I promised, a few posts (and weeks) ago that I would put up some of the pics from our latest photo session with Lotz Photography. These are some of my favorite shots yet of our family, and Ace in particular! He is becoming the little-man-of-1000-faces. Enjoy… 
Say Cheese!
Merry Christmas…from our family to yours!
Family Christmas Pic 2008
A Scary First…
DadThing has been filled with stories about Ace’s firsts. From his first step to his first night with no bottle.
However, something happened this weekend that was a first for me. It was not nearly as happy a time as when Ace rolled over for the first time. I spent my first ever night in the hospital.
I have had a problem with my heart since I was in junior high school, but no doctor could ever tell me what it was. I have had multiple EKGs, Echoes, stress tests, you name it…and they all come back normal. I swear the doctors thought I was making stuff up.
Ya see, sometimes, especially when I exert myself, my heart goes crazy. It beats really hard and with no real rythym. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to pass out and I almost always have to sit down until my heart calms down a bit. Usually I can get it to stop within 10 minutes or so with some techniques I have discovered over the years, but not Saturday night. After about 3 hours I drove myself to the emergency room.
I did not feel bad. There was no pain, I did not feel faint or anything. I just knew that something was not right. I walked up to the ER receptionist and told her that I would like to be seen for a rapid and irregular heart beat. She took my name and social security number and I immediately went back for an EKG.
The nurse doing the EKG seemed very urgent and I immediately went into triage to have my vitals checked. My blood pressure was high and my heart rate was 180 beats per minute. A normal heart rate is around 70 beats per minute. Yikes! The triage nurse, said “Wait right here. You are next to be seen.”
I did not pass GO, did not collect $200, and went directly to an ER bed where I was immediately stuck with an IV, had X-Rays, and then lied there for a few hours hoping the medicine would make my heart beat normally. The urgency of everyone in the ER was kind of frightening.
This has been happening to me for over 15 years now and I had become used to living with it, but I guess it really was something serious…atrial fibrillation.
About 6 hours later I was admitted to the hospital. After another 4 hours of lying in the hospital bed hooked to heart monitors a nurse rushed in my room as she yelled into her phone, “I need an EKG STAT!!” I thought that something bad had happened. I thought my heart had really gone crazy and I was in trouble…
However, she then looked at me and smiled. “You converted!!” My heart beat had converted back to a normal sinus rhythm. This was a good thing because if the medicine did not convert me, they would have had to shock my heart with the paddles….while I was awake and alert.
I had to stay in the hospital for another day in observation to make sure that my heart did not go back into atrial fibrillation again, and to also make sure I did not have a stroke (a side effect of being in atrial fibrillation for an extended period of time).
Momma brought Ace in to visit me and I will never forget the look on his face when he saw my lying there in that hospital bed. He was confused and scared at the same time. After he realized that I was OK, he did grab my finger and we took a few laps around the observation unit. Ace pulling me, and me pulling an IV. The little old ladies and the nurses got a kick out of him taking Daddy for a walk.
So now I am back home, with no restrictions, and a little different out look on life. I have cut caffeine out of my diet. Once I have that under control, smoking is next.
I can’t live like there is no tomorrow anymore. There are a few people in this world that count on me being there…and I’m going to do my part to make sure that happens.
It’s been a while……Update!
So it’s been a while since the last post, the one where I was going to the doctor to be checked. Well as it turns out, everything came out fine and nothing else is needed. Yay for that!!! The other good thing, my monthly bill came so that means that my body is totally healed and the baby-making can now proceed! Jared is more than excited to get back to work in that department and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t take quite as long this time; and that it doesn’t have the same result. The odds are in our favor though, so that gives me some hope!
