Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Letty Bean!

Hello world, meet Charlotte Rose, or "Letty Bean" as I have taken to calling her:


Yay!  Letty Bean arrived late in the night in late December, in time for Christmas.  Mandi was a trooper.  Around 6 hours of labor, with only the last hour being described by Mandi as "a little rough".  Pushing for less than 15 minutes and then a new person was here :)  The whole experience, without an epidural or any meds, was described by my tough-as-nails wife as being "Too easy".  Mom and baby are doing well.  Bean is a great eater, and a prodigious pooper as the best babies are.

Forrest is making the adjustment well.  He's an exemplary big brother.  He quiets down when he needs to be quiet, and is very gentle.  He's definitely not a fan of less attention, but he's toughing through it.



We also managed to have some great Christmas time fun. Forrest got a new trampoline, and a ton of other fun things.  As I am sure everyone understands, things are busy so today's post will be short.  Enjoy!






Happy New Year!

Friday, December 18, 2015

Holiday Fun

As we near the end of 2015 I have found myself with some more fun pictures and vacation time.  The flexible nature of my position lets me arrange my days as such that often times I don't need to use vacation days to get time off.  This blessing leads to extra days at the end of the year where I get to do a little more relaxing.  This has been especially fun as it has given me some mornings and afternoons with Forrest.  Generally, Mandi takes care of the shuttling of the little man back and forth to school.  Sometimes you never really understand what you're missing until you experience the joy of a thing:



When we drop him off at school John, the gentleman who runs the school greets each student, helps them out of the car, and sends them on their way.  The kids then walk on their own around the back of the school and to the door.  Watching Forrest take this walk is fun in the most melancholy of ways.  But before we know it he's back in the afternoon, and this is when the fun begins.


Forrest loves to build.  In this picture we had begun building "houses" (as he calls them) from some Jenga blocks.  The actual game of Jenga is only fun for Forrest for the first... oh... 5 minutes.  After that though, we had quite a long bit of entertainment from stacking the blocks and building a house.  This one he built all on his own, arranging the blocks to support each other.  I was struck by the resemblance to Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater".  Forrest thought so too.


I promise this picture isn't as ominous as it appears, though it is as tall as it appears.  One of the father-son activities we enjoy is an afternoon trip to Monkey Joes.  This place is awesome for helping the little man get out some pent up energy.  By the end he was going down even the biggest slides on his own.


On the quieter afternoons we will poke around with some crafts, including building a Play-Dough snowman that Forrest received as a gift from his teachers at the Montessori school.


On one of our weekend nights we decided to get the whole gang together for some bowling at Uncle Buck's (Bass Pro Shop).  It was crowded, and crazy... but a good time.  LMC managed to win the day with an amazing performance... 5 strikes I think.  At least 4 and three of them in a row.  None of us could compete!  We fled the scene for dinner though, it was too crowded.  River1000 offered us all we could eat in Asian food buffet and Sushi.  That place has definitely improved.


Last but not least was the annual UnityPoint Holiday Party.  A big thank you to both UnityPoint for hosting, as well as to Gigi and Poppy for taking care of Forrest for the weekend.  Mandi and I enjoyed our date weekend :)  Friday night we got all dolled up for the party, with a trip to Monticello and Champaign on Saturday.  We got to enjoy all of our favorite places to eat, see family, and enjoy adult conversation without interruption.  No doubt Forrest is a blast to have around, but sometimes a break from the 3 year old is just what the doctor ordered.



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

December 2015

December is here and the snow is falling.  November seems to have flown by.  If there can be said to be a downside to this job it is that time seems to go by too fast.  I believe that my ever changing schedule and irregular hours prevent me from getting into a routine that slows me down.  Anyway, on to a recap of events and of course, some pictures.



Occasionally Mandi gets a day off.  She's the hardest working lady I know, and her job is almost 24/7.  When I am off, I encourage her to take some personal time... time away from the house, from me, and from her motherly duties.  Its hard for her, I know.  Forrest is her absolute favorite (I'll settle for second fiddle, he is cuter than me after all) and leaving him behind is tough.  But its also an important mental health check :P  Her time away generally involves time with her sister, or bebopping around town.  This means the little man and I get some Daddy/son time.  Its always a little awkward.  My ways are not mommy's ways.  So I try to keep us on the move.  This past Saturday that meant meeting up with Great Grandma at the mall :)  Forrest enjoyed riding the "escayator" and a "Bob the Builder" ride.  


I'm going to take a brief moment to brag on my son.  He's funny, he's cute, and he's smart.  He also thinks about others, a lot.  He's thoughtful of his mother, other children at school, and of course Gigi. If I could be said to have one concern it is his picky eating.   This kiddo is terrible at trying out new foods.  In his defense, he comes by this difficulty from me, and I came by it from my mother.  Hes the latest in a long line of picky eaters.  I now know, intimately, the struggle my father and mother had with me.  I fear for his nutrition.  He likes to eat: cookies, ice cream, donuts, strawberries, and bread in that order.  That about covers it.  Mandi and I have read the books, the blogs, and talked to his pediatrician.  I have done the research myself, and scoured medical journals.  None of the advice has worked, and the best we can do is give him vitamins as we can, and hope that he gets enough protein.  Well... pictured above is a little bit of victory.  This is Forrest after devouring a piece of french toast... which as you likely know is covered in egg!  GOTCHA LITTLE MAN!  Heh Heh.  He not only ate it, but he wanted seconds.  It took powdered sugar to do it, but hey, protein is protein.  He also tried and tolerated beef toasted ravioli, which while not a great food, at least has beef.  We will keep working, and from my own experience I know his diet will expand with time.  But at least we have a way to get some eggs into the boy :)


Thanks to one of my staff members at work, I came into 4 free tickets to a Rivermen game.  It was decent hockey with 2 fights (Peoria came out on top for both).  Almost won a free biscuit.  Noah, Helton, and Wes tagged along.  Good times had by all.


And finally, a little Christmas spirit.  Those of you who know me know that I don't care for Christmas.  I traveled quite a bit as a teenager (often going to Florida for the holiday), and because my parents are split the Christmas tradition was always a little haphazard.  I have very fond memories of the Holidays to be sure, and my Mom and Dad always did a great job.  But it wasn't the idyllic tradition I think my wife had.  As well, I don't particularly care for the pagan symbolism, commercialism, and materialism that comes with it.  The music is nice, but the bottom line is that Jesus was probably born in the spring.  And kneeling before a pagan symbol (a burning tree at Beltine) and exchanging material gifts is not something I think Christ would approve of.  The whole thing is just backwards.  Family, Yukon Cornelius, giving, love, etc... those things are great, of course.  But it just rubs me the wrong way.

BUT, I lose on this argument.  My wife wants a tree, so we have a tree.  And if its going to be there, I am certainly going to enjoy a glass of Malbec in my Laz-E-boy chair and bask in the glow.  Merry Christmas, and bah humbug.