Huge Congrats!

Chris says:

Pardon our interruption  in bloggage. Charles has a good reason. On February 5,  Debi gave birth (and Chuck helped) to their new son, li’l Charles.  We’re elated for them and can’t wait to see the mini-Chipster in person.  🙂   XXXXOOOOXXXXX   -Chris, Debbie, Owen, and “Bud”

P.S. I just have to say it:   “Uh, hey guys- are ya gettin’ any sleep!? uh huh huh”

Happy New Year and all that…

Chris says:

Happy New Year, yada yada…

Hey Chuck, interesting post there. I get what you’re saying and all, with regard to young ‘ens not knowing what the heck the gift-giving thing is. And, I do agree that it seems Xmas has become alot about gift giving. You feel obligated to get gifts for some people. And,  it is a pain to go out shopping for crap.

BUT, Chuck, I wonder how you’d feel were your fam and friends to show up totally empty handed!  Think about it.  And don’t tell me you’d be relieved like “whew, so glad they only brought a bottle of champagne for me.”  You’d definitely be wondering why Grandma and the Kirbster totally Scrooged Reagan out of some potentially very cool books n’ blocks.  You see, it doesn’t matter that she’s only a wee lady, there are things she can use, whether she knows these are “gifts” or not, and the Xmas gift-giving tradition can be a good excuse to get her these things. Note that I said “your kid” as opposed to “everyone.”

With that thought, here’s my take: I hate having to buy gifts for adults. Shopping sucks during the Xmas shopping season. Heck, shopping always sucks, unless it’s for tools and man stuff! My emphasis on the word “having,” was because, like I said, it’s become more of an obligation than a tradition. I think gift giving should be for kids only; and spouse-to-spouse (if they mutually desire to). Point blank. Everything else just makes it feel obligatory and it becomes tedious year after year.

With that said, now that I have a son, I feel like Christmas is BACK! Seriously. It’s fun now to get gifts for a kid and see him open them up. I can now go back to the TRADITION of gift giving rather than the obligation.  And I have a reason to not get everyone else a gift- I have to save that money to buy gifts for my son! Haha. Regardless of the fact that he knows that he’s opening “gifts” or not, it is fun, tradition, and a good time to get him some useful loot. I think I’ll be happier NOW seeing him open gifts that he’s into, regardless, than in 5 years when he says sh*t like “aaaaaw, that’s not what I wanted!” That’s when the gift giving stops and the yardwork begins! 🙂

So, Chip, to you I say…enjoy the innocense and tradition of it all.  And enjoy the gift giving to KIDS because, it IS fun and they DO (hopefully) get stuff that they can use and will help their development. If someone gets them something totally tarded, simply keep that item and give it back to them next year.

With that notion, I present to you, in typical Chuck form,  the re-gift that Owen received after the Christmas tree was down:

"My First Christmas" ornament, 2007 version 🙂

OK, I’ll give Chip the benefit of the doubt- maybe it wasn’t a re-gift, though it says 2007. But, I’ll have to see a receipt to believe that. 🙂  Don’t be surprised when you open it up again next year as a gift for li’l Chuck! hahaha.  But Chad, just because we got Reagan a $10 Gumby, didn’t mean you had to go out to the Hallmark store for the day-after-Xmas sale! 🙂

Post Christmas Thoughts

Reagan gets something cool from Auntie

A Chuck Rant: 

 Happy New Year everyone!   

Enough with the pleasantries, the holidays are over, so get to work!  Here’s some straight ‘dude poop’ that I took away from this Christmas:  Parents are totally out of control when buying gifts for their little brats, ahem, sorry, I mean wee lovelies.   Seriously, our kid is almost two and has zero concept of gifts or Christmas.  So, why would I go out and buy a bunch of stuff she won’t appreciate?   Besides, as I learned, to my amusement, relatives take on that burden readily and happily.   Maybe over zealously.  I’m like, “really, that’s a nice gift and all, but my 21 month-er doesn’t understand what you just did for her.” 

So, here’s what our little darling wanted: 

Nothing!   She speaks 20 words and “I want” ain’t one of ‘em…yet.      

What she got from Mom & Dad: 

3 books and some wooden blocks. 

What she got from family: 

As sweet and generous as they all were… she got way too much!  Brightly colored, plastic extruded bits o’ play stuff mewing out this God awful Casio tone music.  Enough!  Enough with that diabolical music! Arghh! It’s like being eternally stuck inside the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride at Disneyland.  I guess it’s worth it considering baby girl listens to it over and over and over again, which buys us 5 minute blocks of parent down time.  But, we (the parents) are stroking-out over here!   

What she really, really wanted: 

For you to get down on your hands and knees and give horsey rides.  That’s all man.  Horsey rides.  Sometimes the best gift is just plain ol’ dumb stuff.  When baby girl is older the only thing she’s likely to remember is Grandpa’s horsey ride.   And, that’s alright.   

Ok, wrestling with Tia works too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh crap, am I not supposed to say that?  Is that not PC? F that! Merry Frickin’ Christmas! Oh, and “Happy Holidays” too!

Here’s what you do when your little 10 month old monster wants to pull the Xmas tree on top of himself. Put it on your dining room table!  Yeah, I know the tree is kinda thin. Hey, give us a break, we cut it from our back yard! 🙂

Here’s Owen’s goofy picture with Santa. Yeah, his face is like “wtf?” After waiting in line for 2 hours at Bass Pro Shops, not getting dinner because your lame-o parents forgot your grub, and being an hour past your bedtime…you’d look like this too!

Are we there yet?

