Two years old!

Amanda turned two years old today. We are so proud. I'm not sure where to start to summarize the past two years. Joy, pain, sleepless nights, love, pride, tears, fun. It's been great seeing her develop from a little newborn into this little person who has become like a third roommate. She adds to the conversation on her own and dictates the flow of the evening.

She plays make believe with her tea set; stirring the pot and then delivering a cup to us to have a drink properly. She sets the dinner table under Katie's command and has become helpful around the house. She says "nugget" when she has pooped in her pants and we are still working on potty training. All in due time. I'm in no rush to force her to use it.

She still likes to rough-house with me as I toss her into the air or attack her with a tickle fight. She defends herself, runs away and then says, "Again!". Wash, rinse, repeat. So fun.

23 months

Amanda's newest additions to her personality:
-Has learned about possessions and says, "Mine!"
-Is expanding her vocabulary and can say, "More, please", but is usually limited to one word at a time
-Has become fickle from time to time and loves an activity and them immediately hates it
-She regularly drinks out of a small drinking cup, but still has a great deal of love for her bottle particularly when it comes to milk and the morning. She seems to bypass sippy cups altogether except when driving in the car
-Is starting to excel at potty training with a portable toilet
-Exercises her vocabulary by saying out "car" and "doggie" and the like when she spots them out her window
-She can now point to her pelo (hair), ojos (eyes), dientes (teeth), boca (mouth) and nariz (nose) when you ask her in Spanish

(F)UNemployment

So far my first two weeks of funemployment has been very productive and rewarding. I've been able to spend more time with my family and also knock out a few projects around 'this old house' of mine. I've been a good house husband and have accomplished the following:
-Installed new attic ladder
-Built a new coat rack in our mud room
-Cleaned the gutters twice
-Raked the lawn twice
-Cut the grass twice
-Winterized the outside of the house
-Hung (but did not turn on) Xmas lights
-Run various errands
-Got my hair cut
-Did many loads of laundry
-Helped my mother sweep out her garage
-Went grocery shopping
-Caulked a leaky gutter
-Scanned in old 35mm negatives

You drink, you drive, I lose? revisted

It took 19 months, but our case finally settled and we have received our deductible back from our insurance company. What a nightmare that was. Three court visits and countless months all to get the money we were owed...

22 months

Here we are; October. I've been blogging for nearly two years now. Even though my posts have dwindled as I have been more of a facebook person, I still feel this is a valid place to share my thoughts. Motivation is lacking, I must admit. Back to my topic at hand. My little girl is 22 months old and we are already starting talk about a 2nd birthday party. Fun times. Let's recap where she has changed/grown since we last spoke.

-32 inches tall
-30-ish pounds
-picky eater; she has started becoming really picky about her diet while at home. Somehow, she eats everything on the menu at daycare. Go figure.
-she speaks the names of her classmates (Carter, Megan, Aiden) over and over...until she meets them face to face each morning. It's really funny to watch little ones interact at breakfast. They are in their own little worlds and just happen to be cohabiting the same space.

First dentist visit

Amanda had her first dentist appointment today. She is approaching two years of age and we heard that it would be a good idea since she has all her teeth now. Turns out, it wasn't such a good idea. I wasn't able to attend the appointment because, you know, I have a job. Well, I don't have a job for much longer, so in hindsight I should have been there. Either way, Katie filled me in on all the good details.

Amanda was friendly with him (after all, he is a pediatric dentist) and giving him high-fives right up to the point where he put on the latex gloves and mask. It all went sideways. She stopped smiling and locked her jaws. He was not allowed to check anything. DENIED!

The moral of this story is...wait until your child is three years of age. In the end, everyone parted ways with a good-natured laugh.

21 months

Wow, today is 09-09-09 and Amanda is now 21 months old. 21 is not easily divisible by 9, but it is divisible by 3; and so is 9. Anyhow.

I failed to mention this in the previous months' posts, but we no longer have a need for gates on the stairs. She is able to go up and down without a problem at all. We let her roam the house freely and she has never had any falls or slips. I think she has a healthy respect for the stairs. She now weighs about 30 pounds and is 32 inches tall and is a proud member of the 30-30 club. She has almost outgrown our changing table.

New skills:
-Able to buckle herself into car seat
-She announces poop prior to its arrival
-She tries to produce on the portable potty
-Shoulder shrugging for no reason

I have to imagine she picks up a great deal of "ticks" from her daycare classmates. The shoulder shrugging is probably one of them. Her "parroting" skills are well refined and she can repeat most words she hears these days. That makes it extra tough to express one's self...

Momentum part 2

I am 8 weeks into my 16 weeks of being retained as an employee here at WNG. These two months have flown by. Since the announcement, 21 employees have been let go (in stages) and 3 or 4 of them have found a new job. I suppose that's uplifting. Three more are leaving today; including my manager. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Don over the past 18 months and will miss his wit and supervisory skills. He taught me a great deal and I will take that with me.

