Another easy bedtime for Connor tonight. We opted to skip bath because I was busy writing an e-mail regarding the church website while he was watching a couple of Thomas' and I ran out of time. Wiped him down and fussed a little bit trying to put the diaper on him, but afterwards, he did fine. Tomorrow is a full day with him because Laura's Mom was here today until his lunch, so I had some help. I don't really know what time she's coming home tomorrow (hopefully no weather delays), but I think it's late.

I always hate it when Laura is out of town for work or something, even though it doesn't happen often at all. I miss her and it is times like these that I think I take her help and presence for granted sometimes. When she comes home after work, she immediately helps Connor and frees me from my sometimes stressful day. When that doesn't happen, I can really tell the difference in stress level. Maybe not stress, per se, but responsibility levels, I guess, if that even makes sense. It's just nice to have a break from Connor a little bit each day. I know that she doesn't get a break during the weekends at all and I need to be better about trying to take Connor so she can. It's just hard because Connor really likes to stay with Laura during the weekends. I know that Connor's 2-ish hour naps are a good time to wind down for the second part of the day, but I guess it's different, somehow. I should nap to get re-energized, but I don't want to waste that time, either. I guess I'd rather be refreshed than tired? I took a nap during his nap today and I think I feel better on those days, obviously. It's either that or going to sleep earlier!

Anyway, I think tomorrow, if it's not too cold out in the morning, which it may be as it says around mid-40s around 9am, I might take him to the zoo since we haven't gone in a long time. If the morning doesn't happen, I'll try and take him after his nap, although that cuts it close his dinner. Well, maybe not, but we'll surely hit rush hour traffic and that's something I don't want to do. 

I have leftovers for lunch, but I dunno what we're eating tomorrow for dinner. Laura had some quinoa thing planned, but I have no idea how to make it, so I'll let her make it for Wednesday. Thursday my Mom is coming to visit for a few days, so I'll have to check her in on Wednesday morning.

Well, it's 10pm and I wanted to watch one survival show and take a shower, so I better go.

I love you and miss you, Laura!

Oops, almost missed my goal by a day...or, maybe I think I missed it by a day. I'll make that up.

Laura left for her business trip to St. Louis a couple of hours ago. Laura's Mom took Connor to Kelly's for a couple of hours to give me a break. They're just about to come home, I think. At least, that's the plan. I have dinner ready, though. Pork chops, sweet potatoes, and asparagus. It feels like it's missing something, though.

Anyway, I'll probably write later. I just had thought about the blog and wanted to write a quick something. I'm hoping Connor does okay during bedtime tonight. He didn't seem to mind it too much when Laura left, but we'll see about that tomorrow or even the next day when she isn't back like normal.

Been working on the quilt guild website, teaching Laura's Mom most of what she needs to know to update the site. We should be wrapped up by tonight, if not already. I've taught most of what's needed to know. Next is just practice. Lots of it!

It feels weird in the house right now. Just me and the dogs. No Connor. No Laura.

Miss you already!

Oh, and one of my goals this year is to write in my blog weekly...and, yes, it WAS to write daily, but that went out the window on the 2nd...and taking a picture daily isn't going to happen either...sigh.

2013 Year in Review

What another roller coaster of a ride it's been this year. Connor turned one and grew up faster and faster. He learned so many new words each week, it's crazy to see how much of what we say and do he picks up without us even knowing. I can't tell you how many times we've been like, "Whoa, how do you know that, Connor?".

So, for this year, I thought I could switch it up a bit and even though I would do a very short summary of the year, I would spend the majority of my writing on what we MISS about being non-parents. I think it would be an interesting thing to do because once you become parents, everything sort of blurs together and you don't really think about what you used to do in your spare time and the like. Yeah, every now and then we think to ourselves if we could just go see a movie or go out to eat without any hassles, but I figured I could go a little more in detail than that...hopefully it doesn't turn out to be boring, ha. Come to think of it, I hope it's not just dinner and a movie that we miss doing without Connor!

