Tuesday, November 30, 2010

"Dada don't be mad at me..."

So much for my plan to blog more. So much has been going on. Its a good thing Jess is a better blogger than me.
Jaycee is almost 3 and we seem to be rounding the corner on her 2 year old adventures. It seems like the terrible 2's are hopefully coming to a close. Now that she is older, it is much easier to reason with her. She understands consequences for her actions, so timeouts are much more effective (and less frequent). Along with understanding consequences, she has a clear understanding of how to butter up her dada.
Her latest maneuver is to come over to me (after she gets caught doing something she's not supposed to do) and she gives me a hug. Then, in her nicest voice she pleads "Please don't be mad at me dada". Where does she learn this stuff?? The crazy part is, it works. I instantly feel like I did something wrong instead!
Every time she busts that out, I start to worry about her teenage years. She isn't even 3 yet and she already knows how to pull my strings, what will she be able to do when she's 15? Its obvious I lack the ability to fight it, so I can only hope she goes easy on me...

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Moving on up...

Things have been crazy around here! In addition to the girls growing like weeds, we have been busy adjusting to our new life. By new life, I refer to our recent move. We have more space to spread out now and we don't have to worry about rattle snakes anymore. But, the most dramatic change has been Jess' commute to work. It went from 50 minutes one way to 7. Yes thats right, 7 minutes! I knew it would be a big change, but had no idea how much it would affect us. Before moving, Jess would come in and we'd see each other for about ten minutes before I went to work. Now we have an hour (since my drive was also shortened) together before splitting off. That gives us enough time to sit and have dinner together and be together. The kitchen is close enough to the living area that Jess doesn't feel cut off when she's cooking and our newly acquired dining table (thanks to the kindness of a family friend) is big enough for us to entertain.
On that note, the girls are really changing their eating too. Now that we can all sit together, we have noticed that Jaycee is making some major strides in her eating habits. Now she wants to eat what we are eating and not a special meal. Jayden is finally taking to her baby food and I credit the fact that we are all eating at that same time for being the motivation for that.
I now have a room I can shut the door to when I do homework, which is a big change for me. Its nice to not have to make everyone go outside while I work.
Our backyard isn't big, which actually works out for us; partly because Jaycee can't get into too much trouble and partly because when we get the chance to fix up the backyard we won't have as much to take care of.
This is a blog about our new life here, so I don't want to go into the things we miss about the old house. I can assure you there are many things we miss, but getting that time we were missing out on together has become the most important thing to happen to our family.
By the way, we now have a guest room, so anyone reading this can give us a call and let us know when you're in town!
We are looking forward to the memories we will be creating in our new home and I plan be a better blogger and write some of those memories as we make them. It seems like life is sort of this continuous uphill grade that we are walking up. Sometimes the slope is steeper than other times but the trick is to just keep moving. Then, every once in a while, you come to a plateau where you can see behind you and all the path you have traveled. That is where we are now. Sitting on the plateau admiring the view... Okay, enough of that. Let the climbing continue...

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A little bit of pride...

I learned early on with Jaycee that kids are a source of great pride in a parent's life. When she was little, I was so proud that she was a happy girl and that she was being fed well and that she had everything she needed. As Jaycee and Jayden grow, I notice that the things I am proud of change.
I have noticed that when you have a baby in a stroller or cart, they are mostly invisible to people (except to baby lovers). As they gain communication skills, the invisible effect disappears. Today at Costco, Jaycee was standing at the check out with Jess and the checker struck up a conversation with her. I was so proud to watch her interact with an adult we identified as safe. She was very sure of herself. She stood tall with her hands on her hips in a confident way and looked him in the eyes as he asked questions. The conversation went like this:

Checker: What is your name?
Jaycee: My name is Jaycee
C: How old are you Jaycee?
J: Uhhh ( a slight pause as she situates her fingers to show only two) I'm two
C: You are a very smart little girl, aren't you?
J: Yes (hands on hips)

With that she said bye and was on her way. When I saw her standing there confident and sure of herself, I couldn't help but think we are doing something right. I don't mean that in a bragging way, but it was a real boost to my belief in our parenting methods. I always told Jess that I want to raise my kids to be confident, competent, and kind people. Today I saw two of those attributes displayed right in front of me. Now if we could just work on he kindness...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

When life gives you lemons...

