Friday, March 31, 2006

Ragged Days

Okay, I'm going to try dual blogging--both on here and my new MySpace account.

Here's the rundown of the past few days. Gone are the days of doing nothing on my precious days off. Now, I'm running ragged all over Metro Denver. Yesterday, out of the house by 11am, to the DMV, told that I have to go to emissions to have my vehicle certified...drive 5 miles...wait 55 minutes for a 10 minute test...pay $25 to find out that my '01 Grand Am passed with flying colors (gee, you think, GM certified it like 2 months ago but alas)...return to DMV...see that line is very long...realize that toddler is not going to cooperate & we're running short on time for doctor's appointment...drive across town to doctor's office...pay $35 co-pay...get hilarious patches for the butt after fall...drive home & collapse.

Today wasn't nearly so bad. Caitlin & I toured a day care center about 10 minutes from our house. She is currently going to a private home care provider who is violating state child safety seat laws right & left. I reported her to the licensing board, so I'm thinking it's best that we cut our loses. The new place, Three Bears Learning Center totally rocks! The staff are professionally trained and certified in First Aid, CPR and Universal Precautions. The rooms are so bright & cheery and they have a HUGE outdoor play area with a pool. The best part, they will help Caitlin finally become fully potty-trained. For only $25/week more than the current sitter, I think this is a deal that we can't possible pass up...we'll see what the hubby has to say. After the tour, Caitlin & I headed to Utah Park down the road from our apartment. This place is so pretty. Huge play area, tennis/basketball courts, pond w/ gazebo and open space. Cait had a ball running around and playing in the sand. I sat back & watched her, snapping pictures here and there which I will post later.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

A Tumble, Rumble, Land With a Thump

Mother Nature decided to bestow upon us the gracious gift of a blizzard for the first day of Spring. Nothing like waking up to inches of snow and a blistering wind. Every bone in my body wanted to crawl back under the covers, but the life of a working mom (with limited "sick time") must go on. So, I bundle myself & Caitlin up and out the door we go, face-to-face with the elements. I should've called it quits, when arriving at my car, I found it iced shut. However, being that I'm stubborn and determined, I got the trunk to open which produced a new scraping tool--a vacuum cleaner attachment. So, I diligently start to scrap away at the inch of ice on my car. After about 20 minutes, I give up and take Caitlin (who's having a blast playing in the snow despite the below freezing wind) back upstairs. I went back down, determined to get into my car, and was successful at getting 3 out of 4 doors open and began to scrap off the windshield and windows, with a AAA approved snow brush this time. I then warm up the car and trek back up 1 1/2 flights of steps to retreive Caitlin. We head back down and I get her strapped in her carseat when I realize that I left the door to our apartment unlocked. So, back up I go, one more time. Everything's going peachy (mind you, I have a firm grip on the hand rail) until I got down to the last 8 or so steps. Suddenly, my trusty "combat boots" gave out and down I went...with a tumble, rumble and landing with a thump right on my tailbone! Ouch! Somehow, I managed to pick myself up, call my doctor and drive myself on icy roads, to the hospital. Once there, I went right up to labor & delivery where they strapped a fetal monitor to my belly for 4 hours to hear our Olympian's heartbeat and hear her (*brump*) kick all over the place, assuring everyone that she was fine. After enjoying a yummy taco salad, on the house, I was taken downstairs to the ER where I sat on my aching tailbone for 90 minutes! I was finally triaged and taken down a hallway and onto a stretcher where a very nice doctor consulted me. We decided, that since my pregnancy limits what they can do for me, to send me home with a low-dose Vicoden Rx and a rice heat wrap. Well, a day later and the Vicoden hasn't worked it supposed miracle, so I'm relying on Tylenol and the heat pad. And that, my friends is the story of my tumble, rumble landing with a thump!

Friday, March 17, 2006

It's a...

