Category Archives: Family

A longer stay

Posted on by

Negotiations ended today for Rick and I to stay out here in Eagan for another three months, and as it turnes out we will be staying. I am happy enough with the terms that we reached to say that I would stay, but like all things they could have been better. Basically I will be getting another raise, for the duration of the stay of course, they will continue to pay for my housing, and I will be receiving a bonus upon completion, in addition I will also be receiving a slightly larger stipend each month. In the grand scheme of things it isn’t really much, especially when I consider that this means i will have to spend another 3 months away from my daughter. I can only hope that the time will go by quickly.

On a side note however, I am leaving tonight to fly back to Michigan for the Thanksgiving holiday. I will be home for 5 days and 5 nights, not nearly long enough, but at least I will be able to spend time with Kylie, and that is what I miss most being out in Minnesota.

A little update on Kylie

Posted on by

Kylie is doing very well, aside from missing her Daddy. Her ears are no longer bothering her, but lately it seems that she is catching up on teeth. Tiffany has told me that Kylie now has molars coming in on both the top and the bottom. As such Kylie has not been wanting to eat much lately and she has been drooling a lot more than normal. In addition Kylie is learning new words on a daily basis. I am not even going to attempt to list all of them, but I will say that she has not picked up on “love you” yet, even though that is probably the expression that she hears the most. Hopefully she will pick that one up soon though. All in all she is doing very well and I am looking forward to seeing her next week very much.

Congratulations Tiffany

Posted on by

Tiffany informed me today that she passed her Teacher Certification Exams for elementary education and early childhood education with flying colors, not that there was ever a doubt in my mind that she would do otherwise. This basically means that she theoretically could teach now if a school needed teachers bad enough and didn’t mind that she did not yet have her 4 year degree. These exams are required to teach even if you have your 4 year degree, so in a way she is ahead of the game. She still has two more exams that she would like to take, one for language arts and one for integrated sciences, those will come later. But as of now she could technically teach, so a big Congratulations to her!!

More pictures of Kylie

Posted on by

I finally got all the pictures I have of Kylie up in the gallery. This includes all pictures that Tiffany was able to give me and all the pictures I took on my all too short weekend home. They can be found in her year two album in the gallery, more exactly there are some new ones in month 3 week 5, all of month 4, and all of month 5 which also includes all of the pictures taken at the Zoo Boo.

Another offer

Posted on by

A few days ago Rick and myself were approached by our boss and asked if we would like to stay in Minnesota another three months, bringing our total stay out here to 9 months and 6 months respectively. As of this time neither one of us have fully made up our minds as to if we are going to sign on for another 3 months or not, as no formal offer has been made nor have we decided what it would take for us to stay. I myself have stated that i would have to talk with people back in Michigan, and that first and foremost I would have to make sure that everything was taken care of for my daughter. In approximately my boss’ boss will be coming out to Eagan from Ireland and one of his many meetings will be with Rick and myself to discuss this opportunity. While I know that this is a continuation of a great opportunity, I will have to see what offer gets put on the table because one thing I know for certain…I miss my daughter.

More ear trouble

Posted on by

Tiffany called me while I was at work today to tell me that Kylie had a very rough night sleeping and that she was not interested in anything this morning other than being held. She barely ate, had not interest in her toys, and even had no interest in the phone, even after she heard my voice. She said that the thermometer did not show that Kylie was running a temperature but she thought Kylie felt warm. So after Kylie took her nap they took a trip to the doctor. It turns out that when they got in to see the doctor Kylie did have a temperature of 101.6. After doing a checkup it turns out that Kylie has a mild ear infection in her right ear and a sever infection in her left ear. The doctor proscribed a concentrated dose of amoxicillin that she will need to take 1 tsp twice a day. Other than that the doctor says that Kylie is doing just fine and is still very happy with her growth, she is now 23 pounds 1 ounce, and all the things she can accomplish already.

Time to go back

Posted on by

They say all good things must come to an end, and today it did. This weekend went by way to fast for me, and now I have to wait another month before I can see and hold my daughter again.

