The One

Two short years, that seem like an eternity ago, Tom and I were married in one of my favorite places in Maine. Since then we have had two beautiful girls, sold our house, built a house, watch a house be destroyed, started job and quit jobs, but one thing has always remained consistent and that is our love. I can honestly say that I could not have made it through, especially the last year, without his love or support. He is strong when I need him to be strong and is always there for me. So without going into way to much sappy detail, here is to you my love, my husband and my best friend. I couldn't do it without you, especially these days when everything seems so up in the air, I know you will always be there for me. I love you, Happy Anniversary!

So Much To Say

Lately I feel like I have so much I would like to write about, but I never just sit down and write. I have all these random thoughts running through my head but I just don't write about them. For instance have you ever wondered why a sandwich made by someone else tastes so much better than a sandwich you could make for yourself? I truly think this is one of the appeals of a sandwich shop. You can make the same thing for so much less money, but the sub shop just tastes so much better because someone else made it. Then there is online bill pay, which I just discovered today through our bank. I am accostomed to paying on specific websites, but I set up a bunch of payees through National city today and it was the easiest thing in the world to do and NO MORE CHECKS! I guess that is all for now because I must shower, but stay tuned for more random thoughts because I have a lot coming!

Back to Sqaure One

Today, we decided to continue with "our" house. We have put so much time and emotion into it over the past 4 months that we were having a hard time giving up on it. The builder has promised us that it will be as good as it was or better, so really what is there to fear...haha? We know what there is to fear, but we are going to be very active in the rebuild to ensure that it goes the way we want it, so hopefully everything will be okay. The builder in reality has been pretty great and are "taking care of us" the best they can. Our rent and utilities will be paid until the house is done, they will be paying for the movers and we got money taken off the purchase price as well as a carpet upgrade, so in all we will be getting the house we wanted for less and with better stuff and our energy over the last 4 months won't have been totally wasted. We have gone back and forth, since Monday, on whether this is really what we want and we just can't imagine living or should I say owning any other house and we looked at renting, but that really isn't for us. So for now, this is the option we are going with and we hope in the future it does not turn out to be a bad decision. So for now that is the news and hopefully all goes smoothly from here on out.

Page 63

I did not realize that you couldn't search for photos on the Graco Baby model site, so I found our picture and it is on page 63, when you look at them in the multiple pics at one time...maybe we will be a finalist..that would certainly help our moods around here!

The Next Step

Well, after 4 months of stress and riding an emotional roller coaster, Tom and I were so looking forward to it all be over yesterday. However, so evil person out there had different plans for us and we are once again back to square one and on one of the lowest lows either of us have ever hit. Yesterday, about 2.5 hours before our scheduled closing time, Tom got a call from our superintendent telling us that some one had broken into our new house and had vandalized it...not graffiti vandalized, turned on the water on the second floor and flooded the entire house vandalized. At first I thought Tom was playing the meanest trick on me, but after repeating it 5 times that we didn't have a house anymore it sunk in. I didn't know whether to cry, scream or what. We went and saw the house and it was still raining into our living room and a toad had happily found his way inside...this was about the only comic relief we had yesterday. So now, today, instead of unpacking our belongings I am looking for somewhere else to live...our lease is up and they have rented our apartment, and we are trying to decide if we want to have them fix up the house or just move on entirely. Tom last night said the most devastating aspect of all of this, was the pride we had in the new house and how excited we were to show everyone what we had had built for us. I just cannot believe that there are people out there that would do something so mean and horrible to someone they don't even know. But I guess all things happen for a reason and we will survive and move on.

