So, here I am, sitting in front of the computer at 11:06pm on Saturday. Since my tentative resolutions were written down, I don't think I've accomplished much. A few days ago, I upgraded my computer with all the parts after going through some frustrating processes, but it seems like it's all working well. I had to reinstall a few programs because there was a problem logging in to my old Windows operating system after upgrading the motherboard. Apparently, you have to do a full re-install or something. I tried to do a fix, but that didn't work. Luckily, I didn't lose anything, per se. My documents are still here, but a lot of the programs that I had aren't on here, albeit I never really used all of them anyway. At any rate, most or all of my essentials are set up. So, unless something happens with the hardware, I think I'm ready to go.

I have to point out, blogging more frequently has been on my mind, so that's good. It's only been, what 8 days or something? I did get a new board game to play with Laura that I've been wanting to get for a long time. It's called Ticket to Ride. It was fun, but I think that more people would make it more fun.

I think this month's project, however, is to get the kitchen table done. That's my goal. We've been needing a bigger table for a while now and I think it's just time to do it. It'll probably take a few weekends and week nights, but I think it's possible. There aren't any hard parts, but just time consuming and making sure that I don't mess up the cuts. Although, after checking the plans just now, it doesn't look like I NEED to make it a fancy interlocking style that I was thinking about, but just some bolts. I my opt for that. That would cut down build time by a lot. I'll keep updated on that.

Okay, I think I should get going. But really, It's hard to even start making these changes. The last few nights, I've been doing the same, mostly because I've been trying to test out my new computer for stability. I just restarted a few moments ago and it was doing something weird booting up, like stalling at the very beginning, the Windows logo not showing up for a while...it was freaking me out. I was already freaked out when I couldn't load my old hard drive, but I managed to get through that. I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning to get that one to work.

Anyway, be back soon.

Last Blog of 2015

Well, the day has come. Oh, shit, it's 12:01am, haha. I was just playing a new game I found on Steam and, well, I just get hooked on it. Anyway, happy new year.

2016, hopefully, is going to be a year of changes. I want to set personal goals and meet them each month. I want to write it all down in a timeline or something and keep track of them, so we'll see how it goes.

2015, although right now didn't seem eventful, was very eventful, to say the least. Laura and I were talking about it a little bit and she was right that 2015 was actually a pretty big year. We bought a house, moved, took a trip to Colorado for Ellen's wedding, and a slew of other smaller things like Wesley sleeping over with Connor, them sleeping in the same room without much trouble during the holidays...all the while Emmeline was not even 1 and turning 1 on November. To me, each day has been pretty rough, so for some reason it's hard to see the big picture for some reason. I forget about everything these days. It's getting harder and harder to store my experiences into memory, if that makes sense. I know I've been trying to go through month by month in past years, but I really can't remember that far back and that specific anymore, haha. Like, January 2015? I have no clue. I don't even remember off hand what I did for my birthday. Even doing it by quarter-years, I'd have a tough time. So, I trust Laura to remember the things we did and make me realize that we did accomplish a lot even though I don't think we did.

This Christmas was a crazy one because Matt and Ellen came this year AND we had Emmeline. It was very stressful, but we made it. I got some really good gifts, too. I'm actually getting one of the gifts that I ordered myself using a gift card on Saturday - a video card for my computer. I haven't upgraded my computer in 7 years, so I thought, maybe since I have some projects this year that I want to do, an upgraded computer would be nice. The video card was the first step and, coincidentally, would let me play some games that I might get into this year. I have the rest of my PC parts on the "to order" list right now. It's not much more, like $220 worth, which $170 would be covered by the rest of my gift card, so out of pocket would be a low $50 for a computer upgrade that I will probably make last again for at least a few years.

