Old Viewing Habits

There was a time when Babygirl was labeled "failure to thrive." Basically she had fallen of the growth curve shortly after she turned 1 year old. Obviously things like this happen all the time, especially when an infant gives up the mama milk, and then starts walking. We're talking about an increase in physical activity and calories burned, as well as the switch from the magical nutritional wonders of breast milk to formula(despite technology, formula companies continue to refine their recipe to better mimic everything that breast milk contains).

Prior to the official label of "failure to thrive," everything was tried to increase caloric intake, pediatrician asked us to double up the butter on toast, add oil to everything, etc. Needless to say, Babydaddy got good at sneaking in olive oil into all sorts of meals. Like anyone who's trying to put on weight, it's not necessarily just eating high calorie foods, but also increasing the frequency of eating such things too, which is not easy to convey to a verbally limited infant.

Naturally the one way that babymama and Babydaddy could keep food in front of babygirl long enough, was the introduction of watching TV while eating. If it were not for TV, meal times would be over in less than 5mins. Thus at an early age the idea of watching something and eating became synonymous.

Clearly Babygirl is way beyond the "failure to thrive" label(thank you PediaSure, the official weight gainer/protein shake for babies), but the habit of staring at a screen and putting food to mouth still continues. Naturally babyboy has taken to watching and eating as something normal.

America, it's embarassing as parents to admit that our children are not likely to eat as well if there is not a TV, but it ain't easy to break either, but we're working on it.

At the end of the day, Babygirl and Babyboy are healthy and thriving. Parenting is not always cookie cutter neat and proper, and sometimes we just have to do what we gotta do, and not worry what other parents might be thinking or saying.

 

Babygirl thriving and winning!

Babyboy thriving and not looking too shabby!

Creative Daddies

How could Babydaddy not share this with everyone?

Just wanna give a shout out to all the daddies out there, 

keepin it real and holdin it down- parenting ain't easy!

*know any other dad's that need shout outs for their superhuman efforts? 

let me know, love to spotlight them.

 

So You Think My Child. . .

It never fails when ever someone meets the family for the first time, they always want to compare the face of the child and match it up to a parent. Babymama and Babydaddy have gotten every combination of who looks like who. We do agree that Babyboy is ours, and he is without a doubt a biological sister to Babygirl, but we agree he looks "Serbian" or Eastern Bloc European.

Then there's always that person who wants to compare your child to a fake baby, fake as in not real, or simply created in a Pixar lab. No, people don't think Babyboy looks like the toy baby from Toy Story, but rather Jack Jack from the Incredibles.


At first Babymama and Babydaddy used to think this was funny and it was a clever compliment. Finally Babydaddy decided to refresh his memory of what exactly Jack Jack looks like.


C'mon. Really, he looks like Jack Jack! -because he has a big round head? Maybe similar ears that jut out? He doesn't even rock the faux hawk often either, nor does he turn into a flaming baby when  he's angry. He can be a ball of energy like all 2y/o but no babysitter has refused to come back to watch him.

So let this be a lesson to all of you parents out there, when your child is compared to a fictional child, it can't be a good thing. And if an acquaintance states that your son reminds them of a Pixar kid, it can't be a good thing.
Take a look.

These kids look great as characters, but really would you like to be the parent of child that looks like this? They look cute or funny on screen with their disproportional body parts and sizes, but in real life probably not so cute, just sayin' nothing against Pixar.


What unfavorable character has your child been compared to?

Its Easy to Go Overboard. . .

-with the goodie bags at a birthday party

-with one's excitement watching a vaginal or Cesarean delivery

-with doing so much that you've literally fallen over and sinking in (mess, illness, emotional paralysis, etc.)

-or simply enjoying the summer like Babydaddy has been doing this summer(the benefits of being your own boss, as well as working in an a field that has a seasonal slowdown).

Clearly this *dad went overboard in excitement, TMI, bodily fluids, etc. Dad's it's easy to geek out in the joys of fatherhood, but some are best not sharing with others.

Summer Pics

*yes i realize that this is purely fiction but there's some babydaddy's or babymama's who can come pretty close to the level of full disclosure, TMI, etc. just try not to be one of them :)

760ish and Counting: A Look Backwards

Wow, did not know it's been 3 months since Babydaddy's last threw up a post. Go figure Babydaddy has been more productive with his business blog, so naturally the dad blog has gone by the way side. Well 3 months have gone by and Babyboy is now 2 years old, like he was born in 2010.


As Babydaddy reflects back on the past 760ish days, it almost seems like the amount of life events covered like 1400 days. Here's a crude snap shot of 2 years:

May 2010- BabyBoy was born almost 2 weeks past due in family tradition of emergency c-section

July 2010- Babydaddy gets hit up w/pneumonia for a the 2nd time in his life

Fall 2010- brought on some of the most difficult and stressful challenges at work

Nov 2010- we find Babymama got the FT teaching job, and we'll be moving to TN in the summer, so she cab start teaching in the fall.

