The PCS Files: Things are getting scheduled!

We still aren't exactly sure how to get EVERYTHING taken care of, but we did manage to go ahead and schedule our move-out date! Crazy, right?? The Hubs had to log-on to a DoD website that takes care of all the moving-stuff. We found out that we will be able to ship UP TO 14,500 lbs (woohoo!) and we completed a weight-estimator tool that helps you figure out exactly how much your household goods weigh. We had to click on all the types of furniture we have and how many of each piece we have and the calculator spits out a number  for you. Our rough estimate was about 7000lbs for our entire house! That's great! We could probably ship every single thing if we wanted, but we're probably selling most everything. (More on that later....)

Since The Hubs has to finish his rotations here through June, we scheduled our move-out date for early July. Our shipment to Japan can be divided into 3 parts: household goods (HHG), express, and non-temp storage. The HHG shipment could take 55 days (or longer) to get from our current house, alllllll the way across the ocean to our new house. If we don't yet have housing when it gets over there, the Navy will hold it for us until we're ready to move in somewhere. The express shipment is less than 1,000 lbs and is supposed to contain things we'll need as soon as we get there and get into a place (especially if our HHG are still traveling across the ocean). It's supposed to contain things like toys for the kids, linens, kitchen stuff, bathroom toiletries,  clothes, etc. Then, anything we're NOT taking to Japan can be put into long-term storage at the military's expense. 

So, we've got the ball rolling on the moving-bandwagon. We still need to apply for our no-fee passports (compliments of the US government) and we're not quite sure how to go about doing that. We also need to register and take some class about moving overseas and we have to get our medical/dental screening process started. 

Still a lot of things to do, obviously... but it's becoming so much more real! 

The PCS Files: Official Orders

We got our official orders last week, stating that we WILL be moving to Japan. We knew that we were slated to go, but until you have those orders in your hand, it doesn't really feel official. The basic info is that The Hubs will be finished with his duties at the Naval Medical Center at the end of June, he'll have to be in town for some course for a couple of weeks in July, and then we're supposed to report to Yokosuka, Japan at the end of that month.

I am SO excited to finally have an idea of when we'll be leaving, but along with that knowledge, comes a gigantic to-do list and lots more to figure out. For example:

When do we want to schedule our move-out?
When do we want to have our big shipment of house-hold goods (HHG) shipped?
Do we want to go home for a while before leaving for Japan?
How much furniture will we get to take?
What furniture do we want to keep and what do we want to get rid of?
We've got to go through a thorough medical/dental-screening process.
We've got to apply for passports (thankfully, they are free!).
We have to sell both of our cars.
We've got to fill out all sorts of paperwork.
We have to take a class about moving overseas.
We've got to have a yard-sale to get rid of everything we don't want/need to take with us.

And a lot of the big things we've got to take care of can't happen for months, until right before we leave. It's a whole lot of waiting without being able to do much in the meantime (and you know how well I deal with that...).

We also have decided that our dog, Murray, will be going to live with my in-laws. Apparently, the process for taking a dog overseas is long and difficult. He has to be quarantined for SEVEN MONTHS, some of which can start while we're still in the US, but has to be finished overseas (meaning that Murray would be housed in a boarding facility where we are still required to take care of him every day) and as if all of that weren't bad enough, I'm not sure he would make through a 14-hour flight. He has some separation anxiety issues. So, he will go live with his grandparents, who also have a dog whom Murray loves, a doggy-door so he can go in and out as he pleases, and a lot of land for him to chase squirrels all day long. I know that it will be the best option for him, but it's going to be hard on the girls. They have really grown to love Murray. I'm REALLY thankful that our in-laws are willing to keep him. It's nice to know that he will be with family whom he knows and loves and that we won't have to find another family for him.

So... yeah... there's a lot to do before we move. Oy.

Library Loot

We got to the library at least once every 2 weeks. I would love to go once a week, but honestly, I think my girls need more time with the books they've picked out. The library is such an awesome resource. Books. FOR FREE. As many as you'd like! And the library provides so many teaching opportunities. For example, every time we go to the library, I asked Thing 1 what kind of books she'd like to get and what she'd like to learn about. This week, she wanted to learn about space. So when we got the library, we couldn't find any space books and I showed her how to ask the librarian. The librarian gave her some numbers to look for and Thing 1 learned a little bit about the Dewey Decimal System. When she matched the numbers on her paper to the numbers on the spine of a book, her eyes lit up! I'm not sure what kind of library experience (if any) will be waiting for us in Japan, so I'm trying to enjoy our library as much as possible while it's just down the street.

I wanted to share with you some books from our library loot this week (any maybe I'll do it again in the future). The girls rarely pick out many books for themselves because they're busy playing with puzzles, computers, and board books. BUT, I found some fantastic books this week that I wanted to share with other parents out there like me.

