Insecurities

Most of you probably know this already, but our house got broken into on Wednesday. Seth and I left early to go grocery shopping and Michael left soon after us. I was gone just over an hour. When we got back it was already time for Seth's nap, so I went straight into our room, laid him down, and closed the door. I was about to unpack the groceries from the car when I stepped on a piece of glass. I had the curtains closed and the lights off, so I didn't notice the huge pieces of glass in the sink and on the counter until I had already dialed Michael. I was going to yell at him for not cleaning up his mess when I suddenly saw the glass. I pulled the blinds to the side and there was a big gaping hole. As he answered it hit me and the heavy feeling in my stomach hit - someone broke in and I had just left Seth alone in the bedroom with the door closed! I told Michael someone broke in and I needed him home now. I got Seth, ran out the door and into my car,and called the police. I told them I was parking in the lot across the street. After 30 minutes of talking to dispatch and waiting for an officer to arrive, I asked if I could get off the phone. I called my ex-partner and told her the situation. Miraculously, even though all of the officers in my area were busy while I was talking to dispatch, once she called an officer arrived within minutes. Obviously the burglar was long gone when he did his walk-through.

We then had to wait for another 2 1/2 hours before the crime lab came. They didn't seem too thrilled about looking for prints and nearly didn't bother, telling Michael "It will just make more of a mess of your house than it's worth." Does no one care about justice anymore?! This guy stole from us and took away our feeling of safety!

After looking around, we discovered that he took the laptop (with ALL of my pictures of Seth), the Xbox, several Xbox accessories and a borrowed game, my anniversary ring (which I hadn't even worn yet), a jar of change, and the rest of Becca's birthday present - a bag of desk accessories for the desk we bought her. Our back screen is useless now, and is unfortunately an unusual size, so we've yet to get a door to replace it. We have to special order one. Our adjuster "won't be in Knoxville until Tuesday,"(6 days after the break-in) and the adjuster in charge of our theft "might get to our case next week."

So here some scumbag breaks into our house and probably sells our belongings for a few lousy bucks, meanwhile we're out $500 for the deductable, plus the difference in cost for making our house safe again, plus the cost of getting a security system, and who knows what else, and he walks free because he's just not worth the trouble of finding. Oh yeah, the investigation department didn't answer their phone Thursday or today so I had to leave messages, they're off on the weekends, so I may get to report what was stolen on Monday at the earliest. It just sickens me that everyone is so lax on crime and making neighborhoods safe. So Michael and I have decided that we're going to start a Neighborhood Watch. I'm not particularly fond of public speaking or leading people, but somebody has to do it. We're a vulnerable neighborhood full of elderly people, mothers with small children, and people with disabilities. This isn't a bad neighborhood and I'm certainly not going to stand by and let it become one.

Milestones

It's been a while since I posted a blog about Seth, but a lot has been happening. The most important thing is Seth's sleeping habits. He sleeps wonderfully through the night now. He goes to bed at 8:00 and may wake up a couple of times, but he doesn't cry anymore. He wriggles around until he gets comfortable again and goes right back to sleep. And, get this, he sleeps until 6:00! Boy do I love that! I can't tell you how much of a difference it's made; I'm so much happier. Naptime is still a bit of a struggle. He typically sleeps about 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon. It's not great, but I'm thankful for it.

The next big development is Seth's teeth. He has two beautiful teeth poking through on the bottom, one that just cut through on the top and he's working on his other top tooth. It's so amazing to see the changes from day to day, and he loves showing you, so long as you don't touch!

On to more exciting news - Seth is crawling! He started off pulling himself along with his arms and sort of kicking off with his left leg, but now he's actually picking his knees up. It's fun seeing him put on his determined face and crawl across the frontroom to his toy. I cherish it now, because I know in a few more weeks he'll be driving me nuts while getting into everything.

Seth's personality is becoming more defined, too. He's generally a happier baby now. He smiles all the time and laughs a lot. This is especially true during mealtime and anytime he drinks water from my glass. However, he's also getting more stubborn and "voices" his opinion more. If you tell him no or tap his hand, he'll scream. He does not like to be limited at all. I'm definitely going to have some stand-offs with this boy!

Outside of Seth's changes not a lot has been happening. I've been enjoying my bi-monthly outings of garage-saleing with my aunt while Seth and Daddy play at home. We had game night last night, which is always fun. A few weeks ago we also went to Dollywood (minus Seth) with Michael's parents. His stepmom is fearless and wanted to ride all of the rollercoasters. I should have trusted my instincts and "just said no," but I gave in to the peer pressure and rode one. Let me tell you, it was HORRIBLE! I would rather do nearly anything than ride a rollercoaster again. I'll leave them to brave people who don't know what real fun is (Boardgames are equally safe and fun!).