Parent Proofing

I often wonder how much easier life would be with only one kid.  That isn't to say that I only want one kid.  I love both of my girls and can't imagine my life without them.  It's like twice the cuteness all the time.

But we also have twice the babies which can also be twice the trouble.  It's also at times impossible to keep an eye on both kids.  They are almost totally independent at this point.  This forced a need to start baby-proofing the house.

We installed padding on the edge of the fire place.  Sure it keeps them from busting their heads, but Ana has decided she would rather pull the padding off and try to eat it.  Something new to worry about.

We now have gates on the stairs, so the girls can roam all over the place without fear of a huge fall.  Not a moment too soon since Erin actually accompanied Ana today as she crawled up the stairs.  It's good for them to familiarize themselves with climbing up (and more importantly back down), but I don't think I'm quite ready to allow them free rein.  So we now have a gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep them from crawling up and a gate at the top of the stairs to keep them from falling down.

I also installed the cabinet guards to keep them from getting into trouble under the sink or with the pots and pans.  We don't want them breaking things or hurting themselves.

Have you ever noticed that more often than not these baby-proofing items are just a source of frustration for parents?  I mean I'm all for keeping our girls safe, but it is pretty damn annoying pushing down on those stupid latches any time I want cook something.  And do you know how hard it is to work one of those gates when you're trying to hold twins?  Such a pain in the ass.

We pay for the safety of our girls with constant annoyance.  I guess it's a fair trade off.

Daddy Daughter Days

Welcome to the first installment of Daddy Daughter Days.

This is week two at my new job, so this is the second week of having Thursday off with the girls.  Last week wasn't too exciting.  I just hung out with the girls, and it was amazing.  But it wouldn't make for a very good read.

This week we actually had some junk to do.

The morning is always the best part of my day.  I've always been a morning person.  When I was a little kid, I would put myself to bed at night and be up early every morning.  That has stuck with me as I've grown up.  In fact I oftentimes don't even need to set my alarm in the morning because I'm usually up before it even goes off.  I'm also always in a good mood in the morning.  And I don't even drink coffee to get myself into my normal chipper mood.

It would seem that my girls have taken after me in this regard.  They are a joy in the morning.  They smile and laugh.  They are ready to play and explore from the moment their eyes open.  They spend their early mornings in our bedroom playing on the floor, climbing on the bathtub and trying to trap us in the shower.  Even if I wasn't a morning person, they would've made me one.

After breakfast we play in the living room a.k.a. where all the toys are kept.  We love rolling around on the floor and playing in the living room.  Although I'm still trying to get the songs that play on the electronic toys they are now obsessed with out of my head.

I tried to watch some TV, but recently that has become a bad idea.  The girls can now reach the DVR, and they love to change the channels.  They've also started to record whatever I may be watching right then.

We try to stick to a routine.  The girls always nap in the mid to late morning, and I wouldn't dare break that routine.  But after naps is the time for adventures and getting stuff done.  Today we went to get Erin's ring cleaned and pick up some groceries.

I think that the lady at Jared wanted me to play a practical joke on Erin.  She finished cleaning the ring and asked if I needed a travel case to bring it home.  Of course I wanted it.  I didn't want to lose it on the way home.  But she was all out of travel cases and gave me an actual ring box.  For a second I thought about faking Erin out and telling her that I got her something special.  Wasn't worth it.

We also had to go to the grocery store.  Mostly we needed propane since we went to grill veggies the other night and it was empty.  Now I'm never going to be accused of being a good planner, but I must say that I had a little stroke of genius today.  I wasn't sure how long the ring cleaning was going to take, but I knew that it might run into bottle time.  So I had bottles ready to go which I fed them with while sitting in the car in the grocery store parking lot.  I sat in the back seat in between the car seats and fed them both before getting groceries.  I rule!

You don't seem to buy as much crap that you don't need when you have to load it all up in the stroller.  The car also gets crowded very quickly on a grocery trip.  But the girls and I worked our tetris-like magic and made sure everything fit along with the stroller.

The day ended with a trip to the park.  Erin got home early, so we decided to go play on the swings.  We loaded Grace and Ana up back to back, and they fit perfectly in the swing.  They also LOVED it.  They were giggling and squealing.  We took about 100 pictures.  Erin even took video with her phone.  The best was when we loaded them up next to each other in separate swings.  They couldn't help but look over at each other and laugh each time their swings passed each other.  I guess kids just love swings.  Now I know why every park and jungle gym has them.

