i'm not a fad follower, let me tell you, but i admit it - i play fantasy football. after dismissing the idea for years (why would i want to root for non-patriots?), last year a co-worker finally talked me into trying it (obviously before i became a sahd). actually, i think playing fantasy has made me a better fan. i know so much more about the league than i did before. i appreciate the strenghts and weaknesses of my pats more than i did before.
my rookie year in fantasy spoiled me. i had watched the the pats' offseason moves, acquiring welker, moss and stallworth and correctly predicted a banner year for tom brady. i drafted him, welker, gostowski and the patriots dst and cruised to the playoffs at 13-1-0, only to lose the league championship.
this year has been harder. i ran 4 teams in 4 leagues this season. using the same off-season/pre-season predictive method i guessed that the jets offense would be much improved, and drafted thomas jones and lavernues coles in all leagues. i also went for marion barber, michael turner and deangelo willliams. i picked up welker and gostowski again in three leagues. i started the year with pats and panthers dsts, but went to the jets dst after the pats terrible first showing against the dolphins. qbs were kind of an afterthought, but i was lucky enough to pick up jay cutler in late rounds and matt cassel off of waivers. i shuffle my lineup a lot. i'm quick to play the waiver wire. last year this netted me ryan grant and adrian petersen (the good one). this year my big waiver score was eddie royal.
on the whole, i had a solid draft and didn't lose any significant players to injury for most of the season. in 4 leagues, 56 total games i was a cumulative 33-22-1. i was at least .500 in all leagues. as of this weekend, i had already qualified for the playoffs in one league, and needed a win to get in the other three. sadly, i did not win out, and only 2 of my teams made the playoffs.
half the game is knowing when to play who. i would have won another dozen games across my 4 leagues if i'd played the right guy at the right time. like last week, when i started marion barber over deangelo williams and left 22 points on the bench. i had added and dropped kevin walter 4 different times, but never managed to play him on one of his huge days. it goes like that sometimes.
the lineups for my playoff qualifiers are very similar. my flagship unit, patriot act, has at qb jake delhomme (vDEN) and chad pennington (vSF) and i don't know which to start. i have marion barber and thomas jones at rb. my wrs are welker, coles, terrel owens, marques colston and lance moore. te sheffler has been spotty this season. my kicker is john carney and my dsts are jets and panthers. my second qualifier, patriot act iii has a marquis qb in jay cutler. i have jones and deangelo williams at rb. my wrs in this league are second rate, with eddie royal, mushin muhammad, braylon edwards (total bust this year), vincent jackson (who i failed to play this week when he had 20 pts) and jericho cotchery. my te is the serviceable rookie john carlson who has a great matchup this coming week (vSTL). my kicker and both dsts the same as the flagship team. if anyone reads this blog other than my wife, and cares to offer opinions as to whom i should start, i'd appreciate the advice.
so yeah, i guess i'm hooked now. i'm daddy x, and i'm a fantasy football addict. wish me luck.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
birthday
baby d will be 18 months old this week. 18 months away from the night of blood and pain when he was cut loose from mamarama.
there had been a placental abruption. both of them were in mortal danger. i stood by the OR door, my view of mama obscured by half-a-dozen strangers in medical gowns. i couldn't see my wife, but i saw a lot of her blood. i remember watching a nurse moving round the table, counter-clockwise, collecting absorbent pads sodden with blood, with mama's blood, putting them in a sack. i remember wondering- "where does all the blood go?" it was a "routine" emergency c-section i was told as nurses came in and out, and not too worry. what in the hell is a "routine emergency"? i wonder if medicos realize how ridiculous they sound when they tell you not to worry? did they imagine i'd just go grab a cup of coffee and the newspaper? i've never felt so helpless. then i heard the baby cry, and felt so relieved i cried myself.
he was so, so tiny, gray and slick with gore. the pedes brought him out of the OR into the anteroom where i waited. he wailed as they wiped him down and warmed him with i swear-to-god some kind of hair dryer. they wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me. i said hello to my son for the first time, and he stopped crying immediately. he stared at me wide-eyed, listening as quiet, soothing nonsense spilled out of my mouth. it was gut wrenching when they took him away to be weighed, measured, rested. i stayed by the door to the OR for another hour, until the doctor came out to say mama would be fine. i went then to the nursery to hold baby d again, introducing myself to this strangely alert, wizened creature so suddenly become a central concern of my life. it was another three hours before mama was put together enough to hold him, and three more before she was alert enough to want to. we were all together then, all breathing the same air for the first time.
