A reflection of, wait, she's TWO YEARS OLD ALREADY??

Greetings readers! A week from today, Mia turns 2. It's crazy how fast the last year went. Last year around this time, I made some points and reflected on what I learned in my first year as a Dad, and gave advice as well. Tonight, I'll once again, reflect on the last year.

After she hit one, she had a good amount of teeth in her mouth, but throughout the year, she teethed, and teethed HARDCORE. We had some pretty rough nights with her sitting up for many hours. I was told many times by people "just put booze on her gums" but it just wasn't gonna happen, sorry folks. Somehow, we got through the teething stage, and currently, it would appear that all of her pearly whites are in.

She mastered walking this year as well. It was pretty awesome to watch, actually. This little bugger crawling a bit at her very first Christmas, and at her 2nd Christmas, she was running around giving out presents to people yelling out "OH MY GOODNESS PRESENTS!" One of my favourite things to do with her, is just simply walk with her hand and hand through the stores. It's even more enjoyable when I'm off the same night with Jill and we can walk with Mia together. Like tonight, roaming Mayfair Mall. I'm sure the people behind us didn't care for it, but screw it, this is our family night together!

She's developed a lovely picky eater attitude. REALLY loves cheese in its many forms. String, shredded, grilled cheese etc. Luckily, she loves the different fruit packets, eats bananas and of course, and noodles (also in it's many forms). Veggies are tricky with her, but it's a work in progress. Like most kids. She's not a big fan of meat, except hotdogs and some chicken.

Over the last year, she fully developed her creative side. Both art and music occupy that part of her little brain. She has created all kinds of different water colour/acrylic/ finger paintings. She also loves to colour and create "birthday cakes" out of Play Dough. Always says "happy birthday" to whomever she makes it for. One of my favourite activities with her is drumming. She really rips on the drums. Over the last year, she got more confident with playing on my kit. Used to require my lap to sit on, and would noodle around a bit. In recent videos, she's developed some awesome chops and kills it on the snare while sitting on the throne solo.

Car rides have gotten somewhat better over the last year. Still, we bring the portable DVD player in the back for those long drives to Illinois just in case. Surprisingly, we haven't had to use it in the last few car trips to Chi-town. In fact, she prefers to sing songs on the drive. Whatever keeps her happy and as long as it isn't Beiber.

Mia knows all of her major colours, can do the ABC's perfectly, knows some shapes, can count to 20 roughly, and can name off animals and their sounds really well. Going to the zoo quite often over the last year really helped in that category too. Plus, she's got quite a bit of animal books. Her vocabulary really developed over the year as well. By One, it was the basic "Momma, Dadda, Grandma, Grandpa". Soon, she was repeating phrases, animal noises, etc etc. Even at the doctor check up recently they said "she says way more then a normal 2 year old does". Aw, our little chatterbox :)

One of my other favourite things that she's working on is playing soccer. Well, kicking the ball, really. We've kicked her soccer ball around our house and Grandma/Grandpa's house a few times on those cold winter days. Can't wait to get out in the park and play with her again. Last year, we hit the park a few times, so I'm going to try to do more when this white crap melts.

It's been a crazy year with it's ups and downs, but we're loving every minute of our beautiful daughter. I couldn't imagine a better child in my life and look forward to whats in store for us in the next year. Thanks for reading everyone!

The Sound of the Life of the Mind

Evening folks. Today on my day off with the kiddo, I thought about how lucky I am to have an amazingly awesome healthy and fun daughter, so here's a little reflection on parenthood. Being a parent is a surreal experience that takes a lot of patience and love to make work. This year quite a few friends of mine have got a kid on the way including my little brother who's got his little dude coming in a short few weeks. I remember when we were patiently awaiting for our little kiddo to enter our lives. You think you're prepared but nothing prepares you for when they hand you that beautiful baby you've anxiously waited for. That baby is your new center of the universe. Everything will revolve around the child for the rest of your life as it should and you immediately accept and embrace it. I'm super stoked for my brother. He's wanted a kid for a while and it'll be a humbling and great experience for him and his wife. I can't wait to see Mia hold his kiddo when he's born. She LOVES babies too. It's the best being THE Dad. It's a complete learning experience. I love talking to Dads both new and ones who have a few kids to hear how they handle parenthood.

