jennanddave.com

We're all sick. I got it yesterday evening and Dave got it at 1:30 this morning. For the very first time in four years, Dave actually cancelled his classes. He didn't even cancel classes for the birth of his kid, that's how dedicated he is. And, apparently, how sick he is. We didn't score any major parenting points today because Henry watched many hours of television, unless of course you're giving out points for hours of television watching in which case we definitely win. Megan brought us Gatorade and offered to take Henry off of our hands for a while but we didn't want her catching whatever it is we've got, especially since she's hopefully going to be going into labor any minute now.

I'm feeling better this evening but Dave's laying on our pull-out sofa bed looking very much like a truck is in the process of running him over. Poor guy.

Posted by Jenn at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday Henry was fine. This afternoon after his nap he stood by the fireplace, tooted, then squirted, then gave me a wide-eyed, finger in the mouth look as if to say: "Did you hear that? Why are you looking at me like I did it? It wasn't me! Honest! I think it was the dog."

So things seem to have shifted southward which is a bit more dastardly. At least when your kid throws up you know that it's happened. When there's a diaper and pants covering the silent but deadly action it's a little harder to tell.

I'm not sure what happened between yesterday and today. Maybe whatever bug he has needed a little time to recoup some energy to come back for a last little party. I can't help but stand back and try to look at things objectively. Two things that Sunday and today have in common:

1. It started snowing five minutes before Henry got sick on both days. Seriously. You should see the beautiful flakeage falling outside right now.

2. It happened right after getting up from his nap.

Thus, I can only conclude that he either needs to stop napping or it needs to stop snowing. Kind of a tough choice. Oh, wait, no it's not.

Stop snowing already!

Posted by Jenn at 04:48 PM | Permalink

Yesterday afternoon while Henry was napping I washed most of the downstairs windows. They're beautiful. I don't know what came over me. I was dead tired but couldn't sit still. I also filled all of the bird feeders. No great shakes, but I'd been meaning to do it for days so it was nice to just get it done. At 4:15 I was contemplating cleaning the last two windows downstairs when I heard Henry crying. I grabbed his clothes (I was also doing laundry) and went upstairs. When I opened the door I found him sitting cross-legged in the middle of his crib covered in vomit and shaking. It's an interesting conundrum, being faced with a vomit-covered kid. On the one hand you want to grab him and hug him and try to make him feel better. On the other, when the stench hits you like a truck as you open the door to his room, you don't actually really want to go near him.

I took his clothes off while he was in his crib and got him into the bathtub. Poor kid was so upset. The bath helped warm him up and calm him down. After we got him dressed he noticed it was snowing so he stood in front of the window, pointing outside and chattering the whole time. I gave him some water and Cheerio's. He took a few sips and ate a few bites then fifteen minutes later it all came back up again. When Dave got home from work I went out to the store and stocked up on sick kid stuff: crackers, chicken soup, Pedialyte, Elmo DVD. While I was out Dave gave him some oatmeal which he kept down. We gave him a couple of noodles which he threw up. Around seven Dave read him a story which Henry barely stayed awake for, then we tucked him in.

Around two in the morning I was still awake because it was so dry upstairs. I went searching for the humidifier which Dave found. We decided to set it up in the hallway so Henry could get a little moisture too. While we were putting it together I sniffed the air and asked Dave if he had tooted. He was naturally offended and denied that he had. I said that it smelled kind of bad then sniffed my way into Henry's room. I leaned over the crib and wow did he ever stink. We pulled him out for a stealth diaper change (it's been a long time since we've had to do that), thinking the whole time that he was probably going to be up for the night what with all the excitement of being pulled out of bed. Instead, he went right back to sleep. Not even a peep was heard for the rest of the night.

Today he's feeling much better. He's keeping everything down. We're not getting up to anything exciting today, just hanging out, convalescing, playing with toys, watching some Teletubbies.

