Skin Cancer Prevention - Mole Removal Take III

Preventing Skin Cancer
Early Detection

Here I am again - a year and five more moles later - and more skin carving. Fun stuff. This is my mole/skin post from last year. This will also link you to my mole/skin post from the year before that!

The moles we don't like this year

This past May, I went to the annual skin clinic sponsored by Park Nicollet with my friend Jenna again. (TOTALLY FREE during skin awareness month!) Thinking I might actually be in the clear this year, I instead left with a sheet that looked more like a PeeWee Herman connect-the-dots game and instructions to get in with a skin doctor as soon as I could to get my moles looked at further and cut off. Shoot!

So here I am about to go in and get sliced and diced. Our poor Health Savings Account. But this is why we have insurance, right? This is what that account is for... That, and the delivery of another baby. It'll be an expensive year for us. New car, house, baby, medical costs. Am I missing anything? Why not throw it all together in a nice neat package?

Yes, I do realize moles do change during pregnancy. However, I also know I am my best advocate and because of my awesome friend Erin who is fighting Stage 4 Melanoma, I don't take my moles or my skin lightly anymore. Not one bit. She if fighting for her life every single day. SHE was the one who saved herself!!

I know all the moles that were marked as suspicious very well. They were the exact moles I'd been watching because each one of them grew in size in a year's time. You know when you get that little voice inside you telling you something isn't right? Yeah. I'd get that voice with all these moles. Is it weird that the volunteer doctor picked them out too?

Mole growth is one of the early signs of skin cancer. They are small now (smaller than a pencil eraser), but are a lot bigger than they were last year. I decided to choose piece of mind over worry. (Come on, like I have time to worry about another thing). Once these are gone, I should have nothing to worry about until the next year when five more moles come off. :)

And for your enjoyment, here are the moles coming off! I couldn't get a photo of the two on my upper back and was going to ask Karl to take the photos but the All-Star game was in Minnesota and his favorite baseball player was involved (Pat Neshek). I knew what that meant!!! DO NOT DISTURB.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the results! Do me a favor though - PLEASE get your skin checked today.

Leg

back of arm

Front of leg

Upper thigh

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House Happenings

AWESOME MINNESOTA WEATHER

I know this weather is a little on the chilly side for July (50s and 60s) but I’m not complaining. I love it. Especially when right now the weather seems to have a large part in determining my mood. When it’s hot and sticky, I’m not the greatest person to be around. I’m dragging, tired and crabby. Bloated. 26 weeks preggers now.

LOVING this weather!

But Sunday came and the humidity dropped. I felt like a new person. We spent all day outside! So great! I love weekends like these.

Cute little WELCOME mat:) 

At 26 week’s preggers, I washed my car (with Jackson’s help), cleaned out all the big pots from our town house and got them ready to plant lots of BEAUTIFUL flowers in.  I washed the inside and outside of the first level windows in our house. I realize the screens are the really dirty part of the windows now. What a difference a squeegee makes on windows. Whoa. Jackson and I took all the chairs out from the garage and scrubbed them down. I think Jackson enjoyed controlling the hose.

BEFORE (WTF happened here, people?!?!?! Take care of your stuff!)

AFTER! LOVE IT! THANKS, DAD!

I weeded with Jackson in the backyard and put new mulch down. We caught a ton of frogs too. Big ones and little tiny ones. I cleaned up around Jackson's swing set area and can't wait to put some bricks down so he can enjoy his little picnic area without getting too muddy! I fertilized our hanging baskets. I hit up the grocery store and made some really healthy, good lunches and dinners that we ENJOYED OUTSIDE!!! I love love love this part. I love being able to sit outside. I organized our file cabinets with all the new house bills we’ve been getting and told Karl where I wanted a few more pictures hung in the house.

Weeds be gone! And new mulch!

Karl picked up a couple bird feeders and set them up with Jackson. We’re pretty excited about this because it sounds like a jungle in our backyard already and maybe we’ll bring in even more beautiful music. The yard is looking so great. Karl has been mowing and weed whacking after I pull whatever I can without getting attacked by mosquitoes. Man, the bugs are NASTY this year! Things are really coming together though.

The bird feeder was DUMPED out when we got home from work and all the squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies were fighting over the seeds. Jackson got a kick out of that! He kept saying, "GO AWAY, BUNNY!"

