Post 15 (11/4/14)

Well, would you look at this. A new post only a week after the last one? You're not seeing things. This is really happening...hahahaha, like you guys sit on the edge of your seat to read about my ramblings ;)

I've challenged myself to write a new post every time a friend of mine posts. You might remember her, I mentioned her last post. If you guys haven't checked out her blog yet, I recommend it again, and the latest post is fantastic, Searching & Servitude.

So, for starters, Halloween was a smashing success this year. It didn't look like it was going to be as such because it had been pouring rain all over Sacramento that day, all day. Aside from that, the boy had been an exceptional pill for about 3 hours before my wife got home. I had finally given in and made him lay down, I just couldn't take it anymore. Luckily my wife is more forgiving than I am because I was about to send her and my daughter over to my cousin's house on their own. She decided to wake him up and gamble on the hope that once we were with the other kids, he would cheer up and have fun. She was absolutely right. The rain let up for several hours, the kids had a blast, and even the parents all seemed to enjoy the night. This was my daughters favorite Halloween so far, by a long shot.

Left to right: Merida, Mario, Zarina the Pirate Fairy, Darth Vader, and Minnie Mouse

The next big going on around here was the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run. My wife and I participated in this one just last Sunday. It was so challenging but so much fun. We were joined by two good friends from Reno who came down and joined us. The  run was about 3.5 miles and probably a mile of it was uphill (no, we didn't run much). I have to say, the MVP was my wife. Anyone who knows her very well will tell you that she is very much afraid of heights. This woman conquered every obstacle including about 5 obstacles that were height related. She struggled with them, to be sure, but she didn't let a single one stop her. I am still overflowing with pride for her accomplishment Sunday.

The requisite Before & After

The last big news is something that I'm doing on my own. I was inspired by the Life of Dad social network to participate in Movember. This is a movement to raise funds and awareness for men's health. They specifically focus on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's mental health issues. I think this is a fantastic cause and a really fun way to participate in a fundraiser. I don't do very many fundraisers so I'm hoping my lack of asking friends for money will help me be somewhat successful in this. The object is to give yourself a clean shave on November 1st and grow only a mustache for the entire month. Needless to say, my wife was not pleased about this development at all. Don't worry, I'm not super excited about how it looks either, but it's for a cause I believe in and I'm really proud to participate. That being said, if any of my loyal readers would like to donate to me or my team, please follow the link to my fundraiser page, Shane's Movember page.

The face just about sums up how I feel with a shaved look.

Post 14 (10/27/14)

Hey gang, how's everyone been. Things have actually been really good here. I know last time I mentioned some of the stresses that we've been facing, but I feel like we've now successfully rode the wave of stressful energy into a place of confidence. Confidence that we have made the right choices and confidence that everything is working out exactly the right way for our family.

We have been steadily moving forward with the sale of our home, MUCH faster than any of us expected, including our real estate agent, Aaron Ward. Aaron is a good friend of mine and has proven to be a fantastic partner in the scary process of selling our home. He's made us feel confident in every step of this process. Let me tell you, it's been difficult for so many reasons; this is the first house we've ever owned, the yard can't be beat with the space and the pool,

this is the home we came home to from our honeymoon, and one that keeps popping up in my head more and more, this is the home both of our babies were brought to from the hospital. In reality though, these are all little things that are important in my mind and in my memories, where they will remain no matter where we live. The beauty of this whole process is that we know the people we are selling it to, we are good friends with them, and we know that this place will be just as important to them, if for different reasons.

It's also exciting that we're moving forward on a brand new house that will have more room for our family, closer to work for my wife, and overall will be an improvement for us. As long as this house sells on time, like it looks like it is, we should be moving at the beginning of the new year. That being said, this is potentially a very scary time for my wife and I. I've moved a lot in my life, and helped many others move as well but I've never moved with kids. I'm nervous about the logistics of the whole process but I think I'm even more nervous about getting the kids settled and comfortable in a whole new place.

The model we're looking at

In other news, Halloween is coming quickly (4 days away) and my daughter is pretty excited about it this year. She has been demanding to be Zarina, the Pirate Fairy, since she saw the movie. She briefly said she wanted to be a character from Monster High, but when faced with both costumes in front of her she went quickly back to the Pirate Fairy. So, now I'll be trying my hand at making her a pirate fairy sword seeing as we can't find any anywhere. I'm actually a little excited about it because my dad just gave me a band saw that will come in handy for this project :) With the excitement for the holiday, my daughter has also showed a new interest in facepaint and makeup. She's been watching some pretty cool videos on YouTube about facepainting, here's one she's been watching. She's even attempted a little herself since mommy was kind enough to get her some paints.

