I'm not going to make excuses. Its been busy.

I don't really know where I left off with you all.  And I am too lazy to go back and read, so here's the latest:

Many of my loyal readers (including those in Europe; which still blows my mind that people that far away and whom I have never even met read my blog) know my better half was pregnant, again.  (And if you didn't know, now you do)  On March 24th of this year we welcomed our newest DAUGHTER (Yes, now I live with four women) to our family.

Wait, that might be a bit too gory.  Lets try this one:

That's better.  Anyhow, Josie's story starts like this:

The plan was to drop off the soon-to-be middle child off at preschool and head out to the hospital for our scheduled C-Section.  The aforementioned preschooler gets dropped off at 9 and we were not to be at the hospital until 11:30.  What can two grown adults do for two and a half hours that didn't involve food? (Because no eating before surgery)  So we meandered on our way, stopping at the book store to get a book about pets moving onto the afterlife for our friend's child that recently lost a beloved dog.  That killed about 15 minutes.  Then to the card store to hunt for an "I'm Sorry Your Pet Has Died" card.  Surprisingly hard to find.  Another 10 minutes burnt.  But we were also 25 minutes closer to the hospital.  So we decide to just go early and see what happens.  Good idea, right?  Or so we thought.  We get to the place where they fix people (Hospital), head up to L&D, wait, check in, wait, get our staging room, wait, wait, watch the other birthing women on the monitors, wait.  There was a backup in the O.R.  The nurses contact our surgeon to tell him not to rush because of said backup.  I went to get something to eat, ya know because we couldn't kill time eating before.  I was back maybe ten minutes when it was go time.  But no "We are going to start to move you," or no "The doctor is here and the O.R. had been cleared for takeoff."  Just a mass of nurses and staff whisking us down the hall.  Not so much me.  I was lagging behind with all the bags and left over food, and whatever I could carry.  The bed couldn't carry all that stuff AND a bag of clothes.  

The wife gets taken into the sterile environment while I get to wait (again, alone this time) and change into my very stylish and sexy scrubs. Then some more waiting.  The Dr. pops his head out to tell me that my wife has a nice back and the epidural went in without a hitch.  Thanks for that.  It's strange what people notice.  We were instructed to make a playlist for our delivery, which we/I did.  And it kicked ass.  So much ass that I forgot the iPod when I was finally called to join the party.  So back I run to the partner waiting area to gather said Apple device and hustle my way back.  Now I didn't think my playlist was that cool.  Just some Beatles, maybe some Beach Boys and some G'n'R.  But the staff raved about my soundtrack.  It was fun.  It was mostly appropriate.  

About an hour after I got to the party, my daughter Josie Catherine was born (to "Here Comes The Sun").  Both mom and baby did fine.  

I stayed at the hospital that night to help change diapers and such, seeing how post C-Section moms can't do any heavy lifting.  I changed 12 poopie (baby poop, merconium, the stuff they tar roads with).  One thing we knew after that night was this kid can poop!  It is a major life skill, after all.  Really a key to survival.  

Like I said, I stayed one night and then back to tend to the other offspring.  They missed mommy. But they were excited for their new sister.  The next few days we all spent time going back and forth to visit and tend to both mom and child.  Then homeward bound and things get real fun!

A few weeks before the birth, the oldest picked up this attitude.  Lots of back talk and general nastiness.  It could have had something to do with the baby.  It could have been the weather.  It could have been school.  I think she's just blossoming into her teenage years sooner than we thought.  Needless to say, we have yet to curb this new peachy attitude.  And, boy, is it fun!

Some other things that happened:

We took a mini family vacation to Boston.  That went well.  

The garden got planted.  I had to expand one garden and reduce one.  All told, I now have 1080 square feet of garden.  So what do you do with a plot that big?  I put in 34 tomato plants, corn, squash, zucchini, beans, spinach, eggplant, watermelon, other melon, lettuce, kale, basil, thyme, oregano, dill, parsley, beans, peas, and strawberries. You know, because I have a screw loose.

This past weekend we just attended the two girls dance recital.  Usually their recitals have one or two major catastrophes.  No one ever gets hurt.  Things like the sound shuts off, or the preschoolers cry throughout their entire routine.  This year I lent my audio expertise to the sound issues of years past.  At least that part was under control.  No sound dropping on my watch!  The first show went rather well.  Nothing too, too bad.  Just a broken "stretcher" (table on wheels) and minor logistical issues that go with the territory of getting 100 or so (or more, or less.  I lost count) women and girls where they need to be at the time they need to be there.  Again, no one got hurt.  The second show.  Ahh.  The second show.  We all should have know that something was going to happen.  The first show went well.  In the second show, in the very first number, the lights go out.  18 minutes later we figure out what in God's name happened and restart the show.  Major crisis resolved, or so we thought.  Somehow in the blackout and rebooting of the light board, on light stayed on.  It stayed on, illuminating the stage during set changes, shining right on the crew moving props.  The real stars of the show were now THE show.  Now I have been back stage for a great deal of shows of all kinds.  The back stage folks do not want to be seen.  We are the people that make the show run smoothly and we are not used to being seen.  But the crew never let it bother them and kept right on going.  Intermission came and we were determined to fix this rogue light.  And right when it was resolved, the board shut everything down again.  Another 5 minutes of extra intermissioning (now all told 23-25 minutes behind schedule) we got it figured out.  And I am just the sound guy.  All shows come with their own stress.  But this show was the most stressful show I have done.  Ever.  The rest of the second act went off with out a hitch.  (Thank Goodness)  

All said and done, we have been very busy these last few months.  And now that my wife is back to work I should have more time to blog.  Sitting at the computer while she was home didn't feel right, with the baby around and all the other work that had to be done.  Now I can goof off in peace.

I am sure I left out a bunch of stuff that happened.  It must not have been important, otherwise I would have remembered.  Or living with four girls has already turned my mind to mush. 

Here is what I do remember, and not just because there is a photo.  Here is me and the three kids on Easter.  

Until next time!