First Christmas!

Our daughter's first Christmas was quite eventful. Although she will not remember her first Christmas we have pictures of her throughout the day for her when she gets older.

I was unfortunately at work the morning of her first Christmas, but joined the family after I got out of work later that afternoon.

My wife was with our daughter all day and they went to three different houses to celebrate. Having to tug around the heavy car seat was not my wife's favorite thing to do this day. She often complains about it being too heavy and tends to just let me carry it when we are together lol (she gives me that look of: "I hope you don't expect me to carry that!").

Their day started at my wife's brother's house, dropping off gifts to his two kids and visiting with him, her niece and nephew and sister-in-law. The next house was my aunt and uncle's house for a Christmas brunch. They enjoyed the company of family and was even surprised with gifts, I was even given a gift. Our daughter took cat naps through out their time there, she could not sleep for long periods of time because she wanted to know everything that was going on. When I finally got off work my wife came and picked me up and we went back to my aunt and uncle's to continue spending the day with them. We (umm mainly ME) helped them clean up after everyone left and watched some TV.

Our daughter was so fascinated with the Christmas tree there, she could not take her eyes off of the tree, at times she would try and reach to grab it.

I'm sorry to say we did not have a tree up this year...I know, I know, I know, we should've had a tree, taken pics and all that. We figured we would be spending Christmas at other's homes who would have a tree, so why put one up? Plus she wouldn't remember it anyway...Mainly my wife and I worked so much this month that getting a tree kind of slipped our minds (I know! bad right?! Next year there will be a tree!).

Our next and final stop was at my mother's house. Everyone exchanged gifts and our daughter got some really cute outfits! She saw many of her cousins, aunts, uncle's and grandma. By the time we finally got home around 9:00 pm she was beat and ready to go to bed, but not before opening the gifts my wife had saved for her to open when all three of us were together.

Now as a baby they have no clue as to how to open up any gifts. At this stage in her life everything ends up in her mouth, and the wrapping paper was one of them. My wife ripped a little of the wrapping of the gifts off for her and tried having her grabbing it and just pulling some off, but NOPE, that was not happening. Our little momma had other plans...to eat the wrapping lol. She hit the boxes a few times, then leaned forward and started gumming the wrapping on the boxes...so cute! lol. After doing this we figured it was probably a good idea to NOT have her open any gifts lol. It was cutest thing ever and luckily our cameras were clicking!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well!! 

Sleepness Nights...No more!

So our daughter has done something soooo wonderful, something soooo amazing. When we tell people the first things out of their mouths are: "you're so blessed" or "that is really great!".

Our daughter has learned to sleep through the night since she was about 2-3 months. My wife had to return to work 8 weeks after our daughter was born and she had that looming feeling that all mothers have: "What am I going to do?! If she doesn't sleep through the night I'm going to go to work soooooo tiiireeeddd!!!!"

Well she recieved some good advice from her sister and sister-in-law: "Start her early on a sleep routine, the earlier the better." My wife thought that was a great idea, BUT with our daughter being so young she would of course wake up in the middle of the night to eat, be changed, etc. She had a daunting feeling, but thought, ok, I'll try this out. She set a time for 7pm, this is the time we start getting her ready for bed; she gets her nightly bath, gets changed, fed and held and sometimes sung and read a story, until she falls asleep.

Now in the beginning it was easy getting her TO sleep, but KEEPING her asleep...that was another story. She would wake up every two hours for her feedings as normal. But the miraculous thing: as my wife kept up with routine our daughter got used to it. At 7pm, she would get her nightly bath, change of diaper and clothing into her night onsie, her bottle, and either held or placed on the bed on her side to fall asleep. Many times it took her a loooonnnggg while to fall asleep; sometimes 9, 10 or even 11pm, but when she did she would be out like a light!

Starting her on this routine worked out well, because when my wife finally returned to work, she didn't have the exhaustion as most mothers feel when their baby's wake up on the hour.

