SAHD Week: Day 1

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!

B vs B

I've heard that when you have 2 or more kids that you're not supposed to pick a favorite. You're supposed to love each kid equally. But what about parents? Are kids with 2 (or more?) parents supposed to pick a favorite? Tonight, we thought we'd try and find out.

After dinner we went to the playroom to squeeze out the last bit of energy Kaylani had in her so she would sleep easier better. At one point while Kaylani was crawling around, she started saying "mamamamama," which she's done countless times before. Mommy of course took this to mean that Kaylani loved her more. However, Kaylani's first sounds were "dadadada" and "papapapa," and she's repeated those frequently, so of course that means that Daddy is her favorite. Clearly, neither of us were going to give in on this one. That meant there was only one way to settle it: we both called Kaylani to see who she would go to.

Mommy won round 1, but to be honest, she cheated. I mean, Kaylani was practically next to her already so of course when Mommy called out to her, she just went straight into her arms. Daddy, on the other hand, was about 5 feet away. In round 2, Kaylani was put in the middle of the room with Mommy and Daddy on opposite sides. After everything was set, we both started calling Kaylani. Initially, she was headed towards Mommy, but then, all of a sudden when Daddy took out his Blackberry she came to her senses and headed towards Daddy. That's when Mommy cheated even more.

Daddy was just calling out "Kaylani Kaylani" repeatedly. Mommy, however, changed it up. Instead of just calling "Kaylani Kaylani", she started saying "Nurse nurse!" That's when Kaylani stopped in her tracks. She turned around and started to head towards Mommy. Daddy, not giving up, started waving his Blackberry around more calling her even louder and she started to come back. Then, Mommy cheated EVEN MORE. She pulled out the big guns...literally. In essence, Mommy flashed Kaylani to get her attention while saying "nurse nurse!" and that was the end of that. Kaylani sped over to Mommy and Daddy was left holding his Blackberry alone.

I just can't compete with that. In fact, no one can compete with that. Someday Kaylani will grow out of that phase, but for now, the boob wins it. Then again, most people would choose boob over Blackberry right?

Anyways, enough boob talk. Check out these pictures from the weekend! Most of them are from Gymboree on Friday since I had some camera issues this weekend. And just for clarification, the pictures have absolutely nothing to do with tonight's post. Just saying.

The Power of Drool

It's no secret that babies are drool machines. And it's no secret that Kaylani is a baby. What that means is that Kaylani is a drool machine. She'll drool on anything in her way (and some things out of her way). Onesies? Don't stand a chance. Bibs? Just delaying the inevitable. Rugs, blankets, toys? Throw em in the dryer. My Blackberry? Just wipe it dry...until it breaks.

Tonight my Blackberry died. Well, it's actually not dead yet. You can email me and I'll see the little red indicator light blink. You can call me and I'll see your name and number pop up. You can text me and my phone will vibrate to tell me that I have a new message. But that's about all I can do. I can see all of that happen, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it because Kaylani drooled on my phone.

The fact that her drool paralyzed my Blackberry is as ridiculous as the fact that I waited at a Verizon Wireless store tonight for 1.5 hours just so technical service could tell me that I need to file an online insurance claim (even though the website says they can replace it in store). Apparently "liquid damage" is not covered in store. To make things worse, when I filed my online insurance claim, my Blackberry Curve was on backorder and the alternate choice was another model...the Pink Curve. Figuring the Pink Curve would be too tempting for Kaylani to drool on again, I made a call and ended up getting the Blackberry 8830 World Edition which is essentially the same phone, sans camera. It was a tough choice, but I'm over it. What I'm not over yet is this whole "liquid damage" thing.

Liquid Damage? Seriously? I mean, it's just a little drool! She's drooled on my phone countless times before. Heck, I've even drooled on my phone before. I've used my phone out in the rain. I've put it down in a shallow puddle of water before. How is it possible for Kaylani to have drooled so much that the only thing that works is the trackball (just the movement, not the actual functionality)? I mean, sure she had half the Blackberry in her mouth, and sure she practically soaked the entire thing, but still, it's just a little drool people!

I'm thinking they should come out with a Toughberry. You know, like the Toughbook laptops that they have now? Or maybe they just need a Babyberry. I mean, baby drool should definitely be something that any phone should be able to handle. They could even have the same phone/feature and call it a Drunkberry for all those college kids who pass out and drool all over their phone. If you see one on the market in the future, just remember you heard it here first!

So anyways, I hope you all learned the lesson that I did today. Baby drool is a powerful thing and should not be taken lightly. Oh, and I guess there's another lesson too. Something around the fact that I shouldn't give Kaylani my Blackberry to play with because she might just break it. Mommy's been trying to teach me that one for awhile now. And when it keeps her from being fussy while we're trying to eat our dinner, I say that it's a hard lesson to learn. Plus, that's why I have phone insurance anyways right?