The Week in Review

I haven't blogged for a while. My parents and sister flew out to Colorado, and the time didn't present itself. We had fun. They left yesterday evening. The kids were more themselves today (instead of the somewhat whiny children they've been for the last week), but Caitlin was searching everywhere this morning for Grandma, Grandpa, and aunt Elizabeth, and making the funny sound she sometimes makes when we would ask her to say "Grandma" or "Grandpa".

This has been a crazy week. My parents were gracious enough to watch the kids for us while we went house hunting on Tuesday. What a way to spend an afternoon! I am grateful for the invention of the digital camera. Without it, I would never have remembered all the places we went to! We've seen about 15 places since we moved here, and put in 2 offers last week. No house for us, though. Why? You ask. Because both places were already under contract with different prospective buyers before we put in our offer! They didn't beat us out by hours, but by days! Why the other realtors didn't at least tell our realtor is a mystery to all of us. One of houses we looked at was owned by a realtor herself. Good ol' Jana Ringener never bothered to let us know there was an offer in already - even when we made appointment number two. She was standing right there! "Ring Jana"? Don't bother. We wasted a lot of time, and it's left me very emotionally drained. Our realtor has never had this happen to her, and not twice in a period of two days! Crazy! I'm over the initial bitterness, but I'm still mad that one of the houses is still listed as Active on the Colorado Home Finder, when it's clearly not available. I know of two realtors who I won't be recommending when new arrivals here ask about house buying.

Other than that, the week was fun. Monday we went into Boulder and hit the Pearl Street mall. It's a fun, eclectic outdoor mall with a hippie flaire. Tuesday was preschool, and house hunting for mom and dad. The kids stayed with Grandma, Grandpa and aunt Elizabeth and showed them the local prairie dogs. Wednesday was a bit unorganized, and we ended up in Boulder once again. Not that it's a bad place, it just wasn't what we planned. Thursday we went up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday. It is just beautiful up there. People have raved about Colorado all my life, but so far I haven't found it to be any more or less beautiful than northern California. It's very pretty here, but I also love the Sierras, the redwoods, and the cold beaches of the northern California coast, and will probably always identify myself as a California girl. Estes Park, on the other hand, made me understand what all those people were talking about. It really is gorgeous at 7,200 feet. The greenery and trees that my soul finds to the be the most beautiful of all scenery was everywhere! Go up another 2,000 feet, and view gets better. Longs Peak and Bear Lake in the national park were also gorgeous. I kept wondering if the water was as cold as Lake Tahoe, but I didn't stick my hand in to find out. Mostly because I knew Caitlin would want to try it, too, and would probably trip. Her latest word is "klutz," because her Mommy keeps saying, "honey, you're a klutz".

Mom and Brandon in front of Long's Peak

Caitlin, silly girl

Hey!
Grandma and Grandpa at Bear Lake

Friday was a free day, and Saturday we went to explore The Butterfly Pavilion, which is right down the street.

Brian and I were suppose to look at a house we found on Sunday, but wouldn't you know it, the man of the house told our realtor that he wasn't interested in working with anyone who had an agent. The woman of the house (who was also called) said, "Come on down!". ???? So we called on our own. The owners weren't home yesterday, but we're going to try to take a look at it tomorrow.

So, life is continuing on at the P4 household. Nothing new, nothing exciting. Back down to 4 people, an overly smart field mouse who refuses to be caught, a lot of laundry and dishes, and some more miles on the car. It was a fun week. I'm a little drained, and really just want to sit on the couch for a few hours and stare at the ceiling. Unable to do that as a mom, though. The house feels a little empty with 3 less people. But we'll all be together again soon!

Questions and Knowledge

Sometimes when Brandon asks me questions I answer them correctly off the top of my head. Those are the times I'm highly impressed with my knowledge of the mundane. Other times, I answer the question as best I can, all the while thinking, "What kind of crap am I telling him now?" The pride of knowledge goes right out the door.....

New to the Blogging World

My friend Lara has started her own blog! Welcome to the blogging world! It's easy to post. Plus, we all have lives, so we in the blogging world know that daily postings aren't always possible. We understand. My family is in town, and we've been house hunting, so blogs have been temporarily stopped. But for those of you with time (old and new friends alike), check out Lara's new blog here!