So, 2016 plans. Here's a rough breakdown. I'm not sure when I'll want to put these on the calendar for deadlines and such:

• Spend less time on the computer during the night
• Play a board game or spend time with Laura more during the week
• Projects with Connor (perhaps to upload to YouTube for extra income?)
• Meditate before going to bed with Laura
• Finish house projects
• Kitchen table
• Backyard stuff like Connor's swing, maybe a bigger playhouse/treehouse similar to what I saw in Sam's Club today, gardening stuff, landscaping, etc.
• Finish my fantasy book (perhaps make some money off of it somehow)
• I need to set a deadline for each chapter, set of pages, whatever. I just need to write and no more dicking around on the computer at nights.
• If I wrote an hour, hell, 30 minutes per night, I would get so much done. I have a lot of what I want to write in my head, I just get sucked into surfing EVERY time.
• Work more on my photography that I've strayed away from the last couple of years. 
• Take time to get out somewhere and take pictures. A couple of times this past year, I said I would, but never did.
• Stop procrastinating
• Have more patience with Connor and Emmeline
• Save more money in savings
• Pay extra payments on mortgage
• Take a vacation somewhere
• Be nicer to Laura
• Help out more in the mornings
• Blog more consistently - At least once a week, more if needed.

Well, that's a start. I'm not sure how I will organize all this, but this is just what came to my mind right now. I should get to bed because tomorrow is going to be a festive party with food that Laura's making and sushi and stuff. I'm going to be tired. Okay, I was just surfing for a couple of minutes...no more procrastinating...

P.S. I guess this just became the first blog of 2016!

December 20th. 5 days until Christmas and 12 days until the New Year.

Every year it seems like the year was a "waste." Now, I know it's not, really, but it just feels that way for one reason or another. I think the biggest reason is that I don't feel like I accomplished anything. Sure, I managed to live another year and raise the kids up another year, etc., but I didn't personally accomplish anything, I guess.

For example, I've been wanting to write this second fantasy book for the entirety of 2015. I've managed to write most of the background of the story (within the first few months) and about 10 pages of the actual story, but since then, I've had no motivation to write it. Don't get me wrong, I really want to write it and I know a lot of what I'm going to be writing about, but I just don't have the motivation. I dunno why.

Perhaps it's because I'm tired. This is probably true most of the time. Perhaps it's because I don't have time? Can't be true because I somehow manage to surf away an hour or two each and every night. Perhaps I have too many projects that I want to get done? Kind of true as lately I've been wanting to get housework done like garage shelves, etc. Still not a good excuse because I don't end up doing those projects in my spare time anyway. I think the biggest reason, and I hate to admit this, is what Laura is always saying - my need to get on the computer to...well, do whatever involves the computer. And this year, it's basically been to surf Reddit and other time-wasting things. During this time, I get nothing done. Literally, I may learn a thing or two, but in the end, I come out with nothing gained. I think I need to change this next year. It's going to be hard, but in the next few days, I'll have to come up with a way to dial down my surfing and up my productivity on various things. I mean, even I think to myself some nights, what if I had been working on my book for the same amount of time I wasted, say, in a week of worthless surfing? It'd be nearly 10-14 hours or more of writing down. Instead, I get NOTHING done. Even as I write this, I'm tabbing over to Reddit, reading something, coming back, writing something, repeat. I dunno why I am so easily distractible when it comes to surfing around useless information. The thing is, it sucks because I'm writing my story on Google Docs, which requires me to be online, which means that I can easily just surf something instead. Maybe I need to start writing in Word. I'll have to consider that.

I think next year, I really want to make a plan of cutting down surfing, making a list of things I want to accomplish and then working towards doing it. Everytime I start to do a project, literally every time before I start, I'm already thinking of things to do to NOT do the project.

There are a lot of things I want to do next year, too. Some off the top of my head, not in any particular order:

• Starting geocaching or doing science projects with Connor and uploading them to YouTube for some income
• Kitchen table
• Write and FINISH my book
• Start meditating at night with Laura
• Spend more time with Laura - maybe a designated game night once a week
• Do some other meaningful projects...

I may need to sit down and detail out plans and timelines that I should stick to in early January.

Also, I really think that we should get a babysitter for Fridays or something so that Laura and I can get some time alone with the kids out of the house. I think it's worth it for the $20 or so to cover for the babysitter, especially now that Emmeline is, for the most part, sleeping fine after we put her down for the night. There is the occasional crying that won't let down, but I think the babysitter could handle that . At the worst, she can just text us or something. Emmeline will usually stop crying after 30 minutes and since it's at night, she would probably fall back asleep faster than during the day.

