Time has Little to do with Infinity and Jelly Donuts

Well, school has started back.  I’ve jsut finished my first week and I have to say, it’s off to a great start.  I didn’t get to blog nearly as much as I had hoped this summer.  I was preparing for a new course, going on missions trips, and playing Mr. Mom.

Katie worked this summer.  When my summer job fell through, we figured that with both of us working, half of our summer salary would go to child care for Sophie, so we decided I would stay home and keep her on the days Katie was scheduled to work.  Katie was scheduled for two days a week with subbing as needed.

As needed turned into just about every day.  Let’s just say Sophie and I bonded this summer even moreso than before.  It was not easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I learned some things this summer.  I guess this post is an encouragement to dads and validation for moms.  The following is a short list of what I learned this summer.

• It takes milk in a sippie cup approximately 18.5 minutes to turn to a gelatinous mass in a car during the summer time.
• Tasting a gelatinous mass of spoiled milk on a dare from your wife is not a good thing to do.  It’s nothing like yogurt.
• A three-year old can wake you up by staring at you.
• PBS schedules their early morning shows to maximize sleep disturbance in parents.
• If a child likes carrots today for lunch, they may or may not like them tomorrow.
• Zoo memberships are worth their weight in gold.
• Most men need help in determining how to match toddler pants and toddler shirts.
• It is possible to make a cake shaped like a teletubby house with a long cake pan, a pyrex bowl, an old paper towel core and some green frosting.
• If we ever have a boy, a teletubby house cake can also double as a cake shaped like a tank.
• When three year olds nap, you nap.
• No matter how hot it is outside, the water temperature of the kiddie pool at the ‘Y’ will be somewhere between Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic.
• Men see dirt differently than women.
• Guys, when you come home from a long day at work and it looks like the house hasn’t been touched all day.  The breakfast dishes are still on the table, and your child is still in their pajamas, give your wife a hug and offer to cook dinner.

Well, we have internet back at the Hollis house, so hopeully I can get back to posting with some regularity.

We are leaving this afternoon to spend the weekend in Destin.  It will be both Katie and Sophie’s first trip to the beach and we are all very excited.

I don’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m leaving most technology at home.  Laptop, etc.  Katie thinks for some strange reason that I’ll try to work on school stuff while I’m down there (she’s right).

I hope to have pictures and an update sometime next week.  I’m taking a couple of rods that will be big enough for surf casting.  I’ve never done that before, and I’m excited about getting up early to hit the beach.

Back with you soon.

Well, the Hollis household is a technological wasteland: no phone, no net, not a channel on our TV (you can actually sing the previous line to the tune of “Gilligan’s Island”) but things are going well.

I am bumming my neighbor’s wi-fi (yes he knows) to write this in my backyard. Katie’s laptop can pick up the signal from one corner of the house. My laptop is not so fortunate.

We received an email this morning from our social worker. Our homestudy is complete and should be sent to Lifeline this afternoon. We also received a phone call from Lifeline. They have received our application. The next step is to wait and see if we are accepted to this agency and then we’ll begin putting together our portfolio.

We hope to make it down for a family reunion in a couple of weeks. With gas prices and work schedules, it’s still up in the air.

Hope all are well.

We’ve cut off cable and internet at the house for the foreseeable future. There were a number of reasons, but one big one is we found out that this fall we will have to replace our HVAC unit. We’re trying to be responsible and plan for that expense.

We’ll still be blogging. There’s enough free wifi around Nashville that we can get on every couple of days. If you email us though, we might not be able to respond right away.