tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74412310284020467082024-03-13T11:32:08.450-04:00Tales of Two Southern Kids Raised by Damn YankeesIt's never a dull moment around here with an active toddler, a growing and giggly baby, and two working parents. Oh, and can't forget our first born golden-haired mess of a mutt, too.Mommy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05956282344426277433noreply@blogger.comBlogger457125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-60452826504103887502016-04-29T16:19:00.001-04:002016-05-02T14:22:46.269-04:00Scarlett... we'll miss youShortly after we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Ohio, Mommy B and I noticed that Scarlett wasn't eating much. This is a 7 1/2 year old Golden-something who hasn't missed a meal since we adopted her. At first it was just one meal here and there - maybe waiting to eat her breakfast until later in the afternoon or not eating her dinner until the next morning. But as the weeks passed, we noticed that she was going days without touching her food. We thought maybe she had just grown tired of eating the same dry dog food for 7 years. So, first we tried getting it a little wet so that it had a different consistency. That worked for a couple meals, then she stopped eating again. Next we tried getting her canned dog food to see if that would do the trick. Again, it worked for a couple days but then slowly tapered off and she would only eat a couple bites every couple days. As you can imagine, since she wasn't eating she didn't want to do much else. She would follow-us around the house and go outside to use the bathroom, but that was about it.<br />
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After watching this behavior slowly get worse over a couple weeks, we decided it was time to take her to the vet to check her out. The vet felt around and told us that he felt a rather large mass in her stomach area, but wasn't quite sure what it was. They also drew a little blood so they could run some labs. They informed us that it would take a couple days to get the results, so there wasn't much we could do at that moment. So we took the weekend to see if it was just a blockage that needed to pass, and would bring her back the following week to have an X-ray done on her so we could get some answers. The vet had called early the following week to let us know that some of her levels were high, so they definitely wanted to perform the X-ray to see what was going on.<br />
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Tatsy took her in to get X-rayed while Mommy B and I went to work, and the vet called Mommy B later that day with the results. He informed her that the X-ray showed Scarlett had developed a cancerous mass in her stomach area. This mass was pushing on her stomach which was making her feel full and thus not wanting to eat. He kindly advised that he could always try to surgically remove the mass, but there was no guarantees. For a dog that age, the rehab process would be long and hard... and there was no way of knowing if she would be "normal" again afterward. He didn't mention the cost associated with surgery, but I already knew the answer. Mommy B called me full of tears while I was leaving work to deliver the news.<br />
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I cried all the way home. Why? Why did this happen? Why did it have to happen so soon? She wasn't THAT old, how does she have cancer at this age? What will the kids think? What will they understand being so young? What will the house be like... <i>feel</i> like... without a dog? Will the next dog love us and the kids as much as Scarlett did? What if the next one seems nice but then bites or attacks the kids? So many questions and no answers... All I knew was that I wanted to get home and hug my poor doggy. For 7 years I've walked in the door from a long day at work and she has greeted me with a smile and a tail wag. That night was no different, only I held on to her for a long time when I walked in and sat on the floor.<br />
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Mommy B started crying right away, and of course I did too. The kids asked why we were sad, so we explained to them that Scarlett was sick and that she might need to go to the doctor soon. We tried to explain that when she went to the doctor, she wouldn't be coming home and that the doctor was going to help her go to heaven. Alli, never missing a thing, said "Will she see Grandpa Great?" Yes, Alli - hopefully she'll see Grandpa Great when she gets there. That might, Mommy B and I talked things over and made one of the most difficult decisions we've ever had to make as adults. We decided that surgery would be too expensive and too risky for a slim chance that she might get a little better, and we weren't about to watch her starve herself to death. So I made the ever-so-fun phone call to the vet the next day to schedule when we would put Scarlett to sleep. They had an opening on Saturday at noon, so I decided that would give us a couple more days with her and the kids would get to hang out with her for a bit that morning. Tatsy said she would come take the kids for that afternoon and evening so that Mommy B and I could have some time to grieve without the kids around. That night, we reminded the kids that Scarlett was very sick and that in a couple days we were going to take her to the doctor and he was going to "help her go to heaven" as they said.<br />
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So we tried to spoil Scarlett as much as we could the next couple of days. We let her eat table scraps, took her for walks every night, and basically just let her do whatever she wanted. On Friday afternoon, we took the whole family to a park down the street which also happen to belong to a neighborhood church. Fitting, we thought. The kids had fun playing with the dog one last time, and she had fun sniffing all the new smells. That night we made sure the kids gave her big hugs before they went to sleep and we took pictures of them laying on her. She had always been a saint when it came to putting up with the kiddos, so it made me tear up a bit watching them play on her.<br />
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The next morning, we all had a family snuggle fest on our bed including the guest of honor. After breakfast, we went for a family walk and played with Scarlett as much as possible. Tatsy showed up a little after 11, and that's when reality hit me - it was almost time to go. We had the kids give Scarlett big hugs again and told them that it was time for Scarlett to go to the doctor. They seemed to understand and Alli was visibly sad that this was the last time they would see the only dog they've ever known. After they left, we loaded Scarlett into the car and headed to the vet's office. When we arrived, they ushered us into a room with a pad on the floor where we could get settled. After a few minutes of waiting, they took Scarlett into the back so they could put in the port where they would inject the lethal drugs. When they brought her back, she was understandably a little skiddish, but I think the combination of being sick and not eat much for a couple weeks finally caught up to her. She eventually laid down in the corner and just let me pet her for a while. Maybe it was exhaustion or maybe wishful thinking on my part... but as I looked at her, she seemed very at peace. It almost looked like she was ready to go. Ready to stop fighting a losing battle with something she didn't understand. Ready to rest... finally.<br />
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The doctor came in and he explained how the process would work - how the drugs affected the body and what the reaction typically looked like. I had been through this process before with my own childhood dog, but Mommy B had never put a dog to sleep. After saying a few kind words, we told him we were ready. He injected another fluid first to flush the port, then injected the drugs that would quickly and painlessly take away our first family dog. It happened very fast, as it usually does. As the drugs made their way through her system, she coughed a couple times, then laid her head down and closed her eyes. The doctor listened for her heartbeat for a few moments, then told us what we had hoped not to hear for at least another 4-5 years... that she was gone.<br />
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I leaned down and thanked her for being such a good dog and for teaching me so much. About how to care for another life that depended on me (she was good practice before the kids came around), how to reset my priorities, how to see life through a dog's eyes, but most importantly to not take life for granted. She only got to spend 7 1/2 years on this planet, but she had a darn good life. Mommy B's biggest point of sadness was that her life had been cut so short... and while I agreed, I also reminded her that if it hadn't been for us rescuing her, she wouldn't have even gotten <i>that</i>. She did more in that short time than many dogs get to do ever. While she may not have gotten to live a very long life, she got to live a pretty great one. I gave her a big hug and kiss on the head, then got to walk out all teary-eyed to our car. The doctors have a large tract of land out in the country, where they offer to spread the ashes of any animal that they euthanize. Mommy B and I agreed that Scarlett would have wanted that instead of being stuck in a jar or box on the mantle.<br />
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I managed to drive us home, where we hugged each other and cried some more. I had gotten most of my crying out the night Mommy B had called and delivered the bad news, so I didn't have many tears left. Anyone who has ever been through this process knows the <b>empty</b> feeling you have when you walk back into the house afterwards. There were no kids around, and for the first time in 7 1/2 years... no dog. It was awful, and I knew that nothing was going to help except time. That night, Mommy B and I sat on the couch and watched some shows, constantly looking down to Scarlett's favorite spot on the rug. I had a beer for each year she was alive, recounting my fondest memories of her with Mommy B. There was the time we went running on the beach when she was a puppy. And how I took her for a walk every. single. day. until the kids were born. And the countless times she made me swim after her in the neighborhood retention ponds, then bathe her after I had dragged her home. And the time she escaped down the street only to come running back into the garage with a deer hot on her tail. Or all the moles she caught. All the nights she was up with us the first few weeks after each kid was born. And all the licks she gave to the kids as the grew up before her very eyes.<br />
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She was our furry first-born. And she will be missed dearly. I hope she actually is up in heaven with Grandpa Great, getting all the walks they both want. Goodbye, sweet doggy... we all will miss you so much.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-68683641778816611382016-02-07T15:33:00.003-05:002016-02-07T15:33:36.081-05:00Hello everyone!I know it's been forever and a day since we last updated the blog. Things just got so busy between our new jobs and whatnot that we neglected to do what we created the blog for in the first place - to write things down so we wouldn't forget them. So much has happened in the last few months that I need to catch y'all up on, so here goes.<br />
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My job at Equifax has been going wonderfully. It has been such a great place to work and I absolutely love the people there. I haven't felt this "at home" somewhere in a <u>long</u> time - which is a very refreshing feeling. It has been a crazy few months there (which is reason #1 as to why I haven't updated the blog,) but things are finally starting to settle down. I've been putting in 50 hours a week for the last couple of months as the deadline approaches for employers to get their 1095-C forms printed and sent out to their employees. The IRS pushed the deadline from 1/31/2016 back to 3/31/2016, which made things a little easier on companies to get their stuff together but harder on me because now I have to deal with this madness for another 6-7 weeks. We'll get there eventually though... and as I mentioned the people I work with are so wonderful that they make it worth coming in and dealing with the craziness that we do right now. I technically have another 3 months on my contract, but my manager has already let me know that her boss (my hiring manager, Mark) wants to bring me on permanently once my contract is up. I told her nothing would make me happier than to stay at Equifax, but the salary would have to be there in order for me to entertain the thought. She told me that last week all the team leads had to rank their project managers, and that I ranked right up at the top with the 3 people who were already permanent project managers (who have been doing this job the longest.) It was very humbling to hear a compliment like that, but I know I've worked my butt off to gain the knowledge and experience that I have in these short 6 months. So, we shall see where this journey goes from here... but I'm optimistic that all my hard work will pay off for me.<br />
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Mommy B has been slowly but surely getting into the groove of her supervisor position. She has been putting in some long hours too and it has not gone unnoticed. As a matter of fact, there have been numerous meetings with the higher-ups at her work in which she finds them fighting over her. I told her as awkward as it may feel because you are in the same room as all of this is taking place, it was a good problem to have. She has still kept her eyes out for other teaching positions because that is what she ultimately wants to do. As such, she had an interview just last week for a nurse educator position in an area she knows fairly well. It would mean getting her back to something she is a little more comfortable with and hopefully back to a normal number of hours as well... not to mention hopefully an increase in salary. Just like with my job - we'll see how it plays out and see what happens with it all.<br />
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Alli has been loving her new school. I get her up every morning at 6:10am to get out the door by 6:30 so she can catch the bus by 6:40am. She arrives at school by 7:20 or so and stays until 2:40pm, at which time she catches the Chesterbrook bus to go hang out at her old "baby school" (as she calls it) until Mommy B or I pick her up along with her little bro. In October, she was selected as the first "Terrific Kid" of the year. She got to stand up on front of all the Terrific Kids from the other grades and accept her award from the principal of Jennie Moore Elementary School. She was a little shy at first, but she embraced it after a little bit and has been impressing us constantly ever since. Her memory never ceases to amaze us, and Tatsy asked her the other day how many times she has missed the bus and she accurately responded, "Four," then proceeded to recount who took her to school each time. In all fairness, we actually have only "missed" the bus twice, and the other two times we drove her on purpose. She completed her first season of Little Kickers soccer and seemed to enjoy herself while participating. It didn't hurt that a few of the kids she goes to school with from JME were on the opposing teams and her coach was our neighbor, Mr. Mike. She was probably the fastest kid out there, but was still a little nervous about getting into the action.<br />
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Aiden has been following in his big sister's footsteps as many second-born siblings do. He recently moved up to Room 10 at Chesterbrook and has been loving being the only Meibers there for the majority of the day. He too completed his first year of Little Kickers soccer and after spending most of the season on the sideline because he didn't want to play - finally came out of his shell with two games left in the season. He was out there running around, getting in the mix with the other kids, and in his final game even took a fast break all the way down the field and scored his very first goal! Talk about a Proud Dad moment - and I was right out there on the field with him when it happened. I wish Mommy B could have seen it, but she was taking Alli to her last game at the same time. We signed him up for Spring soccer too so we can get him back out there again, and hopefully he'll continue his improvement.<br />
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There has been lots of other stuff going on, and now that things are settling back down a bit at work I'll try my best to get back on here and update things. It's been far too long in between posts, and I don't want anyone to miss out on the action of our crazy lives!Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-37073695614441300762015-09-03T22:29:00.002-04:002015-09-03T22:29:29.951-04:00Get to workAfter being unemployed for just over two months, I finally received an offer (two actually), accepted it, and started a new job on August 10th. Being forcefully unemployed is quite possibly the hardest job there is. Between applying for jobs, updating your online profiles, applying for unemployment, updating your resume, applying for more jobs, having the kids home 2 out of 5 business days, interviewing, normal chores, home improvements, stressing about money, applying for more jobs, and having more interviews... things are <b>far</b> from relaxing.<div>
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But, I hung in there and pushed on through. And go figure - after not hearing diddly squat for almost 2 months, I received two offers within 24 hours of each other. The first offer was from my former employer Blackbaud, who wanted to bring me back on as an Enterprise Senior Project Manager. It was more or less the same job I used to have there, only in a different business unit and a much higher salary. The other offer was for a 9-month contract position with Equifax. Yes, the credit bureau - only I wouldn't be dealing with that side of the house. I'd actually be working for Equifax Workforce Solutions which has recently developed an Affordable Care Act eligibility application. Employers purchase and use the software to help them determine who is considered full time (and who is not) and therefor who they need to be offering health care coverage to.</div>
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At first blush, you would think it would be a no-brainer that I'd go back to The 'Baud because it's the "safe" route. But, as I told the recruiter who asked me for the pros and cons of each, I know how the sausage is made. I left Blackbaud three years ago for good reasons, and I have no way of 100% knowing that those same reasons don't still exist. And even though the Equifax job is technically only guaranteed for 9 months, there is potential for a permanent position at the end of the contact. And worst-case scenario would be if Equifax doesn't re-up the contract, then the IT recruitment firm that brought me on has to find me another job.</div>
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Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to take the position at Equifax. I know so many people there (former Blackbauders who also left for good reasons), and the money is out of this world. What's even better is that because I'm a contractor, I get paid hourly - so anything over 40 hours each week is time and a half. Cha-ching! I know it's a roll of the dice, and I'm not much of a gambler... so taking this type of risk (again) is really not in my nature. It was an extremely difficult decision, especially since Blackbaud had really come up big in the salary department - which was a shock. But Mommy B sat down and made a list of all the pros and cons of each, and at the end of the day the Equifax job just felt "right."</div>
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But before I got started, there were a few things around the house I wanted to get done. And by "I," I mean Mommy B. Let me see if I can recount the items that I worked on while I was laid off...</div>
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<ul>
<li>Stained our master bathroom vanity and mirror</li>
<li>Installed pullouts on the faux drawers on the master bathroom vanity</li>
<li>Replaced all the oil-rubbed bronze fixtures with chrome fixtures in the master bathroom - including the two faucets, towel bars, toilet paper bar, and all vanity pulls</li>
<li>Replaced the light fixture over the sinks in our master bath - which required an assist from Pops because the idiots who built this house didn't run the electrical wire to a junction box where the fixture would have been.</li>
<li>Removed and replaced lattice under our deck that Scarlett had broken</li>
<li>Installed heat reducing film on two windows in our master bedroom</li>
<li>Painted the front entry way</li>
<li>Power washed the entire front porch - including all spindles and railings</li>
<li>Repainted all spindles and railings on front porch</li>
<li>Hung pictures of the kids in the hallway outside their respective bedrooms</li>
<li>Patched a few holes here and there - mostly in Alli's bedroom and our bathroom</li>
<li>Installed a new gutter on the far side of the garage roof to prevent flooding in the side yard</li>
<li>Fixed a few blinds that were "stuck" and wouldn't open and close</li>
<li>Hung a new calendar and key rings in the entry way</li>
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I'm proud to say that not once in the 2+ months I was laid off did I take a nap while the kids were gone. Obviously I didn't have time for that given the aforementioned home improvements and contact job searching. I did, however, run the bridge a few times to get reacquainted with an old friend. It had been a few years since I crossed the entire span of the ol' girl, and she still put up a good fight. Well, I think it was mostly the July heat and humidity - but the bridge is no joke either.</div>
