Number 9

 

We got to be there for E's 2nd birthday and it was an "Elmo"-tastic time! The kids had fun decorating their own cupcakes with all different kinds of candy and sprinkles. I loved how E just jumped in and wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

 

Drew too! He loved getting dirty if it meant he could eat the candies. He didn't care much for the cupcake or the frosting, he just wanted to eat the candy off the top. "One for you, two for me."

 

B and A loved the decorating part. B was all about quantity and dumped loads of candy on his cupcake to eat and A was all about quality and very prettily placed her candies on the cupcake. Nate on the other hand didn't care much to get dirty. He liked putting the candies and sprinkles on his cupcake, but when it came time to eat it, he asked for a fork and knife.

Number 10

 

Coming Home!

We had such an amazing time with our families and it was truly a lifetime memory for me but we were very anxious to get home to Eddie. By the end, the boys missed their Daddy something fierce and truth be told, I don't think I could have held out much longer. The boys were angels on the way home and the flight attendants made my experience almost relaxing. They brought them things to color with, warmed up chocolate chip cookies from first class, and would stop to talk with the kids each time they passed by. Thank heavens for nice people in the world!

What happens at the gym....

does NOT stay at the gym! I was pulled out of my spin class yesterday by a gym employee letting me know that my child had been bitten and he wouldn't stop crying. I just assumed, silly me I know, that he got bitten on the finger or something a little less traumatic but no, some kid bit my son on the face! He left teeth marks, drew blood and a full 24 hours later looks like this still.

 
 

Now call me crazy, but if I got pulled out of my class, shouldn't the mother or father or responsible adult of the other child get pulled out as well? And call me crazy but wouldn't you think a child who drew blood of another child wouldn't be allowed to stay in the gym and play with the other children? You would think he would at least be sitting in a time out or something...but I guess that's not how my gym rolls. They have a firm "three strikes your out" rule and I'm baffled as to why this child would be allowed to bite or hit or hurt two other chilren before any discipline is taken. So my poor tramatized child (granted at times overly dramatic child) cried for a good few hours after the event and I had to leave early from my workout but this other child was allowed to keep playing with the other children, with no consequence to his actions and they assured me they would inform his parent when they came to pick him up. LAME!!! I keep trying to think about the situation from the other way around, what if it were Nathan that had biten another child...I would want to be pulled immediately so I could make Nathan apologize and then leave as a consequence to his choice. I think. Granted I would have been just as angry as I was yesterday but probably towards my child rather than another child and dumb 24-hour fitness workers and policies. But when I think about it I just get upset all over again. I tried to talk to the club manager and he just passed me off to some 800 number so that poor operator got an ear-full but I felt at least some gratification that she was going to pass my complaint along to the district manager who would be sure to contact me within 3 business days. Well, it's day 1 of 3, so we'll see if anyone calls me back.

Bad choices.

So the other night I was bathing the boys, and usually when I ask, "Whose turn is it first?" Nathan quickly chirps in that it is Drew's turn. And since Drew doesn't talk, he does usually go first. As was the case that night. I finished Drew and removed him to get on his new summertime pajamas. Since Nate was still playing in the tub (yes I leave my child alone in the 3 inch deep water...please don't report me) I took the time to lotion up Drew and put on his diaper cream, etc...the whole kit and kaboodle. Once he was all dressed, I left the room to go find a clean towel for Nate when all of a sudden I hear, "No, no, NO, NO Drew! I said NO Drew! Bad choice, Drew, bad choice!" Well sure enough I go running into the bathroom and there sits Drew in the bathtub with Nathan fully clothed in his new pajamas.

Bad choice indeed son. I wasn't laughing at the time, but man once they were in bed I couldn't stop laughing. The look on Drew's face when I turned that corner and just the memory of Nathan trying his hand at parenting...priceless.

