Raves & Praise – Page 11

Helloooo HelloFresh!

Posted on March 30, 2015 @ 5:45 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

I’ve been thinking about trying HelloFresh for months, so when a friend offered a free box ($60 value), I grabbed it!

I selected the Omnivore box and then selected the meals I wanted, opting against one of the suggested meals because I am not a big artichoke fan:

Rosemary Beef Flatbread with Caramelized Onion & Broccoli
Spicy Shrimp ‘Fra Diavolo’ with Garlic Crostini
Pan-Seared Calamari over Bulgur & Chorizo Hash with Parsley Gremolata

It’s refrigerated and shipped UPS—you pick what day it’s coming so you know for sure. I was very impressed upon opening the box—everything was superbly packaged and labeled (each meals’ ingredients are bagged together, minus the refrigerated proteins) inside an insulated bag. I was surprised they actually used frozen water bottles instead of dry ice (I tweeted them saying it was cool, and they replied that it was to reduce their carbon footprint) so we got four drinkable bottles of water as well! The three days’ worth of meals arrives in one box.

Once I actually started the meal prep, I was even more impressed—shrimp were peeled and deveined, garlic heads were peeled, everything was the exact amount required (except the red pepper flakes!), and the instructions were beautiful and detailed (I see why it’s as expensive as it is!). For us it’s above budget, but as a treat now and again to try new dishes it’s definitely worth it!

I discovered I like fresh oregano:

Spicy Shrimp ‘Fra Diavolo’ with Garlic Crostini (download recipe):

It was quite good. It wasn’t something I’d likely make regularly but it was a nice change of pace. And I had been worried about portion size, but Tom and I had a full meal and even had some leftover!

If anyone is interested, using my personal code AV8W2E will get you $40 off your first box! (I also get a $20 discount on a future box.) I definitely recommend trying at least one box as it’s definitely worth it for $20. There are no minimum purchases, you can postpone up to three months of future deliveries, and you can cancel at any time. They also send you a reminder email on the last day of meal selection to make sure you have either picked the meals you want or paused that week’s delivery. Of course they’re hoping you will get sucked in, and I can easily see how that would happen—I only planned on getting this one box, but I find myself looking ahead at the upcoming recipes to see what’s being offered…and drooling.

I can’t wait to make the other two meals!!

I can’t believe we own a minivan. A MINIVAN.

Posted on March 28, 2015 @ 5:55 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

But of course it wasn’t easy.

Tom went for the test drive at 8:30am and long story short, that one wasn’t the car. So I was researching cars at home and texting him info—the dealership had a few other Siennas on the lot so he was test driving those as well. In the end, we decided that we were going back to a FWD instead of an AWD because there were a lot more 2012 FWD cars available to choose from. (We’d still have preferred AWD, but figured for the few times we’d really need it—the few times it snows that bad here, I just don’t go anywhere and for the once every year or two that we go to Michigan in the winter—it just wasn’t worth it to spend the extra money.)

On a whim, I had Tom look at a 2014 because, well, why not? A 2012 was cheaper, obviously, but it was already four years old. There happened to be a 2014—loaded, even!—for CHEAPER than the one we had looked at (and had been interested in) last night! And Tom said it was REALLY nice. And it had super low miles—about 6,700! (The lady had bought it new and decided she wanted an AWD!)

There were no crazy addon fees so out the door (and with our trade-in) it was still less than the 2012 we walked out on! YAY!

After a family test drive back to the dealer (they royally screwed up our address so had to redo the paperwork plus we had to give them the second key and pick up our floor mats), these are the major bonuses we’ve noticed thus far:

I don’t have to duck to get in the car. Plus? The driver’s seat AUTOMATICALLY reverses when you turn the car off to allow more room to exit (and then renter). It freaked me out the first few times and I thought it was stupid. Now I love it.
Maybe most importantly—and one of my absolute requirements for the new car—was the rear backup sensors/alerts (the Acadia had them and the Mazda didn’t and it drove me insane since I’m horrible at backing up). The Sienna has front, rear, AND side sensors—and they’re amazing!! (Of course it also has the parking assist lines which are cool but will take some getting used to.)
The lift gate opens more easily via the remote…AND you don’t have to unlock it first! (I was used to that with the Acadia then the Mazda didn’t do it and it frustrated me endlessly!)
The doors automatically unlock and lock more easily with the smart remote (the Mazda was a crapshoot if it would work nicely or at all).
There’s a button to fold in the side mirrors. What what?! As someone who can’t judge distances well and is paranoid about hitting the mirrors at drive-up windows—and as such usually ends up having to open the door to reach—this is a total win.
The bluetooth sync works much, much better. In the Mazda, it seemed like my phone rarely automatically connected and you could either listen to XM or your phones’ directions but not both at the same time (but sometimes it would work…?!). This car does it seamlessly and perfectly. I was also able to transfer ALL my contacts to the car in about 30 seconds with one button press.
The navigation is amazingly better. It’s not just newer with better map info, but it has more POIs and it’s much quicker to find something. It’s not perfect but I know I’ll use it more than we did the Mazda.
The kids are BIG fans of the DVD player.
The floor protector we had for the Highlander—that we moved to the Acadia and then the Mazda even though it wasn’t a good fit—fits nicely (even though it’s the wrong color).

The only meh thing so far is there’s no good place for my magnetic phone mount. I haven’t tried the CD changer spot yet (which was recommended for the Mazda and worked well) because I don’t think I want to cover up the touch screen this time. It fits in the slide out cup holder, but it’s too low to be useful for navigation. But that’s minor.

So overall we’re very happy. Of course we don’t like the bigger payment (we’re back up to what we were paying before we downsized to the Mazda) but it is what it is.

How did she know I really needed this?!

Posted on March 16, 2015 @ 5:15 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

It had been a loooong day, so imagine my happiness when Linda arrived for dinner prep with a big, chilled bottle of one of my favorite wines! Yay!

chilled pink moscato

Lego ruined our night.

