The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Let's start with The Ugly...

Tina got braces today. She's not too happy about it, but she's been even unhappier about her teeth lately. Fortunately she only needs to have them on for about 3 months...not too bad.

By the way, she's the one that came up with the name for this post. I personally don't think they're all that noticable.

The Bad...

I'm getting laid off from Motorola effective July 4. We found out officially last Tuesday but heard rumors about a week before. This wasn't a complete surprise but nobody really thought it would be this soon. They're getting rid of about 85% of the engineers in Minnesota...28 out of about 40 in my location. That will mean our office will be closed in the next month or so and the remaining people will have to commute to the city. I've been searching for jobs for the past week and a half and haven't found a whole lot in our area. I had one interview a few weeks ago at a company in the same city I work now but that's it so far. I've also been looking in Wisconsin and there are a few more opportunities around Milwaukee, but relocating isn't high on our list. Fortunately I get 8 weeks of severance pay and medical benefits through September.

The Good...

The one interview I had has paid off! Its another Quality Engineering job which is just what I wanted. The pay is a bit less so I think I'll have to casually keep looking but I'll only consider jobs that are just right. For awhile there I was thinking just about anything sounded good. They want me to start on July 14 which is perfect. We'll get back from the UP on the 5th and then I'll have a week off. Plus I get the severance pay from Motorola!

I was starting to get a little nervous but fortunately things have worked out!!!

Girl trouble...

Well, our Addie is FINALLY cutting her top front teeth! She is still sporting only her bottom 2, so we are happy to see more coming in. She has been really cranky with these ones. They have been tough for her.

Payton came home from Daycare with a fever and she said her ears hurt... Brian took her to Urgent Care and she has a double ear infection... Poor baby. Hopefully Addison will stay healthy! Usually she is the one sick. It has been a couple or years since Payton has had an ear infection. Hopefully she recovers fast.

Oh, in case you didn't hear...

THE RED WINGS WON THE CUP!!!!

Desktop

Sonja came up with posting her desktop, so i thought i would do the same. I realized looking at some of the things on it that they are kinda funny. Here's my work desktop. I'll have to explain some of the icons in detail...




I know the background is boring. I got a new computer in Februrary and just never changed it. I used to have a great picture of the clear blue sky and palm trees from our Jamaica vacation a few years ago.

Relex_Anal... an unfortunate truncation. It should be Relex_Analysis.

Yes, I have a "Stuff" folder.

I don't use iTunes as much as I used to. My phone (Motorola Razr V3i) has iTunes on it so I use it to sync my music. I used to watch podcasts but not much time for it lately.

2007_US.pdf is our benefits book. I keep it handy because the insurance keeps trying to screw me so I have to reference it A LOT!

Att139514...these are pictures I put up at the beginning of a meeting while waiting for people to show up. See below... I suppose I could get rid of them now...I especially like the candy one.

IMG_0666.JPG is another interesting picture. We have a WiMAX device that connects to the USB port. It is a little bigger than a USB memory stick and has bigger "shoulders" so its a tight fit into some slots. It also has an adapter which allows it to fit into these tight slots. This is a picture of the box it came in. We got quite the laugh on this. The thing is you hardly notice it when the device is in the box. See pic below....

Mouth troubles...

Well, this weekend we experienced our first bleeding, run Payton to Urgent Care, fiasco. Payton was bouncing on her bed, fell and hit her mouth on her headboard. I heard a thud and then a horrible scream... I ran into her room as blood was pouring out of her mouth. Brian was in the shower so I ran in there, with Payton and told him to hurry up, Payton was bleeding. I think that is all I said... He flew out of there as I was trying to assess the damage. It was bleeding so much I wasn't sure where it was coming from. I felt all her teeth, they were all strong. Then I saw the gaping hole in her lower lip. The out side of her lip was already bruising and I honestly could not see how deep it went. So I grabbed some ice as Brian got his and Payton shoes on and off he went. The doctor told us that it didn't get past the mucus membrane, which is good, so it would heal great without stiches, just give her lots of popsicles. Thank goodness for that. Now Payton has been showing EVERYONE her lip. Today it looks a lot better. The swelling has gone down and it looks like it is going to heal nicely. Too bad that sucking her thumb doesn't seem to bother it. That would have worked out nicely:)

