been up to

Long overdue, sure. What is it like being a stay-at-home dad? It’s pretty fun. It’s only been 6 months to I can’t speak to him getting out of my sight – too much. I get the amount of work I’m looking to get done in a day. Yeah, he can be a real weight to days I have to get something done, or the times he just will not relax. But I’d say it’s going great.

It is what I’ve always (jokingly) said I wanted to do for a “living”. Who knew it would come true. Heck, I’m getting paid to write too, fantastic.

Finn’s starting to crawl really well, and his excitement to walk is infectious. His two front teeth are breaking through and making themselves known. We’re watching [new] Doctor Who, and enjoying walks in the morning.

Yesterday I kept track of what Finn and I did. We were up to some pretty cool stuff.

– AM:

  • Drove Lis to work in our new car (from Grandma Joan)
  • Enjoyed the jumper in all its glory, can see Finn from new desk place. Went totally nuts in the (new) saucer – seems to never get enough of standing up.
  • He has fallen in love with the tree decorations near his changing pad again, this time reaching out and attempting to grab (or pull them off)

– PM:

  • The jumper is now known as the Automatic Poop Machine.
  • His feeding times are WAY off – wont eat whole bottles.
  • DMV went like this for Finn – happy fun times > why are we still here? > board, dad > ARGH I HATE MY LIFE > Imma sleep in your arms now
  • We didn’t have the air setup in the apartment, so any A/C means he falls asleep fast, even more so in the car.
  • Picked up a Banjo Burner Classic from a guy in the homebrew club – he was just giving the thing away.
  • Played, slept and ate fairly normally (timing off)
  • Picked up Lis from work and went to Target to get big mirror for car, have to see that baby.

Yes, I’m well aware that this has just been sitting. It’s been way too long. The problem being I’d like to break the blog up into different sections and write some informative social media posts in one area, beer in another, and stay-at-home dad-dom in yet another.

But, then I thought I should just write something, anything here and make an effort to do so. And that latter part is what I plan on doing.

A quick update: Finn is healthy as a horse, and seemingly going to meet the standards set by his steed brethren. What I mean is the kid is huge. I brewed my all-time-favorite beer without really aiming to do so, a “wit” beer that is more or less just a wheat beer. It’s been fairly warm, but nothing like Chicago, which has fried at a sultry 90f+ for a couple of weeks now. Makes me feel pretty glad we dogged that horribly warm bullet. Being a dad is pretty dang awesome overall and it is a real adventure every day.

More soon. I promise this time.

Sometimes the weekends feel like the work week I’ve been missing out on. Family can  be a bit of a weight and Lis has a knack for always squeezing in one more adventure each and every single weekend. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

We go great places, do things that I really love to do (like drink really good beer). Maybe long weekends are just that: long. Between the strong armed grandmother, a tad over-doing it on Saturday, our bumbling slating of time – I need some downtime. Luckily, Finn has stopped shouting for nearly no reason and has gone back to his normal happy-go-lucky self again. He is chewing up more of my time everyday, sleeping a lot less, but I’m still getting ‘enough’ done for SPG to make me feel like I’m getting enough done.

I’m pushing 200lbs and I’m like a 16-year-old girl looking at pictures of myself and only seeing a belly. I need to get outside more, I cannot wait to get a carrier for the bike, thinking of one of those rear hauler types – that way I can carry diapers, snacks, and more if need be. I’m getting gray patches of hair too, age is a wonderful thing.

Beer will be brewed when the 4lbs of hops I ordered arrives, four types I have zero previous knowledge of but all fit into the same flavor profile I love. Maybe some SMaSH (single malt and single hop) beers are in order to hone in on these flavor profiles. I plan on doing an over-due overhaul of this site as well as some more beer posts – maybe reviews or something. I need to write more and beer seems like my thing right now – I’ll tuck them away so this doesn’t become yet another ‘review’ site; which I’d like to avoid in general.

