SNOW!

As I was walking out to my car to go to work this morning it started snowing.   Apparently it is supposed to be Spring in just two weeks, but I don't buy it.   It wasn't snowing at work, but around 10 AM it really started coming down.   Up North in Lake Stevens (North of where we live) they actually had to close some roads down.   By the time I left work at 4:30 it was sunny with no snow anywhere.    It was really funny driving home to see cars coming from the North covered in snow, and all the cars from the South free and clear.    There was about an inch on the ground in Lynnwood, but I'm sure it will be gone tomorrow.    I don't think I could want a warm day anymore than I do now.

More on my job and other recent happenings later on this week.

growing up is hard to do...

I'm looking ahead to when Dade will be able to understand reasoning.  Like, "if you throw your food on the floor, than you are done eating", or "when you pull up the drain on the tub, the water drains, then bath time is over."   I know that Dade is growing by leaps and bounds.   All I have to do is visit my Sister and her brand new baby boy to see how far a year and a half can take you.    I just feel like if he could only understand me, and could communicate with me what he wants, life would be less stressful.  My not so great attitude may have something to do with the fact that Dade woke up 3 times last night.   Once Michael sat with him, then I rocked him for an hour before laying him back down.   He's been sick this week, or we would have let him put himself back to sleep.   Saturdays are also the longest day of the week, since Michael works all day, and its hard to go out because everyone else in Lynnwood is out.    The bright side of today was the walk that I took with Dade (even though it was cold), we went down a side street and all I could hear was the wind and the birds.  The moment made me really miss the quiet out by Clinton Lake in Lawrence. 

Now for family updates, the biggest is that Michael now has two jobs.   Most of the week he is at Guitar Center, and the rest he is at Aaron Bros Framing.    He is also starting a recording/mixing business with a former classmate from the Art Institute.   If your interested you can check out their my space page at www.myspace.com/penguinaudioservices.com  

I've been job hunting the past couple of weeks, and finally have an interview on Tuesday.   It's for an offsite medical billing office.   I'll probably be doing to same kinds of things that I did at my job in Texas, I just won't be in a Dr's office.    I think that will take the stress down a few notches not having patients and front office people.   I really hope that I do well in my interview since I've gotten really lucky getting my last couple of jobs.    

The biggest news of all is that Michael shaved his mustache.   He just felt like it was time, and I wasn't about to argue.  

Last Friday Michael was off and so we went to the Bellevue children's museum.   It is free after 5 pm on Fridays so we felt it would be worth it.  It is smaller, but full of fun areas.   Dade really loved the music room, and patiently waited his turn on this drum set.   Then we took him over to the water area where the aprons were all one size, huge.   He had fun painting rocks with water, but couldn't bend down to pick up anything because the apron was so stiff.   It was a funny sight.

Can you see the curly hairs on the back of his head? I can actually play with his hair now, its very exciting.

This next picture I took a few weeks ago and is Michael's current favorite.    Dade really loves his books, and also loves to climb. 

Lastly here is a video of Dade's new hideout.   Just an FYI after this video I cleared out everything metal, so now Dade has a fun Safe place to play.

The Life of a Day

In December I went to my sister's book club, where everyone brought a poem to share.  One of the books that my sister chose from was; Good Poems -selected by Garrison Keillor.

I used to listen to Garrison Keillor read poetry on NPR as I drove to work in Houston.    I've never been much of a fan reading poems, but it's always good to expand your horizons.   I borrowed the book from my sister and have found a favorite that I wanted to share. 

Its called The Life of a Day by Tom Hennen.

Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has its own personality quirks which  can easily be seen if you look closely.  But there are so few days as compared to people, not to mention dogs, that it would be surprising if a day were not a hundred times more interesting than most people.  But usually they just pass, mostly unnoticed, unless they are wildly nice, like autumn ones full of red maple trees and hazy sunlight, or if they are grimly awful ones in a winter blizzard that kills the lost traveler and bunches of cattle.  For some reason we like to see days pass, even though most of us claim we don't want to reach our last one for a long time.  We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, no, this isn't one I've been looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for the next , when, we are convinced, our lives will start for real.  Meanwhile, this day is going by perfectly well-adjusted, as some days are, with the right amount of sunlight and shade, and a light breeze scented with a perfume made from the mixture of fallen apples, corn stubble, dry oak leaves, and the faint odor of last night's meandering skunk.

I still prefer poetry that isn't too complicated.   Here is one that Sarah read at the meeting that I also like.   It's called I Stop Writing the Poem -by Tess Gallagher

to fold the clothes.  No matter who lives

or who dies, I'm still a woman.

I'll always have plenty to do.

I bring the arms of his shirt 

together.  Nothing can stop

our tenderness.  I'll get back

to the poem.  I'll get back to being

a woman.  But for now

there's a shirt, a giant shirt

in my hands, and somewhere a small girl

standing next to her mother

watching to see how it's done.

I copied this poem as printed because I'm sure that the author had her reasons how she organized the lines.

