200th Rambling

I will spare you from 101 - 200 of my random thoughts, although some other night I may do that. However, here's what's been happening since the last post.

After being sick so many times with terrible colds and pneumonia over the past couple of years, I finally took Cate to see a pediatric pulminologist. We had an extensive appointment, but it proved to be very educational and we have a new treatment plan. Additionally, Cate was able to get tested for allergies, although I had to pay her back big time for the unexpected blood-draw with a treat from Dairy Queen. Boy, did she milk that cotton swab and band-aid for sympathy!

The kids are very much settled in their own rooms. We moved our room to the basement--our family room is now a master bedroom / rec room / clothes folding room. This move occurred in February (if I recall correctly) and Max's bedtime habits have significantly improved. When the kids were sharing a room, it was a big slumber party every night. Surprisingly, they haven't figured out to run from room to room after we go downstairs for the night.

The winter thaw came in the earliest I think I can ever recall. We had no new snowfall in March and the snow cover was gone by the time spring was officially ushered in. We've been so blessed; I think I will have to remind myself of the one spring we actually got when we have snow on the ground this time next year.

This was the first time that the Easter egg hunt was outside at my parents' house. It hit almost 70 degrees that day. Cate was able to wear her sleeveless dress without her sweater for a good part of the day. It was such a gorgeous day. And yes, we were color coordinated for Easter this year.

Work is interesting these days. It's review time and this year seems to be particularly difficult. I thought last year was tough because we knew in advance we were not receiving any merit increase and our 401K match had been suspended. I don't recall when dental was pulled from us. We still don't have dental and haven't gotten our 401K match back yet. We will get a merit increase if / when we make goal numbers by the end of the fiscal year. Our merit increase should we be eligible for one, will be retro to the beginning of the fiscal year. It's a difficult message to share with my direct reports. But I will do my best to remain positive. Because it can always be much, much worse.


As I type, I've got laundry in rotation while Kyle puts primer on the dining room walls. Mom is coming over tomorrow to help Kyle paint in time to have a beautiful dining room for Max's birthday dinner on Monday.

Max turns 4 on Monday--I can't believe it! He doesn't seem as grown-up as Cate was at four years old. I have the day off so we can have a Mommy and Max day. I'm looking forward to having one special day with my little guy.

I'm sure a lot of other mundane things have been going on in our lives, but I sure can't remember it at the moment. Oh well, if things get interesting or at the very least, I think they're interesting, perhaps you'll see another blog post again in the near future.