De Ja Vu All Over Again
So when I went for my appointment with the midwife yesterday, the receptionist answered my check-in information with "They're not here today; they must be in Burlington". Now, on my drive over, the dizziness I experienced (associated with having a clogged ear, no doubt) made me extra glad I did not have to get on the highway. It did not seem like a good idea. So I didn't accept defeat meekly (besides, I was certain the appointment was in Mebane), and after she called around a few places, the receptionist told me that they were "on their way", having apparently had a meeting in the main clinic before my appointment. Greatly relieved (not to mention sweetly vindicated), I sat down and only had to wait about 5 minutes before they called me back, all apologetic that I had had to wait. This was one time when being gracious came naturally to me!
- posted by Lenise @ 9:09 PM |

 

Jay and his blonder cousin
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Daddy explaining something to his attentive son
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Grandma, Jay, Beka, elephant
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I like cousin Beka's elephant, too!
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Happy guy
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Jay with cousin Marta at Grandma and Grandpa B's
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My son, the fashion model (photo by Uncle Scott)
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Thanksgiving Trip
Jay and his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents had a great time visiting. He was so excited every time his daddy freed him from the carseat that the visits had to start well. He got lots of fun early Christmas gifts, including 2 VeggieTales videos, 3 puzzles, a dump truck that makes sounds, a tunnel (which we may be able to fit in his room- it's too big for the living room!), and a work bench, which we haven't opened yet. Maybe we'll save that one for actual Christmas.

Jay got to chase new kitties at Grandma and Grandpa B's, and got to be bitten (gently) by one at G & G G's. He's still not much into interacting with the cousins, though his 19-month-old cousin Marta was imitating some of his cool moves, like his newfound skill of pushing himself backwards on the smooth kitchen floor (can't do that very well on Berber carpet, after all). He WAS involved in some toy competitions from time to time, but nothing ugly ensued.

The boy also did well in the car, aided by toys, books, and the occasional oatmeal cookie when all else failed. Pacifying him was my job, as Paul was so saintly as to do ALL the driving. This included driving through accumulated snow on the ways up (we ran into snowy roads on our trips to both sets of grandparents) and pouring rain in the mountains of Virginia coming home. And he still went out for milk after we got home last night. How blessed I am!
- posted by Lenise @ 5:12 PM |

 
Antibiotics...
Maybe I'll finally get over this!!!
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Back in the Saddle, Take 2
So our trip to Lowe's Saturday to look at dishwashers, ceiling tiles, and floor coverings didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. Mostly it proved to me that I was not ready for real life yet. You know it's bad when it's too much of a strain to carry your own single-thickness fleece jacket. Good thing I was with a strong man pushing a stroller!

So I was a little bit apprehensive about taking Jay downtown by myself today. First I had to get the stroller down the front porch stairs, which is not an easy task for me under the best circumstances, the stroller being rather unwieldy and the stairs being pretty tall. Somehow I accomplished this Herculean task (which takes Paul all of about 2 seconds *shrug*) and went in to get Jay, who was stubbornly refusing to nap. Since it was nearly noon, and there's a restaurant downtown that does a $5 lunch, and I was on my own for both lunch and dinner with not much food to choose from, I figured we'd head straight down to Strong's and get some lunch. That's more or less what happened, though it was colder than I had figured. I hadn't personally been cold since the chills hit me that night we had to leave the house, so I left my jacket underneath the stroller and just made sure Jay had his on.

We had a good lunch as usual, visited Solgarden, where we hadn't been seen in quite some time. Our favorite saleslady was there (she always makes a fuss over Jay), but she hadn't brought her long-haired dachshund, probably more to my disappointment than Jay's (he seems to consider Kels a bonus). While there, we found some fun Christmas stuff. Then we went down to Dollar General for some oatmeal cookies for the trip to Ohio tomorrow. I had to get Jay the $1 felt reindeer antlers. The grandparents ought to get a kick out of it, anyway!

When we left, I was feeling a little bit sketchy, so we sat on the conveniently provided bench out front and shared a cookie. The sun had mostly gone, and by this time I needed my jacket too. Jay was happy as a clam with his cookie, though, and didn't complain when I needed another rest before attempting the front steps. When I finally did take him up, my leg felt so weak, I wasn't entirely sure I was going to make it, but we did. Then we camped out in front of the TV for a while so I could rest some more. We did ok, but I had better not push myself too hard just yet. The two-week flu! Who knew?
- posted by Lenise @ 7:29 PM |

 

I dare you to be organized! Or keep your place in a book.
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What is this "green go circle" nonsense, and why do they keep repeating it?
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Something's not quite right here.
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Maybe it's in the undercarriage...
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There's something wrong with this wheel!
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Someone's 14 Months Old Today!!
And he's STILL not walking. But, he did show me a fancy dance move this afternoon. He was dancing to the "Ballad of Little Joe" theme music (holding on to the entertainment center, of course), stepping from side to side. He kept it up for quite a while as I told him what a good dancer he is (it really is a good dance step!) This has GOT to be the month he learns to walk. Maybe his grandparents can share the secrets with him!!
- posted by Lenise @ 3:44 PM |

