I have returned...

Yes, I am back. For those of you (probably all of you) that were happier with the writing style of my wife, let me just say that I am sorry to disappoint. But this IS my blog. My wife mentioned that she did not want to have a blog of her own. She felt like she was correcting everything to try and make it "perfect." She has read my blog before, so I have no idea what she was worried about. Anyway, I was glad she wrote about the trip to Kansas City. I am still kicking myself that I did not go, yes I really am.

Now on to my thought for tonight. I have been thinking about this for a few days now. I have had many memorable days in my life thus far: the day I married my wife, the birth of my daughter, the day I was baptized, graduation from college, to name a few. But recently I experienced an event that few have the pleasure of experiencing, and even fewer who take note of the memorableness of the occasion. Last week, Abbie was sick with a stomach virus and twice I happened to be holding her when she vomitted. I am not talking about little baby spit up that you wipe away with a burp rag. This was empty-the-stomach full bore chunky clam chowder vomit. You know, there is nothing like the smell of stomach acid. I did not get hit by the full blast, but a glancing blow was enough. The thing that makes it a memorable moment is not that my daughter threw up on me (that makes it a humorous story). The thing that makes it memorable is how bad I felt for my daughter as she was as sick as I have seen her in her young life. I was unable to do anything for her except hold her over the sink as she finished up and then try to console her as best I could. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are very hard on the little ones, and unfortunately often just have to run their course. She is back to normal now, I am happy to say. But, I will not forget that vomit, believe me.

Abbie Meets The Wiggles

Hello! I’m Amber, Joby’s wife. He’s asked me to make a “guest appearance” on his blog to tell you about our recent trip to Kansas City to see The Wiggles Live. My mom and dad (Ralph & Janice Wilcoxson), Abbie and I all had an awesome time. Poor Joby—he couldn’t get off work to go.
We left for Kansas City Monday morning. After checking into the hotel, finding the concert site, etc., we decided to have a nice dinner out. Now, my dad is known for taking “scenic tours” (my mom’s phrase), so we got lost looking for George Brett’s restaurant. After about an hour, Mom and I were ready to call it quits and just go to Sonic when we finally found it.
We walk in the door, and LO & BEHOLD, I spot Murray Cook,The Red Wiggle sitting right there. I almost had a heart attack. We get to our table and I am so nervous and excited I’m almost shaking. Once I’m sure its him, I know there is NO WAY I’m gonna miss a chance like this. I check with the waitresses who are shocked, but agree that it must be him. So with Abbie in tow and my Dad trailing closely behind with the camera, I get up the nerve to introduce Abbie to MURRAY! I told him that we were in town for the concert and about how much Abbie LOVES THE WIGGLES. He was sooo nice. He asked where we were from, etc. Dad took a picture of the three of us (Murray, Abbie and me). After he took it he said, “Darn! I thought I was coming over here to take a picture of George Brett!” HA! Well, Murray and his whole table just died laughing!
(At the concert, cash was required to purchase souvenirs and I did not have enough. I tried to find an ATM machine and after a long search in another building, I still did not find it. I was wearing my stylish (uncomfortable) shoes and it was 15 minutes to showtime. I was disappointed about not finding an ATM, but was very excited about the show.)
After our exciting night, we were all more than ready for a great show. We would not be disappointed. (I was not-so-secretly hoping that Murray would call Abbie on stage since he "knew" her.-HA!) When we got to our seats we saw that in every one there was a little box of crayons and a paper Wiggles frame. How cool!

The Wiggles usually come on stage in their BIG RED CAR to the song of the same name, so when the song started-DO,DO, DO DO DO DO.......TOOT, TOOT, CHUGGA, CHUGGA BIG RED CAR the crowd went wild. I, for one, was completely star-struck. I mean, we watch these guys on TV everyday-most of the time several times a day. It was just so cool!
Our seats were right by the stage(on risers) on the right side, which just so happened to be where Murray spent a lot of time playing his guitar. Believe it or not, he did recognize us and pointed to us TWICE during the show. Our only problem was that we couldn't get Abbie to look at the stage instead of the big screen that was right beside it. But she finally got it.
I made a sign to take that read "Abbie Kay Loves The Wiggles!" Dad held it up, and, during the show Anthony read it to the crowd. (He usually reads the signs people bring.)
Mom finally talked me in to taking Abbie down front, on the condition that she go with us. So we sat in front of the stage and Abbie just loved it. We called out the Wiggles' & the Wiggly dancers' names and they would wave or smile at us. It was so much fun! I think Abbie was in awe. She would just clap and stare.
They sang all, or most, of our favorite songs. During songs like, "Hot Potato" & "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear" Abbie actually did the motions. When Anthony went into the crowd on our side, my mom snuck back there and got his picture AND shook his hand and met him.
Finally at the end of the show, the Wiggles ask everyone, including adults to stand and dance to a medley of their songs. We all got up and danced, BUT Dad really got into it. Sam, the new yellow Wiggle, even noticed him and was like "Yeah, cool.", and motioned to him. He seemed impressed that an "old man" was getting into it so much.-Sorry for the old man part Dad. By the time it was all over we were all exhausted
Well that's about it. I hope I haven't bored you with too many details. I'll say one thing. If you ever get a chance to go to a Wiggles concert-GO. I highly recommend it.

Getting rusty

I took a couple of pictures of Abbie this morning and one thing is pretty obvious, I have gotten rusty. As you can see, the pictures above and on the right are fuzzy. The one above was so bad that I had to make a "poster" out of it just so I could use it. I am going to have to work on the old photography skills again.

Abbie has started grinding her teeth. That is a habit that I never picked up. It just felt bad to me. My wife grinds her teeth once in a while (usually when I am antagonizing her), but mostly in her sleep. I do not like hearing Abbie grind her teeth, it is not a pleasant sound. It makes me afraid that she will break a tooth. Sometimes I feel like I shelter her too much and that I am too afraid for her to get hurt. It is just so different being the parent, I just want everything to be perfect for my perfect little girl. I guess I should wake up to the reality that the world is not perfect. That is why I want Abbie to know God, because without Him, this world would be very sad and absolutely without hope. Can I get an Amen from the congregation?

Is anyone still listening?

Well hello there to everyone still watching for my return. I would say that a few things have been going on, but since more than 2 months have past, I think it would be implied anyway. There is way too much to get caught up on in one blog, so I will try to make this brief. For starters, my good friend and co-worker left for Walgreen's just before the end of the year. I did not realize what a big deal it would be to me until his replacement started working. I guess when you jive with co-workers you just take it for granted and do not realize what a blessing it is. I have seen just how good I had it in these past two months. On top of the flu season hitting, we get our new pharmacist and he has struggled to say the least. There have been times that I have felt like I was carrying the Pharmacy and was not going to make it. I went in one day at noon and did not get caught up until 7:30PM that evening. That is not an exaggeration, just ask my wife. It has been hard to leave work at work when I come home. Sometimes I have been so on edge that I just want to explode on everyone. Unfortunately, everyone ususally ends up being my wife. She has been having health problems that just will not quit, so it has been a tough couple of months for her, too. Then, in the middle of everything, happy as a clam, is Abbie Kay. She is the best little girl in the world. She now sits at her little table to feed herself (and dump her water on the table). Her little smile makes it hard to stay uptight about work. Amber and I thank God for Abbie every day. If you notice the time that I am writting this, yes, I am up real late. I had a brutal headache this morning and had to sleep a good portion of the day to get rid of it. Now I am paying for the extra sleep. Anyway, I will try to get back into the habit of blogging. I hope someone still watches for me.