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Alas, I've been back at work now for three full weeks, and I'm so glad that rough chapter is over with. Now it's time for Mommy B and I to recoup my lost earnings and put some money back in the bank. I couldn't be more proud of how we handled things. Mostly proud of myself for staying disciplined all those years and putting money away in case of an emergency. Going 2+ months without a paycheck would have been enough to put some people onto the street, but we had enough tucked away that it really didn't adversely affect us all that much. We made a few cutbacks (like getting rid of cable), and are probably better off because of it. It was a humbling experience to say the least, but I'm glad it's over. Now Mommy B can seriously say "Get to work," and I'll actually have somewhere to go.</div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-89648270055330406032015-08-25T20:56:00.001-04:002015-08-25T21:07:48.529-04:00Spread your wings, butterflyToday marked another milestone in our books... one that sort of snuck up on us, and one I don't think we expected to make us tear up as much as it did. Alli started pre-K at Jennie Moore Elementary School today. We had talked a lot and weighed options about her doing this program versus one more full year at Chesterbrook. When the school system decided to make pre-K full day this year, we thought, why not? You have to apply and get accepted to the program, and we got her acceptance letter back when we were vacationing in Aruba, and we were thrilled! Alli needed a new challenge after 4 years at Chesterbrook, and we couldn't wait for her to start this adventure. On top of it being a new adventure for her, it is actually a brand new school that just finished construction mere days before the older students started classes last week. Yesterday, half the class attended pre-K, and today was Alli's turn. Tomorrow, the entire class will be there and they will start a normal routine. Although it is far from the normal we are all used to... Including and especially Aiden!<div><br></div><div>This morning Aiden woke up at 4:45am (yes, you read that right), talking about Jennie Moore. I swear this sweet boy was so excited for his sister, and cares so very much for her. Alli came down a little before 6, ready and excited for her new adventure. We got her dressed in her pink JME shirt, took pictures, and headed out so we could all be there to walk her in. Pictures are worth a thousand words... The emotions, excitement, and even the big hug between siblings were all captured this morning by photo. She was beyond excited, anxious, and a little nervous when initially entering the classroom. For as long as she can remember, any transition into a new classroom at Chesterbrook has at least included familiar faces and familiar surroundings. This was all brand new<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">. We helper her find her cubby, find her name at her desk, and Aiden gave her a big good luck hug. I think that's what truly did me in. He has never been at Chesterbrook without her, that's all he's ever known is his big sister right down the hall. And seeing her so big, in a big brand new school, hoping she will get on the right Chesterbrook bus after school to take her to that familiar home away from home until we can pick her up from work... I was a nervous wreck watching the clock all day and wondering what she's doing. But... Here we are, we all made it. Another big day, in the books. She told us she had fun, said she wants to go back (so that's a good thing!), and that she made some new friends. Our next biggest fear and feat is her wanting to ride the school bus from our neighborhood to JME. And that very well may be a feat we face tomorrow morning... To be continued on that one. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The emotions of today ran the gamut... From excited, to nervous, to sad, to proud, to happy... All those things you spend so much time preparing for as parents, yet never truly realize when they are taking place before your eyes. Who is prepared for a 4 year old to spread those wings, take all you've taught her, and learn to fly on her own? How fitting in that the mascot for Jennie Moore is the Monarch... Fly beautifully Alli Ru, we are so proud of you!</span></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69wzLqOs-DF-B7og_Jf_vR-Mn91JMDwiH8eSToosFo8lzLUzqvZeb1Ot9MdMkLU7wfR4QThyphenhyphenNXEbfpy-_64n0iEsmrFVACpUedKA9hioyrEsFrMy6WwaqHGGxEHi-AQn2sScbVRqZ6m6G/s640/blogger-image--1866192581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69wzLqOs-DF-B7og_Jf_vR-Mn91JMDwiH8eSToosFo8lzLUzqvZeb1Ot9MdMkLU7wfR4QThyphenhyphenNXEbfpy-_64n0iEsmrFVACpUedKA9hioyrEsFrMy6WwaqHGGxEHi-AQn2sScbVRqZ6m6G/s640/blogger-image--1866192581.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB2dFxq5DRbsJrbZ1tutHosRLOeZbuoXxtt4BiDjuRtLTF2yAagXFC7wd-RlBdrc-A9UJ7nG8BddLVQAZwYObG9gh7XkJjKa3omrtqTWX-ICXkDLKBZZzRHD7rUHxxRXQV4nKVV0qsJGR/s640/blogger-image-399796259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB2dFxq5DRbsJrbZ1tutHosRLOeZbuoXxtt4BiDjuRtLTF2yAagXFC7wd-RlBdrc-A9UJ7nG8BddLVQAZwYObG9gh7XkJjKa3omrtqTWX-ICXkDLKBZZzRHD7rUHxxRXQV4nKVV0qsJGR/s640/blogger-image-399796259.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXSn3g4fF6TU7C3A2UNL7DStuX_g0aPhiVzLuKySDxQ-t6yn_JpV0qcrJqAikBfkEYVvIvNURtA6IFPAnX2jtoWpOMiyc1NxpV-Vm0QZ8hmIPWH1L6V5wjkKdMx2-aBXb-qF1driMPL2t/s640/blogger-image-1484315613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXSn3g4fF6TU7C3A2UNL7DStuX_g0aPhiVzLuKySDxQ-t6yn_JpV0qcrJqAikBfkEYVvIvNURtA6IFPAnX2jtoWpOMiyc1NxpV-Vm0QZ8hmIPWH1L6V5wjkKdMx2-aBXb-qF1driMPL2t/s640/blogger-image-1484315613.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bQCYjnLMPDFCpo07Sqz6TkcFme4Nusf0s3i8GneoAd3mCGqnHkvd_0eNADS1GL0r96JjcybZf5wxa25y0Wof-5cHsbXozJIJTCEXhFSdqg7q8mZ1O-4Rs00LuiwkVaN9dtz6AQ878z3k/s640/blogger-image--840764303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bQCYjnLMPDFCpo07Sqz6TkcFme4Nusf0s3i8GneoAd3mCGqnHkvd_0eNADS1GL0r96JjcybZf5wxa25y0Wof-5cHsbXozJIJTCEXhFSdqg7q8mZ1O-4Rs00LuiwkVaN9dtz6AQ878z3k/s640/blogger-image--840764303.jpg"></a></div>Mommy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05956282344426277433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-39330328642318783982015-08-05T22:46:00.001-04:002015-08-05T22:46:07.595-04:00So long, Dean-o - Part IIGrandma Great originally didn't want to have any type of memorial service for her late husband at all. At first, she just wanted to have a private ceremony with just us family members and call it a day. But her children talked her into having a full service so that all the folks in Findlay who knew Dean would have a chance to pay their respects. Little did I know that it would turn into... <b>all the folks in Findlay.</b><br />
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I seriously thought the town must have shut down from 11am-1pm that day. Once the doors opened and people began coming in, they didn't stop - for over 2 straight hours. The line of people was out the door the entire time. Since I didn't grow up in Findlay, I had to continuously introduce myself as Mommy B's husband or sometimes even as "Grandma C's son-in-law." However, with the advent of a little social media website called Facebook, just about everyone in town knew who I was. Well, let me rephrase... they knew who my <b>kids</b> were. Mommy B and I honestly felt like Internet celebrities with the sheer number of people who follow the repostings of Grandma C's pictures with the A-team. Many of her friends might not have known me from Adam, but once they knew I was the father of Grandma C's "adorable grandchildren," the association was made and I became as loved as anyone else in the family.<br />
<br />
That's the wonderful thing about marrying into this family... they have <b>all</b> treated me like family since the moment I set foot in that small town over 12 years ago. And it wasn't hard to see why - Dean was like that. All the time. He worked at Cooper Tire in the Payroll department for over 40 years. Back in the day before direct bank deposits, he used to walk the floor of the plant and hand-deliver payroll checks to 900+ employees. He may not have always be able to put a person's face to their name, but he could put their face to their employee payroll number. "Oh, there's Sammy... number 35298." In a town that small (especially back in those days,) it's no wonder the whole town showed up for his memorial service. He had probably cut a check to just about everyone in town at one point or another during his tenure there. I've only been to one other funeral in my life, and it was for my own grandmother back in 2006. But I have never felt more like "part of the family" than I did that day.<br />
<br />
It became very clear to me as I watched the steady stream of people make their way through the line of family members that Dean had influenced <u>so</u> many lives in his 79 years on this earth. But not just touched them, I mean really <i>impacted</i> them. I couldn't count the number of stories Grandma Great recalled about how she and Dean had met the person she was talking to. The woman has a memory like a steel trap. Gee, I wonder where my children get it? Every one of them talked about how much Dean smiled, and how much he loved and was so very proud of his family. I know how much a smile means to people. If you were to look back at my wedding pictures and examine the group of groomsmen I had assembled, you'd find that they're all very different from one another. However, the one thing they all have in common was that I kept them around because they made me smile. A smile is infectious, in the best way possible. And that's exactly how Dean lived his life - with a smile on his face and a laugh in his voice. In 12 years of being around Dean during family gatherings, I don't think I ever once saw him upset or down.<br />
<br />
Once everyone finally made it through and we had shaken and/or hugged them all, it was time to begin the service. The whole family sat up front, with myself to the right of Mommy B, who was to the right of Grandma Great. To get things started, two retired military members walked in, picked up the folded flag from the table, gave it a slow salute and officially presented it to Grandma Great. Then as one headed to the side door, the other lifted his head and said "Prepare yourselves for rifle fire." The side doors opened and in walked another man with a set of bagpipes. He began playing "Amazing Grace," which made everything all too real, all at once. Once the song concluded, three rounds of seven rifles all fired in unison, to which a trumpet then chimed in to conclude the military honors. By then everyone in the front row was reaching for their second tissue. I still get goosebumps even now thinking about it.<br />
<br />
The family's pastor then began telling stories that the family had shared about Dean. Everything from sibling rivalries to children's memories of their father to wisdom passed to grandchildren. Some of the stories I knew, some I didn't. Dean was one of five children, and all the siblings look exactly alike. Each time one came into the room I could spot them from a mile away. Everyone had some good laughs recounting some of Dean's funnier moments. The pastor went on to remind everyone that Dean had lost a considerable amount of weight by joining Weight Watchers, completely transforming his body within a couple short years so that he could have as many more years as possible. And through it all, there he was... smiling from ear to ear. He may not have had the easiest life nor the longest, but he had the <b>best</b> by the way he lived it. That was my biggest takeaway from the experience, and I vowed to try to live my life by it from that day forward. And don't think I'm ignorant to the coincidence surrounding that statement especially given my current (un)employment situation.<br />
<br />
To wrap things up, Mommy B was to read a poem to the audience. I told her I would accompany her up to the podium and read it for her if she was too distraught. But, she made it through like a trooper - her voice only faltering on the last two lines. The pastor said a few more words and the service was over. We all wiped what tears we had left and said goodbye to those who were still there. There were quite a few people I was happy to see had made it - Grandpa Ron, Mommy B's best friend Jamie drove up from Dayton with her son, and all of Grandma C's friends that I've gotten to know pretty well over the last decade. They were all heartbroken at the fact that Dean was actually gone, but held firm in their belief that he was in a better place now. Probably walking Jada.<br />
<br />
We packed up a few things and went over to Grandma Great's house to eat our emotions away thanks to all the homemade food everyone had dropped off the day before. We spent the rest of the afternoon sharing more family stories about Dean and stuffing our faces with all the comfort foods you come to expect when someone passes away. Since it had been such an emotional day, we called in an early night and went back to Grandma C's for some much needed rest. The next day was Grandma Great's birthday (July 3rd), so we went over to Uncle Tim's house and repeated the process from the day before of eating ourselves silly. Not to mention that a couple of us added some beers to the mix as well. We even had some ice cream cake for Grandma Great, so that she could celebrate her 79th birthday in style. That morning while Grandma C let me drive her Harley-Davidson Road King all by myself, Mommy B had dug into her closet and found the letters that Dean had written to her while she was away at college. She brought her favorites to the cookout that afternoon, and we all laughed until our faces hurt at the content of said letters. It was the second time hearing them for me, since I was typically present when they arrived at Mommy B's apartment. But it was even better hearing them all these years later... proving once again that Dean could always make you smile, even after he was gone.<br />
<br />
We flew home on Saturday and were supposed to get into Charleston just in time to hop in the car, drive to my parent's house, and head out on their boat with the kiddos to watch the fireworks in the harbor. Well, little did we know that some seriously bad weather had moved into the Charleston area that afternoon, and things were not looking good for that evening. After having our first flight delayed, we completely changed airlines in hopes of getting into town on time. Well, that flight was then delayed to the point where we were likely going to miss our connecting flight to Charleston. We landed in Atlanta and I hauled ass to our gate and was relieved to see that the airplane was still there and the door was still open. However, because we thought we weren't going to make that flight, we had our original airline confirm us on a later flight so we could at least get into town that night. We tried calling them back to have them switch us back to the original flight (that was literally 30 yards away with the door still open), but they were unable to get the computers to match up. So there we were, watching our flight get pushed back and take off without us - taking with it our only hopes of watching the fireworks with our kids. Talk about being down in the dumps.<br />
<br />
Well, come to find out, the weather had gotten so bad in Charleston that my parents pulled the plug on the whole boat outing anyway. They simply did not want to take the chance of heading out onto the water in bad weather with our children while we weren't around. So Mommy B and I sat in the Atlanta airport and had some drinks to help pass the time. Obviously we weren't missing any festivities back home, so we tried to make the best of the situation. All we could do at that point was smile, because we knew that's what Dean would have done. We eventually made it home and the rain had cleared out a bit which made our descent much easier. And best part was, the next night's weather was amazing and our neighborhood put on a fireworks show of their own - just a short golf cart ride away.<br />
<br />
Needless to say we were glad to be back home and done with what needed to be done. I'm certainly glad we made the trip to not only see the rest of the family, but pay our respects to someone who certainly deserved it. Dean will definitely be missed by those that knew him, and luckily he has passed on some things that he'll always be remembered for. Fortunately for me, many of them are present in my <b>wife</b>. She got his flat feet, infectious smile, and a heart that was made to love. As a nurse, she treats everyone like they are part of her family - because she genuinely cares about them as such. As a wife, she has always been there to help me up when I'm down because that's what best friends do. And as a mother, she loves and is so proud of the children we are raising together.<br />
<br />
So long, Dean-o... we're really going to miss you.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-50524896939325219202015-08-04T21:18:00.002-04:002015-08-04T21:18:21.336-04:00So long, Dean-o - Part ITo compound the stress of being laid off, Mommy B's grandfather Dean passed away a couple weeks ago. His health had been rapidly deteriorating for a few months, so it was a good thing Mommy B took the kiddos up to Ohio to see him back in April. On one hand I wish I had been able to see him one more time before he passed, but on the other hand I'm kind of glad I didn't see him in the state that he was in at the time.<br />
<br />
It was Tuesday, May 30th, 2015. I was getting the kiddos ready for school so that I could come home and get back on my job searching. Before I got the kids dressed, I noticed I had a missed call and voicemail from Grandma C. As I listened to the message, my heart sank. She informed me that her father had passed away in his sleep early that morning and she was headed over to the nursing home at that moment to take care of everything. My eyes welled up and suddenly the world seemed a bit darker, like a light had gone off somewhere in the house but I couldn't tell where. I wiped my eyes and continued to get the kids ready for school... but everything felt different. The kids weren't listening to me and wouldn't do what I asked (then told) them to do. Suddenly, I <b>lost</b> it. All the emotion from the past couple weeks came rushing up and I blew my top. I screamed at the kids... louder than I've ever yelled at them before. It scared the pants off both of them and they began to cry, which rarely happens. I'm probably lucky the neighbors were already off to work so they couldn't hear how loud I was. In retrospect, how stupid was that? Did I really think the kids were going to hear anything that came out of my mouth after that? Did I really think that was going to teach them a lesson?<br />
<br />
After I finished scolding them for whatever it was, I stormed out of the living room and into our bedroom to get myself changed. After I had a few moments to think about what I had just done and how dumb of a thing to do it was, I went back into the living room and sat down on the floor in front of the couch where they were both still sobbing. With tears in my eyes, I held my arms out and told them how sorry I was for yelling. Still a little wary, they both came and timidly gave me a hug. I had them sit on my lap and I tried explaining to them that I wasn't mad at them and I had just gotten some bad news and <u>that</u> was what I really was upset about. They both seemed to accept that and told me that they didn't like it when I yelled at them. I replied by promising to never yell at them like that again. I swore that from that point forward, I would do my best to never yell at them that way again. As their tears and sobbing subsided, I gave them big hugs and kisses and reminded them that I loved them more than anything in this world. After we all wiped our tears away, we picked ourselves up off the floor and got on with our day.<br />
<br />
After dropping the kids off at school, I came home and promptly called Grandma C. She told me they still didn't have all the details ironed out at that point, but they were going to have a memorial service for Dean in Findlay, Ohio on Thursday at 11am. I told her I would immediately start looking for flights for Mommy B and I. I had talked with my mom the previous week about Dean's declining health, and she said that if things got really bad (which they now had), that she and Pops would watch the kids for us. She said the last thing we would want is to have to worry about the kids while going through all of that too. After some serious searching online, I was able to find some halfway decent flights from Charleston to Detroit that didn't cost an arm and a leg. We would fly into Detroit Wednesday night at midnight (then drive an hour and a half home), then fly home on Saturday afternoon just in time for the 4th of July fireworks in the Charleston harbor on the boat with my family. That would give us plenty of time for the memorial service and a whole day to hang out with Mommy B's grandma on her birthday before we came back home. Once the flights were booked, I called my mom to let her know the plan and called Mommy B so she could put her notice in at the hospital. Luckily for me, I didn't have anyone to report my leave to.<br />
<br />
We flew to Detroit by way of Washington, D.C. late Wednesday night and actually made it into Detroit around 11:30pm. Grandma C and her friend Tom picked us up and we made the dash back to Findlay - only stopping for some wings and a beer on the way. It was close to 2:30am by the time we finally hit the sheets, and we knew we were going to have to be up in a few hours to be up, showered, dressed, and somewhat presentable by 10am. It had been a <b>long</b> day, but we were both glad we were there.<br />
<br />