 
Interesting
Our future (?) home no longer shows up on real estate searches. I guess that means it's ours to lose... Here's hoping the inspection goes well and we find a buyer quickly!
- posted by Lenise @ 9:24 PM |

 
Lots of VeggieTales
Well, VT saw us through this unpleasant episode in our lives. Paul's probably sick of them, but I'm not, and I was generally watching along with Jay (though hoping to doze off). "Esther" is a new favorite of mine. I like the song Haman sings about the "sneaky little family who do sneaky little things, who stick their sneaky noses into matters of the King", complete with the threat of the "zucchini-shaped sarcophagus". Of course, whichever video we watch leaves snippets of songs in my head until they're replaced by snippets from the next video. Good thing I like 'em!

Even I made it back to church this morning, though I declined to sing with the choir, wanting neither to hack up a lung nor to faint in front of the congregation. Who knows, I could have done one of each (there are two services). Once again, I did my duty, and made sure my husband was in place, though, which meant arriving about 8:30 and not leaving until after noon. The perk to these mornings is that I can go to McDonalds for a sausage biscuit while Paul is practicing. Jay doesn't mind sharing my bounty, either.

Paul saw our realtor, who said we have a verbal agreement on our new (verbal) offer from last week, which I guess, means we need to sign something and get an inspector scheduled. I really want to go back and see the house again, though I certainly want Paul there, but I'm not sure how all that would work if we had Jay we were trying to keep track of. Wanna come along, Heather? The bank wanted us to agree to do it within 7 days of signing the contract, but I'm hoping we can stretch that, since we'll be out of town Weds-Monday. Then we just have to sell our house. It's looking like time to lower the list price!
- posted by Lenise @ 8:25 PM |

 
Feeling Better, eh? How About NOW!?
So this morning I started to sense the fog in my head was lifting. Paul got Jay by himself this morning, so I had gotten a little extra rest and Jay had breakfasted by the time I came downstairs. He heard me coming and went to the gate to make sure I would pick him up asap. So I carried him over to the loveseat. He stayed with his head against my shoulder for an unusually long time, which was, maybe, 2 minutes, and then- partially digested oatmeal went everywhere. Thankfully, Paul was there to do the heavy clean-up and all I had to do was sit in the midst of the stench and hold stinky boy, trying not to smell anything. He didn't cry, just leaned against my shoulder until Paul had cleaned the environment and could direct his attention to re-attiring our son. Then, I took a nice shower and threw my nighty into the wash. All in all, I was either standing or sitting up for maybe the first hour of the day. I had eaten nothing, of course, which probably contributed to my relapse into weakness by the time Paul left.

I didn't get much of a break, though, since by the time Paul came home (shortly after lunch), Jay and I had made 3 round trips up and downstairs (two poopy diapers bookending a nap). I got a little sleep during his nap, and actually got a thing or two done today (gasp!), but after my early morning experience, my lightheadedness came back and has stuck with me for most of the day.

Correction: I am informed the offending partially digested substance was yogurt, which is a much more common breakfast food for Jay. Either way, I wasn't looking!
- posted by Lenise @ 8:40 PM |

 
Pity Party Time
Rwanda, Shmwanda. Time to talk about me! I am so sick I actually called a doctor. This doesn't happen much, believe me. Anyway, my OB's office said I can have Tylenol, Sudafed, and Robitussin. Which meant to me, oh, that's just treating the symptoms, and really, the fever and the coughing are part of the recovery process. Right? Maybe, but I think tonight I'll trade some recovery progress for some sleep. Where's that Robitussin??

The very very good thing is that although Jay came down with the chest congestion first, he's never seemed really miserable except for that day when his teeth came through (maybe he had it even worse than we realized). The boy has PLENTY of energy and has been doing pretty well entertaining himself or watching videos (lots and LOTS of videos *shrug*) while I lie motionless on the couch. Except for the crystal bowl he smashed in the foyer. Neither one of us was very happy about that, nor was Paul, as he had to clean it up before our house was shown that evening. But hey, you leave baby dynamo with an invalid all day, you have to expect some damage.
- posted by Lenise @ 11:41 AM |

 
Perspective
I would complain about being sick, but we finished watching Hotel Rwanda last night. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It has a happier ending than you might think. And if you don't know the story, it really portrays the Clinton administration at a new low. Just par for the course for the UN: we've seen them ignore plenty of atrocities.
- posted by Lenise @ 10:53 AM |

 
My Son, the Siren
One of Jay's toys that's usually out is the set of stackable vehicles, which includes a fire truck, school bus, police car, and little bitty car. I've been making siren noises for him when he shows me the fire truck or police car, and within the last week or so, he's started squealing back at me. Tonight the big town siren went off for some reason and Jay perked up, looked at me, and started squealing along. Just like the neighborhood dogs used to do (when there were more of them).
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Relief
Our happy boy returned to us after a good night's sleep. Both of the top teeth are through and the molar has broken the surface as well. We went voting this morning and the nice ladies there oohed and awwwed over our happy boy- even going so far as to give him an "I Voted" sticker. Happy days are here again! Now if someone would just buy our house (or even just look at it!!)
- posted by Lenise @ 9:06 AM |

