Random useless tidbits

Iris has her cardiologist appointment tomorrow. It's been two years since the last one and I hope we can go to every five years. My favorite of the pediatric cardiologists has since retired so we're seeing someone else. I remember him from the NICU. Favorite Cardiologist will be hard to top. He was just nurturing and kind and doted on Iris and one time I saw him at the car dealership with his adult daughter and he introduced us by name and, well, that's kind of miraculous.

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The kids have been counting down to Christmas since day 39 and the other night after I tucked her in, Iris said, "Merry Christmas, Mama!" They are jazzed.

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Aaaaaand now it's Sunday night but I started this post last Tuesday. 

Updates: Iris doesn't have to go back to the cardiologist for five years which is basically fantastic. They did an EKG but skipped an echocardiogram and we were no kidding in and out in 30 minutes.

M'kay.

See you sonsofbiscuits in when SHE'S TEN.

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Thanksgiving was lovely. We went to Ohio to see my dad's side of the family and it was only 45 minutes away from New Town instead of three hours and a helacious hotel stay. Hotels with kids just blow, man.

Anyway, the weather was super dicey Thursday night when we were driving back home--sheets of ice and white-out snowing in one stretch--and I basically turned shrill to T while he drove ("WHY ARE YOU DRIVING SO FAST?!") and the kids slept in the back. I'm sure that was fun for him.

In other Thanksgiving news, this was the first Thanksgiving in six years (ahem) that was relaxing and enjoyable. We didn't have to worry about fitting in someone's nap. We didn't have to think about a new walker and stairs and antiques being snagglepussed. We didn't have to worry about someone's super special eating needs. No diapers. No toddlers with little self-preservation or impulse control. 

Instead we sat. We actually ate two meals; with seconds! We chatted. T watched football. It was the bessssssst. Hands down.

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Tomorrow is our final walk through at the new house and this week I have to wire a mega crapton of money to the title company and I officially changed our address with the Postal Service and it appears it's all coming together.

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My Housewives of Beverly Hills have started up again and while they are collecting on my DVR, I'm thinking I'll meet up with them one day this week.

Brandi, I feel you, girl.

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Elphabet the Elf is showing up tonight. AKA: being dug out from behind my closet from where I stuffed him last week after Amazon delivered him.

See, this is Stunt Double Elphabet as the Original Elphabet is in storage in a pallet 30 minutes away.

At dinner Ezra kept saying, "I can't wait to see our elf tomorrow. Man, it's going to be a great day."

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In a rather awesome turn of events, T and I are going to Mexico the first week in February for a long weekend. We'll be gone Wednesday through Sunday and to say that I can't wait would really kind of be downplaying it.

One of T's closest friends recently got married in a civil ceremony, but now he and his wife are having a reception of sorts in Mexico. Ari was the best man in our wedding and perhaps one of the nicest men around. He sent the kids birthday cards when he was a bachelor!, for pete's sake.

Anyway, it was a bit chicken or egg in deciding to go: should we commit to the trip even though, um, we're just buying a house? But that is neither here nor there if my parents aren't even available?

My parents said, "GO!" Our bank account said, "I won't judge you." The travel agent said, "Here are direct flights!" So away we go!

I keep thinking we were just there, but yeah that was almost two years ago. I really can't wait and T has the crazy eyes so it'll be good for us both.

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One month from today we will officially be out of our apartment. This is insanepants for me to think about because I honestly feel as if I just unpacked and it was the kids and I hanging out this summer. But here it is almost December 1 and holy crap on a cracker those six months went fast.

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I turn 39 at the end of this week and that is also insane to think about. I have a mortgage and life insurance and small people to raise and college savings for them and get manicures and gray hair and all of that feels awfully, awfully adult.

In my head, though, I feel a bit younger. Smarter than I used to be which is win-win. I mean, sometimes I get caught up in a mental film loop highlighting My Life's Worst Choices and that highlight reel is a long one and I end up cringing and forcing it to stop. So...smarter! Phew.

But also a bit fatter. But happier! With me, with life, with T, with things.

Adulthood is kind of weird. You get to eat donettes whenever you want with zero hassle, but Verizon will hunt your ass down if you don't pay them. Ezra pays nothing. But he also gets none donettes. 

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I am having a greasy day which I think is due to: a) hormones and b) it was 61 degrees here today. 

Good heavens.

Admittance to loony bin in January

Last week I had the walk through with the builder's home warranty company to make a punch list of things I (we) want remedied before the final walk through and before we close. I went over the walls and edges with a fine tooth comb. We're paying this much for a house, nonsense better be perfect--no dings, no scratches, nada. Turns out we're also missing our shutters and some pieces of wood trim at the exterior peaks of the house. But other than those few things, the interior of the house looked pretty good. Exterior stuff is going to be kind of a hot mess until spring. Falling temps mean that materials--paint for our pillars, poured driveway, stone on our porch, grading the lot--just won't work and we'll have to wait until at least May. 

