Evan Valentine, Stay-at-Home Dad

I don't understand this Betta. He just passes out for extended periods of time. Every time he does it, I swear he's dead. It looks like his gills aren't moving, and he won't come to life if you put food in his bowl or tap the glass.

Last night he was just floating on the top for about an hour, lifeless. Right now he's lying motionless on his side on the bottom of the tank... just kind of sprawled on some rocks. It's weird, scary, unsettling, disconcerting, all that.

Seizures? Coma? Normal Betta behavior? Practical Joker? You decide.

Regardless, I keep thinking he's going to die.

Edit: Okay, this time he's really dead. Our last fish lasted two years before he committed suicide. This fish lasted five days.

Wow. That might be the worst conditions I've ever experienced. The weathermen nailed this prediction. Gusts up to 40mph that cause complete white-outs where you can't see more than ten feet.

I just took the dogs for the shortest walk of their lives. I couldn't feel my face after five minutes. I had to stop every minute or so when the wind kicked up and I couldn't see. The snow falling and blowing around feels like I'm literally being attacked by ice pellets. Glad that's over with.

What is it about snow that makes people think their dog no longer needs a leash? Not only is it against the law to unleash your dog, but it is just plain stupid. I just took the dogs out while fat flakes fell from the sky. As soon as I got past our patio, I hear "Preencess! Preencess!!!!"

Our hispanic neighbors have a little white dog (possibly a bichon frise?) named Princess. It started charging us while barking, the girl next door growing increasingly nervous. I was thinking, "you should be nervous; Chloe treats about 50% of all dogs like Michael Vick's dogs." So I did what I always have to do and lifted both of my dogs off the ground by their leashes until the dad came out and called the dog back. Chloe definitely snipped at Princess. I mean, the dog was charging us while barking. What did she expect?

Now, this dog is usually kept under control and is therefore well-behaved, but the neighbors had the oh-so-common attitude of "It's snowing! That gives me carte blanche!" What is wrong with people? Leashes only work if we both use them. I had to deal with this same nonsense the other day. A maltese came into the street and was chasing us around. Then the owner doesn't want to come get their dog because they have to get close to my dog, and they don't know/trust my dog. It's just like what do you want me to do? The reason our dogs are so close is because you don't have your dog on a leash. If I pull my dog away, your dog follows us!

Had to get that off my chest.

A huge snowstorm like this is hardest on the dogs. At first we really can't do anything except wade through snow that is taller than the dogs in an effort to find a place for them to pee. Eventually we can walk on the street but not the sidewalks. At least having dogs forces me to go out and shovel a few paths.

By this morning we were able to take a fairly normal walk, albeit on the streets. Here are some shots from yesterday when it was really hard for the dogs.

Saturday was the big Fantasy Football party at S&S' house. Since Steve won, he put his winnings (came out $175 ahead) towards party snacks and invited all of the losers over to enjoy them during the games Saturday night. We had to leave at 3:30 for that. Jaime went to her Weight Watchers meeting in the morning (she has lost 14.2 pounds in six weeks). Just before she got back, Stephen went down for a nap. I have been a little sick for a few days, so I took a nap in the early afternoon on Saturday. Then we went over there and watched yet another blowout. We really screwed up the dogs' schedule with that party and Davis crapped in the basement. I guess he liked it, because he peed in the basement this morning. Davis hasn't made a mess in the house in at least 9 months, but apparently it was just because we were good about keeping to a schedule. Leave the house one time and it has all gone to hell. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal because he goes on the concrete, but don't tell Davis that.

Sunday was chore day. Three loads of laundry. Vacuum the main floor. Vacuum the stairs. Watched football. Cleared some stuff off the DVR. The highlight was definitely getting lunch at Don Pablo's at 11am. Oh yes, and we both took a nap while Stephen napped in the afternoon.

In our kitchen, we have a little fish tank that hangs on the wall. It holds maybe ⅔ of a gallon. This is the only fish tank I've ever maintained that I actually like. It's easy to clean out and it looks cool and post-modern just hanging on the wall. We got it as a wedding present and have had the same fish since then--a blue gourami named Henry. Yesterday when I fed the dogs their dinner at 5pm, I grabbed the fish food to feed Henry, and he was gone. No corpse to flush or anything like that. Just vanished like a fart in the wind. I suppose he jumped out of his tank and fell over five feet to the floor. Maybe one of our animals ate him as he was flopping around, or maybe he flopped his way under the refrigerator and we'll begin to smell him soon. I really do not understand what happened; it was kind of disturbing to realize the little fish tank was actually empty. The only thing I can think of is this: the wall that the fish tank hangs on is a shared wall with our dining area. Maybe when the vacuum is pushed against that wall he freaks out. Maybe this time he freaked out a little too much and jumped out. That's the only thing I can think of. He is old and docile; he mostly just lays on the bottom of the tank these days. I really don't know what happened. It sucks.

