The "After Christmas Exhaustion"

Let me just begin by saying that both Jennifer and I had an absolutely incredible Christmas. Last year, Mady was more or less a stagnant blob in a blanket (I say that in the most loving and adoring way, of course). This year, she was a wee bit more involved. Let me just clarify, she was an amazing joy to watch. She loved the lights on the trees, interacting with all of our family and friends (yes, we had 7 Christmas gift exchanges/parties/events that we were at in 7 days) and opening gifts. Having a beautiful wife and daughter changes everything during the holiday time. It adds dimension and depth and love that you just can't explain to someone that is single. For those of you that are parents, you know exactly what I mean. It also means added stress with neglected naps, grandparents that spoil and indigestion from all the amazing food. Oh my goodness. Even I gained weight. I'm sitting on the couch this morning exhausted. I'm so tired. More than that, I am so glad that I took the rest of this week off. I'm sorry if you have to work these 3 days. I saved my vacation days so that I took today, tomorrow and Friday off, and coupled with New Year's, I will have 11 straight days off and will have only taken 3 vacation days. Yah for me.

Ok, I'm done with the formalities. Down to the good stuff. First of all, Mady scored. She got all the typical neat books/toys/clothes stuff and she got this really cool real pink piano from my folks. I put it together this morning. It's pretty cool. She loves banging on it already.



She also got a itty-bitty new micro-suede Chicago Bears recliner from Jenn's folks. She loves it. It's down by Fred now. We can be friends.

She also got a 40cc gas powered 4 wheeler. The little sucker flies! We drove it around on the driveway yesterday at her folks. I drove, she road, and cackled the whole time. It will stay down in Mattoon, much to my disappointment. Jenn's dad drives it down the drive to get the mail. (If you listen real close to the video... you will hear Mady cackle as she and I are coming back towards the camera!)




I ended up going out last week and getting a pearl necklace for Mady. Needless to say, she won't be touching it until she's about 16. I think I'll add it on to our home owner's insurance policy...

My folks ended up giving me a Tomtom 510 GPS for my car. I was absolutely blown away. Dad and I drove in to town to test it out. Although the back roads in Charleston tested its upper limits, we made it to the coffee shop and back without getting lost! It can play MP3s through my radio, answer my cell through a blue tooth and fry up some eggs. J/k. I still haven't figured out all the bells and whistles yet. I'm pretty stoked. (I was recently offered a promotion with my job to move onto the sales team along with consulting, so I will be going to lots and lots of new places, so it's going to be super handy now). Jennifer got me The Office seasons 1,2 and 3, which I'm most excited about. Lots of other fun things, however I also got an air compressor for the garage and a leather executive chair for my office and a gift certificate for a new suit at S & K.

She's too good for me. We have so many, many more memories to share, but I'm getting tired. Maybe I'll add more later..

I'll let Jenn add her thoughts on the last week, but I'm sure they'll mimic my sentiments, that I'm so thankful for all of friends and family that made this Christmas most extraordinary. We are so blessed.

Oil Change

So the Bettingers, about like everyone else, are pretty busy at this time of year. From having our Fusion college ministry at our home last Tuesday (which was a blast, by the way), to Jenn's Girl's Only group coming over, gift exchanges, friends and family functions, it's enough to wear you out. I'm glad that I did about 90% of my shopping around Thanksgiving, or else I'd really be sweating bullets right now.

We had a small gift exchange at our small group last night. Again, it was a blast. Good food, good fellowship, and good football talk. During the gift exchange, one of the first gifts that was opened was a box of 5 quarts of oil and an oil filter. A real prize for anyone that changes their own oil (I drive between 3 to 5 thousand miles per month, so count me in in that group). The standard is, is that you can steal a gift from someone else when it's your turn, but once a gift is stolen three times, it's considered frozen, and can't be stolen again.

The oil was opened, and all the guys looked at it. About 1/2 through the exchange, it got stolen, held for a few people, stolen again, however someone stole my hex set, so I was left without a gift. I stole the box of oil, and it was considered frozen. With my prize in hand, I beamed with satisfaction.

