Pictures galore

I've just put a bunch of pictures on Flickr. As many as there are, I left a lot out. There are only a few pictures from the reunion and the North Rim. Obviously I left most of the reunion pics out for the DVD. I only included a few of Benjamin. As for the North Rim, I certainly wasn't the only photographer there and I don't want to bore everyone with a boatload of repetitiveness. If you want copies of my pictures, I'll be happy to make a DVD (or transfer to your computer if you're visiting) and you can sort through them and decide what, if any, you want to keep.

Enjoy and let me know if I left anything out!

Back in Virginia

After a VERY long drive with a 2-year-old and a whiny dog, we finally made it to Virginia late Saturday night. Now we're just waiting to find out when our stuff is getting here.

More pics

I've just posted some more pictures on Flickr. There are a few of Benjamin and the rest are of the house. I like to keep a photo record of every place we live. I decided I better get this done before I start re-packing. I never did get anything on the walls other than a few shelves. At least I have less to pack.

Admitting defeat...again

Life has thrown us another curveball. The job transfer that we were so excited about and thought would be our ticket to finally settling down has turned out to be another dead end.

Starting a week or two before the move, things started to look not quite as solid as we had been led to believe. John found out that one of the Murdock brothers didn't even know John was being transferred to St. George. In short, this brother is a control freak and was NOT happy. He obviously feels that St. George is too far away for him to exert his control. He tried to halt the move, but relented when he found out we already had a deposit on the house. It's gone downhill from there. He has tried to thwart John at every turn. We have had to buy close to $1000 in tools because they refused to outfit the repair shop; they want him to do sales (yet the manager here likes to swoop in at the last minute to get the commission); they refuse to send him very many instruments so he has nothing to do (and gets sent home early); they have him cleaning the bathrooms; they won't let him do any marketing, including visiting the local schools to let them know he's here; and they've recently made him start doing instrument reposessions. Last week they sent him out in the company van that has no air conditioning. It was 100 degrees outside and 130 inside the van. John started to hallucinate and ran a red light. He got a ticket that of course the Murdock's will not take responsibility for. John has now put his foot down and refused to drive the van. We're waiting for their reaction. Either they will fire him, or try to force him and he will be calling OSHA.

The list goes on and on. We have realized that this job is going nowhere. There is no end in sight to the $8 an hour. They have cancelled all health benefits for their employees. We have agonized over our choices of what to do and have come back to John going to school to finish his degree. I am, of course, hesitant, but we can find no alternative. It seems to be the only way for John to get a stable job with reasonable pay in a field that he's interested in. So back we go to Warrenton. Mom and Dad are opening their doors once again for Benjamin (and the rest of us and our crap). John will be taking online classes while we save on rent, utilities, etc. Who knows where we'll end up when he finishes. They're also taking over our Optima since the Neon has finally given up the ghost.

We don't know yet when we'll be doing the move. The timing is mostly dependent on Dad's ability to take off the time to help us. John has pledged to survive his job as long as is needed, but we're hoping sooner rather than later.

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Benjamin has no idea how much love, kisses, and hugs he's going to be smothered with. He'll be sure to impress everyone with his numbers, letters, signing, and growing vocabulary.

Birdy

Everytime Benjamin catches me writing or responding to an email from Grandpa, he points at the eagle on the screen and says "birdy".

He also likes to identify the date when he sees it on my sidebar.

We hate Sprint

So ever since we moved into this house, we've been having intermittent cell phone issues. Monday I missed a couple important phone calls because my phone was in analog roam. The phone was sitting right next to me while I waited for a call and it simply did not ring. Later when I discovered that I had missed the call, I tried to check my voicemail. No such luck while roaming. We spent a good deal of time on the phone with them yesterday. We were hung up on, called liars, and one guy swore at John in a foreign language. One lady was quite rude and told John they are not responsible for coverage inside our home. They are happy to cancel our contract, but want to charge us the early termination fee of $200 per phone. Since these are our only phones, we're really upset. If we had just signed up with them and didn't bother to check coverage, it would be our fault. But we just moved here and are obviously in a dead zone. What happens if there's an emergency and I can't call 911? What happens if someone else has an emergency and they can't call me?

So if you try to call us and we don't answer, this may be why. We're trying to get this resolved, but they may be unwilling to work with us.

A Must Read

I just finished reading a fantastic book for any dog lover. Even though it came out a few years ago, I'm just now getting around to reading it. It's "Marley and Me" by John Grogan. It's a true-life telling of his family's "mis"adventures with an extra-large, rambunctious yellow lab. It's funny and sad and hits close-to-home for anyone who's ever had a dog as part of the family. I found it especially fitting that I picked this up at the library around the time I found out Jake wasn't doing well. Be warned--you should have a kleenex handy in the final chapters.

A Photo Tribute to Jake

Flickr

FYI-I've posted a bunch of photos on Flickr.

