Making Room

We've been a little busy as of late.  And I'm not just referring to the past few weeks, but I am referring to the past few months.  It's pretty standard for us to be constantly on the go, but these past few months have been absolute madness.  Of course all of this madness will be culminating in birth of our son next month. 

Up until now, I have felt horribly unprepared for his arrival.  Primarily because he did not have a room.  I would make statements on Facebook like "I can't believe we are "X" number of weeks away from the baby being born.  We are so not ready!".  Such comments would prompt people to reply "What else do you need to do?",  "Babies don't require much, you'll be fine", etc.  I would simply shake my head and think to myself, "Oh, you have no idea!".

Unfortunately, his room wasn't so much a bedroom as it was an office/guest bedroom/game room/storage/pile of crap room.  The bad part about knowing that we would eventually be forced to tackle this room and somehow make it presentable was that up until that point, we continued to just throw stuff in there to be sorted out later.  "That's next months problem" seemed to be our mantra.

In the intrest of full disclosure, here is photographic proof.  (you'll just have to tilt your head sideways because cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn these pictures the right way)

Mountain of Crap

More Crap

Ok, this is getting embarrassing

Not exactly cozy is it?  It seemed like such a huge task that it was depressing to even think about tackling this project.  What makes it worse was that we really didn't have anyplace to put all of this crap.  Some would suggest, "what about the garage?"  Well, this was my garage at the time.

again with the head tilting... sorry

no imagine this back wall stacked to the ceiling with plastic storage tubs

So we were in desperate need of a solution.  After thinking about it for a while I decided to call upon the carpentry skills of a good friend and build storage units in the garage.  The final goal being able to organize my garage some and move all of our stuff from the pile o' crap room to a new and organized place.  It was a huge task, but necessary none the less.  We built these units from scratch using plywood and our awesome boyscout skills.  And clamps... lots and lots of clamps.  In total, the project came in at under $350 for materials.  I was very pleased!

awww... storage

took approximately 2.5 seconds to fill them up

fancy hanging system too!

 While I still feel like it's a little cluttered, it is light years better than it once was.  Now that this project was complete, we could really get to work on the baby's room.  Julia ended up getting a big girl bed so he could have her crib so we did a whole lot of shuffling of furniture in each of their rooms.  After that we painted his room and I am extremely pleased to say we are pretty much finished!  The transformation is pretty remarkable if you ask me!  All along I've been telling Breanne that this child is not allowed to come until he has a bed to sleep in and clothes in drawer instead of boxes.  Both of those are now complete so I suppose he could come anytime now!  I shutter as I type that!  Here are the final results!

we are doing "argyle and puppies" as a theme

Alright little guy, I hope you like your new room.  I was a LOT of work!

 



The Heart of the Matter

I wrote this last week and have been sitting on it ever since, not sure if I would post it or not.  At this point, enough people know what's going on that I am ok with sharing with everyone.  Prayers are appreciated and I will be sure to update when I know more.

-Michael

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Have you ever had a fight with God?  I am in the midst of one right now.  Admittedly, its not a fair fight and I'm losing, but its a fight none the less. 

Many know that 7 years ago when I was 24 years old, I had to have open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve due to a birth defect.  I was supposed to be done after that.  No more complications.  I had my surgery and I felt better.  The end.

Unfortunately, I learned last week that this is not the case.  I had to switch cardiologists recently because my old one left the practice.  In getting established with a new doctor I had to under go a few tests.  I had an echocardiogram and was also sent for a cardiac MRI.  the tests indicated that I am now having problems with my Aorta and I have an aneurysm, which means it is enlarged.  My last surgery was to replace my valve and when I had that surgery my Aorta was 4.1 cm wide.  A healthy one is around 3.0 cm.  Recent tests indicate that I am now at 4.9 cm and surgical intervention is recommended at 5.0 cm.  The danger is that my Aorta will eventually rupture if not repaired.  I'm not 100% certain, but I hear that's bad.

This would mean that I will be having another open heart procedure to replace the enlarged portion of my Aorta.  I don't have a ton of details yet as I'm still waiting for my follow up appointment to go over the tests and game plan in detail.   I go back in on the 30th of May for that appointment.  They may recommend surgery now, or they may just put me on a "wait and see" plan which will have me getting tests done every 6 months until the procedure is necessary.  Unfortunately, from what I understand, surgery is not so much a question of "if", but of "when", as my Aorta will not shrink back down on its own and it continues to enlarge.

so, this is where I argue with God.  I can't help but wonder "why"?  I'm 30 years old.  I have a family.  I have kids.  Why do I have to go through all of this..... AGAIN!  

I question, fight, get pissed...  It doesn't help.  And then it hits me.  How much God loves me.  It doesn't  make sense.  I began with thinking that if God truly loved me, he wouldn't let this happen to me.  Now I can't help but see how he has gone before me and will continue to do so.  The only way that I can feasibly make it through this is to entrust it to Him.  The God who created this entire universe also cares about something as small as my Aorta.  He LOVES me so much and cares for my safety.  He cares for my family.  And while I don't understand why things happen, I can't help but feel his presence surrounding me.  Lifting me up and helping me to stand.

I still fight.  I tell Him that this sucks.  I'm scared.  I'm frustrated.  Impatient 

I trust in Him.  I trust that he will provide.  He will use these circumstances for His glory.

Pink or Blue?

Today is the day that we find out what we are having.  A Boy or a Girl.  I tend to lean more towards thinking that we are having a girl despite the fact that I am more so hoping for a boy.  Of course either way I will be happy (insert here any other comments necessary to stop people from saying "as long as the baby is healthy that's all that matters...)  Of course I know this is true and will love my baby regardless of gender, but I'm allowed to have a preference.

