Livin' On a Prayer

That is Maggie's new favorite song. Every time she hears the beginning with the keyboards she starts to laugh. Then she starts to dance. I've seen her go from crying to laughing in about ten seconds when we start playing that song. I was amazed of how well I remember the lyrics to that song. I still remember all the sparks and stuff from the video.

If you haven't guessed it, we are all feeling much better. Maggie is back to eating regular foods. In the last day she has drank two bottles of pedialyte. I changed 5 diapers and four outfits today. At least she is well hydrated. She is back to her normal self, laughing and playing. We are all glad that we are all feeling better.

Getting Ready for Easter.

Maggie and the wife are talking to grandma on Skype right now. What a great invention. Who knew 20 years ago we would be communicating this way.

Life Goes On.

It was an interesting weekend. Maggie looked like she was feeling better, but Sunday came around and she threw up again. I too got sick this weekend and didn't go to class today. I am feeling a little better but Maggie is still sick. She just wants to lay on mommy's chest and watch TV. We called the doctor's office and we've pretty much been doing all we can so far. At least the wife is feeling better. She left work early Sat. because she was sick. We are all slowly getting better.

I washed all of Maggie's toys yesterday, because the wife wanted me to. I put them in the bathtub and poured a little bleach into the how water. Then we sprayed the rest of the toys down with Lysol. Good times.

I wish spring would hurry up and finally get here. Its in the 30's today and I have to say I am a little sick of this cold weather. I still haven't put the new firebox on my smoker. I have two racks of ribs that need to be smoked. I also want to get Maggie out of the house more. There is only so much to do inside with a toddler. It is supposed to warm up this week and I wouldn't mind some 80's temps.

Maggie and the wife will be going down to Grandma and Grandpa's on Friday. I will be because I have a clinical on Saturday. If I get done early I will fly down Sat night. I have I feeling I will be here all weekend. I will be on an ambulance, so there is no telling when I will get done. I wouldn't mind the time to myself, but I would miss Maggie too much. I have only been away from her one night since I was born. I went down to Texas to see a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in over 10 years. He lives in China so it is a little hard to get together.

I must get back to studying. Some of my classes are kicking my butt this semester.

Five for Friday: 5 of My Favorite Toys of Maggie's

1. Her drum. It came with eggs and bells and a tambourine. She loves to bang it a few times then hold up her sticks to say ta da!

2. The Xylophone. Who doesn't love to her their child play music?

3. Wooden blocks. Just because I got them for her doesn't mean they can't be a favorite. Hmmmm nothing has batteries yet. I sense a theme.

4. Her Bitty Baby. She love's that baby. Maggie loves to give the baby the bottle. It's kinda cute.

5. I don't know the correct name of this last toy, but it is the one where you press a button or flip a switch and a character pops up. She loves that thing.

Fifteen Months

Maggie is now fifteen months old. I know I keep saying it but time does fly. She is slowly growing up while I slowly get more gray hairs. She had a first today. Today was the first time she ever threw up. She's had spit up before, but never throw up. The wife was holding her and all of a sudden up came dinner. I ran and got towels and the wife got it all over. Maggie got a little freaked out by it. She was screaming for a good while. Ten minutes later she was back to normal.

Maggie is standing by herself every now and again. She will sit down when she realizes she is not holding on to anything. She walks really well while holding only one hand. She learns something new every day. I can't wait until she starts talking more.

The Great Debate Continues...

An update on our decision to find out the sex of our child. We were discussing it again today. I have a feeling we will be discussing it all the way until the baby is born. I am still leaning on waiting to find out. She wanted to find out because we ordered new diapers last night. We got gender neutral colors again.

 I opened the polls again to have a run off since it was neck and neck.

Image via Wikipedia

Five for Friday: 5 reasons I am going to school.

I know I am a little late but I was doing some homework and Maggie and I went to the zoo today.

1. To get an education. Duh winning! (sorry I had too)

2. To set a good example for my kids. I would be the first in my family to get a degree.

3. To find the job that I want. I have had jobs that I didn't like. What is the point of going to a job you don't love and not doing what you love.

4. I actually enjoy it. As hard as I work at this I still get some enjoyment out of learning.

5. I want some damn letters after my name.

In other news I just noticed I broke a 100 posts last week. Awesome. Sure as heck doesn't feel like it.

Why We Cloth Diaper Part II

My wife brought up some other good facts on cloth diapering. She loves the designs of them. She likes to shop around and constantly ask me if this or that pattern is cute. I think most of them are pretty cute.

I remembered that I really don't like the sound of a baby walking and crawling around in disposable plastic diapers. I'm not sure exactly why I don't like it but it probably has something to do with me spending so much time at babysitters when I was younger. To me it sounds like fingernails on a chalk board.

Sara to answer you question, we started cloth diapering Maggie around 3-4 weeks of age. The hospital gave us a bunch of diapers when we brought Maggie home. We also had a box of diapers at home just in case. We used all of those up and then shopped around for some cloth diapers. I'm not a 100% sure if you can cloth diaper from day on due to the umbilical cord being still attached. Newborn diapers have a cut in them to make room for the cord. You have to wait until it falls off to put them in regular diapers. If you have any more questions please ask, always glad to help.

Why We Cloth Diaper.

