already started.  I mean I knew it would, just about everyone goes through it, I just thought it would happen a little later in the growing-up years.

Driving home on Abercorn tonight Nia was looking through a toy magazine.  This, of course, is dangerous because she says she wants 85% of the goodies in it.  (She favors the princess/barbie/pretend play toys.)

Her telling me to look back at her as she points out everything she wants wasn’t the milestone that made me throw my head back and let out a groan of exhaustion/amusement – it was this…

“Look momma, Elmo!”
“Uh-huh – he’s so cute huh?”
“You’re not looking momma.”
“Nia, honey, momma’s gotta drive – I can’t look back at you – if I do we might boo-boo the car – ok?”
“Ok.  Momma – he’s in a box.  Why is he in a box?”
“Because that’s how he comes.”
“But why?”
“Um – he has to come that way.”
“Buy why?”
“Ah – (as I’m trying to avoid hitting a car that decided it was going to brake hard before merging into the turning lane without a signal) because it keeps him safe.”
“Can I have him?”
“Remember I told you yesterday that Santa might bring him for you.” (what she doesn’t know is that Aunt Sissy and Uncle Brian Santa already have him at their workshop!)
“Santa will bring him tomorrow?”
“No – not tomorrow – at Christmas.”
“But why?”
“Because we have to wait – this is only September – we still have to have October, November and December.  Then in December is -”
“Santa!”
“Well – yes – Santa – but also Christmas.” (You know, I’m trying to teach the REAL meaning and all…)
“But I want him now.”
“We have to wait sweetie.”
“But why?”

Each time she would ask I would shake my head in disbelief and laugh.  Seriously, I thought I had, like, at least, I don’t know, 5 more years until the “but why” phase.  I remember asking my mom when I was like 10 or something.  Now I understandably know why she eventually resorted to those lines parents use – “just because ok!” – “because I said so!” – “for the love of God how many times are you going to ask me? do you want me to pull every hair out of my head and bounce my skull off a wall at the same time?  i mean are you doing research for some project that has a grade of life or death!”  Ok – my parents never said that last one – but I’m pretty sure many felt like that after years of answering why – right?

Please don’t get me wrong – I know how important it is for her to know why – she’s trying to figure all this stuff out and I feel so lucky to be able to help her do it.  I love to watch her mind working as she tries to digest what I just told her. It’s  so precious and innocent. I just hope I’m giving her the right answers!

What's Up Elmo?

I know I just need to have patient and do my best trying to teach her because soon this part of childhood will pass and I’ll be faced with many other tough questions/trying times. And, it’s likely I’ll return the experience someday – you know when she’s 16 and wants to stay out late on a school night/drive my car/go on a date – I’ll be sure to ask her “but why?” and keep asking until she comes up with an answer I like!

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Am I Doing This Right?

20 Sep

It’s something I asked  myself today as I tried to win a battle with a 3-year-old.

It started just as I was finishing up getting ready for work.  I don’t know what caused it – she wasn’t in trouble or even about to get in trouble – I was just telling her it was almost time to go.  That began an INSANE amount of “I wanna listens.”

I decided I would try to ignore her.  Before I started this challenge I told her, “Mommy isn’t going to talk to you until you stop saying that.  OK?  As soon as you’re finished we’ll talk.”

It’s like I didn’t even say it. I even ran the vacuum and she kept repeating it!  I also tried humming some happy-sounding tune that I made up – but she didn’t miss a beat with her whine. In fact, she did not stop until I had both her and her brother buckled in the car seats and I was backing down the driveway!  And, the only reason she stopped is because she tricked me!  She had been silent for not even two seconds when she said, “Momma?”  Relieved to hear something other than those 3 horrible words, I braked, turned and looked at her and replied, “Yes?”

“I wanna listen.”

After that I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and explained again that I would only talk to her when she was finished.  Finally, she stopped and I told her I wasn’t mad at her – I just thought it was silly to say it over and over again and that she just needed to listen – not say it.

So, did I do the right thing?  Did I cause security issues because I ignored her?  Is there a better way?  I just don’t want to do this whole parenting thing wrong.  It felt so awful to ignore her cries – I only hope it helps stop or at least reduces the ridiculousness.

I guess I’ll find out tomorrow!

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Right now I should be…

16 Sep

getting the house ready for another “showing” tomorrow.

That means cleaning, tweaking and hiding.  I should be doing things like washing the dishes, scrubbing the dog drool off the windows, sweeping the fur balls off of the floor, stuffing paperwork/clothes/personal items in places a possible buyer likely won’t open and doing all the other gazillion things our realtor told us other realtors thought would make a difference.

Will moving the living room furniture around really be the key to sold?  So far – no.

Will making it look like we don’t have a dog be the answer?  So far – no.

How about moving furniture out of our bedrooms only to crowd them in the garage?  You guessed it – so far – no.

It’s not that I think it all won’t help – I just thought if someone really likes our house then it won’t matter how we have it.  I mean, they’re not buying the furniture and after the houses we looked at to buy our house is spotless!

In one house the carpet was DISGUSTING.  We would have to replace every bit of it.  Also, the microwave that comes with the house – covered in splattered food.  I know that’s something I can clean but come on!  You know you’re trying to sell your house – you know people are going to be inspecting it to see if it’s for them – the least you can do is wipe out your microwave!

I know I’m picky but there are lots of people like that (and much worse) and their houses sell so I have a pretty good feeling mine will too without having to rent a storage place to hide all of the furniture we’re stacking in the garage or repaint the house or resod the yard or lose my mind!

Buy Me

Despite feeling that way though, I know as soon as I leave this computer I will do everything I don’t feel like doing – hoping it will be the last time I have to do it.

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