Holiday Wish Lists

Originally posted 11-19-09, updated with some links today.

My birthday is in 5 days and Christmas is just around the corner from that.  Not that I expect any of my readers to buy me or my family members gifts, but Grandparents might be interested in what things I've thought of for Billy and that Mike has expressed wanting.  Also, this is a place I can easily access the list when I'm ready to do our holiday shopping.  We won't have a lot of money for x-mas, but we will have funds for everyone to be content.  Some of these items are way beyond our budget, and some could be obtained for only a dollar or two.  Naturally, I'm starting with myself.  LOL

My Wish List (in no particular order)

Tennis Shoes (size 8 1/2 or 9 if no 1/2 sizes, slip ons preferred,neutral color)
Dress Shoes (also size 8 1/2, black or brown mary jane style with semi-wide heel)
Fleece Fabric (any polyester fleece will do, but I prefer masculine prints for Billy in the anti-pill variety)
Dual Purpose Thread (assorted colors, the kind that is used for machines and/or hand sewing)
Hook and Loop Fasteners (the kind sold in yards, more loop than hook, prefer Touchtape or Aplix, NOT Velcro brand)
Seam Ripper (tool for undoing sewn seams)
Straight Pins
Decorative Diaper Pins (I'd rather have cute little animal shapes, but I found THESE in a variety of solid colors)
Thirsties Diaper Covers (white, sky blue or baby blue - size Small or Medium- he wears small right now)
Sewing Machine (prefer Janome, Singer, or Brother brand, something with 10+ stitches, and maybe a few simple embroidery options)
Flannel Fabric (again, masculine prints for Billy, any variety)
Sewing Pattern Board (a large plastic sheet with marked measurements and standard shapes like circles)
Pattern Paper or large tissue paper (for making my own custom sewing patterns)
Vacuum Cleaner (preferably something bagless and designed for pet hair and dander)
Carpet Shampooer (steamer preferred, something that works with water only, not expensive solutions)
Queen Sized Bed in a Bag (something Zeb wouldn't mind looking at and sleeping on, nothing too flowery)
Waterproof Matress Pad, Queen Size
Nintendo Wii (and Wii Fit and the New Mario game)
Waffle Iron (for food, not for hair, lol)
Food Processor
Blender
Pyrex bake and store cookware with lids
Ethernet cord and headset for Xbox 360
Any "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band" game for PS2 or XBox 360 (or Wii if I get that)
Nice Winter Coat (size XL)
Gift Cards (Walmart, JoAnn Fabrics, Babies/ToysR'Us, Restaurants, Movies or generic Visa pre-paid, but those visa pre-paids charge you every time you use them, so I'd rather have something that is store specific)
Plunger (a high quality one for unclogging the various clogs in our toilet and bathtub)

Zeb's Wish List

Belts (one sturdy for working in, one nice for dress)
Razor/s (I know he'd love an electric trimmer/razor, or a nice manual razor designed to replace the blades only)
NoSkid Tennis Shoes (size 13)
Pretzels and Beer (Budweiser regular and stick pretzels)
Model Glue
New Eyeglass Frames
Pruning Sheers (like giant scissors that can cut through large vines and small tree/shrub branches)
Wood Chipper - or 1 week of rental (use to make mulch from yard waste)
Bicycle (and for Mike too)  Zeb would REALLY like a good bicycle and hopes to encourage Mike to ride it too, but Mike doesn't really have much interest in getting a bike.

Tucker's Wish List

Rawhide or real bone chew toys
Liver Treats or other tastey/chewy treats
Milkbone Biscuits
Gormet Doggie Cookies
Decorative ID Tag with his name, our last name, address and phone number
Large sturdy and rubbery toy designed to stuff treats in and withstand lots of chewing and licking
Fetch Toys (balls, frizbees, etc.)
Tug Toys (Ropes and such)
Puppy Chow or Dog Chow brand dog food (tasty and chewy bits)
Raised Food and Water Dishes
Large comfy dog bed
Vet Quality Flea and Tick control (like Frontline, Atvantage, or Advantix)