Posted by Jenn at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ask and you shall receive:

Posted by Jenn at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

henry and i went for a walk to libby's (no stroller!). when we got there libby said "Hi Henry!" and he burst into tears, walked over to her book section, collapsed on the floor, stretched out face down, then cried his little heart out for a little bit. it was...ummm...interesting. i brought snacks and that helped him settle down. this is probably why people go on emotionally driven food binges, because when they were 17 months old their mom's gave them food to calm them down during tantrums. on the way home we crossed through the park where he started picking up pine cones and handing them to me. it became obvious he was on a mission to pick up every single one and it crossed my mind that we'd be there forever, that by the time he'd finished picking them all up spring, summer, and fall would have gone by and that just as we were walking out of the park in our tattered clothes a pine cone would fall from the tree, hitting Henry on the head, thus starting the cycle over again. where was i going with this? ah yes, after we left the park Henry wanted to go left but home was right. when i steered him homeward he went on another hysterical crying jag that last the entire three blocks home plus another ten minutes in the house. what did i do to calm him down? gave him lunch. there i went and did it again.

i'm joining a playgroup. they meet on monday mornings. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, given my antisocial tendencies. also, i'm looking forward to henry getting out there and doing some social networking. perhaps next year there will be some actual kids at his birthday party and i can get all freaked out about baking the perfect cake and having the best party favors. and we'll have to get a pinata because i always wanted one and why not live vicariously through my kid? plus, there's nothing like a bunch of two-year olds wielding sticks. oh, and we'll be sure to record the whole thing because what screams america's funniest home video's more than a good pinata accident which means of course we'll win the $10,000 grand prize and then we'll be able to buy that boat we've always wanted. yes, the playgroup is going to be very good for us.

jenn

Posted by Jenn at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How would you all like a Henry story that has absolutely no point? I thought you would.

Remember how I mentioned that we've managed to train Henry to get the dog food out of the cabinet when it's time to feed Flash? It's now officially one of his top ten favorite things to do, and is also directly related to another item on that list which is "Watching Flash eat". At first I was all "Wow, he's already helping out with chores. Having a kid is totally paying off way sooner than I thought it was going to!" but now it's started to backfire a bit. (Also, I should confess that having a kid started paying off a few months before Henry could eat stuff other than cereal and pureed fruits and veggies because once in a while at the deli counter when they'd ask if Henry would like a piece of cheese, I'd say yes, then eat it myself.)

Last night, about an hour after we fed Flash, Henry came into the kitchen, picked up her dog dish and handed it to me, saying "Uh-uh-uh-uh!". He had apparently noticed that I always clean the bowl before putting food in it so his "Uh-uh-uh-uh" came across as "Here's the bowl. Can you clean it so we can feed the dog, please?" I took the dish then explained to him that we only feed Flash twice a day and that since we'd already fed her dinner we would have to wait until tomorrow morning before giving her food again. He waited patiently for me to stop talking then walked over to the cabinet and pulled out our giant bag of dog food, a sound that piqued Flash's interest, demonstrated by the fact that she propelled herself with such force from the couch that she skidded all the way into the kitchen from the living room. I took the bag from Henry then ran through the whole "can't feed her until morning" explanation again, then put it up on the counter. He watched me intently for a while. So did Flash. I briefly thought about how I was actively disappointing both my dog and my kid all at the same time and whether or not that's a marketable skill, then turned back to the sink to continue washing some pots and pans. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him head over to Flash's water dish. I turned and said "No!" just as he picked it up. Then he turned it over. Water went everywhere and right in the middle of a massive puddle was my kid. He looked around at the wet floor and his wet feet, then he handed the bowl to me, said "Uh-uh-uh-uh!", and walked over to where the bag of food was on the counter. Although I spent the next few minutes drying him and the floor off instead of feeding the dog, I think he scored major points with Flash just for giving it a shot.

Posted by Jenn at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since Sunday I've been experiencing intermittent yet sharp pains in my stomach. I can't figure out what it is. Yesterday afternoon it occurred to me that maybe Megan's gone into labor and I'm having sympathy pains. Can friends have sympathy pains? Probably not. Anyway, I mentioned my theory to her last night and she said she definitely wasn't in labor, which was disappointing but also a relief because she said it as she was driving us to a meeting we attended two or three towns away and really, it wouldn't be a good idea to be driving away from the hospital if you happen to be in labor. It's probably just gas brought on by too many nacho's, the fact that the Colts are going to the Superbowl, and the .1345567568 inches of snow we got yesterday. Snow really wreaks havoc on my digestive system. Not really, but why not say it anyway?

Did I mention we got a new camera on Saturday? It's a Panasonic Lumix and I'd tell you the particulars but then I'd have to get up and go find it. I love it. It's really user-friendly. It's got all of these pre-sets for different settings you may find youself in such as: candlelight, night sky, fireworks, self-portraits, etc. This is great because I know nothing about photography, especially not photography with a digital camera. I'm a point-and-clicker. In fact, the pictures that are currently waiting to be downloaded are indicative of what I'm going to be using it for: 237 pictures of my kid taking a bath, plus two movies in which I unsuccessfully try to cajole him into performing.

