Too many kids in this bed!

There's too many kids in this tub.

There's too many elbows to scrub.

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine,

There's too many kids in this tub!

Shel Silverstein

If you take that poem and substitute bed for tub and elbows to scrub for "kids to in my bed who fling their legs about and I can't get a cotton pickin' inch of space in which to turn", you've got a clear idea of our morning.

The final kid to come to our room was Nathan at 6:15 a.m. 6:15! I know some of you have already worked out for an hour, had a cup of coffee, and are taking a nap by 6:15 but this girl is still sleeping. Aubrey came in around 5:30 and it seems as though Dane was there all night. How did this happen? Where did we go wrong?? Who doused our bed in kiddy sleepy juices that pulls them and holds them tight?

Our kids have never really slept in bed with us. No judgment, just not our thing. No one sleeps well and I am an unpleasant person without sleep. Unpleasant Sara equals Greg running for the hills. Greg running for the hills equals single motherhood and I know that must be worse than sleep deprivation. So sleep I must get.

A few months back Dane started coming to our bed when he woke up in the morning. You know, at 6:30 or 7. He's snuggle with us for a while, hold our hands, and act precious. Greg and I both loved this time with him. So soft and snuggly and sweet.

Then Nathan started becoming more and more afraid of the dark, things in his room, shadows, you name it. He wakes up with nightmares and can't fall back asleep. "Mommy, can you snuggle me until I'm not scared?" This can happen at any hour of the night. Enter Nathan, snuggling in bed at night until he can fall back asleep. So soft and sweet and snuggly.

Then Aubrey heard about all this middle of the night revelry and she was like, "WHOA, what have I been missing?? Out of bed and lounging with Mom and Dad? How can a girl pass this up?" Then she willed herself to start waking up around 5 a.m. and joining us, just for the delight of it all.

AND THEN Dane started coming into snuggle earlier. And earlier. Until it seems as though he has been coming in at 3 a.m. the past few days. Because I'm massively pregnant I find myself seeing his face at the side of my bed, nummy in mouth and blanket in hand, and rather than lug myself into a sitting position I just let him crawl over me into the middle. Short term gain for long term problems is such a great parenting strategy.

Consequently, we have had all three kids in bed with us more than once this last week. We have a king size bed but let me tell you, they are not made for 5 1/2 people (I figure Mojo gets at least half a person's worth of credit now that he/she is making me the size of a yacht). I ended up on the edge of my bed this morning, not really snuggling Nathan but holding on for dear life as my whole booty was off the edge of the bed and my Mojo belly was the only thing keeping me from flopping to the ground. I gave up and went and slept in Nathan's bed.

Sad to say, if you are Aubrey, Nathan, or Dane, you are in for a radically different night. One that includes your own bed for hours at a time. Take that my little pretties! And IF you wake up with nightmares and IF you need to hold my hand to sleep and IF you think Mom and Dad are awesome at 5 a.m. I have news for you: I might still take you to bed. HAHA, take that!!!

When a blog is neglected

I have let this little blog down lately. I have missed it. I have pictures of Greg's and my weekend getaway to Cave B Resort (glorious), much promised photos of the updated, moved in house, and random pictures of my family that are impossible not to share. Do you get any of that today? Nah. I need to shower and it sounds like too much work. Maybe tomorrow.

What I did want to say is that this morning I was congested and feeling large pregnant and whiny. My precious boys woke up with their Y chromosomes on full throttle. While Aubrey and I were trying to eat breakfast they were whipping their blankets around, running in circles, and poking us. Aubrey was even less impressed than I was. Then I heard Greg hop out of the shower. I told the boys, "Hey Daddy's out of the shower. I bet he's naked. Go get him!!" Worked like a charm.

Have a great day!

Farewell

We have been without internet for weeks. I have nearly died. It's related to a closing date that kept getting pushed back and pushed back. We were nervous to do much of anything until the money was in the bank. THANK THE LORD we officially closed today. What a relief. We went to the old house and said good-bye yesterday. Reread my "We're outta here!" post. I believe I said something about being completely unemotional about the move. I lied. I cried my eyes out at the other house as I walked from room to room. I might have been a little pregnant hormonal. Still, there's been a lot of life in that house and it was so weird to see it go.

