What a whirlwind week this past week has been! On April 25th our little girl, Elizabeth Anne, was born at 10:20 am via c-section. Her delivery went so much better than her older brother's and the care I received at this hospital versus the hospital we had our son at was night and day difference. The nurses this time were so kind and great. I just couldn't believe the difference. We were released on Saturday and then the fun began.
Now that Little Miss was born we decided to hit the ground running to work on getting the house ready for market. While we did not get nearly as much done as we wanted due to lack of sleep, adjusting to another child, and having a very busy and bored toddler, we did make some progress. We had granite countertops and new sinks installed in both bathrooms. We did not initially plan on this, but because we had to replace the sinks anyway and they had to be custom ordered it was almost the same price as putting in custom sized sinks. (The "lovely" builders did not use a standard sized sinks or countertops.) We also hired movers to come in and move the bigger, heavier things to a storage unit so that we can not only paint and do flooring but also to start staging. This meant that the armoir, some exercise equipment, 2 chests from grandparents, a dresser, boxes, and the piano are now all gone.
I have to admit that I cried when I saw them remove the piano. I truly have a love/hate relationship with the piano. It has become a source of frustration with a two year old who has found every hole and crevice to stick things in, but I have loved to watch the same little one find such joy and pleasure playing it and discovering a love of music. I felt so guilty having it taken out of the house, especially when I don't know when we will see it again. It doesn't help that he asks at least daily where it is. I so hope that we are able to find it a permanent place in our "permanent" home soon!
We have bids on flooring and have picked out what we are going to do, we just are trying to figure out when we can do it and get the money together to pay for it. We also have the paint bought for the living room. Once the cracks in the walls are fixed, that will be completed as well. I still need to sort through a ton of stuff downstairs and the deck needs to be repainted. I also need to work on the flower beds in the front but that will need to wait until it is warmer at night.
I know we are getting closer to listing the house, but it still seems so far away, especially since the time we have to work on all of this is so limited. Not to mention we have the stress from my husband's work and what will happen when he goes back. Right now we are just hoping praying and asking for the prayers of others that his manager's heart will be softened so that he can stay in town. With the lack of sleep we are getting and me being on restriction while I am recovering, having him be so far away will be a safety issue and put a huge strain on us physically, emotionally, and financially. Needless to stay we are on pins and needles and very worried. I really miss the old contractor at this point.
That is our life in a nutshell at this point of time. Pictures will be coming soon.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
What Will April Showers Bring?
For us........a baby! My doctor informed me today at my appointment that she will be out of town for two weeks after April 27. Since that is when my 39th week starts and I refuse to let any of her partners deliver or even see me, this little one will be born no later than the 27th. That is also the earliest she can schedule a c-section with the current guidelines. However, the baby has dropped and I have had some doozy of Braxton hicks, so we will see what happens. I am just hoping no earlier than the 37th week when the baby will be considered full term, which is the 13th. Guess we will see. In the meantime, I have a lot to do and figure out.
Our Little Imp
If you have ever spent time around our son, especially lately, you quickly realize that he is: 1. Extremely fast 2. Tall for his age 3. Has an incredible memory 4. Is extremely smart. While this combination can be quite entertaining at times, it is often leads to a lot of frustration because there is NO downtime when he is awake. He must be within sight and reach at all times. Consequently, finding babysitters or leaving him with anyone is not easy. This is especially true if they have not spent much time with him or just roll their eyes at us thinking we are giving our child way too much credit or are being overly protective. Here is an example:
In our ward we have a lady who is in charge of the nursery that I honestly don't know why. She is in her mid-40s and has never had children, nor desired to. In fact she readily admits she does not like little kids. This is quite evident by how little interaction she has with the kids and gets easily frustrated when they don't just sit there with their arms folded and only do what she tells them to do. We have warned her several times that our son is not this type of kid and only needs to see something done once or twice and he figures out how to do it himself. Needless to say, she does NOT like our son and makes it very clear which is why my hubby or I stay in nursery with him. This is how last week went:
Little Man walks into nursery and sees the only chair available is the one the nursery leader is about to sit in. He immediately runs over and moves it so he can sit in it and luckily my hubby warned the nursery leader before she fell to the floor. Hubby then leaves briefly to check on the Sunday School classes, since he is the Sunday School President, and comes back to our son running down the hall yelling, "Daddy!". (Turns out he is the first nursery kid who knows how to open doors, according to the Primary President.). The parent helper chasing him couldn't believe how fast he was.
