It won't be long now

As I've mentioned, I try to give El plenty of floor time to strengthen her little muscles.  I still can't get her to roll from her tummy to her back again, and she is getting even closer to rolling from back to tummy.  But today, I realized that my plan to make sure she was developing physically might be backfiring.  I had her on her stomach today, and she wanted desperately to get a block just out of reach:

You can see it in her eyes.  After stretching out both arms and finding it too far away, she resorted to this:

Well crap.  She just has to figure out a few more things, and she'll be crawling.  I suppose now would be the time to start childproofing everything.  On the bright side, I was considering my need for more exercise.  I suppose chasing her around all day should fit the bill.

Teething, it's a real pain in the. . .

. . .mouth.  I was going to say mouth.  I'm not 100% sure El is teething, but considering the fact that she was going all Walking Dead on Sophie the Giraffe's face, I would guess so.  Either that, or she's the most adorable zombie ever.

Also, if you haven't realized it yet, I'm a weirdo.  The fact that I only have a four month-old to talk to all day, well, that inevitable means those weird thoughts that I tend to only express to my wife will now be passed on for all of you to enjoy.  The above zombie comments are Exhibit A.  Anyhoo, El is still in high spirits, but she has definitely been fussier this entire week.  When you think about it, teething is one of nature's cruel jokes.  You have to spend years forcing those little things through, only for them to fall out so you can force bigger ones through.  Rough.

Sitting up is hard to do

Having apparently mastered the art of rolling from tummy to back, El seems to have lost interest in it all together.  Neither Mom nor I have managed to get her to roll over since last week.  She has started to get very, very close to rolling from back to tummy, though, which is very exciting.  There's this little matter of her arm being in the way, though.

El also has a bit of a dilemma - when Mom or I hold her in a sitting position she really wants to lean forward and play with her feet.  The problem is that she can't control how far she leans, so she pretty much sinks down to the floor.  Today she at least figured out how to get her head and shoulders off of the ground.

There's long way to go, but we'll get there, baby girl.

This baby, she is a changin'

I suppose one of the biggest reasons I feel so fortunate to be staying home with El is that I get to see all of the subtle changes, from the way she grips a toy to the new sounds she makes.  The things that entertained her just a month or two ago are boring now, so we have to constantly find new ways of making her smile.  My new favorite is making her Blast Off.  Now that I've done it enough times, when I tell her she's clear for liftoff and begin counting down, she breaks into a big grin.  For Mom, coming home from work tends to get a good smile.  And when that doesn't work, there's always this:

Yep, this baby, she is a changin'.  I'm looking forward to what fun, new games we'll get to play next.

Leaving for work is harder to do

When my wife was still on maternity leave, leaving for work was the easiest thing.  Mom and El were both still fast asleep, so I'd get ready, pack my lunch, peek in on them and go.  But now that I spend all day with El, and she also wakes up earlier, it's tougher.  This morning I went in to work for nine o'clock, and El was wide awake and looking at me with those adorable eyes.  It definitely makes it harder to leave, especially considering that I knew she wasn't going to be up for long after I got home.  But we packed plenty of smiles (and a bath!) into those two hours.  Plus Mom texted me some cute pictures while I was at work.

Side note - our cat, Barney, is so good with her.  She'll get a handful of his fur and yank on it, and he doesn't even move.

Hangin' with Cousin Em

We made our weekly trip out to Uncle S's house once again to see Grandma B and Cousin Em.  Upon arrival, the two couldn't stop looking at each other.  We reached a whole new level of cuteness when El was doing some floor time and Em was hanging out with her, being either Baby Em or Doggy Em (when he pretends to be like his baby cousin or Tuggy the dog).  It did provide for a cute picture:

Bonus - Em has seen me often enough now that he refers to me by name.  Or his sixteen month-old version of my name, which is pretty darn close.

SAHD Tip Ten - If you have a relative or a close friend who has a kid at home too, hang out with them regularly.  Seriously, like once a week.  The day will pass a lot faster, the kids will be really cute together (Exhibit A above), and it's a nice way to break up the week and save your sanity by talking to someone else taking care of a small child.

