The Saga of Our Sink

When I was in my last trimester with Ryder, our kitchen sink suddenly clogged up. We called a friend of ours, Scott, who is a plumber, and he came and fixed it. We will be forever grateful.

10 months later, it did it again. This time I wasn't pregnant, at least. But it was right after my mother-in-law had (very generously) cooked dinner for us in our home. She had offered to clean everything up, too, but I felt like that would put me over the top in the laziness department, so I insisted that I would clean everything once they'd left, which ended up being around 8:00pm. I started in on the dishes, and within five minutes it became clear that our sink was not draining.

Craig took apart the trap. He ran out to Lowe's, and discovered that they closed at 8:00. And then we called Scott again. He gave Craig some tips, and Craig resolved to try and fix it the next day after work. Meanwhile, I had a kitchen absolutely FULL of dirty dishes, which were beginning to smell. And paper plates to live off in the meantime. Naturally, the next day Craig decided to work an hour later than he needed to (I'm still seething about that one). And by the time he'd tried out every trick he knew, it was (once again) eight o'clock and we still didn't have a working sink.

So Scott came over.

He used a huge motorized plumbing snake (any of those terms might be wrong-- you can talk to a plumber if you want the technical details!) and shoved it approximately 35 feet into our pipes before finding the clog. At which point he determined that he couldn't seem to make it go away. He had one last option-- a snake with what is essentially a drill on the end (he called it a "pig tail"). But he said if that didn't work, it probably meant that the underground pipes in our front yard had shifted from the earthquake and we'd need a better (and paid!) plumber to take care of it.

I cannot even begin to imagine how much that would cost.

But Scott tried the pig tail before completely giving up. And I whispered prayers in my head the whole time he did it. And he thought he got through. So he pulled the entire thing back out and examined the end of it to figure out what had caused the clog. This is the most disgusting thing ever: there was hair on the end of it. As far as we can tell, our shower drains do not connect to the kitchen sink drain in any way, and since I don't make it a habit of putting my hair down the kitchen sink, the conclusion was that probably a rat had gotten stuck in the pipes, trying to climb up from the city sewers.

Ew ew ew ew EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!!!!

I'm so grossed out by that. Anyway, with the clog hopefully removed, the next step was to test it. We plugged the sink, filled it with water, and then watched it drain. It began spiraling down like water should do. We got our hopes up. There was one little blip of water that splashed back up, but Scott said that could just be the clog flushing out more. Just to be safe, we decided to test it again. Again we plugged the sink, filled it, and watched it drain. This time it drained half way. And stopped.

And I nearly cried.

Scott decided to go look at the pipes in the crawl space. We heard him banging around below us, and suddenly he let out a wonderfully triumphant yelp, right as the water suddenly drained away. Apparently, when snakes, plungers, and a host of other gadgets don't completely do the trick, you might want to just try hitting the pipes to make the clog loosen up! Who knew?

Anyway, we have a working kitchen sink again. And I did all those dishes today (only 48 hours after they'd been used-- so gross!). And I'm feeling very thankful for friends who are so kind to us.

If it clogs up again, we may just have to give Scott our next child or something. Or something worth more...





Watch out for rats, huh?

For Grandma

These last couple of weeks, it's been crazy around here! Three of my four sisters were able to come and visit, we had an earthquake and a "hurricane," Craig's brother came to visit, and Craig started back up at work... So between the natural disasters, running a hotel, and having to actually take care of my kids, and of course, my kitchen sink clogging up (which will be the subject of a different post), life has felt very busy. But having all the visitors was fun, at least! And now I'm realizing that if I want my Mom to show pictures to my Grandma while they're visiting, I better hurry up and post a bunch of them!

This one's for you, Grandma!

My happy kids!

I was so proud of myself for finding matching shirts for Bentley and Ryder! Of course, before I could get a decent picture, Ryder spit up all over himself. Oh, well. I tried!

Bentley still enjoys putting hats on Ryder

And we're continuing to get awesome wildlife in our backyard!

