I used to deny the occasional accusations that I have a version of the stereotypical type “A” firstborn/perfectionist personality.  I mean, I am one of the most laid back people I know!   Besides the whole “perfect life” and uber organizer is just not me.  Our bedroom stays a cluttered mess 95% of the time and keeping up with basic household chores in the rest of the house is a constant struggle.  No perfection here.

Occasionally though my mostly dormant firstborn tendencies pop up so strongly even I can’t pretend ignorance anymore.  Usually when they are least wanted.  This move for instance.  I’ve made a master list, sublists, sub sub lists, individual box lists, master plan, etc etc etc.  You would think I was trying to organize a Presidential Event.  All joking aside my gigantic stack of lists is seriously as long as the event coordinators was for the Inauguration of GA Governor Sonny Perdue. <ahem> Yes, I might have gotten a LITTLE carried away.  My dozens of lists do help me to function better and keep track of everything that needs to be done.  They are my “Safety net” from the craziness and chaos.   Unfortunately they are also chains of how things “should be.”  Suddenly instead of having the flexibility and ability to just go with the flow everything needs to be done the right way…Meaning, the way the list says to do it. Also unfortunately I am pretty much the only one that cares if things are done the right way.  The men I have helping seem to think that as long as most of the necessary items make it in a box and the box makes it onto the moving truck it’s a successfully executed mission.  Nevermind that Box A is missing half the items that should have been put in it and Box B has several items that were supposed to be left here for the second half of the move. 

The worst aspect of my control freakishness though has been how poorly I’ve handled the plans changing so many times.  The original plan was for us to Close on the House on Wednesday and us hit the road to drive to TN on Friday.  Thanks to multiple peoples incompetence the house closing has been pushed back until Monday.  In the frantic muddle of trying to sort and figure out how to make everything work our official leaving date and time have changed several times.  This has totally freaked my poor little list making brain out.  Some desperate, stressed and anal part of me has felt like screaming “I HAD A PLAN! And it was a GOOD PLAN!!  You stupid, incompetent people! You morons! <Reminiscent of one of Cruella DeVilles rants from 101 Dalmatians> How hard is it to do the job that you’ve been doing for years and years and years? You dare call yourselves ‘professionals’  Hmph.  We have a moving truck sitting in our driveway, our entire lives are on hold awaiting you getting around to doing what you are being paid to do.”  After my mental tirade I just wanted to go crawl into bed and cry and hope the whole mess goes away.  Unfortunately since I’m no longer two years old and am technically a functioning adult the whole go to bed and hide option isn’t an option anymore.

As of this moment our plans have changed yet again and we are now going to try to leave first thing in the morning…Do a huge push and try to make it to TN by Monday morning in order to be there in person to close on the house.  This whole long distance thing just hasn’t worked out very well and instead of anxiously sitting around nervously twiddling our thumbs all weekend hoping and praying everything works out we would rather spend the time getting there to personally be able to supervise and put out any other last minute fires.  This means that I am going to be running around like a crazy person for the next few hours trying to get all the last minute stuff done that I had put off when the plan was for us to leave on Sunday.  That, or just decide that it just doesn’t matter anymore and sit on the couch with a gigantic bowl of ice cream and smile sweetly at the poor guys working away. lol Nah, as appealing as that sounds right now I’m off to go run around like a crazy person.

The only thing that could make everything crazier at this point would be if Noelle decided to put in a very early arrival.  I had a little “chat” with her last night about how nice it is that she is inside right now and that is where she should stay for at least the next three weeks so that Mommy and Daddy could actually be ready for her when she gets here!  Here’s hoping she’s a cooperative little person.
 

 So why am I sitting here wasting time posting?  I prefer not to think of it as “wasting time” but rather as a much needed break.    Just finished packing two large boxes full of kitchen stuff and need to catch my breath.  This whole bending up and down thing with a baby living in your ribcage results in rather extreme shortness of breath.

In spite of working on this whole packing thing for days if not weeks now I can  clearly see the handwriting on the wall. Within the next two or three days there will be some really late nights getting it all finished up.  Just amazing how much STUFF we accumulate.  I’ve thrown so much misc. crap away and there is STILL so much of it left. <sigh>  Cleaning out the cabinets I found appliances that we’ve had since we got married that haven’t been used a single time.  A major management/organizational weak spot of mine is that if it’s put away where I don’t see it on a daily basis I simply forget about it.  Wish I had cleaned out the kitchen cabinets months ago.  All the extra room!!

