Fun things

Hello friends.

Yup, I'm back and it hasn't been 4 months....weird huh? :)

Shortly after I wrote last time, we had a significant snowfall but with the pleasure of it being more like 30 degrees outside instead of -30. You know, how winter should be!  We took advantage and all went out to "shovel".  Husband blew snow, J did a little shoveling, there was a lot of J and Z tumbling and playing in the yard and I took advantage with my camera.  It was a nice hour or so.

Here is a great pic of J in the snow.

 And playing nicely together!

 And Z...(yes, I think he is licking snot....but  hes still cute)

Recently, we had another first.  J got glasses!  He said to me the week prior, "Mom, when are we going to the eye doctor?"  I was like ".....ummmm I don't know why?"  Well apparently things are getting blurry at a distance, esp after doing something close up.  So off we went on Saturday morning and came home with these:

He is so excited and proud.  He looks so grown up and studious!

We are in a spring thaw. It was in the 50's on Monday!  Snow is melting and it is great.   (shhhhh dont talk about that it is only going to be 18 or something silly by this evening.)I'm enjoying the hint of spring.   Finally - it is MARCH!

Have a great day everyone!

Neglectful, regretful.....busy busy life

Hello Friends.

Oh how I am neglectful. I haven't written since SEPTEMBER!  Seriously, WTH is wrong with me?  Oh that's right, our little hamster wheel of life just keeps spinning and there is NO time. Ex: I didn't eat dinner (a bowl of avocado and sliced tomato followed up with peanut butter toast and chocolate milk) until like 10 last night.  Don't worry the boys were fed....I just didn't have time, and never sat down until then.

So how are the growing pains in our house.  Better than ever! I think I may have to bullet point this catch up....(pics if available)

• We attended Husbands Grandmothers 100th birthday celebration in November.  100 years friends!!  Amazing, she is amazing.  We got to spend time with many of Husbands extended family from all over the country.  So nice to reconnect and introduce our boys to some of them.  Love this pic!

• Thanksgiving was just as it should be.  Family, food and a nice long weekend. 
• We had a delightful Christmas, spent with the ones we love.  Gifts were carefully selected and we tried not to over do it this year.  Everyone seems happy.  
• New years was spent overeating at my sister-in-laws.  A yummy tradition we all enjoy.  The kids get to see their cousins, we all get to eat and visit. 
  
  
• J turned 9!  He is such a sweet boy, but he is growing up fast.  He got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and can usually be found either reading on it or playing games.  He is doing well in school, loving on Math and Science.  His school became an Integrated Arts school this year; art is part of most every lesson!  I LOVE IT!   (Pic is from A.ppleb.ees birthday dinner - he was feeling shy and I got ZERO pics with his hands away from his face - mom fail)
  
• Z turned 3!  He is also just a sweet boy.  He often greats us with an enthusiastic, "Mama (or Dat or Jaja), I missed you!" and a huge hug.  Love.  He is still a whirlwind of energy, but has will slow down  to cuddle and I so love that.  He was dismissed from the Birth to Three Program for Speech Therapy due to his age and the School District has taken over.  He happily goes with his sitter to "Speech School" twice a week. (pic in green shirt is from first day) He has had a speech explosion and is talking ALL. THE. TIME.!  Its wonderful.......and exhausting! Potty training....is slowly happening; sort of as he decides to....no pressure here. He goes a few times a day on the toilet but is often wet.  We will get there.  
  
  
• We are struggling through this long, cold, craptacular winter.   Its just too cold to play outside.  Im sick of bundling up, dressing warm, hats mittens boots, YUK! We have had school closed several times, and we even worked from home one of those days.  Husband on the PC in the living room, me on a laptop in the family room, the boys....everywhere, the house, destroyed.  Here is a hot cocoa break  and an unattended boy surfing on the couch pillow.  Thank goodness that pic was taken at 5pm...cant imagine what would have happened after that!

Well that is a high level overview....we are doing well.  I hope you all are too.  I log in and read blogs almost every day if not, then every day or so....Stay well, Stay safe, Stay warm!

Have a wonderful day!

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!