Liam Says

Liam has come up with some very cute things lately:

"Here, Mom!" he said as he placed two pink rose petals in my hand, "They're for your collection!"

I asked him what he wanted for breakfast the other day, "Chicken nuggets and sweet tea," he answered.

"Hi, Dad! Can I see your back? Hmmm...it looks like it's getting better!" he says every morning.

Not this morning, though! :(

We haven't seen the boys in about 24 hours. They're up north at grandma's until Wednesday, and although I feel strangely relaxed for once...we miss them. I started my job at St. Vincent's today with orientation and really enjoyed it. It was refreshing to hear so much talk of God, faith, spirituality and following Christ in an employment setting. Make me a channel of your peace I pray every day before starting work. It's wonderful to be part of an organization built on these same sentiments. Different people find their life's purpose doing very different things, but I find great solace in knowing that no matter how much money I make or how many people I out-rank I cannot make someone well. I might do all I can to help a person, but their fate is not decided by me or anyone else. That's a helpless feeling for some people, but for me it's made all the difference.

La Lluvia

Max Meows

He's also just learned how to say "strawberry"...video evidence coming soon!

Bathtime for Babies!

Bleh

I'm still working on my camera, so no pictures yet.

Just a quick update - we've all been sick at our house lately, so things have been a little crazy. Aaron is finally feeling better now that he's almost 5 weeks post-surgery, but he has had a chest cold for the past week or so that is slowly making its way through our family. Max caught it and then got pink eye. Liam got it and is showing signs of pink eye as well. I caught it and just want to stay in bed all day long, but we know that's not going to happen!

Aaron heads to work at his summer job today, so the boys and I are back to our regularly scheduled programming. It will be sad not having dad home with us during the day, but he's anxious to get back to work. I think we're going to spend some time at the park today. And then come home for naps, mommy included...

Surgery Update

Gram's surgery went well! She didn't get into the OR until almost 4pm today and the surgery took around 3 hours. They had to patch a hole larger than they'd anticipated in her diaphragm using mesh, and her stomach was much higher in her chest cavity than they thought, so it took time to get it back in place. All things considered she is doing well. They were able to do the entire procedure laparoscopically, but she will still need to stay in the hospital until Sunday at least. She was hoping to go home tomorrow, but with all of the extra time patching things up they want her to stay longer. So, that's the update! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Gram

**Update: They did the endoscopy this afternoon and found that her stomach is very far up through the diaphragm and has twisted on itself. This is why she hasn't been able to keep any food down. Nothing has been able to get past that twist. She is scheduled for surgery this Friday and should go home Saturday if all goes well. She was in good spirits this morning when we went to see her, and the boys were entertaining, so it was a good distraction from all the hospital stuff. My parents are heading into town tonight and will stay with us for a few days. Thanks for your prayers!

My Grandma Karen is in Green Bay at Bellin for complications from a hiatal hernia. She'll have an endoscopy today to see what is going on and possible surgery depending on what they find. Say a prayer that they figure out what's going on and can fix it expediently. We're heading to see her and Gramps this morning, so I'll update when I know more.

Babies

These babies have been hanging out in our backyard for the past few weeks!

This baby has been hanging out in my living room for quite awhile.

I think we'll keep him.

Off Limits

Liam is transitioning to his new upstairs room pretty well. He's been quite busy up there at night when he's supposed to be going to sleep, though. We hear him banging around up there and have to go and see what he's up to.

The first night he slept up there I went to check on him at least four times. The fifth time I went up I couldn't find him. He wasn't in his bed. He wasn't hiding by the bookshelf. He wasn't hiding anywhere that I could see. I didn't think he'd snuck by me downstairs at all, so I was confused. Then I noticed that the door to the storage closet was open a bit. The light also seemed to be on in there. Interesting, since I had explicitly told my firstborn that he was not to ever go in the storage closet. We don't keep rattlesnakes or poison ivy in there, but it's well organized thanks to my OCD tendencies and I didn't want him messing things up or breaking things.

I needn't have worried. He messed things up and almost broke his neck. I opened the door and caught him climbing up a makeshift "staircase" he'd constructed out of boxes. He was balancing precariously atop his tower (topped with two down comforters) when I peeked my head in. I stared at him and he stared back at me with a very "oooooh, crap" expression.

We stared for a good 30 seconds before I slowly said "What. Are. You. Doing." His response was barely audible, but I gathered that he had constructed this tower to reach the Easter baskets hanging on the wall. He had a great need to see what was inside of the baskets before retiring for the evening. It was exasperating, but also really cute. He's so excited about his room and has been "exploring" it for days. I wasn't too hard on him, but he now knows that any more shenanigans in the closet won't be favorably received by the management.

I love this kid.

Shopping With Dinosaurs

It's been a busy weekend! We moved Liam's room upstairs and ours back downstairs, which was quite a project. Aaron still has lifting restrictions, so I did all of the moving while he yelled at me to stop. I did not listen. Liam loves his new room and we love being back downstairs with our awesome sleigh bed again. The bed was too big to fit upstairs, so we have been making do with a mattress and frame for awhile. Sleigh bed, I missed thee.

