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.

Sooner Than Later?

To quote the Beatles song, “It Won’t Be Long!” It’s been some time since I’ve given an update on our baby boy, and after today’s OB appointment, now is a good time to do so.

Sam has really had a rough time the last few weeks, and as we enter the final month her discomfort grows daily. She’s been having Braxton Hicks contractions for quite some time now. There are nights that I will roll over in bed and can tell that she is having them. Of course, (because I’m a dumb guy) I always ask, “Is it time? Do we need to go to the hospital?”

She had a visit to the OB today and it looks like he may decide to make an appearance sooner than later. The due date is October 13 (or 14, depending on who you ask), and the doc had already said that he would probably induce a week early to avoid either one of us being at work when Sam goes into labor. Today’s visit really made us realize just how NOT ready we are.

The doc said that baby seems to have turned and is getting into position for delivery. He is “sunny side up” or posterior. This is basically what happened with Ella. Being in that position leads to extremely painful back labor.

When the baby is in the posterior position, the baby’s head pushes against the mother’s back, which causes the pain. I remember how excruciating the pain was for Sam when Ella was in that position. We can hope and pray that he turns over before she goes into labor.

At her last OB appointment, the doc told Sam that the baby would probably be a little early. At today’s appointment, he said that the baby could be here as early as next week! This was quite eye opening for Sam and I, as we don’t even have a bag packed! Now that I think about it, we don’t even have a BAG! I think we loaned it to someone!!

Needless to say, I need to sit down and start looking at the “baby bag checklist” and get that bag packed! We also have to get a bag packed for Ella. She obviously can’t go to the hospital with us, so we’ll have a “sleep over bag” ready for her, too.

There were a few other things that we sat down and realized that we still needed to pick up to be ready for baby. We still have some bins in the basement with newborn stuff in them that I will need to go through ASAP to be sure that everything is upstairs and available.

I actually chuckled on my way in to work tonight because I remember how our living room was all about Ella when she was a baby. We had bouncy seats, floor time mats, stacks of burp cloths, the pack and play, and just about every other item in there. Today that room is literally Ella’s play room! There are toys all over the place! I laughed because I wondered just where in the world we are going to put all that other stuff!!

So the countdown is on … we are excited and anxious to meet the newest member of our family. Rest assured that you’ll be able to read all about it here – sooner than later!

The Countdown Has Begun

Technically we are about 8 weeks away from the arrival of our baby boy. He is due on October 13th. I have a feeling, though, that he will be arriving earlier than expected.

I have to give major kudos to my wife. Sam has had a very difficult time with this pregnancy, I won’t go into all the details, but we had a few scary moments along the way. She is in much more pain this time around. She hasn’t really been sleeping well. It is much more difficult for her to do some of the things she was able to do when she was pregnant with Ella. It’s been very hard for me to watch some days. I help when I can, but sometimes, there is nothing I can do to help her.

Because of Covid protocols, I haven’t been able to go to any of the OB appointments with her. This in itself drives me crazy. I feel “disconnected” this time around. One of the highlights of the OB appointments was getting to hear the heartbeat of the baby. We have a doppler thingy at home that we can use, but because of the position of the placenta, it is hard to find it.

They literally just lifted those Covid protocols at the OB and on Monday, I will be able to go and see the Ultrasound with her. I am beyond excited. There is something special about seeing our baby on the monitor together. As silly as it sounds, I love being able to be there and watch my wife smile at the baby. It is one of those “moments.” I hope that they will print off some pictures for us to add to his baby book.

The old wives tale is that baby boys tend to be low in the belly during pregnancy. That would certainly be the case with our baby. The doc even said that the baby is much lower than he expected. Now, whether he meant that he is dropping and getting ready to come early, he didn’t say. However, he does seem to want to deliver a week or so early.

In the meantime, we are well aware that the baby will come when he decides to come. So this week, we had the conversation about making a checklist. Not only do we NOT have a bag packed for the hospital yet, this time around, we also have to have a bag ready for Ella. She’ll be staying with Nana a couple days while baby brother is in the hospital. I actually found the “Birth” book they gave us when we did birthing classes before Ella was born. I plan on going through it and making sure I have all the stuff on the check lists!

My wife has been such a trooper through this pregnancy. I can tell she is ready for the baby to arrive. She’s kind of over the pain, the fatigue, and all that has come with this pregnancy. Through it all, she remains beautiful and radiant. She is such a wonderful mommy and amazing wife.

Ella is excited to be a big sister. Mommy is excited to hold her first son. Daddy couldn’t be more excited to have the chance to be a dad again. Thank you, God, for all you have blessed me with!

I STILL Believe in Miracles!

In the past few months, I have had many new followers to this blog. For the benefit of them, here is a brief introduction to where this blog is going.

