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jo_anne_stormThat's all I seem to do at the moment, is flail.
First of all, the awesomesauce flail: I just completed the first long fanfic in YEARS. 21.5 K words! *flails* It's off todream_mancer for beta and opinions now. It's for the Teen Wolf Crossover Big Bang, so it will not be posted for a while. Also, elle_blessing is completely to blame for putting the idea in my head. So... I guess I should thank her?
Thank you, Elle!
Other stuff's that has been happening:
#3 was declared speech delayed by this... Mean old biddy of a doctor who basically told me that I was a horrible, over-indulgent mother for not forcing him to talk and that he HAD to be using short phrases and know 50+ words.
Early Childhood Intervention came out and evaluated him. Their standards are much lower than the doctor's. They wanted at least 8 words and the case worker was very pleased that while he does not say a whole lot, he does change the tone of the words he does use to ask questions. So, if you ask him to point at the dog in a book, he'll say "That." And when he points and wants you to tell him the word, it's "That?" And as long as his vocabulary continues to improve, then there's nothing to worry about. (All of the physical and social milestones he passed with flying colors.)
Nevertheless, he has an audiology appointment at the end of next month. Yes, April. Because he does not have the "typical" ear infections, it's possible
---- OMG! *dies laughing* Eldest was just asking about my fanfic and wondered if he could read it. Which, it's not inappropriate for someone of his age, but he's never watched Buffy or Teen Wolf, so he has no basis for the fic.
He responded "Well, I've seen the Buffy movie and it can't be that different."
Yes, I cackled. ----
Where was I? Oh, audiology.
Because #3 does not have typical ear infections, it's entirely possible that he's had a series of undiagnosed ones and now has fluid trapped in his ear drums that is causing him to have trouble understanding words the way that he should. If that's the case, "simple" surgery for ear tubes and we'll be good.
What do I mean when I say that he does not have typical ear infections? Most kids, when they get ear infections, tug on their ears, or rub them, or poke things into them. To relieve the pain, right? #3 does not. So he's only been diagnosed with 2 ear infections. One was caught because he had a well-baby appointment the day it started. His fever never got over 102 that time. The doctor did put in a prescription for antibiotics, but said not to bother filling it unless it got to 103.
This last ear infection, he'd been running a low-grade fever off and on for about a week and a half. Which I didn't really think anything about because we all had the crud and felt awful. Fever never got over 100. Was thinking of making an appointment for him because the fever had been lingering when I noticed that one ear had obviously leaked overnight. There was crusty ick around the ear canal.
Honestly, I thought that his ear drum had burst from an ear infection. It can happen. Usually it's no big deal. Still, I made an appointment for him and took him in that afternoon.
The conversation with the nurse went like this:
N: Why do you think his ear drum burst?
M: Because there's ick around his ear canal.
N: And why do you think it might have happened?
M: I assume he has an ear infection.
N: Was he tugging at his ear? Rubbing it? Had a high fever?
M: No. No. No.
N: So, why do you think he has an ear infection?
M: Because his ear is oozing.
N: Has he ever had an ear infection before?
M: Yes.
N: And did he tug on his ear then?
M: No.
N: Huh...
So, turns out that his ear drum did not rupture, but both ears were really infected. The doctor was surprised that #3 was not raising more of a fuss. Five days of antibiotics orally and 10 days in the ear that was oozing. We're on day 7 now and he's feeling much better (though he hates the ear drops).
So, that's the update on #3.
Eldest is toodling along. He's just started the Confirmation process, which... How did he get so old?!?! He's also 5 foot even. I'm maybe 5'3". *pouts*
Anyway, I'm a bit annoyed with the Confirmation process. They start everything a year before the Confirmation, which makes sense. So we had this meeting which was not much more than the teachers explaining how they came to be Confirmation teachers. Seriously. I was expecting to discuss the schedule for the next year and the Confirmation requirements. Nope. I got "cradle Catholic who never went to church after my own Confirmation, until I had kids to influence."
They finally gave us the sheet that contained the requirements and schedule about 5 minutes after the meeting was supposed to end, with instructions that we were supposed to skim it, sign it, and hand it right back. >.< They did let us have a copy to take home, at least.
Sunday Eldest had the same experience with the sheet. They got it right before the end of class, signed it and turned it back in. Not helpful, people.
Especially since they did not update the sheet from last year. So, all the dates are wrong wrong wrong. Very frustrating.
Youngest is... Feeling the effects of being a middle child, I think. His speech is much improved and he enjoys Taekwon Do. He also enjoys Minecraft music videos and I have "Moves Like Jagger" stuck in my head now.
