1985 is alive and well

Last night at dinner Ben and Rebecca were trying to sing the song "1985" (by Bowling for Soup) because it is the ringtone on my phone (And I am seriously considering changing the ringtone on my phone. Ben of course googled the lyrics at some point and finds them fascinating and has attempted to memorize them, and now Rebecca is  starting to sing it, and it's all entirely inappropriate... but anyway...) So Ben wanted to know, how old was I in 1985? I told him and then forced him to do some math for me by subtracting 1985 from 2012 to tell me how many years ago it was. So he did this grudgingly, and then Rebecca who had obviously been listening but not really understanding, asked "Is 1985 dead?"

So I explained, over Ben's giggles, that 1985 is not alive or dead, it was a year, like how this year is 2012, only 1985 was a year that was 27 years ago (thanks to Ben's math).

"I KNOW," she said impatiently, "But is it dead?"

Catching Up

I'm in a rather irritable mood this morning, even for a Monday morning; probably it has to do with the 3 loads of laundry I have to do, the grocery list I have to make, the 3 doctor appointments I have scheduled for the kids over the next 3 days, and oh yeah, WORK.

Joel got home from Chicago Friday evening, but had to work this weekend so was not around much. Saturday we had Ben's flag football game, the annual forced-fun tradition that is Hawkfest (the ELE spring carnival, remind me never to go again - even Ben announced he does not want to go next year), and dinner out with friends; Sunday we had Hebrew school and Rebecca's soccer game. Caroline as per usual spiked a random fever at some point during the weekend, but was otherwise OK.

I have to pick Ben up early from school and take him to the ENT today, so will update later on how that goes...

Today is Going to be Quiet and Productive Even if it Kills Me

Of course yesterday Caroline missed yet ANOTHER day of day care, because she spiked a fever during the night Monday and early Tuesday morning. I was pretty sure it was because of the vaccinations she got on Monday, but had to keep her home anyway... She seemed to be fine by the end of the day, rallying enough to have her first meal of rice cereal for dinner last night. It was yet another day of lost productivity for me, although I managed to get a little bit done. Today all the kids are at school/day care, the dog is at camp, the house is getting its weekly cleaning, and I am at Barnes & Noble for the morning loading up on expensive caffeinated beverages and trying to get done everything I wasn't able to get done yesterday.... Joel is headed to Chicago today for a conference until the end of the week, so I need to enjoy some quiet productivity while I have the chance.... :)

First Meal of Rice Cereal

She did manage to get some of it *in* her mouth, I promise!

The Parade of Doctor Visits Continues...

Caroline had her 4 month checkup this morning. She weighed in at 18 pounds even, 26 1/2 inches long, with a 17 inch head ;) This is >98th percentile for height, and right at the 98th percentile for weight and head circumference. This incidentally explains why all her clothes have stopped fitting.

Rebecca accompanied me to this visit, since I squeezed her in at the last minute for a consultation. Rebecca earned herself a referral to the urologist, after I described how she continues to wet her pants in small amounts throughout the day even when accompanied to the bathroom every single hour, and how she soaks through a pull-up every single night. Her urinalysis results were normal.

Caroline also earned herself a referral, to a PT who specializes in infant head shape issues, because she continues to flatten her head on one side. The PT will decide if we can try some therapy with her or if we need to go straight to the (very expensive) helmet. If she needs a helmet, I'd like to get it over with sooner rather than later, since the shape of her head will be much easier to change now versus even a few months from now.

I have yet to make either of these appointments but between these and Ben's ENT appointment next Monday, our parade of doctor visits seems like it's going to continue for a while....

Sigh of Relief

For those of you (or maybe it's just me) anxiously awaiting news of the appraisal results, you can breathe a sign of relief -- the appraisal was completed last week and did come back favorably (ie slightly above the agreed upon purchase price, and not below it as we had worried it might). Phew. You can exhale now.

Cool Dude

Refresh, Refresh, Refresh....

