So much happening!

Well, folks, we have a climber. Monkey is on the verge of being able to climb out of his crib. It's a little scary, because I know he's not ready for a toddler bed quite yet, but I don't want him to hurt himself either!

In the past few weeks, I have found him on top of the dining room table, on the coffee table, trying to climb out of his crib, and on the back of the couch. Oh, and did I mention that through all of that, he has also developed a taste for coloring on the walls? Luckily the crayons are washable and wipe right off. Although we've received lots of suggestions, such as giving him chalk or designating a "space" on the wall where it's OK to color, ultimately we don't want him doing it. For a 19 month old I think that designating times/places where it's OK and others where it is not is just confusing. So, he's not allowed to do it, and when he does there are consequences, such as...

...time outs. We were hoping to wait until he was a bit more verbal, but he's just not taking us seriously when we tell him no, so something had to be done. He's still getting the hang of staying where we put him, so a 1-minute time out usually takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, and by the end we have a tearful child who won't so much as look at us. Oh well. He also has to clean the wall where he colored, if that was the offense.

Now for the biggest news...

#2 is on the way! Due 10 days after Monkey was born, so there is a chance they could share a birthday. I didn't really love the thought of having kids with the same birth month, but that's what happened. We're thrilled, and we *think* we're ready. Of course, that means nothing at all...

The Sound of Quiet

I never fully appreciated the sound of quiet until I became a mother. Now if it's not the baby, it's the dogs, the laundry, the dishwasher, the phone, or my husband disturbing the piece.

It's funny, quiet used to drive me CRAZY. I had to have some form of noise...TV, Music, anything. Now if I can get a few minutes of NO SOUND I am in heaven! I don't know if it's that Monkey is so active, or me getting older, or some random shift in my hearing ability since having him, but I hear EVERYTHING! Right now I can hear the dogs breathing, the air conditioner going, electronics humming, and Ben's computer upstairs. This is as quiet as it gets.

And, of course, the more I focus on it, the louder it seems to get (at least to my mommy-vulcan hearing that Ben says I now have). The other day Ben took Monkey for a bike ride in his new bike trailer, and I got 20 whole minutes of...nothing. It was delightful. Then the dog started having a sneezing fit, and life resumed it's normal, noisy pace.

The New Furniture Is Here!

So, for those of you who know me, you know that I have been bugging Ben for YEARS to get new furniture. I loved my old red couch when we bought it, but over the years it's started to look a little sad. Oh, and each time we move I feel more and more like it's taking over the living room...and not in a good way.

See? It's just a bit big. AND it blocked about 1/3 of one of the entrances to the living room...meaning you had to kind of sidle by it to get in from that entrance, and then walk around it to sit down. 

How was it looking sad? After dealing with Ben, 2 dogs, and Monkey, there was some definite wear (mostly in the corner in the back, where I usually sat and therefore where everyone came to me) and water marks from cleaning that I couldn't get out. On top of that, the wood detail on the bottom was chipped in more than one place, and I had re-stuffed the cushions with polyfill so many times I may as well have bought a new one already. Oh, and you couldn't take the bottom cushions off...nightmare for cleaning purposes. That couch ate several things that were never seen again.

So, after at least 2 years of convincing him that I needed a new seating set, he gave in. We sold the old one the DAY I put it up for sale, and we got THIS:

I LOVE this. It's not microfiber, but a soft, durable upholstery. It's in a great neutral grey color, so I can sew new pillow shams or make a colorful blanket to change the whole tone of the room without buying new furniture. And it's super comfy...like, I want to sleep on it all. the. time. YAY!!

Now I just have to find at least 1 end table (Ben is currently using a small folding table for his end table) and maybe a new coffee table. I'm thrifting for those, because I want them to be larger, have storage, and need some TLC so that I can revamp them and make them pretty again. I'm thinking beadboard on the sides and modern hardware on any drawers/cupboards. Then strip them down, prime and paint/stain them (probably not black, probably a rich mahogany color) and varnish them to make sure it's all sealed in properly. EXCITED!

Why I Both Love and Hate Netflix

A few weeks ago Monkey was sick. As in: ear infection, teething (molars no less, which we *still* haven't seen), and a stomach virus. I was up to my elbows in vomit, diarrhea, and tears (both his and mine). Because he had all 3 at the same time, we didn't sleep much.
I don't do well on little sleep. He has spoiled me immensely since he was 3 months old by sleeping a full 12 hours at night, pretty much every night. Once in a blue moon he wakes up for an hour in the middle of the night, but I can count on both hands how many times that has happened in the past 13 months. Not bad.
However, sickness is a different animal all together. Sickness throws a wrench in your well-oiled machine, and decides that it needs to throw you a curve ball in the sleep department. It's like the girl in your group who likes nothing better than to cause problems just to have something entertaining to watch. You know what is apparently really entertaining? Taking a mama who has gotten a full night's sleep each night for over a year and saying "Hey, how about 1 hour of sleep for the next 48 hours. Sound fun? Let's do it!"

