Flying Lessons

Things have been super busy around here the past few weeks.

I've settled into a routine at my new job and I'm loving it! It's nice to have a greater degree of flexibility and the ability to work a few shorter shifts (6 hour) as well, that way it doesn't feel like nights at home with Ben and Brock are a rarity. :-)


Ben and Brock took on the task of planting most of the garden a week or so ago while I was at work and the plants are just starting to come up. We also took the time to put some railroad ties around the flowerbed in the front yard so it looks a little more defined and not quite as much like a bunch of weeds growing in the middle of a more bare patch in the yard. :-P Now I just have to finish weeding it... and getting rid of the dirt clods from the railroad tie installation. :-) Oh, and my lilacs are finally blooming! I love lilacs!

Brock looks like he's ready to start crawling any day now, he'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth for a few seconds and then flop to the floor whenever I pull out the camera to document his progress. Silly kid.
This morning he decided to take flying lessons. First lesson: How to glide gracefully from the bed to the floor. Except it wasn't very graceful. Apparently he didn't go back to sleep after I fed him this morning and decided to explore what was on the other side of the bed... I awoke to a tiny cry, silence, a loud thump and a very loud scream. At which point I jumped off the bed after him. There was a small abrasion on his forehead but I didn't notice any other indication of injury. Half an hour later his eye started getting a little black and blue... so he looks a little like a schoolboy who took a few punches but he seems okay otherwise. I have to say I'm actually rather surprised he's gone this long without falling/being dropped as I'm not at all coordinated.

Brock's "black eye" and forehead. It looks worse in real life.

Allergies.

Since the beginning of my existence allergies have claimed a small portion of my thoughts, actions and... tattling. I recall when a particular sister would sit under the kitchen table jamming pieces of bread into her mouth, in an attempt to hid from mom and the rest of us because she was quite allergic to pretty much everything except rice, or so it seemed... and how on her third birthday we had rice waffles for her "cake" and how positively un-tasty they were. Then there were the times I would get milk and everyone would walk a mile out of their way to stay away from my teeth, fists, fingernails, etc.... my sister claims the reason she has glasses is due to me sitting on top of her digging at her eyes way back before I remember... so yeah, allergies have affected most of my life in some way or another... and now we have the newest chapter in the allergy folders...

Allergies: The Continuing Saga Chapter 439 - Brock
We figured out fairly early on that Brock was allergic to milk-based formulas, when we attempted to supplement my milk when I was away at work. He puked until he had dry heaves, which is simply not cool. So we tried soy-based formula, which worked wonderfully the first 3-4 times, then one evening Ben had to give him pure formula and he didn't take it so well (excessive puking, but no dry heaves), thinking it was some sort of fluke I mixed a tiny smidgen of soy formula with his milk yesterday before I left for work. Half way through my shift Ben appeared with a very sick little boy who had puked up the contents of his stomach and begun to dry heave. He looked so very pathetic, and I dearly wished I could drop everything and go home. When my shift ended I headed home to find Brock fast asleep after taking in some Gatorade for rehydration. Upon awaking I noticed his poor little face had broken out in hives, needless to say there won't be anymore soy formula for him for awhile. Thankfully, he is starting on solids now, so it won't be such a huge issue... but then there's the possibility of becoming allergic to "real foods" so that should be interesting.

Cranky.

Brock decided to wake up from his morning nap in an extremely fussy (read: screaming his head off) mood. Maybe it's his teeth again... I don't know. Feeding him, burping him and all the usual "please be happy" routines did NOT work so I finally took him outside... As soon as the door opened, he quieted down and resumed his more typical chattering, smiling and cooing. Strange child. The only problems with the needing to be outside arrangement is I have things to get done (so why am I blogging, talk about zero priorities), and it's a little bit on the cool side for babies in short sleeves, so this was our solution...



Brock is four months old now, and he's already starting to sit by himself and pull himself up on furniture. You don't have to know that he toppled over a few seconds later. :-P


This is the creek on Monday... with all the rain we had it rose quite a bit. I think it was higher than it's been in the year and a half that we've been around.

To Philadelphia.

