Dominick

I just read this about Dom's age:

Hello, Meghan! Numbers Game If your child can count to ten or higher already, is he a budding genius? Well, he certainly has a good working memory. Two-year-olds are just beginning to gain an understanding of numbers; they often learn to count by reciting the names of numbers from memory long before they understand the relative quantity of three or nine. Basically they start knowing the difference between "one" and "anything more than one." But hey, it's an important start!

I kind of find that funny because Dom can count to, understand and identify 1-20. He can count to 10 in Spanish. I didn't know that was something that most kids don't learn until now.

Not that I think Dom is super gifted or anything. I know all kids are different. We're still waiting on Dom to learn and enjoy the potty (any suggestions would be helpful!). But I'm proud that he has a good memory and is doing well in that department!

Go Dom! :)

Marriage Advice..

If anyone here is a yahoo email user, you probably see the stories when you go to yahoo.com. You know, there are 4 stories at a time and they rotate.

Well one caught my eye. It was Marriage Advice. Here's what it said:

If you knew these things, you wouldn’t need a marriage counselor, would you? This insider info comes from psychologist Karen Sherman and from psychotherapist Wendy Allen, Ph.D., author of How to Survive the Crisis of an Affair.

• Sixty-nine percent of all arguments between you and your partner will never be resolved. So don’t try so hard.
• A couple that doesn’t fight is in trouble.
• Having a “good enough” marriage is the most couples can expect and is actually quite an accomplishment.
• Letting go is sometimes better than discussing everything to death.
• Respect, not sex or money, is the most important factor in a happy marriage.
• There are marital breaches worse than an affair.
• A therapist cannot teach, train, or guide you to “be happy.” That is not a reasonable outcome to expect from therapy.

I'm just not sure how I feel about these...I agree that a couple that doesn't fight is in trouble...and I agree that some arguments will never be resolved. But a marriage that is only "good enough" is all we can hope for?...Maybe I'm reading that wrong but to me I picture someone shrugging and saying, "eh...it's good enough." when talking about their marriage. And not really thinking that their marriage is good at all. That makes me sad. And there are a lot of bad things that can ruin a marriage, I agree, but an affair has to be WAY up there on the list.

Every couple has their moments but I can honestly say that I have (for the moment at least, haha) a GREAT marriage. I'm extremely happy and I can't imagine being with anyone else.

So I guess I can sleep well tonight.

HOTY

That stands for "Housewife Of The Year" and if there was an award, I'd get nominated today. :)

WHAT A DAY!

I felt like I didn't sit at all. From the moment I got up with the Bananabelles, I was working until I just put the kids to bed.

Today I cleaned the whole house, did 5 loads of laundry, did the grocery shopping, cleaned out the fridge, freezer and pantry, reorganized the pantry, made baby food for Annabelle (carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, blueberries, peaches and raspberries), and took care of Annabelle all day and Dom part of the day (he went to Ms. Stella's for part of the day), packed up the kids and as soon as Nick walked in the door, we went downtown to get our race packets for Sunday, and there has to be more, I swear. I literally didn't sit (except to feed Annabelle her bottles or to fold laundry).

I feel accomplished!

However, this does mean I didn't sit all day when I have the week from Hell ahead of me, which was kinda silly to be honest. Here's my schedule for the upcoming week: Work a 12 tomorrow, 1/2 marathon on Sunday, school Monday morning-early afternoon, work a 12 that night, work a 12 Tuesday night straight to school Wednesday morning-early afternoon, school Thursday afternoon and a 12 Thursday night...

But then I'm off next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday! :)

Until then, I better make sure my work clothes are clean and get to bed! I have quite the weekend ahead of me.

PS - GO CARDS!

The Quest...

As you know, I've been working on my quest to drink all 131 beers at Growler's Pub. It's a work in progress, but I'm doing fairly well in my opinion. I went to Growler's on Monday for lunch with a friend (Jimbo) and knocked a few more off my list. I was happy to get a few more beers crossed off but I was saddened to find out that they are getting ready to change the beers!

I guess I should've seen this coming. It's fall now and they'll change up some of the beer to more "in season" beers. But to me this was a shock and kind of a downer.

