Dads Storytime

Biking and camping

2011-07-10T07:25:00.000-05:00

The last 3 weeks have been a lot of fun for Team Oppenheimer.

It all started with a nice visit from Marisa's parents. The clear highlight of their trip was the purchase of Henry's Birthday present, his 1st bicycle, complete with training wheels and a red "Cars" helmet. We have now been around the block many many times, and have met some more of our neighbors as a result.

Gemma has Henry's old tricycle and has her own helmet too, so she is not left out.
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They make an adorable pair when they are both riding around in our driveway.

The following weekend was the 4th of July holiday.

This was a beautiful weekend. We ate 7 meals outdoors over 3 days, going to people's houses for grill out parties a couple of times and having people over ourselves a few times. Of course Henry and Gemma loved the 2 most important things about independence day.... Fireworks and the Nathans Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest (a competitive eating hosted in Coney Island, NY once a year). The Hot Dog contest was won by Joey Chestnut, Henry's new idol. We have watched the video of it about 10 times since the 4th of July.

This weekend, we spent a night camping at a cabin on Lake Vermillion (about 40 minutes from Sioux Falls).

For $25 a night, you can rent a small 1 room cabin. All the cabin has in it is 2 beds, a table and an air conditioner. It has a deck, and is located on the river. There is also a camp fire area for each cabin. The kids loved grilling hot dogs, playing in the lake, and spending some time outdoors. The only real problem we had was that they were all awake at 5.50am. Nobody slept very well.

This week is going to be action packed for us. I am doing my first bit of professional coaching, training 2 teams to play in a tournament in Brookings next weekend.

Henry also has his final summer course this week, at St. Mary's, where he will be attending pre-school in August. This week's course is called, "Playful Pirates" and should be fun for him.

Have a great week everyone!

4 Weeks, 1 Blog

2011-06-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

It has been over a month since we last sent a shot into the blogosphere, so I will now endeavor to cover all those weeks in 1 blog. (This could get long)

Memorial day was 3 weekends ago. We spent 4 very fun days in Hallock visiting Marisa's family.

Marisa has a cousin, Kris, who is a beef farmer. During our time there, one of his kids had a birthday party so we went out to their farm. Henry and Gemma both got to ride on a horse for the first time (and I ended up on a horse for the 1st time in 20 years). They also enjoyed seeing the cows in the field up close. Gemma managed to find a piece of dog poop to step in, while wearing her new white tennis shoes. Grandpa Jim had the pleasure of cleaning that up.

We also spent a lot of time catching up with Marisa's siblings and parents, as well as seeing or nieces and nephews. Henry even got a hair cut from his Aunt Heidi (Turk's wife).

On the way there we made it 395 out of 400 miles without the kids needing a toilet break, but 5 miles before Hallock, Henry had to go ! So we stopped at the Lindegard Farm (part owned by Lisa's husband Joel, and our oldest nephew Kary), so Henry could pee. Henry later got to tell Uncle Joel that he took a whiz on his building.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip.

The following weekend, James went to Kansas City to see the Minnesota Twins play some baseball against the Kansas City Royals. The Twins won the game we went to (and have actually won 13 of 16 games since. They are on fire !).

The trip was with my friends Kurt and Sam. We had a lot of fun, but there are no pictures from this trip. Kansas City is known for having the best bbq food in the U.S. We had lunch one day at a place called, "Oklahoma Joe's" which is widely regarded as the best bbq place in Kansas City, and is listed in Anthony Bourdain's list of 10 places to eat before you die. It was delicious !

I previously explained that my friend, Sam, who came on the trip, plays Choo Choo Bob on Henry's favorite TV show, so Henry was THRILLED to meet Choo Choo Bob in person, and peppered Sam with questions and played with him while we were in Sioux Falls.

Following that weekend, James flew back to London for 4 days for Nannie's Funeral. Although Nannie's death was not a surprise, it was still very sad. The funeral went off without a hitch, and included short speeches from James and Mark. Although Nannie is now not around, Gemma carries her name, and will be made very aware of how special a lady she was.

While Nannie's funeral was not the happiest reason to go back to England, it did give me a chance to see my family. It was really nice to see my family. I enjoyed hanging out with Mum and James, having breakfast with Dad, lunch with Grandpa, catching up with Andrew, Josie and Laura. I also had the pleasure of spending some quality time with my little bro. A ride in Mark's Audi R8 was a unique experience, not dissimilar to riding in a Formula 1 car.

This weekend has been fun so far. Saturday was a very nice family day out. James and his friend, Marcus ran in a 10mkilometer race in Rock Rapids, Iowa (about 30 minutes from Sioux Falls). James finished 13th in a time of 45 mins, 37 seconds (7.21 per mile). The race was at 8am and was part of the "Heritage Days" celebration in Rock Rapids. Marisa and Marcus's wife, Jennifer, arrived with the kids (Marcus and Jennifer have a 6 year old and a 1 year old) at 11am for the rest of the day's celebrations.

Heritage Days included a parade (carnival), some bouncy inflatables, food and a car show. We spent a few enjoyable hours there before driving home.

Yesterday evening, Marcus and Jennifer came over with the kids to finish the day with a grill out and drinks. We got out the paddling pool and sprinkler, so the kids spend most of the evening playing in the water.

Today is Fathers Day. James was given a very nice canvas picture of the kids, and a Starbucks Latte in bed this morning. I am also playing soccer later today.

This week Henry is doing a pre-school program at his new school, so Marisa will get to walk him across the street to pre-school all week. It should be a fun experience.

Gemma's speech is coming on more and more. She is volunteering more information without prompting and is starting to string more words together.

Have a great week !

A week of Football and Running

2011-05-22T08:18:00.000-05:00

This week was a busy week for James, and a quiet week for everyone else.
Monday started with a 5-0 defeat for my girls soccer team, against the league champions. Actually not a bad result given the quality of the competition.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. I had a practice for my girls team.
On Wednesday, my adult team played and won 7-1. I scored 3 beautiful goals.
Anyway, on Thursday the whole family attended the "Goalossal Soccer Bash" that was put on by Dakota Alliance Soccer (the Sioux Falls Youth Soccer Association). The convention center room that it was held in was designed told hold maybe 500 people. When we got there, I would guess that over 1000 people were in attendance. This resulted in the kids not having a great time and leaving after 15 minutes with Marisa. They walked across the street to the Sioux Falls Pheasants Baseball Stadium and looked at the giant inflatable pheasant for a while.

Meanwhile, I stayed behind for the awards part of the event and was awarded COACH OF THE YEAR.
On Friday, Marisa took the kids to the Children's Museum in Brookings. They had a great time playing all day, and especially liked the giant dinosaurs that are located outside. These are mechanical, motion activated models of dinosaurs.

Saturday was an active day. I ran in a 4 mile race and was greeted at the finish line by Marisa and the kids. I came 3rd. Henry was excited to see me run. He came with me to have some water and a banana after the race.

That afternoon Team Hamm (my girls team) played their last game of the season. This was a 12-2 win. It was a nice was to end the season. Again, Henry, Gemma and Marisa came to the game. Henry had a great time and came with me when I took the girls for ice cream afterwards to celebrate the end of the season. He enjoyed giving high fives to the girls and telling them that they did a good job scoring goals.

Last night, we had movie night. We all sat down with popcorn and watched, "Daddy Daycare." Everyone sitting down lasted approximately 10 minutes (until the popcorn was gone). Then Gemma found more interesting things to do. After about an hour we decided it was bedtime !
The Oppenheimers have a busy few weeks coming up now. On Thursday, we take off for Hallock to go and visit Marisa's parents for a few days. The kids are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, as well as their cousins, aunts and uncles.

We get back from Hallock on Monday (Memorial Day Holiday). On Thursday night, my friends Kurt and Sam are coming into town. We are going on a road trip that weekend to Kansas City to watch the Minnesota Twins play 2 games there. Henry is probably more excited about Sam coming than anyone else. Sam plays "Choo Choo Bob" in a local kids TV show in Minneapolis. We have all of the DVD's and CD's. Henry loves them and is pumped that Choo Choo Bob is coming to visit.
Have a great week everyone.

Another Week in the Books

2011-05-16T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well, there goes another week for our little family. The kids are a week older, and not much wiser.

Not the most eventful week in the world.

The football team that I play on is off to a winning start, with a 6-4 victory last week, in which I scored twice and had a penalty saved. We then won again this afternoon, 9-1. I had 2 assists.

Yesterday, we took a family trip to the town of Watertown, which is about 99 miles away, to visit some friends of ours, Holly and Matt, and their 6 month old baby Stella. The kids enjoyed meeting a baby and going to an indoor playground called "Ton O Fun." Henry particularly enjoyed jumping into the ball pit, and onto Gemma who was already in the ball pit.

In the evening, we had a babysitter come so Marisa and I could go and see the movie, "Bridesmaids," which was extremely funny.

Sunday was fairly quiet as well.

The day started with the kids and I eating breakfast and watching Chelsea Vs Newcastle.

After Chelsea conceded a 93rd minute equalizer, we decided to go to the Sioux Falls outdoor campus, and go for a nature walk. As you can see the children had a lot of fun.

The weather is slowly getting nicer so we have been able to spend some time outside which has been pleasant.

I am still running, and have a 4 mile race next Saturday. I also entered myself into a 10k race in June.

This coming week is extremely busy for me. Monday night, my girls team plays against the league champions. Tuesday night, the girls team has practice. Wednesday night, my adult team has a midweek game, Thursday night is the end of season party for my girls team league. I have been nominated for coach of the year, so get to find out if I won. Then Saturday, I run in a 4 mile race, and that is followed by the final match of the season for my Under 12 girls.

Meanwhile, Marisa and the kids will be on their own for most of the week.

Marisa Vacation and Mothers Day

2011-05-08T13:20:00.000-05:00

This has been another eventful week in the Oppenheimer house.

After coming 2nd in a 3 month weight loss challenge, Marisa celebrated by taking us all out to eat at a new restaurant in town named, "Cravin." Their unique gimmick is that they start off your meal by giving you a martini glass full of Candy Floss/ Cotton Candy.

On Wednesday, Marisa further celebrated by leaving us for a relaxing few days in Minneapolis. She spent some time in her office, as well as visiting and staying with friends. Somehow Marisa also squeezed a trip to the Mall of America and Ikea into her hectic schedule.

Meanwhile, the kids and James had some quality Daddy and children bonding time.