Posted on March 3, 2015 @ 6:30 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

So every month, Lego offers a free mini build at their local stores. We saw it advertised on both a flyer and our Lego calendar so made plans to go. I made sure to check the website to see if there was anything else we needed to know. And there wasn’t. This is the entirety of the information about the event:

So let me just share with you what I wrote to Lego when we got home:

I am very upset and also have a very upset little boy right now. We received the monthly Lego calendar and saw the “free monthly build” advertised for tonight so we told him about it and made special plans to go (our first time ever!) and he was super excited. I happened to check the website to see if there were any special details I might need to know and didn’t see anything. So off we went. We arrive, wait in what I thought was the line for the free kit (which I expected to have to wait in line so no big deal), get to the front pretty quickly (I was actually impressed, but how long does it take to hand out a pack of Legos?), and was stopped dead in my tracks: “Oh, you don’t have a book? That’s the other line.” Which I then noticed out the other side of the store—and was, of course by then, way too long to even think about getting in and receiving the free kit before they ran out since the line was crazy long. So then I had an upset kid because he’d been looking forward to this for days. So a big fat thanks, Lego, for advertising the crap out of this free build but giving NO MENTION WHATSOEVER (even on the minibuild website!) that you need the special Lego “passbook” in order to get it. I’m extremely disappointed and would hope you can rectify this in some way.

Truth be told, I had seen a few kids carrying these blue passport-looking books around but didn’t think twice about it since I never saw any mention of it. I googled when I got home, and see that the passport is a fairly new thing—but technically it’s just for marking visits to Lego stores. There is a place to stamp that you were THERE for the mini-build, but I saw no mention of it being REQUIRED to get the mini-build. So now I’m wondering if this wasn’t a corporate decision, but a store-by-store decision. Regardless, I was pissed.

The next day I received this response:

Dear Jen,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

We’re sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing experience when you visited one of our LEGO® stores! The LEGO Group is dedicated to providing excellent, consistent service in all of our stores. It is only with your honest comments that we are able to improve our services to better service the needs of our valued customers, so thank you very much for your email.

As a one time exception, I have sent out the parts you need to make the March Mini Build! Please allow 7-10 business days for delivery as they our sent from our warehouse in Denmark.

So I’m very happy they are sending us the kit, but still disappointed they didn’t even mention the passbook issue. I’ll definitely be asking at the Lego store the next time we go in.

Changing rooms!

Posted on February 8, 2015 @ 4:30 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

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.)

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!):

Owen’s first sleepover

Posted on February 7, 2015 @ 10:46 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

Owen’s first sleepover was tonight—and it was the first for both of his friends, too.

The kids played for a bit, then we started Fruit Ninja, which they all thoroughly enjoyed.

It’s somewhat exhausting—and they can only really play one at a time—so then we did Crash Course which they could all play at the same time.

Manuel doesn’t have pets, so he was ENTHRALLED with ours (you’ll see more pics later).

Getting ready for cake!

Time for a movie! Katie enjoyed the sleepover as much as the boys did!

Getting the boys ready for bed about 9. They lined up for a picture, each with one of Owen’s stuffed animals—and here Owen was realizing that they each had one of the primary colors!

Overall, it went pretty good. The boys were boys (roughhousing and such) but they are all fairly similar—very nice, polite, not too terribly rough, and they listened well. We were most worried about putting them to bed and what happened after that since neither of the boys had had a sleepover before. Of course, their parents were on call to come get them, and I had been updating them via text and pics throughout the night. So they all got their PJs on, brushed their teeth, and decided who would sleep where. We told them they could stay up and talk, but they couldn’t be too loud (since Katie was sleeping next door). I read them a story, pointed out all the night lights, told them that if they were scared at all or if anything was wrong to come get us (and we could call their parents), asked if they had any questions (no), and then turned out the lights, crossed my fingers, and went downstairs.

Within minutes, we heard them coming down the steps. Apparently the boys were scared of the big stuffed bear, even though they had all been playing with him. But no biggie, Tom just went up with them and threw it in the guest room.

The second trip down (again with all three of them!) was because the kid who decided he wanted to sleep on the top bunk was apparently suddenly afraid of heights and didn’t want to sleep on the top bunk even though we went over that before. But no biggie, we asked if he wanted Owen to sleep on the top and he said no, he wanted to. Ooookay. Back to bed then, and we sent them upstairs.

The third trip down was to tell us that somehow the top-bunk-kid needed his bed made again (turns out he had pulled off all of his bedding to sleep on the floor). Okay, no biggie, Tom went up and got the bedding issue settled.

At this point, I told Tom we should go upstairs to our bedroom so the kids didn’t have to come all the way downstairs each time. So we did.

Minutes later (the fourth time out of bed), two had to go to the bathroom—even though they all went before getting in bed.

The fifth time, someone was scared of everything in the room. We added another night light (in addition to the three already in there).

Then we heard them talking quietly and we thought maybe that would be the end of it…but then we heard loud thumping and lots of noise so Tom went down and and found them all out of bed! They got told they could talk but they had to stay in bed. We heard more talking but nothing crazy.

About 10, we finally noticed they were really quiet. Tom checked on them and they were all out! We crossed our fingers and hoped it lasted!

Katie rocked her first trip to the dentist!

Posted on December 1, 2014 @ 5:55 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

I took both kids in tonight—Owen for his regular 6-month checkup and Katie for her first ever visit. She loves brushing her teeth so I didn’t think she’d have any problems with it…but you never know.

They were both excited to go, and it started well with them playing in the waiting room!

Then we had a brief introduction with both the hygienist and dentist in their office and then it was off to the chairs!

Owen was first…

And Katie was intrigued.

And got closer…

I asked if she wanted to hold Owen’s hand and she said yes.

Owen did REALLY well (which I would hope, as he’s done this about four times), and then it was Katie’s turn!

“Look mama! Clouds!” (There were clouds painted on the wall!)

Glasses and bib—so far, so good.

She didn’t seem nervous but I asked if she wanted Owen to hold her hand and she said yes.

Katie seeing herself for the first time. I love the look on her face!

She was a total rock star. They were able to do a full cleaning (as opposed to Owen’s first visit at age four when they only got about three teeth done).

Then they both got seen by the dentist and were told they need to brush twice a day (instead of just once) and start flossing…and Owen NEEDS to stop sucking his thumb as his teeth are already out of place (Katie’s are perfect). She said this is THE time to stop as his bottom two teeth are still coming in and his top two are loose (I bet both will be gone by Christmas—one might be gone by this weekend) so the new ones will come in straight. (We’ve told him and showed him pictures of what can happen and he knows he needs to stop—and even catches himself—but it will still be challenging because he’s still just five years old.) Then they got their goody bags and were SOOOOOO excited about the toothbrush and stickers and toothpaste—and Owen got a toy truck and Katie got a little mermaid! They were in HEAVEN.

