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Apr
27
The Arm’s Not Broken
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She’s got a bad bruise and her arms in a sling, but it’s not broken. Thank God.
Apr
26
Trip to the E.R.
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My wife and oldest daughter are at the emergency room right now. We had all taken a walk up to the school to let the girls play on the jungle gym, and Quinn slipped off the monkey bars and landed really hard on her right arm. She was crying something good, but when I took a look at it, it didn’t seem like anything was wrong other than a small scratch. I brushed her off and we walked over to where my wife was on the swings with Grace, and in that short amount of time, her arm – just below the elbow – had swollen pretty good. It really hurt her even just to have one of us touch it, so we quickly walked home and put some ice on it. Our pediatrician doesn’t have Saturday hours, so not wanting to take any chances, my wife took her to the hospital to have it looked at and possibly x-rayed. My gut tells me it’s broken…, but I’m an eternal pessimist, so let’s hope I’m wrong.
Apr
22
The Seal Watchers
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Quinn and I had a little time during her spring break to put the finishing touches on a school project that started months ago when we went for a boat ride on the Long Island Sound to look for seals. I was finally able to sit down with her and get her to focus on this video I wanted to co-produce. She’s required to do a project every month about a book of her choice – which tend to be about animals. In kindergarten, my wife and I worked very hard with her to create some really great things – dioramas, paper-maché snakes, mobiles. This year, however, we’ve really let her do most of the work, and more often than not she just stands in front of the class with the book and gives an aural report. Which is great – don’t get me wrong – it’s just that I feel as though I’ve been neglecting the project-oriented side of things. I’ve also been dying to do a video with her since her first day of kindergarten, and she’s finally old enough where I thought we could pull it off.
Below is the fruits of our labors. Quinn wrote the story and picked out most of the facts, which she also typed all by herself. She picked the music and did the narration. I took it from there. Enjoy.
Apr
19
We’re just at the end of a week of vacation from school. It was a great week to be home…, couldn’t have asked for better weather. The girls spent most of their time outside playing on a swingset – be it ours or one of the many others in the neighborhood. I probably shouldn’t be encouraging the behavior you’ll see in the video below, but I remember doing it as a kid and I LOVED IT! They were having too much fun for me to stop them. As long as nobody gets hurt, right?
Apr
15
The Day Shift
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The wife and kids have the week off from school, so I decided to work a day shift all week. It was mainly intended to appease the boss who sometimes gripes about my hours, but it turns out he’s off all week. Still, I decided to work the morning hours anyway…, only wearing jeans instead of khakis (the GM and the News Director are out all week too, so who am I trying to impress?! 
). I’ll use this week instead, as a “looking forward” experience, because at the end of June, I’ll be returning to a day shift full-time.
Yes…, it’s hard to believe, but true. After 11 years of working a night shift (with a short run on the day shift here and there), I’ll finally be moving to a “normal” work schedule. I started at this job on a night shift, but then decided to keep those hours when we had our first child so my wife and I could raise her and not have to rely on daycare. When our 2nd daughter was born, her special needs – in addition to the commitment we had to being the sole care-takers of our children – kept me on the night shift. Now, with both children going to be in elementary school, there’s no real reason for me to NOT move to days. My bosses will be thrilled (believe me…, I know how lucky we’ve been that I work at a place that actually needs people to work evening hours), and my wife and I will get a chance to experience life as a normal married couple – if there is such a thing.
I have to admit, I like the night shift. I like having my days to get all the things done that need to get done, instead of having to try and squeeze it all into a weekend. I like being able to go to the gym, do the shopping and the laundry, and the cooking and the house cleaning during the day when my children are in school. Those 3 hours that my youngest is in preschool are also the hours I do my freelance work or just sit down and watch a movie. I’m not sure how I feel about losing that time.
On the other hand, I know how important it’s going to be for me to be home at night. To be with my wife and children for dinner. To help with homework and bedtime. It will be an adjustment, for sure – but I’m sure I’ll settle in quickly and we’ll all benefit from it.
I guess I’ll also need to decide if I’m going to keep blogging. I’m not going to be a stay-at-home dad anymore. I’ll be kicked out of the club. Voted off the island! What to do???
I guess I could change my header graphic, take a different angle and launch Version 3.0?
Apr
9
Santa…, Is That You?
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Christimas came a little early the other day. Santa made a surprise visit during bathtime…
Apr
1
G-Tube Surgery Update
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