It's already almost been a week since Emmeline was born. Wow! Time perception is crazy. Honestly, the days and nights have been very tiring and long that I wonder how it's already Friday. Well, midnight, anyway.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to write a complete summary, but here goes. The day started out like any other day on Saturday, except for the fact that Laura was just under a week overdue. She had a stress test in the morning she went to and they said that there were contractions, but they were probably nothing. Ha. The rest of the day went okay. If I remember right, she felt contractions here and there throughout the day but it was erratic and thought that it stemmed from back pain, etc. Fast forward to the afternoon. Things seemed to get a little more uncomfortable for Laura in the later afternoon. I think I had made some dinner and ate at our normal time. Laura was increasingly not feeling good and by the time dinner was over, she was definitely feeling contractions. We had prepared a little bit in terms of packing earlier in the day...or was it the day before. I really can't remember. Anyway, the contractions were getting quite strong, but the timing was pretty bad because it was about 5:45 to 6:00pm and we wanted everything to happen AFTER we had our bedtime routine with Connor and put him down for the night so we didn't have to worry about logistics. Well, Laura did wait it out all right. She was having contractions pretty regularly every few minutes by the time Connor and I got into/out of the shower. During all this, she had been dancing with Connor, reading to Connor in our bed as well as his bed. All the while having contractions, telling Connor to hold on one section whenever she had a contraction. Connor seemed to get noticeably irritated/worried about this and he was getting impatient, not wanting to wait, not wanting listen, etc. He probably knew something was weird, but just didn't understand what was going on.

Anyway, Laura had called Kelly probably while Connor and I were in the shower because she had arrived while Laura was in Connor's room. After Laura put Connor to put, we grabbed all the necessary stuff and put it in the car. During all this prep, Laura was having contractions that were much stronger and I could tell that it was pretty painful. Kelly called the hospital to let them know that we were on our way.

On the car ride there, Laura had contractions every few minutes. The ride there felt like an eternity! I was speeding, but not super speeding. People were in front of me, though, and I was getting pretty annoyed. They were going way below the speed limit even. Anyway, I was getting more and more nervous because the contractions seemed to be getting stronger and I'm sure it was uncomfortable sitting in the car. We finally got there, I drove up to the front area and got the birthing ball and a bag or two, I can't remember, and then headed inside. We had to stop at the front desk to let them know what was going on, etc. I don't think they comprehended the urgency because they were asking Laura, while she was getting contractions, to fill out forms, give them insurance cards, ID, etc. I was thinking in my head, wtf, just take us to a room and we'll do this later. They finally brought over a wheelchair and took Laura to a room. Before I could follow her, the front desk lady asked me to fill out some sign-in sheet or consent form or whatever it was. I was like, do I need to do this now or can I do it later? She was dumb. I filled out everything pretty illegibly and went to the room. By the time I got in, the nurses were trying to get Laura into a gown, and they seemed a little panicked. Laura got on the bed and the contractions were strong and she was ready to push within a couple of minutes, but the nurses were trying to put on the vital sign thingies on Laura, trying to call the on-call doctor, etc. They were trying to stall as much as they could, but within a couple more minutes, it was decided that they would need to deliver the baby. I don't think they were planning on this or had the idea that it was this urgent, but they delivered it safely, thank god. There were like 5-6 people in the room, I think.

During this entire time, I felt like I just stood there, resting my hand on Laura's shoulder, whispering stuff like "you're doing good", "almost there", etc. I wasn't watching the baby or anything, so I didn't know the progress, but everything was said and done in about 10-15 minutes tops. The nurses took the baby and cleaned her up and stuff in the back of the room while the nurses looked after Laura. A few minutes later, the on-call doctor came in and did her thing. Everything was over so quickly, it was like night and day compared to Connor's birth. After we had texted people about the birth, I think at like 8:20 or something, Kelly had texted back saying that Connor was still awake at 7:43pm when Emmeline was born. Crazy.

That night we had decided that we wouldn't have any visitors. The night went pretty well, I think. Emmeline immediately ate, and for a long time. We sent her to the nursery a coupe of times I think so we could get our sleep. The next morning, everyone came to see her. That's about it.

