I ramble too much to think of one

N stayed home from school today because he was complaining that his stomach hurts. He seems fine now, and I wish he had gone to school. Every time he misses school, it seems like it takes him a week to get his homework all caught up.

I couldn't go to the gym this morning since I had to stay home with N. If I'm lucky, there will be time after giving the kids baths tonight.

K just walked into the computer room with a nickel-sized button battery in her mouth. I have no idea where she found it. I think they contain mercury, but the battery doesn't seem to be breached. Probably N or J left some toy around that K broke into and stole the battery. Yesterday she was wandering around with N's cheapy digital camera. Raising babies can be very stressful. Keeping choke hazards and other inappropriate items away was easier with N and J because we didn't have older kids leaving stuff around.

This afternoon, K was wandering around with Brenna's (the cat's) glass custard bowl that I put canned cat food into every morning. She was leaving a wet trail as she walked. I quickly discovered she had dumped Brenna's water all over herself and her diaper was poopy. Fortunately, I got the glass bowl away before it was broken. Hopefully she didn't eat any of Brenna's food, but I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't help herself.

K is sort of hard on Brenna. I try to teach her to stay away, but she can't resist hitting her in an effort to pet her and pulling on her ears and tail. One thing I try especially hard to teach her is to leave Brenna alone when she's eating, and to stay away from her food area (see how I fail). Brenna doesn't mind being touched while she eats, but a lot of animals will bite under those circumstances, and I want K to learn not to bug animals while they eat so she doesn't even think about trying it on a different animal.

Enough for now; I have to put dinner together.

None

I was going to type a bit. I thought K was amused, playing with N and J. They've since gone outside, and she's trying to hit the keyboard every chance she gets, which makes typing difficult.

We've had warm weather today. I think we've gotten well in to the 80s. It's sunny and lovely.

J had Lunch Bunch today so I didn't pick her up from preschool until 2 p.m. I think I'm coming down with something along with my seasonal allergies. K and I fell asleep around 1 p.m., and I didn't wake up until the timer on my stove went off at 1:45 p.m. so I could gather up K and go get J.

J didn't want to nap when she got home (I'd been hoping). She doesn't nap any more. I had been hoping she and K would nap so I could go back to sleep. Instead she wanted to play Monopoly. She beat me. It was quite a torture. I have to tell her what the total is on the dice every time she rolls, and I have to handle her money for her since she can't count it up yet. I almost ought to just play two characters by myself. I'm not sure why J likes to play it.

Mr. K's family is coming for a visit early next month. They're planning to arrive the evening of Holy Thursday, and leave on that Saturday after only spending a day here. We are about 700 miles away. They are driving. This is very typical for them to spend more time in the car getting here and going home than they actually spend with us. We are looking forward to seeing them, but not getting our hopes up. Except for Kate's baptism, they've canceled last minute each time they've planned to visit since their visit for J's second birthday.

My mom is planning to visit later in April. She'll stay for several days. I'm still working at arranging my sterilization surgery to be during her visit. If I can't get it this April, it will have to wait until April 2008 when she visits again.

Nick's Party

Nick's party went fine. I was pretty much the only one to eat the hummus or the vegetables, but the grapes, Doritos, and pastry crust-wrapped cocktail wieners were well-received. None of the adults stayed, which is probably why the vegetables were untouched except for by me.

I had three activities planned, but we only ended up doing one of them, which was fine with me. I had come up with stuff to do in case everyone was sitting around bored. What went over well was the hunting for pennies I had scattered around in a certain area in the back yard. I had dumped several handfuls of them--probably at least 300. The boys hunted for them. The girls stayed inside and played well together. I was glad I had invited the sisters of two of the boys. J had a much better time since she had girls her own age to play with. Otherwise she would have bugged the boys, and they would have beaten her up for being annoying.

We had a slight problem at the end--one of the boys got stung by one of Mr. K's honey bees while he was trying to catch a bee in N's new insect vacuum. His mom was already here to pick him up. I heard he cried all the way home. His sister left her jacket here, so when his mom comes by for it, Mr. K has prepared a little bear of honey for the boy in hopes he won't hate the bees.

Still none

thed
I, J, and K went to the zoo yesterday with friends of ours while N was in school. I've got a very slight sunburn on one of my arms where my t-shirt ended. I really haven't been out in the sun at all this year. Hopefully neither of my girls burned. I put sunblock on all of us. K is a little pink, but I don't think she actually burned.

