Too Late, You've Already Looked

...So you might just as well read on.

I've been tagged by DooDaddy, so I've gotta do stuff. This time I will also perform an amazing trick of tagging others, unlike my last attempt when I was a blogging virgin and tagged no-one.

1. What were you doing ten years ago?

• 10 years ago I was 3 months shy of (re)meeting my girlfriend, now my wife. I was single(most of the time), and enjoying it.
  
• I was just back from a great summer spent in the United States where upon hearing I was from Ireland, one extremely wealthy lady asked me if I had ever seen a real cow.
• I was contemplating whether to continue into my 3rd year at college or not, stupidly, I did.
• I was still a teenager...for 2 further days.
  

2. What were you doing one year ago?

• I was busting my ass on a project that required too much time away from home, which continued until the end of July this year.
  
• I was not even entertaining the idea of starting a family.
• I had not even entertained the idea of moving, buying and selling homes.

3. What are five snacks you enjoy?

• Pineapple, love it, love it, love it. In fact, any or all fruit.
  
• Crisps, (potato chips) pretty much any kind, anywhere, this is a serious addiction, I have to actively ensure they do not get into our house.

These are THE BEST: I can't be bothered giving anyone a plug, but in my search for this image I've discovered that you can buy these online now... HERE ! That spells trouble for me, but I encourage you all to try one.

• Bitterballen ! a Dutch speciality, usually provided during a 'borrel' (after work drinks). Mashed potato, perhaps with mashed vegetable and some 'meat' (I wanna say beef here but...), in a ball covered in breadcrumbs and deepfried. Served with a mustard and/or sweet chilli dip. Hugely unhealthy but what the hell, it's Friday...

• That's it... I try not to 'snack', I stick to fruit and juices in a feeble attempt to get the vitamins I need and stave off the onslaught middle aged chubbiness that's hurtling towards me.

4. What are five songs you know the lyrics to?

Just FIVE? Bugger. I've estimated based on my collection, frequency of listening, factoring in old age and forgetfullness, that I probably could give you 95% of the lyrics to anywhere between 6-8 thousand songs. So you can sample 5 of my current (mood, season, breakfast all helping define 'current') favourites. I encourage you to listen. Not for the chronically depressed...

• Jolene by Ray Lamontagne. Tremendous voice from a wonderfully soft spoken man.
• "I still don't know what love means"

• The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice. In truth I could have picked almost any track from his albumn 'O'.
• "And so it is, just like you said it would be, life goes easy on me, most of the time"

• Girl in the war by Josh Ritter. Quickly becoming the closest thing I've seen to Bob Dylan.
• "I got a girl in the war boy the only thing I know to do, is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through"

• Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriella. So much talent and so much fun, I'm looking forward to their show in Amsterdam in December. (easy know the lyrics when there are none eh?)
• "Doo Di Di Diddle Di Doo Doo"

• Goodbye by Steve Earle and/or the Emmylou Harris version, so you get one where they duet. Send shivers up and down my spine.
• "Was I off somewhere, or maybe just too high, but I can't remember, if we said goodbye"
  

5. Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire

• Work on getting a 2nd million, I've already done the math, 2 million euro is what we would need to not have a care in the world for as long as we live.
• No big houses for mama, but I would clear my siblings debts.
• Set aside 52K so I could randomly hand out a grand to strangers that I think could do with some good news once a week for a year.
• Pay some magic man to get us f%^$ing pregnant !
• Then I'd do that 9 times over again, It's a shame that financial constraits restrict the family that one can have.
  

6. Five Bad Habits

• Not knowing when to shut up.
• Offering advice even after I've said I'll stop.
• I bite my nails.
• Not always speaking up when I should.
• Justifying my inaction.
  

7. Five Things You Like To Do

• Seriously, what did you think was going to go here? Horizontal Jogging, one can get quite accustomed to frequent squelchy sessions.
• See some live music, paradiso Amsterdam being simply the ultimate venue.
• Visiting places steeped in History, Istanbul, Egypt, Paris, London, New York, Memphis, New Orleans.... Facinating.
• In true Irish tradition, socialise, I feel quite empty should I not get together with a group of friends for dinner or drinks, or preferably both on a weekly basis.
• Read, 2 areas, city histories and life accounts during certain periods, and parenting stories, i.e you lot.
  

8. Five Things You Would Never Wear

• Leather Trousers
• String Vest
• Thong
• A ponytail
• A frown ! - awwwww cute eh?

9. Five Favorite Toys

This is gonna be tough, I like my gadgets but I've never been a real toy guy

• My Canon EOS 350D, if only I had the skill to capture the shots that I have in my minds eye.
  
• My Sony Vaio, I was originally sceptical, but having one forced upon me by work has melted my heart. I love it.
• The tiny hand made teddy bear that is sitting in a store in a beach side town here nearby, I hope to have a reason to bring it home soon.
  

10. Five Things You Hate To Do

As I don't have 5 toys you can have a couple extra of these...

• Sulk & see others sulk
• Wallow in self pity & see others do the same
• Attempt to sleep at night when it's bright outside
• Answer the phone late at night or early morning, it's always bad news
• See people cry, it kills me.
• Overpay when I KNOW I could get it cheaper if I just waited.
• Struggle with my Dutch, even more embarassing when it's while talking to a kid.

