Here and There

1. Trying to be sneaky 2. Caught red handed 3. Contemplating her escape from the laundry mat 4. Checking out guns with her daddy and Brian 5. Tuckered out

Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Christmas Eve was also Rex's birthday, so we spent the day with his sisters Stephanie and Julie, and Stephanie's boyfriend, Brian.  We went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and then cruised around some shops to pick up some last minute things for Christmas.  Later that night we went to Stephanie and Brian's for cake and presents.  I made Rex his dark chocolate cake with orange cream filling and chocolate ganache :) yum!

Christmas morning was wonderful.  Kylie actually slept in until almost 10 o'clock, gasp!  She loved opening all of her presents.  She wasn't thrilled with clothes, if she saw them in a package she would shake her head no and toss it to the side.  We had Christmas dinner with Rex's family and it was especially lovely because we were able to bring Rex's grandma over from her nursing home for it. 

We then headed back to our little trailer where Kylie proceeded to take a two hour nap.  Yes, our child decided to be nice to us.  Rex and I took advantage of that two hours by napping as well.  It was glorious.  Absolutely glorious.  We then went to Jack in the Box for a quick bite (a Rexrode family tradition I'm told) and headed over to his sister's house to open presents with them and a couple hours of Dance Central on their xbox kinect. 

We headed home in the wee hours of the morning and tucked the Bug into bed.  Rex and I gave the chihuahuas some treats and settled in to watch a couple of episodes of Supernatural before hitting the hay.

Reflecting

I'm sitting here in one of our armchairs, sweats and moccasins on.  Kylie is asleep in her pack'n'play a mere three feet away and the chihuahuas are eating their dinner.  Yes, they are little vampires and refuse to eat during daylight hours.  Tell me about it. 

I can hear the rain pounding on the roof of our little trailer we call home for right now.  Lightning is flashing and thunder is roaring.  These storms in the South aren't for the faint of heart, that's for sure.  The whole sky lights up so I can see the whole landscape bright as day for a split second.  A quick relief from the dark storm. 

A few minutes ago I was out in the thick of it, bringing in our bags and quickly carrying a sleeping toddler in my arms, all snug as a bug in her SpongeBob blanket.  It was a long day.  Laundry and dishes at home in the morning.  Working at the daycare all afternoon.  Heading to the restaurant straight after to wait tables until nine o'clock.  Driving my sorry butt to my sister-in-laws to pick up Kylie where I was greeted with a wonderful dinner of grilled chicken and green bean casserole.  We watched The Help as Kylie got into mischief.  Christmas ornaments are quite fascinating.  As are all of the presents that should be opened NOW and not on Sunday. 

Kylie even got a bow stuck on her little butt.  She decided that a box must be unwrapped and opened.  We stopped her from completely unwrapping it, but she had already gotten the bow off and thrown aside and one corner of the present was peeking out of the paper.  In her fit of rage over having the present being taken away, Ky plopped down on her tush right onto the bow, which promptly adhered itself to the seat of her fuzzy jammies.  She didn't even notice so we all had a good laugh as a strange little combination of Christmas and the Easter Bunny walked around the living room smiling at us.

It did my heart good seeing my little daughter with a bow on her silly butt.  Her wide grin as if she were in on the joke with us.  Running up to her aunties to give them great big hugs.  Cuddling with me as we finish the movie.  I love coming home to that.  I know that I at least did one thing right in my life, and I sigh in peace.

Tis the Season

A napping kiddo makes my day :)

to be crazy. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Yep, losing my ever freaking mind over here.  I feel bad.  With me working two jobs right now and Rex with his job, we barely have time for each other, let alone Christmas stuff.  Our little trailer is pitifully devoid of decorations, save for our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Plus, it's a hot mess.  Clothes everywhere, dirty dishes, junk mail, toys and books strewn about.  The carpet is begging to be vacuumed and steam cleaned. 