Although our daughter does not get up every hour she does wake up in the middle of the night, at least once during the night, to eat and be changed. But once she gets that bottle, and a diaper change, she goes right on back to bed.

We are truly blessed to have received that piece of advice from her siblings, because starting a sleep routine with her early on was AWESOME, a blessing. We still, from time to time, get sleepy during the day, because on some occassions she wakes up to eat, and be changed, and she'll stay up for a half hour or so before she goes back to sleep. My wife lays her in between us, sing her a few songs, rub her tummy until she falls asleep. Once she does, she gets placed right back into her own bed.

This may not work for every parent but it has worked for us. For some parents it may take your babies a bit more than 2-3 months to get used to a routine. We started her at one month and has not deviated from that routine since.

Bath Time!

I have to give my wife credit, there are so many things that she does for our daughter that requires lots of time and bath time is one of them.

At bath time she has to remember what types of moisture wash to use, shampoo, make sure it's all no tears wash, use the right wash clothe for her face and body (because our daughter has sensitive skin), get out her towel, hair brush, diaper, clothes, lotion, hair oil, man 'oh man!

I always thought bath time was simple; wash her up with a damp cloth a few times, take her out, wipe her dry, and put some clothes on her and VIOLA you're done. But nope there is a process, a process that I found out about when my wife asked me to give our daughter a bath one day when she did not have enough time to do so herself. She showed me everything I had to do and use but I have to admit I kind of just did my own thing...lol. I did follow MOST of her instructions, but her bath time with mommy is bath time with mommy, and bath time with daddy is bath time with daddy. With all the items needed I thought: man, this is going to be long and just too much. Every time my wife asks me to give our daughter a bath in the past my answer has always been: "you go on ahead, you do it so well." And she does, I mean she has it down to a science. She and our daughter enjoy bath time, it's their bonding time, who am I to intrude? lol.

Yes, yes I know what some of you may be thinking: "um, you need to help with bath time too." And I do, AFTER her clothes are put on I usually feed her, or hold her while the wife gets ready...isn't that help enough? lol (just joking). No, but I do help, and when my wife asked me to give her a bath I have to admit I was a bit flustered because I had NO CLUE as to what to do. I got out her bath seat, her little pink bucket, and got her ready to take her bath. With my wife standing watch I was able to give our daughter a bath (my way) without breaking a sweat. It wasn't as bad as I thought and our daughter LOVES bath time, which made it even better.

SN: So on one occassion that my lovely wife was giving our daughter a bath she noticed that our daughter was making her poopy face. For all parents out there you know what the poopy face is: the face your baby makes right before they poop. Well my wife saw this face and thought: "hey, let me try and give her a bath real quick before she even poops." Well that was a TERRIBLE idea, and that's exactly what I told her. Well she tried as quickly as she could, but as all parents know when your child is ready to go, they are ready to go! Well our daughter kept making the face and just as I was about to get out: "just hold her up over the toilet" I heard my wife say "Oooh nooo!!" I rush back into the bathroom and could not stop laughing; our daughter had pooped in the tub. She was smiling and having a grand old time, while my wife held her up, mid air. I took our daughter, wiped her clean as my wife cleaned up the mess in the tub. The scene was so much like a movie, that I could not stop, I laughed so much that our daughter followed suite and laughed right along with her daddy.

Word to the wise: When you see your baby's poop face, you may want to prepare yourself! lol





 The BEST soap to get babies to sleep at night!

First Shots

The much feared first shots...something that every mother hates, and every baby never really remembers. Once the doctor informed my wife that our daughter was to be set up for an appointment for her shots, her anxiety began. She hated needles and I knew she would not do well in the doctors office when our daughter got her shots.

My wife ensured that the appointment coincided with my work schedule, because she did not want to go to the appointment alone (you would think she were getting the shots...smh...lol). She ensured to remind me every other day "remember we have the appointment in a month," "remember we have the appointment in a few weeks," "remember we have the appointment in a few days." She kept reminding me as if I would forget lol.

