dinner party

Last night, Reese and I hosted our first dinner party here at our new house. Attendees were Andrea, Ted, Jackson and Rollo - as well as Reese and myself. It was a damn good time. It was so nice to have some very close friends over to eat, BS and talk general nonsense. Everyone else's dinner looked pretty good. They ate stuffed shells. I was supposed to get my fat-free version of stuffed shells, but we didn't have any fat-free ricotta cheese. So, I had to settle for a fat-free pizza instead. I certainly wasn't complaining.

Jackson was hilarious. That kid farts just like his old man. Throughout the night, he blasted some serious butt wind. He got to play with Trevor, our golden retriever pup and they got along so well. I was particularly proud of Trevor for being such a good dog when it came to his first interaction with a baby. That makes me believe that he'll do really well with junior when he/she comes along in a few months.

The rest of the night, we had some good times. Jackson enjoyed some ringtones, we talked about the upcoming fantasy baseball season (which is by far the most impressive league in which I've been involved) and even completed our long-awaited ShamWOW experiment! (ShamWOW works particularly well on pie-plates filled with water)

Reese and I are getting some damn good parenting advice from Ted & Anne. For instance, Anne swears by using cloth diapers as burp rags. I wholeheartedly agree. It's just too bad we might never get to put her knowledge to good use! Reese's mom likes to sew, and she makes custom burp rags as if she was running a sweatshop full of vietnamese adolsecents. Its so helpful to have a couple that's close to us to rely on when it comes to suggestions like these. I'd never even know what a diaper genie was if it wasn't for Anne. And we WILL have one of those before kiddo arrives.

We all agreed to do this whole dinner thing again really soon. I'm MORE than looking forward to it. It was seriously a great time.

king of the hill

Okay, so it seems I was dead wrong about King of the Hill. I've been watching it regularly this week on Adult Swim and I'm damn glad I have. It definitely was a bit much for my taste, back in the day. When I was in high school, my thing was Futurama. Always has, always will be. It definitely wasn't anything close to what Futurama is, and although it preceeded Futurama by several years - I have certain tastes that must be satisfied. Yes, my tastes have evolved over the years so I can honestly say I can appreciate KOTH. Good stuff there!

On a side note, my friend Justin finally received his custom license plate that he's been waiting MONTHS to receive. What's it say? "JRIZZLE". That shit's hilarious! In my opinion, an excellent way to spend 20-some bucks.

adult swim's lineup

I'm a huge fan of Adult Swim. I've been an Aqua Teen since the very first episode back when I was in high school. I could probably recite the entire episode "Pierrot le Fou" from Cowboy Bebop. I'm usually pretty keen on anything that gets thrown into the Adult Swim lineup. That being said, I'm not entirely sure where King of the Hill fits in... Don't get me wrong, I sincerely appreciate AS reviving Family Guy in the early 2000's. I just don't know about KOTH. (Oh, and I'll be referring to Adult Swim from here on as AS)

I remember back in 1997, when I was a spry, young lad - I had heard about King of the Hill and really liked its concept. After all, Mike Judge pedigree isn't anything to immediatley write off. I suffered through many Sundays at 8:30pm. I can vividly recall the disappointment I'd experience as the Simpsons ended and KOTH signaled the start of a new week of school. I truly tried to enjoy it, but it never really grew on me. Sure, Bobby was funny - but Hank and Peggy are just... weird... Maybe its the whole Texas mentality, where certain things are a certain way no matter how liberal you tend to think. So will I give KOTH another try? I sure will. Maybe my immature mind wasn't capable of handling 1997 comedy. Either way, here's my stand on it - I don't necessarily agree with it, but I'll definitely give it another go.

Another addition to the AS lineup is The PJ's - another late 90's toon that I absolutely hated. Back in 99, I wasn't at all interested in a claymation cartoon about a poor family. I seriously thought it was going to be nothing more than a cartoon sitcom. I couldn't have been more wrong. Since The PJ's have been airing on AS, I've been watching them. This is some hilarious cartoonsmanship. I never knew it was about life in the projects - no, I didn't know PJ's stood for projects. These characters cuss, drop sexual and ethnic innuendo like crazy and just poke fun at life in general. AS did some great work in digging this show out of the archives.

And speaking of the archives, AS pulled Clerks: The Animated Series out of the woodwork. This is one of my most favorite cartoons OF ALL TIME. Back in 2003, Comedy Central had an incredible lineup of cartoons that aired from midnight to 3:00am. It included the likes of Clerks, Duckman, Gary & Mike, Undergrads and Dilbert. That lineup got me through my first half of college. (If anyone from AS reads this, PLEASE book all of those shows..) So, my sincerest thanks for bringing Clerks aboard.

2009 is starting off in grand fashion.

the first trimester

So now that I'm fully awake and the cold medicine has worn off, I'm finally able to pen some thoughts. I don't think I've really blogged much about our pregnancy, so that's where I'd like to begin.

Yesterday marked the eleven-week milestone of our pregnancy, with only one more week to go until we swing into the second trimester. I really didn't expect the first trimester to go so quickly. We had our first ultrasound and it went well - we got to see the "shrimp" (as Reese calls it) moving around and we heard the heartbeat twice. Everything is progressing quite nicely as we approach week twelve. Aside from the doctor's visits, I really didn't know what to do as far as my role in this whole process goes. All I knew was Reese was going to be undergoing some major changes, and I needed to be prepared for them and be there for her. She did go through some intense changes, but she really handled them well. I know if it were me going through this transition, I'd be a huge baby about it. She really hunkered down and got through it. Morning sickness is the major offender here, but I find that an intense workout, followed by a thorough lifting program really helps Reese... Haha, I'm kidding... Soups, crackers, peppermint gum, lucky charms - all are truly helpful in dealing with morning sickness and we've got plenty of each stocking our pantry. We're really hoping that the next trimester brings some morning sickness relief.

To help me become a better daddy, and to help me stick to my new year's resolution, I've been reading a fantastic, daddy-to-be book called "The Expectant Father" by Armin A. Brott & Jennifer Ash. So far I've read through the second month, and its really been helpful in providing me specifics about how Reese is feeling, how I'm feeling, common thoughts of new fathers and questions & answers to things I may not have thought about. I'm reading this thing cover to cover, and I'm going to pick up any book that it recommends (which, so far are two additional books - "The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year" and "A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years"). Preparation is key.

Speaking of preparation, before we got pregnant Reese and I decided that when we did concieve, we'd immediately begin socking away a certain amount of money each month towards a fund for our child. We've been doing that since October, but it was just recently that we actually placed the funds in the appropriate account. I want to give this kid every advantage that I didn't have growing up, starting with a college (or whatever) fund.

So as we look towards the coming months, and I seem to be getting the hang of this dad thing more and more, I'll be sure to blog any time something special happens. At the very least, this process is keeping me closer to Reese than I've ever been before in my life, and that's really amazing. Good times!