Another Crazy Weekend

This weekend was supposed to be my resting weekend. The weekend that made up for all the busy weekends we keep having. I did get quite a bit more sleep this time, but we still managed to pack a lot of stuff in.

We got up early to take my car in to replace a defective tire. This tire apparently was bad the day I bought my car, but my wife didn't tell me she saw a bubble in the side wall of the tire. 3 months later I notice the problem and the dealer, Cars 101 in Oxnard, won't step up. Never buy a car from them. This is only the latest in a series of hassles they heaped upon us. While I was getting my tire done, I thought it was time to try changing the air in my tires to Nitrogen. More on that later.

The tires were supposed to take about an hour, so we walked down the street to the Bed, Bath & Beyond, the Payless Shoes, and Target. We ended up picking something up from all three places. This made quite the trip when my son didn't want to make the walk back. Carrying him, some sodas, shoes, and whatever else we got turned out to be a bigger chore than we had hoped. The car was ready on time though, so we were pretty happy with that.

Next stop was supposed to be home, but it didn't work out. My wife reminded me of the Salsa Festival that was going on this weekend. I love spicy food, so this festival sounded pretty good to me. We ended up spending a couple hours there. I had a lot of fun. Learn more at Surfer J's Grub & Stuff: Oxnard Salsa Festival.

We ended up finally relaxing at around 4:30 last night. My wife had plans with my buddy's wife for lunch today, so I ended up watching the boy for a couple of hours. He still prefers Mommy, so this is sometimes easier said than done. He behaved very well today though. He threw one fit when Mommy left, and cried for about 15 minutes. After that, all was good. He ate most of his lunch, played well, and didn't throw any tantrums. I was pleased with how the day went.

My wife and son went down for a nap, so I am finally able to update my blogs. I had a really good weekend so far. I can't wait to go to the Salsa Festival again next year.

My Crazy Weekend

I think I have finally recovered enough from my weekend to talk about it. Things picked up speed pretty quickly and only just slowed down. Friday night I saw The Dark Knight. I posted a review on Surfer J's Reviews. This was such an intense movie. I could say more about it here, but this is gonna get long enough as it is. Check out my review (The Dark Knight ). This was only the beginning.

I had been planning my wife's surprise party for over a month. Saturday was the big day, almost exactly a month later than the actual event. She turned 30, so this needed to be a pretty good party. It is almost impossible to surprise my wife. Even when I manage to pull it off, she somehow guesses at the last minute. This is so consistent that I have to try extra hard each time to come up with something that she won't possibly guess. This meant I couldn't buy any supplies until the day of. I had a three hour window to pull it all together. My wife's close friends came over to serve as decoys, and one of them brought her husband with her. He had to get out at the Subway restaurant across the street from my house so my wife wouldn't see him. We had everything planned to the last detail. :)

My son decided it was time to throw an "I need a nap" tantrum seconds before our friend arrives to help. I was cleaning all morning. My wife commented on this to her friends when they arrived, but she still didn't catch on. She told them, "He even vacuumed." I don't vacuum. My wife is a Stay At Home Mom, so she usually has all the vacuuming done before I get home. This was the first time I turned on the vacuum. It feels really weird to say that. Moving on, she didn't know why I was cleaning all morning. I cleaned a little more when our friend arrived, and put him to work. A little cleaning and then babysitting a sleeping toddler were his duties. I had to run to Costco to get the cake.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Costco cake. You go in, with at least 24 hours notice, fill out a sheet of paper and drop it in the slot. You then have faith that the cake will be ready at the time you indicated. My wife loves carrot cake, so I ordered a carrot cake. This cake is HUGE. $18.99 gets you a cake big enough to feed 48 people (in small pieces. A little less with bigger pieces). It came in at half the price the local bakery was going to charge me. The cake was worth it. I am still eating it.

So, cake in hand, it is time to get some more supplies from the grocery store. I ran into one of my friends at the grocery store. He had been buying flowers for my wife. I sent him to the Dollar Tree to pick up balloons and crate paper so we can decorate. He improvised and bought a birthday table cloth (paper). It turned out to be something we needed. We met back at my house, and had 30 minutes until my wife and her friends were due.

The boy woke up during the babysitting. He had already been upset that Mommy went somewhere, so I figured he might not like waking up to find out he was being babysat by a virtual stranger. They haven't seen each other in a long time. I knew how to get around this though. As I left I told our friend that if he wakes up, just turn on Star Wars. It worked like a charm. My son was very pleasant when I got back home. He had his Darth Vader fix.

