March 22

Something just felt different. As we started our morning we sat at the kitchen table, the two of us with Ryan who was sitting in his booster seat with his plate of eggs, piece of toast, and a small container of Cheerios. As I sat watching Ryan enjoying his breakfast, I was just feeling a little different that morning. I told Joe, don’t go to far away today, things feel different. He looked at me as though an alien might pop out of me at that very moment…Nothing is happening yet! I tried to reassure him.

As the day progressed, I was right. Today is very different from my past days. My stomach is feeling crampy at times, and it’s getting very tight. I look at the clock, it’s about 11:45. The crampy feeling is gone. A little while later it happens again, so I look at the clock, and now it’s 11:55…Oh boy, or should I say Oh girl! So this goes on for the next hour, like clock work every 10 minutes feeling very blah and crampy. I call Joe because of course it was Saturday and he had run out to grab some supplies for the guy that was at the house to finish our basement. He of course overheard me call Joe and he immediately asked me if I wanted him to leave…thinking about it now is pretty funny. He wanted no part of being in our house if I was going to go into labor with him there. Oh wait, sorry Eric, it’s already happening. He went to the basement and that was the last I saw of him, ha ha. Joe comes in the door about 5 minutes later.

In the next hour it’s official, I may have wanted to think this wasn’t real and wasn’t happening today, but it was. Every 10 minutes…9 minutes…8…7…6… It’s about 2:30, I call Joe upstairs, I think we need to call the Dr. My contractions are 5 minutes apart…Even though we had been through this before, this was the first time everything was happening without any medicine, and we’re still at home! I make the call to my Dr. She tells me we need to go to the hospital now, she will call to let them know we’re on our way, but I won’t be there to deliver your baby…I tried so hard to keep the feelings inside, but I couldn’t. I start to cry. My Dr. was on her way to a family birthday party up north with her 6yr old daughter. She apologized, but said she wouldn’t be there. She lets me know she will stop by the hospital to check on me in the morning. I say okay and hang up. My mom comes over to take Ryan and we head to the hospital. As we walk in the hospital, a nurse is waiting to take us up to our room. As we wait for the elevator she leans over and says, “I don’t know what relationship you have or how you know Dr. Mullin, but she’s on her way here.” I said, no I just talked to her on the phone and she’s got a family birthday party. The nurse said, “no, she changed her plans and she and her daughter are on their way here to deliver your baby.” What am I supposed to do, how am I supposed to react?? I start crying!!  By the time we’re settled in the room, Dr. Mullin walks in and smiles. She asks me if we’re ready to bring this baby girl into the world.

It’s Saturday, March 22, 2003. It’s 7:10 pm. Our baby girl is born…all 9 lbs-3oz and 23 inches. She’s beautiful, she’s perfect, she’s healthy, and boy does she have strong lungs! It truly feels like yesterday that she was born and that my 2yr old son was coming to visit to meet this new baby sister. It’s hard to believe 14 years has gone by. But what an amazing experience to have watched you and your brother grow into the amazing young adults you’re becoming. There are times I’m sad that you’re not little any more, but I’m so excited to see what the future holds for each of you. I am very blessed to have the son and daughter I have. We laugh, we smile, we sometimes cry, we challenge each other and push each other to become better than what we were before. I am honored and proud to be you mother. Today I have a 16 yr old son and a 14 yr old daughter. Happy Birthday Taylor!

First Day of Spring= Happy Anniversary

March 20th means it’s the first day of Spring. This is the first year I really remember on this first day of spring seeing so many visual signs of spring…I’ve seen robins, cardinals, some green grass, 50 degree days (and higher), and a multitude of blooms from plants, flowers and buds on trees. It’s exciting to know warmer weather is here. Spring time also means the school year is heading into it’s final quarter. (How crazy is that?!)