Along the lines of "a watched pot never boils", constantly hitting refresh on your email inbox does not make email arrive any faster... So the story is, supposedly the appraiser was down the street on Monday at the house we are buying... so says our nosey neighbor anyway who somehow seems to know all the comings and goings on our street... anyway, the appraisal is VERY IMPORTANT because if the appraised value comes back too low (which has been happening a lot lately), our dreams of moving could be dead in the water. Because if that were to happen we would have to renegotiate with the seller for the lower amount, which might not work out depending on how much lower it actually was. Today we happen to know that a closing is taking place (or may have already taken place) of a home that is the same floor plan as the one we're buying, and it is selling for much less than we have offered to buy "our" house for. This is bad because if our appraisal isn't finished yet this house would get used as a comp to decide our appraisal value. (incidentally the house was in a bad location, backing up to a main road, and had some other issues which make the one we're buying much better but I don't know how much of that the appraiser would consider).

Anyway to make a long story short Joel and I have been bugging our mortgage broker for a couple days now for the appraisal (because we want it finished before this other house hits the books), and she JUST SENT me the report.... except for, she didn't, because she attached the wrong one. Even though I emailed her back immediately to point out the mistake, she has not replied. Refresh, refresh, refresh....

Friday Morning, Slightly More Hectic than Usual

I got up with Ben and drove him to school at 7am for chess club, both of us still in our pajamas. (Because he contributed $1.50 to help children in Africa get clean drinking water, he was allowed to wear pajamas today. I did not forget to dress him). I did forget to feed him breakfast though. So as we pulled up to school I said, "Go grab some breakfast before you go to chess club." He said, "I can't, the cafeteria doesn't open until 7:10. I'll go to chess club, find a Kindergartener to beat really quick, and then I'll go get breakfast."

"Sounds good," I said.

Then I came home, wondered aloud where Clara was, opened the back door, and she and the neighbor's dog both bolted into the house covered in mud, ran a lap around the kitchen, and bolted back out the door again. Clara was so muddy that she slipped in the kitchen and skidded across the floor on her mud-covered side, leaving a big brown smear.

Then I showered, got dressed, went outside, hosed off the dog, brought her inside, cleaned up the kitchen floor, got the baby up and dressed, got Rebecca up and dressed, dropped them both off at preschool / day care, and dropped my car off at Firestone for an oil change / state inspection and have already been informed that I need something expensive having to do with the brakes. So it looks like this trip to Firestone is going to cost something like $350-ish. And Joel wonders why I wait so long between oil changes....

Bath Baby

Caterpillars, take two.

We were not very successful in keeping the caterpillars alive that Rebecca found on the playground at school. Maybe the virtual kind will be easier?

Not Where I Left Her

Rebecca refuses to sleep under her covers, so every night before I go to bed I go upstairs and either maneuver her underneath the covers or put an extra blanket over top of her, which ever seems easiest... so last night I went upstairs a little after 10 to do that, walked into her room and surveyed the pile of books, stuffed animals, Barbies etc that my daughter normally sleeps amongst... But no Becca... Joel, who had followed me upstairs to retrieve something from the bonus room called me over just as I called to him, "Hey Rebecca's not in her bed...." He pointed into the bonus room, and there was Rebecca, sprawled on the floor fast asleep....

Ear Update

For those of you asking about Ben, he stayed home from school Monday (It was actually the very first day of school he has missed all year! Pretty impressive). I took him to the pediatrician where they repeated the shot, but decided he did not need to come back for another on Tuesday. Instead they put him on a 10 day course of augmentin, after which he needs to go see an ear, nose & throat doctor. Today he went back to school.I do agree that needing antibiotic shots for an ear infection does seem like a bit of overkill. Ben did get a day off school and a Wii game out of it, so I think in the end he was okay with it. Well, maybe not... If the augmentin doesn't work the ENT may decide to put tubes in. He did have tubes as a toddler, but they are long gone of course.

What?

We always tease Ben because he always says, "What?" when you know he has heard what you said but he just either doesn't get it/ needs some extra time to think about a response / just wants to pretend he didn't hear you. Tonight's example: "Ben, I see you did well on your report card, but you still need to work on your handwriting mechanics." "What?" "YOU HEARD ME BEN." Tonight at the dinner table he was doing this an awful lot and Joel called him on it. "You heard me fine, Ben. You only say 'what' when your little brain needs more time to compute a response." (BEN: What?)

After Joel left the table and I was clearing the dishes, Ben asked, "Mom when can I have a lemonade stand?" Having heard the question perfectly well and without thinking, I immediately said, "What?" And then I cracked up laughing. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"I just realized exactly where you get it from!" I laughed.

