Crystal Growing Up

Man, it really hit me tonight how much Crystal has grown. All I had to do was tell her to take a shower. She said that she needed help getting the water turned on so it wasnt too hot. So I basically got the water just right, turned on the shower, and then left her in the bathroom all by herself.

She shampooed and conditioned her own hair, then turned off the water, got out, and dried off, brushed her own hair, then went into her bedroom and clothed herself in her own unders and pajamas.

Scary.

Saddest Ever

Bailey is the most adorable little girl ever. She really has me very emotionally wrapped up in her. It breaks my heart to see her upset, and it makes me the happiest father in the world to see her happy. I dont know what it is with her, but she is just so....ah, I cant explain it.

Well this evening Amy went shopping and the house desperately needed a cleaning. So I sent all 3 kids upstairs to throw all their toys in the bucket. It really is a very simple task. I meanwhile cleaned the main room and the kitchen and vacuumed. I had already accepted that getting them to actually clean would take some time and a little frustration.

So I went up and checked, and of course, not a single thing had been done, so I got on their cases a little blah blah blah eventually Crystal and Rooker were doing an excellent job of cleaning... but not Bailey. She absolutely refused to clean and instead was chasing our cats around the house. I told her 3-4 times that I was making Ramen Noodles and she could only have some if she helped clean. I know she got the message each time, but she refused to help.

Well, the room finally got cleaned and I made Ramen Noodles, but I only dished enough for Rooker and Crystal. I saw the sudden change in face as it finally dawned on Bailey that I was not feeding her any noodles. "Where's my bowl Daddy?" My heart is already starting to bleed at this point. "Im sorry Bailey, but you didnt help clean up.". Tears form in her eyes as she says "But I hungry too Daddy". I reply "Why didnt you help clean up?". "Cause I didnt want to...Please Daddy? I so hungry." And it wasnt the bratty whiny type cry, it was clear to me that she was absolutely heart-broken that I wouldnt let her eat while Crystal and Rooker ate right in front of her.

I could barely even breathe and my heart felt like a 1000 pounds trying to deal with this.

Eventually me and her went back upstairs and we picked up some popcorn, wrappers, and other misc, then she helped me vaccuum, AND THEN we came down and I made her some noodles.

I think all I was trying to accomplish was to let her know that I was serious so she wont doubt me so easily next time.

But it just about killed me to pull that off, Im not sure I could do it again.

Radio Bible Preacher

Every once in awhile I listen to 95.5 FM and sometimes I get the opportunity to hear a preacher preaching the Bible. I actually enjoy it alot. They generally have some amazing insights into some of the Bible stories, and I enjoy listening to them tell about them.

But this morning I was listening to another one about the Abraham and Isaac story and Sarah getting pregnant when she was super old, and the preacher broke off for a sec to tell a story he remembered that made me laugh. It went like this.

---

Bill and Helen had been married for almost 65 years, and Bill could tell that his wife was getting hard of hearing because he would have to repeat things 2 or 3 times before his wife would respond to him. It began to annoy him very much. So one day he decided to find out exactly how deaf she was so that he would know how close he had to be for her to hear him when he tried to talk to her.

So Bill stood at the back of the room and quite loudly said "HELEN!".
She didnt respond at all.

So he walked 1/2 way across the room to her and again loudly exclaimed "HELEN!!".
Again, not a peep in response back to him.

Somewhat annoyed, he walked right up to her and said "HELEN!!!"
to which she looked at him and loudly said "FOR THE THIRD TIME, WHAT DO YOU WANT!!!".

---

HAHAHAHA

I was bustin up. What a great story. Bible preachers rule!

Totally Unappreciative

Every now and then Bridger gets kinda needy. If you lay him down, he immediately starts to whine and cry like a little baby. He isnt hungry or anything, just being a baby.

