Baby John's Crib

Bah

2009-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, email issues seem to be the order of the day with the facebook thing. Please either email me your name or email address and I will find you. I am not posting comments with names or email addresses in them :)

Getting with the program!

2009-12-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

Not sure if anyone still looks at this - it's been a while since I posted.

I've finally gotten with the program and signed up with Facebook. I'm a little slow with these things, I'm sure there's now something new and way better that I've yet to hear about......

Anywho. I have pathetically few friends (and those are family who felt obligated to accept when I came knocking). I'd like to reconnect with my adoption community, but I have no clue how to find anyone.

So here is my pathetic cry for attention. Will you be my friend? Email me at myfirstname (tracy) letter s facebook at live dot com.

Mom, by the way if you read this before I talk to you, my webcam should be working again.......

Pony? Park Day

2009-08-24T17:52:00.001-07:00

Look who's climbing the playscape while waiting for the ponies.

Looks like someone else followed him.

You guessed it, I konked my head but good right after Bill took the picture.

More follow the leader.

Wheeeee.....

Going down is much more fun than going up.........

Round two for John. Mom's taking a break.

Daddy & John checking out hte ponies. Up until this moment, John was pretty gung-ho about going for a ride.

This was as close as we got.

Graduation Day

2009-08-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

Guess who passed obedience school?

Josie did really well, but best of all (knock on wood!) she seems become/relearned being housebroken. No recent accidents, and she is now staying out of her cage all night.

We also gave Josie full reign of the house yesterday while we were gone ALL DAY and there were no accidents! I was not happy to have to crate her, especially at night when we are home. Hopefully, she will keep up the good work. She now whines when she needs to go out, so I think she's got it figured out.

Zoo Day

2009-08-24T17:46:00.001-07:00

Someone just was awoke from his nap and was none too happy about it - it took a box a popcorn, a new elephant, and convincing from mommy, daddy, and Baby the bear that the zoo was a good thing to do on a beautiful day.

Still in need of convincing.........

But wait, the zoo has DINOSAURS??????? He might be convinced this was a good idea after all......

Yep, rexi's rule!

Are you sure you see the monkeys?

Okay, I guess I like this zoo business after all. Next time, can we come before I take my afternoon nap?

Happy 3rd Birthday John!

2009-08-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

Yum, ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Mom got lazy and didn't feel like baking. Actually, it wasn't so much being lazy, but this was the big lay-off week at work, and several people I knew got cut, and was feeling kind of bummed and wasn't in the mood to bake. From the look on John's face, I don't think he was missed the homemade cake one bit.........

Nope, I'm thinking I would not have got a bigger smile with a homemade cake, especially when we told him this one was made out of ice cream.

LOL, thankfully no spitting when he blew out the candle!

Mommy cut the cake! These were taken after his nap, presents were already opened and investigated by then. There were actually balloons and decorations in the other room, but I forgot to get photos of everything but the cake. DOH!

The red coat lied again

2009-08-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Umm, I mean the redhead.

Apparently, since everything else around here has decided to break, malfunction, or just generally annoy me to some great degree today, HP Photo Pavillion has decided to jump on the bandwagon. It worked just fine earlier when I used it, but automatic updates rebooted my computer against my will, and seems to have messed up the only photo editing program I know how to use.

Shocking, I can't find the disk to reinstall in the dark - I really need to get some lightbulbs.

I swear, my next computer will be an Apple. The big question, though, is can a Mac cure wicked PMS?

The pictures are coming, the picures are coming.

2009-08-23T16:56:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned for the last two months in pics; in seperate posts, in case I get motivated enough to write some commentary this week. Or not.

Did I really wear that?

2009-07-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

http://babyjohnscrib.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-to-much-happier-posts.html

Wow, I'm amazed anyone still reads this! Thank you, you are very kind. I usually skim through all my favorite blogs every week, but just as I haven't been updating this one, I haven't been commenting either. Me and my bad attitude.......

I looked back at some old entries and had forgotten that I posted some LOVELY photos of myself on pick-up day. Boy, that was a happy day, but what a rotten feeling it was to try directing the photos to be shot above the neck.......oh no, that won't work, it won't show the baby, don't get my hips in the picture, make sure my chins don't show, etc, etc, etc. I was so appalled at how bad I looked. I really couldn't get over how huge my arms were.

I found that shirt while cleaning out closets for stuff for Purple Heart. It was a size 3x. I tried it on 1 last time, and found the arm material to be double the size of my arms, which I might add are now somewhat toned from carrying around an increasingly heavy kiddo for the past 2.5 years. The rest of the shirt was baggy as well.

The point of this story? Well, for the past couple of years, I have avoided going to all sorts of local Guatemalan cultural gatherings with my son because I was ashamed of being overweight. On a good day when I'm feeling a pretty high dose of self-esteem, I have a hard time talking to strangers. The rest of the time? I'm the one at the back of the room staring intently at the floor.

It's time to start introducing John to other kids that share his culture. Last pair of pants I bought were a size 10, so I'm not going to stand out in a crowd because of my size. My crazy shoes are another story, but I figure they are good conversation starters.

It's best to let sleeping dogs lie.....

2009-07-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

As proven by photographic evidence:

Yes, he's wearing a bathtowel to sleep in, and using "puppy" as a pillow. The kid likes dogs.

So, where have we been the past two months? Around. Call me lazy. These are the first pics I've taken since John went to see Thomas in May (which I never got around to posting.....) Too much to do, too little time.

So, to catch you up on what we've been doing besides work, well.......John's talking a mile a minute. Bill & I were talking about his dinner and bath today, and what to make for dinner. He looks and us and asks "why are you talking about me?" Josie starts obedience school this week. I swear she is the laziest dog ever. Food does not even motivate her to get up, she might lift up her big head and take a wiff, but that is it. That dog isn't doing anything she doesn't want to do, which includes going outside to the bathroom. Fortunately, the pink room is her first choice. Good choice, Josie, otherwise, we'd be having a serious heart-to-heart about your living accomodations.

That's about it in a nutshell. Bye for now, hopefully it will not be another 2 months before I post, but I've given up on making promises, LOL!

Drugs........Ugghhhh.

2009-05-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been MIA for a while. Yes, I should be posting some cute pics of my kid gazing at Thomas the train in person - after all, it's been TWO weeks since we went. But, I'm not. I've been too busy with real life, and too tired to do fun things like blog and download pictures.

Instead, I'm going to bitch about drug prices. Ding Dong #2 (Josie) was spayed last week compliments of the pound where we got her. Six days after she was spayed, she decided to eat a piece of John's wooden Thomas train track, which as ~~lazy~~ loving parents, we left on the floor after John went to bed. Ding Dong #2 had this in her big mouth all of 30 seconds before she was busted, but managed to cause the wood to splinter none the less. A little while later, she threw up.

By Thursday (one week post surgery), she was coughing. By Friday, she was at the vet. Diagnosis? Aspiration pneumonia. Most likely cause? Throwing up. Anyway, the vet advises that their animal antibiotic is $130, but she called a not-so-local drug store, and she can give me a script for a generic human drug that runs $90. I'm good with that.

Bill takes the script to our local CVS. How much do they want to charge? $220! Yes, $220 for 14 days of generic antibiotic for a dog. Meijers isn't much better at $200. I checked on line to see if the pharmacy the vet checked with was associated with anyone else closer, and found the local drug store just down the street is a part of the same network. Bill went there, and guess what they charged for the same frikking drug? $70. Guess where we are now doing all our shopping?

What really irked me, and makes me really feel bad for people without perscription coverage is that the same drug in Canada is being sold for $30. We weren't sure if they'd fill a K-9 perscription, so we didn't make the 17 mile trek across the border, but I certainly understand why people travel hundreds of miles to do so now.

Drug companies and drug stores - what a crock.

Guardian Angels Waiting in the Wings

2009-04-27T17:38:00.001-07:00

Do you believe in guardian angels? I do. I've had too many unexplained things happen to me for me not to believe in their presence. Today I had yet another encounter with one in the form of a very nice policeman.

I was driving to work, and being the ~~courteous driver~~ impatient person that I am, got caught behind some old piece of junk van going over the train tracks right at the sewage plant going 2 - yes - 2 miles an hour. Not liking the smell of *ahem* ~~shi~~ sewage, I don't tend to dilly-dally around the tracks, so I made sure the coast was clear and high-tailed it around pokey, going the speed limit of course.

Well, what do you know, a little further down the road, I see some blue & red flashing lights coming up on my bumper. Oh carp. Usually I get a racing heart and bad feeling in my stomach, but this time, it was just like "oh well". The nice officer took my license and registration, but when I looked at my insurance card, I noticed it expired TODAY. I couldn't find the new one to save my life. I told the officer I must have forgotten to put it in my car, I wouldn't drive without insurance. (Working for an insurance company, I know that would be a bad, bad idea). The nice police man came back and said he'd let me off with a warning since I had a good record, but that I needed to find that updated insurance card. I told him I'd take care of it right away.

I got to work and called my agent, who told me he didn't see where any payments had been made on my policy. ACCCKKKK! I promptly put the balance on my Visa, and he faxed me proof of insurance.

What are the chances I'd get pulled over on the day my policy expired, when I had no clue it was up for expiration? (I'm not insured with the company I work for, so it's not like I can just check the company computer any time I get the urge).

This is just too weird. Someone was watching out for me, which I'm happy about, since I obviously need the help, LOL!

Could it be true?

2009-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

A certain someone has pooped on the potty twice in the past week. Am I premature in celebrating the possible thought that the end of diapers, at least during the day, might be in sight? Have I jinxed myself by writing this?

Happy belated Easter!

2009-04-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

We're back from NC and had a nice Easter at home.....At least John & Bill did, I spent the day sleeping, as I did on Friday and Saturday due to some mystery illness that is making my muscles feel like I got hit by a Mack truck, and leaving me wanting to sleep all the time.

On a positive note, while in NC, we did get to see my grandmother in VA, she was very surprised to see us. I hadn't seen her in a very long time, and she had only seen pictures of John.

I'm constantly amazed by John's memory - probably because my own seems to have short-circuited somewhere along the line. He didn't remember coloring Easter eggs last year, but he did some in NC, and when I told him we'd do them again on Saturday, he asked "like at Grandma's?" Bill showed him a picture of his parents before he took him there yesterday, and he called them the candy people (don't get me started on that......) When we flew down first class, there were pillows and blankets on all the seats. We weren't so lucky flying back - in fact, I had to pay to get seats together (um, hello Northworst, traveling with a 2.5 year old..... might be a good idea to seat us together automatically....) We get to our seats, and John starts demanding his pillow. Honey, get used to it, momma's not buyin 1st class everytime we fly.

I'll upload some pics when I'm not so tired. Hint Hint, NC grandma could send me some that she took since I didn't bring my camera.

Woo Hoooo!

2009-04-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

I checked in for our flight tomorrow, and the magical words came up.........do you want to upgrade to first class for $115? Hell yes I want to upgrade to first class for $115.

Mmmm. Big seats. Foot rests. A private bathroom. Free drinks at my beck and call (okay, I'm fantasizing now since I lead the boring life - water for me, and milk or juice for John).

The only problem? I am on one side of the plane, and John the other. Oh well, I'm sure once some stuffy business person figures out they are stuck next to a 2 year old who wants his mommy, s/he will be happy to switch with me. Muhhhwahhhhhhh....

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmothers house we go......

2009-03-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's over the river, pass the sewage treatment plant (hold nose), through suburbia, then some woods, back into suburbia and then the airport, but John and I are headed to Grandma & Grandpa's on Friday!

I think I'm starting to dread the airport and plane ride, I only hope I bring along enough to keep John entertained. I took him to Grandma & Grandpa's when he was 6 months old, and he screamed the whole way back from Raleigh to Detroit. The flight attendent actually asked me to take him to the back of the plane. This time I'm afraid he'll have a temper tanturm when he can't get up, or even worse, I'll have to contend with a dirty diaper mid-flight (we had that happen on the pick-up flight a couple of times, none of the airplane bathrooms had changing facilities).

Note to self: Bring m&m's for John. Mass quantities of valium for mom.

Here is John's 2.5 year picture. Isn't he adorable?

Has it really been almost a month?

2009-03-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ah huh. Unfortunately, it seems, time flies as fast when your not having fun as when you are. John has hit the terrible twos/traumatic threes with a vengeance and despite this:

This cute little guy is having some major temper tantrums, showing major defiance, and his favorite word is NO! and his favorite phrase is I DON'T THINK SO!

More cuteness for good measure:

Now for our other family news...........we decided to adopt again! Guess what - it's a girl - dog that is. Meet Josie:

She's a Rottweiler from the pound, her previous owner turned her in as they were moving and couldn't afford to keep her. We had been looking for another dog for a while, but with the conditions that the new dog had to be good with kids and get along with our other dog, we weren't having much luck. We went to the pound to look at a different dog, and the animal control officer suggested Josie (formerly called Abby, which we didn't care for). She didn't appear skittish around John at all, and Little Dog seemed to get along with her so we brought her home; she's been great! It's been a week, and she answers to her new name. She doesn't chew inappropriately and isn't interested in John's toys, and best of all, is housebroken. She's basically a big, lazy oaf who isn't to inclined to move unless food is involved. Of course, we closely monitor all interaction between John and the dogs.

Gotta go, more laundry awaits..........

SAVE ME FROM THE CRAZY WOMAN WITH THE CAMERA PHONE!

2009-02-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

I am so bad!

2009-02-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

I know, it's been about a month. I've taken no pictures, written nothing. Life here is about the same, except that we are justthismuchclosertogoingstircrazy being cooped up. I've had it with winter. Nothing gets done around here on the weekends because John can no longer be counted on to take a 2-3 hour nap like he used to. We're lucky to get an hour and a half out of him, and that's just not enough time to get anything done. I HATE WINTER! HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT! I'm so over it, I just need for it to be spring! First nice weekend day, that little man is going to the park and getting run ragged to burn off some energy so I can start some spring cleaning. Ha - I'll probably be so tired, I'll take a nap with him.

