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Espresso Update

I feel like I have been born again, found Jesus, insert religious related idiom here, etc. Coffee nirvana, I have arrived. Regular coffee can kiss my ass, this is the only way to fly. It is 10:30am, normally I would be through with one regular pot. That thing is over half full. I can't tell if I am genuinely this excited about coffee or if the extra caffeine is contributing to a shaky, soon to crash zen-energy.

On a down note, I realize I have no restraint when it comes to espresso.  I said today I would stop at two...not so much.

The business end of my new love affair. Brew baby brew!
Here is my procedure:
Measure and pour one cup of water into machine
Load coffee
Switch machine on
Put 1 packet of sweet and low and 1 tsp creamer into mug
Wait
Pour espresso into mug
Top off with coffee and stir
Enjoy the awesome

Make Believe

I've seen children pretend to be soldiers, cowboy and Indians and astronauts. A few days back Ruby and I played make believe for about half an hour. Her choices were very interesting. I always let her take the lead and just follow along. Objects around the house started to fill roles: the couch became the car, her stuffed penguin a friend from dance class and play-dates, etc. I became immersed in her created world. She drove, picked the locations, and told me what to do.


The first stop was Chick-fil-a to have dinner and hit the playground. Her attention to detail is amazing. For example, she including using the strings from her pull train and Etch-a-Sketch pen for our seat belts. This is when her friend and a teddy bear came along for the ride. Watching her get the penguin, which is nearly as big as her, in and out of the "car" was a lot of fun. She is nothing if not headstrong and determined. Next we went to Yogurt Lab to meet GG. A couch cushion was our table which we, imaginary and not, sat around. Ru ran back and forth to the kitchen getting us all yogurt and told me not to eat hers while she was gone and even scolded me when I took a bite.

She drove me home so I could use the bathroom and then started on the road to see Memok without me. The penguin and teddy bear went along for the ride. She wanted to call mommy, which we did, blurring the lines of reality and play. Adding another level, Memok was actually coming to stay with us the following weekend. When olivia told Ruby, it was almost as if she was disappointed she had been driving...like she felt she needed to turn the car around.

I try to imagine whats going on inside her little head. Why does she choose these things for make believe vs other options? Why does she prefer real events vs fantasy? How are her choices and attention to detail reflective of her development and mental growth? I worry. I worry more than I should. The older she gets the more I find myself debating these things internally...maybe a little too often.

Thank you

Today's Regularly Scheduled Photodump will be preempted by the following Thank You.

My wife came home this weekend from Church with a little something extra. A friend and reader who had an espresso machine sitting around decided to donate it to the cause of keeping our family caffeinated.

 This baby was put into immediate service Monday morning and it is awesome!

She was even so thoughtful as to include some dark blended coffee and it is excellent and perfect for this use.
Thank you Kellet for thinking of us, this is a fantastic gift.

Valentines Day

It started out as a normal Tuesday morning. It was dark, wet and gloomy but there were signs of life and everything seemed to be going well enough. My goal was to get olivia breakfast and coffee for Valentine's Day and I did. My undoing came as a result of my promptness. I left the house at 5:40am and got to the bakery a little before they opened. The five minutes I chose to listen to the radio waiting for them to unlock the door was enough to kill off the old and slowly dying battery in her car. Her morning was spent getting the kids up, dressed, fed and in the car to rescue daddy on a rainy, ugly morning. Add to this that she did it all without complaint and a smile on her face and you can understand just one of the reasons I wanted to surprise her with something nice in the first place. At least I had good intentions...

  

I took the girls and we got a new battery for the car...what a grown up gift. Ru helped me pick out some flowers and a small box of chocolates as well as the card and all three of us signed it, two with help. We hope your day was great despite a rocky start. We love you...

A letter to Dr. Brown

Dear Dr. Brown,
     First, please allow me to thank you for your amazing baby bottles. The innovative design helped ease the colic of my oldest daughter and we had no issues when feeding my youngest. We have found all of your products to be of great quality and durability.
    All that being said, cleaning your internal venting system bottles has become the bane of my existence. Five pieces per bottle, are you f#@king kidding me? This means that every time my daughter eats (and it's often, she's hooked on the Similac) I have to wash five pieces? That means at an average of four bottles a day I am hand washing 20 small plastic and rubber pieces daily.
     I know, I know...you make washing machine baskets...we have them. My issue is when we run out of bottles and don't need to run a full load of dishes. I seriously feel like I am washing bottles for half an hour. It's just me, the metal parts bowl we use and a boatload of empty, foul smelling bottles...it sucks. 
     My assumption is that you have "doctor money" and a team of college interns to wash all of your bottles for you. I imagine you drink everything out of your bottles. A little Coke Zero with lunch? "Put it in a bottle." Extra Dirty Martini? "Throw that sumbitch in one of my bottles." I don't mind telling you that your pride is not thinly veiled. I mean...bestbottle.com? Not that doctors are particularly known for being humble, but come on. Also, we could use a price break. We are still paying off the second mortgage we took out to outfit two children with your products.
     All I am asking is that you think about the average parent. Maybe look into developing a self cleaning bottle or cut the price a little. This shouldn't be too hard for you. I know you are smart. After all the work you and Marty did on the time machine, further developments to make parents' lives easier should be a breeze.
     Many thanks in advance.

