It Has Been A While

Well it has been a while since I have blogged about anything in my life and I apologize for those of you that are following my blog. The last I wrote something I was headed to Ft. Myers Florida for the Annual At Home Dads Fishing Trip. It was another small intimate group once again with only four of us fortunately being able to make the trip. It was a lot of fun together with Jim LoCascio, Tim English and Bob Boisvert once again. It was a great time and hope that I am able to make it again in March 2011.

This past weekend I took my twins to the Annual Kids Explore showcase that was held at the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs Iowa. It was pretty interesting with all of the exhibitors that were there and the interaction that my twins were able to participate in. The highlight was supposed to be getting to meet one of their favorite cartoon characters, Diego from Go Diego Go. This was the only problem with the entire event. The first time we attempted to get in line to see Diego, we were told that Diego had to take a break for some other shows in the event. The people also advised that Diego would be gone from the greeting stage for an hour. So I decided we would come back and see Diego later. The next time we got in line we were actually moving quite slowly and the people announced that Diego was going to have to take a break once again in about five minutes. It was not even one minute later and they announced that Diego had to go on an animal emergency. Talk about being disappointed for my kids. It just made that effort so not worth the experience.

Fortunately there were plenty of other things to see and do. I made contact with the Co-Founder of Fat Brain Toys and may get them to sponsor the At Home Dads National Convention this year, spent time at the Momaha dot com booth with my friend Al and there were even pony rides and a petting zoo that helped to distract my twins from the disappointment of not meeting Diego. Plus I let them have their faces painted and participate in some of the games in the various booths. Overall the experience of Kids Explore was pretty good and the twins did sleep well that night. Hopefully if I choose to head out there next year that what ever the big celebrity making an appearance, that the twins will actually get to see the person this time.

At Home Fishing Trip

I am excited because tomorrow I head to Ft. Myers Florida for the Annual At Home Dads Fishing Trip. It is put together by my friend Jim LoCascio who lives in the Ft Myers Metro area. This is the second year in a row that I am participating on the trip and it will be the same four dads as last year who were in Cape Canaveral Florida. I am hoping that the weather will be a bit warmer that what I have been dealing with here in Omaha. The winter this past season here has been a bit harsh however, probably still not as bad as any winter that I lived through growing up in the suburbs of Chicago.

The nice thing is that the dads are staying at a little mom and pop motel that has great beach access and we are fishing the next morning after I arrive. I just hope that we have better luck fishing this year than last. We caught a couple of fish and the one I caught I had to release as it was larger than Florida regulations for fishing the inlets or waterways of the state. It is wild that I pulled in a red fish that was 31 inches in length and would have been hopefully tasty however, it was just to freaking big by a whole five inches. On Saturday it looks like we will be fishing right on the shore at the motel and will allow for relaxation and just hanging out. I am also hoping to see some family and friends while I am down there. Who knows if any of that will pan out. I come home Sunday and if I am very lucky with United Airlines I may even make it in time for my hockey game as well.

All I know for sure is that I am looking forward to some relaxation and time away from the family and just having some peaceful fun. It is fun to be able to live like a bachelor again for a few days however, I know I will miss my twins and will be glad to be home again and into the regular routine once again.

Having A Great Pediatrician

We had a fun weekend last weekend doing to the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City KS except for the fact that Isabel had issues sleeping. As the week has progressed, Isabel feels better and Sammy started to feel worse. Sammy woke up from his nap on Tuesday crying that his ear hurt. I called our pediatrician to discuss it with her because of previous ear infections and that Sammy lost one of the tubes placed in his ears.

Our pediatrician, Mark C. Dek of Village Point Pediatrics is the best in the Omaha Metro area. Mary actually returned my call, which I prefer and advised to bring in Sammy today after school. Upon examination it turned out that sure enough Sammy does have another ear infection. Mary called in a script for antibiotics and sent us on our way.

Now this is not unusual for us with Mary Dek. We were fortunate enough to find out about her from friends of ours back in Southern California who have friends who recently moved to Omaha as well and were told that Mary Dek is the best in the business of pediatrics. The twins have been under her care ever since. Mary is very personable and even if only one of the twins is showing any symptoms, checks both kids out. I do not think every pediatrician out there takes this sort of approach however, I am glad that Mary does. The good thing is that Mary also understands that I prefer to talk with her versus the nurse who is working the call center or returns calls to review my message. I look at it this way, I am trusting someone with the care of my children and that is who I always want to talk with. There is nothing more frustrating when I talk with three or four different people at any doctor's office and have to repeat myself. Talk to the person I need to and get the answers I need to feel safe and secure.

I am just so glad that when the children have any health issues (being multiples, preemies) all I have to do is call and I usually talk directly with Mary. It is this little extra mile of effort that I so appreciate and I am grateful that Mary goes that extra step to make me feel more comfortable. I am hoping for that reason alone we stay in Omaha however, I so wish I was back in So Cal after the winter we have had. Question is, would I be able to convince Mary Dek to move to SoCal as well?

