Thursday, August 28, 2014

Dad, You’re Beautiful



There wasn't anything that prompted it. She had been running between the living room and her bedroom, leaping every few feet and attempting to fly. She was a fairy again. When she left the ground I could hear her take a breath that, milliseconds later, shot out in an audible “UH!” as she came back to the carpeted earth. Then she’d smile, start running and try again. The plastic fairy wings a friend of Stevie’s had bought her were adorable, but not very good at actually making her fly. On her eleventieth try she came running over to me on the couch, hugged my lap and told me that I was beautiful. 

“Dad, you’re beautiful.”

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Stevie and the BOB - BOB Stroller Giveaway!

John here. After much begging and pleading from Stevie, I contacted the folks at BOBgear and asked if they would consider sending us a stroller to review. My surprise when they said yes was only outweighed by Stevie's excitement. As you'll read below, she wasn't just excited for a new stroller -- she was also excited to spend more time with me. (Weird, huh?) Anyway, aside from the stroller we received no compensation for this piece. All opinions belong to Stevie and I.

As most of you know, John and I became runners earlier this year. And by "we became runners" I mean we managed to run several miles at a time without dying or complaining too much. Ok fine I complained a lot. But we did it. We ran lots of miles. See? Here we are all sweaty smiley. Me with my sister/trainer and John with his...pillow.




John raised money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and I "won the lottery" as all the cool runners say and ran the half marathon. It took months of training and attempting to eat well. But in all that work, the hardest part wasn't the trudging up hills and trying not to have beer the night before a run. It was the scheduling. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

5 Pieces of Parenting Advice I’m Tired of Hearing

5 Pieces of Parenting Advice I’m Tired of Hearing


Five years ago, when Stevie and I found out we were going to be parents, the first good, usable piece of parenting advice we received was this: 

“Take all parenting advice with a grain of salt. Everyone thinks they’re an expert. Use what you think is useful for you, in your situation, and just let the rest go.” 

And so we have. Some advice has hit home and made us better parents. The advice that we don’t agree with, or doesn't fit, gets tossed out the window to roll away in the dust behind the minivan. 

The problem is that no matter how many times we leave it behind, a few of the same annoying pieces keep chasing us down the highway. Here are five of them:

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Best Concert Ever

Having a bad day? Oh boy, do I have a gift for you. On Reddit last week user nthed111 posted this video of French pop singer Patrick Bruel in complete awe at a concert in 1991. The video was aptly presented with the title:

That moment you realize your song is now bigger than you



You can just see the joy as he realizes that something he has written now lives on its own. I'm sure it is a moment that every artist dreams off. Well, then something awesome happened. Turns out this happens at concerts quite often, and the comments section of the Reddit thread quickly filled up with cathartic awesomeness. I found myself spending an entire Saturday afternoon clenching back happy-tears and watching video after video of what became one of the greatest online concerts ever assembled. Here are some more great ones from the thread. Enjoy!

Monday, August 11, 2014

Eulogy for an Afternoon Nap

Today's post is a guest post from my arch-frenemy Mike Julianelle from the absolute worst dad blog on the internet, Dad and Buried. Why am I letting him guest post? Because I am lulling him into a false sense of friendship and comradery. Once he is properly fooled I will invite him on a helicopter ride for a fun night on the town, only to drop him on an abandoned island full of hungry bears. Nobody tell him the plan. Anyway, here's his stupid, unfunny post that I hate. 

(Note: After reading this post, do not go and read his other posts on his site, and DO NOT us the links at the bottom of this post to follow him on his social channels. He is not funny at all. Just take my word for it. No need to verify if I am telling the truth or not.)




Eulogy for an Afternoon Nap

It’s with a heavy heart that I've gathered you all here today, to say our last goodbyes to a true hero; a magical, benevolent soul who touched all of our lives for the better and an honest-to-god lifesaver who never failed to bring a smile to our faces. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Wrong Way to Support Your Wife Breastfeeding

After breastfeeding
We only have one picture of Stevie breastfeeding, and we already used it. This one is immediately after and will have to do.

When Stevie was pregnant with our daughter, tucked in among all the typical friends and family pre-baby small talk, there was one question that continually came up. “Do you plan on breastfeeding?” In my pre-dad, super excited to be a part of all things parenting mode, there were a few times towards the beginning that I hopped in and said, “Yes. Totally!” In the context of this paragraph I realize how silly I must have sounded answering a very personal, and gender specific, question for my wife. I obviously was not going to be breastfeeding our child, and that question was not really mine to answer. What I will say is that the breastfeeding question was generally asked within a series of “Are you” questions that did involve me. “Are you planning on putting her in daycare? Are you set on a name yet? Are you excited to have a little girl?” Even though Stevie was the one with the kid in her womb, we got used to answering these questions as a team. 

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

6 Parenting Lessons I Learned from Doctor Who


Doctor Who and parenting have a lot in common. Both can be simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. Both can be difficult to understand and remarkably satisfying when things click into place. There have been times after a particularly good Doctor Who episode that I have been struck with such a sense of catharsis that I closed my eyes and wished I could watch it again for the first time. I can’t tell you how often that has happened with my kids. There are some days that I wish I could repeat over and over and over again... and yes, there are days I wish I could skip. If only I had a time machine…

Here are six lessons that Doctor Who has taught me about being a dad.