The kids were immaculately well behaved for me. We went to some parks to play each night, and made Mothers Day cards for Marisa. Both kids, however, were very excited for Mummy to come home on Friday.

Saturday was a big day for Henry. He went to his 1st big kid birthday party. One of Henry's friends, Kamden, turned 4 on Saturday, so his Mum, Nikki (our daycare provider) came and picked up Henry, along with a few other kids for a party that included trips to McDonalds and the Sioux Falls Zoo. Henry returned exhausted and excited to tell us all about his day.

In the mean time, Marisa and I got to spend some time with Gemma. We think this is probably the 1st time since she was born that we have had a whole afternoon with the 2 of us and just Gemma. It was quite a relaxing afternoon. Gemma certainly enjoyed the extra attention.

Part of our afternoon with Gemma involved a trip to the Greenhouse to purchase flowers and pots for the yard. When I paid, and the bill came in at approximately $100 more than expected, I was a little shocked, until I studied the receipt and discovered we were charged for 14 bags of potting soil instead of just 1. After that $90 adjustment, the bill was a little bit more satisfactory.

Saturday evening, we also had our 1st bonfire of the Summer. Our friends Tim and Christie came over with their 2 kids. The kids helped me lost up the sticks onto the fire before we lit it. The children enjoyed making and eating "S'mores" which for those of you who have never had one, is a cooked marshmallow, and a bar of chocolate sandwiched in between a Graham Cracker (which is a big digestive biscuit). You toast the marshmallows on the campfire.

Mothers day has also been a success so far. Marisa loved her presents (flowers and cook books) and the home made cards from the kids. We also went out and had a delicious breakfast at the Phillips Diner this morning.

The other highlights this week included a victory for Marisa's Volleyball team, a long awaited win for my U12 girls team, and this evening will be my 1st outdoor football game of the year.

Have a great week all.

Royal Wedding Week

2011-05-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

This week went by very quickly for the Oppenheimer Family.

Last Sunday, we visited some relatives of Marisa's for Easter and had a very nice time. Henry played some baseball with Marisa's cousin Zach, who currently plays for Southwest Minnesota State University. Gemma got to eat lots of food (her favorite pass time) and played in Marisa's cousin's old playhouse. It was very nice to be at a family Easter and eat a some tasty food.
Friday of course was the Royal Wedding. Marisa and I were both up at 4.30am to watch it. Actually, Marisa woke up at 4.15 before the alarm because she was so excited. That afternoon, I served Tea, Crumpets, McVities Digestives and Hob Nobs at work, as well as dressing up Progressive's advertising icon, "Flo" in a Union Jack. It was a lovely day and one that I did not want to come to an end.

When Gemma woke up, she loved watching the horses in the parade. She kept saying, "horse" and "neigh." Gemmas was glued to the TV for a while. Henry saw Buckingham Palace and asked if that was where Nana lived.

Marisa started her women's volleyball league this week with a victory in some blustery outdoor weather. She is playing with some friends and it sounds like a good time was had by all.

Yesterday (Saturday), I ran in the Viking 5k held for the 1st time at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. There were only about 40 runners. I came 5th with a time of 22.10. This is a 1 minute and 2 second improvement on my last 5k time. Today I ran 5 miles in 42 minutes, which was pretty good too. I am now concentrating on starting to extend my distance working towards a half marathon, although I think I will hit another 5k or 10k race in late May or early June.

On Saturday morning, we took the kids to the circus. They had a great time until the snacks ran out. Henry very much enjoyed the elephants, and seeing a very large yellow snake up close. Again, the food was the highlight for Gemma.

My girls soccer team had another horrible beating last Thursday. We have games on Tuesday and Saturday this week, both of which we should win, so hopefully that will get the confidence back.

Gemma has a new speech therapist named Kara. She started this week. We got a written report. Gemma is now working on stringing 2 words together and is progressing nicely.

Henry has not been too active this week. We are working on his manners at the moment. We are trying to make sure he asks nicely for things and does not complain or whine too much.

Finally, last night Marisa and I got a babysitter for a few hours and went out. We ended up going with a few friends to a bar to play pool and darts. It was a refreshing change to be out without kids, and something we both enjoyed.

This week is Marisa's rescheduled trip to Minneapolis. She cancelled it in March because of how ill Henry was, but is going to go ahead this week. She is leaving Wednesday to return Friday. It should be an interesting few days for me with the kids.

Have a great week.

The Oppenheimer Family Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T18:17:00.001-05:00

This week was a fun one for our family, highlighted by the 1st Annual Oppenheimer Family Easter Egg Hunt.
All of the pictures are from our little hunt.

The hunt happened at 10am today. We invited a few other families over to hunt for eggs in our back garden. Prior to everyone arriving, Marisa and I filled 150 eggs with jelly beans, gummie bears and other sugar snacks.

Once all of the families had arrived we opened our garage and let 8 children between the ages of 2 and 4 out with their basket to hunt for eggs.

Some were well hidden,

some were not so well hidden.

We were outside for only 15 minutes due to the fact that it was only 40 degrees Fahrenheit here this morning.

After all of the eggs had been successfully hunted, we went inside where we served coffee, orange juice, coffee cake, monkey bread, and some other treats.

A great time was had by both children and adults.

Other excitement this week has included my Under 12 Girls Football Team getting an 8-2 beating on Tuesday in the wind and rain.

Gemma's speech therapist met with Marisa and gave us a very positive update on her speech. She is going to continue to do therapy once a week, but is apparently progressing extremely well.

I am still on alert to be potentially sent to Cleveland for work some time soon for 3 weeks, but have not received the call yet.

We are hoping for some improved weather this week. It will give us a chance to use our newly fenced in yard more. Also, Marisa is starting playing in a sand volleyball league on Wednesday nights. That is outdoors, so will be a lot more pleasant if it's not cold and raining.

Tomorrow, we are driving to Luverne, Minnesota (about 30 minutes away) to celebrate Easter with Marisa's Uncle Amos, Aunt Jan and their kids Zach, Paige and Gunnar.

Have a great week

Back from Florida and peeling!

2011-04-17T09:16:00.000-05:00

This was another fun week for the South Dakota Oppenheimers.

We had a great time in Florida. It was very nice to see Mum, Mark and James. We had some really fun days, which included the kids going on, "A Day Out With Thomas," a boat ride, and a trip to the aquarium with Nana. We also loved having the kids playing at the beach. While Henry destroyed sandcastles, Gemma made it her mission to empty the ocean taking bucket after bucket of water from the ocean to the sandcastle moat.
The kids were surprisingly well behaved both on the flights to and from Florida as well as during the time we were in Sarasota. Henry loved our last flight where he and I got to sit in the front row, so he could see the cockpit before take off and talk with the air hostess, as well as be the 1st person off the plane.

When we came back to Sioux Falls, the temperature was a beautiful 70 degrees at 9pm. 3 days later, we had snow, causing all of my Under 12 girls soccer to be canceled ! That is a testament to the crazy weather we get here !

The kids are slowly settling back into their routine, but continue to talk about days out with Thomas, and play with their new toys.

I had a surprise when I came back to work. I was told I was going to be sent to Cleveland for 3 weeks to be on the CAT (Catastrophe) team since there has been a lot of hail in the South and they need people. This is something I signed up for at the beginning of Spring. If you are deployed for 3 weeks, it is a considerable pay increase for those weeks. As I was making preparations, toward the end of the day, I was told plans had changed and I was no longer going. Made for a stressful day.

This week promises much of the same. I play soccer tonight then have girls soccer on Tuesday and Thursday, and we have a fence being put up in our back garden this week. Nothing new for the kids really.

Have a great week.

A week of sickness

2011-04-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

This week was dominated by Henry being ill. He had a temperature between 103-106 between Saturday afternoon and Wednesday of this week. We treated him with various over the counter medications to control his temperature. Eventually, the Doctor, who thought he had mono initially told us they now thought it was just a bad virus. He is on antibiotics and is now back to normal.

This obviously changed all of our plans for the week. Marisa got to stay home for most of this week, Henry did not have any swimming, Marisa was supposed to take a 3 day trip to Minneapolis for work, but that was also cancelled because of Henry being ill.

In short, we spent a lot of time at home. Gemma is still getting better at talking day by day, coming up with all kinds of new things to say. Her vocabulary includes, "thank you," "Henry" , "yes" and "no"

On a personal note, I score 3 goals in the 1st 5 minutes of my football team's 4-1 win last night. That was a first for me, and something I am sure I will never repeat. I also found out that I came 20th out of 218 people in the 5k last week, and have immediately signed myself up for another one at the end of April.

My Under 12 girls team looks good, and is going to play their 1st 2 games this week in my absence. I will be in Florida enjoying our much anticipated vacation.

The weather is finally good enough to play outside here, so the kids are loving being outdoors. We have 1 open side to our back yard. We are getting that finished so we will have a totally private back yard, which will be nice.

Probably wont blog next week since we will be in Florida. Sorry it's not very exciting this week.

This week with the Oppenheimers

2011-03-27T01:01:00.000-05:00

It has been another exciting week at the Oppenheimer house.

Highlights include Henry and Gemma's first attempt at bowling. On Friday, Marisa took the kids to the Hartford Bowling Alley. They had such a good time that I took them again on Saturday (I do have to say that I bowled a 211 game, which included me opening with 6 strikes). The kids rolled the ball down the lane.

The average time from when Henry or Gemma started the ball rolling and it hitting the pins was approximately 2 minutes, but they loved it. When I tried to help Gemma, she said, "move" to me, and pushed my hand away.

Henry did not have any swimming lessons this week due to the schools being on Spring Break. I did, however, discover that Henry has a mean basketball jump shot. It is pretty impressive. I also discovered that Gemma is left footed, which could make her football life interesting as she gets older. I am seeing a white, female, Ashley Cole.

Henry's latest obsession is running around either our house or the block pushing a big plastic truck. Gemma has been very jealous and we finally found one for her this week. Getting her own, :"Monster Truck" was the highlight of Gemma's week.

On a personal note, my soccer team won 2-1 this evening in our 11.15pm game, and I ran in a 5k race this morning posting a time of 23 mins 14 seconds. It did snow for a portion of the race, which made it interesting.

This is a pretty short blog for a pretty normal week here. Nothing unusual going on at the moment. Although we did eat at a great new Indian place in Sioux Falls, and at our favorite Mexican restaurant this week as well.

