Quick and gross...

Hopefully you aren't eating or getting ready to eat (that was a fair warning). So I was getting breakfast situated for Jaycee and I the other day. She had her bowl of Cheerios and I had mine. She was eating Chocolate and I was eating Honey Nut. She saw that I had something different, so she decided she needed some of mine. So she stood on the other side of my bowl and looked inside to figure out the best way to steal Cheerios. As soon as she popped her head up and hung her face over the edge of my bowl, she unloaded a sneeze that made the milk splash in her face. Now, for the gross part. I had just poured the bowl and couldn't justify throwing it away, so I finished eating it. Hopefully none of you think less of me than you already do, but when it takes 20 minutes to get situated enough to get my breakfast together, it was a matter of weighing the pros and cons. Add it to the list of "things that I never would have done before kids"...

All I need is an excuse... I mean reason...

I really need very little encouragement when it comes to buying new gadgets and devices. Jess, on the other hand, is a lot more logical in her approach. She asks questions like, do we really need that? and will we use it? I ask questions like, what store should I buy it from? and what is the quickest route to that store? With that in mind, I was very excited when Jess finally caved in to the pressure I have been putting on her to buy a DSLR camera. She was never opposed to the idea of having a nice camera to take awesome pictures, but that logic thing got in the way and she thought that the money was better spent (or saved) on something else. With enough money saved, she gave me the green light.

I am obviously stoked to have a new toy to play with, but I am most excited about the prospect of taking some awesome pictures as our little ones grow. I won't kid myself into thinking I am Ansel Adams or anything, but I have already noticed how much more forgiving this camera is. As a matter of fact, I think Canon should hire me as a spokesperson. I see the ad campaign now: "Real Pictures, Real People, Canon". Or Nikon, or Sony. I can be bought. Really. My wife will negotiate the details, she's the logical one...

Temporary Insanity...

The insanity of parenthood is real, I could easily be a case study.
I am not just talking about how I go crazy sometimes with life or how sometimes the household is crazy, I mean those moments when you stop for a second and think "did I just do that?" or "that just happened" or better yet when you don't even know what you did until someone else notices.

Allow an example, long long ago(2 years), before Jaycee's arrival, I think back on some of the phone conversations Jess and I had. We talked about the day, the news, and other goings on. Just the other day when Jess called to check in at her lunch, we spent about 4 minutes on the phone talking about Jayden's poop of the day. Jess wanted all the nasty details and I was giving them without batting an eye. Our conversation was only cut short by the screeching of the cat whom Jaycee was sitting on top of giving him a "hug".

How about the time I answered the phone and it was one I actually had to take and Jaycee thought that'd be the perfect time to throw her toy across the room and start screaming about it only to cause Jayden to start crying because she was roused from a dead sleep. The insanity comes in when I held the phone with my shoulder made a bottle with my left hand, held Jayden's pacifier in her mouth and pinned Jaycee down between my ankles so she'd stop throwing stuff while I was on the phone.

And don't get me started on the stuff I have done, that I remember, when I was half asleep at some unholy hours. Now I know I am not the only one who has done this kind of stuff, so I am going to propose an exemption for us. Temporary insanity is loosely defined as temporarily not knowing the difference between right and wrong or not being able to process that concept, right? Well, I can think of many times I didn't know which way was up or down let alone right or wrong. So maybe traffic tickets and other annoyances can be defended by the temporary parental insanity approach. If anyone wanted evidence, they could come hang out with me for about 7 minutes...

Validating Affirmations...

Life has been about as busy as it can get around here. Jess is fully immersed in work. As schools head into the sacred standardized testing phase of the year, she has been pretty loaded up with work/stress. I am pulling into my last year of school and I am finding out what a big difference there is between upper and lower division courses. I am in a hurry to get this done, so I am carrying a full load and also added on some classes at the community college. So now that Jess is back to work, I am working nights at my job on the weekdays, then I work Saturday and Sunday, most of the day. So during the week, three days a week, Jess is home all of 10 minutes, then I have to go to work. On the weekends, she is basically on her own since I usually have homework to do when I get home from work.

I don't write this in an attempt to solicit sympathy, I am fortunate to have all of the opportunities that I have been given and the above mentioned is me taking those opportunities. The reason I share this with you has to do with a recent minor event.

Lately, I have found myself driving to work in the dark after having kissed the girls goodbye and brushing shoulders with Jess on my way out and her way in, and I think about how not fun this is. I hate leaving when my family is home, knowing Jess is tired from her day and now she has to do night routines on her own. I wonder why I am stressing at school and why I go to work, the answers are not in the immediate future. Instead, they are a little ways down the road. Obviously, I go to work to pay the bills and I go to school so when I'm done, I can pay the bills with style, but I can't help thinking about today and the sacrifices we make now.

Then just when I think I can't take it any more, a tiny little event happens and sets me straight. Yesterday, I had to do some stuff around the house and it worked out that Jess had an invite to a party. So I helped Jess get everything ready for her trip, dressed Jaycee, put Jayden in her car seat, got bottles packed up, checked the diaper bag for supplies and some other routines. Then I carried Jayden out to the car and put her in, then said bye to everyone and watched them leave down the road. That's when it hit me like a Frisbee to the head. As I loaded my little family into the safest vehicle I could think of, I knew they were well stocked, comfortable, and most importantly, happy. All the "whys" disappeared and I got to work. To end this post, I tried to think of some famous and altruistic quote that would sum up my conclusion. As Dora the fish from Finding Nemo would say: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

It's been awhile...

