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

 

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

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

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.