The final act of impishness was that the nursery leader had locked the cabinets where the "cool" toys are kept to keep the kids out. Unfortunately, she then put her keys on the windowsill, which are low and can be easily reached. Well, our son grabbed them while she was gossiping with the other women and not paying attention, figured out which key unlocked the cabinets, and opened them all up to the delight of all the other kids.
(Sigh!) Can you understand why I already worry about when this child starts school. I have a feeling I am going to be spending A LOT of time at the school.
In our ward we have a lady who is in charge of the nursery that I honestly don't know why. She is in her mid-40s and has never had children, nor desired to. In fact she readily admits she does not like little kids. This is quite evident by how little interaction she has with the kids and gets easily frustrated when they don't just sit there with their arms folded and only do what she tells them to do. We have warned her several times that our son is not this type of kid and only needs to see something done once or twice and he figures out how to do it himself. Needless to say, she does NOT like our son and makes it very clear which is why my hubby or I stay in nursery with him. This is how last week went:
Little Man walks into nursery and sees the only chair available is the one the nursery leader is about to sit in. He immediately runs over and moves it so he can sit in it and luckily my hubby warned the nursery leader before she fell to the floor. Hubby then leaves briefly to check on the Sunday School classes, since he is the Sunday School President, and comes back to our son running down the hall yelling, "Daddy!". (Turns out he is the first nursery kid who knows how to open doors, according to the Primary President.). The parent helper chasing him couldn't believe how fast he was.
The final act of impishness was that the nursery leader had locked the cabinets where the "cool" toys are kept to keep the kids out. Unfortunately, she then put her keys on the windowsill, which are low and can be easily reached. Well, our son grabbed them while she was gossiping with the other women and not paying attention, figured out which key unlocked the cabinets, and opened them all up to the delight of all the other kids.
(Sigh!) Can you understand why I already worry about when this child starts school. I have a feeling I am going to be spending A LOT of time at the school.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Where To Begin?
There is so much to blog about that I am not even sure where to begin. Part of the reason that I haven't stayed caught up is I got really sick with "the crud" (as my doctor calls it) and could not seem to shake it for about 3 1/2 weeks. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I am so limited as to what I could take and was having a hard time breathing even without the help of a baby pushing against my lungs. Anywhoo...... I am back in the land of the living and will have a lot of catching up to do when I can come up for air with everything that is going on.
In the meantime, here is a small synopsis of the latest. We are in the process of deciding on final renovations and will be putting stuff in storage in the next couple of weeks as we start to stage our house. The hope is to have the house on the market by the end of April/early May. Very ambitious considering the baby is due at the same time, but I am really in need of seeing some progress at this point. Plus between things that have been happening lately both personally and professionally it is time for us to move forward rather than beating our heads against the wall waiting for others to change. If there is anything I have learned from Papa Doc's death it is that life is too short to stay stuck in misery waiting on others to make your life better. Change is scary, but sometimes it is necessary. This is especially true if you truly believe family comes first and you want to spend time with your family and be happy.
I know that is kind of vague, but I am not at liberty to say a whole lot right now. I just know that there are some serious changes coming our way which may or may not include a different state, a cut in pay, and some other things. However, if it means we can be a family, be healthy, and happy, then it is worth it! The last time we saw Papa Doc he told us that he would never live to see retirement and would not last much longer due to his stress levels. How I wish those words had not come true. Now it is up to us to not repeat the same mistakes. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, here is a small synopsis of the latest. We are in the process of deciding on final renovations and will be putting stuff in storage in the next couple of weeks as we start to stage our house. The hope is to have the house on the market by the end of April/early May. Very ambitious considering the baby is due at the same time, but I am really in need of seeing some progress at this point. Plus between things that have been happening lately both personally and professionally it is time for us to move forward rather than beating our heads against the wall waiting for others to change. If there is anything I have learned from Papa Doc's death it is that life is too short to stay stuck in misery waiting on others to make your life better. Change is scary, but sometimes it is necessary. This is especially true if you truly believe family comes first and you want to spend time with your family and be happy.
I know that is kind of vague, but I am not at liberty to say a whole lot right now. I just know that there are some serious changes coming our way which may or may not include a different state, a cut in pay, and some other things. However, if it means we can be a family, be healthy, and happy, then it is worth it! The last time we saw Papa Doc he told us that he would never live to see retirement and would not last much longer due to his stress levels. How I wish those words had not come true. Now it is up to us to not repeat the same mistakes. Stay tuned!
