Another Road Trip... and love.

Liam,

I am heading off today on another road trip for work.  I don't like leaving you and your mom, but it's for a good purpose.  This time I am going to Chicago to run some training sessions.  I've got 15 Ford executives who signed up to watch me in action tomorrow!  Belatedly, wish me luck!

But this post isn't about the road trip itself.

This post is about what you can do when you love someone.

Some day, you'll fall in love with someone.  And some day, you'll fall in love with someone who loves you, too.

When you do, and when that person decides to make the plunge and spend the rest of their life with you, you will experience ups and downs.  Not every day is paradise, though when it's right more often than not they are.

Always remember to take the time to make little gestures to let that person know how much you care about them. It can be easy to take someone special for granted, but life is just so much better when you force yourself not to.  Remember that we all have insecurities and that we can all get a little positive bump from even the smallest signs that the person we love still feels that way about us.

For example, I am going to be gone for a few days, so I left a bunch of little notes for your mom.  They're all just little things, but she'll find them from time to time while I'm gone and they'll remind her how much I would rather be home continuing to share my life with her.

So remember that!  And make surethe person you love knows how much you care!

Bronchiolitis is scary...

Hi weebs!

So, we had a scary little surprise with you last week.

You got sick.  Fortunately, you decided to get sick the night before you had a doctor's appointment.  It kept your mom up most of the night because you were having a hard time breathing and she could hear it with her stethoscope.

When we took you in, they diagnosed you with Bronchiolitis.  They prescribed you some breathing treatments.  Fortunately, you kind of like them!

We even had to take you in to the emergency room the night after the doctor's appointment when things took a turn for the worse.  After some deep suction (which you didn't like), things took a turn for the better and you're mostly out of the woods now.  They scared us to death, though, by warning us that things could get worse at any moment.

I am so grateful to have a job right now that allowed me to take time off and just stay at home and make sure you were safe and that there were no surprises.

I'm just sharing this because some day you'll probably be a Dad.  When you are, your own little baby will probably get sick and you'll have some scary days and nights.

When you do, just remember that you're not alone.  We went through it, too, and you made it through with some extra care and diligence.  I love you, Liam!

Halloween!

Liam,

Your first Halloween!

Well, so your first Halloween costume was not a store-bought one.  Neither was it a commonly known entity.  In fact, your mom and I made it up.  It started as one of your nicknames and the song that went along with it.  From that little song was born Sir Von Weebly Day!

Here you are:

I could give you the full story, but in the effort of having a quick and easy way to describe your costume to people, I made a video to describe this conglomeration of Wolverine, the Thing, the Hulk, and Captain America:

Add a little ritual to life...

Liam,

In the world, there is a constant push toward speeding everything up.  Internet speed, cars, processors, checkout lines...  If you can name it, then people are focused on finding ways to make it happen faster and more efficiently.  I can only imagine that this trend is even more prevalent in the world you are growing up in.

I am writing this post to tell you to find some areas in your life to buck that trend.

For me, it's shaving ...

This wasn't always the case.  Until Father's Day of the year you became a reality, I had tried a number of ways to make shaving just another blip on the radar.  Before that day (and your mom), shaving was just an annoying thing that I did in the morning before starting my day.

The things you see above were a gift from your mother for that Father's Day.  She worried that I would find the new way of shaving more burdensome and that it would be more work.  In fact, she was right in those worries.

Previously, my shaving routine was:

1.  Wet face with hot water.

2.  Quickly shave with disposable razor.

3.  Take a shower.

Now, my shaving routine is:

1.  Take shower.

2.  Wet shaving brush with hot water.

3.  Create lather on brush in shaving soap.

4.  Apply lather to face.

5.  Shave in one direction.

6.  Repeat 4 & 5 two more times (sideways and then against grain)

7.  Rinse off face and brush with cold water.

8.  Apply aftershave.

So, what used to be a < 5 minute procedure is now an approximately 15 minute affair.

And you know what?  That's a great thing!

