Today is the one year anniversary of the Meyerranch blog. Hopefully people have enjoyed reading about the happenings at the ranch cause I don't plan on stopping... :-)
Here are a few pictures of Logan. He wouldn't smile for me in the pictures, but the videos he's happier than a pig in poop! We were at my parents house last Sunday for dinner, Brian changed his diaper and decided to just let him run around in his diaper and socks...which I'm surprised he left on actually. The day before I guess he found these pie tins at my mom's house and LOVED banging them together. He's quite the funny kid...or as my grandma said on Sunday, "We got a little ham on our hands here, that's what we've got, a little ham."
Oh and I wanted to let you know that Jamie has some info about Mitchell on their blog. She obviously talks to him more than he's going to call his big sister, which is totally understandable, but check the "Hitchell and Jamie's Blog" link to the left for more info. She's done a great job keeping it updated when she hears from him! Thanks Jamie I really appreciate it! Love ya!
That was the text message I got from Mitchell this morning. They were just leaving, heading for wonderful Texas...where I'm sure they won't be getting 6 - 8 inches of fresh snow tomorrow, like we will here in Wisconsin. Urrgghhh, I'm so sick of winter, cold and snow!
The going away party for Mitchell went really well this weekend. Thanks to everyone that made it, I know it meant a lot to Mitchell to be able to see every one before he left. I threw together this video for Mitchell before he left. It's just a bunch of pictures of friends and family, but it's something that he can watch while he's gone and hopefully it will remind him of how many people are supporting him back home. I had to edit it from it's original version because Youtube only allows you to upload 10 min videos and it was original 12 mins long. So I shortened it only to find out Youtube wouldn't play the audio due to copyright issues. I'm trying the video uploading on blogger...we'll see if they allow it.
I do have some more pictures of Logan too I'll try to post today or tomorrow. He's not doing anything special, just his 11 month pictures I took for his baby book. Couple more weeks and he's a year old already. I know every parent says this, but wow time really flies. But you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun and we've had so much fun with Logan. He's such a happy baby and just loves life. I can already tell he's going to be a people person. The other morning at church, I put him down after taking off his jacket and he walks right up to this group of people and this one guy in particular and wants him to pick him up. Brian and I knew him through the church and other things, but Logan had never seen him before. He didn't fuss at all, just hung out with the guy for a couple mins, loving being the center of attention. Everyone got a big laugh out of it. As you can tell he's not afraid of strangers...which is a good thing and a bad thing...I'll have to keep a close eye on him when we're in the mall! :-)
Just a quick update on Mitchell. Not much has changed really, just confirmation that he has to report to River Falls on Monday at 8 a.m. From there he'll go to Ft. McCoy for two days and leaves for Ft. Bliss, TX. on Wednesday Feb. 25th. He said he found out at a high level what they'll probably be doing once they get to Iraq. It's a medium risk mission I guess, escorting POWs to and from their trial dates, etc. But if you've had a loved one in the military or were in the military or said the word "military" you know that they change their direction or orders like a fart in the wind so that could all change between now and when he leaves for overseas at the end of April. The middle/end of April he gets a few days leave before they actually leave for Kuwait and then Iraq, fortunately or unfortunately (depends on how you look at it) he has to stay 150 miles from the base, so he won't be able to come home. So it looks like the family is taking a trip to Texas in April. It will probably be Logan's first trip on an airplane and Mitchell said my mom's excited about going to Texas, she's never been there. I guess you need to find the silver lining in every situation right?
I asked Mitchell again last night if he was scared or nervous or ?. He said no, he just wants to go and get it done and get home. He did say things were a little crazy at Ft. McCoy because they've changed so much since the last time he was being deployed (or at least starting the process). I asked if there were any familiar faces or guys that he knew. He said actually, it's funny that you ask that. There was a solider, (can't remember his name, but it starts with an "H", so we'll call him Hogert), that he met the last time he was being deployed. Hogert was a finance major at the University of Minnesota, so right away Mitchell and him hit it off and had things in common (Mitchell's also a finance major at UW-Eau Claire). He said when he got there on Tuesday, Hogert was there again, going on his second tour of duty. Hogert now goes to UW-River Falls and is still a finance major. He's a level above Mitchell in the rank of command, but he said it was nice to see him again and have someone that he could talk too already. I'm sure it won't be long before he's met a ton of other guys, but it's always nice to see a familiar face in the midst of chaos.
