Chop

Last week both kids got lice. Apparently there was an outbreak in a nearby town that cause a school to be closed down (25% of their students had lice.) I am guessing that they picked it up at music class since we lay on the ground in that class and my daughter started iching that night.

I picked up a few lice too. So I just chopped off my hair. I have just enough left to put into a pony tail...barely. It hasn't been this short in over 10 years.

I am still not caught up on all the laundry I need to do because of the lice breakout here, but that is what the weekend is for....okay maybe not. (Mama needs a day to rest and it is long over due.)

I put mysself on the scale yesterday. I am up 10 lbs at 10 weeks so I am right on track for the other pregnancies...1 pound a week.

Time for plants

This house has the atrium that I have just been using as the kids area to play loudly. I decided that I am slowly going to turn it back into an atrium (not that it is anything right now.) So I am starting with a Peace Lily (from Fred Myers), Aloe Vera (from Amazon), and Key Lime dwarf tree (from Gurney's.) To cold to grow citrus outside here so I might as well take advantage of the area. I know it will be 2 years before I have limes, but I am very excited about it. I also bought some seeds yesterday and plan to start them in the next week. This is the warmest winter in Seattle's recorded history so might as well take advantage of it.

PCC and Champion

So by far my favorite grocery stores are PCC and Champion (located in western Washington/ Greater Seattle area). About a month ago PCC started carrying navel oranges....WOW! Oragnic and delicious. They were just as good as the ones from my parents house in California. I also love that I get 5% off my grocery shopping on the 15th and 16th of every month and 10% off once a month (since I am a member...a one time/lifetime fee.) Now with 5 people eating and 4 out of the 5 going through a growth spurt our grocery bills are a bit insane. Saving $30 a month is a good thing.
We also found a little jewel called Champion in Issaquah. Dry goods really cheap. This is where I get organic rice, beans, grains, boxed baked goods, and even paper products as needed. I pay $1 for a box of gluten and dairy free chocolate chip muffin mix. Yes $1....

Mama needs a nap

I have 100 things to do...well actually like 20 things on my to do list and no time or energy to do them. Why can't more places open at 7 or even 8am.

I am also currently on a quest to find maternity pants (with room for a growing bum) and a dress for a wedding in October when I will have a 5-6 week old and a big left over tummy.

Here comes another...

Baby #3 is on his or her way. I am 7 weeks preganant and I basically didn't realize it until I was 6 weeks. (I was still waiting and expecting AF to show.) Right now all I want to do is eat and sleep and all my kids want to do it play.

We have a very large basement in our new house and they have space to ride their bikes and I got them a wave climber slide off craigslist a month ago. They love that slide. It is perfect for ages 18 months to 8 years old. The slide is a good size (I would say around 48" at its tallest) so that they won't easily be bored with it when they turn 4. There is also an area under it to play that can accomadate 2-3 children and a steering wheel on top that my 18 month old loves. Since our basement floor is concrete I have the structure sitting on foam mats to protect against serious injury. So far it is working.

I really need to finish putting texture and paint on some of the walls in the basement, but now that I am PG that isn't going to happen in the next year. I also really need to clean and reseal the tile grout, but I can't be the one to do it now....so maybe this spring summer I can convince the husband to do it.

Happy New Year

November we moved. December we had guests. Welcome to January.

January starts the month of only nursing Gibo once a day, restart of swimming lessons, music classes and for the first time in years....something for me, tap dance lessons. I am excited as I haven't done anything for myself in years....Almost 10 years (if you don't count sewing.)

Gibo is fully eating solids now which means more cleaning for me. With all the laminate floor it is hard t0 ignore all the crumbs that fall to the ground.

The funny thing is I have tried to host two moms events at my house and so far no one has wanted to come...I guess most of the moms are just as busy as I am.

I really really need to make some friends...unfortunatly winter and the holiday season just isn't the time to do it.

2 days!!

