Who Am I Talking To?

So a certain credit card of ours is due to expire at the end of this month. I was trying to update the billing information today because we'll be using this card primarily while we're on vacation for hotels, food, cheap souvenirs for the kids, etc. I had to call 2 services, AT&T and Sprint. I get the information changed with AT&T, no problem. Took only 2 minutes, and I spoke to a real live person (imagine that!).

I call Sprint, and the first time I get though the automated system, the computer hangs up on me. Round 2, I get some schmuck in India (I can you he wasn't from the good 'ol US of A), who tells me to change the information online. We don't have an account online, and I can't figure out how to update the credit card for our land line (long-distance services). I try again, using a different 1-800 number. No such luck, it's services for pre-paid cards.

Round 3, I call the first number again, and get another schmuck in India. She is very friendly, (the first guy had a nice, thick accent), and transfers me to the Finance Department. Another nice woman can't understand why I'm calling. I tell her I need help for billing my LAND LINE, not my mobile phone. Maybe she was deaf in the ear she was using, bless her heart. So she transfers me to Customer Service. Then I'm on hold for about 10 minutes. I'm starting to feel like an idiot because I'm already getting that sinking feeling this isn't the route I need to go.

And then, guess what? I get the same schmuck in India again! Wow... that's impressive. I tell him to forget it, and hang up. Okay, I didn't really say that, but I already knew he couldn't help me. I rack my brain and think... okay, everything online is services for mobile phones, PDA's etc. There's got to be a separate number/department for long-distance. I get a rare dose of inspiration and go digging in the mail stack, hoping to find the last phone bill, and praying there's a number to call. YES!!! The number to call is entirely different from the 1-800 number I'd being using before. Are you all still with me?

Round 4, I call the 1-800 number on the bottom of the bill. The computer asks for my HOME phone number, so things are looking up. I think option 2 is right, and I plug in the credit card number and new expiration date. But I want to be sure I did it correctly, and go through all the options, hoping to talk to a live operator instead of a computer. Alrighty... "press 0 to speak to an operator." Well, "DUH!"

Okay, I get an operator. She asks for the person on the account, then asks me if I'm the spouse. I wish I'd said, "Which wife are you referring to?" (David and I have a personal joke between us, and sometimes say things like "Well, you must be talking about my other wife/husband, because I would NEVER do such a thing... " etc. ) Of course I didn't. By now I'd been on the phone for about an hour and I sure didn't want to mess things up. I find out the computer billed the card, but didn't change the expiration date, so the operator gets that taken care of.

Total time on the phone: 1 hour, 6 minutes
Number of attempts to change credit card information: 4
Getting the nicest, LIVE operator on the planet who fixed everything in 3 minutes (she even wished us a great time on our vacation): PRICELESS

There is hope for me after all.

Life Isn't Fair

I took the kids to Academy this morning to buy shin guards for Joshua and Rebecca. They're going to soccer camp next week. Neither one of them has ever played soccer before, so it should be interesting :-).

We found black shin guards with a build-in sock for Joshua, no problem. They also came in pink, so I tried the smallest size on Rebecca. You all know she is my petite girl, and it's hard to fit her for almost everything. Sure enough, the shin guard fit fine, but the sock part was just too big, even though the package was labeled "size small." There was no way to make them work. Bless her heart, she wanted them so badly. I even took her down to the kids shoes and had her try on a part of tennis shoes with the shin guards so I could point out the extra 2 inches of sock sticking out over the back of the shoes. Maybe I am just picky, but I can't let the child go to soccer camp with socks that are noticeably too big. We ended up buying a pair of regular pink shin guards and I bought socks to go with them. As you can imagine, that did not go over very well.

So Rebecca pitched a fit in the store, and continued to throw a tantrum all the way home. She is currently in her room, STILL crying, ("It's not fair, I want the other pink ones!") and this all started at least an hour ago.
Did I mention I love being a mom? And I love my daughter, I really do. It takes talent to throw a tantrum for over an hour, right?

I said some prayers and let Jesus drive today. 'Cause if it had been up to me, I would have left the child on the side of the road.

It Must Be... "Honey!"

David called me while I was getting the kids into the van this morning and head to Kroger. I was in the middle of getting seat belts on, so I had to call him back. The conversation went something like this:

DAVID: "Hi, how are you?"

KIMBERLY: "Hi honey, I'm fine, we're just heading to the store."

JOSHUA: From the back seat, "Honey?" "That means it MUST be Dad!

DAVID: "Who else would it be?"

KIMBERLY: "I wouldn't know..."

Finally, Gabriel's Walking!

