Kickball.

Kickball is coming to a close and I've finally reached a level of carelessness. We haven't won a game all year, most of the time it's by double digits, and we never have as many players as the other teams (11). Normally, and throughout the early part of the year this bothered me but now, while drinking and sharing a 6-pack of Old Style, I can handle getting throttled and be found laughing while endearing the past aggravation.

Tonight the final was 17-4 but only because they played a Keystone cops routine in the final inning to let us cut the lead to 13. The silver-lining? We scored first. I'm happy with that and I made a couple of good catches and pegged a runner rounding first from right field.

In other news.....HB Dad's group is turning over. I'm bummed. It's happened twice already. Some of the friends Dylan and I have made are still part of our playtimes/travels and others are not. Where are they going? Some families are moving, kids are getting to rambunctious for the space, and others are having to make different childcare arrangements. I wish them all well and hope that our paths cross often with ample amounts of beer, cheese, and conversation.

Market Rage and other nonsense.

I can't remember who I was talking to or why we were talking about it but recently there was an article printed somewhere about the do's and don'ts of the Dane County Farmer's Market (DCFM). The only don't I can remember from this conversation was not to go against traffic which is an absolute must. But, I'm hoping something on the list resembled the situation me and my family encountered this past weekend.

So, this past week we were on the square, later than normal(10am), and the foot traffic got tremendously crowded. I remembered this conversation and wanted to make an addendum to the article that provided suitable and immediate punishment to the violators of these don'ts. The main cause of my market rage was two specific incidents where a group of people, presumably long lost relatives from another space and time, found each other and couldn't help but clog up the entire sidewalk while a perfectly good track of grass and shade was available mere feet from their current location. I asked Tricia if I could fit the stroller with a ram and provide a much needed path through the dam of humanity. With the hope that the people would fly apart like pins off of a bowling ball. She responded by laughing. I responded by being cranky and finding the quickest way out of the crowd and into the parking ramp. In my defense if this had happened during one of the first two legs of the square I would have been fine but this happened towards the end of the third leg and by that time my patience is usually shot.

Has anybody seen the guy that walks around the square chanting about every country(he actually sings the same chant and puts the name of the country in the chant. It's even alphabetical so you can test your knowledge of the country's of the world) in the world and wishing them peace and harmony? I'm just wondering because if I would have had to listen to that along with the reunion meetings, someone would have been injured. Nothing bad really but the backs of their legs would've had tire marks.

The other nonsense I was referring to in the title is about pressure associated with nursing and lack of a proper rotation. Zachary had fallen asleep while nursing on the second side and Tricia was coaxing him to nurse so the tension/pressure would be relieved. So, I asked what it felt like. She responded by describing the feeling like your stomach feels after you eat a very filling meal. Thinking I'm smart and having to always put things in my own words, to show comprehension, I offered it's like the difference between the way a normal butt cheek feels in comparison to one that has swollen from a bee bite. She responded with....no, not really. I still think my reference is pretty close.

Bored. Nonsense. It's a feeling blah

Oh the wonderful chair Nana provided. Feast your eyes on the heavenly chair that allows Tricia to sit without a doughnut and be in the sun. This was our nap time activity for today.

Doing nothing? Hardly. I was checking the shudder speed on the back end of the sun filter to check for......Of course, we're doing nothing. Unless you count noticing the lack of stain of the deck, lack of railing on the deck, the lack of green plants and flowers in the flower bed, or the funny way my feet feel in the sun, as something. Sure, we're bored and perfectly happy noticing the things that we just can't find time to notice during any other time in our lives.

This is usually the special smirk for, let's go upstairs and have mommy and daddy time. Today it meant, Tricia, you're really swell. Wanna hang out on our deck and stare into the abyss? Oh, and take pictures of each other doing so.

I'm so sorry you wasted your time reading this.

A feeling of blah.

I'm sure all parents with two children within three years of age, or longer, have felt this before but I'm exhausted and spending more and more time staring blankly at the walls while thinking of nothing. The surprising thing, I'm not stoned and haven't been for quite some time, I would be completely happy with staring at the wall for the foreseeable future.

Initially, I figured that this is due to lack of sleep and in the cases of some of my at-home-dad friends it might be but I'm not so sure this solution applies to me. Both boys are sleeping well. Dylan sleeps from 9ish until 6ish with usually one waking cry or accident. Zachary only requires my attention twice a night for diaper changes. So at worst I'm waking up three times per night for 5-10 minutes at a time. This doesn't seem to constitute enough evidence to conclude sleep deprivation as the primary cause.

I'll try thinking about this during my wall staring episodes in a hopes that the answer will come to me.....I would research it but I lack the time and the motivation to do so.

So I made up this little rhyme this morning to make Dylan laugh. In order for you to understand you must have read at least 24 hours worth of Winnie the Pooh. It's a bad take-off of Cottleston Pie.

Zachary Zachary Zachary Zoo
A Poo doesn't fly
But a fly can poo.

Funny? Maybe not to you but a 2 year-old loves it!

It wasn't funny later when Zachary's poo or pee, I should say, did in fact fly. I had just cleaned up a poo when the air did it's job. Pee all over the wall, in his diaper bag, on his changing table and ultimately on him. I'm pretty sure Dylan did this once because that's all the time it takes to remember what air does to pee.

My babies are sleeping in a clustered mass of blankets and cuteness on my bed. Some things must be saved for my memories only.

All my babies are sleeping. So, I've got some time to share something funny.

Last night after Dylan had gone to bed, Tricia and I were laying in bed talking. She was nursing Zac with her back to me and I made an observation.

Me - Wow, I can hear Zac nursing. He's really loud.
Tricia - Joel, that's the cat drinking out of the toilet.

Zachary Richard has arrived!!

May 10, 2008 at 440am after a 22 hour induction and three hours of pushing our new little bundle of joy is finally here!

20inches long and weighing 8 pounds and 15 ounces, he was the same height but almost 1 pound heavier than Dylan. And that's where the similarities stop. Dylan's birth happened like it reads in a text book, Zach must have read the cliff notes and skipped pages. So far he's a good eater(latched on 10 minutes after birth) and a good sleeper(knock, knock)

I'm off doing mother's day shopping with my big boy. See ya soon.