Cheerios, lint, and dog food...

Parker started eating Cheerios last week, and then little lint balls he found on the floor, and then dog food Lennox dribbled onto the carpet. Oh my, how my little Peanut is growing up! He is also crawling the speed of light, pulling up to a standing position on anything he can get a hold of (including the dog), and has begun complaining if you take something away from him (magazine he is eating, ball point pen he found, giant ball of cat hair the cat kicked off...).

Things are still a little stressful for us right now, but at least one thing got sorted out. Chris' tax lady (our new personal hero) somehow got things straightened out with the IRS and we got our tax return. Although Chris may still have identity theft issues in the future b/c his SS card was stolen a few years ago, this was unrelated and easy to fix. Thank Goodness!!!!

Our fingers are still crossed for Chris and his job search. He got a very frustrating call last week from Cartoon Network letting him know that he was the candidate they had selected to hire for the position to which he applied, but the same day the paperwork was submitted to finalize the offer, the company underwent a hiring freeze. We still don't know if they can squeak him in, or if that opportunity has now been eliminated. The HR lady also warned Chris that if he is given the position and the branch undergoes cut-backs, his position as a new employee would be the first to go. Wow, that's encouraging. Chris will still be receiving severance for a couple of months, so we're not in any immediate danger, but I can't help but feeling a little nervous anyway. He does have a couple of other options on the horizon though, so I just have to trust that things will work out as they should, as they always do.

So, on a lighter and most fabulous note, I got the very exciting news today that my long lost friend, Jessa, is expecting a baby!!!! CONGRATULATIONS John and Jessa on the great news! Jessa and I were very close friends in junior high before she and her mom moved down to the Palm Desert California. I visited there once but we lost track of eachother after we headed into high school and college. We have re-connected over the net and have been keeping up with one another via one another's blog. (Ah, the age of the internet...) Anyway, I am overjoyed about their news. Hooray, hoorah, yipee! There is truly nothing better in the whole wide world. :)

As you know, tomorrow I head to Oregon. I'm almost packed, and am left now to let my anxiety build about a cross country plane ride with an almost 8 month old (can he possibly be 8 months...??? GASP!) I'm sure it will be ok, but please think calm, relaxing thoughts for me tomorrow evening. :)

Ok- lots to do, lots to do. Will update from Oregon.

LOVE,
L

Girls just want to have fun!

You will never guess what I ended up doing last night. Yesterday afternoon my friend, Christi, called me and said "I have a surprise for you." She had gotten her hands on some tickets to see Cindy Lauper at this neat little Ampitheater in Atlanta, and invited me to join her! I picked up Parker a little early, dropped him off with Daddy, and flew to the concert venue. The concert was part of the "True Colors Tour" which, obviously, is geared around the gay community (which is HUGE in Atlanta). It was quite a lively and interesting croud, and we had so much fun dancing and listening to great '80s music. The B-52's played, Cindy Lauper played, and Rosie O'Donnel and that guy Carson from Queer Eye For the Straight Guy did some stand up, which really was funny. Chastain Ampitheatre is a really cool venue b/c you get seats and a table, so you can bring a picnic to eat while you watch the show. Christi, MaryBeth and I had some great food to nibble and shared a bottle of wine. I was really overdue for a fun, stress-free girls night, and I feel so rejuvinated today even though I didn't get a lot of sleep. Fun times! :)

Oregon bound!

I just realized that in all of the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks I never mentioned that I will be coming home to Oregon for a week this month. Parker and I are flying to Portland on June 24th and will fly back to ATL on the 30th. We will be spending the week in the Burg with Gramma and Granpa, enjoying some rest and relaxation. I'm a little nervous about flying that far with the Peanut all by myself, but I'm sure he'll be a trooper.

I was just thinking back to what I was doing a year ago, and realized that I made a trip to Oregon at almost the exact same time to attend my baby shower. My friend Tessa must have read my mind, because today she sent me this picture that she took at the shower. I looked at this picture and could not believe that just a year ago I was not yet truly a mother, and today it is so much of who I am. Amazing how a year (even a moment) can change us.

I don't have any more updates about our many complicated scenarios, but will keep you posted. Keep sending those good thoughts our way!

Ok, this is getting ridiculous...

Someone please blow away the dark cloud that has settled over our house, because this is getting ridiculous! The IRS called last week to let us know that we have been "Red flagged" because Chris filed his taxes twice. Of course, Chris did not file twice, so we called our H & R Block folks to see what the deal was. Chris talked to the IRS and the tax lady, and apparently someone else filed under Chris' name with his social number. What does this mean? The identity theft that Chris has battled since 2005 has re-emerged in a big way, we won't get our much needed tax refund until who-knows-when, and we have one more thing to worry about! AAAAAAAAAaaaahhhhh!!!

