Flowers for Mommy

We stopped at my parents house earlier today for a quick visit. While we were there, Oma took Ian outside to smell the lilacs. They picked one and he came running up onto the deck to give it to me. Did I get the flower? No, he decided that it smelled too good and would not let go of it! I guess it's the thought that counts afterall.

Water Leaks and Police Officers

On Saturday (I think it was Saturday. But I have lost all track of time this weekend due to a serious lack of sleep), Mark and I decided to do our good deed for the week. You would think I would learn and just keep to myself, but no that is just not in my DNA apparently. Poor Mark, one day he and my Uncle Eldon are just going to run the other direction when I ask them what they are doing!

I digress. My parents left for Florida at the beginning of the month. Prior to leaving, my Mom informed me that the water would be off at their house since they had a leak. Mark and I investigated and decided that it shouldn't be that hard to fix. (That idea that it should be that hard to fix, should have been our warning. Sadly, we failed to heed that warning shot. Plumbing never, never, never, never goes down without a fight!) So, we headed to their house with our plumbing supplies and high hopes for a quick repair.

First, we needed to cut the outside faucet off. Not an easy task and it involved a lot of mud on the outside of their house where it had been leaking even though the water had been shut off! We could not get the water shut off completely. No matter what we did, it just wouldn't stop dripping. So, I called my Uncle to see if he could help us. We finally got the faucet replaced and turned the water back on. But.... we had a leak at the meter which took yet another trip to the hardware store. (It's not a home improvement project unless you make at least 3 trips to the hardware store!) Got that leak stopped, but it is still leaking at the valve where the water enters their house. That's one for them to fix because you have to call the city to shut off the water at the street!

I'm glad we got the faucet repaired. It would have meant many trips up and down the stairs/ladders for my Dad. Not that he is incapable of doing that, but he doesn't need to be bothered with it. (Polite way of saying that your old Dad!! Love ya!)

As for the police officers....While my folks have been gone, Mark has been finishing a cabinet they had built in their dining room. (He needed to use smelly finishing products and my Mom did not need to breathe the stuff.) So, last night he needed my help putting on the drawer fronts and cabinet doors. We put Ian in bed, had Beth sit with him and headed to my parents house. We finished the job just as the phone rang. It came up 'Private Number' so we didn't answer it. We picked up our tools and headed out to the truck. I got in the truck, while Mark stayed outside to smoke his 'cancer stick'. I then saw a small light coming up the sidewalk. Turned out to be a police officer. No, it really turned out to be 6 police officers!!! My Aunt Bonnie lives behind my parents, saw the light, didn't get an answer on the phone, so she called the police. (Ya just gotta love how we looked coming out of the house with 'criminal tools' in the dark!)

I got out of the truck and identified myself for the officer. He was satisfied and told all the cruisers positioned at the corners around my parents house that it was a false alarm. I called my aunt while talking to the officer. She and I had a great conversation full of laughter about the entire thing. And, I am thankful that she is watching out for my parents. Also, I am thankful that the police officers were so quickly able to respond to her call. Twice this week, I have seen my tax dollars at work and have found it worthwhile to pay them for a change!

However, Mark's starting to get a complex. He has run into more police officers in the dark this weekend then he has in all his years prior to this! Mark said I should blog about this but make sure to tell everyone he is tired of being tasered!!! Of course we have teased him relentlessly about this 'problem' he seems to be having. His nephews told him last night that if he were an employed, upstanding member of society, maybe he wouldn't be running into the police so much! He and I discussed who we could get to bail us out if they arrested us. There weren't many possibilities that we could settle on. We finally decided we would either have to call Sam or my friend Valerie who owns the local bail bonds office. We really had a good laugh over the entire event!

What a Day!!

We had quite a day on Friday. It started off bad and that should have been my indication to stay in bed and bury my head. Did I do that? Of course not. When will I ever learn..

Ian woke up at 6:00 AM! That is so early for him it's not even funny. He woke up because his night time pull-up failed. We was soaked from his neck to his toes on the left side! I tried to undress him and find dry jammies in the dark hoping he would go back to sleep. Not!! I had to take him in our bed because his bedding was wet too. (It was too much to take his bed out of the tent and change everything by myself while entertaining him.) Once he hit our bed, he was wide awake. I did manage to get him to play quietly with me in bed for about an hour. Then all I heard was eat, eat, eat. So we were up for the day to fix eggies chee. (That's srambled eggs with cheese for those that don't speak the Ian language.)

We were good until about 1:30PM. At that point it was obvious he needed a nap. (His normal nap time is 3PM.) How do I know he needed a nap that early, you ask? Well, he starts doing things that will get himself in trouble. In other words, he wants you to send him to his room to put him out of both his misery and yours! So, it was off to bed for an early nap which generally throws off the rest of the evening for him.

Once he woke up from his nap, the evening went amazingly well until bath time. The picture below is what happens when the side of the tub reaches up and bites!! He was kneeling at the edge of the tub when his knee slipped. His cheek made direct contact with the top edge of the tub! The poor baby slid into the tub and I immediately picked him up soaking wet. (Which meant I was going to my third set of clothes for the day!)