I'm not really sure why, but I just get the feeling that this baby is another girl.  Maybe I'm unconsciously trying for a little reverse psychology.  Girls have just been the trend with the men in my family as of late so I'm not confident that is going to change.  However, my twin brother did have a boy last fall so maybe he has broken the cycle of estrogen domination.  So I have officially placed my bets on team pink because ultimately, I just have to go with my gut... and I want to be right.

Finding out the gender of our child is bringing us one huge step closer to this whole thing being a reality.  Of course I have known all along that we are pregnant and a baby is coming it just hasn't felt super real yet.  I'm sure that is mainly because I am the dad and I don't have anything living in my body as a constant reminder of things to come.  I'm sure if something was pressing on my bladder at 2AM I would think about it more too.  Also, we have done almost zero prep work for the child to come.  Theoretically, we will have a place for him/her, we just are not sure where that will be.  We are strongly considering putting a girl in the same room with Julia, thus retaining our "pile of crap" room.  This is the room in the house where everything that doesn't really have a home gets stacked.  It's a little ridiculous at the moment as it is serving as guest room/office/storage at the moment.  If we have a boy, he will take over this room and all of the stuff in the "pile of crap" room will have to find a new home.  Where exactly, I have absolutely no idea.  We just don't want to make a boy live in Julia's pink, green, and purple room.  Not that he would care or know the difference, but you know what I mean.

By this point in time when we had Julia, we had a boy name and a girl name picked out.  Although we ultimately scrapped the girl name that we had and went with something else entirely.  The point is, we had one picked.  This time around, we have nothing.  There are a few boy names that each of us like, but nothing that we can agree on.  We have zero girl names picked.  It's all contributes to the overall feeling that I have of not being the least bit ready for this child to get here. 

Oh well, I'm not going to try and stress out too much about it.  That's future Michael and Breanne's problem.

Who Wants To Be My Friend?

There are certain benefits that come with being considered "Clergy".  Not a ton, however there are a few.  "Clergy" is such a formal word by the way.  I have never once considered myself a member of the clergy.  I suppose that I am, it just sounds weird to me.  Anyway, the perks.  I know you get the sweet parking spots at the hospitals.  That's a perk... I suppose? After that, I'm pretty much out, so if any of my other ministry friends know of something that I'm missing, please let me know.

Today I unexpectedly had a major clergy perk dropped in my lap!  Through an unnamed inside contact I was able to obtain a "Clergy Pass" to St. Louis Cardinal's games!  Now if I'm understanding this correctly, this card entitles myself and a guest to get in to almost any regular season Cardinal's game free of charge!  The only exceptions are opening day, cubs games, and sold out games.  Can this really be true!!!  Holy Cow!!

I am so stinking excited about this!  The only problem is that I am a super busy guy so finding the time could be difficult, but even if I only catch a few games, it would be awesome!!!  Maybe the Cardinal's will go 12 in 12 this year?!?!

So the only question left is, who wants to be my new best friend?  

DVR- Rules of Engagement

Admittedly, I love television.  I enjoy a good story.  Even more so, I love simply relaxing on the couch.  Call me lazy, but its the truth.  I know I should go exercise or read a book or something else that is more productive, but I just don't want to.  It's my guilty pleasure.

We lead a pretty busy life at our house so the times that we actually get to sit and watch television are very few and far between.  As a result, Our DVR is totally backed up and verging on too full.    Now that I have found myself with a week and a half without a wife or a baby to take care of, I have a lot of time to watch TV and catch up.  So here is my dilemma.

Which shows am I allowed to watch without Breanne?  We have a few shows that I know I can watch by myself but there are a few that are considered "our shows" that we watch together and I know I'd be in huge trouble if I watched them without her.  I feel the need to categorize them as to help me decide what is fair game to fill my time with and what is off limits.

So here is a sneak peak into our DVR.  Don't make fun of my show selections either!  I know there are several really interesting shows that have recently started but I just can't make time for them.  Should you feel the need to make recommendations, keep in mind that I don't have cable.

My shows- shows that I feel safe to watch without Breanne
1. The Office- I only have watched 2 episodes of this season so far.  It's just not the same without Michael Scott.  So I have a lot of catching up to do on this one.
2. Survivor- I haven't watched survivor in years and randomly decided to check it out since it was just starting. 
3. Private Practice- I'm so embarrassed.  I got hooked years ago when they did a Grey's Anatomy crossover show.  Try not to judge me too harshly.
4. How I Met Your Mother- I record it in syndication and new episodes.  The syndication episodes are safe.  New ones... not so much.
5. Big Bang Theory- Also recording in syndication.  Stinking hilarious.  She likes this show too, but I don't she minds if I watch it without her.

Her shows- shows that she records that I have no desire to watch. 
1. Rachael Ray- I think we have approximately 77 episodes of Rachael Ray on our DVR.  Breanne just doesn't have time to watch them anymore.  She is in definite danger of getting about 52 episodes erased to make room.

Our shows that I might be able to watch- Shows that we typically watch together, however we are so far behind on them that I don't think we will ever catch up.  Therefore, if I watched them without her it wouldn't be the end of the world. 
1. The Voice- Fun singing show.  They are still in the audition phase so there is nothing to crazy going on right now anyway.  I just like that it is different.  We typically put his on while doing other work on couch at the same time.  I don't think she would mind too much.
2. Grey's Anatomy-  Episodes from last season are still on our DVR.  Catching up together is hopeless so I think it's fair game.  Again.... I am so embarrassed.
3. Glee- I used to really like Glee a lot, but it has gone super down hill as of late.  Therefore, 6 episodes have piled up on the DVR.  It's one of those that I feel obligated to watch because I have seen so much of it so far, but it's becoming a little too much for me.  And horribly unrealistic.  I hope kids don't think this is an accurate portrayal of high school life.  Just stick with the songs.  That's what I like anyway.