The day before, Karl and I had to run over to the town home to clean up a couple more things and drop off keys and garage door openers. This is getting real! Renter moved TUESDAY! I was so proud of myself. Our association told us if we took initiative we could get some of the windows replaced in the town home that were fogging up. If not, we’d start incurring a $100 monthly charge. I jumped right on this. For $25, I received a new window for our Bay window and installed it ALL BY MYSELF. I know. I know. EASY. But it’s the little things. I like being self-sufficient. I like being able to figure out challenging things and doing them. Makes me feel like I can do just about anything that comes my way. Or at least I can TRY and figure it out.

Put in this window all by myself!!! PROUD!

We tried working on the garage. VERY HARD to do with a toddler getting into EVERYTHING. I have realized I can’t do as much as I used to. The boxes are WAY too heavy now. That part is hard, but I tried to focus on putting things in the right place. Karl didn’t have as much time to go through everything before he packed them up, so I’m doing that for him now. Ufdah. 

I also made my VERY first pie EVER! Rhubarb strawberry. Not bad! Not bad. Never been a pie person but my mom left us with strawberries and rhubarb. What's a girl to do? Karl devoured almost ALL of it! We're in trouble!

My first pie!

Just a quick look at how every cabinet looked like when I opened them. I didn't realize there was this secret drawer until this week. Of course...DIRTY. More cleaning to be had!

 

It's good this is blurry, but do you see the gunk stuck to the wood? UGH! WHY?

And then Mr. Cute Man. Love this dude to pieces. Love his smiles and cuddles in the morning this week. My parents left him with a nice surprise when he got home from daycare. He loved this! A tower topped with a garbage truck! AWESOME.

Having fun at the park! ALWAYS.

Until next time! 

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25 Weeks Pregnant (Leg cramps and Tantrums)

25 Weeks

Head to heel, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

The dreaded night-time leg cramps are BACK.  NOOOO!

I almost forgot how PAINFUL these are. I drank EXTRA water yesterday to avoid these cramps at ALL COST and was OK last night, but the night before was brutal. 3 a.m. and they came on STRONG. I couldn’t get them to go away. The only thing that seemed to work was chugging tons and tons of water (which means I was up even MORE peeing). My foot literally froze and I couldn’t move it. My entire shin muscle hardens, grows into a ball and then I roar.

Well then, around 4 Jackson stood at the edge of the bed and stared at me. Bad dream? Scared of the dark? The smoke detector? 

I promise I wasn’t screaming from the leg cramps loud enough to wake anyone else. Karl barely knows what’s going on half the time when I’m up stretching and hobbling around and screaming into the pillows.

I pulled Jackson into our bed. He did the same last night, but I put him back into his bed. I don’t want this to become a habit.

But now I’ve been reminded how getting up multiple times throughout the night makes me VERY tired and makes for some LONG hard days. So of course, I’m freaking myself out remembering how tough those first few months really are. Wondering how I'm going to do it? And this time I have another little person to give a lot of attention to. Akkk.

Jackson had a full on tantrum this morning too. Whining is hard for me. I don’t like it. Who does? His daycare has been wonderful with giving us tips on how to handle this behavior. He decided he wanted cereal this morning. Great. A decision!!! I like to give him a choice. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea anymore. He spilled because he refuses to be pushed in closer to the table. So he threw his spoon. Milk went everywhere. I TRIED to ignore. I TRIED to be patient. Then he decided he wanted pancakes. So I heated up those. 

Then he was mad he couldn’t fork a piece of the pancake so the fork flew across the room. And he sobbed. I again ignored. I brought him back his fork. He then pushed me over the edge by jabbing the fork and leaving all these little holes in our BRAND NEW TABLE over and over and over again. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I yelled. Told him "no". He bawled and bawled. I went in the next room and finished folding laundry. I needed to breathe. I was so mad. What happened to our happy mornings? I’m already giving him away to someone else to watch so I cherish our mornings together and I feel so guilty when they aren’t good mornings. He carried on for quite a while. I told him I’d talk to him when he was done crying and whining. He didn’t stop. He was a basket case. I took him out of his seat and marched upstairs. He was now gasping for air. Saying he’d listen. I was still so mad. SO what did I do? I bawled my eyes out. Lovely. I just couldn’t take it anymore. PLUS, I’m hormonal and tired and feel HUGE.

