bemoedee.com

So the story is, Isaac was attempting to stand up on his own this weekend, but never quite made it. Today at the babysitters, he mastered it. You can see how well he is walking now, though most of the time it still seems like drunk baby walking. When he’s calm, he does well. When he’s walking towards me, he gets reeeeeally excited and giddy and laughs himself into a fall. It’s pretty cute.

The story for the movies below are that when it’s an appropriate time for me to sing to him, as he’s dozing off or if we’re just chillin, the only song I can ever think of is the ABC’s. I’ve sang the ABC’s to him many, many times, and he has been trying to mimic the song for a little while. Lori got it on film today. I know it obviously doesn’t sound exactly right, but he makes the same sounds everytime you sing the ABC’s to him, and most people recognize it as his attempt to sing the song. I say it’s pretty sweet! In the last video you can see how well he is walking.

He’s growing up. It’s kind of sad that the only videos and pictures I’ve put up recently are ones people have sent to me. Bad mommy.

I just came across this tonight and am so incredibly baffled. I don’t think I have ever posted anything political here, but this is too much. Apparently John McCain doesn’t know how to use a computer. He doesn’t e-mail. He doesn’t even know how to get “online”. He has his wife and staff do it for him.

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?
Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need …

I’m sorry for busting out the political opinion here, but oh my god! I literally do not know one single person that doesn’t know how to get on a computer and send an e-mail. My grandfather will be 90 on his next birthday and I’m pretty sure he at least knows how to get on the computer. There is so, SO much importance in technology right now and using the tools we now have, I cannot imagine having a president who is completely useless with a computer.

I know being president doesn’t exactly call for a computer expert. They have things done for them. Speeches written for them. Memos typed for them. (I guess he doesn’t even know how to type?) I’m sorry, but today, you have got to know how to do basic things like sending e-mail. That he has chosen not to learn how to use the most important innovation of my generation scares the crap out of me.

The A/C is fixed. Confirmed by my mom. All I had to do was blog about it.

This is going to be a big vent post.

The last month has been insanely busy. And with busy comes a lot of things I would consider a pain in my ass. I’m usually able to cope with things as they roll, but I am on the verge of breaking here. Sunday night when we got home from visiting Misti in Midland, we found that the air conditioner was not work. My mom is staying with Isaac this week, as his babysitter is out of town. I called the answering service for my apartment complex and the lady told me it wasn’t considered an emergency and repairing the air conditioner at night was considered unsafe. I figured, okay, we’ll just get it fixed tomorrow and move along.

That night wasn’t too bad. It was fairly cool with the fans running. Monday comes and the maintenance man doesn’t visit until 5 or 6 PM. He is unable to repair it and leaves, saying he will come back first thing on Tuesday morning to repair it. He says he comes in at 9 AM, as if insinuating that’s when he would be there.

We call several times throughout the next day (Tuesday), but no sign of the maintenance man. Around 2 PM I called and was told he was out buying the part he needed to fix it. I think he showed up around 4 PM and explains to my mom that he had gotten parts from another apartment to try to fix the unit. Curious.

When I get home at 6:30, my mom says he was unable to fix it and had gone to get a window unit to install until it was fixed, but he never came back. We went out to eat because it was too blazing hot to cook anything. When we got back, Isaac was asleep, so we just put him in bed. He woke up about an hour later and was completely flush and hot and pissed. My mom was able to get him back to sleep, but he woke up again around 10 because of the heat. A little later, I called the answering service again because it’s just ridiculously hot. The manager I spoke to named Marianna explained that maintenance had left a message for me in case I called stating that the window unit they went to get was already in use by another apartment and there was nothing else that could be done. I asked her for a phone number or to contact them on my behalf because my kid was unable to sleep due to the heat. She told me the note on my apartment number said not to contact maintenance because they already knew about the issue. I got pretty rude with her, I don’t believe it was unreasonable for me to have been rude, and the conversation ended with her refusing to help me in any way.

About 30 minutes later, a different maintenance man showed up, so I guess it wasn’t that she couldn’t help me, she just didn’t want to let me know she could help me and preferred I be incredibly angry with her. Fine. Unfortunately, this maintenance man was also unable to help, and believed the issue to be in the wiring of the apartment that caused a short somewhere. Couldn’t fix it.

My mom went to get a digital thermometer at my request so we could document the temperature. I have pictures showing the temperature inside the living room at 86 degrees and inside the bedrooms at 93 degrees. It was about 82 outside. Mind you, this is with all the windows open and fans on high. Mom purchased a high velocity floor fan that we setup to circulate air from outside a window in the living room into my bedroom where Isaac and I were sleeping. We made it through the night with a lot of sweat and a lot of tossing and turning and moaning. All from Isaac.

