TMI

...is it really weird that I excitedly took a digital photo of Abbie's first potty poop? C'mon, other parents! Fess up! :-)

So much to blog about!

A LOT has happened since last I blogged.

Make 'em an offa they can't refuse
On Friday morning our realtor called us with VERY good news: the couple that had viewed the house on Wednesday made an offer!! So far everything is going smoothly—we’re waiting for the housing inspector to stop by sometime soon. Our house was only on the market for 3 weeks! This is definitely an answer to prayer.

ER
Also on Friday morning Karis woke up gasping for breath. I brought her to her doctor who gave her an ambuterol (sp?) treatment which seemed to help a little bit. He sent us home with a prescription for antibiotics (although he thought she had viral bronchitis, he wanted to prevent phenomena) and a nebulizer just in case she had breathing problems again. That was around 10:00am. Around 12:45 she started gasping again, so I (frantically) put Abbie down for her nap and gave Karis another breathing treatment. Which didn’t help at all. So I called a friend to come stay with Abbie while I brought Karis to the ER. Matt met us there and they took us back right away. One epinephrine treatment, one steroid treatment, three x-rays, and 3 hours later, Karis was diagnosed with croup. Which both Matt and his dad had when they were younger. I stayed with her at the hospital overnight, and by about 3am she was breathing normally again. I was so proud of her—she handled the experience like a champ.

Potty success
After Abbie’s bath on Saturday night she was running around the house without a diaper and had a tiny accident. I brought her to the potty and after a few minutes…she peed! Last night we put her on the potty again before bed and had another successful visit! So today we started potty training in earnest. We have a few pairs of cloth training pants and bought some pull-ups to use in lieu of diapers. We’re using homemade banana chips, dried cranberries, and banana nut cheerios as incentives to stay on the potty. I know potty training is something most parents dread (I’ve read that some people actually HIRE professional potty trainers to train their kids—can you believe that?!) but I think it’s going to actually be a fun experience. Since Karis was born I sort of have to parse my attention during most of the day, and usually only get to spend one-on-one time with Abbie during bedtime. But sitting on a folding chair opposite her sitting on the potty lends opportunity for all sorts of fun---we count cheerios, point to our elbows, ankles, knees, ears…sings the ABC’s while I teach her signs for the letters, and even read books. It would be so awesome to have her out of diapers by the time we move in with Matt’s parents!

Scraped knee
On Sunday Abbie got her first scraped knee while walking from church to our car. I loved putting Neosporin and a band-aid on. I felt like a commercial mom!

Eight hours
I nursed Karis last night at 11:00. And didn’t nurse her again until 7:45 this morning. GLORY!

And that’s why we don’t vaccinate (against non-deadly diseases)
Here’s my rant: what is the deal with this swine flu epidemic?! How in the world did a virus that infects pigs morph into a virus that could infect humans (and, as an aside, is resistant to the two oldest forms of the normal flu vaccine—there are four altogether). Oh wait, I know. Maybe because everyone and their uncle is too much of a wuss to deal with a little seasonal flu that they rush out to get an unnecessary vaccine which then causes the virus (that a normal person’s immune system would be able to fight off without a problem) to morph into a super virus that even a normal immune system has problems fighting! Is it really in the interest of public health to perpetuate these sorts of vaccines?

Nightmares + egg hunts

I had a nightmare last night that our house was suddenly infested with rats. We found two dead rats on the kitchen floor, and I watched one chew its way through a wall. So creepy. I think it's my psyche's way of dealing with my increased amount of anxiety over selling the house after a few things have gone wrong in the past week: the piping under our kitchen sink is leaking, the door knob on the office closet has jammed (although Matt says that's an easy fix), and I noticed a lot of mold on our backyard fence yesterday afternoon after a downpour. The fence is definitely too weathered to handle a pressure wash, so I think we're just going to have to let that one go. Our realtor put our house up already, albeit without pictures. I must say it is extremely surreal to see the For Sale sign in our front yard. I nearly cried when I saw it for the first time (which was partially due to the fact that I had stayed up until 4:30am the night before attempting to clean and stage the house for pictures, and was emotionally unstable).