Our shows that I am forbidden to watch without her- I know that if I were to watch these shows without her, I would be in big trouble!
1. New Girl- One of the funniest shows on television right now.  She would be soooo mad if I watched without her!
2. Smash- We are only one episode into this show so far, but it was good. I can wait.
3. Up All Night- Again, it has piled up on the DVR but we started watching this show together from the very beginning so I feel obligated to wait for her return to catch up. 

Julia's Shows- no danger of me watching this. 
1. Sesame Street- I love Elmo and all, but its been nice to have a week of from him and his Muppet friends.

On a Side note, I've set my DVR to record the new show Awake that starts next week.  It looks really interesting.  I'm anticipating it being filed under the "My show" category.


Did I miss anything honey?  Let me know now so I know which ones to act surprised about when we finally get around to watching them.  :)

The Bachelor

Due to an family emergency Breanne and Julia are going to be travelling to New Mexico for a week and a half.  Unfortunately, I will not be going with them.  I need to save my vacation time for when baby #2 arrives later this year.  This leaves me all alone to fend for myself.  So I foresee a total regression upon her departure.  Over the course of the past few years of marriage I have actually become sort of competent in the kitchen.  I'm nowhere near as good as she is, but I can whip up a meal or two when necessary.  Somehow I just don't see that happening next week.

I imagine that I will return to my old ways of frozen pizza type products, including but not limited to, regular pizza, pizza rolls, and pizza bread. 

I think this whole routine will be novel for approximately 2 1/2 days and after that I think I will get really bored.  There is only so much television you can watch and only so much of a conversation you can have with the dog.  I am also really going to miss having them around.  Especially Julia.  Who am I going to have tea parties with while she is gone? 

So here is my question.  Who wants to entertain me?  That's right.  It is now your job to entertain me!  How's that for delegating?  I am hearby making myself available for movies, working out, hanging out, games, etc.  Please, not all of you at once.  There is only so much of me to go around.

If no one replies I will be sad and lonely.  Do I sound pathetic enough yet?

I'm sure I'll be fine.  Breanne really has the hard job of managing the munchkin all by herself so this is me officially shutting up before she feels the need to reply to this too.  :) 

Murphy's Law of Economics

We are all familiar with "Murhpy's Law" right?  Something along the lines of "as soon as something bad can happen, it will".  This law also has very close ties with the world of economics.  Murphy's Law of Economics goes something like "the moment you have a few extra dollars, something will come along that will steal them".

Here are some examples.  You get a raise at work and then your kid needs braces.  You manage to have a little extra at the end of the month and you think "Yay, I can make an extra car payment this month!".  Not so fast!  Murphy steps in and breaks your alternator.  And then there is Murphy's favorite time of year.  Tax Return Season.  The moment you get that check in your hands, your furnace will need repaired!  He is pure evil I tell you!

You get the point.  It's so frustrating.  Currently my wife and I are pushing super hard to pay off our car.  Its so close and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We are needing to pay it off before the baby gets here and the ultimate goal is for Breanne to work even less in the future.  Along with paying off the car, we are needing to save up for the upcoming hospital bills.  Since we have a stupidly enormous deductible, it turns out to be a very sizable expense.  They say you can't put a price tag on the joy a child brings to your life, but apparently the hospital can.  The last joy we are saving up for is maternity leave.  Breanne has  great job, however it has zero PTO time.  That's 8 weeks without a pay check!  Ouch.

So we have gone into serious budget lock down mode.  We have a plan-ish and everything is on track.  Then Murphy moved into our house.  On an unfortunate note, Breanne's father is having open heart surgery tomorrow so she is going to be driving down to see him for a week and a half to help him as he recovers.  So now a large portion of what we were planning on using for savings this month is newly being allocated to travel expenses and next months bills as she will not get paid for that time off.  (see above PTO problem)

It's so frustrating to have plans derailed like this.  Grrr!

Ok... so now I am done complaining about it and here is where I count my blessings.  Ready, set, go.  We are making headway on the budget and are blessed enough for it to be possible for her to go.  We have an emergency fund (thanks Dave Ramsey), so this little hiccup is not as much of an "emergency" as it could be.  God provides.  I have always had enough so I can't start complaining now.

so, Breanne... cause I know you are reading this.  An open letter to you.  Don't be stressed.  It will be OK.  God provides.  It will be fine and we will work it out.  We always do.  Let the voice of God be louder in your life than your pregnancy hormones.  He cares about the health of your father.  He cares about the logistics of all of this madness that you are trying to figure out.  The where's, when's, who's, and how questions you are asking are not beyond His control.  Not saying that everything will be perfect and will run according to plan, just that we will figure it all out as it comes.  Just take a breath and handle it all as it comes.

While you are gone I will do my best to find where Murphy is hiding in our house and I will beat the crap out of him for you.  Hopefully he will be gone before you return.

Love,
Michael

What's in a Name? and Preschool Already?

In the daily goings on of my day job I come across a new people every day.  I often meet people with... let's say "unique" names.  Today however, I ran across one that officially beats them all.  We came across a man who officially changed his name to "Bubba Bubba Bubba".  That's right.  "Bubba Bubba Bubba".  First name Bubba.  Middle name Bubba.  Last name Bubba.  His prior insurance policy was listed under the name "Bubba B. Bubba".  I am absolutely dumbfounded by this.  Why in the world would anyone willingly do this?  Do you really want to spend your entire life explaining to people that "no really, that is my name."?  I can completely understand going by "Bubba" as a nickname.  Heck, I can even understand it actually being your first name, but what compels a person to legally change their first, middle, and last name to Bubba?  Was their real name that bad?  What would his parents say?  As a man who is currently tasked with the job of naming a child I would totally take offense to this.  Knowing that I agonized over finding just the perfect name for a child and then to have them later in life change it to "Bubba Bubba Bubba" would totally be a slap in the face.   Let's just hope that I choose a name that my child will like enough to never want to change.

