You're cut off

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.

Sounds like...

Lately, Kaylani's been babbling sounds that sound more and more like words each day. The first time she says something, we kinda dismiss her and say "nah, there's no way she could have said (insert word here)" because after all, who can say "snuffleufagus" after the first time they hear it. The second time she says something, we say "wow, that sure did sound a lot like (insert word here)", even if it sounded more like "snooooooooflplbbbbt" instead of "snuffleufagus." But the third time she says something, it sure does sound like (insert word here). Note: she's never even come close to saying snuffleufagus and I'm not entirely convinced Mommy could even say it.

The sounds that she makes that actually sound like the word she's trying to say are "good night", "horse", "apple", "hola", and "fish". I'll have to get a video of her saying them, but for now, here's the written transcript of Kaylani's attempt at words:

Actual word(s): Good Night
Kaylani: G' naaa

Actual word: Horse
Kaylani: Hawrssseee

Actual word: Apple
Kaylani: Ah-puh

Actual Word: Hola
Kaylani: Oh-wah

Actual Word: Fish
Kaylani: Ishhhhhh

Some of them are pretty close. My favorite is "G' naaa" because she says it to me after the last line of "I Love You, Good Night". Funny part is she'll say it again when I leave the room before she nurses, and then again when I see her in the morning. Then, when I say, "no, not good night...good MORNING" she just stares at me. Okay, not as funny as it is cute, but whatever. Anyways, I'm sure she'll get it right one of these, but in the meantime, check out these pictures from the last couple of days, including a belated posting of her 10 month birthday pictures. Oh, and don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for the latest postings on Fatherhood Friday! Enjoy, and happy Friday!

Flip Flop

Flip. Flop. Back. Belly. Flip. Flop. Back. Belly. Repeat that sequence about 10 more times and you have Kaylani's nighttime performance. Luckily she doesn't wake up every time she flips or flops, but she has been trying to escape her crib around 4am each morning. Even luckier for us is that she'll usually go back to sleep for another 3 hours if Mommy nurses. Since she's getting 11 hours of sleep in total during the night, she can flip and flop as much as she wants in her crib. Kinda.

The great crib escape is something Mommy and I have been dreading for quite awhile. She can't exactly pull herself up yet, and she's barely getting from down to sit as it is, but the way she's developing we just never know when it'll happen. A few nights of waking up to Kaylani whining to get out of her crib, and seeing her tugging on her bumpers trying to either get up or get out was enough to cause us to take action. Tonight, we lowered her crib one more level. Now her mattress is a a good 1.5 feet from the top which means she'll have to work pretty hard to get out. There's only one more level to go. Hopefully our backs won't give out before we get to that next level. So far so good.

Taking care of the worry around flipping and flopping in bed was the easy thing to do. Figuring out what we're going to do with her on the changing table is a completely different story. There, it's not flip, flop, back, belly. Instead it's flip, crawl, bang head on wall, grab edge of table, pull, roll, and try and jump off the 3' ledge. Now repeat that 10 times and you have Kaylani's diaper change routine. No matter how many times we pick her up and put her on her back, she'll immediately flip over and try and make a break for it. In bed? Kinda cute. On a changing table? Not so cute. On a changing table without a diaper? Definitely not cute (okay, still kinda cute, but don't tell Kaylani that).

A few months ago we laughed at our friends Steve and Lisa when they showed us that it took 2 of them to change Aidan's diaper. One of them would hold him by the arms and belly while the other changed his diaper. At the time, it seemed ridiculous that they would need 2 people to overpower their baby. Now, I'm thinking that we need 3 of us, or perhaps a restraining strap attachment for the changing table to keep Kaylani still. Karma sucks.

Kaylani's new diaper change routine is still new enough to us that we're okay avoiding any type of restraining device for the moment, but if she keeps it up, that all might change. After all, safety comes first, and giving her the chance to pull herself off the 3' ledge and onto the ground (or into the garbage can/diaper genie that happens to be on that side of the table) doesn't sound like a good thing. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime, check out these pictures from the last couple of days. Unfortunately none of them are of Kaylani hanging off of the changing table because we can't spare a set of arms for a picture during diaper changing time!

And when you're done checking out those pictures, don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for the latest installment of Fatherhood Fridays! There's always a great bunch of reads over there to keep you busy for the weekend. You'll love it. Trust me, or your money back!