"What?"

Vocabulary Words

Tonight after dinner Rebecca asked for a bowl of cereal.

"You just ate dinner, and dessert," I said. "What do you need a bowl of cereal for?"

"Because I'm --" she paused, about to say "still hungry." Then she grinned and announced, "Because I'm RAVENOUS!"

Tired Out After a Puppy Playdate

Clara and her beau, Beau ;)

The Ear Infection Raises its Ugly Head Again

So the saga of Ben's ears continues, because our family is apparently cursed. To recap, Ben had an ear infection a few weeks ago, was treated with amoxycillan, the ear infection came back, he was treated with omnicef, which he finished on Thursday and by Saturday the ear infection came back AGAIN. In fact he and Joel were up watching Transformers from midnight to 3am last night.

In an effort to avoid a second sleepless night in a row we took Ben to the pediatric urgent care clinic after Rebecca's soccer game this afternoon. Ben was very apprehensive about going, asking me if he was going to need a shot. Of course I am an idiot so I said, "No of course not!" I did not know that after omnicef doesn't work, the next thing to do is a shot of rocefin (sp?). Or rather, a shot in each thigh, for 3 days. Boy was Ben pissed!!! His legs are sore, and he is resting sulkily now. He will be even more pissed when I have to take him back to the doctor tomorrow and Tuesday for a repeat.

I think we need to put together some sort of offering to the gods to lift the hex that has fallen upon our household.

Rented!

We found a renter for our house! No, not the weird dude from the post below.(Although for those of you who weighed in on the side of scam, if it were a scam shouldn't he have asked for my bank account number to wire the money to, instead of an address to send a cashier's check to?)

Anyway, the renters we found are a couple who are relocating from Virginia. The husband just started a job down here, and his wife will be joining him after the birth of their second child, due in the middle of May. They also have a four year old daughter, a perfect playmate for Rebecca :) The husband came over to sign the lease and give the security deposit this morning, making it OFFICIAL and bringing us one step closer to getting everything in place for our own move. After he signed we immediately scanned the rental agreement and emailed it over to our mortgage broker, who needed it for underwriting our new loan, and texted our real estate agent to tell her to please unlist our house!!

I am very exciting that we have our house rented, especially since this means I won't have to keep the house so neat and clean anymore!! ;)

4 months old today!

Here in the States we call this Jumping the Gun

"Thanks for the details on the Property, i am satisfied and will
like to proceed with the renting process,
i would like you to go ahead and reserve the property for me.
I would also be needing the following information so that the cashier's check
for payment of the deposit of $4400 can be processed and posted to you
soon.

Name to issue the Deposit check on:...............
Address where you want the deposit mailed to:........
Phone number(cell and land):............

I want the 12 months lease to start on the 1st May 2012, i also
want to notify you that i have in the mean time arrange with an
interior decorator who will be handling the purchase of furniture,
entertainment system and other appliances that i will need in the
property,they will as well be in-charge of moving down my luggage down
to the States.So the cashier's check of $9000 will be sent over to you
which is a relocation grant by my employer, and all you need to do is
deduct the deposit $4400 and you will forward the rest to the Decorators
so i can have the place all prepared for my arrival. All applications and
lease will be signed on arrival.

Also for familiarization I Am [...], 35 yrs old,a British
citizen, I work with [.....],
I am a Christian, reserved in Nature and i do not keep pets.
I look forward to meeting you and hope to have a good relationship as
a tenant with you.
I await the details."

[.....]

Unable to Procrastinate Any More

I am talking about taxes. Unfortunately we had to do our taxes last night, after realizing that we are meeting with the mortgage lender this afternoon to sign the documents/provide all the documentation needed for the loan on our new house. Of course one of the documents required was our 2011 tax return, meaning Joel and I were up until 11 pm getting it done (11 pm, when you have a < 4 month old baby, is VERY LATE).

