sorry; no pics :(

Ugh! Blogger won't let me upload pics - either that or the hotel internet connection is not strong enough?



Anyways, I am in Staunton, VA for the week for training. I miss my boys so much :(



We closed on Friday and got the keys to our house!!! This weekend was crazy busy with projects. We got our appliances from the other house. We had to move the cabinets above the fridge up 1/2" (you can't tell with the way the trim piece covers it). We found out that our house did not have a dryer vent...WTF? So Rob and I installed one; I'm pretty proud of us :) We had to run galvanized pipe to the exterior wall but it looks good and it works! I LOVE our new washer and dryer!!!!! We got the front loading high efficiency ones (thanks Lori!!!!). We did not do any painting this weekend with everything else we had, HOWEVER we have the BEST friends in the world! Katie and Josh came over on Saturday with their own painting gear in hand and painted our hideous purple bedroom a pretty khaki color. After painting they came to our apartment and watched Justin while Rob and I went to see Bill Engvall...THANK YOU so much guys!!!!! Perfect example of the kind of friendships that you get with going to a small school. We didn't even know them when we were at Tech, but just having the bond of all going there, being greek, etc gives you so much in common that a friendship forms quickly!

I will try to update pics later....

It's been way too long!

Hello! Sorry it's been so long....things here are busy! I was in Dallas Saturday morning through Tuesday night for our National Sales meeting at work and then I got back, worked my tail off yesterday, Justin had his surgery this morning and we close on our new house tomorrow!

Summaries -

Dallas: It was a nice time. Our meetings started on Sunday, but I went a day early because flights were cheaper and the bosses paid for it! It was a really nice resort - the Gaylord Texan. It was huge! As far as the sales meeting, I was discourged at the start. The company that I am a manufacturer's rep for is McQuay International. We were recently bought out by Daikin - a Japanese company. This year at the meeting everything is now being referred to "Daikin - McQuay". I have a feeling that the McQuay will be dropped before too long. The first 3 speakers at our meeting spoke extremely broken english and I felt like I was back in college. After going through all of the meetings though, I think that this is a positive change and they are looking to put a lot of money into making McQuay better, not eliminating it or taking over. They are putting in a new R&D facility in Minneapolis which will be a big bonus. The whole meeting had a baseball theme and at the opening session Johnny Bench was our guest speaker and we all got to meet him. I didn't even know who he was, but apparently quite a few people did! Out of the probably 400 people there, I was one of about 15 women and one of the youngest. They had a party on Monday night and they had games where you win tickets for a raffle. One way to win them was playing Nintendo Wii the Bigs game doing the homerun derby. Rob and I always play homerun derby on the sports game that comes with the game, so I won 17 times in a row. I didn't win a prize though :( Then a guy challenged me to another homerun derby and bet the mlb.com gift card he won - of course I said sure and I beat him. He was so humiliated in front of his friends, so I didnt' take his card. Then a while later (and a few drinks for him - he was NOT sober!), he challenged me again. My boss told him that if I win the gift card is mine and he agreed....so I beat him again! We didn't even know how much the gift card was worth, but it turned out to be $100!!! Yeah :)

Surgery:
Went well. Justin is such a trooper! Everyone at the hospital loved him and he was a little ham for everyone. In the little holding cells that we were in before they took him back he kept making faces at the guy in the one across from us - they were mimicking the face that eachother would make :) He is sleeping right now and I hope he wakes up happy...he's been pretty crabby this morning.

Closing:
We are SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More pictures to come on that one soon!!!!




This is where I spent Saturday!















Justin likes getting in the shower with Daddy in the morning.














In his hospital jammies!



















Looking at the guy across the hall with his little hopsital socks that he didn't keep on very well!













Hanging out with Chunky Monkey :)

No big surprise!

Not like everyone did not already know this, but I thought I would join in the fun too!

Another "to do" on our already full list....

I took Justin back to the ear, nose and throat surgeon today and he confirmed that the right tube has already fallen out. He has an "angry" (in Dr. Gootee's words) ear infection in his right ear also. So, he has to go back to the hospital for another surgery on October 4th. Oh, and we get to pay for it all over again too.

The good news is that he seems to be keeping fluids down better. He did spit up his Pedialite all over himself in the waiting room this morning, but I would not really call it "throwing up" - at least it was not like it was last night where he would get dry heaves when he was done. Poor little thing...it breaks my heart to see him sick.

