I Love That Dirty Water

In a couple of days, Helen, Kailyn and I will be heading to Boston to visit family. This will be the first chance for many of my relatives to meet our little peanut, who's not so little anymore :)

And while Baby K has already been on a long flight before (to Hawaii) and done splendidly, I am still a tad nervous that this flight will be rougher, since she's a little bit older, more aware of her surroundings and may be less inclined to just eat, sleep and poop (which is all she did on the Hawaii flight.)

Thankfully she's not mobile yet so hopefully she (and we) will be OK, but I am still terrified of being those parents who have a screaming kid on a plane.

I wrote about airplane flights and kids once before here, and apparently a real airline must be fans of my blog because they're doing something somewhat close to my idea, albeit only in first class.

Jasmine's New Home

It's official: our cat Jasmine has moved to another home. Surprisingly, I've got mixed emotions about it.

I didn't care for her at first, and HATED having itchy eyes and cat hair all over my clothes when she moved in, but have to admit I ended up liking her in the end because she is a pretty good kitty.

Ultimately though, we decided a house with a cat and a baby is a recipe for potential disaster and my mom, Helen's mom and I were all worried for Kailyn's safety. There was always the possibility that Jazzers could attack, like that tiger that mauled Sigfried. Or was it Roy?



Truth be told, a move out of our house is probably the safest thing for Jasmine moreso than the baby. Why? Because Kailyn has really taken a liking to the feline and since the baby is curious about everything these days, she's been grabbing Jazzer's tail. As the baby grows, starts crawling and gets a stronger grip the cat will be in more and more danger.

While Helen is really sad to see Jasmine go, the move benefits a lot of people - Helen's brother who now will not be as lonely (he lives solo), my mom, Helen's mom and me who will now sleep easier at night and Jasmine herself who will now get to lounge and sleep in peace without a mischievous baby coming up to her and grabbing, laughing or crying in her ears.

Personally, I'm looking forward to having clean breathing air (I'm kind of allergic, I think), not worrying about looking like I have feline back hair if I lay my black t-shirt on the bed or having to clean a stinky litter box anymore.

As a friend of mine said, 'Wow, that's a major coup to get a woman to agree to give up her cat.' And while I'd love to take all the credit, the reality is that Helen wouldn't have signed off on this if she didn't also know deep down this was the best move. For everyone.

Like a Velociraptor

Putting Kailyn to bed has recently become more difficult. We had her sleep trained a few months ago but then she started teething and we didn't want to neglect her, so we ended up attending to and carrying her, which led to some bad habits after she felt better.

It used to be really easy - in the past all it'd take was three songs and Baby K would be lights out. Then we could put her into the crib and she'd sleep for 12 hours straight. Not anymore. Tonight, when I tried the old triumvirate of songs (they are always the same, and always in the same order) she was still screaming loudly and showing no signs of getting sleepy. In fact, she'd worked herself into an inconsolable state. But since Helen and I decided to re-train her, we let her cry it out. 50 minutes later she was asleep, but not after we felt like the worst parents in the world and terribly guilty. Helen said, 'I hope she doesn't hate us in the morning.'

As a friend told me, 'Just when you think you've the parenting thing down, things change and you're scrambling to figure everything out once again.' I think that is so true. It's like those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the Velociraptor: they learned and adapted very quickly. In a way, Kailyn is like that - once we find something that works for her, she decides she doesn't like it anymore, and we need to find new (or old) ways to keep her happy. And us sane.

I'm not sure if that analogy really works, but it seems to make sense to me...

Plays Well with Others?

Because Kailyn is such a well behaved baby with us, it's easy for me to forget that's not the case with everyone else. Not that she's poorly behaved, she just acts a little differently.

For instance, this past weekend we hung out with a couple of other babies, and while I had visions of our daughter playing nicely with them and forming their own real-life Our Gang, she didn't exactly love the experience.





