My Baby Precious

Here is my cute little Macey. This is what she does when she makes her "surprised face".

Cute little Macey isn't so little anymore. Pretty soon she is going to be 3 years old. She only has a couple more weeks of being my baby precious. Of course she says she will always be my baby precious.

I say, "Are you a big girl?" And she will say "Yes," but then she'll say "Actually, I'm your baby precious!"

She is really such a good little girl. She hardly ever gives anyone the look of death anymore and she will smile and wave at more people than she used to.

Recently Jewelia, who started Kindergarten this year, was promoted to 1st grade, and so all of the sudden it is just me and Macey at home by ourselves. (If you're interested in that whole story, check out our other blog here.)

I wondered how it would be at first, but really we have had fun together. It is just me and her and we can pretty much do whatever we want. It's kind of nice to be able to go anywhere and not have to worry about more than 1 kid or a kid being all bored and wanting to go home all the time. Macey is pretty content doing whatever. (Well, at least for now.)

It's kind of sad knowing that Macey is going to be 3 and in a way it is the end of being my baby. No more babies. So sad. She'll always be my Baby Precious though. Yep.

A Little Disaster Turns into a Bigger Mess

Really it wasn't a huge deal. Well, at least after I calmed down about yet another thing ruined that we would have to replace.

For a while now we have noticed that there would be water all over the floor next to the bathtub by the toilet. We figured the kids were getting water outside of the tub or when they got out from the shower they would make a puddle. So we would yell at the kids and I kept putting a towel over there just in case, but eventually, we realized that the water was not coming from the shower, but from the toilet.

There was a crack in some pipe hooky thing (yeah, I know, I'm very knowledgeable about my plumbing equipment) and there was water leaking out of the toilet tank. It must have been for some time now because the linoleum was all weird looking and felt a bit not right and so I freaked out and began ripping the linoleum right off for fear of major flooding and mold.

So that was ugly, but we fanned it and let it dry over a week. This is what it looked like then:

Troy, wonderfully enough went to the hardware store and with the help of my super brother Markee Parkee, they figured out how to fix the toilet. One thing saved there, but the floor was ruined and we would have to replace it.

Of course, while we were at it, we thought the tile around our tub was really yucky and old and I hated cleaning between little square tiles, so we called a plumber to come and check things out and asked him about replacing the tile with cultured marble as they call it.

And then, hey, what about the bathtub? It was pretty old, and the faucet thing didn't work very well......

We had some people come and quote us for all kinds of things.

In the end, the cost wouldn't be too outrageous and we actually found a way to refinance our house to pay for the fixes.

We even had it all planned to only take 3 days at the longest, and plus they promised us that we would never be without at least a tub, because they would come in and replace the tub the same day and we could use it that night. It was to be 1 day-tub, next day-tile, next day-floor. No biggie!

Well, that was until there was some sort of miscommunication between the plumber and the tile remover guy.

The plumber called me and asked it it was OK to send a guy out on Saturday to just remove the tile to get things ready for Monday. Sure, it wouldn't hurt anything. We'd still have a tub.

But I was at work, and all of the sudden Troy calls me and asks, "Were they supposed to take the tub out today?"

WHAT?!

Apparently, they were working on the bathroom for a while and then when Troy looked they were carrying out our tub, and when Troy told him that we only had one tub/shower, the guy was like, "Gee, I wouldn't have thought you'd only have 1 shower!"

So this is what we have now:


So, now what? Yes, they will be in Monday with a new tub, but it was Saturday and the kids were speaking and singing in church and I was supposed to lead the whole primary program, and Troy has to work Monday morning.....are we all supposed to take sponge baths and wash our hair in the sink?!

Well, I guess we are spoiled really. They didn't have showers back in Little House on the Prairie time. I'm sure we will figure something out. Maybe you will see us visiting your house soon for a quick shower! No more of this, "Can we borrow a cup of sugar?" It will be, "Can we borrow your shower?"

Babysitting

This week we are babysitting little baby Garrick, the kids' baby cousin. What a cute little boy he is. The kids just love having him around. He is so good! It amazes me!

I have always felt so awkward with newborns and little babies, even after having 4 kids!
No, seriously! My kids never really cuddled in my arms or wanted me to snuggle up with them. I figured it was because of my hard little bony arms or something, or I guess I just sucked with babies, but this little baby is different.

He seems to fit OK in my arms and he will relax in my arms just fine, unlike my own kids who always arched their backs and it was a struggle to keep them held snugly. Well, gee, what is up with that? Maybe this kid is just different, or what was the deal with my own kids? Or really, maybe after having all my kids I finally figured something out? Why couldn't I have figured it out before?

It is all odd, but anyway, I am just glad at least one baby doesn't hate me. So life is good. Although, Macey is a little disturbed by this new presence. She doesn't seem to understand why this little baby gets to ride in her backpack or her stroller or sit in an oh so fun looking bouncy seat when she is too big. She says, "No, I'M your baby precious!" Poor little Macey. She will always be my baby precious.