The Bari Blog

Changes

2008-11-22T16:03:00.004-05:00

Wow, everyone changes so much so quickly. Gretchen is growing like a weed. She moving around and grabbing on to things. She's even started to grab onto her gym to help her roll over. She hasn't gone over yet, but she's almost gotten to her side. She's starting to laugh too. This is a cool age.

Tyler is so much fun. He's enjoying all the things he doesn't remember from last year. Halloween was so much fun. Now he's talking about Christmas and Santa Claus a lot. It's so neat to see his little mind working. He is such a smart thinker... and a talker. Man, does he talk. Sometimes he doesn't stop talking. But it's so cute.

Here's his first picture of a person. Not to bad for a three year old!

Below are some of the family pictures we got taken together. I'll try to get Halloween pictures next time.

Time Flies

2008-10-11T17:40:00.005-04:00

Wow, it sure does... Gretchen is almost 11 weeks old now. I'm gearing up to go back to work on the 20th. I really enjoyed my time off with the kids. I think it was more fun this time around because I could do more things (like go to the zoo with someone who will see the animals)

and go for walks and stuff. Although having two kids, that made some things a bit more difficult--like going to the grocery store on my own. We've had a blast though.

Gretchen is changing more and more every day. The day she turned two months old, she started smiling. My heart melts every time I see it. I have a picture from my sister, but I'm on the wrong computer, I think. I can't seem to find it here. I will post it when I get the chance.

Tyler is turning three next weekend. He's amazing. He talks up a storm in full sentences and amazes me every day. He loves his little sister to death and always wants to hug and kiss her if someone else is holding her. And gosh, he's so cute!

Well, that's all for now. I'll post more pictures later, if I can. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my last week at home.

A few more photos

2008-08-12T13:39:00.004-04:00

Here's a couple more photos I wanted to include in yesterday's post but didn't get the chance. This first one is one that my sister took in the hospital. It's our first family photo with Gretchen. I love this picture! (Thanks, Nease!)

This next picture has become somewhat of a bedtime routine. It's so adorable, I had to take a picture of it. Even this one doesn't show the heart-melting moments we feel every night at bedtime.

We take Tyler upstairs to get into bed, change his clothes, then he (and we) sing "Jesus Loves Me" to Gretchen while she lays in Tyler's arms. We used to sing this to him before she was born and now we're all singing it to her. My heart melts every night when I see him hug her while singing, then he kisses the top of her head and says "Night night, Baby." It's so sweet.

Keep checking for updates... I'm off for another 10 weeks, so I plan on posting often (we'll see if that really happens or not....nap time will be more important for a while).

New Gretchen Photos

2008-08-11T15:20:00.005-04:00

Well, she is two weeks old today and doing amazing. Gretchen is gaining weight like she should, sleeping well at night (knock on wood) and is the joy of all three of our lives. Tyler loves her... he asks where she is every time he wakes up. It's so cool to see him loving her like that and not asking to send her back :)

Here are a few photos I've snapped in the past week or so that are my favorites.

This is Gretchen in her preemie outfit. She got a couple that just fit her when we got them but are already getting small on her.

Here are the happy siblings. A lot of people say they look alike... What's your opinion? I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong.

Her shirt pretty much sums it up...

This one is from today when we were getting ready to go outside this morning. It was a little chilly, but I thought this was too adorable not to photograph.

That's about it for today. It's my first day home with the kids by myself and I actually got time to do this! It's been a good day so far...

Baby on board

2008-07-30T11:03:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to announce the birth of the newest addition of our family. Gretchen Kristine Miller was born on Monday, July 28th at 11:02 am. She was a week earlier than planned but we welcomed her with open arms.

My contractions started Sunday night about 1/2 hour apart, then progressed through the night. At 5am on Monday they were 8 minutes apart. We called my doctor and since I had a c-section scheduled for the next week, she told me to go in right away to be checked. We made all then necessary phone calls to family and eventually made our way to the hospital. It turns out the contractions were not laboring contractions (although they felt pretty painful for me) but between her heart rate deceleration and the fact that I had a section scheduled anyway, the doctors decided to go ahead and perform the surgery so I wouldn't have to go through all that just to come back again the next morning.

