a quick update...

Tate is struggling. He wants to go to his "other home". He says, "this isn't Dabenport, I want to go to my home. I want to go to Mommy and Daddy's home." It breaks my heart. However, aside from that, we are so happy to be here in our new place! We have A LOT of work to do to get settled and I never had a clue how hard it would be with an adjusting 3 year old added to the mix. I definitely underestimated how difficult it would be now that we have a 3 year old. We are SO grateful for all of you who have helped us load, unload, hook things up, unpack, watch Tate, have us over for dinner...you all know who you are and we love you all very much and couldn't have done this without you! Really. We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends.

I will post pictures soon, but for now I have lots of unpacking and organizing to do. Oh and amidst all of that, I have a child who wants to go home.

are you kidding me?!?!

Okay, I am going to apologize in advance to any of you Ford owners/lovers out there. I have owned several cars and have never had the car problems I have had since we bought our Ford. I will NEVER buy a Ford again and will trade our Ford off for another non-Ford car ASAP. I won't even get into the previous problems we've had with this Ford which doesn't even have that many miles on it, but will only discuss our issue today. First of all, our Ford is the only car we have in town right now. We left Sean's uber-dependable Toyota (which is pushing 200,000 miles and has needed hardly anything more than new tires since we've owned it) in Davenport at our new place so when we move there on Saturday, I can drive our van and Sean will drive the UHaul. So we're driving to pick up Tate from daycare when I start to smell burning. I say to Sean, "do you smell that? It smells like something is burning." He says, "it's probably the car in front of us." I agreed and kept driving. Then we pass the car in front of us and the smell doesn't go away, it gets worse. Suddenly I notice smoke billowing out from under our hood. Needless to say, I freak out! We pull over, lift the hood and with both of our car knowledge combined, come to the conclusion that we have no idea what the problem is. :) It's clearly over-heating. The smoke subsides and we decide to drive a couple of blocks to the gas station to get some engine coolant. We put it in and drive to Tate's daycare to pick him up. It starts to smell and smoke again. We asked our daycare provider if she knows a mechanic that works late and she has a friend down the road. We call him, bring our van there where he tells us he thinks it's just a hose. We call a friend to pick us up and take us home and she offered to let us use her car tomorrow while she's at work. Seriously, she has saved us! Hopefully it's just a hose that needs replaced and it will be fixed and ready to go by mid day tomorrow. Aside from the complete wrong time for something like this to happen and what an inconvenience it is, financially it is not a good time either. Moving is expensive and the last thing we needed was to add a car repair into the mix. Ugh. I am so irritated! Mark my words, I will NEVER buy a Ford again and I plan to be car shopping SOON!

the next couple of days

Lots to do in the coming days. Today I have a few things on the agenda before Sean is off work tonight and we head back to Des Moines. Then the next 2 days will be packing and loading the UHaul followed by a fun and relaxing evening with the Knutsons at a hotel with a water park. Then we'll get the UHaul unloaded in our new place on Saturday and we can finally make it a home. Tate has been difficult to say the least. He is in need of some normalcy again. He needs his daddy to not be gone all the time, to have his things out of boxes and in there places, to have a home again. And routine, he needs some routine. He's been defiant and crabby these last few days. It's been rough. I'm praying for a smooth transition to our new home.

On a bright note...spring appears to have arrived. What's spring in Iowa without a random snow day here and there? I can't complain...we've been right around 60 degrees for the last several days and it is such a relief to know we're past the worst of the winter. I do love the change of seasons, I can't imagine not having that, but I just wish it was summer or even spring or fall that was the longest season! :) Oh well, we survived another winter and will survive many more I hope!

the event of the day

We just got back from the Doctor's office where a fruit snack that has been lodged in Tate's ear for at least 2 weeks was just pulled out. Yup, that's all I've got today.

Saying Goodbye

My last day of work was today.
I loved my job.
Even more, I love the people I worked with.
I am sad to leave these people.
They had a little Send Off party for me at High Life Lounge after work.
It was fun and I will miss my amazing coworkers that have become friends.

The ladies of the Product Management team...

"Team Health Advantage"
My coworker turned dear friend, Jenny, me and our amazing boss, Josh.

