Brady had to work this morning, which is not our favorite thing, to say the least. But luckily, he finished up his stuff in just a few hours and was home before lunch. When he got home, we had the Tims breakfasts he brought for us, and then very seriously got to work around our house. I’m sure our “very seriously” isn’t everyone elses “very seriously” but it was a really good day for us. People speak of this rewarding feeling they have after a solid day of work, and I can rarely relate to such a feeling, but this evening I am SO sore, and while its incredibly painful (pelvis still out of place, and now angrier than ever) it proves that I really put my back into it today.

Our main focus was the entrance to our house. The floor is just basic lino but it had a seam directly in the high traffic area. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad had it not gotten so freezing. It all curled up and chunks of it kept breaking off and tripping people. It needed replacing. So we bought some other basic lino a while back, and today was the day to swap it out. Peeling the old stuff off was going to take forever just using a pry bar, and we debated just laying the new stuff overtop, but instead, we opted to do the best job we could do, and did some research. We didn’t have a heat gun, but I offered my hair dryer, and it worked pretty well! It took two of us to get it all removed and all the glue up, but it was fun to actually do one of the bigger tasks together. I am sooo thankful for our relaxed kids! Dekker, our self-appointed “tough worker” wanted to help for a while, but when his toy saw wouldn’t do the job, he and Laela just stood in the doorway and watched.

We realized after a few strips of flooring that we were melting glue, and it really smelled like it! So we completed this job towards the end of the kids naps. (Conveniently, I’m not pregnant! So no big fume worries for me!)

In the beginning of nap time, we didn’t want to make too much noise with the dryer constantly turning on and off, so we decided to do some of the jobs that were more on my list next. We cleaned out our bedside tables, which has desperately needed doing for so long, considering our bedside tables are open shelving units, so no mess can be hidden. We tidied up a few piles of random messes that had been accumulating in our bedroom. Our room was pretty much the first room that we considered to be finished, but it really wasn’t. It was the most finished, for sure, but there were still big messy piles of mostly garbage. So we got those taken care of, finally. Our room looks pretty much awesome now, if I do say so myself.

Once the kids were up, Brady lay the new flooring down in the entrance while supper cooked. We had these delicious sweet and sour meatballs over sour cream mashed potatoes. Our church has graciously given us a bunch of meals over the last week or two, to help us out after bringing Rowan home, and what a tasty help they have been! While those things were going on, I grabbed a magic eraser and cleaned the front of our cabinets. They used to be white, and then they were grey, and now they’re white again!!! However, the doors and drawer fronts alone used up a whole magic eraser!!! Its not a big deal, as in we have tons of them, but those things usually go a lot further! Turns out our cabinets really really needed help! I haven’t even touched the door frames or the space around the doorknobs yet! I also cleaned inside the washer, the outside of the washer (how does a “washer” get so dirty?!) and put a load of laundry through.

Supper was unbelievable. Dekker loved it, which is not common with anything new or even new looking. Laela ate it happily, as she does with everything. And Brady and I ate lots too. It really hit the spot after a day of chores. After supper, I did the dishes and Brady nailed the entrance baseboards back on. Then, it was almost the kids bedtime and they really needed baths. So Brady bathed Dekker and Laela together in the tub and I took a stab at bathing Rowan in the kitchen sink. He’s a bit tall for it, and tried to stand a number of times, but luckily, I was expecting that and prevented many head bonks. It was actually a pretty adorable bath.

Now everyone is in bed, except Brady and I, but we need to soak in the tub first. Priorities, guys!

Speaking of priorities, we have a goal in mind for our house, and when we want to list it. I’m always scared to share that kind of thing because its so much more embarrassing to fail when so many people know, so I won’t this time. But we’re very seriously getting on these last few jobs, cleaning, and preparing. In a BIG way. So if we’re not particularly available over the next little while, don’t take it personally. Or just come to us and be prepared to work!! We welcome all 🙂

** On the not of listing this place very, very soon, I need tips and names and information from you guys who have, in fact, done this before! A realtor we could afford would be great to know, as well as someone to appraise the place. We’re hoping to sell privately, but we’re also sort of scratching at the door to get this show on the road, and I’m not sure we’ll last too long!! Advise us!!!!!

