The View

Nippon sent me this picture of the view from our balcony.
Look at all that green!
YIPPY!!!

Crying Like A Baby

Yup, that was me when Nippon left about 30 mins ago. OK, I'll be honest, I'm still puffy eyed and a bit weepy. It's the weirdest thing. I know that he will be back in 5 days, so it's not that I will miss him. I mean, I will miss him but there's just something more to it. I think I know what it is. Today signaled "the change." This is no longer "our house." I mean, we will still own it and everything but it's no longer HOME. I really like our house and where we live and our friends and having family close and well everything! This is a big step for our family. Heading out into the great unknown. It's pretty scary, and of course totally exciting.

I wasn't the only weeper. Afton (who hadn't had a nap because I wanted him to spend as much time with his daddy as possible today) started bawling. I'm talking huge crocodile tears accompanied by wails of "I want Daddy" and "I go, I go." After Nippon was gone, I took Afton to his room to read books and have some milk, hoping that he (and I) would calm down. This didn't really work too well. We both basically had a 15 minute cry-fest. After sobbing our way through two books Afton passed out. I'm sure being over-tired had a lot to do with his tears, but I know mine were from inevitable change. I guess it wouldn't feel real if there weren't some emotions involved. Right?

The Big Move

We found a two bedroom apartment in the Carmel Mountain area of San Diego. It's a bit further inland than we wanted, but it felt like a better area for a 2 year old to run around in. There is a play area in the complex, several parks nearby, and shopping right around the corner. It's in a much less congested area than the other apartment we were going to get in La Jolla, even though it would have been awesome to live there!

Nippon starts his job on Monday, so he will leave tomorrow and stay with my bestie Jaime (which is probably the best part about moving to SD) and then go pick up the keys to the new apartment on Monday after work. He is only taking what can fit in his car which means he will be sleeping in a sleeping bag and eating on the floor. Luckily he won't have to do that for very long. He is coming back on Friday and we will pack up a U-Haul and move the rest of our stuff next weekend. That means that I need to have everything packed and ready by the time he flies back. I plan to go visit my family in Safford, so I better get a move on.

I will now leave you with a picture of Afton at Coronado Beach (from our previous trip to SD in Sept). He LOVES it there and talks about living in "Sa Deego" and going to the "beash" (beach). He actually says "California" with perfect clarity.

Packing + Stress = Sickness

I wanted to blame my cold solely on Afton, but I'm sure that the stress of moving is taking its toll. He picked up a nasty cough a couple of weeks ago along with a runny/stuffy nose and fever. He still has a lingering cough, but is basically fine. I on the other hand feel like poop. It started with a slight cough and feeling tired. I've been running around from Kid to Kid (to see if I could get any money from clothes Afton has grown out of and toys that I don't want to pack) to play dates with friends that we will be missing. Throw in packing, cleaning, and regular daily life and there is no surprise why I was tired. But then...the cough decided to turn into a seal bark, my nose sprung a leak, I'm positive my head is going to explode, and to top it off my body thinks it ran a marathon. I'm really not in the mood for this. Not that anyone is ever in the mood to be sick, but I've got packing to do and we are heading to San Diego on Sunday to find a place to live! I will now use the phrase that Afton has been using quite a lot lately...GO AWAY COLD! He doesn't say the "cold" part obviously, it's usually "Mommy" or "Banyan" (the cat), but the message is the same. GO AWAY COLD!

Book 'em

We've started going through things and begun packing last week. The DVDs are all ready to go (because they were super easy to pack) and the linens & bath towels are sorted and ready for donation. I've begun wrapping my knickknacks and have taken down almost all of our pictures. The thing that has taken some time though (so far) are the books. I hate to get rid of any of them, yet I know there are several that need to go. They have been read and used and loved and are not worth packing up. They are very HEAVY! Especially Nippon's computer programming books. So we spent yesterday deciding which will stay and which will be passed along to new readers. I have four large bags of books to take to Bookmans to see if they will buy any. I'm sure they will buy quite a few of them, as there are some great books in there. After that they will be taken to Goodwill. I was thinking that I would go to Changing Hands but they only give store credit. That means I would end up buying more stuff to pack. Not a good idea. But still temping.