Friday, September 11, 2009

September 11


As with most people, I clearly remember where I was on September 11, 2001. It was my first day back to work after my honeymoon -- I was excited to show everyone pictures from our wedding, etc., but that was very short-lived. At first, I didn't really "get" the magnitude of what was happening. Another girl from work and I were going to go to her house at lunch to watch the news. My boss said we could leave if we wanted to, but I figured with just missing over a week of work for my wedding, I probably shouldn't take another day off. But, a little while later, one of the VP's sent everyone home, since I was working in a 20 floor building. Who knew what else could've happened that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon at that girl's house, watching everything unfold. Wow.


Since then, my husband has become a volunteer firefighter, and I have a new appreciation for everything that happened that day. Those firefighters had NO IDEA what they were getting themselves into, just that there was a big fire and people to save. NYC firefighters have seen bigger fires than the Saukville firefighters, but knowing firefighters now, that's what they live for, the big fires. I'm sure they had no thoughts, whatsoever, that they might die that day, even entering that building. And all the innocent people in those buildings and airplanes, I do have some peace that the majority of them went quickly and didn't suffer.


It's days like this that make me more thankful than ever for my healthy family and friends all around me. My problems seem miniscule compared to that day.


If you know any firefighters, thank them for all they do....it's more than you might think.


Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Whew....BUSY!!!


Wow, we've been busy. Luke started 1st grade yesterday -- he was pretty excited. He ran to the bus, not even stopping to say goodbye to us!! Pretty funny. We learned last night that he will be bringing home a book every night to read with us. Last night he brought home "Ginger the Kitten". There sure were a lot of words! I was just glad he didn't ask me what "teats" were!!! He told us there was another Luke in his class, but he's mean.


This past weekend G and I went to the Jimmy Buffett concert at Alpine Valley - it was a lot of fun. There was probably a group of about 15 of us. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best, but it didn't matter.


G and I also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary yesterday. We went out to lunch alone yesterday and then I made Chicken Spaghetti last night, which was good. We got the kids to bed around 8:30, got in bed with some wine and started watching "Rescue Me". 5 minutes into it, there was a fire call. What timing. He never got home until about 11:30, and I was sound asleep.


2 weekends we went to MI to see G's mom. She hasn't seen Caity in almost 2 years and Luke in over a year. The kids were pretty freaked out about all her bandages and hole in her throat. she's decided not to do chemo or radiation, she will only continue with the speech therapy and that's it. All we can do now is respect her decision, even if we don't agree with it.


I also took Caity to the allergist a couple weeks ago to confirm what I suspected -- a cat allergy. Sure enough....out of the 15 things they tested her for, the cat allergy was the worst. She's also allergic to pollen, grass, trees, etc. -- all the seasonal allergens. I've never noticed her having an issue with that, though.


I'm leaving tomorrow night for a weekend up in Houghton, I can't wait!!!!


Monday, August 17, 2009

Mom - I'm never going to like you again....

Words I just heard from Luke. He's currently in a time-out for not listening, got out and went right back in for not listening again. And I thought he was the easy one.

I carted Luke around to 3 birthday parties and the Brewers game this weekend. He got to do a lot of fun things that apparently he forgot about.

We're thinking about making a quick trip to MI this weekend to see Grandma Farthing -- she's having a hard time accepting that she actually needs chemo and radiation after they told her that they "got" all the cancer. Now she thinks that the radiation will cause more cancer. I guess she asked Kathy to tell Gary that she wanted to see him and the kids. Our thought is that she thinks that she's dying and wants to see us all one last time. She hasn't seen the kids in almost 2 years, so we're due.

I'm starting the Flat Belly Diet tomorrow, so I'm having a frozen pizza and beer tonight and then maybe pure sugar later.

Just broke up another fight between the kids. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Less than three more weeks until the AGD reunion up in Houghton, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to make an appt. at the allergist for Caity -- she's still sniffling, rubbing her eyes & nose, since we got the cat. I think it's obvious she's allergic, but I guess I want proof.... And, I'm guessing the drainage, etc. caused the strep throat, from just sitting in there. But, I could be wrong, since I'm no doctor!!

