Comfort in Clutter

I'm completely uncomfortable in a tidy house. Everything is put away, all the surfaces are clear, and a mountain of packed boxes reside in Husband's former parking space in the garage. I feel restless and bored, and I just want my stuff back where it goes - in my house, cluttering tables.

I try to keep the house less than 15 minutes away from "show ready" at any given moment (my mom said to be careful doing this, because Husband might come to expect it - the horror!!!). Before I left the house for Story Time at the Library this morning, I ran through the house and left it "show ready" (except for leaving all the lights on). That way, if I got a call while I was gone, the people could come straight over without me ruining my plans.

Of course, Moose was a complete monster at Story Time. He wants to walk around and squawk and play with the damn drinking fountain over and over and over again. He also decided to crawl on top of the table today. I know it's just normal stuff, but it's exhausting and there's not a single other kid there doing such things. Why mine? Why mine every single time?

I opted not to continue the torture and skipped lunch and play time with friends afterward. We came home, and Moose went right to sleep. This morning, he was hollering at me and squawking and I put him in his crib and went to take a shower - you can act like a jerk while you follow me around and drive me crazy or you can be a jerk in your crib, and I will take a nice, quiet, hot shower.

Tonight, I am meeting a friend for dinner and then dress shopping! She is having a BALL for her 30th birthday party. While I look forward to the girl time, I am most looking forward to being away from ::someone:: less than 3-foot tall who SQUAWKS all the damn time.

Last night, I noted that Moose says a lot more than Bean did at this age. At two, Bean said four words clearly (and only clearly if you were, umm, me or my husband). He said, Da-Da, no, more, and Na-Na (lazy speech for Ma-ma). Moose says Da-Da, no, Na-Na, "I do," bye, and hi (usually more of a "hey"). He also signs please, all done, more, and sippy. He also has some mish-mash of words that means "blow it up" (requesting a fist bump of sorts - I'm not kidding, thank my husband for that one). He's by no means a language genius, but we might escape speech therapy with this one.

Oh, how did I forget to mention that we had Bean's big birthday party last Saturday! It was smashing success, despite the Bounce House people canceling the bounce house just two hours before the party and me quickly indulging in two adult beverages to calm down. We borrowed a smaller one from our neighbors, and the kids had just as much fun (and we saved $80). The kids also played in the sandbox, on the playset, and enjoyed the Venom Hunt (where we searched for Venom and then sprayed him with silly string). Bean had loads of fun with his buddies - we had 22 kids here total. It sounds crazy, and it was, but everyone had a great time with it.

On Sunday, Husband was in class, so the boys and I headed out to spend some of Bean's birthday money. He chose a Spider-Man razor scooter (that he's sort of scared of - he tells me, "It falls me, Mama."). He also picked out two Batman toys (a helicopter and submarine that match his Batman castle and car) and two Thomas engines (Percy and Charlie). Bean is loving all his new toys.

Our house went on the market last Friday and supposedly hit the MLS listing Monday. The Realtor said it takes two to three days to get it up on the web, so I still haven't seen it on the company's website or on Realtor.com. A few times, I've noticed people slowing down as they drive by the house (but that doesn't mean anything). Most the houses in the neighborhood have gone in one or two weeks, so I'm really hoping we follow that trend.

A rental home in Shreveport just came on the market yesterday - it is right next to my first-choice elementary school and the property backs up to the Green Belt in the neighborhood. I think we should just go ahead and sign a lease, but Husband wants to get out there first and take a look. We may run out there for a quick look at the city and the house his weekend, but we have to be back by Sunday morning - I have most of an Easter dinner to cook.