Technically, I should be cleaning right now.  The Bug is asleep and the chihuahuas are napping as well.  But I keep finding reasons, because, well, I sure can't vacuum right now because it would wake her up, and so on.  I need to get my butt into gear though, since I want to make some Christmas decorations as well.  I love me some paper garlands and I've been dying to try out some paper snowflake tutorials.

A holiday remix

My darling husband's birthday is Christmas Eve, so I'm trying to figure out how to make his day special and separated from all the Christmas activities.  Plus, I need to wrap all these presents and try to keep his nosy little self out of them this week.

But now the Bug is stirring and I've got some cleaning to do.  Have a good week before Christmas y'all.

I Got a New...

Job!  Yep, that's right.  I got a second job.  It's been really slow at the restaurant lately, like 2 tables a night slow.  Two tables a night equals anywhere from $10-$15 in tips, which does not pay the bills.

When I first moved out to Texas I put in an application at the church day care that my sister in law works at.  Well, they finally had an opening for a teacher and the the director gave me a call last Thursday.  I had my interview on Friday and got hired right then and there.  After the boatload of paperwork necessary for working in the child care industry, I started on Monday.

I'm the new afternoon teacher in the tiny tots classroom.  I have 5 kids that range from 12 to 18n months.  It took a bit of adjusting with dealing with five kids that age when I'm used to only having Kylie around.  Luckily I have some little sweethearts in my class that help me clean up and hold the other kids hands when we go on our walks.

Kylie goes to the day care now since I work there.  She is just there for 4 hours in the afternoon when Rex is also at work.  She really enjoys being around kids her own age and interacting with them.  No one in our family has kid's her age so the chihuahuas have been her playmates in the meantime.  Luckily she hasn't growled or tried to bite any kids yet at day care :)

So that's what's been happening with us lately.  Trying to get ready for Christmas with us working all the time.  Seeing if we will be able to move back to California anytime soon. And so forth.  Busy busy busy!

Odds and Ends

I've been trying to make more headbands and clips for Charlotte and Louise after Kylie goes to bed each night.  It's so hard sometimes to have enough energy and concentration to do that after I've been chasing Ky and the dogs around all day and working at night.  Truth be told, sometimes inspiration for flowers and designs eludes me and I end up watching episodes of Supernatural (total tv crush on Dean Winchester).

 My parents gave us a Charlie Brown Christmas tree while they were out here visiting.  I set it up last night and Kylie was trying her dardednest to steal the single ornament.  I guess it's a good thing that we don't have a real tree this year because it would never have anything on it!

 Sleeping Dakota and Zero.  We probably have the world's most pathetic chihuahuas.  As I'm typing this now I have no less than three of them curled up on the same chair with me.  There's a fourth one circling and trying to find room to jump up too.

Kylie's cheesy smile and fountain pony.  I snapped this at the Chinese buffet the other day.  Ky loves their fruit bar, especially the watermelon (and I think it's so funny, the local grocery store has Christmas trees and watermelons on display by the front doors, only in the South ha ha) where Rex likes the Mongolian grill and I like the desert bar.  Mini cream puffs and eclairs anyone? 

Thank the Lord

Kylie took a nap today. 

The End

Family is the Best

I love my parents and I was so lucky to have them out here all last week for Thanksgiving.  They were kind enough to drive the truck my grandmother gave us (can I say again how awesome my family is?) all the way from California.  They arrived Monday afternoon, picked up Kylie from my sister-in-law's, and came and ate lunch at the restaurant where I work.  It was so good seeing them after almost two months away.  After they ate they took Kylie to the park and after I got off we all went and picked Rex up from work.  We then went to, like, THE BEST comfort food restaurant ever.  Fried catfish and chicken fried steak and the most wonderful garlic mashed potatoes ever.  I also found out how to get Kylie to eat green beans, just cook 'em in bacon.  She gobbled down all of my mom's beans in no time flat. 