Anyway, I should probably get to sleep. For some reason, it's feeling like it's a Saturday, hence me staying up writing thing when I should be sleeping because there is no school this week and that means tomorrow is going to be rough. Thankfully, Laura is taking a half day on Tuesday and then we're off to Tulsa on Wednesday. Tulsa, by the way, is going to suck I think because it's going to be so crowded and Emmeline and Connor are always a problem there for some reason. Since it's not here, it's just harder for me to deal with them and keep an eye on them because of all the places they can go and do. Ellen and Matt are coming this year, so that will be fun and we might try and go see the new Star Wars movie as well. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but it would be fun to watch. Next year is a good year for movies, as well. Some new Marvels movies and such.

Whelp, I should go so I can finish up surfing (ugh! see!) and then head to bed.

So, I'm sitting here at my computer, listening to Emmeline cry. It's been about 10-15 minutes. I dunno if I should go in there and give her a paci or just wait a little bit longer to see if she calms back down. Lately, I'm like, well, she needs to figure it out herself. I don't get how she can't just go back to sleep, but that's what being a baby is, I guess. Sometimes I would really like to know why the hell she wakes up at 10pm and cries. She's just sitting in her crib right now. I know if I go in there, I will just be rude, put a paci in her mouth, lay her down, and leave. I just don't feel like rocking her back to sleep. That's probably the thing to do, but, I dunno. I just don't have the motivation to do it.

Well, I just went in there and did what I just wrote. She's still crying. I don't know why. She's sitting up again. Why. I don't know. It's like, just get a paci and lay back down. She does it like every other night. It's getting old. I don't remember Connor doing this, but maybe my memory is bad.

I don't know if it's because there are two of them now, but during the day, she is just really trying to get on my nerves or something. She just walks around finding things that she's not supposed to have, etc. I can't watch her while I'm dealing with Connor, and she knows it, too. I know Laura is right that I'm constantly trying to get on my computer to get a "break", so to speak. I try to get Connor doing something and while Emmeline is occupied with something, I just automatically sit at my desk. Sometimes I don't even notice that I'm back at the computer. I know I just need to turn off the computer or something during the day, but having been used to doing it for years and years, it's just hard. Because of this, I'm just constantly picking Emmeline up and "resetting" her by putting her in the living room, where she then just walks off again, only to repeat the process. Part of it is me being too picky about what she does, but, really, to me, everything she's doing is something that I think she shouldn't be doing. Maybe I need to let up, but then I know that right when I do, something bad will happen or that I'll just be spending more time later cleaning up the result.

She's still just sitting there. I don't know what the fuck she's doing! She's only crying here and there. The rest of the time she's just sitting in the dark. I can't tell exactly what she's doing since the crib is in the way. I should really move it to somewhere where the camera can see the entire crib unobstructed.

I really can't say enough about Laura getting up during the night if she cries, getting up every morning to get them up and take care of them, taking care of them after she gets home, etc. She works so hard. And I know that I don't tell her that I really appreciate what she does. I wouldn't survive, literally, if she wasn't here. I don't know what I'd do. I would go crazy. I'm already at max tolerance with them like halfway through the day. Each day I'm like, okay, today, I'll try and be patient and nice with them, but that pretty much goes out the window every time when Connor gets bored and starts to bother her or starts doing things to, I think, get my attention. I do try to do things with them, but I'm just so tired. No matter how much I do things, I know they're going to just want more attention, so I seem to keep it at the bare minimum.

I think she finally layed back down to get back to sleep. Let's hope.

It's 3 weeks until the end of the year. With each passing year, I'm remembering less and less of what happened during the year. Hell, I can't even remember what happened the previous week.

I really hope that 2016 is less stressful, but I'm sure it will be even more stressful with my luck.

I have a few projects that I REALLY want to get off the ground next year and will talk a little bit about it in the year-end blog about my plans. I'm going to try and really commit myself to it. I need to stop this procrastinating crap and get some work done that I can reflect back on rather than saying every year, "Well, I guess I didn't do AGAIN what I was going to do." Sooner or later, I'm going to run out of years, man.

Wow - my last post was about trying to blog everyday in November and now it's a month later with no posts...how does that even happen. I literally can't remember what even happened in November except for the Thanksgiving stuff we did just last week in Tulsa.