So now our schedule is as follows:

Sept 29-Oct 2: Melissa in Dallas for work, Rob & Justin in Elgin that weekend packing the house
Oct 4: Justin's surgery & my boss wanted to have a meeting at our new office (note to self: talk to boss)
Oct 5: Close on our new house
Oct 5th or 6th: Rob to Elgin to swap appliances (we want to keep our new stuff that we have in Elgin- thanks for the suggestion Uncle Mikey!)
Oct 8-12: Melissa in Virginia for training

Plus sometime we have to make a trip to Elgin to watch the movers pack up the truck and then be in Peoria the next day to watch them unload it. Oh, and we want to get our new master BR painted before the movers come because it's purple.

I wish there were one or two more days in the week - non workdays of course!

PS. I know that this is not a very positive post and I try to keep my blog happy, but it's just a little venting about the surgery. All in all Rob and I know how very lucky were are to have a normally healthy, happy baby!!!!

Sick baby....

I got a call from Justin's daycare around 3:30pm telling me that he threw up all over. He was so covered they gave him a bath. So I went right there and got him. He threw up again on the way home in his carseat as I was getting him out. It was all over me, him and the Yukon. Thankfully Rob has a very understanding boss so when I called Rob crying he was able to come home and help me. Justin has been sick all night. Everytime he drinks something it comes right back up. If he's empty he gets dry heaves. He's never done this before and I don't know what to do :( We got Pedilite and he kept it down longer than water, but still threw it up. He crys for a bottle and wants something to drink, but we know it will not stay down. Right now he has a bottle with mostly ice cubes in it so he's getting just a little bit.

Any suggestions???? Hopefully I won't need them by morning, but you never know. He has his appointment with the ear nose and throat surgeon at 10am to see why his tube in his right ear already fell out so I will probably just take a sick/personal day and keep him with me after the appointment too.





Here he is snuggling with me between "episodes"..... I don't know what is on his forehead - he doesn't have another bump!














He wants to be happy! He played for a little bit tonight trying to be his normal self...













He kept falling asleep for short periods of time all evening. He held onto the bar under the table and slept like this for about 30 minutes. Right now he's in his pack and play in our room so we can hear if he gets sick again.

Night with Grandpa & Grandma Metzler

Monday night Grandpa & Grandma Metzler stayed at our house on their way to Las Vegas. They are driving out there to meet the moving van. It was so good to see them, but so hard to say goodbye. I know that we didn't live very close to begin with, but not being able to get in the car and drive to visit is hard. We will just have to make lots of trips out there to visit!

Here is a video of Justin on his 4 wheeler that Uncle Mikey, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda got him for his birthday. He's always pushed it around until last night. He was kneeling on the seat and trying to ride, but I didn't have my camera.

As you can tell from the video, Justin LOVES his Grandpa :) He loves Grandma too, but she didn't want her picture taken after a 7 hour car ride!

We love you guys so much - have a safe trip out west and good luck in your new jobs!!!!!!!!

Wake up call....

Last night Justin started fussing and crying around 1:30am. Usually we try to let him cry for up to 10 minutes, becuase he usually goes right back to sleep. So last night he had been crying for less than 5 minutes and there was a knock on our apartment door. I figured it was one of the neighbors mad about the crying. Rob and I decided to ignore it and see if they went away - they did not. So I went and got Justin up and stopped crying and I looked through the peek hole...did not see anyone and figured they left. Just then they knocked again and really loud. I almost hit the ceiling I jumped so high. I said "How can I help you" through the door - no way was I opening it up! Next thing we here is "Peoria Police mam - open the door".... I was in a tank top and underwear, so I took Justin back to the bedroom and Rob answered it. They were looking for someone named Craig and had this listed as his address. I wonder what he did that they were looking for him at 1:30am?? Not a fun wake up call - I was shaking...I don't know why becuase I don't think a crying baby is a crime yet!

Have a happy monday! This week is going to be great with all of the new shows starting!!!!!!

Fun weekend in Michigan.....

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted - we've been busy, busy! With the new house we are in the process of getting the mortgage, insurance, etc. Plus my boss also finalized the lease on our new office, so I am coordinating getting the internet, phone, furniture, etc. I am so excited to have an office to go to! I thought that I would really like to work from home full time someday, but this summer has shown me that this is not the case!

