Home, Sweet Home

So we're finally getting settled! Other than some painting and purchases that will have to wait, there's a place for everything and everyone. After the first couple of days of unpacking, Jay left for Florida. The kids and I spent time getting to know the area and swimming (if you could call it that. Jayson walked around the kid's pool with his life jacket on and said "I'm floating!") We walked to the store, drove to Ikea (scary!), and went to the Post Office. They gave us a key to our new mailbox and we have no idea which box is ours. Jay went out when he got home and tried it on every mailbox in the complex and it doesn't seem to work on any of them. We live next door to a Giant (the popular grocery store chain) so we've spent a lot of time walking back and forth whenever we get a craving. I tried to catch a firefly one night after the kids went to bed so Jayson could see it in the morning but was not successful. I;m sure that was a great way for the neighbors to get to know me though...staring out of their windows at the nutter who seems to run a shelter for dogs and children out of her apartment because she always has a child strapped to her or chasing after her jumping around in the dark. We took Murphy to the Vet and she seems to think that he has allergies so she gave us new food, antihistamines, special shampoo, ointment, and antibiotics. She thinks that his constant paw licking that he started doing when we arrived in Virginia is perhaps psychological...a way of coping with the stress. He licked so much that bacteria started growing and now it's infected. His food is duck and potato flavored and completely hypoallergenic. Funny.

We've had the best couple of days with Jay home. Jayson laughs more with his dad around, and everything is just more fun with him here. Today we got out the door by 8:00 and went to the local Farmer's Market where we bought beets and cheese and a chocolate croissant for Jay. Then Jayson and I spent almost three hours at the Vet (not so fun, but Jayson found a tennis ball in the cupboard so we were entertained). After lunch, we all rode the Metro train up to Old Towne Alexandria (I don't know why they spell it that way!) and found a gigantic Whole Foods (the local natural food store chain) where we bought more produce and...a chocolate croissant for Jay (he needed to compare). We walked in the rain which felt great because it was so hot Then we came home and had dinner, then the kids went to bed early so they can get up for church in the morning and I'm just about to walk to Giant again, this time for a valid reason...we're out of Jayson's favorite:milk. Anything other than milk is not his favorite, which means that he would really prefer not to have it. I am happy to report though that after almost a solid week of wanting nothing but Honey Nut Cheerios to eat, he's been trying a new variety of foods including cold pizza. That may not seem like branching out, but for Jayson it was a huge step. He didn't even gag. He almost took a bite of salmon today! He smelled it and agreed that it was probably delicious, but that's as far as it got. This time. Lately he's been experimenting with things other than food...I caught him chewing on his flip-flop yesterday and today he chewed off a piece of his train ticket. Is he doing it as a way of coping like Murphy's licking disorder? Or is he just craving roughage? Or maybe he wants to find out why Aidan puts anything and everything in his mouth. I don't know, but I'm not going to worry about it unless he actually starts swallowing all of these non-edibles. Who has the time? We're just going to enjoy every moment together until Jay leaves again on Monday.

A Conversation with Jayson

Setting: Backyard at Angela's house. Jayson just got out of the pool and Mom is holding him while he warms up.
Jayson: I just need to warm up a little. It's pretty cold. But I have my goggles, so my eyes are dry. My eyes are not cold. They're just warm. I like the cold though. (has a drink of Sprite.) Oh, that Sprite is pretty spicy. I just wish the water in that pool is spicy too. (takes a bite of cracker, and laughs because it's crunchy). Crunch. I just crunched that cracker. I'm going to go help Mia and Zoey put more water in the pool. (starts walking through the grass) That river (the grass) is pretty warm, Mom! I'm just swimming through the river! (makes swimming motions). Oh, I need my goggles on though. (pulls goggles on) See ya later, Mom!
Mom: See you later, Jayson.

