just being christian

Heading out the door in 2 min to go to the Royals game, and I’m super pumped.  Not only is it going to be beautiful outside, but it’s Zachary’s first game and The Don is on the mound.

Elli is very excited as well.  She just got her first baseball mit (bright pink), so she’s been warming up.  We busted out Stacy’s old glove as well to help with the catch games.  I’ll be sporting old blue today, but only because Stacy passed on the opportunity during a conversation we had this morning:

Me: Are you taking your glove to the game today?

Stacy: Uhhhh.  No.  I’m going to be a little busy with the baby.

Me: Yeah, but we’re in foul ball territory.  If a foul ball hits him in the head because you don’t have a glove on, everyone is going to boo you when they see it on the jumbotron. “Booooo that bad parent!!!”

Stacy: Yeah.  Or they’ll just boo me because we’re taking a three-week-old to a baseball game.

Valid point.  I think we are good parents, but let’s put it up for vote.

are we bad parents for taking a three-week-old to his first royals game?
(polls)

We’re a little over two weeks into our new adventure of having kiddos.  Plural.  It’s been a challenge, though not as big a challenge as it could have been.  We’ll take it.

The most striking part of the past two weeks has been the amount of time we spend tending to baby Zachary’s needs.  Pretty much all of it.  Making sure his little bum is properly lotioned so that he doesn’t get sores.  We do everything possible to maximize his eating so that he puts on the requisite ounces each day.  We talk to him.  We give him kisses (16,396 thus far by my count, including two dozen from the dog).  It’s all about the baby.

It’s such a contrast to Elli’s first weeks.  12 of them in the hospital.  Another slew in the orphanage.  One of the enduring images of her is the picture of her sitting in a crib, her waist engulfed by a diaper disproportionately larger than her tiny frame.  But life at the orphanage is one where your diaper doesn’t get changed that often, so they load you up to keep your messes from leaking all over the crib.

Very little physical contact.  Hardly any social interaction.  An inability at nine months old to even grasp a toy or hold her own head up for any sustained period of time.

As it stands today, you wouldn’t be able to guess her past was so bitter.  I was just remarking that I can’t believe she’s still two years away from kindergarden.  She’s smart and vibrant and a lot of fun to be around.

Not that I’d suggest parents give their children the same treatment she got as an infant.  Research, and common sense for that matter, point to stunting that can happen when kids don’t get appropriate stimulation in their early months.  But God has been exceedingly gracious to that child.  We really can’t take a whole lot of credit as parents.  Left simply to our devices, she’d probably be fine but it’s unlikely she’d be amazing.

So two weeks in, and I’m thankful. Very thankful for the two weeks Zachary has experienced.  Thankful for who Elli is despite the first two weeks she experienced.

Renew and Restore

This site is all about keepin’ it real. Letting my true self shine through and being transparent about what I do and who I am. I’ve been very happy with how things have gone since I came over to this site, and it’s accomplishing what I want it to accomplish.

But as much as I want to keep it real, there is also a part of me that wants to keep it fake. I’ve always loved Star Wars, and I’ve grown to be quite the avid Royals fan. The idea of developing a superfan persona has been percolating for a while, and it is now coming to fruition.

I’m not going to spill all the beans in this space. But I will say that this alterego of mine has a blog. And a Twitter account. And a Facebook page.

What will come of all this? My hope is a whole lot of fun. People who blog about baseball tend to be a serious bunch focused on complex computation and statistical analysis. My main goal is to be a good fan and be funny. I’m not good at crunching numbers, but I can do fanaticism and humor.

What I can also do is multitask. I can do that site and this one at the same time. No worries there. The biggest problem I face now is figuring out where to find a professional grade costume so that I can head to a couple of games in full regalia. That would be so fly.

Renew and Restore

Friday Funkfest. A recurring (almost weekly) flurry of quick hits, links, videos and thoughts. Clearly, the best way to waste time at work spend your lunch hour each and (almost) every Friday.

I know Mother’s Day was last week, but I wasn’t really posting at that time and I LOVE this video.  My mom sent it to me a couple of years back, and it’s still one of my top two favorite internet videos of all time.  Not quite making the cut in my top two is Mr. T rapping about mothers with no regard for his own dignity.

• Lots of analysis this week on The Decline of the Conservative Intellectual. I don’t have the intellectual capacity to argue against a judge, but I think the discussion is interesting.
• With all the pirate drama in the news lately, one blogger ponders the appropriateness of pirate nicknames in sports.  I say get rid of them all.  Unless there is a team out there nicknamed the scaliwags.  We should definately keep that around.
• Just another friendly reminder that Reality TV isn’t as real as it appears, and what that has to say to drug companies.
• It pains me to admit it, but perhaps Scott Boras isn’t as bad as initially thought.   Still pretty bad.  Probably 89%.
• Admit it.  We could all use a little more bad poetry in life.
• One of my favorite new entries to my Google Reader is HipHopLaw.com .  This past week they detailed the fallout when a prominent rapper got caught wearing knockoff sunglasses on the cover of a prominent hip hop magazine.  And they also explained why record companies shouldn’t be so quick to feak out when people illegally download music.
• Funny kid story time.  Elli has been a very encouraging big sister.   Doing an amazing amount of encouraging and comforting baby Zachary.  Since we brought him home, we’ve mostly been keeping him in those newborn nightgowns.  They are like a one-piece bag that has an open bottom, and is super convenient for changing diapers because you don’t have to mess with pants.  Well, the other day she was being a good big sister and “helping” me change his diaper.  She looks at him and says, “Hey, buddy.  Nice dress.”  He was less than impressed.