Anyways, that's all I know for now...which isn't much really. I keep having dreams about Mitchell. Nothing bad or upsetting, just funny little dreams. One dream I dreamt that he was a little boy again, like 4 or 5 and he just wanted Logan to sit on his lap in the car. I was obviously not happy about this in my dream. You can tell I've been thinking about him a lot these past days, plus in my condition crazy weird dreams are common and normal. :-)
I'll start with the happy and fun D of the weekend....The first D of the weekend is for "Dad". Logan said his first word, Dad! Or Daddy depending on what he feels like. He's been playing around with the Da Da sound for a while now, but this weekend really figured it out and now every time Brian walks into the room he smiles and says, "Dad" or "Daddy". It's so cute cause it makes Brian so happy and then he smiles really big and then Logan smiles really big. It's been so fun watching him figure things out. We let the dogs in the house at night and when the weather is bad out, but they have to stay in the laundry room or entry way. Logan loves to go over by them and watch them and talk to them. When he's talking it's always a lot of "D" sounds so I wouldn't be surprised if "Dog" was not far behind "Dad"....As for "Mom" he can say it, but he doesn't know that it's me yet and doesn't usually say it unless Brian's prompting him. Oh well, he's a boy right...so I better get used to being third on the "cool" list behind Daddy and the dogs...at least for a little while. :-)
The other D of the weekend stands for Deployment. In January my brother Mitchell re-enlisted in the National Guard. I'm not sure on the timing, but I think almost a year and a half ago he was medically discharged due to an issue with his shoulder. He said he'd been thinking about it for some time and decided that he wasn't done with his military career and wanted a second chance. He's shoulder is pretty much 100% now so he wanted to re-enlist. I'm not sure about the details of how he got back in, but he's back in at the same level he left and everything is pretty much the same. When he came to us in January to tell us he had re-enlisted he said that it's a very real possibility that he would have to go over seas and the possibility was probably not too far off. His unit which is the the New Richmond unit was being deployed at the end of February and he might have to go with, but didn't have any orders as of yet. Well Friday morning his commanding officer called and gave him is orders. He leaves Feb. 23rd. He missed the deployment with the New Richmond unit, but the River Falls unit was deploying a week after and he is joining that unit. He reports to Ft. McCoy the 17, 18, 19th this week, is home for the weekend and then has to report to River Falls on the 23rd. He'll get more detailed information on the 17th when he reports to Ft. McCoy so nothing's for sure yet, but his commanding officer told him on Friday morning most likely he'll be at Ft. McCoy for two days and then they leave on the 25th for Texas for 60 days of training. After that they'll leave for Kuwait and then eventually arriving in Iraq where he'll be for 10 months. He doesn't have his orders as far as what he'll be doing once he gets to Iraq, but like I said nothing's for sure yet, he'll know more after he gets back from the three days in Ft. McCoy. The news was a bit of a shock as I'm sure it is if you're reading this and finding out for the first time. I apologize about that, but things are happening so fast it's hard to keep everyone posted with all the information. We are having a going away party for him on Saturday at my parents house if you would like to stop by and say good bye. I think my mom said around 6 or so.
I'm not sure if the gravity of the situation has fully hit me yet. I find myself stopping and thinking at random times throughout the day, "Mitchell won't be here for this....and Mitchell won't be here for that." It's all I can do to stop from crying and most the time I just try not to think about it because if I do I'd be a wreak. As for Mitchell he's doing well...or at least from what I can tell. I asked him if he was scared or nervous and he said no. I think he's just ready to do this and really wants to do this. Which makes me glad that he's doing something that means a lot to him. All I know is we love you little brother and are so proud of you! We can't thank you enough for doing this and pray that you and all the other military men and women serving our country right now make it home safely!
Everyone I'll keep you posted as I learn more, but if you have questions or anything just give me a call.
In an effort to move the Poopy Pants post off the top of the stack I'll post more pictures of Logan! Although I will mention that Logan had a Poopy Pants episode at Daycare yesterday as well and had to change clothes...at least he had a change of clothes at Daycare! :-)
In keeping with Logan's favorite past time of taking all the Tupperware out of the cupboard he's moved on to the pots, pans, and other dishes. He took this cake pan out of the cupboard the other night and had a blast climbing in an out of it. It was funny. Brian and I were standing in the kitchen reading the mail and watching the news before dinner and we look down and see him sitting in the cake pan....we just started laughing and thought, "how great would life be if the highlight of your day was sitting in a cake pan!" :-)
The other "new" toy that Brian finally brought upstairs is Nemo. We got this from Brad and Angie Lubenow [Thanks Guys! :-)] You can imagine how excited Mom was to have this nice big orange toy in the living room/dinning room. But I guess, Logan likes it so Mom will just have to deal with it for a while. Nicole has this Zebra bouncing toy that Logan just LOVES to play on at Daycare. You sit on it and bounce and spin around. Nemo's not as exciting as the Zebra, but he still likes to sit on it. He hasn't really figured out that he can rock back and forth yet, once he gets on it he tries to bounce like he does on the Zebra. He's only fallen off Nemo about three times, but always goes right back on it...kids bounce back quickly!
Oh and yes his pants are unbuttoned. For some reason these pants are SUPER tight in the waist, so we just let the belly hang out!
This last video is of Logan dancing. Nicole told me last week that any time a commercial comes on with music Logan stops and dances to it. And low and behold she was right! Every time a commercial comes on or we're watching American Idol and they start singing he stops and dances. So I thought, I wonder what he would do with "All I Want To Do" by Sugarland came on? So of course I've got the video from CMT on our DVR, so I played it the other day...to funny! I love my little tiny dancer! :-)
Oh and Grandma Steffen! You'll be happy to know that Logan is wearing his Stride Rite shoes and likes them! I think their the first shoes that actually fit is big fat feet! He's walking pretty well in them! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
No this is not a story about Logan pooping through his pants or pooping with no diaper on....unfortunately....
Today I had a meeting for work with about 40 other people there. It's a big monthly meeting for Tech Forum, where EVPs from 3M and other big important people come and present to the technical community of 3M. I'm the co-chair of the Software and Systems chapter and therefore invited each month. This month when I walked in, how exciting they had candy! Hershey's Hugs and Kisses! We used to get a full breakfast at these meetings with donuts, meat, cheese, fruit, and drinks. But with the economy in a huge down turn, the breakfasts had been cut out, so to get candy was a real treat! I took two Hugs cause they're my favorite and went to sit down. I ate one right away and thought I set the other one aside to eat later (it's a long meeting...I might need it to keep me awake.) About an hour into the meeting I happened to look down and HOLY CRAP! Are you kidding me?!?!?! The other Hug had actually fell into my lap and had completely melted. There was melted chocolate all over the crotch of my jeans. I literally looked like I pooped my pants. GREAT! Luckily my coworker sitting next to me had a napkin and I had a bottle of water, so I could clean it up as best I could before having to walk to the bathroom in front of everyone with poopy pants. I got it cleaned up as best I could, but obviously there's still a brown stain on my crotch. YIPPIE! I get to go the entire day with poopy pants and the best part is I have meeting after meeting today followed by grad. school so I won't get home until 10. EVEN BETTER! Hey...maybe I could stop by the mall before class and buy some new jeans....hhhmmmmm....this might warrant new jeans...seriously what would you do if your co-worker had poopy pants?
So if you ever think you're having a bad day...just remember it could always get worse...you could have poopy pants! :-)
One of my favorite groups right now is Lady Antebellum. The group includes Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They have a new song which was featured on a compilation CD for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games and if you've heard an advertisement for the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in your area lately you'll have heard this song playing in the background. Listening to it moves me to be better, do better.
I know a big part of the message that says "I was here" will be Logan and the other children Brian and I raise, but I also want it to be more than just that. I want people to say that their lives were better because they knew me. That I touched them in some way that no one else could. It doesn't happen with everyone I meet, but I pray I've touched more people in this world than I've hurt, made more people smile than frown, and laugh than cry. Then I think I could say with pride, "I was here".
You will notice me I'll be leaving my mark, like initials carved in an old oak tree you wait and see maybe I'll write like Twain wrote maybe I'll paint like Van Gough, cure the common cold I don't know but I'm ready to start cuz I know in my heart
I wanna do something that matters say something different something that sets the whole world on it's ear I wanna do somethin better, with the time I've been given and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life and leave nothin less that something that says I was here
I will prove you wrong if you think I'm all talk, your in for a shock cuz this dreams too strong, and before too long maybe i'll compose symphonies maybe i'll fight for world peace cuz i know it's my destiny to leave more that a trace of myself in this place
I wanna do something that matters say something different something that sets the whole world on it's ear I wanna do somethin better, with the time I've been given and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life and leave nothin less that something that says I was here
And I know that I, I will do more than just pass through this life I'll leave nothin less that somethin that says I was here, I was here, I was here, I was here
Wanna do somethin' that matters somethin' that says I was here wanna do somethin' that matters somethin' that says I was here, I was here
This video was shown in my grad. school class last night...it's pretty powerful and really makes you stop and think. It was put together by Karl Fisch, Scott McLead, and Jeff Brenman. It's about 5 mins long, but definitely worth watching. As a parent of a 10 month old I can't help but wonder what the world will be like in 2031 when Logan graduates from high school? What will the world be like when his children graduate from high school? At the pace we're moving at now will there even be a planet left?
Not much has happened around the Meyerranch lately. Last week we got hit with the cold. Logan woke up last Monday with a temp and the beginnings of a nasty cold. By Wednesday he had graciously shared his cold with Mom. Thankfully Logan is finally getting over his cold as it's been about a week, unfortunately I've got another two days until mine will hopefully dissipate. I just want to be able to breath through my nose again....the little things in life right? :-) Brian thankfully hasn't gotten sick yet. I think he's been exposed to so many cold viruses at school that he's immune to most of them by now.
Last night was bowling again and I came no where near a 600 this time...barely made 400. Brian did bowl well though his second game he bowled a 235, however, even with that he didn't quite make 600. Oh well there's a couple more weeks left. He told me before we got there that if I bowled better than him this week he'd quit...so maybe that's why I bowled so badly...I didn't want him to quit...yeah...that's it! :-)