Another week, another sick kid

2011-03-19T13:37:00.001-05:00

This was a busy, but ultimately not overly exciting week at the Oppenheimer household.

Gemma's speech has come on leaps and bounds. Every day she comes up with something new, and improves.

We finally has some very nice warm days this week and almost all of the snow has melted. The kids have been playing outside, although it appears they have forgotten how to play outside. They seem to want to come in after a few minutes. We have taken some walks to the park though and played on the swings, including the park at Henrys new school.

Henry has discovered that he is very quick at pushing his truck around the track at the middle school.

Marisa was out the first couple of nights this week at a spa night, then at a cooking class, giving me some quality time with Henry and Gemma. I was out late Tuesday for the Major League Soccer opening night, and St. Patricks Day.

Both kids got to wear green on St. Patricks Day. They wore matching Hyvee t-shirts (sorry, no pictures), and loved it.

Henry had his second swimming class on Wednesday night. He did not like it quite as much this week. Let's just say there were a few tears.

Yesterday included my soccer team losing 1-0 in our late game. Our game next week is at 11.15pm !

The plan was to go out today, but Henry woke up puking this morning, so we are just staying home for the day. Gemma is loving the extra attention she is getting while Henry is sleeping. Hopefully he will be ok by tomorrow.

Finally, a new Indian Place opened up, so Marisa and I are going to get a take away curry tonight. I am not sure that a Chicken Madras would be the best thing for Henry's tummy though, so he will not be having curry!

Next week, my Under 12 Girl team (Team Mia Hamm) is going to get started for our spring session, so I am coming up with training plans and team strategy)

Have a good week everyone.

Henry and Gemma - speech, swimming and Catholic School

2011-03-13T09:23:00.000-05:00

This week has been a fun one for our little family in Sioux Falls.

We do have 1 big announcement to make.

Starting in August/September, Henry is going to be attending St. Marys Catholic School for pre-school. This is a little school attached to a huge Catholic Church right next to our house. The cost is not different to any other pre-school in the area. We went to do a tour the other day, and it is a beautiful facility with some great staff members. It has a wonderful family atmosphere which we think will suit our shy little boy. Neither of us are Catholic, but after discussion with the principal we concluded that there will not be too much religious teaching at his young age. The plan is to only have him go there for pre-school for a few years. If all goes well, Gemma will start there in 2012.

When there is no school, Henry will still go to Nikki's house, which is where Gemma will continue to go for daycare.

Marisa is very excited to be able to walk Henry to and from pre-school every day and is adjusting her work schedule accordingly.

At the time that Henry gets to actual school age, we will likely send him to Mark Twain Elementary School, which is one of the better elementary schools in the area and is about 7 blocks from our house. He will obviously attend middle school at Patrick Henry across the street from our house.

The other fun thing about the pre-school is that Henry will wear a school uniform. A white polo shirt and navy blue trousers (not unlike the Spurs strip).

Henry also had his first solo swimming lesson this week, meaning he was in a group without Mum and Dad in the pool. He did extremely well. While every other kid in the class was crying, Henry was being a big boy and learning how to swim. He even told the teacher when he needed to get out and go to the potty. I am guessing that not every kid did that.

Gemma is having a bit of a speech explosion. She is talking more and more. Although she is still a long way behind where she should be at her age, the gap is closing fast, and we are optimistic that she will be caught up soon.

Other fun stuff we have done this week included Marisa and I going out on another date night last night. We went bowling with some friends again. As usual I was dominating with scores in the 130's. I played soccer on Friday, scoring a goal and assisting in a goal in a disappointing 3-3 draw. We conceded with 30 seconds left. We also took Henry and Gemma to watch some kids basketball on Saturday. One of Nikki's children, Kaden, was playing in an under 12 tournament. They won their tournament with us cheering them on.

Last weekend Marisa's parents came and visited last weekend. We did not end up eating at Grille 26 but did have a great time. Henry, Gemma, Jim (Marisa's dad) and I went to the humane society to see some cats and dogs. We discovered that while Henry loves cats, Gemma is more of a dog person, as she made connections with some animals twice her size.

This week is a busy one for the Oppenheimers. Marisa has a cooking class 1 night, and spa night on another night. I am planning on a St Patricks day happy hour 1 night as well. I also have a meeting tonight to get the season started for my under 12 girls soccer team, so that will take over shortly here.

Finally, as you probably read on facebook, Henry has come up with some nicknames for Gemma. They include Shemma, juju and video. You have to love is imagination. He also said at lunch on Friday, "Henry's cool, Mummy's cool, Gemma's cool, Daddys not cool"
So that's the summary of our week.... Hope you all are well.

Henry and Gemma- Playing in March

2011-03-05T09:34:00.000-06:00

Not much activity or excitement on the Henry and Gemma front this week.

Gemma's vocabulary is expanding day by day. When we get into the car, she points to the DVD screen and says "Movie."

One evening this week, Marisa was going through a numbers book with Henry, and I was going through a letters book with Gemma. Henry is excellent at counting. Gemma enjoyed the letters book and repeated a lot of the letters. When we got to "H," I asked her what H stands for and got the enthusiastic reponse of , "Henry."
Henry still has the same obsessions with Cars, Toy Story and Thomas. Gemma is still interested in anything Henry does.
Gemma also pooped on the potty earlier this week, so we are making some slow progress on that front.
Marisa's parents, Jim and Virginia are in town visiting for the weekend. Last night the kids were very well behaved as we ate at Cherry Creek. It was really nice to go out and eat in a bar/restaurant that is now smoke free. Thank you South Dakota for passing that law!
This morning, Henry was super excited to ride in Grandpa's big red pickup truck to Micky Donalds.
There are tentative plans to go see the puppies and kitties at the Humane Society later on and to do some shopping.

Tonight, we are going to take Marisa's parents out to eat at Grill 26 which should be a lot of fun.
In other news this week, I have entered the "Shamrock Run" for the end of the month, which is a 5k race in Sioux Falls. This is my 1st race in my quest to do a half marathon in September (then possibly a marathon next year), Marisa discovered that she got a 65% discount on jeans at the GAP by reopening her GAP card, so has a new pair of jeans. Also, it was little brother Markipoos's birthday on Tuesday. It appears he had a good time.
As you can tell by this update, it has been a cold, not very exciting week, with the exception of a 2-1 Chelsea win over United on Tuesday.
We will wait and see if next week is more exciting.

Henry and Gemma the week after Gemma's 2nd Birthday

2011-02-27T17:16:00.001-06:00

As a way to keep those relatives in England updated on the goings on here in Sioux Falls, I thought I would blog a little about what went on this week and add a few videos.

On Gemma's 2nd Birthday we had a huge ice storm that left a few inches of ice on the ground, and made it extremely slippery outside. This did not stop us having a good time.

The video is from Gemma's Birthday, Feb 20th. As you can see she got a lot of presents.

The rest of this week was fairly quiet. I played soccer on Monday and Tuesday nights. Monday was a big 4-0 victory for Lloyd United, the team I play on and captain. Marisa and I went out bowling on Friday night with some friends (I bowled a 159 in our 2nd game, which I was happy with).

This Sunday we were lucky enough to be Godparents to Tim and Christie's baby Thomas, so attended the baptism at a very nice church we are considering joining. We then went to Pizza Ranch for their other son, Ben's 4th Birthday party. Ben and Henry are good friends and get to play together quite a lot.

Henry's present obsession is Cars. He, Gemma and Marisa are currently at Shopko looking at Cars toys.

This coming week will not be too eventful. Tonight is the Oscars, and the annual "James Vs Marisa Oscar Ballot Competition." Later in the week, Marisa's parents are coming to visit which should be a lot of fun. We are getting a babysitter on Friday night so that we can take them out to eat somewhere a little more adult.

Anyway, my commitment is to blog every week now, so let's see if it works out that way.

Have a good week.

Separation for Happiness

2011-02-15T21:58:00.001-06:00

I recently discovered that there is something I need to be a good parent. That something is social time away from my children. For the longest time, I believed that I HAD to be with the kids every free second I had, and that only a bad parent would want to spend time away from their children, especially if they were forced to be away from their kids 8 hours a day or more for work.

I hate to admit this, but I found myself being annoyed at my children for, what I felt like, was them forcing me to spend every spare moment with them.

When I left the room to answer the phone, or ran an errand, or even went upstairs to poop.. I felt guilty.

"This is not how it is meant to be," I thought to myself. After talking things through with my wife, I realized that she always knew something I recently discovered about myself, I need some free time without family to enjoy my time with my family.

I play soccer a couple of times a week, and occasionally go out with friends. On top of that, every couple of weeks Marisa and I get a babysitter and go out as a couple.

Previously I felt horribly guilty whenever I did any of these things, but I have now come to understand that I need to do those things to be happy, and to make sure the kids are happy with me.

Rather than spending a lot of time feeling guilty, I really enjoy my time away from the kids, and it makes me thoroughly appreciate and relish my time with the children. It makes my time with them QUALITY TIME, and I play with them more actively than before. I can tell they appreciate it.

In addition, both kids are excited to have a sitter when Marisa and I go out, which makes us realize they like to see other people too, and are not upset when we leave them with a sitter, as long as it is too often.

I want to make sure that this blog comes across clearly. I love my kids. I love spending time with my kids. I realize that a lot of people love to spend all of their time with their children and hate any separation from them. I admire that, but I know that I personally need to spend time away from them to appreciate being with them. Does this make me a bad parent? I hope not!

Restarting the Blog

2011-02-15T17:38:00.000-06:00

I realized it has been over a year since I last blogged, and am planning on restarting this blog. I need to come up with some more original ideas, so expect a new, well thought out Dad's Story time blog.

Actually, I am considering whether to keep it stricly as a parenting blog, or whether to start including TV show reviews since I apparently spend too much time watching TV. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

The Guilt of Sleeping

2009-08-09T20:20:00.005-05:00

As a Dad, why should I feel guilty about sleeping? I probably shouldn't, but I do!!!
Why? Because my wife is awake 2-3 times a night with the kids.
Here is a normal night:
Both kids are in bed by 8.30pm, a fantastic miracle, and something that allows Marisa and I to savour our evenings.
However, Gemma is usually awake at 2am and 4am to feed, sometimes not going back to bed for 30 minutes to an hour.
In addition, Henry has made a habit of waking up at 4-5am to come into our bed, and sleep until 6.30am.
The problem is that both children are in a "Mummy stage" at the moment. Henry will only cuddle up to his mother in bed at night, and Gemma obviously needs Marisa to be able to eat since she is still nursing. As a result, Marisa is up 3 times a night, and in the morning she wakes up with Henry barnacled to her, and his hands digging into both of her armpits.
I end up getting a full night of sleep most nights, with the occasional interruption of sometimes having to wake up once to bring a crying child to Marisa, before rolling over to go back to sleep.