The boy, being only one, has no idea what's happening but we still got something cool to put him in for Trick or Treating. We found awesome Darth Vader pajamas with a cape and all. I'll be sporting a Darth Vader Sugar Skull T-shirt while I carry him around in order to strengthen his theme, hahaha. My daughter is very excited though and that always breaths new life into any holiday, when the offspring are discovering them all over again.

I also want to quickly point out another great, and very personal blog, by an old friend of mine that I recommend. You guys should follow her and share in her life adventure. Check out Colleen's blog at, Searching and Servitude.

Post 13 (10/7/14)

Long time no see, my loyal readers. I know that you haven't heard anything from me for quite a while, and I apologize for that. This last few months has been really crazy around here. I could go into so many different little details, but I'll spare you guys all my bitching and moaning.

Just to serve as a quick overview: my daughter still isn't sleeping well and now camps out on the floor next to our bed just so we can get a decent nights sleep, my son has finally weened off of formula (man that stuff stinks) and is drinking whole milk and being introduced to new foods every day, and the biggest stressor we've been coping with is we're planning on selling our house and buying a new one. This is the biggest underlying reason for my lack of motivation when it came to creating a new post for you guys.

On the plus side, I've completed school and am totally done for the foreseeable future. I've completed the AA program at Heald and will focus on being a stay-at-home dad, podcaster, and blogger from here on.

With that in mind, I've been reading other blogs lately, mostly parenting related blogs as well. I'm just not sure I'm really cut out for parental blogging. All the ones that I've been reading, that seem to be successful and popular, are structured around giving advice or guidance for other parents. I don't see how that's something I could even attempt. Who am I to tell all of you how you should be parenting? I'm still figuring all this out as I go. It would be one thing if my kids were in High School and successful and I was advising you guys on small kids, but that's not the case. In fact, most of the blogs I read have kids close to the same age as mine. I admire the confidence these parents have in the choices they've implemented and any success they've seen, both in parenting and blogging. But I've just come to the conclusion that I'm just a dude trying his best to be a good dad. I'll tell you guys when I figure out something that worked with my kids. I'll share my opinions on parenting, and even sometimes marriage, related subjects. But I will not be the one trying to tell you guys how to get it done. In fact, I'll probably ask for help from time to time.

I hope that's not too disappointing, and I hope that my sharing is more entertaining than anything else and it keeps bringing you guys back for more. I know writing this really does help me when I muster up the motivation, and find the time, to type it out for you guys.

Bodie had to hop up and see what Dad was doing.

Bonus Post

Just wanted to share this awesome post by another great dad blogger. You guys should absolutely check out the things they're doing over there. This one in particular nailed it for me and I figured, I can't say it any better, so you guys should just read theirs :)

10 Things No One Ever Told Me About Having a Daughter

Post 13 (8/27/14)

Hey there blog readers. Let me start with a quick apology. I know the gaps between this one and the last post were WAY too far apart. Over a month, Shane, really? Unacceptable, I know.

I don't really have any excuses for my slack posting. I've just been really wrapped up in school, kids, and the few other things I do for myself like podcasting.

My podcast is all about music (http://locallics.com) and this is a local band we've featured, Restrayned.

My time has definitely taken up primarily by the first two of that list. School has been hard to stay on top of this quarter for some reason, but it's my last quarter so I can power through and get it done. It saddens me a little that I feel like I've been working this hard for school and for what feels like for so long, and I'm only achieving an AA. It's more than many of my personal peers, but it still feels like so little.

But you guys don't read this blog to hear about my adventures as a student, at least, I don't think you do. I would assume you guys are reading this because of the title, which would imply that your reading this to hear about my adventures in parenthood. That being established, I'll try to refocus back on parenting in my world.

Look at these two. What a good, and goofy big sister.

The biggest event in my life lately, and it's been a bit of an ongoing event, has been the shift in sleeping issues. If you follow my post you'll know that not too long ago, we were struggling with keeping Bodie asleep. Well, that finally worked itself out, for the most part. Most nights that kid sleeps from 9 or 9:30 till 8 or 8:30, with an occasional wake up at 3 or 4 from time to time. These wake ups are almost always quick and painless, consisting of a short 4 ounce bottle and then right back to sleep. The shift has been that the older one, Cali, is now decided that going to bed is the worst thing we could ever ask her to do.

I swear, these kids have little meetings to decide who's turn it is to be a total nightmare. They definitely switched roles in the last week or so. Cali, on a good night, will go potty, brush her teeth, get her jammies on, and get into bed for a story, maybe a song, and then sleep. Lately, she drags her feet at almost every stage of the process. Sometimes she even flat starts yelling at us and telling us no. That really gets under my skin. Jess and I have been trying to take turns dealing with it, but some nights she will not do ANYTHING until Mommy comes in. Then, after we finally get her into bed, she runs through a whole series of questions or any little excuse to delay us leaving the room and her actually having to sleep. Usually, I would be inclined to let her get mad and scream and cry, when she pushes it that far, and not entertain her ridiculous requests, but more often than not her little brother is sleeping in the room next to hers.