After much waiting and anticipation…I had my anatomical ultrasound yesterday afternoon. We told the technician right off that we wanted to know the sex of the baby. I know that some people like to be surprised but, not me, I need the time to plan & prepare for the baby’s arrival. To me, it is a lot more fun to pick out pink or blue clothes than it is to get things in gender neutral colors like yellow and green. Plus, I think it increases the “realness” of the baby, when you can start calling it by a name rather than “the bump” or “it”. Anyway, I digress…after waiting patiently as the technician zoomed in to examine the spine, heart and all of those necessities, we were able to see (and in some cases, count) a sweet little head, finger & toes, and a cute round bottom. After much pleading, we were able to get the baby to uncross her legs and…(drum roll, please)…we saw, as clear as day, that we were going to be the parents of…A GIRL! I may not have gotten the sister that I so desperately wanted growing up, but now, I’ll have two daughters. What more could I ask for? Ben & I both had tears in our eyes. Ben because he has another little princess and me, because well, secretly, I wanted another girl, even though I honestly thought we were having a boy this time. We have been blessed twice with beautiful little girls. I think Caitlin understands that she’s going to be a big sister but, nothing beyond that at this point. I can just see, in the future, the two girls playing dolls, having tea parties and watching Disney movies together.
After the ultrasound, we jumped in the car to go to Colorado Springs to Children’s Orchard, a resale shop. This place rules for those of us that love to stretch the almighty dollar. Most of their baby clothes are either new or very gently used. I got a couple of outfits that had never been worn, still had original tags on them. Proof of my frugalness…just over a dozen outfits for $50! How can you beat that? I will need to go back soon to get more 0-3 months along with 3-6. I’m also psyched to be able to hit the sale racks at my favorite stores!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

A shot in the daylight

On Monday, when Ben came home from work, he rushes upstairs to ask me where I was around 11:30 that morning. Thinking that I'd forgotten to do something or missed the UPS guy (I'm waiting for my Ebay purchase to arrive), I mumbled, "At the doctor's office, why?" The response I got was not was I was intending at all! He shoved a memo at me from the apartment manager. To sum it up, some idiot decided to shoot off his gun in our complex in BROAD DAYLIGHT! And, because most people were out working or running about town, the police have no leads. So much for our gated community being safe. It awakened me to the reality that we live in the big city now where this kind of thing is normal. But...why does it have to happen in my neighborhood? Personally, I think that the management needs to crack down on the fact that anyone can buzz anyone in. Not that I want to treat my neighbors as offenders, but maybe the Department of Corrections is on the right track when they make the inmates submit a list of visitors who are then put thru background checks before they are allowed on grounds. Oh, did I mention that they can (and are) be searched at any time. I don't know, maybe we need an intimidating correctional officer type sitting out at our gate, maybe he'll scare would-be weapon-dischargers from coming in? All that I know is, my eyes & ears are much more alert now.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

New digs

I thought it was high time that I posted something about our new apartment. As most know, we relocated from Montrose to Aurora, CO at the beginning of February, leaving behind our spacious duplex for a 3rd floor loft-style apartment. To say the least, we compromised a lot of space to be in the big city, close to stores and work (at least for me). The complex itself is nice & clean but our apartment is older and has been poorly maintained. The move-in repair list could've wallpapered a small bathroom, let's leave it at that. I wasn't expecting the Ritz or anything but, is asking for a stove built before 1975 too much? Holding my ground, I asked for a new stove and, believe it or not, they granted my request! One point for me. There's still a lot of repairs to be done but, I keep reminding myself that it could be a lot worse. Once we finish making the place into a "home"...I'm hoping the little things won't bother me. It certainly isn't horrible, I can put up with it for a year. It's just that the place is so small! In order to get our essentials to fit in the kitchen, we had to do some creative purging and we have tons of boxes in the "storage areas" throughout the house. I'll have to take some pictures so that you can appreciate the effort. ;) The new baby & Caitlin will have to share the 2nd bedroom for now, each getting a half of the room and a small room at that. It's only saving grace is the walk-in closet. Our bedroom is a bit bigger and up 13 steps from the family room (you can look down from our bedroom into the living room). I thought the stairs were cool when we first looked at the place, but as I get further along in my pregnancy, I have a feeling that I'm going to loathe them! I do love the place for the amount of natural light we get from the dormer windows, it's nice.
Oh, here's the website for the property management group. If you do a search for "The Trails", it should be the first link on the list. We have "The Mustang".

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