Jan 2011- Babyboy started wearing a helmet to reshape his head (unsure of exact start date) Prior to meeting with specialist on head shapes and doctor who invented the helmet, Babyboy also had trips to see a urologist and dermatologist(all for precautionary reasons, and hypervigilant pediatrician)

Jan 2011- Babyboy takes a trip to CA with family, Babyboy gets to dip his toes in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in less than a year, what took Babymama until adulthood to achieve

Feb-April 2011- Babydaddy spent much time and money trying to keep greenbus(our beloved green CR-V) alive

April 2011- Family forced to buy new car, as greenbus is headed for the scrap yard

May 2011- Babyboy no longer has to wear a helmet, and turns 1 years old.

May-June 2011- purging, packing, cleaning, rinse, repeat.

June 2011- we move away from a city that Babymama and Babydaddy arrived in 10 years prior as single, young kids, and left as a married couple with 2 kids. We leave our condo(1st home) vacant with no tenants moving despite valiant efforts to find someone.

July 2011- arrive in our new home after traveling and visiting w/friends and family(in MA, NY, PA, OH, and MI) for the past 2.5weeks.

Aug 2011- the hottest and driest summer in TN history= 5th ring of Dante's Inferno for us northerners. leaves were turning brown and falling by the end of the month.

Sept 2011- tenants move into our condo, babydaddy started teaching, babymama started teaching, babygirl started montessori pre-k, babyboy started to hang out with babydaddy more, babydaddy started paying rent on his own office space.

Dec 2011- finish paying off repair costs for greenbus which we hadn't owned for past 8 months.

Jan 2012- with help of County Sheriff's office we evicted our tenants

Feb 2012- our condo is listed for sale, well below the price we paid for

May 2012- Babymama participates in her 2nd graduation as a faculty member, and completes/survives her 1st year of FT teaching. Babygirl completes her 1st year of pre K. Babydaddy actually has busy days at the office, and Babyboy excited to make it to 2 years old and looking fwd to full summer with his whole family.

On a a side note:
In 2 years Babyboy has taken trips to CA, NC, FL, OH, MI, NY, RI, IL, and PA, and has lived in MA and TN. Also accompanied Babymama to 2 family funerals


Along with the many 1sts that come within the first 2 years of life(scoot crawling, standing, walking, talking, etc.), Babyboy had no trips to ER(thankfully), and has had 4 different regular nanny/babysitters/child care providers.

It's been a busy 2 years of growing for Babyboy, but so much more was happening around him as well.

birth-24months in 3 month intervals

Child Care

The stress of finding a regular sitter or nanny to watch the kids either for occasional outings or longer term, regularly scheduled work days can be stressful. There's always the balance of experience vs. cost, and of course the #1 issue is do you trust that this person will take care, or take better care of my child than I would?

While the kids may watch TV and play computer games when Babydaddy's home, the expectations is that paid help would watch, care, entertain and not be juggling their email, phone calls, etc. like most dual role parents.

I found this article interesting, of course all things about life in NYC is fascinating and expensive, but when the nanny is well compensated and getting paid more than most doctors, it really becomes an interesting read.

It also makes you wonder as a parent if resources and money was not a barrier, what is excessive and how much is too much? Obviously for some families, they have found that magical Mary Poppins like professional who will do more than just make medicines go down, and teach you how to sing songs.


In our new home, babydaddy has seen the stay at home woman that loves homeschool and juggling the household, to families that have regular hired help, and then there's people like babydaddy that calls on people associated with the university to help out on semi regularly scheduled days.

Where's the balance, what is optimal, what's best for little Jack and Jill, hopefuly mommy and daddy know best and are making good informed decisions about their children and family, no judgements from this Babydaddy- parenting and life ain't easy(and it's hardly ever black or white).

Word-a-palooza

Babyboy is still a baby, but slowly approaching toddlerhood as he's now 21months! The most exciting milestone is the verbalization of words, and it's been coming in bunches. Here's just a list that babydaddy could come up with on the fly.

higha- which is is way of saying "push me harder" on the swing, cuz I like to go "higher"

cand- somehow he knows where all the "candy" is, sometimes he asks for it 1st thing in the AM

bahy- "bye" one of his fav words to say when leaving or seeing others leave

truck- he's a boy, he loves his trucks of all kinds

agua- water in espanol, it's just easier to say than water

pease- "please" usually combined with candy, or some other treat

nana- "banana" may eat 2 a day, every day if he could

choo choo- "trains" living in the 'nooga, there's plenty of them to see

Thomas- as in Thomas the Tank Engine or Thomas and Friends

bow wow- "dog"

quack- it's what ducks "say"

up- when he wants to be picked up

down- likes to get "down" from high chair or swing

mama- babymama of course

dada- babydaddy

Chuck- ask in "Chuck the Truck," Tonka's new way of appealing to kids

barn- "Barney" the purple dino

cross-as in "Red Cross" apparently I have a lot of shirts with crosses from year of donating platelettes

ta- as in "Tawsha" his fav lady at the gym child care room

choc- "chocolate" definitely has a sweet tooth

poop- is "poop"

wow- is "wow" when something is new, big, grand, etc.

