The Princess Walks and Talks - Almost

Twice today, once at the park and once with Mommy (thank goodness, because I was not telling The Boss Lady about the park until she saw it for herself) The Princess tried to take a step.

At the park, she was sitting in pea gravel, she stood up and she lifted her left foot. She balanced for a fraction of a second and then she put her foot down again in the same spot. Then she sat. And ate pea gravel.

But tonight, The Boss Lady and The Princess were standing in the living room, when Mommy stomped her foot and Baby Girl repeated. Three or four times.

She never made any forward progress, but it is a step. Or a stomp. Or something.

Something that she could not do 24 hours ago. Amazing.

If that is not enough, she has also picked up another sign language sign. The Princess is great at signing 'more' when she is eating. Today at lunchtime, without me showing her, she signed 'please more'. When I made a huge fuss over her new skill, she repeated it for a minute, solid. She had great fun, showing off for Mommy, tonight.

We bought the book Baby Signs, when The Talker was a few months old. We used a combination of baby signs and ASL signs, since that is what I used with a lot of the kids at my old job. At his peak, The Talker was using 50 or more signs. He actually GOT IT. The sign language was a useful tool until he was 20 months old, or so. Even still, he remembers his signs, when prompted. But he does not use them unless we ask him. Usually when we want him to show The Princess a new sign.

So, little girl, I am anxious to see more great things, please, out of you, tomorrow.

What a Day!

80 degrees and sunny as heck. Of course, that means allergy season is here. But as I have proven so many times before, I am a moron. Eventhough my allergies are driving me nuts, we were outside for hours and hours today.

When I had finally had enough of sneezing, we headed to the library. I needed to change The Princess while we were there, but there is no diaper deck in the men's room. Yes, they have one in the ladies room. After they suggested I sneak into the ladies room to change the baby, I decided to make it a quick visit.

Oh yeah, I changed the baby, on the floor in the middle of the kids section. But only because it was the only clear floorspace and all of the reading tables were in use. I don't know what the staff thought about me changing the baby beside the books, but. A dad's gotta do...

Afterwards, we skipped lunch and headed to the park. The Talker immediately made a couple of friends. Then the 'three year old boy game' began. Same game as always. Someone runs, someone else chases. Someone gets tackled, someone cries. Mommies stress, daddies laugh. Good times.

I think The Talker won. Because he was dirtier than the others, and their mommies took them home after a while. We stayed well into naptime. Because I was afraid that if I headed for the car, the boy might tackle me, too.

Baby Boot Camp Begins

The Boss Lady and The Princess have started an epic battle. This era of AtHomeFamily time might come to be known as 'he Battle of the Nights'. It seems The Boss Lady wants to sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch.

The Princess? She likes to sleep until 2 am. Then, she wants mommy. Not much else will get the girl back to sleep. The Boss Lady has learned to get back to sleep quickly. Some nights The Boss Lady only gets 3 hours of sleep. Fun days at work surely follow.

Me? True confession time, I usually sleep through it. Once I am up with The Princess, then I am usually awake for the night. No more sleep. And the days that follow are NOT fun, I assure you.

Plus, I am not nearly as effective in the middle of the night brawls with Baby Girl, so the crying goes lots longer and the chances of us waking the entire family go way, WAY up. So, we end up sitting in the recliner and snoozing the rest of the night away. But mainly, we try not to violate Rule Number One, Don't wake The Boy. Because, like me, he will instantly be up and ready to play, midnight or 3 am.

All that is changing, now that THE HOW TO GET YOUR BABY TO SLEEP BOOK has been bought. The Princess might as well give in to the program. The Boss Lady has created a schedule for when we will respond to nighttime crying. I think my peaceful nights of slumber are going away for a while. But guess what?

I skipped to the end of the book. The Boss Lady wins!

Yep, I did

Spend three hours watching Dukes of Hazzard re-runs on CMT tonight. Watching a good car chase or sixty, while running on the treadmill, hardly seems like exercise

Bet your night was not that exciting.

Seen Wags?

This morning, while straightening toys, The Talker suddenly wanted his Wags the Dog toy. I have not see this stuffed animal in 3 months, at least. He knew right where it was, though, so I obliged.