This means that my wife spends most days looking like a zombie and telling me that she understands why the army use sleep deprivation as a form of torture. In the meantime. I wake up well rested and ready to work.

Even though there is very little I can do about this, I still feel extremely guilty about the lack of sleep my wife is getting compared to my long, relaxing, dream filled nights.
Add to this the fact that Gemma will only really fall asleep either while nursing or if Marisa has her in the sleepy wrap (see the blog on kids toys), and Henry insists on having Marisa put him to bed at all times.

I can read Henry a story, but apparently my voice singing a version of, "somewhere over the rainbow," where most of the words are "da da da" is not as harmonious as Marisa's fully loaded, in tune version.
In fact, I know so few lullaby's or sleep songs that I have on numerous occasions resorted to singing the famous Phoebe Buffet song from Friends, "Smelly Cat," in order to get Henry to sleep. You wont be surprised to know that this tactic is never successful and more often than not results in Henry calling for his mother.
I try to help where I can, but it can be very difficult. I know I am not the only Father having this problem, and I am sure that there will be a lot of mothers who are reading this thinking they would happily swap "problems" with me.
It is, however, something that bothers me on a daily basis, and an issue that I feel I need to remedy. I have not come up with a solution yet, but like the famous philosopher Metallica said, "I sleep with 1 eye open, holding my pillow tight."

My kid is cuter than your kid !!!

2009-07-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

I am going to say a few things in this blog that I am sure almost all parents think, but nobody will ever actually say.
I have a theory that every parent believes they have the world's cutest, sweetest child. Each parent, no matter how ugly their baby is, and we all know there are some ugly babies out there, are convinced that their little treasure should be not only the new Gerber Baby, but also should be a baby model and probably receive the most beautiful baby of the year award. If their was such an award, I would think it should be sponsored by Gymboree or Babies R Us and presented by the Queen. As part of the presentation, your baby would likely get an invite to tea at Buckingham Palace, and a "beautiful baby" sash to wear. Anyway, I digress...
My point is that, for obvious reasons, people are afraid to say a baby is ugly. You never go up to a new Mum and say, "Oh look at that little one, she has to be the fugliest thing I have ever seen," or, "Wow, that baby girl looks just like your husband.... fat, hairy and with a face that makes Susan Boyle look like a runway model." These Simon Cowell comments are funny on American Idol, or Britain's Got Talent (depending which country you are reading this from), but do not tend to be appreciated at baby showers, or upon meeting someone with a newborn.
The thing is that any parent, when they see a member of the under 6 month age group will say, "Oh what a beautiful baby," or, "Wow, what a sweet little peanut."
But in their mind they are likely thinking, "Yeah, she's cute, but my kid is cuter." or, "I should say nice things so that you don't feel bad about the fact that I have a more handsome and more pretty child that you."
This is the delusion that every parent has when they have a bouncy, brand new baby. The 9 months of waiting and anticipating prior to the baby actually popping out makes you so anxious that no matter how deformed or covered in slime the little cherub is when he or she comes into the world, you will feel like the baby is the most amazing looking creature that ever lived, and will feel the need to tell everyone you know.
I know this feeling of delusion. With Gemma, pictured above, I am still under this, "my baby is so beautiful" spell, so am unable to pass judgement yet.
I do, however, remember that when Henry was born, 2 years and 3 days ago, I thought he was the classic, perfect looking little baby, and could not be convinced differently.
I now look back at his newborn pictures, and realize he looked like a bit of a big eyed alien with a funny shaped head, and while he was cute, Henry was certainly not a beautiful baby of the year contender.
Then again, I know that all parents who are reading this are thinking, "I already knew that and my kid is still cuter than your kid."

Birthday Parties

2009-07-27T21:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Sunday, was Henry's 2nd birthday, and what a birthday it was!
Parties, presents and cake dominated the day. It is now Monday, and I feel like I need a day to rest.
This year, we decided to have Henry's birthday party in a nearby park. After having prayed for good weather all week, we were rewarded with a perfect 80 degree day, without a cloud in the sky.
Having not been able to make it to Henry's 1st birthday, my Mother, Henry's Nana, had flown into town with her significant other, James, to celebrate. A few days earlier, we had been hit with the disappointing news that my wife's Dad had been admitted to hospital, thus would not be able to make it for the birthday. For anyone who is wondering, he is now out of hospital and doing well.
Preparing for the party involved purchasing enough food to feed the 500 person University of Minnesota Marching Band. Much like in an episode of Top Chef, that food then needed cooking, slicing, washing and plating. We (and when I say we, I mean they) then put everything into rubber totes for transportation to take it to the park.

The menu was 12 lbs of Sloppy Joe's, Buns, pasta salad, Cookie salad, chips, lemonade, and cup cakes.
I would like to say that I was heavily involved in the food preparation, but that would be a lie. Marisa did everything. I am not sure what I would do without an expert cook for a wife.
I did help load the car a little bit though, and bought my wife flowers that morning. That is the number one tip for any Dad. On your kid's birthday, always flowers for your wife, and any grandmothers who are present! Trust me, it's worth it.
The only real problem that presented itself was that by the time we were ready to head towards the park, Henry was already tired and ready for a nap. His highly active morning of opening presents and chasing people around, together with the early stages of a cold, had got to him. We were just about to walk out of the door when the H ran into his room, grabbed his pacifier and a book and came out of his room saying "sleep."
When I told him we were going to the park for cake, although clearly still tired, his attitude changed to that of a party animal.
After the hours of preparation and expense, the party felt like it flew by in no time.
Wham, bam, friends, food, cake, presents, candles, happy birthday song, minor Henry meltdown after falling on his face (he has a scar on his forehead today), and the guests were gone. It was time to go home. After packing everything up, both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home having partied themselves out. The end to a great lunchtime.

When we got back to the house, the adults added vodka to the lemonade and relaxed with a drink while the Blue Angels cruised overhead in formation as part of the Sioux Falls Airshow.
Now the next day, having finished with the party, and looking back in hindsight, I have the same feeling I get the morning after a really good late night out on the town (something which is very rare these days).
I am really glad we did it, we all had a great time and I think we will remember that day forever. It was even more special for me having my mother there.
Much like a really great night out, however, I now feel exhausted and devoid of any energy. Next year, maybe we will just do a simple pizza party at Chuck E Cheese. Minimum hassle, maximum fun. The thing is that I know that next time the opportunity presents itself, much like next time I get an opportunity for a great night out, I will have forgotten about the exhaustion I am currently feeling and will grab the opportunity with both hands.
The big difference is that after a night out you are left with a hangover. After this kids party I am left with 5 lbs of unused sloppy joes, 50 buns, and pasta salad up the ying yang. I know what's for supper the next 2 weeks.

Threatening your children.

2009-07-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

As I am beginning to write this blog, and the ideas for the verbal diarrhea that I am about to spew onto the page form in my mind, I cannot help but think that this post is going to be one that comes back to haunt me in the future.
My 2 children, at the ages of 23 months and 5 months are too young to respond to or understand threats fully. By threats, I mean saying things like, "If you don't finish your food, you won't get any desert," or, "if you don't walk nicely next to Mum, she will beat you over the head with a stick." Okay, that last one was probably a bad taste joke, and has never actually been said... I hope.
For those of you who do not have children, the adult version of family threats sounds like, "If you get me pregnant again, I'm going to chop your nuts off."
Anyway, Marisa and I recently made a pact never to use 2 very common parental threats.

1.

Counting to 10. I have no objections to the way my mother brought me up. I think she did a wonderful job parenting in spite of how I turned out. This threat was a big favorite of hers, which probably explains why I hate it.
"If you don't come over here by the time I count to 10, then you will be in big trouble."
I know I heard hollered in my direction on many an occasion. Mum would start counting, and by the time she reached 10, inevitably either my brother or I were still misbehaving, and the count would start again. It was pretty rare we actually got into trouble, although I can remember at least one occasion when I was on the business of a spanking for not heeding this threat. The problem I have with this is that outside of yelling, "Get the F. over here," or even just, "Get over here," I am not sure of an alternative.
If I threatened something like this at his current age, he would be too young to understand. I would start counting at 1, and before I knew it, I would hear a little voice say, "twooo," followed by a giggle, thus nullifying it's effect.

2.
"If you don't clean this up you are going straight to bed!"
I have heard this threat so many times, either directed at me when I was young, or at another child, and I have never seen it actually be followed through with. The expected hollowness this threat is not the reason I have a problem with it though. I would like for my children to want to go to bed at the end of the evening. Making going to bed a threat could almost demonize the bedroom, and make actually putting the child to bed in the evening very difficult indeed. If he or she has been threatened with going to bed as a bad thing all day, and has been trying to avoid being put to bed as a punishment for most of the day, it is going to be the little tyke's natural reaction to attempt to stay up as late as possible.

Again, I'm not sure of an alternative. I know Supernanny Jo Frost would have me use a naughty chair instead, something which appears to be becoming more popular. Maybe that is what we will do when Henry misbehaves in the future.

Personally, if someone threatened to put me to bed for a nap during the day, I would take it with open arms, especially after Gemma was awake between 1.30 and 4am this morning. A nap actually sounds like a great option.

In re-reading this, I have realized this blog sounds a little bit preachy. I do realize that I am not the perfect parent, and that I will probably live to regret writing this, but I felt that this was a subject I should share my opinion on.

Top 10 Best Value Baby Toys (and a laundry tip)

2009-07-21T21:05:00.014-05:00

Having written a lot of personal Henry and Gemma experiences recently, I thought I would actually try to write something that readers may find useful.
I know we have bought a lot of child management accessories (aka toys) for our kids. Some have been great, others have been a complete waste of money, and I had always wished I knew which our children would like before I made the purchases.
I enlisted the help of my beautiful wife Marisa (no she did not ask me to write that) in putting together a list of the top 10 most useful baby and toddler accessories we own. These were not necessarily the most expensive toys but are the toys that the kids love the most thus were the best investments we have made (especially since a lot of them were gifts).

