Brief Life Update

This week, while it has been nice to have some new features to post here, I feel like I haven’t really told you what’s been up our way. It’s been a pretty busy week or so.

I had the chance to spend the day with my daughter this week. We went to lunch at McDonald’s (her choice). We went to one of the big public libraries that we had never been to before. They had all kinds of cool things for the kids to play with there. I could hardly get her to leave so we could go to the Children’s Museum.

At the Children’s museum, we did our normal stuff: the big water table, the indoor treehouse, played on the indoor ambulance, and went down the big slide. We took a detour and walked through another part of the museum which has old cars, old uniforms, an army tank, and other neat stuff. She was really fascinated by the cars, an old sled, and the old logging stuff.

We had a couple nice days where we got to sit outside and play. Both kids were excited to get on their scooters.

Daisy was loving playing fetch with her ball. I swear, she could play this all day. The school kids who play ball on the baseball diamond behind our house must have fouled a couple into our yard, because Daisy was chewing the cover off a couple of them.

She eats everything! Sam made the mistake of leaving one of the canvas laundry bags that hangs on our hamper on top of Daisy’s cage while we were gone the other day. We came home and that dog pulled the whole thing (including the metal rods) into her cage and chewed/ate it! Urgh!

It was actually nice enough last weekend that I was able to mow the grass for the first time. I am overdue to change the oil on my riding mower, so I hope to be able to do that before the next mow. It’s probably a guy thing, but I love the look of a fresh mowed lawn (even if there are spots because of the moles!).

The kids and I got to sit down and watch the new Bluey episodes. There were three of them – the third one being a “bonus” that no one said anything about. This little cartoon is something that I absolutely love. The extended 28 minute episode was to be the Season 3 finale and it was just amazing. It was so well done.

My buddy from work has a little girl and I was asking him how she was doing. He was talking about how they watched the new Bluey together and before we knew it, there we were – two grown men – talking about how great the show is. We joked and said that the show is an adult cartoon that kids can watch, too. It isn’t odd for my wife and I also find ourselves talking about the show.

The biggest thing from this week is that we took Andrew in to get more genetic testing. He is still having some issues and they wanted to dig a bit deeper. They are thinking there is a possibility of Muscular Dystrophy. Nothing is 100% yet, and we are certainly praying about it. We’re hoping that the results will help give us a few more answers and some direction.

I guess that brings you up to speed. Thanks for reading.

Recovery At Home

It was a long day yesterday. We were on the road by 5am to be at the hospital by 7am. Andrew’s surgery was at 9am.

They repaired the cleft in his throat without harming the vocal chords it was between. They removed adenoids and shaved the tonsils. It all went very well.

Waking up from anesthesia was very difficult. They wanted him to drink something, but he wasn’t having any of that. Even popsicles and ice cream didn’t phase him. He just wanted to snuggle with mom.

We planned on staying the night, but once we got to the room he began drinking and eating. He drank water, juice and ate popsicles. After a few hours, he wanted to walk the halls. He wanted to go home soon after that.

His nurses said that the doctors had said if he did well, he wouldn’t have to spend the night. He was discharged about 5pm. He did sleep some in the car, which was probably good for him. The rush hour traffic allowed for a good nap.

Thankfully, despite a sore throat, he was talking a lot. There was some concern that the surgery would hinder his speech, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The next couple days will be the hardest as far as pain and such. We’ll continue alternating Tylenol and Motrin and hopefully stay ahead of the pain.

We thank you for your good wishes, your prayers, and support. We hope this will be the last surgery for quite a while.

Another Weekend Recap

We had quite a bit going on this week and even into the weekend. Andrew had a doctor appointment on Friday and I am still trying to process all that came of it. I went to work late on Friday and only worked a half day, which was probably a good thing.

When I got home, I still had a lot on my mind. As per usual, when I want to avoid thinking about things, I find something to do. Thankfully, the pictures we printed had arrived, so I went to work on our living room wall. We had not been good about printing pictures to hang, so we had like 4 years of photos to go through. Sam wanted to have four rows of five photos each. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not, but in the end, it looks good.

