We Love Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful father of my kiddos. Kate and Claire are so lucky to have such an awesome daddy!

Salon Sistahs

Both my girls paid a visit to the salon this evening. Claire, as I mentioned in her 15 month milestones, was much in need of her first haircut, and since tonight was the Valentine's daddy-daughter dance at the Williamson County Rec Center, I thought Kate would enjoy a fancy hairdo as well.

We go to a fun kids' salon called Divas and Dudes, where even ordinary haircuts are accompanied by a special braid, glittery hairspray, and a lollipop, so of course they make a big deal of first haircuts. As we crossed the parking lot and I pointed out the sign, Kate and I had the following conversation:

Kate: "Am I a diva or a dude?"
Me: "You're a dude."
Kate: "What's a dude?"
Me: "A really cool person."
Kate: "Oh!"

I'm glad she didn't ask me what a diva was, since I'm not sure what I would say. I have a complicated relationship with the sparkly pinkification of girlhood these days. (The aforementioned dance was actually called the "Daddy's Lil' Princess Ball," I believe, a fact we made little of.) It's complicated because I enjoy the hairbows and tea parties and other girly stuff (I desperately wanted daughters, after all!) but I don't like this commercialized obsession with princesses and miniature pop stars and pink everything.

Back to the point, though... Kate had a lovely time at our family salon appointment.
Claire. Did. Not.

She's been even more attached than usual lately, and seemed to be having some teething discomfort today. I rarely use the term "hot mess," but that was kind of Claire today. She wanted to comfort-nurse practically every half hour, and had a screaming, snotty fit if I did not oblige immediately.

So as soon as she realized this haircutting procedure could not be done while attached to Mommy, she wanted no part of it. (In retrospect, I should have suggested holding her on my lap while getting the cut, but I didn't think of that. Kate had zero trouble at her own first haircut, so I was really not expecting this. Though I should have, knowing them both.) Matt likes to tell the story of how he wailed so uncontrollably during his first haircut, his mom went into labor, and that's how his brother got here.

Claire was fine once back in my arms, of course, and she got her little tiara and special "first haircut" certificate with lock of hair. Her lock of hair looks as dark as mine, though I generally think of her hair as a bit more like golden-straw. Our family of brunettes gets progressively lighter, the younger we go.

And then there's Kate, who through all the trauma her sister was experiencing in the chair opposite her was quiet and compliant as the hairdresser gave her french braids on the sides, joining in a bun in the back.

With her cute little hairdo, I thought she looked a little like Marta or Gretl from The Sound of Music.

So as to avoid Kate falling asleep in the car during an afternoon car ride (and thus, messing up the hair) we decided to make our salon trip right before the dance. So Daddy in his lavender shirt and purple tie, and Kate in her raspberry dress and raspberry tights, headed off to the dance and Claire and I headed home for... more compulsive nursing.

Matt is such a great dad, and I love how he loves his girls and cherishes time with them. I remember sitting in the pediatrician's office with him when Kate was just a teeny infant, and I saw an ad for a daddy-daughter tea party or some such thing in a local magazine in the waiting room. I pointed it out to him, not sure if he would be into something like that or not. "Oh, hell yeah," he said. He couldn't wait to do stuff like that with his sweet daughter, and that baby—now such a big girl, it seems—absolutely has him wrapped around her little finger. Both these girls are so lucky to have such a devoted daddy.

Oh, and by the way, all the girls at the dance got a little tiara, so this post might also be called, "How an Anti-Princess Mom Allowed Both Daughters to Get Tiaras in One Evening."

via Matt's Facebook, at the dance

Jesus Loves Me So

Not much to report in our house this week. Just the sickies. I started having chills and a sore throat on Saturday, by that night, Matt had joined me, and then Sunday morning, Kate started throwing up. Fortunately, Claire has remained above the fray (must be all that immune-boosting breastmilk that she's been guzzling on an hourly basis!)

