Just Jones

2002-10-29T10:15:00.000-06:00

This blog is going away. We're having some technical problems that really aren't any one site's fault, but can't get fixed. My new blog is at

http://www.livejournal.com/~rickj

2002-09-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

So, Rick and I have decided against the Barbie Dream House. The seller did not like our offer. Of course we were offering their asking price and to make some minor repairs. Really I don’t think they wanted to sell their house. Mrs. “Seller” told me she didn’t want to move until next year. And why is their house on the market?

Way too many houses later, I think we found a keeper. We made an offer and they accepted. Now we are waiting to see if they agree to make some repairs. With any luck they will. If they don’t we will be homeless, again. We are closing on the sale of our home in about 30 days.

Jack is doing fairly well. His nanny is not doing so fine. He is cutting molars and everyday is a fuss fest. This morning, he thought it would be a great idea to wake-up at 4:00. Not even the dogs are up that early.

2002-08-27T08:13:00.000-05:00

We are officially homeless. We just accepted an offer on our house last night and made an offer to purchase our neighbor’s house. When I say neighbor’s house, I mean on the other side of our fence. We really like our neighborhood, but we want more space. So, with any luck we will be moving into the Barbie dream house in October.

Why do I refer to it as the Barbie dream house? Apparently, pink is a lucky color in Feng Shui. Well, our neighbors wanted to be very lucky. So, we will have to remove the carpet, kitchen backsplash, and wallpaper. On the other hand, we do get a pool that we don’t want. So, if you know anyone out there who would like to purchase a slightly used above ground pool, let us know. Anyway, watch this space for the announcement of our, “Behold the Money Pit Party.”

2002-07-29T10:08:00.000-05:00

Late post again - Jack walks about 80% of the time for short distances. Anything longer than 6' or so, and he drops to all fours and zooms off. He's got another ear infection, which means he gets more yummy antibiotics. Fortunately, even an ear infection does dim his cheerful mood.

2002-07-22T08:54:00.000-05:00

The template was messed up, so here's a new one.

Anyhoo, Jack is a walkin' fool. His record is about 4-5 feet before falling down, and he's getting better at free-standing. That is all.

2002-07-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

Had jury duty this week, so I was away from ye olde keyboarde for more time than I'd like. For once, I came out feeling like the good guys won. It was a criminal, rather than a civil court, so it wasn't two people gouging each other for cash. This was a misdemeanor assault. However, I suspect there was more than that, because the victim's statement and the defendant's statements obviously came from parallel universes. They couldn't have been more different. What? People lie on the stand to help their case. Shocked! I am shocked to find out gambling goes on here!

On the Jackson front, we have toddling. He can manage about 5-10 steps before falling over, and we have to lure him away from cruising along furniture by offering toys and saying "come to Daddy." He's getting better and better day by day. At this rate, he'll be walking all the time by this time next week.

Aaaaahhhh!

2002-07-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, back from vacation and out from under the backlog.

On the Jackson front: Jack can take a step or two. He did great on the airplane. (Even though a tragedy of errors led to almost missing our flight up to Pennsylvania, and our luggage arrived a day after we did.) He didn't like people singing Happy Birthday to him, but he had fun mashing up the cake and rubbing frosting in his hair. Soon after that, he got to take a bath in a plastic tub that I once took a bath in when I was a wee lad. He did great at his one-year checkup (and Daddy survived the sobbing from the 4 shots he got).

Heather's job is going well, and we got a last-minute hitch in child care worked out (thank goodness).

Rick is busy with work, but he's proud as punch that one of the writing projects he worked on, Adventure! won the 2001 Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game.

2002-06-26T10:48:00.000-05:00

Little bytes of stuff:

The big news is that Heather's old boss gave her a call last week, offering her a great new job. We've been doing the "find child care" dance since then, and made it out the other side. Now, we just have to deal with the guilt.

The upside of it is that we got a second car seat, so now when I take Jack on my weekend walkabouts to bookstores and the like, we get to ride in Dada's car.

Looking at most of the weblogs I surf, I noticed that most of them talk about politics and news and such. I don't for a simple reason: I don't have anything useful to add. (Not that it stops most folks.) Better to be quiet and seem the fool than to open my mouth (fingers?) and prove it for all to see.

Oh, and the geeks out there reading, check out my ebay auctions. There's a lot of White Wolf RPG stuff out there, and some comics as well.

2002-06-19T14:54:00.000-05:00

Let's see, what's new?

Jackson may have "Dada" and "Mama" down. We're starting to think that it's not just sound-making, but actual connection between word and thought. Today, after I left for work, he said "dadadadadadada" a lot, like he was wondering where the fat guy was. He's back to eating like he was before our trip to Missouri (where he was feeding himself people-food for lunch). He's gotten kind of cranky of late, and we think it may be due to a molar coming in. Either way, something's made his temper much shorter. Our new, least-favorite game: arching his back and screaming at the top of his lungs. He loves to do this when we change his diaper, because he wants to roll over onto his belly.

I guess that's it, mostly. Going to post something to Geek Thoughts later today.

2002-06-12T14:55:00.000-05:00

The Management would like to apologize for the total lack of content for, well, a month. Here's the deal.

First, we drove up to Missouri to visit relatives. A good time was had by all.

Second, we did a major reshuffle of the house, creating a computer nook in the office closet, moving all the books and geekery to the smaller bedroom closet, and all the clothes into the master closet. We still have to organize the books, CDs, video, and such, and would very well have done that if not for...

All three of us got sick. Thank God that Heather was only sick for a couple of days, but Jack and I were both terribly ill. Jack still is, poor dear, but he's getting better.

2002-05-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

Well, Jack just keeps coming up with new tricks. At this rate he'll be driving a car any day now. He can feed himself (though it's really messy), pull himself up to his feet and (more importantly) get back down to a crawl/seat by himself. The second step is very important, because it means he doesn't get hacked off at being "stuck" standing and yell for help. He's started cruising too. (For the uninitiated, that means he pulls himself up and "walks" along couches and the like, using them as support. He can even make the hop from couch to coffee table to easy chair without tumbling down (much). It's just amazing to see the enthusiasm in his eyes as he zooms down the hall at top speed. Of course, in a year or two, he won't be happy without the complete Toy of the Week action set. But for now, just crawling is all the entertainment he needs. The drawback, of course, is that he isn't happy unless he's crawling around, getting into things. We definately have to get a TV cabinet (among other babyproofing needs) and soon.

2002-05-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

Been busy. Duh. Who isn't these days?

Jack is quite the speed demon when crawling these days. He doesn't much care for being in the baby corral when he could be Danger Baby and zoom all over the house, scaring the dogs and finding awful things to jam in his mouth. His favorite choking hazard is the little rubber nub on the end of doorstops. He loves those. Sigh.

2002-04-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

Well, the hits just keep on coming.

Jack:Jack's crawl/scoot ratio has climbed to 80/20. Generally, he only scoots now when he "trips" over something (generally one of the toys in the baby-habitat) while crawling. He's eating real food about one meal in three these days too. He really likes it when we put a bunch of fruit (mango and banana, mostly) in a food processor and turn it to mush. He's gotten a lot better about feeding himself too. He pretty much has down how to grab a small chunk of food (piece of banana, pear cube, pasta, etc) and jam it in his mouth. His previous problem was grabbing it in the heart of his fist so he couldn't make the hand/mouth transfer. Jack really loves to crawl and generally gets pissed if we hold him too long. Jack and I also have some regular father/son activities. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings while Heather is in class, we go out to the park and fly a kite. He likes to watch the kite and the other folks in the park. I like that it's quiet. Also, on Wednesdays, I take him to the comic book store with me. He likes going for car rides, and it gives Heather a little time to work on school work.

Rick: For various reasons, I've sworn off caffeine. My addiction had grown without bounds thanks to the free soda at work. Well, I went cold turkey last Friday and haven't had any since then. I'm surprised that the withdrawl headaches haven't been too bad, but I'm a total slack-jawed zombie. Thank goodness my office doesn't have anything comfortable to lay on, or I'd be taking naps left and right. I also have to get a second draft of a writing project in by the end of the month. I've done all the changes my editor asked for, but I have to expand some sections before I send it back in. Sadly, Jack wants to stay up later these days, so I don't have a lot of time to write.

Heather: Heather has two more weeks of school left, so she's doing lots of math and working on projects for her art history class.

2002-04-15T16:16:00.000-05:00

Been a busy week.

Jack crawls about 50% of the time, the rest of the time, he scoots. He's very fast either way. He's also good at pulling himself up to his knees either in the baby-corral or his crib. He can hang onto something and stand pretty well too, and we see him trying to pull himself from his knees to his feet. I remember when he couldn't hold his head up. Sigh. Sunrise.... Sunset... Sunrise... Sunset...

