The Daddy Diaries

That's what she said...

2011-12-28T16:12:00.003-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, which either means nothing exciting has happened or I just simply ran out of time during the day to post. And with a 3 year old and an almost 7 month old now, I'm pretty sure you can figure out which one of those it is. Gone are the days where I could do a post a day for over a year. So to get things started, lets try something a little more manageable. Here's post #1 of the hopefully weekly "That's what she (Kaylani) said"...which will be all about the crazy things Kaylani says to us on a daily basis (until Aliana can talk too). Some will be funny, others will be embarassing (for someone), and even others will probably be gross (it happens). Some will be on Facebook, and others will be brand new to the Daddy Diaries. And all of them will be 100% verbatim. Anyways, here we go!

Me: "Kaylani did you fart or poop?"
K: "I didn't fart or poop. My butt just hurts and I need cream" (she pooped)

K: "I'm Princess Belle. Yin Yin is the talking teapot. Yeh Yeh is the talking clock. Aliana is the dog. Papa is the handsome Prince. Mama is the Beast."

K: "Papa, you don't need to go to work today because we don't need money. Santa is going to bring us all the toys!"
Me: "What about food? We need money to buy food."
K: "Oh. Umm...well don't buy sausage because we have lots of sausage here already."

K: "Aliana sneezed into her shirt! Silly Aliana. She's so gross."

K: "You can wear the purple necklace because red is my favorite color."
Me: "I thought green was your favorite color?"
K: "No RED is my favorite color now. I changed favorite colors. I'm so silly. Red AND green are my favorite colors! I changed from green to yellow to red! Little girls do that. Little boys do that too."

K: "Aliana no! Don't eat my beads. You can eat YOUR toys. Don't eat MY toys."

K: "I ate your face!"
Me: "Why did you eat my face?"
K: "Because I love your face!"

Me: "Was Santa good to you?"
K: "Yes! But he forgot a new playroom to put all the toys! Oops!"

K: "Mama, we need to go shopping"
Mama: "For what?"
K: "Red paint. I want to paint my hair red like Princess Ariel!"

K: "I want to play in Connor's basement. We can't play in our basement because there are spiders there."

K: "Those are my 3 squirrel friends!"
Me: "What are their names?"
K: "Wamasalani, Kinsalani, and Sheensheen"

K: (listening to "A Whole New World" in the car) "Hahaha, Papa he said he was flying SIDEWAYS! This is a silly song!"

So the theme right now is Kaylani is silly. Check back next week to see what other silly things Kaylani is up to. And later this week, its Aliana's turn in the blog so come back for that too! Guaranteed a good read or your money back!

I'm coming home!

2011-06-03T20:51:00.002-04:00

Leaving the hospital was quite the little adventure for us. First, we had to repack all the things we brought with us. Things like clothes, slippers, makeup (Mama's..not mine), etc. Then we had to grab all the things "given" to us, like newborn diapers, wipes, the Similac baby starter pack (which we wanted more for the baby stuff organizer than the gross formula that Aliana wants nothing to do with), and a few extra shirts for Aliana.

And then we still had to grab all the extra stuff that was "provided" for us. You know, things like extra baby hats, baby blankets, baby burp cloths/mats, extra ginger ales and apple juices, the baby suction thingy (still have no idea what its called), baby thermometer, bedpans, the batteries out of the clock, the dry erase marker, the rolling food tray, and the end table. All things that the hospital was great enough to provide for us (I'm kidding after the thermometer...for the most part).

Then, all that was left was changing Aliana into a cute outfit for the ride, some socks, some spitup cleanup (damn formula), and then a two hour wait for the official discharge from the hospital. When the time finally came, Mama and Aliana piled into a wheelchair, and we made the walk down to the car. After loading both Mama and Aliana into the car (and dealing with someone honking at us to hurry up...seriously), it was off we go!

The ride home was actually pretty smooth...except for a few bumps at the beginning (actual bumps on the road). But once we got going, it was a nice smooth ride (road and Aliana) the whole way home. We even stopped to grab a pizza on the way without so much as a peep from the Peanut. The only odd part of the whole ride was how she looked in the carseat! So tiny and so strapped in, but so safe.

Anyways, we got her home safe and sound. Stay tuned for the recap on her homecoming welcome from Kaylani and Yin Yin! In the meantime, check out pictures from Aliana's first few days, and Kaylani from the last couple of months!

Sisters don't shake hands... Sisters gotta touch lightly on the foot!

2011-06-03T10:35:00.001-04:00

Officially, I've never had a sister. Unofficially, I've had countless sisters throughout my life. Some I've acted like they were my own, some I've adopted as my own, and some I've been given even if I didn't want them as my own (kidding...kinda). But for Kaylani, she's wanted a sister from day -250 (which for you non-math geeks equates to month 1 of pregnancy), which is when we all found out Aliana was coming.

Since that day back in late September, every Aliana related word out of Kaylani's mouth has been "sister sister." And since Papa just recently remembered who Sister Sister the band was (thank you Celebrity Apprentice), I'm guessing it was because Kaylani actually wanted a sister and had nothing to do with the band.

So when the time came for Kaylani to finally meet the little sister she's always wanted, we were all filled with anticipation as to how it would go. Overall, I'd say it went great! First few moments were typical shy Kaylani. Walking slowly to the bed with a nervous smile on her face. Answering questions like "who's that baby Kaylani" with an almost inaudible whisper of "...Aliana..." Moving her hand slowly up to touch Aliana's foot ever so gently (while we kept reminding her "Gentle Kaylani. VERY gentle baby").

Things got a little more challenging when we wanted to take a few pictures of the 2 of them together. First Aliana started fussing (cute little lower lip shiver of a cry). Then Kaylani wanted to get closer, or hold her, or touch her (all to be expected). So we snapped a few (coming soon) and then let Aliana get back to what she really wanted to do...nurse.

After convincing Kaylani that she didn't need to be intimately involved with the nursing process, she gave us a couple of great lines on her own.

"She's cuuuute!"
"She came out of Mama's belly to see me"
"I want to take her home with me"

And the first thing out of her mouth this morning when I got her: "Are Mama and Aliana here? I want to show her Aliana's room!"

So I think its pretty clear that Kaylani is excited about being a big sister. And if I had to guess, I think she'll be great at it. If not, well then Aliana is lucky that we were younger siblings too, so we'll make sure she's taken care of!

Baby Aliana is here!

2011-06-01T20:54:00.003-04:00

Today was the day. June 1, 2011. Aliana Angela Tam's birthday. Our daughter. Kaylani's sister. Finally!

So many things led up to this day, like a scare that she was going to come out before even 35 weeks, and then day after day of anticipation thinking she was bound to come out REAL early. All of our preparations were put into overdrive waiting for the day. Today. And now that Aliana is here with us, here are some details to help you live along with us (may not be for the faint of heart...but it won't be too bad). At least, here it is from my point of view:

2:26pm: Text from B: "I have been having cramps more constant..." followed by some back and forth about calling the midwives

2:51pm: "Going to the hospital. Called and u didn't answer"

2:51pm and 5 seconds: Papa sprinting out of his meeting with phones, keys, and wallet in hand

3:02pm: Mama and Yeh Yeh in the car passing by the park a few minutes away from home. Papa flying down Amwell Rd (at the speed limit...if Amwell Rd was an Interstate Highway instead of a local road).

3:07pm: "Oye, don't kill urself... I'm ok! Just bad cramps... I don't think its labor..." Silly Mama...

3:26pm: Mama arrives at the hospital and heads up to maternity ward by herself..with her purse in hand. She's very proud of this...

3:31pm: Papa arrives at the hospital, grabs the luggage, gives the car to Yeh Yeh, and heads upstairs frantically

Sometime around 3:40pm: Quick check by the midwife, Peggy, confirms Mama is pretty far along (8cm). Just a bit more rocking and a swaying leaning against a giant exercise ball on the bed (most a Tam has probably used a giant exercise ball)

Sometime around 4:05pm: Contractions picking up, but not quite time to push yet. Peggy and Ellie (student midwife) step next door to deliver another baby

Sometime around 4:15pm: Mama's ready to push but Peggy and Ellie aren't back yet. Little reluctant to do it without them

Sometime around 4:20pm: Peggy and Ellie are back and its push time! Here's how the actual delivery went:

Ellie nicks the water bag, but can't fully break it before the next contraction comes

Push 1: Top of the head and a full set of hair pops out, plus water actually breaks

Push 2: Most of the head comes out

Push 3: Full head is out. First glimpse at Aliana's perfectly round head and pudgy little round cheeks

Push 4: Ellie turns the baby a little to get the shoulders at the right angle to come out

Push 5: Baby comes right out and onto Mama's chest! Time of birth: 4:40pm.

Amazing. The whole thing was absolutely amazing. Start to finish it was roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes, and only 15 minutes for the actual push. Mama did great through the whole thing, and the nurses and midwives were great too. To make it more special, it was Ellie's first delivery as well!

Now, here we are exactly 4 hours after Aliana entered the world and our lives and we're as happy as could be. She seems to be nursing just fine, sleeping just fine, and is as cute as a round little peanut. Every now and then she'll raise her little arm at us while she's sleeping, as if she just wants to say hi to us and let us know she's still there.

4 hours of her life in the books, an eternity to go. Can't wait to see how it all plays out.

And tomorrow, the sisters meet. Will definitely be another special moment for all of us!

Being away...

2011-02-11T18:58:00.001-05:00

Its been a long time since I've had to travel regularly. In fact, since Kaylani was born, I've probably only been away from her a handful of times (not including the times she's been away from me). But as she gets older, I find it harder and harder to be away.

This past week I've been in St. Petersburg, FL, which was far warmer than home and should have been an easy trip to make. But from the get-go, things weren't easy. I left right after Kaylani's nap, which meant I had to say bye then too. So after story time, a song, a hug and a kiss, it was time to go. That's when Kaylani said this:

"Papa dont go! I want to go to work with you."

By itself, its kinda cute. But when you add on from a few days ago this:

"Papa lives at work. Mama and Kaylani live at home"

It all starts to hurt and is enough to make anyone homesick. Luckily both her and Mama have enough to keep them busy during the week to make time pass. Things like school, classes, and dinner with my family help are supposed to at least. But apparently they also cause some confusion since Kaylani freaked out when she saw Bat Bat and family today and I wasn't there.

Luckily I'll be home tomorrow morning and for the rest of the weekend. But I sure hope this being away thing gets easier since I'll be traveling 6 out of the next 7 weeks. Hey, one can hope right?

Big Girl Bed: Day 1

2011-01-31T22:37:00.002-05:00

For the past 3 weeks, Kaylani has been talking about sleeping in her big girl bed in her big girl room (which is the room next to her "baby" room). While we're not entirely ready for her to switch, and not exactly running out of time (still have 5 months until Baby #2 arrives), we figured we should give Kaylani what she wanted...as usual.

After a weekend of buying furniture, cleaning, taping, painting, assembling furniture, and decorating, it was time to see how Kaylani handled "the switch." To try and prepare her, Mommy spent the afternoon with her getting the room ready by moving books, and stuffed animals, and other comfort items from her other room. And when dinner, milk, and Dora were done, it was time. Time to try the switch into the big bed.

Pajama time was a little rough with Kaylani continuously crawling away into her big bed instead of laying on a changing table. Story time went okay with 2 books being read while sitting on her giant oso, which was also moved into her room. And saying good night went as normal with me leaving the room and Mommy singing some songs on her way out of the room shortly after. And then, we waited.

We sat in our room staring at the video monitor while listening to the audio monitor. For 5 minutes Kaylani stayed laying down on her bed but with her head up staring towards the door. For the next 5 minutes she looked around the room and fiddled with her Princess Ballerina. And then she started to talk softly. "I'm awake." But not just softly, but sadly soft. "Mama. Papa. I'm awake. I need help." Then silence and staring. Few more heartbreaking minutes went by with a few more quiet pleas for help. Finally, when she made a few whimpers and started to shift, we broke down. In I went.

As soon as I got in the room she sat up and said "I'm awake!" and started crying. "I'm not sleeping Papa. It's time to play. I don't want to sleep" and more crying. After a few failed attempts at asking her why she was crying she said "I need water!" Apparently a few sips of water was all she needed because she stopped crying and said "I'm all better!" But that didn't mean it was time to sleep.

After a few negotiations and distraction tactics to prevent her from getting down and reading another book, I convinced her to lay down and I'd tell her the story of "Sofie's Big Bed", which is a book Mary Ann got her for her birthday. A slight modification to the story to include Grover, Telly, Crocodile, Princess Ballerina, and Giraffe sleeping in the bed with "Sofie" and Kaylani worked like a charm. A quick song, a kiss, and some hugs later and down she went as I left the room.

Here we are, 2.5 hours later and she's still sleeping. She's a little diaganol right now, which is freaking Mommy out that she's going to fall out, but sleeping. We're very curious to see how she does throughout the night. The rails (and pillows) on either side should be enough to keep her in bed (although Mommy thinks otherwise), but will she stay in bed? Will she even stay in her room? Only time will tell, so until then, all the upstairs doors will stay closed, extra nightlights will be on in the hall, and our bedroom door will stay open just in case.

Now its time for bed...for me at least. Not sure if Mommy will be able to sleep since she'll be preoccupied with staring at the big video monitor on our dresser, or the small video monitor of the same screen on our nightstand, or listening to the audio monitor on our nightstand as well. Hopefully tonight goes well. And if it does, Kaylani will continue to amaze us with how well she adjusts to things we throw at her.

Dora Live!

2011-01-21T18:51:00.000-05:00

Kaylani's never actually seen Dora Live! In fact, I'm not sure it exists (although it probably does), but even so, we wouldn't need to because Kaylani is our own live version of Dora.

Dora is the one show Kaylani will sit through and watch while barely moving a muscle. So its no real surprise to us that whenever we ask what she wants to watch while drinking her milk before bedtime (typically the only TV time she gets during the day), she picks Dora. And because of that, its also no surprise that she talks about Dora all the time...like its her life.

Its not uncommon to hear Kaylani say "oh man" when she talks about Swiper, or that he's going to "swipe my animals when I sleep" (which leads us to reassuring her that Swiper sleeps when she sleeps). Or that she "wears a seatbelt so she can be safe" like Dora and Boots. Or that she loves "the monkey and his boots." But then other times, she'll just rattle off entire episode plots. "Dora got in a car and Tico turned it into a boat and a plane and they saved the star yay!!" or "Boots blow the horn and say 'rain rain go away come again another day' and the rain cloud goes 'ewww I don't like that song' and they runned home."

We haven't figured out if its a good thing that her memory is so good (some of the plots/things she spits back are from months ago), or a bad thing that there's so much Dora stored up in her head. For now, we'll consider it a good thing since its really cute. So for those of you who spend time talking to Kaylani, a word of advice: watch/learn yourself some Dora if you want to have a chance at understanding what she's talking about. Trust me, because when we don't watch with her, we're lost and wish we could say "MAP" to find our way!

Whiz Kid

2011-01-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

At my very first job I was nicknamed "The Whiz Kid" (in fact, my first boss Cindy made a digital poster of my face on that movie poster). Just recently, I was called that again at my latest job, so apparently its a fitting name (Actually, in all fairness, I am "Digital Director" so I guess its fitting). But by the looks of things, I may be passing that nickname down to Kaylani.

Kids these days grow up around technology, and there's just no way around it (at least not when you live in big city areas). So it didn't really come as a surprise to me when Kaylani learned that the red button on the remote turned on the TV, or the dial on the humidifier turns it on, or that the button on the other remote can turn the lights on and off. And it wasn't too surprising when she learned to play "Peek-a-boo Barn" on my iPod Touch since all you had to do was touch the barn door and an animal appeared. But over time, she's gotten more advanced.

For instance, not only can she play "Peek-a-boo Barn", but she can turn on/off my iPod, scroll to the game (or any game), start it, press start, then play it. Or she can go to Super Why and spell words or solve story sentences. She can even play "Traffic Rush" and crash the cars (ok, so she may not get the point of that one). But since she does any or all of those things most mornings while Mommy or I are taking showers, she was bound to get good at them. It was when she translated those skills to the iPad that we took notice.

On the iPad (Yin Yin's...not mine since she's not allowed to play with Papa's iPad), she can turn it on and successfully play "Pac-Man", "Angry Birds", or "Cut The Rope" with little assistance. She knows how to start the game, turn it sideways, fling birds across the screen, feed the frog, or run away from the ghosts. Its amazing! But at the same time, its actually a little scary.

I remember growing up and playing Nintendo or Computer games with my Dad...and absolutely crushing him in them. He never stood a chance, whether if it was original Mario Bros, or Tecmo Bowl, or even Mario Kart and any other game that came out past 1986. And back then, I remember saying that I hope technology never passes me by where my kid(s) embarass me in a video game. And for the longest time, I didn't think that would ever be possible, but now I'm not so sure.

Kaylani is just a shade over 2 and she's already playing video games and using electronics. I was 5 or 6 when I started, and in all fairness to my Dad, he was almost 40 when he started playing, so I had an advantage. But with Kaylani, I've technically had a 30 year head start on her, and I'm not sure its enough. Already I've been beaten by a 4 year old in Wii bowling and challenged on several occasions in other digital aspects. If Kaylani is starting at 2 (actually earlier), am I doomed to be left behindl by my own next generation "Whiz Kid"?

Maybe there's still time to recover and I just need to carve out time (and money) to get moving with the new Wii games and/or Xbox and Xbox Connect. Maybe I need to trade in my Blackberries (yes, that's plural) for an iPhone AND an Android. Maybe I need to suck it up and get with the times so that I don't get passed by digitally. It'll be a lot of effort, but I think it might be worth it. At least I can stay at the top of the pyramid digitally because when it comes time for Kaylani to do dance, ballet, Cheerleading, or something along those lines, I'll be thoroughly embarassed...likely by my own doing.

So today I apologize to Kaylani and to baby #2 on the way, but the digital space will always be mine. But don't worry, there will be plenty of other areas Papa will be embarrasing in. Some by my own doing, but embarassing nonetheless. Kinda like being called "The Whiz Kid"...twice.

It's a...

2011-01-13T23:00:00.001-05:00

Usually I'm not surprised that Kaylani gets whatever she wants, mainly because its us who are to blame for catering to her every wish. But now it appears she has connections with higher powers since she has willed her way into getting a new baby sister. Not sure how she did it, but she did it. Today we found out that baby #2 will be a girl. And that meant that we had clear sailing ahead of us. Having a girl was supposed to make 2 things easier for us: clothes and names. But since we found out, I'm not sure it meant either.

Supposedly we would save money on clothes since we could re-use all of Kaylani's. Well that could be true later, but since Kaylani was a winter newborn and baby #2 will be a summer baby, not so much. And after talking to some friends/coworkers with multiple daughters, turns out girls need all new stuff anyways.

Supposedly we had a name picked out if it was a girl too. That thought lasted for 3 weeks, and went right out the window before we even got to the car after the ultrasound. Apparently we didn't have that name locked down after all.

