A Whole Month!?!

It’s been over a month since I blogged last???? Uh oh.
Let’s see… updates:

• Braden and Emma now take showers instead of baths… much more fun.  Much steamier in the bathroom for Dad.
• Braden has been evaluated by a therapist for what we think is ADHD and PDD symptoms.  He has also had some intelligence testing and his therapist believes he’s extremely intelligent and needs more stimulating activities to help.  We’re not sure where the 'extremely intelligent'  part comes from and aren't quite convinced.  We don’t think his ADHD symptoms are major in any sense of the symptom, but we do think he struggles with it a little and can use some help.  And no, medication is not on the table no, or in the near future.
• Emma is starting potty training, which is going about as well as we expected.  In other words, not well at all.  She has yet to actually go in the potty.  I’d be happy if she managed to go ON the potty at this point.
• School is out for the summer!
• We have new neighbors moving in this weekend.  They have a 4 year old girl, a 2 year old girl and a baby coming in November, so they’ll make great playmates!  Plus they go to Trinity and will be in Braden and Emma’s class next year.
• Bindi is 18 weeks old today and weighs 55 lbs.  In spite of that, last night she figured out that she can climb on my lap in the recliner last night.  She’s actually not a bad cuddler… until she decides she wants to get down.  Graceful she isn’t.
• Braden and Emma are at Grandma and Grandpa’s house this weekend.  We’re monitoring the Appleton emergency bands closely.

Twelve Things Good Bosses Believe

The following list was taken from an article in the Harvard Business Review.  I think it's a great list and something that I wish I was better at.  I think I do well at some of these and obviously could do better at most of them.  I'm sharing this here in hopes that it'll remind me to keep at it and so that others will remind me to do better.

1. I have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to work for me.
2. My success — and that of my people — depends largely on being the master of obvious and mundane things, not on magical, obscure, or breakthrough ideas or methods.
3. Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day.
4. One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my job is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough.
5. My job is to serve as a human shield, to protect my people from external intrusions, distractions, and idiocy of every stripe — and to avoid imposing my own idiocy on them as well.
6. I strive to be confident enough to convince people that I am in charge, but humble enough to realize that I am often going to be wrong.
7. I aim to fight as if I am right, and listen as if I am wrong — and to teach my people to do the same thing.
8. One of the best tests of my leadership — and my organization — is "what happens after people make a mistake?"
9. Innovation is crucial to every team and organization. So my job is to encourage my people to generate and test all kinds of new ideas. But it is also my job to help them kill off all the bad ideas we generate, and most of the good ideas, too.
10. Bad is stronger than good. It is more important to eliminate the negative than to accentuate the positive.
11. How I do things is as important as what I do.
12. Because I wield power over others, I am at great risk of acting like an insensitive jerk — and not realizing it.

Where does a Mastiff ride in a Car?

Anywhere she wants to!

Yes, this is our 35 pound, 13 week old Mastiff doing her cat impersonation and riding in the back window of our Camry on the way home from puppy class.

Bantam Bindi

Bindi will be 12 weeks old tomorrow.  I don’t think I can quite get a feel for how much she’s grown in size, however we did weigh her last night at the vet.  She’s 32.6 pounds.  Yep.  She’s gained 11 pounds in under 3 weeks. 

Last night was the second week of puppy kindergarten.  It’s so funny seeing the contrast between her and the other dog in the class, who probably ways 3 pounds. 

She’s starting to do well.  The main reason is that Kathie picked up some freeze dried liver treats.  She goes absolutely crazy for them.  She follows you around watching you for any kind of command.  So far she’s learned sit, down, come, stand and touch to some level.  She’s a pro at puppy pushups.  She’s also learning release.  Kathie was even able to get her to come when she was across the yard playing with the neighbors dog.  Those liver treats are THAT good.

She’s still pretty nippy, but it’s pretty limited to her ‘crazy’ puppy times. When she’s just outside or hanging out, she’s getting much better.  But if she gets the crazies, then it’s very difficult to get her to stop. We’re going to try a spray bottle next. 

Happy Birthday Braden!

Wow, five years old!  Where has the time gone!? 

Braden is very excited to be five and we’re very proud of him.  It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling, though, as it’s amazing how quickly they grow.

Last night after prayers, Braden said he couldn’t sleep.  That sparked another Bradenism conversation:

Braden: “I know, I can think about the really nice birthday presents I got.  That will help”

Me: “Good idea.  Happy Birthday, buddy”

Braden: “Happy Birthday. I’m very excited!”

