I wish you could see me right now. You would probably giggle. Heck< I would too... (If I wasn't trying to be SILENT so that my little man could take a much needed nap!) You are probably thinking, "Your kid should be adaptable. Get a sound machine, for heaven's sake! Make him get over the sounds, and make him deal with it." Okay, so here's the situation. I have two sound machines near his pack n' play right now. That's right... two! One with white noise and the other playing a lullaby (OVER AND OVER) and projecting little fishies on the ceiling. And I'm crouched behind the King size bed in the corner. That's right people... it's our first vacation in a HOTEL ROOM! We need all the prayer we can get. Here's how it came about.
We're in Vegas! Woohoo, right?!?!?! This girl can go 30 1/2 years without stepping foot in Las Vegas and now, here I am on my second trip in a month! Last month was a little different story. My man and I spent our first time away for 2 nights to vaca with our bowling league... yep, you read that right... our bowling league. We had a fun time hanging out, going to a movie, taking naps (on our own time), watching soccer, bowling, and staying up until all hours of the night exploring the city. (We didn't stay on the Strip, so we definitely made a late night Friday night run to the Strip to check it out. Let's be real... I had never been there... we HAD to check it out! And I am SURE glad we did. That makes this trip doable.
So it all started two days ago, when my man got a call from his assistant, explaining that his wife had emergency surgery on her appendix. Thankfully, it didn't burst, but she was uncomfortable and had it checked out. It was obvious to the doctors that it needed to come out. Again, thankfully, the procedure went great and she's recovering nicely. But the timing couldn't be worse. The two of them, my hubby and his assistant were set to go out to Vegas for a conference two days later (today). He decided that it would be best to stay home and help out where needed. That sent my wheels spinning and since I was going to my grandparents (which is on the way to Vegas from our house), I suggested that our family go out on Tuesday night to spend time with my grandparents and then the hubby could leave later on Wednesday morning. That sounded reasonable. Then I thought about it. Carl's going to be by himself... Maybe our little guy and I should go out with him. It was either spend time with our little guy and my grandparents for a few days away from Carl, or spend time with our little guy in Vegas during the day exploring, spending time in amazing pools and seeing new things and then hanging out with the hubs when he's done with the conference each night. Well, we chose the latter, with our one huge hangup... the sleeping situation. Our little man does not do well sleeping in the same room with us. It's just a fact. I was hoping that since he's older, maybe the circumstances would be different and he would be better. Well, an hour of fighting it proved me wrong, but let's be real... Mommy won. Little man is asleep (even though I'm a prisoner to the floor on the other side of the bed). It's a good thing he did end up falling asleep too. After visiting two pools in his stroller and a promise of the "poo" after a nap, I was hopeless that we weren't going to go to the pool today because I'm a woman of my word, and if he "didn't sleep, we weren't going!" And HOPEFULLY, this is good practice for him for tonight going to bed and the next two days in this room!
Anyways, I was nervous making this decision, because I really, truly am vacationing alone with a 20 month old because my other half is being a strength and conditioning nerd learning all sorts of new stuff all day, every day. Backing up, once we got to the hotel room, little man and I set off to find the pools and food and everything else. We found the first pool, no problem. Got lost going to the second pool, but asked a very nice security guard and he led us back to where we should go, chatting the whole way. On our way back to the room from the second pool, we stopped at a food court and I ordered some chicken strips at Johnny Rockets for us to share... 30 minutes later (Uhhhhgggg!) we got our food. While we were waiting, a sweet, but a little creepy teenage girl came up to the little guy and kept giving him fives and knuckles and then kept holding onto his hand. I was a little creeped out because she didn't say anything, just looked at him and kept playing with him. This went on for about 15 minutes. She did finally talk a bit, but very delayed. I really had no problem with her playing with my son, but she was very touchy and when she reached out to hold him, I put my foot down and said, "No, I don't think so. But thank you for playing with him." My first experience of cautiousness in this city. I'm sure I will have many more experiences to come.