And as a third that had nothing to do with baby #2 specifically, supposedly we were all set with 2 children, but apparently that conversation is back up for debate as well (or as Mommy thinks, its not so much as "up for debate" as it is a "topic open for discussion")

So here we are, less than 12 hours after seeing the tell-tale "3 lines" that indicated we'd be high on estrogen in our household for years to come. We've got no answers to any of our questions, and it'd be fair to say we've gone backwards to an extent. But what's absolutely certain is that seeing the ultrasound brought back the same excitement and amazement that we went through the first time.

Maybe its the technology, or the fact we were seeing it for the 2nd time now, but everything looked clearer. Body parts (or lack thereof in some cases) were clear as day. Nose, eyes, ears, spinal cords all had defined shapes and patterns. In fact, so much so that we're convinced baby #2 will be a splitting image of Kaylani when she was born.

But the bottom line is we're blessed to be joined by another girl in the family. I guess it really is my lot in life to be surrounded by girls. And if that's so, you won't hear one complaint coming from me. That much I am sure of.

What's "It" gonna be?

2011-01-12T20:20:00.002-05:00

Thursday, January 13, 9am. Its a date/time that's been circled on our calendar for the last 4 weeks. It's a date/time that could lead us down a 6 month back and forth debate. It's a date/time that will answer a question we've had for at least the last 3 months. It's a date/time that will tell us finally: boy or girl. And we're hoping with 100% certainty.

Tomorrow literally couldn't come soon enough. Once the date was set, we were counting down as if we were kids waiting for our birthdays or Christmas. As each day would end and a line was put through the date on our calendar, the anticipation built up more and more. And looking through a baby name book on the way to/from Boston over the holidays didn't help either.

If you asked Mommy or me what we think it is, we'd both tell you we think "boy." Few people around us think "boy" too. And with some friends having new baby boys recently, and 2 out of 3 pregnant friends due around the same time expecting boys, it sure feels like a "boy" time. But of course, Kaylani thinks girl. So now here we are, 12 hours away from knowing the answer. 12 hours away from either having a name, or being back to the drawing board. 12 hours away from being able to dust off some of Kaylani's old things, or looking for a new color scheme for the room.

Now both Mommy and I are thinking its going to be a boy, but to be honest, it wouldn't matter in the least if its a girl. And actually, we were 100% sure it was going to be a boy when we found out about Kaylani, so who really cares what we think. Part of me is scared that tomorrows ultrasound will be inconclusive, but only time will tell. So what do you think? Boy? Girl? Inconclusive? Place your bets now, but not on inconclusive. That would just be mean.

Morse Code

2011-01-08T21:40:00.000-05:00

I wonder a lot about baby #2. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will it be hyper or calm? Talkative or silent? Good or bad sleeper? Cuddler or private? And I know I wondered the same questions when we were waiting for Kaylani. But this time, I feel like I can figure it out beforehand...through morse code.

I've been working on this plan in my head ever since I felt a faint kick through Mommy's belly about a week ago. Just resting my hand on her belly and feeling a little flutter was enough to make me happy and enjoy what we have. It also was the spark my brain needed for my brilliant pre-natal/pregnancy plan. Without further ado, here's the plan (more or less):

1) Set baselines for baby kicks. This includes frequency of kicks, general belly location of kick, speed of kicks, and strength of kicks.

2) Once the baseline has been set, ask the baby questions (through the belly button of course) and document reactive kicks.

3) Teach the baby morse code. Oh wait, strike that.

3) Learn morse code.

4) Teach the baby morse code

5) Repeat questions from step 2 above and document kicks using morse code

6) Sit back and wait for baby to be born to validate answers

Its a fairly simple plan as you can see. It only has 6 steps so how difficult could that be? I was going to go for 7 steps, but let's be realistic...we're talking about a still developing fetus. If you want to get in on this and ask any questions, or know morse code, feel free to reach out to me. I'll be sure to mention you when I publish my research and become famous!

Pee Pee in the Potty!

2011-01-07T20:15:00.001-05:00

We've got pee pee in the potty! PEE PEE in the POTTY! In case you haven't noticed, its a pretty big deal for us since its the first time we've seen her actually do it, and the first time she's done it on her own and by her own accord. Sad part is that I missed it. Actually, its more like I was excluded from it.

It was around 7:15pm on a bath night. After a 5 minute naked run/chase around the house (Kaylani, not us), I sat her down in the bath. Things were going like normal: soap soap soap, rinse rinse rinse, shampoo shampoo shampoo, rinse rinse rinse, cry cry cry. Then as I was getting the toothbrush ready, Kaylani started saying some strange things. The conversation went something like this:

Kaylani: I'm gonna do poo poo in the water.
Me: In the water? No, we don't poo poo in the water.
K: I want to do potty
Me: Ok, but not in the water. Let's brush your teeth now

I didn't believe for a second that she had to actually use the potty, and was actually trying to brush her teeth and get her out so she didn't do poo poo in the water. But when she started crossing her legs and doing the "pee pee" dance that every kid (or adult with poor bladder control) does, I pulled her out of the tub and put her on the potty. She sat for a bit, then cried and said she wanted Mama to put her on the potty.

Being in full swing with her terrible twos, I called for Mommy and stepped out. The tag had been made so Mommy could wrap up. But a minute later, I heard celebrating. Mommy was cheering and saying what a big girl Kaylani was. Kaylani was saying she got to have M&Ms now. And when I stuck my head in, in disbelief that a) she went, and b) I missed it, I was told flatly "Papa, go get me M&Ms."

After 4 mini M&Ms and a few minutes convincing Kaylani that she could wear her panties tomorrow instead of tonight, it was pajama time, story time, then bedtime. Tomorrow we'll see if we can have a few repeat performances since we'll be home all day. If all goes well, we might have a potty trained little girl sooner than we thought...and maybe she'll let me be a part of it! But only time will tell. Stay tuned!

Is it here yet?

2011-01-04T22:35:00.002-05:00

There's still ~22 weeks left before baby #2 makes its grand entrance into the world. But according to one of us, June 1 can't come soon enough.

Every now and then, Kaylani wants to touch Mommy's belly. It usually happens when we're taking pictures to see how they've grown. Sometimes it happens when Mommy is rubbing her belly, or when she's wearing a shirt that doesn't quite cover her belly (which only happens in the privacy and comfort of our own home). Most of the time, she just touches Mommy's belly button, or says "hi" to the baby through the belly button when we tell her to talk to her baby brother or sister (which she says "no brother. Sister mama/papa!" to before she says "hi"). But today, she was different.

Before nap, Kaylani was getting ready for nap, and wanted to say "good nap" to the baby. After going straight to Mommy's belly and pulling down her maternity pants so she could play with and talk to her belly button, Mommy explained to her that Kaylani was going to sleep in her crib and Mommy and baby were going to go take a nap. She said okay and then went to nap. After nap, this happened:

Mommy: Hi Kaylani! Did you have a good nap?
Kaylani: Is the baby awake yet? I wake up from nap and play with baby. Baby awake?
M: No sweetie, the baby is still in Mommy's belly
K: But I want to play with the baby. Baby wake up from nap
M: Sorry sweetie, but the baby isn't ready yet. Your baby brother or sister won't be ready for awhile.
K: No brother Mama! Baby SISter!

Then for the rest of the afternoon, she asked questions and talked about her baby "sister" with Mommy. We've still got 5+ months left. Last time it was Mommy who wanted the baby out more and more with each passing day. This time, I think its going to be Kaylani. Or maybe it'll still be Mommy since she'll be feeling it AND hearing it, for the next 5 months!

The Neverending Christmas

2011-01-02T22:01:00.003-05:00

Christmas goes by too quickly. One day its here, and then its over. 3-4 weeks of preparation for just 1 day of celebration. Then its just a long wait until next year. That's what I used to think. This year, I'm not so sure.

It started on Christmas Eve morning. Clearly Kaylani's not old enough to truly appreciate Santa/Christmas since we had to wait for her to wake up. And when she finally did wake up (at 7:30am), we pumped her full of anticipation and excitement by talking about the presents and Santa. So when we went downstairs, she didn't give us the reaction we expected. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Kaylani rounded the corner and immediately saw the presents and said "Santa brought me gifts!" But the best part was when we told her to look at the cookies and milk she left for Santa. That got the following reaction:

"Santa ate all the cookies. And he drank all the milk! I'll be right back"

Then she picked up the cup and plate and went to the kitchen as Mommy and I stood there in disbelief at as she ignored all the unopened presents to clean! It was a great moment that we'll never forget. And after she came back, she went straight after all the presents (mostly hers, but also ours too). She opened everything from us and a few others, including a giant teddy bear (that she asked Santa for), a countless number of Dora related toys, and much more. But that was just the beginning of Christmas.

Sadly, we left most of that home (especially the giant teddy bear) and were off to Yin Yin and Yeh Yeh's house for the annual Tam family Christmas (which is always on Christmas Eve). There, she opened up more presents, including an awesome train table and a Geotrax set. For the rest of the day, she played played played, and in the morning, it was off to the next stop.

After a quick 5 hour Christmas Day drive, we made it to Titi Glenda's house for more present opening, which was a baby changing table/sink/highchair playset. She also got a new tricycle from Madrina Maria, and then a magnet book and xylophone from Titi Mayte and Tio Alan. And it didn't end there since she got a purse from Titi Carmen the next day, and a shopping cart of groceries from Titi Sonal a couple of days after that. So that brings us to December 28th, but we still weren't done.

New Year's Day might as well have been Christmas Day part 2 since Kaylani woke up to her train table actually assembled. Ever since she set eyes on it, she's been super excited and jumps all around while playing. She's actually so excited that she won't even let Papa play with it (which is a problem since its Papa's first train table too).

Anyways, now that we're well into 2011, you'd think Christmas was over, but you'd be wrong. We still have 1 more celebration coming up (3 Kings Day) which Mommy celebrated growing up in Puerto Rico. So we've got at least 1 more morning with a gift coming up, but with much less fanfare. And until Kaylani goes a few days without Christmas (or when we take down the tree...which will be interesting), she'll probably keep talking about Santa bringing her gifts everyday. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!

Kaylani's "First" Christmas

2010-12-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

Officially this will be Kaylani's third Christmas, but it feels like HER first, even though it's not OUR first. Subtle difference in language, but big difference in events leading up to Christmas.

Christmas shopping for us started about a month ago. Okay, all lying aside, it really started about a week ago (but we had ideas and intentions of starting a month ago). The past 2 years with Kaylani, we bought her small gifts that we knew she would play with then or at some point. And we let her open them, touch them, and pose for pictures with them. But this year feels different. This year, we think she's really going to enjoy Christmas. So far, everything she's done confirms that.

For example, while trick or treating at Peddlers Village the day before Halloween, she saw a Santa doll and said "Santa says 'Ho Ho Ho'". And right before we went to cut down our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kaylani kept telling me to "get out of the living room so Christmas could come in," which was because I was telling her the tree was going to go in the corner. And when we took her to get her picture taken with Santa, or when we saw him at Houlihan's during lunch, she told him she wanted a "big oso (bear)."

And the top moment that Mommy saw (Papa missed) was when Santa came around the neighborhood ona fire truck, and personally came to our door because he was Kaylani standing there. Her face when that happened was PRICELESS, and even brought Mommy to tears. To this day, she still says Santa gave her a candy cane (which he did), and also that Santa will bring her gifts.

All of that just makes us want to make the holiday season more and more special for her. We keep buying small gifts here and there because we know she'll love it, or more stocking stuffers because they're "perfect", or more decorations (like a Santa cookie plate) so we can really start our own tradition. Because we've got some traditions already (like Christmas Eve night at Yin Yin/Yea Yea's house with the family), we're gonna have Christmas come a little early. When Kaylani wakes up tomorrow, we'll do our own little Christmas morning before heading over. And if I had to guess right now, I think her face is going to be priceless when she sees all her gifts under the tree and the cookies eaten. She'll be so excited that she probably won't even notice that the couch smells a little bit like milk since Papa sat on the milk she left out for Santa and spilled it all over. And because of that, I can't wait. Merry Christmas!

Family Time

2010-12-22T20:21:00.002-05:00

Other than the weekends, spending time as a family is tough. By the time I get home most days, its usually 6:30, which is about an hour before Kaylani is in bed and asleep (ideally). That leaves enough time for me to join Kaylani and Mommy for dinner (normally in progress already), watch an episode of Dora, and give a bath and read some books before saying good night. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is and it isn't all at the same time.

When it comes down to it, I'll take an hour, or even 30 minutes, or even 10 minutes if I can only make it for storytime or to say good night. Some nights I miss the "routine" all together, and others I miss the mornings, so weekday time is limited. But, the time we do get together is great, and I'm hoping its developing into something special for Kaylani and Mommy too. On typical days when I get the full hour or more, we sit around the table and I ask Kaylani how her day was. If she went to school, she likes to say "good. I play play play with friends." And if she went to music class, its along the lines of "good. I dance and sing "helloooo." And if its a gym class day, she goes with "good. I run around and play." But the best part is that she's started to join in and now asks "Papa, how your work? Your work good?" Cutest thing that makes my heart melt.

After dinner, it gets even better. Kaylani automatically washes her hands, and then runs over to the couch, sets up 2 pillows (one to sit on and one to lean against), and plops herself there with her milk. Then she asks for a blanket, and for Mama and/or Papa to sit and watch TV with her. The next 22 minutes are just cuddly, quiet, TV time with the family. And to top it off, Kaylani dances for 2 minutes at the end, then goes a little crazy climbing on us or jumping around before its time to go upstairs.

Bath time is always an adventure, and usually starts off with naked Kaylani "being chased" from her bedroom to the bath. Then there's all types of splashing, swimming, toys, sillyness that goes on. With a quick brush of the teeth, and a towel off, its a naked run back to the room for pajama time! Storytime is another adventure with anywhere from 1-3 books being read 1-3 times each (depending on the days mood). Next is lights out, hugs and kisses, then song time (usually by Mommy).

All of that is our normal weeknight routine. In fact, its our normal nightly routine, but it means that much more on weeknights since its the only time I get with her. So whether its an hour, a minute, or an entire day, I'll take what I can get when I can get it, because nothing beats family time! Click here to see pictures of just some of our family time moments over the last two months.

What a Girl Wants

2010-12-21T21:40:00.001-05:00

When you're expecting, you can either have a strong preference for a specific gender of the baby, a mild preference, or no preference. I find myself in that 2nd category. If we have a boy, great! After all, most men would want a boy in their family to carry out the family name and do manly stuff with (like hammer up dry wall and drink beer...only 1 of which I've ever done). But if we have another girl, then I'm perfectly happy with that too. Truth be told, I'm probably more of a girl dad anyways (which goes back to that hammering up dry wall thing probably). And I've always felt this way...but apparently Kaylani thinks otherwise.

The other day, Mommy and Kaylani were at Little Gym class, which they've been going to forever. The teacher, Miss Tiffany, and Kaylani are close with Kaylani following her all around class most days. And of course they talk, but I guess we weren't expecting this conversation:

Kaylani: Mama has a baby in her belly
Tiffany: Oh yeah? Kaylani's gonna be a big sister right?
Kaylani: Papa wants a brother but Kaylani wants a baby sister.

Miss Tiffany reacted like normal, saying things like "yeah, most Dads want a boy" and some of the Dads in the area were chuckling to themselves because it was probably true for them. The funny thing is that it's not true for me, and the odd part is we have no idea where that came from!

Since we found out Mommy was pregnant with #2, we've asked Kaylani what she wants and she's always consistent. Boy or girl? Girl. Brother or sister? Sister. Like Alisha or Rohan? Alisha. Like Connor or Zoe? Zoe. Girl like Mama or boy like Papa? Like Mama. So its not like she doesn't know the difference, its just that she is the one with a strong preference!

We've tried to steer clear of the conversation for awhile now since she use11d to get animated about it when we'd ask ("no boy Papa, Kaylani wants a sister!! No boyyyy"). In fact, sometimes we'd go to pick her up from her crib in the morning or after nap and she would just randomly say "I want sister."

The only thing we can think of is that she takes our question asking ("Kaylani, what if its a boy") as our/my preference. Its either that or she reads my blog and thought that by me saying I thought it was going to be a boy meant I wanted a boy. Not sure which one of those is more probable, but either way, if its a boy, we may be in a lot of trouble. After all, what a girl wants, a girl gets... especially if she's our daughter.

Second Fiddle

2010-12-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

For as long as I can remember I've been preaching against unfairness towards the second (or youngest) child/sibling, obviously because I was both the second and youngest child in the family. I always felt that different rules applied for my older brother, or that he got preferential treatment when it came to...well, everything. And the same things applied to Mommy's older sister, which was validation enough for me. But when we saw the younger of our niece and nephew going through the same thing (seemingly), it solidified to me that I was right on with my feelings. Well, until we found out we were expecting our second.

It kills me to say this, but so far, 17 weeks in, we've been completely different from the way we were when Kaylani was at this point, especially me. And the answer that I heard for so long that I argued about and against is so true: its different with 2...and we don't even have 2 yet! Now, in my defense, the level of difference with our second one is still early...REAL early. I'm not attending every single one of Mommy's pre-natal visits, which is bad since I probably only missed 1 with Kaylani, but my excuse there is now I work 45 min away from the doctor instead of 10 min. And I'm not reading directly to Mommy's belly (yet), but the baby/fetus still hears my voice since I read to Kaylani while Mommy and baby bump are in the room. And even though Mommy is eating nuts, cold cuts, and other things she stayed away from the first time around, its okay because we were being overprotective the first time. And those are things that can be remedied...and its still early...right?

The things I made a big deal about growing up were more about the attention the olders got, or how they got to carve their own path while we had to follow in their footsteps. They got to set expectations while we had our expectations set for us. Those things are different than the difference we're going through with the pregnancies. Things will be different for us with our second, which means they'll be the same for both our children. I won't let that happen with our second. I can't let that happen for our second. I shouldn't let that happen. That's possible...right?

The Right Name

2010-12-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

What's in a name? EVERYTHING! Okay, maybe that's not true, but a lot of pregnancy time revolves around names. For example, Mommy's baby bump has been named "Mezclita", which came from a craving she was having a few weeks before we found out she was pregnant. For those wondering:

1) Mezcla (mezclita meaning "little mezcla") is some weird mix of cheez-wiz, spam (yes, the canned ham), and roasted red peppers blended (yes, blended) together and spread on toast that is supposedly common in Puerto Rico and supposedly tastes good (which I cannot confirm and can definitely deny)

2) Mommy's baby bump when she was pregnant with Kaylani was "Chicharron", which is the fried, dried, skin of a pork shoulder/pernil (and tastes FAR better than mezcla)

The good thing about baby bump nicknames were that they just came to us, no matter how gross they were. Unfortunately, as of right now, we've got nothing for an actual name. We're not stressing out just yet since we won't find out boy or girl for another few weeks (Mommy is only 17 weeks right now), but we will soon...especially if we're having a boy (which I think we are). You'd think we'd be alright and had a few name holdovers from Kaylani, but we've got none because coming up with Kaylani's name was as easy as taking a trip to Hawaii...literally.