The next day Rex had to go to work :(  so we hung out with him in the morning and grabbed a quick bite to eat before he had to go in.  Then we spent some time wandering around the outlets by his work, where of course we had to go get some Blue Bell ice cream and pick up some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for later.  My dad took Kylie to the Disney store where she picked up a little stuffed lightning McQueen, since she is oh so obsessed with cars right now.  We taught her how to make car sounds and it is her new favorite thing. 

Kylie was loving that my parents were staying in a hotel since that meant she could take a bath in a real bathtub every night they were out here.  She absolutely hates the kitchen sink and the house only has a stand up shower, so she and my mom got to spend about a half an hour every night splashing around.

On Wednesday Rex headed off to work again, boo.  The rest of us headed into San Antonio to see the Alamo and the River Walk.  The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and in the low seventies all day.  We walked around enjoying the sights with Kylie avoiding every picture I tried to take.  We ate at a great bbq place right on the river and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Thursday morning my mom and I (well, mainly my mom since I was battling a bad cold all week) baked scalloped potatoes and a pecan pie.  Then we all headed over to my sister-in-laws where we were stuffed to capacity with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, fruit salad, and four different kinds of pies.  I told my sis in law that she needs to do Thanksgiving every year, ha! After dinner Rex had to head into work again so my parents, Kylie, and I took a plate of food over to Rex's grandma at her nursing home.  She was quite pleased to have some company and devoured her food.

I skipped all the crazy Black Friday sales to spend the last evening with my parents and Kylie at the hotel.  Then they left early on Friday morning, and there were many tears involved.  Ky and I then headed back home and back in bed where all of us slept into 11:30.
I miss my parents something fierce, but I am so glad that we got to spend that short week with them.  And for y'all with family living away, here's a great idea for kids to remember them with. My parents took two of there school pictures (they both are teachers) and then laminated them for Kylie.  This way she can see their faces all the time and also carry them around with her, which she loves since she isn't allowed to touch picture frames and all.  Ky loves it and says ga-pa every time she sees them.

Oh, Texas...

Well, after a lot of deliberating and contemplating, it looks like we are going to move back to California.  We are about 99.9% sure.  Rex is just not happy out here.  He misses his hometown, his friends, his desert, his dirt bikes.  The move will not happen anytime soon, though.  We have to wait until Rex's six months are up at this shop before he is eligible to transfer again.  So that means the middle of February would be the earliest we would move back, possibly longer if there are no open spots.

I have to admit though, I'm kinda in love with Texas.  You know when someplace just feels right?  That's what Texas is for me.  I love this little town we are living in.  It's green and alive and has a history of it's own.  There are old oak trees towering around everywhere, and I can just picture Kylie climbing them and building tree houses in them when she is older.  There are farmers and ranchers and hunters all around.  People who depend on the land.  Where chivalry is not dead and people hold doors, say thank you, yes sir, and no ma'am. 

Houses are old and small here.  Wrap around porches and big stars are must haves.  Little farmhouses with wide open windows and gleaming hardwood floors.  Front porch swings.  Old decrepit barn in the back and a creaky windmill in the front. 

A town that just about shuts down every Friday night for the high school football game.  Where the high school kids hang out at Sonic after the last bell rings.  Everybody knows everybody.  The Red Hat Society meets once a month at the little Italian restaurant.  Where everyone is in camo during the fall.  Back roads take you where ever you want to go.

So it looks like I'm going to leave a little piece of my heart behind, here in Texas.  I might be a little disappointed that we are not going to call this place home, but my place is with my family, where we can all be equally happy and joyful.  Where we can go back to the friends that we've known since elementary school.  Where I will be able to see my family everyday (squee!) and Kylie can have her Pork Chop cat back. 

But I'm going to miss you, Texas.

Work Work Work

This is what stress has reduced me to, note the crazy hair.