Erin had a Moms Night Out with her twin group, so I had to do bath and bottle time alone.  There of course aren't any pictures of that because I still lack that third hand to take pictures.  My attention is squarely on Ana trying to climb out of the tub or Grace trying to eat as many bubbles as possible.  And don't even get me started on trying to corral them while they're wrapped in their towels crawling on the floor.  It is equal parts fun, frustrating and adorable.  But they went down like angels after it was all said and done.

It was a great day all around.  I can't wait until next Thursday!

Daddy Daughter Days

One of the fears of changing industries was figuring out a new schedule and how it would affect my time with the girls.  I was already working pretty ridiculous hours at my previous employer, so I welcomed the change.  I knew my new job could still have odd and brutal hours which sucks with a new family

The odd hours also came with a few benefits.

For example, I didn't have to be into work at 6:30 (yeah that is AM) each day which was worth the price of admission alone.  We're lucky to have two of the best morning babies ever.  They literally wake up smiling, and I've been missing it for the last few months because of my work schedule.  Instead I had to settle for pictures from Erin which never capture them as well.  Now I get mornings to play with them and do breakfast on my late days and be one of the first faces they see every morning on my early days.  It reminds me why I'm going to work in the first place when I see their smiling faces every morning.

I also learned coming in that I’d have Thursdays off.  This may seem like a small benefit.  I’d still only get my two days off per week and lose one of my weekend days.  Seems like a wash, but it really isn’t.  A day off in the middle of the week is like gold for a new dad.  It means one less day of paying for child care.  It means being off on a day when normal business is being conducted.  But most importantly, it means a day spent with my girls all to myself.

This of course means that Thursday will quickly become my new favorite day of the week (right after Sunday since that will be an all-family day).

So every week I’ll be posting what I did on Thursday with my girls.  I’m sure I’ll be including more pictures than you can handle.  Some weeks will probably be boring because I’m not the world’s most exciting guy.  More often than not, I prefer rolling around on the floor with my girls to just about anything else.  But I’ll try to make an effort to do something different each week for the sake of my readers and my sanity.

So starting tomorrow I'll be keeping track of what Grace, Ana and I do each week on our day off and posting it here every Thursday evening.  Hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoy the time I have with them.

Twitter Machine Tuesday

Okay.  I know what you're thinking.  He writes this post about his work life changing, and his blog life goes kaput.  It really wasn't my intention.  I wanted the transition to my "new" life to be seamless, so that my tens of followers didn't notice the difference.

That of course didn't happen.

I've instead seemingly abandoned you.  For that I give a half-hearted apology.  You see I never realized that all these work changes and schedule changes and life changes would affect my ability to post consistently on my blog.  I figured that I might even have more time to write.  This may be true once I settle in, but I'm still learning the ropes of a new industry and getting used to being a stay-at-home dad for parts of the week.  Not to lessen what I do here, but life takes precedent over the words I write.

But I promise to make more of an effort.  I'm going to get back in my groove with more posts each week.  I'm home alone with the girls on Thursdays, so that will mean a weekly post about our Thursday adventures.  I'll also write about my life learning a new industry.  And of course my calling card is making its triumphant return never to be missed again.

That's right.  Twitter Machine Tuesday is back in full effect!

-You'd think that I'd have some of these saved up after such a hiatus.  You'd be wrong.
-The internet is the last bastion for anonymous douchebags to rip someone they've never met.
-Anyone can be tough when they don't have to be held accountable to what they say. Own it.
-Being a true fan is continuing to watch your team even though they have no real shot of winning.
-Every Chicago Cubs fan is nodding right now.
-I don't get how people get so excited about the Madden video game. Never been into it.
-I would celebrate a Tecmo Super Bowl release though.
-I'm officially the only dude that doesn't care about that game. I'm sure @erinsgirls appreciates that.
-I don't really care about the NFL which may have something to do with my disinterest in Madden. Is that un-American?
-Peanut butter, bananas and vanilla ice cream. Or as I like to call it: The Elvis Sundae.  Delicious.
-Parenthood is back, and I am VERY excited.  Adam Braverman is my hero (Fake Person Division)
-I was never really clear on what I'd be doing in my new career...and I won't be now.
-I've had Chicken McNuggets more in the last 30 days than I had in the previous 10 years.
-Fiber One commercials aren't joking. Those bars shouldn't taste as good as they do.
-One of the perks of my new job is being able to see the girls in the morning.
-They're so happy when they first wake up. #notlikemom
-Both the girls are clapping now. Ana does it when you hold her above your head. Grace on the changing table.
-You don't realize how adorable something can be until you see a ten-month-old do it.
-Cinnamon Burst Cheerios are crazy delicious. I could eat them every day.
-I find that mixing your own plain Greek yogurt and fresh berries is more delicious than the store-bought stuff.
-I don't understand the appeal of Pitbull. So he wears suits and makes bad Miami music? I guess so.
-At least The Miami Sound Machine made good music and had Gloria Estefan. Bring them back.
-Note to wedding DJs: Lady Gaga doesn't get the over-25 crowd on the dance floor. Just play 70s funk and soul.
-80s songs are also a good bet considering current demographics of wedding guests.
-I write "current demographics" like I've consulted studies on the topic. I haven't.

