He's officially a walker

Nick is officially bipedal. He walked around in the backyard and in the living room. No I don't have pictures. I was too busy clapping my hands and making enthusiastic noises to grab the camera. He falls down all the time but he can do 11-15 steps at a time if he is focused. I'll do my best to capture video so I can share.

Gotta get packing. Busy busy busy.

Smooth closing on your house?

Let me just lay it out in a factual format instead of some long ass-hard-to-read-OMG-Kristin-please-learn-to-properly-punctuate post.

today we signed the paperwork for closing on the house but first . . .

• we met the realtor at the property to do a final walk through
• we immediately upon entering smelled gas
• found the pilot light on the stove extinguished - shut off gas to stove.
• drive to title company to sign 2" high stack of papers
• realtor calls as we enter parking lot and says that the title company has switched offices without notifying anyone and gives us new directions
• we arrive at new location only to learn that indeed the title company was at the original location
• call title company and apologize for being late and explain that we will be there shortly
• arrive at title company - finally
• we sit down and literally 3 minutes later we learn that there is a problem with the paperwork. A big problem
• no escrow account was established for taxes and insurance . . .despite a good faith estimate that factored in an escrow account. The HUD statement did not have one.
• not wanting balloon payments at the end of the year for taxes (HELLOOO!! CHRISTMAS time and ALLLLL , why would I want a couple thousand dollars due on my house at that time???)
• Multiple tense/frantic calls to loan writers and mortgage brokers and title brokers and realtors, assistants and lenders later (and me thinking: "WHY IS SHE(mortgage broker) AT THE DENTIST WHEN I NEED HER NOW??) . . . we decide that we will set up an escrow account separately on Monday.
• Whew. . . we keep signing papers
  
• Mortgage broker calls me (she had been on the other phone with the title lady 2 seconds ago) and is somewhat upset because we didn't "specify" that we wanted an escrow account and "most people don't want one" but says that we will get one set up on Monday, which the title lady had already relayed for me.
  
• Okaaaayyyy. My fault?? Sorry???? I thought it was STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE TO SET UP A FREAKING ESCROW ACCOUNT????? ESPECIALLY SINCE THE GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE ALREADY SAID ONE WOULD BE ESTABLISHED. . . YOU KNOW THE GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE THAT YOU SENT TO ME!!!!

Sorry about all the yelling. Just blowing off some steam. It is stressful enough plunking down a huge chunk of your wealth in a cashiers check to some stranger at a title company after you discover a gas leak in the house that very day. But then with all the other drama . . .I'm fried.

Picnic at the Zoo

Maybe if I flirt with her I can convince her I've abandoned my escape plans. Besides, she is old and slow.




And I now I am going to distract the brother and get him to focus on something other than me.



Big brother successfully distracted with food.



Oh crap. She caught me making my way to the back of the stroller. More flirting required.



And I'm off and running. No one can catch me now.



Oooo. Look. The sidewalk!



Wait. . .!! Don't leave me here.

Identity Crisis

Can you tell that the blog is having another identity crisis?

Note: I have nothing to do with this. It is the blog, not me.

Let me take this opportunity to bitch and moan about the Miss USA 2009 pageant. What is WRONG with those women? Their skin is perfect, and do they have a stray hair out of place anywhere on their perfectly toned and tanned bodies? And my God those boobs. . . don't get me started on the boobs. Those can't be real humans tottering around on the stage. I watched the pageant off and on and just couldn't believe that these women were anything other than really well designed robots. Do I sound a bit jealous? Well I admit I miss my old stomach and boobs however I really don't want to look like the robots and I certainly don't want to act like them. The sea of blank pageant smiles about made me want to hurl. Can we talk about the hair? Is it real? Does it move? Is that an animal I just saw hiding in it?

My robot hypothesis was busted when Miss California opened her mouth to answer her question. Wow. Ok. So she is clearly not a well designed robot. She is the ignorant blonde robot who all the other robots roll their life-like eyes at when she speaks.

