August 2006 Archives

One of Jamie's friends from college (Tom Grafton) stopped by on his way to start seminary down in Kentucky. He was here for dinner and will be spending the night before heading out tomorrow.

Tonight's incident can safely be filed in the "Things you don't want to hear your children say at the dinner table when company is here" category. In the midst of conversation, the 5yo busts out with,

"Mom, did I poop today?"
(much laughter)
"No, I mean on the potty!"

Personally I don't remember much else because I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. Classic moment in the annals of parenthood, to be sure.

In case you were wondering, the answer was affirmative.

My kids are breaking my heart. Or rather, I'm breaking my kids' hearts. Well, it may not be as bad as all that. But the startup has been a big time consumer the past few weeks and it shows in the kids' behavior. It's nice to know that I'm needed, but not so nice to know that my absence is causing behavorial issues for my kids.

At least I'm not traveling at all right now; it's a small consolation that I can be home every night. But every night after I tuck in each child and bless him/her, at least one of them asks me, "Dad, will you be here in the morning?"

This has been a standard question for about six months now -- long before the answer became "no" more than 5 out of every 7 days. But for the past 20 days and 30 of the past 31 the answer has been negative. It's wearing on me physically, too. But the end is getting closer every day. Sometimes when I walk through the factory and see things getting done I feel a swell of. . .well, I guess it's pride. A sense of accomplishment, almost. I think it's not a bad pride. I've made more than enough mistakes on this project to keep me humble.

I'm living day to day on the grace of God right now. When one is *this* exhausted physically and mentally and emotionally, it's easy to turn to the Creator and Sustainer of life. And I know that our family is growing in positive ways through this as well. As always, God has blessed us with wonderful friends like the Coad and Belmonte families, and all our brothers and sisters at Westminster. I can't even number the ways in which we have been blessed.

But I'm gushing now. I must be somewhat incoherent as well, given the level of exhaustion at which I find myself presently. I'd best be off to bed, eh?

So here is an Entry. Number 898, to be precise. We're having a lovely time here. We went for an ultrasound last week because Jamie was measuring a lot farther along than we anticipated. No twins, or any other multiple. Just one baby boy, and he's due in early December. A very healthy baby boy. Tomorrow I am going to accompany Jamie on her visit to the midwife. Should be good fun. Have a wonderful day.

News from the mayo factory -- we have most of our employees hired now and are giving them more training than you can shake a stick at. Tomorrow we are changing out our main electrical switchgear -- lights go out at 8 AM and won't come back on until Sunday morning. This will be the second weekend in a row that won't be a weekend for me. (Boo hoo hoo, I'm a crybaby I know.) I'm starting to wear down a little. I don't see a day off coming anytime soon. Startups are like this, I hear.

Things are heating up at the mayonnaise factory. Expect record lows of post accumulation for August. The heat will persist through September and into early October. 25% chance of scattered posts and 100% of scattered wits is forecast. That is all.

Here's a recipe for discomfort:
Take one very out of shape (worse than I thought) fast-approaching-30 man
Add 1 part horrible day at work
Add 1 part dehydration
Add a pinch of hunger

Mix ingredients in a large field full of people who have been playing Ultimate all year. Bake at 90 deg Fahr for 2 hours.

Oh my oh my do I hurt. I haven't played Ultimate in about a year, nor have I exercised regularly since I transferred to my new job 9 months ago. And I have no wheels anymore. I was never fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I could easily sprint the length of an Ultimate field without blowing too hard. Not anymore.

On the other hand, I was as good a handler as anyone else on the field. But that doesn't make up for my lack of speed and inability to cut. My legs literally gave out on me, something I've never experienced before (at least, not so soon).

I am not looking forward to how I'm going to feel when I struggle out of bed tomorrow. Of course, the real question is whether this will motivate me to work on my physique. I think so. We'll see. When the family gets back my leisure time will pretty much go back to nonexistent.

Let me make it clear that I don't think that last is a particularly bad thing. While I've enjoyed my evenings out the past 3 nights, they haven't been nearly as fun as coming home to a full house. A little bird told me my family might be coming home a day early -- tomorrow! That makes me happy. :)

With the family out of town and free tickets at my disposal, I have been at the ballpark the past two nights. The new Busch Stadium is a very nice baseball venue and advertises itself as Baseball Heaven. However, I've always thought of heaven being not so very, well, hot. I have gotten drenched with sweat the past two nights. It doesn't help that the only Phillies paraphernalia that I have is a windbreaker that my mother-in-law brought me as a present last Friday. I think I MUST have been the only person in the stadium in a long-sleeved garment of any kind.

I was also one of a very few people wearing anything other than Cardinals red. Which makes it all the more satisfying that the Phillies have won both games. Both nights have been good times, but even leaving the game after 7th inning has been getting me home around 22:30, and that makes getting up to be at work at 06:00 rough. Which begs the question, why am I not in bed instead of posting to my blog? You're right -- good night and sleep tight.