Another Struggling Day

It seems that things will never change with my son. I have done my best to allow my children the freedom to develop who they are and being the unique individuals that they are. My son however, pushes his limits every day. Today has been particularly difficult as he has raised his hand to hit his sister and then denies it, just denied running in the house when we have made this a rule for both children as they tend to run until one or the other wipes out and it is usually my daughter that is on the falling down program. My son is very competitive every day and struggles to just let things be. He thinks that it is acceptable to talk back or mock in an unflattering way. As much as we do our best to just provide time out after time out, there has to be a better way of working things out. My son also likes to make sure that he is able to spill anything and everything he is able to. When I talk with him after the scolding session and ask him why he does what he does and he acts totally dumb. He just sits there and says, "uh, uh, uh" and is not able to answer the question. I do not think that my son is dumb especially when the preschool teacher says he is very intelligent however, I know he understands what we are discussing and he knows what he is doing. The thing I wonder the most if I was this rambunctious as a four year old as well? I am not sure because I have memories of my spirit being broken from a very young age and I am hoping that I do not do that to my son.

First Trophy Earned

It has been fun as my son Sammy has really gotten into hockey. It started off when my mother-in-law bought Sam a little plastic golf set with a iron/wedge and a putter. Sammy started using the clubs as a hockey stick and things have grown from there. I found a local news publication that had two different ads for learning how to skate however, the second one I found also advised that they would teach a child as young as three years of age how to skate and how to play the great game of hockey. Five months later Sammy has been playing and the Fall/Winter 2009-10 season has come to a conclusion. Last Saturday the 20th was the final practice for the season. The kids basically just played hockey the entire hour that they were on the ice. At the end of practice the kids were all lined up in alphabetical order and each one was presented with a trophy to call their own. Each trophy was actually personalized with each child's name. Of course Sammy does not want to let it out of his sight and it has been a struggle with Sammy to not play with it so that we are able to keep the trophy in one piece. We have finally settled things with Sammy by letting the trophy sit on his night stand so that he at least sees it every day and it is the last thing he sees at night and the first thing he sees in the morning.

In wanting to encourage Sammy and his quest as best I am able to, I have taken up the game myself with the hope that as Sammy gets a little older and finally drops afternoon naps, that we'll go to a local rink when they have "Stick & Puck" which is where a player is able to work on both skating skills and stick handling skills. It is something that I look forward each day as I do my best to learn the great game of hockey and hope that Sammy continues his love of the game. The fun part is that Sammy has his first team trophy about four and one half years before I ever received my first trophy when I was growing up. I just hope his trophy stays in great shape, I pulled my name plate off mine and it is not the same.

Struggling With Wanting To Blog

As it has been a while since I last spewed about what ever was on my mind back on January 27th, I just struggle with what I want to say each and every time that I know I should be blogging. Do I write about my marital issues, the challenges and rewards of having four year old twins, my love for my favorite professional sports teams or what specifically. I know that I wanted to take this on and make it something worth while that people would want to read however, I struggle with coming up with something that may be interesting. I will do my best to work on updating the insanity that flows within my own head however, I ask that people give me a chance to figure out how I best want to use my blog. For now this is where my mind is at and it is a struggle for me. I know that there are others out there that are more gifted at this than I am however, I will do my best to be more diligent in my efforts to put something out there for people to hopefully read and enjoy.

The Pleasures Of Wife's Travels

I continue to do my best to accept that my wife has to travel for her job however, to remain positive with all the travel that she is doing is becoming more and more of a challenge. My wife is traveling quite a bit more once again and it is taxing on the twins and myself. The marriage itself is still somewhat rocky and the twins feel totally incomplete when mommy is not here and are always counting down to the time that mommy returns. Last week the wife was in Toronto Canada, this week it is East Lansing Michigan and next week it is Washington D.C. I have developed a way to help the twins figure out when they will get to see mommy once again. What I do it give the twins the amount of sleep times that they must get through in order for mommy to be home once again. This week the count was a total of five sleep times. This would not be so bad if my son was not asking me every second how many more "sleepies" until mommy's home. I guess that I have set myself up for that however, it does help to give the twins a perspective as to when my wife will return home. She has seven more trips planned at this point that I am able to see and a couple of late nights at work while here in Omaha. This was something I struggled with when we first got married and initially it was not to bad however, it seems that with her newest position within the company, she is being requested more and more to speak on the topic of sustainability and is constantly on the go. Additionally we are constantly on the go as a family as well. Between the children's activities and family travel that gets planned, it is a wonder that I am able to have any peace and quiet for myself at times. We already have a trip planned for May that I will be doing most of the driving and it is about 1,000 miles one way on this trip. Then at the end of July we are supposed to head to San Diego California and I have volunteered to drive on my own with the twins the 1,500 miles one way to San Diego. This does not even take into account all the trips that are going to be planned for the Fall of 2010 which will include at least two trips to East Lansing and a couple of days of said trips back home in Chicago. Have to look on the bright side though, I am at least not worrying about office politics at this point however, home politics are able to be just as challenging.