On Being 18 Months Old - Part I

Caitlin has finally reached the 18th month mark. In some ways I can hardly believe it. How did she get to be so big? Wasn't she just a baby? Wasn't I just pregnant? (Yet another one of the ways that you can feel pregnant forever!) However, now I can just say "18 months" when people ask me her age, or comment on how active she is. And, oh, she is! I don't have her stats, since I wasn't able to get her in to see a pediatrician without first having all her medical records sent to them. I called around and got the same answer - no appointment until I have the records sent to the office. So not the case in the adult world of doctors. They couldn't care less about my past and my records. It's all a little nutty. If I'd known this little tidbit, I would have had records made for me before I left!

Completely frustrated by all this, I called a few more doctors outside of B-town, closer to the town we are hoping to move to (about 7 miles from our current place). I finally managed to find a medical group that not only got us an appointment for the 27th, but also told me that they would order the kids records. For your info (for those of you who may move or switch medical groups), by law there is no charge for office to office records transfers. However, if you order your own records there can be a charge (and will be if you order from my old medical group). Thanks to the nice lady on the phone, we have an appointment and I've saved $30.

I love this age. I'm having fun with the kids most of the time. Brandon has been whiny and bossy (moreso than usual) since we moved here, but can still be an adorable boy. It's getting better, but the move and having no friends here put him off balance for a while. He still has a few more days of his preschool. We're off for most of August, and then real-life preschool starts on the 20th.

Here are the fun things that Caitlin can do:

*says a handful of words, including mama, dada, daddy(!) (sounds like DA-eey!), grandma, grandpa, bath, ball, dog, cat, cow, owl, milk (MEE-ook), down (as in go downstairs to the garage), water (wa-wer) .

*says "thank you" and "here you go". They sound very similar.

*likes to help mommy vacuum, put dishes in the dishwasher, clean (she'll pick up any cloth and wipe the table), and picks up her clothes and puts them in her hamper .

*likes to imitate me. Often brushes her hair after I've already brushed it and put it up in a ponytail.

*when I pour her a cup of milk at night, before bedtime, she will run out into the living room to give Daddy and Brandon kisses and hugs (sometimes as I'm pouring). All the while yelling "mee-ook!" at the top of her lungs. She then takes her milk and runs into her room and starts picking out books to read before she goes to bed. This is just the cutest thing ever!

*wants to do everything that her older brother does, causing many people at the park to think she's older than she is and slightly stupid.

*loves to dance, with or without music. Has a good bootie wiggle.

*climbs in and out of her highchair, and likes to buckle herself in.

*knows every place we go to play (some parks, but mostly the mall, Chick-fil-A, and the rec center since it's been so hot here), and will scream out and point if I drive past it. That gets old when I'm trying to find a place to park and she's in the back seat yelling at me to stop.

*big on pushing elevator buttons and the wheelchair access buttons that open doors at the mall. Thinks it's so great when Brandon's not around and she gets to do all the buttons by herself.

*tells me what is a "no no" by pointing at things, like my camera, and yelling "no!"

*tries to eat with a fork by herself. Is getting better.

*eats well, most of the time. Doesn't like hummus or diet Coke. Maybe we're not related. So strange.

*is still, unfortunately, the stinkiest child ever.

*gets cuter every day!

It's Been Hot Here

It has been hot here. The locals say this is unusual, but I don't believe them anymore. Every time there is hot, cold, or rainy weather in the bay area (anytime there's anything other than clear, cloudless, warm days), the meteorologists freak out on weather report. It's like they can't handle weather. Here, no one freaks at a cool day, a hot day, or a crazy rainstorm. That's why I think these days of 99 degrees are more normal than everyone would like to let on. I got caught in a thunder storm last week. I went to Safeway. It was dry, just thunder and crazy lightning off in the distance when went into the store. 10 minutes later it was pouring, the parking lot was under 3 inches of water, and I got completely drenched during my mad dash to the car (which was parked very close!). Luckily I didn't have the kids. And it was warm, so I was only a little chilled.