We were supposed to close on the house this Wednesday…Planning leaving with the first half of our stuff this Friday. Supposed to receive papers today to sign and overnight back.  We have until the 29th to close according to the contract we signed.  The lady doing our mortgage paperwork seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.  We haven’t been able to get through to her and our Real Estate Agent hasn’t been able to either.  She’s done an exceptional job up until this point so I’m trying really hard not to start worrying since technically there is still plenty of time to get the paperwork out to us.  Would be nice just to hear an update about what is going on though.  I’ll feel SO so soooo much better once we’ve officially closed on this place.  Until then I feel like the bottom could fall out from under the whole thing making all the work/stress/planning of the past few weeks for naught.

Some of the things I need to get done within the next two days.

- Items purchased for an Emergency “Birth kit” to take on the road with us just in case.
- Second half of the kitchen packed.
- 1 last box of my clothes packed
- 2 boxes of Steve’s clothes packed
- 2 boxes of bathroom supplies for new bathrooms i.e. Bath clothes, towels, toilet paper, shower curtain rods, shower curtains, hand soap etc.
- Entertainment center with DVD’s and Videos packed.  Also need to pack Steve’s rather extensive CD Collection.
- Small Secretary needs to be packed and papers filed.
- Music books and misc. piano stuff packed
- At least four boxes from garage packed
- Game Closet packed
- Couple of boxes of painting supplies
- TONS of cleaning supplies for new house packed

Argh.  There is so much more but I’m going to stop there.  All motivated to get back to work now.

Would appreciate your prayers for us over the next few days.  The stress and work load is high in addition to the anxiety surrounding the closing situation.  Thank you!

This wonderful set of bottles was mailed to us from Wal Mart Baby Registry.  Unfortunately there was no note with it, no name and no location. I have no way of knowing who got it for us!  In the hopes that whoever it is might be a reader of my blog, or a reader might know who got it I decided to post about it.  THANK YOU to whoever you are!  Please e-mail or IM me and let me know so I can thank you properly.   

I am so happy.  It just amazes me how God shows Himself faithful to provide for us even in the most insignificant ways.  After Steve and I finally made the decision to go with cloth diapers I began the search.  My “dream” diapers are the all in ones.  Unfortunately the price for those new and used made me cringe from investing in a whole line of them all at once.

As the weeks have passed and the due date has gotten closer and closer I started getting a little anxious about being able to find cloth diaper supplies second hand for the price that would fit into the tight budget I had set for them.  Everything I found on Ebay was just barely below the cost of new by the time I added in shipping and my faithful Craiglist hadn’t had cloth diapers listed in months.

One morning last week as I was taking my shower I finally thought to just asked God to please provide diapers for us because it was starting to really bother me.  Am continually amazed at myself how I seem to go to God with my simple little requests as a last resort.  An hour later I was doing my routine check of craigslist and there they were.  At least a six month supply of organic cloth diapers, doublers and covers for $65.  Barely used.  Just four of the covers cost that new.  Today when I went to pick them up I was amazed that they filled an ENTIRE laundry basket to overflowing all nicely cleaned and folded.  She found some extra covers and diapers and threw them in at no extra cost.  They all look brand new.  I am now confident we have our diaper basics covered!

I’m still on the lookout for bargain All in Ones but now I feel that I can pick them up two or three at a time as I find good deals instead of having to invest in 20 or so at one time.  This will also enable me to be able to figure out which style works best for us without the huge initial investment of several hundred dollars.

 Blessings like this make me very, very happy.

 I am so happy to be able to report significant improvement with my pelvis problem.  It is still painful and I’m having to be very careful what I do but it is no longer the life altering “Please somebody put me in a coma” problem it was before. 

Please pray for Steve’s Mom.  She was hospitalized this week for blood clots in her lungs.  After spending four days there she finally got to go home today.  They diagnosed her with a clotting disorder and she is now on a rather intense medication regimen over the next few months to hopefully control it.

We have had a wonderful house guest the past few days.  Emily has put up with my pathetic lack of hospitality with such graciousness.  We’ve treated her more like a family member than a guest needing a much deserved break.  Her help has been invaluable to me in keeping up with the kitchen work and other misc stuff.

