I got a notification on Facebook a few days ago – one of those Memory notification things – and it was a flashback of my blog post from a year ago. It’s been an entire year since I’ve written a post on our family blog!! Time to catch up and capture a year’s worth of memories and moments (if that’s possible!). Hold on and bear with me if you dare, this is going to be a long post!
This past year has been quite the year for our family! Still adjusting to being a family of four, a career change for Ryan followed by a business devastation for him and my dad, a daycare change, and now adjusting to life with a toddler and a preschooler!
Our blog left us off last summer after our Hubers Family Reunion to Huntington Beach, CA. Ryan unfortunately stayed behind because of work and the kids and I had a wonderful time with my side of the family. Missing family time, along with working incredibly long hours and weekends was really starting to take a toll on me being a “single” momma and taking care of the two kids while still working full time for Target in Minneapolis. I was a little bit at my wits end and we both felt like something had to change. Ryan was missing out on the kids’ lives and although he was present as much as he possibly could, he still missed a lot and the kiddos needed their daddy (he’s definitely the “tougher” parent – I’m the pushover and needed help parenting!). As I would get worked up over how his career or my career needed to change, I also felt like God was giving me this peace to stop worrying and He would take care of things. I also had this sense of feeling that big things were going to happen. Honestly, don’t ask me why – all I can tell you is I firmly believe it was God telling me to hold on – things were going to change and work out the way they should, but I needed to brace myself and our family for what was going to change.
Late last summer, my dad approached Ryan and I and asked if we wanted to buy into the Produce business. Things were changing at the Produce and it would be an opportunity for Ryan to buy the other half of the business and work with my dad. The goal is that my dad would work until retirement, get Ryan up to speed and we would buy my dad out when he was ready to retire. What?! Really!? We’ve joked about this for years (that Ryan would own the ‘Duce some day and I’d be the admin at the Pease church and we would move to Pease/Milaca – ha!), but this opportunity presented itself and it felt so right. This was the change I know God was preparing me/us for! To spare all of the details, we finally closed on the buying the Pease Produce in late January 2015. Ryan finished out the 2014 construction season working for a belly dump trucking company out of Cold Spring and he started easing himself into work at the Produce in November 2014.
Flash forward to the evening of April 14, 2015. I distinctly remember that night we were exhausted (and it was only a Tuesday!) and both fell asleep fast and hard. I heard what I thought was Ryan’s alarm clock go off a few times, but he just reached over and silenced it. It went off the third time, but this time Ryan realized it was a phone call from one of their employees, Andy. Andy told Ryan he got a phone call from someone in town that the Produce was on fire. He couldn’t get ahold of dad at the house, so called Ryan. Andy hadn’t gone into town yet to check it out, but he was sure it was just a prank phone call. As Ryan and Andy were talking, my dad beeped in. Ryan flipped over to his call. Clear as day, the first words out my dad’s mouth had a tone of panic and sadness: “The Produce is on fire”. Ryan sat up on the side of the bed with his head in his hands. I remember feeling my stomach give way. There was no possible way this was true. Who would do this and why? Dad told Ryan multiple fire departments were already there and it was burning really good. Dad told Ryan to head up, but take his time – there really wasn’t anything they could do but stand there and watch it burn. We both got up – Ryan made some coffee and we just stood in the kitchen and hugged. Ryan’s family had already endured two fires when they were young kids and lost everything except the shirt on their back. How could this happen to him for a third time? I desperately wanted to drive up and be there for him. I knew I could call my neighbor to come sleep on the couch so I could be there, but Ryan kept telling me to stay home. It would only make me more sad and feel helpless, like they were already feeling.
