First dentist visit

Amanda had her first dentist appointment today. She is approaching two years of age and we heard that it would be a good idea since she has all her teeth now. Turns out, it wasn't such a good idea. I wasn't able to attend the appointment because, you know, I have a job. Well, I don't have a job for much longer, so in hindsight I should have been there. Either way, Katie filled me in on all the good details.

Amanda was friendly with him (after all, he is a pediatric dentist) and giving him high-fives right up to the point where he put on the latex gloves and mask. It all went sideways. She stopped smiling and locked her jaws. He was not allowed to check anything. DENIED!

The moral of this story is...wait until your child is three years of age. In the end, everyone parted ways with a good-natured laugh.

21 months

Wow, today is 09-09-09 and Amanda is now 21 months old. 21 is not easily divisible by 9, but it is divisible by 3; and so is 9. Anyhow.

I failed to mention this in the previous months' posts, but we no longer have a need for gates on the stairs. She is able to go up and down without a problem at all. We let her roam the house freely and she has never had any falls or slips. I think she has a healthy respect for the stairs. She now weighs about 30 pounds and is 32 inches tall and is a proud member of the 30-30 club. She has almost outgrown our changing table.

New skills:
-Able to buckle herself into car seat
-She announces poop prior to its arrival
-She tries to produce on the portable potty
-Shoulder shrugging for no reason

I have to imagine she picks up a great deal of "ticks" from her daycare classmates. The shoulder shrugging is probably one of them. Her "parroting" skills are well refined and she can repeat most words she hears these days. That makes it extra tough to express one's self...

18 months

Amanda added a few new tricks to her repertoire this past month
-loves to kiss goodbye or hello or goodbye or hello
-gets excited when we pull into the parking lot at daycare
-eats her food with a fork, drinks with a straw
-loves Flo Rida's Right Round
-took her first trip to the Holy Land known as Notre Dame
-learning to open doors
-says please, hungry and more (old hat)
-shows her belly button to anyone who asks and is very proud of it
-took her first ride in our bicycle trailer, smooth sailing

10 years...goes by so fast

Ten years ago today, I received the worst news of my life.

I was a 22 year old senior at Notre Dame and at a beach party on Lake Michigan with friends. It was "Senior Week"; the one full week of free time allotted to seniors after final exams (when all the underclassmen go home) and before graduation. It's supposed to be the best time of your life. There are many scheduled events, parties, etc. You just finished four years at a very competitive university amongst some of the best and brightest of your peers and are ready to step out into the world and make your mark.

Over Thanksgiving weekend 1998, I found out that my father was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. Each on their own is terminal. He was given six months to live. The family was in shock. The rock of our foundation was shaken. How do you react to news like that? If you are me, you don't believe it and you stay focused to finish strong. If you are my dad, it takes away everything you spent your life living for: family, friends, a home, a career, being a grandparent, retirement.

I still don't speak much about that day - the 12th of May, 1999 - the day my father lost his battle with cancer. It was four days before I was to graduate. All my own plans and dreams were washed away in an instant. I had everything I worked so hard to get, yet I lost so much.

Crawl space project/vacation day 5

Ahh, the last day of my vacation. It's been nice knowing you. I did no work on the house. It was going to be 85 degrees today, so I knew this day would need to be spent on other topics like family. We went to the zoo in the morning which was great. After Amanda woke from her nap, I took off on the moto to visit my newborn nephew William. He's so tiny, but weighed in at an astounding 9 pounds, 6 ounces. That's a big boy. He's gonna be a linebacker.

On my way home I picked up dinner from Paul's and tucked it into the saddle bags. They have the best Italian beef sammies. I get it with cheese and on toasted garlic bread. It's the only way to fly. It really hit the spot.

Shortly after we finished with dinner, we received a call from my cousin Brian and his wife Jen who were out walking around the neighborhood. They stopped over, we had some drinks and a great time. Always nice to have drop-ins.

Crawl space project/vacation day 1

Today was a good day. It was the first day of my week off. I plan to stay home, no jet-setting this time around. I want to spend time with family and accomplish some projects around the house that just cannot get done with the 90 minutes of free time I have during the week. Weekends tend to turn into family gatherings where I cannot simply check things off a list. That said, this week will be different. I'm off to a good start; good balance.

I started out the morning as usual, but felt sluggish getting out of bed. Amanda was ever so gracious and let us sleep in. She woke up at 7:00 AM (!!!) which is 60-90 minutes later than usual. That was nice. After waking and spending a typical family morning together (getting dressed, breakfast, cleanup, etc.) we all went for a walk to the bank to have a look at our safe deposit box. It's already 9:00...

