We're having another boy!

So, apologies for not posting yesterday, but it was the all-important 20-week ultrasound appointment. Most of you at this point know that my wife and I are expecting at the end of November, and those of you that don't... well, you do now. Here's a picture of the little guy.

I'm pretty excited that Xander will have a little brother basically from as early as he can remember. I had to wait until I was almost six years old, and by that point I was pretty jealous of my sisters because they had each other and I was starting to become the odd man out. It's also a lot cheaper for us, because we have all of the stuff already.

I'm also terrified. The past year has been the most financially difficult of our marriage, and that doesn't look to improve any time soon. I spent the school year in a state of perpetual exhaustion because I had to work 25 hours a week just to keep the bills paid. I take student loans, but they aren't enough by themselves to support a family. That's only going to get worse with the addition of another person to our household. In general, I'm super excited about our family expanding, this just isn't the ideal time for it. I guess by the time the school year is done, I'll either have mad time management skills or I'll be joining the class of 2014.

I won't be posting next Thursday because I'm going to my cousin's wedding in Wisconsin. I'll try to sneak one in on Monday, but no promises. Also, nobody bit on the reader request line yet, but that's still open. Feel free to take advantage; it gets me off the hook for trying to come up with something to write about!

Now accepting requests

First of all, the L key on my computer isn't working very well, so if I leave one out, pease forgive me.

Second of all, I've decided to take requests. In the summer, I have time to really craft my blog entries, so I want to open it up a little bit. I want suggestions for future topics. Leave a comment after this or any other entry with what you'd like me to write about. They can be pharmacy related, but they don't have to be. I'd love to give my opinion on hot button issues like gay marriage or health care reform, and I'd be happy to devote an entire entry to NBA free agency or Coke vs. Pepsi, if that's what you want to hear. Get creative. Get inquisitive. I'll try to honor as many requests as I can, based on how much I like the suggestions I get. Let's see how this goes. Hopefully it won't be too terrible.

No real news in my life, other than that I love my son. Yesterday when I got home from Kaiser, after not seeing him for two days, he proclaimed, "Hello, daddy!" and then ran across the living room into my arms. It was pretty darned cute.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks in advance for leaving your requests.

Things I've learned about my son

Monday was Xander's second birthday, and in the course of his party on Sunday and our family day together on Monday I came to understand several things about him that I'd like to share with you. Many of these I've known for some time, but all of them were illustrated to me by various behaviors I saw on Sunday and Monday.

For instance, my son is pretty darn smart. I put on a monkey hand puppet, which he loved, and held out one of its little paws for a high five. He slapped it, just like he does with a human hand. As a hand puppet, this monkey didn't really have hands or fingers of its own. So I told Xander to "pound it," which he also does regularly. He bumped his fist into the monkey's paw (which was really just my pinkie). Then I asked him to "poke it," which is another hand gesture we do where we poke index fingers together. No problem. Lastly, I held up the monkey's paw in the air, and said "thumbs up." He didn't have any trouble with that one, either. I was impressed that he knew these from verbal cues, not from mimicking gestures.

Xander's also quite polite. As we sat in the living room opening gifts, we asked him to thank each gift giver as we went. I was surprised when we told him to say, "Thank you, Jess! Thank you, Doug!" and he actually looked at the people who had given him the gift. It's hard to tell sometimes how much of what he parrots back at us is actually understood and how much is just the repetition of heard sounds. Apparently, more of it sticks than we thought.

He can be rude, too. One of his friends is a 20-month-old girl named Lilah. We had his party at the park in our neighborhood, and he and Lilah were fighting over balls and badminton racquets and various other items most of the time.

On the other hand, he knows when he's misbehaving. He and Lilah both had their hands on a ball and when his mom looked at him and just said his name, he let go, looked ashamed, and moved on to another.

Xander is funny. And he's not afraid to try new jokes. He puts on hats sideways and toddles over with a goofy grin on his face. It's impossible not to laugh. As I was saying goodbye to him the other day, I asked for a kiss. Instead, he grabbed me by the hair and bit my lip. He knew what he was doing wasn't what I had asked him for - he had a smile of anticipation on his face, waiting for me to crack up laughing.

And above all, he loves me and his mom. He's started saying, "Hello, daddy!" when I walk in the house. If I ask him for a kiss, he won't always give me one (see above), but when I kiss mommy good-bye, if he's not too distracted to notice that I'm leaving, he'll come over and demand one, too. He's got an enormous heart. If another kid is hurt or upset, he'll offer things, like his toys or bottles, or try to comfort the injured party with a hug. I'm so proud of him for that, because it's not something we tried to teach him. He just loves others, and I hope that never goes away.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Birthday to my darling boy.

Cruising through the summer

Well, things have quieted down a little for me. I only work two days at Kaiser this week, including tomorrow. That's left me with time to see friends and extended family. Tonight I went to the Rockies game, which they won. It seems like their offense is finally getting it going, which they'll need if they're going to make a playoff push. That's not really my point here, though - it's that this summer has been extremely enjoyable, and relaxing, after a difficult push to the end of the semester. I'm working a ton, spending time with my family, sleeping enough, and generally not stressing out about school.

My son turns 2 on Monday. I think I'll write about that then.

Every shift I work at Kaiser makes me resent the casino job more. Don't get me wrong; it's still fun and I still like to do it. It's just very clear to me what I'm meant to be doing for the rest of my life, and it certainly isn't dealing cards. Getting a taste of a more respectable profession is just making me yearn for the day when I can finally quit the job that was never supposed to be a career, but was very quickly becoming one.

At the end of the month, my cousin is getting married. She lives in Milwaukee, where my grandmother does, too. I'm excited for that trip because she's never met Xander, even though she's spoiled him rotten. I can't wait for that meeting.

Unfortunately, I haven't got a lot of news to report. I was going to try to work on some non-time-sensitive entries (along the lines of the one I made last week) on various topics that interest me, so I can go to those when I have a slow week like this one. Maybe I can put out one of those on Monday.