ANYWAY, before I left for work I sat down with him and explained why I was so upset and we hugged and made up. But holy hell. Please tell me this won’t be an every morning deal? Part of me thinks he’s overtired! He’s been up later and up earlier. He’s in his big boy bed. He’s getting up during the night. Now he keeps telling me “No baby!” So I think he knows… MORE change is coming.

He’s a smart kid. He is.

So there’s where we are at 25 weeks. I’m pretty exhausted. But this morning I threw my workout clothes in my bag. I HAVE TO GO. I haven’t been since May. I know working out seems to exhaust me even more, but I need to do this FOR ME. This seems to be the only "ME TIME" I get right now.  I need to RELAX and working out is the one thing that seems to do that for me. So we'll see how this goes. 

Here's to a better week next week...

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A Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!

Summer love! So sweet.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL 4th!!!! What an awesome weather and family and friend-packed weekend! Ahhhh! SUMMER. How I love you.

We are all moved in! So what does that mean? Family visited us!!! They helped hang pictures and vanity cabinets, cleaned out gutters and installed a new slop sink. We of course fed them for all their hard work:)

It's nice to see that progress is being made on the house. All our new toilets are installed and things are finding homes, or else I'm donating. Karl has been busy putting in a new sump pump, tending to the lawn, putting in a dehumidifier, hanging things for me and doing all kinds of things. I'm pretty sure he'll go nuts on me any day. We tend to move at different speeds. There are a few more updates that need to be made yet, but for the most part I feel much more settled. MUCH more!!! Every day gets better:)

Tot (my sis in law) and Jackson playing! SO great to see these guys!

Always on the go! Jackson loves to walk and run.

Jackson hanging with his best bud, Kacey. He even sang happy birthday to her!

BUBBLES!!!!!

HUGE thank you to my mom and dad and my brother and sister in law for all their help!!!!

For now, I'm ready to take it easy!!!! Everything else can wait. Even the sink faucet knobs that turn the opposite way... They can wait. Well, maybe....

AWESOME! At Costco! $13.00. Take a pack (comes with two) and stick in oven for 15 minutes. Chop up into pieces and you have STEAK fajitas!!!!!!!! Chop some bell peppers and onions (fry in olive oil), cook up black beans, avocado, tomatoes...DONE! YUM!

HUGE pregnancy craving. THESE ARE GOOD!!!!! Costco too:) 

My projects before baby #2 comes:
1. Weed and landscape outside as much as I can (the bugs are BAD though!). [And here is some of the BEST SMELLING bug spray you can get that works AWESOME.] This weeding stuff is kind of fun. I didn't realize how therapeutic it can be. Jackson gets to run around outside while I pull weeds and dig up worms. Then he comes running over and sits on my lap to see what other bugs we can uncover.

2. Wash windows and blow off screens. These are driving me NUTS. They are SO dirty. I'm ready to tackle this project, but just haven't had the time, nor am I sure I know what I'm doing. I read something about using Dawn dish soap. Might have to try this!

3. Clean out the garage. There are a few more boxes (maybe 12 or so?) to unpack and bins to move to their correct home, but for the most part, we have broken down and recycled a ton of the boxes and are having a friend pick up the awesome moving boxes. That will be NICE once those are out. Same with the old toilets. Be gone!!! Then Karl can set up his Keg-O-Rator and take the big keg out of the extra fridge and put it in that! Ahhh! More room. And we have a deep freezer that needs to be set up that holds all the deer meat.

4. SET UP BABY'S NURSERY! I walk by this room a lot since it's right outside our master bedroom. It's pink. Karl and I both think we're having another boy now. What do do? What to do? It shouldn't take TOO long to set up, but for the most part, I think we need to decide if we're keeping the pink or if we wait...

Anyway, my younger brother and sister-in-law and their dog Kacey came up on Friday. We hung out and had a fun time! Lots of YUMMY food! Homemade pizza, steak fajitas, brats and kraut on the grill all weekend long. Cookies! Rhubarb banana muffins! WATERMELON. YUMMY!  They had a wedding and dropped Kacey with us on Saturday. We had a 5-year-old birthday party to go to later that night and my parents were also coming up for the rest of weekend too! So it all worked out.