What if they get rid of some of my favorites?? What if they replace some that I haven't tried yet with something gross and horrible?? I will never have tried every single beer on the list and I'm not sure I'm ok with that. It kind of feels like cheating...

But I have no say in it so I guess I just have to get over it and look at the bright side. Even when my quest is over, there will always be a new beer to try at Growlers...

But before they change, so I have a record of it, I'm going to list the numbers and beers that I've tried so far. I won't have to re-drink any numbers, but they will be different beers, so if I've already drank a #10 and the new #10 sounds amazing, I'll be drinking it without it counting towards my quest. And let's be real, I won't do that. No point in buying it if it won't count towards the quest!

So here are the beers I've drank already on my quest:

# (number as listed at Growlers) - Name of beer, Point of Origin (type of beer)

1 - Churchills Draught Treat (I think it was a Summer Ale at the time I drank it - this one changes pretty frequently - Pale Ale)
2 - Hardcore Crisp Cider, MA (Cider)
6 - Avery White Rascal, CO (Wheat)
8 - Sam Adams Seasonal, MA (Another Summer Ale I believe - Pale Ale)
9 - Magic Hat #9, VT (Pale Ale)
14 - Grand Teton Howling Wolf, ID (Wheat)
19 - Schlafly Hefeweisen, St. Louis, MO (Wheat)
23 - Left Hand 400 lb Monkey, CO (India Pale Ale or IPA)
26 - Hofbrau Hefe-Weiss, Germany (Wheat)
29 - Affligen Blonde, Belguim (Blond or Golden Ale)
35 - Pabst Blue Ribbon, WI (Lager)
41 - Flying Dog "Doggie Style" Pale Ale, CO (Pale Ale)
50 - Abita Purple Haze, LA (Wheat)
52 - Pyramid Apricot Ale, CA (Wheat)
57 - Breckenridge Vanilla, CO (Porter)
59 - Founders Dirty Bastard, MI (Scotch Ale)
66 - Dundee Original Honey Brown Lager, NY (Lager)
75 - Sierra Nevada Kellervweis, CA (Wheat)
79 - Big Sky Trout Slayer, MT (Wheat)
82 - O'Dell's Easy Street Wheat, CO (Wheat)
84 - Samuel Adams Boston Lager, MA (Vienna)
85 - Samuel Adams Cheery Wheat, MA (Wheat)
90 - Point Cascade Pale Ale, WI (Pale Ale)
93 - Arcadia Sky High Rye, MI (Pale Ale)
100 - Woodpecker English Cider, England (Cider)
101 - Boddington Pub Ale 16 oz. Can, England (Bitter Ale)
102 - Young's Double Chocolate Stout, 16.9 oz, England (Sweet Stout)
103 - Spaten Optimator, Germany (Dopplebock)
106 - Warsteiner Dunkel, Germany (Dark)
110 - Fischer Biere Blonde, France (Blond)
111 - Estrella Damm Daura, Spain (Lager)
112 - Tona Cerveza, Nicaragua (Lager)
116 - Lindeman's Framboise, Belguim (Lambic)
117 - Hoegaarden 11.2 oz, Belguim (Wheat)
122 - O'Hara's Irish Red 11.2 oz, Ireland (Irish Red Ale)
124 - Pilsner Urquell, Czech Republic (Pilsner)
125 - Peroni, Italy (Lager)
126 - Red Stripe, Jamaica (Lager)
127 - Corona, Mexico (Lager)
128 - Chakra, India (Lager)

Breakdown of types of beer is:
Pale Ale - 6
India Pale Ale - 1
Irish Red Ale - 1
Scotch Ale - 1
Blond - 2
Bitter Ale - 1
Wheat - 11
Lager - 8
Cider - 2
Dopplebeck - 1
Dark - 1
Porter - 1
Pilsner - 1
Vienna - 1
Sweet Stout - 1
Lambic - 1

Breakdown of Countries:
US - 22
Germany - 3
Belguim - 3
France - 1
Czech Republic - 1
Nicaragua - 1
Mexico - 1
India - 1
England - 3
Jamaica - 1
Italy - 1
Spain - 1
Ireland - 1

That's 40 if I've added correctly, out of 131. So I'm making my way there. When you hit 50 you get a "beer tasters" t-shirt, so I'm close to that! :)

If you happen to go to Growler's, I have my name on a name plate there. It's on the right side when you walk in and on the overhead soffet on the left side of that part of the room. My name plate says "KONES" (which is a play off of my last name for those who don't really know me) and Jimbo picked it out for me. :)

One day I'd love to write about each beer and how good each one is and what I rank each one, but for now, here are the names and types of beer each on is. Happy reading! I hope I don't make you too thirsty (like I am!).