I didn’t sleep that night except for maybe a 45 minute stretch at 5am after I talked with Ryan’s mom for a little bit. I brought the kids to daycare the next morning and tried to stay as calm and normal as possible. When I got up there, it was the saddest site I’ve ever seen. I cried for quite a while as Ryan hugged me and told me it would be fine, we’d figure it out. That day and the next few were all done on adrenaline – we rarely slept, but kept having nightmares of the situation. It was our friends and family who kept us afloat and focused. I also have an amazing boss and coworkers who helped me with my job so I could take time off. I am still so grateful for their support – I needed to be with my husband and family. There was so much work to do – clients to call, plans to figure out, how to set up temporary shop, new paperwork/forms to create (dad did everything by hand :)), run errands to purchase replacement things, etc. I did spend a few hours the Saturday after the fire going through the ruble and was so ecstatic to be able to find their desks/filing cabinet and most of the contents salvageable! Yes it was wet and charred and the desks were far from their original location, but at least I had found them! I found some trinkets that hung on the wall, along with important paperwork like the truck titles and invoices. Sifting through the ruble by myself was a bit like closure to me.
The cause of fire was never determined – arson and gas were ruled out. The cause is believed to be electrical or perhaps something sparked in Ryan’s delivery truck that was backed into the dock of the building. Neighbors nearby said they heard small explosions, but who knows if that happened after the fire had already started or is what caused it. Two days later, that Thursday, the ruble sparked and a smaller fire rekindled – the fire department was dispatched to put it out. My friend and sister-in-law Amber came up to help us with some work and to support us and we had the chance to chat with one of the volunteer firefighters who we went to high school with. He said on Tuesday nightwhen he was there fighting the fire, you could hear the eggs “popping” from the high temps. He said it was something he had never heard before in his firefighting career.
Now that we have that big change out of the way, the other big change for the kids is that they switched daycare! We switched to Little Lambs (which is attached to our church) after two years of being at an in home daycare. It was sad to leave Ms. Bridget’s house, but the kids have been adjusting well and are really loving it and fitting right in! Abbie only cried at drop off the first week or so and is now the cutest and littlest girl in the class! The toddler classroom is kiddos aged 18 months – 3 years. She’s the youngest one in the room and because she’s already so petite, she is definitely the littlest gal there! It is so fun to see her interact and play with the kids her age, to see her excel with basic skills such as eating with a fork/spoon, drinking out of a cup, following directions, vocabulary picking up, etc. Cameron is also loving his preschool classroom and the new friends he’s making! He was an absolute angel the first month we were there – the teachers were constantly saying how well behaved and polite he was, how he played so well with his friends, etc. We were so excited because he had been going through a rough patch at home and at daycare with hitting, spitting, saying shut up and being disrespectful prior to switching daycares. That little boy who was acting out like that was definitely not our sweet Cameron! Then about two weeks ago, that honeymoon phase at Little Lambs was over – his daily sheet was marked red for spitting and yelling at his teachers :( I keep reminding myself that he’s only 3 – he’s still learning how to control his emotions. He still has a tough couple of days here and there, but don’t we all?! In talking to his teachers (and this is true at home, too), he usually acts out when he doesn’t get his way. We’re working on choices and you pick things a choice and stick to it. Whatever the consequences are with that choice, you need to learn how to control yourself and make better choices next time.
Other highlights with the kids!
Abbie:
· Cut her first molar! She has 7 teeth in the middle (4 top, 3 bottom) and one molar. That one molar was a bear for her to get and she broke out into a rash all over her body (it was her first week at Little Lambs, too!) – I can’t wait for her to get the rest of her teeth so we can be done with them!
· Likes to say “Ma! Mommy! Mom! Momma! Ma! Momma!...” over and over. It is really cute and it does make my heart melt when I hear it. When Cameron joins into the chorus it can get overwhelming, but I try to remind myself that these days will be gone too soon. I like to reply with “Abbie!” and get a back and forth going – that makes it more fun J
· Is starting to spit when she doesn’t get her way… who do you think she learned that from!?
· One word: No!
· Other words she knows: Daddy, Mommy (and other versions of those two), all done/gone, “gook” (book), owie, uh oh, hi, bye. She also knows what the bear, cow, duck, and puppy say. She is also starting to get good at repeating things when you ask her to.