When DH got to Afghanistan the guy he replaced left him a Kuerig and a bunch of K cups. Now, I remember when DH and I first saw a Kuerig, back when he got back from Iraq. We thought it was cool, but really self indulgent and way too expensive for what we needed. At the time, I did not even drink coffee. Amazing what 4 a few years can do.
He is now totally addicted to the Kuerig. He just switched jobs and his replacement asked if he was going to leave the Kuerig behind. DH laughed at him. I have 14 boxes of K cups that I need to ship off to him this week.
My husband, ladies and gentlemen. He does not want me to send him home made cookies, or candy that he can not get there. Nope, K cups.
And foot powder, because they use it to make maps on the ground. *shrug*
So, the other major thing that has been happening in my life is the struggle to refinance Rosehill. It's... Buying the house from his mother was a good thing, because it took a LOT of the stress off her shoulders. And put them all on ours. So, it was a good thing. That I really wish we had had to do.
But, anyway! The loan was a 30 year note with a 5 year balloon payment. Which is coming due in July. EEEP!!! We've looked at refinancing a few times before, but it never worked out. Like, payments would actually be higher.
Well, the problem with refinancing right now is that we can not honestly say that we live in the house 6 months out of the year. Some years we cannot this year, though. So, it's considered an investment property. And the banks will only loan 80% on investment properties. Which... What we owe still is pretty close to 80% of the value of the property. If the appraisal goes our way. If it appraises low, because it can simply because it has nothing to compare to anywhere nearby... We're screwed.
So, I was getting ready to fork over $450 for a new appraisal when I started talking to the loan officer who is over the loan now to ask about when exactly the balloon payment was due and what would happen if we could not refinance. The answer is that we just renew the current loan, which DH did not know that we could do.
To renew, we have to pay an $175 renewal fee and give then the last two W2s. (And DH's POA for me to sign everything.) Seriously, that's it. It will be another 5 year balloon with 3.9% interest.
I did wait to see what DH had to say before jumping on that, though if he had argued against it, I might have had to kill him. His response was along the lines of "That was 4.5 years of stress wasted."
Sent off the required documents today, but never heard back from the loan lady. Which might mean all sorts of things. I will call Monday to make sure that she got the email because I am paranoid that way.
And... OK, I think I am babbled out. I need to go shave my legs because it's starting to be warm enough for shorts. Whee.
First of all, the awesomesauce flail: I just completed the first long fanfic in YEARS. 21.5 K words! *flails* It's off to
dream_mancer for beta and opinions now. It's for the Teen Wolf Crossover Big Bang, so it will not be posted for a while. Also, elle_blessing is completely to blame for putting the idea in my head. So... I guess I should thank her?Thank you, Elle!
Other stuff's that has been happening:
#3 was declared speech delayed by this... Mean old biddy of a doctor who basically told me that I was a horrible, over-indulgent mother for not forcing him to talk and that he HAD to be using short phrases and know 50+ words.
Early Childhood Intervention came out and evaluated him. Their standards are much lower than the doctor's. They wanted at least 8 words and the case worker was very pleased that while he does not say a whole lot, he does change the tone of the words he does use to ask questions. So, if you ask him to point at the dog in a book, he'll say "That." And when he points and wants you to tell him the word, it's "That?" And as long as his vocabulary continues to improve, then there's nothing to worry about. (All of the physical and social milestones he passed with flying colors.)
Nevertheless, he has an audiology appointment at the end of next month. Yes, April. Because he does not have the "typical" ear infections, it's possible
---- OMG! *dies laughing* Eldest was just asking about my fanfic and wondered if he could read it. Which, it's not inappropriate for someone of his age, but he's never watched Buffy or Teen Wolf, so he has no basis for the fic.
He responded "Well, I've seen the Buffy movie and it can't be that different."
Yes, I cackled. ----
Where was I? Oh, audiology.
Because #3 does not have typical ear infections, it's entirely possible that he's had a series of undiagnosed ones and now has fluid trapped in his ear drums that is causing him to have trouble understanding words the way that he should. If that's the case, "simple" surgery for ear tubes and we'll be good.
What do I mean when I say that he does not have typical ear infections? Most kids, when they get ear infections, tug on their ears, or rub them, or poke things into them. To relieve the pain, right? #3 does not. So he's only been diagnosed with 2 ear infections. One was caught because he had a well-baby appointment the day it started. His fever never got over 102 that time. The doctor did put in a prescription for antibiotics, but said not to bother filling it unless it got to 103.