On the food front, he's getting better at stuffing food in his craw all by himself. Once, he even jammed a whole wagon wheel (rice cake) in his mouth. He had a pretty funny expression, but managed to keep it in. The dogs love that Jack is feeding himself. This morning, he was next to me in his high chair with a wagon wheel while I ate breakfast and read an article in Parenting Heather flagged for me. I hear Jack giggle and look up to see the dogs licking his food-covered hands. This is going to be trouble.

Also, mad props to my friend Greg Morrow for buying the exercise bike that's been gathering dust in a corner since we got the dogs. That bike never really got past the clothes rack stage, but it did serve one important purpose: it got Heather into Buffy. You see, in the morning, I would ride the bike and watch a taped episode of the show. Eventually, Heather started asking questions like "I thought Willow was dating Oz, why is she kissing Xander?" and such. From there, it was a quick hop from "I'm just curious" to "okay, okay, I like the show."

2002-04-08T12:39:00.000-05:00

Another milestone for Jack - first crawl. He doesn't really have the hang of it, and generally only gets 1-2 steps forward before falling down and shifting to his more reliable (and surprisingly fast) commando crawl. However, he's giving it the ol' college try a couple of times a day.

Last night was major unfun, as there was a pretty bad thunderstorm in our area last night. Kept the dogs and the baby (and therefore, us) up most of the night. Jack played his favorite game of falling asleep in our laps, then waking up just as we lay him down in bed. I ended up dozing in the rocking chair with him for a couple of hours, but it wasn't really like sleep.

Going to start updating Geek Thoughts today. I tried to post Friday, but couldn't connect to the server.

2002-04-05T14:37:00.000-06:00

Jack had his 9 month checkup today. He's doing great and is in the 80th percentile for height, weight, head size, etc. He's scooting and able to sit up on his own. He's got 5 1/2 teeth in (two on the bottom, three on top with another breaking through on top). He gurgles all the time, and should be saying his first words in the next couple of months. We went back to Babies R Us to get another wall-mounted baby corral piece and turned the formal dining room into a babyproofed play-area. This lets him scoot around without us getting worried about what he'll get into.

We had our first interview with the social worker Thursday. She was very nice and didn't grill us as much as we thought might happen. Also, no white glove treatment of the house, though she did look the place over and we had spent the past couple of days cleaning up. We have to do more paper chasing, but we're mostly blocked by the slow process of getting certified documents out of various states.

2002-04-01T16:05:00.000-06:00

The INS sent us a receipt for the money orders we sent for the paperwork and fingerprint checks we sent last week. The envelope was hand-written, which is kind of nice - a person opened our letter and sent us a reply. I just started reading Karin Evans' The Lost Daughters of China - a book about one family's experiences adopting from China. It was interesting to see how their thoughts mirrored ours. One thing I would have liked to have seen (and maybe it shows up later on) is more about the stage of the process we're in right now (and the next one). The author mentions all the paperwork, but I'm midway through Chapter two and they're in China already. The paperwork phase got kind of glossed over, though they certainly captured the way it feels to have your lives under a microscope.

On the Jack front, he's scooting around very quickly now. We have to give serious thoughts as to how to child-proof the living room. We've been kicking around ideas since before Jack was born, but now we have to get down to business. He loves to grab phone cords and power cables. It used to be that, if we needed to go to the bathroom or to the kitchen or just out of the room for more than five seconds, it was okay, because Jack couldn't go anywhere (or certainly not very far). We're re-thinking how we do things now. Jack gets to sit in his high-chair and bang a plastic bowl (his new favorite toy) onto the tray while we eat instead of playing on the floor.

We went to have Jack's picture taken with bluebonnets. A long drive to Brenham for it, but the pictures were worth it. Thankfully, the rain didn't roll in until that evening. Easter was kind to Jack. He got a few toys and some animal crackers. The dogs love the crackers so he has to eat them in his high-chair rather than on the floor. Jack's not ready for chocolate bunnies, but Heather and I each had one for him.

2002-03-27T13:00:00.000-06:00

Another pile of paperwork goes off to be shuffled by a bureaucracy. The first stack of papers went out to the INS. Also, our social worker will be by next Thursday for the first of many home studies. Again, I am glad they're making sure that we aren't serial killers or clowns or something, but it shouldn't be this crazy.

