pizza!

When we picked Jake up from daycare today he didn't really want to leave so we used an increasingly effective bribery technique: Pizza. I'm not sure he knows exactly what pizza is -- I think to Jake, "pizza" covers a group of cheesy dinner options including quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches. In any case, he gets pretty excited and his excitement is contagious. His chants of "Pizza Pizza Pizza!" bring out the copycat kids in his class. They may or may not know what pizza is, but they love a good chant and some of them start jumping up and down while others stop picking their noses to see what all the commotion is about. Ali and I started to get excited, too, thinking about delivery pizza and the lack of preparation and cleanup required.

We decided to try the Mexican pizza from zpizza. It's not exactly Two Amy's, but they do a good job with their non-traditional toppings. The Mexican pizza comes with fresh cilantro which I think is one of those flavors we're all genetically programmed to either like or hate. So, in the interest of science I was curious to see Jake's reaction. He ate some, and put the rest in his milk cup, which is where most of his food ends up these days. So, jury's still out on Jake v. Cilantro. He did have fun trying to fold his little piece of pizza just like daddy.

After dinner I got out the camera trying to capture Jake's emphatic "PIZZA PIZZAAAA!!" on video. I didn't get that, but like any good actor, sometimes their best work is unscripted. Enjoy.

Yellowbrix: Because Baby Showers Matter

Wow - a big thanks to the Yellowbrix Posse for the surprise shower they threw for Ali today! I wasn't invited, but since I work almost 2 miles away it really wouldn't have been practical for me to attend (I mean, the Metro ride could have exceeded 8 minutes if there was track work). Plus, I'm pretty dedicated to my job and any distractions really cut into my productivity. And it sounds like it wasn't any fun, right? I mean, I didn't miss anything, right??

Anyway, thanks for all the gifts and well wishes and the homemade ice cream sandwiches. Jake thinks all the presents are for him, and we didn't have the heart to tell him they're for Baby Sister. I hope the kids at daycare don't make fun of him tomorrow when he shows up wearing that tiny pink dress and shoes.

So, uh, Yellowbrix, now that I've got this big fancy blog, can you cut me a deal on some content? Do you have a category for stories about Expectant Mothers Working at Web Content Providers? Sign me up.

Baby sister

For those of you new to this blog (i.e. anyone reading this blog), the main focus for the next week or so will be the impending arrival of "Baby Sister". We have a name picked out for her, but we've been keeping it under wraps and haven't told Jake since he's in monkey mode and repeating everything we say and do. He says "baby sister" and "baby sister bed" but he has no idea that his life is about to be turned upside down. We've been trying to explain, and pointing to Ali's belly, but I think he just assumes she's let herself go. In fact, he started saying "heavy" when he tries to pull her up. This makes one of us giggle.

The baby's due date is March 14. This is seven days away, but it feels more like 7 years. Or 7 seconds, depending on the mood we're in. But, the room is painted, the crib is assembled and we picked up a box of tiny diapers. Am I forgetting anything? I think we're ready. I know Ali's ready. She gives me the pregnancy status first thing every morning: "still pregnant". That might sound silly but when she went into labor with Jake it was the middle of the night and I didn't know about it until I woke up in the morning and she asked for a ride to the hospital. Ali's very respectful of my sleep.

Is this thing plugged in?

Ok, first big decision: pick a title. You can't just name your blog "Ryan's blog". Who would read that? Gotta find a title that's edgy; something that speaks to the masses; and most importantly, something that isn't already taken.

Sic Transit Gloria? Already taken. I thought it sounded adequately pretentious, and it's a quote from my favorite movie but obscure enough where I could have just pretended I'm a Latin scholar.

Blog Bites Man? Taken. I thought that was pretty clever, but I guess someone else did too.

Blogarithm? Just kidding. That's even too lame for me. And it's probably taken.

So, I went with "tripdub", a phrase I coined as an abbreviation for "dubbya dubbya dubbya" or "www" when referring to the start of a website. Yeah, I know, it's pretty cool. It's also a big time saver for slow talkers (and listeners to slow talkers). I plan to copyright it and license it to the highest bidder.

This blog will be a new home for baby related news, as the old Jake site got too cumbersome to update.