Hecticness

I have no forgotten about you Drain for Two... it's just that the two are a lot more of a drain these days, for me and especially for mommy!  I will be back soon though...

I leave you with this little nugget from my darling little girl.  She came over to me the other day and said clear as day...

"daddy I got the kaka!"

and ya know what... she did!

:)

Severe Thunder Storms of fun!

The best thing about last nights massive thunder storm, aside from the much needed rain, was that we got to turn off the lights and the tv, pull up the blinds, and let God pay for the night's entertainment. We all sat on the couch in the living room, the kids were allowed to stand which in and of itself brought giggles of excitement, and we watched as the storm rolled in. As each flash of lightning got brighter and each crack of thunder got louder, so too did my kids eyes get wider! The looks of shock and awe that only inexperience of something new can bring were both priceless and precious. After each bolt and the moments awe it brought passed, my son would turn to me and my daughter to my wife with the biggest smiles on their faces as if to say "did you just see that!!" One strike was so bright and so close, the thunder clap coming only a half a second behind the flash, that my son's jaw dropped so far his pacifier fell out of his mouth! It's nights like those that make truly cherish being a dad. :)

The New New York Skyline

Ran up to the roof of my office this morning before work started to snap a couple pictures of the Freedom Tower being built.  It's more than half way finished and looking pretty sharp if you ask me....

I never did manage to get to the top of the Twin Towers before tragedy struck in 2001 and it's always been a regret of mine.  We got close once back in the late 90's, when my cousin Robyn had come up for a visit and a group of us ventured into the city to try and get to the top.  Heavy fog had forced the observation deck to close for the night right as we were entering the building.  We were all kind of disappointed but decided to trek around Chinatown for the rest of the evening and see what secret wonders those cramped blocks held.  The thought was always "oh well, there'll always be another time to go."  Truth is, there were many more nights to go from that point on, but I never took advantage of them and then it was too late.  I only ever scaled the Empire State Building because my good friend and his family had come up from Pennsauken to spend a day in New York City and I met up with them since it was only a quick ferry ride for me.   After the attack of 9/11, I started to realize just how much of this city I was taking for granted because, well... I live here.  There's so much to marvel at in this city, things that you see tourists gape at day in and day out, clogging up the sidewalks as us natives try and navigate around them, grumbling under our breath.  Over the last 9 years I have since made a more conscious effort to "tourist it up" a couple times a year.  It's kind of refreshing to make the effort to go see the sights this city has to offer as opposed to letting them paint the backdrop of our daily grind.   I'm hoping to post some more of the photos I've captured from around the town in that span.  Needless to say, once the tower is finished, I'll definitely be making the trip to the top!

Clingy

Your kids have a way of making you feel terrible when you don't see them for most of the day and when you get home, they hug your leg because they don't want you to leave the room.

Being Sick Sucks

Going on a week of being sick, URI, Bronchitis, the works.  Can someone bring me a pie from Joe's Pizza please??

Exhaustion and Parenthood

It's as if I've been training for these nights for the last several years.  People have remarked about how I'm able to function at a high level and be "chipper" when only getting the barest amount of sleep... before we had kids.  Now that conditioning is becoming a extremely valuable skill to have.  Both kids had fevers last night at around 1:00 AM, so after administering tylenol, loosening clothes, changing diapers and administering some TLC for the two little patients, I went and got baba's of water for them... Even Indiana Jones didn't want water more when he stopped the mine cart in the Temple of Doom compared to my two little ones last night.  They demolished those babas in seconds.  We then tried to get them to go back to sleep, but now they were up so we spent another hour or so getting them relaxed again.  My boy was immediately in play mode and ready to tackle.  He was laying down and then sitting up, repeating this and then my wife said something about music and he pops up and starts wiggling his little butt doing his patented dance move.  Looking at the two of us laughing hysterically.  Meanwhile, she was still mostly sleepy but now with her nasty cough couldn't get comfortable.  We had to laugh tho, she is a little tank of a trooper, she had this one coughing fit that looked like it physically hurt her, and it was violent enough that it shot her pacifier out of her mouth like a bullet, before she's even finished coughing she's battling through the cough to say "uh oh!" because her pacifier took off.  It was priceless! So after 15 minutes of struggling with them while they tossed and turned in our bed, I took him into his room and sat in the rocker with him till he passed out.... along with his dad.  Had he not been squirming in his sleep, I would not have even woken up at 2:10am.  After putting him back into his bed sound asleep, fever coming down I stumbled back to our room.  There I found my wife and daughter sound asleep, her fever coming down as well. So we finally all got to sleep at 2:30am....... and then the 5:00AM alarm sounded for us to all get up and get ready!  Saturday can not come soon enough!

The stark realization... (epilogue)

Since this is of public record now, let me add to my beautiful children, one whom I just put to bed and needed just a few extra hugs from daddy to settle down for the night (that's you sweetheart) and the other who earlier patted me on the back like a reassuring old friend (at the age of 15 months mind you, yup I'm talkin about you buddy ;) )... guys, if you ever get the chance to read this... I love you and these nights when you think the best "toy" in the living room is the human jungle gym you call "dadadada" will always be some of the most cherished moments of your dad's life.  Good night guys, sweet dreams. :)