18 months. The days race by. every day his understanding astounds me. he's the same quiet, watchful baby i met on day one. his growing physical ability nurtures his curiosity. he gnaws on everything. he's headstrong. the next 18 months will (god willing) bring speech, and 10,000 questions. why is fire hot? why do i have to wear shoes? why is up up? maybe someday, he'll ask what it was like on the night he was born. in the meantime, he'd like me to read him another book, thank you.
there had been a placental abruption. both of them were in mortal danger. i stood by the OR door, my view of mama obscured by half-a-dozen strangers in medical gowns. i couldn't see my wife, but i saw a lot of her blood. i remember watching a nurse moving round the table, counter-clockwise, collecting absorbent pads sodden with blood, with mama's blood, putting them in a sack. i remember wondering- "where does all the blood go?" it was a "routine" emergency c-section i was told as nurses came in and out, and not too worry. what in the hell is a "routine emergency"? i wonder if medicos realize how ridiculous they sound when they tell you not to worry? did they imagine i'd just go grab a cup of coffee and the newspaper? i've never felt so helpless. then i heard the baby cry, and felt so relieved i cried myself.
he was so, so tiny, gray and slick with gore. the pedes brought him out of the OR into the anteroom where i waited. he wailed as they wiped him down and warmed him with i swear-to-god some kind of hair dryer. they wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me. i said hello to my son for the first time, and he stopped crying immediately. he stared at me wide-eyed, listening as quiet, soothing nonsense spilled out of my mouth. it was gut wrenching when they took him away to be weighed, measured, rested. i stayed by the door to the OR for another hour, until the doctor came out to say mama would be fine. i went then to the nursery to hold baby d again, introducing myself to this strangely alert, wizened creature so suddenly become a central concern of my life. it was another three hours before mama was put together enough to hold him, and three more before she was alert enough to want to. we were all together then, all breathing the same air for the first time.
18 months. The days race by. every day his understanding astounds me. he's the same quiet, watchful baby i met on day one. his growing physical ability nurtures his curiosity. he gnaws on everything. he's headstrong. the next 18 months will (god willing) bring speech, and 10,000 questions. why is fire hot? why do i have to wear shoes? why is up up? maybe someday, he'll ask what it was like on the night he was born. in the meantime, he'd like me to read him another book, thank you.
Friday, December 5, 2008
anniversary
tuesday marked the third anniversary of the day i met my wonderful wife, mama x. some people mark their wedding anniversary (which, in our case would have been our second, on 11/20 i think). oddly we prefer to observe our first date, on 12/2 because we like the numbers better. this year, we decided to forego any expensive gifts in favor of a lovely new rug in baby d's bedroom, which i thought a little strange, but was happy to go along with. you see, dear reader, i had already been planning for a couple of weeks to make her a native american totem painting, which wouldn't cost more than $20 in materials. it was to be a turtle, a native american symbol of feminine power, health, and longevity. it was intended to be a healing totem.