Gretchen was 5lbs 9 oz, just one ounce lighter than Tyler was, and 18 inches long. Tyler was 19 1/2, so she doesn't look as scrawny as he did. She's still pretty tiny though.

This whole experience is amazing. To think that she was in my belly two days ago, and now she's here. And to think that my body has known how to take care of this little baby for the last nine months and even now that she's here. God certainly knew what he was doing when he created life.

Tyler seems to love his little sister so far. There are some adorable pictures of them together floating around (if you took one, email me!) Everything is well and we should be coming home from the hospital tomorrow. The only access I have to pictures right now was my cell phone, so that's where the one above came from. When we get home I'm sure we'll be sending out a nice montage of pictures. Stay tuned!

Waiting and working

2008-07-12T15:39:00.002-04:00

Just over three weeks to go, at the longest. We still have a lot of work to do, getting things ready, but the list is getting smaller. Tyler is in his "big boy room" now and we're washing all the baby clothes and blankets and stuff. My hospital bag is packed and in the car, just in case.

With the average temperatures being in the mid 80's or higher, I'm definitely starting to feel majorly pregnant. My feet are swelling just about everyday. Not a ton, like I've heard about, but they hurt before I even leave the house for work now. My back has been bothering me a lot this past week. I sit almost 8 hours a day at work and everytime I get up I have to move pretty slowly in order to work the pain out of my tailbone/sciatic areas. It's quite humorous--I'm sure the guy that sits next to me laughs at the "show" every time. I've been trying to get up more often, but that doesn't seem to be helping either.

Other than back pain and feet swelling, I've been feeling pretty good. I've been having a considerable number of Braxton-Hicks contractions ("practice contractions" as they call them in pregnancy world). They're not doing anything except getting my body ready to go into labor. I could have them for weeks before anything happens. I thought Monday I was going into labor though. They were so often, I started timing them. One way to tell if they're real or not is if they are consistently apart from one another and if they start to intensify--neither of which were true. I had them anywhere from 15-25 minutes apart all day at work, but nothing consistent.

Work is going well. I've been training my replacement for about a month and a half now and she seems to be doing a great job. She'll be fine as soon as I'm gone and not her crutch anymore. I'm definitely looking forward to the 12 weeks at home and not working though. I saved all my vacation time in order to get paid for my time off and it's starting to take a toll, not having any days off of work. Soon.... :)

Well, I'm off to finish cleaning and getting baby stuff ready. Weekends are busy doing this, since I'm too exhausted on the weeknights to do much.

Six weeks and counting....

2008-06-24T20:29:00.003-04:00

Six weeks from today (or sooner) we'll be introducing a new little baby into this world. Our c-section is scheduled for August 5th. It's only four days before my due date. Tyler was five days early, so we kinda hoping that I'd go earlier than the 5th. Although we have so many birthdays and celebrations in the week before this, that I'm glad the baby will have his/her own day (I hope).

Are we ready? Not really. We've been trying to get Tyler's "big boy room" ready to move him into that so the baby can go into his old room, but things just keep getting in the way of us working on it. I've got most of his clothes moved, the ceiling fan is installed, but that's about it. And that's just HIS room. We've gotta wash all the baby clothes, pack my hospital bag and the baby's.... whew! It's overwhelming! Where did the last nine months go?

How am I feeling? Pretty good, believe it or not. This last trimester has actually been the best that I've felt the whole pregnancy. I'm really starting to swell though, in the heat, and that's not comfortable. Thankfully it's not really bad--yet. I can feel it in my fingers and my feet. Other than that, I'm not as exhausted as I was in the first and second trimesters. Weird, usually the second one is the best. Not for me, I guess....

Well, we'll keep you posted on how things are going with the baby. And no, we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. Tyler tries to guess, but it changes every time. Oh, and according to him, the baby's name is Ebenezer. Yeah, that's because Grandma Gayle (my mom) won't stop bugging us about what names we've picked (which we haven't really yet) so I told Tyler to tell her it's Ebenezer. It stuck. :) Six weeks (or less) to go......

Pictures

2008-04-29T20:51:00.006-04:00

I promised some pictures from the hospital and 10 days later, I have them downloaded finally. They are pretty sad looking, some of them. I'm going to try to post them chronologically from the day Tyler was admitted to the day he went home.

