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Category Archives: Fails

What a discouraging week. Blurg.

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I’m really bummed this morning. I just weighed myself for my weekly weigh-in and…I’m up about four pounds from last Sunday!

WHAT?!?!?!?

Now, granted, last Sunday I weighed on a different scale (at my mom’s house)…BUT it’s the exact scale we have and my previous weighings on her scale showed similar results to mine (meaning I weighed myself Sunday night when we got there and it was up 2-3 pounds from my house, which was likely attributable to weighing at night with clothes as opposed to naked in the morning).

If our scale is right, I didn’t lose anything at all the entire week we were in Michigan when I was eating like a bird because I wasn’t hungry. Seems highly unlikely. Gah.

THAT SAID, I know I haven’t been 100% on my game because this past week just felt off all week. One or two days I ate a few pieces of Halloween candy (like a few sweet tarts, a mini kit kat, and a mini Reese’s cup—allowed, of course, except I didn’t eat them at the “right” time)—then I ate “dinner” (1/3 cup mac and cheese and 1/2 a brat) at 8:00 even though I wasn’t technically at the correct hunger level. And I didn’t exercise like I normally do. And on more than a few days it felt like I just wanted to eat ALL THE FOOD ALL THE TIME (even though I didn’t). It’s not “that time of the month” because that doesn’t happen on the birth control I’m on…but whatever the reason is I hate it. I don’t want to eat. I’m not hungry. But I want everything. And my normal willpower has dissipated.

Fortunately, this is a new week and I’ll just get back to basics (again) and hopefully I’ll lose another seven like I did a few weeks ago.

But in the meantime, I do try to remember that I’ve already lost a serious amount of weight in quite a short time and I should be thrilled (which I am!) but it’s hard not to be somewhat discouraged about such a huge unexpected swing. 🙁

Whoopsie Daisy

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So after the big boohoo I had this weekend about my .4 weight gain…I finally opened my spreadsheet today to input the info (I skipped it because I wasn’t ready to input hard proof of a gain) and…WHAT IS THIS? I lost .4 pounds?! That’s what you get for weighing more than once a week and you look at the wrong date it Fitbit to calculate your weekly loss.

So, it was still a sucky week and I still needed to get back on track, but at least I don’t have that small upward blip anymore! And it made me look back at previous weeks…and I had one other week where I only lost .2 so this wasn’t even my worst week. 🙂

Here’s my chart thus far on my Excel spreadsheet:

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And with the same data at Naturally Slim:

I love it. 🙂

If you need me I’ll be on the couch.

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There’s nothing like tripping on nothing? a small rock? in your driveway, falling and scraping both feet, smashing a knee, and scraping and smacking your wrist to make you appreciate how good you HAD been feeling. 

Within 10 minutes my back was hurting along with everything else and I had to take some painkillers. 
I knew I should have left the garbage and recycling bins for Tom to bring in. 🙂

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

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We went to get something out of the garage freezer for dinner…and it was open. Apparently one of our guests last night opened the freezer thinking it was a fridge…and didn’t shut it right. (It has a baby lock on the top, which would have had to be opened first…so they had to have known it was there…but then pushed it closed with the latch in the way.)

So it had been open 24 hours. 😐 Everything in the front 6″ was completely thawed and warm. Thankfully a bit farther back stuff was still cold and frozen.

Oh, you’re saying, haven’t you been through this exact scenario multiple times? Didn’t you get an alarm so it would alert you when the temperature changed? Why, yes. Yes we have. And yes, yes we did. And the alarm was installed…BUT TURNED OFF. I’m sure one of us did it but I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would’ve turned the alarm off so who knows. As soon as I turned the alarm back on it started beeping exactly as it should! GRRR.

We tossed at least $100 worth of food—sucky, but it could have been A LOT worse. And then the decisions—in quick succession:

  1. We need to get the coolers down and start emptying the freezer.
  2. We need to start cooking some of the stuff to save it (I was on the stove, Tom started the grill).
  3. We need to start defrosting the freezer (we might as well since it needed it and there’s really no better time). Thankfully (?) I’m well-versed in this procedure and knew it wouldn’t take long.
  4. And then finally…yeah…let’s just go buy a new freezer. (We’d been talking about it but obviously wanted to do it on our own terms…not this way.)

And we couldn’t really even wait until tomorrow because—as luck would have it—our street is going to be closed for two days for resurfacing so we couldn’t even get to our driveway with a freezer if we wanted to! And we have two coolers full of frozen food right now! We bought the freezer at our first house in 2003…so at 12 years old it was time. And we figured a newer one would be more efficient. Unfortunately, all the easily-available freezers today are bigger than what we currently have…which means we now get to reconfigure everything (shelving, etc.) because it’s all arranged Tetris-style to be able to fit in as much as possible and there’s no easy wiggle room for an additional 4″ of freezer…plus we now have to move the dorm fridge because it was on top of the old freezer but the new freezer is too tall.

As expected, it took under an hour to defrost the whole thing. As I said, I’m a pro at this.

Tom was back with the new freezer within a little over an hour and we had it plugged in immediately. Amazingly, it was down to temp within about an hour (!) so we loaded it up. The one good thing about a bigger freezer is that everything fit in there with room to spare. Now, we just have to not fill it up!! (Actually, we were already on a freezer-goods-purchasing-freeze so the ultimate goal is to leave the empty space so we can actually see what we have at all times.)

The one saving grace is that we got rid of the old freezer within a few hours. I posted it on a Facebook yard sale group and a friend in the neighborhood actually saw it and came and got it!

I’m not saving that Lego.

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Subtitled: Well that’s a first.
Subtitled: That’s not how you play with Legos.
Subtitled: Owen put one up his nose, Katie ate one.
Subtitled: There will be NO pictures of this.
Subtitled: SERIOUSLY?!
Submitted: Katie ate a Lego head today.

Tom and I were in the office and Katie was watching TV. She came into the office and said she put Elsa’s head in her mouth. She knows she’s not supposed to put toys in her mouth and she usually tries to hide it, so we were interested. Tom asked where Elsa’s head was and Katie pointed to her throat.

What?!

We asked if it was in her mouth. No. 

We asked her to go find Elsa. She was indeed headless. 

We asked again where Elsa’s head was and she pointed to her throat. 

Kids. 😐

I can’t believe this hasn’t happened before now.

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She went in to go potty while I was picking out her clothes…when suddenly I heard crying. I ran in there to see this. 

She was not happy. But of course I took the extra 10 seconds to snap a pic before helping her out. 🙂 It was only pee water but I figured I’d better at least rinse her off—and she didn’t like that, either.

What a way to start the day. Poor Katie. 

The last straw. 

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Owen pushed my very last food button tonight. From now on he eats what we eat for dinner. And I predict he’ll go hungry for a few days.

That’s what I posted on Facebook after an extremely frustrating dinner. What happened? Well…as you all know, we’ve had issues with Owen and food since just about the time he started eating real food, but really about the last three years. We’ve tried SO many variations of feeding and mealtimes over the years that I’m honestly just at my limit.

So.

As per our current normal dinner rules, all Owen has to do is eat a tiny piece of what we’re eating (there’s a promise we won’t give him something we know he hates or won’t like (like pasta salad or sushi)).

So tonight was grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread. I know he doesn’t love chicken but will eat it. I know he doesn’t really like broccoli but he has eaten his one piece before without too much issue. And I know he loves the bread. His “extra” favorite foods were his yogurt and fruit.

Of course he saves the broccoli until last so it’s cold. And then when we remind him he needs to take his bite, he whines and takes the minutest nibble ever (I think I saw a tiny green speck on his tongue). We remind him he needs to eat the whole bite (it’s only like a 1/2″ piece). We go through the same spiel about how it might not be his favorite food—or even one he kinda likes—but he needs to take his one bite because that’s our current deal. Then he whines that he doesn’t have any yogurt left to dip it in—and we tell him that’s why he should eat it first. He then proceeds to play with it to avoid eating it and drops it in his water.

Well, I’m condensing the story a bit, so by this time Tom and I are at our limit so we fish it out and and say he still needs to eat it. He throws a fit so we take away his video game privileges for a day. He keeps on and then loses video games for the rest of the week. He loves his weekend video game time with daddy, so that causes a tantrum and he says he’ll eat it. I say it’s too late—he had plenty of time to eat it before now.

Now, I normally never reverse a decision, but after some quick back-and-forth we said if he ate it, he’d just lose his game time tomorrow. He said okay, so we were nice and gave him a fresh, non-water-soaked piece. And you’d have thought we were asking him to eat dog crap for all the gagging and whining he was doing. There was more drama about the stupid piece of broccoli…and that was the final straw.

We had already had this talk (months ago) that he had to do the one-bite thing or else we were switching to the eat-what-we-eat plan. That he was getting older and mommy was tired of making multiple meals at each meal time and he was old enough now to eat what we were eating. So he had been warned it would come eventually…so it just happened a bit sooner than planned.

We told him there can be foods he absolutely hates and doesn’t want to eat—and we won’t make him eat those—but they’ll be limited to a small list. If he doesn’t eat what we’re eating, he’ll be hungry. Plain and simple.

Oh, and Katie will be following the same plan, too. I’ve been thinking about it, and I just can’t go through three more years of this with her. And since Owen is doing it, it makes perfect sense.

Tom and I still need to discuss the exact terms, but we can decide specifics as we go. All I know is it is not going to be fun.

Sidewalk chalk paint, Day 2

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They weren’t nearly as excited as they were the first day, and I’m not sure why. (They were eager enough to WANT to do it, but once we were outside and painted for 10 minutes, they were about done.) And of course, since they stayed perfectly clean the first day, I didn’t make them change into different clothes…and it’s the day Katie got paint all over her.

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So I pretty much did all the painting just so it wouldn’t be wasted.

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Changing rooms!

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So, remember about two weeks ago when we set up Owen’s new bunk beds? And I thought we made a huge mistake because they were really low? Well, Tom fixed that part and gave Owen more headroom…but then it came time to change the sheets. And…I came to the conclusion that buying the bunk beds quite possibly ranks up there as one of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life.

Hoo boy.

Of course the kids love them—Katie runs in there every chance she gets to zoom up and down the stairs and loves being on the top bunk…and Owen loves his “double decker” bed (like the double-decker couch from The Lego Movie). I, on the other hand, pretty much hate them with every fiber of my being.

The problems started when I realized that I couldn’t use the bed skirt that goes with the sheets. That wasn’t SO bad, but it was just the first strike.

Then I came to realize that I literally COULD NOT make the top bunk. The mattress is too hard and too heavy to lift (from the ground) to wrap the fitted sheets around. The way the bed has to be placed, there’s not enough room for me to walk around the other side—even if I could lift the mattress. (Come to find out later after talking to friends, the mattress we had placed on the top was really meant to be on the bottom; a much lighter and more flexible mattress was supposed to go on top. So I briefly thought about buying a more appropriate mattress—but decided against it as time wore on because I mostly didn’t want to spend any more money on something I already disliked.)

The bottom bunk was somewhat easier to make, but still annoying—because of Tom having to lower it, it sits directly on the floor…which means any time you’re dealing with the bed (changing sheets, folding clothes) or dealing with your kid in bed (reading books, kissing him good night), you’re on the floor. Which obviously I can still do but it is so much more comfortable with a regular size/height bed.

But still, I honestly thought I could power through it. And Tom helped me make the top bunk. And the kids were SO happy playing on it…

And then the cat puked on the clean sheets and I had to change them again the very next day and I decided that even though I love my children, I just don’t think I can live with these damn bunk beds for the next X number of years. I mean, I could easily see myself getting more and more bitter every time I had to change the sheets. I had talked to Tom about selling them, but he didn’t much want to do anything because he just hauled them all up there and set it all up and “fixed” them. But then, he’s not the one that needs to deal with the day-to-dayness of it.

So I made the decision to just list them and see if we had any interest. I posted them on a Facebook sale group, saying we just bought them off the page, they just didn’t work for us, asked for just what we paid…and crossed my fingers. I had a response within two minutes and three more people after that who wanted them. We made plans to pick them up in a few days (today) since I wanted Owen to have them for his sleepover.

Of course, Owen was bummed when I told him we were getting rid of them. I had to explain that it just wasn’t easy for mama to deal with making the bed and it really took up too much room (not really, but at least a decent reason he could understand). He was sad but eventually shook his head and said “Mama, I understand. But I’ll miss my double decker bed.” Awwww. /sniff

But, I promised him we’d do something special in his room when the bed was gone…and let him put up the Despicable Me decals I’ve had for ages but had just never gotten around to letting them put up. (Yes, it drives me absolutely insane that they are placed willy nilly, but I’m saving my objections for things that really matter.)

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And then we let Katie put up more Doc McStuffins decals that we’ve had for awhile but have just been holding on to until we needed them for a good reason. They were actually a bunch of duplicate decals from what she already had on her wall, but there was a life-size Doc that was new that she was enthralled with (she likes saying that Doc has a big head!):

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Owen’s been buying food again.

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I don’t think kindergarteners should be left in full control of their lunch accounts.

So at the beginning of the year, we anticipated Owen buying hot lunch now and again, so we put $20 in his account. A few months in, I happened to check his account and saw a lunch deduction. I questioned it (emailed teacher, etc.) and found out he had purchased a pretzel. That was fine with us, the lunch people fixed the deduction to show the cost of a pretzel vs. the cost of a lunch, we had a talk with Owen about buying food at school, and life went on.

Fast forward to last night when I get a robocall from the lunch account warning us our balance is low, and we have $6.90. WAIT. WHAT? The last we knew, he bought a 75¢ pretzel in October. I looked up his account, and yep, there were four lunches purchased—one in October, November, December, and one JUST THE DAY BEFORE!

WHAT?!?!

We figure maybe somehow some other kid had randomly punched in Owen’s account number. So I fired off an email to his teacher, saying we tried to get an answer from Owen but that’s near impossible (oh, he isn’t quite sure what we’re asking, but then says yes he had a burger (but that was the one I brought him for his birthday)) and he says he doesn’t even know his lunch number so I can’t imagine he’s punching it in. We do know from past experience, however, that if the kid doesn’t know their number, they just give their name and the staff deducts it later.

The teacher writes back that in talking with her assistant (who usually goes to the lunchroom with the kids), she remembers a time or two he bought a lunch (once when he couldn’t find his lunch bag—WHAT?!?!) and once he bought a milk—but the others she had no idea so was going to ask the lunch people.

So I’m sitting here just gobsmacked. Of course the money isn’t the big deal here—we just need to get Owen situated with buying things and telling us he did so we’re not shocked when his account is suddenly $13 less than we think it is…and if I’m not packing enough food and he’s still hungry he needs to tell me! He has been adamant he has never bought anything aside from the pretzel! And he has never brought home an uneaten lunch. We told him he wasn’t in trouble at all—we were just trying to figure out what happened. We asked if he was extra hungry so bought more food? No. Was he buying food for someone else maybe? Or giving away his lunch? Nope. Ugh.

So, I was eagerly waiting to hear the post-lunch report.

And boy, was I surprised.

[The assistant] talked to the cafeteria lady and we all seem to feel that it is pretty accurate. I think there were only four lunches purchased and a couple of extra items and three of the purchases were made prior to January. It is really hard to expect a child to remember what he/she did a couple of hours ago, much less a couple of months ago. We will try to make sure that Owen does not purchase lunch unless he needs to. The cost for lunch is $2.90, so it doesn’t take much to go through twenty dollars. I hope this clarifies things for you.

Well, honestly, it doesn’t clarify much of anything other than you are pretty sure he did buy that stuff. They did give us an exact printout of what he bought, and it still blows my mind. Owen is not a big liar—granted, his memory for things non-Lego is pathetic—but I can’t believe he’d forget BUYING LUNCH THE DAY PRIOR.

Needless to say we’re not putting any more money in the account this year. And for future, I’m setting a “low balance reminder” for like $1 less than what we put in his account so we’ll get notified when he purchases anything.

And we’re hoping this behavior gets better in first grade!

Tom’s world shattered at Home Depot.

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This is what can happen if you are hurrying in the bathroom and aren’t paying attention.

He has been wanting a new phone but didn’t want to spend the money on the newest upgrade…so we headed directly to the Apple store to see about getting the glass fixed. Unfortunately the fix was almost half the price of upgrading to the newest phone so he just upgraded.

Merry Christmas to him!

Santa Visit (Fail) 2014

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I didn’t want to wait in any long lines so after requesting advice from a local facebook group, we decided to visit the Santa at the new Gander Mountain. Both kids hadn’t been able to stop talking about seeing Santa and they were SUPER excited leading up to the day…until we actually saw him, at which point neither kid wanted ANYTHING to do with him. Owen hid in a clothes rack and Katie begrudgingly got carried up by daddy. (And this is precisely why I didn’t want to spend any amount of time waiting in a line.)

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This was their best shot. Not too bad. It was actually neat—they took the picture with an iPad and then emailed it to you right then and there.

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After Katie was done, Owen decided he wanted to try again…so we tried to get them both on Santa’s lap. Ha. Ha ha. This time, Owen was pretty good, but Katie was still being a poop. This is the best one they got.

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This was the best one I managed to get. Good times!

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Then they had a green screen photo shoot and this is the background Owen picked:

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Then the girls headed out to Target while the boys went on their super special trip to Chuck E. Cheese!!

Owen’s Good Character Award

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So I was sitting at home minding my own business when I got this text from our neighbor:

BIG CONGRATS TO OWEN!

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Wait, what?! He got a good character award and no one told us?!?! I was PISSED. There was no email, no note in his daily folder, nothing. And Tom was actually home and we ALL could have been there!

I know in the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal, but he gets SO excited when we’re there and he would have been over the moon about this. I actually momentarily had thought about just going (since I go on random Fridays), but this morning was a bit crazy as there was someone supposed to be here working on the garage so we were waiting and waiting but then they canceled…

So, I was happy that at least she was there and grabbed a few shots for me…but I literally wanted to cry because we missed it. 🙁

I sent a quick email to the teacher asking why we hadn’t been told in advance. (Past awardees have been alerted via email so precedent has been set, otherwise I wouldn’t think twice about it.) I am sure it’s just my bad luck. 🙁

But…YAY OWEN! 🙂

I am so pissed at myself and at Tricare.

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Granted it could be worse, but still. Ugh.

I recently got a bill for $109 for two of Katie’s appointments…where we didn’t see her primary care provider (though I didn’t know that at the time). You see, when we moved, I dutifully went to the Tricare website and picked the clinic/doctor I wanted AND THE SITE LET ME PICK the one I wanted, so when we got the confirmation letter, I admit I didn’t look at it closely because WHY WOULD IT BE ANYONE OTHER THAN WHO I PICKED? (And also, by that time, I think we had already seen the doctor.)

But apparently the letter confirmed the REAL doctor Tricare had assigned me (that I didn’t get to pick). And when I called Tricare to ask about it, they assured me I was covered and it was all taken care of, even though it was a point of service appointment. Phew, okay. But calling them today, I find out that, well, I WAS technically covered, but only for X amount and the rest was from my own out of pocket expenses. Lovely. That’s a big chunk of money I wasn’t planning on spending on something that could have been 100% covered.

Katie’s Ankle Update (GRRRR)

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I’ve about been at my limit with the pediatrician’s office. We were supposed to get a call almost a month ago with the referral appointment. (We did get her blood test results a ways back—I thought I posted but maybe not?—and there was nothing definitive so the doc wanted her to see a specialist.) Since they were supposed to call me, I kinda forgot about it. Then once I realized they hadn’t called, I called—and one of the phone tree options is “for referrals” so I left a message there. I didn’t hear anything after a few more days so I called back again (to the referrals request number) and gave more explanation. Days later, still no call. So I called back planning on just talking to the front desk because I’ve been patient long enough…and surprise! They’re having problems with their phones so all calls are being routed to their sister office who can’t help because Katie isn’t their patient. I call back repeatedly over the next two days and the sister office is still answering. Then it was the holiday weekend. It’s been over three weeks. RIDICULOUS.

So fast forward to today, when it’s time to get this figured out. Come to find out, they weren’t authorized as our PCM (completely unbeknownst to me, of course!)—but the kicker is they got the denial letter on AUGUST 25 and apparently no one felt it necessary to LET ME KNOW (and I didn’t get any denial letter from Tricare, either). GRRR. I asked why no one bothered to let me know. “Uh, um, stutter, stammer, I’m not sure.” Lovely.

So I called Tricare to find out that it’s MANDATORY we’re assigned to the army hospital WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW A MONTH AGO. Their online system let me pick a civilian PCM back in July and I even double-checked afterward to make sure it was confirmed (it was). I asked why I hadn’t been informed and she said there should have been a letter. Well, if there was, I either missed it or didn’t pay attention because I ASSUMED IT WAS CONFIRMING THE DOCTOR I PICKED (why would I think otherwise?!). So, basically, no one has any idea what happened. But now I get to wait NINE more days for the first available appointment for the new PCM and then likely have to wait AGAIN for the referral from him (and I get to pay to have Katie’s records copied for the new doctor). I AM PISSED. The only silver lining is that Tricare still paid for (or the doctor’s office accepted the lower payment for) the first two appointments even though we technically weren’t assigned there.

What a mess. But, from the looks of it, even though I liked the doctor we saw, it appears the office staff isn’t that great…so maybe it’s a good thing we’re no longer going there.

Taking the police car out for a scary spin

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The hilly lots/roads really REALLY suck.

We started in the backyard but it’s SO steep that it really taxed the car battery—and it’s SO narrow that it really taxed Owen’s driving skills. And consequently my patience. 😐

So we headed to the front.

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But if they’re not actively moving forward they’re rolling backward and even on the low speed they can get going pretty fast downhill. I don’t trust him not to go off the sidewalk (even accidentally) and hit a car or mailbox so I let him go downhill on the side of the street but it was still nerve wracking and I walked in front of the car the whole way.

Heading up on the sidewalk.

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Heading down in the street.

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It looks less intense than it really is:

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Heading up the somewhat flat sidewalk along the main drag.

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I’m not sure if we’ll be keeping the car or getting rid of it. I had high hopes of being able to use it here but it’s just SO SO STEEP. So of course I’m feeling super guilty about it again. 🙁

Katie went bump in the night.

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So the kids were in bed, David was in the bedroom, and mom, Tom, and I were just sitting in the living room visiting and whatnot…when we heard a loud CRASH BOOM BANG. Mom thought David had fallen—but then we heard crying. Oh no! Katie had fallen out of bed!! (She did just fine the first night and during her nap, but she obviously was more of a wiggle worm tonight. We hadn’t taken any precautions because, well, we forgot, and because she HAD already done just fine.)

Tom sprinted down the hall and came out carrying a whimpering Katie. He said he found her laying on the floor with her legs against the closet. We figured she must have gone over the edge head first, flipping over so her legs hit the closet (which would account for the thuds and bangs we heard). Poor Katie. While Tom was comforting her, I was putting rolled up blankets in her bed (under the sheets) as bumpers and then he stayed in there with her for a good half hour. Other than being scared, she was no worse for the wear…thankfully.

Unloading day damages!

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We had no idea if we were actually going to get our stuff today, and we gave ourselves 50/50 odds. So we were thrilled when the movers arrived about 8:15!

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They had four guys and were pretty speedy and overall very good. Unfortunately, however, we had some damages. (This was the worst day for damages that we’ve had—even if we combined all our moves.)

Katie’s high chair got dropped (I think) and the counterbalancing weight broke out of its plastic braces. $240

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A fish tank wasn’t packed properly so that when another box fell into it, it broke. (The movers said it should have been in a crate instead of just a regular box with padded paper around it.) $300

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The plasma TV’s tipping sensors were tripped so we’ll see what happens when we plug it in. $3500

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One of Owen’s Ikea dressers. $100

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A standing room fan. $50

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Our dining room table.

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And the coatrack.

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Ugh.

Sigh.

They should fully reimburse us for the broken things but I’m not sure what they do for damaged things (like the chipped table and bent coatrack hooks). We’ve never had to file a claim before so this should be fun.

But the guys were all very nice—even when I mistakenly had them take the crazy heavy buffet upstairs because I was sure it was a MBR dresser (it was wrapped)…and then of course they had to bring it down again. And they moved that crazy big and heavy Ikea kitchen cabinet twice because once we got the table in the kitchen it was WAY too crowded. Oops. Needless to say we bought them lunch, kept them well-hydrated with pop, water, and Gatorade—AND tipped them each $20. They were very appreciative of everything.

And they were done and pulling away about 4:15.

Extreme moment of panic.

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When we left to go to the grocery store this morning I just took the garage door opener and no keys—what we’ve been doing. So we get home and I open the garage door, but wait—the inner door is locked. Shit. Yes, I did lock it last night—something I never do, but new house and all… And the front door is one of those that opens even when locked (I HATE THOSE) so I walked out and locked us out. And I knew the back door was locked.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

And I knew I had the only house keys because the landlord told me yesterday to make a set because those were the only ones he had.

F***

F*** F*** F***!!!!!

PANIC.

Then for some reason I tried the garage door again and it pushed open. I obviously hadn’t shut it tight. Stupid me…but hallelujah.

Owen’s Pre-K Graduation—what an experience!

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We were there early to make sure we got good seats. Unfortunately, we had no idea where Owen would be sitting, so we just picked seats in the front row.

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Katie did pretty good, considering we had to wait about 35 minutes. We kept her occupied with my phone. 🙂

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Then it was finally time for the graduates to enter. And surprise! Owen was the Line Leader (something which he LOVES and always begs to do)…except he apparently got a HUGE case of stage fright as they came into the room and he kept his face buried in his hands, rubbing his eyes, and was almost crying…and would not have made it down the aisle if Miss Ashley hadn’t grabbed hs hand and guided him to the seats. I couldn’t even get a picture of him until he was past me. Poor kid.

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Trying to talk to Owen to make him feel better.

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Nope, still upset. And here you can see I had just about the worst possible seat in the entire room to try and get a picture of him (which you’ll see better in the videos).

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This was Owen pretty much the whole time everyone was singing or otherwise participating.

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There were a few slightly more normal moments.

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“Days of the Week” (no participation)

“Pete the Cat” (the song he sang outside the other day)—a partial, because he wasn’t participating at all.

This was “The World is a Rainbow” which I didn’t even try to record because by that point, there was no hope of Owen participating.

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When I looked back up, they had finally pulled him to the side so he could sit by himself but I motioned him over to us. He didn’t want to sit on my lap, but instead just kind of layed in my lap and let me hug him. Katie reached out to touch his arm and say “It’s okay, Owie.” /sniff

Then I tried to get a picture of him in my lap and he was all smiles once he saw himself in the camera…

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But he even refused to go up and get his diploma so Miss Ashley had to come hand it to him.

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As soon as it was over and he realized he had to wait in the room while we left, he was upset again. We all filed outside to wait for the graduates to exit and walk down the sidewalk. Katie was happy to be let free.

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Everyone else coming out of the doors was happy and running…and then there was Owen.

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Being comforted by his sister. 🙂

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I wanted a picture of Owen and Braxton—but even THAT very normal act couldn’t break through his funk.

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Braxton really tried—even talking to him. I thought this was so cute…it looks like he’s giving him a pep talk!

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At least we got a decent family pic snapped by the TA Miss Sam. 🙂

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And then after he had a snack, he was back to his normal self and very willingly took a picture with Miss Ashley.

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And in the packet we took home, we had this picture, obviously taken BEFORE the ceremony started. Our graduate. 🙂

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I’m two for two. Or is it three for three?

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I fell down the stairs in this house and twisted both ankles (read about it here).

I slipped on the stairs in our Michigan rental while carrying Owen as a baby (I’m sure I wrote about it but I cannot find the link).

And…I just now missed a few steps and crashed down two steps into the landing hitting the wall…while carrying Katie, of course! We’re both fine (she was just scared; I skinned my knee and slightly twisted my ankle) but an hour later my back was screaming and drugs were taken. Three hours later I made the BIIIIIG mistake of trying to stretch out my ankle by rotating it—and I literally saw stars. Crap.

I’m still not sure how it happened because I am über careful on the stairs—I count each step up and down each time (whether I’m carrying a kid or not), I keep one arm on the wall to brace myself, plus I usually look at the stairs/my feet…

But I have now fallen down stairs while carrying both kids.

I HATE STAIRS.