On to my newest thing. I made an appointment with the orthodontist last week. I had a retainer in college that I never really followed up on (I had it to straighten out my front teeth on top) and I have noticed that my teeth are looking "off". So I wanted a new retainer to straighten them up again... Yeah right. Basically the roots on 3 of my teeth up top are all "jacked up" and I am going to go for metal (thats right, METAL) braces on 8 teeth on top to straighten those teeth. I am going to do metal because they will straighten them the fastest. The estimate that the orthodontist told me was in about 3 months they will be straight then I can do a retainer for a few months all the time, then only at night. I can't believe that I am 32 years old and getting braces for the first time. I called Brian after that appointment and told him that I didn't think I could do it. He basically told me that if I didn't I would always wish I would have and he didn't want listen to me B$%&# for the rest of his life. ha ha! I am getting them put on at the end of the month. Just in time for vacation! ARGH!

Addie turns 15 months!

Well, time is just flying by! Addison turned 15 months old this week. She decided to bring it in with a bang. She has really decided that walking is the way to go. She can walk around our island in the kitchen (it is approx. 6x3.5 feet). She has this silly grin on her face the entire time. She will try to go fast too, especially if you are watching her. Payton loves to take Addison's hands and "help" her to walk. Addie seems to enjoy that. We will have to try to get that on video. Today we went for her well baby, 3 immunizations and 2 attempts for blood later, we were back in the car. Addison's stats are weight 27 1/2 pounds (95%), height 31.5 inches (75%). She has thinned out a lot in the past few months. I notice that her clothes are easier to get over her chubby legs:) She still has that blond hair and her eyes are light brown/blue. They haven't yet decided which way to go. She only has the 2 teeth still! When they finally come in that is NOT going to be pleasant! She had a complete blood count and iron studies drawn again today. We have been doing iron drops twice a day for the past 3 months. Her iron today was 100 (that is normal, at 12 months she was only at 11) and her hemoglobin is up to 10.3 (that was 10.1 at 12 months). So her hemoglobin is still not were her doctor wants it to be, but since her iron is SO much better we are going to switch to a multi-vitamin with iron once a day. Hopefully that will keep her going up:)

School Referendum

We had a vote today for a school referendum to build new elementary and high schools. The existing High School was built in 1921 and has some capacity issues along with antiquated systems and the particular elementary school in question is very overcrowded. There has been much debate about this issue in the paper. Every day for the last few months the "readers write in" portion of the paper has had many people either a) complaining that the new schools aren't necessary or too extravagant or b) stating the facts about why now is a good time for the new schools. I had to stop reading them because the stuff people were writing was ridiculous. Somewhere along the link someone referred to the new high school as being too elaborate and called it a 'Taj Mahal'. I saw the same artist renditions and it looked like any high school. I guess this guy would prefer the high school to be in a pole barn. I have a feeling that it won't pass because too many people don't care enough about having a good learning environment. We both voted 'yes' today but we know a few people who have young kids that voted 'no'....I don't get it. It will add a bit to the property taxes of course, but for us it will be about $40 a month...well worth it for the kids. A new school is inevitable, but it won't be any cheaper if we wait until the economy is better.

Update: It didn't pass.

Mother's Day

Well, Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mothers! We had a really great day... Brian made us a huge breakfast/brunch. I got some beautiful flowers and cards of course. When we were in Chicago a few weeks ago I was out shopping and I called Brian and told him that I just bought myself my Mother's Day gift. He knew I was shopping and I think his exact words were. "Where exactly are you?" I was at the Coach store feeling giddy about buying my first real Coach bag. (I have several knock off designer bags) So I bought a pink one of course! So anyway I have been using my Mother's day gift ever since. And and still giddy about it!

