It's beginning to look a lot like Ihatemydog...

I don't know what the heck has gotten into Scotch lately, but he is seriously pushing my buttons.  Not Skip's, of course, because Skip is perfect in Scotch's eyes.  I'm the evil obstruction that keeps Scotch from his master... urgh... So I get home on Tuesday night after running a quick errand with Preston, and when we were coming in the back door, I see Evil Red Dog peering around the corner of the stairs, and he goes running off (chewing on some plastic something).  That's code for: "I'm doing/just finished something I'm not/wasn't supposed to do."  So I walk into the kitchen, and I see a trail of crap from the garbage all the way into the living room, including a torn up plastic baggie, random paper scraps, and wet coffee grounds, fresh from the coffee that Skip had made before he went to work.  Yay.  Keep in mind that I have white carpet, so wet coffee grounds look like pure mud.  It also came to mind that I'm assuming what he was after in the garbage were the turkey bones I had thrown in there from dinner, and they are nowhere to be found.  Which worried me because dogs aren't supposed to eat cooked poultry bones.  Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper that I had to sweep, mop and vacuum at nine o'clock at night... Scotch knew I was pissed, too, mostly because I scolded him (since he was in mid-plastic-chew when I walked in the door), and because he followed me around like a little puppy the whole rest of the night, until he curled up on the sofa facing away from me.

So last night, we get home from dinner, and everything looked fine in the house.  There were a couple of little pieces of paper on the floor, but I assumed they were just scraps from something Scotch had maybe just chewed on.  Well, a couple of hours later, I go upstairs to bed, and as I'm walking up the stairs I step on what looked like the paper cups from Reeses PB cups.  Hmm... Just then I realized there was also a torn up black and green striped box along with those paper cups, indicative that Evil Red Dog had done the following: Jumped up to our dining room table (which is counter height), torn open the gift wrap on my parent's gift to Mannings, torn open the plastic wrapping on the box of Frango mints, taken the box to the landing of the stairs, and eaten ALL of the chocolate... leaving just the torn up box and paper cups.  Urgh... Once again, though, not only was I pissed that he ruined part of the gift, but also that he had eaten all the damn chocolate!  He seemed fine, though, because Evil Red Dog has a iron stomach, and rarely gets sick.  So I put the gate up to keep him downstairs since I was pissed, and an hour later he's at the bottom of the stairs barking his Evil Red Brains out.  This was approximately midnight.  Urgh...

I don't know what's getting into him.  He's been exercised, fed, loved.  So who knows.  I do know, however, that it's time once again to restrict him to only certain parts of the house when we're gone-- parts of the house that do not include anything edible!

More to come later on our holiday festivities, since we have kind of postponed most of them until this weekend...

It's been almost a month... (long, sorry)

...since I last wrote!  Yikes!  Welp, here's an update:

11/20: Knightwind dress rehearsal, then out to Waukesha for Megan's 1st birthday party.  Fun times with the band and the fam!

11/21: Knightwind concert, then dinner out at Bravo!.  They have flights of wine there, so I ordered the white variety.  It was tasty, but I had an issue with what they call it.  White Flight.  Anyone who has any interest in history or sociology would appreciate the irony that's occurring with that menu option being served in Brookfield, the whitest suburb west of hyper-segregated Milwaukee.  Ponder that one...

11/25-27: Thanksgiving.  Skip got off work at 3, snoozed until we got up, then me and the boys headed down to the Racine Yacht Club for Tom & Jerry's and a visit with Mannings and Galls.  We got to meet Justin and Julie's new baby Shelby, which was a nice bonus to the little road trip.  After our visit, we came back up to Milwaukee, dropped off Skip and Scotch, then Preston and I headed down to Crystal Lake (since Skip had to work that night/day).  We got there just in time for dinner-- in the livingroom!  Mom had rearranged the furniture to have the kitchen in the livingroom and vice versa.  It actually worked out quite well with a house full of people.  On Friday, Mom, Sarah and I, and the kids went to see Andy's new office up in McHenry, then us and the babies went shopping and had lunch with Nancy.  Good times, and the stores were not as chaotic as expected.  The Harrisons left for Illinois City in the afternoon, and Preston and I stuck around to go have sushi and a leisurely evening with Mom and Dad.  We got up and made an obligatory Joseph's run on Saturday morning, then headed back north.  The rest of the weekend was nice, just hanging around home with the boys.

12/2 onward: Skip and I had both fallen asleep down in the living room Wednesday night, and when we finally went upstairs (around 3am), we noticed Preston crying and a distinctive smell coming from his crib.  Turns out he had just thrown up, like real throw up.  My poor baby.  I picked him up, only to run him to the toilet where he got sick again.  It was so sad having this teeny kid standing next to the toilet throwing up.  He managed to get it all out, so we cleaned him up, and all went to sleep.  He seemed okay Thursday morning, when in the afternoon he got sick again.  We think it was from having milk again.  So we held off on that, and he seemed fine for the rest of the day and through Friday.

On Friday night, we met Justin, Julie and Shelby at Fiesta Garibaldi for a quick dinner, then went to the 'Tosa village to see Santa and the lights.  We walked around the village for a little while, which was fun, then went to see Santa.  Preston was funny, just kind of looking at him like "who the heck is this hairy guy whose lap I'm sitting on?"  It was cute.  After Santa, we took a horse-pulled wagon ride around the village, complete with Christmas-light-decorated horses.  We got home, only to be woken up that night with Preston getting sick again.  3 times.  I ended up laying down on the couch with him and a pot next to me, so that I could "catch" him when he got sick.  I worked out okay, until, what do you know... I got sick.  Twice.  Yuck.  So Saturday morning the two of us got up and went to urgent care.  The doc gave me meds, but left Preston alone saying to just push the fluids.  He seemed way better, and I was okay enough to get through the day.

