Hola world

Not a whole lot going on these days, but a few points worth mentioning. 

First off, I wish you all could have seen my shadow last night when I was coming out of band.  I was backlit, and had my tuba on my back, and my shadow on the ground seriously looked like a Racing Sausage.  Big, unidentifiable mass on top, with skinny arms and legs poking out the sides and bottom.  I get a lot of comments when I carry my tuba, and usually just go with them (a little annoyed...), but even this was pretty funny.

Preston got his first hair cut a few weeks ago.  He was a serious champ.  We found a really fun little place in the 'Tosa village that specializes in kids haircuts (Whimzikids).  It was a little pricey, but worth it for the first haircut of my little boy's life. 

Hmm.  I'm just so handsome!

On the weekend of January 29th, we headed down to Illinois.  Skip and I dropped Preston off at my mom and dad's, then took Metra down to the city to meet friends for Lindsay's 29th Golden Birthday party.  We had a great time catching up with everyone!  Afterwards, we met just about all of the Prestons at the Parthenon for dinner.  We had our own room for 25 of us, and had a great time.  We took the train home, too, which was fun as well. 

Me and Lindsay

All the Augie girls

Preston working on his spoon skills at the Parthenon.  He's getting really good!

I felt a little bad the next day, because as a (way late) Christmas present for Skip, I took the Jeep to Turtle Wax to have it totally cleaned out.  Well, apparently there was so much dog hair that it was a complete challenge for the guys there, and we didn't get on the road until almost 3 o'clock (after dropping the Jeep off at 10am...).  However, the guys did a great job and the car looks like a totally new car!  On our way back to Milwaukee, we swung through Racine to have dinner with Mannings for Charlie's birthday.  We had a great meal of sushi and hibachi at Shogun, then visited for a bit before heading home.

Oh, there was a blizzard last Wednesday.  Did anyone else hear about it?  ;) Here are some of the pictures I took:

Preston and his doggie watching Daddy outside

Even my tall dog was covered.  He had a hard time peeing...

My car was high-centered in the driveway.  Without me even having to do anything!

We got the Jeep out.  Then our nice neighbors towed the Mazda when it got stuck at the end of the driveway in all that mess.  Wish I would've gotten a picture!



Preston was happy to hang out in a 5-foot-tall snowbank.  Mommy, not so happy to see her baby in a 5-foot-tall snowbank...

This lovely little "growth" popped up out of the snow like a little stalagmite from the ice melting off our roof.  A little phallic, don't you agree? ;)



We got to spend some time with Weseloh's on the 5th for Lilly's 4th birthday.  Preston had fun playing with all the kiddos, and it was great as always to visit with Sarah, Mark and their families.  I can't believe Lilly is 4-- she was a teeny baby when we moved into our old place on 64th St!

As far as upcoming plans, we're hanging out with Harrisons this weekend, and maybe getting some time with Ziemers and Hackers as well.  I can't say enough how great it has been to think, "hey what am I up to this weekend?" and be able to say "I don't know yet!"  I kind of like a little bit of empty-calendar spontaneity!

Ah, the temper comes out...

I think my dear little son has inherited the Eckel temper... God help us all!  Actually, it's not that bad, but he has been showing his frustrated side a little more these days.  When he gets really mad, he swats-- usually at my face, which really hurts sometimes.  I've done okay in redirecting him to "be gentle to Mommy," and sometimes I'll think he's going in for the swat when he'll instead sweetly stroke my face.  Okay, I LOVE that.

Other times, he is a back-archer.  That usually comes out when I'm trying to put him in his car seat, but only in the house.  So, I'll usually these days just put him in his seat IN the car, which he gets excited about.  [Yes, my teenie weenie still is in his "bucket" infant seat (at least in my car-- we've got a regular car seat for the Jeep)-- but both still rear-facing.  I think he's over 20 lbs now, but the infant seat is only rear-facing, and the new seat can't go forward-facing until 22 lbs.  So he's relegated to staring out the back winshield for another couple weeks.]

Another fun little development has been the biting.  Usually that's just to get my attention.  Sometimes when we're sitting on the couch, he'll come up to me or Skip and go to bite us on the knee or toe, which is fun. Not.  Last night, I was wearing a really thick sweatshirt and he got my arm.  It doesn't really hurt, but it sure is a way to get attention...

None of these little quirks are common, though, so he really still mostly is my sweet little goof.  His more endearing new developments are that he can now climb the stairs, say "pickle," eat with a fork, and climb the TV stand.  I officially have a toddler!

Oh Scotchers...

I love my dog, I really do.  It's just that lately, it's been a battle between us.  He's either a total pain in my ass, or he's the sweetest, weirdest thing ever.  It's mostly because of the winter, since the opportunities to get out are not so plentiful with it being as cold and snowy as it is.  We all just get cooped up and crazy.  So in light of my battles, I'd like post the "story of Scotch" and how he came to be my Evil Red (yet loved) Dog.

