This is actually Tim, but we don't think that I can change the journal entry information above.

Shawn is a spoiled little weasel. He got so many toys he seems to have sensory overload and is in a bit of the continuous whine mode. Other than spending about 2-1/2 hours opening presents, christmas went without a hitch. We had HoneyBaked ham, party potatoes, wilted salad, jello mold, swiss cheese and cranberry salad. After we ate, we took shawn outside to play in the snow on his sled that he got last year...we all had a blast. As for gifts, Shawn got too many to mention but I got a couple of metal horses to help me with my wood working projects, new drill bits, father and son Bowling Green t-shirts and a few other things. All-in-all, we did really well this year,,,I guess we tricked Santa again into thinking we were good.

I have to work tomorrow...ugh! I am beginning to jump into my new role at work as Director of Process Development which basically entails improving our process at all of our location using a process called Six Sigma. I didn't know much about six sigma and frankly thought that it only works for big manufacturing companies but after reasearching the subject, it looks like it will work very nicely in helping us to work more efficiently and save us money in the long run. The other real challange for me will be to learn the processes of all the other locations that we acquired. One other aspect in my new job will to be involved in future acquisitions. We are supposed to acquire several more companies in the next 18 months, I should be busy.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza.....ect....

Hey Lisa, I finally Blogged!

---Tim

Merry Christmas!! It is 6:13am & I have been up since 5:30am. Just finished shoveling the snow. I find that when Shawn wakes up in the middle of the night, I tend to feel better the next morning, but when he sleeps through the night, I feel horrible - too tired. I guess I have adjusted to getting less sleep. That and maybe because I am still a kid at heart & it is Christmas morning. I wish I could go in & wake Brad up & have him go with me to wake Mom & Dad up so Mom can go down & turn the tree lights on like we did when we were kids!!

When Shawn woke up last night, he looked just horrible. His eyes were so puffy - almost swollen shut still!! By about 9pm the swelling had gone down quite a bit. This reaction was much worse than the first one. I am scard for the next one, because from what I understand, with each exposure the reaction gets worse. We had him open a few of his presents last night. We had bought him a plastic $20 train to see how he would like it & of course, the engine didn't work. My assistant was at Target a few weeks ago & saw a train marked down to $4.00 & couldn't pass it up. Wouldn't you know it, the $4.00 train worked perfectly. We had Mom take him downstairs & we turned it on & brought Shawn up. He ran over & sat down right next to it. He was very excited. There is a train show at the rec center on Sunday that has 350 train displays set up. We are definitely taking him to that!!

The next toy was a set of cardboard building blocks. He loved those. We built up a wall & then brought him in & he ran right to them & knocked them over & laughed & said "Oh No!" He then built them up again & again. Dad was helping him build the wall as fast as he could before Shawn would knock them down again. Dad's comment about himself was "I am to young to be as old as I am!!!" I guess Shawn brings out the kid in all of us!

Gave him a metal shopping cart filled with plastic fruit. He pulled out the fruit & names the ones he knew & pushed the cart a bit & then it was back to the blocks. The last toy of the night was a dirt devil kids sweeper. He was scared of it - wouldn't go near it at all. He was tired & he loves our sweeper, so we'll see how he reacts to it this morning.

I'll try & update later on the after Christmas results!!

Happy Christmas Eve!! Dropped Shawn off at daycare this morning - there were only around 5 kids there at 7:30. I think the total count for day care today was around 10. Got to work & exchanged gifts with my co-workers. I got a Santa statue, 4 candles w/2 candle holders, a photo holder, a expresso coffee maker - have one, so that's going back, a gc to Red Lobster, a friend magnet & candle, a cookbook, & some holiday candle. Not too bad.

I received a call from day care around 12:00. It was the director. Today was peanut butter & jelly sandwich day. They sat the kids down & put their lunches in front of them. Shawn is allegeric to PB & J, so he gets a jelly sandwich. Anyways, I guess when the teacher turned her back, Shawn reached over to someone else's plate & took a bite of their sandwich. Next thing you know, his eyes are watering, and his face was turning red & puffy. All I was concerned about was his airway closing up. I keep asking, can he breath?? She said he was fine, except for his red face & watery eyes. Tim went & got him & gave him benedryll. He is still sleeping (2 1/2 hours so far) so we'll see how he is when he gets up.

Tim is putting together some last minute gifts for Shawn - cardboard building blocks, a punching bag, a sweeper & a train. We are going to have him open a few of his gifts tonight.

I ordered Tim a coffee mug for his birthday & it came today - it is so cute. It has across the top "Best Buddies" and then a picture of a man & a little boy in the middle & underneath it says "Daddy & Shawn". Tim really liked it - or so he said!!!

Have a Merry Christmas & eat your HoneyBaked Ham!!!!!!!!