uh oh- typically when he drops/breaks something

clock- "clock"


responds to more than single word commands/requests- babydaddy once asked him to go put his socks by the laundry room, he knew what to do, pretty impressive.

recognize letters- just started showing an interest in letters, unfortunately he thinks everything is the letter "H"


If you made it this far, wow, sorry for the boring post that's more for babydaddy than for anyone else, but kuddos if you found it all very interesting. On that note, all children develop at their own pace, here's what babygirl was saying/doing at 18months.

4 Years Ago Today

This blog was started 4 years ago today. Why? Well, with the intent to chronicle this dad's journey into fatherhood. Like many things, when re-visiting the past, we encounter embarrassing things, etc

Reading back the tone, the grammar mistakes of Babydaddy's 1st couple of post are embarrassing and interesting. Nonetheless, 4 years ago it all started here, take a look at how far we've grown.

Why Would You Be On Call?!?

"Why Are You On the Computer?"

I turned around one evening, and found Babygirl having literally

crawled out of her bed to sneak up on Babydaddy

 

Babydaddy is still living the dream of becoming a prolific blogger, 

and a dad with a bounty of knowledge.

Yeah for Dads!

Babydaddy has noticed a lot of stuff out there on stay at home dads, and articles about dad's being more that just the bread winner in a family. Perhaps it has to do with the economy, perhaps society is growing and stretching the idea of parenting.

So here's a couple of links.

Depressed Father's Put Their Children at Risk of course when mommy or daddy is not doing well, it typically means it's not good for the children as well, but there was some new and interesting stuff in this article.

Fathermuckers this is proposed new name for dad's that stay at home with kid(s), as well as the title of a new book coming out soon. What name/term do/would you prefer?

Developing Mad Skills, yo!

Fatherhood presents many challenges, but also many opportunities to learn.

Here's some of Babydaddy's growing skill set(in no particular order):
-making up creative names for foods(daddy cheesy bread, not to be mistaken with "cheesy bread" or Texas Toast, red worm pasta, etc.)
-aspirating boogies from noses(if only this was a marketable skill or a skill that could be monetized, the kids would be paying cash for college)
-holding a child and doing a chore or simply going to the bathroom
-finding that inanimate object that's going to entertain for the next 5 mins
-clipping nails or as Babymama likes to call it "dad-icures"
-doing things over and over and not getting sick of it(listening or singing the same songs, or reading books)
-foraging(not plated) for snacks that the kids left behind for Babydaddy

what skills have you developed or working on?

Home is NOT Where the Heart Is!

Yes you read that right, Babydaddy is going all 90's angsty grundge on ya!

Babymama had asked Babydaddy if he was looking fwd to the annual holiday trip back to our childhood homes to visit with family, and he replied yes and no. He knew it would be different with 2 active kids this year, and having to supervise and plan for activities would hardly be the vacation that they used to take. Prior to kids it used to be about staying out late, sleeping in, and eating good ol' fashion mama's cooking.

Holiday trip 2011 was epic, not because the kids were one again spoiled rotten in love and attention only grandparents (six total!) can give or gifts made in China. 10 days away from our home resulted in 10 nights of interrupted/disturbed sleep.



Interrupted/disturbed sleep can look like any of the following:
-nearly 4y/o Babygirl who always end up btwn Babymama and Babydaddy during the middle of the night
-Babygirl may sleep sideways, upside down, kick covers off, or may slap or kick one's face.
-Babygirl also may bring in any one of her stuffed animals, which only adds to the crowded bed effect
-Babyboy simply may just decide to wake up every 2-3hrs, which will inevitably lead to him in btwn Babymama and Babydaddy in the same bed.
-Babyboy may roll, twist, and turn in bed as well, which is a surprise and safety concern.
-Babyboy and Babygirl ending up in the same queen size bed at Babymama and Babydaddy, leading to Babydaddy having to sleep all contorted, or Babymama seeking respite on the living room couch.
-Babyboy and Babygirl would also end up falling asleep many hours beyond their typical bedtime at home.






All these disruptions and interruptions would lead to feeling exhausted come morning time, it would also lead to totally whacked out dreams loosely based on current events and reality. Naturally it leads to diminished immune system, and leads to getting sick. Such as the both kids getting the sniffles and runny noses, and Babymama fighting a mild cold, which naturally Babydaddy catches at the tail end of the trip.

So that old Americana saying "Home is Where the Heart is" is totally false. I would like to officially change that saying to, Home is Where One's Own Bed is Located. Whatever your bed may be, there's nothing quite like returning home and resting your head on your very own pillow and bed.

Hoping that 2012 is full of sleeping in your own bed!