I Hate Flying Beetles and other late-night distractions

This post is not going to have any pictures because the thought of taking a picture freaks me out. I just got off the phone with my friend Rebekeh, who calmed me down when I called her more than an hour ago, FREAKING out over big, black, flying beatles in my living room. Three of them, to be exact. Just typing that gives me the willies. I called her in HYSTERICS because the bugs were flying around me and I am not brave enough to kill them. Now there is nothing she could do, because her husband is also out of town today and she had her two sleeping children, but oh my goodness. I just needed some moral support and someone to share my bug problems with. So thank you Rebekeh!! I'm glad you didn't make me feel like a total idiot for bawling about beatles.

Killing bugs is Ben's department. Not mine. I usually yell for him, then point at the bugs and watch them until he comes back with a wad of tissue. Then I make sure he flushes them down the toilet, rather than just throwing them in the trash, because I want to be SURE that these bugs are history.

I like to think I am a strong, independent person. But tonight I was neither of those attributes. Instead, I was a crying, ballistic silly girl who was scared of beatles. BEATLES?? Ridiculous. I even pulled out the fly swatter after I hung up the phone, hoping I could get up the nerve to kill at least one of them. But no. They are still loose, flying around in my living room. Hopefully now that the lights are all off will make them want to go elsewhere. I think they snuck in under baseboards - there is a big enough gap in this old place that a sneaky beetle (or three) could come right in. Yuck yuck yuck.

So here I am, at 12:50 a.m., trying to calm down from my two hours of tears, wishing Ben were home and that I had gone to sleep at 10 instead of 1. Last night I was up late because Chicago was slammed with crazy, powerful lightning and thunderstorms that were so intense. The tornado warning earlier in the evening was enough to put me on edge, worried that I would wake to sirens going off in the middle of the night.

One other thing - don't rent the movie Grace is Gone - it is DEPRESSING. It's about a dad who learns that his wife, who is serving in the army in Iraq, has died, and how he puts off telling his two daughters for a few days and instead takes them on a road trip. It is so so so sad, because you anticipate him finally sharing the news through the whole movie. Ugh. Take my word and don't watch it. Unless you want a movie that will put you in tears so you can have a good cry.

It's definitely not a great one to watch when your husband is unreachable for five days, hiking in the wilderness somewhere. Or when you're pregnant and have all kinds of unreasonable thoughts running through your mind. Like the possibility of beatles attacking me in the night. YUCK. Let's hope tomorrow night is uneventful!! I need more sleep. And more courage to kill those bugs... good night.

Pictures from the Park

Last night I felt SO nauseous. The night before, I didn't take my 1/2 of a unisom and B6 vitamin that I have taken for the last few weeks - apparently that has really helped because today I suffered the consequences of not having it in my system. Bleh. It's sad since I had felt so much better lately.

On to happier things though - we played at the park on Saturday that is closest to where our new home will be. It's a really fun park and just a few blocks away.

Eli saw a little girl playing with these cool sand toys and joined her. Thankfully, she was about seven or eight and didn't mind a one-year-old borrowing her stuff.

This little guy loves sticks and shovels. He was so happy playing on his own, digging in the sand.

I realize he does this loud, open-mouth yell quite a bit. It's funny that I seem to capture it often.

We took Ben to the airport after playing at the park. I was sad to see him go...

So now it's just me and the munchkin. Good thing he is such fun company... most of the time :) When I feel sad, I just kiss and squeeze him and get him to laugh - he has a contagious giggle that can cheer anyone up.

I have to say though - in the last few days, I've had the sweetest offers to help - with packing, watching Eli, or just meeting up and having fun so I can get my mind off of all of the stressful things going on right now. Thank you so much to those who have made me feel watched over and loved - it really means a lot.

More Pictures of the Mess

I realize the pictures from yesterday don't really show what our place really looks like right now. So here are some better examples...

Eli exploring around the boxes

I packed most of those boxes that are put together yesterday; I think it was 11 total. Last night we couldn't get to the table very easily, so we had a Piero's Pizza picnic in the entryway. Eli had so much fun eating while free to wander, not cooped up in his booster. He would take bites of pizza and then spin in circles, then laugh and often came close to landing on the pizza box.

My current goal is to pack some more today, then take a break until the end of next week. After two days of packing, I've actually make decent progress. It definitely helps that we already packed up a lot of our junk and put it in storage before we put our condo on the market. Now I just have to come up with some activities for myself and Eli that will keep us cool in the heat.

Well, the mailman's here - I know this because the dog is barking barking barking upstairs. 12 days until we load the moving truck and say GOOD RIDDANCE to the dog! 13 'til I'm sleeping in full air conditioning. Who knows how long before I'll feel like my life is back to normal?? :)

And the Packing Begins

We are in the midst of packing. I really dislike packing.

So I take lots of breaks and take pictures of my child instead.

For the most part Eli seems oblivious to the mess, besides having more obstacles to get around.

He's happiest of course when I am giving him my full attention, rather than packing.

One funny thing with packing is that you find all kinds of weird things you forgot you had. Eli found Ben's safety glasses from the good ol' chemical engineering days and had fun trying them on. Or at least trying to try them on.

And here is my self-portrait of the belly at 14 1/2 weeks. Not the most flattering shot, but I don't care. Can you tell my button is unbuttoned? These shorts are getting a little tight. It's funny - the UPS guy buzzed our ringer at noon and it dawned on me that I was still not dressed for the day (I did shower this morning, but it is SO hot in our condo once again). So I hurried up and threw this on before he made it up the stairs.

Back to packing...

Oh - one more thing. Have I mentioned Ben leaves tomorrow for a backpacking trip in Yosemite with some of his brothers, dad, and sister-in-law? He will be gone until the following Sunday. (they have had this planned forever, before we knew about all of the crazy changes coming up) We will move our stuff onto the moving truck four days after he gets back. I'm hoping to get most of the packing done while he's gone. As I'm pregnant and chasing a toddler. Let's hope I'm not a frazzled, crazy person by the end of next week...