The other bad choice faced this week was thankfully not one made by us, but by the builder of our home. They didn't show up for the last inspection. So, the inspector had talked to them earlier in the week and they showed him the letter they gave us and the picture of our dead lawn. Basically, the inspector still showed up just so it would be documented he was there and the builder wasn't and to tell us that his inspection stands and that he would be letting the appeals committee know just what he thinks of the builder. So, now we wait. Again. From the day the builder gets the new inspection report, they have 45 days to get us a plan of action. If after 45 days they have made no effort to get us a plan, their "registration" to build will be revoked...I'm sure they can find loopholes around that and still build using different names, but our plan will be to take them to court. So that is where we are at for now.

Yet another update with no pictures...

Sorry.
It's going to be a doozy! You ready?

1. Eddie is in New York and doesn't get back for another 2 days and 7 hours and 42 minutes. He's already been gone for 4 days. I can tell you right now, I'm going to HATE thrid/fourth year of medical school. aka rotations. But I'm so grateful he has this opportunity to be there right now and to be learning a new technique that will hopefully get him the results he needs to not have wasted the last two years of our lives. ;) I'll let him give the details if anyone is interested...but in a nutshell he needs to start getting some results and soon or he will either a) have to find another project (and basically lose the last two years of graduate school) or b) quit the program or c) keep going and pray that results come sooner rather than later so that his PhD won't turn into 6-7 years rather than the 3-4 he and his PI wants. The good news is that he's getting some really good results there in the lab in NY but he's nervous he won't be able to replicate them when he gets home. But he's got some cool new ideas and is getting excited to try them out when he gets home. Side bar: I can't even tell you how relieved I am to hear excitement back in his voice. It's good to have a little bit of the real Eddie coming back. The kids and I are hanging in there aside from a few mishaps (see below) and a REALLY dirty house and horrible rainy weather that means we're stuck inside all day.

2. Truthfully I don't mind the being stuck inside all day cause it means I get to sleep a lot on the couch, which is all I really want to do cause I'm pregnant. Yup that's right, it looks like we're expecting baby #3 sometime early October. October 9th to be exact, but I personally think the due date is somewhere around the 3rd, but that's just me. Anywhoo, it's made Eddie's trip to NY a little more difficult, but we're surviving. I'm starting to slowly get over the throwing up phase, but the exhaustion thing seems to be hanging on for dear life. Truth be told, we're excited. It's a really long story, but know that we're excited and overwhelmed at the same time.

3. The other reason that makes staying inside all day okay is because both boys are sick with runny noses and low grade temps...Yup. Both of em'. At the same time. Oh joy! To make matters worse, poor Nathan got a major boo-boo yesterday. I feel I should warn you that it was in his nether-regions and may cause some groaning and cowering for the male sector of the family. And truth be told, it had me grossed out and a little more than freaked as well. He had just gone to the bathroom and needed my help with the wiping and when I was done he hopped down, put down the lid (yes I'm training my boys young, thank you very much!) and then I heard the worst, and I mean worst sound I've ever heard in my life. Nathan was curled up in a ball, tears streaming down his face and he was crying like I've never heard him cry. And all I can see is blood all over his hands and the floor. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on cause he was crying too hard to tell me what happened. Needless to say, he had shut the lid on himself and instantaneously he got this HUGE blood blister and he was leaking some major blood. Now I ask you, how are you supposed to put preasure on a little boys' part to get the blood to stop while he's rocking back and forth from the pain and it's on the very tip? Well I had no idea. I just kind of stood there shell shocked for a second. I ran to the kitchen, got a baby wipe and a frozen teething toy and worked on letting him allow me to put some ice on his owie. It was comical, just maybe not at the time it was happening. So, we took him to the doctor's office and I'll spare you the details but it took him some time to help Nathan so he could go to the bathroom again. Ever since, he walks like he just got off a four hour horse back ride and refuses to go to the bathroom unless I'm there. The doctor said it's going to take a few weeks to get back to normal and that there really isn't much more I can do to help with the pain. To make me feel better, NOT, as we're leaving the doctor says, "Wow, I think I've only ever seen this 2 other times in my career." Thanks doc.