Family dinner!

The bday party was SO much fun! I think Jackson is in love. SO SO SO adorable! We LOVE this family. LOVE.

First kiss. Jackson and Eleanor. So precious. 

Jackson and Lidia. Buds for LIFE!

Sweet Jenna and her kids! Chuck turned 5!!! Man, time flies! Chuck was SO awesome and gave Jackson his beloved garbage truck toy! Jackson is in heaven. 

As much as I love having family up, it is a lot of work too. I think Karl and I are both in need of a night where we have a little normalcy... maybe a little Wheel of Fortune or a night of reading magazines in bed. Or a DATE NIGHT?? SOMETHING. We are SIMPLE people. I promise! Right now we've been up late, up early and busy busy busy with projects. Fireworks were going all night long all weekend so I think we're both pretty tired. We're not talking baby fireworks either. We're talking cannons and the big doggers at 3 a.m. Ufdah.

Time for rest. 25 weeks tomorrow!!! And busting out of my normal clothes. I REALLY have to get some maternity clothes bought. All the ones I have are for the winter...

Naughty Papa!!!!

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24 Weeks Pregnant!

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at about 1 1/3 pounds. Since he's almost a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Here I am! 24 weeks. 

How is this even possible?? Time is FLYING! I’m to the point where I’m ready to kick back and ENJOY our new house and the SUMMER! Before it’s winter again… I don’t even want to THINK IT!

24 Weeks Pregnant!

Nothing too crazy happening. Baby is moving a lot. I was in constant motion so much for the past couple weeks with moving and cleaning that I don’t remember baby moving much. It was when I sat down or crawled into bed at night, baby started having a PARTY inside my belly. I’m probably training him or her to be awake during the night. Oh dear…  Will have to fix that PRONTO.

I’ve clearly had energy since I was able to move us and clean and do all that I did. I was finally able to sit and take it all in the other night. WHOA. We did a lot. A LOT. We’re still doing a ton.

I took my parents over to our town home, which is now completely empty, and my mom was like… “OK. You deserve an ATTA-BOY. WHOA!” 

She’s right. That was a TON of work. A TON. The town home is totally ready for our renter! Carpets cleaned, floors washed, walls painted, house disinfected and shiny from top to bottom! Whew!

Then I wake up after a day of busting my butt and I can barely function. So I know I need to slow down now. I need to start taking it easy. It hurts to bend too now as my belly continues to grow. My belly likes to pinch on my rib cage. Ouch. Things are stretching in interesting places again too. Oh, I remember this... 

It’s been great having my parents up helping us out. My dad is on steroids right now since he decided to catch another round of poison ivy (he gets it every year). So he has the energy of an 18 year old – the appetite of one too. He installed THREE toilets for us yesterday just like that. What open heart surgery? He’s pretty nuts. With that said, I am TOTALLY my father’s daughter. I’m anal like him. I’m project-oriented like him. I’m high-strung like him. I’m focused like him. I’m determined like him. And boy do I get ticked off if something doesn’t go as I planned…just like himJ Thanks DAD!

ANYWAY… tomorrow is our 24-week appointment! YAY! So we’ll see how things are. So far my blood pressure has dropped every time I’ve gone in. I think it was 108 over 50-something last time. We’ll see where it’s at now after the move. I guess I focus on that number because that is the one number that lowers versus my weight... 

We now have to drive quite a bit further to get to the doctors after our move, but we love him that much! He's a cool weirdo. I like weird people. I'm one of them:) 

CRAVINGS

·         Cherries (like a whole bag full. No bigs, right?)

·         Berries

·         FRUIT (this is kind of the norm for me though)

      Juice (especially lemonade. I'm trying really hard not to drink too much of this stuff though.)

·         These dark chocolate bark bites with almonds and coconut from Costco (HOLY GOODNESS)

·         Beer (but we know I can’t have this right now…sigh!)

SYMPTOMS

• The dreaded foot and leg cramps. They are slowly coming back. Not as bad (yet) but I feel like they are giving me a warning...we are coming... Oh, they are nasty! 
• My stomach has cramped up on me some too. That's when I know I HAVE to SLOW DOWN.

