"Stick a fork in me, I'm done."

I am going to say this because it should have been said a long time ago... I hate Walgreens. I hate hearing the commercials, seeing the ads in the paper and the worst of all, driving by it. The hardest part is we live less than a mile from the "W" store. And making it even worse? It's located on a major street in town so I can't avoid driving by it (it's on the way to Target after all).

Every time I see a Walgreens store sign I wish I had a metal baseball bat to swing threw that sign. And those of you that know me well, no that not a violent person....but Damn it I am really tired of always being the "nice person."

I am done being nice to any representation of Walgreens. I once said I wish that this would never happen to anyone else within the company. But I take that back. I hope, I pray that this brings you nothing but misery. I hate you Walgreens and I hate that no matter how hard we try to live our lives and move on your cunning and malicious demeanor keep creeping back into our lives. Leave us alone.

How long will this go on? I don't know. Doug lost his unemployment award because Walgreens appealed the award that the state permitted originally. (I haven't blogged about how long it took Walgreens to get in their initial paper work in and that they were within days of the state making the original decision of unemployment without them because of their laziness to get the requested documents in on time. The state later sided with Doug).

The initial hearing for the appeal was scheduled several weeks ago, but the day of the hearing Walgreens didn't have their crap in on time (imagine that). Walgreens claimed "we don't have Doug's mailing address." Really? He worked for your company for 10+ years and you didn't have his mailing address? As well as they didn't fax the appropriate paper work to the state because their fax machine was "broken." And when Doug requested his employee files twice you didn't have his address then either? Oh and 3 months later even after the appeal Doug still does not have his employee records... If you don't have your crap together for the hearing...that should be a strike against you and how can they proceed without Doug having any access to his employee records. The problem is Walgreens is such a large cooperation and they think they can do anything they want waving their name and business in front of judge and bam you win the appeal.

What does this mean? Doug has to re-pay Walgreens all of his unemployment that he received for 3 months.

What's next? Appealing and appeal is what's next. We have no intention of ever paying Walgreens a single dime.

It's so hard to move forward when the past keeps creeping up on you. As Judge Marilyn Milan from the People's Court would say, "Stick a fork in me, I'm done."

Walgreens, you haven't won anything. We'll see you in court.

 

Best Friend

Stay little forever...PLEASE.

I take the kids grocery shopping for one of our weekly outings.... A little sad that's our getting out, but living in the ice cube of Minnesota we make do with what we've got.

I usually pack my purse full of Cheerios and Gold fish, a sippy of water and each kid gets to bring a little toy with to play with in the cart.  Last week Harrison picked this toy...

He brought this toy to me and said, "Momma, I'm going to bring you with, because your my best friend." This followed by a gigantic hug. 

I have one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for.
 

PEACE.

I think as parents we spend so much focusing on the "adult" world. Well, after all I guess that makes sense since we are adults.... but a lot of  that "adult stuff" in life really takes us away from the valuable time we should be with our kids.

With each blink of eye, the kids are getting bigger, doing things they didn't do the day before and next? They will be in college. There won't be the nights when he asks, "Momma, can I snuggle with you?" "Momma, we aren't snuggling unless your head is next to mine." "Momma, you are my best friend."

I think he should be cloned. Not for me, but for the rest of the world. I think the world would use a few more of these AMAZING 4 year olds running around. Honestly we couldn't ask for a better kid.

He's an awesome big brother. While laying Miles down for his nap today, he blew him a kiss across the room. When he wakes up every morning he always gives Miles a hug and says, "Hi buddy." He is the best at redirecting Miles from crying...bringing him a toy, asking him to play or simply put, "Miles I'm right here, don't cry." Not to forget to mention he is the safety patrol for his little brother. Trust me... nothing gets in Miles mouth these days that isn't edible along with making sure he is "safe" and won't fall.

OMG. This stuff is for real. It seems the not so fun part of parenting seems to spotlighted more than the good stuff. Nobody ever told me being a parent is this awesome. Nobody.

I should really start a notebook entitled Harrison's Awesomeness. I don't ever want to forget these days.

And do you need a helper? Sign him up. He picks up all of his own toys (sometimes without asking) and picks up all of Miles toys too. If I want him to help dust, or pick up other things he'll drop anything he is doing to help.

The kid loves to hug, snuggle like no other. I feel like the luckiest mom on earth. He is my peace.

 

Let the light in!

We are starting to see a light shine at the end of this tunnel of terror we have been living in for months.

Doug accepted a job offer on Wednesday. Breathe. He is the new store manager of Tire Pros (formally Tire Plus).

During the coarse of his unemployment we talked a lot about him getting out of retail & management and doing something completely different. When Doug was at Walgreens every holiday was such a strain on our family, he was stressed a lot with lack of budget to properly staff his store and worked so many hours to make up for the lack of budgeting and was his job to do every single job there if something didn't get done. Little by little it was more work without compensation.

So...he is retail/management again? Yes.
However this time it is very, very different. He'll never work another holiday or another Sunday. He won't be working 70 hour a weeks anymore. And not to forget to include it's complete change from a drug store to automotive repair.

Today is his second day on the job. He's excited about his future with this company. He really deserves to be happy and our family deserves to feel safe.

With this all said, we are half way there to a new normal. In the past two weeks I have applied for as many open positions as I have ever applied for combined in my entire life. Only one position I applied for is social work, most other are receptionist positions. I'm still not sure I'm ready to return the field of Social Work. I struggled a lot with what happened between my former employer and I. It's not the field of social work I struggle with; it's the fact that social work was role I was in when this happened to me. There is a lot of fear and pain I have experienced from this whole ordeal. As much as I wish I could blog more about this...what I can say is I know the law, I know my rights; I have a supportive family and I am FIGHTING this.

