And on and on and on... Where I fill you in on the past month.

Hey everyone out there!

It's been a busy last few months for us in a pretty good way.

Katie started 1st grade and loves it. She's so busy every day with her before and after school program, "centers" in her classroom, art projects and school work (I get to pull many papers out of her folder each day), that she falls into bed each night between 8 and 9 which is SUPER nice for mommy!

She's also got ... homework! Every Wednesday she brings home something for math. Wednesday is also the day she goes to Awana for church. This means that on Thursday night we're busily working on homework before (and usually after) dinner. And here I thought that when I was done with school I would be done with homework. *sigh*

At least now when she does her addition and subtraction I can check her work. Who knows what 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. grades will bring. (A little nervous for algebra over here.)

Katie went to a pumpkin farm with her day care club. She had fun. I got a call from a teacher to say that she "fell and cut her lip, and I wanted to let you know before you came to pick her up. She's okay and everything, but her lip was a little bloody and now there's a bump on it but she's fine and I just wanted to tell you so you have advance warning before you come to get her today. I hope you get this message by then... Goodbye." I got the message and chuckled a little bit. As long as they don't call to say KATIE IS IN THE HOSPITAL, HURRY, SHE'S BLEEDING PROFUSELY, I'll be okay.

It was a bit red and there was a cut... but it seems to be over her prior cut where she fell off of a bench and hit her lip on the corner of the wall in the living room.

A count of the kids' injuries (If there were tears but no blood, I didn't count it) so far:
Lip - Katie (twice), Jake (once), Jack (once)
Stitches - Jake (once - with 5 stitches)
Head - Jake (twice), Jack (twice)

If we were counting bumps and bruises, I think the list would go on and on. Especially since Jake seems to like pushing Jackson over (poor baby!) and Jackson seems to fall over a lot on his own - he fell 3 times in one day at day care, right onto a hard floor. (I took him to the clinic that night and found that he has an ear infection. Hopefully that will clear up the problem a bit.)

Yep, I said day care! Jake and Jack have taken a huge step forward. Both boys are in the childcare program at the community center Katie went to when she was younger! Jackson is in the baby room and Jake is in pre-school.

Jacob seems to like the toys but doesn't really want to go (probably because he has to share and do things with the group... and he "doesn't want to play with other kids" and he "doesn't want to eat lunch" because he wants to keep playing) but it's getting better. He's starting to conform. Not hugely, but enough so he can stay out of the take a break chair.

And the teachers told me (with raised eyebrows and a look of shock) that he's great with clean up time. Probably because he hears it all of the time. Before he started pre-school, I would get home from work and we would have to do clean up time... Jake was pretty good with that once I labeled bins with pictures for him but I was a little surprised to hear he was one of THE BEST kids when it comes to cleaning up at school!

He went on a field trip last month and was SO GOOD! He got to pick a pumpkin to bring home and he got to ride on the bus. He was thrilled. (I was thrilled that he wasn't banned from future field trips due to any naughty behavior!)

Jackson seems to like his class. Each morning when I drop him off I fill out a sheet with his name, the date, how long he slept overnight, and what he's eaten that morning. The teachers fill out his diaper changes, what he ate for each meal, something he had fun doing that day, and finally they complete the sentence: I was a little ____ and a little ___... or something like that.

When we arrive he sits in one of the chairs around the little table (on his own!) and the teacher gives him his breakfast. It's the cutest thing EVER.

Things have been changing for me, too! I started a new job as a business analyst in the IT department (at the same company I've been working for the past 8 years). It was hard leaving the comfort of my old department but this move was great for me. So far, I'm loving it.

And surprise, surprise, we're having car issues. One of the cars, you know, the one that's just been paid off, died. It cost about $100 to get it towed from the parking lot to our house until we can figure out what to do next. Dad thinks repairs might be in the THOUSANDS. I'll just say "Ugh" and leave it at that.

And John has been able to find work now that his days are free. So far he likes what he's doing and I think he likes being around other adults!

Supercalifra... Where are you, Mary Poppins?

I know why they make kids toys in such bright colors.

It's so parents know at a glance if the thing baby is banging on the wall is a toy, or something big brother or big sister happened upon in their constant search for breakables and ink pens. And markers.

And scissors. 

And cash (because what fun is scissors without something valuable to cut up?).

(That only happened once...)

So if I don't see pepto pink, princess purple, primary orange, red, blue, green, and that bright yellow, I'm pretty certain I need to intervene.

Or, if someone is sitting quietly for more than 2 minutes, usually in a different room and usually with their back to the door, that's my cue to run over. (Literally run. Those seconds saved by running vs. walking are VITAL. From one who knows.)

And when I DO catch someone doing something they shouldn't be doing, they're always shocked to see me.

If it's Jake, he gives me a big grin and if he's standing he'll usually do a little jump and his eyes dart from side to side like he's looking for an escape route.  He usually denies all. Even though the evidence is *right* in front of me.

And sometimes he just shrugs and says "Yep mommy!" when I catch him.

Always with a smile.  He stands still *just* long enough for my heart to melt at how precious/precocious?  he is... and then he's off again. Onto his next adventure (and my next few grey hairs).

