May I Have This Dance?

It was one of those things you want to record and play over and over again! There were moments where I felt tears in my eyes. Memories of this night will be forever etched in my mind.

I got home a few minutes ago from my first Daddy Daughter Dance. I picked up Andrew from my in-laws, and by the time we hit the expressway, both kids were snoozing. I brought them in and put each of them to bed. Ella went back to sleep immediately, while Andrew is still dozing off and on. He wakes up every so often to be sure I’m still in the room. I figured while he did this, I would write about my special night with my daughter.

When Ella woke up today, she said, “It’s a Daddy-Ella Dance Day! She was very excited. At naptime, I laid Andrew down and gave Ella a bath. The hardest part for her was waiting.

Sam woke up earlier to help so Ella’s hair. Normally, she wants braids and such, but today, she just wanted a bow in it. Nice and easy. Sam put her dress on as I was getting dressed. As I caught site of her in the dress, I got emotional. She looked so beautiful. Today was a day I’ve been waiting for all my life.

I put my shirt and tie on and Ella said, “You look amazing, Daddy!” Talk about feeling loved! Wow, I didn’t expect that from her. It really made feel special.

After we were dressed, Sam wanted to get some pictures. First, both of us standing

Next, one of me holding her.

Can you tell we were both excited?

I had stopped at a florist shop and got her the corsage on her wrist. Too bad the band was so big! The nice thing is that it is silk. It will never fade. I hope she keeps this in a special keep sake box or somewhere to always remember our first “date.”

We dropped Andrew off at Nana and Papa’s house, and we headed to the dance. Once we got there, we checked in and got to play, “How well do you know your daddy?” We sat back to back and they had questions with answer cards. Her question was “What is your dad’s favorite sport?” I know she has seen me watch baseball and football, so I guessed she said baseball. She did! She won a golden egg with a toy in it.

Since we were early, I decided to go upstairs and get the professional photos taken. They had me sit in a chair and had Ella stand in front of me. They snapped a couple and will send them to the house when they are finished.

We walked back downstairs where they made a little necklace with sand and glitter in it, the also had her pick a small key, which they glued to heart that says, “You hold the key to my heart!” The next craft was a head band with flowers in it. All very cool.

We then walked to the gym. Not many people were there yet, but the music was playing. Whatever the song that was playing when we walked in faded and the DJ played “Let It Go” from Frozen. This was our first “official’ dance. Appropriate song choice really – she loves Frozen.

Anyone who has ever taken a 3 year old to a dance or party knows that there is no stopping them. After our first dance, all she did was run around the dancefloor. She would occasionally join a group of girls who were holing hands and dancing in a circle. She was sliding on the floor, jumping, laying on the floor, and bumping into people countless times. This went on until I asked if she was hungry.

Standing in line for the buffet, Ella kept saying, “But I want food NOW daddy!” Patience is not something she has mastered yet. We grabbed chicken strips, meatballs, chips, cookies, and cheese cubes. Half way through dinner, we called Sam to let her know how much fun we were having. As she sipped on pink lemonade, she quipped, “You know, Watermelon juice is my favorite!” which had us both laughing out loud.

At dinner, Miss Davison and one of her court members came over. “Daddy! Real life princesses! They were so sweet and nice to her. When they were leaving the room, she yelled, “Bye Princesses!:

Back to the gym where the music is and the running around continued. It was fun to see her interacting with other kids. “Hi! I’m Ella! Want to dance?” I chased her around while “What Does the Fox Say,” “Cupid Shuffle,” and “Baby” from Justin Beiber played.

For the last song of the night, the DJ played “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” from Billy Ray Cyrus. I picked her up and told her it was the last song. She put her head on my shoulders ad we just swayed. It was the perfect final dance and the perfect final dance partner. The emotions were overflowing at this point, and I enjoyed every second!

When the dance was over, we walked back to the car and buckled up. As we left the parking lot, she simply asked, “Daddy? Can we do another dance tomorrow or really soon?”

Absolutely, my sweet princess! Absolutely!

Thank you for making daddy feel so special! Thank you for an amazing memory I will never forget!

Zoo Boo ’22

Yesterday was the perfect fall day, although chilly. We have a membership to the Children’s Zoo and knew that around Halloween they did Zoo Boo. Originally, we had planned to take the kids up one weekend. However, with all that’s gone on in the past week, and with the colder temperatures, Sam suggested just taking Ella for some one-on-one time. It was going to be too cold for me to take Andrew.