Monday, February 20, 2012
End of Life Planning . . . Lessons Learned
On February 12, my hubby's dad (aka Papa Doc) passed away suddenly and very unexpectedly. This meant that my husband flew to Oklahoma for the funeral and to see what needed to be done. Little did we know what was in store for us . . . . Let's just say we have learned A LOT, both good and bad, regarding end of life planning. Before I begin to list some of those things, let me explain a little about the family dynamics:
Jim's mother, "C", was married to another man before she married Papa Doc. The marriage was short lived and she was divorced while she was pregnant with their only child, who was a girl that was named big "K". C later married Papa Doc and they had three children together, my hubby, J, and a baby boy that died shortly after birth. Papa Doc adopted Big K (who later changed her last name and legally had the adoption cancelled so that she was no longer legally Papa Doc's daughter). C then passed away and Papa Doc re-married a lady by the name of "Oma". She brought with her two kids, named "Little K" and S, from a previous marriage. Need a recap? That means that for my hubby there is a half-sister, a biological sister, a step-sister, and a step-brother. Confused yet? Hold on.
Oma had a heart attack/stroke about a year and a half ago that completely incapacitated her. She now lives in a nursing home full-time and is unable to feed herself, walk, sit up on her own and has very limited communication skills.
Now that you have the background, you can see how confusing things can be and how messy a will and other such paperwork and be complicated. Luckily, Papa Doc did his best to keep the will and such paper work up to date and had in fact updated the will in September of 2011. Unfortunately, he did not tell anyone what it contained or who was in charge of what, which everyone has been finding out more and more time has progressed. Consequently, here are some of the things we have learned both good and bad:
1. Communication is key! While end of life planning and discussions are definitely not pleasant, they are important so that at least the parties who will be in charge will know that they are and be prepared if the time comes. For example, we just recently found out that not only is my hubby a co-executor of the will with his sister, J, but also has power of attorney over Oma. We now have to scramble to get paperwork and are dealing with the ugliness of jealousy and sense of entitlement of others. It would have been nice to have known this was coming and to have a copy of the paperwork, especially since we don't live anywhere close to where everything is.
2. Any anger, frustration, jealousy, ill feelings, etc. of any kind that were there before the death of the parent will be intensified 100x, especially if money is involved. The things that have been said or actions that have been taken have been not only shocking, but saddening. Ultimately, it is the deceased person's money and wishes and that is it. Taking it out on each other changes nothing. However, if people think that they may get more money or things by threatening legal action, they will especially if they are in financial need.
3. Including a "no contest" clause is also vital! Luckily, Papa Doc did include a clause that if anyone contested anything in the will, there would be consequences. While it is still yet to be seen if this will be tested, we are glad it is put in there.
4. Include someone else on your bank account(s). This can be a scary decision to make since they could easily wipe you out. (Found that out through my divorce.) However, if you have someone you can trust, this makes things so much easier. Otherwise, once the bank finds out you are deceased, if there is no other person listed, they will freeze all accounts until the death certificate and execution of the will occurs. This can take a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time and in the meantime bills still have to be paid and settled and some people are not willing to work with those left to deal with all of this. Luckily, this was all taken care of.
5. Funeral/burial planning makes things so much easier for those left behind. Surprisingly enough Papa Doc had done this just weeks before he passed away. Now it is just a matter of writing a check, which can be done since J is on the accounts and there is money in there for this expense.
6. Do NOT put off the planning, putting it all in writing, and making it legal! You just never know. In no way did any of us expect that Papa Doc would be the first of our parents to go. Between my parents' bouts of cancer and Oma's health condition, we were sure that one of them would be first. Papa Doc was the only one that did not have any health problems and he did have regular check ups. We are so thankful that he had updated things. Things would be so much more messy and complicated otherwise. In fact my hubby and I are putting are things together and will be meeting with an attorney ourselves in the next month to finalize our things. While we hope we or others will never have to use them, we have seen firsthand how important it is to have them in place, especially when you have minor children and/or estranged family members that could potentially hurt other heirs.
You just never know, so be prepared. Those left behind will thank you! (At least those who are nice will.)
