Parker Withdrawals

Laura and Georgia are gearing up for their trip to Fargo, North Dakota for Nate and Deann’s wedding this weekend. This is the first time Laura has spent any time away from Parker much less five days. She’s going to be having some major Parker withdrawals and I can’t say I blame her. The most time I’ve spent away from her is about 18 hours when I went to San Diego for the night. With that said I’m trying to plan some new things to do with Parker while they’re away. Aside from the regular beach, park, mall, and pool visits we make I think I will be bringing her to the water park up in Ojai. She’s going to like it I’m sure. Other than that I’ve drawn a blank. I’m looking forward to doing things with her…maybe the zoo?!? Oh yeah, the fair will be starting this weekend so mom and I will take there as well. She’s at that age when the fair becomes fun for a little girl. There’s rides, junk food, and a whole lotta animals.

I’ve been wanting to document some of PJ’s word jumbles…I need to start doing that-here’s my favorite…

Hospital – Parker pronounces is “Hostibal”

She also mispronounces “lemonade” but I forget how she mispronounces it. More to come…

Memory: If Turtles Could Fly

Today marks a year anniversary that a good friend Jason left our world and hopefully found another. Funny how with most things we issue the cliché “my, how time has flown”, however in this instance I feel it’s exactly the opposite. It seems like it was two years that our friend Jason’s body succumbed to the cancer that, over a two-year period destroyed his body and rendered him dead one year ago. It’s quite interesting (and morbidly impressive) looking at how cancer actually works to perform this feat. Slowly sending satellites throughout the blood stream looking for a place (organ) it can live off of. After all, it’s trying to survive just like us.

It’s hard to be totally honest about Jason because there were several negative traits he possessed that nobody likes to see in a person, especially someone whose friendship I cherished. Mitra kept a lot of it from us but nevertheless, she’s told us about some of the instances. These stories show a very selfish, insecure person who dealt with them in a snide and vindictive manner, usually to those closest to him. It’s evident that he was psychologically abusive. I wonder if I did know the true extent of his behavior at the time if I would’ve done something about it. A lot of it was senseless, but still I’m not a confrontational person so I don’t think I would’ve confronted him about it. It’s not something I’m proud of but probably true.

With that said, it’s my natural inclination on this day to think about the positive aspects of his existence rather than the negative ones. I bet that goes for everyone he’s hurt in the past. I think that Mitra is even looking back on this day and thinking about the good times she spent with him more than the times she had to put up with his childish contempt. Maybe she’s not, if she isn’t I can’t say I blame her. I will say this-it makes me appreciate Laura all the more when I see or hear of how other couple’s relationships (which will remain nameless) operate. I’m referring to couples other than Mitra and Jason but I guess I would include them as well.

At first after Jason died I must admit I was numb to the idea of him being gone. Like everything else you lose, the immediate notion of the loss is one thing but going on with your life and experiencing random moments that remind you he’s gone is something else. I’ve experienced that same feeling with my dad, especially since Parker was born. I recall the first instance of thinking about him was hearing the notable voice of Mr. Vin Scully. That voice reminded me of two things…watching baseball on television as a kid and Jason-the biggest Dodger Fan I ever knew. What I liked about him was the fact that he was a maniacal Dodger fan. It provided endless fodder but more importantly it gave me a connection with someone else which I’ve yet to replace. Baseball is a topic that enables so many different types of conversations and for the both of us it was something that intrigued us. The history, the rivalries, the cheating, Fantasy baseball, the characters of the game-they all contributed to an interesting conversation. Funny how it’s only been my dad and Jason with which I’ve had that connection with and they’re both dead. I remember when Jason and Mitra were at my parent’s house around the time of our wedding and I told dad that Jason was a Dodger fan and immediately he looks at Jason points toward the door and in his stern yet comical voice he says, “get out”.

When it came to our often exuberant, dance-laden girlfriends, we both liked playing the part of the embarrassed boyfriends who are just too damn cool to be caught dancing to “I Will Survive”. But unfortunately he seemed to take it to another level. I likened their immature behavior to two things, one is compared to me and Jason’s obsession with Playstation (which is intended for teenagers) it’s on the same level, and two it was a chance for them to relive those formative years of being 16, innocent, and silly. Well, maybe rubbing up against a stripper’s pole at Spanky’s on Castro Valley Blvd doesn’t really classify itself in that nature but it’s the same idea. Regardless, Jason deemed this behavior from a snobbish, intellectual perspective yet he never did it front of me, I never once sensed that while they were inside dancing at some unknown person’s wedding reception in downtown San Francisco, we were outside just talking about things and he was as cool and calm as can be. I never saw the rage and disdain that was boiling inside him. I wish I did so I could at least try to talk him down from his tower of enlightenment but I never really knew.

