Easter

Team DeBoer's Easter weekend went a little something … lika dees.

Friday: Nada. Probably went to bed early.

Saturday: While I finished painting her new room, Shawn took Mae Mo on a field trip to Cabela's in Rogers. Having never been there, he thought she'd get a kick out of the animals and fish.

Mmhmm.

Turns out, not only were they having a visit from the Easter Bunny himself (albeit a very freaky, wide-eyed, scary-looking Easter bunny), they were having an Easter egg hunt as well, with camo eggs and everything! I was pretty bummed to hear the report upon their return. Not because they stumbled onto unexpected fun without me, but because they stumbled onto unexpected fun while I was at home, painting trim, with my pregnant belly and achy appendages. At least I got the room done and got to enjoy some of the chocolate bounty Maci brought home. She's such a good sharer.

Sunday: The Mae Monster awoke and after some redirection, discovered the basket the Easter Bunny left her.

Immediately, she made a beeline straight for the Play-Doh! And that Easter Bunny was worried she wouldn't know what it was … ha!

With some coaxing, we got her to put the Play-Doh down and dig a little deeper … where she found some fake, fifty-cent grass. Score.

Upon further inspection, turns out she thought everything else (a purple sock monkey, a couple animal books and her very own fruity flavored chapsticks – because she's always swiping ours) was pretty cool too… 

…just not as cool as that Play-Doh.

After exploring her Easter basket, we sat down for a little Easter breakfast. We didn't prepare anything particularly special. In fact, Maci had the usual: a nana, a waffo (with hunee), yohgert and meelk. While the menu wasn't anything entertaining, Mae Mo sure was. As with what tends to happen at most meal times, (ahem) Shawn DeBoer's daughter turns into quite the little clown. Her and her father may or may not have been making silly faces at each other.

After the basket, after breakfast, after church and brunch and a nap, the Mae Mobile went on a little ol' egg pursuit. Turns out, I didn't get one single, solitary photo from the actual hunting process (because we were videotaping the whole extravaganza), but we did get some evidence of her enjoying the contents of her eggs: Mini Reese's Easter Peanut Butter Eggs. She knew how to get the foil wrapper off and ate the whole cake in one take! Apple of my eye that one.

Basket: discovered! Church: attended! Eggs: hunted! Chalk this Easter 2013 up as a sugary success!

Dad

Three years, two pregnancies and one new job later, so much has changed since Dad passed. Still, my memories of him remain staunch: strict yet goofy, opinionated yet shy, neurotic yet artistic. (Wait … am I describing him or me?) He and his wardrobe were one of a kind and I miss them both dearly.

I was gliding through Easter weekend unscathed (with the exception of a few thoughtful texts from friends) when "Piano Man" came on Pandora while I was painting, and as soon as that damn harmonica started in, so did the tears. Try as I might to only think of the good, it's still painful to remember … that I have to remember. I don't want memories I want him here, telling me stories, making fun of Shawn and entertaining my kids. But if there's anything I've learned since he's been gone, what I want doesn't matter because I'm fastened in reality and such is life and loss. I hate it, I can't change it and it continues to suck. And the word suck doesn't even do it justice.

On the bright side (if there is one), one of the greatest gifts I received after he died was a slew of old photos from family and friends. Photos of him from high school, from my childhood and more, Polaroids even. Evidence of Dad…

…sleeping on the floor. Funny to see this was apparently a habit of his way prior to any of my memories of it. And of course, there's the infamous Kawaski shirt.  

…wearing hats. (Or would the kids these days call them skull caps?) I've seen him in many a stocking hat, sitting on the top of his head, never down far enough to cover his ears. He always told us the majority of your body heat escapes through the top of your head anyway. Apparently this was also a practice of his since well before my time. 

…looking like Ty. Or should I say Ty looking like Dad? I think the photo below is an eerily similar appearance of the two. They must be related. 

…hanging out with little ol' me. Rumor has it, I was a pretty happy and mellow baby, and I'm sure, always very well behaved.

…sneaking Mandi cake batter. And now we all know where that habit started!

…just as I remember him. Very frequently with long hair (sometimes tamed with a red bandanna), usually bearded, rarely smiling in photos, always sporting some individual flair.

