We just finished with another one of them ourselves. Un. Fun.

So when does my boy get to go on his first date with your daughter, btw? :)

Date? We're already taking offers of dowry from numerous suiters. Show us whatcha got and we'll take you into consideration. ;)

Ahem, the woman's family provides the dowry, thank you very much!

What do YOU have!

Does growing debt count? You can have it!

Well shit. Guess I'm gonna have to shop elsewhere for a proper dowry.

My younger daughter turns five tomorrow. Yep. Five years...five wonderful, awesome, terrifying, stupefying, maddening, frustrating, engrossing, heavenly, hellish, loving, and spectacular years.

Between her and her sister, I'd say a fair rubric is I've aged a year for every one of theirs, so really I'm not 35, I'm 47. :D

Still trying to figure out when Ashley is either hungry or sleepy. Learned the hard way that last night, she was just sleepy.

leaving kids for 1 week for the first time as a couple... we shall see how relaxing it is

Ashley Skye, two months old today. The longest two months of my life, yet time seems to fly by so fast.

Something I guess only a parent would understand.

Just kill me now. At a touch under 3 months, we're pretty sure he's started teething.

Great... something else to look forward to.

Meanwhile, I took mine to get her first round of vaccines yesterday. And I thought I had heard the worst of her screams.

I wouldn't worry too much - this is supposedly rather on the early side for it to start. Of course, we're both pretty burnt the hell out right now, so it's just one of those 'good lord, what else' things.

Ugh. Just got into a tiff with the wife. See above burned out status, I'm pissy and feeling like I'm trying to do every damn thing in the house (and the house is winning), and it's been seriously rough with that AND the fact she hasn't been home till late for like, the last 2 weeks (I also get the joy of taking the boy to and from my folks house en route to work every day).

Of course, when I dared voice some frustration when I'm trying to figure out what I should make for dinner, clusterfuck ensued, now we're all tired AND irritated at one another.

I need beer.

The house always wins. Ours came to a point where we just decided to pick up the local pennysaver and hire a housekeeper for the day. Best $70 I spent.

Also, sounds like one or both of you need a break. It's Friday. Leave him at the grandparents' house a bit longer and make it a short date night. Just last night the Mrs and I had an early dinner out before we picked up my daughter.

Just a little taste of what used to be.

Good luck.

Dinners are hard before the baby starts sleeping through the night. Anything that requires more than .054% of your brain capacity to construct is because you are operating on such a reduced capacity from sleep deprivation.

My wife is the head chef in the house, and her advice is to 1) pare down your menu to what you can produce in your sleep; 2) leftovers are your best friend; and, 3) when in doubt, order out.

My advice (and not just in these circumstances) is to be sure not to go to bed angry with each other. Sleep is such a precious commodity that you don't want to waste even 30 seconds of it ruminating about your frustration with your wife.

Yup. After numerous fights between the Mrs and myself about who was responsible for keeping which part of the house clean we decided to go ahead and spend $120/month and hire a maid service. It's the best money we've ever spent...

Ashley has picked up a cold from daycare. Stuffy nose and coughing is leading to gagging and spitting up her formula. :(

My oldest ships off to Knox College at the end of the summer. He is 18 and done with his first two years of college locally. This will be the first time he is away for an extended period of time (only 2.5 hours away) which is really going to be weird to say the least.

Heh. I can get him in good with campus security if you'd like. One of my oldest friends works security there.

edit: Or I can arrange a damn good practical joke in on him, if you'd like. :)

An old girlfriend of mine went to Knox for her undergrad...

You absolutely need to do this...the latter. :D

picsplzkthnx

He will absolutely do it, too. I just need a name and permission. :)

permission schmission. You just need a name!

If you're a parent with a young child, you really owe it to yourself to go to Audible.com and download the free children's book Go the fuck to sleep narrated by Samuel L Jackson. Hilarious and what I've thought to myself numerous times.

I saw the story in the Post when this book came out and got a good laugh about that. Adding Samuel L. is priceless.