When it was not in either of the toy drawers under his bed, The Talker was highly annoyed. After yesterday's high-energy-fest, I am still a little scared of the boy. I hope he never goes off like that again. So I searched. The entire house.

Anywhere a stuffed dog toy might hide, I looked there. Yep, even in mommy's bathroom!?! Because he said it was in there, after telling 12145 other places that Wags was hiding.

After an hour of putting away toys as I searched, no Wags. So I distracted the boy. Different toys surely would keep his mind off of Wags the Dog. So we got out every piece of Fisher Price Little People stuff that he owns. He has been in heaven for the past two hours, with an entire town set-up. Right on the living room floor.

And while I was looking for Mrs. Noah, to go with the ark playset, I found Wags the Dog. In a laundry basket under the train table that is full of cars and train parts. Right where The Talker said it was...

Insanity run amok times 3 to the power of 13

It is almost winter again. It has been cold and drizzly enough that we have only been outside to get in the car. The Talker is going crazy from being cooped up all day long. The Princess? Well she is always a little goofy, so who knows?

Yesterday, I was fully aware that The AtHomeTrio would be playing inside. All day long. But, I was not prepared for a semi-surprise 13 hour day. Semi-surprise, because The Boss Lady swears I knew about it last weekend, but the first I remember hearing that she had to work late, was about 11:30 am. So we adjusted. Late naps and extra TV time, mixed with hotwheel racing tracks, wooden trains, a little bit of pirate play and some jumping on mommy and daddy's big bed. None of it seemed to wear out The Talker.

By 6:30 pm, he was running through the house like a wild bear. The Princess was pretty good all day long, but in the end, I think she wanted the boy to sit down and be quiet, too. Every time he would run past her, she would cringe and brace for the bear growl that he was about to release.

In the end, The Boss Lady got home about 45 minutes earlier than she expected. So the bear hunt was suspended and The Talker was finally tranquilized and relocated for his bath and bedtime.

And The Princess, she has gone nocturnal. So The Boss Lady kept her until 2:45 this morning. By 3 am, she and I were snoozing on the couch until daybreak. She really is cute when she sleeps. You should come see her. But don't waste your time looking at night. She will be wide awake, then.

Is it good...

When the pediatrician tells your kid "You are getting to be high maintenance."?

The Talker only sees the Dr for regular checkups and shots. The Princess has seen him at least twice a month, forever. Getting to be high maintenance, my butt.

This girl started out high maintenance, with 21 people, an entire neo-natal crisis team, waiting on her in the delivery room. And she is now used to that kind of attention. She has most recently decided that sleeptime is 'Mommy and Me' playtime. Seems to be an effective way to get three or five hours of uninterrupted 'Mommy time'.

So if you see a neo-natal crisis team running around with nothing to do, let me know. Maybe a couple of them can babysit this weekend and The Boss Lady can catch a quick nap.

Ear we go again

The Princess is on her way to The Pediatrician's office this morning. It has been about three days since she slept well and she has turned into an ogre.

Though her brother enjoys having a relative of Shrek visiting us, The Boss Lady and I are worn out from all of the crying. This kid should be timed for The Guinness Book of World Records. She must be a crying champion.

Right now, she is not crying. She is eating a hotwheel. They only cost $.80 each, so if that is all it takes to keep her happy, I'll be feeding her die-cast cars all day!

What the....?

The Boss Lady and I had a friend from church watch the kids today for a few hours. All I want to know is,

How in the heck did she get them both to nap for 95 straight minutes at the exact same time?

She must be into voodoo. That is all there is to it. Voodoo.

I ought to get me a book on voodoo. Maybe I can get me some naptimes like that, too.

HoverDaddy?

I am not a hovering daddy. When we go to the park, I am not one of those parents that has to be within fingertip reach of their children at all times. If I ever was like that, having two quickly-mobile children taught me quickly that I can't cover the entire park at once.

Occasionally I get looks from other parents, OK, let's be honest, moms, - seldom do I see a dad who is concerned about how someone else is 'daddy-ing', who must think I am not keeping close enough to The Princess. And 99.99% of the time they are wrong. I am usually pretty quick to notice when The Talker has wandered too far or when The Princess has put herself in mortal danger.

This morning was one of the 0.01% times.

