Time, time, time, see what’s become of me

Baby J is currently sleeping but it’s about time for her to wake up and eat so I don’t dare try to go to sleep myself. If I try to put her down in her bassinette, she’ll simply wake up and then Kelli’s shift will start. That wouldn’t be fair since she was up the bulk of last night with baby duty. So I'll wait and feed her and see if she'll fall asleep again, thereby reseting the clock.

So I sit here and try to write a blog entry while listening to an audiobook “Terrorism on American Soil” by Joseph T. McCann, keeping an eye on Baby J who is peacefully sleeping on the couch, and occasionally looking at the television which is showing me an infomercial about some blender called “the Ninja.”

Oh and playing frapping Mafia Wars on the Facebook.

I’m not even a big fan of Facebook but Mafia Wars seems a harmless time-waster. Except that I keep looking over at the laptop to see if I have enough energy/stamina/whatever to move forward, so it’s not entirely non-addictive. Perhaps it’s a gateway drug which inevitably leads to simulated farming, I don’t know. I imagine that when I go back to work, that will be the end of the Mafia for me.

Uh oh, she’s becoming more restless and I think she’s “dropped a bag of squid*.”

Time to make the donuts.

* we have taken to calling baby bowel movement “dropping a bag of squid” due to the sound it makes when the poop fills the diaper. There’s an element of “cappuccino machine” but that phrase isn’t quite as picturesque as the squid dropping.

This is what you want, This is what you get

Yeah, I Know

I said that I'd try to teach my daughter that girls who sit on strange men's laps and ask for gifts are dirty hoo-ers.

Good thing I'm not really in charge, since this is pretty darn cute.

Thankful That All Dogs Go To Heaven

Sugarbaby Anderson
1997-2009

If you have a pet, give them a few extra scritches today.

More Pictures

Home from the hospital

Actually we went home from the hospital Monday afternoon but this is my first chance to sit down at the computer and post more pictures.

As first time parents, this is all new and mysterious and sometimes worrisome.

For instance, she's been a little jaundiced but we've been told it's no big deal. It's more apparent to me when I start editing pictures. She's pinking up and either way she's so gorgeous it doesn't matter. And I know, everyone thinks their kid is the most beautiful baby in the world and they are right to think that way; it's some sort of instinctive bonding thing. But mine is the prettiest, really!

At first we were a bit concerned because she didn't cry. She cooed and made noise but no crying like the babies next door. Her routine hearing test proved she could hear just fine so that wasn't an issue but it still nagged at us.

Not to worry. She's doing her own nagging now and can throw a tantrum like the best of them. Thankfully they are infrequent and short.

I've read and heard from nearly every mom that the best practice is to read and talk to your baby right away, all the time. For me this means to narrate ever part of our time together (at least when I'm holding her and she's awake. I'm giving play by play on what's on TV while I rock her or I'm telling her every step of the diaper changing process as I do it, with little tangents and personal observations along the way.

It's like I'm her FTO but there are no daily evaluations. Although she can fall asleep to escape the blabbity blab while my recruits were discouraged from such things.

For the most part.

daddy and baby

by popular demand, though I'm the least photogenic of the bunch

Journey is Here!

Born at 12:50 alaska standard time weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz and measuring 17.5 inches.

Toys !!

I'm looking forward to buying toys for my little girl.

Okay, so I'm looking forward to buying toys that I can test drive for the little girl.

Let us consider a ride on the Playmobil:

Take a simple "Baby's Room Set"and add some "Jewel Thieves"



and you have yourself a perfect afternoon game of

Who kidnapped the Lindbergh baby?

Fun, fun, fun! (and teaches history too)


There are a lot of cops and robbers in the Playmobil world, which is cool, although it seems the Playmobil municipal lock-up facility has some serious security flaws.


But there are some vast pieces of history too.

Journey, would you like to play Roman Stadium?

We can feed Christians to the lions - where is that Nativity set anyway? Oh wait, those are Jews. Although are the wise men Christians at that point? Surely Mary and Joseph were not Christians during the dark manger days. See, we're asking questions and learning together!

Let's find ourselves a Playmobil fiery oven in which to stuff little plastic Shadrach, Meshach, and the Indigo Girls. Woo-hoo!


And the granddaddy of them all, in my opinion, has to be the Playmobil Pyramid.


It includes a skeleton, a sarcophagus, some Canopic jars for organs. It even has scorpions climbing up the outside of the pyramid walls.

And the gigantic Eye of Horus at the top - this is exactly the sort of toys we need for our little one.

You can't teach them symbols of divine protection early enough.

In 6 days, Everything is Possible Again

With a baby fast approaching I find that I am looking forward to the newness of everything.

It’s all back on the table:

Santa

The Easter Bunny

The Tooth Fairy

Jesus

All the things I take for granted as a jaded adult will be new and wondrous to a child.

Every joke is a new joke. Magic tricks are magical and not just trickery.

She can grow up to be whatever she wants to be.

I can’t wait.

Mark Your Calendars

Unless things change in the next week, little miss Journey Reese will be born:

Friday the 13th of November, 2009

Journey Pictures

Today's ultrasound, the final one prior to her birth in about a month.

Barack Obama and Jethro Tull

I’m a big fan of the band Jethro Tull.

You are probably at least passingly familiar with Jethro Tull from their 1971 album Aqualung which includes the classic songs “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath”. If that’s all you know about them then at the very least listen to the whole Aqualung album. It’s fantastic.

Yet Aqualung was one of their first albums. They have created so much great music. Here’s a small sampling of my recommendations:

Stand Up (1969): “A New Day Yesterday,” “Back to the Family”

War Child (1974): “Skating Away on the Thin Ice of A New Day,” “Bungle in the Jungle.”

Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976) One of my favorite albums. Listen to all of it (and buy yourself a copy) but pay attention to the guitars in “Salamander.”

Storm Watch (1979) Unlike Too Old/Too Young, I’m not a fan of the album itself but the guitars in the song “Dun Ringill” are beautiful. This is one of my all-time favorite songs.

The Broadsword and the Beast (1982): Another great album. Especially worth checking out are “Fallen on Hard Times,” and “Watching Me Watching You.”

Lastly on my list of Jethro Tull must-hears is the album Crest of the Knave (1987). The whole album is great, from the opening track “Steel Monkey,” to the final track “Raising Steam.” Listen to the whole deal. Buy the album. It’s fantastic.

That being said, there’s a flaw with it which has nothing to do with Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, or anyone else in the band. The flaw is that the band won the 1988 Grammy award for “Best Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Performance,” beating out both Metallica and Jane’s Addiction.

The band had a sense of humor about it, even putting out the statement “the flute is a metal instrument!”

Even so, they should have won an award for the album – just not that award.

Which brings me to our President, Barack Obama. The Nobel Foundation has awarded the 2009 Nobel Peach Prize to President Barack Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Um.. What?

I am a big fan of the President but isn’t it a little early to be awarding him a peace prize?

It’s Jethro Tull all over again. Right guy, wrong award.

Leads a guy to do some “Wond’ring Aloud.”