September 2011
17 posts
14 tags
Ouch!
Baby Grace got her shots yesterday. 3 of them, and 1 oral vaccination. She cried a bit. My wife held her little hand and nearly fainted.
All day, and most of the night, we got tears. We got screams. We got fever. Water and noise and fluctuations in temperature: we got Hurricane Grace.
How do you weather the storm? -ms
August 2011
22 posts
11 tags
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Don't Know Much
Alfie’s laugh has kind of a pre-laugh. It’s this quiet, quick intake of air before he actually starts laughing.
And it sounds like Aaron Neville.
So, because some guy found it necessary to set up a website simply to loop this Aaron Neville homage: http://aaronnevillephone.ytmnd.com/
I think we’re all a little better and a little worse for the...
13 tags
Taking care of a baby without help
Day 1 without the in-laws:
Took baby Grace down to the bus station to see them off. Wife and I were both in a funk, and I have a cold. Almost threw up a couple times, to be honest. Felt so tired and empty of food. On the way back, there was an open house on our street so we had a look even though we can’t afford to buy a house. Pretended we could afford it. Felt good. Baby made it look...
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Love & Communication
bp: [burps]
wife: [burps louder]
baby: [pukes]
I'd like to think of this as our first successful family discussion.
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A short list of things I've forgotten since the...
1. My keys, at work, twice.
2. Cell phone.
3. What day it is.
4. Sleep
5. The rest of what I was going to put on this list.
-ms
10 tags
A Story Without a Baby, a Near Drowning →
My latest column about my family’s struggles with parenting and marriage and family-ness is up at the Good Men Project. Here’s an excerpt:
In the morning, we shuffle out of bed, give my parents a few last notes, and kiss the baby goodbye. An hour into the drive, everyone but Cathreen’s mother and me are asleep. I have been left to plan this trip, this being “my” country. An excuse I...
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Don't forget to forget me →
My latest music column for The Good Men Project finds me writing letters to a dead, not-so-memorable composer, and trying to get over worrying about legacies.
You’ve probably never listened to—or heard of—Paul Mauriat and his Dynamic Orchestra. And, really, this is okay. Musically, you’re not missing anything. But, let’s be realistic: we are always missing something.
Paul Mauriat, a...
6 tags
That Smell
Sometimes I think that the thing that turns us of the non-gestating gender into parents is the smell of our baby’s head. It literally makes me go cross-eyed and make RoboCop-like declarations about being “sworn to serve and protect.” My wife and I have become addicted to it, and there are times when we pass the baby back and forth sniffing his head like we’re at some weird...
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Um...
Really had to go the bathroom while I was feeding the baby. Everyone else was asleep. So what did I do? -ms
8 tags
“She looks like a woman trying to give birth!”
– My mother-in-law, while baby Grace is trying to poop. -ms
14 tags
5 tags
Yep. Still sitting in the exact same spot. →
I’m trying not to think of this as a metaphor for fatherhood’s connection to chronic writer’s block.
-bp
4 tags
Long-term Effects of Co-Sleeping →
7 tags
Stairmaster, or, Baby Sisyphus
2/3 of the backs in this apartment are slowly being destroyed.
One of the most tragic things I’ve learned about stages of baby development is the whole can’t-self-soothe thing. As in, they’re exhausted, but they can’t actually put themselves to sleep. It sounds like torture. Actually, it sounds like Natalie and me, because we tire ourselves out so much...
12 tags
Using Technology to Embarrass Our Children's...
Before the baby was born, while my wife was itching her PUPPP away, I came across this video from Google:
and I so wanted to do this. A perfect way to embarrass our daughter later, when instead of the clothing she wanted for her birthday, we got her… her past!
Sadly, Google lied to me. When I tried to sign up for an email account for my daughter, I was unable to. Sources say this is...
12 tags
You know when babies do...
You know when babies (Grace) open their mouth like they want to eat in that goldfish way they do, and then when you give them the bottle/nipple, they shake their heads back and forth and moan like they don’t actually want to eat, but after five minutes of this, they are happily sucking away? Yeah, that’s driving me crazy.
You know when babies (Grace) fuss for an hour straight and you...
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Forever Airing Laundry
So, I know that my fellow Daddy-blogger Matt has a book coming out soon. I mean, another book coming out. And that’s cool, I guess. If you’re into that kinda thing.
But! In the mean time, I just published a short article on the Clorox blog! That’s right! Move over Harper’s! Some people like a blank canvas. I just like to bleach mine first.
Anyway.
This was a...
6 tags
Baby sleep
Even three hours feels like a relief, but only barely. People keep giving us conflicting information: our baby slept through the night at 5 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 2 and a half years, 7(!) years. When are we going to sleep again? What’s the truth?
11 tags
What I Have Learned About Babies →
Here’s my latest “Love, Recorded” column in the Good Men Project, detailing our first month with baby Grace, and her poop. -ms
What do I know about babies now, after a month with my daughter?
I know their lives revolve around food. They sleep until their stomachs feel empty, and then they wake and expect food to be at their lips immediately.
I know this cycle takes two to...