Another thing I thought I would mention, I wasn’t sure if I really was healing emotionally but today I found out for sure. My best friend for the last 15 years is/was pregnant, due October 9th. She had her baby girl today, and we were all surprised! Momma and baby are doing great, Maddie was a little small but doing great, no extra measures were needed (i.e. oxygen or anything like that) and proud papa Bryan could not stop smiling or hide that tear in his eye! It was great to see them all, and to see God’s work again! As soon as I showed up at the hospital they asked me to hold her and at first I just couldn’t, I was too afraid that I would cry. So after about an hour of visiting, I finally gave in. And you know what, I wasn’t jealous (which I will admit I was terrified that I might be) but I was filled with so much love for my newborn “niece” that I thought I might cry. To look in her face and not wish that she was mine but to actually be so proud of Jennifer for all her hard work. To know that this child will know so much love in her lifetime, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I wish my dear friends the best on this new journey they are taking, and I hope Maddie brings to them what Ace has brought to us; pure, unconditional, unwavering love!
Today I celebrate that not only was a child born but a mother and father as well!
We love you Jen and Bryan, welcome to the “Breeder’s Club”!
We love you Maddie (even though you just got here), welcome to the world!
Today’s the day…..
It’s Wednesday, and here I sit; when I should be sleeping.
I go to the doctor today to make sure that everything passed like it was supposed to. And God, I really hope it did….I don’t want anything else to have to take place. As if this whole thing isn’t bad enough, I might have to endure more and I don’t think that I can.
My friends must think I’m awful or a basketcase or just plain crazy at this point. I have avoided everyone that I can for the last week, actually longer, but I think now I’m going to have to face them. I’m sure everyone will want to tell me that everything will be okay, that this is for the best; but honestly I don’t want to hear it. Not anymore! I’m ready for this to be over, O-V-E-R, to just be a memory. A really crappy memory! I’ve grieved, believe me I’ve grieved over this, but now I honestly think that I’m beginning to heal. That God really is taking this pain away. It’s been 10 days, is this even possible? I would like to think so. Some people think I’m pretending to be fine when the truth of the matter is, I’m all cried out. My tears have run dry….that whole in my heart; Ace is filling it up with so much love that I don’t notice it as much today as I did yesterday. Today I walked right by the baby clothes at WalMart and didn’t stop to wonder if I would need pink or blue this time. Just a slight trick of my mind maybe, but I would like to think that I’m done. I’m done feeling hurt and miserable and sad and sick and all that mess that comes with it. I’m ready to think of what next month might bring, or the month after that. I’m ready to get back to living my life instead of just watching it happen from the sidelines.
I miss laughing for no reason at all, and sleeping late without my family thinking I’m alone in the bedroom crying my eyes out, and I miss exercising (which I haven’t really done and used to do everyday and I hate more than anything), and I miss talking on the phone without wondering if this will come up, and I miss my friends and family just being normal. So please, stop asking if I’m okay when you don’t believe my response anyway, and stop tip-toeing around the subject of babies (of which I know 9 people due to have their own in the next few weeks to months), and stop treating me like I might fall to pieces any second. I’m okay, not totally healed but I’m getting there and the sooner everyone gets back to life as usual the easier it will be!
I don’t want to sound ungrateful, I really appreciate the support and love and prayers from everyone; honestly I think that is what has helped. That this ordeal was not a secret that I had to go through on my own, that I did have so much support to lean on when I was at my lowest, that is what has helped me heal the most. So let me heal…..and believe me when I say that I am getting there….and that I am okay.
I know I’m not the first woman in history to go through this, but if I could be the last that would be fine by me. I wouldn’t wish this kind of hurt on anyone, not even my worst enemy. So to those who have suffered through this, I wish you to be healed and let God’s love surround you and make you whole again; that’s what I’m trying to do.
Thank you Jared for being there and dealing with my crazy mood swings and irrational behavior at times, and for letting me scream when I needed to, and for listening without speaking, and loving me through this all. You really are the best friend I have ever had, and I’m lucky to have you in my life! I love you more than words….you have my heart until the end of time!