Dixie and I...another coworker turned friend. :)

Truly, I love these people and have thoroughly enjoyed working with them every day.
I have been blessed with this job and these coworkers that I am now able to call friends.
Tonight I am sad, tomorrow I plan to wake up with a positive outlook on this new chapter for our family!

ready

I am just ready for this work week to be over. I'm ready to move on. I want the goodbyes to be over. I'm at work, but not working and so I don't even want to be at work. Tate is obsessed with "Dabenport" and his orange room. He talks about it all the time. He had a tough time last night...woke up several times, ended up in bed with me. I am tired and have a headache. I just want to crawl into bed, go to sleep and wake up in our new home in Davenport and not have to go through all of this stuff between now and then.

some fresh air

I realized that it has been quite a while since I posted pictures of Tate. It is almost impossible to get a picture of him these days. He likes to cover his face and still gets very mad when I take pictures of him and says "don't cheese me!" I don't know when this will stop, but I'm praying it will be soon because I would love to be able to take pictures of him regularly again!

He was ecstatic to be outside playing for the first time in months and I did manage to get about 4 pictures of him NOT covering his face and about twice as many of him covering it.This is him at the end of his rope.
I didn't get a single picture of his face after this one because he was covering it.

Even when he's scowling at me like in the picture above, it takes everything in me not to want to reach right through the computer and squeeze him! Oh how I love him so much it hurts!!!!

Orange

Tate loves orange...it's easily his favorite color. This totally cracks me up. In a casual conversation with him (that I NEVER thought he'd remember) about 6 weeks ago or so, I made mention of us possibly moving and asked him if he would want his bedroom to be different or if he'd like to keep his Handy Manny stuff. He, without hesitation said, "I want an ORANGE bedroom!" Ummmm...ok. I said, "well maybe we can make your bedroom orange at our new house, we'll see."

Fast forward to today at lunch. I asked Tate is he was excited about moving. He said, "YES, we are going to move to Dabenport and I am going to have an orange bedroom!!!" Okay, well apparently he didn't forget our little conversation! So I decided to look online for some bedding with orange as the primary color. NOT an easy task. Clearly, orange isn't a very desireable color to have for kids bedding...or even adult bedding for that matter! So I have a task and I've invited my mom to join in assembling a semi-tasteful orange bedroom for a 3 year old. This will be a hard task. Finding bedding that I like with orange in it will be hard in itself...then trying to create a room that will grow with Tate for at least a few years that isn't too babyish or toddlery and isn't gaudy will make the challenge even more difficult! I love a challenge and so does my mom! :) I'll post pics of Tate's new orange room once it is complete!

in between

I'm working, but not working. The minutes and hours are creeping by. Ugh. My stomach bug I had last week is still having some lingering affects on me. I feel fine, but when I eat something, I feel a bit queesy afterwards...just not feeling 100%. It's supposed to be mid 50's today though so that's great! If only I wasn't stuck inside in front of a computer with pretty much nothing to do! This daylight savings stuff is messing with me too! I stayed up until 1AM last night/this morning! Then, it was still dark when I woke up which made me not want to roll out of bed.

I hate this in between feeling. I don't want to be here at work doing nothing and watching the minutes tick by, but I don't want to be at home where I am surrounded by a sea of boxes and chaos either. I just want to be moved and for all of this to be over. I want the goodbyes to everyone here that I love and the goodbye to my job that I love to be over. Once I am done with all of that, I'll be good. I'll be relieved and ready to start this new chapter. Until then, it's just this in between phase that I am living and not enjoying at all!

We have the windows open...

And the house is probably 3/4 of the way packed up! It feels SO GOOD! It smells like spring and Tate keeps saying he wants to move to "Dabenport". I'm ready too! I am not going to enjoy living amidst boxes and chaos these next couple of weeks. I have 4 days of work left and they are jam packed full of things to do that are not work related. I have lunch plans, a send off party, packing up my desk and probably a lot of nothing else! Ha. At least I won't be there feeling like I should be home packing because our house is pretty much packed. :) That is going to be the hardest part about moving...saying goodbye to everyone there that I spend all my days with. Also, I really have loved my job and it is tough to know that I am leaving it. Hopefully I find something I like just as well.

We still have much of the evening left to do a little bit more packing and then we will just relax. Sean is home for a couple more days, so that's good. So today has been a good day. :)

a good night sleep

Tate wanted to "watch a movie in Mommy's bed" last night around 5pm. By 5:30, he was dead asleep, hadn't eaten supper yet, still had his clothes on. I figured he'd wake up, but at 7:45pm, we decided to just put him in his bed and see if he stayed asleep. He did...until 8:00am this morning! I guess that technically that was only 13 1/2 hours because of daylight savings being last night. Still...13 1/2 hours is a TON of sleep for him! He usually only sleeps about 9 to 10 hours a night. He must have really needed it. Unfortunately, I didn't go to bed at 5:30 too, so I am tired today. We have a big day of packing planned so I better muster up some energy somewhere!