I packed up the stroller and put it in the car. Packed a bag for her and I, and we took the short trip up I 75 to the zoo. The colder temperatures kept some of the animals indoors and not out on exhibit, but that didn’t seem to matter. The zoo was bustling with all kinds of parents and children- some in costume and some not.

All along the walkways of the zoo are little areas that people can decorate for various seasons and such. There were so many wonderful little Halloween displays. There were many pumpkins, ghosts, mums, sunflowers, all dressed up in Fall colors.

When we walked in, Ella was handed a trick or treat bag for a lot of the various stops and games throughout the zoo that day. We were only a few feet into the zoo and she heard the trains whistle and took off because she wanted to go and ride the train.

The train was already out riding along the tracks, and the line for the next train ride had already started to form. Very close to the train depot was a little traveling coffee truck. I decided to go over and get a coffee to warm me up, and Ella asked for some lemonade.

After our train ride, LOL wanted to go and play on the little playground. She wanted to go down the slide, and wanted me to as well! I joked and said that I didn’t think that my butt would fit on the slide. (Earlier last week we had stopped at a park, and Sam got on a swing and Ella had told her she was proud that her butt fit into the swing!) When I slid down she was at the bottom of the slide to greet me saying, “Yay, daddy! Your butt fitted the slide!” Then she asked to go down again!!

After visiting the prairie dogs, the otters, the wolves, and the alligator, Ella wanted to ride the carousel. She was talking about in on the ride there. She was going to ride on the bunny (there are actually 2 of them, thank goodness). As soon as the opened the gate for us to get on the ride, she was looking for the bunny. No other kid was on it yet, so she claimed it for her ow.

After riding the carousel twice, she asked to go home. On my way out, she said, “I wanna see the animals again.” Thankfully, we hadn’t walked out yet. We walked back through and she played a few games that were set up along the way and in one of the tents. She won some stuffed pumpkin looking guy and a lamb, which she loves.

After walking through again, I was glad she didn’t fight me when I said it was time to go home and warm up. As we walked outside, we once again passed by two bear sculptures that were donated to the zoo. They are pretty awesome. The won awards at ArtPrize. You can read about them here:

https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2022/10/1000-pound-artprize-bear-sculptures-donated-to-saginaw-childrens-zoo.html

Ella wanted to stand by the big brown bear and she started roaring like a bear! It was so cute!

There has been so much going on in our lives that getting away for a bit to share some fun with Ella was nice. I missed having the rest of the family there, though.

I hope to get the whole family out together for an outing before fall gives way to winter.

It only took like 26 different pictures to get one where we were both looking at the camera!

May I Have This Dance?

I posted this on Facebook the other day, but I wanted to post it here, too. I post it here because it is a memory that I do not want to forget. It is one of those moments that a father will treasure forever.

Ella has been watching Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. She loves Princess Tiana. When Tiana and the prince kiss and change from frogs to humans once again, there is quite the celebration. In true Disney fashion, there is a big musical number at the end and they all start dancing.

Ella comes up to me and says, “You wanna dance with me, Daddy?!” No answer was necessary as I took her in my arms and did just that! The music that was playing was a jazzy Dixieland number, but that didn’t matter at all. I stood on my knees and held her and we danced. I hugged her, danced, twirled her around, and wiped away tears as she hugged me.

As we danced, I fished my phone out of my pocket to catch this …

I didn’t think I snapped this picture, but I did get it. I didn’t realize until after I went back to look at my phone. Originally, I thought I only caught one picture, this one:

I love them both! The first one I was probably fumbling around with the camera. The second one, I held the phone in my other hand and caught her swaying with me. THIS in itself was a wonderful moment!

As the music ended, I wiped tears away. She said, “Are you sad, Daddy?” I told her she made my heart very happy and they were happy tears. She looked at me and shook her head and said, “No. Daddy, you look sad.”

I only hope she knows just how happy she made me…. THAT is why I had to make sure this made it into a blog. Because, as I said on Facebook, just when I thought I have felt it all….she warms my heart in a way I have never experienced before!

Through tears, I promised her that I would dance with her whenever she wanted to.

Ella, my sweet baby girl, you are so special to me. Thank you for making our dance such a special one. I can’t wait to share more with you.

Back – But Not 100%

Despite the few blogs I had scheduled to be published, I really only got to jump on here to blog a couple times over the past few weeks because of Covid. So I figured I would fill you in on what’s been happening …

Daddy Daughter Pirate Adventure

Prior to my Covid diagnosis, I was planning on taking Ella to a Daddy/Daughter Pirate adventure. I took the Tuesday off and worked Monday night instead. The Sunday before, I didn’t really feel great. I felt like I was getting a cold. Ella was diagnosed that Friday with a double ear infection. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to go because she was sick.

