Pinto Beans suck.

Okay, so I am with Hazel right now and I gave her some blueberries, of which I dropped on the floor for her to follow me like ET so that I could move to the couch to watch me some Battlestar Galactica, which worked like a charm I might add. Shortly after inhaling the blueberries she was still hungry...shocker. So to the fridge I went. The wife cut some strawberries in half and put them in a Ziploc container, which kept them pretty fresh, and I cut them up and...I am boring myself. Pinto Beans are a pain is what the subject is and you know why? It is a pain to drain them because they are so gooey and they stick together so you have to swipe them out with either your finger o knife. I used a knife.
Hazel is pretty great right now. As she eats the blueberries and strawberries she says, "mmmmm" real loud and smiles in the air as she is chewing. Not so much with the pinto beans, but protein is protein.
This morning I took her to Evelyns and dropped her off. Right now I am keeping her on Mondays and Fridays, however that plan starts next week. I am on summer vacation and either watching Battlestar or getting paperwork together at school or getting our loan paperwork in so we can move. That's right, move.
We do love it here in the Cove(see Lady in the Water). But, it is around 670 sq. ft. and we have a little girl sleeping in the closet at nights(see Picasa). She doesn't mind it, and we think when she gets older she might look back at it and say, "Rad." Truth is, space is a commodity and when you have 2 adults and a 10 month old in a small space it can be cozy and warm but also a little enclosed.
So now we can afford a house but...we got a 1st Home Buyers Loan so we cannot rent our condo out if we move. So, the condo needs to be sold in order for us to move out. Problem is that condos seem a bit dry right now and...there are 5-8 foreclosures in our property alone. So rad.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008.

So, Memorial Day Weekend just passed and a lot of things happened. I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I got to play cards with Colin Timmins, we took Hazel to her first San Jose Giants Game with the Family(minus German), I broke the sink and we all got sick. Okay, so let's start.
On Saturday night I went with Lib and John to see the new Indiana Jones. I went with them to the 10:50pm showing and met them there. I came way early, with Brain Age in hand and grabbed a vegan cookie and a diet soda. It was nice. Then Lib and John came and we saw the movie. The trailers were all ones that I have seen, but they had a long one for Kung-Fu Panda which made John Cranston laugh out loud. The part that made him laugh was when a Snow Leopard slams into the panda's belly and as the impact happens the panda, voiced by Jack Black says, "Ske-dooch," then the leopard flies off in the air. John could not stop laughing. He was still laughing into the start of the movie. Well, the movie got into gear and right when Indy puts on his hat the reel busted and the movie stopped. I laughed out loud. In fact, I think it made the experience better. So, that being said, Indiana Jones was pretty weird. It had a lot of potential, but also seemed like Harrison Ford was trying to prove himself...the whole time. He was not as mean and 'tough-love' as he was in the previous films. It was like he pretended he wasn't 62, which really took away from it all. Also...I think that Spielberg needs to let go of aliens. This is his fourth alien film, he did E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds. Now with Indy, I get that time passed and yes, I missed Connery and Marcus Brody, but seeing Indy and Marien was pretty great but forced and a little contrived.
Okay, happy place. We also took Hazel to her first baseball game this weekend. Well, not her first, but her first with good players. (I have taken her to two Junior High Baseball Games at Pinewood and she had a great time). But this time there was a huge crowd, well, huge for San Jose Giants. Lib, John, Meg and us were all there and if it weren't for Hazel growing her third tooth, yes, she has two already on the bottom center, and now she has her first top tooth growing in, and let me tell you, it has not been an easy process. So yeah, we stayed until the top of the ninth and left. Hazel had had it with the game. She was not a fan at all. After the game went home and I dealt with my new favorite headache. Gerber daisies.
So, prior to the game I told Heather I would clean the kitchen and living room and she would clean the bedroom and the bathroom. So, I thought, I will clean the kitchen first, and in doing that I got the dishes ready on the counter and cleared some space in the sink and got every thing ready for the dishwasher, but before really anything, I decided, on a stupid level, to cut up some dead flowers into small pieces and put them in the disposal. For a bit it sounded okay, a little rocky whirring, but nothing I hadn't heard before. Then....something gross happened. Everything started happening in reverse. The water was coming back up through the drain and it was brown with green gerber daisy stems and then the water created a reverse whirlpool that was actually shooting the water up at me. It was nasty. I called Crockett and he walked me through was was wrong. First he said to get a plunger. That didn't help. Then he told me how to clean the pea-trap. That was my headache. I am actually getting a headache right now just thinking about it. To be continued.

Sick Hay cont.

So last night, I heard a coughing sound around 1am coming from the bathroom. I turned on my nightstand light and asked Heather if she was okay. She was not. Hazel's flu or whatever it was had made its way to Heath. Last night was not good. So this morning, I took care of Hazel and left her with Heather before I went to work. I gave Hazel a bottle and left her in the playpen while Heather slept in fetal position on the couch. So, I get to work this morning and I get the following email from Heather's Blackberry at 10:10am.

