Guess what day it is…

“TRASH TRUCK…  FRI…FRI…FRIDAY!!” says the little man as he wakes up with the biggest smile on his face. Friday is Jackson’s favorite day because we have not 1, not 2, but 3 trash trucks that come to our house.

That smile and excitement first thing in the morning is pretty much an every morning occurrence in our house. Jackson sits up in his bed every morning requesting “Faffles”.  Faffles in our house means Waffles in other homes. Before his love for faffles, there were breakfast bars. That pure happiness first thing in the morning is something you wish you could bottle up sometimes for yourself or share with those non morning people.  Jackson has always been happy in the morning.  We were so lucky to have a happy baby that slept good at night. 

I used to be a morning person in my younger years, surviving on 4 hours of sleep ready to take on the day.  I wasn’t a Jamba Juice or Starbucks barista in your face morning person, but the morning kind that wakes up with a smile fully refreshed, ready for a conversation…unless I was really hung over. Hey…don’t judge…you were there once too.  When Sara and I first started our relationship I learned early on that she was NOT a morning person.  Sara took time to wake up, have some breakfast, mabye some coffee before she was ready for a conversation. I sometimes forget that until the morning snapper head reminds me.  Teeheee…I love the morning snapper head with her hair all tussled out of place.  I think it was when Jackson turned 2 and sleep started to become a struggle for him was when I started to lose my morning person self. The long nights that came often of me walking him up and down the hallway facing away from me and then working in front of a computer all day started to take its toll. I think when my morning self completely left my body was when Jackson started having seizures at night. I developed a sleep with one eye open with awareness technique and that morning person was forever lost.   

Even with a bright cheery 5 year old first thing in the morning, it is hard for me to find the joy in getting out of bed, but I do look forward to the mornings he wakes up before I leave for work. That means I get a good send off with a sticky kiss followed up with, “WUV OOOHHH, DAY.”  Translation: I love you, have a nice day. 

Happy Trash Truck Friday everyone….

Nana's home...

I recently started a new project at work that is sucking my brain cells completely out of my head by the end of each day.  I sit on a Bridgeline all day assisting contracted field technicians through upgrading laptops for the top producers of the company.  My team wrote a script an app that backs up copies all the producers’ data (documents, pictures, settings…) and restores all the data to the new laptop. I wrote the document outlining every step from running the script app to get the data, unplugging the old equipment, and plugging in the new equipment with pictures to help them get through it all. The document is very basic, written so any audience should be able to follow it or at least I thought it was.  We used this same documented process for the previous project in which we migrated 30,000 plus machines, I just updated some of the pictures.  Unfortunately the document is not fool proof from some of these techs and at times makes me question my abilities in technical document writing.  I walk the field tech through each step reading them word for word off the document they have right in front of them. Apparently it makes more sense when they hear my voice reading aloud to them then when they read the words off the paper themselves.  It’s not fun like reading Pete the Cat books to Jackson while singing and do fun cartoon like voices, it more like reading a TV instruction manual over and over.  That gets real old having to it multiple times throughout the day.  Then you throw in the fact that these field techs can’t plug in displays, USB devices, or the power adapter without guidance. WOW!  It’s a head scratcher to me how some of these techs are qualified for this job. By the end of the day my brain is complete mush…add in the extreme traffic all the way home I am more gone than a very dead zombie.

I pull into the garage, turn off the car, and sit for a brief moment taking multiple deep breaths before entering the house.  I definitely don’t want to take this rough day into my loving home and I wish this nagging headache would just go the <insert expletive here> away. While entering the key into the door I can hear the dogs going crazy as their toenails tippy-tap on the floor.  I can also hear Jackson jumping up and down.  I open the door, the dogs are right at my feet making it nearly impossible to walk in.  Jackson is jumping up and down, flapping his hands, then falling to the ground. 

“NANA HOME, NANA HOME….eeeeeee….NANA HOME” Jackson says. “NANA HOME, NANA HOME….NNNEEEEE….” If I don’t respond soon, Jackson’s will get stuck in this pattern like a broken record. 

“Yes Jackson, nana is home...  are you ready for a hug?”

Jackson starts to stand up “NANA HOME, YES! HAPPY…” hands are flapping as he starts to jump up and down.  This…this right here makes that long day at work seem like a thing of the distant past and it jolts me awake from my zombie like funk.  

“Are you ready for a hug?” I ask once more.  The jumping stops and his arms reach up for me.  He’s ready.  I quickly pick him up, I squeeze tightly as he puts his arms around my neck and lets go just as fast.  “Kiss” I say.  He quickly leans towards my face; I get one quick kiss in, and set him down fast. If I hold on too long, I get a head butt to the lip.  I treasure these quick moments, they are the best part of my day. “Can Nana take the dogs out now?” I ask.

“Nnneeeee…YES!” Jackson responds with hands flapping rapidly just before he takes off sprinting towards the living room. 

Nana’s home….