We want to thank everyone who has been praying for us and has been so supportive during our hardship. We are beyond excited to be on our way out of this tunnel.





 

Muffin Man.

I'm surprised Miles hasn't turned blue like the Oomps Loompas from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. This boy loves blueberries.


Yesterday morning he was up earlier than usual...so we decide to make (blueberry) muffins for breakfast while we waited for the rest of the house to wake up.

 

My babies.

My babies don't look quite like babies anymore. When did this happen? I'm not quite sure.

I've been dying to get photo of the two of them together for months. The last photo of them both looking and both smiling was 11 months ago.

This was long overdue...but the wait was worth it :)

 Harrison @ 52 months

 Miles @ 17 months

 Thanks to Doug (daddy) for grabbing these last shots. I'm trying to get in front of the camera once in a while.

 

Money has no real value.

When all you can do is cry is probably time to write.

The realization of unemployment has hit me like no other. I'm so angry and sad at the same time.

Tonight I decided to take my feelings on a drive only to realize that if I keep on driving I would run out of gas. Running out of gas means I would mean I would have to fill up the tank of gas with money that I don't have.

I have never hated anything in my life as much as I hate money. I hate the fact you need money to keep you insured and healthy, money to keep the lights and heat on in your house, money to buy groceries & wash clothes. I hate money.

I found out about a week ago that my unemployment ends early next month (the pay out is only 26.5 weeks), "ironically" that is the last night I have slept in more than a week.

But it gets better...

Eight days ago I found out Doug's unemployment is being appealed by his former employer. His case was set to have a hearing last Monday, but his former employer failed to issue the documents on time and the hearing has been reschedule.

I can't even begin imagine where our family would be with zero income.

I never knew what just how extreme anxiety could feel like until now.  I'm trying to hold it together, but you know what, this is for real and damn scary.

I just keep looking at our beautiful boys and praying to God on his plan, "everything happens for a reason."

Please God, I am ready to not be so scared, angry, and sad. I want to be the wife and mother my boys deserve.



 

Miles @ 17 months

A monthly update a day early? I must be sick...UGH... really I am :(. I'm doing what I should mom... I am resting, taking Tylenol and getting plenty of fluids.

Thank goodness our Miles has been pretty healthy. He's had only 2 ear infections in 17 months. Harrison had 14 in just over a year when he was Miles age. That just sets him a side even more from his big brother.

It's so amazing how different each child can be. Miles and Harrison are complete opposites minus the food...There is no doubt about it, our kids LOVE to eat! :) (Harrison's much, much picker now, but at the age...yes food).

I've never seen a kid that loves to dance like Miles. This boy can shake it...he's like the white version of Will Smith. I tried to sneak a video in the other day, but when the sight of the iPhone is present it's an overwhelming surge for him to play with SIRI. I'm starting to think SIRI was invented to entertain a toddler; it's the best app ever.

Books....Any and all kinds. "WATCH OUT" he will push you right over to get on your lap and let you read all of  3 pages, get up, get a new book. It's about a cycle of 5 until he moves unto something better for the time being.

I am obsessed with the fact he is using words! COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY OBSESSED! (Harrison was delayed in speaking until age 3 and then boom something took off and now he's never quiet).

Words he says on his own:
"All done"
"More"
"Yah"
"OK"
He will repeat:
"Momma"
"Dadda"

It seems like such a small vocabulary I know... but we are totally ok with it. As second time preemie parents we are all too familiar that every child is different and reaches different milestone at different times. Miles is doing great things :)

He understands a lot of what we say. When bath time is over he signs and says "all done." I ask him to take out the train and put it away, he follows. The same with picking up dirty diapers to throw in the trash can along with several, several messes he makes per day I tell him "pick it up & put it away." I almost forgot mention if you mention "outside" he gets just as excited and Violet puppy and runs to the door to open it.

Coloring is probably the one of the coolest activities. I don't know if he enjoys coloring more, or just sitting at the grown up table not strapped in a high chair, whatever it is, he totally digs it. He loves foam soap and markers in the bath tub too and it's even better now that he doesn't have to taste it every time he uses them :).

Speaking of the bath tub....I think we have overcome the bath tub fear for like the 5th time I swear. There isn't much that scares this boy, but this sure did. Back story is I was filling up the bath tub and set him in it and he turned on the shower nozzle and water came out of the shower head. This made bath time quite traumatic for the last month at least.

He's growing and growing fast. I can't believe every time I look at this child he's grown another inch taller. Sadly I had to go through more clothes bin totes and sort spring/summer wear. The good thing? His cousin is getting some adorable clothes. The bad thing? I can't stop him from growing up. They say you hold on to your last child and they will always be your baby...I totally get it. It's not certain he will be our last and I am pretty sure I probably mention this every post---even though I have sold/given away all the "baby" stuff I am can't we are "done" right now, even in the current situation we are faced with. The risk for pregnancy complications, another surgery and likely another premature baby it's a little scary when considering adding to our family. What I do know is we will see what the future holds for our family.

We are all getting excited for spring....and with temperatures soaring in to the 40 & 50s we have finally got outside to shovel snow, push around the lawn mower and wade through puddles... and take some adorable official 17 month photos (because who knows if he will sit long enough for his 18 milestone session). I've learned to take what I can get.