First of all (and this is important), the results are exceptionally better than the previous method.  As you probably will be cursed with, my facial hair is a wicked monster that tries to turn me into a wolf-man every day.  With the new shaving procedure, that were-creature is held at bay for a couple of extra hours.

But it's more than that!

The ritual of shaving itself is an incredibly relaxing and self-centering way to begin my day.  I enjoy the process of shaving actually more than I enjoy the results.  Instead of speeding through the act, the new method forces me to move slowly, relaxin as I just take in the whole process.

So, this whole post is designed to tell you to take the time to find the things in life that do not need to be sped up.  I don't know what it will be with you.  Really, it's hard to imagine what the world will be like for you.  But, regardless of how things change, I can guarantee that there will be things that are better when you take your time with them.  

In short, I'll just say...

There are things in the world that are better in their less efficient forms.

Find them.

Enjoy them.

Love,

Your Dad

Some photographic insight into you...

As I am sitting in a hotel room (once again) thinking of you and wishing I was back with you and your mom, I find myself flipping through a whole bunch of pictures of you that I have taken recently... and that your mom has sent to me while I travel.

So, without further ado, I share them with you!

You like your bouncer... a LOT!

I love how skeptical you look in this one.  My mental caption is:

"Really? This sleeper in THIS rocker?  Well, you're the parent..."

You love your Mow-Mow... and she loves you...

Such an angelic look... well, either that or you're plotting something truly evil.  You'll have to let me know once you can talk!

You love bath time!

...and eating bath toys...

But not only bath toys!  You also like to eat real food now.

This is the aftermath of you eating a jar of carrots.  Despite what it looks like, more got inside you than what was left outside.

And here we are out at the Apple Orchard.  Depending on where we end up, I think that apple picking and home-made cider might just be a staple of your life by the point you read this...

I love you, Liam, and I can't wait to be home tomorrow!

Love,

Dad

Heading out on a trip soon...

Hi Liam,

Tomorrow, I am going to be heading out on a little trip and I'm really feeling right now how much I'm going to miss you and your mom.

It started out as just a weekend getaway with my friend Jay (who you will probably know as Uncle Jay).  Yeah, that's right, cool Uncle Jay.  But then, my work came in and made me travel down to Florida for a few days for some training.  So, what was going to be four days has now turned into a full week.  I haven't had to be gone from your side for that long since you were born and I am not looking forward to it.

As for what I'll be doing with Uncle Jay, we're going to run a storyline for a Live Action Roleplaying Game called NERO.  I don't know whether I'll still be doing that when you're reading this, but then again, I never would have imagined that I'd still be doing it now when I started playing at age 17.

Here are some of the things we'll be doing while I'm gone:

1.  We're burying Jay.  It won't be really deep (and your mom is worried), but the players in the story will actually be digging him up and opening the coffin that he built with him inside it.

2.  I built a giant snake-monster for the players to fight.  It's about 20 feet long and has a big rattle for a tail.

3.  We made some spooky music to be played over the speakers for them.  It includes some eerie chanting and the roaring of the snake monster.

Anyways, I'll be missing you little guy, and I just wanted to say that here.

Love!

Your Dad

The Falls of the Eternal Flame...

Liam,

Part of what your mom and I intend to share with you is that there is a lot of beauty in the world.  We have both had the opportunity to see so many amazing things in our lives.

For example, long before you were born, back in the dark ages when your mom couldn't imagine that we might ever have an awesome little weeble together, we took a hike in Arizona that led us to a natural hot spring.  It was like a hot tub built by nature just for us at the end of a long hike through the desert.

And here's us having fun at a real life Oasis at the bottom of the Grand Canyon:

I'll give you a couple minutes to stop laughing at how silly we must look to you...

There.  Got it out of your system?  Okay...

Well, this weekend, we took a little hike out to another one of these natural wonders that happens to be pretty close by where we live.  Even if we don't still live in Buffalo at some point later in life, I am pretty confident that we will end up taking you to this place because of how cool it is.

