Heidi's New Assistant

Last week I mentioned that we may be bringing on some help at the Tutu Boutique. We interviewed and offered the job to an outstanding candidate, she was to start on Monday.

We got cold feet, after careful consideration Heidi decided that it would be better if I took on more responsibility around the house, allowing her more time to work her business. As Heidi's right hand man I stepped up and have been performing my new duties.

Say hello to the new laundry folder at The Old Blue House. I do not have to do the laundry, I simply have to fold it. After I put the kids to bed, I pour myself a large glass of wine, turn on the T.V. and get to work. It takes almost an hour to get it done, a family of five produces a lot of laundry.

Taking that one task off of Heidi's list of things to do every day has helped. One less thing to worry about makes life a little bit more manageable. That is what I am here for, I am a helper.

Annoyed

I have been looking at this screen on and off for three days and the only stuff that I have come up with has been so negative that I refuse to publish it. I have been generally annoyed with everything that crosses my path and just want to Bitch, Bitch, Bitch.

There is no good reason for it, the children have been behaving relatively well when I am around. Heidi has not brought any serious transgressions of their behavior to my attention. As a family we are getting back into the groove, routines are being reestablished after the week of visitors. I can not account for my piss poor attitude.

Meredith attended kindergarten screening yesterday and thought that it was about the most fun ever. She was very excited about the hearing test and told me all about it. "They put head phones on me and I raised my hand when I heard the noise." Wow! Terrific! I am being sarcastic with my five year old. Bad Daddy.

I got to fill out all of the forms and sign offs for her admission into kindergarten and the Massachusetts public school system last night. Talk about repetitive, there where fifteen forms all asking the same questions. Name, address, date of birth, who to contact, phone numbers, signature. For all I know I may be the proud owner of a Bridge in Brooklyn at this point or Merry may be a Marine headed to Paris Island. I was dizzy by the end of it.

Maybe, just maybe, after today, we will be introducing a new member of the team at The Tutu Boutique. This is a big step and I am very proud of my wife for growing this business to the point where we need to expand the operation. My brain swirls with all of the implications of an employee. I am not sure why, I have a whole bunch of people working with me at Bug Central. I will tell you why: Sole Responsibility, that's why I feel a bit nervous.

The weather, oh the weather. It is time for Spring to spring, enough of the drizzle and 40 degree days already. I need sunshine and sandles. That will cheer me up.

Exhale

The Old Blue House is empty but for us. All of the cousins and in laws are headed back to whence they came. It is very nice having them here but the chaos makes me feel like I 'm holding my breath.

Whewww!

Now to get back into the flow of life.

Dog Jog

Jogging with Maxwell has been great, the dog is in worse shape than me and gives me a good excuse to slow down and even walk at times. We started the day we put down Jackson and have been going strong since. When Maxwell hears the tearing of velcro associated with me putting on my knee brace his tail starts to wag and he heads towards the front door.

In the past Maxwell was a giant pain in the butt when he walked on the leash. He would pull to the point of distraction. After watching a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer I got him under control and he is easy and well behaved. I used to let him charge out over the electric fence, now I make him sit and walk out under my leadership. We are a team on the march, focused and traveling, it feels good being part of a team and I think the dog enjoys it as well.

It will be even more fun when the snow banks melt and the sidewalks clear. Fewer obstacles and less danger mean more focus on moving down the road. I think our performance and Maxwell's stamina will improve over time. I can not emphasize enough how nice it is having a partner who slows me down. The jogging has been easy and my ego has been bolstered.

Here is to future miles and fun.

You Better Be Good

The Holiday season has officially begun at The Old Blue House. The Christmas trees are up, that is right, plural, we got a Charlie Brown tree for the kids and another for the Mom. The kids have taken over Mom's tree too.

All of the boxes were dragged from their resting place in the attic, their contents are displayed around the home and it is good. I love to bitch and moan but the finished product is great. The Carollers, Santa's and Angel's are all happy to be back on display.

I got the fireplace set up for another season of fires, and I started splitting and stacking the wood. Even had a fire, the first of the season. Burning firewood heats you up three times. First, when you split it, second, when you stack and third, when you burn it.

I jogged Sunday morning further than I have jogged in 15 years. I went all of four miles, 25% further than I have been jogging. It just about killed me, that one extra mile felt like ten.

The Patriots beat Detroit by the hair on their chiny, chin, chins. Heidi brought the Tutus to a home show in town. Merry, David and I watched Micheal Baryshnikov(?) dance the Nutcracker on PBS. Merry loved it and David was entertained watching Merry copy the dancers moves. Bedtime was a breeze.

Then sitting in my chair, watching Sunday night Football on NBC, in front of a blazing fire, I was overtaken by a terrible chill. It rocked me right to my core, the kind of chill that has terrible illness associated with it.

I staggered upstairs, put on my sweats, brushed my teeth and along with my daily vitamins took a "Get Well Soon" pill. I was under the covers by 8:30 pm. It was an uncomfortable night, alternating between sweats and chills. When the alarm went off this morning I felt fine, catastrophe avoided. Thank you, Arbonne. I sort of wonder what is in those pills, sort of.

Destroyed!

The verdict is in, David did not adapt and was destroyed! I believe my son had an action packed, adventure filled day, the likes of which, he will experience, again and again in his life. I am relieved that the adventure is over and that he will soon be back on schedule.