Also, I was talking to another dad at work, and kvetched about Jack's erupting front teeth. He looked at me and said his kid was cutting molars, which (as all parents know) are the worst to erupt, since they're not sharp like the others. So, I guess it could be worse.

2002-03-27T09:27:00.000-06:00

Oh joy. Jack is cutting teeth again. His top two incisors are coming in. This translates to cranky baby who was up half the night. On the plus side, he's got a new game: scooting across the room in a commando crawl. Project: Baby-Proofing begins now. He's mobile!

My brother, Chase, is staying with us for a little while as he slowly moves down from Chicago. We spent the past few months emptying out the guest bedroom and he filled it up in half an afternoon, with half a U-haul still to unload. Most of it is still boxes, so he shouldn't overflow too much. He's made himself at home. Last night, he caught up on all the comics that had come in since he came down for Christmas and the TV's been tuned to ESPN for the first time since then as well.

From the Geek Front: I've started a second weblog Geek Thoughts so that folks who just want to hear about Jack and our adoption saga don't get distracted by my ramblings about geek-stuff.

2002-03-25T09:42:00.000-06:00

Another one for the "kids really change your life" file: Yesterday we ran errand, paid bills, and got Jack to sleep for his afternoon nap. What do we do? Sleep, of course. My Sunday afternoon naps are about the only thing that keeps me from wrapping my Saturn around a telephone pole Monday mornings. Last night, Heather and I were talking about how we used to be bored, with nothing to do. That's parenthood for you - there's always something to do.

From the Geek Front: Okay, I get that he's not hip. He hasn't been hip since the 70's, but darn it, someone should be bidding on my collection of Jack Kirby Mister Miracle comics. Oh well, the fact that my Destroyer books did so well is some comfort.

2002-03-22T07:59:00.000-06:00

Nothing much to report this week.

Adoption Update: We're still filling out forms and gathering Official Documents[tm]. Yesterday, we went to the local police station to get pieces of paper that say we aren't viscious criminals. I finished my autobiography last night. My next project is to fill out the financial forms, saying that we have enough scratch to support a second kid. While I agree that the kids need to be coming into a good home, sometimes I think it's just too darn hard to do this. Heather is doing the majority of the work, and it's like a part-time job for her. If not for Jack, it'd be a full time job. Frankly, if we win the lottery, the first thing we're going to do is pay someone to do all this paperwork.

From the Geek Front: We're got an iMac that I bought and a PC that work gave me. I am a Mac Person. Heather is not. With the work PC in the house, most of the "this mac sucks" friction comes from the fact that the scanner and printer are hooked up to the Mac, and not the PC, so she can't print or scan in pictures without using the devil's machine. So, being a good husband, and since she's got so much stuff to print out these days I decide it would be the gentlemanly thing to hook the scanner and printer into the PC. So, after we get Jack down, I plug the printer and scanner into a new USB hub and start installing software. Two hours later, I realize you just can't get there from here. I need NT 4.0 on the PC so I can do all the work stuff the corporate masters gave me the PC to do. But the printer and scanner software for NT 4.0 don't like USB hubs. I knew I was beat when, after installing the scanner software, I pulled up the help, clicked on my configuration and the help told me that I needed to return the scanner and buy a different one. So, they're back on the Mac again, and we've got a spare USB hub.

2002-03-18T08:33:00.000-06:00

Once again, real life takes away time that should be spent blogging.

Adoption update: We've received our info packets are are busy typing up our life stories so that the social worker doing our homestudy can approve us. The autobiography part is 7 pages of questions ranging from question 1a: When did you first start thinking about adoption? to question 21b: Have you ever been rejected or been the target of an unfavorable home study? Please explain. The section on my high school life alone took half an hour. Gah.

My answers:

1a: Like most people, I had not really considered adoption, thinking it was something done when one couldn’t have biological children. However, after talking with Heather (who is adopted herself), I’ve come to realize that adoption isn’t just about filling an empty space in a family. Adoption is just another way of adding a child to a family, and it has the added benefit of giving a home to a child who needs one.

21b: No

2002-03-17T15:17:00.000-06:00

My son is a tool user:

Last night Rick and I made pizza for dinner. As usual Jackson was playing with his Cheerios and Goldfish, occasionally eating one, but mostly playing. I gave him a piece of my pizza crust just to see his reaction. He actually mashed it with his jaws until the bread became soggy. Then he smashed the soggy end of the bread into a Cheerio and ate the Cheerio off the bread. He is a genius. Sure to the untrained observer it was just by accident but I know better.