Fast forward to today, Monday (I wrote this blog in pieces). She's in her punkin seat right now sleeping still. I'm not sure why I'm up still. I should be sleeping through all this. I didn't feel tired, I guess. Laura is, hopefully, getting a good bit of sleep right now. She's been sleeping since at least 10pm, I think, so that's good. I'll take Emmeline in the room when she wakes up, whenever that may be. I really don't want to wake her if she doesn't feel hungry, even though they say every 2-3 hours. She seems to snack a lot, so I think it'll be okay.

We had her second bath today and she didn't cry once this time. She liked it, just like Connor. She's back up and past her birth weight already, so that's good. She had her doctor's appointment today and Connor came with us. He kept worrying that the doctor was going to see him, but we kept telling him that it was just for Emmeline. He got a lollipop out of it.

Overall, she's been good, though. She is very gassy, though, each day and that it affecting her night sleeping. We're constantly trying to make her burp or make her poop/fart. I don't remember Connor being this gassy.

Anywho, I'll finish this up. Connor has school tomorrow, so that's good. I think he's been pretty bored, even though he's handling Emmeline well. He's been very clingy to Laura, that's for sure. He's pretty sweet to the baby, though.

Well, here's to a better night schedule for Emmeline!

And she's here! Well, yesterday at 7:43pm. I'll write more later. No time now, really. All I can say that it was a crazy delivery!

Well, it's almost the end of September. That means that the baby is going to be here within a month. I think we're "ready" as can be, but Laura doesn't think so and thinks we have a lot to do. We probably do, but I dunno what else we can do. Laura has gotten her nursery mostly ready. Just need a little cleaning up. We need to organize some of the baby stuff into the kitchen like the bottles and such. Oh man, I'm not looking forward to keeping track of all the milk, keeping it cold, warming it up, cleaning the bottles. etc. I don't think we have that much room in the freezer either. I'm sure we'll make room, though.

We still do not have a name, yet. Well, we have it narrowed down to a handful, but they're all pretty equally good. Oh well, I'm sure we'll decide soon. Usually, there's some kind of epiphany that hits us that tells us a certain name is the one.

So, I'm sitting here, a few hours left until Laura and Connor come back from Tulsa from their weekend there, giving me a valuable time off from him before the baby comes. I'm not quite sure what I got done this weekend, though. I always think that I want to be productive while they're gone, but I end up doing nothing. This time was even worse because I had caught a cold, no doubt from Connor, around Thursday. Saturday was the worst and I moseyed around all day, doing nothing and being on my computer. I got some grocery shopping done and I did make the 2 baked zitis for when the baby comes, but that's about it. Sucks that my weekend was spent resting. Other than that, I dunno, it seems like I'm more productive when they're here and about. Something to do with pressure, I suppose. Let's hope both of our colds are gone by Tuesday when Connor goes back to school.

I always feel bored and sad when Laura and Connor are gone, even though I always think that it'll be nice to relax all day. It's weird because I do miss the constant talking, albeit just a little bit, when they're gone, but I don't when they are here. Strange.

I have more to write, but I don't feel like it write now. Starting to feel fatigued again as it's early afternoon. I always have this super tired, super sleepy feeling around this time and it's the worse when I'm watching Connor because I can't just go lay down or something. Sometimes I do fall asleep or doze off for like 15 minutes when I'm extremely exhausted, but, yeah. I do have some clean-up to do before they come back. I'm guessing they'll be back around the same time we usually do, around 5 pm, so maybe I'll get dinner or something ready for that.

What a difference a week makes.

I'll just get the difficult part over with quick and say that we had to put down Callie around midnight this past Thursday. The tick disease wasn't the cause of all the problems that she was having. It was cancer in her intestines and liver and a couple more places that I can't remember that Laura mentioned. The more serious condition may have given a false positive for the tick disease diagnosis.

It was Tuesday, if I remember right, that our vet told us that we need to take her to the veterinary clinic in Stillwater, about an hour away. I took Connor to soccer like every Tuesday, but Laura decided to take Callie to Stillwater. After some nervous moments and times of waiting, Callie had some emergency stabilization done and she stayed there overnight. The next day , they then told us that she needed to undergo surgery to see what was causing this and to attempt to remove it. They first thought it was an ulcer in her duodenum, but even after some scoping, ultrasounds, etc. they weren't sure until they were in.