Posted by Jenn at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know that because I'm a Boston girl I should be rooting for the Pats, and normally I do (although recently I've been known to cheer on the Eagles, but since it embarrasses Dave, we won't talk about that). However, for the past two years, once we get to this point in the playoffs, I've switched my allegiance and rooted for the Colts because I think Peyton Manning is really cute. Having confessed that, I just have to ask, could tonight's game be any more exciting? The Colts just tied the game 21 to 21 and there was much cheering (me) and groaning (him). We're now at the point in the game where Dave's not sure he can stand to watch the rest of it. And since we're on the subject of Dave, when we first got married he said he didn't like football. At all. And now? The other night after the game he kept the remote hidden from me so he could watch the post-game press conference and commentary. What's up with that? What happened to the man I married?

Posted by Jenn at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been feeling like I don't have much to say lately, hence the downturn in the number of posts. It's been a tiring week. Dave's semester started and it was quite the kick in the pants. We had gotten pretty used to the routine we settled into over the Fall. Having the clock alarm go off at 7AM on Wednesday was not fun. It'll get easier as we get used to it again. In the meantime, it's just tiring.

Henry's been exceptionally cute lately. Ever since the tooth sprouted he's been sleeping much better at night, which probably explains his good mood. The other day I pulled out the broom to sweep up in the living room, kitchen, and dining room and he went absolutely nuts. Every day since, he's pulled the broom out of the back room and wandered around the house with it. Once in a while he'll pull it onto a rug and when he can't push it off (the bristles get caught in the loops of the fabric), he has a total meltdown. Other times he'll bring it to me with great purpose, hand it over, then wait for me to do something with it. I don't know what, but he waits with great expectation. I show him how to sweep and the reaction I get indicates that I'm not at all doing whatever it is he wants me to do.

He's still not saying anything other than "yes". It's a really great word to know because with it Henry can indicate everything he wants. He'll point to his cup and say "Yes" if he wants more milk. When we ask him if he's done with dinner, he says "Yes" then frantically tries to help us help him get out of his chair as quickly as possible. The other evening I asked him if he was ready to take a bath and go to bed and he tossed his toy aside, ran to the stairs, said "Yes!", then waited for me to come over and help him up the steps. He did the same thing this afternoon for his nap. I did a little happy dance and then tucked him in. A couple of weeks ago my mom described a dream my dad had. My dad was sleeping (in his dream) and Henry toddled into their bedroom, poked my dad to wake him up and said "What's up?". My dad said "So you *can* talk?" and Henry said "Yes." Seems probable.

Although he's the strong, silent type so far, Henry does understand a lot of what we say to him. He'll get out the bag of dog food if we ask him to. He closes doors. If we tell him to hold onto the banister as we go up or down the stairs he will. He can operate our dvd player. When I ask him if he wants a snack, he'll go tearing into the kitchen, wait by the cabinet that has his snacks, then run back into the living room to stand impatiently by the coffee table until I bring him his plate. He's also learning new words all the time. I noticed this week that I spent a lot of time labeling things for him as we walked around the house. He's soaking it all up at an alarming rate. He can point to the floor, the ceiling, a blanket, a lamp, a kitten, and yet when you ask him where his nose is, he tugs on his ears, even though he knows what ears are. Strange.

I can't believe how much he's changed over the last few months. He looks so much like a little boy and so much not like a baby anymore. When did that happen?

Posted by Jenn at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...dyed my hair. I had some serious roots showing. My hair grows really fast which is part of the reason why I don't get my hair professionally dyed. I'd have to go all the time and I can't afford to do that. This year I've resolved to stop looking so shabby, so while I was out running errands this morning, I picked up some Feria. Now only I know exactly how much gray is being hidden by "Brilliant Bordeaux". (I'll give you a hint: so much that pretty soon the gray is going to be my natural color and the light brown will have officially lost the battle.)

...messed up the background on my computer. Usually there's a small, devastatingly cute picture of my kid surrounded by a solid, complementary color. Earlier today I accidentally clicked on a button in iPhoto and now the background is an ever-changing slideshow of random pictures, most of them sideways and blurry. It's really distracting and I can't figure out how to make it stop. I've tried a few things, but each time when I think I've done it, the picture changes again.

...taken a thirty minute nap. Glorious!