Our Week Apart

Jay is on his way through flooded Iowa and Indiana today. Last night he stayed in Omaha, a charming city at 2:00 in the morning, except that a lot of the streets were barricaded because of the flooding so he slept in the truck rather than in a hotel. He had Murphy in the seat next to him to protect him, though. Today he has encountered a lot of water but for the most part the freeway is clear. He's making good time and he thinks he'll be there by Tuesday night, not Wednesday afternoon. As long as he makes it to the airport by Thursday! Jayson, Aidan and I have been at my sister Angela's house since Saturday night and my sister and I stayed up late on Saturday night talking, then the boys and I slept all together in Zoey's room. Jayson kept grabbing me through the night just to make sure I was still there and he was pretty clingy yesterday. He keeps telling me that he doesn't like the new house and he just wants to go home. He slept in until 11:30 this morning and when he woke up and didn't find me next to him he started to cry. I'm sure by the end of the week he'll be more comfortable here, just in time to leave. I just know that he's going to love the new house though, and he'll feel much better when he's back with his daddy. Aidan is loving the fun time with his cousin Brodi, who is just a few weeks younger...they poke each other's eyes, take each other's toys, and smile and gurgle at one another. Last night Jayson was trying to balance on the toilet while having a meltdown and I was holding Aidan while kneeling in front of the toilet to help Jayson and he started crying (Jayson) about how much he misses our house so Aidan started crying because Jayson was crying. Ha, ha! I know that moments like that will be so funny when I recall them in twenty years when my son's wives are telling me about what funny things their children did. Maybe twenty-five years. Aidan is napping now and Jayson is drawing with his cousin Mia. It's a little break before dinner needs to be put on the table and we start a whole new round of craziness. In just three more days we'll be going to sleep in our new apartment in Virginia! Yea!

I'm soooo tired. I don't know why I'm still up! Jayson had his first dental appointment today because I was worried about his gums after he was so sick last week. The dentist was pretty sure that he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. He was shocked when I told him that I had taken him to the doctor and they hadn't mentioned that. Poor Jays. He still has an ulcer on the roof of his mouth between his two front teeth, but he hasn't complained at all (accept for the huge fight when we brush his teeth) and he was such a trouper when the hygienist put the x-ray film edge right on it! He started to cry a bit but he kept trying to bite down to please her. He started bleeding and it was so sad! She then took him to his little table to lay on and said "go ahead and lay back." Jayson just looked at her like she was crazy and said, "it's too scary, Mom!" We managed to coax him, but there was no way he was going to put headphones on and watch a movie...he knew he needed to keep all of his attention on that sneaky girl. He was totally fine through the cleaning and exam, and no cavities! Hooray! I think it's a miracle because Jay and I certainly haven't been doing much to help him out with his dental hygiene, unless you count buying him new toothbrushes all the time because he always leaves his laying around in unsanitary places (like the shopping cart at Wal Mart today- he brought his awesome new "Mater" toothbrush in with us). I cannot imagine why he's always sick. Who doesn't let their kids share a toothbrush with the dog, right? Jay FINALLY went to the doctor today after almost a week of dragging himself around. He's got some kind of bacterial throat infection. I knew he was faking it!

Anyway, enough sicky talk! It's so last season!! We're leaving the state in a week! I'm really excited, of course, but I have a gut feeling that we won't be gone for long. It's just one of those little whisperings, like my recurring dream about our Charlie (that other kid in our family that I keep calling and he just doesn't answer me, that naughty child!). Maybe it's just my brain's way of coping with it. Jayson seems to be very confused about it all and the more I try to explain it the more baffling it seems to become to him. Tonight he looked around his bare bedroom and said "it looks different in here Mom," and he asked me where all of it was, one thing at a time. I told him (for the millionth time) that everything is getting packed up so we can take it all to our new house in Virginia. He thought about it and then said, "our house is very heavy, Mommy. We will be very strong to carry our house and we will be underground to carry it." Ha, ha! I would never have considered that he would think that we're going to be moving the entire house. No wonder he's been so obsessed with the size of the moving truck. He keeps asking me how big it is. That would have to be one big truck to fit our whole house on it!

I've decided to totally commit myself to running the marathon in October. You would think that the whole $110 entry fee would be enough, but even that hasn't motivated me to get out the door for the past month. Anyone that knows me well knows that money to me is like...well, it has a habit of slipping through my fingers. IT does, meaning the money. Notice how I'm the victim here. Anyway, I read a greatly inspiring article in Runner's World, "Mission of the Marathon Moms" about two friends who decided to train for a marathon together (the same race that I'm doing!) and all of their struggles, triumphs, etc.... I just feel after reading it that my training for something again will be good for all of us...a way for me to meditate in a way, and have a release, which will mean less release in the form of losing patience with Jayson. Or Jay.

Okay...I have to go do the dishes before it gets any later!

