Survival Tips for 1000 AD

I have enjoyed reading a couple of blog discussions today about how one would survive in the case of being suddenly transported back to 1000 AD.  Check them out here and here.  My favorite suggestion so far is that you set up a business, assuming you survive for any period of time, selling boiled water to midwives, apothecaries, etc. promising it will cause fewer of their patients to die.

Boys will be boys?

I had my first appointment today with my new OB here in Dallas, and really liked him. When he asked if we knew what we were having and I told him it was another boy, he said, “Well, at least they’ll keep each other busy beating each other up.” He proceeded to tell me about when he and his brother (2.5 years older) were young, his brother beat him so bad one day that both of his eyes swelled shut for several days. When he could finally see again, young Jeffrey waited for his brother to get home from school with a rake in hand. The end of the wooden handle had been broken off and what was left was pretty sharp. As his brother came towards the house, he threw the rake at him as one might throw a javelin. The rake went into his brother’s mouth and exited through his cheek, and IMPALED him to a tree.

And I thought the fact that Mark still had BBs embedded in his back from when he and his brother used to try and kill each other was bad…

An old friend and a new friend

One of the nicest things about being here in the Dallas area so far is seeing my best friend from high school and college frequently. Sheila is only 20 minutes away, and we’re both trying to get through the day with a 2 year old, so we’ve seen a lot of each other this week. Her daughter (exactly 1 month older) and Jack have played together really well, considering they both firmly subscribe to the Toddler Rules of Ownership:
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
8. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.
9. If it’s yours and I steal it, it’s mine.

It’s really interesting to see the difference in Jack playing with a girl vs. with a boy. When Jack’s friend Micah would come over to play, before we moved, he had a decidedly male, competitive, sort of territorial response. They had a great time together, but there were constant battles, most of which seemed to be Jack’s issues with another boy being on his “home turf”. With Abby he’s entirely different. He shares much better and just responds to her differently. Maybe it partly has to do with spending so much time with Emily… who knows. Anyway, he’s enjoying having a new friend.

Here’s a picture of them in the sandbox, just before they mutually decided that it would be a great idea to move all the sand over to the little picnic table.

Settling in

Well, almost all the boxes are unpacked and things are put away for the most part. We are enjoying having more space in our master bedroom, and are glad to now have a spare bedroom for company and extra storage. We have so much junk (as anyone who helped us pack the truck will tell you). Thank goodness for the garage. It has some extra storage space, and though it is just a garage and a half really, Mark is able to squeeze both cars in there.

Here’s a picture of the house. It’s not much to look at, but it’s been well maintained and we’re grateful for a comfortable place to live. My parents have been a huge help, especially in getting the yard into shape. The back yard was overrun with weeds, but it already looks much better. The front yard was not bad, and Mom prettied it up with some flowers. Isn’t that a great tree? It will be nice to have some shade during the summer months when we’re baking in the heat.

There is a little boy next door who is just a couple of months older than Jack, and the boys have already been talking and playing ball across the fence. There is a park within just a couple of blocks, and the big park in town has the largest playground I’ve ever seen, and also has a “sprayground” with water fountains and sprayers, etc. that will be fun during the summer.

Jack has made the switch from the crib to a twin bed. We had bought him a cool bed tent over a year ago, and he really likes it. Though he has been rather clingy to me since we moved and has done more screaming and whining than usual since we’ve been here, he has made the transition very well. I’m sure he appreciates the fact that we are no longer telling him to have “quiet feet” every other minute to try and keep him from disturbing the grumpy neighbors below us.

Mark’s commute to work has not been bad - about 45 minutes. He likes the people he’s working with, and enjoys the fact that his boots are no longer a “fashion statement” but a fairly normal thing to see in the workplace!

Buried in boxes

We’re here! It took about 21 hours travel time over 2 days (we stopped a lot to keep my pregnant legs from swelling and to wake up from the mind-numbing boredom of staring at the rear end of a Penske truck).  We were glad to pull into the driveway and get out of the cars for good. Jack did really well on the trip, and didn’t seem to mind getting back into the car when it was time to go again. We were really grateful that Mom was here to help with the packing and driving- we could not have done it without her. She drove Mark’s car and we followed behind Mark driving the moving truck.

