Alright, I’ve had enough!  Why is it that when it rains it pours and when it’s sunny it’s a darn heat wave?  With baby #2 now safely home and thriving (well, actually sleeping about 18-20 hours a day right now - go ahead, be jealous), I am now ready to dig back into my work.  What I’m finding is that, by the time I get really rolling it’s already on the dark side of midnight.  I’ve decided to appeal to The Man directly:

Dear Father Time,

You suck.  For the first 8 or so years of life I hated you because I was too young to do anything cool.  For the next 7 or so years I hated you because I was too young to drive.  Once I was finally old enough to drive I hated you because I wasn’t 19 yet.  From 19 until 29 I was pretty happy.  There, I admitted it.  Now that I’ve crossed 30 and have two kids I hate you again.  Sure, for the first 19 years of life I asked you to speed things up and to shorten the days but why did you wait 29 years to listen?

Since I’m a reasonable guy I’m not going to ask for much.  All I want is for one more hour in the day.  That’s right, just add a 25th hour in the day.  Don’t worry about watches or analog clocks - they’re on their way out anyway.

And don’t play around and just try to cram 25 into the space where 24 were before - I’m on to your ways.  I’m also on to something else that may influence your decision to climb aboard the 25 hour train.  That’s right, I know about the Tooth Fairy.  If you don’t want Mother Nature to find out whose pillow she’s been visting then you’ll find a way to make this happen.

Cordially yours,

Jacob

Ok, so it’s not a compound.  But there is a new face.  My second daughter, Leila (”Laylah”) Belle, was born early Saturday morning and my wife and I couldn’t be happier.  Big sister Ella seems very excited and has attempted to be very helpful around the house.  At a little over 4 years old, that help often ends in more work for the ‘rents but I love the effort.

Leila was a week late but it was clear that she was just staying where she liked the food.  She was born at 4230 grams, or 9lbs 5oz.  She’s as cute as a button and very curious.

Now my wife and I are fully engulfed in the mystical art of deciphering what the hell this baby needs.  My mother bought us a DVD called The Dunstan Baby Language.  If you haven’t heard of this before and have an infant at home, it is definitely worth checking out.  The Reader’s Digest version is that this lady in Australia was born with a gift for being able to identify sounds and recreate them after one hearing (”a photographic memory for sounds” they call it).  When she had her first child she discovered that he was repeating the same basic sounds and, after some research, discovered that it was virtually universal among human infants.  She was on Oprah.  Yes, I’m the last to hear about her.  I don’t watch Oprah - sue me.

Let me tell you this, when you watch the DVD it looks foolproof.  If you manage to hear the sound in your own child you feel like a genius.  If, like me, your child seems to make every sound other than the basic sounds on the DVD you feel very frustrated.  Right now I’m about 3 for 12.  It’s better than 0 for 12 but I do hope it gets easier…