Thursday, January 11, 2007
Seventeen days. That’s how long it took M. to destroy the Play-Doh Santa brought her. What was once brilliant hues of orange, pink, purple, and yellow are now blobs of strange, pinkish-grey matter with the occasional swirl of tie-dye. She doesn’t seem to mind, but it sure drives her parents crazy.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Finishing up this year’s business. The five songs that when I think of 2006, I will think of most. Happy New Year to all. 5 - “Unemployable” - Pearl Jam. Yeah, I’m a fan. Sue me. A damn fine song regardless. Pearl Jam’s greatest hook ever? It might well be. This song summed up what most of their self-titled album was all about: getting to the point without any embellishment. Almost no guitar solo, quick, nearly non-existent choruses.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
The countdown continues… 10 - “Steady As She Goes” - The Raconteurs. The lead single off of the much-hyped collaboration between Jack White and Brendan Benson. It hints at the dirty sound of the rest of the album, while maintaining an accessibility that makes it radio-friendly. 9 - “Stuck Between Stations” - The Hold Steady. You can’t have a great album without a great opening track. This song perfectly sets the tone for Boys and Girls in America.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I listened to a lot of music this year. I made lists. I pared those lists down to 20 songs. Below is installment #1 of the best of 2006, all in my humble opinion, of course. Your results may vary. 20 - “Handle With Care” - Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins. This would be higher if it weren’t A) a cover (Traveling Wilburys) and B) an “all-star” track (Indie favs Ben Gibbard, Conner Oberst, and M.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Happy continued holidays to all. It’s a dandy here in Indy. C. is sick, M. is teetering on the edge of a cold, I’ve got a full-blown cold, and S. is surely next. Then there are the sisters-in-law staying here, who will probably catch it before they head home. I’m going through massive amounts of kleenex and discovering the dumbed-down version of Sudafed just isn’t as good as the old, Meth-friendly kind.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Boy, this week is flying by, which is strange because I have almost nothing going on. A comprehensive house-cleaning regimen was formulated a week or so back, but I’ve only done a few things on it. Why get the house all sparkling when you’ve got kids who will just mess it up again before the guests arrive? Expect mad cleaning to occur Friday night, Saturday morning. Cookie baking, too. I’ve been reading a lot, which has been fun.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
We must be living right. Tonight, at 6:30 PM, we took a walk with the kids to see the Christmas lights in our neighborhood. We all had jackets on, with the girls also wearing hats. Ten minutes into the walk, I felt like I needed to ditch the jacket. The sky looked like snow all day long, the only problem was the thermometer was pushing 70. There wasn’t even a chill in the air tonight; it felt like a nice April evening.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Since the explosion of the on-line music world in the late ’90s, I, like many, have moved away from being a consumer of entire albums towards collecting individual tracks by artists I enjoy. I’d rather buy through iTunes, or obtain via other means, the four or five best songs off of an album instead of dropping $16 to get those tracks plus seven or eight I don’t want. This year, though, I seemed to stockpile a few more albums than in recent years.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Many things happened this weekend. For those of you who missed it, I made a surprise (to some) visit back to KC for the annual Sinatra Party. I dusted off the suit, made some cursory efforts to get the liver in shape, and although I didn’t do nearly as much damage to the scotch supply as I have done in years past, I did enjoy my time in KC immensely. It was great to see all of you who were present to honor Frank.
Friday, December 8, 2006
The 2006 tree went up last night. Looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. Pretty much like the last three trees we’ve had. Oh well, a sure sign the holidays are upon us. We’ve been working with M. so that she understands what Christmas is really about. She surprised S. the other day with this conversation. “Christmas is the baby Jesus' birthday, M..” “Oh! We get cupcakes and party hats and we sing?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Over 3200 words from my Saturday sports watching experience. Not for the faint-hearted. If you dare, check below the jump. What a great day. A couple years ago, before kids, I would have sat on my happy ass all day watching all the great sports action Saturday. Instead, I sat on my happy ass almost all day playing with the kids, watching Nick Jr., and catching the occasional snippet of a game until their bedtimes.
Friday, November 24, 2006
After a lovely Thanksgiving Day, I got the girls to bed (S. is working tonight), did some dishes, made some formula for the night, watched some random TV, and finally, around 11:30, got around to pouring myself a glass of Jameson and sitting down to watch the greatest episode of Cheers ever produced, The Thanksgiving Orphans. I got about ten minutes into it when I had a shocking revelation: this year marks the 20th anniversary of the episode.
Monday, November 20, 2006
18 pounds. Six ounces less than M. at the same age. 26.5 inches. 1/2 inch longer than M. Eyes looking bluer every day.
