Howefitz Blog

FatherHood Friday is here again, and I’ve been so busy that I had a hard time coming up with a topic for today. So why not write about how busy I am?! I have good news and bad news. I always like to start with the bad and then cheer up. The bad news is, I’ve been working crazy long hours lately for no additional pay. Really? How much sense does that make? The good news is, starting Sept. 26, I go on a three-day-on, three-day-off schedule. (Applause.) In an effort to get the store ready for such a structure, naturally, there’s some amount of preparation involved. So, in the days and weeks leading up to this change, there have been some crazy long days, which in turn lead to the wife saying things like, ‘You’re son’s not going to know you.’ To which I reply, ‘Hang in there, it’ll all be better soon…’ And it should be. I’ve been working hard to make this change positive for work and my home. But will sacrificing the here and now be worth it?

So here’s the thing: last week I twisted the theme of Back to School from Dad-Blogs‘ weekly FatherHood Friday to my own ends, promising to have a more traditional Back to School post this week. I planned on blogging about preparing the teenager for school this year, but the high school is going through renovations and school doesn’t actually start for her until the 21st!

Registration is on the 10th, so even though Wal-Mart is already pushing the last of the school supplies out the door, it hasn’t even sunk in for me that it’s back to school time at all!

This post is a part of the glorious event that is FatherHood Friday. That’s where Dad and Mom bloggers come together on Friday and discuss what FatherHood is all about. Be sure to click the link on the left for more fabulous contributions. Isn’t this header thing like the top of the first page of an old comic? “Bitten by a radioactive spider, young Peter Parker….”

This afternoon I was holding my son in front of me. We had just gotten back from the doctor where I was asked if my perfect baby boy’s poop was yellow. ‘No, it’s still kinda green.’ I answered, being the resident expert on the contents of Tristin’s diaper.

‘Kinda… green…’ the doctor repeated, scribbling the selected hue of my baby’s feces into his chart…

So I’m holding my fully clothed, five day old son in front of me, his big three year old sister oohing and awing over him, when we hear the biggest phooot I’ve ever heard come out of a baby.

Wow.

I am blogging to you live from a post-partum room at Valley View Hospital. My wife sleeps beside me, and so does my newborn son.

World, I am pleased to present Tristin Hero Howe. He was born at 1:45am on August 15, 2009. He weighed 6lbs. 14.5oz and was 21.5in long. And might I say he is one handsome little devil.

The first ever picture taken featuring Tristin!

My head is on fire with so many emotions. I am so proud of my son, whose middle name started as a joke, and wound up being so entirely appropriate.

'Aaah, freak out!' Don't let this happen to you!

I took vacation this week and did a lot of house hunting. Right now we’re in a 2 bedroom apartment, which with the approaching birth of my son, will be waaaay too cramped for a family of five! So we’ve been looking for something a little bigger.

We found a townhome that I immediately fell in love with. Nice grassy back yard, another nice grassy area we can play in out front. (with no mowing by me, FTW!) It’s located on a quiet cul-de-sac, so no crazy drivers. 3 bed, 3 bath, fireplace, and a garage. Perfect. The two smaller rooms even already had a pink shade on the window in one and a blue shade in the other!

I claim to be a blogger, but with that comes keeping in touch with the world around me. On this front I have failed. I just noticed that Jason over at Ramblings and Run-Ons has given me a Keepsake Blog Award. I just saw it, and feel terrible because that means I missed one of his FatherHood Friday posts, which I usually try to keep up with. But now that I know, I would like to say ‘Thank you, thank you very much’ to Jason and I am flatterered to know that my blog stands out as a keepsake in your mind. The feeling is mutual. Now, as with any blogging award that I’ve seen, this one comes with a couple of caviats: 1) I must pass this prestigious honor along to ten of my favorite bloggers. 2) I have to share a keepsake moment in my life. When I learned of this, I started tracing the award back, trying to find original blogs that had not already been given the award. That effort thwarted, here is my list, in no particular order, some of which someone beat me to honoring them. You can blame my day job!

Although I do my best to participate in FatherHood Friday each week, it’s been a while since I posted a Fiction Friday post. Inspired by one of Kat’s sketches, I decided to do just that…

It’s no secret that I’ve been stressed lately. I’ve blogged about it, tweeted about it and ranted about it to friends, family, and anyone who happens to be standing close to me at any given time. It’s funny, since for a while I’ve tried to project a fairly care-free, nothing bothers me attitude. But lately, none of the pieces seem to fit.

I’ve already blogged about how my kids help out with all the stress, but there’s something else that helps me when I’m stressed that I hadn’t thought of in a while. Something that you could say began in my teenage years. Something that I can only do when I am alone.

I got home from a late night at work tonight, and there came a moment when the entire family was in the same room at the same time. Individual members of the family started announcing things that they were going to do: bits of nighttime rituals. ‘I’m taking a quick shower’, etc.

‘Wait!’ I exclaimed. ‘Since everyone is here, I’d like to announce a decision I’ve made!’

The family looked at me expectantly. I had thought about it all day. If I were to act, it had to be soon.