Phase 2

well, we're in phase 2 of the new life now. that is, the whole family is now together again in texas and we have moved into our temporary shelter at addison's sister's house. they have been kind enough to host us until we get our stuff together and get a house. it's not too far off though, as i think we have settled on a neighborhood...now we just need to settle on the lot/house. i'm going to be spending a day out there one of these days just taking notes on house layouts and amenities and figuring out which one ends up being my favorite. it's exciting. after the big "buyer fallout of 2007" we still have the house in minne to contend with - which is somewhat annoying - but what can you do? addison is now referring to that house as "the cancer"...i think he's feeling a little bitter about our "bailing buyers". ya think? at any rate, there will be some kind of celebration for sure when we get that baby off our hands.

for now, though, we're just entering this second phase and i'm just hoping we can get annie into some sort of schedule again. she is so confused. poor thing. it's like every time she wakes up from a sleep, she's in a new location. we'll get there, i know, but it's wreaking havoc on MY sleeping which is...exhausting.

my mom left this morning, too, so that's a bummer. it was so nice to have her here and also, we've spent so much time together now for 2 weeks that i kind of got used to her being here to talk to, to help with the kids, etc. now i have to retrain myself to do it all without her. bummer. it was sad to see her go, too. it's going to be hard to have she and my dad so far away. i know it's just a plane ride, but it will cut down the number of visits by quite a bit. maybe dad should invest in his own private charter plane/pilot so they can just come down whenever. ther is a little airport right around the corner from here...hmm....dad? you listening?

anyway, we'll forge on. once we get adapted and get into our own place it all won't feel so twilight-zoney and it'll be great. i mean, just the thought of having an actual kitchen large enough to eat in, and cook in is so unfathomable to me, i can hardly wait!

i have so many pictures and funny things to share report in on about the kids, but i need to just calm down and take it easy since i've been mia for a while...i don't want to overwhelm all at once. as i sign off for today i will leave you with a hilarious video of annie jumping on the trampoline. it doesn't get much funnier than this except for the video of annie playing in the water fountain - but that is for another day. so...here you go.

Monthly Archives - Jasper 6 Months

dear jasper,

6 months already?! where has the time gone? i swear you're huge now. i think in just the past week that we spent at papa and mama's house you grew - visibly - right in front of my eyes. you jabber, jabber, jabber all the time and you giggle all the time, you squirm, you roll everywhere, you can even sit up by yourself now for brief periods of time! it all seems to be happening so fast when so much happens in such a short period of time. slow down, please. your mommy is not ready for you to leave this adorable baby phase yet. also, if you maybe slowed the growth down just a little, maybe you would stop needing to eat again at 4am. seriously, i am not a huge fan of 4am. i'll do it because i love you, but it is not a forever kind of thing, so don't go thinking it is. i love you just as much at 6-7am.

your 6 month birthday was wild. that's why i'm a little late getting your update done...we were in the car for day 1 of the marathon drive to texas. you spent your entire birthday strapped in your car seat but boy did you do a great job! you didn't cry once until 7:45pm when we still hadn't stopped and you were STARVING and TIRED and just trying to get someone to hear that. i heard you baby, but when you're in booneyville, oklahoma, you can't just stop at any ol' hotel. i would never let you stay at "The Green Carpet Inn", and yes, that was a real place. anyway, you were a rock star in the car both days, i'm just sorry your half-year birthday had to be such a bummer...but you did get to see 4 new states, not many 6-month-olds have that claim to fame.

jasper, you are just the best baby ever. this is such a fun age. your sister was awesome at this age too, and honestly, i could keep you 6 months old forever. you just smile, giggle, hang out and sleep. you're totally portable and yet you can hold your head up - which is huge. you are perfectly content just hanging on the floor, in your bouncy seat, in your bumbo, etc. you just don't get crabby hardly ever. i love you so, so much little booger. stay gold.