I found this to be interesting since she gets along great with just about everyone who has met her. Then I realized something - most of the people with whom she has interactions are adults. She's not used to hanging out with babies her own age yet, and I think it's thrown her off a little bit.



The good news is she just needs more exposure to little babies like herself, and I bet pretty soon she'll be just as smiley and charismatic as she is with us adults. In the meantime though, we'll just have some photos like these.

First Father's Day

It's my first father's day and I'm so happy. Who knew such a little person could bring such big joy to us adults? The highlight of my day is coming home from work, walking into the house and see her smile at me.

I hope I can be as good a dad as some others I know. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers we know and love, including fellow first time dad Jae, soon-to-be dads Greg and Jordan, old pros like Malik and Asaf and especially Kailyn's Grandpas, one of whom she'll meet in two weeks!

But Enough About Me...

What do you think about me? (j/k) I just realized many of the recent posts here were focused on the wrong person. So let's get back to the star of the show, Kailyn. Here are a few pix. Happy Friday!

Two Year Wedding Anniversary

Happy Second Anniversary to my beautiful wife, the mother of our baby and my best friend. Has it already been two years since this magical day in Hawaii? I guess time flies when you're madly in love. And changing hundreds of diapers.

A Dilemma 'Bruin'

In a couple of days, Helen and I will celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We've got a friend babysitting for Kailyn, and are planning on going out to a nice dinner. There's only one slight problem: For the first time in 39 years, the Boston Bruins have a chance to win the Stanley Cup, and guess which night the final game will be?

In all likelihood, I'll DVR the game, try like Hell not to find out the score then watch in 'real time' later. The rationale being that I'd rather be mad at myself for missing an exciting game live for a few days than have my wife be mad at me forever for messing up our anniversary.

Of course, a similar dilemma will arise later this year, when I have Terrace Club (read: swanky) seats to see the Red Sox take on the Mariners at Safeco Field. On Helen's birthday. Should I go? It's an afternoon game, so I'll be home in time to take her to dinner :)



UPDATE: We went to dinner, I basically turned off my phone and when we came home I watched the game 'as live' and got to see the Bruins win the Stanley Cup. All in all it was a great day!

Six Months!

Is it possible our little bundle of joy is already six months old today? Wowzers. Time really flies by. Happy half-birthday, Baby Girl!

What's the Deal with Five-Year Plans?

Just got a text from a friend complaining that his girlfriend wanted to lay out a five-year plan for them. While on the one hand I understand his frustration since I barely know what I'll be eating for dinner tonight, let alone where or what I'll be in five years, I also see things from his girlfriend's point of view now that I'm married and have a baby.

First off, I think things are a little accelerated for them since they're not in their 20's anymore, and perhaps my friend doesn't like where this is headed since he is, shall we say, in 'life transition.'

But I realize this is just some peoples' way of processing info, not wanting to waste time looking into the future with the person they're with (esp if they learn s/he has no ambition) and hoping for a better sense of where they stand with their significant other before they go too far down a path with that person.

However, I see how those who are anti-five-year plan see this: it's unrealistic, unnecessary to think that far down the line and sometimes does more damage than good to a relationship that's sailing along smoothly.

I guess it depends on how you view the plan: as a guideline, or a bunch of decisions set in stone.

Lifelong Sports Grand Slam

In the grand scheme of life, this falls relatively low on the priority list behind things like my family's health, us having basics like food, clothing and shelter and Kailyn becoming President. However if I may be a little greedy,...

I would LOVE to see the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup, since not only would it end a drought for the team that goes back to the year I was born (1972) but it would also be the last piece of a lifelong sports grand slam.

What is that, you may ask? Well, it refers to the four Boston sports teams I grew up watching: The Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and Bruins. In my lifetime. three of those four teams have won their respective championships and I've been able to witness them all (on TV.) Ask Helen - I'm sure she remembers the many nights when I ignored her and texted furiously to my pals on the East Coast while watching the game and cheering wildly when something good happened. On second thought, don't ask her.

