A day in the life at the Gleason Zoo

On February 16th, 2012, Ken and I welcomed a son to the zoo! Hunter Kenneth Staskiewicz was born after 3 a.m., and here is the very beginning of his story... The kids and I had just moved in with my mother. Because of the flooding that occurred in the aftermath of the tornado, our home became a moldy mess that could no longer be tolerated by our family. Because we could not find a place big enough to handle all of us, Ken went to his Dad's with the dogs, my sister took our cats, and the kids and I went to my Mother's. It was a few days into our new living arrangement when I finally looked at a calendar, and thought, "Oh boy." I ran to Target that evening and bought a few generic pregnancy tests with the intention of testing first thing in the morning. Those who know me well know that I'm not a patient person. So, before bed that evening, I took the test. In less than a second, the test showed a POSITIVE result. My heart jumped into my throat. I couldn...

I know that I complain A LOT about the hour long drive to and from work. I know that this is only temporary, and that someday I will be back to my shorter route. Instead of complaining, I really need to appreciate the wonder of the landscape around me, because too many times I see things that are breathtaking, yet, do not appreciate them to their fullest. When you are bored with a long drive, try to find some beauty in the landscape around you. I was driving down Highway N, heading towards my mother's home in Schofield. Jamming to some tunes, I actually took a moment to take in the scene before me. The sunset tonight was a literal rainbow of color. It actually made me wonder if every sunset is a full palette of color? I'm not sure I've ever noticed this before. On the farthest horizon in front of me, the red was incredibly deep and dark. It reminded me of the deep colored bricks on our old farmhouses. That color mingled into a burnt orange, which burst into a b...

I've always known that life is short. But, I truly don't think that I've really grasped the concept until lately. Its enough to really make you want to share what you have within you, so that others will always remember what you had to offer. This especially goes for my children. When Bobby passed away, it was horrible. He was the closest person I have ever lost. I was trying to tell Cade a story that he once told to me, and I couldn't remember all the details, and it was sad, because I really thought I had been listening. I want to share my memories with my kids, and this time, I'm going to write them down, so the details will never be forgotten. This isn't a funny memory, but a memory of something beautiful; a scene and a time I will never forget. Even in my youth, I knew that I needed to imprint this memory in my head to last forever, and so far it has. Now its time to write it down for my kids to enjoy. I hope that I can give even the smallest ide...

This has been a wonderful few weeks to be living in Wisconsin. The weather has been nicer since fall started than it was the entire summer! Perfect, sunny 78 degree days with a beautiful breeze! Couldn't have asked for anything better as the kids and I traveled to Ken's Dad's home in Rhinelander. His dad lives on a beautiful lake in the middle of the woods. Most people had already packed their lakehomes up for the winter, so it was very peaceful without the FIB's!!! The dogs spent most of their time in the lake, and the kids both enjoyed watching them chase after their buoys. Alexa didn't care for the dogs shaking water near her after, but she sure loved to watch Bella sail off the dock. Bella is my Lab/Wirehaired Pointer mix that I got from a good friend. She is beautiful, sweet, loveable and very annoying most of the time, as she thinks she needs to be the center of attention for everything. I still love her to pieces though, and jumping in the lake ha...

Today, literally, has been the day from Hell.  The devil himself couldn't have arranged a better day for me.  For all I know...he probably did. It started off like any other day.  I actually woke up with plenty of time to get ready, yet decided to lay in bed until I had to rush to get everything done by 830.  Alexa wasn't cooperative with getting dressed or getting her hair done.  Then as I was getting my snack ready for the day, she grabbed the handle on the stove, causing the door to fly open, and her to fall backwards smacking her head on the floor.  A lot of tears and consoling later, I was still racing around trying to finish getting ready.  I was about 10 minutes late when I got into the car to head to work. I always call my husband on the way in, and since we are both stressed out, we managed to get into a fight.  Not exactly how I wanted to begin my day.  I dropped my daughter off at daycare and thankfully managed to avoid the day...

Well, its been a while since I have posted on here! I think I actually forgot that I had this blog site. I've been busy, and life has been in an uproar. So much has happened, so I think I will start at the beginning... In re-reading my last posts, as you can tell, I'm still here, and my ablation was a success. I've had some minimal residual issues since then, but nothing horrible. I've even managed to get off of my heart medication this last year. I haven't OK'd this with the cardiologist yet, but I've been feeling good. I mentioned in the previous posts that Ken and I wanted to start a family, and boy, has that happened! On March 29th, 2010, Ken and I welcomed a little girl to our family, Alexa Dee. She has been such a blessing. I plan to write up her birthstory on an upcoming blog. I also intend to write Cade's down as well, that way I have them somewhere, and I'm already forgetting details of Cade's....especially since its been over ...

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow...and to be honest, I have been feeling terrified for the last few days now. I've had this procedure done before, but I think this time there seems to be more at stake. Now I know that as part of the preparation, it is the doctors responsibility to explain all the risks involved with having the procedure done. I think my doctor was just TOO GOOD at that explanation, and I have been scared to death since. So many things can go wrong, as well as so many things that COULD be wrong. The thing that bothers me the most is that I wont know what has happened until I wake up. I could have a shiny new pacemaker when I awaken, I could have a huge scar because open heart surgery was needed, I may not wake up at all. Its beyond scary, and has now started to keep me awake at night. I'm trying not the forsee the worst, but I'm having a very difficult time. I've been praying, and hoping for the best, and I hope my family and friends all do the sa...