But I digress..... it has been hot here. There isn't much to do with the kids, and most outside areas are off limits. Who wants to continually burn their legs on the slide? The sun is a little more searing here, so even easy playing at a park makes the kids tired, and makes Brandon complain about a stomach ache. All the indoor play areas are crazy with kids on days like this. I have the patience of a gnat, so a bunch of screaming wild children can put me in insane mommy mode in a matter of minutes. Especially if the parents are not nearby to play referee (or are nearby, but sleeping, reading, talking on the phone with back to their kids - I'm not exaggerating!). I'm sure it will be similar in the winter if we get a bunch of snow or rain. I couldn't deal with a bunch of crazed children in an indoor play area yesterday, so I filled our old sandbox with water (there's no sand in it currently) in the backyard, and put the kids in their bathing suits. Brandon is still in his size 2T bathing suit and t-shirt, by the way. Caitlin has developed an irrational fear of water, which is making bath time oh so much fun, and wouldn't go in the pool at all. Here, Brandon is trying to convince her to get in the water, but she wouldn't. She didn't scream nearly as much in the bath tub tonight, though,

For more pics of our water afternoon, click here.

Games Brandon like to Play

Able Baker Daddy
On his birthday, Brandon received a book entitled "What Do People Do All Day?" (Thanks, Leanne). What do they do? Do you really want to know? We know, because we are required to read the book every day. It may need to "go away" for a while. Anyway, in one story Able Baker Charlie puts too much yeast in his bread dough, which causes the bread to massively over expand and blow up the oven. As if reading this story daily isn't enough, Brandon has decided to make a little game out of it. It consists of the following steps:

1) Brandon said "Able Baker Daddy, don't put too much yeast in your dough." To which you must reply "Able Baker Brandon, don't put too much yeast in your dough."
2) Then you pretend to put too much yeast in your dough. His dough is his blankey, your dough is, most likely, the quilt on his bed. You (being daddy), put waayyy to much yeast in your dough. Brandon, not so much.
3) After you put too much yeast in your dough you throw it in the oven (which means you throw it over the foot of the bed).
4) Then you must say to Brandon "What happens if I put too much yeast in my dough?"
To which Brandon stands up, reaches up as high as he can with his arms, and says, "Your dough will get TTTHHHISSSSS big"
5) Then, you ask "Is our bread ready yet?"
6) Brandon says, "let me get the timer." He then gets Gugga-Dok (his little toy reindeer), looks at the non-existent timer on Gugga-Dok's butt and says "Not until the hand reaches (insert any number here between 1 and 13)."
7) Sit in silence for 10 to 15 seconds. If you don't let that much time go by or ask again too soon, Brandon will reply (irritatedly), "No, I told you it's not ready yet".
8) You ask a second time, "Is our bread ready yet?"
9) Brandon again picks up Gugga-Dok and says, "Oh, yeah." And then gets the bread out of the
oven.
10) Then (yes, we are on step 10.....)
You take your bread (aka, the quilt), lift it up high and say "OH NO! I PUT TOO MUCH YEAST IN MY DOUGH!!!!!).
11) Then Brandon stands up, and he lays his hands on top of the "Bread" (as if he is healing it), and the bread magically collapses. Brian says he makes a "pssshhhh" sort of sound as the bread collapses on to itself.
12) Then you eat your bread.
Thus ends the "Able Baker Brandon, Able Baker Daddy" game. I had to the narrative from Brian tonight, as I cannot play the game right. Tonight was my first time, I didn't have the right lines memorized, and Brandon cried because I missed a few steps. Tomorrow, Brian will resume his nightly duties of putting Brandon to bed. I cannot handle the aftermath of not playing the games correctly and to Brandon's standards.

The Hat Game
While the previous game is complicated. The next game, another one of Brandon's favorites, is not as difficult. Still, I don't play this game.
1) Brian sits on the couch
2) Brandon brings in his cloth book "Cookie's Color Caper." From this point forward the book is referred to as a hat, not a book. Brian puts it on his head.
3) Brandon begins to jump toward Brian, reaching for the book. Oops, my bad, the "hat." He'll stop if Brian doesn't begin the story narration at that time.
4) The story goes something like this:
"There was a boy named Brandon. He was a hat getter. He use to be good, but today he wasn't so good. He tried to get the hat, but he couldn't get the hat. He tried and tried, but this was a hat he could not get."
(Imagine that all the while Brandon is leaping toward Brian, Brian is fending him off with his arms and tossing his on to the other side of the couch. Brandon is laughing hysterically unless you mess up the story, or call the "hat" a book. Then he'll stop and correct you.)
5) Brian continues with the story, saying pretty much the same stuff over and over again, until Brandon manages to get the hat. At which point the story comes to an abrupt end.

Brian complains a lot about the pain this game causes him. I've suggested he get a cup and stop complaining. Games in which your almost 4 year old child jumps on you are not usually high on the list of fun things to do, unless you're the producers at AFV. They love all these games. Without them they wouldn't have a show.

