It looks like I’ll be without my laptop AGAIN for ANOTHER two weeks because the >:XX webcam is out of place. Yeah, who knew I hadn’t used the webcam since I bought this laptop in October. I was trying to Skype tonight (for the first time) and I was like “Hey, why is there this black moon cutting off the view?” I finally figured out that the camera has slid down (or has always been out of place?) so that the laptop case/cover is blocking it. >:XX
One of the games Tom plays with Owen is “Which way?” Tom will hold Owen, ask Which way?, and Owen will point and Tom will trot off in that direction. It’s totally adorable, and he’s getting more familiar with it—you can just be holding him now and not say anything and he points!
So we were at Costco tonight and he was tired of sitting in the cart, so we let him walk around a bit, then sat him on the hand truck on top of the big boxes we had…and he LOVED it! This is him telling us “which way” he wanted to go!
I hope I never have to wear a cast. It wasn’t even 18 hours with my finger wrapped and I was going nuts. It felt soooo good to unwrap it and wash it (and itch it!) and I hated to dress it again. Tomorrow I can leave it unbandaged…YAY!
Tonight I was laying out his PJs and nighttime diaper on the changing table while he was watching TV. He saw me doing so, and walked over to me to get himself changed! Then I turned off the TV and told him it was time for bed…and he grabs his blanket and heads upstairs, then climbs into bed and lays down. :up:
It started innocently enough, doing dishes. Well, I wasn’t even really washing dishes per se—like the knife wasn’t hiding in soapy water (my mom taught me that knives never go in the water—they sit to the side). I was just washing the one knife, with a scrubby, under water. It wasn’t even dirty, it was just new and needed a cursory 5-second wash. But I wasn’t paying too much attention and I was trying to do it really quickly—and suddenly I felt a ZING! and saw blood spurt into the sink. Egads.
And there was sooooooo much blood (it’s a good thing blood doesn’t really bother me). It hurt but not like I thought it would. I was actually more ticked because I couldn’t see the extent of the injury due to all the blood. When I finally got to look at it, I saw that I sliced my fingernail at the base along with about a 1/2″ gash in my finger.
Then…the Twitter and Facebook posts commenced. 🙂
2:16pm I just cut my finger with a new knife. More blood than I’d prefer. #thingsthatmakemeswear
2:30pm See? Not TOO bad. Right?
2:45pm It’s bandaged now (with a spray of pain reliever and a big band-aid).
I was pretty sure I didn’t need stitches, but after seeing the picture, friends told me it might warrant a few stitches, but…
When Tom came home I unwrapped it to show him and it started bleeding again, and he told me I should go to the ER. Ugh.
6:34pm At ER waiting for stitches—Tom convinced me to go. At least they’re fast (waiting for a PA).
7:11pm Up next: tetanus shot, since I can’t remember when I last had one.
7:20pm Well I thought this was going to be a super quick visit—I was triaged and waiting for the PA within 10 minutes. Then it was 30 minutes before they took me to the minor care center. I’ve been here 25 and have seen the PA but am waiting for my tetanus and then the stitches. Hopefully the rest goes more quickly as I didn’t eat dinner.
7:33pm I wish I knew why it took 30+ minutes to get a tetanus. At this rate I’ll be home at midnight. 🙁 Otherwise, I like this place.
7:44pm Harnessing the power of posting… How long does it take to get stitches? (I posted re: the tetanus and had it 5 min later.) #knockonwood
8:14pm I’m all numbed up. The PA was awesome. She said lacerations are her favorite thing and she loves doing stitches. Lucky me! It was neat watching her efficiency…and thinking that numbing agents are awesome, because I should really be able to feel that needle sewing me up! (I had warned her that I might need more than the normal amount of anesthetic—recounting my birth story—but I ended up only needing the usual amount.)
8:20pm Five stitches (which brings my current lifetime total to 10).
8:35pm I guess 2 hours round trip wasn’t bad (from my house back to my house), but it felt soooo much longer. The PA said that tonight was really busy, but you’d never know from how un-busy it looked.
The funny thing is, I’m all about doctors and medicine and having someone be able to fix something, but I really didn’t feel my injury necessitated a trip to the ER. I told the PA I didn’t want to take up valuable time and resources for what was essentially a CUT. She said an ER visit was definitely warranted. Especially if it cuts into the nail (had I cut more of it, she would have had to take the whole nail off!). Well, now I know.
I can’t believe all the normal day-to-stay stuff that is hindered by having this finger out of commission. Like using any silverware, unscrewing jars, putting in contacts (I use that specific finger), writing, picking up Owen, typing, etc.
