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Digital Conversions, Barack Obama and the Coupons

Tonight at midnight marks the switch from analog to digital television. This switch should not affect people with cable or satellite television, but if you rely on over-the-air transmission signals to get your television channels you will no longer receive a signal to your televisions. I know most of you are thinking, "How can the Fords, who love music and sports, not have cable or a satellite? That would mean they can not watch ESPN, MTV, VH1, MTV2, VH1 Classic, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, BET or any other of the sports channels." Well my friends that is not the problem. The problem lies with our dog, Fenway. You see Fenny is spoiled. Since we can not trust her to roam the house freely while we are away she is sequestered into a 6x8 foot chateau in our basement. We feel sorry for her so she is provided a television to watch. And since we can not trust her with a remote control she has no way to change the channel. Thus, we decided that she did not need to have access to cable. So when we put Fenny in her chateau she is afforded the luxury of channel 8 (our local CBS affiliate). To tell you the truth that is the only station that we can get in our basement without plugging into cable. Last year when we heard about the conversion to digital television it suddenly donned on us that Fenny would lose access to her entertainment. I applied for one of the coupons that would enable us to buy the conversion box at a much discounted price. I received the coupon and put it away until the time came closer for the conversion. As the February conversion date approached I fished out the coupon and went to Best Buy to purchase the box. As I was checking out the teller told me that they could not honor the coupon because it was expired. I had never looked at the coupon very closely and never would have thought it would have an expiration date. Frustrated I left the store and broke the terrible news to Fenny. I tried to re-apply for the coupon, but was told only one order per household. No problem, I ordered some for my parents household. Problem was the government only earmarked a certain amount of funds to go towards these coupons and that amount had already been met so they were no longer issuing the coupons. Then Barry Obama, Fenny's new hero, stepped in and ordered a delay on the television conversion until the public had more time to prepare.
Well, as I type this blog entry it is the eve of the conversion and there is no emergency delay in sight. Seeing this would be the case I once again had to break the bad news to Fenny. Only this time I was not going to be the "fallguy" so I blamed it on Mommy. Just for posterity I videotaped part of it and have posted it here for any that care to watch. Just remember to first pause/mute the music on the right side bar before playing the video in order to get sound.

Tough Noggin

Quick update: As paranoid parents we made a quick trip to the doctor this morning to confirm that Bennett is recovering fine from his tumble onto the kitchen floor (see post below, if you have not already done so). The truth is, they are pretty durable and we know this was just the first of many tumbles he will take throughout life - but that does not make it any less scary. We are very thankful to have this healthy little guy in our lives and this weekend was a reminder not to take any of that for granted. Thanks to everyone for checkin-in!!

How A Doctor's Statement Reaffirms My Need For A Man-Cave

TO hear video be sure to pause the music on the right side-bar.

New Dad's need to realize that "you" are just there. You are not the focal point. You are not the one the child wants to see in the morning or evening. You are simply the substitute. Mommy needs a break, enter Daddy to hold and play for a brief time. Your child can take you for short spans, but be sure to have Mommy ready to sub back in at first cry or whimper. Such is the life for Dads. When Abby and Bennett are together he has so much fun. She can make him laugh hysterically and smile ear-to-ear. When I try to replicate that it does not really go over so well. So imagine how excited I was when I was finally able to get Bennett to laugh. As you can see in the video he is having a grand old time. Well that move has become my signature move. It is all I can do to get him to laugh and cackle. So I do it on repeat and repeat and repeat. He loves it. And so do I. Yesterday I heard that familiar call and in I came suited up, ready to play Daddy and give Mommy a brief break. Bennett and I played for a bit, but as usual he was not that into it. So I decided to go to my signature move. It was going great and Bennett was starting to laugh. After a few seconds of this he started to wiggle around as I raised him toward the ceiling. I began to lose my grip and Bennett started his first sky-dive. Thankfully, I am blessed with enough athletic prowess that I was able to keep my hands on him and cushion the fall. Unfortunately, the majority of the cushion from the fall came from his head on the kitchen floor. Immediate silence and a death look from Mom followed. I am usually calm, cool and collected, but in this instance it was as if air raid sirens were going off and I was naked. I could not even think or move to dial the doctor's office. In comes super-hero Mom. She helps find calm in the eye of the storm, even though later she admitted to uncontrollably shaking in fear. I was able to get the doctor's office and nurse on the phone immediately (I actually could not speak at first b/c I fully anticipated an answering service on a Saturday morning). I handed the phone to Mom and she went through a litany of questions with the doctor and nurse. Questions ranged from;
How far did he fall?
Did he cry immediately?
How are his pupils?
Do you have a basement?
The nurse said that it was good that we had a basement because the hardness of the floors above are minimized. Thus, why I and every man needs his man-cave.
Dads' you are not the one your child longs for when he/she wakes and goes to sleep. You are better off retreating to your man-cave and doing "man things" while your child is comforted by the one he/she desires. Then when the time comes and you are in charge be glad that you have a man-cave so when you drop your child on his/her head the fall is not quite as hard.

(Editor's Note: As of this posting Bennett is fine. We were instructed to keep a close eye on Bennett and look for a few different symptoms. It has been more than 24 hours and we have not seen any of the warnings signs. We are thankful for just a scare and hard fall.)

How many boys does it take to change a diaper?

Zach loves convincing Camden and Carson to help him change diapers....poor Bennett.