My Daughter is Weird

She really is.  When I put El down for a nap and she gets her thumb into her mouth, I can just leave the room knowing she's down for the count.  Or when she's getting tired, she'll pop her thumb into her mouth and I'll know it's time for a nap, which is great.  But here's the thing - she won't just find her thumb when I put her down.  She'd rather lay there, squirming and fussing with her eyes closed.  For a few days, I'd give her a pacifier for a few minutes until her eyes started to droop, and then pull it out and she'd replace it with her thumb.  Now I just take her hand and move it to her face, thinking the entire time, "Really, El?  You can't do this yourself?"

Of course, I'm just happy that she naps at all.  Still. . .she's a little weird.  And adorable.

Someone's in the kitchen with Daddy. . .plus another SAHD tip!

Today was a cooking day.  El and I went out shopping first thing in the morning, and I have to tell you - that's the time to do it.  You get all of the fresh, good stuff and there are no lines.  Anyway, then we spent a good chunk of the day in the kitchen, making my new go-to dish, kale soup, and an apple pie, which was a surprise for Mom.  El may be darn cute, but she's no help in the kitchen.

Also, she's getting big.  I know, I know, most parents say "Oh, my baby is getting so big!"  "When did you get so big?"  But here's a picture of my 4 1/2 month old in a 12 month outfit:

 And it's not that big on her.  She does pull it off, though.

SAHD Tip Nine - Leaky diapers, or as Mom and I like to call them, poop-splosions, are unavoidable.  The worst is when you have one happen in something that has to be pulled up over your kid's head.  I've found the best approach is to roll the clothing up over the splosion before pulling it over her head.  The outfit will get extra messy, but at least your kid won't have poop in their hair.

Baby is a rollin' stone

Yep, El finally rolled over.  From her stomach to her back, at least.  Admittedly, she needed a little encouragement.  Mom and I plopped El on her stomach to give her a little tummy time.  She pushed herself up and looked over at me. . .and then started leaning back.  Then a little bit more.  And then she got stuck on her side.  So Mom and I hopped behind her and kept calling her name and cheering her on, and she dug deep and managed to push herself the rest of the way over.  Then Mom and I cheered and clapped so loudly, El cried.  Well, at least we thought it was worth celebrating.

Also, sorry about the weekend.  It was a busy one.  We got together with family on Saturday, and I ended up working both days, so there wasn't much time for blogging.  To make it up to you guys, here's a picture of El hanging out with Cousin Em and Uncle S:

Just a quick one today

El has developed a habit of grabbing the nearest available hand and gumming it when she gets hungry.  Normally this is no big deal, because Mom and I both wash our hands all the time.  But tonight, during bath time, El thought it would be a good idea to pop her thumb into her mouth when it was covered with soap bubbles.  The upset face and cries that soon followed were evidence of her folly.  Thankfully the soap couldn't have tasted too bad, as she bounced right back.  It was a near miss.

On another note, Amazon.com is ridiculous.  In a good way.  I'm going back to school starting next week, so I ordered the books for my classes last night.  At 5:43.  And they arrived today.  At 1:30.  Less than twenty hours later.  Of course, that's thanks to an Amazon Prime trial with their crazy, free two-day shipping.  But still.  The order was received, confirmed and shipped in about four hours, and made it from Kentucky to Massachusetts over the course of another sixteen.  Craziness.  Well, here's hoping I end up with some good stories tomorrow.  It's lunch with my side of the family, so it should be a fun time.

Mini-roadtrip Number Two! (SAHD Tip #8)

This week, we were back to Uncle S's house to hang out with Grandma B and Cousin Em.  The trip out went fairly well, except for the fact that El did not want to just fall asleep and the radio was not entertaining enough, so I ended up singing. . .for the entire forty-minute drive.  And I don't exactly have a deep repertoire to dip into.  It's pretty much three sea shanties, an Irish folk song and "The Road Goes Ever On and On" from Lord of the Rings.  Also, I'm not the best singer.  But apparently it was enough for El, and she was placated.  Until we were five minutes from our destination, when she fell asleep.  Of course.

