Guys' Night

Before I begin my post for today, I'm going to make three announcements:

1. Tonight I've been busy with babysitting and homework, so I'm pushing back my third installment of my Serial Novel until Sunday night.

2. April 17 marks the three-month anniversary of this blog. It has far surpassed my expectations, so I will be making a special post on Tuesday night where I will answer some questions about me. They can be about who I am, the blog, my writing...anything, really. The only condition is that I need you to post some questions in the comments of this post and I will answer them all on Tuesday. Don't feel like asking a question? Leave a writing prompt instead and I will hit that sometime in the next week or two (time permitting).

3. I am considering making a transition from Blogger to WordPress in the near future. At some point, once I have things in a format I like over there, I will provide a link to the future site and post on both for 2-3 weeks before I make the move for good. Any tips about WordPress are welcome!

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Almost a week ago my fiancee and I decided to bring a child into our home. Her cousin has been rehabilitating from a surgery and there is no telling how soon she'll be able to take care of her three children. Prior to Saturday the extent of our help in all of this was praying for them and visiting a few times during the week. We agreed to watch her six-month old boy, Michael, for a night. It is almost a week later and he is still here.

He is such a happy, smiling boy. It is impossible not to fall in love with him almost immediately. He is a lot of fun to have around in spite of our busy (and unusual) schedules. We've found ways to juggle things adequately enough to continue our activities like normal. But I have to confess that it is tough going from no baby to having one around without much notice or time to mentally (and emotionally) prepare for the task.

A few weeks ago my fiancee signed up to attend a women's function at our church with one of her friends. That meant she would be away all evening, leaving me alone with Michael at home. It has been years since I've watched a baby for any amount of time. Being alone with him for hours tonight was, on some level, a scary thought. But I mustered enough courage to encourage her to go anyway.

So we've enjoyed guys' night tonight. We played on the floor and in his walker. We had Avatar: The Last Airbender playing in the background, which is a fitting cartoon for the guys' night. We've danced and sang and tickled. We've pet the cats (one of them finally warmed up to him enough tonight to let him pet her. She did good, even when he grabbed a handful of fur) and had raspberries blown on his tummy. He had a bath and got ready for bed. He got his nightly dose of Albuterol with the respiration machine. Many nights he screams and fights that. Not tonight.

Tonight he fell asleep during it. He was so tired that he stayed asleep when I set him down in the car seat long enough to make his bottle. He has been sleeping sound for almost two hours no. This was, by far, the easiest night for getting him to sleep.

Maybe we just played too hard and had too much fun for him to stay awake and fight his sleep. We enjoyed getting to bond tonight. I love this baby and now I can't wait for us to have some of our own filling up our house.

Maybe we should have guys' night more often. I think he'd like that. What do you think?

Entering this post in Yeah Write #53 this week. Stop by and check out all the awesome blogs. I'm sure you'll find at least one you like.

Poem - Drifting Peacefully

Twitter has an interesting trend that I discovered only last week: Follow Friday I'm relatively new to Twitter, having really only used it the past few months as a requirement for class. I realize that puts me about 15 light years behind the trend. Which is slightly closer that the 16 light years from just now really making headway on a blog.  But I love the idea of tagging people you feel are worthy of your friends and followers' attention, and so I hope to do the same here on Fridays with my blog.

And if you want to just skip right over this and get to my writing, then that is certainly your choice. But before I include my poem for the day, I want to make mention to my three blogs of the day.

The first blog I will mention is Chicken Noodle Gravy. I discovered this particular blog through the Yeah Write contest, which is an awesome community of bloggers who take the time each week to read 50 blog posts, comment on them, and then vote for their favorites. Two weeks in a row now this blog has gotten one of my votes. She is a talented writer and I'm glad I found another writer who I can model my own blog after.

The second blog is I Can't Brain Today; I Have the Dumb. I actually came across and began to follow this blog near the end of February when I read his post about how his father, through Dungeons and Dragons, was his greatest influence as a writer. It was extremely well-written. Then a little over a week ago I discovered Yeah Write through my interest in one of his posts where he answered 33 questions and was going to tag everyone who entered into Yeah Write that week. Unfortunately he was unable to participate due to time constraints, therefore was unable to tag people, but I gained something even better as a result.

The third one is For the Love of Writing. This is another gem I've begun following thanks to Yeah Write (notice a trend here. Seriously check it out and read some of these blogs each week. They are filled with awesome blogs and bloggers). She has a sense of humor in her writing that I enjoy, and I believe you would too if you take the time to read her blog.

So now that you've clicked all those links to those other blogs and have them open in new windows or tabs, I'll let you read my poem. You did click those, didn't you?

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Drifting Peacefully

You lay next to me, drifting off

Into a peaceful slumber while

I remain awake, reading. The warmth

Radiating from you comforts me,

Putting me at ease. Your breathing

Becomes heavy, growing slower with

Each moment that passes by. My

Book fails to maintain my interest,

Instead I find myself listening closely,

Laying still as a stone.

Every breath you take makes my

Smile grow. Every time I feel your

Body shift, snuggling closer, it makes

Me love you more. You must feel secure

To be with me, so close together, wanting

To touch at all times as you fall into

The realm of dreams. I hear the gentle

Rhythm of your snoring begin to emerge

And I turn to hold you close.

I whisper softly in your ear

The thoughts that cross my mind

As I listen to your sweet

Slumber. You are so beautiful,

So soft, so warm and gentle.

I want to hold you in my

Arms every night. I can’t believe

How lucky I am to have a

Woman as wonderful as you

In my life.

Sleep soon catches up with me

As though it were a contagious

Infection spreading. My eyes grow

Heavy as I think of you and

Smile, knowing I will dream

Of you and soon enough will be

Waking next to you. This last thought

Makes me smile as I begin my

Drifting peacefully, happily, with you here

Sleeping next to me.