Ahhhh, morning

In the spirit of Teri Hatcher posting her picture online with no makeup or Botox to prove celebrities aren't perfect, Amelia wanted me to share her "first thing in the morning" look with the world as well...

A few pics

Here are a few pics from the last day or two...

Enjoying her "Bapple" while zoning out on some Sesame Street...



Listening to me tell her how much fun she is going to have at school...




I don't think she is buying what I'm telling her...

I'm a good dad......right?

I can honestly say for most of Amelia's 19 months, I have generally worked hard to provide the best I could for her. The most restful sleep, most nutritious food, toys that teach, etc. However, tonight, I really just didn't have it in me. I cast all of Mia's needs aside and took the easy road. Did I come home and cook her a healthy meal? Uhh, no. We went to....I'm ashamed to say...McDonald's. While there, did we opt for "healthy" options? Uhh, no. We got cheeseburgers and fries. Then, we gave a strawberry milkshake the two-straw, malt shop date treatment. I'm not going to go into details, but lets just say one of us doesn't know how to hold our liquor and ended up with a milkshake facial. Once we got home and I had a shot at fatherly redemption, did I take it? Uhhh, no. I gave Mia an apple to chew on for about an hour while she watched Sesame Street. She certainly loved every messy second of it. I just started to feel like I needed to put my headache aside and become a more active father. So, we switched from Sesame Street to a channel called Toddler Tunes, played with puzzles, and hokey pokeyed until we were both fall down dizzy. All told, it probably wasn't my worst night as a dad, and it actually was one of my most fun, but it definitely isn't one we can have all the time....or Meggan will kill me.

I am recording the Gator game tonight so that Mia can watch it in the morning. She was disappointed that she had to go to bed without watching it tonight. So, if any of you talk to her, please don't tell her the score until she can watch the replay.

thanks.

Diaper Wrath

Mia is having a tough few days battling through some diaper rash. I always feel bad for her when this happens, but tonight was particularly bad. She was already out of sorts with Meggan working again tonight. I'm glad they will get to spend some time together this weekend so she can get back on track. The low point tonight was when I changed her diaper and had to clean her bottom. It was completely blistering red and I had to try to calm her down as she kept crying "Nooooo. Noooooo. Mama. Mama". As a dad, I could not have felt worse. I immediately became so angry at the situation. I know everyone is doing their best to keep her cleaned and creamed. But, when your baby girl is writhing in pain, their best doesn't feel good enough.

Date Night

Mia and I got to spend the evening together tonight because Meggan [insert drum roll to emphasize importance and spectacle] is hosting a dinner for 300 very important people [End drum roll before Meggan gets an ego about it]. Since we had the night to ourselves, we decided we would have a nice father-daughter date. I took Amelia to dinner where she absolutely destroyed a PB&J and to thank me, she bought me an ice cream...and then proceeded to eat it. So, her grand total for dinner - 1 PB&J sandwich, 1 order of mac and cheese, 1.5 cups of milk, 1 bag of Teddy Grahams, several bites of my baked potato, 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream with M&Ms. God only knows how she is only in the 25th percentile in weight. While I feel like I haven't seen Meggan in a week or so because I've been out of town and she worked last night as well, it was great to be able to spend some quality time with Mia. We ate. We laughed. I asked her tons of questions. She repeatedly said "nooooooo". I couldn't have hoped for a better date.

Home Again

Well, my beach reunion is officially over. It was all I had hoped it would be. I was amazed at how easily we all fell back into place. There was an immediate sense of being back in college together - having a few drinks, competing at anything imaginable, and forgetting we aren't 12 years old anymore (which, coincidentally, recovering from the drinks and competitions served as a great reminder that we are indeed NOT 12). This weekend was filled with lasting memories - seeing screaming fire trucks blocking off the road as firemen sprinted to stop a brush fire from engulfing a house, watching 3 lifeguards pull up on their ATVs and dash into the water to drag a man to shore out of the harsh current, and screening the most disturbing, horrifically awful movie ever made...Human Centipede. Of course, as I mentioned on here, I missed Meggan and Amelia like crazy. Being one of only two guys there with a child, I think I was a little more homesick than most and I am certain I placed more calls home than anyone...but, considering what I left at home, could you blame me?

Off Topic

Today, I am going to deviate from any remote correlation to what this blog is normally about. I have almost never made a post that is not relevant to myself, Amelia, etc. Also, based on the fact that I am getting older and come across stuff about 6 months AFTER it is past its prime and already considered lame, I'm guessing I'm the last person to have seen this guy OR I may be the only person who thinks he is cool. That said, I came across him today and maybe because I am so pathetically musically inept...or because I have had about 12 hours sleep in the last 3 days combined, I find it fascinating (even though I don't care for his song selections). Enjoy...or just wait until tonight when I return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

I was right

Today was a great day with friends I hadn't seen in a very long time....and I still miss Meggan and Amelia immensely. Thankfully, I have a stockpile of old pictures I can pour over to remind me how lucky I am.

I will miss Meggan and Amelia so much, but...

