"The call"

The call. The phone call the father-to-be receives from his pregnant wife (or girlfriend) telling him it's go time. The days leading up to the call can be quite nerve racking. Are you ready? Are you prepared to leave at a drop of a dime? This is my recollection of what happened when I received "the call" with the three kids.

Jacob's first day of (real) school

On Monday, Jacob officially started his school career. It was his first day of Kindergarten. He's been to our church's ECC program which is essentially a preschool for the past three years but this is different. This is "real" school.

Who does he look like?

That's the most common question one will get asked with a newborn. It's too early to tell. All babies look like old men (or women) when they first arrive and you can't really tell until they are six months or even a year old. I decided to compare all the boys when they were about a week or two old, since I'm curious how Tyson will turn out. So let's take a look.

Paternity leave (AKA free time)

My two weeks off work started the moment Tyson was born. I was really looking forward to the pseudo-vacation and with all of this free time, I could start completing things on my long laundry list of random crap I want/need to do. But nothing ever goes according to plan.

Tyson is here!

The wait is over. Tyson has finally arrived. He came in at 6 lbs, 7 oz (biggest of the three boys). From my perspective, this delivery seemed the easiest but Lynn may disagree. I thought it went really smooth. One of the nurses said Lynn was a "super ninja", whatever that means but I took it as a compliment. There were no major issues with baby or mom. We could have probably gone home after the first night but unfortunately we had to stay the standard three days postpartum.

Another birthday

After turning the big 3-oh, I imagine any subsequent birthday is just like any other day. There's nothing monumental about turning 31. It's just a number at this point. What's more important is how you feel. Today, I feel like I'm at my healthiest, my prime. And according to RealAge.com, I'm younger than I actually am.

Documentation

The big thing that I have been taught all throughout school and at all of my jobs is to document everything. "If you don't document it, it never happened." I wish I applied this to my two boys. And this goes for everything, from their various milestones to the crazy, funny things they say. My problem is that I don't think to write it down. Who does? You're too busy in the moment. But I plan on changing that, especially with baby #3.

Calm before the storm

I'm not talking about a hurricane but the pending arrival of baby #3. At this point we're ready... the crib is setup, old baby clothes are out of storage, and all the bottles are washed and ready. The only thing left to do is wait. Waiting is probably the worst part. It's the not knowing that kills me. Not knowing when he's coming. Not knowing how he's going to be as a baby. He can be difficult and colicky like Jacob or super easy and sleeping through the night by day two like Andrew. So many unknowns. I'm excited yet very anxious.

It's a rave

When it's time to settle down and go to bed, the boys occasionally always have a sudden burst of energy. And it doesn't matter if they missed their afternoon nap, they will still expend a crazy amount of energy right before going to sleep. Yelling, running, jumping, wrestling, etc all around 10 pm. So one night I decided to give them some glow sticks I bought from the dollar bin at Target and used my camera to capture the chaos.

Make me babies

We're counting down the days and the one thing I keep wondering is, what will baby #3 look like? Jacob and Andrew look nothing alike so will this newborn look more like one of his siblings or have a totally different look? So I turned to the internet in hopes of answering this question.

"I like your glasses"

In my line of work, I get to meet a lot of people. And everywhere I go I've gotten a lot of compliments on my new pair of eyeglasses (I broke my previous frames). I'm not here to brag but to point out one common trend of those compliments.

Keeping the (burger) streak alive

Last week I mentioned my addiction to burgers so when going out to eat yesterday, I couldn't help myself from ordering one. I'm not purposely eating a burger every week (because we all know how unhealthy that can be) but I don't crave anything else.

What's in a name?

It's almost time to meet baby #3 (a month away) and we need to come up with a name. Honestly we haven't put much thought into it. Maybe it's because of the fact that it's our third child, a third boy. We're running out of boy names here.

A name is a big deal since you're stuck with it for the rest of your life, or until you're old enough to go to the courthouse and change it to something like Ochocinco. I'm not a fan of my own name. I don't like saying it. I don't like the way it sounds. But it's my name and I've learn to live with it. So when picking a name for my own child, I want to make sure it's a name that he will like and most importantly, meet most (if not all) of my criteria for a name.

I'm addicted to hamburgers

This marks the fifth weekend in a row where I got a burger (not counting any fast food ones). After Jacob's T-ball game on Saturday, we had lunch at 9er's Grill. I ordered the Tex-Mex burger which included jalapenos, bacon, and cheese. The beef patty was big and thick. Each bite was really flavorful. The fries looked like the frozen variety but it was cooked really well (crisp) and lightly seasoned just right.

The value of money

Initially to reward the boys for whatever the reason (sleeping by themselves, eating their entire meal by themselves without having to be constantly reminded, brotherly help, sharing toys, no whining for the entire day, etc.) I used reward calendars from Chuck E Cheese. If they did any of the previously mentioned good deed, then they would get a sticker to put on an empty day and once they completed their calendar, their reward was a trip to Chuck E Cheese. Initially, it took them quite a while to complete a calendar but then they literally got a sticker everyday. It got too easy for them. So easy in fact I still owe them a trip to Chuck E Cheese (but I don't think they remember). I needed another reward system.