The House

For Sale: 1800-sq. ft. Victorian Co-Op Apartment. 2 bedrooms. 1 bath. River View. You know you want it.

Most rooms recently painted. Crown moulding throughout. Baby toys scattered throughout not included. Unless you want to clean them up twice a day.

Living room.

Bedroom. Currently used as nursery... obviously.


View.

Kitchen. Appliances included. To the right, butler's pantry and dining room. Through the door in the center is a laundry room that was originally the "servant's quarters."

Inner Stairwell. 3rd floor.

Front entry and hallway to dining room. Notice the hardwood floors throughout.
Husband doing dishes in the kitchen not included. Sorry, he comes with me.

Dining room. Cat not included.

Where the magic happens. Room proven to increase fertility. Fantastic river view and built-ins.

Said built-ins.

If anyone knows anyone looking to buy something like this, give me a holler!

The end of an era. The curls.

So, for some reason, Owen started pulling his hair out on the right side of his head. I have no idea why. Just started twisting his finger in his curls as he sucked his thumb, and then pulled out what he had twisted. It was just confusing at first. Through last week I started getting worried, as we would find him with clumps of hair in his hands. In exactly a week, this is what he had done to himself:

I started to freak out, thinking he has Trichotillomania, where people feel compelled to pull all their hair out. It's a type of compulsive disorder. It can present as early as one. His pediatrician said to only let them know if he reacts like he's in pain or if he is fussy all day. He seems fine otherwise. So, with a heavy heart... we decided to get his hair cut, ugh.

We figured, if his hair was short enough, there wouldn't be anything to pull out. If you know me, you know how attached I was to these curls.

I think Owey was pretty attached to them as well. He didn't like the poor girl cutting his hair. He did pretty well though, didn't squirm too much. I sobbed through the whole thing. I sobbed when I sat in the drivers seat of our car to leave, and I turned around to look at him, and he's rubbing his hands all over his head as if to say, "Where did my hair go??" Clint had to drive. Owen and I were crying too hard.

The only remedy was vanilla soft serve.

And a trip to the playground.

He's still adorable.

But I miss the curls :( I kept them all in a baggy for his baby book. There is no way I would have cut it if he hadn't pulled out half of his hair. He had the right side of a mohawk down.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

Eating broccoli like a champ!

The following pictures are totally out of order, and it's more complicated than you think to rearrange pictures in Blogger once you upload them. So... here they are... out of order, bear with me.

At the Columbus Zoo, all of the kids and Clint. From left, Owey, Clint, Abbie, Andrew, Allie and Adam (wedged between the l and the t!)

Allie, Adam, Andrew and Owey in the Asian part of the Columbus Zoo.

This little man took a thirty minute nap on the way to the zoo, and lasted almost the whole day without a nap. Needless to say, Clint and I bet on how long it would take him to fall asleep once we were in the car. He fell asleep exactly four minutes out.

Allie was teaching Owey how to write with a pen. We keep noticing Owen favoring his left hand for things. Do we have a little South Paw on our hands?

Andrew became Owen's new favorite person. Andrew, always the wonderful big brother, was happy to oblige.

The Amie fam.

Me and Abbie walking to Adam's soccer game! Andrew, me, Abbie, Allie and Owen at Adam's soccer game!

The Kimmins fam at the Columbus Zoo. Too bad Scott had to work!!

My little happy man. I think he's thrilled with himself because he just went #2 for the second time that day. The kid never poops, but he poops twice in a very public area... It was tricky.

Helpful kids.

Abbie feeding Owey pancakes for the first time.

As usual, we had a fantastic time visiting our friends in Columbus. We planned it so we went up on a Tuesday afternoon (Owen napped in the car on the way). We got to go to Adam's soccer game and grill with Cristie and the gang. Owen did not like the group bath, but still managed to sleep a full 12 hours in a pack-n-play. Great success! The next morning we got up, had a big breakfast, packed a picnic lunch and went to the Columbus Zoo! The zoo was great! My favorite part was seeing monkey families. There were two new baby monkeys being held by their mommies with the daddies looking over their shoulders.

All the kids had a good time! I don't know if Owen got a lot of out of the animals, but he sure enjoyed pushing his stroller around! Aside from the fact that he barely napped all day, we were pretty thrilled with how he behaved. Toward the end he got a little stubborn and grumpy, but it worked out.

We are looking forward to visiting Columbus again soon to see the Kimmins gang again!

I love this kid.