Playing dress up, we have Captain Moroni (complete with Title of Liberty) and Princess Kendra

One group shot after church with my visiting sisters (notice Ryder's adorable outfit with SUSPENDERS!!!)

This cousin picture is so terrible it makes me laugh. Look at Ryder! He looks like a grumpy old man!!!

Tracy and Ryder

Uncle Jason is immediately coerced into reading books about the space shuttle to Bentley

Enjoying our hurricane

We're all smiles here! I think it's because Craig kept thinking of the Glee version of "Umbrella"

I've got more pictures to share, but I'm having a hard time getting them off Craig's phone. Next time...

Friday Thoughts

If you seriously consider cutting your toenails before you weigh yourself just in case it you will give you that extra edge, you may be too obsessed with your weight.

Firsts

I finally put Ryder in a real swing yesterday, and he loved it. Bentley and Kendra always did, too, so this wasn't a surprise. But it's still fun to hear happy baby squeals over such simple pleasures. Ryder is funny, though: while I was a few steps away from him, pushing Kendra, I suddenly realized that he was making weird coughing noises. I hurried to check on him, and discovered that he had leaned forward and was now choking himself on the swing, the hard plastic pushed under his chin and against his neck. I quickly pushed him back again, and immediately he began giggling and laughing and enjoying himself.

I think we repeated this drill three or four times before he finally figured out to just keep leaning back. I'm not sure if I should be worried because he seemed so unconcerned about the choking, or delighted that I have such an easy-going baby!

Pride

I have iTunes playing. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony came on. Kendra immediately said, "I like this song! Turn it up, Mommy!"

My humanities heart is happy.

Thank you, Fantasia.




She's not the only one learning great music: Bentley knows "Rite of Spring" very well.

Looking Forward

Yes. I am one of those people who-- at the end of every month, without fail-- has to ask, "How did the time go by so fast?" So the fact that I feel this way today isn't particularly unusual. What is unusual is the intensity I'm feeling about it all.

Craig went back to work today. Seriously? Summer can't possibly be over already, can it? It's just too nice outside for Craig to be back at work! Normally Craig and I spend our last week in this weird panicky funk, trying to squeeze in as much last-minute summer fun as possible, while simultaneously trying to not think about why we're trying to do so much at once. But this year, with three of my sisters coming to visit during Craig's last weekend, we didn't even have time to be depressed-- we were too busy enjoying everyone's company! (It was kind of nice, actually. I think this should become a tradition!)

But it has been weird today. I want to sit around and mope and miss Craig. But I've been too busy taking my sister and her husband around, and grocery shopping, and trying to get my house back in order again... And honestly, we're having such gorgeous weather that it's impossible to not be happy! I think it was just last year that I finally figured out that August in Virginia is slightly cooler than July. (In Seattle, it's usually the other way around, as though it takes all of June and most of July just to warm up to summer at all!) And after dealing with July's 100 degree weather, it's amazing how nice the low 80s feel!

Also, as much as I miss having Craig home with me, there is so much to look forward to this year: Craig's brother coming to visit, Bentley starting kindergarten, Thanksgiving with Craig's family and then Christmas with mine, what will probably be the awesomest summer vacation ever next year with Craig's family... How can I not look ahead to it all with a glad heart?

One More

I told you Craig would know how to fix it. Here's that picture of everyone that I promised:

Sesame Place

Last week Craig's parents took us all to Sesame Place, up in Pennsylvania! It turned out to be the trip of things almost going badly, and then being just fine.

When we showed up, it was pouring rain. Not just that rain where it seems pretty bad while you're driving in it, but once you stop the car, it's really just a light drizzle. Nope. This was a LOT of rain. People were leaving the park in droves. So we went to the mall to hang out for a few minutes while I fed Ryder. And lo and behold-- within twenty minutes the rain stopped and it was sunny for the rest of the day. Yay for us!

