Two perfect little people

In the midst of a week full work week it is amazing how I found time to sit down and rest, rest and not worry about bills, kids, or even work. I just took the time to listen to the waves crashing around me… the warm waves in the distance, I can smell the salty, Caribbean sea air and feel the warming sensation of the sun on my over-worked and tired body. I rub my toes together to knock the sand off. I feel a breeze on my face and peek one eye open to feel the cool shade from the palm tree above. The beads of sweat running down my sun-kissed, tan chest as I lounge in a white, beach chair just close enough to the sand that I can run my fingers gingerly through the rough, granule mixture of soft, white sand. I lay comfortable, calm, serene in this Corona-like state.

“Eric.”

I hear my name being called. Is a waiter walking by, dipping his head down to whisper to me, not to stir me from my zen?

“Eric?”

What service, what a life I have… it’s like a dream. I groggily turn my head over to the right and open my mouth to make my order for a fruity, Caribbean drink. I open my eyes and before I can order my drink the shadowed figure above looks stunningly familiar.

“Eric, hand her over,” my wife, Laura, says. “I need to swaddle your daughter.”

I look down and realize it was all a grand dream. I was, in-fact, home on my comfy couch lying with my daughter, Elle, secure in our Baby Bjorn, on my chest. It had been such a taxing and hard week and it was only Thursday! I forgot I had laid down after chasing my little boy around and before I knew it I was out like the light in our bathroom. Side note: Our bathroom light has been out for about two weeks and I keep putting it off from changing it, I swear to my wife that “this weekend, after I mow, I will change it. I look down at my little girl, snoring lazily with one of her little hands up by her face and the other dropped, idly by my side. I look to my right and see my son sitting down on the floor and trying to place two plastic blocks together. It seemed as if he was getting really frustrated because the yellow and green block wouldn’t connect so the anger in him rose and he threw it on the floor behind him. He then had his attention taken away when he struck up a conversation with his six dwarves. A mixture of “daa’s” and “doo’s” go back and forth from he and the dwarves. We are unsure of the whereabouts of “Happy” the dwarf.

It is amazing to see how much our son, Mauldin, has progressed in just sixteen months. I lay there with a six-week old baby on me and see my other child running around, playing and trying to put toys together. It boggles my mind that my child learns! I mean it is amazing to me!

“Bring me your football Mauldin!” I say enthusiastically! He looks as me with his glittering blue eyes and turns to find his ball. I know how elementary some things can be, but to me, “the dad,” I just feel as if my child is a genius!

I cannot believe my wife and I are parents of two children! I would say “how did this happen?” But, that would be kind of stupid, but in all fairness it staggers me to wake up and know I am responsible for two little people! Two perfect little people…

A plague on all our house

Most people spent their Memorial Day weekend lounging around, frolicking at the beach or spending quailty time with their loved ones... Well, I certainly got some quality time, but quality was over shadowed by the immense plague that has surrounded the Skates household since last week.

Our little boy loves to play with his friends and unfortunatley his little friends like to share and that includes germs.

He has been so sick, he would just take turns lying on us napping... that is whenever he got comfortable and sometimes this takes a little bit of kicking and sometimes in the area that may cause us to not give him anymore siblings.

Now granted kids get sick, right? You know this... I know this. I am well aware. But, our son ended up with a ear infection...

"but how can this be?" I questioned the doctor at the Urgent Care facility. "We just got tubes put in his ears... shouldn't that keep him from getting ear infections?"

"Generally, yes" the doctor followed. "However, there are the instances where he can still get them."

Well, how-de-do, I had no idea, someone failed to give us that tip of information... we were told if he were to get one ... we would know from the gunk coming from his ears... In this case, however, no gunk. We had no idea what was causing our 14 month old son to have a fever of 102.

So, let me set the scene for you... the most inopportune time for our little boy to get sick... he does...

