Moving On Up…to the West Side!

Hey Hon...were the maids supposed to vacuum under the sofas? Can we get a refund?
Hey Hon…were the maids supposed to vacuum under the sofas? Can we get a refund?

If you’ve been a reader of this blog and recently said to yourself, “Hey – that GenXDaddy guy has been slacking off! Where are all the new stories?!?!” I have two things to point out: 1) You should seek help if you find yourself asking rhetorical questions out loud, and 2) Yes, I have been delinquent in adding stories for one very good reason – We’re moving!

That’s right – after 8 years in our house, we’re moving on!

This wasn’t the easiest decision. Yes, we had run out of space…yes, the plumbing sucked…yes, the floor tiles kept coming apart…yes, the hot and cold water faucets were switched…yes, the locks had been broken…yes, the yard had completely died (even with gardeners tending to it) and, yes…we lived across the street from a crack house (excuse me, “Unofficial Halfway House.”) But, it was our home.

I will always love that home for sentimental reasons. It’s where GWE and I started our family – we created our boys there, brought them home from the hospital, and I even buried their freshly circumcised schmeckles under the lemon tree in the front yard. (Sorry if you read this while drinking your morning coffee.) It’s where we celebrated birthdays and holidays. It’s where Justin and I locked ourselves in the bathroom for an entire weekend of potty training and where Garrett drove his first car…into the water main. It’s where the Man Cave was constructed…and still remains.

And, yes – it is the house that was broken into by four thieves in the middle of the afternoon while we were at work. But, they were arrested INSIDE the house and we did end up making an extra $25 dollars in prison restitution money – so, that’s a plus!

In an attempt to bring closure to this chapter in our lives, my mother suggested something that she had done whenever she was moving around as a child. She told me that she and her sisters used to write messages to the house on the walls as a “goodbye.” I thought it was a brilliant idea, so we wrote messages to our house as well:

This is what we wrote in Justin's room.

This is what we wrote in Justin’s room.

These notes to the house are self-explanatory!

These notes to the house are self-explanatory!

We are moving on and we’re just now getting settled into our new home. I’m excited about the new memories we will make here and I’m looking forward having enough square footage so that I don’t have to step on Legos in the middle of the night!

MAGNET MANIA

Magnet

We have a new magnet to add to the Man Cave! Thank you so much Laura.

Curiously….how is it possible that there was a fatality the day you went to the zoo and you didn’t run out of there as fast as humanly possible??? I would have thrown my children at the lions as “snacks” in order to get away. There are many ways to die, but I promise you – I will never be eaten to death!

Magnet Mania

MagnetNew magnets for the Man Shed, courtesy of Julie Stone from New York City. (NEW YORK CITY!?!?!?) One is from Alaska, one is from Key West, one is a cool whale, and there are four little men!

Thanks Julie!!

Magnet Mania!

More magnets have arrived for the Man Cave!
Mag1This is from GWE and it’s from the Margaritaville Casino in Las Vegas. One of the problems with being related to me is that you must (by default) become a “Parrothead.” I’ve got two little Parrotheads in training and it’s nice to have a visual reminder in the Man Cave! “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame”…but, since there are no girls allowed in the Man Cave – it’s kinda difficult to assign blame like that!

Mag2These wonderful magnet additions are from MoGWE and FoGWE. It’s been a little too cold recently to add them to the Man Cave, but they will be going in before the end of the week!!

Thanks again, and keep the magnets coming!!

Another Sick Bastard!

Just when we thought we were out, they pulled us back in! After a week of screaming, crying, and rashes, Garrett was finally on the mend and well enough to go back to daycare – and we could all go on with our lives. Four hours after Garrett was considered “not a threat” and back in the Toddler Room, GWE received a call from Justin’s school. He had been complaining about not feeling well. He was agitated, cranky, miserable, and he registered a fever of 102. Crap!!

GWE raced over to get Justin and bring him home while I worked feverishly in my office, knowing that I would have to get twice the amount of work done in one day because I would be taking care of him at home the following day. GWE spent the rest of her day selflessly tending to Justin’s every need. I walked into the house around 8:30pm and he was already seeking solace in “The Shayna Bed” (our pull out sofa) in front of the television. There were piles and piles of blankets and pillows on top of him. Had it not been for an exposed limp arm, I would have missed him completely.

After 24 hours of staying home from school, watching television, eating tomato soup with grilled cheese, playing on daddy’s computer, opening his first email account and emailing his drawings to relatives, playing on daddy’s iPad, playing on daddy’s Xbox 360, hanging out in the Man Cave (with daddy), and napping, he started to feel much better.

As a parent, you want to do a “post mortem” to find out what happened and how a child got sick. Our first assumption was that he picked it up from Garrett, but that didn’t sound right. Garrett’s virus wasn’t supposed to affect children older than two. So where did he get it from? Justin’s teacher called GWE the first night (and emailed on the second) to check in on Justin to see how he was doing. She informed GWE that two other children were out sick as well! Ah ha!!! More clues!!!

GWE quickly pieced it together. All three sick children attended a birthday party at a bowling alley on Saturday. And, two of the children were on the same bowling team….AND they were sharing bowling balls.

That just goes to prove – Don’t play with dirty balls! You’ll get sick!!