Blessed 2013

Well, my favorite time of year has come and gone, now we sit and try to relax until new year. Then, out come the boxes, back go the decorations, and on we go with another year.

I wanted to go back and bookmark all the milestones of this past year with photographs, but man, that takes a surprisingly amount of time and thinking. So, I'm not doing that. Instead I will pick just a couple of my favorite photos of 2013...trying to wrap my mind around the year 2014. Of course I have a lot of favorite moments of this past year, and I am reflecting on them. The arrival of Adalaide, remodeling the kitchen, issues with the house/neighbors, a couple of date nights with Chris, holiday fun, Phoebe eye fun, visiting with friends and family, news of impending babies that should soon arrive, oh so much. Good, bad, indifferent, we are blessed for sure.

Merry Christmas all, and a happy new year!

Lorelai meeting Adalaide

Lorelai turns 3

Easter, Addy is ~3 weeks old

Easter swag

Visiting the Dallas Aquarium 

Adalaide 12/28

Sister pals

Bathtime cutie

Pretty, pretty

My girls

M.LEWIS

House Woes, Again

I have been so bad at blogging lately. At least, that's what it feels like. Not only am I writing less and less, but I am reading less and less. Chalk it up to holiday craziness, or sheer exhaustion, either way, I feel like I am failing in some small way.

 So, I am trying to be better about it. Call it my pre-new year's resolution.

Last weekend was not exactly relaxing. Saturday we finally got our attic ladder installed, so we can officially store things above our garage now. This means going through everyone's closets, cleaning things out and reorganizing. Normally I would enjoy this, but when it falls around Christmas, it just seems like one more thing to add to my to-do list.
Sunday we had a nice gross surprise.
While I was taking a shower, I heard strange gurgling sounds echoing in the pipes. I thought it might be the hot water heater refilling or something...until I looked down a minute later and saw I was standing in a growing puddle of odd-colored water.
After my initial "Oh my gosh, nasty!" feeling, I thought there was a clog in the drain. Begrudgingly, I turned off the water, gathered my shampoo, grabbed a towel and rushed to the other shower. I go to turn it on and noticed water in the tub already. "Did Chris not drain the tub all the way after the kids' bath?"
Nope.
It was the gross water from the other shower. We had a big problem mounting. I called for Chris and threw on some clothes. He started to try and unplug the shower when I saw the kids' bathroom floor was all wet.
"What? Why? How?"
I then saw a small, steady stream flowing from the base of their toilet.
We had an even bigger problem.
After we piled up the towels around the toilet, and turned off the water, I rushed to the computer to search for a plumber that would come out to the house on a Sunday morning.
I did find someone, and they couldn't come until after lunch, but to cut the long, boring, dirty story short, they came and fixed it...though they found a bigger issue we'll have to address soon. Yay.

I have to admit, when everything was falling apart, the first thought that entered my mind was "Ok, I'm ready to move now." This house has been a lot of work, and we have only been here 2 years...and we still have a lot to do. Sure, I did a lot already, but that was mainly aesthetics.
I do like the house, but we are growing out of it a little faster than I thought. We will obviously "tough it out" for a couple more years or so...but I think I will be more anxious than hesitant on leaving.

Things we have had to do since we moved in:

• fix the heater
• fix the sprinklers, twice
• reset our mailbox (not the house's fault)
• install attic ladder
• treat for external termites
• fixing the fireplace
• unclog the draining system
• replace the water heater

Things we still have to do:

• install more gutters
• fix/replace roof
• get a new fence
• refinish the deck
• get new carpet
• install new doorknobs
• treat/replace lawn
• exterior paint the house
• fix the sewer line
• replace the smoke alarm (right now one unit)
• replace the garage door system

And I still fear we will have to do things like replace the AC unit. Ouch. And a new house? Probably some of the same issues, but at least then we will have warranties and such.

Let's see what's next to pop up, and hope it's not so pricey.


M.LEWIS

The Epic Visit to the Pediatrician

This morning was enough to tire me and embarrass me for some time.

Months ago, I scheduled Lorelai's 3 yr check up on 12/5 and Adalaide's 9 m check up on 12/13. I had to rearrange things after I scheduled Phoebe's eye appt for 12/5...which then later changed to 11/25, but before she got in early, I made both girls an appointment at the pediatrician for 12/13. I thought it would be better to get them both checked at the same time.

I laugh at myself now.

Since about Wednesday I have been telling Lorelai about our Friday plans and what to expect. She has been to most of Addy's appts before so I thought she would be uncomfortable but reluctantly cooperative. Boy, was I wrong.
The nurse called us back to a room and stopped us in the hall to get LEL's height and weight first. All it took was "Can you take off your coat and boots so we can see how much you've grown?"
Lorelai said "no" sternly, then adamantly refused to do anything the nice nurse asked. No amount of distraction, bribes, begging, or reverse psychology made any deference. This is where LEL's self-assurance and independence come to be a huge pain in the neck.
She would not stand to be measured, nor would she step on the scale. She was crying in the hall, making things unnecessarily difficult.
Addy went first. She loved it, especially the whole sit naked on the scale part.