We have found one little tool that seems to have helped on most nights, and most nap times. Every time she goes to bed without any fuss and is a good girl, when she wakes up, she gets to place a sticker of her choosing on a little calendar we got her. After she has obtained enough stickers, Jess or I will take her to the dollar store and let her select any item she wants, but only one item. This has worked pretty well, with only a couple of times being an issue.

This only held true till last night, and I'm really hoping last night was just a fluke. It was one of the most difficult nights we've had in a while, with it taking over an hour and a half to get her to actually go to sleep in the first place. Then she woke up a few hours later, around 1am. Jess had to work today so, naturally, I went down to try and get her back to sleep. Again, she insisted on having mommy, Jess came down, and eventually got her back to sleep. Then, at 5:30am, she was up and screaming for mommy AGAIN. This was now only about an hour before Jess needed to be up for work so I was determined to go down and get her to sleep. She was again insisting on seeing mommy only. This wasn't going to work this time. I eventually came to what I felt was a reasonable solution, in my sleep deprived mind anyway. I laid down in her bed next to her and stayed there till Jess woke up and left for work. About an hour and a half later, I went up to my bed. She then showed up in my room an hour after that.

Needless to say, I type this rather sleepy and rather annoyed. She did go down for her nap really well, so there is hope. I'll be sure to let you guys now how it goes and if anything changes. I'm also open to any suggestions.

Sweet dreams.

When  she sleeps, she's such a little angel.

Post 12 (7/21/14)

I've recently noticed a somewhat concerning trend in my behavior. I've started to show a trait that up until now I've considered extremely douchee. I am sad to admit I've been referring to myself in the third person, and not just occasionally. Phrasing like, "Daddy said no," or, "Daddy doesn't really want to play princesses right now." It's really a little disturbing. I'm going to have to make an effort to alter this behavior before the little ones pick up on it, or at least come to think its acceptable behavior.

Okay, enough about me and my slippery slope into being a butthead. Let's chat about the kids real quick. 

Cali has started ballet class, this week will be her third week. She absolutely loves it. We always knew she would enjoy dancing, she's been doing her own interpretive dance since she could walk. The first day we took her to class, she had an ear-to-ear grin for the entire 45 minutes. Last week she may have had a slightly harder time listening, but she still loved it. I'm really excited for her. Being able to provide the opportunity for my children to pursue the things they are passionate about is something I've always hoped I could do as a parent. 

Soooooo Happy!

Bodie is still fighting sleep but the last few nights have actually gone a little better. I've been laying him down and just letting him cry it out. The first night I had to go in after 45 minutes to calm him back down a bit. He fell asleep after another 20 minutes of crying and then slept through the night. The next night was almost identical with the exception that he woke once in the middle of the night. Thank goodness my wife was willing to go down and soothe him that time because I didn't have it in me. Last night, he cried for a good 30-45 minutes but then he was down for the count. I tried everything else I could think of before this "tough love" approach. It was starting to look like we were just encouraging the tantrums. This seems to be working a little. Don't worry though, I'll keep you all posted. 

Captain Handsome

Post 11 (7/17/14)

Anyone interested in temporarily adopting a 10 and a half month old boy? I say temporarily as I want him back as soon as he sleeps through the night consistently.

Ok, I don't mean that. The first night he's not home I'll be sad and miss him terribly, just like date nights when our parents take him for us. The break is always nice but we end up missing both kids terribly before we even get home.

This kid has decided that going to bed in the evening is the worst thing we could ever do to him, lately. Every night for the last three nights in a row, and he's done this every once in a while before, we go through the usual routine, trying to ensure we've covered all our bases. We change him, put him in the most comfortable PJs we can, and feed him (just to top him off). The feeding usually takes place in his room where the lights are down and the white noise is playing. He usually falls completely asleep before he even finishes the bottle, snoring and all. The problem comes when we lay him down. As soon as his head hits his pillow, he pops awake and starts screaming at us.

This is usually followed by another small bottle, thinking maybe he didn't get enough, a dose of baby tylenol because he is teething, more rocking, and even letting him cry it out when we can (this is limited because his sister sleeps in the room next door to him). The rocking tends to work, until we lay him down again and the cycle starts over. On a typical night, lately, this will repeat two or three times before he finally stays asleep. The icing on the cake is when he wakes up two hours later screaming at the top of his lungs and we have to go through the process all over again......and then two hours after that. 