With most books that I read it's pretty straightforward what everything is intended to mean.   With some poetry there are many different levels, and it's interesting to have Michael read the same poem that I've just read and talk about it.

The good parts of vacation....

Here is the happier post that I promised.   Now that Dade is feeling better(apart from still taking his medicine) I've had time to download the trip pictures.   Unfortunately most of the pictures didn't turn out since our camera isn't really the greatest.     Also I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted since Dade got so sick.

Here is Dade and Brielle playing in the airport play area since everyone's flight was delayed.

Here is Grandpa Thurman, Poppa Bob, and Uncle John fryin' a turkey.  When in Texas...
The turkey looked a little scary after, but it was really yummy.

Here are some pictures of the family. I really wanted to take some with everyone gathered, but I ended up upstairs with a screaming Dade Here is Michael and Dade meeting new cousin Xander held by Cousin Katie.

We went to Dallas to see my brother's family and my parents.

Here is Michael reading to Joel's daughter Maeve.

Here is my brother Joel and his wife Cynthia with my newest nephew Jude.

And here is my mom working her magic with baby Jude.

For some reason I didn't get any pictures of my Dad, Michael's mom, and most of Michael's sisters. If anyone has any good pictures of family from Christmas week I would be very grateful if you could email them to me.  someday I'll have a camera that takes decent pictures all the time, and not have a sick child.   We loved spending time with our families this Christmas and look forward to our next reunion. love to all.

Vacation?

We left Seattle last Monday for Houston. Our plane was supposed to take off at 6:06, was delayed till 7, and didn't leave the ground until 8. The only good part about being delayed was that our friends the Streadbecks were there too, and we got to hang out for a bit. We landed around 2AM on Tues and haven't had a full nights sleep yet. Dade had some eye goopies that first night, but we weren't sure what it was. He wasn't acting too sick, just cranky to be in a new bed. Then on Thursday he started to cough, and not sleep at night. By Friday he had a fever of 104 even with regular doses of Tylenol. That night Michael and his Dad and brother-in-laws gave Dade a blessing, and he slept well that night. The next day we were supposed to Drive to Dallas to see Joel and Cynthia's baby boy be blessed, and to see my parents. Saturday Morning Dade seemed better so we went. We had a really nice time with my family and left right after lunch on Sunday for Houston. Dade's sickness was getting worse, and even with Curious George playing he cried all the way home. Yesterday Michael's sister Laura called her pediatrician and got us in. We now know that Dade has horrible ear infections in both ears most likely caused by a nasty virus. The virus has also caused him to have a horrible croupy cough, stuffed up nose so it's hard to sleep, and a low fever. This is a new experience for Michael and I since Dade has never been sick before. The only time he's had Tylenol before was when he got his shots. We're now dosing him with three different medicines several times a day. We leave Wednesday at 5pm, as long as there aren't any more winter storms with delays all around. Hopefully the antibiotics will have taken affect by then, and the plane ride won't be miserable.
I know that was a whole lot of not fun stuff, and really its been wonderful to be here with Michael's family. They have all been extremely helpful with Dade, even taking care of the sicky so Michael and I can go out alone. I just wish that Dade wasn't so miserable so that Michael could be more relaxed on this "vacation". I'll definitely post some family pictures and talk about Christmas later on when we are back home. Hopefully the next couple of days Dade will feel better and we'll get to sleep more.

It's been a little while since I've been able to update since our PC busted. I'm now using Michael's Mac and it's taking some getting used to. Right now if I had my way I would be on a good old lap top, but it's not really worth the $200 it would take to fix it.

Today was Michael's graduation day from the Art Institute. Unfortunately due to inclement weather the school canceled the ceremonies. They are allowed to walk in the March graduation ceremony, and I think Michael will. After all what good is a cap and gown unless you walk across a stage and pick up your diploma. Here is Michael explaining, and Dade's first walk in the snow.

We took our laptop to Best Buy for data extraction so that we could save all of the pictures and videos of Dade. We would have been really sad to lose memories. Such as these pictures...

Like Dade talking on the Streadbecks play phone,

getting ready to go out. ;)

and being just oh so cute.

My friend Heidi let us borrow her nice camera and tripod to take our own Christmas pictures. We went to Howarth Beach in Everett, and even though it was a little chilly the sun was out. I'm not going to post the picture that we chose since that would ruin the surprise of our Christmas card, but I will post a couple of cool pictures from that day.

Dade had fun until he fell down in the wet sand, and got really cold.

I think this will do for now. We'll be leaving for Houston on Monday, so I'm not sure when I'll get another chance to blog... So Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

word of caution

It's been awhile since I've posted.    Michael and I have been trying to save all the pictures and videos off the laptop that crashed last week.     One day I turned on the computer and it just wouldn't work.    Michael tried taking it to some friends from work, who said that they have never seen a virus like it.   Not good news since all of Dade's videos, and most of our recent pictures are on that computer.   We haven't given up hope yet, but I haven't had any new pictures to publish.   So as a word of caution -Back up ALL your important files off your computer.