Beach Trip

This weekend we (the wife, the daughter and yours truly) took a much needed trip down to the beach house. First and foremost, why is it that I always get stuck with the worst weather when I’m down there? Literally, I get there in for the majority of Friday and Saturday we are stuck in doors due to the excessive amount of rain. Who needs this much rain? Not my plants… On our way back home, the sun decides to make an overdue appearance. An appearance that my family and I can only see from our rear view mirror. I asked my wife to read me the weather forecast for Monday and the rest of the week: sunshine and low 70s. Seriously! We got stuck with rain, low 50s, and a ridiculously strong wind.

Enough of my complaining. Who am I the spring Grinch!... Asides from the nasty weather, we had fun. We engaged in our first marathon at the beach which was really eventful. My wife and I have done a few marathons back at home, and some at the beach before our daughter arrived. But this was the first one we did together. We did a marathon of Redbox movies. Yeah… you know exactly what I’m talking about. Some people do marathons of Netflix (we do at times) but this weekend just felt right for Redbox. Lets’ see the three of us watched: Wolf on Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, Frozen, Best Mens Holiday, Thor and Gravity. We really enjoyed them all. Gravity… was kindaaa boring. Sorry to say it for those of you who enjoyed it… but come on… the movie took place in literally one setting.

Parents can understand the importance of dressing your child up regardless if you are going out… or staying in… there is literally something “fun” about dressing them up. Fun and Funny both mixed together in a way that makes you laugh from your insides out! My wife got really excited this weekend about taking our daughter out on her first beach trip… you know… taking pictures out by the sea with her daughter playing in the sand and a FREEZING wind on their backs. I had to put my hand down and say NO. NO honey you are not taking our 6 week old daughter out with this freezing ASS wind to snap a few pictures. I’m sorry! However, please feel free to take pictures of her inside the beach house… as if you were out there…

I'm Ready To Ride Waves!

 

 

So to recap… The weather was not up to par! Yet, the Santos clan seems to always pull through when it counts. Can it be the strong support system or our love for one another? I had an AWESOME time on our first family beach trip! Hands down would not have changed a thing. Even under the most unfriendly weather conditions my family seems to always find laughter, love and memories. I even got a chance to splurge on some seafood. And for those of you who know me… I LOVE seafood it brings back childhood memories… Here’s a Shrimp Po Boy, sweet potato fries and Crab legs! Yes… I ate everything.

Every bite was delicious

 

Until next time your diaper changing Daddy!

All Things Elizabeth: Weekly grocery shopping: $104 worth of groceries f...

Savings with Coupons!!! Turning coupons into CASH

All Things Elizabeth: Weekly grocery shopping: $104 worth of groceries f...: This week I spent my weekly grocery budget at Harris Teeter, Target and Aldi. I spent a total of $51.10 and saved a total of $118.43!  Below...

Batman and Nola

 

After a long day at work, Mr. Dad (aka yours truly) came home to one of the biggest and most spectacular surprises of all time. No gift asides from my wife's hand in marriage and my daughter’s birth came close. Before I even begin to explain the “surprise” I want to stress the significance of “heroes” as they play a part in my life. Some people find guidance in presidential figures… Nixon and so on… Others identify more with humanistic characters like Gandhi. Myself, I’ve always been motivated by people who “do for others” you know… persons that work for the benefit of others.

My wife…oh my awesome precious dedicated love of my life took my daughter out and prepared a momentous surprise…

She took the biggest risk of her life today by doing what she did.

 

In actuality this is the first time in my life I'm not wearing my mask. To answer some questions out there from my fans... I'm still your hero!

BatGirl



Batman man without his mask and his first born Batgirl







 

 

 



Target had the batman outfit for girls http://www.target.com/c/baby/batman/-/N-5xtlyZ5xdz1/Ntk-All/Ntt-toddler%20batman%20clothing/Ntx-matchallpartial+rel+ALL#?lnk=lnav_narrow by category_1. This week they had a sale $9.99. But realistically Priceless :)

Extreme couponers meet my WIFE!

All Things Elizabeth: Weekly grocery shopping: $124 worth of groceries f...: Each week I make at least one couponing trip to Harris Teeter and other stores. Our household has a monthly grocery budget of $200 for the ...

