CVS-ing

For those of you who have not heard of "CVS-ing" this post is not going to mean anything to you, so just disregard it. My Oop for everything in the picture below was$48. The original MSRP? $169! I was lucky and got a really nice and patient clerk who allowed me to do all six of my transactions in one visit.

Deck

After debating for a few weeks, D and I decided to hire someone to build the structure of our new deck for us. The crew who did it was able to squeeze us into their busy schedule and finished the project in four days! Yes, I said four days! It took D and I longer to deliberate than it took them to build the darn thing. D is laying the flooring (which is now done) and will install the railings and steps himself. Does anyone remember how long it took us to build the deck on our last house? It took the two of us (I was able to help out alot because N wasn't born, yet.) with help from family and friends thirteen weeks to build our last deck. And we did it during one of the hottest summers on record no less.

The final grade is also being done on our yard right now. The unseasonably cool weather, rain, and wind have caused us to have to wait for both our driveway and our yard longer than you'd typically have to wait. Now that the weather is starting to cooperate the trades are getting to work as fast as they can to get caught up with all the projects they have scheduled. Fred, the guy who is leveling our yard worked on Saturday from 8-4 and Sunday from 8-2. I saw him working at our neighbors Monday from early in the morning until the sun went down around 8pm that night. We will be glad to have the yard leveled out so we can start planting grass. But, for now, N and I are spending a lot of time "diggin" in the dirt with our "shobels and buckets."

N loves being outside! He enjoys playing with our new bubble machine. He refers to bubbles as bubbles or moons interchangeably. He like pushing his "shoppin cart" around the driveway. I have reorganized his closet and drawers to very clearly designate his play clothes from his nice clothes. We have quite a few play clothes at the moment because we spend so much time in the dirt. N loves the fresh air and sunshine. It makes him happy and it helps him to sleep well at night. However, he is back into the habit of waking up at the crack of dawn almost every morning. Urgh! I guess he doesn't want to miss one moment of daylight.

We went to our local fair again this year. They hosted their first ever 5K race on Saturday morning. D and I ran it. N rode in the stroller with Daddy. We had to wake N up early to get to the race on time. He was a little cranky about being woken up, but he perked up once we got to the race. D said it was fun running with him because he talked about all of the things he saw as they ran. He pointed out the "X-vators" (excavators) and back hoes, made engine sounds to encourage Daddy to keep going, and talked about the birds he heard chirping in the "twees" (trees). Trees are very fascinating to him right now. We don't have any on our property yet, so there have been a few times N has stopped at a "tee" and looked up into it with amazement. Too funny. After the race we attended the sausage and pancake breakfast at the fair. Anyone who ran in the race got to eat a complimentary breakfast. It was sooo delicious! N and I eat healthy wheat pancakes and turkey sausage almost every morning for breakfast. The pancakes at the fair were "leaded" as my dad would say - no wheat, only white pancakes and pork sausage instead of turkey. Delish!! That night we went back to the fair to eat dinner with friends. N went to his first ever petting zoo and loved it! He liked it so much we went in twice. When he started hugging the animals we decided to leave. That was a little too friendly for me.. All I could think about were the germs and dirtiness he was collecting from the animals. Thank goodness for antibacterial foaming hand sanitizer. We decided that N doesn't know the difference between real animals and stuffed animals.

We have a driveway

fter six weeks of waiting we finally have our driveway! Yay! I never thought I'd be so happy to have a driveway. It's so much easier to play outside with N when we can use the driveway and sidewalks. N runs outside and heads straight for the sidewalk yelling "Sidewalk!!!" Having a driveway means that we track less dirt into the house, we can get the final grade done on our yard and we can start thinking about planting grass and landscaping. D has already started building a retaining wall in the back yard because the concrete pad by the back door is completed. We can walk on the concrete, but can't drive on it for two weeks, so we're still parking in the street, but we can work around that. We can also continue to get quotes on having our ducts cleaned. We were told we wouldn't be able to get our ducts cleaned until our driveway is done because the hoses used to do that work aren't long enough to extend from the truck (parked in the street) to the house. So, now that our concrete is done, we can move on with other things. :)

This too shall pass

Update on the swallowed fork...

For those of you who weren't at my husband's extended family's birthday party gathering yesterday I will give you the scoop. N and I were sharing a bowl of ice cream and cake. I had a plastic spoon in the bowl for N to eat from and a plastic fork in the bowl that I was going to use to eat with. Before I knew it N took the plastic fork, bit into it and bit off the tips of two of the fork tongs. He started to cry when the pieces were in his mouth, so I attempted to scoop them out of his mouth with my finger, but that didn't work. He ended up swallowing them.. Ugh!! N was breathing well, he did not choke or gag on the fork tongs, he continued eating (w/ a spoon), and started to play with the other kids again. Everyone collectively decided that he was probably okay and that we should watch his diapers for the fork pieces to pass. The things mommies and daddies do! D got the first dirty diaper, but no signs of fork pieces. I got the next diaper, nothing. Then, at about 9 this morning the fork pieces passed!!! Yay!! I brought the fork home with me so I could compare the missing pieces to the passed pieces. That way I would know when all the "foreign objects" (as the phone nurse at N's doctor referred to it) had passed. I compared the two and sure enough everything came out okay. The phone nurse at N's doctor said everything should be okay if he passed the objects without other symptoms. I'll spare you those details. She said to monitor his eating and his activity today. She's going to let N's doctor know of our phone conversation and if the doctor has any concerns they will call me back.

I cannot help but think of my Grandma Evelyn while writing this story. Whenever we're in a stressful or frustrating situation she always says "Honey, this too shall pass." Well, in this case, her wise words could not be more true!

Take care,
C