50-Year-Old Wine & Publishing a Book in 10 Months! Older Dads Dad Life: S02E04 Part 2

0:00 It's very rare like you know how I am like when we would do even the show stuff everything I I would be like yeah But this was wrong or that was wrong or that wasn't I when I look at this there I don't have that everything I do all this work in my yeah in my house And every time I look at the like the built-ins on either side of my fireplace. I think there's a mistake there You find a fault. I don't this I don't feel like I can look at and go This is the absolute best I could do this is Something that I can be completely proud of that I couldn't But I couldn't make right I can do it anybody right and and that that that's a nice now that you're holding it from the idea Yeah beyond your wildest dream that you're holding this thing that are you looking at it as like a birth of something what strikes me?

0:45 About it is I don't know how it's possible that this started in October of last year You're talking about literally 10 months in 10 months from not even the idea yeah, just a published book that's getting good reviews and has won an award and has been printed and ready to sell and up designing a character and a plush toy and Ornaments and a whole set of accessories to help parents have fun with their kids at Christmas time To have all that coming together and be able to be ready for this Christmas in a few months But I'm I I don't know how I did it and that only proves when people say I don't have enough time for that It know you do you have plenty of time to change or to do or to accomplish or to start?

1:39 Don't worry about don't worry about. Oh my god. I don't have enough time. Just do it. It is just I'm trying to be Nike Never be afraid to try right but that's part of one of the things in my on one of the websites I talk about if you have a big enough why? Right, you will find out how how literally cuz I when I finish when I finish writing it. I had no idea how any of it worked, but I Wanted to do it. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be this big. No people or people thinking well I don't have that it doesn't have to be this big just whatever your want is Yeah, take a step in that direction, right? So I got my book. That was a big thing and I look forward to You guys learning more about it and and seeing it and hopefully maybe enjoying it with your family this Christmas This is the gray hair and daycare podcast With a combined age of 111 years and a combined IQ right in that same range your hosts Frank cereo and Carlo Russo Welcome back to season 2 episode 4 part 2

3:13 We have a few more stories to cover that we didn't have time to get to last week So we're back to finish up the job and get you all caught up Thanks again for coming back and here is the rest of episode 4 around that time Baby Josie has developed a new thing with the dogs She likes to sit on rumple. I was just gonna say this you ride one, but I didn't want to get into Watson would be the one to ride right the big one and he but he avoids her. He kind of keeps his You remember He's much friendlier and he will get closer to her now and and they're okay, but Rumpel is very tolerant of her So rumpled be like sitting there and she'll just back up and plop and sit on Sit on rumple and rumple just looks like okay, like if this is what you want, so she started she started with that She has this little we got this thing for the boat and for some reason it never made it to the boat She has this little folding like a beach chair, okay cute and it's like very colorful and Somehow it got it's just in her nursery By her bookshelf.

4:26 So now it has become her reading chair So she'll go in and she'll pick out a book and she'll plop down there a little And read a book and and then if she wants you to read she'll like toss it to you like hey, I want to hear this one Mm-hmm. So then we had our follow-up with Somerwood and of course her weight had ticked back up a little bit again, but she was still she's still like right on the line and And the PA kind of said look she's look she's very healthy. You tell it from what you're telling us She eats she has a good appetite. She has a broad appetite. She's all kinds of different stuff Lots of favors of the healthy stuff this just might be her and I'm sure thank you like yes This is just like we want to keep an eye on it we don't want her to get to be too skinny because I have said before we even had the baby if you look at pictures of when Like when Kelly and her siblings were little they look like they weren't fed from two to seven.

5:29 That's it. Like they were emaciated skinny and So we don't want that but at the same time we don't want to always be in a panic like she's somehow Yeah, not okay because she's on the on the skinnier side, especially because she's so long She's so tall and but she's like, you know, she's doing she's doing fine So so we had that follow-up and again once when she said that and then I brought up with her like, yeah We're like her and her siblings were all 90th percentile right high 10th percentile away. She's like, oh that makes perfect sense. And yeah, like I'm like, yeah There's none of this in my family. Yeah, but for her. Yes, I think she's fine.

6:09 So that was good and then we kind of rolled into When we normally have our summer party, but right before that there was a very important event And this is something that we haven't you have known about and we've hinted and talked about it a little bit on on the podcast But I have not gone into any great detail about it because I kind of wanted to get it along Through the process before I announced anything or talked about timing. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't there yet, but we took delivery of 5,000 You guys show me the boxes five. They're not here. Oh, they're at the Rotundo warehouse In Liverpool, we took delivery of 5,000 books What do you mean books this is the book I will show you okay I'm playing like I don't know.

7:01 He's he is pretending very well. So this is and I'll paste in something yeah, this is a book that I wrote and We produced last fall. So around October time I had had the idea well, really what it's where it started was from the Mouse House, which we talked about we talked about it a lot and Carlo kept saying you got to sell these And I kept on I kept on seeing something unique Yeah, and what you were making and I didn't have this in mind, but something so it was it was kind of you know The idea started with this little house and I started making it and it came out really well and I was happy with it and then we started thinking about who lives there and And honestly, then it was right around that time.

7:47 Well, it was in September really when when Charlie Kirk got killed We were doing our podcast at that. Yeah, it was that day. Yeah, we recorded the day that that happened. Yeah, and it was In many ways, there's obviously a very very sad horrible thing to have happen but then you saw a lot of people turning to faith at that time and Yes felt like you know, I If if I could do something that would help lead people in that direction It would be because we all need that Well, I know the difference in that it has made in my life and I thought you know, and I had been thinking about this character and maybe doing a story and I've always been a big Christmas person like I love Christmas and I thought I'm gonna you know, and then also thinking about being a new parent and All the stuff and how so many parents have embraced the elf on the shelf stuff I thought I'm gonna come up with a story that maybe can have a little bit of a faith-based message and Maybe be an easier way to create kind of Christmas magic for for a kid Where you're not doing something every night and if you don't do it then the kid thinks I'm going wrong and all that stuff so I started to think through and and just came up with a story and a character and I really kind of planned it all out in my head before I started to write and then every night when

9:22 When it was bath time for baby Josie I would get out my phone and I would write a couple stanzas and I wrote it when I wrote it I wanted it to be in rhyme like it was the night before Christmas. Sure So writing and that was it so what it ended up being What is this book Millhouse the Christmas Mouse? Hmm and I? Long I mean, it's it's kind of a long story, but it was really a great experience I ended up finishing the manuscript and Started to look around and try to figure out how I would because I didn't know anything about publishing or any anything So I started looking around and there are a couple organizations one of them is the Society of children's book writers and illustrators and they have a whole Kind of catalog of illustrators who do work So I went through and looked at a bunch of people's portfolios And there was one that really stood out and I thought it had a beautiful beautiful work But I wasn't I thought I would never be able to get her to to do it So I reached out and I sent her the manuscript and talked to her and She agreed to Illustrate the book.

10:33 So her name is I want to try very hard to pronounce it correctly. It's spelled at Dan attic But it's pronounced a genetic She is lives in Vienna Austria she's from Serbia But super super talented artist She is a costume designer that she has kind of her as her main gig But she has illustrated about this I think is probably like her 15th book Wow, and I was really lucky very blessed because she for an artistic person was super open super open but also super process focused like not for like not usually, you know creative people are like She was like this is how I do it and this is my process nice and she already had a designer a designers name is Susanna volovic who is a She is a super talented artist in her own, right?

11:29 She is right now in a an Artistic fellowship in Saudi Arabia. She's she sculpts. She paints very very talented woman And they're both super nice. Like they're really I consider Christina Illustrator now a very close friend. Hey, you got to know her throughout. Yeah, she was good but she is she kind of led me through this whole process from Character design to the color palette to storyboards and and took my input and ideas all the way through and and got all the way to a Finished set of files and then I found I found a printing company named Wallsworth printing.