Fast forward to Saturday... we started the morning, 9 am, at the "urget care," (I referred to earlier)... our little boy had been up all night, coughing and hacking and squirming... we had no idea what to do besides administer motrin and tylenol! So, we knew we have to call the "urget care" and get there as soon as they opened their doors. After sitting in the waiting room, where our little boy ran from chair to chair and banging his head against doors we were called back... after seeing the doctor we paid the "urgert care" co-pay and was sent on with no Rx, but with a wealth of information...

"Call us, if his temp goes any higher," the doctor told us has he exited the room! Thanks doc!

Late Saturday afternoon, about 4pm, my wife and I discovered a lot of funk in my sons left eye, so we tried to find the eye drops from the last time he had pink eye... as soon as I hit the last kitchen stair and rounded the corner to the den I heard and a loud noise and scream from my wife. I immediatley turned around to find my wife sprawled on the stairs, with our son still in her arms. Please note, women nine months pregnant should not be taking the express option when taking stairs... I ran to her and in my frantic mindset all I could do was go from my son to my wife, who do I help first??? I felt such a sense of urgency and panic I looked for blood, I looked for signs of broken limbs... I...

"Take him!" Take him!" my wife exclaimed in sheer agony. I wasn't sure what to do!!! How was I to pick who was more important... I can't take that kind of pressure!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her arm was pretty badly bruised and considering I could already see the blue she had to of hit it pretty hard.

I grabbed our little boy who was whailing at the top of his lungs... his eyes were full of tears, his face red and snot oozing from his nose.

"Ohhh, ohh you're okay little man!!" I said as I bounced him up and down all the while looking at my wife lying on the stairs.. it seemed hours had gone by but only seconds. I saw the drops we were searching for on our brown, linoleum kitchen floor. It was a very, small, clear bottle with blue writing on it.

Laura slowly started to get up, "stop! Wait babe," I said "let me help you!"

I put our son, Mauldin, down and let him stand on his own, also to check to make sure his leg was okay. He took one tiny step toward my direction. I could tell then he hadn't broken his leg. He did have what seemed like a red carpet burn on his knee cap.

"I think his leg fell behind mine on the way down," Laura gasped. "Check him to make sure he is okay."

Mauldin stood there in his t-shirt and diaper, still sniffing, but the crying fit seemed to have subsided, except when I lost eye contact with him the crying continued, but this time at an even higher level. He was fine, but the fall and seeing his mommy lying on the floor I'm sure scared him a little.

"He is okay, sweetheart..." I reassured her. "Are you okay?"

I reached over to help my wife stand up from the stairs and noticed pieces of our baby gate all over the kitchen floor...

"Wow," I said "I wonder where that piece goes!?" I tried to insert some humor into the seemingly stressful situation.

My inital thought when Laura fell was, of course, her and my little boy's well-being, but then I also worried about Elle. Our little girl is still inside her mom's belly... and if she was asleep that was quite a wake-up call for her!

"Call the doctor's right now and see what they want us to do" I suggested to Laura as I held Mauldin in my arms. He continued to sniff and wimper all the while tugging on my shirt collar.

"Okay, hand me the phone." Laura said.

"I will call your mom to see if she can come stay with him." I replied.

One thing I didn't know was that Laura's mom and dad had been in South Carolina to visit Laura's sister, Amy and our nephew, Drew...

"We are in SC," replied a voice on the phone "what's going on?"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Mauldin screamed into the phone. I tried to talk as loud as I could, but his deafening screams were muffling my dialouge into the phone. I finally got him quite by the art of distraction... I gave him a plastic chicken leg to hold from his little play kitchen... but as soon as I stood up to talk on the phone again he banged his forehead into the "play" kitchen sink... let the crying resume!

"Call us back when he has calmed down," My mother-in-law replied "I can't hear you!"

My parents were on their way back from a week in Myrtle Beach, SC, at this moment. But, I knew they were headed home... so I called and did not get a hold of my mom... so I called my sister... no answer... I then tried my dad and finally got a hold of them!

"Now, don't freak out..." I said preparing them. "Laura is not in labor, but she fell down the stairs." I went on to explain the siutation.

Well, obviously today was not ideal for us to go into labor, much less have any other type of emergency...

