Things are so nuts right now, that I have totally given up any pretense of blogging about the boys. I am a stress ball. Granted, things are a LOT better now that we have signed the purchase agreement for the house. I feel like that is a go (although they did call on Sun [I had missed a page to sign] and I was convinced we were out) and even started packing. Just the annoying things that seem to cling to the house.
Unfortunately, the job is sucking up all of my stress right now. I am sure that once I start officially calling people, I will be ok. Maybe the time will even fly by. Maybe I will lose even more weight (I have lost 10 pounds-ish since joining the gym) since I won't be sitting on my ass and eating at night. It will be nice to have some extra money (before we move into the new house, anyway) around, even if I am trying to save it all for trinkets for the house. But I can't seem to get past the bad stuff. Calling people in their homes for 5 hours a night!!! Chad's family was quite teasing me about my telemarketing job (I guess TECHNICALLY, it is, in that it is MARKETING FROM THE PHONE, but there isn't any selling, so I stand tall) and I don't blame them. Also, the 5 hours thing is getting to me. Ugh. But I really don't want to work more than 3 days a week. 3 is plenty for now. I am hoping that the cool chick I met (but whose name I didn't catch) will be there. She was nice. I think I may buy myself a magazine for tomorrow night. Something to read on break. And maybe some ciggies so I can smoke myself to death before I start.
In other news, we went to the gym today, after a week off, and Jack was GREAT. No crying, he voluntarily walked into the room and was fine!!!!!!! I hope he keeps this up. They still had to get me out of the pool, cos Charlie wasn't happy. But hey, I am calling it a victory.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Saturday, February 26, 2005
What is Wrong with ME?
Ok, so I just had a major meltdown over a cake. Granted, it was a semi-difficult cake that I have been making for 2 days for Girl's Night tonight, but still, it is a cake. I:
- Screamed at Chad when he helped.
- After I asked him to help.
- I mean SCREAMED.
- I did this all in front of the kids.
- I banged a spatula on the sink and chipped off a piece of it.
- I yelled at my family to leave, and they did; Chad was crying.
- I kicked the dog, because she was in my way (not hard, more of a kicking shove, but STILL).
- I broke down screaming/crying
- Then I kind of fixed the cake.
The cake looks ugly. I am sure it tastes fine, but looks ugly. Or homemade, as the joke in my family goes. Ugh. I just hate this. I would think that I am pregnant, but I literally just finished my period and you have to have sex to create a baby.
We watched the Notebook last night, and I have been in a sort of funk since then. Chad and I had a discussion about more kids; I cried. I think we have agreed to a third, but it still wasn't a great discussion. Then I went up to bed, and cried about my kids. About how much I love them. About how I don't want to get old. About how I don't want to have to leave them. That kind of crap. Had to wake up early to finish the cake from hell. Also have a day from hell. Signing purchase agreement on house at 10, Dinner/reception thingy for Chad's cousin at 1, then girl's night at 5. Chad is pissed; I was out Mon, Wed, Thur and now tonight. Two of those were work, but apparently work only counts if you are the breadwinner in this house. *sigh*. I feel blue. I think it is stress. I hope it is stress. I hope it magically recedes when I sign my name on the dotted line in an hour.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Of House and Home
Ok, so I just wanted to get this all down to that I will never, ever, never, ever forget the hellish stress that has been these last 10 days. A good/bad hellish stress, mind you.
We went to the Parade of Homes on a whim on Saturday, February 12th. It was the first day and we got the schedule with our paper. I took a look, found a couple of areas that looked like they might be doable for us down the road, and off we went. We found some we liked, but were too expensive, others that might be options, and then we stepped into the one. I prefaced our arrival by saying (mostly to myself) "now remember, this house is valued at $427,000, but there are other homes from $310, so there are other options". Then we walked into the kitchen (from the mud room) and I turned to Chad and said "I want this so bad". I was a goner. The house is a nice open floor plan, which works great for the lifestyle that we lead. It has 3 bedrooms with a loft (for an office), as well as an egress window in the basement if we want to finish that with another room someday. The dining room has pillars which adds some character that I think lacks in some new homes. It was gorgeous, and it was roughly $100K out of our price range. So, we looked at the other floorplans and took some literature to peruse. In the car, I looked at the floorplan and realized that the base price was $327K!!! Now that was a helluva lot closer to our budget! Not comfortably in it, but butting right up to it anyway.