I am so excited! Finally a home that is ours and we get to live in it and create memories and we don't have to worry about rent being raised in a year or where is the closest park and NO more moving (after this weekend.)

Today I went to Fred Meyers. They were having a sale and I got 4 wood folding chairs at $8.99 each. They are usually $19.99. They are going to come in handy so we don't have to all sit in the bulky office waiting room chairs that take up half the dining area. Also we might be hosting Christmas...well we don't celebrate but I plan to do at least one special meal while both my parents are visiting and while my mom and my husband's sister and kids are visiting.

My new fridge is ordered as well as my new washer and dryer. Unfortunatly they won't be delivered until November 25th. At least we have the downstairs fridge and we can do laundry at the appartment until we turn in the keys. I am also calling a bath in my jetted tub Saturday evening. = )

Home Sweet Home

We are offically home owners, but we don't move until next week. Here are some pictures with the orginal owners furniture.

Downstairs bathroom/hall

Downstairs bedroom and living space

Downstairs kitchen

Laundry room

kitchen

Formal dining

formal dining

formal living

our little sun room (6 sky lights in the ceiling)

The weirdest things happen

My husband and I were at a cross roads...We spent two days fighting. I said A had to go, my husband said he wasn't done with A yet. Yesterday I was finally convincing my husband that you can lead a camel to water but you can't make him drink.
Not even 2 hours later A comes home from school with what is for him a huge apology. Basically the two days we basically shunned him and took away his music he has been thinking. He realized that he would rather be here than anywhere else and life here isn't bad at all, in fact it is rather good, so if he has got to stop some attitude and practice being considerate that is what he wants to do. He also felt like I was the enemy (because I was always displining) and because he always felt his father was the enemy. He said he really thought about it logically and realized it made no sense. Why would I take 2 weeks out of my life to move him up here. Buy him things, sign him up for classes he is interested in, etc.

My husband and I both told him that is great and all but he will have to always be proving himself with his actions and that we (my husband and I) need to talk and figure out what our next step is.

So we have decided he can stay on a week to week basis. We will be seeking him some counseling and if he doesn't prove himself, we will be buying him a plane ticket the next day.

I hope this works out. Last thing I want is more drama in my life.

Who does this...

What 15 year old doesn't know to put the non resealable lunch meat into a zip lock especially after being reminded 2 minutes earlier? I'll tell you ...a lazy, inconsiderate, selfish 15 year old who lives in my house because his mother never had the balls to enforce a single word that ever came out of her mouth. The lunch meat of course had juice in it and of course he laid the package on it's side so then it dripped all over the fridge.
This after an afternoon of lies and arguing. Honestly I don't want him in the new house. I wish I could send this to her without great backlash:

I am not sure I want your son in my house.
He is inconsiderate and disrespectful.
He lies and argues for the sake of argueing.
He lacks responsibility and initiative.
He is teaching my children bad habits and at times trying to make them go against my words.
You have allowed him to develop into this person for 15.5 years and I am at a loss for how to undo this damage.

As a fellow mother I beg of you not to allow this to happen to your other two children.
Be consistant. Say what you mean, and mean what you say, and follow it up with actions.
Teach them to pick up after themselves without supervision or constant reminder.
Teach them about money and how it works. Teach them the golden rule.
Teach them that to recieve respect you must first give it. Teach them that to argue, lie, and deceat gets you only trouble and loneliness.
Teach them that if you take others down the wrong path with you, your punishment will be double.

I think this also serves as a reminder to myself and other mothers that we need to keep our children in check and take off our goggles once in a while.

All signs point...

Lets see....crampy all day yesterday, STARVING today, craved hamburger 2 days ago, my husband felt the same way 2 nights ago as he did when we concieved Zuzu. Took a test today just to make sure and it was negative....might just test again this weekend if I continue to feel this way. Honestly, I am hopeing for another June baby...might as well keep up a good thing :)

In other news my mom is in the hospital due to complications assocated with her bone marrow transplant. She is a fighter though and she wants to watch her grandbabies grow up so I know she will be fine and up here visiting us before the year is over.

