Solo Parents: The other side of the Coin.

My wife and I have a happy and healthy relationship. I know this because if I was wrong she’d let me know. She would let me know quickly and often, if I was wrong. Knowing that our relationship is a healthy one, I have been doing some slight manipulation and adding guilt now.  What I have been doing to guilt her into staying with me, is as we walk around box stores, and go shopping for groceries. I point things out. I find the saddest most pathetic thing and say, “If you leave me that will be my new ___”.

Fit Dad: Tracking with Myself

"Write it down! How do you know how far you've
come if you don't know what you did?"
-Tony Horton from P90x

I am a proud father. That pride comes from an instinctual part of my brain. Every other part of my brain is screaming in rational panic, almost constantly to the fact that I am responsible for a great little life.

One area is screaming "Hey you're not in great shape and all that little guy is going to do is run around. Right now you're to lazy and fat to keep up with him, and he's not even walking yet"

Well I'm trying to take the pride and energy from my pride and take care of that over weight aspect. I'm not in the morbid area of my weight but if I could I'd prefer to swim with my shirt on. The first step in fitness is getting back on the treadmill. The treadmill of fitness and weight loss.

Let Sleeping Babies Lie

I would say roughly three or four years after napping was no long allowed in school and was not made mandatory by adults, that time frame is right about the time that I wanted, needed and started to pray for naps. Yes, even to this day I wish I could nap. Now there are some people out there who will say, “Dude, you sir are a stay at home father. Who is also all that is man, plus a mustache that makes Tom Selleck took like a teenage boy”. I know all this, and I accept those praises. Part of what makes me all those things, is proper time management and forsaking naps, so I can accomplish more awesome then Tom Selleck did in “Mr. Baseball”.

Bring Baby With: Local Travel with Kid(s)

As a stay at home parent, or as a parent in general leaving the house currently feels more like a preparing for a NASA launch then running to the library. Both have and or need a standard operating procedure and the day off there are many unforeseen variables. I mean many variables. When my wife is around it's easier. One of us will hold Thaddeus (great name right?) and the other will run around and pack.

I have found that while holding the child you remember everything you need. Well almost everything, I have the bad habit of forgetting to pack a toy for him to play with. Despite that fact that the floor is laced with toys as if it's a mine field. I rarely remember to bring along toy(s) for him to play with. That is mainly because he has created a new fun game. Throw my stuff to the ground and watch adults pick it up. Oh it's 1/8 a hoot and 7/8 not a hoot.

Practicing Patience with Zen Herb Gardening

Thyme, Spearmint and Oregano

Every morning I do roughly the same thing. Some call it routine I call it a system. From my vague understanding of the world my routine will help my newborn son group up to enjoy structure and be organized. I hope that's true. But he is is father's son so he'll probably just go about life in flurry of fun and energy. Either way he'll do me proud. (We'll check back in 18 years on that statement)

One of the things my wife and I have started up not just for him but for us. Is a small herb garden. We live in a town house that is actually smaller then our first apartment in Houston, TX. Go figure, huh? Knowing that living longer is now a bigger goal with a baby. We've taken to the garden centers are have started a small herb garden. This little bundle next this text was bought at "Trader Joe's". It's a mix of spearmint, oregano and thyme. I'm still in the process of figuring out what to do with thyme is other then use it as beautiful herbal pun. If you have suggestion. Post a comment for me.