Me: “Me too.  I’m very proud of you and I can’t believe you’re five years old already!”

Braden: “When is this talk going to be over?”

Me: “Now.  Good night.”

Busy!!!

Things are going well.  Ok, as well as they can when you have 3 small kids and a 10 week old puppy at home.  It’s Easter break this week and I’m guessing Kathie will probably go crazy fairly soon.

Braden continues with his gross and fine motor skills therapy sessions twice a week.  He is already getting tan from playing outside!  He loves playing with all his friends and (sometimes) his sister.  His birthday is next Monday and he’ll be five.  He’s very excited.

Emma is a constant:  A constant roller coaster of emotion.  She can be the sweetest girl one minute and a screaming devil child the next.  She’s very smart and I think she takes advantage of our lack of constant discipline at times.  Wait, I meant to say consistent there.  No, actually, with her it’s probably constant.  But I mostly joke about Emma and her fits.  She really is a sweet girl.  Her latest thing is pretending to be a baby, a momma or a daddy.  “I’m not Emma!  I’m a baby. Waahhhh”

Alex has had a rough week or so.  He hasn’t been feeling quite himself and we suspect it’s new teeth coming, but really aren’t sure.  No fever or other symptoms.  He’s just cranky a lot.  Ok, a lot for him… because he still is a very happy kid.  He’s also getting physical therapy once a week to help out with his core muscle tone.  But that doesn’t stop him from trying to climb everything in sight.  The other day he figured out he can get into the bathtub.  Or, rather, he figured out that he can get over the edge of the top and that gravity takes over from there.  He also really enjoys being outside and swinging.

Bindi is doing well.  Probably amazingly well for a 10 week old puppy, but it’s a little hard to judge when your embedded in the situation.  She has had a few accidents, but is house broken for the most part.  Of course we don’t really let her out without supervision yet, so there’s still some work there.  She’s getting a little better with the nipping and is starting to learn commands.  She came up to Emma the other day and Emma said “Sit!” and her little..um… moderately sized… butt plopped right down on the ground and she sat there looking for her treat.  At last measurement she was 27 pounds, but I think she’s growing in size faster than weight.

I know this is getting a bit long, so I’ll leave you with a Bradenism.  Braden took on himself to hide an Easter egg for Emma in his toolbox.  Then he wanted to give her a subtle hint, so he said “Emma, there’s an egg in the toolbox.  No.  Wait.  I didn’t mean that.  Um…. there’s an egg someplace where we carry lots of tools.”  Subtle he isn’t!

Wordy

A friend of mine (who will remain nameless) told me last night that I’m too wordy in my posts here because he can’t stay focused past a sentence or two.  He said he just looks at the pictures… so….

(nameless, but not faceless)

Mega Update

So, I blogged last about our new puppy and her arrival.  Then disappeared for three days.  Disappeared probably doesn’t accurately describe the situation.

I took three days off of work so I could be home and help get the puppy acclimated to her new home, as well as get us acclimated to her.  It was a fun, but very exhausting three days. 

Bindi has definitely settled in to her new home.  She’s gaining more confidence each day, which is both good and bad.  She’s definitely a good dog!  She’s friendly and has an appropriate level of submissiveness.  She likes to sit behind you, but isn’t afraid of a lot of things.  She follows  you around the yard or the house and likes to be near us.  But she’s definitely a puppy!  When she gets frantic, she tends to chase the kids or us and nip a lot.  We’ll work on that and it’ll improve with age, but it’s difficult to prevent it with the kids running around.

She’s learned her potty spot already and the accidents have been limited to two so far.  She has even gone to the door and asked to be taken out already.  That was probably mostly coincidence, but she did go right away when she went out.  The first night involved 4-5 trips outside, the second night only two and the third night was only one and that was because I was already up with Alex and woke her up to take her out.  Last night she slept through the night. 

She loves her play area and her kennel and can be found sleeping peacefully there quite often, especially after playing with the neighbors dog and getting worn out. 

Her first vet visit went well.  She was very calm until they gave her some freeze dried liver treats.  After that she was a nut case looking for more treats.  Who ever heard of treats making the vet visit worse!?  Her checkup went well.  We’ll probably have her spayed around 5 months after all her puppy teeth are out and she’s ready to head to puppy kindergarten and play with other dogs now that she has her vaccinations. 

The kids are doing pretty well with her, but so far they haven’t been terribly  involved with her, short of running around the yard. It’s a little hard to get kids their age involved in training a puppy her age.  They’re all a little intimidated by the nipping.  Well, Alex isn’t, but he doesn’t know any better.  Sterling is also doing well with the new addition. They’ve been face to face a few times with no incidences.