I found out that my charcoal was a little wet, so I needed to babysit the coals for a bit. This left my friends to finish decorating without me. I got the coals lit, and only needed to re-light them twice.

I grilled up a tri-tip, using a great Guinness Tri-Tip Marinade recipe. My wife came up with the basics, and I made my own version of it for her party. We made some fresh salsa and guacamole, deep fried some flour tortillas to use as chips, and made tacos out of the tri-tip.

My friend bought some noisemakers and distributed them. My wife's friend kept us updated through subtle text messages and seemingly random phone calls to her husband. My son loved the noisemakers, and almost gave the surprise away. He was blowing the "horn" as she was walking up. We got him to quiet down and sent him to open the door. This is not uncommon, so when we shouted surprise and blew the noisemakers, she was taken aback. The surprise worked. She had no clue that we had all conspired to throw the party.

The food and company were great. We had a lot of fun.

Our weekend took a more serious turn with news of an impending divorce among a couple of our friends. This put a dark cloud on the rest of the weekend, and needless to stay it is still hanging around.

We went to the 3rd Annual Pirate Festival in Ventura on Sunday afternoon. My son was in a weird mood, so we didn't stay long. He loves pirates, boats, water, and parrots. He got to see all of it. We watched a guy swallow a sword, walked around a bit, and finally left. There were tons of people around but not much to do. It was still worth checking out, so I am glad we did.

All in all, the weekend provided an intense emotional roller-coaster. Batman is pretty intense. The birthday party brought us up pretty high, and the news from our friends sent us plunging pretty low. We are hoping to plateau for a while. We need to recover a bit.

Exhausting Day

My son won't stop getting up at 5:30 a.m. What in the world can possibly wake a kid up at 5:30 a.m.? This is Saturday kiddo, let Mommy and Daddy sleep! But no, it is time to get up. Mommy takes first shift and Daddy takes over at 6. Funnily enough, yesterday I wrote a review on my other blog about one of his toys, the Busy Ball Popper. and guess what Daddy was playing with this morning? That's right, the Busy Ball Popper. You can Read The Review Here.

I caught a bit of a nap this morning when he asked to watch Darth, otherwise known as Star Wars. He made it through Empire while I was sleeping, and mostly through A New Hope. This kid is vying for my record of most times watched. I think he has a long road ahead though. :)

Finally he want down for a nap, and peace was restored to our household. The peace was short lived though, as his nap was over quickly. I bought my wife some time by wrestling with him for bit. He is getting stronger each day I think. He definitely can hold his own for a toddler.

We went to a new park today. New to us that is. This one was not designed for parental supervision the way the other ones have been. This meant that Daddy had to contort his body in weird ways to make it into some of the slides. I am not a small man, and this took some doing. We had a lot of fun at the park. The slides were slicker than the ones we are used to, so even I got some speed going down them.

After the park was what is turning into a nightly walk around the neighborhood. He peddles his tricycle while I push it, and my wife just walks along. The weather has been great for walking lately.

After an early dinner and a bath, it sounds like my son is winding down for the day. He will fight bed time again I am sure, but my wife has been getting better at putting him down for the night. I did it for a long time, as only my singing would work for him. Now it seems the playing field is a little more level. She has put him to bed more than me for the last several weeks.

It has been a long day, but bed time is still far away. Blogging, commenting where I can, and doing my Entrecard drops takes a lot of time lately. Hopefully I can get some unsolicited traffic soon. :)

My Son - Loads of Fun

My son had quite the day today. He finally slept in past 5:30 am for the first time since Wednesday. He still woke up before I left the house, so he got ready with Daddy. This involved putting deodorant on, "shaving", and putting gel in his hair for spiking. Daddy is in sore need of a haircut, and hasn't used the gel for a few weeks. This is still the routine though, according to my son, so he got gel.

While I was at work he pulled all the Star Wars DVDs off the bookshelf where we keep our movie collection. He was searching for the box with Darth Vader. He had a 4 in 6 chance of finding one, so sure enough he did. He made my wife put on The Empire Strikes Back for the 5th time this week. He loves that movie, but Mommy is growing weary of it. Too bad he is too spent to watch it by the time I get home.