In other news, Breanne and I toured a preschool for Julia in the Fall.  Seriously?  How has this time come upon us already?  There is a really good school in town that offers a 2 1/2 days a week program for 2 1/2 year olds so we are going to try and get Julia into it.  How is it possible that my sweet little girl is going to be old enough to go to school already?  I know it's just preschool and that its only just a couple 1/2 days a week, but it seems like it has all gone really fast.  I can remember a time when Julia was itty bitty.  Certainly she can't be old enough for this yet.  She's still a baby right?  It oddly simultaneously feels like it was just born yesterday and yet an eternity ago all at the same time.  She is such a big girl already and it amazes me.  She talks in sentences and knows her colors, shapes and letters so I suppose she is ready for this, but I'm not sure that I am.  My little girl is growing up.  Before too long she will be too busy texting her friends and rolling her eyes at me and probably won't have time for her daddy.  At least for now, she still needs her papa bear and gives me lots of hugs.  I'm way to sentimental for my own good.

Bitter Sweet End

Four years ago I was introduced to what has become one of my most favorite television shows.  Tonight that show will air its final episode and leave the air waves forever.  The story of our nerdy friend "Chuck" is coming to a close.  For those who sadly do not know, "Chuck" is a show about an average Joe who accidentally gets a super computer uploaded into his brain.  This super computer allows him instant access to the CIA data base and also allows him to perform amazing feats of strength like Kung Fu and throwing ninja stars.  Its kind of like that scene in "The Matrix" when  Keanu Reeves exclaims "Dude, I know Kung Fu".  he may or may not have said "dude", but I have trouble picturing him speak without a few superfluous "dudes" thrown in. 

Anyway, I love that the show is so unrealistic and campy but it is still a lot of fun and done very well.  The story line catches you right from the beginning.  It has the whole "will they/won't they" story line about Chuck and his CIA handler Sarah as far as wondering if they will ever get together.  I won't spoil it for the many of you who have never watched the show, but just trust me, it's really good.

And that is the unfortunate part.  So many people have never watched "Chuck".  Every season the show has been on the precipice of cancellation but the small yet dedicated fan base have always rallied to get the show to come back.  This year, the show has finally decided to bring the season to a close on it's own terms.  This will allow them to finish up story lines and hopefully wrap everything up in a nice happy bow.  This is much more preferred than a mid season cancellation where everything is hastily brought to a conclusion. 

I'm a little bit behind and have been trying to play catch-up on my DVR.  So I probably will not get to watch tonight's episode live, but will definitely get to it very soon.  I believe we have 6 episodes to watch over the course of the weekend before we can watch the finale. 

It's bitter sweet to see the show go.  I'm happy they are bringing the show to a conclusion because it just feels right and like its time.  On the other hand, I'm so sad to see it go.  It's the first show that Breanne and I called "our show".  I believe that we have watched every episode together so to see it go will be sad.  We will have to find a new show for the two of us to watch.  This show is what spurred her to call me "Captain Awesome".  I had no idea what she was talking about until I discovered that there was a character on this show that they jokingly called "Captain Awesome".  When we were dating, she would tell her friends about me and from those stories, they nicknamed me "Captain Awesome" or simply "The Captain" for short.  I was very flattered, because I'm not quite as awesome as Devin is in the show.... but I'm close.  (not really).

Chuck is a show that never takes itself too seriously.  It teaches us that being a nerd is not a bad thing.  It celebrates the bonds between best friends, husband/wife, brother/sister, and coworkers.  It gives us all hope that even a nerd can end up with an impossibly hot woman.

So here's to you Chuck Bartowski!  Thank you for 4 years of fun.  I have enjoyed every moment.

Slacker

So for the three of you that actually read my blog, I'm sorry.  I have been quite the slacker as of late.  I've been super busy, but the real problem is that nothing super exciting or funny has happened to me.  At least nothing that I have felt was super blog-worthy.  So I haven't really had much of anything to write about.  Here are a few topics I've considered but never quite worked up the motivation to type it out.

I've considered ranting about politics, but I don't feel like starting arguments with people.  I just don't have the energy.  I'm actually quite informed on the issues and have firm opinions on many different matters but have absolutely zero desire to debate them.  Because in the end, I just don't feel like it matters.  Four years from now someone else will be in office and try and undo everything that was just done.  Then we blame the president for everything that's wrong with the world.  Its exhausting.  Life on earth is way too short to get too emotionally involved in politics so I do my best to not do so.  That means not stirring the pot.

I could talk about fatherhood and how ridiculously cute my little girl is.  Although the cuteness starts to wear out when your child begins to throw temper tantrums.  We had to implement the very first "time out".  Julia and I were having standoff over a bite of peas when the tantrums and fits began.  Threats were issued... "take a bite or you will go to time out".  And fits ensued so we went to time out.  Being the very first time out ever, we had yet to establish an official time out spot.  I found a random corner in the hallway and told her to stand there for 1 minute.  She proceeded to stand there, quite happily I might add, and talk about reindeer and baby dolls, and whatever else came to mind for the entire minute.  It was not a single bit traumatizing for her.  Once time out was over we tried to eat the peas again and she threw another fit.  So this time we tried time out in her crib.  This did the trick because the "end of the world" crying began.  The last bite of peas was eaten and all was well with the world.  Now when she plays with her baby dolls she puts them in their crib and says they are in "time out" and they are "crying".  What have we created!

I suppose I could also be blogging about the anxiety of second child that is on the way.  Although I can't really say that I have had much anxiety yet.  I am still happily in denial about the whole thing.  I still don't really feel like it is real yet, despite the fact that we are almost exactly 1/3 of the way there.  Maybe once we start actually making a place in our house for this little one or when we actually know if it is a boy or a girl then it will start to feel more real.  But until then, I will stave off any anxiety that may be on the way. 

