Where To Start?

It has been a long while since I have posted on this blog! So much has happened since my last post that I have no idea where to start…

How about I start on the morning of Feb 26th. Our family looked something like this…

…and at the end of the day it looked something like this…

Notice a difference?  The addition of a little person, you say?

Her name is Valerie.  Ace’s little sister.  Our new daughter.

I may be partial because 50% of her being came from me, but I think she is the 2nd cutest girl in the world…behind Momma of course.  🙂  Take a look!

Valerie In A HatThen a few weeks after Valerie was born Ace turned 4.  Can you believe it?  4 Years old!!

Ace's 4th BirthdayWe did a lot of fun things over the summer, but the biggest thing for Ace was starting school!  To get him ready for Pre-School he started in a pre-pre-school summer program.  He was so excited the first day…

Ace's First Day Of SchoolAnd then in August we took a much needed family vacation to Tennessee where we did all kinds of fun stuff including horse back riding, a helicopter tour, riding go-karts, going to the Dixie Stampede, hiking in the forest, and swimming in the pool…and in the river.

Sabrina and Valerie at Laurel Falls

Jared and Ace In The Swimming Pool

…and that brings us up to date!

Now I can make regular posts on here and bring my little place on the internet back to life.  🙂

Sacrifices

I have found that part of being a Dad is learning to accept the fact that you will sacrifice some things…

Just a few examples…

  • walking around the house naked
  • having dirty magazines/movies in the house
  • sleeping in to nurse your hang over
  • drinking enough to get a hang over
  • steaming up the car windows in the back seat of the car (unless you are extremely flexible…and/or short…and can maneuver around the car seats, which I am neither)

… you know… all the things that most young, child-less guys do.  😀

Today, however I had to sacrifice something that I won’t be able to do again.  I missed out on something that I will never be able to see again.  The first glimpse of this…

Ultrasound Picture At 21 Weeks

Ultrasound Picture At 21 Weeks

I had to go out of town for work and couldn’t make the appointment.  🙁

We are planning on doing another 3D Ultrasound, and I will not miss that one.  I will take off the whole week if that’s what it takes to guarantee me being there.  😀

The doctor said there is a 95% chance we are having a girl.  Time to start thinking of names, desensitizing myself to pink and purple, buying a shotgun, and memorizing the chorus to this song…. 🙂

Half Way There…

Did I mention that we were expecting again?  I did, but if you didn’t read closely you would have missed it.

So, yeah!  Twenty weeks in…twenty more to go!

We have been trying since shortly after Ace was born three and a half years ago.  We were successful at making Mr Sperm meet Mrs Egg three times now, but the past two times didn’t quite work out the way we were hoping.

So, now, this third time, we are pretty much in the clear.  Momma is already feeling movement, and we have an ultrasound scheduled for a week from Tuesday.  We should be able to find out the sex of the baby…if it cooperates.  😀

I won’t get to go however because I have to go to Dayton for training for work.  Big bummer!  But I asked Momma to make sure to tell the Ultrasound Tech to print plenty of pictures…and of course I will share them here on the blog as well.

So there it is…the official announcement.  Twenty more weeks to go!  It will be here before we know it…

Count Your Blessings? Easy For You To Say!

We have been concerned for a while about Ace’s lack of speech. He can talk…it’s not like he can’t talk…he just chooses not to most of the time.

Most parents tell us to count our blessings that he is so quiet, but they don’t see how frustrated he gets because he can not communicate his wants and needs.

So, we took him to a speech therapy evaluation, and they told us pretty much what we thought they would say. He is very smart, understands and can follow instructions, but has the speaking skills of an 18-24 month old…and he is 3 1/2.

While we were expecting these results, it is still hard to accept that your son, who is perfect in your eyes, is not quite perfect.

Ace will be going to speech therapy once a week for a while. They told us it will probably take at least 6 months to get him up to speed. Way faster than I expected…

He is so far behind in his speech skills that it is officially considered a learning disability, and so he qualifies to go to pre-school a year early…part of the “No Child Left Behind Act”.

So, wish us luck!

And to offset all of the bad news I figured I should give you all some good news…we are expecting again! 😉

We are at about 18-19 weeks…almost half way there! Ace we be a big brother in a few more months!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ace!

Two years ago today Ace made his first appearance in this world.  It’s amazing how fast time flies…can it really be two years already?

Momma is sad that her little baby…is not so much of a baby anymore.  I am excited that my little boy is becoming…well, a little boy.  😀

So, what has happened in Ace’s 2nd year?  A whole lot…

Ace has figured out that the world extends much farther than the walls of our home.  The boy loves to be outside, at the park, riding on the mowerswimming in the pool, swinging on the swingset, or at the zoo

He no longer fits in the kitchen sink for bath time, so we had to actually finish installing the bath tub in our upstairs bathroom.  He has some foam letters that float in the bath tub, and at only two years old, he can tell you what every single letter is…both upper and lower case.   (He’s a genius)  😀

Ace spent his summer going new places and doing new things.  Remember going to COSI, doing the chicken dance on the field at Cooper Stadium, going to Iowa for vacation, and swimming at the beach?  We had a blast last summer…

Not everything last year was cheerful and happy though.  We had to put down our family dog, Buddy.  And after trying for 11 months, we got pregnant, and then mis-carried.  Ace was young enough that he wasn’t really affected though, which is a good thing.   

Last fall Ace drank his last bottle, went to his first fly-in and demo derby, went to Circle-S-Farms, and dressed up like a Vampire for trick-or-treat.

Winter time brought on Wildlights at the Zoo, an amazing Christmas, a new fish tank, and locking Momma out of the house.  😀

So what will next year bring?  So far we have a two week vacation planned at the end of summer, which I’m sure will provide some good blog fodder.  Other than that I’m sure there will be some more mower riding, swimming, playing, and hopefully….some potty training!  😀

Ace’s birthday party is planned for this weekend, and I know of at least one present he is getting that will get some exposure time here on DadThing.  Stay tuned to hear all about his newest big boy toy!  😀

Hostinger