Anyway, hanging out with some family was just as fun this week as it was last.  Maybe she's growing a little accustomed to Uncle S's house, because she was agreeable enough to go down for two naps.  Of course, Em woke her up only partway through one, but at least she fell asleep without too much trouble!  Here she is all packed up for the trip:

SAHD Tip Eight - Enjoy spitup.  Seriously, enjoy the hell out of it.  My nephew, who's fourteen months, threw up on my leg today, and it's SO MUCH WORSE!  Spitup doesn't phase me at all, but real food vomit. . .blech.  And sorry for being gross.

Snowdays are the best!

While I don't work in a school, my wife sure does, so the prospect of a snow day had us hoping and praying last night.  It seemed doubtful, with only 2 - 4" predicted.  After all, I live in New England, don't I?  Where I come from, 2 - 4" is a dusting!  Thankfully it was enough today.  Although my wife's superintendent likes to be one of the last holdouts for calling it.  Jerk.

Anyway, a snowday is basically a surprise Saturday for me, although even better because I didn't have to work today.  So Mom and I get to hang around, eat some second day soup, and split El duties today.  Mom also put El into a very cute pair of snowflake pants in honor of our snow day, but El decided to spit up all over them before we could get a picture.  So here's a picture of her from a few months ago making a hilarious face:

Hopefully this is an acceptable replacement for the aforementioned snowflake pants.

The Battle of the Crib (And SAHD Tip Seven)

This one's never ending, it seems.  Now don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining.  El is an incredible sleeper.  She sleeps through most of the night.  The last two nights she went down around 8:30/9:00 and didn't wake up until six.  And she regularly naps throughout the day.  Look at how good she is at it:

But I still do have to fight her on it sometimes.  And the reason, the only reason, it concerns me is because I don't know whether she needs to nap, or I'm forcing her to nap.  I have noticed during the last two weeks that she goes down a lot faster and a lot easier, and she's condensed her four, thirty-minute naps into three slightly longer ones.  So we'll see how this continues to go.  Also, on an unrelated note. . .

SAHD Tip Seven - If you're playing with your kid on the floor or the bed, be sure your crotch is out of leg's reach.  At some point they will get excited and start flailing their feet around indiscriminately, and you will get hit.  Or, as an alternative, make sure you get the inevitable crotch-shot on film to submit to America's Funniest Videos.

SAHD Tip Six

SAHD Tip Six - Don't be afraid to take the kid out on errands.  You'll feel good because you got crap done, and since doing anything with a small child takes significantly longer, a simple shopping trip will eat up a good hour-and-a-half.  That's an hour-and-a-half you don't have to figure out how to be amusing.  Of course, when you're walking around a grocery store blowing raspberries and making weird faces, you're bound to get some looks.

What's on your mind?

This has been a regular point of discussion between me and my wife.  What the heck to babies think about all day?  How do their minds interpret everything they see, when they don't know colors, shapes or even words?  Is she laughing at me because I'm trying to be goofy, or because she thinks my face is weird?  What is going on behind that cute face?

I was especially thinking that today as we went shopping.  I could tell she was a little tired, because she was staring off into space the entire time.  But I'd still like to know what was on her mind.  Was she just a little bored because there was nothing exciting on the ceiling (the car seat was tilted backward a little bit in the shopping cart, so she was looking straight up the entire time)?  Or was she just thinking about the next time she'll get to hang out with Mom's boobs?  That would make two of us.

Regardless of what she was thinking, I scored some awesome, pre-cooked ribs.  So I'll call the trip a win.

Now with pictures!

Alright, so originally I had considered running this blog without pictures, as I'm a little iffy about anyone on the internet being able to see pictures of my family.  But since I already plaster Facebook with pictures, I figure we'll be fine.  So here she is, the center of my world, El:

Aint she cute?  I'll be adding more pictures moving forward, but this one was from her four month photo shoot with Mom.  And yes, that is a girl wookie next to her, handmade by Auntie B.

