Happy 4th of July!!

The countdown is on! One week from today, the moving truck will be loaded up and we'll be on our way to Kansas in what I hope will be our last move for a LONG time. Thankfully, Ian's hospital is paying the relocation expenses, so we're having the movers do all of the packing and that junk for us. While I am so very glad not to have to worry about digging up boxes and packing everything up, I think that going through the process of packing does help you mentally prepare for the fact that you're really leaving the place where you live. It's weird to think that we'll be leaving Charlotte for good so soon, since everything inside our house looks the exact same as it has most of the time we've lived here. We do still have some cleaning-out type stuff to do this week to get everything ready to be packed. I find it hard to be motivated to do that stuff. I'm really a great high-yield cleaner. I like to clean things when I can tell a real difference after they're clean. I'm awesome at straightening up, cleaning up the kitchen and that sort of thing. BUT, I really, really hate going through the mail and dealing with paperwork. That's always where I lose my steam. All that detail stuff and spending so much time going through one stack of papers makes me crazy. Unfortunately, that's the kind of thing that we need to do this week. Give me a box of books to pack any day! (Although, again, I'm so thankful someone else is doing that and I don't have to worry about wrapping all the plates and glasses, etc., etc. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the movers!)

In other news, I've been sleeping much better this week. I think the yoga really has been helping. I've been meaning to start doing it for ages. I have to say that my legs and hips feel pretty normal after I do it. The other thing that's making a world of difference is that we've finally invested in a maternity pillow. I got the same kind my sister-in-law, Mandy, showed me when I was visiting them a couple months ago. I have to admit that at the time, I was a bit skeptical. For one, it's called a "Snoogle." What's that all about? For another, it's in a C-shape, but you can twist it around into all these crazy positions. Seriously - it came with a huge sheet of diagrams for possible positions and encouragement to share any additional personal favorites with the manufacturer via their website. So, Mandy pulled out her Snoogle and started twisting this thing around in the living room and showed me all the fabulous ways you could use it and I have to say, I thought it was a little too much pillow for me. So, I'd been using a regular pillow between my legs and thinking that the total body pillows couldn't be all that much different. But as it has gotten harder to be comfortable (and I keep thinking about how much longer I still have to go), I began to think that maybe the crazy snake of a pillow was a good idea after all. I admit, I was wrong to be skeptical - it's AMAZING. And I'm really glad I can use it in lots of ways. It's nice to use it to sit up in bed and read and it wraps all around me like a big hug when I'm sleeping. It twists enough that if I ever do roll over to a non-sanctioned position (i.e. anything not on my left side), I can still use it for my legs and head without too much adjusting. So, now, I have to say THANK YOU, MANDY! You were totally right. :)

Well, I'm off to my paper sorting and shredding for today. I hope you're all doing more fun and exciting things for your 4th!