Since he was better, we felt comfortable sending Preston down to CL with my mom and dad, since Skip had to work while I was going out of town to San Diego for a conference.  Skip took me to the airport and I had what felt like a long, drawn out series of flights (even though it was only 2), finally getting to San Diego around 8 their time.  I got to my hotel, then walked to the World Market around the corner to buy dinner to cook. 

I come to find out Preston had gotten sick again that night, which made us all worry.  Mom and Dad were taking good care of him, but we still were worried... Anyways, the rest of my conference was good, and I had some opportunities to get out and enjoy the city, too.  I flew home on Thursday morning, and got in around 2.  It was good to be home, because I really missed my guys.  I'm glad I was home, also, because Preston was starting to spike a fever.  We were really worried about him.

So, I got up and went to work on Friday, while Preston was home with Skip.  He made an appointment to get Preston to the doctor at noon, and then called me at about 12:20 and told me Dr. Meyer wanted us to take Preston to the ER.  It turns out Preston had lost over a pound since his visit to urgent care, and the doctor was worried about dehydration.  So were we, because Preston really hadn't had much of an appetite or drank much for the whole week.  He was really acting like a "wet noodle" and just really lethargic, which is SO unlike him.  So we went to the ER, and 3 1/2 hours later were discharged with instructions on how to handle diarrhea and vomiting.  No IV fluids like we thought they would have done.  We think that the ER staff was kind of blowing us off as panicky parents, which we were a bit offended by since we totally aren't.  We had just exhausted all other options in how to make him better, plus we were there at the urging of Preston's doctor.  So we went home, and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend laying low and getting Preston back on track to eating and drinking.

We managed to go out and get a Christmas tree on Sunday, and amusingly realized how big it really is as it relaxed and thawed in our living room.  I even ran out of lights 3/4 of the way through, so right now it sits in the living room almost finished... 

This morning I called the doctor and talked to the nurse, and made a follow up appointment to check Preston's weight on Wednesday.  Hopefully he's put some back on, since he's been eating and drinking a lot better the last day or two.  We're also making an appointment, at the urging of the doc, with a pediatric gastroenterologist to make sure there's nothing going on inside Preston's little GI tract that needs to be fixed.  So stay tuned... Until then, we still have a pretty ornery little baby, but at least he's smiling every once in a while!

On 18 years in band...

My dad once told me, "People don't change, they just get older."  Well, this statement fits perfectly in describing my band experiences over the past 18 years.  Here are just a few examples (if you have ever been in a concert band, you will no doubt be able to relate):

There's always that one person who nobody likes, not even the biggest dorks.  In elementary school, it was that goofy little kid who just kept to himself and really wouldn't talk to most people, probably out of shyness.  Then in high school it was that goofy guy who played 3rd trombone or was the superfluous percussionist, who the nicest people would reach out to, only to realize he actually was really weird.  In college, it was the 2nd clarinet guy or the 3rd sax, who some people felt bad for, but honestly he wasn't worth talking to because you couldn't carry on a conversation with him.  As an adult, he's still there.  He's in the back of the band wearing the weird t-shirts, not that good at his instrument, but he doesn't seem to realize that.  And if you tell him so, he gets defensive, or he can't hear you at all.  Aaahh.... the joy.

Then there's that girl who is thinks she is the most wonderful person in the world, and that all the boys LOVE her (she may potentially be not-so-bad-looking, but she's just so damn annoying).  She really wasn't there much in elementary school, because "boys have cooties."  In high school, she rears her annoying head, and she's the one before and after class and on field trips rubbing the guys shoulders and flirting with the director.  She's okay at her instrument, but that's an aside.  The only difference in college is that her shoulder-rubbing now occurs on band tour buses and in church basements, and there may be occasionally a little more than just rubbing going on...  As an adult, she still may be flirting with the director, or you'll find her surrounded by the still-dorky young men in the group on breaks and before concerts.

Then there's the "one cute guy" who is constantly being fawned over by all of the girls.  In elementary school it was that cute trumpet player or percussionist who also ran the fastest in gym class and got the best grades.  In high school, he was also on the basketball team and played soccer, pure over-achiever.  In college, it was basically the same as in high school, it's just that now he was the one cute fraternity guy that still held on to his musical abilities.  As an adult, it's that well-dressed man, still pretty good at his instrument, able to hold a decent conversation, and probably has a gorgeous wife and three beautiful children.  Probably also drives an upscale 4-wheel drive.

Then there are the "core band people," for lack of a better description.  I did not like most of these people, and to be honest, still don't (at least not the current ones).  These were the people who, poor babies, had been treated like dorks their entire lives because they were in band.  However, in reality, they were really a hell of a lot more judgemental and exclusive than those who they thought looked down at them.  They weren't really there in elementary school, but oh were they there in high school.  They were the ones who were in band, choir, the musical, Madrigals, pep band... everything.  They were never fully accepting of me in high school because I also played sports and went to parties and drank beer, and didn't commit my life to band.  In college, they were the music majors who spent every waking hour in Bergendoff, in SAI and Phi Mu, and didn't like me because I was in a "social" sorority didn't make band my life (even though I had been in it as a freshman, as long as they had).  Now, it's the ones who don't like me because I'm young and can't make it to every single rehearsal because I have a sick kid or can't find a babysitter-- even though I play my instrument and love music as much as they do.  Yes, these are pretty blanketed descriptions, and judgemental, I know.  But you've got to admit there's some truth to it...