Ever have one of those months where everything seems to go wrong? Well I am experiencing one of those months. I prefer not to go into details, so you just have to take my word for it.
Let me put it like this, as the famous saying goes: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But what if life is giving you a truckload of lemons and when you start to make lemonade you realize that you are out of sugar so you get into the car to go to the store, but the car won't start and its leaking coolant from the water pump. Know what I mean? Anyway, I am posting now, because I am starting to think we are finally turning the corner on our stressful month.
For some reason I have this idea that officially stating in writing that our rough patch is done, it will be. Okay, enough of that, back to work...

Friday, May 28, 2010

Not mud dada...

Disclaimer: the following really happened and it is really gross. Consider yourself warned.
For those of you who know me, feel free to skip down a paragraph or two. For everyone else, I have some faults that I willingly admit that I really haven't tried to fix. Today, two of those faults collided in spectacularly disgusting fashion. I am a chronic procrastinator and I hate doing laundry.
I have a research paper due that I should have been working on for weeks, but instead I am doing in in the closing days of the due date. Unfortunately, for Jaycee, that means she is on her own playing. She has been a good girl all day and has been playing nicely and, for the most part, quietly.
I took a moment to check on her and see what she was up to and found her in her room. She was in her bed laying down and reading a book. Happy with the situation, I left her there to enjoy her Elmo book.
About 10 minutes later, I was typing away when I heard her walk up behind me. I turned to see what she wanted and she asked "Dada, what's that?" as she held up her hand. I looked at it and saw poop all over her hand. Realizing I was going to have to do something about it, Jaycee quickly retracted her question and told me "its mud Dada".
She could tell I wasn't convinced and I told her to go to her room so we could figure out what happened then clean her up. When we got there, I looked all over for a diaper she may have found or removed from the bin but I found nothing. Then the stink hit me. I lifted up the back of her shirt and saw "mud" coming from her diaper going all the way up to the middle of her back (no exaggeration). I momentarily contemplated taking her outside to the hose. Then I looked at her bed. It looked like some sort of war had taken place. The picture is the load of laundry generated by this disaster. (If you look closely, which I don't recommend, you can see that her little stuffed doggy got the worst of it.) While Jaycee was in the bath, she wanted to make sure she cleared up the situation and she told me "Dada, not mud".
What did we learn today? When I have something really important to do, something will go wrong. I also learned that if Jaycee is talking about mud and she isn't outside, I should probably get the hose ready...

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Another year as a Mother has arrived for my wife. I just wanted to take a quick second to tell her how appreciated she is today and the other 364 days. If she ever wonders if she is a good mother to our little girls, all she has to do is see how much they love to be with her and near her. Jayden can be having a horrible day with dada and as soon as mama steps in she is back to smiling. She doesn't even have to see her, she only has to hear her voice and Jayden is fine. Then there is Jaycee. When she hears her mama's car pull up, she starts dancing around yelling "Mama home, mama home!" Then the rest of the day she spends asking when she'll be here.
Jess is the best mom I know. She lives and breaths for our little ones and I know that her time and attention she gives to them will help our little girls grow into loved and loving people. They are so lucky to have an example like their mama and I'm enjoying watching them turn more like her everyday...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Its a jungle in here...

Jaycee loves animals. She is interested by them, no matter the species, size, or abnormality. We have 3 little dogs and a huge cat. The dogs are pretty good at avoiding the Jaycee train and staying out of her way. The fat cat on the other hand is hindered by his size and can't get around as quickly as the dogs, so Jaycee can pretty much catch him whenever she wants.
For some reason, she is infatuated with Toby the cat. She will not leave him alone. She just wants to lay on him, with him, and just generally love him. The cat isn't very receptive and usually cries but cannot escape the toddler grip. The weird thing is, Toby is probably the least entertaining animal here, but Jaycee only wants him. I know I'm not exactly a cat person, but I am perplexed. I thought kids like dynamic and active things, which Toby is neither. You would think with all the running around Jaycee is making Toby do, he'd lose some weight. Then again, she makes me run around a lot too...

Friday, April 16, 2010

Quick and gross...