Next project: make the new house our home and get some memories here. I think Mojo ought to do a little of both.

Is it possible?

Am I alive? Am I back connected to the internet? It is ridiculous how happy this all makes me?!?!?!

LONG LIVE THE WORLD WIDE WEB!!!!

We is OUTTA HERE!!!!

The Jones Family is moving! Tomorrow, Saturday, April 10, is the official move day. We will be disconnected from the internet for a few days so the best way to reach us is on our cell or home phone. (For privacy reasons I'm not going to list those here. Call around if you are desperate to reach us!)

Our official closing date is most likely Wednesday, April 14. We are so excited and I have been amazingly unemotional about it all. I'm sure I'll shed some tears once we hand over the keys but the whole move is so good for our family it's hard to be sad . A fun new chapter is beginning!

Look for pictures of the house as we get moved in. You'll be amazed at the transformation!!

Nathan and the mystery of the french bread

A true conversation, happening on the way to taking Aubrey to school.

Nathan: MOMMMMMMMYYYYY!!!!!! I have french bread in my eye!!!

"French bread? What?" (Yeah, no french bread in our house.)

"Yeah, I have french bread in my eye. Lots of bread crumbs." I can see him frantically rubbing his eyes.

"When did you get french bread in your eyes?"

"Remember when we ate french bread that one time and I held it in my hand and I was eating it and then I rubbed my eyes? Then there were crumbs in my eyes and they are still there. GET THEM OUT!!!"

Aubrey, ever helpful, explains, "Nathan, that's not french bread, those are just eye boogers."

Nathan is not impressed with this idea. "I do not have boogers in my eyes!! Mommy, tell Aubrey not to say I have boogers in my eyes!!!!"

"Aubrey, please don't tell Nathan he has boogers in his eyes."

"But he does."

"WWWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! No I don't!!!!! It's french bread!!!!!!"

Easter pictures and an Easter story

Our Easter weekend was good, but unexpected. We had planned a trip to Yakima to be with my family. That changed when a friend and co-worker of Greg's, Seth Auten, was killed in a one person car wreck last Monday. He was 33, a husband, and father to two young boys. Please, think of this family in your prayers.

We decided to stay in town so we could attend his memorial service on Saturday. It was a very sad, yet hopeful, service. Seth was a Christian, as is his entire family, and through the grief you could feel them clinging to God. It was an excellent reminder of why Christians celebrate Easter. Because Jesus is ALIVE we have hope that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of eternal joy and celebration. It also reminded Greg and I that we don't have the luxury of waiting to decide how and where we want to compartmentalize God in our lives. He is real, we all will die, and we had better be prepared for that reality at any moment. I'm grateful for the peace that comes from a relationship with Christ.

The rest of our weekend revolved around our family. After the Easter egg hunt, we went to Seth's service. That night we had a picnic in our living room with pizza and basketball. Sunday we woke up EARLY to the excitement of Easter baskets full of treats and a new toy. After church we spent hours just playing with the kids; legos, tinker toys, Elefun game, books, and a throughly trashed house. That afternoon we were at Ma and Pa Joneses house for Eater dinner, more treats, and Loony Tunes. It was a full weekend and day but was just as it should have been.

For the camera happy person I have become, the only Easter pictures I have are from the Easter egg hunt at Aubrey's preschool. It was the perfect size group and the kids were amazed at their loot.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and were full of the joy of what Easter is really about.

p.s. Am I the only one who cannot see the photos when I upload them to blogger? All they give me these days it the code (HTML?). It frustrates me because I can't always remember which pictures I have uploaded! I can see them once I publish the blog post but not before.

Happy Easter!!

Jesus has RISEN! He has risen indeed!!!!

Moving update

This post is to keep people in the loop since I know you are dying of curiosity. You know, since you don't have your own life to lead and are anxious to live vicariously through my pregnant moving life.

The house selling process continues. Things look very good but we are waiting on the appraisal of the buyer's house as well as ours. Due to the nature of the buyer's situation our closing date is FAST. We are outta here on April 15. Between now and then the kids and I are making a trip to see my grandparents and then we're all heading to Yakima for Easter and then having a moving weekend. It will be here in the blink of an eye.