I don't know what category I fell or fall into, but I just know I always did (and still do) things that I enjoyed and didn't care what people thought of me.  I had fun playing softball and being in marching band, and also going to sorority parties and band tour.  Hell, I missed Pref Night at Augie most years because I wasn't back from tour yet.  However, after all of this apparent emotional scarring... haha... I have learned a hell of a lot.  Facebook is an odd duck, and has taught me that some of those people that I wasn't a huge fan of in college have grown up just like I have, finding their own adult lives and putting the past behind them.  I'm glad for that, and glad that I see them in a much more pleasant light now than I did years ago.  There are still those weirdos, but then again some of those weirdos have the most beautiful families and are the nicest people.  I wonder what years from now will bring of my opinions of the current folks I play with... Oh wait, I'm the youngest, I bet they'll all be dead ;)

Okay okay, I'll start writing again...

*We went to Skip's co-worker and friend Tony's wedding on the 6th.  Last wedding of the season for us!  It was a good time, and I got to "recycle" my outfit from Sarah and Andy's wedding, plus a little extra "bling" in the form of a really pretty necklace I got at the gift shop at MCW.  Bonus :).  Oh, the shoes came off long about 7:00.  On the 7th, we got together with Dwyers down in Lake Geneva for lunch.  We haven't seen them in a while, so it was great to catch up.  I did a serious double-take when I saw Delanee and how tall she is.  She is a beautiful little girl that looks SO much like Melissa-- especially those blue eyes.  But she definitely got her daddy's height genes!  We strolled around LG for a little while before heading back up to Milwaukee.  It really was a nice day spent with our friends, and then some more time just our little family.

*Preston had his 1-year (albeit a bit late) appointment on the 9th.  He is doing quite well these days, walking like a champ and getting more words each day (plus some sign language).  He's 28.5 inches tall, but only 17.8 lbs.  The doctor wanted to make sure that there was nothing clinically wrong with him that's preventing him from gaining weight, so she had about 6 tests ordered.  Skip said Preston had 4 vials of blood drawn, and 3 shots for his immunizations.  My poor baby cried through the whole thing (Skip took him since I was at work).  He was pretty exhausted that day and the next.  Well, his tests came back, and everything is completely normal!  It looks like he just is destined genetically to be a tiny kid, at least for now.  In the meantime, we'll keep feeding him and making sure he's hitting all of his milestones!

*This weekend was a good one, albeit a bit tiring in the end.  On Friday after work, Preston and I bummed around town after dinner doing a little shopping for some stuff, and Skip went to work at Sinai at 7.  Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast and got dressed, then woke up The Bear (i.e. Skip) to take me to the train station so I could take Amtrak down to Chicago.  The ride down was nice, and the train was totally packed, which was nice to see (Insert Obligatory Anti-Scott Walker comment here: I wonder if the proposed train to Madison will be as crowded as the one to Chicago.  If so, Walker needs to quit trying to put the damn kibosh on that train. I digress...).  I walked over to Lindsay's and visited with some of the girls before we headed to see The Lion King.  The show really was great.  The actors and singers were awesome, and the costumes in the show were pretty impressive.  After the show, we all went to Quartino for dinner, which was also a fun time.  Italian tapas and red wine is a great combination :).  After dinner we went back to Lindsay's for a little while before I got on my train home.  Well, after all that wonderful wine, the motion of the train is not a good idea.  I definitely did not have a good ride home... At least I made it to the bathroom, let's leave it at that.  Skip and the boys picked me up from the train station, then I got home and Preston and I totally crashed in our bed.

Sunday morning Skip got up to work at Meda-Care, and Preston and I had breakfast then got ready for the day before he went down for his morning nap.  At my request, Local photographer UncleMichaelEckel came  up to take pics of Preston.  We went first to a new Vietnamese place for a pho lunch, which was quite tasty.  After lunch, since it wasn't too nice outside, we headed to the indoor buildings at the zoo to take pics (thanks to our Zoo Pass from Mom and Dad Eckel, we're able to go whenever we want).  I haven't seen the pics yet, but I really think Michael got some good ones of the little guy.  It was also nice because we got to see the zoo almost totally empty of people, so that was fun.  Anyone looking for a good photographer should seriously consider having Michael take their pics... just a little plug for my baby bro :).

We came back to the house for a bit before Michael took off, then Preston, Scotch and I went over to visit Skip at Station 5 for a little while.  After a stop at Ziemers to get their mail and a swing through McDonalds, Preston and I came home, had a quick dinner, then totally passed out.  It was a great weekend, so I wasn't a huge fan of getting up to go to work this morning, but such is life.  Oh well.  We've got another busy weekend coming up, with Knightwind dress rehearsal and Megan's birthday on Saturday (plus Skip has a show), then Sunday is my concert.  Should be fun!

Here's a recent video of Scotch and Preston goofing around.  Scotch sounds mean, but I swear he was fine-- remember, he's a big dog, with a big voice... He got a little crazy at the end, though, so I cut them off.  Sorry it's sideways, I have no idea how to rotate in YouTube. :(

Not feeling very blog-ish lately.

