Whadda month.....and a gentle soul

Ok so right after Brian and I were married we had a whirlwind time that was horrible, adorable, romantic and brought us closer together. From July to August we had a bed bug incident that we still can't really speak about, I had spinal surgery and wore the sexiest back brace ever for 4 months, we moved to the great garden state......wait, I mean corrupt state of NJ filled with insane drivers, and I started a new job. FUN times! But each night we curled up on my beloved ROWE couch that I bought with my 2000 tax return and loved way more than a person should love a couch and all was right with the world. We lived lived in a place called Avalon and there was a HUGE beautiful tree right outside our balcony. One glass of wine of did the trick and we were happy and excited. While living at Avalon we had wood burning fires that smelled and looked great and I was able to keep order and even kept things clean. I cooked cute healthy meals for us and we cuddled and smiled a whole lot.

Sooooo, a few things have changed. The smiles are a tad more forced the drama level is astounding (have you met Stella) and the clean is gone. I sweep, I vacuum, I dust and I wipe.....it still doesn't look clean. No clue how to make that change. I think our elders were right when they used things like baking soda, salt, spit and a bit of cow dung to really get something clean. I'm totally kidding on the cow dung but who knows. Jacob's diapers render things that I firmly believe could eat through whatever is at the bottom of our tub! SORRRY!!!! I digress.

Soooooo that brings me to this past month.....or 30 days since it is only March 3rd or some such thing.
I just looked.....it was more than a month....so shoot me.
On January 30th Brian went in for a routine lithotrypsy to have a HUGE kidney stone blasted into a million passable pieces. After a night of vomiting, not being able hold down water and otherwise being a mess we were back in the ER. He lost 10lbs in one day (I should be so lucky) Brian spent that night in the hospital. (My Lord what he will do for time away from the kids is shocking! ) Thankfully no additional procedures were needed and he was able to come home the next day. Since then it seems all the stones have passed and he is doing well. I encouraged him to write his own blog entry on the matter but just in case he doesn't I didn't want to leave it out. I will be selfish and say I never heard him screaming in pain so I am not sure I can agree with this whole-it is as bad as childbirth thing!

Then comes Stella's parent teacher conferences. How friggin adorable!!!! She is 3 and we are going to talk to her teachers! I had Brian come too. We had our concerns since Stella was such a late walker and talker that they may have identified other issues with Stella that needed to be addressed. I selfishly asked him since I didn't want to be left bawling in the chair by myself~ WELL!!!!!! No need for tears~ We were both shocked, proud, blessed, touched and just plain happy by what they said. They first described her as a gentle soul. (umm, ask Jacob about that!) They went on to say that although they love all the kids in class they have a special place in their hearts for Stella (even if they say that to every mom I don't care). They said she never raises her voice, always follows directions, does what is told of her, shares-even to the point that if someone takes her toy she just goes and finds another toy. They said she was one of only 3 of the 20 kids tested that did as well on the testing. (where is your elbow?)
Not exactly intensive testing but certainly encouraging to hear.
When we told them she'd had Early Intervention services for being such a late walker and talker they seemed so shocked. They said they understood her speech clearly and saw no signs AT ALL that that we should even remotely be concerned about.
I worry a bit being a dyslexic lefty that Stella will struggle much like I did but she leans to right for now and LOVES books so those are great things.!

OH MY GAWD ALL THIS and I haven't even gotten to the leaking roof!!!!
Last Tuesday I was doing my routine binky round up in Jacob's room when I noticed a funny dark color on the trim work in the corner. Well, I knew right away what it was. ROT! I moved his crib to find two puddles of water at the indent marks. Many Many calls to anyone willing to listen...minus 900 numbers of course...... led me to to a contractor that figured out the problem is coming from our neighbors roof and ultimately landing in Jacob's room as opposed to the usual porch spot that we were already nervous about.

The best part was hearing that home owners insurance wouldn't cover a penny of it because of the word ROT and then knowing that we really can't expect a change until our neighbor (whom we adore) gets her roof fixed. So of course she had a death in the family and we haven't seen or heard from her since mid last week. Umm.....that would be prior to a rain filled day and a big storm that hit. ugh. We spent $1200 to dry out that portion of Jacob's room, have the carpet and mold removed and part of the wall cut away and ummm.....it is worse and wetter today than before.
BUT! We don't live in Haiti or Chile and sometimes that is all you need to think of to get a grip on reality!
We feel horrible that our neighbor Debbie has had a death in her family and are trying to be grateful that we have a roof....leaky as it is, over our heads. It is more than some can say.

In lighter news.....Jacob has 2 new teeth and Stella wants to know if poop is black or brown? Anyone, Anyone?