12:11 They are based in Marceline, Missouri, which I thought was a good omen. Do you know what's what's special about Marceline, Missouri? I don't this is this is a piece of trivia for all I don't Marceline, Missouri is the home the youth the home in his youth. He wasn't born there, but he grew up there Walt Disney Oh, geez grew up in Marceline my god, Missouri You know anything about Frank So, yeah, so I thought there they were and they've been great we spared no expense with the book It's like the highest quality brightest white paper the cover gold gold foil for the title It's a really I want it to be something that you would read every Christmas it Already looks like a classic Christmas book.

13:00 I don't know if that makes sense the thing It looks like it's been in the you know the thing around for his yeah It's been the thing that has been nice is the other there are ways that you can get advanced Reader copies, so what a lot of people in publishing will do is you'll provide copies to people and they'll review your book Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so I started out with that and and it's had the book posted for a couple months and on Average the feedback that I've gotten on average this where we've posted it There's a website called net galley and then good reads which a lot of people participate in and look up for reviews Typically because The advanced reader copies are people who are a little bit more critical whatever you score out of five stars on that galley You'll score almost a point higher on Amazon.

13:52 Okay, if you get a three and a half on that galley You're probably a number four and a half on Amazon We are at a four and a half on that galley actually on that galley a five Wow average like four point Seven something Wow and on good reads about a four point five so we've had really good reviews and then we had a very very nice review from book life, which is a division of publishers weekly got all a grade a for The scores that they give which is very very rare for a self-published title So we've got a lot of good feedback and we even submitted for and won an award the International Book Awards We run like a finalist for children's book, which is like an honorable mentions We didn't win but we got a kind of a recognition in that way too, and we're entered in a bunch of other programs so I'm optimistic that we'll get more good feedback, but the the thing that I like about it is we've kind of gone through the process with the book and There is a little Christmas ornament that goes with it But there's more and there's a plush toy and some other ideas to help parents be able to create some extra special magic with a kid that is a Still in that Santa believing age and and I think it's it's gonna be really cool.

15:17 So I've worked out I've got a couple websites, which I want to say I'm still in that age. I am too We're both there It's been a great experience I'm excited about it One of the other things that I that I did as part of it is I kind of formed a company around it to produce it which is the company is named after actually the podcast GH DC media and That company now produces the podcast and is producing the millhouse books. I'm hoping to do more the most important thing is 50% of all of the profits the net profits from the book and any of the related merchandise is Going to go to a program called the folding chair fund where it will go to qualified child-based charities, so I Think that's that's a big thing for me.

16:09 So Whatever we're able to whatever kind of economic advantage we can create half is gonna go straight to good class. I have to Whoever's listen to this He said 50% That's generally not What's out there? No, right. Yeah, so this is obviously means a lot to you Yeah to be able to do 50% of your hard work because I Think the endgame is bigger than what everything you put it. Yeah to bring faith back in to help children, right? Than what we're like initially it was just the idea that if some little kid Loves this book enough that it gets them interested in faith Would be enough but why not help find a way that why not find a way to do some good in that way and also Christmas I always feel like he's everybody talks about Christmas Because it is it's very commercialized it's very it's very secularized lost and But there's all it for me There's always you know when you grow up In in faith, and I wasn't as strong as a kid or even as a younger adult as I am now But it does have that meaning now and you can enjoy you can enjoy all the all the other stuff and The the central faith piece of it at the same time it doesn't have to be one or the right and once you

17:42 Figure that out or once it because isn't it so different and beautiful to Christmas season. Yeah, once you figure out Oh, yeah, this is the reason yeah, not the other and again you can have both right you can enjoy But understand what we're in though. Yeah understand why we're doing this, right? There is there is nothing that will help There is a bigger reason so really I want by the time I was getting done with the writing before I had done any of the Other work. I had already kind of decided look Start with Christmas, then I want to do Easter. There's another obviously very important probably the more important commercialized And that has been completely commercialized yeah, and then Halloween to Halloween is on its way to being in in many ways as big as Christmas and No one ever thinks of Halloween as a as a Christian holiday, but it is so my plan is to as You know, we're gonna launch this for this Christmas.