I was chatting with another SAHD when I noticed The Princess was no longer trying to climb the steps of the playscape. So I looked all around the base of the playscape without seeing her. Then I realized, she had climbed up the steps of the playscape, gotten to a landing about three feet off of the ground. She made her way across a bouncy bridge, with no low hand-rail, to another landing. She was getting ready to go headfirst down a slide when I got to her. Her entire adventure lasted maybe 30 seconds.

And once I set her back at the playscape steps, her second trip, via the same route,took less than 15 seconds. Each trip thereafter made even quicker. She wore herself out, without ever getting to slide. She wore me out, too, because after the first trip, I was hovering like a helicopter.

Screw Housework

The AtHomeTrio is heading out to the park this morning to hang out. Our house is a disaster. The toys have won the revolution. The dishes attacked on a second front and there were mass casualties.

I am sure I'll change my mind quickly this afternoon. The Queen Mother and Dad will be in town tonight and Tuesday. Luckily, they have heard reports from the front and will be staying at a hotel. So we will have to get some of this stuff picked up, but maybe not until tonight.

Anybody got a few extra 'grenades or a Bobcat tractor I could use to clean up this house?

Yeah, it may be a SAHD's work, but I ought to be able to do it in my own way, right?

3:30pm -

I surrendered. I caved in and have now started a second load of dishes and a third load of laundry. The house will be clean tonight. We need a baby-sitter to come over tomorrow afternoon, so we can attend a funeral. I don't want the babysitter to report us to the health department.

Daytona 500, T Minus 45 minutes...

Was it an overwhelming sense of romance that led us to go out on a date last night. Nope. The Daytona 500 is today, so The Boss Lady deserved a little time. After all, I'll be busy for most of the next 40+ weekends.

Drive the Truck, Dale!

Two in a Hundred Years

Actually, The Boss Lady and I have watched 2, TWO movies this weekend. Truthfully, one was a documentary on PBS, called Okie Noodling, that we watched on TV. The other, we actually went to a cinema and paid to see.

The new Will Smith movie, Hitch, was the best movie we have gone to see in years. Of course, we couldn't remember the last movie we saw in a theater. Possibly Star Wars Episode I or Finding Nemo.

Date Night

Evidently, leaving the kids with their cousin, once every two or three years, so we can go to a movie will not kill them. They may come home stinking of girl scout cookies and golden retrievers, but they will live.

They may cry when they leave their cousin's house. But, that is OK, because neither The Boss Lady, nor I, cried when we dropped them off.

Road Trip Planning

How did people plan summer road trips before the 'net? I got online and requested travel info from most of the states that we are thinking about for our summer escape. This post gives a little detail about the trips that we are considering.

And these are the states that I have gotten info from so far:

1.South Dakota. The first to respond and my trip preference, too.
2.Oklahoma. We will just be passing through, I swear.
3.North Dakota. A possible side trip from Mt Rushmore.
4.Missouri. Bass Pro Shop, anyone?
5.Kansas. Wide open spaces and Chevy Duty...
That's all so far, I'll update as we get more info from other states.

TruckinDaddy

TruckinDaddy is where I am going to post stuff about the truck. I want to keep AtHomeDaddy about family stuff.

I imagine getting the truck running again will not be a family adventure. It will be Rated R, due to lots and lots of cursing. The kids may never get to play in the driveway again.

So hide your children, and come over sometime. No rush, there is not much there now...

Yahoo! Search Results for female deathbattle

OK, this is getting weird. Why is AtHomeDaddy the Number 1 search result for FEMALE DEATHBATTLE? Please, Boss Lady, tell them it is not THAT bad.

Wait a Few Years, and I'll give You a Ride

There will soon be an addition to The AtHomeFamily. I am going to bring my Grandpa's truck home from the family farm. It has been stuck in the mud out there for years. Now, it can be stuck in our driveway. For years and years.

It is in rough shape, but in this post you can read why I want it. And here is a follow up post, I made a few days later.

Wow! Just this week I was blogging elsewhere that I am not a 'Car Guy". I guess it is time for me to start becoming one. I have sworn to The Boss Lady that this truck will not be going to the shop. I'll be learning as I go, but I'll be making it go, someday. Soon after that, hopefully, I'll be figuring out how to make it stop, too. Then, I'll be making my trips to Lowe's and Home Depot in style!

