Goblins, Gools, Mickey, and Being a Parent

Olivia's first trip to Disneyland!

Well it’s been a lot longer than I was intending before my last post.  Has it really been almost a month?  This whole parenting/work/life thing is getting in the way of my spare time!  That’s okay I wouldn’t trade what I have right now for more free time, no way!

I want to first ask you to go check out the new pics I posted off on the right side here.  Since it’s been several weeks since my last post I did wind up with quite a few pictures.  For those of you who are not on Facebook you probably haven’t seen these.

So what’s been happening you ask?  Oh you didn’t ask?  Well no worries, whether you asked or not I’m gonna spill the beans…Halloween weekend we took a visit down to San Dimas, California to visit Susie’s family.  Her cousins flew in from Tennessee with their 3 children and we thought it’d be a good visit.  Susie’s parents actually wound up having the whole family over for Halloween and it was great seeing the “extended” family.  The trip down was much better than it could’ve been.  We left late at night and Jake and Olivia slept most of the way. 

Our Little Butterfly

Halloween night we went trick or treating with Jake (who was a monkey) and Olivia (who was a butterfly).   It was the first time either one of them had gone (that was an obvious one for Jake).  I’m not sure O really understood what was going on.  She didn’t realize she was on a mission to gather as much candy for mommy and daddy as possible.  I will say she did a great job.  What was her reward if we took all her candy?  Well that’s a good question.  The answer is she’s not really asking so we’re not telling…No worries, one of these years we’ll send her out to gather candy for us and she won’t be sharing!  She did pretty good with her costume until she didn’t want to wear her antennae and wings.  I kept pressing upon her that the simple act of not wearing her wings precluded her from being classified as a butterfly.  That’s right, she was now a caterpillar.  I know it’s tough hearing this especially as an 18 month old but she needs to know that she’s completely converting to another insect just by virtue of going wingless.  Hey I didn’t write the rules, talk to God.  Jake was alseep mostly and didn’t mind too much that he was a monkey.  Kathy’s (Susie’s cousin) kids were terribly cute and were so nice and sweet around Olivia.  That went not only for Halloween but for our whole trip.

Our Little Monkey

That Monday we took O to Disneyland for the first time.  Thanks goes out to Aunt Liz who got us discounted tickets, even if we had to wait an hour for “Sandy” the Disney Lady to get us in! J/k!!  Jake spent the day with Grandma.  O had so much fun!  We went with Kathy, Jim, and their 3 children since they would be heading back to TN and we wouldn’t be seeing them again anytime soon.  O held little Katie’s hand the whole time!  Katie is only 4 years old and is just the sweetest!  We went on a bunch of rides and Olivia even experienced some waterfall drops on the Pirates of the Carribean ride.  Had I known there were so many drops I wouldn’t have taken her but she didn’t seem to mind them.  Well at least I don’t think she did.  Her stomach muscles did contract to the point I could feel every little one of them…and it didnt’ help that just before we went down the fall screams started coming from either side…Yeah, her 10 year old cousin Kayla and her 39 year old Uncle Chuck…oh and it was pitch black.  I think I might have been more scared for her than she was but I’m just being a daddy.

The trip home was a little more hectic.  Not because we also had Cody in the car (he spent the last couple months in San Dimas) but because we drove during the day and the kids just had enough of being in the car.  Overall though we made it quite well and feel a little more comfortable now for our next car trip.

Back in Monterey, Jake had is first appointment with the Dr;  His 2 month check up.  He’s grown much more than we thought…He’s in the 97th percentile for height at 25″ long (he grew 4 inches!) and is 90th percentile for weight at a whopping 13.5 pounds! (he’s gained 5 pounds!).  Overall, he’s a healthy boy and is doing well, despite having screamed his head off over his 3 shots! Poor boy

It’s funny how much I’m realizing about myself as a person now that I have children.  I find myself reflecting on things that I hadn’t in the past.  Take for example how frustrated I get when O hurts herself.  Just the other day I was in the bathroom getting ready and she was behind me.  I was watching her but for those 3 seconds I wasn’t (you know, the 3 seconds that parents always say they turned their backs around and had lost their kids, etc?) and she had a Qtip stuck in her ear!  Not literally stuck but she was cleaning her ears!  I was so scared that she might have hurt herself (she didn’t) that I started getting really mad.  I didn’t take it out on her of course, but I later realized I was really not upset with her but rather with myself for not watching her or for letting her get into something I shouldn’t have.  I’m beginning to realize that all those times as a younger adult when I could forsake responsibility and not really care…well those times are gone.  I’m forced to not only claim I’m responsible but to own that responsibility.  If I’m not responsible now my children will pay the price and that’s something I can’t just blow off.