I joined the club

This past Saturday, I finally got my eyes checked for the first time in years.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had my eyes checked.  All I am certain of is that I was in elementary school.  Yikes!

And now, I have glasses.

A good reminder

My friend, Steph, whom I met through the Babycenter forums around the time I was pregnant with Zach has a really awesome blog post this morning.  And for that reminder, I am posting this:

I am putting my trust in God that everything that happens in and to my family is His will.  There will be days that are beyond frustrating, and there may be nights where I don't get one lick of sleep even though I no longer have a newborn.  Dan may have to take an extended business trip at some point in the future.  But, if I remember that He is in charge every day, then I have a good shot of having a happy, healthy life for my family.

Thank you so much for the reminder, Steph.

Mopping....ugh!

So, I'd been putting off mopping the kitchen floor because it's been so wet outside and our lovely greyhounds bring in grass and mud regularly when it's been raining. Seems kind of silly to mop, only to let the dogs out and back in and need to mop again in just 5 minutes. Well, Zach is still working on his skills with a regular cup. He knocked over a nearly fully cup (probaly about 4 oz left, really) of milk. Eh. I checked his clothes to see if he needed new ones (he didn't)...picked him up and stuck him in the living room.

Copious amounts of paper towels later, I start thinking that milk has lactose in it....sticky central! Ugh. I pull out a mop and get to work. Who knew our kitchen floor could look so nice with two dogs and two messy boys?

Remodeling/Updating continues....eventually.

So, our next step is to replace all the original single pane windows in the house.  Yikes!  That will include the 8 foot sliding glass door to the backyard and the front door that has cracks wide enough to see light through.  But, before that can happen, I must declutter....organizing would be a plus, but the workers have to be able to reach the windows in order to actually replace them.  I guess we all know what I'll be doing over the next several weeks.

I'm not the only one who keeps chaning my mind

So, a few posts ago, I mentioned that we are getting the house in sellable condition. That is still true! But, Dan still thinks it makes more sense (or thinks again that it makes more sense) to make the addition to the house. We are getting an estimate not just on the garage, but doing a little work on the kitchen as well. It certainly won't happen at the same time (unless we win the lottery, but then, we'd probably just move anyway).

Adding an extra living area would make this house more livable for us. But, I still don't like this house enough to call it my forever home. It just may be a few more years (lottery winning being the only exception I can see in the near future) before we actually find a new place. I will be much more picky about certain things that I didn't know I needed to be picky about. Not just the size of the kitchen, but the layout! Not just the size of the bedrooms, but where they are actually located!!! You get the picture.

I think he's gonna be the death of me. Part 2

Who knew that I'd already have a part 2 for this?  Come on, I know some of you were expecting it, even if you don't know about what happened already.

OK.  Tom took a tumble and ended up being taken to Children's in downtown Dallas.  He is fine!  Now, stop holding your breath and I'll tell you the whole thing.

Some backstory:  My loving husband purchased a series of massages for me for my birthday this year.  I was in the middle of one when it was interrupted by the receptionist.  There had been an emergency and Tom was taken to Children's.

Dan was changing a poopy dipe and Tom (like normal for him, mind you) decided to roll over and sit up.  He does this all the time; but this time, he was too far to one side (I imagine, since I was not there) and fell off instead.  He landed flat on his back.  Pause a moment, then cry.  Pretty expected.  Dan was soothing him when he had a seizure.  Call 911.  (Stupid phones aren't working properly, so they couldn't hear him...they sent fire, police, and ambulance, THANK GOD!)  EMTs look Tom over and decide to take him to Children's.  For those of you who know Dallas a bit, it's the one connected to Parkland.

Dan and I finally arrive at the ER and Tom seems relatively OK.  Very tired (past naptime, duh!) and a little listless.  Won't fall asleep...hmmmmmm.  Docs come in to talk to us to let us know what they have decided.  Very conservative approach...no CT scans or Xrays.  I'm very thankful for that.  They just want to observe him for a few hours.  He lost his lunch in two bouts and finally napped for about an hour.  When he woke up, he was thirsty enough to finally take a bottle of juice.  (Silly kid never did like bottles, but the hospital only had bottles or straws.  Weird, I know.)  And was acting hungry, so we got them to bring us some graham crackers.  Doc comes back in, we're hoping to leave (it's about 4:30 now) and are told that because he threw up that we have to stay a little longer to make sure he's keeping food and juice down.