Being a parent is scary stuff...

Dominick had another "episode" this morning. I literally had 9-1-1 on the phone. I was in tears and terrified...

Let me start from the beginning...

I worked over night last night. I got home this morning at about 7:45 am. Nick had to leave by 6:15 so Nick's mom was over until I got home. Both kids were still sleeping when I got home. After she left I climbed into bed for about a 10 minute nap until Annabelle woke up. It was really rainy and yucky this morning so I had already decided to just keep both kids at home today instead of bringing Dom in to Stella's.

When Dom woke up, he was unusually crabby. Just whiny and crabby and crying and you name it.

I tried calming him down and asking if he wanted to stay home with me and sissy today. He replied, "NOoooooo!". So I said, "Ok. Would you like to go to Ms. Stella's today?" and I got another "NOOOooooo!!". After talking for a few minutes and getting nothing but screams and whines, I told him I'd be downstairs when he was ready to talk and get up, or if he wanted to lay back down that was fine too.

He started screaming. SCREAMING. At first I just let him do it, but then I got annoyed. He's been going through some real bad days lately and we don't know what is going on. I'm thinking it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm gone a LOT right now (and unfortunately that won't get any better until NEXT December). Anyway, I had made up my mind that he was going to go to Ms. Stella's because I hadn't slept in over a day and I wouldn't be able to handle the screaming all day long, plus he loves going to Stella's, it just takes him a little time to get there in the morning.

When I went upstairs, he was hyperventilating at this point. Couldn't catch a breath and was trying to talk but stuttering the whole time while crying and gasping for air. At first I was calm. I picked him up (and this is where he started flailing his arms and kicking me) and tried to get him to breathe. He wouldn't breathe. Then his eyes started rolling back and he was gasping louder and his whole body was shaking.

When you're faced with a situation that you don't fully grasp at the time it's hard to say what you might do...reading this now, it's like 'of course, just call 9-1-1 or the on-call pediatrician'. But you don't know what you'll do and I did what I always do when I don't know what to do...I called my mom. She and my dad both got on the phone and they could hear him. They both said to do the same thing. My dad said, "Get those kids in the car and GO to the doctor. Your mother will meet you there and if you have to, CALL 9-1-1!!". So I got off the phone and ran in to get Annabelle in her seat.

At this point Dom was looking at me but still hyperventilating a bit and not calming down.

As I started toward Annabelle, I ran back to Dom because I was honestly afraid of letting him out of my sight. I thought he was having a seizure or something.

I finally got him to calm down while putting shoes on and he even took a deep breath and looked at me. I asked him if he wanted to go to the doctor and he said no very directly (both kids had flu shots done last week at the doc so that is very fresh in his mind). So I asked him if he could take a deep breath. At this point I'm still 100% sure I'm taking him in, but wanted to see if he could calm down on his own.

He did take a deep breath. And then he looked at me and smiled. For the first time, I smiled. Then he looked me straight in the eye and said,

"I love you Mama. Can I watch Bob the Builder now? And I want some juice".

Well OK. I guess you're ok!

I called my parents back and told them to sit tight and I'd keep them posted, but he had no signs of barely being able to breathe just a few moments ago and he had no signs of a stroke or any oxygen depletion so I was going to let him sit and see what happens.

The kid was all smiles watching Bob the Builder. He gave ME a heart attack, but he's perfectly fine.

No matter what, you can't prepare yourself for being a parent. As he was gasping and I was dialing 9-1-1, I had these horrible images flashing through my head. Your child is your life. You'd do anything to protect them and lessen their pain.

I had no idea what I signed up for when I decided to have my 2 babies. I don't regret it. Not for one tiny second. In fact, I'd do it again gladly, and I hope I get that opportunity. Every scary minute, every hard day, it's totally worth it. Ten Fold.

But being a parent is scary stuff.