Since Kate was feeling better yesterday but we still had to keep her home from school (24 hours after last symptom) I took advantage of the time to take her for a much-needed Mommy-Daughter date, just the two of us. We played at The Monkey's Treehouse (an indoor play place) and didn't talk about Baby Sister or how she likes being a Big Sister or anything like that. Just good, undivided Mommy attention.

Since we finally uploaded all the videos from our Flip cam (have you noticed I've been sharing more videos lately, after a very long hiatus?) here's this fun one from the week before Claire's birth. Kate and Daddy playing "'tars" and singing Kate's rockin' version of "Jesus Loves Me."



I think my favorite moment comes at the very end, when I ask, "is the song over, Kate?" and she just looks up and says, "huh?" Musician's ADD, I guess.

Phases

Kate is now asleep. After protesting my final goodnight with some mild bellowing and a headlock. After begging for "one more book" several times. After insisting on putting on big girl panties over her nighttime pull-up, and getting nasty with me when I tried to help. After literally running circles around me to avoid letting me unbutton her shirt. And I didn't even try to brush her teeth tonight.

Toddlerhood brings some tough moments, and bedtime is usually one of them. Where, oh where, is my super-sleeper baby, who slept through the night at two months, went down with no trouble at all, and made us the envy of family and friends?

Long gone. But she could come back. Who knows?

If there's one thing parenthood will teach you, it's that everything is a phase. You may take this for granted the first year or two, especially with an easy baby who makes it easy to assume she's just naturally good-natured and you've got this parenting thing down. But nothing lasts forever. Good or bad.

We like the song by Darius Rucker (AKA Hootie of Blowfish fame, turned country singer), It Won't Be Like This for Long, which describes a father's experiences through phases of his daughter's growing up, good (it won't be like this for long, so cherish it) and bad (it won't be like this for long, so hang in there). There are days I just have to take a deep breath and sing it to myself, sometimes from the upside and sometimes the downside.

Battling to get her in her carseat? It won't last long.
Spitting and licking for fun? It won't last long.
Sleeping on the floor every night, rather than in her bed? It won't last long.
Having conniptions over completely random little things? It won't last long.
Refusal to brush her teeth? It won't last long (I hope).

Sweet girl saying, "I wanna hold you, Mommy!"? That won't last long, either. 


Everything's a phase. Survive it. Cherish it. It won't be like this for long.

Hurricane Kate

Matt just sent me this pic from another wild and crazy Daddy Daughter Day. I see that my own brush and comb, and a pair of my shoes, were sucked into the storm somehow. I love that she's just chilling with a Cookie Monster puzzle piece in the middle of the wreckage. Peace in the eye of the storm.

Santa's Little Helpers

The other night, Matt and I assembled Kate's play kitchen that she's getting for Christmas. It took the two of us two hours to get it together, but it was really a good experience (as far as complex toy assemblies go) and kind of a parental rite of passage! (Matt at first thought we should do it Christmas night for the "full experience," but we're glad we got it done the other night and stashed it in the guest room until after bedtime tonight.)

 It came in about 37 pieces, with a hundred screws and things, but I have never seen such well-packaged supplies and instructions! Usually all those screws would just be in a bag all jumbled together!

 It was really pretty easy, overall, and we were so impressed with how solid and strurdy this thing is!

Last step: putting the cabinet latches on! (Last step, at least, before we realized that the very first thing we did was backwards--the bottom piece, that light-colored groove you see, should be toward the back. We were able to just take that off and put it back on correctly without too much trouble, though--thank goodness!)

 All done! We're so excited for Kate to see it!!

Counting like The Count

Due to Elmo and Abby's commercial success, some of the more old-school Sesame Street characters don't get as much attention as they used to. Fortunately, Daddy is a great impressionist and brings characters like Cookie Monster and The Count to life in our house every day!

In fact, Kate is learning to count like The Count as well.
Check it out...

