The Alps..... and everything else...

Sadly, Baba Nina has returned to Moscow although we are very happy she will be returning after some medical procedures. She left Saturday and we missed her before she left.

It has been hectic to say the least with all the reading I have done and will be doing this semester. I am actually starting field work in the fall as Rutgers' requires it to graduate. I will learn the field from within and I know that is a valuable tool.

Ok, so what has Nadezhda been up? Well, as you can see from the pictures she is growing. She is not eating as much as I think she should but I assume the doctors will be happy with what she is eating as Tash is not concerned. She is starting to communicate in ways others then crying…. Something tells me her first word is going to be Rumination…. On the weekends when I run the show in Tash’s absence I read Nadia a heavy dose of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. She stares at me while I read out loud and it is entertaining to me that her first word might just come from the DSM.

Although her first word might be Lady Gaga, Tash can explain that to you as I am now saying it to her as well.

So, I am not sure if any of you know this but Uncle Sonny is buried on the road we live on as there is a military cemetery down the street from us. This makes it very convenient for anyone visiting his site to come visit with us. Aunt Margie and Aletia stopped by a few weeks ago and we had a great time. We took them to a German Restaurant in Allentown called the Alps. Of course Aunt Margie insisted we get some booze even though it was noon so I relented and purchased some beer and wine.

After dining with Aunt Margie and Aletia we then went to Kevin’s 40th b-day party and had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. We certainly had a lot of laughs and Kevin’s sister in law made a really neat cake which exhibited a quad on a mountain of sugar infused dirt and grass.

Kevin and Nikki are actually visiting this week so Tash, Nadia, and I are definitely looking forward to that. We will also be taking them to the Alps for some lunch.

As for me personally I am getting some dental work done and receiving a 3 tooth bridge/crown. When I was 18 I had a tooth removed on the left side of my mouth and for the last 17 years I have avoided chewing on that side of my mouth. Well in three weeks that will end as the crown/bridge will be done. However, yesterday I had the two teeth where the bridge will sit grinded down.

The dentist put two temporary teeth on those teeth and one fell off two times. I went back this morning and the dentist set me up with a temporary brown instead of the plastic mold they used. It is holding well and I must say I am excited about that. I am also pumped because I have no pain in the teeth as it was noted that if I do a root canal would be necessary. I do not care about the pain in mouth of a root canal but rather the pain in my wallet. Dental is not getting any cheaper and I am not sure how anyone can afford this work.

Anyway, that is all for now because I won’t post this for another week if I delay it any longer. Speak to you soon.

40

Well... I am always reminded of how old I am when my brother's b-day comes up. I still feel like I am young and I will be running the Spartan race with my men's team in July to prove it to myself.

Kevin is 40 today which makes me 35.67 years old or there abouts anyway. As I approach 40 my one goal is to have my MSW done before May 5th, 2016. I am right on track for that.

I think the end of point and shoot cameras is near as the new iPhone pictures are pretty nice and in some cases better than what I have seen from some cameras. Check out Tash's library as it updates as she takes pictures.... or at least I think it does.

http://instagrid.me/ngcreations

Also, we Skyped with Uncle John and Karel last night and it was awesome. It is much easier to show the baby than it is to describe her.

If any of you want to Skype with us look Tash up and give us an electronic signal moving at thousands of miles per second.

14

This one is for Kim and Lenny (and others of course)! I tweeted this picture but forgot to put it on said blog.

Thank you both again for this strategically important gift!

Daddy's Home and Softball

I made a decision this week to scale down softball and play 3 games from April to August in order to become eligible for the playoffs. Thinking back, I played slow pitch softball for 7 years and fast pitch now for 10.

The reasons are many but I cannot afford to give up one day per week as it would be a round trip of about 6 hours with a game each Sunday.

Several reasons for this include being a new father but if that was the only issue I could possibly make it work. School is a major factor and I will need to begin volunteering a bit so I can add to my social work experience which is currently at zero besides classroom work.

