Daddy's Intuition

Every parent loves Chic-Fil-A. They have a good food (even for breakfast), a safe play area, good values, and extremely good service. But this one day, Daddy wanted to go to McDonalds for breakfast to get a McRiddle (two tiny pancake-like breads loaded with syrup sandwiching a sausage patty - it's absolutely terrible for you).

Nathan, as always, needs to let out some energy and play. This time it was with a 3 year old girl who appears fairly spoiled. They get along fine as long as Nathan is not getting into her way. She wants to play with him, but only on her terms. This story is going sour pretty quick.

Nathan now has a bigger lump on his forehead than he's ever had. While she was playing with her 'alien toy' -- which was really a Star Wars Happy Meal toy of a C3PO head on a skateboard -- Nathan walked around her to go down the slide. She had been sending her toy down the slide first, then herself, then Nathan could go. This time, he didn't play by her rules and she got upset. Daddy heard her say 'No, I go first.' Then he heard a thump, a pause (the dreadfuly calm before the storm), and then Nathan scream and cry. Daddy ran to the bottom of the slide while Mommy ran up the stairs to the top of the slide. Daddy crawled up the slide and see Nathan in tears going down the slide on his bum. Nathan always goes down a slide on his tummy.

And there it was. The lump on his head. Daddy felt soo bad for his son. He had a hunch this young 3 year old girl was not a safe playmate for his precious son. Sometimes you can just tell -- she seemed spolied, selfish, and wreckless -- and Daddy had the hunch. (For better or worse, Daddy ignored the hunch. He didn't think his son would understand if he tried to get him to play on something else when no other kids were around.)

Mommy lost it. She was livid at this girl and her grandparents. She had to leave the play area and get some ice for Nathan, but she also needed it to cool off.

Nathan is better. Mommy is bitter. Daddy understands.

The sand

Daddy brought home some sand the other day. He needed it to fill in some holes he dug for the sprinkler system and some low spots in the backyard. Being a good daddy, he took about 1 bucket's worth and poured it onto the back patio for Nathan to play in. Nathan absolutely loves sand. He pours it into his pool, throws it into the yard, and even saves some of it in his diaper and crocs.

So last Tuesday, Nathan, as usual, goes outside after not eating much of his dinner. :) He goes and plops his bottom in the sand and begins to scoop it up with his plastic shovel. Not long after that, he begins to make a whiney fuss, which soon turns into full on screaming. We ran outside to help him and discovered it was those 'damn' ants. Some fire ants decided to make their way thru the sand. Our poor son just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We were both pretty upset. Mommy got there first and was able to get all the ants off him. Daddy ensured all his clothing, shoes, and diaper were removed and gave him a quick lookover. We ran him inside to the sick to run some water over the bites to clean them off. We then put some benadryl on him.He still is itchy, and his legs look terrible. A photo will be coming soon. Nathan's left leg was later counted to have 30+ ant bits, and the other had at least 15 to 20.

We knew this day would eventually come. It doesn't make it any easier.

Just a cute photo to share. Nathan really enjoys holding Christian. This time, he didn't want mommy to take him away. Nathan pointed to Christian's toes, wiggled his ears, and even poked his eye. We're working on that one.

A two-year-old's new role

We're emphasizing with Nathan that he is a big brother and Christian is HIS little brother. We were concerned that Nathan might feel less important to us, when in reality he has become even more important to the family. He has a new role in our family - big brother.


We're letting Nathan touch and hold his baby brother, and he's enjoying it. However, Grandma Reeser is still around to give him 24 x 7 attention. So we're still cautious about his excitement. Will it wear off when grandma - his personal servant - leaves? Will Mama be able to meet his needs and Christian's? We think so. Time will tell.

Christian David Frette has arrived

The time has arrived. At 10:39am to be exact. On 8/8/08. Baby Christian came into this world in a very calm way. He cried a little, but not much. He's a very healthy baby, albeit on the small side. He's 6lbs even. That's bottom 10% for those keeping track. He's 17 inches long - again, bottom 10%.

He's very cute. Our photos are available on PhotoShelter.