Happy Halloween

It's about 7:15 and we've had about 4 tricker treaters and about half the candy is gone. I think I need to cut back on the portions I'm handing out. Either that or I need to stop eating all the candy. Or better yet, Jen needs to stop eating it all.

This is Hayleys first Halloween. She's dressed as a lion and she is super cute. She is growing up way to fast. I think time should move way slower so we can enjoy this all the more.

And that's a rap, we have more tricker treaters.

Wanted: Dishwasher

Well now that Jen is working evenings we don't have that much time with both of us at home to take care of simple chores. One of them being washing the dishes. Yes we are a little behind the times and we wash our dishes by hand. After being interupted numerous times while washing dishes the other night I decided we need one ASAP. I'm so sick of looking at dirty dishes let alone washing them. So we're going to break the bank this weekend and by a portable one. With Jen working it we should be ok finacially. Maybe, well see.

Brownies

Is it a bad thing that I ate all the brownies meant for my co-workers. I don't think Jen will mind that much.

And for an update on Hayley. She's been sleeping through the night. She's also a lot more alert and stays awake longer. Lot's of fun.

Morning commute

This morning I was driving to work and this truck pulls up next to me honking. I'm thinking it's a road rage driver so I try not to look but the truck keeps honking so I glance over and it's Scott. Holy crap, for one it's 6:00am, two he lives on the other side of the cities. What are the odds we'd run into each other. Crazy stuff. Here's his response to the question "How'd you notice me?"

it was weird, I was driving up towards your explorer and I was like that thing looks like a piece of crap, I bet Kyles is starting to look pretty rough, since you have had it so long, and low and behold it is you driving....freaked me out!!

I can't believe he called my Explorer a piece of crap. Oh well, it's 12 years old and still running good.

Same Name

While talking to Scott he mentioned that our old roomate Becca had a baby. I haven't seen or talked to Becca in 5 years. She named her baby Haylie Rose. What are the odds of that? At least we spelled the names a little different.

Vikings woes

I got an idea. Why not fire Tice. This team has no discipline.

Great Day

During a huge rain storm last week which dumped 4 inches of rain I had to drive home from school. During my drive I drove through water on the freeways which splashed up on my motor. Basically the same that happened in FL a few months ago. Now my truck is acting up again and it's going to cost around $300 to fix. I haven't fixed it yet cuz I'm angry and I don't want to pay that much. Plus I'm trying to figure out if I can fix it my self. It's a coil and sparkplug that need to be changed. Anyway, I've been driving my Explorer instead of the truck. Well this morning when I was leaving to go to work I notice my Explorer was sitting low. I look down and sure enough it has a flat tire. grrrrr. I didn't feel like changing it in the dark at 6 in the morning so I drove my truck. Hopefully I didn't damage it worse. Now I definitely need to put a call into a mechanic.

Time capsule

Ben informed me and my colleges at work that he got a strange reply to one of his posts. Read it here Apparently a girl I went to prom with 10 years ago Googled my name and got this post from Ben. Well it led to some hilarious conversation at work. See Michele is a girl I met on the Internet way back when 14.4k was the speed of the Internet. I drove to Washington to visit her and take her to prom. This is back in the day when it was unheard of to meet up with someone on the Internet. It was definitely an experience.

Anyway, I told the guys at work I'd dig up some old pics from that prom and I stumbled upon some more pics. So for all of you needing a laugh here you go.

Back in the day with the Internet being so slow we exchanged pics with snail mail. Here's the pic I sent to Michele. I lost the pic she originally sent to me.





Michele and I at her prom. Her mom got us a limo which was kind of cool.





And while we're at it why not show some top hat and cane prom pics.

First of Holly and I.





Then Hillary a few years later.





And I haven't always been a fatty. Here's a pic of me in Washington by the Ocean.





The car I so sorely miss. Has it really been 10 years since I owned this? How depressing.





And while we're visiting the time capsule why not show off the mullet.

