The Confused Neuron

Tonight Brae, Finn and Christy gave me an early birthday present and it was something I mentioned that I wanted and that I’m going to use very very often.  It’s the iHome ip41 portable alarm clock/speaker system for my iPhone.  Christy’s been noticing that I have my iPhone on full blast when I’m in the shower, and I’m also listening to it when I cook in the kitchen, but I only had the little speaker in the phone.  I mean, it gets loud but not nearly loud enough to hear well over the shower and fan running.  PROBLEM SOLVED!  =o)

So as I was about to start cleaning up dinner Christy asks me if I want one of my birthday presents early.  See, two ’suspicious’ boxes were delivered by UPS today and I asked her what was in them and she declined to answer.  So then the 20 questions started.  She finally caved in after dinner and offered one gift now if I wanted to open it.  So she goes up stairs and comes down with a box (not one of the ones that arrived today) and hands it to me.  I opened it up on floor with Finn trying to help me, and out comes the ip41.  So I run downstairs to get my iPhone that was syncing and come back up to hook it up and try it out and the sound that came out of this thing was very surprising.  I wasn’t expecting it to be as nice as it is.  So I put on a miscellany of songs and we all enjoyed it and ended up dancing around the living room for a bit.

I was pleasantly surprised tonight and I’m most looking forward to playing music while I’m in the kitchen cooking and not having it sound all tinny like when I only had the iPhone speaker.  WOOHOO.

Thanks for the early birthday gift guys!

Tonight Braeden and I got a little Wii time in before bedtime.  Did we play one of the new Wii games we got for Christmas?  Nope. We played 1988’s Super Mario Bros 3.  Vintage Mario Bros with Warp Whistles, and Raccoons galore.  Now, there is something to be said for the latest offerings of the video game world, but for a time say, 22 years ago, Mario Bros 3 was what it was about.  I remembered bugging my Mom with no end until we got to Toys ‘R Us to grab the little tag for the game and take it to the window where they exchanged it for the game itself.  Of course, what did I do when I got home?  I opened it and got out the instruction booklet and read it.  Yes, I read the instruction book.  Not because I didn’t know how to play but because I wanted to know what the names of all the new baddies were and what new power ups were in the game and of course I was pleasantly surprised.  My sister and I played that game until we had beaten it, and then we played it some more.

With the ability to download various classic NES titles for the Wii now, we’ve been able to enjoy playing our favorites again plus introduce them to the next generation.  Brae wanted to play Wii tonight and he decided to pick an old school Mario game, so I was more than happy to go along since I find the New Super Mario Bros Wii game INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING for a couple reasons I’ll list in another post.  Anyway, we started out doing very well.  Went through the first few levels in world 1, picked up a couple warp whistles and went off to Giant World (World 4).   Breezed through the first two levels and then…..World 4-3.  The one where you’re introduced to the giant Hammer Brothers.  You remember.  The ones that shake the ground when they land rendering you immobile for a few seconds?  Yeah.  Couldn’t beat that world for a solid half hour.  I was ready to rip my hair out!  We seriously spent at least 25 lives combined trying to get past this level.  See, if I were 7 years old again, I would have aced that level in the second try.  Not any more though.  Apparently my 2D left-right scrolling game skills are on the rapid decline.  It made for a fun hour though.  At one point Brae gave me his controller and said “WILL YOU PLEASE BEAT THIS LEVEL!” and I STILL couldn’t do it.  It wasn’t until Christy came downstairs after putting Finn to sleep and Brae asked her to help me out that I actually beat the level.  There’s no way I’d let her look like she’s the better Mario Bros player!  Even after beating that level, we were running out of time before Brae had to go upstairs, so I used my second warp whistle to take us to World 7, Pipe World where Brae discovered those little white chomper plants will indeed kill you if you land on them.  We got to level 7-2 but then it was bed time.  Perhaps we’ll pick it up again later this week.

Super Mario Bros 3 is probably my favorite of all the SMB games specifically because of all the creative power ups they threw in the game, the Tanooki Suit that for some reason turned you into a stone statue, Frog Suit, Hammer Bros Suit, and the boot.  Who can forget the boot that allowed you to hop really high and stomp on your enemies?  Just thought I’d share that 22 years later, Super Mario Brothers is still providing tons of fun.  Even for a 6 year old and a soon to be 29 year old.  =)

And FYI:  A graphic of all the power ups Mario, Luigi & Crew have benefited from over the years:

As I’m getting in bed to go to sleep tonight laying next to me is our 8 month old who, bless his heart, has another cold and next to him is the amazing woman I married two years ago.

Sometimes in our busy days we seem to forget the most wonderful things that we have in our lives. We take them for granted because we have grown accustomed to having them there day after day. I’m guilty of such transgressions In multiple areas. Two of the three most amazing things in my life are laying right next to me. The third is down the hall snoozing away in what would be a most awkward sleeping position for me.

