On The Market: The First 24 Hours

The sign is up!!! Our house is officially on the market! Whew. And, my goal is to do a blog post every day or so to chronicle this event. The event of having a house on the market with four children under the age of five who can't help but make a mess of everything. I want to do this mainly to document a pretty big even in our lives (moving to Minneapolis!) and to pretty much ensure that we never get the bright idea to move just for the H-E-L-L of it. If ya know what I mean! So, maybe Robert can rest assured that I will never want to move locally just to have a different house?? I'm thinking YES!

The past two weeks we have been working like mad to get this house ready to list. Touching up paint, clearing out closets, having little odd jobs done, etc. Not my idea of fun. And, have I ever mentioned that I am NOT a renovation, fixer-upper type of person? Well, I'm not. Just for the record. Just having little jobs around the house done was enough to drive me bonkers. I imagine that we will always buy a "move-in" ready house.

We actually had two showings of our house before it was even listed, but no offer. :( Today is the realtor walk-through and then I imagine the fun begins!! The phone calls to show the house, me frantically picking things up and throwing the kids in the car (along with all the random things that need to be out of the house to show it- laundry, baby swing, etc...) We'll see how long my perfectionism lasts. My guess is after a few weeks I start to not really care a whole lot and just let 'em show it like it is!!

Oh, and have I mentioned Lent??? Well, it's throwing this whole thing for a loop. Robert gave up meat, the boys gave up fast food and I gave up icecream and cookies. The problem with all of this?? Well, if we're not eating meat we're eating a boat load of fish. Fish stinks to high heaven when you cook it!! Not ideal for a house on the market. Who wants to buy a house that smells like last night's salmon?!? Where do I take the kids to get out of the house quickly for it to show??? Not McDonald's Playland or Chick-fil-a. And, my whole no icecream and cookies thing? Well, that lasted a whopping two days. Sorry. My rationale? If I'm having to give up meat AND fast food (not that I love eating it, but I love the convenience factor for the kids!) then I'm just not going to give up the pleasure of my bowl of icecream and cookies that I enjoy every evening. The only thing worse would be taking away my diet coke!!

But anyway, fingers crossed this house sells quickly and my sanity survives the process. It'll certainly be an adventure...

Winds of Change...

...are blowing in the Carraway house!! We found out several weeks ago that we are moving...to a place we never thought we'd end up...to Minneapolis, MN! WOW! It's quite interesting where life takes you, huh? For example, this time 10 years ago I was in the French Quarter living it up at Mardi Gras. Today? I am married with four children, preparing a house to be on the market and preparing to move somewhere I never imagined I would live. But, it's all part of the plan, right? We are definitely excited. It will be a great experience to see a part of the country that we would otherwise probably never see. Yeah, it will be cold in the winter, but cold is relative, right? I hear the summers in Minneapolis will make it worth it! So, this is the latest reason I've been away from the blog...I know, it's always something. :)

But, to catch up a little...Graham is potty trained!! It was virtually painless. He is such a big boy!! Bella Grace is 7 1/2 months old (still a little confused as to how that happened!!) and she's crawling!! She is also beginning to get interested in pulling up and she has also discovered her voice. She is going to be quite the talker...wonder where she got that from??? ;) Marshall and Patrick are doing SO well in school. I am truly going to miss Sands Montessori. Marshall is getting all of his letters and their sounds. Patrick is just smart as a whip and I can't fool him anymore!!

All of the boys are suffering from a case of cabin fever...at least I hope that's what it is! They are constantly at each other's throats!! I am in denial that some of that is probably just how boys are...wrestling, play fighting, real fighting, taking things apart, etc. Graham is SO in love with baby sister! It's really amazing to see their relationship. She loves him so much, too! I imagine they will be very close. The first thing Graham says when he wakes up each morning is, "Where's Bella Grace??" He has to then go find her (and usually wake her up!) Patrick and Marshall are pretty much wrapped up in their own things and don't pay her too much attention...unless she gets in to their stuff.

All and all, we are doing super well...just crazy busy. I do have pics to post to catch up, but I've actually got to upload them from my camera first. We've shown the house once and the buyer very interested and will see the house again this weekend. It would be such a blessing to have her buy it, especially since it's not even on the market yet!! Can you imagine not even having to keep the house show-ready?!? That's my biggest fear at this point- keeping this house ready to show with four small children and Robert already in Minneapolis (his start date is May 1.) But, we'll figure it out. Well, all caught up for now! I'll leave with a little song the boys sing that they learned in Sunday school. Pay attention to Graham's version...

P and M: Ancient words, tried and true, changing me and changing you. We have come with open arms....

G: Ancient words, SOME are true, changing me and changing you....