1.
The Blue Car - (Pictured below) Henry loves going for rides around the neighborhood in this sleek looking vehicle. From it's aerodynamic design to it's 1 dadpower engine, this beauty does 0-60 yards per hour in under 5 seconds. Even quicker if it wasn't being pushed by an out of shape Dad. If you ask Henry, he would rather go on a blue car ride than a stroller ride any day of the week. Numero Uno investment!!

2.
Sleepy Wrap - (Pictured Below) When I 1st saw Marisa modelling the sleepy wrap, I renamed her Obi Won Kanobe for obvious Star Wars reasons, but in spite of my mocking, this has proven to be the only effective method of getting Gemma to sleep recently. Just prior to creating this blog, I rocked Gemma for 10 minutes attempting to put my tired 5 month old to sleep. It proved to be 10 minutes of kicking and screaming resulting in a Dad with a headache and a wide awake Gemma. Marisa put her in this wrap, went for a walk around the block, and she was asleep in seconds (Gemma, not my wife).

3.
Jumparoo - Henry adored his jumparoo. A nice $40 purchase from "Once Upon A Child." He used one at daycare and one at home. I learnt that before man can run, he must 1st learn to walk, before he can walk, baby must bounce!
4.
Toddler Picnic Table - This awesome Target creation began it's existence as an indoor picnic/coloring table for Henry. During the winter, he would climb upon this sturdy structure to watch his favorite neighbor dogs out the window. Once the harsh South Dakota Winter had passed, it graduated outdoors into a water park. Henry has eaten, colored, and played with water all at this table, and he still worships it. Super purchase.

5.
Books - We read Henry 3-4 books every night before bed. When we get home from a weekend away from the house, the first thing Henry now does is run into his room without prompting gets a book. He then sits in his chair looking at the pictures without even needing us there. If Henry is ever upset or frustrated, the second you ask him if he would like a book read to him, he smiles, says "yeah" and runs into his room. One of the best things we have discovered is the, "Dolly Parton Imagination Library." This is a free reading program to join, and your child gets 1 free book delivered a month until he or she turns 5 years old.

Lawnmower - We actually have 2 little plastic lawnmowers that make a lot of noise, probably the reason we purchased neither, they were both gifts. At least once every 2 days Henry and I take a lawn mower each and mow the living room carpet, just to make sure it has not grown too much.

Pacifiers - A controversial topic. Gemma will not take a pacifier, and if you put one in her mouth, she acts like you are trying to choke her, and spits it out crying. She much prefers to suck her thumb, hand or to nurse. Henry has been a pacifier addict since he was about 4 hours old! He now only has it at night, but any time he is in Chicken Little (the sky is falling in) mode, a pacifier will always calm him down.

Baby Bjorn Bib - aka. The 2nd feeding trough! This is a plastic catch all bib which cost us a very well spent $12. It not only keeps Henry clean at meal time (a feat considering our son makes Joey Chestnut look like a clean diner), but once he is finished eating from his plate, if Henry is still hungry, he will dig into the bib food, meaning very little goes to waste. The only issue we have now is when Henry chooses to take the bib off and empty the contents onto the floor and himself before we can get to him.

Yellow Bouncy Chair - This is a cheap, vibrating yellow chair which acts as Gemma's seat when the rest of us are eating, or when Marisa is cooking supper and I am still at work. It has helped us eat without disturbance on many an occasion, and also allowed Marisa to shower on a daily basis during her maternity leave. Good buy, especially considering it was marked down from $35 to $9 at the HyVee tent sale last summer.

10.

Stolen Blankets from hospital - Yes, we stole something from the hospital, and are probably going straight to hell. These receiving blankets are bigger than your average blanket, and work perfectly for all the nursing mums out there who wish to still nurse in public. It is just the right size to cover boob and baby, so no indecent exposure. They also work well as swaddling blankets since they are big and lightweight.

Honorable mention goes to Ford Freestar, Tag Heuer Watch, our laptop computer ( for Youtube) & any set of keys that Henry touches (and never lets go of). These "adult" toys are also great entertainers as mentioned in my July 9th "Expensive Toys" blog.

Since this blog was a combined husband and wife effort, Marisa asked me to disclose the #1 tip for getting baby poop stains off of clothing. We are talking about stains caused by nursing baby poop. When Gemma blew through a diaper and stained some clothes, that was usually the end of those clothes, until we learnt this trick. Run the clothes through the washing machine once, then apply a generous layer of stain stick to the stained areas. Once the stain stick is applied, put the clothes out in the sun to dry. When the stain stick dries in the sun, the poop stains will have vanished. I would like to think it is magic, but I have been informed that it is actually science. You then wash and dry the clothes again. This has worked 100% of the time for us, and proved extremely useful when Gemma blew through a diaper, her clothes, and our white sheets.

That's all folks. Hope you enjoyed the family Oppenheimer tips of the day.

1st Poop on the Potty!

2009-07-20T19:08:00.006-05:00

Today, July 20th 2009, 6 days before his 2nd birthday, will go down as a red letter day in the history of Henry Oppenheimer.

It all started this morning when, as my boss phrased it to me, I was "lucky" to be given an "opportunity to excel" in Huron, South Dakota. In non-corporate America speak, on a busy Monday, I had to drive 2 hours each way to Huron to meet someone for a claim today.

On the way there, I spoke with Chris, a good friend of mine from Minneapolis, whose wife I believe reads this blog (Hi Jen). He informed me how proud he was of his son William, who is a few months younger than Henry. William pooped and peed on the potty for the 1st time this morning.
With genuine excitement, I congratulated Chris on edging closer to never having to change another diaper (a landmark day for any parent), and having a clever son. At the same time, I felt a hint of jealousy in my stomach. We have tried to get Henry interested in the potty for a few months now, and while I think he understands what the potty's primary function is, all he has really used it for to this point was to stand on so he could switch the bathroom light off and on (and off, and on, and off, and on, etc.... you get the idea).

I got home this evening, and about 2 minutes after I walked in the door, Henry said "Poop." We checked him, he hadn't pooped so we put him on the potty. To our shock and surprise, he immediately pooped. This was very exciting, causing such enthusiastic cheers and applause from Marisa and I that it scared the crap out of both kids. Henry and Gemma both immediately started crying. Henry ran into the other room and would not come back into the bathroom.

After a little drama caused by my inability to get the poop from the potty into the toilet (it took a detour onto the floor), we managed to coax Henry back into the bathroom to flush his new poop down the toilet.

I do have to say at this stage that, unlike Kate from "John and Kate plus 8," we did not photo this event, thus, I have not put any photos of Henry pooping on this blog entry. My personal opinion is that photographing a kid with their 1st poop, or anyone with poop for that matter, is disgusting. Trust me, like any man with hair on his chest, I have plugged the bathroom with some logs that I am proud of, but I have never had the urge to photograph it.

I would like to think Henry was proud of himself, but I am afraid that our vociferous reaction may have scared him so much that it put him back a few months in the potty training stages. I did, however, allow myself to dream for a few moments, of a day when I do not have to clean up poop on a daily basis.

This dream was shattered approximately 30 minutes later when Henry pooped again, this time in his diaper. He gave no warning, did not tell us about it, and had no intention of using the potty. Back to square one !!!

2009-07-16T20:33:00.003-05:00

After last night writing about how lucky I have been to have good sleeping children, I realized that I completely cursed myself.
This morning at 4am, Gemma, our 4 month old, decided it was morning. She was up and ready to party. Marisa tried to nurse her to sleep, I laid her down on the bed and tried to snuggle with her, but she just smiled at me and laughed. It is amazing how this wonderful cute little smile during the day can light up a room, but at 4am, it feels like Satan smiling at me saying, "Screw you buddy, you don't need to sleep." As a result, I was up from approximately 4.30am trying to get her to sleep.
Henry, usually our super sleeper, decided 5am was a good time for him to be up as well. He came into our bed, and rather than going to sleep, he started talking.
Gemma eventually fell back asleep at 6.35, by which point we were showering and getting ready for work.
In short, I have been up since 4am, and have felt about as active as a slow moving snail all day. Lack of sleep really does lead to lack of energy.
My hope is that tonight will be better. This was not meant to be my blog topic today. I was considering writing something creative either about date nights or about how Gemma has explosive poops, but instead, I am going to save those thoughts for my next post.
Sorry folks, the creative juices are definitely not flowing tonight.
I will return with a better, more interesting and humorous blog!

Let Sleeping Kids Lie !!!

2009-07-15T21:51:00.003-05:00

I think this is the most important phrase of parenting. If your children are asleep, I think leaving them to sleep is the definition of good parenting. Waking up children usually results in disaster.

It is amazing how much cuter, and sweeter your children appear when they are sleeping. They are just these perfect little beings lying there without a care in the world, in their funny tiny clothes, in their itty bitty cribs. What could be better than having a sleeping baby?

I am convinced that the time most couples look at each other and decide that they want some rug rats of their own is when they see someone else's children sleeping, looking peaceful, and relaxing. The phrase, "I want one," is uttered by the girl as she gets that broody feeling, and the guy whispers, "yeah, lets have a baby," thinking the kid looks cute and he gets to rejoice in the enjoyment of creating God's special gift (that is the most tactful way I could find of saying the guy is thinking about getting laid one more time).

For all the parents out there, how many times have you peeked in on your kid sleeping and either said "aaahh" or thought to yourself how amazing they are and how lucky you are. A moment later you notice the baby starts stirring and you find yourself saying or thinking, "Oh crap, he/she's waking up, I only have a few minutes of freedom left," then running back to your chair to squeeze in 5 minutes more of TV watching or peaceful reading before the child really wakes up, or if you are lucky, drifts off back to sleep.

Then the children actually get up and reality hits. Waking up usually involves crying, or in the morning, changing diapers, clothes and needing bottles of milk. We are unfortunate enough in the morning to have Henry, who is not a morning person, and Daddy be in the same grouchy, irritable mood for the 1st hour of the day, or until Henry gets milk and Daddy gets coffee. At that point we are both happier.

In our house at the moment both of are children are asleep by 8.30-8.45 most nights. This gives Marisa and I some free time to relax, write blogs and do that sort of thing.

I'm sure there are some people reading this who have children that do not go to sleep until much later, and I know how lucky I am to have children that sleep from so early.
Do not take this blog the wrong way, I love spending time with the children, playing with them, and taking them to places, but I also love when they are asleep.