I'm done. Ok, not quite.

I can't wait until they all get fat. There I said it. Don't tell me you weren't thinking it too. You were.

Alright. Now I'm done.

Sweet little Nick

My sweet Nick can be so cranky. Very cranky, very clingy very demanding of my full attention. He can't cruise around without crying, groaning, fussing or somehow demanding my attention. He wants to be touched and held all the time. He won't self soothe very well - if at all which is a skill we have been trying to get him to learn for months and months now. He sleeps, but only sleeps well if he is able to touch one of us and sometimes that doesn't even work. He won't go to sleep without assistance (despite months of effort and countless books telling us how to do it) and when he wakes in the middle of the night it gets really ugly. He screams. Not like you think. He screams and screams and screams like someone is cutting an arm off. Even if we jump out of bed and rush to his side the moment we hear him stir (which we do every night and every time) he still screams. He is so loud and gets so worked up for the smallest things. He goes from zero to ten in two seconds if you don't immediately attend to his needs. God forbid if you don't respond fast enough or appropriately. I am not "spoiling" him. That I know.

And with this comes my frustration at constantly FAILING to make him happy. Why isn't my baby happy? What is wrong? What am I doing wrong? It really has been eating at my self esteem and self confidence. Big Time.

I remember with Lucas thinking to myself that he was very challenging. I looked online and read books to gather information on different temperament types so that I could better understand him. I remember reading all the "temperament type" descriptions and not being able to classify Lucas under any of them. Which made me happy at the time because I was reassured that Lucas was a nice mix of all sorts of characteristics. And who wants to be able to summarize a child in a paragraph anyway? In time I realized that Lucas was a normal kid and that the extreme temperament types I read about were just that, extreme. Compared to those descriptions Lucas was easy. And that knowledge made me feel good and more confident. He was just doing what kids do and sometimes that can be challenging.

The doctor had me read a few pages on temperament types in the office the other day after I took Nick in again for unexplained EXTREME irritability. "High Intensity Child" describes Nick perfectly. Puuuuuurrrrrfffecctly. If you guys want to know what my little beautiful Nick is like than read the link I just gave you. That is Nick. And I took a big sigh of both relief and dread when I saw it.

I don't agree with labeling kids like this. It repels me for a variety of reasons. But you guys. . . I gotta tell you that knowing that Nick is not the only kid in the world like this gives me GREAT relief. Maybe I'm not doing something wrong. Maybe all my efforts at getting him to sleep for lengths of time weren't flawed attempts. Maybe it is just WHO NICK IS. Maybe he feels fine but is just very expressive about his frustrations. That blood curdling screaming that is so intense and usually leads to vomiting and whole body shaking if he is isn't attended to within a few minutes (I'm in big trouble if he starts this and I'm in the shower), maybe that is isn't a sign that we suck as parents. High intensity is a great way to describe him, but not label him.

So while I expect that Nick has a variety of temperament types within him, I am so very relieved that his frequent meltdowns and persistent crying aren't because of me. And there are a whole variety of people out there that have had children with similar characteristics that have great advice. That too is a relief.

All clear

Lucas saw the pediatric urologist today about that left kidney that looked weird on the ultrasound. He said that indeed the lower lobe of the left kidney was( insert fancy medical term here which translates to: enlarged) so we will get another ultrasound in November to see if it is changing (hopefully shrinking) over time. But since Lucas hasn't had any more UTI's we can wait on further testing. YEAH!!! No more specialists or tests until the routine follow-up in November.

Stinkin' kids. They are so good at making us worry. . . and like, care.

Here is "little" Nick. So tired he is asleep on the floor. For nearly 2.5 hours. I think he's going through a growth spurt because he's all chubby suddenly and now he's sleeping a lot. I mean seriously. This kid is huge. He has been in 18 month sizes for 2 months now and he is 10 months old. How big will he get after this current growth spurt? That wasn't rhetorical. I really want someone to tell me. Lucas wore those sweats, that Nick has on in the picture, less than a year ago. I'm going to have to go buy more clothes.

