Thank you, Universe!

May I have another?

It just seems like we can't catch a break. My van is still not ready. It was supposed to be done last Friday, but the transmission that came in was a dud and had to be rebuilt. He told me it'd be ready on Tuesday. Well, it snowed on Monday, so it never got delivered. He told me on Tuesday that'd he'd put it in that afternoon or Wednesday morning. Never heard from him on Wednesday despite calling nearly 20 times throughout the day. I call him this morning (Thursday) and he says he has double pneumonia and is trying to get his worker to put it in under his (doped up) instruction. It started snowing and the area shut down. We didn't hear from him again today. No idea if it will be ready tomorrow or not.

Aftan's school was cancelled today b/c of the snow and ice. She didn't go yesterday owing to no transportation.

Yesterday, I noticed that the hot water would run out after about 1-2 minutes. I tried giving the girls a bath during the day and could not get enough hot water. I mentioned it to Steve when he got home late last night from a business dinner. He went up in the attic to look at the heater and the wire on the bottom was so hot that it had melted the plastic casing and the styrofoam insulation. It could have burned our house down. So, we turned the circuit off to the heater. We have no hot water. I called Lowe's this morning about buying a new one and having it delivered and installed today. The guy was really beyond helpful. I purchased the heater and he said they'd talk to the contractor who delivers them and he'd call me. The contractor calls shortly thereafter saying they have us slated for 4 p.m. depending upon the weather. He calls back around noon saying they are not coming out today and only had a 75% chance of coming out tomorrow.

So, that's where we stand. No van. No hot water. Aftan hasn't been to school since Tuesday, and if they are only delay will not be going tomorrow since there will be no before school care and Steve would have to drop her off early.

At least we have heat and are done Christmas shopping.

Christmas Time

Has it really been almost two months since I last did a post? Wow. The year, especially the last couple of months, has gone by so fast. In just a couple of weeks it will be Christmas and just a week after that my little baby will turn 2.

I forgot that on the last post I had some stuff to tell, but could not tell them. I can now. :) The first thing is that my in-laws, Aftan and Reagan's Me-Na and Grandpa, are moving down the street from us. They are actually going to be settled in within the next couple of days, I think. Aftan and Reagan are crazy excited, as you can imagine. The second thing was that Steve left his job and got offered a job with a nice pay increase at a job he had previously, but got laid off from. So, he is working there now and I think is happier. I think he's just happy he doesn't have to dress up anymore. :)

Since the last post, the transmission on my van died. I have not had it for over a month now because it is costing over $3,000 to replace the transmission and we had to save up for it (at Christmas time, no less). It is in the shop now getting done and will hopefully be done next Tuesday (was supposed to be done tomorrow, but they had some set backs with the "new" transmission). I miss my van so much. My mother-in-law has graciously been letting us borrowing her SUV for 5 out of 7 days of the week and it has helped so much, but I feel like I am missing a limb without my van.

So, anyway, we are gearing up for the holidays and for Reagan's 2nd birthday. She is becoming such a big girl now. She is starting to really talk and is saying 4-5 word sentences now. She's still a little peanut at about 34.5-35 inches and only 23-24 pounds, but she is healthy as all get out. Aftan is just growing like a weed, as well. It's crazy. She is doing great in school. Starting to read and write. She picked up pink eye from school that I have to take her to the pediatrician for tomorrow, but she has escaped any major illnesses so far this year. Knock on Wood.

Let's see if I can rustle up a good recent picture of the girls. This is from about 6 weeks ago, but it's a good one of them together when we converted Reagan's crib to the toddler bed: