Smart EV
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Things keep moving along.
Since my last post things have become clearer. Portland is definitely the destination as I was offered a job there. The position begins 13 December so I am on my way very soon indeed! I've resigned from my current position and am making the preparations for departure.
Let and I have been doing tons of work around the house. We originally planned to sell, got briefly excited by the idea of keeping it and renting it out, ran the financials on that option and have returned to selling. We have a realtor and it should be out in the public domain by tomorrow (and hopefully sell by the following day :-)).
There is a lot of work to be done and I am quite committed to getting as much possible before I fly off to the States so that Celeste has minimal hassles to deal with while she prepares to follow me. Selling the house is a big one, but just as big and perhaps more of a hassle really, is getting rid of everything within the house. We have collected much more than we should have over these 2+ years in the house. Made much easier by having a little boy that we adore so want to buy him lots of things and keep everything he has ever made.
For now, we just keep plugging along working to get us all back together as soon as possible. Hard to fathom the hole left in my life without Liam here to fill it.
More soon...
Since my last post things have become clearer. Portland is definitely the destination as I was offered a job there. The position begins 13 December so I am on my way very soon indeed! I've resigned from my current position and am making the preparations for departure.
Let and I have been doing tons of work around the house. We originally planned to sell, got briefly excited by the idea of keeping it and renting it out, ran the financials on that option and have returned to selling. We have a realtor and it should be out in the public domain by tomorrow (and hopefully sell by the following day :-)).
There is a lot of work to be done and I am quite committed to getting as much possible before I fly off to the States so that Celeste has minimal hassles to deal with while she prepares to follow me. Selling the house is a big one, but just as big and perhaps more of a hassle really, is getting rid of everything within the house. We have collected much more than we should have over these 2+ years in the house. Made much easier by having a little boy that we adore so want to buy him lots of things and keep everything he has ever made.
For now, we just keep plugging along working to get us all back together as soon as possible. Hard to fathom the hole left in my life without Liam here to fill it.
More soon...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
nz2pdx
It's been almost two years since I've typed in this space...What has happened in that time? Massive amounts.
Liam is now going on 3 years old. At this time he is having an extended holiday with his family in Manila while we prepare to move to the US, hopefully Portland, Oregon. Portland is my hometown and though most of my family live far and farther from there, it would still be a lot closer to most friends and family than NZ is.
It's a hard choice to make. In many ways we had created a great life here in NZ. We both have good jobs that pay relatively well. We live in a nice house in a great location. We enjoy many aspects of life here. So, why the move? I am the impetus. Many things have come together in my little brain over the past year or so that make it feel imperative to move back. A major aspect of it is career prospects (and career satisfaction).
One issue is the job itself. Though I very much enjoy working with students, 4.5 years doing the same job has taken its toll. Not just the job, but the instability in it. I have had three different colleagues and a long stretch of doing the job totally on my own with no administrative help since my first year in the position. It makes doing a good job difficult. I never intended to be in the same position for this length of time, but there is very little room for progression on a small campus.
The university has also been going through a lot of change, not necessarily bad in the long-term but has been a nightmare in the short term. A lot of good people have either lost their jobs or have left out of fear or frustration. The new hires have often been head-scratchingly bad fits for the positions they were hired to fill and motivation around the university seems to be very low. Unfortunately, I am not immune to this.
But the careers issue is not the only reason I feel the need to repatriate. Family, friends, support and history have become surprisingly important to me since Liam came into my life. My mother and sister both have chronic health problems that have me concerned for their long-term stability. I feel that I should be closer in case the worst comes to pass. I've also realised how much I miss having the opportunity to see them, even if only on an annual basis. In the 4.5 years I've been in NZ I only just this year finally went back for a visit.
Then there is Liam, he has still only met my father from my side of the family. My dad actually came to visit in time for Liam's first birthday! It was great, but I can't accept Liam not having a connection with my mom and sister and niece and nephew. I also realise that I want him to have a greater sense of his history. Not necessarily specifically as an American, but definitely as part of the northwest and Portland. He has no risk of not having that from his mother's family and culture as he has already been to the Philippines four times (and for several months this time) before even reaching his third birthday. But my family is not able to travel here and our finances do not allow for us to make regular big trips to the US to see my widely dispersed fam.
So, a lot of instability for the family while we make the plans and the changes necessary for the move and until we manage to get settled. While this is all in process Liam will live in Manila and hopefully become fluent in Tagalog while getting closer to his family there. With luck, early in the new year we can all be back together in a nice new home in Portland.
That's a little bit of a catch up...