This time around, we're faced with a few different issues. For starters, we don't have any trips planned to Hawaii (or anywhere for that matter). Second of all, Kaylani is such a unique name (we think) that our second name should be just as unique. Third of all, if we have a boy (which again, I believe we will), we're in a lot of trouble because we never even came realistically close to picking a boys name last time (and we were convinced we were having a boy then too). Actually, we were close for about 3 minutes when we both liked Mariano since it was a nice boys name and had some Spanish/ethnicity in it, but that was shot down when Mommy realized I picked it because of Mariano Rivera. After that, nowhere close.

So that's where we are now. We probably won't stress over the name very much for now since we have other things on our mind (like potty training, Christmas shopping, etc), but I'll keep you posted if/when we know. First thing is the ultrasound to tell us boy or girl. Then we'll get cracking on names for real. But if we're having a boy, don't be surprised if the only name we settle on is "Baby Boy Tam".

It's Potty Time!

2010-12-14T20:49:00.001-05:00

Math time! 6 diapers per day is 42 diapers per week. 42 diapers per week is 42*4.3 diapers per month. 42*4.3 diapers per month is 42*4.3*12 diapers per year. That means that over the course of Kaylani's 2 years and 5 weeks of life, we've used 42*4.3*12*2+42*4.3+42 diapers (give or take a couple here and there). Now that may not seem like a lot (especially since I didn't actually do the math), but I think you get the point. So its no surprise that when Kaylani's cousin Zoe started her potty training that we decided to follow suit shortly after. Unfortunately we haven't had the same "splash" as she did.

For months now, Kaylani has been okay with sitting on the potty. She has her own special Dora seat and even her own mini-potty downstairs, but for the most part, they've just been places for her to sit and relax or read books for a few minutes. Once she went #2 on the mini-potty after starting elsewhere, but otherwise nothing (sidenote: its amazing that the mini-potty was cleaned instead of being thrown out and replaced. Guess its true parenthood (or finances) change you!). So with Kaylani being as comfortable as Daddy on the toilet for 5-10 minutes (or more) at a time, we thought that potty training would be a breeze. Wrong.

When Zoe went cold turkey potty training, Yin Yin bought a "potty watch" to help the process along. The idea was to have a countdown (30, 60, or 90 minute increments) and play a little "potty time" jingle while flashing lights (who doesn't like flashing lights?) which would help remind the child (and the parents) to go potty and avoid accidents. In theory, GREAT invention and probably worth the $11. In theory.

We tried this for the first time around 3:30, after Kaylani woke up from her nap. She was thrilled to try to use the potty, but mainly cuz it meant she got to wear Dora panties instead of a diaper. So after a quick try, we were all systems go. Cold turkey, no diaper, and only her panties, pants, and hopefully hardwood/tiled floor instead of carpet/furniture in the way. 30 minutes later, music and lights came on and it was Potty Time! 1 minute later, we were back with no pee pee in the potty, but that was expected. Every few minutes we'd ask if Kaylani had to use the potty, but the answer was always nope. Another 30 minutes went by with the same results. Music, lights, but no pee pee in the potty. So back out we went.

5 minutes after that 2nd potty trip, we heard this: "Papa I went potty in my pants" followed by a lot of crying because she "made a mess." Poor girl, but that was how she was supposed to learn, right? Peeing yourself makes you feel wet and makes a mess, and both those things make you cry. So accident #1 we'll call a productive accident. After some explanation about that, and a change to Princess panties and new pants (and a quick Clorox clean of the stool she was sitting on), we were back. 30 minutes later, music, lights, no pee pee. 24 minutes after that, we had something. But we weren't at the potty.

Crying, mess cleanup, and a change of clothes and we were back again. Another 2 trips and nothing until 15 minutes in, we had accident #3, right before bath time. So close, but no luck as we had our 3rd wet panties and pants set on our hands. That was enough for Day 1 of Potty Time. Day 2 didn't go much better (depending how you look at it).

Day 2 started the same with panties after nap. No accident after the first hour, and none after the second hour either. We approached 2.5 hours (or 5 music/light cycles) with no accidents. The problem was that she wasn't peeing at all! It was at the 3 hour mark, after dinner, that we threw in the towel (panty?) and slapped on a diaper so she could sit on the couch and watch Dora for 22 minutes without us worrying about her peeing on our furniture. The alternative, as suggested by Jes, was to cover our furniture in plastic like my grandma did, but we decided to go the diaper route.

Day 3 went the exact same way with her pushing 3 hours without peeing in the potty or her panties. And that brings us to day 4, which is today. Not sure how that's going to play out, or if Mommy is even going to try with me not home until after bedtime. We're convinced Kaylani just needs that first time to "get over the hump" and get the pee pee cues (with or without the watch). Our pediatrician recommended we get Kaylani potty trained well in advance of Baby #2's arrival, so we're working on it. We've still got 6 months or so, but at this rate, its not looking good...for any of us!

Inappropriate demands

2010-11-23T21:15:00.002-05:00

Kaylani: Papa crap!
Me: What?
K: Papa crap for me
Me: What did you say?
K: Crap *makes motion with hands*
Me: You mean crab? *pinching motion with hands*
K: No Papa, no crab. I do this, then you crap
Me: I do what?
K: You crap and say yay!
Me: Kaylani, you want me to crap?
K: Yes Papa. I sing ABC and you crap when I finish
Me: Ohhh, you mean CLAP for you.
K: Yes Papa. Ready? ABCD...

That was our conversation on the way to school this morning. It was pretty funny once I realized Kaylani wasn't actually asking me to crap for her. While it sounded ridiculous for her to ask, I wouldn't have been that surprised. For one, she does seem to have a hard time doing that (clearly not from my side), but also because she is awfully bossy and demanding (maybe a little bit from my side). So maybe "Papa sit here" and "Papa don't talk" was evolving into "Papa crap for me!" Luckily, that wasn't the case...this time.

As parents in denial, we like to think that Kaylani will grow out of her bossy stage. We also like to think that its just a part of her "terrible twos" and she'll grow out of that in a few months (since she started with her "terribles" at 18 months, that means she'll grow out of it by 2.5 years right?). The good thing is we can get her to say "please" when she repeats it so she's not completely rude all the time. Unfortunately most of the time she just repeats her demands until we give in or send her into a tantrum, both of which we're relucant to do.

And to make things worse, she usually adds a bit of humor somewhere in the middle to make us crack a bit. One way or another we're gonna find a way to hang tough and try and negotiate with her. And at the end of the day, we'll either crap or clap. Tough call.

Kaylani's Big Announcement

2010-11-11T22:03:00.003-05:00

Sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what Kaylani is saying. It takes even longer than a minute if you're not around her often, but for the most part Mommy and I "speak Kaylani" pretty well. But a few months ago, it took me a couple of minutes myself, and I even had help.

It was the morning of September 23rd and Mommy told me I had to get Kaylani because she wanted to see me. Nothing unusual there, especially since I had gotten home late from NYC the night before and missed bedtime. So around 7:15am, I wandered into Kaylani's room. She stood up as usual, and started to say something. I, of course, went on with my usual routine of turning off her nightlight, opening her blinds, and turning off her humidifier. Still Kaylani was saying something that I couldn't make out so I kept on going.

First I said "Good Morning Kaylani" and asked her how she slept. I gave her a hug and a kiss and knelt down in front of her crib to talk to her. She kept saying "pajamas" and "I have girl" which I thought nothing of since Mommy had told me the night before that she bought Kaylani new pajamas with a little girl on them. But when I noticed Mommy standing in the doorway, and Kaylani looking at her and repeating "I have girl I have girl" while they both smiled, I started to think I was missing something. Boy was I ever.

Slowly it all started to come clear and I started to understand what Kaylani might have been talking about. I looked over at Mommy and she was smiling wide as could be and on the verge of tears. I looked at Kaylani again and looked at her harder to see if I understood correctly. I looked back at Mommy and she confirmed it. It was true. Kaylani was telling me in the clearest way possible. She had a little girl on her pajamas. And with that picture of the little girl were two words that she couldn't be happier to have learned: Big Sister. Kaylani was gonna be a big sister. She had a little girl on her pajamas, but Mommy had a little girl (or boy) in her belly. Wow.

Immediately all the feelings I had over 2.5 years ago when we found out that Mommy was pregnant the first time came flooding back in. But this time, It wasn't just 2 of us hugging and smiling. This time it was 3 of us. We're not entirely sure if Kaylani grasped exactly what being a big sister meant (she does now), but she was happy enough to just be a part of it. Thankfully we have some of this time documented through pictures you can see here. Also thankfully I didn't have a recently peed on stick stuck in my face as I was waking up like last time.

So here we are, 11.5 weeks into Mommy's 2nd pregnancy and its like its all new to us. She just had her 12 week ultrasound and we stared at the little baby inside her with what seemed like the same amazement as the first time. It was still hard to believe a little baby with a head, arms, legs, and a rapidly beating heart were inside there. Just a few weeks ago we saw a dot that was supposedly the same thing. Its grown so much but we have no concept of size even though we've been through this before. Guess we should re-sign up for those Babycenter newsletters to find out if we have a peanut, pear, squash, or some obscure fruit sized baby each week.

Already we've seen differences from the first time, like Mommy not being able to sleep for the last 7 weeks, or the nausea caused by the cooking of food, or of course from the presence of Kaylani. But the biggest difference is that I've got the blog up and running already and I plan on documenting the next 6 months and beyond in addition to the normal blogs on Kaylani. So stick around, keep on reading, and look ahead to May 29, 2011 with us, which is when all three of our lives will change again. And change is always good...especially in this case.

Time flies when you're turning 2!

2010-11-08T21:37:00.005-05:00

At this very moment, 2 years ago, we were in the hospital in absolute disbelief at the little girl that we were blessed with. Now, 2 years later, here we are still in absolute disbelief that our little girl is two years old. And to top it all off, I almost ended up back in a hospital. Confused? Hear me out. Warning: Long overdramatic post ahead.

The past 5 days have been nothing but birthday birthday birthday. Since September, Kaylani has had to celebrate each of her friends birthdays, and kept saying "I'm not two yet. Almost two. I'm turning two. Not yet!" So when her birthday became next in the queue, she could hardly contain herself. On Thursday, she kept saying she wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out a candle. In fact, she insisted so much that Mommy gave in and had her "practice" blowing out a candle in a cupcake. On Friday, Primitos Alisha and Rohan (and Titi Glenda) arrived, and she got to open up and play with her first gift. Then, on Saturday, it was time for her birthday celebration. That's when things got out of control. And by things, I mean me.

Kaylani's birthday party was at Uptown Playaround, which is a giant indoor play area. They had a giant structure with nets, slides, rope swings, blocks, tunnels, and ramps to climb up and through. There was also a play house and kitchen, grocery store, basketball area, puppet theater, and block area. If that wasn't enough, there was a dance area, virtual floor soccer, and bubbles. And if you still wanted more, there was just a giant space to run around in. Might seem excessive, but for 14 kids, and 20 adults to boot, all that space was absolutely necessary. I fully expected the kids to have tons of fun. I was not expecting the adults to do the same.

While Kaylani's favorite areas were the calmer ones (kitchen, grocery store, giant play area), Daddy, Bat Bat and most of the other adults ran around through the net maze and down the super fast slides over and over. After an hour, it sure felt like I needed to be back in the hospital, but this time, it would have been me with the back pain instead of Mommy. But instead of going there, I toughed it out, had pizza and cupcakes with everyone, and finished up the big party.

To continue the celebration (and after a nap), Kaylani cut into a piece of Papa's heart and soul, which was transformed into a Dora shaped cake. After slaving over baking and decorating it the night before, and seeing it come out better than I could have imagined, we cut up Dora's head ("Dora got a head cut" according to Kaylani) and had cake. Guess its true that you can't have your cake and eat it too (which should really be "you can't eat your cake and have it too" but whatever).

Sunday, the fun continued with a trip to the Animal Kingdom Zoo with the cousins to feed monkeys, giraffes, donkeys, and more. Thankfully we distracted Kaylani from having more cake, and instead opened up a few more of her presents that we hid from the party. And then, finally, Monday rolled around and with it, Kaylani's official birthday.

Kaylani was born at 4:09am on 11/08/08, so I guess it was inevitable that she'd wake up shortly after that 2 years later (at 6:35am). Can't blame her since who doesn't remember being so excited that you just can't sleep on special days? And after Kaylani spent the whole morning playing with Alisha and Rohan, and then talking to Mommy about her birthday, she took a nice nap so she could spend the night with Papa, Yin Yin, and Yeh Yeh at home. That's when she got crazy again.

After the last of her gifts were opened, she focused on a few of them, like her new roller skates from Padrino Tim and Auntie Meredith, and her house from Yin Yin and Yea Yea. And with one more round of Happy Birthday to Kaylani and another cake (ice cream cake this time), it was time to call it a day, or a birthday that is.

All in all it was an amazing 5 days of celebration, which is fitting since its been an amazing 2 years ever since Kaylani was born. Not a day goes by that we don't thank God for how lucky we are to have such a wonderful family, but its still hard to believe that its already been 2 years. Luckily we've got plenty of pictures and even videos to remember most of the time. So check out our pictures from Kaylani's birthday, and some more from Halloween too. And if you've got 5 minutes, watch Kaylani's video "interview" with Mommy below. Its priceless, especially the end. Or click on her YouTube page to see her using her roller skates with the Paparazzi around. So for now, its time to say good night, and Happy Birthday Kaylani. Until next year!

Quiet Mornings

2010-10-31T07:50:00.001-04:00

You will NEVER hear us complain about how Kaylani sleeps at night. EVER. In fact, we don't complain so much that it bothers some people. For as far back as I can remember, Kaylani has slept around 12 hours a night, and that's a GREAT thing. Well, at least we thought she was sleeping for 12 hours.

Most nights, Kaylani is in bed by 7:30pm, and asleep by 7:45pm. And most mornings when I wake up at 6:45am, she's still asleep. Then finally, around 7:15am, she's awake in her crib, which according to Mommy, is because I woke her up while I was showering. On days when I go to the gym much earlier, she sleeps in a little bit until 7:30am or so before she wakes Mommy up. And on weekends, when we're fortunate enough to not have anything to wake up for, we've slept in until 8am or even 8:30am. But somedays, like today, she wakes up at 6:15am, but is back down at 7am, awake again at 7:15am, but back down again at 7:30am. So the question is, what time does Kaylani wake up, and what does she do?

During the week, its easy to say that Kaylani seems to wake up between 6:45am and 7:15am. Since that's 5 days of the week, you'd think that she wakes up at that time on Saturday and Sunday too since I don't think she has concept of weekdays vs weekends yet. Some days, I've seen her asleep still at 7:30 or later (especially on days I have to leave for work early), so its not consistently the same time. But one thing we have noticed is that there are definitely days when she wakes up and sits there. Quietly. By herself. The scary thing is that we have no idea for how long.

We have a video monitor and a sound activated audio monitor in her room. In the mornings, the audio monitor rarely goes off, which means either she's not talking, or its not picking things up. Since it works fine when we test it, its not the latter, so we can fairly confidently say she's just not talking. So that leaves the video monitor. On the mornings we wake up on our own, looking at the video monitor always surprises us because she doesn't move much, at least not enough to be picked up by the camera.

When we look closely, she's typically laying there playing with her belly button, or sitting there staring out into her room. A few days ago, she was laying there and said "I see green light" to me when I finally went to get her (which means she was staring at the camera which has a green light on it). Other days, I'll walk in and she'll just stare through her crib at me and smile until I come closer. And then other days she'll proclaim that she's still sleeping, or that Grover/Telly/other animals in her bed are still sleeping. And on some days, she'll stand up and start clapping and proudly announce (and show) that her socks are on her hands (which is pretty impressive when I think back to the struggles of trying to put mittens on by myself as a child).

What's all of this mean? It means that our little girl is quite easily self entertained, but that doesn't stop us from feeling guilty for leaving her to her own devices for who knows how long. It also means she may not be sleeping for 12 hours since she could be doing all of this in the middle of the night too. Most importantly, it means that we're used to Kaylani being in her crib for 12 hours a night which allows us to watch TV, sleep, etc. And its that last part that might come back to bite us some day. But for now, we'll take what we can get because the way it is now means we're all happy, and we've got no guilt about that.

Speaking of happy, check out new pictures I posted in Kaylani's album. They're from the past month, and include a sneak peak at her Halloween costume. More to come from that! Happy Halloween!

Our Little Munchkin

2010-10-21T19:48:00.004-04:00

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Completely true in my case. The way to a little baby's heart? Not entirely that far off, at least not for Kaylani.

Our little munchkin has been eating solid food for a long time now (which means more than half her life). And while there are some foods she likes (pasta, mac and cheese, french fries), there's only one that gets you straight to her heart: Munchkins. Maybe its the fact that she only gets one every now and then (or more likely the fact that they're made of pure sugar), but every time she has one, she's happy as can be.

The good thing about munchkins are that they're free...if you have a cute little girl with you at least. And if that same cute girl says "munchkin please" (albeit quietly most of the time because she's "so shy"), you sometimes get 2 munchkins. Actually, maybe that's the bad thing about them, or at least part of the bad thing. They're so addicting/good that Kaylani has learned that morning stops with Papa are usually to a place that carries munchkins. Ok, so its more like she knows first stop is always to Dunkin Donuts, so much so that she even recognizes the logo and/or the location (either that or she can read). So who am I to say no to her when she screams from the car "Dunkin Donuts! Papa coffee. Munchkin please!"

Since Kaylani is still teetering between single and double digit weight percentiles, a munchkin here or there is probably a good thing. A little extra weight couldn't hurt, and really, how bad could a lot of extra sugar really be for you anyways? For right now, I don't mind it so much. If it keeps her happy, then it keeps me happy. Plus, its damn cute to watch her ask for and then eat it too. And as an added bonus, any time she gets 2, one is always "for Papa." So for now, its munchkins for both of us, and at the same time, its going straight to our hearts.

School is Cool!

2010-10-15T11:57:00.002-04:00

Obviously Kaylani is going to go in and out of a ton of phases in her life. In fact, just last week, she was in an "eat everything" phase, and as quickly as yesterday, she was back to her "all done no mama/papa" eating phase. Well one phase we hope she never gets out of is her "I like school" phase.

Monday will mark Kaylani's first day at a new school. For those of you following, you're probably confused since Kaylani was supposed to start school almost a month ago, but that's a story for another day (sidenote: for those living in the Mercer County area, do NOT send your child to The Learning Experience in Pennington). Anyways, Kaylani will go to school on Monday, which means we'll finally stop feeling bad every time she says "Kaylani go to school and see friends" or "Kaylani say hi friends!"

Its amazing how much Kaylani has learned from school. We're convinced she wouldn't be as social as she is right now had she never gone, and she might not even be talking as much as she is now if not for school. But regardless of how much she's learning, or how social she's becoming, or how often she might get sick (since schools are like "giant petri dishes of bacteria" according to Bat Bat), the most important thing is she likes it and she has fun.