Highlights of Last Few Days

Not much going on here the last week. Here are the highlights, for those of you who are interested:

--I'm watching "Saturday Night Live," because I can. Prime time TV starts at 7:00 here, instead of 8:00. There are very few advantages to this, except that we can watch a few things, like SNL or the beginning of David Letterman, that were on too late to watch in Cali. It's summer, so there's not much on TV. Come fall, if we don't have TiVo by then, I will sorely miss my TiVo. We won't be able to watch anything we like. Seriously - who is able to sit watch a favorite show at 7:00? Or even 8:00?

---We've gotten a realtor and have looked at some houses that we can actually afford. Quite a change from our lives in the bay area. We looked at some 4 bedroom, 3 bath houses, over 2000 square feet, that are realistic possibilities. It's odd, but nice. I'm still getting use to the idea that we would live in anything that big.

--The other day, as we were walking to get the mail, Brandon told me "gravity rides cakes." Not exactly sure of what he meant, I asked him "What???????" (in the kindest possible irritated mom voice). To which he replied, "Gravity rides cakes?" I finally got it - "do you have any rice cakes?" No, but thank for confusing the heck out of your mother.

--Caitlin now cries pretty much all the time. I love wine. I hate whine. We think she's teething. We're almost up to 8 teeth now. I know - WOW! I really love my wine lately. The crying is grating down to bone level. We're not at all sure it's the teeth, but it's the only explanation we have for what's been going on all week.

--Brandon has attached strings to his toy planes, and is attaching Hot Wheels cars to the strings. He told us that his planes are the daddies, the cars are their little boys, and that the mommies died. What? Has he been watching too many Disney movies? I don't think any moms died in "Cars". Other than that, he's remained fairly sheltered from the "dead mom" line of Disney movies. Where does he get this stuff?

--On the side, the boy cars are all named Max, and the girl cars are all named Emily. Although he hasn't complained about it recently, Brandon still loves and misses his closest friends!

On Living in a Smaller Town

I've lived in lots of different places in California. Some big, some small. You run into people you know quite often in the smaller places. I remember not liking that about the small town, and loving the anonymity that larger towns offer. I also like the fact that news doesn't spread as fast in larger towns (counting out your circle of friends), so your business is not everyone else's business by the next day. I think I am the only person I know who likes going to grocery stores in different areas. There's something to be said for shopping locally and knowing those who shop and work in the stores around you. However, if I needed something from Safeway, and I was 15 miles away, I'd just stop by the closest store to where I currently was instead of waiting to until I got home and heading towards my local Safeway. My husband thought I was a little odd for doing that, but for me it was just normal.

Now we're in Colorado. Land of only 5 million people. So unlike California. Land of 40 million people. I am running into the same people all the time around town. I talked with two women today that I talked to yesterday in the rec center. Their kids are in the same summer preschool class as Brandon. It's so odd. Today at MOPS they both came up to me and told me how nice it was to see me yesterday! I'd talked to one before at a previous MOPS meeting, but the other one I'd never met until yesterday. I took the night off last night and just went out on my own (Brian put the kids to bed and got to watch baseball without having to listen to me gripe about it). I was trying on shoes in a store 7 miles and two towns away, and recognized a woman from my local Wal-Mart. I don't even know her! But I see her a lot. Obviously I don't live in a large town anymore!

I've been reminded time and time again that we are living in a smaller area. While we have everything here we need, I can't always find what I want. I've been out of tahini (sesame paste) for some time now, since we had to eat through the fridge and freezer reserves before moving here. It's not common, but I haven't had a hard time finding it for the last 10 years or so. Here? I went to 4 different stores yesterday looking for tahini, since I've found 3 recipes that call for it, and I can't really make it on my own. I even went to Safeway. I shopped at Safeway all the time in the Bay Area. There weren't a lot of other options. Trader Joe's was number 1, then Safeway or Albertsons. There were a smattering of other smaller stores, but they were all quite a distance, and not worth it unless you were in their general area. I rarely shop at Safeway anymore. The Wal-Mart and Target Supercenters have cut my grocery bill down by about 35%. It's like shopping at Safeway during a sale, but all the time, and I don't have to stock up. However, if it's not common, it's not at Wal-Mart. Maybe at Target. Sometimes at King Soopers. But tahini? Nowhere to be found. They looked for it for me at King Soopers. They gave me the blank deer-in-the-headlines stare at Safeway. Today I found some at Wild Oats (think Whole Foods, but smaller, less expensive, and friendlier), along with some fennel for my roasted fennel and garlic mashed potatoes. I had to go to many many stores to find dry polenta also. We've gone backwards in food diversity moving here. At least I can find good Hispanic foods, but I don't cook Hispanic foods very often. Asian is okay. It's fairly easy to find the common ingredients. I am just now getting in the mood to cook again, and am getting more and more frustrated that I can't find stuff. Stuff I didn't have a hard time finding before. I miss Trader Joe's. I knew I would, but it's just catching up with me now. I even miss Andronico's and Draegers. Didn't shop there much, but I knew I could find the odd stuff at the gourmet shops. Maybe I'd have better luck in Boulder or Denver. The weird thing is that I can find bison meat at Wal-Mart. Go figure!

