What’s new?

[liveintheville]

So RockNVoll how’s the house? scm1011 I read on another thread that you’re trying for #2? Congrats!
C and L started school today. L has a new teacher so we’ll see how that goes. C is in 5th grade! I can’t believe it. He’ll be 11 in October.
So my wedding ring is doing this weird thing where it’s causing skin problems on my finger. I’ve cleaned it. Stopped wearing it until it healed and tried again and same thing happened. Wore it on a different finger and same thing happened. I took it to the jeweler yesterday and got it cleaned. They tell me it’s impossible to be allergic to platinum but I haven’t changed hand soap or anything. I’m wearing it again and hopefully nothing happens.

[scm1011]

Hi! Yes, I'm currently shooting myself up everyday in preparation for my FET (frozen embryo transfer) on 9/14. Fingers crossed! My new job offers 16 weeks paid maternity leave and a June-September leave sounds amazing

Otherwise we're good! We did a bunch of local weekend trips this summer (Portland, Hudson Valley, Adirondacks) instead of one big international trip like usual. Its just easier at the age Cal is at; hopefully next summer he'll be more manageable. This weekend we have birthday parties to go to in Salem and Marblehead so we decided to North Shore it Sunday night with an AirBnB and stay in Salem. So another local mini vacation.

Yay for the boys starting school! I hope they didn't melt today. And that's bananas that C is in 5th grade! How are things going with the travel biz?

[drloretta]

scm1011, so excited for you! Fingers crossed. I didn't know you started a new job. No more Trump cutout!!!

liveintheville, I can't wait to hear about the travel business. That sounds like fun. Can't believe how big the kids are getting

After a hellish first 2/3 of the summer, things have calmed down work-wise. We've spent most weekends on the road doing some sort of day trip. Keene, NH; Jamestown, RI (I highly recommend their playground); Essex, CT.

S doesn't start school until the 6th, and of course camp is over. MIL is here to "help out" (I use that term generously). More day trips over the Labor Day weekend. Our 2 big pieces of news are that 1) S got invited to participate in a regional Irish step dance competition in November, so we will be spending a good chunk of our fall weekends at a dance studio, and 2) her birth mom is having a baby next month. S is very excited to be a big sister, even if it's not in the traditional sense. She's just a happy kid in general, when she's not giving me flashes of what her adolescent attitude will be, LOL.

[scm1011]

Aug 29, 2018 14:57:46 GMT -5 drloretta said:

scm1011 , so excited for you! Fingers crossed. I didn't know you started a new job. No more Trump cutout!!!

Thanks! And yes, I started a new job at April and it's going well. It's actually the same company @rocknroll previously worked for, ha.
Yay for S's dance competition and her impending big sister status! 

5kcandlesinthewind, how are you and B these days?! 

[liveintheville]

RockNVoll hurray for furniture delivery day! And it’s good you have a home warranty. We have a new build with no warranty. That’s so frustrating about the closets.
scm1011 that’s so soon! Here’s to a successful transfer.
drloretta wow that’s great about S! The competition and becoming a big sister.

Travel agent thing is going well. I can now book. I need to make my webpage. I have a friend whose going to help me with that. He’s crazy busy so I’m not sure when that will be. I don’t know jack about geography or time zones though. So right now I’m kinda only good if you know where you want to go.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

scm1011, congrats on the new-ish job, and best of luck with the FET!
RockNVoll, enjoy the new furniture! There's always a million things to do, but at least you guys are finally in the house!
liveintheville, congrats on the travel agent gig! Hope the boys are settling in to school easily.
drloretta, how exciting for S! Best of luck to her with the competition.

Things are good here. Ben started preschool today, I can't believe it. He's been SO EXCITED about it and counting down the days for months now. He had orientation yesterday, and my husband and I weren't sure we were going to get him to leave. He's there now for his first "real" day (2 1/2 hours), and he practically ran to the classroom the second we got him out of the car, yelling "bye! See you later!" at us over his shoulder. I only cried a little when we actually left him, and not til we walked out the door, thankfully.

[scm1011]

Awww, that's so cute 5kcandlesinthewind. I'm glad he's excited and ready even if you're not quite there yet Your DH must be excited for his 2.5 hours a freedom! lol.

[drloretta]

S is officially a big sister! Amelia Siobhan was born this morning, weighing in a touch under 10 lb. We meet her in 3 weeks!

[liveintheville]

Sept 18, 2018 12:36:38 GMT -5 drloretta said:

S is officially a big sister! Amelia Siobhan was born this morning, weighing in a touch under 10 lb. We meet her in 3 weeks!