Tweet of the Week: that trip to the bathroom was the exact opposite of what just happened at cape canaveral. except for the smoke, which was present at both. (@bryanallain)

Lyric of the Week:

We are building a religion
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors
And adding more lanes

We are building a religion
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers
For these pendant key chains

Comfort Eagle by Cake

Three or four times each year I read something from Leonard Pitts that is so good it gives me occasion to gush about how much I enjoy his writing. He is the one who inspired me to throw my name into the hat to write a handful of pieces for The Kansas City Star Last year, and he is one of two columnists I can’t wait to read in the paper each week. For a while he is the only one, but now there is another.

David Brooks is my other favorite columnist, and he is also my favorite conservative. I actually didn’t know him as a columnist initially. I first encountered him on PBS where he does commentary on a handful of their news programs. He always came across as measured, insightful and wise. Usually the smartest guy in the room, but never acting like he knew that to be the case.

I’ve found all of those things to be true about Mr. Brooks’ writing as well. But the thing that really draws me to him is that he, much like Mr. Pitts, has the best interest of the country in mind. You can’t say that about very many people who are paid to give their opinions and analysis. They tend to try so hard to be profound or provocative that they loose all their sense. They are more about preserving a brand than about saying things that are actually meaningful and helpful.

Brooks isn’t that. He reminds me of the things I like about the GOP. He helps me root for a strong GOP, because a USA with two strong and wise parties will rise higher than one with parties that are always imbalanced and acting in ways that are populist and reactionary.

Look, the guy sticks to his ideals. He advocates for personal responsibility and hard work. But he also knows when his party is on the ropes, and he knows how to honestly talk about what the GOP needs to do if it is going to right the ship.

I don’t know if the movers and shakers in Washington pay attention to Mr. Books. I hope they do, but it’s tough saying. When the White House gets in peeing matches with Rush Limbaugh and CPAC is falling all over itself when the cat comes to talk, we’re not seeing indications that those like Mr. Brooks are getting a lot of traction.

(Before I get blown up with angry comments, know that I’m no fan of MSNBC either.  In fact, I find some of the shows uncomfortable to watch at times.)

Too bad we are more likely to listen to the loudest guy in the room than we are to listen to the smartest.

Oh, and not to be outdone, Mr. Pitts wrote the best column I’ve read in a long time this week.  It’s a must read.

Renew and Restore

That video is perhaps the greatest smackdown of High School Musical to date.  I found it while watching videos with Elli on the Sesame Street website (which is absolutely fantastic for those with wee ones), and I had to watch it three times in a row.

Parodies are free flowing from The Street.  But they usually have a little different tone.  Not reverence, exactly.  But at least respectful ribbing.  The kind of parody you do when you actually watch the shows and like them.  They’ve successfully made funny and educational shorts based off of 30 Rock, Law and Order and Grey’s Anatomy.

But this is a smackdown.  It’s almost like they invited the writers from The Simpsons to come on and pen a G-Rated spoof.  And the best part is that Disney Channel has no viable comeback.  If you pick on The Street you end up looking like a big  jerk.  The Street wins by virtue of TKO.

I don’t feel too bad for the High School Musical franchise, however.  That  thing is straight printing money.  So much so that people are blatantly thieving the name of the series, while at the same time plagiarising the plot from Sister Act.  I guess the Christians who put together Sunday School Musical don’t know that one of the Ten Commandments tells us not to steal.

Renew and Restore

It’s official.  Zachary is here and we are thrilled.  Mommy and baby are doing well, and Elli is proving herself to be an awesome big sister.

I’m sure some of you are wondering why it’s taking so long for the first Zachary entry to hit the site.  Or why there were exactly zero tweets during labor and immediately following Zachary’s birth.  Clearly, I have no aversion to posting thoughts and events on the world wide interweb.

Stacy, on the other hand, is a tad more introverted.  When she realized how much I’ve been tweeting, she quickly informed me that she didn’t want Zachary’s birth liveblogged.  I thought it was a fair request.  In my mind, the person who carries the baby and gives birth to the baby gets to call the shots.  So I made like a reporter at the Beijing Olympics and was good with the fact that my online presence would be quieter than usual.

But now it’s time for some thoughts.  My mom asked me a really good question as I was talking to her on the phone right after Zachary arrived.  She wanted to know what surprised me most about the event.  It was interesting to ponder, because the build up to Zachary’s birth had been filled with so many expectations while at the same time being a huge unknown.

My initial reaction was that Stacy’s level of calm was unreal.  She’s always a very gracious and dignified woman, but childbirth is intense.  I was willing to give her a pass on anything she said or did from the time she got to 37 weeks, to the time Zachary was out.  But she was totally cool the entire time.  She never yelled at anyone.  She never told me to not touch her ever again.  She was amazingly brave and amazingly gracious under pressure.

The other thing that stood out to me was the pace of the night/morning.  It’s one of the things that is completely out of your control, so you have to just rock with what your dealt.  It just so happened we were dealt with somewhat of a stroll through labor.  It was a reasonable 12 hours from start to finish.  We never had to rush anywhere.  All things considered, it was nice.  Admittedly, Stacy was a little disappointed she didn’t get one of those 4 hour labors that her mother and grandmother had.  But that was probably asking a lot.

Thanks for your prayers.  I’m sure this site will turn somewhat into a parenting site over the next two weeks as I take some paternity leave.
Renew and Restore