More cuteness...

Ok, this blog is becoming a photo album for Olivia. That's not a bad thing, right? :)

Happy one month!

Today Olivia turns one month old! I can't believe it was exactly a month ago when Melissa and I were in the hospital, and Olivia finally made her appearance. Time really does fly! And to cap off her one month, she slept through the whole night for the first time!

Ok, on to other things:

Yankees are kicking serious ass against the Red Sox. They are playinga key five game series, and the Yanks have already won the first four games in this series. They scored over ten runs in each of the first three games, basically shelling the Sox' bullpen. And last night it looked like Schilling had the Yanks under control, but they kept fighting back and even scored a run in the 9th against uber-closer Papelbon to tie up the game. And Giambi hit his second homer of the game in the 10th, followed by a blast by Posada, and they won 8-5. Yanks now have a 5 1/2 game lead. Go Yanks.

Oh, and thanks to Red for her lovely "Yanks ssssuck" text that she sent me the other night.

And last night, while the Yanks-Sox were in a rain delay, I watched some of the Teen Choice Awards. I watched it for three reasons: 1) Dane Cook co-hosted; 2) I love to see how stupid these teen celebs are; and 3) I HAD to see K-Fed's TV performance debut. Now Dane was his usual Dane self, but he had to kiss ass to all those celebs - Jessica Simpson especially (who he will be in a new movie with soon). And I hated how everyone was screaming over the cheesiest stars - Jesse McCartney, Fall Out Boy, and people in shows I didn't even know existed or were still on TV. And then to close out the show was Father of the Year Kevin Federline. Britney even introduced him, and it was just so bad. I'm sure he lipsynced. He had to have all these dancers around him to try to keep the attention away from him. How could anyone think of him as a serious musician, er I mean, rapper? The thing is, a lot of people there were really looking forward to seeing him perform! And they weren't even joking. Blech.

Who likes watermelon?

Another extremely cute picture of Olivia:

The CUTEST picture ever.

Little face.

I can't believe how much I love this little face. It really does suck to have to go to work and be away from her all day. I even left a few minutes late this morning, just looking at her in bed with Melissa, and I just barely made my train because of that. But it was worth it!

And I apologize to Melissa for making her stay home between 1 and 3 this afternoon to wait for the Comcast guy. We are getting our 47th box since we moved in (or maybe 5th or 6th, but who's counting). The problem this time: the box froze (it was on FOX and displayed the time at 9:39, and the time didn't change and I couldn't change the channels). Then I unplugged the box and plugged it back in, and it wouldn't even work. I know Comcast rebuilds these refurbished boxes, and they all suck. I pay my bills on time, I am a good customer, so why keep screwing with us? First, the box wouldn't work properly - needed a new box. Then on-demand wasn't working - new box. Then the DVR didn't work properly - new box. And now it froze. What next - a 24 hour marathon of "Flavor of Love?"

Sunshine.

I love Steve Carell. There is something about him... maybe it's his quirky characters, or maybe he is just funny in a plain, normal kind of way. And his characters are always very likeable. Like in "The 40 Year Old Virgin." And you can't help but root for Michael Scott in "The Office." And this past weekend, Melissa and I saw "Little Miss Sunshine," and Carell plays a suicidal brother of this weird family trying to make it to their daughter's beauty pagent. It wasn't even that much of a comedic role for him, but I still loved him in it.

And I am really looking forward to seeing "Dan In Real Life," starring Carell and Dane Cook. Overload! Overload!

Right now Olivia is in her swing, sleeping. if she falls asleep in that thing, odds are that she will last more than the two hours she waits between each feeding. Right now she is going on three hours.

She continues to be incredibly cute... she has been trying hard to lift her head and control it. She has been pretty fussy for part of the day, but after a couple of friends came over, she settled in nicely. Here are some more pictures of Olivia, from this past weekend:

Crying because we didn't get her bottle quick enough.


Wanting more formula!


In the mood for some cherries?


Thank you daddy for changing and feeding me!


Where is everyone? Mommy?? Daddy??

On a very special episode of the Flux Capacitor...

Red found this wonderfully entertaining link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_special_episode

I'll leave it to her to talk more about it, but there are a few that really come to mind: Arnold and Dudley being kidnapped in the bike shop, Jesse Spannow's problem with pills, Blossom's virginity, and all of the racial profiling of the 80s.

Anyone have any favorites?

More tired, but better.

Last night was brutal... after i wrote that entry, I practically passed out on the floor near Olivia's bassinet, and when I fed her before I went to bed, I was a complete zombie. But I managed to settle her down and pass her off to mommy. I ended up waking up a little late this morning, but still made my trains ok. I did feel like shit for most of the day... but a bagel and a coffee did help. So did a nice walk during lunch on a perfect day, and the discovery of some good Chinese food restaurants in decent walking distance.

Tonight has been a different story. After dinner and after Melissa went to bed, Olivia has been pretty chill for the most part, and when she woke up, I changed her (and she started pooping right when I took off her diaper, but I managed to catch it all with the dirty diaper), swaddled her, and fed her, and now she's sleeping again. And I've managed to stay awake this time. How did I do that? Just by staying active... I've been going through stuff in the office that has just been sitting around, and I put some stuff away and straightened stuff out in there. Just staying active has really helped a lot.

