Anyone Still Out There?

So, it has been about 24 years since Erika has posted anything on here. I felt the need to jump on here and at least update you on our happenings over the summer.

I will do my best to keep each part as short as possible, but I also tend to ramble on, so either way this might be a a long posting - we shall see.

I guess it all has to start with my sister's wedding in July. She was married on July 11 and pretty much all of my family was able to make it up for the wedding, which was nice. Erika, Kasey and myself were all members of the wedding party - so we felt even more involved. Well, Erika was much more involved than I was.

As it turned out I had to go to a science class on the day of the wedding. And, luckily, I was finished in enough time to get to my parents house to get showered and dressed, then head up to the wedding.

Everything went off without a hitch, and I think everyone had a great time. She married a wonderful guy who seems to treat her well, while also calling her out (which she sometimes needs). Although he is a Patriots fan - I guess everyone can't be perfect.

The weekend before, I went over to Burlington with many of Cyle's friends for his bachelor party. I am not much of a drinker anymore - and I guess you could say I have matured (who knew?) over the years, because I really didn't fit in with the guys much. But, Cyle had a good time and that is all that matters.

The other HUGE news was that I finally was able to finish all of my undergraduate classes this summer and was able to get the grades needed to start my grad school work. I was very worried with the above mentioned science course - but I busted my butt and landed a B.

I started my grad school classes on Monday and it seems like for the most part it is going to be fun, but also looks to be a lot more work. So, I might be spending all of my free time doing school work for the good part of a year. Looking forward to getting through all of this.

After my final summer class finished, the family and I had about a week and a half before my grad school classes began - so we took a trip to Pittsburgh to visit my family, eat a lot and do some site seeing. Kasey was of course the hit of the week as everyone continues to fall in love with him.

Those were pretty much the three main things that we did this summer. Hopefully Erika has the time to post in the near future - she has done a little bit more this summer than I have, with all of the planning of things she has done.

I will do my best as well to post some updates of my grad school classes and what I am going through, if anyone is interested.

The three things we are looking forward to that are coming up in the next few months are Aimee and Jaramy's wedding, Kasey's 3rd birthday party, and getting new siding on our house (which I am very excited for). Hopefully we will update you on all of those.

Yesterday's Chaos

We’ve been so busy lately that it is just impossible to blog about everything. I’ll try to be better at it, but I can’t make any promises.

Yesterday was utterly chaotic and wonderful all at once. I took the whole day off to get some much needed errands done. First thing in the morning I had a burning appointment. Oh wait, I meant tanning. Anyway, I got done there around 8:45 and I headed home to work on Shannon’s bridal shower favors. Sadly, I only got about half of them done before I had to leave at 10:30 to run errands.

Once I got to Plattsburgh, I dashed around like a crazy woman trying to get as much done as possible without Kasey in tow. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking him with me, but not when I have a million places to go to.

So after a quick lunch I picked Kasey up at his Meme & Papa’s for his play date with Gage (Barbie’s little guy). When I got there, Kasey was sitting on the potty, where he had been for almost a half an hour. Needless to say, potty training is a bit of a challenge. He didn’t pee and decided he was ready to go.

We me Barbie & Gage at the Beekmantown Town Hall, but the playground was PACKED. So, we tried the school, which I forgot was still in session. Finally we went to the little rec park behind the West Chazy Fire Sation. There were a few swings, a slide, and a spinny thing. The boys liked it just fine.

Much to my surprise, Kasey was pretty wonderful with Gage and vice versus. They took turns on the slide and Kasey was a little scared of Gage (as he is with all kids), but by the end of it all, they were playing in the dirt together. With the exception of Kasey peeing in Barbie’s shirt, it was a great time. Kasey played model for Barbie, since he loves posing to get his pictures taken. I even got to swing with Gage in my lap, which was so sweet. He is such a great kid and Barbie is a great mom. I can’t wait for our next play date!

Once Gage’s therapist showed up, Kasey and I headed out for my doctor’s appointment. This was when all hell broke loose. I intentionally didn’t let Kasey play with his little tractors all day so that he would be more excited to play with them at the doctor’s office. This worked for the most part. He did act up quite a bit though. First of all, he only has one volume, LOUD. He finally started to get the point that he was supposed to whisper when he realize he had to go poop. This is when everything goes downhill.

He decided he wanted to go poop in the “little potty” which is a training potty we bring with us everywhere. Usually, I have Keith’s SUV and he just sits in the back and we deal with whatever may (or may not) come out. Well, this isn’t really possible in a car, which Kasey didn’t realize. So he threw a fit and I made him sit on the potty in the middle of the parking lot. After about 30 seconds, he wanted to go back inside to go on the big potty. Needless to say, that didn’t work either and he was pissed at me. We needed to go back into the waiting room and he started to really melt down. He was sassy, loud, and just plain rude. The ladies there were laughing, but I felt bad. Finally, he calmed down and the nurse came to get me.

