Mommy's Night Out - Benefit Concert

Allison recently made some new mommy friends in the neighborhood. She was invited to hang out for a mom's night out. Bring a snack, don't bring the kids. That's all fine and good, but when the your 7 week old daughter has only been bottle fed once in her life, there could be problems brewing at home. Let's see what happened shall we?

We ate dinner then Allison got her S'mores type snack ready and hit the road. I was getting mentally prepared for my night and I didn't even get to do my classic S'mores joke. I'll have to double up next time.

I got Ben in his pajamas early. He still isn't himself yet. I don't know if he isn't 100% over his virus or if he is teething and that is bothering him, but either way, he's not himself. He's been angry and whinny. He actually sounds a lot like me when I'm sick or hungry or sick and hungry.

I knew he would go to bed early, and that would just leave me and my little girl. Last time I was alone with her, I had to admit defeat and call mommy home. Not tonight little girl! Not tonight!

We played in the kids room for about 20 minutes and all was fine: see exhibit A

Then one of Ben's cars fell off the ramp and he thought it was a good idea to punch, kick and push the ramp. That marked bedtime. I did a very quick teeth brush and put him to bed. I tried to be slick with his bedtime story. I knew it was only a matter of time before Abigail got upset that she was alone and I wanted to get back to her before that happened.

I started reading Clifford and Friends. It's a double feature, Clifford and Friends in the front, Clifford's Family in the back. I skipped directly to Clifford's Family. Ben was happy for the first 3 pages, then WAIT A MINUTE! SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT!!! He figured it out and started reaching for the book. I quickly finished up then played the "tuck in" game. (tucking him in by pulling the blanket over his head) I said good night and was on my way. I feel bad for skipping story time, but he'll get 2 or 3 stories tomorrow night to make up for it.

It was off to tend to Abigail now. Did the abbreviated story time keep her from getting upset? NOPE! Missed it by that much! Now to calm her down and feed her a bottle for the second time in her life, the first time being her first meal ever! No sweat right?

I dressed her in winter feety pajamas. It's going to be 47 degrees tonight. Gotta bundle up. I got a bib and two burp cloths. I was ready for action. I tried to feed her and she flipped out! WAIT A MINUTE! That taste like my food, but you're not mommy!!!! She probably screamed bloody murder for 30-45 seconds, but it felt like 4 or 5 minutes. I decided to sing a song to calm her down. It worked. She stopped crying and started eating. So I couldn't stop singing could I?

Those of you who know me well, know I'm a horrible singer. Ms. Duck wouldn't even let me join the chorus in elementary school. I had to play viola in the orchestra! It's scary to think my singing soothes my baby girl.

I think her first sentence may be "quick to the point to the point no fakin, cookin MCs like a pound of bacon" because I sing that song to her a lot. On to the playlist:

1. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
2. Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
3. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
4. New York, New York - Frank Sinatra
5. Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi

Things got bad for a minute during Wanted Dead or Alive. I started laughing thinking about an SNL skit. The whole thing is funny, but I was thinking about the scene 4:25 into the clip.


Jon Bon Jovi interview SNL, funny :) from monster on Vimeo.


I composed myself and continued the concert. She started eating again. The encore set list:

1. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
2. NY State of Mind - Billy Joel
3. It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ Easy Rock

She fell asleep during the last song. I woke her up for a quick burp. She only ate 1.5 oz, but I'm calling that a success of epic proportions. However, if Allison reads this, I'm pretty sure she hated the bottle and me feeding her. She's much happier when you do it and let daddy sleep! WINK! SMILEY FACE!!!

To summarize my night - Daddy Rules! King Kong ain't got nothing on me! (Sorry for the cursing, I couldn't find the clip from the preview when he says "nothing")

Best and Worst of the Weekend - Sick, Sick, Sick

Before I get into my best and worst of the weekend I wanted to bring up something I mentioned a while back. Another celebrity died today and that's all that people are Tweeting or Facebooking about.

You can search back six months and I bet you don't find any posts about Heavy D in your timeline. I think he would have wanted to hear how many people loved his music and appreciated him as an artist. Pick a celebrity you enjoy and give them a tribute while they are still alive.Heavy D's most popular song had to be "Now that we found love" but my favorite song of his was "We got our own thang"


Pick your favorite 90s song and ask your local radio station to play it. Send an email to Fred Savage and thank him for The Wonder Years. Or write a happy blog post, tweet or status update about someone. This is my third installment of Best and Worst of the weekend, that was inspired by Dan Patrick and the Dan Patrick show.

This week's best and worst of the weekend are actually the same thing.
Worst of the weekend - Ben was sick and I had to spend the last 4 days taking care of him.
Best of the weekend - Ben was sick and I got to spend the last 4 days taking care of him.

Friday night before bed, I was putting on a puppet show for him. It was to the part of the show where the sheep puppet picks a volunteer from the audience and tickles them. I noticed that Ben felt warm. I took his temp and it was 103.5! Holy KTU that's hot!

I looked at Allison and said "Bye bye!" I made her take the baby and get away from me and Ben. I can take care of him. It's ok if I get sick, but I can't have my 7 week old baby or my wife who takes care of her getting sick. Sorry. Take a hike. You're both quarantined until further notice.

I was about to read her the riot act or even better, the "DFS" quote by Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak, but she went upstairs without a fight. That left Ben and I alone for 4 days.

Ben was a brave boy at the doctor on Monday. We called the doctor back when his temp hit 104.7. She told us if he hits 105, take him to the emergency room. I got dressed and stayed dressed for the next 4 or 5 hours just so I would be ready if we needed to roll. When I went to bed, I laid out clothes next to the bed. so I could be ready at a moment's notice. Luckily we didn't have to take him. 

What do you do with a sick 2 year old? We played with a lot of toys and watched A LOT of television. That's what you're supposed to do with a sick boy. Wear pajamas, eat ice pops and watch TV. Here's a list of what we watched and an estimate of how many times we watched it:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - 10 episodes.
Jake and the Neverland Pirates - 3 episodes
Sesame Street - 2 episodes
Thomas and Friends - 12 episodes
Chuggington - 5 episodes
Yo Gabba Gabba - 1 episode
Full House - 30 minutes of clips on YouTube
Cars - twice
Cars 2 - three times
Pixar Shorts - twice
The Little Mermaid - 1/2 of it, then we switched to Cars 2
Tangled - Once
Football - one half on Saturday, Three quarters on Sunday

I honestly feel like I left some shows out. All the kid shows start to look like the same show after a while. His fever broke this afternoon. During a nap, he sweat through his shirt and soaked his pillow. His temperature hasn't gone above 99.2 since. I hope I didn't jinx it. We'll find out soon because I'm going to check him again when I go to bed in a few minutes

One thing I learned this week - Chuggington is a good substitute for Thomas and Friends, but the theme song is very catchy. It's been in my head since Saturday morning. "Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-Chuggington!"