mama had a scheduled trip to boston on the day of our anniversary, and with a sickling baby, it was decided best that d and i not travel with her this trip. though i'd sorely love to see boston at christmas time, i also had planned to work on her anniversary gift while she was away. my efforts were delayed by yet another day when mama's flight was cancelled on sunday, so i had only two days to complete the project. it's difficult to work on such a project with baby d awake. he's a very insular, introspective baby sometimes, but he whats what he wants when he wants it (like mama?) and i spend a lot of his waking hours reading to him, or spinning things for him, or feeding, or changing...the list goes on. in short- i had only the boo's sleeping hours to work on it. so in twelve hours over two nights i threw myself into measuring angles and swinging arcs and fine detail painting with very small brushes. i mixed colors in bad light. my back hurt and my hands cramped and i'm grumpy without adequate sleep, but i got it done with two hours to spare before mama got home. two hours i used cleaning up the house and preparing a tasty dinner for her.
mama predictably arrived exhausted. she saw the totem painting on the kitchen table, thanked me for it, and then changed into slouch clothes and turned on the tv because that relaxes her.
and that's fine. really. i don't need or expect gushing thanks for a painting on our anniversary. the painting was my way of thanking her for how hard she works every day to provide for me and d. to thank her for being a thoughtful and loving partner. to thank her for being my wife.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
patriotism
three weeks left in the nfl regular season, and the playoff picture is uncertain, to put it mildly. 20 of 32 teams are still in contention for the 12 playoff berths. we're pats fans here in household x, and got all geared up for a pats/steelers game. we went to a pats fan club meeting at a local pub, which might be somewhat surprising for central nc. hell, it's surprising anywhere. pats fans, being new englanders, are generally a dour, taciturn bunch. or maybe that's just me. it didn't help that the steelers #1 defense stuffed the rush, pressured our surprisingly good backup qb, and randy moss blew an easy td reception. twice. what's most surprising then, is that sitting with family x in a room full of frowning yankees decked out in red, white and blue was still a lot of fun. sadly, we had to leave early to get mama x to the airport for a flight that ended up being canceled anyway. daddy x will post on the evils of airlines another time.in truth, these have been good times to be a pats fan. since the 2001 season, the pats have been a dominant force in the nfl. they've gone to the playoffs six times in seven years, the afc championship 5 times, the superbowl 4 times, and won the lombardi trophy thrice. it's been a helluva run. we'd be right back in the mix had our mvp gq qb not been downed for the season with a knee injury in the 1st qtr of the 1st game this season. still, we have most of the offense that set an nfl scoring record while having the 1st undefeated regular season in 35 years. so happily we remain one of those 20 teams in contention.
there are a lot of bandwagon pats fan these days. a lot star-struck brady-chasers who are more concerned with tabloid news of baby "jet" than they are with the pats win/loss ratio. i say welcome to them, but remind them that it wasn't always like this. when i was a child, the pats were known as the "patsies", and were the joke of an afc east that featured dan marino's fins. i had a pats lunchbox when they took grog in the 1st round in '76 and he turned them from a 3-11 team to an 11-3 team. i remember the crushing defeat of superbowl XX when we got "shuffled" by da bears. i was living in north carolina when there was talk of moving the pats, when bob kraft saved the franchise (all hail robert kraft, the smartest owner in football!) and made drew blesdoe the #1 pick of the '93 draft and the new face of a resurgent team. i watched drew lead the team to 4 playoff runs and go toe-to-toe with brett favre for 3/4 of the '96 superbowl. then i watched as bledsoe spent three years as a tackle-dummy for opposing defenses because of chronic offensive line injuries. many pats fans were skeptical of the young backup tom brady when he took the reins after mo lewis took out bledsoe in the second game of 2001 season. but after watching #11 getting knocked down for three years, i thought brady was electric. his record now stands for itself. the patriots have built a dynasty that stands with the steelers and the cowboys of past decades, in an age when the nfl does all it can to discourage dynasties. yes, the cracks are showing. we still lack a dominant rb. we keep losing quality cornerbacks to free agency (sure miss lawyer and law!). our starting linebackers are getting old. still, we have the best coach in professional football, maybe the best since lombardi himself (sorry, tom landry). we have a front office that selects and grooms players with uncommon wisdom. and next season, our future hall-of-fame qb will return, refreshed. the glory days of the patriots are right now, and there's plenty of room on the bandwagon.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
backyard wildlife
so if you happen to be an interested reader of this site, take a look along the right side at the backyard wildlife. it'll change from time to time as i catch a good pic of some interesting critter here in the yard. it's a common enough occurence. just this morning, a redtail hawk with a 40" wigspan (est) slammed his face into the front window. left a streak of spit. flew away instantly. crazy. he had just missed a young squirrel who looked to die of a heart attack. there are a dozen insolent, indolent squirrels in the yard, and i don't begrudge such a magnificent bird a furry meal.