Finally, I could blog about the incredible season that the St. Louis Blues are having!  They are currently in 3rd place in the entire league and are only 2 points behind the first place team.    The central division is crazy this year and three of the top four teams (Blues, Blackhawks, Redwings) in the entire NHL are from there.  I am so bummed that I have yet to attend a game this year and definitely need to get on that.  It makes me also regret cancelling our cable because I am now unable to watch any games at home. 

I suppose if I worked really hard at it I could come up with things to blog about on a more regular basis, but I just haven't really felt the compulsion.  Are people really interested in my "almost interesting but not quite" stories?  I don't really think so.  I will try my best quit being a slacker but will make no promises.

Hooligans and their Malicious Mischief

I have often talked about how when I am old I am going to be that guy that sits on my front porch and shakes his fist at the hooligans that pass by.  Yelling at them to get a hair cut and get off my lawn.  I may have to bump up this time line a little bit and start sitting on my front porch about 40 years earlier than I am currently anticipating. 

Last night at around 8pm a group of hooligans decided that it would be a great idea drive through several neighborhoods and shoot at houses with their paintball guns.  Now I'm assuming these were young hooligans, but I cannot be 100% certain.  They may also have been "ruffians" or "ne'er do wells". We woke up this morning to find two yellow splotches of paint on our house.  One one the garage door and one on the front door.  4 other houses around us were also hit. 

I called the police to make a report and it sounds like several neighborhoods were hit.  Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot that can be done about it.  It's so frustrating!  Maybe they can post this on our local Crime Stoppers page and a friend of theirs will rat them out in hopes for a cash reward!  I can only hope.  If the cops do catch them, I think they should have to come to each of the houses and scrub the paint off under each homeowners supervision.  I may or may not carry a bull whip as an incentive to keep working.  A guy can dream can't he?

I just don't understand the fun in driving around and vandalizing other peoples property.  I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I am not 17 years old, but it just doesn't make sense to me.  I was 17 once before and it wasn't something that I would have found all that entertaining when I was that age either.  Don't these kids have homework or something to be working on?  Or probation service hours to finish up?  They seriously need to find something better to do with their time!

So my next question is this.... is paint ball paint easy to remove?  I haven't tried yet.  Anyone have any suggestions on what might work best?  Technically, this would be covered under my homeowners policy but its certainly not something I would pursue.  It's not even close to my deductible amount.  However, it is worth noting that the type of loss that it would be filed under always makes me laugh.  There are 16 categories of claims that are covered under homeowners insurance called "Named Perils".  This incident in particular would be filed under "Malicious Mischief".  I'm not sure why, but this always makes me laugh. 

Anyway... take notice you delinquent punks.  I'm watching you!  Vigilante justice is coming!  Ok, so not really.  I like to think that I can put on a cape and kick some tail, Batman style, but lets be honest.  That's not going to happen.

However, I will shake my fist at you with so much fury that it will strike fear to your very core!

My New Love

I have a new love in my life.  She's beautiful, efficient, and can make me a steaming hot cup of coffee in 30 seconds!  Her name is "K" and I LOVE her!

So I got this wondrous machine as a Christmas present for my wife.  Little did I know that I would fall so madly in love with it!  She originally asked for one for Christmas because she doesn't usually think to make herself a cup of coffee until the very last minute and by that point there is just no time to wait for a pot of coffee to brew.  Our old coffee maker even had a timer with delayed start and all that stuff on it, but that would require prior planning which apparently was beyond our realm of capability.  The other problem with making a pot or even a half a pot of coffee is that we inevitably leave a little bit of coffee in the pot.  Then we forget about it and don't clean it.  2-3 days later you have moldy coffee and grounds in your coffee pot.  Please don't judge us.

In comes the Keurig machine and all its glory!  You simply open the up the mechanism on top and insert a "K Cup"

                             

Close the mechanism and voila!  30 seconds later  you have a single cup on hot coffee!  Throw away the "K Cup" when you are done and all clean up is finished!  Its the best thing ever!  It's also great for simply making hot water for tea!  I have recently also become obsessed with drinking hot tea.  For Christmas Breanne got me a bunch of fancy teas from "Teavana".  It's a good thing we don't have one of these stores in our mall, because it would be quite dangerous for my pocket book.  I don't really like iced tea, but for some reason hot tea seems to hit the spot.  Since we purchased the machine, I approximately consume 3-4 mugs of coffee or tea a day.  I love it!  It's just so darn efficient!

I've always wondered how I could possibly get caffeine into my system quicker, and Keurig has seemed to answer this question!  Thanks K!  You have changed my life!  I know it sounds ridiculous to make such an exclamation about a coffee pot, but its true.  The way that I consume hot beverages has changed forever and I cannot go back. 

Christmas Letter from the Clairs

Merry Christmas,

Is it seriously time for another Christmas letter?  I feel like I just hit print on last year’s letter and here I am again for this year’s update!  Well, in true Clair Family fashion, we have been extremely busy this year.  A majority of this busyness has come from our work situations.  Breanne is still working in Speech Therapy and loves the company that she is currently with.  She is also still working on building her Pampered Chef business.  The biggest problem is finding a place for all of the new kitchen gadgets that need to mysteriously find homes in our cabinets!  Michael is also still in his same job with State Farm and just hit his five-year anniversary.  Michael has also started in a part-time ministry position at South Side Christian Church.  He is working at the Southwest Campus of our congregation and is in charge of our Small Group and Discipleship ministry.  Finally working in a ministry position has been a goal in the making for many years now, and he could not be happier to finally be serving in this sort of capacity.  It presents a whole new set of challenges, but it is totally worth it!  He loves it so far!

