May 06, 2008

May 2008

Dear Kids,

The biggest news this month is that I passed my stupid math class. Now it’s a matter of passing just one more class and I’ll be done. I just hope that you learn from my horrible experience in procrastination and finish what you start when you start it.

The demands of parenthood on your mother & I are increasing more and more every day. This may sound funny, but I think that for the first time since we’ve become parents, we are really beginning to feel like parents. We’re tired all the time and feel the pains of making big decisions in what we hope will be your best interest. We constantly talk about our future and our desires and wishes and hopes for you.

Currently we’re in the process of refinancing our house which means we’ll have some money to put back into the house. We’ve been agonizing about our plan of attack and just what to do. Some days we think it’d be best if we sure up the foundation and others we want to landscape the yard and even get AC installed. As of this writing we’re leaning toward the landscaping so you kids will have a little oasis of your own. Suffice it to say that there’s a flurry of activity and that your mom has been hard at work emailing, phoning and dealing with all kinds of construction alpha male-types.

While you two nap, mom is anxiously engaged on the laptop surfing away trying to hunt down this and that. Occasionally I’ll get an email filling me in on just what I’ve missed. This one is dated May 5th:

Hey,
so the kids are in their beds and not crying, if there sleeping i'm not sure. I'm just glad they're not crying. Ruby is just a pill sometimes. She won't nap but I know she needs some zzz's because she is sooo difficult.
OK so I had a concrete guy just come. He was interesting. I'm not sure we were communicating. I was telling him what I needed and then he asks if my husband will be here tonight. I said yes. "I will come when he is here so I can talk to him."
What? This is 2008 is it not?
It just so happens I have another bidder coming at 7pm (i hope that's ok) So he's coming tomorrow at 5:30pm when you get home from work.
Whatever.
I have another guy coming in 30 minutes.
This should be interesting. we need to talk about our loan tonight too.
love ya
becca

And this one from May 6th:
Hey pat,
so today was a good ruby day, some bumps but improved from yesterday. She watched just one show in the AM. She had a fuss when I turned it off but recovered more quickly. We went to the store for laundry detergent (much needed). She had a fuss but recovered quickly. We came home put Henry down for a nap and I vacuumed the porch & couch. When I vacuumed the crack I swear it looks bigger from last year. Foundation Repair people were looking at our neighbors house today. She was scared of the vacuum but was happy to play outside. Then we went down the street on her trike. Henry woke up and then he was soooo sad. I thought he'd be happy after napping but he cried while I fed him and then after. So I packed the kids in the wagon and went to the park. Ruby had a blast. The water was on but she didn't get in of course just watched with admiration at all the other daring kids. We came home. She had big melt down over a little thing but is now finally asleep. Henry was tricky but is now finally asleep. I did a little more research on the Trane unit from ESCO and I feel good about it so I called them to schedule installation. I hope that's what we agreed. If not we'll talk later. This concrete guy was to be here this am at 8:30 but I called and he can't come until now. So I guess just whenever. Remember the other guy will be here at 5:30pm.
OK, so I saw this web site and I just dreamt about it: www.freegreen.com. It's the house we'd build if we had a lot to build on. With some modifications I think it would work.
OK. I hope your day is better today.
love you lots and lots
becca

Hopefully, it’s painfully obvious how much your mother loves you.

RUBY -

You’ve been obsessed with flying a kite for the past few weeks. So obsessed in fact, that you constantly talk about it to whomever is in ear shot of your voice. Your mother bought one and it’s been sitting in the back of the car patiently on standby for that perfect occasion when the wind is just right. After a few frustrating attempts at Sugarhouse Park and down our street, we finally got this baby airborne when we drove out to the beach on the Great Salt Lake.

I got the kite nice and high and then turned over the reigns to you. I drilled into your head how important it was to not let go of the string to which you promptly let go of the string. I chased the kite down a couple hundred yards and one frontage road away. A brief inspection showed that no damage was sustained and then proceeded to get the kite up in the air again. I was trying to get a shot of you holding the kite when you let go of the string again. Sadly, I didn’t get my shot but did get a little exercise.

HENRY -
Alright then, buddy. If it weren’t for your smile and your “MaMa’s” and “Dada’s” you’d have some angry parents to deal with. You STILL have zero desire to sleep for more than four hours at a time. By now you should be sleeping through the night and enjoy the good feelings of multiple hours of uninterrupted sleep. We’re baffled, quite frankly and have tried just about everything. The only thing we can figure is that you must be close to cutting teeth and that that pain is awfully uncomfortable for you.

You are now sitting up like a little champ, which makes it possible for us to drop you next to a bin of toys where you can occupy yourself. After about fifteen minutes the toys are usually dispersed out of your reach to which we then gather them back up next to you and we’re free to get stuff done for a little while longer.

This makes me think about your busy little hands. Man, you just grab and grab and grab everything around you. Your favorite is when mom gives you an old copy of a magazine. You rip and tear and destroy within minutes. It’s really impressive, quite frankly. Our recycling bin has never been so full of orphaned pieces of paper.

In other development news, last week you had some issues with something you ate and had a long night of barfing. We left your door open so we could hear if you barfed again and were both amazed to find out after periodical check-ups that you sleep on your side. It was as if we’d discovered a cure for cancer or something judging by the way we acted. It’s funny that we’re always too concerned about waking you up so we never really know how you sleep.

Anyway, the sleeping on your side obviously points to the fact that you can turn over at will, something I’ve been a little worried about. With each passing day you are more and more wiggly and harder to hold. I’m sure it’s a matter of time before you get mobile and we start finding you in the air intake or other vents around the house (just kidding...we’re quite attentive parents).

Looks like this month will take me to San Francisco for your cousin Thaddeus’ blessing. I wish we could all go, but we’ll probably be hurting after we pay off our first post-AC installation bill.

Love,
Dad

Posted by patatomic at May 6, 2008 11:34 PM

Comments

For what it's worth, realtors and contractors don't like speaking with only one homeowner because the odds of the other homeowner nixing a deal is high when that happens.

However, this is Utah we're talking about. When in Utah, my wife--a certified professional civil engineer in Utah and Washington (and now Oregon) with a BS in civil engineering, an MBA, and seniority over most of the folks she worked with--was still expected by her male co-workers to take notes in meetings, transcribe letters and occasionally make coffee. Most of these requests were met with her trademark Scotch-Irish rage but for whatever reason they kept doing it. Nothing of the sort has happened since we moved.

Utah's great, but in many, many ways it's...um, STUCK in others, if you catch my drift. If a contractor is being a sexist POS, take your $$ elsewhere. They'll eventually learn.

Posted by: erat at May 13, 2008 09:56 PM

...remove "in others" after "STUCK" and that last part may make more sense.

Posted by: erat at May 13, 2008 09:57 PM

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