Skip and I had talked about getting a dog as soon as we started living in our house on 64th Street (we never would have been able to swing it in the shoe-box apartment).  So we started watching Craigslist and the Humane Society until we found a puppy that would suit us.  Skip emailed a picture one day to me of an adorable little puppy from an ad on Craigslist, with the tagline "6-week old Vizsla,"  so I started doing some research.  I come to find out that Vizlsas are very energetic, demonstrably loving, clean, somewhat neurotic dogs.  Sounded good to me!  However, I also found that they have been really responsibly bred in the U.S., so I was a little concerned as to why some guy had only 1 puppy, and why he was looking to get rid of it at 6-weeks old.  So Skip inquired.  It turns out that this guy on the south side of Milwaukee had a 6-year-old male Vizsla who sired a litter of puppies.  The guy kept one of the puppies (a female), and... well, before he could get her spayed, she got "knocked up" by Daddy.  So, the guy knew that the puppies would be one-generation inbred (not necessarily a bad thing in doggie breeding), but that most people wouldn't want a show-Vizlsa that they would register with that breeding, so he didn't broadcast the story on Craigslist.  There was a whole litter of puppies, and all he wanted was to find loving homes for all of them. Oh, and he wasn't going to let them go until 8-weeks.  So we went down there to check the litter out.

Oh. My. God.  The puppies were seriously the cutest things I'd ever seen, having been born on 7/7/07.  Vizsla puppies are totally wrinkly and squishy, so we basically fell in love right away.  We knew we didn't want the biggest one of the litter (Scotch's dad was over 70 lbs, which is giant for a Vizsla, and makes for a very tall, crazy dog).  We were playing with one particular puppy, and I just knew, watching Skip with him, that he was our dog.  He was called "Padfoot" by the guy's kids, since he had white on all of his toes.  Padfoot was ours!  We left that day and went to dinner to celebrate.

We picked the name "Scotch" since that's the exact color he is, not to mention we thought dogs with liquor names are always fun :).  We visited him a few times before we could pick him up, and a couple weeks later, Skip headed down there to get him.  I stayed home, and in walks Skip with the most adorable little thing ever.  He set him down in the middle of the house to start getting acquainted with the place, and he didn't move for like 10 minutes, and just sat there and cried.  We walked him around the neighborhood, then took him down to a calm spot in the river, where he went right in-- and layed in the mud.  So he got a bath his first day home-- how traumatic!  Over the next few weeks we attempted to have him sleep in his kennel... yeah.  That didn't last long.  The guy has slept in bed with us since he was about 3 months old.  We (and apparently most other Vizsla owners) are huge suckers.

Then, one day, Skip called me at work in a panic: "I lost Scotch," he says.  What?!  How do you lose a nine-week old puppy?  Apparently Skip had been walking in the nearby woods with him, and he stopped to talk to a guy on a bike.  Afterwards, the guy rode away, and Skip started walking the other direction.  He turned around, and Scotch was gone.  With Scotch's coloring and it being September, it was impossible to see such a tiny thing intermingled in the groundcover.  So I left work, and went over to help look for him.  My parents and Sarah and Elizabeth even came over, and we searched for HOURS for him.  It was miserable, since it was horribly humid and the mosquitoes in the woods were horrendous.  We called and gave a report to the 'Tosa police as well as Animal Control.  After hours of searching and crying, we so sadly assumed he had either fallen in the river or gotten hit by a train (since those are the borders of the woods).  We finally came home, only to collapse into each other in just a total fog of tears and mosquito bites.

The next day, I was sitting at work making a "Lost Puppy" sign, when Skip called me and said he thought someone had found him.  He gave me an address, and I ran out of work and went there.  In the front yard of this lovely house was an older couple and Scotch was on the guy's lap!!  I was beside myself.  Apparently the lady had been out for her morning walk in the woods and here comes this little puppy bounding down the path.  She thought it was so weird that no one was with him, so she called Animal Control and got our information from there.  They were the sweetest people-- I sent them a plant the next day.  We were SO happy to have Scotch back, and from that point on, he has been beyond spoiled. :)

He and I went through a rough period when he was about 5-7 months old, and I swear I would go to work every day with scratches and bruises on my arms from trying to handle him in the evenings.  Then... we discovered the dog park... i.e. LIFE SAVER.  Had we realized

that he needed at least an hour of exercise every day to be sane, we would have discovered it sooner (Actually, we knew it was there, since that was the area he got lost in.  I remember being very jealous of all those people enjoying their dogs, while I was searching for mine :(...).  Ever since then, we try (I swear) to get him out as often as we can so that he can work off that seemingly endless energy he has.

Scotch has been wonderful with Preston, even though he's so big and crazy.  He loves Preston and it's been

funny watching the two of them become buddies over the past year. 

This "war" that he and I have been having has coincided with the odd schedule that we hold, which means we don't get him out as much as he desperately needs it.  We try, but it's just not possible.  When the summer comes around and we get out yard fixed, we will have tons of opportunities to get him out and calm some of the craziness.

(And, because formatting on this stupid blog is being difficult, here are more pictures just in random order:)

See, I told you, I love my dog.  He's just neurotic, but aren't we all? :)

Pretty much all better.