This is awesome! S must be so excited!

[scm1011]

Yay! So exciting drloretta! Pretty name.

It looks like someone else is getting a little sibling too, next June.... 

[liveintheville]

Sept 20, 2018 10:41:47 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Yay! So exciting drloretta! Pretty name.

It looks like someone else is getting a little sibling too, next June.... 

This is amazing!! Congratulations! Are you going to find out the sex?

[scm1011]

Sept 20, 2018 10:47:22 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Sept 20, 2018 10:41:47 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Yay! So exciting drloretta ! Pretty name.

It looks like someone else is getting a little sibling too, next June.... 

This is amazing!! Congratulations! Are you going to find out the sex?

Thanks!! Yes, I'm pretty sure we will find out the sex this time. The 9 months of arguing over a girls name for nothing last time has turned me away from team green lol.

[liveintheville]

Sept 20, 2018 10:49:06 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Sept 20, 2018 10:47:22 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

This is amazing!! Congratulations! Are you going to find out the sex?

Thanks!! Yes, I'm pretty sure we will find out the sex this time. The 9 months of arguing over a girls name for nothing last time has turned me away from team green lol.

Ha! We so had our girl names picked. Then came the ultrasound. Then came months of debating boy names. I couldn’t stand the suspense. I’m not patient

[caligirl22]

Sept 20, 2018 10:41:47 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Yay! So exciting drloretta! Pretty name.

It looks like someone else is getting a little sibling too, next June.... 

Congratulations!!

[drloretta]

scm1011, congratulations!!!

[5kcandlesinthewind]

Sept 20, 2018 10:52:53 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Sept 20, 2018 10:49:06 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Thanks!! Yes, I'm pretty sure we will find out the sex this time. The 9 months of arguing over a girls name for nothing last time has turned me away from team green lol.

Ha! We so had our girl names picked. Then came the ultrasound. Then came months of debating boy names. I couldn’t stand the suspense. I’m not patient

I didn't plan to find out until they called and asked if I wanted to know, and I IMMEDIATELY said yes.  We'd just decided on a girls name, so obviously, it was a boy. 

Congratulations, scm1011! I'm thrilled for you - wishing you all the best for an easy and healthy 9 months!

And congrats to big sister S, drloretta! 

[scm1011]

Sept 24, 2018 8:14:02 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

Sept 20, 2018 10:52:53 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Ha! We so had our girl names picked. Then came the ultrasound. Then came months of debating boy names. I couldn’t stand the suspense. I’m not patient

I didn't plan to find out until they called and asked if I wanted to know, and I IMMEDIATELY said yes.  We'd just decided on a girls name, so obviously, it was a boy. 

Congratulations, scm1011 ! I'm thrilled for you - wishing you all the best for an easy and healthy 9 months!

And congrats to big sister S, drloretta ! 

Thanks! I am excited to find out. One of the good things about my "geriatric pregnancy" is that I'll get the test around 10 weeks. If it is a girl we're back to the drawing board because the name we FINALLY settled on (Camille) is a little too cutesy with DS' name. I can't have a Cal/Caly (what we call him) and a Cam/Cami lol. 

[5kcandlesinthewind]

Oh yeah, the best part about being old is that they test for errrrrything, and your insurance will pay for a bunch of it.

We landed on Maya - I tell everyone in case someone is interested because I loved it so much, but we are done, done, DONE after Ben.

[scm1011]

Sept 24, 2018 8:46:29 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

Oh yeah, the best part about being old is that they test for errrrrything, and your insurance will pay for a bunch of it.

We landed on Maya - I tell everyone in case someone is interested because I loved it so much, but we are done, done, DONE after Ben.

I love Maya! Its a name I'd definitely consider if it weren't one of our closest friend's names (although she is Latvian and spells in Maija). 

[liveintheville]

Sept 24, 2018 8:46:29 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

Oh yeah, the best part about being old is that they test for errrrrything, and your insurance will pay for a bunch of it.

We landed on Maya - I tell everyone in case someone is interested because I loved it so much, but we are done, done, DONE after Ben.

That was the one perk of being advanced maternal age. I had so much testing. And tons of ultrasound pictures. I only got 2 with Caleb. I have like 30 of Lucas.

[liveintheville]

Caleb got detention today for making an obscene gesture in the overhead projector. He’ll be docked electronics and allowance and reamed out but I’m not sure even that will get through to him. He’s almost 11. I’m not ready for this preteen acting out. I’m definitely not ready to be the parent of the school troublemaker. Today may require alcohol.