The nurse at the hosptial suggested we come in and have Laura monitored... My parents were in Augusta and were still a good three hours away and I knew we needed to get to the hosiptal before that. Laura was to be monitored for alteast four hours!

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Jenn and Paul, live just down the street, conveient for us when we are in a jam, but on this day our niece Annagrace was sick too and we didn't want our two kids sharing more germs and getting sicker than they already were. Who else? My brain was fried, I couldn't seem to focus on the task at hand... my mind was going from my wife to my son to my unborn daughter... what were we going to do? We certainly couldn't take him to triage with us with him being as sick as he was! I called our friends Amanda and Mike, a fairly newly wed couple, who I trust with my life and just hoped they were nearby and available.

"We are on the otherside of town," Amanda said. "It might be a little while before we can get there."

I was so frustrated... what were we going to do?!

"I have an idea," Laura said. "Let me call and see if Tori and Jeremy can watch him."

Tori and Jeremy are Laura's cousins, they live in our subdivision, so it would be so easy to take him there. But, could they watch Mauldin for the amount of time until our parents could arrive, that was the question! Thankfully, Tori said they could and I rushed to get all of his stuff together to head over there...

I wish I could tell you something more exciting happened, like it sent Laura into labor and we had Elle here already, but nothing like that happened at all... We did end up at the hospital, in the triage unit, for a little over four hours and mom and baby were just fine... well, Laura did end up with some major bruising, but luckily she fell on her toosh and so it softened the blow for our little girl.

To put insult to injury, whatever Mauldin had... he has now passed onto me and my wife. So, Mauldin I love you, but let daddy give you a lesson that sometimes sharing is a bad thing.

Lets hope for less eventful weekends from now on!!!

Just say mommy!

Just say mommy…

Yesterday morning, upon waking up around 7:00 am (post DST), I strolled into my son’s dimly lit bedroom and saw him standing in his crib, his hair disheveled from burying his head in his bumper.

“Good mornin’ little man, did you sleep well?” I asked, as if I were expecting to receive an honest answer… I pause as I look at my little boy.

“Dada?” he says as he points at the pictures of us on his photo-memory board.

“Yes, there’s da-da…” I say. “And, there’s momma, and there’s Mauldin!”

He smiles a gummy-grin with a hint of two tiny teeth poking out of his bottom gum. "You wanna go see mommy?"

He points out the door, “Da!”

I look down and step over numerous books and colored blocks littering his bedroom floor… with Mauldin wrapped snuggly around my neck I head out the door.

As I round the corner to our room I see a light has been turned on and I hear water running…
I hear a voice and two large white doors open outward… it’s my wife!

“Good morning!” says Laura. She is wrapped in only a towel obviously ready for her morning shower.

“Did my little boy have a good night sleep?”

“Dadadadada,” replies Mauldin.

“Yes, he seems to be in good spirits despite..” I say, I reach over and grab a tissue from the box of Kleenex on our dresser.

“Here,” I say as I reach out to Laura.

“Despite his runny nose?” Laura said finishing my sentence.

“Yes, mommy, we have a runny nose.” I followed as I watched her wipe the nasty concoction of goo from our child’s nostrils.

Mauldin expressed his dislike by his face turning red and his sad pout.

We always try to occupy Mauldin with the art of distraction whenever he is upset…
“Mauldin, say mama!”

He looked at me with his sad eyes, filled with tears… one slowly moved down his cheek and he quickly responded with a coy little smile…

“Dad-de!”

One day at a time...

But, I wasn't finished with that daddy...

“What do you wanna do today?” My wife says while our little boy sits so playfully in between us in our bed on a cold Saturday morning.

“Eric?” she obviously was talking to me and not our son, Mauldin.

“Oh, I thought you were talking to him,” I reply as I glance down at our little boy who is half way through his early-morning apple juice. He likes to drink his juice and watch Playhouse Disney. He is a multitasker, that’s just how he rolls.

“Well, I guess I kinda was talking to you both, but the only thing he can say is Da-da…” my wife says with a hint of sarcasm and glee.