Here he is in the ER after being admitted and calming down from all the poking and prodding from nurses, doctors and student doctors.

Here is Tyler right after we got to see him in the recovery room. His arms are bound so he didn't pull any of the tubes out. Except that once he got used to them, they took them off and forgot to put them back on. He ended up pulling out his NG tube. Ouch. Mommy had to help the nurse put it back in at 3:00 in the morning.

Here is Tyler the day after his surgery (Saturday), wiped out, with his best buddy, Marty the Moose.

Sunday was a breakthrough day. Tyler was sitting up a lot. His face is so swollen here from all the IV liquids they gave him.

Here he is on Tuesday, in his cute hospital pj's and his Spiderman slippers. Doing better and better each day... He got his IV out this day.

This is day six in the hospital--the day he went home. Here he is in his pj's again, in the playroom. He seems pretty happy to be going home.

And he was. This is Daddy and Tyler at home now, doing one of their favorite things--singing.

And here's what his scar looks like after the steri-strip was taken off. Not too bad. He doesn't have stitches or staples to worry about. The doctor must have used the new medical glue stuff to close him up.

Tyler is doing great now. He's just about back to normal, although very clingy and wanting Mommy and Daddy a lot. That's to be expected though, after what he went through.

What a week...

2008-04-19T12:31:00.006-04:00

It has been a very hectic week around here. Tuesday night last week, Tyler woke up screaming in pain, and was up all night. We finally got it out of him that it was his stomach that hurt. We seemed to calm him down enough and he still wanted to go to the babysitters. Wednesday night was a little better--he only woke up once. So, he went to the sitter's again on Thursday. That morning she called me suggesting I set up a doctor's appointment for him because he was so lethargic and not himself. Normally, after two days I wouldn't bother, but he had gone through something very similar two weeks before so I called the doctor and set up an appointment for that afternoon. About and hour later, the sitter called me back and said she didn't want to alarm me but that he was pointing to the right side of his stomach and she was worried about his appendix, with the way he was acting. I let her know that I had already set up an appointment for that afternoon, since he wasn't doing so hot.

So, I took him to his appointment that afternoon and the doctor saw him. She checked his stomach and ears, mouth and such and said she wanted some tests done--x-ray or CT scan. She was going to call the radiologist to see what he suggested. In the meantime, Justin made it to the doctor's office to hear the rest of the news: she wanted us to go immediately to Toledo Hospital's ER because she was also worried about his appendix. Not only were we not going to St. Luke's, which was really close, she didn't want us to wait, she wanted us to go right now.

We took the long 1/2 hour drive to Toledo Hospital and got to their ER. Tyler had several nurses and doctor prodding him and poking at him. He got an x-ray of his belly, too. I heard the ER doctor say he was going to call the surgeon for his opinion. When he came down and saw Tyler, he said they were going to start him on antibiotics that night and then perform the appendectomy in the morning. Imagine our shock! The little research I did before his appointment told me that appendicitis on 2 year olds are so rare. Not only did he have it, but it ruptured too. They told us he could be in the hospital for up to seven days!

Friday morning the surgery came bright and early, first thing. When he finally got out, an hour and a half later, I was so glad to see my baby. He was groggy, but asking for us.

Each day in the hospital got better and better, but Sunday was the turnaround day. He spent a lot of the day up and about, in the play room and reading. From then on he just got better and better, and actually got to come home on Wednesday, earlier than we were expecting.

I have to admit, when we were told to go to Toledo Hospital, I was worried. I knew we'd get the best care, but I wasn't sure how the nurses would be. I was used to St. Luke's--small and personal, where I had Tyler. Toledo Children's Hospital was great. The nursing staff that treated us was awesome. After a long first night in a shared room, they went out of their way to get a room cleaned for us and to move us to our own room which we had the rest of the week. It takes a special person to do what some of these nurses had to do on children and I commend them.

Tyler is still recovering, but doing a whole lot better. He's still in pain, but only because his intestines are swollen and irritated. Other than that, his inch long incision and stomach doesn't seem to bother him.

I do have to thank all the visitors and calls we received on top of gifts and prayers. I don't think we could have gotten out of the hospital so quickly without all the caring family and friends' support that we have. Thank you!!!