That's what Rex and I are doing lately.  Rex's work has opened up overtime, which is a blessing because we can really use the money.  We are working on getting all of our bills paid off, and while we are making progress, it's really slow going.  Don't get into debt y'all, it blows.  At least try to get into as little as possible.  Though we haven't decided if we are staying in Texas or not yet, one thing we know for sure now is that no matter where we end up, we want to buy a house. 

A place of our own that we can do whatever we damn well please to.  No land lord to deal with, no calling if we can paint walls or hang pictures up.  However, as many of you know, buying a house is no walk in the park.  We really want all of our smaller bills paid off so we only have our truck, insurance, and phone payments when we add a house payment to the mix. 

So hence all of the work.  This past week Rex put in 60 hours at his job and probably will do it again this week.  He gets paid hourly so this will mean 40 hours of regular pay and then 40 hours of overtime on his next check.  One bill completely gone.  I'm working six nights at the restaurant this week, waiting tables.  And you can bet that I'm going to have the sweetest face on and be busting my ace to make all of those people happy.  With my job my tips are basically my pay, since in Texas waitresses only make $2.13 an hour.  Whoever came up with that needs to work for $2.13 an hour, hoping that people will tip 15%. 

Luckily I still have days with Kylie since I don't go into work until 5 in the evening and my lovely sister-in-laws babysit Kylie while I'm working.  Ky loves her aunties and always gets spoiled rotten.

Sigh.  Hopefully all of this hard work will pay off soon when we step into our very own home.

Veteran's Day

I want to say Happy Veteran's day to everyone that has served or is currently serving in our armed forces.  I can't say enough good things about y'all and what your sacrifices do for our country.  Especially to my Papa. 

I remember in 8th grade we had a project where we had to interview a veteran, transcribe the interview, and then put together a book of sorts with the typed interview, any available pictures, and the audio cassettes.  I interviewed my mom's dad, my Papa.  He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War when he was only 19.  I remember sitting outside on our back patio and starting the tape.  I actually think that I only asked one question during the whole thing.  Turns out, this was the first time that he had opened up about his experiences there. 

He just poured out his heart over the next two and a half hours, and I learned things that I never had even guessed about him.  The close calls he had with death, rooming with the French Legionnaires, making his own heater for the tent, having his picture in Time Magazine (unbeknown to him at the time, it was a shot of him bathing in a river, naked).  He went over what he did when he got home too.  How it wasn't like the homecoming soldiers got in WWII or from Vietnam.  Somewhere in between.  How he worked as a mechanic down in Hollywood by the movie studios.  Where he worked on James Deans' race cars and became friends with him.  He called him Jimmy though.  I saw my papa's wild side for the first time.  He showed me pictures of him on his motorcycles, flying over the ground on them.

I never took him for granted afther that though.  Never ever.  I realized what a wonderful, kind, brave, and funny grandfather I had.  How my family and I were so very blessed to have him.
My project ended up being sent to the D-Day Museum in New Orleans and also to the Library of Congress thanks to my teacher who to this day is still working with the museum to preserve our veteran's experiences.  Pretty crazy that my grandfather's words are in such prestigious places. 

So please, be thankful.  Even if you don't condone war or the military, please respect that our veterans sacrificed so much for our freedoms that we often take for granted.

On Twos Not Fours

So I feel bad that I haven't had any updates on Kylie in a while.  She's kinda gotten lost in all my complaining on here.  She just turned 15 months this week and is amazing me with all that she can do. 

The biggest milestone that we have reached in these past couple of months is walking!  Yes, that's right.  Walking.  My bug has ditched the hands and knees and traded up for two feet.  Most of the time.  It seemingly happened overnight too.  For a month or so now she has been taking one or two steps by herself, but we hadn't been able to get her to take anymore.  The beginning of this week she was up to about 8 steps by herself.  Now she is walking across whole rooms by herself, steadying herself, getting right back up when she falls.  Which is seriously the cutest thing ever.  We try not to hover too much with this whole process, mainly because Kylie can't stand it (i.e. she pushes us away and won't hold our hands), so we try not to make a big deal when she takes a little tumble.  She says uh-oh! or ooohhhh! when she falls and then gets right back up again with a big grin on her face the whole time.  So proud of my little bug. 