I had a slow day at work today (I work for the state, most of my clients are severly understaff at this time of year), so I decided to change the oil in the SUV and my car this afternoon. I already had a case of oil and a filter for my car, so I bought a filter for the truck (in exchange for the filter I got last night, so it was free). I found an old receipt in the truck from when I pulled into a Jiffy Lube. It was for almost $32.00. The oil and filter for my car I had found at a great sale, so it only cost me about $9.00. So, for 9 bucks, I changed the oil in both vehicles. I've spent $23.00 on the car before, so add both vehicles together, and it would have cost me about $55.00. Not a bad savings for about 45 minutes of work. Merry Christmas to me...

Locked up

As many of you know, I'm a consultant with the University of Illinois Medical Center - Chicago. I work for the laboratory outreach program (I'm based out of my home office here in Champaign). Our goal as a reference lab is to bring in new business and obtain new accounts (hospitals, dr's clinics, etc) that use other reference labs. We have around 500 accounts that send us specimens daily that they draw in house, but don't have the instrumentation to test the samples. We have an elaborate courier system that brings the samples to us, we run the tests, and then we send the lab reports back to each account. I oversee that infrastructure for all of our southern Illinois accounts (I have all of the accounts south of I-74 clear down to the tip of Illinois and I have Ohio). Many of my accounts are state-funded (ie. correctional facilities/prisons and mental institutions - yah, my clients are convicts and crazies...sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going.)

I was visiting one of these accounts, Vandalia Correctional Center, yesterday. Their network printer was acting up, so I did some troubleshooting and decided to replace the printer. I did my normal song and dance while I was there, however it took me a little bit longer than normal, and as I was leaving, something that hasn't happened to me before occurred...

Now, let me give you a little bit of background regarding correctional institutions. They are fun to visit. I get a little excited every time I go in there. You never know what you will see or hear. And believe it or not, I personally have a harder time getting IN to a prison than I do getting OUT. Weird, I know. I guess they figure most people have no business going in, and once you're in, all the guards figure I have no business being in there (especially in a suit and tie), so they let me out, no questions asked. I no longer need an escort to take me to the healthcare in the prisons, since I now possess a regional state ID, which was a long and arduous process to go through (it took me 9 months to obtain one). So, past the main gate or admin building, I'm on my own. I prefer it this way, as I've waited 20-30 minutes before for my guard escort to show up, who is in no hurry...which is pretty much the mentality for everyone at these places. Sometimes I will visit 3 prisons in one day, so add 20 minutes waiting on a guard going in and going out, and I've added an hour or two to my already long day. It's worth the risk...

This brings me back to Vandalia correctional. I finished installing their new network printer, I boxed up everything and was walking out, when the dreaded occurred. Now, I have to tell you, that Vandalia CC is pretty big. It's quite a hike from the main gate to healthcare. Cold too. So, I was walking out, and low and behold, they had closed and locked the gate, which at this facility, is my 1/2 point! Normally this is always open, or in the past, I had my escort and he could just unlock it. As luck would have it, I looked around, and I didn't see a soul. No one was around. I even did the "wave the arms and whistle thing." Guess they've seen that one before, because no one noticed, or cared. I think they must have gone on lock down. I looked around, panicked and said, as Jesus is my witness, "Ok, let's see, how can I get out of here..." No kidding...and then I realized that this prison is decades old, and MANY, MANY other men have thought this exact same thought, the only difference between them and me was that I wore a suit and had a state ID.

Finally flagged down a guard, and he apologized for my inconvenience.

Christmas Time Fun!

Isn't it interesting that the same week we got our Christmas Tree was the same week that Mady decided to start walking? She's actually been doing well with the whole "leave the tree alone" thing. She is obsessed with lights - any type of lights - especially the Christmas lights. She wasn't too interested as we were putting up the tree but once Dad plugged the lights in to make sure they worked, she was all over them! She started to laugh and she quickly crawled over so she could touch them. She was even more excited when Daddy was putting up lights on the front porch. She stood at the front door and watched him very intently, pointing, and jabbering the whole time. It's really cute to watch her face light up when I turn on the mini Christmas tree in her room or when she gets up in the morning and walks into the living room and the tree is already lit. It puts a huge smile on my face. What a joy that children bring. I can't imagine life without this precious little girl! Every day is a new day but every day is definitely exciting! I love you, Baby Mady!!!

What I heard from the bathroom....

