Ups and Downs

This past month has been pretty busy. I went out to visit Aimee for the weekend, and then 2 weeks later she came out to visit me. The cousins all had a great time getting together, and Aimee and I had fun too. We both agreed that the drive is a killer, though! We were really lucky with the weather, as well. It has been unseasonably warm up until this week. It was almost 80 last Monday! While that is fun to enjoy the warmth, and great not having to turn on the heat yet, I was starting to look forward to putting away the shorts. This week the temps have dropped to seasonable 60s, and I don't mind a bit. We might be able to get away with keeping the heat off until next Thurs, which is November! Woohoo.

Jacob turned 8 months old on Monday, and in honor of that, he decided to climb the stairs. You have to understand here, that he is never allowed near them, because they are unsafe for babies. There is no way to gate them, and there is a cast iron railing which has spaces perfectly fitted for babies to fall right through. We know this because the summer after we first moved here, Levi was only 8 mos old and he fell through. Luckily they are split with a landing half way down, so he really only fell the height of a half flight, or about 4 feet, but still. Yikes. He was fine, but it was scary. So, no playing near the stairs for children who can't walk them yet. Well, last week, Jacob was playing downstairs, and I was allowing him to explore a bit. He went right over to the stairs, but I was behind him so I let him go. Wouldn't you know it, he just took a look at them and went right up! He didn't falter or almost fall. Sheesh! So one more milestone crossed for him. I wish I had a picture to post, but I didn't have a camera at the time, and we haven't let him try again since.

Another big milestone this month is that Levi is potty training. He has been sort-of trying all summer, but really he wasn't interested. Just this week he has been successful at keeping his pants dry, and hasn't had any accidents. I've been rewarding him with candy for using the potty, because at first he was holding it all in until bedtime when we'd put a diaper on him, and then filling it. Ick. Now, he eagerly goes to the bathroom, so he can come back and beg for candy. Woohoo, finally a kid the food bribe works on! LOL

On the down side for this month, Chris has hardly been home. He has been playing Fall Ball, which is a 2 month extension of the softball season at work. He asked and I told him it would be ok as long as he could still take the boys to Pathfinders on Tuesday nights. Since the boys only have meetings 2x a month, he wouldn't really be missing very many games. It also worked out that he could either drop them off on the way to a game, or pick them up and bring them to a game most of the time. He has only missed one game. I am happy to let him play, as it is a chance for him to get out and not think about work for a bit; but it does keep him away from home more. This week he has also been told he has to start working mandatory unpaid overtime. Since he is salaried, it is kind of understood that he would have some work to do after hours that wouldn't officially get paid for. Luckily for him, he hands in a timesheet each week, for the purposes of billing clients, so most of the time, he gets the extra hours back in time off. Well, it seems the projects he's working on have run out of budget, but the managers have all promised the work would still get done anyway, so they are making him work LOTS of hours to get it done, and he can't charge any of that time to the clients. Ugh. So, all added up I just haven't seen much of him at all. He has been able to bring some work home with him, but I have to keep the kids away so he can actually do it. He has been going in really early in the morning, too. But between the work and the stress of the work, he is really tired, and so whenever he's not working, he's sleeping.

Meanwhile, the weather is getting colder and dreary with some rain and less sunlight, and the boys are getting tired of school. They have been stir crazy the last few days, stuck inside because of the rain. Their running and screaming and bickering and chasing and crying are driving me nuts. WHY can't they get along??? WHY are they always at each other's throats?

This week a lot of bloggers have been posting pictures of Fall, with foliage shots, and pictures of pumpkin patches, and pretty mums at their front doors. I am so jealous. I wish I were a better homemaker and decorator, though I admit I have no where to store seasonal decorations. This year I've been seeing such pretty dishes too. I am not one to care about switching out my dishes (again, where would I store the ones I wasn't using?) but I sure wish I had a house worth decorating. I wish I had kids who actually wanted to go to a pumpkin patch and enjoy a corn maze. No, my kids whine and complain so much it just isn't worth it trying to go. And it's not worth trying to decorate because Chris would just complain or make wisecracks about the clutter. It's just not worth making an effort for myself when those around me are going to ruin the pleasure of it.

All this to say, I am starting to get depressed. I hate being discontent and unhappy. I know I don't really have anything to truly complain about, and lots to be happy about. But there it is. I can feel it sucking me in, and all I want to do is sleep for a week. Of course, that is not possible and so I eat to stay awake, and so I grow bigger and bigger each week, which also depresses me. Sigh.