Yesterday I took my daughter to Urgent Care with a fever. No Covid. No Flu. No Strep. Instructions were to alternate Tylenol and Motrin. This morning the fever is still there.
No more puking for my son last night. He actually slept good. That was a relief. I stayed up working on transferring some files just in case.
My wife came home from work and she looked terrible. She told me that about two hours into her shift she got really warm and then began to be sick. She struggled through the rest of her shift, occasionally getting more sick. When she got home, she texted her boss to tell her she was not going to be there tonight and went to bed.
I’ve had a cough for a couple days, but that’s really it. I’m hoping and praying I can avoid whatever is going around. Pass the Lysol ….
You may recall that our jobs require my wife and I to drive 45-70 minutes to work. Then, the same amount of time back home – every day. My car just turned 93,000 miles, while my wife’s just turned 89,000. They are both a 2024 Chevy Trax.
We knew we needed tires. The last couple times we had oil changes they told us. Thankfully, we got a few buck back on our taxes and we were able to both get new tires.
I worked all night Thursday and after work drove to the tire place. They put in my tires and I was home by noon. So I was up about 19 hours. I was able to grab a couple hour nap before getting up to pick up my daughter from school. Exhausted doesn’t describe how I felt by 6pm.
We were all in bed by 7 and the kids were asleep by 8. We all slept in my bed last night, because I was too tired to get them in their own beds. Naturally, once they were asleep, I struggled to fall asleep.
I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but I wasn’t sleeping too long when I had a rude awakening. Andrew began to vomit on the bed, himself, his sister and me. I do NOT do puke well. 9 times out of 10, the smell alone will make me gag.
I shot out of bed and got him to the bathroom. Ella was crying because there was puke on her new pajamas. I was focused on getting the sheets off the bed and in the wash. I was able to get them off before the smell got to me.
We grabbed Andrew’s mattress and put in on the floor in Ella’s room. He slept there and she and I slept in her bed. I didn’t have my CPAP in there, so any sleep I did get was crap.
Total damage: a couple pillows didn’t make it. The puke soaked right through the pillow case. I tossed those right in the trash.
So we’ll be heading to the urgent care this morning to see what’s going on. Hope your weekend is off to a better start than ours.
I suppose I could have skipped the Friday Photo Flashback this week. I posted quite a few photos yesterday for my anniversary after all. However, I did find one photo worth sharing again. It takes us back to St. Patrick’s Day of 2022.
Ella is two here and Andre is about 5 months old. My wife always does such a good job getting them clothes for holidays. I’m not sure if we got pictures of them this year.
Ella had such natural and beautiful curls here. I love her little smile. It’s had to believe that Andrew ever looked like this. I miss those chubby cheeks.
Last week my daughter cheered for the last basketball game of the season. She truly enjoyed learning the cheers, shaking the pom poms, and yelling in her cheerleader cone. They had said that the teams would be getting medals at the end of the night, but we had no idea that the cheerleaders would too.
The above medal is what was presented to the girls. It’s pretty heavy duty bling. It is no cheap medal. It weighs about 3 pounds. She was so proud to show us when the game was over.
She made many friends through cheer and she cannot wait to do it again next year!
On Monday, I was back at her school to volunteer as a “Watch Dog” again. Just like before, I got to be with her class first. I got to help the kids plant their seeds for a science project and then I got to play Bingo with them. They’d send three kids at a time over to where I was and we played.
It wasn’t like normal bingo with the letters BINGO and numbers. These were small cards with pictures on them. I had a bag of tiles with all the pictures on them and I would pull from it to tell them what to look for. A – for apple. L – for Lion and such. The teacher gave us a bag of stale marshmallows to use as bingo chips. We played until everyone got a Bingo and the switch to the next three students.
I then went to the third grade room and played a St. Patty’s Day word game with the next group of students. They had to tell me each sight word they landed on. This was followed by lunch, which I got to eat with my daughter.
She didn’t want what was for hot lunch, so I made us both peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I brought yogurt, some goldfish crackers and drinks. She likes to mix chocolate chips in with her yogurt, so I made sure to bring some of those. I always get a chuckle out of the small tables they sit at. Somehow I always get in and out, with some effort.