      Best,

      JT

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Extreme Parenting

Caution: NSFW

Not sure how well fighting fire with, well... gunshots will work but I bet the video gets her attention.
I admire the tough love, I'm a believer in that approach. I'm just not sure this sends the right message.
The dad has caught a lot of flack as the internet comment engines start spinning.
What do you think about the video and where do you see this family in a year?

Milestones

Sailor is growing so fast. The things she can already do amaze me on a daily basis. She can wave back at you and tonight she said "bye bye." The more I see, the more I think about how just recently we were experiencing all of these things with Ruby. olivia always talks about how sad it is that they are moving so fast and before we know if they will be older and not want to spend time or play with us. It didn't really hit me until tonight how right she is.

olivia always tells people it is so funny to her that we have two children because when me met, my Myspace page said "I don't want kids." It is true, and at the time I didn't. Looking back I don't think I ever realized what it would really be like. In my head it was constant screaming and diaper changing and giving up all your money and time for a child who will certainly take you for granted, might even hate you and won't realize all you did for them or appreciate you until well into their adulthood when you are old, broke and quite possibly senile.

It is all those things but it is also so much more. I love my wife more than anything and we made our children together. They are part of us and daily we can influence and shape them in the hopes that one day they will make a difference and do something great for what will be their world. At the very least I just hope they are good, well-adjusted people who appreciate life in all the ways I feel olivia and I do.

Forgive me for being sentimental, its just who I am. I wish everyone could know the happiness I have found in my life.

MEGA-Photodump

Ru and GG on the way to the Circus.

Reminded me of Calvin and Hobbes.

Getting some tummy time.

Deconstructing a PB&J.

Playing together.

We traced our hands, just missing Mommy's.

If we had twins...

Blur

This weekend was certainly one.
To recap, Friday I celebrated an early Valentines day with olivia by consuming fantastic Italian food and a couple bottles of champagne. Saturday we attended an awesome robot themed birthday party and caught up with some friends we don't see nearly enough. While the girls napped, I ran and caught up with some motorcycle folks (again who I don't get to see enough) and helped a buddy with a rim and wheel project.
Sunday the girls went to church with Mom and I went to play music and work on a project with yet another friend. Sunday night olivia made a great looking meatloaf with turkey that very well may have gone bad as it did not smell as good as it looked.

Word to the wise, don't watch old episodes of Hoarders while deciding whether or not to eat foods that may have passed the expiration date. You'll throw your food out every time.

Sore Thumb

Sometimes I feel like people are unaccustomed to seeing a man toting a diaper bag and two young children. Add a long beard and some tattoos to the mix and normal, rational people don't seem to know what to think. I say this because I often notice people staring at us while covering their mouths and whispering into the ear of the person next to them. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy this aspect of our lives, especially when we are out together but separated in a location. She has on a couple occasions been privy to comments that have become fodder for our amusement.  

This phenomenon occurs more frequently in certain parts of town. I met olivia for lunch earlier this week. We decided to check out a new location of a franchise restaurant that recently opened. I wont name the part of town or the restaurant but I will say the town name rhymes with "Schmestavia" and the restaurant name rhymes with "Dewks."

I was carrying my skull and crossbones diaper bag, my wife's purse (she forgot it in a rush out the door that morning), Sailor in her car seat and Ruby. Apparently, I might as well have looked something like this:

It started before I even made it out of the parking lot. Two young couples coming out got an eyeful, the females looking mostly at the kids but the guys seemed genuinely in shock, I know in the south stay at home dads are certainly not the norm...but wow. Once we got inside it really got bad, like a scene from a movie where someone walks in the door or says something out and the record scratches. I noticed it increased as we moved through the restaurant and to a table.

Is it really such a rare thing, is the stay at home dad truly such a unique creature?
Other than this dad, how many stay at home dad's do you know?

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A little too big for her to pedal.

Tummy time...

Everyone gets a beard.

Shopping excitement.