Ky is being super picky eater right now.  The only constants right now are tortillas, fruit bars, and ravioli.  The rest of the foods we feed her (or attempt to feed her I should say) are really hit and miss.  I can't wait til I have my own kitchen again so I can experiment with new things for her. 

Some of Ky's loves right now are: helping me fold laundry, sorting things into piles, chasing the chihuahuas, hiding in the chihuahua's crates, stealing sips of mama's soda, walking, climbing, and generally being crazy.

Some of her hates right now are: eating proteins, diaper changes, baths in the kitchen sink, and getting her fingernails trimmed.

Busy Busy Busy

Busy being an adult that is.  How I wish I was still a kid sometimes, and didn't have to make any life changing decisions or pay bills.  Especially pay the bills.

We have a lot of questions that we are trying to answer.  Like do we want to stay in Texas or move back home to California.  And if we do stay in Texas, do we want to stay in the San Antonio area or see what the Houston area is like.  And do we want to rent or buy.  We don't want to buy yet because we are not sure if we are staying or not.  But we don't want to rent for a year and waste that money on rent rather than a house payment.  Sometimes, we want to go back home so bad so that's always a possibilty for us as well.  Ugh.  I hate having so many things up in the air like this.  Wish us luck, as we try to decide!

Now I'm off to the park with Rex and the Bug who is currently trying to type along with me as I try to get this post up.  Kylie is, I mean, not Rex :)

Wordless Wednesday: Feeding Pooh Bear

What I Love Right Now

I'm going to totally try this!

Pinterest.  I kept putting off joining, but I finally succumbed to it's awesomeness. Now I don't know if I could live without it.  There are so many different things I want to try now!  The hair and nail tutorials. Recipes.  Outfit ideas.  I could go on and on (like everyone else out there, I know).

The blog Keiko Lynn.  There are so many neat tutorials on this site, and she is an absolute doll.  I want to try out her head scarf tutorial (must appropriate headscarf first though).  I like it because I can still use this with my short hair.

I am in love with these Instagram books from Blurb!!! Most of my pictures of Kylie have been taken on my iPhone and I love how this company turns your photos into a beautiful little book.  My family is definitely getting some of these at Christmas time.  I'm going to get one for Rex and me that chronicles Kylie's first year, squeeee!

The Style Mentors.  It's a service provided by Baby Blackbird, Dear Baby, and Jen Loves Kev.  I love the idea of this service and that they make you your own personal look book.  I'm horrible at shopping for myself.  I'm just now starting to get into clothes.  All throughout high school I was a strict jeans and tshirt kinda gal.  Ever since I had the Bug, I've really wanted to start dressing more girly and feminine. I'm going to ask for the seasonal wardrobe look book by Melissa from Dear Baby for Christmas (and it's a steal for only $75!)

And finally the Aurora Teagarden mystery series by Charlaine Harris.  Yes, she is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (which I've read, several times over).  These are nice light reads that are just as addicting as her other books.  I just finished the Julius House and can't wait to buy the next book!

So these are the things I'm dreaming about right now.  Let me know what y'all are loving right now!

Settling In

So I was having a rough couple of weeks as y'all could probably tell.  This moving business is no joke, let me tell ya!  It's hard leaving a place that I've lived my whole life (I even lived on the same road my whole life! Two different houses though) and venturing into the unknown.  Life is starting to return to an even keel now.

