My Issues with Commitment

In college I purchased a hair clip. It was a small purchase, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to keep it so I didn’t remove the tag. I finally started to wear the clip, although I still didn’t remove the tag [I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have returned it at that point.] I wore that clip all year with the tag hanging off it. I guess it became “my thing.” It got to the point where people would have probably noticed if the tag was missing. When I finally did cut the tag off, I glued it in my scrapbook (it was 3 for $6)… I’m such a dork.

Another prime example of my non-commitment is when I purchased a rug from Pottery Barn. It was May 31, 2004. [Because I’m a dork I can tell you the exact date of nearly everything we’ve purchased.] I loved the rug, but it just didn’t work with my living room furniture. On March 25, 2005 I returned the rug. Pottery Barn has an exceptional return policy. No questions asked. If you do the math… that’s nearly 10 months of walking by that rug, countless times a day, stressing over whether or not to keep it.

This past week I discovered yet another sign that I have issues. I was in Jason’s room trying to find his binkies. I can’t tell you how many binkies I have bought, yet we still can’t find them… oh, wait, yes I can tell you… we have purchased 12 binkies in the last eight months (that doesn’t include the 2 binkies I received at a baby shower). Anyhow… I was looking under Jason’s crib and saw this:

I purchased Jason’s bedding well over a year ago. I guess that also reveals that in addition to being a dork, I’ve never washed his crib skirt, but honestly it’s clean… and no, I don’t plan on returning it, yet even after taking a picture, I still haven’t cut off the tag… isn’t that a tad bit bizarre?

It’s amazing I ever got married. Especially considering the whole “eternity” aspect of marriage. “Eternity” screams commitment. There’s nothing in fine print informing me I can return my husband within 90 days. Nothing about exchanging him when (I mean if) I find any defects or flaws. Total and complete commitment. It baffles me how easy it was to get married. I think Heavenly Father knew just how difficult it would be for me to make that big of a decision so he placed Justin in every aspect of my life. We were in the same class at school (in the accounting program you have one intense 12 credit class), assigned to the same study group (in the accounting program those are some of the very few people you see after school hours), we were in the same ward, in the same FHE (Family Home Evening) group, we had the same friends… we couldn’t get away from each other (not that we wanted to)… so… we got married.

My latest issue of indecisiveness is my bed. Three weeks ago my Mom assisted me in purchasing new bedding. [Her assistance consisted of her telling me to do it and patiently waiting (for what must have seemed to be hours) while I hemmed and hawed over it in the store.] You may remember from a previous post that I have been looking at bedding for well over a year, but had yet to see anything that called out to me as “the one.” Amazingly enough I left the store with an actual purchase, but for three weeks it has remained in the packaging. Until today.

I saw this bedding in the store a few months ago and it grew on me… yes, it is totally loud. Definitely bright and probably not me at all. With a little encouragement from Justin my bed finally got made [while I was downstairs Justin quietly unwrapped everything and made the bed himself]. Most of the tags are off so I’m pretty sure it’s a done deal. I finally have new bedding.

A few weeks ago we got a new mattress. It was long overdue. Our old mattress was a wedding present from Justin’s parents nearly 10 years ago. Over the years the plush pillowtop became SEVERLY dipped. One dip for me and one dip for Justin – with a large mountain in between.

I don’t recommend going from a super pillowtop to a firm mattress [Justin’s choosing.] It’s been a huge adjustment for me, but they have a 30 day return policy… so I’m still not totally committed…

Progress

We had a fun weekend with one exciting thing after another.

Abigail:

Abigail lost two teeth this weekend. She wiggled the first one out during a party at a friend’s house Friday night. The second one was pulled out during church yesterday. This makes eight lost teeth for Abigail. She’s keeping the tooth fairy very busy… so busy that the tooth fairy doesn’t always show up quite when she’s supposed to. Thankfully, Abigail is very patient.

Carly:

Justin and the girls love to go on bike rides together. On Saturday Justin took off Carly’s training wheels and decided to work with her on riding on two-wheels. Less than five minutes later he told me to come out with the video camera.

I think this is one of the instances where she’s probably been ready for a while, but we haven’t worked with her enough. She still needs to get some more practice before we send her out on a long bike ride, but we’re pleased to report that Carly is officially a “two-wheeler.”

Jason:

I can’t tell you how many times I am asked if Jason can walk and I never know quite how to answer that question. It usually sounds something like, “Yes, he can walk, but he doesn’t stand up or sit down on his own.” Over the past week we’ve been working with Jason. I can’t really say he’s improved much on the getting up or getting down part, but he’s gotten very gutsy and walks around the house now even when we’re not watching. He’s taken some tumbles, but that hasn’t slowed him down one bit.

Walking around the playroom

He took a tumble and wasn’t too happy about Mom taking pictures instead of helping him up

Carly took pity (the girls always do) and gave him his binkie


Amazing!!! I’ve only witnessed this a few times! Jason actually got onto his knees…

Then onto his feet, but where can he go from here???

