Barry’s Daily Web News

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Cortney’s parents, Corky and Leslie, flew into town today. They will be staying with us for the next two weeks.

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Cortney wanted to do something different tonight, so we all went to Jeepers. Sean had lots of fun, both in the play area and on all the rides. They had a roller slide, composed of wooden rollers. Sean was afraid to go down the slide, until Cortney went down with him. After that, he kept wanting to go down the roller slide. I took Ethan on a few of the rides with me, but he didn’t seem to care much one way or another. Ethan did enjoy the carousel, and he also had fun in the play area. Ethan doesn’t climb way up into the tubes like Sean does, but he still has fun. Hopefully, the kids were tired enough that they will sleep in tomorrow, so I can sleep in for the first day of my winter vacation.

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I finally got a new computer at work. The old one was a Pentium II 450 MHz machine, a real dog. The new one is a 2.4 Ghz, with 512 Mb of memory. I’m dissapointed that it doesn’t have a DVD reader, but at least it has a CD writer. The machine isn’t nominally faster than my home computer, but at least it doesn’t clunk along like the old one did.

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I took Sean and Ethan to the park tonight, but it was too cold. I guess neither Sean nor Ethan wanted to put their hands on the cold metal bars; we spent most of the time on the swings, and ended up leaving early. We stopped and looked at some Christmas lights on the way home.

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Ethan was up most of the night last night, keeping the family up as well. Everyone was grouchy today.

We picked up our Christmas tree today. The local Home Depot was out of decent trees, and I was surpised when they told us they weren’t receiving any more shipments. So much for keeping a fresh tree in your house until New Year’s. We had much better local at the second place we went to. We had no trouble picking up the tree and getting it home. Other than cleaning out a black widow spider nest (complete with live spider) out of the tree stand, the tree went up easily as well. We will decorate the tree when Cortney’s parents arrive in the middle of the week.

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Sean had his first soccer game from the new league today. I think Sean still hasn’t gotten over the flu; he really wasn’t up for the game. He played at the start of the game, but he did not play after that. I didn’t want to push him.

This afternoon, we went to a party given by my department head. It was a family event, and Sean had other kids to play with. Cortney met some of the people I work with, as well as their families. We left early to watch the boat parade. This is where the boats are dressed up with Christmas lights. Sean enjoyed the display, but it seemed like there were fewer boats than last year. Ethan was a bit too tired to enjoy the lights.

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Sean was definitely feeling better today. Cortney took him to the doctor anyway, and she said Sean had the flu. That would have been my guess, as his fever lasted five days. The doctor also said it is likely Ethan will get the flu as well.

Since Sean was feeling better, I took Sean and Ethan to Burger King, to give Cortney a break. Sean was very well behaved, and had fun playing with the other kids. Ethan had fun playing as well. He kept climbing in the ball pit, and was a bid more tolerant than usual of other kids jumping around him. Ethan also had fun playing with the balls outside the pit, throwing them around and then chasing after them. I hope both kids sleep well tonight; we have a big day planned for tomorrow.

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Today, Ethan is 14 months old.

Sean’s still sick today. He missed another day of school. Cortney is taking him to the doctor tomorrow. At this point, I think he has the flu. Just like every other kid and half the adults in Arizona.

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I thought Sean was over his illness last night when he felt well enough to go to the library. Today, he was running a fever again, and slept all day. Sean missed both pre-school and soccer practice. At this point, he hope he gets better soon.

Ethan is still on the anti-biotic, and still has a bit of a runny nose, but otherwise, he is doing fine. He has plenty of energy. Today, he had fun stacking cups. All of Sean’s plates, bowls, and cups are in a lower drawer where he can reach them. This means Ethan can reach them as well. Ethan has fun taking out the items, stacking them, and then (usually) putting them back in the drawer.

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I took Sean and Ethan to the library this evening. Story time doesn’t start back up until next month, but I wanted to get the kids out of the house. I would have considered the playground, but the kids already had their baths. Sean had fun with the train table as usual, but after awhile, he was more interested in playing with the puzzles they had there. Ethan had fun walking around a checking everything out. Other than grabbing train cars and annoying Sean, Ethan enjoyed playing with the bead tables. Just before we left, another mom showed up with a boy the exact same size and age as Ethan. I guess at that age, they still don’t play with other childeren, as both boys went about there own business.

Soon after we arrived home, it was time for bed. Ethan was a little hungry, so I fed him so yogurt before putting him to bed. Sean helped me sing the ABC’s to Ethan. I normally put Sean to bed after Ethan, but Sean said he wanted to stay up later. He played reader rabbit on my computer for awhile, then became tired of it. He still did not want to go to bed, so I let him wander off downstairs while I stayed on the computer. I went to check on him ten minutes later, and he was asleep on the sofa! I guess he did not quite know what he wanted.

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Tonight is Laura’s last night in town. We were going to go out to dinner, but Sean is still running a fever. So, we had take-out instead. After dinner, we went to see the drive through Christmas light display. Sean enjoyed the lights, but Ethan fell asleep.

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I put up the yard lights this morning. Of course, I couldn’t put up the lights with all of the weeds in the yard, so I had to pull the weeds first. Now, the front of the house looks nice, with the lights, and the weed-free yard.

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Sean had a stomach virus today. He woke up early in the morning, and was sick all morning. I think it is just the 24 hour variety. He held done lunch, and nibbled a bit a dinner as well. Cortney wants to keep him out of school tomorrow, but he should be fine after that. Ethan is doing fine. He is recovering from his congestion, but he is full of energy.

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Sean had his first soccer practice for the winter league this afternoon. Sean has two teammates from his previous team, so he should feel a bit more comfortable starting off the new season. Sean worked hard during practice, and I was proud of his effort.

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We went to the outlet mall this morning to do some shopping. While we were there, we did the obligatory picture of the kids with santa. Ethan did not care much for being alone with the guy, but Sean didn’t mind (click on picture for full-sized image):