Patience

HELP!!. Most days I am pretty patient with the girls but today I want a punching bag.

Tracey has been sick all weekend and I'm worrying today that it might have gotten passed along. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this before but Sophie wakes up some nights multiple times crying. It's usually only a few whimpers and she falls back asleep. She was doing this last night at around 11:30 so I went in there a couple times and she would go back to sleep. I finally laid down with her but her bead is about 4 feet long so I didn't last long. I had researched earlier and found that people believe children can have nightmares as early as 1 year old. Not sure that I agree but maybe. So I started feeling bad and decided to bring her in our room to sleep with us. Bad decision. Hannah also sleeps in our room and was quickly awakened when Sophie began saying "baby" as soon as we walked in. Then she freaked out when I tried to lay her down beside Tracey. Well Hannah and Tracey woke up, so now all four of us are up at 1 am.

7 AM... Hannah's awake which is normal and Tracey rushes to get ready, typical morning. Normally Hannah drinks 4 ounces at each feeding but this morning she would only take 2. I figured her belly was hurting so I gave her some gas relief stuff which I took last night too. She went down pretty good and slept for about 2 hours.

Sophie has been pretty good all morning but I noticed that her nose was running and was coughing a little. 11 AM comes and it all starts breaking down. Hannah's up again and still not eating, Sophie's whining and looks pitiful. Both girls are crying and daddy's losing patience. Hannah finally went back down but cried a lot. This is were Tracey and I differ, I let her cry for 5-10 minutes and Tracey can't do that. My philosophy is she's crying out here no matter what I do so might as well let her be laying down.

At this point I'm just stressed out. I don't know if women just have some special ability to handle this but I don't, at least not today. But now it's 2 PM and both girls are asleep. I think I'm going to take a nap myself. I have to be in Kingsport at 5:30 and Tracey doesn't get home until close to 5 so I guess it's going to be a long day.

OK, so I've vented and feel better, not really, but maybe some of you can relate I'm sure.

Thanks for reading,

Dad

Learning to read

Today I'm just posting a few pictures from the last few days..

We have began trying to potty train Sophie and since she loves books I thought I would introduce her to the world of potty books. She also likes suckers.

I'm not sure if girls read while in the bathroom but I'm going to share this joy with Sophie and Hannah.

Increased Estrogen

If there are any men reading this stop now !

I wonder if it's possible for a man to have increased levels of estrogen from an environmental aspect. For the last few months since I have been staying at home with the kids i believe my levels of estrogen have doubled. The job I recently left was a physical type job, outside all day pulling a hose around yards for 8 hours. Now at home I rarely leave the house and it has taken it's toll on me. For the last month I have felt extremely FAT. Where there once was muscle has now been replaced by looseness.

I guess you would have to have known my previous outlook on this before I got married. I spent 4-5 days a week in the gym, running, playing basketball and light weights. Since marriage I've managed to still run some but tapered off after my last job. Now I just feel fat. Just last week I was complaining to my mom as she was cutting my hair that I felt so out of shape. As to my hair, I attempt once a year to grow it out long again, I guess some type of way to hold on to my youthfullness, I gave up. I thought it made my face look chubby. So now I am trying to eat healthy again and running once again. For the men, I have been lifting weights again as well, kinda. Since I don't have time for a gym I have created my own redneck gym. A chair and a stool make my bench press bench and a pull up bar. I went to Vitamin Shoppe and got my protein and N.O. Explode which at one point I could not live without.

This entry is for my mom to some point because after I was taking about feeling fat she thought it would be funny to share with female followers. But I still beleive the estrogen levels are increasing. I spent all day today cleaning. I vacuumed the living room with the powder stuff, cleaned the kitchen and mopped and made home chicken noodle soup from scratch. Tomorrow I have planned to detail the bathroom and bedroom. Help me.

But for my masculine side, Saturday I helped a friend put down a wood floor in his future man cave, thanks Carson.

Well that's all I have for now, just thought I would share that for any connections it might have.
Thanks for reading,

Dad

Poops

I've been changing diapers now for almost two years and I still haven't gotten use to it. It's funny the changes in the form and smell as the girls grow. As most of you know, they start out from black tar to yellow/green slim to small child/adult poop. The early ones are not that bad for me, usually small and not much odor. Sophie has now moved into the adult poop smell and that's where it becomes difficult for me.

My very first experience with infant bowel movements has at the birth of my first niece. I was living in Arkansas going to school where Nicole and Spencer both worked so I was there for Kennedys birth. One day I was visiting and holding Kennedy when suddenly I felt my leg get warm. As I picked her up off my lap I realized she had went through her diaper through her clothing and onto my lap. I immediately jumped up handed her to Nicole and stripped off clothes faster than I'd ever done. From that moment on, every time I'm holding Hannah or Sophie and I hear or feel a poot I pick them up and check for leakage. Luckily this hasn't happened again.

Since the girls I've only thrown up maybe three times, not to bad. Some days I'm fine with the changing and some days I have this gag reflex that just takes over. First the smell gets me and I think I'm over it until I pull off the diaper and discover an explosion of goodness. At this point I can't leave the situation to recover so I pull my shirt over my nose and on occasion throw up inside my shirt. This happened just a few minutes ago as I was changing Sophie. She sometimes bounces on her bottom after she's pooped, I guess just to spread it around for me. She has also recently started putting her hands down there as I'm trying to wipe, remove the diaper, and cover my mouth. It's a juggling act.

Other than that it's been a good day. We're outside in this great weather and Sophie should nap well. I'll admit this if everyone promises to not judge. Poor Sophie has no outdoor toys so today she has been playing with two of the most kid friendly things I could think of, an empty beer can and a miller lite bottle cap. She loves them. She makes "hotdog" aka Mickey Mouse hold it. She carries the can around like a baby and takes it in and out of her little house. Don't worry, the can was pretty much empty. Kidding.