March 20th also means another year we’ve vowed to stick together through sickness and in health, good times and bad, and for richer or poorer. I look back at the pictures when we were first in college dating…those are some great pictures…although, what the heck was I thinking with my hair?!! I’m not quite sure where that would fall into our vows, but that didn’t deter either of us from wanting to spend the rest of our lives together. We’ve had so many highs and lows that we have survived and become stronger together. I could not imagine life with anyone else other than Joe, my husband. I only wish as we celebrate our 24th anniversary, you weren’t in pain after having two teeth pulled earlier today 😦 Not exactly the best way to spend our anniversary, but another memorable one because we’re together…

First Day of Spring = Happy Anniversary!!

Second time around…

She was eight years old and so desperately wanted to get pierced ears. We talked about it, and I shared how I was ten when I first had my ears pierced, and twelve when I got my second piercing. She really, really wanted them pierced, so her Dad and I agreed to go ahead and get them pierced… we thought things were going really well. She was cleaning them as she needed to, and spinning those little flowers like no tomorrow. I was very proud of how she took on the responsibility of caring for her ears. But then there was that one day…I looked at her ears closely as I had done at some point everyday, but today there was something different. Are you kidding? Her one ear was infected. We had to immediately remove the earrings and allow her ears to heal. Of course during this time the holes closed up. She was so upset and said she would never ever get them pierced again…

Well, six years later for her birthday she asked to get her ears pierced again…Her birthday is in three days, but with our busy schedules today was the best day. As we waited in line for her turn, the nerves and thoughts of six years ago came flooding back. Mom, once I do this, should I wear my hair up everyday for six weeks? What do I do if this happens again? Part of her problem with the infection the first time was a few pieces of her long hair wrapped themselves around the posts and started to go in the hole. I tried consoling her, that now that she’s fourteen, she’s more responsible and knows and understands even more what she needs to watch for and how to take even better care of her ears. I promised her that I would help her in checking to make sure every morning and night her ears look healthy and all her hair is  unattached to the posts… So now it’s her turn. She’s picked out her earrings. She asked the girl who was amazing in her patience and taking the time to answer all of Taylor’s questions, if there was any way she could have them both done at the same time. As I said before, this girl was amazing…she called for another girl to come over. Taylor’s ears were marked, they both loaded their guns with her brand new “diamond” earrings, she closed her eyes, and all you heard was 1…2…3…click…she was done… she opened her eyes and smiled…then with a cringe, and biting her lip, I swear she mouthed- holy shit that hurts! My mom and I about died laughing… and yes, when she got up, she admitted she mouthed it, but didn’t say it out loud….LOL! I know, just like when little kids swear, you’re not supposed to laugh…even at almost fourteen, I couldn’t help myself. So today is the first day of her second time around…

Electrifying…

Today we had a science assembly during the day and a family science night. The kids loved getting to participate with hands-on science. The theme was electricity. How do we get electricity?  What’s an electrical current? What are ions? How do you create static electricity?

As I’m watching and listening, I smile. I’m watching the enjoyment on the kids faces. The angst to be chosen to come up to the front of the gym to get to be part of an experiment or demonstration with electricity. Some students showing hesitation and making the choice to just observe. All kids were enjoying themselves.

But as I watch and listen, I can’t help but think of my daughter and her softball team. I smile and shake my head. I wish they could all be here right now to share an experiment they did with another team in the middle of one of our practices…you see, one of our high school helpers wanted to try something with all the girls that were at practice. I knew what she wanted to do as she tried doing this with just a few girls on Taylor’s team the year before. Abby told all the girls to line up and touch just one finger to one finger of the girl standing on either side so that they were connected. Abby explained to the other coaches what was hopefully going to happen…the other coaches said there was no way this would ever work. I spoke up and said Abby was able to make this happen with 7 of our girls last year. Go ahead and try….

Abby lines up all 18 girls. Each is touching one finger to the finger of the girl standing next to her. All the girls are asking and questioning what in the world they’re doing. So as they stand there finger to finger Abby announces…when I touch this steel beam, an electrical current will travel through each of us in the form of a shock. If it works, all 18 of us from the first to the last will feel the shock….of course I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity, I ran and grabbed my camera! You could hear, “no way this won’t work,” “this isn’t possible,.” As the girls stood in a line finger to finger, I shouted to them, drag your feet…all the girls with smiles and looks of wonder, shuffled their feet back and forth on the turf. Abby yelled, is everyone ready?? They remained touching one finer to one finger….then she touched the beam…………..”AHHHHH!!!!”   A shock was felt from the first to the eighteenth girl… That’s how electricity works! ( I have the video of this, but I couldn’t get it to upload …it’s entertaining!)

