#Parenting

10 Things Everyone Should Consider Before Having a Baby

10 Things Everyone Should Consider Before Having a Baby

Having a newborn back in our house has reminded me of a whole slew of details about being a parent that I’ve somehow forgotten along the way. My suspicion is that, on every child’s first birthday, one of the Men in Black stops by and does the flashy thingy to new parents, completely erasing all recollection of hardships or trials. Otherwise, every family on earth would have exactly one child.

Luckily I’ve outsmarted the system. Up until now I had no written record of the craziness that can take place when raising a newborn baby, but today that changes. Today I’m going to share with you a list of some of the things that I had forgotten about taking care of babies. Not only will I be doing a public service by sharing these details with anyone considering having a child, but I’ll also have this as a record to reference in case Jackie ever makes those “let’s-have-another-baby” eyes at me.

Keep reading…

Party of Five

Party of Five

Have you ever ended a date at the hospital?

I did.

On Valentine’s Day of all days.

Believe it or not it had the perfect ending.

As the date ended at 4:36am on Wednesday, Patrick Jack’s life began.

It’s one thing to drive a minivan, but actually needing all of the seats is surreal.

We’re five days in and we’ve already had our share of adventures… including two instances of public urination. But that’s a story for another day (and please don’t call the cops).

We’ve also begun the process of building a boxing ring in our basement. No doubt that’s going to come in handy down the road.

We can’t wait for all the good times to come.

I mean, we are a PARTY of five, right?

Dear Pixar, Thank You

Dear Pixar, Thank You

Entertainment seems to be a hot button issue these days, especially when it comes to parenting. Terms like “screen time” put a sour taste in our mouths, and we’re constantly told to limit the amount of time that our kids get in front of computers, iPads, TVs, and the like. There’s no doubt that having kids lead active lives is ridiculously important, but today I’d like to shift the focus a bit and give a shout out to some of the most brilliant and creative minds of this generation. Today I raise my virtual glass to the fine folks at Pixar.

If you’ve been following my ramblings for very long you now that I enjoy a good flick. It’s a great opportunity for me to escape reality for just a little while and it allows me leave the worries of life next to the electronic kiosk just before I buy that popcorn with extra butter flavoring. Brady has seen Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 in the theater and has loved the experience both times. He’s always ready for the next outing to the movies and never forgets to remind us when we drive past the theater. Really, he never forgets. Ever. Collin, on the other hand, has never really been too involved when it comes to the theater experience. I remember taking him to see Toy Story 3, watching about ten minutes of the movie, and then going out into the hall and watching reruns of Mickey Mouse clubhouse on my iPhone for the next two hours. The theater just isn’t his thing.

Keep Reading About Pixar

It Takes a (Christmas) Village to Raise a Child With Autism

It Takes a (Christmas) Village to Raise a Child With Autism.

I promise not to abuse the link feature on the new site. The only time I’ll use it is when I find something really awesome online that is absolutely perfect on its own. I read this article at the Huffington Post yesterday and it spoke to me (Hint: Click this post title to be taken to the article).

Here’s a small exceprt:

Children learn to connect with the people in their lives who have developmental disabilities by watching their parents. When parents model the imaginative generosity needed for forming substantive relationships with their relatives with autism, their own children learn how to be imaginatively generous too. And there’s a bonus — so-called “normal” children who learn to connect with a cousin who has autism wind up mastering essential ethical lessons that extend beyond the sphere of awareness as it relates to persons with disability.

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