TWO

Annabelle has two teeth out now...no big deal. ;-)

NLCS CHAMPS BABY!!!

So I'm a HUGE Cardinals fan, naturally. And tonight was a HUGE night for us HUGE Cardinals fans!!! WE WON THE NLCS, BABY!!!!!! Which means, WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Nick and I were extremely lucky enough to be invited to Game 4 of the World Series in St. Louis in 2006. Our best man, Mike, brought us as our wedding present. (Best present ever, FYI). We were supposed to go to Game 4, because I was convinced we were going to sweep the series and win in four. Luckily I thought that, and luckily I was wrong. We didn't sweep. BUT game 4 was rained out (a TON of fun though sitting at the ball park and drinking beer and talking with friends). Game 5 then became game 4 and the make up date/time became the 5th game, but for Game 4 ticket holders.

Does everyone remember what happened at Game 5 (game 4 tickets) of the 2006 world series?????





THAT'S RIGHT!!!! WORLD SERIES CHAMPS BABY!!!!

So this year was Nick and I's 5 year wedding anniversary and thus the 5 year anniversary of the Cards winning the World Series. I think a perfect anniversary present would be another World Series victory...

What do you think?!

Learn to READ!

So apparently I can't read...

My eyes are still KILLING me and I'm waking up from sleep with my eyes still crusted shut. I told Nick that I was going to call the doc in the morning and get on some stronger stuff, because obviously this stuff isn't working!!!

Then, just to PROVE that I was taking the medicine right, I checked the label just now before bed. I was 100% sure that I was supposed to do ONE drop in each eye ONE time a day for FOUR days...

OOPS!

ONE drop in each eye FOUR times a day for FOUR days...that's *almost* the same thing.

No wonder my eye still hurts....

Learn to read MEG!

Gone With the Wind

So there totally has to be a Gone with the Wind part II. Seriously.

It ends with Scarlett finally realizing she loves Rett and him leaving?!?! And not "giving a damn"??

I still don't really like Scarlett, but I do feel bad for her to a certain extent. She had her moments of being decent. She did get her home in Tara back on it's feet and she did lose a baby while pregnant and lose her young daughter. She lost two husbands, one to the measles and the other while he was trying to avenge her attacker. She was hopelessly in love with a man who not only didn't love her back, but was married (to his cousin, no less) and had a child with her. So Scarlett had some pain in her life, but she brought a lot of it on herself. And the one man who loved her for exactly who she was, she treated like crap until the very last minute.

The movie ended with her looking to the sky and being determined to go back to Tara and finding a way to win back Rett...but I want to know if it happened. Do you think he came back to her? Or did she find a new (and fourth) husband? Does she go to Ashley Wilkes like Rett thinks she will?

What else happens?!?!!? I guess we'll never know...

But still a GREAT film and I'm so glad I decided to watch it!

Let's Go Cards!!!

So I have to admit that I'm completely obsessed with Torty Craig!!! I'm following Torty's Twitter page like it's a drug. I actually just had to run upstairs DURING THE GAME to see what he's saying. And Yes, I know he's a tortoise. :)

If you are a Cardinals fan and haven't checked it out yet, GO DO IT!

BIG news!!

Annabelle has her first tooth!!!

It's *barely* poking through the gums but you can feel it with your fingers and I'm totally counting it.

Yay for the first tooth!!! At almost exactly 7 months old.

My little AJ is growing up so fast!!!

Are you serious?!?

What am I, 4???

Seriously. I woke up this morning with pink eye...wth?? (and that stands for what the heck, people. No more cursing with Mr. Repeater living in our house).

At least I think it's pink eye. It might not be. I woke up with my eyes completely crusted shut and my eyes hurt so bad. I called the doc and got an antibiotic eye drop called in and I already feel better. There's no more pink, but my eyes are still killing me.

I worked over night Tuesday night so I was wearing my contacts for like 36 hours straight. After I got off work and then got home from school, I just slept on the couch in my contacts for like 8 hours so it's very possible it's an infection from that, but to play it safe I'm taking the antibiotics and the kids didn't go to daycare. Unfortunately, I had a presentation in school today so I just didn't touch anything and I kept to myself during that 3 hour class. I sure hope no one from school gets it!