Friday after work me, Rob, Justin and the dogs headed to Big Rapids for the weekend. It was a LONG RIDE. At one point Justin screamed for 44 minutes straight. Somehow he managed to bruise his cheek in the car between Peoria and Big Rapids - still not sure how, maybe his bottle?

G&G Brooks are keeping the dogs for us until we get in our new house since I'll be going out of town twice in the next few weeks....it's a big help for us - thank you! Saturday morning we hung out at G&G's house and had lunch with Godsie. Then we went into town and met the Fossitt's at the hotel and went to the Ferris game. It was so good to see them again :) We realized just how old we are when we got a 12 pack of Miller Lite after the game and ended up leaving 8 of them in the hotel room! Breakfast at the hotel was 7:30-10:30am...back in college we never would have made it by 10:30am but now it was the highlight of the morning!

Sunday we headed to Grand Rapids and visited with Aunt Buzz & Uncle Jeff and then went to lunch with Great Grandpa Don and Great Grandma Ellen, Godsie and Bob, Uncle Kurt and Ashley and G&G Brooks. It was nice to break up the ride a little bit and then Justin took a 3 hour nap!!! When he woke up he was really happy and chatty the rest of the ride home - much more enjoyable than the ride there!


Grandma Metzler called us tonight and said that her and Grandpa are coming to see us tomorrow on the way through to Las Vegas - We are so excited!!!! Justin told me that he's not going to sleep good tonight because he's too excited :)






Godsie loving up Justin!








Melissa, Justin, Jalen and Jamie















So cute :)
















Mommy's little fish....










I know I'll figure out this secret code....what you can't hear is Jason yelling for Justin to cover up while he covers Jalen's eyes :)















Melissa, Jason and Justin at the FSU vs. Hillsdale game.









Jalen and Justin











"What is your paw doing on my stroller? You don't even look like a bulldog!!!"













See the bruise on his cheek???













It was a great game! They kicked a field goal with 6 seconds left to win the game!














Billy & Jimmy Bourdlais













Daddy, Grandpa and Justin - Grandpa, Uncle Kurt and Ashley met us at the game and we had fun hanging out with them!













Justin ran around the field for a while after the game. I can't believe he stayed awake - it was a 7pm game! He was a very happy boy and then slept in until 8am!











The whole gang - The Brooks, The Fossitts, Billy, Jimmy and Kristen (Jimmy's girlfriend)

We stopped at Buzzy's and she has the best toys!!! Justin liked being pushed around in the dump truck. How times change - all I could think about were dump trucks at Phi Taus :)

Weekend pics...

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.... We had a nice relaxing weekend - Rob had to run to Elgin to get some paperwork for our loan, but other than that we watched football, looked for a new comforter and went to the dog park!

Sorry no more details - I am off to work, aka a golf outing and then steak dinner :) It's supposed to be 82 and sunny...I love my job!!!





Justin decided that licking the bowl was faster than using a spoon with his mashed potatoes......













.....and he also gets a bath immediately following dinner! What else could a boy want???













On Friday night we ran some errands and he fell asleep in the car. We got home and he didn't even wake up - so we snuggled thinking he would wake up soon.... nope; we put him in bed and he slept until 7:30am!!!!!! Yeah :)










Here is the outfit that Grandpa and Grandma Brooks sent for Justin - Thanks G&G!!! He looks so cute and it's comfy too!

Our new house!!!!

Hello everyone! We have had a pretty busy week - we bought a house! We figured for what we were paying in rent for a furnished short term lease we might as well put that money into something that is ours rather than throwing it away every month. When we moved here we planned on buying our "dream house" since the cost of living here is so much cheaper than Chicago, however after weighing our options we decided this was the best thing for our family right now (since our house in Elgin is still not sold). We're young - our dream house will come but in the mean time we love the house we found! It is on 2/3 of an acre - with a fully fenced back yard! It needs a little TLC - it was built in 1992 and a single lady has lived there for the last 7 years. It could use some landscaping, new light fixtures in the kitchen, new face plates for the light switches (they are gold!), but nothing big! We can't wait to get the keys!!!

One of the best things about this house is the location - in Germantown Hills; it's a small town (approximately 3,000 people) about 10 minutes outside of Peoria. The school district is awesome here. Germantown/Metamora are pretty much known for two things - the great school system and the high school football team. We are still going to try to make it to a game this year....I've heard it's something to see. Most home games get over 5,000 people!!!

Here are some pictures of the house. We are hoping to close mid-October so we'll post more pics once we have it decorated and our own stuff in it!