Revisiting our Roots

This past Sunday my wife and I took our daughter on a family trip to visit UNCG. The University that we not only graduated from but more importantly we met and fell in love at. It’s a bit… No it’s drastically different walking through your college campus as a parent pushing a stroller than a 20 year old holding a slight buzz from the night before slumber party… Oh how time fly’s



We stopped by the historical “clock” at UNCG. Basically you are told that if you walk under it you will graduate late… Please believe it because I didn’t and I am the historical clocks testimony. Basically I graduated like one too many years later. My wife however, stands to uphold the truth behind not walking under the clock. She till this day has never done it! And to conclude her testimony she graduated in four years. I didn’t want to curse my daughter in case she became a future Spartan eighteen years later…

 

 

If you live in Greensboro, NC or have attended UNCG then you know that the best coffee in town comes from (Tate Street Coffee https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tate-Street-Coffee-House/33119448719). We treated ourselves to some coffee for our family adventure. There’s just something incredible that happens to you when you trace your footsteps back with your “partner in crime”. It’s simply a mixture of reminiscing on beautiful memories, admiring what one went through to get to where they are now, and staring down at your daughter with “goggly eyes whispering this was all for you love”. Moments like these work in the most subtle way to remind you how awesome of a husband and father you really are.

 

 

One thing that I want to stress to expecting parents is picking out a proper and effective stroller. You want one that is “light in weight”, “heavy duty ie. can carry your child, your wife’s pursue, your water or beverage of choice, daddy’s diaper bag, and laptop or iPad.”, “versatile”, and that can take turns like a Lamborghini. Our stroller resembles these exact words in very way. As I said earlier this small section of advice is to parents and expecting parents; these are the issues that we face and must overcome. Thank me later! We got it as a gift during our baby shower from our daughters’ grandmother. I urge parents to get it, you can check it out at your local Target: (http://www.target.com/p/graco-fastaction-fold-click-connect-travel-system-monroe/-/A-14516621#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink). The stroller has some nice features too; it clicks right into the car seat that comes with. This makes it extremely easy when transforming from car to stroller.

 

Until next time your diaper changing stroller pushing wife romancer.

Date Night

Yesterday my wife and I had our first date night in over a month. Prior to our bundle joy entering our lives we had a pretty good routine – ie. weekly date nights. I’m sure we aren’t the only married couple going on dates on a weekly basis. In basic terms we had a sweet system. Movies to look forward to… Dinners to crave… Theme parks to embrace…

As I mentioned earlier, we had our date night… our first date night in way too long. But it came at a price. I honestly was avoiding it for quite some time. Unlike my wife, I can stay indoors and remain exiled from society without it bothering me one bit. As the days continued to add up, my wife pushed and pushed me until I had no other choice then commit to “Date Night”. Please don’t get me wrong, I love my wife and I’ve always enjoyed our date nights; it’s just… I wasn’t really ready to leave my daughter. She’s so little and delicate… she needs me… So my wife and I came to an agreement and decided on taking our daughter over to my parents’ house AKA (Grandparents). Prior to heading over, we stormed through the house tossing each and every belonging that our precious daughter would need: pacifiers, multiple blankets, several outfits, a dozen diapers, ointments, creams… By the time we looked at the bag it literally appeared as if we were taking a month trip abroad! Needless to say, I didn’t budge. My daughter needed her essentials. This was my first time leaving her, I needed her to have each and every item that she could possibly need.  On the way over, my wife and I constantly looked at each other and then at our daughter… was it fear in our eyes… or potentially a sign of insecurity. Was it too early to drop her of at “Grandparents house”?...

As we knocked nervously on the door of our daughters “grandparents” we weren’t really sure what to do next. Should we use the waiting time as an escape back to the house… My parents opened the door as if it was Christmas! I kid you not. My parents had the exact look as a five year old at Christmas as his running down the stairs to anticipate his presents. My dad barely glanced at me as he pulled my daughter out of my arms and into his. My mother quickly followed my dad towards the kitchen. Meanwhile, my wife and I are still at the entrance of the door holding our daughters bag of essentials. What just happened?... We entered the house and shared a few words regarding the milk we brought and the items in the bag. But in all honesty… It felt like a blurr.

