William was awake as I was getting ready for work this morning. He’s at that stage where he likes to help, and he likes to ask questions. First, he was going to help me get my belt (”but I’m already wearing a belt, William”) then he thought I should wear a tie (”but I’m already wearing a tie, William”) Then he followed me downstairs, peppering me with questions the whole way. I don’t remember what most of them were, but they were along the lines of “what are you doing with your shoes?”

After I had my shoes on, I realized there was a stone in one of them, so I took it off and took the stone out. William wanted to know all about the stone - how it got there, what it was doing there, why I took it out, where it came from etc. I felt bad because I really like spending time with him when he’s inquisitive like that, but I had to go, leaving his final question unanswered. I think he’s started to miss me when I’m at work.

When I came home yesterday, Erin was sitting on the recliner with a child sleeping on each side of her lap. William was sprawled, and Julia was cuddled up close. Shortly after I sat down, William woke up, opened his eyes and saw me, all without moving anything but his eyelids. The way he was laying left his head upside down, and he spread his face into a huge grin. “You’re home from work!” he said. He smiled while laying there for a few more minutes, and then we were off to “play in the playroom.” I really have to post some pictures when I get home - except the camera card is at my parent’s place in the camera… Hmmmm.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I don’t want you playing with something with such awful hair. Awful, awful hair.” - Marge

As mentioned last Wednesday, I had another four day weekend coming, and got to spend some time at home. Julia doesn’t seem like such a tiny baby anymore, she’s just like a newborn, even if she is a little small yet to be considered an averaged sized newborn. I’d guess she’s around five pounds, though I don’t really have any basis for that guess other than the fact that she seems to be getting bigger. William has been adjusting quite well, though he still gets jealous sometimes. Dave and Katriona were in town for the weekend, so we spent some time at my parents place, playing games and stuff. Katriona has posted some pictures of Julia over there, so if you’re interested, “watch that show”

What has really struck me recently though, is how differently the second child affects your life when compared to the upheaval of the firstborn. I mean, yes, Julia’s entry into the world wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, and there were some pretty stressful times over the past nine weeks, but in general, we’re more comfortable with Julia at home than we were with William for his first couple of months. As an example, I’d wager that the ambulance won’t be at our house if Julia coughs on her vitamins… Now, that’s not to say that it’s easy or anything. There are just a different set of challenges to face - mostly involving William’s reaction to his sister. In all though, William has been extremely well behaved, and most of the problems stem from him being either too affectionate, or overtired/hungry. I’m pretty proud of the way he has handled the situation. He’s a remarkably mature two year old at times.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “It’s my job to be repetitive. My job. My Job. Repetitiveness is my job.” - Bart

I’m back at work today after having been gone for the last two days (one a statutory holiday, the other a vacation day) and then I’m gone again tomorrow and Friday for vacation. Julia is home from the hospital, so those of you who don’t read her site, but read this one, that’s the reason. Having a new baby home from the hospital is quite an adjustment, and I don’t know that we’re anywhere back to sanity around the house. I have been making a more concerted effort to “get stuff done” around the house, and it’s paid off somewhat already.

Monday, before I even went downstairs, I moved the bed from one spare room to another, moved the desk parts into the newly empty room, rebuilt the desk, brought in Erin’s sewing table, and set up her sewing machine and serger on it. The end result is that the sewing room/office is now as fully operational as the second death star was when it was blown up (real good.) Erin got right to work sewing something up - I haven’t seen it yet, and I’m not going to comment on what it is yet either, because it’s a gift for someone who may or may not read this page. The reason I haven’t seen it yet? I went to bed at 8:30 last night because I was so tired I could barely walk straight. I think I got a good night’s sleep last night though, so hopefully I won’t collapse when I get home tonight. And hey - four day weekend again :)

Of course then I’ll be out of vacation for the rest of the year. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to haunt me too badly. One thing though, is that everyone knows that I’m not a great traveller. I like to be at home. I really really like to be at home. I’m sure that’s frustrating for Erin’s family, who are all in Alberta, because I don’t get out there very often. I think we’ll have to plan some sort of Alberta world tour next March to parade a certain little girl around with her doting big brother. No promises though.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Adding a new character is often a desperate attempt to boost low ratings.” - Lisa

Originally, I’d booked today, tomorrow and Tuesday off, thinking that Julia would be home by now. Well, she’s possibly going to be home this weekend, depending on weight gain, but she’s not home yet. Luckily it worked out that I’m able to take next Thursday and Friday off instead, so I’ll only be in one day next week (Wednesday.) I think that’s the approach that I’m going to take regardless of when they let us bring home our baby girl. She’s up to 1940g now, and the target is 2000g, so with a little luck we can take her home on Saturday, and without that luck, Monday is almost assured (the doctor isn’t in on Sunday.) Now that I’ve said that, hopefully I didn’t just jinx it.

The main problem at this point is that someone has to spend the night with Julia, or she gets cold, and they won’t let cold babies go home. So far, the grandmas have taken the bulk of the nights, though Grandpa John stayed at the hospital last night. Tonight is Erin’s turn, and I’ve volunteered for weekend duty. I’m told not to expect much sleep, but that’s ok, because I’ll get to spend the night with my girl.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “So I’m flip-flopping. I say let the boy stay down there.” - Mayor Quimby

I found a link to a really interesting site that goes under the covers of the movie business - Some really interesting reading there.