love, mommy

ps. check again in a couple days and i'll have a picture up for the post

I Don't Know Where She Gets It

mom and i took annie shoe-shopping today and she freaked out. and not an oh-my-goodness-i'm-so-excited-i'm-getting-new-shoes freak, it was a complete psychotic breakdown and i'm still a little stunned and confused by the whole episode. maybe the overbearing sales ladies were just IT for her. maybe she just wanted to be left alone. it's possible she got that from me. i'm sorry to anyone who works retail, but i really hate to talk to sales associates - unless, of course, I am the one to initiate the conversation. anyway, we were doing fine while we were looking at all the pretty shoes - just pondering which pair would be the best - but then when it came time to try a pair on the sales lady wanted to measure annie's foot and...whoa. WHOA. W-H-O-A Nelly. it was a disaster. annie was kicking, screaming - and i mean SCREAMING - pulling the hair of the sales lady while she tried to force annie's foot into the measuring thingy...it was pretty embarrassing. then again, if i had some obnoxious freako trying to shove my foot into some weird metal contraption all the while talking to me like some baby, well, i might pull her hair, too. even mom said the sales ladies were a bit obnoxious. i mean, maybe (ms. sales lady) you could just let ME try to measure her foot...maybe, just maybe if you let me put the shoe on her foot and didn't HOVER in the background and talk to her the whole time, MAYBE we could have made it work out. but noooooooooooooo, you had to sit there - right in her line of vision the whole time - and make her even more nervous and scared of you than she was to begin with. honestly, people. you would think that people who work at a store for kids would maybe know a little about them. you would think.

regardless, i've never met a girl who didn't like a new pair of shoes - or two - and sure enough, as soon as we got home annie couldn't wait to get her new kicks on...they even light up. i fear this might be the end of annie's cute face because i can already see her getting distracted by the lights on her feet and forgetting to pay attention to where she's going and - BOOM! - there's the table/wall/ground, etc. we'll see how it goes. i personally think the shoes that light up are hysterical and weird...but cute...so they win.

we're having a great time here at chez mama and papa - life is good, food is good, all is well. i'm excited to get down to texas to see my m.i.a hubby and feel the warm, warm sun on my translucent skin...but in the mean time, this is wonderful. mom is good enough to volunteer to join us on our road trip which is nothing but good news for me - and for the babies, too. now i have good company AND assistance, this is such a relief. i was beginning to wonder how i was going to handle a simple thing like a bathroom break.

jasper is his usual calm self. he's been taking bottles - even with formula - which is really making me happy. he's on the move rolling every which way and nearly pulling himself up into a crawling position...he gets one knee under him and his arms out like he's going to do a push-up, and then he realizes he's just too weak to accomplish that task. it's too soon, buddy. i'm not ready. he's also been doing a lot of pilates lately. he lays on his back and then he lifts his head up and his feet up and he does this intense isometric ab workout for like 15 seconds and then...rest...and again he goes. it's crazy. i don't think i could hold myself in that position for that long, what with my atrophied abs and all...

that's about it for now. gloomy here today. we're just nestled in by the fire, snuggling up to some dora. oh yeah. i know you're jealous.

xoxo

Monthly Archives - Annie Month 28

dear annie,

oh my what a month it's been. actually, since you turned 2 back in november your world has really not been normal or usual whatsoever. i have to say, though, that you are being such a trooper with all of these changes being thrown at you, and aside from a few hiccups every now and then, i really am proud at how you are handling all the craziness.

the other day - as one last "gift" to me upon departing our house - you fell down the stairs again. you HAVE to stop doing that, honey. i think whatever our new house is like, one thing it must have is wider, more gradual stairs. honestly, girl. my heart can't handle that kind of stress. if you start doing this to me now, i'm definitely going to be on my 4th or 5th bypass by the time you are 25. i'm not entirely convinced however, that you aren't some sort of superhero. you are like claire on that show "Heroes" (it's too violent for you and it's on past your bedtime anyway, but someday maybe i'll show you what i mean). anyway, claire is indestructible. she can fall from the top of a building and just pop her bones back into place and go on her merry way. that is totally you. you cartwheel down these stairs and the sound is just horrifying - the worst thing for a parent to hear - and other than you having the pants scared off you, you have nothing else to show for it. maybe a teeny bruise on your forehead from the landing. it's just nuts. i still don't like it, but i am so glad you are so bendy. stay that way, kiddo. don't go changin'.

one of my new favorite things you have been saying lately is "i gotcha". the way you say it is just so silly. you come up and hug me tight and say "i gotcha! i gotcha!" and it just cracks me up. other anniecdotes to note:

"be kehfow" - said when you are doing something dangerous like jumping on the bed, running on the couch, leaning off a chair...

"no way" - said all. the. time. but somehow it sounds a bit more polite than just plain "no".

there are more, but i forget right now. i'll remind you later.

one other thing i wanted to tell you is how proud i am, too, that you are becoming such a good reader. every night before bed the last book we read is "Time for Bed" and i've read it 800,000 times to you so i know you have it memorized but it was still so awesome when the other night i said "you read the book to mommy". you took the book, held it up in one hand and proceeded to practically read every page. you knew when to turn the page, you knew all the key words on each page and it totally looked like you knew what you were doing. "smma bed mouse mouse...ahmna house house" " smmma bed calf calf...laugh..." i'm so glad you like to read. so glad.

that pretty much wraps it up for now.

i yuv you,

mommy

Not to be a Downer, But...