Project Life (Aug. 23-29)

Project Life is a photography project challenging you to take a photo a day that captures something special about your life at this time, be it a special event or just an ordinary sweet moment. I heard about from Jessica Turner, and you can see more Project Life participants over at her blog, The Mom Creative.

Monday 8/23: Jessica Turner also does some scrapbook classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I participated in a live chat on that site with her Monday night, and then felt inspired to do some scrapping myself. I made this sweet page highlighting Kate and Daddy's special bond.

Tuesday 8/24: Kate has recently gotten very interested in the music box her Uncle Andrew and Aunt Alexis gave her before she was born. She wants us to wind it up several times each evening, and sometimes when we're playing in her room, she will point at it and say "uh oh!" as in "uh oh, it's not playing right now. Fix it, Mommy!"

Wednesday 8/25: We got our first order from Soap.com tonight, a partner site to my beloved Diapers.com. They have just about any toiletry or cleaning item you might want, with similar fast service and free shipping on orders over $49. They are offering 15% of diapers for the rest of the year if you place a Soap.com order of over $25, so I stocked up on shampoo, paper towels, etc. Like the whole Old Navy/Gap family of stores, you can place one order for items from both Diapers.com and Soap.com.

Thursday 8/26: Kate is going through a phase where she doesn't want to sit in her eat-seat at meals. Just a few minutes into the meal, she'll say she's "all done" and want to get out. Then, she'll sit on our laps and pick from our plates or her own. I started to wonder if making her feel like a big girl by removing the tray and letting her eat from the table would help. She thought it was pretty cool this first time, but the jury's still out as to whether it's a real solution!

Friday 8/27: Matt, Kate, and I spent the night at Matt's parents' house in Brentwood since I had to get up early on Saturday morning, and I wouldn't have to get up quite as early if I started the day in Brentwood rather than Clarksville. Matt and Kate enjoyed playing the piano together at Granna and Opa's house.

Saturday 8/28: The reason I was getting up early was to head out to Lebanon, Tenn., to take photos of my friend Maria compete in her first triathlon. Kate and I had a lot of fun watching Maria swim, bike, and run, and taking a bunch of pics (with my camera but on Maria's memory card). I took a few shots on my memory card, so here is a glimpse of the day--Maria getting ready to compete, and Kate enjoying watching all the swimmers get ready to start the event.

Sunday 8/29: Kate threw up her breakfast (a few times) so she and I stayed home from church. We got out an animal puzzle that we'd never tried before, and Kate did pretty well with it. I was wondering, since the puzzle didn't feature common animals like cats and dogs, but a kangaroo, an octopus, and a vulture, among other things. She took a couple really long naps to recooperate (from the stomach bug, not the puzzle!)

 

Burning the Book

A few weeks after Matt and I got married, I bought a book called Don't You Dare Get Married Until You Read This! The Book of Questions for Couples. Okay, so I was a little late, but I love get-to-know-you type questions, so I thought it would be a great book of conversation starters. I took it along on our next camping trip, thinking it would be great for late-night, mosquito-ridden chats around the campfire.

After hiking down into the valley, lugging our backpacks and a bundle of firewood, we set up the tent and got to work building the fire before dark fell. The store-bought firewood was a must, since it had rained recently and things were pretty damp. Matt arranged the wood and tried to light it. And tried. And tried. And tried. Even with the theoretically-dry bundle, the fire pit and kindling were so damp that nothing would light. Darkness indeed fell, and Matt was growing frustrated.

I was standing by with my new book, waiting for the fire to light so we could enjoy our romantic relationship-growth exercises. I reluctantly offered him the title page and end sheets as dry kindling. That seemed to work... for a moment. Inspired by the flicker of hope those pages offered, I tore out the contents page and preface too. Hmm... Maybe just a little more would do the trick.

I ripped out the pages we'd already talked about in the car... and then a few more. The logs seemed to catch for a moment and then extinguished. More... more... Signature by signature, I ripped out every page in that book.

But still, no fire... and no fireside chats.

