parenthood

Which is Best For You? Stay-at-Home Parent vs Working Parent

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Sophia more than two years ago, while I was a stay-at-home dad

Sophia more than three years ago, while I was a stay-at-home dad.

Jan 14th, 2011: The day I lost my previous job.

February 24th, 2011: The day Sophia was born. Also the day I became a stay-at-home dad.

The topic of stay-at-home parenting can be a hot-button issue. I realize that. Frankly, I don’t understand why it’s really anybody else’s business if you decide to stay at home and raise your kids or if you decide to work. I’ve seen this more between moms than between dads, but it can be downright brutal. Really, I just want discussion, respectful, of course, about the topic. 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 →

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 →

It’s a Girl… AGAIN!

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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.

To Find Out Or Not… That Is The Question

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One of our belly bump shots from the first time around with Sophia

One of our belly bump shots from the first time around with Sophia

One of the first questions expecting parents get asked, aside from the due date, is “are you going to find out the sex??”. It’s an interesting debate, both for the to-be parents, as well as for family members, friends, and those random belly-touching-strangers-you-meet-on-the-street (Sarah doesn’t understand why they keep touching MY belly). When we had Sophia, we found out what we were having. We found out, but only told our immediate family members what we were having. It came out at the baby shower that we were having a girl, but at that point, we were so close to the due date that we didn’t mind our cover being blown. Well we didn’t mind THAT much… Continue reading →