...do you know how hard it is to leave the first house you ever owned? the house where both of your babies were born? i had no idea how hard it would be. wow. yesterday could not have been a longer day. the movers said they would be at the house between 8:30 and 10am...so of course, they arrived at 11:30 - right on schedule. after all was said and done it was about 4:45pm when they finally took the last item out of the house. sheesh. as the day wore on, and the house got emptier and emptier, i felt myself getting sadder and sadder and yet i couldn't lose it while the mover-dudes were still there, so i was just pacing - doing nothing - waiting for them to be done already. i was sitting on the floor in the kitchen doing a crossword puzzle thinking "by the time i get done with this puzzle they'll be gone and i can be done with this"...and yet, i finished one puzzle and still they weren't done. we ended up having to leave the box spring, because lord knows how it got upstairs in the first place, but it was NOT coming back down. fine. i'm over it. just GET OUT please because i need to bawl my eyes out.

finally they were done and no sooner did the last mover-dude step out the front door than i said "thanks guys!", shut the door, turned around and looked at my empty house - full of so many memories - and just cried. cried like someone took my babies. it was guttoral, insane, wailing and i'm so glad i was alone. i sobbed as i walked up the stairs for the last time and into the nursery where both annie and jasper lived. i looked at the cute little light fixture with the bugs on it from ikea and just wailed some more. i sobbed as i went back downstairs and into annie's room where i wailed for another minute and then, just as quickly as it started, it was over. i composed myself, walked out the porch door, said "goodbye little house" and got in the car and was gone...until i realized i had to leave the garage door opener for the realtor and had to go back. THEN i was gone. ugh. nine hours later.

i have to say a huge thank you to aaron and nicki for watching the babies for me while i dealt with the moving. i had NO idea it would take so long and i felt just horrible about it because nicki was sick, aaron was busy with work and both of them were trying to get a bunch of stuff done because they are off to mexico tomorrow. thank you, guys. i know it was crazy, but you have NO idea what a huge help it was and how much i appreciate it. i love you both so much - thank you for everything. we owe ya one. or ten.

and just like that we were off. left minneapolis for the last time during rush hour - how perfect. i would randomly burst into tears at certain landmarks: the exit for annie's school, medicine lake, tom and molly's exit, the glimpse of downtown, the "ok corral", the jolly green giant, and then pretty much by the time i got to st. peter i was fine. the babies slept the whole way to my folks house, and we arrived at about 9:45. it was a long, emotional, intense day and i am so glad that phase 1 is complete. i will miss so many things about minnesota, but i am anxious to begin the texas adventure.

time for a week of respite at chez mom and dad...already today i got to sleep til 9am! love!

The Long Goodbye

i mean, honestly, doesn't it feel like i've been saying goodbye now for like 2 months? i pretty much have been, but now it's the real deal. tonight will be our last night in this house. it's strange, because it still doesn't feel like i'm leaving...i think maybe when the movers have all of these boxes - that i've grown so accustomed to living around - out of here, that's when it will really hit me.

it's been a long run - this two months without addison - but it's finally coming to a close and we are all going to be together again soon. the kids and ferris and i will leave tomorrow after we're cleared out of here and head down to my folks house for a week of relaxation. i don't know if they know it yet (my folks, that is) but i'm planning on leaving alllllll of the "parenting" to them from here on out. mwah ha ha ha ha...no, not really, i'm just ready to leave here. i am beginning to associate this house with broken things, imperfect things, things bad buyers say, things inspectors find wrong, etc. you could make a whole episode of $10,000 pyramid with all the things people find wrong with what i once lovingly referred to as our "cute little house". no more. this little dump is causing me such a headache that i can't wait to leave her to rest. maybe she needs to be empty for a while and see how she likes it. that'll show her. then she'll have to at least TRY to get her self sold. sprout some grass, lilacs, peonies - people like that stuff.

this is going to be the last post i write in a while. i don't know when we'll be in a new house and hooked up and all that, so it could be some time before i get on line again. i will try to update everyone even if there aren't any pictures. i'll do my best.

for now, though, i just want to say a little something to the minneapolis contingent. i miss you guys already. i have no idea what i am going to do without my JUG(G)S every day. no idea. it seems crazy to just up and leave all these amazing friendships behind...even though i know that is not really how it is. unfortunately for you guys, you aren't rid of me yet and i will be stalking you from texas and even though it's not austin anymore, you are still expected - no - REQUIRED to come visit. don't tell me texas doesn't sound good in february. don't mess with texas! hey! i get it now! i can say that. don't mess with me. don't do it. you don't want to know what happens if you do. mwah ha ha ha ha.

