PRIORITIES, DAY 0, Yesterday

6 hours after getting our precious boy back from a week at scout camp....GROUNDED. What the heck!



Anyway, Zack and I were leaving, mom was sleeping, people were coming in about two hours. He had a few jobs to do before company came. I was taking Zack so he wouldn't be in the way.



Instructions (please note: these were not written down - parent mistake - we'll try it next time).



1. Anything from scout camp that might have a bug or insect in it, get it to the garage. (<10min)

2. Clean the downstairs toilet, wipe the counter and sink. (20min)

3. Load the few dishes in the sink, tidy up the kitchen, touch up the floor (meaning dad mostly kept up on the kitchen while he was away).(20min)

4. Switch the laundry and go through the camp stuff and start a load of dirty clothes.(15min)

5. Finish spraying off the deck so it's ready for the party (dad already cleaned most of the deck, but had to leave before he could finish).(20min)

6. If he hurries, he will have time to hook up the new DVD player (both died within a weeks time and we got one so the kids could watch movies this week, while Jen is trying to rest up for the birth/Oh, and Brenden loves anything to do with hooking up electronic equipment to the TV...therefore, a reward.)



So if he hurried it might have taken an hour and a half to complete the required tasks. I thought the worst case scenario would be that he would be finishing the deck when guests arrived.



The guest arrived late, meaning he would have had plenty of time to get everything done, if he would have just done it. Mom woke up from her nap an hour after I left. He had cleaned off the kitchen table (he claims it was terribly dirty - but I can't remember seeing anything but a couple dishes). Mom made him go clean the bathroom, but of course she wasn't aware of the 'job list' that I had given him.



I returned about 2 1/2 - 3 hours later. I noticed all the scout stuff in the garage (#1 done), mom said the bathroom was done (#2 done), I didn't see anything done in the kitchen, but the table was clean, and maybe the floor got swept (#3 fail), no change in the laundry room (#4 fail), the deck was the same as when I left (#5 fail). What was done, was the new DVD player hooked up to the TV upstairs.



Although it wasn't confessed to me, this is what the parent reenactment suggests:



Brenden puts everything from scout camp in the garage. He comes back in and sees the DVD player on the counter in the kitchen. He this decides that he can totally get that hooked up and still have enough time to finish everything on the list. It takes longer than thought to get the DVD player hooked up. It is now time to wake up mom. Brenden runs downstairs and cleans the table off and sweeps the floor. Mom comes downstairs and finds the bathroom in the same condition. Brenden cleans the bathroom to mom's specifications. He then wants to talk to mom about scout camp and all the experiences had. Remember, Jen doesn't know about the 'job list'. People come over. Brenden joins the party. Dad comes home. Parents talk. Brenden is grounded.



I am convinced that he should be grounded, so we will see how long it takes him to get ungrounded. I think he could be good to go in a couple hours, but he will start heavy-ing and ho-ing as soon as I start giving him tasks. Tasks will be compounded and he will stay grounded until his attitude changes or I run out of tasks. Hopefully I can continue to document this parent vs. tween struggle in order for a successful analysis of either 'the dutiful parent trying to raise an unlazy kid' or 'the mean parent who loves to have a slave'.

Stay tuned.



ebd

GROUNDED BRENDEN

I want to start keeping track of Brenden's groundings. I have been accused of being a tough parent (which actually makes me proud), but at the same time I want to make sure I am fair. So I am going to try and keep track, but as we can tell from the blog so far, not really good and keeping up on the info!

ebd

It's a boy!!

Here are some pictures! I am having a boy. We were really expecting to have a girl because of how Jen's body was reacting to the pregnancy. It would have been fun to add a girl to the mix, but really, a baby is such a blessing and miracle.

Not wanting to speak this out loud and to put this out in the universe, but Jen is doing a lot better. The IV pole has been unused for weeks, no visits to the hospital, ER or even the doctor's office. She has even started reducing the dosage for the zofran pump. We are hoping she will be able to remove that all together. The baby is moving a lot and is making it all more of a reality.

We will be able to clean out all the baby stuff and get rid of stuff we don't need and get everything else prepared. We are excited about getting the crib together, getting the baby seat out and cleaned and then going through the clothes. It will be nice to start getting ready for the baby to come. We are half way through and feel blessed to be looking back at the difficult past.

We have been so blessed by the thoughts and prayers from all of you. We have been supported and sometimes propped up to get through the day. It made it easier, knowing of all the love from our family and friends. And boy do we have a lot. Things like this happen to help us remember how many people have been sent from God to help us through this life, which can be difficult at times.

We were able to go to the ultrasound today with the boys. It was fun to have them there, really not knowing what to expect and see them experience this with us. They were excited to see everything and know what the baby was with us. What a great thing to do together!! Although Zack was scared of the monster on the screen...we were able to see a healthy baby boy!!

ebd

PRAYERS II

It’s been awhile since the first request, but I was hoping that there would be improvement and it would be like….thanks so much for the prayers… Unfortunately, not the case for our story!!

Since the last email we have been in the ER and admitted, home health came to put in an IV and get the zofran (anti nausea) pump going. That went pretty well for the week I was gone on business to Florida, but then when I got back we started down the normal road of heaving and unable to eat and sleep.

