Warning: NOT for those easily squeamish....

Two funny stories.

One: Around father's day I started having severe back pains that were reminiscent of what I've heard it's like when you have a kidney stone. I watched it for a little bit, drank water like it was wine, and watched my body carefully.

About a week ago, I started having painful urination, little to no urine and a CONSTANT urge to urinate. It was really uncomfortable, and VERY frustrating. Tonight, while brushing my teeth, I realized I was about to pop. I quickly put the toilet seat up and WHAM! The sharpest pain I've ever felt (in that location) was followed by the joyful and wonderous release of a VAST amount of backed up pee that was being blocked by a kidney stone the size of an elongated mung bean.

I feel much better now. Whew. (c;

Oh, the second story?

Tonight, while Bibi was nursing Grace, Bibi chuckled to herself and started speaking like the Crocodile Hunter. "Ah, there she is....she's a beauty! She's the Nipple Hunter! Argh!"

I dropped what I was doing and stared, jaw slackened, at my wife. Grace does this thing where she will open her mouth, take aim, and then shake her head vigorously from side to side like she's not sure where her prey is going. So, now...my daughter is known as, "The Nipple Hunter"

Heh heh heh...fatherhood. (c;

Thanks for stopping by...

Just a PSA: I'm going on vacation until Wednesday or Thursday, so I'll be away from the computer. Drop a note to let me know how ya'll are doing!!!

Tommy

Daddy moments...

Today Bibi was giving Grace a bath. I was in the bathroom, handing things to Bibi (soap, towel, etc.) trying not to get in the way, and I had a moment where I just stared at Grace...she was lying there in the tub, being held by Bibi and she just had this look on her face of sheer and utter contentment. She was making some silly faces, too, and kicking her legs everyonce in awhile, but mainly she was motionless just glancing between Bibi and I.

I couldn't help it...I teared up. She is the most precious and beautiful thing I've ever seen. Oh, man. It was awesome.

I stopped by my new classroom yesterday. It's huge (at least, it looked huge to me) and it has tile floors and....wait for it....windows!!! Two things: I've always been saddened by my last school's lack of windows in the classrooms. I thought it was a shame that the kids didn't have that chance to stare out the window and enjoy seeing the sky, the weather, the animals, etc. I remember very fondly every once in a while looking out the window at Arthur Elementary in good old SeeTheRabbits.

Oh, and I love classrooms with tile floors. Can't stand carpet in a classroom. Muffles the sound, and I have a hard enough time with out that to struggle against. So. There ya go.

Anyway, that's all I got right now....

God bless, and thanks for stopping by...

Tommy

Alas, dear Potter....

This too, shall pass.

Today, we mourn a great friend and loved one.

No, this is not a spoiler, I'm not sayin' Harry Potter died, and I"m not sayin' he didn't die. I'm sayin' the series is over, and that is sad for us.

The seventh book was amazing. If you didn't think so, well, you're probably illiterate, and you didn't know it. It was an immensly enjoyable read, and Bibi and I couldn't stop reading until the very last page. And then, all was well.

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave your (SPOILER FREE!!!) comments about the HP series in the comments section.

Tommy

Harry Potter and the Magic of Reading

So...gotta question for ya'll.

Bibi and I are reading Harry Potter to Grace, (more to each other, but it's fun to read to a six week old, too) and we're anxiously waiting our chance to go to the fifth movie, and to receive the seventh book in the mail, which Bibi got me for my birthday.

So....here's the question....

any of my faithful readers belong to the hoardes who believe that Harry Potter is evil?

Can we have a nice respectful debate about the merits or liabilities of the enjoyment of this unbelievably popular series of books?

Let's begin the discussion, shall we?

Tommy

So there's this guy who has a blog...

that he only updates once in a blue moon. Sorry 'bout that. (c;

Anyway...what's up ya'll?