there's a pair of cooper's hawks that call this end of the street home, which can be rough on songbirds. still, there are jays and cardinals, orioles and juncoes, grackels and crows and house sparrows. there are resident wrens, so bold as to nest by the front door. one cold winter night i saw an owl on a limb over the driveway.
there's a herd of deer that come by here from time to time. ones and twos this time of year, threes and fives in the spring and summer. i haven't seen the big 12 pt buck since the developers clear cut the 40 acres of woods that used to abut our yard, but the does can still be seen almost daily.
so when the yappy little dog (puppy e) points out a new invader in the night-time yard, we're not surprised to see a young opposum hoping that we're not interested in making a meal of him, as he's really got no outs. he was good enough to sit quite still while i snapped a dozen shots of him trying to get a decent one. and there it is, the latest backyard wildlife.
there's a pair of cooper's hawks that call this end of the street home, which can be rough on songbirds. still, there are jays and cardinals, orioles and juncoes, grackels and crows and house sparrows. there are resident wrens, so bold as to nest by the front door. one cold winter night i saw an owl on a limb over the driveway.
there's a herd of deer that come by here from time to time. ones and twos this time of year, threes and fives in the spring and summer. i haven't seen the big 12 pt buck since the developers clear cut the 40 acres of woods that used to abut our yard, but the does can still be seen almost daily.
so when the yappy little dog (puppy e) points out a new invader in the night-time yard, we're not surprised to see a young opposum hoping that we're not interested in making a meal of him, as he's really got no outs. he was good enough to sit quite still while i snapped a dozen shots of him trying to get a decent one. and there it is, the latest backyard wildlife.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
trivia
so lately i've developed a trivia habit. for years, mama x and i have gotten out when we could to play pub trivia. the x family team is called the damn (damned, damn the) yankees. we are a respected trivia team here in the nc wilderness, for what that's worth. still, with mama x working so damned much, and little baby d being sickish, and baby sitters so hard to come by we just don't get out much.
i've been feeding my trivia jones by trying to pen questions for the local trivia game . i've been surfing the net absorbing random knowledge, and trying to distill it into interesting and informative questions. i've played against these same teams for 5 years now, and i've got a pretty good feel for the depth and breadth of knowledge of teams like mad dog, chris and ann, the corner lunatics, and uranus. i came up with 30 or so questions, set them up with rhythym and meter, and submitted them to the guy who reads the trivia on saturday nights. and he rejected them. said they were too hard. really, i was a little heartbroken...:(
so i decided to let you, dear reader, determine for yourself whether these trivia questions are outrageous. bear in mind that i'm aiming to make the winning score 15 or so. answers follow.
Q: What element is indicated by Rn on the periodic table?
2) Q: Who was the 1st tourist in space?
3) Q: Which two Presidents signed the US Constitution (bonus: 1 pt. for each) ?
4) Q: What is the name of the protagonist in the classic "Catcher in the Rye"?
5) Q: Who is the #2 leading scorer in NHL history?
6) Q: What is the world's largest freshwater lake (by volume)?
7) Q: How many Academy Awards has Brad Pitt won?
8) Beer Question!! Q: If you are the airport designated "WAT" what city and country are you in?
9) Q: Where did the future king David reportedly slay the giant Goliath?
10) Q: According to Billboard magazine, what is the #1 selling album of all time?
11) Q: Who was the first man to win 3 consecutive NASCAR cup titles?
12) Q: Who played "Gopher" on The Love Boat?