Infant Interactions

2009-07-11T20:09:00.005-05:00

It is amazing how much your interests change after having children. Much the same as changing diapers, the smell of poop, and Baby Einstein, watching really young kids interact with each other is not something I can say ever really peaked my interest before I was a father.

Since becoming a Dad, however, I have been fascinated to see how little children react to each other. At 4 1/2 months old, all Gemma really does is stare at any child that is near her, but all kids aged 3 and under seem to be attracted to the baby. Her 1st day at Daycare, all the other kids crowded around Gemma, fussing over her saying how cute she was.

This was great, but left Henry, who had always been the center of attention standing on his own without anyone around him. The obvious jealousy issue became a problem, and I completely understood.

Henry has a good friend, Ben, who is a few months older than him. These guys have been playing together since Henry was about 6 months old. Their reaction to each other had changed dramatically though. Initially, Henry and Ben both kind of played in the same area, but really did not acknowledge each others existence outside of trying not to play with the same toy or pick up the wrong pacifier.

As Henry reached a year old, and started to walk, the 2 kids began to interact a little more, playing with the same toys, or following each other around the house. This was when the occasionally fight over toys began.

Then there was a slightly scary, but also rather funny incident when Henry hit Ben over the head with a piano. The weird thing was that as painful as it looks, Ben just kept on playing without crying (What a little trooper). If Ben's Mum, Christie is reading this, I would like to apologize for using Ben's pain for humor, and you will be glad to know Henry has not hit anyone with a piano since. He has learned the lesson that you should not hit people with a piano, something I did not plan on having to teach my kids.

Anyway, after Gemma came along, Henry was always excited to see his friends, but the friends were more excited to see Gemma. They would run over to Gemma and look at her crib, which Henry tried to get their attention. I felt for Henry at this time, since I am sure it was rough for him, but he has come out of it now a stronger young man.

This last weekend, Ben came over to play with Henry. The 2 of them gallivanted so happily in the back yard, and for the first time that I have seen, really played together. They kind of chatted a little bit, and sat together laughing in the cart. I was very impressed to see my little guy playing with another little dude like a big boy. It also made me realize once and for all that Henry is a toddler, not a baby now (a thought that depresses his mother sometimes).

Henry did have a few, turning red, throwing toys temper tantrums, but those were rare and definitely did not overshadow the fun evening the kids had together. I have included in the blog some pictures here of Henry and Ben playing together like big boys!

The other reason babies cry

2009-07-10T21:05:00.006-05:00

I always thought babies cried for 2 real reasons. Either they are tired or hungry. Coincidentally, these are the 2 reasons I generally cry. For Gemma both are fairly easily solved either by a boob in the face (my wife's, not mine, or Henry's, although Henry has tried if you read my earlier post.), or by putting the baby to sleep. I could make some crude comment about a boob in the face stopping me from crying here, but I am going to avoid that and take the high road.

Today, I discovered the other reason babies cry. We were at the new swimming pool in Sioux Falls. For those of you who live in the Sioux Falls Metropolitan Area, it is located at Cliff and 10th Street, across from Bucks Muffler, in the heart of the Ghetto. For those of you who do not know the area, Sioux Falls does have a small ghetto, but on a danger scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being North Minneapolis, it is about a 2.

This brand new pool is very nice, and has a "Lazy River," where you sit on a tube and float with the current in a circle. For those of you from Minneapolis or Detroit Lakes, MN, the tubing on this lazy river is like tubing on the Otter Tail, or the Apple River, but without the scenery, the beer, the topless women on July 4th, or the leeches and snapping turtles. Instead your scenery is the parking lot, a busy road and a plastic giraffe that spits water at you, which incidentally Henry loved.

Marisa and Henry went on the lazy river, while our 4 month old, Gemma, stayed with me. We stood nicely at the side of the lazy river and waved at Marisa and Henry when they went by, taking in the awesome scenery.

Gemma was content being held by me for about 5 minutes before deciding she was bored! She looked around, glanced at me, took one last look at the floor before I swear I heard her sigh. It was the kind of sigh my wife gives when I tell her a very important piece of sports trivia, which for some reason she finds less than scintillating (I can't understand why). Then Gemma burst into tears. Purely out of boredom. When we walked elsewhere, she was fine, but once we stood in 1 spot for 2 more minutes, and again I heard that familiar sigh, followed by crying.

I realized that sometimes I can bore even my 4 month old, and that made me feel like a very unexciting person. So for any new Dad out there, there is a 3rd reason for tears from a baby... boredom.

On a side note, Gemma at some cereal for the 1st time today, and I think she was very excited to eat something that was not breast milk for the 1st time. Henry's 1st feeding ended in food everywhere. Gemma gobbled it all up! Hungry girl.

Expensive Toys!!

2009-07-09T19:57:00.007-05:00

What are Henry's most expensive toys? We have bought or had bought for us, all kinds of expensive toys like his playhouse and his swing set, however, I am writing this blog from one of Henry's 2 favorite things to play with. I am sitting comfortably, reclined back in the passenger seat of my Hyundai (pronounced like it rhymes with Sunday, as we were reminded in a Superbowl commercial this year) Elantra, while Henry is playing with the steering wheel, messing around with the emergency lights and resetting the preset channels on my radio.

Henry, at 23 months old, enjoys playing in either of our 2 cars almost more than anything in the world. At the moment he loves the Hyundai, but he goes through stages where my wife's minivan is his favorite.

On a side note, the minivan used to be my old Dodge Ram Pickup (I loved that vehicle), however, when I had kids I traded in my pickup, my testicles and a bunch of money for a minivan. Now I admit, the van is a great vehicle, and very child friendly, and the DVD player has saved us on many long car rides, but I just don't feel as cool driving around in a "pick the kids up from soccer" vehicle, as I did in my regular cab pickup.

Anyway, the thing that amazes me is that Henry's playing in the car has really developed. A month ago, he just loved pressing buttons and watching things flash, windows go down and hear the occasional horn honk.

Now, Henry tries to drive the car. He only really plays in the drivers seat, and spends most of the time turning the wheel, indicating, and switching on the lights. Of course, he still loves to honk the horn, but I am 29 years old, and also still love to honk the horn, something no man grows out of (women, however pretend to grow out of it). The development of children is astonishing. Henry is growing up very quickly, and his playing is definitely becoming more sophisticated.

As a Dad, I often wonder if it is healthy to let him play in a car, especially since, as a claims adjuster that sees people hurt in car accidents every day, I have seen the occasional accident when a kid has been left on his own in the vehicle, and has set it into reverse either hitting a tree or another car.

Sitting here in the passenger seat, however, I am able to reach over at any point and grab the wheel or brake, and have my had easily within reach of the gear stick just in case something happens.

Tonight, I ended up bribing.... umm I mean, "rewarding" my son for his great behavior by telling him we can play in the car if he takes his medicine, and puts on pajamas. He was perfectly behaved throughout giving him his medicine and putting on his pajamas, then immediately kept saying, "black car," and "dads car," so at 8pm, here we are.

I am not really sure that there is a point to this story other than the one any parent already knows. If you buy a young child a toy, he is as likely to play with the packaging as he is the toy!

Nursing Children (the other meaning)

2009-07-06T22:01:00.007-05:00

I am not sure if this is a worrying sign, or a positive sign, but my 23 month old son, Henry, has found a new way to "help" his Mother and Father.

Henry regularly watches my wife, Marisa breast feed our 4 month old daughter, Gemma. In spite of being a little jealous, Henry has decided to try to help us as much as possible. He always wants to help strap Gemma into her carseat, or to play with her. Sometimes his playing is a little rough for Gemma, but she is already toughening up. When he hits her with something in the head, she just takes the whack like a pro-boxer rolling with the punches, and continues with life. No drama, no crying. In the back of my mind, I know she will have her revenge one day, and wonder if she is storing up all her anger to unleash on him when she is older.

In the last few days, Henry had taken help to a new level. He will go up to either Gemma, or one of his teddy bears, lift up his shirt and say, "Eat! Eat!" before trying to pull either Gemma or the teddy bear to his chest to breast feed from him. Once he thinks he is done feeding he will hit either Gemma or the teddy on the back and say, "burp, burp."

I am so proud of the fact that Henry is trying to help but a little disturbed that he wants to breast feed our daughter. The fact that, as I mentioned in a previous blog, he called my chest my "boob boobs" makes me think that in his opinion, all men are capable of breast feeding. At least that is what I am hoping. I am banking on his thoughts not being that Dad is so fat he has big boobs like Mum. Who knows, when Henry is old enough to be a Dad, they may have invented a way for men to breast feed, even though that does not sound like my cup of tea!

As my wife pointed out to me, however, at least Henry is not getting out the bottle and trying to formula feed Gemma yet. He is all about the "eau natural" breast feeding.

I fell pretty positive about his attitude towards boobs being for feeding at the moment,because I am certain that during his teenage years he will discover a new purpose for "boob boobs" as well as other things.

Just thinking about that makes me realize how much I should treasure these young, innocent baby years.

July 4th, with a Challenge!

2009-07-05T00:49:00.009-05:00

For my sins, on very rare occasions, I go out and have a couple of drinks. When I mean rare occasions, I am can probably count on 1 hand the number of times I have been out and can say I was "drunk," in Henry's 2 year lifespan.

However, on the occasions that this has happened, unlike my college days, I have not had the fortune to be able to sleep in until 11am, then order a pizza for lunch the next day, getting up just in time to watch the Vikings on Sundays. Those days are history. Instead, even if I have been up until 1-2am, I am awake at 7-8am at the latest with either a child kicking me, screaming, or asking me to get milk and cereal.

One such situation happened this weekend. A very good friend of mine, Kurt, was in town, so we went out for a couple of drinks. I think we would have been home at a reasonable hour (pre-midnight) had the Minnesota Twins game not gone 16 innings. We decided we "had" to stay out and watch the end of it, especially since I now have no television at home.

As expected, the next morning came all too quickly, and I was very tired, meaning that I had to practice the skill of hungover parenting. My awesome wife allowed me to "lie in" until 7.30am. It's funny how 7.30am used to be considered a very early morning for the weekend, but now, with the advent of children, waking up at 7.30 is almost akin to being up at 11am was in the B.K. (before kids) era.

So after a night of drinks, parenting seems much more difficult. I was considerably slower than normal in my reactions and in preparing anything for the kids. It felt like Henry, who is never slow (he has 2 gears which are a million miles an hour and stop), was on Fast Forward. He blasted past me a number of times while I was trying to catch him, and was concerned that I did not chase him with quite the swift speed I normally use to catch him.