If anyone knows how to deal with this type of thing or has any advice, please let me know. Chris is meeting with Tax Lady tomorrow and they are going to call the IRS together to see what needs to happen next. I'm hoping the info this moron provided on "his" tax paperwork will lead us right to his door so we can have him prosecuted. What a *@)!)#*$&) misery!!!

In the mean time, we're still waiting to hear back from a couple of the places Chris interviewed (fingers crossed!!!!!). It sure would have been nice to have that refund check so we could feel a little more secure right now, but hey, that would be just too easy, wouldn't it.

I would say it's about time for the Nicholson Family to have some super Good Luck!!! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket... Will definitely be praying for an end to this unlucky streak we've been on. Don't worry, I do not forget how many blessings we have regardless of this rough patch. We have a caring and supportive family, the most beautiful, hilarious, and charismatic little boy alive, a roof over our heads and love for eachother. Ah, I feel better already just having listed those things.

Love,
So far evading a nervous breakdown Laura

Pets

On Friday Lennox went to the vet because he has chewed a giant hole in his back and neurotically chews on it all day long, every day. Gross. We thought it was just a hot spot and have been waiting for it to go away (for months) but it hasn't. We were worried he had some sort of tumor or skin disease or something, so we finally broke down and took him to the doc. Apparently he is just severely allergic to fleas, and any time he comes in contact with a flea his skin is going to erupt. We have been treating all the pets for fleas, but come on, now and again he's going to run into a flea. Super. Anyway, we came home with a couple of bottles of meds, and a dog with a giant lampshade around his neck. He has been walking around like a blind person, running into every thing, all weekend long.

Saturday was pretty low-key. It was about a million degrees and humid here, so we didn't leave the house much. We went grocery shopping and lounged around the house for most of the day. Parker is getting his second tooth and has been a little less chipper than usual. He's also had some constipation problems, which is really sad to watch! We're implementing some prunes into his daily diet. Poor little guy!

On Sunday we arranged to have our friends Jacy and Jared come over to watch Parker while we went out to dinner together, which we haven't done for ages. In preparation, we spent the whole day cleaning the house so that it would look nice while J & J were there. It was a big cleaning process, but it feels good to have the place back in order. Some time in the early afternoon I realized that I hadn't seen Marvin for a few hours. We looked high and low all over the house, and could not find him! Marvin has been looking punier than usualy lately, and I had a horrible feeling that he had crawled away somewhere and was not ok. We still hadn't found him when we went to dinner, so I worried about him the whole time in addition to worrying about whether Parker was ok or not. So much for a relaxing, romantic date! We did, at least, have a very nice dinner and bottle of wine.

When we got back, Parker had been upset, which made me sad, but he calmed down, ate, and passed out as soon as he had Mommy back. Jared and Chris went to the back deck to let Lennox out and suddenly Jared saw Marvin pop out from under the deck!!! He was out there all day long in temperatures nearing 100 degrees! What was he thinking!!! We have no idea how he escaped, but he scared the daylights out of me. He seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing. Little Booger.

So, that was the big weekend update. Chris had an interview last week at Cartoon Network and should hear back some time this week. Keep him in your thoughts, prayers, cross your fingers and anything else you can think of to do in hope that he gets an offer. This is a job he would really enjoy! :)

I'm super tired today, but wanted to keep you in the know.

Luv,
Laura

A Tooth!

The first time we thought a tooth was coming in, it was a false alarm. This time Parker is teething for real! He has a tooth coming in that we can see and feel! Pretty soon he'll have one of those cute two teeth grins. :)

Bye Bye!!!

Parker waved Bye Bye to me for the first time this morning when I dropped him off at Deborah's.... My little boy is growing up so fast... tear!

Oh, What a week!

Well, this week I have some fun news to share, and some not so fun news to share. My spider bite is looking much better, thank goodness, so I can scratch that off the list of things to worry about. We had back-to-back meetings last week at work, which means I had a voicemail full of people annoyed they couldn't reach me when I got back to my desk. Joy. And last but not least, we got the unfortunate news that Chris had been laid off, along with half of the employees at his company. Not to worry- we will be fine and he has already set up a bunch of interviews, but it was a little scary (for me at least... but then I worry about everything).

Beth "Mima" came to visit, which was so nice. She did a great job of lifting our spirits and Parker had a great time playing with her. As she always does, she took tons of great pictures, which I will post today. Parker is really crawling now and is getting faster and faster day by day. If I walk out of the room for a second while he is playing on the floor he starts to follow me. So sweet.

More news later...