18:37 I would but I'm hopeful to do a book for Easter which I have just started to I have like the nugget of the idea There just wrote a couple lines for Easter and then and then Halloween and have it be Hopefully have it be a series and again have all of it 50% of the right of the format always stays the same. Yeah going to Some I like the idea of it going to a fund because I want to be able to do Different things with it and have people that are doing great work For for kids and for charities that are that are meaningful to be able to help in different directions So I'm excited about it.

19:19 So hopefully you'll see more and more about it. You can go look at www.franksurio.com You can also go look at ghdcmedia.com Which is the kind of parent company and most importantly? Millhouse with two L's millhouse the mouse.com that will be where you can get the book and The ornament and the plushie and the other stuff As we as we move forward, but we've got some great ideas. Yeah, I mean Christmases I mean, I know we're in August right now, but you're gonna be probably heading out with your Campaign pretty soon, right?

20:04 Yeah, we're gonna try it. We've got a partnership that we're gonna do with the church there's another so there is the There is the fund the the folding chair fund and there's also the church mouse program What the church mouse program is gonna be is an opportunity For us to put flyers about the book into the weekly bulletin that you get at the end of mass and basically anybody who purchases We're gonna do this with Sacred Heart with the church that my family goes to They're going we're gonna have the flyers in the bulletin and anybody who purchases anything Not only will 50% of their purchase go to a good cause through the folding chair fund But $5 from that purchase will go straight back to that church so Everybody's yeah, I think that we found a lot of ways to help be have a virtuous cycle of being charitable and contributing So I'm really I'm optimistic that would be you know It would be the best thing I've ever done if this can be successful and I'm really excited about it And of course as it says I'm the very very first page it is dedicated to me To to Carlo it is dedicated to baby Josie, of course And and I'm I'm just a Josie on there.

21:30 It does not okay But and at some point with all this it's gonna be kind of pointless for us to So my Yeah, I guess we could we'll see if if if Kelly makes another real another But yeah, it is dedicated to Natalia Natalia is my daughter's name, right? Which there it is no mistake that she is named for Christmas. I'm very means a lot to me as well And yes, that's my dad and my son your son. Yes. Yeah, so there it is. It's Millhouse the Christmas Mouse I'm excited to tell you all about it This has been a really interesting project for me I hope if you get a chance to check it out you do and you like it the reviews It's what it's really gratifying when you read some of these reviews and people are really They're always they're kind of surprised by it because they think it's just gonna be another cute Christmas book Yeah, they're liking and and then all of a sudden there's this message that that makes them really like it I was really worried because you know how things are.

22:36 I thought there would be a lot of people that might be Too much off by it, right and honestly out of all the reviews out of all the reviews only one has really called it out as They they didn't like the Christian part of this and and that's okay like But everybody else really it has been much embraced much More than I ever anticipated, but I have to say With the book the way it reads you're not bashing anybody over the head with it. It's a it's an It's what it is I think it is on the almost the exact same way that Charlie Brown Christmas has that little bit of the gospel yet.

23:17 I Think it's the same. It's the same idea Yeah, it's not heavy-handed at all. So I have to say I've been part of this conversation From day one. Yep, obviously Family you were the first ones I read it to being so close to each other I am so amazed and what you did Honestly from seeing from an idea Not only the house that he made the actual little house for his daughter and the way that looks was amazing and bringing it over to this and then Again, I was thinking okay.