· Her hair is growing! She’s going to be our little blondie J Hair is filling in on the top and she’s getting little curly sprouts on the back of her head. We love it!
· She just got over hand, foot, mouth disease. Ick! The poor peanut had about 5-7 sores in her mouth, which made her pretty miserable for a few days. Along with sores on her hands, feet, and mouth, she also had it on her tummy and legs.
· When I brought her in to be seen for hand, foot, mouth, she was 24 lbs. 4 oz. and 30” tall – still such a little girl! I just started putting away her 18 months clothes and she’s now almost all into 24 month/2T.
· Daddy’s girl. Even though she doesn’t stop saying “Momma”, she really does have daddy wrapped around her finger.
Cameron:
· LOVES going to preschool and is still a little bookworm. I love reading to him at night and love his question. They are so much more “real” now instead of just “why” questions. We just have to be prepared for honest answers now!
· Enjoys going for bike rides together. I’m trying to teach him biking etiquette (such as looking out for cars!), so our bike rides aren’t super long yet, but we’ll get there!
· Is doing SO well on the potty!! He’s been fully potty trained since shortly after his 3rd birthday and now he rarely has an accident. If he does, it’s because he’s so busy playing and needs a reminder. A few weeks ago, he asked what would happen if he didn’t use his potty ring and fell into the toilet. He asked if I would flush him away and then asked where he would go. It’s questions like that that just make me giggle and love his curiosity!
· Loves to snuggle and watch movies together. Papa and Nama bought him two movies called “Twenty Trucks” and it’s all about big trucks with this catchy, yet somewhat annoying tune. Those are his “short” movies he loves watching and has also gotten into “longer” movies such as Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Despicable Me, etc. I’m hoping we can take him to a theater sometime soon for his first “real” movie experience!
· He just spent this past week going to Vacation Bible School at my parent’s church in Pease. My parents also kept him overnight – he LOVES sleepovers at Papa and Nama’s house! He did really well at VBS and didn’t seem to miss us too much. Aside from pulling down the shirt from his shoulder to scratch his mosquito bite, he did really well during the VBS program, too. The last program experience we had was over Christmas and it did not go well…
· I love his hugs! He is such a loveable little guy (when he wants to be :)) and loves his mama. Most days I’m OK with him being a mama’s boy J Since Ryan has changed jobs, I do love seeing his relationship with Ryan grow, but deep down inside, he’ll always be my little boy <3
Other highlights from the past year of me not blogging:
· Abbie started walking shortly after 14 months – yay! She started crawling early (around 5 months) and was really good at it – she got a little lazy when it came to walking.
· Abbie celebrated her year of “firsts” until her first birthday (i.e. holidays, sled rides, etc.). I have tons of pictures of everything on our external hard drive, but it’s just too much to write all down.
· One night last fall, Cameron was playing with Manson and chasing him around the house. When Manson wouldn’t listen to Cameron at one point, Cameron said “Damn it, Manson!” I calmly asked him where he learned those words. After a long pause, he said, “Nama”.
· Speaking of Manson… he turned 7 in March and although he isn’t slowing down and still has a lot of puppy in him, he’s losing patches of hair and has some greys hairs.
· Ryan and I got away for his birthday weekend at the end of June. Our first night away from home without the kiddos since Abbie had been born. The Hinckley Casino was not good to use and we didn’t win anything of course, but had a good time getting away together!
· We enjoyed a weekend away last summer (July 2014) at Ryan’s Grandma’s cabin, “Happy Ours” in Spicer. Ryan and Cameron went tubing and we enjoyed boat rides, as well as campfires and spending time with Ryan’s family. We plan on going back up next month.
· Cameron had quite a few questions about Santa Clause this past Christmas. It was really fun to bring Cameron to Santa for the first time :) He also had fun with an Easter egg hunt this year. Although his age can be incredibly challenging, I really love being able to do more things with him and see him learn new things!!
That’s it for now! Hopefully I stay better caught up this year! :)