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
ee cummings
It’s over…..
It’s over, just like that.
Seven weeks ago it was here, last week it was here, even yesterday it was here; today it’s gone. My heart is broken, I am broken…..
It’s so incredibly heart-breaking…to know how long we waited and to have it just taken back…I don’t get it. This hurts more than anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life, so much pain, so many tears. After eleven months I thought we finally succeeded, we got it right only to have it taken away so abruptly that my head is spinning. I don’t know how to explain it, I don’t know how to understand it, I don’t know how to deal with it.
I keep telling myself what the doctor told me, there was nothing I could do, there was nothing I did wrong, it just happens sometimes. He actually said this is for the best in the long run, that most likely there were serious problems or complications and one day I’ll understand that. This does not mean it will never happen again, but it also doesn’t mean that it will either.
I spent the entire week praying that God would let me have this baby….that he would let me be happy, that everything would work out. I suppose I should have been preparing myself for the truth, for this to be the outcome, but I wanted to have faith. I wanted to believe that my faith wouldn’t let this happen to me, that it would be okay. That it could be okay, that I would be okay. My heart hurts so much, so much more than I can put into words.
How can I miss someone I never knew…..how did I already love someone I’d never met? This was a part of me and Jared, and one day; some day; I will get to meet this person. I can only hope that my Uncle Miles is holding this precious angel who never got to be, in his arms and loving them they way I would have. I loved that baby, because to me it was already a baby; not an embryo or a fetus, but a baby. A tiny person who we wanted to be….but never got that chance. I know that God has reasons for everything, reasons we may not ever be able to understand. I guess He just wasn’t ready to let go of this angel, that He wanted this one for Himself. But why my angel, why this one? Why take the one I have wanted for so long, only to leave me here with all these questions and emotions to try and sort through. I’m so thankful that I have Ace, I know he will help me get through, he will give me strength to just keep going. To look at him and see God’s love will help me more than anything. I know He gave me one, and I know someday He will give me another.
I know in time I will heal, that this will one day just be a really bad memory. But today, I just want to hurt and cry and be angry and be confused, and be angry with God mostly. Today I am heart-broken. Today, I need to just cry and be sad, and wish for what could have been.
Tomorrow I will look at my little boy, and thank God for him! Tomorrow I will hold Ace so tight that he will never question if his momma loves him. Tomorrow I will give Ace so many kisses that he will beg his momma to stop….tomorrow I will just look at him and know that God is love.
Tomorrow I will pray for God to take my pain away. Tomorrow I will begin to heal.
If God never gives us more than we can handle, I need God to know that I have all I can handle; please no more.
Here’s the whole situation and what happened, for those who would like to know:
I found out today for sure. Monday I woke up with some spotting which turned into bleeding and spent the night in the e.r., they diagnosed me with a threatened miscarriage and sent me home to follow up with my regular doctor. Then on Tuesday my doctor did some blood work to compare my numbers to last Friday, everything should have at least doubled but in fact they went down. The baby was not developing anymore and he diagnosed me with an inevitable miscarriage. While at the doctors office I had to give a urine sample, and actually passed the fetal tissue in the office (I had to show it to them and they told me what it was). They will be doing an ultrasound on Wednesday to make sure everything passes so that I don’t get an infection.
Thank you everyone for your prayers, support and kind words; those both spoken and silent.
Play Ball!
The other night we packed up and headed down to the local minor league baseball stadium for Ace’s first baseball game! We were greeted by swarms of fans, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn, and a night full of the All American Past Time…Baseball!
Ace, of course, could care less about the actual game, but was too busy eating Goldfish and smiling at the old ladies.
We actually went for one of our friend’s kid’s birthday party, so after the second inning all the kids there for the party got to go out into left field and do the chicken dance with the cheerleaders. So there I am, out in left field with Ace (and the cheerleaders ) helping him flap his wings, shake his butt, and clap like a drugged up chicken.
