Summertime is here..wait..almost gone?

Been a busy summer for the household-- we took a trip to Gettysburg with the kiddos, which they thoroughly enjoyed, visited in-laws, and attended a yearly pool-party with some friends. And I've been super-busy getting ready for a multi-vendor show to exhibit my photography (including putting together a new website), so between that and my real job I've been left little time for things such as blogging. Sorry about that....and even sorrier I have nothing really funny or witty to report right now, although I do have a story.

Aidan still comes in to sleep with us in the middle of the night; he was getting away from it a bit but once I started having to work a few days out of town and Mom stated having to work 2 nights a week, he felt a little lonely. One thing I've done to make him feel better is to give him a shirt I normally wear to bed that he puts over himself like a blanket.... seems to help remind him that I miss him and love him. Recently he came in to the bedroom and snuggled into bed like usual, but something struck me that night. He'd been sick, and he was sleeping kind of fitfully. I just sort of looked at him, and started thinking about all the times behind us, and all the amazing things I'm sure he'll give to us in the future. Then I held his hand, still so small in my own, and really took some time to think about how precious and wonderful children are. I can't imagine my life without them, honestly-- for every second of grief they may give us, we are paid back in 10 hours of happiness. I think I'll be sad when he doesn't want to sleep with us anymore-- I like hugging my little buddy in the middle of the night. I was thinking that Maia doesn't really have sleep issues, so I'm sure she'll never wander in with us, and then a really crazy off the wall thought hit me... I almost hope the new baby does what Aidan does. Because I'll really miss these times when they're gone.

I know, this is sappy, but I wanted to mark it in these chronicles-- sometimes it's nice to take a moment and reflect upon how lucky we really are.

Make It STOP

Our kids are musical. they can't help it-- it's genetic. My wife was raised on a healthy diet of classic rock, and I've been a musician since I was in 5th grade and was allowed to start playing. as such, they've4 always been around good music. But now...now I wonder where I went wrong.

Maia still hasn't fallen to the dark side; she loves the Penn State Fight song, and bops along to most of the stuff I listen to with a smile. But Aidan...oh, my poor lost Aidan. He is absolutely IN LOVE with Lady Gaga's "Poker Face". That song is a sonic holocaust....it's everything that was terrible about 80s/90s dance music. Well, come think about it, that was everything, but that's not the point. the point is, he will randomly break out into chants of "muh muh muh my poker face" at the drop of a hat. So far it's been mainly confined to the home, but oh the shame and horror I recoil from when I consider him doing it in the grocery store.

I wonder if this is what my parents felt like when I was little-- I don't know what I was "in" to as a 3 year old. I guess it could be worse-- he still hates Barney (and Maia is hooked on Elmo, which is faaaaaaar more bearable) so there's that. Plus they both dig the Beatles and Laurie Berkner, so road trips are fairly painless. And Aidan's saving grace is that he still thinks super-hard metal is awesome, something I cannot take credit for but heartily endorse. As I said before, I don't know what I listened to as a 3 year old, but I'm preeeeety sure I wasn't into anything like Lamb of God or White Zombie (both of which he loves) .

Which is a shame, because there's nothing funnier than watching 3 year old try to mosh.

Vroom vroom

What a week. Er, weeks. Sorry about that, been busy with the work and the photography; summer seems to have reached a fever pitch already for this household. Big changes are afoot-- namely, the ritual of trading the smallest family car for the largest one the family (god willing) will ever own: the mini-van.

Ah, mini-vans... refuge of soccer moms and despondent dads everywhere. I know, I know-- all of you out there who don't own one are saying "Bah, that will NEVER be me." Well, I'm here to tell you the mini-van bell must toll for all of us at some time or another. They're a lot nicer now than they used to be, and with the third kiddo on the way, it was time. So check this out: our new ride has some awesome features for dads to really fall in love with. (At this time, any women reading this should force their husbands to join them). First and foremost, the doors. This thing has power doors on both sides, and a power trunk. That means that even while carrying an ungodly amount of kid-related crap, with the mere push of a button this thing springs open faster than Lindsay Lohan's knobby knees. And oh my god, the STORAGE in this thing; all the seats fold flat, so you can actually put building materials and whatnot in there if the need arises. More importantly, I estimate that you could fit at LEAST 4 rowdy football buddies and 3 coolers in here with NO PROBLEM.