2002-03-12T12:49:00.000-06:00

Web-Tricks for dummies: I added a counter to the blog to see how many fans we have. Are we not nifty?

2002-03-11T08:41:00.000-06:00

Heather and I went to a meeting for folks interested in Great Wall China Adoption on Saturday. Got to meet a guy who's been through the process, and another couple a step behind us in the paperwork. We learned a lot, mostly that the paperwork is going to be painful. For instance, we don't just need certified copies of our birth certificates and marriage license. They have to be notarized by the secretary of state of the state where it happened and the Chinese consulate that services that state. Now, if Heather and I had been born and married in the same state, this wouldn’t be so bad. But we’re sending papers, certified letters and checks all over the country to get this stamp or that one.

The more research we do about adoption, the crazier the system seems. It’s almost like the system is set up to make sure that parents who want to adopt children are kept from adopting children who need parents. Now, I am 100% behind any paperwork and background checks that keep the wrong parents from getting children. Similarly, I am 100% behind checks to make sure that the children are properly represented to adoptive parents.

But this is ridiculous. There are children out there, not just in America but around the world who need someone to take care of them. Many of them are suffering from neglect or bone-crushing poverty. And, there are plenty of families out there who not only can help these children, but want to. It seems to me that the tough part of the screening process should be the studies to make sure that freaks aren’t making a child’s bad situation worse. It shouldn’t be a marathon through bureaucracies.

2002-03-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

And there's the shoe...

Heather and Jack came to visit me for lunch today. Now lately, we've been giving little slivers of bread to Jack to get him used to the idea of feeding himself. Normally, he gums it, waves it around, and generally plays with it. Today, he was gnawing on it. How cute. Until, of course, he jammed it so far in his mouth that he gagged and urped all over himself and the floor of "eMeals."

As shoes go, not too bad.

2002-03-07T09:55:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note - Jack and the dogs slept through the night, which is unheard of. We also won a few bucks in last night's lotto drawing. I can only assume that there is another big, smelly shoe about to drop.

2002-03-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

Geek Chic: Okay, so I was watching Welcome to Eltingville the other night. I had taped it, along with the new episode of Justice League because, well, I'm a geek. For those who didn't watch it, it's based on an Eisner-winning comic by Evan Dorkin. It's about four alpha-geeks in all depravity/glory. The climax is a trivia-off to see which of two members gets to buy a rare Boba Fett action figure. If you've ever spent time at a con, you'll recognize these guys. No social skills, or hygene. An encyclopedia-like knowledge of trivia, but no marketable skills. Anyway, the cartoon takes this stereotype and shows it in all its unflattering glory. If you're not familar with the type, the best example I can give that's semi-mainstream is the guy who runs the comic book store on The Simpsons.

Now, I'm the first to say that just because a guy reads comic books, watches shows like Buffy, plays role-playing games, or any combination of the above, doesn't make him a That Smelly Guy In The Xena tee-shirt two-sizes too small. Doing Geek Stuff doesn't make someone That Guy. (Or Gal.) There are lots of normal people who do Geek Stuff. It takes something special.

There's a saying among fans, "reality is just a crutch for those people who can't handle science fiction." Uhh, no. Reality is still there when the movie ends, or you close the book. It's out there. It's big and scary and full of people who just don't grok Spock. But that's no excuse to retreat into anything (comics, bridge, sports, whatever).

If there's one thing that we can learn from reading the adventures of imaginary heroes it is that true heroism comes when someone takes a step beyond what they once were. Bilbo went down into Smaug's cave. Luke confronted Darth Vader. They didn't have to leave their comfortable worlds, but they did, and thus were transformed into something better.

2002-03-04T16:01:00.000-06:00

The big news:

After months of soul-searching and research, Heather and I made the big decision. We are, as we've often discussed, going to adopt our second child. We are going to be using Great Wall China Adoption as our agency.

We have numerous reasons for making this decision, but they boil down to: "it's the right thing for us." Adoption has always been important to Heather, and it's become important to me. It may take up to two years to clear the bureaucratic hurdles (not to mention the reams of paperwork), but at the end of it, Jackson will have a sister.

From time to time, we'll post updates here so our three readers will know the latest news.