On a Sunday in the fall of 1997, I loaded up my car and headed to my freshman year at the University of Florida. By Monday, I was so homesick I was seriously contemplating going home. A few weeks later, I was still struggling a bit when I signed up for an intramural flag football team represented by members of my dorm. This team was fairly unremarkable in terms of on field success. However, it is also where I met a group of guys I still refer to as my best friends. Throughout the last 13 years, I have seen these guys do everything imaginable. Most have gone on to get married, some have even had children of their own. There are engineers, coaches, pharmacists, and even a pastor. When Meggan and I made a conscious decision to move from Gainesville to pursue some things professionally, I felt no different than when I left my family to go to college. I missed this group as I miss my own brothers today. This weekend, for the first time in a long time, I am getting back together with my friends. I have been planning and looking forward to this trip for months on end. While I don't have any delusions about recreating the past, I can guarantee I will come home with lifetime memories. For a guy that is not overly excitable, I can hardly wait.

Must Haves

On Friday, I will be embarking on the 1st Annual (or perhaps bi-annual, tri-annual, or even last annual) guys' weekend with my friends from college. In order to accomplish this, I must squeeze in far too much work in far too little time. So, for tonight's post, I will simply leave you with a photo of the one article of clothing I WILL NOT leave behind this weekend...my lucky Gator socks. I can't risk the Gators facing Tennessee without them. Yes, they are hideously ugly....and yes, they are ridiculously awesome...

Bad with the Good

Amelia likes to fill our lives with all kinds of moments that make us want to hug her and other moments that just make us want to squeeze her...in a different way. Last night was no exception to the rule. She decided to start with a little mischief by way of emptying a package of baby wipes one by one and wiping herself down with them....



Later in the night, she more than redeemed herself by taking her first step toward full on big girl status....she tee-teed in her potty. It actually sort of caught Meggan and me by surprise, so we just looked at each other and then started dumping celebration and praise on her. You could tell she was very proud of herself even though she really didn't know what she had done. I'm not sure if this trend will continue or not, but for that one night, she was my little superstar.

Keep your eyes open

Any guesses as to what this is...



well, if you guessed the door lock on Meggan's parent's car that some jackasses broke into and stole from, you'd be correct. While we were taking Amelia to her favorite place to play on the slides and eat ice cream, some jerks were breaking into their car and taking a purse. According to the police, this has been a recurring problem in the area. Since this is a generally family friendly blog, I won't go into how I really feel about this. What I will say is that I absolutely despise dishonesty and I have very little regard for the people who did this. This wasn't stealing a loaf of bread to feed your hungry family. This was an attack on the vulnerabilities of decent people. This was a violation of humanity that makes you worry about where you take your children and robs you of the comfort and trust of the safety you deserve. Before I give these criminals any more time than they deserve or decide to follow through with Sophie's plan of staking out the parking lot and letting her give them a "good taste of bad medicine", I'll just say the only reason I even posted this was to remind you all that not everybody is decent, not everybody has pride and honor, so please protect yourself accordingly.

Visitors

When Amelia wakes up in the morning, she will be greeted by her Grandma and her Grandpa. There is really no telling how she will react as she is just as likely to hug them as run away. That said, she is guaranteed to have a great weekend playing with them and they are guaranteed to be reminded of how much energy an 18-month old has. I always look forward to having any family visit. But, when they leave, it re-energizes the discussion about how badly we wish we lived closer to our family...if only we didn't need to work and we could live in two places at once, we could make it happen! Until then, I'll just have to hope that I can convince my mom, my sister, my brothers, Meggan's parents, Meggan's brothers, etc. to keep making the trek to see us as often as possible.

Amelia's Stats

From her most recent checkup at the doctor....

Height - 50th percentile

Weight - 25th percentile

Head Circumference - 90th percentile!

....yep, she's mine.

WARNING: Crime Spree

I wanted to take a few seconds on the blog to deviate from the normal Amelia blog posts to focus on a slightly more serious topic. The area I live in is having a real issue with crime. It saddens me to think there are people running around that would take joy in bringing terror and destruction to lives of others. As a father, you do all you can to keep your family safe. You have alarms on your cars and homes. You lock your doors and buy guard dogs like Sophie. Yet somehow, even with the protection we have, we somehow fell victim. I have my suspicions that it may have even been an inside job. The only possible witness to the crime, Sophie, simply says "No Comment" when asked if she saw who did it. The only clues we have are small teeth marks, white and black fur at the crime scene, and likely rainbow colored poo in the yard. If you have any leads, please contact me at whythehelldoessophiekeepeatingameliascrayons@iamgoingtokillher.com

Halloween pt. 2

Sophie, not to be outdone by Mia's Elmo costume, now has herself prepared for Halloween as well.

Baby Girl

Here are a few pictures we took this morning before we started watching football all day...I was happy to finally get one without her being a foot from the camera trying to eat it.

Better recognize

I will save you the suspense and potentially protect you from harm....if you see the following face, be prepared, because while she may appear cute, you are on the brink of getting dealt with...

Fantasy Football

Tonight, I did my first ever Fantasy Football live draft. I have competed in Fantasy Football a few times in the past, but I had never done a live draft. I can tell you, this thing was neither lively nor a fantasy. I love football as much as the next guy...and that is assuming the next guy needs to go to rehab he is so addicted to football. That said, I feel like I just put in extra hours at the office. Maybe it was because I wasn't in a room full of beer drinking guys with piles of wings and chips. I was at home making my picks online while the other guys were across the Southeast. All I know is I do not get the hype. So, sorry for skipping any Amelia posts tonight, but I was too busy watching paint dry on my draft board.