Happy Birthday

These days just go by so quickly. Yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of my daughter's birth. 5 years ago we had been in the hospital welcoming her into the world. Now, 5 years later I start a new tradition- taking the day off of work to spend with the birthday child. So the day went like so:

We started out by taking her to the last day of Vacation Bible School at church. I thought that it might make some kind of difference to her having me there but it didn't really. I should have taken my laptop along and worked more on my book. [The Unauthorized & Incomplete Autobiography Of Rage Perry, set to be finished sometime in the future]. 

When VBS was over then it was time for the birthday girl to pick the destination for our noonly feeding. I figured that the choice would be Culvers. She surprised us by picking McDonalds. Bear in mind that we pretty much gave her the choice of anywhere in town. So off to McDonalds we went to stuff our faces.

After we were done eating it was then time for my wife and son to go sleep in the van while I continued to sit in the booth fighting the Sandman and watching the girl run around in the play area and periodically call out my name and wave to me. It was kind of nice to feel like she still needed me for something, but when she was done playing I was only good for carrying our drinks  back out to the van. I sooooo wanted a nap, but that's the story of my life. 

From Mickey D's we proceeded to the theatre where we all nustled our bums into the chairs and prepared to be amazed by Kung Fu Panda. Both of my kids really liked it and so did I. You can take the guy out of martial arts but you just can't ever fully take the martial arts out of him. I have always also been a fan of some of the Confusian thought that comes from the far east. The whole "less is more and more is less" kind of thought. 

Shortly after we got back home my wife's mom, aunt and uncle came over for dinner before they had to head on to some school reunion activity. It is always good to see that clan. They brought with them gifts for my daughter and food. 

My daughter was excited for many of her presents. Barbies, movies, clothes. She actually asked for some Caroll Burnett videos....and she got them.

Food, cake, movies and more movies, company, a miriad of phone calls...it made for a busy day.

It is hard to imagine life without kids. I spent more of my life not having kids but now it is hard to be where I am and imagine not having any. They add another dimension to life. Like today....

Today my daughter successfully did a pretty long bike ride....without the training wheels. She was peddling and riding all by herself, stopping when she should, avoiding parked cars, she was a pro. I need to go ride with her a little later today so that she can get a little more practice.

Right now she has a friend over to the house who lives a block away. The girl is polite and they have been playing well together but I can't help but wonder what her home life is like. Do her parents ever wonder where she is? Do they feed her often? How concerned are they for her overall well being? It is just hard to know any more the parental involvement out there. Many parents are just in it because they forgot to use contraception. I hate that for the kids and I hate to assume the role of neighborhood babysitter; but if the only safe place is my place then I guess I feel a certain moral obligation. All I know is that they seem to be getting along well and my daughter has needed some other kids to be able to play with. 

I am happy because she is happy. That's all a daddy ultimately wants for his little girl. 

Happy Birthday

Today is my son's 2nd birthday. What a flood of memories come to mind when I think about the day he was born; talk about excitement!

The night before my son was born my wife had been having trouble sleeping due to what felt like just an upset stomach. Since she couldn't sleep she decided to just go downstairs and watch TV and lay on the couch.

I woke up at 04:30 that morning to find that she was not in bed with me so I decided to take a journey downstairs to see what was going on. She was laying on the couch saying that she was uncomfortable with what felt like gas pains. She had been in and out of the bathroom many times hoping that something would happen to make things more comfortable for her but nothing seemed to be working. So we called the "First Nurse" people at the hospital and they gave us some suggestions that didn't work either. So I then jumped online and read whatever I could on the subject of relieving gas pain...the one thing that we had not tried was peppermint tea. So I jumped in the car @ 06:00 and drove to the nearest town in search of it. I went to a few places before I found it. Once I had it in hand I drove back home as quickly as possible.

When I was just about 10 minutes away from home my wife called and said that she hoped I was on my way because she was really getting uncomfortable. I assured her that I would be there very soon and to just hold on.

When I got home she could barely stand up straight because of the discomfort; and nothing was happening in the bathroom. So I called "First Nurse" back and told them the situation- that she was pregnant with 2 weeks left to go in her term and that she was a very unhappy camper. The lady on the phone did some mumbling of sorts and then said that I should bring her in.

My first thought, though somewhat distant, was that possibly there were complications brewing...was everything alright? were they going to have to induce her? were they going to have to do a c-section? do i need to be worried? I did entertain the possibility though that we might end up having a baby by the end of the weekend.

So we notified to neighbour so that she could come over and be with our daughter. [Author's note: We had already been talking to our 2 year old daughter about what might happen if mommy should have to have the baby when she was sleeping. We told her that Lindsay might come over and be with her until Memah and Papa got there to be with her.] We then packed up whatever we thought we might need and we then zoomed off to the hospital. When my wife said that she thought that she was feeling some pressure I stepped on it. We were soon flying down U.S. Highway 30 westbound at 90mph. I blew right past a state trooper who was dealing with someone one the side of the road. He didn't do anything about me; it may have been because I was driving with my emergency flashers on.

When we got into Ames I continued to drive like a road conscious mad man through town. I even blew through an intersection that had a red light staring me in the face and a local cop driving right toward us. He just pulled into the gas station like he didn't even notice.