There is this pang I get when I even see the WordPress logo. I feel like this blog has gone by the wayside. It’s not that I don’t wish to post anymore, but it needs more attention and time than I’m willing to give it. At least for now. I know most have heard, but a plague of computer ills has made writing, work, watching shows a bane. The longer I work behind a desk the more I come to realize how much of a slave to technology I am. My entire career path at this moment depends entirely on the face that Facebook and twitter exist. While this is not entirely a bad thing, it is dangerous. Having a computer that can simp access the most basic of websites while editing a document and playing music may seem like a menial task for most, but the web has increasingly become more power hungry. Chrome chews through ram and the weighted we apps I use for work on top of running word, my super lightweight note program, iTunes (most of the problem), Skype, and maybe ‘grab’ the 4 year old MacBook is showing its age. This is all after the desktop died 6 months ago and took along a couple of weekends with it. Note: moving 300 gigs of music across a 10mb network eats ass. The lamp went out on the laptop in one of those “this cannot be happening” moments a month or so ago, and now I’m tied to a desk. Not horrible, if it wasn’t for the fact that my work day is no longer dictated by me – a symptom of my stay-at-home-daddom – my desk is just waiting to be shelved by my wife, and that working form a couch, rocking chair, or anywhere BUT my desk would be 100x more helpful.

Where am I going with all of this? A new laptop is coming. Friday. Let’s hope it glues together some of my sanity at least temporarily.

It has been three days. Three, surprisingly easy days – with just me and Finn. I had originally thought of writing updates from his perspective, maybe even daily – but at this point it’d be as follows:

Woke up hungry again. I AM SO MAD ABOUT IT. Oh, I pissed myself. Well, I’m mad about that too. I’m sad and confused about everything that is happening. Hey there trees! Treeeees. Aw, why do they make me naked. Oh – trees again! Right, I forgot I’m hungry. FEED ME! AH GOD WHY ARE YOU NOT FEEDING ME. Thank god. Wait, this isn’t food – there isn’t anything in this dang thing. FEED ME ARFGHRHGH! There it is, food! Food food food food food food do-do-do I love fooooood. Hey, give that back. I wasn’t done eating. Eh. EH! *Belch* Oh, food again. *Belch* Ugh, maybe I ate too much. I need a nap.

 

With intermittent “I want to stand! Wooooo!” and “I like that painting.” and “I like to sit, I like to sit dooodo.”

Maybe I will start this.

But suffice to say, it’s been kind of a cake-walk thus far. We’ll see how that holds out. Until next time readers.

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At the start of this week, there was a thick fluffy snow that seemed to just to float away after an afternoon breeze took it away. The above photo is from this snowfall. Then the rain came. Our near feet of accumulated snow turned into pillowy slush, stopping up the few drains in Portland, and made all of new england remember what spring is like with 50f temps and on/off showers. This winter has been meager at best, not a whole lot of snow, not really that cold.

Just in the past couple of days I have gotten to know the UPS delivery guy. I think after talking with my mother and saying that I was worried about having the right amount of things – clothes, diapers, etc. The packages are coming in those huge oversized boxes and a single onesie (or two) everyday.

The baby is coming. Very soon, any day. Worry has melded into excitement and the unknown. Time will only tell.

Everything seems in order, our hospital bag is packed – sort of. Baby’s bed is ready save for the fact that our male cat Ike is peeing (again), and thus the bedding is waiting in the wings. We’ve met with our pediatrician, he’s quite nice. It’s snowing again in Maine, meaning slick roads and little-to-no clean up. My brews are waiting either to be kegged or bottled. I’m fairly certain both braggots are inoculated due to the use of the raw honey, but are clearing and chilling in the hallways at about 61°f. The mushroom grow box Gary bought me for Christmas is starting to really spout – hideous and disgusting, but interesting.

I’d like to address a quick… how should I put it, nuance. A few folks have been using a phrase (possibly without even thinking about it) that has Lis and I wondering. A simple three lettered word when in reference to Lis and I’s unborn child – “our.” Sure, it’s normal and fine for the two of us to use it, because – well – it’s ours. But when grandparents and great-grandparents use it, it sounds – oddly possessive. Maybe I’m only noticing this because of my close reading background, maybe I’m an attentive parent, but when “our baby” shows up in an email – I’ve got to wonder and fear how they mean it. Where do they see themselves fitting into our child’s life? A part of myself is concerned about their idea their interaction, their ‘teaching’ us to parent, and their influence on us. I think our seclusion and distance may seem like a hindrance, but it may also be a blessing – only time will tell.

I’m not worried about the raising a kid part as of now, more about the safety of my wife and child during labor. A symptom of my cross-that-bridge-edness that I can’t help.

A short time left. Anxiety may be getting to us all, but the longer I’m with Lis the closer I feel.

About a month ago I quit my job at the gelato place. Sinking ships bring everyone down.

Quit

Category

@ Work, been up to

Yeah, so this is still not getting the attention it needs. Drove to NY and back on the 31st. We’ve got about three more months until our “new roommate” arrives. I am looking at becoming 1099 contractor and have already picked up a client. Planning a series of posts. More soon. I cannot keep letting this waste away.