Anyway, all this was during the day Wednesday and I think she went into surgery Wednesday night and all went well. I guess Thursday morning she was peppier than before, but I really can't remember much of this, actually. Laura decided to go visit Callie Thursday evening just as Connor was getting ready for bed. The visit seemed to go well, but just before she came home, around 9:30pm - 10:00pm, the surgeon had called her and said that things were starting to get really bad and that it would be best to put her down. It was a difficult few moments, but we decided to drive back while Kelly watched Connor for us. We arrived there around 11:30pm or something like that and Laura was brave enough to go in and observe it and say her last goodbyes. I stayed in the car because I don't think I could have done it. Watching her while they put her down was not something that I wanted to experience. Laura came back out after a short while and we just sat in the car for a little bit to think about what just happened. In the end, what we did was the best thing to do because it was just going to get worse.

In hindsight, I wish we knew what was wrong with her and how severe it was when we had her at the vet in OKC because, probably, we would have considered putting her down then before doing all the stabilization and surgery. We felt bad that Callie had to go through all that just to find out it wasn't enough. It also sucked that she had to spent the last few days at the clinic instead of at home or something. It just came so quickly, but, I guess there's nothing we could have done.

The next couple of days were hard for us because just doing everyday things, we would think about every now and then because she was part of routines and such. The difficult part the next morning was when Connor was asking for Callie when they were letting Kip back in the house and feeding them and stuff. He seems to have forgotten about it in the last couple of days, but at the same time, I think we're trying to avoid mentioning anything that involves Callie too. I haven't asked him to get Kip any treats because I think that he would ask about Callie. We picked up Callie's food bowl as well. We're thinking about donating the urinary food to the vet because it's basically a brand new bag.

All in all, this event was hard for all of us. I still tear up thinking about certain situations and memories, but it's getting better. Now we have to plan for a huge expense that we weren't foreseeing as well. Yikes.

Some weird guy also just came up to me right now at the library saying how he studied Chinese and wants to go to Japan, etc. VERY weirdly social guy. I thought he was special or something. Anyway, he then continues to say that he's Christian and if I wanted to hear the gospel. 1) I don't want to hear the gospel 2) I don't even know what "hearing the gospel" means 3) Don't take up my time being nice to start but then trying to tell me about religion. I just told Laura that we need to leave OK. I've been approached by religious people more times here than all other places I've been combined. If I wanted to seek religion, I would do it myself. I don't need guidance or whatever you're offering. Anyway, end of my rant there.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that this guy asked if I was Chinese. Not very smart for getting a bachelor's in Chinese and living in Beijing for 4 months, is it? Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if his entire spiel was made up to segue into converting people. Asian people, at that...

I thought Connor was going to not cry when I left him this morning, but he did start to a little as I left. 6th day now...I would have thought he would know by now. The long weekend probably didn't help, either.

Okay, I'm going to surf now. I have a Dr.'s appointment this coming Thursday to get my throat checked. It's been uncomfortable for a couple of months now, so. Hopefully it's

This week is becoming quite a week! I'm pretty stressed this week, I can tell you that.

Let's start with Connor's 2nd day at school. He knew what was going to happen that day, but he only really started to realize after we got into the classroom and I started telling him that I would be back to pick him up. He started to cry, but he didn't. However, just before I left, he started to but, of course, I couldn't come back in. I heard him crying while I was walking out of the hallway. After I came back to pick him up, though, he was off and on throughout the day as he realized where he was and I wasn't there, but that he did good.

Today was another different story. Halfway through the drive to the school, he started to say things that was pretty obvious that he didn't want to go to school. He was saying things like "Connor will go to the store and do errands", "Connor AND Daddy go to the store", etc. This is because I told him I had to go to the store the first 2 days. Probably a bad idea to keep saying that, so I'll have to come up with another excuse. As we were waiting outside for the doors to open, he started showing signs of concern again. I mentioned that when I picked him up, I would bring him a special treat of a donut, after which he calmed down. I was also telling him that we could check to see if we could see the gym, because he was interested in that, but the door was closed. Right as we walked into the classroom, he started to cry. I calmed him as much as I could, but off and on he was crying. Finally, I decided to leave when the crying wasn't as bad, even though he was crying. It's so hard to leave during it, but I do think it's best to leave earlier than staying too long, as the teachers suggest. I haven't gotten a call or anything, so I figure he has calmed down.

What else. Oh, Callie. So, after a week or so of not eating pretty much anything, we decided to take her to the vet a 2nd time. The week of not eating anything started just before we left for our Colorado vacation and while she stayed at Laura's parent's house. Anyway, after giving her meds everyday and dealing with bright yellow throw up a lot of the times, we took her in for more examinations. X-rays showed nothing, which was good, but the blood work came in (just this morning) positive for tick disease. I don't really know what that means, but obviously does what we're seeing in Callie. No eating, feeling tired, etc. Anyway, after another $400 bill, she is on antibiotics and the vet said that she should start feeling better by the weekend. She's started to eat treats here and there, so we'll see how fast she gets better.

On top of that, Laura's Mom is just had surgery yesterday and will be staying the night tonight in our bed (they also stayed Tuesday, to my surprise), so we will be in the study. This week has just been very tiring for me and stressful. I just want a week of nothing happening, but of course, the school thing is going to be every week. Really hoping that gets better soon. Makes me feel bad because he's the only one that's crying when I leave. I told Laura that I take that as him missing the parents more than the other kids missing their parents, which obviously means they're used to it from babysitters or something or that they don't like their parents. :P

It's crazy how much stuff can happen in a few week's span, while other times nothing can happen in a span of several months. Anyway, on with the show.

Colorado Trip:

Overall, the trip went well. The plane ride there was fine and Connor did very good. We did give him the tablet to watch videos and stuff, but it was also nice that since our last time travelling, they allow tablets to be on throughout the entire ride. Of course, travelling in itself is always still stressful for me. I had to carry the stroller onto the plane, etc., etc. I hate Southwest and their stupid boarding policies. They don't have family boarding in the beginning, but between A and B boarding...which doesn't make any sense. Anyway, we go there and we got all our baggage this time and then rented our car and headed over to Chris' house. They were doing fine, but it did seem to me that they were definitely learning the baby thing still. I only saw Chris change the baby's diaper twice, I think. He really didn't do much and looked like Alicia was doing a lot of the work. Of course, I don't know what goes on during the evenings/nights.

We had a good time with Ellen and Matt. We stayed at their house for the entirety of the trip. Their basement was cold, but we got used to it. Colorado was quite hot this time around, so it was a strange change. Connor did pretty good sleeping on normal beds, but we did have to use pool noodles to make sure he didn't fall over. We visited my Mom and sister/cousins for part of the time and Connor liked that as well. We were able to see Ellen's venue for her wedding too. We saw Laura's friends and Connor, I think, had fun with Veronica.

On our anniversary night, we went and ate at Panzano's again. It was quite expensive, but oh well. It was pretty good. We ordered some weird soup that wasn't worth $18 for both of us, but that was the only downside.

The flight back was a little more stressful. For some strange reason, our ears were popping a lot, much more than normal on our descent and Connor was not taking it well. We tried to get him to drink liquids but refused. Finally, we had to take him out so Laura could hold him. I don't think he drank once.

Then, to make things extra worse, after we get to the car, or, rather, just before we got to the car, I thought it was strange that the car wasn't unlocking from even a short distance away. When we actually got to the car, I dreaded that the car ran out of battery somehow. Once I confirmed the keyless couldn't open the door, I manually opened the door and tried to start the car...nothing. Not even a struggle. At that point, I knew the battery was dead. We figured Connor had pushed one of the overhead lights and that, over a few days, drained the battery. Laura was grateful enough to go get security and he was finally able to jump the car after a few tries because, I think, the battery was so dead that he had to do some weird wiring with the jumper. I really want to get a portable jumper now. That would save a lot of hassle. Even if we had cables, in this situation, it would have helped because the closest a car could get was probably 20 feet or more, so a standard cable wouldn't have even reached. Anyway, we got the car running and went home, tired. We didn't even unpack for a few days.

Overall, it was fun, but I think every time that the fun is leveled out by the stress and since I tend to remember the bad things, it just feels like a really long, stressful weekend or something and not a vacation. Maybe it will get better as the kids get older. I don't know.