***** 1000 POSTS!!!! Thanks for being such loyal readers and keeping me motivated to write! I cannot believe its been ONE THOUSAND POSTS!!!!! *****

Instead of 6:00am, Rowan bumped his early morning feed til 7:15! He must love me. On a normal day, I DO NOT feel ready to get up so early, but for some reason, I felt nice and rested this morning!! I knew getting up early would give me the opportunity to get a lot of work done around the house but, for whatever reason, I was blanking on what job I could really even start on my own. I wrote a status update on Facebook saying how rested I felt, and was thoroughly blessed by a text very soon after from a friend that resulted in a date! An honorary sister of sorts from high school had a baby a few months back and I had yet to meet him. Also, having not seen each other in forever, she had never met any of my kids!! It was more than time for us to get together, so she packed up her son and made the trip.

We had such a nice afternoon together, if I can be so bold. It was so nice to catch up! Well, I don’t even know if I can call it that, because we didn’t go too terribly far back. Just to the point of having kids, basically 🙂 It was fun to swap stories and experiences and opinions. I think we agreed on a lot, which isn’t a necessity but is always pretty refreshing. The kids were very comfortable with her around, to the point of Dekker asking her to read him stories. Her little boy was SUCH a ray of sunshine, and seemed to really have eyes for Laela, never without a smile just for her. He took a really nice long nap while we all had lunch together downstairs. Its so nice when our guests are comfortable enough to eat in our basement on the sunken couches.

Eventually my kids went down for naps too and we chatted a bit more while she fed her babe. But the show must go on, and she had to head out soon afterwards. But it was such a lovely, refreshing visit for me! It was so nice to have someone in the house to talk to and relate to. And it was great to fill a good chunk of the day with something/someone much more important and enjoyable than housework and planning and stress.

Friend, you know who you are 🙂 Please come again!! You were such a bright spot in my day!!

We have waited for today for the last week, and it finally came! We got our call yesterday evening that Dekkers new glasses arrived! However, the call came in shortly before closing, so we couldn’t exactly race into the city to pick them up. However, we had plans to come in today anyway, so it worked out.

Rowan had his newborn hearing test at 3:00, and without mincing words, that whole experience was a bit of an ego hit. I brought our entire family to the wrong hospital. I brought Rowan in on my own, because you’re not supposed to bring other kids, and thank the good Lord we only made it as far as admitting before we figured it out. Of course, they called their audiology department and they laughed at me and told me they’d call the right audiology people at the right hospital. They also did me the favor of giving the right people my cell number so they could promptly call me back and laugh at me some more. But it was ok. I rolled with it. Such is life, right? The receptionist gave me directions for how to get to their offices, and told me that my being late wouldn’t cause any problems. A relief, right? So Brady and the kids picked me up and took Rowan and I to the right hospital. Where I got us lost almost instantly. I knew the directions in my head, but I went down to the ground level too soon, and my goodness, that is most definitely not the right way. I asked numerous people (in scrubs and white coats!) where to find audiology and NO ONE KNEW!! They all kind of kept pointing me in the direction I was already going, and said things like “It makes more sense for it to be that way than going back.” Helpful, right? Helpful until I found myself in the ICU. I think it was at that point that I officially looked just as lost as I felt, and someone came to my rescue. I told her where I was trying to go, and she began saying “Ok, go all the way back.” I think I wilted a little bit right on the spot, and she just gave me a really sympathetic smile and said “Why I don’t I walk you there?” I didn’t backpedal, or worry about her inconvenience like I normally would. I just responded “Yes please!” and off we went. She took me just about all the way, and pointed me down the right hallway. What a relief! And wow!, had I been in the wrong place! I went to register Rowan and the receptionist brushed off my apologies for being late and awkward and weird and having a bad sense of direction. She said it was incredibly common and not to worry about it. We didn’t wait too long before we were taken into a room about the size of my closet for the hearing test. I LOVED the girl that ran the tests! She left Rowan quietly sleeping in his car seat while she checked him all out, and we had a good laugh about my adventure getting there, as well as the joys of having kids and how things change from one to the next. It was really comfortable, and nice to sit for a few minutes! When we were done, she walked me to the end of the hall and directed me how to get out. And guess what. I didn’t get lost. It was stupidly, embarrassingly easy. So like I said in the beginning of this post, my pride definitely took a hit today, but I think thats good for us once in a while anyway, so I laughed about it and called it my exercise for the day.

