Louisville

As we did our house hunting in Louisville this weekend it really hit me that we are moving. AND we are moving with 2 children this time. We attempted on Saturday to drive around the Louisville area but quickly discovered that wasn't an option as we were on the curvy backroad countryside going from one subdivision to another. I was in the backseat holding a bucket for our carsick Savannah ready to lose it at any moment. We got her out of the vehicle just in time. (whew that was a close one). As I was sitting in the backseat between the 2 children I look over at Carson who is just grinning from ear to ear that he finally can see me after only hearing me for the past 2 hours. Jeff and I grew tired and frustrated trying to care for Savannah while attending to a needy toddler. We got very little accomplished. You could cut the tension in the car with a knife and neither one of us was enjoying this task. We decided that we would need to ask for back up for the following day as we drove home.

Saturday night we lay in bed looking over more and more houses to map out our next quest. Savannah earned herself a babysitter and an afternoon away from the car. Our neighbor gave us a phone number to a great high schooler who came over to watch Elmo with Savannah and give her full undivided attention. I watched the rolling hills, changing fall colors, and watching all other surroundings as we drove down again yesterday. There was so much I missed while attending to a sick toddler in the backseat. There was laughter in the car. We found the joy of imagining this next phase in our life come to a reality. I was so glad to have that enjoyment back. Carson was thrilled to have a DVD player all to himself. He enjoyed watching Baby Einstein which he rarely gets to watch because Savannah trumps him with Elmo demands. We didn't find a house yet but we found 2 really great houses that we both liked and could make work. We want to continue searching to make sure that we have a thorough grasp of the area and choose the perfect house for this next phase. Jeff starts his new area on October 29th which doesn't leave us with much time to look. The sooner we find a house and close on it, the sooner we can be joined as a family once again.

Until then I am busy prepping our house for the real estate market, making phone calls to arrange all the details, and trying to find relaxing time to recoop from some of the stress at times. Promotions for Jeff are such an exciting, stressful, joyful, disarray, and all other emotions. I really hope that Savannah handles this move okay. She understands what "home" is now and announces to me when we are getting close to home. I told her that we would be moving and we would have a new home. She responded by saying "move?, sure."

Helpless

I am at a complete and total loss at what to do with Savannah. As a parent you are suppose to be there to comfort them, fight for them, and make sure that nothing hurts them. I can't take this pain away. I don't know what's causing it. Savannah gets car sick. Jeff and I have scrubbed a puked on car seat more times than any parent should have to. Once is enough but at least a dozen times just is getting really carried away. Last month I brought her into the doctor for her vomiting spells at home that she has also been having. They come every 6-9 weeks. I can sense when they are going to be brought on by either bowel habits or her mood. The doctor prescribed her some zofran to help with these vomiting spells so she can at least keep food in her for the day. She's usually fine until she eats something. It comes back up and she goes about playing until another one comes along or she realizes that hunger is starting to strike her again. Then we battle in the kitchen for an hour or 2 over how much she's allowed to drink/eat. Its like reliving the stomach flu every other month. I realize that kids are going to get sick but I was not prepared for this many episodes of sickness per year.

The road trip to MN/WI proved to us that Zofran is our new best friend along with her DVD player/countless Elmo movies. When we sensed the car sickness coming on, we quick pulled over, got her out of the car to pop one of those pills in her mouth. Gave her some time to get some fresh air and on our merry way we went. Thats all fine and dandy that we have this medicine to give to her once she's getting sick but I don't like to be reactive. I like to be proactive and reach the source of the problem before it becomes a problem.

Tonight after an hour of sleeping for her she awoke screaming in pain and sweating. She wanted to throw up so badly but it just wouldn't come as I held a clammy toddler on my lap. She was crying and I could have just about cried along side her. You feel so helpless as a mom as your holding your child who is in pain but there's nothing you can do. I again reached for our new best friend the Zofran bottle and let a pill dissolve under her tongue. I am in complete misery and want so badly to know the reason behind all her pain. I figured her tummy was bothering her today by the amount of dirty diapers I changed. She acted normal before going to bed only requesting to sleep nexy to me which isn't totally out of sorts but its not asked on a normal basis. The Zofran took about 5 minutes to kick in and she was out. She's sleeping so well that she's snoring. The pediatrician said that wouldn't be her first recommendation to solve the problem. What do I do with my child?