Back in MN

We made it back after a 3 day drive from FL. Hayley only cried for a while on the second morning, otherwise she was content sleeping in her car seat. That was nice. We didn't really know what to expect. But now that we're back it's time to clean the house and get it ready for Hayley. So far, with the help of Jens mom, brother, and sister, we have the baby room almost done and our carpets are shampoo'd. The smell that I smelled last July when I visited is now gone. Now we need to figure out where to put all our junk. I keep asking myself, "Where the heck does all this stuff come from?" But I'll leave it to Jen to figure it where to put it all so I get in trouble for throwing something she wants.

I'm watching the news now and they're saying we're going to get cold. I'm so not looking forward to winter this year. But I've probably said that enough so I'll stop babbling for now.

Last Day

Well this is my last post from FL. Florida has been a great to live. I have no regrets coming down here. If I could only talk my wife into it I'd move here for good. But since she wants to be close to the family I guess we have to move back. Oh well. At least the rest of the family can get to know Hayley. She's been an awesome baby and we couldn't be more happy having her in our lives.

Now it's on to the Northern abyss for another fun winter.

2 Days to go

Well it's time to start thinking about packing. Fortunately we moved only our clothes and computer down here so there's not much to move back. It's kind of sad that nine months is up. I'm going to miss this area. I don't blame retires for wanting to move here. People can say it's too hot in the summer but that really didn't affect us. I'd rather have a hot summer then a winter any day.

Minor funny

OK you have to be a Twins fan to get this. But I thought it was kind of funny.


Pierzynski's's spin

Former Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski, after watching Liriano on Sunday, had an interesting take. "They got Joe Nathan, Liriano and Boof Bonser ... for ME!" he boasted.

In November 2003, the Twins traded Pierzynski to the Giants for three pitchers, who became an All-Star closer and two top prospects. Pierzynski, who was released by San Francisco after one season and is now with the White Sox, playfully suggested it was an even trade.


I just thought this was kind of funny. I remember thinking back then that this was a dumb trade. I thought, why do we need another relief pitcher? I had no clue Nathan would turn into a top closer and this Liriano guy would turn out to be good. Does anyone know who this Boof guy is? It would be great if he’d make the team. Who names there kid Boof?

Anyway, 9 months are just about up. 4 days left here in FL.

Vikings

One statement by Green-O sums it up best.

Ugly. It went from “the year” to a “rebuilding year” in one half of a football game.

Conflicting Advice on Babies

Since Hayley was born we have gotten so much conflicting advice, starting on the first day. Every nurse had a different philosophy on how and when to feed her. Some were like "Get her up every three hours to feed and make her take at least an once.", others were saying "Let her eat when she's hungry." It was so mind boggling. Then there's advice about sleeping. One of the most common things we have heard is "You can't spoil a baby, if she's crying hold her and comfort her". Only one nurse we talked to said something different, she said if you're constantly holding them they will be easily awaken and they'll get crabby, and they'll always want to sleep in your arms instead of the crib.

Well we've been basically feeding Hayley whenever she's gets up. She seems hungry and crabby all the time lately. She has started to cry all the time. We were told that she's probably going through a growth spurt and she needs to eat more. We'll after I fed her last night she kind of fell asleep on my chest. So I started reading a book on the "First Year" and I found an interesting section on when babies cry and what a certain cry might sound like. One interesting topic I found was that babies cry before sleeping. So all this time when Hayley has been crying we've were thinking she was hungry or she needed to be comforted. Soon after reading this Hayley starting crying super loud and she started acting like she was hungry again after I had just fed her. I tried to feed her again but she'd take a little and then start crying louder. So I thought I'd try putting her in her car seat for a couple minutes and see what happens. She cried and cried, louder and louder, and I was just about to pick her up and it was like she got knocked out or something, in blink of an eye she was out cold. This was at 9:30ish. Well she slept until 3:30am and she only got up once during the night. I learned a huge lesson yesterday about watching for a signal that Hayley is tired and wanting to sleep even if she's crying.

I've also come to the conclusion that listening to everyones advice is not a bad thing because people are telling you what worked for them. Since every baby is different, parents need to find what works for their baby and you never know when you might come upon some advice that will work for you.

