That is a picture of my boys watching the celebration on TV. Teaspoon isn’t quite sure what’s going on while my youngest is just happy that he stopped teething for now.

I know when they get older days like this will seem corny and stupid as they rebel but today its for us.

Organizing the mess
Over the MLK day 3-day weekend, and thanks to finally having a full night of sleep, the organizing bug crawled up our butts and we got to work. Monday I heard a faint cry for help coming from the basement. I went downstairs to find someone had put them self into a corner from falling boxes.

The day was spent with a solid 7 hours in the basement cleaning out junk that moved with us and damn did it feel refreshing. Granted I still have the stuff that Capt. Obvious left here when we moved in but now we have a floor! The Christmas and holiday decorations are in one section, summer and spring have a shelf and an area was reserved for things we still need to go through (mostly photos and things we were too lazy to sort when moving). I’ll still need at least 1 more solid day of it but we are SO close to being done.

The boxes we did go through furnish pictures that I haven’t seen before or forgot that we had. Plenty of wedding items I forgot about and some childhood memories that I didn’t even realize came with me. There’s still a whole shelf of those boxes I haven’t gone through yet and not sure if I should. No one wants to see me in 6th grade  That picture above was when we first moved in almost 2 years ago. The pile has doubled since with a couple holidays and birthdays under our belts plus there are boxes from 2007 in there.

The garbage men hate us. When they came this week we had a mountain of boxes and junk waiting for them. While the next load wont be as bad, it will be heavy. I have some cement and wood that need to find a home.

To finish off our day we upgraded Teaspoon’s room. He’s had a single bed for over a year but now we put the headboard on and raised it up a little bit. I’ve also started hanging framed sports photos in his room which once were in my room. Feels kinda cool seeing him appreciating the same things you did.

Welcome to my hell and where I have been the last 2-3 weeks. Shortly after turning 1 my youngest spiraled into teething hell. You’d think I would have remembered what it was like with Teaspoon but obviously I blocked it out of my mind.

Those without children have already chimed in about giving the kid hard liquor or Tylenol to which I twitch and look at them funny. If there is even a picture of liquor around a kid you have some freaky freak calling youth services on your ass.

The picture is a few months old but shows perfectly how almost every waking hour has been. At first the teeth would come in slowly and them BOOM 8-10! Its like the kid was on some growth hormone and man was he pissed.

Thankfully he’s starting to chill out and after weeks of us averaging 2-4hrs of sleep a night we’re close to making it a full night.

We’re on the dawn of our next fight. He hates his crib and refuses to sleep in it. Someone get me the duct tape…

One thing that I’m bad at is remembering the year. I kept thinking it was 2010 for some reason and have no idea why 2012 doesn’t seem far fetched. Maybe I have a thing against years with odd numbers? This past year was eventful personally but when it came to blogging it was kinda meh. Either way here’s a quick recap so my kids don’t have to sift through archives.

January 2011
Year started off great with the Winter Classic (even though Pens lost) and spending the first 2 weeks home with my new baby. I also decided that I would attempt to go a full year without drinking a Bud/Miller/Coors product. Not to be some elite prick but to see for myself how tough it would be. With the amount of picnics we attended and moments of weakness for going cheap I’m proud to say I’ve made it a full year and some days.

February 2011
Kept the busy pace with a quick trip to Baltimore to pick up the first of what would be many awards for a website I made. Even thought it was winter I was falling in love with the city. I will be going back soon. I also hit my mid 30′s while only suffering a minor “oh shit, I’m getting old” moment and Teaspoon got his first haircut while hitting the terrible 2.

March 2011
2 things happened, we got sick and I ate a lot of fish.

April 2011
My mom wanted to know why I didn’t invent Facebook, the internet or cure cancer. I had some views on the sale of Iron City which turned out to piss off a bunch of yinzers and Pittsburgh purists. Eh, it happens.

May 2011
Should I Drink That turned 5 years old on the 5th and we had a whirlwind bash in Boardman, Ohio as we took over the Big Tap In after party. We cracked open a 101 oz bottle of Double Arrogant Bastard that we have been sitting on for 4-5 years. It came with a padlock. Nuff said. I figured out how you can take a trip with Megabus to Erie (or Pittsburgh from there) and have a very low cost time. I celebrated national Craft Beer Week and if you haven’t heard me talk about it yet, am on the planning group for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week coming in 2012. This month also was record breaking numbers as we raised money for March of Dimes which helps preemies such as my boys.

June 2011
After many years of hard work I graduated cum laude from college. It was incredibly stressful when I threw work and the family into the mix but the support was fantastic! I’ll probably have my student loan bills paid off when Teaspoon is starting school.

Last year I posted what it was like from the moment we found out about our next child up until his birth. Now I sit here a year later and wonder where the time has gone.

O is the exact opposite of Teaspoon. He’s very reserved, chilled out, and from what I can tell, is studying everyone. When he does unleash his fury though Teaspoon is usually the one taken out.

It’s been fun to watch the 2 boys interact. At first Teaspoon wanted nothing to do with him and now they play like best friends. O has started to walk, not far, but he can hold is own. Once he is completely mobile Teaspoon’s life will change dramatically as now his little brother will be able to keep up.