Katie's quieter.  Also? She does things that we might not notice right away...  like when she cut off a chunk of her hair and I didn't notice it till I found the evidence under her bed. I confiscated scissors two days before. And I had even washed her hair the day before and didn't notice a thing. So I don't know who was MOST surprised.  Me to find a chunk of hair? Or Katie because she didn't expect to be found out. She looked at me and all I did was shake my head and ask her if she was hungry for some dinner.

Or when she made "nests" out of dry spaghetti noodles and we found them in her room under her bed, under the desk, IN the desk, under her rug, and behind the couch. And not all at once either! It was a gift that kept on giving.

Jack is pretty little yet so we've got lots and lots of time to learn his quirks. And hopefully we'll catch on quickly.

I do look forward to the days when I won't need to sleep with one eye open or jump up to check on one of the kids when things are *too* quiet, or encourage cleanup cooperation when kids are "too tired" or their "legs hurt"... or they "can't bend".

But I don't want to be too excited about time moving forward. Because once these days pass, there's no going back and I will (probably) really miss the baby/toddler stages (when I'm dealing with three teenagers and licenses and dating and busy "teen" activities).

And I've loved every moment with these kids even when I don't know weather to laugh or cry. I usually lean toward laughing. A sometimes maniacal laugh, but hey, still a laugh.

Birth certificates and taxes

Well, it's official.  Birth certificate stuff is my nemesis.

I'm not sure if you remember the birth certificate debacle from last year (if not, you can read here for a refresher) but basically I put off getting one for Katie, didn't even think about it, until I learned that we needed it to enroll her in kindergarten, then the race was on. It worked out but it was stressful.

If you do remember, well, you're probably wondering how I could have run into problems so soon. I mean, neither of the boys is old enough to enroll in school so no rush there. And we're not traveling so we don't need it for that. (Given the timing, you can probably guess why we need it but let's pretend I'm keeping you in suspense till the end of the post . Like a mystery...)

Well. I can explain. And I'm happy to report that it is not my fault. Well, not all of it is my fault.


The story begins a long time ago, in a land far away... or rather...

Back in June of 2011 when I had my third and final baby. While I was in the hospital after giving birth, I filled out a lot of forms. A whole mess of them.

On one of those forms there was a little tiny box that parents were supposed to check off if they wanted to receive a shiny new social security card in the mail mere months after giving birth.

I checked that box. Unfortunately it did not occur to me that I should have been keeping an eye out for the card to show up.

Finally, I realized* (when the clinic bill came for some of Jack's well checks and I actually opened the letter and saw that the total was in the THOUsands... and freaked out a little before I realized that it was because they didn't have a SSN for him) that I hadn't seen the card yet.

*I *might* have realized this in January (okay, yes, it was January).

So I called the hospital and explained my dilemma and before I had taken my next breath, the lady told me to call the social security office. And that was that.

So I did and let me just say, have you ever had to call the social security office? I waited for probably 25 minutes for someone to answer my call for help and was on the phone for maybe 3 minutes - just long enough to explain my problem, and listen to some fast typing by the rep, before I was told to call the hospital again because the social security office didn't show any request for a card.

Soooo, I called the hospital back. And after waiting on hold (for 15 minutes I would never get back)  then being told yet again that I needed to contact the social security office, and then INSISTING the hospital needed to look into the issue, the nurse researched. She found out that whoever sent in that batch of requests had not marked whatever she should have marked so I would get that shiny new card in the mail.

And I asked her if I had checked that box on my form (because I had a tendency to fill out the forms in the wee hours of the night when there was nothing else to do and it's entirely possible I hadn't checked it.)

But, you guys, I DID check that box!

So you can maybe imagine my frustration at being told that I would now need to request a card from the social security office. So, I called social security again to explain the situation. Hoping that there was a special "go-to-the-front-of-the-line" prize for people with my special circumstances.

I can now tell you that there is not a special prize.

You get the same sucky "prize" as the people who forgot to check the stupid box in the first place. Can you guess what that is?

Ahhh, I'm happy to tell you.

You get to mail in a request for a BIRTH CERTIFICATE. And once that arrives, *then* you get to mail in the request for a social security card.

I checked last week to see how long it would take to get the birth cert and it looks like they're starting to work on the requests received in... oh, mid to late February. Yes. They're more than 2 months behind.

More. than. two. months.

So you might wonder why it took me so long to start this whole process after talking to someone months ago and I'll tell you.

I'm not proud of it but...

I was sulking. I was grumbling. I was mad and holding a grudge against the nice hospital lady who couldn't help me at all. And every time I started thinking about it, I would get madder and I would get huffier.

And I was protesting against the injustice of it all.  (And maybe whining a little bit.)  And... well, I didn't think I would need it for 4.5 more years, so I was procrastinating the whole thing.

And then? I started filling out my taxes (on April 12). And realized that the social security number is necessary if I wanted to claim Jack... and boy did I ever!

So here it is, almost a month later. I'm still huffy. And I'm still feeling a little grudgy. But I put the form in the mail last week.

Now I wait.

And hope that I get everything by October so I can file by the extension date.