My sister was out of town and getting back on Sunday. I left her a message, and when she called me back, I asked her if she would be willing to run out there and tell us what she thought of this house (she is an interior designer, so I knew she could tell us how they fit another $100K into the house). We were getting worried that land wasn't included in the base price, and that would really take us out of the running. So Lin stepped into the kitchen and said "well, I can tell you right now that about $30K was put into the kitchen". I blew out a huge hunk of air that I hadn't realized I was holding. Lin liked the floorplan as well and we discussed some options. Chad and I had kind of figured that if we kept upgrades to a minimum, we could maybe swing this house. And I got a job. That would definitely help, and my job would probably cover the increase in our mortgage. Great, everything was ticking along!
We made an appointment to meet with the real estate agent on Wednesday, the 16th, to go over options and see how expensive our tastes really were. We opted out of the $15K bonus room and the $1K vaulted ceiling in the master suite. We were just pretending, so we really tried to not look at the pricing when she asked what we wanted. I wanted to upgrade the vanity top in the master bath, just for purely selfish reasons. Chad wanted to insulate the garage, since they sheetrock anyway and if you wanted to insulate later, it would be hard to do. We did no upgrade to the carpet itself, but to the pad. So, minimal things. Then we walked through the house again (third time in less than a week) and took a look around. And I realized that that vaulted ceiling was pretty cool in the master bedroom.
We went home and obsessed. Or I obsessed and Chad tried to get me to quit obsessing. We decided that we would wait until my job interview. If my interview was good, we would be able to put $500 down to hold our lot. We had already decided that we didn't want to wait for the next bit of lots to be openend. That would put us closer to Feb 2006 to a closing (we had ideally wanted to moved in Sept/Oct 2006) but would also mean moving in the winter. Selling our current house over the holidays. And that the prices would go up (they went up everytime they realized more lots). If we went with one of the lots currently available, we would be rushed in selling this house, but would also be getting equity before the foundation was poured.
On Friday the 18th, I got the job. Chad still wanted to slow down. "A week ago we were fine where we are and knew nothing about this!" he would say. And I totally agreed, but it was a week later and this was reality. We both liked the house. The location was great for Chad, as it was closer to his work and his aging grandparents. It kind of sucked for me, since I am so close to my family and will be about 30 min from my sister and almost an hour from my mom, but I was willing to give it a go. Anyway, I said to Chad "I went for the job to get the house. I got the job, now let's get the house".
So, Saturday afternoon, before Chad and I were going out on a date, we dropped off the $500. We then set up the signing of the purchase agreement for Friday (February 25th) at 4 pm.
Next step was finding out if we could get a mortgage. Ok, so we were pretty sure we could, but you never know. Chad talked to the guy, and we were pre-approved on just Chad's salary on Tues. We then set up to meet with him for Wed to discuss our options.
Yesterday at 2:45 we met with the guy, Scott. We have several options we are chewing on right now. The first is a 7 year ARM, the second is an interest-only mortgage, and the third would be the regular 30 year. I just put in a call to our financial planner about the interest only. Basically, we would just put that money that would normally go to the principal, into an investment for several years. I want to talk to Joel (f.p.) and see if he thinks that is a good idea, and how long he thinks we should do that for before refinancing/paying down our principal. If he doesn't think that is a great idea, we would probably go with the 7 year ARM. The other thing to consider would be to lock into an interest rate now. They have this extended thing you can do for new builds, where you lock in now, and if the price is lower in 60 days before closing or whatever, you can take that for no penalty. We just have to put 1% of the mortgage amount down, and then we get that back at closing (and would probably cover all of our closing costs). So that is the other thing we are considering right now.
Other than that, we sign the purchase agreement on Saturday (the real estate agent had to change it). We have decided on the bonus room (my mom offered to loan us the money for that, since it is nearly impossible to add later), the vaulted ceiling, and a green exterior. We need to know all of that on Sat (they won't let two of the same houses, nor of the same color, next to each other. Pretty cool, huh?) at the signing. And then from there, who knows. This is all moving SO fast, and I am still waiting for something to happen that doesn't make it all doable. I really want this, yet sometimes question if we aren't making a bad decision. I just don't know. It seems like such a big step, even for a planner like me. But I guess big purchases are, right?