A now sit in the dark all by himself when watching TV which is a fantastic accomplishment for him. His grades could be better but he is working harder than he was 2 years ago so got to give him credit.

Less than 8 weeks to go

We move into our new house in less than 8 weeks and we get the keys the first week in November. I am very excited but it still seems so far away and untanglible (maybe because I have moved so many times and it hasn't sunk in yet.)

My nephew is doing okay. He has his good weeks and bad weeks. This last week was a bad one. He fails to take responsiblity for hiself. He missed school, I wrote him a note to take to the office and told him exactly what to do and why and he thought hanging out for his friends the extra 5 minutes was more important. So then we got a lovely note from school letting us know that he was unexcused for those two days. Then he wanted me to call the school for him and take care of it. Of corse I told him to take responsiblity and take care of it himself. My husband also had to teach him how to use a planner last night. Almost 16 years old and he had no idea, just had his own system that wasn't working.

Zuzu is doing well. She is not really reading yet but she has taken a very strong interest in reading programs (on TV.) She is learning about different letter blends right now. This week in Oak Meadow we are learning about the letter C and the number 2. We fell behind last week because she was sick.

Gibo is building his vocabulary and learning about speach patterns. He now fights back when Zuzu picks on him. I plan to transistion him to sharing a room with Zuzu when we move. Yesterday we found out he is for sure allergic to cashews...and who knows what else.

a house?

So we put in an offer on a house. The offer was basically every penny we could scrape up without putting ourself into a world of hurt. They accpeted our offer and inspection is today. The house is a custom built house with everything you would want in a house. Lifetime roof and siding. 2800 finished sq feet with a 700 sq ft basement. A MIL unit (so we can rent it out if things get tight). Has the lot size we wanted. All copper plumbing, central vacuum, generator hook-up, huge bedrooms with huge closets. 3 bathrooms. Jetted master bath (with marble). Porch swing. You want it....this house has it. The only fall backs...it doesn't look like much from the outside, the master bath carpet needs to come up and be replaced with tile or something, and it would be nice to fence in the yard for the kids....oh and it would be prefered if the formal living and dinning room were hardwood instead of carpet.

In family news...my in laws are here for a week visiting. My father in law has been the encouragement that I needed in regards to A. He hasn't seen A in over a year (before he went in a downward spiral) and he says that he says great improvments from that point in time.

Just shoot me

G had his circumcision on Friday. He had it done at one of the top 5 children's hospitals in the US, but that didn't make it any easier. He couldn't eat/nurse starting at 1am the day before and he went into surgery an hour late. I took my boy back because I didn't want him to have "happy juice" the last thing I want is more drugs and chemicals in his little system. It was so weird and sad being without him for 2 hours. His little pee pee looked horrible. I am a girl and I wanted to cry looking at it from how painful it looked. He was feeling good on drugs most of the first day and by the second day he was dancing around and having a good time. It still looks scary but it is getting better. Needless to say...don't wait. If you are going to do it, do it while your boy is a month old or less.

Sunday night basically we discussed it and of course it is all my fault that Z stutters. As soon as I come under a good amount of stress her stuttering becomes 3 times worse. Will my husband help me aliveate my problems, no. Besides the teenager and all the issues I am dealing with there my mom is undergoing a lot of different things with her cancer and everyday is like a roller coaster. Sunday night I asked for 5 minutes of peace outside on our little 3x12 balcony and instead of giving it to me, my husband stands in the door with G asking me to come in and take him. WTF? Does he not understand that I need 5 minutes with everything going on in my life. Luckily he finally took G and went to bed and I was able to talk to a friend which made me feel better and semi-human again. On top of that I am always hungry and tired and feel like shit. So either I am going to come up pregnant again soon or aunt flo is on her way.