As I think about the fun retort I just stop myself because our son may be only 10 months, going on 11, but he is pretty sharp and one day soon he will start repeating what we say… and my dirty thoughts weren’t something I want coming out of his toothless chops. As I reach down to grab his empty juice cup he looks at me with the saddest face and a frown that could melt the heart of The Heat Miser.

I'm sure I know what was going through Mauldin's mind - "But, I wasn't finished with that daddy!" The truth is he was done, he was sucking air... but I guess he likes chewing on the spout. Just as I start to laugh at this face I see a hint of white on his lower gum. Please understand our son, Mauldin is 10 months old and has yet to cut a tooth, but has been teething since, well birth. New parents please understand… even if your child is drooling a lot it doesn’t necessarily mean he/she is teething.

It is and has been for a long time a huge, huge and very large pet peeve for anyone to put their fingers in my child’s mouth. I understand when the doctor does it, or my wife or myself… but other people who have germy hands it is just something I cringe just thinking about. However, for this day it was something that had to be done and I took the opportunity to “feel around for evidence of some baby teeth.”

“So, do you feel anything…” my wife quickly asks.

“Well, I think, I think… I think I can feel something…” I replied.

“Let me check,” said Laura.

She picked up our little boy, still in mid-frown from the sippy cup being taken away and now one of his favorite shows, Charlie & Lola, is on and we are taking him away from it… I know, we are terrible parents.

“Oh my… goodness…” said Laura. “Our baby has cut his first tooth.”

I immediately went to turn on all the lamps in our room so I could get a good look at this so-called tooth.

“Do you not believe me?” said Laura.

“Yes, my dear,” I replied “but can I just look at it? I wanna see it too!”

I sat there and looked as I asked our little man to open wide, as if he actually knew what I was asking him to do.

“Can daddy check to see your tooth?” And, just like that I saw the little white rectangle sticking out of his lower gum as if it were there hiding all along and just waiting for us to discover it!

“Well, hello there my little friend… how long have you been there?”

So, there it is, like I said… the whole tooth and nothing, but the tooth. More to come, I’m sure!

It's a girl!

I guess I should start saving... honestly, I don't know how...

1. I am going to handle my little girl dating and

2. I don't know how I will be able to afford her wedding.

Yes, it is official, the Mrs. and I will be having a little girl come this summer!

Epic. Here is a picture of our beauty, Elle.

Textless Tuesday

When does a child know their name?

It is just a shock... like wow! My child's brain works!

It was inevitable and I knew it would happen, but for it to happen in such a short amount of time is just surprising to me.
MJ has learned his name. It is actually pretty adorable... amazing, exciting, cool and just plain elementary, but as a parent... it's well... wonderful!

I noticed it on Monday morning. I woke up to the sound of my wife opening the bedroom door from the hallway on her way to the bathroom to take a shower. She had MJ in her arms and he was wearing a six-month old onesie which we had no idea he had grown into.

"I had to do it," said Laura.

"what?" I asked while rubbing my eyes with a sleepy tone in my voice.

"I had to open the next drawer.." she replied. "He is getting so big I didn't even notice his three months onesies were too small now!"

In MJ's nursery we have drawers under his changing table where we keep the bulk of his clothes. In the top drawer there are 3-6 month onesies and below that, in the second drawer are his 6-9 month onesies and t-shirts... and in the third drawer from the top are his shorts, pants and swim suits. Now granted until this past week he could still wear newborn shorts but now has graduated to 3 months.

"Noooooo.." I said with a gasp.

"Yep.." said Laura, "it's so sad."

First our little boy does not have to be swaddled, now he is growing into 6 months clothes and he is only 5 months old! This is so wrong!

Back to what I was saying... MJ has learned his name. Laura slide him down into his little jeep, where we put him while we try and get ready to go to work... it keeps him occupied long enough for "My Friend's Tigger & Pooh" to come on the Disney Channel... his favorite show.

Laura rolls the car across the wooden bedroom floor and you can hear a combination of beeps and car gears as his pushes each button on the quasi mobile toy.