By the way, we took a bunch of pictures from the hospital. I'll post some of those later.

Big Brother

2008-02-06T09:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been way too long. We've been so busy around the Miller camp that this is one of the last things on our minds. A lot has happened since July. But the biggest thing has to do with the title of the blog... and no, it's not a reference to the book 1984. It's a reference to Tyler.... yep, you guessed it. He's going to be a big brother! His little sibling (no we're not going to find out) is due on August 1st. We're so excited, even Tyler. He talks about the baby in Mommy's belly but sometimes says it's in his belly. It's so adorable.

It's amazing how two pregnancies can be so different. With Tyler, it was a breeze. This time, I've had it all--nauseau, irritability, emotional....everything. It'll be worth it though, when I get to hold my little one :)

I'll have to write more later. Just wanted to get this one out there.

First Haircut

2007-07-24T05:00:00.000-04:00

Yea, it's been a while since we posted....we haven't been keeping up very well like we said we would. Anyway, Tyler got his first haircut this past weekend at the ripe old age of 21 months. He finally had enough to cut. He was so good. Justin's cousin did it for us and Tyler just sat there playing with the water bottle while she cut.

Here are two pictures of how handsome he looks now with short hair.

Tyler is talking up a storm. It seems that we are the only ones that can truly understand him, but his vocabulary seems to double on a daily basis and the new words he uses seem to shock us everyday.

Well, here was just a quick post before I head off to work. Hopefully we'll both be more diligent in posting, but I doubt it. So enjoy your rare post for now.

Deanne

Picture Catch-Up

2007-04-18T20:46:00.000-04:00

I won't go too far back in posting pictures otherwise I am not sure how long it would take me to write and upload this single message.

I will do my best to give you a smattering of what we enjoy to get caught up and hopefully keep it going more regularly as Tyler gets bigger.

We bought this chair for when we go to the park and camping with a Christmas GC

CHEEEEEESE!

Notice the absolute concentration on our little virtuoso's face. He is TOTALLY immersed in the music at this point. Daddy on the other hand is busy playing human piano bench...

Once in a while, Tyler has to go in time out (usually because mommy is on the phone and he is mad she won't let HIM have the handset.) He obviously sits there like he is told for the most part, but he doesn't enjoy it. For the record, a few time outs for the phone thing and it isn't much of a problem anymore.

So, uh, is this supposed to be fun? Maybe if we didn't just go in circles in the driveway? (he really does LOVE wagon rides)

Mommy calls this the "First day of School" Picture. He is only 17 months old here, but hey, maybe he's ready for Post-secondary option right now.

Pull! Puuuullll!

Amazing how you don't need to turn on movies, TV or video games for entertainment when your dinner parties include your closest friends (5 couples) AND all of your kids (8 of them 3 and under)

Tyler is getting a head start with the ladies as he lets the Meyer twins who are 5 months older than him bring him his juice and dote on him while he lounges.

Tyler doesn't know who Thomas is, but this working train was the hit of of the visit to a Shipshewana toy store on our way back from an Easter visit with Aunt Neasey and Uncle Nate

This toy wagon is a bit more my size to pull around, huh?

Well, that gets us caught up to a last week. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Talk to you soon!

Yes, The Bari Blog still exists!

2007-04-12T07:52:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not actually being a blogger as of late.

Much is going on in our family and finding time to keep in touch via this blog always seems to fall by the wayside.

We are going to try and fix that by using this to share photos and stories about what is going on more often.

In the meantime, enjoy a shot of our Litte Buddy from a week ago or so at some friends house for a busy dinner party with many kids.

I have a new job right in town, so my travelling time is greatly reduced.

With spring on the way, we had been getting outside a lot more until the weather turned around and headed the wrong way.

The next few weekends are busy ones for us, so we'll do our best to keep you in the loop!

Hope you are having a blessed year up to this point, and drop us a line to say hello!

What a year!

2006-10-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

What a year this has been. I can't believe Tyler's one year old already. It seems just like yesterday, those 15+ hours I spent in the hospital waiting for him to come out. It is so worth it. I don't know what I did without him. Parenthood is so rewarding. Today I was singing our nightly song while holding him before I put him in his crib and he put his head down on my shoulder. It was so sweet. That's not something he does very often, but he seems to know when I need it.

