Reading Routines

Kate's mom Peggy came over today, which is always nice. She's a wonderful person and is totally willing to help tidy things up around here. We bathed Aislin and went through her clothes. There are already clothes she doesn't fit anymore, and the diapers she's in currently might be too small. It was a nice time, but I felt a little out of place simply because I had gotten used to doing things with just Kate. With Peggy there, I wasn't sure how to proceed. It wasn't unpleasant; I just felt like I stood around a lot looking useless.

One routine Kate and I have worked out is in the middle of the night when Aislin screams, I check her diaper and change it if need be -- and usually need most definitely DOES be, like in the worst way -- and then I stay in the room and read while she feeds her. That way I'm alert and at her disposal should she need anything like food, water, pain pills (insert Left 4 Dead reference here). The book I've been reading has been Catch 22, and thank God because there's no way I would have found another reason to read it. I just finished it a few minutes ago, and I'm glad I did. Until I started this routine, I found the book repetitive, boring, and just detestable. And long. Oh the length. It stifles me. But now that I've finished it, I kind of liked it. It picked up at the end once I found the plot and picked up on some of the symbolism. The thing is, this book is filled with idiots. Just damn fools. The kicker is that they're all the ones in power making decisions. So these morons are making these horrible decisions for their own personal gain and adversely affecting the relatively sane people below them. One in particular is when the medic is perceived KIA when he's actually safely back at base, but the paperwork has already been filed. The Colonels inform his wife in the states and stop his pay. He tries to communicate with her, but the army won't let her communicate back because they believe he's dead; when she tells them he's not they say she's wrong. When she tells them of his letters they say she's the victim of an opportunistic prankster and should pay it no mind. She moves away to avoid it all and leaves no forwarding address. It's an instance of humor that reminds me of Chekhov: it's this painful kind of humor that crushes your spirit. It unsettles me.

Anyway -- now I'm going to read Abraham Lincoln by Thomas Keneally (the guy who wrote Schindler's Ark which became Schindler's List) so I can be as prepared as possible for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's a great plan.

Don't Wake Aislin

New favorite baby accessory: coffee pot. Second favorite: baby sling. There have been horror stories about baby slings like "Ooh, never use a baby sling, they suffocate your baby!" But you'd have to be a pretty rotten parent to begin with to let that happen, so really the baby is better off! JK. Seriously, JK.

Also, the doctor said yesterday that she shouldn't be on a bottle until one month, and I whispered to Kate "should we tell her we've already introduced her to the bottle and is doing great?" and she said "no." Yeah, she's eating out of the bottle almost every night. Sometimes she looks at me like "Daddy-feeding -- does not compute" but she pounds it like it's going out of style.

Nothing really noteworthy has happened yet today. I went shopping for more baby wipes and -sarcasm- I'm sure that's worth reading about. She's sleeping in the sling on my chest right now. I've got to be careful because Kate's making beans in the crock pot, and if Aislin wakes up she'll want to nurse.

Kate was kind of upset that I played Mass Effect 2 all day yesterday. I probably shouldn't have. I'll end on that note and this one: anyone who thinks Yvonne Strahovsky ISN'T perfect for Emma Frost in the next X-Men movie is crazy.

Screaming Aislin

I feel like I should talk about my previous post a little since it came directly out of left field. While Kate and Aislin were sleeping I saw a video interview of a Nintendo mucky-muck and his smug, tight-lipped demeanor upset me a little. I'd post a link to the video file here, but I don't know how to do that. It's somewhere on gametrailers.com if you're interested.

Today we visited the doctor. They're still concerned about her jaundice, so they drew more blood. I die a little inside every time they do that. Aislin was in Kate's arms resting peacefully, then they pricked her heel and she started screaming every injustice in the world. The nurse was really good though. It took her hardly any time at all to get all she needed and bandage Aislin's foot.

Last night our friends Ted and Eric brought us Mexican food for dinner and it was wonderful. We now have Mexican food, Chinese food, and Italian food in our fridge. We are totally multi-cultural. After they left around 9:00, Kate and I went to bed. For the first half of the night, we woke up around every hour. Apparently, babies go through a growth spurt at two weeks and require more milk. It threw us off because she would start screaming right after she ate and we figured she couldn't be still hungry. But she was. Around 4:00 she settled down and slept for a good stretch. We were fairly rested when we reported to the doctor's office at 10:30 this morning.

She knows her first trick, too: when we strip her down to her birthday suit to weigh her, she pees on everything. She's really good at it.