Alright, so this thread needs a good bump.

So a little while back we had some people over to the house, parents and kids. And one family ended up spending the night with us. That family happens to have a girl who is the same age as my middle son (they are both in 3rd grade.) I also have a son who is in 2nd. So the three of them ended up crashing on a pull out that we have.

FF to this week. My youngest says to my wife, "When is she going to come have another sleep over? We really liked sleeping with her."

.......and so it begins.

Anyone have any advice for when a Cialis ad comes on with your kid watching? My son Drew (4th grader) has been watching the NLCS with me and damned if I know what to say when that stuff pops up.




Pun intended...

Does he ask about it?

Enjoyable day to be a parent today.

Learned a few hours ago that Will has advanced to the next round of all-state band auditions, following today's district level auditions. I have a rather skilled 13 y/o tuba player apparently.

At least 9 months worth of work into that (and a full year of kicking himself for a sub-par audition last year). It's this competition that kept him interested in band despite a really really weak music program at school (required to be an active school band member to compete). It's a tribute to him, to his mother for keeping him on track & hauling him to lessons an hour away regularly, and to an awesome private instructor who is a band director
at another school but teaches a couple of kids on the side (tuba specialist).

Funny thing is that he kicked himself even worse today, completely convinced that he'd completely blown today's as well ("I sucked even worse than last year"). I don't think he was as miserable as he was after last year's disappointment but he was really mad at himself for "letting the judges get in my head" after he overheard some not-so-whispered comments between them during his performance. As it turns out "he's much better lyrically than on his scales" must have been praise for his etude rather than criticism of his scales. But it was in his head so much that he felt like he completely blew the sight reading portion.

Granted, he kind of squeaked into the next round. Scored a 73, cutoff for the next round was a 70, but this is very much a "survive and advance" kind of thing. He could have had a 99 today & it wouldn't have helped him in the next round,everything resets.

Now, down Perry, GA & the final auditions in early January, with a very short time days to learn a more difficult piece. Plus his first ever experience with true "finals" coming up week after next right in the middle of it all.

You can tell 'em all you want, you can believe they get it, but as a parent it's great to see life reinforce the connection between effort & success. I can't take a bit of credit for this success, but I'm awfully happy he gets to enjoy it.

Use a browser with ad-blocking plugins.

Diarrhea and a really nasty diaper rash because of the aforementioned does not a happy baby make.

Cold and flu season here. Runny nose, coughing, high fever, then vomiting led us right to the ER.

Some wet towels and a Tylenol suppository later, we were back home in an hour.

Heh. Nasssty stomach bug going around that got our boy (note the aforementioned diarrhea). Took out our entire daycare's staff, to where she had to close for the first time in 8 years.

Ever since Ashley learned to pick up things with her hands, she doesn't want to be spoon fed anymore and only wants finger foods that she can feed herself. I now have to distract her with a toy she can hold so I can feed her.

Any other tricks I can use here?

That's kind of a stage of independence most of them go through, best I can tell. I don't recall it being a big problem with our son, but I watched my wife's cousin deal with it a couple of week's ago with her infant twins. She gave them something that's finger food to mess with along with whatever you're trying to feed them. Makes a helluva mess but she did manage to get a reasonable amount of food down them amidst them distracting themselves/satisfying the urge to be DIY feeders.

How old is she? Is she still nursing? It seems eons ago now, but I think I didn't owrry too much about how much food they were actually getting in their mouth at that stage because my boys were nursing still, so the solid stuff was just extra. I would think letting her cram stuff on her face while you spoon feed her might work.

She's 9 months old. Started her on solids (rice cereal to start) at 6 months while continuing with the bottle. By 8 months or so, we started steaming our own veggies and blending them and reducing the bottle intake. Lately she's been pretty good at using her fingers to pick up stuff, and we give her snacks such as pieces of bread or cheerios. She's still on formula, so I'm not too worried about underfeeding her. But god... she pushes away the spoon like it's radioactive.