Ok, I am getting sleepy again. Time to do something while I'm doing nothing.

Tired.

Olivia is finally asleep for now, but it really takes awhile before she settles in. Since I got home from work tonight, she's been fed twice, changed a couple of times, and randomly cried for no real reason at all (maybe a good reason for her, but i have no idea). It is really taking a toll on me... I was actually falling asleep on the couch while feeding her. Most nights it seems as if I pass out on the couch for an hour or two, and when I finally get up, she's up at the same time, wanting something.

But despite the sleep issues and the crying, I love her so much. She has the cutest little face, and even her cry face is adorable (although I like the calm face better!) It'll be great once she can keep control of her head, and when she really recognizes people and things and starts really smiling.

Since I am writing this entry to keep myself awake to watch Olivia, let's see what else is going on:

Work has been fantastic. It never gets that busy, and even when it does, it isn't that bad at all. Everyone there is really nice, and my commute has finally gotten a little better.

Graduation is August 31. I will finally get my diploma and make it all official. I would hope that we could bring Olivia, but who knows how she will react being around so many people for so long.

The house is awesome. Even better with central air. I love it.



Anyways, I am falling asleep right now.

To the jerkoff in the PT Cruiser...

Yeah, I'm talking to you. I was riding behind you on Haverhill Street in North Reading, on my way to the train so I can go to work. Yes, I was riding a little too close to you, because you were going too slow and there was nobody in front of you. Not only were you aware that I was right behind you, you took it upon yourself to slam on the brakes for no reason, maybe hoping that I would slam into you? Due to my wonderful driving skills, I did not slam into you as you had wished, but you then proceeded to roll down your window, pull your whole arm out and give me the finger.

Now I understand I might have been riding your ass a little too close. But I deal with assholes like you all the time... in the 'burbs, it seems that people think that the speed limit is 30 MPH. I can lightly rest my foot on the gas and I am going at least 45. But what I do not understand is why you decided to slam on your brakes. Did you really want me to hit you? What would that have solved? Wouldn't it have made more sense to actually just go the speed limit?

So, Mr. Macho PT Cruiser driver, you suck. You deserve to get into an accident very soon. Just not with me.

Two weeks old.

I can't believe she is two weeks old already. Time really does fly...

I'm starting to get the hang of this dad thing now. I have become a pro at making formula. I've had no problems changing diapers, even when she poops twice as I am changing her. And Melissa and I are starting to figure out what her cries are all about... feed me, change me, cuddle me. Her feedings are on a semi-regular schedule, so we can even plan when we can sleep around when we think she's gonna get hungry.

Here's a picture of her, pre-feeding:

And here's a happy baby holding on her to bottle to make sure she gets it all:

And the content baby, with her tired daddy:

And then it starts up all over again.

Ok, that's mean. She doesn't ALWAYS cry. Here is proof:

Too, too cute.

Commute from hell.

Ok, so that letter I sent to the commuter rail guy? That was because the morning train was delayed 40 minutes due to "mechanical problems." But that was nothing compared to my commute home.

I left at 5 PM yesterday, so I can get home at a normal time so Melissa can eat dinner and sleep for a good amount of time. I get to the Green Line station at 5:10, waiting there for like 15 minutes. There were four trains sitting around, doing nothing, and finally when two of them started moving, there was another delay because they had to connect two of the trains together. Gimme a break.

But I still had a chance to catch the 5:30 train home. But the subway train I was on decided to go express... jumped right past my stop, and past another one. So I had to get off and take a subway train back... but four trains in a row terminated right at that stop. I finally get on a train that took me to the commuter rail, I get there five minutes before the departure time of 5:52, the train after the one I missed. I had a feeling that it would get delayed, with my luck, and of course that is what happened. The excuse: "heat restrictions." Somehow the train finally arrived, and I finally got home.

On a normal day, my commute would look like this:

Leave work at 5PM, catch the 5:30PM train, get off at 5:54M, drive home, get home at 6:10PM.

Yesterday:

Leave work at 5PM, wait forever for the Green Line, subway unexpecantly express on me, subway back, get on the 5:52 train that was delayed, get off at 6:35, get home at 6:55PM.

At least this morning went very smooth. No delays, no annoyances. And I got my bagel and still got here at 8AM.

But despite all the annoyances, this is what keeps my spirits up:

Letter to the commuter rail.

"Dear Mr. Commuter Rail Train Man:

I could not stay quiet any longer about my annoyance regarding the commuter rail service on the [my line]. I ride from the [my station], and I try to get on the 7:11 AM train (leaving at 6:30 AM from [my line]). But quite often (and both yesterday and today) that train has experienced mechanical problems and has been delayed from anywhere between 20 minutes and 40 minutes (this morning it was 40 minutes late). I can understand if this is a one thing thing that gets fixed, but I cannot believe that this happens on a regular basis. It is getting difficult trying to explain to my boss why I am often a half hour late to work. Can you please explain why these trains continue to malfunction? There is no snow, no rain, so I do not understand why. And can you please explain what is being done to make sure this doesn't happen? I almost think that it might be better sitting in traffic on 128 than waiting for a delayed train on the platform for 40 minutes.

Sincerely,

TheFluxCapacitor"

I am sure I will not get a reply back.