I had this feeling that we were not backing up our important family photos onto DVDs frequently enough. I was right. In all that, I determined that it would just be easier to keep a portable hard drive in the box and take it out once a month to freshen up the files that are on there. And so starts yet another item to keep track of on a monthly basis.

After visiting the bank, I can home and started preparing for my day in the bunker; better known as the crawl space. I have such lofty goals. I want to insulate, drywall, electrify and light the space all this week. If I'm efficient, it will happen. If I get sidetracked; it won't. What happens to me is that I'm so afraid to make a mistake (some can be fixed, others...not-so-much) that I get paralyzed. I call it "paralysis through analysis" and it happens to me all the time when I'm in over my head.

That said, I was able to make progress today. Since I will be enclosing this entire space on all 6 surfaces and I won't necessarily have access to all the wiring after the fact, I want to make sure I get everything lined up. Case in point: the doorbell.

Months ago, our front-door doorbell quit working. Having no time to evaluate what happened or really care since no one comes in through our front door these days, I have put off the investigation. I took this on as one of my to-do's since the wiring for the front doorbell runs right through the ceiling of the crawl. I took apart the doorbell and ran all new wiring. Good news: that fixed our front doorbell issue and I could move on. Bad news: it took me about three hours to get it all done from start to finish.

Other progress, I installed several more feet of insulation bats in the ceiling and side walls today. The space is getting larger as I start using some of the materials that are stored in there. I am starting to see progress.

Additionally, I found time to play with Amanda and help Katie feed her lunch and dinner. It's nice when she behaves and not so nice when she misbehaves and throws her food on the floor. Today was a mixed bag. Considering she is getting over pink eye (oh yeah, she hooked herself up with that yesterday, sending us on a trip to a "Take Care Clinic" inisde Walgreens) she is doing quite well.

15 months

Amanda's abilities continue to evolve. She now does the following:
-Eats food with a spoon on her own
-Walks all around the house; stomp, stomp, stomp
-Manages stairs on her own
-Has two upper pre-molars
-Spent her first long weekend away from Mom and Dad (with Aunt Melissa and Uncle Jeff)

Times are certainly becoming more and more interesting. Just the other day, she "gave me five". I never expected her to do anything other than to look at me funny. Sure enough, she slapped my hand. Good times.

Vacation is approaching

We haven't been on a vacation (I mean a real vacation not just a weekend wedding trip or a 4-day weekend to nowhere) since our honeymoon three and a half years ago. We are headed out to San Diego to visit Brian and Laura.

We really need the time off and a change of climate. While my S.A.D. has eased, I still crave some sunshine on my face and the ability to run out of doors without four layers of clothing.

Do I want to relocate? Hell no, all we need is a little break. Even those that have relocated to the Southwest (I often hear Phoenix and San Diego) are no happier. They always find something to complain about. Phoenix has deadly heat from April to October and San Diego has wildfires that consume homes every year. I like our seasons. I like being close to family and culture and good food and entertainment.

Downturn?

I don't know what everyone else is experiencing with their own budgets, but it seems that Katie and I have been spending MORE money ever since the recession hit. Maybe it's because we put off purchases of common items such as clothing, shoes, home repairs until we shook out our new budget after buying our house or we just need more goods.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Facing forward

Amanda just took her first car ride facing forward (now that she is one year old and over 20 pounds). She was all smiles the whole way to Grandma's house for dinner. Things are looking up.

Happy 1st Birthday, Amanda

One year ago today (December 9th), I met my daughter for the fist time. Katie birthed her, we welcomed her into our arms and named her. It's been a wonderful joy to have her around ever since. For those new parents out there or those couples about to conceive or about to deliver, I have some simple insights to offer:

-keep all things in perspective
-try to rest when you are able
-remember that this new life responds to its environment
-each month brings new challenges and rewards
-eventually, they will sleep through the night
-eventually, they will start to smile
-eventually, they will start to laugh
-eventually, they will start to roll over
-eventually, they will start to crawl
-eventually, they will start to walk
-somewhere in all that development you will find it impossible to imagine your life without this little person in it and that's when you'll identify yourself as a parent

We had a wonderful time over the weekend; we celebrated Amanda's 52nd week of life with all the relatives over to our house to celebrate. We ate, we laughed, we told stories, Amanda had cake for the first time, Amanda opened presents and everyone enjoyed our little lady. I was a proud father.

Expecting

Great news! My sister Suzy announced the news to the extended family at her daughter's 3rd birthday party this weekend so I feel I can share it with the world now. She and her husband are expecting their second child. Her due date is late April. The whole family is excited and, let's be honest, she is 17 weeks prego and could not suck in the belly any more to hide it! I'm excited to be an uncle again.