[caligirl22]

We have no gas. No heat or hot water. I know that we were so lucky in all of this but I’m exhausted from all the calls, all the claim BS and I’m tired of showering at friends houses. I’m so nervous for the colder weather to hit and still not have a timeline for restoration.

[liveintheville]

Oct 2, 2018 17:26:58 GMT -5 caligirl22 said:

We have no gas. No heat or hot water. I know that we were so lucky in all of this but I’m exhausted from all the calls, all the claim BS and I’m tired of showering at friends houses. I’m so nervous for the colder weather to hit and still not have a timeline for restoration.

Oh wow I didn’t realize you were affected. How terrible! Npr was saying it might be October and not November? I really hope so.

[scm1011]

Oh caligirl22, that's so tough. I naively thought all gas had been restored; I can't believe they haven't even given you a timeline!

liveintheville, you definitely deserve a drink. I hope C was properly remorseful and that this isn't the start of a life of crime lol.

[drloretta]

liveintheville,that sounds rough. I hope it was a one-off and not the start of a pattern
caligirl22, I'm hearing 11/19 for a final gas restoration timeline. I can only imagine that seems like forever. I hope it's sooner for you

[drloretta]

What a disastrous weekend.

We left Wednesday night to go down to MIL's house. DH got the brilliant idea to do an October "vacation" by cleaning out MIL's attic. We got to her place Thursday evening and spent ALL DAY Friday throwing stuff into the dumpster she rented. By the end of the day it was full and we still had about 1/3 of the attic to go through. I was still super congested from a cold 2 weeks ago, and being in a dusty attic didn't help.

Saturday we had her go through a half dozen bins of random stuff from 3 generations of family. MIL wanted to keep it all *sigh* We rewarded S with a visit to a local street fair that night and had a blast. So at least there's that

Sunday we drove down to see S's new baby sister. We had a nice afternoon with the family, then headed to a hotel. Where S threw up all.night.long. We got a late checkout yesterday so she could get some sleep and could tolerate the drive home. Which took forever. She's home today because she was still a hot mess when we got home.

DH wants to make this cleanup project an annual visit to his mom's now. He estimates she has at least 2 dumpsters of stuff in her basement, as well as what's left in her attic. I detest staying at her house, I'm not looking forward to this. But in the end she will get rid of a lot of stuff that we would have to deal with at one point or another.

Blergh

[scm1011]

Oct 9, 2018 8:39:31 GMT -5 drloretta said:

What a disastrous weekend.

We left Wednesday night to go down to MIL's house. DH got the brilliant idea to do an October "vacation" by cleaning out MIL's attic. We got to her place Thursday evening and spent ALL DAY Friday throwing stuff into the dumpster she rented. By the end of the day it was full and we still had about 1/3 of the attic to go through. I was still super congested from a cold 2 weeks ago, and being in a dusty attic didn't help.

Saturday we had her go through a half dozen bins of random stuff from 3 generations of family. MIL wanted to keep it all *sigh* We rewarded S with a visit to a local street fair that night and had a blast. So at least there's that

Sunday we drove down to see S's new baby sister. We had a nice afternoon with the family, then headed to a hotel. Where S threw up all.night.long. We got a late checkout yesterday so she could get some sleep and could tolerate the drive home. Which took forever. She's home today because she was still a hot mess when we got home.

DH wants to make this cleanup project an annual visit to his mom's now. He estimates she has at least 2 dumpsters of stuff in her basement, as well as what's left in her attic. I detest staying at her house, I'm not looking forward to this. But in the end she will get rid of a lot of stuff that we would have to deal with at one point or another.

Blergh

You are a much nicer person than I am, because I would be all "You do you, but I'm all set." 

Poor S. I hope she's feeling better soon, and fingers crossed baby sister didn't get sick!! 

[liveintheville]

drloretta that sounds miserable! Poor S I wouldn’t be down with cleaning holidays.

[drloretta]

Oct 9, 2018 13:23:37 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Oct 9, 2018 9:18:54 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I am firmly on the bench with scm1011 .  Sounds like you should do a real holiday weekend on your own or with S while he deals with his mom's stuff.

Ha, I have to be there to say no to her. We agreed in advance that very little would come home with us, and NO FURNITURE. The week before we left, he called her and she said she wanted us to have one or both of her recliners. DH said, "Yeah, we may bring one home." I have him the biggest stink-eye ever and reminded him of our agreement.

We didn't bring home any furniture. We brought home 3 small bins of stuff that used to be DH's.