I Can't Think Of A Good Title

Lack of title - does this give you any inkling as to the recent happenings in the Martin house? That's right, my mind is mush. I'm truly surprised I have even been able to function without a meticulously composed and detailed description of what I am supposed to be doing each day. My mind is so mushy that it would need to include - get dressed, brush teeth, and the like. Yeah, its that bad.I feel that the combination of lack of sleep, extreme stress, and being INSANELY busy have all compiled to produce a mushy brained mommy. But, hey, you do what ya can. Here's a little of the going-on's at our house...


First of all, an update on MC. I have still not determined MC's night wakings. Its got me dumbfounded. However, I do have to say that she's gotten A LOT better. She is only waking 2-3 times a week and she's only crying about 2-5 minutes or so each time. Granted, its not the best situation to be woken up in the middle of the night by a crying baby considering I am a sucky sleeper and it usually takes me an hour or so to go back to sleep. Anyway, the solution we have found for the problem? Let her cry. It might sound harsh to some, but its the only thing that gets her back to sleep. She'll cry a few minutes and then lay down and go to sleep. Before, when we would go in her room, we would do the back and forth thing for over an hour. And when we layed her down after coming in, the crying was even more severe than when she had initially started. Hopefully, over time, she will not cry when she wakes up, but until then, we are letting her learn to put herself back to sleep.



In other news, I'm not sure If I've mentioned our move to North Carolina. Moving to a city in which you've never been is enough stress in itself to kill you. Literally. You have the daunting task of finding a place to live, finding a job, finding a daycare - all the while you are 10 hours away and can't even drive around the city to get a feel of good locations. However, I must say that we've been EXTREMELY blessed by being given several contacts in the area who have given us a good deal of information about things. Bless them.


While trying to arrange everything for the move, Adam has also been working himself ragged. If he's not working on his huge senior project, he's studying for the GRE or other class tests, or trying to help me with MC and the house. This man is amazing. He works so hard for his family. He usually goes to bed around 3am then he's up at 7am getting ready for class. Blows my mind. Speaking of my super-man hubs, he is taking the GRE today so if you could happen to think of him around 12:00 today and say a little prayer we would all appreciate it :)


In addition to the above mentioned, things are also starting to pick up in the real estate market so I too have been super busy. Winter is usually a little slow, but around March/April/May, things really start picking up. Hoping this year is a great one!


I've probably spoken enough rubbish for one morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday and I'm sure MC will put a smile on your face just as she does mine ;)

HELP!

Ok mommies! I need some major help here.... we've got a little situation with MC and I am totally in the dark as to what to do.

MC, like most children, will occassionally wake during the night. She'll ususally whine/cry for a few seconds and then go back to sleep. However a couple of months ago the crying got worse. She would wake up SCREAMING bloody murder. The first few times we were quite alarmed, as you can imagine, and went in to check on her and everything seemed to be fine - not too wet, no poop, not hot, not cold, and we gave her Tylenol just in case her new teeth were bothering her. The only thing we could come up with was teething. Then we noticed that ss soon as we picked her up she would stop crying... When we laid her back down, the screaming began again.

This started happening maybe once every two weeks or so but now it is happening multiple times a week. I dont know what to do! Now, you're probably thinking "well duh you idiots, she's used to you coming in there and picking her up!" Well we still let her whine and put herself back to sleep when its not bad. She'll still do those partial wakings where she'll do the whine a few seconds and we don't go in there and she just puts herself back to sleep without a problem. The problem is that a few times a week now its NOT just a short whine. Its an all out SCREAM that does not stop after a few seconds, or even a few minutes. I will go in there and not pick her up, but just put my hand on her and she immediately stops crying. The moment I take it off she starts back again. Its heart wrenching to listen to your child scream like that and not know what to do!!! I am so confused - and tired!

If ANYONE has any suggestions or advice, PLEASE comment!!! I have been in tears too many nights with my baby crying so hysterically that you would think she was in the worst pain of her life! HELP!!!

Stating the Obvious

Sooo, I know I'm not a preformer. I'm sure its a difficult thing to do. However, it must be said that I AM an American and I DO know the words to the star spangled banner (ehem, Christina).

It must also be duly noted in the words of my brother that from now on "when life isn't going your way, just remember.... hey, at least I'm not one of the retards with a glowing box on my head." Couldn't have said it better my friend.

Super Bowl entertainment - boo. Seriously. Big thumbs down. And I watched the whole dadblame thing for those stupid commercials and they weren't even that great. Big disappointment overall.

