I’ve updated the photo gallery with some new pictures of Patti, the kids, and our family. Feel free to take a look!

On an unrelated sidenote, I never realized how hard it would be to find a set of headphones for my cell phone. I recently bought a memory card so I can use the phone as an MP3 player, but apparently my phone needs 2.5mm headphones and all the headphones I’ve been able to find at the store are 3.5mm. Who knew technology could be so complicated?

Speaking of technology, I’m loving the newest version of Firefox; it’s well worth the download.

And finally, I want to brag about my kids. Alexis got straight A’s in school yet again, and according to her report card she’s reading at a level slightly above 6th grade. Keep in mind that she’ll be entering the 4th grade next year, so how amazing is she? Nicholas is amazing too; he’s talking a ton more each day, and I can’t wait to see how he does in 5k next year. My cup runneth over when it comes to my two kids; that’s for sure.

Tonight I received an unexpected message on AOL Instant Messenger from T, who I haven’t spoken a word to in over four years. To make a very long story short, we had quite a nasty falling out that came about in large part because of rather boorish and immature behavior on my part, and we didn’t speak nary a word to each other after all was said and done. To be honest, it was hard to lose a friend I’d known for several years, and I’m glad we had a chance tonight to start mending our fences.

One can never have too many friends, especially if those friends are quality people.

• South Milwaukee is getting a Dunkin’ Donuts. As someone who loves a donut with my coffee in the morning, this couldn’t be better news, especially considering there’s no Dunkin’ Donuts between my house and my office(s).

• Valentine’s Day was amazing. I took Alexis to “A Night of Love” sponsored by the Alma Center, which is the domestic violence treatment center where I have an office. Perhaps the highlight of the night (besides winning a raffle prize of a $750 gift certificate to a local furniture store) was the fact that I found out my wife had written a dedication to have me included in Men We Love, a photojournal celebrating men who inspire others and make them better people. I am truly flattered and honored that my wife chose to dedicate a page in the book to me.
• I scored a new all-in-one printer/scanner today. It’s an HP C5280 All-in-One, and it’s beautiful. It’s not brand new; my father in law bought a new all-in-one because someone spilled chocolate milk on this one, so rather than him throw it out, I took it thinking I might be able to fix it. Sure enough, I was able to clean enough of the dried on chocolate milk off the internal workings of the printer to get it working again, and after printing a test page it seems to be working just fine.

Today’s To-Do list:

• Grocery shopping
• Random cleaning
• Laundry
• Hang out with Nick

Yeah, such is the life of a domestic dad. Ironically enough, I actually enjoy doing housework. Cleaning is relaxing, and despite my aversion to folding laundry, I know it needs to be done. However, my favorite weekend activity would have to be hanging out with Nick. He and I enjoy our “guy time” together, and to be completely honest I wouldn’t mind being a full-time stay at home dad.

I’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year. As I reflect back on 2007, I know I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful Nick has started getting the therapy he needs, because it’s made a world of difference in just a few short months.

I’m thankful that my wife has finished another two semesters of school, leaving her only two semesters away from graduating - and accomplishing something she’s always wanted to do.

I’m thankful to have been given an opportunity to take on new responsibilities at work through a new assignment, because I’m as happy as I’ve been in my job in a long time.

I’m thankful that my family - primarily my mother - have finally gotten their collective acts together and are stable and happy for the first time in a long time.

And I’m thankful that I don’t have a lot to be stressed out or concerned about.

As I look ahead to 2008, I see all the makings of a great year, and I’m excited to see what the year has in store for me and my family.

…unless you’re a Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. According to those “compassionate conservatives” in Madison. Assembly Republicans have released a list of things that the Republican leadership sent out that they find objectionable in the Governor’s new budget, and included among the many objectionable items is this:

• Autism Insurance Mandate with $1.3 million in new spending to cover the cost of the new mandate in state health insurance program.

So in our state’s multi-billion dollar budget, Assembly Republicans find it objectionable to spend 1.3 million dollars to make sure the autistic children of folks who have state health insurance are provided with coverage - coverage that they don’t have right now. Now maybe it’s because I’m biased, given that I’m the parent of an autistic child, but I simply cannot comprehend how anyone with children would vote against providing health insurance coverage to children who didn’t choose to be born with a life-altering disorder like autism. As Michael Mathias over at Pundit Nation has pointed out, “now that Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, are vowing to block an expansion of the SCHIP program, it seems inescapable that poor, very sick children are simply fair game for the more extremist elements of the GOP.” What kind of world is it we live in when folks are willing to use children as pawns in a partisan game of chicken?

I’m absolutely disgusted at the lengths some lawmakers are willing to go to in order to score cheap political points in an attempt to pander to their base, and I refuse to stand idly by while Republicans attempt to punish autistic children and their families simply to save a few dollars. Perhaps those lawmakers who want to cut the autism mandate from the state budget should put a face to all those autistic children who’d suffer, but if they can’t, I’ll do it for them. This is my autistic son Nicholas…

Nick broke both the bones in his left forearm this morning, producing much angst and stress on the part of everyone here, but especially me. Dealing with your own catastrophic (or at least really gross) injuries is one thing, but seeing them on your child is another matter entirely. What’s most disconcerting to me about Nick’s situation is the fact that when the ER doctor came in with Nick’s x-rays, he asked if Nick had a previous fracture or break in the arm, and when we answered, “not that we know of,” the doctor showed us x-rays that very clearly showed a previous break in Nick’s arm.

Just take a moment to imagine how that felt to find out our son had broken his arm but couldn’t tell us…I can tell you how it felt to me…it felt remarkably similar to a punch in the gut. It’s a scary thing to realize your child can’t tell you when they’ve hurt themselves or are sick, and I can only hope we’ll reach a point where Nick will be able to tell us when he’s having a problem.

For now Nick’s got a temporary splint and a sling, and hopefully we’ll have him in to see a Pediatric Orthopedist on Tuesday or Wednesday so his arm can be fully set and cast.

That’s the day Nick’s new therapist will come to visit him here at home for the first time. We met with the folks from the Autism Behavioral Network this week, and I have to admit I was tremendously impressed with their approach to therapy. Nick’s a lucky little guy, and I’m glad he’s about to start getting the help we’ve always wanted for him. There’s no doubt things will be difficult as Nick adjusts to his new routine, but I know the tough times will all be for the best in the end.

“It’s like a whole buncha stuff in my mouth!”

So said my stepdaughter as she bit into her All-American Thanksgiving Burger, a burger she helped create. Last week my wife took Alexis to Red Robin to eat after school shopping, and while they were at the restaurant, they picked up an application for Red Robin’s Burger Contest for kids. After they got home, we all started brainstorming on unique and interesting burger ideas to come up with something that’d knock the socks off the judges. As we were mulling over different ideas, we came up with the idea for the Thanksgiving turkey burger.

Now I can’t reveal all the ingredients here, as I don’t want to give away any secrets, but I will say the burger combines all the best parts of Thanksgiving into a burger. We made the burgers tonight, and they were a resounding success, hence Alexis’ quote, and now that we know the burgers are delicious, we’re going to help Alexis submit the recipe for judging.

Yesterday the wife got a call from the folks from the County.

Nick’s funding has arrived, so they’re going to call our preferred therapy provider to get the ball rolling. We also received a letter from Nick’s new Early Childhood teacher at his school, so it’s kinda funny how things are all coming together at the same time.

Can I just say how much of a relief it is to know that things are finally falling into place?