Phone call

Hello Friends!

We have had the potty seat out at our house for awhile now.  Just available.  Sitting on it occasionally, nothing happening.  Whatever.  On Thursday night, Z asked to sit on it and accomplished... PEE!  And Friday night, and Saturday night, and Sunday night too!

I told the sitter this morning and today, while lunching at Br.avo with my BFF from FL, my phone rang.  Sitter.  Oh shoot (she rarely calls.....).  I answer and she says Z needs to talk to me.  "Mama pee an poo!!!!"   WOW! YAY!!!! So now I am very excited with out saying pee or poo, in the middle of the restaurant.    My BFF is chuckling very hard at my struggle.  So was I. 

So there you go.  Z is leading his potty training.  No stress, no pressure. Just offering to go before nap and bed for now.  Here's to it going as easily as it did for J. We are on the same track!

Have a great day everyone!  I'm smilin'!

Catching my breath!

Hello Friends!

I am sorry to have kept you hanging.  The acquisition at work has been nothing short of a blessing.  But I have been SOOOOOOOOO busy.  I get to work at 8 (ok 8:15) and all of a sudden it's 5.  That is good.  But tiring.  And exciting!

I did lose my General Manager title.  I am now Operations Director (previously Operations Manager so its still a step up).  And I am happy with that.  That is what I truly do here, it fits in my head and in my heart.  I make sure the day to day goes well.  I do it well and am recognized for doing it well.  I have taken on some other responsibilities and I like them.

Husband was so unhappy with previous management. Which was hard because I was part of the management but I had no say and things were a bit weird.  We wouldn't talk about work cause it made me sad that he was unhappy and admittedly I didn't handle it as gracefully as I should have.  He was job searching and I didn't want to know because I felt like in my position, I knew our lead (only) developer was looking and I should tell someone but then I would be breaking marital privilege and if I did tell he probably would have been walked out and we need his salary.....it was yukky. For a long time.  So we had come to where I knew he was looking and I knew he had interviews and meetings with recruiters but no details other than that.    And we just kinda lived on edge.  Then the acquisition happened and now we work for a global software publishing company.  Husband is now one of 26 developers and is working for the type of company he was looking to work for!  He called all the recruiters and told them he was not looking anymore!  Rides home are good again.  We can talk about work again.   There is no more uncertainty.  It is good.

And guess what!?  As part of this, he needs to go to Headquarters overseas to meet with the main development team, and so do I so, they are talking about sending me at the same time!  How cool is that? No date to travel yet but it may even be before the holidays!

All this happened right before we headed to South Dakota for a family celebration.  My dad had gone out the week before to spent time with his brother in Nebraska so he and that family met us there.  My mom, who doesn't have as much vacation time as my dad, drove with us. The boys did great in the car.  We did 3 hours on Thursday night and 5 on Friday morning.  Spent Friday late afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday with family celebrating, visiting, seeing and doing some things in town and having a wonderful time.  My cousins who were there are aged 17-25 and they were all sweet and inclusive with my boys, I am so blessed.  As part of the celebration, on Saturday, my aunt arranged a chuck wagon catered meal with the food all cooked in dutch oven right in the coals for the family and their close friends.  So yummy and it looked cool too.

Here are my boys at a beautiful park on the SDSU grounds on Sunday. 

We drove the whole way home on Monday with only the last hour and a half being awful.  Truthfully,it wasn't all that bad we just all wanted to be done in the car.  Here are the boys at a rest stop as we headed home.  A welcome sign:

Tuesday we all jumped back into work, and.... J ended up with strep .  Here he is at the Dr., one sick and sad little boy.

On Wednesday, the sitter called me and said she had strep.  Crap!  So I took Z in for rule out culture (cause he had been so exposed and had a weird cough) here he is at the Dr.  Thankfully, no strep!

My goal for the rest of that week was to NOT go back to the Dr.  Sadly, by Sunday, Husband had a weird stomach thing and was cramping so badly he asked me to take him to urgent care.  Sigh!  It was just a flu, but man I'm over it!

