Our Car :(

Our car is in the shop. Once again the stupid power steering hose has sprung a leak, again. We took it to the shop we took it to last year when the exact same thing happened. The "car guys" replaced the hose in question and all was good. It got cold again and the same hose got another leak. This time they tell me its going to cost $200 for parts and labor. That sucks, but there is nothing I can do, we need our car. The thing that gets me is that they are replacing the hose with an Arctic High Pressure hose that will "not spring a leak" again. My question is why didn't they use this "special hose" last year when they "fixed" my power steering.

Sick and Tired

Gabe has a runny nose comparable to Niagara Falls and it has turned him into a grouch. Snot is constantly running down his face and down the back of his throat which has given him the nastiest of coughs and causes him to sleep very lightly. He hacks and hacks and wakes himself up, and in turn, wakes us up (which leads to unhappy parents).

He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, which involves weighing, measuring, and umm...long pointy, red-faced-cry producing, needles. It definitely is not a fun process. Gabe is all happy and looking around the bright colored room, there are the fish from Finding Nemo on the wall, a mobile on the ceiling, plenty of things to catch his attention. I then have to hold his arms and chest down (he still has no idea what is going to happen). The nurse then stabs him in the leg with 3 different needles. I am glad Gabe is too young to hold grudges. During all of this, Beth is in the corner covering her eyes and ears.

I have to be at work tomorrow which means that Beth is going to have to be the Blood Traitor. I'll be interested to hear what happens...because I will hear it...over and over.

Super Craft Sunday!

Well, after the last blog Alex posted, I promised I would begin contributing to the website as well. So, here it goes. Alex proclaimed that today would be Super Craft Sunday in our family, instead of Super Bowl Sunday. So, naturally, while he is in the other room hard at work on an amazing play pillow for Gabe, I am in the living room finding myself looking at random people's profile on myspace while eating the dinner Alex made. My god, I am such a......man. I used to be so good about staying current on our scrapbooking, but I have fallen dismally behind now that work has all but consumed my life. So, with this new post and this new year I would like to try to dedicate more time to home and family. When I am at home I will try harder to refrain from work related activities, such as completing Parent-Teacher Conferences or writing lesson plans. As Alex knows, this is an often occruance. My goal is to be finished with our Wedding Scrapbook and well into Gabe's by the time summer comes. Wish me luck!

I Heart Lists!

Things I never thought about until I became a parent:

1. How different the world will be when Gabe is an adult. The world has changed so much since we were kids. Technology, cartoons, movies, cars... I could go on forever. It's fun, and a little scary to imagine what is to come.
2. I'll never be able to repay my parents. Being a parent is an incredible amount of work and sacrifice (sometimes blood sacrifice). People can tell you that it's hard, but you truly have no idea what it's like until you have a little drool-bot of your own. Parenting is a 24 hour job, especially in the first few months, and it takes everything you have to try to be a good one. Thanks Mom & Dad, I now know it wasn't easy.
3. How much day to day life has changed. No trip is a "quick-trip" anymore. In order for us to go anywhere for over a couple of hours we have to first go down the check list.
   
• Clean and sterilized bottles?
  
• Is the formula container full?
  
• How many diapers do we have in the bag? 3? Not enough, get more.
• Refill portable wipes container.
• Do we have any toys for him in the bag?
• What about a change of clothes (Just in case a Poo Bomb goes off)?
• Baby food?
• Baby Spoon?
• Blanket?
  
• Alright, time to put on his snow suit. (He hates that thing and I don't blame him. He can hardly move in it)
• Once the snow suit is on, we have only a few minutes before he throws a rage-fit...so we go into hyper mode.
• Grocery bags (if we are headed to the store as well)?
• Purse/wallet?
• Keys?
• Abby + Leash + Sweater?
• Then we have to strap him into his car seat, which he really hates. But soon after we start driving he usually falls asleep and we can drive in an exasperated silence with the Postal Service playing in the background
4. How important it is for me to stay healthy and uninjured. Everything I do now affects my family. I was an avid skateboarder all through college which meant an assortment of injuries. If I was to break my wrist or arm, I wouldn't be able to give cello lessons. That would come straight out of my pocket. If I get sick, my ability to be an affective dad goes right out of the window. No one wants to do anything when they are sick, and there are soooo many things to do when you have a baby.
5. How much I love and appreciate my wife. Beth married me, so obviously she loves me. On a daily basis it's easy to take that for granted. When Beth became pregnant, especially when she began to show, I couldn't believe how lucky I was. Her belly was a constant reminder of our love. Here I was, with someone who loved me so much, that she would sacrifice her clothes, her comfort, her body to bring our child into the world. That concept blew my mind every time at looked her. She went through 9 months of the worst heartburn in the history of mankind and 28 hours of labor before Gabe arrived. Gabe is a direct product of our love for each other and it's nice to remember that every once in a while.
   

Conversations with 6th Graders

6th Grader 1: "What if you could doo doo iPods? I mean, wouldn't that be awesome?! "

6th Grader 2:"You could be standing in line and then you could be like, "Want to buy an iPod touch?" and then you would just doo doo one out."

(This is where I should have told them to be quiet and do their work, or simply ignored them...)

Me: Wouldn't that hurt? Those things are really wide? (I know, I know...real mature)

6th Grader 1: No man, your butt would be shaped like one, since you always would doo doo them.

(Duh Mr. Alex)

6th Grader 2: What about doo dooing money?

(I'll stop there, just a day in the life)

I Can't Feel My Face!

The cold has returned and although it is nowhere near as cold as it was a few weeks ago...-30 is not much better. As I walked the 7th and 8th graders over to their math class at Lathrop, across the pedestrian bridge (and my return trip to Barnette) my face began to tingle. The warmth we have had recently has lead me to become unprepared for colder temperatures (no neck warmer). I'll be prepared tomorrow.

GABE WATCH: 2009

• Gabe learned how to clap last night. When we clap, he claps. It is adorable and will also serve to boost my ego after I play cello for him (no more blank stares...of appreciation).
• Gabe is also pulling himself up on anything he can get his hands on. The only problem is that he is heavier than most of the things he can get his hands on. Instead of pulling himself up, he pulls things down on to him if we aren't paying attention. Which we are...always...scouts honor.

• note to self: time to start baby-proofing the house...everything is looking rather pointy at the moment.
  

On a totally different note, I want Gabe to grow up bilingual. In order for this to happen, he needs to grow up hearing it. I know a lot of Spanish, but I haven't really used it since high school...so I have been brushing up on my Español.

Its really hard speaking to him in Spanish because I kind of feel like an idiot (my accent isn't awesome). But It's worth it for so many reasons...so I will trudge on. I have been compiling resources to help me. Cody's Cuentos is an awesome podcast in which a native Spanish speaker reads a common fairy tale in Spanish. I also have a helpful iPod Touch app. that helps me look up the random words I forget. Thank you technology.

Finally, here are a few photos from our first skiing/boarding trip and from Gabe's first sled/slide ride. This took place two weekends ago...I wish we could go more often. Beth doing her thing at Birch Hill

Chair Lift = Photo Opp.

Beth doesn't like heights!


Gabe really didn't know what to do in the snow, so he just sat there.

Hiatus? What hiatus?

It has been a little while since I have posted here. It's not that I didn't want to...it's that I didn't know how it would work anymore. The title was Beth and Alex's Wedding...which has passed and made that title obsolete.

In the meantime we have brought a new life into this world. Gabriel was born on July 31st after 28 hours of intense labor. It has been about 6 months since that day and Gabe has grown and learned so much. Check out these pictures from the last 6 months (they are mostly of Gabe).

More to come soon...much more.