St Paddy's 2015

We've done our St Patrick's already.  The parade was held on the Saturday past, fine times were had by all provided you didn't need the men's room.  We went home and had our corned beef and cabbie and it was good.  We wore our green and had our family time.  We then on Sunday had corned beef and cabbie again w'me fam.  It was good but I thought the rolls we had on Saturday were better.

Something of note, the wee new bae, Boo, took to the pipebands fine.  She held to her mommy but she didn't fuss.  The lad was much more interested in the parade this year, pointing at things I should take pictures of.  He pet unfamiliar wolfhounds, waved at the numerous pols that use the parade to... well, parade.  It was good.

I think I would probably feel different if we had something more to do this evening to celebrate.  I think I should make the time for something.  Art, perhaps.  I need more art.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten.

We've been parents to two children for two weeks now and I have something to share.
I had completely forgotten about how much wee babies like to be awake at horrid hours of the night.  I suppose it might've been an omen of sorts when on the night she came we did not sleep at all. The Boy had a marvelous time though, he was helping to do laundry and playing with his Aunt and Gramma.  He was only running off of maybe two hours sleep but it did not slow him down in the least.

Ah, youth.

While I am tired, I do have an entirely different perspective on the situation.  Between the two children I've gained more patience in some aspects of my life but I've found I'd lost it in others.  These last two weeks I did snap at my family and was depressed, still am a little but that is something that can be worked on.  What I am finding more patience with is with the crying.

You see, with the Boy I had never really handled babies, never changed a diaper, fed them or tried to calm one.  His was a steep learning curve and I can remember on more than one occasion getting angry enough with his crying to hit something.  Never him, but usually a wall or something else.  He was a loud baby and I can still remember getting sick to the gut with anger when there seemed to be nothing I could do to calm him.  Remembering it makes me more than a little sad.

I have found with the Girl, so far, that I don't get angry or concerned.  I just talk and eventually, so far, it has worked.  Fingers crossed.

I am trying hard not to get angry or sad with being tired.  I don't like being angry and over the last week I've been trying some different methods of countering that rising red sea.  My family doesn't need me angry and I feel awful when I do become so.  They don't deserve it and I don't need it.

How do you do it?

At this point in time, Monday morning, 11:27 am on Aug 25th, The Girl has not yet arrived.  Her due date is the 29th.

Maybe we are just being impatient or we were spoiled with our first child, who due to medical reasons had to be induced early.  Ergo we did not go through the last month of pregnancy and all of the "fun" that brings. However The Wife has been having contractions for three weeks.

We are tired.  Well, I should amend that.  I am tired, she is exhausted.  We are starting to get that glaze that says "maybe today, but probably not" and we sigh and go back to what we were doing.

I know it is for the best that she is getting more incubation time, I do and I know that I am being selfish when I say I want this baby out.  I want us all to have some rest.

Maybe tomorrow.

Blargo

Well that was an expensive weekend.

The Boy had his birthday party on Saturday and while it was great fun it was tinged with great financial loss.  You see my car, MoMo, decided that it did not like having a functioning alternator and so it crapped out.  MoMo is not a cheap car, per se and so the parts therein are not cheap either.  $400 later and the car functions but still.  OW.

He loved his birthday though.  We got him Monsters Inc and Univ toys. He received blocks and planes and playdough.  More food than I could have imagined and he was a very good boy.  His cake though, was wonderful.  We had a friend make it and she did a bang up job.  The cake was two layers, white cake below, chocolate above.  She was able to make them in the style of Monsters Inc.  The bottom layer was Sully's fur and the top was Mike Wazowski.  The Boy had fingers in it before we had even sung Happy Birthday.

Additionally: The Wife has been having a fair number of contractions.  Apparently Braxton-Higgs are more common in pregnancies after the first.  She has been pulling through with a combination of perseverance and tasty foods.  Berries and melons.... cookies.  You know, the essentials.  I am not worried though, The Girl will come when she is ready, these are just warm ups.

Soon, soon.

The Girl is coming soon.