One thing for sure though is that I absolutely LOVE this state.  Texas is kick ass.  We are living about forty-five minutes east of San Antonio in a tiny little town that has a population of 901.  There are pastures and live oaks as far as the eye can see.  Each little town has it's own water tower and in most cases a Super Wal*Mart (which we can't complain about since that's the company that pays our bills).  There is wildlife everywhere! Deer, foxes, skunks, raccoons, possums, hawks, armadillos. Cattle too.  There is one cow that is always in the middle of the road when Rex comes home from work at 2:30 in the morning.  I love little towns.  Love. Love. LOVE.

I do not like the fact that Texas feels the need to give all the roads numbers instead of names.  I'm horrible with numbers.  Rex tries to give me directions and I'm totally lost.  Like take County Road 338 to Farm Road 775 and then to Farm Road 538 and then to County Road 1101.  And so on and so on.  I'm hopeless.  Thank goodness my iPhone has GPS.

Now I'm busy looking for a new job and searching for a house to rent.  We found one right in town that has everything we want (plus they will let us keep all five chihuahuas with us) and it's in our price range.  Cross your fingers for us!

Wordless Wednesday: Texas Edition

Texas

This past week and a half has been trying, to say the least.  I said goodbye to my parents and friends that I have known all my life and headed east to Texas to start a new chapter of my life.  It's definitely not a comedy, more like a tragedy.  Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.

I'm at my wits end.  I feel so overwhelmed, so helpless.  I feel like I can barely accomplish the most menial tasks, like washing the dishes or putting Kylie to bed.  I know my family is suffering because of this and it breaks my heart.  Ky hasn't taken a real nap since we got out here, we haven't been able to hook up the air conditioning at all (which comes in handy in eighty degree weather with lots of humidity), the trailer leaks (we found this out the other night when we woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm and Kylie was soaked in her pack and play), the dogs have upset stomachs and have been having accidents, the trailer isn't hooked up to anything except electricity so there's no water and no propane.  We have to go into my in-laws house to use the bathroom and cook.  Kylie can't even crawl around in the house though because they are remodeling and have everything ripped up.  My step father-in-law keeps coming up with these weird rules for us (like we can no longer use the washing machine (that's in the front yard!) and so now we have to go to laundry mat in town) and that we can't park our truck in the usual place because it messes up the satellite tv reception.  It's a pain because we are paying rent so it's not like we are leeching off of them or anything and we don't use any of their food either.  We are in the process of finding someplace to rent/buy, but it's slow going as of right now. 

I just don't know.  I don't feel like myself at all.  I'm starting to not even care about stuff now.  Stuff that I know I should, but I can't.  Detached.  Kylie just cries and screams and fusses all the time.  And I just feel like crawling in a hole and never coming out again.  I couldn't even get myself to go to my new store for work.  I was supposed to go in on Monday morning, but I just slept through my alarms.   And I couldn't get myself to go in on Tuesday either.  So on top of all of this we only have Rex's income.  And still I just can't feel anything.

Four Years of Not Yet Strangling Each Other

In Mammoth when we were dating, I pulled up all of
these pictures from my long neglected Myspace :)

Hee hee.  Today Rex and I have been married for four years!  It's so hard to wrap my head around this.  Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that we started our life together and then others it seems like we've been married forever and a day.  Our second anniversary as parents to the Bug. 

Us being goons

I love this man with all of my heart.  He's my best friend, my lover, my confidant, my fellow Dexter/True Blood/Sons of Anarchy watcher, he's my maker of the best cream of chicken chicken ever, and he's the best damn husband a girl could want.  Rex always is there to stand up for me when I won't defend myself (I'm definitely a go with the flow type gal), someone I can always vent to about work and stupid people, and he's always there to make me feel like the sexiest woman ever, even post baby.

Married here, where he is at a UCLA game with me when he is a devoted USC fan :)

I appreciate what he does for Kylie and me even more now since we've been apart for a month and a half.  It's taught me not to take him for granted.  I may have whined that he didn't help out enough when he was still here, but now I know I was dead wrong.  He calls/texts me a couple of times a day to make sure Ky and I are holding up okay, and just to hear our voices.  He commiserates with Kylie about how mean I am (and Kylie the little traitor, always agrees with him!) and sends us videos of him and what he's doing so we can still be there for the little things.  He works his cute butt off for us in that Texas humidity with a herniated disc and damaged nerve in his back (owwwww...more to come on this later) and doesn't complain.