Today was Steve’s day off.  He decided to take a “real” day off for the first time in a long time and drove Emily, John and myself to Soda Falls.  It was such a wonderful day away from the hectic stress that has been our lives lately!

Me at 8 and a half months pregnant with my wonderful man. 

Emily being her beautiful, contemplative self.

This is the kind of pregnancy picture I like.  As little of me as possible while still just enough to qualify as a picture of me. 

My brother John on top of the world.  He is really enjoying the unusual landscape out here.  We teased him about being part mountain goat as he scampered around the rocks.

Group shot!  A handy tuft of grass was gracious enough to take this picture for us.

The love of my life. 

All in all simply a delightfully wonderful day.  Beautiful scenery, sweet fellowship with friends and loved ones…Yeah, it just doesn’t get any better than that.     

I’ll admit it.  I’ve really had a rather easy pregnancy.  Minimal morning sickness, no new stretch marks (yet), on target weight gain etc.etc. etc.  The past two weeks though have more than made up for it.

After much researching and trying to figure out what was wrong I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I have what is commonly called “Pubis Symphasis “  Simply put, my pelvis either due to misalignment of something, or an over sensitivity to hormones is not functioning correctly which ends up putting a great deal of stress on surrounding muscles and ligaments.  A great deal of pain and inflammation have been the result.  From the research I have done it’s likely I was genetically pre disposed to this and might have had some problems regardless.  However, I proceeded to launch it off to a grand start by lifting and moving boxes I probably shouldn’t have been lifting. 

The end result is that I am having an increasingly difficult time standing up, sitting down and walking.  Pretty much just existing is painful right now!  This would be distressing to me in the best of times but with an impending move looming over me, an ever increasing list of things that need to be done and my ability just to do regular day in and day out functions severely compromised it’s just crushingly depressing.  Many Dr.’s prescribe extremely limited movement/bed-rest to deal with this which doesn’t fix anything but just helps with the pain management and keeps you from further exacerbating the problem.  This is just not an option for me right now besides the fact that I don’t like ignoring the root of a problem and just throwing treatments at the symptoms.   

I’m continuing to research and have come up with a strategy that will hopefully keep me at least semi functional over the next six weeks of this pregnancy.

First find a chiropractor that is experienced in dealing with this problem.  Apparently from what I’ve read, depending on what has caused it getting things realigned correctly the problem can be greatly alleviated if not “cured.” 

Going to get a back/pelvis support band to wear.  Hopefully that will help keep me from further damaging things.

Am looking into some safe/natural anti inflammatories like Papaya.  Need to do some additional research to find out the safety of something natural like that in pregnancy.  If I can just get the inflammation down I think it’ll really help with the pain.

There are a list of exercises that are supposedly helpful.  Right now the pain and inflammation are so severe any exercise no matter how gentle just makes things a lot worse.  Hopefully with the right adjustment and inflammation reduced I’ll be able to do some of these and they will help!

If anybody has any additional advice I would really appreciate it.  Please pray for me and Steve.  This seems to be just the worst timing in the world for me right now and I am having a really hard time accepting and dealing with it.  It is very difficult for Steve to witness me in so much pain and really not be able to do anything about it.  It’s also going to be extremely difficult for him to try to do everything he needs to be doing in addition to helping me with everything I’m supposed to be doing.

Thank you for being willing to read my whiny and self centered rambles tonight.  Onto happier topics tomorrow. 

Our house is in upheaval.  This whole trying to pack while 8 months pregnant thing is not working out too great.  Bending up and down, trying to lift and move the packed boxes makes everything very uncomfortable.  To make matters worse I managed to pull a muscle in my leg that makes standing up, sitting down and walking very painful. 

Still, in spite of it all some progress as been made.  Discouraged half way through the day I decided to take pictures to document my progress…Or lack thereof. 

One more box of China to go and I’ll be done with most of the fragile stuff.  Then on to tons more books and clothes.  After that?  Whew.  Probably going to attack the attic. 

I found out how New Mexicans mow their yards.  I can’t remember actually seeing a single lawn mower in the almost two years I’ve been here.  Yesterday I found out why.  Since most people can’t afford to actually grow grass out here most yards are a compilation of scraggly weeds, sand, rock and gravel.  Like our back yard for instance.  I got a personal demonstration of how yards like this are kept up yesterday.  There is this little thing called a blow torch!  My brother John was delighted at the opportunity to legally set an entire yard on fire. 