Over three years later, here we are. We haven't been camping in ages. (That one may have been our last, actually.) Even without the help of a "book of questions," we have plenty of wonderful, deep conversations. We are partners, lovers, parents... doing marriage and parenthood not quite by the book.

I put on my dressy clothes and go off to the office every morning. Matt sees me off with a kiss and a travel mug. I sit at a desk for eight hours. He runs errands, visits the sick and elderly, and does research for his sermon. I drop Kate off at day care three days a week. He cares for her all day at home the other two. I drag my briefcase through the door after an hour-long commute. Some days, he has dinner almost ready.

I really didn't plan to be a career-woman with my husband a work-at-home-dad. We've just grown into our roles naturally because they are what works for our family. We've burned the book of the 9-to-5 Man and the stay-at-home Woman and are charting our own course.  I'm far from being "The Breadwinner" and he's far from being "A Househusband" (we don't play by that book, either) but we are writing our own book, chapter by chapter.

On Father's Day yesterday, I celebrated my husband for the awesome father that he is. I am blown away by what a wonderful daddy he is to Kate. He is head-over-heels in love with her, and it shows in every silly face made, every sippy cup filled, every diaper changed, every eye-gouge and hair-pull pleasantly tolerated. I also celebrated him for the amazing husband he is to me, loving me even when I'm difficult, and supporting me as I pursue a career I enjoy.

Matt jokes about putting on a fedora and heading off to the office, and I get a huge kick out of "playing housewife" on Saturdays, going grocery shopping and doing laundry. Our roles may not always be traditional, but we have a great life together, and I am so thankful for my sweet, funny, dinner-making, ever-loving, book-burning hubby.

Happy Father's Day, Sweetie!

Wordless Wednesday -- Guitar Girl

Wordless Wednesday -- Playground Fun

 

Wordless Wednesday -- Belly

Wordless Wednesday -- Tissue Box Bongos

Birthday Babe

29 years ago today, this little guy was born!

28 or so years later, he helped produce this little gal!

(They look a lot alike, don't you think?)


And they all lived happily ever after in a magical land filled with pacis and puffs.
Happy birthday, sweetie!

Stolen Glimpse

They didn't know I was watching, but I caught this moment and it made me smile. Daddy walks Daughter over to the tree, under the low-hanging branches. He lets her touch and pull the leaves. He tells her about the tree and the animals that live in our backyard. She is in awe.

What an awesome daddy.

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy and Me

We love you, Daddy!

Hi there, Daddy--it's me, Kate! Mommy had me away from you for almost a whole week, and I know you missed us terribly. We missed you too, but had a lot of fun on our woodsy cabin vacation. (Mommy will post some pictures from our trip soon.) You'll join us next year, I'm sure!

Mommy got me up really early (ok, ok, I admit--I got her up even before the alarm) to drive back to Clarksville in time for church this morning so we could spend our first Father's Day together. I hope you enjoyed my singing (er, screaming) throughout your lunch at Outback, and that you liked the gift I picked out for you! I love you very much, and want to share a few things that I have really enjoyed about our father-daughter relationship these last twenty weeks.

• you do a mean beat box. I love dancing at "Club Daddy"! (Remember when Mommy tried to do it and I spit up in her mouth? That was awesome!
• you are so sweet to threaten to shoot any boy that tries to date me a decade and a half from now. That really is an urgent threat that Mommy thinks you are totally reasonable for worrying about.
• i like when you take me up in front of the church so that people will listen to your sermon instead of (while) looking at how cute I am.
• Mommy and I love when you cry at songs like "Cinderella" and "I Saw God Today," thinking about how much you love me. You make jokes like you're embarrassed of such displays of emotion, but it is really so sweet.
• you have been so selfless to take care of me these last eight weeks between when Mommy went back to work and when my day care opens. You sacrifice your productivity and control of your day in order to care for me. And Mommy loves it when you send her photo texts at work to show her what we do all day. You are so sweet.

Thanks for everything you do, Daddy! I love you very much. Happy Father's Day!!