Her new school is only a few minutes from home, and with my new longer commute to work, I probably won't get to take her there (or pick her up) very often. But the times I do, I'm looking forward to singing our school song together again! It goes something like this (and was stolen directly from Sid the Science Kid):

Me: I love my...
K: Papa!
Me: He is so...
K: Cool!
Me: But now its...
K: Time...
Me: To have fun at...
K: School!

Now that its Mama's turn to take her to school, we'll see how quickly the song gets turned back into the actual version from Sid with Mama in there instead of Papa. I've got a feeling that Kaylani won't give in too easily, but even if she does, school will still be cool which is all that matters!

Home Away From Home

2010-10-06T14:14:00.003-04:00

I used to get yelled at when I would call my hotel "home" when I was traveling, and I never really understood why. To me, "home" was where I was staying that night. "Home" was where I was when I wasn't at work. "Home" was where my stuff was and where I could catch a few hours of sleep. But now that I'm not a single traveling consultant anymore, my outlook on "home" has definitely changed.

Last week, Mommy and I went to Dallas for Jay and Ashley's wedding. When they first got engaged, our original plan was to bring Kaylani with us. But as things developed, that plan changed. For one, the wedding was at 7pm, which is right around her bedtime. Then, add in the small hotel room, the fact that there was a pool that Kaylani would have constantly wanted to be in, and of course the plane rides, and you get enough to make us sway on that decision. Throw in the part where we haven't had a weeked alone in 2 years, and then you understand why. But what was the real deciding factor was having Yin Yin and Yea Yea move 20 minutes away from us.

3 months ago, when Yin Yin and Yea Yea first decided to move down to central NJ, we were ecstatic because it meant we would have family nearby. We would have someone that we knew we could count on no matter what (in addition to our friends). We would be able to spend more time with them than just the hectic, packed visits to Boston 2 to 3 times/year (plus visits to NJ). But most importantly, Kaylani would get to spend more time with them on a regular basis, and have another place she could call "home."

Sure Mommy and I have loved having them here so we can sneak away for dinner, or for the night, or just have them help out during the day so we can take a break every now and then (or not cook dinner), but Kaylani is the one who really loves it. Its rare that a day goes by without her saying "I'm going Yin Yin Yea Yea house!" or "I play with Yin Yin Yea Yea" or "I see Emma" (which is the name of a doll we leave at their house). And if you didn't want to believe just what she says (which is a good idea since she makes stuff up a lot), you'd believe it just by seeing how happy she is when she's with them.

When we left her there Wednesday night (we flew out early Thursday morning), she said "Bye mama! Bye Papa! Mama Papa go to Dallas! Kaylani stay at Yin Yin Yea Yea home. Yes." There was no crying. No screaming. No protest. Maybe a little crying from Mommy since it was only the second time she was leaving her for more than 48 hours (and the first time was just to NYC), but for the most part, all was okay. And for the next 3 days, we talked to her on the phone to say hi and again to say good night (as best we could with "hi mama, hi papa" being mixed in with "its raining," "I play with Emma" and "I jumping").

And if the updates that she went to sleep fine, and that she said "mama papa in Dallas" after she asked for us, and that she got to see Sesame Street Live with her cousins, and her general happy tone of voice wasn't enough, we knew Kaylani was at her home away from home when we picked her up and got ready to leave on Sunday. We asked her if she was ready to go home, and she said "I want to stay at Yin Yin Yea Yea home!" Sure she finally came around and came with us, but from now on, she might as well just call both places "home," because in my book, "home" is now where you're surrounded by people you love and people who love you. And that's definitely both our home, and Yin Yin and Yea Yea's home.

Imagination Running Wild

2010-09-28T20:57:00.004-04:00

There's something about kids imaginations that is just mesmorizing. I can sit back and just watch Kaylani play endlessly...and I have. In fact, I've found myself running out the door to work instead of walking leisurely out on time (like this morning) because I got caught up watching her play. And I would totally do it time and time again.

I don't even know why we buy toys for Kaylani (or bring home donated/hand-me-down toys from friends) since she's entertained by the simplest of things. This mornings "toy" was a cup. A simple, hard plastic cup that I got over 10 years ago from a friend at Microsoft (which is completely irrelevant except I think he might possibly be in the spy business now...like Chuck). One second she's pretending to drink normally out of the cup. Next she's holding it over her mouth (and nose) and talking into her new "micro/megaphone." The next its a sock on her bare feet (which she finds hilarious). And lastly its a camera that she can hold as close to her face as possible and say "smile cheese" to while "taking a picture." All that with a cup. And all that within 10, highly entertaining (for both of us), minutes.

Seeing Kaylani play like that just brings me back to a simpler time. A time where everything you touched turned into so much more. A cup was 4 different things, a blanket 5. A box? An uncountable number of things! Those were the easy times. Times when I didn't have to worry about deadlines, income, budgets, social obligations, or to remember to bring my 2 Blackberrys, iPad, and computer with me to NYC (while forgetting an umbrella on a rainy day).

Sometimes I wish I could go back to the easy times. But then I look at Kaylani play and I realize I'm actually in best time after all. And I'm pretty sure its only going to get better, and that's not hard to imagine at all.

Talk her down

2010-09-25T20:09:00.000-04:00

See that picture up there? That's me. Early this morning. Very early. Was in Kaylani's room doing a late night visit trying to see what was going on. Here's what went down:

It was around 4am when we first heard her cries come through the monitor. As usual, we laid there listening for the first 5 minutes (which means Mommy was listening while I was still sleeping). After another 5 minutes of her crying while sitting with no slow down in sight, we took action. Its been awhile since we've had to go in Kaylani's room during the middle of the night (between 9mos and a year), so we were a little tentative on diverting from our usual "let her cry for 15 minutes to fall back asleep plan". But since we were at Yin Yin/Yea Yea's house, and she's been a little sicky, I went in. That's when the plan went from "check on her" to "talk her down".

After kneeling beside her and trying to calm her down for a minute (see picture above), we had the following conversation, which can also be found in any expert crisis negotiation handbook:

Me: Kaylani, are you okay?
Kaylani: *wahhhhh*
Me: Kaylani, why are you crying?
Kaylani: *wahhhhh*
Me: Kaylani, are you okay?
K: *wahhhh* yes *sniff sniff*
Me: Why are you crying?
K: *wahhhh*
Me: Are you tired?
K: Yes *sniff sniff*
Me: Do you want to lay down?
K: Yes *sniff sniff* (lays down while keeping her head up)
Me: Do you want Papa to sing for you?
K: Yes *sniff sniff* (head still up)
Me: Good night Kaylani well its time to sleep. Close your...
K: (lifts up a little) I want to wake up Mama
Me: No sweetie, Mama is sleeping
K: I want to wake up Yin Yin
Me: No sweetie, Yin Yin is sleeping
K: I want to wake up Yea Yea
Me; No sweetie, Yea Yea is sleeping. Do you want Papa to sing to you?
K: Yes (lays down a little again...head still up)
Me: Close your eyes don't make a peep. Rest your head and drift away. Tomorrow it will be time to play
K: I want to play with Yin Yin and Yea Yea
Me: You need to sleep Kaylani so you have energy to play tomorrow. Close your eyes and sleep. We'll play with Yin Yin and Yea Yea when you wake up tomorrow.
K: *wahhhhhh* Okay
Me: Put your head down and close your eyes
K: (puts head down) Okay
Me: Good night baby. I love you.
K: *wahhhh* *sniff sniff*
Me: (backing out of room) Good night Kaylani. Go to sleep. I love you!
K: *sniff sniff whine whine* zzzzzzzz

And that was that. Then I had to talk Mama back to sleep (and get her some crackers to hold over her hunger) before I could finally sleep myself. 2 hours later, we were up for the day. And so began another day in the life of "Papa: Expert Mid-Night Negotiator Extraordinaire!" Until next time...which hopefully will not be tonight.

An Attitude to Learn

2010-09-22T22:16:00.002-04:00

There are pros and cons to finding a new job, both of which I've experienced over the past month as I transitioned from Johnson & Johnson to Catalent. The pros are things like not being unemployed, supporting my family, and moving up in my career, all of which are summed up by Kaylani as "Papa go to work to make money yes" (still not sure why she adds "Yes" to most statements, but that's besides the point). The cons are things like starting over, a longer commute, and most recently, finding a new daycare/school for Kaylani.

For the past 6 months, Kaylani was happily enrolled at Bright Horizons which was part of my campus at J&J. And despite my (and Kaylani's teachers) pleas, there was no way to keep her there once I left (legally). So off we went to explore new schools, and in doing so, learned a lot ourselves.

Most importantly for us was a school that would not just watch Kaylani, but also socialize and teach her something each day...at a reasonable cost and within a reasonable commute. The last parts excluded a portion of the area schools for now, so we were focusing on the socialization and the teaching bit for the most part. While I can't say our search was exhaustive, we checked out 4 new schools within 15 minutes of home, or as Kaylani says it: "Kaylani check out NEW school" (not sure why she emphasizes NEW, but she does).

Out of the 4 schools, it came down to 2 real choices. The other 2 were too depressing to even go into detail about. Whether it was a lack of color inside, or depressing teachers, or small spaces, they were just not an option within minutes of seeing the place. Thankfully the other 2 were both good enough to save Kaylani from spending 4 hours at a depressing center for 3 days a week.

Besides the bright, happy environment/people, we paid attention to the lessons that were going to be taught, and there was one thing that one of the Directors said to me that really stuck in my head. She said that they try and teach with "positive redirection" when toddler/twaddlers/preschoolers seemingly have a little bit of an attitude. Not only did the "positive redirection" thing sound catchy (and like the name of a team on Glee), it also stuck because the whole attitude thing is precisely what we go through every day with Kaylani. In short, "positive redirection" is saying "you can play if you finish your food" instead of "if you don't finish your food, you can't play." At least that's how I interpreted the one example we were given. And by interpreted, I mean wrote here word for word as it was explained to me.

Anyways, since she learned to talk, we hear "no" almost every other minute. As she got better, it became "no mama/papa" or "no I do it." And, it then grew into "no I don't like it" or "no I don't want that" or "no you take that spoonful of food and shove it up your..." (ok that last one hasn't happened...yet). Basically, she's become an independent, stubborn (at times) girl all before the age of 23 months...which is what I feared from her at age 2 or ideally 3 and beyond (read: wayyy beyond).

Kaylani starts school on October 4th, and we couldn't be happier because this "positive redirection" hasn't worked so much for us the first couple of times we've tried it. Our attempts at "Kaylani, you can play if you finish your dinner" are still met with "no I don't like it. I don't want it" and the plate/spoon/hand being pushed away as she simultaneously buries her head into her chest/arm and does a fake cry/whine. Plus, its much easier to say "Kaylani, butt on the chair now" then it is to say "Kaylani, you can stand on the chair if you finish your dinner...but even then you can't stand on the chair because its dangerous and you'll fall down."

Ok, so I probably don't really know how this whole "positive redirection" thing is actually supposed to be done, but I do know the school does. Hopefully they'll be teach all of us soon because right now, Papa no like it!

Imagine if...

2010-09-17T19:20:00.011-04:00

You ever wonder what life would have been like if things were different? What could have been if you had just (insert regret here)? Or maybe you sit back and dream about what might be in the future? Lay there and imagine the infinite possibilities of what's to come? Well lately I've been doing both.

I haven't posted a single thing since 2009...which for those of you counting, is over 9 months ago. And before that, I logged a grand total of 39 posts between September to December, which is about 300 posts less than I did over the previous year. Pretty sad, and now looking back, I wonder what could have been. What would I have written on Kaylani's first day(s) of daycare? What about her first day at gym class, music class, or Sesame Place? The first wedding she attended? Her road trips to Boston, NYC, Philly, to the beach, or her trips to Puerto Rico and Beijing with her cousins? Or what about the first (and only) time she used the potty, or when she started talking in full sentences? Or when she started counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 6? Or maybe when she decided to change it to 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 instead?

All of these things and so much more happened in the last year and none of them were documented. Sure we've got pictures of all of these things, but after looking back at what this used to be, pictures just don't compare to a good old fashioned story telling blog.

So here we are, almost a year since my last "real" post. Kaylani is 6 weeks away from turning 2 years old, Daddy is 4 days away from starting a brand new job, and we're up to 4 people who have asked what happened to "The Daddy Diaries." I could give a million excuses on what went wrong (crazy job, lack of time, writers block, etc), but instead, I'll vow to pick things back up. I'm going back to the basics. Back to writing from the heart and about the things we're going through with Kaylani. Back to writing for Kaylani's sake, instead of for writings sake.

This blog was supposed to give us something to look back on and smile as we saw where we've come from and how we got to where we are. So that's what we're gonna do. You can just imagine what that's gonna be like.

Picture Summary

2009-12-19T21:02:00.004-05:00

According to my Picasa account, it's been 6 weeks since I've posted new pictures. In that 6 weeks, we've gone to Disney, seen Kaylani start walking, watched Kaylani make a complete mess out of spaghetti, went to our first holiday party of the year, bought a Christmas tree, and even saw our first snowfall! And of course, we've done so much more than that too that I can't even remember.

What I do remember is that I just posted a bunch of pictures to Kaylani's album today, so check them all out (they're in 3 separate albums). I've included a summary of our last 6 weeks below, but there are still more to come from Disney so stay tuned!

Christmas "shopping"

2009-12-18T10:34:00.000-05:00

I refuse to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, or "Black Friday" as they call it. It would probably be really beneficial to get everything done almost a month in advance of Christmas, but I just won't bring myself to do it. You'd think that sitting here now, 1 week before Christmas, with only 3 out of 30 presents bought, I'd reconsider or feel regret for not having gone on "Black Friday"...but I don't. Even if Christmas shopping has changed for me...forever.

A few years ago, I became an avid Amazon Christmas shopper. It was just easier. Amazon had most things I needed, and with free 2 day shipping on Prime, I was losing money by not shopping on Amazon. But no matter how easy Amazon made Christmas shopping, it just didn't feel like Christmas without a trip or three to the mall. Christmas was about walking around, looking at decorations, having coffee/hot cocoa, and walking out with a handful of shopping bags and feeling accomplished for getting everything you didn't/couldn't buy off of Amazon. That's what Christmas was.

Christmas shopping with a baby who has just learned to walk is nothing like Christmas shopping with a 6 week old in stroller or Christmas shopping without kids at all. It adds a whole new complexity to the existing mall/parking madness, sale crowds, and decision making. Now, we have to split up. One of us has to follow Kaylani around and pick her up every time she falls/sits on the disgusting public mall floors while the other tries to find something on our list. One of us has to entertain her and distract her so we can walk between stores with her in our arms instead of at a snails pace due to her tiny, newly walking legs. One of us has to give her snacks so she stays in lines with us instead of walking around and grabbing all types of things that she shouldn't be touching/breaking. And when that's all done, both of us need to rest.

We spent 3.5 hours at the mall last night and came out with 2 presents. 2. That's less than 1 an hour. And if you take out the hour we spent trying to feed Kaylani and eat dinner ourselves, its still less than 1 present an hour. Add in the fact that we left the mall around 8:30, or after Kaylani's bedtime/cranky period and you get 2 exhausted parents.

So this is Christmas shopping for the foreseeable future for us. Today Mommy will try and tackle the malls by herself with Kaylkani, and tonight we'll try and do the rest by Amazon. Maybe we won't have to make a dreaded trip to the mall the Sunday before Christmas. But if we do, at least now we know what we're up against. For some reason, I'm not sure that makes things any better...but at least it feels like Christmas. And when it comes down to it, its still the best Christmas ever.

Walker, Toddler Baby

2009-12-16T07:47:00.004-05:00

Remember last week when we got all excited that Kaylani walked 10 steps on her own? Well forget that! Now, she's walking 10 blocks on her own! Okay, maybe not 10 blocks yet, but she did take a nice stroll around the house last night. The pure excitement on her face when she walks is priceless. Sure it's a little nervewracking watching her walk near walls, corners, and bear traps, but it's still a pretty amazing thing to see her up on all 2's finally.

I've got to head to work now so it's up to Mommy to keep our new walking baby out of trouble today. For the rest of you, just sit back and relax and check out Kaylani's first walking video! And if you have a second, feel free to shoot Mommy your condolences as her life just got a bit more active with Kaylani!

The Kaylani Show

2009-12-15T08:08:00.001-05:00

Years ago, I used to wake up and immediately turn on the TV. Most of the times it was Sportscenter, but sometimes it was the news (lie), Saved By The Bell, or some other show that I should probably be ashamed of watching. Luckily, TV time in the morning has all but disappeared so I have nothing to be ashamed of. However, its been replaced by a 7" video monitor.

I've written a few times about how much we love our video monitor. It let's us know Kaylani is sleeping, or standing, or screaming just to scream instead of thinking something is wrong with her. But best of all, it let's me see her for a few minutes before I head off to work. Since Kaylani is sleeping anywhere from 11-13 hours at night, it means that my glimpse of her in the morning is usually of her sleeping, which is better than nothing at all. And on some days, like today, I get a real treat.

This morning, she started making noise around 7:20am. I was just about to hop in the shower when I heard her talking (to herself, her monkey, her dolls on the wall, or maybe her blanket). 10 minutes later, she was still talking. Not crying, not fussing, but just talking. Sitting in her crib, holding her blanket, and talking. Every few minutes she would stand up and look around. Then she'd sit down, rub her eyes, and lay back down...talking the whole time. Sometimes there would be a moment of silence and I'd think she was sleeping. But then she'd pop up and do it all over again.

Right now, she's standing up and holding her monkey over the edge and making monkey noises. I'm sure she's saying "come get me or I'll drop the monkey...and don't think I won't do it!" I've still got a little bit before I have to leave for work, so who am I to let the monkey drop. Time to catch the live version of the Kaylani show.

You're cut off

2009-12-11T20:11:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the night. For the first time in 13 months and 3 days, Kaylani has been cut off officially. Tonight, Kaylani went to bed without nursing. Last week, she went to bed without nursing, but that was more like passing out. Tonight, she "voluntarily" went to bed without nursing. And I had front row seats to see it all unfold.

The plan involved Mommy being out of the house for the entire bedtime routine. The thought behind this was that if Kaylani even saw her at any point, she'd freak out...more so. So after dinner, Mommy said good night as Kaylani and I went upstairs for bath time. To make sure she was nowhere close, she left completely to get some holiday shopping down around town. That meant it was just Daddy and Kaylani in the house at bedtime. Woah.

I had no idea what to expect besides a lot of crying. This was all new for all 3 of us, so the only thing we anticipated was a lot of crying. Bath time went well with only a little crying (but that was because she slipped in the tub and splashed water on her face). Getting dressed went by without any crying. We even got through Goodnight Gorilla and Hush Little Polar Bear without any crying. But when it was time to flick off the lights and close the door, with no Mommy in sight, Kaylani knew something was up.

When the lights went on, the tears and crying started. She wiggled, she squirmed, and did everything she could to get down so she could open the door and look for Mommy. She screamed louder in case Mommy was still somewhere within the neighborhood and could hear her. She pushed herself sideways in my arms to see if that was an easier way out. She even did the hands and arms over the head trick to see if she could slide out. But I had a good grip on her and was determined to get her sleepy in my arms.