"When tragedy befalls you, don't let them bring you down… Love can cure your problem, you're so lucky I'm (still) around"  

Museum

So it turns out, there is a ton of stuff to do around here … for FREE. My favorite price! Last fall, we visited Minnehaha Falls, Como Zoo and the crowd-favorite carousel. Last December, we attended our first Holidazzle parade and viewed Macy's annual holiday display. Last month, we discovered the Minnesota Children's Museum and their Target Free 3rd Sundays.

"Thanks to the generosity of Target Corporation, visitors can roam the Museum free of charge, every third Sunday of each month, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m." So that's exactly what we did. And it was amazing! The museum's web site warns of large crowds, long lines and lengthy winter waits, however, we showed up right before 9am and walked right in (amongst few other visitors). Ah the blessings of Maci waking up at the crack of dawn.

We crawled through ant hills…

…and discovered the Queen ant.

We played in the water with plumbing, ping pong balls…

…and bubbles.

We very patiently waited our turn to drive the city bus…

…which we took to the local market to get some cheese.

Finally, we ended our morning with a story, a snack…

…and some silliness.

I predict many, many more visits to this wonderful destination, especially in the dead of winter, two tired parents with two stir-crazy kiddos in tow. Team DeBoer hearts Target. 

Pregnancy

This post is chopped full of TMI. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In my Discourse post, I loosely described my pregnancy as difficult. In hindsight, that wasn't exactly … accurate. I'm not having complications, I'm not on bed rest, I do not have preeclampsia, gestational diabetes or placenta previa, and for all intents and purposes, Cletus is healthy, growing and kung-fo-fighting. And it's just Celtus; no twins, no triplets, no multiples. It goes without saying that for all of the above, I am very thankful. The sheer miracle of conceiving and growing a human being is not lost on me albeit it does remain hard to wrap my head around sometimes. It's an indescribable adventure unlike any other and one I am forever grateful I was able to experience.

All that being said, pregnancy is not pretty. At least not for me.

I am the poster child of pain and fatigue, of stretchy pants and stretchy marks. Aside from completely different food cravings (and aversions), I would describe Pregnancy Part II as identical to, but much more intense, than Pregnancy Part I. I'm having all the same side effects and issues, just much sooner, much worse and much, much more painful. I am a walking, talking science experiment and I long for the day I have my body back.

Aside from the intense fatigue (which is partially due to my recently-discovered iron-deficiency), there's of course the fierce heart burn, strong hip and lower back pain and many, many a sleeping problem. For most of this, at least for the pain anyway, I blame Maci. Being pregnant with a very active toddler at home makes pregnancy a horse of a completely different color. Everything that ails you is magnified and there's often no rest for the weary. Luckily, I have a very helpful husband who takes a brunt of the grunt work but if I at all want to be involved in the Mae Monster's life right now, resting is not an option.

When it comes down to it though, nothing, NOTHING compares to the biggest problem of them all. The mother of all my pregnancy complaints. The real reason for this post. Brace yourself while I try to put this … delicately. Veins. I suffer from varicose veins (…she declares, right arm raised, head held in shame). The words alone make me gag so I apologize for the crudeness but someone has got to educate others about this subject because I had no idea the extent to which one person can suffer. I'm going to let BabyCenter.com define them for you:

"Varicose veins are swollen veins that may bulge near the surface of the skin. These blue or purple, sometimes squiggly veins are most likely to show up in your legs, though you may also get them in your vulva or elsewhere. (In fact, hemorrhoids are really just varicose veins of the rectal area.)"

Mm-hm. "… bulge … blue or purple … squiggly … vulva … hemorrhoids." Check, check, check, check, check. They are the most irritating, unattractive and painful part of my pregnancy. And they basically occupy the entire left side of my trunk. The ENTIRE left side. So-much-so that I have resorted to purchasing and dawning what can only be described as the female version of a jock, just for the support and pain relief it brings. Mrs. Hotty-tot I am not.

(Moment of silence for my poor, poor husband.)

It turns out varicose veins are hereditary, they do not affect labor and delivery and chances are they will improve after pregnancy. Still, they're a bitch. And I hate them. Oh and you will never ever see me in a pair of shorts or a skirt again. Oh yeah, I never wore them anyway. HA! And you thought I never looked on the bright side of things!

Anyway, now that we got that out of the way … I'd like to end with a little story. I was in the bathroom the other day, peeing for probably the sixth time and once I was finished, I wiped, redressed and stood up. Immediately I undressed, sat back down and peed again.

