Hurray!

Our couches have finally been delivered! We have waited for 5 weeks and are so excited to see some of the changes we are making. We have been working diligently at organizing and getting rid of anything we no longer need (and trust me, there is a lot of it!) in hopes of taking care of our spring cleaning now so that when spring comes we can work on our yard, which also needs a lot of work. However the more cleaning I do the messier it seems to be, which is odd because we have gotten rid of a lot of stuff and are still getting rid of more! It is almost as if for each thing I find its place it displaces five more things I then need to find a home. Oh well, it will just have to be a continual work in progress. Fortunately Little Moo is sleeping through the night in his bed so I am more rested and able to work on our various projects. Finally, now just on to potty training! On new furniture...

Shocking!!!

So, the terrible parents we are find it humorous when our son is upset. We both felt bad but could not keep from chuckling. We were at Fred Meyer and Little Moo was sitting in one of those monstrous carts that have the big plastic seat with steering wheels behind the actual cart. Great for kids, horrible for the parent that likes to shop without crashing into everything. Anyhow, the air here is particularly dry and the plastic conducive to creating static. So when trying to keep Little Moo from grabbing things off the shelf Zippercow grabbed his hand and of course zapped him. LM didn't like this so much and was crying and asked me to kiss his hand. So I did, and managed to zap him again with my lips. This horrified him and he started crying harder and he kept reaching to hug me and would get zapped. It just kept happening! Like I said we felt bad, but we still laughed. Aweful, we know.

Settling In

So finally we are settling in. Which of course sounds ridiculous since we've been here since late November. But now that the holiday season has officially passed we are finally emptying the rest of the boxes in our garage. We are finding that while we have shelves and various different storage, it isn't what is needed to make our new space the most functional so we have been selling some of the stuff we no longer need or have room for so that we can make room for furniture that will be much more functional. Sometimes it is just plain unpleasant to be rational and logical. We have managed to talk ourselves out of getting a new TV or Mac Laptop because we could rationalize other things we need to make our home better. And we just couldn't justify financing these things, especially since we have a working computer - I just wanted the laptop for the video and photo editing that is offered from iLife, which I can't find in any other program- and our current TV works just fine. Sometimes I dislike being a rational, responsible person. And I truly dislike the discomfort I feel as a result of spending money I shouldn't, hell I sometimes feel guilty for buying things I know I need! We did decide that new furniture would be practical. Matching, for a new house. But of course by new furniture I mean a loveseat and a couch, unlike most people who buy new furniture for the entire room. We of course could not rationalize that. Lame. I suppose it is good we found each other, Zippercow and I, because that is one more thing that makes us absolutely perfect for each other, we don't have to fight over money the other half is spending, because neither of us buy anything without first checking with each other. Sigh. We definitely don't go without, but we just have difficulty replacing something that doesn't really need replacing.

We are settling in other ways as well. Little Moo is doing much better in his bed. He still wakes up most nights but only very briefly and sometimes only needs reassurance from the door. We've discovered that he will stay in bed with the lights out if (and only if) his door is open with the gate up. Which isn't horrible, except our place isn't that big so it limits what we can do after he goes to bed without disturbing him. We have developed a nice routine where Zippercow reads him a story before bed, in bed every night. It's nice, he can't wait for bed! When we mention bed he grabs a book and races into bed calling "come on Daddy!" His favorite right now is " The Lorlax" (his words) they have read it every night for a week! It will be unfortunate when we have to return it to the library...

"Sleep is like the unicorn - it is rumored to exist, but I doubt I will see any"

Little Moo has not slept through the night since Christmas. Apparently his big boy bed is proving to be a bit much for him. We took it a step further and purchased a twin mattress and box spring. This way we can have them on the floor and have a safety railing up. Not that it makes any difference anyhow, because he still sleeps on the floor. We've been working hard at being consistent but with him being sick most of that just goes out the window. We just want him to sleep! I am painfully aware that sleeping troubles are the bane of most parents (especial those of infants and toddlers), but I just miss my sleep. It is a shame that at this point when they need so much from you toddlers prevent you from sleeping, something that is so desperately needed in order to recharge for the next day so that we can be the patient, loving parents we all want to be. I find myself half listening to people and never really getting anything done (oh yeah he won't nap either!). And god help you if you are amongst the people who share with me that "man I slept until noon today and I'm still tired!". I have no sympathy for you and I don't think Zippercow will either. If he can even keep his eyes open long enough to hear you say that of course. :)