It's call the Falls of the Eternal Flame.  It gets its name because of the fact that behind the waterfall there is a natural gas deposit.  It just kind of leaks out of the spot behind the waterfall.  The area smells like gas because of it.  But the cool part is that you can light it and it creates a steady flame behind the water.

Pretty cool, huh?  It's just one of the many amazing natural wonders that the world has to offer if you're willing to go exploring a little.

And that's why we drag you to all of the places that we do... your mom and I are always on the lookout for the next little amazing thing that the world is hiding just around the next bend.

Ramen... a cooking adventure...

Weebs!

Your mom and I just had a great weekend to help put some of the memories of the bad week behind us.  And your trend of continuing adventures moves on!

As I'm sure you know, your mom and I love cooking.  It's even better when it's cooking together.  Hopefully, you've had a great big share of cooking adventures with us and you have quite the expansive palette when it comes to trying new foods.

This weekend, we tried out a new thing.  Ramen!  Now, you may know real Ramen from us.  I imagine we'll be making this particular recipe for a long time to come.  Hopefully, you're not too disappointed the first time you try Ramen at a friend's house and get something like this:

For, you see, Ramen is actually quite the complex Japanese dish.  Your mom and I had both had some experience with it before this weekend, but we'd neither actually made the dish or even tried it at a proper Japanese restaurant.

Those little facts didn't stop us from breaking out the old interwebs to find a recipe and then get to work making it.  The first two Asian markets that we stopped at didn't have the ingredients.  Fortunately, as we left the second market, a nice lady had a third one to recommend to us.  She was, apparently, surprised that people who looked like us were shopping at an Asian market.  And her tip paid off, with me finding these hard-to-find ingredients at Lee's market:

On a side note, we may still be using those Bonito flakes when you read this.  It's a ridiculously big restaurant-style wholesale bag, but the only way we could find it.

With these goodies in hand, we headed home and set to work cooking.  Well, actually, your mom did most of the cooking for this one.  I was busy simultaneously cooking Alton Brown's meat sauce for other uses.

In the end, she created this:

And it was delicious!  But, of course, you probably already know that... because something tells me that it's going to be a fairly regular staple of your diet.

Liam, whether you like cooking or not, I hope that you will find someone to be with in your life who you share something with the way that your mom and I share cooking.  No matter what it is and no matter who he or she is, it's just amazing to be able to create something special with the person you love.

A tough week...

Liam,

At this point in your little, tiny life, you're not really in a position to appreciate what is going on around you.  By the time you read this, though, it should make some sense to you.  So, I wanted to post about it here to give you a little look into a good life lesson.

Shortly before you were born, we wanted to get a bigger, safer vehicle to herald your arrival.  Since I was working for a big dealership group at the time, we were able to get an incredible deal on your mom's dream car... a big 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland.

Here's a picture of it getting ready to move us to Buffalo:

Here's a picture of you behind the wheel:

Sadly, the truck was stolen last week.  Now, normally, when your car is stolen, insurance kicks in and replaces it for you.  It's a little annoying, but not such a big deal.  Unfortunately, these aren't normal times.  You see, with her new job, your mom doesn't drive very much at all.  Plus, we can't get such a great deal again since I'm in a different type of job.  So, we had to make a tough decision and not get such a wonderful new truck for your mom.

To make things even worse, this is the same week that we had to give up your "puppy brother" for adoption.  We've had Finnegan for 5 years and he's been a really special part of our family.  Plus, you love him.  But he didn't take downtown city living well and we've been getting complaints from the neighbors.

Both of us are taking it pretty hard, Weebs, and your mom worse than me.

So, I wanted to write this little post to let you know that sometimes life is going to throw you curveballs.  Sometimes, it's going to seem like everything is just completely unfair.

But the most important thing for you to remember through it all is that you have people in your life that love you and who will always be there to help you in every way they can.