Hopefully you aren't eating or getting ready to eat (that was a fair warning). So I was getting breakfast situated for Jaycee and I the other day. She had her bowl of Cheerios and I had mine. She was eating Chocolate and I was eating Honey Nut. She saw that I had something different, so she decided she needed some of mine. So she stood on the other side of my bowl and looked inside to figure out the best way to steal Cheerios. As soon as she popped her head up and hung her face over the edge of my bowl, she unloaded a sneeze that made the milk splash in her face. Now, for the gross part. I had just poured the bowl and couldn't justify throwing it away, so I finished eating it. Hopefully none of you think less of me than you already do, but when it takes 20 minutes to get situated enough to get my breakfast together, it was a matter of weighing the pros and cons. Add it to the list of "things that I never would have done before kids"...

Saturday, April 3, 2010

All I need is an excuse... I mean reason...

I really need very little encouragement when it comes to buying new gadgets and devices. Jess, on the other hand, is a lot more logical in her approach. She asks questions like, do we really need that? and will we use it? I ask questions like, what store should I buy it from? and what is the quickest route to that store? With that in mind, I was very excited when Jess finally caved in to the pressure I have been putting on her to buy a DSLR camera. She was never opposed to the idea of having a nice camera to take awesome pictures, but that logic thing got in the way and she thought that the money was better spent (or saved) on something else. With enough money saved, she gave me the green light.
I am obviously stoked to have a new toy to play with, but I am most excited about the prospect of taking some awesome pictures as our little ones grow. I won't kid myself into thinking I am Ansel Adams or anything, but I have already noticed how much more forgiving this camera is. As a matter of fact, I think Canon should hire me as a spokesperson. I see the ad campaign now: "Real Pictures, Real People, Canon". Or Nikon, or Sony. I can be bought. Really. My wife will negotiate the details, she's the logical one...

Monday, March 22, 2010

Temporary Insanity...

The insanity of parenthood is real, I could easily be a case study.
I am not just talking about how I go crazy sometimes with life or how sometimes the household is crazy, I mean those moments when you stop for a second and think "did I just do that?" or "that just happened" or better yet when you don't even know what you did until someone else notices.
Allow an example, long long ago(2 years), before Jaycee's arrival, I think back on some of the phone conversations Jess and I had. We talked about the day, the news, and other goings on. Just the other day when Jess called to check in at her lunch, we spent about 4 minutes on the phone talking about Jayden's poop of the day. Jess wanted all the nasty details and I was giving them without batting an eye. Our conversation was only cut short by the screeching of the cat whom Jaycee was sitting on top of giving him a "hug".
How about the time I answered the phone and it was one I actually had to take and Jaycee thought that'd be the perfect time to throw her toy across the room and start screaming about it only to cause Jayden to start crying because she was roused from a dead sleep. The insanity comes in when I held the phone with my shoulder made a bottle with my left hand, held Jayden's pacifier in her mouth and pinned Jaycee down between my ankles so she'd stop throwing stuff while I was on the phone.
And don't get me started on the stuff I have done, that I remember, when I was half asleep at some unholy hours. Now I know I am not the only one who has done this kind of stuff, so I am going to propose an exemption for us. Temporary insanity is loosely defined as temporarily not knowing the difference between right and wrong or not being able to process that concept, right? Well, I can think of many times I didn't know which way was up or down let alone right or wrong. So maybe traffic tickets and other annoyances can be defended by the temporary parental insanity approach. If anyone wanted evidence, they could come hang out with me for about 7 minutes...

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Validating Affirmations...

