Just for the record...

First read the preceding post before reading this.

I just got back from putting Maddie back to sleep :)

I was a really easy night, took me less than 5 minutes, but still... I feel somewhat vindicated. Hey, if I am going to share my failures on my blog, I am sure as heck going to post the few times I am right as well.

Late Saturday night

Well it is late Saturday night (bet you couldn't guess that from the title!) and I am sitting in bed, sorta waiting for Maddie. Here is the deal, for some reason Maddie as of late has decided that right around whenever we go to bed (and honestly, the time doesn't matter, it is 10:00 some days, 11:00 others and even 12:00 like tonight) but whatever the time it is that Shalisa and I both actually crawl into bed, that is the time for her to wake up. It is actually pretty impressive, I have no idea how she is doing it, I am just convinced she is either EXTREMELY intelligent and torturing us, or perhaps she has some paranormal abilities.

Anyway, I am lying in bed waiting for Shalisa to finish up in the bathroom so that once Shalisa climbs into bed, I can then go up and put Maddie back to sleep. And as I type this, the baby monitor just clicked, indicating that she is stirring, I haven't heard any crying yet, but Shalisa is still putzing around. This is actually pretty scary/impressive, as I am typing this the exact events that I have laid out are actually happening. Scary.

Well while I have a few more minutes before Shalisa reaches the bed/Maddie wakes up I guess I will write about what I originally got on to write about.

I am thinking that Monday morning, I am going to change the start page of my work computer to my blog. This is step 1 of my master plan. Then each day I am going to try and make a blog post, it will contain pretty much some random stream of consciousness thought, similar to this post or whatever else I feel like blogging about. But the IMPORTANT part of all this is, I am going to also post what I need to work on, both in terms of work and personal life, for all to read. I figure you can't get much more accountable than potentially the entire world. This will serve 2 purposes. 1) It will help me keep track of what exactly I need to be working on (shocking I know to most of you, but my short term memory isn't the greatest) and 2) This will provide me some accountability for how I spend my time (or at least how I spend my time in regards to what my priorities/obligations are).

Honestly this idea scares me a bit, because I know that some days I am much less productive than others, but I have been thinking about how God sees all that we do, there is nothing that we can hide from him and he is the ultimate judge. My goal in life should be to live my life to please him, and in doing so I will also please those around me (at least most of the time :p). So since I can't hide from God, and my ultimate goal is to please him then if I am living by his commandments offering my life up as an open book should be no problem... right? Obviously I am going to sin, sin, and sin again, I have no delusions there. But I know often I think to myself that what I do in private, that no one knows about, goes unnoticed but the simple fact of the matter is that that just isn't true, God knows all and sees all. Lets just be thankful that we all have the opportunity to accept Christ's merciful covering over our sins.

So anyway, that is my master plan. If for some reason you don't see a blog post sometime Monday morning, and you happen to bump into me, remind me!

Well Shalisa is getting ready to get into bed now, I told her of my theory on Maddie, but she has assured me that no, tonight Maddie is going to sleep all through the night. I am at least proud of my wife, she sometimes has a problem being optimistic... and I think with the track record here this is pretty blind optimism... but we will see.

Good Night

Well it's been a while...

It sure has been a while since I made a post over here, but in my myspace blog I said I wanted to start blogging again and pointed people over here, so I suppose if I am going to do that I need to actually have some blog posts for people to read!

So this past weekend we went down to grandma and grandpa Smith's down in Oregon and had a pretty fun time. We were going to go to the zoo on Saturday, and it would have been Maddie's first trip to the zoo but unfortunately we ran out of time since we had to be back in Silverton by 3:30 for a birthday party. We ended up going to the Rose Garden's and the Japanese Garden's and had a lot of fun there. We got quite a few great pictures of Maddie among the flowers which I am sure will be posted on Maddie's website in the next few days by Shalisa. We also had a nice picnic in the park and had a good time.