The day of the appointment my wife kept saying to our daughter "don't worry, it won't hurt," more to reassure herself than our daughter. At the appointment everything went well, until shot time arrived. My wife became nervous and scared, as if she were getting the shots. As the nurse put on her gloves and readied to give the much anticipated immunizations my wife had to take a breathe.

Our daughter was a bit tired and was dozing in and out of sleep. She was kind of awake when the nurse administered the first shot. There was a pause then a cry of "whaaaaaaaaa!" then the crying quieted down. The second and third shots yielded the same results; a short cry, then quiet after being given her bottle. My daughter took those shots like a pro, my wife on the other hand...not so much

My wife was more afraid and reactive to the shots than our daughter, at one point the nurse stopped, looked at her and asked if she needed a minute before continuing. My wife took a deep breathe, said no, and braced herself for our daughters next shot. When it was over my wife breathed a sigh of relief, although our daughter was quietly sleeping and had most likely forgotten about what just occurred. Although we had to make another appointment for her next set of shots, I think the next time around my wife will fair better. She won't be as scared and anxious, and will be more prepared.

After leaving the doctor's office we went straight to Rite Aide to purchase children's Tylenol...our saving grace. Children's Tylenol helped so much! After our daughter woke up she cried a little because her legs were sore, and she started to feel a little bit warm, we gave her the Children's Tylenol and it worked like a charm, it helped her sleep and worked to soothe the pain.

One form of advice: When your children get their shots have the children's Tylenol available...ASAP, it will be your saving grace through the pain.


We survived one set of immunizations, hopefully the next time around my wife will take a page out of our daughters book and be as brave...

Our NEW Lives

Our lives are no longer ours, it now belongs to that beautiful 12lb baby of ours. She is now our world.

I remember in the past we used to get up early Saturday mornings to catch the early showing of a moving at Tinsel Town for $5. But now-a-days...no more. Before we can even think about leaving the house to go see a movie we have to call around, find a sitter, make sure that person can watch her for the allotted time...then and only then can we go.

Gone are the days of getting up whenever we want, sleeping in, being lazy. Nope! We wake up when she wakes up, and can only sleep in while she takes her morning naps.

Gone are the days of just getting up and leaving the house to go to the store whenever we want. Nope! Now we have to get her ready; make sure she has weather appropriate clothes on, get her in her car seat, get her in the car...then finally head to where we need to go.

Gone are the days of just hanging out with friends whenever we want, leaving and coming when we want. Nope! Now we must ensure that where we go is either child appropriate, or able to find someone that can watch our baby in order for us to go out.

Gone are the days of purchasing what we want; clothes, shoes, junk. Nope! Now our lives are diapers , wipes, formula (enfamil to be exact), watching disney junior (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is her favorite) , buying baby clothes...basically all things baby lol.

Although our lives are no longer ours I must say we would not have it any other way. We have just learned to do things differently. These days we spend more time with friends who have kids, or take our daughter on some outings or spend more time at home. We now watch more movies online, on netflix, blockbuster, or on demand. We have just learned to change things around.

I have to say although things are different for us, we love every moment of our new lives. Watching her grow up has been awesome, we would not have our lives any other way.

Amazement...

I know everyone feels this way but: We have the BEST daughter in the world! (lol).

She's just amazing, granted it hasn't all been roses and smiley faces, but honestly my daughter makes everything worth it.

At about 4 weeks she taught herself to turn over (we have video proof lol), at about 3 months she let the old "dada" slip out (although many people have been saying we may have heard wrong, but NOPE, she said it!). And now at 5 months she has gotten into the stage of discovering her hands and has almost discovered her feet.

Her hands are the most amazing things to her, many times she stares at them, not realizing she can very well open and close them. Once she gets tired of staring at them she puts them in her mouth and starts gnawing at her hands (as all babies do lol). She forgets these were the very same things that brought her such amazement not but a minute before. She has almost discovered her feet, when she sees them she's always so amazed, but then has not figured out how to grab on to her feet just yet.