After lunch, I went out for recess. It was crazy windy out and the playground was a bit wet. The kids had to stay on the blacktop, which was really no fun. I swear the winds were gusting 40-50 miles an hour. I couldn’t believe they had the kids outside. I was standing out there and that wind hit me from behind and it was all I could do to not fall over. I was happy to come back inside.
I then got to spend time with the other kindergarten class, They were in gym first, and we played a St. Patrick’s Day game where you had to run and find the gold coins for your team. Once back to their room, I played a counting game with the class. My final class of the day was the fourth graders. They were in music class during my time.
I didn’t really do much, but I enjoyed listening to them playing songs on the recorder, sight reading a song they’d never seen or played before, and finally, watching kids play solos in order to get their “belt.” The awards were colored like karate belts. White belt was the easiest song to play, yellow was the next step up, then orange and so forth. It took me back to the days when we had music class in elementary.
I enjoyed a short chat with the music teacher before the end of the day, and then went to grab my daughter to go home. I signed up to do this once a month and I truly enjoy being there and doing this. It is special for my daughter and I, and also special for some of the kids. One girl asked if I would hold her hand as we walked back to the classroom. There were kids who had to give me a hug before I left my session. I’m not sure what it meant to them, but it sure made me feel good.
Since when is this a thing? My daughter got up yesterday morning and ran out into the living room to see what the Leprechaun left for her. I can sum that up for you in one word – nothing.
I know that all the elementary school kids make a leprechaun trap every year in an attempt to catch him. Inevitably, the little rascal escapes and leaves the kids something or makes a mess of the room. I helped my boys make leprechaun traps for their schools, but never put one out at home.
We didn’t have a trap set up last night, so I’m not sure why she expected something, but she did. So my wife called me and told me how upset she was and I knew I had to go out. I was out looking for something for her to find when she got home.
I went to the dollar store first, figuring that they’d have something. They didn’t. I mean not even anything on clearance. The St. Patty’s Day stuff was nowhere to be seen. All the Easter stuff was out, however.
So I drove to a Dollar Party place and actually found some things there. Silly glasses, buttons, green bead necklaces, some candy, and a silly hat. I hid them on the bookshelf and told the kids I heard some rustling while I was trying to sleep. Without missing a beat, my daughter said, “Maybe the leprechaun was here while you were sleeping!” When they found their stuff, they were happy and said they knew that the leprechaun wouldn’t have forgotten them.
While I was out, one of the morning shows was talking to kids about what the leprechauns did at their house. They were talking about making the toilet water green, leaving green jelly beans all over the house, and putting green sparkles/sprinkles on their toothbrushes. So, apparently it is a thing.
Sigh. I guess from now on, I’ll have to prepare better for next year.
Ella was the top seller in her Girl Scout Troop. She sold over 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. I’m not sure if she gets a badge for that, but she should! As a parent you go all out to help your kids with their fundraiser and are happy to do it. That is until you have to pick up all the ordered items to deliver them.
300+ boxes of Girl Scout Cookies barely fit in my wife’s trunk. After removing a car seat, putting down seats and such, she was able to get them all in. Once she was home, I went out and began to unlead them all.
This is just some of the boxes that were in our order. The fun part was taking each order and putting them together for those who bought them. This week I came into work for five of these boxes loaded with cookies for the people at work who ordered. My wife also has boxes of cookies that she needs to deliver as well.
Next meeting, I’m going to suggest that parents who delivered cookies deserve a badge, too!
Sorry I am late. I was off yesterday and just now am getting around to writing …
It was 6 years ago yesterday that my first and only daughter was born. At that time, I remember the excitement and all of the unknowns. Six years later, she has blossomed into such an amazing little girl. She is smart as a whip, a friend to all, a comedian in the making, and everything a dad could want in a daughter!
I got to spend the majority of the day with her, which was awesome. Her school has a program called Watch DOGS. Dads, big brothers, uncles, grandpas, etc … can volunteer at the school for the day. I signed up for her birthday and a day a month afterward.
I got to spend the morning in her classroom before shuffling to a couple other rooms later in the day. I also got to eat lunch with her, which she thought was cool. I got to go through the line with her, order some dry chicken tenders and then go out to recess with her.
After school, she had girl scouts. My wife took her there. Her cookie orders were in. We have a lot of cookies to deliver!