We think his teeth are finally coming in.... maybe. He's been pretty fussy the past few days and his hand spend a lot of time on his teeth. He's also started this really cute smile. He'll wrinkle up his nose, which pulls his upper lip up. It's so adorable, but funny! I think he might be doing it to get his lip off his teeth. I might be wrong, but that's what it seems like.

He's not walking yet, but he's close. He's standing and holding on to things as he walks around. He'll let go for a second or two before he plops back down on the floor. I tell ya, when he pushes his walker around, he is so proud of himself. What a cutie!

Give a BIG cheer!

2006-10-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

Well, our buddy has had his first college footbal experience.

Tyler, mommy and daddy went to the University of Toledo for homecoming this past week and had a great time.

Tyler cheered on the Rockets (to no avail, they lost handily)

His birthday is less than one week away now, and he has changed so much. One thing is that he is still small. Unlike most kids, he is actually wearing clothes smaller than his age. He is just now starting to fit into the 6-9 mos clothing we have for him.

He is cruising all over the place (walking while holding onto things for those who aren't familiar with the parenting terminology) but he still doesn't have a tooth or much hair.

We'll let you know how his birthday goes next week!

One of those days...

2006-10-02T15:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days when I just couldn't help but stop, look around, and realize all that I have and am given every day.

After a long, busy week, Tyler, Deanne and I each found ourselves with no pressing matters to attend to on a Sunday afternoon. The weather was awesome (70 degrees and sunny) and the leaves are just starting to turn here in the Oak Openings region of Ohio.

I wanted to take a walk and after starting down the driveway to walk in the nearby streets with Tyler, I went back in the house to find Deanne and ask her to go to the park instead.

The coolness of the light breeze as we left the asphalt of the parking lot and crossed beneath the first branches of the trees gave an air of comfort impossible within 4 walls and a roof. Summer's heat and heavy air are slowly submitting to winter's eventual grasp, but the transition is gentle and amazing.

The sun was setting and as the flecks of sunlight danced against the shadows beneath the limbs of the trees, the undergrowth of ferns and grasses seemed to emit a deep, rich green that crayola can't make into a crayon. Whitetail deer, merely looking for an evening snack are as interested in sizing us up and down as we are them. A lazy bandit of a raccoon overcomes the natural reluctance to join the world of people and finds himself staring into a buffet in the form of trash can among the picnic areas since vacated by its short-lived visitations.

Walking along among a reality which was high definition before high-def even existed, I wished we had remembered our camera to try and capture each scene knowing that no pixel on a computer screen or ink on a sheet of paper could ever reproduce the hush of the light breeze through the trees, the scent of the leaves as they begin to make their retreat towards winter, or the heavenly glow as the clouds of pink and purple provide a backdrop for the earth-bound field of green silhouettes.

To share these views with those you love makes them that much more poignant, the colors that much richer, more vibrant. I realize no amount of wishing or hoping could re-create what the three of us were able to be a part of yesterday, but lucky for us that with patience, love and willingness, that time we shared will be only a single stroke in the painting of our lives.

With God's help and gifts, we can make each of our lives a masterpiece. Looking individually, each of our brush strokes could appear beautiful, like a walk in the woods with family. They could appear plain, unspectacular as much of our lives may feel from day to day. They can even be mistake-filled as any of us is capable at any given moment. Combined, however, they are able to paint a perfect picture of an imperfect being.

The Chorus gauntlet has been thrown down!

2006-09-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

In 1998, about a dozen men were hungry for more in the elite barbershop arena. They did something about it and formed the Greater Central Ohio Chapter better know for their performing arm THE ALLIANCE.

A couple of years and much success later, a different group of men had similar thoughts to the guys from Columbus, and started a chapter focused on good singing and quartet ideals in the Cleveland area called The Independence Chapter.

The Independence Chapter gave it's guys what they wanted. A place to sing better than they had before, learn even more, and get involved in quartetting. Their scores never threatened to displace any of the Johnny Appleseed District big three, but they were planted firmly behind them as the best of non-international competitors from the district.

