Secret Life of the Mail Man

Jay and I went to check the mail this afternoon. When he unlocked the box and saw it was empty I pointed out that the mailman was at the other box down from us and that he hasn't gotten to us yet. As we walked back inside the mail man drove off in the opposite direction from our mailbox (this is normal, he does a circle and comes back) Jay got upset that he was "forgetting our mail". I told him that he would be back in a few minutes. Jay thought about it for a second and then told me that he was going home to take a bath. About 20 minutes later Jay told me that he was done bathing (Jay really said he was done bath-ing, not bathing) and that we could go check the mail now. When we went back to check and the mailbox was still empty Jay said, he should be done by now, WHAT can he still be doing in the tub?
I have a few questions. 1st, of all the things the mailman could be doing, why was he taking a bath. 2nd, where in the world does Jay come up with these random thoughts? And 3rd, how can I get Jay to realize that 20 minutes in the bathtub really IS too long and he needs to get out?

Rainy Days and Mondays

Ok, how many of you now have a Carpenters song stuck in your head? Today we received our allotted annual rainfall. (All in 20 minutes) Rain is such a rarity in Vegas that we had to go out and make the most of it. When I was younger I loved playing in the rain, watching the lightning and listening to the thunder. Today I am passing the tradition down to my little ones.
We heard the thunder and ran out to play. Once outside we saw the Syndergaards doing the same thing so we walked over to their house and played. There is something about splashing in puddles that is fundamentally necessary in childhood. Jay and Olivia were having fun playing tag but kept falling on the slippery pavement. Alyssa and Luke were both laying in the gutter, taking a bath, all the while trying to take a drink when they thought Carly and I weren't looking. (EWWWW) Even little Sophie was having fun feeling the rain drops on her hand. All of the kids were soaked head to toe, but had huge smiles on their faces as they splashed around.
Not only was the rain desperately needed for the moisture, but it cooled things off a bit too. It was actually refreshing rather than muggy. It was such a cozy afternoon. Perfect for snuggling on the couch after the kids got out of the tub. Makes me want to move to Seattle!

Swimming

The pool has been a life saver this week. With all the stress and drama going on around here, it's wonderful to have a place to relax and unwind. We've gone swimming more this week than the passed month combined simply to save my sanity. I was even desperate enough to take all 4 kids on my own on Wednesday. It was pretty interesting trying to keep a 23 month old, 19 month old and 9 month old all in their respective flotation devices and keep an eye on Jay at the same time. It was nice to cool off after our walk home from school, but I won't be doing that again any time soon.
I know I have always been a fish around water, but I seem to have passed that trait onto both of my kids. I am so proud of Jay swimming with out his floaties now for nearly a month. Alyssa refuses to sit in a pool ring so I put her in one of Jays old blow-up suits. Today she was doggy-paddling on her own. (Meaning I wasn't holding her at all!) I was SO proud of her!! She was treading water and moving around to where she wanted to go all on her own. Pretty impressive for a 19 month old!
So if you call and I don't answer, I'm at the pool! (And will be staying there until it's too cold to get in)

When It Rains, It Pours

Quite literally in our situation. As I am typing this, it is raining in my bedroom. Right over Jeremy's pillow in fact, but I will get to this later.
As many of you know we have been having car problems again. (Or should I say STILL?) The AC compressor seized so Jeremy installed a bypass pulley. It corrected the problem we were having, but now our car will not upshift at all. It is stuck in 1st gear, so that means we can drive it but only up to about 40-45mph MAX. (Yes, we know we shouldn't really be driving it at all) At that speed we are pretty close to 4K RPMs so we are probably getting about 5mpg. We think a power train cable was knocked loose when he installed the pulley so we need to take the car into our mechanic who advised us to get rid of our lemon 3 years ago.
I have also been VERY sick this weekend. It started out with nausea and a bad headache on Friday then turned into chills, high fever, body aches and exhaustion on Saturday. On Sunday I missed our friends baby blessing, flaked out on my visiting teaching and gave my sub for the Nursery only an hours notice. Luckily I was able to sleep all weekend and woke up today feeling much better, but still had the headache.
Since I had slept so much this weekend, I really couldn't go to sleep tonight. I've been up reading the news online, poking around facebook, watching re-runs of Bones then finally went to bed where I tossed and turned for at least an hour. I was just starting to actually get in a comfortable position where I might have been able to fall asleep if it hadn't been for the persistent dripping. At first I thought the guy upstairs was taking a shower, but it soon became evident that the water was NOT in the pipes. I woke up Jeremy just as the water started to drip on his face. I got dressed and raced upstairs and pounded on the neighbors door. The poor guy sleepily answered the door in his boxers and was quite confused when I told him that there was a monsoon in my bedroom. He then went and checked his guest bathroom where the connector hose from the toilet to the water line had burst and sprayed a good 15-20 gallons of water over the floor. I ran to the water main and shut off his water and Jeremy took our steam cleaner upstairs to help him suck up the water. We are now surveying the damage in our place. The ceilings in our kids bathroom, our bedroom, hall way and Jay's walk-in closet all need to be torn out and replaced. I still need to check Alyssa's room but am not about to wake her up right now. We will also need the carpet in our bedroom ripped up and replaced.
So now it is almost 4AM. I am wide awake and will have a my spare kids dropped off in about 2 1/2 hours.
Some might say that it is too early to laugh at this situation, but I am actually busting up about all of this. I think that my be a good sign that I am officially ready to be institutionalized. Please contact the state hospital to donate to my shock therapy treatments and anti-psychotic medications.