It's been an interesting weekend.  I had work right at five o'clock on Friday night, and then I was back there at eight yesterday morning, so I didn't really see my wife or El for the better part of twenty-four hours.  When I did get home, it was to a wife and daughter both in desperate need of a nap, so while Mom drifted off to sleep, I tried to entertain a very, very tired little girl until I finally coaxed her to sleep.  Anyway, I'm headed back in to work in an hour, so I'll end it here today.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Somebody's sleeeepy

As I mentioned, El got her second round of vaccinations yesterday.  Obviously these have the benefit of immunizing her to certain diseases, but they have the potential for an awesome benefit to stay at home parents - a sleepy next day.  El tends to wake up around 7:30/8:00, and by the time Mom gets home (around 4ish) tends toward three or four naps.  Each nap tends to be just thirty minutes.  I actually have a working theory that her hour-long nap yesterday was simply an attempt to get out of going to the doctor's, as I actually had to wake her up.

Then we have today.  Today, El was awake for about an hour before she started to get tired, which is fairly standard, so I put her down at 9:15 in her pack 'n play next to the bed, and thought I'd have a nap myself.  I got up thirty minutes later, but little El decided she wanted to sleep until 10:45.  Needless to say, I was popping my head in to make sure she was breathing every so often.  But okay, her little body is working hard with those vaccinations, so it's bound to throw her off a bit.  Only an hour later she was ready for another nap.  Another nap that lasted an hour and a half.  At this point I'm figuring we're going to have a lazy day, so I'm not even surprised when she's ready to go back down around three, and didn't wake up until I was on my way out the door to work and Mom was home.  All in all, she actually spent more time napping than awake.  While I'm a little bummed we didn't get much time to hang out, a nice, lazy, easy day was the perfect way to end the week.  By the way, she's doing absolutely fine.  I had a report from Mom that she was super fun and happy while I was at work.  Which is good, because I'm sure Mom needed some fun El time after her long week at work.

Anyone else have a similar experience the day of or after immunizations?

Shot through the leg, and you're to blame

Today was El's four month checkup, and her second round of shots.  Now, her two month visit happened while I was at work, so I missed the first round of shots.  But my new SAHD duties definitely include doctor's visits.  Bummer. . .I was hoping to only get the fun stuff.  Mom met us at the doctor's office, as it's just down the road from work, so I didn't have to ride this one out solo.  Turns out it wasn't too bad.  For El, at least.

I found the hardest part was when I loaded her up into her car seat, she looked at me with those loving, innocent, trusting eyes, and I knew that I was taking her to get stabbed in the legs.  It got me.  Still, it was necessary, so pack her up I did and off we went.  After the weighing and measuring (turns out she's 17.2 pounds and 25 1/4" long), our doctor told us how great she is and what a good job we're doing, and then called in the nurses to give her the shots.  That's one thing I definitely appreciate about our doctor's office - they send in two people to give the shots, so they can give the kids both at the same time and not draw out the stabbing.  She took the shots like a champ, though.  There were definitely tears, but she calmed down almost as soon as Mom picked her up.  The nurse who gave her the shots even got a smile from her.  So two rounds of shots down, so many left. 

It's a dirty job (SAHD Tip Five)

I figured I have a little time for a midday post since El is down for her afternoon nap.  Seriously, that kid is a napping rockstar.  Anyway, the last twelve hours or so have been a reminder of just how dirty a job raising a kid can be.  I remember thinking, for much of my life, that changing diapers was going to be the absolute worst thing I'd ever have to do.  I thought it would be worse than working in a kitchen at fourteen, spraying out cans of sauerkraut with hot water which causes a nice, sauerkraut-infused steam to blast into your face.  Turns out, it's not really that bad.  I mean, it's still kind of gross when you get down to it, but I haven't minded one bit.  Certainly not as much as I hated that sauerkraut sauna.

That leads us to last night.  Obviously with Mom being home solo the last three months, my window for diaper changes has been very narrow.  But now that I'm home with El all day, the number of diapers I change per diem has skyrocketed.  So, too, has the potential for what I like to call changing pad mishaps.  We're trying to transition El from her Fisher-Price Rock and Play sleeper (which, by the way, has been recalled) to her pack and play, which is set up in our bedroom.  That first night, she transitioned very well, and only woke up once or twice.  Last night was a bit tougher.  Anyway, my exhausted wife tagged me in for a half-awake diaper change right around four or five in the morning (I'm not sure which).  Things were going great.  Just a little wetness, no big deal.  Get the old diaper off, grab a new diaper, slide it under and. . .wait, why's my hand wet?  Yep. . .El decided four in the morning was a good time to pee, but not until after her diaper had been removed.  Ah well, still no big deal.  I slid her over a little, got another new diaper on her and put her back down.