That's all my random thoughts for tonight....!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Really? This is my life??

That's what I was thinking last night. G had fire practice, so it was me and the kids, yet again. I had to register Luke for hockey, so we went and did that. Got McDonald's on the way, kids got slushies and ring pops at the ice rink, so things were good so far. Then went to CVS for school supplies, since I have to register Luke for 1st grade tomorrow and drop off all the school supplies when I register. I let the kids each get one toy, since I was paying for the whole trip with CVS Reward Bucks....I bought about $20 worth of stuff for $1.11 -- woo hoo! I still had to go to Office Max, which I was going to save until the next day, but we had to drive past there anyway, so I figured we wouldn't be in there long. BIG MISTAKE. I'm looking at the markers and Caity finds a big bucket of those foam stickers used for art projects that she wants. The buckets were $9....no way was I going to buy that for her after buying her crap from CVS. Well, of course she threw a fit, wouldn't move from the aisle, crying, screaming that she wanted the big stickers. They had a smaller pack that I was trying to tell her I would buy that she could earn if she got 5 coupons.....yeah right. At this point, I only had one more thing I needed, so I wasn't about to leave the store. Luckily, no one was giving me any really bad looks, even though I did give her a pretty good smack on the butt when she was pinching and hitting me. Thinking back, I probably shouldn't have done that, I might end up on the news with security cameras, etc. We finally got out of there, she's still crying in the backseat, Luke is saying that he doesn't like Caity as a sister and we get on the highway. I turn up the radio, which of course Caity doesn't like, so she takes off her seat belt and stands up. This sends Luke into full hysterics.....Caity's crying and yelling for me to turn off the radio, Luke's yelling for me to pull over and that we're going to get arrested. I pull over on I-43, put my hazards on, and try to reason with 2 hysterical kids. She finally got buckled back in, they both continued to cry. Our final stop was Walgreens to pick up the chewable Amoxicillan for Caity, since she doesn't like the liquid form.....I get it in the drive thru and she wants to see it right away. I get one out and think this will be great, she can eat it right now and it will be all done. HA. Right away she says she doesn't like it. 1/4 mile from home she unbuckles again.....Luke's hysterical again, this time we sat on the side of the road for about 5 minutes, I got her to sit in the seat and drove home with her unbuckled. Get home, get all her stuff and take her up to her room.....after MUCH coaxing, I finally get her to take the liquid amoxicillan with a syringe full of chocolate syrup. This morning was much worse -- we had to hold her down.

Tonight I have to run a couple more errands, while Gary plays softball.....might not be pretty.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Better Listen to my MOM....!!

Last week I was talking to my mom, kind of complaining about Caity, not really asking for advice, but not saying that I didn't want advice!! She called me back about 15 minutes after our conversation, saying that she had a couple things to offer. The first was this: a lot of times both G and I will say things in front of Caity about how she's "bad" at home and around us, which she probably picks up on. If we keep on doing that, she might get to the point, or maybe she already has, that she thinks that she's the "bad" kid. That does make sense. so, the very next day, a teacher at day care came up to me and told me what nice kids I have. Normally I would say, "you should see Caity at home, though". Instead, I just said "Thank you". So, I'm trying really hard to watch what I say.

The other thing my mom said was to ignore Caity when she's yelling to us in the middle of the night. She'll wake up and just start yelling to me -- "MOM, MOM...." I was reminded of when she was a baby and we tried to get her out of needing a bottle in the middle of the night and we'd ignore the crying. After a few days, she wouldn't wake up anymore. So, one night last night, she yelled from about 4 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. She never cried or came downstairs, so obviously she didn't need anything important.

Normally when my mom gives me parenting advice, it kind of makes me mad, I'm not sure why this was different.....maybe because I'm kind of at my wit's end.

