Zach Dotsey

Milly doesn’t like loud noises.  A couple weeks ago I mentioned that she buried her head in my chest when Amanda was vacuuming and this past weekend when the blender was being used she’d get real tense and grab me really tight.

Tonight we went over to Anna and Barry’s, as they made a birthday meal for me.  All the Frazelles were there, plus Amanda’s mom, Karen, who is staying with us tonight, Amanda’s grandparents and my brother, Adam and Hannah’s boyfriend, Christian.  After they sang Happy Birthday to me I mentioned to Christian that this was the first time I had a rock star sing that to me.  The band he’s in, Rio Bravo, will be recording a studio album next week.

We tried putting Milly down for a nap while we all ate, but she wasn’t having it and we got her back up part way through dinner.  We had the pack & play set up in Anna and Barry’s room and went to put her down in there a little later, after we and she ate.  Barry and Earl were back there, and before we could put Milly down Barry accidentally caused a very loud noise that left my and Amanda’s ears ringing.  Milly didn’t do anything at first, out of shock I think, but then she started crying and wouldn’t stop.  We got her calmed down eventually, but there was no way she’d let us put her down, and it was getting on past her bedtime.

After a few minutes we decided we needed to get on home, hoping the drive and familiar settings would make it easier for her to go down.  I hated to leave so soon after eating when we were planning on hanging out for a bit, and I think Barry felt bad, but we really had to get her down.

Milly did well in the car, but once we got her upstairs she cried every time we laid her down in the crib.  She’d roll over then stand up and once she got up she’d be happy, but of course she then didn’t want us to leave.  Eventually I just had to go ahead and leave, and I think she was quiet by the time I got down the steps.

Amanda and Karen were tired and didn’t want to play Puerto Rico, so we just watched a little TV before they went off to bed.

Other than all that, my day was taken up with work.  I don’t feel like I’ve been as busy as I’ve been in the last few months, but it is getting busy once again, just when things were calming down a bit.  I don’t mind being busy, I just want it to be more manageable than it has been.  Manageable might not be the right word.

Zach Dotsey

Looking at others sometimes gives you a different perspective of yourself.  My first little sister turned 30 today.  It’s one thing to turn 30 yourself, but when someone you’ve always associated with the word “younger” turns 30, it makes you think a bit.  Not that 30 is old by any means, but it is the number of an age where you start to consider that the person should be mature and grown up, but to me (not saying Erin isn’t either of those) she’s still my little sister, and there’s no way she should be 30 years old already.

Today was a busy day.  We finished a website and published it and are just about done on a redesign that’s been in the works for a week or two.  I’ve got another one I was trying to finish up this week, but I don’t think that will happen.  I also had a meeting with a potential new client this afternoon.  I think it went well, and I sincerely enjoyed listening to the man.  I like the way he talks about his business, and I can tell he takes pride in it.

Today was also Melissa Nicholson’s (I think she’s hyphenated the last name to Nicholson-Clark now, but I’m not sure so we’ll stick with Nicholson) 30th birthday.  Milly’s cousin (well, Amanda’s cousin, Milly’s second cousin) Hannah Frazelle came over and babysat tonight her for the first time tonight while Amanda and I went to Indochine for Melissa’s birthday and had a good time with people there.  Elliot did a really nice job putting together a surprise party for her.

Amanda and I considered leaving to go to Rougemont today, but with all I had going on it just wasn’t a good idea.  Adam headed up there to surprise Erin, but he’ll be leaving in the morning so we won’t see him.  Andra got there yesterday.

On the Duke message board there are what’s called avatar bets for the Duke-Carolina games.  Each person can have a picture under their username which is called an avatar, and you pair off UNC fans and  Duke fans, and the fan of the team who won gets to pick the avatar for their counterpart.  I tried to get in on it last year, but we ran out of Heels.  I did get into it this year though, and the avatar I created and gave to my counterpart was very well received.  I got a request to make another one for someone else, which I think is also a pretty good one.  Keep in mind that as cheesy as they are, that’s the point.  The Carolina people have to look at these every time they post a message.

It’s supposed to snow an inch or two this weekend here in Wilmington.  I assume that being in Rougemont, we’ll still get to see some and maybe have a chance to get some pictures of Milly in it.

Zach Dotsey

I started the morning going to pick up a check from the client I met with yesterday then Kevin Millard came over and we talked about a website idea of his, as well as going over his existing site a little.  Amanda left the house a few minutes before Kevin got here to do some running around and Milly was taking a nap.

I spent the vast majority of my day working on a design and I think it’s a pretty nice one.  The layout is simple, but I used a good bit of subtle gradient and some patterns in it.  I was working right up until dinner.

Milly was in a particularly good mood today.  She was very talkative.

