Chaos Day

It's officially here....moving day! And of course it is supposed to rain Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. The Kleffmans have a tremendous propensity to attract bad luck. My mom and I cleaned the entire house on Wednesday night, and last night we moved in all of the boxes for the kitchen, and have the entire kitchen set up and ready to go. My goal is to have at least the kitchen, bathrooms, and kids rooms mostly put together before Jeff leaves on his business trip on Sunday morning. Wish us luck!!

New Keys

It's officially official! Jeff and I closed on the house yesterday!!! What an experience...writing your name about 20,000 times (yes, Jeff I KNOW I am exagerating). We had an interesting end experience with our lender, Lending Tree. We had been pretty happy with the other people we worked with, and the beginning of the process. Towards the end we were assigned to our loan processor. I don't know if she just started working there or what, but she knew NOTHING! To make a long story short, she tried to over charge us on our final statement by around $3,000. She also forgot to wire the funds to the title office prior to our closing, so it was a bit of a fiasco and we had to wait around a bit, but my awesome accountant husband caught all of her errors, and it turned out okay in the end. (I am hoping Adam that you and Christi chose another company....sorry!!! It had all been good when I talked to you!!!) Anyway, we now have keys, and we take possession tomorrow. The people leaving are having the carpets cleaned by Stanley Steamer for us today so that I don't have to go in tomorrow and do it myself (joy of joys!) My mom and I are heading over tomorrow night to clean cupboards, bathrooms, etc. and then we start moving in clothes and small stuff Thursday night. The CREW comes on Friday, and we do the big stuff then. I can't believe it! To celebrate we bought our new refrigerator, which will be arriving on Saturday. EEEEEEKKK!!!!!

Final Walkthrough

We had our final walk through on the house yesterday evening. The couple we are buying the house from were there when we went through, which at first made me uncomfortable because I didn't want to be turning on and off the lights and running the appliances while they were still there. But it turned out to be a really nice thing. They are a sweet as pie older couple, and the husband, Ron, took us on a tour through the house where he pointed out to us how to work all of the gadgets and appliances, how to change filters here and there, how the new radon mitigation system works, and how to care for the hot tub. He even pointed out features to us that we hadn't noticed initially-like that there is a gas line hook up on the outside of the house right off the deck so that we can hook up a gas grill without ever having to worry about a propane tank!!! Everytime I go through the house I love it more and more. So everything checked out, and we are set to close tomorrow at 12:00. YIKES!! WE ALMOST OWN THE HOUSE FOR REAL!!!!!
We packed like madmen all weekend, and ended up with a house full of chaos and boxes, and super sore muscles and backs. We went out for dinner yesterday at Village Inn just to pretend for an hour we don't live like horses in a barn, and to sit on our butts for a bit. The waiter was kind enough to forget to ring in our order, so we got FREE PIE!!! Which is exactly what I needed to end a heck of a day. I cannot wait until this is done, and I can start putting things away and knowing they will stay there. I cannot wait until I can go in my hot tub with a book and relax. Maybe with a beer even. Who am I kidding? I hate beer. Maybe a wine cooler.

6 Inches

Last night I was mowing the grass, and Jeff's car was over a place I needed to mow by about 6 inches, so I bopped inside and asked if I could borrow his keys to move the car. "I'll do it!" he said. I thought he was just trying to be helpful, so I said, "No big deal. I only need to move it a couple of inches back. I can do it."
Jeff than said, "I like to be the only one to drive my car." Now, I realize that maybe I am being ridiculous about this, but that hurt me a lot in a lot of different ways. 1. It made me think about the van...I had to give up "my" car to buy this. I know it wasn't a lot to look at, but it was my baby. Jeff and I both drive the van, so it isn't just mine to drive. I feel like I had to give up a bit of myself in order to get the mom mobile. I feel like Jeff is saying he has his car and than also the one to share. Maybe this goes deeper than the car. I guess I feel like he has some things/ways that still preserve his independence and seperateness as a person. As the mom, I have had to give up things, time, and experiences to be the nuturer and caregiver in the family. Don't get me wrong, I love doing that most of the time, but I also feel like the core of me, the part that isn't a mom or a wife, the part that is just Christy, is getting chipped away. Jeff can use his car to be his own person, his own space, but I don't have that. I take care of the needs of the kids, of Jeff, and of the family in general. That leaves me with little or no time for my needs, and I guess maybe it is taking it's toll. 2. I guess it also bothered me because we had just talked about me needing to trust in others more (which I admit is VERY hard for me sometimes, and is something I am working at). But at the same time, I can't be trusted to drive the car backwards 6 inches? I know I am not the world's best driver, but I am not THAT bad.
I guess I am just coming to see the thing that I have always heard lots of women talk about, that it is so easy to loose all sight of yourself being the mother, and how dangerous it is. I have felt pretty depressed the last couple of days, and I think this may have something to do with it. If anyone has ideas on how to balance yourself with everything else, I need to hear them!!! I know probably it is my fault as well, but I am not sure how to change things.