Some parting thoughts from the temporarily insane:

- Your thoughts on the new Wiggles? I think it's like the Wiggles on LSD, not that I've ever tried LSD, but it's kind of a head trip all the same. I don't think I like it.

- On the old Wiggles series, there is an episode where the Wiggles move into Wiggle house as adults. If that's so - how is it that the Little Wiggles lived there?

- Why does Calliou have no hair? If for some reason that is an insensitive question, sue me, I don't care.

- On the good night show, does Nina ever change her pajamas?

Todays comment of the day....

2009-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Coming from a disgruntled toddler with equally disgruntled parents, none of whom got much sleep last night.

I was trying to change John from his pj's & overnight diaper into a clean diaper and school clothes, and he was fighting me tooth and nail. I said sternly, "John, you have to let momma get you ready for school; stop kicking me!"

John's response? "Stop talking to me!"

Blah Blah Blah

2009-01-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing new here to report. For a while I was bad with the camera because I had let John's hair get so long he started to resemble Eddie Munster - not a good look. I finally got him a hair cut, so I'll start taking pictures when I find the camera...........2 weeks of bronchitis has left my energy level at about 25%, so basically all I want to do when I come home is sleep.

Does anyone else have a "closet of shame"? I kept all of my nice clothes and coats in there that didn't fit anymore along with a bunch of summer stuff that I bought thinking I could just lose those 10lbs and then everything would fit perfectly. Yeah right. It's taken me almost 2 years, but finally, the closet of shame is starting to be the place where I find stuff to expand my wardrobe and dump my baggy clothes. What a great feeling! LOL, what I am not looking forward to is all the tailor bills when I have to have all the pants altered to crop them, cuff them, or slim the legs; but I guess it will still be a lot cheaper than going out and buying a whole new wardrobe.

Mr. John is doing well, except for a dry cough which is how my bronchitis started out. Hopefully he won't get it. He is talking up a blue streak and is the politest little man I have ever met. Please mommy, thank you mommy, bless you mommy (every time I coughed), sorry mommy, welcome mommy. Just too cute for words.

Now that I've bored you to tears with me, me, me, I'll sign off. Next time, some pix.

How does he remember these things?

2009-01-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

I have a hard time remembering what clothes I wore to work over a 5 day period and ensuring that I don't repeat the same outfit (the horrors!). Don't ask me what I ate for lunch yesterday. I don't remember.

My parents live in North Carolina, surrounded by all sorts of fantabulous restaurants. Everytime I visit, I am so envious, because there is just nothing comparitive where I live (Detroit - fattest city in the nation!). I could easily eat out in NC every day. I could also easily weigh 300 lbs because of all this fantastic food, so it is probably a good thing that I am the only member of my immediate family that remains in the homeland. Only Las Vegas beats NC for good Italian restaurants. (Admittedly, I am not well-traveled, ha ha!).

Everytime my skinny/healthy eating parents come back to town, they go into some junk food frenzy, and have to have all of the local things they can't get in NC. Why? I'm not sure. I don't think I'd miss a lot of the local crapola if I had good stuff available nearby.

The point of this post? Well, the people who have Krispy Kreme's available on every corner, were here at Halloween and gave my kid a Duncan donut with pink frosting and sprinkles. First, who in their right mind would prefer a stale Duncan donut to a deliciously soft, melts in your mouth, chocolate frosted Krispy Kreme? My NC transplanted parents, that's who. And now, they've tainted my kid before he's ever even tried a Krispy Kreme to expect pink frosting and sprinkles.

I was shifting around some spices in the spice cabinet, and happened to get out a jar of decorative sprinkles yesterday. John immediately saw this, ran and got something to step on, climbed up and grabbed the sprinkles. He immediately starting shouting "donuts, donuts".

How does a 29 month old child remember something he hasn't eaten in over 2 months? Should I be scared? Should I call Mensa?

Correction to my last post....

2009-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

My sister has informed me that "lactose ringers" is incorrect. It is "lactated ringers" or "ringers lactate" (I hope I spelled those right, I deleted her email off my Blackberry). It's been a long time since I've seen "Emergency".

Sorry about all the typo's in that last post . The timestamp on the bottom is Pacific time, and I am in Eastern, so it was not only late for me, I had also polished off the leftover bubbly from the night before. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Good!

I can feel paradise by the Duraflame light! (LONG!)

2009-01-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year! I meant to post earlier, but a wind storm came through and knocked out our power from Sunday until late Tuesday night, after we had already left for warmer climes. More about that mess later. First the important stuff :-)

I hope all had a blessed Christmas. We did! John made out like a bandit. Bill & I decided not to exchange gifts this year as we pretty much buy what we want/need all year, and since this was not the year for extravagences, what is the point? No more nice jewelry for me until John graduates college, and Bill's most recent heart's desire, a 28" path gas-powered snowblower with heated handles was quickly replaced by some local guy who "put us on his list", and comes by and plows the entire driveway for $30. Bill never has to worry about when he's going to get it done, how much time he's going to spend getting it done, or how cold/wet he's going to get getting it done. He kept our little "paid for" 20" blower for the patio and for the path to the doors. In these woeful economic times, it seems like a much more frugal route to go.

John had a blast for Christmas. He kind of grasped the concept of Santa this year, although much better after Christmas than before. He really enjoyed presents as the following photos will show. He enjoyed his own presents, as well as helping everyone else open theirs. It's funny, now, at New Year's, Santa is quite the icon, and not the scary beast he was 3 weeks ago when we took him to Santa's breakfast.....

Charlie Browns Christmas Tree! Not only did we not get it up until the 20th, it's got exactly 3 ornaments on it. Two are the ornaments that John made in daycare last year, and the third is an ornament that his teacher gave him. In the rush to make our garage habitable for Bill's damaged car, our Christmas ornaments got buried in the middle, and we didn't have the energy to dig them out. Pathetic, I know. I guess, if I really liked anything but the stuff from my great grandma and some Goebel ornaments my parents gave me, I may feel differently, but most of it is junk, and when I do unbury it, I'm going to trash the majority of it and start afresh (starting this year......Lowes had some snazzy stuff 75% off after Christmas!)

John found this present first, a Thomas train track. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he really enjoyed all of the individual pieces that I bought to go along with it.

What to go for next? The little train piece in his hands? The package from Aunt Karen and Uncle Michael? The package from Cousin Elle? The Tonka dump truck? The huge present from Grandma and Grandpa? The possibilities are endless............

In the end, the Tonka dump truck won! It's been transporting tons of goodies ever since......

Next season on Emergency, our favorite firefighter/EMT ready and engaged for action. Lactose ringers and IV line on hand....

Here we have our tall boy carrying around his favorite, Bertie the bus, while scoping out the presents at Grandma & Grandpa S. Present scoping is secondary only to scoping out the known hidouts for candy stashes....

Those better not be Santa's bell's I'm hearing - I'm still a little freaked out by the guy in red......A week later, he was more than willing to give the same Santa doll a big hug.....

In one of the finest packaging faux paus ever, this Thomas toy is SCREWED into it's cardboard home with a plastic housing and metal screws. The instructions advise parents and kind uncles to unscrew and dispose of said housing and screws. What a fricking WASTE! Not to mention, my in-laws had nothing that resembled the type of screwdriver that was going to get those screws out. In the process said screws got stripped by multiple attempts to get them out with scissors, knives, etc. Since we've brought the toy home with the stripped screws, we can't find a screwdriver that will get them out. Now, the real drama. Do we buy the "as seen on TV" do-dad that instantly unscrews stripped screws or let the kid play with it as is since the remaining packing material doesn't seem to impede play??? And to think that they have degreed engineers that think this crap up! Son, when it is time, research heavily "packaging engineer" - sixteen years from now as it will either be a most lucritive or heavily mocked profession.

John checking out clothes from Grandpa & Grandma S. LOL, obviously appreciated far more by mommy & daddy!

That pretty much sums up Christmas. It was nice, and fun was had by all.

We spent New Year's Eve at home, happily.

For a while, it didn't look like that was going to happen. We had a windstorm Saturday night, and our power went out sometime around Sunday 7 AM. I was fairly comatose at the time, and kept hearing beeping. All I could think was that it was the middle of the night, and that one of the smoke alarm batteries had decided to go. "Why the hell do they always go during the middle of the night?" I thought. The lump next to me that I presumed to be Bill didn't move so I started to get up when another mindblowing noise shook my world. I couldn't figure what that was, so I jumped back into bed and curled around the warm lump, which I quickly figured out was Little Dog. I looked at the clock, which was blank, and then looked at the TV, all while the shrilling noise kept going off. The blue TV light kept flashing. Finally Bill came in and said the power was going on and off. Then it when off. Thankfully John slept through the racket. The shrilling noise was the carbon monoxide detector right outside his room, which Bill removed as soon as he figured out it was the source of the commotion.

We figured the power would be on shortly. Not so. By Sunday night, the heat in the house had sunk to 60. Quite tolerable by all parties, no biggie. By Monday morning, it was 55. Somewhat unpleasant, but we left for most of the day. As it was 49 outside, there wasn't anything we could do with our refrigerated/frozen goods, which pretty much sucked. By Monday night, everything in the fridge started smelling, and everything in the freezer was unthawed. Had it been colder out, we could have put the frozed goods in a cooler in the yard, and kept the refrigerated stuff either on the sunporch or garage. Unfortunately, because both were either less insulated or received more sun, they were warmer than the house, so there was no saving anything in the freezer or the fridge.

By Monday night, it was 50 in the house, and only John was a happy camper about the situation. Who knew toddlers that crave routines were so resiliant? John took everything in stride from the very beginning, from not being able to see his Thomas shows, and not being able to have the Christmas tree lit, to not being able to have books read. His mantra was "no Tommy, no power", "no lights, no power", "no books, no power". It was just amazing how he understood. When he asked for lights, and we told him no, because there was no power, he didn't tantrum, he just repeated, " no power". When we started dressing him in multiple layers to keep him warm, it was "keep warm, no power". He just kind of accepted the whole situation calmly and without question. He accepted what was going on and went with the flow without question or issue. Now, if Bill & I could learn from that! Little dog, too. He was the worst of the bunch.

We craved to temptation Monday night, and lit Duraflame logs in the fireplace. As we have never had the fireplace checked out or cleaned, and wanted at least glass doors before we lit a fire with John around this was a big deal. Luckily, everything worked fine, and I think the temp in the family room might have rose a degree or two with the hall doors closed.

Tuesday, it got down to 46 in the house, and DTE still couldn't give us a definate fix time. We found a hotel that took dogs, packed the bare minimum and took off with numb extremities around 5pm. Again, John was the trouper of the bunch handling the hotel stay like we had taken him to Disney. Little dog looked miserable for the most part, but this is the same dog that for the first time ever had tried to bury himself under the covers with me earlier in the day - no way he was staying home in uncertain temps. Bill & I were so-so about the stay, we were happy to shower and get out in a warm environment, and happy to sleep under something less than pioneer days layered blankets.

Wednesday, Bill called DTE and got a recorded message that there was still no fix time.........Bah Humbug. The place we stayed still had openings for New Years Eve if need be. I wanted to go home for a while. We left at 10:30 and drove around for a while, and finally wandered back home around 11:30. We could see from about mid-street that our outdoor lights were glowing red (we replaced the clear bulbs for Christmas). We happily walked in to find the tempature back to what it was set at, and according to one of the clocks that would have cycled through from when the power went back on, the power had been on for 13 hours. Hallelujah!

A nice peaceful new year's eve was spent at home with another duraflame log - now not needed for heat, but for pleasant decoration.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas & that 2009 is a wonderful new year!

22 Is My Lucky Number

2008-12-22T19:20:00.001-08:00

I know, now just what does that mean? I mean, it's been my lucky number since I was a little kid. It started with 2 being my lucky number. I'd be at the school fair on the cake walk, land on 2, and always win a cake. Never failed. I always watched "Let's Make a Deal" and it never failed that door/curtain number 2 was the big winner when I picked it. Then along came the show where the contestant had to pick from 25 boxes. That's right - whenever I picked 22, it was the big winner.

Now why is this of any relevance some 30-35 years later? Well, just look at the date! It's the 22nd and it's homecoming - John's homecoming! Ironically, I always knew that 22 would play a role in some part of my adoption, although I really thought my son would be born on the 22nd, or we'd receive his referral on the 22nd. (I'm probably really creeping my mother out right now!) I have some very personal reasons for having this feeling, so it goes without saying that the significance of his homecoming on the 22nd is very meaningful to me. I hope that someday I amcomfortable sharing that story, but now is not the time.

Today John went to daycare as usual, he came home to this slight change. He looked at it oddly, and proceeded to pick up the vacuum cord and wrap it around his neck (obviously not in the pic, thank goodness! I was home today, and hadn't finished cleaning before he came home from school). The stocking is his Guatemala Christmas stocking that we bought solely for Homecoming day. This year, his present was too big to fit in it, so it's empty.

There's John playing with the vacuum cord, which for some reason was much more attractive than the present. That situation was remedied ASAP.

Ah, yes, being diverted to the present. Only after being coerced into watching "Jack's Music Show", which normally he beg's to watch, along with Thomas the Tank Engine and The Wiggles...

What's this? Could be fun..........."Helpa Mea" John says in his Italian accent............we have no clue where he picked that up from, but at least it's cute.

Aha, fun times to be had, and enough noise to drive daddy and mommy nuts!

Watching Jack - playing the triangle with the show. Mommy is being bothersome with the camera...........

Finally, a smile! All I had to do was ask him to say cheese, and I got a what I asked for.......a cheesy grin.

