A Little Mental.

My daughter (that sounds funny), Vanessa is a wee bit mental when it comes to getting to sleep. At 6 months, she still needs to be swaddled (as does her sister) which is probably long overdue. She's still doesn't seem to have the capacity to fully control her arms. Anyways so we wrap her up and lie her on her back. She instantly wants to roll on her belly, but she hasn't learned how to roll herself back. So she cries. We flip her back and soon enough she rolls herself back and begins to whine. Now we have tried to experiment ways she can get use to her hands like keeping one arm wrapped and the other one is free but she doesn't seem to like that. So it's just a vicious cycle and annoying as heck. I've even held her and face her squarely in the eyes and started lecturing her "Vanessa, you need to stop rolling over and go to sleep. Stop waking mama up." Of course she looks at me, her lower lip sticks out, then begins to wail, tears start pouring. Can't help but feel sorry for the little rugrat. Moreover, I can't help but feel bad for Fiona, who sleeps in the same room with the kiddies.

Hide And Seek.

Yesterday I wanted to see how well Jadon can learn hide and seek. Let's just say he needs some work.

Scenario: He hides, I seek.
What happens:
-When I start to count, he starts to count out loud with me (even though he is suppose to be hiding).
-He hides in the same place (in our bedroom).
-So to get him out of our bedroom I tell him that I'll count and that he should go off and hide. So I close my eyes and start counting. He starts to count with me while he is still hiding in the same place.
-After I'm done counting, I'll go around and say "hmmmm is Jadon in the bathroom?" He'll end up answering me with a "no" from the other room.

Scenario: I hide, he seeks.
What happens:
-I tell him to count to ten. He only counts to three (that cheater).
-After a moment when he can't find me he'll yell out "Dadda! Where are you?!?"
-I'm hiding next to our T.V. armoir. He can't find me so what does he do? He ends up going to the couch and starts to watch T.V. Luckily he sees me otherwise I could have been hiding for a long time.

Updated!

All 2005 picture realms have been updated!

Weigh In.

Natalie: 8lbs 13oz. (what am I going to do with that kid?)
Vanessa: 12lbs 13oz. (growing nice and plump)

Doctor Revisited.

Yesterday I went back to my Urologist for what I thought was check up. It was a check up but the main reason the Doctor wanted to see me was because he wanted to warn me about a change within his procedure. He said that starting this past May, he started to use a different type of cauterizing material. Apparently one of his other patient's had submitted their semen sample and found it to have traces of sperm in there. So he cautioned me to continue to use contraceptives. He mentioned that when I submit my samples and if it's found to have sperm in there, he would redo the procedure at no cost (as well as follow up check ups). I was thinking to myself "what the bleep?" Yeah, no cost is to be expected but I'm not sure if I would go through it again. I mean, it wasn't as painful as I had expected but it's still not something I would necessarily go through again. No point in fretting until I submit and get my results back right?

Something Just Witnessed.

This past half an hour I just witnessed something that I have never seen in real life: A four car crash. I was called to go down and check out something on the companies mobile trailor. On the way back to the office I was coming across Jamboree and came to a stop on MacArthur Blvd. There were probably seven cars ahead of me and then in the right lane, just next to me, there were four cars or so. There was an old looking white cargo van going at full speed. I was thinking "that van isn't breaking, when is it going to break, it's going to hit." Then bam! It impacted in the car in front of that, and that car hit the next one, and then I am assuming that the third car hit the fourth one. As I was driving by the van I saw the man open his door and I can see smoke coming out and I saw liquid pooring out ( I don't think it was gasoline, I think it could have been the fluids deployed from his air bag). The guy has to be in a daze for sure. I was pulling my phone out and thinking "should I call the cops? Paramedics?" but as I was doing that I saw a few other cars pulling over. So I decided to drive on. Should I have stopped? Anyways I came to the realization that I could have been hit because I am the type of driver that will look for the least amount of cars in a lane.

6 Months Birthday.

This past Saturday we celebrated the girls' 6 month birthday (even though it was officially on Friday, 15th). What was the main reason? Because, as I later found out, Fiona wanted cake.

Jadon, the funny little nut....