When we got back to the van, Dekker asked immediately where we were going next. The twinkle in his eye was unmistakable. He knew.

“We’re going to get your brand new Lightening McQueen glasses, Dekker” I said. He burst out laughing.
“Thats pretty silly, mommy!!!”

I don’t even need to really say how that pick up went…

I tried to take a nice, outside picture of him but clearly, it was MUCH too sunny 🙂  

Lightaqueen!

He was SO thrilled! He wore them beautifully throughout the evening, and by his attitude, you could tell he felt like a million bucks!

We wanted to celebrate the excitement and go out for supper as a family, but it was around 4:15, so a bit too early. We had very few things we needed to get from the city at all, but needing to stall, we decided to get all four of the things off of our grocery list from Superstore. Judge if you must, but the free cookie makes everything better, and our kids appetites don’t appear to be spoiled by it, so we just go for it. Never at home, but Superstore is an exception. So we grabbed our few items, plus a couple of makeup things for me, and then headed over to the bakery for the kids cookies.

Happy kids 🙂 Cookie kids.

And the cookie kids cute little feet!

We finally headed to supper, at the Broadway Cafe. Fast food is sooo much easier, and I never have to worry about the kids being kind of noisy in a Wendys, but Broadway Cafe is yummy and also kid friendly, but nicer. And they actually did awesome! We all had really yummy food, and besides Laela’s really loud, high pitched, happy screams, we stayed relatively under the radar and were just a normal family, eating supper.

Dekker had so many questions about the pictures on the walls and what the cars were named.

This was Laela’s first time eating supper just sitting on a chair instead of in a high chair. She did awesome! And yes, she still has chocolate all over her face from the cookie.

Aaand thats the extent of what Rowan did through supper. He didn’t make a sound. He sat in his bucket beside me, and fell asleep. No soother used, no rocking of his seat even. Just slept.

It was a TOTALLY successful day! I’m very happy with Rowan and the positive results on his hearing test. I’m excited to see Laela understanding more and more every day, and starting to pretend. And I’m thrilled with Dekker’s new glasses, and how much he likes to wear them. He looks awesome and he knows it, as he should.

I had a different blog planned out for today but, to be completely honest, today was sort of a gong show, and I don’t have too much left in me. Not enough emotion or patience or really desire to write something out well. So instead, I will simply tell you that the kids were a special group today. Dekker was probably in trouble more than he was out of it today. Because of his crazy actions that put him in trouble, Laela was freaked of him, and screamed like crazy every time he approached her. It made it hard for him to right his wrong when he couldn’t get near her. And then when she would approach him, he would freak and whine and completely shut down from listening, resulting in further trouble. It was never ending.

Rowan was incredibly user friendly today, which was both wonderfully refreshing, as well as ominous. He was quite so easy because he has slept all day. It sounds great, but I’m a bit nervous for tonight. We never have a problem getting him back to sleep after a night feeding, but he hasn’t slept this much in the day for a while. Nerve wracking. But it was a squishy, cuddly day with him.