There are a couple canvas photos on the way for another wall. The older family photos will move into the front hallway.

Sam took Daisy to the groomer Friday morning. She was shaggy and Sam wanted her shaved. I wasn’t sure about that, but she truly looks good!

Since losing our one cat, our older cat Maizey has become more and more snuggly. I can always count on her jumping up on the bed at bedtime to be petted. She will often flop right next to me as I pet her. Many times, I fall asleep while I am petting her, but she’ll stay right there. She’s a good cat.

And finally, some junior high school humor to wrap with …

I was folding clothes today and stumbled on a pair of my son’s underwear. I joked that he either has some really bad toxic gas OR their is something wrong with our washer/dryer!

Of course, in reality, the dog probably chewed them up!

See you tomorrow!

Weekend Shenanigans

I saw many folks posting photos on social media yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day with shirts saying “Let the Shenanigans Begin!” Why is it that we only seem to hear this word around March 17th? It’s a great word that can be used in so many situations outside of an Irish “holiday.” I encourage you to use it at some point in the next two weeks!

Anyway, rather than going out and whooping it up with green beer and dancing a jig, I stayed home. I posted on my Facebook:

Today I will be doing the Wearin’ O’ the green, watching the Silence O’ the Lambs, and doing the Cuttin’ O’ the cheese …. (A line I used on our morning show more than once!)

I also found a hilarious filter to make me look like a Leprechaun

I got the kids dressed in their green shirts and tried to get some of them both smiling. I ended up having to get creative. I took two pictures and combined them so that they could both be smiling in it! LOL

We spent the morning with my long time friend Margaret.

She came with loads of stuff for the kids, as always! She brought them a very cool reusable sticker book. The stickers can be moved around and used again. They loved it! She also brought them some coloring books and a pillow for each of them.

You can bet your next paycheck that they had to be sure they slept on them last night!

Andrew has been potty training and yesterday, he went #2 on the toilet! It was a pretty big deal for sure! We promised that if he did that we would go to the store and he could pick out a toy. He made his Pa proud when he picked out a new took box! LOL

We had fun without any green beer!!

Tomorrow is my anniversary. More on that later ….

The Weekly Adventures of My Kids

There is never a dull moment at our house! The other day my wife and I are in our room. We hear Ella from the bathroom “We’re playing dentist. The pink kitty has a cavity and having a tooth pulled”. Sam looks at me and says, “You better check on that, I’m not sure what they are doing is dentistry!”

I walk in and the patient is in the “chair.” The flashlight is there to provide light. Andrew’s wearing medical gloves. Ella has a timer she is using as a thermometer. And the drill is on the ground, ready to prepare for cavities.

Looks like dentistry to me …..

We went back to Meijer to swap out bikes for Ella. The one we had came with two left pedals. Rather than just let me grab a right pedal from a box, I had to swap out the whole thing. On the way out, the kids see the penny horse ride. Someone was nice enough to leave a bunch of pennies on the base for kids who wanted to ride. Ella got right up and loved every minute. Andrew lasted about 3 seconds and wanted off. Naturally, Ella got to finish out his ride. (Yes, she is wearing unicorn slippers!)

It didn’t take long for our photos from the kid’s Spring Mini Session to come back. The kids love doing these because they get to pose with a live bunny! Our photographer, Beth, at Enjoy the View always amazes us. The kids were so out of control during the session, we really thought there wouldn’t be any good ones. We were wrong! She was really able to catch some fantastic shots.

After we downloaded the photos, we once again said to each other, “we really need to get these printed so we can hang them on the wall.” Seriously, the last photos that we hung on our wall was when we did family photos at Andrew’s newborn session! So today, Sam and I finally sat down and went through almost four years of pictures to have some printed. We ordered some canvases, and some 8 X 10 prints that we’ll be hanging in the living room.