A new record

****WARNING--BODILY FUNCTION RELATED POST*****
The other day we moved Benjamin's train stuff inside the Thomas hideaway. So this morning he was in there playing with them. I peeked in at him and he had trains and track spread all over the place. I noticed a strong odor, but decided to try and eat my breakfast before dealing with it. So, I'm sitting there eating when I looked over and he was standing in from of the desktop computer watching Sesame Street. His entire rear-end and down one leg were saturated. I escorted him to the changing table and pulled his pants down. There was chunky poop all down one leg and oozing out the top of the diaper. As I assessed the situation, I decided the only solution was to hose him off in the bathtub. Of course while I was cleaning out all of his toys, he peed on the bathroom floor. He was perplexed by the mid-day bath, but handled it pretty well. Unfortunately now I need to scour the bathtub before his regularly scheduled bath tonight. I'm just very grateful there wasn't anything on my couch or inside Thomas and that the smell was not portortional to the quantity. I guess we need to cut down on the grapes despite how much he loves them.

We're doing something right

The other night John and I were standing in the kitchen discussing something. When there was a pause in the discussion we both looked down at Benjamin. He was standing next to us with his head bowed and arms folded. We heard him say Mommy, Daddy, something else, then something that resembled amen. Then he looked up at us proudly. I guess he's seen us doing it every night before dinner, so he thought he'd give it a try.

Yes, Mom is here

It has come to my attention that not everyone knew Mom was coming to Utah for a visit. She got here on May 3rd and will be staying until Sunday, June 1st. She is soaking up lots of Benjamin love (and visiting with the rest of us too). She has really enjoyed watching him play and chatter on endlessly. He's having a great time visiting with her too and loves to play hide and seek. He'll run around the corner by our bedroom door then come bursting out giggling hysterically at Mom sitting on the living room couch.

Sick House

It's a crappy week in the Mealey household. John started getting sick Sunday night. He was up all night with stuff coming out both ends. Mom also threw up several times. John ended up coming home early from work on Monday and calling in sick on Tuesday. Mom had a very bad night Monday with not being able to leave the bathroom for very long. We've all been waiting until it was mine and Benjamin's turn. Unfortunately he decided to go first. He started throwing up first thing yesterday morning and couldn't keep anything down all day. We were really surprised that he made it through all of last night without a peep. Today he was able to keep some liquids down and even munched on some crackers for lunch. Unfortunately he woke up prematurely from his nap and proceeded to throw up a bucket-full (well, it sure seemed like it to me). He's had a couple runny diapers, but so far the worst of that's probably still ahead of us. He managed to clear out his stomach and the poor guy was throwing up stomach acid or just dry heaving. He finally crashed and is sleeping in the middle of my bed with Mom and me watching over him. I hope he escapes the next phase or I'm in for some lovely diaper changes (and a lot of them). If I do get sick, it should be a fun Mother's Day! Anyway, keep your prayers with all of us--especially that little boy.

We're back

We're working really hard to get settled in, but we are finally here. I'll post more when I have a few minutes.

Going Offline

We will be turning in our equipment to Comcast early tomorrow. So that means we'll be without internet and our house phone. So if you need to contact us, please call either of our cell phones. It's going to be a very busy weekend!

Birthday Pics

Please check Flickr for a bunch of pictures of Benjamin's birthday and the aftermath. We had a LOT of people in our little apartment. I was so focused on chatting with everyone that I didn't take out the camera until most of the presents were opened. If I'm counting correctly, it was a total of 22 people, although the Phalp contingent came an hour late and some people were getting ready to leave. Benjamin had mixed feelings about having all of those older kids in his room and playing with his stuff. He'd go from staring at them in confusion, to giggling at their antics. He was grouchy on and off through the whole thing, but I attribute that to his ear infection and being overwhelmed by so many people. The dogs were really well-behaved and soaked up all of the extra attention. Benjamin got a lot of toys, although some things he's not quite old enough for yet, so we'll put those away for now. We're going to do a thorough inventory of his toys before the move and figure out what's going to be packed away, donated to D.I., or kept.

Double Whammy!

Benjamin has been very sick the last couple days. He started by coughing and has moved on to not sleeping, not eating, rubbing his nose, vigorously rubbing his eyes (to the point where the skin around them is purple), sore throat, and just general crankiness.

After 2 sleepless nights and a miserable day yesterday, I decided to take him to the doctor. Turns out he has double "raging" ear infections. I'm so glad I took him in instead of assuming it was a nasty cold. At least now he can get some medicine in him and start getting better. We just have to endure a few more nasty days and nights.

Best of all--I don't have to cancel his birthday party on Saturday because he's not contagious. I was not looking forward to having to let everyone know not to come.

More house pics

Please go to Flickr to see more pictures of the house. These were taken by the landlady. They're not the best.

Goofin'

An alternative use for his bike.

Mommy had no idea when she moved those boxes that I'd find a fun use for them. WHEE! (we really need to get him a real slide for home)

St. George (from Ben's perspective)

We had to check out a couple of the parks in the area. Our realtor told us there isn't a house in the area that doesn't have some kind of park within 2 miles. The biggest park in St. George is Hidden Valley Park (just down the road from our house). It has what they call a splash-pad. I'm sure Benjamin is going to love it on those hot St. George days.