Jim's mother, "C", was married to another man before she married Papa Doc. The marriage was short lived and she was divorced while she was pregnant with their only child, who was a girl that was named big "K". C later married Papa Doc and they had three children together, my hubby, J, and a baby boy that died shortly after birth. Papa Doc adopted Big K (who later changed her last name and legally had the adoption cancelled so that she was no longer legally Papa Doc's daughter). C then passed away and Papa Doc re-married a lady by the name of "Oma". She brought with her two kids, named "Little K" and S, from a previous marriage. Need a recap? That means that for my hubby there is a half-sister, a biological sister, a step-sister, and a step-brother. Confused yet? Hold on.
Oma had a heart attack/stroke about a year and a half ago that completely incapacitated her. She now lives in a nursing home full-time and is unable to feed herself, walk, sit up on her own and has very limited communication skills.
Now that you have the background, you can see how confusing things can be and how messy a will and other such paperwork and be complicated. Luckily, Papa Doc did his best to keep the will and such paper work up to date and had in fact updated the will in September of 2011. Unfortunately, he did not tell anyone what it contained or who was in charge of what, which everyone has been finding out more and more time has progressed. Consequently, here are some of the things we have learned both good and bad:
1. Communication is key! While end of life planning and discussions are definitely not pleasant, they are important so that at least the parties who will be in charge will know that they are and be prepared if the time comes. For example, we just recently found out that not only is my hubby a co-executor of the will with his sister, J, but also has power of attorney over Oma. We now have to scramble to get paperwork and are dealing with the ugliness of jealousy and sense of entitlement of others. It would have been nice to have known this was coming and to have a copy of the paperwork, especially since we don't live anywhere close to where everything is.
2. Any anger, frustration, jealousy, ill feelings, etc. of any kind that were there before the death of the parent will be intensified 100x, especially if money is involved. The things that have been said or actions that have been taken have been not only shocking, but saddening. Ultimately, it is the deceased person's money and wishes and that is it. Taking it out on each other changes nothing. However, if people think that they may get more money or things by threatening legal action, they will especially if they are in financial need.
3. Including a "no contest" clause is also vital! Luckily, Papa Doc did include a clause that if anyone contested anything in the will, there would be consequences. While it is still yet to be seen if this will be tested, we are glad it is put in there.
4. Include someone else on your bank account(s). This can be a scary decision to make since they could easily wipe you out. (Found that out through my divorce.) However, if you have someone you can trust, this makes things so much easier. Otherwise, once the bank finds out you are deceased, if there is no other person listed, they will freeze all accounts until the death certificate and execution of the will occurs. This can take a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time and in the meantime bills still have to be paid and settled and some people are not willing to work with those left to deal with all of this. Luckily, this was all taken care of.
5. Funeral/burial planning makes things so much easier for those left behind. Surprisingly enough Papa Doc had done this just weeks before he passed away. Now it is just a matter of writing a check, which can be done since J is on the accounts and there is money in there for this expense.
6. Do NOT put off the planning, putting it all in writing, and making it legal! You just never know. In no way did any of us expect that Papa Doc would be the first of our parents to go. Between my parents' bouts of cancer and Oma's health condition, we were sure that one of them would be first. Papa Doc was the only one that did not have any health problems and he did have regular check ups. We are so thankful that he had updated things. Things would be so much more messy and complicated otherwise. In fact my hubby and I are putting are things together and will be meeting with an attorney ourselves in the next month to finalize our things. While we hope we or others will never have to use them, we have seen firsthand how important it is to have them in place, especially when you have minor children and/or estranged family members that could potentially hurt other heirs.
You just never know, so be prepared. Those left behind will thank you! (At least those who are nice will.)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Busy! Busy! Busy!
Okay, so I am a slacker blogger, but I have a legitimate excuse. I have been B-U-S-Y! Since I am definitely not one of those girls who feels "the best I have ever felt when I was pregnant", I know where my limits are and try to plan accordingly since I swell up more and more as the pregnancy progresses and my eyesight goes further south as well. Not to mention that this time my SI joint is giving me fits thanks to one of my car wrecks from years ago. (Hopefully, everything goes back to "normal" after the baby is born.) Anywhoo . . . I, consequently, I have been in the crafting mode since I don't know how much longer I can sit at a sewing machine, let alone see well enough to sew. I also wanted to get all of my cards done that we know the themes for through May so that I had one less thing off my plate. (Okay, I'll confess! I am avoiding doing anymore organizing and rearranging of rooms for awhile. Frankly, it is just a boring, tiresome, and annoying task. Plus it helps get my mind off of my hubby's work nonsense and family drama.)
