next year is for sissies

People often ask me how things are going now, which is fine, because I know that most of them are genuinely curious and would like to know about our lives since our family grew to five. Mostly I answer that I am more tired than I used to be, which is very true. It is amazing how quickly the members of this household fall asleep now (except for Andres, who lays there awake and squints his eyes pretending to be asleep when we check on him). We have been helped along by moments of late nights with sick kids, though, which has not always been all that pleasant. It is not fun to catch the splash of puke in a garbage can as you hold it up for your child to vomit in. I am not a big fan of that. But I am a parent, and the things that Janine and I now do are labors of love that we do not complain about in any serious sense. It is amazing what kids can do to change one's position on the gross factor continuum.

So we continue to adjust as a family, something that we will do for a while, I believe, and it isn't always easy. The kids test limits often, and we have been doing our best to be consistent about how we deal with every situation, trying to figure out what works best in our house with our kids. We learn as we go and are certainly not always successful, but we know that this is something that will take time.

Yesterday was fun, as we met with some of our friends from church at a park. The kids were able to get out and play on the playground with other kids, and it was nice to sit there and watch them having a good time and interacting with our friends and their children. Afterward, we went to IHOP to get lunch and had an enjoyable meal there with our friends. Frog Brotha, Jr. stopped by when we got home and we monkeyed around with the recording equipment for a while as the boys napped. It was a very relaxed day.

My buddy Lee (heh-heh...Buddy Lee, like the character on Lee Jeans) told me a while ago that after we get our kids that I still need to do the things that are part of who I am and that I enjoy, even if it is less time than I might normally spend (read: pre-kids) doing them. His thing is video games, and I used to laugh at him and question his sanity when he would tell me that he would start playing video games after he put his kids to bed and then stay up to 2 in the morning gaming. Now I understand. I have been recording music quite a bit in the last few weeks, all after 9 PM, sometimes staying up until 1 AM. It has been a lot of fun, to say the least, and a way for me to relax. Hats off to you, Buddy Lee. Thanks for the advice. The music I make is questionable in quality, but it is fun.

Today Shirley has been sick. It is difficult to watch your sick child and know that you can't do anything about it, but fortunately she has been well enough (at times) to watch some videos and enjoy that part of the day. We actually all made it to church this morning, but she was feeling terrible by the end of the service, so they all came back and she has been resting/sleeping off and on since. We missed out nightly walk (Brad and Traci and Joel, as well as our family usually walk a few blocks with the dogs nightly), but the kids have been enjoying Shrek in Spanish. By the way, still humorous in Spanish, for all you Shrek fans out there.

I have been watching some basketball during tournament time, and was very excited about it all, what with both Oregon and North Carolina advancing to the Elite Eight. But today they both lost. I am not too thrilled about the tournament now, but I am happy that my two teams had a good run. I know that my criticisms have been harsh on Ernie Kent this year, but he did well in proving me wrong. Roy Williams did another fabulous job with Carolina, but without good outside shooting this one dimensional team could not seal the deal. Pretty good for an inside/fast breaking team, though. Still, I am disappointed. I don't want to hear anything about next year, either. Next year is for sissies.

Well, I will try to be more consistent with writing. Hopefully I will discipline myself enough to get on here, as my hit count on the web site has gone down drastically in recent weeks. I need to write more, I know. I will try.

Back to sixty hour weeks at work again. I feel like things are settling down, though, and that we are making good progress for both our client and our company. I am such a dorky company guy now, and it is quite embarrassing. What can you do, though, as they give me room to work, room to grow, and have been very "hands off" with this particular project (which I am not at liberty to discuss, as I am a secret agent as well as having my regular communist leanings). I wrote about work...that is lame. I should go now.