And so it goes…I hope he just hasn’t ceased to exist. That would be sadder than anything he went through here. I hope there is a soul or something like it and he just travels metaphysically to somewhere else. If he just dies and everything within him dies as well, that would just be…sad. So here’s to music, baseball, poetry, politics, the arts, history, and everything else he cherished during his brief stay here.

Parenting...Both Feast and Famine

Spent some time last night and this morning questioning the path in life I’ve chosen. In doing this, I had a mini-epiphany regarding where (and what) I am. It’s not like I made a conscious decision 10 years ago that this was where I wanted to be. The choice kinda just evolved from bachelor…to boyfriend…to husband…to father of one…and now father of two. I was supposed to be in a cutting edge experimental rock band by now...what happened?

The reason this whole thought process started is because my evening consisted of me and Laura running around taking care of our children, cleaning up after them, tending to their needs, etc…. Perhaps it’s selfishness but a little relaxation time at home is very important to me, especially after a stressful day at work. I didn’t get much of that Monday night but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes when you drag two children into the world. The peaks and valleys of daily life as a parent is something we’re going to have to deal with. Hopefully the peaks will outweigh the valleys-so far it has. But the frustration that develops during those times when your wallowing “in the valley” really require some perseverance and patience on our part. Laura is better with that than I am. I think we’re getting better at recognizing when one of us is in one of those “valleys” and rising to the occasion to help out. I’m still learning about these things.

For example, this morning I get this email at work from Laura who’s at home…

I'm going f....'in crazy right now. Both girls are crying. Parker won't stop and keeps waking up Georgia.

Life’s a beach.

Georgia - Day 25

Fun With Pie Charts

One Fourth of July

The Fourth of July happened again; like it’s some annual event or something.

The “Push-n-Pull Parade” is something I had never heard of until I moved back to Ventura. We all participated in it this year (Georgia included) then spent the rest of the day at Casa de la Dahl for a bbq and some fireworks at night. A good time was had by all (except for the fact that Georgia would not stop crying while I was watching her that evening-Laura took Parker to see the fireworks).

Georgia - Day 19

I seem to have forgotten just how closely a newborn’s relentless cries resemble that of fingernails matriculating their way down a chalkboard; nevertheless, life travels onward. We are making our way through the transition that is a household made up of one child to that of two. Georgia is doing a good job of not waking up in the middle of the night screaming, she courteously waits for the daytime to perform that daily ritual which tests Laura’s patience much more than mine being that I’m at work and such.

Parker seems excited about the notion of having a little sister and is embracing the idea. I suspected her reaction to be much more negative being that the attention is being shared now. She’s become quite the little helper around the house. She still disobeys once in a while, I think we’ve spanked her a total of four times so far. I did the first spanking and Laura’s performed the last three. I’ve resorted to the simple threat of a countdown to spanking and she’s managed to change her “disobedient ways” before I reach the number three.

Georgia got her first bath a few days ago (see photo above).

Blog Title Background Runner-Up

If I were to start a separate blog for Georgia, this would assuredly be the background for the title page. This is my favorite picture of Georgia so far. When and if there's ever a slideshow presentation of her life...this will be the first picture that appears...it has to be. I may even use it for this blog sometime in the future when I feel the need to change things up.

This picture is another runner up for the background of the blog title.

Parker is regressing a bit since Georgia's arrival 10 days ago. Although she seems thrilled about her being here and is always willing to help us out, she has been noticably regressing with regards to her potty training. She hadn't had an accident in a long time until Georgia's arrival. Last night she decided to go pee while sitting at the dinner table and today she did it again in front of Laura while I was at work. She's been spanked twice by Laura since Georgia's arrival which could be just a case of the terrible twos...who knows.

Back to work now.

Georgia's Arrival

Georgia Laurinda graced us with her presence on 6/26/08 at 1:19am. Laura went into labor around 7 pm the evening before. She spent a lot time right before the birth in the shower at the hospital. After going to the hospital bed Georgia decided to come out with the next contraction. Laura didn't even need to push. Unfortunately, no one was prepared for Georgia to come shootin' out so our friendly nurse Ann had to hold her in for a couple of minutes while Laura screamed in pain and the doctor arrived. Once the doctor arrived Georgia was born in less than a minute. Laura endured yet another natural child birth! We're all so proud of her.

I've been home for the past week now. I'm trying to find things to do with Parker, we'll be going to the beach this morning.