The Warkentiens came over tonight for a pasta dinner.  After we ate and got Milly and Eli to bed we watched Fringe, and when that was just about over my brother, Adam Dotsey, came over.  We introduced him to Puerto Rico, which he picked up pretty quick.  At the end when everyone was announcing their scores I was optimistic about my chances for winning as I had a surprising lead over everyone else until Amy said her score.  So I came in second place.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda woke up this morning to see Milly staring at her from crib.  She wasn’t sure if Milly could actually see that far, but she was looking in our direction from between the slats of the crib.  And she woke up at 8:00, instead of earlier than usual, which is a first for this trip.  It might be a first for being away from home.

Uncle Roy came in last night and hadn’t gotten a chance to see Milly, but he did get to this morning.

Mom made a breakfast of eggs, biscuits and bacon.  It was yummers.

Elmo, one of my parents’ dogs, was found injured this morning.  Amanda called Banfield, who said that they could look at her but if her leg was broken or anything like that they’d end up passing her off to the emergency vet, so Dad, Josh and I carried her out to the car and Mom took her to the vet.  The shame of it is that my mom had gotten a later flight to Rochester for today to be around the family more, and she ended up leaving us for a chunk of time and not being able to see anybody off.

Erin called when we were almost back home and told me that Elmo’s knee had been blown out, and that it was likely just from running around.  I think surgery was mentioned, but the best option seems to be to just let it heal.

Amanda, Milly and I left after Milly’s lunchtime feeding.  After loading up the car just about to capacity we took off back to Wilmington.  Aside from Erin, who was taking Mom back to the airport later, we were the last to leave.  I wish we got to see my parents more.  I’ve got to say, everybody did a good job of splitting time with the babies.  I can’t wait for Addie and Milly to get to the age where they can really play and interact.

The drive home seemed to go by pretty fast.  Amanda and I chatted a lot, but honestly I couldn’t really tell you what we talked about now.  It was just… pleasant.  Milly continued her record of traveling well.

After we got home and unloaded the car I went back out to pick up MarioKart for the Wii, but it was sold out at Best Buy, where I have a gift card (thanks, Dain!).  I decided to go ahead and look at GameStop across the street.  They didn’t have it either, but I considered buying a few used games because they had them on a buy two get one free special.  I didn’t end up getting anything though- I’ve got enough games to play.

After I got home and we got Milly to bed Amanda and I played a good bit of Wii Fit.  Hopefully we’ll keep up with it and it will do us both some good.  After Amanda went to bed I played a bit of Wario Land Shake it!, which is a fun little side-scroller.

Tomorrow marks the return to work.  I’ve already got plenty to do, from the number of emails that I’ve read over the past couple days.  I thought about going ahead and getting started on some of it, but I decided I owe myself a little time.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda and I packed up and left Richlands for Rougemont a little after 10.  Actually, we were heading to Cary before the Rouge for Amanda’s extended family’s annual day after Christmas get-together, but we did make a stop near the RDU airport to meet up with my sister, Erin, to drop off Bruce and Harvey so she could take them to our parents’ house.  We wouldn’t really have any place to keep them for the couple hours we’d be at Ralph and Susan’s (Amanda’s great-uncle and -aunt) and Erin was nice enough to drive pretty far out of her way to do us this favor.

This was the first time a number of people had met Milly and of course she was a hit.  She did really well, too, being passed around and held so much.  She didn’t get fussy until almost 3:00, which was the time we were planning on leaving anyway.  We got to the Rouge at about 4:00, just in time to feed her.  I called my friend, Jason Revill, on the way and talked to him about him and his parents stopping by, but he was sick and his parents were in Burlington I believe.  He’ll meet Milly one of these days.

My baby sister arrived with her family not too long after we got to my parents’ house.  Amanda and I gave Jackson his birthday present, a pack of Legos that came with instructions to make two different jets or a boat.  Jackson and I worked on that with a small break when I put Milly down for a nap.

We opened presents a little bit after that.  Aunt Reggie came with a guy she’s seeing.  I can’t recall his name at the moment.  Richy maybe?  Milly was up before we finished opening presents so she got to do some of that.  She still wouldn’t rip open the wrapping paper by herself, but she would grip it and I’d pull the box so it would sort of tear.  Jackson didn’t mind helping her open her presents.  He was really sweet with her, picking her up and playing with her and all.  He even told me that she’s a really pretty baby.

Renee, Adam’s former fiancee, was there.  I guess she’d driven from Charlotte to Wilmington then to Rougemont with him.  It was nice to see her.

Later on, after the presents had all been opened (we got a GPS and money, as well as a juicer in the Chinese Christmas/White Christmas/whatever part) we played a few games of Wits & Wagers and Scattergories.  I almost won the last game of the former and I did win the latter.

Zach Dotsey

I nodded off during the second half of the game last night, but not because it was boring.  Duke took Gonzaga to the old proverbial woodshed and ended up winning 76-41.