Flash

Ever since we bought the Canon EOS 20D three years ago, I've been desperating pining for an external flash. The problem is that they are pretty expensive and have limited use (they are not needed outdoors, etc). With Thanksgiving, Amanda's 1st birthday and Christmas coming up, I thought now was the time. I went with the Canon 430EX II and used an AmEx gift card to buy it. It's the second generation of Canon's mid-tier flash unit and we're very excited about the bump in our low-light photography! Some of its output may show up here.
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=141&modelid=17302

Full-night's sleep

It must be weeks since we have been able to report this...all family members slept clear through the night last night. It's nothing short of glorious. I always thought that I would awake more refreshed; I'm really in no better place this morning waiting for my train.

Babyproofing

The kitchen nasties are now under wraps. The chemicals under the sink (why do we all put our chemicals under the sink?) the pots and pans, our Martini glasses. All are now protected from the prying hands of a 10 month old baby.

Sick child

Working from home today; Amanda is 101.5 (a great FM radio station somewhere I'm sure). So you think you'd rather be at home with a feever-weidling child than at work? Here's a breakdown of my day which I will keep updated.

6:00 - Amanda awake, ready for her day to begin. She's crabby and has a feever
6:30 - our only option, I stay home with her and work from home
7:30 - I eat breakfast (Pop Tarts and a bottle of water)
7:45 - Katie feeds Amanda, leaves for work
8:05 - Amanda tired, needs nap
8:44 - Amanda up from nap, needs me
8:45 - conference call, Change Control Board
9:15 - walk to 7-11 for beverage
9:30 - conference call
10:00 - attempt to feed Amanda, she is fussy and refuses
10:15 - lay her down for a nap; no struggle
10:15 - make progress on work; check up on team at the office
10:30 - conference call
11:00 - make more progress on work, catch up on e-mail
11:15 - still napping, nice!
12:15 - still napping. breaking records
12:30 - lunch
12:40 - Amamda awakens
12:41 - 6 oz bottle gobbled down
12:55 - walk around the block
1:10 - back at desk; Amanda in exer-saucer and jubilant
1:20 - unhappy baby
1:30 - realized after 10 minutes she wants a pacifier
1:45 - Amanda napping
2:00 - getting work done
3:15 - Amanda awakens
3:30 - 4oz bottle; into the exer-saucer again
4:30 - Amanda napping (must be a record), catching up on e-mail & tomorrow
5:05 - Amanda awake; work day over

Mom killed in Crosstown crash

It's amazing how connected the world is. The mother mentioned in this article is a distant relative of mine that I had just met at a family reunion this July. It's a sad story. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time...
story here

9 months

It's hard to believe, but today my daughter is nine months old. That means that she has spent as much time outside the womb as she spent inside it. What a dramaitc change. I'm not sure where she's happier...

Eight months

How quickly eight months go by. Amanda is eight months old and it keeps getting better and better as a parent. Just this weekend I started editing up the home video I took when she was 1-4 months old. She has gone through quite the transformation. It's shocking to look at video of us trying to coax just a smile or a chirp out of her. Now she smiles and chats all the time. Looking forward to all that the future holds...

Bucket List reflections

Entertaining movie; worth the watch. As it started to unfold and death was chasing both Edward and Carter I started to think about my father's experience with cancer. I did not expect this to happen when the movie first began, but the parallels were so striking that I had no choice.

His experience was nothing like theirs. He was given six months to live upon diagnosis and six months he got. There was no jet setting around the globe or random acts of fun. There was hospital, chemo, bed, repeat. All along, we were fortunate enough to watch his quality of life steadily decline.

I was a senior in college at the time and came home when I could. He was diagnosed shortly before Thanksgiving in 1998 at the ripe age of 60. That means I spent Christmas, New Years and a few random moments with him that I now savor as my last. He did not make it to see me graduate from college; the saddest part of the whole story. He missed Commencement by four days.

I struggled to enjoy my final days as a college senior before the big, bad real world would come down upon me. Several changes were all about to happen at once. I graduated from college thereby losing my current circle of friends and way of life that I had gotten used to for the past four years, my sister moved out of state to pursue her dreams and my father passed. For those at home, I lost three things when I gained my diploma:
1)College
2)Sister
3)Father

Sice then, Mom and I have been keeping the clocks on time and trying to make sure all is good. I lived with Mom for two years after graduating before I ventured out on my own. It was time and she was stable. Finances were in order and we needed time apart.

I'm in a much better place now. It's been 9 years since I lost my father to pancreatic and liver cancer and every day is a new challenge. I still carry the torch he passed on to me many years ago and it continues to fuel my fire in my personal life and professional career. That torch has pissed off more than a few individuals along the way. That's their problem. They need to toughen up and get with it. Your life is not that bad. Neither is mine; this is not a "woe is me" post, but rather a reflection upon how some feel that life is tough for them. It can get a whole lot tougher in one instant; one announcement - Daddy's sick.