We got her back on an IV today, and had the doctor reevaluate the medications today. We are hoping that we can get her rehydrated and that the new medications will kick in. Baby sounded fine with 135 beats. Baby great…mom, not so much.

Needless to say, we are still working on being excited about the whole thing. We are at 17 weeks tomorrow and feel confident the baby is fine. We are just praying that she will be able to get back to ‘normal’ soon than later. We appreciate your prayers in her behalf.

I am hoping that there will be some ‘good’ news before too long, but will give you a heads up on the 18th, since that’s when the ultrasound is….

PRAYERS

Was hoping for some additional prayers coming this way. All I can say, is be careful what you wish for and pray for….because maybe the Lord’s time is way different than yours, and I mean WAY different.

Well….after 10 years of wishing for a baby, apparently now is the time!! Yep, we are expecting!! A little bit of miracle has visited us and we are now expecting an addition to our family in August. That’s right, you aren’t reading this wrong, we are pregnant. Not someone we know and wants to give us a baby, it’s us. I know, it’s not suppose to be possible. Well, like I said, be careful what you ask for, just you just might get it, only 10 years later.

This has been pretty bad for Jen. First we were just in shock for a couple weeks. Then, the sickness began (hyperemesis gravidarum). She has been having a hard time keeping her hydrated. So after a couple visits to doctor’s office, emergency room and an in-home visit for an IV, we thought it be better that we just tell everyone, instead of everyone wondering what the heck Jen has. I mean regularly people would be like, oh is she pregnant? But that is the last thing on everyone’s mind. We also wanted to be a little more excited about the whole thing. So hopefully the next time we send out an update, we will be more excited.

So a big SO SORRY to all Jen’s clients for her inability to make appointments and keep cancelling them, but we hope that she will be having some better days so that you have some better hair days!!

To all those that have ever gotten any clothes or other baby stuff, it’s payback time!! We were going to wait until we knew what it was, but we might as well ask if you start saving some of your cute stuff for us! Normally I wouldn’t ask, but well, we are going to need help…so, start saving for us, and don’t worry, as soon as we are done with it you can totally have it back, because this will be it for us….for sure!! So call me an Indian-giver, or whatever is politically correct now-a-days, but pride is out the window on this one!!

Thanks for the prayers and the well wishes. Just as a side note, try to avoid terms like, ‘see, all you had to do was relax’ or ‘that kind of thing always happens after you adopt’. ‘Good luck’, ‘congrats’ are fine at this point, but like I said we are just trying to get to the excited phase, and are just hoping that it will come sooner than later…(hoping that it’s not when the peanut gets here)!!

Love ya all!!! Thanks for all the support! OH, and those of you wondering if it’s ok to tell people…it’s OK!!!

ebd

BLACK FRIDAY AT THE BEACH!

The boys and I thought that we would give Mom and Grandee a nice day of rest after Black Friday by going for a ride. Jen and Grandee decided that they would leave the house on Thankgiving at 10pm to start Black Friday right. They were finally done at about 7am. Talk about crazy!! I was up pretty late myself, just making sure they were alive, so when the kids (mainly Zack) was up early making noise and not wanting to 'just watch a movie', I wasn't able to rest anyway...worrying about the shoppers' ability to sleep, I decided that it was about time for us to leave. The main goal was to go see a movie, but the only one Zack wanted to watch was AstroBoy, which was only in the theatres that were showing older movies. Well, since the GPS can tell us where the movie was showing I thought we would just drive towards Santa Monica and see what happened. We made it to the beach in record time with few theaters along the I-10 that were showing different movies. I thought we would swing by the beach and let the kids put their feet in the water/sand and get back out for the search of a theatre. The day was so beautiful and warm that we spent a couple hours at the beach! I wish I would have brought extra clothes, because both boys were interested in playing in the water. We had a wet bottom and some pant cuffs, but that was easy to dry in a little while. Zack had fun chasing the pigeons. It was a great time!! and what a beautiful day!!!

After that, we drove down the freeway a bit to Tito's Taco Shop, which is one of Uncle Michael's favorite spots for food in the area. The boys enjoyed their tacos and burritos. It was yummy!! We were a little surprised when Mom called to check in on us. It was only a little before 2pm. We started driving back east towards Grandee's still looking for a movie. By the time we got close, the only theatre that was reasonable was in Riverside, but the GPS said we could make in time. Before passing Grandee's I thought I would text Jen and see what was going on. They were already awake and up and about, and it seemed like they wanted to see us sooner than later, so we stopped by RedBox and got some movies. Mom was a little bumbed that she didn't get to participate in the day's events, but sometimes you have to realize, 'you snooze, you lose'!!

ebd

YOUR COMPANY NEEDS AN AUDITOR, RIGHT?

The firm I am working for is looking for new clients....(like everyone)...and they have given all the employees the duty to find referrals... I am all for that, especially cause that means I will still have a job... Anyway, we will go anywhere (I am not sure if that is totally true), but I know we have traveled all over the country to perform audits, so bring it!! Anyway, if you are in a position to hear if your company is looking to switch their team of independent auditors, then please throw my name over. Would be glad to get them in contact with the big dogs that wheel and deal :).

Thanks a bunch...let me know if you need to know any specifics....

ebd