Yesterday was good. We all got out, we all made friends and we got fresh air and exercise. Today we spent the morning out running errands and this afternoon back inside destroying the house and yelling at each other. Seriously I am at my wits end. I know we need a yard and space to move. I wish I could just magically pick a house and plop down the money and be done with it all. (Heck just finding a house that meets our needs that isn't a 1 hour commute for my husband would be nice.) At least tomorrow we get out to the park with other humans again.

Survived.

SIL came this weekend to visit her boy. She got here.

Day one. Internet. Had to take quizes and then pass a test to clear a speeding ticket (45 in a school zone.) She takes the test she has to pass twice, both times not passing. Then she has her son take it for her, and of corse he passes it. A comes up proud that he knows his stuff and tells us he passed his mom's test. Baba and I tell him that is not okay, I tell him straight up, that is cheating. He tried to make excuses, I said, No that is cheating. His mother comes up about 1 minute behind him, saying "I passed my test." I looked up with a pissed off look in my eye and say, "You mean A passed the test for you??!!" (Did I mention she is a horrible driver and she would benefit from learning the street laws.)

Day 2. She is around when we have a conversation with A about how he may have had coffee when he lived with his mom but under no circumstances is he to have it before he is 18 while living with us. (A get easily addicted to things.) Later that day we pick A and his mom up from Target. She gets in the car we ask her, "Where is A?" "Getting coffee for us both." Baba replies, A and I just had a conversation this morning that he is to have no coffee. She replies, "Well, can't a mother treat her son." To which I reply, "No, he will have absoulutly NO COFFEE! It is NOT okay." (Had she kept going I would have said, why don't you just take him back with you and just buy him some weed while you are at it.) She was smart though, she knew to shut up. Luckily A knows, that when we say, no, we actually mean no, and he got himself a kid friendly treat. Then we told him we were proud of him for making a good choice.

There were also little other things that made me upset. She spent most of her time here on her mothers laptop. She basically flew here to use our internet I guess. While she was online, her son was just sitting around playing video games...nothing like old times. At one point I just disconnected the internet, about 20 minutes later she went out with her son to spend some time with him.
She wanted to help teach Zuzu Arabic...failed! Zuzu speaks and understands Arabic just fine (as well if not better than her own children), but she thought she needed to say a word in Arabic and then explain what is was in English. This is a person who was running her own Arabic school out of her house a year ago and who teaches at a preschool. Obviously she has no idea how to even teach (especailly a 2nd language.)

When the cheating thing came up I told my husband that he needed to address it with her, but he said it wasn't necessary because their parents are dealing with her. I told him so what we should just let her think that what she did was okay and let her continue to f-up the other 2 children?? Our walls are thin. I really hope she heard this part.

So she lies and cheats....does she steal (unknowingly) too??

Typical Day

I typed this out for something else and I thought it was interesting:


5am feed G (and he goes back to sleep)

6am Z potty and dressed and breakfast

7am G up and about 15 minutes of computer time

7:30 get DH out the door and everyone organized for the day

8am sometimes a quick errand or we just veg or do a few pages out of Z's work book, A is usually working on his academics

9:30 take A to school

10am errands or a fun morning outting

11am lunch (all)

12 nap (both kids)

12:30-1:30 mama's time

1:30 organize myself for the rest of the day (some dinner prep or quick pick up of messes.)

2pm pick up A

2:45-3:30 veg.

3:30 start Z on some activity

3:45ish start dinner

5pm eat

6pm go upstairs to play, baths, get ready for bed, stories

7:30pm lights out

8:30pm Z sleeping and A in his room, on a good day G is sleeping too.

8:30 get DH dinner and settle in for some gaming or something on Netflix

10ish head to bed, take Z potty

11pm I am usually IN bed

So yeah I am one of those lazy house wives as you can see. I really wish there more hours in the day.

