Remember when we left Texas and I had a huge list of things to do and we were up until 3am working and still didn’t quite finish it all?  Yeah, we’re there.  Movers will be here Monday.  I have a mile long to-do list and a mile long to-pack list running a mile a minute in my head.  Crazy up in here, ya’ll.  I’ll update when there’s no more time to get stuff done.

So.

Two kids are a little tougher than I expected. Or, rather, there are things about two kids that are tougher. Getting anything done, for instance. Every time I start something, I have to stop and change a diaper, or get a bowl of cereal, or clean up a bowl of cereal from the floor, or change another diaper, or feed a baby, or change my shirt because the baby spit up on me, or change the baby because he spit up on himself, or change another diaper. And by “or”, I mean “AND”.

In between all of that I’m doing laundry (why did no one tell me the laundry would multiply by 10 just by adding one small baby??), or doing dishes, or cleaning the living room/bedrooms/bathrooms, etc. And then if I do manage to get something done, the Toddler Tornado goes through again and destroys it.

And did I mention the packers will be here a week from today to pack up all my crap for the move? A week, people. That means we’ve also had cleaners (house and carpet) coming by the give us quotes. I’m a realist. If I can’t manage to keep it decent most days, there is no way I’m going to be able to do a move-out clean by myself while watching 2 kids with no TV to help. We’ll just hire people. I don’t even care how much it costs. Mr. Silly insisted on getting way too many quotes, which meant I had people randomly showing up with no notice because he forgot to tell me about it. More often than not, I answered the door in my pajamas with spit-up all over me, holding a crying baby while Smushy ran around like crazy in the background.

Plus we have all this other stuff going on to get ready for the move, like cleaning out the car and figuring out how I’m supposed to fit everything in it since during my initial, pre-baby planning, I did not take into consideration the frequency and volume of Doodle’s spit-up (and it is impressive) and there are no laundry stops. Which means I’m going to need a lot more shirts and burp cloths (though we use receiving blankets as burp cloths because it is IMPRESSIVE!) So! We need to have a roof rack storage thingy installed, so we have to call the dealer and have them order the bar part so they can install it when we go in for our 30,000 mile pre-cross-country-move stuff on Saturday, which is also the day we have to clean out the garage since we have the trash people coming by that day to pick up all the big trash we’ve collected.

And Smushy is in a particularly SUCK ASS phase right now. The not listening, running away in busy parking lots, saying “no” to everything I tell her to do/not do, being loud, making messes, laugh in your face when you try to discipline (ding ding ding! Mommy’s biggest red button), non-napping, annoying as all hell phase. I do not know what I’m doing. I feel like a complete failure. I am that bad mother who can not control her child. I hate that. I don’t want to be this way, I just can’t figure out what the hell to do about it.

Her behavior and his fussy evenings (fussy=crying/screaming) added on to everything else we have going on is just wearing on me. By the time we get both kids to sleep, I have no desire to do anything productive. Unless facebook, message boards, and iPhone games are considered productive these days.

I keep telling myself things will be better after we move and that Doodle won’t be in this screaming all evening phase forever and eventually I will figure out what to do about Smushy or her suck ass phase will end on it’s own. Things will get better. Just working on getting there.

My Mac was saved!  Everything is perfect and functioning as it should.  I think we are going to break down and get another Macbook though since Mr. Silly’s PC is a piece of crap.  I honestly don’t know how he hasn’t been complaining about it constantly because I would not be able to stand it.  I was stuck with it for less than a week and I complained a lot.  It wouldn’t let me check my email or update my Facebook status!  It would get all wonky for no good reason.  Stupid PC.  So now Mr. Silly gets huge points for not being whiny and will probably inherit my 15″ Macbook while I get a 13″ Macbook.  I’d like something smaller and more portable and he could use the bigger screen to watch movies on deployment.  And then I can also get a huge ass desktop for photo processing and stuff like that.  Win win!

And now on to the list!

