MichaelandChrissy.com

I’m not sure where the idea for a “push prize” came from, but I’m sure it came from a pregnant woman. This is where you buy a present for your wife as a reward for making it through labor and delivery.  I’m thinking that labor and delivery is expensive enough without additional costs adding to the total.  But I understand the principle of the matter, so I set out to get something shiny for Chrissy (jewelry being the predominant gift for this sort of thing).

When Aiden was born, I gave Chrissy a ruby and diamond three-stone pendant.  She saw it at Jared Jewelers while we were shopping for wedding rings and loved it.  However, aside from her wedding ring and that pendant, she doesn’t wear much jewelry.  I’ve gotten her plenty of sparkly things, but she only wears them on special occasions.  So, I decided to try something else.  What does Chrissy love most (besides me and Aiden)?  Scrapbooking!

Chrissy had mentioned that she would like a printer that can handle 12×12 scrapbook paper.  “Well, there’s no such thing,” I told her.  It turns out that HP, Epson, and Canon all make printers capable of printing on 13×19 paper.  However, only one of them, the Epson Stylus 1400, can feed 12×12 paper directly; the others make you print on 13×19 paper and then trim it back to 12×12 with scissors.  I think that Chrissy would want to print directly on 12×12 scrapbooking paper (that she has in a variety of colors).

After checking around a little bit on the internet, I found the best price for the Epson 1440 on buydig.com. I’ve never used them before, but they offer free shipping and the printer weighs 25 pounds, so I went with them.  As an added bonus, they let you pay via PayPal.  That was my downfall, since Chrissy monitors my PayPal transactions (to make sure that I’m not buying another Fort Max on eBay), and discovered the purchase well ahead of time.

It didn’t help at all that buydig.com shipped the printer without so much as wrapping it in brown paper.  Federal Express made Chrissy sign for a huge box that said “Epson 1400 Wide Format Printer” all over it.  Apparently, the universe conspires against my secrets and forces them into the light!  On the bright side, Chrissy should theoretically be able to start scrapbooking again as soon as we get home from the hospital.  When she’s not feeding small children, at least.

Chrissy left on Friday for another scrapbooking retreat with a group of friends. I took a personal day from work so that she could leave early in the morning. Aiden and I were looking forward to three days together on another whirlwind “Daddy and Son Weekend”. We’ve done this before, so I wasn’t expecting anything unfortunate to happen, but this time there was a mishap.

Aiden and I were downstairs playing when he fell off of his riding zebra. He falls down about twenty times a day, so I didn’t think anything of it. He usually just gets back up and runs off to another toy. However, this time he started crying and reached out for me to hold him. I picked him up and grabbed a tissue to wipe his nose (Aiden has had a very runny nose lately, and the crying wasn’t helping matters). That’s when I saw that the tissue was covered in blood.

Aiden’s mouth was filled with blood and it was dripping down his chin. I don’t generally panic, so I fall into “crisis mode” in emergencies: assess the situation, devise a plan, and execute the plan. I calmly carried Aiden to the upstairs bathroom and cleaned up his face with a warm washrag. I cleared out his mouth and then checked his teeth and gums for damage. He bit the inside of his lower lip in the fall pretty badly, but all of his little teeth were still there.

He seemed to calm down a bit at this point. He was pretty drained, so I made us some lunch and then put him down for his nap. When he woke up, he was a swollen mess. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, so I gave him a dose of Baby Tylenol. Both of his lips were huge, so I called Chrissy’s mom to come over and take a look at him. She noticed that his top middle tooth was a little loose. She brought him a popsicle and the cold brought the swelling down so that he was once again recognizable.  She said that these things happen, it wasn’t my fault, and that this wasn’t the last time that Aiden would get hurt.

Mom took Aiden off to church with her, which gave me time alone to think about all that had happened. I felt terrible, and the guilt was eating at me. He was hurt so bad. My heart was breaking for my little boy. I almost freaked out a little then, which never happens to me, but I had never seen Aiden bleed before. Aiden seemed very happy to see me when he came home. I gave him a bath, the perfect place for a popsicle since it’s a messy snack, dosed him with Baby Tylenol again and then put him down for bed. Now I’m alone again.