After 10 minutes of swaying, bouncing, walking, and singing songs that I was making up on the spot ("good night sweetheart well its time to sleep. lay down your head and don't make a peep. Close your eyes and drift away. Tomorrow will be time to play"), she started rubbing her eyes more frequently and screaming a little bit less. As I got closer to the crib, she pushed away from me which meant it was time to put her down. This is where the nerves kicked in. Was she going to scream and cry for hours? Would sleep training work? Was it mean? Should I just give up and pick her up again? All questions that I didn't have the answer to.

After her standing up and me kissing her and laying her back down 5 times, I decided it was time to leave the room. After a check-in with Mommy to give her the update, I went back in after 5 minutes to comfort Kaylani a little bit. Fortunately she was still laying down (which was a good sign). After a few "shhhs" and a few rubs of her belly (which she pushed my hand away from...another good sign), I kissed her on the forehead and left the room again. The next 6 minutes were agonizing as I stared at the monitor and listened to her cry while pulling at her ears...but still laying down. And then it happened. At 7 minutes. Silence.

She was quiet. She was laying on her side, with both arms on her left ear, but she was quiet. At the next "check-in" 3 minutes later, I didn't even go in because she was definitely asleep. Hands still on her ear, but definitely asleep. That was it. I survived. No, WE survived. And after texting Mommy to let her know, she responded with "I can breathe again!" Truer words were never spoken.

So night one of no nursing went relatively well. 13 minutes of crying in her crib plus 10 in my arm before that? Not too bad. Could've been a lot worse. Funny enough, yesterday she cried for 35+ minutes...and that was just a normal bedtime WITH nursing. Maybe this whole non-nursing thing isn't going to be so bad. In fact, I'm thinking it's going to be a real good thing. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes first.

And speaking of the weekend, for the first time in a LONG time, happy Fatherhood Friday! Don't forget to check out the other posts at Dad-Blogs. Even though I haven't written for them in a long time, they're still there going strong and doing great, so head on over! That's where I'm going now too.

Holy Cow(seat)!

2009-12-10T19:53:00.000-05:00

At Kaylani's 1 year doctor appointment, she weighed in at a whopping 17lbs (2nd percentile) and 29". While she's technically underweight, she's completely healthy. Other than recommending we try to fatten her up a bit with yogurt, lard, and butter soaked yogurt with lard (kidding), they said she was fine and to keep doing what we're doing since she actually eats a lot. Both Mommy and me were (and still are...kinda) both "skinny", so its possible she just picked up our metabolism. While not a bad thing, it does mean that we didn't get the green light to flip her around in her carseat yet.

Kaylani actually doesn't mind facing backwards. She goes in alright, stares at us through her jungle mirror, plays with her toys (or shoes and socks), and looks out the window. She even falls asleep just fine still when we drive her around. The only problem is that she was getting too long for her infant carseat, which meant her legs were pushing up against the seat. Since we had already bought her convertible carseat, we figured we'd at least install that, even if it was backwards.

We bought a Britax Marathon carseat in none other than the Cowmooflage pattern. It installed just fine, with the super convenient latch system. It's definitely bigger than her old one, but Kaylani seems to like this one too. But for us, there are 2 main problems. First problem is that there's no longer a shade over her head. Since it sits up straighter, that also means that light can get in from both sides. And with a shade only on her window, she gets blinded whenever the sun is on her left. I'm thinking we need to buy another shade, because its getting difficult to find routes where the sun doesn't shine on the left side.

The other problem is that the cowseat is anchored into the car. Gone are the days of having her pass out on the way home from somewhere and easily transferring her into the house in her carseat. Instead, we play a game of chance to see if she'll stay asleep when we pick her up. And like gambling, or the lottery, our luck (and our chances) aren't good.

The cowseat says we shouldn't turn her around to face forward until she hits 20lbs. At the pace Kaylani's going, we'll be able to turn her around when she turns 2, if not a little later. Maybe she fattened up a little bit while we were at Disney (I know I did) and we'll be able to turn her around sooner. It's supposed to make a big difference for her since she'll actually be able to see where we're going. But since backwards facing car seats are safer for her, she'll just have to deal for now. And if she doesn't like it, well then she better start gulping down her butter soaked yogurt with lard. At least, that's what my advice would be.

The End Is Near...

2009-12-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

So the time has finally come. What we thought might have happened at 6 months, 9 months, and then at a year, has finally come. It's been 13 months in the waiting, and now our wait is no more. The only problem is, we have no idea what to do. We have no idea how to do it. And we have no idea if it's going to work.

This weekend, Kaylani is going to go to bed without nursing...for the rest of her life. To this day, it's only happened once, and that was 3 days ago in Orlando and it was only because Kaylani passed out on the bus ride home. She was so tired that she let us change her clothes and transfer her into her pack and play without even waking up. Something tells me that this weekend will be nothing like that.

Kaylani's pediatrician recommends that Mommy nurses Kaylani for as long as she can, but with Kaylani having 6+ teeth now, nursing has become far from enjoyable. We actually meant for Kaylani to stop nursing right at her one year birthday, but with guests, holidays, and vacation, the right time never came about. This weekend though, is the right time. This weekend is the first weekend we've had home without distractions for almost a month. This weekend is when I can be around to put Kaylani to sleep without Mommy. This weekend is it. So...what now?

My gut feeling is that this isn't going to go well. Kaylani is going to cry. She's going to scream. She's going to figure out that it's just me and her reading a book. She's going to realize something is up when she's drinking her bottle with me instead of nursing from Mommy. She's going to find it odd that she's brushing her teeth after her bottle instead of right after bathtime like normal. And most of all, she's going to freak out when Mommy kisses her on the head and then leaves just the two of us in the room.

It might not be that different from sleep training I guess, except this time she might not be drowsy, but not asleep. This time, she'll be on alert, and when I put her in her crib, it'll kick in that she didn't nurse. Hopefully we can do 5 min, then 10 min more, then 15 min more without giving in and sending Mommy in to nurse. Hopefully that's all it takes, because if it goes on longer, who knows what we'll be able to do. And then, let's just hope that we don't have to go through it for several days/weeks in a row.

So D-Day is 2 days away from now. Any suggestions? Or better yet, anyone want to come babysit while Mommy and Daddy leave the house? No? Just us? Alright, well then I guess we'll see what happens! Wish us luck!

Disney Characters: Friendly or Scary?

2009-12-08T16:13:00.001-05:00

When we first got to Orlando, Tio Carlitos and Titi Briseida bought Kaylani an autograph book so that all the characters in the park could sign it for her. Being her first (interactive) trip to Disney, we thought it'd be great to wait in line for a picture and a signature. What we didn't know was how Kaylani would react.

In each line, Primitos Alisha and Rohan would go first and get an autograph, a picture, and give a high five or two to whoever it was we ran into. They got pictures and autographs from Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Daisy, Lilo, Stitch, and Buzz Lightyear (maybe a few more too). And for each one of those, they had a blast. But when they were done, it was Kaylani's turn.

Kaylani got all of the autographs, which really means that me or Tio Pritesh went to ask for an autograph which didn't feel weird at all. In fact, we both gave a few high fives, got a few hugs, and even snapped a few pictures. And for most of those, Kaylani was right there with us...kinda. Let's say she was in the general vicinity of them and us. A few of them, she was right next to us. And for those few, she screamed, cried, and dug her claws into my arm for fear that one of them might take her away from us. Little did she know that the characters could barely hold a pen, let alone a squirming, crying baby.

After a few of these episodes, we learned our lesson and let Kaylani admire them from afar. Sometimes, we'd distract her and snap a picture with the characters behind her. Other times we let her cry for the picture so she could see how much she enjoyed them when she grows up. And other times, we just let Tio Pritesh get a 3rd autograph for her while we walked around outside the greerting spots.

To be fair, Kaylani was not the only one to act like this. In fact, there were a ton of older kids who were just as afraid of the characters. So, are Disney characters friendly or scary? Right now, I think the answer is scary. We'll see what happens next visit...whenever that is.

In the blink of an eye

2009-12-08T11:29:00.001-05:00

You can't avoid sleep. No matter how hard you try, its going to catch up to you. And when it comes to kids, it happens in the blink of an eye.

2 things I learned during our vacation in Florida: 1) Sleep training works, and 2) Kaylani will sleep anywhere if she's tired. I knew sleep training works from our experience at home, but we've never tried it out before. And I knew Kaylani would sleep anywhere, but had only considered anywhere as her stroller or her pack and play. Florida changed everything.

The first night we got here, Kaylani had been awake since 5:30am and took only a 15 minute nap before we got to the hotel. When we finally got her in her pack and play at 9:30pm, we knew it wasn't for the night. And instead of picking her up at midnight, changing her, nursing her, etc, we went for the training. After 5 minutes, I went in and laid her down 3 times (she always stands). 10 more minutes and I did it again. After 15 more minutes, she was down and out, and stayed that way until 7am. The next 4 nights she slept straight through no matter if we put her to bed at 9:30 or 11pm. Sleep training works (as long as everyone with you is okay with the crying for 30 minutes).

It also helps that Kaylani sleeps anywhere. She took at least 1 nap each day in her stroller, and usually another one on Mommy on a bus. But what we found out was that if Kaylani's tired, she'll sleep anywhere. Right now, she's asleep on Mommy on the bus to the airport. 2 days ago, she was asleep on me in the park. 3 days ago she was asleep on Mommy on the bus again. And the tell tale sign was her blinking. Even Primitos Alisha and Rohan gave the sign. They all sit there, straring straight ahead, and blink. They blink and bob their head as they fight a losing battle against sleep. Sometimes they get another burst of energy, but more often than not, they pass out.

Maybe things will all be different when we leave the Disney Magic behind us and get home. In fact, I know they will because Kaylani is going back to her 7 or 8pm bedtime for sure. But what I also know is that we'll be sleep training Kaylani on the first night wherever we go...Disney Magic or not

Disney Adventures

2009-12-07T13:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we wrapped up our 3 day Disney park adventure with a character breakfast at O'hana's in the Polynesian, and then a trip to Epcot. And both events were memorable, but probably not for the reasons you might think.

The character breakfast was a family style serving of eggs, biscuits, sausage, bacon, potato wedges, and of course, Mickey shaped waffles. Most of the tables were filled with people and cameras ready to snap pictures of Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch, and of each other. Most of them were normal families enjoying Disney magic. Most of them...but not all of them. One family was ready for a lot more, and lucky for us, they were seated right next to us.

This one table was filled with about 16 teenage Columbian girls who clearly were at Disney for the very first time. They didn't just wait for the characters to come to their table, they went after them. And when they got them, they hung on to them. They lined up for multiple pictures and poses each. They screamed like the Beatles just arrived in Japan. They clung to them like they were magnetically drawn to each other. But thatl wasn't the weird part. That, I actually consider fairly normal for Disney. Taking pictures of CHARACTERS is normal.

Apparently, Kaylani was a character. 2 of the girls came over and asked if they could take a picture of our "pretty son" (who was dressed in all pink and a Minnie Mouse dress by the way). After saying yes (awkwardly), the rest of the table looked to see what the commotion was and proceeded to "aww" and "ahhh" over Kaylani. For a while, I thought they were going to line up for pictures, but then Mickey came out and they were gone.

Next came Epcot. We saw Nemo, Innoventions, Simba, and all of the countries in the World Showcase. Normally there's not much excitement in the countries, but Germany provided some. While Tio Pritesh and I were grabbing a beer, Mommy was getting asked a very odd question: "Is your baby adopted?"

Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with adoption, and in fact, Mommy would love to adopt a baby in the future, but that's not the point. The fact that Kaylani does look a lot like me also doesn't matter. The odd part is that it was a complete stranger. Overall, it's just a weird question to ask. Should I go up to someone and ask if that's the mailman's daughter? Or ask if someone's spouse is ugly? Or maybe even if a person was artificially insemenated? While none of them are technically inappropriate (maybe the mailman one), but you still shouldn't ask a stranger any of those.

Anyways, today we're taking it easy with a trip to the pool and to Downtown Disney for some shopping and food. Kaylani's about to wake up from her nap, so back to vacation I go. Let's hope there's not quite as much excitement today!

Who says things change?

2009-12-04T11:38:00.001-05:00

Almost a year ago, we came to Disney. Back then, Kaylani was 8 weeks old and spent the entire time in a Bjorn, her stroler, or in Mommy's Maya Wrap. She didn't see anything and she likely didn't pay attention to anything. Well here we are, almost one year later, and its like deja vu all over again.

Right now, we're at Animal Kingdom. If you've never been, Animal Kingdom has all types of exotic animals, a Finding Nemo and Lion King show, and all your favorite characters dressed up in safari gear. It's chock full of fun for everyone. Everyone but Kaylani I guess.

Instead of taking part in all the excitement, Kaylani is sleeping in her stroller. In fact, she's so tired (even though she slept 11 hours last night and only woke up once for 25 minutes), she practuically fell asleep on the bus ride over. Don't get me wrong, imn actually really happy that Kaylani is sleeping. In fact, we had planned most of our day around Kaylani NOT sleeping, which means we have a ton of toys and snacks to keep her busy. But since she's sleeping, our day looks like we might have caught a bit of luck.

Luck is definitely something we need in Disney, and not something I thought we were going to get. Forecast for the next 2 days is mid-60s and 80% chance of rain. All my thoughts that the 80% would just be a passing Florida shower quickly ended when it started pouring the second we entered our card and had the Disney machine take our fingerprint like we were common (yet fancy) criminals.

But the rain doesn't matter since Kaylani's sleeping. The rain ponchos Abuelo bought all of us make the rain not matter also. The umbrella I have (because I'm too cool for a poncho) makes it matter even less too. And the fact that I'm writing this post under an awning while rocking Kaylani back and forth with my elbow or foot definitely doesn't matter. She's sleeping. And that's all that matters.

When she wakes up, we'll show her some real Disney magic. Disney magic in the form of characters, rides, and turkey legs hopefully covered under our Disney dining plan. That's when things will be different. Last year, Kaylani was about the same size as the turkey leg. This year, she'll help me eat it (even though she's still pretty much the same size as the turkey leg).

Who doesn't need a walker?

2009-12-03T22:24:00.001-05:00

We've been holding Kaylani's hand as she learns new things (literally). But now, I think it's time to cut her loose. It's time to let her run free. It's time she learns to stand on her own two feet. And if anyone knows me, you know that I never plan on letting her run free without me nearby. But now, I have no other choice because we've got ourselves an independent walker!

Her first step or two on her own actually happened the day after Thanksgiving. Unlike me, Kaylani wasn't too full to walk for a few days after eating 2 Thanksgiving meals. So up at Yin Yin and Yea Yea's, she cruised to the end of the couch and took two wobbly steps over to me. That was big. In fact, it was huge! But looking back, it was nothing. Nothing compared to today that is!

We arrived at Orlando International and were waiting for the Disney Magical Express to wisk us away to our magical Disney adventure. And since everything Disney related requires a minimum 10 minute wait, we had some time on our hands. And since Kaylani just spent 3 (well behaved) hours on a plane, she wanted to do nothing but hold my finger and walk around. But this time, she let go. She let go and she walked over to Mommy. She walked over to Mommy who was 5 steps away!

So for the next 10 minutes, Kaylani walked back and forth between us all by herself. She made it a full 10 steps to me before she fell down as I kept backing up. To prove she wasn't a one hit wonder, she did it again and again later on at the resort. She still can't make it much past 10 steps, and she still needs a little bit of a ramp up period sometimes, and she still falls on her butt and gets confused, but she's definitely a walker now.

It's great to have Kaylani walking. Sure we might regret it when she's running circles around us, but for now, its another amazing milestone that Kaylani has reached. Now, the only question is whether or not Kaylani learning how to walk right before we spend 5 days in Disney is a good thing, or a really, really bad thing. I'm guessing both...

Sleeping Like a Baby

2009-11-21T06:46:00.002-05:00

Math quiz! If I went to sleep 3 hours after my 1 year old does, and woke up 2 hours before she did, how many hours could I sleep? I'm sure the answer would vary greatly for most people with a 1 year old (or any infant/baby/toddler for that matter). For me, the answer is 7. I could get 7 hours of sleep if I went to sleep 3 hours after her, and woke up 2 hours before her. That's how many hours I could get (at least). The real answer is 5. I get 5 hours of sleep each night. So the real question isn't how many hours could I get, but why don't I?

Most people I know would kill for 7 hours of sleep a night (especially parents). They would sign a contract right now signing over their first born for 7 hours of sleep, especially if it was their first born that was making that task impossible. But for me, 7 hours of sleep is apparently too much. In fact, if you did the real math, you would have figured out that I could actually get 12 hours of sleep if I went to bed at the same time as Kaylani, and woke up at the same time as her too (that would of course mean I went to bed at 7pm and woke up at 7am, but that's besides the point). So what's wrong with me? Why am I throwing away anywhere from 2-7 hours of sleep each night? And the other question some parents have asked me is, where do I get this wonderful drug that I give Kaylani each night?

The answer to the second question is easy...Target. Just kidding, I don't give her any drugs (except Infants' Tylenol...but only when she's teething, sick~~, or tired~~). The answer to the first question is harder...because I really have no idea. I've been given the gift of sleep and I've chosen to return it for what amounts to unusable store credit. For all her life, Kaylani has been a great sleeper. Whether it was only waking up every 3-4 hours when she was born, to sleeping 11-12 hours straight through now, she's been better than I could have ever imagined. The problem is that for all my life, I've never been a good sleeper.

I'm what you could call a morning and a night person. I'll wake up at 5 or 6am, and could still be going strong at 2am or 3am (sure helped me get through college...and by get through, I mean stay up and play video games while watching TV). I could be up and at the gym (back when I used to go to the gym) at 5am and then close down a bar at 2am. Or more appropriately now, I could be up at 5am checking email and surfing the web, and still up at 11pm checking email and finishing up some work. Something I figured out about 10 years ago was that I just don't need sleep.

For years, I thought that the phrase "sleeping like a baby" was a bunch of BS. Sure they look like Angels when they're quiet and laying there, but it only lasts for a few minutes or hours at a time. And if that were true, then you could say that I used to sleep like a baby. But now that I have Kaylani, the phrase makes a lot more sense to me. I only wish I could really sleep like a baby too.

Stick a fork in it...it's done

2009-11-17T07:42:00.001-05:00

What to eat? No problem. We'll feed her anything we're eating. When to eat? Got it. Normal times, with snacks and milk in between. Where to eat? Any highchair will do (any highchair out of the house will do even better). How to eat? Well that depends on the what, when, and where...or her mood.

How to eat is our biggest food related challenge these days. It used to be much simpler. We used to be able to grab a spoon or fork and feed her ourselves. We used to be able to get her to open her mouth and eat when we put the spoon or fork near her mouth. We used to be able to get her to eat a whole meal using just that spoon or fork. We used to not have to say "used to" so much.

