Time Off?

It is becoming blatantly obvious that Meggan and I have differing views on what "time off" means. Today was a great example of this grotesque differential. In short, here was my list of things to do today when I woke up:

- sleep in
- play new Wii
- write
- go to the gym
- watch tv, possibly a movie
- relax

Here, apparently, was Meggan's list:

- wake up early
- create a list of chores to monopolize Randall's day
- wait until Randall settles in for relaxing day
- surprise him with list
- clean out closet that nobody uses
- decide today is the day the garage MUST be cleaned...not tomorrow...and CERTAINLY not the following day
- move all things on the left side of the garage to the right side of the garage
- move all things on the right side of the garage to the left side of the garage
- check in on husband to make sure he isn't accidentally relaxing - not on my watch
- determine despite its relatively small importance, the wrapping paper needs to be placed in a bin
- go to Target to find bins that hold wrapping paper
- curse all people who thought of these bins before they were all sold out
- ensure the majority of the relaxable portion of the day is over
- have a lovely evening with my family


*note - despite my complaining, I actually do realize Meggan is the only reason we get anything done in this house.

Just like that, Christmas has come and gone. In so many ways, it seems like Amelia just got here and now she has already celebrated her first Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, it played out much more memorably in my head than in real life. Amelia recognized that it was Christmas about as much as I notice when Meggan is wearing a new sweater or as much as Meggan notices when I cut the 5 remaining hairs on my head. She had only a very slight interest in unwrapping gifts and even less interest in playing with the gifts once they were opened. So, other than the shiny bows she repeatedly tried to eat, Christmas was just like any other day for Mia...any other day with a LOT of food and a LOT of people around. I suppose even if it didn't live up to my beyond realistic expectations, she got a little practice at opening gifts so she'll be ready when her 1st birthday rolls around in under 2 months.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all the readers of the blog! We are visiting family this weekend, so the blog was/is going to be limited. I'll leave you guys with a short snapshot from my weekend. On the way down, I had one of those moments where you feel you are actually watching the movie of your life more so than living it. I was driving, Meggan was in the back seat of the car keeping Amelia occupied in her car seat. This gave me a chance to peek in on them in the rear view mirror while they had no idea. The car was basically driving on autopilot as I watched Meggan sing the Christmas carols from the radio to Amelia. She was all smiles. It was a brilliantly satisfying few moments for me to see my beautiful wife completely immersed in joy and laughter with my daughter. I am thankful to have been lucky enough to soak in that time rather than let it pass as it so often does. It was a great reminder to me of what this whole thing is all about. I hope you all take advantage of the limited chances you get to watch and appreciate as the snippets of your story unfold for you.

All I want for Christmas

Dear Santa,
As you probably already know, I've been a good boy this year. For this, I was hoping you could bring me one present- an immune system for my daughter. I promise you no gift could be better. If this is out of the question, can you please just arrange for her current ailments to go away. This would include both ear infections, any complications from teething, a loss of appetite, a bout of pure fussiness, and today's recent development...a full body rash...Yes, a full body rash. This is SERIOUSLY getting old. If I don't get this by Christmas, Santa, I might as well start misbehaving because clearly being good hasn't done anything for me.

Sincerely,

Me

loooooong day

Well, it was confirmed by the doctor today that Amelia is suffering from ANOTHER ear infection. This time, to go all out since it is the holiday season, she has infections in BOTH ears and is starting to cut a tooth. Yeah, she's a real treat to be around. In the last 24 hours, she has decided not to eat, has thrown up, has had a constant fever, has screamed her head off, and has had almost zero sleep. I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow. If not, I may be the one screaming.

It takes all kinds

I had to sit at the car dealership for about an hour yesterday waiting on some service to be done and I'm telling you, it could not have felt more like being at the DMV. I'm not sure if I could have picked a better people watching crowd. There was:

- A man who looked to be in his mid 30s watching Home Alone on one of the TVs...and laughing hysterically.

- A lady who was at least 70 picked up the newspaper, thumbed through it, pulled out the Sports section and sat down to read it.

- The guy next to me got up 4 separate times to fill his bag of free popcorn and proceeded to crunch it loudly enough to be heard for a 15 feet radius.