Lately, I feel like I've just been on autopilot, doing the everyday stuff and not really thinking about anything I'm doing, if that makes sense. I'm tired everyday and I'm just resting to tackle Connor's fits every day. Sometimes he has multiple and it's getting really old. I dunno how to avoid it. It's usually at or around 3:30-4pm like clockwork. Worse when it's a no-school day. He just gets bored. He constantly follows Emmeline around, who is getting an attitude herself. I just want some break time, but I have to watch them constantly. I should get some gates up, but the hallways and openings are too big, plus if they're not swing gates, I would have to take them down every time Connor wants to go back into his room.

Anyway, it's the holiday season and I know that it's Laura's favorite time of the year. I need to work on being happier and in a good mood. It's just that I haven't had much motivation to do anything lately. Especially the last couple of months. I have a lot of plans and projects I want to do next year, one that involves Connor to try and make some side money on YouTube to pay for our trip to Disneyworld, but we'll see how that goes. We've been spending a lot of money this past month or so and we need to cut down. Plus we have property taxes coming up this year. I think we'll be in a good spot by the end of the year, but it will take some budgeting. Actually, glad I mentioned the property tax to myself because the first half is due at the end of this month. Sheesh. The other stressful thing that's been on my mind, which, hopefully is gone now, is the fricken chimney leak that we've had since we moved in. I've been e-mailing and dealing with the roofers and a handyman but it didn't get fix after like 3 attempts until now. I think it's fixed now because they finally just redid the flashing completely last time. It rained a buttload for several days last week and the bucket in the attic and the rafters were dry, so here's hoping that it's all taken care of.

However, an ice storm came through at the same time and broke a shitload of branches off all of our trees, so hopefully none of them die. I spent about an hour today cutting them into manageable pieces to put by the curb for pick-up as well as cutting smaller pieces to dry and use as firewood. I read that a few months should dry it pretty good. So I guess we won't use it until the spring.

Anyway, it's 11:10p and I should get to bed because it's going to be morning in a heartbeat and I'll have to do it all over again. Tomorrow's school, so that helps a little, but not really because I have to race home to put Emmeline down and then wake her up from her nap to pick Connor up.

Ugh.

3-month catch-up.

I have a bit of time as Emmeline is sleeping, although she will probably wake up soon like she usually does. Anyway, I really can't even remember what happened in August. My memory is just getting so bad. I don't think anything big happened. We didn't travel anywhere or anything, so. I've just been trying to stay sane everyday with Connor acting up almost every day at one point. I was getting so stressed. It sucks because I had the coughing thing that started around Labor day that's still going on until today and having bad sleeps. All this was, and still is, not letting me recharge each day for the next day, which sucks. Laura does so much to help after she gets home, but it's something about hearing their voices and screaming or something just makes me not able to relax or something.

Then, we have to get the house ready for Emmeline's party this weekend. I remember when we had months to do this, but now it's this weekend. I dunno where the time went. We are pretty close to ready, though. We got the new couch that looks great in the living room. There was another big purchase, but I can't even remember what it was. I've been slowly trying to pay down the credit card before the Christmas shopping hit, but I don't think that's going to happen since we have car insurance this month as well. We'll see. We might be able to hit 0 for the first time in months. I just hate using savings to clear it off.

Anyway, like I said, the house is pretty clean. It just gets messy each day because the kids play with the toys and don't put it back...oh good, Emmeline is starting to wake up. Anytime I try to do something, she wakes up. So, after putting the pictures up around the house and decluttering some areas, we are in pretty good shape. I made a coffee table for us and all that's left for that is putting a few coats of poly on it. It looks pretty good. There are blemishes if you look closely, but hopefully no one looks that close.

Halloween was okay. Connor was a fireman and Emmeline was a pumpkin. I had to answer the door to give out candy and I absolutely HATE doing that. I dunno why. I just do. It's not like I don't like kids or have a tough time dealing with them. Something about answering the door at home. I just can't stand it. Laura doesn't understand why either. I just have to do it. I probably lost 10 years of my life doing it.

Well, I need to return a library book, so I better wrap it up. I was going to blog everyday this month, but that went out the window after yesterday.

Okay, got some time while they are sleeping. Here we go:

Closing on the house and moving

So, we closed on the 29th of May. We had our final inspection the day before and all seemed well. They mentioned a leak near the fireplace, but they said they would take a look at it, etc, etc, but at this point, I was pretty sure that they weren't going to do anything. Which was right. It's leaking near the flashing I think and nothing has come about, so we're going to have to fix it soon.