So overall they both did AWESOME and I loved the staff—we’ve had nice dental staff before, but you can see a difference in a regular dentist who sees kids vs. a pediatric dentist.

Birthday plans didn’t go quite according to, well, plan.

Posted on September 30, 2014 @ 1:15 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Short story: I had lunch with a new mommy-group friend and then went out to dinner with the fam.

Long story: The original plan was for me and said friend (and our two toddlers) to drive/metro in to DC’s Union Station to see a free 30-minute Joshua Bell violin concert. (Joshua Bell is playing in the Metro again. This time, maybe you won’t pass it up.)

The stunt was seven years ago, but no one will let him forget it.

Hey, did you hear about the famous violinist who played in the Metro and no one paid attention?

Yes, Joshua Bell must say. That was me.

Technically, 27 people did stop the day The Washington Post asked the Grammy-winning violinist to don a baseball cap and pose as a street performer playing for change in the Metro. It was a social experiment for a magazine article: If a world-famous musician and his $3 million fiddle brought some of history’s most beautiful music to a rush-hour crowd, would people stop and listen? “In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?,” the story wondered. The answer: 1,070 people passed Bell without paying him any attention.

Now, after being asked about it nearly every day since, Bell is bringing his violin back to the Metro. This time, on his own terms.

I had heard about the 2007 stunt and thought how cool that would have been to be there, so this time, I figured since we lived THISCLOSE and it would be a cool thing to do—and it would be on my birthday—I wanted to go. HAD to go, in fact. But I also get SUPER anxious doing new things like that so I was sure I wouldn’t actually do it. But then this friend said “I’d love to go! We’ll do it together!” And so we planned. And commiserated about having to take the kids. And planned some more. She would pick us up after her doctor’s appointment, we would drive to the closest metro station that didn’t require an extra transfer (a 20-minute drive), take the metro in (about 40 minutes), watch the concert, then reverse the process home. It was going to be tight, but we were confident. (Well, I was filled with anxiety but was mostly confident!)

So the morning of, things were on schedule and I felt like I was going to throw up from anxiety. And then the doctor’s appointment went awry…he had never run late before but of course ran late today. So we didn’t go. At once I breathed a huge a breath of relief…and also felt a bit of sadness because I really did want to see the concert. But it was all good as we went out for lunch and had a great visit…which I am so thrilled about because before today, we had literally only met once and talked for maybe 30 minutes total at a playgroup at the park. She lives close (maybe two miles at most) and we really get along and are very similar in a lot of ways. So it was a good day, even considering we missed the concert.

These are our girls at lunch (her daughter is five months older than Katie):

Katie’s ankle: The End

Posted on September 11, 2014 @ 11:16 am by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

It started off great, then hit a rough patch, then ended great so overall I’m happy.

THE GREAT

The hospital is super easy to get to and only takes about 15 minutes—and there’s plenty of parking in the attached parking garage. Everyone was super friendly, the hospital was very nice, and the pediatric area was easy to find. There was plenty of seating for kids and adults…with kids shows on the TV.

We were there about 25 minutes early in case we had to fill out paperwork, and I was surprised when they called us back almost immediately to get Katie’s vitals. They were going to put us in a room but none happened to be ready so we got sent back to the lobby…

THE ROUGH PATCH

…where we sat for 20 minutes until I finally went up to the desk to ask (at military facilities there’s always a sign saying to let the staff know if you’ve been waiting more than 15 minutes). When I told her what doc it was, she immediately kind of laughed and said “He’s always slow…THOROUGH.” /sarcasm on/ GREAT. /sarcasm off/ No, I know being thorough is a good thing, but always running behind is not. If he’s always that thorough they should schedule the appointments accordingly.

Katie passed the time playing with the other kids in the waiting area.

So we kept waiting. And waiting. At 15 minutes past our appointment time (and 30 since vitals) we got put in a room. I wasn’t thrilled…but overall it still wasn’t TOO bad. So we waited. And waited.

And waited.

And had time for three snacks and a drink.

Ten minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. At the 1-hour-past-my-appointment mark I went out into the hallway to see if I could get an update from anyone…and the doctor was actually in the hall headed to our door. As I started to politely question about the delay, he was already apologizing and explaining that the previous patient had been an acute case—apparently his staff missed signs of low oxygen (?) and he had to rally everyone to get it taken care of and have it be a teaching moment.

THE GREAT ENDING

It turns out I REALLY REALLY like him—he’s very personable, I felt very comfortable with him, and he was amazing with Katie… She was sitting on his chair when he came in, so he got on his knees (down to her level) and examined her right there instead of making her get up on the exam table. He explained everything he did as he was doing it. Just his entire bedside manner and tone of voice was comforting and knowledgeable.

So, his thoughts? Her ankle is fine and we don’t need to see a specialist. He was poking and prodding and she never winced even a tiny bit and it wasn’t swollen and he could see no reason to refer her. His only thought was that it might possibly be Lyme disease (as that affects joints) but since it was just the one joint and no others and no other symptoms, he immediately ruled it out. He did say that if it gets worse then we can revisit it, but for now, just keep giving her Tylenol when it’s swollen or if it seems to be hurting her (which it rarely does). He said he sprained his ankle when he was a kid and it gave him troubles for many years but there wasn’t anything to do for it. He even said if he did refer us, the pediatric orthopedist would say we were wasting his time. He had said he has three young girls himself so if he thought there was ANYTHING wrong at all or ANYTHING at all to be gained from a referral (or more x-rays or tests or whatever), he wouldn’t hesitate. But he just didn’t see it with this case.

I then mentioned that the other doctor had noticed a heart murmur and said it wasn’t serious but that it should continue to be watched. Within about four seconds of listening to her heart he said “Yes, she has a definite murmur.” However, it wasn’t in her armpits and it disappeared when she stood up—and he diagnosed it as a very common Still’s Murmur (also known as a vibratory murmur). He said she was a very healthy little girl and we had nothing to worry about.