Next, the driver's seat. Power movement, tilt, and lumbar. Plus fingertip controls for the all important radio manning, and a fold down "lil' bastard checker" mirror all in easy reach. You've even got your own climate control, and a special little nook complete with plastic courtesy bags to place your nuts in when you're spotted driving this thing.

Most importantly, it has not one but TWO AC power outlets in it. Which means not only can I transport the band to the gig, I can actually plug my amp in and rock while rolling. I anticipate being told I'm not allowed to play and drive, but that just means I get to crawl in back and stretch out while I play my metal endlessly. AND of course it means I have an easy way to impress the hell out of all the soccer moms when I take the kids to practice in a few years. So all you dads out there be warned-- when I roll up in Battlestar Galactica and rock your wives faces (among other, more undergarmety things) off, don't say I didn't warn ya.

My Little Princess

So MJ is a smart cookie. Not just "oh, look at my little darling, she's so smart" parents gush when they see little precious about to short out the entire power grid with a well-placed fork in an electrical socket, but genuinely smart. Lets lay out some facts, shall we?

She is 1.33 yrs old.

She already will dance in rhythm, and in fact knows that my father's cell phone holds the thing which makes her happiest in life-- the Penn State fight song. She usually won't let him get 10 feet into the house without clawing for it.

She knows all her major AND minor body parts... you know, knees, elbows, clavicle, ossicles, etc.

She's a clear speaker, and although she can't make all her sounds yet it is very apparent to anyone who hears her what, exactly, she wants. Example: she saw my tattoos the other day, and asked, "Dat?" I told her, and she immediately responded "Tat too!" while pointing at all 3 of them. She also clearly enunciates when she wants something Aidan has, yelling "Let slip the dogs of war!" or something similar. One time I caught her muttering about dirty Mongols.

She can easily follow and understand anything we tell her, including "Please throw this away" and "not in the nuts again, please". She will also tell US what she wants; she's quite fond of saying "di-di" and grabbing herself a new diaper and associated wiping equipment. Although she's a little confused and calls her jay-jay her pee-pee. I blame her mother for that one. Gotta tell ya, it's pretty cool to have a kid this young willingly throwing her own diapers away.

She's quite capable of defending herself, and will often enact pre-emptive strikes if Big Bro even looks at a toy that he wants to play with. As of today, I've seen her: pinch him, hit him, tackle him, and hip-check him. Also, I think she's constructing some nefarious mega-weapon out of used binkies as they seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate.

She understands when it's time to leave that it is polite to tell everyone "bye-bye" which she does by waving her hand and saying "Bye!" This happens if she even hears someone say something alluding to leaving; my parents were here a week or so ago and my father said, "Well it's about time for us to get back down to the house" at which point she looked up, waved, and went back to playing.

She has keen object permanence, which makes life a little hard because you can't just hide things on her... she's like a friggin' bloodhound, and will make a beeline for whatever you hid even if she didn't see you do it. Along with this is good focus for what she wants-- one day we were out of bananas and she wouldn't stop screaming "nanas!!!" until we went to the store to get them. I offered her everything I could think of, including whiskey and some jellied toast. No dice.

In short, she's a much more assertive toddler than Aidan was-- I have a sneaking suspicion that this one's gonna be a tad trickier to manage. Oops, gotta go...she's stacked her blocks up and is heading out the door with my car keys and wallet.

I Think I Hear Aunt Jamima Crying.....