Charity:Water/Water For Christmas

I am a "lurker" on Kelly's Korner Blog who each Friday has a "Show Us Your Life Friday" where there is a different topic. This week was "show us your favorite charities" week. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to spread the word about water.
Click the link below for more info...

Water For Christmas

The lack of access to clean water is the leading cause of death in underdeveloped countries.
Try to imagine walking on a three hour journey…twice a day…to collect a liquid which shares “two diabolical identities–life mixed with death. It is both cure and poison.”(Dan Haseltine)
Inside the containers of millions of people around the world is a mixture of “water, dirt, algae, cow and goat feces, bacteria, mosquito larvae and other insect eggs and parasites and various waterborne diseases waiting for a host.” (Haseltine)

They are forced every day to make the choice…drink and die.
Or don’t drink and die.
And die they do.
4500 children die EVERY day due to water related diseases.
Did you get that?
4500 children every day.
And the solution lies simply below the surface…in a relatively inexpensive and permanent solution.

* According to charitywater.org:- One in six people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.- Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old. Honestly, I did NOT know all this a few months ago. I did know that clean, safe drinking water was not accessible to many, but I was unaware of these specific statistics.

Then it was these statistics that sealed the deal—
Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas every year.
It would cost 10 billion dollars to give the whole world clean water.
Are you kidding me?
Unacceptable.

We are partnering with Charity Water. You can visit their website and read more about them at http://www.charitywater.org/. We fund the wells and 100% of our donations go DIRECTLY to building wells in Liberia, Africa. And we are EXCITED about this. As our money comes in and we raise enough to start building, they will give us GPS coordinates plotted in GoogleEarth to show us exactly where the wells will be built. We can watch videos and see photos of our wells being built and check in anytime. Amazing, right?!? It cost $5,000 to build one well. But, well, our goal is 10 BILLION!

Sponge

It was so shocking today, I said to Tate, "you know we're moving to a new house right?"
He said, "yes, to Davenport!"
I said, "how did you know that?"
He said, "I don't know, I just did."

He is a little sponge!

Then I said to Tate, "we're going to live closer to Kayla, Leah, Brigg, Lani, Ayla, Ava and Chloe!"
While jumping up and down, he said, "Yay! Those are all my friends!!!"

I hope he adjusts well to the move!

More pictures of Dad in Haiti...

He's great with people.
He is especially great with kids.
And look at this baby!
Oh. My. Goodness

Dad in Haiti

My dad got back from Haiti safe and sound yesterday.
My dad is like no other person I know.
He was meant to do these things.
He gives and gives all the time.
He loves to help others.
He doesn't expect anything in return.
He is so amazing.
He jumps in with both feet in everything he does.
To the people of Haiti these last 2 weeks, I am certain they saw the work of God through him.
He was God's hands and feet.
Selfishly, I am so relieved he is home safely!
But I am proud to call him Dad.
So proud!
He. Is. Amazing.

And while there, as you can see below, he became "one with nature"...

So thankful he went and made a difference.
So thankful he's home!!!

This brought me to tears today...

Do you ever hear a song several times, but because of certain circumstances in your life or on your mind and heart, suddenly the lyrics just hit you? This is what happened to me today...and the lyrics of this song hit me...hard. And the tears flowed.

Click the link below to hear the song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7elxC8LXfzE



What Faith Can Do - Kutless
Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Why now?

Sean's out of town, there is a list a mile long sitting in my kitchen of things that MUST be done before certain dates in order to make this move successful and I have an active, needy child by my side. What could make all this worse??? The stomach flu. Yup, and I've got it. Woke up with fever, chills and nausea around 2:30 am. I've gotten sick several times since. I even thought this morning that I was feeling a bit better. Wrong. So now I don't know whether to think that this break I've had for the last couple of hours from nausea is just a tease until I feel it again or a sign that I'm over the worst part. I'm afraid to eat or drink anything, but there's nothing left in me at this point and I feel like I should try to put something in my body. I am so weak, all I want to do is sleep, but like I said, I have a list a mile long and feel like I should try to tackle some of that. Ugh.

longing for the move to be over...

Cassie got home safe and sound from Africa last night. My dad gets home from Haiti on Thursday. Between relief of family getting home safely, moving, packing, a stressful day, Sean being gone working, I am just plain emotional and my head is pounding tonight. It's been a rough day. Tater had a rough evening and is struggling with Sean's absence. So are Sean and I. Heading to bed.

Recipes Posted

Check out A Peakin to My Recipe Book.

Letters

I know I've mentioned this more than once before, but I have to bring it up again. Tate is completely obsessed with letters and numbers. Obsessed. Mostly letters though. It's just so interesting how different kids brains work so differently. In my biased, mommy eyes, Tate is so incredibly smart when it comes to letters and numbers, but then in the same breath, at 3 1/2 he still has yet to use the potty even once. No desire to do so. None.