Stay tuned for more adventures of my son and me in VEGAS!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Tales of an Average One-Income Family... Part one of the journey
So if you read in earlier posts, I quit my job almost exactly one year ago. What were you thinking, you might ask?!?!?! We live in Southern California, in Orange county, no less. It's expensive to live, and the hubby doesn't make that much money! But, you know what? By the grace of God, God has provided miraculously for us throughout the past year! So we're on to our next jaunt in our journey... looking to buy a house. "What?!?!" you say. "Are you crazy?" You say. "Are you going back to work so you can afford it?" Well, the answer is no. (mostly.) :)
We have thought long and hard about this decision. We have prayed like crazy. We are not that typical couple that is looking for a house because we want to own something and prove something to everyone around us. (1) We've have lived in 6 different apartments in the past 6 years. That's been rough, to say the least. We literally have boxes that we have been moving from house to house because maybe we'll need the stuff once we do "settle" down. What's the point in getting rid of a perfectly fine bathroom set, only to have to buy a new one when we need it? Anyways, that's one point. It's been rough not knowing if we'll be able to stay in a place once our lease is up, due to raised rent. (2) We have no debt. (3) When my father-in-law passed in December, (Yes, I know. I skipped that blog post.) we received an inheritance since my hubby was his only son. We decided that the money was not to be touched unless it's for a house downpayment.
So, now that you know the reasoning behind our decision, here's where the fun begins. I'm not going back to work full time, so that we can afford a house payment. That's not for us. So, with that being said, our house budget is based on one-income... not the highest budget, but doable. We've been researching houses and condos in all kinds of areas, trying to figure out the best situation for us. We have a real estate agent that is great and has been working around the clock, sending us info on a plethora of different options.
So enter today... our first "real" house-hunting adventure. Meeting with our agent, using the lock box and everything. We met after church... our first mistake. Our little man always has a long morning on Sundays, going to the nursery for two services. He usually needs to head right to nap time when we get home from church. Our goal was to just look at one place. Long story short, the place was okay, needed a lot of work, but was workable. The main storyline in this all is the major meltdown our son had in the house. All he wanted to do was go bye-bye when we were in the house, that our agent suggested that we go down to the park close by for him to play while she was able to talk more with my husband about particulars. Well, once we got out of the house, all he wanted was to go back in. Yep, a full blown meltdown ensued. My husband said later that he had never seen our little guy so upset or heard him scream so loud. We made it to the park. I hopped up and down on the (too old for a 19 mo. old) equipment, trying to keep the little dude safe, while we was apparently bored and nothing was going to make him happy. Finally, he broke free, trying to run to a little slide (on someones second story patio across the street). He made it to the grass, where I was able to catch him... another major flop down, where I decided to flop with him and wrangle him back to the equipment. That's when I felt it... yep, my first bee sting since I was eight, right on the side of my calf. At first, it just hurt, but trying to be calm and making sure that the little man didn't get stung too, I called to Carl to help me out. Getting little guy off the grass was my first successful goal. Everything else I was doing as a mom felt completely fruitless. After a few more minutes of discussion between the agent and my hubby, the little guy and I decided to start walking to the car. They got the hint and followed. Finally, we got our once again upset child in the car, ready for nap time. He kept saying "Let Go" which means we listened to our favorite song of the century "Let It Go" two and a half times before getting home and putting the little one down. Yikes. Carl then ran to the drug store to get aspirin for my sting and I laid down on the couch, contemplating the exhausting day we had just had. A little nap followed and then lots of talk about seeing more houses. My hubby and the agent had been emailing and texting about other houses we wanted to look at and she got the approval to look at a few that evening. Do we dare try it again?
Well, after a three hour nap and a much cooler outfit for the little man, I armed myself with books, cars, and snacks and the three of us headed out the door for another adventure. Looking at two new places this time, our experience was much more mild. We went back to the first place, took a look, then went on our way to process this huge 30-year decision. :) You like how dramatic I just was? It was actually funny, because on the stairs of the third place, our agent pulled the... "Okay, without looking at each other, you have to tell me which one you like." I totally felt like I was on HGTV's House Hunters, or My First Place or Property Virgins. :) I was stuck between the first and third, finally deciding on the first. The hubby chose the first and then changed his mind to the third.... At least we were on the same page! Next, we headed to Chili's to have a family dinner and enjoyed ourselves, talking about our future, loving on our sweet son who had a blast coloring, eating and playing with his trucks.