Why do we cloth diaper? I don't believe I have actually ever explained why we cloth diaper. This is a post I have been meaning to write for some time time. It is actually quite simple, at least for me. My wife thinks a little different than I do, but not by much though.

I cloth diaper because of health issues. Nothing serious, its just that my daughter inherited my very sensitive skin. By sensitive I mean I can lightly scratch my skin and there will be a red mark for hours. My skin will react to different fabrics (and the chemicals they contain) and different detergents. Hell my skin is so sensitive, my Irish ass has already had skin cancer once (not that diapers cause that). We do keep disposable on hand just in case someone comes over who is unfamiliar with cloth diapers. Now Maggie will get some diaper rashes, but not a lot and the may take time to develop. I have seen Maggie get a diaper rash from one disposable diaper. Less diaper rashes equals less butt paste to put on Maggie. I for one am happier with using less chemicals. We even us cloth wipes with a natural solution to use on Maggie.

My wife's reason to cloth diaper is more of a cost cutting measure. Yes we have saved money. A lot of money by cloth diapering. Would be a lot more if we had our own washer and dryer, but we live in an apartment and have to pay for our laundry. I hate picking up quarters from the bank, but it has to be done. Other than paying for laundry, I do not dislike cloth diapering at all. Sure sometimes folding it stinks but it is much better than running out at 2am in the middle of a blizzard to get diapers.

Before Maggie was born we decided to cloth diaper (I originally suggested it, now the wife is hardcore more than I am). We even paid to take a class to learn all about them. Oh we learned all about them all right. I thought we'd still be soaking them and pinning them on with those old diaper pins. Wow have they have advanced. I never knew there was so much out there. We are both glad we took this class, because there is a lot to know.

I guess what it comes down to friends is that we are kinda old fashioned. We like it that way. Sure we try to eat organic (can be very expensive at times), but we don't always. I am typing this with a box of Thin Mints next to me (hey it goes to a good cause, ok the F'n delicious). We try the best we can to be healthy, but we aren't a 100%. I have changed a lot of things myself since Maggie was born. Hell I have switched to all natural charcoal and no lighter fluid has ever touched my smoker. Do I regret ever becoming more heath conscious and cloth diapering? Not in the least bit. I like the way I am, and I don't judge people who are different to me.

I honestly think cloth diapering is win win. We save money and Maggie stays healthier.

Five for Friday: 5 Great Things About Having Kids

Hello everyone. It's Friday once again. Time does fly.

 5 Great Things About Having Kids

1. They make great memories. All of the pictures I've taken. I think Maggie has been photographed everyday of her life. Half of a dozen alone today, and a video.

2. They are fun to be with (most of the time, haha). Yes there are good days and bad days, but I believe the good out-way the bad.

3. They make you laugh. Kids can say or do the simplest things and it will make you laugh.

4.  They are better than any drug in the world. Coming home after a bad day and seeing you kid smile and give you a hug is the greatest high in the world.

5. Some day your kids might have kids. Two words, spoiled rotten


I see the no's on the poll are leading. We are still in debate with both of us going both ways.

I'm too tired to type so I am making it a wordless Wednesday

Maggie entertaining herself at Old Navy.

Should We Find Out The Sex of the New Baby?

This is a question we have been asking ourselves for the past several months now. We actually answered this question several years ago. We originally decided to find out the sex when we were having our second baby. Well, ever since we found out that the we were pregnant we have been leaning towards not finding out. We both liked waiting to find out until Maggie was born. It was exciting to wait until the baby was born. We kinda of feel that it would spoil that feeling if we felt out.

The wife kind of wants to find out and not tell anyone. I keep telling her that won't work because we will probably let it slip out. We would probably refer to the baby as he or she, and I'm sure no one would pick that up.

The time is drawing close to decide if we want to find out. We both feel if we find out the sex, we might feel dissappointed (not in the baby's sex, but in finding out because we wouldn't be able to undo it). It was such a great feeling to find out what sex Maggie was as soon as she came out (even though the Dr. beat me to the punch of telling the wife). Plus we enjoyed talking about names for both sexes, even though we had both names picked out in the first week we knew we were pregnant.  We pretty much have both names picked out this time, but we have some leeway on the girl name.

I wouldn't mind some input on this. I will be posting a poll on her, so please fell free to answer and/or leave comments.

I have a feeling we will be waiting until the baby is born to find out. I think it comes down to will be happy with what ever the sex of the baby is as long it is happy and heathy baby (and mama).

Happy St. Paddys!

Five for Friday: 5 Things I miss while my wife is pregnant.

Good news. Maggie stood up on her own for the first time! The wife let go of her and she was just standing there on her own crying her eyes out. Pics to come. Luckily I had my phone in my pocket.


Here is this weeks 5 for Friday:

1. My drinking buddy. We like to have a few cocktails now and again. (but not now)

2. Having Margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We went there the other night and had the next best thing, limonadas! I had the best enchiladas that night too. I never order off vegetarian menu, but these looked so good. Plantain enchiladas with a plablano mole. I'm still thinking about it.  (I've always wanted to be a food blogger)

3. My wife being able to take cold medicine. She had a cold last week and was being tortured. I was feeling just fine and felt bad for her.

4. Not having to tie my wife's shoes in the morning. (I will be doing this soon)

5.  Going out to bars and having their great drink and food specials. (we used to go out every Thursday for 1/2 price appetizers and $1 long necks.)

Wednesday