One of the highlights about having kids is they can crack you up so much. They can truly be your source of entertainment. Yesterday on the way home from church, Natalie was crying nonstop. Sometimes I feel bad for Jadon because he's stuck in the back row, enduring the girls' clamourous and annoying cries. Well I dropped Fiona and the girls off at home and took Jadon with me to pick up some dinner. Silence at last. Here's how my conversation with Jadon went:

I ask him "Jadon, Natalie cries a lot doesn't she?"
Jadon says "Na-na-nee (that's the way he pronounces her hame) has bugs!"
My response "Huh?"
He repeats "Na-na-nee has bugs."
I ask him "Has bugs? What?"
Jadon explains "Na-na-nee has ants coming out."
It finally clicked and I just started laughing. He took the phrase "Natalie bugs" literally.

............

So I am ordering some Chinese take out at Cafe Chin Chin's and Jadon is wandering around. Without realizing, he starts to hug the the guy's leg right next to me. It startled the man a little bit and the lady behind us started laughing. Wrong guy, little buggar. Sure the guy was Asian, but he didn't look like me at all. Later on Jadon saw the guy from across the restaurant and pointed to him and told me "wrong guy." That's the third time he has mistaken someone else for me.

............

Last night the phone rang and I told Jadon to go and pick up the phone (we have a special ringer when certain people call so we can screen out telemarketers). So he goes over to pick up the phone and says "Hi Gan-ma! Hi Gan-ma! Hi Gan-ma! Where are you?" and then he hangs up. That was hilarious. He always assumes that whoever calls is his Grandma.

............

Last week Fiona took Jadon to Target to run some shopping errands. She was walking through the aisles and Jadon was wandering around. Fiona was keeping tabs on him and she knew that he wandered off. She waited for him but to no avail he didn't reappear. A few seconds later she heard him saying "Momma? Momma?" It's just the cutest thing to hear how he says that (or when he says "Dadda? Dadda?"). It just melts your little heart.

Newest Regimen.

On Saturday, I took up Sunny's example and started jogging. Considering that I haven't ran since high school track, or exercised since college, I didn't do too terrible. I jogged (2/3)/walked(1/3) for about a mile the first day. Yesterday I jogged (3/4)/walked(1/4) of a mile. Plus I was doing this during the early afternoon when the sun was still scortching. It took me 20 minutes or so but I didn't want to push it. I've only come out with a little soreness in my right leg but it's a good kind of soreness. Hopefully I can get into a rthyme and keep it up and increase the length and decrease the time.

Lakers & Potter

Well it looks like the L.A. Lakers are trading for Kwame Brown. We got rid of C. Butler and C. Atkins. This one is a tough one to like or dislike. We get rid of talent for potential talent. I guess the big thing is we got size (but got younger). Now if anyone can bring out a player's potential it would be Phil Jackson. But then Kwame succumbed to high expectations, namely Jordan, in Washington. And here in L.A., known for championships, plus Kobe, Kwame is going to be in a hotter boat. I just hope it pans out and Kwame can hold his own when it comes time to go up against better PFs out in the west. Hey, dreams can come true!

Tomorrow the the new Harry Potter book is coming out and I'm actually looking forward to reading it. But I'll let my wife read it first though ;) I think the last book that I read was the previous Potter book.

This Week's Weigh In:

Natalie - 8lbs 15 oz (doh!)
Vanessa - 12 lbs 12 oz

Happy 6 months babies!

Bad Night....

The girls were worse than usual last night. Before their 1:00am feeding I got only two 1 hour chunks of sleep. Vanessa took the first shift. She has a ritual before she falls asleep. She moves her body up to an end of the crib and then thrashes her head back and forth to the point where her pacifier flies out of her mouth and then she begins to cry. After their 1:00am feeding it was Natalie's turn. She would not keep the pacifier in her mouth and she would cry. I got so worked up that I don't think I feel asleep until about 3:30 am. Then I had to wake up at 4:30am or so for their next feeding (plus I had to get ready for work). So my overall point is I am sleepy.

No Pain No Gain.