A few weeks ago, Kaylani figured out how to feed herself using a spoon or fork. We'd put food on for her, hand it to her, and watch as she ate it all by herself. Then, she'd hand it back to us for more. Sure that was much more work than just feeding her ourselves, but she was eating, she was happy, and she was cooperative. Now, she has taken things to a whole new level. Now, she doesn't want to just feed herself. She doesn't want us to feed her. She doesn't want our help at all. She just turned 1, and now she's completely independent.

Apparently, Kaylani is a pro at feeding herself. She can stab food with her fork, or scoop it up with her spoon, and put it in her mouth all by herself. Wait, I think I forgot to put "thinks she can" in that sentence. I mean, in all fairness, she can do it....every now and then. And if we wanted meal times to last 5 hours instead of 45 minutes, we're sure she could stab or scoop an entire bowl of pasta/fruit/chicken and eat it all by herself. But since we'd prefer to not have her spend entire days stuck in her highchair (well, most of the time), we try to help her eat. The problem is independent Kaylani doesn't want help.

Instead of handing us back her utensil after a few failed attempts at gathering food, she'll clutch it even tighter and move away from us. She'll turn, squirm, put her hand and utensil at her side under the tray, all in an effort to keep it away from us if we try to help her. Then when we back off, she'll go back to pushing her food around the bowl or tray with the fork or spoon.

Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that Kaylani is learning to use her fork and spoon, and I can't wait until she actually masters her hand-eye coordination enough to feed herself. As soon as she's ready, I'm going to give her a knife and let her cut her own food. Heck, might even let her cook for herself too. Might as well since she's a pro at taking pots and pans out of the cabinet already! By the way, in case anyone from child services is reading, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't give her a knife until she turned 2.

When all is said and done, the main thing is that she's eating. After awhile, and if we ask nice enough, she'll let us feed her again, or at least let us guide her hand to help her stab her food. The scary thing is that this is her being independent at age 1. God help me when she's 2, 12, or 22. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go double my blood pressure medication.

Monkey Business

2009-11-13T19:00:00.001-05:00

One of the best parts of my morning is going to get Kaylani out of her crib. Most parents would probably say its the worst part since that usually happens around 5 or 6 am, but since Kaylani's a great sleeper, its usually around 7:15. Waking up and getting her actually isn't the best part. Seeing what she does is.

Some mornings, Kaylani will start talking around 6am, but that doesn't mean she's done sleeping. Most days, she'll fall back asleep for another hour before we know she's done. And how do we know she's done? We know when we look over at her monitor and see her standing there, staring at the door. That's when she's done (or when she screams at us while she's standing there).

But here comes the best part. After going downstairs to get her milk (she's been drinking whole milk for about a month now), I come back up and knock lightly on her door before going in (not because I want to respect her privacy, but so she doesn't freak out and fall over). After she says "papa" (or "mama" on certain days), I turn off her humidifier, turn on a light, and open her blinds. All this time she stands there and watches and listens to me do this. Then comes the best part.

When I walk towards her, she gets down, crawls over to her bedtime monkey, picks it up, stands up, and hands it to me. No idea why, but apparently she thinks its her get out of crib card. Its the best thing ever, and it happens every morning. In fact, it even happens after some of her naps in the pack and play, but instead of bedtime monkey, she hands over naptime doll.

On the days when we don't get her quick enough, we usually find monkey on the floor. Those are the bad days. So to sum up, Kaylani is highly correlated to monkey business, and that's something that is likely to hold for quite awhile I'm afraid.

Happy Birthday Kaylani!!

2009-11-08T20:18:00.007-05:00

One year. In my life, one year is nothing. It's only 3% of my entire life, but for Kaylani, today it officially marks 100% of her life. She's one. I have a one year old. Just one year ago, I was writing about how I had a 1 hour old. And here I am now writing about how I have a one year old. Crazy.

What a trip it's been, and I mean that in the best way possible. We've had some hard times when Kaylani wasn't sleeping, or when she was sick, or when we were sick, but for the better part of this year, it's been absolutely great. Kaylani's grown up happy, healthy, and quickly, and so have Mommy and Daddy. Most people talk about how they survived the first year. We didn't just survive...we survived and had a blast doing it. And to celebrate Kaylani's first year, we had ourselves quite the weekend.

If you've been reading along, you already know that we've celebrated every one of Kaylani's monthly birthdays since the day she was born. So it really shouldn't surprise you that for her official one year birthday, we'd have not one, but two celebrations! Yesterday was the first, and I'd say it was pretty good. We invited over all of Kaylani's friends and were glad that most of them could make it. We even invited over our family, and they all did their best to make it too. Yin Yin, Yea Yea, Bat Bat, Auntie Shannon, Connor, and Zoe were here, and so were Titi Glendalys, Abuela, Alisha, and Rohan! Add to that 7 more of Kaylani's friends, their parents, and Padrino Tim and Meredith, and you have yourselves one rocking one year old party!

Not only did Kaylani get a ton of great presents, but she also got her own cake! We bought a 1/2 sheet cake for all the guests, and knew it was going to be way too much. Our actual thought was that Kaylani would dig her hands into the entire cake, and whatever was left, we would serve. Little did we know that Kayalni would (unwillingly) put her hand in the cake, then freak out. Who knew my little girl would be a neat freak?

To top off her birthday weekend, we went to the farm on an unseasonal 70 degree day (in November??) for some pizza, animals, and tractors, then came home to have dinner and more cake. This time, Kaylani got her very own cupcake which she made a bigger mess with. Maybe she was just shy with 20+ people staring at her messy hand because tonight, she had no problems ripping apart a cupcake and eating it too.

Anyways, now Kaylani is sound asleep, and hopefully will stay sound asleep even though she's had a ton of cake and cupcake in the last 24 hours. There was so much more than went on this weekend (like her teacher from Music Together coming to put on a show, and a pinata, and everything else), but I don't need to write about that. Instead, you can check out the 130 pictures I just posted. Only 100 of them are from her birthday. The other 30 are from the couple of days before her birthday, so check them out. And if you want to see a video of Kaylani and her cupcake tonight, check out YouTube (or just scroll down!)

Let's hope that Kaylani's 2nd year is just as good as her first. And if the first was any indication, then I think we're all gonna be just fine. Happy Birthday Kaylani!!! We love you!

Trick and Treat!

2009-11-01T19:37:00.002-05:00

So today's the first day of November. It's also the day after Halloween. And it's also exactly one week before Kaylani's 1st birthday. Oh, and it's also the day after we had to set our clocks back an hour for daylight savings. That's a pretty busy day if you ask me, and we haven't even gotten into the details yet.

In the spirit of Halloween, I'm going to do a little version of trick or treat, but instead of the OR, I'm going to do trick AND treat. You see, the trick is that it looks like I'm going to write a real post for a change...but I'm not. The treat is that I've posted over 125 new pictures in 2 albums (updated the PR Week 50, and added weeks 51 and 52). It's definitely a treat because there are a ton of great pictures from Mommy and Kaylani's trip to Puerto Rico, our family trip to the farm, and also Halloween! If you haven't figured it out yet, Kaylani was Nemo (and yes, we know Nemo is a boy but who could pass up on a giant fluffy fish costume). We thought it'd be perfect for a cold October day, so who knew it'd be 70+ degrees and Kaylani would be sweating every time we put her in!

Anyways, check out her latest albums and enjoy the pictures. As an added treat, here's a video of Kaylani crawling in her Nemo costume. Priceless! Man, I love Halloween...for babies. Stay tuned for more posts to come (trust me, I've got a lot of stuff to write about...like shoes in the car, standing, kitchen safety, birthday preparations, and milk)! All that and more, coming soon to a blog right here.

No Time

2009-10-27T18:32:00.002-04:00

Time is something most people can't get enough of. Whether its more time to work, play, or sleep, you could always use more time. Unfortunately, lately I haven't had enough time to do any of those 3, and that's a problem.

Ever since Mommy and Kaylani got back from PR, my time has been taken up. Unfortunately for all 3 of us, not nearly enough time was taken up by the 3 of us. Most of my time has been taken up by work. Whether its having to leave for work before Kaylani wakes up, or getting home after Kaylani goes to bed, it all means that my time with her has been limited. Add working after I get home to that, and that means my time with Mommy has also been limited.

To make matters worse, its Yankees playoffs time, which means any "free" second I have I'm also trying to watch the game on TV (or in person if its at home). There's clearly a priority issue there, but to me, that's a short term issue because baseball goes away in less than 2 weeks.

What it all comes down to is that there's just not enough time to go around right now, but I'm trying to make the best of it. Kaylani and Mommy have been great at sticking with me as I try to juggle all my hours, so I'm thankful that they're understanding (they'll be more thankful when baseball goes away). Its important to me to find time for them, so I vow to do that starting now. I also vow to start blogging more again because that's an important thing too.

What I'm trying to say is I'm going to find time for everything. Some way, some how, time will not be an excuse. But if anyone knows how to stop or extend time, I'm all ears!

Adjusting to Home

2009-10-18T20:42:00.004-04:00

They're back! Finally, my girls are home! At around 7pm, I saw both my girls for the first time in over a week. You know that person who stands outside security impatiently waiting to catch the first glimpse of the person(s) they're waiting for and is pacing around and craning their neck over people? Yeah, that was me. Noone ever wants to be "that person", but whatever, it was worth it.

Unfortunately for me, my excitement didn't quite translate over to Kaylani. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually cracked a small smile. And when I took her out of her stroller, it took her another minute or so to stop trying to go to Mommy, and then another minute to stop trying to cry (never really a full cry, just looked like she was going to). It was kinda sad to not be "wanted" by my baby, but in her defense, she's sick right now.

Poor Kaylani got sick on her last day in Puerto Rico. She woke up this morning with a runny nose and a phlegmy cough. Maybe she caught it because she stayed up late to watch the Yankees win in 13 innings (oh wait, that was me). Either way, sick Kaylani, traveling Kaylani, and "new" place Kaylani don't all go together. After a 30 minute nap on the ride home and a yogurt for dinner, she finally seemed to really remember me during storytime/bedtime. I even got a kiss blown to me during good night, and a smile from her before she started to nurse.

Tomorrow's another day and I'm sure we'll be back to normal. Sure wish I didn't have to work, but once I get back, it's Daddy-Daughter time. Hopefully she won't be sick anymore. But if she is, we'll make it work. Whatever she is, she's home, and that's all that matters to me.

20 Pictures = 20,000 Words

2009-10-17T17:39:00.003-04:00

If one picture is worth 1,000 words, then 20 pictures is 20,000 words. So instead of trying to type up 20,000 words, I've decided to just post the 20 pictures that Mommy and Kaylani have been sending me every day from PR for the last week. Tomorrow, my girls come home and I can't wait. So until they get here and I can start taking pictures myself, here are pictures from Kaylani's week in PR. I bet you can feel the heat just from looking through them! And for all of you going through the start of winter right now...try not to be too jealous!

Phone Home

2009-10-15T20:12:00.001-04:00

This week has been a particularly rough week for me without Kaylani and Mommy. Luckily, work has kept me so busy that I've barely had a chance to think about anything else (did I really just say luckily about that?). A better luckily usage would be for the phone.

To keep in touch with my family, we try to talk on the phone 2x a day (morning and night). Usually its just Mommy and me talking about our plans for the day (either future or past depending on the day). But a few times, I'll "talk" to Kaylani too. With Papa on speakerphone, I can say hi, good morning, I love you, or anything else to my little girl so she doesn't forget about me. According to Mommy, her expression is priceless.

For the first minute or so, Kaylani stares at the phone looking very confused. Sure she can hear my familiar voice and callings, but where the heck is he and why is it coming out of that glowing box is what she's thinking. The next few minutes are her saying Papa back to me, or squealing in delight that she can hear my voice. The last couple of minutes are squeals of frustration when Mommy doesn't let her hold the phone (or drool on it).

Luckily, we only have a few more days that we have to live through a phone distance relationship. Sunday, Mommy and Kaylani come home and we can be a family again. Then, Kaylani can stare right at me and wonder what I'm saying instead of at a phone. Can't wait!

It's that time of the year...

2009-10-12T20:46:00.003-04:00

I don't cry much. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a tough guy in any sense of the word. And most people would probably even call me sensitive, but I don't cry much. On average, I probably cry once a year...twice tops if it's a big year. That's not to say I don't well up when I watch a sappy movie or when I got married, but it's still different then crying. Well yesterday, I guess it was just that time of the year because I cried.

We got to the airport around 8am, well before Mommy and Kaylani's 9:40am flight. The original plan was to check-in, and then grab breakfast before they headed through security. The problem with our plan was that at the Philly airport, or at least in our terminal, there was no place for breakfast outside of security. And since Kaylani was up at 6:30am (against her will) and needed to have breakfast, that meant it was time to say goodbye, about an hour before our original plan.

As I watched Mommy get things ready to go through security, including taking out plastic bags of liquids/food, DVD players, shoes for both her and Kaylani, I started to well up a little bit. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it was just a lot of emotion going through me. Only 5 minutes before that I gave Kaylani a big hug and a kiss, had her blow a kiss back at me and touch my nose, and then gave Mommy a hug and a kiss too. And as I was standing there watching them slowly go through the gate, I started to cry.

I couldn't believe I was crying because it wasn't an emotion that I've ever had to deal with before. It wasn't a situation I've ever had to deal with before. It was something completely different and I just wasn't prepared for it. As soon as they disappeared from site, I started to walk back towards my car and fought to hide my tears. Luckily I didn't walk by anyone because I probably looked a little ridiculous walking alone, holding Kaylani's jacket, and crying.

When I got to the car, I lost it. I sat there for 3 minutes in a complete breakdown. I finally regained my composure, wiped away my tears, and started the car. The rest of the day I spent trying to distract myself. I read the rest of my book that I picked up on the way to Boston earlier in the week. I went to a bar and watched the Red Sox lose, the Giants win, and eventually, the Yankees win too. I did everything I could to distract myself, but nothing helped me from feeling empty inside.

Looking back, I can understand why the emotion came out so strongly. Sure I've gone a few days without seeing Kaylani, but I've never had to say bye before doing so. Usually it's leaving for work before she wakes up, and getting home after she goes to sleep, but I know that it's only for a day or two. When I went to Boston, it was the same, where I left in the morning like normal, and came back 2 nights later as if she just slept through my night and morning. This time, I was saying bye. I was watching her (and Mommy) walk away from me, which is a much harder thing to do, and not something that I'd like to happen often.

Last night, I laid alone in my bed in the dark. There was no glow coming from Kaylani's video monitor. There was no sound coming from Kaylani's audio monitor. There was no one in the room except me. Needless to say, it was lonely. Tonight, it's more of the same. I stayed a little later at work. I had dinner by myself. And now I'm staring mindlessly at the TV at a game that I have little interest in. Mommy and Kaylani are having a great time in Puerto Rico and I did get to speak to her a little bit too, or at least hear her say "Papa" a few times which is enough to hold me over.

It's just the start of the week, but soon enough I'll get to see them again. You never know what you miss until it's gone. Luckily for me, what I miss is coming back in 5 days. 5 days that couldn't come soon enough if you ask me. In the meantime, anyone need a Dad? I'm available.

The week ahead...

2009-10-10T18:49:00.002-04:00

Tonight is Kaylani's last night at home for a week. It's also Mommy's last night at home for a week. It is NOT Daddy's last night at home for a week. That's right, Mommy and Kaylani are headed to Puerto Rico for Mayra Lee's wedding, and unfortunately Daddy can't take time off since he just started a new job 2 weeks ago.

The fact that Daddy will be alone at home for a week is the obvious part. The fact that Mommy and Kaylani will be on their own (with Abuelita) in Puerto Rico is also obvious. What may not be obvious is that the most nervewracking part of all of this comes tomorrow at 9:20am. That's when Mommy and Kaylani take off from Philly...on their first flight alone. Kaylani's been on a plane two other times, with the last also being to Puerto Rico back in March, but things were different back then. Back then, Kaylani was only 5 months old. Back then, Kaylani couldn't sit up, could barely grab things, and was nursing for her primary source of food. Oh how times have changed.

Here we are, 6 months later, and everything is different. Kaylani wants to stand now. She wants to walk. She wants to eat anything she can get her hands on (and some things she can't). She doesn't want to sleep. She doesn't want to sit still. And she talks. A lot. All of that is what makes the flying part scary for Mommy. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Kaylani and Mommy will be in first class (courtesy of frequent flier miles). Normally, flying First Class would be great, luxurious, relaxing. Now, it's just another source of stress for Mommy who worries what the other people in first class will think if Kaylani acts up.

Mommy's already packed a host of distractions to hopefully keep Kaylani entertained for the 3.5 hour flight. She's got a DVD player with Curious George, a bottle, a sippy cup, Cheerios, food, 6 books, plenty of toys, a bottle of water, and if worst comes to worst, her Blackberry. I'm hoping she does great so that she and Mommy have a great trip to Puerto Rico, but only time will tell. If you're curious to see how it turns out, check back tomorrow or Monday. I'll be sure to get all the details from Mommy before then.

Scary Birthday!

2009-10-08T20:15:00.003-04:00

Today marks Kaylani's 11 month birthday...and that's scary. It's scary that it's been 11 months since our little one was born. It's scary that we've been parents for 11 months. It's scary that she turns one year in one month! And most of all, it's scary because it's October...and you know, October means Halloween!

We're very glad that Kaylani was not born on Halloween. No offense to all of you Halloween babies out there, but we're just glad Kaylani's not one of them. The main reason is that Daddy is not a fan of Halloween...at all. I'm sure having Kaylani around and dressing her up will make it a lot better, but in the grand scheme of things, Daddy and scary things just don't go together.

Anyways, I'm pretty spent from a long couple of days, and since I just posted this morning (click here to read in case you haven't seen it yet), I'm going to leave it at that and just post some pictures. These pictures have been LONG overdue (and we've kinda been slacking in the picture department), but enjoy. There's a lot of great ones in there, including Kaylani drinking from a straw, Aadi's birthday party, and some "scary" ones (yes, that's a spider on her head). Enjoy!

Traveling Alone

2009-10-08T07:31:00.000-04:00

We had another first this week. This time, it wasn't for Kaylani. I had to travel overnight for work for the first time in almost 3 years. Since I spent almost 2 years traveling every week from Orlando to Boston/NY, you'd think that this would be no big deal. But since I was traveling for the first time since Kaylani was born, things were a bit different.

I left Tuesday morning for work about 10 minutes later than usual just so I could spend a few more minutes with Kaylani before I left. Actually, the 10 minutes helped me spend any time with her at all since she woke up late! I was just glad I got to see her since I wasn't going to see her again until Thursday morning. The day went by as normal until it was flight time. Apparently I've forgotten how to travel without a kid. I forgot I could use a kiosk to check-in. I forgot I didn't need to wait on line to check a bag (because I was carrying on). I forgot that I didn't have to be there 2 hours early to make sure I made it through the lines. And I forgot I didn't have to board the plane first since I didn't need extra time to situate myself.

Being away for the night also made me remember just how lonely traveling was. Sure I had a beer (or two) at the hotel bar while I watched the Twins win game 163 with a bunch of people. I even had a conversation with an older man who happened to be born in Caldwell about 50 years before I was (odd coincidence). But neither of those things replaced my desire to be home with my little girl or being able to steal a look at her sleeping in the video monitor.