Happy homecoming not-so baby boy! We are so blessed that you are a part of our lives. May our love for you go on for at least the next 22 years times infinity!

On to much happier posts :-)

2008-12-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Where have the past two years gone? It was two years ago today that this took place:

We became a family! Our adoption took only a little over 9 months from start to finish, but it felt like 9 years. We completed the initial application with our agency on March 1, 2006, and finally had our dossier accepted on August 9, 2006. That was the 2nd longest time of my life. We received John's referral on August 11, 2006, flew to Guatemala for pick up on December 18, 2006 We held our beloved son forever on Bill's birthday, December 19 - exactly 2 years ago. That was truly the longest 4 months of my life.

I'm not sure where the heck (like that word mom, LOL?) the last 2 years went. Poof! They're gone, like nothing. When John came home, and I was adapting to constant diaper changing and the persistent lack of sleep, I couldn't wait 'til we could start potty training. Now that John's running around, talking, expressing an interest in the potty, I'm like, where'd my baby go? He's not a baby any more.

Here's me & John just moments after pick up in the lobby at the Clarion. Being in Guatemala at Christmas time was really special. I'm glad we had the experience. (Although being the incredibly vain creature that I am, I'm horrified at my really bad hair, huge hips and triple chin.)

We went to see Santa a couple of weeks ago. Being my scatterbrained self, and having married the male version of my scatterbrained self, we forgot both the real camera and video camera, so all I have is the crappy Polaroid of a very unhappy John; me having another horrific hair day, but proof all the same that 2 of my 3 chins are gone. (Did I mention I'm incredibly, incredibly vain, which is why there is, like, NO pictures of me on this blog or elsewhere? And can you also tell, I'm getting ready to start a life book, so I'm feeling the guilt thing about the no pictures, so I'm forcing myself to get them?)

John's Christmas pageant was fun. Like the one earlier this year, he was looking a little shell-shocked and didn't participate much, but this time he didn't need to sit on anyone's lap. The director told us she was surprised because he always dances and sings in the classroom. Ahhh, stage fright and a fear of public performance - the kid obviously takes after me. Prior to the show starting, the daycare did a photo show of each child, I did manage to snap a shot of John (believe it or not!) These were taken over the past several months. If I do say so myself, he's quite the handsome boy!

Finally, I crawled on the floor to get over to where he was sitting (Murphy's law - just like last year we sat on one side of the church, he sat on the other.....) I got one picture and some video. I'll try to upload the video this weekend for anyone who is interested in something that resembles the Blair Witch project........

Good night to all - remember to count your blessings and not your problems. (And feel free to throw this in my face when I whine.......!)

Bah Humbug....Instant Karma's Gonna Get Ya (Presumable Autoworker)...and Finally, if you can read through that garbage, a Funny!

2008-12-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

WTF does that title mean? No blog pimping. No Santa pic. No video/pic's of John's Christmas pageant, and we still don't have our tree up. These things were supposed to start happening last night, but instead, I spent my evening, and part of this morning dealing with Bill's vandalized car. It's bad enough I've been working late almost every night to get ready for my 2 week vacation, so nothing Christmasy has been going on here at Casa John, but now some Scrooge has made me go all Bah Humbug on the whole deal anyway.

For those that don't live under a rock, you might have heard that Michigan has had some serious problems for several years. Our auto manufacturers/businesses relating to them are the main source of employment for many, many people around here. The auto manufacturers are in serious trouble, and the government, who gives handouts to pretty much anyone who asks, and loves to send billions of our tax dollars overseas isn't doing diddly squat to help.

There have been increasing news stories about vandalism against foreign cars; you have to love the dumb asses that get caught on tape doing it. Well anyway, Bill was driving along to pick up dinner, and keeps hearing road noise in an otherwise quiet car. He got out once and looked around seeing nothing. He got to the restaurant, looks again, and the whole back window is gone, and there is a nice dent, which appears to have been made with a blunt object in the hatch right at the corner of the window. I'm sure he drove around all day with the window cracking......I'm just glad John wasn't in the car.

Of course, being in the insurance industry, we keep large deductibles on our vehicles to keep the premiums down. I'll try to remember that we haven't filed a comp claim in at least 8 years and saved all those premium dollars as I dole out the $500 deductible........I'll also keep those same positive thoughts as I shell out the $$$ for the rental because I cancelled our rental coverage when we had 3 cars and of course, forgot to add it back when we sold the extra car. Boy, am I feeling stupid at the moment.

To the mofo who damaged our car: Instant karma's gonna getcha bud. Be sure of it. 'Nuff said.

Finally to the funny stuff. John was in the tub, babbling on about this and that. I could understand about half of it, when out came something that sounded like "hell no". My first thought was that he couldn't have possible said that. I mean, he says all the time "I suck", which really means "I'm stuck". Not a big deal. Later, we were going through his nighttime ritual, and I was at his door telling him for the third time that it was time for nite-nite, and to get in bed. His latest stall tactic is to ask me what things are, so we went through the list, my hair, his hair, the gate, my sleeve, our hands, then he asked about the bars on the gate, and I told him what they were. His reaction? "Oh hell no!" Of course, I had the worst possible reaction - I laughed hysterically.

Where did he get this distasteful phrase? I'm not sure. I have a friend that says it, but I don't. Bill definately doesn't. I pride myself on being my own person and not picking other people's gestures, intonations, sayings. No way, no how. Oooooooh hellllll, noooooo!!!!!

Poll

2008-12-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

You know what I'm talkin' about!

No, the poll is not meant to be inflamatory....

2008-12-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm talking about Christmas lights! State your preferences. Maybe next weeks poll should be "real" or "fake" ;-)

Me? I like colored, the more the better.

Hopefully, this weekend, I'll get a chance to pimp my blog for the holidays....but only if I get my tree up first :-) We are taking John to brunch with Santa on Saturday, so I'm hoping that he's not too freaked out by the fat guy in red and we get some nice photos.

MAYAN FAMILIES.....YIKES, I waited too long & might have screwed this up...

2008-11-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

In other words, they are accepting donations for Christmas baskets until 12-1! As I don't start thinking about Christmas until typically AFTER Thanksgiving, I did not realize this. If you of such a mind to donate to a worthy cause in another country, and I understand perfectly well if you are keeping your donations closer to home, or can't donate at all in this tough economy, this is a worthy cause in Guatemala.

http://mayanfamilieschristmas.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/christmas-tamale-basket-fundraiser-2008/

Check out their website and the photos of last year's donation. The photos of the kids and their gift of shoes or a single toy, and the joy on their faces is breathtaking and heartbreaking all at the same time.

This year, for Thanksgiving, I'm greatful for my Guatemalan prince, who will hopefully never know true poverty or true hunger, but may always know these things exist because his father and I will teach him about life's inequalities. In some small way, perhaps our small family can make a difference in another family's life.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much, and for once this season, may the Lion's actually win (dear son...don't believe your father when he tells you that in the great scheme of life that this is actually important......he will also tell you such lies about U of M...).

You know you are seriously in need of an adult life when......

2008-11-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

The following true conversation took place at our house between two age 40+ adults while our two year old son was happily jumping around to a Wiggles DVR.

Wiggles: "Here is a lullaby named Georgia's song....."

Adult 1: "I think this is the one where they show Anthony's wife and daughter."

Adult 2: "Really?" (looks up from reading material and watches fascinated) "Cute."
.
.
.
"WOW! Was that Captain Feathersword without his patch and costume?!?!?"

Adult 1: "REWIND!" (Adult 2 frantically searches for remote and rewind button.)

Adult 1: "It might be!"

Poof! Where'd it go?

2008-11-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

Disappearing posts. To quote John, "whahappen?". To be honest, I can't remember who reads this anymore, and the more I thought about it, I decided before I go being all biatchy about something someone said, I should approach them first, instead of having them possibly read it here, so I yanked the post. Sorry.

Back to Halloween. We had a nice visit with my parents here. In the mad rush to take care of all two trick or treaters that showed up, I neglected to get pictures of John before he went out with Bill & my dad, but he looked equally as cute as he did the week before as Frankenstein. This time he remembered the costume and was eager to wear it. He also needed no prompting to get out of his wagon and go up to the houses for treats.

He had a blast carving his pumpkin, and diving for the pumpkin guts, which is the part of pumpkin carving that I dread. Here's some pic's of the big event:

Grandpa and Grandma assisting intern Dr. John with the delicate surgical procedure of pumpkin gut removal.

Here we have the Jolly Green Giant assisting John's creative vision.

Showing off his masterpiece. The Jolly Green Giant was a little unsteady with the camera on a low shutter speed, LOL.

Giving kisses nite nite.

If you're interested, here is the link to last Halloween's post. I can't believe I've been at this a year! http://babyjohnscrib.blogspot.com/2007/10/boo.html

Night 2 and Trick or Treating

2008-10-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

John had a hard time going to sleep tonight - I'm not sure if it's the paci issue, which he only asked for once, or the 10 lbs of sugar he ate today. He slept all night last night, waking at 6:22 am crying for a paci. I'm not sure why he still doesn't realize that on Saturday's and Sunday's there is no need to get up at anywhere near 6:30 like he does M-F, ugghhhh, 2 year olds and their routines. (If you don't know me, I'm saying that in my dripping with sarcasm voice). Daddy got up with him as usual, and mommy continued to sleep until John found his presents from the great paci pumpkin and came to mommy asking for help with the candy ~~crack~~ corn. Fortunately, I had the good sense not to buy him any other candy...John seems to have the same affection for candy crack that I do - eat it until it's gone. Share with no one.

Luckily the rain held off and we were able to go downtown for trick or treating. John wasn't sure what to make of it at first. He had a fit when I put his costume on, and clung to me for dear life as we approached the first candy stand........then he figured out what was going on, and we couldn't wipe the smile off his face.......until we went home and evil mommy wouldn't let him eat his sucker in my new car, so he screamed the whole 5 minute drive. Here's some pics:

"I'm not so sure about this Trick or Treat business.............says Frankenstein"

"Did somebody just put something in my spooky caldron?"

"I think I'm getting the hang of this Trick or Treat business"

"Look I figured out how to unwrap a sucker on my own - my very first sucker. Yum!"

"Somehow I ended up unwrapping another sucker - boy am I good!"

Still obsessed with the deer. I'm sure my neighbors love me taking pictures of their houses. Oh well, it's my yard they're in. Last Monday morning, there were 6 of them, but by the time I ran upstairs to get my camera, they had all walked into the woods. We really have to watch for them now as they are starting to get active, and we see them crossing the roads quite a bit.

Bye Bye Paci

2008-10-24T17:27:00.001-07:00

Well, that was tough, but not as bad as I thought. We'll see how many times he wakes up tonight crying. I kept John up an extra hour, so he was really tired. We hung the paci pumpkin on the front door, and we told him that the great paci pumpkin would take the paci's and give them to poor babies in Guatemala, but would leave him a present (I got this idea from an episode of the Nanny).

John screamed and cried for about 5 minutes, then took his family portrait book and looked at pictures of Grandma & Grandpa - good thing they arrive in just 5 days!

Now what exactly is a paci pumpkin? When we moved our clutter from one house to the other, John's Halloween costume from last year and his small pumpkin got seperated, and somehow the pumpkin ended up in our kitchen. Being the procrastinator I am, it just never found a home, and we started storing his pacifiers in it for lack of a better place. A couple of months ago when John turned two, we stopped letting him have a paci except at night and at naptime, so he got to the point that he'd either ask for the pumpkin for a paci, or spit out a paci into it when he woke up (thank goodness for dishwashers!)

I hope this goes as easily as giving up the bottle did. John was down to one bottle a day, and it was first thing in the morning. One day while Bill was gone, we woke up, only to find no clean bottles (I only kept 3 when we moved figuring we run the dishwasher often enough). I handed John a sippy cup figuring he would pitch a fit like he did everytime we offered him a choice between a cup and a bottle, and nothing happened. He hasn't had a bottle since.

Tomorrow is trick or treating in the business district. Hopefully the rain will hold off and I can get some good pictures of my little "monster".

Lazy mom post.

2008-10-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah, no new pictures. John has long hair as I've been busy and haven't had time to get him a haircut, which is the real reason why I've been hesitant to post anything. Not that he cares what he looks like, but I'm embarrassed I've let it go this long.......Tuesday is the big day that the spikes return. I should probably snap a picture of his hair tomorrow to remind myself of why going three months without a haircut is a very bad idea.......

This has pretty much been the end of a very busy period for me. HOORAY! I took my fifth and final insurance class, which ended yesterday (yes, on a SATURDAY), and I'm about 98% sure I passed the test and will get my fancy-schmancy designation. Of course, just my luck, next year, all the classes will now run Wed. thru Fri. instead of Thu. thru Sat. I also passed my other insurance class that I went out of town for in August, so now my new business cards will list two special designations after my name. Aren't I special.........Tracy S. Doe, E.I., E.I.O. This would be much more impressive to me if they read: Tracy $. Doe, B.I.G. T.I.M.E. L.O.T.T.E.R.Y. W.I.N.N.E.R. But, apparently, that would require that I actually buy tickets on a somewhat regular basis, and then follow-up and check up on the winning numbers before throwing the ticket out........that's a lot of work.

Anywho, Halloween is coming, and for two years, I have claimed that I would buy decorations right after Halloween at discount prices - for next year. That still hasn't happened, so we have none, but John did end up getting his pumpkin today. He goes back and forth between calling big orange things pumpkins and apples. Since he's really too young to care what he dresses as for Halloween, mommy & daddy have selected a special costume based on their warped interest in classic monster movies. Stay tuned, real pictures will be posted.