"My Princess Boy" by Cheryl Kilodavis

When I read the title of this book to Thing 1, she looked up at me, confused, and said, "A princess boy??" but as we read the book, she was quick to point out that many of the things the princess boy does are things that she also likes to do. This is actually a story about a real-life little boy that has always loved to dress up. It's a great opportunity to talk to kids about gender stereotypes and acceptance of people based on WHO THEY ARE, and not things as trivial as clothes they wear. No one makes mention of all the little girls running around in jeans, but heaven forbid a little boy should want to wear a dress. It's not a long book and it's a very easy, quick read. But it's got a very important message that even the youngest of kids can understand.

"The Great Big Book of Families" by Mary Hoffman

This is probably my favorite book that we've gotten from the library. This book not only talks about the different ways a family is made, but also how families make different decisions and live different lives. And it does so while driving home the important message that all of those families are valued, important, and good. There are pictures of families with grandparents, two dads, two moms, one parent, adopted parents, lots of siblings or no siblings at all. This book shows where families might live, where they might go to school, what jobs they might have (while also saying that "some can't get a job at all"), what holidays they might celebrate, how and what they eat, what they might wear, what activities they might enjoy - ALL with fantastic illustrations. My oldest daughter loves to just sit and look through all the pictures in the book. It is a fantastic tool for parents to use if they want to introduce their children to all the diversity that the world has to offer.

"What If Your Best Friend Were Blue?" by Vera Kochan

Can you see a theme in our books this week?? This is another quick, easy, read that teaches kids about diversity. It introduces the concept of skin color (though not in an obvious way) and the fact that color has no affect on the kind of person you are. Both of my girls like to look at this book and read it to themselves. It's incredibly important to introduce your children to issues of race early on, rather than to ignore it. Children notice differences and it's our job to teach them that differences in appearance do not correlate with differences in character.

As you can see, we scored some great reads this week! I hope I luck out at our next visit too!

I popped open the wine at 4:30pm.

Have I mentioned yet that parenting is hard? This is what my day was like.

4:00am - Got out of bed when my husband left for work. Checked emails, read blogs, watched last night's episode of The Bachelor... my day is starting off well.

5:17am - Thing 1 gets up and comes to find me (she had appeared in my bed sometime in the middle of the night) and I tell her to go back to sleep. I lay down with her for 5 minutes and she's asleep again.

6:15am - Thing 2 wakes up and I turn on PBS for her while I make pancakes for breakfast. Thing 1 gets up just a few minutes later.

7:00am - I turn on the morning news while the girls eat their breakfast. I check on my schedule/to-do list for the day.

7:30am - Get the girls dressed and read to go to the gym in a little while. They are getting out some toys and playing well together.

8:30am - Toys are ALL OVER my house and we need to leave for the gym. I tell the girls that we'll have to clean up when we get home and that they won't be watching any other shows today until the toys are picked up.

9:00am - 10:30am - My only alone time of the day. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean while walking on the treadmill.

10:30am - We arrive back home and I get the girls out of the car, telling them to go inside. Thing 2 stops beside the car and puts her head down in a defiant "no." After telling her to go inside two more times, I walk inside with the other child and close the door. Then, I sneakily watch Thing 2 from the garage window. She stands still, with her head down and bearing a mean face for a full 3 minutes. I finally go out, give her a stern talking-to and bring her inside. Oy. I tell them to pick up their toys and they can watch a show before lunch.

11:30am - Lunch happens. But the entire house is still a mess. No shows.

12:00pm - 2:00pm - Thing 2 takes a nap and Thing 1 cries about everything she can't do right (she was getting frustrated with toys).

2:30pm - I ask the girls to clean up and offer an enticing Max & Ruby DVD as a reward.

3:00pm - Still no cleaning. Toys are everywhere. And Thing 2 keeps stabbing me in the side with a kid-size rolling pin, yelling, "MWA HA HA!"

4:15pm - I decree that any toys still on the floor in 30 minutes will go into a giant trash bag and will be held until tomorrow night. Thing 1 tells me that it's "going to be a lot of work and she needs a grown-up to do it." Ha. Life isn't fair, kid.

4:30pm - Not even half of the house has been picked up. I pour myself a glass of wine and go get a trash-bag. Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensues as I toss literally HALF of my kids' toys into the garbage bag and stash it in my closet.

My glass of wine was desperately needed.

Thing 1 then asks me if she can watch a show now that her toys are cleaned up. Um.... no, kid. Cue more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

5:30pm - The husband finally gets home and because we're both so tired, we turn on Max & Ruby and the girls squeal with excitement. Dinner and another glass of wine later, here am I am typing this up while my girls play quietly.



Don't judge me for my early glass of wine. Or for putting my kids' toys into a garbage bag (I saw it on Super Nanny!). Parenting is hard. And tiring. And kids are waaaaay smarter than you give them credit for. Right now, we're in a daily battle of wills. You think that YOU, the parent, will always have the upper-hand.... until it's been 8 hours since you asked the kids to pick up and you're so tired of it that you go ahead and pick it all up because you, of course, can do it so quickly. Then, as you're putting that final toy on the shelf, you turn around and see your 3-year-old eyeing you and saying to herself, "Ha! Wrapped around my finger...."

D'oh! Dammit.

But tonight, as I strain to close my closet door against the giant bag of toys hidden inside, I know that today, TODAY, my sweet little child, I WON. MWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!