Best and Worst of the Weekend - Work, Work, Work

Here is the second installment of my newest feature, Best and Worst of the Weekend. (My tribute to Dan Patrick)

Best
All the Halloween themed activities we did. We started out Saturday morning at the local library for a Halloween Party. They had kid games, face painting, balloon animals and live snakes! Ben had a great time. He played bowling, golf, fishing, Plinko and Spin the wheel game.

A woman gave us a coupon for face painting. She was leaving and didn't want it to go to waste. I wanted to give her a hug. I don't know why, but it was a nice thing for her to do. Anyway, we thought NO WAY Ben would sit there, but sure enough, he did. Check out the art work on my little Superman.

After the party it was nap time, then time for the October playdate. All the kids dressed up. A bumblebee (non-Transformer) and Elmo joined my Superman and ladybug and they had a great time. The kids colored pumpkins then we went to see Jayslights Halloween Lights. It was awesome. I can't wait for his Christmas lights.

Worst
The worst of the weekend was that I had to work all weekend. I had my laptop up and running Friday night. All day Saturday and all day Sunday. We visited our old neighbors and I had my laptop. Dinner with my in-laws with a side of laptop. Season 1 of Modern Family...working on the laptop. Overall it was still a great weekend, but I'm looking forward to some downtime.

Best and Worst of the Weekend

So I was thinking of ways to make sure I write more often. I see other people with daily themes on their blogs. I've seen Music Monday, Super Sexy Tuesday or Thursday (SST), Wordless Wednesday and other things like that. I'll do you all a favor and hold off on the SST until I'm back in shape and Super Sexy again.

Good for those people, but I want to do my own thing, so I thought I'd do something I heard on the Dan Patrick show, Best and Worst of the Weekend. It's not my original idea, but I haven't seen it on any blogs yet, so that's new right? It's not stealing, it's called homage! Did anyone see Cop Out?

After Steve Jobs died, everyone spent the next two weeks talking about how great he was and all the things he's done for the world. While I agree that Steve Jobs was a great man and he had a huge part in shaping all of our lives, I wonder, why do we wait until these people die? Why not honor them in life?

If you're my age, you grew up watching Dan Patrick on Sportscenter. He and Keith Olbermann are responsible for the way sports shows now show highlights in cool, funny ways. It's mostly a good thing, but like with all inventions, there are some downsides (BOO-YAH!)

If you know me well, I know you expect my best to be about food and my worst to be about lack of food or yard work. How boring would that be? So I'll skip the food best/worst unless it really needs to be said. For example, a few weekends ago, we had neighbors over to watch the Jets/Patriots game. We shared 2 pizzas and Allison made Daffodil Dip. Even though the Jets lost, that was probably the best of the weekend.

Anyway, on to Best and Worst of this weekend.

Best: On Saturday we went to Disney World to visit friends who were in town from New York. We're very close to them. She's partly responsible for Allison and I getting together (I'll explain this another time) and their kids call Ben their Florida Cousin.

As soon as we took the Disney World exit, we saw the sign for Disney World and Ben yelled Donald Duck! Then for the next 10 minutes, he laughed, pointed out all the buses and firetrucks and shouted "yaaaaaa, woooooo." All that "woooo"ing woke up Abigail. Now that she was awake, she needed to eat. She let us know in her own special way.

"WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Add the silly songs CD to the mix and I'm convinced we had one of the loudest cars in Disney World.  I was either gonna laugh or cry from the noise. I decided to laugh and take video so I could share it with all of you. This went on for a few minutes until we got to the hotel.

Worst: I'm not sure what the worst was. The Indianapolis Colts had a rough weekend, so the the Miami Dolphins. I guess my worst of the weekend was that I was traveling for work last Thursday and Friday and my iphone4s finally came in. It was sitting on my desk at work waiting for me and I didn't have time to drive to the office to pick it up. That's like opening toys on Christmas, but not being able to play with them. I activated it today and all is well with the world again. 

I'll post my best/worst every Sunday or Monday night. If you're not selected as a best, I apologize in advance. There can only be one best. If you end up being a worst, you need to step up your game! 

Have a good night.

Who's on First?

If I didn't know better, I'd think he was messing with me. Here is tonight's dinner conversation with Ben.


"Ben, do you want Pizza or Pasta"
"YEAH!!"
"Which one? Pizza or Pasta?"
"Pasta!"
"Pasta?"
"No, NO, NO! Pasta"
"That's what I said. Pasta, right?"
"NO! Pasta!"
"OK, Let's try this again? Pizza?"
"Pasta!"
"Ok, pasta it is."
"No dasda, pasta"
"My head hurts. So you want pizza, not pasta"
"Yeah, PASTA!!!!!!! HA HAH AH HA"
"How about I get you some milk? Honey, Ben wants you!"



What I learned today?
Ben pronounces Pizza as Pasta. He pronounces Pasta as Dasda. That's not confusing at all. For those wondering, Ben had pizza and pasta for dinner.

Have any of his babysitter shown him this video?

Dad-chelor Party 2.0

You may remember reading about my mind blowing Dad-chelor Party idea when Allison was pregnant with Ben. If not, check it out HERE. This post has gotten lots of attention lately and it's made me want to refocus on my writing. If everything works out, hopefully you'll see a lot more posts on the blog and a lot more of me on television.

My first Dad-chelor party while fun, did not live up to my "The Hangover" expectations. I went downtown Orlando in my Mickey Mouse shirt with my two best friends. We saw G.I. Joe, then had a few beers and went home. No Dwight Howard. No Alyssa Milano. No XL1067. No wild animals. And worst of all, no Appliance Direct guy!

As soon as I found out we were expecting a second child, I started thinking about Dad-chelor Party 2.0. Hopes were high that it would exceed the first one and at worst, it would at least exceed "The Hangover 2." What a let down that movie was, but I wont get into that now.

Fast forward to July 19th. The Tampa Bay Lightning announced they were playing a pre-season hockey game at the Amway Center in Orlando on September 21st. (Does that date ring any bells?) Bingo-Bango! Scene set for Dad-chelor Party 2.0. Dinner, hockey game, cigars, Church St. This may be my last child. My last Dad-chelor party. I have to live it up, right?