Needless to say, morale in the office is at an all-time low and my workload is at an all-time high. I have pressures and deadlines and plenty to keep my occupied. I suppose that's better than the death sentence others have received where they have to sit at their desk and look for tasks to keep themselves occupied for 8 more weeks.

I plan to take Labor Day to finalize my resume so I can hit the ground running searching for new employment before I have to reach out to the government for the oh-so-tantalizing $375 a week unemployment pays.

Scam

I started using Craigslist as a buyer within the previous year. However, this past month marked my first foray into selling items on Craigslist. I have received a few responses to the items I have for sale, but the below is the most interesting e-mail I have received. Enjoy.



Hello

How are you doing today? Well i really thanks for your mail and i love the description of the item i wish to come and view the item and pay for it in cash but I'm very busy to do that right now.I'll like you to remove the advert from web and consider this item sold, I'll be paying via cashier check in US dollar.You will not be responsible for shipping or pick up of the item. where the shipper agent will come for the pick up at your location upon your confirmation of receiving my check after you have cash it in your Bank .I need your name to be on the check:

Physical Address:

State:

city,: and Zip Code along with yours

phone number to overnight mail the check to you without any delay.

Thanks and waiting for your urgent reply today.


Best Regard

Eny.

20 months

Another month goes by. It seems that I'm not so interested in blogging these days. Maybe I have little write about. Well, a few things have happened (such as I'm losing my job in October, but that's not my topic today) over the last few weeks. Back on topic.

Amanda is progressing. Let's see, what new has happened over the past month? She repeats most words that Katie speaks to her in her books. The books have photos and words like "girl", "boy",
"ball", "baby", "cat", "dog" and all sorts of other common items in her world.

She sits at the table with us now. She no longer uses the tray on her high chair. Success of this has been hit or miss, but in general it's good practice for her.


She can correctly identify when she has poop in her pants by saying "poo poo" and tugging at her shorts. She's right practically every time. If you break wind in front of her, she'll call you out by pointing at your pants and saying "poo poo". :-)

Sears Tower ==> Willis Tower part 2

Transformation complete.

Sears Tower ==> Willis Tower

19 months

Amanda turned 19 months old today. 19 months old really has the feeling of 19 years old. The date really isn't all that monumental. We are really starting to see her make her mark and advance with speech and skills. She knows when her diaper is dirty and pulls on it. She can verbalize and recognize several colors like red, blue and yellow. She is picking up a few of the Spanish words and commands that I have introduced such as leche (milk), sientate (sit down) and levantate (stand up).

She is still a very picky eater and probably derives most of her nutrition and calories from hot dogs and whole milk.

Momentum

It's been a long time. To all (three) of my followers. I apologize for that. Every now and again something happens in my life which is not meant for Facebook and requires a more thorough dialogue --> Blogger.

I found out today that my company is shutting down operations in Chicago entirely; dumping 40+ employees on the street. That's right, a company the size of about 30,000 could no longer foot the bill for our salaries and the rent for the office space. What a shame.

It's chilling how quickly this announcement takes the wind out of one's sails. You go from feeling like your efforts are kicking ass to wanting to kick someone's ass. It really is not fun.

I will be retained for a while to transition my knowlwdge to whoever is going to take on our jobs. It's going to be a rough road ahead. Lots to do.

18 months

Amanda added a few new tricks to her repertoire this past month
-loves to kiss goodbye or hello or goodbye or hello
-gets excited when we pull into the parking lot at daycare
-eats her food with a fork, drinks with a straw
-loves Flo Rida's Right Round
-took her first trip to the Holy Land known as Notre Dame
-learning to open doors
-says please, hungry and more (old hat)
-shows her belly button to anyone who asks and is very proud of it
-took her first ride in our bicycle trailer, smooth sailing

Crawl space update 3

The space is now populated. The world is right as rain.

10 years...goes by so fast

Ten years ago today, I received the worst news of my life.

I was a 22 year old senior at Notre Dame and at a beach party on Lake Michigan with friends. It was "Senior Week"; the one full week of free time allotted to seniors after final exams (when all the underclassmen go home) and before graduation. It's supposed to be the best time of your life. There are many scheduled events, parties, etc. You just finished four years at a very competitive university amongst some of the best and brightest of your peers and are ready to step out into the world and make your mark.

Over Thanksgiving weekend 1998, I found out that my father was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. Each on their own is terminal. He was given six months to live. The family was in shock. The rock of our foundation was shaken. How do you react to news like that? If you are me, you don't believe it and you stay focused to finish strong. If you are my dad, it takes away everything you spent your life living for: family, friends, a home, a career, being a grandparent, retirement.

I still don't speak much about that day - the 12th of May, 1999 - the day my father lost his battle with cancer. It was four days before I was to graduate. All my own plans and dreams were washed away in an instant. I had everything I worked so hard to get, yet I lost so much.

17 Months

A few updates to Amanda's progress.
-She uses sign language to communicate (more, bye and hi are her favorites)
-She likes to be tickled/tossed in the air
-She hates bathtime; this has become troublesome

Crawl space update 2

Insulation, drywall and lighting are compelte. I need to clean up and start moving items into the space.

Crawl space updated