I stirred up a lot of people's morning routine in my family though and I feel really bad about that. My mom usually watches my sister's kids and Annabelle on Thursdays and they didn't want Cecilia and Addie to get pink eye, which I understand, but then that put me in a huge pickle with Nick already being gone, me having to go to school and no one to watch my kids at all. Luckily my cousin Michelle was able to watch my sister's kids and my mom came out to help with my kids while I was in school but I was afraid I'd miss my presentation and lose out on a big chunk of my grade.

But all's well that ends well I suppose. Hopefully I got a good grade on my presentation after all that!

Gone With the Wind

So I've watched ALMOST the entire thing. I have about 1 hour left. It's a crazy long movie (2 DVD's!). But I have to admit...

I LOVE IT!!!!

It's a GREAT movie! Why did I wait so long to watch this? If you haven't seen it yet, GO WATCH IT!

I'll let you know when I finish it.

PS - NOT a fan of Scarlett....just sayin'.

The Mac is Back!! (Again!!)

So we had another problem with the Mac...but it's back again and this time they actually fixed it I think!

Last time, they told me they were going to replace the parts and then the computer miraculously turned on while at the Mac store, but this time they replaced the necessary parts and now we're back in business! Let's just pray it KEEPS WORKING this time! :)

Another 30x30 Check in

Original 30x30 post

Another quick check in since I've completed at least one more of my goals. Maybe more...I tend to forget what's on my list...

Here's my updated and revised 30 x 30. I have the completed tasks in Blue. I added some in Green if I am signed up for them or have them started. :)

1) Run a half marathon - DONE!

2) Go back to Europe

3) Learn a foreign language

4) Have 2 of my 4 children - DONE!

5) Take up golf

6) Be debt free (except the house) - Thinking about changing this one...see last post. Since I'm picking up more student loans, maybe I should make this a 40 year old goal...

7) Complete an indoor triathlon - DONE!! See my last post, but I think I did pretty well!

8) Watch Gone with the Wind - Not done

9) Watch the Godfather - DONE!!! Did this a few weeks ago! Woohoo!

10) Play in a poker tournament in a casino

11) Get a new car (or newer car)

12) Shoot a gun

13) Go back to school - DONE!

14) Learn to drive a stick shift

15) Learn to french braid hair - KIND OF DONE! I'm counting it. I practiced on Cecilia a few weeks ago. I need to get better at it, but I did it! And it looked CUTE! :) I'm totally counting it.

16) Get into cooking

17) Finish the entertainment center - DONE!

18) Register to vote in St. Louis City - DONE!

19) Fly somewhere 1st class

20) Go on a cruise

21) Make my own recipe - Started practicing...needs more work. I'll keep you posted.

22) Go back to the Signature Room in Chicago

23) Go on a family vacation with my family

24) Learn photo shop

25) Be in the audience at the Ellen DeGeneres show

26) Get into exercising consistently three times a week

27) Reach my goal weight.

28) Try every beer on the list at Growler's . But I have started!! I haven't been there in a bit either. Hopefully I'll go back soon! And knock a few more off the list.

29) Read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. - I am halfway done with the Fellowship of the Ring. My goal is to finish that one by the end of September. So I have one month to finish.

30) Become a nurse!! In theory this should be done in the next year and a half..we'll see!

So I really have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of laundry to fold so while I do that, RIGHT NOW, I'm going to pop in Gone With The Wind.

More updates soon I hope!

Indoor Triathlon!!

I did it!!! I did my indoor triathlon. And I must say, I did ok! :)

The "official" results are no longer posted (why would you only post results for less than one day!?!?!?!) so I don't remember the seconds of each portion, but I remember the minutes.

My 500 yard swim took me 14 minutes and 30ish seconds.

My 9 mile bike took me 21 minutes and 15ish seconds.

And finally, my 3.1 mile run took me 34 minutes 30ish seconds.

So total for my first ever indoor triathlon, it took me approximately an hour and 10 minutes.

I'll take it!!

My goal this time was to finish. Pure and simple. I had no idea what to expect and I didn't really train much.

My goal for next time is to do it in less than an hour. I need to shave ten whole minutes off. I think I can do it.

But the best part of finishing this mini triathlon is I can knock another 30x30 off my list! :)

Go Me!