Mike's Wish List

Tripp® Pants with Chains (sold at Hot Topic, size XL or 38W/32L, any all black and silver, or with red or blue)
Queen Sized Bed in a Bag (black and red are favorite colors, definately something masculine)
Naruto Gloves,Headband and other accessories (sold at Hot Topic and comic book/game stores)
New Video Game Systems - PS3, PSP, DSi (but he won't be getting one because he still hasn't earned the XBox we got him LAST year, lol)
Games for systems he already has (Gamecube, PS2, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS - he probably won't get those either, lol)
Quality Rifle (I need more details, but he would like the same thing used in JROTC to practice for rifle team next year)
Scene It Simpson's game
Mad Gab game
other board games
Kunai Set (ninja knives)
CDs and/or Band Shirts - Avenge 7 Fold (A7X), 3 Days Grace,Staind, Disturbed... new hard rock
iPod (any, but Nano is favorite, black or red)
Cell Phone & Service (again, not allowed because of grades)
DVDs - Funny People (and others, though that's all he could think of off hand)
Manga - Bleach, Naruto, Inuyasha, Shonen Jump (subscription would be awesome), Ranma 1/2
Comic Books - Punisher, Ghost Rider, Conan, Hellboy, Spawn, Daredevil, X-Men, Kiss, Heavy Metal

Billy's Wish List

Tickle Me Elmo
Elmo Tickle Hands
Elmo Live Encore!
Anything Elmo or Sesame Street related (loves Elmo, Grover, Oscar and Cookie Monster best)
Walk and Ride toy (Fisher Price has a really cute Lion one that makes music and sounds and an Elmo one)
Bath Seat (or the kind with suction cups and a part that goes around the waist to help them sit in a regular bath tub)
Jammin' Band Musical Microphone
Stack and Surprise Blocks, Silly Town
V-Smile Baby Cartridges (he already has the one that came with the system and a Baby Einstein "world of discoveries")
6-9 month size socks
Sock Ons (these really cool flexible rubbery things that keep socks on baby's feet)
Baby Legs™ leg/arm warmers (masculine prints or solid colors)
Size 1 or 2 booties/shoes
Lil' Outlaws Diaper Safe Laundry Detergent (prefer "laundromat" with extra heavy scent, any would be great though)
Texas Ranger Rump Solution (make at home wipe solution cakes)
Anything that plays music, talks or makes noises
Anything age appropriate for 6 months to 1 year
Baby Dishes (plates, bowls, sippy cups, bottles with handles, baby forks)
Books - Dr. Seuss, Disney or other
DVD's - Disney animated classics or children's educational

As the December holidays approach I will probably get more input from the guys and think of more things for me and Billy.  I also plan to add links for most of these items, but I can only put one link one each item so it won't mean that that's the ONLY thing I would like.  For instance, I found some awesome tennis shoes sold only online at Walmart.com.  Well, they are over $100, but I'm sure we can find something similar that isn't so expensive.  I've never been one who cares about name brands, but on the BabyLegs for Billy, yes, I know I like that brand and would probably only buy that brand of leg warmers.

Billy is 6 Months Old!

Wow, half a year already... where HAS the time gone?  Billy is growing and maturing every day it seems.  Since my last milestones post (really at 4 months) he has made several more.  I just can't believe how fast he's growing.  I wish we could be closer to all of our family so that they could see all of this too.  Okay, here's the run down...

Physical Growth-

Height/Length:  26 1/8 inches
Weight:  14 lbs. 5 oz.
Clothing Size:  Still some 0-3 months, mostly 3-6 months, and some 6-9 month t-shirts.

Milestones-

 
First Tooth:  The front right bottom tooth apeared on Friday, October 30th and by Sunday, November 1st, the left one was through the skin as well.  They are getting bigger and more prominent by the day it seems.

First Word?: "No,no" This was witnessed by Grandma Paula and her friend on the phone, about 1 month ago.  I still haven't heard him say anything that sounded like an actual word, but one day he said something that sounded very close to "mah-mee".  Of course, I was the only one who was here with him and I think it was wishful thinking more than anything, so I'm not sure if I should really count either of these.  But, It's documented anyway. 

 
Sits Completely Unassisted: (11-06-09, 5 1/2 months)  On Mike's birthday (when Billy was just shy of 3 months old) Billy sat up away from the Boppy pillow on his own strength long enough for me to shoot a picture of it.  But, until November 6th, he had never sat without support for more than about 10 seconds.  Then, on Friday the 6th, we went over to visit Camilla and he sat next to her for several minutes before he fell the first time.  We went home that night and shot the 5+ minute video, and now it's like a normal thing.  I put him on the floor for playtime for about 30 minutes to an hour at least twice a day and at least 15 minutes of that time is spent sitting.  I help him get back to a sitting position the first couple of times and then I let him move around on his belly or by rolling until he gets tired of it.   

