Well, it was that time of the decade again, time for my 5 year dental checkup. When I was a child my parents were very strict about our dentist visits. Every 6 months we would get poked, prodded, and chastised for not flossing. To this day, though, I have had very little dental problems.
The fact of the matter is, I should have gotten braces when I was a kid. I should have had my bottom teeth realigned somehow. My parents asked the dentist when I was 14 about it but he said that I should wait until I was 18 to see how puberty shook out. Well, puberty didn’t solve anything.

Fast forward to 2001. I managed to crack my own tooth with my upper jaw. Because my teeth are off kilter the top teeth crunch down on the wrong spot on my bottom teeth. In 2001 I went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years to correct the problem.

Fast forward to September 2006. Because my jaw is still misaligned I managed to chip/crack the same tooth that had the problem in 2001. My jaw began to ache and became sensitive to cold weather.

Fast forward to today, after yet-another-5-year-sabbatical I went back to the dentist today. The hygienist was a little put off by the fact that I hadn’t been to see any dentist in 5 years but after a few minutes she said to her own surprise, “Wow, everything looks good. It’s like you were here 6 months ago.” I chalk that up to my toothbrush.
The dentist was a very large Russian man. He was quite intimidating but also quite nice. He was able to confirm that I had cracked my own tooth yet again. He told me that my filling will need to be replaced and that he felt it was a very “basic” filling (a.k.a. I had a shotty job done last time). I was a little perturbed by his statement because I had gone to a large corporate dentist office last time. I assumed because it was part of my actual insurer’s medical clinics that they would do the best job. According to this dentist, that was not the case. And the lousy job probably contributed to the repeat problem.

So, back I go next week to finish up the job. I hope this time they will heed my warning about Novocaine (I need lots of it).

Regarded as one of the better stinkface makers, Riles gives a commanding performance

Christmas was a whirlwind around our house. Even though I had a full week off to enjoy being with the family the days passed quickly. We spent our time going between houses, showing of Riley, and generally having a good time.

For Christmas Riley started smiling. It might seem like a simple thing but babies aren’t born with a smile on their face. For the first 6 weeks he would accidentally smile. You could tell it wasn’t real because he couldn’t repeat it. A few days before Christmas we got Riles up in the morning and to our surprised he gave us this big smile after he recognized us. It was odd because he doesn’t usually acknowledge us much except that we picked him up and he would stop crying. For the first time our kid was excited to see us! He continued to smile at us for a good half hour every time his eyes focused on us.

Ever since then he smiles when we get him up in the morning….Oh, yeah, and right after he drops a load in his diaper too.

For Christmas my parents were kind enough to get both me and Drew video cameras. In between the time of one-upping each other in Wii bowling you’ll probably see a few videos come across our sites. Drew has already started a library of Avery videos.

This is Riley’s web video debut: Riley Rolls Over. While technically he rolls and technically it’s “over”, you’ll notice his style is more of a screaming kick than a planned execution.

I’ll be honest, I gained a few pounds during Court’s pregnancy. I’d like to think it was a little sympathy weight. I mean, it’s hard to control yourself when your wife is craving chocolate. But, to be honest, I think she might have gained a little sympathy weight from me.

At one point in the summer, for about a week, Cold Stone was a staple of our evening dining. The corner gas station even implemented a $4-minimum to use a credit card because we’d go in there for snacks regularly. All the while I used the excuse, “Well, it’s because Courtney’s pregnant.”

The truth? Well, I sort of used her whole comfort food situation to get what I wanted. Yeah, I’m a chocoholic. When I get around chocolate I have to eat it until it’s gone. I would say to Courtney “Hey, I’m going to the store. Do you need anything?” I knew full well that she agree with me that chocolate was a necessity.

So I’m a few pounds heavier than I’d like to be. I still hit the gym regularly so if I can keep the food in check the pounds should come off easy.

After 8 years of vowing to write my own blogging software I have given in and admitted that I will never complete the project. After reading about Jamie’s successful Wordpress conversion I decided to give it a shot myself. A few hours later I was up and running with all my old content ported over. All in all, I’m quite happy with the Wordpress software. It’s very slick and easy to work with.

Because of this, Puckwucker.com received a facelift as well. Courtney no longer has to put up with my rudimentary design skills. She can finally have a decent looking site.

I dub The Decemberists latest album The Crane Wife my favorite album for December. Specifically, the last track on the album Sons and Daughters is worthy of multiple spins during the day.

And if you weren’t aware, Stephen Colbert has accused the Decemberists of riding his coattails after the band issued a green-screen challenge, a homage to Colbert’s original green screen challenge.

The Decemberists retort? A guitar solo counter-challenge.

Pure genius on both parts.

After a tiring workout over lunch yesterday I returned to my desk at work to find a half eaten cookie next to my mouse. Odd, I thought. I peered around my cube discovered my desk had been ransacked. My papers had all been moved around, my stapler had been moved from the LEFT side of my desk to the RIGHT side. Something was up.

That’s when I noticed a trail of tiny Post-Its leading out of cube, down the hallway. I poked my head up to see if anyone else had noticed this. I quickly followed the trail down the hall to the coat closet where the paper trail ended. I took a deep breath and opened the doors. A pair of white eyes peered back at me. “GO NOW!” came a voice. “Who? Who are you?” I questioned. “There is no time!” He shouted, “You must make the voyage now!”

Unfortunately this mysterious voice had caught me at a bad time.

“Where must I go?”

“You know what you must seek. You know your destination. You must hurry!” Riddles, I had no time for riddles.

“But I am working right now. I can’t just LEAVE.” I told him.

“You must send someone then, you have no time!”

I heeded the strange man’s advice. I called my wife and informed her of the strange situation.

She said to me, “If this is about the Wii I want no part.” I told her for the sake of our child this must done now. Luckily she had needed a few things at the store anyways and could swing by to see if the strange little voice was correct, that I might finally get my Wii.

For the sake of my life and humanity as a whole Courtney was able to find the holy grail. When I returned home last night I had finally gotten my Wii. Courtney had endured hours of torturous screeching from the man-child Riles while fending off the oogles of nerds. I owe her a debt of gratitude for her conquest.

It’s no surprise to anyone around us that Riley has been a handful. From the first day he came out screaming and hasn’t stopped since. 7 days ago that all changed.

During one of our baby classes an instructor mentioned the book The Happiest Baby on the Block as a good resource for parents. It’s chock full of tips and techniques for soothing a angry baby. At our wits end, we picked it up last week.

The main technique the book outlines is a 5 step process for calming your baby down. Court gave it a whirl last week and had the kid quiet within minutes.

We were absolutely astonished how well the techniques worked. For the last week we have been practicing them religiously and Riley seems to be responding to them. We had started feeling like we were failing as parents. When your kid will only give you the stinkface for 3 weeks straight it’s hard not to take it personally.

One week ago, today, Riley was waking up 3 times a night. He never went longer than 2 1/2 hours without fussing. We had a hard time putting him in is bassinet because he cried every time he was out of our arms.

Last night Riley slept for 5 1/2 hours straight, in his crib. I was flabbergasted this morning when I woke up at 3:30am. I did a double-take to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I was so excited that I couldn’t fall back asleep.