WEIGHT GAIN

Well…I’m up to 165 pounds now. *CHOKE* I’m just cruising along in this department no problem. I like to think of it this way: I’m STILL not at my college weight. With that in mind…where the HECK did I put all that weight in college!?!??! I was either one bloated chick or super solid with muscle. Riiiight. All that beer, pizza, cheese bread sticks… Ahhh! The life.

I had a panic moment this week thinking about life with two. I have these moments a lot lately. How am I going to do this again? I don’t know. I just figure it out and adjust somehow. Still. Scary. 

I have a feeling time is going to go even FASTER now. Summer ALWAYS goes fast after the 4^th of July. How is it July 4^th weekend already!?!?!? Scary. 

Until next time. I think it's glucose shake time week 28. Fun!

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Moving Part II – WE ARE HOME!

(23 weeks pregnant)

Let me just say this again. MOVING SUCKS!!!!!!!

I can say I do NOT see myself doing this again for a LONG time. Moving is NOT even remotely fun. OK. There is a bit of me that enjoyed the sense of control I had over knowing what we have and what I can now throw out/donate, and the complete organization of it all. That part was cool. But moving and packing and unpacking...the lifting. GROSS. NO THANKS.

Also, I truly feel like there is a hole in my purse and wallet right now. Money is just flying out the window. That part scares me being the one who manages our finances. I don’t even know what’s coming in and going out anymore.

This too shall pass…

First of all, we could’ve NEVER done this without the help of our friend Brian and his HUGE trailer. We moved a big load the week before the movers came and that helped us tremendously. This SAVED us.

This allowed me to get SOME of the kitchen set up and focus on CLEANING, CLEANING, CLEANING! A DEEP cleaning was SO needed – same with a full carpet cleaning. And we have decided to purchase three new toilet bowls. My parents are helping with the installation. We know how much Gare-Bear loves his toilets! I honestly can’t seem to get the toilets cleaned, or past the grossness of them. The bath tub remains an issue too. The faucet was never fixed per our inspection, so we’re still trying to figure out what to do there.

Oh, the list is plenty long, let me tell you.

ANYWAY, secondly, we are SO thankful for Matt’s Moving. We went back and forth on hiring movers. We knew it was a large expense, but we also knew we had TWO town homes jammed into one, after selling Karl’s for a dollar shortly after we were married and the market took a beating. We had three young guys in college come and move the super HEAVY stuff. And if anyone has been in our town home, they know it was stair stepper HELL on steroids. Holy smokes.

Can you believe we filled up the mover’s ENTIRE truck? And we STILL had stuff left behind. Keep in mind I donated 22 HUGE garbage bags of stuff and we gave Best Buy two of our TVS AND we’re letting our renter have our kitchen table and grill.

Got junk anyone?

We are also SO EVER GRATEFUL for my brother, Karl’s uncle and our friend Mike who came and busted their butts packing last minute things and dissembling bed frames, the dreaded crib and the curtains and rods.  Karl’s uncle kept asking if the air was on… Poor guy. Yes, it was. It was just THAT hot and sunny. At least he left with beer and wine!! Oh, the things you find in the man cave!

As little time I had, I made sure to fit in FUN for Jackson. Tried really hard to keep things consistent and NORMAL

All I could do was say "whatever". I mean, WHATEVER! Muddy socks and shoes the day before the move. OH WELL.

My awesome brother provided lots and lots of beer. The movers left with three boxes all wrapped up tight with delicious beverages. They said that was the BEST tip they’ve ever received.

Yes, I was jealous salivating. November, friends. November. I will be ENJOYING my beer in NOVEMBER. Due in October. But I think I remember being in a coma those first two weeks anyway. So I’m just going to say NOVEMBER.

It took a total of 6.25 hours to get us moved out and moved in. This pregnant momma felt like a train had hit her by day’s end. That was ONE LONG HOT day. I still wish I wore a pedometer or something to track calorie burn and the amount of steps I took that day. Don’t worry! I still gained my weekly pound. Baby seems to be growing just fine moving and all, regardless of how many calories I burn!

We’re so thankful for Karl’s parents who took Jackson for the ENTIRE night!!! This worked out perfectly because my head was all over the place. I was at an all-time anxiety high. I was ready to jump out of my own skin. I didn’t have a TON of time to think about being away from Jackson for the FIRST TIME. I felt like an ulcer was growing in my stomach and had a lump the size of a peach in my throat (I say peach because I’m craving those).