Video Kick

I'm on a video kick lately so I think I might just post a rotating selection of videos until I have something exciting to write about.

Don't think I'm a bad Mommy for letting Nick fall off the fireplace repeatedly. I kept catching him mid-fall before I busted out the video camera. He kept climbing up there and I couldn't keep him off the fireplace. So I decided that if I couldn't keep him off than I just should resign myself to watching him learn that if he leaned off an edge he would fall - and that meant letting him actually fall. Scary. But it isn't too far of a fall and he has to learn sometime. I have child-friendly ice packs in the freezer ready to go plus I also have Popsicle's which make most boo boo's go away.

I was actually hoping that he'd learn how to gracefully lower himself back to the ground without bailing head first off the fireplace. Soon I suppose he'll figure out that he needs to scoot his feet down off the edge.

Full fight mode

The boys are in full fight mode. They poke, prod and annoy each other and it is mostly deliberate. I really didn't expect this until Nick was older . . . like wayyy older. To my surprise he is fully capable of engaging in mutual kicking, hair pulling, toy stealing, clothes grabbing, and food snatching. He will cry to get me on his side of things - while Lucas yells at Nick in defense of "his" things or "his" space (which is everything and everywhere). So given the scenario of - a crying innocent looking big-doe-eyes-filling-with-tears baby versus an angry, yelling bigger-and-should-know-better preschooler, who would you instinctively come down on? Right. It is hard not to be tough on Lucas because Nick instigates things a good part of the time too. I'm doing my best. But this is hard. Soon Nick will be a competent walker and things are going to really blow up then.

I might add that I am really surprised at how rough they are with each other. Nick still doesn't quite get the rules but he is catching on. For instance, we don't hit in this house but Nick took a stick while in the back yard and NAILED Lucas on the head. Lucas in turn grabbed the stick and jerked it out of Nick's hands. Nick's eyes did the welling up with tears thing and then he started wailing. Lucas saw Nick's antics and decided that it would be to his benefit to wail also. This is all day long. Or most of it. I hope that I and they survive this. I've been a single parent for 4 of the last 6 weeks. I'm not complaining. AJ loves his new job and I love that his new job got us out of the armpit of New Mexico. But I am ready to retire from single parenthood for just a little while.

Oh. On a positive note. Nick is sleeping better. I got 6 hours in a row last night! The cry it out thing is just not for Nick - as you know. And I was relieved to read that despite what my pediatrician says, Dr. Ferber (the cry-it-out proponent) said himself in a recent interview that it isn't for every baby. We sit next to the crib while he lays there trying to put himself to sleep. If he starts to cry and can't calm down (which Nick has a hard time doing) we pat him a couple of times to reassure him. Once he stops crying again we stop touching him and wait for him to go to sleep. This cycle repeats until he is asleep and then we do this at night when he wakes up. BUT. While it sounds like a lot of time we are seeing progress. He is sleeping longer and is now able to resettle himself without fully waking up and crying for us to come help. I see hope people. I can't keep being the human pacifier all night long. It kills my back, shoulders and boobs. Last night he ate ONE TIME. I know he shouldn't eat at all at night but compared to the constant pacifying this is an improvement.

Good News

First the back story: About a month ago we found out that a medical billing company had sent a bill of collection to a collection company . . . basically they said we hadn't paid a bill and it was sent to collections. This bill was from May of 2008 when AJ had a minor surgery. We never knew this debt existed, never received a bill or a notice or anything until it showed up on AJ's credit report. It's mere existence dropped his credit score by 113 points. The bill that was sent to collections was for . . . . drum roll please. . . . .$37.52. Believe me, if I knew I owed the money I would have paid the stinkin' bill a long time ago.