One of my favorite photos of Rex ever...

I am so blessed and I can't thank God enough for placing this man in my life, I can just try to be as good of a wife to him as he is a husband to me. 

Restless

I've felt so restless lately.  Not just about the impending move halfway across the country, or missing Rex, or worrying about my new job.  I've just been having a hard time focusing on anything and getting stuff done.  I never feel satisfied with anything I do. 

I feel silly though, at twenty-four, that I haven't really found my special little niche in the world.  I'd really love to be a stay at home mom (Rex would love it too, home cooked meals more often!), but our finances right now aren't allowing it.  I love making my felt headbands and clips, but with how busy I've been lately I haven't had a chance to really make anymore or even get my shops name out there. 

I really would like to go back to school and get my bachelor's degree in either teaching or nursing (leaning towards teaching right now), but once again, finances.  Because then we would need to pay for school, pay for more daycare, and spend less time together as a family.  And ideally, I wouldn't work when I'm going to school, but... Yeah, this is how my mind is going right now.  In a million different directions. 

I'm just praying that everything will work out for our little family.  And that we are making the right decision to move our family to Texas.  And that everything will work out.  Please, let it work out.

Where My Brain Melts into one Big Puddle of Goo

That's how these past couple of weeks have felt like.  I've been going nonstop and it's definitely wearing on me and the bug. 

New Hair.  The color fulfills all of Rex's adolescent fantasies.

I worked nine days straight and over 85 hours in the past two weeks.  Plus, I wasn't even on my normal schedule, I had to work mids and closing shifts to cover for other managers who were on vacation.  Kylie definitely did not like that.  We didn't have our normal afternoons and evenings together.  I basically woke her up, dropped her off at the sitters and then went to work.  Came home (my parents would pick her up in the afternoon), give her a bath, and then put her to bed.  It sucked.  I was wiped out.  Ky was wiped out.  She went a whole week without napping at all, well, except one twenty minute nap, but I'm not really counting that.  Today she slept in until eight and then took a THREE hour nap this afternoon.  Thank the Lord!

This is what mama's effed up schedule does to a girl :(

And then in exactly one week and one day, Kylie and I will be heading to Texas.  Rex and his sister Stephanie will get out here with the truck and trailer Friday night, we will pack stuff up on Saturday and Sunday, and then leave on Sunday night.  I'm kinda freaking out here, to put it mildly.  This move hasn't seemed real till now.  I'm going to leave behind everything and everyone I've ever known.  Scary.  Big time scary.

Ky helping at the cross country meet where we helped my mom when my dad had to take my grandma to the hospital.  Yep, that happened this week too.  My grandma's okay, though :) Thank goodness.

But I am overjoyed that I get to see my hubby again.  I've been making it without him, but I rather not.  I love having someone to share everything with.  I love coming home to him, seeing him play with Kylie, cuddling with him, just being close to him.  Plus, phone sex is not nearly as exciting as real sex is.  Even Rex admitted to me on the phone yesterday that he misses the little things, like me hugging him (and he is a self proclaimed hug hater too, so this is huge).

In a rare shopping moment together.  Showing off the headband I made her.

I've gotten to catch up on my rest a little the past two days, which has been nice.  I haven't gotten a single chore done around the house, but I'm okay with that.  Ky and I have been able to catch up with each other and lounge around the house all day and it's been super.  Today I felt like cooking (which Rex can attest to that this never happens) and made fried chicken, sweet potato souffle, buttermilk biscuits, and bread pudding.  ALL FROM SCRATCH.  Yep, I think I may have lost my ever frigging mind.