...bought a pedometer. I've already gone 1852 steps and that's just been from an hour of chasing Henry around the house.

After such an exciting morning and afternoon, I can hardly imagine what the evening holds in store.

Posted by Jenn at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Guess who slept through the night last night? If you guessed me you'd be wrong because naturally I woke up every few hours to glance bleery-eyed at our bedside clock to see what time it was. Then I'd spend a few minutes marveling at the fact that Henry hadn't woken up crying yet. It was a good kind of waking up in the early hours of the morning because I could just curl up under the covers and enjoy feeling warm and tired while falling asleep again. So, to answer the question: Henry slept through the night last night.

Yesterday I decided that since his sleeplessness sort of coincided with my having rearranged his room a few weeks ago, then perhaps that was what was bothering him. So I put everything back where it was, except for the two garbage bags full of clothes he's outgrown. Those stayed in the attic in their nice plastic storage bins. Also still in the attic: the giant pile of clothes that was lurking behind the door to his room, covertly placed there by me so that when I'd open the door I wouldn't actually see the giant pile, therefore it didn't exist. It was a last ditch effort to try to solve the mysterious night-wakings. Boy was I feeling proud of myself this morning.

This evening as I'm getting Henry ready for his bath, we start the nightly struggle known in some households as "brushing your teeth". In our household it's a battle of wills. It usually starts out all right but once Henry decides ten seconds into it that you're just not going fast enough, it's all downhill from there. Usually by the end either Dave or myself (depending on who happened to be lucky enough to trick the other person into wielding the toothbrush) are hopping around in front of him singing Wiggles songs at the top of our lungs, trying to distract him. Despite what you're thinking, it's not pretty. Tonight it was me, Henry, and the toothbrush. Dave was downstairs puttering around, conveniently busy at just the right time. After ~30 seconds Henry had wriggled onto his back and was laying across my lap, wailing, which suited me fine because I could actually see the teeth I was brushing. Since we're playing the guessing game, guess what I saw when I took a good long look in his mouth? The sharpest little point of a canine tooth poking through his gums. He was teething after all. I'm not feeling quite so smug anymore. And lest you feel badly for him re: the wailing during the toothbrushing, the waterworks shut off the second the brush leaves his mouth. We're going to start calling him The Manipulator. Or The Toddler. We haven't decided.

Posted by Jenn at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday was my and Dave's sixth wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we ate out. Many times. Sandwiches, Italian, BBQ. It was all good too. So were the leftovers. While we were waiting for our italian takeout, we headed over to a local coffeeshop that just opened and briefly waxed poetic about the last six years. The conversation eventually settled on the little kid sitting at our table who was busy munching away on his first ever chocolate chip cookie. Still can't believe we have him. Still can't believe how totally cool he is. Still can't believe he still tries to get us out of bed before seven in the morning. Hah! Doesn't he know us better than that by now?

Yesterday morning when I came downstairs Dave told me Henry had finally managed to get hold of my glasses which I had left on the coffee table the night before. Bad Jenn. He grabbed one arm of the frames and bent it back until it broke. I only got them in September, after Dave stepped on and broke my last pair. I tried to get some superglue mojo going but declared defeat after a few minutes. There wasn't enough surface area to get a good glue on I guess. We ended up at LensCrafters an hour later to look at frames. Shopping for frames with me is something Dave absolutely hates to do, and I know this because he told me so. He told me in the car on the way to the mall. He told me while walking through the parking lot to the mall entrance. Also, he and Henry tried to make a run for it right when we got to the store entrance but I somehow managed to stop him. I told the salesperson I needed new glasses because my kid had broken mine earlier in the morning. There was another customer who was there because her dogs had broken hers. We were a sad lot. Because my last pair of glasses were still under some sort of warranty, I got the same style for only half the cost of the frame, and since I'm fickle and cheap when it comes to glasses, it wasn't terribly expensive.

Let's see, what else? We had some website woes which Dave managed to fix. Something about spam getting sent out with fake jennanddave.com email addresses. The ones that got bounced back ended up going to a top-secret folder that eventually got so big it used up tons of space which caused other areas of the site to not work.

Henry hasn't been sleeping well which means we haven't been sleeping well. Not sure what it is. Teething? Too cold in his room? Too hot? Ear infection? Then there's always the nagging thought that whatever the cause once was has passed and that now he's waking up because he's used to us rushing to tuck him back in and give him a kiss. Regardless, we're all pretty tired over here. I just went over what I've written so far and noticed that there were significantly more typo's,etc. than usual. I'm taking that as a sign I need to just go to bed already. I hope some of this post made some sense.