 
Grumping and Teething
We noticed some pale spots on Jay's upper gums which appear to be emerging canine teeth, and Jay hasn't been sleeping all that well (which for him means waking up once during the night and crying persistently). Today, the bottom fell out. When Jay got up from his afternoon nap (which was pretty early, like everything else today- he woke up at 5 and didn't really ever go back to sleep), he cried through his diaper change, pushed away the unfamiliar toy I gave him, cried when we got downstairs, cried when his milk was gone and cried some more. Patting him on the back while holding him seemed to help a little, but what really calmed him down was watching his favorite VeggieTale ("Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" for those interested). He liked his appetizer of frozen peas, eating probably 3/4 of a cup total, and played for a while after dinner with only occasional crying spells. Before he went to bed, I suggested (genius that I am) that we try the Baby Orajel. For some reason, I wasn't sure that teething was to blame- we had noticed his teeth coming in days before, and he'd been seemingly ok (though we weren't home much, which may have helped). So Paul bravely stuck a finger in and discovered some molars also making their way to the surface. Poor Jay seems to never cut a tooth singly =[
- posted by Lenise @ 8:17 PM |

 
Archaeological Find
Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say, and beautiful to boot. But then I like old buildings and pieces of old buildings!
- posted by Lenise @ 10:09 PM |

 
A Day With Daddy
I left the house for work yesterday morning shortly after 8, per my usual Wednesday morning schedule, but didn't come home until about 9 PM, having extra things to do at work and a couple of choir practices in the evening. Paul gave me no warning that he had attempted to shear our little lamb, so I was surprised to be greeted this morning by a son whose pretty golden hair was largely gone. It's going to be a while before I stay away so long again!

(BTW, Jay has a cold-related rash in the before photo. That was a first for us- yikes!)
- posted by Lenise @ 4:07 PM |

 

Before
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After
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Ta Da!!
And the sign, flyers, and counter-offer arrive simultaneously. I'm not sure how much I should say about their counter-offer, but let's say it's a lot closer to the listing price than it is to our offer. A LOT closer. Our realtor says we should feel free to take our time responding, since we waited a week for their response, and we haven't had any bites on our house yet. For my part, I'd love to have a contract and get that inspection ASAP!

Jay and I just took a walk down by the house to enjoy the weather and get a certain grumpy person out of the house. The siding on the back bedroom really does look a little droopy. I hope it's not nailed over a mass of rotting wood. *Sigh* There is a ceiling fan on the side porch, though the light fixture part seems to have met with an untimely end. Also, I noticed a small window that must be in the downstairs bath. Maybe CEP could create a stained glass panel to go in there- it doesn't let in much light, anyway (I didn't remember whether it had a window)!

So I gave a flyer to a woman tending one of the stores downtown. She said her sister was looking for a house. You just never know!
- posted by Lenise @ 2:20 PM |

 
Works Like a Charm
As soon as the virtual ink was dry on the last post, I got an e-mail from our realtor. No answer from the seller, and for some reason our realtor doesn't have the photos. This puzzles me (for reasons probably obvious to y'all), but maybe he needs actual paper-printed photos? Anyway, it's still no news, but now I don't feel forgotten.
- posted by Lenise @ 4:47 PM |

 
Still Waiting
For word on the house, the sign in our yard, any interest in our house, etc. I did mention to an acquaintance who runs an antique/consignment shop downtown that we were looking to sell, and she said a friend of hers might be interested, but then I told her we'd have a sign out by now. Oh well.

The good news is that our realtor told us that the house had not been shown since we saw it, so we shouldn't have competition. I guess it's safe to say the seller was unimpressed with our offer.
- posted by Lenise @ 4:19 PM |

 
Now With Pictures!
Click on "My Listings", then the Mebane listing, then the little camera icon that says "Online Tour". Yay for Marty the photographer! Even with the mess that is our house, those photos came out looking decent. (Here's hoping reality isn't too much of a let-down for the hopeful house-hunters!)
- posted by Lenise @ 8:24 PM |

 
NC Democrats Looking Out for the Little Guy
So our state has an ingenious gas tax, composed of a flat rate per gallon and a percentage of the total price. Our local republican has been advocating a cap on the variable piece, given the steep unforeseen increase in gas prices. What does our governor say? The same thing his stooges say (including our other local rep- a democrat, oddly enough): the state will lose too much money. I wish I could be as successful at "losing" money. Instead, I really AM losing money, and a lot of it to those buffoons in Raleigh, who couldn't even be bothered to make up a plausible excuse for continuing to take more and more of my income. Not that that bothers me.
- posted by Lenise @ 4:23 PM |