If you ever think about getting your masters I hope you enjoy reading. Yesterday I read the codes for mental health issues and there are about 20 pages or so in the DSM which is the manual for clinicians who diagnose mental health issues. This type of reading reminded me of when I read parts of the Old Testament. Son of John, Son of Luke, Son of Bill, Son etc... pages upon pages. The coding was 292.11 Major Depress Disorder with Delusions 292.12 Major Depressive Disorder with Hallucinations 292.12 etc... Painful but I made it through.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my first two classes of the semester and I was reading every day to try and catch up for class tonight. Mission not accomplished. I have a few readings for tonight's class which I will be briefly looking over but I did finish all my readings for my research class tomorrow.

The picture to the right and above is Nadia showing her tough side as she said something about a knuckle sandwich to me. Speaking of Nadia, I must speak about how I love coming home and hearing Tash say to Nadia "Daddy's Home." Also, I currently have my crying under control when it comes to Nadia. As a proud father and husband I believe I was in tears the last half of December almost every chance I got as they were certainly the happiest times of my life. I am so proud of how my wife and daughter battled through their issues as it showed how they, the human body, and our minds are tremendous forces.

Lastly, as I learn more and more about social work I see injustice all around and in most cases I do actually keep my mouth shut outside the classroom. However, with a daughter who will one day likely choose to have career one thing irks me and I am not going to stand for it.

This quote below is just not acceptable to me. Why we as Americans are OK with this is something I do not understand. Same job, same duties, same stress, but 3/4s of the pay. Not acceptable to me and my new SW colleagues.

"According to General Accountability Office (GAO) Report GAO-04-35, the weekly earnings of full-time working women were about three-fourths of men's during 2001."
http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/womenspay.htm

Drinking binge....

Where have I been... well I have been on a massive drinking binge for the last two weeks.

As the New Year rang we were at the dinner table and Tash was holding Nadia in her arms. I looked over gave Tash a kiss and looked at Nadia and cried. I am not exactly sure why but I think it was just a huge sense of relief to see my wife and daughter standing and celebrating the New Year after all they both overcame.

School starts up again for me next week on the 17th and I am looking forward to hitting the books again at RU for my second semester.

Over Christmas I learned something that upset me greatly and those who think they know the story are missing 99% of the story. I held my tongue and it is probably why I have not posted in the last few weeks as each time I went to it wound up very negative. I will continue to keep my trap shut on the issue as it really does not matter.

It reminds me of conservative and liberal issues. A conservative cannot say one thing that would convince a liberal they are telling the truth and the opposite is also the same.

Anyway back to real life and less drama. Nadia is growing by leaps and it is fun to watch her grow. I think she is even beginning to mimic things we do as I stuck my tongue out at her and she responded by doing the same. She did this several times and Tash saw it but she clammed up when we went to show others. Privately, I was holding her alone last night and she did it again.

This Sunday I was able to spend the entire day with Nadia as Tash had to work. I loved every moment as I was able to feed her twice and watch football while doing it. Nadia is a baby but she is also a machine. She is a machine that eats, poops, farts, and squeaks. I assume we are all like when we are babies but I do not remember. I also became very excited as there was a D500 commercial during the game and I look forward to that.

To say I need a haircut would be a huge understatement as I am struggling to control my hair. Of course my hair has not seen a brush since well I am not sure I ever used a brush but I did use a comb when I was a child. Thursday night is the big showdown for my haircut. I am not sure when I had my haircut last but I do know it was when Nadia was in the hospital.

I look forward to the end of this flu season so we can start traveling with Nadia. Right now we are keeping her confined to the home except for some nature walks.

I have scheduled two weeks vacation for August and the plan is a road trip. The biggie of all road trips as my cousin is getting married in Portland. Not Maine mind you but OR! I am looking forward to driving across the country and right now the plan is to bring Nadia with us.

I really hope she comes as I would love to take her to the top of the Arch in St Louis. The place has some meaning to me as my mother and I went to the top of the Arch by ourselves as others chose not to for some reason. My father was a roofer so I know it was not an issue of heights.

This blog will certainly be a log of our trip as I hope to show this to Nadia one day. I am thinking I should print the blog now and then as a backup.

Until the next post where I hopefully am able to stop drinking.....