The Earth trembles at the coming child.  Men weep and children run.  Soon she will lay waste to all and make all bow before her....
In like a month.  In the mean time Wife and I are gathering up the baby accessories like clothes, diapers and battle-borg teddy bears.  You know, the essentials.  So in an effort to allow my wife, the Wife, to gestate in peace I've been trying to take our son out more.  This last weekend we went down south to the Payson Scottish Festival.  Fun was had by all.  I had a Scottish Egg for a bit of second breakfast.  For those unfamiliar, a Scottish Egg is a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage and deep fried.  Billions of calories, nae a hint of vegitables, DEEP FRIED.  Scottish Food.

Also got some Ginger Beer, because of course I did.  How could I not?  Especially when the salesperson that handed me my two bottles was about the ginger-y ginger you could ever ask for.  I applaud the lad.  It takes some bravery to go out on a limb, sell the drink and put up with the barrage of comments that his complexion would invite.

In a way I will be quite glad when the new baby is born.  In a way I will also be rather sad. It is pretty neat to feel them kick but I want to meet her now.  I want the Boy to meet his sister and for us to grow as a family.  Moreover I want to continue to take my family to festivals and expose them to fun flavors and sights.

Just about another month now.

A father's day of sorts.

Hullo.

Radio silence has been broken.  It was initiated mostly because the last week or so have been rather... busy? There really is no excuse that would be adequate or sound like anything other than a "whoops" so I won't insult your intelligence.

I had the rather immense pleasure this last Friday (the 4th) to spend the day with my son and to give my wife a much needed day of rest.  I hear that she watched a lot of stuff and napped, so that was a success.  We went to a park that we had never played in before.  It had large shades covering the play area so we could romp in the 100+ degree day without getting a sunburn.  Plenty of water was had by all.  I would like to go back to this park because it had a nice stream with a duck family and several more play areas and climbing walls.

Its been recently where I've started to see glimpses of the man my child might become.  Hints in his face, small mannerisms that he has picked up from family.  The apparent never ending stretching of his limbs.

He will be four in less than two weeks.  He will have a sibling in less than ten.

I am only rarely scared of what might happen with them.

However it is days like the 4th that give me comfort.  We played, we watched a fun movie together (Mr Peabody and Sherman), we ate and talked and played some more.  I think that even if I go early then he has something to remember me by, something pleasant.  Days like today as well.  As soon as I got home he insisted that Mommy and I go swimming with him.  Afterwords I made dinner and we tucked Mommy into bed before I tucked him in.  He is a good boy.  A good helper.  In him I understand my parents more.  What they went through to get me to where I am.

It's days like these that keep me going.  

In which we played in sand.

What a weekend.  This was perhaps the busiest and most tiring one we've had and are likely to have until The Girl arrives.  We were invited by our friends to join them in a rental condo up in the mountains at a place called Bear Lake.

For those not in the know, like I was, Bear Lake straddles the Utah Idaho border and apparently has a huge thing for raspberries.  The lake is pretty big in terms of mountain lakes and the drive was stunning.  Everything was still blooming up there so it was mottled with yellow, blue and white wildflowers.  The condo we stayed in had three floors, easy access to a swimming pool and was close enough to the lake that you could see it very well from the windows.

Friday night we made the drive up there and enjoyed the early evening forest (Cache National).  Dinner was a spicy chicken alfredo with ziti.  It was quite good.  The Wife and I were in charge of breakfasts and so I had to make a little trip to the local market.  It was a tiny thing, maybe 1000 ftsq. I purchased what we needed for foods and we went back and slept.  Saturday we swam, but were toasted after that so we stayed in and played Magic.  Sunday we took a small drive and played in the sand at the beach.  The Boy had so much fun, flitting about and digging with all of us.  We made a sand volcano, it was taller than the lad.  I then did this to him.

Thoughts taken from this weekend:

The Boy was very good.  He listened very well and he only had to go into Time-Out once when he refused to go to bed.  However, that was pretty minor.

I really need to get a griddle.  The one I cooked on was very cheap but I made it work quite well.  Sausage, eggs and bacon all turned out quite well.  The hashbrowns however were better in a skillet.

This is the last trip thingy we are taking until The Girl comes.  The change in altitude and environment was not kind to The Wife.  We are going to be home bodies for a while.