Once everyone was napping, I gathered up a ton of the craft stuff and office supplies that was spread out all over the house, and started organizing. It honestly took most of the afternoon, but of course the job spread. So not only do I have all the office supplies tidy and by the desk, but I also have all the craft stuff tubbed, the junk drawer under control, and my bedside table looks great. Its been sooo messy and held so many things for too long. Now, its pretty again. Oh, and I took out a ton of garbage.

I hid from Dekker and Laela until Brady got home. After a day like that, I had a pretty unbelievable headache. We whipped up some leftovers for everyone, and ate all together. Dekker broke a big rule towards the end of the meal and I sent him to his room. I don’t revel in my kids being punished in any way, but I had to laugh. From the dining room, we heard him wailing. He used to just cry, but now he says all kinds of things. Today, he said “Aw, that was sad!” and “I’m super sad!” I had to laugh at his perspective, but I was also incredibly proud of him expressing how he was feeling with words instead of through screaming. We have working towards that for so long!

There wasn’t much time left in the kids day by the time we were done with all the time outs and supper, so they played in the kitchen a bit while Brady and I did the dishes, and then we brought them downstairs to tidy toys up. They did pretty good through that, and we even convinced them to “race” up the stairs and to their room. It was relatively smooth, but I feel completely drained. Which is so strange to me! I’ve felt quite 100%-esque for the last while, and I’m finding myself at a bit of a loss with these feelings! I’m certainly not panicked or even really anxious, which in and of itself is refreshing, but I may be getting my first real taste of the exhaustion that so many moms feel at the end of the day. Interesting…

Tomorrow, the kids and I will venture into the city for Rowans hearing test. I didn’t even think of it, but when we left the hospital so soon after he was born, he didn’t have his newborn auditory screening. Whoops! So we were sent a scheduled appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, its late enough in the afternoon that Brady will probably be done work and be able to come with us. Also, just this evening, I received the exciting phone call that Dekker’s new glasses are in!!! I told him about it just before supper, and he headed for the door. He’s really excited to get them and wear them and be all fresh and shiny. I’m pretty excited too, honestly. I found them online and just love them more and move every time I go look at them. Just you guys wait!

Sorry about the somewhat angsty post. I love my life exactly as its been given to me, but some days I just get the shivers, and then a headache. The tub can’t come soon enough!

I went to concert choir tonight for the first time in a long time. Jerilee and I have missed the last three weeks! I had Rowan three weeks ago, so the hooky started there, the Tuesday the week after was filled with appointments that filled the day enough, and the next week Jerilee couldn’t speak a word without hacking out her lungs. So we’re finally out of survival mode and back into life, and it was sooo nice to be back!

We were freakishly early but stalled for a little bit in the parking lot before going into the school. When we finally went in, we chatted a bit with a few people and eventually found seats. It was SUCH a good evening for singing!! I know we’ve missed those weeks but it was nice to come into a more confident sound, thanks to the singers who had attended more diligently and learned their parts. It was so easy to get right back into the swing of things. I am completely excited to perform the songs in April. You should really all come. Its going to be epic.

After practice, we doddled a little bit, waiting to speak to the director to see if we needed to get any new music from the last few weeks, and ended up visiting with her for about an hour and a half! She is a woman who Jerilee and I both hold quite dear, and it was good to finally get a solid visit in with her. We learned more about how concert choir is going to look the day of, which made me even more excited, but we discussed life, an depth, and real things that made me sooo happy we stayed late!

I left my house at 5:30, and expected to be home before 9:00, but I was finally in my room at 11:11. SO worth it! Now to get some sleep before tomorrow is in full swing. My plans for the day fell through, but maybe I’ll get some cleaning or tidying done. Just a few little problem areas in my house that insist on being out of place for some reason. Dang you, countertop. You’ve got a lot of nerve being so conveniently placed and willing to hold everything I own.

