Monster Night

10:30 After celebrating Chinese New Year with the in-laws, put the older monster down in bed. Attempted to brush her teeth, but gave up when it was clear that she was too tired to even open her mouth.

11:00 Feed second monster. Burp her. Hold her. As I feed her in the other hand I am holding the latest Time Magazine. I read about how the banks have lost billions in value.

12:00 For the last half hour I have tried to put second monster down to bed. But for some reason, this seems to always be the time she is most awake. She cries and cries until given a second feeding. This seems to be her pattern. She needs a double feeding at this hour.

2:15 Second monster is screaming for yet another feeding. Wifey is up for pumping. We do the same thing, feed and burp. By this point I"m up to the article about stem cells. Are one day embryos the moral equivalent of a six year old? Than why can you freeze embryos but not six year olds? In large part this article was a post mortem about the advances we have failed to make in this promising area of science because of lack of political will at the top. Scientists are hoping to step out of the dark ages soon.

2:30 While finishing up with the second monster, first monster begins screaming at the top of her lungs. After blowing through her regular bed time, I would have thought she would have slept through easily, but she seems to need some additional comforting. In the old days, I would have just grabbed her and dropped her in our bed, but the second monster was there at the moment and we couldn't fit both of them. I put first monster in her new big girl bed and slept with her there.

4:50 I hear Wifey calling from the other room. I need to feed the second monster again. This is payback. During the weekdays when I am working, she does most of the work at night. During the weekend, it's my turn to suffer. But she at least makes it easier by getting everything together.

6:50 Second monster again. Same thing. Too tired to read. Barely keeping my eyes open.

8:00 First monster howling. I put second monster in the pack'n play and put the first monster in our bed, but she'll have none of that. She's ready for Dora the Exporer, Cherios and milk. The day next day has begun, whether or not I've had enough sleep. And truthfully, I'm not sure the day is going to be any easier.

The times are changing

The presidential transition has been fascinating. For seemingly, the first time, someone seemed to actually want to hit the ground running and capable of doing it. He had most of his cabinet identified before the holidays. It was a sure sign of strength and seriousness about change.

So many things to fix. Everyday some other extremely qualified person was announced and given the script and mandate and many of them are already in place, changing things. And after that was done, he kept his agenda spinning in the news cycles. Already he's done things like take away the global gag order on abortion, and taken important steps to close Gitmo, and improve fuel efficiency. On the near term agenda are stem cells and hopefully, the restoration of the ban on coastal oil drilling that lapsed because of the McCain political campaign.

This stiumlus package has been interesting to watch. The Republicans really don't have any leadership at this point. If they work with the President and the Democrats, they get little of the credit. If they oppose and stall, they could be seen as obstructionists who are just trying to be contrary. And when things turn around, they'll get slammed for being unhelpful. So it's interesting to see how the Republicans handle this. Of course, it would be nice if they actually thought about what would be right for the country instead of for their own self interest, but I'm too cynical to think they're capable of that.

Counting blessings.

It isn't that there hasn't been a million things to blog about. Fascinating times are afoot as the new guy tries to go about cleaning the huge piles of steaming dung left by the old guy. But sometimes things get in the way. The little one picked up an infection and had to go back to the hospital for a second ten day stint. It was sort of scary for a few days, but she's now home and disrupting nightly slumber just as she was before the little episode. We have to count our blessings in a couple ways. Mommy was good enough to notice something was wrong. The pediatrician was good enough to notice that this wasn't a take two aspirin and call me tomorrow sort of situation, and the treating doctors were able to do what they do best effectively. From what we've picked up, it sounds like, this wasn't the most common malady seen in the NICU, but things were taken care of.

Not that everyting went perfect at the hospital. There's a lot to comment on there. There's also my desire to catch up on some of my spin on some of the recent news, but all that can wait.

It's Chinese New Years and it's just a good time to count blessings. Chief among them, is we really get to be a sleep deprived family of four now.

1 kid + 1 kid > two kids worth of work.

Like a lot of people I got up this morning and groaned at the idea of having to go back to work. Time off is nice. Maybe I'm just lazy, but given the choice, I'd rather not work for a living. I'd rather stay home and do nothing. And really, my job ain't all that bad.

Today also marks another big life event. There's a little girl who's finally leaving the hospital to take over our house. Hopefully, she'll be a good little monster. Hopefully, she'll bring us just as much joy as her big sister. Hopefully, she'll grow strong, smart, and happy. Hopefully, her parents can survive taking care of her and her sister. I think our work has just multiplied. Funny, how kid math works.

A whole new year. I resolve to be the best parent I can be.