"Good morning, Mauldin!" I said to him, and to my amazement, he turned his head... he looked right at me! Like "what up pops?"

I wasn't sure if he just heard my voice and turned so he went back to playing with the various buttons and acting as if he were driving his jeep.

I said it again, "Mauldin!" He jerked his head around in my direction.... I couldn't believe it! Laura smiled from ear to ear... Our little man is growing up... he knows his name...

Now if he would only learn to say mine... "Daddy," that will be even better!

I'm not too picky...I would accept "Da-da" too!

Is my son secretly taking growth hormones?

I know it was inevitable that, MJ, our four-month old baby would start growing, but at this rapid of a rate... no, I had no idea! The little guy is getting bigger every day.

A lot of his clothes are becoming a little more snug... he seems to be more and more vocal every day and now his diet has switched it seems as if he has began to spout like some child who just got injected with some sort of growth hormones. I'm totally joking of course. It is the evil clock... the time has just flown by... you hear everyone say "enjoy it... they grow up so fast!" Okay, I understand now.

His little legs are longer, he has begun grabbing at everything... either it is my nose, my mouth, my wife's boobs (which I can't blame him, they're huge), the extra diapers by his changing table or the book we read to him before we put him to bed... he reaches out to touch, touch, touch!

It is actually really cute and I can't help, but laugh while he is squeezing my lips.. I look up at his big blue eyes that are affixed on my face and as he concentrates a couple of drops of drool pour from his mouth... I used to think baby drool was gross... but "my" baby's drool... doesn't bother me!
We lie him on the floor he rolls over and starts to scoot... not like a dog scoot... that would be kinda funny but then that would follow up with a trip to the doctor. We know he will crawl any day now.. I just hope I am around the day it happens. So, our little man is changing before our very eyes! Here is my plea little dude... slow down, I am in no hurry to have your poopie diapers smelling like real poop. I will long for the day when I could honestly say "My kid's s*$% don't stink!"

Summer vacation in the fall?

Today, while my boss is out-of-town on her week-long vacation, I am reminded that I have yet to take a vacation of my own. I sit at my desk looking longingly into the background scene I have plastered across my computer screen. The water looks so cool and inviting. I can almost feel the warm breeze, the sun and the wave mist splashing in the distance. I am then rudely awakened by a ringing office phone.

I mean my wife, Laura, and I have been on a short, quickie trip to Chateau Elan, a much-needed overnight stay, for our one-year wedding anniversary, but that’s it! I need more, I need more…

That’s my summer, happy freakin’ summer!

No, seriously, we are going on vacation, don’t get me wrong, but not until, okay, wait for it…. September. That’s is so many months away!!! Many, many moons.

However, the Skates family will be making up for our lost time-off, this fall, trust this.

Labor Day weekend we will be going with my family to Panama City Beach, FL. Yes, you read me right, the “Red neck Riviera” here we come. This will be our annual “beach” trip with my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, Everett, and my nephew’s Nanu. We will only be there Friday to Monday, but it will be worth it just to have some time to slip my feet into the sandy beach and warm Gulf water.

Then it is back to work, for us, for about two weeks and then we are off to… wait for it… are you waiting for it or just reading on? Dammit, you spoiled the surprise. Anyway, Disney World! We have been planning this trip for what seems like forever, but it is finally winding down. It won’t be long until we will be in the presence of the Great Mouse, Mickey. (Cue angelic music from above.) We will be there for a whole glorious week of fun and well-mannered frivolity. Hopefully my niece will not run screaming in terror from Chip & Dale or Lilo & Stitch. She is a bit skittish with “plushies.” I have a feeling this was fostered and inherited from my sister-in-law, her mother, Laura’s sister, Jennifer. I heard word that she has never done well with things like this from theme parks.