That truck sure will add some rustic charm, sitting out in front of the house, don't you think?

Besides, there are at least two non-running cars parked on the neighborhood streets. An 80's Isuzu Trooper and a 90's Nissan Sentra. At least mine will be an American Classic. AND in the driveway.

Hunting Season

You a hunter? Not me. I am so not a hunter that I don't even know what hunting season it is right now. Except that I wish it was open season on the Bambi and his friends in my front yard.

But, this morning I have been using all of my survival and tracking skills. Am I hunting big game? The biggest. Seems that a sippy-cup with milk in it has gone AWOL. After twenty minutes spent tracking and sniffing my way through the house, I found my prey.

Sitting in the bottom of the sink. Trying to camouflage himself with the other dirty dishes. Never fear. He is now safely gutted and mounted in the dishwasher with all of his little friends. Most of them, anyways. Evidently, he has more friends than we have dishwasher space this morning...

The Black Escort Blues

The AtHomeFamily went last night to pick up The Boss Lady's car. The shop completed everything except the alignment. Which was one of the things we actually took it in to have done. It will need to go back again, soon.

The new wheel I bought at the tire store does not match the others, as the salesman assured me that it would. "Perfectly", keeps echoing through my brain. Did you know about wheel offset? Yeah, I wish I did not, either..

So now I need to find a replacement wheel, hopefully used... have the new tire mounted on the new/used/replacement wheel, return the new/new/replacement wheel for a refund at the tire store, have the new tire mounted on the new/used/replacement wheel and mounted on the car. THEN, and only then, will they be able to do an alignment on the car.

My real frustration is that the car sat at the shop for two days. If they had told me about the wheel, we could have dealt with everything during that time. Instead, we get to drive it like this for a few days. Nothing like dropping a chunk of change on the car and still have it drive like junk.

Someone, please. Run me over with an Escort Wagon in my sleep. But be careful. Cause it is a real pain in the butt if you dent one of the wheels.

The Return of the Belted Beast

The new belt for the treadmill arrived today. I could attempt to fix it right now, but they caution that it is a two person installation. So I'll wait of The Boss Lady. Maybe we will get it running tonight. Plus, I want to hassle her about THE LAUNDRY that is currently stacked on the tradmill!?!?!

And why a new belt? I thought it might need one, but mainly because I mangled the old one. While I was cleaning and adjusting it. So we have been without a treadmill since Saturday. The Boss Lady has not even used it, yet. Maybe tonight she will. And then, tommorow, I can run all day long and go no where, fast.

Then again, that sounds like most other days around here.

And FYI, we are still WAY ahead on price...

The AtHomeTrio Goes Exploring

Our neighborhood park has a couple of miles of hiking trails that follow a creek through a small canyon. This morning, while we at the park, The Talker wanted to go exploring in the trees near the playscape. So, off we went, through the trees on trails that the older neighborhood kids cruise frequently. The Talker leading, and AtHomeDaddy carrying The Princess.

He wore himself and me out, hiking through the trees, looking for "animals and stuff to smell." Yes, he occasionally stooped the hike to ask, "Shhh, what do I smell?" We saw a deer, a Jack Russell Terrier dragging his owner down the trail, heard lots of birds and we found a shortcut to the creek.

But the best part of the exploration, echoes. The boy discovered how to make echoes this morning. First while we were exploring a concrete drainage tunnel and later as we were at the top of the canyon in the park. And now that he found a great spot for echoes, I feel a little sorry for the people who live next to the canyon. 'Cause I bet they will be hearing The Talker yelling "HELLO, ECHO!" for a long time.

Good Morning AtHomeFans, It is 7:47AM...

and The Princess is still asleep! Actually, she woke up 10 minutes ago, but she went back to sleep before I got finished putting out the last of the trash.

Hip Hip Hooray for sleeping late!

And three cheers for getting the trash out before the world's earliest trash trucks show up.

She was up 5 minutes later, but hey... I BEAT THE TRASH TRUCK!!!

What a Bee-uti-ful Day!

80 degrees and so sunny that we had to break out some sunscreen this morning for our first walk to the park.