6 months

I can hardly believe that I am writing about Carson turning 6 months old. I feel like I was just sitting down at the computer to write about his birth story. He is an incredible blessing to have in our household. He is now enjoying the tastes of green beans, sweet potatoes, and pears. Savannah thinks she can "play" mommy by feeding Carson so I am going to have to start learning not to leave the food out and walk away. I have cleaned up 2 messes already and lost some baby food by my little helper. Carson is attempting to get in the crawling position too. I help him by pushing his butt down. hehe. I am not ready for him to crawl yet. He can just stay put with the rolling for my sake. I am not ready for the baby gates up again and to put away some of the "baby" items (the bouncer). He started blowing bubbles with his lips yesterday. He is quite a handful to change a diaper with now. He either finds his toes or rolls away from me. He has places to be and changing his diaper is not going to slow him down. I love watching him grow up and seeing how they now interact with each other. Now that he sits up, I'm constantly telling Savannah to "be nice to your brother, stop sitting on your brother, or don't push him down." Oh my! It has just started.

I have also been VERY busy this week with a job that Jeff suggested I get into. I have been buying/selling the kids clothes on Facebook now for a year. I have learned quite a bit on how to ship items, how to price items, and how to list items correctly. I still love to venture to our local Once Upon a Child's or other resale shops in the area. When Jeff comes with me, he often hears me say oh I know someone looking for this or do you know how much people would pay for this on Facebook? This past weekend he told me that I should turn that into a business. Go to find the stuff that other people are searching for at a fraction of the price and sell it for more. Granted I'm only making a couple dollars at a time profit mainly charging for my time spent looking for items and shipping it to them. In one week so far, I have banked $200. Quite an accomplishment for me. I love the thrill of walking into the store to wonder what you are going to find. Jeff enjoys seeing me being passionate about something again. I enjoy being able to bring a little bit of money in, doing 2 jobs I love, and still provide some means of income. Well now I'm off to clean the house while the kids are still napping.

The monkey and the hare

I realize I have not written a while. Summer has gotten the best of me and trying to wrap up all these projects has occupied most of my time. Oh yeah and taking care of those 2 kids. Savannah has gone into pure monkey stage. If you do not put things out of reach at least 8 feet high, she sees this as a challenge and will test your true "out of reach" ability. I cleaned the cupboards inside and out a couple weeks ago. She saw me push a chair over to reach the top cabinets. She finds this perfectly acceptable for her to do the same now. (insert big sigh) Now the top cabinets are not safe. I didn't even thing about child safety on those things. She also is very intrigued with the fridge and figures she has every right to help herself to a snack if we do not put a lock on it. She is so sneaky about it also. She doesn't even worry about making a lot of noise in the morning to let me know she is awake. Instead she tip toes into the kitchen to see if daddy forgot to lock the fridge. Some mornings he does when he is in a hurry. Jackpot! I wake up to mozzerella sticks, yogurt, and blueberries strewn across the floor. Not exactly the "good morning" I was looking for. She watches and waits for you to be out of sight to do things. We are still working on that "we obey mommy even when she's not watching" rule. This child has no fear. Well the only fear is being caught.

Carson just will not slow down either. We will be celebrating 6 months in a week. 6 months? 6 months? How did a half a year go by already. I have been thoroughly enjoying this little ham. He rarely ever cries. Right now he's singing in his crib waiting for me to come get him. He sleeps through the night most of the time. Last night he was woken by the storm. Wanted comforting for 2 minutes and was back to sleep. He rolls all over the place. Or maybe he rolls/scooches himself all over the place. He is also a big sitter now. He thinks he is no cool now that he can sit and play with his toys like his big sister. He giggles, coos, and smiles more than Savannah ever did. I caught him the other day trying to put himself up on all 4s. Nope not ready for that. I told him to get back down. I'm not ready for you to crawl YET. He just won't stop moving around and growing up so quickly. It just goes by so quickly.

Well I'm off to start my day. Carson will only be happy for so long before he would start protesting and Savannah only stays out of trouble for a small amount of her day.