23:59 He's gonna write a book. What's it gonna sound like I know he's you're very good at everything Anything you put your mind to you do it as professional I'm never afraid to try right as professional as possible. And he he would write something then he would read it to me and I would be amazed but again, you could say yeah, you're biased. You're you guys are best friends You guys do this that so then I would let Trina read it and she you know, she loves him as well But there's a little bit more, you know less activity, right and it was like he he wrote this This is amazing. Yeah, that's what I and I've seen the process and then how we got into Finding people because this is hard stuff this you put so much time and yes, there's money and equity and in time equity and all that and To finally have a prod a product in your hand Yeah and he hasn't even talked about how they all kind of fit together with the other things that you have going on with the with You know, I'll let you explain it.

25:03 I don't really want to go out there But there's so many other things that he has with this book Yeah, that it just came to fruition and it's so great when you so many people in your life talk a lot of stuff Right. Yeah, so many people say I'm gonna do this can do that. I'm gonna do this You see him ten years later and nothing happened. Yeah, and that's to see it firsthand somebody have an idea and Action behind it and then a finished product Yeah, you can only learn from that and be proud of that and inspired by that. It's that that's really nice to say It's I mean, I mean it it's it's interesting because I I think one of the things that I always felt as A kid looking at my dad.

25:46 Mm-hmm. My dad had as many or more great ideas Than I ever have okay and never did It never did any of them. Okay, and I don't know why I don't know what it was But it was like it was almost like the idea Was enough so for me to have and I have I've had lots of different ideas and I try to execute on them but this this is I've worked harder like, you know, when you have a full-time job and a Little one running around the house It's a lot that's why it was so amazing that you did it within that frame of your life it was honestly like I did suffer a little bit of I kind of wired myself up by It was months because I remember when I first started the project it was interesting because I started talking to AI and like I would like to do this my Christmas of 2026 and this is like in October of 2025 right and AI is like absolutely not.

26:50 You'll never like shut this down Guys, like you're insane. You'll never be able to do how old There's nothing. There's no way you'll be able to do it. You won't be able to get it printed in time, right? so So you already had that staring at it was a lot of 6 a.m. To 930 the 930 at night every day But then it's just like working a little bit in the morning and working at lunchtime and working When I get done after dinner, yeah, and and luckily because a lot of the stuff was working with people in China the time zone stuff Yeah, yeah, so I'd be like talking to the Chinese people in the morning Yeah But it was a lot and it was a lot of work and I did kind of mess myself up where I kind of got into fight-or-flight mode And it was stressed out and I had to start to pair back and give myself a little bit more time off Which is why we haven't recorded Because you just you don't have enough time to get all the other stuff done, but it's I'm very excited about it.

27:48 I'm very optimistic and Nothing would make me happier than for it to be a thing and be able to do some good. Absolutely And it's a good product. It's not like buy this because it'll help kids, which is great You're also getting a great story. You're getting a great Tradition and that's what we need. We need better traditions Than going shopping at midnight for Black Friday, it's it's really You're always I feel like in many times many parts of your life There are certain things that you don't skimp on right? But there are a lot of things that you have to settle for good enough, right? Especially like, you know when you got a little one or it's like the house is never gonna be perfect, right?

28:28 Yeah, I really tried like whatever this was whatever decision and there's so many little Decisions you never think about like the font and the size, right? It's gonna go and what are the colors and what kind of paper and right all these things there's all these details that you have to learn about and ask questions about and just Continually trying to make whatever like what is the best possible decision? What's the title gonna be? What's this like changing a one word in a line? How's it gonna feel to my hand when I hold them? What is it gonna feel? Yeah all those things and it just really being Unwilling to do anything but the absolute best I could do and and then it's very rare Like, you know how I am like when we would do even the show stuff everything I I would be like, yeah But this was wrong or that was wrong or that wasn't I get low and I look at this there I don't have that everything I do all this work in my yeah in my house And every time I look at the like the built-ins on either side of my fireplace, I think there's a mistake there You find a fault.