It has been a busy week for us. This past Thursday was Tim's 34th birthday. I finished up on his last minute shopping & on Thursday night, Mom came over to have dinner with us & hang out. We ordered food from Grape Leaf - hoummus, tabuili, grape leaves, salad & a gyro. Yummy. For his birthday, Tim got: 2 calendars, a new kitchen knife (I was tired of hearing him complain about how much he hates our Chicago Cutlery knives), some Izod boxers, a computer screen type universal remote (the big kind that you point to the tv to download all of the info into it. It comes with a stylus to work it. Very complicated - but fun for Tim. He also got a miter saw & a power nailer. Problem is that I didn't know that the nailer needed an air compressor to run. So, he decided to keep the saw & return the nailer. From Mom & Dad he got a subscription to Handyman magazine, a pizza paddle & a wine making kit. I received a free Pizza stone from work a few weeks ago & now Tim is into making his own pizza. We (Mom, Dad, Tim, Shawn & myself) went to Tim's birthday dinner last night at the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg. They have a good restaurant in there that has a Friday night Seafood buffet. The original plan was to leave Shawn with a sitter b/c he is so bad in restaurants, but Tim just couldn't handle leaving him with a stranger. So, we took him & he ws an angel. We ordered him a hot dog & fries & while we waited for that, I gave him a plate of shredded cheese that he played with/ate. Once his hot do came, he dipped the fries & hot dog into the ketchup & just sat quietly & ate. I think he might be past the horrible behavior in the restaurants. After about 45 minutes, he & Nana needed to go for a walk - he was restless by then. We came back & Tim went to an office party at Jed's - a local sports bar & Shawn & I watched his movies until he feel asleep at 10:20pm.

We are working at both home & daycare to teach Shawn the ABC's. They sing the ABC song daily at day care & one night last week, we were singing it to him & happened to look at his right hand. He ws moving it along to the song. At that point, Tim & I realized that he was signing the ABC's. I went to daycare & his teacher said that she did start that with all the kids, but she didn't think they were really watching him. It is really cute. I am going to buy a signing book & see if I can teach him more.

We are teaching him to say "Uncle Brad", in anticipation for Brad's visit. We have the Uncle part down, but Brad doesn't come out. We'll keep working on it!! Nana & Papa taught him to say "Ho Ho Ho" in relation to Santa. He won't say santa, but if he see's a Santa anywhere, he immediately says "Ho, Ho, Ho" Too cute!!!!

We are going to Meijer & Anderson's today to buy our food items for Christmas Eve & Christmas. We do appetizers for Xmas Eve & a ham dinner for Christmas. We want to get to the store before all the Christmas crowds do.

Have a good weekend!!

Well, I knew that i would be terrible at updating this site. I went to work at 8:30 this morning to make sure all of our holiday riff raff was behaving. Served Pizza to 150 warehouse workers - they are vultures!! You have to stand guard at the pizzas & make sure that they only take 3 pieces each. In the past, we have trusted them to serve themselves & they ended up taking whole boxes. I guess we even found pizza shoved in the toilets!! That was before I came on board as the HR manager. Doesn't happen now!!!! I had to order 32 more pizzas to be delivered for the second shift group before I could leave for the day!! I can't wait until the holiday is over.

Waiting for the Browns game to be over so we can go to Meijer. Mom & Dad are coming over for dinner. Mom made Chicken Noodle soup. We were going to go to their house & have it, but there is a Wiggles Christmas special on at 8pm on cable & Mom hasn't broken down yet & got cable.

Shawn is dancing to the Caddyshack theme song. Pretty cute. He is just starting to say to say the alphabet. Right now the only 2 letters he is saying is D & F.Didn't realize it until he started pointing at letters. I guess he must be learning them at day care. It seems that I am always playing catch up with day care. They don't give you a progress report on what they did during the day, so I find myself discovering something that he is doing & then going & asking day care if they taught him that. I am thankful that they really are working with him & not just letting him play & watch movies.

Time for Meijer!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got back from Kohls, the pet store & Rice King (a take out Chinese restaurant). I feel the pressure to keep up with Brad with updates!! Dauber get's his first bath since his surgery on Saturday. We will be so happy to have a clean dog again soon!!

Shawn has always called me Mama. Today when I picked him up, he said Mommy!!!!!!!! It's been Mommy this & Mommy that all night. Not sure how that change happened, but it's cute. His other new thing is "Ready, Set, Go". He gets the ready out, mumbles over the set & then screams go.

So, I just went out to my address to see if it worked & it did! That was fun. I also saw that I had a typo, so I went back in, edited my post & reposted. If I can do it, you can to. Let's see how many journals Brad can get listed off of his page!!

Well, I thought I would see how easy it really was to set this up & it was. Brad was right. I know that I won't be as faithful with updates as Brad is, but maybe between Tim & I, we can keep it going!!

Tim & Shawn are down the basement. Tim is making Shawn a step stool for Christmas. He took Dad's old table saw & has made a dog food dispenser & now Shawns stool. He has painted the stool blue & he will be stenciling Shawn's name & a train on the top of it. He borrowed Dad's wood engraver to sign the finished piece. Shawn is pulling all of his books off of the shelf & making a mess of the room. The beauty of it is that it's a play room, so I leave it a mess!!

Mom, Dad, Tim & myself are going out for dinner for Tim's birthday. This will be only the second time that Shawn has ever had a babysitter other than Nana & Papa. The first time, he was only 4 months old, so that really doesn't count. Well see how it all goes.

This is my first attemt at this so I am going to hit post & publish & see what happens!!