Time just sails on by…

It’s been a long week, but one that has had its highs and lows. Ethan was sick on Tuesday, so he stayed home with Dad (who had the day off) and used the day to rest and recover. I gave him chicken soup for lunch, and gave him a lot of OJ to help him get better. He had a fever for most of the day, and you could tell the little guy wasn’t 100%. He was refusing to eat most foods (except the soup) and was just flat out mopy as he spent most of the daying lying down either watching TV or sleeping. Thankfully his fever never got too far out of control, and no hospital visits were necessary this week. Usually Ethan is a very happy kid, giggling and laughing the day away, but when he’s sick, he’s got a frown and is cuddling with everyone all the time. And when he cuddled into everyone, it was like hugging a furnace, he was hot to the touch sometimes, but his temp never went over 101. Later that night (Tuesday), the little guy went to bed and slept through the night and beyond. Then he was his happy, boucing self when Wednesday came around, which was the big day. Ethan turned two on Wednesday, and the day passed with very little fanfare.

Two years. Where did all the time go? I can’t believe it’s been two years since Ethan came into our lives. Two years since I was in the OR, dressed head to toe in medical green clothes, holding our little baby who was only 7 lbs when born. He was just a little nugget back then, wrapped up in a blue blanket. When we first heard him cry, we almost cried ourselves, but when Ethan was in my arms for the first time, he wasn’t crying and quite content. He was only a small thing, but when the nurse handed him over that day, it felt like he weighed a ton as my arms turned into jelly when holding onto him. That was one of the most amazing moments of my life, to have my son handed to me, and to hold him there for my wife to meet for the first time after carrying the little bugger for 9 months. It was an amazing day, and I’m sure for Leah a very exhausting one too, and we’re going to experience it again three months from now when Jonathan decides to hatch. I’m really curious to see how Ethan reacts to no longer being an only child. We expect him to be a little jealous, but he is used to hanging out with kids at daycare so not too jealous.

As for thi year’s celebration, Leah and I were planning to hold a birthday bash over on Sunday to give the little guy a fun day to celebrate the occassion. Note the key word in that last sentence was ‘WERE’ as the party as of this morning has been cancelled. Leah pulled the plug for reasons that are enough to make my blood boil. As many of you know, Leah works at a daycare, and one of the benefits of working there was that employees were allowed to use the venue (when closed) to host parties for their kids. When Leah asked today for permission to use it this Sunday for Ethan’s birthday, we were told it would cost us $50, as opposed to free which is what other employees were allowed to get. Leah was not impressed, so now the party is cancelled and we’ll just give the little guy his cake, presents and other stuff on Saturday or Sunday during a small gathering of friends. We might use that $50 the daycare wanted to take Ethan out for supper this weekend, weather permitting of course. Speaking of weather, might be for the best anyway since word going around is that Ophelia, or what’s left of her, will be paying the Island a visit over the weekend.

I’m not too worried since it’s getting really chilly up here on the island, so I assume the waters are not going to be to this Hurricane’s liking and slow here down a great deal. It’s nice to see that she didn’t cause too much trouble, and hopefully the jetstream will work for us and push her out to sea. But I don’t expect it to be too bad up here, nothing compared to the Hurricane we’ve had here before… so no worries at least not for now. The advantage of living up north, water is too cold for storms that big to thrive off of. I’ve had a few people attempt to bash me for not actually living through a Hurricane myself, but that’s simply not true. A category 1 Hurricane hit the island a few years ago. That was a nasty storm that flood streets and basements all over town, and that was only a category 1 storm, so I cringe at the thought of anyone living through something like a category 4 or 5.

I also lived through a Typhoon while living in South Korea. I was told the storm that hit Mokpo in 2002 was the equivalent of a category 3, and man was that an amazing thing to watch. I was in a rather secure building so the boss said we didn’t have to leave, and I watched tall trees flap in the wind like a feather, and over two hundred people were killed in the aftermath. It was no small storm and it gave me a moment to actually check out some of the fury that nature can unleash. So when they were warning people of a possible Category 5 bearing down on New Orleans, I was vocal to people I knew, saying get the hell out of there because that was just trouble to stay there. That’s one thing I like about being up here on the island, may get a crapload of snow in the winters, but no Hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. Which would prefer?

So with no plans for the weekend, Dad might do a little OT to make some more $$$ for next week which will be Mom’s Birthday. I do feel bad about us bailing on Ethan’s Birthday party, but the good news is we’re well supplied for the next one. We’ll do something nice for him over the weekend when both Leah and I are off from work. Maybe we’ll hit Rotten Ronnies for some nuggets and burgers, or maybe someplace fancier if Leah isn’t in the mood for fast food. But that’s clearly up to her and we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it, so until then… I hope everyone is having a great week and I’ll be around.

Peter