After what felt like a short nap, we drug our butts out of bed and put on our dreary, black clothes. Although we looked formal, it was pretty evident we were headed somewhere somber. A McDonald's patron even commented to Mommy B and I while we were waiting for a bite to eat for breakfast... He pointed to a group of younger adults who were dressed in tattoos, tank tops and pants halfway down their butts and said "You two look so nice, all clean cut and everything... and then you have this over here," thumbing in the direction of Findlay's future police blotter stars. I held my poker face and replied, "Thanks, but we're on our way to a funeral." My tone probably read more like "I appreciate the compliment of being held to a higher regard than common white trash, but I'm in no mood for comparisons at the moment." We grabbed our McMuffins and walked out, hoping that a little sustenance would help alleviate the pit in our stomachs.<br />
<br />
We arrived at the funeral home where Uncle Tom and Grandma Great had just arrived, as well as Uncle Tim, Aunt Trisha, and Mommy B's cousins Zach and Paige. The whole clan was there, minus the patriarch. It was the first time Mommy B or I had seen the rest of the family since Dean had passed away, and the tears certainly proved it. Uncle Tom was already wet-eyed and Mommy B began the waterworks when she hugged Grandma Great for the first time. After hugs all around, we went inside and prepared ourselves for the service - with Uncle Tim and Aunt Trisha hooking up a laptop that had a streaming collage of pictures of Dean. At the front of the room was a table that held a tri-folded American flag (Dean was a former seaman in the Navy in the mid-50's) as well as the urn that held Dean's ashes. Surrounding the table was more vases of flowers than I could count, as well as two large poster boards that contained more pictures of the family - all staring Dean. After making small talk with the family, the first of the visitors began arriving to pay their respects. Little did I know what I was in for...Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-39327938915198413562015-07-10T15:09:00.000-04:002015-07-15T14:25:59.639-04:00Good Done (not so) GreatMy apologies for neglecting you, Followers. As most of you have probably learned by now, any time there is a big lag in between posts, it's usually because lots of stuff is going on. Of course, that's usually the case around here more often than not.<br />
<br />
As many of you know, I started a new job back in March with a small tech start-up here in Charleston called Good Done Great. I thought I had finally found "my place" in this budding tech town - I was brought on board to help build this company with my talent, skills and experience in project management. I was going to "get in early" and ride it all the way to the top. And with stock options waiting in the wings, it was only going to be a matter of time until my big payday arrived. Well, that dream fell disastrously short of everything I had hoped for.<br />
<br />
It was Thursday, June 4th. The following Tuesday, June 9th, Mommy B and I were scheduled to fly to Aruba for 5 days sans kids. We were going to meet our good friends from college there, sans their kids as well. I get on a video conference with my interim manager (my direct manager who hired me quit a few weeks previous - which should have been a sign) and I thought we were just going to discuss how my onboarding had gone and how I was ready to take on the new projects they said were going to close for months. Well, another screen popped up and it was the president of the company. I knew right away that this conversation was either going to be really good... or really bad. Unfortunately it was the latter. The president told me that the Sales team hadn't been able to close the deals in the time frame they had anticipated when they hired me. This meant that there was no "new business" for me to be assigned to, which basically meant they were paying me to <u>not</u> do my job. He said that they could no longer justify keeping me on without having a client for me to bill my time towards. While I reassured them that I'd been keeping busy documenting their processes (which they didn't have before I got there), I also asked if there was any other role there I could assume until the deals closed. They both said that unfortunately there just wasn't the work coming down the pipe and there was nothing anyone could do to speed up the process. That afternoon was to be my last day at Good Done Great. In turn, they reassured me that this was not a reflection on my performance or anything personal, and that they would both act as references in my job search moving forward. I was to turn in my laptop by the end of the day and not to bother coming back in on Friday. I thanked them for the opportunity to work at such a "cool" place and wished them the best of luck in the future.<br />
<br />
I've lived in this town long enough to know that there are just sometimes you have to take your lumps and keep your class, because making a scene or getting all upset would damage my reputation to the point that getting another job would be very difficult. So, I swallowed the lump in my throat, ignored the pit in my stomach and took the remaining hour of the day to collect my belongings and say my goodbyes to everyone. Needless to say, they were all stunned at the news. They had no idea that the company was in that bad of shape financially that they couldn't afford to keep me on a little while longer until some deals came through. Well, come to find out, they let another person go the next day... so it sounds like they were hurting for our paychecks back all along. I don't hold any resentment or ill will towards the company - I realize it's a numbers game and often times the last one hired is the first one fired. All that being said, I certainly got my first lesson in joining tech start-ups - you never know what can happen!<br />
<br />
I came home that night and told Mommy B the news. She actually was more upset about the situation than I was. After putting the kiddos to bed that night, we talked about what to do about our vacation the following week. I promised that I would send out as many applications as I could while we were still in town and given how slow people are to respond here in the South, we might as well skip town and enjoy ourselves. I figured that there would be little to no response that week anyway, and there was no point in me sitting around staring at the computer (and my phone) waiting for something to happen. Plus, I didn't want to disappoint our friends who had been looking forward to this trip just as much (if not more) than we were. So we decided to hell with it, let's go to Aruba and get drunk on the beach all day. I'll try to post about that trip soon.<br />
<br />
But here I sit - out of work for over a month. The job search and application process has been nothing short of disheartening. I applied for unemployment the week we got back and just received my first check yesterday - so stupid. I've sent out over 15 applications/resumes to various technology companies in town, and have barely gotten a sniff. Maybe my resume needs polishing, or maybe this town is so small that you really just need to know someone to get in. Personally I think it's the latter. I just don't understand how after reading the job description and requirements, you think it's a great fit and send in your application, all you get is... <b>crickets.</b> Nothing. NO RESPONSE AT ALL. Don't companies realize that by ignoring people completely, you end up really pissing them off? And they forget how small a town it is too - their reputation is upheld by word-of-mouth opinions. There was one company I applied to and they reached out to me in less than 12 hours... so why do other companies take weeks or just never write back at all?<br />
<br />
Did I mention how frustrating this process was?<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I've been trying to take advantage of spending more time with the kids. It is summer time after all, so that just means more time at the pool! Alli is taking private swim lessons (thanks, Tatsy!) nearby, so she doesn't wear any floaties any more. Aiden has gone a couple times, but I think next summer will really be his time to shine. We've spent some time out on my parent's boat and have been to the beach a couple times. Uncle Tom is coming to town tomorrow for the week, so that'll be a great time for them to ditch daycare and hang out with he and I instead.<br />
<br />
The job front finally started looking less bleak this past week, as I finally got some nibbles for a couple applications. First interviews (aka the idiot test) are in the books, and I'm looking to get some more scheduled next week. Stay tuned for more as the saga continues.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-37885328423168454692015-06-02T16:00:00.002-04:002015-06-02T16:03:24.050-04:00T & A - Part II<div style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in;">
I'm going to try my
best to recount the events of the last two weeks, but you'll have to forgive me
if there are gaps in the story. You'll see why in a moment.<br />
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The afternoon
following Aiden's surgery wasn't too bad as he was still somewhat out of it and
would fall asleep at random times for various amounts of time. He felt good
enough at one point to go for a golf cart ride around the neighborhood, so I
took that as a good sign. He wasn't having much as far as food or drink since
his throat was still so raw and I'm sure his stomach was probably full of
anesthesia medicine. That night was a little rocky for his sleep routine since
he had been out during surgery, some more that afternoon and he was still out
of sorts in general.</div>
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The next morning, I
took Alli to school before I headed to work while Mommy B stayed home with
Aiden to help him recover. From what she told me throughout the day, he was
doing awesome. He just wanted to play outside and have fun - so Mommy B took
him to the park that morning. He ran around and played just like he normally
does, and even though he didn't eat much of anything, he did ok with staying
hydrated. The biggest thing we were worried about was having to bring him back
to the hospital due to dehydration to get an IV, which is a common occurrence
after a T&A. Overall it seemed like he was full steam ahead on his road to
recovery, even though typical recovery time is anywhere from 10-14 days.
However, that night was another rough one as he was up constantly throughout
the night. We weren't sure what was causing him to wake up, but luckily it
wasn't too hard to get him back to sleep pretty quickly.</div>
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I stayed home with
Aiden on Wednesday and "worked from home" so Mommy B could take a
break and go back to work. Well, as luck would have it he was now feeling the
full effects of what had just happened to him two days earlier. He got up for
the day and could barely talk. He basically just mumbled and pointed to
everything he needed - which wasn't much. He wouldn't eat a thing, and would
barely touch and fluids I tried to coax him into drinking. His throat hurt so
bad that he wouldn’t even swallow his own spit. I spent the majority of the day
wiping drool from his lip and pulling saliva out of his mouth because he
wouldn't swallow it on his own. Not to mention he was also running a low-grade
fever. I tried explaining to him that the more he drank, the better he would
feel - even though it hurt. This also made the task of administering any
medicine darn near impossible. I kept trying to talk him into it, and he just
wouldn't even try. At one point in the afternoon I was so worried that his fever
would go even higher and we'd end up back in the hospital anyway, I pinned him
down and tried to get some medicine in his mouth… unsuccessfully. He spit it
all back out and became a blubbering mess. I was right back in the Operating
Room - but again I'll spare you the details.</div>
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Mommy B finally got
home from work and had picked up some fever-reducing suppositories on her way.
We concluded that the only way to get his fever down without him drinking
anything was going to have to be the hard way. So that night after we gave them
both baths, Mommy B did the dirty work and was able to get some medicine in
him. It definitely seemed to help, but he was still up a few times throughout
the night. I could be mistaken, but I believe this is when he started
complaining that his "belly hurt." We could only conclude that he was
probably still working some of the IV drugs through his system and he hadn't
really eaten anything of substance since Sunday night. So each time he woke up
throughout the night and complained about his belly hurting, we just told him
that he was probably hungry. He obviously didn't understand that part of it,
but managed to get a little sleep here and there.</div>
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Thursday Mommy B
stayed home with him again and I went back into the office. He did a little
better for her that day, but still wasn't eating anything. He did much better
for her with drinking, so that was good. She was able to get a little more
medicine in him that day to at least keep his fever at bay. After another night
of crappy sleep, Tatsy took over and stayed with him on Friday while I took
Alli to school. She was so cute - asking when Aiden was coming back to school
because she missed going into class with him. I even poked my had into Aiden's
class and told his teacher not to expect him back that week. All the kids asked
me where Aiden was and if he was feeling better yet. I told them that he was
definitely better, but wouldn't be back until the following week while he
healed up some more.</div>
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Memorial Day weekend
was finally upon us, and I was holding out that he would turn the corner that
weekend. The complaints about his belly hurting were becoming more frequent,
and they continued throughout the long weekend. The weather could not have been
any nicer in Charleston that weekend, and it killed us all to have to be cooped
up inside while Aiden healed. I think the person who wanted to be inside the
least was the poor kid himself. He was doing better during the day, but he
still wasn't eating a whole lot and hadn't had a bowel movement since the night
before his surgery. The weekend came and went without seeing any family and
barely making it outside to enjoy the weather. One day while Aiden was taking a
later afternoon nap, I grabbed Alli and took her to the pool. There was nobody
else there (since everyone and their Ohio mother were at the beach) so we
basically got to swim around all afternoon by ourselves. It was a nice change
of pace and I'm sure Alli appreciated getting out and about a little bit.
During this whole process, Aiden had been getting in the habit of not only
waking up in the middle of the night/morning, but also coming all the way
downstairs and wanting to get into our bed. Around this time, we let it happen
because the poor kid sounded like he was in serious pain and just wanted to be
next to his Mommy. As a result, I often found myself sleeping on the top bunk
of his bed and even taking a shower in the play/guest room bathroom so as not
to bug him and Mommy B using our master bathroom. Another sad side effect of
the last week is that the kid has lost a ton of weight. He was never that
chubby to begin with, and now he looked like skin and bone. We can see just
about all his ribs and his arms look like little noodles hanging off his torso.
It physically hurts me to see him like this, but I have to keep telling myself
that he'll put the weight back on soon and it'll all be a distant memory.</div>
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Monday night had
arrived and it was time to get back into the routine. We agreed that even
though he was only eating little bits here and there, he was acting well enough
during the day to go back to school. We were hoping that this would accomplish
a couple things - 1) get him back to his normal schedule, 2) get him playing
and active again so he wouldn't think about things as much, 3) hopefully get
his digestive system kick started. He had had a single bowel movement in a
about a week's time, so I'm sure there was more in there that needed to make an
exit. Well, since Mommy B had to get up early that morning and head to work, I
decided to get up with him throughout the night and try to get him back to
sleep on my own. After falling asleep at around 8pm, he woke up at 9:30pm,
12:30am, 2:30am, 5am, and was up for good at 7am. Each time he woke up crying
and writhing around in his bed in pain, complaining that his belly hurt. At
that point we tried to explain to him that he probably was stopped up and needed
to poop in order to feel better. Well, this wasn't happening in his mind… so
all I could do that night/morning was rub his back until he fell back asleep.
Even though we were all dragging that morning, I took them both to school on my
way to work. He was actually somewhat excited to get back to see his friends,
and they certainly were excited to see him. He was a little clingy at first,
but luckily his teacher was able to come over and peel him off me without too
much trouble.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The rest of the week
basically continued much the same way. He would do great at school, but would
still wake up 3-4 times per night complaining about his belly hurting. It felt
like we had a newborn in the house again, as everything became a blur and Mommy
B and I were too tired to do much else. Towards the end of the week, he was
finally eating somewhat normal portions again but still hadn't had a decent
bowel movement. At this point Mommy B and I were growing concerned that almost
2 weeks had come and gone and he basically had one small poop to show for it.
We were worried that his nightly troubles were because he was constipated and
had become too scared to try because of how much it would hurt. So Mommy B got
some laxatives to give him in hopes of softening things up so that it wouldn't
hurt so much to go. Well, they didn't work - <span style="font-weight: bold;">at
all.</span> I've never seen that happen before, to anyone. Here we were,
pumping this kid full of food and laxatives and <span style="font-weight: bold;">nothing</span>
was coming out. Mommy B and I just looked at each other and said "When he
needs to go, he'll go."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in;">
The weekend rolled
around and even though he still hadn't pooped, he seemed to be feeling much
better overall. We decided to spend Saturday morning at the beach before Alli
had a birthday party to attend that afternoon. On Sunday we spent most of the
late morning and early afternoon on my parents boat, taking the kids on their
first tube ride of the season. Due to the timing of it, by the time we got home
it was too late to try to get Aiden to take a nap… so we just let him ride it
out for the rest of the day in hopes that it would make him sleep through the
night for a change. He was extra cranky that evening - mostly because Mommy B
and I tried every tactic in the book to get him to try and sit on the toilet.
We failed miserably, and eventually made him so sad about the whole thing that
he cried himself to sleep on Mommy B's shoulder in the rocking chair at 7:30pm.
She was able to get him into bed without waking him up while I put Alli to bed.
Mommy B and I went to bed that night dreading what could lie before us that
night/morning as we tried to rest up for another week of work, even though she
had Monday off.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in;">
I rolled over at
about 5:45am and realized that I he hadn't woken me up at all. I quietly got
up, showered and began shaving when in walked Mommy B with Aiden in her arms.
He had slept from 7:30pm until 6:30am the next morning! It was the first time
he had slept all the way through the night in two full weeks! We couldn't
believe it, and couldn't believe how much better he was that morning. He had a
great day at school, and seemed to be just about back to his normal self -
except for the no-pooping thing. Mommy B and I were cautiously optimistic that
we'd get another full night of sleep since we had chalked up the night before
to him being completely exhausted. But, I was shocked this morning when he
didn't wake up until 6:45am - having slept a full night and never once
mentioning his belly hurting.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in;">
I think it's pretty
safe to assume that we're finally out of the woods. Knowing that we voluntarily
put ourselves through this hasn't helped the guilt-factor either. But, I'm
confident that the worst is behind us and Aiden is finally on the road to recovery.
He's eating like he used to (a.k.a. stealing most of my food in the mornings)
and back to his usual dirty "little brother" tricks with his sister.
The biggest moment I think was when he jumped into the water on Sunday and
began swimming around. I hadn't seen a smile on his face that big in what has
felt like forever. It truly brightened my heart to see my Mr. Smiles again. And
I will say that each night I've gone into his room to check on him before I go
to bed myself, his breathing has sounded much better.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in;">
I'm not going to
sugar-coat things - it's been two full weeks of <span style="font-weight: bold;">hell.</span>
We haven't slept much over the past two weeks, and couldn't be looking forward
to our upcoming vacation any more than we are. We've had to do things lately
that we thought we'd never have to do (like kick a small child out of our bed
or practically force feed him popsicles and ice cream), and things we thought
we'd never have to do again (like convince a small child that it's ok to use
the potty.) It hasn't helped that he's our "forever baby" and
probably milked the attention for all he could get, either. There have been
many tears shed in that time - some out of sadness but more out of frustration.
