Married... with Children and kittens...

I am now a father. Yes, goes to show you the state will allow anyone to breed. I think I'll be a good daddy though.
right now I'm home with the little guy. his name is Liam and he was born on Sept. 5th. at 16:34. 8 lbs and 12 oz. 21 inches long. he was a big kid. God love him. I know I do.

now we've been home a week and we're adjusting. his grandparents flew out for PA to visit him and will be here all week. His grandparents from nor cal (my folks) will be out soon after. My mom broke her wrist and will be out of commission for awhile. sucks. but having a break btwn grandparents will be good. now my life is changing diapers and singing about a monkey boy and getting monkey kisses. I love it. can't believe I waited 37 years to do this. But it feels right and I'm so happy. the best days over the past week have been with him asleep on my chest. the first four days of his life in the hospital we just sat in the room and listened to music. never turned the tv on... never watched movies or anything on the internet. It was just talking and listening to music and love love love....

I love my little monkey man.... can you tell? welcome to the world Liam Henry Ryan

One Year Later...

It's been a year since janice and I have moved into this house. I still love it. I am working right now doing a documentary for the producer I was working for last year. it's a good feeling and a project that is really setting a new level of challenges for me. I am up for it and every day I go in feeling like I can take it on, but by 5 p.m. and working straight observing footage, I'm exhausted both emotionally and physically. I'm left thinking, what the hell am I doing.

In the end I come home and I'm exhausted. It has me thinking about the past year. Where I was last year when we moved into this house and how I was feeling. I was worried about work, I was worried about a lot. My life felt like it was put into a weird spiral. I thought I could grab onto what was going on, but in the end, I think emotionally I never did recover until Jan. of this year. I had a lot of challenges put before me last year and if time has taught me anything it's that you can get through it with a good person by your side and a lot of faith. Janice and I made it through a tough year and we did it together! It was awesome. Now that our anniversary is upon us in the house, I look back and think of how wonderful the last year really was. The time I had to enjoy this house while not working and the time I had to think about what we have to do to fix things up. Right now I'm sitting here with a cold draft on my neck from the front window (or is it the side window?).

We're looking at redoing the windows, kitchen, I need to stop the garage from flooding during bad rains and insulate the attic. And I want to get all of this done sooner than later.. because we have a little bundle of joy starting our family in september.

Okay.. going to wrap this up. In a nutshell. Last year was great. Despite down times, we're doing alright. We survive cause we got each other and we always will. In the last year, I lost a job, gained a house, found temp work to keep me a float, got married, went on a honeymoon, came into the world of future fatherhood, and got a job.

God really knows how to put you on a roller coaster ride doesn't he?

married.. with kittens

The wedding was last week. It's hard to believe. It's over. The planning (on janice's part), the stress, etc. I can tell you that the days leading up to the wedding, I didn't feel too well. Nerves and anxiety started to creep up on me. My back started to show signs of tense back pain.

Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't thinking along the lines of "What am I doing!?!?" or "RUN" but more so, "how am I going to do this" "how am I going to be a 'provider'" "how can I have a family" especially in this day and age of not having work since Aug. 20th and a paycheck of any kind. I'm starting to see money leech from savings, I got two new Supplemental tax bills on top of the Property Tax bill. It would lead a lot of folks to sleepless nights. It did for me... waking up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling.

But then I woke up and caught myself in all of this. I said, "hold back... there's a lot going on in your life right now... you need to hold back and trust God. Trust the universe... there is a plan" When I did that, I took a deep breathe and started to focus on the 'now' and not the 'future.' I suggest it, it requires a lot of trust, a lot of faith. But it can alleviate a lot of tension on you.

The wedding day came and it was the most wonderful day in my life! I couldn't believe it. The weather was perfect, the site was amazing and janice was radiant!




The ceremony was wonderful and we danced our first dance to Ben Folds, "The Luckiest."

never before did a song mean so much to me. With everything that has gone on in our lives for the past couple of years, I could only think, we were 'The Luckiest.' I held her tight and said, "I never want this moment to end."



The reception was wonderful, the food and cake (from what I tried, was good). As we walked back to the table with our dinner we were whisked out for sunset pictures. All in all, the day was perfect.... and emotionally draining. I was for days after. I still think of moments from the wedding and shed a tear or start giggling.