4-25-09 - Well we survived the "crazy" week, and ended up being smack dab in the middle of another one. Ben found a Volkswagen Jetta TDI (Turbo Direct Injection a.k.a Turbo Diesel!!) '98 on eBay for a fraction of the normal price. With both of our cars being on their presumed last legs we decided it would be in our best interest to "upgrade" to something a little newer and more fuel efficent. Of course if our '94 Geo Prizim ever dies it'll be a miracle, followed by many sad tears. As I tell everyone "We've tried to 'kill' that car, but success in this area has been a tad evasive; it was T-boned in Chicago, used for deer smucking at 60mph, ended up in the ditch at least once, spun in circles on snowy icy roads, survived a handful of student drivers... and replacing the long ago burnt out dome lightbulb would probably cost more than the car is worth." Yep, that would be our rusty trusty "Stella" for you. Poor car.

Anyway.
Back to the Jetta... she was located in Philadelphia and shipping her here was going to cost more than simply flying out and driving her home, besides Ben really wanted to see her first hand before she appeared in our driveway. So we found some cheap flights (Thanks to Thea!!) and planned our "getaway." I personally LOVE flying, (I have enough of my dad in me that I need to travel every now and again or I experience a form of insanity.) Ben however, is the furthest thing from an experienced flier, I believe his last "flying" trip was when he was three. We decided to take Brock along, due to the fact that it would be more difficult to leave him somewhere (it's all about the food) and also because I hadn't seen much of the poor kid the week before and the thought of leaving him somewhere was more than I could bear.

We left Wednesday evening and stayed at Ben's grandparents near Milwaukee for the night, in part so they could see Brock and also because they're a little less than an hour from the airport in Milwaukee making our commute shorter and not as bleary-too-early-in-the-morning-to-really-be-awake-or-thinking-properly-esque. It was a sweet time of fellowship, laughing, splitting wood and having meaningful conversations about God and raising children, I love having family with whom you can discuss such things, it's so very special. Our time there was too short, even if we did stop there on the way back from PA to pick up the car keys we had inadvertantly left there (we picked up Thea in Plover at work on our way down and had left her car there to pick up on the way back).

Our trip out to Philadelphia was fairly uneventful, (Brock slept on BOTH airplanes!)it was once we arrived that the fun began. The dealership from whom we had purchased the car had given us train instructions to get from the airport on the southside to the dealership on the northside. That was all fine and good until our train broke down in the middle of the tracks, which delayed us significantly as I am sure you can imagine. We (the train) crept into a nearby station and the order of the day was to cram onto the already packed trains coming down the tracks in a few minutes. This would not be as difficult if you were one person, alone, by yourself, without a backpack or two, but we had a baby, a carseat, and two backpacks... granted we had two people to carry the stuff, but finding room for three people and their junk is different than finding room for just one. Anyway, we finally boarded a new, not broken down train and arrived on the north side of Philly... (just in time too, the place we needed to be closed at 7pm and we arrived at 6:30!) did all the legal car-buying-ish stuff and headed back west as soon as possible! We drove the better portion of the night switching off and only stopping for a total of 3 hours. We made it back to Milwaukee by noon the next day, and after an afternoon of chilling with the relatives, arrived home at 9pm on Friday. You just can't beat 2 day trips to Philadelphia and back, especially after a long week of work, travelling is still relaxing, regardless of how much time is spent actually "relaxing." This week we have what we like to call "a little less crazy, but cool in it's own right." I'm having a jewelry party here at 1pm on Saturday (you all can come if you want!) and I think I'll clean out the sun room (currently doubling as an attic, which is pathetic, since I actually have an attic in my possession) for the occasion as my living room may be a tad tiny due to all the couches, chairs, loveseats and baby paraphenelia contained on it's precious floorspace.

Ben has a few construction/remodel/whatever projects in the works but doesn't have "active" ones where he's gone all day so it's been nice to have him around. He's been out working on the fence that's supposed to be keeping the steers in... they keep escaping and trimming my precious tulips (and the rest of the yard) for me. Stupid beasts.

This is the end.

Warning: Crazy Week Ahead

This next week is going to be crazy in almost every conceivable way.

1) I'm finishing my time at Harmony with a bang, can you say working 6 days in a row!?
2) I'm starting training at Allison House, which will most likely happen in the mornings, due to work.
3) State taxes have to be completed and mailed.
4) Ben has a roof project in western Wisconsin that will probably take him away overnight.
5) Home show in Wausau this weekend, meaning booth prep and I'm not sure what all. :-)
6) I need new shoes (not that shoe shopping has to be accomplished this week, but my knees are beginning to revolt, and I'm not sure how much more they will take, especially with the upcoming long days...)