Tom is flirting with EVERYONE who walks by.  So, instead of making us wait that long, they started the paperwork and once it was completed, let us take him home.  Told us to wake him every 4 hours to make sure he was still doing everything right (using both sides, acting like a baby).  I got home with him around 7.  Mom and Zach were sitting on the couch as I walk in with a wide-awake Tom.  Zach says, "Tom has a big owie."  (My heart just melted again.)  We get them both in bed and quiet and she goes home.

Fast-forward to today.  Tom is climbing and being his usual daredevil self again.  I'm gonna end up knowing the local ER docs and nurses by name as he gets older because I'm quite certain that we're going to find him with a broken bone or a cut that needs stitches relatively often.  But, the ped says he's fine and just to give him a few days before we try to get him back to his normal schedule and let him sleep when he wants and as long as he wants.  (Yikes!  That could make for some interesting evenings.)

Making this house sellable

It's official. I finally got Dan to agree that our house is too small and that it is more economical for us to get this house ready to sell rather than converting the garage. I did a bit of research on http://www.realtor.com/ and discovered that we don't need to spend much more or move out to the boonies to get a house the right size. Yay!!!! So, for future reference, we will be completing projects around the house to make it ready to sell. That means that my office may be turned into a dining room again. Yikes! Of course, that would be one of the very last things to happen.

We're starting with the really big things:

• replacing the windows that are original to the house
• redoing the siding with hardyplank
• having a new fence put in with metal posts instead of the wood ones that are leaning so far that I'm very glad our dogs aren't interested in leaving the back yard
• a new A/C unit.

And we'll be doing some smaller things as time and money allows while those big things are getting done:

• pulling down wallpaper and painting
• refacing the fireplace (why did the brick get painted, why???)
• replacing all the doorknobs in the house (they are mismatched, big time!)
• replacing hardware on the kitchen cabinets (who painted over the hinges! Seriously, why do people do things like that????)

I'm sure there is more, but those are the things I know about. I'll probably post before and after pics of the inside stuff. And keep in mind that Zach decided that he'd pull at some of the wallpaper because it was already coming down. Turns out, they (the original owners) papered over older wallpaper. So, some of the "before" shots may look like work has actually started; but it was just a toddler being curious.

The Perfect Birthday Present

I think my perfect birthday present would be Zach deciding that using the potty instead of his diaper was a good thing.  Any volunteers for that?

Here's hoping that this year has more of everything good and less of everything bad!

We survived the sickies

Tom is totally over his cold...thank goodness.  Zach is more than halfway through his antibiotic for the ear infection that the cold gave him.  I'm more than halfway through the antibiotic for the almost double ear infection that the cold gave me.  Dan is doing better as well.  This one was a doozy.  It was the first time I had to fill a prescription for Zach.

So, for those of you who sent gifts for Christmas, THANK YOU.  I'm not sure if I'll get real thank you cards out in a timely fashion.  I need to upload the pictures of the boys playing with the new toys, having new books read to them, and in their new clothes.

I HATE nasal aspirators

Yep.  I really do hate them.  I know they make it easier to get all the gunk out, but Tom fights me on it...poor little guy.  He's been stuffed up for nearly a week now.  And he passed it on to the rest of us.  My throat hurts from all the yucky stuff in my sinuses.  Zach has a nasty wet cough to rival Tom's.

SICKIES GO AWAY!!!!

First Fire of the season

This video was edited to make it short enough to fit on the page. Oh, and if you usually just read this as an email, you really have to come to the page itself for the video. At least, that's what I've been told. And, just so you all know, it takes a VERY LONG time to upload a video....even one this short. Don't expect to see them very often.

Soapbox

Normally, I don't talk politics, but my dear husband got this song stuck in my head this morning.

Anecdote of the day

This morning, while Tom was napping, I was looking for Zach because he needed to have his diaper changed.  I knew he was in his room.  I couldn't find him anywhere.  Here follows what happened:

M: Zach?  Where are you?
Z: Mama? (giggling)
M: Zach? Are you hiding?
Z: more giggles
M: Do you need a clean, dry diaper?
Z: Clean, dry diaper?
M: Yes, do you need one?
Z: (giggling and crawling out from under the crib) NO!
M: OK, we can change it in the living room if you want....on the couch.
Z: COUCH!!!!
M: OK, let's go.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a poopy diaper and we had to go back to his room to get it all cleaned up.  But I think he's finally over that stomach virus that was forcing many more diaper changes than he wanted.  We'll be stopping the BRAT diet slowly over the week so that when he stays with Aya and Grandpa next weekend, he can have normal food again.  I think he's tired of applesauce with rice mixed in.