I haven't really felt up to posting too much here, just not up for it.  So, here's a basic update of what's been going on lately:

* Preston's 1st birthday party was Saturday the 30th.  It was a good time!  He was a total champ with all the people, and it was wonderful that everyone who was there was able to make it.  I know he won't remember, but it meant a lot to me and Skip to have all those folks there to celebrate our little guy!

* Skip's been working like a madman.  He really enjoys his job, and the new hours are actually working a lot better for us since we talk in the morning before I go to work and he goes to sleep (as opposed to at 4 am when I was asleep-ish).  The only thing is that he really is still low man on the totem pole, so his schedule is a little insane.  Just wait for the holidays... or rather, the workidays. :(

* I was really angry at the results of the election on Tuesday.  I don't think I was even this angry in 2000 when Bush won the first time.  I had begun to accept that Scott Walker was going to win the governor race, which isn't the end of the world (not ideal, but it really could be worse).  There are some deep-seeded issues against Doyle in Wisconsin that I hadn't been much exposed to since I haven't lived here that long, and I know that Barrett was a tough sell for some people.  However, I just don't understand how a crazyman like Ron Johnson won in the senate.  I understand people were tired of Feingold (which is sad, because he's a successful, BIPARTISAN policymaker), but Johnson?  Seriously?  It makes me feel like I am in a terribly uneducated state, and that people have no idea about the issues.  I don't want to go into it more here, but geez.  It's going to be sadly interesting to see how Johnson does over the next 6 years.  Ugh.

That's about all I have to say for now.  Maybe I'll be more verbose another day!

Clairvoyant

I really think I'm a little bit psychic, I always have.  Either that, or some things in my life are just really damn coincidental.  Examples:

1.) One day, my uncle posted a picture of some random guy on his Facebook, and I don't know why, but I thought "is that Walter Kronkite?"  So I go looking online, realizing it wasn't, but did a little learning about Walter Kronkite in the process.  The next day, I'm listening to the radio, and the announce the death of the famous Walter Kronkite...  I have never thought about the man before in my life, yet I research him randomly one day and the next day he dies.  Weird...

2.) I was washing dishes the other day, and I started washing a fragile wine glass.  Preston was in his jumper in the kitchen with me, and started whining, so I turned to look at him-- still washing the glass.  As I turned, I thought, "I should be careful washing this glass and not paying attention, because I could break it and cut myself," so I turned back to face the sink.  What do you know, not 5 seconds later, I bumped the glass on the side of the sink and it broke.  I was really weirded out...

3.) Yesterday, we were having a discussion at work about scary movies, and I mentioned how scared of "It" I was/am.  So last night, I'm watching TV, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show was on.  It's not inherently a scary movie, but I was really bothered by Tim Curry's character Frank. N. Furter.  This morning I Wikied that, and what do you know: Time Curry played It.  Weird that I had just been talking about that movie, and there It was on TV, scaring me again.

Now you can see why I'm so bothered at the fact that I often have visions while I'm driving on the highway of getting in really bad car accidents.  Let's hope that doesn't realize...

Happy Birthday, Preston Charles!

It's 7:58pm.  One year ago I was being wheeled up from Labor & Delivery to my room in the Mommy and Baby unit at Froedtert.  Preston had been born at 3:30, and the place was full so we had to wait to get a room upstairs.  But we finally did, and I felt like I could finally rest a bit. 

Tonight, I sit here on the couch and I watch Preston sitting on the living room floor playing with his new baby doll (thanks to Aunt Erin and Uncle Tom), and the box it came in.  Skip's playing the guitar, and Scotch is playing with Preston.  We are a little family.  I could not be more blessed.   One year ago we were marvelling at this tiny miracle that had just been brought into the world, and right now I'm marvelling at how much he has grown into a goofy, adorable, sweet, laid-back, loving little blondie.  He has brought Skip and I together more than I could have imagined, and we grow more and more each day as we learn how to be the best parents we can be.   

I would not change things for the world.

First cake (the "real" cake comes next weekend), and the ensuing enjoyment, obligatory post-cake cleanup, and playing in a box: 

Busy busy busy.

I've decided that next summer and fall, instead of keeping weekends open to schedule stuff later on, I'm going to specifically schedule nothing on some weekends just to have free time.  I've felt as if the spring just melted into the summer which has just melted into the fall.  I've realized we have something on the calendar already for every weekend through Thanksgiving.  I thought the end of the summer was going to bring some time to just chill or be spontaneous... nope.  I also realize and acknowledge that we choose to involve ourselves with a lot of activities and a lot of friends, which I wouldn't change.  We may just need to re-prioritize a bit next year. 

In the meantime, we have actually enjoyed the things we've been doing, despite being so occupied.  This past Saturday was Liz and Kermit's wedding, which was very fun.  I don't think I've ever been to such a short wedding service in my life!  Hell, our wedding hadn't even gotten through the opening blessing in the time it took Parsons' officiant to finish the whole ceremony!  It was beautiful, though-- gorgeous weather-- and a very fun reception.  I have to say, the food for Liz's wedding was some of the best of all the one's we've been to this summer.  Congratulations Parsons!

I've started back at Knightwind for the season, too.  Wednesday nights we rehearse from 7:15 to 9:30.  We're playing a great program this year, lead on the podium by our new director from Marquette.  The music is pretty challenging-- I may even have to practice... (If you know me, practicing is essentially against my religion).  I really enjoy this group, and have made some lifelong friends, despite there being such an age difference between me and them.  I'm one of the youngest members of the group, but some of them have welcomed me (and Skip and Preston) with open arms and I feel like an integral part of the group, only after 2 1/2 seasons.  I look forward to many more!