He is very interested in all things Darth Vader. Varying between "Star Wars" and "Darth", he repeats these words over and over, much to my wife's dismay. Daddy thinks it is great. :)

Tonight after dinner Daddy and son got to wrestle a bit. He is getting interested in rough-housing, so Daddy has volunteered for the job. We both love every minute of it. My son can take quite the wrestling match. Some other kids I know would be crying on the first contact. I won't mention names here, but there are quite a few of them. ;). I am hopefully training my son to be tough when he needs to be, and yet be tender when he needs to be as well. He is too young for me to really teach these lessons, but I am toning things down so he can understand what I am teaching. As he gets older, the wrestling will get more fun. :)

Daddy had something to do tonight, and Mommy was tired, so Daddy made a deal when it was time to come inside. Daddy promised if he was good and came inside nicely, then when Daddy was ready we could go outside again and he could ride his trike. While Daddy was occupied, Mommy, not knowing the deal was made, tried to put him into his pajamas. He firmly told her "Daddy said play!" I am taking her word for it here, but she swears he said it really clearly. He was right. Daddy had made a promise, and my wife waited until I could take him outside.

The weather was really nice outside, so I asked my wife to join us on our walk. My son has a nifty tricycle that was designed for pre-tricycle-ready kids. This means it has a long handle that Daddy can use to push and steer while the boy learns how to peddle. We took a nice long walk around the block, and my son actually went inside without a fight. I was pretty happy about that, since he tends to throw fits when it is time to go inside.

All in all, my son was very well behaved today. He listened fairly well, wrestled, watched Star Wars, rode his tricycle, went to the park with Mommy, and went to bed relatively on time. Tomorrow should be even busier with Daddy home all day. I am looking forward to it.

Newest Star Wars Geek

My son has officially joined the ranks of Star Wars geeks out there. No doubt his daddy is to blame. :) The other day he started singing the first few lines of the Imperial March, also known as Vader's theme music. This kid has not put two notes together his whole life, and comes out singing the Imperial March. Daddy was proud.

He can identify Star Wars merchandise on sight now. All my books and toys fascinate him. "Star, Star..." is a constant sentence in this house. Sometimes he goes all the way and says "Star Wars". Other times he says, "Darth". He LOVES Darth Vader. Maybe it has something to do with Daddy telling him, "I am your Father. Search your feelings. You know it to be true" while he was in the womb.

Either way, a Star Wars nerd he is becoming. Daddy is pretty stoked. How bad would it be if one of my kids didn't like Star Wars. That would be a shame. lol. Of course in reality it wouldn't affect my love for him if he didn't like it, but I am happy for the bond we are forming.

Tonight as my wife was putting him to bed he began singing the Imperial March again. Music to Daddy's ears. Now if only I can get him to sit through an entire movie. Two year old kids aren't exactly known for their attention span. The time is coming though. He has been making it further and further into Return of the Jedi.

When R2-D2 launches Luke's lightsaber into the air while Luke does a flip off of the plank he is walking, there is always a cheer of joy. He loves that scene. Any scene with Vader, Chewbacca, or R2-D2 is bound to catch his attention. He is picking out his favorites.

I am looking forward to my future lightsaber battles with him. Only then will he be truly initiated. For now, Darth Tater (Mr. Potato Head) and the Spud Trooper are his pals. Chewbacca and various other Vader toys are rapidly climbing his favorite toy list too. Daddy couldn't be more proud. :)

4th of July Fun

I went to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to watch the fireworks show on the 4th. I didn't actually go to the bowl itself, but to the hills overlooking the bowl, so we could watch the fireworks without dealing with all the crowds and mayhem below.

As you can see in the above pictures, it was a bit hazy for most of the afternoon. Having not seen the Santa Barbara/Goleta fire's smoke in Ventura or Malibu, I figured the smoke was moving inland, and channeling through the hills toward LA.

If you look in the pic above you may see the mass of vehicles near the Rose Bowl. I hate getting stuck in traffic like that, as it takes 30 minutes just to leave the lot. I really enjoy being above the fray, so to speak. I also enjoy watching fireworks without laying down or craning my neck to see.

My uncle has lived in the hills above the Rose Bowl for 6 years now, and we have watched the fireworks from his house for at least 4 of them. We head out to Pasadena to enjoy a nice afternoon of food and swimming. He always has a lot of great food.