I know it's somewhat bad form to wish for these kinds of things because it makes me look like I'm a sports junkie who doesn't have his priorities straight, being a new dad and all. I also know from living in Seattle that major championships in any sport are hard to come by. Heck, even quasi-mediocre teams are not always a given (Mariners) and that's assuming you're lucky enough to have a pro sports team that doesn't leave (Sonics.)

So as I hope for my hockey team to complete the Boston championship quartet, I realize how fortunate I am to have been born in a city where the sports teams rock.



UPDATE: Bruins won the cup! Grand Slam is complete!

The Man Cave

At the request of a certain needy co-worker who shall remain nameless (Jordan), I have decided to tell y'all a little bit about my place of work. It's a university that teaches natural medicine, acupuncture and nutrition. One might call it new age-y or touchy-feely That's cool with me, because as a result of the concentrations offered, the student body is 80% women. I guess chicks dig healing.

But surprisingly, the department in which I work is made up primarily of men, a rarity for a profession that is historically populated by women (marketing/pr) at a school that skews very female. We stick out like sore thumbs, especially when we walk down the halls together. It's sort of reminds me of this scene from 'Reservoir Dogs.' Minus the coolness.



Not that I'm complaining: There are (soon to be) five guys in a department of seven people - three of us work in the same office and we often joke that we represent about 17% of all the males on campus. We have dubbed our area 'The Man Cave.'

While it is probably somewhat messier and smellier than other offices on campus (since we're guys), I have to believe we also have a lot more fun than many other offices because we do things like post memorable quotes on our dry erase board, force each other to do push-ups and threaten to punch each other in the face almost daily. It's basically like we're the ones in college.

I suppose with that description, some might imagine a day in the Man Cave like this:



But if you think that, you'd be so wrong - none of us wear American flag Zubaz pants.

Oh, and contrary to the belief of one of my friends, we do NOT get paid in hugs, and the school does not go into emergency shut-down mode if we run out of eucalyptus oil...

Laughy McLaugherson

Kailyn likes to smile and laugh. I guess I would too, if I slept 15 hours a day and my day consisted of eating, sleeping, pooping and playing.

By the way, I've decided that there is nothing sweeter than the sound of a baby's laugh. It will make you happy for the rest of the day. Here's an example:

Being a Father and Husband

I'm not going to lie to you - being a spouse and parent at the same time is really hard. It's no wonder that a large percentage of new parents find their relationship with their spouse suffers when the baby comes along.

I think Helen and I are both self-aware enough to know this has happened a bit to us and that it is the classic case of too much to do and not enough time or energy to do it.

Taking care of Kailyn has been a pleasure, but it is also a heckuva lot of work. For Helen more than me since she is currently staying at home with the baby all day.

So recently, we decided to focus on our relationship with each other and do some introspection. We discovered that, like many couples, the root of our problems stem from one side feeling like the other side is not doing enough, and only seeing how much work we are doing on our end.

As someone pointed out to me, "There's not really a winner in the 'who does more' argument because both of you are truly doing more than you ever have before."

Ultimately we decided that communication and appreciation are key and that it's important to stay positive with each other. OK, the therapy session is over.

Parents, did you suffer a little marital strain when your babies were born? How long did it last, and how did you get over the hump?

You Spin Me Right Round

Now that we're sleeping in another room away from Kailyn, we are getting some quality zzz's and feeling much more refreshed. When we check on her, we never know in what position she will be. Since she's really squirmy now, we've found her lying horizontally to the side rails in the shape of an 'H', looking something like this:


(FYI- we're not swaddling her at bedtime anymore- this was just a funny photo we took of her. As you can see, she was kind of into it.)

Other mornings, we'll come in and find she's done a 180 degree turn and her feet are where her head was when we put her down! I can only imagine that in the middle of the night, Kailyn is spinning around in her crib like Homer-as-Curly from 'The Three Stooges.'