Skip and Halo of Dionysus are trucking along as well, despite some personnel changes and such that they've undergone.  They have a show out in Madison next Friday night, so it should be interesting to see how that all pans out.  I hope they're successful!  Skip has taken up the bass, so we now have probably 6 guitars of various types in our house.  That makes it 2 acoustic guitars, 2 or 3 electric, 1 bass, 3 amps, 1 tuba, 1 sousaphone, I think there's a mandolin in there somewhere, and maybe some harmonicas and other instrumental randomness.  All we need is a partridge in a pear tree, and we're all set...

Oh yeah, and Preston is great, too :).  He is at the point where he is cruising like crazy all over the house, and will even stand on his own for a few seconds-- until he realizes he's not holding onto anything, when he'll then sit down and crawl.  He loves these days to play with Scotch, and I am so proud of my pup and how patient he is with the baby.  Preston is the only person that Scotch will let play with his feet, which is a sign of ultimate tolerance for Scotch-- he hates having his feet touched.  In turn, Preston has also learned to feed the dog... urgh.  He will sit there in his high chair and hand pieces of his food to the damn dog, who will take them ever-so-gingerly if we're not watching. Little shit (the dog, that is...).  Preston will also do that with some of his toys, which has really confused poor Scotch.  He knows that Preston is an alpha to him, so he thinks it's okay to take things from him when he offers them.  Too bad it's foam blocks and food that Scotch isn't supposed to have!  We've got some work to do on this "sharing" concept...

In house news, the city took our huge pile of brush that we set out last weekend.  I was afraid they wouldn't take it all, but they did.  Great!  Now I can put more out there for them to take!

Some pics:

Preston trying to escape

At the park swinging

A bit dangly...

Yard Work

In case you don't remember, I posted back in June about our yard.  It was a forest.  Well, Saturday I gathered a work crew: Me, Mom, Dad, Jim, Nancy, Skip (when he woke up), Mary, and Sarah and Andy Z.  Here is a chronical of the work we did:

Preston, waiting for everyone to get to the house.  He likes to go under the table and go "Scchh" and yell really loud.  It's probably because we usually are yelling at "Scchh" when he goes under the table!

Here's Jim and Mom working in the yard.  The white poles were trellis' that were buried 4 feet into the ground, and then into concrete.  This was just the beginning of us realizing how difficult it was going to be to get this stuff up. Jim: "Hey, you guys better get your Chinese food orders ready, because I'm about to hit China!"

Nancy and Jim digging and hauling flagstone.  Mom's playing with fire in the background.

Here's Nancy and Jim assessing more of the damage.  Little did we know that bird-feeder pole was also buried in concrete.  There were just all kinds of weird things used in this yard.  There were random pieces of edging, rocks, wood framing... just all kinds of crap.  It's as if the people were bracing for armageddon or something.  This yard was going nowhere!

I didn't think this tree was going to get to come down that day, but it did!

Here's Preston, just hanging out watching all the fun!  Notice his adorable "candy corn" hat made by Cassandra for the Halloween season.

The tree is down!

The city of Milwaukee will pick up our brush, I just hope it's not over the limit for what they'll take.  This was only the beginning of what we left out there...

This is the ugly root system from the tree.  It took most of the time to get that all dug up.

I got Scotch a bone to keep him occupied.  A couple of times he came up to me with a stick or something in his mouth thinking he had something he wasn't supposed to have.  I thought, "chew on whatever the heck you want, buddy!"

Once we got the big pond tarp up, we realized the edges of the pond had been laid out with railroad ties held together with 4-ft long rhibar.  The rhibar was ALSO in concrete.

Andy had to go get his sledgehammer so we could break up the concrete.  Then Skip just sawed the wood from the tree house down as far as possible, and we just buried over what we couldn't dig up. 

We thought there was concrete UNDER the pond, too... Thank god it was just clay which had been kind of oxidized so it was white.

Here's a view from the back looking front.  You can see along the left side that there are still some nice trees and shrubs that we just cut back, so next spring we should have more controlled growth.  Not to mention a.) we didn't pull EVERYTHING up, and b.) we won't have to plant much.  I can't believe the difference a day made in making the yard look totally different.  We've still got some hauling and brush removal to do, but in the spring we'll be able to plant grass seed and get a real lawn going!

New schedule these days

Skip has gone up a "point" at Sinai, and is now working 5 shifts every 2 weeks (as before), but will now be working 7pm-7am.  He's also, in case I didn't post it before, working as a transport nurse for Meda-Care once or twice a month.  He's still occasionally working as an EMT there, too.  I'm so proud of all his hard work, because it's really paying off in terms of him being a successful nurse.  However, it means we're having to rearrange things here and there with our schedules, which is always a bit more complicated when a one-year-old is involved.

Preston is still going to Cassandra's, except now on the days after Skip's shifts he's there all day, as opposed to just the morning.  Depending on what time Skip gets home in the mornings, he will sometimes be the one taking Preston to Cassandra's, which will save me some time in getting to work.  We kept the same babysitter even though we moved a little farther away, but that means I have to leave way earlier on the mornings when I have to take Preston.  Such is life.  So, we tested that out this morning, and it was a little crazy.  But it worked, with Skip getting home just in time for me to pass Preston off to him so he could take him and I could go to work.  I'll pick Preston up in the afternoons now, which will be a little different since Skip was usually the one to pick him up before.  I think this new schedule will work out okay for us, and it will be nice having a little extra income, as well.

