Back to "Normal"

I'm not sure what "normal" is, but we are back to it as much as possible. We have until February 26th* to relax a bit, and we are loving it. You know when we are not calling the trash/recycle people because they took our recycle bin away along with the trash or the phone company because our phone and internet didn't work (finally does today!) or trying to decide if something is misplaced around the rental or simply is in storage and we just thought it had been part of the "do not store" pile. Other than that, life at normal.
Back to reading stories and playing games instead of too much TV.

Back to spending a few minutes with my husband while the kids nap instead of packing/moving/unpacking boxes furiously in the few moments I don't have "help" from my kids.

Back to reading YOUR blogs, which is what I intend to do with every spare moment I have tonight. Very excited :o)

*Feb. 26th we close on our "real" house and then the painting/cleaning/updating/packing/moving/unpacking starts again. Did I mention I am nearly 30 weeks fat pregnant?????

Internet Trouble & Good News

I have access to the internet here for a minute so I wanted to drop in and update you on the Drays, today.

Our rental is a dream, very efficient and more than we ever hoped for...the phone company came out and hooked up our internet/phone (supposedly) but either they didn't truly do it, or all of the phone jacks in the house do not work. We think it is the latter. So eventually I might be able to get online, but not anytime soon.

WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!! We found a house and it is very nice. God has truly blessed us because so so many things have fallen into place to make the new house possible. I'll tell you more about it when I get time. We close on the 26th of February and have occupancy the same day. We won't move in right away as it needs to be painted and all of the electrical sockets are two prong. Besides, we have the rental until May 1 so there will be no rush. Only one month of rent/mortgage will overlap so that is also good. Doing that for very long would be quite draining on the budget!

More later, thanks for your prayers.

Jenney

Moving Week: Friday &Saturday

Ah, all moved in...or not. But we are getting there. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. We won't have phone or internet till the 29th at the rental house. I think seems how they don't even have to come out to either property to do anything that is a bit long to wait, but I just let it go.

Here is Little Monkey Man enjoying his first meal at the rental. We did hotdogs on the George Foreman as I wasn't feeling very "cooking" that first evening.

Snug was thrilled that he had hot dogs and chips and nothing else for dinner. That was his kind of meal!

And Little Monkey Man got his big boy bed. I have similar pictures of when Snug got his. I was just a month shy of starting blogging when Snug got his big boy bed, so I don't have a post to link to. VERY soon though I can link back to when Snug was the same age as Little Monkey.

Someone was excited to get a new bed. My mom made the sheet, and I made the pillow case out of leftover scrap from his quilt (coming when grandmommy gets back from Florida).

Look how BIG he is! I can't believe it. There was blood curdling screaming for the first 30 minutes after we put him to bed that night, and after awhile he settled down and slept just fine. Nap time yesterday was a little harder. It took about 45 minutes and several times out of bed. Last night he climbed in and slept all night without a peep.

Here is the view in the boys' room. Their little matching beds are so cute! There is also a dresser in there, but we really are not going to decorate (still have to paint this room as part of our rental contract) or do anything else because we will be moving again so fast.

Little Monkey Man, being the adventurer that he is, loves the empty cabinets in the kitchen. I am loving all the cabinets period. Our old house had very very few. I told him not to get used to it because A) not everything that goes IN those cabinets is unpacked yet and B) the house we are really looking at/going to put an offer in on doesn't have nearly this many. In the meantime he has a great time getting in and out and in and out.

Either tonight or tomorrow we are going to put in an offer on a house we saw recently. #1 and I went back without kids today to look at it closer and decided (except for the location...I personally wasn't wanting to switch towns) it really fit everything we have been looking for. In fact, it is VERY similar to the house we just sold, only bigger. It even has twice the yard. I will have to make new friends but we won't have to switch churches or anything, and I still plan on going to our old library/grocery stores/bank. Everything is a mere 10 minutes away.

IF they accept our offer (and counter offers and all that junk). I have to remember that we might not get that house. And that will be OK too because that means there is something better out there. Thank you for all your prayers, God has been so generous with us. We never expected to live in such a nice rental, and this other house, if it goes through, will come available to move into just a few weeks before we have to be OUT of the rental, giving us time to paint and make any adjustments. We may even be bringing a new baby into our own house and not a rental. That would be nice!