If I could fit and this would work, this would totally be me.

Now, I know this is all temporary but SHEESH, this is exhausting. This is one of the reasons I started this blog, so that I can vent out in the open, get it off my chest, and hopefully have a little more room to cope with the rest of the day. That and coffee, lots of coffee. 

My saving grace

Post 10 (6/27/14)

This last week has been a busy one. Well, to be totally fair, every week is busy when you've got a three year old and a 9 month old. This last week though, maybe even the last two weeks, have seemed more hectic than usual. Right off the top of my head, I can think of the two biggest factors for this. 

One is totally self-imposed. Being a full time student, I'm coming up on finals week and this quarter has been a particularly work-heavy quarter. So, I've been playing catch up with school work and trying to prepare for finals next week. Like I said, this is all self-imposed stressors. The other factor, not so much. 

This second added business wasn't really self-imposed but it was totally expected. Bodie, the 9 month old, finally got mobile. He has totally mastered crawling, even though it still frustrates him that he can't get walk. This kid, as predicted by his mother and me, is ALL OVER THE PLACE. He cannot resist out entertainment center, that's definitely his favorite spot to explore. Of course, this is the number one non-kid-friendly spot in the house. With the Xbox and cable box, as well as a couple of baskets for odds and ends (e.g. Wallets, stamps, sunglasses, headphones, etc.), this whole area is both irrisistably interesting to a child and inexpressibly off limits from the parents perspective. So, in order to combat this kids non-stop movement, I've developed a little kiddie corral built up between the couch, my chair, and the coffee table.

Now, I know this is only going to hold him in for now. Eventually the kid will figure out how easily he can crawl under the table or push any of those items out of the way, but for now this is working really well. And as you can see, his big sister likes to sit in there with him. 

 

Post 9 (6/15/14: Father's Day)

Hey you guys. Just a quick post for Father's Day. Let me start by saying thank you to all the dads, daddies, fathers, papas, and all the other names we call those men that sacrifice so much to try and encourage us to be positive and upstanding additions to society.

Thank you to all those dads out there that strive, either consciously or unconsciously, to show their sons what it means to be a man. Showing your sons to be honorable, honest, and also showing them how to treat women, leading by example every day.

Thank you fathers for showing your tenderness and compassion to your daughters. Showing them what to expect from men and showing them how they should be treated, both in how you treat them directly and how you treat the women in their life, (In case you didn't know, that's what you do with every interaction with females. You show your little girl how a man should treat them).

WARNING!! Here's the part where I may get a little controversial or where my opinion may turn some of you away. Bear with me to through this whole thing because I need to say this. This is Father's Day. This is not Single Mother's Day, and Mother's Day is not Single Father's Day. I may be alone in this, but I really get frustrated, and almost irritated every time someone wishes a single dad, "Happy Mother's Day" and single moms, "Happy Father's Day." Now, I'm not taking away from what they do. It blows me away at the work single parents do and I don't know if I could ever do it myself. BUT, this does not mean they the other parent. A mother is a mother and a father is a father. A man can never, no matter how hard he tries, have the same impact on a child as a mother. A woman can never have the same impact on a child as a father. These are things that are only uniquely filled by a person of that specific sex. This is not to say that a mother or father cannot raise amazingly well balanced and fantastic people all on their own. They can and do all the time. All I'm saying is that we need to stop giving credit for fathering done by mothers and mothering done by fathers. Yes, they are pulling double duty and yes, they are doing amazing things, but this day (and Mothers Day) are singled out specifically for Fathers (or Mothers on Mothers Day).

In fact, single parents do such an amazing thing and work so amazingly hard that they shouldn't have to share a day that already exists. They should have a day all to themselves. Oh wait, check this out
----> Single Parent's Day. Let us all give single parents a standing ovation and as much honor as we can bestow on them on March 21st. A day set aside just for them. Let's let the mothers and fathers have Mother's Day and Father's Day to themselves and focus all of our awe and honor on those amazing heroes raising kids on their own, on their day.

I am in constant awe and have the utmost respect for any and all parents doing everything they can to raise those precious little ones to be good people. Do not misunderstand what I'm saying here. Single parents work harder than any other parent in the world. All I'm saying is let the holidays be for who they are specifically intended. Mother's Day is for all and only the moms. Father's Day is for the all and only the dads. And Single Parent's Day is for all those moms and dads doing it all on their own (and that blows my mind).

And, since my last posting was devoid of any cuteness from my house, here are the two amazing creatures that make me strive to be the best man I can be.

Post 8 (6/3/14)

Hey there all you awesome followers of this little thing I call a blog. How have you guys been? Things are pretty good here. We've had a great couple of weeks here in the Dakan house. It's been a while since a post from me so I'm not sure what all has happened between now and then, but I'll try to recap some highlights.

