One of those posts only a parent can appreciate...

Kaylee has not been pooping regularly lately. About two weeks ago she started holding it in, complaining that her "poopoo hurt". After a week we figured we should do something about it, and I went to the drug store to get some "medicine to put in her bottom" (as we described it to her). While I was gone, Jen convinced Kaylee that her belly was getting bigger and that it would explode if she didn't get the poo out. I guess Kaylee darted to the bathroom and, after much screaming, went.

We wound up back in the same situation about 5 days later, but had to use the suppositories. Kaylee's reaction after they kicked in was priceless (she almost blew herself off the toilet), and she was in much better spirits afterward. We had to do it all over again a few days later.

I did some reading and learned that it's not an uncommon problem--you have that one painful poop and the kid gets scared of it in the future. A lot of people suggested Miralax--a powdered laxative that helps soften everything up. We went with that. We hit the road to visit friends and family (maybe laxatives before road trips aren't a good idea, but it worked out in the end...ha, punny) and Kaylee started complaining about her poopoo hurting while we were at Aunt Lisa's house. Jen and I both sat with her, and finally she went...and went, and went. Jen had to clean their toilet afterward. And Kaylee pretty much has eaten non-stop ever since.

Aunt Pam helped her go a little on Tuesday morning, but she's still been noticeably scared. Today I got her up and on the potty, and she was happy to sit there because it postponed her nap. And she filled up the toilet again. But this time, she told me "I'm not scared of my poopoo anymore!" I was so proud I had to resist getting the camera to take pictures of her evacuation.

Maybe we're past this little phase finally...

Happy Birthday Tim!

I know we haven't updated in a while, but I just wanted to put a shout-out up to our dear Timothy! His birthday is today and though we aren't doing a lot for his birthday this year, I wanted to make sure he knew Kaylee and I were thinking about him. Also, I wanted to take time and remember some of the great "Tim" moments from this year (and perhaps a little earlier)!

• Kaylee and Tim "daddy-daughter" dates are always a great one. Earlier this year I took a belly dancing class at the YMCA and so on Saturdays, for about two months, there would be daddy-daughter dates. These dates started the new Laird tradition of our weekly Saturday trips to Cost Co. and the Grocery store. I love these trips and glad that the Daddy-Daughter dates were a start to them.
  
• Tim and Pebbles - Though, we had to put our dog Pebbles down this year, Pebbles always loved walks with Tim. He would take her around the block even when it was snowy (in past years...) These walks in the snow were funny because when Pebbles would get to the end of the block and stop to cross the street she would turn circles and spin. It was extremely funny to watch. Tim trained her to stop at the corners and the first time I went with them for one of their "ice" walks he was so proud to show her "spin" move off! It was great.
• Another Tim and Pebbles moment was our last day with Pebbles. It was hard, but it was good. I'll never forget it. Thanks Tim and Pebbles for that day!
• Vacation this year - It was our 10th anniversary and Tim and I went to a "secret" location after dropping Kaylee off to spend a few days with Mom and Dad Laird. We had a lot of fun while not doing much at all! Leave it to Tim to make going to get pizza, or sitting reading a book fun! I love our little "do nothing" vacations!
• Phineas and Ferb - Tim got the entire family interested in the Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb. It's now one of our favorite things to do together. Watch Perry the platypus defeat Dr. Doofenshmirtz and then watch Candice try to bust Phineas and Ferb as they make some sort of wild contraption! Perry the Lawn Gnome forever!
• My last one is Pancake Saturdays... Each Saturday, Tim and Kaylee now make pancakes together. He's such a great Da and lets her help him in the kitchen. She pulls up her chair and stands next to him and they make Pancakes together for all of us. Its one of those things as a mom that makes you want to cry when you see it, especially on those days when you're feeling weepy anyway and you haven't had your tea yet:)

Well Happy Birthday Honey! You mean the world to us and I hope you have a great Day!

