Another "first" in daddyhood..

Well, my little boy is sick. Kinda. He's got a cold, and has some nasty stuff in his throat. No big deal, right? Well, normally it wouldn't be, but see my first post to understand why this is a big event in my life. I worried sick about him all day Sunday and Monday, but he was much better yesterday, and the doctor said he was fine today. Woohoo!! Hopefully he'll be getting better soon and will keep up the good eating!

PS> I'm mad at my sister-in-law. She promised to comment on my blog. When she doesn't, it make me look like a total loser, and I don't like that. We'll see if she even reads this!! J/K Lori!

Friday

Don't you just love Fridays? Seriously, is there really a better day? You've worked all week long, and finally it's Friday. That means the weekend!! Sleeping in, going out, having fun....it's just awesome. I personally vote for adding a day to the weekend. Wouldn't that be nice?! Thank God it's Friday!!

Until next time...

Random thought for the day....

Nothing quite beats the feeling of a fresh haircut...

Profound, huh?

Until next time...

Just a big kid....

I have a confession to make.....I LOVE video games! Really, I'm a 27 year old (almost) husband and father who plays Playstation 2 with the best of them. I can't help it. Every year for Christmas I usually get 2 new games (all of them sports games, mind you). Yesterday I bought the online adapter so I could play against other people online. Haven't got it to work yet, but it's there.

Why do I like it so much? I honestly couldn't tell you. I've thought about it, and the only thing I come up with is it's just plain fun. Maybe one day I'll get over it or grow up or something, but it's not looking real promising for me.

I know, I'm a dork.

Until next time....

Taxes

Holy crap, it's tax time again....

Does anyone else out there do their own taxes? I'm not the type to take the old return down to H & R Block and pay somebody to fill in the blanks, so I always file our taxes myself. That is, until this year...

This year I had to have a professional accountant do my taxes due to my partial ownership in my father's company. Before, doing taxes was easy. Really, you people should try it. Now, not so easy! There are so many additional forms for things that nobody but the government and accountants know what they are, and I think it's ludicrous. I mean really, it's all just a scam for the government and accountants I think.

The backbone of this country is made up of small businesses, and how does the government repay them? Tax them to death and then make it next to impossible to understand the taxes you're hitting them with. If somebody with enough CAHONIES would run for office on the platform of eliminating the personal income tax and instituting a national sales tax, they would have my vote in a second.

Ok, I feel better now. Until next time......

P.S. Sorry for the delay in my postings, but I was very busy friday and yesterday. Shoot me.

Music, music, music

I love music!! Since I was a kid, I've always been around music. My dad plays mandolin in a bluegrass group, and he also plays guitar. I can remember as a child going to hear my dad play. It was in those early years that I really fell in love with music.

I play a little of everything myself. A dab of piano, a little drums, some guitar, but mostly I'm a bass player. I know, a different cat. Everybody wants to be a guitar player. Why? I guess cause it's supposedly "cooler", but not for me. I love bass and everything about it. I started playing about 4 years ago, and it is one of my favorite pasttimes.

I have a recording session tonight, so I guess that's why this came to mind today. The studio is one of the most fun places I can think of. The thrill of taking a song and each individual instrument and molding it into something that sounds good....well, that's just magic for someone like me. If I were good enough to be a full-time studio player, that's what I'd be. Oh well, maybe someday. Until next time, hold down the low-end.....

Outback Lady Rant

Holy cow, I can already tell that this blog is going to be all over the spectrum as far as what I talk about. Today's topic is Outback Lady (if I can call her that) driving the BMW last night. Here goes....

It was Valentine's Day. My wife, son, and I were on our way home from Greenville after picking up an awesome giant chocolate chip cookie my wife ordered for me for Valentine's Day. We decided to call in an order for pick-up at Outback Steakhouse to eat at home. When we got there, of course the place was packed, and all the carry-out parking spaces were taken. We waited in line to park like the nice civilized people we are, and when it was time for me to pull in to the next available space, out of nowhere comes Miss I'm Better Than You in her BMW convertible. She comes from the opposite direction and just whips right into MY space!! I could have got out of the car and rung her neck right there in the parking lot, but I restrained. I won't mention the word I called her, as it wasn't very nice, but at least I didn't make a scene.

The moral of today's story.....be nice on the roads and the parking lots people!! (Especially when I'm anywhere around!)

Thrills of "Daddyhood"

Well,

My new son Trey was born on November 18, 2005. But, Trey's birth was not your normal birth. See, Trey was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus when my wife was 20 weeks pregnant. I'll never forget that day--July 6th. When you're expecting your first child, this is not the type of thing you expect to hear at the appointment where you find out the sex of the baby. One of the most exciting days of my life turned into one of the most devastating days of my life in the span of about an hour. If not for the grace of my savior Jesus Christ, I don't know that I could have made it through that time. We met with a wonderful pediatric cardiologist named Dr. Ben Horne who actually, get this, prayed with us after he told us about the defect!! We were amazed and touched in a way that I'll never forget. Dr. Horne's compassion and concern for us will be cherished my whole life.

After working through the initial emotions this kind of news brings, a plan was put in place to induce labor one week early at MUSC Hospital in Charleston, SC...about 4 hours away from home. When the time finally came, Trey was born weighing 6 lbs, 13 oz., 21 inches long. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. He amazingly didn't look sick at all. No blue color, no need for the ventilator, nada. You would have never known there was anything wrong with him. We had prayed for this, and God answered our prayer by allowing our baby boy to be in good health upon arrival. Ten days after his birth, Trey underwent successful open-heart surgery on Nov. 28 to repair the defect. Again, but for the grace of Christ, there's no way I could have made it through that day. When we finally recieved word that he had come out of the surgery and was doing well, all I could do was cry. What a blessing and miracle!! Again, we are forever indebted to Dr. Scott Bradley, the most gifted cardiac surgeon around!!

After finally coming home on December 13, I have had almost two months now in "daddyhood". I can honestly say that it has been all I thought it would be and so much more. I can't imagine loving another person as much as I love my son!! He's my miracle baby and a true gift from God. Every time he looks up at me and grins, my eyes begin to water. I can't wait to teach him things and do things with him like I did with my dad. I only hope I can be as positive an influence on my son as my father was to me. Sorry for such a long post, but this is something I've wanted to type out and express for a while. I'll try to post often, and please feel free to leave me feedback!!