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Back to School Season! AKA Nothing Changes Here

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For some reason, we’ve been seeing a ton of back-to-school ads, commercials, and sales already. It’s not even August yet. But, with those commercials, it is clearly a sign that the summer will be winding down in a month. The kids will go back to school, buses will again block me from getting to work on time, and everyone will get a year older. It also means, that outside of the buses stopping every 10-feet to pick up kids for school, my life will not change one bit. Nope, not even a little bit.

http://instagram.com/p/qJsx8MJsr9/?modal=true

As June started up and hit mid-month, many people started talking about school letting out, taking their kids to camp, and heading out for vacation. Some complained about having to find stuff to do with their kids. It’s an outside view of what our life will be like in a few years when Sophia starts school. But, again, currently, the end of summer brings no changes to our lives.

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What Do You Mean My Kids Won’t Be The Same?!

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No dad, we aren't the same.

No dad, we aren’t the same.

You have one kid, go through all the ups and downs in their time as a baby, into toddler-hood, and beyond. They learn at their own pace, as do you. You become accustom to how you did things with them. How they slept. How they ate. How they reacted to being sick. How they interacted. Their general disposition. And in your mind, you think “when we have a second kid, it will be just like this all over again”. Totally logical line of thinking. Wait, what?! Continue reading →

What Time Is It? Tantrum Time

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hair pull out“Oh, you think the twos are bad?! Just wait until they hit three! They’re even worse!” Just wait, they said. It’ll be bad, they said. Who are “they”? Try every parent I ever encountered in the last three years. And ya know what? THEY WERE RIGHT. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells, or through a mine field, at all times. It’s a matter of when not if a tantrum is coming. Because OH IT’S COMING and it’s coming STRONG. You see Al Bundy over there on the right? That’s how I look pretty much at all times when at home. With less hair, because, ya know, balding. Continue reading →

Vacation As A Kid vs. Vacation With Kids

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Vacation on the beach with a kid

Vacation on the beach with a kid.

We’re getting set to embark on our first vacation as a family of four. I’m looking forward to it as much as I’m dreading the fact that I’m gonna need like a week vacation from the vacation to recover. When I was a kid, going on vacation was the best thing ever. I mean, we got to pack in the car, drive to some far away land, and run wild for a week or two. Play on the beach, hike in the mountains, swim in the ocean or a lake. It was paradise.

Now? It takes a week to just prepare to go on vacation for a week. Budgeting our money, planning meals, planning outings, and making sure we have enough room to in the car for the over-packing we’re sure to do. Oh, and of course there’s the packing for ourselves and the kids.

So, with that beings said, I present to you: Ways vacation differs as a kid vs. with kids. Continue reading →

Oh You’re Single Without Kids? Tell Me About How Tired You Are

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As a parent, I have developed many pet-peeves in the last three-plus years. People cursing around my kids, unsolicited parenting advice, and most recently: people with no kids complaining to me about just how tired they are…

I get it, you lead a busy life, you have an active social life. That’s cool. I used to do the same thing as you. Random nights during the week, I would be out at the bars with friends. Or going out to dinner and staying out late. Staying up until 4 am just because I didn’t feel like going to sleep. I made my own sleep schedule and if I was tired, it was typically my own fault. Now? If I get no sleep, which I never do, it isn’t caused by my body not wanting to sleep, or me staying up for no reason. The reason is because I have kids that like to wake up randomly throughout the night, wake up early every morning, sleep in my bed, and a myriad other reasons.
sleepy Continue reading →

No, I Don’t Need To Have A Son

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These girls make me more than happy every day.

These girls make me more than happy every day.

The question comes often. I’ve learned to expect it. I don’t believe we’ll ever stop being asked it and that’s okay. But, I want to throw this answer out there for all future inquiries. What is the question I’m talking about? Simple.

“Are you going to keep trying until you have a boy???”

I can honestly say that my answer is no. Yes, there was a time that I hoped I’d have a son. Most men will tell you that they would love to have a son. I was one of them for quite some time. Who was I going to pass my useless knowledge of sports on to? Who was I going to teach to throw a football, play baseball, and do all the silly and stupid things I’ve learned and done throughout my life?

I’ll tell you who. Sophia and Maddie. Continue reading →

The Moments That Make Me Smile

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Life as a dad has its share of ups and downs. The ups far outweigh the downs and honestly, the downs make those smile-making, laugh-inducing moments all that much better. There have been so many moments, especially recently that I could categorize as my favorite moments as a father that it’s hard to pick just one to talk about. I mean, honestly, the majority of my posts are about those moments. If you want to read about them, I’ve got three-and-a-half years worth of posts for you to read!

Lately, though, it’s the little moments that have brought a smile to my face. Watching Sophia learn and excel at gymnastics on a weekly basis. Watching her go from not knowing how to do a front roll to rolling ALL OVER THE HOUSE brings me immense joy. Watching Maddie learn how to crawl and now move at the speed of light around the house is amazing. I fear that, soon enough, the gates will not be able to hold her back.

http://instagram.com/p/og8LecJsuu/

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Save, Earn, Shop – JBF Oaks and Reading Are Coming

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jbf-logoI’ve written about the Just Between Friends sales in the past, and what I wrote then, still holds true now–especially with the sale at the Oaks Expo Center about to get underway tomorrow. The pre-sale is Wednesday, April 23, while the sale is open to the public from April 24-26. These sales offer parents, grandparents, expecting parents, aunts, uncles, anyone who is looking for goods for children, or parents, an opportunity to find gently used goods at discount prices. Continue reading →

The Online Event to End All Online Events

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attachmentHave you heard of Twitter parties before? If not, for one, you’re missing out, and two, if you want to wet your feet, well, ladies and gentlemen of the parenting and non-parenting community have I got the Twitter party to get you started. But, calling it a Twitter party is underselling what this online event is going to be. Wait a minute, Nick, slow your roll and tell us what you’re talking about. Oh, right, you want details! Have you heard of HowToBeADad.com before? If not, go to them. They’re a couple of awesomely creative and hilarious dads.

They are teaming up with Clorox for the Clorox Ick Awards. To join in on the fun, on Wednesday April 9th from 6pm to 10pm EST/ 3pm to 7pm PST, follow #Ickies on Twitter. What’s going to happen is that you, as the audience will be given an award category or #MessyCategory to inspire messy stories and funny ideas. You’ll tweet them with the category and #Ickies. THEN, an improv video will be made and presented in nearly real time during the Twitter event. Continue reading →

The Incredible Costs of Daycare

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Her laughs and personality are starting to shine through.

Her laughs and personality are starting to shine through.

If you’re anything like my family, you have bills to pay, childcare to pay for, vehicle payments, housing costs, and more money flowing from your wallet every month. For a lot of people, that’s A LOT of money. The same goes for us. We have our fair share of bills and we understand that’s the way the world works. But, I’m going to be honest with you, before we had kids, I never realized just how expensive it was to put your children into daycare. And the costs keep rising. It truly amazed me to learn about the costs. It’s one of the reasons that I decided not to look for a new job when Sophia was born. I had been laid off a month before she was born. And, it made the most sense for me to stay home, rather than spend a big chunk of that income on daycare. Continue reading →