I look at O now and still can’t believe he was a preemie. He’s around 20lbs and is mastering the art of diving on you if you’re laying on the ground.

It was around Teaspoon’s first birthday that his personality really started to take shape so I can’t wait to see what this little guy has in store for us.

Shortly after this picture Santa met his demise at the hands of Teaspoon attacking him like a spider monkey.

Hard to believe it but my youngest wasn’t even around this time last year. In fact Lushie would go into labor on the 26th and pop the little guy out 26 hours later.

Christmas tree is already packed full of presents for the monsters and around 6am my mother-in-law will be showing up with gifts from the out of towners. Monday we”re hosting brunch for my family and then comes a week of slacking before 24 hours of geeking out over hockey (4 games in 24 hours. LOVE IT!)

Being a dad has changed my life in ways that I never imagined. My life has become providing the best I can for my boys. I’ve started to appreciate the smaller things and cherish the time I get to spend with them. When I was 25 I used to mock people like me. Now, I snicker and tell that whipper snapper to get off my lawn.

I know the boys wont remember Christmas in too much detail but I will. Of course I’m going to be a camera whore and take as many pics as I can. I really don’t have pictures of Christmas as a kid (one lady in my office said she was sorry I don’t have any family, wtf ever that means) since we lost most when our basement flooded at the last place so I’m happy to make new ones.

I hope everyone is able to spend some time kicking back and visiting family, no matter how batshit crazy they may be. I’m thankful for my friends I have met and those I’ve only chatted with online. All of you have played a part in my life and I’m blessed to know such kickass people.

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my dad passing so I decided to take a drive up to Erie and toast the old man. What better way to salute the man who taught me hard work, discipline and dedication will take you places, not handouts and whining.

Usually at this time in Erie there would have already been a couple feet of snow but thanks to our friend Global Warming it was in the 40′s and raining. Mom and I drove up to the cemetery and as we got to dad’s grave I sat down a bag and pulled out a bottle with 2 glasses. Mom, looking really confused, asked me what I was doing. I smiled, opened, poured and said “celebrating dad of course!”

It was with him that I shared my first bottle of my first homebrew.

I don’t know where this hobby may take me but I couldn’t think of any better way to christen it than with the man who’s inspired me most.

Cheers pops!

My brother and I drove up the night of the 5th and honestly expected to see him bitching to get out of the bed because he had work to do at home. It was a running joke that we couldn’t visit Erie without someone making a trip to St Vincent ER. However on this night, we wouldn’t be leaving. We walked up to the 3rd floor and walked in stunned as we saw him hooked up to machines which doctors said were keeping him alive. The strongest man I have ever known was now gone and we knew it, we just didn’t want to accept it. The doctors kept him on support until the morning when my mother, brother and I told them to turn the machines off. I was the last one to hold his hand and within seconds he had flat lined.

I’ll never forget that moment when my life changed and I can still feel his hand in mine.

A lot has happened in the 5 years since he’s passed and I’d give anything for him to have been around just a bit longer to see one of them. I’ve had 2 beautiful sons, bought a house, lost a job and gained a new career plus I know he’d be damn proud of what I’ve done with SIDT (dad was a closet audio junkie). I get angry at times because he’s not here to enjoy being a grandfather to my boys as he was to my brother’s kids (you KNOW he’d be best friends with Teaspoon) but if he did pull through that heart attack he wouldn’t have been the same person.

There is so much I still had to learn from him and now I don’t have that chance. What we’ve gone through with the preemie births of both sons and the layoff were intense and I didn’t have him to lean back on. Stupid little things too like house repairs or car problems go unanswered. Its the void of not having a father around that has made this part of my life difficult.

Dad and I had a project we started and I’m determined to finish – his family tree. He knew stories about relatives but nothing solid and growing up I knew very little about his family. We never got to finish this while he was alive but recently I’ve made a vow to finish it as very rare documentation has surfaced. How this incredibly cool story goes though is for another post but if you’re into genealogy and can offer tips let me know!

As I type this I look in on my sons watching morning cartoons while the smell of bacon is in the mmmmmm bacon… just a sec. *ahhhh* in the air, the way him and I would start our Sunday mornings.

He was a great man who was always looking out for others first and this veteran spent 20 years working for the state making sure the people of Erie could find work. At the funeral home there was almost a 2 hour wait just to pay their respects. He was the head usher at his church my entire life and there wasn’t a parish festival where you couldn’t hear his voice bellowing up and down Buffalo Rd. When he passed things got a lot quieter.

Dad was an American flag addict. In his military photos he always had a flag with him and every holiday mini flags would adorn his yard. As a sign of final respect for him my wife and I got up early the morning of his funeral and in 2ft of snow put 50 of his flags in the yard. The funeral procession passed in front of and stopped at the house. As if staged the wind kicked up and all flags started blowing in sync as if it was their final salute.

I miss you dad and I think you’d be proud of how things have turned out.

Here is a video tribute that the funeral home made. Enjoy the pics of me as a kid. What were they thinking dressing me like that?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is probably the last year before they beat each other up over candy.

He has a long career of making root beer in front of him.