Prior to 2017, my life was a shambles. I suffered from depression. I was unhappy. I was lost. I was not “me.” Because of years of unhappiness, I didn’t even know who “me” was. Enter my (now) wife Sam. My entire life turned around.

Today is our third wedding anniversary. Over the course of our friendship, courtship, and marriage, my life has done a complete turn around. I have been the happiest I have ever been. She is my true soul mate. This is the first miracle I wanted to focus on. You can read what lead up to our relationship here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2019/03/16/the-beginnings-of-a-beautiful-friendship/

You can read about how we got engaged here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2019/03/17/part-ii-the-proposal/

And you can read about our wedding here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2019/03/18/part-iii-to-the-aisle/

Now that you are all up to speed, I can continue. First, I want to send a message to my wife and then I will share some exciting news.

Happy Anniversary, Sam

Dearest Sam –

Today we celebrate 3 years of marriage. It’s hard to believe it has been that long, and at the same time it doesn’t feel like it has been long at all. I cannot imagine my life without you. Thank you for all you have done for me. You may not think that you have done much, yet, you have done everything. You have never left my side. You have always been a support and have loved me unconditionally. I am so lucky to have you as my wife and partner.

I have loved those special moments that we have been able to share together. Our trips to Nashville, Cleveland, Kentucky, and of course, to Florida. Those memories will forever warm my heart and bring a smile to my face. You have added immense joy, bliss, and happiness to my life. I discovered what true love in our years together. I fall in love with you over and over each and every day.

You are an amazing mom to our sweet baby girl. I love to watch the two of you interact. I love the way you two look at each other. I will never have to worry about whether she will be raised right. I know the bond that you two share now, is one that will grow and last forever! Thank you for not only being special to me, but special to her. We certainly have been blessed with a wonderful family.

The old saying goes, “The destination doesn’t matter, the journey does.” What good is the journey, however, without a wonderful partner? Sam, I look forward to the years ahead with you. I look forward to the journey ahead and the memories we will make in the process. I love you forever!

Keith

Breaking News …

The second miracle was our daughter, Ella. Doctors told me I had a very slim chance (about 4%) of ever having children again. When we found out we were expecting, it was just amazing. You can read about that here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2019/07/26/i-believe-in-miracles/

You can read about her birth here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2020/02/14/shes-here/

Ella turned one year old in February and is our pride and joy! So rather than me let the cat out of the bag, how about I let Miracle #2 tell you about Miracle #3 …

You read her shirt correctly! Ella is going to be a big sister!!! We are expecting another baby in October and we are just thrilled.

We found out that Sam was pregnant three days before Ella’s birthday. It was the one year anniversary of her going into labor. She was laying in bed and she hadn’t been feeling well. She was uncomfortable and crampy. I had already asked her if she thought she was pregnant and she said she didn’t think so. At some point. she got up to use the restroom, and there was an extra pregnancy test under the sink. She took the test and it almost immediately popped up that she was pregnant. So from the bathroom, she simply yelled to me, “Well….we’re pregnant!” I thought she was messing with me, but she brought out the test and there it was.

It was such a surprise to both of us! Naturally, we are very excited. Sam had her ultrasound at the OB today. Because of Covid, only the patient is allowed in the office. I had planned on sleeping a bit, then getting up and going to the doc with her, but when we found out that she was the only one allowed in, Sam told me to make sure I slept before work. She texted me this afternoon saying that all went well. Baby’s heartbeat was 174 and the Due Date is October 14th. She also texted me the ultrasound picture.

Just like Ella, the baby moved around a lot during the ultrasound, so it was hard to get a good picture.

Willa Cather once said, “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” There is GREAT love in our family….and the miracles continue!

Little Bits of This and That…

Bits

One of the blogs that I follow said that the best way to get more followers is to blog everyday. I get daily writing prompts, and some of them have led to decent blogs, but in all honesty, most of the prompts don’t “move me” to write. Sure, I’d like to write every day, but I feel like I should have something to blog about, you know? I have some stuff in the “to write” files, but I wanted to think a bit more on them. So I went back through the things I wrote down in my notebook, and decided that I could write a blog about some of the little things that happened this week.

Second Ultrasound

Sam is officially 12 weeks pregnant now. We had a second ultrasound and it’s amazing how much the baby changed in a week. In the first one, the baby looked like a little peanut. A week later, we could see a baby. Baby P, as we have been calling her/him, was very active that day. We actually could see the arms moving around and they were able to snap another picture.

We have decided that we are going to find out the baby’s gender and are looking forward to the next ultrasound. We’re going to do one of those 3D ones. We are counting down the days until we get to see Baby P again. Once we find out the gender, we will be sharing that, but the names are something that we will be keeping to ourselves until the baby is born.