The end. Unless … maybe you'd also like to share your pregnancy experiences, wisdom and woes? What if I offer you chocolate? I'm easily persuaded by chocolate. Or cadbury eggs. Or Pepsi. I digress. I'm off to the bathroom …

Leo

As I originally revealed here, we relinquished Mister Leo back to Basset Buddies Rescue in the hopes he would find that perfect home he needs to wain his stress and anxiety and obsessive need for attention. Sounds like he's one step closer.

Update : I just heard from BBR again and … "Leo is doing great. He was adopted by a family with older children and a lab. They love him. The mom is home much of the time and he gets lots of attention. He is doing very well."

Discourse

So I've been hemming and hawing over whether or not to continue this blog. If hemming sits on the side of continuing, hawing has definitely been winning out. This is probably pretty apparent seeings as my posts have been few and far between. I can blame much for my absence: Team DeBoer being down with the sickness, a difficult pregnancy, a 9pm bedtime, my nagging need for posts to be perfect prior to posting … but basically, it's been my general lack of time, ambition or motivation. If I've mustered any "free" time lately, all I've wanted to do is sit down and watch TV. And by that I mean watch one of two television shows I pay attention to: The Amazing Race and The Daily Show. Every other minute of my day has been spent sleeping, working, looking after Maci, spending time with Shawn, ignoring Norman, baby-prepping, budgeting, reading, cooking, cleaning, bathing and carrying around way too much weight. Being overwhelmed with what is every day, blogging got put on the back burner. Something more important, pertinent or necessary always came up.

But then … something happened.

I discovered this little widget called, "Popular Posts." I applied it to my blog layout and up populated a post called Grandpa Miller. A couple others that followed closely were entitled Cletus (ironically one's about the first, the other's about the sequel). Still others read Challenge, Stories and Question. Even random posts titled Touchdown, Soda and Chicago appeared. Last but not least, there was a photo montage of the Mae Meister. As I reread these entries I quickly remembered why I ever bothered with this whole blogging thing in the first place: I want to remember. Things are worth recording and you know what, I'm a pretty damn good writer, and entertaining at that. I found myself chuckling out loud at my own work. I found myself tearing up, smiling, furrowing my brow and admiring my photos. I found myself hemming again.

Then, as if to compound my mere efforts to make memories a permanent part of written history, I had two people approach me in the same week asking about my issues with anxiety. It could have been a crazy coincidence or it could have been that others were grateful for my openness and honesty regarding somewhat personal or taboo topics. Others related to what I was saying and found enough comfort in my approach to ask me more about it. Sometimes I may say too much making people feel nothing but uncomfortable but other times, I unintentionally make myself an advocate. Again I remember. I remember back to what it feels like to be in the middle of your own crazy and nothing makes you feel better then learning you're not alone and that someone else knows what you're going through. Misery may love company but company is necessary to deal with misery. Thus, my hemming grew.

The last straw, we traded in my 24-inch iMac for a 15-inch MacBook Pro. Gone are the days of hibernating in the back guest room freezing my ass off to write a post. Nothing deters blogging like frigid fingers and an icicle ass. It turns out, a gas fireplace in the dead middle of a brutally long Minnesota winter can silence all hawing and once again, blogs can be written.

So here I sit, posting another blog. Vowing to renew my efforts to keep up with this hobby of mine. And I've got a doozy of a follow up post for ya … in TMI tradition, I will be elaborating on this pregnancy. If you are squeamish, shy or male, don't say I didn't warn you.

Finally

Nothing beats a healthy Mae Meister, shitty grinning, cheesy posing.

December

At the midway point of January, I think it's only appropriate to now take the time to recap December … in standard photo montage form:

For the first time in the almost eight years we've lived in Minnesota, we hit up the (free) Holidazzle parade that takes place in downtown Minneapolis. Thanks to neighbor Sarah, we sat in a heated, cozy tent with warm apple cider and hot chocolate. (We are now doomed to ever do it different.) It was spectacular and I only wish I could've captured the expressions on Maci's face as the lighted floats went by … damn the darkness. She was in serious awe – exclaiming and pointing and oohing and aahing! It was child wonderment at it's finest.

Afterwards we hit up the (also free) Macy's annual holiday display on the eighth floor of their downtown store. While the display was equally impressive, the long lines to get in and the fact that Maci was flirting with bed time, made for a somewhat less impressive reaction. She still got a kick out of everything, just in a much more subdued, muted and sleepy way. Apparently I was also pretty beat because I didn't even bother to get out the camera.