On the way out, I briefly mentioned big brother Owen and his GI issues so we chatted for a minute about that—and he told me two of his girls were on the Miralax regimen as well. So I feel good about that aspect when we need to take Owen in.

So, it all ended on a positive note, though I think the wait could have been handled better (why can’t ANYONE in any doctor’s office ever tell waiting patients what’s going on when something like this happens?). And I think I’ll be much happier with them than the first office I had picked from a hat. Score one for Tricare!

Katie wanted to play in the water!

End of the summer pool party cookout!

Posted on September 1, 2014 @ 3:34 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Owen has REALLY been looking forward to the cookout and I was excited because Tom would be home so we could ALL go to the pool together for the last time. It was definitely warm enough and it looked like the rain was going to hold off for a bit, so we headed down after Katie’s nap.

Now, let me preface this by saying that when we go to the pool, there are typically just a handful of people there. As in maybe 3-6 other kids AT MOST (with parents)—and most of the time, there’s less. And when Owen and I went this past Saturday (the last Saturday before the pool closed for the season) we were the ONLY two people there (four total if you count the two lifeguards). And by the time we left two hours later, the only other people there were two older couples! I was baffled.

So today we walked in and HOLY SHIT there were a lot of people. As in “Wow, I guess there really are people who live here.” As in “If it was this busy all the time we wouldn’t come nearly as much.” There were lots of older annoying kids who didn’t much care that they were running into people or splashing people or just being overall obnoxious (and of course their parents weren’t doing anything about it). I heard the lifeguards’ whistles more today than all the other days combined. It was extremely chaotic.

The super annoying thing was that we had nowhere to sit when we got there. I felt like we should really have our names on some seats because we were there ALL THE TIME. All these other people NEVER went but were taking up all the seats for the free food. Well, at least that’s what it felt like. Literally the only seats that were open were in the kiddie pool area. Which was fine…just annoying.

So Tom was swimming with the kids and I was chatting with the mom I had hoped to see there (with the son in Owen’s class). And then I saw another mom I’d met at the pool previously (the ones that are moving this December) so we chatted a bit. And then Katie was coming down the pool steps behind me and I turned to see Tom behind us as well (just having moved our stuff to a table that had become free) and he was saying “Katie! Katie!” at some other little blonde girl wondering why she wasn’t stopping to listen to him. Well, it turns out her parents were right in front of me and Tom obviously had the wrong kid, so we laughed about it and started chatting and WOW, fingers crossed, they might just be our new best friends here. We just really hit it off—they have a 2.5yo girl with another on the way, they’re military (army), and they just moved here in late June so they don’t know anyone, either! And we instantly hit it off (as opposed to the other people we’ve met who are NICE but I just didn’t feel that instant connection with). So much so that we invited them to come sit at our table with us!

And then! Tom was sure he recognized a guy sitting across the pool. I told him it was all him—I’d done my part meeting moms. So it turns out it’s someone he went to TBS with back in the day…AND THEY LIVE ON OUR STREET!! Small world, right? So we might end up with some good friends yet!

So then we had a little more fun in the pool and then Katie wanted to go home so as Tom was getting her packed up, Owen also decided he wanted to go home. I think it was just too chaotic for him (which I totally get).

Bye bye Birdie…it’s bittersweet.

Posted on August 15, 2014 @ 5:50 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

I wasn’t expecting to see this today in my Facebook feed—and it totally caught me off guard. I’m obviously happy, but it’s definitely bittersweet. I hate that we lost all the money we put into it (floors, deck, fence, shed, and stainless appliances), but am glad we were able to short sell fairly easily without losing more.

It’s no secret to anyone that I didn’t love the house (that damn kitchen!) and it’s obvious it wasn’t going to be our forever home…but we still had six years worth of memories there—pre- and post-kids—and it’s a little sad to think it’s really gone. But then, I am an emotional sap…

Getting Settled: The Pantry

Posted on July 29, 2014 @ 5:30 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

At first glance, the pantry sucked. It was pretty small plus has angles in it.

But!

With the addition of some door shelving…

And time spent filling it up…

We actually have quite a bit of room! I’ve actually been able to bring stuff in from the Dharma Garage Pantry—and still have room!

Of course there will be some fine-tuning…but for now it’s good.

Introducing our community pool!

Posted on July 23, 2014 @ 5:05 pm by Jen — 4 Comments ↓

We finally went to check out the pool today—and wow is it ever nice! It’s about a 10-minute walk (twice as long as at the last house), but it’s definitely worth it compared to the last pool. They have nice attached bathrooms and showers (which you have to walk through to get to the pool area), two lifeguards at the main pool, a kiddie pool, tons of lounge chairs and tables (some even with umbrellas) and a basket of pool noodles! Most of the pool is 3’6″ deep with the very center section being deeper (not labeled but I’m guessing about 5′).

We started in the kiddie pool where Owen tested out his new goggles and snorkel (he did really well!) and Katie splashed around (she was a bit peeved that it was too deep to walk around on her hands like she likes to do). After about a half hour, we moved to the big pool where Owen slowly but surely (but actually quite quickly for him) got comfortable in the deeper water—he clung to the edge for awhile but then was out and about away from the edge playing. There were some older kids (guessing 12-14ish) there that had brought water guns and Owen was having a blast just watching them…so imagine how excited he was when the kids started spraying him! The moms were in the pool, too, and warned their kids not to get him but I piped up and said “Oh no, he’s loving it!” Then they let him use a gun and he was in heaven! Katie loved being in the deeper water, too, because she likes being carried. She also liked “jumping” off the steps—which really means leaning forward and falling into my arms. Owen was doing so well on his own that I actually left him in the pool by himself for about 10 minutes while I went back to the kiddie pool with Katie (I could still see him, of course).

I am sure we’ll be back quite a bit in the next month before it closes September 1.

A list of good things to even out my karma.

Posted on July 5, 2014 @ 10:10 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

So yes, I’ve been complaining about a lot of stuff in this new place…but I know that overall we are very lucky to have a big, nice, clean house in a good neighborhood. So I thought I’d list all the things I like about it, to offset any bad karma I might have accumulated bitching about it.