Then Saturday night, Caity came downstairs around 4 a.m. instead of yelling, she said her throat hurt, and of course she needed a million and one things. She felt a little warm. I swear she finally fell asleep around 6:30 again. We went to watch G's softball game and then I was talking to my mom again, telling her about Caity's sore throat and warmness -- my mom thought I should take her to the doctor. I thought that was a little premature, until I thought back and realized that Caity has been sniffling for 2 weeks! So, off to urgent care we went. Sore throats are hard, though, because Caity likes medicine, you never know if she really has a sore throat or just wants medicine! She ended up having Strep Throat!! Wow! I seriously would've never thought that! Another reason to listen to my mom!

One funny/disturbing story.....when we were up north, the kids peed in a bucket while we were on the boat. Caity now thinks that she can pee wherever. Friday night when I took her to bed, I asked her if she had to go to the bathroom....she said she already went. I didn't remember her announcing that she had to go, which is always a big production. I asked her when/where she went and she said she went downstairs in the bucket. My first thought is that she went in the cat's litter box. She said "remember the bucket from the boat? it's in the garage" Turns out, that bucket is in the garage, and she did go in that bucket. I tried to make it clear AGAIN, that she needs to pee in the toilet, NOWHERE else.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Good Girl Coupons

Finally....last night was the first time, it seems like in weeks, that Caity has gone to bed well, stayed in bed all night, and didn't yell to one of us in the middle of the night. I told her 2 nights ago that I was going to give her a coupon if she could do all that, which obviously I knew she could do. So, this morning, I made out a little coupon that said "Good Girl Coupon" with a smiley face. She was very proud of it, she carried it all the way to school. I think I will make a different list of things for both kids that they can earn coupons for and when they collect a certain number, they can do something special, like go to ice cream with just one of us, or something similar. We'll see if that makes any kind of difference.

Last night we went to the "National Night Out" at the park in Saukville -- it was pretty cool, since everything was free!! The weather was great, we got free hot dogs, water, popcorn, ice cream cups, balloons, even a gun lock!! The kids went in a couple bouncy houses, got to see the fire trucks, Luke got his pitches clocked -- his fastest pitch was 30 mph. At the end, the Flight for Life helicopter landed on the baseball field, which was pretty cool. We got to walk right up to it. It was amazing how much stuff is packed into there. Gary had Flight for Life training at the fire dept. a few weeks ago and had some good stories. He was saying they have eqpt. in just about every empty space.

Gary's mom had her big surgery yesterday --everything went well....she had her total larynx removed, lymph nodes removed from both sides of her neck, three areas of her throat scoped out, and then a procedure performed to rehabilitate a patient who has undergone total laryngectomy. This involves creation of a fistula between trachea and oesophagus. A prosthetic (Blom-Singer valve) is introduced through this fistula. This procedure enables the patient to regain his ability to speak. (I copied that part from Wikipedia!) It was a 7 hour surgery and then woke up a little finally around 11 last night, which I guess is normal for such a major surgery. They won't know for a few days the results of the pathology, but I guess they're confident that they got all the cancer. But, until they get the results they won't know if she'll have to have chemo or not.

Monday, August 3, 2009

She's BAAACCCKKKK......

Caity's back from Grandma & Grandpa's house. We met them in Plymouth on Friday night to make the handoff. ALL parties involved had a good time -- I think Caity should just move there. I just don't understand -- I think it's just me that she doesn't listen to. She always does great at my parents' house, she does way better with G than me, she's fine at school.....what gives? I'm at my wit's end. Time outs don't work, reasoning with her doesn't work, spanking doesn't work, I feel like nothing works. I'm being more consistent and sticking to my guns with my threats. For example, Saturday, I was going to take her and Luke to the store to get a gift for the b-day party Luke was going to later on that day. As soon as we get in the truck, she doesn't want the seat that was in there and starts throwing a fit. I told her that if she doesn't get in her seat by the time I count to 3, she's staying home. I ended up taking her inside to G, with her screaming and hitting and kicking me. Saturday night her and I had a standoff in her bedroom at bed time. She fell asleep on the couch around 7, so at 8, G brought her upstairs, which apparently was the wrong move -- she was hysterically crying for about an hour. For part of that I think she was half asleep, so I was trying to soothe her, like she was a baby, but then I think she woke up and was trying to get out of her room. I was sitting in front of her door, so she couldn't get out. She claimed that she was hungry, so I told her that if she got in her bed and stopped crying, I would get her something to eat, which I didn't think was an unreasonable request. She was climbing on me, kicking me, hitting me, throwing things at me. I have a huge bruise on the side of my knee from something that happened, I'm not quite sure what it was.