All this moving stuff is making me forgetful and disorganized. I forgot about my hair appointment the other day until I glanced at the calendar two minutes before I was supposed to be there. Thankfully I have been seeing Rachel for a long time and she laughed and even allowed me to reschedule. Thanks for the grace there Rachel. I only have two brain cells left and they never fire simultaneously.

We are starting to unpack. We have many boxes already over at our new house so Greg and I spent a few hours last night getting some things put away. I know we are in a unique situation but this is such a nice way to move. Gradually.

My folks are coming this weekend to help. My dad is going to help Greg dismantle the swing set and my mom is going to help me work on some misc. packing, moving of boxes, and unpacking. Sometimes I look at the things my parents still are always doing for one of their four kids (or Greg's parents and their two kids) and I think, you never stop being a parent. That's cool with me, I hope my kids still need us when they are all grown up.

When are you pregnant, you can pull all sorts of weird muscles that you didn't know you had.

I haven't felt overly anxious the last few days but my dream life indicates otherwise. The past three nights I have had variations on my classic stress dream. They always involve school, me ignoring or not knowing about a particular class, and then realizing I still have to take the final and oh, shoot, it starts in ten minutes. Last night I had forgotten to write that pesky Ph.D. thesis that I was scheduled to defend in an hour. The night before I realized the day of the final that I had been enrolled in a particle physics class. The night before that I chose to blow off a semester's worth of classes only to find myself attending all the finals. Do you have a specific dream when you are stressed? I call mine nerd dreams because, as you can deduce, my nightmares are made up of doing poorly in school. THE HORROR!!!!

Time for a nap. Happy trails to you!

Caught with my pants down

UPDATE, UPDATE!!!!!!

As of today, the people that made me work my tail off, stayed for one minute, and didn't appreciate my three bedroom house, have put on offer on that house that we accepted and we have signed the preliminary signing agreement. They want a close of April 15. God works in cool ways. HOORAY!! Now Mojo won't have to be naked and sleeping in a box.

Metaphorically speaking that is.

We have found this whole house selling/move thing rather tedious, laborious, and currently, disappointing. We are trying to sell the house by ourselves and it is SLOW going. Few calls and fewer showings.

The first few weeks we were listed I about killed myself keeping the house constantly sparkling. Not a fun way to live but I was sure that THE BUYER was going to show up on my front door and I'd have five minutes to prep.

Then there wasn't any action. A few phone call, not a single showing, and my dedication slipped. The house is still clean but not oh-yes-please-stop-by-in-the-next-five-minutes-and-I always-have-fresh-baked-cookies-on-the-counter-and-my-kids-never-have-snotty-noses clean.

We have had a bit more action since but imagine my horror when I get a phone call today from a realtor who is hoping to show the house in fifteen minutes. I took a look around and thought to myself, impossible. To the realtor I said, "Can you give me an hour?"

Here are a few tricks I learned in that hour.

1) Shoving the five loads of clean clothes you had spread out to fold into garbage bags and throwing them in the back of the van works.

2) You can rinse dirty dishes in a sink, place them nicely in a cupboard, and take them back out later to really clean.

3) THANK GOD for beautiful, sunny days. I threw the kids outside, acted like I had planned a picnic lunch all day, and made them eat on paper towels. No dishes, no crumbs, no mess in the house, and the kids think I'm awesome.

4) You need at least ten minutes of rest after an insane hour of cleaning because if you are pregnant your entire head will glow neon red from the exertion and the prospective buyers will be more concerned about you keeling over than the condition of the house.

5) You son will, two minutes before showing, throw open the garage door and re-ding the wall that was so recently patched and repainted. This, with a door stop in place and everything.

6) Your hopes of a nap will be GONE. Your kids naps will be all off. You will be frazzled and grumpy.

7) The buyers will walk in, spend six minutes looking, say, "Is it really only three bedrooms?" and leave. With never knowing that you nearly died trying to make the house look pretty for them. You know, because with three little kids and pregnant belly it always looks like this.

And Greg wonders why I think doing this with a newborn would be impossible. Not hard, not challenging, not even horrible, but IMPOSSIBLE. IMPOSSIBLE I SAY.