A few pictures...

Here are a few pictures Darrin snapped today. I was getting ready to head off to a meeting (helping to plan our 15 year high school reunion), and my Mom had just stopped by to pick up Henry for the afternoon.

Here is Jack with Grandma:

Mama with Jackie:

And a few of me reading with the boys. We've tried to instill a love of books in both of the boys, and it has definitely worked with Henry. He will sit and "read" for hours, and then beg you to read more. Jack is a little more distracted than Henry ever was, but he still seems to enjoy it from time to time. These are two of Henry's favorite books:

Note the bare toes on Jack. We cannot keep socks on this kid to save our lives. No matter what we do, he manages to get them off. He can even de-sock in the saucer, where he can't even reach his toes! It's crazy! I've threatened to buy him tights, but that didn't go over too well with Papa. ;)

It's Always Something...

This morning my husband came into the bedroom at 7:30am. Sarah, are you awake?. *sigh* I am now. He climbed into bed and said he thought the hot water heater was broken, because he just took a cold shower. Feel me, he said, as if I didn't believe him and really wanted to be awake enough to move my arm. I slapped a hand over his way, and sure enough, he was cold. Ok, I'll call a plummer this morning... Lemme sleep.

An hour later, he was back. GOOSE! You have to get up! Yes, he calls me Goose. He has for years, and I have no idea how it started. After leaving the room an hour earlier, he just happened to go down to the basement to check on the water heater, and found water gushing into the laundry room from the bathroom. When he came upstairs, he told me there was a leak in the pipe under the sink. So, being the handyman of the house *wink*, I got up and got dressed, and schlepped down to take a look. As it turns out, there was no leak... there was a tidal wave. And it wasn't coming from under the sink, it was coming from under the vanity... and under the wall... and crap, is that water coming in through the cracks in the wall? Yep. Niiiice. Now I'm willing to tackle a lot of home projects. I learned quite a bit by watching my grandpa work on homes over the years, and feel pretty confident with just about any task you throw my way, but I knew I'd been beaten by Noah and the great flood that was about to come crashing through my wall.

I went upstairs to call the plummer, and was told they could be at my house "around noon". Umm, excuse me? It's 8am, and I have a wall of water trying to break into my house. Noon does not work. She made some calls, switched some appts, and said a tech would be at the house within the hour. Ok, fine. 9am comes.... no tech. 9:30.... no tech. I call back only to find he's "minutes away". *sigh* Fine. He comes at 9:40, and I trust Darrin to the business of getting everything squared away while I take care of the kids.

Darrin comes upstairs about an hour later, and tells me the repair is going to cost us $250. Not great news, but certainly not as bad as it could have been. The pipes burst behind the wall, and needed to be replaced. I asked him how big of a hole they had to make, and "the whole wall is gone" was his reply. Are you kidding me? Then he says, "I never liked that old vanity anyhow." WHAT? The vanity, too? OMG. I must have looked like one of those cartoon cats, where you see the $ signs rolling through their eyes like symbols on a slot machine. My husband, however, was unphased.

Let me give you a little history.... When we moved into our 100+ year old house, we learned the the southeast corner of the basement is an old cistern that has been closed off. Since day one, he has been asking me to let him tear that basement wall out so he can see what is in the cistern. Why would you want to do that? I'll tell you what's in there. Nastiness. Bugs. Maybe even a dead body. Who the hell cares?! Let it be! But no, he refused. Every six months or so for the last ten years, we've gone through the same discussion. Him wanting to tear the wall out, and me knowing that if he did he'd never be able to repair it himself, and it would just sit, or be one more thing for me to do, or one more unnecessary repair bill for us. So when he came upstairs to tell me they had to break through the wall to get to the pipes, he was almost giddy. Well, I said, you finally got to break through your wall. Congratulations. What did you find behind it?

*pause*

*sad face*

Another wall.

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! The cistern is still cemented off, and the pipes were between the cement and the paneled basement wall. So I said the only thing I could at that moment...

*shrug*

Sorry, Geraldo.

ROTFLMAO!

Once I got Henry down for his nap this afternoon, and had Jack happy in his saucer, I grabbed my camera and took it down to the basement to capture the carnage. As it turns out, my husband is quite the exaggerator. Not only is the ugly vanity still intact (albeit very dirty), but only a small piece of the wall had to be removed. That piece was destroyed, but it is easily fixable once everything dries out.

Here is a picture of the cement that still keeps my husband from the contents of our cistern, our $250 little black pipe, and my ugly bathroom vanity:



I was pleasantly surprised to see that the paneling had been put up right over the cement. I thought there would be plaster under it that would need repairs too, as the opposite wall of the bathroom is plastered. Phew! I lucked out this time. :)

Those were the days...