What did help was Mommy sending me picture message throughout the day and the night. I got breakfast pictures, playtime pictures, shopping pictures, and even a video monitor sleeping picture. It was a great way to keep up with home without actually being home.

Being home for Mommy and Kaylani was also different. According to Mommy, Kaylani would wake up from her naps and search thr house for me. Mommy would even try and avoid going near the garage so Kaylani wouldn't wait for me to show up. She even avoided saying "Papa" too often so she didn't miss me (advice on this? Should she mention me more or less? No idea on our end).

Anyways, I got home after Kaylani's bedtime last night, but got to spend a bit of time with her this morning before heading up to NY. Hopefully tonight I'll get home for dinner and bedtime so I can be with her (and help out). If there's one thing I learned, its that I've got to take advantage of the time I've got. Especially since Mommy and Kaylani are headed to PR for a week without me on Sunday...but that's something I'm not going to think about until it happens.

What's on the menu?

2009-10-04T19:36:00.003-04:00

Feeding Kaylani is no easy task. Not even just the feeding part...all aspects of it. We've gotta dance around, sing, rotate through toys or other distractions just to get her to eat. That part we're actually used to by now. The hard part now is picking her food each meal. It's just not easy anymore.

Before, we used to grab any jar (or two) of baby food and give it to her. Vegetable, fruit, meat...all didn't matter as long as we had our distraction toys ready. Nowadays, we're lucky if she finishes one jar of food before she decides she's done with pureed food on a spoon. Now she wants what we're eating, or at the very least, something not pureed. That's the hard part.

All 3 meals are difficult because we have to pick something that she can eat (which is basically anything that doesn't contain nuts, honey, or umm...some other stuff that our doctor told us that I can't remember right now). If I had to pick one, I'd probably say breakfast is the hardest meal. Not on the weekends, but during the week. On the weekends, I'm home and cook breakfast (either waffles or eggs). On the weekdays, Mommy used to just drink a fruit smoothie. Now she's gotta make pancakes, waffles, eggs, or something else that Kaylani can grab and feed herself. Baby (or regular) oatmeal just doesn't cut it.

Lunch is usually out, and that's when we've gotta buy something for ourselves that she'll eat too. Pizza? Sure. Sandiwch? Sure. Something with rice? That works too. But it's not always that easy, and definitely not always that clean. No more soup and salad (which surprisingly, both Mommy and I like to eat for lunch). No more other things that may contain nuts. No more fast food from McDonald's, Wendy's, or Burger King. No more anything that might not be the healthies for Kaylani (including pizza if it's 2 or 3 days in a row).

Dinner's the same way. Now, when Mommy plans out the night, we gotta keep Kaylani in mind. Will she eat steak? Sure, if it's good meat and not too chewy. What can we marinate this chicken in? Nothing that has nuts or honey. How about sweet plaintain? She might not like it. Breakfast for dinner? Great idea, but that takes away from one of our breakfast options. How about no dinner at all? Won't work because Kaylani's gotta munch on something!

It's funny because I really do think it's great that she'll eat whatever we eat. I'm hoping this carries on for the rest of her life because I think it's great not to carry around food just for her. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish she would eat her food and that's it. Sure would make life a little bit easier now. But no one ever said having a baby was easy. And anyone who does say that, probably doesn't have kids.

Pre-party!

2009-10-03T19:33:00.002-04:00

Kaylani turns 1 in just over a month (which is pretty scary). She'll have a great big party (even scarier). She'll have a great big cake to make a great big mess (not quite as scary as we used to think). And she'll get to hang out with all her friends and family that can make it there (not scary at all). Since some of those things are scary, today we pre-partied. Not for Kaylani, but for Aadi.

Aadi turned 1 yesterday, and had a great big party today. We went over around 12pm to hang out with our friends and their friends and family. In the kid department, there were 5 kids around Kaylani's age and 3 kids a little bit older. Kaylani fell right in the middle, with most of the kids being older than her, which meant that most of the kids were walking/running around. Kaylani, on the other hand, crawled around, picked herself up, and just followed along. We used to say we couldn't wait for her to start walking on her own. After today, we're not quite so sure.

After hours of playing, it was cake time! Aadi had 4 types of birthday cake (3 cakes, and a ton of cupcakes). He was a little shy to put his hands right in the cake and go for it, and didn't even like the chocolate (a baby who doesn't like chocolate?? I know, shocked us too). But since Kaylani and Aadi are such close friends, she wasn't shy. She dug right into Mommy's piece of cake and started smashing it all over the place and eating it too. Luckily for us it was only a small piece of cake and she didn't eat THAT much of it.

The reason she actually didn't eat that much is because Daddy is holding her back. He's waiting for Kaylani's own first birthday party before he lets her go wild. Because of that, you won't find a single picture of Kaylani eating cake today (purposely excluded from pictures so there's no evidence...besides this post. Doh). But if you do want to see the mess, check back in 5 weeks. That's when we'll let Kaylani go wild. Hopefully she'll nap and be rested for her own party and not stay up for 7 hours straight and pass out the second we put her in the car. That's okay for her pre-party, but we've got much bigger plans for her party. And plans NEVER go wrong...right?

The Sponge

2009-10-01T19:58:00.000-04:00

It's been almost a full week since I started my new job. For the past 4 days, I've been acting as a sponge with all the information that's been thrown at me. I've come home every day exhausted at the amount of information my brain has had to take in. It's my job to retain all of that information, and hopefully be able to either hold it, or more importantly, spit it all back out when someone squeezes me (hmmm...that sounds weird, but you get the point). What dawned on me today is that this would be a lot easier if I was 11 months old.

During dinner, it dawned on me that Kaylani is the real sponge in the family. I sit at work and am asked to remember/learn things that have been in people's minds for 2 years or so. Kaylani sits anywhere and is being asked to do the same, but for things that people have in their minds for 20+ years! I have to remember things like who our target consumer is, or what's the next deadline for a website build, or what's my budget. Kaylani has to remember things like where's my head, how do I clap, and what the heck did I just eat. Sure they sound like the same, but for Kaylani, it's far more impressive for her to remember.

Actually, the most impressive part is how smart she is. Within the matter of a week, she's learned to put both hands on her head when we ask her "where's your head?" She's learned to feed herself with her own fork, or to put food in her mouth when we say "put the food in your mouth, not in your hair." She's even learned to touch our nose when we say "where's your nose?" (close enough). If you take her out of her high chair and say, "Kaylani, bath time!", she'll take off towards the stairs and head on up. If you put her on the floor of her room and say "bath time!" she'll run to the bath tub and stand up. She's learning so much each day that I'm surprised her sponge of a brain isn't full yet because mine's getting pretty close.

I only hope that Kaylani's sponge continues to get bigger and fuller because it just shows that she's healthy and developing. I'd wish the same for me, but you know what they say, you can't teach an old sponge new tricks. Well, something like that anyways.

Missing Out

2009-09-29T17:56:00.002-04:00

After my week off, I'm back to work. Back to early mornings. Back to commuting to work. Back to getting home late. And most importantly (or sadly), back to missing out on Kaylani time.

Yesterday, I got home around 6 (not late) and got to spend a little bit with Kaylani. As most working parents know, spending time after work is mainly around dinner, bath time, and bed time. If we're lucky, we can also squeeze in a little bit of play time in there (which we did yesterday...kinda unknowingly since we lost track of time). Today though, no such luck.

Today, Kaylani slept in until 7:45am, which was about 5 minutes after I had already left for work. To make matters worse, I'm on a 5:43pm train home from NYC, which means I won't get home until around 7pm, or likely after Kaylani is on her way to dreamland. Sure I'll get to see her to say good night, but there will definitely be no sneaking in play time today. And that's not even the worst part.

Word from Mommy is that Kaylani stood on her own for a solid 3 seconds today! That's a pretty big accomplishment if you consider the longest she's stood on her own used to be one second...if we counted real quick. It definitely sucks to miss out on things like this. I've felt this way before (like when I missed out on her rolling over for the first time), and I'm sure it won't be the last time I'm going to miss out. I'm just hoping it feels worse now because I got used to seeing her do things last week.

Last week, I got to see her learn to feed herself with a fork or a spoon. I saw her learn to touch her head when we asked where her head was. I saw her touch our stuffed bear's (Goofy) nose and eyes when we prompted her. Saw her row, row, row her boat when we sang for her. Even saw her learn to "Moooo" when we asked her what a cow said (or any animal). Now, I'll be lucky if I see her do anything for the first time. From now on, her firsts will have to be at night, on the weekends, or over vacation/holidays.

Maybe the timing will work out for a few things, but my guess is that they won't. I sound like I'm complaining, but I'm actually not. These are the things that come along with being a working parent. Its a dirty job, but someone's got to do it! And after being a SAHD last week, let's just say I'm glad its me...no matter how good Kaylani was for me. When it comes down to it, Mommy is way better at being a stay at home parent than I am. Let's put it this way: it may be hard to miss out, but its just as hard not to!

Back to reality

2009-09-27T19:41:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow, Mommy, Kaylani, and me all go back to reality. A reality where I'll leave every morning by 8am (at the latest) and not get back home until around 6pm. A reality where Mommy will be home with Kaylani all by herself (and her great Mommy friends and Mommy classes). A reality where I'm not longer a SAHD, but instead, just sad. On the bright side, reality means that I still earn a paycheck and can still afford the roof over our heads and the diapers on Kaylani's bottom. And since we need a LOT of diapers for Kaylani's bottom, I guess reality isn't all too bad. Plus, we sure had a blast while it lasted!

We finished off my SAHD week in grand fashion. Friday night, Mommy and I went out for our first date since Kaylani was born. We went to Catch a Rising Star Comedy Club in Princeton and then out to TGI Fridays (ahh the suburb life) to watch the end of the Yankees-Red Sox game. The show at the comedy club was alright. Not the best, but definitely good enough. It actually made me want to pursue my undeveloped dream of being a stand up comic that I had from years ago. I used to think that I would have enough material between my mom and Mommy, but now that Kaylani is with us, I just might have enough material to last a solid 3 (5 minute) shows. But since having another "job" would take away from my time at home, it's likely that my dream will remain undeveloped.

To sum up date night, it was good. Comedy Club was perfect because we didn't have that much of a chance to talk about Kaylani. Not that we didn't want to talk about Kaylani, but the rules of parent date night are that you're supposed to focus on the date, not the parent part. Since it was our first time out, you can bet we didn't stick to the rules strictly. Maybe next time...whenever that is.

To wrap up my SAHD week, we took Kaylani to the Aquarium again, and again, she had a great time. This time, I actually think she had a better time and knew what she was looking at. She was much more likely to say "ishhh" to all the fish swimming by and banged on the glass with much more force. Part of it could be that she was wearing shoes and could stand on ledges and bang on the glass instead of having to be carried, but I'm pretty sure she just remembered from last time too because she's growing. She didn't grow too much though since she was still afraid of the "water people", but again, who wouldn't be afraid of people banging on the glass back at you next to fish. Luckily the memories didn't carry over into swim class this afternoon. Mommy was a little afraid that she'd think there were fish in the pool with her. Guess she's not that grown up to put that together.

Anyways, she's now fast asleep, and soon, we'll follow and go to sleep ourselves. We've all got big days tomorrow. Personally, I'm excited to be starting a new job and looking forward to the challenge, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad to be going back to work. Being home this week let me spend all types of time with my girls in their natural routines (unlike vacation) and it was a great thing to be a part of. It'll be tough to go back to work, but just so we're clear, work is way easier than being a stay at home parent. Trust me, I know from experience...even if it was only a week!

Oh, and check out these pictures from the last week. I didn't post all week, so there are pictures from the cake Mommy and Kaylani bought me for my last day at Rosetta, Little Gym, random times around the house, and the aquarium today. Enjoy!

SAHD Week: Day 5 - 300th Post!

2009-09-25T18:47:00.004-04:00

Today is the 5th and final day of my SAHD week. Monday starts a new era in my professional career, and I'm just glad I got to spend a whole week at home with Mommy and Kaylani before doing so. Part of me thinks Mommy is glad that I'm going back to work...but we'll get into that in a little bit. First off, let me get some blog business out of the way.

Today marks the 300th post into The Daddy Diaries. I started this way back on 11/6/08, or 2 days before Kaylani was actually born. I wrote my first 100 posts in 102 days. I wrote my second 100 posts in 98 days (not sure how that happened). And here I am, writing my third 100 posts over the course of 121 days. Sensing a trend? Okay, it's not so much a trend, but this last 100 posts took significantly longer for me to write. Part of it was due to some writers block, but most of it was due to the amount of time I had to write. When given the opportunity to spend more time with Kaylani or write a post, I chose Kaylani. Thanks for all of you who have stuck around, who've been around since the beginning, or those who just pop in every now and then. Now, I bring you back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

We started our day around 7:15am today, or somewhere in the middle of early and normal. Kaylani actually woke up a little before 6. We had no idea why, but when Mommy went to change her this morning, we knew exactly why. Apparently Kaylani had a little bit of a Code Brown in her sleep. Nothing major by any means, but enough to send her pajamas straight to the wash. Breakfast went well (peach oatmeal banana and scrambled eggs and cheese with toast). Around 9:30, it was naptime. It didn't go quite as well as yesterday, but after 20 minutes, she was out for a solid hour (or enough time to watch Project Runway).

For class today, we had Little Gym, and Daddy went on a solo mission. Mommy took the opportunity to clean out her closet and then go get a massage. Little Gym was fun. For those who don't know, it's basically gymnastics for babies (and toddlers). We learned how to do back flips (there was some fancier name I don't remember), forward rolls, and to hang onto a baby bar. Then hanging part was the funniest since most babies do a "dead hang" straight down. Kaylani decided to do a "girl pull-up" (where she keeps her chin on top of the bar). Amazing upper body strength, but she cried through the whole thing. Silly baby.

After class, Kaylani, Sonia, Aadi, Sheena, Haley, and I all went to lunch nearby. It was a gorgeous day so we sat outside, had our lunch (pizza for me, pizza and peas and brown rice for Kaylani) and just chatted. This was a life I could get used to! The day was going great so far, but the part I dreaded most was coming up: afternoon nap without Mommy.

Around 1:50pm, it was time. I fixed up a 4oz bottle (you know, in case she decided she'd want some although she still only drinks an ounce or two) and we went upstairs. After about 15 minutes, 1.5 ounces of milk, and a whole lot of struggle, bottle time was over. I took Kaylani into our room, swung her around for a few minutes, and when she pushed off of me, that was it. Into the pack and play she went. I made my peace with her, kissed her a few times, laid her down from the standing position a few times, and then left. After 5 minutes, it was a miracle...she was sleeping! Couldn't believe it.

Kaylani ended up sleeping for 1.5 hours, or enough time for me to clean the garage and the shed. When Mommy called to check in, she said a few choice words (not clean enough to be mentioned here). I mean, of course she was happy that Kaylani napped and made it easy for Daddy. She wasn't happy when I said "this stay at home stuff is easy! What do you do all day?" I, of course, was joking.

The rest of the day went great. Yin Yin and Yea Yea are actually here and they're going to "watch" Kaylani while Mommy and Daddy sneak out for a "date" at a comedy club. I say "watch" because we're actually about to put Kaylani to sleep, and since she sleeps for 12 hours usually, the only thing they'll have to do is check out the video monitor every now and then...hopefully. Yin Yin asked what she should do if Kaylani cries. We weren't exactly sure how to answer because she hasn't done it!

Anyways, it's time for me to go say good night to Kaylani for the last time and hope she stays asleep. I sure hope it's a lot better than the last time we tried to go out on a date. Wish us luck! Other than Tommy and Gretchen's wedding, this will be the first time Mommy and I have been out without Kaylani. Oh man, I hope she stays asleep...for all of our sakes.

But before I go, don't forget that it's Fatherhood Friday over at Dad-Blogs! Check out all the great posts over there from the dads and moms in that great community. You won't regret it! I know I never do!

SAHD Week: Day 4 - "LIVE!"

2009-09-24T18:39:00.008-04:00

It's Day 4 in this 5 day SAHD week, and I think it's a perfect day to do another "live" post. I haven't done one since Baltimore, so follow along a day in the life of this "SAHD." Warning: results may not be typical for all SAHD's, SAHM's, babies, or people in general.

6am - Its 6am and Kaylani has started making noise. Its a little early, even for her. Wonder if the broccoli we gave her last night made her gassy...

6:30 - She's still making noise but she's not crying. No crying means no movement from us.

6:55 - Only sporadic noise coming out of the monitor now. A quick glance over to the video monitor confirms that she's definitely sitting up. She's made enough noise to get me out of bed...to use the bathroom anyways (damn you morning bladder).

7:04 - Ok, she's crying enough for an official wake up. Time to get this day started!

7:15 - A quick good morning, shades up, and a change means Kaylani's dry and poop free. Now its Mama time!

7:30 - Now she's all nursed up and ready for some real breakfast. Oh wait, she's gotta be changed since she's a big mess when she eats...with Daddy. Back to Mommy (I suck at picking out clothes)

7:37 - Mommy's heading back to bed and we're headed downstairs. Better get some sleep Mommy cuz you're back on your own next week!

7:40 - In the high chair, basket of toys at the ready, bib on, oatmeal ready, egg boiling on the stove, and a reheated pancake on the side. Let's do this!

7:47 - We're through 1/4 cup of oatmeal, 14 toys (including both toy cell phones...which is bad). Time to bring in the pancake

7:52 - Got a few bites of pancake in before the first chunks went on the floor. Time to hand over a bigger piece. That egg ready yet?

7:57 - Handing her a fork seems to have settled her down a bit. Cool faster egg!

8:04 - We're 1/2 through the pancake, and about 6 bites into egg yolk and Babybel cheese balls. Think I'm starting to lose her

8:07 - Alrighty then. 1/2 pancake, half egg yolk, half cheese, and full on crying. Time to get out

8:12 - Got her to eat 3 more egg and cheese balls while crawling around. Its clean up time! Guess I should start with Kaylani...

8:17 - Crawling and whining. Kaylani's fine, but Daddy needs his coffee. Road trip!

8:30 - And we're back from Dunkin Donuts with coffee for Daddy and a wheat bagel for Mommy and Kaylani. My shy little girl made it just fine, if you count burying her head in my shoulder when people said "Hi" as fine.

8:34 - Was looking for the Country channel on Comcast and flipped to R&B/Soul instead. Was about to change it when I saw Kaylani bopping her head to some Mariah while holding her bagel. Guess we're good here for now!

8:53 - Still standing and bopping while making her way through a 1/4 bagel. Wish I could start every day by drinking my coffee and watching her do this...

8:57 - Just found out Mommy hasn't been sleeping. Silly Mama, you had your chance. Now its nap time!

9:16 - Kaylani's fast asleep. Phew, long day already! Let's see if we can get an episode of Top Chef in before she wakes up

10:40 - Ummm...she's still sleeping. Time to get up Kaylani! We gotta get to Princeton for Music Together class!