The AtHomeTrio was without a car because The Boss Lady's car is still in the shop. So we managed to cram about 6 hours of outside playtime into the schedule today. Walks, playing at our neighborhood park a couple of different times and lots of playtime in the backyard all made today's agenda.

Laundry, a clean kitchen, vacuuming and straightening the living room did not. Too Bad. Maybe tomorrow

Hey, it is the middle of winter, right? It might get cold and rainy again before spring and then we can get all of that stuff done.

Wanna Buy an Escort?

1995 LX Wagon. Black. Asking $20,000.

By the time you receive the car it will have a one year old paint job, brand new tires, new brakes and rotors all around, new lower ball joints, an alignment, a new radiator, a new serpentine belt, a new timing belt, new motor mounts and one brand new wheel.

Cold AC, drives nice.

At least it will when we get it back from the shop, on Wednesday. And to think we just took in for front brakes and to help diagnose a thump in the front end... Glad I did not ask them to be too detailed when they gave it the once over.

ROAD TRIP!!!

The AtHomeFam is hitting the road. But not for a while.

The Boss Lady and I have started talking about taking a trip this summer. Last summer we ran the roads in Texas. A camping trip at a state park and trips to all of the grandparent's houses kept us hopping for a couple of weeks. The Princess was only a couple of months old, so we did not get too adventurous.

This summer, we are planning a longer trip. Options currently being considered:

A week or more driving through the central and western US to see Mt Rushmore and anything else that catches our eye along the way. Then we could return via a different route, hitting 8 - 10 states in 3500 miles.

A road trip east, maybe towards Alabama, by way of Nashville. Got lots of new stories tell JB and Rick. Plus, we could return through Springfield MO, home of Bass Pro Shops. State count, 6 - 8, mileage, 2000.

Heading West. Gotta get the kids to DisneyLand before they are too old. But, we will probably wait a year or two for this road trip. No sense wasting a good Disney trip on a kid who is to young to remember it. States, 4, miles 3000.

Seeing as many minor league baseball games in ten days as possible, in as many different places as the Windstar will allow. State count, to be determined. Mileage to be determined.

Driving Interstate 35 north, to Duluth, Minnesota. Just to say we have driven the entire thing. We spend so much of our time traveling the 200 miles between home and Dallas, we might see where else the freeway goes. Plus, there has to be a Chick-Fil-A in the Mall of America, right?. States, 6-9. Mileage 2500+.

Working at the Carwash

The Talker and I decided to wash the cars this afternoon. SO once we got home from church and ate lunch, we were out the door and enjoying a beautiful day.

Actually, I washed the cars. He ran around in nothing but his underwear, watering the trees. Mostly with the garden hose. But I did not ask too many questions. And in the end, we have two clean cars, one worn out child, a lot of well-watered trees and a really wet daddy.

Afternoons like this. That's what AtHomeDaddy was made for.

Tired of Tires

We are no longer buying cheap tires! For the last 10 years or so, I have been rolling on whatever Discount Tires had on sale. Usually their own brand of tire. I don't really care. Very little of my self-image is wrapped up in the tires on my minivan.

But in the last two years, I have had three sets of tires on the van. Of the two sets I have most recently replaced, one tire had a blowout at highway speed. Three tires had tread separation and two had bad sidewalls. All were covered with a replacement/road hazard warranty. Out of 12 tires, we paid for the first four and two others along the way. A pretty cheap way to stay in cheap tires.

And today, while changing the oil on The Boss Lady's car, I noticed one of her tires had a large bulge on the sidewall. Then I remembered that two of THESE tires had been already replaced under a warranty claim, last year.

I did not want to head to Discount Tires for new rubber, but I knew they would at least give me some credit for the bad tire. So, after making calls, to compare prices at other stores, I ended there, anyways.

But now, The Boss Lady is riding like a queen. On Goodyears. Yep, her Escort is sitting on NASCAR rubber, now! They laughed at me when I relayed my tales of tire woe. But then they replaced the bad tire and knocked a good chunk off of the total bill to "keep a good customer happy...".

"Good customer"? Me? I feel so honored. Who knew it would only take 22 tires, in 3 years, for me to go from a "cheap s.o.b." to a "good customer"?

Because The Boss Lady Wants YOU to Know...

The NASCAR season kicks off in 37 minutes, with the Budweiser Shootout. I bet you are as excited as she is.