- A different grown man, who spoke broken English at best when speaking to the mechanic, was watching Babar on the other TV....and laughing hysterically.

So, while I typically hate sitting in waiting rooms, I was pleased to find this one came with its own built in entertainment.

Thanks

The war in Iraq just became real to me. It crept into my home over the weekend and it will likely never leave. A few days ago, I went to see my nephew, who is being shipped over to the Middle East in the near future. While it may be a popular sentiment to question whether or not we should be fighting, nobody can dispute the fight we currently have at hand. Brave soldiers such as my nephews (another nephew leaves for Navy boot camp in January)have decided to risk the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the greater good. On their shoulders, they have taken the burden of our freedom. In a reality of costly measures, they have offered up their livelihoods as collateral. There are not enough words to describe the gratitude every one of us should feel toward these men and women. They will face constant dangers. They will be separated from their friends and families for months, if not years at a time. And they will work tirelessly day and night. All this, to give us the opportunity to feel safe and secure, to watch our little ones joyously play, and to sleep well in our warm beds knowing they are out there protecting us. For this, I can only think to say Thank You and ask that God watches over each and every one of them.

Day Off 2

How do I know I am cheap? ... because I stood outside in 40-something degree weather at one of those spray hose car wash places because I didn't want to spend $15 to have it done for me.

How do I know I am an idiot? ... because I spent almost $14 at a hand spray car wash place in 40-something degree weather to avoid spending $15 to have it done for me.

Day Off

I have a very rare day off today in which I am not working, not tending to a sick baby, and not sick myself. Sure, I have a million things to do around the house and around town, but that is a pleasure compared to a normal Monday. So far, I have already learned two things about having relaxing days off...

1) Don't bother trying to get an early start, all the little shops you wanted to go to are not open early. There is no need to go to the bookstore to read or write until 9 and you can forget about renting a movie until 10. Seemingly, if you are the kind of person who wants to sit around writing or watching movies, you are supposed to be a slacker who sleeps in.

2) Apparently, women have a different dress code than men. I saw at least two different women in Target in their pajamas - pajama pants, old t-shirt, fuzzy slippers. These women did not appear to know each other in any way. Thus, I can assume that on two separate occsasions this morning, someone decided it was perfectly fine to leave their home under no state of emergency and go to a public place in the clothing they slept in. Because these were two women, they looked cute, free spirited, etc. However, had I gone out in my pajamas, people would have thought I had escaped the mental ward. Advantage - women.

Deeeelicious

Tonight, I caught my daughter, who is quicker than she looks, attempting to eat a kernel of dog food. This did not make me proud.

On the road

This weekend, we have driven down to Atlanta to see some family and wish my nephew well as he prepares to depart for Iraq. So far, Mia has been a very good traveler. We left the house last night around 6 and she was already fed, bathed, and in her pajamas. So, she took a nice little nap on the way down. Today, Meggan went shopping while Mia and I spent the day with Grandma. I'm certain Meggan was in constant concern over the well-being of her child. However, to her surprise, Amelia survived the day and is doing well. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but I suspect it will be more of the same.

Sophie: Listen baby, I think we need to really start treating each other better since it is getting close to Christmas
Amelia: What does Christmas have to do with anything? Even if Santa doesn't bring me a bunch of stuff, I have dad wrapped around my finger.
Sophie: Yeah, me too, but Santa brings some sweet gifts.
Amelia: You too?!? You are lucky he lets you still live in the house. One word and I could have you gone.
Sophie: We'll see who gets the better gift from him. He's the one who bought me this designer collar.
Amelia: What's designer about that piece of crap?
Sophie: Well, I don't mean to talk over your fashion head, but, it's Christian Louboutin...that's why it's red.
Amelia: Yeeeeaaah, and that smell isn't coming from my diaper. Get serious, dude. Dad is too cheap to buy you anything designer. He'd probably just spray paint the bottom of a pair of shoes for mom before he bought HER Louboutin's. What a sucker.
Sophie: I'm a sucker? Well, why don't you try this on for size....those "panties" you've been wearing. Those aren't Louis Vuitton. Dad just went through them and removed the "U" and the "S" from a pack of cheap LuVs diapers. Haha. They aren't even Pampers.
Amelia: Well, color my face red...a lot prettier shade of red than that cheap ass collar of yours.
Sophie: Santa heard that.
Amelia: Dad didn't. So, I'll be juuuuust fine.