 

Two Days, 940 Miles, 4 pees, 1 poop

Welcome home Bindi!

What a sweetheart of a dog!  The whole family is quite impressed with Bindi.  She seems to have just accepted her new family and has been a great dog so far.

Kathie and I met her first this morning at Sycamore Creek Ranch.  I highly recommend them for anyone looking for an American Mastiff.  The breeder took a lot of time answering our questions and introducing us to all her dogs this morning.  The most impressive, for me at least, was the one year old male mastiff that tips the scales at 220 lbs!  They had what I think are 6 foot high kennel’s and this dog could stand on his hind legs and look over the top easily.  All of their dogs were extremely friendly.

We met Bindi and her litter in stall where they were all cuddled resting.  The were all very calm and friendly.  Amazingly, the first dog to come over and sit right next to me was our new girl.  The breeder said it seems like they just know sometimes. 

The kids were very excited to meet her when we finally got home.  She had to do her business outside first, which, I’m sure was a challenge with Braden and Emma watching from the window.  But she did a great job and then came inside to explore her new home.  She was very calm and gentle with the kids and seemed very excited to explorer her new environment.  She loves her new kong… it’s very fun to pounce on.  She also has taken to her kennel very well.  She lays down in it as soon as you put her in it and hasn’t whined at all.  In fact she’s sleeping very soundly in it as I write this. So soundly that she’s fallen asleep in her food dish.

We have a long road ahead of us in training Bindi and making her a part of our family, but I’d say the first day was a bigger success than I imagined it would be.

You Are My Sunshine… NO I’M NOT!!!!

Emma can definitely hold her own with regards to tantrums and screaming contests.  When she gets angry, she certainly digs her feet in… some times literally.  Kathie will sometimes poke the bear, so to speak, by singing “You are my sunshine” to her in the middle of the scream fest. 

Titles

So, I’ve discovered that one of the major reasons I don’t blog more is that I really struggle coming up with titles for my posts!  Maybe I should switch to using titles that are just the current date.  But that’s so boring!

We are now less than a week away from the arrival of our new puppy, although I’m not sure arrival is the right word since we have to drive 8 hours to get her and then 8 hours back!  We have her kennel and play area ready to go.  We have a sport picked out for her ‘potty.’  We have food and treats ready and collars and leashes all set.  We have a bell by the door to train her to use it when she needs to go out.  Of course, it’s low enough right now that Alex can ring it, but we’re pretty sure he doesn’t need to go out.  It’s very cute… the kids have been pretending to take care of a dog all week.  Or they pretend to be a dog. 

Braden’s latest saying is “Dad, you’re up to your old tricks.'”  I honestly don’t know where he gets it.

It’s nice that springs seems to have sprung this week.  The kids got outside and played some this weekend.  It’ll be nice if it stays a little warmer for when the puppy is first potty training.  It’d be even better if it stays dry!

Alex has had quite a couple weeks.  Before this last week, he was unable to pull himself up to standing.  Now he can get stand up holding on to pretty much anything and everything.  He especially likes standing up by the tree in the living room… it’s fun to play in the dirt!  He can also climb stairs a little too easily now.  The other night I heard “Look at Alex!” and came into the living room to find him one step from the top of the stairs looking down at me and giggling!  I had only been out of the room for a few minutes and thought the stairs were blocked off.  We’ll definitely need to be more careful! 

And since I seem to be rambling so much, I thought I’d share a thought I had today.  Emma bit Braden pretty hard today.  It was a bit of a struggle disciplining her.  She was actually laughing about it.  We ended up sending her to her room because she wouldn’t apologize to Braden.  Eventually she calmed down and came to apologize to Braden.   That finally gets me to my thought… Braden’s reply was “That’s ok.”  And you know, I think a lot of us do the same thing.  Someone apologizes to you and you say “That’s ok…” or “No problem.”  And for adults, that is probably fine because we understand the apology and the underlying concept of forgiving people.  But when considering the same situation with a 3 year old, I have to think that’s probably not the right response.  Because the original action is most definitely not “OK.”  I wonder if a better reply might be “Thank you.”  Who knows… maybe I’ll switch to that response. 

A New Direction

This week marks a new direction for me.  I’ve been asked to take on a new role at RedPrairie, and I’m very excited about it.  We are kicking off a new user experience initiative and have formed a new agile development team for it.  I’m serving as the Project Manager / Business Analyst for the project.

This is quite a different role than what I’ve done for the last 16 years at Software Architects and RedPrairie.  It’s not a technical role in that I will not be doing any development work.  Instead I will help guide the vision for the new product.  That means I’ll be working with our project stakeholders to create user stories.  I’ll also be helping set the priorities for these stories and help the agile team set their priorities and slot them into sprints. 

I will still have the same reports I do now, but will not be involved in the day-to-day development or support of my ‘old’ products.  This will free me up to focus on this new task… a task that is moving very quickly and has some very aggressive goals. 

I’ll probably miss some of the technical aspects of my current job, but will not miss the support responsibilities that seem to always dictate why I can or have to work on every week. 

I also think this new position means a lot of opportunity for me and I look forward to tackling the new challenge.

Puppy Update

Our very busy breeder found some time to send us some new pictures.  She’s adorable!

For Brett… good luck!

In light of Brett’s recent news, I thought this video was very fitting.  Any time you want to practice, feel free to stop over.  We promise not to video tape any more of it!

Gumming up the works…

I took a vacation day yesterday. Woohoo!  Well, not quite… it was to try and unclog our kitchen sink.  And yes, this time it was the kitchen sink and not the TV that was clogged.  So, after breaking my own plumbing snake trying to get it, and $25 to rent a power snake at Home Depot, I finally gave up and called a drain cleaner.  Well, ok, Kathie called the drain cleaner while I showered off the gunk that I had all over me from trying to fix it.  And if it weren’t for the ‘gunk’, I think I’d go into the drain cleaning business… $125 for 20 minutes of work.  Nice take home!

Braden had his IEP review yesterday and he has done so well in his speech therapy that he no longer qualifies for services through the school district!  We’re so proud of how he’s done in the last few years and the progress he has made.  At this point his really missing only things like ‘L’ at the end of words and that’s pretty typical for a boy his age.

We also bought a new kennel for the coming puppy.  I don’t think the size of this dog had really sunk in with us until we saw the kennel put together in the store.  Kathie didn’t believe that was the size we’re supposed to have.  It’s 54”(D) by 37”(W) by 45”(H).  We’ll probably use our current kennel until the puppy is a little larger.  The plastic crate will give her some more privacy and it’ll give us some room to give her a play area too.

Science Night

Last night was Science Night 2009 2010 at Trinity.  I crossed out 2009 because I figure I can just use this post again for the next 5 years as we’ll have someone in preschool at Trinity for that long!  Next year it’ll be both Braden and Emma!  Good thing it’ll be Kathie’s turn to take them.

It was another fun night.  Braden loves science night.  His favorite experiment last year was blowing up a baloon with carbon dioxide.  His teacher was oddly impressed when we told her we do this one at home all the time.  She also asked if we're going to make paper airplanes for the class again this year, since that was so much fun last year.

I think Braden's new favorite experiment is the baloon rocket.  It's all about speed in these things... the faster they move, the more fun they are!

I also ran into an old friend.  Well, an old friend's dad any way.  Richard Ash, who taught at Manitowoc Lutheran when we lived there, saw my name on the sign in list and sought me out.  I was good friends with his son Allen in grade school.  His daugher is a member at Trinity and her daugher, Lucy, is in Braden's class.  Talking about a small world!

Monday

Kathie thinks I love Monday because it means I get to go back to work and escape the hustle, noise and general chaos that exists in our house on weekends. 

While she does have a point in that I do lose some of the general chaos and screaming, I have to say that I’d rather be home.   Dealing with some of the crap that goes on at work is just painful.  Doing it with a bad headache is even worse. 

On a more positive note, I actually got my fat ass on the treadmill last night!  I even remembered how to plug it in and turn it on.  To work into it and hopefully get my knee back in shape, I only walked.  But I walked at 12-15% inclines the whole time and did 2 miles in just over a half hour.  So, all in all, it was a pretty decent workout.  I feel so much better today and think I can stick with it going forward. 

Dog Prep Continues

We went and hit 3 pet supply stores today looking for needed items and starting to figure out what food we’re going to (can afford) feed our new dog.  We’ll stick with Eukanuba Large Breed for at least one 40lb bag’s worth, as that’s what our breeder has been using.  We don’t want to introduce any more shock to her system on top of moving in our house with three kids and a cat.  But at some point we’ll probably switch to something a little better quality.  High quality food is important in a large breed dog to help promote solid joint, bone and muscle development during their very rapid growth.

We also picked up some bells to hang by the back door for training her to ring the bell when she needs to go out.  Braden picked out a chew toy that looks like a monkey and Emma chose a pink Kong.