A couple more years later, a third group of men once again had similar thoughts and decided to do something about it. Enter the Northwest Ohio Chapter. Formed with an accomplished choral director, and a goal to be among, and eventually THE best, The Voices of Harmony were quickly regarded as a possible threat by outsiders before they even took the stage.

Now is the time to live up to that public perception. The Men of Independence Chorus aren't going to go quietly into the night. As the scores show, they have taken the threat of being displaced seriously and have worked harder and performed the better than they ever have in the past. Their 2006 division scores are 5.5% higher than any division score they have ever posted and 6-7 points higher than their
chorus division competition average. Credit must be given to these men as they ask the question "So you think you are gonna just come in and knock us out?"

Answer? The Voices of Harmony has to step up. Beating Independence is a nice thing, but it is not THE thing. THE thing is the score. The group was formed with the intention (the expectation?) of becoming an A Level performing chorus. That means 100% effort and 100% participation from 100% of the members 100% of the time, including rehearsals.

Does The Voices of Harmony have a realistic shot at qualifying for the International Chorus Championship in Denver, Co next summer? No one knows. In fact, no one has any control over that.

What The Voices of Harmony DOES have a shot at is:

1. Each man completely giving himself over to the plan

2. Each man doing anything and everything he is asked to do by the musical leadership without question or comment

3. Each man stepping up and doing his part to make the chapter as strong as it possibly can be including volunteering for any required tasks both musical and administrative.

I worked my tail off to get this thing started and I am both ecstatic and continually surprised and elated that we are where we are. I am NOT, however content with where we have progressed to, and I see (as others do) the ability to be among the best in a hurry. We have 5 schuduled rehearsals before the District Competition. Can the group be focused, attentive and do everything we can to become disciples of the "plan"?

I can't wait to try, and I am confident in success.

New Sitter for Tyler

2006-09-16T20:40:00.000-04:00

Tyler's been going to his new sitter for two weeks now and she is working out great. He's doing awesome with other kids around and they love him too, which is awesome. Penny (the sitter) is starting to wean him from his binky already. She tries to do it to all the kids by the time they are a year old. We only gave it to him when he napped or was going to bed, but he's addicted. The past two or three days he didn't need it at all at her house. At home is a little different. Thursday was rough. He really cried and cried. Last night he did okay without it. Today at naptimes, I gave in after a half hour of him crying, only because I'm sick and needed to sleep too. Now tonight he did okay without it. He cried for a bit, then talked to himself for a long time. Then fell asleep without it. It's just going to take some time.

Penny also started Tyler not taking his morning bottle, but giving him milk in a cup. We've been giving him juice at home for a while, but I've noticed that he's doing a much better job lately with the cup. He's holding it on his own and everything. It's great.

I can't believe Tyler's going to be 11 months old on Monday. Time flies so fast. It's hard at times to think what we did without him. He's such an angel.

What exactly is a Priority? How do we decide what we spend our time doing?

2006-09-15T14:18:00.000-04:00

I have been puzzling over changes in my life and what my personal past was like for some time now. The birth of our first child likely has at least a LITTLE to do with any differences, right? ;^)

I guess, looking back at the different phases of my life and what I dedicated my non-working/school time to, I have been amazed by what changes there have been and what has stayed the same.

Of course, as many of you will understand, any "free time" has dwindled to the point of being less than I have ever had. I am probably years away from it going the other way, too, but I digress.

Case in point, we are in the midst of the beginning of another NFL season, and I have to confess that I can't tell you the names of the starting offense or defense of the Browns. Now, to most, that may seem like "Yeah, and what's the big deal?" (and you are likely correct.) But to me, that IS a big deal, at least compared to years past. Two years ago, I could have told you the names of all 53 players on the Browns roster and who was on the practice squad. No longer is that the case. Do I miss it? Sometimes. Not as much as I would have guessed before, though.

I have so few activities that take up my time nowadays compared to before:

- Work
- Deanne and Tyler
- Quartet and Chorus
- Church

There are so many things that have taken up my life and times that I don't do as much anymore or have gone completely by the wayside:

- Athletics as a spectator (football, hockey, golf)
- Athletics as a participant (Track coach and athlete, football player, golf)
- Outdoor activities (Kayaking, backpacking, biking, running)
- Drug prevention activities
- Computer and gaming stuff

Now, some of those things I actually miss a lot (mostly the outdoor activities). Others I don't miss as much, but I would be much better off in the health and well-being department if I could find/make time for them (athletic participation) but that time is not easy to come by.

