Happy New Year

It is hard to believe 2012 is almost over. The year flew by, but that is a cliché thing to say. When I look at my daughter it is hard to believe only a year has passed. My wife and I started 2012 taking care of a baby. Now we are sharing life with a tiny little person¹. A year ago Amelia could barely walk. Now it seems like she can do it all. She can communicate and understand most anything you say to her. She has opinions and desires, and she isn't afraid to share them with us. A year ago she could laugh, but now she has a sense of humor. And she is funny.

2012 was good to us. We are happy and healthy. We can't really ask for anything more.

Amelia has grown so much. A little each day. It is hard to notice as it happens. Every parent wants to remember each stage his child so quickly passes through. I wish I could capture each day and put it in a bottle to open up later. My mind won't be able to remember all the things I want it to, and that makes me sad. I have done my best to document, but I have surely fallen short. There is the constant struggle to enjoy things in the moment as you experience them, and to capture pictures and videos to look back on later.

I have snapped thousands of photos, and written tens of thousands of words in the past 12 months, but it will never be enough to adequately recount her transformation into an amazing little toddler. I have a sense of how it happened for now, but that will quickly be replaced by her new milestones, and all the moments we share in 2013. I guess that is okay. It is just going to keep getting more fun, and she is going to keep getting more awesome.

I will keep on taking pictures and writing. Maybe I will even post to my blog a little more consistently in 2013. Maybe.

Have a safe and happy New Year friends.

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1. It is crazy how long it took me to write that in a way that didn't make it sound like we had a midget in the house. ↩

My December Check-in

I have been feeling extremely overwhelmed the last several weeks. There is nothing in particular causing this, it is combination of traveling, work, the holidays, and just the demands and emotions of a toddler. There are a lot of things in there that I cannot control. When I get feeling like that my initial reaction is to simplify as much about the things I can control.

I started off November with a week-long work trip to Dallas. A few days after that we loaded up the car and drove to Indiana for Thanksgiving. We had a great week with my family, then made the 12 hour trip back to Arkansas. We were home for 4 days then we got on a plane to go to Orlando for Amanda's Grandmother's memorial service. It was both a physically and emotionally draining weekend. We got back last Monday night and I went to work on Tuesday to see a huge pile of stuff I had to get done.

All week I've felt behind on my sleep. Amelia is totally off her schedule. She has been staying up until at least 10pm every night. My wife usually has to lay down in the crib with her to coax her into going to sleep. Amelia went without a nap yesterday and got to bed a little earlier, so hopefully we get her back on track over the next couple days.

With Christmas coming Amelia is going to get some new toys. We already had Christmas with my family and she got some new things. Today we went through her toy box and bagged up a ton of stuff that she doesn't play with anymore to make room for her new loot. I already feel much better about the condition of our living room. Simplify. Remove distractions.

I have realized over the last few months that we were not watching much tv. The growing list of shows on our dvr felt more like a to-do list than a form of entertainment. I'd been thinking about canceling our cable for a while now, but this week I pulled the trigger. I called AT&T Uverse on Friday and told them I wanted to cut the cable. It was a clean break. We can't watch any of the stuff that was sitting our our dvr, and I am okay with that. I hooked up our OTA antennas. We are able to get all our local stations in HD with an antenna. I'm looking forward to only being able to pick from 6 channels, and not having a dvr. I'm even more excited about all the money we will be saving.

The craziness that Christmas brings isn't over yet, but the finish line is in sight. I have been trying to focus on experiencing everything through my daughter's eyes and sharing in her excitement. I think we are going to do Christmas at our house next weekend and I am really looking forward to it.

That is all I have for now. Maybe I will check in next month.

My New Shave

Ever since I started shaving I have not been a fan. My super-sensitive face skin became irritated by every method I tried. Over the years I’ve had every type of disposable razor out there. I’ve used 2, 3, 4, and 5 blades. I’ve had two different electric razors. Foams, gels, lotions, salves… I’ve tried it all. I’ve never been happy with the results.

Over a year ago my best friend told me about the wet shave. Essentially the wet shave is how a guy used to shave his face back in the 40's and 50's. I get an image of a barber lathering up the clients face. It is like that, but without the straight razor. I was eager to try it, but the initial cost is quite high and I ended up talking myself out of it. I was convinced that all these years of technological advancement would undoubtedly outperform a 70 year old shaving method. I forgot about the wet shave and spent the last 12 months dumping more money into Gillette fusion blades.

Then I signed up for my free week trial of The Magazine and read The Wet Shave by Lex Friedman. I sent a message to my friend and asked him if he was still shaving “old school”. He was. He still loved it. I was sold.

The Hardware

I added all of these items to my Amazon wish list and sent it to my parents for ideas for Christmas. We exchanged gifts with them at Thanksgiving and they got me my entire shaving setup. They are awesome!

• Merkur Razor


• Tweezerman Shaving Brush


• Stainless Steel Stand


• Proraso Sensitive Shave Soap


• Derby Razor Blades

The Transition

My first shave was slow and I hadn’t broken in the brush so there were bristles all over the place. It did feel pretty nice though, and the results were good. I immediately loved the soap and lather method. There is no way I will ever go back to canned gel. I wasn’t as excited about the single blade safety razor right at first. I had to rethink how I shave. I cut myself more than I ever did with the 5 blade setup, but it is no big deal. I just have to go a little slower.

Going in my main concern was with the increased time it would take to complete my morning routine. Most mornings I am rushed. I typically only shaved every other day. Going to an every day shaving routine was going to be tough, especially if it took longer. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stick with it just because I didn’t have the time.

The Results

Over the last couple weeks my face is the most comfortable it has been in years. The positive effects were immediate. I haven’t had any irritation at all. While it does take me longer to shave, I have started to look forward to it. I feel like I am taking care of my face, and not just shaving it.

The actual act of shaving isn’t better than it was before. I do like the feel of the soap and the brush, but the razor creates a stinging sensation on the skin that I didn’t experience before. It is simultaneous pain and cooling relief. I’ve almost come to enjoy it. I have a little more trouble getting a good shave on a couple parts of my neck where the hairs grow weird. However, my technique is improving.

After the shave is over my face feels much better than it ever has other methods. I am not quite sure what to attribute it to, but it doesn’t matter. It is awesome. I can shave every day without my neck getting red and burning afterward, and I am thankful for that.

The shave feels closer than it did with my 5 blade razor, and my skin feels better.