This year was a big year, relatively speaking, in terms of traveling. We went to Colorado twice with Connor, once before he was walking and once after he was. Both times went fine, considering traveling with a baby. Overall, I think the enjoyment weighed out the stress...maybe. Connor kept us busy by walking very early, around 11 months or so. It's weird to think because Joseph is still crawling and he's already reaching 15-ish months! It would be a completely different perspective, I think, if Connor wasn't able to walk until that old. Connor and I played at the park a lot this year. That basically became the thing to do each day because we still hadn't figured out Gymboree or Mother's Day Out. We're hoping to get that started next year, though. Connor hopefully can handle being left alone without us.

This past Summer wasn't as hot as the last years, so that was great. Still hot at times, but very much manageable. The Winter has been feeling colder than normal, which is hard because we can't get out as much.

We had visits to Tulsa here and there for different occasions, but Connor had issues with something each time. Mostly napping, some having to do with boredom (?), etc. Him being bored is a bit weird when we're over there because he certainly has more to do than here, but I dunno. It must be a little different. The house is much too large for him and while we're there, he's all about Mommy and it's hard for him to keep close to Laura because she's always trying to help out around the house. It would be nice if for once we could just go there as guests, but, I doubt that will happen. Christmas will be very interesting, for sure. So many people and so many things going on. I think it will be a very difficult time. Sometimes, I think if the difficulty and stress is even worth it. Sometimes it's nice to just relax and not have to worry about every little thing that is coming up next. I keep telling Laura that we should just do catering for every meal, but oh well.

The other big thing, which came out of nowhere was my Bell's Palsy after a horrible (perhaps the worst I've ever had) cold that started on Thanksgiving day with a severe sore throat. It even hurt just to swallow saliva. Anyway, that continued for a few days, then it turned into a bad runny nose and coughing. A week later, I wasn't getting any better. Then on Friday, Dec. 6th, I believe, I woke up and half my tongue was "numb." Coming back from the dentist and you tongue still feeling numb is the best way I can describe the feeling. I didn't think much of it that day. I had taken Nyquil for the first time ever the night before, so I thought it might have been that. The next day, lo and behold, my face, the same side as my tongue, was paralyzed. I started to freak out, not at first, but as I realized that this wasn't normal. I mentioned it to Laura several times that morning and after a while, we both decided that I should go to the ER. So, I did. After a super quick trip, they diagnosed the Bell's Palsy. It didn't really hit me what was going on, I guess. I was just having difficult talking, as one might expect when the muscles on one side of your face doesn't work. I read up on it after I got home and it looked like it was going to be a slow, slow recovery process. I got some medication and that was that.

It's now almost been a months since the diagnosis and I'm doing much better. Every day, little by little, I'm getting my movement back. My smile isn't normal yet, but it's getting there. I just hope that all of a sudden, the recovery stops. It can happen, I guess. Recovery can be as quick as a couple of weeks to several months, up to a year, even. I think I'm somewhere in between, from the looks of it. I'm about 70% recovered, I would say. At this rate, another 2 weeks or so should do it. I'm hoping so! Anyway, the first week was the hardest to get used to it. It was  hard to eat, talk, drink, brush my teeth. I didn't realize how so much of my daily routine would be affected. The biggest was my eye, as I couldn't shut it voluntarily. I had to get drops to keep it moist and at night I had to tape it down. I still occasionally do, as if I don't, it seems like my vision is blurry afterwards. I didn't go out as much during this as well because, 1) I didn't want to hurt my eye/get it dried out and 2) I didn't want any human interaction during this time. This was difficult as I usually take Connor out every day somewhere, like to the park, etc. I felt bad during this, but he got through it okay.

Then came Christmas. Overall, it was a good time, though a bit stress-filled for everyone, it seemed like. It felt like there was more prep work having to be done or something. Anyway, we were there for a week and it was a good break, for the most part. Connor was all about Mommy during it, probably because of the fact that she was there all the time and not at work, lots of new faces, and etc., etc. He did really well at the Christmas mass and he and Wesley were funny sharing snacks and stuff. There were some sharing meltdowns at times, but nothing big. It was nice to have Matt and Ellen there this year, too. It felt super fast though for the week to go by. Weird how perception always works! Gifts that I got were good, too. Laura and I did our Christmas as always before we left. We both liked our gifts. I've been practicing with the fountain pen a lot the last week. She also got me Ni No Kuni, a PS3 game that was made with the help of Studio Ghibli. It looked really fun when I saw it sometime ago. Laura's Dad was given the PS3, so we're going to borrow it sometime to play the game. When I got the game at first, I was like, what?! We don't have a PS3! But then she told me the details.

Anywho, I'm actually really tired and it's almost midnight, so I don't want to stay up longer, but I think I'll just decide to not do the special write-up  mentioned up top. Basically, sometimes I missed just being "free", I suppose. It is good to see Connor grow up and see the funny things that he does. I think those little things, despite the stressful times that I have during the day, are the things that keep me going. He just does a lot of funny things I really need to learn to be in the moment and remember then when they happen. I've already forgotten so much since he was born. Yeah, I've taken photos and videos, but it's just not the same as vividly remembering, I guess. I'll try and do better this year.

Oh, and Chris and Alicia had called us before our Christmas to tell us that they are having a baby in July. It's going to be very funny to watch them handle it. We both don't think they are ready, but we'll see in 7 months! They are going to find out the gender, but I'm not sure when. I'm sure we'll visit them sometime.

Here's to a good 2013 and an even better 2014!

Back from the Christmas extravaganza and back to our normal schedule. Everything went fairly well and despite a few hiccups with Connor waking up during the nights and a handful of bad naps, he did okay too. Came home Saturday and spent most of yesterday trying to clean up our super messy house. We just don't have enough storage space for the ever-growing amount of toys that Connor is amassing. We either need to move or get a storage shed or something.

Last Friday was the 3-week anniversary of my Bell's Palsy. It's still getting better a little bit each day, so that's good. I'd say I'm at about 50% recovered or so. I can finally close my eyes without using my fingers and I can sleep at night with the tape. Thank god. My non-open-mouthed smile is starting to come back, but smiling while opening my mouth is still wonky. Hopefully in a few more weeks, I'll be recovered.

Still need to work on my end of year summary. I'll try and probably do that tomorrow before bed. The years are starting to fly past.

5 more days until Laura HAS to open my gifts!

A few more days have gone by and the Bell's Palsy is slowly and steadily getting better. At least, that's what I like to think. Really, though, I do seem to have more control over various parts of my face. I'm able to almost close my eye now, but still having issues with smiling and other, more difficult facial movements. Eating is still about the same. Since I can't still move my lips, it's hard to open wide enough to put food in. My vision has been a little blurry/foggy the last couple of days. Hopefully, there isn't permanent damage going on. I've been using eye drops liberally, so I hope that helps. The last couple of nights, I've had issues with taping the eye lid shut. Dunno why. Maybe it's because I have some control over my lid vs. no control at all? It's harder to keep taped down or something. The other thing is that once every night or every other night or so, I'm waking up with night sweats. Last night, I woke up and I had to change my shirt since it was so wet. It was cold too. I'm hoping this is a side effect of the Palsy and/or the meds that I am taking. I read a few people on the support boards mentioning insomnia and night sweats with the Prednisone, so that made me a little more relaxed about it. I'll probably mention it at the doctor's appointment that I need to set up next week. I have a few more days of meds left and I'm done. The last few days I've also had a lot of twitching and stuff around my face going on, mostly around my lips and chin. The left side of my face is also sore. I think that's a good sign. I still do think that I have at least a week or two before even coming close to normal again, but I just hope that none of the loss of movement is permanent. I can only wait.

Just coming back for a better update before Connor wakes up soon.

So, this bad cold I've had since Thanksgiving has blown up to bigger things, apparently. The first week was severe sore throat and then coughing/runny nose. The Friday of next week, I woke up with a weird, numb feeling of my tongue, but just the left side. I had taken a Nyquil the night before for the first time ever, so I thought it was that. I decided to wait a day to see if it would go away. The next day was even worse. The entire left side of my face was numb. I guess numb isn't the correct word since I could still feel it. More like paralysis. Anyway, about midday, I was getting freaked out so I went to the ER. They suspected it was Bell's Palsy after a quick look and hearing about my cold for the past week and a half.

