Just another example of the differences between men and women

Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars.  We've read the books, heard the experts.  There are indeed inherit differences.  I wrote about it this summer when an engine came down the street in the middle of the night and his was response was, "Oh, probably just a man down." and the snoring resumed.

I saw it again last week.

Strep throat has been going through my house, somehow hitting only the XXs of the house.  Probably because the girls' share a room, O still sucks her fingers (I am working on it) and I am their main caretaker, we all got hit.  O we discovered accidentally...we took her in to get her nose checked (from her fall before Christmas) and came home with a script for amoxicillin.  Wednesday, D developed a fever and horribly sore throat.  And last Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I ended up with a 102.7 fever and my throat on fire.  We are all on our meds and bouncing back.  Although, for a stretch of the drive down Friday, I wondered if I had rushed it.  Ah, well.  I was already more than half way there.

A side of antibiotics is always a nice way to start the day, don't you think!

Anyway.  I stayed home with D last Thursday, misery loves company, right.  My FF was just getting off shift. He drove two counties away to take the other three stooges to school for me, leaving the infirmary ward at home to rest.  With D you could tell when her Tylenol and Advil started to wear off and take effect based on her energy level.  I worked with her while attempting to sleep - not happening.  I was looking forward to my FF making his way back from the school two counties away so I could sleep.

Silly mommy, naps are for daddies. 

Yeah, there was no nap happening until well after lunch time when I got D to lay down and sleep.  She was miserable at that point, to be certain.

I finally got her to sleep when my hubby went to
get the three stooges from school.

Daddy, coming of shift had no issues ignoring the 1st grader and sleeping instantly.  I was hoping he'd nap in the living room.  Yeah, that was not happenin'.  After third request for something to drink or eat, I resigned and went out to the living room.  Made her lunch and rested when I could.    Daddy, slept right through it, never hearing any of it.  I am not surprised or even angry.  Had he been the one with the strep dx, you can bet he'd been sure to be sleeping his way back to health.  Ah well, he made dinner and picked up/dropped of the kids.  Not really complaining.  I just wish I knew the secret...

Spread the love to your muppets and firefighters.  Fight to keep those New Year, New You resolutions.  Enjoy your week.  FFs, stay safe and come home.

Oh yeah...by the way...who are the Bears playing this weekend??  Oh, you mean their not playing this week, they didn't make the play-offs??  They're done??  So sad... <evil snicker>

One thing that I just realized I am tired of...

Every Fire Wife has her complaints.  Some hate holidays alone (well, most) others hate kids concerts, others don't like doing _______________________________________ <<<<<< insert what you hate doing when your FF is on shift.  

I have figured out what gets my goat when my firefighter is on shift...

I hate watching the Packer games alone.  I am a rabid sports nut, who counts down to 2 dates in the sports world.  Pitchers and catchers reporting (43 days btw) and opening day of training camp.    And I need to listen and read and discuss and debate and...it sucks watching so many games alone.

Sometimes I go by my dad's or he comes here.  But most times I am watching it alone.  Screaming at the TV alone.  With no one to complain about the last bogus call, except my Facebook/Twitter/Blogorama world. 

And that is getting kind of old.

Ah well.  I can hope that he has a busy night full of silly calls that he really didn't need to go to and misses the game.  It will make me feel better about being the crazy lady talking to the TV.  Well. Okay, maybe not.  I do hope he gets to watch the entire game with no sounds of tones in the background.  Then I can give him a hard time about all of my tax payer dollars going to him watching the dang football game without me!

Ahh, well.  

Half an hour until kick-off.  All the laundry is done, girls' room cleaned, community areas cleaned (notice I am not mentioning the boys' rooms...just sayin') and I am so ready for some football since the Houston/Cincy game isn't doing much for me right now.

Go Pack Go!

So I guess The Beast will have to keep me company.

The Fire Family

I am indeed blessed.  I love my husband.  I love my job.  I love my kids.  I am even so lucky to have a fire family right next door - on the same shift.  It is like having a built in support network when there was a gas explosion that left two of our guys - including a BC - severally injured and we weren't sure where ours were. Or the Temple Shooting when she called me from the hospital she was working at to ask if J was okay and I was totally OBLIVIOUS to what had happened. Or when there has just been an insane shift on the home front, we will take the others' kids so that they have a few minutes to run errands or to just breathe without having a little person all up in your grill.  Makes life so much easier.

I have found much solace in other fire wives, because they get it.  Some have been amazing and I have met through this blog.  Others I met through Facebook. I am part a few fire wives groups on Facebook.  Some of the conversations are making me feel old.   I am seeing a bit of a generation gap with some of the younger wives and girlfriends and stay out of those conversations and tune out of those pages.  But every once in a while there is a conversation that I jump in on.  The one this weekend was women in the firehouse. 

All of the insecurities of a new wife and girlfriend were rearing their ugly head and it was really bothering me. I was married to an elementary school teacher for all those years.  Talk about a shark tank.  That was not my favorite environment and I know for a fact there were teachers that did not understand where the boundaries were.  I would trade the firehouse ANY day for that world.  But nonetheless, it comes down to trust.  You have to trust your firefighter.  There are women in EVERY field that will ignore that little hunk o'gold on your husband's left hand, so you can't lump all female FFs into that category.  If you are feeling uncomfortable, you need to have a heart to heart with not only your FF, but also yourself.  There are only 2 reasons to be jealous - because your FF is stepping out (or thinking about) on you (and that is on him, just as much as the other women/FF) or you insecure with where you are.  If it is the latter, you really need to work on what you are unhappy with about yourself and either make them better or accept yourself.  I will never have legs up to there or a rack that gets noticed when I walk in the room.  Just a fact of life.  If you are not comfortable with yourself, that lack of confidence is what everyone will see and it will indeed cloud your perspective.