We went to the Parade of Homes on a whim on Saturday, February 12th. It was the first day and we got the schedule with our paper. I took a look, found a couple of areas that looked like they might be doable for us down the road, and off we went. We found some we liked, but were too expensive, others that might be options, and then we stepped into the one. I prefaced our arrival by saying (mostly to myself) "now remember, this house is valued at $427,000, but there are other homes from $310, so there are other options". Then we walked into the kitchen (from the mud room) and I turned to Chad and said "I want this so bad". I was a goner. The house is a nice open floor plan, which works great for the lifestyle that we lead. It has 3 bedrooms with a loft (for an office), as well as an egress window in the basement if we want to finish that with another room someday. The dining room has pillars which adds some character that I think lacks in some new homes. It was gorgeous, and it was roughly $100K out of our price range. So, we looked at the other floorplans and took some literature to peruse. In the car, I looked at the floorplan and realized that the base price was $327K!!! Now that was a helluva lot closer to our budget! Not comfortably in it, but butting right up to it anyway.
My sister was out of town and getting back on Sunday. I left her a message, and when she called me back, I asked her if she would be willing to run out there and tell us what she thought of this house (she is an interior designer, so I knew she could tell us how they fit another $100K into the house). We were getting worried that land wasn't included in the base price, and that would really take us out of the running. So Lin stepped into the kitchen and said "well, I can tell you right now that about $30K was put into the kitchen". I blew out a huge hunk of air that I hadn't realized I was holding. Lin liked the floorplan as well and we discussed some options. Chad and I had kind of figured that if we kept upgrades to a minimum, we could maybe swing this house. And I got a job. That would definitely help, and my job would probably cover the increase in our mortgage. Great, everything was ticking along!
We made an appointment to meet with the real estate agent on Wednesday, the 16th, to go over options and see how expensive our tastes really were. We opted out of the $15K bonus room and the $1K vaulted ceiling in the master suite. We were just pretending, so we really tried to not look at the pricing when she asked what we wanted. I wanted to upgrade the vanity top in the master bath, just for purely selfish reasons. Chad wanted to insulate the garage, since they sheetrock anyway and if you wanted to insulate later, it would be hard to do. We did no upgrade to the carpet itself, but to the pad. So, minimal things. Then we walked through the house again (third time in less than a week) and took a look around. And I realized that that vaulted ceiling was pretty cool in the master bedroom.
We went home and obsessed. Or I obsessed and Chad tried to get me to quit obsessing. We decided that we would wait until my job interview. If my interview was good, we would be able to put $500 down to hold our lot. We had already decided that we didn't want to wait for the next bit of lots to be openend. That would put us closer to Feb 2006 to a closing (we had ideally wanted to moved in Sept/Oct 2006) but would also mean moving in the winter. Selling our current house over the holidays. And that the prices would go up (they went up everytime they realized more lots). If we went with one of the lots currently available, we would be rushed in selling this house, but would also be getting equity before the foundation was poured.
On Friday the 18th, I got the job. Chad still wanted to slow down. "A week ago we were fine where we are and knew nothing about this!" he would say. And I totally agreed, but it was a week later and this was reality. We both liked the house. The location was great for Chad, as it was closer to his work and his aging grandparents. It kind of sucked for me, since I am so close to my family and will be about 30 min from my sister and almost an hour from my mom, but I was willing to give it a go. Anyway, I said to Chad "I went for the job to get the house. I got the job, now let's get the house".
So, Saturday afternoon, before Chad and I were going out on a date, we dropped off the $500. We then set up the signing of the purchase agreement for Friday (February 25th) at 4 pm.
Next step was finding out if we could get a mortgage. Ok, so we were pretty sure we could, but you never know. Chad talked to the guy, and we were pre-approved on just Chad's salary on Tues. We then set up to meet with him for Wed to discuss our options.