Amanda hasn’t been feeling the absolute best the past few days, so last we decided to play by ear which church service we’d go to today.  Harvey ended up deciding for us though, as he was whining from about 7:30 on this morning.  I don’t know if it was because he wanted to go outside, though I let him out at 4:00 when I woke up from falling asleep on the couch last night, or if it was because he’s used to having breakfast at 6:30 when Amanda gets up during the week or what.  It was obnoxious, but since he’d woken us up Amanda and I decided to go ahead and get ready for church.

After church Amanda and I ran by the house to get another bottle for Milly, let the dogs out and grab a coupon (which we forgot to use) then headed back on out to meet my brother, Adam, at Sam’s Club.  Originally we were going to get something for our dad from our mom for Christmas, but my mom told me not to worry about it this morning so he just tagged along to buy some things.

When we left there Amanda, Milly and I went over to Anna and Barry’s.  Hannah got to change her first Milly diaper (it was wet with a small bit of easy-to-clean attached) while I watched a good bit of Terminator Salvation before Anna went with us to take a few pictures on the beach.  The wind was cold and Milly started fussing after a little bit, so we weren’t out there long.

From there we made a stop to pick up a few Christmas presents, so we’re all done with that now except for my shopping for Amanda.  I think I know what I’m going to get her now, my original and much more exciting gift idea having been basically nixed.

We were pretty beat once we got home.  We had things to put up and bottles to clean, not to mention a baby to feed again.  Milly had virtually not napped at all today and ended up sleeping from the time she finished her 4:00 feeding (about 4:30) until about 7:00.  Amanda and I watched TV and messed around on the computer in the meantime.  Hopefully the late nap won’t mes up Milly’s sleep for tonight.

Brittany Murphy was found dead of cardiac arrest today.  It’s been a while since she’s been in anything and there was a Saturday Night Live bit on the Weekend Update segment making fun of her getting fired from a movie recently.  It was from last week’s SNL and we watched it after the news had broke but before we found out about it (from an off-hand comment my friend Jason Revill made on his wall).  Dying from cardiac arrest at the age of 32 makes one jump tp conclusions as to the cause of death.

Zach Dotsey

Kentucky ended up beating UConn last night, 64-61.  All I’m going to say about it is that John Wall is a filthy, filthy beast.

I was planning on catching up with some work this evening.  Afterall, I had a meeting this afternoon then had to do some (mostly work-related) running around after that and it cut out a chunk of my day.  Not that it wasn’t productive, but I really need to get a move on with some things.

Anyhoo, as I said, that’s what I was planning on doing, but instead I ended up Facebook chatting with a (nearly) 24 year-old Irish cousin named Lucinda O’Shea.  Adam called me and told me about her and I called Dad to ask what the deal was but he said when he’d heard a few years ago he thought it was a joke.  She actually left a comment on here a couple days ago, but I had no idea who she was.

Like I said, Lucinda and I chatted for a while.  We talked about family, of course, and who is who.  She did a search on Facebook for “Dotsey” and was asking how different ones were related to us.  I told her about her uncles and aunt and which cousins belonged to which uncles.  She said she wished she’d been able to talk to Pap before he died.

Lucinda also told me a bit about her life.  We were talking about kids and she had been in labor with her son, Adam, for 48 hours before having a c-section.  Really makes Amanda’s champion-caliber 25.5 hours look minuscule.  (Okay, not minuscule, but still!)  She has 50 or so aunts, uncles and cousins on her mom’s family’s side and told me about them.  Amazing memory, to remember all those relatives!  The offspring of Baba and Pap number a paltry 21, and I thought we had a big family.

When she got off, Lucinda said it was, what, 3 or 4am there in Ireland.  She’d been up all night catching up with us.  She said she was crying looking at some of the family pictures.  She said she’ll be checking airfare rates to try to come to the US for a visit.  Really hope we get to meet her.

So, what else happened today?  It’s Amanda’s grandma’s birthday, so happy birthday to you, Peggy Lemons!

Milly continued the thing she’s doing where she’s really fussy unless she’s sleeping or being held.  That’s not entirely true- there was a time during which I had three work calls to take care of in quick succession and she was good during those.

I had a meeting with someone I think will be a very good client.  It’s always great to bring in new clients who are engaging and excited about their project.  It makes working with them that much more fun.

I talked to my oldest friend, Jason Revill, while I was driving around doing my errands.  Nothing big, just catching up.

Amanda’s definitely sick.  She’s a bit stuffy and worn down.  Hopefully that will pass soon without passing on to me or Milly.  I swear, it seems like it’s been a month or more since everyone in the house has been completely healthy.

I talked to Adam, Dad and Andra today about Christmas plans.  Adam was on IM (actually, he might have been yesterday) and Dad and Andra were on a conference call.  Our original plan, dating back to last year and reiterated about a month ago, was that we’d all get together the weekend of New Year’s, but it’s looking like it might be the day after Christmas.  We’d have a lot more time to spend in the Rouge if we went with the original plan.

I think that about covers the day today.  I can’t believe it’s almost Friday.

Zach Dotsey