My wife and I had a great time at a local oriental restaurant neighboring (Dons) the University we studied and met at. Parents can only relate to what I’m about to say. Yes the initial part of leaving my daughter was HARD! However, What came next was sweet! We felt an enormous amount of relief… No one to cry and demand our attention. No one to need our attention at each and every moment. We felt like it was our first night after getting our driver’s license! The majority of our conversation was consumed of our daughter; however, it wasn’t the usual talk of love and admiration. This time the subject highlighted “leaving her at her grandparents more often”…

Who would have imagined these words came out of my mouth

To expecting parents, let me be your vessel of direct experience. Let me be your little angel resting on your shoulder. Please, Please…I urge you give yourself breaks. Take your child to their grandparents. Don’t feel guilty. You need a break (not a 30 minute break) or a (2 hour nap). You need time off. Your parents literally turn into people you don’t even recognize. They can be life savers.

Lets make memories

Its a beautiful Saturday morning, aside from the 8 inches of packed on snow and ice. Looks the weatherman was off by just few inches. Things are as one would only assume in the house of Santos Family with a three week old newborn. My wife is carrying our daughter on her hip with a sling, cooking her king (AKA me) eggs and pancakes and vacumming with her free hand... I need to stop daydreaming. Things here are eventful! We are learning "whats wrong" before "whats right". You learn and you live. Right...

Its daddys turn to change and dress our precious little girl. What to wear... what to wear... I think this is a pretty good option! I mean she does seem to enjoy wearing it... Needless to say, I am her father and with great power comes great responsibility.  That was until "mom" came into the room and demanded to change her. Something about looking like a clown...

What is it with mothers thinking that they hold some unique genetic code that allows them to know what looks "good" on a child. In basic terms if the mother dresses the child their can only come praise and admiration from that. Is that even fair? Where is the equality? The justice? Perhaps I've chosen the wrong fight...

I think she looks great.

What do you think?...

A Series of Events

Last night resulted in a series of interesting events for my wife and I. If you’ve read my previous post http://daddystoolbox.blogspot.com/2014/03/spiderman-instincts.html then you already know some of the super powers I have. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre my wife, oh… my beautiful precious wife surprises me around 3 in the morning. As I’m lying across from my wife with our delicate bundle of joy in between us, I couldn’t help but feel proud…proud to be a father and a husband. Life seems to be playing out so perfectly for us. As thoughts of joy and pride run across my mind, my wife abruptly awakes and in suspense blurts out “I’m still feeding her”. Um…“no babe you are asleep and you’ve been asleep for the last four hours”. This is pretty wild right. The crazy thing about this whole situation is that my wife actually felt like she was breastfeeding. She explained to me that she thought she was holding our daughter and feeding her. This made my night.

To add to last night’s eventful occasion was my daughters “dream”… On three separate occasions my almost three week old daughter began laughing out loud while asleep. This literally scared the SH!! out of me. I wasn’t even sure how to respond to it. My wife awoke right with me and didn’t even know what to say. I guess there are certain traits that our children get from their parents. Apparently my wife says that I do the same thing in addition to speak in Spanish while sleeping. They “meaning philosophers” say that you dream in your language of love.

Oh… the joys of being a father sure do bring on plenty of surprises.

 

After last night’s eventful surprises, it was my turn to empty out the diaper genie. As I said before in the past blog this thing holds literally an enormous amount of diapers. The crazy thing is the correlation between the amount of dirty diapers and the days that have passed. It takes my daughter less than a week (roughly five and half days) to fill an entire bag. In simple words you might not be able to understand the magnitude of this event. Here is a picture of my daughter next to her diaper genie bag. She is literally half the size of the bag! What in the world! How does this even happen? All she eats is milk (breast milk). She doesn’t have any other staple to her diet other than good old fashion mamas milk.

 

http://www.target.com/p/diaper-genie-elite-pail-with-100ct-refill/-/A-10926966#prodSlot=medium_1_0&term=diaper genie
Babies are unique...

 

Spiderman Instincts

My Spiderman instincts are tingling... What's happening to me? Every noise she makes sounds like an earthquake to my ears. I kid you not, the minute you become a father you literally turn into a superhero (I'm sure mothers become superheros as well, so ladies please do not feel left out). Last night was no different then any other night. The slightest movement or lightest noise that comes out of her mouth causes me to jump out of my bed as if a burglar just entered the house. I'm up, wide eyed awake and jumping like a cheetah towards my daughter... My mind quickly jumps to conclusions...is she hurt... is she in pain... does she need her daddy to help her... No, she just farted. I know right. Farted. Most of the time she farts, burps, or lets out an animal like scream that is followed by a deep yawn. The luxury of being a superhero. Regardless if its a fart or an irrelevant noise, I'm there for her... I'm her superhero!