My wife is the most incredible woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. She was that way well before she became my wife and she became doubly so after she became a mama. If I ever needed proof that superheros existed I’d just have to look at her. She does so much for this family it makes my head spin. She goes above and beyond every day, goes until she’s got no more energy left to give and then goes some more. She sacrifices herself for our boys. Loses good sleep to keep our sick ones propped up so they can breathe easier when they’re so congested. She is the boys’ alarm clock during the week, she shuttles them around, packs their lunch, works a full day of work, gets them to doctor’s appointments when needed, gets Brae to karate on time after school at the expense of ripping her hair out because of traffic. Then she’ll bring them home and work some more being the awesome mom she is. She does all this and more and puts up with a incredibly irritating at times husband who, at 28 with two kids and a mortgage, decided to go back to school to become a doctor and she really asks nothing for herself except for a glass of wine at the end of the day.

How does she do it and retain even a shred of sanity? I haven’t a clue. I couldn’t do it, I’m no match for her. But she does it every day and I never want her to feel like she’s taken for granted. She’s gotta be the strongest force I’ve ever dared to reckon with and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

She’s given me this incredible family to spend the rest of my life with and I want her to know how special she is and how thankful I am for all that she does every day. She’s the absolute best and I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if tomorrow I found out she could fly and bend steel with her bare hands. I married the most incredible woman on the earth and she’s my hero. Thank you for everything you do.

I love you forever and forever again!

A couple days after a wonderful Christmas and our Finnegan is still not feeling well. He’s very congested and not happy at all. He’s got so many awesome toys to play with that he’s just not interested in at the moment. He’ll most definitely be going back to the doctor tomorrow at some point. We can’t really tell if it’s his teething, his ears still or his belly. Or a mixture of all three. He’s spiked a fever this afternoon of 101.2 and right now he’s resting as comfortably as he can on mommy’s lap. He’s just not himself. I feel so bad because there’s not really much you can do for an infant when they’re sick except try to soothe them as best you can. We gave him Motrin to try and break the fever but when your belly is upset, putting Motrin or Tylenol in it sometimes isn’t the best thing.

Well, as I type this he’s stirring and fussing. We’re going to keep an eye on him obviously and hopefully he’ll be able to see the doctor earlier rather than later tomorrow. It’s the first day after a long holiday weekend so it’ll be very difficult to get him seen.

Brae’s still a little snotty and under the weather but he’s been enjoying all the cool toys he got for Christmas. Last night we built the Lego “Echo Base” set from Star Wars and this afternoon we built a two-wheeled motorized robot out of an Erector set he got. It motors around pretty well on the carpet. You can build a bunch of different things out of that one set.

Brae’s also built his T-Rex Mountain playset that is currently sitting on our end table.  It’s pretty cool, it’s got a bunch of traps and cages you can trigger to capture the caveman dude.  The only thing we couldn’t do with it is make the dinosaur skeleton roar because I didn’t have AAA batteries.  D’s, AA, C’s, but no AAA.

Christy and I are REALLY looking forward to playing the new Mario Brothers game for Wii.  (So I can kick her butt, of course!)  My mother-in-law gave it to use for Christmas.  I’m really excited to play, it looks so cool in the commercials.

Anyway, gonna get back to football now.  I’m pulling big for the Eagles to knock off Denver so it gets Pittsburgh closer to the playoffs!

Finnegan’s first Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We made the rounds to both Christy’s family and my family and Finn and Brae handled it very well.  Finn got a half hour cat nap in there while we were at Christy’s grandparents so he got a little recharge.  He was his usual charming self for everyone who wanted to talk to him and hold him.  He’s just an amazing baby!

Braeden was his usual energetic self.  He had his cousins Jack, Tristan and Isabella to keep him busy at the Willey’s.  Running around like little crazy people.  We were also treated to performances on the organ from all of them.  Later, Brae got a piano lesson from Kevin where he learned how to play part of the Peanuts theme.  Hehe.

Finn also tried to crawl for everyone at the Irish’s.  He managed to flop forward a couple of times but it definitely won’t be long until he’s motoring all around trying to keep up with his big brother.  Both boys managed to down two dinners!  Finnegan loves his sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey.  And today we found out he also likes pumpkin pie.  THAT’S MY BOY.  =o)

Yesterday we decorated the house for Christmas.  The tree is up and there are lights and snowmen, snowflakes, and all sorts of other decorations about.  During the decorating process we continued the tradition of watching Christmas Vacation a few times.  That movie is such a classic.  I’m sure that Finnegan will be well acquainted with that movie by the time he’s Braeden’s age.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to a very exciting Christmas season for the boys.  Especially Finnegan’s first!

Pictures from our Thanksgiving adventures can be found on Christy’s Flickr page.