However, there were high expectations to be met. I mean, will anything EVER compare to the best band of all time's half-time show performance during Super Bowl 36??? I think not. (PS - If you have not seen this and you are awesome enough to watch it, please note there are two parts. The first part, Beautiful Day, and the second, Where the Streets Have No Name. UH-MAZING.)

K, I'm done. That's for a complete hot mess superbowl-entertainer-get-togtherer-people.

2- what?

Does it ever scare you how ordinary birthdays seem after you reach a certain age? I must admit it frightens me, however what's even worse is when you don't even remember how old you are. Seriously. Someone at work asked me today and you know what my response was? ............ Yup. Nothing. I had no freakin' idea. Either I've got early onset dimentia or I am just too damn old (my guess would be the later).

I turned 27 today (if I have done the calculations correctly that is). 27 is almost 28. 28 is almost 29. And 29, my friends, is almost 30. That is scary. Not because of the fact that there is anything wrong with 30. Its just that I'm not 30. I'm 12. I'm a 12 year old kid playing house and "mommy". I do not EVEN feel like I am old enough to have a husband, a child, a house, a career, etc. Anyone else ever feel very Tom Hanks in "Big"? Little kid trapped in a crazy adult body? I need a fortune teller head to come shoot a quarter out of her mouth so I can turn back into my 12 year old self.

Any-who, its been a pretty uneventful day which in my world is a very good thing. I did call the hospital today to see what could be done about our bankruptcy letter hospital bill and as you might have guessed the lady was a complete biatch. Lets face it, it wouldn't be a day in my life if this wasn't the case. She truly sounded like she hated the world and, instead of sympathizing with my current situation, proceedes to ask me condenscending questions and do everything in her power to make me feel like an idiot who isn't worth her time. LISTEN HERE WOMAN - You might have money and that is fantastic. Truly. However, if it weren't for the sacrifices of my husband and thousands like him you wouldn't even be sitting in your little cubicle making money right now so you better start saying thank you and asking how you can help my family!!! I was slightly pissed and then remember it was my birthday so then I just got sad. I then hung up the phone and sobbed a round of "happy birthday" to myself feeling a pity party was better than no party.

God must've gotten the invitation and apparently didn't want any part of it, so he jumped in and helped me out. (I suppose he's gotten as sick of my parties and complaining as the rest of the world) I won't bore you with details, but the charges are going to be covered on MC's ins :) Yes, this is a very happy day. At least, that's what the lady on the phone told me. She probably thought I was major psycho after my reaction when she told me this but I don't care. I wanted to go dance in the street like those people on the car insurance commercials. It was that great. I'm PRAYING she hasn't misinformed me. I only asked her about 20 times if she was sure. I'm assuming she was. Guess we'll see how it all pans out.

As for the rest of the birthday? Well, my employer surprised me with two gorgeous cupcakes and a sweet card and the hubs got me a cute handbag he ordered. Yup, handbag. The sweet man was so proud it was adorable. Said he'd looked all over the internet for hours looking for just the right one and it was really hard. How can you not love that?

He had night class tonight and had to work on a project pretty much as soon as he walked in, but oh well. I'll see him again one day... Like I said, the birthday's really lose that special-ness when you have to count back from the year you were born to even remember your age. I guess the next big day comes at 40. Oh joy. Halfway to death - let's celebrate!

Sorry, I'm being all mean-hospital-lady tonight. I'm not mad at the world, just disappointed I don't get to spend time with Adam I guess. Its my birthday and however un-special it might be to me, I still want it to be special to OTHER people. Kind of the notion that I don't have to celebrate me, but everyone else certainly feel free to! A little ridonkulous, right? Yeah, maybe so.

Well off to bed! Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

PS - one thing that DID make my day today? My dear friend Jessica wrote this on my facebook wall. Serious tears here people. Probably one of the sweetest things ever:

Top 10 reasons why YOU ROCK!
1. You are so self sacrificing and strong with everything you go through
2. You are openly dedicated to God...and your family
3. You're really fun to be around
4. You're a wonderful mother
5. You're gorgeous
6. You're compassionate
7. You're so considerate in thinking of others
8. You're hilarious and amusing... :)
9. You have impeccable taste!
10. You're a great listener and an amazing friend

Love you!

Ah, tear again. Thanks Jess - YOU rock! :)

That Pin Better Have Been Made Of Gold!