It went really well. It did. I’m proud of us.

The transition into the new place was tough. I compared a lot. I bought our town home brand new and kept it in AMAZING shape. The more I cleaned our new house, the more flaws I saw. The more Karl started a new project, five more popped up. He was stressed. I was stressed. And Jackson was extra crabby. Ufdah.
 

The towel rack came off the wall. The toilets didn’t flush right. The base boards had all been painted over in white paint. There were scuff marks all over the walls. There was fur coming out of the vents. A caterpillar crawled over my toe (at least Jackson enjoyed peeing on it in the “tunnel” in the toilet).

YESSS!!! Found a park!!!!!!

SCORE! FOUND ANOTHER COOL PARK!!

Breathe.

We transitioned Jackson into his new bed. I was unable to fix up his room like I had hoped, so it was thrown together. I already felt I had failed. I can imagine he felt a loss of control too. Where was his beloved crib? Where was he? Why was his bed so big? Why was his mom such a ball of stress?

Breathe.

ANYWAY, I can say, he is sleeping GREAT in his big boy bed now and it’s SO fun to lie next to him and read his nighttime stories and pray with him. I LOVE this.

The START of Jackson's new bedroom. BIG BOY bed and lots of construction trucks and tractors! He LOVES this!

Karl went on-call for work, so his stress level jumped tenfold and mine too, but that’s OK. I had a couple more days off work and unpacked EVERYTHING and found homes for things! Projects started getting crossed off the list. Progress was made. I found myself smiling. The nursery and garage are all that’s left.

BUT, that doesn’t mean there aren’t windows to wash, decks to stain and valances to be taken down, a yard to be weeded, a microwave that just died on us, toilet bowls to switch out and a slop sink to buy. Like I said, the list is LONG. But we’re getting there. Last night was the FIRST night I was able to sit on our new couches and, well, simply SIT. I have yet to turn on the TV (still haven’t figured that out. Don’t tell Karl! He gets mad when I don’t take the time to read the manuals. Hello, like I even have time to poop by myself.)

Had a water table waiting for Jackson when he got back from staying over at Gma's and Gpa's. HE LOVES. I think the bunnies love this too... I could have sworn I heard them swimming in it last night.

Change is SO incredibly hard. However, I remember the biggest change of all was when I became a mom. Or even when I moved to Minnesota. I bawled my eyes out. Just as I did when I pulled away from the town home after Karl dropped Jackson off for his FIRST overnight stay. So many great memories. Where would I put them now?? UGH. I had NO control!!! There was NO going back. I couldn’t STOP change from happening. I wanted to run back to my old life. JUST like I did after Jackson was born. IT’S MUCH TOO HARD! MUCH TOO SCARY. MUCH TOO UNCOMFORTABLE.

Dad and Jackson having fun!

Dad having more fun, maybe?

But guess what? I came out smelling like a rose after giving myself some time to adjust to motherhood and that move to Minnesota, and I hung on to that memory – the hope – that CHANGE is REALLY REALLY GOOD. Amazing things happen when you don’t let fear stop you.

Guess what? It has been great. And it’s been less than a week. It can ONLY get better.

We met our neighbors. We found TWO great parks nearby. We’ve eaten dinner outside a bunch. We chased bunnies in the backyard. We’ve snuggled. We’ve laughed. We found out the preserve is literally just a FEW steps out of our front door!!!!!!!!!! I shaved 15 minutes off my commute to work. We have realized that having too much STUFF is suffocating. But best of all, we realized the things in life that are priceless are things you just can’t buy.

A HOP, SKIP and JUMP away!!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!

I can't wait to RUN this!!!!!!!!

This has been good. No. This has been GREAT. 

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Moving Day - Part I

Just a couple words…

MOVING SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!

Ahh. Now that I got that out of the way, I feel much better. Actually yesterday was a sad day for me. 