 

A dog’s life…

I have three of them, yes I know that makes me a bit insane… One sleeps with us, only because she’s outgrown her cage…I couldn’t stand looking at her like a stuffed sausage in her cage. The other two have been together the longest. Their cages are side by side. I’m guessing each night as I put them to bed in their cages, they must be thinking, hey what about Zippy?? Why can’t we stay with her on the bed, we like the bed too! but that’s how it is. Zippy sleeps on the bed, although many times during the night I think she ventures her way down to Roxi and Misti to see if there’s any chance she might be able to figure out that gate thing and let them out! So far she’s not that smart of a dog…

So morning comes, and the barking begins…everyone is awake and ready to start their day. But what exactly happens during the day in a dog’s life? Well, these three each have their won little quirkiness to them. Zippy doesn’t want to share anything, especially food, but she’s the first to start the barking. Once inside the gate, she paws at the other two cages until they are free. There’s only one reason this happens…Zippy wants any food they may have left behind from the night before. Zippy is the nosiest of the three dogs. She could be sound asleep anywhere in the house and when she hears a noise, she’ll jump up and run to where she’s heard a sound and bark. If I put a Fitbit on that dog, she’d probably have 10,000-15,000 steps everyday!!

Roxi our Pug has one and only one agenda…she wants to go outside, take care of business, then spend the next twelve hours on the bed. Oh what a life. She will wedge herself in amongst the blankets and she is set for the day. The only thing that might get her to move is food. She’s the easy going, lazy dog.

Misti is the smallest. She’s a 6 lb Pomeranian. Once awake, she sprints outside, takes care of her business and scurries back inside to get her treat. She spends the day and night in our kitchen. She’s the oldest and she won’t do the stairs. She’s very capable of it, but she just won’t. She is our watch dog…and by watch dog I mean she will bark at anyone she doesn’t know and any sound she hears. She will truly watch someone, bark and run to her bed in the kitchen.

A dog’s life… there are times I wouldn’t mind trying that life…

I Wonder…

I wonder when I’ll finally go to bed…

I wonder when I’ll ever catch up on my missed sleep…

I wonder if my son is really ready to drive with a teacher he’s never met…

I wonder how nervous he will be…

I wonder if he’s really finished with homework…

I wonder what my daughter is doing at her friend and teammates house…

I wonder how tired she will be tomorrow…

I wonder how her team will do as we play tomorrow night…

I wonder if it’s really going to snow as the work week begins…

I wonder if I’m going to get all the cleaning I NEED to do, done by tomorrow’s end…

I wonder why it is I’m still awake, when I’m so very tired…

I wonder  what tomorrow will bring…

For right now I know it’s time for bed,

but still I wonder…

 

Holy Wind….

So a couple days ago I wrote a slice about the weather in the Midwest…Illinois to be exact. While driving home from work today, my husband calls me. He told me not to park my truck where I normally do in the driveway. My response was, okay, but why? He said I would understand when I pulled into the driveway.

Of course my curiosity was spiked. So many thoughts going through my head. One of which was I really hoped neither of my kids was out in the driveway playing basketball in this wind…if the ball even came close to the basket it would be a miracle.

So as I pulled into my driveway, my jaw dropped… after standing and staring for some time, and walking around a bit, this is what I saw….