Yeah, I get a good laugh every time I hear Graham sing it. I guess he's one of those that just picks the parts of Christianity that suit him! ;)

Potty Training Boot Camp- Round III

So, last week Graham woke up and refused to wear a diaper. He demanded underwear. Underwear he got! He picked some out at Target (lovely Cars briefs that he and Marshall now fight constantly over) and is now officially a member of the big boy club. Go Grammy!!!

However, we all know how notsofun potty training is for momma. I mean, you can't really go anywhere without an entire laundry basket full of extra clothes and you've got to constantly bribe the child to use the potty, or at least try to 'push some peepee out.' Over the weekend I resorted to the M&M bribe. It's already backfired in more ways than one! Yesterday Graham wanted all of his M&M's up front and told me he'd use the potty for the rest of the day if I gave them to him. I am neither a cash (or M&M) advance store nor do I endorse creative accounting. Sorry buddy. And, Patrick was more than willing to use the potty for Graham so I would pass out M&M's. Sorry, that's now how it works! Graham actually has to use the potty!! And, you are all lucky that every time he does I pass out three M&M's to you, too!!!

But, I will say that yesterday Graham had ZERO accidents. He's really doing a great job!! So, we are officially moving closer to having only one child in diapers. Quite a change from not too long ago when we had three children in diapers! I'm sure Pampers will miss us. :)

The Last Few Months...

Okay, let's do a little catching up. As in, what have we been up to the past several months?!?

December 2010

I cam down the stairs to find my precious big boys

folding laundry for me. And, I didn't even ask them to help!

I might just have the best boys in the entire world!! :)

Bella Grace has started solids. Baby food is NOT a big hit.

However, she will chow down on whatever is on our plates!

So, as usual, I am not doing the baby food thing and I am

simply feeding her whatever we eat, just mashed up

a little. Her favorites?? Chicken, beans, guac, carrots,

cheese, ice cream, and well pretty much anything!!

Happy Five Month Birthday!!

Could she look anymore pitiful??

She also had her first cold at this time. :(

Merry Christmas!!

Bella Grace simply slept through Santa's visit.




The boys, however, did not!!
They were all about Santa this year and
our Elf on the Shelf. They named her Ella
the Elf. But, they were scared of her 'watching'
them and reporting to Santa. We ended up
just having them tell Ella their wish list every day.



Almost a perfect family shot!! But hey, with four kids
we're never going to get them to all look at the camera. :)

Okay, guys, now what the heck am I supposed

to do with this thing you call a present?!?

Momma and the four BEST babies in the entire world!!!

Bribe: If you all smile and let mommy take a picture
you can open your presents!!!

November 2010

Super fun bath time with spikey hair!!!

Happy Four Month Birthday, Bella Grace!!

Our little naked gardener, Graham.

He wanted to go outside while in the middle

of getting dressed Thanksgiving Day.

At least he remembered shoes, right?!?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bella Grace was baptised the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

She was SO happy during the service and smiled so big

while being baptised!

Momma, Daddy and Baby Girl :)

Bribe: You can bring the giant Pooh Bear, as long as you

sit and let us take a picture!!

October 2010

A visit to the pumpkin patch with great friends!!!

Side note: we will NOT visit this pumpkin patch again.

It was simply a bunch of pumpkins thrown out in a field

that you rode a tractor to get to. They were even so kind

as to drive you by the concrete dump on the way to get

pumpkins! Like I said, we will not be visiting again. We'll make

the drive out to the nice patches we've been to in the past!

Marshy picked his pumpkin!!

Three wild, crazy little boys! :)

Say cheese, Patrick! And, don't make it

look so painful, buddy!!

The kids literally licking the sprinkles they spilled ALL

over my kitchen floor while baking cookies for the neighborhood

Halloween Party!

Fun in the tent as the annual Cryer Ave. Halloween Party!

One of these babies DOES NOT appear to be

enjoying the Halloween festivities!!

Hmmm...which one???

Patrick needed a little break by the fire pit after lots

of Halloween fun

My littlest green dragon got a sucker!

My sweet little Patticakes :)

Marshall and his big grin :)

Bella Grace was not impressed with

the whole trick-or-treat thing...

My little dragons are off and running to get

some candy! Trick-or-Treat!!

About to head out to get some C-A-N-D-Y!!
BTW, like the nice blue painter's tape in the front door??

Our house was in mid paint job!

Happy 1st Halloween Miss Pretty!

September 2010

That would be Patrick's hand full of Shiner Bock

bottle caps. He went around collecting them at

our Labor Day party!

A fabulous plate our neighbor made for
each of the kiddos at our Labor Day party.

Guess I should step up to the plate for

mother of the year, huh?!?

Graham in true form wearing one of my headbands.

I obviously was slacking on the picture taking in September. Guess I was too busy with a newborn and three wild little boys...

