Looking back at just a year ago is crazy! Our little girl was, well, littler, and I was still adjusting to the stay-at-home life. Now that it’s almost the end of March, I thought I’d dig through the archives and share 10 of my favorite posts from March of last year for a little Throwback Thursday action. Enjoy!
1. Ninja Turtle Pizzas At G-Ma’s – This was our second time bringing Avery to stay the night at G-Ma’s (or anywhere), and she let us all know her distaste for not sleeping in her crib.
Avery showing her Liley lip curl with G-ma
2. Our Nightly Routine and I’m Inventing a Water Swaddle – Always fun to look back at what our routine was like a year ago. She was crazy then and beyond crazy now! This also features me wearing Avery in the Baby Bjorn front facing; what I now know better NOT to do for many development reasons.
10. Explaining Exercise to a Baby – Seriously, I’m going to create a post to gather all of my conversations with Avery. This one should be no surprise to those that know me.
I started writing this thinking I’d only share 5, but there were too many I wanted to share in March. Maybe I’ll do 5 for April.
What do you think, do you like seeing a recap of posts from a year ago?
Do you ever have “conversations” with your baby….before they can actually speak?
More importantly, we/us/our family has survived a year having me as a stay-at-home dad. Nerves were high for all of us a year ago as my wife was returning to work from her maternity leave, and I was leaving work to stay home with our daughter, Avery.
It was obvious how unsure I was looking back at my first post from my first day at home. The world revolved around nap time and I heavily depended on Kelley’s breast milk soaked shirt laying in Avery’s crib to provide comfort and help with keeping her asleep.
If you checked out the links I provided from my first and second days as an at-home dad, you might notice a common theme that’s present with most parents, especially new ones; a difference in parenting styles. Yep, it’s a big one, and doesn’t matter if one is staying home or both are working, parents tend to disagree on one thing or another a miliion, and that’s just how it is.
Kelley and I still have our own ways of dealing with Avery and we’ll sometimes argue over how the other is handling a situation. Damn wife, she’s usually right (at least I admit it…..eventually), but sometimes I get the 1-up. Not often, but sure does feel good when I do! Parents, don’t you agree?
FightingArgumentsQuarrels Misunderstandings aside, Kelley and I make a great team and have learned a lot along the way. Is anyone ever done learning when so much is changing every day? In parenting and relationships, I vote NO! But that’s part of the fun, right? 🙂
In my year as a stay-at-home dad, I’ve made many mistakes and figure I’ll make many more. But from the ones I have made, I have learned and grew stronger as a result. For instance, babywearing, something we fully support and love in our home, took me a bit before realizing I was doing it wrong at first. I was wearing Avery all over with legs dangling and front facing.
Too cool for school…or anything.
As I shared on my post about Why I Wear My Baby, there are many studies showing the problems with a baby’s development when worn like this, especially the dangling legs!
And there are plenty more (I’m picturing my wife nodding her head as she reads this) mistakes that I’ll share in a separate post soon. Hopefully other parents, whether at-home or at-work, will learn from my mistakes and avoid making them their selves.
Today I want to call attention to making it an entire year with our arrangement and to express my deep, deep appreciation to my lovely wife, Kelley, for working so hard for our family. Some times are extremely hard with work, keeping up with breastfeeding, and dealing with an unruly husband (me!) and she is great at keeping everything together.
Kelley, I can’t thank you enough, and just want to say I love our life together and having such a crazy, yet sweet, daughter to raise with you.
Are you currently or can you remember being a parent to a baby/toddler?
What are some ways that you and your significant other pushed through the tunnel of stressful times to emerge from the other end, happy and sane? Okay, maybe a little crazy. 😉
It was only 4 months ago when left the work world and officially became a stay-at-home dad! It feels like longer but also like time has flown by, if that makes any sense.
So far, our new life is much better than before, and I’m enjoying it more each day. Avery didn’t do much the first few months, but she’s beginning to be quite lively and responsive. I have no clue what her coos and pterodactyl-like screeches mean, but they keep me company way more than her silent newborn days!
The day I started this life, I posted seven goals as a new stay-at-home dad and today I’m going to see how I’ve done so far and list seven more goals.
My previous 7 goals:
Figure out a good routine. This was a major concern for me as a new parent and SAHD, but it ended up going pretty well. I was able to enjoy Avery taking a 3 hour morning nap most days and then another one in the early afternoon. Her eating from the bottle was hit or miss (yo-yo dieting), but I’ve been consistently taking her on walks each day and enjoying quality time with her.
Keep a (somewhat) clean house. I don’t do as thorough of a job as Going Mom, but I vacuum daily and the house is never a pure mess….yet.
Cook good food. I’ve been able to make a few dishes for Kelley that aren’t just thrown together and she usually approves. Sometimes I’ll add too much or too little of something, but she’s always grateful and gives me “constructive” feedback. I enjoy being able to have a healthy meal for Kelley to bring to work as well as breakfast and dinner, and so far so good.