Today's Late-Breaking Update: Great Wall called us to make sure that we had gotten the application form. Being the industrious sorts we are, we had already filled it out, and mailed it back to them. We should be hearing from them in a couple of weeks.

2002-02-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Just have to say, this looks incredibly cool. Like so many fans, I thought that Phantom Menace had a few good scenes, and a lot of disappointments. Heck, I managed to do my very own Phantom Edit by judicious use of the fast-forward button long before the infamous bootleg appeared.

But here's hoping that, as Empire was a better movie than Star Wars, Attack of the Clones eclipses Phantom Menace.

2002-02-26T08:26:00.000-06:00

Once again, Real Life took a priority to weblogging. Heather got a touch of the ick I had a few weeks ago. Both she and Jack are fine now. Jack is eating better than ever, but he's still not liking the veggies that much.

At work, we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it doesn't look like an oncoming train. Everything checks out, and now we're just watching to make sure that nobody else's fixes break our stuff. We've been working on this release for more than a year, and I'll be glad to have it out the door. (As will everyone else, I suspect.)

Got the project for White Wolf out as well. The second draft is going to need some work, but I'm anxious to find out which parts The Editor likes and which parts he thinks need work. Last night, after getting Jack down, I sat down at the computer and realized I didn't have to write, and felt all strange. I have some self-paced things I'm going to put up on the web after Draft Two gets out, but I'm on a break right now. It's nice to be able to just sit and talk with Heather for a change. Between her school and my writing, we've been running in parallel, rather than together. That's changed, and it's great.

2002-02-20T22:16:00.000-06:00

Since he was eating so well, I thought Jackson might like to try wagon wheels. For those who are not familiar with baby/toddler food, they are wheel shaped rice cakes. After the mess of biter biscuits, I decided to put him on a blanket and let him go. I tried without much luck to get him to taste one, but they make wonderful toys. Arden sat just out of reach, while he played. He rubbed them on the blanket, waved them in the air, and broke them into pieces. Finally after 30 minutes of play, most of which he spent sitting on the broken pieces, he lost his balance and fell over. That is when Arden went in for the steal. While I was trying to sit-up and de-fuss Jackson, she was ate the broken pieces he had been sitting on. At least she waited until they were out of his hand.

2002-02-20T12:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, the end is in sight for various things. We're over the Big Hurdle at work, and just have to re-check a couple of things before this pig gets out the door, and we get to start pushing a new boulder up the mountain.

The writing project for White Wolf is in the home stretch. Only a few more beasties to detail and then it's off to the editor Friday night for mockery and comments. Heather is doing the "I told you so" dance, because it's down to the wire (with a week's extension) and I’m frazzled. New babies and writing are unmixy things for me.

I almost hate to say this because it will curse us, but I think Jack is over all of his various icks, because he’s back to eating like Roman the Wonder Dog. For the longest time, he just wasn’t interested in eating, but now chows down on heaping bowls of rice cereal and Second Foods baby foods.

2002-02-18T07:53:00.000-06:00

Bloody heck, it has been a while. Let me recap.

Rick got the flu, is up to a deadline at work and with a writing project.
Heather had 2 tests.
Jack remains very cute. He is scootching forward to reach toys quite often and appears to be on the verge of crawling.
Neither of us care about the Olympic skating scandal.

More thoughtful posts will follow once various deadlines pass.

2002-02-08T13:59:00.000-06:00

BIG news of the day.

While feeding Jackson lunch today, I discovered another tooth has erupted. That now makes a grand total of two teeth. Rick and I were starting to wonder if he would ever get another one. It was about a month between number one and two.

We have started Jack on chunkier foods. The frozen bagel Katy suggested for teething was such a big hit; next week we are trying wheat toast. I think the dogs were more impressed with the bagel, hoping Jack would eventually drop something for them. I am sure it won’t be long before he is dropping snack off his tray.

2002-02-07T15:47:00.000-06:00

Just a short thought, really. Do folks who write slash fanfic for Queer As Folk have Brian and Lindsay or Ted and Melanie hooking up? I'd surf the web to find out, but I'm chicken. ;>

2002-02-06T13:50:00.000-06:00

A morning where I shoulda stayed in bed.

Jack was up for some time in the wee hours of the morning. Largely my fault, as I did my "hey, sweetie" routine, which made sure he was more awake and alert and thus harder to put back down. (Bad Daddy!)