Like I said, I don't have internet or phone...just if I am the one to stop by our old house and feed our dogs will I be able to check my e-mail quick. I will MISS reading all of your posts, they are so much fun. I promise when we get internet at the rental I will take the time to read what all has been happening in your lives. I will miss you!!!!

Moving Week: Thursday

Today is the biggest moving day of the week. Lord willing, all of our furniture will be moved to the rental house today. We have three guys coming to help #1 accomplish as much of that task as possible. We plan on spending the night there tonight, so last night was probably our last official night at this house. I am posting at 6am because I really doubt I will have any time later today to do so.
Being the last night in this house, it was also this little boy's last night in a crib. We are going to move his big boy bed into the rental and make the transition that way. New place, new bed, no big deal? We'll see!

We are all very excited about today (except Snug, he is not really thrilled with the whole idea) and it is going to be a BUSY one. Yes, I still have Draycare today. And guess what? It is a late start day which means, on top of the three I normally have, I have three "big kids" as well until 11am. Yes, eight children will be in this house we are moving out of until 11am. They will play/have preschool (if applicable) in the playroom side of the basement as that is not going to be a high traffic moving area today. I kinda figure that it will keep me from moving/lifting/trying things I should not be doing at 27 weeks pregnant. I will have my hands full of kiddos, not boxes. Definitely a better option for the baby and my health.

Thanks for all your prayers, maybe tomorrow I will have pictures of a new big boy bed and some of the other rooms.

**Did you see the painting behind Little Monkey Man's head? My mom did that for the nursery before Snug was born. I am going to miss it because it is beautiful!

Moving Week: Wonderful Wednesday

Wow, the past 24 hours have been WOW. Late yesterday afternoon I got a call from a lady who said the house I talked about here had come available to rent again, and would we still be interested? Um...YES. Last night about 8:30 I went and signed the lease and gave them the deposit and rent money. We now have a place to live, PRAISE THE LORD!

#1 has been there all day painting the living room, halls and bedrooms. That is part of the contract. Fine with us, it will be nice and ready for us tomorrow. This house is about $50 more a month than our current mortgage (as opposed to the apartment where we were going to end up which with a storage unit was going to be over $300 a month more) and includes ALL the storage we will need.

I don't plan on unpacking very much at this house as we will only be there until May 1st and should have the baby by then...don't really feel like packing up a ton while juggling a newborn. Now we have to look REALLY hard for a new house. So far nothing is really available, but we know more will keep going on the market.

This house has 3 bedrooms, one of which I can use for a playroom. Snug picked which room he wants to be in today. I really didn't care, and it gave him some control of his world that is changing so fast. It also has a small room off the laundry area that will be PERFECT for doing preschool. A brand new stove was delivered today. I am thrilled.

Our current home's closing is at 5pm tonight. That is kinda sad because I love this house, but we are so blessed to have sold it.

In other news, mainly pregnancy news, we got to visit the hospital unit we plan to deliver in. I am so excited about it. I will be needing some advice on giving birth without pain medication, but other than that it "fixes" everything we didn't like about having a baby in the traditional hospital setting.

1. #1 does not have to sleep on a hard little couch type thing. There is a queen size bed in the room.

2. I do not have to lay in a bed on my back through labor. They encourage you to walk around, be in the tub, and relax.

3. I do not have to wait until after I have the baby to have a drink or something to eat. In fact, they encourage the women to snack and drink during labor. YEAH!

4. The baby will not be whisked away 5 minutes after birth to be weighed, bathed, and check out for an hour. EVERYTHING is done in the room and you are encouraged to nurse as soon as possible (not when it is convenient for the nurses).

5. If everything goes well, we can leave the hospital within 24 hours of giving birth...not 48!

6. The kids don't have to wait a few hours to come. In fact if we want them to be they can be IN the room (I don't want that). There is a wonderful family waiting area right outside the room with couches, toys, and a DVD player that they can use and then come in as soon as she is born and I am ready to see them.

7. Mom and baby have their vitals checked at the same time and they prefer to check baby when he/she is being nursed because they are so relaxed. When we had Little Monkey they were coming in every hour to check one of us. We were so exhausted and it interrupted nursing quite a bit because the insisted on holding him to check his vitals.

And the best news we got last night was that the ban the hospital had against children under 14 due to H1N1 has been lifted and the boys will be able to be there! So exciting. This is turning out to be a wonderful Wednesday!