Moms | Page 10 of 10

Baby basics: Changing the diaper

Before being a dad I didn’t know too much about changing a diaper. In the parenting class at the hospital they ran through it a couple times, but it’s all a blur now. As with things to come regarding parenting, I look at Baby Mojo now and I wonder how that 8 pound little dude became this 26 pound of crawling, eating, curious toddler we have now. Continue reading Baby basics: Changing the diaper

Tips for toddlers and new parents

Prior to being a dad I had heard all the clichés, they grow up quickly and time flies by. Never being one to adhere to what people say, I knew that my time as a dad would be different. However, 11 months in, all of those overused clichés are true, so very true.

We did prep ourselves, just in case they turned out to be correct and that preparation wasn’t enough. If you’re a new parent, you’ve purchased the books and talked to friends here are four tips to reinforce what you’ve been told. Continue reading Tips for toddlers and new parents

My wife found a videotape that I was hiding

You never want to start a sentence out like that do you? To be technically correct, it was a video file on the camera and I didn’t show it to her because I thought she would find it disgusting. Continue reading My wife found a videotape that I was hiding

Mother’s Day Weekend Mojo

I’m reminded of two things this Mother’s Day Weekend. It’s our first year with a baby, so I’m thinking of my wife and I’m also thinking about my mother.

About four months ago my wife was at home taking care of Jake. It was bath time, he had just gotten in the tub then started to scream and cry. The water wasn’t too hot, she did the checklist and he was still crying. For just a moment she doubted herself, probably asking if she was a good parent, did Jake love her?

Then she realized that Jake didn’t have his rubber duck in the tub. Sure enough, once the rubber duck was in the tub Jake immediately quieted down, happily sucking on the duck and spashing his hands in the water.

It won’t always be a rubber duck that makes Jake happy, but more often then not, it will be his mother.

I’m also reminded of my own mother who passed away a year and a half ago. She never touched Wilson, (our golden retreiver), hated going out to eat, never went for a trip in an airplane, loved to make chocolate cookies, watched Wheel of Fortune daily and always wanted to be needed. I never really thanked her enough for being a good parent.

So thanks to all the Mothers, past, present and future. For Mother’s Day we’re heading out to a local nursery that is giving horse carriage rides. It’ll be a nice, low key day for everybody to enjoy spring, babies, dads and moms.

I can't weight

Ladies, there is no easy way for us guys to answer the following questions.

“Is she more attractive than me?” It’s a loaded question and hopefully your fella knows to proceed carefully by answering, “Of course not honey. Oh and did you see that outfit? She’s gotta be over 30 and she’s wearing a news boy cap?”

“Honey, am I getting fat?” Tricky, tricky this question. Women can tell if the number on the scale is getting larger. They know the answer of the question when they ask it. “No sweetie, you look great to me, is everything OK?” This answer allows her to state whether her pants are feeling tight or if she just needs a hug from you. Sure, that answer is a punt of sorts, but it helps keep the peace.

Mommy Mojo officially lost all of her baby weight this week. She celebrated by wearing some pants that I hadn’t seen in over a year and doing her version of the happy dance around the house. I noticed that she was getting close, in addition to her frequent progress reports and in hindsight I should’ve said, “hey, you’re getting close to losing the baby weight I see’!

A statement of fact like that is laced with potentially dire outcomes, be careful here. We want to encourage her, but we also want to let them know that we love them regardless. For the record: we want to encourage them because, if they’re commenting on how much weight they’ve lost post pregnancy, then they want to lose the weight. Again, ladies, the encouragement isn’t from a male vanity point of view, its general encouragement, c’est sa. Sheshhh, even writing this I could feel the building wrath of moms giving me grief for encouraging them to lose weight.

30 sodas in a month — That bag of sugar is equal to one soda a day for one month.

So Mommy Mojo finally lost the weight by doing normal exercise and not drinking her daily sodas. How much is one soda a day for a month? This photo is a nice representation of what exactly that sugar looks like in bulk after 30 days. A friend of mine, Jolene Park at Healthy Discoveries has that image on her flickr stream.

In frustrating news, for my wife, I’ve actually lost weight since Baby Mojo came into the picture. As a stay at home dad I pick up the car carrier, stroller and all of the other activities that necessitate keeping up the house and taking care of Mojo. The other night mentioned to the light of my life that I was going to go for a bike ride this week. She asked me if I’ve been losing weight and demanded that I go weigh myself.

