I thought that I heard the sound of "Taps" being played. Gently.

My TV died. Yes the projector that shone brightly over the fireplace has died. I got a call from Melissa the other day at work saying that she couldn't turn the TV on. I thought it was just something that needed to be switched to get it working. But on Tuesday, when I went downstairs to turn the TV on, sure enough it was broke. The projector was flashing an angry red light at me. After searching for the manual, then searching through the manual, I was able to find out that the flashing red light meant that the lamp had burnt out in the projector. So, still being hopeful, I went online to see what a new lamp would cost me. The way the directions made it sound, it should be an easy fix. So it shouldn't be a problem, right? WRONG. $299 for the friggin' lamp. This stupid thing is like an inch by an inch in size and it costs 299 friggin' dollars. So Melissa says that since that is the price of a new TV anyways (a small one maybe), that we should just look at getting a new TV again.

So there I went back onto the internet looking at TVs. Now I am behind the times and haven't gotten an HDTV yet, although thats been my goal for a while. So after searching through the 'net for a while we settled on a Samsung 50 inch plasma that was priced at 1200 bucks. We decided to get it the next day. So early that morning (around 1 in the afternoon) I went back on the internet to write down the model number and saw that it was on sale for $997. SCORE!!

We got the TV and brought it home, along with a Playstation 3 (but no games) for the blue-ray player. Once we got the TV home was the interesting part. With the projector, it put the tv on a screen above the fireplace. We thought we could mount the tv in the same place or put it on the mantle. Of course that didn't work so we had to rearrange the family room. Strangely enough, once the room started to take shape, we realized how awesome it was going to look. The way we had the room before was a total waste of space. There was barely any room to walk and not enough room to have more than 3 people watching tv comfortably. Now its amazing. There is plenty of room to sit and watch the tv, plenty of room for Derian to play on the floor (when he gets to that point), and now the couch is closer to the fireplace (NICE). The whole room is a lot comfier and I think we'll be spending a lot more time in that room.

As for the TV, it is awesome. The picture is so clear and huge. Plus, I don't even have the HD receiver yet for the satellite so that's going to be even better.

PS - If anyone has some leftover PS3 games they wanna get rid of, send 'em my way.

-Chas

No rest for the wicked

So, its several weeks later and everything is still going well. Derian has been awesome. He was sick a little while ago with something the nurse we talked to described as a "gastrointestinal infection". Basically what that means is that he went to the bathroom 7 times a day for two days. And every time he went he wailed for a while because it must have burned. I'll spare you the rest of the details.

But after that, things are pretty much back to normal. Of course normal is sleeping for about 3 hours at a time. Everyone tells me that it starts getting better at about 3 months so we have a little more than a month left. I can't even remember what its like to sleep through the night.

I just finished my first full week of work since we had the baby and boy was it LONG. Pretty much now with the baby my schedule sucks. It would be nice to be home at night during the week and have weekends off. Maybe someday.

All the family has came and went too. Melissa's dad was here for a while and helped us out a lot. He helped us out putting in the new flooring we got for the kitchen and dining room. My mom and brother were out for a week after him. It was nice for everyone to get out here but its nice to have the house to ourselves again. Now its time to get back to life.

Other than that its been all Derian all the time.

Mass Chaos

SO......

Its been a while since the last post. Seems like every time I sat down with the computer Derian either _______ (cried, wanted fed, pooped, fill in the blank {your choice}). Speaking of, he has still been awesome. He's been a little cranky the last few days and it seems he may have some reflux issues. But the doc says (and its been working so far) that trying to keep him more in an upright position whenever we can is good. We also try to burp him more often when he is eating. And boy that kid burps, and farts like a howitzer. Sorry to be crude but he can make Melissa and I jump like we were watching a scary movie.

Melissa is still doing excellent as well. Tonight we went to Olive Garden with her dad and they ordered a pitcher of Sangria. Didn't take her much to get loopy. It was nice because she hasn't had any alcohol other than our champagne. Of course right when our meals came Derian woke up and was a major crank-ass. I had to go out to the car and feed him and change his diaper. So I got to eat my meal at home later. YAY.

So the other thing going on in our life was replacing the flooring in out kitchen and dining room. We had some nasty stained carpet in the dining room and some ugly linoleum in the kitchen. Melissa's dad and I ripped up everything and laid some laminate flooring. It would have been relatively painless if I would have had some half decent tools. Guess I know what to ask Santa for Christmas. Here are some before and after pictures of the renovation.

-Chas

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of formula

Short post today...

A while ago we were talking about how we were gonna decorate Derian's room after we found out he was going to be a boy. So Melissa says, "How about getting a mural painted." I think my response was kinda like "whatever" but after she said the art teacher at her school would do it for us I was all for it.

So as you can see we kept with the pirate theme and it turned out awesome. We hope Derian will like it once he gets old enough to realize what the heck it is. I held him up towards the wall and said, "Derian, look at your pirate ship!" He then proceeded to take a crap on my hand.