Wish us luck, next Friday night, the Great Paci Pumpkin (don't ask) comes to take John's pacifiers to poor babies throughout the world that don't have their own paci. He's been warned of this occurance for two months, but I have a feeling it's still going to be traumatic. In exchange, the existing paci pumpkin will turn into the great pumpkin full of wonderful gifts and CANDY - and then John gets to take his new great pumpkin and get dressed up in his costume and go TRICK OR TREATING in the business district of our city for more candy - just for giving up his paci's. A very fair trade, methinks. What he ends up thinking, I have no clue. Not looking forward to next weekend - our first without the beloved pacifier.

Ohhh nooooo!!!!

2008-10-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

Nothing like getting a call at 5:15AM from your daycare director with the news that your sick baby has been exposed to viral menengitis, but on the plus side, if he's feeling better, and we don't want to bring him in, we don't have to pay!

That's how we woke up Friday morning - to the sound of a funky phone ringer at 5:15 AM. We couldn't figure out what the noise was, and then it hit me like a two ton load of bricks that it was my phone, and only "special" phone numbers have identifiable rings. Our house seemed a mile long as I walked from the bedroom to the dining room where my phone was plugged in.

A stomach bug had been going around daycare but hadn't hit John's room - poor John was the first catch it, they called me at work Wednesday and said he wasn't feeling well. I picked him up early, and the minute we walked in the house, he threw up all over Bill. *Snort* Thank goodness he waited until he was out of my new car, LOL! We gave him Motrin, and he ended up eating a little dinner and playing, then conked out for the night. I checked him at midnight, and his fever was up again, so I got him up for more Motrin. Once again, he threw up all over Bill. Okay, I'm finding this part hilarious!

Bill stayed home with him on Thursday, and while he had a fever whenever Motrin wore and was lethargic, he seemed okay. I had already decided to keep him home Friday as a precaution anyway, but that call scared me to death.

We paid a visit to the doctor, and now for the next week we have to watch for signs of lethargy (not a problem today!), headache, light sensitivity, stiff/sore neck, and cold-like symptoms (when doesn't he have those). On the plus side, since he had been without a fever for over 24 hours, it was okay for him to get his flu shot, so I got that out of the way.

Normalcy and the Ugly Chairs

2008-09-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Things are returning to normal around here. Both John and little dog (LD) have handled things much better than I hoped. LD is loving all the extra attention that's been lavished upon him (not that he ever let himself be neglected in the first place), and while I thought John hadn't really noticed anything, I took LD to the groomer yesterday, and John got upset. LD was back by the time John went down for his nap, but the minute John was up from his nap, he had to check on LD and make sure he was still here.

We went out last weekend to get some nightstands for our bedroom and a dresser for the guestroom. The place we shopped has decent used furniture in their basement, so we went down there to check out dressers. While the sales guy was trying to show us what they had, I saw something that had me ROTFLMAO - lime green furry chairs. They were the ugliest things I've ever seen, and to top it off, in great condition. Everytime I looked at them, I started laughing all over again. The sales guy tried to sell them to us for $80. No thanks.

It got time to make a deal, and I told the sales guy to throw in the chairs if he wanted the sale. My bad - he did! Now what does every ugly pink living room need? Lime green furry chairs! Now all I need is one of those old style barrell tables as an accent piece. Actually, once John is old enough to use the basement as his playroom (a.k.a. when I can afford to refinish/furnish the pink room into a real living room) it will great to have furniture that he and his friends can play on that I don't have to worry about them ruining. Let's hear it for lime green furry chairs!

John's already getting comfy.........Actually, he wouldn't smile because daddy promised him he could go out on his car. Go speed racer, go!

John & his good friend LD.

Finally, a smile!

Rest in peace medium dog, rest in peace

2008-09-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

A loved member of our family from 8-26-04 to 9-18-08.

My greatest hope is that large dog was waiting for you at the rainbow bridge this morning and you're both young and healthy again. We will meet again someday my girlfriend.

Still missing my large dog, he was one of a kind, 7-26-90 to 8-21-04.

Just what did that last post mean?

2008-09-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

I know, WTH was that all about? I didn't feel like talking about it, because it made my cry yesterday. It still makes me cry today, and surely will all week.

We have made the difficult decision to have medium dog put to sleep Thursday morning after John goes to daycare. Her arthritis has been getting the better of her for some time, and even with her cox2 inhibiter and 3 pain pills 2x per day, one of her back legs has pretty much given out on her. She can limp on carpet, but we have to support her back end on slipperly surfaces with a towel. Her vet told us a couple months ago that this medicine regime was pretty much as strong as it gets.

I know it's the right thing to do, but it sure as hell isn't the easy thing to do.

Not liking this feeling one bit.

2008-09-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Nucking futs.........this sucks.

Yikes, it's been how long since I posted?

2008-09-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Not much going on here, just trying to unbury myself from the most recent move, but working full time, trying to take care of John, and just generally trying to have a life outside of that prevents me from getting much done. LOL, what I'd give for a month off work with both DH at work, and John at daycare. I could probably get it all done and get a nap in each day to boot, which might do wonders for my fatigue.

I had my rescheduled jury duty yesterday, what a farce. At least the court workers have improved drastically, and were actually polite and respectful to everyone, even the old people who had no clue what they were doing (my big bone of contention with one of my last visits). I angered my GPS so badly by not listening to it, that it blew up, and I had to commit the ultimate sin by reprogamming it while driving. Downtown Detroit is just downright confusing. Add construction to the mix, and it's a freaky mess - not for the faint-hearted, which is definately me. I was bummed, on the map, it looked the the casinos were no where near the court. When I got released, I looked up, and there was my favorite one, Greektown, just a block away. I could have had a nice afternoon, but really, I don't think it would be as fun without Bill. Anyway, after my GPS got me out of there, I made it home in time to take a 2 hour nap before John came home, so it wasn't such a bad afternoon after all.

John is doing wonderfully - becoming quite the little parrot. Bill & I have had to learn new language skills really quickly. My new words are: fllllllip, ohhhhcarp, daaaaaaang, ssssshhhake. I took John out for a walk a couple of weeks ago and saw a rabbit. I pointed it out to John, saying "see the bunny?" John says back "rabbit". We watch it for a bit, then start to move. The rabbit starts to move, and John says, "go rabbit, hop". I'm starting to think he's smarter than I am.

I'm bad. No new pictures. Hopefully soon. I haven't used my video camera since February. Yes, I'm an idiot.

2 year doctor visit, momentous occasion & more!

2008-08-18T17:21:00.001-07:00

John's two year well child visit went well. At 2 years and 18 days, he's now 34" and 25 lbs 4 oz., with a head circumference of 17.5". His height surprised me as he finally made it out of the 25th percentile, although his doctor told me not to expect it to last due to his genetics. He's doing wonderfully everywhere else and showing no signs of autistic behavior. I was gone for 4 days last week, and it seems like his language exploded while I was gone. He learned "I" as in "I did it!", "mine", no has suddenly become a sing-song "no, no, no". He's been talking up a storm for a while, although he's usually shy around other people.

I bought a potty chair a couple of weeks ago, and had it sitting in the family room for play. John's been making potty announcements recently so I thought we'd start to give it a try and see what happened. Yesterday, John watched a Blue's Clues short about potty time, and then pointed at his potty and said "potty", he obviously recognized what was going on in the cartoon, and what the potty was for. I tried to sit him on his potty, and he screamed. Okay - no go. I tried again before his bath as his diaper was dry. He screamed again. After his bath, he pointed as his potty. I asked if wanted to try to sit on his potty again, and he said yes. He tried to sit on the potty once or twice, then ran around the bedroom naked (I moved the potty, obviously). After about 5 minutes of running around, and me anouncing it was time to put on a diaper, he sat down..................AND PEE-PEED ON THE POTTY!!!! Of course, Daddy heard the commotion, and decided to walk in mid-stream, which scared John and made him stop, stand up and cry, arrggghhh! Anyway, we recovered from the trauma and made a huge to-do about what a big boy John was and how proud we were. John wanted to try again, but Bill had already got him dressed, so I told him first thing in the morning he could try.

What the?

He gets that look from Bill, not me. He saw a goat.

Meet Freckles, a perfectly nice pony. We tried to take John on a pony ride yesterday. Operative word...tried.

John apparently doesn't think much of pony's up close and personal. Ride? No can do.

Mr. Animal lover wouldn't so much as pet the poor creature. I guess we'll try again next year. Perhaps the fact that we all left the house in pants and dark clothing on a close to 90 degree day had something to do with his mood. Next time I'll check the weather channel.

Looking for things to do on a windy day? I think we've found our village idiot! It was a lot bigger before I ran to get my camera to document the blaze. Now, if I only had a real zoom lens. I guess I should have used my video camera. Maybe I could have figured out what they were burning.

For anyone who cares, I passed my class in St. Louis and now have a wonderful insurance designation. This comes just days after being almost accosted in my own backyard. I was grilling some awesome fillets, and this creature obviously was enticed by they aroma and/or the warmth of my home. I called for help from my knight in shining armor, and he had the nerve to LAUGH at me. I then called upon (wo)man's best friend for assitance, and that dasterdly beast was too enthralled by the aroma of said filets that he too ignored my plea for assistance. I was left to fend for myself against THIS:

(Can you tell I've been reading a romance novel this past week????)

John's Birthday and the move, part II

2008-08-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a play by play of the week in review - backwards. 8-8-08, we closed on the old house! No more paying double bills, yeah! Wednesday & Thursday, we tried moving the rest of the stuff left over by the movers; we ended up renting a U-haul because there was so much crap left after the they left. Tuesday, the so called "movers" were there. Don't get me started on that fiasco - this post is actually about John. Monday - another Comcast fiasco, which I won't go into because this post is actually supposed to be about John. Sunday - through Friday, 8-1-08 - JOHN'S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND! COMPLETE WITH FAMILY!!! We'll actually start at the beginning of that.

8-1 was John's second birthday, so Grandma & Grandpa, as well as Uncle Darryl & cousin Elle flew in from NC (Aunt Mere was in Uganda) to celebrate. John stayed up late for a pizza party and cake. Mommy forgot to serve the ice cream, but I don't think anyone missed it at that point anyway. I know, it doesn't look like a birthday cake, but he liked it anyway. Like an idiot, I forgot to put a bib on it before I let him eat pizza, and as you can see, he's wearing quite a bit of it.

Here's John and his cousin, they don't get to see each other enough - it's been over a year. The last time they saw one another, John wasn't even walking, and hadn't had his first haircut yet.

Grandma & Grandpa sent John a basketball net. It's been a great source of entertainment for him this past week. John's holding his favorite toy, a bear named "Baby".

Opening his gift from cousin, a wiggle car! Way too much fun, he's been zipping around the house on it all week.

John's first trip to McDonald's. Hopefully his last. How I'm going to keep him from Taco Bell, though, is going to be a challenge.

We also took the kids to the park, and John discovered the "big slide".

I get by with a little help from my friend...................

More fun at my expense

2008-07-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

I ran up to the grocery store today, while I was supposed to be studying for a class I have to take in St. Louis in two weeks. I found a rack of books. Did I buy anything on the top 100 list? Hell no! My airport/airplane reading will consist of Jude Deveraux's "Return to Summerhouse" and the National Enquirer. I'm so shallow.

Just for fun

2008-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another blog, and couldn't resist cutting and pasting here. Feel free to cut and paste to your own blog; let me know if you do, so I can look to see if anyone is as lame as me. I'll make some commentary at the end, or after the entry in a different color.

According to The Big Read, the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on this list. Look at the list. Bold those you have read. Italicize those you intend to read. Put a star next to the ones you LOVED. My answers are already marked.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling (I couldn't get through the first one)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (it didn't say I had to remember it)
6. The Bible* (Okay, so I've read parts, loved what I read, and intend to read the rest)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott*
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (Romeo, Romeo, whereforeout thou?)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (see response to 5, mandatory high school reading)
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchel
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (competes w/ Dostoyesvsky as worst book EVER)
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (competes w/Fitzgerald as worst book EVER)
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck******** (love, love, love this book)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (another high school read that I think I liked)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (does it count that I've seen the movie?)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (isn't this a porno?)
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (don't make me feel guilty I didn't read the book by the guy from Detroit...)
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92.The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams (books about rabbits will most likely make me cry, no way, no how will I read this...)
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (don't like the candy bar, why would I read the book?)
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (again, the movie doesn't count?)
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Wow, sounds like a lot of boring reading going on there. Most of those authors are long dead. Personally, I read for entertainment, I don't like to think about what I'm reading (much less translate, so Shakespeare is out). Where is the good stuff like Dean Koontz? Robin Cook? Old Stephen King stuff? Sidney Sheldon? Or after I read some really scary/deep/intense stuff, I'll even admit to reading a chick-flickesque type book like Jude Deveraux, Jodi Piccoult, or Kathleen Woodiwess (sp?) on occasion just to lighten up.

Now that you know my ever so important take on this important subject, I'll shut up! John's two year birthday is Friday, so I'll have pictures of his family party early next week.

It was bound to happen - my first dumb comment!

2008-07-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

I've been extremely lucky, people have been extremely supportive of John's adoption. I've been blessed to encounter no negativity, no idiocy, nothing. Zip, nada, nothing. Until today. At least it's kinda humorous, more so that I actually had an equally stupid retort, and bit my tounge. Typically, I'm one of those people that thinks of the perfect thing to say 10 minutes after I need to say it.

I'm in the cafeteria, and a nice, well-meaning former co-worker asks about John - Oh, how old is he? Two, next Friday. Co-worker - wow, time flies! Is he talking? Oh, yeah, up a storm. Co-worker - that's great, how long has he been home? 17 months (thinking to self, oh yeah, exactly 17 months and 1 day TODAY). Co - worker: I'm just curious, does he have an accent?

Okay, my immediate reaction is: ..........Actually, due to my husband's undying love of all things Spongebob, he's starting to sound a bit like Patrick.......But, no, I bit my tounge and said, no, he came home at 4.5 months, he really didn't pick up any Spanish.