It's been almost two years since I've typed in this space...What has happened in that time? Massive amounts.
Liam is now going on 3 years old. At this time he is having an extended holiday with his family in Manila while we prepare to move to the US, hopefully Portland, Oregon. Portland is my hometown and though most of my family live far and farther from there, it would still be a lot closer to most friends and family than NZ is.
It's a hard choice to make. In many ways we had created a great life here in NZ. We both have good jobs that pay relatively well. We live in a nice house in a great location. We enjoy many aspects of life here. So, why the move? I am the impetus. Many things have come together in my little brain over the past year or so that make it feel imperative to move back. A major aspect of it is career prospects (and career satisfaction).
One issue is the job itself. Though I very much enjoy working with students, 4.5 years doing the same job has taken its toll. Not just the job, but the instability in it. I have had three different colleagues and a long stretch of doing the job totally on my own with no administrative help since my first year in the position. It makes doing a good job difficult. I never intended to be in the same position for this length of time, but there is very little room for progression on a small campus.
The university has also been going through a lot of change, not necessarily bad in the long-term but has been a nightmare in the short term. A lot of good people have either lost their jobs or have left out of fear or frustration. The new hires have often been head-scratchingly bad fits for the positions they were hired to fill and motivation around the university seems to be very low. Unfortunately, I am not immune to this.
But the careers issue is not the only reason I feel the need to repatriate. Family, friends, support and history have become surprisingly important to me since Liam came into my life. My mother and sister both have chronic health problems that have me concerned for their long-term stability. I feel that I should be closer in case the worst comes to pass. I've also realised how much I miss having the opportunity to see them, even if only on an annual basis. In the 4.5 years I've been in NZ I only just this year finally went back for a visit.
Then there is Liam, he has still only met my father from my side of the family. My dad actually came to visit in time for Liam's first birthday! It was great, but I can't accept Liam not having a connection with my mom and sister and niece and nephew. I also realise that I want him to have a greater sense of his history. Not necessarily specifically as an American, but definitely as part of the northwest and Portland. He has no risk of not having that from his mother's family and culture as he has already been to the Philippines four times (and for several months this time) before even reaching his third birthday. But my family is not able to travel here and our finances do not allow for us to make regular big trips to the US to see my widely dispersed fam.
So, a lot of instability for the family while we make the plans and the changes necessary for the move and until we manage to get settled. While this is all in process Liam will live in Manila and hopefully become fluent in Tagalog while getting closer to his family there. With luck, early in the new year we can all be back together in a nice new home in Portland.
That's a little bit of a catch up...
Saturday, December 20, 2008
It's Saturday in NZ and tomorrow at high noon we fly to the Philippines. We are a bit nervous about the flight with Liam, his first time on an airplane and at a very precarious time in his life. He is now 10 months old and is very mobile and does not like sitting still for long. He is also very vocal when he is not happy (quite vocal when he is happy too). I am hopeful that he will do alright. We just need to be able to walk him around a bit and keep him involved so he doesn't get bored.
It's quite exciting to be getting away from it all for a whole month. It will be a lot of fun to hang out with the in-laws. They are all very excited to have Liam around. I'm hoping to spend a day just hanging out with Gil (he doesn't know that yet) and I am sure we will spend plenty of time hanging with Van and Kim. More than anything else though, I'm excited for Let and me to have some time together alone. Time to go to movies or out for drinks or even out of town for a couple of days, that has really got me happy.
Life is good!
It's quite exciting to be getting away from it all for a whole month. It will be a lot of fun to hang out with the in-laws. They are all very excited to have Liam around. I'm hoping to spend a day just hanging out with Gil (he doesn't know that yet) and I am sure we will spend plenty of time hanging with Van and Kim. More than anything else though, I'm excited for Let and me to have some time together alone. Time to go to movies or out for drinks or even out of town for a couple of days, that has really got me happy.
Life is good!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Hope everyone in the US of A had a lovely Thanksgiving and gave lots of thanks for the Prez-elect!!!
We didn't have the forethought to get a Turkey early enough for it to thaw in time to eat on Tday so had a roast chicken instead :-)
Today I am manning a stand at a mall for our Engineering programme. I've never done such a thing before so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Not a big fan of malls, but so it goes.
We tried to add another dog to our family but it did not work out. He terrorised Samson and Liam was not so fond of him either. It didn't help the situation that he was marking the entire house as his territory in the only way dogs know how. BLECH! So he went to another home that would have more time to provide the guidance he needs. He was a very cute and sweet little guy though.