My son got the most enjoyment out of the pool this time. He can't swim yet, but he wants to. He LOVES water. I have been holding him afloat on his stomach lately, and encouraging him to paddle and kick. He usually does, but he added a new trick this time. He started doing a breaststroke. His whole chest and head were coming up out of the water in regular intervals, mimicking a breaststroke almost perfectly. He didn't get his head in the water at all, but he was definitely accomplishing something with his strokes. Later he decided to brave getting his face wet. We encouraged him to put his head under water, mostly by example. He got excited and dipped his face in the water like Daddy did. This was encouraged by lots of applause, so he kept going. I think he will be swimming before he is 3.

The fireworks show was pretty cool. I had heard on the radio earlier in the week that the last minute of the show was going to have 2/3 of the fireworks in it. They narrowed it even further to say something like 1,400 explosions would happen in the final 40 seconds. I was looking forward to this.

Each year they add something new to the fireworks arsenal. A few years back it was those happy faces. This year there were a couple new ones. They made what looked like the planet Saturn. The addition I liked the most reminded me of the video game Centipede. A series of lights snaked up and settled in line with the previous one. It is harder to describe it than it is to appreciate it.

As you can see in one of the pictures, we were watching all the fireworks at eye level. No craning our necks. No laying uncomfortably in the grass. This was my kind of show. We had a lot of fun, and can't wait for next year.

Today's Ultrasound - 22 Weeks

We went to get an ultrasound done for boy #2 today. Let me tell you that real insurance is better than being on Medi-Cal any day. I wish that all doctors and nurses treated all patients the same, but having been on the losing end of that political game, it is nice being on the other side this time around.

We confirmed that it is indeed a boy. I wanted to be sure that the battle of the names is worthwhile, since we already know what we would name a daughter. We would be happy with either a boy or girl, but we are pretty stoked that he's a boy.

Not much else to say about this, other than the tech thought he looked good. He seems to be developing right on schedule, so we are happy about that.

Parks and Big Doggies

My two year old son is fearless. Nothing seems to phase him. This is the park we went to tonight. He is a pro at the kiddie park, so this is the upgrade. Sometimes he slides alone, sometimes with Daddy, but he always has a blast.

Mommy needed a break tonight, since he was being so clingy with her all day. Daddy took him to the park to give Mommy that break. While we were there a man walked up with a fluffy white Standard Poodle. He turned out to be pretty cool. He stopped to let my son play with the dog, and we started talking.

The guy was older, but not too old. His son is only 10 years older than I am, or 8 years older than my wife. ;) We talked about politics, society, Ventura/Oxnard in general, and more. He was pretty interesting and we agreed on quite a bit. He was impressed that someone as young as I was (he assumed I am younger than I am) was just as annoyed at the downgrading of society as he was.

While the man and I talked, my son had a lot of fun with the dog. Standard Poodles are pretty rowdy when they want to be, so she enjoyed being chased by my son. For those of you who don't know, Standard Poodles are full-sized dogs. They are almost waist high, which makes them barely qualify as a man's dog. This man admitted as much, but she turned out to be a pretty good dog. I told him as long as the dog was big it was all good.

It turned out that this would be one of the smaller dogs we saw tonight. There were a couple of big ones, one looked like a Chow/Husky mix, but I am not sure. He enjoyed them all, though the Poodle is the only one he really played with.

It started getting dark, so I told my son it was time to go home. He didn't gripe as much as normal. It seems that I tired him out just enough. I had a lot of fun. Hopefully I will see that man and his dog the next time we go to the park. My son would sure enjoy it.

Farting For Fun

There were so many titles that this could have gone under, so I tried to choose a relatively tasteful one. My son has decided that farts are funny. He decided this a while back, but yesterday he decided again with gusto.

We were on the way to Disneyland after work yesterday, and I hear him call from the back seat, "Mamma, Mamma." There was a great sense of urgency in his voice. The second she turned around he let one go. He had been saving it just to make sure Mommy noticed. This was followed by a fit of laughter, and then he did it again.

This continued for several minutes. He kept clenching, trying to do it again. He succeeded several times, laughing all the while. I think I laughed harder than my wife on this one, thus we all fit our gender roles on the issue. For better or worse, farts sound funny to boys. I think this is definitely an indicator of what is to come. Aren't little boys great? I can't wait to see how long it takes boy #1 to teach boy #2 how to achieve this bit of humor.

Big Brother - The Competition Begins

My son typically is very good with children. He loves being around other kids. As you can see in my post "Big Brother In Training", he was once pretty excited about his new little brother. Lately something has changed in him. It seems he put two and two together, and now thinks that his new little brother is competition for mommy's affection.