Monday I felt a bit worse and took a home Covid test. It was negative and I went to work. While at work, I just felt stuffed up. I was coughing a bit, and just achy. I went home and slept. When I woke up, I was still hoping to get to go to the Pirate adventure, however, I just felt like crap. My wife talked me into going to Urgent Care, where they swabbed me and gave me the Covid and Flu diagnosis.

It rained Monday and they called Tuesday to tell me that they had moved the pirate adventure to the next day. It didn’t matter, I wasn’t going to be able to go.

Mother’s Day

I’m glad that I planned ahead this year. So often, I wait until a couple days before to go out and get cards and presents. This year, I ordered Sam something online and had hoped to get her a few other things, but thanks to Covid, I was only able to give her the gift I ordered.

I saw this Facebook and thought it was perfect. It was a framed sign, printed on burlap that said, “My greatest blessings call me Mommy.” Under that I was able to put the kids names and birthdays. It came out better than I thought.

Because we both were in quarantine, we had to place our grocery order online and have it delivered. Because I couldn’t get her a cake, Sam ordered one and we had it after dinner. We were able to spend a little bit of time outside in the sun, hoping the extra vitamin D would help with the Covid.

The Kids

Thank goodness the sun has been out a lot this week. The kids have been loving being outside on the swings, playing in the yard or taking brief walks around the neighborhood.

Nana stopped by with some clothes she got for the kids on day and found Ella some “Princess Dresses.” She puts one on and then takes it off so she can put the other one on. I’m not sure what she was doing when I snapped this picture, but I love it. I can’t wait to be able to dress up for a daddy daughter dance!

Earlier this week, Ella was outside with Sam and heard a bird. She told Sam it was a “Nutpecker!” Sam did a double take and asked her again what kind of bird it was. Again, the answer came back, “Nutpecker!” I’ll just add that to the list of wonderfully funny things my daughter says. Nutpecker = Woodpecker.

Andrew turned 7 months old this week. He’s been crawling all over the place and is doing everything he can to stand up. He will pull himself up with the help of couch cushions, toys, pillows, you name it. He is able to stand for 30 seconds at a time, but then usually falls. It drives us crazy. Case in point:

Ella got a Doc McStuffins doctor kit. It comes with the typical doctor toys – stethoscope, otoscope, fake shot, thermometer, bandage and bag. Take a look at the shot, which is the second from the right in the picture below.

See how it is flat? Ok, good. Andrew was standing up next to me on the floor. I was sitting and he had pulled himself up and was standing. He quickly turned and fell and faceplanted right on the corner of that shot. Almost immediately, under his eye (at the top of his cheek bone) began to bruise. Then it began to swell. There was a huge bump under it. At first I thought he broke his cheek.

With 30 minutes before the Urgent Care closed, Sam ran him up to get checked out. He had a hematoma under his eye. Basically, it was bleeding under the skin. So he got his first shiner.

We were told to call his doc and follow up. The doc stated that she didn’t need to see him, but we should have him looked at by an eye doctor to be sure nothing was wrong on the inside of the eye. So he also had his first visit to the eye doc this week.

The good news is that the eye looks great and he will be fine.

He followed up with the Orthotics folks today about his helmet and they said he is progressing so well that he probably will be able to get the helmet off in a couple weeks. This is fantastic news, since we were planning on him having it on through July.

My Crazy Co-Workers

I was cleared to return to work today. The afternoon tech was off, so when I walked in I was the only one in the building. When I walked into the tech room, I was greeted with a masterpiece created by my co-workers.

They basically went through my Facebook page and found every ridiculous picture of me and created a “Covid Keith” board. It certainly made me laugh. I also realize that I make a lot of silly faces. There is a story behind the Alfalfa picture that I will share another time.

I suppose things are sort of getting back to normal-ish.

Not Exactly What I Had Planned

Remember my last blog? Remember the list of things I had to do and things I wanted to do? Well, all of that went out the window this weekend!

While it is disappointing that I didn’t really get anything done, our kids are the priority. Ella has been extra whiney this week. We now know why. Late Friday night, she spiked a good fever. Saturday morning, we called our PCP to see if we could get her in to see the doc. Saturdays used to be for emergency appointments only, but I guess that isn’t the case anymore. They said they could get her in on Monday.