My Baby's Growin' Up

Lately teeth brushing has become the biggest battle of the day with Jayson. Tonight as I breastfed Aidan I listened to Jay and Jayson in the bathroom as they fought it out. Jay, trying his best to remain calm, explained all of the reasons why Jayson should brush his teeth. Over this explanation Jayson screamed, "you're killing me Dad, you're going to kill me!" repeatedly. How does a three year old learn such expressions? Especially when I try so hard to screen everything he watches on television (including commercials)? What must Jay be teaching him when I turn my back? Or is it something that boys are just born knowing about? War, fighting, etc.? But then how do I explain his telling me today that when he grows up he's going to wear finger nail polish on his toe nails? (I chose not to share this with Jay...no need to alarm him.) But I think I handled that scenario pretty well. I simply made up a great big whopper about how fingernail polish makes boys run slower when they're playing football. He seemed very confused. I also began to be confused. Does that mean that girls run slowly with nail polish as well, or can they run fast with it while boys cannot? Should girls play football, or can they even? Maybe it's time to start answering some of the hard questions.

Calgon, Take Me Away!

Does anyone remember the old commercial for Calgon, the bubble bath? It shows a housewife, bedraggled, with some new catastrophe occurring at the moment. She looks at the camera in exasperation and says, "Calgon, take me away!" The screen cuts away to show her somehow whisked away to the bubbly, candle lit gigantic jacuzzi bath that we all have (Tina) where she is relaxing, smiling, lovely. I feel like my life has been one long Calgon moment for the past couple of weeks. Moving is stressful, but it's a good stress. It's exciting. It's all of the other stuff that came with it that I wasn't expecting. WHY is my family always sick? It makes me feel like a bad nurturer. Let's start with the night of my last blog entry, Thursday. Jay was gone all day and all night (until midnight) for work. Jayson was still getting over his whatever he had. I hadn't gotten any packing done and I had random people showing up at my doorstep all hours. I stupidly waited for Jay to get home before going to bed. The next day Jay promised to be home early and I began to make a list of all of the helpful things he would do. That afternoon, as promised, Jay came home...looking positively awful! He thought that maybe he was just tired and decided to have a little nap before tackling the list. Skip to Sunday evening. Jay is still sick. Church is hard as a single parent. I don't plan on making it a habit. Jayson wanted to play outside but it was too cold in the shade and too hot in the sun. He needed a jacket but it was so bunchy! He wanted noodles for dinner, not pasta. Actually, he wanted Cheerios. But where did the noodles go? In the garbage!?(because Mom burned them while she was changing Aidan) But Jayson NEEDED noodles for dinner!!! Aidan fell off the bed and we both cried. I just now realized that not only did I throw the noodles in the garbage but I also threw away the bowl that they were in as well. If I remember, I'll be fishing that out when I'm done with this, and the dishes, and nursing my feverish, pathetically ill husband (okay, I'm not much of a nurse, but I try hard not to resent him). Somewhere in all of this, I looked at the camera of my life and said, "Calgon, take me away!" What happened? Nothing. Not a thing. Except that I had a good laugh at my clever self. I imagined my life at that moment as a commercial for bubble bath and knew it would be very amusing and relatable to the other housewives watching. I thought of the many funny things that could have made it in the cut...how I wore my dress unbuttoned to church today because I nursed Aidan right before we left and forgot to do it up in the rush, how I ate some lunch and got half of it stuck in Aidan's hair and didn't notice until (much) later, how Jayson picked his nose in Sacrament today and ate it and when I gave him a look he took it out of his mouth and flicked it, how yesterday at Wal Mart Jayson bounced a ball and tripped a man with it (he later apologized to Thomas the Train who's image was on the ball), and how I ate an entire bag of chocolate covered cherries that Jay bought because they're his favorites, but then he felt too sick to eat them. The list goes on and on. I know that if I can just see the humor in all of this it will one day get easier, or at least different. I absolutely know that my family is worth it, I just hope that I can take it all in stride and still help my children grow up knowing how special they are. And who needs Calgon when I have prayer and a blog?

Jayson's On a Roll!

Jayson's been saying the funniest things in the past couple of days! I hope I can remember all of them....

Today Jayson walked out of the kitchen and said to me, "Mommy, I love you pretty much!" I think (hope) he means so much.

Jayson was pouting yesterday morning and he came over to me and said, "I can find a reason why I am sad, Mommy. I can't find that yellow car...and I do miss it!"

A conversation:
Jayson: Shoe-shaw is a color, Mom.
Mom: What is a color?
(repeated several times, then finally...)
Mom: Oh, fuschia!
Jayson: Ya, shoe-shaw is a color, but it's not yellow. It's not my favorite.

The other day we went to Jay's work to fax something after hours and as we walked in Jay said "oh, I wonder why the lights are still on." Jayson looked up at the lighting then we walked over to jay's cubicle. A few minutes later (and after some contemplation apparently) Jayson looked up and said "these lights are pretty lighty! That's not good. They're really bright." I think he had been trying to figure out why Jay had disapproved of the lights being on.