Graco Baby Model Contest

Since all I have been doing lately on this blog is complaining, here is some fun news for ya! I entered the girls in the graco baby model search contest...everyone that sees them says they need to be in modeling and how cute and adorable they are, so I thought sure why not? Submissions were due by July 15, so I entered a picture of the three of us, oh yeah mom or dad had to be in the picture as well, playing in a fake mini cooper. Now we are just waiting to see if we are one of the finalists. The top 3 finalists get flown to Florida for a weekend and get a photo shoot and will be featured on NBC's IVillage! Here's hoping:-) If you get a chance check out the pictures!

http://www.gracobaby.com/modelsearch

Sorry I don't know how to make it so the link is live. The finalists will be announced August 1, so I will let you know if we are one of them...out of the thousands that entered :-) If we are I hope you vote for us. Our picture is titled, "Lauren's Photo"

Thanks all and hopefully we will have good news, but if not it didn't hurt anything anyway :-)

Disaster

Monday we had our final walk-thru for the new house and we were so excited. They still needed to clean and build the deck and do a final coat of paint so our foreman asked us to come back yesterday to check it out and make sure everything was in order. When we walked in we expected to everything in ship shape order and to be very pleased, instead we were sorely disappointed and angry. I honestly can say I have almost never been this angry in my life. The painters basically ruined the house. There was paint on the carpet, not only where the trim meet the carpet, but on all the ceramic tile in the bathrooms and the brand new wood floor in the kitchen. Not just little spots either, huge splats and droplets, it was like they just started painting and didn't take any precautions to keep things fresh. Then the trim had drip marks everywhere and there were runs on the wall. To top it off they didn't sand the banister or the railings and just painted them rough, it was ridiculous. Our foreman got a nice little call from me while we were in the house because I/we were so upset. He called back last night and said he would make it right...make it right, he better make it right, we aren't paying an arm and a leg for a brand new house that looks 10 years old, as Tom keeps saying :-)
So now we get to wait and see "how they fix it" all I know is we close in 5 days and it better look brand new or there will be some serious repercussions for that builder.

Junk, Junk and More Junk

Over the weekend we began that fun and tedious task of pulling boxes back out and getting things organized to move again :-) During this process I realized just how much junk we have and don't need, really it is amazing. Over the past 4 months we have been living with the minimum amount of stuff needed and honestly and can think of one, maybe two times where I thought to myself that it would be nice to have something...the one thing was the Kitchen Aid mixer! Other than that, there is nothing that we have had packed for 4-6 months that I want back. We are going to move everything, but then take a good look at what we have and do a major purge, something we should have done when we sold the house to begin with, but you never know what you can live without, until you live without it.

It's Hard, But It Works

This past week I decided that I needed to take back the control, I have never had, over the girls sleeping situation. To do this I decided to try the Ferber method, some other friends have tired it and had success, so I though why not? In order to accomplish this method you have to let the baby cry it out basically until they fall asleep, going in in 5, then 10, then 15 minute increments to calm them down. It is very hard to listen to your baby cry, even if you know in the end it will help them. I started on Wednesday with Natalie when it was almost 10:00 PM and she wouldn't go to sleep, she cried for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep. Thursday night Tom had class so I tried it with both girls and they each cried for about 15-20 minutes and gave in and were asleep by 8:30...I can't remember the last time they were both asleep and in bed by 8:30. Last night was a little more difficult. Maddie has her first cold, so I felt bad putting her down crying, but she gave in in under 10 minutes, but Natalie cried for about 30. At which point Tom asked if he should just go in and rock her. I was like you are not negating all the work I have done the last 3 days, she just has to go to sleep and within 5 more minutes she was out. So, today I decided to give it a go for their naps. They cried for a few minutes and then just sat, or stood in Natalie's case in their beds until they finally fell asleep and you know what? They slept for over 2 hours. That is right, my kids FINALLY took an nap in their own bed for over 20 minutes! I am so happy and now I know that all that pain, which really wasn't pain has helped them see their beds are a good place to sleep. I am hoping that if they are in their own beds the naps they do take will be of higher quality and they will be more restful, so when they are up playing they can actually enjoy it instead of being half tired from only having half a nap. So here is to the Ferber Method, hard at first, but great once they get it.

