A little more catch up...

2nd order of business: My mom is in town!!
My mother came to visit for a few days earlier this week.  She arrived on Sunday night after work.  (It's a 4 hour drive for her.)  This anticipated event caused a massive cleaning frenzy!  We have lived in this rented house for a year now, but 75 % of our stuff is still in storage.  You would think that the house with only 25% in it would be easier to clean (or look empty).  Ha ha, wrong!  Part of the problem is our new rental is about HALF the size of our old house.  This makes finding a place for everything very difficult. 

Step one in this process is organization; My mom tried to help me organize things as much as possible.  We went shopping at Ikea (which could be a blog with in itself!)  The top of our purchase list was a large shelving unit for in the kitchen. We only have 4 sets of cabinets in the kitchen.  For this reason, I hate going in the kitchen, actually I loathe it.  The "food" cabinet is so jam packed, a lot of it has to be removed when trying to find something in the back.  Plus it is impossible to prepare anything on the counter.  Between the extra foods, dirty dishes and appliances, there is no counter.  We also found a tall and thin bathroom cabinet to keep bath toys, extras and showering needs, since our shower has no room to keep even one bottle of shampoo.  For fun, we purchased all sorts of hang-able cups, a magazine rack, and supplies to create Addison a drawing nook around her art table.  There was also a few items purchased that were not on the shopping list, but that always happens!

Over all, I think we got enough supplies to at least try and keep the house orderly and to create space to put the unopened pile of boxes still in my dining room.  I love my mother!  She has helped me so much in the 4 days she was here. (And of course, the past 3 years, and my whole life...)  It also melts my heart how after long periods of time away from grandma, Addison is overly excited when she sees her.  But breaks my heart when Addison goes an hour without seeing her and says, "oh no! Have you seen my grandma?  If you see my grandma, say 'Grandma'.  I miss my grandma..." Awww, it's so sad to tell her grandma had to go home. 

I wish we lived closer to my mom. (And my sister, who is in the Navy now.)  And I am sorry I moved so far away, but I thought it was best for my family to make the move and the change. In my pregnant and emotional state I better go before I shed tears! (Ha, This happens all too much lately!)