Connor's First Day at School:

So, I didn't realize that as soon as we got back from the vacation, Laura had to go to a parent's meeting or something for his school starting in just two days. During those two days, we reiterated to him a lot that we would leave him at the school and that we would be back to pick him up. Still, we were pretty nervous. I was the one to drop him off that day and, up until about 30 minutes prior to dropping him off, I was pretty relaxed about it. For some reason I started to get really nervous before I dropped him off. Thankfully, there was a little train set they set up on the rug which caught Connor's eye immediately and he went to play with it. I couldn't even get him to put his backpack in his cubby. Anyway, I told him bye, gave him a hug and a kiss and I left without any issues. I think if the trains weren't there, it would have been a different story. I really hope the trains are out every time or at least until Connor gets used to the new routine. I ended up just trying to kill time until 11:30 and went back to pick him up.

The parents were let in a little early so we could see them sitting on the rug for storytime. Everyone but Connor, of course. I was like, oh man, what's going on, because he was sitting by himself at a table on the other side of the classroom. After the door opened to let all the parents in, he started crying. I went over to him and hugged him and he eventually stopped. They told me that he did great except for the last few minutes or something. I think it was starting to get to him or something. Anyway, I felt bad, but I think he had fun. He was able to say bye to both teachers and said that he would be back again, so we'll see.

On the way home, I did tear up a little bit after he kept saying that I came back to pick him up and that he missed me. I guess at that age, being left with a bunch of strangers and kids is a weird experience. It would be a weird experience for me even now. We were both proud of him that day. He even took a shorter nap and then went to soccer for make-up day and he did great.

Here's to more good days like that!

Now that I have about 2 hours of free time twice a week, I may set up a doctor's appointment to get my weird throat issue checked out. Hopefully, it's nothing serious.

Just under 2 weeks before our Colorado trip. It's coming up fast and we haven't done any preparation. I guess we don't need any prep at the moment. We're taking the same stuff as usual, but this time no pack and play, so that will be good. I don't even want to start thinking about lugging the car seat around, but whatever.

Yesterday, Chris did a video chat with us and we tried to get Connor to say hi to him, but he freaked out and started crying. We'll see how that will pan out when we go to their house to visit. They still haven't had the baby. it's about a week overdue, but they have an appointment on Tuesday for induction.

Connor is still giving me trouble getting into the car seat. That is what always makes the day bad for me. It's hot in the garage, it's starting to get hotter, and I just don't have the patience to sit there while he fiddles around before sitting in the car seat. Most of the time, he tries to get into the front seat area and I do not want him doing that.

That's about it really for updates. We really haven't narrowed down a name yet. 2-3 possibilities, but it will be hard to pick one. We haven't really considered middle names yet either. 2 more months!

At the library right now while Laura takes Connor to go shopping with Kelly. I'm watching him in the afternoon. It would have been better if it were flipped around because I was hoping to play some WoW or something, but there's maintenance going on right now, oh well.

I did start to brainstorm my next book. Just a few bullet points of what I was thinking for the story. I think it will be good once I figure out the details as right now I just have the VERY big picture.

Going to head to Kirkland's or perhaps Half-Price Books after this to browse around a bit.

Well, it's already the 5th, shoot.

The 4th was pretty uneventful, at least, during the actual time fireworks go off. In the morning we headed to a small town by Tulsa where they were having some sort of festival thing. Connor had fun briefly bouncing around one of those bouncy playground thingies. Then he ate a few watermelons that he loved and then got his face painted, along with some tattoos. We left after lunch since it was getting close to his nap time. He's been pretty tired this entire trip, which is no surprise, really. He never sleeps well here. I'm really not much of a fireworks person, but Laura and her Mom drove out to see some fireworks while her Dad was on the roof watching it.

The weather's been sort of hot, but not blistering the last few days. It's actually been quite cool in the mornings. I just booked our car rental reservations for our Colorado trip. It was about $225, which isn't too bad, I guess, for 4 days. I hope we don't have any issues getting the car and all that. Traveling stresses me out.