Okay, I should say Gabriel's been walking a fair bit for about 2 weeks now. This blessed child, who took 20 hours to come into the world (how does that happen with the 4th baby?), didn't roll over both ways until 7 months, sit up unassisted until 9 months, and crawl until 11 months finally decide to try a new mode of getting from point A to point B at the grand age of 16 1/2 months? I know, I know, now that he's walking, I'll regret it. He's always been our very laid back baby. And I think I can read his mind, "Walking?...Please, that is SO overrated." But honestly, I'm relieved because we're going on vacation in 3 weeks, and I was hoping he'd be walking by then. There's so much of the world you don't see when you're on your hands and knees. I fully realize he will remember nothing from this upcoming trip, but I heard someone say even though he'll have no memories, they'll be moments when he'll know he's loved and being paid attention to. I plan to take lots of pictures and put some in his baby book (yes, I'm determined to take as many as I can. After all, this will be our first long road trip as a family).

I did get my baby sling back from Tammy because I wanted to see if he'd let me put him in it. Then at least we could walk around, see the sights on our vacation, and I'd have my hands free. I tried it a week ago, and Gabriel loved hangin' out on my hip. It made me miss his infant days when he'd spend half the day in the sling, sleeping away, and looking like an absolute angel (which he still is, of course). We went to the museum last weekend, and when Christina got tired of walking, I'd sling Gabriel so she could have the stroller. I just loved having him so close to me. He still smells like a baby, and he still has that baby-soft skin. Sigh...okay I'm starting to go sappy, I'll sign off before the tears start.

Did I mention Rebecca was bribing Gabriel with an animal cracker so we could get these pictures?

Splish Splash

Today I took all the kids swimming by myself for the first time. I was a little daunted, but I knew they would love it, and I can't take them to the clubhouse pool in the afternoons (it doesn't open until 12), and that's when Gabriel needs a nap. We went to Dawn's house for playgroup, and she let us swim in her pool. Joshua and Rebecca are good swimmers (thanks to 3 summers of swim lessons), but Christina wore a swim vest, and I had Gabriel in a little inflatable frog. At one point, Gabriel wanted my sunglasses, so I put them on him--what a stylin' baby he was!
I now realize it takes at least 30 minutes to make sack lunches for everyone, get all the kids into swimsuits, and then put sunscreen on (including myself). I remembered just in time NOT to put the swim diaper on Gabriel until right before we got into the pool-- yes we learned the hard way those swim diapers do not hold anything, they just keep the water out. And no, I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy making sure nobody drowned. But the kids did great--I knew as long as Christina kept her swim vest on, she'd be fine. There have been times she will take it off, and get in the water, but she's not a strong swimmer yet, so we insist she wears it.
Gabriel and Christina are napping now-- they were so ready to hit the sack for a little bit.
I think now I'm brave enough to take them to the neighborhood pool by myself. However, I wish there was a way to take just one bag of stuff to the pool. Even though the kids helped out today at playgroup, we had to carry my purse, the diaper bag, the bag of towels, the tote bag with lunches, and the portable high chair for Gabriel, and the inflatable frog. Really, why do mothers have just 2 hands?

Ten Years and Counting

Yesterday we had a marriage blessing at the church before the 5:15 Mass. It was just the six of
us, David's parents, and our niece who came into town with my in-laws. Deacon Bill did a wonderful job, and at one point our wedding rings were blessed. David wasn't wearing his, (oops!) so Deacon Bill blessed mine, and continued, saying, "...when David wears his." That was hilarious, and we were all cracking up about it.

We are not always good about taking pictures, so we have pictures from the church, but not from the party. I am sorry about that. But everyone had a great time, and many friends came, nearly all of them with children in tow. So we had lots of kids running around, and getting wet in the water slide we set up outside. About 50 people came to celebrate with us, and it was the best party ever--especially since we had the food catered from Eva's Mexican Restaurant. (I was not about to try and feed that many people myself). The food was fantastic--we definitely recommend Eva's, and will certainly eat there at some point. David's favorite meal is fajitas, so that is what we had, with all the usual sides and fixings- rice, beans, tortillas, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, salsa, and chips. It wasn't all eaten, so he's especially happy to have yummy leftovers for lunch over the next few days-- maybe for a week! We had a cake (from SAMS), and ice cream for the kids also.

It was very touching that some people brought gifts, which we were not expecting at all. One friend brought a beautiful bouquet of roses, which my mother-in-law (Terry) promptly put in water. I must tell you she was such a big help, and started cleaning up the kitchen before the party was over. I told Terry she had to stop and come hang out in the living room, but she shooed me away, saying she was fine, and for me to just go and enjoy myself. She worked so hard, by the time the party was over, we only had a little bit of cleaning up left. It was a true act of charity for her to do all the work she did. But I digress...

