It's All Relative

So I enjoy somewhat of a reputation at work as being "technosavvy", at work anyway. Every time the computers behave in a way that is unexpected, I am the go to guy. Here's the thing, the type of technological crisis that I am faced with involve such things as printers being out of paper or trying to teach people new and exciting terms such as "right click". A little dose of humility is never a bad thing and I got it the other day. My brother came over with his family to catch up but moreover at the request of my wife to establish our wireless internet thus allowing us to be online from the laptop as well as the home computer. As I watched him set up first the wireless doo-dad then get our Wii and laptop on board I have to admit that I was clueless as to what was going on. At one point he offered me some advice as to what to do if it should not work. After having him repeat himself twice I just nodded having no idea what he was talking about. The moral of the story is the next time you think you're good at something spend five minutes with someone who's great, it's eye opening.

SurvivorBaby

So everyone is so concerned with teaching their children the basics, speaking, the ABC's, the different sounds made by animals. I'm not saying that these are bad things but there are more important skills to learn. For example, if Bailey were left on her own today what would she do. You see the problem, we need to focus more on basic survival skills, food, water and shelter. To this end I've been trying to teach Bailey how to get by in the cold hard world. Take this picture for example, she happened upon a puddle, did she foolishly splash in it? Never, not my Bailey, instead she stooped down to take a drink. She appreciates the precious resource that water is, now that's parenting.

P.S. Also note the camouflage she is wearing which allows her to blend into her surroundings, what can I say? She's a natural.

Court Date

The court date will be August 18th. It was funny, our lawyers secretary called to tell us about it and said that, "If possible you should both be there." She also stressed that if we couldn't make it that we needed to call ahead to cancel and not just fail to appear. I don't think she fully appreciates just how important this is to us.

Finalization Update 2

So I mentioned a couple months ago that we were waiting for a June court date which has come and gone. That was for LDS Family Services to finally terminate any paternal right claims for Bailey. Now that is over so we can now finally petition the court for the adoption. Our lawyer (finally) drew up the paperwork and we went in to sign it. If all things went as planned his secretary filed it on Friday and we should have our court date next week, that is we will know when it it not that it will actually take place next week.

A quick aside on our lawyer. We got a referral for him when we were first going to need him. Jenn met him in his office and they discussed the fees ($500 plus filing fees). Great he was retained. Since that time he has been terrible about returning our calls. After we found out from LDS Family Services that they had sent him the paperwork that he needed we waited what we felt was a reasonable amount of time, a week and called to follow up, no answer and no call back. Jenn left numerous messages on both his voicemail and with his secratary, none of which were returned. We finally got a message from him asking us to call back which we did twice a day for about a week before we finally got in touch with him. He actually said to Jenn, "Now I don't remember what we worked out. Was I doing this for a fee or pro bono?" My wife is an honest women so she explained the fee agreement to which he responded "That sounds fair to me". Needless to say we have not been inspired with a lot of confidence. I understand that this is an easy deal for him but we retained him as a professional and I don't think that expecting a little professionalism is that unreasonable. We will probably be finding another lawyer for the next adoption.

Baby Kisses

Okay admit it, if you've been kissed by a toddler, it's kind of gross. You try not to show it because you want to encourage the affection and you like the thought of the gesture but it still sickens you. For those of you who haven't had this experience, let me attempt to explain. It's normally proceeded by a loud "ahhh" sound, you look to see their mouth totally agape and being pushed towards you. There's a few teeth here and there and the saliva is positively pouring from their open orifice. The same orifice that is about to be pressed up against you (pray it's not on the lips). There may at times be food in the mouth, that makes no difference for the toddler and so you steel yourself and try not to shudder. Then rather than a nice puckering motion they opt simply to smear the slobber on you with their mouth still as wide as it will possibly go. You thank them, hug them and then when they aren't looking attempt to wipe the goo from your face. Seriously, it's sweet and all, but toddlers should be required to carry squeeges.

Chef Bailey

Bailey has officially begun her career as daddy's kitchen helper. Before, Jenn would have to watch her while I cooked but tonight I felt that she was ready. It was funny too the effect that it had on her. Where she was being kind of fussy all night she quickly calmed down as I brought her over to the counter and let her see what I was doing. Tonight's menu was simple, pancakes (of the just add water variety) and scrambled eggs. Prep involved mostly just mixing.

I have become so used to her as a baby that I think I underestimate her too often. She really wants to be involved in what we are doing and what's more she's capable. It's hard to realize that she is growing up in more than just stature, but also in ability. I was so proud of her tonight, I love looking at these pictures of the two of us working together.

P.S. Dinner came out great by the way. I think Bailey might have a future.





As for this last picture, it was just too darn cute to leave out.

4th of July

So we don't have any really fun stories from the 4th (Jenn and I were both very sick) but we did have a cute outfit ready for Bailey so I wanted to share some pictures with you. Note the cute sandals.