Well it's time to go in and put Sophie down, not like a horse with a broken leg, but nap time. And if I don't clean the house today I think I'm going to lose my allowance.
Thanks for reading.

Sun Shine Please

So I haven't been writing as much as I thought I would. Seems that not that much goes on here from day to day. Hannah wakes up, 7-7:30, feed, burp, and change diaper, check. During that time Ms. Sophie makes her announcement that she's up by banging on her door until someone comes to set her free, understandable. My routine is not admirable but it works for now. I have Sophie's juice waiting on her and the TV automatically turns to Dora. 8:30 I put Hannah back down and time to feed Sophie which is always a huge mess regardless of what she eats. She refuses to be fed and gives up on the spoon quickly and relies on the hands. And she has stopped eating from the bowl, prefers emptying it on her tray, fine with me.

After that we watch cartoons a little more, back and forth from Dora to Hotdog "Mickey Mouse", and then try to do something educational but usually she just brings all her books out and every blanket and pretty much anything that I have put away. This is when I try to watch an episode of House, my soap opera. I normally don't make it all the way through it, thank God for DVR. I sound like such a woman, no offense. Before Hannah wakes up I take a hot bath and enjoy a good book. Just kidding but I probably would.

Anyway this is getting boring. The Sun, finally. Sophie loves being outside and would probably stay out there all day if she could, so any chance I get we are there. I just let her do her thing and follow her around. The weird thing is that she heads straight for the road and just takes off. I don't know how far she would go because I always have to stop her. She loves the giant chalk and usually keeps one in each hand. This outsideness is great for nap time. I guess she gets restless being inside all day and so do I. Yesterday I had my first man mom experience. As Sophie played in the backyard and Hannah was in her stroller I was able to wax my truck and wash it. I felt good, instant gratification.

Everyday shows me how much a stay at home mom does. Us men never think about what goes on day to day. I always though they let the kids play and did whatever they wanted, ha. Yea it's better than most jobs I've had but still demanding in it's own way. I think the hardest thing for dads doing this is we have no support, as far as other dads we can have play dates with or meet for lunch just to get out of the house. Any dads out there want to meet me at Wallabies give me a call or ladies if the wife approves.

Here are a few pics from this morning. While I'm typing Sophie thinks she has to be in my lap. She loves the mouse and banging the keyboard. Hannah lays on the bed and watches. These pictures give you the idea. And this was one of Sophie's first times to hold Hannah, she actually did really well.

Thanks for reading, I had just folded those.

Dad

So it begins

I've been having trouble lately with Sophie's nap time. She was going down at 12:30 but would just play for an hour, sometimes two. So I thought the first problem was obviously leaving her toys accessible. The next day all toys were gone, nothing at all at her reach, never thought about her clothes. So just about every drawer was emptied. Ok, long story short, I started putting her down at 1 or a little later. Problem solved, just kidding. But what I did figure out was that if we went outside for awhile it wore her out some.

So finally getting around to the point of this post. Saturday I took her to Barnes and Noble because she loves books and just running wild down the aisles. We go to the kids section and begin playing with the train set when two little boys come up and start playing. The youngest one, probably about 4, is fixed on Sophie. He just stares, looks at me then at Sophie and walks closer to her. He says hi and hands her a train. Good girl Sophie, she takes the train and walks away. He looks at me and ask "whats her name". My first thought was, you're a boy and thats my daughter, excuse you. Then I remembered that he's 4. For the next 30 minutes Sophie is running and pulling every book off the shelves, he's behind her almost every step, bringing her books and showing off for her. I call it showing off, climbing and jumping off everything but keeping an eye on her. He kept asking me questions about her as she continued to show no interest, YES ! As Sophie was running around on the little stage two other little boys came up and were watching Sophie do her dance on stage. As I walked by him he asked "whats her name ?" Sophie, "How old is she? " Almost two. "She's cute". We left that area, that was enough.
I forgot to mention that the same little boy did ask at one point if Sophie was a she or he. That hurt Sophie's feeling a little bit. So I was reading a little much into things but I was a reminder of how my next 20 years are going to be. I've got to get Sophie and Hannah to start farting in public.

Hey, let's go to the doctor

Alright..I don't know where to begin. First of all, I guess I'll explain the situation. My wife is in her last semester of college, student teaching, and I am a photographer. I decided I would just watch the girls instead of paying for daycare, which was going to be about $300 a week.

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My girls...Sophie is 19 months..Hannah is 9 weeks.

I'm just going to write each day or so and share what a dad goes through and how I handle situations...Advice is wanted.

My first outing with both girls was stressful to say the least. Sophie's eye appointment ! First thing you should know about Sophie is that she can't sit still for over 2 minutes unless Dora or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on. No TVs at the doc. I walk in with Hannah in the car seat and Sophie and my hip. All eyes immediately turn to me, lots of raised eyebrows. I guess no one was expecting the dad to be there alone. Multiple older ladies commented on how brave I was. It was true but I was feeling a little sexually discriminated against. Made to the exam room feeding Hannah and Sophie crying to sit in my lap. I had two nurses and the doctor all trying to help while Sophie continued to cry and kick and hit anyone that attempted to touch her. And of course her crying keyed Hannah to follow suit. I'm sure you moms get the picture, hats off to you all. So obviously not much of thorough exam was given. Let's just say her eyes are great.
Forgot to mention that I first went to the wrong doctors office to begin with.
The next week was an appointment for both of their checkups, shots and all. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.