I am the patron saint of lost causes...

It's been a busy week. Let's go in order, shall we?

Saturday: as mentioned in the previous entry, we went to Kowloon, the mecca of Chinese food. My first time there, and it was sure overwhelming. We had a good sized party, and this whole place was a good sized party. The lobby was packed, and there were middle aged women pushing us aside to get to the scratch ticket machine. I've never seen so much demand for those scratch tickets. The walls were covered in autographed pictures from sports stars, wrestlers, comedians. There was a lounge singer singing Roxette and Gnarls Barkley. The food was great, but it seemed like everything happened so fast. And we all got full quickly. It was an interesting experience, that's for sure!

I do recomment the Saugus wings. They were DELICIOUS.

Sunday: My friend Jack drove up for the day/night to check out this band Anberlin, who were playing at Axis that night. Jack got me into them, and they just released a new CD, "Cities," that I love. We got there early to meet the band and have them sign our CDs. There were three opening bands, and one of them sucked, but the other two were actually really good. And Anberlin put on a really good show. The lead singer, Stephen, seems like such a nice guy - he looked so happy on stage and was thanking us for singing along and supporting the band. I felt really old though, because I seemed like the oldest person there - I was probably double most of these kids' age!

After the show, we did meet the band again, and I got my picture taken with Stephen:

When we got back home, Jack and I devoured some Cabot cheddar cheese.

Monday: Nothing special. But tired after going to bed at 12:30 the night before.

Tuesday: Dentist - got my first filling, ever. Wasn't so bad.

Today: Busy at work.

Also, Melissa and I are starting to change up Olivia's schedule. Last night was the first night we let her cry herself to sleep. Usually it breaks our heart and we go and pick her up. She loves when we hold her to sleep, but the second we put her down, she cries. She is spoiled, and we know it and sometimes can't help it. She is at the age where she knows what works on us. So now we have to be the parents who will "do this for your own good" and let her cry it out. It worked last night - she cried for about a half hour and then wore out and fell asleep for the night. I didn't have to get up for her once.

And speaking of Olivia, here are a few recent pics of her - she is such a cutie.

My birthday present...

Today is my 32nd birthday. Very uneventful - I guess the older you get, the less you want to make a big deal about your birthday. However, we will go out on Saturday to Kowloon, the mecca of Chinese food in the area.

Anyone who wished me a happy birthday today, I would just mention that Olivia turned 7 months old today. When I got home, she was so funny - laughing, babbling - even making sounds that sounded like "yahyahyah" and "dadada." And the biggest smile. But the lovely present she gave to me - I picked her up over my head, and she looked me right in the eye...

And puked, all over my face.

Warm, formula-ish gush, all over my nose and mouth.

Melissa instinctively laughed, and I was actually laughing too. What else could you do in this situation?

Oh Livvies. This beats the huge poop on Monday that took three wipes to clean.

Tired daddy...

Yesterday while Melissa had to work, I spent the whole day with Olivia. As much as I love the little girl, it is hard work taking care of her all day! She now eats three meals a day, and still has five bottles a day. We also can't leave her on the couch by herself anymore because she has learned how to roll over and could fly right off of the couch. She sits up like a champ now. And if she gets overtired, she whines until she can get in that comfortable napping position. I was definitely worn out at tired by the time Melissa got home.

She is still the cutest and the best baby we could have possibly produced. And here are some two pics of her from the past two days:

Sitting up and smiling in her cute froggy sleeper:


I know all the Red Sox lovers I know (including Melissa) do not want to see this, but look how happy she is in her cute Yankees sleeper!

Britney has lost her mind.

Britney has gone to rehab, left rehab in like a day, and then got some tattoos and even shaved her head. And this is after her mad partying and flashing her coochie on camera.

Mother of the year?

Sometimes, things just suck.

I had one hell of a week. It all started last Saturday:

- I just turned off all of the lights, but forgot to shut off the baby monitor in the living room. I turned around, took a step forward, and smashed my pinky toe right into this red British telephone cabinet that we keep our DVDs in. I bruised it and cracked the nail, and it still hurts today. It has not been fun limping all week, especially when running for the subway train.

- Wednesday, I couldn't go to work because of the snow and ice. It was nice being home with Melissa and Olivia, but I did go out and do some shoveling, which sucked. I got through as much as I could, but it was all unneccesary - our neighbor was kind enough to plow our driveway.