Of course we made our annual, and by that I mean second, trip to see the big guy at the Rosedale Mall. Last year, Maci didn't mind the bearded stranger in the big red suit. In fact, she was all smiles. (I can't get over how different she looks just one year ago, sans curls!)

This year, we were far less certain of her reaction as she seemed a wee bit … hesitant.

 

While we did our best to back her up to Mr. Clause, so as to ease the transition, she still turned to take a peak once she was on his knee and immediately broke down into some seriously sad tears. Not scared, not shy, sad. Luckily, a fabulous employee got a hold of a noise-making duck long enough to divert her attention, dry her tears and at the very least, somber her expression. While the photographer was showing us all these boring, cookie-cutter, serious-faced-Maci photos, our Mae Mo started to take on an inquisitive appearance…

Shawn was like, "Take the picture! Now! Now!" And thus we got the adorable shot above. Create your own caption but my favorite is: "Flying reindeers? Really? Keep talking."

This brings us to Christmas Eve. Having zero activities planned for the day, we chocked it full of fine family fun in hopes of making memories and traditions for years to come. To kick things off, sledding at Como.

Dad and Maci were up first…

Success! (And survival.)

Next up, Mom and Maci…

Crooked success! (And swagger!)

All was going well, better then expected actually. It was colder then a witches you-know-what but we didn't seem to mind or even notice. Maci was seemingly enjoying herself, grinning and giggling all the way down and then asking for more once we reached the bottom. And then, this happened…

Yep. Dad and Maci take two or three resulted in a tuck and roll situation to which Maci was not pleased about. Everyone survived safe and sound, however, thus ended the sledding session for Mae Mo.

When we got home (and thawed out) we watched the Grinch. Not the horrible (in my opinion) Jim Carrey version, but the Dr. Seuss animated original. It was just long enough to entertain Maci Mae but just short enough not to lose her attention. Pretty sure her favorite part was Max the dog who she kept lovingly referring to as Noh-man!

After sledding, after the Grinch, after some lunch and some family napping, we hit up church. If I do say so myself, Maci Mae Mo was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen that night but the little squirt would not stand still for a photo, so the blurry, yellow shot below is the best I could get.

Christmas Eve ended up being absolutely perfect. After Maci went to bed, Shawn and I capped off the evening with some dessert and a little National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Classic.

On Christmas Day, we videotaped most of Maci's present-opening-session but I was able to get a few photos a little later on while she got to enjoy a couple of her presents. That's right, bubble bath and foam letters folks! Man I love presents at this age! Maci took her first-ever bubble bath and was enamored! Bubbles are her jam. That Santa sure is smart…

Everything after Christmas is pretty much a blur. We rang in the New Year around 7pm with the Woodruffs and had a celebratory countdown over chicken nuggets and cheese and crackers. Pretty sure I allowed myself TWO Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Peppers and possibly a shot-glass sized portion of beer. I miss beer. Anyway, it was a good month. Cold, crisp, snowy and full of big events: Shawn's 30th, Christmas, New Year's Eve and of course, a Dad, his dog and his daughter sledding down Ruggles. I kinda really love these people…

Shawn

Since Shawn's actually out celebrating a belated birthday with the neighbor boys at Ol' Mexico, I figured I'd use my alone time to recap how it all went down for us when we celebrated him turning the big 3-0.

Let me just start by saying, it's about damn time. It's hard being the older half in a marriage but it's even harder being the older half when you're married to Shawn. He's not the type to let you forget it and he's not the type to make you feel good about it either. Needless to say I was so ready, and probably more excited then he was, to celebrate this milestone. For mine, he planned a little vacation to Chicago so for his, I planned a little stay-cation here at home. Off to Grandma's house Maci went while Shawn and I hit up a T'wolves game, a couple movies, some dining out and some less then successful attempts at sleeping in.

I dropped Maci off Friday afternoon and immediately after, we ventured to the Target Center in hopes of seeing Ricky Rubio's debut game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While we were mildly disappointed when he didn't even suit, we quickly recovered once we sat down, damn near court side, and saw a life-size K-Love. Seriously, I walked right by the dude when we came in through the players entrance. We were so close we could've spit on Alexey Schved. No joke. We were in awe. We were totally those people not even trying to play it cool. Anyway, with the best seats we've ever had, some tasty chicken strips and fries and a T'wolves win, our weekend was off to a good start.
 