The movers were scheduled to arrive on Friday morning, but we ended up leaving earlier from our hotel in West Memphis than expected, so we called and it turned out they had a crew that was available to meet us at the house when we arrived on Thursday late afternoon. It was SO NICE to drive up and have them immediately start unloading so we could sleep on comfortable beds that night after the horrible tiny hotel beds. The only reason we made it here as early as we did was that one of the cats started yowling at about 5:30am and wouldn’t stop. We finally gave up and got out of bed since we couldn’t sleep through the the racket he was making. We jokingly speculated that maybe God sent an angel to disturb him so we would be able to get here in time to get the stuff unloaded!

There’s no way I can express how grateful we are for those who took Galatians 6:2 literally, helping to bear the burden of the furniture and boxes on Monday night as the truck was loaded, and for all the packing help that Mom and Laura provided. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be around for the fun of loading the truck, as Jack was dealing with a lovely intestinal virus that was thankfully very short-lived.

More to come… must get to bed since it’s after midnight and we’re getting up early to drive down to visit the church we went to while I was in high school. Should be fun looking for some familiar faces!

Getting ready to roll

Well, there no doubt we’re moving in a couple of days. There are boxes everywhere and many more left to be packed. My mother and sister have been very helpful over the past week, and we’re especially grateful that Mom flew back up from Texas to help with this move. Last time we packed up an apartment we were moving from Chicago and Jack was 4 weeks old and it was just us, so we certainly appreciate how much easier it is with people here to help.

We took a trip to Dallas just over a week ago and found a house to rent after a very frustrating day of searching with a local realtor. The lease market is very tight right now, so we were grateful to find one. We are REALLY looking forward to saying goodbye to apartment living and downstairs neighbors who come up and threated to call the police because Jack is running around up here like a normal 2 year old boy. Jack will have a fenced in backyard to run around in down there, and we’ll have a garage to park in, and even a spare bedroom! Jack and David (have I mentioned we’re naming him David?) are going to share a room once David gets to the point of sleeping through the night.

Say a prayer for no rain on Tuesday evening while we’re loading the truck!

A perfect day for sledding

This morning, since church was canceled, we went to the home of some RBC friends to enjoy some sledding. It was a PERFECT day for it. Not too cold… nice and sunny…

Jack had a good time for a while, especially riding down the hill with our friend Stephanie.

I even went down once- here I am just about to get a face full of snow. Once was enough… it was more fun taking pictures.

I’m not going to post all the pictures here - it’s nicer to look at them in Flickr. If you click on the ‘View as Slideshow’ link on the top right of the page, you can view them more easily.

This is why I love the internet

We’re looking at some listings from a realtor of homes for lease in the north Dallas area, and as we googled the addresses to get a clear picture of where they are on the map, some of them have street level views in Google maps. We can see exactly what the neighborhoods look like on many of them, and even “virtually” drive around the area and see what’s around. Check this one out for example. You click on the “street view” link next to the little picture, and then click on the arrows on the street to drive around the area. Your little orange guy moves along the map, so you always know where you are as you go. How cool is that?

Here we go again…

About two weeks ago, Mark heard of an open position in his company at their location in Dallas, TX that was similar to what he is doing now. As he has wanted to move to Texas ever since we took our first trip there soon after we got married, cost of living is better, and since his whole department may get moved to Delaware or offshored to India sometime this year, he looked into it. Fast forward to yesterday… they hired him and we’re moving in a month. [Gulp]

Moving to Dallas is like moving home for me, in a lot of ways. I went to high school just south of Dallas and went to college just north of Dallas, and I have a couple of friends I’m still in touch with who still live there, one of whom is my best friend. So… if I have to move anywhere, I guess Dallas is the place I’d want to be- it’s a really good place to live. We sure hate that it’s SO FAR away from my family though. That’s nothing to dwell on though, as I want to always follow Paul’s example from Phillipians 4:11, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

The last time we drove to Texas was when my grandmother died 3 years ago, and I was about this far along in my pregnancy with Jack. We didn’t realize that I needed to be getting out and walking around more often, and my legs swelled up to ridiculous proportions. Funny that we’re repeating the trip while pregnant again. We’ve already got a house-hunting trip booked for Mark and the moving truck reserved, so we made good progress on things last night. We’re loading up the evening of Tuesday, March 25th and hope to move into our new place in Dallas on that Friday.