15 days and counting...

When Jay was on rotation in Eagan he was eagerly awaiting his move back to the North East. I remember the blog entries longing to get out of the Twin Cities and away from the cries about the T-Wolves losing to the Lakers. I can't say I feel the same way about moving back to MN. Florida has started it's cool down from the inferno they call summer. It's a comfortable 80 degrees now and I'm thinking of how nice it would be to spend another winter here. Unfortunately Jen and my family feel living in fridgid below zero temperatures for 8 months out of the year is better than 2 months of inferno. So sadly the countdown for the move back to Eagan is on. 15 days to go. I'm tearing up already. Wait maybe the tear is from my head pounding from having Hayley screaming in my ear while getting some blood drawn yesterday. Man babies can cry loud. Hey Joel you're looking for something to engineer right, how about a baby muffler.

Well I'll leave you with this jibberish of the day. Obviously my brain is taking a beating without sleep. But it's all worth it.

Moss'less Vikes Suck it up

I wrote a post a while back stating that the Vikings made the second worst trade ever (2nd to the Hershel Walker trade). Yesterday they got a taste of what defenses can do to the Vikes without Moss. I expect more of these games this year, Tice has never been able to beat good teams consistently, and he only beats bad teams once in a while. So live it up Minnesota sports fans, no pro team will be in the playoffs this year. It's been a while since that's happened. I think the Vikings should take a serious look at Monte Kiffin, the Defensive Coordinator of the Bucs, as their next coach.

First week with Hayley

Everyone has been telling me to get ready cuz life is going to get crazy. Here's a quote from Nolan upon hearing the news:

Congratulations man! Where are you living these days? You know those bumper stickers that say "Sit down, shut up, and hang on"? Yeah, tape one of those bad boys to your head. It is now your new motto. Earplugs, Dramamine, caffeine, peace and quiet, sedatives, and a heavy dosage of "yes dear" have all become "must haves".

Well, so far this first week has gone great. I've been working about 4-5 hour days and finishing my work at home. Working instead of vacation saves my vacation for when I get back to MN so I can clean the house and get the baby room ready.

My lack of sleep has increased my jibberish, which I spoke pretty good before anyway. Now I have an excuse. Hayley seems to sleep better when she's sleeping in our bed, rather than in the bassinet next to our bed. She loves to be held which bolds good for Jen and I. We are already arguing (the fun kind of arguing that is) over whose turn it is to hold her. Hayley's a talkative baby already. I love listening to her when she's hungry. She rarly cries which is a bonus. I wonder if she's so healthy because Jen took great care of herself during the pregnancy. Who knows.

I've been taking on the major load of chores around the house so Jen can sleep and take care of Hayley. Other than that there's not much else going on.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we let our cat, Tigger, go to Jen's parents farm. The thought of all that cat hair around made me break down and let her go.

Comments are back

I was thinking about the comments and why Blogger wouldn't let you delete individual comments. So I did a little research, which I should've did in the first place, and I found out how to delete individual comments.

So comment away.

Shutting Down Comments

Blogger is a great site to use for blogging. They make everything simple and easy to use. The only problem is they don't allow the site owner to delete individual comments that I know of. It's either turn off anonymous comments or allow anyone. So after people are starting to spam my blog I'm turning off comments. Sorry to those of you who use the comment section.

Hayley's Birthday

Well the day has come and gone. Hayley was born Saturday September 3rd 2005 at 6:21am. She measured 8.1 lbs and 18" long. Friday around 4:30ish Jen called me at work and asked if I'd come home. Apparently her water broke on Wednesday and she didn't realize it. On Friday she wasn't feeling well so she went to the doctor where they told her that her water broke and she needed to be induced as soon as possible. So she spent Friday night with an IV giving her a small dose of Pitocin and around 5:30 the next morning she was ready to start pushing. Little Hayley had to spend the next 48 hours in Intensive Care as a precaution because of the possibility of infection. But all cultures came back negative and she's at home with us now.

Now it's on to looking forward to new challenges in life.