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.

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.

I Loved Her First

I got in my car after a long day at work today and the first thing I heard was the beginning of "I Loved Her First" by Heartland and a woman thanking the station for playing it since she was getting married this weekend. It instantly wiped away any lingering thoughts I had about my long day, and put me in a different place for the first 4 minutes of my drive. For those of you who don't know, that's the song that I've already designated as the Father-Daughter dance song at Kaylani's wedding.

I've been reluctant to think of Kaylani in the future because time is already going by so quickly, but it does happens occasionally. Sometimes Mommy and Daddy will talk briefly about what she'll be like as a toddler, or Daddy will make a remark about how Kaylani won't date until she's 30, but it doesn't come up often since we think 6 months is far away, let alone 6, 16, or 26 years. But when that song was playing over the radio, I really connected with it today. It was probably because the song talks about those moments felt at the very beginning, and that's something that's so fresh in my mind right now (and hopefully forever). So for a 4 minute period tonight, Daddy allowed himself to think of Kaylani getting married and it made me a little sad to be honest.

I wasn't sad that Kaylani was getting married because I do hope that she does to someone that loves her as much as I love Mommy. I was more sad that I'd be losing my little girl to someone else. Sure it's selfish to think that way, but you can't really blame me because she's only 3.5 months old now. Now when she's much older and I'm still thinking selfishly, then you can blame me. But for now, it's my little girl that I'll be losing.

I'm sure every parent wishes the best future for their children, and I know I'll be just like every other parent in that regard. But I just can't imagine what I'll be feeling whenever that day comes. I can't even imagine what it will be like when Kaylani can roll over from her back to her belly, or sit up, crawl, or even walk, and those things all will likely happen within 1 year!

Anyways, I'm sure I'll post again sometime about how I'm deathly afraid of what's going to happen when Kaylani is a toddler, or worse, a teenager, but for now, I'm not going to think anymore about Kaylani getting married. It's way too soon and I'm being a bit ridiculous. But to end this post, here's the chorus (and video) of "I Loved Her First" that put me in this mindset to begin with:

I loved her first

I held her first

And a place in my heart

Will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

And I prayed that she'd find you someday

But it's still hard to give her away

I loved her first

Our First Valentine's Day

I've never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day. For me, it's just a marketing ploy to get couples to spend more on each other (and by couples, I mean guys, and by each other, I mean on their siginificant other). But just because I'm not a huge fan of it doesn't mean that I don't participate in it. I'm the guy who goes a bit overboard with the chocolate and the flowers, and usually some sort of overpriced gift and a cutesy message. This year, was something different though.

I still bought a lot of chocolate, and flowers, and had a cutesy message, but I didn't have a gift to go on top of all of that. It wasn't that I didn't want to buy a gift (I always have a few ideas in my head), but I just haven't had time lately to run out and get one. Well, I guess I did have time, but it was more that I didn't want to because running out to get a gift by myself meant less time I get to spend with Kaylani. And when it really comes down to it, any gift that I got would have been no match for the gift of having Kaylani with us this Valentine's Day. Although Mommy did get me a gift that was the best of both worlds, since they were pictures of Kaylani that I can bring to my office.

Valentine's Day with Kaylani made this the best Valentine's Day ever (Mommy agrees). We weren't big Valentine's Day planners anyways because it was always too expensive and crowded, so being able to stay in and having a legitimate "excuse" was perfect for us. We did get out for a little bit to visit Danika (and by visit, I mean steal more of Sloan and Darby's "retired" toys), and then had a productive day back home that I'll talk about tomorrow. And we actually ended up having our own little romantic dinner (Creamy walnut penne with chicken made by Daddy) that Kaylani conveniently napped through. And after Kaylani goes to sleep, we'll have delicious cheesecake made specially by Mommy.

Today may have been a holiday (more specifically a marketing holiday) around the world, but to us, it was just another great day that we got to spend with Kaylani. We celebrated the day of love by sharing our love with one another, but in all honesty, it wasn't too different from every other day we spend together. Well, except for the flowers, the chocolate, and the fact that Daddy cooked and Mommy baked (since Mommy usually cooks and Daddy usually bakes and there aren't normally flowers and chocolate around).

Anyways, it's another first for Kaylani that has now come to an end. Tomorrow brings on more adventures, but until then, it's time to put Kaylani to bed. Hopefully she'll sleep for 9+ hours since she had a nice bath and looks really tired just like she did 2 days ago when she slept for 9.5 hours, but only time will tell. But either way, here are pictures from the last 3 days, including of course pictures of her cute Valentine's Day outfit. Her onesie says "Will You Be Mine?", and I only wish I had one that says "You bet your cute little butt I will!" so that we would match. Maybe next year.