Later

-Chas

1995......a good year

1995 Dom Perignon. Tastes so good it should be illegal.

Let me rewind a few years here. Back in the summer of 2003, Melissa and I just bought a lovely house in the borough of Tarentum, Pennsylvania. It was $63,000 of heaven on earth in an up and coming area that was named in Money magazine's "Best Places to Live (population under 50,000)". So while Melissa, her dad and myself were moving ourselves in during I remember was a quite hot and humid day, my father stops over to see the new house. Well it wasn't a new house, it was built way back in the 30's. So my dad stops by on his way out to dinner at some fancy shmancy restaurant and says "Congrats, by the way, here is a house warming gift." And he hands me the coveted bottle of champagne. And then he leaves as we all continue to sweat our asses off moving everything in the house. (By the way, no A/C in that house)

So now flash forward a few years and 1,300 miles to the west. We have hung on to this bottle and every year we talk about opening it up for one occasion or the other. So we definitely said we were gonna crack it open to celebrate the baby and our new lives out here in Colorado. Plus Melissa was dying for some alcohol after not being able to drink for nine months. So we bring the bottle up to the lovely town of Evergreen to toast with the Banks'.

So, I'm getting ready to open the bottle and we all decide to go out on their deck with is really nice and has some kick ass views. Figured it would be a memorable bottle. I ask for a towel to hold over the cork so I can open it slowly and not spill any of the pricey liquid. So Pat says, "Don't worry, the cork won't go that far, it won't be a problem. So I take of the cap and let 'er fly. Cork shoots off the patio roof and here comes the champagne (down my arm). Luckily it wasn't too much and we all got to toast to friends and family. It tasted awesome. I just need to work some more overtime so I can feed my new expensive champagne habit.

P.S. Later that night, I wanted to see how much the bottle actually costs. Newer bottles are between $100-$150. The vintage 1995 now can cost anywhere from $300 and up. Made me feel all hoity-toity for a few moments.

-Chas

Mommy on birth and baby Derian

Well in the last blog Chas wrote about the baby being born, so I figured I would write about the whole labor experience and what followed for me and my new family. The baby's due date was August 18th and after talking to my doctor I finally decided to have an induction on August 11th. Well, Derian didn't want to wait until then because at 12:30 A.M. on August 11th my water broke. Chas and I had nothing ready because it was so early. After scrambling around the house we finally got to the hospital at about 1:30. Contractions started kicking in and I was definitely uncomfortable and in pain. The nurse explained that I needed to have half a bag of IV before my epidural could get started. My veins aren't the best so it took them two times to find my veins. By this point the contractions were awful. I started shaking, they said that was normal, but also part of my panic attack problems. After what seemed an eternity, my epidural was finally given to me and afterwards I felt great. My dilation went extremely quick, but I pushed for about 2 1/2 before Derian made his appearance at 11:07 A.M. I was so overwhelmed with emotion. What an amazing thing! As Chas wrote in his blog, the staff at the hospital was fantastic. We got to come home on Saturday, August 11th.

So far the baby is doing well. We started him off on Similac with Iron Formula and then decided to switch to Enfamil Gentlease, he seemed fussy with the Similac and had a hard time going to the bathroom. Now he is a pooping machine. Derian went to the doctors on Tuesday and is in the 20th percentile for height and weight. Also on Tuesday he had his first trip to Noodles and Company. My dad flew in today, so Derian got to go to the Airport. We also went to Red Robin for dinner. It was so noisy there and many Happy Birthday songs were sung with loud clapping...Derian slept through it all. He had a little bit of a rough night this evening, pooping twice, peeing, eating, not eating, eating again, fussing, eating, crying...you get the picture. Well I am exhausted so until next time.

Melissa

....and here we GO

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, about two and a half weeks early. Derian Joshua weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and was a little over 19 inches long. The little bit of hair he has is a sandy blonde color just like Melissa's. He is about as mellow as can be but hates, I MEAN HATES to be naked or have his diaper off him for even 5 seconds. Other than eating, sleeping and messing up his diaper, Derian likes to wave his hands in the air and suck his thumb (although it looks like he's shoving his fist down his throat). And when he waves his hands in the air, he does it so violently it looks like he's some crazy-mad symphony conductor. Oh and did I also mention that since he is early we had to go out and buy some more clothes to fit him. But I'm sure I also speak for Melissa when I say that he is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

As for Melissa, she is doing awesome. She made it through the birth great and I couldn't be more proud of her. Wednesday night/Thursday morning (right after midnight) we were just laying down after hanging out with the Fairbanks'. I was almost asleep when I hear this yell next to me and then "My water just broke!!!" So after a few minutes of running around like crazy and getting orders shouted at me, we were in the car to the hospital. We got settled into the delivery room after 2, Melissa was fully dilated at around 7 after she slept for a while (EPIDURAL), and Derian was born after a few hours of pushing at 11:07 AM (Mountain Time).

We spent 2 days in the hospital and had some friends come to visit us. The hospital was really nice and so was each nurse we had over the period of time we were there. We got home today in the afternoon and have been getting adjusted. Hemi and Gracie have been good with him, although I think they just see him as an object right now. I'm sure it will be different once he starts motoring around the house and harassing them.

Well, Melissa and I are ready to pass out and Derian just ate so I think its best that I try to get some sleep.

I know I'll be up a few times overnight . Take care.

-Chas