Also, have you noticed all the Easter commercials this spring? I've seen all sorts of commercials for "spring" dresses, shoes, cheap candy, and pre-fab Easter Bunny baskets. An ad in Parents magazine proclaimed: "Perfect dresses for egg-hunt day." And a WalMart commercial assured me that "Easter costs less at WalMart." Really? I was unaware that the church holiday celebrating Jesus' victory over the grave to which He sacrificed His life to atone for the sins of all the world could be more cost-effective at a major francise. I know Jesus and Santa have been duking it out for years, but it seems like the next round will be between Jesus and the Easter Bunny. A good friend of mine invited me to bring Abbie to an egg hunt this afternoon hosted by her family-centered church. I declined. What used to be an innocent compliment to the celebration of Easter is slowly and deliberatley morphing into a secular distraction from the highest Holy Day of the Christian year. Sorry, Easter Bunny--you're cute and all, but I'd rather encourage my daughter to hunt for the empty tomb than your candy-filled eggs.

Our house looks awesome!

Our house has never looked better! Over the weekend Matt and I dug out all the weeds in our front flower beds and perennial garden, laid down new mulch, Matt cut the grass, pruned the hedges (ha--I hope you know that quote!), and power-washed the mold off the shingles on our storage shed. I washed the windows (and window sills, which were truly gross), organized and vacuumed Abbie's room, did the same in the office, and did some serious work in the bathroom: scrubbed the floor, cleaned out and organized the laundry closet and under the sink--basically made it shine like the top of the Chrysler building (movie quote #2!). Our friend from school spent 3 hours cleaning our shower on Friday because Wilmore water is nasty, and now it's actually white!

I never knew how satisfying REALLY cleaning the house could be. I decided that it would be a good idea to do this kind of intensive organizing and cleaning at least twice a year...because we've never done it before and after four years living here, cleaning is pretty time-consuming.

Another thing that cleaning like this does is make me feel proud of our space. I've always enjoyed our house but I think I've taken it for-granted to some extent. Matt used to have a problem with how I left my clothes and stuff around the house because it wasn't respectful stewardship...and my excuse was that I just wanted to be comfortable in our house. And I've always liked having a clean house, but was never motivated enough to keep it clean. The more I think about moving into a new home, the more I'm looking forward to a clean start (literally), and having a chance to find the balance between cleanliness/organization and creating a space that we're all comfortable in.

Tattoo in progress!

This afternoon my bff Pamm and I went to a tattoo shop in Lexington to talk with one of the artists about my sparrow and lilies tattoo. Pamm was with me when we got our first tattoos in college, and when I got my belly button pierced (I missed her most recent ear piercing, unfortunately), so we kind of have a tradition going. Although I've been collecting ideas and sketching for a few weeks, I realized that I needed the help of a professional artist if it was going to look really good. We talked to a girl named Elli (check out her portfolio here) who was really patient as I tried to explain the image I was thinking of. And I think she's going to be able to create something really cool. She told me to call her toward the end of next week and she'll update me on how the design is coming along. !!!! I'm SO EXCITED to see what she comes up with!

Packing

This week is my reading week (aka spring break), and Matt took off Wednesday through Friday from work. It's been really nice having him home! Yesterday I was so productive--all before noon I met with a small group of classmates to discuss our upcoming class presentation, got the dog's nails cut at the groomer, renewed my car registration and got a new driver's license. (I'm usually still shuffling around in my pj's at noon!)

But our main goal this week is to get the house looking presentable for potential buyers. This feat entails purging our closets, taking old clothes to goodwill, dusting, vacuuming, and packing up books and decorations to give the appearance of tidiness and as much space as possible. We're even hiring a friend from school who cleans houses to come over tomorrow morning and clean our shower (which is stained from Wilmore water--ewwww) and lenoleum kitchen floor. We're also working on the landscaping...neither Matt nor I are really big into gardening, so all the flower beds are overgrown and not very attractive at this point.

I'm trying to be optimistic about being able to sell the house. I know that my optimism or pessimism isn't going to affect whether or not the house sells, so I'm choosing optimism for my own mental health. :-) The best we can do is get the house looking its best, hire a good realtor (which we've already done), and trust that God will provide for us like He has countless times in the past.

After almost four and a half years here, it's finally time to start saying goodbye.