Love,
Kaylee Raquel, Jen, Tinkerbelle, and Drusifer (the naughty black cat)

A Pre-3 year old Post

For those of you that aren't following us on Facebook, just an update for how Kaylee is doing:

She's sleeping in a toddler bed now. After spending a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house sleeping in (well, on) a sleeping bag with Katie and Bubbie, the transition was pretty simple. It's a good thing, too--Jen hurt her back, and probably wouldn't be able to get Kaylee out of the crib right now.

Bedtime is still a chore, but I've been very surprised that, no matter how resistant Kaylee is to going to bed, she whines and cries *while staying in bed*. My biggest fear was that she'd just get out of bed to defy us, but that hasn't happened.

We're *so* close on potty training. Kaylee is wearing underwear most of the time at home now, including during naps. It's almost time to start sending her to daycare in underwear, which should really help--I'm firmly of the opinion now that Pullups are nothing more than diapers that make parents feel like they're doing something.

Kaylee still won't poop on the potty, but we're working on it. Instead of telling us that she has to go, she tells us "I need a diaper!". We go sit on the potty, and if she pees she doesn't seem to want a diaper any more. She still wants to poop in one, though.

She still loves going for walks, going to the store, and wants to eat nothing but chicken nuggets, so nothing much has changed there. She loves to help around the house--I've just got to start finding ways that her helping can really help, instead of resulting in more work for us. But you've gotta nuture the attitude first.

Here's some pictures from the recent past; if you haven't been following Jen's progress, she's lost a LOT of weight this year (I won't say how much, because you never discuss specifics with your wife's weight), so the pictures of her below aren't doctored--she's really that skinny now.

Goodbye, Pebbles

Pebbles joined our family a little over 9 years ago. Jen suckered me into visiting the pound at my lunch hour (she had stopped by the night before). Even though Pebbles had been moved to a different area when I got there, I knew the exact dog I was supposed to be looking at.

We took her home that night. :)

At best guess, she was 3 years old. Being an adult dog at the pound, she wasn't what most people were looking for. Any other dog would have been put down by that point, but the staff at the pound were so enamored with her that they kept pushing off the inevitable. There were a few in tears when we took her home.

It's rough raising an adult dog; Pebbles was never completely housetrained; we wound up pulling every stitch of carpeting out of our house because she seemed less likely to pee on the hardwood than any carpet or rugs. We're thankful that we don't really know anything about her before we found her; having been found on the street with a collar so tight it had to be cut off, and a back leg that appeared to have been broken at some point, we focused on her new life, not her old.

She started really, really skitish, but got more comfortable over time. She even adjusted pretty well to Kaylee. But two years ago, arthritis started to kick in with that back leg. As it got worse, we started her on glucosamine and had pretty good results with it last year. This year, though, as the weather got warmer, the glucosamine wasn't helping much. Pebbles spent the past two months or so basically pulling her back end along with her; both legs seemed to be in quite a bit of pain.

We had her on a pain killer for a couple of weeks, but didn't really notice a difference. We even doubled the dosage last week. Last weekend, Jen and I both agreed that it wasn't right to keep Pebbles in that kind of pain. We took Pebbles to the vet on Tuesday, and the vet told us that it appeared that the cruciate ligaments in both back legs were torn--most likely, Pebbles tore the left one compensating for the arthritis in the right leg, and then tore the right compensating for loss of use of her left leg. The only real solution was surgery, and we weren't going to put her through that.

We did our best to explain to Kaylee what was going to happen, and I had Kaylee say goodbye to Pebbles on Wednesday morning. Jen and I both took the afternoon off and sat with Peb in the back yard. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We took Pebbles to the vet later in the afternoon and stayed with her while the vet gave her an injection and Pebbles left us.

We miss her greatly, and keep running into things in the house that get us crying a little. But we did the right thing, and we know that Pebbles isn't in pain any longer.

Get out the broom...

So, this post has two purposes. The first is to tell a new Kaylee story, for those of you who need a Kaylee fix. The second is to let those who have been following the Facebook saga, know the final decision of Jen's Hockey moral dilemma. I'll start with the Kaylee story.