We celebrated Julia’s first birthday with a delightful cupcake party in March.  She is so much fun, we can hardly stand it!  Julia makes us laugh constantly and a joy to be around.    She is talking in phrases, singing, climbing/jumping/running everywhere, and loves snuggles, giving zerbits, reading books, and dancing to music.  Her favorite shows are Shaun the Sheep and Sesame Street.  She also has a newfound love of all things reindeer.

In July, Michael and Breanne had the great opportunity to travel to Venezuela with a mission team from our church.  We went to visit and work with a missionary that our church partners with.  We did things like: teaching a parenting/marriage conference, door-to-door invitations to this conference, painting, teaching men’s and women’s Bible study groups, and any other odd jobs they found for us.  We were blessed with an amazing host family, delicious food, warm hospitality, and met some wonderful new friends.

 For Thanksgiving, we traveled with Breanne’s mom, Bonnye, to New Mexico.  That’s right… we drove… with a twenty month old… all the way to New Mexico.  For those who don’t know, that’s two thousand five hundred seventy-five miles!!!  It was crazy!  Julia however, was a trooper and she did phenomenal!  We had a wonderful time with a lot of family and friends that we haven’t seen in a while.

So I suppose by this point in the letter, you have already noticed the picture enclosed and are just waiting for us to get to that!  Well now that the cat is officially out of the bag, we will be welcoming a new member to our family next year!  We couldn’t be more excited!  We are expecting our little “Chicken Nugget” (this is what it looks like on the sonogram picture) to arrive on July 24^th.  However, if this pregnancy is anything like it was with Julia, we will expect to see him or her around the first week of August.  We will be finding out the gender some time in late March, but like last time, the name will remain a secret until he or she arrives.  We are so excited to meet this new little one!  We know that 2012 is going to be full of all kinds of craziness and we look forward to sharing more of that with you in the coming year.  We wish you and your families many blessings this new year!

Love,

Michael, Breanne, & Julia…. And our little “Nugget”

Reindeer Games

So my daughter has a new obsession.  It all started with a trip to the doctors office a week ago.  In the waiting room there was a "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" book and in the short time she spent in the waiting room, she read the book several times.  It wasn't the classic Rudolph story, but some sort of generic sequel.  That night when she came home, she could not stop talking about this book.  She could tell you the whole story about Rudolph and some rabbits and something about how somebody ran into a tree.  (Obviously, I did not read the book as I don't have a good idea of what happened in it).  Whatever happened in the story, it made an impression on her because the girl is obsessed!  All we have heard about lately is reindeer and Rudolph. 

So as any good parent would do, we decided to feed her obsession.  She had never seen the actual Rudolph movie so we decided to go to the video store and rent it for her.  After several viewings, she was even more hooked!  So much so that the first thing we hear when she wakes up in the morning is "Reindeer... Rudolph".  The problem was that our rental had expired and had already been returned to the video store.  So after the 37th request for Rudolph on Saturday morning, I found myself headed to Wal-Mart to purchase the movie.  The trip was a success and we returned home with Rudolph in hand.

So after approximately 8 viewings of this movie this weekend, I have come up with a few observations.  Now I could not tell you the last time that I had actually seen this movie.  I have no memories of watching it as a child so for the most part, I was watching this movie with fresh eyes.  First of all, I want to know why Santa is such a jerk!  What happened to his Christmas spirit?  He is extremely crotchety and downright rude!  The head elf is super crotchety too!  While I'm at it, Dasher and Comet are pretty nasty as well.  What's with all the crabbiness? 

Now.. on to the elves.  So Hermy wants to be a dentist.  I don't recall him actually going to school for this.  I'm pretty sure he simply declared himself a dentist and it was so.  If only it were this easy.  If this is the case...  I am formally declaring myself an astronaut!!  I will be expecting a call from NASA any day now!

Unfortunately for Hermy, this declaration made him a "misfit" and he and Rudolf both found their way over to the "Island of Misfit Toys".  Now it is plain to see why most of the toys on the island are "misfits".  The train has square wheels and the cowboy is riding an ostrich.  The ailment of the doll is a little less apparent.  Based on a little light Internet research by my sister-in-law, it was discovered that the doll is a misfit because she has "emotional problems".  Not to ruffle any feathers, but she is a female doll so isn't that a little expected?  Just saying.  Thankfully, by the end of the movie, all of the toys were deemed good enough to be given to children and Santa saved the day.

And now the final question that was raised in the countless viewings of this movie.  Why in the world does Rudolph's nose whistle whenever it glows?  I don't get it!  Anyone have an answer to that?

All in all, I think the movie is a little weird.  Those old kid movies seem to lose a little bit of their magic when you watch them as an adult.  For my daughter, the magic is alive and well.  As all I will hear for the next few days is "Reindeer, Reindeer, Rudolph, Reindeer, Rudolph...."  and on and on it will go.  I fear that I will be watching this movie until late July and continuously singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"!

Christmas Movies

This year we made the decision to cancel our cable subscription and I have yet to regret this decision.  We simply just do not watch that much television.  We cannot even keep up with the few major network shows that are on our DVR.  Several of which are still shows from last season. 

The time has come that I actually do regret this decision.  Only a tiny bit though.  There are a few Christmas movies that I try to make a point of watching every year and now the availability of said movies is quite limited.  They just don't show as many of them as I would like on the major networks.  Without TBS or ABC Family to turn to, I just don't know what to do?  I suppose I could rent them or just buy them, but that requires effort and money, which is just silly if you ask me. 

So here is my list of "Must See Christmas Movies".  These are in no particular order.

