Instagram was nothing more than a running joke for me as I never got to use it living in a BlackBerry world. It seemed to be full of people taking photos of their dinner. But then I was up and running on my new Samsung Galaxy and I got hooked on the photo sharing service pretty quick.
So that means Like A Dad has a very active Instagram page full of filtered photos of the kids, cooking and whatever else this dad runs into over the course of a day.
Friday afternoon
Well this day is just half over and it has been a blast so far. It is a highly organized procedure to entertain two grandparents and two boys, while sticking to a somewhat normal routine. Add to that, our baby boy is starting to grow teeth. Yep, a little on the cranky side.
The day started off as normal. Breakfast naps and a little cartoon action for Harrison.
But from there is was a wild adventure filled with hotels, boats, bridges, sandwiches and expired parking meters. Nope, not Hangover 4, just a Friday with the grandparents.
After getting the boys all ready, we headed over to the hotel where my parents are staying.
Oh, one of the boy needs me. Will update when I can.
My parents and Harry in Toronto, summer 2012.
Good afternoon, how is it going with you? Over here, I just finished with a decent house cleaning as we are preparing for a Royal Visit. My parents are flying in tonight and that means I won’t be online for a daily wrap. I will add more to this post as well as photos when I get the chance.
So far today, the theme has been sleep and a lot of it. I am referring to the baby of course. He slept all night and past 7am which was excellent.
Then he had a long morning snooze and by 1 pm he was ready for more. He must be growing or something. Anyways it has given me a lot of time to take care of a few things that have been piling up.
The sun came out early, so we did manage to get outside for a walk and it was great. I think that was the first time Charlie really got to bask in the warm sun. Yes he was squinting, but I don’t think he hated it.
You can see buds on the trees and the grass has turned green almost over night. Hard to believe there is a winter storm coming from Ontario.
And I don’t mean my parents (zing).
The decline of women’s reproductive capabilities after the age of 35 is a well known medical tenet but potential fathers have long been immune from age limitations on reproduction. However, Time magazine is taking a look at several studies that indicate older fathers can present as many or more medical issues as older mothers.
In 2012, a study in Nature found that the rates of autism and schizophrenia significantly increases in the babies of older fathers — the risk doubles for every 16.5 years of paternal age. Another study in the American Journal of Men’s Health associated paternal age with preterm birth and low birth weight.
Now how is that for news. You are already feeling tired and behind for being an older dad, now you might be passing on health problems.
It says now 35 is also considered the worrying age for men as well. As a man who has had two boys since being 35, this kind of study is not exactly what you want to read. At the same time, it is just a study and until they say it is almost a sure thing, I am not going to worry about it. A person’s life is being extended like never before and modern medicine is making it more normal to have kids later in life.
Good evening fellow parents, readers, humans and important bloggers. Day 7 is almost in the books and it was an interesting one even though it lacked anything of real interest. It was a ho-hum day but having both boys is always a challenge.
Especially when they are borderline cranky all day (all day son).
The morning started bright and early at 6:30 with that lovely singing from Charlie’s room. The song goes something like – “I’m awake now, I’m awake now, get up and feed me”.
The positive thing that came out of this is I changed him and went back to bed for another 30 minutes where we just hung out and extended the day a little. Any time I can get it to 7 am, it is better for everyone.
Not much to report for the morning. Naps, reading, food and a little bit of Barney. I had promised Harrison a park trip and since we had the car, that was pretty doable. But the weather was crappy. Eventually we did go briefly.
As I said, one week is in the can. One week down 26 to go on this gig they call parental leave.
Today was pretty much the laziest day yet since leaving work. Two reasons. Late night hoops and good ol’ Charlie boy.
Last night I was up until the wee hours of the morning watching my Michigan Wolverines lose a close one in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final.
It was after 1:30 am by the time I made it into bed. It was hard getting to sleep with “One Shining Moment” in your head but I got there.
Then less than 30 minutes later, Charlie started to sputter, warming up for full-on eruption. What? I thought we had made it past this stage. Oh well. Before he exploded with annoyance, I was up and had him in my arms. He was unhappy and soaked and I am sure was hungry.
I am sure I could have taken him down to the basement and wrestled him back to sleep, but I had just left the couch from where I had been sitting all night. By body could not take sleeping there until morning.
Well in a few more hours, I can officially say that one week of parental leave will be in the books. How has it been so far? Pretty great.
I am still figuring a few things out, trying to accept that everything does not have to get done and trying to relax a little more. I will get there.
On a side note, you might be wondering why this is Day 5? I am not counting weekend days as part of my leave, as my wife is home to help and really, it is not part of it.
Back to business.
Today was my first Monday since last week was a holiday. The day started early, just before 5 am, with Charlie doing A LOT of sleep kicking. That is his new thing. Kicking the sides of his crib while still asleep. I was awake, knowing it was only a matter of time before he actually woke up. That was just after 5 am. The good news, I managed to change him and get him downstairs to the couch and back to sleep without the help of a bottle.
For all those parents in the Halifax region, it can be hard to come up with new and fun things to do with your kids on a Sunday morning. Stores don’t open until noon and if the weather is bad, it can really limit your options.
Well, I have started reading HRM Parent’s weekend wrap post and this time around they featured a real winner.
The 15th Annual Hobby Show at the Aviation Museum in Shearwater.
It featured Lego displays, model trains, aircraft, vehicles, ships & automobiles and much more. Basically as Katie called it, it was Harrison’s Nirvana. After reading the website, we knew it was a must for our little Mighty Machine lover.
Plus it would only cost us $10 for the whole crew to go. Can’t really beat that.