We received gifts cards to 2 restaurants, one retail store, the movie theatre, and a coupon for for one free night of babysitting from our sitter who came with her sister and parents. All of you with kids know that was definitely the BEST gift of all. We can go out, have dinner, see a movie, and have free babysitting, all at no charge. I am still in awe! The funniest gift was from Jim and Rachel, who respectively were the best man and one of my bridesmaids at our wedding. They had looked up what you were supposed to give at the 10 year anniversary, so they brought a roll of aluminum foil, complete with a silver bow. Check out the picture! We were laughing and laughing.

Lastly we got 2 bottles of wine which we will enjoy at a later time. We didn't break them out at the party since we had plenty of beer, soda, juice boxes for the kids, and champagne. David was pressured to and eventually gave a toast, even putting our share into the flutes we got at Ring Dance (which is where our relationship began). He thanked everyone for coming and said he hoped we could continue to share our life with all of our family and friends.

I should also mention, our actual anniversary is June 27, but we always celebrate a week earlier or later, as the 27th is also Joshua's birthday. We figure we're the grownups, so it doesn't really matter how we spend the day. So on the 27th, we celebrated Joshua's 9th birthday with a cookie cake, presents, and taking him to see WALLE with a friend, and that night David and I ordered take-out and ate after the kids went to bed. I gave David a new watch (I hope he doesn't break it, since he's hard on his watches), and he gave me a mother's ring with all the kids birthstones in it. I'd been dropping hints for months :-). I was so excited, I couldn't open the box, so David had to do it for me. Well, what do you think? He did pretty good, didn't he?

I was very tired last night, but the blessing and party were exactly what we wanted to mark this anniversary. Everyone told they us they had a GREAT time. We look forward to celebrating many more milestones in our marriage in the years to come. I can't believe it, 10 years, four kids, a house in the suburbs, and a minivan. Wow... God is so good. Thank you Father, for all of our blessings. May we continue to deserve all of the gifts you've given us.

[Okay, I have to add a side note. I feel like I've become real tech smart since I started all this. I've created a blog, customized my page, posted my news, and figured out how to download pictures from the camera, save them in the correct folder on the hard drive, and then download them again onto my blog. I'm pretty proud of myself!]

"Mommy, I'm all wet!"

We went to playgroup today at Tammy's house. Someone must have been watering their yard, because the gutters had a couple of inches of water in them. The kids pile out, and I tell them, while looking straight at Christina,

"Make sure you get out on this side, and don't step in the water."

I say this because Christina has been attracted to H2O since the day she was born. She gives the phrase, "...like a duck to water" a whole new meaning. That child will get soaking wet in a mere quarter inch of water. At least 2x a week, she will come to me, and her shirt/pants/feet/hair will be wet somehow. Have I emphasized this enough now?
The kids start going up to the front door. I hear Christina let out a little yelp. I turn around, and Christina is walking in the water. I say,

"Christina Mary, get out of the water!"

And then, it happens. The child's feet slip out from under her, and she falls splat right on her butt. So now she has wet feet, and a soaking wet bottom.

"Mommy, I'm all WET!"

Duh!
(I am grateful that her lovey-- a little pink blankie with a bunny head didn't get wet at all).

I sigh, hoist Gabriel up on my hip, and go into the house. I'm annoyed, but also laughing inside because it was just meant to happen, right?
Meanwhile, Tammy's oldest, Brittany (who is just as helpful as can be) had seen Christina fall, and asks if I need to borrow a pair of shorts. Before I know it, she's run off and comes back with a pair of pink shorts. I ask Tammy if that's okay, and says sure, that's fine. I get Christina changed, and she goes off to play. Problem solved.
We had a great time. Rebecca played with her friend Anna, and I know she was happy to see her. Joshua was a little bored because at 9 years old, he's outgrowing playgroup, but he didn't seem to mind playing with little kid toys too much. Gabriel showed off his walking skills (finally, at 16 months he is starting to walk). He was delighted to climb the stairs because there was no gate at the bottom, only the top. The dining room chairs had been scooted over to block the base of the stairs, but Gabriel figured out how to crawl under them and then go upstairs. The look on his face... you know the one that says,

"Look at me Mommy! I figured it out all by myself! Aren't you proud of me? Now, what are you going to do about it?"

Now for the not-so-smart thing I did today.

I bought 4th of July t-shirts for everyone to wear on Friday (and to the CCL Convention later this month). I also bought the girls the matching red scooters b/c they were so cute. I threw all the outfits into the wash today, came back from playgroup and was going to transfer them to the dryer. Opps, what was I thinking? I've been doing laundry for how long, and everyone knows you don't throw brand new RED shorts into the wash with mainly white t-shirts. Sure enough, there were nice pink spots on the t-shirts. Okay, break out the Oxy-Clean (I love that stuff). After a long soak with warm H2O, they're just fine.

Oh well. I'm letting Jesus drive today. Really I am.