I went upstairs and immediately called Bill, who wanted to know what she expected? John to be running around like Speedy Gonzalez saying (and since I don't know much Spanish, nor how to get the tilde (or even if that is the right accent mark?) on the "r" I'm going to hack the spelling) "Undule' Undule' Areba Areba."

I truly hope that John learns to speak Spanish fluently someday. I'd also like to become fluent.

In the meantime, here's our little studmuffin.

For a long time, I couldn't figure out where all the fawns came from, but here's a couple of bucks to answer my question...........

Conjoined twins. A very rare occurance in this household, especially since we moved, and medium dog has become extremely territorial over the family room, and growls anytime small dog gets near it. She wasn't like that at the other house, but then again, their feeding dishes were on two seperate floors, and here, they are on the same floor, in two seperate rooms - hers are in the family room since her arthritis is preventing her from walking on anthing that isn't carpeted.

Ugghh...Detroit is toying with me.

2008-07-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

I got a jury summons a couple of weeks ago. Insert p.o.'d face here. This is the 6th time I've been called for jury duty in 19 years; 5 at the county level and 1 at the federal level. I'm really starting to take this personally when other people I know have never been called and actually want to go.

I did things the right way the first couple of times, dressed in business attire, acted properly. I found the court workers to be ~~assho~~ rude, insensitive, power-loving bullies.

Now, I'm trying to get on the county "do not call list". I have no idea if there is such a thing, but my goal is to look as dumb as possible so no one wants me making a decision on their trial. Gone is the newspaper, recent bestseller or text book. In is the Globe, Cosmo, and Weekly World News. Attire? Crop pants and a Tropicana Casino sweatshirt, complete with bleach marks, and gold flip flops. I can't remember if I'm under oath when I have to answer what my education is. If not, I'm considering having a "mentalpausal" moment and confusing GED with BBA, after all, the letters are close in the alphabet, right?

What ticks me off more than anything is that the county pays me $25 for the privilige (sp?) of doing my civic duty, as well as $0.10 per mile. I repeat - $0.10 per mile when gas is $4.25 per gallon. Parking downtown will be at least $10 if not $15. It's about 50 miles round trip, so they are going to pay me $5.00 for gas; my SUV gets 18.5 miles to the gallon, meaning the round trip will cost me $11.49. Let's do the math: county pays a total of $30 - $15 in parking= $15 - $11.49 in gas = leaves me $3.51 for lunch. Sounds like I'll be able to buy a bottle of water and power bar in the snack shop. And they wonder why so many people don't want to do jury duty.

Now, after fretting about this all weekend, scheming about the ultimate dumb blond look and reading materials, putting the GPS in the car, getting money from the ATM, I called the magic number on the summons, and find I don't have to show. They're going to reschedule me. They better do it soon. Of my 5 previous visits to hell, all of them have been during the winter. I don't like to go places where I don't know where the hell I am and have to park and walk during the winter. When you've got me on some sort of eternal retainer, at least give me the convenience package - nice weather only!

Some news......

2008-07-17T17:52:00.001-07:00

I've had some news for a while now, but didn't want to jinx things. We're finally at the point where I think it's going to happen so I'm going to spill the beans...........

Yep, after being on the market almost two weeks, much negotiation, counter-offers, a home inspection, leaking roof, another counter-offer, much mulling on our part, several more showings, a higher offer from someone who didn't have bank approval (and was hiding his income so he didn't have to pay back child support - scumbag!) we renegotiated again with the original people, and it appears to be a done deal. The were even over with their roofer this week picking out new shingles (we offered to repair the leaking valley, they wanted a new roof - we compromised - although personally, I think 2 new valleys would have bought them another 5 years with the existing roof).

Yeah! August 1 will be the last time I make 2 house payments. WooooWhooooo!!!!!

New Poll off to left

2008-07-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously, please vote in my poll. I've wanted a small tattoo (silver dollar size) on my ankle for well over 10 years. I've done henna tattoo's and fake tattoo's, and love them. For most of the time, I wanted a simple purple Jesus fish, but lately thought about something that would honor John's heritage.

Bill knows about my longstanding desire, and is okay with it. When I most recently brought it up, he laughed and said as long as it doesn't have another guy's name on it. I laughed because I'm considering John's name or initials. He's cool with it.

Anyway, I found this beautiful picture of a Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala (and the name of it's currency). I think it's so pretty, but here's my dilema: do I go with the bird alone, add John's initials and birthdate, or add all three of our initials and John's homecoming date?

This would be just above my right ankle, and no larger than a silver dollar.

What do YOU think? Please vote anonymously in the poll and don't email me........

Quick post re: SLEEP

2008-06-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was reading through some old posts, and noticed a common theme of mine was the lack of sleep.

I don't think I've mentioned that since we moved on 5-22 the number of times John has woken up in the middle of the night:

2

I hope I didn't curse myself by writing this.

Sorta news and a woman obsessed...

2008-06-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, first things first. The old house officially went on the market today, and we had our first showing. I pray it sells quickly, but the market here is tough and there is a lot of competition. I feel the house is ~~underpriced~~ priced fairly considering the market conditions - although it's priced at the exact same price as when I bought it 10 years ago, which sucks. Bill tries to console me with the fact that we saved far more off the purchase of our new home, but it's still hard to take. I just hope to sell it in a reasonable time frame and not have to give up my infra-red sauna in the deal. The sauna is still there as 90% of our furniture is still there. I'm too cheap to pay movers twice.

On a more positive note, I am now a woman obsessed. Obsessed with deer! Honestly, I never knew the place we now live had them, much less has a problem with them as they have only a random coyote pack as predators (boy, am I glad we decided against the electric dog fence!) We also have black squirrels here, and I didn't know they existed in this neck of the woods. 300 miles north of here, yes, but not here. I've yet to see a chipmunk, though.

My neighbor hates the deer and told me I will grow to hate them, too. I guess they like to eat the vegetation. I have little more than weeds, so they are free to eat what they want at my place. I might feel differently once we landscape, but that probably won't happen until we win the lottery anyway.

The view from my porch - there was another one off to the right.

The view from my yard into the neighbors (the one who doesn't like the deer).

I've decided to rename medium and little dog........tweedledee & treedledum. The names are interchangable depending on who was acting stupid. Little dog made this deer bolt, so he was tweedledum for the evening.

Truth in advertising?

2008-06-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about truth in advertising. When we bought this place, the listing claimed this to be a "quiet, low traffic court". As we lived in what amounted to grand central station, that sounded like a good thing. We've noticed though, that even though the vehicle traffic is light, the pedestrian and annoying ice-cream truck traffic non-existant, we get a lot of 4 legged traffic......

TRAFFIC OF THE COOLEST KIND! While giving John his morning bottle, the side window shade was open about 6 inches, and I saw 4 legs bound by. Darn, I missed it, so I thought. Then 4 small legs also bounded by. Ack, my camera was right up on the fireplace mantel just waiting to be used! I thought the oppurtunity was missed, but when I opened the first shade, this is what I was treated with.......

John, fascinated with the "doggy" as he called it.

Here it looks like John's new "doggy friend" is just as infatuated with him.......and yes, I normally wrap up the window shade cords, but this happened so quick.

Another shot of our new friend. I so wanted to go out and pet it. I'm an adult, I know better, I resisted the urge.......only after googling fawns and seeing if I needed to do anything for it.

Yet more fingerprints to clean........

Here's John at dinner, enjoying an olive. We were eating in the family room as my parents were here, and I have no kitchen table to set everyone up at.......

Grandpa and John doing acrobatics. Does this kid have a great smile or what?
Back to his favorite new topic. Our friend hung around there ALL DAY!

Thank goodness for our protectors, always ready to fend off a helpless fawn. After all day, it walked over to this area, so I thought it safe to hang some baskets I bought off the front porch. Bad call, the fawn came back, saw me, and bolted, only to arouse the ire of medium dog and small dog. Actually, they are probably the reason the fawn was abandoned here in the first place, because they saw mama deer this morning, and pitched a fit. Hopefully the fawn and it's mama have now reunited in the woods :-)

Hi Di Ho!

2008-06-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog, been sick and busy. Not sick any more, but busier than ever.

I am still trying to get the old house listed, the realtor had some work she thought needed to be done, so it's getting done this week. After the last of the stuff I want here is out, all I have left to do is mop the basement floor. Please pray for a quick sale!

We're still living out of boxes here, being sicker than a dog for 5 days put me behind schedule, but yesterday, I actually emptied 4 of them.

I still haven't had a chance to clean the laundry room, so now I'm stuck with 3 weeks worth of laundry, plus all the summer clothes I packed away and brought here last fall. Since I won't put anything on the floor until it's cleaned and sanitized, I'm doing some creative shifting with laundry baskets so that we can get some clean clothes.

Todays empty box count: 1. Just call me speedy.

However, I did find my camera, and discover the battery was dead, so it's currently charging. I also ordered new dog tags.

I always thought having dark carpet would be great, since both dogs are mainly black and shed. Little did I know.........Black and tan dogs shed in both colors. Now the light hair shows up, as well as all the little pieces of graham cracker dropped by Mr. John, and for some reason, not eaten by the aforementioned hounds.

My swiffer is at the other house. I miss it.

Yes, this is one of my lamest entries yet...............

Please tell me.......

2008-06-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

How my child had 9 double ear infections, and managed to be smiling and happy the majority of the time (which is why I never knew he had them until they caused a fever).

I have an ear infection - one ear. I am a miserable, whiny, mean, ornery, downright biatchy mess who wants to do nothing more than lay on the couch.

How are kids so resiliant?

Transitioning.......

2008-05-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

We've been in the new house now for almost a week, and it's now almost as cluttered as the last one was............except that this is due to volumes of packed boxes that I won't have a chance to start working on until this weekend.

My goal is to have the old place "realtor-ready" by Friday. I've got two more days to make it happen.

I really thought John would have a rough time with the transition, but he's taking it all in stride - even his new big-boy bed. I set up the toddler bed with his old mattress and all his stuffed animals. We brought the crib over as a back-up, but of course it wouldn't fit into his room or ours without being disassembled, so I put it in the living room and decided to use it as a worse case scenario. The first night, I brought him home, and showed him that his highchair was here, as well as all his toys. He had a field day running around finding everything. When nite-nite time came, we went into his bedroom, I read to him for a bit, put him in his new bed and left. He squawked for about 5 minutes, and then all was quiet. He was fast asleep with his head on his new pillow. Other than one evening when he was overtired, it's pretty much been easier than that to get him to go to sleep in his new room on the new bed each night. I keep asking him if he likes his big-boy bed, and everytime, he nods yes.

Now to get the other place SOLD.

My last post for about 2 weeks - See ya!

2008-05-18T16:51:00.001-07:00

I won't have much time to post over the next couple of weeks, so I'm sorry. Today is Sunday, my computer moves 2 days before I actually do, so I won't really have access until the weekend. My parents are coming to town to help us move, and to help get the old place in saleable (is that a word?) condition, so I'll be on the go until past Memorial day. But, to quote the Terminator, I'll be back.....

So want to see my kitchen & dining room?

Before dining room. The only one I have with the freakish wallpaper intact, i.e. moments before Bill discovered his new skill as "ugly wallpaper-stipper guy." This was minutes after we walked in, and it took me several days to get my new camera functioning properly.

After Bill had his way with the wallpaper.

Looking into the old kitchen and sun porch. The closet in the right side of the picture was cut in half to allow better manuvering (sp?) and access to the basement door and stairs.

New dining room. I wanted to keep the existing built-in cabinet, but also wanted a buffet, and figured I'd have a hard time trying to come up with a dining room set that complemented the cabinetry. I solved my dilema by adding in a built-in buffet to match the kitchen cabinets. I have a certain type table in mind once I sell my other house. The lamp looks funky as it is actually designed to be swagged over the table, but since I don't yet have it, and have no clue where I'm going to put it, the extra chain is just pinned up in the light fixture.

Old kitchen, with it's own treasuretrove of ugly wallpaper. It was a bit cramped and dark since the only light sources come from a door and window to the sunporch. This was looking in from the sunporch door.

Looking into the kitchen from the dining room. Not only did we say good-bye to the wallpaper, the pantry also bit the dust. Good riddance!

New. Lots more cabinet space despite the loss of the wall between rooms!

This is why I said good riddance to the pantry. Please ignore the Beverly Hillbilly/Mr. Ed split door, we didn't have it painted as we have a new one on order.

The granite that is causing me decorating grief. Everything in our existing house is green. I assumed I'd get some green granite for the kitchen, and all my existing stuff would work. Of course, we find the perfect slabs in beige/taupe/gray/blue. Yes, gray & blue, hence the gray/blue glass behind the stove and gray paint. Now I have to get new dishes, etc. My HUGE dilema is what to do with my Kitchen Aid mixer in pistaccio green. Keep it and hide it? Or, sell it and buy one in a shade of blue? Hmmmm. Methinks a new poll.

Well we're movin' on up!

2008-05-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Not to a deluxe apartment in the sky, but to our new home! First a John fix. Sorry, he's eating and needs a bath desperately, but it's all I've got right now. I've been a negligent mama lately........as far as picture taking goes. Too busy cleaning every weekend. At least today, he saw the camera, and started smiling, which is a big improvement over the last couple of months.

Now, onto the main bathroom B&A. This is obviously the before:

This tub had no shower. How weird is that?

Love, love, love the turquoise and floral motif! That and the tiny mirror over such a large space.

The after.

I can't wait to grab a glass of chardonney (sp?), light a candle and take a nice long soak!

Looking out. We put in a bigger mirror. Fortunately, I have just the place for the little one - there is a hole punched in the basement paneling. Looks like the perfect place for a mirror to me!

Next up, the long-awaited kitchen series.

LOL, I'm pretty sure no one reads this anymore!

2008-05-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

After all, who wants to hear me spout?

I like to spout when I'm stressed. It helps. Truly it does, but it doesn't give family & friends the main thing they are seeking - pictures of JOHN!

It also doesn't give those closest to me pictures of the house I've been babbling about for about....ummm.........9 months! This house has become a pregnancy, the only difference has been that Bill has had the full pregnancy experience for the same 9 months. At least I can say that he fully participated!

Another lame post, I know. But in about a month, things will improve. John will be back; after all, who is this blog really supposed to be about? In the meantime, I'll probably be spouting nonsense. After all, I do it well. Stress relief is good, really good......and this be it.

Well now, this sucks!

2008-05-13T18:24:00.001-07:00

I finally signed up for youtube (not utube as I originally thought). I figured with the move, I'd get my videos off my computer and onto someplace I could retrieve them in case of another virus.

All my pictures were restored on this computer, but I'm finding, none of my video. Yes, I think (meaning I hope and pray) that I backed them up, but those CD's are safely housed in a box marked "office", housed approximately 8 miles due south.

I guess after the move, and after we sell this place, I need to seriously look into an external hard-drive for my precious memories.....as well as on-line storage.....monthly disk back-up.....weekly blog entries with full size photos.....the list goes on and on. I'm finally figuring out why some people still like film.........

Doh! How could I forget? Happy Belated Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

To all mother's out there, especially the "non-mom's!" Yes, that is a highly offensive phrase manufactured by NBC & Teleflora. They changed it before Mother's Day and apologized. According to their original contest for mom of the year or some such nonsense, adoptive mom's were lumped into a catagory with people who are essentially caretakers. Nothing against caretakers, who are wonderful people in their own right, but I am my sons momma. Bill is his dadda. Yes, John has a Birthmother, to whom we are eternally thankful for; she is in our prayers every day. However, John does not have a non-mom or non-dad; he doesn't have non-grandparents, or a non-aunt, non-uncles, non-cousin, non-extended family or non-friends; all of the very real people who love him dearly as John, not just our "non-son."

I'm amazed in this day and age that such an idiotic notion can be propogated, much less make it into a national Mother's Day contest. While I'm glad they changed the title due to over-whelming critism, frankly, it was not much better.........It's now over, and we will move beyond.

So to all the mother's out there, whether they be adoptive, birth, foster, step, grand, or other - HAPPY BELATED MOTHER'S DAY!!!

We really do still exist!

2008-05-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

I know, I was supposed to get some pics of John up last week. And, the new kitchen. I've failed miserably on both fronts. Work has been hectic for me, and John is having issues with his ear tubes.

Bill & John paid a visit to the ENT today as for the 2nd time since the tubes were put in, there is a discharge. Sure enough, there is more infection, so he's going on an oral antibiotic with the drops. Poor kid!

We are moving in less than 2 weeks! I went over to clean both Saturday & Sunday, only to find out the hot water was turned off.....grrrrr..... Thank goodness for my La Crueset obsession - I had stored several new pans stored in the basement there. I used my brand new stove & brand new pots to heat water to clean with. Needless to say, I was a little annoyed.

The kitchen is almost done - it's been almost done for the past month. Maybe by next weekend I can post some pics.

Maybe by next weekend my cranky kid will be feeling better and able to smile for some pics. One can hope!

2 weeks and counting

2008-05-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, we start the big move in 2 weeks. I have so much to do, it's not even funny. Can you say stressed?

I'll try to get some pics of John up soon, but bear with me as I will be running around like a crazy person just trying to keep up. Pics of the kitchen and dining room are forthcoming, as soon as the kitchen guy replaces the doors he didn't like (I still don't see anything wrong with them....I'd take pictures, but he's got blue tape on them, and they have no handles. Soon.)

LDH B&A

2008-04-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

For those that don't speak my language, that is the "long dark hall" before and after. The LDH has kind of been a joke with DH & I. We found a house we thought had a ton of potential, but the one thing we really couldn't get our heads around was what to do with the LDH. It started in the kitchen and ran behind our dining room (partially), family room, staircase & foyer.

When we first looked at the house, it had no electricity. We entered through the back of the house, walking into the very dark kitchen, and encountered the hallway. The realtor, who thought we were nuts for looking at the place, said "wow, now that's a hall....." At the time, it had some atrocious red/gold wallpaper and filthy brown indoor/outdoor carpet. It seemed to go on forever. Oppresive was a good word for it. Below is a partial picture, I'm a good 3-4 feet into it. Sorry it's blurry, that was day one with my new camera, and I didn't have it set correctly.

The kitchen remodel lopped off 3' of the LDH, but you really can't tell in the after photos. We had it cut off at about where the vacuum cleaner is sitting. Bill thoroughly enjoyed peeling off the ugly wallpaper. Washing off the glue? Not so much...........

Post wallpaper, pre-glue removal...................

The pic's are a bit premature, the switchplates haven't been reinstalled, and the doors are all getting new handles (mainly to prevent John from locking himself into a room that we don't have a key for.......)

I love the light fixtures (of which there are two, but you can't see the closer one). That was actually a screw-up by the contractor. We told him to install them in the small hall off the garage, but he assumed we meant this one. After I couldn't figure out why he never installed them in the short hall, and couldn't find them anywhere, I finally noticed them here. Amazing, they look far better here than the $10 cheapies I bought at Lowe's! The Lowe's cheapies ended up in the short hall, and look great.

Looking into the kitchen & garage entry. Consider it a small preview......... Real kitchen/dining room B&A's coming soon.

The foyer had some amateurish sponge painting. Ugly. I don't mind nice sponge painting, but this didn't qualify.

Please excuse the construction dust that I have yet to clean off the steps. Furthermore, please really excuse the ugly red carpet. I really should have dealt with that when I ordered the bedroom carpet and Lowe's had a special. Why is hindsight always 20/20?

Looking into the LDH.

New doors. (And a huge thanks to Ashley, who has given me many photography tips, including the one that allowed me to take this picture and capture elements other than light coming thru doors....)

Well that sucked!

2008-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

My virus-free computer is finally back, but it's just not the same. It will probably take me months to figure out what I lost. I'm not sure how I got a virus anyway, I run anti-virus software and a spysweeper. I was reading a blog and went downstairs for a drink. I came back up less than a minute after I left, and there were warnings from my anti-virus and spy sweeper, which I thought were supposed to quarintine the virus. They didn't work.

I'll continue with the B&A tonight after John goes to bed. Now I'm off to figure out how to get my email back...........

Johns surgery

2008-04-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

John's surgery went well, he had lots of fluid in each ear, which the doctor drained. Hopefully this is the end of the ear infections.

I won't have access to the blog for the next couple of days, my computer caught a virus last night, and is in the shop.

I'll continue with the before & after pictures once my own computer is back.

John & his room B&A

2008-04-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, nerves. John is getting tubes put in his ears tomorrow, and I'm already a nervous wreck. I'll post an update after we get home.

For some reason, I don't have a true before of his bedroom, I think because I didn't have the camera settings right when I first got it, and so many of the pictures were blurry. Here's a shot of the LOVELY wallpaper; the border had already been stripped off.

Here's a couple of room shots after the wallpaper & carpet were gone, and after my dad hung the ceiling fan. The kitchen contractor was able to fix the louvered door for us, which I'm happy about as I wasn't excited to replace it.

The new color scheme.......

Getting ready to move in. I have a toddler bed in the same maple tone. It's pretty cool, it's a modern style, and sits right on the floor, so no worries of him falling out of bed at night. Even if he does, the carpet is so plush he might not know he's not in bed. It feels like you're walking on a sponge in there, the shag carpet is over an inch thick, and we went with the upgraded padding.

Upstairs B&A

2008-04-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Warning - the pictures you are about to see are what my upstairs looked like the day we took posession of the house. It's gross. Please keep in mind that these rooms were not so bad in terms of relativity; I actually had this carpet professionally cleaned and sanitized, which I refused to do in the downstairs bedrooms (to say they were worse was an understatement). That stuff was so beyond nasty I ripped it out myself knowing it wouldn't be replaced for some time.

Guestroom

Office
Office - after carpet cleaned

I hadn't planned to replace the upstairs carpet for a while, at least until after I got everything painted, but when we were buying the downstairs carpet, Lowe's was running a special - $199 whole house installation. We were already doing two rooms and spending the $199........so why not rip out the old cigarette burned, smelly carpet and put down something cheap? $1.18 per square foot never looked or smelled so good!

Guestroom

Office

The Hall (the white door was just professionally painted & looks great!)

I managed to get all the upstairs ceilings painted before the new carpet went in, so at least I don't have to worry about that. I'll paint sometime after we move in. My office is in the room that has the ugly black cabinets. My dad is going to help me rip them out next time he's in town, then I've got my work cut out for me stainkilling all the black paint in order to paint over it....

For giggles, this is the upstairs bathroom. Check out the lights. Yes, they're outdoor coach lights. I haven't done anything in there yet but clean, and rip out a tiny chunk of wallpaper. The stupid wallpaper comes out in tiny pieces......grrrrr.........

Master bedroom B&A

2008-04-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

First, let me state that everywhere I have lived since I moved out of my parents house at age 23 has been decorated in the same scheme - BEIGE. I've always wanted lots of color, but knowing that painting small places dark colors makes them look smaller, not to mention adding nothing to the resale value, beige it's been.

The new house is different. We plan on living there until we can leave Michigan, which I anticipate will be at least 10-20 years from now. The new house is double the size of our existing one. It's going to be colorful! We'll paint everything beige when we're ready to sell.........

The master bedroom had a dizzying array of floral wallpaper, with the master bath having yet another complementing pattern. Bill dubbed it the "hangover room" since he said it made him queasy. The old carpet made me queasy - so queasy that I ripped it out myself one day early last September.

The new master bedroom is indigo blue with beige trim, the master bathroom is a pretty sky blue. You can't really see the carpet very well, but it's a frieze that matches the trim, but it has little dark flecks all throughout it. No pics of that bath as the contractors made a mess of it, and I've yet to finish cleaning.

Now, all we need to do is get window treatments. At some point after we move in, I'll look into new handles and hinges for the built-ins in brushed nickle.

Today, we mourn the passing of...........

2008-04-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

NAKED ANGEL BABIES!

New carpet was being installed and I was trying to stay out of the installers way, so I decided washing the walls and ceiling in the pink room was long overdue. I hit upon a seam, and bye-bye naked angel babies! May they rest in peace.

This is the start of some before and after pics at the new place........I can't get to the kitchen/dining room yet, it's not quite done, but I will finally show John's room, my room, the upstairs bedrooms, and............da da da duh! The LDH in all it's repainted glory. Don't let the sky blue paint off to the right of the above picture fool you, it's not what it seems (yes, it's time to invest in a good photo editor.......)

Naked angel babies, rest in peace.

The verdict is in.......

2008-04-15T16:49:00.001-07:00

Tonsilitis (again) and pink ears. The last time he had pink ears he went on antibiotics immediately, and by the time we we visited the ENT 4 days later the infection was evident (which Bill was told is normal, the antibiotics don't work that quickly).

The good news is that the fever broke late Sunday night and hasn't returned. John received an antibiotic shot at the doctor yesterday and was in much better spirits today. I called the ENT, and they told me they'd call me back if there were any issues with his surgery on Monday; I didn't get a call, so I think the tubes are still a go.

10 facts about John

2008-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is going to be a quick post as it's subject is sick (again). Tam tagged me (sorry, no time to figure out how to link to her blog at the moment....) so I'll interpret John's answers to the question......

1. I'm a picky eater. Some days I like certain foods, the next I don't. My one exception? Chocolate. I'll eat it even when I'm sick, like today.

2. I love the Wiggles, despite never having actually seen them. I have Wiggles toys, and I make mommy & daddy play a Wiggles CD over and over. Like how I said make? All I have to do is scream, and they cave. *snort*

3. I'm fascinated any time I see an animal on TV. Cat's are especially cool.

4. I like being with mom & dad so much that on the weekends, I only nap for an hour. At school, I typically nap for more than two.

5. I like to color, but don't limit me to one crayon or I'll scream.

6. Music is for dancing, and man do I boogie!

7. I do the chicken dance to a singing Elmo doll, flapping my arms and everything.

8. Every night, I go to sleep to new age music. I know it's time for nite-nite when that comes on.

9. I hate having my teeth brushed, and I resuse to even attempt it myself.

10. I have a pair of pants with Elmo on the pocket. I point repeatedly and say Elmo to whoever will listen.

Back to my mom............I'm not sure what's up with John, he woke up with a fever Saturday, and it keeps coming back even though we're alternating Motrin & Tylenol every 4 hours like his doctor told us to do. Surprisingly, he's acting fine, and eating and drinking, so I hope it's nothing serious. I guess he's in for a doctor visit tomorrow.

One fine day on Forclosure Central St.

2008-04-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Finally! A beautiful day in Michigan, and a Saturday to boot! We celebrated this momentous occasion with a trip to the park. The pics look pretty much the same as they did last September, LOL. Above, John is looking a bit pensive on the merry-go-round.
Here he's laughing at me as I swung in time on the big kid swing.
Swingin's where it's at!
I think he's thinking "Daddy, push already, push!"
"Hey good lookin', save a spot on the merry-go-round for me."

Yes, my photographic skills suck but at least I tried. After leaving the park, Bill went home, and John & I took a tour of Foreclosure St., which is actually the street we live on. So sad. We'll be listing our house soon, and with all the forclosures, I wanted to check out the competition, which I'm sure will drive down the price of mine :-(

Several of the houses had been for sale, and I always watch prices. I'm not sure why a couple didn't sell as the prices were good, or so I thought. We checked out 5 on my street alone (in 2 blocks), and 1 on the next street. The good news? The one ~~house~~ dump had been for sale after foreclosure for $34,000, with the realtor's listing saying outright that the only thing good about the house was the price. It never sold. We checked out the signage today, and there was something from the city about a hearing on dangerous property, thank goodness. Knock that bad boy down!