We will be traveling to Disney and staying at the Wilderness Lodge. All of Laura’s, immediate, family will be in attendance. Of course, me, Laura and MJ; her mom, dad, older sister, brother-in-law and nephew, Drew; also her second oldest sister, brother-in-law and Annagrace, the aforementioned niece. I have only been to Disney World with a “group” of people once before and that was in high school when I went on a band trip, no band camp jokes please. Yes, I went to band camp. Moving on…

All I am saying is I am due for a nice vacation and sadly I won’t be able to enjoy time off during the true “summer,” but I will make up for it on the tale end. So my summer vacation will be in the Fall. Is that weird? Hope you all are having great fun summer vacations with your families.

Have you ever been to the beach with a six month old? What about Disney World?

Oh rest and relaxation, how I long for thee.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh.... It's Friday!

Isn’t it a nice day today? Oh, and why would it not be? The sun-is-a-shinin’.. well, it is here where we are.

I would say I was glad, it’s Friday, even if it were raining, there were cloudy skies, pasha, it doesn’t matter because today… is… Friday! Friday, I say!

It is the beginning of what will probably be a pretty event-filled weekend!

First of all, it will be my daddy’s first Father’s Day. Mommy and I got him the coolest gift, but he doesn’t know what it is because we hid it from him…

Secondly, I am hitting a milestone, well sorta! I mean it's quite a milestone. Mommy and Daddy keep telling people about it. I will be turning three months old on Sunday… They seem pretty stoked about it.

Well, don’t do anything I wouldn’t be proud of… behave yourselves. Happy early Father’s Day to all you dads out there, and more importantly, happy Friday!

Click here to check out my dad’s column on Examiner.com!

What would Mauldin do?

Well, it's finally Friday, y'all!

I am really excited about the weekend because it is the time that I get to spend with both my mommy and daddy at the same time. I am sad when daddy is at work all day... but mommy is a lot of fun and lets me watch Mickey Mouse Club House and Sesame Street!

Maybe mom and dad will take me to play in the pool again... that was fun!

Also, it is my mommy's birthday on Sunday...

So, happy birthday, mommy!

Enjoy your weekend everyone - stay safe and when you think about doing something bad... just say -"what would Mauldin do?"

It's Friday and there's a dog on my shirt!

Hey Everybody! It's Mauldin again...

I thought I would help daddy out and guest post today... why?

It's Friday and I wanted to wish you all a safe and wonderful weekend full of spontaneity and fun!

I know I will certainly have a good time because when you start out a weekend wearing a dog on your shirt you know things can always get better!

Comon', what can I say... I haven't experienced that much... I'm 11 weeks old, but I expect a joyous weekend! I expect to eat, sleep... maybe poop and pee a little... I always enjoy my tv shows and dvds... all of which can be found on my Amazon.com wish list, if you were wondering...

I digress...

Cheers!

Comon' Ride the train...

Mauldin says "Happy Friday!"

Mauldin says "Have a great weekend!"

The curious case of the receding hairline...

Okay, so Mauldin has started losing his hair…

We laughed about his cousin, Grant, whenever this happened to him. The “skullet” is almost in full force.

Mauldin actually came out with a full head of hair and now we are lucky for him to have a decent comb over… Laura washed his head, a couple of days ago, and the little brush ended up with almost ½ of what was on his head! I know, I know, it will grow back… and yes, cradle cap, blah blah blah, we have heard it all..

But, can’t I just complain about it? I mean we are gonna have to go buy head-n-shoulders for our lil' man! He has dandruff worse than... well it's bad.

Honestly, he has a really cute face so it doesn’t really matter…

Looking forward, I know he will have a full head of hair again, some day, I just wish that day was sooner than later. One second thought, we should have had his spring pictures taken sooner…

Oh well, we still have his baby announcement photo to be taken… guess we will have to make do.

Do they have baby Rogaine? Just kiddin!

Growin' like a weed

Mauldin sure is growing... how do we know for sure?

He can actually wear "Newborn" clothes now; versus only wearing premie stuff! Our lil' man is still in premie diapers, however. Saturday, April 18th he will be officially four weeks old!

Here are some recent pictures of him. Enjoy!

My Life Would Suck Without You...

