My friends Tigger & Pooh

My mornings have totally changed...

I now have somewhat of a new morning schedule.

I wake up, around 6:15 AM, and am actually out-of-bed by 6:30 AM. I know that my wife is up and almost ready for her day by the time I get up because I hear the running of the shower while I am rustling through the covers trying to convince myself to get out of the bed, while Mandy Moore or Aerosmith play in the background. We have an iPod alarm clock, so we wake up to different music in the mornings.

I finally open my eyes, to the day, and see the bathroom light is on, yet my wife, Laura, has finished her daily routine of bathing, applying makeup and fixing her hair. I can smell the sweet scent of her perfume as I lazily walk myself through the door on my way to the toilet to use our facilities. I kind of look half drunk in the mornings, but my wife loves me despite all this... most people would say "bless his heart!" (That is if you are from the South.)

After taking care of important business, (I know TMI) I push open the door and can hear, a series of high-pitch squeels. Mauldin, our little boy has figured out he has a voice... surprisingly he uses it, A LOT. But, mostly to let us know he is happy! The squeels are pretty much... well, adorable. At times, that they can keep my wife from putting him to bed...

"But, he was making me laugh," said Laura. "I thought, what is another 30 minutes?"

I have to agree with her, he is so cute sometimes it just melts my heart...

My morning used to be one of Sirius Satellite Radio 20 on 20... but now I spend my mornings rushing through a shower and making sure I keep our little dude entertained until it is time for us to pack up and head out the door for day care.

Mauldin really loves watching "My Friends Tigger & Pooh," and I certainly like them since they keep him occupied and "not" crying while I am trying to put on my clothes for the day. Although, I will say... who the heck is Darby???? Hello? Christopher Robin?

At times he drops his rattle or toy and I have to go hand it back to him, but otherwise he is pretty much enthralled by the TV.

I know I am running late if "Disney's Little Einsteins" starts.. "Comon and ride on our .. blaa blaa rocket ship... blaa naaa naa naa Little Einsteins!"

I check to make sure the dogs have plenty of water, put the gate up as so the dogs won't go upstairs, grab his bag of bottles my wife has no nicely set out for me, change MJ's diaper one last time, place him in his car seat, there are days he is okay with this, others he protests... run out the door and pull the car out, MJ is just fine, Logan makes sure he doesn't go anywhere! I come back in, grab him up, put him in the car and we are off on our 30 minute drive to Gloria's! (Gloria is MJ's & our "Mary Poppins.")

Sometimes, if I am not running late, I stop by Starbucks for a quick Vanilla Latte, especially if MJ has kept us up all night...

I will say, my mornings are not what they used to be, but oddly, I love the change. I may be sleepier than normal, but I really love getting to spend the morning drive with our little man. It's cool being able to drop him off and say "Daddy loves you!"

Okay, I admit it, I am such a dork.

Vacation where art thou?

It's official... (if it wasn't before, it is now!) I, we, need a VACATION!

So, all of our friends have been to the beach... (some multiple times!)

It seems as if every weekend I see new posts on facebook that say ...

"Headin' out to the beach...," "On our way to our beach vacation," or "watching a beautiful sunset while on the beach.."

Lucky bast....

Okay, I may be a little envious, but I have every right to be! My wife, Laura, and I sit at home, in our lovely little home, and dream of the day when we will be "beach-bound!" Sadly, our time won't be for aleast another month. So close, yet so far..

The only thing that sets my anxious mind at ease is we get almost two vacations in one month, however, waiting for said vacations may drive me mad.

Mad I tell you!

When will it be my time in the sun?! September...
sigh...

When it's our turn we are painting on our car with those white markers... "We're on F&*%$#%^ Vacation!" Okay, maybe not those exact words, but something like that.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their week and those who are on vacation... enjoy it while you can!!!!!!!!!

Lucky S.O.B.

What is going on?

Tonight I actually sat down on our couch and watched the television after I got home. My beautiful wife, Laura, was in the kitchen cooking up a storm, a new recipe I might add... click here to see it.

My wife has always been an amazing cook. I remember the first time I stepped into her apartment when she lived in Buford, GA. As soon as I walked in I smelled a fragrance that skipped through my nasal cavity like the VanTrapp family in the "Sound of Music." I couldn't believe a casserole could smell so delicious... I won't get into the story of me going into a sneezing fit from her demon-cat Jackson... but maybe my reaction could of been that she was cooking up a powerful love potion, like the one in the Half-blood Prince, and that is why I had an allergic reaction. Until tonight I had no idea benadryl counteracts love potions. Why do I say this? We had to... okay I said I wouldn't go into it, well I won't, a lot, just a little. We had to go to the nearest convienent store to get me some allergy medicine because her three cats, yes I said three... made me have an allergic fit. But, maybe the cat was just a cover up and it was the fumes from the cass... okay I'm totally kiddin'! Well, either that or I have been under her control ever since... needless to say, if she had it has worn off and I am still around so, screw that theory. I look at it this way... cats are evil. Moving on...