August 2010

Bella Grace has her first real bath!!
She was NOT a fan and to this day
does not enjoy bath time.
She doesn't want to mess up her weave. ;)

Nothing like a little help from three little boys with

a baby's first bath!! Like the Wii remote in Marshall's

pocket? Never know when a Wii remote might
come in handy...

Patrick's first day of 4 year old preschool

at Sands Montessori. He loves his new school!

Walking out of school like a big boy! :)

Marshall's first day of 3 year old preschool

at Sands Montessori. He really loves school!

All smiles as he walks out after his first day!

Happy 2nd birthday, Graham!!!

Happy 4th birthday, Patrick!!!

He got a Wii for his birthday and wanted

a Wii cake. However, due to copyright laws

that was next to impossible. My solution??

Plop a real Wii remote on top of a sheet cake.

I though it was brilliant. Patrick was very

quick to point out that it wasn't a real

Wii cake...

Well, looks like we're caught up!! Hopefully I'll find more time to keep the good 'ol blog up to date! No guarantees, though. :)

I've Hit the Exhaustion Wall...And I Didn't Slide Off...I'm STUCK

So, been away from the good ole blog for a while now. I've got lots of catching up to do, from Bella Grace's birth to birthdays to first days of school to Halloween to Thanksgiving...you get the picture. But, I'm stuck. On the exhaustion wall. You know in cartoons when the guy runs into the wall and then slides down off of it??? Well, that's how I feel. Except for one thing- I hit the wall and got stuck! I haven't had the luxury of sliding down.

Let's go back to when I think it all started- late September. (What's that Green Day song??? Wake Me Up When September Ends?!? I agree with them!) The whole (first) run in with mastitis and dicloxicillin. I thought I made it through and we moved on to October, with pumpkin patches, leaves and Halloween! A good month. :) Then, I had a super fun girl trip to Atlanta the beginning of November. The next weekend Robert had his testosterone trip out to Kansas to hunt. Right after he returned my father came to visit (on like 4 hours notice!) Next thing I know it's the week of Thanksgiving. I get a little phone call from one of Robert's coworkers saying that they are taking Robert to the ER. Long story short, he had horrible kidney stones (yes, plural) and a bad UTI. Whoa! We get my dad off the next day only to turn around and get ready to travel for Thanksgiving. Yes, travel to Tennessee with Robert in a pain- antibiotic-infection induced state of misery. We survived our travels, enjoyed the holiday and made it back home. Holy moly!! It's December!! Gotta get the tree up and figure out the whole shopping thing. Yikes!! But wait, all six of us came down with this nasty cold/cough/fever nasty virus thing. Bleh...We survived and managed to get all of our holiday preparations taken care of just in time to travel back to Tennessee! We had a fabulous Christmas and I headed back the Monday after with all the kids in tow while Robert stayed and hunted for the week. We made it back to the 'Nati and I'm thinking SUCCESS!! I survived the holidays and now we have a week to get ready to be back in our normal routine. WRONG!! New Year's Day the nasty little thing called mastitis decided to make another appearance...and Robert was still gone...without his Blackberry...because he dropped it in the duck blind...awesome...not really. So, I get my lovely little antibiotics, Robert makes it home, I get some decent rest and YAY!! We're back to normal. Um...NOT SO LUCKY. The infection has caused tons of swelling and inflammation and lymph involvement in the affected side. My OB/GYN refers me to a breast specialist who does an ultrasound and determines that the infection is clearing up (slowly) but there are cysts that are aggravating the situation...Okay, making progress in the right direction! Ummm....WRONG. AGAIN. I wake up early on the morning of the 9th itching like mad and becoming increasingly covered in hives. What the heck?!? Total misery. Totally covered head (literally, I had them on my scalp!) to toe (yes, between my toes!) in hives. Long story short, I ended up in the ER (TWICE!) because my neck and lips and mouth were swelling, saw a specialist and am now totally messed up on steroids (and more steroids!) and antihistamines (like 3 different presctiptions!) and to top it all off, all the meds and stress on my body is making my milk supply drop. Not cool. Really not cool considering I have a 6 month old that has never taken bottles. So, we are up to date now!! Oh, wait. About six hours ago, just after midnight, we woke up to Graham vomiting all over his bed. Multiple times. I'm guessing he's sick, what do you think???

Needless to say, this is all why the blog has been somewhat neglected. Maybe I'll eventually get caught up on some posts, maybe not. But, quite frankly, it's pretty low in the to-do list. Hopefully I will become unstuck from the exhaustion wall very soon. Of course, that's doubtful. Robert has to work this weekend and I'm still whacked out on meds that make it impossible to get good sleep for another week or so. But, this too shall pass. And, life is still pretty good. And, my precious baby girl is curled up (literally in the fetal position) in my lap while I sit 'criss-cross-applesauce' style (had to say it, it's what the boys say!) typing this post. And, everyone else (excetp for steroid-antihistamine-crazy me) is sleeping and not vomiting. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am that small percentage of people that have the opposite reaction to antihistamines- they DO NOT make me drowsy. :)

Santa!