First and foremost, it’s a real house—not a townhouse. We didn’t want shared walls.
We have sidewalks!
It has a two-car garage—even though we only hope to get one in it.
The garage door has a keypad!
It has an open floor plan, which is what we’ve learned we liked.
The kitchen is big.
There’s room for an eat-in kitchen. It’s slightly too small but still great!
There’s a ton of cabinet space—I didn’t expect to be able to put my pots and pans in cupboards!
The base cabinets have slide-out drawers—only on the top level but it’s still better than none!
Two words: gas stove.
When I cook, it doesn’t feel like I’m in a cave anymore!
Our awesome LG stainless refrigerator fit, so we brought it with us!
The landlord didn’t care if we put his refrigerator in the garage, so now we have a huge “beer/wine fridge” and technically a third freezer!
Our landlord is pretty easy-going about stuff we want to change around the house. He’s agreed to let us put in a peephole, put up two ceiling fans (that he bought), and install a digital thermostat.
The landlord has agreed to put up a fence. We’re hoping it happens soon.
Hardwoods in the entryway and kitchen! I loved the look of the new floors we put in, but it was pretty soft stuff and scratched fairly easily. These are real hardwoods and can take a beating.
Corian counters! Actually very similar in coloring to the laminate we picked out in our first house!
The gas fireplace works with the simple flip of a switch!
We have a large tree in the back yard that provides some shade!
There are a few cool built-in shelves on the stairwell to put decorative things.
There’s an actual laundry room. We can’t stack our machines but there’s still plenty of space, a huge shelf, and a closet!
Lots of natural light in most of the rooms.
The kids’ bath has a double vanity.
The kids’ rooms are bigger than we had before so they don’t feel cramped.
We have four actual bedrooms instead of the fourth bedroom actually being a bonus room.
The MBR has the closets BEFORE the bathroom (not THROUGH the bathroom, which drove me nuts at our house).
And yes, plural closets—we each have our own.
The MBA shower is nicely tiled and a bit bigger than our previous one.
The MBA has a double vanity.
We have a basement and IT IS HUGE.
There’s a full bath downstairs.
This could be a great party house. We have room for six guests comfortably (two queen pull out couches and a queen guest room) with space for a few airbeds if necessary!
Our office is on the main floor where we spend most of our time. It’s technically in the dining room but being out in the open will hopefully make us try and keep it neater!
The A/C seems to cool the house very well—better than our dual-unit system worked on a smaller house.
An 80 gallon hot water heater…
An actual utility room so closets aren’t taken up with the furnace, etc.
Nice, friendly neighbors (thus far).
We have a bunch of TiVo friends—and two Jacksonville friends, if you can believe it—in the greater DC area!
The school bus stop is four houses down at the corner.
The community has a pool (though we still need to check it out).
There’s a playground in the neighborhood.
We are 15 minutes from Ikea, Costco, and a Lego store…among 100s of other great stores and restaurants.
We are literally two minutes from I-95 (as opposed to 40 minutes to get to an interstate from Jacksonville).
We are within delivery range of a variety of restaurants.
The Food Lion here is awesome—easily twice the size of the one in Jacksonville.
There’s an ER practically around the corner.
And last but not least—FIOS.

I’m sure I’ll come up with more, but those are the ones off the top of my head.

ARE YOU LISTENING, KARMA?!

Loading, Day 2

Posted on July 3, 2014 @ 2:00 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

They are making the pony’s ride as safe as possible:

Doesn’t get any tighter than this:

The packers did not leave a box for the king mattress. Serge is doing his best.

Today has been trying at best.

Posted on July 2, 2014 @ 11:05 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Everything was such a rush this morning that I left without even taking a final look back at our house. We were in it for eight years (combined) and have lots of memories…

The drive was long(ish) and my back hurt most of the way—even with using the lumbar support. Even now it’s killing me. I should have taken a pain pill but then I’d have to get out of bed to find them.

At our first stop, I grabbed the diaper bag to change Katie, rushed to get everyone inside because Maggie was stuck in the car without air, and discovered there were no diapers in the bag! WHAT THE—?!?! I know I put some in there! GRRR. At least she hadn’t pooped. So I had to change her on the front seat after digging for diapers in the trunk (I couldn’t even change her in the grass like I’d normally do because it was all fenced off). And it was hotter than hell. (We figured out later that Katie had taken them out while she was playing earlier. Tom found them in the drawer where we normally keep them…so she was putting them away!)

The house seems to be cooling okay (I was worried because there’s only one unit for whole house; we’re used to a dual system) but no ceiling fans is killer.

Maggie pooped in the house within 10 minutes of being here, even though she just came in from being outside and peeing.

Katie got into meds again. I debated taking her to the ER but I really didn’t think she ingested much, if any (there were lots of pieces all over which led me to think she spit them out when they didn’t taste like candy). I’m still watching her for symptoms. She is so much more evil—I mean inquisitive—with stuff like that than Owen ever was. It’s hard to re-train your brain.

The landlord is nice but can drive you crazy. I had to call him because the alarm was beeping (not an alarm beep but more of an “I’m not really turned on but you’re setting off room sensors” type of beep). He ended up unplugging it and disconnecting it entirely. (Apparently it was something the last renters put in.) Then he walked me through the house systems (which I had asked earlier to wait for Tom) and he’s just not very personable. I try to comment on things and make chit chat and he just doesn’t get it and/or doesn’t respond.

I didn’t pack the bath stuff well enough and shampoo got all over everything—even the stuff that was in bags—because the bottle was so tall the spout stuck out. Katie’s toothbrush got thrown away. Their sound machine got some inside (it twists to leave openings to make it louder or quieter). Just a yucky mess.

The MBA toilet doesn’t work, which of course I didn’t realize until I peed in it. I’m sure it’s a simple fix but it’s not what I needed to discover at bedtime.

And there’s lots of little annoying things about the house:

All the blinds are the cheap crappy metal ones and about half are broken somewhere or don’t open right. (We were spoiled as our house had all nice plastic wood-looking ones.)

There are TONS of colored stains on the carpet. In almost every room, in all sizes, and in all colors. It’s awful. It’s almost as if the carpet cleaners didn’t even try to clean it. (We had carpet people who got out red nail polish…so I’m thinking his cleaners sucked.) We’ll try to clean some of them because I really don’t want to look at these for three years:

Flat paint. Off-white. Everywhere. Need I say more?

No curtain rods. I’m so glad we get to buy these AGAIN.