Posted by Jenn at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got a call from the ear doctor yesterday and as it turns out, there's no sign of a tumor anywhere. *That* is how you spell relief. Of course, the dr. couldn't just say everything looked fine. He called and in a low, serious voice, said "I got the results from your MRI back....*long pregnant pause*.....I looked them over....*more pausing*....*clears throat*......and everything looks good." For a brief moment during all of that, a cold sweat broke out and I thought (to be blunt) "Holy s**t. I do have a tumor. And he's telling me over the phone?!?", followed by visions of lots more testing, etc. I was so relieved when he said everything was fine. I also don't have to go back next week for the follow-up visit. He suggested that I may have had an infection or virus some time in the past that caused the minor hearing damage in the one ear. I do remember coming down with an unusually bad cold the winter before I noticed the hearing loss, so maybe that's what did it.

In other news, I've spent this entire week trying to go visit my old next-door neighbor, Mr. L. He moved into an assisted living home last Fall while we were away. Henry's new nap schedule means he sleeps most of the afternoon so anything we need to get done has to happen in the morning. Here's how this week's mornings have gone:

Monday: ear doctor
Tuesday: MRI
Wednesday: Henry and I actually made it in to visit with Mr. L, but he was playing bingo and I didn't want to interrupt.
Thurs: I mentioned to Dave that Henry and I were going to try to visit with Mr. L again, but then he reminded me that he needed the car for a consulting gig up in Williamsport.
Fri: Henry seems to be under the weather. Would you believe he's upstairs right now having a nap? And it's only 10:30. I knew he wasn't feeling well when he sat next to me on the couch for fifteen minutes and rested his head against my arm. It was very sweet. Usually you have to pin him down just to get a smooch in and even then he's squirming and pushing the whole time, trying to get away. He seems to have a slight fever, but it hasn't affected his appetite at all. He just looks exhausted. Maybe all of the waking up at night he's been doing has finally caught up with him.

We'll try again on Monday.

Posted by Jenn at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night Dave and I were up until midnight watching the sheep-to-shawl contest at this year's Pennsylvania Farm Show. Our friend Libby, of Mad About Ewes fame, has been competeing as a member of the "Carl and the Not-So-Lazy Kates" team for the past four or five years.

To give a brief synopsis of the sheep-to-shawl, each team brings a sheep which is shorn at the start of the contest, and then the wool is carded, handspun, and woven into a shawl. It's amazing that you can start off with a fluffy sheep and then two and a half hours later have an actual wearable item coming off of the loom. Makes you feel all warm and gooey inside, especially if you happen to be watching it while snacking on Lunchables in a polyester leisure suit.

What made this year so interesting is that all of the shawls were really attractive. Usually there are a few where you wonder what the teams were thinking when they designed it, and two or three who are clearly up for the top spots. Dave and I waited with baited breath while they announced the winners, thinking that whoever won this year should really be proud because there really was no clear indication of who would win. Wouldn't you know, it was "Carl and the Not-So-Lazy Kates"? There was much whooping in our house, equal to the whooping that occurred when the Pats won the Superbowl the first of the last three times they've won. Their shawl was my favorite (and not just because I happen to know a few people on the team). Their theme was a picture Libby took of the Chillisquaque (brook? creek?) last Spring right after a snowstorm. There were different shades of grays and purples. If the shawl spends any time at her shop before being washed, I'll see if I can get a picture of it.

Dave and I agreed that we probably can't ever go to see the contest in person because there's no doubt we'd end up leaving with a very expensive shawl in our possession. True, true.

Posted by Jenn at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things that made me very happy today:
1. Seeing a few snowflakes flying around in the air all morning long.
2. Turning on the radio in Henry's room just as "Hawaiian Roller-coaster" from Lilo and Stitch was coming on. Great song, even if it's a kid's song. Henry and I danced.
3. Having breakfast for lunch at Perkins.

Things that made me very unhappy today:
1. Getting an MRI.