Our poor dog is totally confused, though, since he was used to Skip getting home at 3:30 every morning.  He stayed downstairs most of the night last night, and scared the bejeezus out of me when I got up to go to the bathroom at 4, when he was standing outside the door when I came out.  He looked so confused as to why Skip wasn't home yet.  He'll get used to it, but he's a pretty sensitive dog, so it'll be interesting to see if it affects him at all.  Listen to me-- I'm talking about my dog like he's our child.  :)  Well, he is our hairy 1st child...

Anyways, I'm off to Menards, the grocery store, and Discount Liquor tonight to get supplies for tomorrow's "yard party."  We've got folks coming up to help us get our yard in order, finally, as this really is the first weekend since the summer started that we've been able to specifically dedicate our day to the yard.  It's about time!  Let's just pray that the weather is nice enough...

Pig snouts, leiderhosens and Buddies (long...)

Last week seemed like one of the longest weeks ever, though the days went by pretty fast I guess.  I had been getting sick as of Sunday evening, after having been down in Racine all day Saturday (baby shower for Julie and shrimp boil at the Yacht Club).  Sunday we had a nice family day, as Skip was recovering from working 28 hours at Meda-Care since Friday night.  We decided we were officially done with sleeping downstairs in our doorless room, because with our schedules so different, we are perpetually tiptoeing around the house when the other is sleeping.  So we moved the bed upstairs (well, actually just the mattress at that point).  I ended up sleeping Sunday night down on the couch, though, because we hadn't gotten around to moving Preston's bed upstairs-- and I'm not comfortable being on a separate floor from him yet. 

Anyways, I went to work on Monday, and had to be there at 7:15 for a 7:30 meeting clear over in Froedtert west.  Whoever schedules meetings that early in the morning is nuts.  Well, the meeting got done, and I officially was in a fog.  My head was killing me, so I decided to go home.  I got home, and passed out until like noon.  I don't even really recall what the rest of the day entailed, except that we went back down to Racine for dinner at Mannings.  Preston was a champ eating.  Of course.  Oh yeah, when we got home Skip and I put the rest of the bed together upstairs.  Glad to have the bed up there, but going up and down and working on it totally wore me out again. 

I called in again for Tuesday, since I was really still feeling crappy.  My treasure-child let me sleep until 8:30, and then I got up with him to feed him breakfast.  Long about 10:30, he seemed tired again, so I just thought I'd put him back in bed.  Well, he ended up falling back asleep, which allowed me to sleep again until almost noon.  He must've known I wasn't feeling well!

The rest of the week went by okay, and even Mannings got a chance to watch Preston on Friday while Skip slept and I was at work.  Friday evening consisted of putting together birthday party invitations and going to bed by 10 (Skip worked).

Saturday I got up and went total errand-crazy with Preston.  First Skip got going out to golf for a bachelor party... after only 3 hours of sleep.  Poor guy!  The bank and post office were first, then I swung by a local church rummage sale to find some things for P (almost went into a funeral, though, not realizing the sale was on the other end of the church building... oops!).  After the sale we stopped at Viet Hoa, a big asian grocery store in the city.  I love that place (despite the fact I just read they have some of the highest instances of health violations in the city.  Meh, I'll still shop there and take my 20 oz bottle of sesame oil for $2 as opposed to paying $4 for 8 oz in the regular grocery store).  A very nice young hispanic guy even carried all my groceries out to the car for me, since Preston was sound asleep in my sling.   Then we went to the regular grocery store for the rest of our stuff.  When we got home, it was about the time Skip was getting done with golf, so I caught up with him for a little while before he actually went back to bed (apparently all he had eaten was the pickles and olives from his multiple Bloody Marys... so his eyes looked like two pissholes in the snow...).

I putzed around the house, showered, then my mom and dad and Michael got there.  We visited, and Dad and MCE helped move a few things around the house.  Then off to the Bavarian Inn for Oktoberfest.  My good friend Roger from Knightwind also plays in a group called Alte Kameraden, and they were playing at the 'fest.  Skip and I had gone last year, so I was happy this year that I could partake a little more in the festivities (i.e. drink lots of German beer).  We had rollbraten, brats, pretzel buns, and Dad even got a whole pig head.  It was so disgustingly delicious to pick at!  We listened to the music, drank, danced a little, then hit the road when it got pretty chilly.  We just had a great time.  Everyone came back to the house for a little while, then Skip and I stayed up and he ordered Fiesta Garibaldi at like 9.  FYI, don't eat queso fundido after eating a pigs head and drinking too much beer.  Your stomach will not feel good the next day.

Sunday we went over and had breakfast at the hotel with my mom and dad, then went to church.  After church we headed to the zoo for the annual Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin DS Awareness Walk (not technically the Buddy Walk anymore, but still...).  It was a beautiful day to be outside and participate in such a great event, in honor of our "Queen" Elizabeth. 

After the walk we went over and had an early dinner at Harrisons, before getting home so Skip could go to band.  Yup, I fell asleep on the couch at 8. :) 

Trying to win a new baby carrier...

I want to win one of these, so I'm blogging for it!  We have to give our other borrowed Ergo back to Cassandra as soon as her shoulder is healed, so we're on the lookout for another one.  Here's to trying to win a contest!

We have a crawler!

And a cruiser...

And a sweet little goof at bedtime...

House

Just a "little" list I made up today.

Ziemer Wedding Weekend

Woof. What a weekend! But what a WONDERFUL weekend!