Yesterday at 2:45 we met with the guy, Scott. We have several options we are chewing on right now. The first is a 7 year ARM, the second is an interest-only mortgage, and the third would be the regular 30 year. I just put in a call to our financial planner about the interest only. Basically, we would just put that money that would normally go to the principal, into an investment for several years. I want to talk to Joel (f.p.) and see if he thinks that is a good idea, and how long he thinks we should do that for before refinancing/paying down our principal. If he doesn't think that is a great idea, we would probably go with the 7 year ARM. The other thing to consider would be to lock into an interest rate now. They have this extended thing you can do for new builds, where you lock in now, and if the price is lower in 60 days before closing or whatever, you can take that for no penalty. We just have to put 1% of the mortgage amount down, and then we get that back at closing (and would probably cover all of our closing costs). So that is the other thing we are considering right now.
Other than that, we sign the purchase agreement on Saturday (the real estate agent had to change it). We have decided on the bonus room (my mom offered to loan us the money for that, since it is nearly impossible to add later), the vaulted ceiling, and a green exterior. We need to know all of that on Sat (they won't let two of the same houses, nor of the same color, next to each other. Pretty cool, huh?) at the signing. And then from there, who knows. This is all moving SO fast, and I am still waiting for something to happen that doesn't make it all doable. I really want this, yet sometimes question if we aren't making a bad decision. I just don't know. It seems like such a big step, even for a planner like me. But I guess big purchases are, right?
Working Girl
Well, I started my new job last night. Let me just preface this by saying, this is no rocket science job, and that is OK. It is part of the reason why I applied for it. Something easy to get myself back into working, something not very stressful so that I am not dreading going (although stress doesn't mean that won't happen), just something to make some money now. I am also keeping my eye open for something that pays better and will be closer to the new house. But for now, this will work just fine.
Now, when I had the interview (ha, if you could call it that; they had me wait 30 min, and the interview lasted 15, most of which was questions I asked!!!), I kind of got what this would be. It was 4:30, so most of the real office people (instead of us night phone people) were there. One guy, who I am wondering thinking might be one of the founders, or is at least up there (ok, also isn't saying much, since it is maybe an office of 30, but STILL) was wearing a kind of ratty sweatshirt and kind of ratty jeans. Hmm, kind of taking casual Friday seriously, hey? The interviewer was younger than I am (sadly, I am sure that is getting more and more common) but yet never offered me a drink or to even take my COAT OFF. They offered me the job on the spot and then told me that training would be Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Then she said something like "If that doesn't work for you or if you change your mind about this job, just let me know". OKKKKK, am guessing oftentimes that happens then.
So, over the weekend, as we were trying to figure stuff out about the house and talking to people, and telling them about my employment, Chad would say "she is way over-qualified". I kind of laughed at that statement, because who really knows? Sure, a panda could do interviews over the phone with a script, but all I have been doing for 2 years is wiping bums and playing paddy-cake. How can I be qualified for anything anymore?
Wednesday rolls around and I show up for the training. The room was filled! 15 people there were; I felt slightly less special. The first hour and a half of the training was reading from the manual. Shoot me now, please. Then a break (I wish I had brought a book), then we read over the current project they are doing. Oh, and we filled out our schedule for the rest of February and March. How many people do you think asked what the hours were on Saturday? I lost track after 5. Several of them were minutes right after the other. There were slightly less questions about Sundays (the only day we are required to work on the weekend, by the way), but there were still repeats. One guy didn't have 2 forms of ID (he was going to call his mom to see if she had his birth certificate. He looked at least 45, by the way). There was even one guy who looked about 65! And dudes outnumbered the women (not something that I would think I would find in a phone job). When we read through the script, many people had problems -- skipping words or adding words in or mispronouncing words. Granted, it could have been nerves, since we all didn't know each other, and after 3 hours and a 15 minute break we were supposed to perform. And at the end, one of the 2 ladies in charge said to me "I am not sure how long you will have to be here tomorrow night, since we ran through everything but the [software program]" which is fine by me.
All in all, this job will be fine. The people, both of the supervisors and the new hires, seemed really nice, and I think they would be good to work with. I am sorry if I act like I am above all of this, because I don't really feel that way. I guess it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but why does that even matter? I do now think I am over-qualified for the job, but that isn't here nor there. I took it for the hours and the flexibility; for my family and for this house. We are on probation for 200 hours, and I swear, though, if I am fired and no one else is, I will wonder.