Las Vegas

On Friday, my brother Creighton unexpectedly met up with an old girlfriend that he hadn't seen in over a year. This girl was someone he had been very serious with at one point (okay several points) since they were engaged around three times to be married. My family and I all rejoiced when she finally left him for good, since she just seemed to keep hurting him deeply over and over again. She called him Friday morning and asked to see him in the afternoon. Sometime between that and Friday evening, they decided to fly to Las Vegas and get married. My parents got a call from one of his best friends alerting them to this huge mistake about to happen. So, of course, my parents and all of his siblings started barraging him with phone calls until he finally picked up, assumably to tell us to bug off. My dad and sister both talked to him and he seemed to listen. Luckily, because it was a holiday weekend, they couldn't get a flight out of Omaha at such late notice. Somehow between that moment and Sunday, the girl left him yet again. Poor Creighton is now hurting and depressed once again. Anyway, the point of this story is that it gave me a look into my life and what I put my family through with Dan. It is so hard to watch Creighton go through this over and over again and to be so hurt. He is an adult though, and needs to make his own decisions, so we just had to love him and stand by him, ready to support or clean up the pieces. This is the hardest thing ever. As I watched my parents suffer over his decision and knowing that one of their children was hurting, I saw what I must have done to them. Sometimes it is not fun to look into the mirror and see an unfavorable picture of yourself. I hope that Creighton can learn to leave this girl behind and love himself, like I did with Dan. Why is it that people can sometimes have such a maniacal hold over others?

Packing and Awful Discoveries

Ihave always thought that I am a good housekeeper, cleaner, etc. until I began to pack for this move. As I remove things from the walls and discover the FILTH that is currently residing there, and pick knick knacks up to find that an entire universe of dust mites have moved in, I have begun to question my abilities. No wonder both of my children have asthma! They live in a cesspool. I firmly resolve here and now to become much more thorough in our new home.
Here are some pictures of the baptism last week, which I have just gotten around to getting off the camera. The first shows all of the parents and Godparents with the babies. My sister's little girl Brooke was baptized at the same time. Charlie's godparents are Luke and Sarah. The next shows Charlie stuffed like a sausage into his baptismal outfit, which I cruelly made him wear for my own sentimentality. Evan wore this outfit when he was baptized at 3 weeks of age. Charlie was a week from being 3 months old, and 11 pounds heavier than Evan when he wore it. It was only for a couple of hours though, and I did change him at the party. Hopefully this is not something he holds over my head someday in order to push my guilt buttons, because it will work.

Florence Nightengale and the Three Pigs (well...maybe 2)

I have been playing Florence Nightengale for about the last week and a half in our house. The Monday before last, Charlie came down with his first cold. He had a cough (bad enough to loose his voice) and a really stuffy nose. No fun for an infant! Makes it hard to sleep and eat...and then last Thursday night Jeff came down with a fever, chills, a headache, bodyaches, etc. He was MISERABLE until Sunday morning. I quarantined him to the bedroom, and Charlie and I spent the weekend sleeping on the pullout couch downstairs. I REALLY didn't want Charlie to catch it since his baptism was on Sunday. By Sunday morning, Jeff's fever was mostly gone at 100 degrees, so we decided to chance it, and he came along to church for the baptism, which I was really glad about. But, by that afternoon, he had started to loose his voice, had a lot of congestion, and a slightly sore throat. New bug! By about 9:30 that night, his fever was on the way back up too. I took him in to Midwest Minor Medical on Monday night and they gave him an antibiotic and some prescription strength Mucinex. (Keep in mind all this time that Charlie still has his cold as well, and is miserable). Jeff's fever decided to hang around until WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON!!!! He was finally better today, and went back to work. Charlie and I were pretty sick of sleeping downstairs by this point. And now of course, I am sick. I have completely lost my voice and have a lot of congestion. The only one without germs is lucky Evan. Do I sound like I am complaining? I guess I am a bit. It was a yucky week taking care of a sick baby AND a sick husband. At least the baptism went well. I made it through with only a little bit of tears, and had fun at the party afterwards.

I am trying to get a lot of packing done from now until Tuesday, when we are out of school for spring break. I have thrown away so much crap it is amazing. Hopefully we will be mostly done by Tuesday, because we move in 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!

Our Weekend

We had such a nice weekend, I had to share some pictures. The first is of Charlie's first trip in the ever popular exersaucer. He is so into using his little legs right now, and he loves being in there! Christi and I went shopping to the Carter Outlet's Wearhouse Sale and I picked up a few things for the boys. When I got back, the second picture is what I found in the backyard. Jeff was teaching Evan to catch a baseball with a glove. (Which I might add I have been trying to teach Evan for years with no success-it might have SOMETHING to do with the fact I have very little athletic ability). It was such a typical father/son activity, and Evan was positively glowing from the attention that it made me cry, and of course I had to take a picture. The last picture shows my "cool dude" Charlie in his new sunglasses from Carters. Isn't he a doll?