Entertaining story...Brooklyn just walked in from school. I asked her to tell me one thing she learned today. They happen to be learning about the American flag. It has 50 stars for the 50 states and 13 stripes for the 13 calories!
God love 'em!
The excitement of getting an offer on the house is dwindling. The inspections went okay, but the buyers want all of the basement windows replaced, a new electrical box, and GFCI outlets put in the bathrooms, kitchen, and outside (whatever that means). Ugh. We're talking thousands of dollars here. Zac wants to say "not a chance," but we really, really need to sell this house! They are getting some estimates from electricians this week, so we'll see where that goes. Oxygen concentrator, feeding pump, pulse oximeter, plus all of our everyday stuff? I would love to tell them that about all the things we had plugged in and running in that house and we never had a fire, but I doubt that will go too far.
Otherwise, all is well here. We are definitely enjoying the weather. We all had a great spring break with lots of play dates, a trip to the zoo, movies, and sleepovers. It wasn't too hard to get the kids up and moving yesterday, since they are both such big fans of school.
Zac and I went back to Macomb on Friday night to see the school musical. They did "The Music Man" and it was a good performance. Ben (our pastor's son in Macomb) had the lead and he did an awesome job. We got to see the whole family, which was awesome. They are awesome people and were one of my really significant connections to Macomb. We didn't go to the house. Driving by was good enough for me. We did make a stop at Jackson Street Pub for dinner (love that place) and stopped by to visit some friends, too.
I'm obviously still trying to play "catch up" on the blog. I haven't forgotten about Easter, I just want to find some pictures to put along on that post. Until then...
So a few weeks ago, I went to my annual "mommy conference." If you live in central Illinois and are a mom, you've most likely heard of Hearts at Home. This was my 7th year of going and, again, it didn't disappoint! It is the best weekend ever and I look forward to it every year. My friend, Nicole and I decided to try it out when our kids were 9 months and 6 months old, respectively. We haven't missed unless we had just given birth (Nicole) or were at a wedding (me)! They offer little sessions on parenting, marriage, spiritual growth, etc... You get to pick your top ten and they assign you to 3 or 4. This year, as it turned out, I went to my sessions on Friday with my sister and Nicole did hers on Saturday (since she has to fly in from SC and everything). I also had a prior engagement to attend on Saturday. We still made a great weekend of it.
I ended up attending a class on Sibling Rivalry, Living Life After Loss, Living with Less so your Family has More, and Growing Weeds out of Trees (about raising kids). I loved them all and can say I took a little something from each session. I was super excited that they were offering the Living Life After Loss session, although I went in very anxious and left feeling sad. It was rather depressing, which I suppose it should have been, but I was hoping to feel a little comfort and can't say that I did.
Anywho, it always gives me new ideas and refreshes me for at least a little while. Nicole brought her friend Kathy and we stayed had a great girls weekend. We ate some good food, had some great talks, and slept in beds with no kids! Can't wait until next year!
Zac just called. We've accepted an offer on our Macomb house! Woohoo! It's been on the market for a year and it's finally our turn! How nice will it be to have only one house payment? Ahhh....
There will still be some hoops to jump through, but what's new. Inspections, financing, etc... It sounds like closing won't be until May, but that's right around the corner! We'll keep you posted on this one!
I have absolutely no excuse as to why I've been on vacation from the blogging world. Pure and simple...I've just been plain lazy. I have a ton to blog about, but I'm not going to overwhelm you in one post, thinking that maybe if I say I'm going to break it up into numerous posts, I'll actually do it!
So, today I'm dedicating the post to my employment, or lack there of.
I've been "laid off" from my babysitting gig. The dad worked for a company that is now extinct, so he's staying home with the "twinkies" until he finds another job. If he gets lucky enough to find one soon, I may be back in business. Otherwise, I'm back to enjoying my freedom.
Along the same lines of employment (sort of), we still have our two houses. Without the extra income of babysitting, Zac and I have gone to a semi-strict budget. I've been spending lots of time coupon hunting and going a little crazy on trying to find deals. It's been fun so far, but I don't expect it to last. I had one great grocery shopping trip that saved me a ton of money, but the next one didn't even come close. It's a lot of work, too. But...I'm always up for a bit of a challenge. Anyway, we had a second showing on the house in Macomb yesterday, so we are praying big that something comes of it. Our renters are moving out this week and Zac and I are going to the Macomb house on Friday to clean it up a bit and see what if there is anything that needs any attention. I'm looking forward to spending the day with Zac, but I sure am dreading going back to the house. Last time we were there, things just didn't go well for me (emotionally, I mean). So, I'll continue praying for peace and hope that things will go better this time!