I know the rest of our day was rather anticlimactic, but the first half was such an overload, that I don't think I could have handled more. We basically decided at the end of it all, that we'll keep looking and try it all out another day. (That led to staying up past 11 with my hubby exploring other houses online.) This is going to be quite the process, but we know that ultimately, God is going to put us where he wants us and we hope to learn through this adventure to trust wholly in Him. He hasn't let us down yet! Stay tuned for more adventures to come!
We have thought long and hard about this decision. We have prayed like crazy. We are not that typical couple that is looking for a house because we want to own something and prove something to everyone around us. (1) We've have lived in 6 different apartments in the past 6 years. That's been rough, to say the least. We literally have boxes that we have been moving from house to house because maybe we'll need the stuff once we do "settle" down. What's the point in getting rid of a perfectly fine bathroom set, only to have to buy a new one when we need it? Anyways, that's one point. It's been rough not knowing if we'll be able to stay in a place once our lease is up, due to raised rent. (2) We have no debt. (3) When my father-in-law passed in December, (Yes, I know. I skipped that blog post.) we received an inheritance since my hubby was his only son. We decided that the money was not to be touched unless it's for a house downpayment.
So, now that you know the reasoning behind our decision, here's where the fun begins. I'm not going back to work full time, so that we can afford a house payment. That's not for us. So, with that being said, our house budget is based on one-income... not the highest budget, but doable. We've been researching houses and condos in all kinds of areas, trying to figure out the best situation for us. We have a real estate agent that is great and has been working around the clock, sending us info on a plethora of different options.
So enter today... our first "real" house-hunting adventure. Meeting with our agent, using the lock box and everything. We met after church... our first mistake. Our little man always has a long morning on Sundays, going to the nursery for two services. He usually needs to head right to nap time when we get home from church. Our goal was to just look at one place. Long story short, the place was okay, needed a lot of work, but was workable. The main storyline in this all is the major meltdown our son had in the house. All he wanted to do was go bye-bye when we were in the house, that our agent suggested that we go down to the park close by for him to play while she was able to talk more with my husband about particulars. Well, once we got out of the house, all he wanted was to go back in. Yep, a full blown meltdown ensued. My husband said later that he had never seen our little guy so upset or heard him scream so loud. We made it to the park. I hopped up and down on the (too old for a 19 mo. old) equipment, trying to keep the little dude safe, while we was apparently bored and nothing was going to make him happy. Finally, he broke free, trying to run to a little slide (on someones second story patio across the street). He made it to the grass, where I was able to catch him... another major flop down, where I decided to flop with him and wrangle him back to the equipment. That's when I felt it... yep, my first bee sting since I was eight, right on the side of my calf. At first, it just hurt, but trying to be calm and making sure that the little man didn't get stung too, I called to Carl to help me out. Getting little guy off the grass was my first successful goal. Everything else I was doing as a mom felt completely fruitless. After a few more minutes of discussion between the agent and my hubby, the little guy and I decided to start walking to the car. They got the hint and followed. Finally, we got our once again upset child in the car, ready for nap time. He kept saying "Let Go" which means we listened to our favorite song of the century "Let It Go" two and a half times before getting home and putting the little one down. Yikes. Carl then ran to the drug store to get aspirin for my sting and I laid down on the couch, contemplating the exhausting day we had just had. A little nap followed and then lots of talk about seeing more houses. My hubby and the agent had been emailing and texting about other houses we wanted to look at and she got the approval to look at a few that evening. Do we dare try it again?
Well, after a three hour nap and a much cooler outfit for the little man, I armed myself with books, cars, and snacks and the three of us headed out the door for another adventure. Looking at two new places this time, our experience was much more mild. We went back to the first place, took a look, then went on our way to process this huge 30-year decision. :) You like how dramatic I just was? It was actually funny, because on the stairs of the third place, our agent pulled the... "Okay, without looking at each other, you have to tell me which one you like." I totally felt like I was on HGTV's House Hunters, or My First Place or Property Virgins. :) I was stuck between the first and third, finally deciding on the first. The hubby chose the first and then changed his mind to the third.... At least we were on the same page! Next, we headed to Chili's to have a family dinner and enjoyed ourselves, talking about our future, loving on our sweet son who had a blast coloring, eating and playing with his trucks.