She has gotten to the stage of smiling, laughing and recognizing her parents. It is amazing because when she see's my wife or I, her eyes and whole face lights up, each and every time, as if seeing us for the first time (kinda makes me feel special, like a rock star).

She has the cutest little dimples that makes a guys heart melt (yup she gets those from her daddy lol). She has yet to master recognizing her name, but we're getting there, soon enough she will, because again, she is amazing :-)

Ok, Ok, Ok, enough about my amazing daughter and back to our chronicle lol...

Parenthood Begins

After the birth of our daughter the real work began. For a few days we were in the hospital, it was great because the nurses came in and would take care of our daughter; showing us tips, helping with feeding, bathing her, etc. But once they gave her to us to take home...the real work began!

It was like being placed in a whole new world, waking up for late night feedings, the crying, everything. My fiance (well, now my wife) had a lot on her hands. Although I was there to help I have to admit it was a lot of work. She had to get up in the middle of the night, numerous times, to feed our daugher and change her. By the morning time she looked tired, a bit beat. But after a while we got into the swing of things. I returned back to work, while she stayed home with the baby.

Now don't let her tell it, but contrary to popular belife I  DID help out a lot (lol). In the beginning she only breast fed, so when our daughter would wake up in the middle of the night I would wake up my wife and hand the baby over. Granted many times I may have fallen asleep after giving her the baby, but hey, there was no more that I could do, she had the food (lol).

We both had to learn how to be parents quick. Now once you have a baby everyone under the sun has advice for you. Man it was; do this not that, make sure to use this formula, use these diapers, babies cry but try this. There was just so much to take in! I tell you, someone needs to write a book about this...wait...I think they do...between taking care of a baby and working reading a book was not about to happen (lol). I think the best advice we recieved was from a coworker of my wife's who told her: take it one day at a time, you'll learn along the way. And that is exactly what we do, taking it one day at a time. Everyday is a new adventure, a new day to learn something new about being a parent. Everyday is always new with a baby.

Although my wife spent the bulk of the 8 weeks she was out of work at home, she ensured to take home videos of her experienced with our daughter, making me feel like I was right there with them. It was great.

Being a parent has been an adenture that I am lucky enough to take...despite the crying, the throwing up, the poo'ing, the carrying of the heavy carseat (the bain of my wife's existance...lol), the constant worrying, I would not change being a parent for anything in the world.... And the story continues.

Post Birth!!!

Here I am, as nervous like a cheating wife knowing her husband knows, scared out my mind. There is no hiding from it now. The doctor passes me the scissors so I can cut the umbilical cord, I must say it was awesome cutting the cord, don't ask me why, it just was. There she lay just light as can be with a head full of hair, and crying. I'm just snapping as many photos as my phone will allow me to do. I'm thinking to myself I need to learn how to change diapers fast because I'm sure Caroline won't be changing them all by herself. They clean her up and hand her to me. I look cool, calm, and collected, but inside I am freaking out hoping I don't drop this gift from God. Trying to pass her so others can hold her was a nightmare, I mean she is precious cargo after all. But it was a success.

Now even though this is our first child, I have never heard of something called afterbirth. Let me tell you the afterbirth seems much more painful than the regular birth. For those men or women who don't know what that is, allow me to explain it: Afterbirth is where they remove the placenta from the stomach. Let me say my fiance was a trooper during birth but man oh man I can only imagine the pain that it causes. Caroline was nearly in tears and moaning and aching in pain. If you are squirmish then maybe you shouldn't read further. What happens is the doctor massages your stomach pressing down on it, moving their hands downward. So I am standing there watching this and while they are doing it all of this mucus and blood is gushing out and believe me it is a stomach turner. Then out comes this huge thing that I have NEVER seen, the placenta, it looked so disgusting a little piece actually came close to hitting me, luckily for me being in the fire dept you see a lot of crazy things, but this...coming from someone I know and love...was a bit of another story.