Now, when I had the interview (ha, if you could call it that; they had me wait 30 min, and the interview lasted 15, most of which was questions I asked!!!), I kind of got what this would be. It was 4:30, so most of the real office people (instead of us night phone people) were there. One guy, who I am wondering thinking might be one of the founders, or is at least up there (ok, also isn't saying much, since it is maybe an office of 30, but STILL) was wearing a kind of ratty sweatshirt and kind of ratty jeans. Hmm, kind of taking casual Friday seriously, hey? The interviewer was younger than I am (sadly, I am sure that is getting more and more common) but yet never offered me a drink or to even take my COAT OFF. They offered me the job on the spot and then told me that training would be Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Then she said something like "If that doesn't work for you or if you change your mind about this job, just let me know". OKKKKK, am guessing oftentimes that happens then.
So, over the weekend, as we were trying to figure stuff out about the house and talking to people, and telling them about my employment, Chad would say "she is way over-qualified". I kind of laughed at that statement, because who really knows? Sure, a panda could do interviews over the phone with a script, but all I have been doing for 2 years is wiping bums and playing paddy-cake. How can I be qualified for anything anymore?
Wednesday rolls around and I show up for the training. The room was filled! 15 people there were; I felt slightly less special. The first hour and a half of the training was reading from the manual. Shoot me now, please. Then a break (I wish I had brought a book), then we read over the current project they are doing. Oh, and we filled out our schedule for the rest of February and March. How many people do you think asked what the hours were on Saturday? I lost track after 5. Several of them were minutes right after the other. There were slightly less questions about Sundays (the only day we are required to work on the weekend, by the way), but there were still repeats. One guy didn't have 2 forms of ID (he was going to call his mom to see if she had his birth certificate. He looked at least 45, by the way). There was even one guy who looked about 65! And dudes outnumbered the women (not something that I would think I would find in a phone job). When we read through the script, many people had problems -- skipping words or adding words in or mispronouncing words. Granted, it could have been nerves, since we all didn't know each other, and after 3 hours and a 15 minute break we were supposed to perform. And at the end, one of the 2 ladies in charge said to me "I am not sure how long you will have to be here tomorrow night, since we ran through everything but the [software program]" which is fine by me.
All in all, this job will be fine. The people, both of the supervisors and the new hires, seemed really nice, and I think they would be good to work with. I am sorry if I act like I am above all of this, because I don't really feel that way. I guess it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but why does that even matter? I do now think I am over-qualified for the job, but that isn't here nor there. I took it for the hours and the flexibility; for my family and for this house. We are on probation for 200 hours, and I swear, though, if I am fired and no one else is, I will wonder.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Things are Looking Up
Jack is finally getting back to normal. I took him into the doctor yesterday, just because he was SO miserable and I was starting to think that it was strep and not his teeth. Well, my mom put the idea into my head, but who is counting. Anyway, hauled ourselves in only to be told that nope, all looks GREAT. Not good or ok or anything, but great. Just great. And the doctor even had the nerve to say "So I really have no idea what could be causing his fussiness. It could be a headache, his teeth or just the age". ARRRRGGGHHHH. He said that he didn't take a good look at his teeth, and it isn't as if Jack was letting him take his sweet time with the exam, so I am no closer to knowing why my little man is so totally miserable. For now, I am going with the 2 year molar excuse. Oh, and the doc said to feel free to medicate. Great.
Anyway, things really do seem better today. We made it to the gym with a little less crying (I would maybe be saying none if Jack hadn't fallen on his way inside and gotten all worked up) and I wasn't called away from my activities, so I call that progress. Jack even resorted back to "please" at lunch and skipped on the way into the house! I was starting to forget he could be fun to be around.
And if all that wasn't good enough, we might meet with the builder tonight. I have been staying up late at night, just laying there and thinking about things with this new house potential. Figuring out what we would need, and do and if it is all doable. I feel like it is and this is right, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, I guess. It is dangerously close to me wanting this too much, so I am trying to reign myself in. But I have a job interview on Friday, so I am at least working (ha ha) towards making this happen!