Of course, we headed right back to the park, only to discover that Bentley had left Teddy (and those of you who know Bentley know that he is devoted to his teddy) at the mall. Craig went back to find teddy while we went into the park. And because this was the trip of things being just fine (eventually) he found teddy without any trouble and all was well. Here are some pictures of it all. Oh, wait-- first I have to explain that I would have taken more, but my camera battery died. Good thing Craig still had his phone or we would only have about 3 pictures of the whole thing! Okay, enough of me blathering, time for pictures:

At the last second, Kendra got shy, so Bentley went and met Bert and Ernie all by himself.

Riding the carousel with Grandpa...

...and Grandma!

That's a green screen behind Elmo. If you buy the real picture, they put a nice town behind you. One of these days I'll scan the good picture for you to see, too, but for now, this will have to do!

I guess Disneyland doesn't have a monopoly on teacup rides!

Happy Ryder!

The Abby Caddaby Show

We finally left the park, found some dinner (that Craig and I could eat on this diet!), and then checked into our hotel. Then we had another scare: our room was a smoky mess! Just as I was wondering how we would survive breathing air like that, Craig just marched to the front desk and demanded a new room, and GOT ONE! That was fortunate, because the hotel was pretty full. But our new room was lovely and smoke free and we had a good night's rest, which we needed for Day #2 of Sesame Place:

The kids loved this bouncey thing and probably could have spent all day here...

As a kid, Craig was afraid of this ropes course. Good to know he's conquered his fears!

Kendra eating her Elmo cupcake and refusing to smile for me

Tired Kendra as we drive home

Equally tired Ryder

And, as we were driving home, we saw this random tank next to us. It was a bit scary, actually! But impressive and cool all at the same time. We were stuck in traffic (gotta love I-66), so I had time to snap a picture

I have one other picture of the entire family with Big Bird, but for some reason I can't get it to upload and Craig isn't around to solve my computer problems for me. So it will get its own post soon.

For now, all you need to know is that we had a great time!

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Random Recommendations

I feel like I have a lot of things that I really like that I should be telling you about. So here is a list of some random favorites of mine, with absolutely no regard to category.


A great movie: Lars and the Real Girl. The premise sounds terrible: Lars, a completely socially awkward man, buys a sex doll in order to learn how to relate to people better. Are you running away yet? But it's actually a really sweet (and really clean!) movie. It's very clear that the doll is never used for sex (Lars explains to his sister-in-law that she is a missionary). And it really is about a community reaching out to this poor man in whatever way they can. I cannot recommend it enough! Netflix it today!










The Woman at the Washington Zoo, by Marjorie Williams.

It's a book of essays, mostly political. And while Ms. Williams is much more liberal than I will ever be, she is honest and enjoyable to read and I have so much respect for her writings. The last third of the book is essays on less political matters and I have probably read through all of them at least five times. I love this book. My mother-in-law gave it to me, and I have loaned it out to most of my sisters, and we have all just loved it. Let me know if you want to borrow it!






On a totally different note, this book, One Bullet Away, is the autobiography of Nathaniel Fick, a Marine Corps officer who has fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and was part of the team that helped liberate Baghdad. It is both gripping and terrifying, not to mention beautifully written (I guess it helps that he studied classics at Dartmouth before joining the Marines!) I already thought the Marines were cool, but after this read, I have so much respect for these men. Craig and my Dad both wanted to sign up after reading it! It's a good one.


And now, here's a video that you can watch right now. But first let me give you a bit of background: you know the song "Float On" by Modest Mouse, right? (It's on Guitar Hero, if that helps at all.) Well, Lupe Fiasco also covered it for his song, "The Show Goes On". And then this incredibly talented young man, Peter Lee Johnson, did his own version, turning this into a violin solo and adding Pachelbel Canon into the mix. I cannot even tell you how much I love listening to this, and a bunch of his other videos. Watch them on YouTube now!




All right. I think that's it for now. I'm sure I'll think of a bunch more as soon as I hit the "Publish Post" button, but until then, enjoy!

Bragging. Total, All-Out Bragging.

