DISCLAIMER: Yes, I know it’s been months and months since my last update. There have been too many bizarre and overwhelming changes in my life to even begin to tell you why it has been so long. Let’s just say that I’ve had this written for at least a month without being able to send it out. So here it is… the long awaited May/June/July/August/September addition!

What a great summer it was! It’s gone by so fast and was filled with so many fun things. We celebrated Memorial Day with our relatives in Ann Arbor. Ethan really likes “big Allen” because he has fun toys, a whole room with legos and the Spider-game (a Nintendo game where giant spiders attack)!! Ethan was a little video game junkie for the weekend which was really fun for him and totally justified my decision to NEVER get a Nintendo at the house. I have so little self control with video games (just ask anyone who saw me in the middle of my Zuma phase) that I don’t think we’d do anything else. David and I went to see Wicked the musical in the middle of July. It was a great show and reminded me how much I like live theater. Got to get me some more of that! Ethan and I took a trip up to the Wisconsin Dells for vacation in late July and were joined by my sisters and my new brother-in-law. Which leads me to the REALLY BIG event of the last couple of months….

Alli and Dave got married!! It was so fun! We (the bridesmaids) had our bachelorette party for Alli on June 24th. It was really low key, just like Alli wanted. We took her to one of her favorite restaurants for dinner. We had delicious food and then checked into a hotel for an old-fashioned slumber party. There was no stripper, just like Alli wanted and MUCH giggling which is just inevitable. After a game of wedding trivia, stories about Alli and a Mad Lib that made our sides hurt from laughing so hard, we called it a night. Fun fun! The next weekend the guests started arriving. The S's hosted a wonderful rehearsal dinner at Gino’s East. It was so fun to get to see people that had traveled from all kinds of places (even FRANCE!) to celebrate the upcoming nupitals. Sunday, July 3rd, was the wedding – the ceremony was beautiful, the bride and groom were all smiles and the ring bearer did NOT spike the pillow at the end of the aisle like he had in rehearsal. Whew! Then there was the dinner and the party! They served the best shrimp that I ever remember having. Ever. SOOO good. Then dancing, talking and basic party party party until they kicked us out. The whole thing was just wonderful and I couldn’t be happier for Alli and Dave as they start their new life together. My biggest relief about the whole thing was actually finishing their present on time. Last year, in a fit of inspiration, I decided that I would build them a grandfather clock. From scratch. In my spare time. WHAT WAS I THINKING! I finally ended up enrolling in a Thursday night shop class starting in January because it was just not getting done in my non-existent spare time. The structure helped a lot as did David’s commitment to me that he would watch Ethan on Thursday nights as did Mary Jane’s (Ethan’s paternal grandma) volunteering to take Ethan for my occasional workdays. I put the finishing touches on it the Friday before the wedding and breathed a huge sigh of relief. And it turned out SO great! I couldn’t be happier with the end result and only a select few will ever know all the places I screwed it up and then fixed it. It will be a long while before I start another project that big. So Sheila – you are NOT allowed to get engaged any time soon!

We’ve had a hard couple of months here at the F house. I realized not so very long ago that, between making the clock, working full-time and taking care of Ethan that I have had almost no time for myself since Matt moved to New Mexico. I came to this realization when I just couldn’t seem to get a grip on myself with Ethan. He started acting out daily and I was being completely ineffective with him. It was a hard place to be and I got really hopeless and stayed there for a while. Thank goodness for great friends. After talking with a number of people about where I was and what was happening I realized a couple of things. 1) I can’t do it all by myself and have been trying to. 2) I needed an extended period of time off to get recharged again. 3) After that, I need regular, scheduled time for myself. 4) it needed to start immediately or it was only going to get worse. Thankfully, Matt has decided to move back to the area and came to take Ethan for four days. I got Ethan back after my lovely, extended break without him and felt fully recharged and with a new plan to start addressing some of the behavior that I had seen in Ethan that wasn't working for either of us. It is a huge relief to be back in charge – of myself and of my household. Things are still a little rocky as I write but, as always, I’ll let you know how we progress.

On the lighter side, Ethan is all-rescue-heros-all-the-time these days. Or maybe I should say Wescue Hewos. He LOVES LOVES LOVES them. I pretend to need rescuing in the pool so he can come and save me. He pretends to be Rocky Canyon whenever we see large boulders and jumps from one to the next. The box of RH goes everywhere with us in the car and Ethan has had countless adventures all over the greater Schaumburg area. He constantly asks to play the video games we have at home and often requests the movies (that come with the toys!). When it’s time to leave home, he says “Let’s rock and roll!” and often mentions urges he has to “bust things to smithereens!”. It’s really great and I love the toys and the message. Rescue Heros are some of the only toys out on the market where the characters don’t have guns and there is no fighting. There is no bad guy to get scared of at bedtime and it teaches Ethan to say things like “I’m bigger than my fear”. Ethan gets all his birthday presents from me on his half birthday, so Rescue Heros was an easy choice. I selected the URV (Ultimate Rescue Vehicle) and I don’t know that I could have picked a better toy. It walks, it talks, it’s got a grappling hook (a real plus these days) and it’s got a remote control so it follows Ethan’s every command. What more could a boy ask for?! I love knowing him so well – knowing what will really light him up and keep him entertained. So for the time being, it’s mission control around here and that makes me a happy mommy and Ethan a rescuing maniac!

Life today looks very different then it did at the time of my last update. I have a couple of big things to report.

First is that David and I decided to stop dating altogether. Things were good between us for a long time, even after we stopped being “pre-engaged” and decided to be “just dating”. And then, after a while, we just stopped working at it. It started to feel a lot more like we were friends just pretending to be dating. We sat down and talked about it one night and decided that we had reached the end. We see a lot less of each other now which is partly because of the change in our relationship status but also because David bought a house and now we live about an hour apart. It is weird not being able to just call at the last minute to see if he and the dog want to accompany me and the boy down to “goose poop” park. Or go swimming. Or walk to 31 flavors to have an ice cream picnic. We enjoyed a lot of fun times – as a couple and as a trio. I’m glad to be leaving the relationship with a sense of gratitude and knowing that I am a better person for our time together. Some people have asked me if David is going back to Florida since things between the two of us didn’t work out. The answer (right from the horse’s mouth) is “Hell NO!”. He tells me that he feels like he should have been born up here instead of the sweltering south and has no plans of leaving the Midwest any time soon.

The other big thing that has changed since my last writing is that I bought a house! Holy cow! I’ve been looking since the middle of June or so. I did some research on the internet and some driving around and got an idea about where I wanted to live. Then I started looking. And looking and looking. We saw all kinds of places and it became clear to me pretty early on that I wanted a single family home instead of a town house. It was tough going for a while – the places I could afford were just not all that interesting. I switched realtors in the beginning of July and things started to pick up. Then, in late July I found it! I put an offer on the house Thursday, July 21st and had a signed contract by the end of the day on Saturday. It is just beautiful!!! Built in 1927, it has three bedrooms, one bath, high ceilings, tons of light, hardwood floors, two car garage /woodshop, lots of room to play, and kids in the neighborhood. It’s two blocks from the beach on Crystal Lake and right next to the bike path that takes you pretty much through the whole town. I closed on August 25th and couldn’t be happier about it. I’m writing from my beautiful office in the sun room in back and I’ll have all kinds of pictures to show you of my new nest as soon as I can find the camera. Okay – it isn’t all that bad but we are in no way ready for pictures. I can’t wait to share it with you!! Until next time...