Anyway, we go and signed all the paperwork, we met the homeowners at the signing and we got our keys. We went straight to the house for a little bit because Laura's parents were watching the kids during this time. We got some stuff ready and they came over. We thought we had the entire next month to move and paint and get everything done, right? Nope. Time goes by faster in these cases. We got like 2 rooms painted and moved so little, ha. Most of it went to the garage, as well, so we still had to rummage through and bring them in one by one. Fast forward 2 months and we're still unpacking. We don't have too much left, I suspect we'll be done, hopefully, in the next month. There's probably like 20 or so boxes in the garage and a lot of that is random garage stuff once I get my desk put back together in the garage. The best decision about this move, though, was paying for 3 (4?) hours of moving help. We had them do all the furniture and heavy stuff...namely the armoire. That armoire, man. Anyway, I think not moving all those heavy things helped. It was about $200 and I think that was a bit much for the time, but, you pay for convenience, I guess.

So, again, we're slowly getting everything in its place. We need to get a few more big items like the new couch, some bookshelves, etc.

Backpacking with Chris

This took place a couple of weeks after we got the house, so it really cut into moving time even though I literally went for a weekend. Anyway, I flew out Thursday real late and the next morning we set off for the campsite. We were planning on going to our usual spot but once we got there, we found out that all the May rains flooded that area, so we had to choose a campsite a couple of miles farther. I was already on the fence about backpacking because I'm not in shape by any means and I didn't really exercise for this trip but choosing the farther camp made me worry for real in my head. It was about 6-7 miles I think and it might have been fine if it was our usual trail as well, but we had to use a different trail that was much more difficult than the other. the elevation gain was like 4000 feet versus about 1000, so.

We decided to get a couple last minute things at the market and headed up there. We put on our packs, which weighed 28 lbs for me and 30 for him - not proportionately correct, but whatever. He kept insisting that it's the same weight, so it's equal. Right. After the pack was on, I was already feeling it after the first few hundred feet. This was just past the trail head and we were actually trying to find the trail because it wasn't marked, but judging from being on the trail on the walk back, I think we were just blind somehow. So, we were already going pretty slow in the first 10 minutes and it started off with a huge climb. The climb took maybe 30-45 minutes. Wasn't long but it felt so tiring. Then we descended probably more than we climbed, which we said was going to be a bitch on the way back. At the bottom of this ridge was a river. So far it was like 1.5 hours. We then started up another ridge, then down again. Another hour, hour and a half go by. At this point, I was feeling all right. I took a lot of rests, basically stopped for a minute or two every 15 minutes? I had to keep my legs rested because this was a lot more climbing that I imagined. Still, I was surprised I was doing well. Chris was even saying it was hard for him. I think we were on par with each other and I was at an altitude disadvantage.

We took a longer rest after the 2nd ridge and then started on the 3rd. This was the longest and took like 2 hours to get to the top. I was looking at the GPS on the tablet here and there and tracking how far we had left to go. The map said the camp site was close, but it was off by a little bit, so it was demoralizing. After another hour, we finally find the camp site after having to cross a river without shoes. I tried to make a bridge, but that didn't work. The water was freezing too. We chose our site and of course there was no one at either of the 2 sites. We got some water, got the fire going, and ate. I was pretty tired. We talked a bit about random stuff and discussed whether to head back the next day or not because we were already bored and we didn't know what we would be doing all day the next day. We decided to head back the next day. Through the night it was fine. The weather was getting cold as the evening approached and I remember seeing the low to be like 30s, so I was prepared. It was really weird, though, because halfway through, I was sweating, so I took my jacket off. In the morning, it was REALLY warm outside, like, warmer than the night before. Strange because the morning is supposed to be the coldest time. We didn't even make a fire because it was already warm, almost hot even. We ate breakfast, which was pretty good. I was looking forward to the Mountain House meals, but it wasn't as satisfying as when Laura and I went with them. Dunno why.

Anyway, we left around 9 and got back around 1p to the car, I think. It was maybe an hour faster on the way back and I was feeling really good the first hour or two then I started to get tired. That super descent at the very start, which now became a straight-up climb was definitely the hardest part of the walk. We never saw anyone except when we first started on the first day. They passed us at the start and went another route. The weather was perfect as well. No rain or anything until just before we reached the car on the way back. Dunno if I'll do that trail again, but it was good to know that I was able to do it.

