Where does all the time go
Here it is, Sunday evening, and I wonder "where has all the time gone this weekend?" If I think back, it is easy to figure it out. Friday night was movie night for Ashley and I after Emily went to bed. We watched Charlie Wilson's War and I was quite impressed with it. In the middle of the night, I woke myself up from a Nyquil-induced coma in a coughing fit because, yeah, I am sick again. Of course, I have been for two weeks now, so that is nothing new. The Saturday morning after payday is errand day for me. I have to go to the bank and get out cash for groceries, my allowance, etc. This is fairly new and I will probably talk about it in a future post. I decided to take Emily with me and we made a morning of it at the bank and at the library. She picked out two of the four books that I got for her, so I was really proud of that. Also, it gave Ashley a chance to shower in peace since Emily was out of the house 
After lunch, Emily took a brief nap and Ashley escaped on a Christmas shopping trip while I settled in for a little bit of college football. Em got up and we played and watched and snacked for the rest of the afternoon. It was a good bit of Daddy-Daughter bonding time. Of course, by the time Ashley got back, she had to take over pretty completely because I could not keep a breath in me without coughing it back out. From a health front, yesterday afternoon was horrible, although I count the day as a whole as a win from an enjoyment standpoint.
Today was another busy day. I made breakfast for Ashley, Emily, and I before taking Em grocery shopping with me this morning. After lunch, we all went to Sam's as a family. Emily decided that she did not really want to nap today, so she was a little cranky this afternoon. We did laundry and dinner and then Emily went to bath. After bath, she was not quite ready to go to bed, so we let her play for a bit. She was tearing around her room like a crazy girl! She was running circles around Ashley and I, wanting us to grab her and swing her around as she ran by. After 10–15 minutes of that, she was finally worn out! Now, I get to relax for a little bit before bed.
MIA, for a little while…
Hey Everyone!
I know posting hasn't been regular here for a while, but it might be a little more scarce in the days ahead. We found out on Friday that Emily has RSV and a double ear infection. She has been out of daycare since last Thursday. The good news, she hasn't run a fever since Fri. The bad news, she absolutely hates the nebulizer treatments. She gives us the evil eye after we give her a treatment. So far, she seems to be in good spirits. A little fussy, but that is understandable. We are hoping she will be well enough to return to daycare tomorrow. The doctor said she could return once she no longer had a fever.
So, that is why we were MIA during PHE. I hate that we missed it this year, but I didn't think anyone would appreciate us sharing germs with them. RSV presents as a cold in adults and poor Jon came down with it the day after Emily started getting sick. So, I have a couple of sick patients these days. Both are showing improvement though
I hope everyone else is doing well. May you not catch a cold during all this crazy weather.
What It Means To Be A Father….
You know, I never really gave much thought as to what it means to be a father or what they go through as they watch their children grow-up. In my experience, fathers can be fun, but they can be stern too. I'm sure the phrase "Just wait until your father comes home" still strikes fear into many children. But really, what does it mean to be a father? Now, I am certainly not the person to answer this, seeing as I am not a father nor will I ever be one. However, a recent experience has gotten me thinking about things, specifically from a father's point of view.
Last week, as I was on my way to work, I heard this song about a father giving his daughter away at her wedding. It gave me goosebumps just listening to it. It made me think of my dad and what he must have gone through when I got married. It was really an eye-opening moment for me. So, Dad, here is my tribute to you and fathers everywhere, courtesy of the group Heartland. (I know the song is geared toward fathers and daughters, but I think it is applicable to fathers and sons as well.)
Here is the song...
Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your wayChorus:
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her firstHow could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of timeRepeat chorus
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first-I Loved Her First by Heartland
This song is probably just barely touching the tip of the iceburg of fatherhood. But again I ask, what does it mean to be a father? I can only speculate. Joy? Love? Hope? Pain...in the sense that one day you have to let your children go? I may not know what being a father means, but I know what my father means to me. He could never be replaced. I have been truly blessed with wonderful father in my life.
Thanks Dad, for everything
So many books, so little time
Ok, so I have finally started to slow down in my book reading. Since I finished reading Freakonomics last month, I have not been idly whiling away my time. I have still been reading fiction, finishing up Children of the Mind (CotM), Night Watch (NW), and To Dream in the City of Sorrows (TDitCoS). Below are my brief thoughts on these three, relatively short, books.
CotM is the final book in the Ender's Game saga. All I can say is that it is finally over. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series (Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead) but after that the series went downhill. Orson Scott Card seemed to get preachy and by the end of Xenocide, I just stopped caring what happened to the characters. However, when I start a series, I feel the need to see it through, so I read CotM anyways. I still did not care what happened, I just wanted the Deus Ex Machina to hurry up and save the day so that I could move on to something new. If I had it to do all over again, I would still have read the book because it did give some really good closure to the series, but it just did not do anything for me.
NW was the first Terry Pratchett book that I have read. It was quite the refreshing change over CotM. The story was funny and I really cared what happened. For the first time in a long time, I found myself staying up as late as I could so that I could read just one more chapter. Sadly, I finished the book in less than a week. Then I remembered that Terry Pratchett is horribly prolific writer, so I have plenty of his books to choose from when I want to read another one, which made me happy again
TDitCoS is set the in Babylon 5 universe so, if you are not a fan of the TV series, you probably will not care for the book. I am a big fan, though, so I thought that the book was quite entertaining. It was well written and seemed to fit in well with the overall story arc of the series. It was not high, classic literature, but it was a fun book to read. Definitely recommended if you want to know more about what happened to Jeffrey Sinclair after he leaves Babylon 5.
That is all that I have managed to make it through in the past month. I have been working through one of my nerd books during my lunchtime at work, but I have only just started chapter 3 since I am trying to work as many of the exercises as I can. Next up on the fiction list: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It has gotten several good reviews so I am excited about reading it. More about this one in a later post...
Appalling, simply appalling
Battle over child's right to die
How horribly, horribly tragic. It saddens me that there are people in this world who would beat their children in the first place, but to beat them into a comatose, vegetative state and then ask for the state to not take the child off of life support....how dare he! Of course, he's not motivated by the fact that if she dies, he faces a muder charge....yeah right! Yes he's motivated by that! How truly disgusting.
I don't even have a category that this will fit into. And I don't particularly want to create one either.
What kind of a world do we live in?