Anyway, things really do seem better today. We made it to the gym with a little less crying (I would maybe be saying none if Jack hadn't fallen on his way inside and gotten all worked up) and I wasn't called away from my activities, so I call that progress. Jack even resorted back to "please" at lunch and skipped on the way into the house! I was starting to forget he could be fun to be around.
And if all that wasn't good enough, we might meet with the builder tonight. I have been staying up late at night, just laying there and thinking about things with this new house potential. Figuring out what we would need, and do and if it is all doable. I feel like it is and this is right, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, I guess. It is dangerously close to me wanting this too much, so I am trying to reign myself in. But I have a job interview on Friday, so I am at least working (ha ha) towards making this happen!
Monday, February 14, 2005
Also
I forgot the biggest news! I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!! I haven't had my period since Thanksgiving, and have been obsessing, but I AM NOT! Chad finally got me to take a test. WHEW. Feel good about that one. I am pretty sure that the sporadic-ness is due to my weight and nursing, not sure both or more one or the other or just one, but I have decided I will wait a few months, get the weight thing together, and get myself checked out if it still is absent.
Oh, and I have already lost 4 inches (total). Actually, that was last week, but it was the first week I had kept track! It sure does feel good.
Oh, and I have already lost 4 inches (total). Actually, that was last week, but it was the first week I had kept track! It sure does feel good.
Tidbits
In honor of Charlie turning 7 months old yesterday, (and me forgetting to document it with a picture), here is a little post about what has been going on around here lately.
Jack is officially a preschooler now. Wow, it is hard to believe. Especially since he won't be able to start preschool for a year and a half, but hey, it is just a label. And I think he is getting his 2 year molars in. And holy moly, are they a bitch. At least I hope that is what they are; I shudder to think what else the poor guy could be going through. It has been hard for me to get to the gym, because he is such a bear and has been taking his nap in the morning. I think he could even use 2 naps a day, but we end up running around in the afternoons and I haven't gotten around to it. We had to cancel his pictures on Saturday because he was such a grump and took an early nap. Hopefully he will be better by this Saturday, when I rescheduled them for.
As we speak, Jack is playing next to me, with the art box I gathered for him for his birthday. And I am all stressing and trying to control what he plays with, even though it is his toy. I guess it just took me a lot of planning and searching to find these things, and I don't want it wrecked like his Elmo book (he got a great lift-the-flap Elmo book for his birthday, and one page was ripped to shreds by the next day). I want him to explore this box, but treat it with respect. Wow, even as I write that, I realize how impossible that would be.
Anyway, life here is busy! The gym (when I manage to go) eats about half of the day (although I only swim for a half an hour, the getting packed up/jackets on/into the car/drive to the gym/get out of the car/coats off/cajole Jack to stop crying and get into the nursery/sign kids in/try and get Jack to stop crying/finally bolt out of nursery hearing Jack screaming still/change into my suit/SWIM/shower, oh bliss/get dressed/pick up Charlie and Jack who seems to not notice my arrival/put coats on/get into car/drive home/into house/coats off part is really what takes all of the time...whew, maybe I don't need the swim part, the pre- and post- stuff seems to wear me out as it is!) and then naptime and then it is 3 or 4! So I feel like time has been flying by and I haven't really been able to keep up like I should. We get together with Chad's cousin's wife and their son about once a month (try to anyway) and she emailed me before we went to CA and I STILL haven't gotten back to her!! Better try to do that today. We have checks from Christmas that need to be deposited and shifted into the proper accounts (doing that today). Charlie's pictures need to be doled out and Jack's birthday thank yous need to be finished (TODAY PLEASE!!!). UGh. I just need a housecleaning or chores or finish up my shit day.
And so what did we do this weekend? Toured the Parade of Homes and cooked up ways we could go deeper into debt. No, it was good. We have been searching for our next place to live for awhile now, and I think we found it. We at least found 4 or 5 options that we want to check out. The bad part is, most of it is far away from my parents, and I think my Mom will freak. That is why I am going to wait. I am going to try and wait to tell most everyone, to be honest. Just see how it goes and all that. Our favorite option is to build a new house, with a closing in about a year and a half. That gives us time to get our finances in order (I hope) and finish up all of our special projects on this house. I need to get the courage to email this builder lady to talk about pricing and options and whatnot. Some hard numbers so we can see really what we are dealing with here. And I need to probably get a job. *shudder*. Part-time and evenings or weekends only. There are some good prospects in the paper that I will try to check out today. Man, my list for the day is really getting long.