We met with a builder today. Before we all get ahead of ourselves, no, we have not sold our house or even listed it. There is still lots to do. However, we spoke to our mortgage broker a month or so ago, and she advised us to get our numbers together and find out exactly how much our build would cost, so we could get a more accurate idea of what we needed, how much to list for, and things like that. We booked the appointment last week with the main salesman/owner of the builder that we’re going with. This morning, we dropped Dekker off to have a much needed one on one date with my mom, and we took Laela and Rowan to their nearby show home to meet.

We met for TWO HOURS! I first have to say that my kids are awesome. Rowan slept silently in his bucket the entire time, and Laela tried to terrorize Rowan and wandered around and unpacked the diaper bag until she got very tired, when I picked her up and she fell asleep on me for the first time in probably a year! It was sweet. And heavy. We stood through the whole meeting and only now is my body screaming at me. Maybe it wasn’t smart for me to free stand while holding my limp daughter for quite that long. But it was sweet and totally worth it.

Without getting into too much detail in such a public place as the internet, It was SUCH an exciting meeting! We learned our cost and got all of our specifications ad changes approved, so we know that when the time comes, we’ll really be able to have exactly what we want. We confirmed that we can bring in our own trades pretty much how ever much we want, as long as we’ve given fair notice. We’ll have permission to go through the house as often as we want, to see progress and make changes. The timeline all looks good too. We’re eager to move and they’re eager to build. Its sooo exciting!

Now to sell. Lots and lots of cleaning to do, with a few repairs and some general tidying. But thats it, for the most part! I can’t wait to see it all take shape so I can FINALLY post pictures!! Hopefully soon!

After getting so much accomplished yesterday, and getting the place so cleaned up and cleared out, some of the rooms are starting to come together!! While we don’t want to stock up and add yet more unnecessary junk to our lives, we do want our house to look nice and presentable. So we made a short list of hypothetical stuff we would like to “stage” our house with, and went into the city. No big deadlines, or expectations. Just a relaxed family day, with some treats and some fresh air. Maybe our “family outings” seem like something you guys would find boring, but the kids love the slow walk through Walmart, or the free cookie at Superstore. Small victories in this family! Even if one of us runs into a store for a bit and the rest wait in the van, the kids like being freed from their seats and running around the van, rolling down the windows, etc. Its easy. And its sooo much easier now that Dekker does so much better in public places. At worst, he ind of grunts and tries to hide when people talk to him. A much more acceptable form of shyness. Waaay better than the death scream. So since he’s grown up a bit in that area, we all feel more relaxed and can all really enjoy our days out and about.

I won’t run down the list of what we all got from each place, since i feel like I do that a lot, and it probably bores some of you. But we did pretty good! We got some very small, basic furniture, and a few basic things to hang up that would look nice but nothing too specific to us. Just pretty things. We returned a couple of things and bought a couple of other little things for the repairs that need doing still. We got a few little things like basic white pillow cases, and a new shower curtain, and I confess that we bought another blanket! Its one of those delicious woven ones that feels like a soft grandpa sweater, yet its a very fine chevron pattern in grey and coral alternating. Best of all, its a king sized blanket, which calls for lots of cuddling with many people under the same blanket!! For only $30, I couldn’t not buy it.

We got fast food for lunch, and the kids ate great, and loved their toys. Dekker got a Hot Wheels car, and Laela got a pink Barbie car! Our first Barbie convertible! We usually opt for Wendys over McDonalds, but going to McDonalds was great today. Not only were the toys cool, but I remembered that they actually have a grilled cheese happy meal, and Laela LOVED it! She didn’t even touch her fries!

Isn’t she such a beauty??