I invited a few friends and as luck would have it, my brother-in-law moved to Orlando the week of the announcement, so he was going to join us at the game too. It was all starting to come together. I prefaced the invitation with the following statement: Allison will be 38-39 weeks pregnant. If Allison is in the hospital giving birth, you're on your own, but if not, I'll be there.

Now to make the party Legen....wait for it.......Dary!

Just like with the first party, I wanted celebs and a radio station sponsor, but with a pregnant Allison, Ben and work occupying most of my time, I really didn't have time to plan or sign anyone up. At the last minute, I tried to put a list together of local celebs. Tiger Woods is local, but I don't think he would want to be affiliated with a party like this.

Another local celeb, who I've actually seen at Orlando Magic games, Chris Tucker. So we invite Chris for comic-relief. When you point to Chris, he lays down one of his classic movie lines.

• Fifty million dollars? Man, who do you think you kidnapped? Chelsea Clinton?

Now we need a radio sponsor to emcee the night. Jayde from XL1067 got a fancy Hollywood job and I think a husband (congratulations) so she's out. What other radio station could host? How about David Buffa and The Shot Doctor? Or even better The Dan Patrick show complete with the Danettes. They spend the day working in a "Man-Cave" and they are all about corporate sponsors. I think everything on the show down to the microphones and pencils are sponsored. They would be down for this manly idea right? Well, maybe not McLovin, but the rest of them for sure. Unfortunately, I never sent them an email about it, so we'll never know.

For what seems like months, FOX has been playing commercials for The X-Factor. So that got me thinking we need a singer. I had to go for one of my girls. Nelly Furtado, Carrie Underwood or Pia Toscano. Tweets to them were not immediately (or ever) replied to.


Now it's September 20th, the day before the game. No celebrity appearances, but it's all good. I can't wait for the game tomorrow night. Hockey, pizza and beer, NICE! What could possibly keep us from going out and having fun? 

A   BABY! 

Abigail was born the morning of the hockey game. Since I had the tickets ay my house, I made arrangements for the guys to get their tickets so they could still enjoy the game without me. 

Then something strange happened. Allison told me to go to the game. Really? Is this a trap? We were in Triage and Allison was telling me to go to the game. Mid contraction. Go! Have a good time. I'll sleep.

She asked the nurse and she said sure Daddy, go to the game. I looked at her and said, "Oh, you're in on this too? I see how it is. Girls sticking together."  The nurse was reassuring. She said if something happens there are 10 nurses here to help your wife and your daughter. You'd only be in the way, go to the game.


My mother, my mother-in-law and a few other nurses were telling me the same thing. Go to the game. I said I would think about it, but I honestly wasn't planning to go. As the day progressed and I saw that both baby and mom were doing fine, I started to change my mind. Around noon I decided as long as mom and baby are good, I'd go to the game, but just the game. No dinner before the game. No drinks at all. At the first drop of the puck, I will have been awake for 37 hours with two 40 minute naps. The last thing I should have is a drink.

That's the plan. Uncle Steven came to the hospital to meet Abigail. We hung out for a bit then he left and we planned to meet up again at the game. Uncle Mark came to pick me up from the hospital to go to the game, then Uncle Dave brought me back to the hospital and came upstairs to meet his niece after the game.

I have been to lots of sporting events in my life. Too many to count. I was there when the New York Mets won the National League Pennant in 2000. I watched the New Jersey Devils raise the Stanley Cup in 2003 and now I've been to a game the day my child was born. I'm ranking those as my top 3 games and I'm saving that ticket.

The game itself was a lot of fun. As expected, the guys offered to buy me drinks, but I refused, so they bought me food instead. We watched the game and talked about my baby the whole time. It was awesome. I'm sure the people in front of us were tired of hearing about it, but they didn't say anything and I wasn't going to stop talking about my little girl even if they did.

In the end it all worked out. I got a healthy baby girl and even got the celebrity appearance after all. Chris Kirkpatrick of Nsync sang the National Anthem. He did a nice job. He's often the forgotten member of Nsync....um, I mean, stupid boy band! PLAY SOME SKYNYRD!! 

The game was exciting. The Saint Louis Blues won 4-3 on a late goal by Adam Cracknell. I'm trying to get a picture, hockey card or puck signed by him for Abigal's Time Capsule, but no luck so far. He actually replied to a tweet saying he'd love to sign something for me and invited me to the fan fest, but unfortunately I couldn't make it to St. Louis that day, so the search continues. At the very least I'll order a puck online and put it with the game ticket in the time capsule.

I'd call Dad-chelor Party 2.0 a success. I still plan to take the guys out for cigars, but there is no date on the calendar yet.

Before I sign off, I just have one more idea to share with you:  
GRAND-DAD-CHELOR PARTY!!!!
Yeah buddy! I wonder if Katy Perry will still be wearing those leotards in 30 years. We'll find out. I'll start plugging away at the celebrity guest list now.

What a great wife I have. I don't know how many other wives out there would have forced their husbands to go to a hockey game. Thanks honey.

God Bless You

You think you have no time? Wait until you have a kid or two kids. Holy cow. I have so little free time now it's crazy. I can't imagine how people with 3 or more kids find time to do anything. I'm sure things will get easier once we get into a routine. It's only been 2 weeks.

It's strange that I need to prioritize my evening like I'm at work. I used to get away with doing nothing until after watching our shows. There's plenty of time, I'll just do that later. Well now, that's impossible. There is not enough time later. It's come down to: What's more important today, blogging or a shower. As you can tell by this post, I chose blogging. So you can then come to the conclusion that I also chose being dirty and smelling poorly. ;)

Ben has been a great big brother so far. He loves his little sister. He wakes up looking for her and shows her all his toys. When she cries he comes to get one of us. If she's sleeping, he makes sure she has her pacifier. He even gave her his pacifier once, but it was just a loaner. He needed it back when it was time for bed.

It's so cool watching him interact with her. He knows she's part of the family and he has to be good to her. How does he know that? We've been telling him about the baby in mommy's belly and reading him the 'I'm a big brother' books. Did he really comprehend all of that? Can he really get it? Look at the big brain on Ben. Good job little man!

Here is a little video of the two kids. If you can't make it out, he's saying "Bless you"

Welcome Abigail Beth

Abigail Beth was born Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 4:40:AM. She weighed 8lbs 2.1oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. She had a full head of hair.

Our delivery experience was a lot different with Abigail than it was with Ben's delivery. What? You'd like to hear all about it? That's great, because I love telling the story.