29:28 I don't this I don't feel like I can look at and go This is the absolute best I could do. This is a Something that I can be completely proud of that. I couldn't have But I couldn't make right I can do it anybody and and that that that's a nice now that you're holding it from the idea Yeah Beyond your wildest dream that you're holding this thing that are you looking at is like a birth of something what strikes me about it? Is I don't know how it's possible that this started in October of last year You're talking about literally 10 months in 10 months from not even the idea yeah, just a published book that's getting good reviews and has won an award and has been printed and ready to sell and up designing a character and a plush toy and a Ornament and a whole set of accessories to help parents have fun with their kids at Christmas time To have all that coming together and be able to be ready for this Christmas in a few months I'm I I don't know how I did it and that only proves when people say I don't have enough time for that I mean it no you do you have plenty of time to change or to do or to Accomplish or to start I don't worry about don't worry about.

30:49 Oh my god. I don't have enough time. Just do it. It is just I'm trying to be Nike never be afraid to try right but that's part of one of the things in my on one of the websites I talk about if You have a big enough. Why? Right, you will find out how how literally cuz I when I finish when I finish writing it. I had no idea how any of it worked, but I Wanted to do it. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be this big No people or people thinking well, I don't have that. It doesn't have to be this big just whatever your want is Yeah, take a step in that direction, right? So I got my book that was a big thing and I look forward to You guys learning more about it and and seeing it and hopefully maybe enjoying it with your family this Christmas So we're kind of back to Our timeline and we're at my annual party party So this year was awesome because my sister from Texas and my brother and his wife and his dog from Tennessee Came all came to visit for the party.

32:11 So we were all together, which it happens very rarely It was your wedding. Yeah, basically It was it was nice and it was actually funny because the day after the parties a party we have this big cookout We invite all friends and family and that's on Saturday So then Sunday morning we went to mass and my brother and sister came with us My other sister who lives here goes with us every week. So we're we're we're leaving and father site is there so I Introduce them on this my brother. This is my sister from Texas and and my brother starts talking about I don't remember He's like, I don't I think it's been probably 30 years Since we've all been all at church together and because I mean other than a wedding or a funeral and Father so I was like, well, it didn't fall down even with the Construction Fantastic.

33:09 It was really nice. We had a great and we had a great time We got to visit with everybody that the first time they might sell the baby. No, he had been here last year It was first time for his wife auntie Jane, but she she got on very well right away nice And yeah, it was a lot of fun and that was kind of when the really cool stuff that has been happening with the baby She has unlocked this language Now she is like a machine She hears a word and she's there. She's got a parent and she's just like making huge strides so all of a sudden it was She having the family around and kind of more people She's already, you know, she does great with with Ashley and Carrie and Me and Kelly, but now then it's like Oh Avi Avi Avi and then uncle for my brother uncle Mike Auntie Jane auntie Lou and just start everybody's names and buddy the dog.

34:11 My brother's dog is named buddy She'd be asking for buddy and and it was Wow. Yeah, really really Started to come on strong with the marriage and then she got to spend extra time With buddy because my brother and his wife So they drove from Tennessee Had the dog with them and then they left buddy here with us and they went After the weekend after the party there with that a wedding in the Detroit area Oh, they went to a wedding and we had buddy for a few days So and by then buddy was like a part of the pain he was having a good time except he had the buddy who's a very well-behaved dog and so he can be kind of off-leash and he didn't have the Invisible fence, so I would take him for a walk and I could take him walk on the trails where the our dogs can't go So they would sit and just look at him and jealously watch that's from from there from their area as I walked buddy This dog better leave.

35:10 I Could tell they missed him when he was gone, but it was nice we had a We had a really good time. Some of Kelly's family came her sister her dad came And had a little bit. Yeah had a little bit of a visit which was nice nice and her cousins Michelle and Jason and their little girl. They always make an effort They come from Buffalo nice and got to catch up with them and some my cousin Jack who? Now he kind of splits time between Boston and Miami he's retired nice. We it ended up being some people got here a little bit later So I didn't there being a smaller group at the end and it was like my cousins and my siblings and I and Michelle and Jason Kelly's cousin and What was nice what we started talking about my uncle so my cousin's dad Every time he's pet he passed away several years ago But I learned to make wine from him okay with him and He used to every time he came over for a party or for a holiday he would bring me wine that he used or he used to make moonshine he made and I've never I've always saved it.