March's Card:
Half of us were assigned baby girl and the other baby boy. Again, I used a Silhouette pre-design for parts of it, but added the embellishments myself. It is kind of hard to see, but I have made the hangers myself that the onsie is hanging on. They were surprisingly easier and I definitely got better as I went along.
I really wanted the accent fabric to be a navy blue with light blue polka dots, but you would be surprised that that type of fabric CANNOT be found easily or economically. Consequently, I went with what I could find which is more of a cobalt blue with navy polka dots. However, I could find that pattern in ribbon, so to "girl" up the cover I made the bows that are attached. (My husband is freaking out. He is so NOT a "bow" person.)
Not too bad, for my first boutique bow if I say so myself.
I also made a bow holder board for our little girl's room. Thanks to some fabric, quilt batting, ribbon, and a staple gun this went together pretty easy.
For the embellishments, I used leftover fabric and covered jumbo quilt thumb tacks.
Of course, now I have bows to make, which I know I am going to need because of my refusal to have pink and I don't want her to be mistaken to be a boy. (I am seriously contemplating making a onsie for her that says "Real girls wear blue." A tongue-in cheek to the "Real men wear pink" shirts that I have seen men wear.) So I have been buying ribbon, lace, and other accessories much to my husband's dismay. Those are next on the list so stay tuned! Okay, and maybe I will begrudgingly work on the office/craft room/I don't know where to put it room downstairs. Ugggghhh!
So here are my latest projects:
March's Card:
Half of us were assigned baby girl and the other baby boy. Again, I used a Silhouette pre-design for parts of it, but added the embellishments myself. It is kind of hard to see, but I have made the hangers myself that the onsie is hanging on. They were surprisingly easier and I definitely got better as I went along.
April's Card:
May's Card:
This month we are assigned to do wedding cards. In my head, this design was so simple. However, I literally spent 2 1/2 - 3 hours on each one. I am so glad they are done and will NEVER do them again. Although, I really liked how they turned out. I used a punch for the flowers but then folded each one by hand, glued each one on by hand, and glued the pearls on the bigger flowers, each one by hand.
For this month, half of us are assigned birthday cards and the other half birthday tags. Luckily, I got tags. These were so easy to put together!
May's Card:
Since the only car seat cover I had was one that was for winter, because Little Man was born in November and this one is due the end of April/beginning of May, I knew I needed one that would be more appropriate for warmer weather. After a little research, I was able to find instructions online how to make one. Here is what I came up with:
I really wanted the accent fabric to be a navy blue with light blue polka dots, but you would be surprised that that type of fabric CANNOT be found easily or economically. Consequently, I went with what I could find which is more of a cobalt blue with navy polka dots. However, I could find that pattern in ribbon, so to "girl" up the cover I made the bows that are attached. (My husband is freaking out. He is so NOT a "bow" person.)
Not too bad, for my first boutique bow if I say so myself.I also made a bow holder board for our little girl's room. Thanks to some fabric, quilt batting, ribbon, and a staple gun this went together pretty easy.
For the embellishments, I used leftover fabric and covered jumbo quilt thumb tacks.
Of course, now I have bows to make, which I know I am going to need because of my refusal to have pink and I don't want her to be mistaken to be a boy. (I am seriously contemplating making a onsie for her that says "Real girls wear blue." A tongue-in cheek to the "Real men wear pink" shirts that I have seen men wear.) So I have been buying ribbon, lace, and other accessories much to my husband's dismay. Those are next on the list so stay tuned! Okay, and maybe I will begrudgingly work on the office/craft room/I don't know where to put it room downstairs. Ugggghhh!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
February Card
The theme this month is Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. I was assigned Father's Day and as I soon as I saw this design in Sillhouette's design studio, I knew it was what I was going to use:
I added buttons and the ribbon to the pocket, because I thought they were cuter than the paper cut outs. Overall, it was pretty easy and fun to make. I have March's and April's done. May, however . . . . . That is a whole other story. They are taking me FOREVER! Hopefully, I will have them done by this weekend and then I can focus on Elie's stuff.
I added buttons and the ribbon to the pocket, because I thought they were cuter than the paper cut outs. Overall, it was pretty easy and fun to make. I have March's and April's done. May, however . . . . . That is a whole other story. They are taking me FOREVER! Hopefully, I will have them done by this weekend and then I can focus on Elie's stuff.
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