 Pre-Game

Allison had been having contractions for weeks. Small ones. Not painful, but very frequent. She met with her doctor on Monday the 19th. He pretty much guaranteed her that she would not hit her due date of October 5th.

That night, Allison had contractions for about three hours. They weren't consistent or strong. They varied. 5 minutes apart, 9 minutes apart, 2 minutes apart, 7 minutes apart.... C'mon stupid contractions! Get organized! I was ready to meet my baby girl. I wanted to go to the hospital, but Allison talked me out of it, so we watched TV then went to bed.

Tuesday came along and with that came a few txt messages from Allison, from work "Just had a strong one." "Had a few small ones during my demo." When she got home from work she admitted to having some more contractions in the car. Medium to high intensity, but still not consistently spaced.

We had a pot roast from a crock pot for dinner. It was day 2 of the pot roast, so I wasn't too excited about it. I decided to make spaghetti for myself. What does this have to do with the story? Absolutely nothing, but you know how much I like talking about food.

Back to the story. Allison had contractions for the next 2.5 hours. They were getting stronger, but not as strong as when she had Ben, so we didn't really know what to do. Allison didn't want to go to the hospital, but three hours of contractions two nights in a row seemed like a big deal to me.

I called Grammy and Poppy (Allison's parents.) It was a better plan for Ben to go with Grammy and Poppy while he was still awake instead of calling them to come and get him in the middle of the night. So they came over and took Ben to their house for a sleepover party. I knew if the contractions kept up for another hour that I was taking Allison to the hospital. If I had to take her kicking and screaming, so be it, we were going. 

About 20 minutes after my in-laws left with Ben, Allison agreed that it was time to go to the hospital. We gathered our belongings, packed the last few items we needed for the hospital bag and hit the road. This time instead of putting the list in the bag, I put the ACTUAL ITEMS listed on the list in the bag. I'm an old pro now. In preparation, I put aside an outfit to wear to the hospital weeks in advance. With Ben, I tried on 3 pairs of pants and I couldn't find my sneakers. This time I took a pair of underpants, socks, pants, a t-shirt and a golf shirt out of the rotation. They sat on my closet shelf for 2 weeks just waiting for the call. I changed clothes and brushed my teeth in 3.2 minutes.

The Drive

When Ben was born, the drive to the hospital was like a scene straight from a movie. I was playing Danger Zone (Top Gun) in my head, weaving in & out of traffic and exceeding the speed limit, while Allison was writhing in pain in her seat. This time couldn't have been more different. This was a speed limit obeying, stay in your lane cruise down the road.

We left the house at just about 8:00:PM. To keep everyone calm (everyone being me) I was thinking of all these jokes. I asked for permission to tell them, permission was granted, then revoked because I was making her laugh too hard! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm killing it tonight and now I have to stop? I don't remember the jokes, but one of them involved the package of cookies I packed in our hospital bag and if we needed to be admitted before I opened them or if could I open them as soon as we get to triage. I did a whole Seinfeldian bit about them. It was awesome.

We listed to Z100 on satellite radio and had a regular conversation. Who would you rather see in concert? Beyonce or Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga or 1990s Madonna. Silly stuff like that. I chose Beyonce and Madonna. I think Allison chose Lady Gaga both times. Between rounds of "Who would you..." Allison kept saying how they're just going to send us home. And that it wasn't time. I said let's just see what they say. Safety first.Worst case, we get ice cream on the way home and we have a lovely night out.

We got to the hospital just after 8:30. I dropped Allison off at the front door then went to park the car. By 8:47 we were sitting together in the triage waiting room and Allison was txting me, which I thought was ridiculous because I was sitting right next to her. Our legs were actually touching. She could have just written a message then showed it to me on her phone, or leaned over and whispered something to me, but she felt the need to txt me instead.

Triage

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Winnie Palmer Triage area. When Ben was born I bashed it pretty good. I called it "The armpit of Winnie Palmer." the seats were ripped and the room smelled of urine. This time, just like the drive, it couldn't have been more different. The waiting room was great and we were seen right away.

One complaint I have about it was their choice in programming. They were showing a Nancy Grace type show. Nancy Grace herself was not the host since she is on the Dancing show, but the lady hosting was just as irritating. They were discussing the teen girl who gave birth to twins then suffocated them in her bathroom, dumping their bodies in the laundry basket. REALLY? Is this the only thing on? These women are about to give birth to babies. Put on some happy programming. Positive stuff. You're a hospital for women and children, I know you've heard of Postpartum Depression! Inappropriate!

Aside from that, Triage was great. We were seen within minutes and were admitted within the hour. I feel a little guilty about one thing though. When we got to triage, there was this Spanish speaking couple (he spoke both, she only spoke Spanish) waiting to be seen. She was in a lot of pain, writhing around in agony, sweating, breathing heavy. It was not fun to watch. They were next. She got up and walked away. A few minutes later, a nurse came looking for her. She wasn't there. The guy (I won't say husband, I don't think they were married) was sitting there playing Angry Birds. He didn't move. He didn't even look up. The nurse turned to Allison and said, "OK, I guess I'll take you."

We went into the nurse's station to fill out some paperwork. Allison said her pain number was a 4 or 5. Midway through the questionnaire, I looked outside and the Spanish speaking couple was sitting right outside the door and judging from the pain chart, her pain was between 8-10. I hope for his sake she never finds out that he just sat there playing Angry Birds while the nurse looked for, then skipped her.

Had that been me, that nurse would have waited for Allison to get back. I would have had to be physically restrained before someone took her spot. Especially if she was in that much pain.

Labor Pain

It was a busy night. We later found out 41 babies were born in the last two days. That's a lot of babies. It took about two hours to get a delivery room assigned. The extended wait was because that Spanish woman in all the pain got a room before us. I'm glad she did, she needed it. We were greeted by our nurse, a different Spanish woman named Milli. I immediately thought of Carla from Scrubs, but aside from speaking Spanish, she wasn't anything like her. She called us Mami and Papi. She said "Here's whats gonna happen Mami. We'll break your water, you'll finish dialating, and you'll have this baby girl around 6:00." She wasn't too far off.

Within minutes of arriving in the delivery room I set up shop. Camera: ready to roll. Laptop: powered up, Firefox tabs opened for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and of course Yahoo! Sports to track the massive choke job by the Boston Red Sox. Cookies were open and I already polished off a few of them.

They checked Allison, she was 3 or 4 cm dilated. They told us they'd be back in two hours to check her, then with a straight face, told Allison to try to relax and get comfortable. I don't think Allison's been comfortable since sometime early July. I didn't have that problem.

