Monday, March 29

Boo on you Bank of America

So we were considering refinancing our house to a 10 year loan. Then about 2 weeks ago they said...oh our bad you need to pay $400 to get your house appraised. We said, screw that and asked them to close the account. Fast forward to today and we get a notice in the mail that we were denied credit and could get free copies of our credit reports.

Daniel called Bank of America and they stated that we were denied because we were trying to increase our monthly payment by more than 20% of our current payment. He told them that we asked them to close the request, and the guy said he would email our mortgage broker.

I sent them a pissed email. I mean really. If there was no way we should have been able to get the mortgage, why did you mess with us for a month and make us get copies of our tax returns, bank balances, etc. Ugh.

I want to refinance to another lender just to screw them out of the interest they are currently getting from us. Jerk faces.

Even Daniel felt offended when he was on the phone, and he is the one that stays calm in these situations. We might have to refinance to make it so they don't get any more interest from us. Insulting.

Friday, March 26

Thomas is Famous!






Well, he has entered the world of Facebook. Not thanks to us or anything. Thomas and I went to a baby shower a couple of weekends ago. Thomas was the youngest baby there, and so he captured the eye of the photographer quite quickly. And ignore my un-ironed shirt. I had a baby 2 months ago and can't be expected to iron for at least 4 more months.

In other news...this week has been a lazy one. There are green things popping up from some bulbs I planted last year as well as the tulips. We had a bunch of crocus bloom that I didn't plant near the trees, but I had not seen before this year.

Alice has started climbing things, experiencing peril, and falling. It leads to bruises.

She has also been iffy on sleeping at night lately. Though last night it was only 15 minutes of silent return before she climbed in bed and slept. Though she hasn't been getting enough sleep and I sometimes want to strangle her and her tantrums. Two year olds are trials.

Oh and I was the speaker at our Relief Society Birthday Party...for all 4 wards in town. It was pretty intimidating. Plus I was the first part of the program. It was me, a musical number, then a short video. Yeah, when I found out the details I was a little scared. And I got a new calling. But it won't be official until Sunday. So there might be lots of objections. Teehee. If that happened I would laugh.

Saturday, March 20

Welcome Spring!

And welcome snow. Oh yes, its a winter wonderland out there. We are supposed to get another 2.2 inches in the next 24 hours. Fun Times!

This week Daniel fixed Alice's dresser. I finished cleaning and organizing her room. And, she has started taking naps again. Ah the beauty of sticking someone in a crib and letting them cry until they fall asleep. Of course that means she thinks bedtime can be a nap and will wake up at 10pm ready to play with toys. *sigh* One step at a time.

Our room is almost completely pretty. I moved some things around ti give the seeds we planted a sunny window out of Alice's reach. Daniel has an entire drawer full of shorts. He wore shorts to work on Friday because he has so many pairs of them.

I cleaned behind the washer and dryer this week. The vent hose fell off when I was pulling out the dryer, so I cleaned that out as well. Two words. Grape skins. Nasty. But I vacuumed them all up and cleaned out the lint in there as well. I think I found about 20 tiny baby socks under there. Plus 5-10 pens under the dryer. I moved it back after I mopped and Alice immediately started putting some 'treasures' under the dryer including a pen. At least I know why I find these pack rat things.

I also sent through all my sewing fabric stuff and put a huge bag of it together to give away. Including that we have several boxes of stuff, a crib that has drop sides and needs bolts, a box of dishes, and all of our VHS tapes. I plan on adding the VCR and tape rewinder and getting rid of the whole thing. We never use it, and it takes up space. Plus if we don't have the VHS tapes we have more room for DVDs which I am currently into buying. A lot.

Thomas had his 2 month check up yesterday. He is more than 2 feet tall! And sticking with the 80th percentile for length. However his weight was only 12lbs 13oz. I know that my SSRI's have a side effect of decreasing milk production and if the babies stop gaining weight you have to adjust dosage. Lets hope this weight thing is a fluke and he will get back up into his weight curve at his 4 month appointment.

We moved a bunch of food storage upstairs and under Alice's bed. Today we will move the stuff from the computer room up. Then watch lots of movies. And be snowed in. That is the life of one that lives in flat states.

Sunday, March 14

We got Spam!

Oh yes, its true. On our previous post some random 'bathroom sprayer' company left a spam message. I left it up. It makes me feel popular.

I have started spring cleaning. To the extent that I am purging our house. Our closets are more empty and organized. I almost have all the maternity clothes put away (I need to check the dresser one more time for any hiding t-shirts). I even cleaned the dishwasher a few days ago. Yes, the house is getting more clean/organized. Though the main living room has suffered. I have spent the better part of the week upstairs going through closets and dressers and Alice has had free reign of the living room. 'Tis the down side of only owning one TV. She has spent time upstairs as well, but she has had plenty of toy time in the living room with me not stopping her.

Some crocus bulbs I planted 2 years ago are up and blooming! They didn't really grow last year so I thought they were dead. Looks like i was wrong! Yay. Also, the tulips are poking their heads out of the leaves in the flower beds. I cleared the garden bed of all the remaining dead plants and a few (live) lettuce plants. I am moving the lettuce, so it had to go. We also started our seeds this week. We have 2 varieties of tomatoes, onions, eggplant, cilantro, basil, spearmint, wild strawberries and some other herbs. I am pretty excited for the wild strawberries. They are supposed to be perennials and I know they are somewhat shade tolerant since I have seen them growing in wooded parks in town.

As for Thomas, he is getting bigger and can now hold his head up for quite a while. He is still a champion sleeper which I appreciate. Alice thinks he is awesome, and sometimes I think he just cries out of fear of her shrieks rather than because she has hurt him. I am sure that will pass.

I am working on building up our food storage again. We are moving it from our computer room to Alice's room under her bed. That will give us more room downstairs, and use a space that currently just accumulates books, toys, and other junk she hoards.

I think that sums up the week. So long recently ignored blog.

Tuesday, March 2

March Madness!

Ok, so this isn't about basketball much to the chagrin of many Lawrence residents. But, is this blog ever about anything but us? Its a rare, rare, thing.

We ran out of bread this morning, so I am making rolls. While I was measuring away in the kitchen getting coated in flour, Alice was measuring cheese in the living room. Oh yes, all over the carpet.

You see, Alice has this problem. She is really bad at getting things out of the container. She just can't grab them and get them out very successfully.

So, she dumps.

No worries that its going to waste. I am letting her eat it. Perhaps, I should retitle this "Bad Parenting 101." I will vacuum after she starts throwing it around. Hopefully I notice before she puts a handful in the clean and folded diapers. Nothing makes things get unfolded like shaking out cheese.

Meanwhile, fat Thomas (who went through 4 diapers in an hour this morning) is passed out in his crib upstairs. Don't worry, he has his own share of messes. Namely a 3 wipe diaper change yesterday. It would have only been a 2 wipe poo, had he not decided he had more poo in him. Oh yes, the wonders of a breastfed baby regulating their system. It is a mighty thing to behold.

Speaking of poo, we LOVE our diaper sprayer. LOVE LOVE LOVE. And the new diaper detergent I ordered online. Rockin Green. If I could laud the wonders of that stuff for $ or detergent I would. Instead I shall pay for it and still laud the fact that diapers only take 2 hours start to finish. Rockin Green rocks my socks off. And with that, the perfect child has awoke. Most likely wet again. I think I shall start laundry with Rockin Green.