I don't like always being the "tough parent" and it made me the bad
guy on more than one occasion. There was a point when Dad-E was simply not
wanted and only Mommy B would do. Talk about feeling <span style="font-weight: bold;">helpless…</span> night after night, while Mommy B drug her tired butt
back upstairs to calm her sad child. But that all got washed away this morning
when he came down stairs, hopped into my arms and said "You're a good
daddy."</div>
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<br /></div>
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Aww, thanks Bubby.</div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-79812592223898938052015-05-28T16:24:00.000-04:002015-05-28T16:24:26.996-04:00T & A - Part I<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Frequent Followers
of This Space have heard us talk about Aiden's sinuses before. Unfortunately, I
passed along my terrible sinus issues to my son and he seems to be headed down
much of the same path I went down as a kid. Folks might recall about a year ago
that we had to take him to the Emergency Room after he got sick and spiked a
high fever. That trip (and sickness) set in motion a series of events that have
led us to where we are this week. After that ER visit, we went to an ENT doctor
to get a consult on what he thought about Aiden's condition. During that visit,
I played the doctor a recording I made on my phone of Aiden trying to sleep a
few night previous. It literally sounded like a 65-year-old overweight man with
sleep apnea on the other end… and so the ENT doctor said we might want to
consider having his tonsils and adenoids (a T&A) removed at some point to
alleviate some of his discomfort while he's sleeping. I had the same procedure
done when I was 5, so I was familiar with what he was talking about. I was at a
point where I was getting sick every six weeks and that frequency was
drastically cut down after I had mine taken out. So even though I cringed at
the thought of sending my young son "under the knife," I held out hope
that poor Bubby would be better for it in the long run. I knew it wasn't going
to be a magic bullet (lord knows it wasn't for me) - but I was willing to take
the gamble that having it done now would provide him with years of improved
health like it did for me.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So after getting a
second opinion a couple months ago, we decided to pull the trigger and get his
procedure scheduled. Mommy B worked her magic at the hospital and made sure
that he had the best people on the case - the best surgeon, best
anesthesiologist and best nurses (outside of herself, of course) that would be
on staff. It's good to have connections, yeah? We scheduled his procedure for
last Monday, May 18th. Since he wasn't allowed to eat anything the morning of
his surgery, Mommy B kept him up a little later the night before and let him
snack on whatever he wanted just before bed time. We tried to explain to him
all that weekend that he would be "going in to see the doctor" on
Monday so they could "fix his nose," as he said. I told him that it
would actually be his mouth/throat they would be working on, but it would
hopefully help him breathe better after he was all healed. I have no idea how
much he understood, but he seemed to be OK with the whole thing - especially
getting to stay up late and snack that Sunday night.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The big day had
finally arrived, and both Mommy B and I were dreading it. Mommy B had the day
off, and I had taken the morning off as well to be with them both. So we made a
plan that I would take Alli to school like normal, then have Mommy B and Aiden
pick me up at the local tire shop (the new Pilot got a nail in the tire that
weekend - perfect timing, huh?) on their way to the hospital. So while Mommy B
and Aiden played at the house in an attempt to keep Aiden from wanting to eat
something, I took Alli to school. When we got in the car, I told her it was a
very important day for Aiden and asked her what she wanted for breakfast.
Whatever she wanted (and was open,) I would take her there. She asked if
Chick-fil-A was open, and I told her that it was. She then asked if they had
French fries there. I replied by letting her know that they probably didn't
have the waffle fries ready that early in the morning but that they would have
hash rounds instead. She seemed satisfied with that answer, so that's where we
went. As we munched on our morning chicken, I did my best to keep a smile on my
face to ease any apprehension she had about what was happening to her
"little bro" that day. I kept telling her that Aiden wasn't with us
like he normally is because he was having surgery that day… and that she was
going to have to be extra nice to him that afternoon since he wouldn't be
feeling well. I also told her that Aiden wouldn't be going to school that week
while he recovered, so there would be a few days where I would be taking her by
herself. Again, I have no idea how much she understood about the situation, but
she got the point that Aiden wouldn't be feeling well for a few days so she
would need to "be the big sister" and help us take care of him.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I dropped Alli off
at school and informed Aiden's teachers that it was the big day and to not
expect him to be back at school that week. After I dropped off Mommy B's car to
get the tire patched, she and Aiden scooped me up and we headed downtown to the
hospital. After getting checked in, I thought I'd walk Aiden around (in my
arms, of course) the hospital a bit while we waited to head back to the holding
area. Well, much to my surprise, they brought us back almost right away. I was
hoping that was a good thing and we'd get this thing over with sooner than
expected. And sure enough, the kid who was scheduled in front of Aiden didn't
show for some reason, so they told us that Aiden could get bumped up and take
his place. This worked for us - less time the poor kid has to go without food!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After playing with a
few toys and the iPad we brought, the anesthesiologist came back and said they
were prepping the Operating Room and that Aiden could take some Versed to
"relax him." This is a very common drug that they give to kids before
surgery - it basically gets them drunk so they don't freak out when they are
wheeled away from their parents to head into the OR or when the
anesthesiologist puts the gas mask on to put them to sleep. I knew this would
be absolutely necessary because there was about a snowball's chance in hell
that Aiden would just let some stranger in a strange place wheel him away from
us without losing his mind. So he took his "medicine" and about 15
minutes later we could see that he was starting to feel the effects. I got some
of it on camera - it was hilarious to watch. Just picture a blackout-drunk
person trying to figure out an iPad, slurring his words, head bobbing back and
forth. Yeah, he was feelin' good at that point. And quite frankly, I think it
helped both Mommy B and I to laugh given the current situation. I asked Mommy B
how long this stuff lasted, and she said sometimes about an hour, depending on
the kid.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So there we sat… and
sat… and <span style="font-weight: bold;">sat</span>. We had thought they were
going to come and take our little drunk child away any minute so we could go
begin our nervous wait in peace… but that didn't happen. Then, my
second-biggest fear slowly became a reality - the drugs began to wear off <span style="font-weight: bold;">before</span> they knocked him out. And what does any
completely wasted person do when they start coming down? They start crying and
getting upset - and combative. Here we were, in the middle of the holding area
(with adults sitting on either side of us) having to try and comfort our now
screaming, crying child. He just wanted to "get out" as he said, as
he kept pointing towards the door we had come in. The sobs grew longer, the
screams grew louder, and he started wiggling out of my arms… anything to get away
from the current situation. Still, no anesthesiologist in sight to come take
him to surgery. Needless to say, Mommy B and I were growing very anxious about
what to do.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, after what
felt like forever, the nurses said the anesthesiologist was on his way. At that
point, Aiden was inconsolable and was a blubbering mess. We were basically
right back to where we started - the "good part" of the drugs had worn
off and now he was even more scared and confused than he had been when we first
got there. Mommy B had told me that morning that they typically don't let the
parents come back into the OR with the child to minimize the drama - for all
parties involved. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Unless,</span> the child is
freaking out and a having a parent present will actually help the situation.
Well, that would be us at this point. Since Mommy B does this for a living and
might have had a nervous breakdown doing it to her own child, Dad-E stepped up
to the plate. The nurses brought me a gown to put on while Mommy B got one last
hug from her teary, scared, confused little boy. As soon as I was dressed, the
anesthesiologists led the way out of the holding area.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Aiden nestled
into my shoulder, I calmly rubbed his back and told him that we were finally
getting out of there. What he didn't realize was that we weren't leaving the
hospital, but rather going down the hall into the OR instead. As we walked, he
seemed to calm down a bit which I thought was a good sign. However, as soon as
we turned into the OR, he took one look around at the room with no doors and
people dressed in weird outfits (scrubs) and began to cry again. I knew that
time was of the essence, so I quickly laid him down on the operating table
while they began to pump the gas into the mask.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I promised Mommy B
that would spare her the details of the next few moments before he zonked out,
and I'm going to do the same for y'all. It was by far the hardest thing I've
had to go through as a parent. Everyone keeps trying to reassure me that he won't
remember any of it, especially as he gets older. Each time I reply with,
"I know he won't… but <span style="font-weight: bold;">I will</span>."
It is something that I'll never forget as long as I live, and I told Mommy B
that I would shoulder that burden so she didn't have to. As Aiden began to
close his eyes, I told him that I would see him when it was all over and would
be there when he woke up. The nurses then led me back to the holding area,
where Mommy B was waiting so we could embrace each other and let the tears go.
They pulled the curtain around us and told us to come out when we were ready. I
told myself that morning that I wasn't going to get all overly emotional about
things and I had rationalized it as just a "minor surgery" - I mean,
it's not like he was going in for brain surgery or something, right? Well,
after all we had been through that morning, the Dad in me kicked in and I
turned into a ball of mush. As strong as Mommy B was, she knew exactly what I
was going through having seen it almost every day in her own job. We each tried
to reassure the other that he was in great hands and that everything was going
to be fine… that it would all be worth it soon once he was all healed up.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a few minutes,
we dried our eyes, collected our belongings and the nurse lead us to the
waiting room. I checked a few work emails and Mommy B had a muffin - her first
real food of the day as well. Before we knew it, the anesthesiologist came in
and let us know that they were all finished and Aiden was in the recovery room.
Everything had gone <span style="font-weight: bold;">perfectly</span> and he had
been a real trooper. Mommy B and I each let out a sigh of relief - our first
deep breath of the day. As he led us to the recovery room, he apologized
profusely for the bad timing of the Versed application. There had been an
unforeseen delay in getting the room prepped for Aiden's procedure, which was
the reason for the delay in bringing him back. I just shrugged it off since
there was nothing they could do about it at that point, and things were already
burned into my memory by then.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We walked to the
back of the recovery room to find our little man with an oxygen mask on still
passed out from the anesthesia. They told us not to touch him until after he
wakes up and that they had kept him pretty deep under since he had been in such
rough shape getting put to sleep. While he was still sleeping, the surgeon came
back and told us that the procedure went as good as it possibly could have. He
also said that while Aiden's adenoids were pretty big, his tonsils were <span style="font-weight: bold;">massive.</span> He does 20 of these procedures a day
for kids as old as 17, and Aiden won the "biggest tonsils of the day"
award. Well, lucky him! We thanked him for taking such good care of our baby
boy and he let us get back to waiting for Aiden to wake up. He started to come
around a short time later, and as you can imagine he wasn't in the best mood.
They gave him a little more morphine to help with the pain, which made him fall
asleep on Mommy B. He woke up a little later and just wanted to get the IV out
of his hand and get outta there. I completely sympathized with him, so I tried
to get Mommy B to work her magic again and get us going. They eventually let us
go even though he didn't drink anything, and I could tell he was so relieved to
be heading out finally. He fell asleep again in the car and basically stayed
that way for most of the ride home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My mom had been nice
enough to pick Alli up from school and take her to run some errands so we could
get Aiden home and situated. He actually felt good enough later that afternoon
to go on a golf cart ride with Mommy B and I, which I took as a good sign. He
had a little ice cream and whatnot to sooth his throat, but really didn't want
much else. It had been a pretty emotional day for everyone, and even though
Mommy B was going to stay home the next day with him, I didn't want to go back
to work. And little did we know that the day of the surgery was only a fraction
of what we'd be dealing with…</span></div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-75325231325368073902015-04-30T16:01:00.001-04:002015-05-01T10:44:43.260-04:00Switching it upAnother month has gone by, which means more changes around our house. Like I've said time and time again, we never sit still and are always up to something. We're always switching things up and moving things around.<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago I started a new job - and it's been wonderful. I'm still in that stressful time where I'm trying to learn as much as possible so that I somewhat sound like I know what I'm talking about. Any time you change jobs (even if it's still in the same profession/industry) there is still so much to learn at the new place. I now work for a small technology start-up in downtown Charleston called Good Done Great. I wasn't initially jazzed about the name, but it's growing on me. The best way I can describe working here is that I imagine it's what it probably felt like working for Google before it took over the world. Everyone has their own laptop, wear whatever they want, do whatever they want (i.e. - work when they want), and I never have a boss looking over my shoulder or watching the time clock. My manager has basically given me free reign to take initiative with my own onboarding, and has thus been pleased with the results. Things are so laid back but very dedicated at the same time. We work hard and are good at what we do, but never take things too seriously not to have some fun along the way. Being involved with a company that is this "young" provides me with the opportunity to really make my mark somewhere and be able to contribute in a meaningful way that could potentially shape how the company operates in the future. There's a lot of potential here, both for myself and the company as a whole... it's a very exciting (albeit nerve-wracking) time at GDG.<br />
<br />
Just this last week, Mommy B and I also decided it was high time to trade in our 2007 Honda Pilot to get something newer. We did some research on a few vehicles we were interested in, even having a couple shipped here through Carmax. Well as fate would have it, we fell in love with another SUV... a 2012 Honda Pilot. Same exact model as the one we already had, just 5 years newer and about 107,000 less miles. I'll be the first to admit it was a little bittersweet taking the ol' girl into the dealership to trade it in, especially when they told us that they only use cars with that many miles for parts. You mean my babies and I are going to be the last people to "ride" in that car? Well, that got real. I have to say, it felt a little bit like finally putting an old farm mule out to pasture. She had been by far the best car we've ever owned and had been so reliable... and as much as I didn't want to see her go, it was just time to do it. But, we got a "younger" model just like her - and Mommy B and I are hoping that this one will be just as good to us.<br />
<br />
This past month has basically been a blur for me - a new job combined with kids' birthday parties every weekend has me running ragged. There was seriously one weekend it felt like we were basically just going to birthday parties for two days straight between Alli and Aiden's friends. Then another weekend was Aiden's birthday party at the fire station. He just happened to have a ton of boys in his class, and needless to say they all had a blast playing on the fire trucks, shooting the hose at cones, spraying yours truly with Silly String, and of course, devouring pizza and cupcakes. I will say this though, that boy <u>cleaned up</u> on the birthday presents. He has some very cool friends' parents... if you catch my drift. I'm talking Legos, Hot Wheels, Play Doh, action figures galore - the list goes on and on. Not to mention that Mommy B and I decided to get him (well, both of them, really) a 7-foot trampoline for the back yard. They couldn't even wait until I had the whole thing built before they wanted to start jumping on it. Luckily I was able to finish it the next day and they've been playing on it ever since.<br />
<br />
But as any parent with small children knows, it marked the beginning of the Terrible Three's. So many people talked about the Terrible Two's, but not our kids. The three-year-old age has been much worse than the two-year-old range, by far. And as if Aiden knew that by turning three he had a license to be a butthead, he sure embraced it. He's been more whiney than he's ever been, won't stay in his bed like he used to, and fights with us on just about everything. What makes it even more worse is that Mommy B and I can't count the number of times that his teachers tell us how mellow he is and what a great listener he is at school. There's nothing I hate more than when a parent talks about how great and well-behaved their kid is at home but the minute they go somewhere else with other kids they turn into a little monster. The whole time they're talking I'm thinking to myself, "Yeah, right. I saw your kid at the playground last weekend... I know better." Only with our kids it seems to be the opposite - they are well-behaved for everyone else, and are just little monsters for <b>us!</b> Well, I guess I'd rather have it that way than the other way around. I don't know how they flip the switch like they do, but it sure is frustrating. This has made our nightly routines a little more exhausting than normal, but we know that it's just a phase and he'll come back around sooner or later.<br />
<br />
On the other end of the age spectrum, Brittany's grandfather's health has been in a steady decline the last couple of weeks. Things actually have gotten bad enough to the point of having to move him to a nursing home so that he can have people around constantly monitoring him. Since we hadn't seen the extended family in a while, Mommy B's nursing instincts kicked in and she decided that she needed to go back to Findlay to spend some time with her family. Since we don't know at this point if her grandfather's health will improve or not, we thought it would be a good idea to have the kiddos go along with her. Not only so the kids could see that side of the family again, but also so they could hopefully bring some smiles and sunshine to their great-grandparents who are going through a rough time at the moment. It's rare to have great-grandparents around at all, and we want to take every advantage we can so they can see each other as much as possible. Hey, that's what the savings account is for, right? So at 6am this morning, I drove the entire family to the airport and had to hold back my tears as I hugged all of them goodbye. Since I'm still rather "new on the job," we thought it would be better for me to stay behind to take care of Scarlett and keep busy with work (also to save on the price of a fourth plane ticket.)<br />
<br />