Here are some pics of Ace’s first baseball game…
“The Coop”
Ace figuring out his new cow bell…
I think he’s got it figured out…anyone have any Tylenol?
Gotta teach this boy right…any babseball game requires the consumption of at least one hot dog.
What the hell is that thing?
It was an exciting game…
The Chicken Dance (I’m the one squatted down using Ace as a puppet, cause I don;t do the chicken dance, but I sure can make Ace do a killer rendition of it. )
Ace and I walking off the field after getting our groove on…
Grandpa’s Glory – Part II
Back in October, I wrote a post about Ace’s Grandpa, my Dad. Ace and his Grandpa didn’t get a long too good at first. Grandpa would say “Hi!” and Ace would scream like a banshee!
It was tough on Grandpa, but things have been getting better…
Ace, Momma, and I spent all weekend at Grandpa’s just hanging out and swimming in the pool! We had a blast and got some nice tan lines as a result.
As you probably know, Ace loves to ride on the mower, and when Grandpa started his up Ace wasn’t going to quit until he was taken for a ride. It wasn’t hard for Ace to convince his Grandpa for a quick ride on the mower, but a quick ride turned into 20-30 minutes of lapping the yard.
And after a long day in the sun, nothing is better than a nap in the recliner…
It makes me think back to when my Grandpa took me for rides on his mower. Something I will never forget! I’m going to have to dig up some pictures of me riding on my Grandpa’s mower and napping in his recliner…and post them here of course.
Sometimes it’s scary how much Ace and I are alike…
Vacation to Iowa!
Vacation to Iowa was great! It was nice to get away from the daily grind for once. No rush hour traffic. No cell phone. No worries!
We left at about 3 AM on Thursday night. It took us about 14 hours and two tanks of gas to get from Ohio to Storm Lake, IA. (Can you say “Empty wallet and pooped?”) Have you ever driven across the Midwest? It is sooo exciting!!! Here’s a picture I took through the rear view mirror with my camera phone to show you just how much fun we were all having… 
We stayed at a hotel in Storm Lake called King’s Pointe. We reserved a double queen suite with a crib and a lake view a few weeks before hand, but when we arrived we got a handicap double queen room with a parking lot view. 
The handicap room would not work because it had no bath tub for Ace, and we really wanted the lake view with a balcony (the hotel was non-smoking and the balcony would be our smoking area )
After a bit of persistence they gave us the room we reserved and all was well.
The hotel had an indoor and outdoor water park! (I was so excited…I’m just like a little boy when it comes to this kinda stuff )
The closest Ace has been to going swimming was splashing around in the bath tub, so I was very curious to how he would react to the swimming pool. After a few minutes of scared-shitless-ness accompanied by a white-knuckled-death-grip on Dad, Ace started to relax and enjoy himself!
We had so much fun being in the water with him that we really didn’t get out to take many pictures of his first time swimming! Here is one that I managed to snap of Ace and Momma lounging in the pool…
Even though he thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool, he was utterly amazed by the fountain…
…or was it the Bud Light sign?
One reason we went to Iowa was to visit some old friends who’s daughter was graduating from high school. We went to the graduation, which was in a small non-air-conditioned (Can you say “Hot As Balls?”) gymnasium.
Ace has been self-propelled for a while now and really likes it that way. Ever since he has learned to move under his own power, he absolutely forbids to sit still. It was hot in the gymnasium… sweaty, and smelled like the locker room after football practice! So, I took off Ace’s restraints (joking!) and took him outside to play in the shade while Momma stayed inside to watch the graduation ceremony.
We get outside and there is no shade! So I’m chasing after Ace in the burning sunlight on concrete hot enough to fry an egg when I smell something a bit different than the sweaty smell I had become accustomed to in the gymnasium… You guessed it…I smelled a baby biscuit getting baked in Ace’s diaper!