So anyway, for some reason, the dogs let us sleep until 6:30 (which meant I had to hustle to get out the door at 7:00). In retrospect, they must have been plotting against us. For the past few days, it's been gray and rainy, which (as always) turns our backyard into mud soup. So, when I let them out into the front yard to do their post-breakfast business, I assumed (foolish me!) that they'd do what they usually do when it's cold and rainy: zip out, do their biz, and zip back in. Not this morning. I guess they saw a cat or something, because they tore off across the street.

As I said, it's dark and gray, as are the dogs. They also didn't have their collars on. So, I'm now in panic mode that they're going to get lost and/or run over. I run back into the house and grab the box of dog-treats. Normally, a good shake of the treat-box and they teleport to my side. But, when I return to the front door, the dogs are nowhere to be seen, even after a vigorous shake of the box. Now, I'm in full panic mode, and running to get leashes and my shoes. Heather (still in pajamas) runs down the street and spots the dogs, about a block away. Thankfully, we are able to wrangle the dogs into leashes and back into the house.

I think we've learned our lesson. Always put 'em on leashes if we're going to let them out into the front yard, rain or shine. Either that or get the backyard re-done.

2002-02-04T08:29:00.000-06:00

Well, Jack is doing better as of this morning. He isn't sleeping too well, which means nobody's sleeping that well. The biggest problem is that the steroid treatments get him really wired, and keep him up way past his bedtime. He's not a cranky child, he just wants to play until close to 10:00 PM (as opposed to his normal bedtime of 7:30 PM). Thankfully, he only has to do those for another day.

So, not much sleep or free time for the next few days. Dunno how (or if) I'll make my deadline, but at least I've got a good excuse and it's the first I've blown.

2002-02-02T22:06:00.000-06:00

(Second attempt – damn this software!)

At seven months, Jackson decides it’s time for his first trip to the emergency room. After calling our doctors’ after-hours number and confirming that he should not gasping for air, we were sent to the ER to have him evaluated.

After several hours in the ER, the pediatrician confers with our pediatrician that Jack should be observed overnight. With his month-long bout of RSV in December, we were ready to weigh in on the side of caution. Finally, we arrive at our room to discover the hospital cannot find a crib for us. Apparently, they are undergoing renovations, and no one could remember where they were being stored. (Or so they said.) I had already been holding twenty pounds of cranky child for over 12 hours. What were a few more? I was more afraid I would doze off and drop him.

Finally, we settled down for a night of wake-up calls. After Jack’s first breathing treatment and steroids (during which he screamed like I broke his leg), I’m sure the other people in the hall were thinking, “hey, sick people here. Make baby go away.” An hour later, he seemed to sleep and I put him in his crib only to have him roll over and look at me like it was playtime! He ran his pacifier back and forth against the metal bars of the crib. I was just waiting for him to yell out “hey screw, let me outa here!” Too many infomercials later, he finally fell asleep.

Next morning, the doctor gave us the all clear. He sent us home with prescriptions and breathing treatments in our future. He also announced that Jack is too pale and needs more Vitamin D. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to accomplish this with an infant that has milk allergies. Oh well, there’s always the tanning booth.

2002-01-31T08:50:00.000-06:00

The web is a very inbred space. We've had the site up for two days, and I've told only one person about it. And yet, we've been mentioned in File13's (Laurence Simon) Blog.

I suppose there's nothing more self-indulgent than having a log entry about being mentioned in someone else's log entry.

Not much news on the home front. Jack is eating like a champ again, now that he's used to having a tooth in his mouth. Heather is into the groove going back to school. I'm writing in short, staccato bursts between putting Jack to bed and putting myself to bed. It's not too great for the flow of the work, but it's getting done.

2002-01-29T10:51:00.000-06:00

Some days, I am reminded why I usually watch taped reruns of shows I archive instead of the news. This morning, I watched last night's Justice League cartoon with Jack. Show ends, and I have CNN on. Jack is playing on the floor, and they start playing the story about how the town of Inglis, FL banished Satan from their midst. I am reminded of the episode of West Wing where Jed asks the question "Is there an epidemic of flag burning going on that I'm not aware of?" Who knew the Prince of Darkness liked small town Florida?

The news report went on to show the ugly face of religious intolerance, brewing right here in America.

So anyway, I've picked up Jack by now, and am busily yelling at the Mayor of Inglis and her redneck cronies. Jack proceeds to pop the pacifier from his mouth, and jams it in mine.

Thanks, son. I needed that.