The house next to the dump was also a mini-dump, although it's not yet for sale. For some reason, they blocked off all the windows, which is unusual for foreclosures. This makes me assume it's bad.

We continued down the street to a house that formerly had been for sale. Knowing we were going to be selling, I had checked out the virtual tour a while back when the owner was trying to sell. While small, it was a cute house. I peeked in the living room, and while it has funky wallpaper, it looks clean and in good shape.

We strolled further down the street to look at a couple more. I figured they would be trashed, but from what I could see they were not. Here's what really scares me - these houses will be coming on the market soon, and they have updated kitchens.

My house, while having mostly natural woodwork, a big corner lot, new windows, wood blinds and 2 car garage (unusual in this neighborhood) has a HUGE flaw.

At some point in the '70's the old owner decided to rip out the stained pine built-in cabinets and replace them with faux-wood laminate. I know this because some of the old cabinetry is in the basement. It's far nicer and better looking than what's now in the kitchen. The small, pretty-much unfunctional kitchen we have now is the major detraction from this house. I'm sure buyers will want to know why a good size kitchen has so few cabinets and only 3' of functional counter space............

When I bought this place, it was not with the intention of staying forever. It wasn't even with the intention of staying 10 years, which is how long we've been here, which is why spending boucoup bucks updating the kitchen was not an option. I've had some friends inquire on how bad my kitchen is..........so I'm posting a picture. This is the one we submitted with our adoption dossier, so keep in mind that there was none of the clutter that used to exist pre-baby was present, since things had to look perfect. Actually, the clutter has grown exponetially (sp?) with the new addition to the family - there is no place for the new stuff in the cupboards. All I can say is thank goodness for our new house with it's new kitchen (pic's to be revealed as soon as the painter is done).

Good news!

2008-04-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Bill ended up taking John to the doctor, and NO EAR INFECTIONS! He was also in a significantly better mood today, which gets me thinking...............

Today, I felt sick to my stomach all day, to the point where I won't even eat. I plan on going to bed after I type this, it's 7:30 pm. No fever or anything, just a yuck feeling. I'm wondering if John had this, and couldn't tell us?

Night night.

Just checking in...........

2008-04-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yep, we still exist around here. Physically. Mentally not so much.

We have more sleep issues. I know, I sound like a broken record. nosleepnosleepnosleepnosleep. Again, I think John has another ear infection. I tried to make an appointment for him on Saturday, but they told me Saturday's are reserved for urgent care only, uggghhh! So, I figured, I'd call Saturday AM and get him in, but when I picked him up from daycare, they said he'd been crabby all day which is very unusual for Mr. Socialable (sp?). I happened to see his ear when I took him out of his car seat, and there appeared to be some sort of discharge that wasn't there when I bathed him last night. Frick. I have meetings most of the day tomorrow, but this can't wait. Double frick. It's April 2, and I have already used up my three unscheduled absences all due to earaches.

Really, ear tubes scared the heck out of me last year when they were mentioned. Now, April 21 can't get here soon enough.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Happy Easter, from John & Family! We hope you had a blessed day. The Easter bunny paid a visit, so we started the day with an egg hunt and John got to find the cleverly hid basket (I'm being sarcastic with that, LOL........)

Believe it or not, John found his basket immediately, and took off with the chocolate. After a little spurring from mom & dad, he figured out there were brightly colored objects on the floor just waiting to be picked up and thrown across the room............last year, he just banged them together.

Taking a little break after the exhausting hunt. Well, two of the three of us were exhausted ;-D.

I thought I'd post a couple of his pic's from last Easter. He looked so cute in his Baby Gap suit that I spent way too much money on for something that he wore twice before it made it's way to the great land of eBay. Same chair, though! This was before he learned to crawl.....and climb.....

The last picture is one taken that same weekend with my Grandma at her nursing home. We spent last Easter at the nursing home with Grandma, which I 'm glad we did since she's no longer with us. I'm glad she got to meet John.

Tubey, Tubey, Tuuuuuu......

2008-03-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, Tubes. Ear Tubes that is.....

April 21. The ENT showed me a lovely chart of what ear canals are supposed to look like, as well as what infection looks like. Infection is shown in 4 phases. Mr. BabyJohn was currently between a 2 and 3, having been on strong antibiotics for 5 days prior to the visit. This is his third one in less than two months. Last year, he had four in a row before getting antibiotic injections as well as strong medicine.

He's slept through the night for the past two nights. What a glorious feeling that is for us, but I can only imagine how great it is for him. He's been Mr. Sunshine & Happiness the past couple of days. I guess the multiple night wakings also wear him down too.

I'm off for the next 4 days, so pictures are inevitable and promised!

Alright, explain this to me.....

2008-03-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Peeps,

Please advise why bloggers keep going private...........with no warning. What am I missing here?

Yes, I agree that everyone has a right to privacy. Absolutely. But what is up with this? Why have a public blog for so long just to go private so quickly? I follow lots of blogs (way too many), and I admit, I'm only a frequent commentor on a couple.

The thing is, and maybe I'm just being weird, is that after I've followed these journeys, prayed for these families again and again, I almost feel a bit "hurt" that I wasn't given an oppurtunity to introduce myself and ask permission to be included.

Obviously, viewing rights belong to the blog owner, and need to be respected, but I can't help wondering why some batten (sp?) down the hatches with no warning? Maybe it's because I haven't experienced bad things on my own blog; but I don't tend to reveal an excessive amount of personal info, or spew many inflammatory remarks (LOL, despite my intense dislike of the current president, ha ha ha ha). Who knows?

I guess I'll be a more frequent commentor on the blogs I love, and hope to garner an invite if they go private. As far as my own blog goes...........well, for what it's worth ($0.27?) it will stay public. If for some reason I need to "privatize", I will provide notice in advance so that anyone who wants to continue reading can do so.

Blogging gripe over.

Gotta love March!

2008-03-16T11:24:00.001-07:00

What a difference one week makes. See my last post for what things looked like around here last weekend. 10+ inches of snow pretty much gone, this is why I love March!

I'm bummed, we had two 60 degree days, which I've been looking forward to for MONTHS. I so want to get John out for a walk and go to the park. I didn't get to get out those days because I was taking another stupid insurance class and didn't get home until late those days. Another reason to hate insurance........... Of course, this weekend, it's back in the 30's and gray. To make matters worse, I don't think I passed the class, which means I'll have to retake it. Uggghhh - three days wasted. I'll find out in about 6 weeks.

I'm starting to think that John's sleep issues have a lot to do with his ears since he always seems to sleep through the night when he's on antibiotics. He started with the multiple wake-ups again last week. Bill took him to the doctor while I was in class Saturday as a precaution, and sure enough, another ear infection. Thankfully, we see the ENT on Wednesday. Back two months ago when these started up again, Bill wanted to wait on the tubes, although he was okay with seeing the ENT. The PA talked to him yesterday while they were at the doctor's and explained the procedure, so he's agreeable to it now. That, and I think he wants to sleep again for more than two hours at a time...........

I'll try to get some pictures of John this week for you, I've been busy lately and not taking pictures. LOL, I have no choice, John's quarterly post-placement report is due next week, so I have to get on the ball.

Enough already, I can't take it anymore!

2008-03-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

I've had it, I'm at the end of my rope with this. Make it stop, make it go away. I can't take it anymore!

This is the view from my upstairs computer room at about 12:30 PM. It's dark and gray - and it pretty much feels like it's been like this since November. What am I saying, it has. I need some blue skies and warmer weather.........NOW! Apparently the city is out of salt, one of the cross-streets that we look down upon is an emergency route, and is always the first to be plowed and salted, yet it started snowing Friday night, and nothing has been done yet. Nor has it been done almost 7 hours later as I post this entry.

I can't wait for spring. I'm so geeked that Daylight Savings Time starts early this year. After the storm passed, about 1 1/2 hours ago, I looked outside, and things were actually bright. Then I got all excited to think that tomorrow night, it will be that bright at 7pm. WoooWhooo! Let the white stuff melt so that I can resume my walks and taking John to the park. I can't wait!

For those that need a John fix:

Yes, he's in desperate need of a bath and clean jammies, but he agreed to smile for the camera, so I'm posting it anyway.

Look what Bill bought last weekend......

John loves these things, Bill & I not so much. After they start to lose their helium, they start acting really bizarre. Apparently, after I went to bed last night, Bill watched "Spuba" levitate across the room and hover over the crib. He was so disturbed by this, he had to get it out of the living room. I know, that sounds creepy, but every helium balloon we've bought has done strange things, including the one that took a journey upstairs one night - the windows were open and there was a breeze. At least that's what I tell myself.

On the house front. Finally! The kitchen/bath/dining room remodel will be completed next week. I'm holding off posting pics until it's completely done. Here's what we need to do after completion so that we can move it (in no order of priority):

Paint the kitchen, LDH, & new bathroom (no wallpaper ever!)
Clean the family & living room carpet/wash walls & ceiling with TSP in both rooms
Have new carpet installed in the master bedroom and nursery
Get window treatments for the entire house
Clean the laundry room and the 2 storage rooms off it
Have basement carpet'o'skank removed
Clean up all the construction dust/debris
Have ductwork cleaned
Purchase mattress, frame & futon (we're moving in sans furniture, which will stay behind in our old home until we sell it; fortunately, we'll put the new stuff to good use even after our old stuff arrives)
Have cable/internet installed
Finish painting John's closet. Yes, it is going on 2 months on getting that very small project done..........

There's a ton more work to be done, but this is just what needs to happen before we move.

More illness

2008-02-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, John is sick again. This time with a double ear infection and tonsilitis. He was fine at school yesterday, they said he had a great day. He was crabby last night, and we put him to bed early figuring he was tired. He was back up at 9pm with a fever, and pretty much up and down all night. No matter what I gave him, the fever never quite abated.

I called the doctor and they tried to tell me to just give him Motrin & Tylenol for 24 hours before bringing him in. I don't think the dipwad who tried to tell me that knew how old he was........I told her he's 18 months old, has a history of ear asymptomatic ear infections, and needs to be seen today. I didn't tell her that it's only February, and it's the third time I've had to call in sick to work...........

We got our appointment, and poor baby had a 104 degree temp by the time we got back to the room. This was 4 hours after taking Motrin, which is supposed to last for 6-8 hours. They gave him Tylenol, and by the time they tested him for influenza & strep, the fever was coming back down.

I guess his tonsils are huge, they said we have to watch for any difficulty swallowing or breathing until the antibiotics kick in. Apparently they can abcess?

Every day, there is always something I'd always rather be doing than going to work. Today, I just wished my baby was healthy, and I was at work.

More sleep & John's pageant

2008-02-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Sleep. Please tell me what it is. After an idylic Friday night, Saturday sucked. He was up at 1, took 1/2 bottle, then woke crying at 4, 5, and 6:20, when he took a full bottle, and was up for the day at 8:09. 8:09 I could deal with on a weekend, if the other 4 wakings hadn't occurred. Go figure, he ate like a champ Saturday night, almost a full container of mac & cheese & peas & carrots. No throwing. He ate at 7, and was in bed at 8, falling asleep within minutes.

Here he is with a big smile, wagging his finger at me. That was a first. Unfortunately, the fingerprints all around the fireplace door are not firsts, or seconds......I clean them, they reappear. End of story. Next is the maestro showing off a new trick.......and new shoes.

Oh yeah, Mr. Skinny has no problems crawling into a 6" opening.....and being darn proud of it once he gets back out!
John's pageant was today, it was really cute. I took some video, but need to figure out a better way of getting it on-line. The Spongebob clip took about 20 minutes to upload here, and this is much longer. I also would like to use the video editing software and take out the parts where he is not visible, or when it started looking like something out of the Blair Witch project..........aparently my small arm muscles are in need of exercise if I am to hold this thing steady for more than a minute. Below is John dressed for the show.
Here is after the kid's presentation while the pastor was speaking. Bad mom, I was more interested in the cool hat that John had painted.

Fortunately, John decided to pay rapt attention.

Last, but not least, a picture of Little dog. In the three years he's been with us, this is the first good shot I've got of his face. Usually he moves too quick, and I catch the back of him..........he must be slowing with age.

So, what's up with us?

2008-02-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

We had a rotten week, that's what. For the first time in probably 3 months, John slept through the night Sunday night. It felt so good to feel rested for a change, getting up in the middle of the night gets old. I thought maybe we reached a turning point........

We did, but not the one I wanted. For the next 4 nights, John was up screaming every 2 hours. Nothing made him happy, not bottles, not being held, or even getting into our bed. I don't know what was wrong, he wasn't sick, was still on antibiotics from the last virus. Let's just say that nobody was happy around here.

I've read people swear by "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", which I bought a while back, but never got past the first 40 or so pages without falling asleep myself. Darn sleep algorithms bored me to tears. I got he book back out, and tried to look things up by John's age. The author said to put him to bed an hour earlier. Somehow I didn't see that being the problem, and I have a problem putting him to bed an hour after he gets home from daycare.

I kept him up an hour later, and fed him dinner an hour later. On Thursday, the first night I did this, he actually ate his dinner instead of throwing it at me. Hmmmm, maybe he's not hungry at 6pm? He went to bed at 8 and only got up once. Last night, he again ate at 7, ate more than he threw, went to bed at 8, and DIDN'T WAKE UP UNTIL 6:20! Hurray!

Please pray that John continues to sleep and eat better!

Also, John's daycare pagaent is tomorrow, and I will be taking the video camera and getting photos, watch for them soon.

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T17:39:00.000-08:00

Here are last year's VD pics. No new ones as we have had major issues this week. I'll post more this weekend when I am not so brain dead.

Just a brief update.......We're a bunch of sickies.