Well, Sam and I weren’t going to sit around and fool with that, so Sam took her to Urgent Care. Sure enough, she has a double ear infection. The urgent care doc said it looked terrible and prescribed some antibiotics. We went and saw PCP today and she scooped out a bunch of wax from one ear which really seemed to help. She told us she couldn’t see the ear tubes, which probably means they fell out. Because of that, we had to schedule a follow up with the ENT doc.

Tuesday is the Daddy/Daughter Pirate adventure I’ve been looking forward to. Whether or not we go to that is still up in the air. Ella is still not 100%, I caught a spring cold, and it is supposed to rain Tuesday. If we don’t end up going, I will figure out something else that we can do together.

Aaargh You Excited? Absolutely!

As the title of this blog suggests – I am excited. I have a couple things to be excited about and I wanted to share them with you. I guess I should explain the whole pirate flag first …

What Kind of Shoes Go With a Peg Leg?

My job often requires us to put in for time off months in advance. This is never an easy thing for me, because quite frankly I barely know what I am doing next week. At any rate, a day or two after the May schedule was posted, I found out about an event coming up that I had to go to!

There is a nature preserve and arboretum near us that is having a Daddy/Daughter event. It fell on a day that I work, so I hurried and put in a request to swap days if possible. Luckily, my boss was able to switch my schedule for the day so that I could go to this with Ella. I didn’t know much about the event, other than it has a pirate theme. Honesty, I thought it was a Daddy/Daughter dance with a pirate theme, but I don’t think that is the case now. Either way, I am excited to have a special night with my little girl.

I may have to do some searching on the internet for a pirate costume! When I thought about it, I remembered that there was an episode of Ella’s favorite show, Bubble Guppies that featured Alice Cooper (Yes, THE Alice Cooper) as a pirate named Windy Pete. Maybe we could go dressed like they did in that episode?

Of course, Windy Pete has a penguin, who he thinks is a parrot in the show. I might look a little funny with a penguin on my shoulder.

… and ear muffs! I would look weird as a pirate with ear muffs.

I can’t even begin to tell you how very excited I am to have this Daddy/Daughter event to look forward to in a few months!

Celebrating 4 Years

My wedding anniversary is coming up on Saturday. I am excited to be able to share some time with my wife. Our schedules do not allow for us to spend time together often. The schedules work well for minimizing the need for child care, but husband/wife time is lacking.

Having two children under 2 has really taken a lot out of both of us. We were lacking good sleep before, but it has reached a whole new level of tiredness. Lack of sleep is not good for anyone, and as sleep technologists we are well aware of the issues go along with that. We both tend to be a bit shorter with each other. Little things tend to get under our skin a bit more. All of it is due to our lack of sleep.

That being said, I decided that I wanted to make sure to do something special for our anniversary. My wife deserves it. I don’t know how she does it. I wish I could afford to have someone come over and watch the kids so she could sleep. She hasn’t really ever had a break and we’re both feeling the stress – her more than me!

I have never been the best gift giver. 9 times out of 10, she knows what I get before I even give it to her. I guess I really suck at that. I also am not the best at coming up with interesting things to do. I’m not sure why, but I kinda suck at that too.

I began a search of all of the nearby theaters a few weeks ago. I was hoping that somewhere there would be a play, a concert, or event we could go see. We had been talking about seeing the Symphony, but that show falls on a Sunday and she works. The only thing that I found happening on Saturday near us was a hockey game. I’m sure she wouldn’t enjoy that as much as I would (and it is not about me, but about her, so hockey was out)!

Interrupting to tell a funny story

I had taken $100 out of our account and stuck it in my wallet to use for our anniversary. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing yet, but I wanted to have it ready. I had taken Andrew to the doctor and Sam gave me her insurance card. I put it back in my coat pocket to give back to her and forgot to do so when we got back. When I was sleeping before work, Sam was making appointments and needed the numbers off her card. So she went looking for it. No big deal, she knows the places I usually put my wallet, so she looked for her card – and found the $100.

When I woke up, she said she was looking for her card and asked why I had $100 in my wallet. I was so surprised that she found it, I fumbled around trying to lie my way out of why I had it. “It must have been in there for a long time and I forgot about it!” LOL – who the hell am I trying to kid?! She is my wife and knows me better than anyone! She knew I was flubbing my way through! I finally told her I was saving it for our anniversary. I should have just come out and told her, but I didn’t want her knowing I was spending that much.

This Saturday

As far as Saturday night, I knew I was going to take her to dinner. We always go to Lucky’s Steakhouse, which we love, but I wanted to do something a bit different. Some co-workers and friends offered up some really neat places (which I plan on going to in the future), but I wanted to stay semi close to home so we weren’t out all night. We have a sitter, and I know she’s totally ok with us being out late, but I know Sam would feel better if we were close.