"Look Lorelai! Addy thinks this is fun, don't you want to try?"

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" followed by some incoherent screams and pouting.
*I'm not exaggerating.

Well, after about 10 more minutes (though it felt like forever) we decided muscle was the only way we were going to get those stats.
A nice nurse held a happy Addy baby while I helped two other nurses pick up my screaming 3 yr old off the floor, and pin her to the infant measuring table to get our best height mark. Then, I had to get weighed myself (yay.) then pick up and hold Lorelai and get weighed again. You, know, subtract the two, and you get our best effort on her weight.
They never did get her bp.

Keep in mind, we had not even seen the Dr. yet.

Adalaide's examination was first. She is just fine except for her weight. She is in the 3%. That's right, 3. So, they want me to get more calories into her by heavier formula and by adding in vegetable oil to her foods. Sounds kind of gross, but hey, whatever they want me to try, I will.

Lorelai did slightly better with her examination. She liked the Dr. better because the only thing he asked her was the only thing she wanted. "Do you want to sit with your mom for a minute?" She got to climb up on the table and sit with me while Addy tried to climb the wall behind us. Lorelai is just fine too. She's still tall and lean. She will need to see a pediatric dentist soon (that should be like one of the worst days ever), and after talking to the Dr. about her speech he told me to sign her up for some speech therapy at a nearby elementary school. It wasn't until a little later did LEL warm up a bit and start talking about the Lion King picture on the wall did the Dr. then turn around and say with certainty that we should just have her evaluated. Ergh, was hoping we could escape that, but ok, we will live. I hope...that would involve taking simple instructions from strangers again. Oh my.

Just before we left they needed blood samples for lead and iron levels. Adalaide did great with hers, no crying. Lorelai just about melting down into the floor again...and yet again when she saw the bandaid on her finger. Of course, she ripped it off then panicked when she saw her finger was still bleeding...then the second bandaid didn't seem like such a bad idea. She kept that one on the whole day, and used that hand sparingly, frightened it might start bleeding again.

These are the crazy things I will look back on in years to come with a smile on my face...but we aren't looking back just yet, are we?


M.LEWIS

Once More, With Feeling

The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic. That is why my last post was a little...lacking. So, here we go again, with more depth this time:

We had Thanksgiving with my family. Since we couldn't swing 2 dinners that involved driving across the metroplex with two cranky kiddos, we spent most of the day in Dallas at my grandparent's house. It was nice not having to watch the clock and stressing about timing though.

The next day we were up bright and early, off to see the animals at the zoo. My youngest sister has had a strong desire to visit the zoo since summer, so she tagged along with us. Lorelai thoroughly enjoyed herself, but not in a happy, giddy, giggly way; more in an inquisitive, curious, observing way. I would not be surprised if this kid grows up to work with animals. She is most definitely in love.

After an abrupt melt-down, we visited the gift shop for a birthday eve present, and then we departed. We saw about 2/3 of the zoo, but after 3hrs, she needed a nap, and promptly fell asleep on the way home. That never happens, that should tell you how tired she was from the day before...and we still had so much to come...

The next day was her 3rd birthday. Firetrucks, balloons, puppies, a time-consuming cake, and a lovely small pile of presents greeted her in the morning. She had to wait for most of these things until her party in the evening. That small pile turned into a large heap, the pretty cake turned into crumbs, and we had one happy- yet tired- little 3 yr old at the end of the day.

This girl is loved.

Were we done yet? Nope. The next day, Pappy, Uncle Sean, and Uncle Blake came for a visit. We had a couple more presents and lunch at Chili's. It took them both a little while to warm up to the group, but they did just fine...it had been a long few days.

The next week or so was filled up with cleaning up, storing toys, finish decorating, and taking Phoebe to an animal opthamologist.

I have been online shopping for Christmas gifts. Not only is it convenient, and affordable, but I don't have to mess with the kids in stores. Hooray! I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. The wrapping might have to wait to the last minute though. I have an almost 9 month old that seems quite interested in paper and bows. I just have to find more places to store the stuff until it's time.

We are finally getting our attic staircase installed next Saturday, so hopefully we can store a lot of big stuff in the attic now, instead of our closets.

Next Saturday is good, seeing as this weekend we will probably be iced in.

Last night we got about 2-2.5inches of sleet and freezing rain. It's pretty amazing, really. So far, we have only lost one smallish branch off of our ash tree. I hope that is all. We have been lucky. Chris can stay home from work, we still have power/heat, I fully stocked our food supplies for the next several days, we have a car full of gas, enough diapers & formula, plenty of Christmas movies, and no where we need to go until there is a chance some of this can melt.

That's the thing with Texas. We rarely get actual snow. We get ice...we just call it snow, because it's white and cold. But make no mistake, this stuff is as hard as a rock. Completely solid. It's insane.

I hope my pals who are without power/heat get it restored soon, and I hope they are walking distance to some help/supplies!

 

...Now to entertain the kids some more. We are only half way through the first day of this, and they are already getting antsy. Two and a half days to go!

M.LEWIS