I've read several books on things to do, and I've tried things they suggest, but nothing seems to work, it's like she doesn't take me seriously. I praise her a lot when she's doing really well. But, I'm turning into a crazy woman (crazier than before!!) and it's to the point that I don't even like being around her. I love her to death, but it's just so hard. I think part of it is that she just wants attention ALL the time, which is something that cannot happen.

In other news, I took Luke to the Ozaukee County Fair yesterday, and he won a hermit crab....we're turning into a zoo at our house!! The crab's name is George. I couldn't believe he won -- that game was almost impossible. I threw some of the balls, but it was a ball that Luke threw that won!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Dead Fish

In less than a month all 4 fish that we got have died. I'm not too broken up about it, to say the least. I really didn't like cleaning out the tank. The first fish we got was from the Saukville 4th of July fireworks, where they had carnival games. L probably spent $10 of my money trying to win one. It reminded me of when I was around his age and I wanted a fish at a carnival so bad and my dad wasn't able to win one for me. I left crying.....the guy running the game felt bad and ended up giving me one. The fish died overnight. So, this fish that L won, it made it through the night and we went to Petsmart the next morning to get a tank, where I found out these fish were 13 cents each!!! Are you kidding me?? So, we got 2 more. Then a week later, L won another one at another carnival. The names of the 4 fish were Ernie, Otis, David and I can't remember the 4th one. We'll see if C realizes the fish are gone....


C is still having fun at G-ma's & G-pa's house. Here's a picture of her getting her haircut....
My mom said that one of her favorite things to do there this week is taking out pieces of fabric that my mom has for sewing and laying them out, folding them up and doing that over and over. She does that with a lot of things....blankets, plates, cups, etc.
I played a 3-hour doubles tennis match last night....I feel hungover today! I'm so tired, thirsty, hungry and just plain wore out. We lost the match, too. Just barely. Next week is our last match. L is done with baseball now, too. G is almost done with softball, so at least we'll have about a month of not much to do after work before school starts and then hockey will start not long after that......

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Not much....

Last night was really nice, just hanging out with L. We went to Culver's for dinner and ice cream, then to Target for new socks, then home. I figured out that he's afraid of Grova's claws and getting scratched. That's why he didn't want Grova walking across him. He doesn't want to get near her paws. I tried to get him just to touch her paws to prove to him that the claws don't come out unless she wants them to. He wouldn't do it. UGH!! I was also trying to tell him that if C hasn't gotten scratched yet, he wasn't going to get scratched.

Tonight G has softball, but not until 8:30, so we can hang out on the patio and grill chicken and have a nice dinner, just the 3 of us.

I talked to C last night, she was having fun in Appleton, she told me that she was having cookies for dinner, which I know is not the case!! I wonder what they're doing today. Before she left, she was excited to sleep in the big bed by herself in the spare bedroom. Normally when she's at Grandma & Grandpa's, she sleeps on the floor in G-ma & G-pa's room, with them. I'm hoping she slept by herself, but you never know.

The big-wigs at work are going to be gone Thursday & Friday -- I can't wait!!!!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Free Week!!!

C is going to Grandma & Grandpa's house in Appleton this week!!! She is so much better for them than she is for us. She's really so much better for anyone than us. How does that work?