So AJ went from being able to get a great loan at a great rate to being a "risk". Oh and I am also a "risk" by association, apparently. Because some doctors office screwed up their billing and NEVER BILLED US!!! But we called the creditors up (before they bothered to contact us and let us know we even HAD a debt to pay) and paid the money. AJ had to sweet talk them into pushing the payment through while declaring that it was an "error" to have impacted his credit. And hopefully it would come off of his credit in time for our home loan to go through. This little error could cost us approximately $150 - $200 a month in extra interest payments. Is this making sense? Sometimes I am terrible at explaining things clearly.

Anyway. Today we found out that his credit score was repaired in time and we are able to get a great interest rate. Yippeee! Our realtor said that a certain video rental chain is famous for ruining people's credit for the most minor of bills. He said that a good portion of the clients that have their credit ruined by this store never knew they had an outstanding debt. It seems to me that should be illegal. Shouldn't it be mandatory to notify a person before destroying their credit? You know. . . to give them the chance to pay the debt first?

But this leads me to another point. Once again I have been reminded that a doctor is only worth seeing if their support staff is competent. We learned this lesson when AJ had his back surgery in 2005. A doctor who has a good billing department is worth driving several hours to see. We let our guard down and figured that because this was a minor operation it wasn't worth driving a great distance for. . . and once again the medical profession in C-bad let us down. So much for giving them a second chance. Thank goodness we won't be tempted for a third try in the future.

nuttin' but pictures bitches

. . . . .that was my attempt at talking like flo rida. haha. See? I just can't pull it off.

Here are my adorable geniuses.




AJ took the kids while I went back to the botanical gardens for some solitude, and inspiration. I also took my camera and tried to get all artsy-fartsy. It was so nice to get re-centered again. I was gone for 6 hours and that is the longest I've been away from my children in a VERY long time. I could stop and read signs without having to hurry. I didn't have to negotiate a stroller through doors and past people, I had a quiet lunch alone and I didn't have to hurry. In fact I was able to set my fork down inbetween bites!!! I KNOW!! Such a great day. I came back feeling so much better and not so crazy.



The Japanese Gardens







The working farm (Heritage Farm).


I also visited the Mediterranean Hot House and the Desert House and spent a lot of time in there warming up and staying out of the wind.

I can't believe I'm so boring

I'm into lists lately so here is another list.

Some days I can't believe I have kids. Lately I've been looking around and noticing how much of a suburban SAHM I really am. Examples:

• I classify foods into healthy and unhealthy.
• I drive a minivan
• I clip coupons
• MNO: I know what it means and am considering doing it with my Mom's group. If you don't know what it means than you are way cooler than I am.
• I'm a member of a mom's group.
• I attend and organize playgroups.
  
• I just purchased a house and will now be living in STEPFORD (or something close to it because all the houses look THE SAME)
• I use phrases and terminology from 10-15 years ago (when I was cooler) and still think it is acceptable language. I also pick up on things that I hear younger people saying and misuse and over use the term/phrase - and am oblivious to this.
• I can't figure out why women/girls are styling their hair with a lump on top (to add volume??) and in back. What happened to a pony tail? What is with the extra bump? Do you know what I am talking about?
• Today while listening to the radio I finally got what Flo Rida's lyrics meant. Here I'd just been singing along not fully realizing what I was saying. Until I actually listened to the music.

There is my list. Ha. Soon I will post kid pics. I just need to download my camera again. I think I might abandon the kids with AJ for most of the day tomorrow. It will be the first time I have left AJ with both kids for more than a couple hours but I really need a break. I need some solitude so badly. AJ is a perfectly capable father who can watch both of his children at one time and everyone will be just fine. I'm typing this for my own benefit. . . can you tell?

Me ranting about too much stuff again. . .