We didn't have the forethought to get a Turkey early enough for it to thaw in time to eat on Tday so had a roast chicken instead :-)
Today I am manning a stand at a mall for our Engineering programme. I've never done such a thing before so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Not a big fan of malls, but so it goes.
We tried to add another dog to our family but it did not work out. He terrorised Samson and Liam was not so fond of him either. It didn't help the situation that he was marking the entire house as his territory in the only way dogs know how. BLECH! So he went to another home that would have more time to provide the guidance he needs. He was a very cute and sweet little guy though.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Oooops, another unexpected hiatus.
I must admit, plenty has happened since I last wrote.
We have now been living in our very own house for over a month. Unfortunately, our old place did not get rented until...officially today I think. So we paid about 6 weeks of extra rent, not fun, but worth it to have our house!
The house is great. Of course it has issues, but nothing horrible. The funniest part of it is that we have a white picket fence! How cheesy is that? It is also one story sorta ranch style. Those of you that know me would know that I would never have expected to buy a ranch style house in the 'burbs. I love it though, it's a cool little suburb that has a great café called Aunt Daisy's. They even have life music regularly (which we've yet to attend).
We have a massive back yard! We just bought ourselves an EnviroMower. It has a rechargeable battery and is quiet (for a lawnmower). It seems to work quite well in it's first use yesterday.
Work has been quite busy, we have our national liaison seminar for a few days last week. Luckily it was here in Wellington so I didn't have to travel to attend. I always enjoy the times when we are all together for a few days. We have a couple of events coming up that I've been busily planning as well.
Liam is now 9 months+. He's a master crawler now and is just an awesome little boy. He's becoming so much more aware of everything around him. Unfortunately that also means he is hitting the stage where he gets upset when one of his parents leaves the room. That has just happened in the last week or so. He just does a little bit of a grump right when we walk out but we'll usually just pop our heads back in and make him laugh then he is okay with it (so far). I really worry that he will become one of those children that cries their head off when left at childcare. I'm hoping because he has already been there for so long that it will not happen (fingers crossed).
More about the house? 3 bedroom, bath with separate toilet, some storage space under house (not sealed like basement though). We get all day sun, have a little view of Porirua Harbour from the back yard. We have a few trees. I've done a little DIY work so far. Replaced the separate hot/cold taps in kitchen and bathroom sinks with single mixer faucets.
Also, as we are going to be in the Philippines for a month we were looking for housesitters (yes plural as we feel the house is big enough and it gives more attention to the house and Samson. Well, one of the housesitters we found had just moved to NZ from the states and was staying in a motel in Porirua. So, we offered to let him stay with us until we leave for PH and he just moved in yesterday. He's a really nice guy with a husband and twin (almost) 5 year old boys. The fam is still in the states figuring out their move. It's a bit funny having a housemate but I think it will work out fine, plus we are just so relieved to have people to take care of Samson while we are away.
I must admit, plenty has happened since I last wrote.
We have now been living in our very own house for over a month. Unfortunately, our old place did not get rented until...officially today I think. So we paid about 6 weeks of extra rent, not fun, but worth it to have our house!
The house is great. Of course it has issues, but nothing horrible. The funniest part of it is that we have a white picket fence! How cheesy is that? It is also one story sorta ranch style. Those of you that know me would know that I would never have expected to buy a ranch style house in the 'burbs. I love it though, it's a cool little suburb that has a great café called Aunt Daisy's. They even have life music regularly (which we've yet to attend).
We have a massive back yard! We just bought ourselves an EnviroMower. It has a rechargeable battery and is quiet (for a lawnmower). It seems to work quite well in it's first use yesterday.
Work has been quite busy, we have our national liaison seminar for a few days last week. Luckily it was here in Wellington so I didn't have to travel to attend. I always enjoy the times when we are all together for a few days. We have a couple of events coming up that I've been busily planning as well.
Liam is now 9 months+. He's a master crawler now and is just an awesome little boy. He's becoming so much more aware of everything around him. Unfortunately that also means he is hitting the stage where he gets upset when one of his parents leaves the room. That has just happened in the last week or so. He just does a little bit of a grump right when we walk out but we'll usually just pop our heads back in and make him laugh then he is okay with it (so far). I really worry that he will become one of those children that cries their head off when left at childcare. I'm hoping because he has already been there for so long that it will not happen (fingers crossed).
More about the house? 3 bedroom, bath with separate toilet, some storage space under house (not sealed like basement though). We get all day sun, have a little view of Porirua Harbour from the back yard. We have a few trees. I've done a little DIY work so far. Replaced the separate hot/cold taps in kitchen and bathroom sinks with single mixer faucets.