When he gets up from his naps, he always looks like a little cherub. Today, it was especially warm in his room during his nap, so he got a little warm. When he gets a little warm, the hair gets a little curlier than usual. I love it, personally.

We say, "allllllll done!" and he's starting to get the hang of it as well. It's pretty much adorable.

How to Disappear Completely.

So... Things are kind of rough these days.

It seems like one good thing happens, and then three bad things happen directly afterward. For example, we got a handy man for a very reasonable price, who (together with Clint's assistance) finished the hallway and removed the sink and replaced the wall in the laundry room. Clint has been sanding window frames and hopes to do a lot of painting done next week. House renovations in preparation to put it on the market = good stuff.

So, then comes some bad stuff. Last Thursday, I had a dentist appointment. For a very long time, I have known that I have TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder). If you are unfamiliar, basically, it's a misalignment of the joints in my jaw. It causes a lot of different symptoms, but MINE include: headaches, clicking (to the point where I have had a meal with someone and they ask, 'what is that noise?' 'yeah, it's my jaw clicking.'), sometimes dizziness, and the worst of all - clenching. I clench my jaw all the time. I will wake up in the morning and my jaw will be clenched. I will be sitting at my desk and realize I have been clenching my jaw for who knows how long. I catch myself doing it all day. Well, for the past few weeks, I thought I might have had a cavity, because when I would drink something cold, or have something sweet, like a big old glass of Riesling... I would have some sensitivity in my lower left set of teeth. I expressed this to my dental hygienist, and she pointed it out to the dentist. He examined. I'm laying in the reclined chair, mouth wide open when I hear, "Oh, you have a crack in one of your lower left teeth... Here's another one on the other side!" So, apparently, I have been clenching my jaw hard enough and long enough that I have started cracking my teeth.

So, I am scheduled to have my teeth molded next week so that I can have a splint made to wear at night so I don't clench my teeth when I'm sleeping. This is of course, conveniently not covered by my dental insurance. Another option is to get braces. Believe me, I don't exactly dig the idea of having braces as an adult, but if it will prevent me cracking all my teeth and reducing the crazy headaches caused by all of this, I will consider. The option I will not even consider is surgery. The idea of having part of my jaw bones scraped off, and then having my jaw wired shut for weeks so it may heal does NOT sound like an excellent time.

So, that's that.

The next thing, which is both a good and bad thing at the same time, is that I sold my VW bug to a coworker. This is good because I no longer have a car payment and our monthly gas budget will be reduced. But it's bad because I no longer have a car, and I loved that car. Honestly, it was a little ridiculous having a toddler and a tiny two-door car, whose trunk did not even accommodate his stroller... With Clint being laid off right now, we sincerely do not need two cars. I walk to work. We are home together through the week. We very rarely drive separately anymore. Clint and I made a deal that when he gets a new job or we sell the house, whichever comes first, I can get a new car. I am pretty much decided on a Honda or a Nissan. I really want a CRV or a Rogue, but I would also take an Element, Murano or maybe even a Versa. Those are my possibilities.

And, very sadly, my great Aunt Katie died on Monday. She was 91. She was one of my late grandmother's many siblings, only one of which are still with us, my great Aunt Helen. Aunt Katie's funeral was today. Despite the fact that it was a very sad occasion, a lot of my family from out of town got to meet Owen at the viewing last night. He was actually very brave while there, not his usual timid self. He was walking around the entire first floor, and even grabbing random people's legs! He must have known he was among family.

Oh, and Clint found out he is making little more than half of what he made in unemployment the last time he was laid off! So, I am going to have to be creative with our budget until he goes back to work. Please pray that he finds a new job and that we are able to sell our house. This is wearing me down. I feel like I need a vacation from my life. I should start entering contests to have an all expense paid vacation to somewhere beautiful and stress free. Just for a week. Wonder what my odds would be... My mom thinks I'm pretty lucky.

Random good things this week:
Seeing dearly loved family that I don't get to see nearly enough.
Owen saying "Mama" completely unprovoked to get my attention.
Natalie.
New Moon on DVD, obviously.

The Park, part two.

We made a play date at the park today. Me, my mom, and the bug, and we invited Erin and Alexander along. It was slightly colder than last time, so we had to bundle up. Owen played his usual - the timid kid for the majority of the time we are some place, warming up around the time we are getting ready to leave...

The boys.
Managed to get a great picture of Alexander!

Tunnels.

Finally warming up.

Owey and Mamaw.

Me and my monkey.

We had to be out of the house while Daddy and our new super hero handy man fixed the wall in the laundry room. Next project on Thursday - the HALLWAY.