Pretty much anyone who has talked to me for as much as a minute in the past six months has heard at least part of my sob story about Jack, and how he has stopped sleeping. We have tried everything to get him to nap and sleep better through the night, but nothing seems to be working. I've read every book, taken all of the advice, and he has laughed his cute little baby laugh in the face of it all.

Our pediatrician recently referred us to the sleep clinic at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and we had that appointment last week. After a 90-minute check-up, we were told there were no physical problems with Jack. Although this was a huge relief (we feared Apnea), it was a little disheartening because it meant we still had no answers, and therefore no solutions. The nurse who performed the exam gave us two suggestions. The first was to switch up his bedtime routine so that nursing was not the last thing that happened before sleep. We have tried this for the last week, and if anything it has made the situation worse. We figured it would take time for him to grow accustomed to the new routine, but that doesn't really seem to be working out in the least.

Another suggestion was to give him Melatonin, which is a hormone the body produces when it gets dark to make you drowsy, fall asleep, and stay asleep. Some children do not make enough Melatonin, and need to be supplemented. She suggested giving .5 mg per night, a half hour before bedtime. We've done so for two nights now (had troubles finding it at first), and it hasn't phased him in the least. *sigh*

I've now resorted back to my theory that the thing that keeps him up/wakes him up is intestinal, having to do with his bowel movements (or lack there of). Mylicon doesn't touch it (of course), and the pediatrician tells me there is nothing stronger on the market that is safe for him... well, except for Reglan, but after a little research on that, it doesn't fall into my "safe" category either. Reglan is a motility agent though, so I did a little research on natural motility agents, and the only thing I'm coming up with are prunes. Sooooo, starting today, Jack is on an all prune diet. LOL. Totally kidding. :) But I am going to make it a point to give him at least a serving a day in an effort to get him regular (sometimes he is, sometimes he's not) and see if that helps with the sleep as well.

If you're wondering how I came to this theory, well, I've had it for some time and it was quickly debunked by doctors. But, sometimes you just have to stick with that mama gut feeling and run with it. The two times he woke up last night, I happened to be right by his room, and went in quickly. I could hear him passing gas as he was struggling to stay asleep, but the gas won, and he was up.

The nurse at the clinic did say that he seems to be suffering from "infant insomnia" and that he will grow out of it eventually, which I'm sure is true... it's just this in between time that's difficult.

Lunch

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

~Abraham Lincoln

Those who are reading this and know me well, know I've always held my friendships in high regard. Although our paths may separate for months or years, I can think of no friend I've ever had that I wouldn't welcome back into my life for an hour, a day, a month, or years. I know some people think this is odd, but it's just who I am, who I have always been, and I have no intention of changing.SO, when I was recently given the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend from high school, I went for it. We hung in the same circle in high school, and then life kind of got in the way and we went our separate ways around 1996. We touched base again in 2000 for a bit, and that was the last I'd heard from him until about a month ago when we reconnected online.

We've chatted off and on for the past month, mostly about how many similarities there are in our lives, between both us and our spouses. I've joked that we're like a walking Lincoln-Kennedy penny (did you have one of those? My grandma saved one for me. :o)). We've also exchanged recipes, and just enjoyed mundane chit chat about diaper rashes and lunatic deer on the rampage. In short, its been fun.

About a week ago, he found out his neice was being baptised in Oshkosh, and he was planning to come up for the celebration with his dad, so we arranged some time to meet for lunch. In keeping with my Pound For Pound challenge, we hit Subway. It was actually kind of funny, because this woman was milling around and we were both saying how we thought we knew her but couldn't place her. We ended up realizing she was the manager.... the same manager that worked there when we would go in high school... Weird.Being the good blogger that I am (HA!), I remembered my point n' shoot, and she was kind enough to take a snapshot for me:

Aaron and his wife Kara are now living just outside of Darrin's hometown. Darrin and I are hoping to get back to the area this summer to see his family, and will hopefully be able to hang out with our new old friends a little at the same time.

Jack in a Basket

I thought I'd share a few pictures I took of Jack the other day. He just turned 9 months old a few days before these were taken. He was being super fussy that night, so after trying everything else I decided to toss him into a laundry basket with a few toys. He was happy in there for a good half hour!

I love that bottom picture. You can tell he'd had enough! His personality is really starting to blossom lately too, which is fun to watch. :o)

Ho Ho Ho!

Here's our Santa picture from this year. Henry wouldn't even go near him. Jack wasn't really much more excited about the idea. LOL! Check out that facial expression!

Pretty Pretty Princess

I thought I'd share some pictures of our pain cat, Princess. She has been such a stinker lately. Today I was doing something on the computer, and she jumped right up on the counter (I sit at the island in the kitchen) and started meowing at me. She soooo knows she shouldn't be on the counter! I grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture, but she came in close because she's nosey. The flash scared her. hee hee.