So tonight he started saying, "Mommy look, I'm the letter capital L!" He was laying on the floor on his back and had his legs straight up in the air. Then he lifted his head up so he was almost in a yoga like position with only his bum and lower back on the floor and said, "now I'm a capital J!" It was pretty funny. Then he put his arms above his head while in that same position and said, "Now I'm a V!" Then he immediately got up and stood flat footed on the floor, bent over at the waste and put his hands down on the floor in front of him, arms and legs straight, bum in the air and said, "and now I'm a capital A!" Maybe it's just me, but I was just so impressed that he would even think to do that!

He makes his food into letters every time he eats, he will find letters in strange places like in a picture of a person who has their body positioned in a way that maybe is the same shape as a letter, he'll point it out and say, "look, there's a (insert letter)". We were watching Little Einsteins last night and he said, "look Mommy, I found a capital letter E!" I couldn't figure out what he was talking about and so I paused it and he walked up to the TV and pointed at Rocket's steering wheel and said, "see, it's the capital letter E!" And it DOES look like an E!

Another thing he has recently learned (from his Manny Computer) is all of the letters and what they are called in Spanish. He'll say "X is equis, F is efe, J is hota, K is Kah, L is ele, M is eme" and so on, you get the point.

It's just so cute to me and I had to document it. Oh how I just love my little man so much and just get a kick out of watching him learn and seeing how his little mind works!

Happy Birthday, Brenda!!!

I wish we were able to drive a couple miles over to your house and eat sushi and play cribbage until the wee hours.

We miss you and so wish we could be with you to celebrate your birthday!

We love you!

my job interview

I had a good interview today.

However, during my interview, I learned more about the position I had applied for and am really not feeling like it will be a good fit for me. I am a bit disappointed, but know that whatever is meant to be will be.

I have been considering going back to doing hair as of late.

Are there any of you in the Quad City area that would come to me to get your hair done?
:)

I miss doing hair a lot. I like the creativity aspect of doing hair that I don't get in my current position.

We'll see!

I'm a little worried

Every morning when we wake up and every evening when Tate gets home from daycare, this is our conversation...

Tate: Where are we Mommy?

Me: We're home, Tate.

Tate: I know Mommy! This is MY home! I LOVE my home!


I hope that Tate adjusts to his new home okay.
I am a bit worried about how our little home body is going to adjust!

What's been going on...

Well, I put in my notice this week at work. My last day will be the 18th. It was really difficult. I like my job a lot and hope I can find something that I like just as much in the Quad Cities. I did ask about a transfer and actually have a phone interview on Friday morning for a position in Moline as a personal banker. We'll see how it goes.

Sean finally got his schedule through the end of the month and so we are able to make some plans as to what days we will move. I'm definitely not looking forward to moving. Thankfully, Sean's parents brought us a bunch of boxes. Those will really come in handy. I am procrastinating though and really need to get onto packing. All I've packed up is our linen closet and all of the items we don't use daily in our bathroom. I do not want to do the actual moving part of all of this. I hate it with a passion! I don't mind the unpacking and organizing of a new home, but I hate the packing up and moving of a current home.

I have mixed emotions. I'm exhausted, sad, excited, nervous, anxious, happy...pretty much depends on when you ask me. When I'm at work, I'm sad. I really do like my job and the people I work with. That is what's going to be the hardest about leaving. I'm really excited to be closer to family and good friends though and anxious to just be in our new place and settled. I'm happy for Sean that he is finally doing what he loves and he's loving doing it. I'm also happy that all of this has gone so much more smoothly than I expected so far. I am nervous about what's to come for me as far as my next career move. I'm also very nervous about Tate and his ability to handle this change. He does not like change. Period. He's also a home body...he prefers to be home with just Sean and I more than anywhere else. I hope he adjusts to his new surroundings quickly. Also, if I manage to be able to transfer within Wells Fargo, we will have to move and throw Tate into a new daycare almost immediately and that makes me very nervous. I just want him to be comfortable and happy. And I am just plain exhausted. With Sean being gone so much and my inability to get good sleep these days because of my mind racing, I am physically and mentally exhausted.

Ready for the next chapter of our lives to begin and for all of this in between stuff to be over!

I'm no a roll...

I posted another recipe on A Peakin To My Recipe Book.
Poppy Seed Chicken...check it out!

Recipe Posted...

I know it's been forever, but I just posted a new recipe on my recipe blog.
Click the link on my sidebar for the new Mile High Taco Pie recipe!