Apparently messing with me once today wasn't enough.  Fast forward to around nine.  Mom is already off to work, and El is just waking me up to face the day.  No shock but she's wet again, so we get the old diaper off and start to get a new diaper on.  Only before I can tuck it up and start strapping it on, El decided to change the game.  She looks up at me, directly in the eyes, and lets one rip.  Thankfully, only a tiny bit of poop came out and was all caught in the diaper.  But that's not the best part.  Then she laughed, as if to say, "That's right, clean my butt."  I couldn't help it but to laugh to.  So I wait a few minutes and make goofy faces just to make sure she's done with her business, and go about the process of cleaning her up.  Old diaper off, start getting a new diaper on, and just when we get to the same exact moment in the process, the eye contact.  I have this moment of realization, followed by disbelief, followed by terror.  Sure enough, bam.  And this time, there's a lot more.  Miraculously it doesn't end up all over my shirt, or the dresser, or the floor.  I had her diaper angled perfectly to catch it all.  I realize how fortunate I was in that moment, and how poorly that could have gone (likely ending in a bath for her and a shower for me).  And there's El, smiling and cooing through it all like she was intentionally reminding me who the boss is.  Don't I know it.

SAHD Tip Five - Make sure you have a changing blanket/mat that has both a plastic backing and some ability to absorb liquid.  That changing pad sheet may look cute, but when she pees on it and you have to immediately change the sheet, her outfit and your shirt (because you had to pick up a pee-soaked infant), it will seem a lot less cute.

SAHD Tip Four

SAHD Tip Four - If you're bringing your daughter to hang out with her cousin and grandmother, you probably don't need to pack her floor time blanket, crib blanket, three of her favorite toys, and four of her favorite books.  Sure, Boy Scouts may have drilled into you the concept of "Be Prepared", but you won't end up using half of that.

Over the river and through the woods. . .

. . .to Uncle S's house we go!  To hang out with grandma.  And cousin Em.  Uncle S was not there.  Actually today was our first mini-roadtrip together with just the two of us.  We have traveled a bit around our hometown, and then to a nearby town in search of cupcakes for Mom (a fruitful search), but I consider thirty minutes plus to be the requirement for a mini-roadtrip.  El handled the drive very well, including remaining calm while I pumped gas.  She did not reciprocate the goofy faces I was making through the rear windshield, and anyone at the station who could not see I had a baby in the backseat likely thought I'm a psycho.

So Gramma and I were thinking that a playdate with El's cousin Em, who's about eleven months older than her, would break up the week nicely.  Turns out it did.  It's kind of hilarious watching two kids non-verbally communicate through that unabashed eye contact that only the young can truly pull off.  Without being creepy, at least.  If a thirty year-old with a beard just stared at you. . .well, you'd probably call the cops.

Anyway, it was nice to see El interacting with her cousin.  Since it was just the four of us, there weren't a lot of distractions so the two definitely spent some time checking each other out.  Normally when El sees her cousins, it's a big, family gathering so there's lots of stuff to check out other than the baby.  Em was pretty darn cute with her, too.  Well, when he wasn't trying to steal her dolly (named Dollie, after our friend Mollie).  When she started to get a little fussy as I was getting ready to leave, I was trying to calm her with her pacifier, but she kept spitting it out.  Em, who was right next to me on the couch, decided he was going to be a good helper, and kept picking up her pacifier and trying to put it back it her mouth.  It was adorable.  Of course, he was trying to shove the rounded side of the pacifier into El's mouth, so it wasn't very effective.  But it was still damn cute.

