Raising Eli & Zachary

Anyone ever use a resume writing service? I have been searching for help trying to get my resume perfect, int his economy and the lack of job security I am facing at work it would be beneficial for me to have my resume in perfect order. Many of these jobs you only have one chance to make a good impression. So if you have experience with a resume writing company please let me know.

Important note, I have been doing research on the web about this and I have found something very troubling. It seems that many of the review sites for resume companies are bogus, one I went to rated the top seven sites, turns out all seven were the same company and all of them offered the same services, different looking websites and different prices for the same services. Makes you feel that they are untrustworthy.

I can see having 100 domain names but have them all point back to the same website!

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I swear to GOD something better change with Eli soon or I am going to ship him off to military school. He is impossible to deal with and has more bad moments than good. I feel like I don’t even know him lately, and it is getting harder to want to be around him.

Lately it is all about lack of listening and throwing angry tantrums when he does not get his way. For example, if we are playing and I don’t conform to his direct wishes he crosses his arms, strikes out verbally and physically and yells that you are not being nice. This escalates to a nasty level and ends up with Eli sitting against the wall, in his room or being yelled at. None of these three “solutions” are acceptable so you sit him down and try to talk to him about it and he won’t listen, he simply tries to verbally turn it around to where we as the adults are misbehaving and making him react that way.

There are so many times he will start doing when he complains we are doing so we turn it around on him and explain that he is doing the exact same thing and his response is simple, “I can do anything I wan’t, you can’t”

I know I have to nip this in the bud, talking is not working, yelling does not solve anything, and grounding a five year old is not an option. Or is it? Maybe stopping him from watching TV or using the playroom is n order next…not sure I should do..yet. But I tell you this, I will win this war with him

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When Eli reached the stage of crawling we were shocked to see him butt scoot across the room and rarely ever crawl. As Zachary approaches this stage we wait in anticipation, will he crawl or butt scoot…we wait and try, and each day Zach simply rolls on his back, looks around, and then rolls around the room until he gets where he wants to go. Now, this is frustrating the hell out of me because I really like the crawling stage and look forward to all the crawling type of games I have imagined and created in my bald head.

So when Zach and I were sitting on the sofa this morning, he wormed his way off my lap and tried to get on the floor which put him in a standing position. I let go, he lightly rested his hand on my leg and stood there, just happy as pigs in shit standing up, on his own. Of course I screamed for Jodi to come in and see it and then suddenly, without any flash or pop in my head I realized something. Zach will probably just walk without crawling at all. Epic disappointment. On the flip side, he is getting bigger and developing at a normal pace knock on wood.

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I was reading a story on CNN about Sarah Palin (won’t she ever go away?) and it speaks of her having to build a 14ft fence because some yahoo is writing another bad book about her. I guess this guy moved in next door to her which resulted in this fence going up.

Is this what we can expect from a possible future president? She can’t even manage to maintain relationships with her neighbor, albeit this guy is crazy for moving into the house next to her in the first place. Either way, can you see it? President Sarah Palin today erected a sea wall between Florida and Cuba over a disagreement stemming from which ice cream flavor is the best at Carvel. Citing that previous presidents have erected fences over other silly things such as illegal immigration Sarah Palin had this to say, ” No way tubs of HIS favorite ice cream are going to float over to Florida! Not on my watch”

As the world shrugs, a small grass root population of American hicks rally to her side offering their support and yelling, “The next wall you build is one around that Muslim Terrorist Obama, you know, Saddam Hussein’s brother who is occupying the White House!”

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I wonder how many people have stopped blogging because of sites like facebook and twitter. I found that I was doing so many updates on facebook that I just let RaisingEli.com collect dust. But after having my privacy violated by facebook in the most unacceptable way (as if any privacy violation is ok) I have canceled my account.

Now people are asking where the updates are and I feel horrible that I have not posted anything in such a long time. I am not really doing this for me, I am doing this for Eli and now Zach to have a record of what Dad was feeling as they grew up. So I will start posting again (I know I have said this before but I really will follow through this time).

As for what is new? Eli turned 5 this weekend. Seems like yesterday that he was born. I wish I didn’t lose (to a hacker the first few years of posts on the blog, it would have been cool to have all of the posts on the site. Zach is 8 months old and he is quite the character. More coming soon!

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It has been a very odd year for us, so I have to apologize for the lack of posts since Zachary was born. Not as if anything is wrong, but we have been extremely busy with all the new changes in our life and some projects we have under-taken.

Zachary is doing great, he is such a big boy and an incredibly easy baby (so far). We had always feared and heard that if you have an angel of a first child, that the second comes out with horns and a spiked tail. This has not been the case so far! We are very lucky!

Zach is a chubby little one, we call him our tank because already he is weighing more than an Aegis Fast Attack Frigate and displaces more water than one also. Zach was born at 8 pounds 2 ounces and left the hospital in the 7 pound range. At Zachary hitting three months yesterday he is over 13 pounds (exact weight to be calculated today as he gets more inoculations). He is also a great sleeper, zonking around 10pm each night and waking at about 5, although last night he woke up at 3 with a thirst only a Vampire can know at that hour. He is a big, growing, healthy boy!

Eli has also had a great year, overcoming a lot of the issues associated with his PDD NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, but still having some of the issues that make me as a parent break down and cry. He is such a wonderful boy, very caring, extremely brilliant and solid, yet I still see the behavior and mannerisms occasionally that just tear my heart out. I was hoping that by the time Kindergarten came around he would be declassified and these issues would be long behind us. But the reality of the situation is clear, even though he has accomplished so much and grown and excelled past all of our expectations, he still has issues. As a dad, all I can do is love him for who he is, and provide the best support I can. He is my best friend, and all of my happiness in life. He is everything to me.