• Doodle likes booby.
• And that’s pretty much the only thing he consistently likes.
• The swing?  Rarely.  And only for about 3 minutes.
• The bouncer?  Pretty much never.
• The car/carseat?  Meh.  Sometimes.  Sorta.
• Doodle does not like baths.
• Or being naked.
• Or being cold.
• He is quite possibly the gassiest, burpiest baby IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!
• He rarely likes sleeping in his pack-n-play at night.  He prefers to sleep rightnexttomommy.  Which means I don’t get to shift or turn or move.  I am not a fan, but if it helps him sleep (and me sleep), we’ll go with it.
• I did not need to worry about Smushy being jealous.
• She is seriously an awesome big sister.  Always helping and giving him hugs and snuggles.  I am shocked!
• Smushy was a VERY easy baby.  Doodle isn’t hard or anything in the grand scheme of all things baby, but he does amplify how VERY EASY Smushy was.
• The second time around is so much easier/harder than the first time.
• Easier because I don’t panic about every little cry.  I feel like I know what I’m doing (a little.  Sorta.)
• Harder because there are two of them and one of me.  Sometimes (a lot) they both need something at the same time and I have to pick which to deal with first.  Which means the other one is mad and yelly and grrr!
• You CAN have a good eater and a good sleeper at the same time.  My theory has been debunked.  Doodle eats. (see previous bullet)  All. the. time.  He sleeps well during the day and at night.  Evening SUCK.
• When Smushy naps, Doodle is awake.  That kinda stinks.
• Babies who eat a lot, poop a lot.  I think I forgot how much babies poop.
• I have not yet figured out how to take care of 2 children AND the cleaning.  It’s coming along, but I’m not there yet.
• I am an awesome c-section recoverer.

So now that I’ve crossed Have A Baby off my to do list, next we have Get Ready To Move (Again).  (Didn’t we just get here?  Like 7 months ago?  The answer is yes.  Yes we did.)  We set up the internet move stuff last night.  Movers should be here in about a month to pack us up.  I am so not looking forward to a cross country trip in a car with a toddler and a baby who doesn’t love the car.  We’ve worked out some of the details like where everyone will sit in the minivan (I will be in the back to deal with kid stuff.) and what we need to do to get ready and what we need to pack.  It’s coming along.

Have some pictures!

I don’t get why this always happens to us.

The home owner called me yesterday to let me know they’ve listed the house for rent (obviously for after we move) and she has had a couple of people show interest and want to see it.  I panic.  Mr. Silly has been gone for a few days for work and I am here all by my huge self and the house looks like crap.  I let her know that and ask if it can wait until Mr. Silly is home so I can put him to work.  She is awesome.  The owners of this house have been awesome since day 1.  She insists she will let me schedule people to come by at my convenience and not to worry about it.

Whew.

She called again today to let me know there is someone else and the husband is flying in to look at the place.  He’ll only be here Monday and Tuesday.  Of course.  It’s fine really since Mr. Silly will be home soon and, while it does look like crap, it’s not really that bad and won’t take terribly long to clean.  When the wife called, I let her know Monday morning would be best.  Smushy will be at school and we don’t have to keep it clean for too long.

Really, none of this is a big deal.  It’s not like the last place we lived where they would show up without calling first and put a ton of pressure on us to keep everything perfect, going so far as to suggest we hire a cleaning service.  The difference is night and day.  I would rent from the current owners forever if I could.  We have only had a couple things come up and they were taken care of immediately.  They don’t bother us, we don’t bother them.  It’s perfect, really.

The ONLY thing is.  I’m about to have a baby.  I’m having a hard time focusing on much else these days.  I can’t physically keep up with the mess.  The house never looks perfect.  Trying to figure out the best days and times for someone to come by is starting to stress me out.  Already.  And it just started yesterday.  I just feel like my brain is at capacity right now and I don’t have room for anything else.

For instance.  My dad and step-mom called last night to find out our travel plans for the move.  They’ve been talking about doing a huge family reunion and want to plan it around us so we can be there.  So I’m bombarded with whens and wheres and how longs and I just start spacing.  For one thing, I don’t know.  I just.  Don’t.  I don’t know this child.  I don’t know if he hates the car.  I don’t know if we’re going to have to drive in 20 minute increments the whole way.  I don’t know anything about him.  I have never done this before.  Plus, we have to get to the next place as quickly as possible so we can find a place to live and get unpacked before Mr. Silly leaves.  I don’t have a lot of time to kill.  Now they seem to think this is rectified by them flying to our next duty station and “helping”.  God please no.  (A whole other venty, angry, red blog post.)

And it doesn’t even matter because I can’t think about that yet.  No brain space.  I just wish people would let me get through this baby thing before adding anything else to my plate.  Really, I just need a couple more weeks and then we can talk details.

Until then, people should just shush.  My brain needs the quiet time.

(You are so welcome for the most disjointed blog post ever.  Anytime!)

A month by month list since I have a blog and can just look old stuff up.  Yay blog!

January- We started clomid to try to get pregnant.  We had been trying for 5 months at that point, but this was the first “serious” month.

February- The clomid failed.  We found out we would be moving to Rhode Island and then Washington state (our top choice!)

March- The clomid failed..again.  Mr. SIlly turned 30.  We took an epic road trip to CA, OR, and WA to visit family.  I got my iPhone and fell in love.

April- We went to a fair and Smushy got to “hold” her very first monkey.  I got my wisdom teeth removed.

May- More clomid.  Mother’s Day!  Mr. Silly and I celebrated our 7th anniversary.  I moved my blog.  Sorta.

June- We dealt with some house drama.  Took a weekend trip to Austin.  Clomid failed…AGAIN.

July- Had a garage sale and made a billion dollars selling baby stuff.  Found out the clomid worked and baby #2 would be making an entrance in March.  Smushy turned 2.  We celebrated by taking her to Sea World in San Antonio.

August- We found out there is just ONE baby in there.  I turned 29.  Lots of planning and prepping for the move.

September- My cat ran away.  We moved from Texas to Rhode Island.  I entered the 2nd trimester.  Lots of unpacking and organizing (Turns out, this never really ends.)  We went to a big fair thing and met up with a few mommies from my online mommy group.  Fun fun fun.

October- Mr. Silly went to VA for work for a couple of weeks.  When he got home we went apple picking and took Smushy to a corn maze.  Smushy started school for the first time.  We found out we would be having a little boy.  Smushy went trick-or-treating for the first time and had a blast!

November- Not much happened this month (at least that I blogged about).  We celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends.  I got huger.

December- We got our first snow and I got my car stuck in the mud in my yard and had t call a tow truck and cried a lot.  A mouse tried to kill me and I traumatized my kid.  Lots of Christmas prepping (shopping, cooking).  I started the 3rd trimester.  Finished the year celebrating my nephew’s 1st birthday with my sister and brother in law.

So, to recap: New home, new baby on the way, same old everything else.  Hooray!

It’s taking us a lot longer than usual to get settled, but this is the first time we’ve done this with a kid, so I suppose that’s to be expected.  There is a garage full of boxes yet to be unpacked.  Frankly, I’m ignoring them.  The upstairs (where we actually do most of the existing) is a mess.  A Mess!  I can’t seem to get a grip on things.

We’re buying furniture every other day (thank you, Ikea) and still waiting on Smushy’s big girl bed to get here.  I’m on a search for a small round accent table that doesn’t cost a bazillion dollars.  Please send me one.  And Mr. Silly is putting together a curio cabinet rightthisminute.  Over there —–>.

The adjuster guy is coming out on Friday to look at all the things that broke in the move.  Nothing major except my bed.  Though that’s major enough since it sucks sharing a mattress one the floor with Smushy.  Also, I hate trying to get up from down there.

I found a school for Smushy.  She starts next month-2 days a week, 4 hours a day.  Just long enough for me to do a little grocery shopping or fit in a doctor’s appointment.  I’m pretty excited about it since I know it’ll be really good for her.  She’s not so good at the sharing lately and I’m hoping this helps with that.  She’s excited about playing with all the new toys and making new friends.  Win-win.

Speaking of doctor’s appointments, I finally have one.  Friday.  14 weeks.  Better late than never and at least they got me in fast.  That bodes well.  I did hear that my insurance coverage may have changed and they may not do the 20 week ultrasound unless “medically necessary”.  I hope that isn’t the case since I’m sure some innocent insurance rep does not want to deal with me.  Poor little insurance people.

Tomorrow I will post actual pictures, including Smushy riding on an elephant.  Stay tuned.

Sorta.  Also, very glad passwords are saved on this computer since I do not remember any of them anymore.  Gotta fix that.

So we have a house that is mostly unpacked.  Kinda.  Adjustments are being made.  I missed the internet.  I mean, I had my phone and just yesterday figured out how to get my email to go from there to here, so I know you commented and I didn’t respond but that was because I was locked out.  So I’m sorry.  I suck.

More updating and maybe some crappy cell phone pics to come.

Highlights:

• My cat ran away in Texas the day we left and now I only have one cat.  *Sniffle*
• The house is ummm AMAZING.  Love.
• Rent is more expensive, but utilities are HELLA CHEAP.  Woo!
• Horses.  Right next door.  And it doesn’t even stink.
• Longest road trip ever.

Crap, I forgot.  My internet is leaving me tomorrow since the movers will pack it all away.  There are still approximately 2,346 things to do before they get here (tomorrow) and my ass hurts.  Mr. Silly is a total superstar and I am sitting on my butt.  Oddly enough, I’m actually the one more stressed about the whole thing.  He keeps telling me it doesn’t matter if everything gets done, they’re packing our crap up anyway.  And I know.  But still.

So.  In an effort to organize the chaos in my head, a list of crap that needs to get done before tomorrow.

• Throw away EVERYTHING from the fridge and clean it out completely.  This is the first ever place we’ve ever rented that didn’t come with a fridge.
• Clean up the playroom after Smushy goes to bed, which won’t be until 10pm since she took the latest nap ever.  Hell, we might as well start screwing the routine up now.  Not like it makes a difference, what with moving and all.
• Finish 2-3 loads of laundry.
• Wash all the dishes, clean off the counters and stove, clean the oven, and wipe down the cabinet fronts.
• Straighten up the guest room/office/ place we keep all the stuff that doesn’t have a home.
• Throw away a bunch of stuff.  I don’t even know what else to say about it.  There’s just a lot of crap.
• Pack.
• OMG pack.
• AAAAHHHH!!!!

Things to pack:

• Clothes for everyone to last as long as possible since I have no idea when we’ll be getting our stuff.
• Toiletries
• Cat carriers, litter box, food and water dish, food and water
• Air mattress because I do not sleep on the floor.  And pillows and a blanket. And Smushy’s crib toy that plays music.
• Toys
• Snacks
• Portable DVD player
• Propane Tank (and any other flammable items) since the movers won’t take it
• I just know I’m forgetting something.
• Oh right.  Laptops and camera.
• Important paper type things like birth certificates, social security cards, medical type things and bank statements.
• Diaper bag and diaper bad stuff.

Somehow fit everything in the minivan so the cats can get to food, water, litter box, and I can have as much legroom as possible so I can take a nap and also be able to reach toys and snacks to pass to the kid.  Did I mention we’re estimating it’s going to take about 4 driving days total?  Not counting the few days we’re stopping at my sister’s house?  Plus the house we’re supposed to be renting is not a sure thing yet and I’m getting really worried about that since I am so much in love with that house.

Me=Bundle of Nerves.

Also, this whole being pregnant thing is a lot more painful than last time.  There’s the whole ass hurting thing (sciatic pain) that last all evening and makes it so I can’t even walk.  Then I’m nauseous all morning.  And add in some Round Ligament Pain to spice it up a bit.

All in all, easy stress-free time over here.  Hooray!

Oy.

See you in Rhode Island.

Today I am 29 years old.  Or as Mr. Silly put it, “One year closer to 30.”  Isn’t he sweet.  Everyone should have a Mr. Silly.

I wasn’t even going to announce it.  Mostly because there is so much going on this year.  I have never been one of those people to forget their birthday.  And I didn’t this year either.  But I came very close to it.  Mr. Silly got me a Wii game that we can play together.  It’s actually pretty fun.  Something about resort something or other.  He insisted I open it (as in, open the plastic store bag) right after he got home.  We are not big into surprises.  He also got me a gift certificate for a pedicure on Mother’s Day that I’m redeeming tomorrow.  But I don’t know how much it counts as a birthday present.

Tomorrow night (tonight?  I don’t really count it as the day until I’ve gone to sleep and woke up the next morning.  Midnight Schmidnight.) we’re going to my favorite Japanese restaurant with the yummiest food ever!  Smushy likes the miso soup and making huge messes with her rice.  It’ll be perfect.  Well, almost.  We do have to be there at 5:30 ish since it’s a Friday night and they get busy fast.  Plus it’s not the quickest place and 2 year olds all have time limits and I don’t care how good they are.  But we’ll make do.

I’m also thinking of going to the mall for a little shopping.  Like maternity pants.  It’s not that I really need them right now, but I need them right now.  It’s the bloat.  And I don’t want to have to buy a bigger size of regular pants just because it’s not really “baby” causing the belly. Mostly late night carbs.  Mmmmmm.  Plus, I’m going to need them eventually.  I mean, I can’t go out in my comfy lounge pants all winter, even if they are SO COMFY.  Seriously.  Go buy some.  From Target.  I think they’re called “dorm pants”.  You’re welcome.

Also, we are so busy busy busy over here.  We are officially out of here next Friday.  The movers will be here Wednesday and Thursday.  Plus we have to clean.  Mostly Mr. Silly.  Cuz I’m pregnant and shouldn’t be around cleaning fumes.  Shut up, it is too true.  (Right?  I mean I just figured.  Whatever, he doesn’t read my blog and I am soooo milking this.)  Not to mention the pre-mover cleaning including washing an entire playhouse.  Bird poop and sidewalk chalk.  We’re dealing with that this weekend.

Also, my 7 year old cat ran away, but now he’s back so there isn’t really a story there.

Heh.  Sounds so artsy.

• Our A/C stopped working.  In Texas.  In the Summer.  Suck on that for a while.  It works now and I am back to being cool and happy.  Ahhhhhh.
• We (Mr. Silly) painted the nursery from the green when Smushy was born to white to get a jump on moving preps.  It took For.Ev.Er to get all the furniture moved back in there.  It looks much better now and so does my living room.  No more junk everywhere!  (Ok, some junk everywhere, but not as much and we’ll be working on it tonight to get ready for…)
• Realtors are coming to poke through my things tomorrow morning.  It is so weird having strangers roam through the house and even stranger when it happens and I’m not here.
• We’ve decided to have a garage sale.  I’ve never done one.  How does it even go.  In our city, you have to pay for a garage sale permit, but they advertise it for you with signs and online.  I’ve started a list of crap I want to get rid of.  A lot of furniture and kitchen stuff.  I wish we’d figured this out before because I have donated 2.7 million bags of clothes and toys to various charities over the past month.  Not that I would want to sell it and not give to charity, but I feel like my garage sale will be empty of stuff.  How much stuff should I have?  And can I possibly get away with not tagging anything and just putting a big sign out that reads: “Make Me An Offer.  No, Really.”?  Would you be more likely to buy someone else’s crap if there were free lemonade?  Keep in mind, Texas.  Summer.
• The nap thing I referred to has sorta fixed itself.  She learned to climb out of her crib and fought naps for a week then just got bored and started sleeping in her crib again.  Self-fixing Toddler!  Woot!  Also, tonight she asked to sleep in the big girl bed (queen mattress on the floor) and I let her.  So that’s where she is for the very! first! time!  I’m not as nervous as I thought I’d be.  Mostly curious.
• My laptop has been acting kooky for the past week.  It seemed like a virus, so i ran a virus scan.  Nothing.  Then I ran a spyware scan.  Nothing.  Then I ran a boot scan.  Nothing.  So I figured maybe it was the operating system.  So I wiped the whole. damn. thing. and restored it.  And oh look at that STILL NOT WORKING RIGHT.  So fuck it.  I bought a Mac.  Should be here later this week.  We had already planned on switching, but it just happened a little early.  Also, Macbooks are crazy expensive.  So we got a desktop.  I’ll deal with my stupidbrokenPOSlaptop for a while and get a Macbook later.  Sooooon.  Mr.Silly can take over the desktop.  Poor guy always gets my electronic seconds.