u/tmp_advent_of_code

New puppy. She is a biter. What i dont get, is she is ignoring chew toys for the furniture or our hands. Like I try to redirect. She completely ignores and right back for the furniture or my hand. I got so many different kinds of chew toys and textures. Mostly useless. The flavored stuff does nothing. But the corner of the coffee table? Or the side of the couch? Thats the best.

I am trying to engage and play with her...but nope. Its like ecstasy or something. I tried even similar texture things. Doesn't do it. Has to be the furniture. Shes 9 weeks old and get its normal. Im just trying to understand why those things and all the things specifically for chewing and teething are ignored.

I posted last week on Liams first birthday after death. And now we are here. 1 year death anniversary. I took the day off. I feel after this, we can handle most things. I know there still will be rough days. But this is like THE day. No more firsts in regards to a calendar year. So far for me, his birthday was harder. But we also got a puppy the day after his birthday. To make August have some positive moments. The puppy has our attention so its helping.

My big todo if I have time today...I want to write a letter to each person who has showed up to help this past year. Thats where I break down the most. I also found some new pictures or him on some family members Facebook. I am remembering him less. His voice. How he looks. His pictures just feel so far away. They dont look like him and that doesn't make sense to me because they are pictures of him.

Anyways, miss you little guy. Tonight maybe I'll order from the Restaurant that had a train on the ceiling. You loved watching it go around.

Liam died almost 1 year ago at 3 years old. Today he would have been 4. And 1 week from today is his first death day anniversary. This feels like the home stretch. Getting through the calendar firsts. Took the day off work today and next week. Good idea, already cried a bunch, but figure if there is a day to let the emotions out, today is the right day (Im not a crier).

I think about him everyday. We've done a great job of having smiles this past year in honor of him. So much travel with my other kid to make sure she has a close to normal and hopefully fulfilling childhood. And on Friday we are getting a puppy to litter another positive experience this month.

We do get sad. I wish he was here. I cry anytime I feel too happy because I know I would be happier with him here. Yet, I cant change the past.

Anyways, I miss you buddy. Still finding your influence around. Today a black bean you stuffed in a garbage truck toy fell onto the kitchen floor. We found a truck behind our couch not long ago. It made me smile.

My family of 3 is getting into tent car camping. Use our Mach-E as main car. We started with a core 10 person instant tent from Costco. On one end, loved the space. Loved the instant. Unfortunately after 3 uses, one of the support bars unfolded/cracked and broke. And that same weekend, water got in on the seams in a couple areas in not very hard rain.

So we returned it. Loved camping though. Our 7 year old wants to go every weekend now. Have a trip in a few weeks. Need a new tent. We could get a 6 person but I did like the size of the 10 person. But then again, packing in our car required one of our seats to be down. But not end of the world since we have so much other stuff that it was going to happen either way. My wife is thinking she'd love an outside area for shoes kinda thing.

So many mixed reviews out there. Hoping to see if anything has changed.

What is the biggest difference between the base megamat vs the ultra? The ultra is on sale right now. After a bad night of sleep, we are committed to getting better sleeping pads for car camping. So not caring if its back packing compatible...really its just comfort. Partly considering the max too but is that overkill?

My daughter prefers multiplayer games. We've gone through a bunch of games and I've noticed cozy games bore her. She loves it most when we play together. Like we've been playing forza horizon 6 together which is fun that she just wants to play with her dad.

She is sick today so I kinda want a meatier game with her. Problem is all the games I loved as a kid aren't age appropriate. E.g. Halo or Skyrim.

She is good with a controller. She's beaten portal and portal 2 (her favorite game. Yes we did coop already). She loves platformers like astro bot.

But I really am hoping for an rpg coop game we can both dig in together. We have all major systems.