At first, when she would start screaming, I just wanted her to be quiet. I still do, but I'm not as afraid. I'm more familiar with Screaming Aislin now. When she closes her eyes as tightly as she can and screams with everything she has, it's cute. I smile and sometimes I laugh. Unless it's 2:00 in the morning. Then I just want her to stop. Kate and I were lucky enough to get a picture of one of her brief smiles today. Babies don't start smiling for a little while because their muscles aren't developed. But one morning I swear she looked at me and smiled.

An Open Letter to Nintendo

Nintendo is going to fail. They appear dedicated to alienating potentially the most loyal fan base there has ever been. Yes, Galaxy 2 is exciting. New Mario Bros Wii was cool. Other M looks nigh revolutionary. But what else is there? Red Steel 2, a follow-up to a lackluster original. That's. It. Where is Zelda? Well, according to Nintendo it could be nowhere. Oh shut up and give us SOMETHING. Ooh. Spirit Tracks. Alright fine. It's been, what, six years? Seven? Since Twilight Princess. Let's take a look at what other franchises have been doing: Mass Effect 1 and 2; Uncharted 1 and 2; Halo 3, ODST, and Reach; Gears of War 1, 2, and 3; Killzone 1 and 2; Call of Duty 4, 5, and Modern Warfare 2; Left 4 Dead 1 and 2; Bioshock 1 and 2; and the coup d'etat: Metal Gear Solid 4, Peace Walker, and Rising. Some of these games haven't been released, but we have teasers and know they're coming even if it's a long way out. Even No More Heroes 1 and 2. What has Nintendo given us? Nothing. Three Metal Gear Solid games have been revealed and two have been released since TP. That's low. Nintendo: You're a sinking ship. The Game Cube disappointed. The Wii may be selling well, but gamers like me who grew up on the original NES want more. We want Kirby. We want Kid Icarus. We want Star Fox. We want a DK platformer. The gaming industry considers the Wii a joke and you are providing the punch line. You have the best top-tier games in the industry: Mario, Zelda, Metroid. Fill it out with some tier two games like Star Fox, Icarus, Kirby, DK. That's all we'll need to be satisfied. Personally, I don't see what the challenge is. You've got fans clamoring for these games. You even have a flight mechanic worked out (see: Wii Sports Resort). Give us more games. You're the grand-daddy in the industry. Stop acting like a slow, crotchety old man or you'll die. You've had unimpressive E3 showings for as long as I've cared. Give us what we want. No tier two games is a mystery, but staying this tight-lipped for this long on the next Zelda game is inexcusable and embarrassing. You're alienating everyone. Quit it.

Grocery Shopping

Today we're ambitious. We're going to try to go to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities. Namely, coffee and chocolate chips. Kate is getting a little sick of being in the apartment all the time, so she's going to come with me. That means we can be the worst parents ever and leave Aislin at home, or we can bring her with us. I know it's alright to bring infants to Safeway because I hear them screaming all the time. So today that might be us. I'm excited.

I'm also excited for a new episode of "Chuck" tonight.

Late-Night Dining

Normally when I'm up this late it's doing something more enjoyable, i.e. hanging with friends or playing Halo. There was a time when being up this late meant homework, but those days have passed. Not tonight. No gaming, no friends. Just a hungry 10-day old baby. On April 14, my life changed forever. My wife gave birth to our daughter, Aislin. Spell check tells me that's not a familiar word. It's not familiar to anyone, evidently. No one has gotten it right yet. A-zlin. Just like it's spelled. What's so hard about that? It's probably anti-Celtic sentiment. Or not.

Tonight, like the past ten nights, I have waked from my peaceful slumber to a small child screaming with a voice that by all rights is too big for her little body. She's in the nursery now, and her mom's feeding her. She's been feeding her for quite a while. Aislin has jaundice so she falls asleep while she's nursing and wakes up as soon as we move her and starts wailing again. At least we get to see her open eyes. They're gorgeous. If you held her head up to the clear night sky and she opened her eyes, you'd swear there were two little holes in her head that you could see through. Anyway, I digress. She takes a long time to eat because she keeps falling asleep. There. That's all.

It makes me kind of grumpy. At least my wife's here. God knows how I'll fare when she has to go back to work. Last night I fed Aislin a bottle and she kept looking at me suspiciously. I was obviously not Mommy, but she was getting fed nonetheless. It's just something I'll have to get used to. I knew what I was getting into eight months ago. Now we'll see how I do.