             

OMG!!!!  I believe I know what we will be doing when the weather breaks!! Needless to say, we’ll be altering our landscaping sooner than later, now that Mother Nature has begun our tree removal process…

 

Today became a little more real. My baby brought home her school pictures. But these weren’t just the usual yearly school pictures, the ones where you have sit a certain way and then tilt your head, lift your chin a little and give a nice natural smile. Nope, not those pictures. Today she brought home her 8th grade graduation pictures. How and when did this really happen? Taylor is my youngest. It’s hard enough dealing with my oldest being in his sophomore year of high school and not to mention next Tuesday he begins 6 weeks of behind the wheel driving! It was just yesterday Ryan was in Kindergarten and Taylor was in Pre-school. Where has this time gone? Now Taylor is in her last 2 1/2 months of Jr. High… I always would ask and dream about what the future will bring for both of my kids. I still ask those same questions. I just can’t believe how fast 16 years has gone by.            Soon I will have a junior and a freshmen in high school…too soon… Today became a little more real.

The Midwest

Sometimes, okay many times I ask myself…why do I live here??I know I’ve grown up living in Illinois my whole life. I grew up in the Quad Cities, and now live in a south suburb of Chicago.

I can remember as a kid growing up we had four seasons- you know them, winter, spring, summer, and fall. One of my favorite winters was 1978. We had a ton of snow! It was the best ever! My friends and I made an amazing snow fort, it was really an igloo. We of course wanted to be like the eskimos and sleep in it, but our parents were never quite alright with that… Summers were spent outside all day long. Of course there were a few scorching days, but we lived to be outside. Fall time was just that, fall. You’d need a jacket or sweatshirt, long pants, and shoes, usually gym shoes. Then there were the spring days…beautiful! Trees budding, flowers peeking through the soil, cool but gorgeous days. Again, don’t get me wrong, not every day was like that. But this is what stands out to me as I think back.

Now growing up in the Quad Cities, the big question was, what side of the Mississippi River do you live on? Are you from Illinois or Iowa Quad Cities? I had always heard Chicago was known as the Windy City…how windy could it really be?? WINDY!!!!!

So I’d love for everyone to think that as I’m looking back, I’m referring to a mere 10 years ago…in my dreams!! No, unfortunately it’s been much longer than that, but we don’t have to get into those details. You’re probably thinking right about now, what in the world is she getting at? What is the point to all of this?

The question on my mind is why do I continue to live in the Midwest? Who in their right mind wants to experience all 4 seasons within a weeks time frame? Apparently me…Where else but the Midwest can it be 40 degrees and sunny one day, the next day it’s 60 degrees and cloudy, not to leave out 40 mph wind gusts, then in 4 days a potential of 3 inches of SNOW?!! We’ve had some of the craziest weather..70 degree days in February, and tornados. It never gets that warm in the Spring. Where can you experience all that, Illinois to be exact. Oh, I almost forgot the most important detail…it’s still WINTER!!

So again I ask myself, why do I live in the Midwest???

10 minutes….

Upstairs there’s pouring of water as someone is taking a shower…..

A click…a clack as the heating vents contract…..

Every five minutes, the distant roar of a jet flying overhead…..

The occasional deep sigh and snore of a pug deep in her sleep….

A burst of laughter, then it is gone….

A hacking cough, I wish it would leave our house…

Wooooosh…the heat kicks on again.

Foot steps upstairs and now they’re gone…the creek of a chair and then thump, thump, thump, thump, thump…my oldest runs down the stairs.

Ryan- What are you doing?

Me- it’s March, I’m writing. Do you need the computer?

Ryan- Ya, but you go ahead and finish, then I’ll finish up my paper.

Taylor- Mom, can I take more medicine now?

Me- Yes, it’s been 6 hours…

The roar of a jet slowly gets softer as it fades into the distance…

Tick…tock….tick…tock… goes the clock in the kitchen….

The snores are louder, our pug continues in her deep, deep sleep….but now there’s another grumbling snore. Our puggle has curled up next to her and has joined her in this deep, deep sleep.

The creeks, the cracks, the noises of the house settling….

A car rumbles down the street…

Yet another roaring jet fades into the distance….

dodo- dodo-dodo-dodo, a train chugs it’s way down the track…

A deep laugh followed by sounds of a language I don’t speak…it’s only understood by 16 year old boys, I think.

The TV is off, the silence is golden. For these 10 minutes, there’s no arguing, no TV, no phones, no barking dogs, no yelling…. just relaxing, peaceful, golden silence.