A Little Girl's Smile

A sperm meets an egg. 

They fertilize.

Nine months pass. 

A gift from God arrives. 

This gift doesn't know how welcomed she is to the world. 

Seven weeks later, the gift smiles at her dad, and he happens to catch it on camera. 

And this little girl's smile is worth more than all the money in the world to him. 

B's First Babysitter

8:21am

My stepsister gave birth to twins on Friday! So we decided to go visit them yesterday(Saturday) at the hospital. 

Like most hospitals that we have encountered, no small children are allowed in the maternity suites. Except for the babies, obviously. So Brynlee couldn't go. 

My wife is very attached to our daughter, which I assume is pretty normal for a mom and her infant. But at some point you have to let other people watch her. This was the perfect opportunity. A small amount of time, to get our feet wet with being away from her. She is going to have to do it when she goes back to work, anyways. 

So we dropped her off at my wife's sister's house. They have two dogs, which sometimes makes us nervous, but these two are so protective of Brynlee. It's actually kind of funny. I almost feel like we could leave her with just the two dogs! (Kidding)

After my wife explained where everything was in the diaper bag, and basic care instructions, we were on our way. We made it about ten minutes down the street when she said "ok, I miss her already".  She hasn't been without her since she was born. Not even for five minutes. 

When we got to the hospital, our thoughts were occupied by the new twins. They are so small compared to Brynlee. The boy is much smaller than the girl, which isn't surprising, since women seem to take men for everything they've got. They are adorable and I'm very excited for their family. 

After a couple of hours, it was time to get back to our little one. There was a missed phone call to my wife from her sister, so natural instinct made her worry. But nothing was wrong, just a simple feeding question. 

When we got there, she had just christened the couch, and her aunt with spit-up. She seems to do that a lot. We are pretty sure that she over-eats. But everyone has told us that if she is hungry, let her eat. She can down about 6-7 ounces each feeding, though some of it usually comes back up. 

All-in-all, I think she did fine being away from her mom and dad. I'm sure we will have a few people watch her here and there to get used to it. Plus, it's good to socialize her so that she isn't shy and too attached to us. 

Just another milestone in her book. 

PregoForMen Top Halloween Movies 2013

It's that time of the year again. One of my favorites, actually. 

Spooky costumes, scary movies, and LOTS of candy!

I'm already in trouble for eating half of the trick-or-treat candy that we bought last week. It's so delicious. And available. It's my wife's fault for putting it out in a bowl already. What do you expect?

(Not so much the scary movie part, I'm a wuss when it comes to scary movies, and haunted houses. I once watched "The Ring" on mute.)

This reminds me that I need to start skimming through the movie channels for some of my favorite Halloween movies. Here's my top 5, not necessarily in order. 

1. Hocus Pocus

-After 300 years, three sister witches are resurrected in Salem Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it us up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches reign of terror once and for all.

2. Scary Movie 2

-Four teens are tricked by their professor into visiting a haunted house for a school project.

3. Friday the 13th

-Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

4. Halloween

-A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas

-Jack Skellington, king of Halloweentown, discovers Christmas Town, but doesn't quite understand the concept.

All images and descriptions via IMDB.com

Photo Update

She's getting so big already! Stop growing child!

Anyways, here a few new photos from the past week. 

Rocket Poop

If I had a dollar for every time that my wife asked me to get up and get something for her, I would be writing this from the Hamptons right now. But it's usually something for the baby, and as a dad, I don't mind. I will do anything for my little girl. Even if it means cleaning up the rocket poop that sprayed all over the carpet. 

Yes, that happens. I have yet to invent some type of poop-shield. A "backboard". That's what is really needed. Someone help me out. Let's get this solution figured out before my carpet has holes in it. 

Until that's figured out, rocket poop exists. I can't speak for other babies, because I haven't experienced it elsewhere. But my daughter can spray poop at record speeds. As a matter of fact, last time I believe I heard a small "boom" from the sound barrier breaking. Pretty intense. 

Getting baby droppings launched into your chest can put a damper on your day, or ruin your dinner, but it's the timing that really is the puzzler. She's so sneaky about it. Everything will be calm on the battle front, and once you cross into the jungle, it's all out war. There's no turning back. You just take the bullet spray and hope you dodge the killer. 

She's like a skunk. Spraying to defend herself. Like "get away from me with that warm, damp wipe". Your treading on thin ice. Keep your mouth closed because the cannon is loaded. And only God can tell when it's ready to blow. 

Not only do babies poop, a lot;

They poop, ferociously.

Image via Wikipedia.org

Keeping Up With The KarDADshians

Holy crap. 

Parenting is getting the best of me. I can't even seem to find my way out of bed on my days off. This parenting thing is serious...

...serious-ly demanding. 

Relaxation is non-existent. I hear it only gets better when they start to walk. Which will be in t-minus ten months? Ugh. 

You know what the worst part is?

My wife does 90% of the baby-related chores here. It's true. She feeds her, changes diapers, bathes her, dresses her, and all that other stuff. I don't do much, really. (And no, this is not her writing this, either.)

I just feel so exhausted. What little help I am able to give, is wearing me out quick. It's hard work to take care of a baby. God Bless all those single parents out there who do it every day, by themselves. I don't know how you manage. 

I speak to a lot of other Dad's, through Twitter and other blogs, and they seem to spend a lot of time with their kids. Taking vacations with them, going to parks, helping out Mom at home, etc. When I come home, I'm already ready for bed. I never used to be this tired, but our lives are non-stop. When the baby is sleeping, it's time to get everything else done that couldn't be done while she was awake. That leaves basically zero time for fun. 

We did manage to make it out to a friend's Halloween party last weekend. Brynlee was the star of the show as always. Until she spit up all over one of our friends who was holding her.

But it was good to get out for a while. We haven't seen many of our friends lately, and that seems normal once you start having kids and adult responsibilities. So, the few chances that are available, it's wise to take them up. Who knows when the next times will be. 

Some advice - Real life parenting is not like what you see on television. We are not the Kardashians. I'm sure there is a lot you don't see on tv. Like the crying, late night feedings, projectile poop and vomit. We can't pay someone to watch our kid for the day while we fly to Miami for lunch.

You have to be available every second of every day for the kids. They need you, and at the strangest and most random times. As babies, 3am is a perfectly acceptable example of when to tell Mom/Dad it's time for a snack. Mom/Dad might have to get up in a couple hours to go to work, but baby doesn't care. 

My wife says I complain too much. I don't know what she is talking about. 

image via Celebuzz.com

Day 32 - Changes To PregoForMen Blog

11:14pm

As you might already know, I have blogged every day since the 10th week of pregnancy. But I think that is going to change. I want to focus more on writing quality posts, rather than quantity. They will still include updates on Brynlee, and the family. But I will probably use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, more often, for updates like that. 

I have decided to slow down, not only because this blog takes up A LOT of time, but also because I don't want to write posts just because I feel that I have to. That isn't quality. And I'm not ok with that. 

So make sure you follow on Facebook to keep up with new blog posts. I always link to them via all of my social media accounts (which you can find at the top of this blog).