I've Been Busy

As much as I'd like to imply that I've been busy raising my son or doing other super-important things, if I'm being realistic, it's been the video games. We have passed through the holiday release season when everyone wants to make sure their games our out so people can buy them for Christmas, and I have more video games than I know what to do with. Literally, I have several video games that I'm sort of playing at random depending on what mood strikes me at the time. I'm sure I'll be playing them for months, considering how long some of these are, reportedly.

Well, not just video games. It's been a busy week at work, too. We did some data collections that I helped out on, and that led to some long days, and mine weren't even the longest. Nothing terribly mentally taxing, fortunately, just writing down numbers and running some lines of code, but it does take some time to get everything lined up, so there was an 11 hour day and a couple of 9.5 hour days last week, which meant that I felt entirely justified just coming home and playing video games until bedtime. And I didn't have nearly the most work, the guy that was in charge of analyzing the data did that. He stayed up till way too late several times and still managed to meet us in the morning for collections. I'd be frustrated that he is younger than me and doing more important stuff, but he does know his signals well. That's probably why we hired him.

My very first thanksgiving in my own home! I'm excited. Jess and I have been considering the menu, and also when we want to have it, being as we are in charge and can do whenever we want. I'm considering just doing it on Saturday, just to get discount turkeys, but then is it still thanksgiving, or just a turkey dinner? Anyway, there's definitely going to be turkey, and stove stop stuffing, and cranberry sauce from a can (you and me, dad!) and rolls and a few other things as well. Also I'm keen on going to Costco just to get an apple pie. We can each have a slice and then give the rest away at work. And Ice cream. Maybe I should make my own again. Yum.

We had a neighborhood get-together party last weekend that went off just great. I made hotdogs and sausages, because they freeze well when you buy too many of them. We met several more neighbors and saw a few old favorites, and everyone thought that Tyler was the cutest baby because they had good taste in babies. I still give credit to Nana for inspiring me to do this, it's been a great hit among the neighbors, especially when I do it in the fall and it's not a billion degrees outside.

So, Tyler, I'm sure that's what you really want to hear about yeah? He's just chugging along, developmentally. He's gotten much better at chewing, though managing the tongue is still a bit of a challenge and he does still choke himself on food a little bit, it's getting better. He's also started clapping, and even cruising a little bit. (That's where he pulls himself up on things and then steps along to the side while keeping balanced with his hands, I didn't realize it had a name until I got a baby of my own.) His crawling is also very impressive, he likes going around the house (with supervision) and getting chased and also looking around corners when he thinks one of his parents will be over there. He's still not a big fan of strangers, but he's manageable as long as parents are within sight.

He's also started liking walking again, and he's way faster at it. We all had a blast a few nights ago when we realized that when I grabbed his hands he'd take off running and bouncing, especially when mommy was right behind, threatening tickles the whole way. That was fun. He's definitely getting a lot more expressive, and expressive in a way that makes me think there's a tiny, emerging personality behind it, as opposed to just the random facial movements I've seen before. Maybe that's just the proud dad talking.

Jess hired a cleaning service to come by the house. When we got back we just wandered around saying 'wow' and looking at how darn clean everything was. Especially down at the floor level where certain family members seem to like to crawl. So we signed up for them to come by monthly. Not enough that we have to stop cleaning after ourselves, but all those tasks that seem to pile up and have to get done 'someday' now just get taken care of. Dusting and cleaning mirrors and the like. Very convenient. We also hired some people to come by and trim up our trees to make them look nice. So now I have people taking care of my lawn, my trees, my cleaning, and even my baby. I just have to hire a cook and someone to do my job for me and I can retire.

-N