So, say a prayer for us, especially as Mark looks for a place for us in a couple of weeks. We really need to get into a house if at all possible. Boys need a place to run around, as I have learned, and with another one on the way, we’re praying we’ll have a yard. I’m just hoping I can get through this next month without my pregnancy hormones running wild and making me cry at the merest mention of leaving those I love here…. shoot, there I go again… where is the box of tissues?!

Lessons learned

I learned two things coming home from Texas Tuesday:

1. Always pack your carry ons as if you’re going to get stuck in transit. We got stuck in Memphis for 6 hours, and were contemplating the possibility that we might have to spend the night there. Fortunately I had packed plenty of diapers, but stupidly, I did not pack the charger for the DVD player.

2. Always make sure there is a barf bag readily available. Even if you’ve never thrown up in a plane before and don’t get motion sickness, just make sure there is one nearby in case you (or the person next to you) should need it. Though I get a touch of motion sickness once in a blue moon on planes, I’ve never needed a bag, but I guess the combination of the pregnancy and the windy landing that had to be attempted twice before we made it down got me. As we were heading towards the gate, I started searching frantically for a bag, with none to be found. Fortunately Mark found one in the seat behind us, otherwise it would have been a BIG, HUGE, YUCKY MESS.

We had a wonderful visit with everyone down in Texas, and even saw some 70 degree days, which was nice. It was good to get home and back into a bit of a routine though. Jack was difficult to manage and woke up most nights during the night a couple of times calling for Mommy, which he hasn’t done since he was 6 months old.

There were some beautiful birds that visited the patio every day called Green Jays. We had a hard time getting a good picture of them:

Here’s a better picture from a web site- aren’t they purty?

A Productive Day

After several months of complete lethargy and lack of motivation, I have finally had a productive day. I wrote 3 blog posts (counting this one), cleaned and organized Jack’s room and even took a walk. Never mind the fact that my house is a complete wreck and I haven’t had an answer for Mark’s daily “what’s for dinner?” question in weeks. Here’s the culprit:

I’m at 12.5 weeks and have had a decent pregnancy so far, though definitely more difficult than the first one. I never threw up while pregnant with Jack, but I’ve been regularly sick with this one, and I know I’m more tired. That probably has something to do with the difference between sitting at a desk all day vs. chasing kids around. Anyway, I’m grateful, because I know many people feel much worse than I have and the second trimester is just around the corner, and maybe I’ll post here more often…. hopefully.

Merry Christmas!

Test your geography knowledge

I’ve spent far too much time playing this game today, but I can definitely say my general geography knowledge is improving.  I’m still making stabs in the dark when they ask about a capital in Africa, though.  Go ahead - take the Traveler’s IQ Challenge.  Tell me how you do.

Mouse 2001 - 2007

We had to say goodbye to a very sweet kitty on Monday. Mouse’s kidneys failed him for some reason- no way to know why. He was the most loving little kitty, and we’ll miss him. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of him from when he was a kitten. He’d just had a bath and looks like quite a waif.

Time to order Christmas Cards

We’re hitting mid-October here, just about time for the Christmas decorations to start going up in the stores. If you’re interested in possibly sending some personalized Christmas cards out this year, you need to check out CardMyChristmas. It’s a new site, part-owned by a new friend of mine, Elizabeth, and she does beautiful work. Check it out!

You might also be interested in reading Elizabeth’s blog, MommyZabs. Zabs (rhymes with labs) is her nickname, and she’s been blogging a LONG time - definitely one to add to your feed reader!