Oh So Tired

Maddie and I were driving and she was a little tired. She zonked out within 15 minutes of the ride. I had to take the picture though because she at least went out with style....

Love ya BooBoo Chicken,

Daddy

Time Flies

It feels like it was just the other day we put up a new post.... Well several weeks have gone by and here we are. Crazy to think that time is flying this fast. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the last several weeks.

We had to say goodbye to Grandpa T a couple weeks ago. It was a bitter sweet situation. We know he is no longer in pain or uncomfortable. But we weren't ready to see him go. He was always one to strike up conversation with anyone, even if he didn't know your name! He was a great family man and a pinnacle of the church. He will be missed. Its helpful to know that he is finally at Home with Grandma T. You will be missed!

Maddie is getting so big and so talkative... of course she has been talkative since she was born but now she is using so many different words, phrases, and expressions that its hard to keep up with them all. The other day I picked her up from the YMCA and she asked where I parked. I told her way up over here.... She turns and looks at me and says "Are you kidding me, Daddy!" "You got to be kidding me... way over there!".... I didn't know what to say or do so I said "No, I am not kidding you we are way over here"..... "Silly Daddy you are kidding me".

She is enjoying her days attending the preschool classes twice a week at the YMCA. She is also in KinderGym and Tumbling class. She is so excited about all of them.

On top of Maddie's schedule Jamie and I have been having a lot of different activities with work. I typically am traveling all over the place and this month was somewhat of an enigma. I had customers in town every week so I didn't leave to go anywhere. Jamie is continuing to kick butt and take names at the YMCA and it is very apparent that many people are taking notice. She is a true asset to the organization.

Of course through all of this we found the time to build a house. There has been a growing appreciation for living a house over the last several weeks as we have been caged in a small apartment with Maddie's toys taking up the majority of the room :).

Below are a few different pictures of the last several weeks....

Maddie at the Zoo!

Maddie and her cousins at a family wedding

Maddie decked out in her Badger gear!!!!

Front of Home

Back of Home

A month of funny. . . .

There have been a lot of funny things coming out the mouth of this 2yr old lately. Sometimes we sit and scratch our heads wondering how she comes up with these things.

Potty training has been frustrating at times, but we both find ourselves laughing constantly. Maddie has been doing very well for the past week and half, but it was an interesting start. She loves wearing her new underwear, but it did take her a few days to get used to making it to the bathroom in time. We may or may not have had a few accidents on the carpet! Oh well right, its all apart of the experience. One of the more interesting stories is a trip to McDonalds as a treat for potty training going so well. After Maddie ate her lunch she went to play in the toy area and before we knew it, she had pee dripping down her leg!!! Needless to say, the 16yr old worker behind the counter was not too trilled at the fact that Maddie just went tinkles in the playland. Oops! But, Im happy to report that she hasnt had an accident since. (knock on wood) Lets hope it continues!!

Pat had an intersting encounter with Maddie recently that had us both in tears laughing so hard. She says to him. . . ."daddy, where is your tail?" Pat replies, "daddy doesnt have a tail Maddie!" She then looks at him frustrated and points to his middle section and says, "yes you do daddy, its by your butt!" He changed the subject. . . . .

Here are a few funny one-liners. . .

1) (during lunch) "Mama, Im not playing any jokes, Im not napping today!"

2) "Come on mama, suits on already - I need ta swim"

3) "I pooped and it really stinks!"

4) "Bye guys, Im going to the store with my piggy to buy chips, see ya later"

5) "Are you kidding me right now?"

6) (while pooping on the toilet) "ahhhhh, it wont come out. ahhhhh, its ok. . . .I will pray for it to"

7) "Mama, Im telling daddy that you are being sassy to me!"

Here she is, 2 1/2 and full of spunk!!

A visit to see Great Grandpa T

A trip to the zoo with her buddy Grant

Little America with her cousins

Typical Maddie

Summer Fun

Wow, is it really July already?? We have had a lot of things going on, as usual, but I have been getting requests for some new pictures of Miss Maddie. Here is a summary of the last month or so. . . .

2 things to note here, 1) Maddie LOVES the Home Depot shopping cart 2) She wants to wear her lace head band like her mommy does with her workout bands

Zoo Fun, it wouldnt be a summer without time spent at the zoo!
I ran my first 5k at the zoo and set the bar high for my next one.

I took Maddie to the beach for the first time, she LOVED seeing all of the planes flying over head.