So I have two things planned – one is dinner and the other is a surprise. I really hope that she is going to like it. I can’t wait to go. She knows what towns we are going to and keeps questioning “What is there that we can do?” She’s pretty good at figuring stuff out, so I hope that she doesn’t before Saturday.

I also ordered her a couple gifts. One has already arrived (and needs to be wrapped). The other is something that probably won’t arrive before Saturday. Again, she probably has some sort of idea about what I may have gotten her, so I hope she doesn’t figure it out. I wish that I could give gifts like she does. She hears me mention something off the cuff and stuffs it away in her mental filing cabinet until she needs it and then always surprises me. But she can always figure mine out. Example: We were at Target the other day. She saw that her favorite author, Jodi Picoult, had a new book out. I immediately think “I need to buy this for her.” If I hand her a gift bag, she will know that it is that book. (For the record – I did NOT buy that book for her! Now, I may at a later date, but not for our anniversary.

I am truly excited to have a day/night with my wife. I know she would be happy just walking the mall (as a matter of fact, she told me that!), but I am really hoping to make the day special for her. I need to make sure that I find something that we can do together at least once a month. We need a date night. It is easy to lose “us” time with two kids, and “us” is SO important right now.

I can’t wait!

2021 – What a Year!

At midnight tonight, we’ll start a brand new year – 2022. Some have compared a new year to a book. The book with 365 blank pages – one for each day – and said that the book is ours to write. There is truth to that.

As I looked back over my “book” entitled “2021,” I see that (despite the pandemic and all the crap that came with it) I really did have a good year. Bear with me, he’s the recap:

January

January started with some snow. It actually looks like we should be getting snow again this week. Ella absolutely loved being outside in the snow. It was fun to watch her try to figure out just what all the white stuff was. Today, when she sees it, she get’s excited and yells, “Snow! Snow!”

In mid-January, we scratched our heads and wondered just how Ella was 11 months old! I mean, it seemed like she was just born!

The pressure was on as we closed in on her first birthday. With Covid, we weren’t quite sure if we’d even be able to have a party for her.

February

As we got closer to Ella’s birthday, Sam was just not feeling right. 3 days before Ella’s birthday, we found out that baby #2 was on the way!

This took us both completely by surprise! There was great excitement all over again. The hardest part was keeping it a secret…

Ella’s first birthday was a fun and busy day. We ditched the pink blocks and marked the birthday with a HUGE number “1” balloon. This was followed by a trip to the Sea Life Aquarium, the Build a Bear place, and cake at Nana’s house.

We were glad to be able to get some professional “1st Birthday” pictures, too!

March

In March we got our first look at the baby we now know as Andrew/AJ and announced Ella’s promotion to big sister.

Ella also got her first haircut

March also consisted of many walks around the neighborhood and stops at the park.

April

Big brother, Dante’ turned 19 this month! Before that, Easter fell on my mom’s birthday. We got Ella all dressed up in her Easter dress, stopped at the cemetery to visit grandma on her birthday and then went to Nana’s for an Easter Egg hunt!

Ella is so very blessed to have wonderful people in her life. Aunt Margaret is one of them! (She will kill me for posting this picture, but I just love this!!) She and cousin Marissa came to visit and the highlight was watching them read books together.

We also found out the baby’s gender, but that wouldn’t be revealed until May.

May

Birthday’s have never really bothered me, mostly because I opt for the Jack Benny attitude and say that I am stuck at 39. However, in reality I turned 51. 30 was big. 40 was tough. 50 a bit hard to swallow. Over 50? Well…..I examine my own mortality every day.

The month started warm enough that Ella got to spend lots of time in her sandbox and pool.

We revealed that Ella was having a baby brother and got another look at him on an ultrasound.

Ella and I worked on a special project for Sam for Mother’s Day and we got to visit the Detroit Zoo.

May also brought Ella her first taste of corn on the cob!

June

My second oldest boy celebrated his 14th birthday in June. We got to spend Father’s Day together by visiting Crossroads Village. They had a Classic Car Show there and we walked the village and rode the train. It was such a great day with my kids!

It was SO hot that day!!! By the end of it all, Ella was physically exhausted. June was a hot month and we did get to get out and enjoy walks in the park and a day at the splash pad.

July

By July, Sam was 5 months pregnant and was so sick. The pregnancy was a rough one on her. The heat didn’t help things. Despite that, the middle of summer was packed full of amazing things and our family had loads of fun.

