J. Milanes Bartell

Sometimes I get a little sad with the awareness that this time with Wil as this little baby will pass in what later will seem like the blink of an eye.

I had to soothe him to sleep tonight. Sometimes he just doesn’t want to go to bed. He’ll stir and fight sleep since [...]

Man how time flies! He’s now a cooing, giggling, fun five month old that reactes to mommy and daddy. He’s no longer “the lump” as Peter used to call him.

It really is amazing how much they change. People warned us how fast it goes by and its so true. I’m glad I’ve [...]

Today I turned 36. And the only birthday wishes I’ve gotten were from an automated card from one of my co-workers (it just sends birthday wishes automatically from some contact list he has), and one of my co-workers stopped by this morning to wish me a happy B-Day.

20 years ago I was getting ready [...]

Sometimes she just comes into my mind randomly. Usually its in the am as I leave for work or like right now in the evening when I’m sitting around in the living room.

In the morning she always would look up from her bed as I left out the door. A brief [...]

We were off to Lake George last weekend at Randy’s lake house. Thanks Randy!!! It was a great time. William enjoyed the ton of attention from Jen and Kathy and all of the North Jersey Jeep Club folks on Saturday night.

We left on Thursday night right after Will’s 6 pm feeding and [...]

I heard this song on my drive in from work today and actually listened to the lyrics. I got all teary eyed. It really does express a lot of the emotions of becoming a parent.

With Arms Wide Open (Creed)
Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed [...]

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. A time to just be and hang out. Peter will be focused on wheeling, I’ll be focused on relaxing.

Had a conversation earlier that reminded me of the book the art of happiness. I should dust it off and give it a read again. [...]

I guess that before we had William I wasn’t as aware of time passing. Maybe a few more grey hairs but as adults we don’t change as quickly.

Then there’s Will, every day he seems to grow another inch, every day there seems to be another development. Like today he finally figured how to [...]

So, the whole point of working from home today for me was three-fold:
1. Get an earlier start to the day, refreshed with a little extra sleep.
2. Finish a report I was working on without the usual noise and interruption.
3. Record some on-line voice pieces for an on-line class.

What actually has happened:
1. I went back to [...]

Today is such a beautiful day. Perfect July sunshine and a happy baby that after a full belly (and an emptying) was all smiles and giggles. What a great thing to wake up to!

I was a little late heading out the house this am. First I got up later than usual. [...]