After girl scouts, she got to choose where she wanted to eat dinner. She chose Applebee’s. She wore her birthday hat there, so they all new it was her birthday. When she found out that she got a free dessert, she was so excited. She had to order the Triple Chocolate Meltdown.
After chowing down dinner and dessert, we made our way home. Normally, the kids are in bed early, but dinner took us a bit longer. You would think that a full meal and dessert would have filled her up. Well, she reminded us that she hadn’t had her cake yet.
Nana made her a Wicked cake, which fit the theme from the Daddy Daughter Dance last weekend.
We wrapped up the night by singing her happy birthday and, of course, having a piece of cake. I love the way this picture came out.
As I tucked her in last night, she told me it was the “best birthday ever!” I was so glad to be able to spend the day with her and that the family all got to share in her special day.
Friday night, Ella made her debut as a cheerleader. Their group of gals cheered at a basketball game. At the beginning of the game, they dimmed the lights and introduced the cheerleaders and the teams. The girls made a “tunnel” that the players ran through as they shook their pom poms in the air.
Before the game, I waiting with her as the team gathered. After taking a selfie with her, she said she had an idea for a pose. She gave me “hair” and that is funny enough, but her face in this pic is priceless.
In total, I think the girls have learned four cheers. One of them is a variation of one our high school cheerleaders used to do. It is a call and response cheer. “When we say fire, you say up” “Fire!” “Up!” I was not about to let the lame crowd ruin their cheer…so I made sure to yell, “up” as loud as I could. Now we weren’t that far from them, so after they finish the cheer, I can hear Ella say to her teammate, “That’s my dad. He’s loud!”
She did such an amazing job. I took a few videos, but the crowd noise drowned them out.
Andrew caught Sam and I both off guard. At the beginning of the game, they played the national anthem. I took off my hat and placed my hand over my heart, as did everyone. In the middle of the song, Andrew asks why we are standing. Sam says “This is how we honor America” or something to that effect. As the anthem is about to end, he asks in all seriousness, “What if someone doesn’t like America?” That kid is always thinking!
He can make some great faces, too. His teachers posted a few pictures from their classroom recently. Andrew is working on spelling his name. He was spelling it out with what looked like those magnetic letters. This cracked me up.
There is never a shortage of material to blog about as long as these two keep it up.
One of my blogger friends, Britta, is so good at finding joy in the little things in life. She often blogs about them and I love how she writes about their impact on her life. I tell you about that because all in all, this week has been uneventful for me. However, there were some little things that stood out for me.
At Least I Made The Top Ten
My wife Sam always goes through the kid’s backpacks after school. This week we had to chuckle at one of the things Ella brought home. “Ten Things That Make Me Happy.
In case you have trouble reading them,
Dolls
Barbies
TV Time
To Color
Tacos
Hats
My Nana
My Pa
My Mom
My Dad
Mom should be higher than me, I get that. What I don’t get is Hats and Tacos! They outranked every family member! In 6 months I will ask her to do this again and hope to rank just a bit higher.
Winter Walk
Andrew and I had a bit of time before we had to get Ella from school Monday. He really wanted to go for a walk with the dog, so that is what we did.
He led the way as we walked the neighborhood. He was talking nonstop for the whole walk. I hope he continues to want to do this. I miss my daily walks. I’ll just have to make sure I bring along those “poop bags” just in case.
Gimme and E! Gimme an L, L, A! Go Ella!
After watching my niece cheer at one of the football games last fall, Ella has decided that she wants to cheer. They have already had two practices and she’s loving it. This week, she hot her uniform and her pom poms.
Her coach sent us some video of the girls doing their cheers. I truly cannot wait to watch her cheer. I think this may be what she sticks with for a long time.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Sometimes, when Andrew gets frustrated or angry, I ask if playing my video game will help. It almost always does. So while Sam was getting ready for work, he was playing my car/racing game (Forza Horizon).
I am watching him play this game, which he is really just driving around, and he’s taking out everything. He is crashing into trees, mailboxes, phone booths, trash cans, and smashing into other cars. I said to him, “Buddy, mommy is going to have to do Driver’s Ed with you, because dad cannot imagine being in the car with you.”
From the other room, Sam says, “Oh no. We have talked about this. Driver’s Ed is all you!” I began to object to this, but before I can, she says, “You’re closer to death than me!” At this point, I cannot even answer because I am doubled over in laughter. My wife sure can come up with a zinger when she needs to.