It was absolutely miserable. Thank god it was an open MRI because even that was not easy. I probably would have had to have been sedated for a closed MRI. I was very close to panicking the first four or five minutes and although the technician gave me a button to press if I needed to get out, I figured that doing so would just prolong the inevitable so I tried to breathe through it and stay calm. They give you headphones and pump music in to take your focus off of the loud noises the machine makes. I figured I needed as soothing music as I could possibly get so I requested classical. As soon as I was moved under the machine, the most riotous, loud classical music you could possibly imagine came through the earphones. If there's such a thing as hard rock orchestral renditions of classical songs, I think that's what I got. The technician pulled me out to give me an injection of contrast for the last fifteen minutes of the scan and I was never more happy in my life to be stuck with a needle, except for when I was in labor. Actually I spent a lot of the scan debating which was worse, an MRI or labor. The MRI won out but only because at least when you're in labor you can move around if you want to. They brought Dave and Henry into the observation room to see the magnet, and he gave the technician his contact info so that he could bring him to Bucknell to show him the 600 MHz magnet they got over the Fall. So yes, while I was suffering, Dave was having a grand old time, chatting and networking.

I'm so glad that's all over. Tonight, we go to Friendly's for sundaes. They better break out extra cans of whipped cream and fudge, that's all I have to say.

Posted by Jenn at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Way back in 1999 I noticed I couldn't hear as well out of my right ear as I could from my left. I figured this out because at night I would sleep on my left ear because the right one very nicely blocked out annoying background noise. It was enough of a loss for me to be conscious of it at night, but not enough that it affected my daily life. I never mentioned it to my doctor because I never thought about it.

It's been getting progressively worse, so I finally brought it up at my annual exam last June. My Dr. gave me a recommendation to meet with an ear specialist at Local Huge Hospital That Has Inadequate Parking. We'll call it LHHTHIP for short. They gave me a hearing test, said "Yep you do have a loss of hearing in your right ear, you need to meet with an actual doctor. We'll call you." I got a call later that day from a receptionist who said the next available appointment was in September. I couldn't do that because we were going to be in Massachusetts, so I suggested January. She told me they couldn't schedule anything that far in advance because the January calendar wasn't up yet for them to see. I was told I'd either get a reminder from them later in the Fall to call and schedule the appointment, or they'd call me. Imagine my surprise when last week I answered our phone and it was a receptionist calling to remind me of the appointment I had scheduled for Jan. 8th at 10AM. Apparently it was scheduled for me sometime back in June. Go figure.

This morning I went for my appointment. I was brought into an examination room, waited around for a long time, had my right ear partially cleaned, was moved to a different room, waited around for a long time, had both ears fully cleaned, was brought back to the original exam room, waited around a long time, talked with the Dr. for two minutes, was brought to another waiting room where I waited yet again, had another hearing test, was brought back to another exam room, waited, then was told I still had a minor hearing loss in the right ear, but that my hearing was now well within the normal range. However, because I hear perfectly on the left side, they want me to have an MRI so they can make sure there's not a tumor on the right. Lovely. The doctor exited the room post haste after telling me all of this, leaving me with the resident who'd done all the actual labor of cleaning my ears, plus the intern who had tagged along for the ride. I turned to the resident and said "Ummm, yeah, so an MRI. Let's talk about that. I shall die a thousand deaths before I ever subject myself to that living hell." No, actually, what I said was "Fine, how about an open MRI." He told me that it was definitely an option, although closed MRI gives them a better picture, but, really, either way was fine. He also said that since it's been a gradual hearing loss since 1999 it probably isn't a tumor, which, despite also thinking along those lines, was nice to hear anyway. Literally! So I'm having an open MRI done because one thing I am not is a glutton for punishment. And I'm having it done tomorrow. After which I'm going to eat a big bowl of ice cream with walnuts and hot fudge and whipped cream. And maybe even a cherry on top because I'm going to deserve it.

*Line from Kindergarten Cop. Must be said in Arnold Schwarzenegger-ish accent for full effect.

Posted by Jenn at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Did I ever mention what a complete nightmare mail-forwarding has been for us? No? To put it simply, it's been a complete nightmare.

We set up temporary mail-forwarding as of the date Henry and I moved to MA last summer because I'm the one who handles all the bills. Since we were using the service for a finite amount of time, the local Post Office was holding all of the mail they couldn't forward, which I didn't even know they were doing and probably never would have known if I hadn't bumped into our mailman who said "You have a ton of mail waiting for you at the p.o." I don't know what I thought would happen with the mail that couldn't be forwarded, maybe I thought it would get returned to the sender? Or maybe I thought it would just magically dissappear off the face of the earth? To confuse matters even more, it was unclear what could or couldn't be forwarded. Twice I got magazines that I subscribe to forwarded to Salem (I received one issue of Better Homes and Gardens which was a bummer because I don't even like the magazine, and one issue of American Bungalow, the best magazine in the whole wide world.). Naturally, when Dave and I would come back to town for our quick visits, we'd go to the post office expecting a pile of magazines that couldn't be forwarded, and yet there never were any. Where did they go? We got tons of LL Bean catalogs and March of Dimes solicitations, but never any of our magazines. Apparently, they did magically disappear off the face of the earth.