Unspoken Fatherly Love

This past weekend, my Dad told me how proud he was of me as a dad. He never imagined that I'd be this good of a father, or this dedicated. Between the blog, the pictures, the videos, and of course the time I spend with her, its more than he would have thought I would become. I've always been good with kids, but never this good according to him.

When he said those things, it kinda blew me away. Hearing things like that from your own Dad is the greatest compliment anyone could ever give. After all, most peoples Dads are what the aspire to become. My Dad worked (and still works) real hard to support his family. He has overcome a lot to get where he is, and while he worked a lot, he was always there for us. He rarely missed one of my Little League baseball games, or concerts, or anything else that I had going on. We went to Yankees game together and played baseball or basketball together. We rode roller coasters and climbed the nets at Sesame Place together. We did all types of things that made us close.

As many things as we did together, we still weren't the closest of friends. We were Father and Son, which is definitely different from being close friends, but not in a bad way. We didn't show emotion to each other often, and in fact, probably went out of our way to hide emotion (either good or bad) on occasion. But despite all of that, I still feel a close connection with my Dad and I know he feels the same for me. It was just made even clearer to me last weekend.

I hope Kaylani and I have a close connection now and especially when she's older. It's way too early to tell if she'll still be Daddy's Girl, or if she'll be more of a Momma's Girl. I want her to feel comfortable with me. To come to me in good times or bad times. To know that I'll always be here for her and how I'd do anything for her if she asks or doesn't ask. I want all of this from her because that's what I have with my Dad. I know he's there for me 100% of the time, no matter if he says it or not. I just hope Kaylani feels comfortable saying it. That's the difference between Daddy-Daughter and Daddy-Son closeness. So while I wish for all these things for Kaylani to say outwardly, I'm going to take the cheap way out and say it here. Thanks for everything Dad. You're the best and I love you.

I thought this post was especially fitting since it's Fatherhood Friday so I waited all week to post it. Now do your part and click on over to Dad-Blogs to read other posts from the great group of Dads (and Moms) we have over there. Oh, and give your Dad a call and tell him you love him. Or at least write it down. I'm sure he deserves it.

That's just the way it is

It's finally Friday. Not only does that mean the week is finally over, but it also means it's time for another round of Fatherhood Fridays over at Dad-Blogs. Don't forget to check out the great posts over there...but not until you're done here of course. Don't worry, you'll be done soon, because I'm pretty done myself.

It's been one heck of a week over here. 5 long days filled with back to back to back to back to back meetings, which left actual work to be done in the few minutes in between, or late at night. Add on 5 long days of teething and you get one heck of a week over here. Did I say that already? By all definitions, this would be considered a bad week. Long work days mean shorter time with Kaylani. Long, sleepless nights mean less energy to handle a long work day. As a one off, not so bad. But when repeated for an entire week it starts to wear on you.

I'm actually not even going to complain about the number of meetings or the amount of work I had (and still have) because in this economy, any work is good work. The worst part of all of this is that it's taking away from the time I spend with Kaylani, and also the way I spend my time with Kaylani. Instead of relaxing and having a great time, I spend an occasional hour in the morning with her, which is usually just me talking to her while I get ready to leave. Then, by the time I get home it's usually holding her for a few minutes before she has to get up to bed and get some sleep. And after a few more hours of work, it's off to bed for Mommy and Daddy so we can get up in a few hours to start it all over again.

My ideal view on Fatherhood would be to spend quality time with Kaylani by playing with her, teaching her, loving her, and watching over her for as long as I can. Sure there are days that I wish I could spend all day with her (in addition to weekends) and do all of those things on a regular basis, but that's not something I can do. The other, less glamorous part of my journey into Fatherhood is to be a provider for both her and Mommy. And if having a lot of work means that I have a job, and having a job means that Kaylani is taken good care of by Mommy, then that's a part of Fatherhood that I'm willing to accept.

So while going to work and spending less time with Kaylani isn't ideal for me, that's just the way it is. I still wouldn't trade my version of Fatherhood for anything in the world. Well, maybe a foolproof get rich scheme or a lottery jackpot, but that would only change the working part of Fatherhood. I'd still find the time to play with her, teach her, love her, and watch over her. Hmm, maybe I should play the lotter. Hey, you never know. All it takes is a dollar and a dream, right?