The whole experience was eye opening and educational. I loved being a part of this miracle called life. As a volunteer fire fighter you do many things, but being a part of a birting experience is awesome. My little girl, so small and precious, cute as a button. Still can't believe she is mine. It took a while to see those big beautiful brown eyes of her hers, but when she finally opened her eyes, man oh man, I melted.

My daughter, my life...

This is Just the Beginning!!!

Where did we leave off yesterday? Oh yeah, our daughter had just been born. Now its unfortunate that we couldn't take a video because of hospital protocols, like its our fault they screwed up and it was caught on camera lol, I'm sorry, let me not digress. So here I am in tears at the birth of our daughter, I mean actual tears of joy, I recommend that everyone should experience the birth of a child. The feeling you get is overwhelming, and it does not make you less of a man for crying, if anything it makes you more of a man

As I stood there I was amazed with what women actually have to do, I have a new found respect for them. Let me digress for a second, when you realize that a newborn baby just came out of your vagina it puts sex into perspective lol. Now back to what I was saying...oh yes, respect for women even more...I know as guys we have a high tolerance for pain however, I don't think giving birth is a pain we can handle. There was a reason God didn't give us that one to bare, lets be thankful for that guys.

Our daughter was born 6lbs 2oz, the crazy thing is she was born a month early. Luckily for us, rather for Caroline, because the doctor said if she would have carried the baby the full term she would have been somewhere in the range of 8 to 9lbs, I don't know how she would have been able to handle that! She had enough trouble carrying the weight she already had...lol. But God has a reason for everything. There I was looking at our little girl and saying to myself : I am really a father, I have someone's life in my hands, they are depending on me to know what I am doing, and to lead them in the right path. Is it that much different from the fire deptartment where I volunteer? I mean I am a lieutenant, I have guys under my command and their lives in my hands all the time. Surely if I can lead a bunch of guys, raising a daughter should be a cake walk...at least I hope.....

And the journey continues.....

The Arrival pt 2!!!!

Now I'm more than certain that women didn't have a choice back in the old times to get an epidural shot. They just stuck it out like real women and dealt with the pain. So at about 5pm Caroline gave into the peer pressure from her sorority sisters and family and got the shot, i must say she let me down some lol. Now I must say with this being our first birth i didn't know what to expect or everything i would see. The doctor came in and put what was kind of like a clear balloon inside Caroline and filled it with fluid, which when that came out of her would signify that she has dilated to 4 centimeters (more than certain this wasn't done back then lol.).

After she got the epidural we thought smooth sailing...she would become dialated soon and out the baby will come...but nope, not the case. After about an hour her pain returned and they had to give her another shot, because pressing the button to release more of the meds did not work. At about 7:00 many of her sorority sisters left and a few more arrived,  and I got hungry. The doctors came and measured and  said she was at about 6 and a half centimeters. He said it will probably take an hour for her to fully dilate. One of her close friends and I decided we would go into the cafeteria to get some food. We were there for about 5 or so minutes figuring out what we wanted, and as we headed back upstairs service returned to my phone and I saw the many calls from my fiance. We rushed back into the room and found that it was showtime!  Apparently as soon as we left the room, the doctors came back into the room to measure her again and she was 9 1/2 centimeters. She calmly told them that she would not push until I returned, they were just about to page me when I walked into the room (hey what can I say? i was hungry lol).

Three of her sorority sister's were in the room including myself. One held her hand helping her breath while I held the other, and the others stood back. It was now showtime our little girl was on her way!

We coached her through her breathing and pushing (surprisingly again there were no screams or punches as you see on TV. This girl was calm, I wonder if it was cause of the drugs lol, although they said it wore off so I guess good job to her lol).