Round toilets. This takes some getting used to after having the elongated ones. They seem SO tiny.

No door to the basement.

No room for a deck, even if he let us. I finally get a nice tree in my yard and it’s in the way.

Street noise. Ugh. Cars going by, cars beeping/being locked, dogs barking. I know it’s typical for this many houses this close together…but it sucks. I guess it’s better that our room overlooks the street instead of both kids’ rooms.

We need shower caddys in each bathroom.

There’s no light above the kids’ tub.

The kitchen is bigger…but the way it’s layed out there’s NO room for any of our current kitchen storage pieces (the island that holds the pet food/water, the big IKEA cabinet that holds all the big kitchen stuff, and the other cabinet that was in the laundry room). Some stuff might fit in the current cabinets…but not all. I don’t even know where the garbage will go!

Our sectional couch is too big for the living room. Or the dining room. Or even the den space. Hell, it will barely fit downstairs. We obviously have other pieces to use (like we did at the last house) but we had hoped to be able to use it full time again (like in Troy).

And of course the kids’ bedtime saga.

But I know it’s not all bad…

I like our neighbors.
I like that we have sidewalks.
I like that the landlord will let us do things (of course, it benefits him—painting the garage, putting in a digital thermostat, putting in a peephole, putting in a few ceiling fans).
I like that it’s a house and not a townhouse.
I like that we have a two-car garage.
I like that we’ll eventually be getting a fence.
I like my gas stove and bigger kitchen.
I like that we brought our awesome fridge with us.

And add crazy heat and humidity on top of everything.

Blurg.

Lorton, here we come!

Posted on July 2, 2014 @ 4:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Well, me and the kids anyway. And Maggie. Right on schedule at 10:00. With the Prius packed to the hilt with a crap ton of stuff for two nights (pillows, air beds, sheets, towels, stuffed animals, blankets, sound machines, night lights, food, snacks, drinks, kids’ med kit, toys, books, iPad, laptop…and Maggie and all her stuff)! Katie is back there, too, but I was lazy and didn’t take my phone out of the dash holder to take the picture.

The kids were really good—Katie watched Despicable Me 2 on a continuous loop and was perfectly content…and Owen alternated between playing on his phone and just watching the road. He did enjoy watching my mapping app (Waze) and kept notifying me of “yellow triangles” (road hazards like stopped cars) and police. When this came up he was like “WOW!! Look at all that stuff popping up!”

Katie had fallen asleep about 1:00 and Owen was adamant he didn’t need a rest. This was taken at about 1:15.

There were a few slowdowns around Stafford (when aren’t there?) but we made it in good time, even with the traffic snafus.

Welcome home! Amazon packages were waiting!

And the kids had A BLAST running around the house.

And they saw COOKIE MONSTER in the garage…so it had to come in immediately.

It was hotter than hell (and humid) so unpacking the car wasn’t fun. Katie also kept opening the garage door and coming outside—leaving the door wide open with Maggie right there. We’re going to have to put some kind of lock on the outside of the door, I think. Probably on the inside, too. (I’m not sure why these doors are so much easier to open than ours were—she could only open our lever-handle door, not the knobs.) She’s going to be a 180 from Owen on just about everything, escaping included.

Dinner was an escapade. I’d been planning on PB&J…except I apparently forgot the peanut butter and the bread I brought was moldy. Panic! We were all STARVING since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was almost 4! I ended up pulling pizza bagel bites from freezer (that we brought up two weeks ago). There’s lots of pantry stuff but it’s all packed away in the hot garage and not immediately accessible. There’s always take-out but that will be tomorrow!

They were happy, though!

The end of an era…

Posted on April 8, 2014 @ 1:50 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Pulling recipes out of sheet protectors in a 3-ring binder. Ditching most of them and scanning a few to Evernote.

But the best part was finding all of the recipes from friends and family that I’d asked for at my wedding shower that I’d since lost track of!!

Owen loves ABC Mouse!

Posted on March 30, 2014 @ 12:43 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

So, we’ve been seeing commercials for ABCmouse.com for quite some time, plus Owen has some apps on the phone that are by ABC Mouse. I thought it would be a good thing, but honestly…Owen has never used a computer, our desktop is too hard to get to easily so we’d have to set up a laptop downstairs, then teach him how to use a mouse, etc., and lastly, pay the monthly fee and hope he’d use it. So it just never got done.

Fast forward a few months, and Tom brought it up again. So I just signed up for emails and quickly realized that they always send out deals. So I waited and waited…and finally there was some deal (I honestly don’t even remember what it was—maybe half off) so I signed up. And then we were getting the house ready for flooring and then we were on vacation and then we were cleaning up after the flooring…and I was getting annoyed because I had paid for it and we weren’t using it! Every time Owen had “free time” he was playing with his Legos or watching TV or on the weekend he’d be playing his video game.

So today after breakfast I declared it was time. I said “Owen, do you want to try ABC Mouse?” And got a resounding happy YES! So Tom set up my laptop at the kitchen table, hooked up his wireless mouse, and we started. (Big whoop, it took all of five minutes!) I was a little concerned that Owen would have issues with the mouse because A) he’s never used one (and he’s very used to the touch screen of the iDevices) and B) sometimes he has issues with fine motor control. But he did pretty good—the only mouse button somewhat tripping him up was the center scroll button so I told him just to avoid that button…but within about 10 minutes or so he was USING the button correctly (the laptop screen isn’t quite big enough so it helps to scroll). Wow. I was floored.

And he flew through the first few lessons and was thrilled to be earning tickets and white stars and prizes for his hamster and aquarium (on the site!). He probably sat there for 20-30 minutes! Then just like that he was done. And he complained that it was too easy. I told him I know it was too easy, but we started him on stuff for younger kids just until he got used to how the mouse worked and how the website worked. I told him when we did it again it would be for older kids and he was cool with that.

So fast forward about an hour and he was ready! I had moved it from age 2 to age 4 and he loved it! I wish I could watch over him as he does everything so I can see what all is involved, but I like that he’s doing it by himself and I don’t HAVE TO watch over him. He did say that one page was too hard so I replayed it so I could see what it was but by then he was already DONE and couldn’t give me a clue why he had thought it was too hard. (He had completed it, though, so it wasn’t too hard to finish.)

So, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he keeps enjoying it!