Ttyl, Henry

I got a Ukulele for Christmas from one of my cousins. I've been playing it a lot, but it's hard to have any variety. Like the banjo, it seems to be stuck in a certain key signature, with all other keys being difficult to play. I really like it though, and Stephen is quite interested. This little guy is surrounded by music. His first instrument will be a harmonica, then ukulele lessons from his old man.

I know mashups are all the rage for 14 year olds, but I really like this one. I've listened to it a lot of times. A YouTube comment sums up my feelings perfectly: I actually like this .. when I know I shouldn't =|

My toe is on the mend. With quickness. I'd still really like to know what happened. Having never broken a bone or sprained anything, this was easily the worst injury I've ever received. I guess I sprained/overextended/pulled a ligament in my big toe. Whatever connects to the top of your toes that allows you to pull them up was bruised and not functioning. I could curl my toe downward, but I could not lift it up. I'm actually surprised how quickly it's healing. After it happened, I skipped two of the next three dog walks, but I am back on the wagon now. My left leg is sore from walking awkwardly for two whole days.

Speaking of dogs, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the bad aspects of owning a dog far outweigh the good aspects, especially when you do not have a yard for them to play in. Now that I have a baby, it's even worse. Add to their arsenal the fact that they wake the baby up from his nap every time a package is left at our door. They can not get past baby gates, so that is another reason to open the gates 85 times per day. Stephen really likes the dogs though. Chloe can not stand to be anywhere near him, but Davis tolerates countless unspeakable acts. Stephen grabs fistfulls of Davis' loose skin, bites his legs, and crawls right on top of him (the dog is only 25 pounds). Davis takes it all in stride. The staircases in this house are split... six steps, turn around, six more steps. Chloe likes to hang out on the landing between these sets of steps. Well, Stephen can now climb up the stairs. If he gets up to the second step (out of six), Chloe retreats. She really does not want anything to do with Stephen.

There was a good Kurt Warner vs. Joe Montana statistic on ESPN yesterday, but I can't find it anywhere on the web. It was a list of the top 5 quarterbacks for throwing touchdowns in the playoffs. Joe Montana was number one with 45 touchdowns in 24 games (I think). Kurt Warner was number five with 31 touchdowns in 13 games, meaning he would throw nearly 60 touchdowns in 24 games if he kept up the same pace. Others on the list were Dan Marino and Brett Favre (39 TD's). Kurt Warner had far fewer games than anyone else on the list. Beyond the numbers, there really is no comparison. Joe Montana won four Superbowls and is the only player to ever receive three Superbowl MVP's.

I used the rest of the chicken, pico de gallo and chopped pepper mix to make more fajitas last night--only this time, with chicken. I have been doing well at cooking meals this week because Stephen's nap times have changed. His second nap is from approximately 4:30-6:30 in the evening now, which allows me to walk the dogs and cook dinner right after Jaime gets home. Unfortunately, the new nap times are not working out because he is staying up too late. Last night we were up until 11 o'clock. Not cool. He woke up at 2:40am this morning and did not want to go back to sleep. I did not want to cut into the milk supply, so we hung out in the rocking chair against his will for a while. He didn't appreciate that, so I laid him back down in his crib and got dressed, preparing to stay up with him and feed him, but by the time I had gotten some clothes on, he was back asleep. He ended up sleeping until 7:15 this morning, when we woke him up. I would rather him get up in the mornings and have the proper amount of nap time than have my mornings free.

What a weekend..

THURSDAY: Slept until 7:20, left for S&S' house by 9:00. We purposely did not feed the dogs in the morning, because Davis gets motion sickness in the car. Even still, he puked up a bunch of liquid, and my camera bag fell over right in the puddle. After we arrived and fed the dogs, I went to Giant to pick up some potatoes to make mashed potatoes. I also got some Stage 1 baby food (Carrots, Turkey, and Sweet Peas). We still have not given him any of the food. We watched the Lions get crushed by the Packers and made ice cream. This year was peanut butter chocolate ice cream. I typically do not like the ice cream that we make over there, but this was good. It was like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Everyone agreed that it was a bit strong, but I really liked it (and I usually don't like chocolate ice cream, either). The Klauses ran late due to airport woes, so we didn't eat until about 2:45. I made way too many mashed potatoes because I was worried we would run out and not have enough leftovers for the Mulligans, who were not able to make it on Thanksgiving day. I ended up making two gigantic bowls and dirtying every large dish in the house. Food was good. Ate too much, yada yada. Stephen was up for an hour and forty minutes during the night, which is uncharacteristic. We DO NOT miss that part of having a baby. He was happy as could be, and was starting to win us over with his cuteness--crawling around in bed and making cute faces and sounds. After about an hour and twenty minutes, though, his charms ran out on us.