Lastly, last night before bed, I had to write an e-mail regarding working on the church website. I'm just getting really tired of the one way fricken conversations. They don't keep in touch regularly and they ONLY e-mail me when something's wrong or something needs to be done. None of my e-mails get responded to. I've told Laura already, but I'm just done with this nonsense. They can find someone else to take advantage of for all I care. I don't get jack out of doing this. I don't even feel good when I help out. In the beginning, I felt good that I was helping out, but now I just don't give a crap. And one thing I cannot stand is being used. After our baby gets baptized, that's going to be it for me. I just won't have the time or patience to deal with these people.

I think there's a party this afternoon with some guests. I've just been tired lately. We've been talking about maybe seeing the new X-Men movie tonight, but we'll see about that since the only time we can really go to is a 7p showing. That'll mean Laura's parents will need to put Connor down and stuff. I'm sure everything would be okay, but that's just another stress factor to deal with.

Okay, so Laura mentioned that I hadn't blogged since April. I thought it was May but apparently it was April. That's quite a long time and I'm determined to write a whole month SOMETIME this year...I think since it is the 1st of July today, I will start today and blog every day for this month...or, at least try to.

There is a lot of updating to do on this blog. Where to begin.

Connor's first soccer session of a month and a half finished up a couple of weeks ago and Laura decided to enroll him in another month and a half session. Today will be the 3rd of his lessons, but this time around, we were surprised to find out that he was the only one signed up for the 5pm time slot. So, he's getting some good 1 on 1 attention and we gotta say, he does SO much better. There is another boy that's in a class one higher than him, but he's the only one signed up for that time slot as well, so sometimes they combine the class together. Connor still does well, though, but being alone is still the best. On the first lesson, I was surprised how well he listened.

[Short break, I realized that I wanted to mow the lawn before it rained and while it was cool]

Okay, back from mowing. Anyway, since he's been the only one or one of two kids in his class, he's been a delight to take to soccer. The past month, I didn't really want to take him because he was just so disobedient. Hopefully, he doesn't go that route again as the lessons continue. He seemed to start to lose interest near the end of the lessons, probably because he was getting tired of the same old stuff every week. I would too.

Come to think of it, the rest of life has really been the same old, same old. Well, I guess there is one other big news. We found out that our baby is going to be a GIRL! That's pretty exciting news for both of us. We've still only told close friends and family. I'm close to posting it on Facebook, though. Anyway, yeah, we've already got a few sets of girls pajamas, clothes, and the like. Currently, we are trying to hammer down a few names to choose from. It's pretty hard, though.

So, sadly, that's about the extent of the news despite not updating for a couple of months.

I'll be back tomorrow for the day's update!

Yikes, it has already been a month since my last post? Seriously, time is flying by this year. My Mom's stay was mostly good - near the end, I had reached the end of my tolerance level, so to speak, so I was in a pretty grumpy mood. 8 days is too much, fyi. My Mom asked me why I was in a bad mood and if I was mad at her afterwards, but I just said that it was mostly because Connor was being difficult and I was tired. Oh well. It's over now.

Connor is still talking, talking, talking! One day, I swear he talked continuously for like an hour. I finally told him to play quietly for a few minutes, but of course he did not. I've been so tired lately. I don't know why. It's not like I go to sleep REALLY late...maybe I do. I tend to get into bed around 9:30 or so, but end up watching TV or on the tablet until like 11. It does feel like when I supposedly had mono last...two years ago? Just really tired even after a good night's sleep. I hope it passes or something. I do need to go see the doctor, though. Just for a yearly check-up and to see if my blood work is still okay and stuff.

We've been taking Connor to soccer practice the last couple of weeks and he's surprisingly having a lot of fun. The first day he warmed up after about 20 minutes and the 2nd time he was fine, but cranky because he was tired. Next time, I'm going to try and make sure that he's well rested because he runs around a lot during soccer. He plays with hula hoops, kicks some goals, plays green light, red light, and other stuff. Our class has around 4-5 kids, so it's nice that it's so small. Otherwise, it might get a little hectic. The coach is nice too and Connor seems to like him now. He talks about soccer a lot during the day.

Anyway, we're here in Tulsa this weekend for Easter and stuff. Sunday was have to go to Mass and tomorrow is Wesley's b-day party. Ellen flew in today and Laura picked her up. She finally got engaged to Matt a couple of days ago. The wedding planning craziness has already started. It sort of reminds me of our engagement, but not really in terms of planning because I really had nothing to do with it.