Ok, about a year ago Nana got Kaylee a little cleaning set. It actually looks like a janitor's set up. It's got a broom, mop, cart, bucket, vacuum, tiny trash bag, etc. Well, it has been stowed away in the garage since then, because of the overwhelming toy situation in the house. About two weeks ago, we got the chance to purge some of Kay's toys while she wasn't home, pulled it out and stuck it in the house. She was thrilled.

Since then, it's been all about cleaning. She's been sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, picking up... you name it, she's been doing it. This means that we've been doing cleaning too. She even mops the cat, much to Dru's chagrin. Tink won't even go near her for fear of being vacuumed, like the big fluffy hairball that she is!

The other thing she likes to do is try to stand on the little broom and say, "I play on my pogo stick!" I don't really know where she has even seen a pogo stick, or where she learned what a pogo stick does, but she actually holds onto it like a pogo stick and jumps with it. It's quite funny! She even falls over like a little kid on a pogo stick would.

I don't mind the cleaning and I certainly don't mind her cleaning up her messes, but if I have to tell her to stop mopping/sweeping the cat one more time, I'm going to scream! Also, if I have to take her to the hospital for a broken leg, because of this impromptu pogo stick/broom, I'm going to be one unhappy mama and it is so going to be a broken pogo stick, in several pieces.

So that's the new Kaylee/Broom story I have.

Now to the Hockey decision....
As most of my friends and family know, I am a hockey nut. This has been going on for years. I grew up watching hockey with my Dad and I grew up ice skating, but over the years, hockey has become a big part of my life. I've watched the games on TV, my Dad has taken us to Griffin's games and we even went to see the Red and White game for the Red Wings at the Van Andel Arena. At Ferris State, I would go to the hockey games when I could and would cheer and get rowdy with the rest of the students. It went on and on.

The only thing that hasn't changed through the years is that we (the family) has always rooted for the Detroit Red Wings. It's a sin to go against the Red Wings. We hated the Blackhawks in the '80s. We despised the Avalanche in the '90s. We always root for the boys in Red and White and we always cheer the throwing of the Octopus!

Last year as I watched the Stanley Cup playoffs in the little sin bin I call a sitting room upstairs, (I always watch hockey upstairs so I don't wake up Kaylee and I don't bother Tim while he works... he doesn't like hockey, go figure.) I realized that I have always rooted for the same team. I have always had specific players that I have liked on the team. Something changed though, as I watched the series last year, I began to look at the skaters in a different way, all the skaters, including the other team. That's when trouble started.

I noticed the opposing team's goalie. Wow! Fleury was good. Not as good as Osgood, but he was good. Crosby was great, and so was Malkin, and Hossa. They were as good and sometimes better than Lidstrom, Hudler, and Zetterberg. Some of my favorites on the Wing's team that year. Perhaps next season I would try to catch some Penguin's games, too.

Well, as it turned out, my dear husband and daughter got me an early Christmas present this season. NHL Center Ice for the Dish! I could watch hockey games to my hearts content. I could catch games from all over the league. This meant I could watch all of the Red Wing's games AND all of the other games I wanted too, including the Penguin's games. Well, it turned out that I started watching the Penguins more than the Red Wings.

I found the players more interesting and, let's face it, more attractive. (Hey I'm a girl here, I notice these things!) I also found the Penguin's games more interesting. Maybe because it was something "forbidden." I was watching a team other than the Red Wings and I was cheering for them... Anyway, I found myself looking at skill in the players more than anything, even in other teams. There were players like Eric Stal, Khabbulin, Backstrom, Ovechkin (whom I despise, but he's great to watch!), and so many others.

Well, as we got closer and closer to the final prize, Lord Stanley's Cup, I started thinking, "What am I going to do if it gets down to the Penguins and the Wings again this year? I'm going to have to choose. Who am I going to root for?" I could just do what I do for the regular season and root for both, well at least until the final round, but what would I do then? So as it got closer and closer people who are close to me started asking. Now would be go time.