Cough it up

It is shortly after 6a.m., why am I blogging? Well, you may remember from a few posts ago that I don't have the easiest time going to sleep. That problem extends to any time I have to get out of bed and thus must return BACK to sleep. This morning, Mia wanted to test that theory. She has been coughing her head off for a few weeks now. We've been to the doctor and they say to let her cough it up. The only problem with that is it makes it very hard for her to sleep because she coughs herself awake...then cries us awake. Needless to say, this morning was an exceptionally strong bout of coughing. The only difference today was she had the timing of a well choreographed ballet. She cried, we got up to check on her, hold her, soothe her back to sleep,etc. I stayed up a bit just to make certain she was okay. After all signs were clear, I drifted back to sleep. Roughly 10 seconds later, here come the cries. Once it became obvious she was not going back to sleep this time. I headed downstairs to get her bottle. Upon my return to her room...she was out like a light. By this point, I was a little frustrated and a lot awake. I decided to go ahead and head to the gym before work. As much as the idea of early morning workouts pains me, it would be a good use of my limited time. Shirt. Check. Pants. Check. Socks. Check. Shoes. Check. Kiss Meggan on forehead. Check. Quietly sneak down the stairs. Check. Grab snack. Check. Begin to open door. Cough Cough Cry Cough Cry NO check. Damn. So, I headed back upstairs, gave her a bottle, and she sweetly drifted off to sleep (after taking 3 breaks during the feeding to break into applause). I'm glad she is finally getting some sleep, but I wish she had either let me go back to sleep, feed her the first time, or head to the gym. Instead, I decided to write a quick blog - which became not so quick since I have had to go help her back to sleep 2 times while writing it. This cough has got to go...or I am moving out.

A round of applause

In a week of growth, Mia has conquered another small hurdle. Yesterday, she started clapping her hands. We've been trying to get her to clap for a while now. She previously only waved one arm in the air. So much so, that we had actually accepted this as her version of clapping. As it turns out, she wasn't way ahead of the curve with her own style. She was just taking her sweet time to learn the new trick. As many of you know, my beloved Gators decided to go take a crap on the field last night. In the past, this would have been a real mood killer for me. However, Amelia has gone a long way to put it all in perspective for me. Thus, even in the eyes of defeat, her little applause gave me all I needed to cheer about.

To teeth or not to teeth?

Picture a baby tooth. Now, take away 99% of that tooth. Okay, if that little speck of a tooth you are left with were mostly hidden with only a small portion of it sticking out, that would be what Amelia has. Coupled with this microscopic miracle are all the symptoms - low grade fever, fussiness, chewing on things, etc. So, she is either teething or is just catching her now standard weekend illness. I suppose we will know sooner rather than later. Either way, Meggan and I are preparing for a rough night.

Tonight, I stared at this blog screen and for the first time, I had nothing to say. It is one of those nights where my mind is being dominated by two points of focus that have no place on the blog. So, tonight, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who read the blog, and a particular thanks to any of you who comment on it either publicly or privately. This blog has been a blast for me and I think in time, it will serve as a great reminder for me of this great period in my life. To fulfill your Mia fix, here is a short list of some of her recent developments:

- eating cheerios
- pulling up to a stand anywhere and everywhere - the couch, her crib, the bathtub...
- briefly standing without holding anything
- crawling on her hands and knees
- completely and utterly avoiding having any sign of any teeth
-

Inspiring?

Soooo, I just watched The Biggest Loser while paying bills. I'm pretty sure those two items combined to put me in about as low of a state of mind as you can get. I now feel completely out of shape and poor. Awesome! The contestants on the show just finished running a marathon. Yet, I'm pretty sure I broke a sweat checking the mail earlier today. Also, I can't say for certain, but I am starting to doubt my dinner choice of four chicken tenders and a Little Debbie Christmas Tree cake. It seemed like such a better idea before I watched the show.