First, we had a great Memorial Day weekend. The weather was fantastic and we were able to have Nana and Uncle Aaron over (the in-laws) for BBQ and pool time. Bodie had his first time in our pool, that was entertaining. The kid LOVES water. His bath time is his favorite, to the point that he gets irate when you take him out. The pool though, that was another story. He wanted to love it but he just couldn't get past the fact that it wasn't warm :) Now, don't get me wrong, the temperature was really comfortable and not cold at all, but compared to his baths, it was much colder than he was used to.

Cali, as always, had a great time in the pool. She's still really timid about getting out and "swimming" and every time we get in the pool, we have to encourage her all over again. It's almost as if she undoes the progress we made last time and we start from scratch. Luckily, she's getting big enough for Uncle Aaron, Jess' brother, to be more comfortable actually playing with her. He got in the pool, and Cali adores him so when he asked her to jump in for him and he would catch her, she did it with minimal hesitation. I was inside working on homework at this time so missed a lot of that. By the time I got out and into the water she was all excited and having a blast. She was even jumping off of the higher bricks towards the back of our pool. She was very excited and proud and couldn't wait for daddy to get in and catch her.

So that sums up the weekend of Memorial Day. I'm really sorry I don't have much more for you guys, I know my posts have been few and far between lately. The truth is, I'm falling behind in my school work and really struggling to find the time and, even more, the motivation, to get caught up. That being said, I have 2 more weeks of school left and then I'll be able to refocus my efforts for you guys. Jess and I have discussed things and it looks like I'll be taking a little time off from school as well. So hopefully that will lead to more regular posts and more focused content for you guys.

The other thing I would like to quickly add, I know it's a little lame there are no pictures for this one. This is the only time that will happen. I really wanted to get a post up for you guys so you knew I wasn't abandoning you all.

Okay everyone, one last thing, thanks for reading this and following me. If you guys are truly interested, please spread the word and let others know. I'll ask again when my content gets a little more often and regular but I'm thinking it can't hurt to ask :)


-Shane

Post 7 (5/9/14)

Well, here we are on the first Friday back. By back, I mean back on our regular schedule, back to real life. For those that don't know, last week the wife and I got to spend 3 days in Disneyland, kid free with great friends. We had so much fun and we're very grateful for the vacation.

The traditional Disneyland picture :)

None of it would have been possible without the love and support if our amazing family (including the kid's awesome babysitter, Jazz). It was definitely a team effort though. Let me break it down for you guys.

Ok, not my actual flow chart here, but you get the idea

 Wednesday, after she got off work, my sister showed up to spend the night with the kids. Cali loved it. She finally got a sleep-over with her Auntie Ninja. Then, Thursday morning, bright and early, Jazz showed with her son to play with the kids for the day. She was relieved Thursday evening by Nana (my wife's mom). Nana stayed Thursday night on through till Saturday morning. Saturday, Pappy (my dad) came to relieve Nana until Grandma Coffee (my mom) got off work. Grandma coffee cam straight from work, let Pappy head on home, and stayed with the munchkins until we got home Sunday evening. Phew. Did you guys follow all that?

On the other end, mommy and daddy were tearing it up at Disneyland and California Adventure.

The Incredibles (all 4 of us)

This was my wife's second trip ever, and my first in 23 years. So, we were both rookies full of excitement, and a little trepidatious about being able to keep up with our whole party. You see, we were there to celebrate our close friends birthday.

Birthday Girl

Her and her husband are Annual Pass holders who go to Disneyland probably 4-5 times a year. They have it down to a science. They know hours, they've mastered the Fast Pass, and Josh, the birthday girl's husband, has a map of both parks in his head. This turned out to work out to our advantage. We spent day one and two following along. In the first day we rode probably every major ride we could have wanted to. 

Day two was the birthday girl's actual birthday and we hit up even more rides. We also ate at The Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside of the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride. Dinner was great, the company was even better, and the day was exhausting ;) 

Day three was all for mommy and daddy to fly solo as much as we wanted. Seeing as we got most of the major rides and attractions dine the first two days, we were able to take our time meandering around and riding the rides we had left in the list. This consisted mostly of kiddie rides in Fairytale Town. It was cute and we had a blast. We shared almost every meal so we could get more foods in. It was like we were dating again and we had a blast.

Lovin life

Needless to say, after day three at the parks, we were completely worn out. We were both walking funny by the time we got back to the hotel. I was so grateful that all we would be doing the next day was sitting in the car and driving. 

There wasn't much recovery time. Monday, after we were home for a night, I had to dive right back into school. I'm now taking three classes online and had to spend almost all of Monday and Tuesday upstairs in my office. My poor wife had to spend her last two days off managing the kids solo the whole time. Wednesday through Friday are my days with the kids, and I think the trip has helped us a

all out immensely. The kids have been really good, I've been getting a lot of laundry and cleaning done, and we've all been in good moods the whole time. 

It's so great it be back home. We missed the kids so much. Such an odd mixture of feelings to have. We equally loved being without the kiddoes and missed them so much it hurts, all at the same time. We will probably do it again, one more time, before Cali is old enough to go (we've talked long and hard about it and for us and our kids, 5 years old is the earliest we want to take them).

I hope all of you are happy and healthy. I'll talk to you again soon :)

Post 6 (4/24/14)

Hey folks. How have you all been? I hope you all had a great Easter. We had a great time and amazing food. Breakfast at my parents house followed by dinner at Jess' mom's house. Cali even got to hunt for eggs two days early with Grammy and Poppy before they headed back to Ohio.

Egg Hunt

Speaking if the Ohio family, what a great visit. They were here for a week and the kids were in heaven while they were here. Poor little Bodie was still fairly sick when they first got here (he was just getting over a cold and cutting a few teeth all at the same time). Thankfully he got better after a couple days into their visit and his mood did a full 180. He just suddenly became happy and fun and full of smiles.

Look at that face, what a stinker.

We were also lucky enough to have the Buckeye's here for Cali's third birthday. I'm still shocked that she's already 3. She's grown and changed so much over theses 3 quick years. She's really becoming quite a little person, and I love her more and more every day. She had so much fun that day. It was attended by only family because once we started thinking of friends to invite, the numbers quickly grew out of control. That's quite a blessing to have that many people in our lives that care about us.

Cousins helping cousins

My little Merida

Jess Enjoying Drewski's

Grammy and Poppy gave us a date night, which was awesome. We had dinner at the local food trucks thanks to Sacto MoFo (our local food truck organization). The food was amazing and then we were going to just go wander the mall and enjoy some shopping kid free. This is how you know you're getting old; we spent the remainder of our date night at the tempurepedic store shopping for mattresses, hahaha. That being said, we had a blast and will probably be buying a new mattress with all the works after we fix the roof :)

The next big thing coming up for us is an awesome trip to Disneyland. The really exciting part is that it's a kid-free trip. The bug reason for this is that it's a birthday trip for a close friend, Chelsea, and no one is bringing kids. Second to that is that we don't feel that the kids are old enough to really enjoy it enough yet to justify the cost. The only reason this is even possible is because of the amazing grandparents our kids have been blessed with, and their aunt, my sister. Everyone is pitching in to watch them while we're gone so that no one is over-burdened and we will be able to be gone for 5 full days. So, thank you in advance to all the family pitching in in this. I will post after the trip to tell you guys how it went for us, as well as for the family back here in Sacramento.

I wanted to say a quick thank you it all of you loyal followers. You guys encourage me to keep creating more content for you all. 

Post 5 (4/9/14)

Good morning my legion of readers. Ok, to be a little more accurate, good morning you two. Today funds us in the second week of April, the sun is shining, the temperature is comfortably in the mid to high 70's, and both kids have been sick the last two days. This is difficult to deal with for a few reasons.

(She's hamming it up for the blog)

First and foremost is how hard it is to see your children miserable and suffering without being able to do much of anything to help them. Cali, being the older kid, is a little bit easier to deal with because she can communicate and understand, to a degree, what's happening. There also a few other options with an older child. I was able to give her warm water with honey to help her throat (which really helped a lot and she liked the taste) and stuff like that. 

Bodie, on the other hand, is just a little baby and when babies are sick, it's heart-wrenching. Yesterday was the worse of it, I think. He had a slight fever and didn't want to do anything but sleep. He would wake up to eat, and then sit there and whine for an hour or so, and then he would be rubbing his eyes and leaning into my chest. I hate to see my little man suffer and know there's nothing I can do about it. With Cali, at least snuggling with her helped soothe her. Bodie has never been a snuggler so trying to comfort him doesn't even work. I did discover one little trick that seemed to calm him down though, if I held him in my lap, back against me, and gently rubbed his feet together, he would quiet down and relax....so cute. 

This all led to one of the least restful nights I've had as a parent in a while, and that's saying something with two kids, one only 7 months old. Cali woke up at 1:30am crying and trying to come upstairs. After I got her settled back into bed and going back to sleep, Bodie decided to wake up at 3am crying. I couldn't find his pacifier for the longest time which led to some house language under my breath while trying desperately to calm him done and not disturb my wife too much. She had to work today and being a nurse, I believe she needs to be on top of her game and well rested. I finally got him settled and sleeping. Then, at 5:30am, he woke back up starving. So, I had to feed him and change him and get him back down. This one didn't bother me as much because he often wakes up somewhere between 5 and 7 to eat, I was half expecting it. 

