Pack

So admittedly not a shining quality to share with everyone.....I used to be one of those people who judged parents with their child on a leash! I know...totally shallow. Especially since I didn't have kids yet, and even for a while after having my own.
Comments flew through my head(and sometimes my mouth) like, "really lady? just control your child." or "maybe if you give it a bone, it'll stop crying?" and "is it that difficult for you to bend down to hold his hand?!".
OBVIOUSLY.....I had no friggin CLUE what I was talking about and the person who invented those little leashes for kids should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize!
My sweet little angels were fairly manageable in public until we were outnumbered by Child 3! Now my 4 1/2 year old thinks it's hilarious to dart up and down the aisles in stores completely out of my sight. (which scares the crap out of me.) And my darling 2 1/2 year old daughter follows suit or ever-so-sweetly curls herself around my ankles while I'm carrying Ginormous Child 3 and he's wiggling like a walrus having a seizure trying to break free of the ninja grip I have on him.
Whew..........I'm exhausted even THINKING about going to the store.
And while I know there are tons of self proclaimed experts on Child Rearing, I never love everything they have to say when I'm searching for advice.
So I go to the source that I trust.
He's foolproof.
And people all over the country email and call and even go see this gentleman to tap into his wealth of information about handling ornery loved ones. Even if it's just the simple case of being outnumbered like I am.
So I email the Dog Whisperer.
Really.
You know? Cesar Milan!
He really is amazing...I mean COME ON......they gave him his own show and everything!
I email him about my "pack". I mention the kids as certain breeds that I associate them with. For instance, my daughter is very petite but can easily defend herself against her brothers when she needs to. She has a quick step, is very agile, super smart, very capable, not shy, and stubborn as all hell.
She is my Jack Russell.
My youngest is HUGE. He's a 30 lb one year old. Bleach blonde hair. Chubby cheeks. Very happy and sweet. But you sort of cringe when he's running towards you because you know it's gonna hurt. Oh and clumsy :) He's flippin adorable and squishy and complete strangers walk up to him to touch his cheeks.(I hate that by the way...please keep your strange, dirty hands off my adorable baby boy!)
He is my Bulldog.
Now my oldest is a very shy dude. He's highly intelligent. But wired and crazy at the same time. He pushes every boundary known and unknown. But looks after his sister and brother like they're his responsibility.
He's my Labrador Retriever.

My emails go something like this:

Dear Cesar,
I walked in the room the other day to find that my Jack Russell had feces on her face. How do I discourage this behavior without standing over her all day every day?


Dear Cesar,
My Labrador is ornery with myself and my husband. He nips at our Jack Russell every once in a while. But I think it's just for added attention from us? I have made a point to put him into a social environment outside of our house. He loves preschool the dog park but is shy with the other dogs and owners. He loves to play but isn't comfortable engaging others. Any tips on socializing a "shy guy"?


Dear Cesar,
My bulldog eats EVERYTHING! Is this NORMAL?!?!?! Oh, and is there breed known for climbing? 

Now you know my secrets to good sound advice!
I have to go grab the minis out of their crates....I mean rooms and get them ready for Easter Dinner!
Sans leashes of course.
Happy Easter folks!

buzz buzz buzz

There are literally 1743 things buzzing through my head right now....not a one of them that I can grab hold of long enough to actually focus on though. UGH.
The Hubbs hasn't given his 2 weeks notice yet. The new company has been running all the background checks and what not, and a start date was to be determined once everything had officially been cleared ie: when they found out The Hubbs is NOT a crack head or addicted to crystal meth or anything. That's all been done and the new boss announced to him today that the first round of training in California starts on May 2nd! WHAT THE?!?!?! (Insert expletive here________) Any guess what came out of MY mouth?! I'm sure you guessed it. Now as I mentioned before, The Hubbs hasn't given his notice to his current employer. And, just to get technical here, two weeks from today is May 5th. Just sayin'. And the first round of training goes for three weeks....in California. Which just so happens to fall in the same month as Mother's Day and the start of BBQ season! The new boss did say that maybe they could push the training back for him another week so it would start on the 9th instead! But that was a big maybe and only because The Hubbs has 10 years experience in this field. Now more than ever, I feel suffocated. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the move. But the training is the LEAST exciting part of all this. Parenthood is hard enough when there are two of you. I seriously don't know how single parents pull it off. I did this last summer and it wasn't fun. So I have some anxiety issues about being left for weeks at a time again. Throw on top of that....the house needs to be sold........and weeded through before I can pack it up.....then packed up.....cars have to be sold....I NEED to have a garage sale desperately....oh.....and I should probably find us a new place to live in Colorado?! Yikes! All this with 3 minis running circles around me? Well, if I ever get on this blog again, it should make for a pretty interesting post or two! That's for sure.
I've already informed The Hubbs that I will be taking a few "girl's nights" over the next two weeks since I'm going to be trapped at home held against my will unable to get away when he's gone. The first one is tomorrow night :) with "the babysitter" and her 170 pound puppy Baloo. I'm going to the sanctuary that is her house for some quiet, calm, focusing time over a few beers and some good conversation! She's a very positive force in my life. She has a great outlook on things and is already checking into airfares to Colorado to come visit :) Love her!
Shit......maybe I'll even bring a lavender scented candle and one of those eye gel masks. We'll pretend it's a spa night...but with beer!
#1744 floating around my head right now>>>>>>Why don't spas have beer?
Accompanied by
#1279-How the HELL did I spend $150 at Walmart on Easter basket "filler" yesterday??
#317-What am I going to make for dinner?
#600-Did I shower today?
#1801-Should I go buy boxes right now? #1802-It couldn't hurt to start packing right?
#5-Weird that this pain showed up in my neck as soon as The Hubbs told me when his training class starts.