Instead of dwelling on the many reasons why I haven't posted in so long, I'll just pretend like I didn't have a two month gap, so you can pretend too.

So today is the day. The day our fearless leader (Momma/Jess) returned to work and dada is all by himself with the girls. Luckily I had time to prepare mentally for the transition and momma set up a routine that is pretty easy to follow. As of 9:30 am on February 8, all is well.

Now that enough time has passed and I am able to step back and look at my world, it is apparent that families are a lot like businesses. Maybe my observation has something to do with my school program that is centered around business development at the moment, but I digress. Each family needs an investment to grow (children) and employee retention (mom and dad's relationship) is key to that growth. I your company goes public, then you have to answer to share holders (day care, grand parents, extended family, etc.). Then, of course, if you invest wisely, then the dividends reflect your investment. For those of you rolling your eyes right now, I know; I'm a dork.

Life with two little girls is the best. I don't hear men say this often (maybe because I'm not around other men very often), but I love babies. Yes, I said it. I love holding Jayden and rocking her to sleep. I love watching her sleep and look around to examine the world. When Jaycee was a munchkin, I enjoyed our time together and now I get to do it all over again.

Jaycee is turning into a little helper and a great big sister. She always makes sure to stop every couple of minutes to say hello to her sister and occasionally gives her a kiss or touches her hands and talks to her. Not everything has been so peachy. Jaycee can throw a tantrum like nobody's business. She can go from completely fine to nuclear meltdown in no time flat. For some reason, she always seems to do it when Jayden is trying to go to sleep. Interesting.

I'm happy to report that I anticipated a more difficult time with two kids than it turned out to be. I pictured being stuck in the house underneath a pile of Fisher-Price with a screaming infant and a two-year old stomping on my head as I lay unconscious. A bit dramatic, but I can recall a couple of nightmares that were almost exactly that. Not only has it not been that bad, but I actually have been enjoying it! I'm pretty lucky.

I know I have been all over the place in this post, but so am I. To end this, I have to say something to a lot of people I know. I am sorry if I single anyone out who doesn't want to be (send me an email and I'll scratch your name off). I have a new found respect for those of you with more than one little one.

My cousin Chris and his wife Kara. They got in a car last summer and drove 10 hours to spend a weekend with some of us family members. Also, Kara has been known to take both of her little ones on airplanes to far away places, without her hubby. They are way adventurous and I hope to be like that someday.

Jess' friend Bonnie. I can remember when Jess first started at Cal State San Marcos and she met Bonnie. She told me about this nice girl with two little kids who was taking like a million units, worked, and her kids still loved her to pieces. I wasn't as impressed then as I am now.

This one lady I saw at Costco last week who was pushing a cart with a little one in the seat, a little one in a baby carrier, and another little one walking and holding onto the cart. I had to take my eyes off the 52 inch plasma T.V. for a second to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.

There are plenty of people I know that had multiple little ones at the same time, but for some reason it is so much different to watch someone pulling it off while I try to.

Lastly, my wife is due some credit too. She acted like she didn't remember what it was like only having one. She just picked right up as if she has been doing this all along. Sometimes I think she stays calm so that I do too. Then other times, I think she is lobbying for more children...

Update...

So, I was a little premature on my last post. Just a little; 24 hours to be exact. I will be posting soon with more of the story, but I will make it brief for now for obvious reasons. At 6:19 a.m. 12/12/09, Jayden Rylee Becerra was born. She weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces. Just to give you an idea of how crazy the whole process went, I'll give you a few of the facts. Jess went into labor at 2:45 a.m. on 12/12. We got to the hospital at 5:15 a.m. and Jayden was out at 6:19 a.m. Jayden was in such a hurry that she beat the doctor to the hospital and the nurses had to do the job. For those of you doing the math, that's only 3 hours and 34 minutes from start to finish! I'll post more details soon.

Mommy and baby are doing great. Everyone is happy, healthy and ready for Christmas! I wonder what it means if our little girl already made such an amazing appearance. Broadway? Well, I guess every little girl has to bring a little drama...

5 A.M. Friday Morning...

Jess woke me about an hour ago and told me she is having contractions. I feel the need to post right now as a sort of marker for myself and an almost play by play for anyone interested. I hope nobody expects me to be in the delivery room cutting the umbilical cord with one hand and blogging with the other, because I won't (because Jess would probably strangle me... one handed). But really, I could not possibly be expected to be on top of everything, I generally am found to be irresponsible when it comes to organization and information. In short, if I forget to call/inform some of you, I apologize in advance.

Right now Jess is in the shower, probably enjoying the warm water being that it is so cold outside this morning. She is calm and collected, but naturally uncomfortable. I suppose in a couple hours (hopefully) that will change. We have made some prearranged sitter plans. Karen (Jess' mom) will be taking care of Jaycee when we go to the hospital, and will stay with her until further notice.

The bag is packed and I about as ready as I can get, hopefully Jess feels the same way. I really hope this is it. Blogging soon...