At the end of our shopping trip, I texted my parents to touch base with them and ask if we could drop by their place on our way home. Their Apple TV has been giving them trouble and Brady wanted to look into it, but today is their anniversary and we didn’t want to intrude on their plans. However, their evening plans had fallen through, and were rescheduled for another day, so instead of my parents just saying “Sure, come fix our tv” they invited us for supper! That is the story of how we came to eat fast food twice in one day – we brought Wendys. To my parents house. For their anniversary!! It was kind of hilarious, but it was so relaxed and yummy and we were all just happy to be in each others presence.

We got home a solid hour past the kids bedtime, but Dekker and Laela went down fairly easily, and to be honest, Rowan is still sleeping in his car seat, as Brady and I have been busy bringing stuff in from the van, putting it away, setting up a few little things, and finally fixing the toilet with a flapper that seals! He’s been a total champ all day, hardly complaining at all and just eating like a champ anytime we offer him milk. We’ll go rescue him from his seat on our dining room table soon, top him up to the brim with milk, and see what kind of a stretch we can get out of him! We aren’t being strict about sleep training of any kind yet at all, but we are seeing good patterns forming, and this evening is definitely different! But city days always are, and thats totally fine.

We have a big day tomorrow that I’ll tell you about then, but thankfully it doesn’t start too early, so even if we have a rough night, we’ll be all bright and refreshed in time. But let’s just plan on a great night anyway. I love a best case scenario!

** This isn an incredibly victorious post. I feel optimistic and excited and hopeful and accomplished. I’m not sure whether its my general fatigue, hormones, or what exactly, but I just found out that through the events of the day, a very special piece of furniture got scuffed up and effectively ruined, and I’m feeling quite devastated. It was handmade, and cannot be replaced, and the one person who could repair it is no longer on this earth. Sad. I will put in a solid effort to write the way I felt about ten minutes ago, but if it lacks lustre, know that I truly am happy with the results of the day. Its so uncool when 99 things out of 100 go so well, and I choose to let that one sad thing spoil the day. So I’m trying not to, but hang in there with me if I don’t ace it **

Brady and I set alarms for this morning, so that we’d have time for some breakfast and an episode of Greys in bed. But around 9:00, we surfaced and got ourselves together for the day. My hair was greasy and I was lazy so I put it up in a style that resembled a soft ice cream cone, in my opinion.

Stylin’. I know.

My parents arrived shortly after 10:00 and we kind of made a half assed plan for the day ahead. “Half assed” is pretty generous, though. Unfortunately, Brady and I were pretty unprepared and disorganized. The guys carried all the stuff upstairs that we had piled up, and loaded it into the trailer, but then came asking me what should happen next. I began to flounder and get super overwhelmed. I was so thankful to have my mom over. She talked me off my ledge, and we did a full house walk through. We quickly learned that more needed to be done than just driving stuff to our container. We had a good stack of garbage to get rid of, as well as a bunch of stuff we needed to recycle, like old paint, a couple of old tv sets, and some cans and bottles. So quickly, their unloading trip turned into an unloading trip/garbage run/sarcan stop. As they gathered up the garbage and recycling, my mom helped me pack up some other things that I didn’t know how to pack. We wrapped lots of big vases up in sheets, removed and packed probably half of the linens from the closet, and even wrapped and boxed up the light fixture from the kids room that had been made for us that we are not about to leave behind! My mom also helped me realize that, while we want the place not to be cluttered, and while we want it to look presentable, we also want it to look like people live her comfortably, and that prospective buyers could too. So I started to panic less about clearing shelves and more just about condensing. It was smart.

When the men left, my mom and I put Big and Middle down for naps, and then we fed Little, and then ourselves. Instead of working our butts off, we opted to rest while the kids did. We had a really good heart to heart, and time flew by. The guys were unloaded and back home in good time. They said that maaaybe a quarter of the container is full, which is awesome to hear!! We should have no problem fitting everything else in there when the time comes.