Just FYI, we root for Dale. Dale Jarrett.

Man, am I Proud!

If you search for crap talker on Yahoo, you can find AtHomeDaddy listed as the 27th search result. Yahoo sure is smart.

Boy, I can't wait until I am in the TOP 25.

The Girl is a Champ

This morning The Princess had an appointment to further investigate her recent bladder infections. She handled everything really well. The staff were really awesome at dealing with wiggly 10 month olds, so that helped. A whole lot.

Now we wait to hear if anything more serious is going on with our baby girl. Hopefully this will be the end of The Princess' medical issues for a while. And maybe we can all just get a nap.

Arrival of The Belted Beast

Back on the 7th, I posted about the new treadmill that we bought. But we decided it was not such a great idea. Am I suddenly happy with the spare tire I currently wear? Nope.

But I was chatting with Other Dad last night. I mentioned that we were buying a treadmill. Turns out his wife had one waiting to be sold in their garage. A quick call to cancel the new one, and MUCH smaller check written to the neighbors and we are now in possession of a much better quality treadmill. It needs a little cleaning, and may need a new belt. But they now have a place to pile more junk and we are $500 or more ahead of the game.

Great. Now I just have to get off of my lardbutt and get some exercise while watching SportsCenter. And of course, if all else fails, at least I feel better about hanging the laundry on a used treadmill.

Is the Untimely End of AtHomeDaddy?

The Talker has decided that naptime us an unnecessary break in the middle of his duties as the AtHomeFam Narrator. SO most of this week he has just skipped naps.

Sucks to be me.

But worse, he has not figured out how to be quiet when he is not asleep. So that means that The Princess' royal naps are getting interrupted more than she, or I, would like.

So a few options I am considering:

No naps - for anyone. Maybe we can just all start going to bet at 6pm.

A bed with restraints - for me. Maybe the kids should just have the run of the house.

Setting up the dog crates. They have food and water bowls, and plenty of playspace... OR

Asking The Boss Lady for an unlimited gasoline budget. So that we can cruise town at 2pm everyday. Evidently naps are now going for $2.01 a gallon, because neither kid can resist a quick nap in the van when we are out running errands. I should probably check for a carbon monoxide leak... We spent an hour in the car this afternoon, running to the grocery store. It should have been a 5 mile round trip, but they were BOTH ASLEEP!

Dragon and Dinosaur Crossing - Proceed with Caution

We often get recaps of The Talker's dreams, first thing in the morning. AS soon as he gets up, he frequently will tell us something like "I was talking to Woody. I was asleep" or "I was playing with Snoochie last night". Snoochie is The Princess' Christmas doll that he kidnapped on December 26th and renamed. No ransom was ever requested.

This morning The Talker woke with one thing on his mind. Before 8am, he was begging for his Purple Dragon/Dinosaur Halloween costume. So we were out the door on a morning walk before 9am. I was carrying The Princess and trying to keep an eye on the The Purple Dragon who was roaring and stalking his way through the neighborhood.

This turned out to be perfect timing for a 3 year old. It seems like everyone in the neighborhood was late to work, so they all saw The Talker Dragon as they drove down the street. And of course, they had to stop and comment about the ferocious dragon that was following me.

He must have had the same dream during his nap. He was out of his bed and begging for help with his costume quickly this afternoon. He tromped around for a hour. And then he was done. The costume was left in the kitchen, the gloves were in the living room, and I found the hood in my closet. He spent the rest of the day in his pajamas. Even when we went to the library. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

At least I was dressed. If not for taking the dragon and The Princess for our walk, I am not sure that would have happened today.

Lardbutts of the World, UNITE!

A lot of the guys I know who are stay-at-home-dads love the fact that once they started keeping up with kids, they shed some pounds. Not me. But, most of the other guys left desk jobs. I was chasing 25 kids around all day, now I chase 2. Also, around here it is like living in a concession stand. Snack time starts at 9am and runs until about 6pm. The Talker would be happy to snack all day and never eat a real meal. And The Princess likes her chow, too. And when in Rome...

When The Talker and I were home by ourselves, we walked. A lot. We live on the end of a cul-du-sac and one of our neighbors said it used to be like watching a two-man parade eight times a day, since we had to walk past her house twice on each trip. We actually wore out a couple of sets of tires on our jogging stroller. Without ever jogging.