On to better things. I have a third grader!  Who insisted on wearing this on the first day!  Handsome!

We are settling into the new normal of this school year.  J is playing soccer (shhhh: I don't think its his sport.  He wants to be goalie so he doesn't have to run so much!) and has joined Cub Scouts.  And of course there is immediately a fund raiser.  Here he is proudly wearing his new uniform and selling his stuff to a few close friends in my moms neighborhood.

Oh an I also had another rummage sale to try to sell the rest of our baby stuff. The one we had in July was a great learning tool.  I knew how to better display and it wasnt a holiday weekend.  All the big baby stuff that we are done with is gone.  (ex: we still have 2 strollers but we are using them.) We are down to 3 bins of really nice baby cloths that I will try again with next summer.  I donated some stuff and there is visable space it the basement!

OK, I'm done. Whew!  You are pretty well caught up and can see why I have not been on here in the last 6 weeks. Holy Cow that was only 6 weeks!!!!!!  :)   Have a great day everyone!

Its done...whew

Hello Friends,

Sorry for the weird Changes post earlier.....I was so nervous.  I didnt know what to do with my energy.  

So the company I work for has been sold to another.  A move that I think will be fine for everyone.  BUT its been something I havent been able to talk about with anyone but 3 other people at work.  FOR MORE THAN 7 WEEKS!  Not my besties, not my husband, not my mom or my sister or my dad.  That is how I process.  Talking.  It has been a loooooong seven weeks.

I havent been sleeping well.  I havent been eating well.  Well, I've been eating, dont get me wrong....just not in a healthy manner (says the scale this am - UGH!).   I have had what I am assuming are mini panic attacks. I LIED to Husband.  We dont lie in our marriage and I had to lie.  I was legally bound.....this did not sit welll with me.

Its done.  Its out in the open.  I feel so much better.  Husband is not upset with me.  He understands the position I was in.  He is a bit on edge as this is all news to him and the new owners will be here in a few hours and I have had 7 weeks to process this.  Understandable...right?

We have 2.5 days with new owners before leaving for vacation on Thursday evening.  I think its gonna be a long 2.5 days.   Im a little worried about leaving.  Im so curious to see what they have planned for this office, for the people here.  For me.  I'm certain I will lose my General Manager title, I will probably gain some other title and still have the same job....whatever...

We shall see.

Thanks friends.

Changes

Changes have been a brewing at work for awhile....I have been sworn to secrecy for well over a month.  I could not even tell Husband who works here too.

Today is the day.  Today it happens.  Today they will all find out.  Husband will find out.  I hope its just like ripping off the band aid quickly....

I think it will all work out.  I think we will all be fine.  I think Husband will understand the position I'm in. I'm nervous.  I'm kinda shakey.  I have nothing to do today until this announcement happens.....Trying not to let it show to others.

Needed to vent to someone. Thanks for being there.

When I can speak freely I will..... I hate this!

Here we go................

A bit muddled up

Hello Friends,

So things here are good.  Z is finding words and being 2 all at the same time...He argues and cries about everything and holy cow is he loud about it! I may have lost my temper with him a few times lately and yelled.  OK I have lost my temper several times as of late....he has definitely spent a decent amount of time in the corner pulling him self together. He only has to stay there until he is done crying and carrying on.  It seems to help a little.  Oh Two!

J is going well, trying to be a good big brother and enjoying his summer.  He got to try archery with my dad the other day,  he loved it!  We are going to have to go back to the facility, its only a mile or so from our house. That's actually OK with me, I loved the archery units in HS.