First "Goose Egg":  (also 11-06-09)  Yeah, I know, that's not normally something you put in the baby book, but it's a first so I'm putting it here.  lol  After he fell the first time at Camilla's place, I sat him closer to her and he grabbed onto her shirt after he touched her face and hair a little.  Well, he got a little excited and fell backward again.  He still had a grip on her shirt, so she fell back too, conking the back of her head to the front of Billy's.  He had a small bump over his left eye for a few days, but it never bruised up or even seemed to cause him any pain except for when it first happened.  A few kisses and hugs from Mommy and he was all better.    

Improvements-

Dexterity/Hand-Eye Coordination:  Billy is able to reach out and grab almost anything right away and put it directly into his mouth at will.  It used to take him several attempts, but now it's just natural for him.  Ocassionally he will struggle with coordination of the left hand (I guess he's going to be a righty), but for the most part he can do exactly what he wants, when he wants... at least where his hands are concerned.

 
Mobility:  As you can see in the video below, Billy is starting to learn how to crawl.  He can't quite get the legs and arms going at the same time, but he makes headway none the less.  He has also figured out that he can roll (back to belly, to back and repeat) until he gets where he wants to.  lol  Even when he's sitting in a secured seat/toy or being held, it seems he is constantly moving.  He's waving around his arms or kicking his legs or reaching for something to examine or chew on, and sometimes all of the above at the same time!  lol




Vocabulary:  Billy is really exploring his voice.  Not only is there the "no,no" and "mah-mee" thing, but he loves figuring out new sounds that he can make like the "motor boat" and "raspberries" sounds.  He also does a tongue clicking noise, several kinds of "squeals", a fake cough and various vowel sounds with different mouth shapes.  He doesn't really mimick us that often, but he LOVES it when we mimick the sounds that he makes.    

   
New Interests:  Billy is much more interested in a variety of toys now.  I used to only give him soft toys unless I was sitting right with him, but he has several "hard" toys that he really likes playing with now.  Sometimes he will accidentally smack himself in the head with excitement, but he's so coordinated now that it doesn't happen often.  He also likes anything with lights, music or funny sounds.  He's really getting into the V-Smile Baby that Nanny and PawPaw brought to him too.  Each cartridge has a section that teaches "baby sign language" and he loves that part the most I think.  I reinforce the lessons by using the signs on the two discs we have whenever I use those words.  He hasn't yet tried to mimick the signs, but he gets a BIG grin on his face when I use the sign for "milk" even before I say the word and I think that he's hungry.  He is also getting more and more interested in playing with Tucker.  Tuck is still as tollerant as ever and seems to enjoy interacting with him more now that Billy can pet him more deliberately and inch toward Tuck.  Tucker even shares his toys!   

Schedule:  Billy sleeps through most nights, waking about 1/3 of the time for a short feeding and diaper change before returning back to sleep.  Sometimes he will want to be awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, but those times are few and far between.  He usually sleeps from around 11pm to 9am, give or take an hour or two, but almost always for 10 hours.  He very seldom naps in the daytime anymore.  When he does, he crashes out after having his milk and lays down for about 10-15 minutes and then he's ready to be up and at it again.  He generally does that about 4 times a day.  Our normal routine goes as follows...  9am wake up, have some milk and watch Sesame Street (if Mommy remembers to turn the TV from Animal Planet, lol).  Then, it's time to play.  He will often entertain himself in the exersaucer while Sesame Street is on, but as soon as it's over (10am) he wants interactive play with Mommy.  This is usually one of the times we have floor play.  Around 11am he has infant rice cereal mixed with pureed fruit (apples, bananas, pears or peaches).  After that we get him and the high chair cleaned up and he has some more milk and a short nap.  Then it's time for more play.  About every 2 hours he wants some kind of food or milk.  I usually give him milk two times after his cereal and then he will have a "snack" that consists of small pieces of banana and/or a teether biscuit around 2 or 3pm.  IF he takes a long nap, this is when he does it.  That works for Grandma and Grandpa because it makes their babysitting time on Tuesdays and Thursdays a little less hectic.  (It's nice when he does that on the days I don't go to school too, but he seldom wants to sleep when it's just the two of us)  The past few times they've sat, he has slept from around 2:30 all the way to 5pm when Zeb gets home.  If he doesn't nap, we just do our best to keep him entertained.  After Daddy gets home, when we all sit down to eat dinner, Billy eats his dinner too.  His dinner is a full stage 1 sized container of vegetables or something that I have pureed and put into the containers for him.  He really seems to like my chicken and dumplings, especially if it's mixed with some extra pureed carrots.  After dinner, it's bath time.  I usually only give him an actual tub bath every other day, but after dinner he at LEAST gets a sponge bath on the changing table.  Then, it's time for more play, but he rarely wants to be in any of his activity seats during that time.  I think he knows that this is usually our "family time" where we all gather in the livingroom and watch TV and visit, so he wants to be a part of it.  He practically INSISTS on being in someone's arms or, at the very least, having someone right next to him on the floor.  Around 8pm, he starts winding down a bit.  This is when he likes to cuddle, play while laying on his back, and likes to increase his milk intake until he's ready to go to sleep.  Then, we start the cycle all over again.      