Kaylani's First Tooth!

Kaylani's been acting up for the last couple of days. She hasn't been eating well, she hasn't been nursing well, and she definitely hasn't been napping or sleeping well. We thought that maybe we had screwed her up with all our travel plans and general craziness over the last couple of weeks. We thought maybe she was getting a little cold and fussy because of it. We thought maybe she was even teething, but then again, we've been thinking that for 4 months. Turns out that this time we were finally right about the teething.

Daddy got a text message from Mommy today saying "Good news! Can't wait 2 tell u. Stupid mtg of urs!" And since Daddy was in his "stupid mtg" I didn't get news of Mommy's discovery of her first tooth until an hour later. Finally we could celebrate her first tooth (for real, unlike 3 months ago on April Fools' Day)! But the way Mommy discovered the tooth wasn't exactly the most pleasant.

Apparently nursing and teeth don't mix well. We've heard stories from friends who have nursed babies with teeth and barely lived to tell about it. And now that Kaylani has a tooth, Mommy came clean and said she was secretly hoping Kaylani wouldn't have a tooth anytime soon. For the last few days, Mommy's been saying that Kaylani's not doing something right, or something is different, but there was never anything we could pinpoint. Today though, it became clear as day and when she checked, there it was!

When I got home to see the tooth, it took me 5 minutes to get Kaylani to stop trying to lick my finger so I could just see her tooth. And since we're being honest, I was kinda disappointed when I finally saw it. For some reason I was expecting like a real little person tooth to just be hanging out there, like those cartoon pictures of a baby with 2 or 3 curly hairs, and 1 or 2 teeth just hanging out in their wide open mouth. Instead, I saw the very tip of a tooth poking out through her gums. Still exciting, but just not up to my unrealistic expectations I guess. Silly Daddy.

So Kaylani has her first tooth, and she's not afraid to use it either. She chomped down (or up I guess since it's her bottom tooth) on me and it definitely felt like a tooth. My favorite is to tell Mommy that she has no idea what that feels like, but then I just look away when I get the dirty stare back from her. Apparently nursing moms don't find teeth funny. Anyways, we're very excited that Kaylani is all growed up again with her first real tooth. Soon the rest will come filing in, but until then, we'll celebrate this one and start to take care of it. The tricky part will be seeing how Mommy handles it!

And since it's Thursday/Friday, don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for the latest Fatherhood Friday! I can't wait to spend the first part of my July 4th holiday reading up on all the other great posts over there, so you should too. Enjoy and Happy 4th and Fatherhood Friday!

Alonehood

Having a baby completed me. At the ripe young age of 28, having a baby was one of the final pieces in my personal life goals. Now that its happened, my personal life goals extend much further, like celebrating my 50th anniversary or watching my daughter get married (which may happen at the same time if the boys stay away as I plan). But besides that, Fatherhood has been great to me. The problem is that with Fatherhood comes Alonehood.

Alonehood doesn't happen often. In fact, tonight is the first time in Kaylani's 7.5 months that I've experienced it. What is Alonehood? Well I'm glad you asked. Alonehood is experienced when a Dad (or Mom) are left alone sans wife and sans baby. Tonight, I'm alone. Mommy, Kaylani, Abuela, Abuelo, Carlitos, and Briseida are off in Amish Country and Hershey...and Daddy is alone. And tell you what, I don't like it!

Some may say that I should enjoy my alone time. Sure I went out after work and had a beer with some coworkers, but its not the same as going home to my little girl (and wife). To kill some time, I ran some errands around town and even had time to take care of some things for Mommy's upcoming birthday, which was great. But when it comes down to it, its 9:30pm and I'm still alone.

I had nachos and McDonald's for dinner, just like I did years ago before Mommy and way before Kaylani. I had beer and watched the Yankees game. I did all types of things, and none of them felt like I was reliving my youth/bachelorhood. Instead, it felt like I was alone. To make matters worse, Kaylani slept in again this morning so I haven't held her in over 24 hours which is sad.