When we do our taxes several things always happen. First we put in Joel's W-2, and since Joel pays the EXACT CORRECT AMOUNT of federal taxes, it tells us at that point that we have a refund of, say, $100. Then we enter my W-2, and when we put in the amount of federal taxes withheld, a little warning comes up which says basically, "Dude is this a typo?" And I say, no, it's not a typo, and then the $100 refund changes to saying that we owe something like fourteen thousand dollars. Because for some reason I pay like no federal income tax during the year. But I am too lazy to change my withholding. Then we spend the next hour and a half putting in every deduction known to mankind, only to be informed time after time, "sorry, you make too much money to qualify for this deduction." But eventually we manage to whittle it down to a more manageable-ish number, something like, five thousand dollars. And somewhere in there Joel starts claiming he's going to vote Republican next time. But he never does. And then we file it, put it all behind us, and repeat again at the very last possible minute next year...

False Alarm

Because it seems to be entirely impossible for Caroline to get through 2 days in a row of day care with out SOME kind of drama, they called me yesterday to tell me that there was what they thought was blood in her poop, in the last diaper they had changed.

I immediately said, "The doctor told me the omnicef she is on for her ear infections can turn her poop red. Are you sure it's not just that?"

No they said, it really looked like blood, and rather a lot of it, and the day care director had taken a look too, and seconded that opinion. And on top of this they said, she was acting fussy today and not her usual self.

So I told them to save the diaper, and called the doctor's office, stressing to them that I had not witnessed the diaper contents myself, but that they swore it was blood and not omnicef-poop. The doctor's office wanted me to bring her in.

So as if I have not missed more than enough work lately, I headed out to pick Caroline up and take her to the doctor's office. Where I was charged the $30 copay for the 5th time in 3 weeks (But who's counting?) and where the offending diaper was lab-tested and immediately determined to be omnicef-poop, not blood. And by the way, Caroline was not fussy at all when I picked her up.

Yet another strike in my book against day care...

Avalanche!

On Monday night we listed our house for rent, having decided that since we're supposed to close on our new house May 15, we are running out of time to find a buyer. Of course since Joel did not trust our realtor to bring rental traffic in, he also made me list it on Craigslist yesterday afternoon.

Since then we've had two people come look at the house yesterday, both expressing what can only be described as rabid interest and taking rental applications (though neither has returned them yet), with four more lined up for today and a couple more later in the week. For the record, three of the four coming today are being brought by realtors, as was one of the people yesterday. So I think Joel's fear of not getting any traffic was unfounded. And I think we're getting buried by this latest round of showings! Hopefully we will have a renter procured very soon. Although renting is not an ideal situation, the upside is that the rent we're charging (which people seem only too happy to pay, one even commenting how cheap it is) is $400 more a month than we pay on the property, so we'll be able to set aside plenty of money in case any repairs are needed.

Hawaiin Cow Brains

Usually a couple of times a week I let Ben eat breakfast at school because a) he gets to school a good half hour before the bell rings, b) the school cafeteria serves breakfast and c) it prevents me from having to listen to him whine about what he perceives to be limited breakfast choices at home.

So the other day he asked if he could get breakfast at school, and I said sure. After school I happened to ask him, "What did you have for breakfast?"

"I only had cereal," he said. "The menu said the main entree was a sausage patty on Hawaiin sweetbread."

"What's wrong with that? That sounds good," I said.

To which he responded with a disgusted look on his face -- "Did you not just hear me, Mom? I said SWEETBREAD! As in, COW BRAINS!!!"

After I stopped laughing hysterically (which took a while), I informed him that while yes, "sweetbreads" can mean cow brains, "sweet bread" can also just mean, well, sweet bread. And that I was pretty darn sure his school cafeteria was not serving a sausage patty atop cow brains. He did not seem completely convinced.

Working on her Escape

Just noticed that Clara has chewed a hole in the back of the canvas crate we've been using for her since we listed the house for sale (we started using it because it's very easy to move in and out of the house)... Looks like she's working on her escape route!

Grossed Out

Yesterday morning I offered to make pancakes for the kids for breakfast. Of course they insisted on having chocolate chip pancakes but we didn't have any chocolate chips. So I remembered we happened to have a semi-sweet kosher-for-Passover chocolate bar in the pantry, so I cut it into chunks and made chocolate chunk pancakes.

Which Ben thoroughly enjoyed until about halfway through when he said, "Jared has a shirt that has different true things written on it, and one of them says there are seven insect legs in every chocolate bar."

I firmly told him that was nonsense, there were no insect legs in the chocolate, and the only time I'd ever found an insect leg in my food was at a Subway restaurant (Now I am sure he will remember that, if ever we set foot in a Subway). He was not convinced and got himself completely grossed out not at all helped by his sister who was eating her pancakes with gusto and giggling about insect legs.

