It's Too Precious of a Commodity

I think I am almost done with what very well may be the last game of Scrabble that I ever play on Facebook. I was undefeated going into it, and I was somewhat determined to stay that way. I spent entirely too much time trying to come up with the best possible move, all to no avail.

It's now just time down the drain that I could have spend doing oh so many other things, such as blogging, exercising, working on our family web page, spending some personal time with God, etc.

My free time is just too valuable for wasting it like that, especially now with a newborn baby.

ER, Table for Two Please

During labor and her stay in the hospital, Amanda's blood pressure was measuring a little on the higher side. So the hospital staff suggested that she keep an eye on it and if it remains high to come back to the labor unit for them to evaluate her for pre-eclampsia.

Since leaving the hospital, Amanda has kept an eye on her blood pressure by checking it periodically at grocery stores. Then on Tuesday, after seeing it measure high once again, she called the doctor and he suggested that she come to the hospital (pictured below) for evaluation.
Thankfully, we were able to leave our two oldest children at home (our friends and neighbors, the Walkers, deserve immense praise once again) and bring only our newborn to the hospital. We sat there for about three hours with Amanda getting her blood pressure measured every 15 minutes. Clara was asleep for almost the entire time, and all we could do was just sit there together.

Honestly (and oddly), it was great! With our busy lives and now a newborn too, we have way too little quality time together. Even when we make the effort to take an official "date", we're usually still doing things instead of just talking, joking, and reconnecting like we were able to on Tuesday.

Obviously, the solution isn't to hope for more trips to the hospital, but maybe on future dates, we should make a point sometimes of just finding a place to sit together and do nothing. Or heck, maybe we need to find a few places in and around our home that we can do the same thing, for nights that we can't find a sitter and get out, especially now that we have a newborn.

One thing is for sure though, it's moments like Tuesday's where I'm reminded of how much I enjoy my wife's company. And I realize again how much fun we're still going to have when we get older and the kids move out. Of course I love my kids and they inspire plenty of conversation (and sometimes conflict) in our marriage, but I'm confident that without them we'll still have lots of fun and plenty to talk about together.

Also, as an afterthought, while Amanda definitely looks better in the slinky black dress and shoes that I bought her for her birthday last year, she looks pretty sexy in a hospital gown too!

Athlete's Toothpaste

I am usually running late to my car pool. So a little while ago I decided to set priorities in the morning. Then if (really when) I am running late, I can cut out steps to my routine at the last minute to avoid keeping my car pool waiting longer than absolutely necessary.

Well today, after 2 weeks off of work and not enough sleep due to our newborn, I was of course running late. So I grabbed my toothbrush and a small travel-sized tube of toothpaste, and I planned to brush my teeth in the bathroom at work (after my coffee and oatmeal breakfast) like I've done numerous times before.

After talking to numerous people who were welcoming me back and congratulating me on the new baby, with my stinky morning breath, I finally headed to the bathroom to purify my pie hole. I loaded up the brush, lifted it to my mouth, then had a sudden, almost fleeting thought "Was the toothpaste tube larger than I remember?" I looked down at the blank white tube as I was moving the brush toward my face, then turned it over - athlete's foot creme.

I just barely managed to avoid a close call, and that was good. But now I was unable to brush my teeth! So I continued on with my day, and the greetings, welcoming back, congratulations, meetings, work discussions, etc knowing that I was probably torturing the olfactory senses of every poor soul I encountered. And humiliating myself too.

Another Book Bites the Dust

Another book review, of one called Icy Sparks. Online here.

Reasons for Reminising

Participating in public speaking last Friday brought back memories of my dad, who was excellent at it - much more comfortable and competent than me. As an officer at the Orlando Police Department and a lead hostage negotiator, he was interviewed on TV numerous times and he also taught classes, workshops, seminars, etc. about various topics.

I don't think my kids have ever seen a video of him before (only pictures), so I pulled out some old VHS tapes that my dad had saved of various public speaking events that he performed.

I was always proud of him, and this time was no exception as I pointed him out to my kids "That was my dad - your Grandpa Lomonaco."

======================================

An old friend and co-worker of my dad's, Steve Harrelson, recently passed away. You can read about it here, here (with video), or other places (just search for it). My dad and him both loved to fish and enjoy the outdoors, and I remember my siblings and me accompanying them both on numerous fishing trips.

I don't know what heaven looks like, but I know Steve was a Christian and I'm pretty sure my dad was when he passed away too, and I can't help but picture them both fishing and hanging out together again, with perfect weather and heavenly conversation.

Pictures of Clara and New Book Review

Pictures of Clara's birth day are now online, on our web page here.

Also, I finished another book a couple of weeks ago called Combat Corpsman. The review for it is now online, on our web page here.

Afterthought About the Workshop

As an afterthought to Public Speaking Performed:

After the workshop, I took the time to walk around the Sacramento State campus for a few minutes after the workshop. And I really liked the campus, which has an abundance of foliage and greenery. It also borders the American River and is adjacent to the American River Parkway trail.

But while I did like the campus, "Sacramento State" seems like a bit of a dumb name to me. Since Sacramento is actually a city, is it really supposed to be California State at Sacramento? If so, then you would think that the school's official web site would say that, but even their web site calls it Sacramento State. Hopefully there is a story or reason behind it.