13) Q: What kind of gun, specifically, did John Wlikes Booth use to kill President Lincoln?
14) Q: Who was the 1st US President to have a Christmas tree in the White House?
15) Q: How many games did each team play in the 1982 NFL regular season?
16) Q: What language gives us the word "candy"?
17) Q: What is the name of the Native American tribe who shared the 1st Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims?
18) Q: What two teams played the longest professional baseball game in history? (bonus: how many innings? bonus: what was the score?)
19) Q: What year was the Alaska Pipeline finished?
20) Q: What classic rock anthem is honored with a sculpture in Montreaux, Switzerland?
21) Q: What historical event occurred on July 16th, 1945, at what is now White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico?
22) Q: You thought you'd never have to do this again, didn't you? But here it is - algebra. 3x+34=2x+89. Solve for x.
23) Q: What is the common name for the constellation Cygnus?
24) Beer Question!! Q: What is the capitol of Madagascar?
25) Q: What is the smallest member of the family Camelidae?
26) Q: Who wrote Winnie the Pooh?
27) Q: Which indigenous people were decimated and displaced after the 1675-1676 King Phillip's War?
28) Q: The NC state motto is " Esse Quam Videri". What does it mean?
29) Q: What year did the Dow Jones Industrial Average first close above 1,000?
30) Q: Who is known as "the father of modern Astronomy"? .
Tie Breaker, in three parts, each worth 1 pt:
1) Multiple choice- What year was the 1st postage stamp issued?
a) 1760 b) 1840 c) 1910
2) What country issued it?
3) What is depicted on it?
Answers:
1) Radon
2) Dennis Tito, a Californian businessman
3) George Washington & James Madison
4) Holden Caulfield
5) Mark Messier
6) Lake Baikal in Siberia. It contains more water than all of the Great Lakes combined.
7) None. He was nominated in 1995 for his supporting role in Twelve Monkeys.
8) Waterford, Ireland
9) The valley of Elah.
10) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
11) Cale Yarborough
12) Fred Gandy
13) A derringer pistol.
14) Franklin Pierce.
15) 9
16) Arabic "qandi" is derived from the Persian "qand" (sugar). Arabic & Persian both acceptable.
17) The Wampanoag. (about whom, dear reader, there are sure to be future posts..)
18) The Pawtucket Red Sox hosted the Rochester Red Wings on April 18, 1981. The game went 33 innings. Sox won, 2-1. (a game, dear reader, that daddy x attended with his uncle, an avid baseball fan. the child x became cryingly tired and was turned off of baseball for a good many years afterward)
19) 1977
20) Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple.
21) The Trinity test, 1st test of of a nuclear weapon.
22) x=55 (ok, maybe this one was really just sadistic, but i intenede it to be a reminder to us all how we let things we used to know just slip away...)
23) The Swan.
24) Antananarivo. (look, if the beer question is too easy, the owner doesn't invite you back)
25) A: The South American vicuna.
26) Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne.
27) The Wampanoag. (this was both ironic and predictable. anyone who got #17 could probably intuit the answer here as well)
28) "To be, rather than to seem". (did i mention that we live in nc? i assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that schoolchilden would be taught this motto, and it was a creampuff question.)
29) 1972
30) Galileo Galilee
i've been feeding my trivia jones by trying to pen questions for the local trivia game . i've been surfing the net absorbing random knowledge, and trying to distill it into interesting and informative questions. i've played against these same teams for 5 years now, and i've got a pretty good feel for the depth and breadth of knowledge of teams like mad dog, chris and ann, the corner lunatics, and uranus. i came up with 30 or so questions, set them up with rhythym and meter, and submitted them to the guy who reads the trivia on saturday nights. and he rejected them. said they were too hard. really, i was a little heartbroken...:(
so i decided to let you, dear reader, determine for yourself whether these trivia questions are outrageous. bear in mind that i'm aiming to make the winning score 15 or so. answers follow.
Q: What element is indicated by Rn on the periodic table?