"Mommy can't pick you up right now, she is carrying your little brother" may have been the sentence that started the trouble. Daddy made this mistake at Disneyland last week. There was a time that when we asked, "Where is Mommy's baby?", he would smile and point to my wife's stomach. Now he ignores the question altogether. He snubbed some kids at Disneyland, something he usually does not do.

We came up with a way to get him excited about the baby, and it seems to be working so far. We have an electronic heart monitor that we used when my son was in the womb. It is a simple battery-powered amplifier with headphones that enables us to listen to the baby's heart. We know he loves electronics, so my wife came up with the idea that he would want to listen to the baby's heart beat.

I think she did it once without me, but last night we did it again. We had him listen to the baby's heart, then Mommy's and Daddy's and his own. He got quite a kick out of it. We added it to his bedtime routine, though only the baby's heart was featured tonight.

Hopefully we can continue exciting him about the baby. I think everything will be fine.He is a very loving boy. Our job is to make sure he doesn't feel neglected when the new baby arrives. I think Daddy is about to rise to the top of his favorite people list. :)

Community Pool

If someone asks you if you want to go to a community pool, what comes to mind? I think of some dirty pool that is full of people with un-potty-trained kids swimming and adding things to the water that I don't want to swim in. My only community pool experience was one in Bakersfield a few years ago. When my wife asked me to take her and my son to the Ventura community pool, I was reluctant. My reluctance turned out to be unwarranted. The Ventura Community Park is nothing like I expected.

"The Ventura Community Park opened its doors in October of 2005 to great fanfare. The park features various three large sports fields, a 1.4-mile paved trail and a state of the art aquatics facility with two 25-foot water slides, a recreation pool, competition pool and a water playground for children. This initial phase of construction only built out 25 of the parks 100 acres."
See Official Website

As you can see from the pics, this place is a mini water park. There are water slides and a variety of ways to get water dumped on your head. I was very pleasantly surprised. You can do so many things, including using their two full size water slides, for only $5 per person. My son was free because he is young enough. For $10 we had a blast.

Once my son got used to the idea of water being splashed in his face he got pretty excited. He wanted to venture out further and further from us, though we made sure he didn't get away from us. He used the kid-sized water slide and loved it. My son loves water at least as much as I do, so this place was pretty exciting for him.

My wife and I decided this was a pretty cool place to go, so we are looking at the discount pricing rates for multiple visits. We can save $40 initially and get 12 trips each. It is not a bad price considering what it would cost to go to a full sized water park.

If you live in the Ventura area I recommend giving the Community Park a chance. I think you will be glad you did. I know I am.

Beach Day

This morning my wife packed up some snacks, gathered the beach chairs and umbrella, and dragged us all to the beach. I say dragged somewhat facetiously, as I love going to the beach. It has been a long time since I have spent a family day at the beach and not a surfing trip or a quick walk to the park that is on the beach near my house.

My son LOVES the water. With the weather heating up, the water wasn't as painfully numbing as it was the last few times we went. It didn't take long to get used to the water. There were a lot of surfers there today, so next time I think will bring my board. I assumed it was too close to the shore, but the waves today proved me wrong.

My wife surprised me today and actually got in the water. The woman who has sworn never to get in the ocean got in today. She didn't go far, but it was progress. A few big waves hit her and she was back out. Eventually I will get her to swim instead of wade. Maybe there is boogie boarding in her future.

I had a lot of fun playing in the water. I love everything about the beach except for the flies. I got to swim a bit, made sure the waves didn't knock my son down, and just sat and watched the waves too. I showed my wife and son how to catch a sand crab, but I was the only one to get one. My wife didn't want to touch a crab, and my son is too young to follow the direction. For those of you who haven't tried, it is as simple as scooping sand in your hand right after a wave heads back to sea.

If this first weekend of summer is any indication, we will be spending lots of time at the beach. I am pretty stoked to live so close to the water.

Orange County Fun

My wife's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, so I took Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate. The last couple years we have gone to see a show in Hollywood. First Les Miserables, and then Wicked. This year Wicked is still on stage, and I hadn't intended to set a precedent by going two years in a row to the Pantages.

This year I had to do something different. I decided to take her to Medieval Times. She is pretty hard to surprise, so I couldn't order the tickets until Saturday night. She had told me months ago that she wanted to go, so I figured enough time had passed to pull off the surprise.

When we lived right down the street from my parents it was a lot easier to pull of a surprise of this nature. Living a couple hours away now, I have to coordinate babysitting needs with my parents. When they arrived for the golf tournament Saturday they were prepared to take him home. I hadn't anticipated my parents babysitting my son the weekend prior, so it was a little hard to give him up again so soon. I knew it would be only for a day though, so that helped.