We looked for Scrubs on TV, but couldn't find it, so we watched an episode of Friends. At the top of the hour we found Scrubs. It really is one of the best shows of all time. I ate a few more cookies behind my monitor or in the bathroom so I didn't tease Allison with them. Once you get checked in, it's nothing but ice chips, ice pops and water for mom until the baby comes out. Dad can eat anything mommy will let him.

Milli came in from time to time to check on Allison and make some small talk. At the two hour mark the doctor came in and said Allison hadn't dilated any further so she wanted to put her on Pitocin to increase contractions. It kicked in about 30 minutes later and Allison was ready for her epidural.  After she got her epidural, they broke her water and again told her to try to sleep. They said they'd be back to check on her in a few hours. We turned off all the lights and tried to rest.

Just before the doctor left, she said "I have a surgery scheduled for 6:30:AM. So we have to have this baby before then or after then." I thought that was a odd thing to say and envisioned a 'Father of the Bride 2' moment happening. I must have had a look on my face because Allison told me everything was fine.

I took my sneakers off, unbuttoned my pants and curled up on the rocking chair with a few blankets. The thermostat was set for 65 degrees. I fell asleep right away. I woke up occasionally when they nursing crew came in to check Allison's blood pressure and some other machines.

Around 4:20:AM Allison woke me up and said she had a lot of pain. I pressed the call button and the nurse came in. She was happy and cheerful coming into the room. She had a big smile on her face. As she checked Allison, her demeanor changed immediately and a look of panic came across her face. She pulled out her phone and called the doctor. "Delivery STAT we need you down here." She pressed the call button and requested a delivery team STAT. She would probably deny it and say that's business as usual, but I know what I saw. Unfortunately I've made the look of panic at work a few times. I know what it looks like and that was it.

Nurses came running into the room. They set up the newborn lamp and baby station in about 2 minutes. While one group of nurses was setting up the baby station another was getting tools and scrubs ready for the doctor. The doctor came in and checked Allison out. She rushed to put on her scrubs, mask and visor. She said "Are you ready? The baby is right here."

I asked "Really?" She said,"Yeah, come look." HELLO!!! THAT'S A BABY HEAD! I don't know what I was expecting to see, but I was shocked that she was right there. Allison had to push for close to two and a half hours before Ben was that close. Abigail got that close while we were napping.

The nurse said "Papi, get your camera ready, get your baby book ready, then grab a leg." I was a step ahead of her. Remember, I'm an old pro now. I had my camera on the table next to me with the baby book under it. I used a hospital menu as a bookmark for the footprint page. I'm ready. Let's do it!

Delivery

I was expecting to have this magical moment. A connection to Baby Abigail like Jacob had with Renesmee when he first saw her. You know Jacob, the werewolf from the Twilight books. And Renesmee, Bella and Edward's half human half vampire daughter. Not that I read the Twilight books, that's kind of girlie (4 books in 6 weeks, finishing the last one before Allison even started it. #TeamEdward) Some girl told me about that part while I was watching manly sports and doing manly things. I just remembered it now. ;)

I think it all happened so quickly, that I wasn't prepared when she actually came out. Allison pushed for a total of 13 minutes. 13 minutes! A few days later we were able to count the number of pushes, but I don't want to get too graphic here, so I'll keep that number between us. 38 weeks and 13 minutes...POW there she is. Time to cut the cord dad. Then it was over. An uneventful birth is a good birth, but it left me thinking, really? That's it? We're done here?

I was talking to Allison, making sure she was OK. Four nurses and a doctor are in the room, but I'm sure my asking "You OK?" would unearth any problems that may be occurring. It felt like a My Cousin Vinny moment.  "I should've asked you a long time ago for these pictures. You got it, honey! You did it! The case cracker, me in the shower! Ha ha! I love this! That's it! "

The doctor laid Abigail on Allison's chest. She cried for a bit, then got quiet and just laid there. My two #1 girls laying together quietly. Mental picture moment, I doubt that will happen very often ;) Abigail laid on Allison for 20-25 minutes before the staff cleaned her up. She was perfect. Ten fingers. Ten toes. She cried right away. She had good color and a full head of hair.

When she was first born, I thought her hair was curly. I said she looked just like her mama. Then she had her first bath and FOOP! Her hair got spiked and she looked just like me. My mother sent my baby picture and there is no denying she is my child. Well, she's either mine or Law's from Tekken. You decide.

 

 

She looks exactly like me except that my nose was bigger. Hopefully she doesn't have to deal with that big nose drama, but I'll apologize now, in advance, for her awkward middle school years. 

 

Welcome Visitors

A few friends and Allison's family came to visit. Not that I didn't appreciate the visits from our friends, but the most important visitor was Ben. We weren't sure how he was going to react. It could go bad. He could stomp, cry, scream NO NO NO or he could be the good little boy that he is and be super cool with things.

His reaction was right in the middle. I met him in the lobby. He wasn't alone. Grammy and Poppy brought him. At first he was afraid of the waterfall tunnel in the main entrance. He eventually got over his fear and didn't want to exit the tunnel. 

We got him upstairs and entered the room. He did not want to go to Allison. He freaked out a little bit when  I tried to put him on the bed, but he did say "Hi Mama." I tried to bring him over to the bassinet that Abigail was in, but he wasn't having that either. So he played with his car while grown people talked. 

Grammy and Poppy took turns holding the baby. Then we did some trickery on Ben. Grammy held Abigail. I held Ben. We sat next to each other and inched them closer and closer. He looked at her with interested eyes, but I could tell he wasn't quiet sure how to act. The good news, he wasn't jealous that Grammy was holding another baby. 

Then suddenly Ben made a fist and moved it in Abigail's direction. Not to worry, he wasn't hitting her. He was fist bumping. One of her hands came out of it's sleeve and was in a fist. We went with it. He did the left fist, then the right fist. Then we said give the baby a kiss and sure enough, he did.

Ben noticed the baby was asleep, so he said "Shhh baby sleeping." There was a pacifier resting on Allison's food tray. He grabbed it and started walking with it. We all reached for him to stop him from putting it in his mouth. He said "Baby!" and tried to put it in her mouth. Grammy took it from him. What a good boy.

 

 

 

Ben walked over to the bassinet, pointed at it and said "Baby sleeping. Baby sleeping." Translation, hey dummy! Put the baby in her bed, she's sleeping. We cooperated and placed her in the bassinet. He went for the pacifier again and threw it into the bassinet for her. Yeah, he's going to be a great big brother.