:)
SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoops....sorry about the delay!

HA! I suck. I'm sorry I didn't have a follow-up post! I actually thought I had posted?! Clearly, my mind is going in a million different directions....none of which seem to be FORWARD!

Here's the long and short of it.
They verbally offered The Hubbs the job. The written offer was emailed and another copy is being FedEx'd to the house. They did offer a little less than we would like. So now negotiations will begin. But really only minor negotiations about salary. From here, they require a background check, DMV check, and drug test. We were told those take about 2 weeks. Once those are all cleared, they will discuss a start date and how much notice will be given to the current company. It's pretty much.....in the bag. Which hasn't really hit either one of us yet. I mean, we are excited. And nervous. But in a good way.

~~I guess when you dream about something for so long, and it finally comes to fruition, it's hard to accept that it's reality at that point.~~


Now all the planning and decision making is coming into play. Sell or rent this house? Where exactly in CO should we rent? (there are a few variables here) Dates? There are 12 weeks of training that come along with taking this position. Six of which will be in California. So the minis and I would probably stay East for the majority of that. So our summer will probably be a NJ one.

Obviously, none of this is written in stone because The Hubbs hasn't actually accepted any offer. There is one major thing that could happen here. It is very possible that his current company could offer a counter-offer. The Hubbs had mentioned to his immediate supervisor and the supervisor in the Western territory that he would like to be considered if a position were needed in the CO region. The supervisor out there had said that it was a possibility in the future! So there's always that.

We sat down over a few drinks last night and wrote some Pro/Con lists about the house and the companies. The one thing we did realize from doing this, was that we didn't have the need for a CO vs. NJ list. There is only one thing in NJ for us. And that's our family. Which we love dearly and will miss terribly! But which we also know wants us to be happy no matter what. We will all adapt to Skype conversations with the kids and extended visits back to NJ with big BBQs and parties just because. While this is hard for us to swallow, and for all of them also, it's what we want more than anything and it's ok to chase your dreams!

So away with you Catholic Guilt that's been ingrained in us since we were wee little ones!!!!

We deserve to be happy!

.................

So we've walked around all morning with our stomachs in our throats...the clock ticking ever so slowly. 8am PST is 11am here. And 11am in the eyes of parents of three minis, is late in the day already.
Well.........it just got even later. The Hubbs went up to the silent sanctuary of our bedroom to receive the phone call. And when it didn't come promptly at 11, he checked his email. Then his email RESPONSE to the HR rep. When he relied to her, he said........I will be available at 9 and am looking forward to speaking with you.
SO......
we have another hour to WAIT!

lmao

gulp!

Now I'M Pacing!!!!!!!!!

Okay Okay Okay.......without any fancy wording....or fun story.......
The Hubbs handed his email over to me right before leaving for work. It was from the HR rep at Abbott Labs and here is what it said:

Hello Hubbs,(ok so it said his name....WHATEVER read on)

Are you available tomorrow morning at 8:00 am PST?  I would like to move forward with a contingent verbal offer.  If not, please feel free to suggest an alternate time.

and then he LEFT for work!!!!!!!  So I've been pacing ever since. ALONE! Until over Facebook chat I somehow convinced my Dear Friend AND babysitter mentioned in previous posts to come over and bring her sister with HER three kids!

WHEW!!!!

Having all of them did wonders for all of my pent up nervous energy, that's for sure. But now I sit here drooling typing this and wondering how I'm going to make it up the stairs for bed tonight? And once I get there....will I actually be able to sleep? 

Only time will tell.

The above mentioned 8am phone call won't actually happen HERE in Jersey till 11am SO...tick tock tick tock.

More to follow tomorrow :)