The Whole World In My Hand
On the nights when Sam and I are both home, I get to put Ella to bed. This usually consists of me reading from her chapter book, which is followed by a made up story. I will ask her what she wants the story to be about. Favorite topics are princesses and unicorns. I usually make them so silly and ridiculous and it makes her really laugh!
The other night she wanted to hear a story about a unicorn who ate healthy and a horse that ate unhealthy. Naturally, I had to put them in a grocery store and awkward situations there. We argued about whether a tomato was a fruit or vegetable, too. I love to give the characters silly names and give them wacky voices.
After the story, sometimes she will ask me to sing her songs. I will do my best and sing her Dean Martin songs, hymns, and kid songs until she falls asleep. Tucking her in is something I really miss when I have to work nights.
Anyway, this week, we were laying in bed and I was singing. She reached up and grabbed my hand and held it. She held it tight. She took her stuffed animal and held it with her other hand and smiled. It was such a special moment, I snuck my phone out of my pocket and took a picture. It was in “night mode” so it is a bit dark.
As I laid there with her hand in mine, I was reminded of something I read on social media a while back. It was basically about how fast kids grow up and how things they used to do kind of just stop. I’ll never know when I’ll be singing our song to her for the last time, so I always sing it as best I can. I’ll never know when she’ll be “too big” to want to hold my hand, so I won’t let go until she does.
I can’t believe she will be 6 in less than a month.
I’ve been meaning to write a little recap of post-Christmas happenings, and I just haven’t had a second to do it. So here are just a few highlights.
The boys and me. That Three Stooges poster behind us was a complete coincidence.
My boys and I got together the weekend after Christmas. The Christmas holiday was spent with their mom, so we got together for lunch.
They are now both living together in an apartment and sharing the responsibilities. I hadn’t seen their new place yet, so I met them there. It’s really a nice place. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as plenty of room to entertain guests. After the tour of their place and some time in conversation, we decided to go to lunch.
There is a place right down the road from them. Nice place with a nice atmosphere and good food. They both grabbed boneless wings and an order of garlic parmesan French fries (delicious), while I grabbed a good burger. It was fun to just sit and laugh with them. They aren’t little boys anymore and it was surreal to be having adult conversation with them. We’re hoping to make it a point to get together more.
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New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet. Ella stayed at Sam’s mom’s house, so it was Sam, Andrew and me at home. How did we celebrate the new year? Andrew decided to have a date night with us and chose to get some Mexican food.
What was left of my chimichangas!
Then we made a trip to Meijer! Yeah, we really hooped it up! We stopped to pick up a prescription and then walked up and down the toy aisle with Andrew. Now, instead of having us take pictures of toys to add to his Christmas list, we add them to his birthday list!
Selfie in the toy aisle at Meijer
We were in bed and asleep long before the new year arrived.
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My dad made the drive up to give the kids their Christmas gifts this past Saturday. I had taken the kids to Home Depot that morning to do the kids workshop. They built a tow truck. My dad was already in the driveway when we got back home.
Due to schedules and such, we don’t get to see him as often as we’d like. The kids really were happy to see him. They both got remote control cars and watches that have games on them. Both of the kids had to show him what Santa brought and they talked his ear off. At one point, Ella just crawled up on the couch and started snuggling with him. It was so cute.
Ella and Papa discussing the Glinda doll he brought her.
I was so glad to get time with him.
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On Sunday, Ella had a play date with a friend. So Andrew and I spent the day together while Sam slept before work. We went to the Barnes and Noble because he wanted to look at books. We spent a good chunk of time there and had a about an hour to kill before going to pick up Ella. Knowing how much he loves tools, we made a stop at Harbor Freight.
I don’t think there was one thing that didn’t fascinate him. He thought vices were cool. He marveled at the many types of drills on display. His eyes were wide when he saw the amount of flashlights on the wall. Cement mixers, generators, hammers, crowbars, and even a bicycle pump all had his attention.
At one point, his love for the Three Stooges came out as he showed me what “Moe hit Larry with”…
That’s a big wrench! I was waiting for him to say, “Spread out!”
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Sunday night was a challenge. They had to be back in bed at their normal time because they had to be back to school. They were not too happy (or awake) when I woke them up. Honestly, I wasn’t happy or awake either!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 