We celebrated America’s Birthday, Ella had her first visit to the public library and bowled for the first time, and we all visited the Saginaw Children’s Zoo.

August

As Summer drew to a close, we continued to squeeze as much into it as we could. I got to spend a perfect day doing a daddy daughter picnic, my name was finally on the board at the Corner Cone for a free ice cream, Ella spent lots of time drawing with crayons, and our stress levels were through the roof as we took Ella in for her ear tube surgery. We also got another peak at AJ and had a visit from my brother.

September

Fall! My favorite season of all. I was glad to be able to get together with Margaret, Walt and my buddy Chris at Margaret’s house. Since she’s already mad at the one picture I posted, I’ll just share the one she told me I could share. Hopefully, that makes things a little better….

We always love going to get pumpkins and decorating the front of the house for fall. Ella seemed to like it, too.

Ella and I also got to take one last trip to the Saginaw Zoo before it closed for the season. It was a great day for us, and Sam actually got to relax a bit.

October

We had been told more than once that there was a possibility that the baby would come before his due date. He held out almost until the date! Just two days before he was born, Ella and I got to go outside and enjoy the fall colors.

On October 11th, AJ entered the world. I watched in awe as my son was born and all the pride of being a daddy again filled my soul. We weren’t sure how Ella would handle it, but she welcomed him with open arms.

They still did not have a photographer at the hospital, so we went to JC Penney to have some newborn pictures taken. AJ looks spiffy in his outfit!

While this wasn’t Ella’s first Halloween, it was the first real Trick or Treating adventure for her. She was happy that big brother was there to walk with her. AJ was obviously way too young to attempt to go out this year.

November

Fall walks are among my favorites. I love looking at the colors. Ella and I took many fall walks and there were many instances where she’d just play in a pile of leaves! AJ kept us all busy and so it was just Ella and I making the trip to Bronner’s to get his ornament for the Christmas tree. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at home and got the house ready for Christmas.

December

The final month of the year brought many happy memories. Professional Christmas pictures, my annual reading of Dickens, AJ turned 2 months old, a visit from Papa and Grandma, Christmas Eve with my boys, Holiday lights at Crossroads, our first Christmas as a family of four, and the anticipation of a brand new year.

Blog highlights included my entries to the 2021 Song Draft, salutes to Soupy Sales, my grandpa, and Ernie Harwell, a guest blog from my pal Max, silly blogs about hats and Bernie Sanders’ mittens, fishing memories, my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, and a blog about an amazing cartoon Dog Dad.

There were many sad moments in 2021. I lost classmates and friends to cancer, heart disease, and of course, Covid. If the past two years have taught me anything, it is that life is precious and another day is not promised. You never know when it will be the “last picture,” the “last phone call,” or the “last visit.” It takes me make to that quote that my band director wrote on the grease board my senior year. I have quoted it many times. “Live every day as if it were your last. Someday, you’ll be right.”

Life is too short. Live. Laugh. Love.

As we welcome 2022, I pray that it is a good year for all of us. May we find it full of happiness and good health. May God bless you and yours in the upcoming year.

Get ready. The Book of 2022 awaits. Grab your pen and turn to page (January) 1.

Been a Crazy 12 Days!

October is almost over already and the time is just flying! Since the birth of our son, we have been on the go nonstop and are longing for sleep. Trying to find time to write an update between diaper changes has certainly been a challenge!

Ella is getting used to having a baby in the house. She doesn’t like when he cries, and usually joins in with him. There are things she was able to do before that she really can’t right now. For example, if mommy is laying on the couch feeding her brother, she can’t just run up and jump on her. She also is getting used to the fact that the baby is taking a lot of attention.

We’re doing the best that we can to each get one on one time with her when we can. It’s harder for Sam, because she is breastfeeding. I try to take the baby and let him sleep on me so she gets mommy/daughter time. On a recent nice day, I made it a point to take Ella to the park and we had a daddy/daughter day. It was nice to be able to share that time with her. It is important that she knows that she is still very important and that she is still our baby too.

The hospital where the baby was born is still not doing newborn pictures, so we scheduled a day to have some done at JC Penney. Our hope was to get some pictures of the baby and a few with his sister. Sam and I went to Carter’s and found the cutest outfit! I love this little bowtie!

We wondered if we were going to even get to have the pictures done. The day before we were scheduled for pictures, there was an incident at the mall involving a shooting! I don’t know the details, but the entire area was on lockdown the night before. I was glad that we got in, got the pictures, and got out!

We were able to get a few with both of the kids, including this amazing picture

The gal who took the pictures had Sam and I sit in and she snagged a couple family pictures. This one came out so cute.