I know the rest of our day was rather anticlimactic, but the first half was such an overload, that I don't think I could have handled more. We basically decided at the end of it all, that we'll keep looking and try it all out another day. (That led to staying up past 11 with my hubby exploring other houses online.) This is going to be quite the process, but we know that ultimately, God is going to put us where he wants us and we hope to learn through this adventure to trust wholly in Him. He hasn't let us down yet! Stay tuned for more adventures to come!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Good Riddance, December and January.
Well, December has come and gone. So has January, almost... CRAZY! Where does the time go? Well, to be honest, those months are not months I ever would want to repeat. December was definitely the hardest month of our lives. I just read my last post... written the day before my father-in-law went home to be with Jesus. So, December 9 will forever be a date that I remember, a bittersweet day that Carl Sr.'s suffering ended. Obviously, it began our grief. Christmas without him was hard. The hardest part is the "sad moments" that I catch my husband having, in remembrance of his dad. Whoo... hard.
Then, January started. We were high on life. Ready for the fresh start that seems to come naturally with a new calendar year. For us... it began a month of sickness for all three of us. Yikes. January 3rd started out normally, with our little guy babbling about in his crib and my hubby was going into work for the morning, just to get things squared away before school came back in session the following week. As my husband was walking out the door, I went into our little guy's room, to be greeted by a happy, one-eyed little guy (his left eye was swollen almost shut.) I shouted to the hubby (the door was still open) and he came in. We made a rapid decision to take him to the doctor together. Turned out to be an eyelid infection, treatable with meds. Three days later, (Monday) little man got the flu. Worst. night. ever. I have never hurt so much for another person. Our little guy was so helpless and puking a total of 5 times throughout the night. Aghhhhhh. It just makes me so sad to even think about it. Tuesday was a lay-low day. Wednesday, more throwing up for the little guy. Thursday night, my husband went down and ended up puking on Friday morning. Sunday, it was my turn. Seriously, it was awful. As I was starting to feel better, I developed a cough that turned into an awful cold that lasted over a week. Oh yeah, amongst my sickness, the little guy decided to get croup and ended us up in the ER last weekend. I can finally say, 10 days later, we are all healthy, for now.
Yep. Glad these last months are over. But here's the deal. God is good. Our family is strong and can get through anything together. Our marriage hasn't been this good in a very long time. We are on the same page and have common goals, working on our marriage, working on being the best parents that we can be (with God's help), and finding more joy in Jesus everyday. My relationship with my mother-in-law has never been so strong either. We've been able to talk and establish boundaries in our roles as mom and grandma to our little man. It's all good. God is good and we are completely blessed. Here's to a better February. And if it's not and we have new challenges, I hope and pray God will use those challenges and me to build more joy in Him.
Then, January started. We were high on life. Ready for the fresh start that seems to come naturally with a new calendar year. For us... it began a month of sickness for all three of us. Yikes. January 3rd started out normally, with our little guy babbling about in his crib and my hubby was going into work for the morning, just to get things squared away before school came back in session the following week. As my husband was walking out the door, I went into our little guy's room, to be greeted by a happy, one-eyed little guy (his left eye was swollen almost shut.) I shouted to the hubby (the door was still open) and he came in. We made a rapid decision to take him to the doctor together. Turned out to be an eyelid infection, treatable with meds. Three days later, (Monday) little man got the flu. Worst. night. ever. I have never hurt so much for another person. Our little guy was so helpless and puking a total of 5 times throughout the night. Aghhhhhh. It just makes me so sad to even think about it. Tuesday was a lay-low day. Wednesday, more throwing up for the little guy. Thursday night, my husband went down and ended up puking on Friday morning. Sunday, it was my turn. Seriously, it was awful. As I was starting to feel better, I developed a cough that turned into an awful cold that lasted over a week. Oh yeah, amongst my sickness, the little guy decided to get croup and ended us up in the ER last weekend. I can finally say, 10 days later, we are all healthy, for now.
Yep. Glad these last months are over. But here's the deal. God is good. Our family is strong and can get through anything together. Our marriage hasn't been this good in a very long time. We are on the same page and have common goals, working on our marriage, working on being the best parents that we can be (with God's help), and finding more joy in Jesus everyday. My relationship with my mother-in-law has never been so strong either. We've been able to talk and establish boundaries in our roles as mom and grandma to our little man. It's all good. God is good and we are completely blessed. Here's to a better February. And if it's not and we have new challenges, I hope and pray God will use those challenges and me to build more joy in Him.
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