We went to Medieval Times, and the hotel I picked happened to be right across the street. That was a fortunate turn of events. We were able to walk and didn't have to worry about the parking situation. We stayed at a Marriott Courtyard, and that was an experience in and of itself. The show was pretty good, and the food was great. The only downside was when a horse kicked up a mixture of sand and manure during the joust, and it landed in our drinks. I would suggest covering your cups during the joust if you are sitting in the front row.

Since we were in Orange County already, I figured Disneyland would be a great place to pick up my son. Disneyland is roughly the same distance from my house as it is from my parents' house. It is slightly further than halfway between our houses, but it still works as a meeting spot. My son loves Disneyland, as do I. He had just been there the week before when he stayed with my parents, so it was fresh on his mind.

The only problem with the day was the unexpected heat. I wore jeans and my vans. Big mistake. Next trip to Disneyland I will be in shorts and flip-flops. I don't care if it is cold. I hate being hot. I have gotten so used to living and working near the beach that the heat gets to me faster than it used to. One would think I hadn't grown up near Palm Springs.

All in all we had a pretty good time. We got some alone time, got to see a good show, and were able to use our season passes at Disneyland before the July blackout.

Father's Day

This Father's Day was a very pleasant one. The day before I had played a round of golf with my dad, grandpa, and uncle. My parents spent that night with us as well as the next day. After church we went back to my place for a barbecue.

My wife had prepared a rub for the tri-tip and it was sitting in it from Saturday morning on. We were going to make tacos of the steak, so the rub consisted of Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Chili Powder, Garlic Powder, and Salt. This was the longest we left a rub on, and it was well worth it. The steak came out really well. We fried up some flower tortillas in my deep fryer. There is nothing like fried flower tortilla chips. Add some guacamole and fresh salsa, and we were good to go. That lunch went particularly well. I really enjoyed spending time with both my parents.

This year I got the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance video game for my PSP, and the Mummy 3-pack on DVD. Both of these were on my wish list on Amazon.com, so I was pretty stoked.

Father's Day provided a great opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a father. You can see my thoughts on the matter in the post "Fatherhood". Everyday my son reminds me of how happy I am to be a father.

Father's Day Golf

Last Saturday I was able to play a round of golf with my dad, my grandpa, and my uncle. This was a golf tournament, so we didn't compete against each other, but worked as a team. We did fairly well, but I would have enjoyed the game regardless.

We had to play the best ball on each stroke, and we all seemed to contribute about the same level of skill - some of us playing better than normal, and others worse. I was one of the ones playing better. I actually managed to hit the ball straight more often than not, and didn't miss the ball too often. The rule that was harder to follow was that we all had to contribute the driving ball three times. This meant using a ball that was not the best lie for the sake of fulfilling the rule of three.

All in all we had a pretty good day. We ended up with 9 over par, which is my best score to date. I was pleased with the result. I had a great time with my family, all of us celebrating Father's Day a little early. Only two of us didn't have our sons with us, but hopefully we get this opportunity again when the boys are old enough.

Fatherhood

I have been thinking a lot about relationships lately, specifically family relationships. Now that my second child is due to be born this year I find my family in a state of expansion. I think about the day to day activities of my son, and look forward to similar experiences with my second son. I have wondered how many of the things my son does are also things I did at his age. Did I throw the same tantrums? Did I do the same cute things? Was I so full of unquestioning love? From what I gather from my parents there are indeed similarities.

As I look at my son through a father's eyes, I think back to my own relationship with my dad. I remember being so proud to be his son. I remember riding in the child seat attached to his bicycle. I remember being held on his shoulders from time to time. I remember him being capable of solving any problem that was thrown at him, whether mechanical, spiritual, automotive, or technical. I remember the love he had/has for my mother and my brother and sisters and myself. I wonder if my son will remember the same things about me.

I remember my dad's old guitar quite well. So well in fact that it now sits in my own home. I wonder how he had the time to play music at all with five children running around. My one son is more than a handful sometimes.

I was thinking about my transition from son to father the other day, especially with Father's Day around the corner. I wondered what it felt like for my dad when I grew up. One day he has a house full of children and the next we are all grown. How does he see me now? Does he still see the same little boy that I see everyday when I look at my own son? What must it be like to not have that same connection?