I started weighing my options. Rooting for the Red Wings would be the way to go, because it makes everyone happy... but what about my entire season worth of happiness for the Penguins... It would be like watching a documentary.

You watch the little penguin hatch. It grows up and it's ready to waddle away as it's ready to leave on it's own. You don't cheer it on and then you watch it get eaten by a shark or whale! But what if you cheered it on and it could live. It might be able to swim fast enough to get away. It might actually win this time!

Yeah, I know it sounds stupid, but that's the way my mind thinks sometimes. Plus, I've been following the Penguins closer than the Red Wings. Sure I've watching the Wing's games when I can, but I definitely watch all of the Penguin games!

So I guess you can see where my decision is headed. I'm not actually rooting against the Red Wings, because I'll be happy with whatever the outcome of the Finals. Either team is deserving and either team is great, but deep down I have to say I want the Penguins to win, I want Malkin or Crosby to get MVP, and I want Crosby to be hoisting the Cup when all is said and done. So you can see I've decided.

I'm hopeful that there will not be any lasting affect from this short term "turn-coating", as my sister terms it. I am hoping that there won't be shunning by family at gatherings, Godmother status being taken away, or excommunication by either the Church or "the Joe" (where all Michiganders go to "worship" during hockey season...).

Our house, however, is a house divided. Kaylee will be cheering for the Red Wings. She likes the little Red and White cheering flag I made for them. I think because it's red. She loves watching Hockey. When she knows there's a hockey game on she says, "Watch hockey with Mama!" Daddy just shakes his head and goes into the other room. She'll have her little red and white flag and I'll have my black and yellow one. So I guess it's GO WINGS and GO PENGUINS!

Perhaps there will also be another broom involved for the Cup, you never know!

Where are we?

In case anyone is wondering why the number of posts dropped off, Jen and I are on Facebook more than here. Feel free to friend us there, and I'll try to do better at posting (at least) pictures every once in a while here.

Daddy/Daughter day at the park...or the swimming pool?

Kaylee and I got out yesterday...I had read that the high was going to be 60, so I figured we'd head to the play area at Centerpointe mall. But when I got outside, and it was already 59 around 10:30, I figured we could play outside. We went down to the park, only to find most of it underwater:


Thankfully, there was one play "complex" (what do they call those things, anyway) with all of the slides that was above water, and Kaylee was more than content to play there for about 45 minutes. We got to meet Christian and his dad, and played together quite well.

Here's some shots I grabbed with my phone.

Kaylee Update

Just a brief update. Kaylee is 100% better now...OK, they say that you have to keep taking the antibiotic even when the symptoms go away, so maybe she's 98% better. :)

Fever's gone, appetite is back, energy level is way up. All in all, we've got our Kaylee back.

Our Night at the ER...or, "Can't you stick the needle in me instead?"

Kaylee has been running a fever (103 or so) since Friday. We took her into the doctor yesterday. They couldn't find anything, so they ordered some lab work.

Now, for those of you lucky enough to have never had to gotten "lab work" for a 2 year old, let me explain what that means. They needed blood, urine, and x-rays. Bloodwork is hell for anybody. It's absolutely terrifying for a 2 year old.

We barely got enough blood to run the two major tests that were ordered. We walked over to radiology for the XRays and got those. Never did get her to give us a urine sample--we just started having really good luck on the potty two weeks ago, and the fever has sapped her desire to try. We waited at the hospital for the XRay results; finally, one of the doctors from Kaylee's Ped office called us and said that they didn't see any signs of bacterial infection in the chest xrays, and that it must be viral and we'd just need to wait it out. Well, we can handle that, let's go home.

When we got home, there was a message on our machine--Kaylee's pediatrician telling us that her white cell counts were way high and that we should probably take her to the emergency room. At this point Kaylee is finally relaxing, and we wind up packing back up into the truck and heading back to the hospital.

