Our life update

Lots has changed in the last few weeks.
First, we get to move into this beautiful house in July!  I stole this picture off a website...sorry it's kinda wacky.  But, I can tell you that the moment I stepped into this house, I fell in love.  Like head over heals, begging my husband to please, PLEASE, please get this house for me.  We've lived in rentals and looked at all the available rentals in the area and this one is a diamond in the rough.  Clearly the people living there have taken excellent care of it and we were told that we can make any decorating changes we want (huge hurray for me!).  It's in a neighborhood right next to the bridge Ben will need to take to work and has a pool, park, mini golf course and sidewalks.  This house sits in a cul-de-sac at the back of the neighborhood and has the perfect driveway for the kids to ride their bikes.  It feels surreal.  I know we live in a house now, but this feels like a real house.  And, to brighten the deal even more, Ben negotiated the rent down!

Second, Ben traded in his truck for a more commute friendly car.  It was a sad day for Ben to say goodbye, but I think the kids took even worse.  It was always a treat when they got to go with Daddy and now Eliot will often say, "no new car!  I want daddy's truck!".


Third, we had to say goodbye to our cats.  They've been gone for 10 days now and Alison still hasn't noticed.  Case in point one of the reasons we had to let them go.  For having cats around since the day she was born, Alison never touched them or enteracted with them.  I felt like the kids and I were just shooing them away or yelling at them to stop whatever they were doing or Eliot would be chasing them with a broom or Colin would be mauling them.  It certainly was not the life they deserved.  The second reason was that they started peeing on everything.  This problem has been mounting over the past year and we've done all that we could to get it under control.  But the anxiety it caused me couldn't be ignored.  It was overwhelming and debilitating to me and got to the point where I was asking Ben if I needed to see a doctor.  They peed in all of Ben's shoes, in our laundry baskets, on guitar cases, backpacks, beside the washing machine, on pillows, under the couch, on Eliot's recliner and countless other places.  I couldn't keep up with it and was constantly on the prowl of where they were and what they were doing.  The straw that broke the camels back came last week when I found a puddle of pee on a bag full of Colin's toys that was sitting on top of a shelf. I threw away all of his toys and went to get a bucket to clean up the mess, only to find pee all around the bucket.  Losing it was an understatement.  Colin puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and is all over our house on the floor.  So, I put the cats in the garage and called Ben.  We've always agreed that our kids come before the cats and when our kid's health is compromised, it's just unacceptable to me.  So Ben came home from work right then and took the cats to a shelter that is known for not keeping animals long because the adoption rate is so high.  It is sad and hard and I do miss them.  I wish it had not turned out this way, but I think it was for the best for our family.  Since they've been gone, I can tell a huge difference in my stress and my anxiety has been non-existent.    Now we just have break the news to Alison...

To more cheerful news, Colin started clapping.  It is perhaps the cutest thing in the world.