Processing thoughts is also a little slower. When Henry is talking to me in his 23 month old dialect of half formed words, on a good day, I can figure out most of what he is saying and reply. On a day like this one, however, I had no clue what he was saying, and he kept looking at me like I was a moron.

There is nothing that makes you feel less intelligent than the 1st time your baby looks at you thinking they are smarter than you are. It is a very transparent look, and one that I will remember for a long time.

Anyway, after 3-4 cups of coffee, a few ibuprofen, and a shower, we were on our way to a State Park to have some fun.

That was the real cure!! Playing on July 4th with my son, together with my wife, and my best pal Kurt in the fresh South Dakota air on a wonderful July morning. Henry loved jumping on the rocks, running in the camping area, and snacking at a picnic table. Gemma just sat back in the chest carrier and watched smiling occasionally and looking content.

I knew I was completely recovered, however, when at lunch time, we ate a large buffet at the Pizza Ranch, while watching the legend Joey Chestnut win the annual July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN. Not once during that contest did I feel at all like throwing up (unlike some of the hot dog contestants).

Other highlights this weekend included watching fireworks with Henry and Kurt (Gemma and Marisa were home sleeping). Henry has since been saying "Fie-work" then "BOOM." Also, this was the weekend that I had it pointed out to me that not only was I losing my hair and going grey on top, but that I also have a number of grey chest hairs! I'm not even 30 yet!!!

Generally, I would not recommend parenting hungover. I was lucky enough to have Marisa who had not been out with me, at home looking after the kids and doing her normal amazing job of being a Mother. While I am still learning how to be a Father, and am making plenty of mistakes, my wife is the most natural mother I have ever seen, and I don't know what I would ever do without her.

That helpless feeling we all hate...

2009-07-03T20:07:00.000-05:00

Henry (23 months old) woke up 3 times last night screaming with pain. He was crying and clearly not well this morning. Add to that the fact that he was clutching his ears.

I had that nervous and helpless feeling that all parents with young kids hate. It's that feeling in the pit of your stomach, the feeling that you are not sure what is wrong with your child and he can't tell you what's the problem is. Even worse, your child is relying on you to make him better, and on you to solve the issue. Worse than that, you have no clue how to help him.

In our situation Thursday morning, we made a decision to take Henry to Urgent Care.

Marisa had to work today, so I was the lucky one sitting with a sick Henry in Urgent Care, hoping to get seen before Henry threw a complete tantrum.

Keeping my "strong willed child" quiet in a waiting room is always a challenge, but it was tougher than ever today, since he was not feeling well, and there were no kids toys in the waiting room sp we had to improvize.

We started off fine, by him having some cheerios and milk, sitting quietly with me. Henry ate and occasionally reminded me that I have coffee in my hand "Daddy, coffee". Once breakfast was done, it was not so easy keeping Henry quiet. I ended up letting him play with my cellphone and watch, never a wise choice really.

The real troubles came when we were there for 25 minutes and he started heading for the door saying "home, Mum, Home," and acting like he was no longer sick.

At that point, luckily, the nurse called us in.

This is another horrible feeling. When visiting the Doctor with my children, I feel like I am picking my poison. You never want your child to be ill, but having spent half an hour already in the waiting room, and knowing I was missing work, I could not help but let myself think, "There had bloody better be something wrong with him to make this trip worth it." We had spent so much time here, the thought ran through my head that if Henry was not ill, this was a waste, when in fact it was the opposite. Ruling out illness is the best reason to go to the Doctor.

But, if you bring in a child, then the doctor looks at him and says he is fine, then you feel like a paranoid parent who just brought the kid in for no reason. In this situation, I find myself wondering if the Doctors watch you on the way out to make sure you don't steel any drugs just to make sure you are here for the right reasons.

At the same time, you don't want your child to be too sick or to suffer too much. I was thinking that maybe a mild ear infection would be ok, but not be too bad for Henry. I don't want him to have the flu, but a small infection would be acceptable.

My prayers were answered when I was told Henry had an infection in both ears. I thought, "Ok, this is a little worse than I had hoped, but he seems to be alright."

Henry and I walked triumphantly out of the Clinic. I was confidently holding Henry's antibiotic prescription, while Henry was the real winner. He had a sticker in 1 hand and a lollipop in the other. We were both happy with the fruits of our morning's work.

Is exercise possible with 2 kids?

2009-07-01T19:23:00.001-05:00

As the Joker would say, "Riddle me this batman...."

I was never a star athlete or in peak physical condition, but I exercised quite a bit.
I played some rugby in high school and college, and play soccer regularly now for a recreational team, but my fitness has gone to heck since having child number 2.

Before Gemma was born, I was considering training for a marathon. Over the year before my youngest daughter blessed us with her presence, I lost approximately 15lbs and was running almost daily either outside or on the treadmill in our basement. I even had wireless tv headphones so I could listen to the TV while running, and not have to worry about the treadmill noise. I looked ridiculous running with those headphones on, but I loved doing 30 mins on the treadmill while watching an episode of "The Mentalist," and let me tell you, when your legs are burning on the treadmill, there is nothing more motivating than watching a 300lb woman busting her behind running on "The Biggest Loser." Of course without TV, I am reduced to

Anyway, I used to get up at approximately 6am, run for half an hour, then shower, and be ready for work at 7am which is when Marisa and Henry were awake. Well, after a while, Henry started getting up early and coming to "help" me on the treadmill. He either wanted to climb on the treadmill or pull me off it. This made exercising difficult.

Then in February came Gemma, who, as typical babies do, let us know she was still alive every 2-3 hours by waking up and screaming. This made it extremely difficult to get any exercise routine going. especially when Henry was awoken by Gemma at 5am and chose not to go to bed.

I could exercise at night, but to quite frank, once the kids are put to bed at 8.30pm, after a long day, all I want to do is relax and read or surf the web. If I run after 9pm, it is impossible to get to sleep before 11.30pm, not good if you have 2 kids under 2 who like to be up at night or early in the morning.

So, I am slowly piling the weight back on. I still play football every couple of weeks, but that is not quite enough. This week playing football (soccer to you yanks) I was struggling through the game, although I was not helped by a flying headbutt to my chest, knocking me on my arse. It was an accident, caused by a guy who was trying to tackle me slipping while running at me at full speed. My peck, or as Henry calls it "Daddy's boob boob" still hurts. You can tell what great shape I am in by the fact that little H calls my chest "boob boobs."

Henry, on the other hand, is a treadmill expert. My 23 month old can run, walk and even moonwalk on the treadmill. Ok, he can't moonwalk, but that was my obligatory Michael Jackson mention that is required to be in every piece of media this week. Henry loves the treadmill. It is his 3rd most expensive toy behind my watch and the minivan, both of which he plays with consistently.

I will come up with a plan, I just don't know what it will be. Just another challenge of being a Dad!!

Thank You, Thank Me

2009-07-01T12:56:00.000-05:00

I have realized the enormous power of saying Thank You! And how, as an adult, thanking someone can not only be nice for the person you thank, but it can come back to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Sioux Falls newspaper, the Argus Leader, has the "Thank You Phone," which is a phone passed on around Sioux Falls from person to person as to say "Thank You". If you receive the phone, it will be from someone who is thanking you for something, and when you pass it on, you take a photo of yourself, then leave a voicemail saying who you are thanking and why, before presenting the phone to the person you are thanking.

A lady in our office, Debbie, passed the Thank You Phone onto the company I work for saying how she loves her co-workers... very sweet. I took the phone on behalf of the office, took a photo of Henry reaching for the phone, with Gemma in the background, and thanked Nikki, our daycare provider. She in turn passed the phone onto someone else. It was all very sweet at the time, about 3 weeks ago.

This week, the company I work for picked up the Thank You phone story and published it on the company website as a feel good story, bringing it to the forefront again. This made Debbie feel very happy for having thanked the company, and visibly brightened her day.

At the same time, on Monday, the Argus Leader published the picture of Henry and Gemma, that I took with the phone, on the front page of the "Voices" section, together with my quote thanking Nikki. Below it was Nikki's quote with pictures of her kids. When I did this originally, I did not know the picture would be in the paper. It is not the best picture, with Henry about to cry and reaching to try to grab the phone.

However, this created a great memory for the baby books, and again made me feel good about passing the phone on. It also meant that I spent my lunchtime running around Sioux Falls trying to find a couple of copies of the newspaper. It's amazing how at 1pm on a Monday, the Argus Leader was sold out in the 1st 2 gas stations I went to. I found 2 copies at my 3rd stop, and 1 final copy at another gas station.

In today's nasty economy, a lot of people are having a hard time. These little free bonuses can go a long way towards brightening up someone's day and putting a smile on their face.

Check out the Thank You phone pictures at http://www.argusleader.com/thankyouphone

Check out the story on http://www.argusleader.com/thankyouphone

Lets Go SWIMMING!!!!!

2009-06-29T21:21:00.000-05:00

The best investment our family has ever made was buying a family pass to Sioux Falls Public Pools last year and this year.

Last year, Henry was barely big enough to walk around in the pool, and was a little bit scared to do anything without holding Daddy or Mummy's hand. He needed a lot of help going anywhere near water past ankle length, and although he loved going to the pool, he was a limited in what he could do.

This year, pool time is PARTY TIME for Henry. He starts saying "pool, pool, pool, swim, swim" as soon as we get to the Laurel Oak Pool. Finding somewhere to put our stuff is a challenge more because I am trying to stop Henry running to the pool while attempting to find a seat.

I should mention at this point that Henry is addicted to keys. Car keys, house keys, key chains. He loves holding them. We have allowed him to hold our car keys with the remote unlocking and door opening fobs, but that has come back to bite us a few times. When my Mother visited in December, we went to the car to discover that we had a tail lamp bulb burned out and a half dead battery thanks to Henry remotely opening one of the minivan doors the night before, and lights having been flashing on the van for 12 hours.

Daddy lesson learned: The kids no longer get to play with car keys.

Our 23 month old probably shouldnt be running around with a set of keys, but, in my opinion, every parent has 1 or 2 things they let their kids do, which is not recommended, and letting Henry run around with Keys is one of ours.

Anyway, the biggest battle at the pool is usually getting Henry's keys off of him. He knows that he cannot play in the pool with keys, but he has trouble parting with his beloved keys. Henry eventually overcomes his key separations anxiety, but it can sometimes result in one of his newly patented jumping up and down, stamping feet, throwing whatever he gets his hands on, screaming, turning red, terrible 2's preview, meltdowns.

