Up and Running!!

I really love my husband! He somehow talked Dell into sending us a replacement keyboard to see if that is what the problem with the laptop was...and thankfully it seems to be working just fine now....YAY!! Not a whole lot is new overall. It's still snowy and cold, although the sun has been out more lately. Joe and the boys were a bit snuffly over the last few days, but that seems to be clearing up and thankfully appears to have skipped me.

Oh, some more neighbor drama: About a week ago, he had another little spaz moment. The kids didn't have a good night sleep, so they were quite tantrumy...lots of screaming out of them because they weren't getting what they wanted. I finally get them calmed down, and we're all in the living room. All of the suddenthere is massive pounding on the front door, and the neighbor is yelling his head off. The only words I could make out were "noise"and "bitch". He then went to his car and left. He screwed the screen door up so that it doesn't close properly now.

I reported it to the police and the officer I dealt with was great. She said she got a call a few months ago where a guy (she's now pretty sure it was him) wanted to know if the noise of children violated the city ordinance ondisturbing the peace! She just about laughed her head off. We totally "get" how the noise can be annoying...we live in it fer cryin out loud...but there are appropriate ways to handle things, and inappropriate ones...and this guy clearly has anger control issues. The police officer actually knew who he was since he used to be on the fire department here (he got kicked off). She flat-out told me he was a "hothead". I'm really glad this whole thing wound up on the desk of a female police officer with three kids! She called him and basically told him that kids aren't robots, you can't always control them. He admitted he banged on the door (which surprised both of us). She made it very clear that what he did was totally inappropriate and if he did it again, we'd have him cited for disorderly conduct. We've not heard a peep from him since. We're still looking to move in the spring. Interestingly enough, the report my father-in-law filed in November (when the neighbor threatened to "offload on his face" mysteriously never got filed anywhere. The police have no record of a report being filed...which doesn't really surprise me if this guy has buddies on the police department.

I created a myspace page, and will probably be loading new pictures there instead of here because it's easier to do on that site and I can make slideshows out of them. When I get the page designed how I want it to look, I'll post the link.

Off to play with the kids!

What a crazy few weeks!

Ok, so I'm once again horribly behind in posting...but with good reason. My laptop may be dead. :o( I was working at the kitchen table, and Dominic climbed on the chair next to me. Unbeknownst to me he had a mouthful of water and decided to do his impression of a sprinkler...right onto the keyboard. Not all that much water hit it, maybe a tablespoon or so, but it was enough to screw it up. We're hoping it's just a keyboard issue and the motherboard isn't fried...Joe is kind of stuck trying to decide whether to send it back to Dell to get it looked at or whether to take it somewhere local. So for now, I'm limited to the downstairs computer, which I'm only able to get on once or twice a day.

Now that I think about it, we've had a really bad month for electronics: My laptop got wet, the camcorder isn't working right, Joe set our portable DVD player too close to the humidifier (it was on the floor right in front of the outlet and he had plugged the player in to recharge it) so that is fried, and our digital card reader got smashed under some books I dropped. Apparently if you are an electronic device you need STAY AWAY from here!! Oh well, it's just stuff.


Kids update:

Mia has her second tooth and bit me a few days ago...yeowch! I forgot how much that can hurt! It's funny how, since I see her everyday, I don't really notice her growing. I know she is because I had to start using the next set of snaps on her diapers, but it's funny when people who haven't seen her for a month say "Oh, she's getting so big!" and I have to look at her with fresh eyes and say, "Oh, yeah. I guess she is!"


Zack took a fall off the futon and got a really great bruise on his chin. I took a picture, but our card reader isn't working, so I can't get it off the card just yet. We're really glad he wasn't hurt worse. He was bleeding in his mouth from somewhere, but there were no loose teeth or visible bites to his lips, so we think he may have bit the inside of his cheek.

He scared the bejeebees out of me two Mondays ago. Mia was still asleep when I decided to get out of bed. Zack had crawled in with us, so I left him on Joe's side and her in the middle and snuck out. About ten minutes after I went downstairs I heard footsteps and figured Zack would be up soon. He didn't come down and a few minutes later, I heard more footsteps, then a thump, then Mia started crying. Not an 'ear-splitting-my-world-is-ending kind of scream, but definately unhappy. My first thought was, "No way did she roll out of the bed." As I headed up the stairs, I was puzzled by the fact that the crying sounded like it was coming from the bathroom. (We have a door to the bathroom from our room.) I open our bedroom door, and there is no one in there...no Zack, no Mia. I look into the bathroom, and Mia is on the floor with Zack sitting next to her. (When Zack gets caught doing something his not supposed to be doing and he knows it, he will tell whoever caught him to "go away.") He saw me and said, "No mama, you go downstairs!" When Mia saw me, she calmed down instantly so I know she wasn't hurt.

Normally, I would have totally freaked out, but I've been working on not overeacting so I was speaking calmly the whole time (which I'm very proud of). Here is how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: Zack, what happened?
Zack: You go downstairs!
M: Zack, were you trying to bring Mia downstairs?
Z: (In an incredibly sulky voice) Yes, and she's very heavy.
(I say a small prayer thanking the Lord he didn't get her to the stairs)
M: Well, that was very nice of you honey. How about we find a safe way to take her down?
Z: (in a cherry voice) That's a great idea Mama! We need a bucket!

So then we had a discussion about how babies aren't carried in buckets, and I let him help me carry her downstairs. The situation hasn't arisen again because all the kids have been waking up by 6 am for the last few weeks, but I've learned there are many hazards to having multiple kids that you just can't plan for.

Dom is pretty much the same...no new major injuries to speak of at least!

They are really enjoying the snow. As much work as it is to get them dressed up, they really like to go out and play on the deck. We've got about two feet of snow out there right now, and St. Nick brought them their own shovels, so they just have a blast.

So that's the low-down for now. Cheers!