While most people's first reaction is, "All right! Bachelor weekend for you!" That's not how I feel. I couldn't help but think about what it would be like if something were to happen to the plane. My entire family would be <b>gone</b> - just like that. I tried not to let those terrible thoughts creep into my head as I hugged them all goodbye and tried to drive home without crying. I opened the door to the house and even though the dog was there, it hadn't felt that empty since the day before we moved in. I went upstairs to their rooms and made their beds, just so they wouldn't have wrinkly sheets when they get back in a few days... it just seemed like the right thing to do. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for the good news. Mommy B let me know that they landed safely and the kids were absolutely wonderful on the plane - not a single meltdown. It made me <u>so</u> proud that they actually behaved for her, for once.<br />
<br />
I've been around Brittany's family for about 12 years now, so you can safely assume that I wish I was up there visiting as well. It hurts me beyond words to know that it's not going to be a fun trip for Mommy B, and I won't be there to comfort her in her time of need. Her grandfather was one of, if not the biggest, male role models she had growing up - and seeing him in his current condition isn't going to be easy for her. The man was there for her as a child when her father wasn't, helped raise her through those rough teen years (even helping her pay for her first car), paid for her college tuition in full, and most recently walked her down the aisle to give me her hand in marriage. Cue lump in throat.<br />
<br />
I'm going to try and stay busy by spending some time with my family as well, just to keep my mind off things up there. So while I do have the next few days to myself, I'm not going to enjoy it as much as everyone thinks I'm going to. Call me a "Papa Bird" if you want, but I rest easier at night knowing my babies are safe in the nest. While I know Grandma C and the rest of the family will take good care of them, it's my job to protect my family as much as I can from the cruel, harsh world out there. But you know us, we're always switching it up.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-42950714644249014792015-03-16T21:43:00.002-04:002015-03-16T21:43:40.490-04:00Training WheelsIt's fitting that today I put the first set of training wheels on Alli's bicycle and tomorrow I start my new job.<br />
<br />
I've had the last few days off (technically being unemployed) in between quitting The MIL Corporation and starting my new job at Good Done Great. I was able to get a few things done around the house and get a few errands handled that required me to <i>not</i> be working while everyone else was (i.e. - DMV for the golf cart permit and Social Security Administration office to get a replacement card mailed to me). The kids got to sleep in a little bit each day and lounge around in the mornings instead of having to run out the door before traffic gets bad, so they got a nice bonus out of the deal.<br />
<br />
On Friday of last week, Mommy B found a bicycle that someone was selling online for cheap and we thought it was just Alli's size. The weather was gorgeous all weekend so naturally all Alli wanted to do was ride it. However, it didn't have training wheels on it which meant Dad-E had to hold the back to keep it upright while Alli tried to learn to pedal and steer. Needless to say, my back is killing me and Alli probably got more frustrated with me having to try and keep up with her. Regardless, she wanted to get back at it and go further and further each time we went out. I promised her that the first thing I would do on Monday after I dropped them off at school would be to purchase and attach training wheels on her bike so she could ride by herself. Given how smart she is, I think she knew what that meant... <b>freedom!</b><br />
<br />
So sure enough, after dropping them off at school this morning I went to Target and purchased one of the last sets of training wheels they had. I came home and put them on her bike, greased up the chain and other moving parts, and made sure that everything else was in good working order. I picked them both up from school and told Alli that I had a surprise waiting for her at home. I'm pretty sure she knew what it was, but she was still over the moon excited to see her bike with a shiny set of training wheels on it when we pulled into the driveway.<br />
<br />
We strapped up her helmet and helped her navigate out to the street, then it was <b>off to the races</b>... and she didn't look back. Well, except to see if we were still watching her. I had a feeling over the weekend - she was trying SO hard to get the bike to go on her own, I just knew that the minute those training wheels were on, she was going to be gone. And boy, was I right. She rode that thing all the way through the neighborhood, with Mommy B close behind. Now all she needs to learn is how to <b>stop.</b><br />
<br />
And here I am, about to embark on a new journey, a new chapter in my life... just like Alli did today. Riding a bicycle by yourself is a huge milestone, almost like walking as an infant or getting your driver's license as a teenager. It can be a scary world out there, especially when you are starting something new for the first time. I know that I'm going to need some help from my new colleagues as I begin to navigate the unknown streets of tech startups... and I have feeling it'll be much like having training wheels on myself.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-36662710577027058972015-03-04T12:25:00.001-05:002015-03-10T09:02:14.403-04:00ShenanigansAs I mentioned back in January, Mommy B and I are planning on taking more frequent, "smaller" trips this year so that we can include the kiddos and not break the bank. Well, we took our first one this past weekend... only the kids weren't invited. Don't worry, we have plenty of fun planned for them in the coming months. We decided to book a one-night stay in Savannah, Georgia with my younger sister (Aunt Bacon) and her boyfriend Gentry. The two of them have only been dating for a few months so we wanted to take the opportunity to get to know him a little better while taking a short break from real life. And the fact that I have a new job waiting in the wings gave us all the more reason to celebrate.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning rolled around and I decided it would be in everyone's best interest to take the kids to SkyZone - or as they call it, "the jumpy place" - to get some energy out before turning them over to my parents for the rest of the day and night. So I packed them up in the car and took them to the indoor trampoline park while Mommy B did our weekly grocery run and packed an overnight bag for the kiddos. The kids loved jumping around with each other and with some of the other kids - but they mostly just ran around as fast as they could without tripping and falling. After everyone was good and tired, we headed home just in time to meet Tatsy at our house who then scooped up the kids and took them over to their house.<br />
<br />
For the first time in a long time, the house was eerily quiet without any kids around yet both of us still there. I'm sure the dog was very confused. Once Bacon and Gentry showed up, we piled into her car and headed down the coast. The car ride was filled with good conversation and plenty of laughs - a staple in our family.<br />
<br />
We arrived to clouds and some rain with the temperature hovering right around 50 in Savannah. We checked into our hotel room and immediately went searching for late lunch - food, another staple in our family. We basically walked into the first bar/grill we could find and ordered some adult beverages right away. While our food was being prepared, we loosely mapped out our evening's festivities. We had signed up for a haunted pub-crawl that began at 8pm, so we had about five hours to kill beforehand. The consensus was to walk around for a bit right after lunch then head back to the hotel to take it easy for a little bit before we ventured out for the evening. After a mediocre lunch of bar food and a somewhat rude server (he was basically running this dive bar by himself on a Saturday), we walked down River Street and took in a few of the shops and ordered some drinks <b>to go</b>. For anyone that hasn't been to Savannah, "to go" means the bartender will pour your drink into a plastic cup that you can then walk around the streets with. Kind of like Las Vegas, minus the casinos... and desert. We made our way back to the hotel and crashed on the beds for a bit to rest up for the evening's events. But it basically turned into a <b>grown-up giggle-fest.</b> We all took turns trading jokes and making each other laugh - even though Mommy B and Bacon were trying their darnedest to take short naps. This even included Gentry playing a song on his phone from inside the bathroom. Welcome to the family.<br />
<br />
I decided that a nap wasn't going to happen, so I got up and started getting ready. Eventually the rest of the group joined me while I played music and sipped a Red Bull. Before we left Charleston and knowing about Savannah's open-container laws, Mommy B had stopped at Walmart and purchased four plastic "yard" cups with shamrocks on the bottom for us to use that evening. At first, I gave her a hard time because I thought everyone was going to make fun of us for celebrating St. Patrick's Day too early... little did I know that those cups would end up being the joke of the night. We finished getting ready, grabbed our cups and headed out the door. We took a picture by our room number so in the event things got really out of hand, we would at least have visual evidence of what room we were staying in. Lessons learned from Grandma C...<br />
<br />
The meeting spot for the pub crawl was only a block away from our hotel, so we decided that we would head out a little early and get some drinks next door. While still in the lobby of the hotel, we were asked by two separate groups where we acquired our St. Patty's Day cups. We laughed off their curiosity and told them they could find them at Walmart for $3 each. On our way out the door, I had an idea - each time someone asked us where we got our cups we should take turns making up the craziest story about where to find them, and at the end of the night we vote on who had the best "fake" story. It was unanimously decided that's how the night would go.<br />
<br />
We met up with our pub-crawl group and began our drunken trek around Savannah. The stories the guide told were great, but I really wish we could have actually gone into some of the haunted buildings he spoke to us about. Just standing outside being told about how "haunted" the building was didn't really do it much justice. However, with our large yard cups filled to the brim and plenty of inside jokes to go around, we had a great time. In almost every bar we went into, someone <b>had</b> to ask about our cups. We would tell them that we found them in this off-the-map, hole in the wall bar called Shenanigans. It was "like 10 blocks over and 3 blocks up... pretty far." We didn't even know if there was a bar in Savannah with that name, but we made it sound legit to everyone who asked. At one point during the pub crawl, a drunk guy walked up to us and interrupted our guide's ghost story to inquire about the cups. Now that we had the group's full attention, I told him the same story we'd told the rest and he bought it without even questioning us. I turned back to the group and told them that I had just completely made up that story, and everyone got a good laugh out of it. Even the tour guide applauded our quick-wit and had the group raise their cups to give us a "Cheers!"<br />
<br />
We eventually made our way to the Wild Wings where Gentry was able to meet up with some friends he knew from his home state of South Dakota. As we walked in the door, a woman at a nearby table again inquired about our cups. Gentry blurted out "Shenanigans!" as we walked past her. The woman immediately pulled out her smart phone to access the maps feature and said, "Shenanigans, got it!" We hadn't eaten any dinner yet, so we decided that some late night munchies were in order. As we started plowing through our food, the in-house DJ started playing all our favorite hits from the 90's... all mixed together that had us in an endless nostalgic trance. We took a few videos of ourselves singing along to the songs that we hadn't heard in almost 20 years, yet still somehow remembered the words to. Well, <i>most</i> of the words.<br />
<br />
That basically capped off our evening as it was nearing midnight. We tried going up the street to a karaoke bar because we had been promised that Gentry knows how to carry a tune. However, it was crowded with too many other white folks who thought they could sing. So after watching all the moms sing "Let It Go" in unison and about half an hour of waiting, we decided to just head back to the hotel. We made it back safe and sound with all of our belongings, which was a good sign. Once back at the room, we realized that we didn't have any bottled water. So Bacon and Gentry went down to the lobby and returned about 10 minutes later with about 8 bottles of water in their arms. They said, "Well, no one was around at first so we just grabbed these out of an open case that was there. We went to leave money on the counter for them, but then an employee showed up and said, 'You know those are complimentary, right?' So we took our money and came back up. Here ya go." <b>Shenanigans.</b><br />
<br />
We woke up the next morning not that much worse for wear, and treated ourselves to the complimentary breakfast in the lobby. Bacon was amazed to find an automatic pancake maker there, where all she had to do was push a button and a minute later two pancakes plopped out onto a waiting plate. It's the little things in life. After stuffing ourselves, we packed everything up and drove two hours back to Charleston in the rain. The kiddos were napping when we arrived back at the homestead, and Tatsy told us they were so good for them the entire time. We had received a few pictures from her throughout the course of the evening/morning showing us what a good time they were having without us. It's such a good feeling to know that we can both be away from them from time to time and trust they are being well-behaved. The more they are exposed to situations like that, the better off they'll be in the future if we decide to go away for longer periods of time. And of course, a big THANK YOU to my parents who volunteered to watch them for us while we spent some time acting like kids ourselves.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-50459004905893021592015-03-03T12:12:00.001-05:002015-03-03T12:12:19.777-05:00More changesI'm so sorry for neglecting the blog for an entire month. I promised myself I'd be better at posting updates, but you know how life gets in the way. That's a good problem to have, I guess. Speaking of keeping busy, we basically have at least one thing planned for the next four months. But first, let me get caught up on things.<br />
<br />
My parents finally closed on the loan to begin building their dream home. As with most home construction projects, they have already started on the foundation and are quickly working their way up. I was off work for President's Day so I took the kiddos over to the lot to watch the concrete trucks come pour the footers. They loved every minute of it - walking around in their mud boots, watching the big truck pump liquid concrete out into the trenches dug in the ground. We went back about a week later and the workers were already putting up the cinder block foundation. I can't wait to see it all take shape and get completed, I have a feeling it'll really be something special.<br />
<br />
I took a half day off from work a couple weeks ago because I had a job interview that afternoon, so Mommy B and I decided to do a little "shopping" for ourselves that morning. The first thing we wanted to do was replace the carpet in our master bedroom. It was the original carpet from when the house was built in 2004, and I know the previous owners had small kids running around on it for all those years too. So I did a little research and we met at Carpet Wholesalers in North Charleston to check things out. Within 30 minutes or so, we were walking out having purchased and scheduled our replacement carpet installation - it was such an easy experience. We walked in, told the guy what we were looking for and compared a couple styles and before we knew it were signing the paperwork. They came to our house a couple days later, moved all the furniture, ripped up the old carpet and padding, put down the new and put everything back the way it was... all within a couple of hours. We knew we had made a good decision when that afternoon I caught Aiden sitting on the floor in our bedroom pulling his shoes and socks off. I asked "What are you doing buddy?" He looked up and said, "I want to feel the <b>soft carpet</b>!" The two of them played in our bedroom in their bare feet for the rest of the evening - it was adorable.<br />
<br />
Another stop we decided to make that day was at a couple of golf cart distributors. A neighbor of ours had put theirs up for sale the week before, so we took a test drive to see what it was like. The guy had done some work to it - raised body kit, big tires, speed chip, etc. So it was in pretty decent shape, but when I stomped on the brakes to test them out I became extremely concerned. Let's just say it's a good thing it wasn't at an intersection with oncoming cars. So Mommy B and I decided to shop around and see if we could expect the same type of performance from other used golf carts. We weren't really dead-set on making a purchase that day... just wanted to do some research for if and when that time came.<br />
<br />
So we pulled into a place off Highway 17 that we drive by all the time to test things out. Less than an hour later, we had purchased ourselves a 2009 EZ-GO RXV in Mommy B's favorite shade of blue. Once again, it was one of the easiest experiences of my life - we walked in, told the guy what we were looking for and he showed us the carts that matched our criteria. We took one for a test drive and noticed that not only was it plenty fast without any modifications necessary but also stopped on a dime. I was sold. We then went back to the shop where the salesman showed us a few of the add-ons we could have added to the cart before it was delivered. So we had two seat belts and a safety bar installed on the back for the kiddos, as well as two armrests/cupholders on the back as well. They also tossed in a rear view mirror and ensured that the cart we received had brand new batteries. They told us to give them a couple days and they would drop it off at the house... so I spent the rest of the afternoon after my interview cleaning out the garage. The guy called me the next morning and said it was ready. I came home from work that day to our new (to us) golf cart sitting in the garage with the kiddos playing on it... just waiting for me to get home so they could go for their first ride. They have loved every minute of it... especially Aiden, asking me all the time to go on a ride.The weather hasn't been great for the last couple of weeks, so we haven't been able to use it quite as much as we would have liked. But we know the spring and summer will be here soon and will be getting plenty of use out of it going to and from the pool and playground in the neighborhood.<br />
<br />
In an effort to help fund these latest "splurges", I've decided to quit my job... and <b>get a new one!</b> That's right folks, after over two and a half years at The MIL Corporation, I've decided to accept an offer at a small software start-up here in Charleston called Good Done Great. Not only will I be making significantly more than I currently am at MIL, but they have also included 3,000 in stock options along with my salary package. This will be a great opportunity for me to bring my Project Management knowledge and experience to a small company that is looking to define their processes and form some kind of structure that they can use for their software implementations. I'm very excited to be joining such a cool company at this stage of the game. I have the opportunity to make a very big impact there and hope that my years of experience will suit their needs well. My last day at MIL will be March 10th, the day before my 31st birthday. I don't start at Good Done Great until March 17th, so it looks like I could be getting more stuff done around the house with a few days off to myself... we'll see what Mommy B had on her project list!Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-22844358951090063912015-01-21T14:37:00.003-05:002015-01-21T14:37:42.753-05:00Getting the new year started<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What better way
to start the new year off but to wrap up the end of last year. Mommy B and I
decided to take the kiddos up to Concord, NC and meet Grandma C at Great Wolf
Lodge the day after Christmas. This allowed Grandma C to break up her long
drive from Ohio and spend some quality time with her babies. For anyone who
doesn’t know what GWL is, it’s basically a huge indoor water park/resort... complete
with wave pool, slides, arcade, mini bowling alley, and restaurants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One would think
that when you’re taking two small kids to a place like that, how could things <b>not</b> be fun, right? Well, it was a mixed
bag. I started getting sick the day we drove up, which I knew wouldn’t bode
well for the remainder of our stay (a whole one night). When we first went into
the pool area, Alli wasn’t really having it. The numerous “sprayers” on each of
the toys somewhat frightened her which made her somewhat avoid things altogether.
