I'm fine...really

I am the type of person who for some reason, gets a little obsessive about very ordinary things that to most other people, have little meaning.  For example, I have a thing with birthdays...I like them to be even numbers or if odd, to be divisible by five...neither of my girls births worked out by the way (one is the 7th and the other the 21st).  Or if someone has an unusual manner of speaking (voice/articulation), I tend to lock into that and hear very little of what they actually say.  Where am I going with this?  Well, I also use expiration dates as kind of "markers" about important events.  Like if the milk is expiring on December 27th then I get excited because I think, "By the time the milk is old, Christmas will have come and gone!"  The bottom line for this blog is: there are several things in my refrigerator that will expire AFTER we're in China...this is just a little too real, a little too life-changing - our move date is close.  Am I making any sense?  Is there something disturbing about obsessing about a very ordinary date on a very ordinary salad dressing bottle?

So there you have it - perhaps it is a accurate reflection on my state of mind right now: scattered, anxious, paranoid, overwhelmed, disbelieving.  It's enough to make me want to take a NAP...  According to the countdown clock Mike has put on our computer, we have 16 days, 3hours and 11 minutes until we are on our way to China.  Perhaps you can see his state of mind - excited, confident, ready, giddy, and fully on board with no backward glances.

The truth is, we are making progress toward the move and there is quite a bit involved - I won't bore you with the details other than to say one of my anxiety cures seems to be shopping (for all those things I am fearful I won't find on the other side of earth).  My shopping "therapy" would not be possible without my mom who takes Erin nearly every day so she can play with my niece and nephew. In my defense, the three kids have been together every day since they were newborns so they just don't know any different - they want to be together to play.  But it has truly been a great gig for the last few months - a stay at home mom without any kids to look after.  It's about as good as it gets, huh?  (Thank you Mom!)  While in China, I may have to turn on the computer cam and lock the kids in the room with it so my mom can watch them and I can have peace :)

Thirty (30!) Days and Counting

Well foks, here we are...a mere 30 days away from the move of all moves! Our house is now listed and we're looking for renters - the VISA paperwork is in it's final stages - lists are taking over my life as I attempt to prioritize my tasks and shop for all the "must-haves" before we leave. Most people assume I am hard at work packing up our lives but in fact I am in full "sort" mode. The packers will do the actual boxing up of everything so my job is to decide what will go with us on the airplane, what we will ship via slow boat, what we will put into storage, and what we don't want to have to eventually unpack in two years (so Goodwill gets it).

Not much of an update, I know, but check out Mike's contribution on our website: web.mac.com/fendog. He added a FAQ section - lots of great info!

The Bedtime Chatter Battle

"Mommy Erin's talking..." "No I amn't*! Emma's the one who's talking!" And so it goes pretty much every night here at our house. This of course is in between back rubs, water breaks, and knock-knock "jokes". Last night when Mike went to check on the girls he heard Erin chatting away, and he said, "Why are you still talking? You're supposed to be sleeping." Her reply? "I'm praying to Jesus!"

We have 38 more nights for the bedtime chatter battle and then we bid farewell to bunk beds. Soon they will be separated by walls with no one to annoy but themselves (and of course, their adoring parents).

*Note: The word "amn't" is Erin's creation which comes from putting together the words 'am' and 'not'. At some point I will correct her but for now, it's just cute.