Conclusion

In the last three weeks I’ve spent more time shaving than I did the six weeks prior to that. However, It hasn’t been a hassle. Shaving has been as close to enjoyable as I ever thought it could be. My face has been pain free despite the occasional cut on my neck.

I haven’t mastered the wet shave yet, but I feel like I am getting better. I can use a blade 4 or 5 times before switching. In a year I will go though about 65 blades,a whole $6.50 in cost. My cost with Gillette Fusion blades was about $50 per year. I’m not sure how to estimate the savings on shaving gel, but it is significant as well.

I think this is going to work out well.

Playing in the Leaves

Fall hit Northwest Arkansas a couple weeks ago and our tree started dropping leaves all over the yard. Last weekend it was really nice out so Amelia and I decided to play outside for a while while Amanda was at work. We raked up piles of leaves and jumped in them, then Amelia wanted to help me clean them all up. Now this week the rest of the leaves have fallen, so it looks like we have more work to do today.

Hanging in there

It has been a rough week around here. The flu has gotten the best of all members of our family. I am the last to get it. I felt horrible yesterday. The entire day I only had water, crackers, and a Sprite. I'm still not 100%, but feeling much better today. The girls had the same thing earlier in the week. Amelia threw up several times. Other than spitting up as a baby, she hasn't even puked. She handled it like a champ… didn't get upset at all. I wasn't home for all the fun, but from what Amanda said she did really well.

This week we took a shot at potty training. I wasn't even actively engaged in it that much, and it was still one of the worst things ever. Amelia did not respond to it well. After the first day she got extremely annoyed with the whole deal and basically shut us out. She wouldn't respond to anything we asked her, or even make eye contact. You could tell she hated it, and it made me hate it too.

It turned into a battle of wills and eventually the kiddo won out. I think she understood what we were trying to do, but I guess she just wasn't ready. We will take a break for a little while and I'm sure she will be more receptive to it.

She has become quite the emotional ninja the last few weeks. She has started throwing fits more frequently to try and get what she wants. She gets frustrated easily and starts flailing around or even grabbing things and chucking them. She knows these things get a response from us and has started using them to her advantage. I no expert in psychology¹, but I can tell when I am being manipulated. I'm just amazed at how good she is at it.

Last night she got out of the bath and had to do her normal running around the house in her birthday suit. We joked with her that she better get dressed or Divot (the dog) was going to bite her butt. A little bit later she comes around the corner screaming and grabbing her butt claiming that Divot bit her. “Divy bite me”, she says. But the dog was on the other side of the room. I couldn't believe it. I don't know what her goal was, but she did a pretty good job at acting like she had been injured. I'd written a post a few months ago saying that we might be in the “terrible 2's.” I was wrong. I think we are almost there now.

Even though she has her moments Amelia is a sweet-heart 99% of the time. When she asks us for things she says “please” and “thank-you”. She has started saying “bless you” and “excuse me” and uncannily knows when to apply each one. When I leave for work I'll tell her I love her and she will say “I love you too, daddy.”, which is amazing. A couple times she has been snuggling and says “I wuv you” totally unprompted. Those are the times when you feel like you have discovered the meaning of life or something. This is what I am here for. This is my reason for being alive.

This morning Amelia asked for an apple. She didn't want us to cut it up. She wanted to go after the whole thing. She did pretty well, but gave up after about 20 minutes and asked me to cut it up for her.

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1. I minored in psychology and took a child psychology course… but somehow it didn't prepare me for fatherhood. They might need to look at their curriculum.  ↩

Honeycrisp Season

Sorry to my loyal readers ¹, I haven’t been posting lately. No reason, I just haven’t felt like writing I guess. Things have been going well. It would seem that fall is here. The weather has cooled off, football season is in full force, and the other day we got Honeycrisp apples at the store. Honeycrisp apples with peanut butter is probably one of my favorite food combos on earth.

We have been enjoying the cooler temps. There have been lots of evenings spent sitting outside on a blanket playing blocks with Amelia or just watching her draw with her sidewalk chalk. She is talking so much now. It is amazing how smart she is.

I’ve realized over the last month at work I have become “that guy”. You know, the one who tells unsolicited stories about his kid all the time. I used to not like that guy, but now I am him. I start talking even before I realize what is happening, and then it is too late… I might as well just finish the story. I am very aware that none of my coworkers care what Amelia said that morning, but I can’t help it.

One of the things I couldn’t help sharing happened this week when I was leaving for work. Amelia was sitting on the floor watching cartoons and I came up behind her and gave her a hug. I said, “Goobye baby, Daddy is going to work.”. She responded with, “Goodbye Daddy, kiss Mommy… and GO!” Lately when anybody tells her they are leaving she is just done with you. She is just like me, she doesn’t like a lingerer. If you are leaving, you might as well just go ahead and do it.

She has also started telling her emotion. She will come out of the bath, run through the house butt naked and give me a big hug. “Daddy! I’m Happy!.” Or when you tell her "no" she will look at you and say, “I’m crying.” Even though we can all see she isn't really crying. She is starting understand types of things she isn't supposed to do. She will reach for something and just before she touches it she will look right at me and smile.

We’ve been having a ton of fun lately, but it has also been difficult. We are at an age of a lot of mood swings and emotions. I guess I’m just starting to get a taste of what it is like to live with a little girl. We couldn't ask for a better kid though. She is just amazing.

Last week I unintentionally started growing a beard. Amelia had been waking up every night for several days in a row. We are pretty sure her teeth were bothering her. In the morning I was not excited about getting out of bed. I would stay asleep until the last possible second where I could jump in the shower, get dressed, and be out the door and not be too late for work. This left no room for shaving and by the end of the week I had something started. I decided to just let it go and now I have a pretty respectable beard going.

I usually don’t start with the facial hair until at least November, but I guess I got an early start this year. I will probably leave it for a while. Some people look really goofy with facial hair and I really hope I am not one of those people. I have already had some compliments on it… so unless people are lying to me, my beard doesn’t look that silly.

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1. I could have just said “Mom”, but “loyal readers” makes this whole thing sound more legit.  ↩

1991 Nostalgia

Every now and then I will randomly have a memory that starts me down a path. This morning I remembered the fall of 1991. I was a chubby 9 year-old that had just started the third grade. It was a time where I feel like I came into my own. I even wrote and performed anti-drug themed musical theater that year.

One of the things I remember most about starting school was that I had LA Gear pumps.¹ They were white with blue trim. A classmate named Ricky had a pair that were white with red trim. I wasn't really friends with Ricky before 3rd grade, and I wasn't really friends with him after. But we had a bond. A bond forged with a cheap plastic air bladder sewn into a faux-leather sneaker tongue by Asian children our own age. A few months into school and half the boys in the class had LA Gear pumps. I was a trend setter. My one and only time.