This is a question I know I will have the answer to all too soon. My little boy is growing up. He is only two right now, but these two years have gone by so quickly. I know my time with him is short. I hope to be able to teach him the things my dad taught me. I hope to teach him to be a man after his grandfather's heart - a man after his great-grandfather's heart. A man with a heart constantly reaching out to God for strength, guidance, and sustenance.

What a privilege it is to be a father - a daddy. What an amazing opportunity and responsibility. It is an incredible thing to teach a young boy the things he needs to know. I hope that I can be the example he needs me to be. I hope he will choose to learn from me the things I want him to know. It is a hard thing to be at the mercy of one's own child. I want so many good things for him, yet I know that he has to reach out and take these good things himself. He has just as much power to reject the good things I want for him. This is a terrifying prospect sometimes.

I know the day is coming when I have to trust my son(s) to the same (if not greater) extent that I expect my own dad to trust me. I know that we will not always see things eye to eye. I certainly have disagreements with my dad, and I am sure he had disagreements with his dad. I do hope that the relationship I have with my own dad will prove to be a framework for the relationship with my children.

I get to spend part of this Father's Day weekend with my dad, grandpa, and uncle. We are playing in a golf tournament on Saturday. This should be fun. We get to play at the Country Club in Malibu. I wish my dad's father was still around to join us. I think of him often as I muse about fatherhood.

I am proud of the legacy my grandfather passed on to me, both directly and indirectly. I hope my sons continue to improve upon the legacy and pass it on to their sons (and daughters if they have them). I am grateful to be a son to a wonderful father. I am grateful to be a father to my son and my as-yet unborn son. I have been truly blessed.

Ultrasound Results

Coinciding with my post Baby Number 2 - 19th Week, I put up a poll to see what everybody thought the new baby's gender would be. 5 votes later we had 3 for girl and 2 for boy. I didn't expect a huge turnout for the poll, given the short notice, but at least there was a small sample represented. We went to the doctor today for the ultrasound, and now we know.

Before I reveal the result, I want to talk about the experience. For our first baby, my company's health plan was insufficient to support my wife's maternity visits. We had a number of bad experiences throughout the pregnancy. Medi-Cal is a stigma, no matter how much doctors and hospitals deny it. This time my new company has a much better plan, and the difference in service is like night and day. I think the way we are being treated now should have been the way the other doctors and nurses treated us then. I think that hospitals have a lot of explaining to do regarding the inequities of service depending on who insures their patients.

Today we encountered a slightly different experience than we had expected. Apparently it was a gender only ultrasound. The tech was not supposed to take measurements or do any of the other tasks they normally accomplish while they are showing you the gender. We brought a DVD to record the whole thing, but he told us this was a quick in and out thing and he wouldn't be taping it.

My mom will have 11 grandkids by the time my baby is born. She has only seen the ultrasound for my son, so we thought she would like to see this one too. She drove all the way out here from the Inland Empire just to watch. It was almost a wasted trip, as the baby was not cooperating.

The baby was there, relaxing, both legs bent at the knee and legs crossed at the ankle. There was no view of the gender identifier or lack thereof. It seemed like the technician was anxious to get going, as we were the last appointment for the day. He seemed surprised that the baby was being modest, and it seemed he would give up hope and send us home. We convinced him to try again, considering the distance my mom drove, and finally he found the answer we were looking for. In the mean time, we saw some brief images of the face and hands, but again the tech was in a hurry and didn't show us, let alone capture any images. He finally took a picture once we determined the gender, but it was an image that did not show us much more than the baby's hip. I was a little frustrated because I intended to include the image with this post. Hopefully next time the tech won't be in such a hurry. He is still far better than the tech at the Redlands Community Hospital in Redlands. Even in a hurry he was far more courteous to us, and let 2 adults and a toddler watch the ultrasound.

Now that we know what we are having, it makes the name search much easier. We will be going through our lists of the names we like and making a decision, just like we did for the first one. We still have plenty of time to pick a name, so we are not too concerned yet.

And by the way, we are having a boy.

Baby Number 2 - 19th Week

19 Weeks Pregnant

According to 3dpregnancy.com, our baby looks something like this now. We are in our 19th week. My wife made the appointment today for the ultrasound, so we are pretty excited. We finally get to see what sex the baby is on Wednesday. Let the naming battles begin!

I decided to have some fun, so if you look to the right column you will see a poll asking for your opinion. Do you think it will be a boy or girl? Let's see who is right. It is a short poll, so be sure to vote soon.