After spending 7 hours in a conference room I could use a good Kaylani hug, kiss, and smile. Hopefully she'll be a little awake so I can see her when Mommy gets home. If not, I guess I'll wait until tomorrow. Worst case, I get to see her and Mommy. Best case I'll get to give her a big old squeeze tonight. Either way, one thing I know is that Fatherhood beats Alonehood any day of the week. I know I'm a Father everyday regardless of where Kaylani or I am, but its sure a lot better when we're together!

And since it's Thursday night/Friday, don't forget to check out Dad Blogs for some great Fatherhood Friday posts. I know I will! And while you're there, check out my Little League season ending coaching post on why you should coach Little League when you can! Available exclusively on my Sports IllustraDad column!

Kicked in the Bjorn

A universal feeling among guys is the pain of being kicked in the "area that should only be treated nicely." It actually extends beyond kicking, as any pain in that "area" is too painful to even watch, let alone experience. Videos like football to the groin, or of skateboarders who fall spread eagle onto a railing they were stupidly trying to skate down all produce the same cringe reaction from every guy. But the cringe is even worse when it's happening to you.

Ever since Kaylani was old enough to fit in our Baby Bjorn, we've had a great time using it. It's been completely handy for us when we're out walking, shopping, or even trying to get her to nap. It was the perfect accessory to free up our hands, but still have Kaylani secure and close by. All of a sudden I could drink my coffee (being very careful not to spill on her), use my Blackberry (although she can still disrupt that plan with her grabby little hands), or just pick up things while we're shopping. But now, I'm not a fan of the Baby Bjorn.

Even though there are guidelines on height and weight restrictions around usage, they're useless, or not intended for Dads. The guidelines have settings to adjust the Bjorn if your baby is up to 28", which Kaylani is just under. And since the weight can go up to 22lbs, then theoretically she should be okay. But she's not or at least I'm not. Apparently when you combine Kaylani's current height with the right setting on the Bjorn, you get pain. Not for her, but for me. And its not the type of pain that Motrin could help with.

The first time I noticed this was a few weeks ago while I was buying some new clothes. Kaylani, having just woken from her nap, was facing outwards so she could witness the world. At this particular moment, she was starting to get a little fussy, so Daddy turned to his failsafe entertainment option: his Blackberry. Now, ignoring the problem with the millions of germs that go from Blackberry to mouth, the bigger problem was her excitement level of getting the Blackberry. When babies get excited, they kick. And Kaylani kicks HARD.

Her legs happen to hang right around the "area that should only be treated nicely", and kicking does not qualify. Having been out, I had little choice but to leave her in there, but I did spend the rest of the time with one hand in a groin protective position. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly the look I was going for while I was out. Instead of fun, loving Dad, I probably looked like Dad touching himself while wearing baby. Sigh.

That was the last time I've worn the Bjorn, and it may have very well been the last time I'll wear the Bjorn. As of now, we're officially in the market for a new Bjorn that either sits in a different place...or has a reinforced steel kick plate (with padding so Kaylani doesn't hurt her feet of course). Anyone know where I can find one?

Oh, and if you enjoyed this post, then dont forget to check out Dad-Blogs for other great posts this Fatherhood Friday. With a tagline like "Dad-Blogs: A Great Place for Dads & Mom to chew the fat", why wouldn't you want to check it out?

From Booby to Nuby!

Kaylani hasn't had a bottle since she turned 2 months old. Well, she hasn't had more than an ounce or two of milk in a bottle since then, and it's not something we've tried very hard to remedy. Mommy's been okay with breastfeeding for now, even though she had previously said she would try and ween Kaylani off at the 6 month mark. And honestly, we haven't even tried the bottle for a few months ever since our last experiment failed. But with Mommy feeling pretty tired lately, we thought we'd give it another shot so Daddy could help out in the mornings or at night. But this time, we mixed it up a little bit.

For the most part, Kaylani's been decent at drinking water out of her Nuby sippy cup. If you watched the end of the Veggie Puff video, then you can see that she likes to shake her cup around, turn it upside down, and maybe take a few sips every now and then. Well that's all fine and good when it's just water (except when she grabs the spout and makes a giant mess), but when we decided to try it with breastmilk (or liquid gold as we like to call it), there would be little shaking and leakage tolerated.