Here's to trying to get back on track...I know, I keep saying that every time and it keeps getting worse...

Ugh, just shy of 2 weeks. I'm not sure why I can't even get myself to write weekly anymore. On a quick side note, that last post was my 600th blog. That's pretty good - or pretty bad if you think the vast majority of that was written in the first few years I've had this.

I've been playing a little too much WoW lately since I subscribed a little over a month ago. I can tell. It was after a 9-month break, everything was new, Chris was playing, etc. I know that's not an excuse for moderately playing the game, but I am going to try and cut myself down after this week. Really, the only reason I got it was to play with Chris a couple of times a day. We decided on Thursday, so I'm going to try my best to keep night-playing down to Thursday and perhaps just one other night. I can play other times during Connor's naps during the day so I don't cut time out with Laura. I really am going to do it. Even I can see that this is getting ridiculous! I'm tired each day because I somehow get to bed at 10:30 or later. The thing is, even if it wasn't WoW, that seems to be the case. The other culprit is late night TV. I dunno. I just can't sleep at night or feel like I should use the free time without Connor for playing games or TV-watching. I need to re-evaluate, I think.

As I write this, it's already 11:30 and I'm going to be kicking myself tomorrow when tiredness hits. It usually does around 8-9 in the morning and then again at like 2-3 in the after noon, which are RIGHT when Connor is the most active.

My Mom came in fine yesterday, though the plane was delayed due to strong winds. Today was a tough day. Connor's sleep was bad, he was needy, cranky, tired, and everything in between. That and dealing with company just gets to me. Hopefully, this coming weekend, which is Connor's birthday party weekend, along with Kelly's, will ease the stress a little. We are playing golf Saturday morning, which may or may not be good. It's going to be cold, though I hope not a lot but if I play bad, I get frustrated at myself. I hate playing bad. I know that I shouldn't play well considering the last time I played was with Chris in the Fall I think. I tend to do well under these situations, but we'll see.

Well, I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed now.

Well, my weekly blog thing is done with...almost a month since my last. Oh well. Connor's sleeping at the moment, I think. I heard him just before I got in the shower. He's going to get up soon. He's pretty on the dot at waking up at two hours.

I'm not sure too much happened in the last month. February went quick. In a couple of weeks, my Mom is coming to visit again, this time for Connor's Thomas-themed birthday. I can't believe he's turning 2! We're having it in Tulsa, combining it with Kelly's birthday, which is actually the day we're having Connor's, which is like a week and a half later. We got a bunch of Thomas trains and a track set, so he will be very happy about that. He's been Thomas-everything the last few weeks. Dunno why. Maybe he's bored. The weather's been pretty crappy the last few weeks and cold, so we haven't been able to go anywhere outside, really. It looks like the next week should be a lot warmer, but it might rain. Might be time to use his boots more.

March already. This year is going faster than last year, I think!

We're throwing ideas around for a Summer trip...maybe St. Louis, maybe Dallas, maybe Santa Fe. We're still not sure, but it sounds like St. Louis might be good, since we can stay at Laura's grandparents' house to save some money and TJ probably would drive out to meet us there. It's about a 7 hour car ride, according to Google for us and about 4 hours for TJ, so he definitely would I think if he's not busy or anything. I'm not sure how Connor will like being in the car for 7 hours, but I don't think that's anything a couple of movies can't fix.

We borrowed a whole bunch of Thomas DVDs at the library today, so I need to rip those tonight. Maybe it'll come in handy for the future.

Anyway, not much else to say this time. I gotta get a package that came yesterday...probably all wet from staying out there overnight. Hope not since it's Connor's birthday party supplies.

I think I'm slightly behind the weekly blog rate, but I will try and catch up.