That's what sickness did to me. I went to sleep at 10, Monkey woke up at 11...screaming. Ben can't get up with him because he has, you know, a job or something and needs to sleep. Want to know when Monkey went back down? 5am. That means that I didn't go back to sleep at all...it was practically time for the day to start.
Back to Netflix. That night, I watched the entire 1st season of Dowton Abbey on Netflix Streaming. It was awesome. I LOVED it. So I (obviously) immediately put the second season on my Netflix Queue. You know what happened? the words Very Long Wait popped up next to it. NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
That was a few weeks ago. I have selectively been putting other movies at the top of the queue in the hopes that after I send that one back the next season will be ready. Now those evil words are gone, and I should be receiving the 1st DVD of the 2nd season tomorrow.

HOWEVER...my Netflix account claims that I still have the last movie they sent me. The one I sent back on Saturday. The one I held for a WEEK and never watched, so I Notflixed it....AKA I sent it back without even popping it in the DVD player.

Man oh man, I need a job. I'm way too invested in my Netflix...

Let's hear it for accurate record-keeping

So, as you may know, I have issues with fertility. Not the issues you hear about frequently (not that that makes them any easier to deal with), but things that you (and often times the Drs I see) have never heard of/dealt with/care to learn about. Because they are different. And difficult. And there is not a lot of research done on them, which means they can be hard to treat.

So when Ben and I decided that we *may* be ready to start thinking about #2, it means a lot of pushing to get what I want. Luckily, we have all of my records from my old fertility specialist, so we have a jumping off point.

Next step...the Dr. To get a referral. To another Dr. To see (hopefully) once and convince to put me on my old protocall. That's all I want. I want no tests, no unnecessary treatments, no weekly visits. I want a prescription. For what I know already works. OK...done. Referral was submitted, approved, ready to go. Then I call to make my appointment.

Want to know something fun? The Dr that they referred me to (besides being over 2 hours away, thankfully I can get reimbursed for gas) has RETIRED. How did they not figure this out sooner? Because apparently it happened a while ago. That's kind of a big thing to miss.

Now I have to wait for my primary care Dr. to give me a phone consult for another referral.

Hopefully they got the memo on that specialist's retirement. But I think probably not. I think they will just keep referring me until I either shut up or give up. Oh how little they know me!

The Search For Meaning

I was thinking today about how hard it is to make friends now that I am a little bit older. It used to be you ran into someone on the playground/in the hall/in the dorm/in class, you would talk for a bit, and then you were friends. Not anymore. Now it's an evaluation as to how much effort I want to put in, how much I want a new friend, and, generally, whether or not it will be worth it.

That sounds bad. I know. But ultimately, I have a son, a husband, 2 dogs, and a house to take care of. Plus looking for work, trying to maintain friendships with people who are spread around the world, and finding time for myself. There are barriers to pass, just as Leonard had to pass 3 barriers to become Sheldon's roommate.

So, we're picky. I like to cultivate my friendships. However, I don't want the scary clingy friend who calls/messages/texts constantly and can't get a hint that they are being a crazy person don't understand boundaries. Sometimes (OK, most of the time) it's just easier to say "screw it."

But, ultimately, I want some new friends. Mommy friends. Mommy friends that live in the same town, who's children are close in age to mine and who I have things in common with. That may be too much to ask. but I keep looking. In the meantime, while re-reading one of my favorite blogs, I came across. this post that helped me know I'm not completely crazy.

Looks like this time is starting with even MORE frustration!

Because we are a military family, we are at the mercy of our providers to give us referrals to the "closest" specialists when those facilities are not available through the on-post military providers. In my case, seeing a true OBGYN is one of those specialists. I was fine with this, and told that I could see someone within an hour's drive of where we live. OK, fine. It's a little difficult with Monkey to make long drives for one day, but an hour each way I can do.

Lo and behold, today I get my authorization paperwork. The Dr. they are referring me to is 2 1/2 HOURS away from us. That mean either a) a day of screaming Monkey in the car or b) paying for a full day of childcare so that I can go to 1 appointment...at $4 an hour. Now Ben and I have to have a discussion as to whether we want to just accept what we have been given, or try to get someone closer. There are drawbacks either way. If we roll with what we have been given, we have to pay a lot more for Monkey's daycare while I'm gone and I have to rush there and back, not to mention time the appointment just right so that I can drop him off and pick him up on time.

If we try to get someone different, it could take quite a while. We could not get someone different at all...we could still end up with the person we have been given.

UGH...I wish the providers here would just give me the protocall they have on file from my reproductive specialist at our last duty station and not refer me out. Life would be a lot easier!