Aiden seemed to be enjoying himself, so that basically meant that Mommy B
stayed in the pool with Aiden and I walked around the rest of the hotel with
Alli. That night, they had fun going to “story time” and watching “snow” fall
in the lobby with Grandma C. While the kiddos stayed up late in their pajamas,
Mommy B and I hit the “grown-up slides” for some fun of our own. Even while
battling my impending illness, we had a blast reliving our youth sans kids. We
made our way back to our room just in time to help put the kids to sleep, which
ended up backfiring as we suspected it might. Alli and I tried to share a
pull-out couch in which we could feel almost every individual coil spring… and
I felt every single kick of hers. Mommy B tried to get Aiden to fall asleep in
the bunk beds with little luck, and she ending up sleeping in four different
places throughout the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We arose the
next morning red-eyed and dragging. I felt pretty terrible, but the kids seemed
to be in pretty good spirits. I took the kids to get doughnuts for breakfast while
Mommy B rested. I recall telling the lady behind the counter we needed half a
dozen doughnuts, a sandwich for me and a coffee for Mommy B. When we got back
to the room, Mommy B asked the kids how many doughnuts we got for them. Alli
replied, "We got 6 doughnuts, mommy.” I’m not sure if she actually knows
what “half a dozen” means or not, but she figured it out. She continues to
surprise and impress us on a daily basis. We tried heading back to the pool and
this time Alli finally got her sea legs and Aiden wanted held. So once again,
Mommy B played in the pool while I walked the other around. Overall, I think
the kids had a pretty good time – and Grandma C got us a gift certificate to go
back again! I have a feeling that if we call our good friends who live right
down the road and have them join with their kiddos (and I avoid getting sick),
it’ll be an even better time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Grandma C then
followed us back to Charleston to stay until New Year’s. Also news to us while
we had been gone, my brother was coming to town at the end of that week. He’s
been deployed in the Navy for the last nine months, so I was looking forward to
spending some quality time with him on New Year’s Eve and having the cousins
see each other again. Since Mommy B and I had taken most of that week off, we
spent lots of time with the kids while I battled a low grade fever and a cough.
It was a lot of fun getting to see more family and taking some time off work to
spend it with those who are most important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Our plan for this year is
to take a few more “smaller” trips to make more memories with the kiddos. Even
though it won’t involve the kids, Mommy B and I are already signed up for the
same Marine Corps Mud Run that I participated in back in October – only this
one is in April. Along with a return trip to Great Wolf Lodge, we certainly
have a few small things planned out so far… with more to come, I’m sure.</span>Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-1565150299474874172014-12-24T11:21:00.002-05:002014-12-24T11:21:50.801-05:002014: The year in review<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I know Mommy B
and I haven’t been the best bloggers this past year. Our number of posts have
dropped significantly since we first started the blog back in 2011, but that
doesn’t mean our lives are any less eventful. If anything, it really means that
we’re busier than ever since we don’t have time to post. This year has been a
pretty big one for us, so let’s take a look back at some of the events that
have made this year so memorable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We started the
year off with a little snow/ice in Charleston, which is a rare sight. That was
right after we had taken the kids back to Ohio to see a real winter. They did
so well on the trip, but I know it’s tough for Grandma C to have 4 extra people
in her house for a week. After that, I took Mommy B skiing for the first time
in her life. She did so well and I was so proud of her – and we had a great
time relaxing by ourselves. We took the kids to the Ringling Brothers &
Barnum and Bailey Circus where Aiden got to witness the erstwhile “family
circus” for the first time in his life. It was truly a magical experience for
all of us, and I’m hoping that we can take them every time the circus comes to
Charleston. Shortly after that, we sold the house that Mommy B and I had turned
into our home – the place we bought right after we got married, where we got
our dog, where our children were born and basically where we started our family
– and moved back to Mount Pleasant. While we didn’t move very far
geographically, the two locations are worlds apart from each other. Our main
motivator? Our children’s education. In a couple years, our kids will be
attending some of the <b>best</b> public
schools in the state of South Carolina… which wasn’t something we were able to
say just a few months ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The spring
rolled on as we settled into our “new” house and Aiden moved up to the next
class at school. I could not believe how well he did with it and how well he
has done with it since then. Alli has progressed out of the Terrible Threes and
is now in what I call the “Independent Fours.” She wants to dress herself each
morning, and even comes down to wake us up on the weekends already fully
dressed – complete with leggings and tutu skirt. She doesn’t want any help
coloring, singing, dancing, eating or brushing her teeth… just to name a few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Just as things
around the house were starting to come around, I was rear-ended on my way home
from work one day. And just like that, my dream car was totaled. I still thank
whoever is up there that the kids weren’t in the car at the time and I wasn’t
severely injured in the accident. But the ensuing battle with tow truck
drivers, repair shops, chiropractors and the tightwads at the insurance company
have been enough to make me never want to be involved in a serious car accident
again, injuries be damned. I really miss that car… probably more than I miss
the Mustang GT I had in high school. But I had purchased this car myself – it was
<b>mine.</b> And in an instant it was taken
away from me. So I did what any normal person does after their dream car gets
totaled – buys their wife a newer car instead. Maybe I can afford one in a few
years when the kids are off to school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Speaking of,
Mommy B finished her Master’s degree after 18 long months of hard work. It was
tough slating for a while there, especially with everything else that we had occurred
within that time frame. Heck, I had to look back on the blog just to remind
myself of everything that had gone on. And to think that all the while she was
putting herself through school, it’s just nuts. We’re both looking into new
employment opportunities to complement our growing skills and education levels.
Ok, well Mommy B’s new education level, at least. We’re both very optimistic new
opportunities that will broaden our horizons await us in the new year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Over the summer,
Aiden moved out of his crib and into a “big boy” bed. A bunk bed, actually –
which he seems to thoroughly enjoy. Shortly after that, we decided it was time
to begin potty training. He took to it by the third day much like his big
sister did when we trained her. He barely had any accidents and was amazing
with it at school. His teachers helped out a lot, but he was super-proud to be
in the “no diaper” club in his class at school. He even moved out of his
nightly pull-ups a while back… which means we are officially done with diapers
AND pull-ups, <b>forever.</b> It’s crazy to
think that I haven’t changed a diaper in months and I never will on my own
children again. So all within a matter of a couple months, we went from having
a diaper-clad “baby” in a crib to a potty-trained kiddo in a twin bunk bed. So
not only will I never change another one of my children’s diapers, but I will
also never again lie one of my children down in a crib. Well, that happened
rather quickly… (as I brush the tear from the corner of my eye.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As you might
recall, we decided to fly the family back to Ohio over the Labor Day weekend so
the kids could actually see Mommy B and I’s home state <b>without</b> snow on it. They had an absolute blast – flying on an
airplane for the first time, going to the fair and seeing all types of animals
at the Toledo Zoo. We just happened to get the short period of nice Ohio weather
while we were there, and the kids got to swim in Grandpa Ron’s pond and ride
around on his tractor. Mommy B got to visit one of her best friends while I
watched the kiddos, and we had an awesome cookout at Grandma C’s house with the
entire family. It was a great trip and I’m so glad we decided to go up there
during the summer months for a change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Mommy B and I
decided to wrap up the year by taking a few days off after Thanksgiving to fly
to Jamaica for some R&R. I’ve been meaning to post about it, but you know
how busy things get towards the end of the year. My parents watched the kiddos
for us while Mommy B and I spent a few days climbing waterfalls and stuffing
our faces at an all-inclusive resort on the coast. The weather could have been
a little better while we were there, but we had so much fun regardless. Mommy B is
too modest to admit it, but she’s been running almost every day since after her
graduation – and has the body to prove it. This trip was the first time in over
4 years that I’ve seen her that confident in how her body looks in a swim suit.
It was so wonderful to see her smile and have fun like that again, and I’m hoping we
can do it again sometime soon.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Well Followers, as you can
tell this year has been full of firsts… and lasts. First time riding on an
airplane, last diaper change. First “move” to a new house, last walk through
the old one. First circus, last graduation. First (and hopefully last) trip to
the ER for sinus issues. First (and hopefully not last) mud run for Dad-E.
First molars, last bout of teething. First bunk bed, last crib – ever. As I sit
here and reflect on it all I’m slowly realizing it’s been a heck of a year for
us. Mommy B and I are taking a few days off from work to spend some time with
the kids and Grandma C who’s coming to visit. I’m going to try to do a better
job of updating the blog more often next year, because I have a feeling next
year will have even more adventures that I won’t want to forget.</span>Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-12224568938495125992014-11-13T21:01:00.002-05:002014-11-13T21:01:12.836-05:00Alli's Four Year StatsIt's hard to believe I'm typing this out... I am sort of in denial, maybe that's why it has taken me awhile to get up the nerve to write out my first born's FOUR YEAR OLD stats and info. It's so hard to believe that she's four. She is such a little person, such a grown up in a sense too, it's incredible. It makes me incredibly happy, and incredibly sad. She is already talking to me about when she's 5 and riding the school bus and when she's five and she starts golfing with daddy (?) and when she's five she'll be all grown up... at least she's waiting until five to think that. Maybe that means four will still be my little girl...<br />
<br />
Weight: 36 lbs 4 oz (61st %)<br />
Height: 40 3/4 inches (72nd %)<br />
BMI: 15.3 (50th %)<br />
<br />Favorite color: Orange. Everything is or should be orange. Clothes, skirts, socks, favorite foods, candy, frosting for anything, all needs to be orange.<br />
Favorite clothes: EVERY.DAY = long sleeved shirt, preferably one with sparkles, leggings, and most importantly, a TUTU. Any color, any style, doesn't matter if it matches, she must wear one. Even most nights, it is a must with her pajamas as well. (Pick your battles...!)<br />
Favorite shows: She loves a LOT. Sleeping Beauty, Beauty & The Beast, Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, and definitely Cars.<br />
Favorite toys: Pooh Bear still sleeps with her every night. Same with bunny. And she loves her Cars. Especially Doc, Flo, Sally, Lightning, and Finn.<br />
Besties: Anna Grace, Brookie, Khayden, and of course, her best friend at home, Aiden. :)<br />
Favorite food/snacks: Orange juice, oreos, frosting off the top of cupcakes/cookies, apple slices, grapes, and big hot dogs (Kielbasa)/mac & cheese is her favorite dinner... oh, and pizza is a favorite of course too.<br />
\<br />
There is so much in her day to day activities and conversations that I wish I could share on here. I just don't even know how to put it into words. She amazes us every day. Her teachers at school tell us every day when we pick her up that they wish there were 15 Alli's in the class. That truly melts your heart to hear something like that. She is a great listener, she is so observant, she remembers EVERYthing, she calls her brother "buddy", encourages his and gives him high fives, she's just a sweetheart. But, she's also got her moments. Her crazy times, her terrible three's (that have trickled into 4...?!), and her opinionated self are hard to handle sometimes. But when she's good, she's soo good, and it makes us so grateful that we're doing something right.<br />
<br />
Last night, she told Dad-E when he was helping me with getting Aiden's PJ's on, "Daddy come on, we gotta brush my teeth, they're getting yucky!" We were watching Sleeping Beauty, and when the burn "all" the spinning wheels so that the curse won't come true, she says, "But they forgot to burn one spinning wheel!" - she truly picked up on the fact that later on the in the movie, Sleeping Beauty will prick her finger on the one spinning wheel that wasn't burnt. It's incredible. We can't even explain how proud we are of her, and of course, Aiden's right on her tail keeping us proud and amazed every day too.<br />
<br />
Happy 4th birthday sweet girl, we are so thankful to have you in our lives.<br />
<br />
<br />Mommy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05956282344426277433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-70304111183636322732014-10-27T16:41:00.001-04:002014-11-20T13:01:17.737-05:004 years<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">4 years ago today
my life changed forever. 4 years ago today, lots of lives changed forever.
Something big happened that day, something I’ll remember as long as I live. It
was one of those events that changes the entire course of your life, no matter
what happens after it. It was an event that millions of people have
experienced, and millions more who never will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">4 years ago today, I became a parent.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">That’s right, my
baby girl turned 4 years old today. I remember the day well… Alli was 4 days
past her due date, so we decided to induce Mommy B that morning. It was kind of
a strange feeling meeting with the OB. “You mean I get to pick my child’s
birthday?” I asked. If she didn’t come on her own before then, then yes. Once
the drugs kicked in and the contractions started, I called my sister (who was
still up the road in college), and she hauled ass to Charleston. Grandma C was
on her way, and little did I know that my parents were making their way as
well. I watched Mommy B go from being nervous to being in agony as the
contractions began in earnest. Then I watched from my front-row seat as they
put the epidural in and her pain almost instantly subsided. I don’t know if she
really took a nap at that point, but she looked so peaceful once the drugs were
flowing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A couple more
hours went by and before we knew it, it was time to push. Those of you who
follow this blog know I don’t like to sit on the sidelines when the action is
taking place… so there I was, holding one of Mommy B’s legs to give her
something strong to push against. And before we knew it, out came our daughter…
with all her fingers and toes and a full head of dark hair. Followers might
recall that we didn’t find out Alli’s gender ahead of time, so the moment she
came out was truly a surprise to us. I took a good, long look at her girl parts
before relaying the message back up to Mommy B to give her the news. She had
been convinced the last couple months that our first child was going to be a
boy, so she was even more surprised. They cleaned Alli up, got her to start
crying and using those lungs of hers, then passed her back to Mommy B for the
first hold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Little did I
know at that point, how truly exceptional of a mother she would become. The love
in her eyes for her newborn was something words cannot begin to describe. You
hear people say growing up that parents are supposed to “do anything for their
children”… but to see that in someone’s eyes is very different. Then I got to
hold my baby girl. Here she was, my flesh and blood, and I could literally hold
her in my arms. I really wish there was a word to describe the combination of
emotions that rose up inside me as I held her close. In my mind, her life was
already flashing forward – changing diapers, first steps, taking the training
wheels off her bike, cheering her on at her soccer game, pictures on prom
night, moving her into her first college dorm, walking her down the aisle… and
maybe, if I was lucky, I’d get to hold <b>her</b>
first child as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A short time
later they began the process of breastfeeding, which both girls took to very
easily. Then they took Alli to the nursery and I ran across the street to buy a
bottle of champagne. It was near record-setting heat that day, just like today.