One of my besties, A (she's almost like a sister as she lived with my family for 3 years just out of HS) lives in FL and I don't get to see her much.  She and her new husband, a brilliant photographer, are traveling the art show circuit this summer and home based out of her moms here in WI for about 6 weeks while they did Midwest shows.  My family got to have a lovely dinner with them both on July 3, they spent the night at my parents and then we all had breakfast on the 4th before they headed to another show.  Her husband was out of town this week and she squeaked out a little more time to spend with us.  I bit the bullet and took a last minute half day of vacation and spent it with her!  It was sooo nice. We met my dad for lunch at BRA.VO (yum!) then we just hung out for a few hours before it was time to get Husband and the boys.  We spent the time chatting and visiting like we have never been apart.  I miss that sooo much!  My mom, dad and sister joined us for dinner at our house and it was wonderful.  They head out of town this weekend for some fairs out in UT and then they will go back home.   I can't wait for next summer when I think they will be here longer.  I may also get to see her, and help with a show in IL, in Sept....still working out the logistics on that one! Trying hard!

Husband is also doing well.  He has been helping his brother with some stuff and ended up with some extra spending money.  He bought a 90 gallon fish tank!  OH BOY!  We had a 55 gallon salt water tank for 5 years before we moved into our house.  Then he just decided that with a new house, yard, and new baby (Z) on the way, his time and $ could be better spent.  I have sensed the itch to get back into it coming for about 6 months now.  He is building his own stand for it, so it will probably be a month or so before it gets set up.  He seems quite pleased with himself and is happy puttering around in the garage.

Not sure if I have stated this here or not, but Husband is not a licensed driver.  Some stuff happened before we met and he lost the privilege.  Then he moved to WI with me and getting it back became complicated over state lines.  He almost got it back twice, but misinformation has prevented it one way or another.  Its also "easy" in that we work together so we can drive together and we live on a bus line so if he has to he can get around that way too.  He is worried about increased insurance and another car payment when he does get it back, so just never has.  I cannot fight with him about it.  If I push him, he shuts down and I will NOT fix this for him.  Its his mess to straighten out.

So, yesterday, Husband came to me and stated that maybe its time to get his license back.  He said all the right things.  Things I have said to him over the years.  It would be easier to divide and conquer the errands, the kids activities, I wouldn't have to do all the driving etc....  And, well, when I should have been grateful, I got kinda irritated.  I'm still kinda irritated.  This, this one thing (I cant mention it here yet) is going to prompt you after all this time to get it back?  Not the times when I was so tired and had no driver to back me up on a trip, or when getting it all done with one car and one driver is hard and often times complicated.  Not when I was at the end of my rope about it all?   Nope.  Just this one thing.  UGH!  and yet, I should be feeling grateful.  I should be jumping for joy.....still processing.  No answers yet, no action yet.  Just these muddled up feelings.

We are headed into our craziest part of summer next week.  Husband and I took off on Wednesday and are going to take J to Gre.at Amer.ica for the day.  He earned a free ticket for a reading challenge at school.  He worked really hard at it and I think its what prompted his reading taking off.  If it wasn't for that, I would have said HELL NO!.  I ordered tix online in advance (saved $44!) and just for Husband and myself it was still $97!  We still have to do parking when we get there and figure out food.  I'm thinking we will be packing a lunch!  Highway robbery....here's the best part.  I hate those rides.  A lot.  I'm only going cause, well, I'm the driver and I want to experience it with him.   From the ground!  Maybe I can just work on my tan and read my Kin.dle.

Thursday, we will head to our friends cabin 6 hours away for the weekend. An annual thing for about 5 or 6 years now.  We will return home on Sunday and crawl to work exhausted on Monday!

Have a good day everyone!

 

A Slightly Smaller Catch Up (June - July to date)

Well hello friends!  Look, look its only been a little while since my last post!  hahaha actually that last post was getting crazy long so I decided to stop and start new.

I forgot at the end of May, our air conditioning in our van went out.  $1500 minimum to fix it they tell me.  Forget it, I tell them.  Off to C.arM.ax we go.  So a few months earlier than we hoped, we have a new van.  Not as fancy of a model as our last one, but still nice, lower milage and it gets COLD!