When we first had Lucas we got all sorts of things that all new Mom's get. Diaper pail, Baby tub, Changing pad, Changing pad covers, Diaper organizer/stacker, Wide variety of bottles with various nipple types and sizes, teeny tiny bibs, those worthless devices that look like a pacifier but instead hold food in a net (good luck cleaning those bad boys), tummy time activity mat. . . and on and on. And with Lucas, my first child, I used most of this stuff (except for those stinkin' way too small bibs which I found to be stupid and wasteful) but with Nick I really didn't use any of it. The only thing I used for Nick was the baby tub. The rest was useless to me. Nick has never once been on a changing pad. Not once. I didn't even pull it out of storage for him. He gets changed on the floor, couch or bed and if it is really messy he gets a towel thrown under him. Diaper organizer/stacker? Ha. What was I thinking spending money on that thing when the box the diapers come in happens to hold the diapers just fine - just not as fashionably. Poor Nick doesn't get the fancy stuff that my first born Lucas got.

So I took it all to the consignment store! It is funny how when you have a new baby - your first - you must have all new and all pristine equipment. At least I did. But most of it was silly stuff. Hopefully someone won't be as stupid as I was and waste their money on new equipment when they can get almost-new stuff from a consignment store like the one where I just took all my stuff.

Here are the things I found to be helpful if not essential. I am assuming that you give a damned. (Yes I know every one's list is different but I like reading what others found to be essential and comparing it to my list.)

• Exersaucer (thank you A.M. for convincing me to get one)
• Baby Bjorn and a baby backpack
• Large ziplocks for stashing clean diapers and wipes in the car
  
• Baby Einstein activity table
• Convertible car seat (Britax is my favorite)
• Boppy pillows (cheap one for the car and a nice one for the house)
• Baby gates
• Sippy cups (neither of my boys would ever take a bottle so we use sippy cups instead)
• A really good umbrella stroller (which I still use all the time even though I have two kids)
  
• A really good Double stroller that has tons of storage (helpful for longer days)
• A blender with a small blending cup
• Pacifiers - which I swore I'd never use
• Receiving blankets - or some other swaddling wrap. That is a must have.
• Baby monitor - We still use it 2.5 years later
• Variety of snuggly blankets
  
• Humidifier - a good one. We had several break before we found a good brand.
  

Did I miss something? I'm sure I missed several things. There's not much stuff on that list though. So why do I HAVE so much stuff in this house?

I've got a baby jumper-thingy (the kind that fit in a doorway, that I have used successfully two times. Both kids hate the thing and quite honestly so do I. You know what is great? Bubbles. Cheap fun bubbles. Pots and pans with spoons are great too. In fact both kids think they are better than some of their toys. Know what else is great? Paper. To crinkle and tear (for Nick) and to color and practice with scissors on (for Lucas). It is so popular in our house that we bought a big roll of butcher paper at Sam's club really cheap and use that for all of our art work and wrapping paper. Lucas colors it and I wrap presents for the family with Lucas art.

And you want to know another thing (if you don't then stop reading)? All the things I swore I'd never do as a parent. . . you know all those preconceived rules about babies and parenthood that you start out having - mostly because of all the research and reading you do? Remember those? Well they all went out the window a while back. There was the pacifier one - I swore pacifiers were terrible and my kid would never use one, both kids now use them and I don't care. I also was so picky about what went into Lucas' mouth. "No cookies!! No processed sugar!! Is that organic?? OMG did we wash fork after it fell on the floor??!!". Once Nick arrived most of my dietary rules went out the window too. My new rules go something like this: "If the majority of consumption is healthy than it's been a good day." I now have rules I didn't anticipate having like now I have really structured, consistent days. Breakfast: 7:30am, Snack: 10:00am, Lunch 12:00pm, Snack: 3:30pm, Dinner: 5:00 - no exceptions (or very rarely anyway).

I'm done now. And I feel better now that my rant is over. Your suffering is over. Now for fun pictures . . .


Here is Lucas putting on Nick's sock. Very cute.


Lucas is still trying to get that darned sock on. He later gave up and tried to put it on Nick's head like a hat. Nick started laughing hysterically when Lucas tried to put the sock on his head. He knew that the sock was supposed to go on his foot and actually got the joke. I can't believe a 10 month old would get it, but he is after all a genius. ha ha.