1. Miracle on 34th st.  (The old version) 
2. A Christmas Story (It's not Christmas without Ralphie!)
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The cartoon)
4. Christmas Vacation (Absolute classic.  Love this movie!!)
5. Home Alone (Definitely the first one and the second one is a maybe)
6. Elf (This is the only one that I have watched so far)
7. It's a Wonderful Life (Mainly I just need to see the last 20 minutes)
8. Charlie Brown Christmas
9. White Christmas (Breanne and I watched it before I proposed.  It's a must see every year)
10. The Santa Clause (I know it's cheezy, but I still like it.)

Any suggestions on how to economically achieve this?

What are your thoughts on my Christmas bucket list?

The Magical Draw of Freebies

You know how when you go to a bank or some other establishment and they have a little table of freebies?  Things like ink pens, candy or magnets?  You take a one or maybe two and you go about your merry way with whatever trinket you happened to have helped yourself too.  It's all well and good, and I am totally ok with this practice.  Although, there are times that it just gets on my nerves.  We do the same thing at our office.  We offer such whosits and whatsits as road atlases, ink pens, and calendars.  For you nerds out there, in the insurance world, this practice is regulated by law.  Legally, you are not allowed to give away anything that is valued at more than $15.  If you do, it is called "rebating".  This prevents any company from buying your business.  This is why whatever we are giving out is generally lame and cheap!  This is important to note as I am pulling out my soap box and am going to stand directly on top of it.  You ready?  Here goes...

THE THINGS WE ARE GIVING OUT ARE NEARLY WORTHLESS AND ARE NOT WORTH YOU GETTING ALL WORKED UP ABOUT!!!

Ok.  I feel better.  Allow me to explain.  Around this time of year we give away the ever coveted, wall calendars.  For some odd reason, people go nuts over wall calendars!!!  It's almost as if no one owns a portable device that has a usable calendar already in it!!  I digress.  We have several varieties featuring, rivers, pets, golf courses, and African Americans.  You heard me right.  There are several ethnically diverse calendars that feature people groups of certain demographics engaging in everyday activities like hopscotch and picnics.  There are several varieties such as Asian, Hispanic, African American.... it goes on and on.  To each his own.  Point is, we have a wide variety and people love them.  They are also greedy.  We cannot keep them all out on a table as people will help themselves to giant stacks of them.  As if you need that many?  And as if they are completely free to us in the first place!  I'm pretty sure people grab a bunch and give them away as Christmas presents.  As if people won't be suspicious of your cheapness as they see your present with the State Farm emblem all over it.

We also cannot give people a choice because it usually goes like this.

Me- "Would you like a calendar with puppies or with national parks?"
Customer- "one of each!!!"

It never fails!  Every time, they will take one of each!  And if you really want to see the ugly side of people, just tell them you are out of Calendars.  It's almost as if you are personally offending them by not having their Calendar!  The conversation today that is spurning this rant went something like this.

Lady- "Do you have any calendars?"
Me- "Let me check the back and see what we have"  "Looks like the only thing I have left is the golf course one".
Lady- (with a disgusted look on her face, she thrusts the calendar back at me) "I HATE golf".
Me- "Oh... well sorry.  We have more on order, they just haven't arrived yet"  " I do have this African American Heritage calendar if you like"  (She was not impressed)

She just gave me a death stare and left the building.  I assured her that she could stop back in a week or so and we might have a new shipment in.  I'm not sure if she will be coming back.

Then there is our habitual favorite, Paul.  Paul does not have any insurance with our agency, but you can be sure that every year around this time, he will make an appearance.  He will come in and ask for a quote on something really obscure like IRA's or health insurance and then after he has wasted 30 minutes of your time he says that he is going to think about it.  He ends with "by the way... do you guys have any calendars".  It's so exasperating because you know he is just wasting your time to get something free.  I think I am more annoyed that he thinks he is fooling us.  I mean, it is literally EVERY year!  This is my 6th Christmas season at this office and he has yet to miss a year!  Last year my conversation went like this.  I totally thought I was going to out smart him.

Me- "Hi Paul.  I don't really have time right now, I'm pretty busy, but can I just get you your calendar?"
Paul- "That would be great, but I still want a quote on car insurance"
Me- "You sure I can't just grab you a calendar".
Paul- (looking nervous) "no I need a quote too".
Me- (So I whip out the fastest auto quote you have ever seen).  "here you go"
Paul- "OK, thanks.  I'm going to think about it".

AHHHHHH!!!!!!  Well this year I know that he has a policy with another agent in town so when he comes in, I'm totally sending him to their office!  You're not getting one of my calendars this year Paul!!! Do you hear me!

So I ask you.  What is the elusive power of the Calendar?  Is it the pretty pictures?  Or is it just the allure that you are getting something free from your insurance company?  Is it a way to get back at them for taking your premium?  I just don't get it, I suppose.  You are going to have to offer me something a lot better than a calendar to get me excited.  However it would probably have to be of great value which as we learned earlier, would be rebating and is illegal.  Way to pay attention kids.  Class dismissed.

Co-Sleeping

Have you ever heard of the concept of "Co-Sleeping"?  It's basically the idea that you sleep with your child.  Here is a more official definition.

"Cosleeping (sometimes spelled co-sleeping, and also known as bed sharing or "having a family bed") is the practice of having your infant in your bed with you during sleep. Cosleeping promotes breastfeeding and bonding, and it is safer than crib/cot sleeping when practiced correctly. Cosleeping beyond the breastfeeding years is common in many non-Western cultures, and even in the West many families choose to extend cosleeping through toddlerhood and well into middle childhood."

This is actually a pretty hot button issue with a lot of parents and I'm certainly not trying to start any controversy or anything, but holy cow, this is an awful idea!  While on vacation this past week, Julia decided that she did not want to sleep in her own bed.  We could usually eventually get her to sleep in her pack n play, but she would wake up in the middle of the night almost every day!  So when she would wake up, we would just lay her down in bed with us.  This is such an oddity for her, because she is usually an awesome sleeper!  From the very beginning, we would put her down to sleep in her own crib and she would sleep through the night.  I would say that 90% of the time, we can just lay her down and she will go right to sleep without too much of a fuss.  And stay asleep which is even better! 