We ate at McDonald's in Estes Park and went home. We took it easy that day. The next day I was pretty sore and now I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to help move the coming weekend. It all went fine, though. I was pretty much back to normal by then.

Colorado Trip

I was dreading this the moment we decided to go and at the time we hadn't decided whether or not we would be flying or driving. In retrospect, I'm not sure which would have been worse. I think flying would have been easier, I guess. The only thing different would have been the drive there, which we did over 2 days both times. I guess we would have been paying way more, but...oh well. The drive wasn't really that bad. A couple of times the kids were just sick of being in the car and had some fits, but overall, it was fine. The stay at the hotels were fine, too. A couple of times we all stayed in the same room and that went surprisingly well.

Connor wore the kilt during the wedding and it was a big hit. He danced A LOT during the wedding reception as well. He even met and danced with another little girl. It was cute. The wedding went fine and I got some good shots, but I was just tired of watching the kids by the end of the entire trip. We hung out with Chris and Alicia for a couple of days and met my sister and Mom as well.

Seems like I wrote very little on the Colorado trip...dunno why. Maybe I'm tired of writing or something. The kids are about to wake up as well. Really, there wasn't much to report except watching the kids and Laura doing wedding stuff.

I did have a really awkward time at the rehearsal dinner because I sat at the table with some Japanese friends of Matt's and I sometimes talked in Japanese and sometimes in English, and most of the time, everyone was just quiet. Just really awkward. I wish Laura had been there, but she was watching the kids. I was going to sit at other tables but it got full. I think Laura there would have had a better time overall. The slideshow was easy to set up and I just took a few pictures, which Laura could have done. Oh well.

Well, I better mentally prepare myself for them waking up. She has been HORRIBLE with any type of sleeping the last few weeks. The last couple of days, though, she has been doing pretty good if I just put her down and let her cry it out. By 10-15 minutes, she's sleeping. She wakes up a couple of times during the nap, but goes back down again. I wish we could do that during the night, but Laura insists on keeping her in our room. Connor was in his own room by this age, I'm pretty sure. I don't remember going to get him to feed once a night and putting him back, but then again, I don't remember much from his early months.

Okay, I'm off. Laura's parents are coming down tomorrow so they can watch the kids on Friday so we can go get dinner and possibly a movie for our anniversary. We haven't gone to dinner just us since our last anniversary, I think! Maybe not that far back, but pretty sure. We have to get the house ready, as well.

See ya.

Almost 3 months. This is getting out of hand.

I'm way past my bedtime and have been exhausted to no end the last few weeks. I just got here to write down a few topics that I need to write about since May:

Closing on the house and moving
Backpacking trip with Chris
Ellen's wedding trip

Lots of stuff...

2 months. Man.

Anywho, this is just a quick update without looking at what I had written in March. The last couple of months have been super stressful and hard. Not sure why - I think just lots of stuff going on every week and weekend, Connor being very difficult for some reason (more than normal), and Emmeline's sleep being quite horrible. I'm just tired every day and the constant need of having to do something all the time sucks. The hour and a half or so of break I get when both are asleep goes by quick, too. A few times, though, I have been trying to take naps at the same time in Emmeline's room and that has helped a bit to catch up on sleep, but it just gets exhausted the next day. Plus, I just hate to lose that free time, but, what can you do.

Emmeline's baptism is tomorrow. Hopefully, the Deacon has remembered it. He is the flakiest person so we'll see. Tornado threats have been higher the last week or two. So far, we've been lucky to have just high winds and rain. Not even hail. All the bad stuff has been several miles south of us as usual.

Which brings me to a big update. We bought a house! We're pretty excited and I think we both can't wait to move in and start to make it our own place. It's in a great neighborhood with a park literally a minute or two away, so Connor will like that. The yard is nice and the inside as well. Finally got a 4th bedroom for guests or whatever as well. It was a good segue because the house has a storm shelter. Thank god. At least we'll be safer now. The last couple of weeks, I've been thinking about a workshop area and what I can build a lot. Laura has been looking at paint colors. I think I've finally boiled it down to getting a beginner (i.e. cheap) table saw with at least a good blade (looking around, it'd be around $50-$60 - almost half the cost of the table saw, haha) and that should cover being able to make whatever we'd need. I've been thinking about benches for the backyard, end tables, and perhaps a wall-to-wall shelving system for the garage. We'll see. I'm not sure how much it would all be, but it would be however much 2x4s are. I don't think they're too expensive. Nope, it looks like they're about $3 each. That's awesome. Can't wait to start making useful things. I'll need to stock up on things in the beginning like screws, stains, etc, but that shouldn't be too much. There are other workshop tools that I'd like, but that would be farther down the line. Eventually, I'd like to get some pin nailers for little projects and trim and stuff, a miter saw for convenience (not really necessary), a router, and that's really about it.