Today, after I picked up my six inch. turkey sub, on wheat bread, complete with Swiss cheese, mayo and just a squirt of spicy mustard, from Publix, I turned on the radio; to Sirius/XM 20 on 20. I was on my ride back into the office, in my car, when I heard Kelly Clarkson’s new song, “My Life Would Suck Without You!”

Now this isn’t the first time I have heard this catchy tune…you would have to be living under a rock not to have heard it! My apologies to my blog-fans who reside under rocks. But, I mean if you get internet access you could atleast turn it to xmradio.com, right? Okay, I digress…

I immediately thought, “My life will suck without my 20 on 20 playlist from Sirius Radio!”

I understand my days are limited where I can enjoy the “un-cut” versions of songs. I don’t even actually enjoy some of the stuff that is on the airwaves these days… Just the other day, to skew from the subject, just for a moment, Laura and I were skimming the channels and ran across the new season of MTV’s“The Real World” and apparently it is set in Brooklyn… I just felt so detached from that show now… I feel I cannot relate to it anymore… I felt, so, so… so, I’m going there, old. I felt old.

It is inevitable, upon the arrival of our bundle of joy, our song choices, for the car and at home, will be altered to child-friendly melodies. Sweetly sung diddlies that will enhance and put a signature smile of his gleaming face. But, then I thought, while looking in my rearview mirror and gazing upon the Graco snug-ride base, in the backseat, sans baby carrier and baby, that will today’s music really effect him that much? Will I be restricted to “safe” tunes? I know my wife is on my side with this. Can I stomach only the “safe” stuff? Also, another tangent, we were in a children’s store and they music they were playing were popular songs, but sung by a gaggle of children! It was basically making me ill to listen to it. Poor Ryan Cabrera, Tonic and John Mayer have had some of their songs converted into a tune where a chorus of children belt it out as if it is a song they would sing while in music class! I was appauled and threw up in my mouth a little…

I thought, what do I listen to on a day-to-day basis right now? What is frequently played on the airwaves? Lady Gaga, Rhianna, Britney Spears and T-pain… truly… will this genre of music poison my son’s brain and cause him to act differently? Will he be swayed to wear his little diaper down to his knees because that’s how his “homies kick it?” Has there been a study done on the effects that pop and ghetto music have on infants? Surly not! Do I want to be a case-study? No. So, what are our choices…lets see… well, the regular music we listen to now while mixing in the soothing lullabies, a little Radio Disney, here and there, the occasional, various children’s CD (Old McDonald, etc…) and classical music; as to stimulate our son, so he can be the next Wolfgang Amadeus. I know some people who swear by Christian CD’s and the like, but honestly, and let me preface I am not against the Christian music, however, it’s kinda lame. But, that’s just my humble opinion… comment how you will…

I sometimes see my nephews, niece or even children of my friends and the little one's try to dance... they shake their heads and basically get giggy with themselves! It's classic! Will Mauldin have rhythm? Will he bust a move? Only time will tell...

I would certainly like to have a well-rounded child, but I guess I will play whatever, in the car, and he will latch on to something he enjoys, right? So, either he will be wanting to sing-a-long to “How much is that doggy in the window..” or he could hum along to JT’s Summer Love. Whatever the case may be… the music I listen to will be limited… but honestly, without some mainstream music in my car… I may lose my mind!

A Couple of Mopes

Our dogs are Grumpy…

Sad or grumpy would actually be understatements. They are gloomy, cheerless, poignant, distressed, if you will…

Pick one of the aforementioned adjectives and they could both take the place of “Grumpy” from Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs!

Logan, our hyper and always energetic Beagle, seems so melancholy… and Andy, our hyper-sensitive West Highland Terrier doesn’t know what to think. Andy just follows suit with whatever Logan, the Matriarch, does. They are a couple of mopes these days. We are not exactly sure, but we think they aren’t receptive to change. Logan basically shunned us for two days when we brought Andy home for the first time. Finally, she warmed up to him and now they are inseparable!

The other day, as Laura was casually lounging on the couch; Logan woefully hopped up onto Laura’s lap and just sat there like she was a breed that is about 20lbs less than she actually is!