Into Everything

Now that the girls are mobile they have realized their true potential and they are into EVERYTHING!I cannot put them down for a second unless they are corralled in their playpen or strapped into something. I never thought babies could move so fast. The other day I was on the phone and I heard the cat meowing in pain and I looked down and Natalie had somehow gotten out of the play pen...it wasn't latched, and had chased the cat down and was holding her tail. Luckily the cat didn't do anything and just meowed for help, but even when I went to get her off the cat Natalie kept pulling as I was lifting her up. They also like the trash can...GROSS and the speaker wires...a huge no no. They also have discovered that they can climb up the front of their little walkers and I am sure in a few weeks I will walk in and find one of them sitting on the couch. But like I keep saying it is all to fun and just watching the two of them standing up together or playing together just pulls at my heart strings! In fact on Monday at our support group Natalie was playing with her little friend Evan and it was too cute because the two of them crawled up to the window and both of them pulled up and they were standing there banging on it together, adorable! So, I guess it is on with the childproofing and constant monitoring to ensure their safety, but boy is it fun!

The Way to Do It

Last night Tom and I got to go see the new Harry Potter movie and boy was it good. They just keep getting darker and darker, but so do the books. I was very happy with this film, because sometimes when a book is so fabulous the movie can be a disappointment, but once again a job well done. We went to the 5:20 showing and since it was opening day we thought for sure there would be a line so I bought our tickets on Fandango just to be safe. When we got there we were ready to be patient, but we walked right in got our tickets and headed to the theater were there was only 1, yes ONE, other lady sitting there. We were shocked and though for sure it would fill up by the time the movie started, but it didn't and there couldn't have been more than 40 people in the theater. We were both amazed, but it was dinner time, we had popcorn for dinner, so I guess our plan worked. We plan to hopefully see more "high attraction" films like this, because we beat the crowds and got matinee pricing, which saved us $6.00. So in the end it was a great experience and one we highly recommend. Now, only a week to wait for the last book, which I hear there is speculation that she might actually continue writing...this must mean Harry isn't one of the two characters to die!

What A Difference a Few Months Make

Today I started the task of packing and making "move" calls, but it has been difficult. I never realized how "easy" it was the first time we did this, just 4 months ago, when the girls could not move. Today, however, has been a task to say the least. The girls require so much more attention and they are getting into everything. I put them down even just to change one of them and the other is out the door and trying to get into things they shouldn't in a flash, it is amusing, but tiring at the same time. So now I am trying to jam as much as I can into "nap" time and as many of you know naps in this household are some what of a joke, but we are getting it done. At least I don't have to pack nearly as much as I did the first time and I guess the girls will just have to cry a little if I am running behind in the packing, but two weeks from today it will all be worth it when we are settling into that nice new house! On that front the kitchen and bathroom floors are down and the house is almost complete. We have our final walk thru next Monday and then one more week and it is ours, we can't wait, so here's to a nice new house and one more move!

Travel Times Two

Well, we made it, to Maine and Back and what an adventure it was! We arrived to the airport on time to leave Indy and even though we woke up at a quarter to 4:00 everyone was in good spirits. We checked our bags and headed to security, where we really did not have any problems. Once on the plane things got a little sticky because they would not let Tom and I sit together because there were only 3 oxygen masks on one side and of course we were on the wrong side of the plane. So they had to ask for volunteers to switch seats with us...this was frustrating because for some reason no one would switch and the flight attendants would not take charge. I finally just asked very loudly for someone to switch with us and a nice gentleman did so off we went. This happened on all of our flight, all 4. At least on the last flight the flight attendant took charge and got people to switch quickly. Other than that we had very few problems with the actual traveling part. My bags did get searched on the way home because of all the breast milk I had, but no big deal, they didn't take it! Once in Maine the girls had some small adjustments to make and Maddie refused, all week, to sleep in her portable bed and she slept with me, meaning Tom and I slept apart on our vacation, same room different beds. We felt that getting sleep was more important though! All in all we had a great time and we are looking forward to our next vacation and at least we know what to do and not to do. For instance the girls will each be getting their own seats on the plane, because it will just be more comfortable for everyone involved. That it is okay to be over prepared on in your carry on in case you get stuck somewhere and finally that yes, there are still people out there who will be rude to you because you are traveling with a child, but you just have to shrug it off and laugh at them and not worry about it!