Redeem himself he will though! As with most children, right when you are ready to pull your hair out and run screaming into the night they do something remarkably sweet or hilarious just long enough to make you rethink your previous escape plan. A few nights ago I sat in across the room from Little Moos bed in his mostly dark and quiet room trying to provide a reminder to stay in bed. He had been near sleep 4 times and then all of a sudden active and I was trying to keep my sanity whilst trying to be soothing (not an easy task) when in a sleepy voice he started listing all the people who were sleeping, "Grammy, Grampy, Grams, Gramps, Tyler, Karen, Uncle Nustin..." and the list went on. I found it humorous (though duly noted that Mommy, Daddy or Little Moo were nowhere on that list) but didn't respond to him. He was quiet for a few moments and I was certain he had finally fallen asleep when he rolled over and said "Mommy, this is ridiculous" though I hadn't said anything to him in quite some time I had to chuckle and say "Yes Little Moo, it is".

PROUD

So proud of my Zippercow I am! He fixed our water heater! After much hassle to get the parts and proper tools he was able to fix it and now I can have hot showers that last longer than 8.5 minutes and we can take showers back to back and we can even run laundry or dishes without running out of hot water, it's wonderful! I have to admit I was little nervous about undertaking a project that involved something so crucial to our everyday lives that if something went wrong would be very expensive to fix, but he did a great job. He discovered that the wrong part had been used previously and it gave him some problems getting it out, but he fixed it and by doing so saved us a great deal of money. Yay for smart hubbies!



Oh, and we fixed the option that allows for our friends and families to leave comments without logging in. I didn't realize that was something I had to manually change, but anyhow leaving comments is enabled for those who choose to use it :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow! NO MORE- I say Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! We have far surpassed the previous record and have already had 63"of snow this season (most of which is still on the ground), and it isn't even the snowy part of the season! And of course, we are supposed to get more tonight...Our house can no longer be seen from the street because the plow is using the edge to our front yard to store all the snow in the cul-de-sac. It is a shame Little Moo isn't bigger to enjoy this more. We've taken him outside a couple times but he isn't a fan of not being able to move and since the snow is taller than him it makes it hard to walk and play. But we had a white

Christmas, and then some! Christmas was nice, my family stayed over on Christmas Eve because we were expecting a large storm (which we got) and were worried we wouldn't be able to get together Christmas Morning. We had a lot of fun and Little Moo got some nice gifts that he really likes, but mostly it was just nice to have everyone together. Unfortunately the weather prevented my Uncle from being able to get over so we did miss him, but otherwise we were able to get everyone here. We had fondue for Christmas dinner and we are pretty sure this will become a tradition, which is fine because it is tasty!

More exciting news, as of Christmas night Little Moo no longer sleeps. Which means we don't sleep. On Christmas he decided it was a good time to climb in and out of his crib and we felt it just wasn't safe anymore to leave him in there and despite wanting to ease him into it a little more we just didn't have that luxury. So we took the side of his crib off and now it is his big boy bed....tear...he's getting so big. Unfortunately I think our talk about him being a big boy and not sleeping in his crib anymore backfired, because it is still his "crib" the side is just off and there is no side rail so he has chosen not to sleep in it. Fortunately we happened to have an extra crib mattress that is on the floor, but he doesn't sleep on that either. He chooses to sleep on the floor in front of the door. The last couple nights he has pulled up a pillow, blanket and a doll to lay on the floor with. We tried putting him back to bed for a couple nights but since he insists on sleeping with his room light on he wakes up then takes forever to fall back asleep. We feel guilty leaving him but feel he is probably getting more sound sleep staying put, especially since he has a blanket and pillow. We are unsure how to fix this and are hoping he will eventually migrate to the bed, but who knows. I had no idea that I should look forward to no sleep after he had outgrown his infant wakings. Each day brings a new suprise and unfortunately all of us are too tired to know what to do with it!

Even I don't want my Christmas THIS white!

snow, snow, SNOW!!!!! I like snow but this is a bit ridiculous. We can't even go out and play because the snow drifts are taller than Little Moo! And with the wind the temperature is easily in the single digits. In a vain attempt to clear the driveway before Zippercow got home I bundled myself and Little Moo up to go outside, but every swipe with the shovel the wind would blow the snow right back. And in our face. To say the least LM was not thrilled with this and after about 10 minutes I had to abandon the shovel in the front yard and get us both inside. Since I've shoveled we again have snow drifts taller than LM blocking our front door. We tried shoveling the driveway and Zippercow tried to leave this morning to work. Ha! The snow is taller than our bumper and if you've seen our car you know it is small and light and isn't making it anywhere. Fortunately a coworker in a large truck was able to come get him. I wish I could get pictures to show just how crazy the snow is, but it is difficult to get a good shot through windows. The snow is absolutely beautiful and the wind has worked its magic added a unique design to the fallen snow, but truly, it is enough...