Back in February a coworker of mine was going through a divorce and was trying to sell anything/everything she could to pay off debt and limit the "dividing of assets" as much as possible. She had some items listed for sale on craigs list and told everyone at work to go see what all she had. Most of it was the usual garage-sale merchandise, but I did find a guitar that looked interesting. I asked her about it and she said it was a vintage from the 50's, it had belonged to her dad and she got it when he died but she didn't know how to play it and she didn't think the wires worked. She said she'd never played it, but her dad had before he passed, and that she figured someone who knew about guitars could get it in working condition and put some use to it. I looked it up on the Internet and found that a guitar like this in good condition is worth between $1,500-$3,000. She was asking just a fraction of that, and I immediately thought "what a perfect Christmas present for Brian" Not only is it a guitar, which he loves, but it would give him the chance to fix up the amp and the wires and make it work. The guitar in the picture isn't Brian's, I just found that on google, but that's the same model. The thing that made these guitars special in the 50's, or what makes them collectors items now, is in part the case. There is an amplifier built into the case, which isn't made anymore, and the wiring used back then is also not used anymore.
Because Brian is deploying in October, we thought we should take it down to him as an early Christmas present in September. When I saw my mom and Alfredo donned in t.u. football jerseys that made my throw up a bit in my mouth, I knew Brian had put them up to it and had briefly wished we had just sold the guitar on ebay :) But, we hadn't, and he immediately noticed it in Austin's hands so there wasn't much I could do about that!
After we had said goodbye to Brian to begin the wedding festivities for the weekend, I got a text message that said "I got the guitar working - it sounds great! Thanks so much, I think this is one of the coolest presents anyone has ever given me" My mom called and said he had been playing the guitar for 30 minutes since he got it all working correctly and he really loved it. So I told him that all Austin asked in return was that he write William his first song - to which Brian said "I think I can handle that" We'll be waiting to hear that song - not sure how long we'll be waiting, but we'll wait in suspense however long it takes!!!
Other William activity going on -
We are in the process of researching day care options for William come next May when I go back to work. I can say budgeting for baby and picking a day care for baby are the 2 worst parts of planning for baby...maybe more painful than labor! Keep in mind I said maybe there. I already hate the idea of dropping him off and trusting someone else to take as good of care of him as we would, missing him all day, missing his growth and moments throughout the day...not to mention the astronomical costs associated with good care. We don't want to sacrifice the level of care just to save a few bucks, though, and we know that we are blessed to have the opportunity to not have to worry as much about cost as we would have just a year or so ago. But still - we could own a second house for how much some of these places cost! May as well buy a house, hire some staff, and start my own day care! Ok I'm not doing that - and I'll only gripe a LITTLE about the cost because, like I said, William deserves the best care we can provide for him and we won't make a choice we can't afford...it'll just be a big bill to swallow :)
We are debating between at-home programs and day care centers. There are pros and cons to each, and there are good and bad programs in each category for sure so it requires a lot of shopping around regardless of which direction we go. The front runners for day care facilities so far are
I think I like the first one better, and it is $10 cheaper/week. It is about 2 minutes from my office, and families are welcome to come any time of day - so I could easily swap my afternoon blog break for an afternoon William snuggle...I'm sure you'd understand :) We haven't visited either one in person, we both have to pick an afternoon to take off work to do that, and I'm not 100% sure they will both have openings in may...but as of now, it looks promising on both fronts.
William's life is already so busy...with songs being written for him, day cares being picked apart, paint being purchased, and decorations being prepared...the world isn't quite ready, but I bet in 5 months it'll all be lined up perfectly for him :)
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