SAHD Week: Day 4 - "LIVE!"

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!

"Live" from Baltimore - Part 2!

And now, I bring you part 2 of our "live" blog from Baltimore. If you haven't read part 1 yet, click here. Otherwise, get reading!

9:33am - Today's plan was to have breakfast, then go for a walk so Kaylani could take a nap outside. But now, room service screwed up Mommy's breakfast, and Kaylani is crying for a minute between every 5 bites of her cereal. This is what happens when you don't sleep kids. Long day, here we come!

9:58am - Mommy's breakfast finally came 95% right (close enough) so we're getting there. Kaylani's entertaining herself on the floor. Can't tell if she's laughing or crying sometimes. Tough call. Par for the course according to Mommy.

10:19am - Typing with one hand and carrying Kaylani with the other while pacing around the room. First of many stall tactics as Mommy showers and we try and get ready to leave for the day.

10:32am - Ummm...she's asleep on my shoulder. Tried to put her down twice (you smell like poop!) with no success. This would be okay if both of us weren't still in pajamas. Oh, and I have to pee again.

10:45am - Success! And by success, I mean Mommy has her now. Time to pee and shower...separately. I'm not that gross...anymore.

11:15am - Kaylani never went back to sleep with Mommy, but she is dressed, nursed, dry, and sunscreened up. We were almost out the door, but Kaylani decided to poop. Better now than later.

11:23am - And we're finally out the door! Time for her to pass out in her stroller so she can add on to the whopping 15 minutes of sleep so far.

12:05pm - So she's not asleep yet. Now we're shopping for some new clothes for Daddy because he got made fun of one too many times for wearing loose clothing to work meetings after losing 30lbs. Tough call on who needs what more: Kaylani and sleep or Daddy and clothes?

12:50pm - Walked out of the last store with 3 shirts, 3 pants, and a baby in a Bjorn. I'm stylish in so many ways right now. Oh, and she's sleeping. Better buy one more shirt to replace the soon to be drooled filled shirt I'm wearing right now.

1:15pm - Had a scare that she was about to wake up. Did the whole head back, eyes open movement but she went back down with a gentle push back towards my chest. Right now we're hoping she sleeps until 2

1:20pm - You know what they have a lot of at malls? Screaming kids. She's awake. Chalk up another 30 minute power nap for her. She's staying in the Bjorn tho. Maybe she'll fall back asleep when her neck gets tired from staring up at me.

1:41pm - Operation Nap Out has failed. Time to head back to the hotel for lunch, and maybe a trip to the pool if she'll let us.

2:05pm - Signs of sleepiness being shown just as we got to the hotel. Operation Sway in the Breeze commencing

2:20pm - Back is starting to give out, but she's finally sleeping. Debating if we can get her into a moving stroller while she stays sleeping. Sounds like a bad plan. Maybe in 15 more minutes.

2:33pm - Mommy's feeding birds with bread from her salad. Daddy's got his mouth open but she's not paying attention to me. Guess I'll just wait until Kaylani wakes up before I eat my salad...

2:47pm - She's up. 40 minutes, which was right when we walked inside to check out the pool. Oh well, good enough for now. Time for both of us to eat lunch!

3:10pm - Done eating lunch. Ummm...now what?

3:25pm - Back in the room for a regroup. Plan is to nurse, pack her dinner, then walk back to the Inner Harbor where she's going to nap before we go for dinner at grandparents/parents of kids o'clock. Ready...go!

4:37pm - Guess who's not sleeping? Oh well. We gave up on the walking through mobs of people in exchange for tapas and sangria on the 2nd floor patio at La Tasca. What? She's half tapas, I mean Latina.

5:12pm - Sangria showed up. Time to cheers and have a drink!

5:13pm - Mommy thought the sangria was a little strong and said she was only going to have 1. And then posed for a picture with Kaylani. And watched as Kaylani grabbed her 1 glass and dumped it on both of them. I think they're both wasted

5:41pm - Food is gone, Mommy is halfway through her glass of sangria, and Daddy is almost done with the rest of the pitcher. And there's a live band playing cover songs that are best characterized as "hits you may know from Guitar Hero or Rock Band." It's been a good night so far!

6:01pm - Night is winding down. Kinda hoping Kaylani doesn't fall asleep on the way to Cheesecake Factory and back home. She still has to eat dinner, bathe, and nurse before bedtime.

6:21pm - She's out. We just reached the lighthouse where we were planning on feeding her and she passed out. Sigh. Luckily there's a wedding going on here that will keep us entertained while she naps. Good possibility that this backfires on us later.

6:36pm - Just took a seat after Mommy told me to "stop spoiling her baby." Its hard not to when the alternative is locking her in a car.

6:38pm - Mommy to guy sneezing while walking by Kaylani: "Sir, have you heard of Zyrtec? Please sneeze away from the baby"

6:40pm - Duck boat cruising by on the harbor with a bunch of tourists blowing on their duck noise makers need to shut the duck up. Or I guess we could move

6:55pm - Awake at last! If I needed a timer that told me when it was between 30 or 40 minutes, Kaylani's naps would come in handy. Man that'd be a stupid thing to need. Anyways, its green bean time!

7:02pm - Apparently Kaylani eating is entertaining for people walking by. Or maybe its Mommy and Daddy with our mouths wide open going "Ahhhh....mmm!" to help her eat.

7:31pm - Bathtime! Gotta get all that sunscreen off. Soon, it'll be bedtime. What will tonight bring?