So remember when I said we were thinking about changing the way we eat? Well, we have. For nearly three weeks now, we've been following the guidelines in Eat to Live, which has meant eating only fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and a little bit of whole grains. (And no meat, dairy, or processed foods.) The idea is to do this and be really strict for 6 weeks, and then afterwards you can have a little bit of those things, but your diet should still consist of mostly fruits and vegetables.

For someone like me who loves bread, chocolate, and cheese, it has been really really hard. But. I cannot deny that it is working! I've lost about 9 pounds so far, and I've felt really great. Craig has lost even more weight. And we're starting to get used to eating like this and even enjoying fruit for the first time in our lives. And, what might have gotten me the most excited-- last night I calculated my BMI and discovered that I am now in the "Normal" category.

Buh-bye, "Overweight" BMI. May we never meet again.

Ryder Now

My Mom has requested pictures of Ryder where she can actually see his face. And I never reject a request for pictures of my kids! But if I'm going to post pictures of Ryder, I may as well tell you all about him, too, right?

So here's the scoop on Ryder these days. He isn't crawling yet, but he's working on it. Just in the last few days, he's started getting his knees underneath him, so it's coming. And I should probably make Craig clean off my baby gate (which has been doubling as a saw horse) before that day arrives! In the meantime, he's become a stealth scooter. He gets all over the place by rolling and scooting, but I never really seem to see him actually doing any of it. I turn my back for a few minutes, and when I turn around again, he's five feet away from where I put him down. It's kind of amusing, but also scary: in one day, he managed to eat a page out of my planner, almost ripped a page out of the hymn book, and was just grabbing a plastic bag when I snatched it away from him. So he's keeping me on my toes. And clearly I need to start enforcing more strict policies about where the kids can leave their junk. (Because we all know I would never leave any of those things on the floor. ...Right?)

I hate to admit this, but in the spirit of being honest, I will tell you that a week ago, Ryder was a crank. He was fussy and didn't sleep well. And he wasn't much fun. I worried that maybe he was teething, maybe his runny nose was indicative of something worse than just a little cold, maybe this new diet was messing with his feedings. Or maybe my sweet baby just wasn't quite so sweet any more. I worried about everything. But I think it was mostly a sleep issue.

For a while he'd been getting worse and worse about sleeping at night-- he'd wake up around midnight and then again around four in the morning. And it was slowly killing me. Finally one night, when he woke up just two hours after I'd fed him, I decided it was time to put my foot down. I went into his room and comforted him and assured him that he was fine and then went back to bed. And he was furious. He screamed bloody murder. Ten minutes later I sent Craig to do the same. We continued this for an hour before he finally fell asleep. (This is a really fun thing to do at 2:00 in the morning, let me tell you.) But it worked! And he's been sleeping much better now.

We also started putting him to bed way earlier, although that wasn't actually on purpose. I put him down for what was supposed to be a nap at 5:00pm, and then he slept until six the next morning. So I think the reason he'd been grumpy was simply because he just wasn't getting enough sleep! Poor little guy! But I'm so glad to have my happy little baby back again!

So that's the scoop on Ryder these days. Here are a ton of pictures and one video. The video isn't really all that exciting, but right at the end he smiles at the camera and that pretty much melts my heart, so I figure Grandmas and maybe Aunts will be willing to spend a minute watching it, right? Enjoy!

In his Hawaii outfit

Chick-fil-A had a "dress up like a cow and get free food" day. We took full advantage.

Then, just for fun, we put Bentley's cow costume on Ryder!

Then he fell asleep wearing Kendra's costume (which was actually a dalmatian, but close enough for our purposes!)

Yes, I snapped a picture of him during Sunday School. I'm tacky like that.

Sorry it's blurry, but I still think it's worth sharing

Sleeping in his pack-n-play when Daddy was replacing the window in his room

Learning to eat Cheerios (and taking a break to suck his thumb)

Um, I might have been letting him watch a little TV here... Oops

There's my happy boy!

Yup! So happy!