In a way, it’s really neat to see Christopher more actively playing with his Duplos as of late because right now he seems to love building these gigantic towers out of the plain 2×2 bricks with just as many of them as he can find! However at the same time, more often than not it…
November 17, 2016: Nothing is Quick Anymore
I think this is going to be one part of having an even larger family that’s going to take some real getting used to because with time right now being my most valuable commodity, it’s painful to see things that used to be quick, little trips now taking up the better part of an afternoon or evening… Tonight I…
November 16, 2016: Parenting, Level 2
So last night was my first night alone with TWO CHILDREN. 😯 😯 😯 We survived! Though I’m still grateful that my wife will only be working one day a week so that she can be home more to take care of the kids, I think us boys (plus Cleo) got by alright during our 12 hours of unsupervised freedom. Meals…
November 15, 2016: Happiness Is … Always Having a Dry Towel Handy
Maybe Douglas Adams was right – you never leave home without your towel. This cool fountain is in Downtown Tampa at Curtis Hixon Park and regardless of the time, or temperature, of day, I don’t think I’ve ever seen people not playing and running through it and just having a great time! I was reminded of this after seeing a random…
November 14, 2016: Burrito Baby
I don’t think that I picked up on this with the first kid, but I wish somebody had clued me in on the fact that a good, successful swaddle is really a solid 40-45% of the key to a happy baby. I’m still not very good at swaddling, to the point where my wife actually bought these…
November 13, 2016: The Writer Writes Again!
Say what you will about all of the craziness that’s stemmed from politics over the last week, but at least it’s gotten me writing again… 😉 I’ve been going back and forth a lot this year with regards to my writing, and what I really want to do, and having the motivation to actually do it, and…
November 12, 2016: Round and Round
My son Christopher really loves him some carousels. They’ve got one at the Magic Kingdom, and another at Legoland, and we have to ride either one pretty much every time we walk by because he just seems to love going up and down, and spinning around in a circle, and even petting the horse before the bell goes off…
November 11, 2016: Little Shower Buddy
I’ve found myself taking comfort in the little things a lot the last couple of days. Last night it was running into a guy pulling a trio of small dogs around Walmart in a red wagon (?!), and today it was a quick, impromptu shower with my little buddy… 😉 It’s funny how those things…
November 10, 2016: Crazy Election Talk
It’s been a nutso couple of days, to say the very least… 😛 We all went to the NICU Tuesday night to visit Matthew and I sincerely thought, like many, that Hillary had the election in the bag, but as it turned out, the polling site that I was watching didn’t refresh automatically for me…
November 8, 2016: Voting For Keeps
Thankfully voting for me was pretty easy today … once I was able to finish my research to actually figure out how to vote for all of these weird, local positions, anyways… 😛 It admittedly made me feel a little old, but I actually filled out my sample ballot in its entirety over the last…
November 5, 2016: Christmas Bells Are Ringing … Already?!
Admittedly it was a little weird seeing the icicle lights up on the Castle this evening, much less the giant Christmas tree on Main Street and all of the assorted wreaths and garlands to boot … and yet in a way it was also kind of nice. …because not for nothing, but I think I…
October 20, 2016: Holy Frozen Breastmilk, Batman!
This week we did something that is a parenting first for us even after having been parents for some 2.5 years now. We bought a new freezer expressly for the purpose of freezing breastmilk! Back when the twins were just born, I recall casually chatting with Sara and one of the NICU nurses about breastfeeding…
October 19, 2016: Bye, Bye, Bedroom Set
I think I bought this bedroom set something like 10 years ago, but now it’s sitting in my driveway waiting to get picked up by the Salvation Army tomorrow. Soon it will be someone else’s bedroom set, which is fine by me because it’s one less mountain of furniture standing between me and actually getting our garage somewhat organized again……
October 18, 2016: The Open Road Song
When you work from home like I do, sometimes it’s easy to feel a little lost in your own world if you don’t find yourself actually leaving the house for several days on end. It’s during times like these that occasionally you just need an hour of rocking out in the car with nobody to watch you…
October 15, 2016: Of Racing Cars and Jumping Water…
Admittedly there aren’t a lot of places at Disney World where you can just let a toddler run around wild and free, much less one that has such cool water features like this, but a combination of the right time of night coupled with so much going on elsewhere in the park for the Food & Wine Festival actually…
October 14, 2016: Doing Nothing With Matthew…
I can’t remember the last time I sat and did nothing for two hours straight, but that’s exactly what I did today… …and I got to hold my other newborn son for the first time during it, so that was pretty cool, too! 😉 Today was kind of our postponed anniversary, with the intent of Christopher spending…
October 11, 2016: Drained
For a good couple of weeks now – I honestly don’t remember how long – our AC drain has been backed up to the point where it’s been dumping water out all over the floor of our garage. Well, first it goes into the drip pan, and then it overflows into the bucket we placed…
October 8, 2016: Goat! See?
Today we took Christopher to a local farm to do your typical fall festival-type stuff … for about an hour … because farms are hot. It wasn’t as good as the one that we went to last year – they had some animals to pet and feed, and Christopher got to ride a pony (which he loved),…
October 7, 2016: Fast Clouds
The waiting room here outside of the NICU has these huge windows that offer a great view of the sky, and it’s kind of crazy how the clouds almost look like they’re moving in fast forward in front of me right now. I suppose 25 mph winds will do that for you! Thankfully Hurricane Matthew’s impact…
October 6, 2016: Don’t Be a Hurricane Idiot…
People like the ones in this story really make me hate parts of humanity… Some Daytona Beach Residents Ride Out Hurricane Matthew Despite Warnings http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-hurricane-matthew-volusia-20161006-story.html If you live 200 feet from the Atlantic Ocean, and there’s a category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean, you move your ass. You don’t whip out the board games, and load your 45 to protect…
October 5, 2016: Storm Watch
I had no idea what to expect for my first hurricane. It was the summer of 2004, so I had lived in Florida for less than a year at that point, but right off the bat I was woefully unprepared. My apartment at the time was less than a mile from Tampa Bay, which landed me in…
October 3, 2016: All Together Now
It’s really easy to divide and conquer when you’ve got tons and tons of things on your family’s collective to-do list, however I’m starting to wonder if maybe that’s not necessarily always the best approach… The last couple of weeks have been a little trying because although Sara’s been out of the hospital, her c-section scar is…
October 1, 2016: Pizza Tonite!
Tonight didn’t turn out exactly like I would’ve expected… The original plan was to head over to Disney Springs for some dinner and a little walking around, thinking that the fresh air might do all of us some good after the whole family has been sick for weeks at this point. Instead, soon after we…
September 30, 2016: Scary Halloween
To inversely quote Homer Simpson – “I prefer funny Halloween, not scary Halloween!” Seriously, WTF is up with these decorations that I found at Target this afternoon, and what would Cleo think if she found a dog skeleton just laying around the house?! 😯 Maybe it all stems back to an incident that I had trick or treating when I was…