Also, as we are going to be in the Philippines for a month we were looking for housesitters (yes plural as we feel the house is big enough and it gives more attention to the house and Samson. Well, one of the housesitters we found had just moved to NZ from the states and was staying in a motel in Porirua. So, we offered to let him stay with us until we leave for PH and he just moved in yesterday. He's a really nice guy with a husband and twin (almost) 5 year old boys. The fam is still in the states figuring out their move. It's a bit funny having a housemate but I think it will work out fine, plus we are just so relieved to have people to take care of Samson while we are away.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Hey, it's Friday! We still haven't found someone to take over our lease, but we will survive this. And we are still very excited about the new house.
It is a beautiful sunny day here in Wellington and I am hoping to take the dog to the beach when I get out of the office. He loves it so much and gets so few good walks these days.
One change I want us to make after we move is to give him two walks every day. Perhaps I can take him in the morning and Celeste can take him when we get home. I think he will be a much happier and better adjusted dog if he gets some good regular exercise.
I thought I was all healthy when I posted last but then I got sick again, still very sinusy and coughing up all sorts of unfortunate things. YUCK!
Work is good, school visits have mellowed but we have quite a few visitors and campus tours as well as planning our year end events for younger high school students. That is a bit of fun because we work with people all across campus to make it happen.
Who is reading this these days? I know penguindevil continues to hang out, any others around?
It is a beautiful sunny day here in Wellington and I am hoping to take the dog to the beach when I get out of the office. He loves it so much and gets so few good walks these days.
One change I want us to make after we move is to give him two walks every day. Perhaps I can take him in the morning and Celeste can take him when we get home. I think he will be a much happier and better adjusted dog if he gets some good regular exercise.
I thought I was all healthy when I posted last but then I got sick again, still very sinusy and coughing up all sorts of unfortunate things. YUCK!
Work is good, school visits have mellowed but we have quite a few visitors and campus tours as well as planning our year end events for younger high school students. That is a bit of fun because we work with people all across campus to make it happen.
Who is reading this these days? I know penguindevil continues to hang out, any others around?
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Just watched the sunrise on what looks to be a beautiful Saturday in Wellington.
I'm feeling healthy after about two weeks of, what felt like, a losing battle against a sinus infection. I had never had such a painful infection before. There were hours at a time where I literally felt compelled to hold my head (some subconscious fear it might explode?) from the pain. It made being productive at work a very difficult task indeed. So, for the past week I have been taking my antibiotics and a lot of codeine laced pain killers.
Last night Celeste went out for after work drinks with her friend Kym. Apparently she only had three glasses of wine but arrived home at 7ish extremely...tipsy? Slurred speech, difficulty walking :-D It was quite amusing. She is always very loving when she drinks though, that's nice. She is still in bed this morning while Liam plays by himself in his 'exersaucer'.
Things continue toward taking possession of our house. We have hired movers to not only move us but to also pack our things. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have never hired movers before, but with a little boy and a dog, it just seems worth the expense to have it all done by professionals. It will save us heaps of difficulty on the day. Celeste's drinking buddy Kym has offered to come help us on the day (I think she realises that will not entail much work). We are very excited for the new place.
The only negative to be seen at this point is that we have yet to find someone to take over our current lease. Our agreement with our landlords is that we find someone to take over our lease, otherwise we are still responsible for our rent. Hmmmmmmmmm
In other news, Liam is still a happy healthy baby. He does have this tendency to fall over/down. This is probably due to his immense love of standing up though he is a bit too young and uncoordinated for it. He has bonked his head a few times now. Celeste stressed that a whole lot, I figure it's just another part of growing up. He usually only cries from the surprise of it and if I put him back in position to enjoy himself he is promptly okay again.
Enough for 6:30am.
I'm feeling healthy after about two weeks of, what felt like, a losing battle against a sinus infection. I had never had such a painful infection before. There were hours at a time where I literally felt compelled to hold my head (some subconscious fear it might explode?) from the pain. It made being productive at work a very difficult task indeed. So, for the past week I have been taking my antibiotics and a lot of codeine laced pain killers.
Last night Celeste went out for after work drinks with her friend Kym. Apparently she only had three glasses of wine but arrived home at 7ish extremely...tipsy? Slurred speech, difficulty walking :-D It was quite amusing. She is always very loving when she drinks though, that's nice. She is still in bed this morning while Liam plays by himself in his 'exersaucer'.
Things continue toward taking possession of our house. We have hired movers to not only move us but to also pack our things. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have never hired movers before, but with a little boy and a dog, it just seems worth the expense to have it all done by professionals. It will save us heaps of difficulty on the day. Celeste's drinking buddy Kym has offered to come help us on the day (I think she realises that will not entail much work). We are very excited for the new place.