36:18 I've never drank any of it really and there's a there were some bottles That were very old when he gave them to me. Okay years ago. So I was like, you know what what better opportunity? Are we gonna have then with our most almost everybody here sure so I went down I found and I had a bottle That was he had it marked as 40 years old When he gave it to me at least 10 years ago, so it's 50 year old homemade wine, and that's good Well, we weren't sure I was like so we got whiskey and all that into it my cousin My cousin John is like a Somalia. He's very very knowledgeable wine, right? So we the cork falls apart when I try to think of ours So we got a little sieve we pour it out and it was muscat, but it was good.

37:03 Really it was Strong strong. It was you know, it's a sweet. I almost tasted like a port Okay, but it was good and it was so nice to sit around and have a toast Yeah of their fathers, you know their father's wine crazy though. It was really it was really nice. Yeah But yeah, probably the wine was probably almost as old as uh, yeah That they made and it was really nice and he made a very nice toast because my you know his their father my father and brothers and The toast he made was you can quit you thinking of our fathers you can question their methods, but not their results That was a nice way to put it to put it But it was really it was a nice nice moment to share that little bottle of wine Yeah, and and get to spend time with everybody and it turned out Then talking with Michelle and Jason That we're gonna we're planning as we were talking about how crazy we are about Disney We're planning a Disney cruise with them in I think it's like the end of January.

38:07 There you are We're gonna we're gonna go on a little five-night Western Caribbean. The baby cannot do the race though Literally I'm saying cuz she's right now at the cuff like we gotta be Yeah, 18 months is the cutoff like she's supposed to be walking so well We we gotta get her. So we're trying to like be more Encouraging because honestly, it's like I haven't been worried. I'm just not worried about it like developmentally. I know she can walk It's just the thing of she wants to hold on to your finger, right? So she's gonna eventually she's gonna want to get to something and she's gonna do it and it's all over So I'm not super worried, but because we're approaching a milestone where she should be able to walk on a system It's gonna be we got to get there, right?

38:53 So we're working on we're working on that, but I did say to Kelly the other day I'm like, why don't we like we're thinking about she's got I told her to take a four-day weekend not this weekend, but next Okay, so we've got like a Thursday to Sunday and I think What we are going to do is we're gonna take the boat up to Alexandria Bay, so we're gonna go basically go up the river since we go spend an overnight there then go to Go up and spend a weekend and come home, but I'm like we could just go on it like she's she still isn't walking technically, we could go on a cruise and get her in the baby race and Just for the race, but I don't think we're gonna do that We're gonna have a nice cruise awesome the dogs on the baby on the boat Yeah, and then do yep, then we'll go do that and but yeah, but the language stuff has been it's so much fun Because you can start to see now I think every kid every parent thinks their kid is like a genius of course and So I'm like trying to stay away from thinking that that statement, but she is Yesterday yes Yeah yesterday she said she said it's like she's 17 months old sure yesterday.

40:12 She said peekaboo. I see you oh, wow, and I'm like Sorry, I would start asking a I'm like oh Like she is already we were going through him this morning. She is got she's already doing 30 percent of the developmental and language milestones for 30 months Wow at 17 months So she's she's yeah, she's gonna be a little smarty-pants. She's gonna be smart. Yeah, she is She's just but she's gonna be but it doesn't appear that she's going to be athletic But but she will she's very she's very healthy But yeah, she seems like she's she is and she's just like so smart She'll say that was another thing one of the other developmental things she will hear That's like a two two year or two and a half year thing.