But with The Princess and The Talker, I don't have the chance to get out on walks four or five times everyday. And he usually wants to walk , too. So we have to go S L O W L Y. Because the boy might miss seeing a rock or a bug or a flower or deer poop...

Only when we are heading to the park can I push the double jogging stroller fast enough to get any cardiovascular benefit. Then the boy is OK with getting in a hurry. But we don't go there very often anymore. The Princess like to eat the gravel at the playground. And I hate THE LOOK I get when The Boss Lady finds rocks in the diaper...

For several years, I have made fun of people for having a treadmill and only using it to hang-dry their laundry. Check with me in a few months and see if I have joined that crowd. Our new treadmill will be here in a week or two. The idea is that I can use it while the kids nap.

But if you ever see clothes drying on the new treadmill, please just give me a Twinkie, the TV remote and show me to the sofa. I might just be happier, over there.

AtHomeDaddy - Where YOU Count

I added a Site Meter - Counter and Statistics Tracker to this blog. I am cheap and have a free site meter account, so I won't learn anything really useful. But I am a little curious about how many hits this blog is getting. I had two phone calls last week about something on the blog. From people who I did not even know read AtHomeDaddy.

I'll likely leave it running only a couple of weeks. Because in the long run, I don't really care.

My Kind of People...

I'm not a Slacker! has a new feature on his blog. Check out Dumbass Parent of the Day on the left sidebar. Hopefully you will never see an article about AtHomeDaddy there.

One of Those Days

Ever wake up at 5am with one of the worst migranes you have ever had? And you get up early, because your head hurts too much to go back to sleep. So you start laundry and dishes and get the kids settled when they wake up. And you let your spouse sleep in.

And you decide to fix the heater on the van, but you can't get to the part without ripping out the dash, so you decide that ripping a car apart while fighting with a migrane might not be a good idea. So you decide not to change the oil in the van either, because laying on the ground might make your head hurt more.

So you try to go fishing since it is not raining, but as soon as you get to the lake, the wind starts blowing and it gets real cloudy and cold. And you lose a new lure. So you go home to nap on the couch.

But as soon as you fall asleep, the baby wakes up. And since you want to win the husband of the year, you run to the grocery store for more caffeine and you keep the baby happy for 90 minutes, while the wife naps. Then the older kid wakes up as soon as a good basketball game starts on TV. So you entertain both kids until midway through the first half, eventhough you want to amputate your own head.

And when the wife wakes up, you end up falling asleep and you miss most of the game. And then they lose in overtime. So you decide to set-up the boy's racetrack that has a bazillionty pieces and lousy instructions. All the while wondering if you can gouge out your own brain with a piece of racetrack. Because it might make your head stop hurting.

Yeah, me too.

Don't Blogroll Me!

I just spent an hour setting my blog links up on a Blogroll List. But after I got it all setup, it killed my entire sidebar.

So now it is gone. I might mess with it again, but for now, I will keep adding blogs individually, old school style - with a little HTML right to the ol' template..

I have recently added a link to another Dad Blog, Rebel Dad. I really dig his list of Dad Blogs on the sidebar. Lots of good stuff there.


I am going to try the Blogroll again. I started it again on Tuesday, Feb 8th. If it kills the sidebar again, it is gone for good.

AGAIN???????????

Back on January 17, AtHomeDaddy shared about The Princess and her misplaced ear infection.

Well Sir, she decided that was so much fun, that we should do it again. We got sent home from the Pediatrician's office this morning, after waiting an hour for a "sample". When the collection bag leaked, I got the "sample" in my lap. Which makes it really difficult to test.

We are headed back in a couple of hours - so they can "extract a sample". Sounds fun, huh? Are you sitting scrunched up and cross-legged now, like me? I guess this is one of those time a girl needs her daddy to be brave for her.

But how brave it is to be thinking "Glad it's you, and not me, girl..."?

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Culture

No way a trip to any museum or cultural event could surpass our trip to see UT women whip A&M.

First off, it was 5 buck night! Decent seats, good price. SCORE!