On Tuesday morning, Mommy gave Kaylani 1 oz of breastmilk in her Nuby sippy cup right after she woke up. And wouldn't you know it, she took it! Sure she shook it around and there was a little spillage because Mommy couldn't see her, but she took it. First thing Wednesday morning Daddy gave it a go. He gave Kaylani 1 oz of breastmilk to start, and after Kaylani grabbed it and pumped most of it onto her bib/shirt (oops), she took the refill of 1.5 oz just fine. And this morning, Kaylani took almost 2 oz of breastmilk from her Nuby sippy cup. So after 3 attempts, I think we're ready to call the Booby to Nuby experiment a success!

We may have declared success, but we're still going to work on it just a little bit. 2 oz is enough to hold her over so Mommy can sleep an extra 30 minutes to an hour in the mornings, but it's not enough to let Mommy get away for some solid Mommy time. Once Kaylani gets up to the 4-5 oz mark, then I think we'll be officially ready for a full half day of Daddy-Daughter time. And after that, maybe it'll even mean there's time for Daddy-Mommy time. That'd sure be something!

So we'll keep you posted on how our Nuby experiment goes. Hopefully she won't be a noobie with her Nuby for too long so I can give Mommy a real break and spend some good Daddy-Daughter time with Kaylani. But until then, we're more than okay with a whole lot of family time. And since it's Thursday night, that means its time for me to wish everyone a Happy Fatherhood Friday! Don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for all the other great FF posts. And while you're there, check out my latest Sports IllustraDad post on why Lebron James sucks for brainwashing kids!

Can I help you?

Half of my job is developing strategerie for my clients to figure out how they can best market to their customers online through a CRM (customer relationship marketing) program. The other half of my job is spent analyzing data for different brands. We analyze things like who is opening our emails, how many people signed up to hear from us, who is coming to our website, and how are they getting there?

So of course, I implemented things like Google Analytics tracking on my own site as well (doesn't everyone?) Before I start talking about geeky tech things like tracking, pixels, tracking pixels, and actual code, the real reason I'm even talking about this is because web analytics can give insight into some pretty funny things. For example, I can tell who came to my site from a search engine. While that doesn't SEEM too funny, the funny part is HOW they found my site. Without further ado, I present to you my top 5 favorite search terms that drove a visitor to my site. Click on each one to find out which of my posts they saw when they clicked through.

"because she love gas" - I'm not entirely sure what this person was searching for, and I'm not entirely sure I want to, but I'm glad they got to experience a little bit of dad blog humor.

"breastfeeding wrestling match" - Seriously? Who searches for things like this?

"daddy boner blogspot" - This one grosses me out just a little bit. And no, the content they ended up on here is not remotely gross.

"doody soap" - Hehe, they searched for "doody"

"pictures of hershey kiss to color" - I bet this person was looking for a nice blank picture of a hershey kiss that they could give to their kid to entertain them for awhile. What they got was much different from that.

So there you have it. There were plenty more terms that drove visitors here, but those are definitely my favorites. Whatever it is that got you here today, thanks for coming. I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing. Oh, and since it's close enough to Fatherhood Friday, don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for other great posts. I promise you'll get exactly what you're looking for. See you tomorrow!

Save me Daddy!

We had big plans for today. First Daddy was going to come home for lunch and eat leftovers with Kaylani and Mommy. Then, Daddy was going to watch Kaylani after work while Mommy got her nails done. And at 2pm, everything was going exactly as we had planned. But then the clock hit 2:23pm, and cows, I mean chaos, broke out. Here's what went down:

Daddy's Office, 2:23pm (insert 'dum dum' sounds from Law & Order) - I was sitting at my desk looking over a report one more time before giving the go ahead to send it out when my cell phone rang. It was Mommy. I answered. "Hello?" I asked innocently. "KAYLANILOKINCAR" came back through the phone (or at least that's what it sounded like). "What'd you say?" I asked, but I already knew something was wrong. I was already on my feet. "KAYLANI IS LOCKED IN THE CAR!" is what came back the second time. "Are you serious?" came out of my mouth and my body started moving faster than I could think. I was halfway out of my office when my brain started processing things like "IM Gordon and tell him you've gotta run out and might not make it back for the 3pm meeting" or "lock your computer before you leave" but it was too late. I was gone.

