What a week

So a week has gone by. A week of frustration, sadness, confusion, disappointment. I have to say not a good week. I feel like a constant complainer right now but I need to vent a little. A lot of ups & downs this week as far as the lead issue goes. Met w/ the Social Worker on Wednesday and the visit went well. She even asked if my house was always this clean with two kids. Ha, ha! If she only new how it looked before she got here. Not to say it's not clean just very cluttered. Mostly like a tornado hit us with toddler toys. So anyways, to make a long story short, she said the actual upkeep of the apartment looks great and she would be very surprised if they found lead anywhere besides the windows and exterior of the house. This is what we're hoping. The windows are old and need to be replaced and my aunt & uncle (landlords) are aware of this. Lots of pamphlets to read and questions to be answered. After a long week of: we're having it deleaded, no we can't afford it, no forget it I'll just move, blah, blah, blah - They've decided to hire a private lead inspector and this way the problem will still be taken care of but will just take a little longer to complete. If we went through the state, they pretty much only give you 90 days to remove the lead. That may seem like a whole lot of time but it really isn't when you figure in the applying for loans, finding a certified contractor, hiring them, deleading and then remodeling after the deleading is done. This is just so involved but we're chugging along and we're taking care of the problem. Although, this does give me some relief, I know I won't feel completely safe until the procedure is complete and Abby has her next blood test to check her levels. Other than this major issue, just dealing with the daily demands of my two little girls. Still trying to potty train Emma, still working with her on the tip toe thing, still trying to correct her all day long whining - basically dealing with a 3 year old. And my sweet little Abby? Well, still trying to sneak her iron in juices and get her to drink it instead of blowing bubbles in it, still trying to control her temper tantrums, and yes the whining is starting with her too. Gotta love the terrible two's. On Friday, Abby decided to throw one her tantrums at my parents house and then hurting herself in the process. She basically flung herself into the seat part of the kitchen chair causing a huge egg to form on her forehead. Was so not pretty, at one point I really thought I was going to have to take her to the ER. My mom & I got her to calm down after about 20 minutes of hysterical crying and she finally let us put a cold ice pack on the boo boo. The swelling has gone down since then and she just has a little bump and some bruising. I can't wait until she gets out of this tantrum stage! The weekend however was much better - Thank God! On Saturday we had a cake for my brother's b'day and the girls had a blast playing with their cousins. And on Sunday Emma got to have some 1 on 1 time w/ her darling Daddy while I took Abby to visit a couple friends of mine. Emma is such a Daddy's girl and she had pretty much been crying for him all week so I felt it was better to leave her at home with him. They went "fishing". Inside the house of course with her plastic fishing pole and plastic fish. So cute wish I had pics. I do have a few pics of Abby with my friends' little girls. They are both almost a year old and just 3 weeks apart. Both oh so cute! Jadyn is Tanya's daughter and is in the pic w/ Abby in the kiddie pool. I really wish I could have gotten a better pic but Jadyn was just not interested in smiling for the crazy camera lady (me). I have a close up of my friend Jen's daughter Julianna but still need her permission to post it. I like to make sure it's o.k. with the parents when it's not my family I'm posting about. :) So not such a great week but a good weekend. And hopefully I can keep that momentum going!