7:51pm - Bathtime went as smooth as it could. Daddy got to sit in a tub at a hotel (which isn't something he would normally do) so Kaylani could sit on top of him for her bath. Then after a quick rinse off shower, we were ready for bedtime. Right now Mommy is nursing Kaylani for hopefully the last time tonight. I know I said the same thing just about 24 hours ago, but this time, I really think it'll work. Her pack and play is now near our bed instead of out in the foyer, so it's a brand new night. Please let it be a quick one, or I guess a long one if we're talking about how Kaylani sleeps.

So that's it. I hope you had fun reading about a day in the life of our family on vacation. Next vacation is in a few months when we hit up Cape May for a week, and you can bet I'll have another "live" feed then. But until then, thanks for reading, and come back often. We'll be here!

"Live" from Baltimore - Part 1!

Last time we went to PR I kept a running blog of the days events. Since it's been awhile and I'm on vacation again, I might as well do it again! So let's get things started. Follow along on another day in the life of our family, and enjoy the Daddy Diaries 2nd ever "live" blog, from Baltimore this time! Editor's note: Nighttime ended up being so long that I've split this into two parts, so this is part 1 of 2. Don't forget to click the link at the end to read the rest (unless you did that already...cheater).

Saturday, May 23:
8:48pm - After Kaylani cried enough to earn another round of nursing, she's finally asleep. All it took was 15 minutes of nursing and 10 minutes of rubbing her forehead and eyes before she would call it a night. Let's hope this lasts. Speaking of lasting, not sure how much longer we're gonna last.

8:56pm - Finally gave in and risked turning on the TV. Mommy threatened my life if I woke "her daughter" up, but I'm fairly confident the sheets and white noise maker will do their job. My choices on TV are O's/Nats (blah), Lakers/Nuggets (eh), and Mean Girls or What Women Want (yes!). Maybe we should go back to darkness before I lose more man points...

9:08pm - The water taxi in the harbor just sounded its horn again (happens every 30 minutes or so). Mommy's response: "Seriously? If you wake up my daughter, I'm going to kill you."

9:10pm - There are scratching noises coming from the foyer. Either there's a mouse over there, or Kaylani's moving. If it's a mouse, I'd watch out because if it wakes up our daughter, Mommy's going to kill it.

9:28pm - My first ever Facebook/blog integration comes courtesy of Doug who commented on Facebook just now: "Once mommy and baby are asleep, you can always sneak down to the bar and watch a game." Mommy's response to me: "That's why I positioned the crib by the door. You sneak out and wake up my daughter and I'll kill you. But if you do sneak out, get me a fruit tart."

9:43pm - Just checked on the little one. She looks peacefully asleep on her side. I have to pee but I'm afraid to use the bathroom since it's right next to her sleeping area. Guess I'll go to sleep instead.

10:40pm - Mommy and Kaylani are both asleep, and I'm wide awake (why did I take that 30 minute power nap earlier?). Maybe I should sneak out now. Nah, not worth it. I still have to pee...

11:09pm - And she's awake. Two hours and 20 minutes is almost like sleeping through the night. Mommy and I are debating how long to let her cry for. Considerations include a) she's really tired, b) she's in a new place, and c) our neighbors probably hate us. 3 minutes apparently is the limit since I'm headed over now.

11:35pm - After unsuccesfully getting her to sleep by rubbing her forehead and eyes, I got her to sleep for a few minutes in my arms, but only for 30 seconds in her bed. Second attempt went even worse and led to her tossing and turning in my arms, likely looking for Mommy. So now Mommy is nursing her. At least I got to pee since she's awake.

11:53pm - Nursing didn't work. Now we're in trouble. Sure wish we had a plan C in our back pocket.

Sunday, May 24:
12:05am - I take it back. 3rd attempt at nursing seems to have done the trick. Sometimes I wish I could nurse, but most times I'm glad I can't. But that's why Mommy's my hero. Seriously. Time to get some sleep. All of us. Ah crap, she's crying.

12:17am - I just made it back to bed after getting her to sleep in my arms for 5 minutes then in her crib for 2 minutes. And now she's crying again. Time to let her cry it out for a little bit. Sorry neighbors. If this doesn't work, home is only 2.5 hours away....

12:44am - She's still crying. We even drugged her with Tylenol in case it was teething pain, and changed her diaper in case it was wetness uncomfortability. Let's give it a few more minutes before we try plan Q.

1:18pm - Change of scenery maybe? Pack and play was moved into the main room, and now she has a doll to eat/sleep with. She's looking pretty awake. We're not.

1:47am - She's asleep! After 10 min in my arms, she's down. Goodnight

4:54am - The alarm clock just went off for no reason. Luckily I've had years to perfect the "smack the snooze button within the first sign of an alarm" move. Mommy threatened my life for making so much noise. Apparently she didn't hear the alarm and thought I was just playing.

7:22am - She's awake, but not crying for a change. Looks like she found that doll. Hard to say if she would have slept more without it, or will stay quiet with it.

8:10am - And now we're awake. She's flipped herself onto her belly and is stuck. Mommy's on the move. I love Mommy.

8:48am - Whole family is up, but I wouldn't say we're awake. Funny enough Kaylani looks the most tired. Poor baby. She's moving in slow motion right now. Hard to say why she ended up sleeping. Tylenol? Doll? Crib move? And actually, I really don't care.

And that concludes part 1 of our "live" blog from Baltimore. Click here to read part 2: daytime!