Little Leo's Heart Fund

I have previously posted about my cousin Liz, her husband Ted and their baby Leo, Leo has been such a trooper and is finally home, but he has to have home medical care and Liz is not working.

There will be a fund raiser on July 31st to help them through this difficult time.
Please save the date or if you'd like to donate click on the link below.

Date: Saturday, July 31, 2010
Time: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Bourbon Street - 3359 West 115th Street, Merrionette Park, IL
Details: All you eat and drink for $25 a person. There will be raffle prizes and a silent auction.

Online Payment, Merchant Account - PayPal

Pray

I have posted previously about Kate McRae and her fight with brain cancer and tonight I ask that everyone pray for her desperately as she fights for her life.
Read her story here.

Weekend Recap

Here is a quick recap of our weekend. Get ready for some exciting reading material.

Saturday

• Waited 3.5 hours at the new rental for the Nicor guy to come and turn heat on. R and I took turns bringing boxes from the old rental as we waited.
  
• Once the heat was on R and I stood by a vent with our hands on it smiling at the warm air coming out. It was pathetic but our experience has taught us to be thankful for things we took for granted before.
• Drove behind R to his parents and informed him that he had one break light working.
• Came home and noticed Daniel was warm and running a fever of 101.

Sunday

• Woke up to a baby with a 101.1 fever. Took D to urgent care. Left with ear drops, antibiotics and directions on how to clean out the wax build up in his ear. I clean his ears all the time but I think I may have been pushing the wax in too far and it has become compacted in there. :(
• R and I took a few trips between the rentals to unpack.
  
• Took in-laws out to dinner after showing them our new temporary place. We had a great time.
  
• Came home right when it started to snow pretty bad.

That's our boring weekend in a nut shell. I know, how the mighty have fallen. Ha Ha!

Living with my in-laws has been great but I'm also going bonkers.
Why you ask?
Since the three of us sleep in one bed it takes D about an hour to truly fall asleep. During that hour he tosses and turns, plays with my hair, lays on top of my head, pokes me in the eye, kicks me and then when he has had enough he falls asleep with his fingers tangled in my hair.
I won't miss that.
When D finally falls asleep, usually major snoring begins from the other side of the bed! I emerge from the bedroom looking like lighting hit me TWICE. My evening then starts.... snacking on junk food and drinking a glass of wine or two. What a life.
I'm dreading starting a routine again but also I'm looking forward to that hour of getting stuff done.
If you have noticed less pics on my posts, you're right, I've been crazy lazy about it. But let's be honest you come here to read about my days and not look at pictures, right?! I'll be better about it soon. I was able to get one shot of myself yesterday....
I gotta use those gift certificates to the spa soon.

I'm exhausted

Today was the start of Daniel's speech playgroup.
We got up early, I took half a day off, packed his bag with his breakfast (to be fed in the car), water, diapers, etc and we were ready to make the long trip to Lake Barrington. The ride felt like forever but finally after 45 minutes we finally arrived. It started off really well with Daniel playing with another boy in the waiting room with a house and a school bus BUT it was short lived as soon as 4 therapists (speech and occupational) opened the door to "the room".
There were 4 boys all together (all boys, shocker, isn't it?) and 4 therapists (1 speech, 3 occupational (one of which was a student)).
Once he was in that room it was all over, he wanted nothing to do with any activities, well, one activity he did really well in.....snack time! He whined and bolted for the door numerous times. I stayed in there and kept leaving to see how he would do and every time he noticed I was gone he would call for me. They all tried their best but he is a hefty little kid so it took my mean muscles to control him. It was funny because one of the therapists said "he's probably the best we've seen in a first session". WOW!
Anyways, I'm debating if we should continue the sessions since the drive is so long or whether we should just add a private session for him during the week. He was only there for speech so the other stuff just bored him.
After all that, I had to go to work, then after work I dropped off the deposit for our new rental. It's a town home with 2 bedrooms, a loft, 2 and 1/2 bath and an attached 2 car garage with a basement. It's in great shape and we hope it all works out until we find a house.
I'm just exhausted today so don't ask me why I'm updating the blog, it's a stress reliever, I guess.

Looongggg weekend recap

Lots to update on, or maybe I just have a lot to say. :)

We had a very busy weekend. Friday night we relaxed with my in-laws indoors. Daniel had a blast playing games on this new site my MIL read about www.kneebouncers.com. It's a website with simple little games for kids. A child can press any key on your your keyboard to make things happen on the screen.

Here is D "playing" the piano.

and the drums
He loves my computer so allowing him to have some fun without breaking anything is always a good thing. He's been having a good old time at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.
Eating well in his booster seat.Watching his favorite programs
It beats the cold house he entered on Saturday when we had to go back and get some stuff. How pathetic is this?