My birthday was a good one, although Connor was pretty difficult during the day. It was the middle of the week, so I didn't get a break from him or anything, but that's okay. Laura made a really good, but super rich, chocolate cake that we finally finished eating I think a couple of days ago. I got a new cable modem for the internet, some books, and another Roku for the bedroom. Gay had visited two weekends ago for something, so we all went over the Kelly's for dinner. The downside was that I think I got the cold that she was trying to get over. I'm not sure if she's the one I got it from, but it could easily have been. The other option was the science museum when Connor and I went a couple of days after that weekend. Either way, I still have the runny nose and sinus congestion, but it's getting better. It's weird because of my last long cold and the Bell's Palsy that followed, I'm just hoping that it doesn't happen again. I don't remember colds lasting this long in me in the past. They were usually completely gone by the 4th day, 5th at the latest. I'm on day 5 now and I still feel there's a couple of more days of recovery. I dunno if it's because I'm getting old, my immune system is weaker, or what, but it sucks.

As for my Bell's Palsy, I think it's plateaued a bit. I've been noticing more soreness in the muscles in my cheek. Weird feeling. It's almost the same feeling you get when you've been laughing and/or smiling a lot or something and your face is tired. I just hope it's a sign of getting better.

Laura's b-day is coming up and so is Valentine's. I'm not sure we have anything planned for Valentine's, and we never really do plan something, but I did get her gifts ordered. One should be here tomorrow and the other probably on her b-day or later. It was a bigger than normal gift so hopefully she likes it.

We're already into February. I can't believe it.

Connor is getting so talkative now. He constantly talks and constantly wants me to talk. That's fine, but it's tiring for me because of the Bell's Palsy. Or, maybe not. I'm just not used to talking ALL through the day. Anyway, he's pretty funny trying to string together words and creating sentences. He consistently tries 3-5-word sentences now all the time. He's still really into Thomas and, that reminds me, we need to get him some Thomas trains for his b-day. We'll probably get tracks from Amazon since they were cheap, but eBay seems to have the best deals for the actual trains. You just have to find a good lot and get lucky with the bidding. We bid on a couple, but both outbid pretty quickly. I dunno why Thomas trains are so expensive. They don't seem that different from any other train.

We talked about taking a short trip to Dallas or something this coming President's Day, I think it was, but not sure if that's still in the air or what. I think Laura's parents are heading to Roman Nose that same weekend, so unless we find a place to kennel the dogs, I don't think that that's happening. Oh well.

Other things that's been going on in my head is another fantasy story kind of brewing about. It took a long time to write the first one and it's really not "done", but if I ever find time and energy, I would like to explore this new idea I have. I think it's kind of cool.

We finally finished watching The Hobbit's special features. There was about 9 hours, so we watched a little at a time. Took a coupe of weeks I think. It was pretty interesting.

Well, I think I should get Connor up soon. He took a late nap today and he was tired because he woke up earlier than normal, so if I let him sleep, he'd probably sleep way past the time he should be up!

Well, the time while Laura was gone ended up being all right. Bedtime were pretty easy as Connor didn't want to nurse incessantly. And now, even after Laura's back, he seems to doesn't want to nurse. Maybe once every few days, but we're getting there. Lately, though, it's all about the weird fits and screams for no reason or some random reason. I guess it's that time of age?

My Mom's visit went fine. Connor loved having her here. The weekend she was here, she and Laura cooked up a Japanese New Year feast along with a sushi platter we got at Tokyo. It was all very good. We even had the Lemons over.

The last few days have been a little rough at times, mostly due to Connor's fits, but also the weather became super cold again for a few days. The weather's supposed to go up again the next two days, and then I just saw that it's supposed to get cold/snow on Mon/Tue...sigh. I know it's Winter, and it's better than the 100-degree heat, but, oh well. I guess I wouldn't be as irritated if it wasn't for Connor. Without kids, this would be okay weather for me. With kids, it sucks because we can't do anything.

We got some curtains for the living room and it does make the room look better and slightly brighter during the afternoon, letting the sun in. It was expensive, though, but because of a sale, we were able to get another, random curtain rod for $1 from Kohl's.

What else...nothing else to report. Oh, my Bell's Palsy. I'd say I'm close to 80-85% recovered. I can't tell if it's getting better still. I guess it is. You can't really tell that I have/had it now if you see me talk, smile, etc. I still feel a little weird in certain parts of my cheek, so I know I'm not completely recovered. We'll just need to keep watching it. I know it can take up to months and months, so coming this far in less than 2 months is good. I'd even be fine if it stopped getting better at this point, since I look normal. Of course, I hope it keeps going.

Anyway, gonna play some Starcraft while Connor is asleep.

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!