We checked in at the emergency room and waited. Kaylee was in pretty good spirits. Part of me wanted to just pack up and head home; it couldn't be that bad. The triage nurse checked us in and got O2 levels and blood pressure, both a hassle. Then we had to get temp. Kaylee didn't want to put the thermometer in her mouth...so we had to go the other way. Poor kid was just getting things stuck in her everywhere.

When we got back into the ER (our hospital has a dedicated pediatrics ER, and they are currently building a dedicated children's hospital), we initially got stuck on a bed in the hall; I don't know if they took pity on us or just had enough of Kaylee's crying, but we got into a room in about 10 minutes. They took a temp again (same back end way), and then the news that terrified me.

Everything pointed to either bladder or kidney infection, and they were going to catheterize her to get a sample. I asked the doctor that, if I could get a sample from her, if we had to do that. That would work, but I think everybody had doubts. Kaylee really didn't want to use the toilet. But I took her into the bathroom, cleaned her up with the wipes the nurse provided, and basically started to beg.

She got up a few times. I was nearly in tears; I just couldn't handle any more being done to her tonight, and I knew if she would pee we could avoid any more. Kaylee wanted a sucker--the lab techs had given her one but we left it at home in between hospital visits. I promised Kaylee that I'd get her a sucker if she peed. It took a few times, but I finally heard her start to go in the little toilet insert. I did start crying a little bit at that point.

Got Kaylee wiped up, washed her hands--all the while she's saying "I did it!" (like she always does after she uses the toilet now)...and Jen and I are both fervently agreeing with her. We ask the nurse if she went enough, and she said it was more than enough. And then I found out that, nowhere in the Pediatrics emergency room, does anyone have a sucker. And that lab that gave Kaylee one earlier--I didn't mention that it was at a *different* hospital.

The nurse took me over to the hospital cafeteria because they have a bulk candy area. No suckers. But they did have soft round candies and coffee stirring sticks. I grabbed both and the nurse congratulated me on my idea...I felt like the emergency room MacGuyver. Kaylee got her sucker...didn't really like it, but she was satisfied that I got her one and she "settled" for the M&M's I picked up at the same time. :)

The urine test came back showing kidney infection. Unfortunately, had we gotten the urine sample at the doctor's office we could have avoided everything...but I'm satisfied that they didn't have to stick a catheter into my baby.

Kaylee got a shot of antibiotic at the hospital (yeah, another poke, but everybody survived), and a prescription for an oral. Maybe it's my imagination, but I think she seemed to be feeling better by the time we got home than she has all week.

We got a pee-er!

Something seems to have clicked with Kaylee this week. Since Monday every time we've put her on the toilet she's peed. She's going multiple times each day at daycare. She's still not keeping her pullup totally dry during the day, but she's making some serious progress.

Not a ton more to share right now, but I figured that was post worthy...

A HUG too!

I've been sick for a week now and so I got up late yesterday morning. That being the case and with Kaylee going to visit Nana for a few days I wanted to be able to kiss her goodbye before I left for work, so I went in to her room to see her. Unfortunately she wanted up! Tim was not done getting ready for work yet and I figured I was already going in late... and I did tell Susan (my boss) 7:30, so I would be able to make that easily if I got Kaylee up for Tim...

So, I got Kaylee up and dressed, did her hair, and got her breakfast. Later I told Tim if I had to do it every morning I'd have to quit my job because there is no way I would be able to leave that face every morning! Anyway, so we got ready for work and "school" and Tim came downstairs and we were all milling around doing our own thing.

I got all of my stuff together and then went to get my coat. Kaylee saw this and said expectantly, "Coat!" We explained that she had to wait for daddy and that mama had to go to work alone. She and daddy would go to school later. She seemed okay with this after the explanation. So I got my coat on and went over to her, bent down, gave her a hug and kiss, and then picked up my stuff to head out the door.