It has been tough coming home from work to a boy that is so tired by 5:00pm that he closes his eyes and isn't heard from again. We got home, I put him on the couch, covered him up, turned on all the lights, turned on Sesame Street and asked him every ten minutes or so, if he wanted to wake up and eat something.

I did not get a response until 8:30 when he woke up coughing. I jumped on the opportunity to get him upstairs, cleaned up, pajamas on and into bed. "I don't want to brush my teefth" got him out of brushing them. I will do a good job on his teeth in the morning, I promise.

We are getting up early and leaving for Florida to meet up with Mom, Merry, Thomas and Nanna. We are going to have a great time swimming and beaching in the warm spring sun. David and I miss the rest of our family and can not wait to be reunited.

If you purchase a tutu, or have any questions concerning your purchase The Tutu Boutique will remain in business even though Heidi and I are on vacation, isn't that cool? The power of the Internet.

Nanna has a computer so maybe there will be a "Sunshine State" post or two. Have a nice weekend and more importantly, fun at work next week.

Tutu Talk: Dinner

Heidi has decided that the topic this week at The Tutu Boutique will be Dinner. Apparently she has some strong feelings on this topic. Here is my take:

I grew up in a house where dinner was on the table every night at 6:00 pm, if you were not there you needed a very good excuse. We held hands, said grace, and got down. We spoke about our day, listened to mom and dad talk about their day, worked out schedules for the following day and so on. It was the board meeting of our family life.

The craziest memories I have of dinner are the Great Vegetable Wars of 1977 thru 1980. My brother Fred decided he would not eat things that were green. Mom and Dad played the "sit till you have a bite" card just about every night for 3 years. It was both horrible and brilliant. Fred would sit, tears in his eyes, protesting the injustice of it all. He would eventually break down and swallow the pea or green bean and then make himself throw up. My sister and I would beg for him to be pardonned and every night the clash would begin again. Each of us would ask to be excused, when it got to Fred they would ask him to have a bite of his vegetables and he would refuse. A battle of wills, eventually it worked itself out. I was seven so there may be discepencies between the actual events and my memories, but it was something.

I found out when I got to high school that there was an acronym for families that all sat down for supper (T.F.S.) total family supper. I also found out that it was fairly uncommon. This surprised me, I thought every family sat down for supper.

I don't know how it went after I left for college, but I am fairly sure that if there were people in the house Marybeth (mom) would have dinner ready.

Married life begins, we both work fulltime and we eat on the fly. Out to dinner, microwave, sometimes we would even cook together. No structure. When Heidi became pregnant with Meredith , she left her job and I started to get ideas. One of those ideas was that Heidi should put something, anything, together for dinner each night. I don't think Heidi entertained the same notions.

I would get home from work and ask "Whats for supper?" Heidi would answer that she had no idea and we would take it from there.

Now, the kids are big enough for us all to sit down and eat together. Because the kids need to be fed as well, Heidi does not resent putting together a meal as much as she did when it was just me.

Family getting together each night to discuss the day that is done and to lay the ground work for the day to follow is very important. I hope that when children's schedules become more complex we will be able to maintain T.F.S. at our house.

Bed Time

" OK Kids, turn off the T.V. it is time for B. E. D. bed." or " OK Kids, turn off the computer, it is time for B. E. D. bed."

These words are spoken every night at The Old Blue House. You can never be sure what will follow. Some nights they march up the stairs, line up to put on their pajamas, hop on the stool to get their teeth brushed, sit down for their story, get in bed, say their prayers and go to sleep.

Most nights, I get, "One more show!" or "One more game!" to which I respond "No" "Get upstairs or I am going to carry you like a suitcase" I turn off the T.V., the crying begins, and I march them up the stairs. Carrying "like a suitcase" is placing the child under my arm, their waist in the crook of my elbow. They don't like it and generally head up the stairs under their own power.

Now that we have made it up the stairs it is time for pajamas. Once I get them naked, they run. I never chase them. I get David's diaper and Merry's pull-up ready. I pick out pairs of pajamas and wait. Usually in Merry's room, they forget I am after them and run through. I grab one dress him or her. The commotion keeps the others attention and I can get the next with out much more trouble.

We have pajamas on, time to brush teeth. "Whose first?" I ask, Merry generally steps up to the sink and I brush her teeth. This keeps David's attention and he generally follows without incident. While I am brushing David's teeth Merry picks out a story. When I am done brushing David's teeth he picks a story as well. We all sit in Merry's room and read the stories.

Before we start there is a negotiation as to how many stories are going to be read. Merry, starts with five. I counter with two and we end up between three and four. When we are done reading the agreed upon the number of stories, Merry and David always plead for one more. On occasion, one more will happen, usually, I remind them of the deal and that it is time for B. E. D. bed.

I put David in his crib, say his prayers. I put Merry in her bed, say her prayers and that is it. The kids, except for Thomas are in their beds. By now it is 8:00 pm and I am spent. The process starts between 7:00 and 7:30 each night and it wears me out. Most nights I don't go back downstairs, I get in my bed watch television for an hour or so and fall asleep.

If you ask Merry or David what B. E. D. spells, they may run or answer "bed".