School pictures…yes, again!

Posted on March 27, 2014 @ 2:25 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

First I was baffled that there were two school picture days in one school year. Then I was annoyed because I just saw it as a blatant money grab—and I was adamant I wouldn’t be buying any more. (Remember, I bought the rights to all three photos the last go-round.)

Then I saw the proofs.

OMG SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

Owen loves the graduate one—and I have to admit it is SUPER CUTE. And it turns out that this is a fundraiser for the school so at least that’s a bonus.

Poor Owen

Posted on February 21, 2014 @ 3:55 pm by Jen — 3 Comments ↓

So he didn’t feel good the other night—enough so that he didn’t want dinner. So we took his temp and WOW it was 102°. So we gave him some Advil and an hour later he seemed back to normal. Par for the course.

He’s had the sniffles for a bit, too, but I just chalked that up to a cold or allergies making a reappearance.

And then yesterday evening I noticed his left eye was a little pink and goopy. With green crusties. Oh boy… So we cleaned him up and figured if his eye was dried shut in the morning I’d take him to the doctor. But it was perfectly clean. Not really even pink. And no temp. He mentioned his head hurt and pointed to his ear but I didn’t make much of it and gave him another Advil and an allergy pill.

So then it was off to school, where I did warn them about the sniffles and the eye so they could keep watch. And damn if when I picked him up they didn’t tell me he napped today and woke up with a green crusty eye.

I called the doctor’s office from the parking lot and they said to come right in. Phew! A quick look and yep, the doc said he definitely has pink eye—and an ear infection! AN EAR INFECTION! His very first! (Apparently the same germs that give you pink eye can also give you an ear infection.) And then it hit me—his sore ear this morning that I brushed off as a headache or allergies was an ear infection. Of course I felt bad putting two and two together a little late…but now I know.

The doc was going to give him liquid but I stopped her and requested pills. It wasn’t until later when I started wondering about the size of the pills…because while Owen can take pills, the ones he takes are TINY. And of course, these turned out to be horse pills and I thought we might have a problem. So I broke one in half (which was still about 10x the size of what he’s used to) and handed Owen both pieces, telling him he can take one at a time—but he had already put both pieces in his mouth and was trying to swallow them! He wasn’t 100% successful as one piece fell out of his mouth onto the floor…but he picked it right up, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it. Just like that. Holy wah. What a rock star! He earned a piece of chocolate for that!

Unfortunately, the drops are another story. He hates them. HATES THEM. Even though he knows they don’t hurt and are over in a split second. He’ll get better with them over the next day or so, but in the meantime it’s frustrating.

Poor Owen.

But we promised him that if he’s a really good boy with taking his pills and getting his drops…that we’ll take him to the Lego movie Sunday. Of course we had already planned on it but hadn’t told him…so why not use it to our advantage?! Parents need to take an advantage when they can, right?

Thankfully, overall though, he’s in good spirits. Like usual.

Just about perfect.

Posted on February 19, 2014 @ 5:00 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

There’s just something about having Tom home, a nice breeze blowing through the open windows, music playing, having a drink, and getting dinner ready together…to make things seem just about perfect.

It’s a good, good morning.

Posted on January 27, 2014 @ 7:05 am by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

The plan was for me to go in to Owen’s room as usual and then have Tom come knock on the door. Tom was up super early (before 5) and once I knew he was up and moving around I was paranoid that Owen would hear/see him and ruin the surprise…so I got up and dragged Tom back into the bedroom while we watched Owen on the monitor. Owen dutifully waited until his nightlight turned green at 6:30 before turning his bedroom light on and I went in shortly after.

I thought he would have been much more excited…but it was still sweet. And then people (on Facebook) pointed out his wiggling feet and I guess that’s how he shows excitement. He also sounds a little choked up toward the end. (Facebook only got a snippet. This is the whole thing.)

The Facebook comments were great:

I like the wiggly feet…..
Awwww. This is priceless. I think he was very excited. His little feet!
The wiggly feet give it away!! So sweet!
Those feet!!!!!
Awww. Those feet! I totally cried. Both times.
The boy who emotes with his feet. What an awesome moment.
I love the little foot wiggle.

Then first things first—he had to show daddy his Lego book!

And then it was time to surprise Katie. She doesn’t seem to recognize him at first…but don’t worry, she was saying “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” the rest of the day and didn’t want him to leave her sight.

And daddy even did the morning diaper change!

Cards Against Humanity Rocks

Posted on December 21, 2013 @ 10:45 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

I bought their special limited-edition 12 Days of Holiday Bullshit and this was one of my days:

Awesome.

(Read more about Cards Against Humanity here or shop for it at Amazon.)

The stockings were hung…

Posted on December 4, 2013 @ 11:55 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

The first attempt…

And the stockings drive me nuts. Does anyone have stockings that hang correctly? This is our third set that hang sideways. Why is it so hard for manufacturers to comprehend how a hook will make it hang? This irritates me EVERY year.

So I posted exactly that on Facebook…and my friends came through with ideas!

But first, the kids seeing them for the first time:

So…my second attempt, complete with curtain rod! Perfect!!

Well, the stockings were perfect—but the garland needed adjusting. There’s no way I could live with the garland like that. Looking at it all day every day. /shudder

So, the third and final attempt:

And that’s as good as it’s going to get this year!

Knock me over with a feather.

Posted on November 1, 2013 @ 2:20 pm by Jen — 1 Comment ↓

Owen ate five pieces of turkey lunch meat with his lunch. Before today he’d only eat ham. And before that (just two weeks ago with Grannie and Papa) he wouldn’t even consider tasting any of it. I LOVE THIS CHANGE!!

First I had him try a bite. And he said it wasn’t bad…it tasted like turkey. Well, yes. But then he said it was like ham. Whatever it takes, buddy…whatever it takes. Then he asked for another piece. And another. While he was still eating the other stuff I’d given him (apples and cheese and crackers). Then he asked for another. AND ANOTHER.

Trying to sell clothes to a resale shop

Posted on October 21, 2013 @ 2:23 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

So, after Lin’s help sorting and organizing, I finally took two huge bins of Katie’s old clothes to the local resale place (Once Upon A Child). I was fully prepared to be outraged at the amount they offered me because I have seen others get pissy and I just assumed they would offer a pittance…but I wanted to try it at least once. So, I came up with the lowest number I would accept—$40, which would make each piece worth less than 50¢ (disappointing, but at least I wouldn’t have to deal with the stuff again). I even had Linda carefully pick out any stained things because I know that’s a big no-no.