We get to the hospital and I wheel my wife in to the Emergency entrance in the wheel chair and when we're greeted by the receptionist who said "Hi, what are you here for today?" my wife said "I need to have a baby." So they got the room lined up for us and we set out to find it.

After we got to our room it wasn't very long before the midwife came in to see us. [If you've never used a midwife, we HIGHLY suggest them] She checked my wife's dilation to find that she was already at 8cm. HOLY CRAP!!! Not a minute too soon!!! We could have had the baby at home if we didn't come in...

In just a matter of about 2 hours or so, our son Liam Robert entered the world with us. Man, I was so proud as a dad to now have a son. I was overjoyed to find out that our first child would be a girl. I knew that my soft spot in my heart would have to get bigger because of her, but now I had a son. Someone who could one day pee just like me. I cried as I watched him come out.

Meanwhile, when our daughter woke up at home to find that we were gone and Lindsay was there-- she thought for a minute of two [now she's always been a very sharp girl, but for a 2 year old this was amazing] and said "Linneys, mamma, daddy gone...MOMMY HAVE BABY?!?!?!?!"

Lindsay held the fort down until my wife's folks got there to collect our daughter to come to the hospital. When they got there I went down to the lobby to meet them and to tell Keelin that Liam was finally here with us. I cried again. She was such a proud big sister. You could see it all sink in as she dimly understood that Liam was no longer in mommy's tummy, but now out with us.

Kids can be such pains sometimes. I really hate to say it, but it's the truth. Our parents can vouch for that fact with multiplicity...but how they are worth it. To think that we could be responsible for the raising of the next generation right under our roofs.

Liam had a big day today- a doctor appointment to get checked up on, then swimming at his aunt's house, then a house full of family and friends tonight to celebrate his life. So he's asleep now. I like to watch him sleep.

In so many ways he is my spitting image, but I am so glad that he is not me.

I love you buddy...more than you'll ever know.

Happy Birthday.

I did it again

One year I really messed up on Mother's Day. My wife really wanted a card from our daughter who was only about 6 months old. I didn't realize it and so I didn't make one. She was crushed. She cried and I was in the dog house. Well, it seems as though I'm back there again. This time it was for her birthday.

I got my wife all the gifts that she asked for. I also gave her a new [it's almost finished] dining room that she'd wanted for some time. I had a big party at our house...I did it all....except for have my daughter make her a birthday card.

To me it seems pretty selfish that she would want something like that; the need to get something "sentimental" from someone else on the basis of wanting to get it rather than their wanting to give it. But she, like every other human, has a need for affirmation and I missed it. So in light of all of the other good things that happened, I still screwed it all up. And now she knows that I know, so all sense of sincerity is now gone and I'm stuck between and rock and a hard spot.

I want to blame it on the fact that I am a guy who doesn't really think much about the emotion of things. Guys are doers. But I did the wrong thing. Now I've got to try and figure out how to make up for it.

Everybody's Irish Today

Holy Crap! I'm losing my mind.

Talk about a busy week. I have had so much going on that I am almost out of gas. I just need to make it through tomorrow night and I'll be in the clear.

What am I busy doing, you ask? Well, my wife's birthday is today and we are having both of our families over tomorrow for a party. I thought that it would be a good idea to paint our dining room before the festivities. Then my wife thought it would be a good idea to expand the painting idea to add stripes to the walls [which look very good] and that would take even longer to complete. Then she decided that we were finally going to remove the carpet from the room to reveal the hardwood floors. I will probably be up tonight, again, until 3 or 4 working on it so that we can be ready to put the house back in order tomorrow morning before everyone gets here.

I only have time to type this right now because I'm waiting for my work laptop to finish booting up and signing in so that I can track down a team mate about an issue that I got called on.

Yesterday I started the day helping an elderly friend of mine figure out why they couldn't get on the internet. To make a long story short- I hate 2 things; ISP Tech Support and Outsourcing!!! First, I had to explain the issue 3 times to 3 different people, all of which had very thick Indian accents. I feel bad for them because

1. A lot of them are not properly trained to do tech support. They just diagnose your problem by reading cheat sheets that script someone, hopefully, to a resolution.
2. They probably hear the same thing from people like me many times a day- "I'm sorry, can you please repeat that?"

The bottom line to Corporate America is the Bottom $$$. Get unskilled workers for minimal pay. The end of the story is that their Tech Support was only a very small help to me, I was ultimately right about what the problem was; I just had to finally say the right words to get them to try something for me to test my hypothesis.

Then when I was done with that, I drove into town to run a few errands before going into the office for work. One of those unfortunate stops was Des Moines' biggest Christian Bookstore to get my wife a birthday present.

I have come to hate Christian bookstores. They often times feel to me like what a spiritual porn palace would be like. You walk in, see so many different books, magazines, toys, pictures, music, trinkets, candy...etc. Now, many of you who have read either of my blogs know that I have my suspicions about modern Christianity, but it was pretty well confirmed like never before as I looked around that place; I don't know or understand everything about the Bible, spirituality, or true Christianity, but this is definitely not it. I truly felt like I needed another shower.

That is all I will say about that right now because I am really short on time. I need to get back to working on the floors. In addition to that, I am hanging a new chandaleer light and painting baseboard trim. Time is running out!

Happy Green Day Everyone!