We came home on Monday with Janice's family all here. I tried to impress with my special burgers (I hope I did well, no reports of food poisoning). And on Monday morning, Janice found a posting for a ragdoll kitten online. A little boy who was adorable and well... missing Ollie, how could I say 'no.' He was up in Crestline (near Arrowhead about 90 mins from Glendale) so on Tuesday morning I drove up to the mountains to pick up the newest addition of our family, RILEY FINNIGAN McCool Ryan.



He's taken to the house well. He's nothing but a ball of fur. I've woken every night to him laying next to me, so I think we've bonded. Our home feels complete. And now that the wedding is over, life is coming back around. I got a call for work, so did Janice. In a matter of weeks we will be back in employment, and earning our keep. All the things we needed to focus on are done and over with.. so now we focus on what matters now. Making a living. I'm excited... I'm looking forward to working and in a couple of weeks we go on our honeymoon to Kaua'i

looking forward to this trip.. will be well deserved for us.

5 days.. or wait 4.....ugh. I don't know...

the day is almost upon us. in the past month, I've worked very little, had about twenty days of work in august, didn't work in september and now it's october and I'm getting married on saturday. you think I would be able to keep up with a blog.

but no... in the last month, we've (and by we've I mean janice) has gotten everything together for the wedding. I tried to help ... I've been at home more or less going insane with boredom. I would like to do house chores, but really can't cause I don't have the patients to be out in the heat to work in the yard. The weather cooled off this weekend and I managed to plant some impatience out front. I need to do some more planting in the yard, but today has taken the dive back into the 90s. So I will wait.

Things to do this week, clean the house, fix up the yard more, lord knows... a lot. right now I have a kitty cat rest. it's nice to have.


alright.. off to take care of my dumb cat bender, whose not feeling well and apparently spraying in the house.

so is my life....

Back to work

okay.. so I think the evening of my last blog, I got a call. WORK. I'm back working on the project I was helping on from May/June. Really.. I was on it for two months? Seems longer.. oh well. I get to work till Aug. 15 (the day before my bday) and then I'm hoping for the next big thing to come around.

I have an interview next week for a TV show that I would like to do. I think it's until the new year, so that will give me some good room to breathe if I get it. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but I would like to do this and not have to worry about working through the wedding. it would be a lot off my head to have union hours and a pay check. Hopefully it will all work out.

Yesterday was a busy day back.... too much going on. Today is spent digitizing and doing some morning cutting... tonight we feast!

Today E-Pics

Today, approximately 76 days prior to our wedding, we take our Engagement pictures. Janice is checking wardrobe right now, every few minutes, what about this, what about that. All I can say is, "sure, that looks nice" (and they all do). I'm trained well.

I'm starting to feel the pressure of wedding jitters, I would imagine I could compare it to tremors before a big quake. I have a lot on my mind, dealing with fixing things around the house (roof, kitchen, remodel the bathroom), finding work, paying for Gas, keeping up with the Jones.

The biggest cloud over my head right now is work. I'm getting bored at home and creatively stifled. I need to be working on something with someone. The last job was fun, but isolation can be pretty taxing on you. I like the interaction of a crew. This week is promising as I have an interview I think is going to be set up for a job. While far, I could hope that there is something closer to home so I can continue to work out and go to the gym and get in physical shape for the wedding.

Speaking of physical shape, you will be happy to know that I have managed to keep my weight down for 5 months. And after being in Pennsylvania for the last couple of weeks, I wasn't sure that was going to happen.

Well nothing else to report other than, I can never remember my login for this damn thing nor password. Guess I should write it down somewhere.

later

Max Powers strikes again

... okay the title is because I'm watching the 'Simpson' episode where Homer changes his name to 'Max Power.'

Nobody snuggles with Max Power, you strap yourself in and feel the 'g's'

got that out of my system. Alright, tomorrow is my last day of working. It's been an incredible experience. Doing a Documentary film is an experience as you don't tell the story, but rather, the story tells itself to you. I've had fun going down memory lane for feature animation and I look forward to seeing this project finished in the future. It will be something else.

On a side note, I heard that my former company screwed the pooch again and a load of folks are being unloaded. I'm really sorry to hear that, but not surprised at all. I sort of saw the writing on the wall six months ago. As of now, I don't know what will happen next. But keep good thoughts out for all those being let go. It's going to be tough especially with another strike looming over our heads.

I know I will keep my eyes peeled for them.