We headed to Kenwood mall yesterday for our annual family photo with Santa. It's a family photo because none of our children will actually sit on Santa's lap! They want mommy and daddy to sit with Santa and they want to sit on our laps!! This year's photo sums up their personalities pretty well. Graham is a little dazed and confused by it all, Bella Grace is just going with the flow, Marshall is being silly as usual and Patrick is smiling only because he was bribed with enough fruit snacks and a cookie. Classic.

We also started the Elf on the Shelf tradition. And, I'll just say my children were not too impressed, as usual. The three boys named the elf 'Ella the Elf' and they constantly want her to go away and ask why she is here or there today. They don't want the elf to go back to the North Pole at night and give Santa a report on their behavior. So, we altered the idea a little bit! They must tell Ella each day what is on their wish list so that she can tell Santa. And, she does not just watch them each day and report on their behavior, that kind of freaked them out!

As far as wish lists go this year, Marshall always want a big truck or a big race car. Graham wants a big fire truck (because the half dozen or so we have just aren't the right one!) Patrick wants a Sonic Wii game and Marshall says that Bella Grace wants a dress and a Barbie. I love it!! So, we'll just have to wait and see what Santa has under our tree Christmas morning! :)

The Conversations That Consume My Day

Me: Graham, get out of the front seat and get in your seat.

Graham: I big boy, mommy!! I'm going to drive!

Me: Graham, I know you're a big boy. However, you may not drive!

Graham: I BIG BOY!!!

Me: You have to be as big as mommy and daddy to drive, son. Get in your carseat. NOW! (as I
must crawl through the car and physically put him in his carseat. A few people in the parking lot had even stopped to hear this conversation and were laughing. At least we provided a good show!)


Marshall: Momma, why are there spikey things on my penis???

Me: Uhhhh...spikey things?!? (as I think to myself this CANNOT be good)

Marshall: Yeah, spikey things under my penis. (as he proceeds to show me said spikey things)

Me: Well, Marshall, those aren't spikey things. You're just obviously a little cold.

Marshall: Why???? Why does cold make spikey things on my penis???

Me: Marshall, that is a VERY good question for daddy...

Patrick: What day is it???

Me: Tuesday (or whatever random day it is, being that we have this conversation multiple times per day)

Patrick: What day comes after Tuesday?

Me: Wednesday.

Patrick: What day comes after Wednesday?

Me: Thursday.

Patrick: What day comes after Thursday?

Me: Friday. Then Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Patrick: No, what day comes after Friday?

I'm sure you can see where this conversation is going. I am not allowed to just say the days of the week. I must answer as he asks. Let me tell you, I get quite tired of having this conversation with Patrick. Hopefully soon he will learn the days of the week.

Any of the 3 boys riding in the car: My penis hurts!!!!!

Me: I'm sorry. Why does it hurt???

Boys: Because you're going to fast!! (Or slow, or stopped, etc...)

Me: I'm not going to fast. Scoot your bootie back in your carseat and see if that helps.

Boys: IT DOESN'T!!! Stop the car. My penis STILL hurts!!!

Me: I cannot stop on the interstate because your penis hurts. I'm sorry. It will be okay.

Boys: MY PENIS HURTS!!!!

This conversation is a vicious cycle. Once they are on the subject it just doesn't stop until we are out of the car. There are even these railroad tracks that we go over often and every time it's gets them fired up because it makes their boy parts hurt!! Only boys...

Boys: Someone pooped on the club house!!! (the bottom part of our outdoor playset)

Me: WHAT?!? Boys that not funny. Stop playing around.

Boys: But there's poop in there!!! It's doggy poop. No, it's Graham poop!

Graham: Not me!!! I didn't poop!!!

Me: Show me. DO NOT touch. Just point where it is. (sure enough there was human poop in the club house.)

Boys: EWWWWW!!!!!

Me: WHO POOPED IN THE CLUB HOUSE?!? TELL ME NOW!!!

Boys: Graham!! Patrick!! Marshall!! (the blame game)

Me: Everyone inside. I will find out who did it. I'm going to wipe your booties. Who ever has poop on their bootie obviously pooped in the club house.

Boys: Uhhhhh....(busted!!! lots of blank stares at this point.)

Me: Patrick you're clean. Graham you still have on your diaper. MARSHALL!!!! You are NOT clean. WHY did you do that?!? (goofy Marshy grin and I think I may have had scary red eyes at this point and fire coming out of my mouth!!) TIME OUT BUDDY! NOW!

Why is that that nearly ALL of the conversations at my house are centered around body parts and/or bodily function?!? I've been warned that boys will not outgrow this for quite some time, probably not until they're like 40. Nice...