Quick story this week......Maia's been sick, mostly at night, so I'm getting little to no sleep and thus am afraid am not at the top of my comedic game right now. But this one writes itself, and is most DEFINITELY a story I will be telling the first scruffy-faced potential daughter deflower-er that gets within shooting distance of the house.

So Aidan has been trying really, really hard to big a big kid; he's excited that he's three and a half, because that's almost 4....and in his words, when he's 4, he'll be a "dery dery dery big kid." He's putting himself to sleep at night after stories, which is great because it used to take half an hour of laying with him to get him out. He can get himself dressed (when the mood strikes, anyway-- most days it's still like trying to wrestle a Speedo onto a greased up badger cranked on PCP), he can fasten his own belt, and he'll even go to the potty by himself if it's a #1. Which, as he informed me, he calls "peeps." Good thing I hate those stupid marshmallow Easter chicks anyway, because ewwww.

The other day as breakfast was winding down, when Mom was at work and I was playing ref in the UFC octagon I call "my living room", Aidan announced he had to go peeps. So he charged off the the kids bathroom, and Maia toddled after him, still gripping her waffle and burbling cutely. Nothing interesting happened; Maia came giggling out of the bathroom first, and ran to me, dropping her waffle on the entryway floor as she came. Aidan flushed, and then dropped the first bomb.

"Dad! Maia stuck her fingers in the peeps!"

I have to say, I was rather impressed with myself. Like a highly trained martial artist, I sidestepped Maia, scooped her up from behind, and took her to wash her hands. I let her go, and on the way back stopped to pick up the waffle. I had JUST touched it when, simultaneously, I heard from behind me:

"Dad! Maia put her waffle in the peeps too."

It was soggy. And cold. Did I mention soggy? You know you've made it as a father when you see something like this, just kind of sigh and hang your head, and pick it up barehanded anyway...while trying to keep it intact so as to ascertain whether or not your little princess has taken a bite of her pee-soaked waffle. Good times, good times.

The Secret is Kinda Out

So yeah....I know some (if not most) of you reading this already know, but I finally found something I'm apparently really good at-- makin' babies. A third little one is on the way, and I couldn't be happier. Aidan is really excited about it; when we briefly had an apartment (before our new house was finished) he shared a bedroom with Maia, and he's anxious to do that again. He really loves his little sis, which is nice because it allows me to do things around the house without fear of him testing whether or not her head makes an adequate doorstop, or if toddlers perform as impressively as Slinkies when pushed down a flight of stairs. Maia, for her part, figures if her brother is excited she should be too, and reacted accordingly when we told them the big news.

My parents have been notified as well, and while I'm sure they're happy, I can tell they are a tad worried about the logistics and finances associated with a third one. And probably how often we're going to dump all three kids on them. But I'm sure they'll adapt-- after all, everyone tells me that the jump from 2 to 3 isn't as big a deal as going from 1 to 2. I can definitely see that, especially since Aidan is big enough to really help out with things now. As for the in-laws-- well, they're in Africa right now, so they'll find out when they get back. Possibly by reading this very entry...you never know.

So no cute stories this week, but I promise that you'll have plenty in the near future. Especially since Maia just strung her first 2 word phrase together, and it was "No, mama." I think she's gonna be a handful.

From out of nowhere.....

Well, crap. It's been almost a year since I did this, and a lot has changed... we sold a house, lived in an apartment, built a house, and survived 2 moves. So forgive me for not writing sooner, I was busy trying not to murder everyone in the tri-state area from sheer stress. I'm also telecommuting part time now, which means that since I'm at home at least one day a week I can blog on my lunch break...so I guess I'm REALLY going to try to do this again. I hope I can keep up, although with built-in babysitters living just over the hill (thanks, mom and dad!) my overall "time for myself to time spent cleaning poop up or spaghetti off the walls" ratio is much improved.

So check back in, I'll be sure to have something sooner than a year from now-- especially since it's becoming increasingly apparent that having a daughter is VERY different from having a son, even if you DON'T count the poo-jay factor.