Ratings

So last Friday, the radio ratings book came out. It is the results of radio surveys of listeners in the market. I have been doing the Saturday weekend shift at the Moose since the book started. The 12+ numbers are the ones that kind of encompass the whole audience. It is the entire group (male and female) 12 years old and up. There are other breakdowns (Women 25-54, Men 25-54, etc…) and some formats care more about female numbers and others care more about male numbers. Country tends to care about female numbers, while rock tends to lean more male numbers (because of advertisers).

At any rate, I got a text message from my boss on Monday:

joby

Even though I am only on once a week, it is nice to know that people are listening and made me #1 in my time slot. Thanks, Mid-Michigan!

Radio Hijinks

winterarbitrons_fullsize_story1

As a part timer, sometimes you walk into the on air studio and find remnants from whatever went on during the week. Many times it makes me wish I was back on full time, because I truly miss all the silly stuff that happens throughout the week. One day I walked into the studio and there was a piece of scrap paper that read, “Stop farting!” Obviously a note from one host to another while the microphone was live.

This week I went in and found this:

swear

Perhaps “little ears” were outside the studio?

At my other station, the morning show co-host compiled a list of “Demerits” for each staff member. I am unaware of what lead to this, but she put them up on the grease board in the studio. Our boss got demerits for not showing up for work (he’s on vacation), she gave herself demerits for being a “clown lover”, the mid-day guy got demerits for always “asking what time it is”, and when I walked in and saw mine – I laughed out loud:

Demerit

Yes, I did. I wanted to write underneath, and clarify that it was my wife, when something funnier came to mind. We are a radio station after all, so I thought it’d be funnier to write this:

Demerist

Our morning show celebrated 15 years together as a team this week. They went on the air in 2004 (Believe me, this is a big deal in radio! It is rare for DJ’s to be at the same station for that long!). I wanted to promote the fact that their anniversary was Monday, so I looked back at the year 2004 to see what was going on. In August of 2004, the Summer Olympics were going on in Athens, Greece. So I wrote this line:

“It’s hard to believe that Jim and Jodi have been together for 15 years! When they went on the air 15 years ago, in Athens, Greece, they were throwing around the discus at the Summer Olympics. 15 years later, Jim is throwing out the discuses (sic) in his back!”

Stan Freberg

The great Stan Freberg would have been 93 this week. What an amazing talent! He did voice work for cartoons (Pete Puma, and many others), had a weekly radio show, released many parody/satirical songs, was a very successful advertising man, appeared on TV and in the movies, and wrote books.

stan-freberg

Some of my favorite Freberg tracks include his Dragnet stuff (which he got Jack Webb’s band to do on each track – St. George and the Dragonet, Little Blue Riding Hood, and Christmas Dragnet), Heartbreak Hotel, Green Chri$tma$, Banana Boat, and Wunnerful, Wunnerful. Until I read his book, I had no idea how many voices he did for cartoons. He sings the story of the 3 Little Pigs in one of my favorite cartoons (I could not find the full cartoon, but here is the audio of it) with Shorty Rogers – The Three Little Bops.

The C Pillow

As mentioned earlier in this blog, my wife is pregnant. Anyone knows that with pregnancy comes the challenge of getting comfortable. Whether someone told her about this thing, or whether she saw it online, she ordered herself the “C Pillow.” It is a HUGE pillow that she can lay on/in to be comfortable in bed.

C-Shaped-Pillow

I am all for my wife being comfortable, and as the pregnancy gets further and further along, I am sure that this will be very helpful to her. Right now, personally, I hate it. This thing takes up so much room on the bed, but that is not why I hate it. I hate it because if it is on the bed, it is very hard to hold my wife. I know, I am being selfish. I love holding my wife when we sleep. I have gotten to where it is hard to sleep without her. This pillow has taken up temporary residence in our bed, and it bothers me a bit.

Monday night I was called off work. I tried to stay up all night in order to keep on my midnight schedule. I made it to about 5a, (usually I go to bed around 9a), and fell asleep. When I fall asleep to early, it really messes with the following night. It was about 1pm when I woke up and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I got up and grabbed my book and went out to the couch to read after laying in bed for an hour and a half.

While I was out there, I heard Sam get up. She came out to the living room and asked why I was up. I told her I couldn’t sleep. She asked if I would come back into bed and just hold her. I put my right arm under her neck and pulled her close to me. She laid her head on my shoulder and I put my other arm around her. I cannot begin to explain how amazing this was. Holding her close, listening to her breathing, kissing her forehead, and just thinking about what a lucky man I am. I held her close and fell deeper and deeper in love with her. Oh, and I was loving the fact that the stupid C Pillow was on the floor!

My pick for this week’s funniest picture on the internet

I really need to write a review on Napoleon Dynamite. It is truly one of the strangest movies I have ever seen, and to date, it is the only movie I watched immediately after watching it for the first time – because I wasn’t sure what I had just seen! If you have seen the movie, this should give you a chuckle.

Rico