My wife and I have develop a routine... no wait... we are currently implementing a routine to try and get my daughter into her own bed. Not mine. The minute my daughter came home from the hospital, we tried to put her in her crib but if you've read my previous post then you know that didn't go very well. It actually didn't even happen. The nursery is spotless. On the other hand my bedroom is a mess. A nest filled with my belongings, my wife's and endless amounts of my daughters diapers, clothes, pacifiers, and blankets. What's my life become. I should have waited to invest in the nursery. Less than a week after her arrival she resisted spending time in her nursery so we invested in a second crib for our bedroom. You're probably thinking that she is using that crib... right... NO. She continues to remain nestled in between my wife and I. Those of you thinking about the dangers of sleeping with an infant, trust me I know. I've read the literature and heard my parents lectures. That's why my wife and I have this awesome routine that we are working on. This is how it works: First and foremost we give her a bath to soothe her and calm her down. Warm water works best. Next we put her in diaper and swaddle her in one of her many blankets. After swaddling her my wife breast feeds her and that my friends is the final step. After the feeding my daughter is out like a light. We put her bundled self in the crib that sits next to our bed and like magic... She is sleeping in her own crib and we are happy parents sleeping in our bed. Nice right. Please contact me if you need advice on putting your baby to sleep. I'm your to-go-to person.

Keep reading...

..... A few hours later my little princess decides to wake up and with her big brown eyes she scans the room in curiosity. She thinks to herself... "why am I laying here alone... why I'm I not cuddling with my mom or dad"... And just like that my friends she begins her crying and screaming until one of her dedicated and energy bunny parents picks her up and brings her to bed. As I said earlier we are still working on this routine.

Like Father Like Daughter

As soon as my daughter came out, the doctor without skipping a beat told my wife she was sorry. She was sorry that my wife did all the work and I my daughter turned out looking just like me. I have to say it... it was love at first site. I’m not really sure what happens when you become a father. It is definitely not the same feeling as that during the pregnancy or when you first get the news that you are having a baby. It’s completely real…surreal. You have this incredible feeling inside you that this person, my daughter, has me inside her. We are connected, she is mine and I am hers. It’s scary to think that one could feel or experience an emotion such as this. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

It looks to me like my daughter resembles the good looks of her father. I guess that’s not such a bad thing when you think about it.  She has my exact hair line, which is the same hairline that I share with my mother. I thought that was pretty cool, especially since I’m a mamas boy. Look at those long legs!!! From the head down she is definitely my wife’s daughter and from the head up she’s all mine. She has her mothers long limbs, both of them have ridiculously long legs.  All the 0-3 month clothes we got her are too short for her limbs. Might have a pro athlete in the family... Basketball... Volleyball!

Diaper Duty

It seems like we are changing 100 diapers a day. Has it become my new job to be on diaper duty… did I just receive a B.S in humanities for my incredible diaper changing skills! I guess it wasn’t a joke when people said that the first few months would consist of eating and SH!!

I love my daughter but, man… its’ literally like it comes in one way and out the other. I guess she got that from both of us. There are “good” things to changing diapers though. Let me enlighten you on what happens right before changing a diaper that is amazing. Okay… so my daughter will begin crying and fussing…she’s not hungry so we aren’t really sure what’s wrong with her. I’m not a mind reader, so all I can do is hold her and kiss her. Sometimes this works other times it doesn’t. Instead something amazing happens that calms her down so much it will literally trip her out “as if she just got high” and BAM! she’s asleep with a smile on her face. So you’re asking what happens… you want to know the secret… She farts and poops. Yes it stinks, but you know what I don’t care about the smell. That’s not the after affect I am looking for. It’s what happens next…It’s the sedation. For some reason or another, my daughter will just let it loose and then sigh in relief… for a nice nap. At first I was really alert and felt like changing her diaper. I mean, I didn’t want her sitting on a dirty diaper…But, now that I’ve been running on three to four hours of sleep. I’ll let it sit.

 

Here is a quick recommendation to those dealing with the nasty business of dirty diapers. Please invest in a Diaper Genie! They are AWESOME. These things contain the smell to the highest degree while holding like 100 diapers before you have to readjust the bag. They are $29.99 at Target and well worth the money! http://www.target.com/p/diaper-genie-elite-pail-with-100ct-refill/-/A-10926966#prodSlot=medium_1_0&term=diaper+geniehttp://www.target.com/p/diaper-genie-elite-pail-with-100ct-refill/-/A-10926966#prodSlot=medium_1_0&term=diaper+genie