Tyson documentation continues

PSA: Cover your cough & sneeze

Once again, a child (Andrew) is sick in our household. It seems like we can't even go one month illness-free. Kids are full of germs and the way they are, I can see how easily it can be passed from one person to another. They pick their nose. They drool and slobber. Their hand hygiene is horrible. But the one thing I notice that's done incorrectly on a consistent basis is covering one's cough and/or sneeze. This applies to adults too.

Eating and sitting

At 5 months old, Tyson started eating baby food. Goodbye tolerable smelling poop diapers. Hello nasty, literally smells like shit poop diapers. And more recently, now at 6 months old, he is sitting on his own. My little man is growing up fast but not fast enough. I'm ready for him to be walking and talking but most importantly, potty trained. Oh, and he needs to grow out of his eczema!

Jacob and Papa Day

As previously mentioned a couple weeks ago, I got to spend quality one-on-one time with Andrew which was dubbed "Andrew and Papa Day". With Jacob, it's much harder for me to get time alone with him since Andrew would always be in the picture. It's also rare to find a picture with only Jacob and I as seen with our most recent picture together (adjacent), which was taken in June 2011. But this past weekend, Andrew had a classmate's birthday party to attend so I had Jacob all to myself.

40 days and 40 nights

It's that time again. It's time to abstain from eating meat on Fridays, better known as Lent. Why do so many Catholics freak out on Fridays because of this dietary limitation? I don't know but it's easy to go meatless. Besides, it's only for one day a week.

President's Day

What is President's Day? Besides a day off for students and some government employees, I have no idea what this day is about. Being that I love to expand my knowledge (and not wanting to look like a fool if/when my kids ever ask me), I wiki'ed it. Apparently this holiday is in honor of George Washington's birthday. I never knew that. Add that to my encyclopedia of semi-useless knowledge.

Breck yo' self! (Colorado)

This past weekend I went to Colorado for what would be the second annual snowboarding trip with my high school buddies. All of my previous trips have been with college friends but this new tradition seems more fun. I heart snowboarding. Every year I get an itch. I need to go. It's a highly addictive drug. I've been skiing/snowboarding at least once a year since 2003, except in 2008 when Andrew was born, so with baby Ty in the picture, this trip almost never happened. But with an understanding wife and helpful parents, I got to feed my addiction.

Andrew, my Valentine

My Valentine's Day was not spent with the girl I married but with my second born child, Andrew. I had an extra day off to recover from my mini-vacation this past weekend (which will be the next post) so I had the whole day to spend with my family... or so I thought. Lynn (who was taking baby Ty) already had plans with her sister and mom for that afternoon and Jacob was at school so that meant it was going to be Andrew and Papa Day.

Jacob turns 6!

Jacob is now six years old. When parents talk about their kids getting older, you would get the usual "time flies" and "they grow up so fast" comments, which are all true, but for me... I say they get less innocent. He's older now, attending a public school where (we think) he's picking up bad habits. He talks back a lot more now. He teases Andrew more (it used to be the other way around). Quite frankly, he's becoming an asshole. Kind of harsh to call a kid that huh? I'm not saying that he is one, overall he's a good kid, but he's been acting up way too much lately. Him growing up is not sad to me. Him becoming a delinquent is.

There's a game during the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl XLVI is today. Giants vs Patriots. People are gearing up and preparing for this one game. Some people would consider this day a holiday... it's their Christmas. To me, it's just another football game. I know, blasphemy. Unless your team is in it, why should you care? Don't get me wrong, I love football and I'm still going to watch it but the other stuff seems more interesting than the actual game itself. Obviously there are the commercials and halftime show but are you aware of the prop bets?

Family portraits

This is the first time we have ever gotten our family portraits professionally done. We had our family pictures taken when Jacob was barely one year old but that was all taken outside (candid shots) and they didn't charge us for it since it was done by a friend of a friend. We never had an opportunity to take our portraits indoor, under studio lighting and all in not-so-natural poses. So why now? We got a (Groupon) deal, duh. Our intention was to use one of the portraits for our family Christmas card but Tyson was severely sick and his face looked horrible. Now it's been over a month since and even though he's over his illness, his face never fully recovered. I honestly don't remember when his face was ever clear except the day he was born. Damn eczema! The Groupon was about to expire within a few days so we had no choice but to Just Do It™.

Happy anniversary... or not

It was our (Lynn and I) anniversary several days ago and it was anything but happy. All of our kids were sick at the same time. My guess is that they picked it up from the Tet parties last weekend. It only takes one sick kid to spread his/her germs to everyone and my kids always seem to be on the receiving end.

Year of the dragon

Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! It was this time last year when I started this blog. Oh how time flies. If you are a believer of the Chinese Zodiac and/or crazy superstitious, this is your lucky year. But how lucky can it be if the world's supposed to end according to the Mayan calendar. What am I to believe? None of the above.

A stroll in the park Town Center

The weather has been really nice lately (sunny and in the high 60s - low 70s) so we took advantage of it this week. I was deciding on either taking the kids to the park or to Pearland Town Center. They could run around at both locations but at least with Town Center, we the parents can also shop. And I love the fact that it's less than a mile away. I know because one time I had dropped off my car at Goodyear, jogged home and RunKeeper told me it was only a 0.8 mile run. At this rate, we'll never move since we're so close to everything.

Rollin'