Z has developed a studder. Baba says it is because I don't talk to her enough. I am thinking it is because she is picking up on my high stress and because every other time she tries to talk to me I am doing 3 other things and can't give her my full focus or A interups her. I am so ready for him to go home. It sounds horrible but I just want to be able to refocus on my beautiful children and not waste half of my day on a teenager who likes to argue. I have also noticed on 3 occasions now A has made up things that were not true. He also says he hears things in his head. I have a strong feeling he has a bit of schzophenia.

Still here...

Finally we developed a schedule that seems to work for the whole family. The younger kids get their nap, I get child free time for an hour or more, and we are all happy again.

G has dropped to one nap a day. He is giving me nice blisters from nursing. I am thinking about switching him to bottles or sippy cups for a while. I am also trying to have him spend more time sleeping in his crib. This has been working pretty well aside from Z jumping in with him (waking him and us up) during the night/early morning.

Z is so demanding and if I turn my back, she just helps herself. If I would let her she would watch Cinderella and play Wii all day. Nothing would make us both happier than a house with a yard and some pavment for riding her bike.

A is doing very well in school. 100% on everything and he is even catching all the teachers mistakes. He really is learning that hard work does pay off. Currently he is at summer school 2 hours and then he works on Biology the rest of the day in preperation for the start of school in fall (when he will completly retake the 10th grade.)

Meanwhile I am down to 121 lbs. Yay me! Last weekend I won a free massage. I didn't realized how messed up I was. (1 leg is even 1/8" shorter than the other from an old injury). They are doing lovely contruction on the already noisy 4 lane road next to our home. In good news we are going camping this weekend which hopefully means I can get some fresh air and relax a bit more. The whole family is really excited about this trip.

AGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We found what could have been the ideal house. We both liked it, we had the offer ready to go. It was close. It was liveable. It has space for everyone. But...it must not have been the right house for us. We have the offer all printed up, just had to sign and send it in. Our agent's offices were closed for the holiday so it was going in Monday. Friday the listing agent called me and said there is another offer that is contengent on the sale of another home and that they would try to stall till Monday so they could also look at our offer. Well..........guess not. It came up contengent today. I am frustrated because we waited when we could have should have moved faster, but at the same time I have a feeling the timing wasn't right. I am sure there will be a better house for us....but 5 years later and 4, well almost 4 offers later, it kind of makes you wonder.
It is such a crime to want a yard for your children to play in. Is that really too much to ask?? I mean really I WANT a fu4king yard already. My daughter is 3 and she is missing out on some of the best life has to offer because her parents can't get thier sh1t together.

Why

I need to vent...
Why the f**k do people have kids and continue to have kids if they don't want them? Why do they allow them to get so completly messed up and then ask for advice and then continue along thier merry way as if they were given no advice.

Why am I the one undoing someone's mess up and allowing the child in my house and allowing the negative influence.

A is constantly arguing. Today we went to the store. Can I have this...can I have that.... Why...... but I want it. How about this? How about that.....why not???
I don't want to....but I am tired. No....I don't want to. How about later. It's hot outside.

Why can't people every mean what they say and follow through. Has his parents done that he would have never been in this mess in the first place.

Changes

Life keeps moving so quickly, somedays I barely know how I have time to breathe.
I am down to 123 lbs, which is good for me, but not quiet where I wanted to be a year later.

My laptop that has seen me through 3 years of breast feeding died last weekend. The battery was done, the CD drive was done, the case was cracking in multiple places, the hard drive decided it was done too. We don't have another HD sitting around so it is offically retired.

I finally got A (the 15 year old) a bed yesterday. He was sleeping on an air mattress. Now if only I can find a dresser.

My little G turns 1 year old on Saturday. He is up to 4 teeth. Takes 1-2 steps but not really walking yet.

We are no longer preventing child number 3, or 4 depending on how you are counting :)

Still looking and hoping for a house (or should I say a yard with a house) new goal is by 2010.