Man, it was a wild weekend, with some real highs and lows. Here's a rundown--it's bound to be long, but that's what you get when I'm at the keyboard...
Friday: At work, we had a sort of "fun day." Chair massages in the morning, catered breakfast and lunch, a guest speaker in the afternoon, and team trivia after that. Why did we have this? I'm still not sure. Maybe we're starting to make some money as a company, and we're heading back to the days of wine and roses, like when I started here. Who knows? But I didn't look this gift horse in the mouth.
Since it wasn't a real work day, I went home at lunch and picked up Alecia and Maddie. They came in to see where daddy works (Maddie was stoked), and so everyone could tell us how cute Maddie is (duh). While they were here, Alecia got to chat with our guest, Ty Pennington, the cool carpenter from Trading Spaces. Alecia has lusted after this guy for years, so she was shellshocked to meet him. I had to actually suggest that he give her a hug, as she couldn't even speak around him. See what I do for my wife? I wanted to get a pic of just those two, but when I was about to take it, someone volunteered to take one of all of us, so Maddie (in her carseat) and I both got in on the action. Check out the picture in the latest album Alecia posted.
Later, like I said, we played team trivia in the afternoon. Those who know me know how competitive I can get when it comes to trivia. But Friday was an exercise in patience for me. I was on a team with one other guy (Paul, a fellow webguy) and four girls. I was overruled by my "teammates" four times in the first few rounds, and Paul was overruled twice...and all of our answers were correct. I sort of checked out mentally after that. I think Paul did, as well. Needless to say, we finished last and got the boobie prize. Crud.
That evening, for Halloween, we planned to get out of the house. With poorly behaved dogs, every trick-or-treater means chaos and loud barking at our house. Not good for the baby. So we walked around the mall a little, then went to Barnes & Noble. The mall was nuts. Apparently, city people trick-or-treat AT THE MALL. Seriously, hundreds of kids going in and out of every store in costume. Crazy.
Things went downhill when we went to B&N. Some yuppie-looking couple started chatting us up, cooing over the baby. We're both used to every person on Earth ooh-ing and ah-ing over the baby, but these people had alterior motives. They started talking like any other nice young couple would, but the guy soon started testing my interest in his "distribution company" and asking if I was happy where I was in life. I sort of sensed it coming from the beginning, but couldn't get rid of him. I finally gave him my junk email address, so he could send me info about his "expanding enterprise." In case you haven't been accosted by someone like this, he was basically a pyramid-schemer. I am a magnet for guys like this...for some reason, I have been hit up by almost a dozen of them in the last five years, both in Bloomington and Atlanta. They want you to sell products for them. It's sort of an online Amway. It was very depressing to find out someone was only interested in our baby so they could exploit Alecia and I.
Shortly after we broke away from this couple, I was looking at books when a lady came up and complimented me on Maddie. She then said "What's the pink on her eyes?" I explained that it was a birthmark that we were assured would go away soon. While I was talking, she reached into her bag, pulled out a palm pilot, and started blipping away on it with her stylus. She was very focused on it, so I stopped talking. There was an awkward silence, and then I asked, "Are you taking notes?" She told me someone had called her, and she was checking who it was. Ah, so your palm is also a phone, and you're just being rude! Thanks, lady.
As if that wasn't enough, as soon as she walks away, another guy walks up. I was looking at the graphic novels (basically book-length comic books), and the guy starts making conversation about the titles. I start talking to him, but reluctantly, not saying anything to encourage him. After all, he could just be another schemer. During the conversation, he says a few things about work ("I'm lucky enough to have a guy mentoring me--he's a millionaire at 29, and he's helping me start my own business."), and a few things about God ("I'm definitely against daycare. I don't think kids get the morals and sense of faith away from home that their parents could give them." and "I'd always wanted to be a youth minister.") I can't tell if this guy is a religious nut about to convert me, or an "entrepreneur" about to make me an offer I can't resist. Either way, I'm squirming. Luckily, Alecia came to find me, and gave me an excuse to break away. Later, I felt guilty. This guy could have just been a nice guy. But I felt more regret at not being able to sit down for even a minute at B&N! I didn't come there for conversation! In my defense, I was never rude to these people.
Saturday: While Alecia slept a little (the baby was up most of Friday night), I dragged myself out of bed at 7AM for soccer playoffs. My late night with baby didn't leave me as bad off as my teammates' Halloween party hangovers left them. Surprisingly, though, we all came together and played our hearts out. We cruised through the quarters and semis, winning 6-3 and 5-1. During that time, I got two assists and a goal of my own. But by the time we got to the finals later that afternoon, we were all beat. We played tough in the final game, dominating the competition, but somehow tied 1-1. The game then went immediately to PKs, and things didn't go well for our side. We missed a couple, and lost the game. No biggie, we still had a blast, and would've beaten that team if there had been five more minutes in the game, as opposed to a shootout (which is never a good way to end a game). Click on the picture below if you want to see my team (minus Karel and Mary) Be warned, the full-size pic may be pretty large:
The real highlight of Saturday, though, was getting to feed Maddie by bottle for the first time. I honestly cried while doing it, it was the coolest thing ever. I have felt pretty worthless over the last few weeks, and pretty guilty over Alecia shouldering so much of the load. But now (as long as she pumps), I can do anything she can do! To prove that point, I fed the baby, changed her diaper, and burped her before I left for work this morning. I then tucked her back in bed and kissed both my girls goodbye. A very satisfying moment. Also, Maddie seems to be learning how to smile, which is awesome. More on this later, if it proves to be more than gas.
The rest of the weekend wasn't as exciting as the first half, but it was still fun. Alecia's mom and sister came in on Saturday evening, and stayed until Sunday. We ate hamburger steaks (a southern term for a hamburger without a bun) and "Red Lobster biscuits" (which I'm sure is a trademark violation), and watched Kate and Leopold (man, does Meg Ryan look awful lately, or what?). On Sunday, I went and got new tires for the CRV, while the women chatted and played dress-up with our child. Pics from the entire weekend are in the new album, so check it out and give us your comments!
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