So, there's nothing really I can do but wait. I have a couple of medications, but hopefully within a week or two, the symptoms get better a little better each day. I guess the majority of people are fully recovered by 3 months, some shorter, some longer. It's not bad in the sense of pain or something, but VERY annoying when it comes to talking, eating, not being able to blink/close my left eye so I need to put drops in every so often and sleep with tape over my eye to keep it closed, etc. Lucky me. And I still have this stupid cold to boot. It feels like it's starting to get better, though, the cold anyway. Still have a runny nose but my coughing is down a lot.

I gave Laura one of her Christmas presents because I was feeling a little down and needed something to cheer me up. It was one that I couldn't really wrap anyway. It was the 3 Sims expansions that I bought for her back in November during the huge sale. She liked it a lot and was playing it for a little bit yesterday. I gotta wait 2 more weeks to give her her real gifts, though. Bleh.

Anyway, I can't thank Laura enough, as always, for taking care of me during this this past weekend while wrangling Connor around since he only has eyes for mommy during the weekends. The weather is quite cold outside this week, and the last week at that, so it's been hard to take him out to play or anything, especially since he and I still have this stupid cold. He's slowly getting better as well. A couple of nights he's been struggling to stay asleep, but hopefully this is ALL over soon. I doubt I'll be recovered by Christmas time, though. We'll see.

I need to think about my year-in-review, but I have an interesting idea for it this year.

I can't believe Connor is still sleeping. It's been just about 3 hours...I kind of feel like I should go check on him, but that will definitely wake him up. It good that he's trying to catch up on sleep, though.

Bell's Palsy...awesome.

(will update with a longer post sometime soon)

It's almost Thanksgiving and that means that Christmas is just around the corner. I'm looking forward to trying to snag some good deals again on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, although I probably won't end up buying anything. I've already started seeing houses with lights up and I think that it's a tad bit early. I think on or after Thanksgiving day is the right time. I'm also keeping an eye out for the giving tree thingy to start at Walmart again this year. It probably won't start for another week or two, though. As far as presents for Laura, I think I've got them picked out. I just need to order them. We're going to do another Yamamoto Christmas at home before we leave for Tulsa. There are going to be so many people this year, it's going to be crazy. Hopefully, Connor will be able to get out of the house once or twice each day. I was thinking about it and, usually, no one leaves the house during the holidays, which I think would make Connor crazy even if there are plenty of things to see around the house.

A couple of days ago it snowed for the first time this year (I can't remember if it snowed earlier in the year, but oh well). It didn't snow much. Barely, really. A few piles here and there. It was just really cold. Connor played in it and he seemed to have fun. He had his snow pants and stuff. We do need to get him good gloves, though, but I'm not sure, at this point, that would be a good investment. The weather is supposed to get warmer throughout the week, so that's good. It's hard for Connor and me to go to the park and stuff when it's so cold. I'm sure we could go, but I'd just be shivering all the time. I also need to start looking for a good coat. We tried sewing the zipper on my old Nike jacket, but it was such a pain, I said quits.

Nothing new otherwise. Connor is, again, starting to say more and more. Still only a couple, maybe three, word sentences, but he's saying words a little clearer now.

We're leaving Wednesday this week for Tulsa and back on Sunday. We were going to get our piano from Dawn, but I don't think that's going to be happening. Whenever we do that, it's going to be a big pain, though. We already have a place to put it, which is good.

Okay, a day late, but I'm here. Connor's taking a nap, so let's do it!

I don't believe anything big happened in June or July...or August for that matter. I really can't remember. September, however, was our big Colorado trip. We went there mainly for Lisa's wedding in Keystone, as Connor was the ringbearer, but we decided to stay there longer than we needed and make a vacation out of it. Overall it went great. I hate traveling by plane, with or without luggage or Connor, but it went fine. Connor did great on the plane. On the way there, we didn't even have to get the tablet out. We had some new toys and stuff and that kept him busy. On the way back, though, we did use it for a while.