2) Q: Who was the 1st tourist in space?
3) Q: Which two Presidents signed the US Constitution (bonus: 1 pt. for each) ?
4) Q: What is the name of the protagonist in the classic "Catcher in the Rye"?
5) Q: Who is the #2 leading scorer in NHL history?
6) Q: What is the world's largest freshwater lake (by volume)?
7) Q: How many Academy Awards has Brad Pitt won?
8) Beer Question!! Q: If you are the airport designated "WAT" what city and country are you in?
9) Q: Where did the future king David reportedly slay the giant Goliath?
10) Q: According to Billboard magazine, what is the #1 selling album of all time?
11) Q: Who was the first man to win 3 consecutive NASCAR cup titles?
12) Q: Who played "Gopher" on The Love Boat?
13) Q: What kind of gun, specifically, did John Wlikes Booth use to kill President Lincoln?
14) Q: Who was the 1st US President to have a Christmas tree in the White House?
15) Q: How many games did each team play in the 1982 NFL regular season?
16) Q: What language gives us the word "candy"?
17) Q: What is the name of the Native American tribe who shared the 1st Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims?
18) Q: What two teams played the longest professional baseball game in history? (bonus: how many innings? bonus: what was the score?)
19) Q: What year was the Alaska Pipeline finished?
20) Q: What classic rock anthem is honored with a sculpture in Montreaux, Switzerland?
21) Q: What historical event occurred on July 16th, 1945, at what is now White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico?
22) Q: You thought you'd never have to do this again, didn't you? But here it is - algebra. 3x+34=2x+89. Solve for x.
23) Q: What is the common name for the constellation Cygnus?
24) Beer Question!! Q: What is the capitol of Madagascar?
25) Q: What is the smallest member of the family Camelidae?
26) Q: Who wrote Winnie the Pooh?
27) Q: Which indigenous people were decimated and displaced after the 1675-1676 King Phillip's War?
28) Q: The NC state motto is " Esse Quam Videri". What does it mean?
29) Q: What year did the Dow Jones Industrial Average first close above 1,000?
30) Q: Who is known as "the father of modern Astronomy"? .
Tie Breaker, in three parts, each worth 1 pt:
1) Multiple choice- What year was the 1st postage stamp issued?
a) 1760 b) 1840 c) 1910
2) What country issued it?
3) What is depicted on it?
Answers:
1) Radon
2) Dennis Tito, a Californian businessman
3) George Washington & James Madison
4) Holden Caulfield
5) Mark Messier
6) Lake Baikal in Siberia. It contains more water than all of the Great Lakes combined.
7) None. He was nominated in 1995 for his supporting role in Twelve Monkeys.
8) Waterford, Ireland
9) The valley of Elah.
10) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
11) Cale Yarborough
12) Fred Gandy
13) A derringer pistol.
14) Franklin Pierce.
15) 9
16) Arabic "qandi" is derived from the Persian "qand" (sugar). Arabic & Persian both acceptable.
17) The Wampanoag. (about whom, dear reader, there are sure to be future posts..)
18) The Pawtucket Red Sox hosted the Rochester Red Wings on April 18, 1981. The game went 33 innings. Sox won, 2-1. (a game, dear reader, that daddy x attended with his uncle, an avid baseball fan. the child x became cryingly tired and was turned off of baseball for a good many years afterward)
19) 1977
20) Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple.
21) The Trinity test, 1st test of of a nuclear weapon.
22) x=55 (ok, maybe this one was really just sadistic, but i intenede it to be a reminder to us all how we let things we used to know just slip away...)
23) The Swan.
24) Antananarivo. (look, if the beer question is too easy, the owner doesn't invite you back)
25) A: The South American vicuna.
26) Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne.
27) The Wampanoag. (this was both ironic and predictable. anyone who got #17 could probably intuit the answer here as well)
28) "To be, rather than to seem". (did i mention that we live in nc? i assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that schoolchilden would be taught this motto, and it was a creampuff question.)