More than clothes

When moving here a year ago my neighbor told me about different pages where you could buy/sell your children's clothes on facebook. I was foreign to this whole discovery but quickly became addicted as I saw all the cute things that I couldn't get in the store because they were out of Savannah's size or the price was just too high for me to spend that much. I always take very good care of Savannah's and now Carson's clothes. I hate bringing them to consignment shops only for them to "pick" through what they will take and what they won't take. I come out frustrated and often disappointed with the amount of change that is handed to me after I spent so much on their clothes. I for the most part am a bargain shopper but do splurge when its something that is absolutely adorable and will work perfect for such and such occasion. I didn't like the budget I was left to when I was paid by the consignment shop. That all changed after moving here and having Stacy bring me into the world of facebook selling. I learned how to ship items and how to price them accordingly. Now I'm addicted and love the "hunt" for the items that were from past seasons that people still have and will sell to me or trade.

Its more than clothes though. It's a weird bond that you form with these people. You joke and laugh about the silly things your kids do. You vent to one another about your child dumping the glass of milk all over the floor and smiling at you. You bounce ideas of parenting and what has worked for them in such a situation. Its a community of moms coming together in a way that is indescribable. Yes you do have the bad eggs of the group as everyone does. You have the people who labeled something as in almost brand new condition and you get it with holes, stains, etc. You also get those people who take your money but never send the item. It forces you to file a claim with paypal and take valuable time out of your schedule.

This past Monday the selling facebook world has been saddened. My newsfeed is clogged with posts of a mom who was killed in a car accident leaving behind her 2 young children (a one year old son and 3 year old daughter). You see people grieving over the loss of someone they never even met just became connected through a cyber world. You sit at your computer reading through all the comments and pictures only seeing your own family. You connect with that person so much and feel for what her family must be going through. I am amazed at the outreach that people are doing for not even meeting this person. Not even ever hearing her voice. There is a fundraiser set up in her name to help with funeral expenses along with the needed childcare as she was the primary childcare provider as a stay at home mom. Their original goal was to raise $3000 by August 14. They were not sure if they would be able to obtain that goal. This fundraiser has been set up for approx 48 hours so far and has raised nearly $28,000. It's more than clothes. Its a friendship, an understanding, a real connection to a person. As a stay at home mom you often wonder if you are making any difference in the world. The world lost one mom that should not have been taken away so soon.

Here's the info on the fundraiser and information what happened. http://www.indiegogo.com/AmberRoussel?c=home

Sprinkler and finger paint

You know I have to say, it is really fun to blog when you have something to blog about. My goal is to do at least one activity with Savannah a day. Now that she is getting older and catching onto things more, I feel the need to engage her in the activities I blog about.

Yesterday I decided to let Savannah just do what she wanted to in the morning and she wanted to watch cartoons. She would dodge back and forth to catch a few glimpses of Curious George or Sesame Street in between playing with her babies. I had a few things to get done in the morning. I figured the easiest way for me to get those things done is to keep her occupied doing the things she wanted to do in turn hopefully keeping her out of trouble for a moment. It's amazing to me that not only looks in a child come out when you have your own but also the personalities you had as a child come out in your offspring. Savannah is an early riser (usually) like her daddy was at this age. She is also always looking to get into trouble and seek adventure quite like her mama at this age.

I decided to set up the sprinkler yesterday for a little run-through-the-water fun. She was less than thrilled at the idea because I allowed her to do it. She had no problem the previous night running through the neighbors sprinkler with her clothes on and squealing with delight. Its funny how even to kids the grass is always greener in the other persons lawn. I decided to forego the swim diaper as they are costly and we were at home. Really do you think she is going to have to "go" in the 15 minutes we are out there? The answer to that question is yes. Not only will she "go" once but she will "go" twice. Lesson learned :)  As I snapped these pictures of her yesterday I had to sit back and look after uploading them where did my little girl go? She looks so grown up and has changed SOO much since last summer. The time is going by too fast.

We also did a little finger painting in the driveway. I forgot to snap a picture of that activity but she had fun wearing one of daddy's old t-shirts and taking a foam brush to the big art size sheet of paper. She did not have to worry about making a mess since it was outside. We learned about how to stroke a brush and all about the four colors. Once we get the red, yellow, blue, and green color names down we will start mixing them together to make a whole new set of colors.