Later in this thread, another firewife said she was jealous of the time spent there.  They get to eat with him and spend time with him, when she is coveting that time.  This, I TOTALLY get.  We miss them.  On my end, I think I was more jealous OF my FF.  He gets breaks from the kids and adult conversation and quiet time to sleep when we are at school.  But to be jealous of the time that they spend with other firefighters, DON'T BE.  It may literally be what saves their lives.  That is the one thing we cannot let eat us from the inside.  It truly is a fire family.  Not always pretty, but it is your FF's other family.  Just like FF's cousin Ed drives you insane, you will not like all the FFs and Meds your FF works with, but you have to accept them as the Fire Family that they are.

Here is exactly what I told her:

Take the time to get to know the FFs your FF works with.  Take the kids in and drop off cookies or invite them over for a football game.  That is your firefighter's family, which makes them yours.

Kiss your firefighters and hug your kids, I am getting of my soapbox and into my Packer gear.  NFL season is upon us.  GO PACK GO!

Super Bowl XLV Baby

Go Pack Go!!

This could be a fun weekend

I am so glad that Friday is upon us.  I have a stack of papers that need to be graded and entered into my gradebook by Monday - 7:30 AM.  I will definitely have to schedule time for that, but the rest of crazy weekend is looking great.  I need some steam blowing off activities.  Tomorrow, after I clean my house, drop my boys off by my brother and my girls off by my dad, J and I are going to our first social gathering with E2 Blue shift.  This is my first time to put a face with the names.  I have met many of them on our various treks downtown - but mainly as they are backing in the truck after grocery shopping, running down to the weight room, heading off to do whatever it is that firefighters do during the day.  They are all kind of a blue blur in my mind.  If they came up to me on the street and said, "Hey, aren't you Halsey's wife?", I would think I had a stalker on my hands.  I am looking forward to figuring out who is who from the firehouse tales I hear every three days.  That and getting to be a grown up instead of Momma or Mrs. Halsey.  Will be nice to see that gal again!  ;)

Tomorrow is also the Packer game.  I am a rabid Packer fan.  I have had my shots, so although I will bite if provoked, you won't get lock-jaw!  So, Jeff has already prepared his crew for the fact that I turn into a guy during the game.  We have not gone to any of our usual Packer games this season - topic for  another day, as we seem to have drifted from some of our closest friends through this transition.  It has been Me, keeping the kids quiet so Daddy can sleep, attempting to keep me quiet so Daddy can sleep or just Me watching alone.  Not my ideal way to spend my NFL time, but c'est la vie, such is life in the big city.  I am so excited to not have to debate calls with myself, be the only set of eyes to look for fouls or trash talk with myself.  (Although I do have an on-going rivalry with an equally rabid Bear fan from La Crosse, whose family is currently stationed in Germany, to help with some of my football isolation.)  I am a guy in drag during football season.  And this year, I am SO glad to not have my countdown to Pitchers and Catcher reporting going, yet.  :)  I will tell you my ideal scenario - after tomorrow night, not that I am superstitious or anything.

Hard to believe this was 2 years ago.  Liv weighed under 14 pounds for her 1 year check up.
Her outfit in this pic is a 6 month set and she was DROWNING in it.

Sunday - which is why I need a clean house - is the big day for 2 of my muppets.  N will be 11 on the 25th and O will be 3 on the 19th.  We celebrate them together for the sake of our families.  They do get their own cakes.  And luckily N has been okay sharing is day with his baby sister.  I will be so happy to have my family together for the day.  Mind you -we are not the Cleavers and some days I wish to never have a family gathering with them ever again.  This year, we did not have Christmas with that side due to schedules and travel time, so I am looking forward to seeing everyone.  Absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

So, now that the baby is already in bed, I should be off to round up the other three stooges.

Amazing How Sleep Changes Things

Two nights of sleep and suddenly my outlook is not so bleak!  Funny how that happens.  New Years Eve was nice - we spent the afternoon/evening with my brother and his family.  Our nephew was heading back to his mom's on the 1st so it was nice to see him - when he wasn't in his room texting.  (Joys of a 13 year-old boy and his 14,000 texts per month!)  My firefighter was the grillmaster - made the best rib-eyes I have had in quite a while.  We had fun watching the boys make fools of themselves on Uncle Shaun's new Wii.  It was a nice night.  After we left their house, we headed downtown to E2 to get my laptop - J was not going to let that go much longer for fear of his life.  Checked in with the cub that was on that night and headed home.  Considering we did not go out - it was a really nice NYE.  Put the Muppets to bed - considering it was 10:30 - everyone was in very good humor!  And we headed to the family room with Netflix and Coke floats. (Jealous - aren't ya!)  Mind you Ladder 49 was probably NOT the best choice of DVDs considering where my head was at - but it was nice to watch a grown up movie with no kids around.

J's shift came up today, but luckily it is his PO day.  He could have worked, but it is the last Packer game of the season, Packers vs. Bears and he was not going to miss it.  The OT would have been nice, but I am so glad he his home.  We have Daddy home until the 5th - which makes life so much easier.  I am still not sure of this new life we have chosen, but at least now - I can breathe.  That makes everything so much easier to take!

So, on to the game.  It is do or die time for the Pack - play hard or go home literally.  More than the Post-season spot that is on the line - this is a pride game.  Da Bears - considering I teach 7 miles from the IL border and I have been talking major smack from across the ocean to an Army Wife friend of mine, I need the Pack to go Bear hunting just for my personal pride!  GO PACK GO!