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Dudes! Talk to ya next year…

Christmas Cards

A Chuck Rave:

Tis the season and the Christmas cards are a flowing.  Zoiks! I should use the more innocuous term ‘Holiday’ so as not to offend any of you Pagans out there.  Mmmmkay?   Mmmmkay. 

I love the whole ‘Holiday’ card exchange though. Creating our annual card is almost as fun as receiving them.  Some are boring, others are downright hilarious.   I categorize the cards we receive like this:

1)  The Pagan card: You hate Christmas, so you  bought a box of 500 random cards for $3.99 at the Wal-Mart Unbeatable Aisle.  

Simple, impersonal.  Look you tried, I understand.  At least you signed it.

2)  Your kids are so awesome card:  You send a studio card (not of you and your family) just your dumb brats. 

This type of card would be okay…if only I was friends with your kids!  Dude, I don’t care about your kids.  They’re ugly, odd-looking teenagers anyway.  Trust me your kids don’t appreciate it either.   This kind of card actually tells me you need to work on your marriage bro.         

3) The short story card.

 A 2 pager chronicling all of your blessed family’s blessings.  Geez, you’re smart, your kids are smart, everything is so hunky dory.   Congratulations on your MENSA membership.

4) Kicking it old school card:  Season’s greeting from Aunt Marge and Uncle Jim Bob from Missouri.    

This 2 pager is for the above  folks who after a long blessed life figure out that life now sucks and they want to tell ya all about it.  Literally.    Thanks for the updates on the arthritis, kidney stones, and cataracts.

5) And my all-time favorite: the happy holiday card from (drum roll please), yes, the guys who worked on your clogged drain last month.

Is this not the cheesiest of all – cards from small businesses.   Look save the paper and your time. Skeeter was a nice guy and all but, he’s really not thinking of me this time of year and I’m sure as hell not thinking of him.  

So, think about what category card you would send.  Or, just go with:

Music for baby, shake it!

Chris says:

A baby having his own MP3 player!? Like, OMG. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for this very cool gadget. And props to cousin Linus for letting Owen test his before buying; and for burning some of his CD’s. 😉 It’s the Sansa Shaker by Sandisk and it’s an MP3 player for young ‘n’s. Though recommended for ages 8 and up, the little guy is having all sorts of fun with it! If you want to keep baby occupied for a bit and teach him about music, this is a must-have. It changes songs when you “shake” it but that option can be bypassed, which is good in the case of a baby who’s just going to shake it around like crazy at first!

Man, they didn’t have crap like this when we were kids!!
Last minute Christmas gift? Search “Sansa Shaker” on Amazon; it comes in blue, red, and pink; and in 512k or 1gb versions. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wrangle them li’l rascals!

Chris says:

With our little monster’s new found mobility, we’ve had to finally do some baby proofing to the house. Resistance is futile. Your house will look like a baby lives there, whether you like it or not!  Of course we don’t mind this, as long as the stuff we get blends into the house more-or-less. Not every “kid item” all over the house has to have pastel colors and giraffes all over it!

We have 2 sets of stairs so we HAD to get some baby gates for the tops (and soon bottoms). Shopping for this item was no easy task. I bought several different versions only to return them. They either didn’t install properly, were too flimsy, hard to open with baby-in-hand, or simply looked like crap.

Thanks to my good friend Danielle for pointing out this gem on her blog.  Behold, the Retract-A-Gate:

This baby is much better than a typical swinging gate or pressure gate. The ability to simply retract it into its own roll-up retainer makes it so much easier and safer to use. You don’t have to try to step around a swinging gate while holding baby, or use 2 hands to remove a pressure gate.  It looks classy, is easy to install, and seems very durable.   I did find some other versions of retractable gates but this one seemed to top them all, especially much better than the scissor type.

It is JPMA certified for top-of-stair use which is great!  I was actually surprised about that, due to the relative flexibility of the material, compared to metal and plastic.  However, when in open position, it has a lock, thus tightening the mesh material.  They do note that you should install it at least 6 inches back from the top though, for added safety.

Grandma, Get This, Sews a Dress!

A Chuck Rave:

Who needs Target?  If you’re fortunate enough to have a Grandma who sews, you don’t!  Hmmm, sewing, formerly taught in weird courses, dubbed home economics, as ubiquitous as apple pie, is now an arcane art, known only to a few gay men in Manhattan, or women born in the awful ‘barefoot and pregnant’ era.  Simmer down that’s my sarcasm showing; I don’t pine for those days of yore, where you know, men and women actually had skills.  Today, we’re much better off,  busily refining our X-Box and texting or sexting skills.   Sorry I digress, uh, back to the dress.     

G-Ma calls this one her “little house on the prairie dress.”   Hand crafted from recycled materials saved up from other sewing projects, this dress is not only functional, it’s ‘green.’   I don’t know about the whole “little house on the prairie” modesty comment, I think it’s quite fashionable especially when you pair it with four-inch heels.  It’s not always what you wear, but how you flaunt it right?  And, Reagan certainly knows how to ham it up for the camera.

Knocked Up

Chris says:

We’re gonna have to change our little slogan up there! No more “2 babies.” 🙂

If you’re not one of the lucky few I’ve told by now, it’s true… she couldn’t keep her hands off me.  My wife went and got herself knocked up. Yah, I had nothing to do with it, I just follow instructions. She’s due in June with our second kiddo. They will be 16 months apart. This should be interesting! 😉 Here’s the proof:

<picture removed temporarily>

Owen’s fetal name was “Bob.” This one we’re calling “Bud.”  YAY!!!