4. The house saga continues. Bear Creek, the builders, appealed the inspection and the appeal committee remanded that the inspection be done again when the builder can be there. The good news for us is that it will be the same inspector and he called us the other day to inform us of the time and date. Eddie asked him if he was going to change his mind and he said it depended on what "documents" the builder felt had to be presented to the inspector before the inspection. Eddie told the inspector that we think it's just a picture of our front lawn with some dead grass and a picture of our lawn without sprinklers set up...the Inspector told Eddie if that is all they have, then absolutley, 100% he wouldn't change his mind. So here's hoping. The inspection is set for Monday morning. If it doesn't go well, we can appeal and go from there. We also talked to the 2nd counselor in our Stake Presidency whose firm happens to do property law and he said he would be more than willing to look at our file and if it doesn't become a conflict of interest for him, he would represent our case. So the waiting game continues but if you'll keep us in your prayers on Monday we would be so grateful.

So that's all I've got...And if you just read this whole thing I'm overwhelmed and impressed...but at least it's off my chest now.

A very tardy house update

Hello dear family and friends.

I have been uber busy doing what feels like meaningless and unimportant dribble and so have failed to give an update on our home situation...sorry. So recap...our house is 18 months old and we're having ridiculous foundation problems. We've hired two inspectors to come take a look, the builder paid for one to come out and look and they all said the same thing...except the builder didn't want to pay to have it fixed and so we took it to a mediation process: the Texas Residential Conflict Committee (TRCC).

Okay, that you already knew. (If you've been following our saga that is.) The TRCC hired a non-biased inspector from Austin to come take a look at our home. He did. And we just got his report...where he basically tore into the builder. While the inspector was here, he asked a bunch of questions and I couldn't really gage if he was angry at me or at the builder but after reading the report he is livid with the builder. The inspector basically said because of all the foundation problems, they now have to not only fix the foundation but all the cosmetic problems it caused. i.e. tear out the backyard and the front, re-pour the driveway, re-grout the interior, new doors, fix all the cracks, nail pops, and other cosmetic problems inside, and the list goes on.

So, yeah for this small victory...but we're sure our saga is not over. The TRCC gives the builder 15 days from date of recieving the report to file an appeal but we feel pretty confident they don't have anything to appeal with, but we should know in another few days as we've had the report at least 14 days. After that, the builder has 45 days to submit a plan of action to us and to TRCC. Again, we feel pretty confident we have "right" on our side, but here is where the problems arise: who is the builder? We bought our home through Bear Creek Development who hired MKM Homes to build our home and our warranty is through MKM Homes. Bear Creek Dev. thinks MKM Homes is the builder and MKM Homes we are afraid is about to go bankrupt...So thankfully the inspector who was out here told us to go after Bear Creek and they can deal with MKM Homes. So his report listed Bear Creek and not MKM and needless to say they (Bear Creek) is not thrilled with us.

They won't return calls, they chewed Eddie out on the phone and we're just stuck in this waiting game...We're trying to remain positive but also realistic and as soon as the 15 days are up we will be contacting TRCC to figure out our next steps...We might be looking for legal counsel soon but we pray it won't come to that. So that is our update and I can't wait till we have some resolution to this...one way or another. It's the uncertainty that is killing me, but I'm spending lots of time on my knees thanking Heavenly Father for looking out for us and for all the amazing blessings He is giving us through it all and trying desperately to hold the "fear" at bay. Thank you all for thinking about us and praying for us, and we'd love it if you could keep at it. We feel your prayers and I know we couldn't be doing this otherwise.

I love you all.

Love,
Me

Will update soon I promise...

Okay so pictures to come, but I just had to say that I just had the most marvelous day at the beach with my family. It's January for pete's sake, and yet it was sunny, clear skies, warm enough to run through the water and dig in the sand "sans" pants (in the case of Drew) and to enjoy the picturesque scenery. I have some videos and pictures of the day to prove it. I'm missing home, but today totally wiped out those feelings. I could stay in this day forever. (But too much of one thing isn't good, so don't fear my Texan friends, I'll be home soon.)