The only negative to be seen at this point is that we have yet to find someone to take over our current lease. Our agreement with our landlords is that we find someone to take over our lease, otherwise we are still responsible for our rent. Hmmmmmmmmm
In other news, Liam is still a happy healthy baby. He does have this tendency to fall over/down. This is probably due to his immense love of standing up though he is a bit too young and uncoordinated for it. He has bonked his head a few times now. Celeste stressed that a whole lot, I figure it's just another part of growing up. He usually only cries from the surprise of it and if I put him back in position to enjoy himself he is promptly okay again.
Enough for 6:30am.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It's a sunny Sunday in Wellington. I think I shall take the dog to the beach. Hopefully Liam and Let will join in the trip. We're still waking up and we have a very messy house to deal with. Hmmm. Definitely need to go beaching though.
Last night we went to Stokes Valley (aka Stokes Vegas) for dinner with some friends. Three little boys of different ages, Liam at 7 months, Jos at 1 year and Olivier coming up on 3 years. It is fun to see the differences and realise what we have to look forward to. Besides that we got to eat a gourmet meal cooked by an Englishman (whose wife is French and doesn't cook, doesn't drink much and does NOT like CHEESE!!!). Yes, a strange family indeed :-)
We went unconditional on the house Friday. Yes, I am a homeowner now. It is very exciting. We will move in after the 10th of October. We both can't stop thinking about the house and what we'll do to it over time. First we just have to get all of our possessions from point A to point B, for the first time in my life I think we'll hire someone else to do the moving for us. I think the time has come, we have too much stuff to bother friends with.
Now we desperately need to find some nice people to take over our lease in the house we live in currently. Less than a month to get that all sorted...eeeeek.
Life is good down under!
Last night we went to Stokes Valley (aka Stokes Vegas) for dinner with some friends. Three little boys of different ages, Liam at 7 months, Jos at 1 year and Olivier coming up on 3 years. It is fun to see the differences and realise what we have to look forward to. Besides that we got to eat a gourmet meal cooked by an Englishman (whose wife is French and doesn't cook, doesn't drink much and does NOT like CHEESE!!!). Yes, a strange family indeed :-)
We went unconditional on the house Friday. Yes, I am a homeowner now. It is very exciting. We will move in after the 10th of October. We both can't stop thinking about the house and what we'll do to it over time. First we just have to get all of our possessions from point A to point B, for the first time in my life I think we'll hire someone else to do the moving for us. I think the time has come, we have too much stuff to bother friends with.
Now we desperately need to find some nice people to take over our lease in the house we live in currently. Less than a month to get that all sorted...eeeeek.
Life is good down under!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Hmmm, about three months with no updates. I guess nothing worthy of writing about has happened...
Liam just gets cuter and cuter. Now he is three months cuter than when I last wrote, that's a LOT! He loves and is loved at his childcare centre. The other day we were dropping him off and the mom of a little girl said, "Oh, my daughter is always talking about Liam" :-P He's popular with the ladies.
We did get the Wii and Wii Fit. We used them a lot for about a month and then we've gotten so busy lately that we have not been good about using them. I do love it though. My favourite right now is Tennis, but a lot of the games are really enjoyable. Hopefully we'll get back to using it regularly soon.
Our time at home consists of entertaining the boy, feeding the boy, getting the boy to sleep, running to the boy when he wakes up, cleaning up the boy's dishes, dealing with Samson's needs and then trying to do everything else we need to get done in between (along with some sleep somewhere in there).
Honestly, I would not trade this life away for anything. That little boy makes me smile so big and has taken such a chunk of my heart that I can not even imagine being without him. When I have to leave town for work trips I miss him very much. Every day I feel I learn more about him and that he becomes that much more his own person. He is now crawling (backwards). That is exciting. Today for the first time he pulled himself up on the inside of his cot/crib. He is a strong Liam ;-)
Along the way we have also decided we wanted to buy a house and in fact found one to buy. It has been a bit of a whirlwind process. We almost bought one well outside of our range (physically and financially). Luckily it did not work out and we have found one much closer to affordable and though it is in the outer suburbs of Wellington it still is only about 20 minutes with no traffic and has a lot of amenities handy to it. It is not officially ours yet but it seems the largest hurdles have all been jumped and it is just the details being worked out now.
