Catching Up on May and June

Sometime in mid-May, I finally felt confident that summer had arrived in Minnesota.  Being outside in shorts and a tank top felt marvelous, even when the humid air left my hair a frizzy mess and dirt stuck to my sweaty skin as I hauled mulch, turned over garden beds and dug holes for new shrubs.  The rest of May was devoted to bringing life and color back to our yard and on the last evening of the long Memorial Day weekend, I sat on the front stoop, tired from days spent in the sun, and watched the kids ride up and down the sidewalk on their bikes and wondered, had winter really been that bad? 

Spring brought a number of firsts for the season - outdoor swimming, park playdates, attempts at getting back into running form, mosquito bites, bike rides down to the river to splash in the fountains, the farmer's market, ice cream at Grand Old Creamery and adult rec league softball games.  As spring quickly gave way to summer, we settled into a new routine that involves going to bed way too late since the sun isn't setting until after 9:00 p.m. and letting housework slide since we'd rather be outside instead of staying on top of laundry and dishes.

As is always the case, summer weekends are so precious and few that they fill up fast.  At the beginning of the summer, Chris and I looked at our calendars to see if there was a weekend night we could take advantage of Andy and Danielle's offer to watch the kids so we could get out of town just the two of us.  We didn't find one weekend that would work!  We conceded defeat and asked Andy and Danielle if we could take a rain check for the fall.  

But then again, we have an unusually busy summer and the craziness hasn't even fully gotten underway.  Renovation of our house starts in mid-July and by the time the contractors finish sometime in the fall, we'll have a brand-new master bedroom with walk-in closet and master bath, laundry on the first level and a mudroom.  But until we get the finished product, we're going to see the roof and ceilings torn off the back half of our house and we'll end up bunking with the kids for part of the renovation.

We also have an au pair arriving from Germany at the end of the summer.  He (yes, he!) has agreed to come to Minnesota and be our au pair.  More so than simply being willing to sign up for a winter in Minnesota, he was undeterred about our unknown adoption timeline and knows that when he arrives our house will be a construction zone.  We were ecstatic when he said yes and are looking forward to his arrival.

Sick Kid Dilemna

Soren was playing outside a few night ago and was seemingly happy as could be.  He helped water flowers and biked with Chris and Oliver over to his aunt and uncle's house.  It wasn't until I changed him into his pajamas to put him to bed when I noticed that he felt warm, well, actually, really warm.  Turns out, his temperature was 102.5.  I gave him some Ibuprofen and he quickly fell asleep.  He gets sick so often that I hoped maybe this was just a fluke and he'd wake up happy, fever-free - and well enough to go to daycare. 

Intellectually I know young children get sick a lot. As us parents reassure each other, it's just a part of childhood.  But my gosh, between two children, I don't think a month goes by when one or both haven't gotten sick.  It seems like one illness blends into the next and I find myself asking, "Wasn't he just sick?"

One of the many hard parts about being a working parent of young children is trying to balance work and taking time off when your kids get sick.  Luckily I have a very understanding boss, a flexible leave policy and enough sick time to cover me for for the days here and there my kids or I need to stay home.  Yet still, I always worry about whether I'm taking too much time off or whether I'm leaving my co-workers high and dry.  And then I feel guilty about not giving my kids what they need when they're sick and that's a chance to stay home and lie low.  I remember when I was in second grade and got the chickenpox and slept in the back of my mom's car while she worked because she and my dad couldn't take time off. If my mom could have legally sent me to school, I think she would have pumped me up on medicine and sent me to school.


Soren's illness worsened later that night.  He woke up crying and with a fever of 104, which then caused him to vomit all over his bed.  A load of laundry and two hours of consoling a feverishly uncomfortable little boy later, we fell back asleep.  We wouldn't have to decide who was going to stay home with Soren the next day since Chris's mom happened to be coming over to watch the boys since their daycare was closed for a staff development day. 

It was the next day that the sick kid dilemma really rose.  Soren was feeling a lot better than he had the day before, but was still sick.  Like many daycares, our daycare requires children to be fever-free for 24 hours before they're allowed to return to daycare.  I felt that a dose of Ibuprofen would be enough to bring Soren's low-grade fever back to normal and that he'd feel fine as long as the medicine was still in effect.  But we also ran the risk of having the medicine wear off, have the daycare call us in the middle of work to come get him and then have him banned from daycare for another 24 hours.  I decided to keep him home. 

Even though Soren was fully back to his old self by that afternoon, I know that as much of an inconvenience as it was for me, it was the right decision.  We dropped Oliver off at daycare and then Soren and I had some rare one-on-one time, so being home sick had its upside.  He took an extra long nap and woke up feel of energy and finally healthy. 

Should you be surprised to know that Oliver woke up the next morning complaining he wasn't feeling well?

Our Plan Worked

Chris's brother and his brother's girlfriend thought we had invited them to live with us simply because they needed a place to stay until they could buy a new house.  Little did they know our ulterior motive.  We hoped if they stayed with us, they'd see how great our otherwise over-looked West 7th neighborhood is and they'd buy a house near us. 

At first, they placated us by looking at a house or two on our end of the city - but only after they struck out with the houses on the market in their preferred neighborhoods.  Meanwhile, while on a house search that took them to all corners of the city and even to some neighboring suburbs, they played with our kids at the park around the corner from our house, settled in at nearby coffee shops to catch up on work, made the short commute to their respective jobs during a late-April snowstorm, ate at local restaurants and drank at local bars, took evening walks along the same streets I push the kids in the stroller and basically made themselves at home here in W. 7th.  It appeared like slowly our neighborhood was becoming theirs too and I was sad for the day they would eventually move away. 

Then a house two blocks from ours went on the market.  Andy and Danielle saw the listing even before I did and requested a showing.  They toured the house the first day it was on the market.  They said they felt a huge relief practically upon entering because they knew their exhaustive house search had come to an end.  This house was "the one."  They closed and moved in a month later. 

The kids are going to be frequent visitors to their aunt and uncle's new house.

Our plan worked after all. 

This Is Me....

This is me being told I'm going to become an aunt.



Yes, on or about August 17, the Partenheimer family is going to get bigger.

On Christmas Day, I Skyped with my side of the family back in New Jersey.  I thought we were going to fill each other in on our Christmas mornings, but I was going to learn there was bigger news to share.  Scott and his wife, Stevie, had broken the news at our family's Christmas Eve gathering the night before and apparently they had spent dinner concocting their plan to surprise me.  They decided to videotape my reaction, which is how we have this still shot. 

I've always thought I could see a pregnancy announcement coming, but no, not this one.  They totally had me.  They always said they were going to wait a few years to have kids, so thinking that I was going to become an aunt any time soon was not on my radar.  So to say I was surprised - and delighted - is an understatement.     

My little brother is going to be a dad.  Wow.  More so than becoming an aunt, that will take some getting used to.