Today Monkey turned seven. We treated her to a Waffle and fresh fruit breakfast, and a small morning cupcake birthday song and candle snuffing. She was presented with her gifts; a brand new bicycle, with basket and bell, helmet and pads from her Dad and I, a snuggly bear she had been eyeing from her brother, and a “surprise adventure” from her grandparents. Then she ran off to swim all day at Nana’s and Papa’s while we got down to the business of unpacking PODS.

This afternoon we went to Nana’s for a party and all of us splashed a bit, had a fancy Hannah Montana cake, and finished the day off in style. She will get another party next weekend, for her friends, but we had to delay it due to the completely unpacked state of our house. (Sea of boxes people… cardboard everywhere I look.)

Tonight I sit and review the day, thinking that I really saw how big she is getting today. I clearly saw the length in her stride, heard the clarity of her arguments, and realized her sudden height and strength. I saw the young lady who will lock horns with me in high school, and will likely slay dragons later in life.

I saw my big girl.

Once she nestled trustingly against me, gazing into my face and patting my chin with pudgy baby hands. Now, she negotiates for additional ice pops, or t.v. time, or another bedtime story. She wiggles whenever I try to cuddle, and can’t seem to take off fast enough once her feet are once again on the ground. She wants to ride bikes, see friends, and play outside unattended.

She is busy, building a life outside of mine, a life where my worldly advice will be derisively repeated to her friends with her eyes rolled heavenward. A life where I can’t fix her owies with “magic crayon band-aids” sealed with a kiss.

I am too aware of my mortality today. It has gone by so quickly I can almost believe she sprung forth from my skull fully formed. Where is my fuzzy duck headed girl? Maybe if I sneak in while she is sleeping, and plant another kiss on her forehead, I will rediscover her.

Otter has come down with the stomach flu. He has been sick since yesterday afternoon, poor guy, and can’t seem to keep anything down. Of course, we don’t get our new insurance until Monday, so I can’t really take him in unless things get really bad. Hopefully I can get him to drink some pedialite or something.

It has been a crazy week here. We are waiting for all our worldly possessions to be delivered today so we can unpack and move into our house. In the meantime, we have been trying to prepare for Monkey’s 7th birthday, which is tomorrow, a day sadly devoted to much moving. I asked her Nana and Papa if they would host a small family party at their new house for her, and they happily agreed. Tomorrow evening’s event will feature a pool and a Hannah Montana cake, and then we will host a party for kids the following week at our house.

I am sorry I have not been keeping this updated much, lately I have been a little insane with the stress of relocating. I will share some pics and stories once things are a little more settled.

We are safely ensconced in my parents house.

I never want to ride in a car again.

We drove over 1600 miles, 200 initially, and 1400 in the three days following Lee’s car repairs. In my car I had the kids and three very testy and vocal cats. It turns out cats don’t like to be shoved into a kennel (regardless of the care with which you prepare it) with other cats and then driven across the country in the trunk of a Toyota Matrix. Lee carried the dogs, our luggage, and the trailer. He also dealt with odd noises and a nigh-constant fear of another breakdown. (Turns out Subaru’s aren’t able to do what their specifications say they can do.)

I had fun seeing new parts of the country. I drove through a really cool wind energy farm, and shot some pics I will put up eventually. We saw lots of ranches and farms, and a great number of little oil wells too.

Monkey played travel Bingo and subsisted entirely on candy and chicken nuggets. Otter played with his toy cars, keys, and books, and then resorted to playing with his feet. He was really not happy with the prolonged stay in the carseat. He kept telling me that it was a violation of the torture code in the Baby Geneva Convention, but I told him it was an unavoidable evil. When the kids came close to losing it I popped in a DVD. ( I never want to hear Aladdin again.) However, it has to be said that my kids were troopers. They were amazingly calm and dealt very well with a ridiculously unpleasant situation. I had very little screaming and crying, and very little argument. I am a very lucky mama.

The next few weeks will find me busily moving into our place. However, I am going to try to get back into the habit of diligently posting my permanently numb butt off.