Whoa. That's all I can think to say. Whoa. Not like the Joey from Blossom corny whoa, just a regular, slightly depressed, whoa. Received the ER bill for MC's thumb. 916.30. Can I please just take a moment to tell you what they did? THEY PRICKED THE BLISTER WITH A STRAIGHT PIN! That's it! He mashed around on it, then proceeded to poke it with, what I presume to be, the most expensive, golden straight pin in the entire world. That's the only explanation I have for why on God's green earth we would be charged almost a thousand dollars for a man with a special coat to do the exact darn thing we could've done at home! After his diagnosis I should've butted in with "hey doc - my husband was a Ranger and used to eat sticks. He knows a thing or two about blisters - why don't you just let him take a stab at it and you go prop your feet up or make out with a nurse in the on-call room (maybe I've been watching too much Grey's...)" and saved us $900.

I have received word that if I beg to these people they will let us make payments or reduce the bill. That's good. Or maybe I should just try my method and walk in there and poke one of them with a safety pin and send them a bill for $915.30....

Today I turn 27 and I think I'm going to send the ER a thank you card for the thoughtful birthday gift. I might even frame it. Maybe even a little plaque - "Best Birthday Gift EVER". Thanks again OCH. You rock.

Been There?

Sometimes its hard to understand where someone's negativity is coming from unless you've been there. Well, has anyone ever been in that place where, for some reason, EVERYTHING happens at once? One bad hand after the other? Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for all of my blessings, but sometimes the bad luck is overwhelming. That's the place I'm in. That's where the negativity is coming from. I am about to dump a whole crap load of useless information at you, but its my blog and I'll vent if I want to ;)

Ah, where to begin... As many of you know, Adam recently finished his contract with the national guard (yes, I told him I would cut off his right hand be very angry if he resigned. I feel if you serve as an Army ranger, and are deployed 4 times, you have done your part.) Now, back to the story. You do get insurance benefits for a short period after returning from deployment, however, after that point, you are required to pay for the insurance like a regular plan. And boy is it expensive - great coverage, but PRICEY. We went ahead and signed on for 3 months to buy us some time to look for a new policy. Cue the insurance headache. I won't even go into it but finding new insurance is like being stabbed with a blunt stick. Yes, its that bad.

Now, after we get everything submitted I figured we'd have plenty of time to get approved before our current policy expired. I THOUGHT WRONG. There were issues that I won't go into but everything was delayed due to someone's error and we then received word that they CANCELED OUR APPLCATION. We got this news only days before our policy expired. Not good. We got it all worked out eventually, but as of right now we are without insurance. Now, what do you think is the first thing that is going to happen when we don't have insurance? You guessed it! Emergency room, here we come!

MC (was) an incessant thumb sucker. It was in her mouth anytime she was tired or sleeping. Well, she developed a blister on her finger that got infected so off to the emergency room we went (let me add that this occured the DAY AFTER our policy expired!!!) I still haven't received the bill but I have a feeling I will want the hospital to include a very long rope with it....Not to mention the mental anguish I had to endure seeing my baby in a guaze mitten for 3 days. Just look! (There is a silver lining to this cloud though - my baby is no longer a thumb sucker!!! The days without it apparently broke the habbit! Yay!)

In addition to the insurance fiasco, let me also add that I just got into real estate - not the most money savvy thing to do starting out. Its expensive to get going and therefore, money is tight. So what does life throw at us next? Every gosh darn expense it can find, thats what. Adam's hard drive goes out on his computer, he knocks over his terra byte drive and breaks it, his car starts messing up and has to be fixed, I drop my laptop... the list goes on an on.

And the award winner for "shitty-wrenches-to-be-thrown-into-my-gears-of-life"? We are moving. Not down the street, not to the neighboring city, not even in the same state... we are moving 10 hours away to Charlotte. Now, let me clarify this before going any further - I am excited about the new experience. I am excited that I get to support my husband in his dream, God knows he deserves it. I am NOT excited about the fact that in the course of 5 months I must find a place to live, a job, a daycare, etc. Its not like I can drive down there for the day and scower for the previously mentioned. Its draining. And stressful. And I'm OCD and can't plan things and I'm just mad about it.

Now, let me remind all of you that this has all happened in the span of 3 WEEKS!!!! I think anyone in my position would be slightly jaded. So bloggers, there really isn't a point to my ravings, I just had to give you a glimpse into my life so hopefully you won't judge me for my pessimistic posts lately...I am trying to follow the advice I have so often been given that "things will just work themselves out", but I aint gonna lie - its difficult. I know God's got some great plan going on up there and this is all part of it, so I'm trying to pull on that faith. I'm hanging in there and maybe in the end everything will work itself out!

PS - last night MC threw up everywhere - please pray that she feels better and we don't have to pay $347 million dollars to a doctor's office :(