Boys to Safeway, playing in the sprinklers, making salsa, garden. Laundry. Talked to Bunny and Bill last night on Skype. It’s so good to see them.
Month: August 2009
Vegas Visit – The houses….oh the houses.
Last week I was in Vegas for both work and personal stuff. It was quite eventful, even though I wasn’t even there 48 hours.
Tuesday morning started at 4:30a to catch a 6 a.m. flight. In Vegas I picked up the rental car and raced off to a business breakfast. Then over to our former home, which we are renting (Sweet Jewel). The new renter is in the process of moving in (over the last couple of weeks). There was a ton of damage to the house from the former renters. Although our new renter had sever well over 200 pictures of the property, it didn’t really do it justice. When I arrived our handyman was there along with the new landscaper who ironically lives around the corner and has lived there for several years. In any case, I walked up and met the two of them and then took the grand tour of damage. The backyard by far was the worst. The landscaper said he’d hauled off over 15 bags of debris and dead foliage. The backyard grass was completely dead. The inside had a lot of damage from being dirty to crayon on the walls to destroyed paint and cracked light fixtures. Very disappointing to say the very least. Truly amazing that human beings can be so inconsiderate of others property.
I had been in the house a few times over the last year but hadn’t seen the upstairs. Downstairs was just dirty.
After a quick business lunch I headed over to our other rental house (Fair Play). The renters have been there almost 3 years, so it’s a good feeling to know that they take pretty good care of the place. They also put up with the entire plumbing system being redone. Not everyone could live through that! Once over in that community and driving up to check on the house I found the lawn to be pretty crispy, but not dead. It wasn’t fun to find it and I wasn’t very happy about it. I left a message for the renters and continued on with work meetings.
During the day Chip had called and asked some questions about our computer system. It seems that we have an intruder…someone we know…is downloading documents and photos that don’t below to them. It’s shocking and a complete violation. It’s also incredibly illegal. We’ve taken action, but who would’ve thought. People are just amazing.
Quite the eventful week for sure. The one bright spot was more successful business meetings and staying with our dear friends the Tellos.
Curious little boys
The little guys are just as busy as ever! Ryan is catching up with Gary on the letters and can say a fair amount of them. Gary knows all of the alphabet and some colors as well as a few shapes. Ryan can also say some shapes, but hasn’t grasped colors yet.
All the little ones are crazy for the computers and ipods and anything else electronic they can get their hands on.
Gary said “mama car” and “bye ball” in the last few weeks.
Ryan is saying more 2 syllable works. Like “W” and “umbrella”, “checker”, and “hot dog”. He definitely knows when he wants to “eat!”. Ryan’s the best at pointing out his own or others with “caca” and “skinky”.
I was thinking the other day that they are just little sponges, doing and learning so much. We’re still waiting for Ben to catch up, but he compensates with his climbing and eating. They all eat a lot, but Ben totally chows!
Last weekend we all went to a BBQ at Michelle Engleman’s house from Grand Sierra. She’s fantastic! Anyway, I’ve realized a few things. a). God bless anyone who opens their home to triplets who only have 1 child and he’s grown. b). It’s far more exhausting now than it ever was when they were newborn. Now everything is game since all 3 are mobile. Since they are sponges and learning everything, everything needs to be touched, pulled and/or eaten wit
h no realization that something could be dangerous. c). It’s exhausting to run after them and ensure their safety but I still would not change anything…ever.
Little boys update…they’re almost 2!
Life has been crazy with so much going on between work, home and everything else that I haven’t really had a chance to write an update on the little guys!
Gary – what a kid! He knows almost the entire alphabet! On his way to bed, he stops in front of the Oreck vacuum and says every letter. He follows it up with saying “vacuum!!!”. He also greets almost everyone with a huge, very loud “HI!”. Or, better yet, when you’re leaving him he says “byeeeeeeeee”. It’s too cute!
Ryan – what a sponge! Ry-Ry is just saying so many words. He’s particularly good with 2 or 3 syllable words. He says umbrella really well. He also can identify Ben by name and points to him. He says hi, bye and car. Ryan is all about the remotes and phones too. Once he gets a device he will NOT give it up to anyone for anything. He’ll even eat and get it all gooey, but if you take it away, god help you. The screaming begins and takes quite awhile to quit. The phone is really bad. Any gadget he just loves. Daddy tries to sit on the sofa and play with his itouch and boy they come running for it, but Ryan truly wants it. I honestly think that Ryan will be the first one potty trained because he now says cah cah and skinky. Most of the time he’s spot on! He’s still the most temperamental too. Tantrums are not unusual and he’s well aware of time out now. He tends to still be the bully. We’re working on that.
Ben – little Ben-Ben. We are a little concerned with his lack of speech. He just doesn’t say much. On occasion he’ll say car, but doesn’t really respond when we ask him to repeat words. He still loves cars and often plays alone. I think he might be an engineer. He checks everything out and loves to buckle stuff. Sweet, sweet little boy. Ryan pushes him around and he cries. In fact he does a lot of sympathy crying when one of the other boys are crying. Ben is the best eater. Oh my gosh, I sometimes cannot believe how much food he can eat at a meal. Ben also still is quite attached to his blanket. Talk about low maintenance. He’s such a happy boy. In the evenings sometimes Chip will run back and forth across the family room flapping his arms and saying eeeeeeeeeee. Ben jumps right in, flapping his arms and mimicing the eeeeeee. His giggle is SO funny.
All the boys are now scurreying up the stairs to bed and nap. They also walk down the steps with help when they get up in the morning and after the nap. All 3 are so much more hungry these days. They get up, get dressed and then it’s breakfast. Probably within 20 minutes! Right now the breakfast food of choice is Frosted Mini Wheats in milk to soften them up a bit. Daddy is still taking them on walks every day. During the walks Chip tells them the names of things. They all know tree, mailbox and car. Ryan and Gary say them, Ben doesn’t. When Ryan and Gary say all these words, it’s after one of us ask them to say them. We’re not into phrases or spontaneous conversation, but I’m sure it won’t be long.
Dreaded day back to Vegas…
Yesterday was pretty depressing. The girls went back to Vegas to start school. Whenever the girls come and go Chip and I get more and more bitter about the judge’s decision. I mean really, how could this turn out this way? It was strange taking them to the airport to take off. I found myself almost numb. It hurt a little that even before they took off Kaitlyn was on the phone with John and Gillian was talking to her friend Ellie in Vegas. I sternly asked them to wait another 2 hours and then they’d be there. After they boarded the plane I still was somewhat dazed and sad at the same time. As I have many, many times, I question my decision to move to Northern Nevada. There has just been so much that has challenged us over the last 12 months. Financially, emotionally, even physically.
I’ve been seeing on Facebook over the last week pictures from the annual Orbitz sales meeting. It looked like so much fun. Again pointing me back to really ponder the decision I made to work outside the home, to move, to spend thousands of dollars fighting for the girls only to lose, supporting homes that aren’t in the same city as we are, and not being able to sell any of them. It could be the status quo I guess. Some days I look back and while it isn’t the grass being greener, I often feel that it wasn’t that bad. Was it? Maybe for the first (or thousandth) time it is clearer than ever that we have a small but good network of friends in Vegas. That the damage would have been significantly less with the girls. The relationship between their dad and I is irreparable and the girls feel it. Just one example: I had planned to fly to Vegas with the girls so that I could extend our goodbye a little bit. When Gillian mentioned this to John he told her that my time was over and regardless of whether or not I flew with them he’d be at the airport. On top of the many challenges we face in Reno, their dad gives nothing. No willingness to be flexible. I’ll be punished by him for many years to come. What pains me more is very soon we’ll have to be paying him child support, over $1,000 a month. With that, he’ll continue to give the girls everything, take all the credit for it and I get to fund it. While we had a lot of fun during the summer visit with the girls doing everything from geocaching and hiking to farmer’s markets and swimming, there was a lot more that I wished I could do but the finances are just not there. Nor will they be any time soon. As we figure it, the price to us for moving as far as the girls are concerned are about $2,000 a month between child support and transportation. We are still finishing the final paperwork with my attorney. I asked him point blank what happens if we can’t pay and he said his advice was to think about filing bankruptcy. That is not something we will entertain at all. Hmmm, let me see…John wins custody and child support. In return I get to pay and pay and pay and oh by the way give back everything we’ve worked for to the bank. I think not!
Perhaps this isn’t the forum to be airing all the dirty laundry, but this is our blog and it’s our real life. Chip and I have truly felt the pain of all of this, especially physically. The stress has helped us put on weight. There’s not a lot time or energy to exercise either.
I’m struggling to look at the glass half full when it keeps feeling empty. Especially when the glass half full is that we’re both employed. Glass half empty is as fast as it comes in it goes out.
Monday fun with the girls!
On Monday both Chip and I took the day off and spent it with the girls. It was a really full, but really fun day.
We started off by heading to the library in Spanish Springs. All of us checked out books, it was really nice. When the girls first arrived we went to get library cards and had to go to the Sparks library, which was pretty unimpressive and not in a great neighborhood, since the Spanish Springs branch is closed on Fridays and Saturdays due to budget cuts. Since we can return books to any library branch in the county, we were able to visit The Spanish Springs library this last Monday. It is simply amazing! Beautiful facility, great staff and cool technology to not only check books out, but to reserve them, search and use the internet.
After the library we were off to Circus Circus to play at the midway arcade. We had a really fun couple of hours. The girls really had a great time playing games and winning some stuffed animals. Chip and I had a little fun ourselves playing games with the girls. My dear friend Kenna really hooked us up with coupons and discounts for the Midway. It was so fun! We ended that adventure with some ice cream and headed even further downtown.
Next was the Truckee River downtown. Chip and Gillian went nuts in the water! Kaitlyn and I hung back. Kaitlyn did get brave a few times…she enjoyed the sunshine with me. I had all the keys, wallets and cameras in my bag, so I didn’t get really wet. It was really fun to watch everyone else! There were a lot of people of all ages hanging out. We all decided that it was really fun, but would be even more fun to tube or kayak down the river. So that’s on our list for next time. We spent a couple of hours there and then had a quick snack at Silver Peak Tap House.
The last fun thing we squeezed into the day was an Aces basesball game at the new stadium in downtown Reno. Gillian was just so into it. Watching the game, the players and of course all the food. Later the food came back to haunt her, but it was worth it. She even went and got an autograph from John Hester. The game was a blowout. 8-0…ACES WIN!
It was a long, but fantastic day. Chip and I really enjoyed the day and was so happy that grandma took care of the boys.
Our last weekend before school
This is our last weekend together before the girls head to Vegas for school. It’s been really fun! Kristy visited with Tiffany. Keith and Chris came over for a bit on Saturday too. Nice to hang out.
Gary did his first somersault on Saturday. The boys are talking so much! Ryan can say marker and some other 2 syllable words if you ask him.
Ben got his finger pinched in the patio door, took off some skin and it looks painful. He seems to be ok though.
Ryan’s been having some tough times with temper tantrums, but hopefully he will get over it soon.
Finally after over a week the boys stopped with the stomach bug. I swear to god in 8 days, we did like 10 loads of pukey laundry. Brutal. Truly brutal.