The second thing that happened was I ordered something from Amazon soon after we moved up to Salem but forgot to update our address so it was sent to our house here in PA. I didn't realize what I'd done until a few weeks had gone by. I looked at the online delivery confirmation and it said it had been sent, scanned at our local facility at 8:43AM, then had attempted delivery taking place at "12:00AM, recipient not home." When I inquired after the package on our next trip home a couple of weeks later, you wouldn't believe the runaround I got. I waited for about ten minutes while they looked into it, during which time one of the employees came out twice, ostensibly to shuffle random papers, but looking at me intently while he did it, only to return to the back after a few seconds. Finally, when he came back out the third time to tell me he had no idea what I was talking about, he did it with an entourage of three other postal employees, there to, I don't know, back him up in case I got violent? He basically insisted that I was making the whole thing up because why would they attempt delivery at 12AM? I said I also thought it was odd, but there it was. Then he said he couldn't do anything for me, despite what the delivery log said. They acted the whole time like I had come in accusing someone of stealing the package. When I first went in I figured it was just shoved in some corner until I came in to get it. By the time I left I was almost convinced someone had taken it because they were such jerks about it. I asked the company who sent it to look into it and the USPS told them it was either lost or stolen. Yeah.

Anyway, what opened up this can of worms was knowing what a mess it would be when we had to start mail-forwarding in Salem. When I filled out the form I thought about all of the mail that would have already been forwarded from home that would hit Salem only to be forwarded back. Mail will probably still be trickling in years from now. I just called a bunch of utilities whose bills I haven't received yet and sure enough five of them are due in the next few days. If I'd have been smart I'd have stopped mail-forwarding here a week before leaving, then just put a hold on it until we got back. Hind-sight and 20-20 and all of that.

Posted by Jenn at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Because I know you all are tremendously interested in what's on our house to-do list, and because "Men in Trees" will not be airing again until next Thursday thereby nixing tonight's plan of watching Anne Heche and feeling fat, I'll go ahead and post it here.

1. Finish refinishing the hardwood floors. We started with the dining room, which we did over Spring break last year. We figured we'd do the rest of the first floor over the summer, but we never did. Also, we're going to look into hiring someone to do this for us, although this means I won't get to see Dave use a floor buffer again (or should I say, watch the floor buffer use Dave), which was absolutely hilarious.

2. Finish the living room. No to-do list of ours would be complete without this one. It's been on every list we've made since 2003. When we actually do finish it, I might put it on all future to-do lists just for old time's sake.

3. Fix range. One of the large burners on our stovetop stopped working about a week after we moved in. Never fixed it.

4. Fix upstairs sink. Our upstairs sink drains really slowly. I'm glad Dave is the one who's going to solve that mystery. Yuck.

5. Find leak. Water gets in through the dormer on our second floor whenever the wind blows the rain a certain direction. It drips down and dampens the ceiling in our office on the first floor. It happens once a year but it's still not a good thing. Honestly, I'm trying not to think about this one.

6. Paint back hallway. I painted it an off-white that has too much yellow in it. It looks drab.

7. Paint back room. It's dark purple now. We're going to go with something more neutral.

8. Paint hallway to upstairs. Nothing wrong with it, it's just the one place in the house that I haven't managed to get around to painting since we moved in.

9. New front door. Our front door is terrible. No windows, it's old, it's foul, it's dark. Blech.

10. Bathroom ceiling. We've repainted the ceiling in our bathroom a few times now. After about a month, the bit over the shower starts to peel from all the moisture. Last effort: Killz primer with ceiling paint. Next up: Killz with ultra-high glossy paint.

11. Repaint trim in living room. The living room is a light greenish-blue, with one wall painted Linen White. The trim is dark brown. I'm going to repaint it high-gloss linen white because although I like the brown, esp. with the blue, I think it's too dark. We're north-facing which means we don't get much light which means we need to lighten things up with color which means every little bit helps.