For any of you that are parents - you'll understand this post! For any of you that aren't, it may gross you out!!!!

This past Thursday night we decided to give the Mad-ster a bath. Recently she's started to scream when we put her in the big tub so I've been sticking her in the kitchen sink - which is actually easier on the back anyways! I got her all ready, got the water ready, threw in a couple of measuring cups for fun, and stuck her in. She went to town splashing and throwing water everywhere, like usual. She loves to splash! I then decided that I wanted Mark to take over and so we switched places. I started to clean up dinner and then I went to pick up the bathroom... That's when it started. Here's what the dialog sounded like:

Mark: "Wow! She's tooting...like a whole lot. There is alot of bubbles.. blup, blup, blup..."
Me: laughing
Mark: "Whoa she's still going. It's like it's nonstop."
Me: laughing harder
Mark: "She stopped for like 5 seconds and now she's doing it AGAIN!"
Mark: "Now she's PEEING"
Me: "How do you know she's peeing?"
Mark: "Cause I see pee coming out of her"
Me: laughing
Mark: "Gosh, she's tooting AGAIN!"
a break in our conversation - I'm laughing too hard and he's talking to Mady about how she is farting way too much!
Mark: "AHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHH! MAAAADS! UGHHHH!"
Me: "What's the deal?"
Mark: "She just pooped in the sink!"
Me: laughing "How do you know?"
Mark: "Cause she reached down between her legs and picked some up!!!!!"
I was laughing uncontrollably for about 5 minutes.

I came out of the bathroom to find Mark holding Mady by her armpits with a towel around her. She was smiling and having a grand ole time. I chose to take her and put her clothes on while Mark cleaned out the sink! Gross! It was definitely disgusting! The sink got a good cleaning and so did my measuring cups!!!!!!

Gotta love kids! Are we allowed to tell this story when Mady gets married???

Video of Madalyn walking

Mark posted a bit earlier about Mady and how she has begun to walk. This started a few days ago. Now she's pretty good about walking... but only if she's already standing up (playing with a toy or something). Otherwise she realizes that it's still quicker to get across the room by crawling because she's pretty fast. Here's a video of her the first day that she really started to walk more than one or two steps at a time. It was a pretty amazing day! We were so proud of her!




By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!! It's the BIG 3-1! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Sledding!

It snowed a bit on Thursday night so we decided to take advantage of it yesterday. You never know in Illinois how long the snow will last and if it'll even snow again this year. After lunch we bundled Mady up in her new snowsuit, hat, and mittens, and even her boots. She was laying on her back as we dressed her and she reminded me of the little boy in "A Christmas Story" - she was so puffy that she couldn't get up on her own. We took her outside and put her in her sled and pulled her around the yard. She LOVED it! Every time we would stop to rest she would rock back and forth as if to say "let's go." Mark pulled her around for quite awhile - she was laughing and giggling the entire time. It was so cute! Eventually we took her over to the driveway and we would push her down the hill on her own. She was laughing so hard. Mark stood at the bottom and video taped her. The cutest thing was when she sat at the bottom of the driveway waiting to go again. She said "please" using sign language. It was just funny watching her rub her belly with a big ole snowsuit on and huge mittens! We were outside for about 20-25 min before Mark and I started to get cold. We picked her up and put the sled back in the garage and she started crying. She wasn't happy that it was time to quit. It'll be fun to do it again soon though. She had a blast!

Arise and Walk!

Well, it is starting to happen. The zany, the crazy, the unthinkable. Mady is starting to walk. Daddy's little girl is growing up! It was actually quite entertaining. She thought it was hilarious. She's taken steps before, but not like this. Before, she would take a step, and maybe another 1/2 a step, and plop down. This started maybe a month or two ago. She's always been able to walk down the couch and grab things and hold on and walk, but never without aide (or a psychological crutch, as I like to call it).

I got home from breakfast with the 'boys today, and Jenn met me at the door with the Tot on the hip, and she was like, "Come show Daddy what you can do!" (Usually this means that Mady has learned where her ear is at, or the light or she filled her drawers to overflowing and Mommy wants Daddy to change her). What I saw was way cooler than filthy drawers from the fussy bucket.