As for Charlie, he is a changed baby. All of a sudden, he has become inquisitive and energetic! He twists around on the changing table constantly. He loves his exersaucer and actively plays on it. If you put him on the ground, he rolls around and tries to get at things! I think my quiet little man is now my excited baby! He is also trying to crawl. He is kind of a long way off from it, but still, he wasn't trying to do that 10 days ago. He is really a fun baby, and the sleeping problems he was having 2 or so weeks ago seem to have sorted themself out (THANK GOD). Now I really think he will be the baby that is into EVERYTHING. Oh well, it was bound to happen.
Jack is officially a preschooler now. Wow, it is hard to believe. Especially since he won't be able to start preschool for a year and a half, but hey, it is just a label. And I think he is getting his 2 year molars in. And holy moly, are they a bitch. At least I hope that is what they are; I shudder to think what else the poor guy could be going through. It has been hard for me to get to the gym, because he is such a bear and has been taking his nap in the morning. I think he could even use 2 naps a day, but we end up running around in the afternoons and I haven't gotten around to it. We had to cancel his pictures on Saturday because he was such a grump and took an early nap. Hopefully he will be better by this Saturday, when I rescheduled them for.
As we speak, Jack is playing next to me, with the art box I gathered for him for his birthday. And I am all stressing and trying to control what he plays with, even though it is his toy. I guess it just took me a lot of planning and searching to find these things, and I don't want it wrecked like his Elmo book (he got a great lift-the-flap Elmo book for his birthday, and one page was ripped to shreds by the next day). I want him to explore this box, but treat it with respect. Wow, even as I write that, I realize how impossible that would be.
Anyway, life here is busy! The gym (when I manage to go) eats about half of the day (although I only swim for a half an hour, the getting packed up/jackets on/into the car/drive to the gym/get out of the car/coats off/cajole Jack to stop crying and get into the nursery/sign kids in/try and get Jack to stop crying/finally bolt out of nursery hearing Jack screaming still/change into my suit/SWIM/shower, oh bliss/get dressed/pick up Charlie and Jack who seems to not notice my arrival/put coats on/get into car/drive home/into house/coats off part is really what takes all of the time...whew, maybe I don't need the swim part, the pre- and post- stuff seems to wear me out as it is!) and then naptime and then it is 3 or 4! So I feel like time has been flying by and I haven't really been able to keep up like I should. We get together with Chad's cousin's wife and their son about once a month (try to anyway) and she emailed me before we went to CA and I STILL haven't gotten back to her!! Better try to do that today. We have checks from Christmas that need to be deposited and shifted into the proper accounts (doing that today). Charlie's pictures need to be doled out and Jack's birthday thank yous need to be finished (TODAY PLEASE!!!). UGh. I just need a housecleaning or chores or finish up my shit day.
And so what did we do this weekend? Toured the Parade of Homes and cooked up ways we could go deeper into debt. No, it was good. We have been searching for our next place to live for awhile now, and I think we found it. We at least found 4 or 5 options that we want to check out. The bad part is, most of it is far away from my parents, and I think my Mom will freak. That is why I am going to wait. I am going to try and wait to tell most everyone, to be honest. Just see how it goes and all that. Our favorite option is to build a new house, with a closing in about a year and a half. That gives us time to get our finances in order (I hope) and finish up all of our special projects on this house. I need to get the courage to email this builder lady to talk about pricing and options and whatnot. Some hard numbers so we can see really what we are dealing with here. And I need to probably get a job. *shudder*. Part-time and evenings or weekends only. There are some good prospects in the paper that I will try to check out today. Man, my list for the day is really getting long.