We are going to Mackinac Island with Brian's family in June and are staying that the Grand Hotel. The girls are will be with my parents. I was in search of a new dress. I must have tried on 50 dresses in the past month or so. I finally found one on Sunday. Thank goodness. We had Payton and Addie with us of course and Payton needs to learn the rules of the fitting room. Everyone walking by does not want to see Mumma half naked!

Before we left the mall Brian brought Payton to the bathroom. They were gone a long time and finally Brian came out and said that Payton would not go. She kept saying "there was a big poop Mumma! I want the bathroom with 2 potties!" She wanted the ladies room of course. So I took her in with me... Have you ever been in the bathroom and heard a mother try to shush her child because she is being embarrassing? Well, as soon as the stall door shut Payton was yelling "There was a big wide poop in there Mumma, and it was dirty! It was a M & M poop!" Well, no wonder she wouldn't go with that in the potty right?! She said "someone didn't flush that poop Mumma!" The more I tried to tell her to quiet down the more animated she got. I am sure I heard a chuckle from a few stalls down! She finished up and when we got back to the car I asked her what a M & M poop was. She looked at me and said "I think I saw some orange!"

Big Girl!

Addie took her first steps on Thursday! She only took 2 steps, but we weren't helping her at all. She does great holding on to only one of our hands... It is only a matter of time now. It did take Payton a month or so to be totally on her feet and no crawling. When Addie decides to take off, there will be no stopping that girl! Good job baby girl!

Our Vacation

Okay, so I still haven't figured out how to get photos off the new camera (although I haven't really tried either:)). But I will definitely get on that soon.

Last week we had a vacation, of sorts. Brian had to be at Motorola in Chicago for the week for a training class so we devised a plan to drive to my sister's in Appleton and leave the girls with her and I would join Brian. We started our trip horribly. Addison was getting over a stomach bug, but seemed better so we started off late on Saturday. We were doing great. Then about 30 minutes away from Nicole's house Payton said she had to go potty. We pulled off and as I was walking in with Payton, Brian was getting Addie out of her carseat for a little stretch and I hear "TINA, Addison is throwing up!" Still in her carseat of course. I finish with Payton in the bathroom and then Brian and I strip down Addie, thank goodness it was warm out, and we wiped her down and I brought her in to get her dressed again and Brian wiped down her carseat. YUCK! Since we have been in this situation before we now travel with a large cup with a handle to throw in front of the girls if they are going to be sick. So we are finally on our way, and Addie is relaxed. Not even 5 minutes later Payton says "My tummy hurts. I think I ate too much food." I asked her if she was going to throw up and she said no. She is good about telling us when she is really sick. I gave her the cup to hold and told her if she thinks she is going to throw up to put this cup in front of her mouth. I no sooner turn back around in my seat and I hear her... of course the cup is nowhere near her mouth. Until I push it there while she finishes and Brian pulls over, again... Now Payton is getting stripped down on the side of the road and getting new clothes on. They both then sleep for the last 20 minutes of our drive. Payton did get sick once more that night and didn't eat for a day or 2. But that is over. THANK GOD!

We had planned on driving to see Brian's Grandma in Milwaukee on Sunday and then I would go back to my sisters for a couple of days with the girls so I could babysit our nephew. Brian ended up going alone. I felt so bad. It would have worked out perfect and his grandma hasn't seen Addison yet... but we couldn't throw them back into the car the next day. Brian did have a nice visit though.

Sunday night Addie screaming and whimpered all night long. I had maybe 2 hours of sleep that night. She had a fever as well. Because I was nervous it was her ears again, this is how she always acts when it is her ears, I took her to urgent care of Monday. She was all clear from the doctor there, but he warned me she could change in a matter of hours with her history and to bring her back it that behaviour continued. That night I let her cry herself to sleep (about 5-10minutes) and she slept all night. I left to meet Brian on Tuesday evening when Nicole and Jason got home from work. Both girls were little angels for them and Payton did not want to come back home with Brian and I that next weekend.

