Category Archives: Confessions

Things about me you probably never wanted or don’t need to know.

Trashing Her Own Plug

Evie threw her plug away today.  Her plug is also known as a pacifier or binky in other names, but either way, Evie put it in the garbage after her afternoon nap as we had told her she was a big girl and it was time to no longer sleep with it.  She had a hard time with things in the evening and even suggested we dig it out of the trash.  Being hygienically oriented, we did not dig it out of the trash.  She got up out of bed several times, but has not cried a whole lot.  She’s mostly wanted comfort for the loss of her friend.

This is a lot like Abby’s haircut, its one of those life events that is small but has some significance.  Evie is no longer a baby, she’s no longer just a toddling little kid, she’s able to do a lot of things and has developed fine motor skills.  Her vocabulary has much more growth left, but she can often communicate just what she is after.  This little girl is moving onto the next stage in life and I’m afraid that means that she’s all but left her baby and toddling ways and is now in process towards becoming an adult.  She’s hurtling through childhood and I think we’re in for a big series of life events – a series that will involve clothes, bikes, school and of course hot dogs and macaroni and cheese 🙂

Abby’s Hair

Abby got her hair cut yesterday.  Not trimmed, but cut.  Her hair has always been long but she came down stairs and asked me, “Daddy, mommy says I have to ask you if I can get my hair cut short.  Can I please?”  And in true non-committal fashion I said, “Let me go upstairs and talk to your mother.”  I went upstairs and conceded.  It is something that I knew would happen, she’s been asking for a while for shorter hair and it was well and good for her to start to assert some of her growing up decision making skills.  So her hair is shorter now, about shoulder length.  I’ve not got a picture yet, but I’ll be taking one soon and I’ll get it up on the interwebs shortly.

As a dad this is kinda cool, kinda scary, and kinda important.   Its cool because it is an opportunity to see my daughter grow up and mature over time.  Her desire to maintain a physical appearance that she’s pleased with is interesting.  She’s not one of those girls who has no will and is apathetic, she’s very opinionated, and her hair and clothes are part of that.  It is scary because she’s growing up.  My baby girls aren’t babies any more.  I have a very mature five and a half year old and a toddler who is showing that she’s wanting to be an independent five year old, too.  Its important that Abby cut her hair because I want her to start understanding about decisions and their short term, medium term and long term impact.  We joked that we couldn’t glue the hair back onto her so she had to make the choice understanding that.

She loves her new hair and has told everyone to look at it that she has seen (vanity? yup. We’re working on taming that, too).  She’s proud of her new look.  Frankly, I’m proud of my little girl.  She’s growing up fast, but I’m glad to see where she’s growing.  Its a blessing to be her dad.

WA, WA, WA, WA!

We’re leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) to go to Washington state.  We’re visiting one half of my in-laws (the mother & step-father-in-law half).  We’re having our second and a half Christmas.  The first was the day after Thanksgiving with Grandpa & Grandma Peer (the other other half of my in-laws), the second was on actual Christmas, and then on Friday I understanding we’re having our other half of Christmas in January.  What fun!

I suspect I shall not be getting a goat for someone else, but I’ll enjoy the time with family.  With luck I’ll also be able to see a friend from long ago, too.  He may be coming up to Portland to see us.  He was an usher in our wedding.  I hope he can make it and we can make it 🙂

Ta-ta for now!

2008 Birthday and Christmas Wishlist: Buy A Farm!

This year for my birthday and Christmas I would like to make a donation to World Vision to have a family, or families, gifted farm animals.  I sure could use some new pants, a new computer and things that I can afford myself on my birthday and at Christmas, but I’d rather open a card that says, “We got someone else a goat for you!”  I can’t milk a goat very fast, but there are plenty of families that could use a goat and would be able to milk it almost as fast as my dad used to be able to milk a cow.  But that’s another story.

You can look into donating animals to families at World Vision’s site here. Work with me this year to gift a farm animal, or partial ownership of a farm animal, to a third world family that could really use the help of an animal.

I Have a Problem

I have a problem: I start things.  The problem isn’t that I start things and don’t finish them, its that I start things.  If I didn’t start things I wouldn’t start them and not finish them.  The problem isn’t in the finishing because I’ve finished lots of things I’ve started.  The problem is that there’s a bottleneck in the starting part.  That’s why my New Years resolution is to finish everything I’ve started to date and NOT start anything else.  This list of things to finish includes the door I’m in process of replacing, waterproofing our grout in the bathrooms, several small programming projects, and a large slew of other things I’ve really, really got to finish.

There it is.  What’s yours?

The Conclusion of This Year’s New Years Resolution: FAIL

I did not record an album this year.  I did not even record it after my birthday, but still in 2007.  This year saw lots of other things take priority.  However, there are lots of things left to do in 2007 before 2008 kicks off and I have to declare another resolution which I will probably fail at.

This year I did lose 30 pounds.  That’s a good place to start.

This year I did make my family a higher priority.

This year I kissed Jessica approximately five bazillion times… which is still far short of my lifetime achievement goal of infinity.

This year I watched Abby and Evie do some firsts like school, potty training (which is going well for the most part), and of course taking them both sledding together for the first time.  I have no proof of the sledding, but cameras and water are often enemies.  Or at least my camera doesn’t like water.  I know, because I asked it.

This year has been a good year – but its time for me to go to bed for the last time in 2007 so that I can work the last day of 2007 tomorrow and then kick of new years by sleeping in or something.

Thankful Thursday: Christmas Time

I loves me some Christmas time.  Once I get past the fear of having purchased the worst possible gift for Jessica I enjoy the time.  I have a psychological disorder that probably has a name but I don’t know it, so I’ll call it GivingJessicaTheWrongPresentPhobia.  I am always afraid she’ll open up the present and say, “You got me this?!  I hate this!  It is the worst present ever given on a holiday other than the time that you didn’t ask me out on Valentines day.”  This fear is not a legitimate fear, but the part of my man-brain that second guesses every thing I do in regards to Jessica works over time there and is always on vacation when I say something that causes an argument.

We had a great time with family and even got to video chat with some family in other parts of the country.  I loves me some Skype, too!  I was able to get a mere 5 hours of sleep or so the night of Christmas Eve, but that was OK, too.  We had an enjoyable Christmas eve service at church as well.  You can listen to the recording of the MP3 here.

I am thankful for my family yet again, and I’m also thankful for the thoughtful gifts that I received – I hope nobody else has GivingRandyTheWrongPresentPhobia 😉

Friday Grab Bag ‘O’ Stuff

This last week has been quite a week.  Its been a week where I have had ups, downs, sideways, diagonals, and hobbitses.  This week they announced that there will be two new J.R.R. Tolkien based films.  Peter Jackson will be producing, but not directing.

I got to do help participate in the potty training of Evie.  Which is going.

I got to give some feedback to a client that I felt needed to be stated, even if it wasn’t popular.

I got to go to the doctor regarding my parasite.  The doctor didn’t quite believe I have a parasite even though I have the lab results to show that I did, in the past, have a parasite – maybe its gone now.  I’m skeptical.

I got to hug and kiss my wife and tell her that I love her.  That’s important and good to do.

I got to hug and kiss my girls and tell them that I love them.  That’s also important and good to do.

Lots of other stuff happened.

Merry Christmas a few days early – which I’ll repeat on the actual day of celebration.