Plus, when you take a baby, you can sneak all sorts of snack in via the diaper bag. Sodas, candy, juice, pretzels, Cheerios, yogurt - it all fit in there tonight. Heck we had a soft-sided cooler buried in the bottom of the bag, to keep The Princess' dinner from spoiling. SCORE!

Before the game started, The Talker was dancing and showing his Hook 'Em hand to the crowd. The Princess was dancing , too. So we got onto the Jumbo-Tron! SCORE!

Best of all, in the last few minutes of the game, one of the stadium promotions people came into the stands to give The Talker an autographed basketball and team media guide. Both are signed by Jody Conradt, The UT Head Coach. SUPER-DUPER SCORE!

Plus, we skipped out on The President's State of the Union Address to watch the ladies shoot some hoop. But really, who cares about that?

We was on the 'TRON, bay-beee!

Hook 'Em

There are a lot of nice things about living in a college town. The Boss Lady and I decided that we would always live near a university back when we got married and were living in another "college town".

I could tell you about all of the cultural experiences that we expose the offspring to. The art exhibits, the musical performances, the plays, the symphony - they are all right there, on campus. And I could let you in on lots of little secrets about getting kids interested in attending these functions.

If we had ever been.

Ok, we have been to the symphony, once, without kids. And we saw our neighbor there. She said "You guys look really out of place." Point taken. We will stick to Robert Earl Keen concerts.

And still, The Talker knows a lot about The University. Because they have sports! Sitting in a stadium is a better fit for our family than box seats for the opera. No one hassles us for being loud and getting up out of our chairs thirty times for potty-breaks.

At least I hope not. Because we are off to a basketball game tonight. This is the first trip since potty training ended in a stalemate. The Boss Lady is home from work early, snacks are loaded and hidden in the diaper bag and the kids have each had a three hour nap, so they are ready to howl.

But we have to get there early. The boy HAS to sing The Eyes of Texas with the crowd, while wearing his Hook 'Em Hand, or he will be very sad. Yes, we encourage our children to make handsigns to the devil... And if he is going to be sad, we might as well just send him to the opera. Or Norway.

Hey Brother, Can You Spare Some Dumpster Space?

I am regularly amazed by how much trash we make in this house. And Bro gets a lot of joy out of listening to me whine about the hassles of trash day.

Seems that in his last couple of houses, he could pile anything at the curb and it would all disappear by noon, twice a week. I know he was able to get rid of several major appliances and a demolished wooden deck this way.

Here? No so easy. AtHomeDaddy gets one pick up a week, and if it does not fit in the city-issued dump cart, it'll cost ya'! If you know ahead of time, you can buy $2 stickers at the grocery store to put on EACH extra bag. But you better be made of gold if you forget the sticker. In that case, it'll cost $4 per extra bag, thank you very muchly. I keep a stash of the largest garbage bags ever made, just so I can throw as much junk away as possible when I do have to resort to trash-stickers.

I am PROUD to say, I have never had to pay $4 to get a bag of trash picked up. Because this is where At-home-daddies have an advantage. Once they leave for work, the kids and I check out the neighbor's carts, looking for empty space. And amazingly, my extra trash disappears.

And why do I dwell on things like this? Because I was bummed when I rolled the cart to the curb. I spent 6 hours cleaning the garage over the weekend but the garbage cart is only half full. Obviously, I did not throw out enough crap. I could get out there and round up some more stuff, but I would just end up overfilling the cart and need more space. It is cold and rainy, so I am quitting while I'm ahead.

And the junk pile by the house? I think I'll take that to my brother's new house. Just to see if his new trash service is as good as his old service. If not, maybe he can cruise HIS street, checking HIS neighbor's dumpsters. I sure hope he enjoys the walk.

It's Raining, It's Boring...

Yesterday it did not rain. But it was wet and cold, so we played inside and ran errands. WE should have bundled up and gone for a walk. Because, of the three days of NO RAIN that were promised - we only got ONE. Today? Rainy with a 100% chance of watching too much TV.

No good ideas for another rainy day, so The Boss Lady is getting a sneak attack at lunch time. The AtHomeTrio is planning on storming her office and raiding the secretary's secret candy stash. That'll be a great lunch for me and the boy. Guess I should be nice and take The Boss Lady something for lunch, though. She might be tired of eating chocolate.

Until then, we are off to watch Nick Jr. for the next 5 hours...