Enough for now, we are going through a cold snap here (down to 1 celsius tonight and only 13 here in the lounge/living room). I need to crawl back into our nice warm bed :-)
Liam just gets cuter and cuter. Now he is three months cuter than when I last wrote, that's a LOT! He loves and is loved at his childcare centre. The other day we were dropping him off and the mom of a little girl said, "Oh, my daughter is always talking about Liam" :-P He's popular with the ladies.
We did get the Wii and Wii Fit. We used them a lot for about a month and then we've gotten so busy lately that we have not been good about using them. I do love it though. My favourite right now is Tennis, but a lot of the games are really enjoyable. Hopefully we'll get back to using it regularly soon.
Our time at home consists of entertaining the boy, feeding the boy, getting the boy to sleep, running to the boy when he wakes up, cleaning up the boy's dishes, dealing with Samson's needs and then trying to do everything else we need to get done in between (along with some sleep somewhere in there).
Honestly, I would not trade this life away for anything. That little boy makes me smile so big and has taken such a chunk of my heart that I can not even imagine being without him. When I have to leave town for work trips I miss him very much. Every day I feel I learn more about him and that he becomes that much more his own person. He is now crawling (backwards). That is exciting. Today for the first time he pulled himself up on the inside of his cot/crib. He is a strong Liam ;-)
Along the way we have also decided we wanted to buy a house and in fact found one to buy. It has been a bit of a whirlwind process. We almost bought one well outside of our range (physically and financially). Luckily it did not work out and we have found one much closer to affordable and though it is in the outer suburbs of Wellington it still is only about 20 minutes with no traffic and has a lot of amenities handy to it. It is not officially ours yet but it seems the largest hurdles have all been jumped and it is just the details being worked out now.
Enough for now, we are going through a cold snap here (down to 1 celsius tonight and only 13 here in the lounge/living room). I need to crawl back into our nice warm bed :-)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Only a little more than a week left of being stay at home dad! That is a bit sad. I enjoy my time with the boy. We have really gotten a feel for each other over this time. I have a much better feel for his wants/needs and he is more comfortable sleeping with me.
He is taking his morning nap now and then we will go for a visit to his child care centre. We were very lucky to get a spot for him! The average waiting list time is 15 months, I'm not sure when Celeste put our name in, but the spot just came up a couple of weeks ago. It is a great little place and much closer and more convenient to our place than where I thought he was going to end up.
I know that I am old and out of shape, but jesus, I am tired ALL OF THE TIME now. Every second he is asleep I feel like I should be sleeping too! But there are so many other things to be done. Washing bottles, our dishes, laundry, other general housecleaning. Plus trying to keep Samson from feeling lonely and bored. I also want to play my scrabble/scramble/pathwords games :-)
Speaking of which, we are buying a Wii + Wii Fit. Since winter seems to have arrived (a bit early) and we will be spending a lot of time inside I'm sure, we decided that this would be a good way of getting our exercise in. Of course, there are no Wii in stock in Wellington, but hopefully we will get it within the next week or so.
The week that I am back at work will be spent on the road in the Nelson/Marlborough area. The wife is not very excited about being on her own for a week. I'm not too excited about being away from her and Liam and Sammy either. Such is the life of a student recruiter.
Life is enjoyable, we are not seeing friends as much as we would like, but things are going well. I will try to write again soon.
He is taking his morning nap now and then we will go for a visit to his child care centre. We were very lucky to get a spot for him! The average waiting list time is 15 months, I'm not sure when Celeste put our name in, but the spot just came up a couple of weeks ago. It is a great little place and much closer and more convenient to our place than where I thought he was going to end up.
I know that I am old and out of shape, but jesus, I am tired ALL OF THE TIME now. Every second he is asleep I feel like I should be sleeping too! But there are so many other things to be done. Washing bottles, our dishes, laundry, other general housecleaning. Plus trying to keep Samson from feeling lonely and bored. I also want to play my scrabble/scramble/pathwords games :-)
Speaking of which, we are buying a Wii + Wii Fit. Since winter seems to have arrived (a bit early) and we will be spending a lot of time inside I'm sure, we decided that this would be a good way of getting our exercise in. Of course, there are no Wii in stock in Wellington, but hopefully we will get it within the next week or so.
The week that I am back at work will be spent on the road in the Nelson/Marlborough area. The wife is not very excited about being on her own for a week. I'm not too excited about being away from her and Liam and Sammy either. Such is the life of a student recruiter.
Life is enjoyable, we are not seeing friends as much as we would like, but things are going well. I will try to write again soon.
Friday, May 16, 2008
This is my last day of work for five weeks. I will practice being a stay at home dad. I must admit that the thought overwhelms me a little bit, but I know it will be a great experience for me and hopefully for little Liam as well.