It was also nice to sit down and chat with someone who has a bit of experience with raising kids, namely my mom (Gramma B).  I figure that she raised two boys, was a home daycare provider for years, and has been watching Em for three days a week since he was a wee lad, so she might have some good insight.  It's nice to hear from such a kid-rearing veteran that you're not doing a horrible job.  And I also picked up some good advice.

We made the trek home to beat Mommy by about a half an hour, so we didn't have to worry about that awkward time when I have to debate whether to feed her another bottle or ride out some fussiness so Mom can get some mom/daughter time right when she gets home.  It was a good day.

To top it off, as I'm writing this post, El is being completely adorable in her swing.

SAHD Tips One, Two and Three

So to the main idea behind this blog.  I've been doing this thing for about a week, and I've found a few things to be true.  So let's get to it:

SAHD Tip One - Don't ever think to yourself, "This bottle's only been in the fridge a day, it's gotta be fine."  Because it won't be fine.  It'll be spoiled, your child won't realize it until she's two ounces in, throw up on your shoulder, and cry.  And you will feel terrible.  So now I make sure I give each bottle a sniff, both before and after I warm it up.

SAHD Tip Two - Don't ever tell your four month old, "You're really half-assing it," because she can and will cry louder.

SAHD Tip Three - If you have a crying baby on your shoulder, pressing your ear firmly against the side of her head will muffle the sound and make it more bearable.  Just watch out for sudden head movements, because smacking her head against yours WILL make her cry more.

Looking at these three grouped together, I suddenly realized how much of my day now revolves around efforts to either prevent a tiny person from crying, or getting her to stop crying.  El is definitely a happy baby, but when you've got a dad who's still not entirely sure what he's doing, crying is bound to happen.

I have no idea what I'm doing

To start, I should say that I have no clue what I'm doing.  Up until four months ago, I found the idea of my being responsible for the health and well-being of another person kind of ridiculous.  I mean yes, with a pregnant wife you attempt to mentally prepare yourself for parenthood.  But until you see that face for the first time, can it possibly seem real?  It didn't in my experience.  I mean, it becomes real incredibly fast.  I still couldn't fully prepare for it.

Where was I?  Right, the not having a clue.  While my wife dutifully read pregnancy and child rearing books (generously supplied by our pro-momhood friend, let's call her "M"), I did not.  While I feel this left me without preconceived notions of how things "should" be, which is good when things don't go that way, it also left me without a clue.  Thankfully my wife was there to help me figure these things out as we spent our first month together with our little one, we'll call her "El".  To be honest, I was bummed to go back to work, but as my wife was planning on being out until January, it was necessary.  The plan after that was a home daycare not far from both of our places of employment, but that's not what happened.  The short version is that my work schedule didn't fit my family's schedule, and my family's schedule didn't fit with work, so I stepped down from my full-time position and moved to part-time, thus becoming a stay-at-home dad.

I don't know how most men would handle the prospect of essentially quitting their job and becoming a full-time caregiver to their child.  I suppose society is still a bit archaic on this one.  After all, didn't all t.v. women from June Cleaver to Claire Dunphy teach us that taking care of the children is a woman's job?  Well that's not how I handled it.  I was both thrilled and terrified at the thought.  Thrilled because I have, in my opinion, the best baby in the history of babies.  Terrified because, as I've mentioned, I don't have a clue what I'm doing.  So it was with both excitement and fear that I woke up on Wednesday, January 2nd, to care for my child for a full day for the first time.  Turns out it's awesome.  I mean yes, there's that panicked sense of not knowing which of the Big Three (hungry/tired/wet) was causing El to fuss.  And yes, there's that constant paranoia of screwing something up.  But after a bottle mixup followed by a meltdown on day number two, I came to the realization that I'm bound to make mistakes, at least little ones, and we were both going to survive.

I'm not saying there haven't been tears (mostly hers) and moments of panic in the last week, but we're figuring it out.  I've learned a few SAHD tips, and I was thinking a blog may be the best way to share them with others who are just as clueless as I am.  So hopefully you'll check this thing out.  I can't guarantee I'll post every day, after all I'm taking care of a baby.  But maybe you'll swing by every few days and get a good laugh at the trials and tribulations of a new stay-at-home dad.  And maybe you'll be willing to lend a bit of advice when needed!