Luckily I grabbed the diaper bag on the way outside, but there was no where to change him. So, Ace and I head off on a two mile trek to the car where we enjoyed a fresh diaper, a drink, and 45 minutes worth of gas wasting air-conditioned heaven!
The drive back to Ohio was not so nice. Ace had some of his molars breaking through the skin, and he was not enjoying the car ride a single bit. So, we stopped half way and grabbed a hotel room in Illinois. Luckily, I travel a lot for work and earn TONS of hotel points, so we got a room for free for the night. The hotel had a pool where we spent most of the evening splashing around…
After a good swim and getting a good nights sleep we headed out in the morning to finish the last half of our journey home. We took our time. We stopped for a packed lunch at a rest stop with Mr. Smarty Pants himself…
…and then Ace napped most of the rest of the way home…
Despite the sore rear ends from sitting in the car for over 28 hours, the mix up with the hotel room, the incredibly hot gymnasium, the fried diaper biscuit, and the crying restlessness of a teething child strapped into the back seat of a gas guzzling SUV…we had a very good time and enjoyed the visit with our old friends!
Back to the grind… Ughhh…
Things I need to get out of my head!!! (Update)
Friends, some days I wonder what they are good for! Other days I know for sure, but Friday when I needed someone to cry to, a “good” friend of mine didn’t have the time to listen. I’m always aware of how people are feeling, this is a personality trait I suppose, but I thought maybe hearing the tears in my voice or just my words would be indication enough that I needed to talk. Maybe she didn’t know what to say, in which case just listening would have been fine; or maybe she is not used to hearing me cry, this could be the truth. I can’t remember the last time I had a good cry; you know the one where your nose is running and it’s hard to catch your breathe (not that this was the way I was crying) but I’m not a crier so this is new to me. But I needed her and she wasn’t there for me and at that exact moment (well after I hung up the phone) I decided that I wouldn’t be there for her either. I didn’t answer my phones this weekend when she called (about 9 times total) and I deleted her voicemail messages without even listening……irrational behavior on my behalf? Maybe, but if she would have listened to me on Friday she would understand!
So back to Friday: I finally went to the doctor on Thursday, being a good listener, I was there to follow up from a previous visit about a week before. My thyroid (and the waterworks start) is causing some major issues! I have elevated blood pressure, heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat, headaches, shortness of breathe, insomnia, forgetfulness, (scatter brained as the doctor stated) shifting moods, raging emotions (of which I can no longer control), and yeah I think that’s about it. Oh wait no, I am NOT ovulating, I must now go on birth control and have been strongly advised to not become pregnant anytime soon. I’m apparently loosing my mind though and that is the primary concern next to the crazy-fast thyroid. My mood swings and raging emotions, let me tell you, that is hard to handle! I think I’m going crazy inside my own head, not the hearing voices or anything like that kind of crazy, just the regular kind. My PCP suggested that I begin Prozac for some depression issues that I’m experiencing. Further making me feel insane, but it will also help with my insomnia. You mean it’s not normal to be awake for days at a time and then sleep for 15 hours? Here it’s 1:33am as I type and I’m not a bit tired, but I did get to sleep for 13 hours last night, I thought that was the problem obviously I was wrong I have some issues! So right now my PCP is going to treat the symptoms of my fast thyroid and let the specialist actually treat the problems with my thyroid. That brings us back to the baby making problem. I’ve been advised by both the PCP and my OB/GYN to avoid pregnancy until the issue is resolved with my thyroid. My question was what does one have to do with the other? I guess my thyroid is causing me to not ovulate (although I still get a monthly bill, this is just my body going with the flow /no pun intended) which is problem #1; and problem #2 is that my heart is at risk for injury due to the increase in speed caused by thyroid hormone production. The problem with getting pregnant while going through the process of killing my thyroid is the possibility of damage to the fetus, good enough reason for me to avoid pregnancy. My concern is how long will this take? I’m requesting they just remove my thyroid, the doctor suggests radiation therapy to kill my thyroid: who’s suggestion is correct? I’m a big fan of the old if it don’t work get rid of it method, but I think that any doctor would suggest otherwise. Does anyone out there have any experience with this….can you offer any advice? I don’t know where this leaves me/us, but I hope this gets taken care of sooner rather than later.