 
Food:  When I say "milk", it can mean either breast milk or formula.  He's not old enough for regular cow's milk yet.  He seems to be weening himself off the breast though.  Maybe some of that is my doing, but I really try my best and that's all I can do.  I always offer the breast first (if I'm here of course), but lately he has been rejecting it.  I guess he likes the simplicity of the bottle and frequently he will bear down and now that he has two teeth it is QUITE painful when he does.  Of course, it doesn't hurt the bottle any when he bears down on that.  I've tried pumping and expressing, but it just doesn't work for me.  I'm going to try to implement the things that WIC told me try to discourage biting and increase my milk production, but I guess we will just have to see how that goes.  As for "other" foods, I already mentioned most of that in the schedule section.  I've also given him dry Cheerios, cheese puffs, honey comb type cereal and anything that we have that is already mashed up and fairly bland (like mashed taters).  Nanny and PawPaw gave us this wonderful food grinder and I've pureed a few things with that, but we like a lot of seasoning (and salt) in our food, so usually I just buy the veggies in the baby isle and I mix them up the way he likes.  It's weird.  He LOVES carrots, even plain, but he won't eat ANY of the green veggies unless they are mixed with either carrots or sweet potatoes.  He doesn't like squash either, but he will eat it if it's mixed.  He HATES the baby food meats.  Beachnut has stage 1 consistency meats, but he spits them out and cries when I try to give them to him (even if they are mixed with his favorite veggies or fruits).  I can't say I blame him though, it smells like tuna, hot dogs, liver, and canned Alpo all mixed together.  LOL  The nutritionists at WIC say he doesn't need meat until around 9 months or so anyway, so I guess I won't worry about that.  He has eaten my pureed chicken with dumplings and veggies and I'll start introducing more meats that I puree at home very soon.  He eats his cereal and fruit at the same consistency as the stage 2 foods and now that he sits unassisted, I think I'm going to get those at our next shopping trip.  I've been told to stay away from the "dinners" though.  When they say "chicken and noodles" it's mostly noodles and just filling him up on unhealthy starches without a lot of nutritional value.  At least when I puree my own I know the ratio of meat and veggies to noodles/dumplings.  I also know how to read labels and that what is found in the greatest quantity is listed first, so if I get any "blends" I will look to make sure that the good stuff comes first.

Video Updates-

Billy doing the "Push Up Crawl" toward Tucker

Billy sitting up all by himself for over 5 minutes.

Well, I guess that about does it for this month.  I sure hope you enjoyed reading this!