Brian had his class all day and I shopped. Then we were able to have a nice dinner each nice and just bum around. It was AWESOME! I shopped a ton, and I didn't break the bank either. And it was so nice to just take our time at dinner and enjoy it. This was the first time we left Addison overnight. Our drive home was nothing like the drive there. Payton played in her seat, and we didn't even have to turn the DVD player on! Now that is something!!!

Time Waster

This has been occupying all of my free time the last couple of days.

http://arcade.itch.com/games/random-defense/

Change in routine...

We are all doing well and finally healthy again (knock on wood)! Addison has really take off with her crawling and now when she pulls herself up (which is constantly) she will just let go and stand there waving her arms. We don't think that she realizes that she is standing all by herself. She is climbing on to anything short enough to push her way into. She loves the cabinet in her bedroom for that. She is still sporting only 2 teeth, but major crabbiness and even more drool have moved in. So maybe she will break a few more soon.

Payton went to the dentist this week. She had already gone before, this was just a 6 month cleaning. She is SO into scrubbing her little teeth. She is getting really good at it. She spits it well, we just have to get her to figure out how to rinse now! That has turned out to be tricky. So now she has a new toothbrush from the dentist and wants to brush even more. Good going girl!

We are slowly trying to introduce the idea that she doesn't need to suck her thumb any more. She will ask, "can I suck my thumb Mumma?" We have promised her ear piercing if she quits. But she has these stick on earrings that make that one not as appealing to her. She has been BEGGING for me to paint her fingernails. We told her not until no more thumb. That may be the thing that will eventually does it. She will come up to us and say "see I am not sucking any more... can I have some polish?" She is so cute. I have been trying to paint my nails more lately so she will get envious!

Next week I am changing my work schedule temporarily to help our department while we train a new employee in. So I am going to be adding some half days. Hopefully the girls do okay with it. I told work that I am willing to do it for now, but I have to get to daycare by noon or so. Payton's class starts getting ready for nap then. If I don't get there in time she will have to wait in the office for me. She will think she is in trouble!!! Addie really has no schedule in the room she is in. She just makes her own schedule. In June she will move up to the toddler room! I can't believe our girl is going to graduate the baby room! Time is really flying by!!!!

Update on Addie

Addie is progressing. she slept much better last night and her cough has got a little better. She does still have little coughing fits, but they are getting farther and farther apart. She is still "rattling" at night. I can hear her from outside her bedroom door. Her nose is running constantly, and with the drool she leaves a wet trail wherever she goes. Needless to say I am going to spend today cleaning, while she is napping of course!

She is now pulling herself up on EVERYTHING. I moved her crib mattress down to the lowest position this morning...

Rough night.... and morning....

So our Addison has had a little cold and cough for several days. She was restless at night, but normal as always during the day. Over the weekend we noticed that at night she was started to sound congested, but quickly cleared when she was up and around. Monday night she was very restless and we were up a lot, no fever, and once morning came she was the same old Addie. Tuesday her teacher said she was coughing a lot (she hadn't been coughing much at all during the day, only at night), and last night she was coughing and crying all night, still no fever. In the middle of the night Brian and I decided that she needed to go to the doctor today. We were going to go to the lab to have her blood drawn anyway, so I brought her in this morning. When we got there she was crabby, and you could hear her wheezing. So after the lab and a chest x-ray we had our answer. She has pneumonia on both sides. Her pediatrician showed me her x-rays and her lungs are just scattered with fluid. So we are on an antibiotic and nebulizers for the next few days and we will go back in a week to be sure she is getting better. She got a neb in the office and it did make a difference. She won't nap well today. I feel so bad for her, she sounds terrible. Her doctor told me that we caught it early enough that we should see a difference in the next day or two...

Snow on Easter?

My parents came to celebrate Easter with us. We got about 6 inches of snow on the 21st. It was insane. I know Easter was early this year, but my birthday also fell on the weekend (the only time in my lifetime my birthday will be Easter weekend) and last year we were in the mid-seventies! Payton and I got out there and built a snowman. It was thick wet snow. We also shovelled the driveway, well I did most of the work, but she did have her shovel! We were out there quite a while making snow angels and having fun. Today the snow is almost entirely gone, and we will be getting another 4-6 inches tomorrow!

We went to the Easter egg hunt at church again this year. And this year I remembered to bring the Easter baskets. Payton wasn't the shy little girl any more. She was running after those eggs so fast I only got a couple photos! Addie obviously wasn't as into it. We did make it to church for the Easter service and both girls did AWESOME. We made it though the entire service, Brian had to take Addie out with about 5 minutes to go, but that wasn't a big deal. We went to brunch on Sunday, and Brian and I were able to go to a movie. My parents watched the girls. Brian let me pick because my birthday was Saturday, so we saw "The Other Boleyn Girl". We were the only ones in theater. It was a decent movie. I enjoyed it, and Brian didn't hate it. Mom and Dad went home on Monday and our normal life began again...

What a change...

So our Addison decided enough of this only moving on my butt thing. She is pulling herself up a lot more, and now the fun rolling during diaper changes has started. She has started a little crawl too. She does usually do her scoot-hop thing most of the time, but it is amazing how physical she is now. Her poor little legs are always rubbing the floor when she is scooting and her skin is SO dry. I try to lotion her up a couple times a day, but it isn't really working.

I put out twin bed frame into Payton's room last week. She was nervous about her new bed being too high when we first brought the twin mattress and box spring into her room, so we just put them on the floor. It has been driving me crazy!! So her bed is up for now (we have to sand it down and paint it white still). It looks so nice in there. Finally the little girls room! We brought her to the store and had her pick out new sheets and comforter... I was leaning towards Hello Kitty, but she wanted Tinkerbell. It matches her room great, so we got it. She LOVES sleeping up in the bed with Tinkerbell. And finally I have under bed space again! I have a under the bed storage box that I put all her artwork from school in, but it has been taking up space in her closet. And Payton has finally realized that she can go to the bathroom on her own and not wait for us to come too. She just goes in there and climbs up. If we ask her if she needs help (she needs help with #2) she usually will say, "I don't need your help Mumma, I can do it by myself". And she has started to actually want to get herself dressed in the morning. BY HERSELF! Oh joy!!!!

Just in time...

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Brian that we should really lower Addison's mattress in her crib. It was still at the highest position. She really isn't pulling up, and she wasn't even getting from her back or belly to a sitting position yet. I did move move it down and not even a week later I walked into her room and there she sat. That's right... she got to a sitting position for the first time. Lucky timing. I have to pat myself on the back again today. I knew she was close to pulling herself up, which is really why I moved it down in the first place. Just now I tried to get her down for a nap, usually it isn't too difficult, and she just kept crying. I went in to investigate, and there she STOOD grinning at me!

Carried away...

So today Payton was playing on Playhousedisney.com, they have some fun games she likes to play, and I discovered some print and color pages. So Payton picked a couple and I printed them out for her to color. I thought, this is great, I bet the web is full of print and color sites. So I found an awesome one at www.kidscolorpages.com I did get carried away printing though. I swear our printer was sweating!I printed so many I am going to send some to school with Payton and Addison! They have a TON of cute pages!

Just Because

Pink???

Yes, pink. Tina said the blog needed a face lift so I decided that since I can't avoid pink in this house then that's the way it should go.

We went to the Zoo in St. Paul a few weeks ago and here's the scene: two pink strollers one with Addison in her pink snow suit, the other with Payton in her pink jacket and Tina in her pink jacket. Plus Payton's friend Ava in her pink jacket.