And, maybe, if we're all very lucky, he'll decide that he wants to use the potty while he's there.  (crosses fiingers)

November, already????

Well, we spent the weekend with Aya and Grandpa...not the collective we.  Dan spent the weekend hunting and getting nothing (oh, well.  I guess that means I have to actually buy red meat this year.)

The most fun part of this weekend was me taking Zach trick-or-treating for the very first time.  He didn't know what was really going on, but caught on very quickly that people were giving him candy when we rang their doorbells.  We dressed him up as a lion (thank you, Jules!!!) and he didn't even try to take the mane off.

I'll have to post pictures after Aya remembers to email them to me.  I forgot the camera (bad, Mama!!!).

...and single mom for the week

Yep, Dan is in DC on a business trip.  He won't be home until Thursday night after the boys are in bed.  To stave off not having help, I stayed with my parents for this past weekend.  Tom is finally warming up to Grandpa.  Yay!!!  Now, if we could just get him to sleep better there.  It may take having Zach decide he's ready for a big boy bed so that Tom can have the crib instead of a Pack 'n' Play to sleep in.

Short update, but there it is.  We haven't disappeared.

Overwhelmed much?

Yeah, a while back I said I'd have a clean office....and I was getting things going so that I could go back to school and get my Masters Degree.  Well, the office is far from clean and my boys are keeping me so unbelievably busy, I don't know where I would fit grad school in.  Perhaps it's time to start a list of things that are crazy important to me and discover where post-graduate education fits in...as well as having a clean house.  Don't worry, I won't bore most of you with that list....just the ones whose lives may change drastically if I do this.

I gotta wonder

I got to cuddle with Zach for 15 whole minutes yesterday morning. He was tired and cold and needed some Mama cuddle time. We covered up with two blankets and he sat on my lap on the couch while we watched the first half of Curious George. I could have sat like that for hours, I think. His nose sounds stuffy, but there's nothing there that I can see. I'm sure that isn't comfortable. I hate that feeling, so why should he like it?

Wow, I could probably babble on for a long time right now, if Zach would allow me to. But, I think he needs more attention again.

Happy Anniversary, Dan! It's hard to believe, but it's been 4 years now.

Elbow update

Well, I got a follow-up appointment because my elbow wasn't (still isn't) 100%.  He moved my arm around some more and turns out that falling down, but not breaking or dislocating, means tennis elbow.  Not sure how that works, but that's what it is.  Fun stuff.  Hoping that it calms down within the next two weeks, or I'll end up needing physical therapy.  All this from tripping over a stupid toy.  Yeah, I'll be turning on the lights from now on....before I start walking through the house while it's still dark outside.

Note to self....make sure you can see where you are going before you start walking

Wow!  Who knew that toys meant for a 12-month old could be so dangerous.  This morning, I tripped over one of those learning to walk and can be ridden type things.  I fell....HARD.  On my left knee (it's got a pretty bruise) and on my left wrist.  The wrist, elbow, and shoulder all screamed at me for a good ten minutes...the wrist eventually popped and it feels just fine for now.  The shoulder calmed down.  The elbow...well....I'm glad the x-rays showed it wasn't dislocated.  Who knew you could actually dislocate an elbow?  But, it might be broken.  Those same x-rays were inconclusive due to all the swelling.  So, I'm told that if it doesn't get markedly better in the next few days, that I will probably need more x-rays and it's likely broken.  If so, that means it's got a chip floating around in there and I'll probably end up needing surgery.  Yuck!!!  If I'm lucky, then I just jammed it really, really hard.  No obvious bruising or swelling on the outside, so who knows?

I never knew that my left elbow was used so much.  I can hardly pick up Tom.  Zach, on the other hand, is actually not to difficult.  I guess that's because he can help get himself picked up.  Well, here's hoping I didn't do any major damage.  Oh, and as a side-note, Dan's got bursitis.  We are both gimpy.  *sigh*

Water Mains are important when you use cloth diapers

I am so very glad that I had already done the diapers the day before the water mains in my neighborhood broke....3 of them!!!  As I understand it, two broke from the extra water from the rain...and the third one broke when they tested the first one to see if it was fixed.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  This was on Friday.  I have more appreciation for my washing machine now than I ever did.