Back in My Day . . . and We Liked it, too . . .

Grumpy Old Man

I’ve been waiting for this moment since having children. The Elder Extroverted Holy One and I had a “Back in our day” moment with the Young Extroverted One and the Neighbor Boy. I can’t remember what we were talking about before the event but I started talking about how when we were kids there weren’t any channels devoted strictly to cartoons. The only cartoons shown were on Saturdays, to which the YEO says, “That sounds boring!”

EEHO responds, “We weren’t bored we went outside to play or we read books.”

Yeah, we also walked up hill both ways through the snow to get to school. Fought off bears with our little slate chalkboards. Crouched in fear when the sky went black as night during an eclipse. We didn’t have TV, we sat on a hill and watched the sun ’till our retinas burned out. Or my favorite phrase of all time: I remember when that Wal-Mart wasn’t there.

The Giggle Heard ’round the World

I’m very proud to say that I got the Bobblehead to giggle yesterday. It was just a little one but any giggle will do. I’m just happy she knows who I am considering how much I’m at work and how much time she spends with the Elder Extroverted Holy One (who graduates soon!!!).

It’s kind of funny that the EEHO can’t get her to laugh yet. But, then again, I am the goofy one.

I’ll have to break out the video camera and tape her giggle and post it here.

From the ‘Why Didn’t I Think of This’ File

Stephen Moseley over at CoolPeopleCare twittered his experiences of being a single parent for 36 hours. I am coming to the close of my time being a single parent and it is extremely hard especially when work and school is a factor. I would much rather have had the weekend to be the full-time daddy. Today, alone, I believe my head almost exploded three or four times. And that was just this morning getting ready to take the Young Extroverted One to work with me to get some things done before I took her to school.

Alright, the Elder Extroverted Holy One just called and said that she and the Bobblehead are leaving Montreat now. Hopefully, by the time I pick up the YEO we’ll be a complete family again. Single parents out there need some sort of huge award. Monetary in nature would be preferable.

My TV Girlfriends

As a parent, one watches a lot of children’s television. As the Young Extroverted One calls it, “Kid TV.” Through watching these shows one develops connections or revulsions with the hosts of certain shows.

Tahra of Tahra Time on NPT? I wanna punch her in the neck. And don’t get me started on Barney.

However, there are three hosts that hold a special place in my heart. And the fact that the YEO likes to watch these shows makes it easy for me to get my crush on. A quick note to the YEO and the Bobblehead: I love your mother very much. As Buffett says in ‘Little Miss Magic,’ “Your mother is the only other woman for me . . .” This is just a fun little crush and maybe a little unhealthy and creepy as well. Just relax and play along.

First up is a classic. The kids have never watched this show. Heck, I can’t even remember when it was on TV. xuxa15.jpg But, here is Xuxa.  I guess she was on around the late 80’s early 90’s. I don’t remember much about the show. I just remember her.

Next up is my buddy Jenn from Hi-5 fame. The show is actually kind of annoying. I’m not a big fan of bubbly people just bubbly beverages. But Jenn stood out among the cheese.

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She has since grown up and is now a ‘big’ country star. Regardless of the genre, the crush remains. country-jenn.jpeg

Last but not least is the lovely Nina from the Good Night Show on Sprout. She is soft spoken, sweet and multilingual. nina.jpgMaybe she can teach my daughters some Spanish because us white folk love to have multilingual kids!

I Must Be Weak-minded

Yet again I have a brainworm. This time, however, it’s from the Young Extroverted One’s collection of fine tunes. The problem with brainworms and my poor memory is that all that plays over and over in my head is one verse. It wouldn’t be that bad if I could remember the whole thing.

Luckily, the music that the YEO chooses (read: we play for her) are mostly pretty good and this particular song is pretty fun. It’s from the Jack’s Big Music Show Soundtrack from the show that’s on Noggin and it’s the Dirty Sock Funtime Band. As with the majority of brainworms I must pass them on in the hopes of getting them out of my head.

Enjoy:  Music Everywhere

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Few and Far Between

It has been a very long time since I last wrote something. Heck, it’s been a long time since I’ve even climbed the stairs to my mancave to sit down at the computer. I get home from work and just want to be with my ladies and then I’m too tired in the morning to catch up on reading all my blog-friends.

I am settling in to my new digs. I have been assigned to a new hotel and have been promoted. Now, I’m just adjusting to the new surroundings, getting to know the hotel sales staff, cleaning this extremely messy office and evaluating the old gear and hopefully getting new gear. I cleaned out a desk file drawer the other day that had paperwork that went back TEN years! As I went through it all I got a little history lesson of the company I work for which was pretty cool. But one of the early directors of audio visual here kept everything.