Is there anybody out there? (A little nod to Burlap to Cashmere)

So, what's going on with me? Well...

in the last two weeks Bibi and I have been enjoying our little bit o' Grace. She's growing up so quickly. She goes to college in just a few short months....oh, wait....no that can't be right.

She is now 5 and a half weeks old. She is as cute as ever....well, here--I'll show you...



Isn't she cute as a button?!

Anyway...this was taken back at Father's Day by my sister Amy. (Hi Amy!)

Other than staring adoringly at Grace and trading her back and forth and cleaning an OBSCENE number of diapers on a semi-regular basis, it's been pretty quiet at the Estlund homestead.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago (as I mentioned in the last post) and I've been enjoying the post-birthday celebration. I bought myself a couple of books (Fireshouse by David Halberstam, and another copy of Blue Highways {the best book ever} by William Least Heat Moon because I've reconciled myself to the fact that...(ahem) a certain someone is most likely NOT going to give it back to me. John, I'm looking at you buddy. Hey! Don't you look away from me!

Ahem, sorry about that.

Oh, and as a kind of special treat--as is fitting for a birthday present--I got myself a mini-fridge.

Let me explain.

My gorgeous and lovely wife is a vegetarian. She was raised vegetarian and, as I found out during our dating/engagement, to her, meat is not just something she doesn't eat....it's an absolutely repulsive and disgusting thing that she absolutely doesn't want in her fridge. And, as I got to know--and love--her, I realized that this was something that I could do out of love and respect to her. (She also realized that she can love--and respect--me, even if I don't stop eating meat.

So, we now happily have a mini-fridge in our kitchen for all of my favorite meat based foods.

It's a beautiful thing, compromise, isn't it?

Oh, and we've been reading Harry Potter to Grace. We're on book four, trying frantically, and I'm willing to guess, hopelessly, to get through the rest of four, five and six before big number seven comes out. So, if you do read number 7, please for the love Hermione, Ron and Neville, please do not give away the ending, ok?

All right fair enough.

Ok....so, back in the days leading up to Grace's arrival in our lives, I had the hope that this blog was going to have some kind of miraculous metamorphosis into a "daddy-blog" that everyone could come see, in order to read all about the insight and deeply profound lessons that I'm learning as I make my way down this new path.

I'm realizing that those lessons aren't as earth-shattering as I thought that they would be.

She poops.
She poops a LOT.
She sleeps a lot--when we're awake, and she is awake when we'd kind of like to be asleep.
She smells good, though. That's amazing.
She likes her mama's touch a bit more than mine, which is ok, because I"m still a bit uncomfortable with the whole "holding a baby" thing.
I'm really shaky on my feet at 3:30 am when it comes time to changing her diaper mid-feeding. (And, that shakiness can lead to the horrible fear that I'm going to drop my beautiful daughter, which, in turn reiterates my discomfort when it comes to holding said baby, which just perpetuates the shakiness at....well, you get the picture.)
A 9 pound baby gets surprisingly heavy after awhile.
It is only after Bibi comments that Grace hasn't pooped or peed on me in a while, that she will indeed, poop, pee, and then VOMIT on me, all within ten minutes of said comment. (We did a lot of laundry that day.)
There was a time, and, we're talking like six weeks ago, that I would have changed clothes if my shirt had gotten dirty before leaving the house. That time is no more. I went the store, my new favorite coffee shop, the library, and back to my house before realizing that I had Grace's spit-up all over the front of my shirt the other day. And I didn't care.

She is absolutely, withiout without a doubt, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.

And, Bibi and I were very pleasantly surprised, after having everyone tell us how much Grace looks like me, when we opened up one of her parents photo album, and saw a picture of Bibi when she was a newborn--and it looked as if she was Grace's identical twin. Good for Grace--I don't think I'd make a pretty girl.

All right, faithful readers...I promise I''ll try to come up with some lessons from fatherhood for you.

Thanks for stopping by....

Tommy

PS: I reread this and was going to edit the insane number of typos that I found, but I realized that that was another lesson.....lack of sleep can cause typoes.