When AJ is a bit older and more alert, I’m hoping to get a photoshoot with Ella, AJ, and their big brothers.

It seems like we have spent a lot of time at the doctor’s office, too! The day after AJ was born, we had a well visit for Ella and had the doc look at AJ as well. A day or two later, we were getting Ella ready for bed and as she was following me to her room, she missed the top step to the kitchen and fell. She was having trouble walking. She was crying like she was really hurt, so I wound up taking her to urgent care.

They didn’t want to do an X-ray because of radiation. In the waiting room, she had calmed down and was ok until we went back in the room. She hates the doctor’s, so she was upset. She walked a bit to be while the doc was in there and she told us to keep an eye on her. She told us that if she was limping on it or if it bothered her the next day, to call her PCP or an ortho doc. It was 10pm and well past her bedtime, so she came home and slept.

The following day, there was a little limping, but when she got up from the floor and started crying, I figured I’d call the doc. They got us in that afternoon. She took a good look at it and said she didn’t think it was broken. She said she probably bruised her calf and sent us with an order for an X-ray should be need it. She’s doing well and walking around fine.

Andrew gets more and more alert each day. He is having trouble sleeping due to GERD. We went back to the doc to ask her about it. He seems to gag and choke when he is on his back, which is how they tell you the baby should sleep. She wanted to make sure the baby was getting enough food, so Sam went to the lactation specialist at the hospital. After watching the feed, we found out that the baby is tongue tied and that thing that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth needs to be clipped so he can move his tongue around. His top lip is also connected very low on the gum, which makes it hard for him to latch during feeding. So we’re heading to a pediatric oral surgeon for a consult on Monday.

Never a dull moment here!

In the days ahead, we will continue to grab sleep when we can. I have one more week off work to spend with my family, and I hope to enjoy every moment of that time.

Autumn in Michigan

The weather has been nice enough over the past two weeks for us to get out and really enjoy the fall weather! It’s been pleasantly warm with temps in the high 60’s and low 70’s. I’m glad, because this has allowed me to take Ella out for walks in the stroller through the neighborhood. At one house, the red leaves on the ground were so bright, I took her out of the stroller and let her play in the leaves.

After we got home, we both sat on the front lawn and watched the cars go by. She just loves to be outside! She loves to watch the squirrels, listen to the birds and wind chimes, and play in the grass.

This week Ella turned 8 months old! She has 4 teeth and two more popping through. She’s pretty much crawling like a champ and will no doubt be walking before we know it! To celebrate, we took her and her brother to the orchards to go pumpkin picking. I hope that this will remain an autumn tradition.

At the orchards, you can purchase pumpkins that are already picked, or you can take the hayride and pick your own from the pumpkin patch. Naturally, Ella needed to go on her first hayride, so we did that! She was SO tired when we went, but I was still able to get some amazing pictures. This one is my favorite from the hayride:

I love how she is cuddling with mom! She was loving the ride and the colors were just awesome. She wasn’t really sure what we were doing when we got out to the pumpkin patch. At one point, Sam made her sit on a pumpkin … she was unimpressed!

I love the way Ella looks at her brother. She lights up when she sees him. I have no doubt that she and him will have a strong relationship. After we got our pumpkins, there were quite a few pumpkins out in front of the orchard. I had Dimitri sit down among the pumpkins and then sat Ella next to him. While there are some really great pictures of them looking right at the camera, my favorite is probably the one below. She reached over and put her hand on him and they both are kind of looking at each other. A priceless moment!

I’m hoping that the weather cooperates in the next week or two, as I’m hoping to get both boys over and take some family pictures outside. Sam bought a cute outfit for Ella and shirts for everyone that match the polka dots on Ella’s outfit. I can’t wait to go out and get these pictures done!

Fall is my favorite season and I just love looking at the beauty of God’s creation! Happy Fall!

The Little Things

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Spring!

I saw the above cartoon on Facebook and had to share it. Even though the “official” first day of Spring was in March, it is actually starting to feel like it here in Michigan. When people ask my what my favorite season is I usually say “autumn.” Spring is a close second. Spring is an amazing time of renewal. The grass goes from brown to green, the trees begin to bud, and flowers begin to bloom.

Cleaning

I actually got to go outside and accomplish a few things yesterday! When I moved in with Sam, I had many boxes of things that I stored out in the garage. Most of them contained books and various papers. Some of those boxes were full of things that my ex threw in boxes and sent here.