Yeah I think we just didn't sweat the spoon stuff at that stage. Let her stuff her face with Cheerios and enjoy the moment to stuff some face in your mouth. But also, maybe giving her the finger food or a toy and then slipping the spoon in when you can.

I guess this is why they invented the "here comes the plane" game to maybe catch her attention and interest.

So Friday we had my 9 y.o.'s (he turns 10 in a week) birthday party at an ice rink. Everything is fine, kids get a free skating lesson and kids are having loads of fun. My wife and I talk to our BIL and SIL to discuss Christmas and other family birthdays coming up. Suddenly our 9 y.o. decides that it would be great to grab our younger son's hoodie as he is skating by. Needless to say, we wound up at the Minor Med about 45 mins. later.

I don't understand how he thought this would be funny...

Anyone have tips on surviving a five-hour plane flight with an active 19-month-old? We'll be flying to Florida in February. We did the same trip last year when she was seven months old but she was still doing the nursing-and-sleeping thing then. Now, not so much. Any thoughts?

It wasn't as long of a flight, but we did a flight to Chicago and back this summer when my sun was around 20 months. We scheduled the flights close to his usual naptime, brought plenty of toys, and a portable DVD player and his favorite movies. On both flights he slept about half the trip, then watched a movie the rest of the way.

Oh, and we're lucky because he he still has tubes in his ears, so pressure and popping wasn't an issue at all...

As soon as the seat belt light goes off, take her on a walk up and down the aisle (before the cart comes out). Maybe you'll get lucky and there will be a baby for her to look at (usually good for a few minutes of staring and babbling about). Make use of all the play options around your seat (safety placard, SkyMall, lights, vent, window shade was always a favorite for my kids). Sing to her. Ask for an extra plastic cup when the drinks come around, those are pretty good playthings. Make sure you're as we'll-rested as possible for the flight.

Good luck, in my opinion right around 18 months was the most challenging age for my kids to fly.

i've started to blog my parenting experiences.

familyatlas.wordpress.com

Question: How old should a baby be to move from bassinet to crib?

Iggy doesn't like the bassinet but seemed to have been fine in his crib. The missus hates the idea of having him out of the bedroom but the nursery is warmer and I get sleep. We had him in the bouncer a bit but it poorly supports the neck and I was resigning myself to the carseat route but last night I plopped him in the crib, hit the music (rain setting) and let the ceiling light show go off and he seemed pretty calm.

My wife wants to take our son out to Seattle possibly this fall, considering that is 9 to 10 months from now, I've been against it (we live 1.5h from Philadelphia). She just seems to lose the common sense on this topic, I'm half apt to let her go the trip alone with the baby. I think it's one of the worst thing parents can do (the stress alone can wear everyone out) unless it's absolutely neccessary.

When Zia was a year old, her mom and I flew her to Dallas for a my ex's mom's wedding, and she was pretty antsy on the flight, though I had her on the return flight and she was great until the last 10 minutes.

We never used a bassinet at all. That's one battle I won - we never had him in our bedroom, and she acknowledged after the fact it was the right all. He did just fine in the crib.

1) Like many men, I have very little genuine authority in the decision-making process. However, after a week of absolutely miserable sleep for my wife, myself, and newborn daughter #1, I declared she was going to the crib in her room down the hall. My wife freaked out but was too exhausted to put up much of a fight. Lucky for me, I turned out to be absolutely right.

2) We took the same newborn daughter on the plane from DC to Seattle and back at 6 months. We paid for her own seat and took the non-stop. We did the same with my second daughter when she was 11 months. Both went just fine. One of the carry-ons was a big bag-o-toys-n-books which had enough to keep them happy for the duration of the flight.

There's no right or wrong here. Our kids stayed in our bed for a year or two, eventually transitioning to their own bed. We never used a basinet or crib. So you should decide between the two of you what's something you both can believe in and agree on that makes the kid happy, but don't try to decide it on what's "right" or "wrong".