Ear Infection #252

We were so disappointed to find out earlier today that Jack has ANOTHER ear infection.

We are seeing our ENT on Thursday and we WANT tubes!!!

Weekend Views

We are having the time of our lives....

Pretend it is one of those flip books....

My new best friend....

...through glass :-)

"Driving" the Car

Jack waves bye-bye to all the imaginary people he sees during his car ride and he'll randomly honk the horn at those blocking the road. It's amazing he doesn't get pulled over for driving naked!

I always enjoy our evening drive :-)

Giggles...

...from Dad.

Bath Fun

Nana, We Miss You Already...

...we miss your french toast,



...we miss your lattes,



...and, basically, we miss you taking care of us



Come back soon!

Hope you have a good night, JT!

GET BETTER SOON!!!

Together At Last

The scene in the clip below is similar to the party we threw for John when he returned from DC on Friday night :-)

We are VERY happy he is HOME!

Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive!!!

Well, only a week to go. I definitely miss being at home, and it seems like Jack has grown even in the last two weeks (judging from the pictures). Sadly, up until this weekend, the weather has been nicer in Iowa than here. However, today was a really nice day out, so I decided to take my running outside.* Anyway, my hotel overlooks the Pentagon, and I am really only about 1-2 miles outside the city. As I was out running, I stumbled upon Beaverdale type neighborhoods. Well, being me, I instantly wondered how much these Beaverdale-like houses cost, so I looked them up on the in internet when I got back from my run. For comparison purposes, I pulled 2 similar Beaverdale houses off of Iowa realty (it is a pretty good apples to apples comparison re: house type, location in city, size, etc).
*Sadly, the pounds are not dropping off. The closer I get to 30, the harder it is to get in actual shape? Good grief!

First the Beaverdale houses...




Both are 3 bed, 2 bath homes in Beaverdale. House No. 1 goes for 155k, and No. 2 goes for 149K.

Oh yeah, given that I am a government employee, we have locality pay scales. If I were to move to Washington DC, I would get an annual raise of $5,487.00, which after taxes, comes out to about $310 per month. You tell me if $310 a month would cover the difference in cost of living!

Now for the good stuff...


House No. 1 goes for ONLY $617,500.00. You get less than a 1/10 of an acre, 3 beds and 3 baths. But at least it has been updated to include modern amenities like a telephone and cable lines*
*Don't laugh. We had to have cable lines brought into our house in Mission. Sad, but true.



Ok, so you can't afford house No. 1? Understandable. With house No. 2, you are paying for land, as the description for the property boasts that the home "needs extensive rehab." You can get this fixer upper, with 3 beds and 3 baths, for the as-is price of $464,000.00. Do I have any takers?

Maybe somebody should tell DC that the housing market is down?

We're back and feeling MUCH better!

It has been a LONG two weeks: missing dad, bad ear infection and little sleep, but we feel recharged and ready to face this last week before the big man (he says he has been working out, so maybe I should say "trim man"???) returns from DC. Jack and I were disappointed we didn't fly out to our nation's capital. And I think he was sad, too...(he requested I post some new photos. I just realized Jack is in the same shirt he was wearing last weekend with Lis & Emily. Oh my -- our laundry rotation is exposed! And, we normally don't have clothes scattered about, but Nana was helping me organize Jack's wardrobe.)

Good friends, good times, and a sick baby :-(

It was absolutely wonderful catching up with you girls and I know Jack enjoyed snuggling with you both! His fever finally broke later that evening (After a bath. Thanks for the tip, Em!) but not in enough time for Varieties :-(

Getting ready in the morning with Nana....

...in my new outfit (thanks to Nana!)