The pancakes ended up on Rebecca's plate, and he asked for an omelette instead. Which he ate about half of, until Rebecca said, "Hey Ben I think there are insect legs in your omelette." After that, breakfast was over for Ben.

Rebecca continued to enjoy her brother's pancakes and then asked me, "Are there insect legs in these pancakes?"

"NO!" I told her, thoroughly annoyed at the wasted food by this point.

"Then why are they crunchy sometimes?"

Really Really Annoyed

So this morning, after hitting my head, cutting myself, forgetting to send in fresh fruit with Rebecca for snack (only item allowed in from home during Passover) and having to go back home for it, I dropped Caroline off at day care. And was greeted with, "Oh by the way, you left your wallet here on Thursday. Or maybe it was Wednesday..."

Now of course it had occurred to me on Thursday when I couldn't find my wallet, that I might have left it wedged underneath Caroline's butt when I finally dropped her off at day care after her doctor appointment. Caroline was sleeping when we'd arrived, so I left her in her car seat. But when I picked her up the wallet was not in the car seat, and I stupidly assumed that IF SOMEONE HAD FOUND IT THEY WOULD HAVE CALLED ME TO TELL ME. But no, apparently the wallet was discovered in her car seat after she woke up on Thursday, placed on a shelf, and not mentioned to me until AFTER A THREE DAY WEEKEND. During which time I cancelled all my credit cards, ordered a new drivers license, and WOULD REALLY, REALLY HAVE APPRECIATED HAVING MY WALLET!

So now I have my wallet, and the only thing it saves me from having to do is order new health insurance cards. Because my credit cards are all already cancelled, and new ones en route. So I still cannot spend any money until they arrive. And on top of that, I still have to call several merchants who direct debit a couple of my accounts, to give them the new card numbers.

PISSED! Some common sense, people! Wallets are kind of indispensable. If you find one, and you know whose it is, and you have their phone number, it is common sense to call them and give them a heads up, even if you know you'll see them again a few days later. How would you like to be without your drivers license and all your credit/debit cards for three days?

Passover 2012

Bubbles

CJP Seder 2012

Wednesday afternoon the kids had their Seder at Rebecca's preschool. They put on a little performance for us before the meal. Here is an excerpt (Rebecca the wiggly one in blue dress).

Now Accepting Applications

After a long discussion about how miserable our lives have been over the last 3 weeks since I returned to work, Joel and I have decided the day care thing is just not working out, and despite the fact that it will be a lot more expensive, we've decided to try to hire a full-time nanny. In order to make it a little more cost effective, we'll drop Rebecca down to half-day preschool and remove Ben from the after school program, and possibly cut back on summer camp. So the nanny in addition to having charge of the baby full time, will also take care of Rebecca in the afternoons, and all 3 kids during school breaks/summers when they are not in camp.

The advantages over day care are that 1) hopefully Caroline will not get sick as much, 2) when the kids are sick the nanny will still come (I'll only be screwed when the nanny is sick), 3) Since I work from home I'll be able to see Caroline whenever I want, 4) I will have the nanny do Rebecca's preschool drop-off and pick up as well as for camp in the summer, so I won't have to do that any more and can get started at work earlier.

So far (using care.com) I have over 30 applicants. I have not begun to go through them/schedule interviews yet, but will start doing so next week.

Illness Chronicles Part II

So after Wednesday's full day of work, with all kids back at their respective places of care, things deteriorated again... Caroline came home Wednesday very fussy, spent the night being very fussy, and we were back in the doctor's office (for the 4th time in 2 weeks) yesterday morning where she was diagnosed with ear infections in both ears. I missed half a day of work between the doctor's office and getting her prescription filled, etc, and finally dropped her off at day care around noon, then tried to cram a full day's work into the afternoon.

Somewhere towards the end of the day I realized that somewhere during the craziness of the morning I seem to have lost my wallet. Since it did not materialize even after a thorough ransacking of the car, I just now ordered replacement credit cards, bank card, driver's license, etc. Of course this means it is bound to turn up any moment now but since all my cards are now suspended, that will not do me any good.

