Author: Nick

Nick https://papabrownie.wordpress.com I am first time parent and played the role of SAHD for the first six-months as a parent. From this point forward, I will be known as Papa Brownie.

A Daddy’s Poem

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The birthday surprise poem

I wanted to do something special, something that nobody else could do, for Sophia’s first birthday. I’ve always considered myself somewhat of a poet (go ahead and laugh if you must), and thought one of the best things I could do would be to write Sophia a poem, from me, for her birthday. Yes, I know I wrote a letter from myself and Sarah, already, but this was a surprise from me that nobody, not even Sarah, knew was coming. You can see over there to the right, or above, wherever the picture loaded, what the final, framed piece looks like. I wanted to share it with all of you. Sophia owns my heart like no one else ever has and I wanted to share, what I think, is the greatest piece of writing I could ever pen. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Heartbreaker

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Let me take you back, boys and girls, to a time not that long ago, a time before the words “Daddy” and “Nick” were interchangeable. A time when I fully expected to hear the phrase “you’re having a boy”. Like most guys who find out they’re about to become the father of a

Sophia and Daddy!

girl, I had the same reaction… “Oh, grrrreat. Someone buy me a shotgun so I can prepare myself to scare the boys off when she gets older.” So, yes, I had the typical reaction. Fast-forward to 13-plus months of having a daughter and, yes, I’m still fairly certain that I’m going to be scaring boys off in the not too distant future. But, I’m also pretty positive that based on recent events, Sophia is gonna be able to hold her own when it comes to boys. Continue reading →

A Letter from Mommy & Daddy for Your 1st Birthday, Sophia

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Sophia's first birthday

Happy birthday, Boo Boo

Dear Sophia,

What an amazing first year you have had! From your unexpected early arrival, to the many, many, many, MANY sleepless nights, to your many firsts we witnessed. You changed our lives from the moment we found out Mommy was pregnant.

Tears of joy streamed down our faces when you were born. Seeing you for the first time was the most incredible feeling we have ever felt in our lives. You showed us a new level of love that we didn’t know was possible. To say you are the best thing that has ever happened to us, is an understatement. Continue reading →

Nonsense Poopy Pants!

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Before I jump into this enthralling, harrowing, and hero-building story, I will warn you: It involves poop. Lots and lots of poop. There will be other stuff too, so don’t leave. Stay. STAY! I said STAY HERE! That being said, time to dive right in.

As the parent of a baby, certain things are inevitable – crying, sleepless nights, throwing up, poopy pants – but enough about me! Joking aside (which clearly is something I know nothing about), you know when you become a parent to expect messes everywhere, anywhere, at any time, day or night. Babies don’t know they shouldn’t spit up all over your suit before a wedding, they don’t know they aren’t supposed to poop through their clothes. And why would they, THEY’RE BABIES! Needless to say, I’ve grown very accustom to quick wardrobe changes for Sophia when we are out in public thanks to those messes. At home, it isn’t nearly as difficult to get those messes and wardrobe changes taken care of quickly. This story involves just such a public mess and wardrobe change, unfortunately, Sophia wasn’t the only one in need of new clothes.

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Up, Up and AWAY!

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It’s really hard to believe that Sophia just hit 8-months last week. Time has been flying by since she was born. It’s amazing to see her learning new things every day and then applying them, over and over and over. First with rolling over for the first time, beginning to pick things up and play with toys and of course, crawling. I knew once she started crawling that everything would be different. No more leaving her on the floor in the living room while I ran into the kitchen for a drink. Now if I do that, she scoots to the other side of the room or chases me down in the kitchen in about 2.3 seconds.

I was expecting her to crawl for a while before she started trying to stand or walk. Boy was I in for a surprise! After crawling for only a week or two, Sophia dropped a bomb on me while I was home and Sarah was at work. I had laid her down in her pack and play to let her play with her toys while I did some things on the computer. Not even two minutes later, I look up and see her little, tiny head popping up over the railing to her pack and play. There she was, holding on tight to the railing, while struggling to pull herself to her feet. The stand only last a few seconds, but I couldn’t have been more shocked! Continue reading →

The Spit-Up Conundrum

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Babies. Spit-up. Babies and spit-up. The two go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you’ve met a baby that hasn’t or doesn’t spit-up, I’d love to meet them because they are about as real as a flying horse. I knew coming into parenthood that I would be dealing with spit-up regularly. I didn’t realize, however, just how often that meant. I thought, what’s a little spit-up after a bottle and burping? That isn’t so bad. Boy was I wrong.

It really is a constant guessing game of “is now safe to remove her bib?” And, let’s be honest, more often than not, it was never a safe time to take the bib off. Most times, not even a minute after we would take her bib off, Sophia would surely spew some more spit-up out of her mouth and onto her clothes, all over her hands, and of course, all over me or Sarah.
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Dad Reflections

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It really is hard to believe, but it’s already been 4 months since Sophia graced us with her arrival. To say it has been a whirlwind 4 months would be an understatement. From the sleepless nights the first couple months home, to now seeing her personality start to come out, it has been amazing.