While there, we visited Ellen and Matt for a couple of days and stayed at there house near Denver. It was fun there and Connor really liked their dogs and things to play with/things to watch. He liked the turtle as well. The one thing that sucked was that when we arrived at DIA, one of our luggage wasn't there. The smaller suitcase of the two, although, we didn't have all of our stuff in one suitcase thanks to Laura's packing. It was still annoying. At any rate, the people at DIA were pretty helpful and they scheduled to drive it out ot Ellen's house once they found it, which was nice. They did find it within a few hours and they had it driven to the house around 6pm or so. I'm not sure where exactly it was, but I think it was just forgotten at OKC or something.

The two days went by real quick and we headed up to Keystone with my Mom, since she helped us out by watching Connor one night. It was cold there, but the weather was great. Connor did well in the ceremony, sucking on a dum-dum, but failed to take a photo with Lisa. I understand, though. There were so many people there that he didn't know and he was really getting his attention. He played a lot with Veronica and even got a kiss, too!

After Keystone for a couple of days, we went to Chris and Alicia's house for a couple of days to visit them as well as Reiko and my Mom. That was okay, as well. By this time, though, Connor was getting tired, I think. Tired of the different environment, naps weren't that great, too many new people, etc. Laura took Connor to Boulder one day with my Mom and Reiko. Apparently he loved Reiko and played with her a bunch. Chris and I went to the driving range one day and that's about it. We saw Ellen one last time for lunch the day before we left. We ate at Cinzzettis which wasn't that great this time. Oh well. I think the novelty is wearing off.

The flight home, as I said, was fine. We got in at like 6:30 or something, though, so we were racing to get home and get Connor down. He never really got used to the time change, which sucks because daylight saving time is this weekend. It was really just nice to be home, though. There's nothing like being back home with all the amenities that you're used to.

That was basically the highlight for September. Most of October wasn't that interesting. It's mostly been dealing with Connor and his growing up. He's learning so many new words per week, it's kind of fun to teach him words. We've started the transition to 1 nap per day and that's going, okay, I suppose. It could be worse and it could be better. The thing is we have no choice since if we try a 2-nap day, he usually doesn't take the second nap, which means he's up from 10:30 in the morning until bedtime and that sucks because by 4pm or so, he's starting to lose it. So, anyway, right now I'm putting him down between 12:00 and 12:30 and letting him go as long as he would sleep, but he's usually up by 2:30 or 3:00.

We're also working on his temper tantrums and frustration management, as well. Trying to at least. When he gets mad he hits his head on the walls and floors and, lately, he's been making these super high pitched screams that hurts our ears. Hopefully, this will pass soon.

Really, though, most days aren't too bad. He's just been tired-ish each day, so it's a delicate balance of playing and trying to relax, although he just runs around all day and ends up tired anyway. We still need to figure out Gymboree and/or Mother's Day Out stuff...maybe for the Spring.

The other big news over the last year is the fantasy book that I've been writing. As you know, I've had a rough outline for months and months now, but really only started writing in the Spring, I think. I'll have to check my revision dates. Anyway, I finally finished it last week, err, maybe 2 weeks ago. Then, I went through the story a couple of times, editing, revising, and adding stuff. I finished with that last week, printed that out this past weekend and gave it to Laura. She just finished it last night and she tells me that she liked it. Hopefully, she is telling me the truth. I definitely think that it could have been better, though, but I was both wanting to finish it and losing motivation to write it. Maybe I will keep it shelved for a while and come back to add to it, and maybe publish it later or something. I need to write out all the suggestions she had on paper and go back to it once I have a clear mind again. I do have some of the sequel in my head, though.

Looking back, I did enjoy it, I suppose. I learned that writing is pretty hard and the hardest part was getting what was in my mind onto paper in a way that I liked it and making sure that the reader would be reading it the way I had the story in my head, which, I guess is the core of book writing.

