Chaos . . . Multiplied

I am waaaay behind on the blog, but the following will explain why!


A week ago, Clint and I were lucky enough to enjoy a weekend away in San Antonio while my mom and dad watched all five kiddos! ( I know, a whole weekend, we are so blessed!) We went to the Spurs vs Heat game Friday night and then spent Saturday just walking the river walk, watching an Alamo reenactment (it was the anniversary of Texas' independence from Mexico) and eating. We caught a movie that afternoon too ( it seemed sort of silly to drive 6 hours to watch a movie, but we don't go when we're home, so we figured why not). It was great to talk to each other without having to talk over the sound of little people and without having to ask Jackson to wait one minute so Mommy and Daddy can talk. I had almost forgotten what that was like. To be honest, when we first got to the hotel, we both just laid down, said nothing and enjoyed the quiet . . . aaaaah, not a sound we hear often, then we got ready for the very loud basketball game :) I thought I was re-energized and ready to take it all on again, but I didn't know what I was going home to . . .


Let me start by saying that our offer on a house was officially accepted the day before we left. We close on March 30th!!!! So, my plan was to come home and start tackling some packing, at least the things we don't need on a daily basis. Thursday night before we left, Jackson was running a low grade fever, but we hoped it was nothing big. He apparently spent the weekend with a cough and on again/off again fever. Mom had called a couple of times to tell me he was doing fine, but pretty cranky. They were trying to keep him away from babies (easier said than done). So on Sunday as we ventured home, we knew we were returning to a sick 3 year old, what we didn't know was what was in store for later that day . . .

With about an hour and a half to go on our drive, my mom called to tell us that Jackson's room was flooding and they were pretty sure it was the hot water heater, so we should call someone. Of course it was a Sunday so you pay for a weekend call (yuck), but it had to be done. Clint tried to rationalize a reason not to call until Monday, but try as he might, he couldn't come up with one. So, we called the plumber and a carpet guy to extract the water. When we got home, Jackson's room was completely torn apart (toys in the hall, all the furniture against one wall and his bed completely covered by the contents of his closet floor), fans were going on the carpet that had been pulled up to dry and the plumber was diligently working on our hot water heater. The final diagnosis . . . it had to be replaced! Of course it needed to be replaced we were moving out in 24 days, why wouldn't we need a new hot water heater :( Oh well, life happens right! The plumber said he would drain it and then replace it the next day so we wouldn't have to pay for hourly labor at a weekend rate . . . it wouldn't drain, it was blocked and was continuing to leak into our house, so he replaced it on Sunday. We haven't received the bill yet, but I'm sure it won't be pretty. On the bright side, the water did not reach our laminate flooring in the living room (whew) and the new owner is getting a brand new and larger hot water heater (and the water in the shower gets hot faster I might add). Crisis not really averted, but at least taken care of!! Maybe we should have stayed in San Antonio for one more day . . . or longer.

So, with no bed for Jackson we settled into the evening with Jackson sleeping in our room (for two nights) while his was torn apart and I jumped into the week hoping to be productive (wishful thinking). Monday we met with the builder of the home we are buying (he is adding a partion wall to our play area) and took care of some loan paper work since Clint was home. I was ready for a productive Tuesday, but I had cranky babies so very little packing was accomplished. Tuesday evening followed with two babies with fevers! Uh oh . . . needless to say, Wednesday was not so productive either. Babies were coughing and running low grade fevers just like Jackson had. So, Wednesday and Thursday were spent rocking pitiful babies while the doorbell rang continuously for land surveys, inspections, fan pick up from the flood, etc. By Friday, I was exhausted! But, we had things to do, Daddy was home so I actually packed TWO WHOLE BOXES (sense the sarcasm) and then attended a birthday party Friday night (babies were fever free again, though still a little fussy). Saturday morning (after 3 hours of sleep due to restless babies who were still a little congested) , I got up and got around so we could leave for Granna and Poppo's house with a quick stop by Mamaw and Papaw's on the way to see cousin Kayla.

So, that 's where we are now! Has the chaos decreased? Absolutely not! Wedding and bridesmaid dress shopping with my sister yesterday after prying a screaming 3 year old from my body. (More on dress shopping later, so much fun!) Then to urgent care with the same 3 year old last night. Diagnosis: nasty ear infection (explains the uncontrollable crying when I left earlier that afternoon)! He was so pitiful and it was very sad, but he is doing better today with only a few pitiful episodes. Brooklyn is still kind of pitiful too, she seems to be having trouble shaking whatever the troops have been passing around and she just wants to sleep, poor baby! Nights have been a little rough as one of my five children seems to have trouble every night the last few nights!

The plan is to stay here at Granna's until later this week and then back home to hopefully prepare for our big move! By the time we get home, we will only have about a week and a half. Maybe I was crazy for making this trip, but I couldn't miss out on wedding dress shopping with my sister, it's not like you get to do that everday. So, that is why I have been negligent and with the move, there may be more negligence to come. I wish I had some pictures of San Antonio to post, but I left my camera at home. I should have taken some flood pictures too, but I guess that wasn't top priority at the time. Oh well. Here's hoping for a couple of weeks without chaos (except that which is inevitable due to the move) ;)