- Thursday morning I had a dentist appointment: round two of a deep cleaning. Two weeks ago, I had the right side of my mouth cleaned, and after the numbing wore off, I felt great. Not this time. It really hurt. In fact, my mouth still feels a little weird right now.

- After I left the dentist, I drove to the commuter rail station to go to work. The road before the highway was jammed. The highway was jammed. But since I was only going one exit, I decided to go in the breakdown lane. Quarter of a mile. But what happens - I get pulled over and get my first ticket ever. All for going two seconds to get off of the next exit.

At least the weekend is now here, and I had a fun time tonight hanging out with work people celebrating this one girl who is leaving the company. And I have off on Monday for President's Day. And Olivia is still awesome. Here is an adorable pic of her smiling before the Super Bowl:


And her first Valentine's Day:

Reflections.

Melissa went out with the girls tonight, so it was just Olivia and me all night. We had a nice evening together - she had a lovely bowl of rice cereal and carrots for dinner, and we watched "Anchorman" on TV while falling asleep on the couch. I just gave her the last bottle of the night and put her to bed. Such a cutie.

It is now February, meaning that I will be turning 32 later this month. I must say that I am pretty happy with where I am in my life now. In a happy marriage, with an amazing little daughter, with a good job and a nice house. I guess what still amazes me sometimes is how I once thought a long time ago that life would never be that great. Growing up, I lived in a crammed little apartment with my mom who was sick and my dad who had a bad temper as a result of that, going to a school I didn't care about. The only friend I didn't mind bringing over to the house was Ralph, because I was embarrassed for anyone else to see. Half of my family was insane (especially my crazy aunt) and tried to brainwash me into being all ultra-religious many times. At times I felt as if I would never be able to escape all of that.

I feel extremely lucky to have met Melissa, who helped me get away from all of that. She stuck with me even after my crazy aunt threatened her on the phone. We got away and have had a good time in Massachusetts - living in an apartment, then a condo, now a house. She has a great family and great friends, and my depression I had from my childhood went away. And I do think that it was all meant to be, especially after creating the most amazing little girl.

And amazing she is. I find myself staring at her sometimes, in amazement that she is my daughter. She looks at me with those big eyes, so sweet and so perfect. She is moving along in her life wonderfully - she passed the six month old mark, and she is just starting to get her first two teeth. She loves making all sorts of funny noises, is eating everything we feed her, and still sleeps pretty well throughout the night. Even at Melissa's grandfather's wake and funeral, she was great throughout the whole thing - being passed around, being held by everyone, lightening up the mood a bit. The girl could be a baby model right now - perfect baby cheeks, pudges in all the right places, long eyelashes, a funny little laugh and a smile that can warm you up on a cold day. And when she falls asleep - whether in the crib, in her boppy, or in your arms - one can't help but to just stare at her and smile.

Having a family really does change your outlook on life. I don't feel the need or cravings to want to go out and drink all the time - not that I ever was a big drinker, anyway. Once in awhile it is still fun, to catch up with friends and have a good time. But now, everything is about the girl. Making sure she is on her regular schedule, making sure she is happy. Making sure the house is clean and making improvements whenever we can. Sure it gets tiring, especially being so tired after work and not wanting to feed Olivia that last bottle, but somehow we find the will go get up and do it, because we have to. Because Olivia is helpless and needs her parents right now. And one day, when she is older, we will remind her of all of this. :)

So yes, things are good. Last year was an extremely difficult year with so much going on, but it ended up being all good stuff and we got through it ok. It was hard trying to sell our condo and there were doubts in the beginning as to whether we would be able to get this house. The work situation sucked but I found a better place. School sucked but I graduated and made some good friends out of it. And Melissa went through most of this while being pregnant, but all worked out with that as well, obviously.

So as I approach my next birthday, I am thinking about what will happen next - how I can become more visible in my role at work, especially with my boss about to go out on maternity leave. How I will ever get through taking down all of the wallpaper borders in the living room and the bedroom, which is becoming more of a pain than I originally thought. And what funny and cool things Olivia will do next - when she will begin to crawl or walk, when her teeth will fully grow in, how she will react to eating new foods and drinking with a sippy cup, when her hair will grow in more so we could put her in pigtails. All good things.

Melissa, I hope you had fun tonight. But just know that Olivia and I were thinking about you, and that I am happy knowing that I get to crawl into bed with you every night, and there is a little girl in the next room who loves us more than anything in the whole wide world.

Livs.

The bad news: Melissa's grandfather passed away.

The good news: Olivia was so good during the wake and funeral. Here are some pictures of Olivia after the funeral (and what she wore):