Yes. We are still alive. Although, after a weekend with the flu, I was beginning to wonder if we were going to make it. Brooklyn came down with it at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Saturday. She is such a tough cookie, though. She trekked right through it. I woke up about 2:30 in the morning on Sunday with it. Jack ended up with it Tuesday night. It was all fairly short lived, but icky, nonetheless. Zac has stayed clear of it. So far. We need to keep it that way, as he doesn't handle those things well!
Watching the "twinkies" everyday has definitely put a damper on my computer time, so I do apologize for being MIA for so long. I do have, however, a new found respect for all parents of multiples. My goodness. It's hard work! Feeding, burping, playing, feeding, changing, burping, playing, changing, napping, changing, feeding...well, you get the picture.
I have been having some mixed emotions lately. Here in a couple of days, it will mark the one year anniversary of Olivia's last day at home with us. She went in for a routine platelet transfusion on Mar. 8 and was admitted for the last time. It's going to be hard to think about those days, but there are so many significant "bad days" that I hope don't overwhelm me. I think keeping so busy with the babies will definitely be a good distraction.
Anyway, another feeding awaits me. Just wanted everyone to know we are still alive and kickin'!
Yep. That's me.
Today was my first day of watching the twins. It was more of a trial run, with my "official" start date on Tuesday.
It went surprisingly well! I was a little nervous. I knew I could handle one baby, but two? I had some great helpers! Jack and Brooklyn were here all day celebrating Abe Lincoln's b'day. They were both amazing with the babies, Brooklyn especially. They couldn't get enough. Brooklyn would go play for a while, but would be sure to tell me to holler at her when I needed her help. Both kids would randomly start talking about how cute "they" were, which did throw me off a couple of times. (Brooklyn and I were changing the felt pads on the bottom of the dining room chairs so they would quit scratching up the floors. I thought she was talking about how cute the felt pads were??? After a confused look, she explained that she was talking about the babies! Ahhhh, silly mommy)
The babies were great, which obviously helped, too. Baby V loves to sleep and she seems to be extremely content all the time. Baby C loves to talk, loves to watch Brooklyn dance, and he loves to be held (which is good, because I kind of like to hold babies, too =o) It's so fun to have babies in the house, and to know that I don't have to get up for any midnight feedings! It's also great to finally be able to get Zac to quit nagging me about what I do all day! All in all, a great first day on the job!
It happened today.
How rude am I? I'm such a slacker.
Poor Brooklyn. She has the worst teeth. According to the dentist, it's genetic. I beg to differ, unless it skips a generation. I'm going more with the theory of all the sugar she eats.
I took her in to have a cavity filled on Wednesday morning, and after a quick exam, there was only one little tooth that isn't going to need some sort of attention. Poor thing. They gave her the laughing gas, numbed her up, yanked a tooth, and put a "princess crown" on another. We've said she is going to be the most decorated, shiny princess around here before too long. It was very traumatic for both of us because we didn't know exactly what she was having done, and the outcome wasn't even in the ballpark. She went back today for her third "princess crown."
She opted to try today's visit with no laughing gas. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. We set up two more appointments and hopefully that takes care of things for now.
The good points:
-No more pain (at least for now)
-She got some lip gloss for being so brave (She was really, really brave)
-The Tooth Fairy came (although he was a male and kind of skimped on the prize money...in my personal opinion. I mean, this was a molar and it did have to be yanked out of there)
-We actually have dental insurance these days (The first "princess crown" was on us)
It seems as though I got a few people riled up on my behalf concerning my All Kids issues. You'll been somewhat happy to know that I got some things taken care of. Sort of.
I never did hear back from a caseworker, so I tried one more time to call on Wednesday. I actually got through to an actual honest to goodness caseworker. I talked to her about the problems I was having and she said "in regards to the premium: it takes at least 4-6 months to get that to go through. Just ignore the statements and don't worry. We won't send you to collections." Alright. I'll just ignore it for 2 more months and it should be all taken care of. Hmmm... we'll see.
In regards to the other bill we received...I just need to call the doctor's office and have them re-bill it. Again. I explained that they had billed twice and even appealed it twice. So, she gave me the number to someone who might be able to help me because the date of service is over a year ago (12-8-08)...barely.
Anyway, I haven't had a chance to call him, yet. We'll see how that one goes.
Then, I nicely asked to speak to a supervisor regarding some issues I have with the operators (namely, Veronica). She said she would have to send an email to their supervisor and she would call me about it.
She actually did call me within about a half an hour. Shocking! I explained the issue I had and she was very apologetic. Apparently she had just called Veronica in the day before to talk to her about some other things, but assured me she would call her back in about this. She also assured me that if I would have told her "our story" she would have been more prompt at getting me through to someone. Hmmm... don't think I should have to do that, but I'll keep it in mind for the next time I call.
Anywho...thanks for all the advice and encouragement. Hopefully this all gets resolved. If not, I guess I now know what to do?!?