Ive looked him straight in the face many times and told him that he has absolutely NOTHING to be upset about, he has every single luxury given to him. He is surrounded by people responding to his every single need be it hunger, diaper change, clothes change, sitting him up, helping him roll over, buckling him up for a drive, feeding him, etc etc etc. He lives in a nice warm house, he has a soft warm bed to sleep in, he has clothes to change into if his current ones get dirty, he has food to eat when he is hungry, his diapers are nice and comfortable, and he gets rocked to sleep every single night, and if he wakes up hungry at 3am, within 5 minutes he gets fed and rocked back to sleep. Honestly, what could he possible have to complain about?

Not 10 seconds after my speech, he goes right back to whining and crying cause "someone left me alone for 10 whole seconds, waaaaaah".

Not a single thing to be upset about, yet he complains.

And you know what?

I am the same exact way.

Every luxury given to me, every need met, and yet totally unappreciative.

Day 4 of Maryland Trip

Phew, lots of stuff in training today. I was pretty fried at the end of it. We stayed till about 6pm, and then went and talked to a guy in their support dept who is helping us with our box.

Then we went to Ichiban and got some super duper yummy Sushi. Sushi is so awesome, you dont get overly stuffed with greasy food. Just some rice, vegetables, and sometimes a little fish. I always feel good after having aten Sushi for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we have to catch the plane at 830am, its going to be a very early day.

Day 3 of Maryland Trip

Day 3 seemed pretty long. Class was a little more in depth and some was over my head, but it was all in all really good, and one day all the notes I took that day will make more sense - probably when we actually get into the box and start configuring things.

For dinner we went to Lonestar Steakhouse and then back to the apt to veg away the rest of the night in front of the TV. Yeah, it wasnt too exciting, but the class just fried me and I just wanted to sit in a stupor till bedtime.

Day 2 of my Maryland Trip

Yesterday was really cool. I went to my first actual training and it was very very interesting. The trainer guy is amazing. Some guys just have the ability to make perfect sense of something that seems complicated. I was loving it.

Then me and Phil drove to Globalsat to install a server that we are going to use, and then we went to the "Bottom of the Bay" restaurant which is where you pay $30 and its all you can eat crabs and shrimp. None of the crabs are shelled, and its not crab legs either, its the entire crab. You get a wooden mallet and you just start pounding the crabs to crack them open and pull out the meat. There really isnt very much meat in a crab, and it takes so long to crack em open and pull the meat out, that you end spending about 2 hours eating and watching TV and just chatting. Its pretty fun.

Anyway, back to day 3 of my trip.

Day 1 of my Maryland Trip

As none of you may know, I am in Maryland doing some training on a product for Lyman Brothers that will allow us to do phone calls over the internet and allow us to sell that to our customers. Like Vonage.

So yesterday morning I flew out and arrived at our hotel about 5pmish. Me and Phil Holmes are here together for the training. The very first thing we did is call the front desk and ask where a good sushi restaurant is, and they sent to us to the Ichiban Japanese/Korean restaurant. It was soooooooo amazing. WOW. And it was amazingly cheap. An entire sushi roll was only $3-$5 for dinner! Thats insane. So we got 3 rolls. Yummy! It was seriously one of the best meals I have ever had.

Then we came back to the hotel (The Hilton) and sat in the hot tub for about 45 minutes. It was excellent. Then we went to a couple stores, stocked up on candy and pop, and then back to the hotel to watch TV till we fell asleep.

Yeah, it was a super tough day, but I made it through.

New Volleyball

The new volleyball we played last night at Mom & Dads was a total blast. Actually, the whole entire day was a total blast. Dinner was awesome (thanks Sade) and the ice cream cake was super amazing (thanks Sade) and Mom had a good bday party, the kids had a blast, Mom's present to us was so amazingly awesome. Seriously, it was one of the best weekends EVER!

During one of the games though, I caught the grass wrong and did the splits. Today, my right leg is KILLING me. I can hardly bend it.

Oh but it was so worth it.