Daddy's Car, 2:28pm - I peeled out of the parking lot and was headed home to get our spare key. Turns out Mommy was at Village Park which is about 8 minutes from the house without traffic. 10 minutes to get home, then 8 minutes to the park meant I'd get there about 22 minutes after "the incident," assuming Mommy called me right when it happened. Mommy called a few more times as I sped down 95. "Don't worry, she's not crying" she would say one minute, but quickly follow it up with "should I call the police?" No, there would be no time for the police. Not on my watch.

Home, 2:36pm - Home at last. Made it home in just over 8 minutes, all made possible by the aggressive move to cut off the 18 wheeler so I could still make the exit ramp going under 40mph. Didn't even have to pass any cars on the local roads...this time. I hopped out of the car and was in the house before the car or the garage door stopped moving. By the time the garage door was fully open, I was back in the car with the spare keys in hand and halfway out of the driveway already.

Daddy's Car, 2:42pm - Some jackass cuts me off when I'm less than 2 minutes from the park and slowed me down from 50mph to 20mph. Good thing since speed bumps were coming up, but that guy is still a jackass in my mind. Mommy has called me 2 more times by this point just to make sure that I wasn't driving "recklessly." Recklessly...ha. She had no idea. As I pull into the parking lot, I start pressing the remote to unlock Mommy's car. I park next to her and hit the remote a few more times since apparently it didn't work. The dash was over.

Village Park, 2:45pm - Kaylani was okay. We opened the door and she was just sitting there playing with her feet. She took one glance at Daddy and gave a smile. Daddy just stared at her. She was okay. Thank God she was okay. Mommy opened the trunk to get her keys. That's when it all made sense. She put the keys down in the trunk of the Highlander to get the stroller out. By some freak accident, she was able to push the lock button on the remote with the trunk door while she was closing it, pushing the keys inside at the same time. If the keys jammed the door, none of this would have happened. But it did.

I stared at Kaylani for a few more minutes before even acknowledging Dorothy and Makayla's presence. Then I gave Kaylani a quick hug, Mommy a quick kiss, Dorothy the spare set of keys, and I was back in my car. As much fun as this little adventure was, I had a meeting to get to, and I only had 8 minutes to do it. But I made it. It was 37 minutes of craziness, but I made it. Made it home. Made it to the park. Made it back in time for my meeting. And made sure my blood pressure was ridiculously high. But that's just another day of parenting. So for all you driving parents out there, remember, it could happen to you so be prepared. Or work close by home and make sure Mommy doesn't go far away. Either one.

Oh, and if you want Mommy's side of the story, you're going to have to ask her. From what I heard, Dorothy did a great job of distracting her with small talk, pointing out hot guys as they jogged by, and keeping an eye on Kaylani so she didn't cry when she saw Mommy. And Mommy did a great job holding it together so she didn't cry when she saw Kaylani. Everything turned out okay. Let's not do it again.

By the way, because I won't write again until sometime Friday night, Happy Fatherhood Friday! Don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for more great posts from the rest of the family. And while you're there, take a read of my latest Sports IllustraDad post. It's my humorous take on Michael Vick's possible teams! It reads better than that sounds. Trust me, or your money back!

I'm too old for this

Its 11pm, and if I wasn't completely dedicated to this blog, I probably would just go to sleep. But instead, here I am, staring at Kaylani peacefully sleeping in her crib after a long day. Her day
ended at 8pm when she fell asleep, but mine just ended (or is about to).

While getting Kaylani ready for bed, Daddy and Kaylani were practicing sitting up on the changing table. I know I know, not a good idea, but I was right there. Well of course being right there wasn't good enough, and Kaylani fell forward into the wall. Oops. She cried a bit, but she was okay. Nothing more than a scratch (and maybe a little bump) on her, but it was much worse for me.

Not only did I have to live with the fact that I gave Kaylani a bruiser, but I also had to run off to coach an 8pm baseball game. I knew Kaylani was okay, but that didn't make coaching any easier. And to top it all off, we ended up losing a heartbreaker in extra innings after scoring 2 in the top half. We even had a 2 run lead and a full count with 2 outs with the bases loaded with my star closer on the field, but we got beat. My heart was pounding and I was going crazy, but in the end, the little kid who got the game winning hit against us needed it much more than we did. So hats off to him.