Once the fam was home, we warmed up some leftovers and had a really yummy supper together. But my parents left soon after, and we’re back to our own devices. I was hoping we’d still be rocking motivation, and that we’d get a bit more done tonight. Lots of repairs and small fixes to do, as well as lots of cleaning, laundry, and general tidying. But we are tired, and I think thats ok. We did lots. And without being too gross, the small amount of stitches that I got from delivering Rowan are starting to dissolve/work their way out, and that is not the most comfortable thing in the world. A bath and a sleep might make me feel better than more trips up and down our stairs and heavy lifting.

My mom pointed out that I likely felt a bit lost and scattered today because we had already done so much that there wasn’t much left to do today. And I’m choosing to believe that she’s right! I know there will still be trips out to our storage container, but for now, we can really start putting rooms together and seeing results. Its starting!! Or maybe its coming to a close rather. I don’t know! But I’m excited to see where this all ends up 😀 Hopefully in our brand new house, before the end of the year!

Our plan for today was to get a good start on hauling our belongings into the trailer. But first, Brady was called into work to do a bit of warranty work. As in about a half hour of warranty work. Its a bit annoying to me that he spends more time in his van that he does in the house for such a small amount of work but he’s the only finisher for them, which we LOVE, so sometimes thats just the job. Luckily, Brady is a very willing morning person, so he went in nice and early, and was home before Dekker and Laela were even out of their room for the day! He brought coffee and breakfast sandwiches for us, which definitely helped me start my day of well.

Once the kids were up and fed, we turned on the Cars movie, and began emptying out one of the basement bedrooms thats gradually turned into a storage room. Brady made tons of trips up and down the stairs with armloads of stuff, and I basically dug through the piles to try and make it easier but probably didn’t aid too much i the process. I made some lists of jobs that need to be done through the house so, if we need a break from hauling but still want to be productive, we’ll have things we can do. Brady and I did a solid walk through of the house, into each and every room, and discussed what would stay or go, and how we might rearrange. Its really exciting to actually see it taking shape!

Around lunch, I was finally informed that Target marked their bedding down to 40% off! Lots of you know I’ve been waiting on pins and needles for this tip. When the Target sales began, bedding was only 10% off and I’ve been waiting for it to go down far enough that I can justify buying some. Before the sales started, i bought a mustard yellow blanket I’d been eyeing for almost two years, because I was worried they’ll all be gone as soon as the sales started. They have remained in stock through the entire sale process, and now they were going to be 40% off! So I talked to Brady and he agreed that we should jump at the sales and pick up some more nice blankets. It was so close to the kids nap time, so we went inside and played with them for a while, fed them, and spent a bit of time with them and without working. But right at nap time, they went down, and I took Rowan with me to the city to hit Target. A date for us, a nap for the big and the middle, and kid-free packing time for Brady.

It was SUCH a warm day, and it felt lovely being out and about in the sun with my baby. We hit the store on our side of the city, and parked nice and far away so we’d snag a few rays before going inside. As soon as we were inside, however, I made a beeline over to the bedding and was SO pleased to see the yellow blankets still on the shelf. I snagged two twin yellow blankets. I also had recently had my eye on a coral colored patterned blanket, but it had been way too expensive before so I had sort of given up. Brady and I had agreed I should buy it if it was still there, but I didn’t see it. Until I dug. It was waaay the heck in the back, not at all in the section where it belongs. I’m pretty sure someone hid it. Sorry, someone. I wanted it more, turns out. I wanted to do a bit more shopping, but Mr. Rowan was starting to become less fond of our date. I ended up carrying him on his tummy, facing out, through the store, and pulling my cart behind me. He fell asleep and hung there, limp and comfy. I am sooo thankful that Target carts pull just as nicely as they push! It made it possible to continue my date with my son, and carry him around, which he doesn’t usually appreciate. My entire Target haul included three blankets, three throw pillows, a beautifully soft sheet set, two shirts, polysporin, and some spray sunscreen, and I paid about $200. Considering the blankets alone would have cost that much at full price, I’m feeling pretty thrilled with my purchases 🙂

Everyone was up when I got home, and Dekker was playing drums all on his own, and singing along, which was pretty awesome actually. A lot of people aren’t confident singing while playing an instrument, but maybe everyone should start nice and young and they’d get the hang of it 🙂 We all played and then ate supper together. After supper, the kids played together while Brady and I did the dishes and attempted to make a bit of a game plan for after they went to bed. I think we came up with something, but I have no idea what it was. So many little places in the house need to be broken down and we need to decide about what to pack and what to keep at home.