In 1991 the biggest issue facing our world was the ever-growing hole in the ozone layer. I discontinued using CFC’s that year. Aerosol cans became the enemy. At some point between then and now I forgot what a chloroflorocarbon was, and stopped caring how much of them I released into the atmosphere. How is that ozone layer doing anyway? We never hear about that thing anymore.

In 1991 my favorite television shows were Full House and America’s Funniest Home Videos. I know this because I wrote a journal entry about it. I don’t know where that journal is. I’m not even sure I ever read that entry again after the day I wrote it. However, I clearly remember writing it. I know for sure Full House was a popular show in 1991 among third graders. Each morning we had something called “sharing time.” We basically got to say whatever we wanted… you know, get things off your chest in front of the whole class. In retrospect this probably wasn’t the best idea. The teacher definitely opened herself up for some awkward conversations. Each Monday after the new episode of Full House aired the TGIF before, “sharing time” turned into 25 third graders recapping the episode. No less than 5 students recited the Michelle Tanner zinger lines each week. That little girl was always getting into some sort of hi-jinks then using her cuteness to come away unscathed. This was back in the peak of the show. Back before Uncle Jessie moved Rebecca in and ruined everything.

I’ve just now realized that both of my favorite television shows starred Bob Saget. Surely he played no part in it. Mere coincidence.

In 1991 my third grade class put on a variety show. I wouldn't say “talent” show because that would imply some of it was involved. We had the opportunity to form teams and come up with some sort of performance. My group had nothing. We were lost. One evening when I got home from school I penned a simple rhyme with an anti-drug message. It turned into song… and then a series of short drug-related dialogues that a 3rd grader might encounter on “the street”. It all came together to form quite a narrative.

The song went something like…

Say no to drugs. They are no good.
Say no to drugs. You know you should.
Say no to drugs. They are not cool.
Say no to drugs, And stay in school.

There were more verses. At some point I think I rhymed “crack” and “whack”. The entire thing was horrible. I am almost embarrassed to let my mind peruse the memories. In every skit our “drug user” was a jittery kid that slurred his speech and his body continually convulsed, sometimes causing him to fall to the ground. If nothing else, our Dick Van Dyke-esque physical comedy was a hit with the 9 year-olds.

In our show there were two girls that sang and acted out the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In 1991 the show was in its second season. I remember it being cool. The show was cool and the fact that these girls chose to sing (“rap”) the theme song while pantomiming actions that went along with the lyrics was also cool. In the days leading up the show we had a couple groups rehearse their acts each afternoon. I distinctly remember the girls performing the song several times. The teacher was having trouble understanding the lyrics, “Yo, homes smell you later!” She asked for better enunciation, and then an explanation of what the line meant in order to make sure it was okay for a classroom setting.

The show went well. We performed for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes. I was so nervous to sing in front of the 5th graders… with their refined musical tastes and all. We finished off the show-run with a performance for our parents. At the time I remember thinking about how much they would love the positive anti-drug message. I wonder how many of those parents would later teach my former classmates how to cook meth.

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1. Reebok had a shoe called the "Pump". The LA Gear version was actually called the "Regulator", but everybody referred to both of them as pumps. ↩
   

Back From KC

I spent the last several days in Kansas City for work. It was a fun trip. I stayed near the Country Club Plaza area. It is an extremely nice part of town. I've been there a couple times now and I'm really impressed with it; really good restaurants and shopping. It is a fun atmosphere.

I drove back last night after our meeting. Working on a Saturday is kind of a bummer, but it wasn't bad. I was home in time to play with Amelia for a couple hours before she went to bed. I was only gone for a few days but missed that little girl so much.

This morning Amelia was playing with her kitchen and she brought out a tray of little cakes that is part of her toy tea set. She was pretending to gobble them down and giggling, then she would hand one to each of us and we would do it too. She walked back to her kitchen and answered her play phone, "Hello. I'm eating cakes. I am silly. Bye bye." She is the funniest kid. I can't believe how well she is talking now and how much stuff she can identify. She is soaking it all in.

Good Birthday Week

I had a pretty excellent birthday week. I was a bachelor for the entire week leading up to it, but last Sunday my wife and baby girl came home. We celebrated on Monday with some rib-eyes and veggies on the grill and of course I got a cheesecake. My wife also got me beer, which is always a good bet for a gift. It was a busy week at work that flew by.

This weekend was pretty laid back. Amelia and I got to spend Saturday morning together. We made a shopping trip to Walmart to get her some more milk, then we played. She loves the kitchen we got her. She is always cooking something and answering her phone. She has a shopping cart and today we played grocery store. She got to pick things out and pay for them, then put everything away in her kitchen. I think her favorite was putting the coins in her pocket. She thought that was pretty awesome

She is really starting to put words together lately. It is impressive. Her favorite phrase to start out with is, "Mommy, I wanna..." After we played grocery store she went to her bag of blocks and said, "Mommy, I wanna buy blocks." She had to put a few blocks in her shopping cart and then take some money out of her pocket... only to put it right back in. Last night she was playing with her kitchen on her own. She turned to face the living room and clear as day said, "Mommy, I want my goat." She went over to her toy farm and we found her little goat. It was so random. It always catches you off guard when she makes a sentence that you can totally understand. But asking for a goat seemed so strange I thought for sure I had heard her wrong.

Amelia had her 18 month checkup at the doctor this week. She is still small. She is in the 10th percentile for weight and head size, but she has moved up to the 25th percentile for height. So, she is getting bigger at least. When we were at the doctor they were asking about her speech, and if she could say any words yet. She was sitting on my lap facing me and right after the doctor asked about the words she busted out with, "Mommy, Daddy has buttons." I was so proud. I'm pretty sure she is a genius. Of course the last time I thought she was a genius I caught her trying to eat the wing of the Styrofoam airplane we bought her.

Yesterday after Amanda got home from work she took Amelia swimming with some friends and I went for a bike ride. I haven't ridden much at all this year and when I do it just reminds me how out of shape I am. The 90° weather felt pretty good compared to the 105° we had the week before. I rode 25 miles then came home and mowed the grass. It has been so dry this summer that the grass hasn't grown. The last time I mowed was the end of June.

I don't know if it was the mowing, the change in weather, or allergies... but this morning I woke up with a really bad sore throat. Amelia hasn't been feeling great either. She is getting both of her incisors and I think that is a lot of it. She hasn't been eating or sleeping well, and she's been moodier than normal. Hopefully they pop through and we get our sweet little girl back.