12. Recaulk around the fireplace.

13. Buy (and install!) a proper mailbox. The previous owners used a basket for a mailbox. Or they pried off the old mailbox and took it with them when they moved, leaving us a gross basket in it's place. We used the basket til it fell apart. Then we replaced it with a bright blue wicker Easter basket that I got at Walmart. That faded and fell apart in a matter of months. We solved the ensuing mailbox conundrum by moving to Salem for the Fall. Now we have a galvanized steel tub that Dave uses to chill beer in the summer while he's barbequeing sitting on our front porch. The mailman must think we're hilarious. Or he wishes we'd put some beer out for him.

That's it. No problem.

Posted by Jenn at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dave and I went and looked at a house today. We've been feeling like we're at the bursting point in our current place, desperately in need of two more bedrooms so that we could dedicate one to the steady stream of grandparents that have been coming for visits ever since Henry arrived. Right now guests sleep on an aerobed in the downstairs bedroom we use as an office. This has been somewhat acceptable in the past, but probably won't be as well received now that the "bed" has a leak.

We like the part of town we're in, being close to the downtown, so we decided that if we do move, it would have to be in the same area. A house came up that's very close to our old neighbors who moved last summer (possibly to escape us; wouldn't the joke be on them?), so we went and took a look. It's a bit pricey and needs some work, but it's on a nice-sized lot. It's got the right number of bedrooms and a truly hideous but huge kitchen (which I loved). It's got a stairwell that doesn't dissect the house into two halves, something that drives me a bit crazy about our current location. Dry basement, nice attic, pocket doors. And yet neither Dave nor I got that feeling you get when you walk into a house that feels right. Nevertheless, we spent the day thinking very hard about it. We went from "Let's make an offer" to "Forget it let's stay here" and back again a few times. Ultimately we decided it would be a lateral move after considering all of the things we'd want to change if we bought it. It also helped us to appreciate the place we have. Sometimes we get hung up on grousing about the little things that bug us about our house to the point where they feel so problematic that we think there's no way we can live here much longer. Looking at the other house today nudged us out of that way of thinking. We've decided to focus on finishing all of the little projects we've started then pooped out on so that we can sit back and enjoy this place. At least until the next thing breaks. Or springs a leak.

Posted by Jenn at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night Henry's crying woke Dave and I up around 2AM. I stumbled out of bed and into his room and discovered he'd thrown up. A lot. Everywhere. Dave and I madly scrambled to get new sheets on his mattress while also cleaning him up and getting him in new nightclothes. All of the activity suited Henry perfectly and he made several attempts to run downstairs and reconnect with his long-missed toys, the ones he hadn't played with in at least six hours. Sixty minutes (and one Henry and Mudge story) later he was deposited back into bed, smelling not quite rosy but certainly not as bad as he had when I first encountered him. He half-heartedly protest-fussed then drifted off to sleep. I looked at the clock, saw 3:something AM, thought about the long drive to Indiana, then fell asleep. Dave spent a while being annoyed with me because I'd fallen back to sleep so easily, then eventually he fell asleep too.

We woke up at 8:30. We'd told Megan and Adrian we'd be dropping Flash off with them at 8. At 10 we pulled up to their house and Dave explained why we were late, probably not going into as much detail as he was inclined to when describing the early morning scene. When he'd finished, Adrian said "At least he didn't throw up in the car." After leaving their house, we headed to McDonald's for our traditional road trip breakfasts. The total came out to $6.66. While Dave hyperventilated in the passenger seat, I asked the cashier if she could make it $6.67, because, you know, creepy. She looked at me like I had two heads. I heh-heh-heh'ed, paid her, then made a beeline for the pick-up window. An hour and a half later Henry spits up a little bit. Then thirty seconds later he throws up a gusher of curdled milk. I've never seen anything quite like it before in my life. I pulled into the breakdown lane and we mopped up as best we could, which would be not very well, then decided to turn around and go back home. The car stank to high heaven, Henry fell asleep, and I toyed with 80 all the way back to Lewisburg.

Henry's been fine the rest of the day. He didn't nap at all this afternoon other than the hour in the car. We've been giving him a bland diet of Pedialyte, Cheerio's, crackers, oatmeal, and banana, but I think we could've given him anything and he would have been all right. Also, he didn't have a fever. We're wondering if maybe something was up with the milk I gave him yesterday. It wasn't expired and it smelled good, but it's not the usual brand I buy and perhaps he had an allergic reaction to something in it. I have no idea.

Posted by Jenn at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)