40:59 She'll hear a motorcycle and say bike Wow, she'll heal the end like we were out walking around yesterday Harley. She is she loved she's so fascinated We love bikes. I do but her mother's like no And even me now like I love motorcycles, but I also recognize that you're smart how dangerous they are man Yeah, yeah, you can't you're kidding yourself if you think you're safe, but but yeah She like we went to the retreat for dinner one night and there was like three or four Harley Bike like she loves them so and I don't know why like it's like there's nothing well, I mean, I guess Finding new things Every day you wake up.

41:42 Yeah, you know what I mean? Like everything is you know, we're just looking a bike Right when we're out on the boat and she's looking as a buoy. Yeah, she likes the boobies. Yeah Yeah, everything is so new yeah everything but it's so yeah as she the she's constantly surprising us with just She'll know what something is or she'll ask for something You know and that change your act way that becomes a now another different relationship with your baby Yeah When they start having their personality in there they're talking and they're answering you because now you're like, oh, no We're in another another thing now compared to six months ago the other morning.

42:22 She wakes up. It was a Saturday morning She's comes out of the bedroom and she she looks at Kelly and says Ashley I see and she's asking for Ashley she's thinking Ashley's coming that day and And she's like no Ashley's not coming today and she looks at her. She looks like Ellie goes. Hi. Hope and After work, she's asked and she's basically asking. Are you gonna work? I'm gonna work Yeah Cuz every time when when Kelly goes to her office or I come to my office when we work during the day and she's with They'll say hi, ho hi ho they're off to work and so now she knows I Like Ashley, oh, no, Ashley's not coming. Hi. Ho. No, I'm not working today and she's like happy like she's she's That's what I'm saying.

43:06 It's a whole day. It's really cool relationship. Yeah, now you're actually getting something back Yeah from them, you know for the longest time forever since you've known her it's one way Yeah, you know you're talking to a baby and they're looking at you or whatever But now there's like oh, could you imagine your animals? You know started top, right? It's like oh, I forgot we have a different relationship now. Yeah, now you could answer me Yeah, and changes how we're gonna do thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's really it's a cool It's at a cool stage now. So it's a lot of it's a lot of fun as an older parent No, yeah, meaning with older kids not the same age. Actually, I'm older You forget about those days because it's been so long ago.

43:46 Yeah, you forget about that Oh, yeah, how that changed our relationship when you did start talking? Yeah is now it's not like now you can tell me I don't like doing that or I don't you know I mean you can it's something something has to change. Yeah, it's something you get to come. Yeah Yeah, you have to yeah, you have to deal with kind of contend with yep. No. Yeah, it's but it's awesome So but it's welcome to this stretch. Yeah, I can't wait to see how You become buddies, I love I love them times loved it every day when you have like Like a buddy thing. It's it's you'll see it Might not make sense now, but you're like, oh, yeah, they're like my little buddy there I can actually talk to them they come and they say funny things and you laugh.

44:28 Yeah. Yeah I see a sense of humor of all is gonna be a lot of a lot of fun. So good. Awesome. You'll laugh Oh my god, so but that kind of brings us up to date. So that's where we are Very happy that we got to catch up with everything. Yeah, and we're trying to do better Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna we say that although you're going on vacation again, you're gonna be gone for a couple of five days Okay, nice enough. We will do our best to be more regular now we had kind of you know, we took a few weeks, but we're gonna double down now that a lot of the the millhouse stuff is is Kind of coming to wait to see where that goes. Yeah, very excited for that Look for it.

45:10 Remember millhouse the mouse comm and we will we will see you again very very soon Well folks, that's another episode of the gray hair and daycare podcast in the books Thanks very much for tuning in and spending this time with us. We hope it was fun If you enjoyed this week's descent into the madness of dadness be sure to subscribe to the podcast Don't miss any of our future adventures While you're at it, give us a like and share the cast with your friends on Facebook Instagram Twitter carrier pigeon Whatever you crazy kids are using Have any hilarious parenting stories of your own? questions about navigating fatherhood later in life or even when normal people do it email us at ghdc.podcast at gmail.com We'd love to hear from you.

45:58 And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed