1/16/2014

It’s suddenly quiet in our house.

I’m trying to get things back on track around here. My house is utterly destroyed at the moment. Christmas toys without a place to be put up yet, Christmas decorations half put away, LAUNDRY.

Oh my gosh the clean unfolded laundry is going to do me in. It’s easy to sort laundry and throw it in the washing machine, but folding it? Hard! It takes so much time and effort to fold it then put it away with the baby squirming or screaming. Just like the girls he is not a good napper. He doesn’t lay down and stay asleep. He wakes up when I sneak away from him, or the girls accidentally make so much noise that they quickly wake him up no matter how many times I remind them to be quiet. I’ve given up. I don’t mind snuggling him to pieces, it’s just the repercussions seem to be mounds of laundry and dishes.

Henry is growing up so quickly! He starting sitting up on his own right at the beginning of four months. That’s earlier than both of the girls! They started sitting up shakily at the end of four months. Henry sat up steadily right away, never wobbles. He’s strong!

He’s getting more coordinated with his hands every day. Recently he picked up a ball and purposefully dropped it into his ball toy from Santa, then he laughed in happiness. I wish I had a video of that!

His neurosurgeon appointment is coming up on the 28th. I’m so nervous! I just want to get it over with. I think Henry’s head shape has improved quite a bit since he’s been sitting up all the time, but it’s still not quite right. His head is slightly crooked, and he still has the prominent ridge in his forehead. I’m still hoping that since it’s improved some it means he just needs a helmet or something non-invasive. I think if it was crainosynostosis then it would be getting worse and not better.

We had a lot of cabin drama while Igor was here for hosting. During that super cold snap when it was below 0 degrees (F) the main floor of the cabin got so cold that we couldn’t stay here. The heat pump was running non-stop, but even with the emergency heat option it didn’t stay warm at all.

It was so cold that I filled the dog’s large water dish, set it in the kitchen on the floor, and it immediately froze over. Then the toilet froze and cracked. The water lines to the toilet and bathtub froze and busted. The gray water, which takes the waste water from our sinks, bathtub, and washing machine froze somewhere along the line and then pushed dirty water back up into the sinks and tub. Green and brown smelly, old, nasty water. Then it froze there.

That was fun.

The first night it was cold, before everything fully froze inside, we all spent the night huddled in the bedroom with the space heater on and the door cracks blocked closed with rolled towels. Tyler was at work. I slept squished between all four kids, shivering.

Igor even admitted it was colder than freezing Ukraine!

Finally we went over to my parents’ house for a few days. My neighbor replaced the toilet and plumbing and we took the cost out of our rent. We haven’t paid the rent yet this month…basically nothing is left for the rent by the time we bought a new toilet and the neighbor did 12 hours of plumbing work.

That really sucks for them, but it’s not my fault. They cry that they have no money to make repairs. Then why did they rent it??

Anyway, our new toilet is great. It’s ten million times better than the old one. It flushes well! The old one had to be plunged constantly.

Unfortunately I think that was the last straw for the cabin. I’m giving up. I love the land. I love the idea of the cabin. But having my toilet bowl freeze and bust? What is the protocol for “toilet water freezes as soon as it flows into the bowl”?

Yeah.

We’re waiting to find out if we can get another mortgage to purchase a house. This is the only time we’ve ever rented, and I have to say I am not a fan of renting. Depending on other people who don’t care about your family to make your space livable is scary.

I’m not getting my hopes up about getting a mortgage since we have very little for downpayment. Our house in town is being rented to some very nice people.

I want to stay in this county because we’ve found a wonderful community where we fit in well. That really limits what we might find for sale, or for rent if we have to do that.

I want to cry my eyes out at the thought of moving again. At least this time we’ve decluttered. It shouldn’t be nearly as hard to box stuff up and move it, just the physical effort.

Hopefully we can find the perfect place so that we don’t have to move again.