The next day, I awoke at 6:30am (#%*!), Shawn shortly thereafter at 7am. (So long sleeping in … hello crack of dawn.) With such an early start, we decided to head off to breakfast at Keys Cafe. Bad decision. It ended up being the worst experience with the worst service and the worst food we've ever had … and … that's all I'd like to say about that. Bleh. To recover, we trotted 20 yards north to the St. Paul Bagelry, grabbed our favorites to go and hit up the movie theatre for the first of our double feature: Argo. We were elated to find it still in theatres by the time we were able to go and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It was phenomenal. Go see it. When it comes out on DVD, rent it. Then watch it again. Totally worth your time if for nothing more then it's got the greatest 70s paraphernalia ever. It also happens to be based on a true story, it was directed by and stars Mr. Ben Affleck and it's dramatic while still being hilarious. Two thumbs way up. (Fine holiday fun.)

To kill some time between talkies, we headed off to D'Amicos for a (fantastic) light lunch and then ended our double feature with another favorite: Silver Linings Playbook. Also phenomenal. I love this movie for so many reasons. It's witty, cynical, hilarious, awkward, touching, inspiring and downright genius at times. Most of all, I love it because it highlights mental illness issues in such a new, relateable way, that you don't feel the stigma of the disease in the character's flaws, you feel for them as plain and pure people instead. Truly, truly awesome. Go see it. Plus, you get to look at Bradley Cooper the whole time. Come on.

So after some bball Friday and some movies Saturday, we attempted a redemption breakfast on Sunday and headed to Colossal; a small cafe over on Como in St. Paul our neighbors are always raving about. We love our neighbors for many reasons but now we get to add restaurant recommendations to the list. It was superb, delicious, affordable and downright cozy. Shawn had an omelet stuffed with everything but the kitchen sink while I ventured old school with the biscuits and gravy. Dee-lish. We were both impressed and more then stuffed thanks to the ginormous cinnamon roll Shawn also order as sort of an appetizer. Note for next time, get the roll to go!

When we got home, we took the time to rearrange the living room to make room for the tree we'd be fetching that afternoon, whilst also fetching our daughter. After attending a birthday party for a favorite little of ours, we headed south during the first and worst snow storm of the season. Not the greatest idea we've ever had but it couldn't be helped. As it turned out, the further south we got, the better the roads were. Screw the city plows, rural was where it was at! Long story short, we made it home safe and sound, our tree strapped to the roof of the Tribute and our daughter buckled in the back with the beginnings of what we'd soon find out to be another biblical illness. Ironically, after being away from her and missing her like madness the whole weekend, we actually stayed home with her all week while she was down with the sickness.

All-in-all, I'd say Shawn's 30th birthday stay-cation was a success! But I didn't stop there. Oh yeah, just when he thought I couldn't go any bigger then a weekend at home (HA!), I went and bought him his TV! Not just any TV, the TV. The TV we've been hemming and hawing over for literally years. I'm not kidding. When I went to Best Buy to purchase the damn thing, some of our old records showed our first consultation for such a purchase was in 2008. For you non-math majors, that's four effing years ago. That's a long-ass time and a whole lot of me putting up with an obsessing-Shawn.

After my last attempt to buy him a (tube) TV, circa 2001, I should've known not to try and surprise him again but apparently I didn't learn my lesson. The first time around, Tammy accidentally spilled the beans. This time around, it was none other then Best Buy themselves that blew the cover right off my hidden mission. I took off on Saturday with the cover story of Christmas shopping for Mae Mo. I bought the TV and set up pickup with our (previously mentioned) wonderful neighbors. Just as I'm heading out of the parking lot, proud of my purchase, I get a call from Shawn asking if I had something to tell him. Playing it cool I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. Yeah, umm, turns out, Best Buy TEXT him that his order was ready for pickup! #$&*! (Reason 182 why I hate texting.) I didn't even think to ask if such a thing could occur lest I buy a TV under his Best Buy account. For the love of Pete.

It worked out in Shawn's favor though because he got the whole weekend to take it out, set it up and play. We are now the proud owners of a Samsung, 46", LED, 1080p, 240Hz, Smart, 3D, HDTV. That translates to a whole bunch of shit I don't know how to use. The only photo I seem to have is below from Maci and I's Christmas Eve Grinch viewing. It's a skosh bigger then our old bute and Mr. DeBoer lu-uves the 3D…

Happy Birthday again my husband! We've now been together exactly half of your life time and in my humble opinion, 30 never looked so good…