Our back yard is just depressing now.  Looks so desolate.  I really hope we can do something to make it more appealing this spring when we put it on the market!

This past week has been a doozy!    After a lot of stress from various situations everything seemed to resolve itself to a very manageable point this Friday.  We are so thankful to God for His protection and peace through it all.  Thank you very much to all of you that prayed for us. 

My brother John is here!   He is going to be working for Beeyoutiful.  It is SO good to spend time with him again.  Been almost 2 years since I last saw him.  It was right after the wreck he and Mom were in shortly after we got married.  He was pretty banged up and we spent most of the time sitting in the ICU with Mom.   It is so cool to see what a great young man he has grown to be. 

Ron, Steve’s brother has been renting/living with us for several months.  It’s worked out well but due to the baby’s impending arrival he decided it was time to get his own apartment.  Today was moving day.  He sure was glad John is here to help move all his stuff!

I finally got around to packing the first box of stuff for moving.  If they awarded gold medals for procrastination I would definitely be in the running.  It did let me know just how difficult it’s going to be for me to pack up even for this initial “mini” move.  Just the basic thing of bending up and down putting stuff into the box, and then getting up and down from the floor absolutely wore me out.  And it was only ONE box!  

Fighting off another sinus infection.  I think what has happened is I treat aggressively until I start to feel better but the infection is not completely gone.  Then I feel better for a couple of weeks until it builds back up into a problem again.  THIS time I am bound and determined to treat it all the way through until it is gone gone gone.   No more slacking off the supplements the instant I start feeling better.    I’m such a wimp when it comes to swallowing pills I tend to take them only when feeling horrible and then stop the minute I’m functional again.  Not a good habit at all. 

It is late.  Time for me to drag my weary self to bed.  We are hoping to take John up on the mountain tomorrow.  Should be a lovely, crisp day.  Thinking about packing a lunch and just spending some quality time together before a new work week starts on Monday. 

Ever had one of those days that feels like you are caught in a never ending series of fiascoes? 

Today was a day like that.  Probably one of the worst days we’ve experienced together in our marriage. 

We would really appreciate your prayers for us over the next few days.   Specifically for wisdom, protection and peace.  Especially for Steve as he bears the responsibility as head of our home and makes some really tough decisions.

This is definitely a time in our lives where we are having to walk by “Faith” and not “sight” because it is impossible to see a clear way through all the various things we are dealing with.  I just hope that when we look back on everything with the 20/20 vision of hindsight that we can confirm that we have made the right decisions. 

Here is a picture of the house we made an offer on.  Should know by the beginning of next week if we got it or not!


I got to see my Grandparents Walker for the first time in over two years.  Was also the first time Steve got to just hang out and spend some quality time with them.  It was a really good visit.
My favorite room in the whole world was their guest bedroom that I would sleep in when visiting years ago.  I went in that room and just sat there for about ten minutes enjoying the timeless memories there.  BTW notice what Steve’s shirt says??? lol It’s so cute.  “Just call me Daddy!”  Nothing like proclaiming proud fatherhood to be. 

My Grandmother and her two Granddaughters.  I was the only Granddaughter for 12 years until sweet Anna came along.  
 

Grandmother made her special PoppySeed Kolaches in honor of our visit.  The big grin on my face is inspired by the fact that she is packing me up some to take on the road with me.

If all works out I’m really looking forward to living closer to family.  Although it’s been good out here in NM I didn’t quite realize how much I had missed the South until visiting it again.   Poor Steve is going to have to adjust.   Southern culture is pretty foreign to him, much less the accents.  While we were waiting one day in the Real Estate Office a man was talking.  I was enjoying hearing a true southern/country accent complete with unique phrases and that kind of rambling story telling style of conversation that is so common in the south when Steve turns to me with a worried expression.  “If that man walks over here and says anything to us you have to answer.  I can’t understand a word he’s saying!”  After that he officially dubbed me his translator.  In the airport he tried doing his version of a southern accent and it was so funny it had me gasping for breath as we trundled down the moving walk way.  Lets just say it needs a LOT of work if he’s ever to pass as a southern native!