Happy Valentine's Day!

"Aaah! I'm sandwiched between Jack and Thomas! Whose idea was this? A little help here?!?"

"I see no one has volunteered to help me. No problem, I will take care of this myself, Jackie-Chan-style. *THWACK*. See that? I didn't even have to look!"

I must give credit where credit is due... the photo captions were David's idea :).

We're all finally recovered from the tummy bug that had one or more of us down for a couple of weeks. I've been trying to catch up on the laundry and cleaning house, but it's like a one step forward, two steps back kind of thing.

I haven't had as much time as I'd like to do daily chores since I've been dealing with an identity theft issue for about a week and a half. Someone somehow got a hold of my SSN, birthdate, address, full name, etc. and tried to open several credit card accounts with all that information.

The weird thing is that I discovered the ID theft because the new credit cards were mailed to my house! When I called to cancel them, there were $0 balances --- so I'm not sure what the identity theft has gained so far, other than causing me some stress and paperwork. Also, someone else's name appeared on one of the credit cards -- possibly the person who tried to open the account fraudulently? (possibly, the police have their name now). So far, it seems like they're not the brightest theft out there!

Thankfully, there is a lot of infrastructure in place to deal with ID theft -- I placed a 7-year fraud alert on my credit report so anytime someone requests a credit account or loan in my name, they have my home phone and cell phone number to contact me and make sure I approved it. I also filed a police report (the sheriff came out to my house -- and Jack was excited because "He had a gun!"), a Social Security Adminstration report, and a Federal Trade Commission report. I've got affidavits coming out my ears! And I placed a secret passcode on my bank account so no one can call the bank or show up in person to get any information about my account or make any changes unless they utter the secret word. I'll admit there was a little pressure on me to think of one word worthy of being a secret code!

So far, I think I'm on top of everything, but it's still pretty unnerving that someone was trying to use my name and credit fraudulently. How did they get my information in the first place? Did I mess up and somehow leave my information vulnerable for someone to take? Did someone steal it from a medical record, credit record, bank record? It feels personal, even though I know it's not.

Hopefully, now that I have all my accounts in lockdown mode, the threat is over for now. I am very grateful we seem to have caught it before any money was involved.

In other, happier, news, Peter's snaggletooth has broken through the gums. No more toothless smile! He's also working on the second bottom tooth -- any day now that will come through. He's starting to get an "older baby" look to me, and it's amazing that in just 4 months he'll celebrate his first birthday!! He's not crawling yet, but he manages to get around pretty well anyway. His favorite haunts are the woodstove, the curtains (which he likes to yank), and the new printer in the office (we've already had 1 printer casualty due to child terrorism).

Thomas has been quite the feisty little bear lately. He has not been sleeping well at night (we think he might be getting his molars in, even though he says his gums/mouth don't hurt). He gets up, runs to our door, and screams. Sound familiar? Yeah, Jack did the same exact thing at about the same exact age. Except Jack would go back to sleep after we gave him some teething medicine. Thomas *really* fights going back to sleep. And now we have 2 other children who wake up with Thomas's antics (one of whom thinks the gravy train just arrived if he wakes up and I'm in his room). Thomas's saving grace, though, is the fact that he's 2.75 (which is, coincidentally, also his challenge!). He is hilarious to listen to. He utters a constant stream of funny things all day long. He says "It's not serious, Mom" if I'm upset at him about something. Tonight he ate all the frosting off his slice of cake and said in shock "I forgot to decorate it Mom!! I need to put frosting on it!" as if that might buy him another round of frosting on top. He sings Gloria in Excelsis Deo all day. I'm trying to keep a good sense of humor about it, but it's harder when we're all sleep deprived :/. At least I know that his challenging antics won't last forever -- Jack has turned into a very pleasant 4-year-old!

Speaking of which, he has been a real joy to be around lately. He helps drag Peter away from dangerous areas (literally, by the feet), he likes to help cook, he loves Where's Waldo books, he loves learning to read, he loves T-ball, and he can't wait to start school in the fall. I especially love seeing him look out for his little brothers -- he is very loving. They are all so blessed to have each other. I pray that they will always be close and that their kids will be close.