Andrew was watching me upload pictures on my computer. He wanted to play on his own computer. He opened up the DVD player I use for my classes and I had to stop him. It is the only one I have and cannot afford to have that break. So I went downstairs and grabbed this old laptop my dad had given me a few years back. He was elated.

Because it is old, it is bulky. But it opens and he can bang on the keyboard. He was carrying it everywhere. I took the dog outside earlier and when I turned around, there was Andrew in the yard … with his laptop!

These kids bring me so much joy! There truly is never a dull moment.

Spring’s ETA – 6 Days!

Today was one of those days I wish I could have stayed home with the kids! It was such a beautiful day. Spring is straight ahead and today was a small tease for us.

This morning, we got up and had some errands to do before I had to head to work. The kids saw the neighbor girls out last week on their bikes and roller skates. Neither of the kids has a bike, and they asked about them. While we were out, we picked them each up one with training wheels.

Before work, I grabbed the tools and began putting them together. Andrew got a cool Paw Patrol one that I have to add a couple pieces to.

It didn’t take him long to figure out the pedals. I think he’s going to be doing a whole lot of riding this spring and summer.

Ella got a Frozen bike. I felt bad because I got the whole thing together and there were two “left” pedals in the box instead of a left and right. So I called the store and asked about just swapping out one of the pedals, but I’ll have to return the entire bike and get an entire new one and rebuild it. Of course, she still had to see if she liked it.

I’ll head back to the store in the morning and get hers all set!

With the nice weather, Sam and I were already talking about things that need to be done in the yard. I have to re-do the stone walkway to our front door because the construction fools did a shoddy job putting them back in place. Sam wants to do something with the flower beds in the front yard, so I may have to look into some sort of barriers for that. She’s also wanting a garden – she will find out how NOT green my thumb is!

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If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my son Andrew is all about tools. He’s always right there with something to help me and my father-in-law when we work on a project. He still carries around one of my cordless drills (with out the bit, of course).

He has a few “tool boxes” but my father-in-law has a tool bag. I guess He was trying to put the cordless drill in his boxes and it won’t fit. So he asked his Pa about a tool bag. You can only imagine his excitement when Sam’s folks dropped by the house the other night with a nice new tool bag for Andrew’s drill and other tools!

We had quite a few people at the house this week to look at his education plan. We’re hoping that he will be ready for preschool (and they are ready for him) soon. We were going over speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy goals and how to best get what is best for him.

Our Ella turned four last month and we were a week or so late in getting her four year old pictures. We once again took her to see our photographer friend, Beth, at Enjoy the View Photography. This time I did not go with them when the session happened. So they were a surprise to me when I finally got to see them.

This session truly showed her personality. There were pictures of her making silly faces, laughing out loud, and even sticking her tongue out. I joked that we paid for her to make silly faces, but I love that we have them. It is really what she is like right now – silly and sassy. At the end of her session, they had her sit on a swing. There were some fantastic photos there. This one is one of my favorites:

I am such a blessed man!

As Lady Gaga Says

A daily writing prompt that I often see says, “What was the most memorable part of your day?” or “What made you smile today?” The answer to both of those questions is what follows.

It was just me and the kids today, as Sam had a doctor appointment. We had breakfast together and the TV was on. At one point, the kids turned off the TV and asked to play a Tonie. (If you are not familiar with a Tonie, you can read about it here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2023/02/25/morning-miscellaneous/

We placed the Elsa Tonie on the machine and it began to play the music from Frozen. Ella and Andrew were dancing around and asked me to dance, too. So there we were twirling around the living room to the music.

Our dog, Daisy, had no idea what we were doing and assumed it was play time. So she kept barking at us and jumping up on us while we were dancing. Ella grabbed a blanket and put it over her head like a hood and said she was Elsa. Andrew grabbed a blanket and I tied it on him like a cape. I did the same thing. We were dancing around like fools to the music.

