Monday, August 22, 2011

Our first storage unit purchase.

We bought our first set of storage units, 4 in all. We spent a total of $1150 and are anxious to see what our things are worth. I am busy researching some of the valuables like the piano and such but other than that it looks like we are going to have to hold a garage sale of sorts to get rid of the odds and ends. Oh yeah and I cannot believe the amount of junk that people will store. Holy cow is some of this ridiculous...like for instance the chicken wing bones, yep just the already eaten wings. Or the collection of used plastic cups. WOW!

Tadd's phone will take pictures and stitch them together. Here is a shot of the whole shop and it's contents after we spent all day sorting and throwing away.


The first couple loads of stuff before my OCD kicked in and I had to sort it.


The very pretty, very old (marked 1904) piano...please God let this thing be worth a boat load of money. :-)

Austin's First Concussion

I write that it is Austin's first concussion because let's face it Joe and I have had about a dozen between the two of us so if she follows in our foot steps this is sure to not be the last.

We were busy cleaning and sorting our newly purchased goods from our storage units (post in detail to follow) and Joe and I were moving wood when we heard Austin fall and start crying. We went over there and she was laying next to a mop handle that she had tripped over. So far nothing about this seemed out of the ordinary, she trips all the time. Joe picked her up and every time we put her back down she started to cry even more so we just thought that she was extra tired from the night before because we had kept her up until 10ish unloading storage contents (black star for parenting). An hour or so went by with us taking turns holding her until finally we set her down on a chair by herself, she cried and hoped off and started puking. At this point we assumed that she had worked herself up into a tizzy and I should just call it a day and go home and put her to bed. She fell asleep on the way home in the car but then when I stopped the car she woke up and started puking again. Again though kids puke, plain and simple so we weren't that worried. I put her to bed and looked it up on the Internet and they said that kids under three that have puked 3 times or more in 6 hours after a fall need attention, at this point I was debating on taking her in when I heard her wake up and start puking again. Whelp here we go...packed her and Lil' Bit up in the car and went to the ER. After MANY hours and much more puking we finally saw a doctor who told us that it was a concussion and he would like to have a CAT scan. We weighed the options and decided to skip it, other than major brain bleeds which would require surgery the only thing the CAT scan would show us is how big and bad the bruise on her brain is. While it may be nice to know, it would terrify her to be in the CAT scan it's self so we passed. Took her home and continued to monitor her waking her up every couple hours and making sure she seemed "normal", who really seems normal at 3AM being woke up and asked questions.

Today she seems much better although yesterday when it got close to nap time she seemed slightly more irritable and almost confused but that may be from the craptastic night of sleep or from the concussion. We have to wait at least a week to make sure she doesn't have any other symptoms like seizures and such but other than that we should be out of the weeds. And we have to try and not let her hit her head again while it is healing...wow is that hard with a stumbly little 2 year old. I have at least 20 new gray hairs. I can also say that I have new found respect for anyone with a chronically sick child and for those people that decide not to have kids because they are scared of the heartbreak that is possible. I know my girls are worth the tears and stress but Saturday sucked pretty bad. :-(

Someone thinks hospital beds are pretty darn comfy. :-)


A very annoyed with waiting on the doctor Joe with his girls.


Austin sleeping on Joe while still waiting on the doctor.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Park

Joe managed to get off early tonight and surprise us at home and offer to take us all to the park. And boy does Austin love the park...I on the other hand can't stand the park. A free-for-all full of kids that are either rude or on their way to getting hurt. Take tonight for instance, a 5 year old little boy stood in front of Austin on the playground equipment and said that she couldn't pass and then smacked her on the head. Ahhh what a perfect afternoon. But to Austin it is a magical place full of wonderment and joy that I am refusing to rain on. Some day she will have kids of her own and she will dread the heathens at the park but until that day here's how much fun she will be having...


The goofball looking through the holes at us.


For those not around her all the time, this is a clumsy child...she is always falling. So yes even at this age she MUST hold on to the railing with both hands or she's coming down the thing. In fact I don't even know if she is so much clumsy and easy distracted and completely forgets that she is walking up the stairs.


If we can keep her this confident and sure of herself throughout her life, we will have won as parents.



Getting ready to go down the small slide.



Perhaps her confidence comes from her totally admiration of this man.

Like a worm in hot ashes...

My Mom said the other day out at lunch that Lil' Bit was like holding on to a worm in hot ashes...no truer words have been spoken about this little girl. You had better be on top your game when trying to hold on to her, thank goodness I didn't have her first I would have surely dropped her. No rookies with this one.

Our little Justin Bieber with her wild hair. Look at how much Lil' Bit already watches Baby Girl.


Austin helping out while I pump, and being just about as proud as one big sister could possibly be while doing so.


The ever changing Lil' Bit...holding still for one moment before going back into spastic movements.


Monday, August 8, 2011

Wishing Wells and Strikes

So anyone watching the news this morning knows that the union part of Verizon went on strike. Wow am I glad not to be in Boston right now, while the forklift driving would have been amazing the chaos surrounding bringing my Mom and the girls would have been crazy. Although everyone but one other person on my team shipped out yesterday so I took over several other people's jobs...one of which starts at 4AM my time. So my new shift is 4 - 4, which is exactly how long it sounds and I will be ready for my second pot of coffee here in a few but in the iconic words of Flava Flav "They got to pay me boyyee".

A little back story for those of you that aren't privied to my incessant talking as J is. There was a vacant unit in Joe's building that he really wanted to rent to add an additional grow operation, however state laws are not allowing for any new licenses including additional grow locations until at least July 2012, but he didn't want to pass up the opportunity to have the extra square footage. That coupled with Tadd and I's new found passion for storage auctions we have started another business. Wishing Wells L.L.C. (I have to give Joe credit for the incredibly creative name) was born out of almost insanity since none of us have free time, but will be a mostly online (for now) second hand goods store. With hopes that if it takes off we will eventually have a retail shop. It should work out really well since this will be a business that not only can I take the girls to but since at first it will be online by appointment only we don't need to be there all the time. Oh yeah and Joe works two doors down so he is available to help out as he did this weekend. There was a giant structure in the middle of this place that needed to come down, while that part sounds fun - Joe wanted to keep the wood - which means that Tadd and I couldn't just destroy it and actually had to take the screws and nails out. Bummer dude. It was still fun though.

The bare structure after Nate and Joe took down the drywall and the ceiling part.




The fallen walls waiting to be taken apart - Murph you would have passed out had you seen Joe and Tadd pushing and pulling those walls down. Although they did manage to teach Baby Girl Oh Sh!t! :-)



After I was pretty much done with bending over I strapped Austin on so she could ride around the rest of the time. Here I am sweeping and looking rather annoyed, which I don't remember being.


And our new space all cleaned up, we have to wait on some finishing walls and electrical that the building owner is taking care of but after that Tadd and I are going to fill it with amazing treasures.


Thursday, August 4, 2011

A couple new videos

Lil' Bit wiggling and smiling...which happen to be her two best things.




My Mom and I had lunch today followed by some shopping and she sent Austin home with a stamp book. Luckily we have dark couches. ;-)




This was a book that my Mom got Austin a while back and she loves to read it to us. At the end of each set of colored clothing...yellow socks, green socks, blue socks...there is a picture where the turkey is wearing that particular piece of clothing on the wrong body part. So it says Ooops under it. That is Austin's favorite part of each page. :-)