Best Valentine’s Day Ever

One way to get out of having to take your wife on an expensive dinner and date is to spend Valentine’s Day taking care of of a sick little girl while you’re very sick wife sleeps all day after puking all night.

I wouldn’t advise this approach, in case you were wondering.  I’m exhausted and have spent most of the day wondering if my stomach feels weird because I’m getting sick or because I’m worried I’m going to get sick.

One good thing about today was the treasure hunt I set up for the kids last night.  I cut out hearts and wrote clues on them.  I hid them with treat bags and small gifts.  The kids went on an hour long search around the house finding the treasures.  We had a blast!

Later, at bet time, Braden asked me why I got them the treats and toys and I told him because it was Valentines Day and that I loved him very much.  He thought about that for a minute and threw his arms around me and said “You’re the best Dad ever!” 

So, as it turns out… it was the best Valentine’s Day ever after all!

Bye Bye Bottles?

Last night Emma ate very little dinner.  Ok, so that, in and of itself, is hardly earth shattering news.  But she also didn’t drink a bottle after her nap or before bed time.

She didn’t want a bottle this morning when she got up.  Odd.

Then, we figured out why.  And in an explosive manner.  She has a stomach virus.  It sounds like she’s feeling better now that’s she’s puked, but of course now she’s asking for a bottle. 

So, now we’ll probably try and wean her off the bottles.  Two big accomplishments in one week!  Such a big girl.  Maybe we should potty train her too?

Random thoughts…

I wonder if Kleenix will sponsor Favre’s second retirement press conference.

I’m now at the point where I’m looking forward to running at night.  It feels good!  I’m wearing shirts that were tight 3 weeks ago!

I’m really looking forward to meeting my new niece/nephew when he/she arrives.  I’m kind of surprised how much the suspense of Stephanie’s due date is getting to me.  I know it’s no where no near as bad as it is for them, but they are in my thoughts a lot.

I’m really impressed with how well Emma is doing in her new bed!  And I’m really disappointed in how long it’s taking the government in getting this stimulus package approved and I’m not convinced it’ll really be the right thing anyway.

Bedtime for Bonzo

Speaking of our little princess growing up fast, last night we setup Emma’s toddler bed.  We’re pretty sure she could have climbed out of her crib at any point, so we figured it was time to move on to a big girl bed. 

She got pretty excited when I asked her if we should setup a big girl bed for her.  Her big brother got even more excited about it.  They both helped put it together.  Braden had to help set it up by putting a pillow on it.  Once we got it setup, Emma got her Boo Bunny, laid down and ‘went to sleep.’  Then she hopped up and turned off her light and went ‘back to sleep.’  We were even brave enough, at this point, to take down her crib!

Then it deteriorated into a monkey fest.  Both kids spent an hour climbing over the side, then jumping off.  They had a lot of fun, but it certainly didn’t bode well for a quiet evening or for Emma staying in bed later, especially since she loves going in and out and opening and closing doors.  Needless to say, we thought we were in for a long night.

Bedtime came and we asked Emma if she was ready to climb into her big girl bed.  She practically flew up the stairs!  Story time went good, and Kathie had to sit with her for about 5 or 10 minutes to get her to calm down and stay in the bed.  We heard her on the monitor for about 10 or 15 minutes more.  But after that, she slept through the night and didn’t (as far as we know) get up and wander the house or make any midnight snacks. 

Personally, I think we’ve been very lucky!  Braden was the same way.  As soon as we put him in the new bed, he just stayed in it and we had no problems.  We’ll see if it continues with Emma.

Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus

Literally translated: “But it flees in the meantime: irretrievable time flees.”  Or the shorter version Tempus Fugit… Time Flies.  My last blog post was when Emma was 10 months old.  Some how we’ve leaped forward 15 months and she’s now two years old!  Time really does fly when you’re not blogging.

Kathie really wishes time would fly.  She’s 25 weeks pregnant with our third child.  It’s a boy.  We took the kids to the ultra sound, which Braden thought was very interesting.   He thought it looked like a dinosaur, so the current leading naming candidate is Barney(no, not really).  This has been a particular tough pregnancy for Kathie.  She has been quite ill; struggling with nausea and stomach pain for most of the pregnancy.  Recently things seem to have started to turn around, so hopefully we’re around that bend.

Braden and Emma are both very excited about the coming addition to the family.  Emma has really taken an interest in dolls and mothering them.  And Braden likes to put his bear in his shirt and call it his baby.  The other day he complained that “It takes a really long time for a baby to come.”  I think his mother agrees with the sentiment.

Braden will be four in April.  He’s attending pre-school at Trinity Lutheran School in Waukesha, which he seems to really enjoy.  His speech has really come a long way. In fact, we’re struggling to understand him now, not because of his enunciation, but because he’s using more complex and longer sentences.  He loves playing soccer and with his train table.  He really likes making long, long trains.  He also loves going, and especially staying, at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Emma just turned two in January.  Our little princess isn’t so little anymore.  And she’s not such a princess at times.  That girl has a temper!  She’s also the sweetest, cutest girl too.  But when she’s mad, the screams hit 150 decibels without warning!  She has really blossomed and has to do everything her big brother does; She really looks up to him.  She talks quite a bit, using more words than we can list and putting phrases of 2-4 words together.   She also climbs like she’s part monkey.  She’s not in school yet, but she absolutely loves going to music class with Mom.

Kathie worked as a resource social worker for a local hospice / palliative care provider for a while this winter.  It was nice that she could stay in touch with her profession and do it in a way where we didn’t have to take on a day care.  She’s also having fun with the neighborhood ladies in a Bunco group… no, I don’t know what Bunco is either, so don’t ask me.   She stays pretty busy being a stay at home Mom, taking the kids to school, music class and swim classes and we all love her very much for all her hard work!

Me? I’m boring.  I work.  I’m taking on some new projects at work that are both fun and challenging. This year will be an interesting one for me, but I’m looking forward to it.   I still play hockey once a week and love that.  I’ve ale started trying to get in better shape.  I’ve started eating right and running on the treadmill.  I’m down 12 lbs so far and feel good!  I’ve also started to try and get in touch with my family and friends a little more, thus this blog… and my Facebook pages. 

But mostly I love spending time with the kids, even if I have to fix Braden’s long, long train 12 times a day!  Being a Dad is the best job in the world!

Well, that’s all for now… I mean I can only do so much catching up after 15 months…Yikes!

We apologize for the Technical Difficulties

I have decided it’s time to resurrect the beast that is my blog!  I apologize for the very long delay and blame technical difficulties.  Ok, maybe not technical, but my extreme laziness combined with the fact that my life is… well… busy!

I’d really like to keep up on this blog in the future, more so for my own benefit and thought processes than for my faithful *cough* readers.  But we’ll see how that goes.  Send me a note of encouragement and maybe that will help.  Or come babysit my kids so I have more free time… that will help even more!

Ten Months

Emma is 10 months old today! Wow!

She has started to imitate and respond to prompts from us. The other night Kathie took her out of the bathroom after bath time and I said "Bye Bye Emma" and she started waving and said something that sounded suspiciously like "Bye Bye". If I fake sneeze for her, she'll make a 'choo' sound... well, it's really more like "Shhh", but she does it in response to us.

Braden has a bad ear infection. He had a fever of 103 last night and was very uncomfortable. I think he had his first experience with aches, as he complained a lot when you moved his arms or picked him up. Hopefully the medicine will start working quickly.

We're looking forward to having our family here for Thanksgiving! Even if we're a little stressed out about getting everything done.