It’ll be good to have help tomorrow. My parents are coming for the day, and I know having some help with the kids, as well as some muscle and some wisdom, will help greatly in the process. I would so love to keep my sanity through these next few weeks, but I also want tomorrow to be a wild success! Please root for us!

We had a really nice day today 🙂 Not the worlds most productive day but it was still very pleasant. We all got up mid-morning and had breakfast, got ready, and left. I feel like the warm weather is doing good things inside of me. I just feel lighter. The kids can wear their spring jackets, we don’t have to have the heat and fans cranked in the van, and the best part – other people are happier too! Doesn’t everyone feel a bit better when winter potentially starts to let up? When I left the house today, I had on really fun makeup, cute new flats, and pre-pregnancy jeans! I felt pretty awesome about it all.

We hit up my parents house quickly on the way in and picked up a big stack of newspapers. After the whole Facebook conversation about where to buy materials for packing, my mom came to our rescue and gave us a big stack of papers. She even called the downtown drugstore and they also offered us a big pile of papers. So inky fingers I will take if I can get them for free!!! We stopped by my dads work afterwards to grab something for the trailer and so he could see the kids for a few minutes, but then we headed in to run our errands! We only had a few places to hit today, and didn’t want to doddle for too long, so we really went for it.

I ran into Walmart myself so the kids could eat while I picked up the few things we needed. It wouldn’t have been worth bringing everyone in for such a short trip. I bought some command strips for the few things we’re going to rehang on the walls, and I bought a bunch of tubs. I know people pack in boxes, and thats much much cheaper and smarter in some ways, but since we didn’t know where our stuff would be resting during this process, we began packing stuff in rubber tubs when we started our house purge months back. It just feels tidy and clean and like, if suddenly we need to ask people to store some stuff for us, it won’t be hideous and off putting. Anyway, our ideal tubs (68L) were only $6! So I bought a bunch of those too and was back in the van in no time.

We ducked into Reliable Parts really quickly to finally pick up a replacement shelf for in our fridge door. It cracked a few months ago and the replacement was kind of pricey. We figured we’d just rock the duct tape, but then changed our minds for the sake of selling an appliance that isn’t broken.

Believe it or not, our next stop was pretty much the last one! We hit up Home Depot, as we’ve done a lot these days. We were going to return a few things, but we forgot them at home. Oops! However, we did pick up a new dryer hose and vent, lightbulbs that won’t buzz, an uber padlock for our container, and a tile bit for Bradys work. In and out.

After dropping off a few coffees at my dads work, we went home. We were only home by 3:30ish, but it was too late to nap anyone, so I just occupied the kids while Brady moved vehicles around in our driveway, switched out some padlocks on the trailer, and got a few things ready for the next step of things! As soon as supper was over, we got on things!!! Brady started hauling out furniture that we want gone for the sale, and I started packing up one of the bookshelves. The kids helped me by finding all the books around the house and putting them in a hamper in the centre of the living room, and for the most part I was able to keep them out of Brady’s way. Not that he doesn’t love them, but he was trying to get furniture from the basement to the trailer without touching the freshly painted walls. Goodness. I can’t help but think we’ve done some of this stuff in the wrong order 🙁 But I am also confident that none of this is in our timing, but Gods.

Someone please remind me of this if and when our house is on the market for longer than I want it to be…