Just a little update: Preston had an appointment with a Pediatric Gastroenterologist last Thursday, and all went well.  This was suggested by Preston's primary doctor to rule out any GI issues that could potentially be the cause of him being small.  By this point, Preston is essentially back to himself, eating, drinking, all systems normal.  So, the doctor wasn't worried about anything going on with him right now.  He even weighs 19.3 pounds!  That's almost 3 whole pounds since December 10th, which is awesome.  The doctor thought that the issue with our doctor being concerned was the difference in the growth charts the two offices were using as references.  According to our primary doctor's chart, Preston consistently plots way under the growth curves; on the other hand, he was right on the curve, consistently around the 5-10% mark on the charts that the GI doc was referring to.  So that could be part of the issue.  Anyways, the GI doc did say that Preston is iron deficient, so we will be working on feeding him plenty of leafy greens, broccoli, red meat and beans (and subsequently emptying the Diaper Genie more frequently :)).

All is good for now!

It's a New Year!

First, a little update about our holidays (and I am a horrible mother and barely took any pictures...).  Skip had to work the nights of the 24th-28th, so our actual holidays were pretty much shot.  So we had a little respite trip up to Algoma the week before.  A couple of trips to wineries, a brew pub, and a nice anniversary dinner really did us some good.  Here's one of the only pictures I took up there, just me and P being goofy with socks: 

As for the holidays themselves, on the 24th, I went to the grocery store and bought shrimp and steaks, the traditional Preston Christmas Eve dinner that we have been having at my grandma's house for god-knows how long.  Even though I didn't prepare them in a bustling kitchen or Jeff Smith style, they were good nonetheless (jalapeno-butter sauce... yummm).  Skip, however, donned the warm jacket and gloves, and braved the cold to cook the steaks out on the grill like we always do at Grandma's.  Our dinner was really delicious.  After dinner I made a quick trip out for some shopping, then Skip went to work at 11.

We woke up Christmas morning and opened presents when Skip got home from work, before going to mass at 9.  Preston was a champ at church (It's usually just me and P at church, and it's been getting harder and harder for me to handle him by myself since he's so squirmy, so I was proud of him.  We sat in the back and he was mesmerized by the nativity scene and the little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes...).  Anyways, we got home from church, and I successfully conquered a delicious, rich Hollandaise sauce to top Eggs Benedict for brunch.  Butter was my friend this Christmas. :)

After brunch, Preston napped and Skip went to bed while I packed up the car to head south.  We hadn't planned to go down to CL at all, but I figured a little surprise would be nice for the fam.  Preston and I got down to Nancy and Jim's and had a great dinner with some various Prestons, complete with after dinner card games and Christmas Vacation.  Preston had a little bit of a meltdown at the end of the night, but overall did really great with everyone, and clearly was spent by the time we got back to Mom and Dad's:

Harrisons got to Mom and Dad's on Sunday afternoon, and we all went out to Amy and Mike's for a "cousin's visit."  It was really great to see the Cederlunds and their girls, as well as Allison and Jeff, and Pete and Emily.  Amy and Mike were gracious hosts, and I've decided some day I want a bar like theirs in my basement!  I figured I should come back to Wisconsin and work a little bit in the month of December... so we came back north and 3 days later I was off work again :). 

New Year's Eve morning Mannings came up and we had a great lunch of antipasto (i.e. prosciutto, salamis, olives, crusty bread, cheeses, wine... officially making the month of December my best and worst eating month EVER).  We opened some gifts and visited some more, then crashed until the evening.  We had a super fun hibachi (tepanyaki) dinner with my family, even though Preston wasn't such a fan of the flaming oil on the grill... After dinner we went and visited with Ziemers, Hackers and Soon-to-be-Coopers, then came home and passed out by about 10.  So much for ringing in the new year!  On New Year's Day, we celebrated Eckel Christmas over at Harrisons, which was a very nice time.  We had steak and shrimp (this time the real deal) again, and I fried asparagus Paula Deen style.  Yes, I am now oozing all the oil, butter, and fatty deliciousness I had over the past 2 weeks...

Which brings me to some resolutions for the New Year.  Skip and I have decided to make a few changes to our lifestyle to help balance out the weird schedule we carry.  We're actually finally in a routine of sorts with our lives, albeit one that most people can't relate to or will ever have, but it seems to be working for us.  However, we also want to refocus a bit on keeping ourselves (bodily) healthy, keeping our house in order, and really nailing down some other important things in our lives before any other "big changes" might come along... So, each day, we will be keeping each other in check to make sure we've 1.) eaten healthy and done some type of exercise, 2.) cleaned up the house, and 3.) managed/acknowledged something financially.   I've posted before that our crazy summer really didn't lend us much time or $ to work on anything house-related, and we're starting to really get stir crazy to start some renovations with the house.  So hopefully keeping things clean and managing our time and $ better will allow us to start tackling some projects.  Stay tuned...

Until then, Happy New Year!

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!