Now Ian does something that makes both the doctor and us crazy. When he is hurt or gets a shot, he gets so upset that he does not breathe! So, I pulled him away from my body and actually had to lightly tap either side of his face while telling him to breathe! Let me tell you, the scream he let out when he did finally take a breath was simply amazing. I can't believe that the neighbors didn't call. I can't believe that Sam (4 blocks away) didn't call.

We got him calmed down. We tried to put some ice on it but he was having nothing to do with it. So, we went back to our bedtime routine and headed off to bed. Interestingly, the only reason he woke up later that night was not because of his cheek!

(Honestly, I have expected him to fall after several of his attempts to stand up in the tub. We have had quite a challenge of willpower over him standing up. So, I was flabbergasted by the idea that he hurt himself kneeling while getting ready to get out of the tub. Worse yet, both Mark and I were right there and could do nothing but watch it all happen in slow motion.)

So, why did he wake up later that night? Well, that would be because of the fire trucks! About 1:30 AM, Mark and I were in bed. I was mostly asleep and Mark was flipping thru the TV channels. He finally settled on a horrible 1970's movie. I turned over to ask him what he was watching because it sounded so bad. He told me (something with Divine in it!) and I rolled back over. I no sooner got turned over when he jumped and said "holy crap fire". I sprung out of bed and said 'holy crap' myself. From our bed, we saw a fire at the end of our street with flames shooting 40-50 feet in the air! He flew into clothes while I tried to untangle myself from the bedsheet. He was out the door running down the street while I called 911 as I was getting dressed. We both thought it was the house of the 'crazy' man** at the end of our street. When we got into the front yard (Mark running and me calling 911) we realized it was the barn behind his house. Regardless, he and his family needed to be out of their house as the flames and embers were blowing onto their roof!

Mark started banging on their door while I called Beth and Alex. Alex came flying across the yard to sit with Ian as I was pulling out of the driveway. Mark met a police officer coming from the other direction and the two of them started working their way down the street waking up about 4 houses worth of people. (While I was calling 911, I could hear the police officer in the background of dispatch calling in the fire. Meaning this all took place in about a 1-3 minute window!)

While Mark and the officer were waking people up, I helped 'crazy' man's wife dress her children (while she cussed her husband out) and get them in their van. Then, we took a breath and sat back to watch the fire department (3 fire departments) do their job. Our little village recently purchased a ladder truck which in action is very impressive. They basically contained the fire, but let it burn. When all was said and done, the village lost a 100+ year old landmark, 'crazy' man lost his fence and has damage to his garage. But, more importantly no one was hurt.

We are waiting on the Fire Marshall to come knocking on our door tomorrow. That fire was really suspicious. Literally the entire barn was engulfed in flames shooting 30 feet above the roof within 1-2 minutes. Even for old, dry wood, that's really fast and huge!

I owe a big thank you to Alex. He really moved his butt to get over to my house. Not only that, he had to get Ian back to sleep when the sirens woke him up. He did a fabulous job and I really appreciate how much he continues to grow and help me everyday.

Mark also did an amazing job that night. I haven't seen him run that fast in years! He stayed calm in the face of gigantic flames. (He was really close to the fire!) He made sure that people were safe. He even loaned his coat to one of our elderly neighbors! I am very proud of him and love him more each day that I get to spend with him.

The barn that burnt was truly a landmark in this town. It was part of one of the original farms in the area. It was used as the VFW post for many years. They used to hold the Fourth of July celebration there which means that just about everyone who grew up here in the last 65 years has been in that barn. It was even used by the JC's as a haunted barn for several years. It was truly a piece of history for this town and it seems so weird not to see the roof from my window anymore.

Like I said: What a day!!

** I will give an explanation of 'crazy' man in a later post. It's an amazing story all its own.

Nuggle, Nuggle

There are moments that happen in life that just make your heart sing. I think they start out as small seemingly insignificant events and when they are over, your breath has been taken away. Last night I had one of those moments.

Ian is a very good sleeper. He is afterall related to Mark! We put him in bed between 8:30 and 9. He will sometimes play or talk to himself for about 20 minutes but then he is out. He rarely wakes up during the night. If he does wake up, he will usually go back to sleep on his own. If he doesn't, all you have to do is put his 'bink' back in, lay him back down and rub his chest or pat his butt. We rarely have to pick him up or rock him to get him back to sleep.

That has been his pattern since he was about 4 months old. So, last night when he started calling for Mommy around 1AM, I didn't get too worked up. I listened for a minute to see if he would settle back down. When he didn't Mark went in his room to see what he could do. It was clear very quickly that Daddy was not the answer as the wailing/whining level increased. So, I went in and immediately had a clingy almost 2 year old in my lap. (OMG!! Can you believe that he is almost 2!!!) He really wasn't awake, but he wasn't asleep either. We rocked for a couple of minutes while he tried to get comfortable. He finally curled into a loose ball on my chest and whispered in that groggy little kid voice "mommy nuggle, nuggle".

I think my heart exploded at that point. I never hear snuggle, snuggle from him. He will tell Mark that, but never me. And to say it in that little sleepy baby voice, just made me melt.

How can you be so in love with someone?