In just about a month, I have a 2-day backpacking trip planned in RMNP with Chris. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also worried that I won't be able to do it because I'm quite out of shape. It's to the same place that we all 4 made a trip to back in 2008 or 2009 or something like that. Even back then I was dying. Hopefully, I don't just crap out halfway there on the first day. The usual 2-3 hour hike is going to be 4-5 for sure, haha. The other thing is that the time SHOULD be a time to relax and get a break from the kids, but I think I'm just going to get overtired when I get back. One big reason is that I'm flying back in on Sunday at like 11pm and I have to drive back home...that's going to suck, especially the next day.

Anywho, I'll write more as we get closer, but I should head to sleep. Way past bedtime and because of Emmeline's waking up multiple times in the middle of the night, we've all had zero good sleep the last week or two. Sigh.

I say I will be back tomorrow and it somehow becomes a month! I dunno what it is these days but I cannot seem to keep up with blogging anymore. I used to do it so often when I first started. Maybe I had less to do? I dunno. It takes just a few minutes to write something, but I just don't have the motivation to do it.

Anyway, now would be better than any other to do a quick 2014 summary.

It was a big year, again. Biggest news I guess would be Emmeline being born, but let's go through earlier in the year. Connor turned 2 and, boy, I can't even remember what type of birthday it was. I think it was a Thomas-themed one since he was so into it back then. He's not as much now (thank goodness we paid so much to get all these Thomas things for him). I had to read my earlier blogs (my whopping one a month) to see what was going on. Looks like he had just started soccer class in the Spring and into the Summer. I can't believe that was a year ago already. Then, apparently we went to Colorado! I don't even remember that. I don't know why we went, but I guess we did. Wow. I don't think anything big happened during the Summer. I do remember I was surprised that we had 0 tornado warnings last year. Yeah, jinxed myself for this season, ugh. Then it was the start of Connor's first days of school. He was great the first day, then the next few times were a little rough as he knew what was going to happen. Then he finally started enjoying it. We had a couple of incidents of bad behavior like throwing rocks and toy-taking but overall he's been great and the teachers love him. He seems to get along with the other kids in the class as well. 

Then, it was Emmeline's time to be born! The pregnancy was good for Laura up until the last couple of weeks when she seemed to get tired of it. This time, though, she did not have to endure an 18-hour labor but the exact opposite. We definitely left a little too late and she ended up having her minutes after we got there. Probably turned out for the better though since we probably wouldn't have wanted to wait around for epidurals and such. She's doing great and already has a personality of her own, but man, does she look like Connor!

Then, we had the holiday season, which went fine if I remember right. Nothing big to report. That's about it!

Already into March, we are in full get-a-house mode. Now that we turned down Portland and subsequently a Denver job that didn't pan out, we need to find a house either this month or the next because we need to tell our landlord if we're going to renew by the end of April. I'm hoping something good comes up. I'm tired of this place and paying rent. Lately, I've been watching this wood working channel on Youtube and I really want to get a small workshop set up with some proper tools to make things around the house and yard.

We are also in the process of deciding what to get Connor into for this Spring/Summer. There is soccer, swimming, and gymnastics so far. Connor went to a birthday party for a kid in his class and he seemed to love gymnastics, so maybe that. I'm not sure. I just don't want to have to do all this by myself.

I'm currently trying to plan a backpacking trip for me and Chris for mid-June, but I'm just hesitant in putting anything in stone. I always do this. I don't do it until it's too late. It would just be for a few days and I would literally fly in, go to the trailhead, hike, camp a couple of days, maybe swing by Chris' house and then fly out. I'm thinking Thur-Sun or even Fri-Sun. Very short. Prices are reasonable I guess right now hovering around $226. I wish it was more like $170 and then I wouldn't think so much. I should check Southwest real quick as I've only used Kayak until now.