All in all, we’re getting closer to being ready, but I think the big challenge will be getting the kids to understand that they need their toys picked up, or something is going to get eaten.  Of course, the same applies for my shoes and Kathie’s purse!

Breaking News

As I finished writing the latest Alex Updates blog post, I witnessed Alex climb two stairs to get by his brother and sister on the landing.  Then I saw him pull himself up to standing on the couch.  I attribute this rapid development to our upcoming consultation with Birth to Three.

Alex Updates

Haven’t really said too much about how Alex is growing/developing lately, so here’s a quick update.  He’s growing and developing. :)

But seriously, his second tooth (bottom, left) has not poke through.  It looks like the top two are pretty close too, but who knows when they’ll poke through.  He’s still army crawling like a mad man, but has started getting up on his hands and knees.  He can also crawl up on top of a couch cushion if we put it on the floor. 

He loves to dance and any time you sing or play music he rocks back and forth like disco never went out of style.  His favorite past time these days is grabbing the cat and eating his tail.  Sterling seems to almost enjoy it, as he keeps coming by Alex, even after he gets his tail pulled.

Electrical or Plumbing Issue?

We have had some issues in the last few days with our cable TV.  I know how surprising to all of you that have Time Warner Cable like we do.  *cough*  I believe it’s an issue with our cable box, as it has rebooted and done some diagnostics a couple times plus the DVR service will occasionally tell us there’s no disk space left, when it definitely has room.

So, most of you are saying “So?”  I know… it’s not like it’s unusual for people to have issues with cable, especially with Time Warner and the cutting edge technology they use for their converters.  (Can you pick up on the huge amount of sarcasm there?)

Well, the reason I’m sharing this is so I can set the table for what Braden said that had me cracking up.  This morning the picture froze again and I hear Braden call from the kitchen table “The TV is clogged again.”  Clogged.   I love it.  Kathie wants to call TWC support and tell them it’s clogged.  I’m pretty sure they won’t find it funny though.

At least we have the cable box plugged into the TV, unlike someone else I know that has had issues lately.

Trains at the Domes

Another annual trip to the domes was a success.  The kids really enjoy the trains and plants.  Kathie really enjoys the warm weather.  I think she’d move into the tropical rain forest dome if they let her.

We’re not sure, but we think Alex forgot what it was like to be outside.  He really enjoyed sitting up in his stroller and looking around.  Emma probably would have enjoyed sitting in the stroller too, as most of the time she spent asking to be carried.  That’s going to have to change!  She even tried telling us that Alex wanted to get out of the stroller (so she could get in).  She’s a sneak that way.

After the domes we had a special treat for lunch.  We went to Friday’s Front Row at Miller Park.  Braden couldn’t quite figure out why we were going to Miller Park when we were supposed to be going to a restaurant.  He also had ribs for lunch, which he thought was fun, once he got over the fear of accidentally eating a bone.

All in all it was a pretty fun day!  Although that night was a bit tough, as I think both kids were over-tired after the Admirals the night before.

 

 

Admirals Game

 

Last night, Brett, Braden, Emma and I hit the Admirals game.  It was a great time!  I really appreciate Brett coming because it certainly made handling the two kids a little easier!

We got there for warm ups, which was nice.  But within 3 seconds of sitting down, Emma was asking for soda.  I managed to hold her off until Brett showed up so that I could run up and get french fries and soda for the kids.  Emma seems to be a bottomless pit at times… she at most of the fries and drank most of the soda.  She also had most of the nachos I got and some popcorn.

We didn’t get any pucks in warm-ups, but we did get two game pucks.  The first the linesman gave to me for the kids.  The second, the backup goalie gave to Emma.  That elicited a bunch of ‘Awwww’s from behind us.  Emma was very impressed with how cold the puck was.

Both kids did very well, especially considering we didn’t get home until 2 hours after bed time.  The “I love you, Dad!” at the end of the night really capped it all off for me.

Today we head to the Mitchell Park Domes for our annual visit to see the trains there.

Dinner Conversation

I know sitting down as a family at the dinner table is supposed to be good for everyone and healthier too.  However, we seem to struggle with that concept in our household. 

Last night Braden ate his usual 3 bites of food and stated that he was done.  He even asked to be excused. But we told him no, asking him to just sit with us:

Us: “Just sit and enjoy the conversation for a while."

Braden: “But I don’t like conversation!  What’s conversation?

Us: It’s when we talk with other people about things like how your day went and what you’re up to.”

Braden: “I don’t like conversation!  And I’m not up to anything.”

After a while, we gave in and excused him from the ‘conversation.’  He proceeded to go into the living room and call back to us saying he was… yep, you guessed it… lonely. 

Count Down to Puppygeddon!

Puppygeddon descends on us in 24 days.  I’m still not sure we know what we’re really getting ourselves into here.  But the odd thing is I’m very excited about it, even with the anxiety and knowledge of all the work this is going to take.

We haven’t received any more pictures from the breeder, which is driving Kathie (and me) a little nuts.  I almost feel like we’re stalking the breeder waiting for more pictures! 

We have a safe place setup in the kitchen, but still need to get some supplies:

• Short leash and collar
• Pee pads
• Dog Dishes
• Slip proof rugs for the hardwood floor
• A good chew toy
• Dog Food
• More pee pads
• Training tools, like shaker cans and some good treats
• And the list goes on…

The plan is for Kathie and I to drive to Ohio on Friday, March 19th.  Hopefully we can leave fairly earlier and take our time getting there and enjoy a nice dinner out or something.  We’ll probably stay in Chillicothe, which I’m sure you know was the first capital of Ohio.   That’s the closest city to the breeder that has hotels, but it’s only about 10 miles form the breeder. That way we can get to the breeder fairly early and meet our new pup and still get on the road back home pretty early.  I think that’s important because it’s probably going to be a much longer trip back with potty breaks and potential cleaning of the car along the way. 

It’s about an 8 hour drive, so I hope to get home around 8 PM or so.  I’m sure the kids will have worn out Grandma and Grandpa by then, but I’m guessing they’ll still be up to meet the new addition to the family.

Are Any Kids Really Normal?

Are any kids really normal, or are our kids just all abnormal?  Braden has anxiety issues and was speech delayed.  Emma has asthma and has a significant issue with leaving toys in the bathtub while it’s draining.  And I mean screaming, panicking type issues.

Now Alex is going to see Birth-to-Three,  (Birth to Three?  Birth 2 Three? Birth 2 3?) because we’ve noticed that he only stands on his tip toes when trying to take steps.  It’s pretty severe: to the point where he’s curling his toes underneath and walking on the top of his foot.  Hopefully it’s just a phase, but he hasn’t started pulling himself up or cruising yet, so getting a consult on it will be at least reassuring.

I think society is a bit more concerned about slowly developing kids these days than it used to be.  I’m still on the fence whether that’s a good thing or not.  On one hand it can help catch issues earlier and get children help.  On the other hand, it tends to cause anxiety in parents more.  Then again, parents are generally more anxious these days anyway, so maybe that’s just a wash.

I’m still not sure whether this is a real issue with Alex or not, but I think it’s good that we’re consulting with them now.  I think it’s mostly an excitement thing where he gets really tense when he’s excited about taking steps, or standing next to the couch and he contracts his muscles, making him stand on his toes.  I stood him up in front of me and let him calm down a little and he was standing flat footed.  Plus he jumps in his exersaucer very well and doesn’t seem to stand on his toes there.  So, we’ll see. 

But, all things considered, I think we are extremely blessed as a family, regardless of our ‘minor’ issues.

Get Herpes for only $9.60

That’s right.  Why spend all that time and effort trying to get Herpes, or Chlamydia or the Clap, when all you need to do is go to Amazon.com and buy it for $9.60.

I would advise skipping the Flesh Eating Bacteria though….

Weekend Update

Oh, wait.. is that a copyright infringement?? Uh oh… I hope NBC doesn’t take away the Tonight Show from me!

We had a great time at Owen’s birthday party on Saturday.  I can’t believe he’s one already!  Of course, it’s probably easier for me to believe it than Kevin and Steph.  Then again, maybe they feel like it’s been a couple years? 

It was also great seeing the family, both ours and Steph’s.  I apologize to everyone for Alex’s yelling.  He really was happy, but apparently felt like he needed to get his word in during the party.  Kevin, can you move that couch forward about a foot so that the Boo Bears and Bunnies hit people directly in the head?  Thanks.

Sunday was a quiet day around the house, doing some things that needed done.  And by quiet, I mean Braden and Emma yelling and screaming and whining and Alex screaming because of his teething. 

Alex has been really struggling with the teething.  Well, at least that’s what we assume.  It looks like he has 3 more teeth ready to pop all at once and he just twinges every time you touch his gums. 

We also set up the dog area.  We’re going to put her in the dinette with her kennel and some gates to give her a puppy safe area.  We need to find a good slip proof rug to put down yet, but it looks like it’ll work out well.

Clowning Around

Nothing really needs to be said about these pictures, except that Kathie and I laughed for about 15 minutes straight.

Four blogs in one week!?!

This must be a record!  Just dumping some thoughts, so bear with me on the rambling… 

Braden and Emma went to the Big Backyard yesterday for a play date with Braden’s friend Allison.  Sounds like they had a blast.  It’s a big indoor playground with huge slides and pedal cars and apparently helicopters.  I asked Braden if it was fun flying and of course he set me straight: “Dad!  They don’t really fly.”   Apparently they had a lot of fun.  Allison gave Braden a big hug and a kiss when they said goodbye.  Don’t worry, I think Braden is leaving his options open and won’t commit to a girlfriend quite yet. 

The play date also highlighted the fact that Kathie and I are…well… old. *cough*  Allison’s mom knew of Mark (who doesn’t, really?) and asked Kathie if she was related to a Mark Ehlke who went to MLC.  A Mark Ehlke that apparently was ‘quite a bit older than me.’  Great.  I just felt my arthritis start.

I brought home new pull ups for Emma yesterday.  I was excited because they had princesses on them and she LOVES princesses.  She was briefly excited about the princesses before she asked “Didn’t they have Tinkerbell?”  Um, no, Emma, they didn’t.  “But I like Tinkerbell!” Followed by some crying.  The ups and downs of being a father.

Kathie and I are both very excited about the dog.  The kids are very excited about the dog kennel we brought up stairs.  So far it has served as a tent, a jumping platform and a pretend washing machine.  I’m not sure they really understand the whole dog thing yet, and I’m not sure they will until we actually have a 16-20 lb puppy running around. Yep, Mastiffs are 16-20 lbs at 8 weeks. 

Now that’s a growth chart!

This is take from a testimonial from a American Mastiff owner.  The dog is a male, but it gives an idea of how fast these dogs grow:

On Jan 13th-  22.7 pounds

On Feb 10th- 41.7 pounds

On Mar 10th- 62.6 pounds

On Apr 08th- 87.4 pounds

On May 21st- 123.7 pounds

Yep, that’s right… 101 lbs between 1/13 and 5/21.

The Great Dog Adventure Begins

And I do mean GREAT.  We are adopting an American Mastiff.  The American Mastiff is a Mastiff breed that consists of both the English Mastiff and the Anatolian Mastiff.  The intent of the breed is to maintain the size, disposition and appearance of a Mastiff with fewer health problems and less drooling.

There are currently only 10 breeders, so it’s a bit of a rare breed.  That also means we have to make a trip to get our dog.  We learned tonight that a breeder in Ohio will have a dog available for us, ready to pickup March 19th. 

We’re getting a female with Fawn coloring.  Females are typically 28 to 34 inches and weigh a svelte 140 to 180 pounds.  This litters mother is two years old, 30 inches at the shoulder and weighs 145.  The father is only 18 months, but stands at 35 inches and 185 pounds.  

Mastiff’s are well known for their calm disposition and being great family dogs, especially with children.  A friend of ours brought their bullmastiff to visit us and we were just amazed at how calm she was and how good she was with the kids.

We’re very excited and can’t wait to begin this adventure. 

Some more info about the breed:

American Mastiff Breeders Council

Sycamore Creek - Our Breeder

Flying W - The original breeder and some great testimonials

Still here…

Yep, I’m still blogging.  Impressed, aren’t you?  Yeah, me neither.

Haven’t posted a lot of ‘Bradenisms’ lately, so here’s your fix.  Grandpa got Braden hooked on Scooby Doo and now it’s a staple in our house.  He tries to figure out who the villain is (Braden, not Grandpa… Grandpa just looks for puns and wise cracks).  Last week we were watching a ‘new’ episode and Braden said “Dad, I’m the smartest person in this family and I think that she’s the bad guy.”  And while you might argue the smartest person in the family might not call a woman a bad guy, Braden stuck to his guns.

Emma has her own version of the Bradenism.  Emmaism?  Nah, that’s not quite right.  Anyway, she has recently started using the phrase “Watch this!” quite often.  And by quite often, I mean approximately 237 times every 2 minutes.  It is also often followed by the phrase “Ow!”, but that’s not really the point here.  Braden used to do the same thing, but you could usually just get passed it by saying “Ok” or “wow” without having to really look.  With Emma you kind of have to give her your attention for two reasons:  Quite often she’s doing something like climbing the TV or the outside of the banister or shaving the cat.  Ok, shaving the cat hasn’t happened, but you get the point.  The other reason… she calls you on it.  Yep:

Emma: “Daddy, watch this!  Daddy, watch this!  Are you wachin’?”

