THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Had an easier week than usual working on the ride. I actually got to home on time most of the week.

There are less and less people working on the show every week. I talked to one of the character designers of the show today and he told me he only had two more weeks before he gets laid off.

Today is my dad’s last day on King of the Hill because of the strike. Please pray for him and all the people affected by it. We all need the prayers.

FAMILY
Alesha was put on bed rest by her doctor. She was feeling some long moments of “discomfort” a few days ago (and by discomfort I mean pain). Turns out she needs to take it easy so the baby doesn’t come too soon. It was bad enough so that on the 30th we went to register at the hospital and then she checked herself in just in case there was something wrong. There wasn’t, as we found out after being there for about two hours but it made my wife feel a lot better knowing that. That’s when the doctor gave her the bed rest prescription. From now on, she needs to take it easy until the baby comes.

Meanwhile, this New Year’s Eve we decided it would be a good idea to start training our sixteen month old Munchkin to sleep on a toddler bed. Especially since her baby brother would use her crib once he’s born. Also Alesha won’t need to reach into a crib to pick her up. I built the bed this New Year’s Eve and introduced the bed to the Munchkin who was overwhelmed with excitement when she saw it. She ran over to it, climbed into it, and began jumping and dancing around on it. She would then lay down on it (with her little butt up in the air) and say “nigh nigh” lay there for about ten to fifteen seconds before standing up on it to dance and jump again. She would do this over and over again. It was hilarious. I was having so much fun watching her.

So after all that, I took her downstairs so she could play for a little while longer before I put her down for a nap. When nap time came I took her upstairs and put her in her new bed. A minute after I left the room, we saw her in the baby monitor getting up out of the bed and playing with the toys around her room. I went in her room and put her back on the bed about three times before I just decided to let her be. It was funny because she would get out, sit by her bed and look at it for a long time with her bottle in her mouth. She would then touching the bed once in a while and would sometimes even kiss it but she wouldn’t get in it. At one point she got up and went off camera so we didn’t know what she was doing. I left her alone for a long time but she never made it back within camera range. I told Alesha that it had been long enough and if she wasn’t going to go to sleep, I would just go get her. When I opened the door, I found her on the carpet asleep in the center of her room. I put a blanket on her and let her be.

Since it was New Years Eve, the Munchkin spent the night away parting with our family at our aunts house (and she really partied hard. She danced and ran around and ate and played bongos. She had a blast). When we got home she slept in her new bed without incident. Next day though, when we put her on the bed for her nap, she got out of the bed again, began playing with her toys and next thing we know, she fell asleep in the same place on the carpet as she did the day before. She looked like a doll laying there as if some careless kid had just dropped her as they walked out the door. It was very funny.

We were a little concerned that she wouldn’t sleep in her bed when we put her down to sleep that night, but she was actually fine. She didn’t get out of bed and just lay down until she fell asleep. She moves around a lot and I was afraid, when I saw she had moved to a spot on the bed that didn’t have a rail, that she would fall out. So I got a big cushion we had laying around and put it under the opening. It’s a very very low bed so it’s no big deal but I just didn’t want her to land on the carpet get all bothered and begin to cry. Sure enough, a little while later I saw on the monitor that she was no longer in the bed. I went in and found her on the cushion completely asleep covered by blankets. She looked very comfortable and I almost left her there but I decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea and put her back in the bed. She didn’t even wake up. She slept the rest of the night without incident and even slept an hour longer than she usually does.

Now when we put her down for her nap she sleeps on her bed instead of on the carpet. She’s apparently gotten used to it and I think she likes her it.

BLOGS
I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to Science of Identity Foundation for paying to advertise their site on my site. I’m very grateful. Thank you. The link ad is located in the top right just above the “Pages” and “Top Commentators” tags.

It’s funny but considering the subject matter of the site, it makes me curious as to why they would have chosen my site. In any case, I’m glad they did. Yay!

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list. I’m listed on the site. I will try my best to call attention to you text ad and I’ll put it in the most prominent place I can.

BOARD GAMES
We played quite a few games this weekend. We actually got to play Dune! It was really fun. We only played with three people but we had a good time. My wife played the Bene Gesserit, my wife’s best friend played the Atreides, and I was Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV . The game ended in turn four and I won. It took us two hours to get to turn four but that was only because we were checking the rules every other minute as we learned the game. Next time we play, I doubt it will take that long to get to the fourth turn. If no one wins after fifteen turns, the game ends. I must say, that all the effort I made putting the game together paid off because the game was really great fun.

Afterwards we played a game of Liar’s Dice (my wife gave it to me for Christmas). That game was fun also. It’s a nice short “filler” game.

The next, day we had a little bit of time when we put the Munchkin down for a nap, so we thought we’d play a game. The game was Cleopatra and the Society of Architects. We knew we wouldn’t be able to finish it before Munchkin woke up but we played it anyway. We only played for a while before she woke so we decided to end the game and do all the end game scoring. The winner of the game is the person with the most money at the end of the game but there’s a catch…the person who has accumulated the most corruption tokens at the end of the game (even if they have the most money) gets thrown to the crocodiles and cannot win. My wife’s friend and I tied with the most corruption. Cleopatra threw us to the crocodiles so my wife ended up winning. It was a very fun game. I recommend it. It shares a few mechanics with Settlers of Catan but the point of the game is to build a miniature of Cleopatra’s Palace instead of building cities and roads.

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