So I dropped off the stuff and waited for the phone call. They called about 9pm to tell me it was done, but they couldn’t tell me my offer over the phone. So it was about three days before I was able to make it in. So I take a deep breath and go in. She brings over their blue box with a smattering of my clothes in it and says “These are what we could accept” and it’s literally maybe 1/4 of one box. I get ready to stifle my outrage at the offer…and she tells me $40.17.

Wait. What?

Yep, $40 for the tiny selection when I would have taken $40 for BOTH full bins. Needless to say I was shocked—AND THRILLED—but also extremely confused because I didn’t think there was anything wrong with any of it. So I asked why they couldn’t accept the other stuff. She said they don’t take blankets or socks (which I know was specific to my stuff) but then she went on about pieces missing from sets and stains. Okay, whatever. She may have just been spouting the generic company line…so when I got home we checked everything out again—just out of curiosity, mind you—with a fine-tooth comb.

Aside from the blankets and socks, we only found two pieces with stains and two things that were actually labeled as part of a set that didn’t have the matching pieces. But otherwise everything else was perfectly fine. Like footie PJs that were brand new, never worn, just washed (stuff Katie skipped size-wise). Or ones that were like new, definitely no stains, etc. Brand new onesies, etc. A perfectly nice dress that was in pristine condition that was NOT part of a set…?? And the best thing? Stuff I bought there a few months ago that was only worn once…and they wouldn’t take it back.

I just don’t get it. I mean, I’m happy with the money I got, but I am completely flummoxed as to why they wouldn’t take that stuff. The only thing I can think is they had an overstock of those items (though you’d think footie PJs would be hot since it’s the right season) and she just didn’t mention that. Sooooooo, I’m going to take it all back in a few months and see what happens.

My first substitute husband job!

Posted on September 7, 2013 @ 10:05 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Thank heavens for friends! (I could actually say that a lot, but today it’s about Roger coming to look at the sink.)

At first he was afraid it was inside the faucet with the hot water lines—which would require a plumber—but then he said “Hey, let me check this quick…”

And bingo! It was the pull-out handle—it was loose and the water was dripping from there. A quick tighten and it’s fixed (and he could find the tool he needed right away thanks to Tom organizing everything before he left!). He also moved the hose to a less-constricted space (away from the dishwasher line) so it’s easier to pull when necessary (and will create less stress on the part).

I never would have thought to check that, but now I know if it happens again!

Phew! I was envisioning $$$ for a plumber and/or $$$ for a new faucet.

And I think it’s pretty good that I didn’t need a fill-in hubby until a month in to the deployment!

Owen’s going to preschool!

Posted on August 30, 2013 @ 3:46 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Well, Owen is officially signed up for morning preschool three days a week! I wanted two, but she said better to start with more and cut a day (if necessary) than start with two and want to add a day and have there not be room.

Best part? One of his friends is in the same class!
Worst parts? Class starts at 8 and ends right in the middle of Katie’s nap.

So this means we’re all getting up by alarm (YUCK). This was a VERY rude surprise since we thought it was 8:30 (that’s what the paperwork I have said) and that was VERY doable with our regular schedule (Owen is up at 7, I’m usually up and showered by 7:30, but Katie can sleep until 8 or 8:30 sometimes—though it’s usually 7:30). But 8? Good god, that’s a BIG change in our schedule to be up and out the door by 7:35.

And on the other end, I either keep Katie up and deal with her being a hot mess and she falls asleep on the way to pick him up OR I let her nap but have to wake her up after 30-45m. Neither are appealing. Poor second kid gets the shaft nap-wise. The only thing I’m hoping is that maybe by getting her up earlier she will be tired earlier and will nap earlier… FINGERS CROSSED!

That said, one bonus to having a friend in the same class? I already know his mom well (she’s part of our mom’s group) and he’s an only child so she doesn’t have to deal with other kids napping…so she has GRACIOUSLY offered to pick up Owen on occasion and bring him home! So they’ll just come out for lunch and a play date! I swear, this mom’s group just keeps on giving and giving!

The only other thing I was planning on but didn’t pan out is dropping Katie off at the same place for once a week morning preschool…but they only do full-time care for one-year-olds (you have to be potty trained for pre-school classes). They do have drop-off first-come-first-serve daycare, though, so I may still be able to have a morning to myself now and again!

We got to meet his teacher, Miss Jennifer, and see his classroom. He had been SUPER excited about going to school and wanted to GO (not just visit) today but he didn’t seem too thrilled once we got in the classroom. I think (am hoping) it was because they just cleaned it (while the kids were outside) and it smelled like disinfectant. He also could see the playground and wanted to go play but that wasn’t an option.

After a few minutes he seemed a bit more at home and was walking around exploring. He had to go potty when he was there, so he got to check out the bathroom and wash his hands in the kid-sized sink (and learn how to use a different soap bottle and towel dispenser).

The teacher and I talked about his issues (mainly pooping and autism diagnoses) and she said she had another kid with GI issues and that she hadn’t noticed anything autism-related with him. She said they eat breakfast there, there’s no rest/nap time, water is available all day (they just have to ask for it), they have outdoor play time, and there’s no real regimented activity time (like “Okay, you HAVE TO sit here and practice writing for 15 minutes.”).

I still can’t believe this is happening. My baby is leaving the nest… I just wish he was taking a school bus so I didn’t have to spend an hour of my day trekking back and forth.

Finally, an amazing sale transaction.

Posted on July 29, 2013 @ 4:05 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Today rocked.

I listed our dining set yesterday. I get an email today about it…with fully formed sentences and no text speak!! I emailed back and got a reply within a half hour. She was able to come look at the table right away, she came when she said she was going to (almost to the minute!), and left a deposit and took some chairs with her. We even stood and chatted for 20 minutes because her husband is deploying soon, too.

Ahhh, that feels good. That’s how this stuff is SUPPOSED to work.

As as a bonus? We sold the table for more than we paid for it—though not by much, after you figure in what we paid for [feet] sliders and seat cushions!! But we weren’t out any money and that’s the best part!