I've been trying to get the house together for N's birthday party tomorrow. I've got a lot left to do. I don't notice how messy my house is until I know other people will be seeing it. I've tried to get N and J to clean their rooms, but they seem to have gone deaf each time I open my mouth. Later I'll have to start yelling or just making them stay in their rooms until they pick them up.

Mr. K is going to take N to get a haircut when he gets back from the animal feed store. N has a haystack on his head right now, as can be seen in this picture from his birthday on Thursday.

I guess N had a good birthday. He had his cupcakes at school, and I bought him a cake for our dinner. We went to IHOP for dinner (YUCK!), but the kids loved it. J got him three presents at the dollar store, which was good because Mr. K and I didn't get him much since having an actual party costs so much. I've got him frozen pastry puff wrapped cocktail wieners (too lazy to make my own), cans of pop (Coke and Sprite), small bottles of bottled water (we usually drink tap water but most people around here don't because it tastes bad), vegetables for a vegetable tray, I'll make hummus later today (and probably be the only one willing to eat it), birthday cups, plates, and napkins, and I'll make another cake later today for which I've spent about $5 getting candy letters to write "Happy Birthday Nick" and to decorate it with candy frogs and insects. Another large expense was buying the stuff for the goodie bags to give the guests at the end of the party. Nick helped me fill them last night.

Well, I've had enough of a break. Cleaning awaits me!

None

I took K out yesterday and got her new shoes. She can barely stand in them, let alone walk, so I don't think she likes them. I think it will take her a while to learn to walk with shoes on. I much prefer she wears shoes when she goes outside.

N's birthday is tomorrow. I need to make his cupcakes today that I will drop off tomorrow morning at his school so he can have cupcakes at lunch. I don't have his present wrapped yet, and I need to get that done before I pick J up from preschool because if she sees what it is, she'll tell him "accidentally."

All five of N's guests are supposed to be able to attend his party on Sunday. Two of his guests are the younger sisters of his friends that will come to play with J. She's excited about the party, too. I'll be glad when it's over. I'm not used to having seven kids running around.

That reminds me I'm supposed to run by Staples on my way to pick up J to look for a pencil sharpener for N's birthday. I guess I'd better run. I just never seem to find time with both hands free (not holding K) to use the computer much these days.

Proof Kate Can Walk

We had a nice, sunny day, and I took the girls over to the neighbor's house and took photos. My neighbor doesn't have chicken poop all over his yard the way I do. Anyway, I was able to catch this picture of K that to me demonstrates she is walking now.

Counter top resolved

When Mr. K got home, he told me that the delivery guys called him when they were done with the job they were doing when I spoke with them and told them we had the wrong counter. Apparently they had two counter tops in their truck, and they left the wrong one. They came back to our rental while Mr. K was there and swapped the counter tops so the problem is solved.

Warm up and counter top mis-delivery

N and J are out in the yard trying to catch bugs, worms, or grubs. It's still pretty cold out (40s) so I don't think they'll have much luck until later today, when we should reach the 60s. When Mr. K gets back from the rental late this afternoon, he's going to take the kids fishing so J wants to get a lot of worms. She's been talking about going fishing all week. They'll just walk the 1/8 of a mile down the road to the creek to go fishing--nothing fancy.

We are having problems getting our kitchen counter top at the rental. We got it at Lowes, but a subcontractor fabricated it. When it was done, the subcontractor called me to deliver it. They don't deliver on Saturdays, they won't deliver to a vacant house because they need a signature, and they can't just deliver it within an hour of when I say. No one can be there for hours on end during the week, waiting for them. First of all, there are no toilets. Second of all, I'm usually waiting for a school bus or taking someone to or from preschool. I'm just not on call at every moment during a four-hour block of time to run out there at a moment's notice.

I arranged (for an extra $65) to have the countertop delivered to Lowes, and then to have Lowes deliver the counter top on a Saturday (today). Also, Mr. K left the key to the place in the mailbox just in case we couldn't get out there in time. The delivery people were supposed to call me at my home number this morning between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. to let me know what time (approximately) they would be coming. I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. so I could shower before the call came in to assure I wouldn't miss it if I was in the shower (Mr. K sleeps through the phone). If they were going to deliver the counter later in the day, I had also given them Mr. K's cell phone number so they could reach him before arriving. At 7:45 a.m., my home phone rang. They were calling to tell me they'd be there in five minutes. I said it would be more like 20 before I could get there, so they'd have to use the key to get in. They said they had called around 7:00 a.m. to let me know the delivery time range, but they had used the cell phone number (their instructions were entered wrong and they used the wrong phone number for the early call). The cell phone doesn't go on until Mr. K gets up. Anyway, I'd have met them there if they'd have called here first. I was ready.