She then uttered words that I could never say, “I liked how much you weighed when we got married, so if you exercise just be sure to eat more”, she said.

Bacon Star Wars — Star Wars AT-AT, made of bacon, hmmmm.

“Sure, I’ll have lots more bacon, red meat and beer”, I said.

“I don’t want you to clog your arteries, just gain a little weight”

Thanks sweetie, so I won’t be eating this delicious AT-AT….you can see loads more bacon and guy time wasters at http://www.tifr.us/

The darkside of children's music

The folks at Sesame Street have figured out how to auditize crack and they’re selling it on Sesame Street Platinum Too. It’s a disc full of songs that you remember from Sesame Street, as well as, a couple newer ones that will age very nicely.

Baby Mojo loves them-All of them. The songs are different from The Wheels on the Bus or other standards we may sing, because they’re like little musical skits. They tell stories, have characters that we remember or are just so darn catchy that we as parents can’t ignore them.

The darkside is that I find myself stuck on at least one of these songs every couple of days. That particular song will remain in my head all day and into the night. When I wake up to change Baby Mojo’s diaper at 3:00 AM, that song is still in my head like a sentinel waiting to wish me a good night.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TjX5r37V0Q]

What’s the Name of That Song is the one that was stuck in my head until a couple of days ago. It’s a great song. Ignore the fact that it’s a children’s song and it is still very rhythmic, funny and easy to listen to. That was the inadvertent soundtrack to my day for most of last week. I take a walk with Baby Mojo, change the diaper, prepare a bottle and it’s there. I suddenly find myself not thinking about the lyrics then the rhythm pops in my head!!

Until last Thursday. I woke up with the intent to not think about that song at all. I go into Baby Mojo’s room and put on the changing table and the first words out of my mouth were, “good morning starshine”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8O7NHkrPY]

Oh great. Now I’ve got this very catchy tune from Hair stuck in my head. Good Morning Starshine is an awesome song, however, with it comes the hippie visuals. The longhairs in the convertible going down the highway, traumatic hair shaving scene, clichéd war protests and a minuet of 60’s visions played during the bits that I could remember while singing to Baby Mojo. It was Berkley without that hippie smell going on inside my head.

Mommy Mojo and I have had this problem with songs getting stuck in our heads since Christmas.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMmSbxB_Sg]

It all started with Santa Baby, because I care for you all I posted the original instead of the one done by Madonna. Everything we’d say regarding Baby Mojo was to the pace of Santa Baby. “Jakey Baby, lets take a bathy before it gets too late”, etc, see, even one line of it is annoying.

Now. Imagine. That. Being. Stuck. For. Four. Months.

We still find ourselves saying things to Baby Mojo to the pacing of that song. Sometimes we won’t do it for a couple of weeks, but then one of us will slip and bring that song front and center.

On the upside, any Sesame Street song is better than that. So what’s your worst song or longest case of something being stuck in your head? A warning, if you get your bad song stuck in my head I’ll send you videos of Santa Baby.

Whose day is it anyway?

I know that men aren’t supposed to use ‘sweet’ unless you’re talking about food, but the other day Mommy Mojo came home and said the sweetest thing.

“I just can’t thank you enough for staying home with our son, I know it’s difficult, you put your career on hold and it really means so much to us” And suddenly I was in the middle of a Lifetime movie and the only thing missing was a walk in cameo from Meredith Baxter Birney.

I jest, but it really was a sweet comment that I needed after an especially hard day of baby tantrums. It also helped remind me of how well the arrangement between us works.

During the week, I do most of the things relating to Baby Mojo. Mom may help feed him in morning, or mercifully, help him get dressed, but that’s it. During the weekend Mom has most of the work and I’ll hop in when needed.

Most of the parents around us don’t seem to break up the baby duties along daily lines. For us, it’s a lifesaver: Mom gets loads of quality time on Saturday & Sunday, I can relax, listen to my 70’s Soft Rock Pandora stationhttp://bit.ly/56aY61 (it rocks, in a mellow 70s way and is great for all Dads) or go for a bike ride.

The weekend off helps me get my Mojo back, gives Mom her maternal Mojo and starts Monday off on the right foot for a good week of parenting.

That’s one of the unexpected things about being a dad, I think I’ve learned to share more. My procrastination has also gotten a little better, partially because of the fact that my new 18 pound client won’t take “no” for an answer.