I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but these are the most recent additions:
again
sorry
carrot
nose
toes
bat
wind
treat
snack
eat
rain
rocket
big
jet
kangaroo (though it sounds like kaggaroo)
This is what we get after every bath. Shrieking and laughing and giggling! It’s hilarious!
Each of our names had a ton of results, but these were the best:
Politically incorrect but funny…
He loves dunking his face in the bubbles!
Since I posted a week ago, here are more new words:
baby
broken
boo (as in peek-a-boo—he only says the boo part) 🙂
rain
beach
tuba
drum
guitar
horn
track
ramp
bus
And some words (turtle) and letters (W) are MUCH clearer than they used to be. And we’re getting a lot of “____ gone” sentences. And I swear he read “at” during Super Why today. 🙂
We have been going to the community center preschool once a week for the past 10 weeks, and Owen has NOT ONCE wanted to go on the slide—even with my coaxing AND watching other kids—until, of course, the last five minutes of the last session today…at which point he apparently decided he loved it and went down about eight times before I had to stop him (class was over).
So when we came home and after his nap, we went out to play (since it was like 68 degrees) and I hauled out his slide from last summer…and…HE LOVED IT! And was old enough to climb up and slide down on his own (though I had to help him a few times until he got the hang of climbing up). He slides down then says “again!” over and over.
It’s a little windy:
With my boy:
Today was the first nice day of the year—55 and sunny—so Owen and I went outside to play! The first time we went out, Owen was excited to see THREE trucks come by—the garbage truck, the mail truck, and the FedEx truck! When the FedEx truck went by, he said “X! F!” 🙂 He also enjoyed splashing in the puddles.
After lunch, when it was about time for Tom to come home, we went out again. This time there was much more splashing!
He did not want to go inside—he apparently now remembers how fun it is to be outside—so we went out to the porch while the grill heated up for dinner. He wanted to play with Maggie’s toy…but she wanted the toy more, so she knocked him down trying to get it. He had a fit until I went downstairs and brought up this toy from last summer. You should have seen his face when he saw it—so happy!
So our NC house is vacant and has been vacant since late December. Since we are now moving back, we don’t have time for even 6-month tenants, so, it will be vacant until we get there…but the vacancy means our normal insurance is being canceled.
My current insurance agent is great, but she can really do no more for me. She did tell me that our mortgage company would write a vacant policy to protect their investment. So I called.
Ugh.
I told the operator that I needed an insurance policy for a vacant property. She transferred me to the insurance department, whereupon the guy basically laughed at me when I told him what I needed, saying they don’t write policies for vacant houses. Oooo-kay. He said she just gave me to the wrong department and tells me I need a “Lender Provided Policy” (or something like that).
So I call again, get the same operator who doesn’t seem to remember me calling five minute before (even with my somewhat memorable name), and tell her what I need. She transfers me to Chris, who I tell what I need, and he apparently can’t help me (so why did I get transferred to him?) so transfers me to Janine, a manager in the Hazard Insurance Department…who after hearing what I need, says she can’t write me a policy and I need to talk to the insurance select department. :??:
I asked her if that was the same as the general insurance division and yes, it was (the phone numbers matched). She seemed surprised that I’d already talked to them and they couldn’t help me. Then she told me I really should be contacting the Fair Plan [something or other] in my state because they were the ones that should be able to help me. She then told me about her personal experience with vacant policies…because she couldn’t write one herself….and that it would likely be about $400/mo with the annual payment due up front.
WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
“So, let me get this clear? I called to get a vacant insurance policy from Wells Fargo, they transferred me to the insurance department who laughed at me, I called back and was transferred twice to you, someone who cannot write a policy for me?”
Bingo.
So I called my agent back just to see if she had any other advice, and to ask about the Fair Plan thing. She said THAT is who is canceling me. Lovely. She said that Wells Fargo would surely get off their ass when they got the insurance cancellation notice.
Great.
So now we’re in a mad rush to find a friend or someone who will go move in to the house rent-free for three months, just to avoid this crap.
Regardless, I am ready to pull my >:XX hair out over this stupid house.
So I get all of my credit card statements via email, and when I do, I pay them. Simple, right? Happens every month like clockwork and I always pay every bill on time.
Well, apparently, if American Express mails you a hard copy—like they do for the month you get your Costco rebate check—they SKIP sending you the email. Why on earth they can’t continue to send an email that month is beyond me.
You can see where this is going, can’t you? >:-(
Yeah, I got charged a $15 late fee and I’m sure there will be interest. Ugh. And yeah, I’m so used to receiving emailed statements that it DID NOT EVEN OCCUR TO ME that the mailed statement was a real statement. A sign of the digital times, I guess?
That said, I paid the full balance (plus some extra) immediately, then emailed them and complained about their process. To their credit, they did waive the fee, but I still think it’s asinine they can’t send an email when they also send a hard copy. I mean, how hard can it be? Why WOULDN’T you send one?
Owen has certainly had ice cream before, but today we went to Oberweis Dairy with Papa and Grannie Smith and ordered him his very own bowl (instead of just feeding him bites of ours or letting him lick our cones).
When he got down to the bottom of the cup he was having a hard time, so Tom took over feeding him.
Then the manager came over to check on us, and gave Owen a balloon and some stickers!
Some words we’ve added to the list are:
Spaceship
Zoom
Robot
Hot
Stinky
Pa
Bed
Turtle
Milk
Juice
Rocket
Apple
Cracker
Hat
Pie
Soccer
Grouch
Zoe
Owen stayed in bed all night as far as we can tell! If he did get out, he did it without drama and got back in…so we’re pretty sure he just slept soundly all night as he normally does. That said, it doesn’t mean me or Tom slept well all night. I tossed and turned, waiting to hear a THUNK and crying as he fell out of bed. Or him pounding on the wall at 2am or something. But he didn’t. Such a good boy!
Thursday nap time went fairly well—it only took him about 10 minutes to settle down and fall asleep, though at the beginning it was more worrisome because he did NOT appear tired at all and was bouncing around and climbing on the dresser. But then just like that, he was laying down, sucking his thumb, and out.
Thursday bedtime apparently went really well, too—though I wasn’t home so Tom was in charge. Linda and I got home from shopping at 8:42 and Tom was already downstairs! He said he put Owen down and he rolled around a bit but made no attempts to be active or get out of bed.
This morning (Friday) I woke up at 7:05 and Owen still appeared to be sleeping. By the time I got out of the bathroom, he was up and starting to get out of his bed. Which would have been fine, except I was up so I went and got him.
Today’s nap time took a little longer than yesterday—he was more rambunctious (jumping on the bed, rolling around, climbing on the dresser) and I had to put him back about six times. The whole thing seemed like more of a game to him this time—like when he started toward the edge of the bed and I moved to intercept him, he’d laugh and fall back down to the bed. As I moved out of the room, he’d lean over the edge of the bed to peer at me sitting in the hallway. It was so dang cute, it was all I could do to not break up laughing. Then I shut the door most of the way, figuring he’d forget I was out here and quit paying attention to me…but dang if I couldn’t still see him peeking through the tiny slit in the doorway. Then the little stinker leaned over and SHUT THE DOOR on me. |-| I ended up watching on the monitor…
…and had to go back in twice to put him back on the bed (he was up wandering around the room) and then he finally crashed.
So he’s still doing pretty good, but I wonder how Tom manages to get the easy times? 😉
The short story?
We no longer have renters. :##
The long story?
Our property manager emailed us saying that they didn’t go for the five-month lease…which I assumed meant they signed the six-month lease. Except Tom had texted me to say the renters had walked out. Huh? WALKED OUT? What?
I was livid—how could someone screw up something so simple as “The owners were wondering if you’d sign a five month lease? No? Okay, here, sign the one for six months.” But at the time, I didn’t know I didn’t have the whole story. Very unfortunate, because I spent a good hour or two being so upset and stressed that I couldn’t breathe and wanted to vomit.
Come to find out, it was probably for the best. When Tom finally had time to tell me the whole story, he said that our PM had asked them if they’d sign the lesser lease, explaining that we were moving back and that would work better for us. They apparently freaked out a bit because (are you ready for this?) they were planning on extending (renewing) their lease at the end of the six months! WHAT?!? Yeah, exactly.
So the slimy sneaky rat bastards had low-balled us because they likely knew we were desperate (and/or they were cheap) and planned on hopefully sneaking a full year (or more) lease by us, eventually hoping that we’d agree to the same rent because we wouldn’t want to deal with the hassle of kicking them out and finding new tenants. And their plan was suddenly foiled because we were actually coming back to the house! So they beat feet to another rental house where the PM there called our PM to ask why they didn’t take our house. So hopefully they get screwed out of that house, too—or at least can’t pull the same scam.
So we decided to just pull the house from the rental market and suck up the 3.5 months rent until we move back there. Yes, it’s a crap load of money, but what can we do? No one is going to sign a 3.5 or 4 month lease. We don’t want to sign a 6-month lease because then we’d have to find somewhere else to live for a short time (or have Tom live on base alone and us come down later, while still paying rent in Michigan). We could hope for a year lease, but then we’d still have to find somewhere to rent—which seems silly since we have a house there. Ugh. We did leave the house on the sale market, just in case…but we’re not holding out hope.
In the meantime, we have to worry about our homeowner’s insurance…because we lose our current insurance on March 15 if we don’t have tenants. The house is officially (and legally) considered VACANT and those policies are quite expensive—and not generally written by our current insurance company. Of course, right? I have been told that there is a difference between VACANT and UNOCCUPIED (which would be like a vacation home) and we are hoping that maybe we can zip down with a Uhaul and dump some furniture in the house and promise to have neighbors check on it weekly until we get there. If that won’t fly, we will likely have to contact Wells Fargo and they will give us a temporary insurance policy to protect their asset.
So, we’ll be flat broke in a few months…but at least we’ll have our own house back. Not that I’m completely thrilled about that (layout wise it’s not the house I wanted to have kids in) but we do have our great neighbors and great friends.
And maybe somewhere along the line we’ll catch a break.
Ugh. Unbelievable.
So we’ve really been thinking we’ll be sent to California, because we’ve already spent five years in NC and it was HIGHLY unlikely we’d be sent back there. Also, Tom really needs to work for “the wing” (vs. the ground, as he has done already) which also means California. So we’ve been waiting on the word since December.
In the meantime, we have been trying to rent or sell our NC house. Desperately trying. We joked that the minute we rented or sold it, we’d find out we were moving back there. Ha ha. Right. Funny.
Yesterday we find out we have renters for six months.
Today we find out we’re going back to NC, effective July 31.
REALLY?
It’s not really a horrible terrible no-good situation because we couldn’t afford to keep it empty for the four months (until Tom has to be there) but it’s just the type of luck we have. We are hoping since they only wanted a six-month lease that a five-month lease will sound even better. Then, Tom would go live as a bachelor for a month (likely on base) and Owen and I would come down when the house was empty. Unless, of course, we sell it in the meantime.
It’s just so…sucky.
Ugh.
Just, ugh.
I’m trying to concentrate on the positives: we will be moving back to a place we have good friends, good neighbors (well, unless we sell the house), are already familiar with the area, and that isn’t a mandatory plane flight from home.
But, still. When are we going to catch a break?
We start tearing apart his room—taking his crib apart, taking out furniture, bringing the double bed in, moving the video monitor. He’s watching it all and is having fun pretend sleeping in the sideways crib, saying “BED!” when he sees the bed coming in, and playing with toys that have been lost under the crib.
Tom takes him up to put him to bed. We watch him put him back into the bed twice before he leaves and shuts the door.
Owen is CRYING, up out of bed, and turning the light on. I beeline upstairs and go in, wordlessly put him back in the bed, and sit on the floor at the end of the bed. He keeps trying to get out, crying and turning on the light. I keep putting him back and sitting at the end of the bed on the floor.
Owen is cuddling on his bear with his B and things seem to be calming down, but every time I slide a bit closer to the door, his head pops up to see what’s going on. I get up to turn out the hall light (since the door was open) and he climbs out again. I put him back.
I am sitting in the middle of the doorway, half in his room and half in the hall. He seems to be okay. I start pulling the door shut a few inches at a time. Again, he looks at me and stirs every time…but stays quiet.
I’m 100% in the hallway and the door is almost closed. Of course the only place in the entire hallway that squeaks is right outside his door.
I shut the door super quietly and listened. Nothing.
I text Tom (who is downstairs and can see the monitor) to see if he’s still in bed. Yes, he is.
I head downstairs and Owen seems perfectly fine.
Thank you, Supernanny. :up:
Owen has discovered that if he dunks his face into the water/bubbles, they stick to his face! Then he gets some in his mouth and realizes they don’t taste good. Lather, rinse, repeat. 🙂
I wake up, roll over, and turn on the monitor to see what Owen’s status is. He’s awake, but just laying there like he normally does. So I decided to take a quick shower since I had a morning appointment.
I took my normal five minute shower, got dressed, and went to get him. I thought I heard clunking noises coming from his room that didn’t sound like his normal knocking on the wall, momentarily thought that maybe Tom came home for something he forgot, but then figured I was either hearing things or it was coming from outside.
I open his door—and immediately notice the light is on. Huh? What? Oh, I figured my dad was probably in there with him, having heard him when I was in the shower. But upon fully opening the door, there was no dad. Heck, there was no Owen! 88| I think my heart actually skipped a beat: OWEN WAS NOT IN THE CRIB!!! I turned and there he was, playing with the closet doors (the strange clunking I had heard)!
Oh.
My.
God.
This meant he could get out of his crib. NOT. GOOD.
He seemed no worse for the wear—so he obviously didn’t hurt himself in any way during his escape. But I was clueless how he’d managed it. Did he get out onto the dresser (which is right next to the crib) then drop onto the floor? Or did he just jump over? And more importantly, was this a freak occurrence or might it happen again (now that he knows he can do it)? What surprised me is that his B (blanket) was still in the crib. I thought if ANYTHING would send him over the edge (no pun intended) it would be when he tosses his B over the side and can’t get it. But the B was safe inside the crib.
Hoo boy.
Of course, just yesterday I was talking with my stepmom (Grammy Lin) about how he loved his crib and never even tried to get out and we’d leave him in there until he was four if we could. 😮 So, I jinxed it. Dammit.
So we took the Pillow Pet out of the crib, thinking maybe he used that as leverage to get out. There is a bumper in there, but it’s covered with the breathable mesh bumper, so I don’t think he can get a good foothold on that.
So we decided to just see what happened when we put him down for his nap. It went as expected, just like always, with us putting him in, him wiggling around to try and find his sweet spot, and then…
I watched Owen climb out of his crib. Of course I couldn’t see the whole thing because the camera just focuses on his crib—but I could see him throw his leg up over the side (not stepping on anything or using the bumper) and by the time I ran upstairs, he was out. It was near where the dresser is, but I’m not sure if he slid onto the dresser and then down or just straight over the side. Again, he wasn’t hurt, so he didn’t bang into the dresser or anything. He was NOT happy to be put back in the crib, either.
I rush to our room to turn the monitor on to watch him again—and it’s pure static, which means somehow the camera came unplugged or the plug (power) got pulled. So I couldn’t see him and had to rely on listening to see if he escaped again. And I was paranoid. I waited a good 10 minutes and didn’t hear another thunk or hear him playing with the closet or crying…so I assume he’s napping.
So, I guess we rearrange the room tonight and start a new chapter. I’m so not ready for this.
I had it planned that we’d transition him when we moved—using the Double bed that we have—figuring we’ll have fewer visitors and won’t need the bed for guests. So now…we have to adjust that. Ugh. We don’t really want to use a toddler bed (because then he’d just have another transition moving to a Twin or bigger) and why buy a Twin since we do already have the Double?? So we’ll probably just use that (even though it will take up most of his room) and Uncle Rob will have to use the air mattress in the guest room. 🙂
About three weeks ago I bought a ceramic flat iron when Amazon was offering it for a great deal. I didn’t really need it—nor did I need to spend the $50 on it—but I did, thinking I could likely resell it (or worst case, actually use it when mine dies since it’s a better one). I listed it on Amazon for $149.99 (it supposedly retails for $249)—and it sold within a few hours!! After Amazon fees and the original cost, I made $80. I knew I should have bought a handful of them! :up:
I had a baby/toddler toy that is kinda big that I wanted to get rid of. Owen still liked it and played with it, but we’re trying to downsize (and he has enough other toys). Checking Amazon, they are apparently no longer available (though a newer, different model is) but there were two sellers: one for $100 and one for $300 (88|) so I figured What the hell? and listed mine at $99.99, fully expecting it to just sit there. I also listed it on Craigslist for much less since I wouldn’t have to worry about shipping—because Amazon doesn’t give you a fair price for shipping costs. But, I figured, even with the fees and S/H, I’d still make a fair amount.
So imagine my surprise when it sells…a day later! 88| YAY! But then I had to pack and ship this huge 14x18x18 thing! It has its own box but needed a shipping box, which of course we didn’t have, so I had to cobble together two boxes (which ended up to be 18x18x24) and use about a roll of tape. Fortunately, shipping only ended up to be like $5 more (instead of the $15 more I was thinking) and the tape was free (leftover from our military move)…so long story short, I paid $30 for it at Target a year ago and will have made, after fees and charges, $50! :up:
Who says I’m not working and making money? :b
A brutal hot-iron branding…or a hair cut?
Before & After
We went to the grocery store tonight and while we were checking out, the cashier gave Owen a sticker and he said thank you.
Or not.
But it sure sounded like it to both of us, because we both looked at each other in the same instant like “Did you just hear what I heard?” Sure, it was more like “tak oo” but we heard it.
Then…he actually waved goodbye—on cue—instead of waiting until we were out the door.
Or two years one month. 🙂
We have started to ask if Owen is stinky when we think he has pooped, and this is what it turned into…just adorable.