What was my point? Oh, yes, I sat down on my couch and actually was able to view television without bouncing a four-month old. Yep, I said it, a four-month old. My son is freaking four months old. I had put our little MJ down for bed and he actually stayed asleep. In fact, he is actually still asleep while I am writing this blog, go figure, my luck he will wake up just as I... wait.. was that... no, he is still asleep, he does that sometimes. He likes to turn his head, whimper a little and drift back into nod-land. It also could be like in one of those old Disney cartoons whenever Goofy tries to wake up and a goofy look-a-like, "Mr. Sandman," always comes back and hits him on the head with a large mallet of some kind, some how lulling him back to bed. I figured after a while that would be a little painful and possibly cause some brain damage, but what am I talking about, this is Goofy!

I digress, as I sat on my couch, the king of my castle, with a glass of Pinot Grigio in my right hand and my legs stretched out all I could do was look into the kitchen to see my wife hard at work trying to have dinner ready before our child awoke and we would have to take turns cutting each other's food so that we could eat. The dogs playfully walked beneath her dainty feet as she skirted around cutting, chopping and well, cooking her hands to the bone. Okay, it didn't seem like she was working that hard, but she is an awesome cook so I have to give her some mad props.

All I could do was sit and smile and know that I have a great life. It doesn't matter if something bad or shitty, there I said it, during the day happens because I know that I am one lucky S.O.B. and if my mom and MIL did not read my blog I'd write that out. I am not afraid to say what a wonderful situation I have... My wife is perfect and I am so lucky she picked me to share her life. There are so many blogs out there and I hope, no I pray, that people come to my blog to read about what is going on in my life because maybe, just maybe, I can put a smile on their face so that they can know there is true happiness out there.... and you know what? I am one of those people.

Fajitas cause gas

Okay, so last night mexican was on the menu for dinner... we: Mauldin, Laura, my sister-in-law, Jenn, brother-in-law, Paul and niece Annagrace all went to a local mexican hotspot called La Parrilla. (I honestly do not know if I spelled that corretly.)

"Hola! Welcome to La Parrilla! Two and a 1/2 for dinner?" said the nice lady behind the podium as we walked in the door.

I stood in the restarant lobby with Mauldin in his car seat on one arm and his diaper bag on the other. I looked the epitome of a daddy. Of course, I am sure I looked the part because my purple polo shirt was wrinkled as can be and I am sure I had some dark circles under my eyes. We decided to head to dinner after a short nap, but can I just say that short doesn't emcompass how short it truly was.

I took the chance to have myself a margarita and Laura and I shared a double order of chicken fajitas. This, at the time, we thought it was a good idea. "We are being so economical!" We thought. However, if I knew what would transpier after said mexican outing I would of chosen something different from their ever-so stickey and glossy menu.

I know this might be TMI, but I feel I need to let you know so you do not make the same mistake. If you feel the need for fajitas and your wife is breastfeeding be sure to take plenty of gas ex, beano or some sort of gas suppression.

After dinner we were so uncomfortable! Mauldin did not have a good night, so that means our sleep was severly disrupted. He was up at 11PM, 1 AM, 3 AM and 5 AM and each time it took a good 15 to 20 minutes to put him back to sleep. Let me just add that I had to go to work the next day and I had a hard time keeping my eyes open the first few hours of the morning.

Moral of story... watch your onion and pepper intake when eating fajitas!

How to...

How to swaddle a Baby -video

I am pretty sure this is well-known to all your seasoned parents… but to those soon-to-be parents who pretty much are clueless about this topic, here is a video that might come in handy…

A friend of mine from high school, Jason, sent me this link.

He and his wife just had a little boy in September… Ashton.

From the looks of this video, this baby does not necessarily like being swaddled… apparently my nephew hated it too!

I have gotten word from many people that there are special blankets that are basically “pre-swaddling” so hopefully we will get some of those to help us out!

Otherwise we may end up cutting the circulation making him uncomfortable!

We have already tried swaddling once and were sorta successful, but it was on a plush Mickey Mouse. Sorcerer Mickey to be exact, but not like that makes a difference!

I also found a link “how to tie a bow tie” online and that did not work out so well, but there are less steps in the swaddling process..

Again, Mauldin will probably come out thinkin'...

"Awh man! I'm the one who got the parents who can't swaddle..."

Well, lil' dude, we are gonna try, we are gonna try :)

Wish us luck!