Unfortunately, this was not the case this past week!  When we would eventually bring her to our bed, not surprisingly, it turned out that she does not share a bed very well.  On those nights when we would bring her to our bed, nobody slept well.  She would just lay there and talk to herself or poke me to see if I was awake.  She would ask for mommy, grandma, ice cream, swimming, bubbles... and on and on it would go until she would eventually fall asleep.  And then the flailing would begin!  Kids flail around... a lot!  Eventually, I would be laying sideways, precariously balancing on the very edge of the bed, with Julia laying nearly sideways across the middle. 

I recently saw a magazine that had an article mentioned on the cover entitled, "Co-sleeping, the most powerful bonding time with your child".  I say "No Thank you!".  I will bond with you in the morning when I am properly rested!

Not being able to rest is one huge issue, but there is a whole other issue that arises when you are sharing your bed with your child.  When you have a toddler in your bed, how are you supposed to have time for other mommy and daddy bedroom activities?  Of course I mean pillow fights and jumping on the bed.  What were you thinking? 

If co-sleeping is your thing, then go for it.  I for one, will not be joining in!  We were so happy to get back home to our own toddler free bed and I'm sure, Julia was happy to have her own bed back as well!

Traveling Woes

On most evenings when we are at home, we have a near perfect child.  Admittedly, I'm a little bias, but it's true.  Mainly this perfection is in relation to her sleeping ability.  95% of the time we simply lay her down around 7:30 and she goes right to sleep without a fuss at all.  8-12 hours later, she wakes up without a peep all night.  She naps great as well.  We just lay her down in the afternoon and she goes right to sleep for 2 or more hours.  It's amazing!

Since we have been on our trip to New Mexico this has not been the case.  Our perfect little sleeper chose to not come along for the trip.  For the first leg of the trip, we drove to Springfield MO. to my mom's house.  We arrived at close to 11 in the evening and we promptly put her to bed.  Unfortunately, this did not stick and Julia thought her short nap in the car was quite sufficient for her evening rest.  She promptly woke back up and was WIRED!!  She was running around like crazy until 2AM!  Finally, after much coaxing, we got her to fall asleep

And this similar story has played out for our entire trip so far.  Nearly every nap has resulted in humongous crying fits.  At one point we were in the room with her (out of her eyesight) and she would cry and cry and cry... stop and say "Daddy?" and then return to her fit.  She is totally playing me!  At one point though, we couldn't help but laugh because she stopped crying long enough to say "Ice cream.... Yummy!".  We had had fried ice cream for lunch and she was apparently remembering the deliciousness.  

And that brings us to this morning.  She woke up first at 4:30.  I got her settled back down but it didn't stick.  At 6:30 she was up again.  It was at this point that I considered it a lost cause.  I resigned myself to the fact that sleeping in was not an option today.  Now I am introducing Julia to "Beauty and the Beast".  She is on the floor watching the movie with her "O's" (Cheerios) and I am on my computer wrapped up in a snuggie. (don't judge me.  It's cold in here). Although I am fast forwarding through all of the scary parts.  I never realized how scary the beast could be.  Julia doesn't seem to mind, but the dad in me feels the need to fast forward.  

Now I know that kids typically have trouble with sleeping while traveling, but I'm really hoping that she can pull it together because she is exhausting me!  It's a good thing she is so darn cute and totally worth all of the trouble.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Today I will be taking part in one of my most favorite activities!  We are decorating our house for Christmas!!! 

Now hold on.  Before you start to throw stones at me and accuse me of not giving Thanksgiving its propor honor, allow me to explain the timing.  On Friday we will be leaving to travel to New Mexico for the Thanksgiving Holiday to spend time with some of Breanne's family.  We will not be getting back until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Once we get back, I'm sure we will be pretty busy and the time to decorate is just not there.  At least, not as early as we would like it.  So we decided that ideally we would want to come home to a house that was already dressed up in Christmas cheer!  Besides, Christmas only comes once a year and we want to maximize as much of the holiday season as possible!  So we are going to put up our decorations tonight!

We even have a few of our very own christmas traditions that we started a few years ago.  Every year while we are putting up our decorations we watch the movie "Elf".  It is definitely one of my favorite Christmas movies.  Will Ferrill is hysterical!   We also make hot chocolate and continue to play Christmas music once the movie is over.  It takes us a while to decorate.  We have a lot of stuff.

We have our main tree that is designated as the "pretty" tree.  Its the one that is color coordinated with red, silver and black ornaments.  The ornaments are symetrically placed on the tree with great care and there is an enormous amount of lights on it.  We have a secondary tree that is only 3 or 4 feet tall.  This tree is designated as the "everything else" tree.  This is where we put special ornaments from growing up or any other fun ones that we just happen to like, but do not match the "pretty" tree.  We even have a tiny miniature tree for Julia's room and we bought a little pack of Sesame Street character ornaments for it. We also put lighted garland along the top of our cabinets, which also requires me precariously walking across our counter tops trying not to fall.  One of these years, I'm sure I will.  Finally we have a Christmas village, but sadly, I think they will remain in their boxes this year.  Because Julia has taken over portions of our living room with all of her toys, we will have to just have to do without it this year.  However, we will get to bring back Julia's Little People Nativity Set.  She loved it last year so I'm excited to see her play with it more this year.

I'm so excited to just have time with the family tonight and to continue these traditions with Julia.  I'm sure she will be an awesome help at decorating.  She probably won't drive me crazy at all!  Sarcasm intended.  I imagine that a bulk of the decorating will be accomplished after she goes to bed.