FRIDAY: After eating turkey sandwiches for breakfast, we left for Chapel Hill at 9:03am. First long trip with the baby. After a couple hours, we stopped to get gas and try to feed Stephen. We wasted a lot of time trying to feed him and give him attention that he didn't want or need. We got back on the road, and he got fussy after a few hours. We got off at another exit and Jaime tried to feed him again. More wasted time, as he did not appear to want any food. The trip took us four and a half hours even with all the wasted time. We maybe could have made it in four hours (I always forget how long it takes us, so this is good to actually put it down somewhere). Overall, Stephen was good on the trip and we were worried over nothing. My parents arrived about 30 minutes after us and I went to the grocery with Robert and got some potatoes and other small items they needed to make dinner. My mom mixed up some thick cereal for the Stephen and tried to spoon feed him. She mixed up too much, and I don't think she expected such a strong reaction. She is used to taking care of Cierra, so she was giving him huge spoonfuls and he was choking on it. Stephen just threw a fit about the cereal. First he made some faces like "this is weird" and was quite confused, but after a few more spoonfuls he just started crying so loud. We had a second Thanksgiving around 5:45 that evening, and it was very nice. There were 11 of us plus Stephen, who slept in the other room for most of the meal. People played games throughout the evening and passed Stephen around. Stephen's uncle Robert gave him a lot of "piano lessons," and Stephen actually responded! He was punching the keys on his own just to hear the sound. It was pretty cool. We slept all right on the air mattress, even though the baby woke up about ten times. Each time just required a pacifier in order for him to go back to sleep. It was better than the 100 minutes the previous night.

SATURDAY: Jaime and I woke up and played with Stephen in our bed for close to an hour in between Jaime feeding him. He crawled around on the air mattress with us and played under the blanket. Once I heard people getting up and stirring outside our room, I got up to try to help make breakfast. After surveying what was there, my uncle decided that we needed to go get some eggs. We jokingly said we were going to make green eggs and ham with the leftover Thanksgiving ham. He took me to the store in their Prius, which was my first time in a Prius. Was pretty cool to ride in. Of course, by the time both of us idiots came back, we had 18 eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. My uncle and I made a lot of breakfast for everyone, and we made green eggs even though we didn't get out the ham. Everyone kept asking "why did you make green eggs?" and my uncle would say "because it was me and Evan, that's why! That's what happens when you put us in charge." After that we took lots of pictures. We took a few posed pictures of Jaime and Stephen, and then changed clothes for the Valentine Christmas card photo. My uncle took those with my camera, and then we got out leftovers for lunch. After a little adventure with finding the Blu-Ray remote, my uncle put in Up. It wasn't as good as other Disney/Pixar animated movies. It was mostly sad. By the end of that, Stephen was being a pain. He had too much stimulation, what with all the pictures and new people and changing clothes multiple times in a day. We packed up everything in record time (seems like the only thing we forgot was the baby rice cereal flakes), took a big group shot with all twelve of us, and hit the road at 4:50pm. Stephen was excellent for this trip. Due to traffic, it took four hours and fifty minutes. Around Fredericksburg, traffic was pretty bad for seemingly no reason. We made no additional stops for Stephen, though. He was perfect. Since he was worn out from being passed around for two days, he slept most of the trip home. He only had three ounces of milk during the whole five-hour span. We got to S&S' house at 9:40pm, watched the end of The Incredibles on NBC, and watched the end of the Georgia/Georgia Tech game. Stephen was quite active and stayed up until 11:30 because of all the sleep he had gotten. Staying up until 11:30 is not my idea of fun after driving five hours and not getting a very good rest the previous two nights. But, he went down quietly and slept until 7am, so at least we got some sleeping done.

Today I am just trying to get caught up on laundry, scrounge around for food, and get some pictures edited for my family. Scott's visit and our trip to NC have put me well behind. We still have no kitchen faucet (and have gotten along surprisingly well without it, actually) and no food. Jaime's parents gave us some ingredients for cheese dip, so at least we can continue that tradition while football is on. My computer was frozen when I got back, which sends me into a tail spin every time... sigh.

Okay, new theory.

Well, first.. Jaime got up last night and Chloe was on the tail end of a "seizure." She was still shaking (convulsing?) a little bit and scared. She wouldn't give Jaime a kiss on the hand, and then she noticed that Chloe wasn't acting right. My aunt and uncle say one of their dogs does the same thing, and it correlates to the men coming and spraying their yard (pest control chemicals).

The last two stores I looked in did not have the Hartz flea/tick drops in Chloe's weight class (31-60lbs, I believe it is). Yesterday I just broke down and treated Davis and left Chloe alone for now. Well, as you know, my dogs like to wrestle around and bite on each others' scruff. I think Chloe occasionally ingests some of the chemicals from Davis' back. This would explain why she had a "seizure" after I treated Davis.

No matter what the reason, it sucks when this happens. She goes back to normal within ten minutes, but she is scared the whole time, and it's quite worrisome to her owners, also. I suppose there is a solution that boils down to buying a more rare, and more expensive, flea prevention treatment. We will never be able to get the dogs to stop wrestling; it's part of their routine. They already suffer enough since the baby has arrived.