Going into Sarah’s pregnancy I was so scared, nervous and excited all at the same time. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but what I did know was that my life would be changing forever. One of the funniest things that happened during Sarah’s pregnancy, aside from her pregnancy brain and pregnancy clumsiness… was the debate about what we’d be having, a boy or a girl. Naturally, as a man, I said we’d have a boy. Because, ya know, I gotta have someone to carry on my name and um, legacy?? The week we announced the news to our families we were away on vacation with Sarah’s family. While going back and forth on boy or girl I made a declarative statement that I can never take back and will forever live on in the form of a video on Sarah’s old phone. “We’re having a boy,” I stated. “I don’t make girls…” Yeah, I was THAT guy! When we found out we’d be having a girl at the 20-week ultrasound, that statement was thrown back in my face immediately. I’m sure that statement will one day make it to Sophia with her asking “What, Daddy, you didn’t want me to be a girl??” Followed by sad eyes… I’ll then have to tell her it was all a joke and that of course I wanted her and wanted her to be a girl. Pretty easy, right? On second thought, maybe I should find Sarah’s old phone and burn it AND the video proof… Continue reading →

The Firsts

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As a new dad, I knew that I would be seeing my fair share of firsts when it came to Sophia. The obvious ones like first words, first steps and first day of school are still a ways away, or so I think (I’m sure they’ll get here faster than I think, just like the other firsts). I’m not talking just about the first time my daughter does certain things, I’m including my firsts as a parent, as well. All those fun things, like first time changing the nastiest poopy diaper of all time. The first time we had to scrub her clothes down, and of course hose her down, after one of her massive poopsplosians shot up her back and through her onesie. In Sophia’s first three-plus months since being born, Sarah and I have seen so many things that have left us in awe, it absolutely amazes me. Continue reading →

The Early Arrival

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Sophia Marie Browne, born Feb. 24, 2011.

Now that the end of March is here and I can now consider myself a “veteran parent” of a month, it seems a good time to start updating this site again. I was all set and ready to write a post in late February about nesting. Not that Sarah was nesting as normal pregnant women do, but in her own, very special way. That is, making a list of things to do and handing it to me… Well, that intent came and went REAL quick on February 21. That’s the night our lives went from “preparing for two more weeks until our daughter arrives” to “well, guess our little lady is tired of waiting to come out and say hello!” Continue reading →

The Not So Short Introduction

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Hello all! Times being what they are these days, many dads are living the life as a stay at home dad mom or “Mr. Mom”. As it stands now, with my wife, Sarah, due anytime in the next three weeks with our first child, a girl, it looks as though I’ll be the one staying home with baby and teaching her all the great things I learned as a kid. That is, once Sarah returns to work from maternity leave.

That being said, let’s jump right in to where we sit right now. Sarah is 37 weeks pregnant, the house is an ever-changing mess of new baby clothes, toys, car seats, diapers and everything else under the sun the baby gadget engineers have come up with. Take one step into a Babies r’us and you’ll know you’re in for a long day of shopping, staring blankly at shelves with things you didn’t even know you needed and, of course, avoiding being run over by the thousands of other newly crowned mothers-to-be or brand new mama’s with baby strapped to their chest.

When we first found out Sarah was pregnant and we would be parents, the first thought that flashed through my head was “awesome, I’m gonna be a dad!” Quickly followed by “Wait, WHAT?!!?” I had no idea what I was in store for or what the last nine months would entail. Of course, we ventured out to Babies r’us to register for “everything we need”, because, of course we knew exactly what we needed.

I’m not lying when I tell you, I’e never been more intimidated in my life than when we walked into the store to register. When I think of registering, I think of registering for our wedding, which was fun. “Hey, look a giant flat screen TV, don’t mind if I do!” “Oh, you mean someone is going to consider buying us this great wrap around couch? Well, add that to the list!” Yeah… registering for baby things does not equal the experience of running around and scanning anything and everything for a wedding. So after approximately 63 hours of scouring, searching and scanning, we left the store thinking we were set. Yeah, like there was a chance of that! We’ve since been back and forth at least 38,000 times adding, subtracting, adding, doing long division and adding some more things. Thankfully, after our baby shower and the approximate 49,362 bags and boxes of baby gifts later, it appears the never-ending trips to the baby store are over. Right?? I’m pretty sure I’m wrong on that one, but I’ll wait til Sarah tells me I’m wrong. Which should be as soon as I publish this post…

Let’s fast forward to today. Driving to Sarah’s parents for dinner with her brother, Sarah says to me, “I’m pretty sure Braxton Hicks contractions aren’t supposed to last all day…” I’m sorry, you said what now?! Knowing that my 37-week pregnant wife is now considered full-term and being told by the doctors last week that the baby had dropped into torpedo position, the first thought that popped into my head was CALL THE DOCTOR!!

As is turns out, it is not yet time for the baby currently known as Baby Browne to come popping out to say “Hello World!” I can only imagine that the time is coming and sooner than the March 6 due date we have been planning our lives around…