Friday I attempted to work throughout the day, but let's just say that did not happen. I was so excited I totally couldn't stay focused! I left work by 3:30, then busted my butt home to get going to the rehearsal. Dad had dropped Sarah (H) off at the house to ride down with us, since Andy (H) wasn't off work until later. It turned out that the grill for the dinner wasn't working, so Andy (Z) rented an Enterprise truck to bring his big grill down. Skip ended up just riding down with Andy (Z), so that he could get set up at the lake for dinner.

Sarah (H) and I headed down to Villa Terrace, where we met the rest of the wedding party to rehearse. Pastor Ziemer did such a nice job welcoming everyone, and saying that this was really the start to the whole celebration. It really got all of us excited, I think! After the rehearsal Sarah (H) and I went on a bit of a wild-goose chase to find some ice, which we eventually did. We met everyone down at McKinley Marina to have dinner and visit. The dinner was great, and Skip was happy since his grilling, hummus and specially-brewed beers went over quite well. We may have to market the Ball & Chain Pale Ale, Now It's Time to Dance, and Awesome Alimony Ale... We left dinner with a very tired little baby, so it was definitely time to be home. I put Preston down in his crib, expecting him to wake up so I could change his clothes. Nope. He slept the whole night in his overalls and even his shoes (I totally forgot to take them off!).

I could've slept in a little on Saturday morning, but that didn't happen-- I was too excited! I got up and got Preston's stuff ready, then showered and got myself ready. Skip and Preston dropped me off at the Iron Horse to meet the girls to go to the salon. Our salon visit was a great start to the morning, with a few mimosas, bagels, great hairdos and makeup jobs. We got back to the hotel, visited for a little while, then got ready. (Skip had dropped Preston off out in Waukesha so that Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim and Cate and Becky could watch him and Megan and Elizabeth for the night). Our little "bowling shoe" bus came to pick us up and bring us to Villa Terrace. I felt oddly emotional the whole morning, and I think it was because I've known Sarah since we were both little girls, and she has always been the type to dream about her wedding day-- and here it was. And on top of that, everything was going perfectly and Sarah was so happy. It really was a little emotional!

We helped Sarah get ready at Villa Terrace while the photography started and everything was getting set up downstairs. It was great that the wedding was able to be held outside as planned. The wedding really went off beautifully. The overlook where the ceremony was held has a gorgeous view of the lake and gardens below, and with the monarchs and sailboats, it really was extremely picturesque. My sister did a great job singing, and everyone kept their cool (in terms of tears...). None of us bridesmaids even tripped or fell with our super-tall heels on. We stuck around for some pictures, then boarded the bowling shoe for the fun.

Aside from a quick stop in the 3rd Ward, the wedding party pretty much hung on the bus, drinking plenty of beer and champagne, while Sarah and Andy got their pictures taken. We arrived to Lakefront in plenty of time to get the party started. Dinner was great, drinks were great, and the speeches were great-- especially Al's, which assured there was not a dry eye in the place. I mean, "Sarah's tear ducts are directly connected to her heart" ?? Really? Who's not going to cry at that?! After all was said, dancing and more pictures rounded out the night (and I hear there was a little river-dunking in there, too, as well as my sis spewing technicolor out their car window on the way home... oops!). Skip and I got a cab home, I took all the bobby pins out of my hair, then totally passed out... on the livingroom floor, before making it into bed...

Sunday morning I got up and headed out to the Courtyard to retrieve my child. Nance, Jim, Cate and Becky did a wonderful job watching my little guy, and it sounds like they all had some fun. I had lunch with my mom and dad and Preston, then got Mollie out of the house for Harrison's open house. I had meant to take the dogs to the dog park, but by the time I got home and Preston fell asleep for his nap, it was my naptime, too. Preston slept from 3 until well after 5, when I decided it was time for him to wake up and to get Mollie back to Waukesha. After we got home, Skip was done with work and band practice, so we had dinner then watched a movie. The newlyweds stopped by to check some stuff out on our computer, then the night was done.

What a great, yet exhausting weekend, but one that I will remember for a long time! Congrats, good friends!

Labor Day weekend

Nothing too exciting happened this weekend, but it was good nonetheless. I was able to get off work at 3:00 on Friday, which is always a nice favor of my boss on holiday weekends. It allowed me to get a good workout in at the gym (running again!), and then get home to see my boys for a little while before Skip went to work. He was Mr. Work-a-ton this weekend, so the few times I saw him we were like two shits in the wind... Anyways, I got home and started getting ready to go out to dinner while Skip fed Preston his (first) dinner. Kathryn was swinging through Milwaukee on her way up to West Bend with her friend Kathy, so Preston and I were able to meet up with them for dinner at P.F. Changs. We had a really nice visit, and Preston was a champ at the restaurant (as always!). He was a little whiney, since I think he's got the combination of a tooth coming through plus a little cold, but overall he was great. He had his (second) dinner of mushrooms, broccoli and chicken at the restaurant. The child can eat, my lord! It was also so great to visit with my good friend and roommate :)

We came home after dinner and I got Preston down, only to end up bringing him in with me later on at night for a little while. He definitely didn't sleep well this weekend. When Skip got home from work, I looked down at Preston and I totally had to do a double-take to make sure the boy was breathing, he was sleeping so hard. I put him back in his own bed, then went back to sleep myself.