Jenn sat down, stood her up, and away she went. It was serious walking (as opposed to funny walking, or jay walking or walking the dog, juaquine phoenix, or hot wok ). She took about 10 steps, in succession and then plopped down. She definitely needs a motivator though. At this point, I think her MO would rather be to crawl. Holding a book, or a candy bar (or a hot dog or mountain dew) or something like that out in front of her definitely helps. What she wants, she definitely goes after.

None the less, it was an extraordinary moment. I was glad to have been there. There are some advantages to working at home. Besides, I'm not driving today...it snowed like a 1/4 of an inch, and state employees don't drive in the snow. I started planning on staying home today on Tuesday when I HEARD about snow coming on Friday...

DVDs, TVs, Computers, Phones and a Remote

Ok, so I'm sitting on Fred hanging out with Mads this morning while Jenn sleeps.

We've known from the beginning that Mads likes electronics. It's a given. From the time she was knee high to a grasshopper (which wasn't that long ago) till now, she's liked anything with lights, buttons and noise. She loves my laptop. She'll sit on it when it's closed, and if I'm working on it, she comes up, and does this hilarious thing where she will peek around the monitor, and start to cackle. Then, around comes the arm and these manic fingers start to push every button that she can reach. It was really funny at first, but after she almost made my hard-drive crash with all the programs she opened, it started to get old.

Just a minute ago, she grabbed her other two favorite devices, my cell phone and the Dish Network remote, congruently. She likes my phone because if she hits the "on" button, her picture pops up, and she thinks it's funny. (Oh no, she realized I'm typing something, and here come the fingers...) Ok, we got that stopped. She's entranced with my phone again... So, she likes to pretend she's talking to someone on my Treo. She has this fantasy with phones. I dunno. She also has this on going urge to chew on my phone. It's no wonder my "B" and my "0" don't work anymore.

(Notice in the background, she got all kinds of fun toys for her birthday, and what is she playing with? Her cell phone!)

So, she started something new this morning. She grabbed the TV remote and pointed (here comes her fingers onto the keyboard again). Argh. Ok, so she grabbed the remote and points it towards the TV and pushes a button, and then waited. Pushes a button, and then waited. She's wanting to watch Dora the Explorer! I was like, my one year old knows more about electronics then I did when I was in Junior High! Then I started to think about "the good old days."

Growing up, we didn't have computers, DVD players, satellite or cell phones. We had one phone in the house and it had this really long cord on it, so you could sit at the table AND talk on the phone. It was great. Our TV consisted of 2 dials and this big antenna that ran up the side of the house (which was nice because it was a perfect ladder to get up on the roof if a frisbee got thrown up there). We had about 9 stations, 2, 3, 10, 12, 15, 17, 27, 51 and on a really clear day, 38. I was often the one chosen to switch the channels. (It's rough being an only child). When there was nothing on TV, we really meant it (unless you wanted to watch reruns of McGyver and M.A.S.H).

So, here we are today with the luxuries of electronics. Cell phones, satellite, wi-fi, high-def and laptops. I dunno. I guess I'm like Mads. I like the buttons and lights and things that make noise. One more confirmation that Dr Jarrett didn't mix up the embryos...

Madalyn's First Encounter with Santa

Today I took Mady to Mattoon so that we could meet my cousin and her boys for pictures. We are having them taken for my grandma so she could have a picture of all of her great grandchildren together. It turned out cute. Anyway, my cousin had told me that down in the Home & Garden part of Wal-Mart they were doing free pictures with Santa. Now, that being said, I thought we would do great considering Madalyn has an obsession of sorts with Santa. Anytime we're in the store and she sees a blow up Santa or she sees something with Santa, she points and starts babbling and smiling. When we're at the mall and we walk past Santa, she laughs and even waves sometimes. So I assumed that she'd like the real one too... Not so much. My mom took her up to Santa - who by the way was the most unfriendly Santa I had ever met - but she started crying and turning away. So I tried but that didn't work either. Eventually I ended up sitting next to Santa with Mady on my lap. She held her new hair barrettes and I held her. It was a pretty neat picture though - Santa's "chair" was made out of a sculpture of 12 packs of Coke. They printed the picture out right there and the best part was that it was FREE! I'll upload the picture as soon as I scan it in! It was a funny experience!!!