We looked at a couple of houses but nothing impressed us. We did find a rental and are working out the details. It's further than we are now but for short term we're willing to make it work. Stay tuned for details.
Saturday night R and I went to dinner at Entourage, it's a great restaurant, it better be for what we paid!! Then we saw "Up in the air". It was a great movie. It really makes you think about so many things but especially your work and family and how we sometimes let work over shadow what is most important...FAMILY. I strongly recommend it.
Sunday was the big V day. I got chocolates and more chocolates. My favorite...
Daniel got a ton of stuff from his grandparents.
Don't look at his X-Mas pajamas that he's sporting, it's a recession and he doesn't care. HA.
He was the #1 Hunk on this holiday (his shirt said so).
While Grandma and Grandpa went to see Kenny Rogers in concert we went to visit my parents and enjoyed a good meal. Afterwards, we saw 2 houses that we were not impressed with at all. It's a trend, but it's like dating, you have to go through so many bad ones to get to a good one.

Here are his grandparents trying to get one good shot. Look at the hold they have on him to get a decent pic. LOL We didn't even get ONE!

I, I will survive....

Is the song of the week for me!
I was informed by the village today that the rental is officially being considered "uninhabitable"!!! SCORE! I finally feel someone is getting what they deserve.
Rest in peace "Purple Monster", rest in peace.
If the landlord thought she would be saving money by telling us to move out she's got another thing coming. The village guy and I are now friends. Beat that! She'll have numerous violations and will need to pay for each day things go unfixed.
We're going to look at a couple of rentals this weekend and a couple of homes. Not much to choose from when you need a short term lease as far as rentals but we have a lead.
My wonderful in-laws are watching D tomorrow night so Ry and I can go to dinner and a movie. I hope things work out tomorrow so that we can do that. With my luck lately you just never know.
I hope the weekend will be the start of a new beginning AGAIN.

We also decided not to throw D a birthday party that he won't remember but instead go away for the weekend to a water park. I just talked to the birthday coordinator at the hotel and arranged to have decorations in our room. I think with everything we've been through I deserve to get a break, D deserves to splash around and have his parent's undivided attention and Ry deserves not to hear me get anal about details of a party. We'll make his b-day special no matter where we are. I was so excited to book the hotel and not have to worry about a party that I felt guilty. It didn't last too long. ha ha.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!!

The High Life

Just an update to what has been going on with us this past few days.

• One of the outlets in the family room caught on fire and caused the entire house to smell like burning rubber.
• The furnace broke AFTER the furnace guy came out to see what the gas smell was.
• The landlord is negotiating with us to get us out by the end of the month.
• I've been on the phone with: the village, furnace guy, electrician, etc.
• I've learned fancy legal terms like: legally bound, get it in writing, your fault, cut your losses and get out, short-term rent, they are broke.

All of this leaves us with is frantically looking for a short term lease rental as we stay in hotels and with our in-laws and sing kumbaya.

to be continued.....

Loves

I stole this blog post idea from another blogger because I think it's important to think about the simple things in life amidst our crazy daily life.
Here is my list of just some of the simple things that make me smile.

The smell of a clean baby after a bath.
Having the privilege to plan a birthday party for a baby you waited a long time to have. (Not simple but I had to put this in here as I begin to plan Daniel's 2nd b-day)
The sound of giggles coming from another room as you walk through the front door after a long day at work.

Instead of sleeping in on a Sunday morning enjoying a day at the park and realizing sleeping is over rated.
Friday nights when the house has been cleaned, the dishes washed, the baby bathed and 2 more full days to get to enjoy life.

Any day where I get to play in the dirt and plant some flowers or pull some weeds.

A perfect cup of hot tea made by my hubby (I taught him well).

A day at the beach.
A basket of clean, folded laundry.

A good song on the radio you haven't heard in a while that brings back good memories.

Cinnabons!

The smell of your baby's stinky feet (you moms out there know what I'm talking about).

TIVO at 5am with recorded Yo Gabba Gabba episodes for your son to enjoy as you snooze next to him.
Smell of my Oil of Olay firming face cream at night.

Getting to pick a new scent of body wash after you've been using the same one for over a month.

Self starter for my car! LOVE IT!

Warm, soft socks.

Enjoying a glass of wine at the end of a hard day.

Finding a Lean Cuisine in the back of the freezer to take to work when you don't want to look at another sandwich.

A friend asking you to lunch so you don't have to eat the Lean Cuisine you brought to work. :)

50% off sales!

Cleaning out your kid's closet to make room for spring clothes.

HEAT AND PLUMBING, I had to sneak that in.

Curious George

Saturday was a lot of fun for D and I. My friend K and her daughter J invited us to see Curious George! When they arrived at our house Daniel already had half of a donut and some orange juice. Anyone that has boys will understand what sugar does to them. He was pretty much doing laps around the house and was very excited to have a pretty girl at his house. Initially, he just annoyed J by following her like a puppy dog but then later they became friends.
All set to go!After some coffee, treats and spending 10 minutes bundling these guys, they were ready to go!Both of them did great at the show. K and I were both nervous, we were relieved when the trip was a success. Daniel leaked through his diaper and was anxious to leave the last 15 minutes of the show but from the sound of other kids' cries echoing it seems everyone was ready to leave.
Here was a rare moment of J and D holding hands. It was so cute J (she will be three in a month) grabbed D's hand, he was tired and hesitated at first but then gave in like all men do.
The show was fun, a little long for little ones but fun.

Another fun filled weekend!