A fungus among us?

We had our house inspected for mold tonight. I'm not concerned about it, but we felt we owed it to Amelia to explore all possible reasons for her recurring illnesses. I haven't gotten the results yet, but I do know he was able to find some green stuff in my dining room... Luckily, he was able to get rid of all of it... Unluckily, that particular green stuff was all of my money.

Babysitter

Amelia has decided that not only does she no longer have to go to daycare, but she is actually ready to take on babysitting a few children herself. Here, she is practicing her diapering skills on Bolt and Mittens.

Change is Good?

As I was sitting at my desk today thinking about Meggan, Amelia, work, life, etc. I came to the realization that in many cases there is a bitter irony between the relationship of being a father and a husband. The irony lies in the fact that some people will have to change the type of husband they are in order to become the type of father they need to be. Now, this certainly isn't the case for everyone. I would even say it isn't really the case for me. That said, I am at a stage of life where the majority of the people I know are either starting a family or are squarely entrenched in parenthood. So, this is a situation I may see in action.

My view of marriage and the obligations that come with it is probably slightly different from most. I know several people feel marriage comes with a great responsibility to your spouse. I actually feel like dating comes with all the responsibility. First, there is the responsibility to be honest with the people you date. And secondly, there is the responsibility to be honest with yourself in terms of what you want out of a spouse. If you do both of those things while finding a compatible mate, the marriage is easy. To illustrate this, I will use my own courtship of Meggan. I essentially said "I'm not great looking, don't make a lot of money, am far closer to nerdy than cool, but I'm persistent, fairly pleasant most of the time, and am willing to stalk you if I have to." and she basically went with "I'm very pretty, predominantly out of your league in every way, but I'm feeling generous and you didn't turn up on the sexual offender registry. So, ehhh, you'll do." ... I'm paraphrasing a bit, but as you can see, honesty is what made us the happy couple we are today. Since we were honest in the beginning, we never had to change to keep the marriage great. All we have to do is act like ourselves and all is well.

Acting like ourselves brings me to my original point in the post - what happens to people whose marital style doesn't gel with their parental style. Luckily, in my case, Meggan and Amelia seem to want the same thing from me... to let them watch what they want on TV, to kill all the bugs, and to bake them cookies occasionally. So, I haven't had to make any alterations and my house is a happy home. However, I am genuinely intrigued by the wild party animals or world adventurers that have to settle down and stay home because they Baby Bjorn doesn't fit under the bungee harness. What happens to the aspiring nightclub DJ who has to switch to a day job because well, no kid deserves the embarrassment of having an aspiring nightclub DJ as a dad? The biker who can't jam the car seat in his sidecar? You get the point. What happens to these guys and more importantly, how do the changes they have to make affect their marriage? I would assume they lose a big portion of their identity and the identity their spouse fell in love with. To put it in perspective, I'm not sure Meggan would view me the same way if I came home with "Amelia" tattooed on my neck. That's just not the guy she signed up for. I would imagine this phenomenon is partially offset by the credit given for him actually being a good father. I'm just not sure, as with anything in life, you can serve two distinct masters at once. Thus, I could see a situation where being a good father makes you a bad husband...and that just doesn't seem right.

Thank You Very Little

Ahhh, daycare - The place to which credit is due for many of Amelia's sayings, songs, and antics. Meggan and I try our hardest to be good parents. We read with Amelia on a daily basis. We are in no way strangers to puzzles or children's songs. However, it seems like she comes home with a new trick or fun fact to share with us each and every day. I remember the day she came home doing the hokey pokey like it was yesterday. I get filled with fatherly pride when I think of her counting to 10 in spanish - again, courtesy of daycare. However, today, I want to extend a very special thank you to the person, or more than likely, 2 year-old person, for teaching Amelia her latest lesson. Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, I don't know how I would have made it through life without my daughter referring to her rear end as a "poophole". So, yeah, now that we have added that to our vocabulary, I really think it is all downhill from here.

Bossypants

Here are two quotes from Amelia today...

(As she sternly grabs her Bolt doll by his snout) "Bolt, listen... listen to me! Have you seen my tencher (her attempt at saying temperature, a.k.a. thermometer) anywhere? Huh?"

(As she storms across the living room with her baby doll) "You going to timeout, Baby! You no have your listening ears on!"

I have an idea...

My computer is being worked on this weekend, so I have to post using the touch screen of an Ipad...which is no fun at all. So, this post will be short, but I wanted to share a few random Amelia notes....

In terms of her health, it appears the doctors feel the only solution is ear and adenoid surgery.

Speaking of tragic news, Amelia got a balloon for being a big girl at the doctor yesterday. Well, it was struggling a bit so we decided to let it "fly home to it's mommy and daddy" . Amelia was fairly on board with this, went outside, let it go, and waved goodbye....and for the rest of the day has cried for her balloon. I'm pretty sure she is still waiting on it to come back.

Speaking of crying, Amelia went around the house for a while today dramatically crying (on the brink of tears) and saying she "fell off wall and broke her crown". This means one of two things has to happen...either she has to stop watching this lame Humpty-Dumpty Youtube video she loves to emulate or we need to go ahead and enroll her in acting classes. (and before anyone gets concerned - no, she didn't fall in any way and no, she was not actually hurting)

Speaking of copying what she sees, one of Amelia's new favorite things to do is to stop quickly and say " Hey guys, I have an idea! Hold on..." the only problem is she doesn't have an idea. She just stands there or walks away after saying it. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even have an idea of what she is really saying. However, she says it so convincingly that I will continue to be lured into her web of false hope until the day actually finishes the sentence with an idea.

Speaking of not finishing something, I got exactly two strips into mowing my front lawn today before smoke and oil began coming out of my lawnmower. I would have preferred this happen before the two strips. Now my lawn is the equivalent of someone who has left their hair long and cut only a noticeable portion of their bangs.

Speaking of smoke, I got a smoker for Father's Day and I am going to attempt to use it tomorrow (after all, I won't be busy mowing the lawn). While I am very excited about the possibilities, I am not sure I have the patience for a cooking process that slow or that long.

Speaking of patience, the friend I had the screenplay/mission trip bet with is currently sitting on a loooooong 17 hour flight to Africa. Please keep him in your prayers. If I had to take a 17 hour flight, I'd likely attempt to chew through the exit door and escape...I considered that 17 minutes into my last flight...and we were still on the Tarmac at the time.

Speaking of long, I guess this post ended up not being so short after all.

Prayers, Positive Thoughts, Whatever you have

I received the following e-mail from one of my best friends this morning...

"Found out today that my mom's uterus cancer returned and metastasized and is in her lymph nodes. Prognosis is allegedly 1 year and chemo starts next thurs."

So, when you look around at your family or think of your loved ones, appreciate every moment you have with them because it can change in an instant. I know I hugged Meggan and Amelia a little tighter when I got home today and I can't wait to see my own mom very soon.

As for my friend, please send any prayers and positive thoughts you can spare their way.

Thanks.