MISC RAMBLING: I’m so glad we had a great weekend together as a family, it kept my mind busy with other things. That is until now, that while the world sleeps I am wide awake! Awake and able to think and type about last weeks appointment, to go through the conversation again, the parts I remember at least, and figure out what my next step needs to be. Wishing my problem away didn’t help, so now I must follow the doctors orders! No more baby-making in this house, at least for awhile. I guess the upside is that I can get more homework done….one of these years I intend to finish my bach degree! God knows, maybe I’ll have my PhD by the time this is all said and done, I sure the hell hope not!
Lions, Tigers, and Bears!
The rain stayed away and we were able to go to the zoo! Thank goodness the weatherman is wrong 99.9% of the time!
Instead of boring you with my rambling on and on about the fun times we had, I’ll illustrate our fun time with a boat load of pictures…
Ace cruising in his wagon on the way into the Zoo.
The elephants showing their best sides.
Momma and Ace enjoying a train ride!
Not real sure what this is, but it looked cool!
Ace giving his Momma some lovin’
Ace at the playground…”What to play on next?”
A Mexican Wolf
The zoo sure does work up a big thirst!
Crocodiles are just soooo cooool!
Dad and Ace petting a mini goat, “Don’t pull on his ears!”
What’s in that bottle?
A Bison and some kind of horned animals
Momma chasing Ace through the petting zoo
This Bobcat is catching some rays.
That tongue again!
Pink flamingos!
Cheesin’ it up for the camera!
The zoo must not be as fun for the monkeys…
All tuckered out..
The ride back to the car… Zzzzzzz
There will be more pictures coming soon! Sunday we are going to COSI and the camera is going to get another workout! Don’t miss it!
Early Memories
We all have what I call our “early memories”. The ones from our early childhood that we will never forget. What are some of mine?
- Climbing a fence because a snake chased me up there. I yelled for my Mom until she came out of the house and chopped the snake up with a shovel! She saved my life! She was my hero!
- My parents owned a junk-yard when I was very little. I remember watching my Dad working on cars all day every day. I wanted to do my part, so I would go around to some of the cars and take off the valve stem caps (ya know the little black caps where you put air in your tires). Then I would have to put them all back on different cars. (A 2-3 yr old’s form of customization)
- Sitting on my Dad’s lap while he operated the crane at the junk yard. I faintly remember watching the wrecking ball come crashing down and crushing the cars. I have always liked demolition…
- Riding in a race car. My Dad used to build and drive race cars. I remember riding around the track during warm up laps with his friend. (Of course he didn’t fly around the track at full speed, but to a 2 or 3 year old it was an unforgettable experience!)
- Riding in my Dad’s “Stinky Truck”. My Dad was a big hunter/trapper. And along with the hunting and trapping came all sorts of stinky things. Dead animals, blood, guts, urine, feces, and bait. His “stinky truck” was rank! I will never forget the smell of that thing.
- Seeing my brother fall into the 8 ft end of the pool underneath the solar cover. Neither of us could swim yet, so I was scared to jump in after him. I could just see him sitting there at the bottom of the pool not knowing what to do. My grandma came running up and she couldn’t swim either. We both just sat there helplessly as my brother slowly floated back to the top and my grandma could pull him out. Luckily he was OK…just a little cold.
Thinking about things like this make me wonder what Ace’s “early memories” will be? Will having me catch him inches from the floor be one? How about the scary car wash? Maybe his first birthday party?
Who knows if he will remember any of that stuff, but I know I will! I’ll just keep on doing my best to provide him with fun experiences that hopefully someday will be included in his list of “early memories”.
