Why it takes us so long to leave the house

It took us a while to leave the house before we had kids. Now it's just silly. Probably because I'm such a poor packer that leads to delays, but a typical conversation before a 3 km walk would be something like this:

Me: Okay, we're ready to go.
Laura: Did you pack snacks for Alice?
Me: No... I'll go get them.
...
Me: Okay, let's go.
L: What about hats? Did you get the hats?
Me: No... you sure you want them?
L: Yes.
Me: Okay, I'll go get them.
....
17 minutes later
...
Me: Okay, let's go.
L: What about the troup-a-doodle? If we run into a snakerpop we'll be sure to want one.
Me: No... are you sure you want them? There hasn't been a snakerpop in these parts since the last choot-a-moo.
L: Yes.
Me: *sigh*


Pre-children Jim might have understood, but I don't think that he would have guessed the extent of stuff needed for every outing. Especially since it's been such a long time since the last choot-a-moo.

Then and now

Good times.

Then

Now with 400% more floppy hats!

Failing the man test

It's irrational, I know. But when a drain clogs up, I feel that it's my fault. My fault for somehow not maintaining it better, for not fixing things before they are a problem. House maintenance in my head is a "boy job". Painting, doing wiring, fixing things that are broken, breaking things that aren't, etc. Those are also all the things that I hate doing. Which is stupid for a home owner because you'll make yourself poor really fast if you can't do the little things yourself.

Today I took apart some plumbing and cleared a clog. Yay me. However, I probably created the clog in the first place by putting too much food down the kitchen drain which then backed up the laundry room / sink. Bad news in a house that needs to do as much laundry as we do currently. So I still feel like I failed.

*sigh*

Seven years

It feels like eleven. But in a good way. 

There are times that I thought that by now that there would be more... well, to put a name on it, spaceship!

SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! SPACESHIP! 

Other than the lack of spaceship, I am perfectly happy. (Spaceship!)

Children can be so cruel

Recently at a get-together there were some older (aged 5? 7?) kids there. A few of them were making fun of how Alice - who's two - was speaking. They were laughing, whispering to each other and prompting Alice to say more things that they can make fun of her for. It made me very angry. Very, very angry. On my outside I was totally cool. I didn't smack anyone at all, despite really wanting to. I have to let Alice learn how to deal with situations like that. But I don't like it.

It brought back every similar situation that I ever went through. That didn't make it any easier.

I'm learning that parenting is hard not only because of the things that you have to do, but for the things that you have to leave undone. :-/

She's baaaack!

Well, after weeks - maybe close to 2 months, Alice is healthy. No more runny nose, cough, barfing, etc. Which means that she's feeling better and no longer testing us constantly and being uncooperative. We've got our little girl back and it's really, really nice.

I'm going to forget some of the good moments

It's great going back and reading "Alice's" blog. Remembering what she was like at different stages, how she used to say some words, how she used to do certain actions. Those little moments are so easily forgotten. Re-reading about them brings me instantly back to them, but other wise they are lost.

That makes me sad.

I'm extremely grateful that we started the blog of the kids. It helps. However, even if I wrote every day (not going to happen), there are moments that will be lost. Moments that I have to work hard at enjoying when they are happening. Some days it's easier than others. Since Isaac has been born, someone has been sick. Usually me or Alice. That's not been fun, not at all. Those times can be forgotten, but within those are small moments that I want to capture and treasure. It's... difficult. I know that I'll forget them - there's only so much space in my head. The more I tighten my grip, the more special moments will slip through my fingers. (Yes, that was a modified Star Wars quote)

So, in conclusion, this is an opportune time for a cookie (and maybe some tea).

Healthy or sick, never pass up a chance to lick the beaters

Engineered entertainment

I think that the first time that I realized that movies etc aren't just created for the joy of the story was watching an interview with George Lucas saying that he wanted the design of a Star Destroyer to be so simple (just a triangle) that it would be easy for kids to draw it. I think that he had the idea of merchandising everything from Star Wars in his head the whole time. It's probably what made him billions, but it still made me sad to hear it.

Fast forward to present day. Now popular (Disney) movies get made into live musicals as well. Some of the adaptions may be a bit awkward. Not Frozen though. Watching it, I found the opening number strange and how it didn't seem to fit into the rest of the movie. Strange for an animated movie, but it all made sense when I figured out that it was designed to be made into a live action musical from the start.

Is this good or bad? I don't know. Maybe it just is. Like any mass produced "fast food", any big entertainment company seem to be trying to maximize revenue streams by engineering the entertainment. Yet another kind of processed input.

Inheritance

We finally got our shit together and started the process of creating a will. I feel bad that it took so long, but it feels good to have gotten it underway. It sucks to think about being dead, about someone else taking care of your kids. But, it happens. Hopefully not to us - at least the "someone else looking after the kids" part. Better to have a plan in place, or at least have talked about it with the respective parties than them trying to guess their way through it.

One of the things to talk about is what you want to happen with your stuff. Not the big stuff like the house or car, but the little stuff. Which lead to us thinking, room by room, what we'd want to pass along to our kids. Assuming that it's like 15 years before it's useful, not too much.

Clothes? They are probably 10 years out of fashion to start with. Previous (at least) generation electronics and cameras? Not all electronics fair well when being pass along, but some do. Furniture? Other than the fact that most of it is at least second hand or base level ikea, I can't see a lot of value saving it. Yes, there are some nice dishes that we got for wedding presents, but I think that those would fit into a box or two. Lego? Oh, yes. That's something to be passed on with the proviso that they play with it making spaceship sounds. Even if it's a pirate boat. Always spaceship sounds.

What do I want to pass on to my kids? A record of our good times. Pictures. Videos. Our blogs. Our voice. Really it's the only thing that can give them an idea of who we were and how much we loved them. The rest, while it might be an physical anchor to who we were, in the end is just stuff.

So, close or distance relative of mine reading this from the future, know that we were awesome and had fun. Please do the same.

Us being Awesome

Those little blues

You know that you're a parent when you see those little eyes looking up at you from a barf bucket and all you can think of is "awww..." and "I wish I had a camera right now".

You can lose yourself in those eyes

Goodbye blue!

Stuff is just stuff. It shouldn't hold too much meaning. Like my blue raincoat which I traded in yesterday because it was shedding chunks of the lining. I loved the colour. I'll miss the coat, if only for the fact that we did quite a bit of fun things while I was in that coat.

Visited the cottage

Walked on glaciers

Explored mountain tops in our country

And mountain tops in far distant lands

Found majestic views

Explored Incan ruins

And explored down under as a family of 3

It's just a coat. But we did a lot while wearing it. Here's to the all the adventures we are going to have in the new coat.