I can't believe it's already the end of October. The holiday season is just around the corner. I already got a gift for Laura. One of it, anyway. Before we know it, it's going to be Connor's 2-year birthday...crazy! Laura and I both have a dentist's appointment in a couple of weeks. I'm going to get my crown re-done in the back, which has been a long time coming, but wasn't anything that was urgent to do. I just hope that I didn't get any cavities since a year ago.

Connor is starting to cry, as he usually does, about mid-way into his 1 nap. He hasn't gotten much today, which will suck later. It's a fine line on how long to let him go and when to get him. Sigh.

I will try to be back soon.

I think maybe, just maybe, I'll try a blog-everyday project in 2014....we'll see...

5 months! Wow, I really need to update. I will promise to do that tonight. Connor is starting to wake up now.

Another tornado crisis averted.

I can't believe that it's almost halfway through the year. Things are still kicking along. I got the crockpot recipe that Laura found going around 11:30a or something and it's currently set for 4.5 hours. Looks good, though. Not a very soupy recipe, so we'll see how it looks.

Another couple of storms again this week. Oh, I guess the last time I wrote was just before the big tornado that hit Moore, OK. Anywho, the 19th was when it all started. This storm went right over us and a tornado landed a few miles from our house, to the East. We were in the bathroom and all that. Connor actually kinda had fun because it was something new to hang out in the bathroom for a little while with piles of blankets, pillows and both dogs. It wan't a long time, so that was good. He was starting to get antsy. We went in and out a couple of times, though.

The next day, the 20th, was another big day of storms/tornados. Unfortunately, it was a devastating one that hit Moore, OK, about 20 miles South of us. About $2 billion in damages I guess. Anywho, it luckily missed us, but it could have easily been us, I guess. I think Edmond is in a "favorable" location or something because storms and such always seems to miss above or below us. Knock on wood.

A storm shelter would be a great fall back, but they're pretty expensive and it's a rental. Who knows how long we will be in OK.

I've been super tired lately. More than normal, like more than usual fatigue. It's sort of like last Summer when I was super tired and I may have had mono. Feels like that. Hopefully, it passes.

Back to my fantasy story. I've written a little more outline, but I'm doing a lot more details in my head regarding the story, i.e. getting more in-depth. I just need to get it down on paper! I dunno why, but it's hard to get my ideas onto paper. I just need to write it even if it's all scattered so I at least have it down and go back later to flesh it out.

This weekend we're going to head to Bartlesville to go to Sunfest, which is something that Laura used to go to I guess. Hopefully Connor isn't crabby! He's still at like 8 teeth or something, although I don't know how Laura counts those. He rarely lets you look at his mouth.

He's napping right now and I'm just watching the news about the storms/tornado possibility South of us. And North, too. Got lucky again!

I have a little time before I head to bed. I guess I just need to do a recap of the first few months of 2013. 

Laura and my birthdays weren't too overdone, I don't think. Honestly, I can't remember much from a few months back anymore...not sure why, but it's definitely because of Connor. I'm sure I can remember if I sat down and thought about it hard, but not quick recollections. 

We did travel to Colorado in February with Connor. That was a pretty stressful ordeal, but we learned a lot from it. It went generally okay. I think there were just things that we would do differently the next time around. Of course, the next time around would be totally different as Connor would be much older. The next one will probably be in August or September (or both?) and he'll be a year and a half. hopefully we won't need to take the car seat, but then again, I don't think he'll sit for an hour or so quietly. You never know, I guess. It's just that the car seat was so big and heavy. We did okay, though, for the most part. We enjoyed our time in Colorado and caught up with friends/family. 

At this point, Connor was still only taking a few steps, but by his first birthday, he was walking like it was nothing. They develop and grow up so fast.

Next up with Connor's first birthday. We had it in Tulsa and had close family/friends. He got a lot of gifts and I think he had fun. He ate a good amount of the cake that Laura had made for him. She also worked on a lot of the cake toppers for him and they turned out great. 

April was still on the cold side for this year and it's only recently been starting to warm up. Laura had applied to the Portland VA, but the two openings was cut to one and, in short, it looks like we're staying here for the time being. We'll keep trying, though, whether it be Portland, Denver, etc. It's really not bad here, but the past couple of days and dealing with tornadoes could change that outlook. 

