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Posts Tagged ‘new baby’
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Soccer Practice Does Not a Date Night Make
By Daddy Brad Thursday, August 11th, 2011
As I sat in traffic the other day in the midst of another long car pool commute my mind drifted to a wilder time. I think it was the Wayback Wednesday tunes cranking out of the stereo that harkened me back to days of free-time frivolity. I began to wax longingly for the schedule of our childless years. The days began early with coffee and a leisurely read of the paper followed by a big breakfast of high fat content chicken and pork products ( my changed eating habits have nothing to do with kids and a lack of free time, it’s just nice to remember a pre 40’s waist line and metabolism). With the morning paper and triple omelet properly digested, it was off to work.
The pre child work day was somewhat similar to post child work day except that the unexpected call you received was usually from a buddy wanting to cut out early to grab an afternoon round of golf rather than your son’s pre school teacher telling you to immediately come pick him up because he spiked a 102 fever and just threw up goldfish all over the story mat.
100 Faces of Fall
By Daddy Brad Friday, October 9th, 2009
Transition is always difficult, but none more so than the transition from summer vacation to the start of school. Indeed, this autumnal change over was no cakewalk for our family given the exciting summer we experienced. A brand new baby joined our family! With the new little dude around Walker and Ella’s end of summer adjustment wasn’t solely an earlier wake up and go to bed time, but more importantly learning to share Mom and Dad’s time with their new little brother.
Thanks to the lazy summer schedule, Mom and I were able to spend quite a bit of one on one time with each of the older siblings in between diaper changes and colic soothing. In fact, an entire evening each week was dedicated to pursuing an activity of their choosing. Walker and I played lots of putt-putt, pitched washers and visited costume stores, while Ella’s sole request was to grab a Churro at Costco and then feed the ducks at the park.
But now that school has begun, our time is tight. The lazy exploits of summer seem like a distant memory. The long days at the pool, vacations to interesting places and stay up late movie watching/ice cream parties, have given way to homework, soccer practice and early bedtimes. Even though we try to take several interesting family outings during the school year, like a quick muddy trip to the Austin City Limits Music fest, most of our time together as a family is spent at practices, carpool and around the dinner table. My question is, given this frantic pace will we remember any of the details of these hectic, yet precious years? We won.
28 Days and Counting
By Daddy Brad Monday, August 10th, 2009
Dominating the news last week were critiques from both side’s of the political aisle, analyzing the first 200 days of President Obama’s Administration with regard to health care, the economy and foreign policy. As is usually the case with political analysis, the grade the Commander In Chief received was more dependent upon which side of the aisle the pundit represented, rather than an actual review of quantifiable measurements. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a comprehensive list of objective measurements that we as citizens could review and then draw individual conclusions as to the state of our Union?
In the spirit of bi-partisan politics, I am providing a list of objective measurements from the first 28 days of my son’s life so that you may decide how things are going in our family.
Diapers changed: 392
# of blowout diapers (up the back): 27
Wet wipes used: 1176
Tubes of butt pasted spread: 3
Ounces of breast milk expressed: 576
Weight gained by baby: 2 lbs. 6 oz.
Hours accumulated in Daddy Brad’s sleep deficit log: 112 hrs.
# of baby toots louder than mine: 35
Irritable comments made to friends, family and co-workers due to sleep deprivation: 35
# of times the 3 year old sister drew on baby brother’s head with ball point pen: 1
Amount saved for college fund: $16
# of deep knee bends done to soothe late night crying: 25,478
Meals delivered and/or prepared by family and friends: 42
Moments of gratitude for having a healthy baby boy: 2,419,200
Regression Analysis
By Daddy Brad Monday, July 27th, 2009
Change is rough. Whether it is an upset to the daily routine, a sudden change in your economic fortunes, or any other shift in a life variable that significantly alters your day-to-day existence, successfully adapting takes work. So it is no wonder that when a major event, like welcoming a new sibling into your world occurs, there is some push back from all members of the family.
My two kids have graciously accepted their brand new baby brother into our home with commendable generosity and a normal dose of regressive behavior.
The eldest boy is doing fine with the addition, but I have noticed he is very protective of his alone time with me and he occasionally pushes the behavior envelope a little more than usual. Our three year-old daughter is struggling a tad more than her older brother but not much. To her regression repertoire she has added extreme clinginess while trying to go to sleep, as well as the occasional, premeditated potty accident. While these behaviors have added a few more minutes to the bedtime routine and increased the need to do laundry, they fall well within the normal range of “there’s a new baby in the house and I am going to show out” syndrome.
Regression of the canine persuasion is also occurring. Our good dog Camp is backsliding in the potty training department. He casually leaves a little present next to the front door, just to remind me that dogs are still man’s best friend and they don’t wear diapers, which gives me an idea.