The day was nice, but the time went by all to fast. I spent the day with Kylie and Tiffany again, trying to spend as much time with Kylie as possible, cherishing every second I got to hold her. We spent the morning playing and laughing and having as much fun as we could. Aunt Sissy came over to Mommy’s apartment and then we all decided to get some dinner at Texas Roadhouse. This would allow us to already be downriver and near the airport, so I could spend more time with Kylie and then they would all come with me to drop off my rental and then bring me to the airport. The last few hours went by faster than I thought they could, the speed in which they did go by was only heightened by the fact that we were allowed to board my plane at the time it was supposed to be tacking off, because it took them that long to turn clean the plain and prepare it for our departure.

The flight itself was not that bad, except that once again the plain was packed and this time I had a middle seat. One thing I did realize on the plain though was that I want an iPod. I will have to save up and try to get one before my next flight, because an hour and a half flight, plus time on the tarmac is extreamly boring when you have nothing to do. In any event I am now back in Minnesota, and the drive from the airport to my apartment was a lot easier than the drive from work to the airport. Now I just have to wait for the next month.

Nice calm day

Posted on by

Today was a nice calm day spent over at Tiffany’s so I could spend time with Kylie. Her and I played all day, read her Hop on Pop book, and even watched some Choo-Choo Soul (which Kylie loves) on the Playhouse Disney website. When the ABC song comes she screams with excitement and runs over to the computer, and then she will dance along and laugh, it is the cutest thing ever. We ordered pizza for dinner and after we all ate I started Kylie a bath and Mommy was kind enough to finish it up, unfortunately being bent over the tub is one of those things that my back can’t take to long of since my injury. After bath time it was time to get ready for bed and I was able to read Kylie her bed time story, Goodnight Moon, and rocked her to sleep in my arms before I put her into her crib. Though I am very happy that I was able to spend the day with Kylie, I am sad that tonight will be the last time I get to tuck her into bed for at least another month. I am sure the time will go by fast though, and besides I still have tomorrow with her too.

Zoo boo

Posted on by

Today was the first day in over a month that I got to see my daughter, and I can not even explain how good it felt to see her and hold her again. I woke this morning and went over to Kylie and Tiffany’s house to see her. When I walked in Kylie ran up to me and smiled and then ran away, she did this twice which gave me time to take off my coat and put my camera down, and then on the third time she ran up to me with her arms up and a big small on her face and said “up up”, and I was only to happy to oblige my little girl! I picked her up and gave her a hug and she put her arms around me and her head on my shoulder and we walked around holding each other (and Daddy crying slightly) for almost 30 minutes, and then when I tried to sit down on the couch with her she decided she could go get some toys. We spent the majority of the morning playing and then she sat in my lap to have her morning snack, after that she went and got her favorite book, Dr. Seuss‘s Hop on Pop, and climbed into my lap and had me read it to her, after that she went down for a little nap. We then spent the majority of the afternoon running around a car dealership because Mommy was seeing about possible getting a new car. The evening, however, was spent at the Detroit Zoo with Mommy, Erica, Taylor, and I all walking through the Zoo Boo (article). Many pictures were taken today, most of which are of Kylie and Taylor in their Halloween costumes. I will get all those and other pictures that I got from Tiffany, prepared and up on the website as soon as possible. Now I need to go look into that pile of mail that has collected over the past month and get ready for tomorrow, and more time with Kylie!

It’s good to be home

Posted on by

After a very stressful day, I am finally back in Michigan for the weekend. This is my first time back since leaving for Minnesota, and I am very much looking forward to seeing Kylie. My day started off pretty well and I was very happy that I would be coming home, I left work a little early to make sure that I would make it to the airport on time, so my day at work seemed to go by quickly. I had gotten directions from work to the airport from mapquest and they said that the drive should only take about 15 minutes, an hour later I had finally made it to the airport. Lets just say the highway signs out in Minnesota suck, my directions told me to get off on 55 but failed to mention that I shouldn’t take the exit for 55 because the road I was on turned into it, even though there was an exit as well. I have to admit that I was really afraid I was going to miss my plane, but thankfully checking in my luggage and going through security was a lot faster than I had anticipated. The flight itself was packed but thankfully short, only an hour and ten minutes once we took off. Getting my rental car once I got into Detroit was nice and simple and relatively quick, as was the drive from the airport to my apartment. In addition to spending as time as I possibly can with Kylie, I have a months worth of mail to go through and various other things to do, I am sure this weekend is going to go by way to fast.