Sailor Highace Neo fountain pen

I love pens! Even so, I had never owned, or even used a fountain pen. I was intimidated by them for some reason. Lately my pen collection has been growing. I've discovered micro-tip gel pens as well as the Retro 51 Tornado. I'm altering ink refills to fit the barrels I prefer. I am getting in deep. Still, I didn't have a fountain pen. I always assumed a fountain pen would give a blotchy inconsistent ink flow. I was sure the liquid ink would bleed through to the other side of the page, which is a deal-breaker for me. I'm sure some fountain pens do those things, but the one I picked is nearly perfect what I needed.

I was pretty well set on buying the Lamy Safari extra fine nib. However, before I pulled the trigger I sent a message to Brad Dowdy (@dowdyism on twitter), author of penaddict.com. He kindly replied to me and recommended I look into the Sailor Highace Neo. I checked it out and I was sold. I put in my order.

The Sailor Highace is a great starter fountain pen. The fine nib with Sailor blue black ink is a nice combination. It feels so good to write with. The line is sharp and clear and there is no bleed-through whatsoever. It looks and feels great on the Moleskine paper I most commonly use.

The pen is extremely light-weight. I knew this going in and was worried it would feel "cheap". It doesn't. It is light, but feels well made. With the cap posted it has a great balance. I thought the Retro 51 Tornado was the best feeling pen to write with, but this one is definitely in the running. My hands typically feel fatigued after a long stint of writing. I wrote for a long time with the Sailor and my hand still felt fine. The light weight combined with the lighter pressure required for the fountain pen made for an extremely comfortable writing experience.

I almost never write with blue ink. I always reach for black first. When I was deciding on this pen something made me go with the Sailor blue black ink. I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know whether it would be extremely dark blue or what. It is just normal blue, which I was a little disappointed with, but other that that is is really great ink. It does on very smooth and the line is consistent. I am going to go ahead and buy some of the black ink too just to have it around. I know I will use them. I have a feeling I am going to be going through a lot of ink with this pen.

My line up of favorites

10 Years Since the Crash

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of me almost dying. People who didn't know me at that time may not know what happened. I was in Cincinnati visiting my roomate from my freshman year of college, Brian. We were driving aound town on a Saturday afternoon in a Ford Escort. I was in the passenger seat. At a blind intersection he pulled out in front of a Ford F150 going 55mph. It hit the side of the car just in front of the driver's side door. We spun around several times, ending up in the ditch. Two helicopters came for us. They took us to separate hospitals. We both survived. The guy in the truck was fine.

We were both pretty messed up. Brian had a broken collar bone, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. I had no broken bones. But I hit my head... hard. The entire left side of my brain was bruised. There was swelling, but it was under control.

I don't remember anything. I don't remember the accident. I don't remember going to the hospital. I don't even remember much from the day leading up to the accident. I have vague memories of being in the hospital, but it is difficult to tell what is true memory and what has been constructed from what people told me about it later. I remember being in pain, and being confused, but surprisingly relaxed.

I got to go home on my 20th birthday. I remember walking out of the hospital and getting in the car... then nothing after that. I probably fell asleep. I slept a lot. I have in and out memories of people coming to see me over the next several days. I was in no mood to socialize. I mostly complained about people being too loud, and the lights being too bright. I probably wasn't very appreciative of the support. After a few days I started to "come back". I remember recognizing that I was disconnected. It was almost like I was lost in my own thoughts, but I don't think there was anything going on in my head. It was too busy healing; repairing itself. I had to go to "physical therapy" sessions at the hospital. They would ask me questions. That is about all it consisted of. I had to do crossword puzzles and stuff like that to make sure I still knew stuff I guess.

I had a lot of headaches. My neuologist recommended that I skip a semester of college. My sophomore year was starting in less than 2 weeks. Within the first week I thought I was feeling better, and decided I wanted to go back. My doctor cleared me. I worked with the great Dr. James Barany at Purdue to work out my schedule. I took as few credit hours as I could and still be a full time student. I ended up taking a speed reading class. It wasn't all fun and games. I also took a physics class and multivariate calculus.

Right at first it was a strange feeling. In my head I felt like I knew how to do certain things, but I was unable to put together some of the fundamentals of calculus. I had to look things up that I had done tons of times since high school. Those early homework sessions in the study room at my dorm were the only times that I felt scared. It could have been nothing more than just the summer rust. Who knows. But I felt like maybe my brain was damaged in some way. Maybe there were things that I would never remember again, and not even realize it. It is a weird feeling when you don't know what you don't know. Anyway, I went to class and did my homework. It eventually came back to me. I got a "B".

I had to organize my schedule so my classes didn't start until the afternoon. I slept 12 to 14 hours every night. I'd go to bed at 8 and get up at 11 the next morning. I'm sure everybody's college experiences were similar. I continued to have headaches. They lasted for months.

There is a 4 month gap in my life that I really can't make sense of. I typically have decent long term memory, but nothing for that time. Even writing this now I am not confident of any of these memories. I've kept a journal since Sept 11th, 2001. Even now I write in it weekly at least. There is nothing from the months of August 2002 to December 2002.

There are a lot of stories of brain injuries that did not go as well as mine. I realize how truly lucky I am. I am thankful. I'd be lying if I said I think about it every day. I get complacent. I let myself forget what happened. I let myself believe that I deserve my full recovery.

I'd never had a head injury before that day. That is lucky for me. It might have caused the outcome to go differently. I haven't had a head injury since. I hope I never do. I enjoy cycling, but I always wear a helmet. I won't ride a mountain bike, even with a helmet. I fear driving at times, but I especially fear riding. I am mindful every time I get in the car that somebody could hit me, and there is little I can do about that. As teenagers we all feel invincible. I stopped feeling invincible when I was 19 years and 362 days old, and haven't felt invincible since.

Bachelor Week

On Saturday my wife left to visit her parents for a week with our baby girl. I have been a bachelor all week. It has been so weird. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't think it would be this creepy to be in a totally quiet house. I thought I would have tons of free time, and I planned a lot of chores for myself to get done. So far I have kept myself extremely busy.

I went to see the new Batman movie this weekend on my own. I wasn't all that impressed and it wiped out 4 hours of my Sunday. I was planning on biking some this week, but it has been so hot. I haven't gone once. By the time I get home from work, make dinner, clean up, and watch a little olympics it is time to go to bed. Last night I did spend the entire evening putting together the toy kitchen we bought for Amelia. She is going to be so pumped when she sees it. I can't wait for her to get home.