On refelction, the 5 songs took me longer than all the rest combined, I'm really in a music mood now again. I'm looking forward to reading the input of the 'tag-ees', especially their music choices. Drum roll please, and the nominees are DorkyDad, DadThing, 99% Mom..., Expectant Father (should he ever get the time), aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.... Monique at 40 weeks.

Go forth and multiply.

Dank Jullie Wel

Well, the little minx has returned and therefore also has the tourturous treatment of my privates.
Having said that, after a two day hiatus I was surprised at how eager we both were to get back into things.
It's quite reassuring actually that it's still bloody good fun.

Anywho... (don't you just hate people who say that?) I was just reflecting (yeup, not very busy at work today) at how much help reading these dad(& mom/mum/mammy) blogs has been.

At moments when I've been a bit down about this seemingly unending process, to be able to have a peek into the 'trivial' details of your day to day experiences as dads has been calming, reassuring and soothing for this idiot's mind.

I hope I don't have to rely on this peculiar sort of voyeurism to quench my parenting thirst for too much longer, but I'm certainly glad that it's there.

So, dudes... Dank Jullie Wel !
(thank you, plural, in Dutch, I think. Well, it's either that or I've insulted yo' mama. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.)

Wedded Bliss

Peace & Quiet...

Great isn't it? my dearest wife has scarpered off back to the emerald isle for a couple of days and left me all on my tod.

We think it may be bad timing but who the hell knows anymore, certainly not me. Anyway, it's just two days so in the long run it probably will do us good, a bit of space and a chance for my crown jewels to attend the testicular equivalent of Betty Ford's.

So, what lies ahead for these two days then ?
-A half assed botched paint job on the porch.
-An unrepaired bicycle as I neglected to get the correct measurements before heading off to buy the parts.
-Freshly packing a not-to-be-used gym bag.
-Football, football, football (Saaawker, Saaawker, Saaawker for anyone further west than Galway).
-Far too much time on PC maintenance.

Bliss.

Well, that's it frankly... it's surprising how little I have to say when I can't talk about doing the squelchy....

What Is The Catalyst

During these 'in-between' days we have a lot of spare time to think about the goings on and reflect upon them.
Something struck me today, I don't know what it is that has made me want to start a family.

Almost without exception I can justify any decision I make in life, rightly or wrongly, but there is always a reason behind it.

But this has me flumuxed.

Most guys, I would imagine, have the news thrust upon them, without having had too much to do in the decision making proces, and upon reflection, I wish I were one of them. I'd love if my wife could 'surprise' me with the news, but that will never happen as I am unfortunate enough to know every minor detail of her physical state as well as she does at this stage.

Other guys, I'm guessing, decide that they've reached a certain age, or status in life and it's the logical thing to do. This guy I'm glad I'm not, nor could ever be. I can't quantify why, but personally that decision just feels somewhat empty and void of motivation.

And then there's me, regular professional, with no substantial thought ever given to the subject and I get absolutely bowled over by the power of this emotion/longing/need/urgency.
I don't want a 'baby', I want a family. I do know that my wife and I have so much to share that it would be criminal not to do so.

All in all I don't know if it's from a selfish source in me, or even the complete opposite, but it's there, and it's growing by the day, so much so that there is a great probability that by the time any child may materialise, I may very well have exploded....

In You End - Oh !

While I've been catching up on some blog reading (check out DadThing added to my blogroll btw) I discovered something facinating..... Apparently, this blog is suitable for general audiences !

The rating is based on the use of only one term of note "Missionary". I'd be seriously buggered if I were blogging about doing the Lord's work in deepest Africa now wouldn't I....

Although now I've mentioned it again, along with 'Buggered' (damn, again..) I'm probably going to be struck off.

I feel quite chuffed with myself that terms such as horizontal jogging, innapropriate self touching, knee trembler, pale buttocks, willie in a sling, and arse & tit(!) have all been approved for old fogies and kiddies alike to enjoy.

Not only utterly bizzare in my mind but a good excuse for a bit of self promotion.

Any US TV networks needing some help beating the fascists? Feel free pay me huge sums and I'll help you guys out.

Heads up and off we go again

With the now all too familiar couple of days of misery every 4 weeks behind us, we are picking ourselves up and dusting ourselves down again for another few weeks of baby factoring.
The one 'side effect' of all this is that I find it hard to see kids out and about, especially when with their dads, it sparks a wee shot of lonesomeness every time.

But Anyway...Our schedule has changed somewhat from the early days, when it was a case of as often as possible, every single day.

As fun as that was, it's just not practical for anyone not living in a commune, so now we are looking at 2 days out of every 3. Every other day seems to be the general 'rule'.

So hopefully this schedule should maintain quality and quantity of everything required and hold off the danger of things going stale.

Our diets are reasonably good, we are getting more and more exercise, and other than the kick in the nuts once a month we are more or less stress free.

What I'm curious about is have people been able to pinpoint any one change they made in their routines that proved successful?
Was there anything you started doing that you hadn't been doing that proved crucial?

Repetition II

And again, no luck....

Repetition

And today is D-day...again....