June found us at the end of second grade for J.  His teachers had nothing but great things to say about him.   Nice to hear from others.  I never know how he is away from us.  You can only hope right?  He finally conquored reading around Christmas and is devouring books.  He is almost through the "Di.ary of a Wim.py K.id" Series and has finished several other chapter books in the meantime.  He adores school and I cant wait for this next year.  His school just got accepted to be a Charter school for Arts.  That means art of all forms will be a part of everyday learning!  This should only enhance his love of school as he is very artistic with drawing, painting and dancing!

In the summer, we have a crazy daily schedule.  I allow J to go to his Daycare about 2 times a week for big fun field trips (museums, ball games, tours, play zones, etc....) and the rest of the days are spent at his beloved Babysitters where Z goes.  Unfortunately, as she is self employed, she also takes many Fridays off in the summer. In past summers, I have struggled to fill these with a college age person at the house and then only when I needed to, fell back on the daycare for both boys.  This year, we just decided to bite the financial bullet and if she was off they both went to Daycare.  This does mean that to drop Z in for just one day a week is $94! (ouch!)  But it has resulted in a much easier life.  Sort of. I still have to check my calendar before bed every night to see who goes where in the am!  :)  Thank goodness for Google Calendar!  I can type it in on my computer and check it on my phone.  It also sinks to Husbands phone so he can see too.  Very helpful!

The Friday school ended, we started our summer adventures. We drove 3 hours to Door County, WI, and spent the night.  All day, Saturday we were with family at a reunion of sorts while seeing that beautiful part of the state, we left after dinner and drove 3 hours back home.  Sunday morning we woke up and I packed J for a week and we drove to 3 hours to St Charles, IL to my sister-in-laws home. She had agreed to take him for a weekn in addition to her 4!  And she babysits during the day!  Husband, Z and I turned around and drove 3 more hours home.  Thank goodness for the new individual DVD players my mom got for the boys in the van.  This was Z on the way to IL.

J did great, except for the 2 times he called home at night.  He was just so exhausted that he cried and wanted to come home.  But he didnt really.  But he did.  So we just decided not to talk and I texted my SIL for updates.  He was exhausted because they have a trampoline and a zipline in thier backyard, they went swimming at least twice, they went bowling, and to Se.venEl.even for slushies!  Whew!   Husband, Z and I went back Friday night, spent the night and stayed through lunch the next day and then headed home.   That was just the first week of summer vacay!

The second week, we were blessed to have my dad home and on vacation from work so every morning he came to our house as we were leaving for work with Z and stayed with J until it was time to go to Vacation Bible School at our church.  He then picked him up after and they had adventures.  They went to the library, to the Dinosaur Museum in Kenosha and got to ride the trolley.  On Thursday, as they were leaving my parents house to go to the barn to ride horses, J noticed a large fire at the neighbors backyard and told my dad.  They ran over to see if anyone was home, nope, and my dad put out the fire with the hose that was filling the pool.  J saved thier house!  They were so grateful they wrote a letter to him saying he was thier hero and gave him $25 to Cul.vers!  He was very proud.    I am very proud!  Here is a pic my dad took after the fire was out of J putting wather on the smoldering fence. Thats my parents house on the other side of the bigger fence so he may have saved thier house too!

July arrived and Husband and I took off on the Friday after the 4th for a 4 day weekend.  It was sooo nice. 

We bit the bullet and had our first rummage sale.  The baby stuff must go! We need to regain space and I dont think there are any babies in our future!  Apparently 4th of July weekends are not great but it helped us get prepared.  We learned some and I think will have another in Sept...when its cooler. 

We invested again in a splash pool for our backyard.  (They dont seem to winter well but the price is less than $100 and we use it A LOT) I also found a new Coast Guard approved life jacket for Z.  He loves it and is learning how to puppy paddle.  (I promise I was only out of the water for the pic).  

I think you are up to date on our home life and our cutie kids.  August is set with adventure already so I will do my best to keep you updated.  

Have a great day!

A HUGE Catch Up (Feb - May)

Oh my goodness friends, it has been since February when I posted last!  What the heck!?! Im so lame!

