Monday, December 31, 2007

Lights Out!


I like to "de-decorate" the house and yard of Christmas lights between the 25th and New Year's Eve. I have the time off from work and it's easier to do it then.

My technique for stringing lights on a tree, be it indoors or out is to apply them in a "spiral staircase" order. Makes for easy on and easy off.

Since marriage my wife has been the one to put the lights on the tree and I still take them off. However her method of stringing lights is the "wrap every frickin' limb of the tree" method. Granted it makes for a beautifully lit tree, but taking them off is a pain in the caboose.

What used to be a 5 minute lights off -- took me 45 minutes and numerous broken branches. I told her she wrapped lights on the tree like she was locking up Houdini at Scotland Yard. 

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hotch-cha-cha-cha-cha!


My 3 1/2 year old son has mostly figured out the whole Christmas thing. Family, food, presents, and new TV shows to watch. He's made the rounds through Rudolph, The Year Without A Santa Claus, Shrek the Halls, and his favorite, Frosty the Snowman. He's learned most of the lyrics of the songs from repeated watchings of the shows.

What is a hoot is that when he sings Frosty the Snowman he sings it so he sounds like Jimmy Durante, in a deep, low, gravely voice. 

So here's to you, you 3 1/2 year old Jimmy Durante impersonator. Merry Christmas kid!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Heartbeat, It's A Love Beat

The above song title from the 70's group The DeFranco Family was the first thing I thought of when my wife and I heard the heartbeat of our child for the first time yesterday. The Wife is into her 9th week of pregnancy with our third child.

We were initially excited about this recent pregnancy and then we both kind of moved on with the day-to-day pace of having jobs and two boys to raise. Even going through the "Having Your Baby at Carle" orientation felt more like applying for an auto loan.

Hearing that heartbeat, at 175 BPM, snapped us back into reality, but the good kind. The kind that reminds us that being parents has, so far, been so much more of the good than the bad. That the reason we decided to have another child is because being parents is so goll durned fun. That each day your children become more fascinating and interesting. As Bill Murray's character in Lost in Translation explained:

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.

Charlotte: It's scary.

Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.

Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.

Bob: Your life, as you know it ... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk ... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.


Although I can't say that the 3 year old was so delightful yesterday when he took his blue Crayola marker and "drewed polka dots" on the living room carpet. Still a little Resolve and a reminder of  the drawing rules (only on paper, or on a box, well only on a box that mom or dad say it's OK to draw on, oh and only on paper that mom and dad say it's OK to draw on, well actually you can only draw on paper that we give you or that is on your easel) and all was good again.


Saturday, December 8, 2007

You Only Get One Chance to Make a First Impression . . .

. . . So I'll try to make a good one! 

I'll be blogging about being a dad to my two young sons (and a third child due in July), a husband to my wife, a son to my parents, and other topics I may have opinions or thoughts on.


With that said I'll share an email that has made the rounds several times, but I thought fitting to kick of my blog.

Subject: The Mom Test

A mother was out walking with her 4 year old daughter. The daughter picked something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. The mom took the item away from her and asked her not to do that.

"Why?" the daughter asked.

"Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs", the mom replied.

At this point the daughter looked at her mom with total admiration and asked, "Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart."

The mom was thinking quickly. "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it or they don't let you be a mom."

They walked along in silence for a few minutes, but the daughter was still pondering this new information. Suddenly the daughter said, "Oh . . . I get it!" she beamed. "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad?"

"Exactly!" the mom replied back with a big smile on her face.

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That explains alot!