seriously though, you are the best friends a girl could ask for - and more. your kids are friends to my kids and that is one thing i will be most sad about: what if annie and lucy forget eachother? what if patrick doesn't get excited when he hears annie's name anymore? what if annie stops associating choo choo trains with patrick?! i know it won't happen because we won't stand for it, but it still makes me a little sad. thank you all for everything you've given to us - and continue to give us. your friendships are a prized possession. i love you all.

and one more thing before i sign off - happy birthday to "mama lola"! you can celebrate another year AND cancer-free at the same time - congratulations! we love you lots and can't wait to see you very soon!

love and kisses until we meet again...

Beat

this packing stuff is hard work. just ask annie. she wishes there were such a thing as child labor laws under her mommy's regime...

things are winding down here in Crystal. we are t-minus 4 days and counting until the movers come and we are out. it's been a very strange week. we celebrated the sale of our house for about 3 days before the buyers came back after their inspection and pretty much decided they want us to build them a brand new house please. it's a long, lame story and i will spare you that very lameness and just say this: we are putting the house back on the market because anyone who is as high maintenance as these buyers are/were, well, they aren't looking in the right neighborhood, the right price range, the right house-age, the right anything - and they really don't want this house as much as they should. they don't deserve it. somewhere out there are some buyers who will love this house for what it is in all it's 1951 imperfectness. please don't count the grammatical errors in the above two sentences, i know there are many...

anyway - i am just excited to be done. i've been living among many, many boxes for a good week now and i'm tired of it. i've been to the box store twice now and each time i thought for sure i had plenty and now, i'm not so sure i do. i still have the kitchen to pack up, the electronics, the last of the bath stuff and a few random toys, lamps, etc. they say it's harder to sell an empty house, but i'm not sure that's true. sometimes it's harder to visualize your own stuff in a place that is already filled with someone else's stuff. in the next couple of months our grass will come back, the peonies will bloom and then SURELY someone will snatch this place up. in the mean time, i'm not going to worry about it because there is nothing we can do but stay positive and hope for the best.

ciao for now.

Dazed and Confused

apparently i'm moving in a week. every day i wonder how this is going to be logistically possible, but every day i make a little bit more progress and feel a little bit better about it. i still don't know how i'm going to actually get 2 kids and a dog down to texas by myself, but that's a ways away yet and i'm not going to worry about it.

i don't really have anything of interest to write about today unless you want to hear stories of cancelling bills, packing boxes and the ever-so-interesting story of woe concerning one of my space bags that will not stay sealed. don't get me started on the space bags. if it were up to me i would have EVERYTHING in a space bag - they are so amazing. love them. there is something so exhilarating about putting a bunch of clothes in to a space bag and sucking the air out of it until it is about an inch or two thick. LOVE.

i do need to say a quick shout-out to my nephew charlie. today would have been his 6th birthday. unbelievable. where does the time go? there really isn't a day that goes by that i don't think of char-bear...and i gotta say - another thing about this house that i love. charlie is resting just about 2 blocks from us and i drive by him and give him a wave darn near every day. i'll miss that about this 'hood, too. anyway, love you charlie - you have the coolest little brother ever. your parents are amazing too, but when it comes right down to it, i think it's your auntie gina who really tops all. ha! i wrote that because i know your mommy is going to read this and just laugh out loud while shaking her head. tee hee. i enjoy moments like that, i figure you might, too. keep lookin' out for us down here, buddy. and tell god we are done with the snow. love you so much, honey. we think about you all the time. kisses.

SOOOOOOOOOLD!

fiiiiiiiiiiinally. i feel like i could float away with this load off my back. the house is sold, people. yep, the deal went down yesterday afternoon. our realtor will be here within the half hour to make it official with paperwork. *sigh* i'm so glad that's done but just as quickly as that load was lifted off, it was replaced with the oh-my-god-now-i-have-to-pack-and-move load. it was a nice 5 minutes of weightlessness though.

i do think that we are selling to the right people - not that it matters. they are a dating couple at the moment so i'm assuming they're about to be married and thinking about kids and whatnot and this house is perfect for them. we didn't end up making any money on the deal, but the market is just awful right now and considering how long other houses in our neighborhood have been on the market with no movement, i think we should be counting our blessings that we got an offer after 90 days of nothing. we did go back and forth a couple of times, so it wasn't too bad, it's just that i can't help but wonder if we'd sold this house a year ago if it would be a different story.