So, remember that when tough things come your way.  I called my mom while all this was going on and she had some great words of encouragement to make me feel better.  Your mom and I will always be just a phonecall away when you feel down and you need us.  

Just like your mom and I worked through this, you will work through your own problems.  And, honestly, you'll be a stronger person for them.

I'm sure that, right now, there is a beautiful truck parked in our driveway that your mom uses to drive you back and forth to who-knows-where.  And you probably have some wonderful play time memories of your new puppy brother.

We love you, Liam. Always remember that.

Archnemesis

Liam,

At this point, I feel like I should let you know some troubling news.  Even though you are only seven months old, you already have an Archnemesis.  His name is the Evil Professor Doctor Caterpillar, Esquire.  Fortunately, you've been able to thwart his plans on many occasions already.

Here is a recent interview with him.

So, be on the lookout for his nefarious schemes!

Love,

Dad

State of the Weeble Address

Hi Liam!

This is the first in what will become an ongoing series.  I plan to do them twice a year (every six months), and the next one will be when you turn a year old.  This one is a little late because I just had the idea and started this up.

Where do we live?:

We moved to Buffalo, NY around 2 months ago.  So far, we really love the city.  On the plus side, it's big enough to have the things we like and small enough not to have soul-crushing traffic.  On the down side, the winters here can be pretty brutal.  In fact, they are famously bad.  We'll be finding out just how bad in a couple months.  I'll keep you posted!

What's Mom doing?:

She is a couple months in to Fellowship training in Head and Neck Cancer Surgery.  It really is amazing work that she's doing.  The important lesson you can take from this (for the future) is that she is constantly pushing her boundaries and trying to learn and do more.  That's a great trait to have and one that I hope you inherit from her!

What's Dad doing?:

I'm working for a company called Marketsource, who is a contractor for Ford.  Basically, I drive around from Ford Dealership to Ford Dealership and try to teach business managers to do the things that I am pretty darned good at.  It's the absolute perfect job for me, because it gives me a lot of time to be with you!

Milestones:

• Crawling:  You're almost crawling.  It's a bit of a mess, but you do manage to get your little belly up off the floor and somehow make it from place to place.
• Talking:  You're definitely not talking yet, but you are in a really fun stage where you're experimenting with what sorts of sounds your mouth can make.  It's fun to watch.
• Eating:  We're seeing a difference here.  Until recently, solid foods were just kind of a novelty to you.  Now, it seems that you're eating enough of them to actually get some sustenance.

Nicknames:

Weebs
Weeble
Sir von WeeblyDay (your heroic identity)
Fruitcake (mostly retired... was mainly before you were born)
Sir!


Favorite things:

You love the Mickey Mouse Playhouse, and especially the little Hot Dog Dance they do that the end.

You have a theme song:

Okay, I'll admit that's not a great theme song.  But that's okay, because you have a much better one as your heroic persona Sir von Weeblyday:

And you can actually hear yourself in the background!

You like my Daffy Duck impression.

That's all I have for this installment!  More to come soon!

I love you, Liam!

Introduction

Hi Liam!

I'm not sure how old you will be when you first start reading this.  At this point, I don't have any particular plans about when I will reveal this to you.  Will it be when you go off to college?  Will it be when you first learn how to read?  I honestly have no idea right now.  I only know that I will be writing this for a long time before you first read it.

By way of introduction, I'm 41 years old at the time of this writing.  So, yeah, as I'm sure you know by this point, I'm a little older than the average dad with a 7-month-old son.

As I am sure you also know, I am absolutely thrilled to be your father.  Your mother has given me a lot of amazing gifts over the years (and more, I am sure, by the time that you read this).  Of all of them, though, the decision to have you is the absolute greatest.

The point of this blog is to try and chronicle some of the things that are going on in your life as the years go by.  I'm going to try to add in a few highlights each week.  This is designed to be a sort of living scrapbook so that later in life I can share all kinds of things that I might have otherwise forgotten.

I love you, buddy.

Your Dad