Highs in the upper 80’s – not bad right before Halloween. At that point Grandma
C had arrived, along with Aunt Bacon. My parents weren’t far behind. They all
took turns congratulating us and holding our sleeping princess. They were all a
little suspect about the dark hair, but their concerns were put to rest in the
coming months as it all fell out and her blond locks started filling in. Alli
actually slept pretty well the first couple of nights. I actually remember
thinking to myself, “Gosh, if this is what it’s going to be like, I don’t know
why people complain about it so much.” Haha.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A lot has
changed in 4 years, and it’s amazing to look back at it all now. We’ve been
through a lot, as to be expected with any “new” parents. There have been ups
and downs, twists and turns, and plenty of bumps along the way. We’ve had a
second child, and moved to a new house. We’ve furthered our careers all in the
name of bettering ourselves and enriching our children’s lives. We’ve painted a few walls, shuffled a few
cars, and changed a few diapers. <b>We’ve
both lost sleep, but gained experience.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As you get
older, you start to realize that as much as you try to teach your children,
they end up teaching you a lot more than you think. I’ve learned that while patience
is a virtue, idleness should be a sin. In that moment I held Alli in my arms
for the first time I promised myself that I wouldn’t let life get in the way of
my children. I wouldn’t put in late nights at the office just so they could
have a shiny new piece of crap to get bored with. And, I would keep myself in
good health as much as I could control – so that I wouldn’t just watch her ride
her bike, but ride along with her. We would do things as a family – grow together,
learn together, love together. Because at the end of the day, that’s all that
really matters: the relationships we’ve formed in our short life span on this
planet. 4 years ago today I got to start a brand new relationship that changed
my life forever, <b>and it’s been a pretty
darn good one.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Happy birthday, Allison – Daddy loves you</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-87748739763692202602014-09-25T09:01:00.001-04:002014-09-25T09:01:34.409-04:00Potty Time!Well let me first say sorry again for not keeping up with the blog like I should. It's been very neglected and I'm trying to be better about that. Soo, two weeks ago now, we decided it was time to clear a weekend to dedicate to Aiden and potty training. We psyched him up, talked a lot about it, even to the point that we'd ask him what we were doing that weekend and he'd tell, "potty train!" So, that Friday evening, Sept. 12, I changed my very last diaper ever. I put that last diaper on Aiden that night, realizing that when we did this potty training for Alli, he was still very much in diapers so I knew I wasn't going to miss changing them. But now, it hit me that this will just be another thing they don't need me for anymore. Kind of sad. But pretty amazing seeing them grow up too. <div><br></div><div>Saturday morning came around and we made a big scene about throwing every last diaper away. He had fun doing that. Then we went about our training, following the same book and guidelines we did with Alli. We asked about 809 times, tell us when you have to go potty, okay? He already started to get annoyed and would answer back okayyyy mommy!!! Ha! Eric took Alli away for a bit so we could concentrate. He had quite s few accidents but also several successes. He also managed to perforate my eardrum that morning by using a toy screwdriver and shoving it straight in my ear. We were playing on the couch, trying to pass time, and he just shoved it in - so fast I think we were both in shock. I had to have hearing tests and have had several ENT exams so far, we're hoping it will just heal on its own. But I guess that's how he felt about being stuck inside potty training.</div><div><br></div><div>Day 2 was similar to day 1, with some major successes and I could definitely read his cues much easier. Again, Eric tried to distract Alli so I could concentrate on him. He was definitely starting to get it and things were clicking.</div><div><br></div><div>Day 3, I felt like a failure. We had lots of accidents and very few times on the potty, but I knew it was almost through the intense three days and he had to be absorbing some of this and "getting" it. I just hoped for the best and we sent him off to school the next day with long talks with his teachers about our methods, no pull ups!, and lots of spare clothes just in case. </div><div><br></div><div>Fast forward two weeks now, and he has had only two accidents at school. One at home. That's it! He might not like to tell us all the time, but he's pretty predictable and easy to read. We couldn't be prouder of him, and can't believe he's caught on so quickly. </div><div><br></div><div>Now, onto our next adventure....! (Nothing exciting planned, but I'm sure something will come up, that's how it goes with us!)</div>Mommy Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05956282344426277433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-61224504912483582602014-09-18T10:35:00.001-04:002014-09-18T10:53:37.840-04:00Summer trip to Ohio<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Funny how things
turn out… just as I put up a post about how Mommy B had finished her Master’s
work and that she’d have more time on her hands, a month goes by without
hearing from us. Well, a lot has happened in that time, including our annual
pilgrimage back to Ohio to see Mommy B’s family.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A few months
ago, Mommy B and I decided it was high time we took the kids to Ohio when it
<u>wasn’t</u> snowing for a change. So as a way to take a “summer vacation” to
celebrate Mommy B’s graduation, we decided we would book a flight for the whole
family over the Labor Day weekend. It was to be our first airplane ride as an
entire family – even though Alli had technically ridden on one when she was not
even a year old yet.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">One of the
disadvantages of flying out of Charleston is that you almost <b>always</b> have to connect through another
city to get anywhere. As I began my search online for flights, I was not liking
what I was seeing. Hour flight to Charlotte, 2 hour layover, 2 hour flight to
Dayton… Hour and a half to Baltimore, hour and a half layover, another hour to
Columbus. You get the idea. Not to mention that no matter where we flew into,
we’d still have another hour or more driving to Findlay. Once I added
everything up, we would be traveling almost as long flying there as if we just
packed up and drove it straight through! However, I was determined to make it
work in between nap times and all that jazz. I kept searching and searching,
and finally came across a direct flight from Charleston to Detroit, which is
actually the same distance from Findlay than the other airports. The price for
each ticket was about the same – and flight time was only 2 hours. And to
sweeten the deal even more, each flight was early enough that we’d reach our
destination just in time for naps. Umm, yes and yes… I’ll purchase now, thanks!<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The flight to
Ohio couldn’t have gone any better. It was early on a Wednesday morning which
meant the flight was barely half-full – and we weren’t the only ones on it with
small children. The kiddos were so excited to go to the airport in their
pajamas, and were even patient going through security. They got to watch as
their stuffed animals went through the X-ray scanner, then magically appeared
on the other side. I purposefully selected the 4 seats at the back of the plane
for both trips, so we let everyone else board first. We figured the least
amount of time the kids would be confined to a small space, the better. They
loved running down the gangway, and even got to wave to the pilots as we
boarded. They loved looking out the window as we took off, seeing the ground
zip by then watched in awe as we ascended through the clouds. It was a very
cool experience for Mommy B and I – watching them take it all in for the first
time. They were absolute angels for the whole ride, thank the lord. We brought
lots of snacks and things for them to do in their seats, and before we knew it
we were descending into Detroit. We met Grandma C out front and began the trip
back to Mommy B’s home town.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">After naps that
afternoon, we took both kids to the Hancock County Fair. Now, for those of
youse <u>not</u> from a small rural town, the County Fair is <b>THE</b> event of the year. I’ve heard Mommy
B talk about going to the fair since we started dating 11 years ago, but we had
never been in town when it was occurring. So we spent that afternoon hauling the kids
around in a wagon as they got to see horses, cows, pigs, hens, roosters, chickens,
pet bunny rabbits (after which Alli said she needed one), ate Elephant Ears,
rode ponies, sat on tractors, and rode some carnival-type rides. Mommy B even
showed off her hidden talent at the Cane Game. If you have to ask what that is,
you’re not alone. The kids had a blast, and by the end of the day were totally
wiped out. So much so that they didn’t even care about sharing a bedroom!<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The next day, we
took them back up the road to the Toledo Zoo. This time, Uncle Tom and Grandma
Great came with us. We again spent the day looking at animals and goofing
around on the play sets. That evening, Grandma and Grandpa Great put the kids
to bed for us while Mommy B and I went out for the evening. We spent some time out
with Grandma C, then met up with Grandpa Ron for some adult drinks. We warned
him that we’d be bringing the kids over the next day to go swimming, just so he’d
be ready for the little tornado headed his way! It was good to get out on our
own for a little bit and see some family and friends. And the weather was
absolutely perfect – as it usually is for about <b>2 weeks</b> out of the year up there.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">On Friday, we
went over to Grandpa Ron’s house to let the kiddos swim. They had never been to
Ohio when it was warm enough to swim, so we were hoping this would be something
fun for them to do. And boy, was it ever! After playing for a little while,
Mommy B headed to Dayton to meet up with her best friend Jamie. I spent the
rest of the afternoon splashing in the pond with the kids and riding them
around on the tractor. After dinner it was more quality time wrestling in the
living room with Grandpa Ron. They had such a fun time – lots of giggles and
laughs had by all. By the time I got them home and in bed, they were wiped out
once again.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Saturday was
spent hanging out with family. Everyone came over to Grandma C’s house to play
with the kids and have a good ol’ fashioned family cookout. The kids had fun
spraying the hose at passers-by, and splashing around in two small baby pools
we had filled up for them. Everyone got their turn playing with them and
getting soaked by their little squirt guns. Mommy B and I took turns taking
pictures in between scarfing some delicious corn on the cob. I love you South
Carolina, but you just can’t compare to Ohio’s corn. The kids loved seeing
everyone and loved all the attention from family members… it warmed my heart to
see them smile so much.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Sunday was spent
relaxing and a couple more visits from friends, followed by lots of laundry and
packing everything up for the trip home. We made one more stop at the County Fair,
at which point Aiden decided he wanted to ride the ponies too. The next morning
we made the trek back up to Detroit and made the 2-hour flight back to
Charleston. That was after Mommy B’s hand got swabbed and she was flagged by
security. So there I was, standing in the middle of Detroit International
Airport security lines with all our bags and two kids who wanted to know why
Mommy had to go with security and they couldn’t go with her. Off she went into
the private room for an extra pat down and for TSA to rummage through her bags.
Good thing too, they almost let a terrorist onto the plane armed with a debit
card and coloring books!<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> I knew we were really headed home when the
pilot came over the speakers and said, “Local time is 9:50am in Charleston and it’s
currently 90 degrees. We should be there in just under two hours.” 90 degrees
already, eh? Yeah, it was only September 1<sup>st</sup>. The kids were a little
less impressed with the flight home, but still did amazing. We made it home
safe and the kids immediately jumped into bed to take a nap. It had been a fun
trip, and they were excited to get back into their own house and back into
their own beds. Things couldn’t have worked out any better, which was shocking
given the last few times we’ve flown anywhere.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Except for a few
minor meltdowns here and there (what 2-3 year-olds don’t?) the kids did
wonderfully the entire trip. And I was glad that I was able to give Mommy B
some much-needed family time that she’s been wanting for a while now. It was
such a good decision to go up when we did, as I mentioned the weather could not
have been any <b>better</b>. It enabled us
to take the kids out and do more fun things with them, as opposed to being
cooped up in the house because it’s 20 degrees outside in December.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now that our trip is over,
it’s time to focus on ourselves more. Spend more time with the kids, and do
some things around the house that we’ve been wanting to do since we moved in.
The weather will (eventually) be getting colder here, so what better time to
make some improvements to the house we’re working on calling a home. It was
good to spend some time away to remind ourselves what’s really important in our
lives – and that’s the <b>people</b> that
are in it.</span>Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-44637864059407118612014-08-20T12:03:00.002-04:002014-08-20T12:03:55.856-04:00I'm back!<div class="MsoNormal">
Since Mommy B can't get logged into the blog at the moment, I'm posting this for her:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, wow. I have left this blog for almost 18 months, and it
feels so good to be able to write <b>without</b> the thought in the back of my mind
that I have six other papers I should be writing right now. I am <b><u>DONE</u></b>. Pending
all results of my last few paper submissions, final portfolio, and practicum
evaluations, I will have completed my MSN degree. I am proud, thankful, and
appreciative of everyone that has made it work along the way. Especially and
most importantly of all, Eric. He's been my rock, my supporter, single dad, and
the one who has held this family together. I have had moments of sheer and
utter breakdown, crying for no reason (or for every reason!), and I have been
mostly unavailable for all the normal bath and bedtime routines each night.
Dinner has usually been whatever we can find laying around, and I'm sure he's
glad that normalcy is hopefully around the corner.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have been looking into job
opportunities, but taking it slow and trying to find something that makes me
happy. I want to teach, in some capacity, but still work with patients,
families, and nurses. I am looking but not too desperate, I do love my area I
work in right now but I want to grow and develop professionally, hence, the
reason for continuing my education. I am now on track to finish my RN III
advancement within MUSC too, a huge accomplishment within the organization that
I am excited about as well, we'll see if I get that advancement by the end of
October! So, that's me in a nutshell, I have finally reached the end of my
journey, for now. Who knows what I may feel like doing again once the kids get
into school-aged years!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other news, we have been extremely busy with trying to
update things on the house, and still make it "home". I have taken
the time to update color schemes in the living room and our bedroom. I want to
paint some more, I want to update the garage/storage for in there, and we want
to take on the task of updating our shower in our master bathroom. We just
can't sit still apparently. We'll see how that all goes!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Onto the kiddos... they are growing up way too fast. I don't
even remember the last time I got to update on the little things they have been
doing and saying, but I am trying to make a point again to cherish those
moments and record as many as we can. Alli is so smart, and picks up on and
remembers EVERYthing. Aiden's not far behind, either. He's a little parrot
these days, and loves to copy his big sister. They have been playing more and
more independently together, and she loves telling him that "she's a mom"
and can do anything he needs rather than running to me all the time. (That's
wonderful! Ha!). He recently, two days ago, moved out of his crib and into
a big boy bed in his room. Eric and I stood back for a moment the first night
we went up to check on him, and couldn't believe we'd never put another baby
into a crib. Our babies are growing up fast. It's incredible, emotional, and
exciting. I can't lie and say I will miss the baby years, as everyone tells us
we will, I just was never that much of a "baby person", and as much
as I loved the snuggles, the other times were much more difficult for me than
the troubles these days. I can handle temper tantrums about God knows what
rather than having a baby cry all night and not knowing why. To each their own I
suppose, I know some people will tell us that someday we will miss that, but,
I'm not so sure I'll miss those parts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will definitely be back in the swing of things, as soon as
I can figure out my password for the blog again... seems I've forgotten it after
all these months. <o:p></o:p></div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-26714073577029734682014-07-24T13:05:00.000-04:002014-07-24T13:05:01.827-04:00So much going on right now – Part II<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">When I last left
you Followers, we were getting <s>bombarded</s> visited by family members and I
still needed a car. Well, that all has changed. We’re back to normal capacity
around the house, and the vehicle situation has been resolved. Speaking of the
car situation, I paid my BMW off about a month ago, and have yet to receive my
title in the mail from the DMV. I have called them twice now and have basically
gotten the same “meh” attitude where they told me it was in “print pending”
status and it would be a few more business days until I received it. Well here
it is, another week later and I still don’t have it. It amazes me every day how
any government agency gets any work done.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So on Friday I
emailed the claims jerk whom I’ve been dealing with this whole time and
explained what the DMV told me. He called back about an hour later and
basically said, “Have you found a new car yet? No? Yeah… I’m gonna need you to
take the rental car back by the end of the day Monday. We’ve had you in that
thing for a month and a half.” To which I replied, “Fine,” and promptly hung up
on him. Looks like Mommy B and I had our weekend plans made for us! Since the
last Honda place sold the car I had transferred here to <s>some other sucker</s>
someone else, our options were wide open. We stopped by a small dealership near
our house to check out a couple cars that Mommy B had found online, and test
drove a couple cars they had on the lot. Well as luck would have it, Mommy B
fell in love with a 2010 Lexus HS 250 hybrid that had a killer price tag on it.
After doing a little homework over the weekend and making sure the car checked
out, I told Mommy B that since I hadn’t found a car I was really excited about,
if she found a car that she <b>really</b>
liked I would get it for her and I would drive her Pilot. She was a little
resistant to the idea at first, but eventually came around with a little
convincing. Besides, it was her turn to get a newer car anyway – annnnnnd I
felt that this could serve as an early graduation present. Hopefully I earned
myself some brownie points in the process. So I took a half day on Monday to
return the rental car and buy Mommy B a shiny new Lexus. Technically it’s used,
but it’s new to us. And it’s very pretty, much like its new owner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
Now, about those kids…<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Alli is really
starting to assert her independence these days… which is a good thing and a bad
thing. The good part is that she knows what she wants, when she wants it, and
can tell us such. The bad part is that she knows what she wants, when she wants
it, and can <b>definitely</b> tell us such.
She has become very easy to take care of – as long as you have the clothes and
food she wants. If she can pick out her own “pretty clothes” and her own meal,
she’s a happy camper and will go with the flow. But God forbid something in
there goes wrong, and it’s potential for meltdown central. Everything is a
crisis these days, whether it’s because she only got 2 crackers instead of 3 (since
she’s 3) or it’s that Aiden said “No” when she asked him if he was her best
friend for the tenth time that day. She has even mastered the taddle-tale voice
<b>already.</b> You know the kind, “Aiden
won’t share with meeeeee…” or “I need my magic waaaaaand…” But she is still so
smart and remembers everything – which I know I’ve been saying forever. She
actually used the word ‘otherwise’ in a sentence the other day, <b>correctly</b>. I looked down at her and
just shook my head. I hate that she has a late birthday, because I really think
she needs to be in kindergarten by the time she’s 5. If she has to wait until
she’s almost 6, that’s going to be tough.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Aiden is talking
more and more as well. I’m sure that having a fluent big sister around has
helped his cause, and we can tell that he has picked up on a lot of the things
she says. His vocabulary has exploded and he’s able to pronounce almost any
word that he’s trying to say. And if he can’t say it, he’ll point (or drag you)
to whatever it is he wants or needs. He’s almost as tall as Alli it feels like,
but they both are growing so fast. He still loves playing outside, moving toys
around (mostly the big ones), and going for rides in things. He wants to help
with anything and everything, especially if it involves tools or the vacuum. He’s
also figured out how to plug something into an electrical socket, which we
found out a few weeks ago. Luckily there was no incident involved, but we found
one of our phone chargers randomly hanging out of the socket and knew someone
had figured it out.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We tried taking
both of them to the movies this past weekend because the weather was crappy.
The new <u>Planes: Fire & Rescue</u> movie had just come out and they both
loved the first one, so we figured it would be a good chance to see how they
would do. Well, whatever idiot decided that starting a kids movie with 20
minutes of previews was a good idea should be taken out back and force-fed baby
food until they explode. Aiden did great for about an hour, but at that point
he was ready to get moving. I went out into the lobby with him while Mommy B
stayed a little while longer with Alli. After about 15 more minutes, I saw them
coming out as well. We were actually able to get our tickets refunded due to
having to leave the movie early, so that was nice. It was the first pleasant
customer service experience I’ve had in a long, <i>long</i> time. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /><br />Meanwhile, Mommy
B’s graduation can’t get here fast enough. She has less than a month to go, and
we’re both very excited that the end is so close. We’re planning on making a
trip to Ohio sometime this summer or fall and it’ll be the first time the kids
have ridden on an airplane together. Technically, Alli rode on one when she was
about one year old, but Aiden never has. I scoured the Interwebs to find direct
flights to and from our destination, as the smallest amount of time spent in a
small, confined space is going to work out best for everyone. We’ll see how the
flying with small children goes, but I know Mommy B is looking forward to some
much needed R&R. Aren’t we all…</span></div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-74207748227990469262014-07-09T15:38:00.001-04:002014-07-11T12:11:48.209-04:00So much going on right now – Part I<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I know I’ve been
neglecting you, Followers. And that is never my intent. As many of you know, or
can tell from reading this blog, our lives are rarely short on action. There is
always something going on, something moving (literally and figuratively), or
something changing. It is this constant flurry of action that often tears me
away from being able to post for sometimes weeks at a time. Naturally, that
just snowballs as more things happen the longer I wait to catch y’all up. Let’s
see if I can recount the happenings…<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Back in November
of 2012, I bought my dream car from a neighborhood friend. A platinum-gray 2008
BMW 535i with the Sport and Performance package, twin-turbo 300-horsepower
engine, murder-tint on the windows… you get the idea. Alli used to say, “Daddy,
you have a race car!” I promise I didn’t speed with the kids in the car, but
she thought it <b>looked</b> like a race
car. Well, on May 29<sup>th</sup>, 2014, that dream came to an end. As I was
sitting at a red light on my way home from work, about to turn into our new
neighborhood, a gentleman in a Chevy Silverado 2500 must have been too
preoccupied with his phone (or something) and barreled into me. He hit me so
hard that it pushed my car halfway into the turn lane, jarred the sunroof shade
completely back into the roof cavity, and sent my work badge flying from its home in
the center console all the way into the back seat. The rear bumper and left
tail light were obliterated, the trunk lid was folded in half, and the rear
windshield completely dislodged and shattered – glass was everywhere. By the
grace of all that is holy, I was not injured by this idiot’s negligence. And
more importantly, the kids were <b>not</b>
in the car. I don’t even want to think about the emotional scarring it could
have caused much less any physical injuries caused by being in the back seat so
close to the impact.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I knew the
moment I got out of the car and looked at the damage that the car was totaled.