One push, two push...come on baby you're almost there. At one point she got a bit tired and stated she wanted to sleep, but no, she was so close. Five push, six...almost there...we saw her head full of hair. Seven push, eight...her head was making it's way out. Finally the doctor's were able to grab and pull and our daughter was here!!! So many emotions ran through me, and yes I cried. I couldn't hold back the tears, our baby girl was here. We were both just so elated. I kissed my girl on her forehead as the doctors laid the baby on her chest. Her first words to our daughter: "awwww hi mama...ooh you need to get cleaned" lol (shaking my head lol).

Our daughter had finally arrived and we couldn't have been happier, our little 6lb 2 ounce baby. I cried more than my fiance (yes fellas I boo hoo'd) It was just a blessing and miracle to see this little girl that we had been preparing for had finally arrived.... And the journey continues.....

The Arrival!

So as I sat at my job trying to stay calm, I realized that my baby was on her way and here I am stuck at work. I needed to call someone to come in and cover my shift so I can go get my fiance and rush her to the hospital. I must say, watching television shows of guys fainting or freaking out made me think that is what would happen to me, but I found myself so relaxed, there was no speeding to get home... OK maybe a little more than i should have been doing.

Finally I arrive home, go upstairs and there is my fiance Caroline, giving birth. OK so she wasn't giving birth yet, she was on the toilet of all places to be in the house. Apparently her water was gushing and she didn't want to get it all over the floor. Talk about a thoughtful woman. Luckily for us we had already packed a bag a few months in advance so all she had to do was put on some pants and we could head to the hospital. I went into our room, grabbed some sweats and helped her in it. I also grabbed a garbage bag, so as to lay it on the seat for her. Although her water was still gushing we knew we had to get to the hospital.

We were both surprised at how calm she was, and wondered where the pains were. All you see in every movie is a pregnant woman being wheeled into the hospital yelling, and screaming because of the pain, yet with her, nothing. She was feeling no pain at this point, except a little bit of pressure. Once we were checked in she was induced and slowly began feeling the pains...every 20 or so minutes, but again, no yelling and screaming as we have seen on TV  Folks do not, I repeat DO NOT believe the garbage we see on TV  its all a lie. There was no yelling, or cussing me out, just a few "ooh's" and grabbing of her bed rail. The doctors checked her every 30 minutes or so seeing how far dilated she was, but according to them she was not far along. Finally one doctor commented "You may just have the baby tomorrow" She looked the doctor straight in the eye, smiled and stated "you better figure out a way, because I will NOT be pregnant tomorrow." We all laughed and they assured her they would do everything they could.

As our friends and family came to visit she was still not too far along. But the pain kept inching closer. Everyone commented how well she was doing, yup that was my girl, a trooper. She was taking the pain well, not crying out, just grabbing hold and shaking that rail with each piercing pain.

As time raged on I let Caroline know how proud of her I was that she did not give up, that she was holding on and not asking for the epidural, but at 5:30 she gave up...smh. She could no longer handle the pain, and asked for that hated epidural. Such a sellout, whatever happened to the natural births from back in the day.... And the journey continues....

4th of July night

Getting blessed with a child is amazing, but once that baby has passed through the birth canal, you realize its a new ball game and life will never be the same. These are the chronicles of my daughter throughout the days of her life.

Kids are so unpredictable, when they are ready to do something they just do it. Whether its pooping when you have taken the diaper off to change it from a wet one to a dry one, or not eating when they should, or going to sleep at night. They do things on their time, not ours. So when you're given a due date always take that as an estimation, not the date, because when your baby is ready to be born, they are ready no matter what that due date says.

My fiance and I thought we had time, a whole month worth of time, but our daughter had other plans. On the fourth of July I went to work as I usually do, leaving my very pregnant fiance at home. She was to join me at work to watch the fireworks before heading home, but because it was so very hot that day we both decided she would go home and relax in our much cooler apartment. After all of the hooplah of the fireworks I called my fiance to see how she was doing. We discussed the fireworks and all the preparations we have to make until the arrival of the baby. She reprimanded me working on yet another holiday...we spoke for about an hour when her water broke! Then started our journey...