Us at home getting ready for the beach.

Here is the new addition to Maddie's room. Since our house sold so fast, Maddie had to say goodbye to her buddy Yogi. Our neighbors framed a picture of Yogi for Maddie to have.

A weekend in MI for our friends Jenny and Jordans wedding.

Our little fashionista!

Maddie is full of new words, sayings, sass, and affection. It is hard to listen to her some days because she sounds like a little person (duh Jamie, she is), but she knows way too much!

A few of her favorite things right now -

*going to the library with her backpack on to check out new books to bring home. She has been picking lots of animal books lately, and is now obsessed with firetrucks and firefighters.

*playing t-ball, this kid would swing the bat and play all day if you let her

*PUZZLES, and lots of them

*Manis & Pedis - who doesnt like those!?!?

*She is very much into pretend right now. She will walk around the house talking on the phone, serve you HOT HOT coffee with her set, and play make believe with her dolls.

We have a lot more summer fun to come!

To The Love of My Life

You came along
and change my world.
When everything was dark
you created the spark.

I never thought I would meet
such a gentle love.
My love, when you appear
I never thought about love.

The softness in your voice
whenever you speak to me,
make me think this was my best choice
and I knew I wouldn't resist.

You took me by hand
and lead me to your world
where everything changed
and where you make me yours.

I close my eyes, and take a step
you take my waist and I hold my breath.
Your lips on mine, there's nothing like that,
I wish for this moment every second of my life.

I love you, and you know
and that's the most important of all.
No matter how wrong it could go
you loved me, and I know.

The Ramblings of a Traveling Man

Oh the glorious life of a traveling man. Its always one of glitz and glam. At least that is what most people think about when they hear that I get to travel for my job. Its always the same comments no matter where they come from, " you get to eat out", "you get to see cool places", "you get to entertain" etc etc etc.

Well I will admit it was exciting and flashy at the beginning. But truth behind it all is its a job. Its not glamorous. It often times sucks. Imagine getting up at 4:00am to get ready and get to the airport to fly out by 6:30 to catch a layover in a different city. Finally you get to your destination on the west coast.... you have traveled now for 8 hours and your day is starting out in your territory.... oh and by the way its only 12 noon. You get the privilege of spending the next 6 hours making says calls and finally getting to your hotel for the night. Maybe you have to do dinner with a customer or sales rep or you are lucky and you get to sit alone at a restaurant again. You finally get to crash after being up and running for what amounts to be close to 20hours.

You get glimpses of home through phone calls, emails, and picture messages. Those things help to make the week go by but it always leaves you longing for more. You want to see your family, you want to be there when things aren't going the best. You want to be there more.

I chose this profession and this job. I chose it because it allows for me to provide for my family in a manner that dramatically better than anything I have done before. But it comes at a cost. A cost of missing pretty much half of everything. It is roughly 26 weeks into the year and I have been gone away from home for 13 of them. Excluding the weekends that is about 60 days so far that I have been gone from home. Gone from seeing my daughter grow up, gone from my wife, gone from my home and other responsibilities and last but not least gone from my own bed.

The glitz and glam has warn off. The going out to eat and entertaining gets old. I would prefer to be at home with my family. I would prefer to eat the home made food and their leftovers on a daily basis. I would prefer to be at home every night. But I wouldn't be able to provide for my family like I am now. My wife bears a lot of the burden when I am gone. She is the only married/single mom I know. Having a husband but raising your daughter 75% of the time on your own is quite frustrating, demanding, and often hell. She is amazing that she is able to handle it. She is amazing that she keeps things running as smoothly as they are. Thank you to my wife for being the center point of our family!

Oh the glitz and Glam.

Mother's Day!!!!!

We have had a lot of big changes taking place lately that I was looking forward to a Sunday to kick back and try not to think of everything that is going on! Maddie and Pat woke me up with lots of fun pictures and cards that Maddie made and told me that we needed to get cleaned up and head downtown! We spent the morning at the Milwaukee Museum. . . . .Maddie saw it on Curious George and decided she need to take me there too! After that, we headed over to Rock Bottom for lunch, hit up a park for some fun, and ended the day grilling out! It was a wonderful day!!!!

Maddie loves the swings!!!!!

Pat purchased this kite for Maddie, but he has been OBSESSED with it for weeks. I honestly think he got it for himself!

Us on the riverwalk downtown after lunch!

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommys out there!!!