Post to the blog at least twice a week. I’ve been really good at posting daily so far, so I’m happy to go above and beyond this goal!
Take a lot of pictures and video. Ha, “a lot” is one way to describe it, but more like “take up half of my hard drive” is a better description. How do you NOT take pictures of your beautiful baby? Goal met x infinity!
Find time to work out during the day. I worried about this one, a lot, but with her 3 hour naps I could easily fit in a workout for the first several weeks. Then, she started taking longer to get tired, so now I take her with me to workout. Sometimes it’s inside with a video (my last preference), outside in the garage for lifting, or running in the B.O.B. All in all, she usually does great and seems to enjoy watching her daddy jump around and look goofy. Phew!
So far so good with those 7 goals, and will keep working on them as I continue my at-home dad life. I have no regrets on making the decision to stay at home and raise our beautiful daughter and I am just a happier person overall. Even better is that since I’m happier, Going Mom is happier and we have a healthier life as a result. Happiness rules!
As time goes by, things change, my goals included, so I have 7 new ones to share and strive to attain…
1. Teach Avery about healthy eating and how it is enjoyable. Now that she’s starting to eat solids with our baby-led weaning approach, I am standing strong on only offering vegetables for now. As she becomes more comfortable with carrots and broccoli, we’ll offer fruits like banana and mango. For now, the next step might be a less sweet fruit like avocado; this will be a fun one to clean up after!
Catching on quickly!!
2. Have better time management. I’ve been getting seriously into blogging and find that I have the “need” to create daily posts. I know the world won’t end if I skip a day or two, but it’s how my mind works. My priority should be and always is my family, I just need to remind myself of this sometimes. I enjoy writing posts and sharing stories/thoughts, but I just have to get better at when I do this.
She did great for my first time instructing our neighbors on a workout
If blogging wasn’t enough, I’m now starting to have a group meet in my neighborhood where I will instruct workout sessions. I’m not certified and don’t charge for it, but this is something I want to do when Avery gets older. I love our neighborhood and enjoy helping those who care, so hopefully I can manage this as well.
3. Stress Less!! This one obviously ties into time management, but it’s something I do way too often. When I was working, my stress affected me so bad it took a toll on my health and was one of the reasons we struggled to have a baby. Needless to say, stress is a dangerous thing that affects brain, body, and those around you.
This picture means more than words can describe and my stress made us wait too long!
I feel it creep up on my when I’m trying to take on too much like write a post, prepare meals, clean bottles from the day, workout, and clean house all at once. You’d think as someone who stays at home this is easy, but I find a way to make it difficult. Either way, I need to reign in on the stress and kick it to the curb!
4. Say “I love you” at least once a day. To Avery, to my wife, and to family, these three words are more powerful than you can imagine. I hope I am doing good on this one already, but I’m making it a goal to ensure I don’t let up. This is something I think everyone should heed; go say “I love you.” to your family and watch the smile on their faces.
5. Keep “going” with my blog. I couldn’t help myself, sorry. Yes, my blog has become a part of me and as a proud dad, I want to let the world know. I’ve been fortunate to connect with many other dad bloggers and I’m even taking part of a couple of campaigns for Father’s Day (coming soon).
I want to upgrade to a self-hosted blog soon, but need to make sure I have the financial means to do so. I love the community I am a part of and thank everyone reading for doing so!
6. Make healthy cupcakes. Sounds weird, but this task has been assigned to me by my wife. I need to create a recipe to make delicious and healthy cupcakes by the time Avery’s first birthday rolls around.
Nope, won’t make these again….
I refuse to offer cake made from refined white flour and am on a mission to impress! Cupcakes are a lot easier to manage and then Avery won’t have to smash a whole cake. Any thoughts/recipes you care to share?
7. Have a positive influence on my daughter. The importance of the father-daughter relationship is tremendously important, and I am adamant about being the best dad to Avery. By showing how a real man treats women with respect and always offering positive words, I will help set Avery to have great self-esteem and confidence. I hope it also helps in her choice of boys when that time comes. But lets not get too far ahead…
Playtime with dad is more important than you’d think!!
There we go, I have my work cut out for me, but that’s okay since I enjoy a good challenge. Right now, I think the hardest one will be perfecting a healthy cupcake recipe. What some think as healthy, may not be the same view I have as I can get pretty picky. Actually, I feel bad about using any flour because it’s obviously somewhat processed to get to that form. But, I will overcome this hurdle and find something!
Love our family!!
Avery puts a smile on my face every day and I can’t say enough how much I am loving our way of life now! I love my wife and our daughter, and I hope to continue to put my best into this blog and most importantly, being the best dad and husband I can be!
How do you think I’m doing so far?
Do you set goals for yourself?
Any good cupcake recipes you care to share?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