This last ear infection, he'd been running a low-grade fever off and on for about a week and a half. Which I didn't really think anything about because we all had the crud and felt awful. Fever never got over 100. Was thinking of making an appointment for him because the fever had been lingering when I noticed that one ear had obviously leaked overnight. There was crusty ick around the ear canal.
Honestly, I thought that his ear drum had burst from an ear infection. It can happen. Usually it's no big deal. Still, I made an appointment for him and took him in that afternoon.
The conversation with the nurse went like this:
N: Why do you think his ear drum burst?
M: Because there's ick around his ear canal.
N: And why do you think it might have happened?
M: I assume he has an ear infection.
N: Was he tugging at his ear? Rubbing it? Had a high fever?
M: No. No. No.
N: So, why do you think he has an ear infection?
M: Because his ear is oozing.
N: Has he ever had an ear infection before?
M: Yes.
N: And did he tug on his ear then?
M: No.
N: Huh...
So, turns out that his ear drum did not rupture, but both ears were really infected. The doctor was surprised that #3 was not raising more of a fuss. Five days of antibiotics orally and 10 days in the ear that was oozing. We're on day 7 now and he's feeling much better (though he hates the ear drops).
So, that's the update on #3.
Eldest is toodling along. He's just started the Confirmation process, which... How did he get so old?!?! He's also 5 foot even. I'm maybe 5'3". *pouts*
Anyway, I'm a bit annoyed with the Confirmation process. They start everything a year before the Confirmation, which makes sense. So we had this meeting which was not much more than the teachers explaining how they came to be Confirmation teachers. Seriously. I was expecting to discuss the schedule for the next year and the Confirmation requirements. Nope. I got "cradle Catholic who never went to church after my own Confirmation, until I had kids to influence."
They finally gave us the sheet that contained the requirements and schedule about 5 minutes after the meeting was supposed to end, with instructions that we were supposed to skim it, sign it, and hand it right back. >.< They did let us have a copy to take home, at least.
Sunday Eldest had the same experience with the sheet. They got it right before the end of class, signed it and turned it back in. Not helpful, people.
Especially since they did not update the sheet from last year. So, all the dates are wrong wrong wrong. Very frustrating.
Youngest is... Feeling the effects of being a middle child, I think. His speech is much improved and he enjoys Taekwon Do. He also enjoys Minecraft music videos and I have "Moves Like Jagger" stuck in my head now.
When DH got to Afghanistan the guy he replaced left him a Kuerig and a bunch of K cups. Now, I remember when DH and I first saw a Kuerig, back when he got back from Iraq. We thought it was cool, but really self indulgent and way too expensive for what we needed. At the time, I did not even drink coffee. Amazing what 4 a few years can do.
He is now totally addicted to the Kuerig. He just switched jobs and his replacement asked if he was going to leave the Kuerig behind. DH laughed at him. I have 14 boxes of K cups that I need to ship off to him this week.
My husband, ladies and gentlemen. He does not want me to send him home made cookies, or candy that he can not get there. Nope, K cups.
And foot powder, because they use it to make maps on the ground. *shrug*
So, the other major thing that has been happening in my life is the struggle to refinance Rosehill. It's... Buying the house from his mother was a good thing, because it took a LOT of the stress off her shoulders. And put them all on ours. So, it was a good thing. That I really wish we had had to do.
But, anyway! The loan was a 30 year note with a 5 year balloon payment. Which is coming due in July. EEEP!!! We've looked at refinancing a few times before, but it never worked out. Like, payments would actually be higher.
Well, the problem with refinancing right now is that we can not honestly say that we live in the house 6 months out of the year. Some years we cannot this year, though. So, it's considered an investment property. And the banks will only loan 80% on investment properties. Which... What we owe still is pretty close to 80% of the value of the property. If the appraisal goes our way. If it appraises low, because it can simply because it has nothing to compare to anywhere nearby... We're screwed.
So, I was getting ready to fork over $450 for a new appraisal when I started talking to the loan officer who is over the loan now to ask about when exactly the balloon payment was due and what would happen if we could not refinance. The answer is that we just renew the current loan, which DH did not know that we could do.
To renew, we have to pay an $175 renewal fee and give then the last two W2s. (And DH's POA for me to sign everything.) Seriously, that's it. It will be another 5 year balloon with 3.9% interest.
I did wait to see what DH had to say before jumping on that, though if he had argued against it, I might have had to kill him. His response was along the lines of "That was 4.5 years of stress wasted."
Sent off the required documents today, but never heard back from the loan lady. Which might mean all sorts of things. I will call Monday to make sure that she got the email because I am paranoid that way.
And... OK, I think I am babbled out. I need to go shave my legs because it's starting to be warm enough for shorts. Whee.