We had a big Mother's Day/grandparent's anniversary two weeks ago. It went well, as usual, though I think at times it was a little stressful due to weird, unforeseen events. 

At any rate, that's where we are now. 

I haven't been playing WoW since May 1st or something like that. I've started to work on my fantasy book a little more now, but still "stuck" in a sense. I need to just get over the first few pages and just write. I have a weird tendency to make each page write perfect as I write it so that when I'm done writing, the book is done. However, after reading some techniques on writing and outlining, I decided I'm going to try a general outline first and then fill in the details later. I just need motivation to finish out the story, but for that I still need to come up with a good resolution. I think I need to also accept the fact that the first draft is going to suck a lot. It'll take a long time of reworking it to make it even acceptable. I hope to have Laura read it first and give some critiques.

That's really it. Connor has been talking more and more and having more personality. He's sort of starting to get an attitude. I think he's trying to learn to speak more clearly, I've noticed. Some words come out more and more pronounced, relatively speaking. He does understand a lot more though. I think he's bored during the days. I do try and go out and do interesting things, but I dunno what to do. I dunno about Gymboree yet. :P He loves to play outside, though. He wakes up about 6a, still takes a couple of naps, one around 9a and then around 2p and goes to bed around 7p. Not sure when to transition to one nap, I know we need to soon, but he's not ready for it, I don't think. He does get tired a lot and sleeps the two naps for an hour and a half or more each, plus he usually sleeps through the night, so, at the moment, it seems that he does need it. He'd be pretty cranky with one 2-hour-ish nap, I think. 

I still need to go to the doctor, too. And the dentist. I just keep pushing it off. Story of my life!

Well, this week was tornado week here. One landed a few miles from here while we did our precautions in the bathroom in the middle of the house. Today was another threat, but it missed South of us. Demolished Moore, OK. Could be time to move, regardless of jobs!

Well, I should head to bed. I was going to get more writing done tonight, but alas, didn't get to it again. I just need a laptop with no internet connection or something. I get distracted too easily.

Wow, really, another month gone by RIGHT AFTER I said I'll write soon...sheesh.

I think I'll try to write this week. I've been itching to work on my fantasy story...still thinking about the best way to go about this plot every night while trying to go to sleep. I just can't come up with a cool storyline/resolution.

Hopefully, it'll hit me soon.

Aaaaaaannnndddd another two months...well, almost. Connor's waking up now, but on his next nap, I'll be back to write some.

Wow. 2 months since my last blog. What's been going on? Hopefully I can catch you up soon.

Okay, let's get on with the 2012 review!

Certainly a huge year for me and Laura. The first months leading up to Connor's birth was hectic. We had a lot going on in terms of figuring out work (the biggest issue I think), getting his room ready, getting all the stuff we needed to get him home, and basically just getting ready to have him! The first months went quick, if I remember correctly.

Connor Kazuaki Yamamoto was born 3/30/2012 at 2-something in the morning! 2:44 or something. I can't remember. It was a quite the grueling battle, mainly for Laura. I was just tired. She was tired and in pain. I guess an 18-hour labor will do that. We went in around 8 in the morning and I think we both were expecting maybe a couple of hours of labor at the worst. Issues with the pitocin led to a longer-than-needed labor. Oh well - everything well smoothly in the end and everyone was okay. That was the important part. After the long day, the next few days were spent keeping him fed and getting used to it all. I had taken a week and a half off from work when he was born. Laura was able to take about 6 weeks of full-time leave, which was nice. Oh yeah, the leave situation was another thing that was very annoying. That aside, there was then a 2 week part-time leave that Laura took to ease me into parenthood full-time. I told my work about this whole stay-at-home thing, oh, I think in early February or so. I quit April 20-something.

The first few weeks were hard getting used to, of course. I was at work, though, so it was all Laura for a month and a half. I really can't remember how much he slept in the beginning. I think 30 minutes or an hour after being up like an hour. Man, it's embarrassing, but you really do forget things during first time parenthood. There is so much going on. Luckily, Laura's Mom helped for about a week after he was born. I'm sure Laura appreciated that.