I mentioned on my craft blog the other day how I hang all of our Christmas cards around a door frame. I've done this as long as we've lived in this house, and we've had Princess this entire time. In all of our nine years here, she has never once shown any interest in a single card.... until now. She has fallen absolutely in love with this card we received from my toddler mom friend Kelly. I can't figure it out. I asked Kelly if they have any pets (no), or if they dusted their cards with catnip this year (nope)... I just can't figure it out. She will sit and give Kelly and family kisses all day if I let her...

She'll bat at them when they don't kiss back. ;o) *snort*

Anyhow, she has been cracking me up lately, so I just thought I'd share. :o) Here she is looking all innocent:

Yeah, right.

Christmas Day 2008

Here's a smilebox with some pics from Christmas day. We had a gift opening in the morning at our house where the boys, my mom, and grandma opened their presents from us (and Santa!). Then we had a second opening in the afternoon at my grandma's house, where we opened their gifts to us. It was a busy day, but always a good time!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve 2008

We have our big family gathering on Christmas Eve each year. When I was a kid, everyone would gather at my Great-Grandma's house after church. Since Grandma has passed, we've been rotating between four different houses each year. I volunteered to host this year so we'd be able to put Jack to bed at a decent time if he got cranky... which he did. He was horrible at 7:30, so I put him to bed, and then he was up at 8:30 and would NOT go back to sleep for anything. Apparently he wanted to spend time with the family too! I brough him downstairs to visit with everyone and he ended up staying awake until 10:30 before going down for the night.

Here are some photos from the evening....

It is so hard to get a picture of Henry without a cheeseball grin on his face lately. Here's a nice half-smile (hee hee):

Here we have (L-R) my mom's cousin Debbie (Jack's godmother), Jack, my grandma, and my mom:

Notice how all of the Kromm men have the same look on their face. It takes *years* to master that look of disinterest and mild annoyance. HA!! If my Uncle Sonny were here, he'd have the same look on his face (unfortunately he spent Christmas in the hospital this year due to some heart problems... please say a little prayer for him if you're the praying kind). On the left is my mom's cousin Bob, in the middle are his son (Matt) and step-daughter (Erin), and on the right is my Uncle Floyd (grandma's brother). I took this picture from the staircase, in case you're wondering why they're all looking up.

Remember that picture of Debbie up there? Well, here's her husband Tod (Jack's godfather) with Darrin, hanging out in the kitchen talking politics. :o)

Henry was so excited to open gifts! He kept running around saying, "Presents? Presents?" hee hee. He got a farmer Elmo set from Uncle Floyd and Aunt Rose (I just realized I didn't get a picture of her... dang it. I hate it when that happens), and a big "working" farm set farm set from Debbie and Tod. He loves him some barns and animals, so both gifts were perfect!

Here's a close up of me (why do I let these things happen?):

And Matt with his new football cards:

Henry opening the large farm set:

Debbie and Jack... note the look on Jack's face. lol! Think he was sleepy?


Farmer Henry:

After everyone left, Darrin and I got to play Santa. We hauled all of the gifts down stairs and finished wrapping, tagging, and bow-ing all of them, then stuck them under the tree so they were all ready for Henry, Jack, Grandma, and Grandma to open Christmas morning! There were A LOT of presents. Here is a picture... they're under the tree, behind the tree, spilling out around the tree. Presents, presents, PRESENTS!!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas! I'll be back with more pictures from Christmas day (gift opening at home and at grandma's) later this week!

Jack Frost

I just thought I'd share a quick pic of Jackie in his winter get up. I found this cute little quilted, fleece lined coat for him at the Gymboree outlet, and bought the little stocking cap there as well. They don't technically match, but I loved them both so much, I had to get them. You know how it goes, right?

Once he's in the carseat, he gets a heavy fleece blanket tucked in under his legs, and then it flips up over the top of them and folds down. It's the same thing we did with Henry... in fact, it's Henry's blanket. My cousin sent it when he was born, and it has his (Henry's) name embroidered in one corner. I have to be sure to tuck that in at the bottom when I use it. hee hee. I tried to get Jack one of his own, but they (Land's End) don't make them anymore. Oh well, the hand me downs and sharing had to start sooner or later!