I am closing in on my 30th very quickly. I have a few more days to enjoy my 20's, then it is over. No more fun and games.

Boring Sports Weekend

It hasn't cooled off any around here and it hasn't rained. I'm officially ready for summer to be over. I'm not sure how many more weeks of this we have, but the fewer the better. The only positive is that I haven't had to mow the grass in a month. It looks like crap even though we water it every night, but at least I haven't had to be out in the heat mowing. It would take me a whole 30 minutes to mow our tenth of an acre, but that might be enough to do me in.

Most of the last month has been spent staying inside trying to keep cool. I was fine because the Tour de France has been on for the last 3 weeks. I guess it is lucky I enjoy watching dudes in spandex pedaling bicycles. Amanda and Amelia... not so much. Amelia loves being outside and staying in has been driving her crazy. She asks to go out all the time. I can't wait for the fall when we can take her to the park more and enjoy a lot more time outside.

Every July the Tour de France motivates me to get out on the bike and put some miles in. However, it is almost always 100°+ this time of year so I struggle to actually do it. There was a time when I woke up really early in the morning and rode before work. I haven't been able to make that happen this year. I think I am the laziest I have ever been. I need to find time to do something. Actually I don't think time is the limiting factor here. It is motivation. I should say that I wish I could find the motivation and energy to get out and exercise after being at work all day.

It was the perfect storm of long (mostly uneventful) sporting events with British Open this weekend too? That ending today was crazy. Tiger couldn't get anything going on the weekend and once again his swing faltered when it counted most. I think we all thought Adam Scott had it in the bag... then we had to watch the painful process of him giving it away. I feel horrible for him. Even so, it was awesome to see Ernie get the win. It has been a rough few years for him and I will always root for his success. This has been a good time to watch golf. 16 separate winners in the last 16 majors. The field is wide open.

If you couldn't tell, most of my weekend was spent watching "boring sports." That and playing with Amelia. This was the 3rd Saturday morning in a row Amelia and I have gone to Sam's Club. The last 2 weeks we had legitimate reasons but yesterday we just wanted to go look at the little-kid trampoline. We are thinking about buying one, but it would be pointless right now because it is too hot to use it. Maybe buying it would give me some motivation to lose weight. There is a 100 lb weight limit on it, so I have a ways to go. Maybe by next spring.

The Terrible 1.5's

Yesterday my daughter turned 18 months old. Even though she hasn't hit the age on the number yet, I think we are officially in the "terrible two's" stage. That is not to imply in any way that she is terrible. However, she has become much more strong willed, and her happiness from moment to moment seems to be hanging by a thread.

Over the first 17 months of her life she may have just been extremely happy and easy going. Either that or we were way too easy on her and let her get away with whatever she wanted. She has learned the word "No" and she loves to use it, but hates to hear it. For a tiny person that has no knowledge of how the human brain operates she has an uncanny ability to manipulate it. Her skills might have something to do with her adorable face, but I think there is also an innate understanding of human emotion that she uses as effectively as those sweet puppy-dog eyes.

The next year of our lives are going to be interesting for sure. She is so much fun. You never know what she is going to do or come up with next. The entire experience of watching her grow and learn is amazing. She can count to 5 on her own. She knows a lot of her colors and can identify them and match them correctly. She thinks she knows the words to every song and sings along no matter what. She is taking in the world and you can see her trying to process everything. It is truly remarkable.

For the first time as a parent I feel like I can really screw things up. In the past, I could fail to secure a diaper tightly and have a mess to clean up. That is minor. That is fixable. Now I feel like I could fail in guiding her to be a good person... a respectful child... a courteous member of society. I want to give her everything in the world. I want her to always be happy. I want her to be humble. I want her to be mindful. Every parent struggles with balancing on the continuum between friend and disciplinarian. I'm just starting to find my footing.

We have the cutest little girl!

We've had a laid back weekend with lots of playing at home. The heat has kept us in-doors for the last couple weeks most of the time, but yesterday we got some rain and it is supposed to cool off some going into next week. I'm looking forward to it. We might venture out for a snow cone later but other than that we don't have any plans.

I love that sweet little smile.

Just a kiddie pool blowing down the street.

Flying Allegiant

For our trip to Vegas last week we flew Allegiant for the first time. It is the only direct option out of our airport going to Las Vegas. They only have two flights a week, so we didn't have a lot of options. Most people go to Vegas for the weekend, so they have a Friday afternoon flight, and a Monday evening flight. We used those, but we did the opposite. We flew out on Monday, and came back on Friday.

I expected our flights to not be all they way full considering our odd schedule, but I was wrong. Both ways were packed. Boarding was a mess, and our plane was late in both instances. When I fly for work I usually am on American, and I've not experienced the lax scheduling. Allegiant's time seem more like a suggestion than anything else. We weren't on a tight schedule so it wasn't a problem, but it was frustrating.

As we waited to get on the plane there were a few people (a-holes) who gave us the "your baby is going to make my life horrible on this flight" look. For those people I almost wish Amelia would have screamed the entire way, but she was a perfect angel. She is a great traveler.

We made it out and back fine and so did all our bags. In the end that is all that matters. Even though the process of getting on the plane and getting in the air seemed sloppily managed, the overall experience was good. For Vegas it is by far the best option. I don't know about for anywhere else.

My wife was an amazing packer and got all three of our things in one bag. Which was awesome considering you have to pay by the bag. When we got back to Arkansas our bag almost didn't come home with us. We were waiting by baggage claim and the third bag down the conveyer looked a lot like ours. However, I was on the other side so it went past a lot of other people before me. I noticed an old man pick it up off the conveyer, pop down the handle, and wheel it towards the door. I figured it must be his by the confidence he grabbed it with.

As he wheeled it away I took another look and noticed the logo on it was exactly the same as our bag had. I decided I better check to make sure he hadn't taken the wrong one. I caught up with him and his wife just as he got to the door of the airport. I asked him to make sure the bag he was carrying was his. As soon as I said that his wife looked back at the bag and said, "Well that isn't ours at all."

I opened it up just to verify and sure enough our stuff was in there. I'm so glad I ran them down to check. I'm not sure they would have noticed until they got home to unpack. We definitely avoided a huge headache. We still had to wait for the car seat and stroller to come out so I watched the old guy as he queued back up at the conveyer. He took another bag... one that looked nothing like ours. It wasn't even totally the same color and the handle on his was totally different than ours. What the heck was he doing? I guess he was in a hurry to get home and took the first suitcase that remotely resembled the one he used. Anyway, crisis averted.