We also went to the aforementioned birthday party which was held at the Silverton Public Pool and Maddie continued her "water experiences." I am really big on trying to get Maddie acclimated to water, as I love it so much and I want my children to enjoy it as well (instead of being afraid of it like so many kids that I grew up with). Maddie had her first "dunking" which was actually quite scary for me, putting your 6 month old child's head underwater is a pretty scary experience, but we were with a swim teacher there and she said that babies actually do really well with it, their natural instinct is to hold their breath, and if they do sputter when they come back up it is more from the water flowing over their face once they are out of the water than from being in the water. Sure enough Maddie did just great, I could only stand to do it once, but at least she has now put her head completely underwater! She also had a GREAT time just swimming around in the water, I think she is really beginning to enjoy it much more than the first few times we took her in the lake, which I think will have some great long term benefits when it comes time to take her to swim lessons as well.

So enough about this past weekend.

Lately I have had a hard time motivating myself for just about anything, I am not sure why but I really seem to be in this blase mood lately. Hopefully this week I can finish the Youth Church's website, this has been a real thorn in my side, since I have Justin wanting to know when it will be completed, but what needs to be done is pretty much out of my hands for the time being, hopefully once I get the DNS records all straightened out we can get their new site up and running. I also committed myself to working on a small group database for the church, I decided I really want to work more on learning Web 2.0 stuff (for you technical people, DOM, Java and AJAX) and I think this project is a good place to get some practice in. Brian Dickman is such a great friend (and a great resource as well :P) and he said he would be willing to help me, but I know he and Sara are headed off to Las Vegas come Wednesday for a wedding so I might have to push the project back until next week, but as long as I can get it done before September starts, it shouldn't be a big deal.

Also at work I need to finish the Sharing database, granted this needed to be done a while ago but this same blase attitude has been affecting my work life as well. Not sure why either, as lately I have been rewarded with a nice raise at work, so I don't know why I am not more motivated to get things done at work, this attitude has pretty much penetrated my entire life at the moment and I don't know what to do to get out of this funk.

Anyway, I suppose I should head home for lunch, I wouldn't mind some prayer that God would help me with an attitude change (which I am sure will come) and thanks for reading.

Maddie Talking...

Hi,

Well, really Mom is doing all the typing, but I really just wanted to talk to Daddy since he's been away the last couple days and I don't get to see him till Thursday. I miss him a lot, and want him to see what I've been up to lately.

So, I haven't really learned anything new as of yet. But, I did get to go in my excersaucer, which I'm still a tad too little for, but I really didn't mind, actually I thought it was a ton of FUN! I can't wait till I can go in it again.

Mom is helping me get on a really good schedule. I take naps pretty often, and they are getting longer and longer. Sometimes I wake up and have to fuss a little bit, but I'll go back to sleep after a little bit. The first night time without Dad was okay, but I could tell someone was missing. It will be nice when he's home and I can sleep more soundly-I feel safer with Dad around.

Today we took a walk, and then we took pictures of me and Mr. Piccadilly. I think for the rest of the day I'm going to play and read and maybe take a bath. Then it will be bedtime again!

When I wake up in the morning Uncle Cameron and Grandma T. will be here to visit me. I have to get lots of rest tonight so that they can play with me. We miss you Dad, see you real soon!

Weekend Warriors

This weekend was our weekend to visit family and friends in Oregon. With so many people to visit in so short amount of time it can get pretty crazy, but we were able to see most everyone we wanted to see except for cousin Cyndi who has recently graduated. We saw good friends Steph and Matt who gave us a yummy BBQ dinner, and Maddie enjoyed a nap in the papasan chair, just perfect for her!

We enjoyed some good ice cream with Bob and Sue while Maddie enjoyed her fingers.

We met Grandma Arline at the Roadhouse before we went up to meet friends Brian and Sara at the REI sale. And then headed to dinner with the cousins. Good time had by all.