Jayson got a new "big boy" bike this week and when he saw his tricycle at home he looked at and said"oh, I can't ride that bike anymore. It's too red for me."

His new favorite phrase lately is "no way"...
Mom: Let's brush your teeth.
Jayson: No. Way!
Mom: Let's have lunch.
Jayson: No. Way!
Dad: Time to say a prayer.
Jayson: No. Way!

Finding Renters Can be....Interesting!

We've gotten some pretty funny emails from people who are interested in renting the house. What is it about men and cats?
This one is from a man in Portland:
I was interested in the apartment you listed on Craigslist. It is it still available? I have a three-year-old and one cat. Is there any additional rent and/or deposit for the cat (I've seen some pretty steep increases for a pet; and I have to say that my daughter has peed on my floor more in the last three years than my cat has in the eight years I've had her - daughter is now potty trained; although as with most three year olds it can be a transient skill, the cat is far more reliable.) At any rate...I am in Portland and won't be able to come see the place in person; so would it be possible to get some photos and some dimensions (square footage, bedroom size, etc)?

This guy has the word "Hobbit" in his email address:
To Whom It May Concern:I am really interested in your housing that was listed for rent. I have been separated from my life-long friend, a cat by the name of Tiger that I would go to jail or even die for. I am not some nut. I am just a mature male that is working in the area while I receive medical attention.


Funny!

Jay's Movin' On Up

Thank you EVERYONE for your comments! We love hearing from all of you! We're praying for Kahli to have that baby soon!
So we got to go shopping for Jay because he NEEDS to look good for work now and it was so much fun! I found every pair of pants in his size (which I will not, due to spousal loyalty, divulge) and I think he tried on half of them. It was almost as bad as getting him to go to the dentist. We were at Burlington Coat Factory, which has excellent deals, so we walked away with lots of good stuff. He looked so good in everything! It was hard to narrow it all down. I felt a bit like a proud mother on her child's first day of school, sending him off in those spiffy clothes this morning, especially since he walked to work. He's attending a conference for Consultants (he, by the way, is the only non grey-haired person among them). Although I'm sure that when I send Jayson off to school I won't send him. I'll go to class with him where we'll say hi to the teacher who I'm sure we'll already know, and I'll probably only leave when I absolutely have to. I will blubber all the way home, no doubt, and continue to sob intermittently throughout the day.

Speaking of Jayson, it's sad that he was so physically ill for the past week, but I wasn't expecting it to affect his disposition so much! He's been a pill, to put it bluntly. Last night while Jay and I took Aidan shopping, Jayson stayed home with Natalie and threw balls at her and body slammed her and had a major tantrum episode when she tried to put him to bed. Naughty! Of course, she said it was fun, but if he was anything like he's been to me lately, fun isn't how I would have described it. Today he was in the naughty chair at least 6 times and all before his nap. I handled it all very coolly, once telling him that his straw was stupid, and another time telling him that his whining was going to drive me crazy. I said this in a not so nice way. But after each momentary loss of patience, I was able to remember the scripture in...wherever it is...that says something about showing a greater increase of love after disciplining a child, so I hugged him and told him I loved him, and that I was sorry that he's having a hard day. And I really am. Because as I explained to him, when he has a hard day, it's hard for me too.

On a happier note, bikes were 1/2 off today at Wal Mart so I made an executive decision and bought a cute little Huffy with training wheels for Jayson! It's in the trunk (I don't know how I managed to sneak that into the cart and through the store without his knowledge) and I'm saving it for the right moment. Like when I have the time to go out and watch him. So it might be there for a while. I also bought Jay a nose and ear hair trimmer because well, he needs it. Ha, ha!

Finalizing Moving Plans

So we've got the truck for sale on the Internet and now we're just praying that it will sell in the next two weeks. Since we can't fly Murphy to DC with us now that it's the summer season, Jay will drive a U-Haul across the country with Murph to keep him company. He'll leave on the 15th and the kids and I will follow on a plane a few days later. That will be a great introduction to our new ward: Brother and Sister Snow need help moving in to their upper-level apartment on a week night. Any volunteers?
Here's an update on our sickly child: He still has a sore throat and a fever off and on but he looks a lot better and I really do think that the worst is behind him. Poor Jayson. He's really had it. We miss our cheerful boy.
Aidan got up on his hands and knees and tried to crawl last night! He was up for about 10 seconds and scooted back a tiny bit before he fell down. Hooray for Aidy!