Bryantown

I taught Joey to say “cheers,” clink glasses and take a drink tonight at dinner.  Joe thought it was not funny - you know how kids can do things over and over and they never get tired of it….well, yes that is what happened.  I finally convinced him we were done after about 20 drinks.  Later I went to check my email and after a bath, some stories and pajama time he brought his cup over, tapped me on the leg, held up his cup and said “cheers” until I finally picked up my glass and clinked with him.  And so it goes.

Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Teeth, Chin, Neck, Ears, Knees, Cheeks, Tummy, Belly button, Toes, Hands. Oh and least we forget his PeePee.

Today I was playing with Joey and the octopus that he got from his cousin Sarah.  It has a different color on each tentacle and it says the color when you push the button.  It also plays 3 different classical songs when you press the mouth.  Joey learned to say “brown” first and then “orange” - I think he likes the brown one best because the voice for that color is really low and different from all the other colors (it’s a very sexy voice). 

He pressed the mouth to get the music playing, then started bouncing the octopus up and down in front of himself saying “dance, dance.”  Next he laid down on his back and made the octopus dance on his tummy.  Quite the little comic.

Joe was driving us somewhere in the car and when he took a corner pretty fast, from the back seat, little Joey said “Whooooaaa!!!”  Hilarious.

We took Joey to Como Zoo on Saturday the 18th.  It was crowded - quite a zoo, really.  We would have preferred to go on a quiet weekday but thought it would be good for Joey to know there are lots of other people in the world besides Mommy & Daddy.  We had a good time and Joey loved the monkeys.  He says “ah, ah, ah, ee, ee” just like the monkeys do.

Well, I left Barr before but this time, it’s going to be permanent.  I got a job as a Systems Analyst with the Health East corporate pharmacy department.  I have orientation on Monday, April 27 and start the new job on Tuesday, April 28th.  I am so excited to be starting work that is going to be challenging and is the kind of thing that I actually enjoy doing. 

It was also very exciting about how the whole change happened.  I got the word at Barr that they were going to make an employment offer to someone to do the work that I have been covering since January.  They didn’t have the resources to support my pay rate full time so they wanted someone in who they could pay less (I’d been given the ok for only up to 25 hours per week) and work full time.  So, on Monday night 3/23, I decided to just see what was out there on the StarTribune.com classifieds and applied for 2 different jobs.  HealthEast called me the next day to set up an interview.

So, on Friday, 4/3, I had my first interview with the Pharmacy Informatics Department Head.  He asked me to come back the next week.  On Tuesday, 4/7, I had my second interview with four of the department team members.  On Thursday, 4/9, they called with a job offer! 

It felt like a whirlwind romance. 

I put in my resignation the next day and worked my last week at Barr, ending with a very nice day (weather-wise) leading to an outdoor patio happy hour.  I’m taking a week off to do some spring cleaning and to spend a lot of time with Joe and Joey.

Click Here to visit my personal page and make donation.

Why I walk

Some of you have met or know my cousin Janet. She was diagnosed with MS when she was in her early 20s and has faced the diagnosis and her personal battle with MS courageously. She is a fighter and I think largely due to her spirit, she is doing remarkably well. She participates in this walk every year and this will be the fourth year I have been able to join her team to help bring hope to others who share her diagnosis.

Last year several people who donated also gave me the name of their loved one who has been diagnosed with MS - David, Gretchen, Mary. I wrote the names on my T-shirt for the walk and my time became a personal walk for each of them as well as a walk for the cause. Each year I will add any new names you give me to my T-shirt and carry your loved one with me for the day.

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to the MS Society to help find a cure in our lifetime.

Click Here to visit my personal page and make donation.

We went to watch Cheyanne’s dance competition today and her team took 1st place!  It was pretty awesome.  Joey liked watching the dancers but the music was a little loud.  When they announced Cheyanne’s team the winners everyone around us started screaming and cheering - Joey went nuts jumping up and down on my lap and squealing.

Here they are just before starting. Cheyanne leads them all out with her shining, happy, confident smile - she is the pretty, similing girl on the end of the front row.

In (still) action:

And a video of the dance routine:

Here is her group after they won - Cheyanne is in the front row, 2nd from the right:

Cheyanne and Rebecca gave Joey a white duck with orange tufts of hair.  On the way home, he kissed the duck said “Night-night” then he laid the duck on his lap and patted it.  Then he’d start all over again - kisses, “night-night”, more kisses - it was so cute.

Here he is sleeping with his new duck friend after we got home.

Ha, so at swim lesson to get them to jump into the pool they say 1,2,3 jump and the purpose is to let the child know that you are ready to catch them and that they are safe. So now he jumps off of everything, the couch, the stool, just everything, and he counts it down for ya…so if you hear “three” be ready to catch!

Over and over and over, we just keep answering his questions as to what it is. I think he’s too smart for us. We’ll try not to screw him up too much. He’s also started to really reach out testing his physical limitations, standing on things, balance, and jumping down, yea, scary for us. So far he’s been able to protect the Money Maker (face).