Thanks for reading,

<3 SuZ

I'm Conflicted

Something happened yesterday that really has my panties in a twist.  Mike's biological father (Robert Davis, aka "nick") found me on Facebook and requested me as a friend.  I, reluctantly, accepted.  Quite honestly, I think if that fucker can afford a computer and internet, he can afford to pay some damn child support... or at least he HAS been in a position to pay SOMETHING at SOME point.  Anyway, I'm really conflicted about what kind of contact he should have with me or Mike.  After the horror stories he has heard (from MIKE, not me), Zeb said that if he tries to step foot on this property he'll kick his ass.  I asked Mike how he feels about it.  He said that he would really like to see his half sister Kayla, but he really doesn't have much interest in seeing Nick at all.  (Mike also now has 2 other half siblings that he has never met and would like to meet them.)  He said that he would see him here at the house with me and Zeb present at first and possibly go with him for a day, but he does NOT want to spend even a single night with him.  Mike has seen Nick less than half a dozen times in his entire 14 years of life thus far.  The first time was in 2003 when Mike was 8 years old.  (side note:  we didn't even get paternity established and inform Nick that he had a son until Mike was 5 and at the time Nick was in jail.  Then we moved and it took a while to establish any contact.)  That visit, Nick got on a bus and stayed in my room at my parent's house for a long weekend (4 days if I remember right).  If you check my tags, you can read about it, there are (after adding this one) 14 posts tagged with mention of "Nick" in them, and one is protected (so if you aren't on my list there are only 13).  Aaaaaanyway... the first visit went really well.  Sort of.  LOL  Nick acted like he wanted to be a couple with me and leave his then girlfriend to eventually live with me and Mike.  Turns out, it was all a ploy to get me into the sack and be able to see Mike more frequently.  Nick and his mother sent x-mas presents to Mike that year and in March my parents took Mike and me up to visit Nick.  We stayed at his place that time, only he was still with the same girlfriend (I think that's who his 2 most recent kids are with) so things were REALLY awkward.  I played nice, and Nick tried to cop a feel whenever she wasn't looking and even tried to get me in the sack AGAIN while his g/f was at work.  It didn't work that time.  By then I was able to see that he was just trying to play me and I had no interest in that.  At first, I had dreams that he would step in and actually become a proper father and provider for Mike (and me) but once I saw how he acted I knew that it was never going to happen and that I would be in a miserable situation if I had allowed it to.  He was verbally abusive to Rachel and physically abusive to his nephew that was just a little older than Mike.  If he would behave that way in front of people that he was trying to make a good impression on and that were practically strangers at that point... then he would definately act that way or worse if I had allowed him to come and live with us.  He also drank a buttload of beer and just generally showed what a complete moron he is.  Then, I think it was X-mas 2004 that he went to Branson to spend a few days with Nick at Rachel's family's house.  I'd have to ask Mike to remember if they did anything like going to Silver Dollar City or anything, but I think because of the cold weather and lack of funds they just hung out and had "family" time.  Well, during that visit, Mike had just started a 10-day antibiotic and another medication (decongestant, I think) and of course, we sent them along and told him the directions were on the bottles.  Nick wasn't living in Branson at that time, he was living in Kansas City which was about 4 hours away.  Branson was/is a 1 hour drive from here.  Anyway, Nick forgot to bring the medicine back (which to me says that he didn't keep track of it and Mike says he only gave it to him a couple of times when he was supposed to have one of them 4 times a day).  He didn't have a cell phone at that time, and I didn't even unpack Mike's bag until they had already returned to Branson.  I called and asked Nick to bring the medicine back and he refused, saying that he was barely able to afford the transportation to pick up and drop off Mike in the first place and he certainly couldn't afford to make another round trip.  I explained that Mike's health was at risk, but aparently he didn't see it that way and/or didn't care because he just cussed me out and I hung up on him.  Later, Mike told me that Nick hit him once and that he abused someone else during that visit as well.  Until last night, Mike nor I had spoken to him since.  He tried calling, but Mom told him I moved and that we were fighting and she didn't know where I was.  (I actually was still living there, but he certainly wasn't going to waste time or money going to our house to find that out.)  Eventually, we all moved to different places and he didn't have a number or address to get ahold of us.  When I moved to Washington state in October of 2005, the state pushed to have the child support order increased from $50 a month to $250 per month.  I never saw a dime.  I did get a few checks when it was only $50, but I bet I could count those on one hand.  Of course, there were times I received TANF and even if he HAD made payments, I wouldn't have seen them.  But while I was in Washington and California, and since I moved back here to Missouri last August... I've not received any TANF so if he made any payments, I would have received them.  In other words, he hasn't made any payments since at least 2003.  Oh wait, there was a 6 month period of time that I DID receive TANF in WA, so he might have made payments during that time, but he most definately has not made a single payment since at least November of 2006 when I started working at Zip's.  I have not received ANY Child Support or TANF since that time.

UGH.  I know I'm all over the place with this post, but I'm just writing my thoughts as they come.  I just don't know what to do or not do.  I hate to totally keep Nick out of Mike's life because he IS in fact his biological father.  Mike now has a POSITIVE daddy figure in his life, and he doesn't need Nick for anything (except maybe financial support), but I think it's unfair to both of them to completely deny him.  However, nick is physically, verbally, emotionally, and sexually abusive as well as a drunk.  I have every right to protect my son from that and if he ever tries to take me to court to establish a visitation order, I will show evidence of these things and he will be denied contact of any kind. 