Today I called when I got to work and asked what the status was. I was told they were working on the unit as we were speaking. I asked what would happen if it weren’t fixed today. She said there was an empty apartment that had working air conditioning that we could use. I asked if it had beds, she said no. I asked what the odds were of getting reimbursed for a hotel room, as I felt it was not a reasonable solution to have us sleep on the floor of an empty apartment and I didn’t find it unreasonable for them to pay for a hotel room for us. She asked if I could call back later, as she would have to speak with a manager to try to get it approved. I’m due to call her back in 15 minutes.

So yeah, I’m a little pissy lately. Other things on top of being so busy I don’t have time to clean my disaster of an apartment and now this bullshit. I AM PISSY.

Dance

One year ago, June 23, 2007 was a Saturday. The Friday before, I had an appointment with my OB/Gyno who checked me as usual and said she thought Isaac would probably arrive the following week. As we left, she joked about me having him that weekend.

That evening, we all went to dinner and prepared for the next day, when we would be moving into our new apartment which had more room for the newbie. Adam was also selling his car to someone. We knew it was going to be a busy, long day and I personally wasn’t looking forward to it.

I got up a few times in the middle of the night to go pee, as I had done many, many times in the months prior. I got in bed after my last break and not 10 minutes later I had to go again. I laid there highly annoyed because it was about 4:30 AM. I verbally said “I JUST WENT!!!!” Grudgingly, I got up. Not half way into my stride, I realized this wasn’t a potty break, but rather my water breaking. It was time.

I grabbed my cell phone, called Andra and sat on the toilet.

“Hello?”
“Hey, what are you supposed to pack in your hospital bag?”
“What??? I can call you tomorrow and talk to you about it.”
“No. I have to go tonight, so I need to know what to pack.”

Of course I hadn’t packed a bag yet. He wasn’t due for another 3 weeks and the Dr. figured later that week was a possibility. Oops.

I wrapped myself in a towel and packed some things. Adam helped, in his daze. I called my parents at their hotel and let them know, so they came to our apartment and followed us to the hospital. I didn’t have any contractions until we actually got to the hospital and were waiting to be taken up to a room. They weren’t terrible as I recall, but they were more pronounced than the braxton hicks I had experienced for the last few months.

Up to the room and there we hung out for awhile. That part of the day is all a blur. I don’t remember what time anyone got there to see me, Beth, Amanda, Melanie, John… who all went to the hospital that day? I don’t remember!! I know I talked to Misti at some point and she decided she had to be there, so she headed to my part of Texas. I progressed naturally to 10 centimeters mostly normally. Then it was time to push. I had an epidural, which wore off a few times, so I got to feel it a bit, but by now I don’t even remember what it felt like. I do, however, remember how exhausting the pushes were. I think after the first couple of sets, I already felt depleted and I remember thinking how insane that was. I continued to push for about 2 hours, by the end of that time, I was sweet talking to Isaac telling him it was time to come out, but he didn’t budge. I don’t think he moved down at all during the entire time. I was napping between pushes, as I was just so empty of energy. Eventually, it was suggested that I we may need to do a C-section, so I agreed.

As I wheeled by the waiting room to the operating room, my Misti showed up to bid me farewell. I think she was crying, but I don’t really remember. I remember Beth saying something as I went by and I attempted to give a peace sign, but only one finger went up. It wasn’t the one you would think I would’ve given. Rather, I pointed at the lights. I realized that was happening, but again, I was tired and didn’t really care.

In the operating room, Adam said I passed out pretty quickly and was snoring. That doesn’t surprise me in the least, but I do remember waking up when my body was shaking around. Shortly after, I heard a squeaky little cry from the most perfect being I’ve ever known. My son, my purpose for being on this planet had finally arrived.

“9:34 PM”

That was the official time. I remember hearing them announce it.

They took him off to the side to do the measuring bits and such. He stopped crying after the first little squeak and didn’t make another noise. They had him over to the side for a few minutes and I laid there on the bed wishing I had x-ray vision and could see through the curtain that covered me to get a glimpse at the new being. Eventually they brought him over and all I could do was stare. Words failed me. I didn’t reach for him. I didn’t cry. He was there next to me and all I could do was stare at him.

So many more details of that day and that hospital stay, but these last paragraphs are all that matter. Isaac Douglas McWaters was born on a Saturday, June 23, 2007 at 9:34 PM. One year ago to the day. He will never know what he has done for me. I would’ve never known the depths of my emotion and devotion without him.

Happy Birthday, my son.