What were your “early memories”?
It’s about time! (Momma Monday)
So it’s been awhile since my last post, and now that life is back to normal, here I am! The holidays were so stressful, so I’m thankful that is over and now we can move on. But the new semester has started at school and that is challenging my abilities with time management.
I have class on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s and occasionally, as Jared has said, he travels for work, so I need to get Ace to grandma and grandpa’s before 5:30 and get to class by 6! This in itself has presented a new challenge! Sometimes the grandparents are home by then and sometimes they are not, so I have enlisted my single, childless, 25-year old brother. Scary!
Ace loves his Uncle Charlie, and Uncle Charlie loves his nephew Ace, but Uncle Charlie can’t change a diaper. How the heck do you babysit when you can’t change a diaper?
It’s really quite interesting……..Helen has lived next door to my parents since we moved there in 1993, and she watches my niece for my older brother. She’s great, kind of like an extended family member, she definitely helps out when we need her! So Uncle Charlie and Ace will have a bottle and then play for a while, and when it’s time for a clean diaper……..it’s time to head next door to Helen’s house!
But a trustworthy babysitter is worth whatever it takes to make Ace happy and keep his diapers clean! I know he is being played with, and being fed, and most importantly he is being loved by his Uncle.
Working Dad
As most of you know, I am a working Dad. Sometimes I work more than I would like, but it is necessary to support my family. Here lately working has consumed most of my life. I think I worked over 70 hours last week, rode on 6 different airplanes, stayed in two different hotels, and stepped foot in Ohio, Colorado, Georgia, and Alabama.
Right now I am sitting in the airport waiting to go on my way back down to Alabama. I usually do not work weekends, but I volunteered to work the next two weekends. (Who can pass up double and triple time?!) I do get Christmas day off though, which is good.
So if you don’t see many posts from me over the next few weeks you can bet that I am either rolling in the money that I am making or passed out from exhaustion.
Instead of boring all of you with my ramblings about work, I’ll point you to some of the cool sites and posts that I have discovered this week.
The Stay At Home Dad
The Working Dad over at the Hossman Family Blog recently quits his job to be a Stay At Home Dad, and shares his thoughts and considerations leading up to the decision.
TheFatherLife.com
This is a new magazine that states, “We are the only men’s magazine geared toward fathers; a magazine for guys who work hard, play hard, and father hard!“. Check ’em out!
DadGoneMad.com
This Dad was featured on TheFatherLife.com in the Dad Blog Spotlight. After reading the excerpt from his post about getting a vasectomy…I knew this guy was getting a spot in my feed reader. 
SupDad.com
SupDad is a social community for parents. “a place for dads…and moms to talk about what’s important…the kids!“ I just started a profile, but after having a look around it looks like a pretty cool place! If you happen to join add me as a friend!
Christmas starts Sunday 12/16 (Momma Monday)
So the season is in full swing, and our family gets to start celebrating Christmas this weekend! Sunday is the only day that my cousin, who lives about 150 miles away, can make it down for the holiday, so that is the day my mother’s family is choosing to celebrate Christmas. How can this be…….it’s only the 16th for crying out loud! But this is just the beginning I realize, holy crap!
Here’s the schedule so far, and let’s hope things don’t get changed:
Sunday, 12/16: Grandpa and Grandma S’s house
Monday, 12/24: Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma T’s house at 6pm in Columbus. Then we must leave by 7:45 at the latest to be to Grandma and Grandpa O’s house by 9pm that night in Urbana.
Tuesday, 12/25: Breakfast at Great-Grandma W’s house at 9am in West Liberty. Then back to Columbus for lunch with my immediate family at Grandpa and Grandma S’s house.
Monday, 12/31: Grandpa H and Grandma Cindy in West Liberty for presents at 5 and then a rowdy party that evening! (Ace will be going back to the grandparents in Urbana for that portion of the evening, Mom and Dad want to party too!)