Now he was good with the whole waiting for me to get my pulse taken and weighing in, but once we were in the room waiting for the doctor, he started to unravel again. He managed to poop in the 5 minutes between the nurse leaving and the doctor showing up, which meant a changing at light speed.

When the doctor came in, we were trying to talk about weaning me off a medication I am on and Kasey kept interrupting with, “Man, what are you doing?” “Man, play tractors with me.” Now my doctor isn’t the most personable guy, so you can just imagine the look on his face. Needless to say, he didn’t smile the while time. It actually kind of made me laugh. As we were walking out I let Kasey carry the clipboard and he only hit me with it once.

After this drama, we headed to the mall to pick up a couple of movies and a book. We met Keith there and Kasey was suddenly a gem. He just loves his daddy. He did say “Keith, leave me alone” once, but other than that he was good. We let him have some Auntie Anne’s lemonade and a pretzel and, of course, he bought two new Matchbox cars at Target (a tradition whenever we go to the mall).

At 5:30, Kasey and I headed to my parents’ house to fix my car and Keith went to the movies (he had free tickets). Kasey didn’t eat anything for dinner, even though my parents made him chicken nuggets, fries, and peanut butter and jelly. My dad got mad and told Kasey that he couldn’t help my dad and I work on the car. After a fit of tears, my mom managed to get him to eat green beans and half an apple.

During this time, my dad and I took off my old brakes to bring them back to Autozone (they have a lifetime warranty). What cracks me up about my dad is that he thinks I haven’t learned anything from watching him in the garage my whole life. Much to his surprise, I took my wheel off and even had a general idea of how to put my brakes back on.

We headed to Autozone to get my new brakes and my stuff for my oil change and we went to get ice cream. Every week since the Tastee Freeze has opened, my dad has brought Kasey there for an ice cream.

Once we got back, we got to work putting my car back together. I put my wheels back on my car, but I made Dad tighten them a little more because I can never tell if they are tight enough when we use the impact wrench. Dad changed my oil and we headed into his racecar trailer to put in a new winch.

During this time, my mom was trying to entertain Kasey, but all he wants to do is help us. So, we threw him in the racecar and gave him a wrench. He checked the bolts on the steering wheel to make sure they were tight (they don’t move to begin with). After I was a totally greasy and dirt covered mess, Dad fix my defrosters and we were on our way home.

It was so much fun spending the day with my peanut, but man did it ever tire me out. I appreciate my mother-in-law so much because I know she does this all day every day. I look forward to having another day just like this!

March for Babies

I know that I have sort of let my wife take over this site, but we had a pretty meaningful day here at home which I thought I should post about.

Erika, as you have read, is on the West Coast soaking up the sun in California. So, unfortunately, she was unable to walk with us in in our annual March for Babies.

Every year our family takes part in this wonderful cause for the March of Dimes, which is an organization that helps with premature births and birth defects. We have been taking part now for about five years - mostly due to the fact that my cousin, Ashleigh, and Erika's cousin, Kaitlyn, were both born extremely early - and both are living amazingly healthy lives as we speak. March of Dimes deserves a lot of the credit for this with the help that they have been able to provide to families, as well as research to doctors to help raise the percentage of life after premature birth.

In 2006, we welcomed our first child, Kasey, into the world - and he came a little over two months early. He stayed in the NICU at Fletcher Allen in Burlington for a few weeks until he was able to move to CVPH for the remainder of his month's stay in the hospital for his transition stage so that he could come home. Two and a half years later we have a healthy and very active toddler running around our house - and we are truly blessed by the help and support the March of Dimes and all of the doctors and nurses were able to give our family, especially Kasey, during his time in the NICU.

So, despite already walking for this amazing organization, we have yet another reason to walk - our amazing son.

We raised a good amount of money again this year, and I want to thank everyone who donated you are great people, but I think we came a little short as to our overall goal - but in the end every cent you can raise is able to help out a family in need - and hopefully wipe out premature birth and birth defects in the very near future forever.

I got up to the OVAL in Plattsburgh very early on Sunday by my wife's orders and collected our t-shirts and tote bag which we were given thanks to our donations. Kasey and Nana (Erika's mother) met us there a little bit later, and Mark, Danielle and Jack also came out to walk with us and keep us company.

Saturday was an absolutley gorgeous day that appeared to almost reach the 90s, so it was only fitting that the walk the very next day would be about 40 degrees with a bit of a wind. Oh well! Once we started walking we began to warm up, and the walk was very nice. It was also nice to get to spend some time with the Brown family - we have all been living some pretty hectic lives as of late and have sort of been absent from each other. But, I hope that changes and we get to see them a little bit more often soon.

Despite the cold weather, the day was spectacular and it appears our small North Country group raised a ton of money for the March of Dimes - which is the main reason we were there. I am hoping and praying that our next child is born on or very near his/her due date, but it is always great to know that if something unexpected happens the March of Dimes will always be there to support us in any way we need them.

Thanks everyone.