Convos With My 2-Year Old Mimics My Life

sophia schoolWhen it comes to life with a two-year-old, you know that you’re going to end up having some insane conversations with them, that make no sense, that make you laugh, and many, MANY times are going to make you laugh until you either A) cry B) pee yourself.

So, you can imagine my delight when I came upon the YouTube channel for Convos With My 2 Year OldContinue reading

When One Becomes Two and Sleep Becomes None

Sophia reading to Maddie while Maddie sleeps.

Sophia reading to Maddie while Maddie sleeps.

The time was 3:01 am this morning and if it weren’t for the extreme exhaustion of the moment, this post would have been written then. This is what was running through my head at the time: “It’s currently 3:01 am, I just finished feeding Maddie and putting her to bed and am now fighting with a half-asleep-I-need-to-sleep-in-your-bed-and-kick-you-over-and-over-in-the-process Sophia and can hear the faint sounds of a breast pump running through the baby monitor.”

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Just Between You and Me: #JBFPhilly Sales Are a Parent Must

The JBF Philly sale at the Greater Reading Expo Center

The JBF Philly sale at the Greater Reading Expo Center.

When it comes to buying clothes, toys, supplies, etc. for your kids, frankly the prices can get out of hand. When it comes to clothes, generally speaking your kids will grow out of them so quickly that you rarely really get your moneys worth with them. Then, what do you once they outgrow those clothes? Donate them? Give them to a friend? Luckily, you have another option when it comes to getting all things kids related. The Just Between Friends Children’s and Maternity Consignment Sales Events! Continue reading

Paddlin’ Madeline Home

Say hello to Madeline Rose!

Say hello to Madeline Rose!

I know, I know, I’ve left you all hanging out to dry, wondering when the new member of the Browne clan made her grand entrance into the world. Officially, Madeline Rose Browne was born on August 21, 2013 at 8:09am, weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz, and measuring 18 inches long.

As you can imagine, things have been a bit hectic around these parts since Maddie arrived. Sleep (what is that, again?!) has been at a minimum for both Sarah and myself. Ok, mostly for Sarah, but I don’t get that much sleep myself, either.

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My Last Post As a Dad of One…

trail hiking

As one of our last moments as a one daughter-daddy duo, we went trail hiking

Times, they are a changin’. At this time tomorrow, I’ll be holding my sweet baby girl for the first time. It’s hard to imagine having a second child, as I’ve said before. But, that doesn’t make it any less real. I couldn’t be any more excited than I am right now, and I know that Sarah feels the same way (well, as much as she can while on bed rest for her final day).

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Bed Rest? More Like BORED Rest!

When it comes to pregnancy, you generally tend to expect the unexpected and really prepare yourself for anything. Things can look great one week, only to take a turn the next. Why this happens, I’ll never know. It’s just the way the body works, I suppose. I’ll never understand it, and I’m quite certain I’ll never experience it with my own body. I’m also fairly certain that I’d be a gigantic baby if I were pregnant. I give an amazing amount of respect and admiration to women for going through it.

We had our second hiccup of Sarah’s pregnancy last week. At her regular check-up for 35 weeks, her blood pressure was elevated and her feet were swelling. For those of you who don’t know, we had Sophia 10 days early when Sarah’s blood pressure went up and it looked like preeclampsia was setting in. Obviously, this was a worry for this pregnancy. So, after being monitored at the doctor’s office for about an hour, we checked Sarah into the maternity ward at the hospital to continue to be monitored. What they found was that her potassium levels were critically low and they needed to do an IV to get the levels up to snuff. So, a one night stay in the hospital was on the books and then when she was released she was given two words you would think would be nice… BED REST. Continue reading

Sleep is for Suckers…

Passed out in our bed, an all-too-common occurrence lately

Passed out in our bed, an all-too-common occurrence lately.

Parents with infants know all too well the fun of sleep training. It can often times be a tedious task to get your baby to sleep through the night, but most times, it works out and your little one gets into a nice pattern of sleep–so do you, as parents. When Sophia was an infant, we were able to sleep train her by eight weeks old, and then we were able to come up with a nice schedule for ourselves, as well. Continue reading

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming…

Waiting patiently for the pool.

Waiting patiently for the pool.

As parents, you usually want to get your kids involved of some sort of activities. When I was a kid, my parents set me up with the usual suspects: soccer, baseball, basketball, cub scouts, and countless others, I’m sure. Which ones stick is an entirely different question. Figuring out which activities you want to try with your kid(s) can be a challenge. We recently decided to get Sophia started on her first–of what I’m sure will be many–activities. Swimming!

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It’s a Girl… AGAIN!

Sophia will soon have a little sister!

Sophia will soon have a little sister!

There comes a time in a father-to-be’s life where he has to face facts, and understand that making remarks stating “I don’t make girls” is never a good idea. Because the time will comes when your pregnant wife will get her ultrasound to find out what the gender of baby number two is, and deep down, you know, it’s going to be a girl, again. That being said, yesterday we had the ultrasound to reveal the gender of Baby Browne #2 and–you guessed it–it’s a girl!

I do have a confession to make. I was hoping for a boy this time around. I was hoping to have one boy and one girl and that would be that. But, God has a way of making you pay for your words and this was his way. I am destined to have a family of nothing but daughters. I’m alright with that. The way I look at it, is now I won’t have to teach a son how to fix things, or tie a tie, or any of the things that fathers are supposed to pass down to a son. And I’m kind of happy about that since I don’t know how to do most of those things. Mr. Fix-It, I am not.

As someone who grew up with two sisters, in addition to my brother, I know what I am in for when the teenage years come around for my two little ladies. So, needless to say, I think Sarah and I are going to be looking for somewhere to lay low for a few years… In all seriousness, I am very excited about what little girl number two is going to bring to our lives. If she is anything like Sophia, I’ll be one happy man. Plus, I know how close two sisters can be, judging from how close my sisters are, as well as how close Sarah and her sister are.

We think we have a name picked out, but we haven’t shared the name with anyone yet. Once we do announce it to family, I’ll be sure to post it on here, or I’ll decide to leave you all in suspense. Depends on how I feel!

One last thing. The original title of this post is what my family will be known as from here on out: Nick and His Merry Band of Women.