Wood Splitting Party

One of our friends had the great idea of holding a wood splitting party at our house on Saturday, and we weren't about to refuse... especially with 11 pulp cords of wood to cut and split and not that many people to accomplish the task. Refusing help with the production seemed rather silly. :-)

The wood splitter was a life (and back and limb) saver! Pushing a lever back and forth is much easier than trying to wield an over-sized wedge, especially for people of my not so tall and not so buff stature. :-P



We had a great time, (at least most of us did, there were some who thought getting together to split wood and then calling it a "party" was a little strange, but alas, we had to make it sound fun somehow...) and were able to cut and split the 11 pulp cords in 4 hours! Thank you so much to all who contributed to the cause (be it with food, machines, or muscles), your help was (and still is) greatly appreciated!





We now have a shed full of wood that should last for the next year and a half or so.












And now... on a totally unrelated note...
Brock has taken to rolling over in the middle of the night and waking up crying because he doesn't like sleeping on his back... which means someone has to go rescue him from himself. Thankfully it's only a matter of minutes before he's in la-la land again. :-) He also likes contorting his body when waking up from his naps, and being the mean mom that I am I sit and laugh at his struggles, I can't help myself, he's so amusing!! :-) Brock was an absolute angel during the wood splitting party and slept the ENTIRE time... Even though he was within ear shot of the noisy commotion of chainsaws and the wood-splitter. I couldn't ask for a better baby! :-)

I'm so thankful that God has given us friends to help out with projects as menial as wood splitting! And for cute chubby lovable baby cheeks, that make any day a bright day, simply because they exist. :-)

I'm Pumped!

So I just returned from the much worried about interview! It was fantastic! Basically they need someone to work 1-on-1 with an elderly gentleman who has Alzheimer's, along with working on the every other weekend rotation. Allison House (the place I interviewed) is owned by a husband and wife and they have two other "homes" in Schofield/Rothschild, so there won't be (I assume) all the dealing with the big corporate "home office" that you have at Harmony. Also they pay much much much better... which obviously is great, it's not everything, but bills are bills and they must be paid. :-P Anyway, I'm so pumped that I'm going to clean my house to celebrate, because it's driving me nuts and Brock is sleeping...

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled "Cute" Program For this Announcement...

... I have a job interview on Monday at an assisted living home in Marathon. I'm still trying to decide if I'm sane or not.

Here's the thing, I love the residents at my current job. Make that I love the residents at my current job. (Seriously, the thought of leaving them causes nasty emotional things to happen, so I'm not going to go there right now... I hear keyboards stop working if they're immersed:-P) I also love a great percentage of the staff there (The girls I usually work with on PMs are downright awesome, everything runs smoothly and we get things done in record time... it's great!)However, it is half an hour away, meaning an hour I have to spend on the road every day I work (which I realize isn't bad for people who live further out in the boondocks)... and it honestly doesn't pay super well. Let me be the first to say I would totally volunteer for the rest of my life if it weren't for the fact that bills exist and people have this strange tendency to eat things.

Pros of (potential) new job:
- Closer = more time at home, less miles on the car, less gas, decreased chance of automobile "crash" (in theory anyway)...
- Potentially higher paying = maybe we can pay off our mortgage a little sooner?:-)

Cons of (potential) new job:
- New Staff
- New Residents
- New emotional things
- "Learning curve" brought on by new people, environment, etc.

Of course being devious I have thought that maybe I could play the "Hey, I have this way better job offer, you had better come up with something to keep me here" card at my current job and see how things work out.

I guess I would just really like prayer regarding this whole situation, that if God wants me to get the job He would open doors, and if not He would close doors, and that He would give me direction through the whole process when/if it comes down to leaving/majorly cutting back my hours at my current job. It's all just really confusing right now and every now and again I stop and want to scream "Why! Why did I ever fill out that application!?"

Laughter, again.

Car Ride Inspirations

I've been working the past few nights and as usual this means a good chunk of time spent in the car with time to think inspiring thoughts.

Night #1) Upon this night I happen to glance in my rear view mirror on my way out of town and notice that the usual column of smoke/steam/whatever rising from the place that it rises from had taken on a rather strange shape and looked very much like a cross. Then through the rumbling noises of my rather noisy car came the strains of "Who Am I?" by Casting Crowns and I was struck by how small and insignificant we as humans are, and how big God is, and how He sends little "moments" like that to remind us of His tender love and mercy, as if the sacrifice of HIS Son wasn't enough.

