Keeping Busy

Things have been busy lately. Do I always say that? I guess it's some kind of excuse as to why I don't post as often lately. But this time I really mean it. Last week was pretty exhausting, since I watched Noah on Monday and part of the day on Tuesday. Four kids... Yeah. I have also been knitting like mad trying to finish this little Easter dress for Roxanne. I'm halfway done, as in I've finished the front piece, and I'm started on the back piece, but I've been getting faster and faster, so I'm hoping I'll be done soon. It's disappointing because I am not totally happy with the quality of my knitting on the front, since I was learning as I went, but the back is coming along very nicely. Hopefully it won't be painfully obvious to everyone that this was one of my first real projects in a long time. It's been really fun. I've also been spending lots of time researching real estate and mortgages and all that fun stuff. It's basically a giant black hole. You could spend an infinite amount of time looking at listings. I've also been looking at different types of financing, etc. I spoke with a mortgage broker, and went through the pre-qualification process, so I at least know that if we can figure out the down payment issue, we should be able to get a loan. But the "down payment issue" is kind of a big one. Apparently HUD has always been against down payment assistance programs because the rate of borrowers who use them and default on their loan is much higher than people who have their own down payment and default on their loan. There are a couple of programs, but the only one that I have found that Justin and I could actually qualify for is only for the City of Atlanta. Which means much more money for the house and super high property taxes. But we'll see. Like I said before, it could certainly be a few years before we are actually ready to buy, and that's OK, too. It never hurts to know how to get your ducks in a row. In any case, that's where my mind has been.

Roxanne has been great (no big surprise there) but has been having some discipline issues. I never thought I would say that about my 14 month old little angel, but it's true. We don't have to discipline her often, but when we do (well, usually it is me) it's for things like pushing, biting or trying to drag Ben off of a toy by the collar of his shirt. So it's serious stuff. I give her time outs when she does these things, which consists of holding her arms by her sides and facing her to the wall for about 30 seconds or so. I don't say much other than "no biting" or "no hitting" or whatever the situation calls for, and I try not to make any eye contact. Unfortunately, Roxanne thinks that this whole time out thing is hilarious. She giggles when I hold her arms down and she tries to wiggle around to look at me. Today, we had an all out war over the Diaper Champ. She would not stop touching it and trying to turn the handle. I kept telling her no in a serious tone and picking her up and moving her to a new spot. But she would go right back to it. After about four times of this, I put her in time out. As soon as I let go of her, she went right back to it. I started bringing her into a different room (I was trying to change another baby through this whole process, so I couldn't just turn all of my attention to her) which we did about five times. I mean, seriously, I think I pulled her off the thing like fifteen times. I'm not exaggerating. She is so stubborn! The only reason we stopped playing this game is that I finally finished what I was doing and closed the door to the room with the Diaper Champ in it. Oh, and if I sound crazy and controlling, I'm not. It's just that the Diaper Champ is what holds dirty diapers, so it's pretty much a disgusting thing for a baby to want to play with, which somehow translates to both babies always trying to play with it and put toys in it. So yes, we are in trouble. This baby is smart and has a temper. I told Justin that I want to talk to the pediatrician about it at her next visit. Maybe she'll have some sage advice for me.

We also had a busy weekend, which was nice, but I'm tired. It stinks that it's going to be like 3 months before there's another three day weekend. Someone needs to invent a really important holiday that always falls on a Monday sometime in March. Or make it mandatory for everyone on the planet to take a spring break and make it paid. Wouldn't that be lovely?!

Photos soon, I promise. Including some lovely ones we finally got developed from our beach trip back in October. They are GORGEOUS since they were taken with the nice camera my dad gave me. But they prove why we should not be allowed to use a film camera. We never get around to getting the photos developed. But they are amazing. I can't wait to share!