Motivation and prioritization are such a strange thing. The true priorities sometimes lack the motivational backing to make them happen. I think I need to take a look at what and who I really want to be and re-evaluate accordingly. I am not sure I am going to like all of the conclusions I come to (Deanne may not either) but if I can succeed, my family will be stronger, my life and relationships will be more fulfilling, and I will be a happier, healthier person.

Easy to say, hard to do. I just hope my family and friends continue to be there to support me if I can be brave enough to make any changes that might present themselves. I won't be able to make myself better without them.

My turn

2006-09-11T10:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've been given access to blog to this as well. Most likely I will be the one blogging more often than Justin, but that's just our nature. I've never done this before so I'm not sure what I should or shouldn't write about. We'll see. As soon as I have time to play around or Justin shows me how, there will be plenty of pictures posted of Tyler and other things.

We've been so busy lately. It seems like every weekend there is something going on here or there. When there's not, we're still doing more work around the house. After six months, we finally got a gas dryer, but it's not hooked up yet, because we've only taken two trips to the hardware store.... One more and we should be okay :) What's another day or two after six months of hanging clothes on the line!

I can't believe it's September already! Tyler will be a year old next month. He's growing so fast and is so smart. I could write about him all day, but I'm working, so I'll write more later.

JAD Western Division Champions! (and Runners-Up, too!)

2006-09-11T07:33:00.000-04:00

In Second place, representing the Defiance, OH Chapter – The Northwesternaires!

And in first place, representing the Northwest Ohio Chapter – The Voices of Harmony!

That’s right, folks. Yours truly can take about 2.5% (1/40th) of the credit for each chapter placing at the top of the Western Division contest on Saturday.

The first place finish for NWO was especially exciting, as it was our first ever public performance and competition entry.

About 4 of us started meeting almost 2 years ago now with the hopes and dreams of creating something which would be focused on great singing, fun and success in contest and that dream took its first measurable step towards reality on Saturday.

We still have a long way to go before we realize the ultimate goal of international competitor and eventually District and International championships, but each journey begins with a single step, and ours was a respectable one.

I want to use this space to thank all of the people who have helped me take an idea and creating something around it.

First off, although she never will get any public recognition for it, this chorus could never have gotten off the ground if my wife Deanne had not only allowed me to pursue it, but also supported and encouraged me and all those in the group since I first started trying to get people together for it 22 months ago. She continues to stand by me through all aspects in my life, and I love her and our son more and more each day because of what they both mean to me.

A close second, and absolutely indispensable in the actual formation, leadership, and all-around creation of what has now become the Northwest Ohio Chapter is someone that I now consider a true friend, Mark Blake. Mark has experience, knowledge base, and most important a way with people that I don’t have. Without him, no matter my enthusiasm, drive and desire to make this happen, it could not have. Mark’s sharing of my dream has made the journey up to this point a reality, and his support both within the chapter formation process and in life has been such a blessing.

RD Mathey, our director may not have been one of the men with the dream at the beginning, but he has been an integral part of it actually taking shape. His passion for music and singing is evident each and every time we get together, and it would be hard to imagine where we would be without all he brings to the group.

I cannot overlook all of the friendships which have been formed or strengthened among the others who were instrumental in making this happen: Kim Lehman, Kerry Conrad, CC Snyder, Mike Hachtel, and Tony Torio.

Each member of the chapter holds responsibility for our initial success. Without the 40 men who have worked hard and given of themselves, this weekend never could have taken place.

I know that the journey is just beginning, and I will not be satisfied without continued growth and further success, but it is fun to take just a moment and look at what has been created and marvel at the selfless giving of each man or woman who has been involved.

6 weeks to District and lots more work to do…

First Post

2006-09-11T07:30:00.000-04:00

This is the first post to the blog. I don't know if I will keep up with it, but I figured I might try with all the things I could write about:

Tyler
Deanne
Barbershop Quartet
Barbershop Choruses
Church
Kayaking
Work
just to name a few...

So, I certainly have things I COULD write about, the thing is whether anyone would read it and whether I can keep up with it.

We'll see.