2008-02-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

Bad me, no pics or videos. I was afraid that John would get my illness, and my fear was realized. He woke up coughing with a 102 degree fever on Monday. He went to the doctor right away, got antibiotics, but still fought the fever for three days. He's still not eating well, and is waking up multiple times each night, which makes for a very cranky mommy & daddy.

We thought Bill was going to avoid the plague, but he started with the fever and coughing on Thursday. His cough is much worse than John's or mine, so I hope he doesn't have bronchitis or worse. He was stubborn and wouldn't go to the doctor right away. Yeah, I know, sounds just like me who waited 3 days. At least we got John in right away.

Please say a prayer we have a better week next week and start getting some sleep.

He still exists, I promise.

2008-02-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

Looking very much like the big kid. He hadn't seen the camera in a month, so we even got a bit of a smile before he figured out what was really happening.
To prove he still looks somewhat like a baby.............

Wow, John is 18 months and 2 days. To update you as to how he's doing, well, he's great! Sassy!Obstinate! Sweet! Smart! Defiant! Loving!

Enough with the exclamation points. John is a smart kid, he's got a vocabulary of about 25-30 recognizible words, including, much to my delight, Spongebob (okay, it comes out spuba, but only when he see's Spongebob's picture). He doesn't actually get to see Spongebob cartoons, only the intro song, but if you've watched the video, you know how much he loves that.

John has been walking for just about 6 months, runs like a champ, and has now mastered climbing on all the furniture - which means nothing in the room is no longer off limits.....I'll miss those days of putting things outside of his reach........He's also a daredevil, and anything he wants is now at risk, keeping Bill & I on our toes, constantly. I'll be glad when we move, and he can have a whole room to himself for all his antics (after I've carefully ~~babyproofed~~John-proofed).

We're getting closer and closer to moving, most of the hold-up now is on us, rather me, who needs to get busy picking out lights, hardware and glass. I felt cruddy all this weekend, so nothing got done......again. I need to get on the ball.

I've got the camera downstairs again, so hopefully more pictures will be arriving shortly.

Yeah, been MIA & John is 18 months old!

2008-02-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, John is 18 months old today. How did that happen? I have lots to post about him, and will hopefully even cop a few pictures this weekend.

I'm sorry I haven't posted recently since I know some family members actually read this regularly (sue me, I'm sure I hacked the spelling of that word), and have asked.....

I had high hopes for this week with the camera, but it just didn't end up happening. I've been sick, and work has sucked, which has left me physically and emotionally drained.

There were lay-offs at work, and they affected an amazing co-worker as well as a number of people I feel close to, not to mention a number of people that I am left scratching my head and wondering "why?" I wonder what the f&*k the higher-ups could possibly be thinking.... Sorry, I said I wasn't going to use that language here anymore, but sometimes my true emotion can't be sugar-coated with a politically correct placebo, my hyroglyphics (spelling?) are merely to be somewhat polite. It's just so sad....

Me....sorry, not the most appropriate segway. I've been sick, and while sometimes a closet hypochondriac, a three day fever and hacking cough made me go to the doctor. Okay, that's not completely true; the fact that I had an appointment scheduled 4 months prior for a physical made me keep the appointment. I didn't end up getting the physical, but they did confirm that: A. I'm really sick as opposed it imagining it; & B. It's not influenza, despite the similar symptoms. See? the flu shot does work! As I post this, I've officially been sans fever for 24 hours, life is already improving. Once the cough goes away, is nothing impossible?

I promise, come hell or high water, I will get a new pic up of John this weekend. Hopefully more than one.

Happy 18 month birthday baby!

Sponge John

2008-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Please ignore the hyena in the background, animal control is coming to pick it up......

Checking in.

2008-01-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while! First, thank you for the prayers and concern for my cousin. He's out of the hospital, and while it sounds like he's in for a long recovery, we are hopeful that he will recover well and fully.

I have been entirely remiss with the camera lately - something about not having monthly post-placement reports to submit has left me complacent. I do have something I'm trying to get a video of John doing - when I get it, I will learn to post. It's too funny not to share. Unfortunately, he's as big on hamming it up for the video camera as he is the regular camera....it just doesn't happen. I think I'm going to have to build a tripod out of boxes, and hide to try to get the video.

On the house front....wow! Cabinets are in, counters are in, all appliances but the frig are installed, bathroom is done except for the tub surround, the kitchen/dining/hall floor was started today, and the backsplash tile is ordered . Once we have the rooms painted, we can pretend this is the "Swan" show and do the big reveal, along with before and afters.

It's really hard to pick stuff for an entire room based on tiny swatches. I'm really pleased that everything has come together better than I could have anticipated!

Prayers needed....

2008-01-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

If you could say a prayer for my cousin David, I would appreciate it. I don't have all the details, but he was in a work accident last night, apparently a 2500 lb door fell on him and pinned his legs. He's having surgery today.

Thanks.

WOW!

2008-01-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

I went to the house after work, and all of the cabinets are either installed or set in place waiting for the appliances. I had been beating myself up over a decision I made to stagger a couple of the cabinet heights, thinking it was a bad idea after the cabinets were long ordered, but it looks awesome!

Hi Di Ho!

2008-01-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

Long time, no post. No new pics, I've have been entirely remiss on that front.

Just thought I'd give you the house latest and greatest (since I finally have something to report....)

We got word last week that the kitchen cabinets might arrive this week, and that we should probably consider finalizing appliances. We went Saturday (with John in tow, poor kid!), pretty much changed everything that we selected two months ago, and bought them. We were told that everything was in stock, and to just call and set delivery when needed.

Bill went to the house yesterday (the date of arrival), and viola! All of the upper cabinets are in! Yikes, the same day they were delivered! He talked to the kitchen contractor, who pretty much said, get the appliances here posthaste. Thank goodness, the salesman screwed up and charged 100% of the total on Saturday, rather than a deposit. He was going to re-do the purchase, but since I suspected that I would be completing the order in the same billing cycle, I told him just to leave it as-is. PIF'd, he said we could call and arrange delivery any time, without a return visit to sign for the balance. Talk about working out well!

I'm a little bummed about the flooring. All along, we had planned to have hardwoods installed in the kitchen, dining and hallways. When we went to pick them out, we must have looked and compared the cabinet door mock-up to 100 different shades of real flooring. NOTHING looked good. And I do mean NOTHING. The cabinets are maple, and stained with a nutmeg stain, with a pewter glaze. I never thunk it would be hard to match to natural flooring colors. We were left with the choice of: formica (not!), ceramic (never!), or laminate (which I hate!). Guess where we found the exact contrast? Laminate.

Here is a pic of the two we immediately narrowed the laminate field down to. We went with the selection on the right. While I actually like the left selection better in the sample, I just didn't like it in the LDH (long, dark hall). This is a bad visual as the cabinet doors we selected will not have any panels (unlike the sample door) , the granite chunk shown will actually be mainly beige with a huge brown area (that matches the cabinets) and blue chunk (ie: looks nothing like the sample, but the sample showcases the colors). The rooms aren't huge, and we want to keep this project open, not closed in. If you look closely enough (ie: my current cabinet doors), you will probably understand why I hate laminate.

New Poll regarding the music....

2008-01-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

Vote now. Do you want the music or not?

Did anyone catch the wonderful Twilightzone episode? I so love that one.

BREAKING NEWS!

2007-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's that important that I felt the need for caps.

Tomorrow, 1-1-08, 10:50 AM EST, the Sci-Fi channel is showing my all time favoritist of favorites - the episode of Twilight Zone entitled "The Hunt". Dog lovers will be truly touched. Don't miss!

House updates and best wishes for 2008!

2007-12-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Best wishes to all for a happy 2008! It seems 2007 just flew by, how did that happen? Not much happening here, John is doing well, and I think going a bit stir crazy being stuck with Bill & I for the past week while daycare was closed.

Not much new on the house front, except for the long awaited doors (they've been in since the first of the month, but bad weather prevented their installation 3 different times). I think the new light fixtures really go with the doors. Here's some pics:

Old front doors (they were apparently for looks only, since neither opened):

New (and they work!):

Old garage door (it was nailed shut by the realtor to prevent the old owners kids from breaking in):

New:

Interior old:Interior new (ignore the labels hanging on the doors)Front of the house (it was much prettier when the grass was green and the skies blue):

Merry Christmas - Belatedly!

2007-12-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! John seemed to enjoy his, although he was a little overwhelmed. I took video - but just like my digital camera, I haven't read the book yet to figure out how to upload it. Soon.

We started out Christmas Eve by opening our "red bags", long a tradition in my family. Here is John with his:

We've got a shaker on our hands:

Then Christmas morning, Santa paid a visit:

John likes Uncle Mike's gift! I was amazed how quickly he learned to use it. John presses a button, and it actually goes 2 MPH. He not only learned how to turn it on, but to hang on for dear life.

Wow, a castle! Since we have no furniture to the living room at the new place anyhow, it's been turned into Toyland.

Looks like this is going to be a hit - I was even able to catch him smiling on camera!

2007-12-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

As promised, 16 months of John! I haven't figured out how to get a space in between all the pictures to type, so bear with me. Pic 1 -2 are in Guatemala taken by the attorney, Pic 3 was taken when we visited, Pic 4 is moments after he came to us forever on 12-19-06. Pic 5 is on his 5 month birthday.
Pic 6 is when he was 6 months old & enjoying his new toy. Pic 7 is Mr. Happy Eater, Pic 8 shows the remnants of the "shiner" he got at 8 months old when he pulled up on the coffee table and fell. Pic 9 is the one and only time he looked like a Buddha, he started slimming down right after that. Pic 10 shows all his gorgeous baby hair, Pic 11 is moments after all that hair went bye-bye

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY JOHN! This was at his daycare party, and his shirt was off so that he could have a cupcake and not mess up his outfit.
13 months old, and walking like a champ!
Fourteen months old, and a big Judge Joe fan. Nah, I'm teasing, he really doesn't watch TV, but mom likes Judge Joe.
Fifteen months old, and doesn't look like a baby anymore :-(

And, last for now, Mr. Baby John at 16 months old. I swear he smiles as much and as big as he used to, but the minute the camera comes out, fuggedaboutit, no can do. Hopefully he'll cooperate for Christmas and I can post some of those pics.

Happy Homecoming John!

2007-12-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable, it was one year ago today that John came home from Guatemala!

We didn't do much for him today, only because at 16 months of age, he can't understand it, but I did tell him his story (in between reading him "Hippos go Berserk" 95 times and "Snuggle Puppy" 112 times). As years go on, there will be a big celebration in honor of homecoming or family day.

John actually came to us forever on the 19th, but since that is Bill's birthday, I wanted John to have his own special day of his own. Of course, every year on the 19th, he'll hear all about Daddy's best birthday gift ever.....

On the "I'm such a bad mom" front, I still have not made John's lifebook. I hope that since I'm off this next week that I can get it started on one of the picture websites like Shutterfly. Of course, John is also off daycare this next week, so how far I get with this project is up in the air.

John's Christmas pageant got cancelled due to inclement weather, and was not rescheduled. Just our luck since we bought a video camera for the occasion. At least, Christmas morning will be on tape. Actually, hard drive.

So where's the pic's? I'm too lazy to download the latest and resize anything at the moment, but I promise, I'll do a 1 year montage in the next couple of days. I can't believe he's been home a year, and boy-oh-boy, has he changed!

MIA

2007-12-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

I've been MIA for a while. I mentioned John was sick? Well, he passed that lovely stomach virus on to the whole family. Things are still not quite normal here in the crib. I pray John's back to normal tomorrow as it's his daycare pageant, and being completely lame, I'm so excited!

No new pics of anything. I need to get on the ball. We are supposed to get 6-10" of snow, so maybe I'll get John out in his snowsuit tomorrow if he's feeling okay.

Now I need to go catch up with my blogging buddies!

Already then, let's try this again.

2007-12-12T15:45:00.001-08:00

Sorry, I meant to put this on here last night, but a sick, puking kid took precedence over my blog life. Go figure.

This is not nearly as creative or entertaining as what I tried to post the other night, the post that is still out there in cyberspace. The last year of sleep deprivation has completely anihlated (sp?) pretty much all of my short-term memory, and a good chunk of my long-term. I hope someday to regrow these brain cells. I don't care if they say that's not possible, I have every intention of doing it, and I'm pretty darn good at getting what I want.......

I want to be more creative. I need to be more creative. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and interestingly have found that blogging really, really helps. I look at stressful situations with a different eye, and try to find the humor in them rather than obsessing & stressing about them. I think about how to write about them, and sometimes I do - the anxiety goes away. Hmmm, the power of the ~~pen~~ keyboard. What does this mean? Well, as of now, Baby John's crib is changing. Not that it was ever here much in the first place, but my personality is going elsewhere. Baby John's Crib will be just that - a place to catch up on John and his new crib a.k.a. our new house. Effective immediately, I am banishing my personality to the CORNFIELD, a place to be my obnoxious, sometimes funny, self.

On a completely unrelated sidenote, in exactly two minutes from when I am currently typing this sentence, one year ago today, my phone rang. I checked caller ID, and it was area code 702. My heart started pounding, and I lost my breath. PINK! For those not familiar with Guatemalan adoptions, pink is the color of the form that the US embassy used to issue letting the adoptive parents know of their embassy appointment, which is technically the last step in the adoption process (until your child is home). We found out on a Tuesday night that we needed to leave for Guatemala the following Monday. The rest of that week was a blur............

Oh Frick.

2007-12-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

I had a long, awesome post, which I thought was being saved in draft mode. I hit enter, it went away, forever into cyberspace. I'm beside myself right now (well, if that was physically possible, I would be, WTH does that phrase mean, anyway?).

This sucks.

I had actually introduced my new blog, an introduction that will now wait until another night as it's 8:13 here in lovely MI, and I've got to start dealing with dinner.

I'll try again tomorrow when I hopefully have more time and energy.