I was just perusing my website statistics and apparently a lot of people are looking for the lyrics to that Boomdiada commercial I talked about. Those are now posted after the jump.

Weird thing in my stats - an alarming number of hits from China. Dear China, please don’t hack me. Thanks guys.

Read the rest of this entry »

I work at a company that makes and sells MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). The focus of these games is usually leveling, gaining power, earning money, earning items to help you level and make you more powerful. That type of thing. There are crafting systems in these games and economies in these games, where people can create items and sell them and sell the materials required to create items, etc. My coworker and I were talking about this and I wanted to share what I want in a game.

I want everything mentioned above plus land ownership. I want the massive leveling, hunting, raiding aspects of an MMO, but I want to be able to purchase land or a house or a shop. I’m not into the end game content of most MMO’s. The raiding for hours upon end and fighting tooth and nail for a drop.

I’m into the crafting and collecting side of things. I want to be able to work my ass off so I can buy a shop in a town where people visit and put things out in the shop for people to buy. I want to decorate my shop and place items around wherever I want, then I want people to be able to click on the items they want and purchase them from me. I want my store to be empty and bare if I don’t pay attention to it. I want to have to have good quality items so I can sell well and pay my rent at the end of the month.

And I want it to be pretty.

That is the game I want to play.

Isaac had his first real sickness this month. He had been acting a little fussy and more clingy than normal, then he had a fever for 3 days over a weekend, so he went to the Dr. the following Monday. Turns out he had two ear infections. Honestly there were no other signs besides the fever and a little bit of wax one day. He’s like a puzzle. His fever had started going down by the time he went to the Dr. and she said to just keep giving him Motrin and wrote a prescription. He was mostly back to normal the next day, so yay. Not too bad. He just finished up his prescription today.

I’ve started planning for his birthday, which will be June 21! I’m getting really excited. It’s going to be a Pirate theme and my friend Beth is making a Pirate Ship Cake for the party and a Treasure Chest Cake for his crazy get dirty cake. There will be eye patches and pirate hats for all. Should be fun!

On the work front, I was recently promoted to a Senior position, which means a lot to me. It’s a goal I set for myself last year and I knew switching departments would mean I would have to start over, but the timing with this position was absolutely perfect and everything fell into place. It’s an amazing thing and I LOVE it so far.

I played in a golf tournament this weekend with Andra and some other ladies. We tied for first (of 4 teams), but lost in a scorecard playoff. It sucked because it was a scramble and we bogeyed a par 3 and used 2 mulligans on it. Heartbreaking and embarrassing. Sorry if that’s Greek talk to some people. Had we just had a par there, we would’ve won. Oh well.

Oh, another Isaac story. Also an embarrassing moment. This last Monday I had off from work so I got to spend all day with Ike. I went to meet a lady for something I was selling her, then went by the bank and to get some gas. After I had filled up the car, I went to get in, pulled the handle, nothing. The door was locked and I could see my keys dangling in the ignition. It took me a few seconds to realize I’d just locked my son in the car. At first, I thought, no big deal, we’ll just get someone to come open it. So I went to the gas station attendant and asked if I could call Pop-A-Lock. She said you never know how long they will take and suggested I call 911. I then realized if someone didn’t come pretty soon, it was going to start heating up in there. It was in the morning so it was only 80 degrees or so, but it doesn’t take long for cars to get hot. I decided to go ahead and call 911.

About 2 minutes later, a fire truck starts coming down the road, blaring lights and sirens. Good lord. Yep, they’re for us. I wasn’t really embarrassed from people seeing the situation, as at the moment I was panicking that Isaac had started crying and was struggling to reach towards me. By this time he had only been in there maybe 8 minutes, so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but when your kid looks scared and is crying and you can’t even TALK to them unless you scream through the window, that’ll get to you real quick like.

Anywho, the fire truck pulls up, the first fireman walks up to me and says in a sarcastic (funny and cute) way “I can’t believe you did that!” I was on the verge of great sadness, so I told him no, no, I can’t do funny right now. Later that made me feel bad because had I just taken a few deep breaths, I would’ve laughed and probably not made him feel like a turd. A few minutes later, they pop the locks, open the door, and I go pick up my sad kid, who 3 seconds later is laughing and wanting to go crawl over to the firetruck.

After telling a few people about the story, I was informed that Pop-A-Lock will speed up the process if you tell them a kid is in the car, plus they don’t charge you. Hindsight, eh? It was an experience. And in thinking back on when I got out of the car, I honestly can’t remember locking it. At all. Usually if I track back things I’ve done, I can trigger in my mind small specific things that happen, but not that one. Another oh well. Kid is safe, mom is sane.

I guess that’ll do for the month of May. Busy bees, we are.