As for Charlie, he is a changed baby. All of a sudden, he has become inquisitive and energetic! He twists around on the changing table constantly. He loves his exersaucer and actively plays on it. If you put him on the ground, he rolls around and tries to get at things! I think my quiet little man is now my excited baby! He is also trying to crawl. He is kind of a long way off from it, but still, he wasn't trying to do that 10 days ago. He is really a fun baby, and the sleeping problems he was having 2 or so weeks ago seem to have sorted themself out (THANK GOD). Now I really think he will be the baby that is into EVERYTHING. Oh well, it was bound to happen.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Where Has it Gone?
Jack turned 2 on Saturday. In some ways, it seems like he has been here so much longer than that, but yet it has flown by. I know that this is a common feeling among parents, and people are always telling new parents that, yet I can't help but be shocked by it still. I look at my little man today and can barely recall the infant he was 2 years ago. I look at videos and photos from then and I struggle to remember the time. Not to mention what it was like to have just one child!
We spent Saturday together as a famiy, which is exactly how I wanted it. There will be so many oppurtunities in the future for parties "on the day", that I wanted it to be just us at least this one time. His party with the family and others is this Saturday. We went to the aquarium at the Mall of America and had such a nice time. Jack loved pointing out the fish and the turtles and seemed quite in awe of it all. To be honest, Chad and I were, too. It is a fabulous aqaurium, and I am thinking that next year we will get a family pass. It is so close by, and it would be nice to go in the winter during the day if we are feeling restless (and we have to pay for kids at 3 years old). We had lunch at the mall, too, and then we went back home. The original plan was to head to the rides in the mall, but Jack isn't very fond of them yet, and Chad and I were awful tired. Jack went down for a nice nap, and we just did some stuff around the house. We had a simple dinner and a Jell-o cake I made (it looked horrible but Jack liked it; he yelled "CAKE" for two days after it!) and then it was bedtime! Chad actually went back to the aqarium, since he said he was too busy with Jack to appreciate it, and I sat down to watch Jack's video. I watched his birth (ok, you don't actually see it, Chad placed the camera perfectly) and the hour or so afterwards is on there. At first I wanted to cut it shorter, but I like listening to it all and hearing what we were all saying. I cried some, it is just such a huge moment in my life, and I realized that there is no way I am done having kids. One more, that is all I ask. Chad got home as I hit about the middle of the tape, and we watched the rest together. It was a very nice evening and it went just the way I wanted it to. I am hoping that next year Jack will watch the video with me, with the new additions from this year on it. And hopefully for a few more years after that, until he is a sullen teenager who won't even sit next to me. But at least I will be getting a full night's rest (unless he is out, driving around).
2 years down, and hopefully decades and decades and decades to go.
We spent Saturday together as a famiy, which is exactly how I wanted it. There will be so many oppurtunities in the future for parties "on the day", that I wanted it to be just us at least this one time. His party with the family and others is this Saturday. We went to the aquarium at the Mall of America and had such a nice time. Jack loved pointing out the fish and the turtles and seemed quite in awe of it all. To be honest, Chad and I were, too. It is a fabulous aqaurium, and I am thinking that next year we will get a family pass. It is so close by, and it would be nice to go in the winter during the day if we are feeling restless (and we have to pay for kids at 3 years old). We had lunch at the mall, too, and then we went back home. The original plan was to head to the rides in the mall, but Jack isn't very fond of them yet, and Chad and I were awful tired. Jack went down for a nice nap, and we just did some stuff around the house. We had a simple dinner and a Jell-o cake I made (it looked horrible but Jack liked it; he yelled "CAKE" for two days after it!) and then it was bedtime! Chad actually went back to the aqarium, since he said he was too busy with Jack to appreciate it, and I sat down to watch Jack's video. I watched his birth (ok, you don't actually see it, Chad placed the camera perfectly) and the hour or so afterwards is on there. At first I wanted to cut it shorter, but I like listening to it all and hearing what we were all saying. I cried some, it is just such a huge moment in my life, and I realized that there is no way I am done having kids. One more, that is all I ask. Chad got home as I hit about the middle of the tape, and we watched the rest together. It was a very nice evening and it went just the way I wanted it to. I am hoping that next year Jack will watch the video with me, with the new additions from this year on it. And hopefully for a few more years after that, until he is a sullen teenager who won't even sit next to me. But at least I will be getting a full night's rest (unless he is out, driving around).
2 years down, and hopefully decades and decades and decades to go.
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