This is the weekend for Chrissy’s three-day scrapbooking retreat, so I’m at home alone with Aiden until Sunday.  This shouldn’t be a big deal, since we’ve done this before.  Aiden is now seventeen months old (last time he was only five months old), so this weekend should be much more enjoyable (last time it was nerve-racking and overwhelming).  It’s relatively easy to spend the entire day with Aiden now, reading his counting books to him or playing with his blocks.  I’m a good dad (last time I was a new dad), so I’m actually looking forward to the next few days.

The unfortunate part is that I will need to leave as soon as Chrissy gets back on Sunday afternoon.  Leave and not come home for a week.  It’s not like I want to stay away from home, but I’ve got a five-day training class up in Schaumburg.  It’s easily a three-hour drive during a snowy rush-hour, so I’m just going to stay in a hotel for the five days.  Sadly, that means that I won’t see Chrissy or Aiden for nearly a week.  At least I’ll get to hang out with the boy for a few days before I go.

Our family consists of Michael (Daddy), Chrissy (Mommy), Aiden (Boy #1) and Gavin (Boy #2).  Chrissy and I managed to time Aiden so that he would be born in the summer (although a little later into the summer than we had planned). We had a little more luck in timing Gavin’s arrival, hitting our late July target.  We’re not planning on having any more children right now, but you can never tell what the future will bring.

Michael

Currently, I’m working at the University of Chicago as the Manager of Technology and Data Integrity.  The department of intellectual propery, UChicagoTech, didn’t have any data-management processes in place when I was brought on, so I introduced them to data quality analysis and data cleansing methods.  Our databases are much cleaner now, and we have powerful reporting tools that help our team at every level.  I also have direct input to all things IT and I still work a bit with project management.

At home, I’m working on some sort of home remodeling project more often than not.  When I’m not slaving away on the house, I’m collecting Transformers. A while back, my buddy Carl took some panoramic photos of my collection (you can see those below). The collection has expanded since then, and we’ve built custom shelves to store all my toys. Custom built-in oak shelves that are six feet tall by two feet deep by twelve feet wide. It’s hard to believe that I’m already out of shelf space.

Special thanks to Carl — pic one (1.48 MB)
For Providing the Panarama shots — pic two (.78 MB)

When I can, I teach at Indiana University Northwest.  I teach “Introduction to E-commerce” at the undergraduate level whenever there are night classes that are understaffed.  Sometimes it’s fun, and I think that I bring real-life experience to the role.

Chrissy

Chrissy is still teaching at Eisenhower elementary school in South Holland, Illinois. She is very happy there, but she’s not averse to staying at home to be a full-time mom from time to time. You can do that when you’re tenured: skip a year of work to stay at home with your baby. The school district holds Chrissy’s classroom for her until she gets back.

Chrissy is still enjoying her favorite hobby: scrapbooking. When we finished the basement, we created a wall of scrapbook cabinets that hold up a twelve foot long countertop for workspace. Chrissy’s downstairs office is a veritable scrapbooker’s dream come to life.

Aiden

Aiden was born on August 29th, 2006.  He’s very good-natured, and we never experienced any of the horror stories that other parents seem to have.  Luckily, there was no projectile vomiting, no colicy screaming at all hours of the night, and no strange illnesses to plague us.   People always tell us how good he is. We love to dress him up in his little IU outfits.

Aiden is growing into such a big boy. He is enjoying his new position of “Big Brother”.  He loves to hold Gavin, and Aiden will often run over and give him a kiss on his head.  It’s hard to imagine that Aiden used to be as small as Gavin, even though he was still a little peanut just a year ago.

Gavin

Gavin was born on July 22nd, 2008.  He is a healthy little boy and loves to be held, which is fine because we love to hold him. He started off a little jaundiced, but that cleared up fairly quickly. There are plenty of comparisons with Aiden when he was tiny.

Although we were reluctant to take Aiden outside of the house as an infant, Gavin took his first shopping trip at five days old. We often take both boys for walks in the double-stroller. We’re excited to see his little personality come out, but right now he’s happy to just eat and sleep.