I made it half way across the kitchen when I was pulled to a screeching halt by two very small strong hands grabbing onto my coat, at either hip. Kaylee had pulled me to a stop. Kaylee then yelled something. I didn't quite understand, so I asked her to repeat what she had said.

She said, "Daddy, kiss!" As she said all of this, her little hands and body was turning mine back toward where Tim was standing in the kitchen. She was now pushing me. I now understood. She wanted me to give Tim a kiss goodbye. I asked her, "I need to give Daddy a kiss?" She said, "Yes." So I gave Tim a kiss goodbye and started to turn away. I thought it was the end of that.

All of a sudden I hear, "HUG!" It was said in a very exasperated and very loud voice. She was telling me like I was a child that didn't understand how this worked. "Geese Mom, don't you know by now you give a kiss AND a hug!" I could just see this in her mind working.

I began to laugh. Tim had a smile on his face. I said to her, "I have to hug Daddy, too?" She gave me a very exasperated "yes." So I hugged Tim and without prompting this time, Tim said "I love you" to me and I was finally ready to go. I bent back down kissed her again, told her that I loved her, and headed out the door.

As my car pulled out of the driveway, I saw a two heads in the front window and a small arm waving. It reminded me that morning what I was going to work for, that I am loved, and that I have the sweetest family in the world. Yeah, it would definitely be hard leaving that little face every morning. I don't know how Tim does it, but I'm glad he does.

Evildoers, beware!

Every night we pray with Kaylee before we put her to bed. The past few nights she has wanted to pray for people, so we walk her through it. Tonight, we talked her through "Dear God, bless Nany, bless Ethey (cousin Ethan)" and then she took over with "bless Katie and Bubby"

"And bless Batman."

I wouldn't want to be a criminal on the streets of Gotham City tonight; the Dark Knight has the Big Guy on his side. :)

It's nice to have my daughter back

Sometimes you don't realize how cool your kid is until she gets sick. Kaylee came down with (we think) the flu last Friday--at least that's when the symptoms "came up", if you catch my drift. She had been pretty cranky most of the week, and she continued to be cranky this week. Taking her to daycare in the morning was a real chore, as she didn't want me to leave. Usually she loves being there. Nights were difficult; she either wanted to sit and watch TV or cry.

Something clicked on Wednesday, though; when I came home, Kaylee and I sat on the floor playing with her little plastic animals (Little Tykes?). We had most of them out, and a piece of a fence from one of the sets, and we took turns walking the little animals up to the fence and pretending to have them eat. Kaylee was smiling, laughing, and daddy was breathing a sigh of relief.

When I got home last night, Kaylee was up at the dining room table playing with the cash register she got for Christmas; Jen sat next to her updating her food journal. Jen had to leave for an appointment, and so Kaylee and I played together again. This time, Kaylee spent probably 45 minutes using her toy hammer to "nail" little letter flash cards to various areas of the floor. She'd pull out a card, grab the hammer, and "bang, bang, bang!". She was having a blast, and I couldn't have been more proud. I can't wait till I can get her a toy nail gun. :)

To top it off, she's beginning to show an interest in using the potty; apparently she peed at daycare on both Wednesday and Thursday, and then last night, before going to bed, she wanted to sit on the potty and she went for us! Her doctor said that she's smart enough that she most likely could just potty train herself whenever she wants--but she wants control, and she has to have the interest. Maybe we're finally getting to that point.

An American Pes'dent

It's been a big day. Hits to cnn.com and the like basically slowed down our internet connection at the office to a crawl between 11:30 and 12:30. I guess something big was going on. :)

I didn't vote for the guy, nor do I think that his policies will bring an immediate beneficial result to our nation. But, without doubt, hundreds of millions of people spent time today observing one of the most important procedures of our Republic. If one percent of them comes away with an interest in, as JFK put it 48 years ago, "not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country", then perhaps it's worth it.