Family Trip to Vegas

We spent this past week in Las Vegas. It has become my home away from home. This was the second time I've been there in the last three months. This time it was a family vacation. We flew out last Monday night on a direct Allegiant flight. Amelia was super excited to ride on an airplane. She is a pro at spotting them flying in the sky and always makes sure to point them out. She loved seeing them up close at the airport.

Amelia has always been an awesome traveler, and this was no exception. Within 5 minutes of taking off she was asleep and she was out the entire way. She did wake up crying when we started to land. I think the pressure in her ears scared her. She cried and whined for about 5 minutes then was back asleep.

She slept all the way through the airport, then finally woke up at baggage claim. She was excited to see her stroller and carseat again. She was pretty upset when we had to check them in. We got to skip the entire taxi line and jump right in a cab and be on our way. We took our carseat just for the ride to and from the airport, and we are glad we did. It was a bit of a pain to carry through the airport, but we didn't have to go far with it. We weren't required to have it. The cab driver said most people just hold their kids in the car. We all know how risk-averse I am, so it was worth it to have the peace of mind. You never know when you could have a car accident.

Aside... I am so risk-averse that this is my second consecutive trip to Las Vegas where I didn't gamble a single cent. The closest I got to gambling was trying to win a stuffed animal for Amelia out of the claw machine at Denney's. (I didn't get it.) There is no way we were riding in a taxi without a car seat. We thought maybe there were certain taxis that had car seats in them. Then I thought about my daughter sitting in a communal taxi cab carseat and that was out of the question. We were taking our own even though we only used for about 30 minutes the entire week.

We made it to our condo about 11:00pm Vegas time. My Mom, Dad, Sister, Niece, and Nephew had come in the day before, so they were waiting for us. Amelia had been pretty sleepy, but when we got into the condo she was wired. She ran around with her cousins for an hour or so, but then we made her go to sleep.

We had a busy week of playing at the pool and going all over Vegas. We went to see Mystére, visited the shark reef at Mandalay Bay, made a trip to Fremont Street, and ate out several times. There was lots of riding in shuttle busses and waiting around, and Amelia did great through all of it. I am always amazed at how good she does when we are carting her around all over the place and getting her out of her routine.

We flew back Friday afternoon. We left Vegas at 4pm, and got back to Arkansas around 9. That time difference is killer. It is nice to have a weekend to recover from our trip. I was able to get all the yard work done yesterday and today we'll catch up on laundry. Yesterday was hot, but not miserable. Perfect day to go get a snow cone.

I haven't gone through our pictures from Vegas yet, but here are a few Instagram shots from my phone. 

New York New York on our way back
from the shark reef at Mandalay Bay.

The iconic cowboy down from the
Golden Nugget on Fremont street

The cowboy's girlfriend. 

I won't smile, but I will point at you daddy. 

Life Is Too Short To Carry an Ugly Pen

A few weeks ago I had never even heard of the company Retro 1951, or the Tornado pen. Now I own two of them. I’m probably going to buy at least one more. I’ve talked about my pen problem before, but it is getting worse. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole. My name is Deric, I am a penaholic.

I’m not sure what I love best about the Retro 1951. It comes in an awesome box. You open the box to reveal an awesome metal canister. You pull that apart to see your shiny new Tornado safely enveloped in a velvet pouch. The pen is the best constructed pen I have ever felt. It is all metal and the weight is perfect. It is a retractable pen, but they don’t mess with any of that click-y stuff. Nope. There is a metal gnurled knob at the top that you turn to bring forth the ink.

I mentioned I have two of them now. I got a classic stainless first. It looks amazing. They recently came out with the Stealth. It is an all blacked-out pen with a powder coated barrel. I couldn’t resist. I got it last week. They are easily the best feeling pens I have ever used. You can get the stainless for less than $20, which isn't bad at all for what you get. The Stealth was a little more than that, but not much.

The only thing I am not totally in love with on the Tornado is the ink. The ink is great, but it is liquid ink roller ball. I'm not a huge fan of liquid ink pens. It tends to bleed through the page onto the other side. There are some applications where I enjoy using it, but for most writing I want a ball point ink. Parker and Schmidt each have really great ball point refills that fit the Retro 51 Tornado perfectly.

I've already planned out my next Tornado purchase. There is a new "Lincoln" model that is pretty sweet. Before I know it I am going to be a collector. If you like pens, you will like the Tornado.

retro51.com

Siri Only Obeys Samuel L. Jackson

➡ One Foot Tsunami: Over-Promise and Under-Deliver
A great post that looks at the new Siri ads.

HOW SIRI INTERPRETS IT WHEN I SAY “REMIND ME TO PUT THE GAZPACHO ON ICE IN AN HOUR”:

• Put the spot show on ice
• Put the spots on Icenhour
• Put tickets botulinum2"

The most recent run of iPhone adds featuring Siri seem are some of the worst Apple has ever put out there. They rub me the wrong way. They don't make me proud that I own the product. They actually slightly embarrass me. Don't even get me started on the Zoey Deschenel one.

I rarely use Siri. When I've tried, she has given me less than stellar results. Apparantly if you are a movie star she obeys your commends flawlessly... or does she?

The 4 inch iPhone Rumors

9 to 5 Mac: 4 inch iPhone Rumors

I'm a big fan of seeing a larger screen iPhone coming out this fall. I'm not a fan of it staying the exact same width and just making it taller. That won't make it any easier or more comfortable to type on. But all the rumors seem to be pointing to that as the path Apple is taking. Rumors are just rumors. We won't know until they announce it.

Click the floppy to save into the manila folder

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen

I usually don't visit any website with "Zen" in the title, but this is a pretty good article about outdated iconography that is still hanging around our computer interfaces. We still use the image of a floppy disk to indicate we want to save a file. I understand where Mr. Hanselman is coming from, but there is something to be said for uniformity of design. If you see a floppy disk, you generally know what it means. There are kids who use computers all the time that have never seen an actual physical floppy disk. They know what that square looking thing does, even though they may not know what it is.

Seriously, short of a doctor's office or the DMV when are we coming in contact with clipboards? And why is the clipboard the icon for Paste? Why not Copy? Or "fill out form?

I resent this. I use a clipboard every day. To me clipboards are totally current... and awesome! I will continue to use a clipboard far into the future. I don't care if it is a computer icon or not. It is a sign of a hard-working individual that needs a flat surface on which to write.