Since I’m so boring lately, you can fill the void with that site.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “You can’t treat the working man this way! One day, we’ll form a union and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve. And then we’ll go to far and get corrupt and shiftless and the Japanese will eat us alive!” - Power plant worker in 1909

Nothing new to report today either. Julia continues to do well, and will likely be home over the weekend (my prediction) which is exciting.

Wait - I lied. There is something new to report today. To tell the tale though, I have to take you all the way back to Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, Erin’s La Leche League friends came over for a farewell bbq for someone who is moving West. The plan was to hold the thing in the park, and use our bbq to cook the hotdogs. Most of the dogs were done, and the propane ran out, so I ran out to the local gas station for a fill. Apparently 5:00 on a beautiful Sunday is a popular time to fill propane tanks. Anyway, the person in front of me must have bought something else, because the total came to more money than I had in cash on me. Not something I’d normally notice, but when I walked up to the till, the cashier punched a bunch of buttons, ringing in the other person’s purchase after the fact. Anyway, so I saw this ludicrous total, and though to myself “that’s the last time I get propane without asking how much first” and got out my credit card which I put on the counter. Then the guy rings up my purchase, which was much more reasonable, and basically what I expected in the first place, so I got out my cash, and paid for the propane, then left.

Anyone spot the missing step? That’s right, my credit card was still sitting on the counter when I left the gas station. Fortunately, the gas station guy called the credit card company, and they promptly cancelled my card and sent a new one, which should arrive later this week.

Erin got the call about it yesterday, and got details from the lady from the credit card company, including the last few charges to our card, then handed the phone off to me.

Somewhere our wires got crossed, and Erin thought that the last charge was at the gas station where I bought the propane, which she thought was expected and fine. I called the credit card company people back, and confirmed that while the last purchase on the card was at a gas station, it was at the gas station where Erin filled the car, and not the propane gas station, since I didn’t use it to pay for the propane after all.

So, a brief moment of panic that someone had used our card at the gas station before turning it in, but in the end it was unfounded.

Also, I made a trip to the bank to get a new bank card because the bank machine told me that it wasn’t readable anymore. The bank machine rejected me a couple of weeks ago, but since it was our secondary bank, I hadn’t gotten around to getting a replacement card yet. It was good to get that out of the way.

Oh, and my hair is getting very very very long. I was overdue for a haircut before Julia was born, and haven’t gotten around to getting it cut. Since I know a lot of you only come here to hear about my barbershop hangups, I thought I’d let you know about that too.

Phew.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Homer, nothing’s more important to me than the health and well-being of my freaks. I’m sending you to a vet.” - Freak show manager

The weekend went by way too quick. I blame Julia (who’s now 1900g, by the way) for being so cute. Erin’s been spending a lot of time at the hospital, which is good for her and good for Julia, but sometimes gets to William. He’s very much a momma’s boy. Anyway, he was pretty good for me all weekend, so I don’t really have anything to complain about. Those of you who come here to hear complaints can safely ignore the rest of this post.

I played some online poker, and actually won a bigger tournament (play money chips, but 18 people at 10K per, I wound up making some serious fake money.) I felt kind of bad about some of the hands where I’d suck out on the river or whatever, but then it happened in reverse to me quite a bit too. After losing a sizable pot to a guy who hit trip 3’s on the turn (I doubled him up) I said “nice hand” while thinking “you’re a goof for calling my top pair with ace kicker post-flop raise with that crap.” And he said “thanks.” I said “you’re welcome” and he got all snarky, and called me an idiot for calling his all in raise with “nothing” Guess he can’t read the board. No biggie, not gonna let him put me on tilt…Sat tight for a long while until the blinds were getting ridiculous, and I started stealing a few pots - I never called the BB, since at that point most people only had 3-4 BB worth of chips, so I made them make a decision, and rarely did my raise get called. One such time, I had AcJh, and the flop came Jc7c4c. I really wanted to see another card, so I didn’t bet it. Turn was another club, so now I’ve got the nuts, and I happen to be up against the guy who thought I was insane. I check, and he puts me all in, so I call. He had another one of his stupid little pocket pairs, and was notably silent about it. He still had some chips left though, so my work wasn’t done. Very next hand, I flip up As2s, and raise, only to have two guys call me - the same guy call me again and one more. “tilt” I think to myself. Flop came up with two spades, checked around to me. Again, I have nothing but the nut flush draw, so I check, hopefully laying out a trap. You know what happens next - I hit the flush on the turn, and busted both other players out on the river. One of them even had two pair. I was sitting in really good position after that, with 40% of the chips at the table. A few hands later I picked up AcKc, and wound up all-in pre-flop against #2 chip guy who had 38% of the chips at the table. He flips up Ah7h, and sucked out against me. Next hand, the blind put me all in, and I was beaten out. Still, it was fun.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “And these ones are smarter than the average bear! They swiped my pic-inick basket!” - Moe