Her expression was that of, “can’t you see how sad I am? Haven’t you noticed? What do I have to do to show you? I mean I can’t talk, so here… this is my SOS to you… Heed my notice master. I am sad.”

She stayed perched upon Laura’s lap even while we roared with laughter. It is on a very rare occasion that we allow our pups on the furniture and this was not one of those instances.

It was so out-of-the blue that we did not know how to react! It is absolutely shocking how protective and concerned our dogs have become in the past few months. They both follow Laura around as if they are waiting for her to collapse, or even, gasp, for her water to break! I certainly would not know what they would do, besides try and lick it up, if that were to happen!

How is it dogs are so aware of what is going on during pregnancy? I mean I know we have some super-intelligent K-9’s, but seriously? Do they know what is about to happen? Do they understand what we talk about when we discuss bringin Mauldin home? What if they think Mauldin is another dog? LOL!

Well, it will certainly be interesting to observe how they react when we finally bring Mauldin home… (that is, if he ever is BORN!)

Baby Talk

The other day my wife, Laura, and I were sitting around in my son’s, currently vacant, nursery and were in complete awh of how it is almost finished… almost because it is missing one significant, little tiny, but most important detail! Mauldin!

“Can you believe it?” said Laura while rocking in our big, brown comfy chair. “It seems like just yesterday we were moving the twin bed out of here to make room for all of Mauldin’s things.”

“Yah,” I said while sitting in the floor Indian style, like a small child waiting for a present. “I didn’t think this nursery would ever be complete.”

“Well, it isn’t yet… yah know?” said Laura.

“I know,” I said. “but as soon as he gets here…”

“It will be totally complete.” Said Laura as she scanned the room; from the cherry finished crib to her left to the open closest, that stood open, in front of her. The closet is so full now. It has a wide range of baby clothes from 0-3 to 6-12 months. Little osh-kosh overalls, cute little polo rompers and of course the little new balance shoes that hang so innocently in the shoe hanger on the door.

“Do you think we will remember what clothes he has?” I said wide-eyed and starting to get a slight head-ache. “I mean, we have so many clothes… how can we possibly get him in all those clothes by the time he grows out of them! I seriously think we have over 200 onesies!”

I reached over to my left and pulled open the top drawer to his changing table. The drawer was a little cumbersome to open without some of the clothes spilling out.

“No, I don’t think we will.” Said Laura with a sweet coy smile. She was holding up one of the little, blue newborn shirts with a pink pig on it. The shirt read Our lil’ Ham!

“But, we certainly will try… how cute is this?” she continued with a voice that is a little more high pitched than normal and a hint of baby talk. “He is gonna be so adorable!”

“Yes,” I started. “But, lets just hope we don’t hear the… awh what a cute outfit, instead of, awh what a cute baby! That’s when you know your baby isn’t that cute.”

Laura didn’t even reply to my comment; she continued with her nesting, all the while she was still sitting in the big, brown chair. Laura was focused on folding some of the receiving blankets. She was using her pregnant belly as a way to assist her in the folding.

I sat on the floor and my mind began to wonder off into what it was going to be like, in a few weeks, after my son had arrived. Would his poop make me wanna puke? What if I give him the wrong kind of advice, as a father? More importantly, will he like Star Wars? All of a sudden, I am brought back to the present… as I hear…“would you like that?” Was my wife talking and I was not paying attention? How long had I been gone? Can I play this off without her knowing? I think of that Ellen skit where she shows you how to play off that you weren’t paying attention. I figure, oh why not try it!

I look at her, smile and shake my head as I am nodding yes… Yes! I passed it off… she had no idea! Then I thought.. holy crap Batman – I have no idea, at ALL, to what I was agreeing to. I was hoping it was just about what we would maybe be having for dinner…

I immediately follow and say “hey, you wanna go watch Smallville?” We are big Smallville fans... we have every season except for the current one, of course.

Laura is usually always up for that and this time was no different… my wife is used to my ADD tendancies, so this did not phase her at all.

So, where was I? Ooooh Shiney!