Our hired help (who work for no pay) came out to do our gardening on Saturday. Grandpa Ron mowed the lawn and planted all kinds of things while composting the entire garden. Grandma Meg weeded all of my neglected flower beds and kept the kids entertained. I ran away and left no forwarding address. Then we had a cookout and Uncle John Fox came to visit! Liam wouldn't let him get a word in edge-wise, asking, "Do you have a tv in your room?" and commenting that his "shoes are cool!"

We made a Target run for essentials and saw a man with a mohawk while waiting to check out. "Mom, look at that guy's hair!" Liam said. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, hey?" "Yeah! He looks like a dinosaur!" he said.

I'm having camera problems right now, so I apologize for the lack of pictures lately. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon!

Girls' Weekend Recap

My mom, grandma and I went down to Milwaukee last weekend to visit my sister and hang out in her new apartment.

We did part of the River Walk and posed for photos with The Fonz.

We also had an awesome dinner at Buca di Beppo just down the street from Kimberly's place. We walked there and it started pouring rain as soon as we were seated. It continued pouring for our short walk home. No hair was spared.

We had a blast! Thanks for having us, sister!

Maxwell

Max is getting so big! He is walking everywhere now and is much steadier on his feet. He follows his big brother everywhere! He talks up a storm as well, saying words like: outside, hi, mommy, daddy, Liam, meow, ruff ruff, tweet tweet, drink, yes, and lots of screaming. Liam had a screaming phase where he made as much noise as possible at a decible level that made you want to run away and never come back. His brother has inherited this talent. Let's hope it's short-lived.

He's also going through a separation anxiety phase and it is worse at night. He used to take a bottle when he woke up and then go right back to bed, but now he is often up for an hour or more after waking up. He cries if he's put back in the crib, but won't fall asleep if rocked. Very frustrating and very tiring for me. Liam eventually learned to put himself back to sleep and can now sleep through a jet engine ignition, so I'm hoping Max will follow suit.

Max likes to try to use his own fork or spoon at meals and drinks out of a straw sippy cup. His favorite food is blueberries, another Liam favorite! He eats his food like a little vacuum and I can barely keep up!

His favorite toy right now is my hairbrush. If he doesn't have access to the brush he will use anything he can find as a pseudo-hairbrush: cup, lego, truck...

He's a very smiley kid and is always laughing. He loves to make us smile. He likes to dance by bending his legs and bouncing around. It's so cute. He's a happy little guy!

Quick Update

We had a great weekend in Milwaukee! Visiting my sister, shopping, going out for dinner and just relaxing. Can't wait to do it again!

My mom was offered another position in Wabeno with a similar salary to the Luxemburg job, so she rescinded her acceptance at Luxemburg and accepted at Wabeno. I am glad she won't have to move, but we were excited that she was going to live with us for a whole year. Oh, well.

I was offered the job at St. Vincent's and start training in a week or two! I'm not in love with the job, but the hours are great and it's good experience. I really like the hospital, too.

Aaron's leg is still giving him trouble, but his incision is healing well and he is almost done with school. He goes to the doctor next Thursday, so we should know more about when he can expect to feel better after that.

I took Liam and Max to the museum yesterday to see dinosaur eggs. It was a pretty neat exhibit, but Liam was apparently expecting to see "real, live dinosaurs!" When I told him that we were not going to see any real dinosaurs he said, "oh, ok, I want to go home now."

Weekend!

Ahhh, Maxwell...Mommy (and Grandma) love you...but we are running away for the weekend. Have fun with Grandma Meg and Grandpa Ron (and your brother!)...see you on Sunday!

We're heading to Milwaukee for Girls' Weekend where I will probably drink and definitely sleep. A lot.

Max & Lorelei

News Brief

Quick update on some recent developments in our family!

My mom learned that a job she had hoped would open up in Crystal Falls, MI was not to be, so she has been applying for open positions around the state. She applied in Luxemburg-Casco for an English/History position and interviewed for it last Thursday. They called her this weekend, offered her the job, and she accepted! So, Grammy Pammy will be living with us starting in August! We are excited to have her and so happy that she has found a great job! It's not ideal to be so far away from Florence, but she and my dad have some ideas that will hopefully work out just fine!

I finished my CNA certification class in May and applied for a few jobs. I interviewed for a health unit coordinator position at St. Vincent Hospital last week and have a job shadow scheduled for today! It's a part-time 2nd shift position, so only about 16 hours a week from 3-10pm. I think it will be a great start to my nursing career, and I am excited at the prospect of working for St. Vincent's. We'll see how the job shadow goes, but hopefully I'll officially begin training soon!

Aaron's back is feeling much better, but his legs are still giving him problems. He's moving around much more easily, though, and feels stronger. He goes back to work on Friday for a few days and then his summer vacation will begin. His summer job wants him back and is willing to work with him to find tasks that don't require heavy-lifting until he's fully recovered. So...a potentially difficult summer for us financially has turned out just fine.

Things are great! How was  your weekend?