As for Carson one of his favorite new activites is hanging out in his jumperoo. He likes spinning the ball to make the rattle sound and staring down the lion in the middle of the activity table. He coos and giggles as he checks out all the fun toys the jumperoo has to offer.

Well I'm off to make a little girl breakfast and get us ready for story time once again today. Hopefully she will just join right in on the fun and not waste a moment staring down the kids to decide if its a good idea to sing/dance. Another hot day here so I think the kiddie pool will be another must in today's schedule of summer fun. Happy first day of summer!

Waterpark adventure

Yesterday I was woken up at 6:45 by a little girl with no bottoms on (diaper included) and attempting to take her shirt off to hop in the shower with daddy. I was UP! Carson awoke at 7am. I decided this was the start of my Monday whether I was ready for it or not. I could really have used about 4 more hours of sleep after working so hard on the weekend. Nevertheless, it was me and the kids on our own once again. We got ready to hit the road at 8:30 in order to get all our errands done in time. Errands took me longer than I thought they would and I was doing the almost impossible...grocery shopping during lunchtime! The double carts were all out so I was forced to get a single cart with 2 kids. I am now starting to sit Carson up in a cart or high chair to strengthen his neck and stomach muscles. Plus it just makes life a tad bit easier. The single cart idea was not working. I had Carson in the front and Savannah in the basket of the cart. I did not realize how much of a disaster that would be. We had only made it down the produce and pasta aisles. Savannah had already worked on eating the buns with the bag still on, opened a box of fettuccine noodles, and was onto the single serve mac and cheese containers. I was determined to get that double cart. Went back to double check both sides of the store to make sure one had not been returned. Nothing. Darn it! I returned to my grocery shopping frazzled and hungry. Savannah had found a way to keep herself entertained now. I couldn't stop from laughing and snapping a picture quick. This child was working on stacking the items in the cart then saying 1,2, wee as they all came tumbling down (some onto the floor). I hit it in reverse after I realized this was now going to be the game of the remainder of the shopping trip. I was determined to find an ulterior way to get through this shopping trip that just wouldn't end. Alas there was a car/double cart just being returned. I quick snatched it and shuffled all my groceries to it. I had a very nice gentleman help me load my groceries into my car and we made it home just in time to eat some lunch (at 1:00). 

I was really debating after that fact if I wanted to brave a waterpark with the 2 little ones myself. I had asked a neighbor to go with me but her boys were less than thrilled to find out where we had discussed going. They decided to venture to the Y themselves for some big kid pool time. I was left with deciding whether I could handle a 4 month old and a courageous, scared of nothing 2 year old. Oh I should also add no nap 2 year old. After lunch I just decided to brave it out and go for it. It could be a complete disaster but at least I would try to give Savannah some water time. We got to the waterpark which took me a couple turn arounds because I don't have a GPS anymore (stupid GPS stealers). I had been to this waterpark once last year but couldn't remember the exact turns just the general direction. But we got there and it was a blast. Savannah was unsure of the water and the water slide at first. I finally dunked her under one of the waterfalls to get her all wet. She stood there and shivered (yes in 93 degree heat) deciding whether she liked it or not. She came back to the stroller to take some more sips of her icee and ran as fast as her little legs could take her back to the water. While watching her squeal with delight, I couldn't help but stop to think how could I ever deprive her of this amount of joy and memories because I would be too scared to handle 2 of them. After all it was my choice to have them so close together. I should be embracing every opportunity to get her out and exploring the world. The waterpark/glorified splash pad was the perfect size for me to keep an eye on her while I was next to the stroller watching Carson sleep but big enough for her to have enough activities to keep her thoroughly entertained. We were there for almost 2 hours. It wasn't a disaster getting her to leave. I asked her if she was ready to go bye bye. She waved bye to the water and wrapped her towel around herself.  We will be going back on Thursday. Savannah went to bed no problem at 9:00 and slept until 7:30. I was actually up before her for a change. Today she is laying in bed watching cartoons. I think she earned a little cartoon time after all our adventures yesterday.

Today will be a catch up day. I will do the laundry. I will sweep/mop the floors. Organize paperwork and get letters mailed/bills paid. After a crazy, busy day yesterday you just need a day to catch back up. Tomorrow will be story time and I'm sure another set of errands :) Well I'm off. I have a little girl calling my name and a shower to grab before both of them are awake and I REALLY have to start my day.