Well, the gentleman’s insurance company didn’t think so (at first). I can’t
even begin to tell you the number of phone calls and haggling I’ve had to do to
get this situation handled. It started off with the claims representative who
got my claim taking a week’s vacation <b>right</b>
after it got filed – without telling anyone (like, say, <b>me</b>) and without delegating his workload to anyone at the office. When
he finally got back and around to returning my numerous voicemails, we
had a situation of getting the car released from the tow yard where it had been
taken the day of the accident and over to the body shop. Countless back and
forth, dealing with shady tow truck drivers, idiot appraisers and everyone’s
favorite, the DMV, have made the last month a total nightmare to deal with. On
the up side, I’ve been driving a rental car for free ever since the day after
the wreck (and still am to this day).<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We finally got
the situation down to a matter of finances after the body shop found more
damage that wasn’t in the original estimates that put the cost of repairs above
the 75% threshold to consider the car totaled. The insurance company offered me
$18,120.26 to buy the car out and call it a day, or $16,025.26 and I could keep
the car and do whatever I wanted with it. Well, a friend of Grandma C suggested
I contact some salvage yards and see what they would be willing to pay me for
the car in its current state. I found a buyer who was willing to pay me $5,200
for the car as-is. Well, for Johnny Thinwallet here, that’s a no-brainer. By
doing a little more legwork myself and hanging on to the car a little bit
longer, I could make myself another <b>$3,105</b>?
I’ll take what’s behind Door #2, Monty. (Sorry, Old Guy reference). So my poor
car now hides in shame in our garage, waiting for the salvage title to come
back so she can be taken away and sold at auction, likely to be stripped for
parts. Talk about a drag – walking past her every morning on my way out of the
house. I hate to quote a cheesy line from a Disney movie, but this seems to fit
quite nicely, “I guess that’s the good part about dreams… now you get to go
find a new one.”<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">So the hunt is
on for a new car. I had been eyeing a Honda Accord I found online, and even had
a dealership bring it here from Concord, North Carolina (just north of
Charlotte). I test drove it and loved it even more. That experience ended with
me walking out of the dealership after the sales manager refused to negotiate
with me on the price whatsoever. And they wonder where the saying “worse than a
used-car salesman” comes from? I’m offering you <b>cash</b>, dude, WTF? The saga continues…<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><br />
To help alleviate some of the stress, Grandma C came to visit for a whole week.
She went into full grandma-mode, which basically means I barely saw my kids the
entire time she was here. While I can’t say I was bummed about the much-needed
“break,” by the end of the week I felt like I had really missed out on spending
time with them. But I certainly didn’t want to take away from Grandma C’s time
with them, since she only gets to see them once every couple months or so.
However, I don’t think Grandma C wanted to spend time with them the way that
she did, where both of them were a bit under the weather and prolonged periods
of, um… lower digestive issues. If you know what I mean and I think you do. To
make matters worse, I was not immune to whatever had inflicted the kiddos, as I
battled the stomach bug for a few days myself. Nothing like spending the 4<sup>th</sup>
of July in the bathroom!<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The day Grandma
C left, Grandpa Ron and Uncle Jacob arrived. They stayed with us for the
weekend of the 4<sup>th</sup> of July so they could see the kiddos as well. I
still wasn’t feeling fabulous, but the kids were finally starting to come
around to the healthy side. We decided to keep the kids up late and take
everyone out on Pops’ boat to see the fireworks in the Charleston harbor.
Around 8pm we loaded everyone on the boat and headed down the river, and
dropped anchor just in front of the aircraft carrier that they shoot them off
from. It was a heck of a sight, and the kids seemed to really enjoy the
experience. They even slept in the next morning until 9am! I can’t even
remember the last time <i>I</i> slept that
late, much less them sleeping until that hour.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">So after almost a week and
a half of being <b>spoiled</b>, loved on,
bussed around, and playing hookie from school, the kids are getting back into
their normal routine. Everyone finally seems to be feeling better (myself
included), which of course makes Mommy B and I’s lives much more pleasant. It’s
a good thing too; we were starting to run low on sheets for everyone! We get a
few days reprieve playing host before Uncle Tom comes to town. He’ll only be
staying with us for a couple days, then staying in a rental on the beach (like
a real vacation?) for the rest of the week. He’s got it figured out – only
staying in the nut house for a couple days before running off to hide at the
beach. Man, when do Mommy B and I get to do that again?</span>Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-24346119464087035882014-06-18T08:35:00.001-04:002014-06-18T08:35:53.055-04:00Happy (belated) Father's Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/7Jpb2_YdxYM/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/7Jpb2_YdxYM&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/7Jpb2_YdxYM&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: start;">Here's the </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jpb2_YdxYM" style="text-align: start;">link</a><span style="text-align: start;"> in case the video doesn't show up.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
I came across this yesterday and I have to admit it choked me up quite a bit. I won't lie, I probably watched it about 5 times back-to-back because of how much it grabbed me.<br />
<br />
In my opinion, THIS is what Father's Day should be about. In my humble opinion, there are way too many videos and articles out there now where all the parent talks about is how they <b>don't</b> want to be with their children on their respective "holiday." And it's not just Father's Day, it happens on Mother's Day too - all that parent wants is to be left alone and have a day of relaxation to themselves.<br />
<br />
Well, I think that mindset stinks on toast. Look, I get where they are coming from - everyone needs a little R&R every once in a while. But pick a different day to do it. How about the Saturday after Mother's Day to go get a massage and a mani/pedi? How about the week before Father's Day to go fishing with the fellas? But not on the <b>actual</b> day!<br />
<br />
Come on, people... they're your friggin' kids, not some annoyance you just have to deal with. I get that you need a break, trust me, I know. But you signed up for this deal, and that means you're on duty 24/7 until they are grown and gone. Until then, get your rear end in gear. As I mentioned I've watched this video quite a few times... and I didn't see any shots of the dad sitting on the couch. Or lying in bed. Or out bar-hopping with his buddies.<br />
<br />
The point I'm trying to make is near and dear to my heart. Father's (and Mother's) Day should be spent <b>with</b> your kids, not without them. Do you know what all the deployed soldiers would give to be back home with their kids on Father's Day? They would probably puke if they knew how much we civilians joke about avoiding our kids on those special days. Or what about the fathers who have lost their children to car accidents, cancer, or these mindless school shootings? Try asking one of them how they feel inside every year when Father's Day rolls around and they spend it visiting their child's grave instead of their playhouse.<br />
<br />
The video is called "Calls for Dad" for a reason. Come on, dads... answer that call. Don't take Father's Day for granted. Spend time with your kids. Because there are lots of fathers out there who don't get the option.Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-1809574336333877122014-05-21T16:42:00.001-04:002014-05-21T16:42:21.830-04:00Grinding it out<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Nothing really
Earth-shattering going on at the moment, just marching our way towards summer
and all that entails. A few updates on things here and there, just to keep you
in the know.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The “new house”
is slowly but surely coming together. We still have a ways to go to make it
perfect (if there is such a thing), but little by little we’re getting things
looking the way we want them. We’ve painted our bedroom and have decorated
(most of) the walls with pictures and other artwork that Mommy B has
acquired/created. We also purchased a desk so we could have the computer in a
more permanent location than the kitchen bar area. Having this desk set up also
allowed us to put away and organize some of the few remaining boxes of stuff we
still had lingering around. The computer and our paperwork now have a home and
our bedroom looks much less cluttered. I feel better now.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Next on the
honey-do list was painting and updating the laundry room. The previous owners
(bless their hearts) painted the laundry room this dark, burnt-brick color that
makes the poor room look ever more claustrophobic than it already is. This is
the second time in as many houses I’ve owned that the previous owner painted
some random room that color – must be a southern thing. In any case, that color
choice and the single ventilated shelf wasn’t going to cut it for us, so we
gutted it and are starting over. I’ve spent the last couple of nights cleaning,
mudding, taping, and painting to get this room looking much more inviting. Not
that someone ever really <b>wants</b> to
spend copious amounts of time in the laundry room, but we figured with two kids
we’ll be spending enough time in there that it should look better than it did.
Tonight I’ll be sanding the holes I patched and putting on the final coat of
paint. Then we’ll be calling in the professional, a.k.a. Pops, to help us
install some shelving and cabinets to put the finishing touches on the room.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Since the
weather has been so nice the last couple of weeks, I’ve also been doing some
outside chores that needed to get done. Said chores include trimming the dead
prons of a couple of the palm trees we have in our yard (I know, tough life,
right?), cutting down a small tree, and clearing about 800 square feet of
woods/brush from behind our back fence. Much of the foliage was starting to
creep over the fence and into the yard, and the decomposing brush just beyond
the fence had the potential to house various snakes and other critters. Well,
with two small children and a nosy dog just feet away, I knew that had to get
addressed. Pops and I got out the chainsaw and limb cutters and went to town.
Not only did it clean up much of the crap that had been just tossed over the
fence for years, but it also exposed some huge palm trees that were previously
hard to see from the house. Nothing like improving your view from the porch
while making the place a little safer for the kiddos, am I right? I’m sure the
deer appreciate a nice clean walking path as well.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Once the laundry
room gets its final coat, the next room to paint will be the playroom. We
already have the supplies (including the paint) and Mommy B has already taped
off the majority of the room. So once I finish in the laundry, we’ll head
upstairs and begin cutting in. My hope is that we’ll be able to get cut in and
I can come hard with the roller and knock it out. Our goal is to get the room
painted as soon as possible so we can begin hanging up some Ringling posters
and other circus memorabilia. The room has looked pretty bare since we moved
in, and even though we finally have a pull-out couch for guests to use, we
still want to get the room decorated for any potential visitors.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Mommy B is on
her last “break” before her final quarter of school. We’re trying to get as
much done around the house as we can while she’s free because once this final
quarter starts, I might not be seeing her very much. For this final quarter,
she has to shadow some other nurses during her already-limited “free time.” I
forget how many hours she’ll have to log for these classes, but it could entail
her entire day off each week as well as some hours here and there after her
regular 9-hour shifts. She might even pick up some Saturday shifts so that she
can have another day off during the week to shadow. Bottom line, it doesn’t
sound like it’s going to be much fun for the next 12 weeks… for <b>anyone</b>. But, the silver lining is that
this is the last quarter, the last dance, the anchor leg, the final 100 meters
down the home straightaway towards the finish line. Anything and everything
that’s left in the tank gets used right now. The end is in sight, and she’s
almost there. It’s been tough, but we’re optimistic that it’ll all be worth it
when it’s over. I know a certain someone who’ll be looking for a big ol’ bottle
of wine come August. And maybe a vacation to somewhere more tropical.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Kids? Oh yeah,
them. Well, they’re still simultaneously testing our patience and stealing our
hearts on a constant basis. The things that Alli puts together and figures out
on an almost-daily basis astounds me. Even when they’re mildly gross and/or
inappropriate, I still stop and think to myself, “Wow, she really thought of
all that on her own?” For example, last week she randomly said “We don’t go
pee-pee in the pool because it’ll turn yellow… and the pool has to stay blue.”
Well, not quite the reason I would have given, but I like where you’re going
with that one. A few hours later in the bathtub, she said “If you toot in the
bathtub, it’ll make bubbles.” That is A) gross, and B) very true. Good
observation, precious. Not all of her proclamations lately have been of the
bodily-function variety, but you get my point. Grossness aside, these were
statements she conjured up all on her own, without any input from anyone… she
was simply stating something she figured out on her own. Hopefully not from
experience with the whole peeing-in-the-pool statement… but you never know.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Aiden is fitting
right in with his new classroom. Granted, he has known most (if not all) of the
boys he’s in there with for a long time. But his teacher said it took him less
than a week to really come out of his shell and stop playing the shy, quiet
kid. We all knew better, and figured it would just be a matter of time before
he started being his usual self. He’s saying more and more words these days,
and if I can’t understand what he’s saying, Alli will translate for me. He
still wants to do everything big sister does – if not before her, then
immediately afterward. We took him to the pool a couple weeks ago and tried out
some puddle jumpers that actually fit him now. Yeah, it took him about 2
minutes to figure them out and start swimming after his big sister. They are
both such water babies, which is a good thing living on the coast. We haven’t
taken them to the beach yet this year, but I have a feeling that might change
very soon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My brother’s
wife and their two kids are coming down for the long Memorial Day weekend. Our
plans basically include spending as much time outside and on my parent’s boat
as possible. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous, which will be a nice
change since the last time they came down it rained the whole time. I’m really
hoping that Alli and her cousin Max pick up right where they left off last
time, because they were absolutely adorable to watch playing together. I’m sure
Aiden will try to keep up, as will his cousin Charlotte, but I’m sure that will
come with time. Just gotta keep on grindin’…</span></div>
Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441231028402046708.post-22222950905934324662014-05-09T09:44:00.001-04:002014-05-09T09:44:49.305-04:00It’s that time again<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The time has
come for Aiden to move up to the next class at school. He’s a rompin’, stompin’
terrible-two-year-old who’s ready to start playing with the bigger kids. He’s
about the same size as them anyway, so why not? This week marked his last week
in the “Toddler” class at school, and he’s been visiting his new classroom each
afternoon to get acclimated to it. His new teacher has known Alli since she was
in the infant classroom, and even though she technically never had Alli in her
class, she knows all about these two troublemakers.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">This move means
a couple interesting changes for everyone. First, it means that instead of
dropping Aiden off in the “younger kid’s” room then taking Alli down to the “bigger
kid’s” room in the mornings, now I’ll be taking them both down to the same
room. Since I drop them off so early, they usually gather all the kids into a
couple rooms before splitting off into their individual classrooms. Since his
new teacher is the one who watches that room in the mornings, she told us
yesterday to just bring him down there from now on. I said, “Okay… you asked for
it.” So last night we kept telling Alli how her bro was going to come with her
to her room in the mornings now, and she was so excited. We have a little
ritual of getting a package of crackers when we walk in the door and she’ll sit
down at the table in her room and eat them before she starts playing. I told
her that now she’ll get to sit with Aiden and both of them will have crackers
each morning. She couldn’t wait to get to school the next day, it was so
adorable. With this new class also begins the always adventurous potty training
endeavor. He seems to be grasping the concept of the potty (after watching big
sister so much) and tells us he’s gone after the fact, but we’re working on it.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">This morning
came and went exactly the way I thought it would. We got to school and instead
of taking Aiden to the right, then Alli back to the left – we all turned left,
grabbed a package of crackers and headed toward the “big kid room”. We made a
pit stop in Alli’s classroom so she could drop off a present for her teacher
(since it’s Teacher Appreciation Week) and use the potty. <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">We then went
back to what will be Aiden’s classroom for the next year or so. Alli went
flying in as usual because she knows that room well and many of her friends
were already there waiting for her. Aiden was a little hesitant when we hit the
doorway, so I scooped him up and gave him a big hug. Alli was already saddling
up to the table getting ready to devour her crackers, and she had a seat saved
for her little brother right next to her. Aiden was a little clingy at first,
but once I showed him that he has his very own package of crackers and asked
him if he wanted to sit next to Alli, he couldn’t get down fast enough. I
opened both packages for them and naturally they both dug right in. I knelt
down in between them and gave them both big kisses and hugs. I looked at Aiden
and told him to have fun (and to behave) hangin’ with his big sister. I then
turned to Alli and said, “Listen Al, you take care of your little bro, okay?”
She looked up at me and with a mouth full of saltines replied, <b>“Okay, Daddy.”<br /><br /></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">I got up and
walked out feeling so proud of those little buggers. They haven’t exactly been
a picnic lately, as Alli has been picking up a little attitude (we call it
being a “Threenager”) and Aiden has been mimicking her every move in addition
to becoming more independent himself. She runs around, he runs around. She
whines and cries, he follows suit. I know this is completely typical (and normal)
at this age, but it still tests your patience. I’ve said it a hundred times –
now I know what it feels like to live with someone who’s bipolar. You say one
thing wrong and it’s a total meltdown. You try to speak softly and calm them down,
and it just makes things worse. Two minutes later they’re happy and laughing
again. The phrase “emotional rollercoaster” has never been more appropriate in
our house at the moment. So, witnessing this moment this morning was quite a lovely change of pace.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I wish I could have taken a
picture of them sitting at the table together to mark the occasion, but a
mental picture will have to suffice for now. Maybe I’ll get one on Monday, if I
remember. The real reason I wanted to capture this moment is because I know
that in a few years, it won’t be cool to hang out with your sibling. Especially
your “little bro”, in Alli’s case. They looked so happy to be together even
though they play together at home all the time. I’m really hoping they continue
to build that strong bond that <b>only
siblings</b> can know and feel. As for me, I have to deal with the fact that we
don’t have any “babies” anymore… and I’m not liking it as much as I thought I
would. Sort of.</span>Dad-Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04311313668410374383noreply@blogger.com0