Our Quirky House

A couple of months ago we had the grand idea to uproot our little family and move to Colorado. Although it involves another future move, we decided to rent before buying, just to get to know the area. After a lot of searching, Brian found a house online. The landlord agreed to a 6-month lease, and even held the house for us for a month because we are Christian. On top of it all, she left us dinner in the freezer, and milk, yogurt and apples in the fridge. How could we go wrong? Wellllll.......

The jury is still out on whether we didn't or did go wrong (although I might be leaning towards the latter), but we did get a rather odd house. It's a rental, and a short lease (thank you, Lord). We've lived in a lot of bizarre places with issues all their own, so there's no doubt in our minds that we can handle this. Houses are affordable here, and we have already gotten a realtor and will start looking at places next week. This house we're renting, though ... it's just a little bit strange. The neighborhood is fine - 20-30 years old, with a mostly blue collar make-up. The neighborhood play area, which is common in this town, is old and badly maintained. I'm not sure the play area or the fences have been taken care of since they were built! The average homeowner here is a little older than we are, but only in his or her mid-40's. The kids are usually older, too. Averages ages are 8 years to the 'teens. We've only found a few kids Brandon's age anywhere near us. It seems safe here, and if you left your door or garage open all day on accident chances are nothing would get stolen. Your neighbor probably would have been "keeping an eye out" on your place all day for you, too! We're in a "covenant protected" community - which seems to be a sort of Homeowners Association term. As a result, the lawns and exteriors of houses are kempt and nice. Our street is off a parkway that circles a golf course. Many HOA's here have their own golf courses and clubhouses, and golfing isn't as expensive as in California. The mail is in a central location, and the kids and I take a walk there every couple of days, depending on the heat, to check it. We also walk down the surrounding streets looking for signs of life. In our old neighborhood in S-town there were people out walking around all the time. Of course, the weather is milder there, and the high-density housing near the Community Center provided for a large number of people in a small area. You don't see nearly the amount of people walking around this neighborhood. I think the higher heat factor (it's usually in the mid to upper 90's in the evenings) combined with the small population contribute to that. Then there is the house......

Our theory (in jest, but mildly serious) is that a bachelor designed this house. He was fresh out of architectural school, never dated, was never around families with kids, and only owned 2 pairs of shoes! The house is a 1400 square foot split level with 3 bedrooms and a 2-car garage. You'd think that, technically, this house would be just fine for us, since we lived in a 1300 square foot 3 bedroom duplex back in S-town, and only had a 1-car garage. And all our stuff fit in that place without a problem! We even parked in the garage! However.... a major point - we had closets in S-town! Big closets! This place, while fitting our needs for the time being, is quirky and sorely lacking in storage space. We have maybe 1/8 the closet space as we had before. Although the kitchen and dining are decently sized, it has been a challenge just to fit in the necessities in the kitchen. The cupboards and shelves are small and badly done. There are a lot of half-shelves and wasted spaces. Our plates only fit into one of several cupboards. We went from 8 drawers to 3. This kitchen/dining area is twice the size of our old one on Offenbach Place! Half our kitchen stuff is currently being stored in the garage. We saw no need to unpack the china when we're going to move in a few months. Good thing, because there isn't any room for it anyway!