Well that's all. I don't want to waste my entire free time writing this. That reminds me. I need to write more of my book. Sigh.

Laura took the kids to Tulsa this Valentine's weekend as I opted to stay home and unwind a little bit. The last couple of weeks have been CRAZY stressful. Something is up with Connor, man. That or if this is what 3 years old is, I don't know why they call it the terrible 2s. It's nothing compared to this.

Anyway, I got to this a little late as I was watching some TV while playing on the tablet. Tomorrow I intend to get a lot done around the house as it's a HORRIBLE mess right now. I'm just so busy/tired during the day that I couldn't keep up the last few days - not that I do much better when I do keep up. I want to really organize this living room. There are just toys everywhere. One reason, though, is because the layout just sucks and there is not a place to put any shelving and stuff. I'll need to browse around the internet for ideas and take a stroll through Home Depot.

So, yeah, I'll be back tomorrow night to finally do my year end summary nearly 2 months late. I hope the kids are nice to Laura this weekend, although she will have help. I really just needed a break from them. Silence was sorely missed.

Gah, the longer I wait, the more it's looking like the 2014 summary isn't going to happen, but don't worry, it will...I'll make sure of it. 

Emmeline rolled from her stomach to her back yesterday - a week faster than even Connor, who was really early at around 2 months and 17 days or so. We make crazy babies! Hopefully, she doesn't walk at like 8 months. 

Anyway, we're still deciding on some pretty important stuff through today and once that's decided, I'll post here. I dunno why I just shouldn't because no one reads this blog or knows about it unless they know the address and that's basically Laura. I don't think you can find it via search, either, so it's pretty safe. Yup, I just checked now and, at first glance, couldn't find this blog. Anyway.

Connor's about to wake up. Be back soon.

Bleh, already a day missed. I've just been tired the last couple of days...and then Monday is going to be hard because Laura goes back to work and then it's just me and the two kids. Yikes.

I still am planning on my 2014 overview. I just need to find a quiet time - maybe during both kids' naps or something. Not sure how I'm going to do Connor's school either. The time in between is just enough for me to get home, do all the feeding/nap, and then back out to pick up Connor again. Very busy Tue/Thur for sure.

I'm making more headway on my second book. I've got some names, more of the plot, now I'm trying to do the entire story's outline. I've been consulting with Laura on names this time around too, so I've changed some stuff so far. This one is going to be bigger and more complex than my first book, so it'll probably take longer, although, after writing that first book, this one might come easier. I dunno. I could be wrong.

Anywho, time to cut my hair. Been wanting to for a long time.

Hate to be cliche but another year has passed. I think I've said that the last few years...I dunno, I can't remember. Anyway, it's already late now, so I won't write a lot (probably write more tomorrow), but I do need to write my summary sometime. 2014 was a big year, obviously with the arrival of Emmeline, Connor starting school, etc. I have a feeling that 2015 will also be a big year in other aspects.

Once again, I will try and write every day in this blog, at the least to sort of reflect on my days with Connor, Emmeline and Laura. I have written less and less on Connor's blog. I need a new system or way of doing things. I guess I need a new approach to WHY I'm writing in a blog. Something cool or interesting doesn't happen every day, so that's probably why I don't write it in every day. Laura suggested that I write what I'm thankful for each day, which is a step towards writing regularly. I also have started on a little more of my 2nd book that I want to write for Laura, so that's another motivation. Free time is getting less and less, however, with Laura going back to work in a few days...yikes. We'll see how I adjust to that. Connor will need to be more independent, I'm sure and I need to brush up on how I did bottles, feedings, and naps for babies. I don't remember anything from Connor. I dunno how I got into the groove with Connor too. I think Laura did a lot of the research on how much they should eat and sleep and when and such. I just know one thing...it's going to be hard!

Anywho, I'll just leave it at that and come back tomorrow (will give me an excuse to write tomorrow). I do plan on trying to write 30 minutes on my book every day. The most important tip that I read everywhere is to write, write, write. No matter what it is, when it is, how it is, just write. I'm forming the story a little bit in my mind when I sleep, so I need to put that on paper.

Okay, off to bed. I think we're going to finally get a Sam's membership tomorrow...if the weather isn't bad. Supposed to be bad the next day or two.

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.