So after undergoing the dread and pain of a vasectomy, what are some of the other physical pains that I have gone through in life that are just as bad if not worse (please note that I have never been in the hospital for any procedures):

(No particular order)
-When I was 4 years old or so I vaguely remember riding on a skate board with my brother (Paul, I think) and I fell and scraped myself. I just remember that it stung alot.
-Getting a deep cleaning at a dentist a few years ago after not going for 'X' amount of years.
-Getting my wisdom tooth pulled a few weeks after that.
-In the second grade (or third) I was riding my bicycle home from school. I tripped over something and fell on my face. I had a scar right underneath my nose from that which made me look like Hitler.
-My brother, Pete, did a wrestling move on me called the "pile driver" where he hung me upside down and rammed my head on the floor. That not only hurt my head but cut off my air circulation for a minute. That scared the crap out of me.
-My brother, Paul, shot a bb with his sling shot in my arm point blank about 5 feet away. That bastard.
-I remember when I was 8 or so I was running in the house and at the time it was dark. There was a wooden pillar in the middle of the living room. Well I ran into that teeth first. I was bleeding but I didn't lose any teeth from that. It left a dent in the pillar though.
-Running my first hurdles race. Coming around the corner for that stretch run, I tripped on a hurdle and fell hard. I can't remember if I finished that race (I think I did).
-In practice I was running the hurdles and I tripped on a hurdle and slid on the graveled track. It took a good chunk of skin off my right hip. It left a pretty nasty scar which is still there.
-Normally I can handle needles shots but the ones that prick your fingers to check for your sugar level hurts like a buggar.
-A long time ago when I was naive my brother, Pete, was playing around with a chainsaw. He was sticking his finger in the vibrating blades. He told me that it tickled and told me to try. Well I did and it did tickle at first, but then it cut my finger. Luckily it didn't cut it off. That jerk.
-Getting my thumb smacked by Paul's friend, Robert's pick up truck door.
-Getting my finger closed by a door at my friend's house (back in elementary school).
-In the 7th grade I got punched in the gut. It didn't hurt alot but enough to knock the wind out of me.
-Back in my early high school years, Paul's friend/roommate, Ryan, put me in a wrestling move that was just wicked. It was called....chicken split...or banana split....I don't remember, but whatever it was he put me in a position where it was giving me the splits. Fortunately it didn't handicap me from having kids.

My New Little Toy!

Upon recovering from my outpatient procedure over the weekend, I was able to go out and get a 4gb Apple IPod Mini. I got it for free of course. Last week at my friend's wedding he gave me a generous gift, a portable DVD player. Unfortunately I didn't have much use for it (Fiona has a laptop with a dvd player on it), so I exchanged it for the mp3 player. My first one. I have to say I am quite impressed with it, not just in sound quality but also the size of it. I've seen the 20 GB ones and those are small but the Mini's are incredible. I haven't seen the shuffles (in person) yet but I heard those were gum sized. So I spent the majority of the weekend playing around with it, putting music on it, and retagging my mp3 files. I think Fiona and Jadon were feeling a little neglected. So we headed to the mall for a little snack and some chocolates. Hopefully that made up for it.

I've Been Fixed!

Due to the nature of this topic, readers should read at their own discretion.

Yesterday I took a half day off at work to help mentally prepare myself for the procedure that I was about to undertake. Here's how it went:

1:00pm - I took a quick shower because after the procedure I won't be able to do is for the next 24 hours.
1:15pm - I take my valium pill (hour before the appointment) except I don't think it hit me until about 5 hours later. So it was pretty much useless for me.
1:45pm - My coworker picks me up to take me to my doctor's appointment. We could not secure a babysitter so Fiona had to stay home.
2:05pm - I check into the office.
2:20pm - The nurse takes me back into the operating room.
(From here on out I don't know the timing)
-The nurse takes my blood pressure and has me disrobe.
-Few minutes later she comes back and preps me up by shaving my scrotum. (I have not had any woman look at my goods other then my wife; and my mom when I was little). She tapes my wee-wee so it doesn't get in the way.
-After the prep the doctor comes in and injects me with anesthesia. He gives me two nerve shots for each side and then he gives me another shot to numb the skin. It didn't hurt that bad at all. It felt like sharp tiny pinches. Although I was gripping my hand hard to brace the pain. After that, I could not feel a thing. He snips here and he snips there. Then he does some cauterizing of the tubes (seals it up pretty much like a soldering iron). Finally puts a couple of stitches and he's done. The worse pain happened when the doctor untaped me. Ouch. Took off some hair.
-By the time I leave, it's about 3:30pm. The prep time took about half an hour or so and the procedure about 30-40 minutes. It wasn't as bad as I thought (but then again pain threshold and the mindset is different for everybody).

So now that the day has past, how am I feeling so far? Not too bad. If I sit in an awkward position I can feel the stitches stretch which makes it feel like a tiny sharp itchy pain (which is easily remediable by changing positions). It feels like a pressure on your bladder or it can feel like a bruise (which is what I have). I only feel this when I am walking. I should be good in no time.