You may have been expecting more.  If that is the case, you've obviously never read my blog before.  As for my loyal readers, I'm glad to crawl over the bar I've lowered to floor level for you.  But you'll start getting my mediocrity more consistently again.

Career Day

For the last couple of months I've been struggling with what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.  I know my place in our home.  I'm the happy husband who works on the dishes.  I'm the father of two little ones.  I'm the diaper changer and bottle maker.  I'm the one on the floor rolling around and entertaining 10-month-olds.  I'm the guy who chases those little ones all over the place.  That part of my of life is set.  I love it and cherish every moment I have playing those parts.

Unfortunately I haven't been feeling nearly as complete in my professional life.  It was the first time I questioned where I was and my direction.

I've been in the same industry since I was 16 years old.  I work in collections.  Scum of the Earth.  I know.  But it is something I've excelled at since before I could drive a car.  I called people on the phone and helped them recover their debts.  Or I managed and trained people who called people to recover their debts.  And for 13 years that is what I did from 9 to 5 every day (or 6 to 6 and even later while I've been in management).  When you do something for that long, it starts to define you.

This only made things more difficult.

It's hard to even think about leaving a stable job that you're pretty good at in an unforgiving job market.  It's even harder to do this with the house payment and a new family.  But when you feel like your life needs a change and you start to feel underappreciated, doing what is "safe" feels less and less like an option.  Whereas doing something new and challenging has been shouting at me like an obnoxious sports fan.  It was something I couldn't ignore in spite of how scary it really was.  I needed to address this nagging feeling that had grabbed hold of my brain and refused to let go.

Erin and I talked about it over the last few months.  She could tell I wasn't happy where I was.  She saw how much it was taking out of me.  And although it would make our life a little more difficult in the short term, she supported me and let me know that she would back me up no matter what my final decision was.  She knew I had to move on if only for my mental health.  She wanted what I wanted and knew that I would do what was best for myself and more importantly for our family.  We spent much of our vacation talking about plans, where I could work, what we needed for income, health benefits, etc.  We talked about the short-term and the bigger picture.  I emphasized how important it would be to work closer and cut out my commute.  We realized an opportunity and weighed the options of taking it or looking for something else.  I had reached a decision by the time we got home and knew what I had to do.

So I did something incredibly difficult when I returned from a week off, I informed my boss that I would be leaving after the end of this month to pursue something new.  I was leaving a place just a few weeks short of my five-year anniversary and an industry that defined my professional life.  She was a little shocked that she would no longer have me to depend on, but she understood my reasoning.  There was no bad blood.  No bridges burned.  I would give her all the knowledge I had to make sure no balls were dropped after I left.  But I would also not look back the moment I walked out the door on my final day.  That was fair.

This week I informed the rest of the staff.  A task that I actually found even more difficult to do.  These were the people that have gotten to know me over these last few years.  I had actually hired and trained most of them.  I tried to teach them what I knew and helped them be successful whenever I could.  There were times when they frustrated me (and I'm sure I frustrated them), but that is the nature of people you work with.  You respect them and enjoy them all the same.  Part of me feels like I'm abandoning them, and that is what made it harder than anything.  I know they can do the work and continue to be successful without me there, but I also know that not seeing someone that you're used to seeing every day is hard.  I've always had a positive attitude and a smile on my face which isn't easy to do in this particular industry, and I hope that isn't lost when I leave.  I will miss them and wish them all the best.

I'm at the same time scared and excited, mournful and ready.  I've made big changes in my life before, but this is a change that welcomes an exit from my comfort zone.  This is a risk that I've not taken before.  This is giving up something tangible for the unknown.  Nothing great can start without something else ending.  I think this is the start of something great.