So once the meltdown is over, he runs to the pool (even though Dad has told him many times not to run at the swimming pool... another lesson he has learned but ignores) and whips down any slide he can, runs up to the floating frogs, the big dinosaurs, and the pool bubbles, and has the time of his life. The beauty of it is that we went to the pool 4 days in a row, played for about an hour each time, and he never gets tired of it.

I am usually the one chasing Henry around the pool, and helping him play. In the meantime, Marisa and Gemma hang in the very shallow water watching the chaos. Gemma gets her feet dabbed in the water and loves it. She also gets attention from little kids love to come and say hi to the baby.

After about an hour, Henry is pooped out ready for bed, Gemma is happy having been held for an hour without being put down, and parents are exhausted. The best part is that thanks to our $50 investment in May, it is a free evening of fun.

Fathers Day Ponderings

2009-06-21T21:09:00.001-05:00

A beautiful fathers day had me realize a few things and showed me just how wonderful my family is.

I woke up to presents of McVitees Digestive Biscuits, a Crunchie Bar, and an Aero Bar. All wonderful British chocolate bars which are very difficult to find in the US, however, the World Market in Sioux Falls has them, and my fabulous wife had surprised me with them.

My other big surprise was Sirius Satellite Radio. With a lot of long road trips for work these days, I will be taking full advantage, as well as enjoying all the Chelsea games on the radio (a bonus since we have no more TV) and of course, the unmistakable tones of Howard Stern in the morning.

When installing the radio in the car, I had Henry with me "helping." By helping, I mean he was stealing every cord, putting on the car's emergency lights and adjusting the air conditioning. We listened to a little Howard Stern together, although, I quickly realized that Howard uncensored was probably not suitable for a 23 month old (bad Daddy). I was particularly worried when an hour later at lunch he started saying a word that started with "f" and ended with "k". It was a great relief when I realized he just wanted me to pick up his fork.

Lesson learned, no uncensored radio on the way to daycare.

We did finally also cut off television today. With the digital revolution, we now have absolutely no TV, since you cannot pick up local channels with rabbit ears any longer, something the customer service rep at Midcontinent Communications made very clear to me in an attempt to keep my business.

Over the course of this last trial non-TV week, I have noticed, I do not really miss television. I really did not need to watch the Twins each night, or watch "John and Kate plus 8," (although I am curious about what their big announcement will be tomorrow). I am being more productive at home, and the kids are doing fine without television. Marisa and I also now talk more! Talk to my wife? Shocking I know!!

Finally, we had rain all day today until approximately 3pm. At 4pm, it was 80 degrees outside so we went to the pool. There were approximately 4 other people there, and they were all Dad's smiling having a good time with their little kids. Not only was it great to virtually have the pool to ourself (Henry actually got to sit on the big dinosaur that is usually full of pre-teen kids), but it was awesome to see other Dad's having as great a Fathers Day as I did.

There were a number of other highlights today, such as eating breakfast at Dennys (classy I know), a super fun Skype video call with my Mum, and wishing my own Dad and Grandfather a happy fathers day also.

Now sitting down with the kids in bed, I cannot help but reflect back on the day and see how lucky I am to have 2 amazing children, and a stunning wife who cared enough to make today as special as it was.

In re-reading this, I have realized this is a very sappy blog, not something that I meant to happen, but just this once, I am going to let the blog be sappy. I will be back to practical with the next one!

TELEVISION FREE FAMILY - at least for now

2009-06-15T22:31:00.000-05:00

Over the course of this last weekend, Marisa and I had a revelation.

We watch WAY TOO MUCH TELEVISION.

When Henry wakes up, he immediately says "TV" or "Remote".
I find myself putting things off to watch something on TV, and for those of you who know me, it's not always sports!

We always had a TV on in any room we were hanging out in, even just as background noise. It really hit me when I noticed Gemma, our 4 month old, zoning in on the TV.

My solution is to go TV free, cancelling all of our TV subscriptions. We have HBO, DVR, 2 digital boxes... all gone!

We are starting a 1 week trial of this, but I can say that after 2 days, I am feeling refreshed.

Our house is quiet at night (when the kids are sleeping). Marisa and I are forced to talk to each other more, and I think we will be more in tune with each other, than in tune with the TV.
I really think it will force us to be more creative both with our spare time, and with how we play with our kids, rather than just letting Bob the Builder be our babysitter.

The other thing that made me consider this idea was the thought of the things I am exposing the kids too inadvertently from television. We watch shows where kids people call each other "idiots" or people hitting each other. This sort of stuff I tell Henry not to do, so I wonder about what example I am setting showing him this stuff on TV either on purpose or by accident.

At lunch today, a couple of people were watching an MTV show, and I realized just what rubbish there is on TV. This again showed me the crap I am putting into my head on a daily basis.

We are doing a 1 week trial to see how it goes, but at the moment I am enjoying being Television free. We will see if it changes come Football season.

My 2nd job

2009-04-26T08:08:00.001-05:00

For the last few weeks I have been looking into earning some extra income, possibly by getting a second job, or by starting a side career as a Realtor.

This weekend I had the revelation that what I would consider my second job, would actually be a 3rd job, and would take away from my 1st job.

Confused yet???

Let me explain. My primary, number 1 and most important job is also the most fun thing in my life.... being a Dad. This "job" occurs afer 6pm, before 8.30am M-F, and all weekend.

Job number 2 is the one that earns the money, 9-6 M-F

So, if I were to take another job, I would lose a good deal of my time with the kids, who really are my bosses at my 1st job, and who would want to short change their primary job to take a 3rd time consuming occupation.

The more I thought about this, the more it depressed me. Whenever I leave a room, I hear Henry say "Dada, Dada," and it makes me realize that spending more time away from my young ones is not an acceptable solution to any money problems.

I suppose the main point of this blog is that no amount of money can be worth spending more time away from my children.

Going out late

2009-03-29T09:42:00.003-05:00

Do I go out or do I stay with kids. This is another tough decision that parents make on a daily basis. I personally think it is a tougher decision for the Father than the Mother.

My reasoning for that is that the Mum usually has the clear expectation to be with the baby especially a newborn,whereas the Dad sometimes has the perceived option to make his own choice. Maybe my perception of reality is different to others.

I personally have a wife who will never tell me not to go out, but leaves the decision to me. Having said that, Marisa often gives me not so subtle hints on what she would like me to do.

The other night we found a nice compromise. A good friend of Marisa's was in town, and took my wonderful wife out to a restaurant and a bar, along with another friend of ours. They were out having a good time for quite a few hours.

Well, come 10.30pm, the nature of being a newborn mother called, and Marisa had to come home to pump out some milk. She then decided it was time for bed, and that she was not going back out. I, however, got a call from Marisa's friend, who it should be noted lived with us for a while in the past, and is a good friend to both of us, asking me to come and join them at the bar.

Of course, my immediate question was, "will this piss off my wife?" This is the 1st question that comes across any husband's mind. The other questions like, "Will the kids be ok?" and "How will I feel tomorrow morning?" are at the back of your mind. The most important question is "will this piss off my wife?"

I spoke to Marisa, who actually encouraged me to go out. I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that with both kids in bed, and a wife on her way to bed, what harm can going out for a drink do? So at 11pm I took off to the bar for maybe 1 drink.

So at 2am, come bar close, we left the local bar, and came back to our house with the sleeping wife and kids and had another drink at home.

After some good late night conversation, I was in bed at 3.30am, thinking, "wow, this tag teaming a night out worked well."

The only problem came at 6.30am when Henry and Gemma were both up crying, and from 3 hours of sleep, my day got started, changing diapers and burping new borns. I didnt exactly feel like a million bucks, but I definitely felt like a sleep deprived Dad. This sleep deprivation, however, was my own doing.

Was it a good choice with young kids to go out for a late night? Probably not healthwise, but did it hurt anything? No, and it was fun for me, a former night owl, to be out late again. However, I would certainly not recommend doing this regularly.

I definitely felt that this was a rare opportunity which presented itself, and would not expect to be out that late again for a long time.

What is the youngest a child should be at a sporting event?

2009-03-29T09:41:00.001-05:00

Prior to having children, I always said you should not take a child to a sporting event before they are 5, or old enough to remember. My theory was that any younger, the child gets nothing out of it, and they are just an annoyance to the people around them.

Now I have a 20 month old boy (Henry) and my own eagerness to take my son to his 1st sporting event has overtaken the reasoning I mentioned above.

Today, I am taking Henry to see the Sioux Falls Storm's home opener. It is semi-pro indoor football, but here in Sioux Falls, the Storm are a big deal. They have won 4 consecutive championships. It should be a sold out crowd of 4000 plus today.

I am so excited to take Henry. He loves football. We eat Sunday lunch in front of Vikings games during the season, he loves wearing his purple.

In the back of my mind, however, I keep wondering if it is a good idea going against my original feelings on the minimum age to take kids to a game.

I justify it in my mind by thinking that even if Henry only sits still for half the game (with the aid of snacks and toys) it is still some exlusive time that he and I can spend together without his Mum or newborn sister. I know he will love that. I know he will enjoy the loud noises and introductions. We will have a good time, but I also know that this will be a great memory for me, and Henry will likely never remember it.

Is he too young to go to the game? Am I being selfish taking a 20 month old to a football game? I guess I will find out this afternoon

A Quick Introduction

2009-03-28T18:22:00.000-05:00

This is an introduction for anyone who reads this blog who does not know me.

My name is James. I am 29 years old on the day I write this. I live with my wife, Marisa, and my 2 children, Henry (born July 07, 20 months old as I write this entry), and Gemma (born February 09, 1 month old as I write this entry).

Originally from Berkhamsted, England (near London), I have been in the US for 9 years (since January 2000). Having lived in Minneapolis MN, Fargo ND, Grand Forks ND, I currently reside in beautiful Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I work in Sioux Falls doing a job I enjoy. I am not going to go into detail about my work since it is really not relevent to this blog.

Outside of spending time with the family, my other real passion is sports. I play soccer (real football) once a week, and watch a lot of other sports. Above anything I am a huge Chelsea and Minnesota Vikings fan.

Having recently gone through the transition from Father of 1, to Father of 2, I have noticed a lot of difficult choices that I have had to make as a Dad, and wanted to write about them and share them with the world.