Since he was right next to the bed, I gave him some flowers to give to Mommy. He did and everything was cool. A hospital isn't a great place for kids to be hanging out, so Grammy and Poppy took him back home shortly after, but a huge weight was lifted. Ben likes his little sister. whew!

Going Home

We left the hospital Friday around noon. Allison got settled at home, I went to Target to get her prescriptions filled, pick up lunch, then we waited for Ben to come home. It was really not a big deal. We made a point to spend extra special time with Ben. Abigail got him some cool Thomas the Tank Engine bath toys which he loved and that was it. Now....we're a happy family of 4. Wish us luck and come back for more stories.

 

 

 

So's Your Face

When you're with family, you have your own inside jokes, stories and words. It makes sense to you, but to an outsider, well outsiders look at you funny. When I first met Allison's family, there was a lot of this.

I'm Catholic, she's Jewish. Bring on the Yiddish. Until I met Allison the only Yiddish I knew was "schlemiel", which I learned from Independence Day. Strange, I grew up in NY, but I only knew one Yiddish word. That all changed at the first Jewish holiday. I learned a bunch of words and I tossed them around. I wore "chatchke" out like nobody's business. Allison will tell you she was "chatchke'ed out." I think when I used the word three times in one sentence utilizing each definition of the word was what did it.

More recently I'm saying "Oy Gavelt" It's like "Holy cow" or "Good grief."  It's fun to say. Usually I give a little giggle, and the reason why I said "Oy Gavelt" doesn't seem that bad.

This evening at dinner Ellen, my mother-in-law, came up with a true gem. It wasn't Yiddish, I'm not sure that it was English either. I had never heard it before but somehow I knew exactly what she was saying. She said to Allison "I think you're having this baby tonight. Look at you, Your face is all over your face!"

LOL - WHAT? Your face is all over your face? That makes no sense, but we all knew exactly what she meant and now, it'll be an inside joke for life. I expect it to show up every holiday, birthday or family dinner.

Let me translate to those of you who don't quite get it. The day Allison had Ben she had been out shopping with her mother all day. When I got home from work I asked if she felt ok and said her face looked funny. It just looked different. She was already pretty swollen. She just looked different. That night, she went into labor and had Ben. Today her face looked....different, but not like that. It was a different, different.

Today Allison's cheek bones, lips and eyes looked puffy. So when Ellen said "Your face is all over your face!" I knew exactly what she meant and her description is as good as anyone elses.

It also reminded me of a funny thing we used to say as kids. "Oh yeah, So's your face"

Cereal, Hold the Milk

I'm one of the few people that does not put milk in cereal. I'll drink a cup of milk while I'm eating it, but combine the two and you can just created a bowl of garbage. I'm not eating it. I'm not a big dipper either. The chip is the main attraction. The dip is an add-on.

Why did I mention that? Because there have been incidents.

The Chip & Dip Incident.
We went to a neighbor's pool party on Labor Day. It was a really nice time. I made my homemade Mac&Cheese and Allison made her famous double-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. I spent most of the party in the pool with Ben while Allison talked to neighbors and friends. The only time we spent out of the pool was to eat.

While Ben was waiting for me to finish eating so we could continue our splash-fest, he found the bowl of potato chips. He ate a few, then he found the dip. He dipped a chip and fed it to Allison. Then he dipped another chip and looked directly at me and said "Dada." He dipped a chip for me. The only problem, I'm not a chip dipper. I feel very strongly that the chip is the meal. If you dip, you should only dip enough to add just a taste to the chip. Chips & Salsa, 7 layer dips and the like are excluded from this rule. In that case, the dip is the meal, but if you're talking potato chips and onion dip, the chip is the meal.

Ben dipped 1/4 of a chip into the dip. The chip was gone, buried under the dip. He walked over to me. I kept telling him "give it to Mommy" but his resolve was strong. He kept coming for his dad. He fed me the chip. I ate it and said thank you, but as soon as he turned away, I made the bitter beer face. This kept up for about 5 or 6 more chips until I eventually couldn't take it anymore and said "who wants to go swimming?" It wasn't 30 minutes since I'd eaten, but I'll risk cramps over eating more dipped chips any day.

 Cereal & Milk
Allison called me at work the other day. She said "Your son just had a complete meltdown because I put milk in his cereal." I said "You're somehow going to blame this on me aren't you."

I don't put milk in my cereal. I'm not a cookie dipper either. Ben has been eating cereal & milk for months. I eat my bowl of cereal with a spoon to make him think there's milk in the bowl, but no milk. I guess he's paying closer attention than I thought. He wants to eat like his daddy. NO MILK.

This morning I watched him have a fit. Allison made his bowl of Life cereal. Then when she took the milk out he started screaming "NO NO!!!" then he waved his arms like a mad man when she actually poured the milk. So I decided to suck it up, do what I had to do and put milk in my cereal.

It was effing disgusting! How can anyone enjoy this? It transformed my normally crunchy, tasty cereal into cold, wet, chewy, tasteless slop. I'm pushing HEAVILY for waffles for breakfast tomorrow, because i don't know if I can eat that crap again.  ;) A dad's gotta do what a dad's gotta do. You know I'll do anything for my kid(s), but I never thought it'd be this. LOL 

Anyway, what cereal do you guys eat? Is there anything that keeps it's flavor and crunch in milk? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Happy 2nd Birthday Benjamin!!!

Benjamin was born 9/15/09 at 4:33:AM. He was 7lbs 7oz & 20 1/4 inches long. Now he's about 29/30 lbs and 36 inches tall. He's walking & talking and is cuter and happier than I could ever have imagined. Here is the link to the recap of year one.  And without further ado, year 2: 


October 2010 - 13 Months - Ben was Woody (Toy Story) for Halloween and we went pumpkin picking.

November 2010 - 14 Months - We took a trip to NY. Ben met a shark, attended his first Christening and took lots of trips to Disney World.

December 2010 - 15 Months - Ben enjoyed Christmas and Chanukah.

January 2011 - 16 Months - HAPPY NEW YEAR & Playoff time! J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS

February 2011 - 17 Months - FORE!!!

March 2011 - 18 Months - Touchdown! Football season is over...I SAID TOUCHDOWN

April 2011 - 19 Months - Finger painting and feeling sick. :( 

May 2011 - 20 Months - Watching the Royal Wedding with mommy.

June 2011 - 21 Months - Daddy's birthday 

July 2011 - 22 Months - Happy 4th of July. Vacation in Ft. Lauderdale.