Perhaps a new generation will take an interest in what my generation has been apathetic to. Perhaps a new, respectable debate will develop within us--a debate that will lead us to answers, not to hatred and impasse. Perhaps my two year old daughter will actually understand the role of the man that she saw on TV today and called "Pes'dent, Pes'dent!"

Mr. President, if for no other reason, for that fact I'm willing to give you a chance.

Someone broke into my truck the other night, or "Why I love living next door to a cop."

Got back from a conference in Chicago Thursday night and pretty much crashed. Our garage is a mess right now, so both vehicles are in the driveway. And, typically, we don't lock them.

Jen yelled upstairs as she left on Friday morning that my truck (which was parked behind her car, so she was taking it to work) was a mess, and that since I left my door open she wasn't sure what state the battery was in (the dome light turns itself off, so there was no real worry). I figured I must have knocked some stuff around getting my bags out the night before, so I didn't worry about it.

When Jen got home that afternoon, our neighbor Tom (the afformentioned cop) called. He was curious if our vehicles were OK, and if anything was missing. Turns out we had some punks wandering the neighborhood the night before...and that's where it gets interesting.

Tom said that around 1:30 am he heard someone in our driveway. Our motion sensor light snapped on, and being trained to be inquisitive and protective, he threw on some clothes (over an arm in a sling--he's off work for a couple weeks because of arm surgery), snuck outside, and saw two kids heading down the street. He hopped in his son's car and followed them. When he saw them head towards another car, he called 911.

When the lights and sirens showed up, they were about a block away. The kids took off in different directions. Tom let the cops in uniform (and with two good arms each) deal with it, and he caught up with them a couple minutes later. They had caught one, but not the other.

Tom, again not able to betray his nature, set off to find the other kid. He spotted him one block west of our street. He pulled up nearby, got out of his car, and yelled (I might not have the right words, but you get the idea): "Police! Down on the ground now!" And then he apparently remembered that he wasn't carrying his gun and only had one good arm. (Which one of those best fits the definition of "unarmed"?)

Thankfully, the kid dropped and didn't realize he was being detained by a guy that couldn't fight back. Tom stumbled to get his cell and start to call 911, but then one of the uniformed cops came up. Apparently he was walking the sidewalk a few houses down and heard Tom yelling, and figured he'd help out.

So both punks are in jail, nobody was hurt, and the only thing that the kids got from us were our two bluetooth headsets. The forensics guys (who drive minivans here--Grand Rapids doesn't have the SUV budget that Vegas, Miami, and New York have) spent some time at our house Friday night taking pictures of footprints (freshly plowed snow leaves some pretty good evidence). They mentioned that, if the find the headsets were checked in as the kids property, we'd get them back. I'm not worried about it--bluetooth headsets are pretty cheap these days, and I was thinking about upgrading mine anyway.

We lock the car doors now...but I still contend that the best home security system out there is having an insomniac policeman neighbor.

Fishicide... yes there was a death!

Rule 1 - NEVER follow the feeding instructions on the back of the package of fish food.
Rule 2 - Always check with the pet store before you start feeding new fish.
Rule 3 - Destroy the evidence before you get caught.
And last but not least...
Rule 4 - Never tell the kid that the fish is dead.

So, Tuesday morning I get up and go to feed the fish... the back of the can said to feed them 2-3 times per day as much as they could eat in 5 minutes... THEY LIED and the Fish DIED! I find poor little Eyeballs laying in the little plastic plant, like some poor shmuck who got foisted into the wilderness after someone murdered him. I admit I thought Bubbles might have pulled a Godfather type of hit on him, but I didn't find any evidence of gun residue or piano wire, so I couldn't prove it.

So, I called Tim down from his slumber to help me clean up the crime scene and put him in the morgue... I mean fridge... so he would be safe from grave robbers... I mean Dru... for the day, until I could get him to the fish store so Kaylee and I could trade him in for a replacement. Oh the horror, when to my shock and amazement I check the pet store website and read the Goldfish feeding instructions. And I quote:

It is very difficult to starve your fish, but very easy to overfeed it. If the food falls to the bottom of bowl you are overfeeding. In a bowl if you overfeed 2 or 3 times in a week you could kill your fish. We recommend you feed your fish every other day once a day.