I spent a few hours yesterday and went through many of the boxes that were full of “unknown” things. A lot of the boxes contained old mail and stuff that just needed to be thrown away. There was plenty of stuff that contained personal information that needs to be shredded (the shredder will be working overtime soon).

I also found some boxes I will call my “wishful thinking” boxes. Those boxes contained clothes that are a size or two smaller than I wear now. I kept hoping that I would soon be able to wear them again. The problem is, by the time I can fit into them, they will be out of style (took me forever to give up on the bell bottoms!). Those clothes all went in a Goodwill bag. The rest went to the curb!

There were also old pieces of drywall out there and things from various projects and even from the previous owners that just needed to be tossed. I truly believe I heard our garbage men swearing at me this morning as the were picking up the trash.

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Catch

It was in the 50’s yesterday and sunny. The weather has been chilly and rainy. We’ve even had some snow. The sun was a welcome sight! It has been nice to open up the windows and enjoy the breeze.

Because of the weather, my sons have been kind of cooped up in the house. I mentioned in my last blog about playing cribbage with my youngest son. I have hoped to dig out the Scrabble game as well, to keep them busy. Yesterday, I asked if they wanted to take a walk around the neighborhood. They looked at me like I was nuts! “Exercise?! Really?!”

Instead, I suggested we get out the baseball and play catch. Surprisingly, they agreed. I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed every minute of it. Just me and the boys playing catch – priceless memories! I was able to snag a few shots of them and I love how I was able to capture some with the ball in the air. My phone takes better pictures that some of the expensive cameras I have owned.

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Daddy/Daughter Time

While it isn’t what I would call a “schedule,” I am enjoying some special moments with Ella. She usually gets up around 3 or 4 in the morning for a bottle. Sam has usually be doing this feeding, although I have once or twice. Ella falls asleep much easier for Sam, so after that bottle, she cuddles her and gets her back to sleep. Ella will then wake up around 6:30 or 7 and it’s my turn.

She doesn’t necessarily want to eat right away, and she is usually wide awake. She is usually full of many smiles (and presents many photo opportunities). For about an hour, I have “daddy/daughter” time. First, we sit on the couch and I make silly noises and make her smile. She is cooing a lot more now, so we have lots of conversation. Next, we have floor time. She has a little “toy tent” where there are toys that hang down for her to play with. At her feet, there is a piano that plays music when her feet hit the keys. She is going to be very musical!

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Usually, when floor time is over, she will be ready for a bottle. After that, she will go down for one of her longer naps. Yesterday, after floor time, she wasn’t ready to eat yet. So I picked her up and just kind of walked around the house. I usually sing to her while I hold her, but yesterday, I did something different.

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I pulled out one of my favorite Dean Martin albums and put it on the turntable. She listened to the whole side! She watched the record going around and around. She loved every minute of this. I put the above picture on Instagram and tagged Dean Martin’s daughter Deana and said, “My 10 week old daughter thinks your dad sings his songs better than me!”

It was so special for me. I sing her almost every song on this album. I just swayed back and forth with her in my arms. I hope that she will always want to share a dance with her daddy to these songs.

Back to the Book

Almost 20 years ago, I was taking Bible classes. I was completely focused on them, and then my first son was born. My ex felt that the classes were taking up too much of my time. We ended up leaving the church we were attending because she “didn’t feel comfortable” and so on and so forth. Because I hated arguing about it, I just gave in and stopped my classes and we stopped go to that church.

We went to a few different churches after that, which she always seemed to like (because she knew people there or they had a place to leave the kids). With each church, I always seemed to have issues (mostly doctrinal). When I mentioned my issues, they were usually blown off. She was happy there and that was all that mattered. Eventually, we stopped going to church all together.

As I have written in past blogs, since the quarantine, I have found myself returning to my faith. I have had the chance to watch many church messages from pastors I know. I was watching one message from a pastor who taught many of the classes I was taking. I mentioned this to Sam and she asked, “Why did you stop taking your classes?” When I explained, she told me “You should finish your classes.” Deep down, I knew she was right.

I called the school and asked what I had to do to start back up. They told me that I could start right back where I left off. I had the choice to start over and take tests again, but they still had a record of the tests I already took, so I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to. I found all of my notes from the first year of the school (all still neatly in their folders) and am reviewing them in preparation of continuing. Sadly, I do not have copies of my graded tests. I don’t even have a copy of my ungraded tests.

I am looking forward to moving forward and finishing what I started so long ago.

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End of Quarantine

It looks like we are nearing the end of the quarantine. I hope and pray that life can get back to normal – or a close to it – soon.

Be safe, my friends! Enjoy Spring!

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