Celeste's parents leave on Monday, I think they are very nervous about me being the full-time caregiver of Liam. This morning I was playing with Liam a bit and Celeste's dad says "I hope you will have the patience to deal with him" I think he was referring to me having patience with Liam, but it might have been the other way around. Either way, I think we will be ok. I have always had good patience with children.
I actually think it will be easier for me with no one else around. I do not like feeling as though my every action is being judged...maybe judged is not the right term...hmmm, let's try again. I do not like the fact that everyone is paying such close attention to my behaviour with the boy, always ready to offer advice and to take him away from me if it seems I am not succeeding. It will be better for me when it is just the two of us figuring things out. Does that make any sense?
Things are very good though. The boy is happy and healthy. Last night he only woke up once in the night for feeding. That was wonderful! Hopefully we can have many more nights like that and then move on to no wakes per night. Sigh, that will be the day :-)
We have gotten very close to purchasing a very small section of land on which to build a house. It seems we are leaning against it now because of our extreme lack of finances. I am still pretty into the idea but I think the more budget-minded half of this marriage will likely win out.
I am excited for the five weeks with Liam, I am hopeful we will get out of the house and do fun things together. Hopefully the weather will cooperate a bit. I would like to take daily walks with Sam and Liam, hopefully at the beach or at least around the neighbourhood.
I suppose that is enough of an update for now. Hey, why don't you check out my newest blogging project greenlinksnz.blogspot.com and tell me what you think so far.
Cheers,
Jon
Celeste's parents leave on Monday, I think they are very nervous about me being the full-time caregiver of Liam. This morning I was playing with Liam a bit and Celeste's dad says "I hope you will have the patience to deal with him" I think he was referring to me having patience with Liam, but it might have been the other way around. Either way, I think we will be ok. I have always had good patience with children.
I actually think it will be easier for me with no one else around. I do not like feeling as though my every action is being judged...maybe judged is not the right term...hmmm, let's try again. I do not like the fact that everyone is paying such close attention to my behaviour with the boy, always ready to offer advice and to take him away from me if it seems I am not succeeding. It will be better for me when it is just the two of us figuring things out. Does that make any sense?
Things are very good though. The boy is happy and healthy. Last night he only woke up once in the night for feeding. That was wonderful! Hopefully we can have many more nights like that and then move on to no wakes per night. Sigh, that will be the day :-)
We have gotten very close to purchasing a very small section of land on which to build a house. It seems we are leaning against it now because of our extreme lack of finances. I am still pretty into the idea but I think the more budget-minded half of this marriage will likely win out.
I am excited for the five weeks with Liam, I am hopeful we will get out of the house and do fun things together. Hopefully the weather will cooperate a bit. I would like to take daily walks with Sam and Liam, hopefully at the beach or at least around the neighbourhood.
I suppose that is enough of an update for now. Hey, why don't you check out my newest blogging project greenlinksnz.blogspot.com and tell me what you think so far.
Cheers,
Jon
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Hi, I seem to have missed March. Though I was definitely busy, I was not so busy that I couldn't have written. Just not up for it apparently.
Liam is doing very well. Just turned 8 weeks old and is happy and healthy. He smiles quite a bit and is awake all sorts of hours through the day and night. Celeste's parents are still providing the bulk of the housework and keep Liam overnight. That will have to change soon as they are flying back to Manila on May 19th.
Celeste and I got married on Monday of this week. Very few people knew about it beforehand. We just had a quiet little ceremony at the Department of Internal Affairs. Patrick was my witness, Didith was Celeste's. Celeste's parents, Liam and Clark (husband of Didith) were also present. We had some bubbles and snacks afterward.
We then brought some beer home and hung out for awhile. Celeste was asleep by about 8pm! She hadn't had alcohol for quite some time. :-)
At work I have a full team for the first time in a year! It is quite nice to be 3 strong in the office instead of just me. It has been very busy without and it is still busy with the team but much more enjoyable and manageable. We will definitely be able to do more events and be more streamlined, organised and effective with the new team in place.
Samson is doing very well as well. He's a good boy. He really wants to play with the boy Liam, but as of yet we aren't allowing much contact. Another few months and things will be better for the two of them I think.
Cheers.
At work
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Hi,
We are ten days into the experiment that is parenthood. So far the baby seems to be surviving pretty well.
Right now Liam is sitting naked (plus diaper) in his mom's arms. She is telling him what it will be like when he grows up.