They called me back a little later. They couldn't find the place. The directions they had told them to use a certain (numbered) street. I said that number was completely wrong, and not at all what I told the lady entering directions. I gave them the correct instructions.

They called me once they had it delivered. Mr. K had just left for the rental so he missed them.

At about 8:45 a.m., Mr. K called me and told me it wasn't the correct counter top. It was straight, and ours was an L. It had the name of a different customer on it. Fortunately I had the delivery guy's cell number because we now have caller ID. I called him back and told him it wasn't the correct counter top, and that it even had someone else's name on it. I gave him Mr. K's cell phone number and told them he'd be there for a while and it would be best if they came and got it.

I'm hoping they will. I have no idea where our counter top is. I'm hoping we can get this sorted out for a delivery next Saturday if Mr. K is available to work on the place all day then (doesn't have to work for his own business). I'm not sure if I need to call Lowes myself, but it probably won't hurt.

The good thing is that we aren't anywhere near ready to rent the place. This delay isn't likely to delay our putting it on the rental market. Still it's very frustrating.

Life

N complained of stomach pain and didn't go to school today. He's supposed to remain in his room, but he keeps forgetting.

J had Lunch Bunch today, so she was gone to school until 2 p.m. K refused to nap during that time.

I think I've got a plumber lined up to put in the plumbing at our new rental house. Of course, I'll believe it when I see the plumbing working. That will be fantastic, and will put us much closer to having the place ready to rent. Right now we don't even have the water turned on.

I ordered ten pairs of underwear from Victoria's Secret (nothing fancy but the colors). It saved having to go to the mall and pick through whatever they happened to have in stock while entertaining K. I did have to pay shipping and postage, though. So far I've thrown out seven pairs of old, holey underwear, and I imagine there are more that were in my laundry. It will be great to have intact underwear for a while. I think I let it go a little to far this time. Of course, after giving birth, one does want to wear old underwear for a while, but K has her first birthday next month so there is no excuse any more. I'll probably end up on Victoria's Secret's mailing list for a while. Hopefully N is too young to notice the catalogs. I'm not sure at what age boys develop an interest in women in underwear. N will be seven later this month. I'm hoping we have another seven years, but I have no idea what is normal.

Dinner will be leftovers. I made four bone-in chicken breasts for dinner last night. We only ate two of them. I don't want them to go to waste so that's dinner again tonight. I love easy dinners. Tomorrow is supposed to be hot dogs. I don't like them, but they're easy.

I've put the invitations to N's three friends in the mail today to invite them to N's birthday party. Hopefully they'll all be able to come. I've told Mr. K that her really needs to stay home that afternoon. I don't want to be home alone running the birthday party.

Sunday was my tenth anniversary. We all went to Lone Star. Mr. K and I had steak. The kids had chicken strips. It was good. Mr. K forgot his Lactaid, and I think he ate a little of the cheese in the salad, and I'm guessing the mashed potatoes had sour cream or something in them because he got sick afterwards. I'm hoping the kids don't end up with Mr. K's dairy sensitivity. It's rather inconvenient, but at least with Lactaid, he can eat dairy.

K took a dozen steps today before falling. It's the most she's ever done. We all start clapping after she walks. K claps, too. Really she doesn't spend much time trying yet.

None

Not much is going on here. Spring is getting closer. I have lots of yellow crocuses in bloom around the yard, and a couple daffodils are blooming. The weather isn't extremely cold any more, but it isn't yet what I'd call warm.

The big tip-off that spring is on its way is that my seasonal allergies are coming on strong. I feel like itching my whole face, especially my eyes. K seems to have seasonal allergies too. Mostly her nose is running a lot. I've got that, too. Benadryl works well for me, but it makes me tired. It's good for night time, but not daytime. Claratin does nothing for me, and it doesn't make me tired. I talked to a pharmacist today who suggested Allegra as another non-drowsy alternative, but that requires a prescription. I've called my doctor's office to see if she'll prescribe it. I'm hoping she won't need to see me first; she did a complete physical in October so she's pretty up-to-date about my health.

I saw my ob/gyn this past Tuesday to see about sterilization. I'm hoping to get that done in April at a time when my mom can come for a visit. I'm terrified of surgery, though, and I dread the recovery. I hate how I feel when I'm pregnant, I don't want any more children, I'm sick of worrying all the time about an oops, and I'm terrified of going through labor so even though I'm also terrified of surgery, it beats another pregnancy when I have the exact number of children I want.