There's also a park on Bluff Street (near John's work) that is just Benjamin's size. It has a smaller slide and toddler swings. He got very mad at us when we had to leave to go to an appt.

Please look at the Map in the Links section to the left for a customized map of St. George.

Our New House

We spent the weekend in St. George checking out the area and finding a place to live. We found a perfect 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in a cute little neighborhood. There's a community pool that we'll be able to take Benjamin to. There's a fully fenced backyard, although the dogs will have to get used to the fact that there's no grass. I'm excited about the Corian countertops in the kitchen and the separate garden tub & shower in the master bedroom. We'll also have a 2-car garage to store all of our extra junk, so the 3rd bedroom will be a fully-functioning bedroom instead of just storage. We'll be able to offer a queen-sized bed to all visiting guests. We are officially declaring ourselves National Park Headquarters for SouthWestern Utah and Northern Arizona. We'll be touring as much as we can handle and would love to take any visitors anywhere they want to go. Below is a picture of the outside of the house (no, it does not come with police protection--that was the last resident). I'll send inside pictures after we move in. I was an idiot and left my camera in the car when we saw the house on Saturday.

Our Genius

Over the last few days Benjamin has pointed out and correctly identified the numbers 6 & 7 and the letters S & D.

It's Official

John is to report to work in St. George on May 1st. April is going to be very busy for us as we prepare for the move. We are going down there to look for a place to live the first weekend of the month. They've also told him they're giving him the last week of the month off so he can get moved.

Taking after Mommy

This should have been posted a couple weeks ago, but thanks to a DVD Amanda burned for him, Benjamin is now obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He rarely wants to watch anything else. He knows each character and now has stuffed versions of each. He finally calls Mickey by his full name instead of "Ickey". The rest are Coofy (Goofy), Donald, DZ (Daisy), Minnie, and Pooto (Pluto).

Some Tidbits

Sorry in advance for the bad phoenetics:

--Chris' name has graduated from "Kiss" to "Cwis" or even "Chris"

--Amanda's name has gone from "Na" to "Mada"; although it took me a couple weeks to figure out that's what he was talking about

--For several weeks now Mom has been known as "G'ma" instead of just "MaMa" (and he's convinced every phone call is Grandma and Grandpa and I'm a real meanie if I don't let him talk to them)

--Bananas are no longer "Na's" they are now "Manyas"

--Several times yesterday, he acutally thanked me for giving him something that he had asked for. He says "Kee Kyu" or "Kyu Much" (not sure where he learned to say "Thank You Much")

Easter Bunny

I just have to share pics of Benjamin in his Easter outfit. Of course he was hesitant to pose for more than half a second, but we did get a few keepers. I'll put the rest on Flickr. (the duck he's holding is the new one the Easter Bunny brought. It has Easter eggs on its chest)

Valentine Balloon

A nice lady at the grocery store gave Benjamin a free Valentine's balloon (it was late and they were going to have to toss them anyway). He carried it around all the next morning until he had loved it a little too much and it shredded and deflated. It was fun while it lasted.

His cheeseburger

As mentioned in a previous post, Benjamin learned the word "cheeseburger" from a Veggie Tales song. He's been running around yelling or singing it for days now. I went grocery shopping this morning and decided to introduce him to what an actual cheeseburger is. Once he got the hang of it, he quite enjoyed himself.

I Want Alex!

A few weeks ago I discovered that Jeopardy was a good way to cheer up the dude when he got up from his naps. He's always very grouchy and it can be very trying getting him to stop crying. I haven't had 100% success, but Jeopardy usually calms him right into a trance. This week he started asking for it by name ("Pardy"). It's a good thing I made a DVD of episodes.

He also loves the "clapping show" (Family Feud).

Larry & Bob

One of Benjamin's favorite things to watch these days is Veggie Tales (the sing-alongs, not the movies). I've finally gotten him to stop calling it "Sunny" (not sure where that came from). He now asks for Larry (not so good on the r's just yet). When he sees Bob he has to holler "Boppp" (imagine the spit). His favorite song is "The Hairbrush Song". He is very good at singing along and runs around singing "Where...air brush". This morning he picked up on the word "cheeseburger" from the song "His Cheeseburger" and has been saying it all day. I don't think he knows what a cheeseburger is.

Yay!

The other night we were getting Benjamin dressed for bed and he kept saying a word over and over. We couldn't figure out what he was saying. We thought he was pointing towards a shelf that had some Thomas trains on it, but what he was saying didn't make sense because he knows how to say Thomas quite well. We finally figured out that he was pointing to the picture right next to the shelf. I had just hung it there earlier that day. It was the red robe picture of Christ. Since then he's proudly proclaimed Jesus (not exactly, but he's trying) every time we've pointed to a picture of Him.
We're very proud.