Down, down, down

I finally took pity on the poor boy…

Update on Jason

Jason’s rash was MUCH worse on Sunday then the pictures I posted on Saturday. The majority of his body was covered with large, red welts and his face was red and puffy. Yesterday he woke up looking much better, but he is still quite moody. Thankfully he is still sleeping really well, but when he’s awake he is difficult to please.

Jason’s gaining more confidence and is walking more without holding on to anything. The problem still remains of when he wants to stop. It’s become a game for him to stop, smile, and then drop straight backwards without bending his knees. If me or the girls are nearby (which we usually are) we catch him before he lands on his head… he giggles then does it again. Of course he has crashed countless number of times. But I don’t have the heart to let him drop if I can be there to prevent it. Last night I decided to try to teach him to fall on his bottom instead.

Last week we were surprised to find that Jason has one of his molar teeth. He still only has his two bottom teeth and one of the front top teeth. Just one more indication that Jason isn’t going to do things the “normal” way.

Thankfully it's not contagious

It’s been a hard week for Jason. He’s had a fever on and off, thrown up a few times, hasn’t wanted to eat anything, and has just not been himself. I figured it must be a reaction to the immunizations he got last week. This morning Justin took of Jason’s jammies and we saw this:

Jason gets an occasional heat rash, but nothing like this. I called the pediatrician and he agreed that it was a reaction to the MMR shot and said it should pass over in a few days. Poor little guy.

Blue Angels

On Saturday while Holly and Joyce were away, I decided to join up with my mom and Tami and her family to go see the Blue Angels. This was our first year to participate in the Seafair festivities. Though we did not see any hydro action, we had a great view of the Blue Angels as they flew past us.

The girls had a great time with their cousins but Jason did not really enjoy the roar as the planes raced by. I borrowed a few pictures from Tami as I did not bring my camera. We are probably going to have to put this on next year's to-do list. It sure is nice to get out, enjoy the weather, and just do something a little bit different.

Carly, Hallie, and Abigail being silly

Abigail comforting Jason

San Juan Island

It’s been nearly three years (and in my opinion way too long) since I’ve had an entire day and night without children. When my Mom told us she was coming up to visit, I decided we would plan an overnighter to the San Juan Islands. We had planned on taking the commuter train downtown to catch our ferry, but Justin changed our minds (he didn’t want to pick us up on Saturday night) so we decided to drive into Seattle instead. We woke up early Friday morning and gave ourselves two hours to travel what we normally take 45-60 minutes with traffic. We were about 20 minutes away from Seattle when the traffic came to a stop. We turned on the radio and learned about a tanker that had overturned on the freeway. We tried to remain positive that they would at least let the carpool lane get through. But they closed the entire freeway and we were diverted off some exit along with everyone else.

Come on, we could have totally squeezed by in the carpool lane.

After two hours on the road it became clear we weren’t going to make our ferry. (By the way it was “non-refundable”, but I’m hoping we can at least get a credit so if anyone is traveling on the Clipper to Victoria or San Juan, let me know…)

Anyone that knows me understands that I don’t like to be late, and I don’t handle being in a rush. I don’t like driving, especially in a city, in the rain, and in bumper to bumper traffic. So missing the one ferry out of Seattle was a major bummer. (I was cursing Justin at this point... not that he caused the accident, but someone tangible needed to be blamed and he did convince us to drive.)

We decided to take our chances and drive an additional hour and a half and try to catch the state ferry up north. We made good time and we both sighed a huge sense of relief when we pulled into the ferry lane with time to spare. We were going to make it to San Juan after all! However, we had one more time constraint. Our ferry was due to arrive on the island at 12:10pm and once we got there we needed to drive to the other side of the island for our 1pm whale watching tour. So we were excited when we pulled onto the ferry and parked in the front of our row. However, when it came time to deboard our row was one of the last. We sat in the car only a few feet from the exit waiting for our turn, it seemed like an eternity. When it looked like we weren’t going to make it to the dock in time we tried to call our guide to ask him to wait, but there was no answer. Seriously, could it be any more difficult to get anywhere? I drove quickly and we did make it (late, but they didn’t leave without us) and all the stress was worth it.

I know the pictures aren’t great. It’s nearly impossible to take pictures while on a small boat, but I have to share.

We were lucky enough to see three different pods of orca whales.

There was a pair of porpoise (dolphins) that played by our boat for about 10 minutes. They were adorable and kept jumping in and out of the water. So hard to catch on film, but soooo amazing.

We also saw a huge school of salmon jumping and a bald eagle.

This is Captain Jim. He keeps his eye on the orcas while steering the boat with his foot. Classic tour guide humor, but he really knew his stuff.

On land we saw deer eating along the hillside and a fearless little fox followed my Mom and me near a hiking trail.

We ate great food, attended Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” at an outdoor theatre, walked around the little shops in the harbor, and visited a lavender farm.

Aside from the first several hours of our trip, it was a great get away and I am so glad I could spend it with my Mom.