I'm not Nesting...really

So a couple of my friends have asked lately, "are you nesting yet?" And I keep replying, "nah, just feel like I should start thinking about where all the baby stuff is going to go." But today, I realized that I am nesting. Might as well be gathering twigs at this point and getting ready to lay an egg, because I compulsively cleaned the house today. And not just the usual pick-up the toys, load the diswasher kind of cleaning. No, no. It was a full-on scrub the floors, organize the bathrooms kind of cleaning spree. I was frazzled by lunchtime. Not only that, but I decided that I absolutely MUST find a changing table. It had become an obsession, really, since I decided two days ago that I couldn't possibly bring another baby into this household without having a place to centralize all diapering of all children. It seemed like a brilliant organizational move on my part. But finding said changing table has turned into a scavenger hunt of epic proportions.

The hunt started on cragislist, an obvious choice. Where better to find a barely used, incredibly cheap yet sturdy piece of baby furniture? No luck. Then on to Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory. Strike two. More strikes at Wal-Mart, Target, even SmartyPants. In desperation, I remembered the small and disorganized section of Big Lots that has baby stuff. What the heck, it was already way past Adam's naptime, and scorching hot to boot. Why not lug in all three kids on the off-chance my prize would be there. Lo and Behold, there it sat, under a tattered carseat box....a single, simple wooden changing table. The price is right....can it be? The only glich...it's the wrong color. I am desperate to find one that does NOT have a natural wood finish..I need a darker color to coordinate with all of my other baby furniture. Oh well. I'm too disheartened to look any more. This changing table is MINE.

You would think the insanity would stop there. But when I go overboard, I go all the way over. As in, there is no life-saving device out there big enough to reel me back in. I lug my treasure into the house this afternoon and decide there's no need to wait for David to put it together. I'm a modern woman. I can friggin' do it myself. So an hour and half, a broken fingernail and a migraine later, the changing table sits-fully assembled mind you-ready to accept stinky butts in all its glory. But the shelves below it look embarrassingly bare. Of course. This means I need coordinating baskets to store all the necessary items: diapers, wipes, butt paste, and the straight jacket they'll need to put me in when this is all said and done.

By now it is 6 o'clock, I've fed the kids a hasty dinner (which Adam promptly hurled to the ground) and have, in my dementia, loaded everyone up and headed to Target. It's perfect...I'll find my baskets, some baby detergent, and a coming home outfit for our new little princess. Nevermind Adam is probably teething and is so uncontrollably grumpy that I hardly recognize him or that Isaac has decided the phrase "don't touch" means to grab everything within reaching distance and give a mighty tug.

But we're home now, I got my baskets, detergent AND outfit, by God, and I am about to commence washing and sorting the baby clothes, socks and receiving blankets. I am a woman on a mission. A madwoman, perhaps, but that's a whole other story. Why do they call it nesting, anyway? It seems the phrase "compulsively organizing to the point of self-destruction" would be more accurate. In my case, anyway.

Insomnia

Oreos never tasted so good. It is now 3:49 am, and I have been awake for going on two hours now, and I have just eaten an entire row of the little black cream-filled devils. A good 500 calories. Oh joy. Damn these pregnancy symptoms. I hate not sleeping. I feel like I'm losing precious minutes in the sleep bank that I'm going to regret once the little one is here. It'll be 3am one night, I'll be up nursing the baby and thinking to myself, "remember the night you ate the whole bag of Oreos when you shoulda been sleeping? Dontcha wish you'd gotten those extra couple hours of sleep now?" And then I'll bang my head against the wall since we probably won't have any Oreos then, and I'll be wanting some for sure.

So why am I up tonight with no sign of sleep in sight? I just can't stop worrying about money, of all things. Everyone is on tight budgets right now, and I know we're not the only ones struggling, but geez. It just sucks that it costs as much to fill up the tank in my gargantuan vehicle as it does to buy a week's worth of groceries. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir...anyone reading my blog right now knows that the cost of living is just through the roof. Not sure how we're going to pay the medical bills stacked up right now, or how we're going to get through the added expense of paying for Kalena's school, or even how we're going to buy milk at the grocery store tomorrow...

Oh well. At least all three of my kids are sleeping through the night. That's an event I never dreamed would happen. At least it's quiet and peaceful at my house at nearly 4 am. Even if I can't sleep.

The Tale of Handy Carver

The tale is simple enough: my kids have started calling each other (and everyone else, for that matter) Handy Carver. Where this came from, I have no idea. It all started when Kalena shouted out that Isaac was Handy Carver. And while the Carver part may apply to the situations where he is on a rampage with one of his ninja swords, I'm not exactly sure how it all comes together. I asked Kalena where it came from, and she said she just made it up. Of course. I was a little bit worried that this was some sort of 5-year-old secret lingo that us old folks just didn't understand. Turns out my daughter just has an overactive imagination. Like when she had an imaginary friend.....her name escapes me right now (the whole point of my blog!!!). One day she came up to me and said, "Mom, don't sit there, you'll sit on ______." Obviously.

Interestingly enough, Isaac has jumped on the Handy Carver bandwagon. He now refers to anything and everything as Handy Carver. For instance, "gimme that Handy Carver" and "you silly 'ol Handy Carver" are all phrases I've heard him utter today. So if you run into me and my kids out and about and you get called Handy Carver, don't worry....they're not insulting you. At least I hope not.

Dreaming of Home...

So, David is furiously working every weekend to make ready our dream: 3200 square feet of historic beauty, with a kitchen to die for. Gorgeous bay windows, hardwood floors (eventually), and enough space that the kids will be able to run amok, and I'll be able to escape to my enormous bathtub for a much-needed respite. Could this really be OUR house? So here, for those who've never gotten to see all the work that David and his dad and brother have put in, is a pictorial journey of the last year of work:

This is the house as it sat when we first saw it, minus the balconies that have since rotted off. You can see the place between the first and second stories where the porches are supposed to go. One day, they'll be back...

Last summer, we tried for months to get the hulking building moved to its new location, back toward the woods on the property. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, and it rained all summer. We finally caught a break in the weather, got the house movers all set up to go, and this is what happened:

Finally, progress....although, the house was so heavy, David and his dad had to help the movers by pulling it with the bulldozer. But what a sight, to see our house inching slowly across the pasture!

Inside, the house wasn't too beautiful. This will eventually be our kitchen. Yep, right where the gigantic hole in the floor and the two huge holes in the walls are, I will someday be able to make a gourmet meal. Okay, maybe not gourmet, but mac'n'cheese is guaranteed.

Here's where we are now....new location, new roof, new windows, all the scaffolding in place and the siding going up! It's starting to look like home.

We've got sheetrock! No more bare walls. Walking inside, it looks like we're getting close to the finish line. This is Kalena cheesing in her new room.

We are so excited to finally get to put down roots somewhere. We are so fortunate that our dreams of having a home of our own are coming true. I can't wait until we're all stading there in the doorway, welcoming our friends and family to our house! We're getting closer every day!

Now, if only I can decide on what color to paint everything.....