August 2011 - 23 Months - Let's Roll. Riding my bike is serious business.

September 2011 - 2 years! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Ben Speaks

Since I haven't posted in a while, those of you that don't see Ben too often have really fallen behind in your Ben coverage. The last you saw of him, he was laughing like a hyena and running to the door screaming when Mommy got home from work. So this post will serve as a Ben to English dictionary.

His vocabulary has grown a lot recently. Some words are clear as day, some not quite as clear, but you can figure it out. Then there is a last group I'll call The NFC (No Effing Clue) Group.There are a bunch of words in this group, such as "Do-doo-waaa, seeeet, babablabadababadada" There are full sentences in this group too.

Anyway, here is a breakdown of some of his best words. (in random order)
Dada! (Random order after this one that is! HA HA HA Dada #1  Dada rules!!!)
Mama
Baa-ba - Poppy (Allison's Dad)
Gwee-Weee - Grammy (Allison's Mom)
Choo-Choo - Choo-Choo trains
Pease - Please
Don-woo - Thank You
Hi
NO
Yeah
COOKIE
Mealk - Milk
Jews - Juice
Cheese
Hot
Pool
Shoes
Ball
MOOOOOO - What a cow says.
Woof woof - What a dog says.
HSSSSSSSSSS - What a snake says
Meow - What a cat says
ROOOAR - What a lion says
Melmo - Elmo
Doooouwg - Dog
Cat
Nigh Nite - Night night
Yellow
Geen - Green
Reed - Red
Whie - White
Bwack - Black
Dawone - That one
Theeeseone - This one
plane
heli-babter - helicopter
Tiger
Wow
Woody
Buzz Lightyear

Wow, that's a lot of words and he knows a lot more than that, I just can't list them all here.

He's also been learning sign language. Here are a few of the signs he knows.

This last one is more of a body language signal. The red face is a dead give away. The definition is below, but it also means RUN!!! RUN and let someone else do it.

Happy Labor Day

WOW! Who knew? It's been a while since I posted anything. No big deal, nobody reads this anyway right? WRONG!

In the past few weeks, I've had friends, co-workers and neighbors ask me about the blog. So I guess it's time to bring it back. When I started the blog in April 2009, I was like Macaulay Culkin in Uncle Buck. I had tons of questions and thoughts. I just needed a place to get them out of my head.

I didn't know anybody would read it. I didn't realize it would inspire people who were thinking about children, but needed that extra push. I didn't know other parent bloggers would read it and share war stories. I didn't even know I was a dad blogger, but I guess I am (don't worry, I don't plan on doing any stupid product reviews.) 

I figured I have a new baby girl on the way, so I should do something new on the blog. Without being annoying, I'll post about Allison & I, Ben and Abigail. It'll be mostly about the kids. So here we go. Time for some new posts.

Let's start with a Labor Day weekend post. It started out pretty rough, but got better as it went along. I hope tomorrow will be the best day, but seeing as the agenda includes food shopping and house cleaning, it doesn't look promising.

Ben woke up with a temperature on Friday. Allison took care of him and he did well until nap time. After nap time he woke up with a worse temp and a stuffy nose. He cried until he puked, but good news, Allison caught it all, well most of it in a tissue box. LOL

I stopped off to get cold medicine and ice pops, then rushed home to tag in for Allison. I got Ben to stop crying and chill for a bit, but then something strange happened with is face. It looked like his tongue swelled and he couldn't close his mouth.

We called the doctor and got the answering service. The doctor closed early for the holiday and they are closed all weekend. You know, because nobody gets sick over a holiday weekend. Why would anyone want to actually see the doctor? (that's a topic for another post) They said if you don't get a callback in 25 minutes to call again.

25 minutes? GTF out of here. If I don't get a callback in 25 minutes I'm getting a new doctor. I changed from my work clothes into shorts and 2 minutes later I was ready to go to the Urgent Care Center. I said "let's go."
Allison said "you don't want to wait for the callback, do you?"
I responded "absolutely not. I'm a little upset we're not out the door right now"

We hit the road, but I couldn't help but play fight scene from Independence Day in my head "...this isn't happening fast enough, get them outta there..." We were pulling into the parking lot of the urgent care center when the nurse called us and said Ben should be seen immediately.

He had swollen glands and a red throat. It wasn't strep. They said it was probably just a virus. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, we already met our deductible, so $27 was all it cost. I wonder if my insurance would cover a haircut. Normally I just buzz my head myself, but for $1.20, if insurance covers it, I'll take that. I work for an insurance company, 'll see what I can do.

Saturday Ben was feeling a little better. I took my car to Honda for a $25 oil change. I left with the oil change, a new battery, new front brakes and a new AC fan motor. This is why I usually lease. No maintenance just gas. I hit 50,000 miles this week. 50K, I can't complain too much. The car has been very good to me. We went to Target, it smelled funny in the store. Like a fire or something. We shopped then left, the store was surrounded by cop cars, ambulances and 3 fire trucks and a bunch of firemen in full gear. Target, where we care about our customers. Thanks for looking out for me and my family Target. There's a fire in the store, no need to evacuate.Take your time...buy some goods. 
I went to the UCF game Saturday night. They won 62-0. It was a video game score. Very ugly game, but fun and great weather.

Today was a cloudy day. We played in the backyard in a kiddie pool and blew some bubbles, then we went to a BBQ/Pool party. I made my homemade mac-n-cheese. No leftovers. It must have been good. Allison made her special double stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Ben spent all but 15-20 minutes in the pool.He fell in love with a Lego boat & Lego cars.

The cutest thing Ben did today, he dipped potato chips into onion dip and feed them to Allison and I. I don't like a big dip. Dip is not the meal. The chip is the meal. Dip is an accessory. I'm a light dipper. I had about 3 years of dip today in about 5 chips. Thanks Ben.

Abigail -
It appears that Abigail has turned and is head down, facing the exit. She's kicking and moving around a lot in there. More than Ben did, but I gotta tell you, I didn't feel a thing either time. ;) 

Have a good Labor Day...back to work on Tuesday.

Daddy, This is MY BLOG!!

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I think Ben got a little jealous of my post about Baby Girl C yesterday. Tonight at bath time there was an incident. An attention grabbing incident...which was probably my fault. It was like Ben said "Daddy, you know that song that you play in the car, that you're not supposed to play, but you play it anyway, then you turn to me and say, Don't say those words Ben, well, this is my blog! It's All About the Benjamins Daddy!"  It sounds like something he would say. That or, "My question to you sir, is this my blog or not?" Yes, I'm watching too much Casey Anthony Trial.