10:50 - Seriously...wake up! We've got things to do (and I'm out of shows to watch)

10:53 - And she's up. Maybe she knew it was time. Maybe she got enough sleep. Or maybe Mommy made enough noise in the room as she was trying to get ready

11:03 - In the car waiting to go to class. Everyone but Mommy. 4 hours to herself this morning and she's still late. Go figure

11:15 - "I Loved Her First" just came on the radio. Still touches my heart even though Kaylani was "moooing" and screaming through it

11:30 - Sitting in class with 4 other babies, 4 other moms, and another Dad! Completely surprised...

11:35 - 2 more moms AND another Dad! Even the teacher is surprised there are 3 Dads here. I woulda bet good money that I was going to be the only Dad here. I also woulda lost. Good thing I don't bet...on attendance at Kaylani's classes.

12:30pm - So class is over. Music class is kinda fun. Loud music, singing, dancing, instruments, and a giant mirror all in a small, hot room. Hmmm, that sounds kinda sarcastic, but I'm serious. It was kinda fun! Time for lunch.

12:57 - Found a nice checkerboard table in the park to have lunch with Sonia and Aadi. We've got 2 toys for Kaylani. Let's see how this goes.

1:22 - Done with lunch. Kaylani did pretty well. She ate a jar of Chicken Mango Risotto, a bunch of my shepherds pie, and 2 of Mommy's french fries, and it only took 1 toy (and a plastic spoon and fork) to get it done.

1:25 - Just when we thought she was done, we got in 3 more bites of shepherds pie and half a container of Aadi's yogurt. Gooooo fat baby!

1:33 - Walked by a baby boutique and overheard Mommy saying she wouldn't spend a lot of money on an outfit for Kaylani because she'd grow out of it too quickly. Yesssss, my 4 year brainwashing plan is finally coming to life.

1:47 - After 10 minutes of crying in the car, Kaylani passed out. Thought we could make it home so she could nurse before naptime. Guess not.

1:58 - Successfully transferred her from the car to her playroom asleep in her carseat. Now what do we do?

2:28 - We're halfway through Eastwick right now and Kaylani's still sleeping (I know, tough life). On an off topic, Wednesday night TV might be the best night (pending Survivor and Greys tonight). Modern Family, Cougar Town, Top Chef, Glee, and Eastwick? By the way, I am not a middle aged woman, 25-49. I just happen to enjoy the same shows as them.

2:37 - Why oh why do I constantly jinx Kaylani's naptime? Every time I do one of these "live" posts, Kaylani wakes up within 10 minutes of me saying she's still sleeping. Oh well, at least she got in a 40 minute nap. At this rate, we may try for 3 naps...or a 6pm bedtime.

2:47 - Sorry Kaylani, but you've gotta watch a few minutes of Eastwick with us. Just until the commercial. Promise!

2:54 - So Kaylani may have almost fell off the couch while she was flipping through an L.L. Bean catalog. Not saying she did or didn't, but at least she didn't actually fall off...you know, if she was close.

2:56 - Mommy thinks she smells poopy. Even asked Kaylani if she was poopy. No answer.

2:59 - Yep, she's poopy. Not just any poopy but woooooweeeee poopy.

3:18 - Poop free and a belly full of more yogurt. Now what? Its kinda hot and humid out to go to a park or the farm. Good thing she's happy crawling around while we figure it out.

3:33 - We're in the playroom playing with anything we can find. Curious George worked for a few minutes, Caps For Sale lasted about 30 seconds. Oddly, the thing she's most entertained with is the puzzle piece she has in her mouth like a pacifier for the last 10 minutes. Odd because she's never even kept a pacifier in her mouth for a long time!

3:38 - Got her to trade the puzzle piece for a cold teething ring. Those top 2 teeth gonna come in anytime soon?

3:53 - Kaylani doesn't like towers so much. Every time I build one she knocks it over. Brings back traumatic memories of kindergarten for me. Damn you Dave White knocking over those blocks on me! Damnnnn youuuuu!

3:58 - Giving in to the temptation and going out for 2nd coffee. We'll work in a grocery trip while we're at it so its a productive trip

4:30 - So it's 4:30. A few days ago we made a modeling consultation appointment for Kaylani at 4:30 today. They found us at the mall and asked if we'd be interested. When they called to confirm the appointment, they said "make sure Kaylani is dressed very nicely. And you guys too. All of you need to make a good first impression! No jeans, no sweatpants." That meant no appointment. See ya later modeling agency. We'll take our cute baby elsewhere on our terms.

4:57 - Done shopping. Our goal was to get some snacks for Kaylani. Here are some of the things we came out with: Multigrain Cheerios, a pear, a nectarine, Polly-O String Cheese, cheese dogs, oatmeal bread, reduced fat Oreos, and american cheese. Not exactly clear which are her snacks and which are ours

5:13 - Mommy's cooking and Kaylani's been occupied by a squirrel who came right against our back door to say hi. Best/cheapest babysitter ever.

5:31 - Just spent 10 minutes playing "In the bucket, out the bucket" with Kaylani. Its a fun game we play where she puts her Little People sheep in the bucket, pulls it out with a big smile, then goes back in the bucket only to find the same sheep there to pull out again! Good times!

5:35 - Alright, let's start dinner time! We're about 30-45 minutes earlier than normal, but Kaylani also napped an hour earlier than normal. Gotta get moving!

5:51 - Finished 1 jar (4oz) of Plum Banana Brown Rice with little problem (which means 10 toys and one of the toy cell phones). Time to move on to some leftover rice!

6:17 - So Kaylani ate a whole (baby) bowl of leftover rice and some pieces of chicken from tonight's dinner before she called it quits on the high chair. Time to let her run free on the floor. Don't worry, she'll be back. They always come back. And by they, I mean Kaylani. Oh, and to make sure we gave her a full bath (with hair washing and everything), she put some rice in her hair before she went. Awesome.

6:31 - Dinner time is now officially over. For the last 10 minutes or so, Kaylani crawled all over the place and ate about 6 more spoonfuls of rice and 3 bites of chicken. We know we shouldn't spoil her and let her eat on her own accord, but hey, she's eating. Anyways, it's bath time!

6:40 - Bath time is over and Kaylani gave us a nice little present. No she didn't doody in the tub...she clapped! Looks like she learned something from Music Together class already! Love the clapping baby. Always reminds me of those little toy monkeys with the cymbals clapping on the street...

6:45 - Teeth are all clean, baby is all dry. Time to diaper her up, PJ her up, and then story her to bed. Oh, and of course, nurse her too (but Mommy will take care of that part).

6:57 - And Daddy's night is done. After reading 2 books (I Love You, Good Night and Buenos Noches a Todos) while Kaylani continued to clap (always nice to feel appreciated), Kaylani blew me a kiss good night, said "g'nigh" and out I went. Now it's all up to Mommy to nurse her and put her down. I take that back. In about 20 minutes or so, I'll go in and rub Kaylani's back as she gets put in her crib. Then, after she looks at me and puts her head back down, my night will be done.

7:28 - Now we're done. Kaylani's fast asleep for the 3rd time today. We ended up not being that much earlier than normal, which is a good thing. Hopefully she'll still sleep until 7:30 tomorrow morning.

And that concludes today's "live" post from this SAHD. I've only got one more day of SAHD-ness left in me for now so you can bet I'm going to take full advantage of it. We've got Little Gym class, then who knows what after that. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be good. Thanks for following along today and everyday! See you tomorrow!

SAHD Week: Day 3

2009-09-23T19:41:00.003-04:00

Day 3 of this 5 part series I'm calling "SAHD Week" was our day "off." Now, all you parents out there know that once you have kids, there's no such thing as a day off. What I mean by a day off is that Kaylani has no scheduled classes (Monday and Wednesday's are her "off" days). These days are actually some of the hardest for Mommy. No classes mean you have to find your own ways to entertain Kaylani. Class typically take 45 minutes to an hour, plus the 15-30 minutes of driving time to and from means that 2 hours of the day is taken up with a class. Today, 2 hours of our day were "free." Here's how it went down.

We started the morning as usual around 7:30am. Mommy's still convinced that me showering at 6:45am on a work day makes Kaylani get up earlier. After 5 straight days me not getting up early for work and of Kaylani sleeping in (or being quiet in her crib) until 7:30am, I think she may be on to something. Anyways, we all had an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread/toast, and a piece of cheese, with Kaylani eating a whole egg, a whole piece of bread, and a whole piece of cheese (as part of our continued attempts at Operation Fat Baby). With the weather threatening to rain, we decided to skip a planned morning walk and head for a drive during nap time. How convenient!

We drove out to Crate & Barrel outlet and a showroom for one of the companies who gave us an estimate on our basement. After a 45 minute nap, and those 2 stops, we were ready for lunch and a trip to the mall so Mommy could find a dress for an upcoming wedding (more to come on that in a future post since Mommy and Kaylani are "abandoning" me for a week). At lunch, Kaylani sat with us and ate a half of a slice of pizza and half of a crust too. As you can see, we only feed Kaylani the healthiest of foods. Then, it was a quick trip to Princeton so Daddy could get his haircut, and then we were back home again. After an hour of playing and a yogurt snack (more food), Kaylani went down for a nap.

Nap time today lasted 2 shows, I mean an hour and a half, which was enough for Mommy and Daddy to watch 2 shows (90210 and Gossip Girl...only the best entertainment for us). When Kaylani got up, it was more playing in the playroom, then dinner (pasta with meat sauce), and now we just finished bedtime. Kaylani's out like a light already, which just goes to show just how tiring today was.

Maybe it was the fact that we were out and about for most of the day, or the fact that Kaylani slept for an hour and a half this afternoon, but today seemed like it flew by (which is a good thing). Or maybe it's that I'm getting used to this SAHD stuff. Or then again, maybe it's just that my first day back to work is quickly coming up. Whatever it is, I've got 2 more days to spend as a SAHD and I'm going to take full advantage of them. Tomorrow we've got Music Together class, and then maybe a trip to the zoo or the aquarium. Friday we've got Little Gym, and then who knows what else before dinner out. Part of me hopes they go by slowly, and the other part of me hopes they go by quickly. One thing I know is that come Monday, they'll definitely have gone by too quickly...for all of us.

SAHD Week: Day 2

2009-09-22T20:00:00.004-04:00

So here we are. Day 2 of SAHD week, which is anything but sad. It's not sad, but it sure is tiring. I think Mommy put it best today when she saw me looking completely drained around 3pm. "It's tiring when your brain doesn't work all day right?" It was a funny thing to say, and could even be seen as an insult to stay at home parents all over, but it's true. At least in our case.

You would think we had nothing to be tired about. Mommy passed out last night around 10:30pm, and I fell asleep shortly after (with the Yankees game on) around 11:30pm. We both slept the night until Kaylani woke us up around 7:30am. Do the math and it means we got 9 and 8 hours of sleep respectively, which for me, is more than I would get if I was working. The morning went by quickly with breakfast (blueberry pancakes) and then some play time before nap time (which thankfully was much easier today with Kaylani falling asleep after 20 minutes). During nap time, we met with a basement contractor to see about getting things finished (hoping to make a decision and get ourselves a basement before her 1 year birthday).

Conveniently, Kaylani slept the entire visit and right up until it was time to meet Sonia and Aadi for lunch before Gymboree class. Gymboree was a lot of fun, with Kaylani crawling and walking (with our help) up and down some padded mats/ramps/toys, and wasn't that tiring since she clung to us for awhile instead of running off by herself. After class, we made a quick trip to Whole Foods, and then it was home for a yogurt and a nap. Thankfully again, Kaylani went down like a log and nap time was on. That's when Mommy made the "tiring without the brain" comment to me.

Looking back on it, we really hadn't done that much. We stayed at home, Kaylani napped once, we drove to a few places to have lunch and errands, and then that was it. It was 3:30pm and I was exhausted. Normally at work, it'd have to be a really tough day for me to be wiped out by 3:30pm (or a really bad day). At work, I could be in meetings, on the phone, writing a presentation, or digging through data for hours on end, and I'd still truck on through until 5 or 6pm without a problem. Sure I'd be pretty tired when I got home, but today was a different type of tired.

I think it comes down to being the type of person that can handle being a stay at home parent, or stay at home anything for that matter. Maybe I'd get used to it over time, but so far, 2 days has not been enough to adjust to being a stay at home dad. Again, I love spending the time with Kaylani and Mommy, but I just don't think I'm cut out for it. Mommy didn't think she was cut out for it either, but she's much better at it (or much more used to it). What I'm trying to say is, kudos to all of you stay at home people out there. And to Mommy especially, thanks for doing what you do. Kaylani and I both appreciate it more than you'll ever know!

SAHD Week: Day 1

2009-09-21T19:17:00.003-04:00

For the first time since Kaylani was born, I'll be playing the role of a SAHD, or a stay at home dad. I am in the middle of switching jobs (goodbye Rosetta agency/consulting life...hellooooo Johnson & Johnson brand marketing!) and we had decided that it'd be best if I took a week off in between for a few reasons. First of all, I've never really done it before. I've switched jobs 3 times now, and each time I've gone right into the next one. Second of all, I wanted to spend some more time with Kaylani and Mommy. Sure I spend most nights and every weekend with them, but I've never seen her daily/weekly routine at home. And lastly, we've got a ton of stuff to do around the house, and getting things done at night or on the weekend just doesn't happen.

Here's how day 1 shook out. Kaylani woke up around 6:45am (as usual), but hung out in her crib playing by herself until around 7:30am. At 7:30am, I played the role of hero and got my favorite morning hug. Next, she nursed, then sat in the bathroom as I showered. So far, nothing different than when I was working. After the shower, we played for a little bit until breakfast was ready (REAL Quaker Oats oatmeal instead of her baby oatmeal), and then ate, and played some more. Then came the first challenge of the day.

The hardest part of Mommy's days are nap time. Sometimes they'll go well and she'll fall asleep quickly and stay asleep for at least an hour. Other times, like today, she'll cry for 40 minutes and not actually fall asleep. To be completely honest, I wasn't around for the first 30 minutes because I had to drop off some stuff to wrap up my job, but when I came home, we called it quits. Instead of trying to get her to nap, we packed her up and headed for the mall to get some errands done. Thankfully, she slept for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, 30 minutes wasn't enough.

After a quick lunch at the food court (where Kaylani ripped pieces of bread up and threw 2 out of every 3 on the floor instead of eating them), we walked around and did some shopping. For 3 hours, we walked and for the most part, Kaylani was well behaved. She didn't nap like we had hoped, but she only freaked out towards the end. We couldn't really blame her since we were in the damn Verizon store for an hour waiting for them to set up our phones (we both got new Blackberry Tours because they were buy one, get one free). Then, she freaked out because she wanted to play with our phones, but we all know that Blackberries are not for babies.

After another trip to the food court so Kaylani could eat a snack and nurse, we headed home. Thankfully, Kaylani passed out again, and unfortunately, it was only for 30 minutes again. At home, we let her run free finally, but since she had only slept an hour on the day, she was more about crawling/climbing/clinging to us. Around 6pm, it was time for dinner, bathtime, and finally, bedtime.

All in all, day 1 was pretty much as I expected it. It was rough at times, it was long, but it was still great to spend the entire day with Kaylani (and Mommy). Day 2 brings on Daddy's first Gymboree class! Hopefully naptime will go a bit better so she's rested up for class. If it doesn't, at least Mommy will be glad that I got to experience just a taste of her life. Either way, it's just a glimpse, and already I'm extremely appreciative of Mommy for everything she does for us. I never thought I could be more appreciative, but this week might just prove me wrong. We'll see!

It's contagious

2009-09-20T19:40:00.005-04:00

Kids pick up all types of things in their daily lives. Sometimes, you're not even sure where they pick it up from. And the only thing you know is that it's probably contagious, so it's gonna get them and you. Well luckily for us, the only thing Kaylani's given us is her laughter. We have no idea what happened to her, but she broke into a laughing fit today that was extremely contagious.

We were winding down a long, fun weekend with Jes and Brian who came into town to visit. After Kaylani finished 2 jars of baby food, plus a ton of chicken and rice (she was a little piggy today), she just started laughing. No idea why, but just the cutest little laughter she could give. To top it all off, she had a piece of chicken stuck to the top of her gums which made it look like she had her 2 top teeth. After a few minutes, she was still laughing and Mommy and I couldn't help but join in.

For the next 10 minutes, we just sat at the dinner table and laughed. We tried to video tape her, but as usual, she got a little camera shy and calmed down just a little bit. All in all, it was a great end to this weekend. We couldn't have asked for a better time on Saturday and Sunday, and Kaylani made us look like the best parents in the world by behaving like the best baby in the world. Let's hope that behavior is contagious for awhile now. But if it's not, at least we'll always have her laughter.

While it's not the original laughter that got us all started, here's a video that we took when we stopped laughing long enough to grab the camera. I sure hope it brings a little bit of laughter into your life. If it doesn't, then you'll just have to come by for the live show!

Double Dipping

2009-09-17T19:13:00.005-04:00

We can only teach Kaylani so much at one time. She has learned a lot already, but she's got so much to go before she'll be fully accepted into society. While she may be pretty darn cute, it's all an act. Underneath it all, she's a heathen. She's unfit for public restaurants. She could even be considered...disgusting. And all of this is within the safety of our own home. Imagine what would happen if we went out in public?

What I'm talking about is Kaylani's new love of double dipping. I guess the typical definition of double dipping doesn't really apply here since she's not biting a piece off of anything and then dipping the bitten edge back into something, but it's her own form of double dipping. Frankly, it's even grosser than the typical way. Let's walk through it using tonight's dinner as an example.

Tonight, Kaylani started off having split pea and carrot soup. Nothing too eventful happened during the 15 minutes and 17 toys it took us to get through 1/2 a jar. But when we switched to pieces of actual chicken, that's when it started. It was going well at first. We'd put down a small piece of chicken. She'd pick it up and put it her mouth. She'd chew on it for a bit, then swallow, and we'd start over again. But after about 8 or 9 pieces of chicken, she got tired. Or bored. Or just wanted to be gross.

After a few chews of her chicken, she would make some noises, move around a lot, stick her whole hand in her mouth, and then give one spit and out would come the remainder of a piece of chicken. Thankfully it landed on her table. After staring at it, and then up at us with a smile on her face, she'd move the chicken around, and then put it right back in her mouth. Gross! In fact, Mommy, who has a terrible gag reflex when she sees Kaylani gagging or spitting things up, couldn't even bare to watch. I personally thought she was being quite the conservationist (is that a word?). Gross, but quite conservative.

I guess we shouldn't complain because she's eating. Some day down the road we'll teach her table manners (or we'll learn not to give her big pieces of chicken). One way or another, we'll get her fit for the public eye. And to show you fit she is, here are some pictures from the last couple of days. I promise, there are no pieces of half eaten, regurgitated chicken. There are some great pictures from Little Gym, Kaylani's first trip on a fire truck, and a playdate she just had with her friend Aadi! Oh, and if you have an extra second, check out my latest Sports IllustraDad post at Dad-Blogs about an adorable little girl who ruined her Dad's lifelong dream of catching a foul ball, or my new fear for Kaylani's toddler years.