For the most part, Jack is content in his car seat as long as we are moving and not traveling a great distance. If we sit still too long without the car running, he gets cranky. Reeeeeally cranky. I think he'll be happier when he can face the front, but we still have a little over three months before we can even think about that. Meanwhile, I keep lugging this beast around. It must weigh a good 10 lbs empty, so we're looking at close to 40 lbs here when he's in it (he weighed 26ish at his last appt). The seat has a weight limit of 30 lbs, and I plan to use it as long as possible... for better or worse. That's what physical therapy is for. LOL. :o)

Mama's Got A Brand New 'Do

I have been wanting to go back to a shorter haircut for awhile now. I thought I remembered it being easier to take care of. Turns out that really isn't true, but oh well! Anyhow, I thought I'd share a quick before and after.

Here is a picture that was taken last weekend for our Christmas cards:



And here's my new look:

I had this cut about five years ago and loved it. My stylist ended up moving to Milwaukee then, and I never found anyone else who could duplicate it correctly until now. I've been going to Shawna at Jacinda's Spa and Salon and love her. If you're in the Oshkosh area and looking for a new stylist, give her a try. I think you'll be pleased.

Deck the Halls

I love this time of year. As crazy and as hectic as it is, I just love the feel of Christmas, the warmth of the holiday (despite the chill in the air!) and the feeling of peace that comes with remembering the true meaning of the day. I love to sing Christmas carols, and make Christmas cookies, and go to candlelit church services, and sit in a room where the only light is coming from a massive Christmas tree. It all makes me feel happy and cozy and content.

When I was a child, decorating for Christmas was a big deal. I can remember my mom would pick a day at random in early December and surprise me by waking me up late and telling me she had called in to tell them I wasn't coming to school that day. I was staying home so we could decorate for Christmas together. We'd listen to Christmas music all day... Elvis, The Statler Brothers, Perry Como, and Andy Williams. I still play the same music when I decorate. And just like mom, I decorate the whole house. We pack away almost all of our every day knick knacks and exchange them for Christmas-y ones. Here are some of my favorites...

We have two of these little alcoves in our living room. This year I used one to display some of my Charming Tails collection, as well as the new Peanuts stuff my mom bought me for Christmas last year (I love Snoopy!). I also collect vintage Christmas stuff, like the elf boot you see here. Lefton is one of my favorite companies. If you aren't familiar, search eBay for "vintage Lefton Christmas" and feel free to purchase anything you see and tuck it under my Christmas tree this year. ;o)

This plate was made by a former co-worker. I love the folk-y snowman, and the red background. The candleholder has been with me since childhood.

This church used to sit on my great-grandma's big console tv set every Christmas. It has a light inside, and it is beautiful the way the light shines through the stained glass windows.

Here are our stockings (don't worry, it's a fake fireplace!). Some of the gals I talk to online like to get everything matching. Not me! I like that our stockings are as unique as we are. The Disney stocking is mine (big Goofy fan), the middle one is hubby's (this is the guy who only wanted a plain gold band for a wedding ring - how fitting that he also picked a plain red stocking), and the fire truck is Henry's. I picked that for him on a whim last year, but it couldn't be more perfect! I tried to order one for Jack this year, but the only one I found that I liked was sold out, so I'll wait for next year and make sure to buy earlier...

And here is my tree. It's 9 ft., with about 12-1300 white lights on it, and a beautiful snowflake star that you can't really make out in the photo. It's filled (and I do mean FILLED) with dozens of ornaments. Some are new, some are old, some are hand made, some are plastic, some are glass, all of them have special memories that go right along with them.

Near the bottom left of this pic, you see a Scotty dog angel ornament - in memory of my friend Pepper. In the middle of the far right you'll see a Santa made from a shotgun shell (I also have a snowman!). That was made by a (different) former co-worker. I love it! The blue ornament in the middle hung on my grandma's tree when I was a kid.

The pink ornament with hearts (right side, center) was also from grandma's tree.... as is the mouse peeking over the North Pole sign just to the left of it. You can also see a Goofy ornament (one of about 10) near the bottom left.

Near the center of this pic you'll see a turquoise foil wrapped gift ornament. That's from my mom's tree when I was a kid. She had a whole set of them, and I loved them so much, so she gave them to me. Awww! Down from that you'll see a green bell from great-grandma's tree, and to the right of that, a Charlie Brown ornament that I painted when I was about 7 years old. I gave it to my great-Uncle back then (1983) and he hung it in the window on a string until two years ago when I hosted the family Christmas. He brought it with him, and hung it on my tree (Double awwwww!). I don't normally leave strings on ornaments, but that one had to stay.

Here you have a small santa bell, that was a gift from my bff when he traveled to Mexico (you soooo didn't think I kept that, did you?!), an antique ornament from great-grandma's tree in the middle, and a glittery snowman, who was a gift from a friend.

There you have it! I could have shared more, but I didn't want to overwhelm you! Maybe I'll post a few more pics over the next few weeks, if anyone is interested.

Meanwhile, enjoy the season and like the sign said in front of a church I passed today.... It's OK to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!