The Adventures of a Stay-at-Home Dad of 5
Cooking for your baby is an entirely new challenge. As your little one learns to experience flavors and textures of new foods for the first time, it is also important that these foods are nutritionally balanced and good for your kid’s health. Here are some of the top homemade baby food recipes that are both…
Part of my job as dad is to teach my kids to talk good with proper grammar. By my last sentence, you can already tell I'm not the most qualified at this position but some things are obvious to even me. My 2 year old has been notorious for starting sentences out with "me want." Me…
Four years ago on October 20, 2012 I was where I am many Saturdays in the fall, in The Swamp, watching the Florida Gators play football. We were playing South Carolina and it was an important conference game. The Gators were doing well. With about 3 minutes to go in the first half, I got…
I needed to go get my daughter's birth certificate today. She's about to turn 4 and somehow I hadn't needed it up until now. But now I did need it, so I figured I'd load up the crew and go get it. I would also get the two younger boys' birth certificates as well since…
Here is the latest episode from our playground. I actually filmed it the same day as episode 5 in case you are wondering why we are all wearing the same clothes. It's hard to have a serious conversation with these 4 crazy kids. And there is something about a camera that makes kids lose their…
I've never been a morning person. Ever. Everyday as a kid getting up for school was such a battle. I can remember dragging myself downstairs to the kitchen table and falling back asleep waiting for my mom or dad to get me a bowl of cereal or a pop tart or whatever I was eating…
My four year old goes to Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) 3 days a week for 5 hours. It's a program our state pays for to get kids ready for Kindergarten. Or in my case, give me 5 hours of a break 3 days a week. The school he goes to is very close and only takes…
As the days are counting down until our fifth baby is due I realized I needed to get my bag ready, the bag that I'll take with me to the hospital when my wife goes into labor. It's well documented what you need to take for mom and the baby but dad is often overlooked…
Kids don't come with a handbook and much of parenting is on the job training. Thankfully for all of you, I have learned a thing or two about being a great parent. As I prepare to become a dad for the 5th time I've decided I should share some of my pearls of wisdom with…
I like to think of myself as still being youthful. In my mind I don't feel like I should be any older than about 25 or so, but my body is beginning to tell me on a more regular basis that I'm starting to age a little bit more than I want to admit. I'm…
This is a post I wasn't sure I'd ever write. I wasn't sure I even wanted to write it. But with October being SIDS, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month I decided now seemed appropriate to write this post. We currently have 4 children and my wife is pregnant now. This is her 6th pregnancy.…
I have no idea who coined the term "sleep like a baby," obviously it was someone who never had a baby. Many babies have a very difficult time sleeping for extended periods of time, especially through the night. "Sleep like a teenager" is probably a significantly better term. I've seen teens go to bed at…
My 2 year old daughter has been pulling the time honored tradition of trying to delay eating certain foods at dinner time by claiming she has to go to the bathroom. We have gotten wise to her games and usually remember to make sure she goes right before dinner so when she asks again in 10 minutes…
35 years ago today a woman went into labor at 11pm at night. By 6 am she and her husband had made their way to the hospital. After several hours, at 2:15pm on June 9, 1980 a baby boy was born to this young couple. On that day their whole world changed. The woman gave…
It's always been interesting to me how different my kids are. They each have the same biological parents and have each been raised together but they are all just as unique as they can be. As I got to thinking about it the other day I realized they were each like a point on a…
Here are a 6 practical, no frills pointers to help out any new and soon-to-be parents. Photo Storage System In about a weeks time you are going to have taken more pictures of your new baby than all the other pictures in your life combined. You will need to figure out a good way to store…
Here are a few practical, no frills pointers to help out any new and soon-to-be parents. Photo Storage System In about a weeks time you are going to have taken more pictures of your new baby than all the other pictures in your life combined. You will need to figure out a good way to…
Rules apply differently to toddlers, as anyone with a toddler can attest. They regularly say and do the most unexpected and socially unacceptable things. Often it's humorous and innocent since they are just beginning to develop their understanding of the world. As it turns out, they can get away with things that an adult simply…
Every year when I was younger, my dad would let me miss a week of school and take me on a hunting/camping/fishing trip in the panhandle of Florida on the Apalachicola River. It is an area that almost seems to take you back in time, back before we paved everything and put up buildings. A…
With the Super Bowl just around the corner I decided to think back about all those lessons I learned playing football as a kid and see how they apply to fatherhood. Audible Sometimes what you originally had planned just isn't going to work out. Thought you were going to take your kids to the zoo…
I'm am the undefeated, 365-time reigning LRF Champion. I know the L iving R oom F loor wrestling league isn't as popular as the WWE, but in our house it's huge! The kids come from all corners of the house to take on the champ. They try to sneak attack, they try to double team,…
Parenting is exhausting, hard work. Take every advantage you can and regain your sanity with these tips.
Growing up, nearly everyday after school my father would take me out to the back porch and proceed to beat me. He got so good at it, sometimes he would take a paddle in each hand and alternate one after another. I lost count of how many times he beat me. I was powerless to…
Wednesdays are early release days from school. Often when my oldest is getting home from kindergarten on Wednesdays at least one of the other 3 kids is still napping. The bus stop is just far enough away I don't feel comfortable letting him walk home by himself yet and I feel awkward leaving a sleeping…
Have you ever lied about your age? As a kid and teenager I was always trying to look and act older. My best friend and I would regularly tell girls we would meet that we were a year or two older than we actually were. In turn we expected that girls were doing that to…
Dear Dad to-be, Congrats! Your life will never be the same. For better or worse, the birth of your first child is an event that will forever change you. So much of becoming a new parent focuses on moms. There is good reason, moms do all of the hard work for the first 9 months,…
Silence is Golden Trouble. Watching a movie and watching kids are two totally different beasts. Silence really is desirable in a movie theater. I don't want my house to be a screaming chaotic train wreck for 18 hours a day but when the whole house is pin-drop quiet I get uneasy. Allow me to back…
There comes a moment in every child's life when they finally figure out how to move around. Gone are the days when you could place your child in the middle of the living room with a few toys and go to the bathroom knowing that when you returned they would still be right in the…
When did birthing a child make you an expert on all things? We used to have the notion that father knows best but the media and women's liberation groups have seen to it that we no longer go around saying that. Now the catchy phrase is "mom always knows best." I saw the above flier…
Today I was letting my 3 year old watch some TV so I could pick up around the house a little without him getting in the way. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to let him know I loved him. So I walked over to where he was on the couch and said: "Greyson,…