I took L golfing at a par 3 golf course yesterday -- it was his first time golfing on a "real" golf course. I was pretty leery about how it would go, but he really surprised me. He had a 57 and only whiffed about 3 times total, but those were just "practice shots". On the last hole, his tee shot was probably at least 85 yards. What really impresses me about L is that he is very optimistic in everything he does, especially sports. On every hole, he really thought he might get a hole in one. Even in baseball this year, he struck out a lot, but it never got him down, he always wants to go out and practice batting, because he knows that's what he needs to practice.

Grova made it through the weekend with C bothering her all weekend. Last night C was making her make a funny face by pulling her face back. L wanted her in her room last night until she got on his bed and walked across him and stepped on his "privates". She weighs maybe 4 pounds, I can't imagine that hurt him....whatever!! L is excited that he has the cat to himself this week while C is away.

Pray for Stellan.....www.mycharmingkids.net

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Grova - the cat.....

ADDED: about a minute after I posted this, C comes out of the bathroom with Grova in the box we brought her home in, all closed up....she claims that Grova really likes that. L is telling her now that the cat hates her.

Well, we pulled the trigger and got a cat last night from the humane society. Her name is Grova, she's 1, and she's brown and black, tortoiseshell. She's a very nice cat so far. BUT, C is driving me more nuts than she did before. We kept Grova in the 1/2 bath last night, just to get her used to being in a new place - the humane society told us to do this. C was in there by herself and all of the sudden I hear her spraying something....she was spraying air freshener in that little space with the cat in there. Nice. Of course she denied it! Then, she's picking up the cat CONSTANTLY. Grova is going to end up hating her. When Grova was out of the bathroom last night recovering from the air freshener, C was trying to get her to go outside, even though we told her several times that the cat does NOT go outside. Stupid me, I was thinking that this cat might keep her busy and out of our hair.....yeah right. L has been really good with her.

This morning, we've let Grova out for awhile and C just chases her around, picking her up. I had to stop her from putting her on the counter....."But, MOM, she WANTS to go on the counter...." UGH. C also got some cat hair in her mouth, which she hates when any hair is in her mouth. I thought I got all of it out. Next thing I know, she got a cup full of water and she was pouring it on her tongue....all over the floor. Awesome.

I'm SO glad that we're about to leave to run some errands in about 10 minutes. I'm sure they will be getting in trouble while we're out, too....fun times.

This afternoon is our block party and it looks like an awesome day.

Friday, July 24, 2009

CAT?????

The other night I came home from tennis and G tells me that he took the kids to Petsmart - they really liked the cats. Then he told me that he told the kids if they were really good for the rest of the week, he would consider getting a cat.....WHAT????? So, of course, L does not forget something like that and has been talking about it ever since. Yesterday morning when I took him to day care, the first thing he tells the teacher is "We're probably going to get a cat this weekend". AAARRGGGHHH. Yesterday I looked at the Humane Society website and found out that it is free (adoption fee) to adopt a cat that is over 1 year old. G took them there after work yesterday, and they got to hold some cats and pet them, etc. G said that C was a little rough with them, but the workers there said she was good with them. I'm thinking the novelty would wear off within a week if we get one, but you never know.

C is going to Grandma & Grandpa's house all next week, so I'm thinking if we do get one, we'll get it while she's gone, so it can get used to the house before being subjected to her!!

The good thing about their visit to the humane society was that they were afraid of the dogs!!

First Post

So, I thought I'd start a blog.....for a few reasons. One, to keep people informed as to what's going on in our lives. Two, to keep me informed in a few years as to what went on in our lives! and Three, to maybe keep me somewhat sane.....writing about some of the things that happen in our lives might be like therapy, but cheaper!

I'm hoping to eventually include some pictures, once I get this thing down.

For those of you who don't know/remember me and my family, I'm Julie, a 37 year old full-time construction cost engineer, full-time wife and mother, living in suburban Milwaukee. I'm married to G, who is also a construction engineer and a volunteer firefighter. We have 2 kids, L & C. L is 6-1/2 and going into 1st grade in the fall. He loves all sports and is pretty good at them. He is very easygoing and is a very good boy. C is 4 and has one more year in daycare before kindergarten. She challenges G and me daily. She is very strong-willed and has her own agenda.