Monday, November 13, 2006
I wish I had the ability to mentally post to the blog at times. I forget way too much amusing stuff the kids do, but if I could fire off a post from my head, you, the loyal readers and followers of M. and C.’s growth, would never miss a moment of their lives. Here’s what’s going on. Bedtime is just loads of fun. C. remains a fussy sleeper. Actually, she sleeps great.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Pics uploading to Flicker as I type this up. M. was a pink octopus. She LOVED her costume. C. wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as M., but she was a fluffy chicken. M. went to six houses and got a pretty decent bag of candy. We immediately dumped almost all of it into our bowl for passing out to kids. She got to keep a lollipop and all the M&M’s she got.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Does anyone know how to get the theme from Dora the Explorer out of an adult’s head? Disclaimer: we watch at least three episodes a day in this house, so I’m looking for a way to remove it then block my mind from registering it the next time I hear it. Help is appreciated.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
My M-W class isn’t meeting for a couple weeks, so Tuesday night was my first time on campus since last week’s paper came out. There, front page, above the fold, was one of my stories. As always, I must admit the competition for space isn’t fierce here, but it’s still kind of fun to see your story right up front. And judging by the huge stack of papers left, six days after they were first set out, literally tens of people probably read it.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
We went to the mall yesterday, and I noticed a display in the Victoria’s Secret window for a bra with “adjustable cleavage.” My first question, of course, was can I get a demonstration from an official VS spokesmodel? Since I was with my wife and two daughters, obviously I couldn’t ask out loud for that kind of thing. But it did get me thinking, and I’ve decided this could be the greatest invention ever.
Monday, September 25, 2006
I have my first exam in my PR class tomorrow night, along with a couple outstanding projects for my reporting class, so things will be a little slow here for the next few days. Lots of interviews and planning sessions lined up. I wrote about 2000 words about football over the weekend, but they’re desperately in need of editing. So, I’ll just have to try again next weekend I guess.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
My first story has been published in the school paper. First time I’ve been published since May 1989, and I have to say it feels pretty good. Unfortunately, the on-line edition doesn’t seem to be updated with new stories, so I can’t link to it. If it ever gets posted, I’ll let you know how to read it. I got an A for my class grade, so I’m pleased with my performance.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
It’s been awhile since I documented the growth of my girls. So here’s what’s going on these days. Of most importance is we’ve got two teethers. M. is working on her two year molars, and C. is pushing through her bottom two front teeth. That’s right, she’s getting teeth before she’s four months old. So we’ve been going through Motrin and Tylenol and diapers like it’s going out of style.
Friday, August 25, 2006
We took M. to the picture place to get some two-year-old pics taken today. The photographer’s comment after we apologized for M.’s uncooperativeness, “She’s a two-year-old.” M. could not have been less interested or less friendly. Of course, as soon as we were done and went to select what pics to print, she found some boy her age and played with him at the Lego table. At one point, I heard her telling him all about her whole family, “Mommy, daddy, C…”
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
I think I figured out what keeps C. from sleeping through the night. The last time S. worked an overnight shift, I was up with C. every two hours. Last night, S.’s first night shift in 10 days, C. and I enjoyed three lovely hours together, between 3:00 and 6:00 while she went through two bottles, two diapers, played, got cranky, and then refused so sleep on her own despite falling asleep immediately each time I picked her up and held her close.
Monday, August 7, 2006
I know, I know, pretty shitty blog production on my part recently. In my defense, C. just can’t get this sleeping at night thing down, and pretty much every night we’re getting up every 2-3 hours with her. The frustrating part is she drinks two ounces of formula, passes out before she can finish it off, which just means she’ll be up again in a couple hours. I thought about experimenting with IV formula consumption Friday night when S.
Monday, July 31, 2006
I made it back to Indy as scheduled, and as tired as expected, yesterday. C. gave us a pretty good night, which was much appreciated all around. My step-dad seems to be doing pretty good, and when I talked to him this morning, the plan is still to release him sometime tomorrow. I think he’s still got some work to do in areas unrelated to his heart, but I’m encouraged by how quickly his body is coming around.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
I forgot to share this story from last week. We routinely get unsolicited mailings from mortgage and financial planning people. We generally just toss them, since both needs have been satisfied and we have plenty of options for new agents when we need to revisit them. However, last week we got a slightly unsettling mailing. It was hand addressed, as many of them are to get your attention, but I thought I recognized the name on the return address.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Two month visit to the doctor today. 22 1/4 inches, 75th percentile. 12 lbs, 2 oz., 50th %. Head size: 38 1/2 CM, 50th %. Exact same measurements as M. at the same age, except for the head, which isn’t nearly as big as M’s was/is.
Monday, July 10, 2006
The long-delayed update on the girls of the Blogger. As C. approaches her two-month birthday, the differences between her and her sister are becoming more apparent. For example, M. loves to go places in the car. Some days, the first thing she says after waking in the morning or from a nap in the afternoon is, “Go bye-bye in car!?!?!” C., on the other hand, does not love her car seat so much.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Two signs of summer. First, M. seems to have reached the perpetually skinned knee phase. Every 2-3 days, while we’re outside, she’ll decide to run down our driveway, which has a slight decline to it, catch her toes, and fall down, leaving her knees bloodied. She usually jumps up and looks at them, but a few times we’ve had some tears. We invested in some Elmo Band-Aids, so I think she might be doing it on purpose now.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
I went back last weekend and skimmed a few of my posts from the first month or so of M.’s life. The constant lament was that I couldn’t get into a routine. Funny how things don’t change! I’m two weeks out of school and haven’t been able to get much accomplished. These damn newborns and their inability to take 2+ hour naps at the same time each day, along with their constant need for attention while awake!