The naked part is me asserting my parental prerogative. I hate him being in clothes all the time while the Lafavillas apparently feel it is a sin to ever show baby skin to the air. Now he is getting dressed again, obviously my parental powers only go so far. Last night Liam slept in the same bed as us, only the second time he has stayed in our room since we got him home. Celeste's parents have been taking him at night so that Celeste can get much needed rest.
In the hospital they were debating giving Celeste a blood transfusion from low blood count after labour. We all decided against it, but it has meant that she needs a lot of rest.
Last night went pretty well though. He is pretty easy still at this point. If he wakes up he just needs to be fed and/or changed and he tends to go right back to sleep. If nothing else a quick walk around the house tends to get him ready to sleep again.
I have been trying to do a good amount of assisting. Mostly that has involved washing/sterilising breast pump and bottles, changing diapers and clothing and carrying him around. Oh, I also feed him sometimes (expressed milk or formula).
Otherwise, not a lot to do with baby. We all spend a lot of time staring at him and commenting on how cute (guapo) and handsome (and hairy) he is. This is one furry little monkey, arms, back...you name it he's got fur on it.
Samson is handling it all pretty well. He is always sniffing around the boy, but he is usually pretty understanding that if he licks he gets removed from the area so avoids that in the main. Whenever baby cries he tends to run to check out what the problem is. When baby slept on the bed, Samson was very good about staying well clear of him. It will be great once the kid is old enough that he and Sam can spend more quality time together.
For now, that's about it.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Some pix for your enjoyment. Someday the whole birth story will be told, right now though, I would like to sleep.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Hi All,
We are still waiting for the bundle of joy to unbundle. Some of us less patiently than others.
Celeste's parents are here now. At this moment they are outside pruning (deeply) some trees that keep the sun from shining on our back lawn. They are so committed to their pursuit that I am slightly concerned for the well-being of the trees. Well, I suppose it is worth it to keep them busy :-)
Today is Waitangi Day here in NZ, that means no work for one and exists as recognition of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. We are reflecting on this day by hanging around the house. Celeste is not interested in doing anything besides pushing the baby out as soon as possible (and with as little effort as possible, good luck with that).
Things are interesting at work as I am trying to get organised and plan a couple of events, but I am also knowing that at any day a baby could be born and I will not be in the office for a couple of weeks so it is hard to start new things and make meeting times or appointments.
I am tired, unfortunately I think that will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.
Cheers all...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Stuff. I've gotten a little mini sickness of some sort. Sore throat, a little achy, tired. Nothing serious, just annoying.
Playing Tegan and Sara, they always make me smile.
Brought Samson in with me today so that Celeste can rest without interruption until we get home.
The baby is still holding on to his happy life on the inside. Celeste is pretty sure that it won't last much longer. I think it's just wishful thinking since she is soooooo uncomfortable (sure I've not written that before ;-)).
Work is keeping me busy.
Celeste's parents arrive on Wednesday. That will be different for sure.
My 12" PowerBook met with a hideous accident, but luckily I have Home Contents insurance which covers the loss. I've replaced it with a MacBook that I am waiting for Apple to send me. I am a bit excited for the speed upgrade but I am sad to have lost the old workhorse. That computer put up with a lot of abuse from me.
Looks like the family (minus samson) will be spending next x-mas in the States. Anyone that has extra room for us in the US please let us know. We will be trying to make the trip as inexpensively as possible. Our current itinerary has us flying in and out of San Francisco, driving to Portland, finding our way to Charleston and then NYC then back west to fly home.
Oh, please share in comments all advice for labour and the first few days of life with a newborn!!! I'm very curious!
Yups.
Playing Tegan and Sara, they always make me smile.
Brought Samson in with me today so that Celeste can rest without interruption until we get home.
The baby is still holding on to his happy life on the inside. Celeste is pretty sure that it won't last much longer. I think it's just wishful thinking since she is soooooo uncomfortable (sure I've not written that before ;-)).
Work is keeping me busy.
Celeste's parents arrive on Wednesday. That will be different for sure.
My 12" PowerBook met with a hideous accident, but luckily I have Home Contents insurance which covers the loss. I've replaced it with a MacBook that I am waiting for Apple to send me. I am a bit excited for the speed upgrade but I am sad to have lost the old workhorse. That computer put up with a lot of abuse from me.
Looks like the family (minus samson) will be spending next x-mas in the States. Anyone that has extra room for us in the US please let us know. We will be trying to make the trip as inexpensively as possible. Our current itinerary has us flying in and out of San Francisco, driving to Portland, finding our way to Charleston and then NYC then back west to fly home.
Oh, please share in comments all advice for labour and the first few days of life with a newborn!!! I'm very curious!
Yups.
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