The kids bedrooms are upstairs, along with the living room, kitchen and dining room. The kids rooms are decently sized and have adequate storage space. The bathroom is tiny, but it works. I highly do not recommend an upstairs kitchen! Since the house is split level, I have to walk up 7 or 8 stairs to get to the front door, and then another 7 just to get to the kitchen (or an entire flight of stairs if I park in the garage). Unloading after grocery shopping is an Olympic event. Although I'm no longer dizzy, I'm still not use to the altitude. After a few trips up and down stairs I am winded! I feel like I did when I was just a few days from having Brandon - it can be so hard to breath. The world's tiniest family room (with the largest, ugliest, and non-functioning fireplace), laundry room, small bathroom and 1 "bedroom" are downstairs. The bedroom is only big enough for our queen size bed, one dresser, and our hampers. Seriously. No nightstands, no other dresser, nothing. There are about 4 inches between my side of the bed and the sliding glass door out to the backyard (again, seriously!). There is one teensy closet (almost too small for Brian's stuff. Now that's small!). My closet is the coat closet in the "family room". It's narrow and deep, but we've made it work. I've added an extra clothes bar and a lot of shelves for storage, including items other than my shoes and clothes. Brian's closet got a hanging clothes bar to add more hanging space. To get to the bathroom you have to walk through the laundry room, which has no back wall and only a partial ceiling. As a result you can really hear the washer and dryer running, even when you're upstairs and the laundry room door is shut. I'm not sure the bathroom was ever meant to be used regularly. It has a pedestal sink, a tiny shower, and no storage. All extra stuff is stored in the laundry room. We can use the shower, but I wouldn't have been able to use it during either of my pregnancies after the first trimester! We are using the family room as an office area, and place for guests to sleep. It's too small for anything else.

We have a nice shady backyard complete with a play structure for the kids. It's sloped and teeming with bugs, but not too hot in the middle of the day. However, since we live in a split level, you have to go down 27 steps from our second floor sliding glass door to get there, or sqeeze by our bed downstairs to get out to it! But it's a good sized yard. You can't slide the upstairs sliding glass door all the way shut when you go outside, though, or it locks automatically. Better than when it didn't lock at all. And Caitlin going down 27 steps? Can you say "falling", "mangled", or "emergency room visit"? We usually get in the car and go to the one park we've found that has sand to play in instead of jagged rocks under the swings. Sand is non-existant in most parks. Again, so odd!

I think I am finally over being perpetually tired. It has been grueling trying to figure out the challenges of the house, not knowing where anything is, unpacking, and spending all day with my kids and no one else! I am really looking forward to living in a normal place once we buy a house.

On the plus side, we do have a laundry room in the house, as opposed to our laundry closet at our house on Offenbach. We also have central air here, which was a rental house requirement. It has been unusually hot for this area, and most days are close to 100 degrees. We need central air here also, since most of the windows don't have screens. And the ones that do have holes in them. There are lots of wasps here in general, but so far none have gotten into the house. I've notice a lot of houses here don't have screens on the windows or doors, but people have them open anyway! Niiice! . We have a nice back and front yard with big trees. I also like our hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining area. It's so much easier to clean up after Caitlin when she eats! The attic fan in a big plus to suck in the cool evening air when we have it, and circulate it around the house. Right now it's 9:00, and still 80 outside. The winds have picked up, and there's thunder and lighting, but no rain.

I took some pictures over the last few days. Click here to get a tour of our odd little place! It looks good now, but it's taken a lot of work. It could be so much worse. However, since I'm so so good at complaining, I thought I'd share my little world with you.

Rehab or Dinner?

Due to the fact that VH1 actually shows videos in the morning, I've had "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse going through my head all day. At lunch the lyrics changed to a song about Brandon. I haven't named it, but the lyrics go something like this:

"They tried to make me eat my dinner,
but I said no, no, no"

"I ain't got the time
but daddy don't think I'm fine
they tried to make me eat my dinner,
but I said no, no, no"

The other version in my head goes:
"They tried to make me use the bathroom,
but I won't go, go, go."

It's said when the major issues that your kid gives you during the day start replacing the lyrics of the songs you listen to! However, when we weighed Brandon the other day we noticed he was up to 32 pounds. That means he's gained 1 pound since last September. At this rate he'll be the skinniest teenager ever. Of course, I was a skinny kid, and that curse no longer plagues me (darn you, skinny curse! Come back!).

To get the tune to my song just watch the Rehab video:

This Week

We're having fun this week. Brian's sister, Jackie, has come out to visit! Yay! We went up to Loveland to spend the 4th with our friends Rob and Janet. There hasn't been much time to write, but I've posted some pictures on Picasaweb. Click here to see pictures of our 4th of July.