Life with the new one (who shall be named ‘the Bobblehead’ until she gains some neck control) is going well. I have moved to the Young Extroverted One’s room and the Elder Extroverted Holy One and my room/bed has turned into the Girl’s Room. Whenever a diaper change needs to occur the EEHO to calls my cell phone from her cell phone and I go get the Bobblehead to change her diaper. It seems to work out well for we all (except for the YEO) get to share in the interrupted sleep patterns and the EEHO doesn’t have to wake up to feed the Bobblehead and change her diaper.

So much for co-sleeping. The only thing we’ve succeeded in was getting me my own bed.

The Okay-est Story Ever Told

Thinking back on the birthing experience I just have to chuckle to myself because it was very different than the Young Extroverted One’s birth. For the YEO we basically did all of the labor at home so the Elder Extroverted Holy One could eat stuff and move around. She also took an Ambien given to her by her doctor so she could get some rest in between contractions.  Needless to say, EEHO tripped balls through the major part of labor and wasn’t counting minutes between contractions. I was sleeping in a different room and awoke to the sounds of grunting coming from the bathroom. Quick call to the doctor, labor confirmed, and off we go to the hospital. We beat the doctor there and EEHO was fully dilated and ready to drop the kid and a couple of pushes later the Young Extroverted One arrives and all of the nurses are quite amazed at the EEHO and had to ask if this was her first child.

Now that’s the way I like it. I don’t have to wait around and watch my lovely wife endure the pain of contractions.  I was so worried that I would pass out up until then but when the time came we didn’t even have time to get the cameras, the boom-box and CDs with handpicked labor tunes and even our luggage out of the car. I have come to realize that I’m a good reacter (is that even a word?) and not a good waiter. If something comes up out of the blue I got your back. If I have to wait for something to come up I may have to lie down some.

Which brings me the birth of our second wonderful child. For now she’ll be named The Other Extroverted Child (at least until she gets a little older and is either very intimidated or encouraged by the YEO).  EEHO’s water broke around 4AM. She woke me up with the wonderful news to which I had to lay down because I got a little light headed already.  Made the call to the YEO’s grandma who came out and off we were to the hospital. As EEHO was checking in I had to lay down again. Woof, anticipation is a little rough on me (or it could be that the EEHO wouldn’t let me drink beer for two weeks prior because, “You have to be sober to drive us to the hospital!” Egad, up until then she was the designated driver and I was the one drinking for three!).

From 6:30-ish until noon or so we basically sat around and watched some crappy t.v. They have nice labor and delivery rooms at baptist but a little light on the entertainment end.  Through a couple of more checks pitocin was added and contractions got a little rough. During this time I was updating my Facebook status and bidding on a Rudolph the Reindeer from the Build-a-Bear Workshop on eBay. So, in between switching out cool washcloths and making sure the EEHO was as comfortable as possible I was checking the intertubes to see if we got the friggin’ doll whose nose lights up, has a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time.  Twenty minutes or so before the OEC arrives I announce, “We got it!” Luckily, the EEHO didn’t rip the side rails off of the bed and throw them at me. The pushing came and then so did the OEC! Around 2:34PM the doctor held her up to me and asked me to make the boy or girl announcement. Which took me awhile because I wasn’t quite so sure why she was holding this slimy, pinkish, purplish thing at me. I cleared my head and said, “It’s a girl!”

And we lived happily ever after . . . at least until the teenager years.

Obligatory New Year’s Day Post

Not much going on here.  Just thought that I would drop a post to kick off 2008.

I don’t have much in the way of resolutions (other than to lose the gut that I’ve acquired) just a general sense of gratefulness. Grateful for surviving another year, grateful for the love of a wonderful woman, grateful for two beautiful daughters . . . basically, insert my Christmas post here. Or, just go back and read it.

Talking with the Elder Extroverted Holy One last night after the ball drop I was thinking out loud.  I figure Thanksgiving day would be more appropriate at the end of the year, during which a person looks back at the prior year (for better or worse) and looks ahead to the year to come.  I think that’s when one would be thankful and should celebrate with a big, fat meal to ring in the new year. At least, that’s the feeling I had last night as I looked over at my beautiful bride holding our second child as the Young Extroverted One slept in her bed (for the moment) . . . thankfulness.

“God Bless Us Everyone.”

I’m a gadget guy. I would love to have all the new stuff that’s out. I want an iPhone, the latest iMac, even a MacBook Pro just for kicks, a sweet slr digital camera, a flat-panel HDTV. Luckily, I can’t afford that stuff or I’d be consumed by my consumerism. Instead I have exactly what I need: snuggles from my five-year-old and six-day-old daughters and my beautiful bride on a cold night, a big ole dog in my lap on the couch, and family (blood, married-into and adopted friends who are now family) near and far who I love and love me. You can’t get that kind of warmth from the glow of a 60″ LCDTV (even though I would probably try).

Merry Christmas everyone!