On the up side, Bodie slept till 8:30 this morning and Cali didn't get out if bed till 10:00. I know, I super lucked out in that one. And now, as of 11:30, Bodie is napping and Cali is watching her shows, giving me some valuable time to write to you all and vent about my night.

Another great thing, the in-laws are coming to town Saturday. Yeah, you read that right. I said, "great thing," and I meant it. They live in Ohio so they don't get to see the kids, let alone my wife, very often. The last time they got to see the kids, Bodie was only 2 months old. I know, 5 months isn't a very long time but all of you parents can vouch for the fact that there is a ton of change that happens in a child from 2 months to 7 months. Not to mention they are always so helpful and an all around welcome addition to our household when they come out. Albeit, welcome in a temporary status because this house is just too small for that many people for an extended amount of time ;) We love you Grammy and Poppy. 

Post 4 (3/26/14)

Hey gang. How have you guys been? Things have been pretty great around here. Super busy, which might explain why it's been a couple weeks since I last posted, but otherwise great. 

What's new around here, you ask? Well, not much that would seem big to a lot of people, but to parents, the little things really matter. 

Our son, Bodie, just finished cutting his 4th tooth. It's pretty cute because the first one up top was way over to the side, almost his canine. He already had the two front, bottom teeth and this one on the side was so adorable every time he would give us a huge smile, which is quite often because he is so happy. I couldn't help calling him our little snaggle-tooth baby. So funny. 

Our daughter, Cali, is coming up in her 3rd birthday and it's starting to show. I'm not sure who coined the term, "Terrible Twos" but I'm pretty sure they didn't have kids. I think they were just trying to work on making something that sounded clever, or they just had rotten kids. I've confirmed this with most of the more experienced parents I know and respect, and threes are much more terrible than twos. The closer my daughter gets to three, the more I see what they're talking about. She's developed this ability to completely ignore her mother and me. She also has discovered the joy of screaming and hitting when we have to leave somewhere that she's been having fun. Right after she's pushed us past the point of tolerating it, she likes to look at us and her most dramatic, cheesy Disney live-action TV show style voice, say, "I'm so so so sorry, mommy/daddy." 

The hard part is, she's apologizing, and doing it usually without being prompted anymore which is great, so we feel like forgiving is the right response. She then thinks that means all is past and the world is happy. She's pushed my wife to the point where she just doesn't want to talk to Cali for a few minutes, wanting some peace and quiet for a minute. She then apologizes, my wife forgives her, and then she starts trying to chat up a storm with my wife. At what point do we expect her to understand that an apology, followed by forgiveness, doesn't actually change the mood instantly?

Well, I'm pretty sure that this is one of those things that you just have to be consistent, persistent, and patient. She'll eventually grasp the concepts, as she has with everything else. It's only difficult because she's so smart and grasps other things that we would never expect her to grasp. Stick around for further adventures of Ms. Cali and the lessons of life (for Dad). 

So,etching else I'd like to throw out there, mostly for you parents out there with multiple kids. How do you balance the attention you give each kid? I find, from time to time thoughout the day, that when I'm addressing an issue with the baby (as those are so hard to ignore) my daughter is beginning to act out in an effort to get my attention. I'm just curious what other parents do in these situations. 

Post 3 (3/6/14)

Well gang, I'm into my third week of this amazing adventure. I was going to try and give you guys a post a week, or so. Seems like that may be a little overly ambitious of me. The biggest reason for the absence of a post was illness last week.

It all started out with a sore throat. That got steadily worse and even started creating a bad taste in my mouth, like crushed aspirin. My lymph-node on the left side was super swollen. I eventually went to the doc and was tested for Strep, I was so worried about getting the family sick. Test came back negative, thank God. The next day, I had a blaring headache all day, and this was the second day of the week with just myself and the kids. At this point I was seriously contemplating asking my wife to come home early, but I really didn't want her to think I couldn't hang. That night things started feeling a little worse and the wife volunteered to stay home the next day. Such a blessing to have her home because the next day I was nauseous and having hot flashes. Rest assured everyone, by Saturday, most of the symptoms had subsided and I was starting to feel better. I still don't have much of an appetite and the bad taste is still in my mouth, making eating slightly less enjoyable than usual, but I'm feeling much better. 

Needless to say, my second week as a stay-at-home dad was a very long and disappointing one. I'm hoping this week goes better. I'm sure that it will if only because I'm feeling better, and better able to deal with whatever comes up. Unfortunately the wife is starting to have similar symptoms, and she is the one that has to go out and earn the big bucks for us. 