I faithfully follow blogs, sometimes its every few days but I am caught up on all the blogs I read.  I'm inspired by so many moms out there.  I am moved by so many stories I read, sometimes even moved to action.  Then I go to write my own stuff about my own little life and kinda feel like what do I have to put out in this world?  My stories are not inspriring, my stories are far from moving. But I keep coming back to this blank page.  So, boring and uninspiring as it may be, here we go again.

Life since February....  well, the last post showed me getting organized with photos on my walls.  To be honest, I'm not much further.  I did get a watercolor that we bought in Puerto Rico on our honeymoon framed.  Its gorgeous, just not on the wall yet.  Its so dumb, sticking nails in the wall is so easy and quick and yet, I'm sort of terrified to do it.  Like I might mess it up.  I love when its done.  Cant stop staring at what we accomplished back in February and just cant get it done.  Someday soon I hope.  The paper pile in the bedroom, well that needs to get tackled again....as does J's room which is just a dumping ground for his crap. I'm to the point that I need to take everything out of his room and then only put back the stuff thats good and in a "home" spot.  Never gonna happen with Z around.  Maybe a magic wand?

In late March, I took Z for a hearing test to see if that is the cause of his delayed speech.  Nope. He hears just fine.  Of course that fell into Easter and it took awhile to get the Birth to Three program to call me back and set up a visit/evaluation.  First visit was end of April and the evaluation wasnt until mid-May!  A little frustrating.  Especially for a little boy who has so much to say he just cant make us understand him.  Well, we are on the right track now and have had 3 visits now. He is making leaps and bounds progress.  He can usually make himself understood now, sometimes even with 3 and 4 word phrases!  There is still work to be done on his word formaiton and some other things but it is so nice.  His latest little word is "yep" and its sooo cute!  I love to hear him say it.

In April, J had his tap dance recital.  It was the 25th Annual Recital for the studio where I used to teach.  I danced in the show as an alumni and as part of a crazy parents dance.  Sooo fun!  J did great too.  A friend of mine is a photographer and was taking shots backstage. She took this one of J and I.  Love it!

 She also took this one of J, his teacher Mr B and his classmates waiting to go on.  Im there too waiting to watch my tapper!   Love behind the scenes stuff!

His tap teacher has retired and moved away so I have agreed to go back and teach the boys tap class and a boys dance class one night a week.  J is excited and so am I!

Also in April, J & Husband participated in the science fair at the elementary school.  This was supposed to be a father son thing....that got procrastinated on until it became a family (almost a huge fight) thing the day before it was due.  It turned out pretty well and J did a great job speaking in front of the crowd and doing the demonstration of his Volcano.

May started off with me missing the step from our family room into the kitchen and gettting into a fight with our garbage can......Garbage can won.  This pic was 2 days later, it got even prettier (not) and then it took almost 3 weeks for all the color to go away!  Poor Husband had to endure lots of looks!

May was full of normal everyday stuff.  End tap class, Kentucky Derby party (with hats and bets) at a friends house, Grandparents day at school, start of baseball practice for J (first foray into organized sports) AND J finally learned to ride this little bike.  

Here is Z trying hard to catch up!

So J was finally able to call up my mom and say "guess who gets to buy me a new bike?" (Last summer, my parents had promised him a new bigger one if he learned to ride the one he had. )  So a week later, as promised, he came home with......

and can ride it pretty well.  Corners arent so great but he's getting there.   

May was also full of more grown up events:  For my birthday in December, my sister had bought me a ticket to see Kenny Chesney at Miller Park and one of my besties came along too.  Great sister/girlfriend outing, beautiful, fun, night.  

Thats my sis!  

Husband and I got to go to dinner and see a show with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert- very cool. AND....we had our 11th Wedding Anniversary.  My sister watched the boys and we used a gift certificate from two years ago to go out to a fancy resturaunt in Milwaukee and enjoy great food.  A good, busy, fun month.

June brought us the end of second grade and the jump into our crazy summer. This is getting very long.  I think I will start a new post.  Thanks for sticking with me friends!