I am trying to spend as much time with my two year old as he will allow. I know his world is about to turn upside down again, so I want to help him build confidence in where his place is in the family. He has been so clingy to my wife lately, that he is either going through severe separation anxiety, or he can sense something is up. A few weeks ago, in a post called "Daddy Finally Matters", I blogged about how I was finally getting some attention. Most of that went away until a couple days ago.

The other night he had crawled into bed with Mommy while I was doing my Entrecard clicks. When I came to bed he looked so cute that I didn't kick him out. As soon as I got in bed he put his arm around me and grinned. He was mostly asleep, but the gesture meant so much to me that I laid in an uncomfortable position until he moved his arm. The last couple of days he has run up to me quite frequently, wanting Daddy to pick him up. Sometimes I am second choice, but I don't mind. I love the attention he gives me, since it used to be so rare.

I am hoping that he is excited about being a big brother. We ask him where Mommy's baby is and he points to her stomach, so we think he knows there is something different about Mommy. I doubt he has grasped the concept of a person being in there, but hey, this kid is pretty dang smart.

Wednesday is going to be a great day. We are pretty excited to see our little baby, whether a boy or girl.

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Update: I was informed that my 19th week post was inaccurate. We are in the 21st week now though. (June 18, 2008)
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Taming The Lion

My wife and I took our son to the Santa Barbara Zoo today. He loves animals, so my wife likes to take him to the zoo. I haven't been able to go with them until today. Let me just say, if you go to a zoo, prepare for the stench of a lifetime. That place had some serious stench coming from the pens. :)

The Santa Barbara Zoo is tucked away in the midst of the city, between the Cemetery and the beach. This allows for a steady breeze, even on a warm day. I definitely needed that breeze today.

We walked around the zoo, looking at the various animals. Some were harder to find, others were definitely looking for attention. Apparently the last time the Gorillas were right up against the glass. Today was not the Gorilla's day though. as you can see in the above pic, the Lions were out today. How often can one get this close to a lion without being dinner? I thought it was pretty cool. My general rule on cats is this: house cats are best served to dogs, while a cat that can eat you is cool. This is why I am a fan of lions and tigers.

We had a lot of fun at the park. It turns out that the zoo is a Pepsi park, so I was pretty stoked. Too bad some bad apples have thrown lids at animals in the past, because the zoo, like other parks, doesn't serve Pepsi with a lid or a straw. When there are birds flying around, I like having a lid on my cup. Don't you?

One of the things that stood out at the zoo was the play are for the kids. There was a huge hill of astro-turf or something. It looked a lot like grass from a distance. Kids were sliding down this hill and having lots of fun, so I took my son up a few times. That hill turned out to be quite the workout. We would run up the hill and slide back down. The hill was pretty fun, and I only got rug burn on a couple parts of my back. I think the next time we go, the hill will definitely be on the agenda.

I think the highlight of the day was on our way out of the zoo. My wife was, in my opinion, foolishly running her hand along the railing of the path we were on, disregarding the white splotches all around us from Seagulls and all sorts of other avian visitors. She finally got a big handful of guano on her hand. This was no small glob here. This pile was pretty big. She was pretty disgusted, as was I, and we hurried to the nearest bathroom, with myself laughing all the way. She didn't think it was so funny.

This zoo is pretty cool, especially for how small it is. It was nice being able to get as close as we did to the animals. My son loved it, my wife and I had a good time, and I got a great laugh in the end. I am looking forward to the next visit.

Daddy Finally Matters

My two year old son has finally started paying a lot more attention to daddy. He is still attached to mommy's hip, but he has been giving me a lot more attention. I am more than happy to receive this new-found affection.

Yesterday at Disneyland my son wanted out of his stroller. This usually means daddy carries him, because he is too heavy for mommy. We were walking along and he spontaneously kissed me on the cheek. I turned to thank him and he kissed me again. Two unprompted kisses in less than 10 seconds.

Today he made it extra hard to go to work. He woke up way to early, and as I was getting dressed he wanted me to hold him. I picked him up and he clung to me like a monkey on a tree. He did not want to let me go. I sat down and held him for a few minutes, cherishing every second of it.

Tonight when I got home some of the affection was still there. It was not so blatant as the above examples, but daddy got to spend some time with him, grilling and shooting his squirt guns. I even got him to say "please" for the first time tonight. Daddy is officially on the radar now. I have been waiting for this for a long time. I am looking forward to whatever comes next.