*not for little ears*

Ok, so here's the story. I picked up Ben from the babysitter, then headed off to BJ's to pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner. They didn't have any ready, so I had to walk around the store for 20 minutes.  We stopped by the toy section, the electronics section then the bakery. They gave Ben a frosted sugar cookie. He loved it. He ate the whole thing.

We got home, he was giggling and silly. He had no interest in dinner. We played a bit, then it was bath time. He splashed around, played with his toys, then practiced his swimming. Flipping from his belly to his back, just like they teach him in class (good boy)

While laying on his back, he started making some bubbles. He announced them "bubbles!" Then suddenly he stood up with a panicked look on his face. I reached out to grab him and sit him down. (there's no standing in the bath tub) When I did, he grabbed my arm with both hands and started to grab onto me with his legs too.

I said "Whoa buddy? What's the matter?" He looked at the water, pointed and said "uh-oh" I looked and there was a little poop nugget. "No biggie. I'll fix that for you kid." As I swung him a few inches to the left I saw them. An East River Brown Trout and his friend the Bronze Dolphin. (there's nothing funnier than poop jokes/stories. See past post: Poop, Poop, Poop.)

I scooped him up out of the tub and yelled out to Allison "I need help" she came in, yelled GROSS and started cracking up. We moved him into our shower to finish getting him clean. I jumped in still wearing my shorts, shirt and glasses. Ben took the shower head and tried to spray the dog. He started to giggle. Molly tried to bite the water through the glass door. Ben started belly laughing. This was the hardest I've ever heard him laugh. I was in tears laughing at his laugh. It was awesome. After a few minutes he let me finish his bath and after THREE stories, we put him to bed.

What did I learn today? Next time they someone gives Ben a frosted sugar cookie, only let him eat half.

Shopping for Baby Girl Clothes

Allison and I were shopping and we decided to take a look at newborn girl clothes. I kept picking out fancy dresses, like the ones a little girl would wear on Christmas Day. Allison told me she can't wear clothes like that everyday. She can't play in clothes like that. I argued that she could. What's the big deal, she can play in a dressl??

Allison picked out a jumper/onesie thing. I hated it. I thought it was ugly and that's what I told her. She said it's not ugly, it's so cute. I wanted to keep her in good spirits, so I said "Well maybe once I see it on her."

Without hesitation, she held it up to her belly and said "Well, what do you think?"
LOL That was a good one. I love pregnancy humor.

This is Why I Never Blog Anymore

When Allison was pregnant the first time, I had all the time in the world to write blog posts. (Take some time to read the old posts. They are pretty good, if I do say so myself.)

Since Ben was born, my posts have been few and far between, but my life has never been better.

Here is a clip of how I spend most of my time now. After watching it, can you really blame me?

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Allison is doing well. She's 17 weeks today. The baby is forming bones, it weighs about 5-6 oz and is about 5-6 inches long from head to bottom. We have another sonogram in 2 weeks. Hopefully we'll find out the sex of the baby.

Ok onto Ben. Ben is doing great. His vocabulary is rapidly expanding. It seems like every other day he says something new. Today he repeated Donald Duck after I said it. I tried to get him to say Goofy, Mickey Mouse and Pluto too. He repeated them, but it didn't really sound like anything. However, he nailed Donald Duck. I guess no more Lil Wayne in the car. I don't want him to pick up any bad words. He's a good boy though. Just look what he does when I say "earmuffs"

Ben got a balloon last weekend when we went big boy furniture shopping. It's still hovering, so I tied it to his Mickey Mouse toy so he could play with it. I took it off of Mickey and it floated to the ceiling. I picked Ben up, lifted him over my head and he grabbed the string. He was so excited. He ran around the kitchen a few times with it, then mommy got home from work and he let it go.


It floated up to the ceiling again and I asked him "Ben, do you want to get your balloon?" He looked at the balloon, looked and me and said "yeah." Yeah buddy! Good job.

He also knows how old he is. Grammy taught him to raise his pointer finger when you ask him "How old are you?"

Flu Shots, The Flu and Prophylactics

I don't embarrass easily, but I got pretty embarrassed last month.
We just recently found out that Allison was pregnant. It was still early, she hadn't even been to the doctor for her 6 week sonogram.

Anyway, Ben was really sick. We took him to the doctor and it turns out he had the flu. How could he get the flu? He had the flu shot. Allison stayed home with Ben. I didn't really want her near him, you never want a pregnant lady to get sick. So I left work early to spend some time with Ben and keep Allison away from him. I wasn't worried about getting sick. I had a flu shot. Bring it on.

Ben and I had a lot of fun. We watched Toy Story 1 & 2 a lot. We played in his play room and ate ice pops.

Allison and I were worried that she would get sick, so she called the doctor. She left a message, then she had to go to a function for work. When the doctor's office called back, I took the call. Yikes!

I explained the situation. Here's about how the conversation went:
ME: My wife is 4 or 5 weeks pregnant, but my son has the flu. Is there anything she can take or do?
NURSE: Has she been to the doctor yet?
ME: No, she has an appointment for next week.
NURSE: Hmmm, so you say she's pregnant, but she hasn't seen the doctor yet.???
ME: (getting pissed) Yeah! 4 positive pregnancy tests, I'm pretty sure she's pregnant.
NURSE: I will fax a prescription for Tamiflu and keep her away from your son.
ME: OK thanks.
NURSE: I'll fax it over. She has to take this prophylactic until it's finished and make sure she stays confined in a clean room.
ME: Um..wait, what? How does she have to take this medicine?
NURSE: It's a prophylactic, it just means preventative. It's a tablet form. Just take it with a glass of water.
ME: Oh. OK, thank you.

Fast forward to two weeks later. Ben is better and we are at Allison's doctor appointment.
It's a new nurse since Allison's first pregnancy, so we did our introductions. Allison says "We spoke, remember, my son had the flu"

The nurse immediately turns to me and says "YES! I remember talking to you about prophylactics! You gave me a good laugh that day. Prophylactic Man." The rest of the appointment went well. I went to my own doctor's appointment right after that...and it turns out I caught the flu too! Thanks Ben.

Since I was home from work for a few days, I decided to look up the definition of "Prophylactic."  I thought it was a condom. who knew it had another or a real definition. It's been added to the list of words that have thrown me for a loop/embarrassed me. (see: Invalid ME: "What's an invalid motor coach?" Teacher: "You mean In-va-lid?" ME: confused stare.. )


Prophylactic

1. A medicine or course of action used to prevent disease.

2. A condom