We all grabbed hands and danced in a circle. I was lifting them up and spinning them around. We were flying in our capes. It was full blown craziness and laughter! We were so into it, we had no idea that Sam had walked through the door. I can only imagine what she thought watching us prance around the room!

I would say the entire dance party lasted about 10-15 minutes, but it was so much fun to watch them dancing and laughing. I was doing the same! What a joy to have such a special time with both of them!

See You Later, Gigi

We woke up this morning to the news that Sam’s grandma had passed away. It was not a surprise, as she’d been in hospice for a short time. She was 94 years old.

After Sam and I were married, I got to meet Gigi for the first time. She welcomed me into the family with open arms, literally. She told me, “In this family, we hug!” Sam and I visited her often and she always had stories to share with us. I loved listening to her. She was like my bonus grandma.

When the kids came along, she loved on them a lot! My kids loved seeing their Gigi. It is not often that a child gets to meet and interact with the great grandparents. Both of our kids were lucky enough to do that!

Gigi was all smiles holding Ella when she was only 6 days old.

She was just as happy to hold 13 day old Andrew.

Despite the noise they made when we went over to visit, she loved watching and listening to them. Every once in a while, Sam would visit and I wouldn’t be there because of work or something. She’d tell Sam to make sure I stop by with her the next time she went.

One of my favorite pictures of Gigi is with Sam at her baby shower.

When visits were over, I always made sure to give Gigi a hug and tell her that I loved her. She always told me she loved me too. Sam and I both had the chance to stop and see her before she passed. We went separately so one of us could keep the kids.

When I went to see her, it was difficult. It took me back to those final hours before my mother passed away. Gigi was more alert, though. She was talking, but much of it I couldn’t make out. I told her that the kids sent their love and wanted her to know how much they were going to miss her. I talked about Ella and she said clear as a bell, “She’s smart!” I agreed with her.

I thanked her for all she has done for us. She then said that Sam and I were “lucky to have each other.” I told her that I was the lucky one and how I couldn’t live with out Sam. She smiled. I asked her if I could pray with her. She took my hand without me asking and I prayed.

Afterward, she started to doze off. Sam’s Aunt Tana came in and sat next to me. We talked a bit and Gigi would occasionally start to say something to us. As I got ready to leave, I again told her that I loved her and told her to say hello to my mom and the rest of the family when she arrived in heaven. She clearly said, “Bye bye” and I kissed her on the forehead. I hugged Tana and chatted a bit with Sam’s Uncle before I left to go to work.

If you would be so kind as to keep my father-in-law, my wife, and her family in your prayers in the days and weeks ahead, I’d appreciate it.

Obviously, this is a pre-hug photo with Aunt Tana and me,

Gigi had a very strong faith and I know that we will be reunited in the future.

See you later, Gigi.

A Royally Good Time

The kids got to go to a neat outing today. The county hosted a “Royal Ball.” They had a DJ, many games and activities, and many of the staff dressed as the various princesses. I had to work, but Sam and her mom took the kids and they had a blast!

There were plenty of photo opportunities.

Ella as Belle. I love that her face fits that perfectly. All too often those “head holes” are so big that your head looks weird in it.

Sam sent this one to me and it is perfect! I love that he wore his sister’s Elsa shirt!

For Ella, she was ALL about the princesses! When she called me to tell me about the ball, she said, “every one of my favorite princesses was there, Daddy!”

Tiana, Elsa and Sleeping Beauty were happy to see her, too!

I love that our community does things like this for our kids. I hope they will always remember these magical moments.

Another magical moment that Sam observed happened last night. Earlier in the day, the kids got one of those Kiwi Crates. Aunt Margaret got them one every month and it has something to read and projects to make. This month the theme was camping.

They got all the materials to make a Bear backpack and a campfire.

They had worked on the projects during the afternoon. They had turned out the lights when it got dark and were “toasting marshmallows” over the campfire. Sam had taken the dog out to go to the bathroom. As she looked through the big window, she could see them “by the fire.” It was really heartwarming to see them together.

I’m looking forward to spending the weekend with them.

Tag: My son