It was a long day, followed by a long night. To top it all off, Mommy told me I missed Kaylani's first words. But it wasn't "mama" or "papa" or "dada." Instead it was "Jon bang". Mommy's hilarious. And that's how I'm going to end my night. I'm way too old to handle all of this, but Happy Fatherhood Friday! I almost missed it, but don't forget to check out Dad-Blogs for all the other posts.

How time flies...

Tomorrow is Kaylani's 6 month birthday, and I can't believe it. It boggles my mind that it's been 6 months already. I can remember every single thing we've done, or that she's done, in the last 6 months that it makes me feel like it can't be 6 months. I never thought that my memory would be good enough to remember 6 months of details. So why is it that every thing is so vividly clear in my head?

The simple answer would be that I remember everything because I've written it all down day by day right here. But even without re-reading previous posts, I can still tell you in vivid color about her first poop incident, or the first time she rolled over, or her first haircut. And while those are very specific incidences and milestones in her life, I can even remember back to a time before she was born. A time that happened exactly 6 months ago from right now.

It's 9pm right now and things don't seem that different from where we were 6 months ago. We're on the couch relaxing after a long day, and just catching up on some TV. 6 months ago I was wondering what my life was going to be like. Mommy was 4 days past her due date and I was anxious to meet my little girl. That part actually hasn't changed. Every day I'm still anxious to see my little girl. Right now, I'm watching TV with one eye and staring at our video monitor with my other because I can't get enough of her.

6 months ago, we went for a walk around the neighborhood to try and motivate Kaylani to come on out. 6 months ago we bought Montreal Chicken Spice because a co-worker told me that it would induce labor. 6 months ago we went to sleep as husband and wife and woke up 1 hour later to head to the hospital. Tonight, we'll go to sleep as Mommy and Daddy and really, really hope that we won't have to wake up in one hour, three hours, or even eight hours.

When we do wake up, it will be Kaylani's 6 month birthday and we'll have our normal monthly celebration, but possibly just a bit bigger. She's growing up way too fast in my opinion. Just think, she's 1/42nd of the way to turning 21! Yikes. Well anyways, I won't say Happy Birthday because that would be premature (unlike thinking about Kaylani turning 21 which is definitely warranted), but I will say Happy Fatherhood Friday since it's close enough! I'm sure it will be Friday by the time most of you read this so it's okay. Don't forget to check out the Dad-Blogs to read the other great Fatherhood Friday posts, as well as my Sports IllutraDad column. They're a great way to kick off the weekend...I promise!

Fatherhood Friday at Dad-Blogs.com

Every day Kaylani seems to learn just a little something more. But yesterday, I learned a little something myself. Apparently there's a blogging community of parents (mostly Dad's) out there. I happened to find it through one of the Dad's in the group (Outnumbered), who found me through my Facebook group. At first I thought this was just another blogger surfing around, and probably as meaningful as my followers on Twitter (which I still don't fully understand). But once I spent some time in the community, I realized I was on to something big.

The site is called Dad-Blogs and it launched at the beginning of this year. It's essentially just a group of Daddy bloggers thrown together. Sounds simple, but it's much much more than that. For example, Friday's are deemed Fatherhood Friday's, hence the logo at the top of this post. On the outside, it seems like just another cheap marketing scam, like Thirsty Thursday or Naked Wednesday's (no? how about Naked Tuesday's?), but to me, and I'm sure to many more Dad's out there, it's just a little bit of appreciation that goes a long way.

I'm not saying that I feel unappreciated, because I know that Mommy and everyone around appreciates what I do for and with Kaylani. And even though she can't say it verbally yet, the smile on Kaylani's face all the way down to her cute little kicks let me know that she too appreciates me. And because I get to see her smile at least a little bit every day, I know that Fatherhood Friday is more like Fatherhood Everyday in her world.

So here's to my new tradition of Fatherhood Friday. May it come every 7 days, and last for 6 more on top of that. Tomorrow, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming, which in all honesty, is not much different from what you just read. But if you do want to read something new, something different, and something sports related, check out my brand new column on The Dad-Blogs called Sports IllustraDad. Think of it as The Daddy Diaries with a sports twist. Even if you don't like sports, I guarantee you'll enjoy the read. I'll even give you your money back if you don't. So why not give it a shot? You're LOSING money if you don't!