Night #2) Snow + Slippery Roads = Not getting places very fast. As I mentioned on Night #1 my car is loud, (very loud) the exhaust pipe is broken right before the muffler, and the radio is all but drowned out if you're going much over 45 mph. Tonight was different, the slower speeds suddenly made the radio audible over the roar of the car. I didn't give it a second (let alone a first) thought until I was nearly home... but it suddenly reminded me of how God tries to get our attention through all the "noise" in our lives, and it can be "easy" to ignore him because there's so much going on, and it's when we shut out the distractions and we're finally quiet before Him that we can hear him through the "noise."

I returned home to the sounds of Ben and Brock snoring, and it made me smile... God is so Amazing! :-)

Shrews Perhaps?

For those who have followed the seemingly never ending saga of the mice in our house... I have an update! For those who haven't, just know that mice have been a continuing problem here and every trap that we have set for them has failed... and they seem to think mouse poison is to be hoarded for the hard economic times to come (see, even the mice are scared).

Well, today in an effort to eradicate the millions of beetles infiltrating my house I dubbed the shop vac my temporary best friend and went on a mission to end the lives of the helpless "innocent" beetles. As the long hose nosed it's way between two cabinets out came one of the many sticky traps I had set sometime last summer... one I had forgotten about. Upon investigating it's contents I found these little creatures. Judging by their size, I'd tend to think they are shrews, perhaps not full grown... but still, disturbing. This could explain why all the traps are un-sprung,
the little things are so light they probably don't even register on most scales.



The card is simply for "size comparison" as I couldn't locate a ruler or tape measure.

Of course, this doesn't fix anything. Firstly, I have seen (and nearly made eye contact with) a few too many larger rodents in my pantry in the past year and secondly because if there are two dead shrew-like things... there's more, somewhere, and they aren't in my traps, which is of deep concern. I'm hoping they all decide to move outside for the summer where the dog(?) will catch them? Or maybe I'll convince Ben that a cat would really increase my sanity (even if I to am not loyal to their kind). Although it causes him no end of amusement when I jump up on things and scream when mice skitter across the floor. :-)

Also, since this post is thus far lacking in the "Cuteness" quotient I present you with this closing photo, upping the cuteness quotient to something around 109.999%.

Toothless Grins and Laughter

After a rather "trying" morning of trying to make Brock settle down and sleep (his teeth were bothering him and if you put anything in his mouth he would just cry...) it was music to my ears when he started laughing (rather uproariously) this afternoon. He has taken to laughing in the past, but it was usually short-lived and not quite as hilarious. I'm still not sure what was sooo funny to him... Ben was depositing a few pieces of paper in a garbage can and I was paying little to no attention to Brock, when all the sudden he throws his head back and bursts into laughter!

This is how we find Brock every morning (and sometimes after naps during the day. Stuffed into the corner of his crib, sucking his thumb and with all the blankets kicked off. (Don't worry we do put a sleeper or something on him at night, this was after an afternoon nap)



I'm so thankful to God for those little moments during the day that make the stress and tension just melt away, and for the laughter of little children, it's one of the sweetest sounds on earth! :-)

Aha!

I finally figured out how to post video! If you never see a video with me in it, or with me talking... it's because I can't stand how my voice sounds on video... it's grating. :-P



This is the "creek" in our backyard, in the summer it's only 2-4 feet wide... but in the spring, it's been known to come all the way up the hill behind our house... almost right up to the basement door...




I tend to think this video explains itself... except for the part where we can't let Brock figure out there's a camera in the area otherwise he'll stop looking at Ben and smiling...


I just returned from taking Brock on a "walk" outside to see the "Critters," the mud, and to see if the flowers I planted last fall are coming up. They are! (now to see if they die randomly... I did not inherit my grandmothers green thumb.)

I let Mika (the dog) out for a bit too, she's usually pretty wild and doesn't settle down for anything (with the possible exception of food), but I actually got her to "pose" with Brock... and when we put her back in her kennel she was whining pitifully. I sometimes feel sorry for the poor beast, but she's just not "good" enough to be out unattended... she chases cars and likes disappearing for extended periods of time and it's just not a good situation.

In the Beginning...

Since the advent of Internet in our home I have found myself hanging out on Facebook more than I really want to admit. (Seriously, it's a time trapping device that sucks you in and won't let you go, if you aren't careful) Facebook is great and all, but sometimes I just want a place to ramble like I used to here. Although I suppose resurrecting the poor xanga site could be in order, I have found that I like the layout of blogger much much better... so here I am. It'll also help keep all my family and friends that are scattered pretty much all over (excepting of course, space... one of you should become an astronaut) informed on the "latest" happenings around here. I fear much of what I write will probably be centered around Brock and his most recent accomplishments, but there are worse things. :-P