Well, keep your fingers crossed that there is minimal illness left here. I'll try and update you guys again soon. Thanks for letting me vent :)

Post 2 (2/20/14)

Okay, I'm now 2 days into this stay-at-home dad stuff and these kids have a knack for making sure you never know what's coming next. 

Yesterday was an awesome first day. I got up with the kids, around a reasonable 8:30. I was able to get them both fed, start the laundry, and even enjoy a cup of coffee. Then I got the little one down for a nap and completely caught up on some dishes that had been piling up while the older kid watched Nick Jr. Then Pappi (my dad) came over and had some lunch with Cali. By this time Bodie had been up a while and playing. I got him fed and then both kids fully cooperated with a nap. While they were sleeping (including Pappi) I was able to get some more laundry done and get the kids packed up. Then we took the kids to the aviation museum here in Sacramento

(Not sure about the Crab Feed 2014. I sure didn't get any crab).

Cali and Bodie both did awesome and we even went to the killer playground they have there. So, all in all, yesterday was a smashing success. 

Today, and it's only 10am, is not going nearly as smoothly. The big one, she's been great. Even trying desperately to help me with her little brother. That little guy, on the other hand, has not been a happy camper at all. I'm pretty sure he's cutting more teeth, he's already got two. But man, his sister was not this difficult as far as I can remember. He woke up at 7:00, when mommy was getting ready for work, was fairly content till she left. Then things took a sad turn. He's been fussy and sad non-stop until about 10 minutes ago when he finally exhausted himself to sleep. It's been a gambit of letting him cry long enough to feed his sister, then try to make a bottle that he won't eat. 

Needless to say, as triumphant as I felt yesterday, these kids have a real gift for giving us a reality check. I know that we'll get through this, as with all things, but the fact remains that parenting is hard. That's all there is to it. Unlike most jobs where you have a schedule and there is a certain set parameter of things that can and will happen, parenting can and will involve every possibility. I've been really blessed so far that there haven't been any extreme bad events. Praying that it continues that way. 

Thanks for listening you guys.

The New Chapter (or...The Beginning)

         

 Shifting gears in my life has always been the norm. I'm one of those people that believes, if you're truly not happy, or what you're doing really isn't what's best for your family, then you should absolutely do something about it. That being said, you should not do anything that isn't a step forward, in one way or another.
          I have now embarked on another shift in gears in my life. As of yesterday, February 12th, 2014, I am an unemployed, stay-at-home dad. This comes after working only 6 and a half months at PG&E, as an IT Help Desk Analyst. I obtained the job while I was still studying IT at Heald College out here in Northern California. I loved the job, the pay was pretty good for an entry level position, and I actually enjoyed most of the people I work with. Not to mention, I was actually working in my field of study, that seems to be a rare thing these days. Everything at the job was looking good and they were setting me up to be promoted and work towards a life-long career. Pretty exciting stuff really.
          As things really started to gain momentum with the job, things were going great at home, and we were starting to get in to a rhythm again after our 2nd child joined our family.

My wonderful mother was watching the kids for us on Wednesdays, and we had a fantastic babysitter who came to the house on Thursdays and Fridays. Well, my mother soon realized that watching two kids all day every Wednesday was not as easy as it was when my siblings and I were all little. Age has a funny way of making some things much more physically difficult. The truth is, my wife and I never really wanted our parents to be babysitters anyway, we really wanted them to be able to be "Grandparents" and be able to enjoy purely spoiling their grand babies. 

          Now, let me be perfectly clear, my amazing mother not once asked us to relieve her, but I know my mom and I love her dearly. I did not want my kids to feel like a burden to her, whether they already did or not, things were heading that way. So, Jess (my wife) and I started discussing alternatives. Let me tell you now, there weren't very many truly viable options.

          What we were looking at was; 1. putting both kids in daycare, 2. paying our babysitter for a third day, or 3. me becoming a stay at home dad. Now, by the very nature of this blog and the preface here, you know which choice we went with. Option 1 was not really an option either of us were comfortable with, because the boy is only 5 months old. Option 2 was just too expensive, leaving only $200 a month out of my paycheck, which then gets spent on gas and vehicle maintenance.

          So here we are, living option 3, and I'm staying home with my kiddos from now on. I'm very excited about this in reality, even though I'm pretty nervous at the same time. I stayed home for the first 2 years of my daughters life, being a full time student at the same time. But, I'm now watching 2 kids, which any parent of more than one child knows, it's a lot more than just double the work. So I'm starting this blog more as a diary/journal for myself, but would love to have followers who want to join me on this journey. Stay tuned for more fun and Real-life adventures of Daddy.

-Shane