Sleepless in Chicago

That picture pretty much sums up how I feel right now.

Traveling with an infant sucks. Its an entirely different kind of suck that puts all other suck in my life to shame.

I decided to take Henry to Chicago to visit his grandparents. Fun, right? Wrong.

Tom couldn't take off as many days of work as I want to go so I booked a flight to travel alone and then Tom would come for the weekend. Sounded alright to me.

Everything was fine until halfway through the flight when Henry decided he no longer wanted to be imprisoned in his baby bjorn and started whining. I took him out and held him only to have him squirm and scream until I managed to blindly find one of his pacifiers and shove it into his mouth. He relaxed until the decent into Chicago when he screamed bloody murder (likely because he was uncomfortable with the pressure change) and noticeably frightened the guy sitting next to us.

After surviving the trauma of the flight, I was looking forward to Henry sleeping so I could get some good sleep too.

Not so fast, Mrs. Optimisticpants.

My parents are hoarders. Ok, not like "Horders," the TV show hoarders, but getting close. The only place for the two of us to sleep is in my childhood bedroom which they have since crammed full of yard sale finds and baby crap. Henry's Pack N Play is about 2.5 feet away from my twin bed, and those 2.5 feet are two and a half feet of old floorboards that squeak mercilessly.

Sleep was not to be had for either of us. Dad wasn't around to give Henry his midnight feeding, and between the squeaky floorboards and my mommy sense (much like spidy sense) waking me up every time Henry so much as moved a finger, sleep was a far off distant memory.

Here's to counting the hours before Tom arrives and I can take a 10 hour nap.

Mom Dreams

I always knew that having a baby meant losing out on sleep. I knew it meant late nights and early mornings and waking up in between. I did not, however, account for the fact that the little shut eye I do get would be sabotaged by mom dreams.

Last night I had my first full on, sit-up-straight-in-bed, hyperventilating mom dream. I had a dream that Henry had been kidnapped after we had left him in a hospital nursery while we attended a parenting group. In the dream we looked for him for years and finally he had been found and no one bothered to tell us. Completely realistic. Complete nightmare.

Not fair. Not fair. Not fair. My nightmares use to consist of bad hangovers, fighting with friends, or Tom leaving the toilet seat up. Why oh why must baby brain take over?

Maybe I'll start having a glass of wine before bed, because I cannot stand the thought that my only moments away from baby and baby related things are now going to be filled with babymares.

Baby Giggles

Ok. Let me tell you. If you aren't a mom or you are a mom but your baby doesn't giggle yet, baby giggles are the single greatest thing about having a baby. The first time you hear your baby giggle you will be addicted to his giggles. Baby giggles are like crack. You will stop at nothing to get some!

Now getting your baby to giggle, that's a whole other story.

I was the kid in choir that refused to try out for any solos because I was afraid of how I would sound in front of other people. I was so scared of being off pitch or making a strange noise while singing, that throughout my entire 6 year choir career, I never once sang a solo or even a duet. I may have been the only kid involved in 2 different choirs that refused to sing alone.

What the hec does this have to do with baby giggles? Well, recently I have found myself making all kinds of foreign noises trying to get Henry to giggle. I speak in tones that are probably illegal in certain countries, I make up words, and I sing him songs that I was sure I'd brain-dumped at the age of 7.

I am consistently and willingly embarrassing myself in front of friends in family in order to prove that our darling son does giggle. At mommy group yesterday, I found myself talking a non-existent language to Henry in order to win him the award of first giggler in the group. I'm not sure if the stares I received were anticipation for his giggle or pure disgust at the noises coming out of my mouth.

He didn't giggle for them much like I wouldn't sing a solo for anyone. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Wonders of Fatherhood

Raising a baby full time is hard! I don't mean that I am spending 40 hours a week with Hen though I wish I could (pesky job thing gets in the way). Steph does, and far more than 40 hours a week, and I love her all the more for it). So when I come home he takes a lot of time interaction that I could be spending on work, other business, socializing. Yet, as important as some of that is and as much as I miss some of it, spending time with my little guy is a true gift I get to receive everyday.

I like to think of myself as a little unusual when it comes to my family life and advice in that I do take a lot of the tidbits other parents have given me, or at least listen and think about taking the tips. In this case I have been given advice I exercise daily ( by my dad ) and that is spend every moment you can with your kids and cherish it greatly because it goes by fast! It does go by fast, so so so so fast it makes my head spin. Henry is 17 weeks tonight and it feels like ages ago and minutes ago all at the same time, since he blessed us (even though there was a little drama with his entry into the world).