Daddy: “Yep, I’m watching” (as I’m still reading the paper)

Emma: “No you’re not!  Daddy, watch this!  Are you watchin’?”

Daddy:  “Ok, I’m watching.”

Emma (or Braden or the cat): “Ouch!”

Fun stuff.  Tiring, but fun.

Catching Up

All excuses aside, I’m just not that good at keeping journals or blogs.  I see others constantly journaling their lives and I think “How cool is that!”  And yet, I struggle to set aside time to jot down my thoughts or share the events that make my life the blessing that I believe it is. 

But, yet again, I find myself at the keyboard under the guise of another valiant attempt at making this whole blog thing work.  So, all feelings of déjà vu aside, here we go again.

This latest foray into the blogosphere finds Braden almost 5.  In fact, he’s looking forward to ‘being number 5’.  He keeps asking when Easter is, not because of his strong belief and joy at our Savior’s resurrection, but because he knows his birthday is after Easter. 

Emma turned 3 in January and we’re still trying to figure out where that time has gone.  She is really blossoming into a smart, fun and strong-willed young girl.  She’s now attending day care three mornings a week and loves it.  Somewhere along the way she’s learned to count to 25 and knows all the letters.  She also loves to sing and dance and is quickly developing an interest in dolls, princesses and fairies. 

Alex is almost 10 months now.  His development has been amazing to watch, from arriving 5 weeks early, spending 10 days in the NICU to chasing him around the house as he does laps with his army crawl.  He’s definitely going to be the eater of the bunch, as we can’t quite shovel food into his mouth fast enough.

I won’t pretend that the above even comes close to capturing the news that I’ve missed over the last months.  But I hope it does catch us up a little. 

The last couple weeks has been a time of decisions for our family.  The first major decision was to hold Braden back in preschool for one more year.  His teacher and we both feel that he’s just not quite ready and that another year of preschool would be good for his development.  It was a decision that we really struggled with, but are confident that it’s the right one. 

He also under went some evaluations with the Children’s hospital childhood development group to help understand some of the anxiety and other issues we’ve seen with his development.  Oddly enough, they have suggested that he has anxiety issues with a potential diagnosis of Non-Verbal Learning Disorder.  I won’t pretend to be able to related what that really means, but we know the symptoms are very much inline with what we’ve been seeing.  We are going to start some therapy with Braden and a counselor to help both him and us deal with some of his anxiety and work through it together.  I’m anxious to get started (no pun intended) and help him blossom into the fun, smart, intelligent boy that I know he is.

Emma will start preschool next year, going two days a week.  We were thinking that maybe she could go four days a week with her brother, but decided that two days was a good start; especially if she can go to music or tumbling classes on the other days.  And yes, you saw that right, she and Braden will be in the same class.  That will make for an interesting dynamic.  I hope their teachers know what they are in for!

The other big decision was to get a dog.  Yes… we are crazy.  A few people have not been shy about sharing that impression with us, but we really believe now is the best time.  A new dog will grow up with the kids and be an integral part of our family.  We also believe a dog can provide a lot of value in a therapeutic nature and help Braden overcome some of his anxiety.  And while a dog will add more chaos to our already hectic world with three kids, we think that it’ll be a great family activity raising, training and loving a new addition to the family. 

But the real reason some people are saying we’re crazy is that we chose to adopt an American Mastiff.  We considered a Labradoodle, especially for it’s hypo-allergenic qualities, but decided that it would probably be a little more hyper than what we’d like.  Plus we have had Emma around a bullmastiff and she showed no ill affects due to allergies.   We believe a Mastiff will be the perfect fit for our family: they’re loving, affectionate and calm protectors of family members.  They are truly gentle giants.  And yes, they take up a little more space than a typical dog, being between 140 and 200 lbs.   We are just very impressed with the dog we’ve met and the testimonials we’ve seen about Mastiffs.  We’ve applied with a couple of breeders of American Mastiffs (they’re somewhat rare) and are waiting, as patiently as we can, to hear back from them on availability.

Well, that’s enough catching up for now… it’s exhausting cramming months of stuff into one blog.  Plus I have a crummy cold, so should get some rest.  I’ll see you all in another 6 months.  No, I promise to try even harder to be more faithful to my journal here… not for you necessarily, but mostly for my own benefit.  When I do get started on it, I do really enjoy journaling like this.