it's very bittersweet. i'm so glad it's sold but i'm sad that we're leaving and not only that, it's our first house. the very first house we ever lived in, had both of our babies in (not literally of course), etc. there are so many fond memories and it's fairly sentimental to think about leaving this little place we have called home for the last 4 years. i'm going to miss the 'hood, too. there is a LOT of action in this little hood. a lot of things i have to remind myself not to tell the new owners at the closing...things like:

1. the police visit the rental house across the street quite a bit - well they used to before the 13 people moved out of it

2. there might be a meth house next door to that rental house - people are always doing weird things like driving their car through our neighbor's fence and such

3. a giant tree randomly fell over in our yard and nearly killed us

4. there is a crazy killer dude who claims he used to live here that wants a bush from the yard...and maybe a person for dinner. i'm not sure.

anyway, i'll keep all of those things to myself. the good of this place far outweighs the bad. we have great neighboors, who - after 4 years - we have just started to really talk to and get to know. i will miss them because they are good people and good neighboors. i'm also going to miss my new carpet. i love my new carpet. it's still so clean. it feels good on my bare feet and, above all, it's not the dusty rose nightmare that it once was.

that's about all for now. i'm sure i'll get more sentimental as moving day draws closer - aren't you excited to read that?! i might as well just say "hey, come read my blog, it's a big, boring sob story about how i love my house...but it's totally a fascinating read!" hahahahahaa.

on that note, i leave you with a picture of the gang - before annie had bad breath and a different voice:

Buried Alive

we're fine, we're fine. we're ok. the house is nearly covered in snow, but we're going to make it. on the upside, if there is a fire and we're upstairs, it's not a long jump at all - just a few feet into a giant mountain of snow. here and here are a few more pictures of the snow's wrath...even ferris looks cold, doesn't he?

i have shoveled so much the past few days that i think my bicep on my left arm is just bulging by now. it must be. it hurts. i heard maybe another couple of inches today, but hey, what's another couple inches at this point?

well, ma's cookin' up some apple dumplin's and pa's got the fiddle out. we're gonna hunker down by the fire and listen to some stories...

From Annie's Desk...

dear mama lola and papa jack,

thank you for the cute dress with the cowboy boots on it - i'll for sure look like a texan now! i love the card you sent with the ice cream sundaes on it - mmmmmmm, so yummy! also, thank you for the princesses book - how did you know i love the princesses right now? i love 'ella the best and i also like sleeping booty and mermaid. i don't know belle that well or snow white, but i'm sure i'll love them pretty soon, too. thank you so much. i can't wait to see you soon!

love,
annie

From Annie's Desk...

dear auntie niki,

thank you so much for the dora purse you had made for me in jamaica - i just love it! i really like to have it on my shoulder, it makes me feel important and like mommy - she always has like 5 bags on her shoulders. i really love dora and i love that it says my name on the back, too. that way, my mommy won't try to steal it and use it for herself. thank you for the cute t-shirts, too that you got for me and jasper - we really like those too! it was nice of you to think of us when you went to jamaica.

love you!

annie

You People Are Crazy

so my folks and their friends picked the worst blizzard-day of the century to hop in the car and drive from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis - the exact path of the crazy weather. why, may you ask? because they're nuts. they're also going to the Dominican Republic tomorrow so who can blame them. i'd want to be getting the H out of dodge, too. in fact, i DO want to get the H out of dodge. but i'm not going anywhere...not with all this snow blocking my way.

regardless of the hazardous conditions, the nutsos made it up here. it only took them 8 hours (counting a trip to Cabellas of course). i'm just happy they didn't end up in a ditch. i'm also happy they ventured up nort here to crystal to see annie because if they didn't, i was going to have a lot of 'splainin' to do...i do hope they get out of here tomorrow. it's a PERFECT time to be heading to the tropics.

nothing new to report from the johnston house. japper is barfing. he has mucho mucous in his throat and tummy - poor thing - and it's preventing him from keeping his food down. god bless him, he feels miserable. annie is recovering nicely, she's got this thing all working for her now "more dora please mommy?" is all she ever says to me anymore and she couldn't say it more politely or with a sweeter tone and smile. she is WORKIN' me over, folks...and i'm letting her. how can i not? i just put her under the knife for crying out loud. she can watch as much dora as she wants...for like 2 more days.

big thank you to uncle aaron for bringing his snowblower over and digging me out this afternoon. that was a lifesaver. between him and my dad and nic shoveling for me tonight, my shoveling escapades tomorrow will be cake. thank you, boys!

march. it's in like a lion.