Skip forward a few weeks. I think my Mom came down to visit/help as well. Then after that, one Connor was settling down and his "schedule" more consistent, Chris and Alicia. Skipping forward a couple of more months, he was finally starting to interact but he still couldn't move. A couple of MORE months and he was finally crawling. Time was going so fast for us, it literally went like the last couple of sentences I wrote. All the little things in between have been forgotten, at least in my mind. It's like, birth, first poop, first bottle feeding, first roll over, first-[insert event here].

He's just over 9 months now and I can't believe he's that old already. He starting to babble, eat solids pretty well, eating out at restaurants. I suppose the next thing is walking! He's starting to try now. Sort of dangerous, actually, if you're not watching.

Come to think of it, a lot of the 2nd half of the year was me getting used to taking care of Connor and getting into the groove of things. Laura took a job here in OKC, obviously, so we're here until about June, at which point we need to decide whether or not we're going to stay here or move. It seems for now we're going to be here since Laura should probably work a year or more before moving on.

It snowed a little during this Christmas, which was a nice change since the last few years. We do miss the snow. Although it snowed, nothing really stuck, so it wasn't THAT great.

The big present for me this year was a banjo! I had watched a banjo documentary on Netflix a few months back and I got really interested in. I always liked the sound of a banjo, though, but the documentary kicked it into high gear. This was a DIY kit, so I had to stain the parts and put it together. It took a couple of nights, but now it's put together and tuned and everything. Getting used to playing it and fingers don't hurt since the first few nights! I remember I was "decent" with the guitar, so hopefully I can pick up the banjo fairly quickly - a few months before I can start playing some decent tunes.

And so, 2012 has passed. A big year for sure, probably the biggest year in terms of lifestyle change for us. Connor is great, but he is also tough to take care of and work what we liked to do around. We've seen a couple of movies in theaters thanks to Laura's parents watching him, etc. I've gone to a few doctor's appointments taking him with me. Sometimes he does extremely well, sometimes he cries the whole time. Makes me nervous, for sure. My driver license is actually expiring at the end of this month, so I need to go to the DMV. Of course, it'll probably take an hour or two of waiting, so I can't really take Connor. Laura's Mom is coming out next week and she's going to watch for a while while I go. Hoping it goes smoothly/fast. I first have to go to the DMV then to the tag agency to get my actual license. Stupid.

This year will probably be another big year, not because we're having another child, but because Connor will be walking, talking, and all that it brings. I'll probably need to step out of my comfort zone more and take him to events and stuff...dreading that!

We have a few trips out of state planned for this year as well. We're juggling going to CO next month. This will be his first time flying! I'm nervous about that as well. Thankfully, the flight is pretty short, maybe a little over an hour, so it shouldn't be too bad. Besides, people aren't flying to be in a quiet environment, right? Oh well.

Anyway, gonna go take a bath now I think. Laura is watching the season premiere of Poopton Abbey.

It's the third, THE THIRD, of the new year and I haven't even done my usual year-end recap. I will promise to do that this weekend after Connor's down and I can think for an extended period of time. I do have a couple of goals for myself this year, however. We'll see if these get done:

1. Matt said he would draw the pictures to a storybook that I wanted to make for Connor so I need to come up with a draft. I had an idea in mind. Just need to flesh it out. 
2. I want to get a lot done, if not finish, on my fantasy story. I got a "how to write a fantasy/sci-fi" book for Christmas so hopefully that'll help. I just don't have the time to sit down on a regular basis to write. I'd like to get a schedule going, like a couple of times a night set aside an hour or two or something. The thing is, I'm the type to want to set aside several to work on something. It takes like an hour for me to get into the rhythm. Plus, I still do need to tweak my story. There are some things that I need to change to make it work. 
3. Start taking more photos again. I was going to do the photo-a-day thing, but I'm already 2 days late. Poop. 

That's it for now. We'll see how it goes.