Okay, so here’s my question; when are we having our family Christmas? It was never a big deal before, we just spent four days a month driving all over Ohio to celebrate with our family and friends, but now with Ace, it just seems too much. How do we not go though? Who’s feelings would we choose to hurt if we decide to skip one house or the other? I never really thought about this until now, but the plans are made, the gifts are bought, and we are going!
What a nightmare waiting to happen! Merry Christmas Everyone!
(I will not be posting on the 24th, as you can see from above, we will not be in town and I hope that everyone is busy with their families instead! Happy Holidays!)
The Price of Happiness
I was going through my feed reader today and came across a very well written post written by Adam Purcell of WheresTheInstructions.com titled “For The Next Generation,” and it got me thinking about a few things…
Adam’s sums up his post using this one sentence…
“This is one of the greatest calls of a father, to realise the world my daughter grows up in, is the one I make for her.”
What kind of world do you want to make for your child? Do you want your children to have all of the things that you didn’t have? Do you want them to have more?
I want Ace to have more than I did growing up, but I want to make sure he also gets the things that I did. I could bust my butt and work seven days a week and give him everything he ever wanted…except for one thing…a Dad.
While I would love for Ace to have every thing he ever wanted, I think it is more important for him to be happy. I think it is more important that he have an involved Mom and Dad. I think it is more important that he is smothered in love.
Just remember…the world that we make for our children is not made up of just physical things that money can buy. It is also made up of something that money can’t buy….friends and family.
In my opinion, a person can buy every thing they ever wanted, but they won’t be truly happy unless they have true friends and a loving family.
Grandpa’s Glory
My Dad has never been one to be interested in babies. I don’t know how he acted when my brother and I were little, but I never remember him purposely holding a baby.
I was the exact same way. Ace was the first baby that I had ever held that was younger than 6-7 months. Babies always scared me for some reason. My wife always asked why I would never hold them. If I broke a baby that belonged to me I would feel horrible. If I broke someone elses baby I don’t think I could live with myself. So I just avoided it altogether.
My Dad has always had a liking for Ace. Ace is his first and only grandchild, and it is as new and exciting for him as it is for me! However, Ace hasn’t always had a liking for his Grandpa…
My Dad lives about an hour and a half away from where I live. He was born and raised in the country and not is a big fan of coming to the city. So, Momma and I usually take one weekend a month and drive down to see my parents. We’ll visit my Mom on Saturday and then my Dad on Sunday. So Ace only gets to see his Grandma and Grandpa about once a month.
My Mom is a natural with kids so she has no problem, but my Dad has is the exact opposite.
When I was born, back in what feels like the stone ages, my Dad got extremely sick. He was in the hospital for a few weeks after almost dying from pneumonia.
When he was release from the hospital I was probably a month or so old and had only seen my Dad a handful of times. He came home and picked me up and I did nothing but scream!
Every time he has picked up Ace the same thing happens. Ace immediately goes from happy boy, to scared shitless boy, to get-me-the-hell-away-from-this-guy boy! I think it brings back memories for my Dad of when I was little.
I always feel bad for my Dad when this happens. I know he feels like crap and he wants nothing more to hold him and play with him a little bit.
We went to my Dad’s house this past weekend, and Ace did the exact same thing as soon as we got there. My Dad’s heart hit the floor once again. However, after about a half an hour Ace started to warm up to him. My Dad picked him up and started walking out to the barn to show him the pigs.
My Dad was so proud walking with Ace in his arm! I haven’t seen him smile like that in a long time! He held Ace and walked around the yard for probably an hour and a half, and there was no way that anyone else was going to interfere with their fun!
I think this was the day that Grandpa has been waiting for the past seven months! I’m sure Ace will grow up and have a lot of good times with his Grandpa. Grandpa is a fun guy, but he can be a little scary when you first meet him…
For The Ladies
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