So we close Monday, December 8 and before our things are delivered from storage on the 22nd, I have a laundry list of things that need to be coordinated and completed. My paper calendar is full-up with notes (as God intended). 

• The painting will start on Tuesday the 9th and be completed the following week on the 19th.
• I am having a mirror company come out and remove the mirrors in the three bathrooms so that the painter can repair the wall, if needed, before the new mirrors are hung. Apparently, the mirrors are both screwed into the wall and glued. The hell.
• A company is coming out to clean and seal the basement floor (versus leaving it as untreated concrete).
• I am having an electrician come out and hang as many lights (there are eighteen total) as possible before my eyes bug out at the cost and ask T to handle the rest. 
• The large pieces of furniture I ordered--the kitchen table and chairs, the couch, the leather chair--are being delivered.
• I am having Mr. Handyman come out to hang the three new bathroom mirrors, assemble Iris' bookshelf, Ezra's bookshelf and Ezra's desk.
• The IKEA furniture I ordered (Iris' day bed, my desk and hutch, guest room bed, two mattresses) for delivery and assembly will arrive on Friday the 12th. 
• We're having the closets installed in Iris' room and our room on Friday the 19th.

The items above are falling into one of two camps. Camp One: I am not a professional, and a professional will simply do it better and with less cussing (see: painting, closets, furniture assembly). Camp Two: I have no idea how to do that and T is gone so I'm throwing money at the task (see: basement, mirrors, lights, furniture assembly again).

In the meantime, I've purchased enough things for the new house that our apartment is looking turrible. 

No, really. I posted a picture on Instagram earlier last week and then shit got real and now our bedroom is packed. The apartment eating area is holding seven different curtain rods and curtains and our new bar cart. We had to scoot up our couch because--and I for real want to type the next run-on sentence in all caps--Target dot com is the largest circus on the face of the earth and run by rat weasels and they delivered our bed early and to the wrong address and emails from them held completely inaccurate information and now our heavy as HAYL king sized bed that we have no room to store in our apartment is sitting behind our couch and it's ridiculous.

 

Target dot come can eat my pants. And lord help me if they try to deliver a second bed on the actual time frame and at the actual address communicated to them earlier. 

So yeah. Today I managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done and wrapped--minus the kids' teachers and the two school secretaries. I was going to have it all ordered and wrapped by Amazon and then shipped to my parent's house, but then some things were going to be fulfilled by a third party seller and gift wrap wasn't an option. And then I realized that the kids stocking stuffers would be in the same blue Amazon wrap and my house of Santa lies would come crashing down around me. Mentally, it became too much to keep track of so instead of grocery shopping for the week, today I went to Target and three other stores and knocked that biznass out. Bam. Done. I told no one to enter the bedroom and wrapped everything in a few hours. I have loaded it all into my car trunk and will dump it in my parent's trunk when we see them for Thanksgiving. 

And as I start to think beyond Christmas, I'm not entirely sure when I will pack up our apartment things. I hope to sell some things on on CL beforehand, move whatever I can fit in my car to the house after we close, and leave everything else for the movers. I guess? Yeah. Or throw it all in Hefty bags like in college when I moved between dorms. 

Some pictures:

Ezra in his room

Iris in her room

Master bedroom

 

And then she turned five

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me

--Emily Dickinson

Birth



Age One






Age Two





Age Three






Age Four






Age Five

His precious heart

This morning I received a call from the social worker at Ezra's school. 

Gut drop #1: school number appearing on my phone. 

Gut drop #2: the school social worker introducing himself to you.

But, as it turns out, the social worker wants to "train" Ezra to work with a classmate whom Ezra has shown some interest in befriending and helping. The classmate has a number of physical and learning impairments, but--according to the social worker--Ezra goes out of his way to help him in the lunch room, give him high-fives, say "hello," and asks to be his reading buddy.

So Mr. Andrew is going to coach Ezra on other ways to help this classmate, both socially and academically, that are appropriate for age six.

Kindness is so important to me and though I feel like I do so many things wrong in parenting Ezra, I feel as if imparting the lesson of kindness to others might be something that is going okay.

Fall adventures: pumpkin patching, fall zoo trip, and stir-fry

Maybe a kitchen will inspire me to cook dinner?

After school the kids and I stopped at the house today and things are chugging right along. We could only go into the kitchen and dining room as they were laying the wood floor and tile elsewhere. 

It's hard to believe that we have our punch list walk-through with the home warranty company in just two and a half weeks, then the final walk through on December 1 and closing on December 8. I am determined to not "lose" the holidays in all of the house whatnot. I love the holidays so much. November and December are my two favorite months ever. Along with May and June because of spring time.

Anyway, pictures!