Today I have the day off (thank god). Caroline is home for Good Friday, Ben is at spring break camp, and Rebecca is off for Passover but is at her friend Conrad's house with some of the kids in her class, being babysat by a couple of her teachers.

Tonight we are hosting Passover Seder, pictures of the event will be forthcoming I am sure.

The Illness Chronicles

So if I thought things couldn't get any worse than having 2 sick kids home on Monday, I was definitely wrong. The moment I picked Ben up from camp on Monday I knew something was wrong - fever strikes again! Monday night was NOT FUN. Rebecca was up 2x coughing, the baby spent an hour sitting in her car seat in the bathroom with the shower running at 2am trying to make her breathe easier, and Ben woke up at 5am with a raging ear infection that landed all 4 of us in the doctor's office by 9:30 a.m. We left an hour later with a prescription for omnicef (Ben), a cough suppressant (Becca) and a major headache from listening to Ben cry for an hour (Mom). We filled the prescriptions and then headed home so that I could clean up, because it is a law that when you have three children home sick and your house is on the market, someone will want to see it.

Today I sent all 3 kids back to camp/preschool/day care, although Rebecca is still spewing out germs in the form of a horrendous cough and runny nose, and Caroline is less than stellar, having barely napped and barely eaten and being very fussy and congested all day today according to the day care. Ben, after a couple of doses of omnicef is doing the best of the three. I even sent Clara to doggy camp today thereby getting rid of every living being in the house (except Ulysses I guess I should say) so I could have some PEACE AND QUIET. Wednesdays is our cleaning day, so I even got a clean house today.

I did some major catch-up, having missed three days of work in a row (I was off last Friday, and took Monday and Tuesday off because of the sick kids). And we had yet another showing, from another person who thinks our kitchen is too small, our upstairs hallway is cramped, and who would like separate living and dining areas. So true, all so true. This one scheduled the showing all of 20 minutes in advance, a personal record of some kind. In the OH SO ANNOYING category: the house that's just like ours down the street that was for sale for 10k more than ours, is now under contract. OH SO ANNOYING. Probably the people who came into our house on Monday and complained it wasn't clean enough went ahead and put an offer on that one :P

An Open Letter to the Guy Who Showed my House Today

Dear Guy Who Showed My House Today,

I do not appreciate your feedback that my house "does not show as nicely" as the [empty] one of the same floorplan down the street, and that "it could be a little cleaner." It is possible that I may have left a changing pad on the dresser and a basket of laundry on top of the dryer, there may have been a few muddy dog prints by the back door, a stain of questionable origin on one of the bedspreads, and Rebecca may have left a wad of Play Doh on the kitchen counter unbeknownst to me. However, I have two kids with fevers at home today who I had to pile into the car along with the dog and sit in rain in the Wal Mart parking lot watching Cars on DVD, so that you, after requesting a showing with only 30 minutes advance notice, could tell me my house could be a little cleaner. And that your clients don't like my floorplan. You're lucky I let your sorry ass into my house at all.

Croup

You wouldn't know it to look at her, but this girl has croup! Yes, just three days after recovering from her weeklong fever/diarrhea illness, this apparently immune-deficient baby now has croup. She spent 5 hours in the emergency department with Joel Saturday night (midnight to five a.m. of course) where she received a breathing treatment and a prescription that turned out to be impossible to fill outside of the hospital, so that Joel had to return to the hospital to pick it up there after calling 10 different pharmacies none of which had it in stock.

She is currently doing much better, still coughing but not in the barking-seal way and not having difficulty breathing any more. Of course, this means more day care missed, and more work missed for Mom... because not only does Caroline have croup, but Rebecca must have the same virus because she woke up in the middle of the night last night with a 102 temperature, runny nose and cough. So I have not one, but two sick kids at home today, and likely tomorrow too. I am seriously considering throwing in the towel on this day care stuff and hiring a nanny instead.

Goooaaaal!

This is Becca moments after scoring the only goal of the game in yesterday's intense match up between the Tel Aviv Kickers and the Jaffa Jazz. I did not get a picture of the winning goal (nor actually did I take this picture) because I was in such disbelief that she would actually score when she got the ball, and also I was feeding the baby at the time. Joel missed the dramatic moment entirely because he was off picking up Caroline's medicine. We are so proud of you Becca! And thank you Melanie for the picture ;)