The obligatory "good game"

One of the strangest parts of childhood sports was that moment when you had to form a line and shake hands with the other team after a loss. I almost always lost. You'd have to go through and touch hands in a feigned "high five". It was the most disingenuous things I've ever engaged in. Organized apathy. good game. good game. good game.... No eye contact. No emotion. If you lost you didn't want to look like you cared. If you won... well, I don't really know what that felt like.

All across America we are lining kids up to take part in this ritual. Why? I guess it makes us feel like we are teaching them how to be good sports. "Go tell this other kid good game. You don't have to mean it, or even pretend like you mean it." Excellent. Now you are a good sport. You are prepared for life.

Walmart.com - Shop online, pay with cash

I was looking through tech news the other day and I came across the headline... Online and Unbanked? Walmart.com Lets You Pay With Cash.

When I initially read it the first image that came into my mind was an older lady trying to stick a 20 dollar bill into her CD ROM (or maybe even her floppy drive). That is not how it works obviously, but it would be cool if it did.

Via the "Pay with Cash" program, launched last week, shoppers can visit Walmart.com place an order and, during the online checkout process, select the cash option and their shipping preference. The customer then has 48 hours to pay for the order at any Walmart store or at a Walmart Market, its small-format subsidiary.

The program gives the unbanked access to the hundreds of thousands of items Walmart.com offers that aren't always available in stores, among them baby products, health and beauty items, toys, home decor, electronics, home appliances and more, the company says."

It all seems a little pointless to me, but then again, I am not the target audience for this service. If I am going to buy something online I am going to continue to sit in that same chair until the dang thing shows up at my door requiring no effort whatsoever on my part. But I really don't like leaving the house anyway.

Why I Write

Things are extremely busy around here. Even so, I try to find time to write as often as possible. I write for myself in a journal, and I also try to keep up this this blog as well as my film blog. To some people it might not make sense why I would even bother. The stuff I write isn't even that good. What is the point? I honestly can't really explain it. I just feel the need. I write a ton of stuff on all sorts of topics that I intend to post on the blog, but I never do. I either don't like what I've written or I convince myself that nobody would ever want to read it. I'm spending time writing for nothing, but I don't even care.

While I am not totally sure why I feel like I have to write, I will try to describe one of the main reasons I do it. When my brain wasn't being actively stimulated I'd feel like I had a ton of thoughts and ideas banging around in my head. I'd constantly be thinking about random stuff. I'd try to go to bed at night but couldn't. My mind was always racing. When you leave your brain free to think about stuff, but don't hold it accountable you can start to trick yourself. That sentence might not have made much sense, so let me try to describe what I mean.

In my head right now I can envision a beautiful painting of a landscape. This is not a place I've ever seen before, or a place that even exists. It is totally a creation of my mind compiled from experiences I've had and places I have seen. It is a beautiful view. Breathtaking. However, if I take a paintbrush and a canvas there is no way I can recreate what my brain sees. That is heartbreaking. That thing only exists inside my head. When we sit down to a blank piece of paper we can envision what we want to draw, but when the lead hits the paper it doesn't look the same. Just because I can see a beautiful paining in my mind, it doesn't make me an artist.

When we think about something in our head we can believe we have a profound, deep understanding of the topic. However, it is just like the landscape. If you can't take those ideas and organize them, they are meaningless. They don't exist. Writing lets me get stuff out of my head. It allows my mind to relax. It helps me to move on. It is probably very similar to the feeling people get when they spill their guts to someone. I don't like talking. I can write things I would have a hard time saying. Writing is a way to keep me sane; a way to keep my mind clear.

When I was in art class in high school we used to find a picture in a magazine and try to draw that exact thing. Sometimes we would even put the paper up to the window so we could trace the size and proportions from the original image. We were new to drawing. It was a way to practice. Thinking about it... what we were doing might not have even been art. Presumably as an artist practices more and more he gets better. Likewise, as I write more and more I hope to get better at taking what is in my mind and putting it on the page. I still do not feel like I am very good, and that is why I keep on doing it.

Still, I post a very small percentage of the things I start writing. I need to suck it up and post everything. If I know somebody else might read it, I have a lot more incentive to do a decent job, and that is the only way I could ever get better. I want to post more stuff on this blog.

This is a little meta... but this very post is the exact example of what I was trying to illustrate. I had something in my head that seemed to make sense, but here I have done a horrible job putting it into words. Now I have to re-read this crap and try to convince myself to post it. I guess we will see what happens.

Good to be home

Over the past couple weeks the Bidwell family has been traveling all over the place. A couple weeks ago we all headed to the airport together. I was getting on a flight to Las Vegas and the girls were flying up to Indiana. I had a quick business trip then I was back home for a couple days. I re-packed and made the 12 hour drive to Indiana solo to be reunited with my family. I spent a few days back on the farm. We had a wedding on Saturday, then we were headed back south on Sunday.

It was tough to enjoy my time in Vegas because I knew my daughter was spending quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and I wasn't there with them. It was also tough when my wife called or texted that Amelia was saying daddy when she was trying to put her to sleep. It also didn't help that it was 40 degrees in Vegas and we were out playing golf. Overall it was a fun trip, but I was ready for it to be over so I could head up north.

This was the first time Amelia has been to Indiana since Christmas. She has grown a ton since then and is showing way more of her personality. I'm so glad my parents got to spend some time with her and see what a smart and fun kid she is. I think she had a great time seeing her cousins too.

On the trip back we decided to break up the drive over 2 days for the first time ever. We usually just knock the 12 hours out at once, but that isn't feasible with a 15 month-old. The break was nice. It worked well. Amelia fell asleep in the car a couple hours before we stopped at the hotel. She woke up when we went up to the room and she was wired. She was squealing and going crazy for a good hour before we could get her to calm down. The crib they gave us looked like a cage and she thought it was so funny to stand in there and shake the bars like a little monkey. She is insane. I hope there wasn't anybody in the room next door. After she settled down she did great for her first stay in a hotel.

Anytime we plan to travel with Amelia I always get worried. I think she is going to be uncomfortable, or she is going to get sick. I worry that she will get out of her routine and be grumpy the entire time. I worried that on the flight she would get scared, or throw a fit on the plane. I worried on the drive back that she would scream in her car seat the entire way. The truth is, we have an amazing little baby girl. She is so good. She did great in the planes, she slept great on the trip (it helped that my mom set her up with a super comfy Winnie The Pooh crib in her room). She was so good in the car on the way home. I need to learn I can stop worrying about her. She is amazing. She got carted around all over the place while we were in Indiana and Amelia just went with the flow and loved meeting and hanging out with everybody.