We also started the house hunting this year and finally selected a house we wanted to buy. As I type this I wait for the bank to give me a closing date. We have passed all of the stringent financial requirements and signed and dotted every document in triplicate five times over . It is just a waiting game and we hope that we are closing on the 28th, just five days from now.

So I will be posting more now, work is beginning to quiet down a bit with many of my big projects starting to close. I am not happy with work at the moment, having been denied training too many times this year, having raises postponed, no increase in pay, no increase in vacation days. I know I am lucky to have a job, and although I LOVE what I do, I am losing respect for the company I am doing it for. I don’t want to have to leave, but they are making it more difficult to stay. I hope the company turns around, I really do.

As for Jodi and I, we are doing well. Packing and planning, arguing and laughing. Normal adult marriage stuff, but I think things are going well. I think everything will settle down about a year after we move into the house. It is time for us to take a vacation together, recharge the batteries and have a little fun. It has been a stressful but rewarding year, and I look forward to spending at least another 50 years with my wife and kids.

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I know, I have been bad, not much activity on RaisingEli for three weeks and it has all been due to a crazy busy schedule and some major changes upcoming in our lives. First and foremost Eli is doing very well, and has conquered his fear of the water. I owe a great debt of gratitude to his swim coach for making it all possible. Eli has gone from a scared little cat in the water to a swimming duck and it has been a really cool transition to see.

Eli has also gone into a stage that is driving me absolutely crazy. He whines a lot, and is not listening. When corrected he cries and runs to mommy. When mommy corrects him, he runs to daddy and whines about wanting mommy. He whines about wanting mommy when mommy is holding him. No win situation. Best thing we can do to not support the behavior and eventually he will realize it is not working and give up.

As for Zach, he is a tank, eats like a champ. Poops like one too, and is growing bigger each day. He is an easy baby and it reminds me how much fun kids at that age can be. Looking forward to hearing him giggle.

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At Eli’s swimming class you get to ring the bell when you reach certain achievements in your program. It is a big deal and in the multiple lessons I have watched, I have never seen a kid ring it. Call my unlucky or something but with all the laughing, splashing, crying and temper tantrums it is just something I have missed. Last night, I get a phone call from my wife and she tells me Eli has something to say….

“Daddy! I rang the bell, and I jumped into the water all by myself!” Like music to my ears this was great news. Eli has always been scared of jumping in, and going underwater, and after weeks, if not months of swim class he has finally conquered his fear!

I am extremely proud of him!

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Eli received three new games recently and two of them are sure hits for every toddler. The first is a “Guess Who” which is a mystery game in which the players have to ask each other yes/no questions in order to narrow down the field of suspects until only one remains. This game is a logical thinking game that is awesome for the kiddies. Some examples of questions:

Does the mystery person have blue eyes? If the answer is yes, the person flips down the players who have any color eyes other than blue…. etc etc.

The second game is a listening game. The players separate into two types of players, one person gets to be the guy ordering the pizza, and the other players get to make the pizza. It is simple, the player who orders says they want a pizza with X number of toppings and places cards representing the topping in order in front of them. He repeats the items twice and flips them over. Now, each player making the pizza has to remember the toppings, and what order they were given. If the player makes the pizza with the right ingredients, then they get 1 point. If they make the pizza with the right ingredients and in the correct order, they get two points. The level of difficulty is changed by adding/removing the number of toppings.

The third game, which is not one of my favorites simply because it is way too repetitive is another NoodleBoro game where you have to use proper manners to take tokens representing food out of a picnic basket and place them in the proper spot on the picnic blanket, always using manners. The game is over way too fast and it is entirely too easy with little value, but to the kids, they love it just the same and it does encourage good manners.

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Ok parents, what does one “do” with a two week old baby? All they do is eat, sleep, poop, pee on the wall or the unsuspecting parent or eat…wait did I say eat twice?

Well there are a lot of things you can do, most importantly there are a lot of basic rules to follow:

How many times per day do I feed my baby?
I believe you feed on demand, but you have to understand the difference between the I am hungry cry, and the I am tired cry, and the I am bored cry. Only experience will teach you the difference. But in terms of how often? Breast feeding means every 1-3 hours. Bottle Feeding is more like every 2-4 hours. Of course, the older your baby gets, the more per serving and less frequency.

How often do I give my baby a bath?
Two to three times a week, but only wash the hair with shampoo once per week at most. The rule of thumb is bathing a baby is about using a very soft cloth and luke warm water. Babies don’t get dirty like toddlers do, so use your best judgment. Make sure however that you comb the babies hair to help avoid cradle crap. Also, don’t submerge the belly button until the umbilical cord breaks off on its own.

What position should the baby go to sleep in?
On the back, with the head alternating sides. Use a support system to keep baby in place. SIDS research also points to allowing an infant to use a pacifier, but don’t force it on your baby, especially if they let it go.

How much belly time is appropriate?
When your baby is alert and awake it is a good time to do some basic exercises. Things like a boppy pillow and some belly time (always supervised of course). Back time with mom or dad talking to the baby. Gently moving the legs, hands and arms in the babies normal range of motion is always good

How much is too much swing/bouncer time?
I don’t know the answer to this, but I do know that there can be a problem holding a baby too much. Although you can’t spoil a baby until it is three months old, it is always good to have the baby out of your hands and in the swing or bouncer. Just make sure you watch out for the cat, dog or little brother.

Walks!
Walks in the carriage is always a great thing. Fresh air does a baby great, and if your baby is jaundiced, the sun is a great healing mechanism. Make sure the baby is dressed for the weather and go for a walk.

Hope this all helps. As a new dad all over again, I tend to forget things. There is always google!

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