Here's what I THINK I'm going to do...  I think I should write an angry message to Nick explaining why we have not tried to establish contact or regular visits with Nick and what a loser I think he is for not providing financial support.  I think that (per Mike) I should tell him that at this time, the only contact I will allow is electronic comunication, phone calls, and if he wants to see him in person it is to be at my home to start and after that he can take him "out" for supervised visits where either me, Zeb, or one of my parents are to be present at all times.  I will tell him that MIKE is the one who does not want to go anywhere alone with him because of the things he has been exposed to while under Nick's supervision.  Things may change in time (if MIKE expresses wanting things to change), but I think it should be like that for at least a year before we could even possibly speculate that he has changed enough to be trusted without supervision.  I believe people DO have the capacity to change, I just think that they usually don't and I'm not going to make the same mistake I did last time by giving him the benefit of the doubt.  What do you think?  Does that sound logical and apropriate?  I really need some input here.

Thanks for reading,

<3 Suz                        

Congrats, Nicole!!!!

Happy Friday the 13th!!!

I've always liked Friday the 13th.  I don't know if it's my love for the "Jason" the movies that started my love for the day or the fact that one of my brothers has a birthday on the 13th and it has occasionally fallen on Friday.  Whatever the cause, I feel it's a lucky day, not one to fear.  I did some quick research and decided to post a little more info about numerology for today.

Numerology of the number 13

13 is often thought of as an unlucky number in the U.S. and other Western civilizations.  Many sources speculate that this originated because Jacques de Molay, the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake in 1314 on a Friday the 13th.

Traditionally, numerology would not see 13 as significant at all.  Multi-digit numbers that do not repeat are simply added together until it is reduced to a value of a single digit or a repeating number like 11 or 111.  For the number 13, you would add 1+3 to get 4.  The attributes of 4 are very stable, balanced and grounded.  Nothing unlucky about that.  Or, you could even look at the numbers separately.  One often symbolizes solitude or selfishness.  It also can symbolize great individuality.  Three, on the other hand, is quite the opposite.  It often symbolizes being very outgoing, social, artistic, playful and uplifting. 

When I do my own interpretation of numbers, I like to look at what place in the alphabet they would fall, how they appear visually, and what those things mean to me.  The 13th letter of the American/English alphabet is M.  M is also a Roman numeral that alone represents 1,000 and is the largest of all the Roman numerals.  The number 1 million is represented by an M with a line over the top (1,000 x 1,000).  To me, it symbolized great strength.  Think if you tried to construct letters of the alphabet using 2x4 boards of wood.  How many would be able to stand alone without bracing supports (presuming it's placed on flat ground with no wind or outside influences that could cause it to fall)?  A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, R, X, Z.  That is less than half of the alphabet and they represent stability.  M, to me, means mutability or adaptability.  M is both a letter and a number, so it has multiple uses in written form.  I also have a connection of family to both the number 13 and the letter M.  As I already mentioned, I have a brother who's birthday is the 13th and my maiden name begins with the letter M.  I also chose to give my first son a first name that begins with M (and his last name is my maiden name as well). 

Now, let's take a look at 13 visually.  If you pushed it together, it would look very much like a B.  B is the second letter of the alphabet and, to me, symbolizes duality.  Not only is the number 2 significant for duality, but look at the B itself.  One side is completely straight while the other side is two curves that wind in and out repeatedly.  If you tried to construct a B out of 2x4s, it does have a strong base, but the boards would have to be bent to form the curves.  So, stability is only achieved after great strife.  If you turned B on it's side so the flat side was on the bottom, you would have the top half of a heart.  Perhaps this means that one is not complete without a love interest or that they have suffered much heart ache, to the point that part of their heart is missing or hard to find.

After taking a look at all of this, I can now see why I have such an attraction to this number.  I have suffered bipolar disorder and I truly felt like part of my heart was missing before I met Zeb.  I suffered many heart aches and was only truly able to overcome them after joining with him.  So yes, stability WAS achieved, but it was following great strife. 

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of the numerology of 13 and will have a fun loving and stable day!

Thanks for reading,
<3 Suz