This week so far has been non-stop. I've been trying to play catch up at work so my days have been busy. Amanda is trying to catch up too, so she has been working in the evenings, which means I get to come home and play with baby. Amelia didn't feel good at all on Tuesday. I think she has allergies, and they hit her when we got back to Arkansas. She also is getting more teeth. She slept a ton and had a 101 degree fever most of the afternoon. She was as good as new the next day and we had fun playing outside. I'm ready for a relaxing weekend. I think we all are.

Vegas has jumped the shark

This past weekend I had the opportunity to be in Las Vegas for work. Most of my time was spent in meetings and playing golf, but I did get out on the strip a little bit. I haven't been to Vegas for several years. I guess I did go last year for work as well, but I was only there for a couple days and I don't think I left the hotel. I didn't actually get the full Vegas experience.

Parts of Las Vegas are cool. Even the miniature Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty have their place in the spectacle of it all. However, a lot of Vegas is lame. Just walk down the strip, you will see. There are parents wrangling kids whilst trying to drink an alcoholic beverage out of a 3 foot tall dog bone shaped cup. This time I saw three quarter sized plastic guitars with straws coming out the top, complete with guitar straps. Sugar and alcohol. It goes down like Kool-Aid. Just like every other vacation spot in the world, Vegas is an over-commercialized tourist trap. But we all still love it.

We stayed at Planet Hollywood. Like most casinos, they have girls up on tables dancing in the pits. Of course overweight drunk men are standing with smart phones recording the action. He probably goes home and saves the video on his computer and it shows up in iTunes right next to his daughters tap recital. Foreshadowing.

There was a slot machine in the casino called "Vampire's Embrace" with Twilight-esque artwork. Are they marketing slots to pre-teen girls now? The second night we were there I saw a dude sitting at the Vampire's Embrace machine and as I got closer I realized he was passed out up against it. I guess he took the "embrace" business literally.

In my short walk down the strip there was a family in front of us with a little boy of maybe 7 years old. As we walked (in the middle of the afternoon) there were dudes every 15 yards trying to hand out the escort cards to everybody. The little boy asked his mother what were on the pieces of paper. She told him they were "pictures of girls without daddies." I'm not sure if that is going to confuse him or not. He'll be back.

Calm before the storm

A totally free afternoon. I'm not sure what that is anymore. It doesn't happen very often. I've got a couple hours to relax and get ready for the next few weeks of insanity. So what do you do when you don't have to do anything? Well, because it is storming out right now I will be watching golf instead of playing it. I mean, it is Masters weekend. I'm also going to knock out a few loads of laundry, clean up the house, write a bit, maybe read, or maybe even watch a movie. I surely won't get all those things in today, but I can try.

One of the biggest changes for me when we had our daughter was one that I wasn't really expecting. Saturday used to be my day to chill out and do pretty much anything I wanted. I could go for a long bike ride, go hit golf balls, or just sit on the couch and drink a ton of coffee. After we had Amelia and my wife went back to work on Saturdays it changed all of that. Now I don't have that "down time" every week that I was used to. I absolutely love Saturdays with my baby girl. It is different when it is just me and her and I really like it. She is so much fun. As she gets older we can start going out and doing more fun things together. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss those Saturdays where I got to sleep in and do whatever I wanted.

I wish it weren't raining today, but I can't complain too much. We had an absolute perfect day yesterday. I got to leave work a little early and I just came home and sat in a reclining chair in the back yard and had a beer. 99% of the time I hate just sitting in the sun. It is boring, hot, and pointless. I can't do it. However, the air felt so nice out yesterday I figured I would try it out. I sat out there for an hour until Amanda got home. I should have used the time to be productive; work on the yard or something. But, I just wanted to sit there and do nothing. Tomorrow is supposed to be equally nice and we are planning a trip to the park after church for a picnic and some Easter egg hunting.

I hope you all have a great Easter. I am going to get busy doing laundry, vacuuming, and dusting. I of course will have golf on in the background. Phil is making a run. Maybe this year will be green jacket number 4.

Happy Palm Sunday

Idon't have anything of extreme interest to write about today, but in the spirit of writing consistently I am going to force some mundanity upon you. It is hard to believe April is here already. March felt like it lasted about a week. We have a crazy April on deck and I am looking forward to it. Things are going to be busy and I'm going to blink and it is going to be May.

We had a good weekend at the Bidwell household. Amelia has been teething like a boss so far in the short but exciting teeth-growing segment of her life. She drools like a mad woman, but that is to be expected. Other than that she has been great. Right now she is getting 6 teeth in at once and it has started to get the best of her generally positive life view. She is moody. She can be perfectly happy one minute and then freaking out the next. She will get frustrated cause she wants something a certain way, then you do that thing that certain way that you think she wanted... then the loses it. There are lots of little fits and tantrums. I suppose we had been spoiled with such a perfect little angel baby up to this point. I wasn't prepared for this new little girl that decided to show up at our house several times a day this past week. Maybe I'm just getting a preview for the rest of my life having a daughter. This is surely a cakewalk compared to the teenage years, but I have 13 more years of having my will broken before I have to deal with that.

Friday night per usual I couldn't fall asleep. I finally got to sleep and an hour later the baby woke me up crying. I rushed in there to find her leg wedged in between her recently exposed crib slats. The bumpers went back up on Saturday. I was a little charged up so it took me a bit to get back to sleep. A couple hours later and one dog was jumping up against the bed wanting outside. Done. Back to sleep. Dog 2 growling at something... wanting outside. Done. Asleep. Couple hours pass. Baby is up for the day at 5:30. Now I just sound like I'm complaining.

Even though I didn't get much sleep we had a lot of fun on Saturday. Amelia and I took a long walk around the neighborhood. We played all sorts of dolls and blocks and ball. We sang and danced and all that fun stuff. By the time Amanda got off of work I was ready for bed. But alas, it was only 2pm and we had lot more stuff to do. We took Amelia to get Easter pictures done with real live bunnies! She is insane for animals right now. She loves everything with 4 legs and fur. We knew she would love getting to touch some bunnies. We were right. She did such a great job. I think there are going to be some awesome pictures.

We did more boring stuff the rest of the day and eventually went to sleep. Today was more of the same. It was an awesome time. Sadly I don't even have any good pictures to share. I'll be sure and post a bunny picture when we get them. For now I'll post a couple older pictures I had lying around.