What rot

So it’s been a week since the plumbing drama at the house. And it is a total relief to know we have a main water line that won’t be deteriorating any time soon! The guys who did the digging showed me parts of the rotted pipe, and it was pretty incredible that we had functioning water drainage for almost three years. There were roots in the pipe as thick as potatoes, and we have no idea if they are from a neighbor tree or from some tree that is no longer in our yard. Anyway, drama over for now.

Everything else has been pretty typical around the house. I am constantly stressed juggling the house and my work, but I try to remember that I have a job that I truly love that gives me a ton of flexibility. I love that I can sit on the couch at night and do my writing, sometimes my best writing, when everything is done around the house and I can just think in peace.

The boys have been battling with naps, as usual. Diego being 4 now, might not need a nap anymore, although he just loves to sleep and sleeps extremely well. Rafa on the other hand, not so much. We’ve started tucking him in at night with a book, and that seems to be helping him settle himself down. More than his blankie or a stuffed animal.

The last couple of days we have tried skipping the afternoon nap for both of them. So we’ve been getting them to bed at 7, and they were asleep either right at 7 or by 7:30. Beautiful. I almost didn’t know what to do with my night with so much extra time. But then comes 6:30 a.m., and they are ready to start the day. Yesterday, after a couple of no nap days, Rafa finally knocked out on his own in the afternoon. He took a solid two hour nap, but I think I am ok with the no nap situation, even though he is not yet 2.

Today is another crazy day. I have to finish two stories for work, and I am hoping that writing this out early in the morning clears some of my work writers block. Diego and I are going to check out a little preschool that a friend recommended. Then it’s off to regular preschool. Diego will be 5 this year but will miss the cutoff to start kindergarten, so it’s another full year of preschool for him.

Here’s wishing everyone a great week!

Here’s to 2010

Photo Diego took in Spring 2009 with his toddler camera

I’m picking a fitting day to restart my blog. Tomorrow the plumber guys come to our house to fix a plumbing problem that we’ve had since we first moved into the house. We’d kinda forgotten about it, or chose to forget about it, knowing that it would eventually come back to haunt us.

I keep thinking about Newton’s third law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I don’t know why I keep wanting to apply this law to economics or my everyday actions when it has to do with gravity.

Anyway, we get a nice tax return this year. But a big chunk of it is going to replace our main line. An action, with an opposite reaction. Or maybe that’s just life. I feel like the old couple from “Up” who keeps saving for the trip to South America, except life’s accidents keep eating up their cash. Grrr…

Today was a nice day. Carlos took the boys to the children’s museum and I got to work on our rain gutters. I was shoveling mud out of them. How does mud get into rain gutters? Anyway I only made it down one side of the house, because I started to get nervous on the ladder. It was another cool day where we ate all our meals at home, like we are trying to do most weeks. I made blueberry pancakes in the morning, tuna salad sandwiches for lunch, and an Asian stir-fry with udon noddles and veggies at night. Yesterday was the exception. We went to the Tri-Cities specifically to go to Red Robin, pigged out on burgers, fries and mac n’ cheese (for the boys), then strolled through the mall and let the boys play in the kiddie area. We took some Cinnabon’s for the ride home, and just had sandwiches and soup for dinner.

I was really proud that we didn’t buy the boys any toys. We took a side trip to Toys R’ Us kind of to show Diego that we can go to a store and not necessarily have to buy anything. He had a tough time with it. He wasn’t even really sure what he wanted, just knew he had to walk out with SOMETHING. We saw some things he liked that he might get as a treat for Valentine’s Day or Easter. It’s a long way to his birthday and Christmas!

I’m gonna try to write every day again, and load a picture that Diego has taken every day. His pictures are way cooler than mine. My goal for each day is to only buy essentials, and eat most our meals at home.