29) 1972
30) Galileo Galilee
Bonus:
part 1): b) 1840.
part 2): Great Britain (England).
part 3): Known as a "Black Penny", it sported an austere portrait of Queen Victoria.
so if you happen to be somewhere in nc saturday night, playing trivia at your local pub, maybe you'll hear one of these questions...
but likely not because the trivia reader says they're too tough, creampuff.
Friday, November 14, 2008
sick
family x is sick. i had thought that mama x had brought a bug home from her last business trip, but it turns out that a nasty strain of bronchitis/sinusitis is going around here lately, so i don't suppose it's all her fault. mama came down with it last week, starting a a sore throat, and progressing to a nasty cough, an intermittent fever, raging sinus headaches and general exhaustion. she tried bravely to fight through it, but it's worn her down, and for the first time in years, she actually missed work for being ill.
and then baby d got it. he spent three days with a face full of snot, a mild fever, lethargy and a generally crappy mood. the poor thing spent days so congested that he was forced to breathe through his mouth, looking like a fish out of water. there were some nights with fever, and we considered dragging him into the ped's office. in the end, we were more concerned about exposing the boo to a roomful of sick kids than we were about his fever, and we got by with an infant analgesic. still, his misery led to several mostly sleepless night for daddy x, with the natural result...
..daddy x is sick. i got a raw, throaty cough, intermittent fever, stuffy head...the usual suspects. this morning i couldn't manage more than a hoarse croak. worst of it might be this: the congestion seems to have invaded my ears. i seem to have half my hearing in my left ear, and a third in my right. i'm talking too loud, which hurts my throat more, and saying "what?" often. mama x is also hoarse from coughing, and it pains her to speak up as well. she can't talk, i can't hear, and our troubled communication is compounding the days of illness and exhaustion. fortunately, we're both too damned tired to fight about it.
baby d was the first of us to get over it. i suppose that he's had more rest than his parents, so it shouldn't be a surprise. he's gone back to being the bright, active, inquisitive little boo that we know and love, while we shuffle around like sniffling zombies. of course, this frustrates him, as he's accustomed to a certain amount of parental interaction. as i lay on the couch, dying by degrees, he's pestering me for a story. i fear that if i get down on the floor with him i'll be unable to get back up.
i don't know how to end this post, dear reader. i don't know when we'll feel better, but i pray it's soon. send kind thoughts and chicken soup recipes...
and then baby d got it. he spent three days with a face full of snot, a mild fever, lethargy and a generally crappy mood. the poor thing spent days so congested that he was forced to breathe through his mouth, looking like a fish out of water. there were some nights with fever, and we considered dragging him into the ped's office. in the end, we were more concerned about exposing the boo to a roomful of sick kids than we were about his fever, and we got by with an infant analgesic. still, his misery led to several mostly sleepless night for daddy x, with the natural result...
..daddy x is sick. i got a raw, throaty cough, intermittent fever, stuffy head...the usual suspects. this morning i couldn't manage more than a hoarse croak. worst of it might be this: the congestion seems to have invaded my ears. i seem to have half my hearing in my left ear, and a third in my right. i'm talking too loud, which hurts my throat more, and saying "what?" often. mama x is also hoarse from coughing, and it pains her to speak up as well. she can't talk, i can't hear, and our troubled communication is compounding the days of illness and exhaustion. fortunately, we're both too damned tired to fight about it.
baby d was the first of us to get over it. i suppose that he's had more rest than his parents, so it shouldn't be a surprise. he's gone back to being the bright, active, inquisitive little boo that we know and love, while we shuffle around like sniffling zombies. of course, this frustrates him, as he's accustomed to a certain amount of parental interaction. as i lay on the couch, dying by degrees, he's pestering me for a story. i fear that if i get down on the floor with him i'll be unable to get back up.
i don't know how to end this post, dear reader. i don't know when we'll feel better, but i pray it's soon. send kind thoughts and chicken soup recipes...
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