Point is, highlight of my day is coming home, holding him, talking to him, getting him to smile, and sometimes plopping him down in the oversized arm chair next to daddy while I unwind. (I've noticed he is happy to be anywhere so long as he can see the action) So, relish in the times, enjoy the good parts, forget the bad outside the usual baby meltdowns, and enjoy the ride because before I know it ill be busting him for stealing my beers and trying to sneak sketchy ladies in the basement!

Yummy Mummy - Easy Cake Pops

In true domesticated, stay-at-home mom fashion, I like to bake. So here is my most recent endeavor: cake pops.

Easy Cake Pops Recipe:

1 box 18.25oz any type of cake
1 can frosting or you can make your own:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter softened

2 cups powered sugar

1 8oz package of cream cheese softened

mix all ingredients together until creamy

2 8oz packages Bakers semi-sweet chocolate baking squares

Lollipop Sticks

Bake cake according to directions on box. Let cool completely. Crumble cake into large mixing bowl. Add frosting in stages. Add half the jar or half the amount of homemade frosting a mix into crumbled cake. I find it to be easiest to mix with your hands, but it is super messy.

Lay wax paper down on a cookie sheet and roll cake and frosting mixture into 1 inch balls. Warning: this will take a while so be sure to allot a good chunk of time! Put lollipop sticks into center if each ball Now put balls into fridge for a couple hours. You can speed this process up by putting the balls into the freezer, just be sure to keep checking on them. You want them to be solid enough to dip into the chocolate but definitely not frozen.

After balls are cooled, dip each ball into melted chocolate, and if you have some styrofoam handy, place each stick into the styrofoam so the balls are standing up.

Let cool and voila!

Getting Enough Sleep???

Yes Actually! so thanks for reminding me why I don't like you in the first place. Admittedly I have a hot fiery side that can go off like a rocket if someone says the wrong thing ( I work very hard to hide this from the ones I love). However, since college I think I've matured enough to take in an antagonist's words, chew them up, swallow them, and digest them to a dark place therefore quickly getting over my urge to go postal on co-workers. This works well in refined society as I wouldn't do well in jail. I do understand as I am one of the first in my office ( of largely under 30 folks ) with a kid at home, and the people who used to talk to me about wild friday nights, my hobbies, and weekend plans, now have the sad lack of creativity to ask me about anything other than how I am sleeping. Honestly I don't care what you ask me if I think you actually care about the quality of my sleep but sometimes I spot a sadistic glint in someone's eyes where I know they secretly wish and expect me to breakdown in tears and tell them how aweful it is. Well A) its not bad like everyone tells you it will be ( at least in our case with Henry after week 6) and B) I have a glint in my eye that makes me want to karate chop your sugary latte into your too tight pastel dress shirt.

Look, I get it. You don't have kids. I also get how sad it is that you can't seem to look at me like the same guy I was 6 months ago....newsflash, I am still the same guy just with differerent priorities. How about next time you ask to see pictures of the little tyke, or just ask me about weekend plans because Steph and I do a ton of fun stuff on the weekends. Stuff I wish I would have done before and after Hen came along a big luxury is he does usually get us awake before 8am so instead of sleeping till 1pm we now get out and enjoy daylight on the weekends. Something I rarely did before. I do wish he would let us get till 9am once ot twice though....

Ask me how I am sleeping again and see what happens!

( Advice : It is easy to rage but I can speak from expereince, a great stress release is martial arts. Not just for Dads but Moms too. I used to play rugby but for the time being I am scared about getting maimed and leaving Steph with a fatherless boy. If you can't play a contact sport there is no better way to let loose than organized and relatively safe fighting. Why not learn some self defense, get a workout, and learn some self confidence if you are lacking in that arena? I just know there will be a day when I will have to teach Hen how to protect himself like my dad did with me and I am really looking forward to getting back into it soon, maybe this coming fall. I would even love to turn it into a father son activity as long as he doesen't try to go Luke Skywalker on me and try to take me down when I ground him for texting too much or something )

Alcoholic Baby?

We're fairly confident Henry will be talking by 6 months. Last week he even said his first word, "alcohol." No joke. He talks over us, during conversations, and when he should be sleeping. See Henry talking here: