In closing…

As the seconds tick away and hours slowly fade into what was 2006, I feel it's time to post the last post of the year as we welcome the new.

I'll try to sum up the events of the year in a few short paragraphs.

Played poker, Tried to get my writing back on track, got inspired by a picture, recorded a podcast, found out we were pregnant, tried to save the onlines, fell in love with myself, heard our daughter's heart beat for the first time, while working on another project I decided it was time to rewrite one of my favorite stories.

I tried to better my life, I had an epiphany at Rite-Aid while staring at adult diapers, I had an interesting experience just observing the people at Borders, Lila turned 21 and Jag and Steffany ate Denny's with us at 5am.

I won a sit-n-go while under the influence of Sudafed.

I came in 4th in my first live Hold 'em tournament. I also made fifth a few weeks later in the bigger buy-in tournament.

We listened to Radiohead and and changed diapers.

All in all, it was a good year. I plan to celebrate by staying in and watching the countdown with our gift, our daughter, our pride and joy.

RSS Feeds and Baby Pee

It is just slightly past 3 A.M. and I'm anxiously waiting for my newborn daughter to wake up so I can give her next feeding. I've just finished catching up on all my RSS feeds I have in Google Reader and I just did a diaper check and she is a bit soggy.

The plan is to feed her, then change her and then try to sleep and let Lila take care of the next set of feedings.

I'm actually used to staying up until the wee hours of the morning and waking up before noon. That's just what I do, if you go back and read some of the older entries in my blog you'll notice that most of them were done late. So having a baby hasn't really screwed up my schedule... much.

Oh, in case you're reading this and not a real life friend or family member, Lila and I welcomed our first child in to the world on December 12th 2006. A beautiful baby girl, Kaitlin Abigail Michelle. The apple of my eye. Our eyes.

Yeah, maybe I am a little tired, it seems I always write in short sentences when I'm tired or when I don't really know what to write, but I just have an itch to write. See, this part is tacked on after my juices got flowing. Yeah, breaking down the wall.

Having a baby is an amazing thing, I don't think I'll ever be able to put in to words how I felt the moment I saw her little lip quiver as she let out her first scream as if she were saying "Hello world!" (There's a perfect chance for a nerd joke there, but I already order her a Tux shirt from ThinkGeek.com can't get too geeky, yet.). Yes, I cried. I'm proud of her, I'm proud of Lila. And tonight, the feeling is really setting in, the responsibility of it all. The fact that I've created life, and that I will be responsible for her until the end of my existence, has filled me with something I didn't expect to feel so strongly. Happiness and love.

We've been staying at my mom's house ever since the 14th so she can help us out until we get more accustomed to taking care of an infant life, and that means that my mom has been handling the early morning part of the babies feedings, Lila hasn't got much sleep at all since coming home from the hospital and it's really taking a toll on her, so we forced her to go to bed early and I've been sitting up, watching re-runs of Seinfeld and The Cosby Show, taking care of Kaitlin. Feeding, burping, changing diapers, cradling her in my arms until she falls asleep, the latter is the most fun part of the job.

I love when she stretches, I love when she smiles, I love when she picks her head up all on her own, I love when she raises her eyebrows, I love when she smiles, I love when she opens up her eyes, I love her laying down next to me looking up at me from her crib as I type this out.

You have new Picture Mail!

You have new Picture Mail!

Originally uploaded by batfish.

The first good song our daughter heard this morning.