Hazel has diarrea now- so I am going to pick her up at Evelyns. I need to leave here as close to 4pm as possible to go to City Hall to take materials to a meeting tonight. Can you be home around 4pm?

Sickness rocks!

So, on my hand, in black Sharpie is 7UP and Wipes. I talked to Mark and Marie about potentially calling in tomorrow so that I can take care of Heather and Hazel. I am not sure if I am going to get this sickness yet, because I haven't been around Hazel that much, but you never know. Either way, being prepared for that possibility is really all that I can do right now.

Sick Hay.

So I got a call this afternoon from Evelyn, Hazel's sitter, and apparently Hazel is sick. I am in class, moderating the ambition of three boys, who are supposed to be working on a ROME packet, but instead are talking about the best 'fight' scenes in movies and Pokemon characters, when, Dafna, the admissions director from my school comes in to my class and tells me, "Your sitter just called and I gave her your extension." My heart went to my throat. I asked her if she could watch my class and I ran to my car to grab my cell. I called the sitter and she said Hazel was puking and crying inconsolably. Now, my life is kind of a pain this year because of my schedule. Since I work at a 7-12 school, the Jr. High gets out at 3, while the High School gets out at 215. So, yeah, I never get out early and with this added fear that my little girl is ill, I am pretty much in hero mode. So I run about to try and get a hold of heather as well as track down a substitute. The woman in charge of subbing is out meeting her painter, whatever that means, and no one in the office is all that helpful due to the new sudoku puzzle or online ordering that is currently wasting their time until 5. So I ask Phil, "I can't, I have to go home and clean out my fridge." And I run down and ask Barrett, "Of course." Which is soon followed by a text message from heather, who was MIA for a bit, and she told me she was eating lunch in the city hall mess hall. So, she told me she would get Hazel and that she would call the on call nurse. Crisis averted.

Been awhile.

Yeah, so, I have not really been into this lately and there is a lot to catch up on. I have a diary that I prefer to write in, but this is so much easier. For some reason I am paranoid beyond belief about predators out there and other creepies reading about my life, especially my kid and wife. For some reason, I am not to worried about myself though. Weird. Anyways, Hazel can crawl now, which she learned right before she was 9 months old, about a week before actually. I was worried about it for awhile, but now it is much more difficult. The sitter in fact told me I would 'rue the day' I said that out loud, and sometimes....I do. Hazel gets into everything and loves chewing on anything white and metal. So, she loves the MacBook, especially its battery cord. Yesterday she was sucking on the end with the magnet and Heather freaked out. She thought it would be bad for her or something. So, I googled, 'can babies suck on magnets?' Which, on top of it being pretty earnest, the google search was funny in its entirety. I made fun of heather about it for awhile after that. Especially since i am normally the motherhen.

Gas. Walks and other marvels of parenting.

Gas. A word grumbled when people have to pump fuel into their cars. A word that some say is the reason why so many families are losing loved ones in Iraq. A word that can give any parent a tumultuous amount of grief. Yes, that last one, and well, all the other ones apply to me, but the last one ripples through our small apartment after Hazel has had her share of milk. As soon as she is off, we prop her on a knee and pat her back trying to get those trapped bubbles of air to the surface and allow the belch to sound out like a wolf at the moon. Yeah, burping is hilarious, dealing with a newborn who hasn't gotten all the burps out, not so hilarious. Funny thing though, the biggest screamfest can be happening and then a silence and then a fart. Mostly juicy too, and really damn funny. If I haven't mentioned that my little girl reminds me of my late grandpa Bob, her farts are clearly another reminder of how hilarious passing wind can be.
Today we went to Denny's where mom and I got some food diner food. Walks are really nice. for some reason, they bring out the best in a day. So far, on day 3 of her existence we took her to Amato's, which is a cheese steak sandwich shop. On day 4 we walked to 7-11. On day 5 we went to the Salvation Army(see previous post about awesome find) and shortly thereafter we walked over to Taco Bell. On day 6, which is today, we took her to Denny's. Tomorrow is Heather's birthday, woot, and we are going to either go to a taqueria to celebrate mom's 32nd or we are going to order have Wing's and have aunt Megan bring it over. We shall see.

Uncle German

Today German came by and got to hold Hazel for some time. See pictures below. We also went to the Salvation Army and got Heather some shirts. At the Sal, we found a wooden rocking horse, that had branded on it, 'Roy'. On the tag of the horse, the day it was put out on display, was August 10th, Hazel's birthday. Coincidence? Didn't matter, I bought it without hesitation, and I even got the guy to lower the price due to the significance of the date it was put out, and the fact that my little girl's last name was Roy. Following the event, we walked to Taco Bell and got some grub. A fellow dad talked to me when I was waiting with Hazel in her stroller and asked me how old my little girl was. "4 DAYS!" he shouted. Then he asked how much she weighed. "7 ounces!" He was great and he was a stay at home dad with a 15 month old boy. He told me it flies by. The guy at the Salvation Army who sold me the rocking horse told me he had a son too. His boy was 17 and was going to be a junior. He told me he wish he could go back in time. Everyday is new now, that is for sure.