Thankfully I have an awesome friend and a husband who brought me back down to earth and knocked some sense into me. What I’m feeling is NORMAL. Change is HARD. I was feeling like a bad mom too because Jackson was at daycare while I was at HOME cleaning. But my friend reminded me that ROUTINE is GOOD for Jackson right now and I didn’t need the added stress of trying to chase him around and keeping him out of all the chemicals I’ve been cleaning with. TRUE. He KNOWS when momma is anxious and stressed. I mean, see photo below. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get anything done with Jackson around. He is all over the place!

It's CRAZY moving with a toddler. CRAZY.

Oh man, the deeper I clean the new house, the more flaws I see. Did we make the right decision?  However, I could look at it the other way. Brand new house and we’d have to spend LOTS of dollars on window treatments, paint, yard, building shelving for pantry, deck, fence, etc., etc. All the things this house already comes with.

This house just needs a little TLC and a facelift!

Jackson LOVES LOVES the backyard and so do we! We FELL IN LOVE with the yard and the privacy in the back.

Up and down the hill he ran. This is what it's about!

I know we made the right choice. It’s just SO many things are happening at once. There isn’t a whole ton of time to reflect, so I automatically think the worst. I’m exhausted and that’s where my brain takes me when I don’t know what else to do. I’m up at 3:30 every morning. I can’t shut my brain off. My body is literally screaming at me to stop. Just a few more days of heavy cleaning and lifting.

We have a lawn!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

I know I’m pregnant. But if anyone knows me, I can’t SIT and WATCH. I’m not built that way. I try. But I can’t. I am a doer. So all this is my own doing and faultJ

Can I just say I'm TOTALLY impressed with Karl?? This guy KNOWS what he's doing. Hooking up a water softener and a washer and dyer, fridge and gas stove. Cleaning out the air conditioning unit. What? I'd never know to do this stuff or how to do it. He's bouncing back and forth from one project to the next. He's AWESOME. We make a killer team. 

I went to Home Depot today and got super excited about all the possibilities. Where the money is coming from to support all these ideas, well, that’s a different story. I’m SUCH a dreamer!

Anyway, when Karl and I first walked into our new house, we loved it. We still do. It’s just now I’m inches away from the floor and I see nail polish stuck to it and the stickers (and OLD FOOD) stuck to the cabinets. Of COURSE these are all easy to remove, but it’s just more work. It’s fine. It’s good for me. I know all the germs are GONE with my bleach obsession. Those toilets though….oh boy. YIKES. I’m ready to purchase all new ones and call it a day. Eesh.

I’m already seeing how my four days of deep cleaning have made a huge difference…and all those BEAUTIFUL new appliances add a lot!!! 

This is what I'm talking about. WHAT IS THIS STUFF and WHAT is it DOING HERE!??!?! BEFORE. 

AN ENTIRE HOUR spent on this. Yes, some stains but HELLO BEAUTIFUL SUSAN:) I figured out how to pull this sucker out all by myself!!! See...moving is good. You see what you're made of!! 

Baby steps.

That’s what I have to tell myself or else I get SUPER overwhelmed. I worry about Jackson and the change on him since he’s been SUCH a great sleeper. Will this continue? Or am I screwing things up on him? He talks daily about the “pink” park and “blue” park and the forklift down the way from us now. This will all change for him. For us. No more walks to DQ or Panera for a quick snack. Gulp. 

But HELLO. NOTHING EVER STAYS the same for long. And I can’t control a lot of these changes. I mean, Jackson loves his grandparents to pieces but we know they won’t be here forever. How will he handle that? SEE. WAY worse things to think about.

With that said, I’m going to try to STAY positive–dust bunnies and all–and keep on going. Every time I walk into the new house, I feel like it’s MORE and MORE ours. We haven’t officially moved in but will soon. It’s a weird transition right now and I’m ready for us to get settled in.

This was after cleaning THREE fans. Just three. Do I mention I did two sets of blinds and the water was just as bad?? 

WHAT HAPPENED HERE!??!?!?! I think it started to GROW INTO the furnace... And grew some fur... 

Just about the time we have everything put away in this new house, ANOTHER HUGE change is coming our way. And I know that. I feel that. And that’s what freaks me out. I know I’m headed for another couple years of tough stuff. The baby phase is just tough on me. I know this. Maybe not AS tough now that I know what to expect, but two Jackson’s running around???

Holy smokes. I have ME to thank for that. Damn endless energy!

Must BREATHE!

See ya in the new house!!

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