Life has been about as busy as it can get around here. Jess is fully immersed in work. As schools head into the sacred standardized testing phase of the year, she has been pretty loaded up with work/stress. I am pulling into my last year of school and I am finding out what a big difference there is between upper and lower division courses. I am in a hurry to get this done, so I am carrying a full load and also added on some classes at the community college. So now that Jess is back to work, I am working nights at my job on the weekdays, then I work Saturday and Sunday, most of the day. So during the week, three days a week, Jess is home all of 10 minutes, then I have to go to work. On the weekends, she is basically on her own since I usually have homework to do when I get home from work.
I don't write this in an attempt to solicit sympathy, I am fortunate to have all of the opportunities that I have been given and the above mentioned is me taking those opportunities. The reason I share this with you has to do with a recent minor event.
Lately, I have found myself driving to work in the dark after having kissed the girls goodbye and brushing shoulders with Jess on my way out and her way in, and I think about how not fun this is. I hate leaving when my family is home, knowing Jess is tired from her day and now she has to do night routines on her own. I wonder why I am stressing at school and why I go to work, the answers are not in the immediate future. Instead, they are a little ways down the road. Obviously, I go to work to pay the bills and I go to school so when I'm done, I can pay the bills with style, but I can't help thinking about today and the sacrifices we make now.
Then just when I think I can't take it any more, a tiny little event happens and sets me straight. Yesterday, I had to do some stuff around the house and it worked out that Jess had an invite to a party. So I helped Jess get everything ready for her trip, dressed Jaycee, put Jayden in her car seat, got bottles packed up, checked the diaper bag for supplies and some other routines. Then I carried Jayden out to the car and put her in, then said bye to everyone and watched them leave down the road. That's when it hit me like a Frisbee to the head. As I loaded my little family into the safest vehicle I could think of, I knew they were well stocked, comfortable, and most importantly, happy. All the "whys" disappeared and I got to work. To end this post, I tried to think of some famous and altruistic quote that would sum up my conclusion. As Dora the fish from Finding Nemo would say: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Monday, February 8, 2010

It's been awhile...

Instead of dwelling on the many reasons why I haven't posted in so long, I'll just pretend like I didn't have a two month gap, so you can pretend too.
So today is the day. The day our fearless leader (Momma/Jess) returned to work and dada is all by himself with the girls. Luckily I had time to prepare mentally for the transition and momma set up a routine that is pretty easy to follow. As of 9:30 am on February 8, all is well.
Now that enough time has passed and I am able to step back and look at my world, it is apparent that families are a lot like businesses. Maybe my observation has something to do with my school program that is centered around business development at the moment, but I digress. Each family needs an investment to grow (children) and employee retention (mom and dad's relationship) is key to that growth. I your company goes public, then you have to answer to share holders (day care, grand parents, extended family, etc.). Then, of course, if you invest wisely, then the dividends reflect your investment. For those of you rolling your eyes right now, I know; I'm a dork.
Life with two little girls is the best. I don't hear men say this often (maybe because I'm not around other men very often), but I love babies. Yes, I said it. I love holding Jayden and rocking her to sleep. I love watching her sleep and look around to examine the world. When Jaycee was a munchkin, I enjoyed our time together and now I get to do it all over again.
Jaycee is turning into a little helper and a great big sister. She always makes sure to stop every couple of minutes to say hello to her sister and occasionally gives her a kiss or touches her hands and talks to her. Not everything has been so peachy. Jaycee can throw a tantrum like nobody's business. She can go from completely fine to nuclear meltdown in no time flat. For some reason, she always seems to do it when Jayden is trying to go to sleep. Interesting.
I'm happy to report that I anticipated a more difficult time with two kids than it turned out to be. I pictured being stuck in the house underneath a pile of Fisher-Price with a screaming infant and a two-year old stomping on my head as I lay unconscious. A bit dramatic, but I can recall a couple of nightmares that were almost exactly that. Not only has it not been that bad, but I actually have been enjoying it! I'm pretty lucky.
I know I have been all over the place in this post, but so am I. To end this, I have to say something to a lot of people I know. I am sorry if I single anyone out who doesn't want to be (send me an email and I'll scratch your name off). I have a new found respect for those of you with more than one little one.
My cousin Chris and his wife Kara. They got in a car last summer and drove 10 hours to spend a weekend with some of us family members. Also, Kara has been known to take both of her little ones on airplanes to far away places, without her hubby. They are way adventurous and I hope to be like that someday.
Jess' friend Bonnie. I can remember when Jess first started at Cal State San Marcos and she met Bonnie. She told me about this nice girl with two little kids who was taking like a million units, worked, and her kids still loved her to pieces. I wasn't as impressed then as I am now.
This one lady I saw at Costco last week who was pushing a cart with a little one in the seat, a little one in a baby carrier, and another little one walking and holding onto the cart. I had to take my eyes off the 52 inch plasma T.V. for a second to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.
There are plenty of people I know that had multiple little ones at the same time, but for some reason it is so much different to watch someone pulling it off while I try to.
Lastly, my wife is due some credit too. She acted like she didn't remember what it was like only having one. She just picked right up as if she has been doing this all along. Sometimes I think she stays calm so that I do too. Then other times, I think she is lobbying for more children...