Every other day! Once a day! What? I'm... I'm... I'm a MURDERER! I have committed Fishicide! Oh the horror! I was of course upset that I had just killed one of my sweet baby's first fish. What was I going to do? My first thought was dump the body, but then there would be no replacement. My second thought, blame the cat... no really, I wouldn't do that! What kind of monster do you people think I am?

I actually confessed to Tim and then to Kaylee... and then to the pet store fish guy. I would be a terrible criminal, because I would just go and confess to whatever I had just done! So needless to say, today after two days of being "Eyeball-less" we now have a new fish. He is an orange larger fantail. No deformities to speak of or abnormalities. Kaylee named him Orange! Real original I know, but she was extremely adamant about what his name was. She was also adamant about which fish at the pet store she wanted! I have to say, my child is very decisive.

Well, now that I've confessed on the web, I suppose I'll have the PETA people after me, or the FCSI (Fish Crime Scene Investigators) hounding me for a DNA sample and an affidavit stating where I was on the night in question. I'd have to say, "Sound asleep in my bed, while my goldfish pellets was killing Eyeballs the fish! I did it officer, please don't throw the fin at me! I promise not to overfeed again!"

Grissom would have figured it out in a minute and would have had me hauled in by Brass by breakfast. It took me half the day to figure out that I was the responsible party. Shhhh! Just don't remind Kaylee when the next one croaks, I'll probably get blamed for that one too!

Here's to hoping that there are no more deaths in the immediate future. I don't know if my conscience can take anymore murder and mayhem!

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy... Come here Fishy!

So, I guess it's my turn to blog again. As Tim just suggested, the blog might just explode, but so be it!



As you can see by the title, my little foray back into blogging is about our newest additions to our family. Kaylee got an aquarium for Christmas from Tim and I. On Friday, she got fish, or "fiss," as she calls them. We got two of them for now and eventually there will be 6 in total. For now we are sticking with the goldfish variety, because we figure we don't want a bunch of fishy funerals or a bunch of Sharks biting fingers off of little Kaylee!



So Friday, Kaylee and I went to one of our local pet stores VI Pets. (It's been in the area since I was a kid and I have always liked them.) They are extremely knowledgeable with all kinds of pets, but they are extremely good with fish! Well, we went to the pet store and Kaylee is jumping around like a kid that's eaten way too much candy, which I can assure you, she hadn't. We had to wait for the lady to help several other people before she could get to us, so we went from tank to tank in their large fish area looking at fish.



Kaylee would pull me, "come on, come on" and say, "Up! Fiss!" then we'd be off to the next one. This got extremely tiresome, but I managed. She ended up picking out her goldfish. We got a Bubble Eyed Organda and a very small Black Moor Fantail. They look similar to these.




This one is a Bubble Eyed Organda. Kaylee's is similar in color and size to this one. Of course given a few years and it'll be huge, but for now, she's pretty midsized for a starter fish. Kaylee named her Bubbles.









This one is a Black Moor Fantail. Kaylee's is smaller than this one, but of course will be bigger in a few months, given the size of the tank and all. She named the black moor, Eyeballs.





The fish are safe in their home away from the cats and Kaylee of course loves to go in and watch the fish and the bubbles from the bubbler and the filter. When we first put the aquarium together and it had no fish, she sat for a total of 35 minutes the first day just watching the bubbles with the light on. It was pretty boring for me, but hey, whatever floats the boat! Now she gets to watch the fish and even feeds them. This is the highlight of her day!



She puts the food in and then yells at the tank, "Eat fish, Eat!" Of course, when we go in to see the fish, the first thing she usually says is, "Here fishy, fishy!" I just hope that in a few weeks I'm not standing over a toilet reading the 23rd Psalm over a bunch of fish, with Kaylee saying a final, "Bye-bye fishy!"