Saturday we ran some errands in the morning and early afternoon, then waited for Skip to be done being on-call at Meda-Care so we could go over to Sarah and Andy's to visit. We hung out over there for a little while, then went with all the Cunninghams to Botanas to celebrate Shay and Sarah's birthday. We had a really good time at the restaurant, and had fun singing to Sarah and Shay while they got whipped cream smudged on their noses. It was pretty funny :). We got home and went to bed, and once again my poor little guy was not sleeping well. He was up about 4 times...ugh... with me and Skip (sort of) taking turns getting him calmed down, before he just ended up in with us around 5:30. I was pretty exhausted when he decided around 7 that he wanted to be up for good.

I just lounged and played with Preston in the morning until he went down for his nap, at which time I did, too. Just a short "recharging." Preston and Skip got up around the same time, then I went out for a little walk to clear my head before getting ready for Quinny and Kim's wedding. Skip stayed home with Cranky McCrankster, then had to work at 7, so I flew solo to this wedding. Sarah came over and watched Preston when Skip had to leave for work, so that was a huge help. The wedding was beautiful, and the reception/dinner was really fun. It's always great to catch up with the Meda-Care folk. I left after dinner, then came home and helped Sarah brainstorm the pocket square project she decided to take on. After a couple big glasses of wine, we decided to postpone the project until the next day...

Monday was another low-key day, with a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and Macy's with Sarah, then back to her place to finish the pocket squares. My mom said everyone planning a wedding always has to have a last-minute project, which makes it official (ours was stuffing ornament boxes...). We managed to get the squares done while P-man took a nice nap on "Uncle" Andy and "Aunt" Sarah's bed. We told Andy he should be jealous because another man was sleeping in his bed ;). Preston and I went home, had dinner, then ran down to Sinai and Meda-Care to see Skip and drop off time cards.

I look forward to this week and weekend for a couple of reasons: #1, obviously, is Sarah and Andy's wedding and all related festivities. I'm über pumped. #2 is that I actually get to see my husband for more than 3 minutes at a time (awake). His work schedule was bordering on insane this past weekend through tomorrow, so I look forward to him having some time off. I'm sure he does, too! It will really be nice to get some awesome family and friends time in over the next week!

Long (but fun!) Weekend

I took work off on Friday since we didn't anticipate having a babysitter available, and Skip couldn't get off work Thursday night. I had made myself an eye Dr. appointment since I knew I was off, and would take advantage of not having to take other time off work, and just planned on bringing Preston with me. Well, we ended up having Molly available last minute for the morning, so I dropped him off at her place while I went to the doctor. My eyes have been tired after sitting at a computer and reading as much as I do for work, so I wanted to get them checked out. Reassuringly, it turns out I have 20/20 vision, both near and far and in both eyes. The doctor wrote a prescription for mild reading/computer glasses, though, so I've joined the 4-Eye club... at least while I'm at work! Hopefully this will help make my head and eyes feel better after long hours on the computer.

(On a side note, it was really weird, because my left eye picked up more of the dilating solution, so my pupils were really uneven for a few hours. It looked really weird, like I had some brain injury or something!)

After I was done with my eye stuff, I picked up Preston, then went home and we had lunch. We took a little walk after lunch with Scotch, then packed up the car and hit the road to Crystal Lake (it actually worked out better with having to take the day off work, since we could get down to CL sooner). We stopped for a quick visit at MCC to see Papa, then got to my mom and dad's house. I had planned on going to the football game that night, but timing (and people coming with me) didn't quite work out, so we just went for sushi then came home and had a fire. Oh, Preston was a champ at the restaurant (as always), enjoying his first tofu, along with avocado and tons of sticky rice. I felt a little bad with the mess we left for our server, but Preston had fun feeding himself!

Saturday morning we got up, and actually visited with Skip for a little while... He had driven down to CL after his shift was done (so, at like 4 am), so he was down in CL by 6ish. He stayed awake until we got up, then went to sleep for the day. This would be our life of odd schedules... Mom and I went to the gym while Papa and Preston hung out. I actually RAN at the gym! Amazing, huh? Haha... After we got home, I got ready, ran a couple errands, then Cunninghams picked me up to go to Liz's shower. The shower was very nice, and it was great to visit with everyone.

After the shower, I came home and got ready for my 10-year h.s. reunion. It turned out that a bunch of my family was in town, so mom and dad's was kind of a madhouse for a little while, since my friends stopped by before the reunion, and all the family was there. But it was fun. We walked over to Dole Mansion, since it's so close, where the reunion was being held. As reunions go, I assume, it was sufficiently awkward, yet fun enough. There were actually quite a few people there, and I had a couple of decent conversations with people I haven't seen in a while. There were also a few other folks I talked to that reminded me why I don't miss that part of my life, and I suppose that was also to be expected. I was disappointed in the bar and food selection that was there, though, considering how much money we paid for the night-- sparse appetizers and only Old Style Light for beer (seriously). I suppose I shouldn't complain too much since I'm glad I didn't have to plan the event, but somebody missed the ball on the cost vs. food/drink ratio. Definitely NOT worth $50 each.

Skip and I reached our limit of reminiscence, so we went home. MichaelEckel drove us to downtown CL to meet up with the girls and Liz's bachelorette party. We ended the evening with stops at Duke's, Labemi's (eew), and Finn McCools. A little dancing on the bar and a 2am Taco Bell run rounded out the night...

We got up on Sunday, had a leisurely hungover morning, then hit the road. On the way home we stopped at our friend's Roger and Kathy's for a quick visit, then came home. Considering the fact I didn't go to bed until 2am the night before, I was asleep by 9pm. Yes!