Little Stormchaser

On Sunday, Ben went (storm)chasing....and we forgot to really warn James. He bawled as Ben was leaving, and then all day told me about how he wanted Daddy to come back now. It was very sad.

And now I get to learn firsthand the theories put forth in Playful Parenting--specifically, that kids will use play to work through something that is hard for them, to understand it and take control of it.

In other words, all week James has been "packing a lunch" and leaving me and telling me I'll miss him but he'll be back soon. He's gotten in the car and told me he's ready to leave and BYE! SEE YOU LATER MAMA! And today he told me, "Mommy, I'm going chasing tomorrow."

Which, really, is a little heartbreaking, but mostly just a-DOR-able.

The suspense is getting to me.

In case you couldn't tell, I have been struck by another round of lethargy. It's not depression right now, I don't think, it's just immobility. We don't have our house yet and anything any day could jinx it and I just have a hard time getting attached to it until we have the keys in our hands and all the papers are signed and done.

Well, that's not true. I AM attached to the place. It's lovely and James is going to have such a wonderful childhood etc etc. I just can't be IN my happiness until it's done.

Also...allergies.

Also....hormones. Neverending hormones.

Also...this is where I want to kick myself. I might not even really like this house, but when you live in a place, you make it home, and now I can't stop envisioning the fact that we have to leave this place now and it makes me a little sad.

Except NOT because I can't WAIT to get our new life started in our new very own house. Except I have to.

UGH! I hate waiting.

Sticker Shock

House update: We made an offer. We signed papers. Seller signed papers. Realtor took our large earnest money check. We're through the very large first hoop (offer and acceptance). Barring any unforeseen Acts of God or horrible inspection results, hopefully the house is ours!

Holy cow, did we just buy a house? It definitely doesn't feel real at this point in time.

And how the heck are we going to afford to buy a washer and a dryer and a lawnmower? Anyone have any brilliant ideas?

It's past my bedtime, thus no comprehensible title or anything else sensible.

Confirmed: I have a reason to be wary of ticks. We went to the cabin for the holiday weekend...everyone else spent waaaaaaay more time out in the woods than I did (I got there 7 hours after they did, courtesy of a *great* day spent with my friend Becky).....and I go out for 10 minutes with them all to search for Easter eggs...and I come in with a tick actually attached to my back. Not just crawling on me. Yeesh!

Confirmed: I SUCK at this whole "getting James' energy out" thing. Seriously. I hate this. Over the weekend he ran around with all of us and then he actually Went To Sleep at a Normal Bedtime each and every night and slept all night and got up at a normal time. Today? I tried so hard to run him around. I kept him out and about from 8 till noon. I played out in the backyard with him for at least 30 minutes before dinner. I danced around with him in the living room this afternoon. But still...it's 10:00 and Ben is in there trying to get him to sleep. Why? WHY???!!!???

Not yet confirmed: Whether or not we are going to get to buy this house that we want! But send all your good thoughts and karma and prayers and whatever you got our way! Holy cow, I think we're gonna buy a house! WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Something Wicked

Should I be on the lookout for a potential disaster heading our way?

We have had a huge bug attack/infestation issue just in the last 20 hours or so. Last night we had bees (GINORMOUS BEES) burrowing into the woodwork on the outside of our house, and wasps flying into our garage from the attic somehow...and this morning, the first time I went to the bathroom there was a caterpillar in the toilet (a truly weird discovery), and the second time there was a large spider crawling out of the bathtub. This is in addition to the legion of ticks that have tried to attach themselves to us within the last week or two. So I'm wondering if they're all seeking solace from some impending doom, or if this just means that spring is actually here this time...but then again, it's not exactly supposed to be sunny this weekend.

Weather in Oklahoma is so strange.

Checking In

Hi all!

We're still here. I was sick with several different things for several different weeks (ha!), so my motivation to talk about all that fun and jazz was pretty low. Everyone is doing all right now. We've been looking to buy a house and now that we've found one we think we might like to make an offer on, I'm having a hard time not stressing about the costs and whether or not we can EVER afford ANYTHING again. But I hear that's pretty common. ;) So we'll see.

In other news, I hate not having a camera. Makes it a lot harder for me to want to post since I know people really would like to get to SEE how big James is getting. =)

More news when we actually have some news? Or a camera? Or when I'm not worn out from a long day of trying to get James to run around all day so he'll actually go to sleep at bedtime, and not at 10:00 or 10:30 instead?

Yeah, that strategy totally backfired, I think, considering I'd like a 7:30 bedtime for myself now!

Oh, who am I kidding, I'd like an early bedtime no matter how well James sleeps NOW...after all, I have almost THREE YEARS of sleep deprivation to catch up on. (Can you believe James is almost three? Because I can't.)

Cheers~