 Every kid is different. Some get the easy kid, others get the tough one. It can be difficult relating to the parents who have the opposite personality of yours. As long as you have a decent supply of patience. Man, I get this on a daily basis "oh enjoy your time now, because it won't be long before they grow up, blah blah blah". I gotta tell ya, I'm SUPER enjoying toddler Mia. Baby Mia was fun, but difficult because they can't tell you exactly what's wrong. So yeah, Toddler Mia is awesome. She's fun, creative, loves to sing and interact with people/friends/family and of course any animal she sees. Today I was thinking about when she's in grade school, I'll totally volunteer to coach soccer. Why not right? Could be a ton of fun. Man, the ways she loves me and Jill is amazing in every single way. Any awful day at work, I think of our happy little family. How complete I feel with the two of them in my life. it's a wonderful feeling and I could ask for more.

Baby shower this weekend for my sister in law. Jill & my mom are putting it together, which means Mia will get to see some people and family that she hasn't seen in a long time. She'll have a total blast. I haven't touched the Lil Wayne portrait because I decided I want to restart it. Wasn't happy with how it was looking and will redo it. It'll look real great and my buddy's daughter will LOVE it. That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Oh, before I go, the new Ben Folds Five record is absolutely fantastic. Later!

Plastic Cup Politics

Greetings people. Well, it was a long long campaign but it's FINALLY over with. Some are thrilled with the outcome of President Obama getting re-elected, others are very upset. The House went to the Republicans, the Senate went to the Democrats, which means not a lot will get accomplished. Every election, the people want both to work together so lets see what happens. Didn't work so well last term. No one can compromise on anything. Guess we'll have to see what unfolds.
Back to the rock.

Rainy today on my Wednesday off. Not cool, but we made the most of it. After a nap, we drove around, stopped by Jill for a quick "hi", and had lunch over by my Dad. Mia was in such a good mood with him. It was great. We shared a bowl of pasta. She gobbled it up like a hungry little monster. Later, hit up over at Grandma's for a quick visit. Always a fun time. Got some banana's and we soon headed home. All the playing, running around and jumping around tuckered her out and she was soon asleep. Love it when she's passed out on the drive. It's quite relaxing, and when I glance every once in a while to see her adorable face, a smile grows on my face :)

Last Sunday on my drive home, I couldn't decide if I wanted to play some indoor soccer at 9pm. When I walked in the door, I found Mia sleeping on Jill's lap. She was hungry so I ended up making her dinner and we had some apple pie. I decided that family time (when Mia woke up) would be a better option. And, ladies and gents, it totally was. This Sunday, I plan to play and hopefully will get on a team. Totally stoked and hopefully will play better. If the weather was better, I could work on my ball control with my brother. Rats.

As I was printing out some reference art for a tattoo design for my buddy and co-worker Mandi, I couldn't help but think how incredibly lucky Jill & I are to have such an amazingly smart, beautiful, loving and always funny kid. She's just amazing in every way. She counts, knows her ABC's, sings songs, plays instruments, loves soccer and hockey, gives great great hugs etc etc. Her earlier months up to a year were some of the hardest times we've experienced but if you can ride out the waves, you can make it to the next steps. I'm not excited for when she's a teenager dealing with heart aches and pain, but as a parent the best thing Jill and I can do is be there for her no matter what. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading

What I've Learned In My First Year As a Dad

I've been thinking about this blog post for quite a while. Thought about it throughout the day to be honest. As I sit here, eating my red velvet ice cream, I'd like to share some of the things I've learned as a father in the last year. If you're planning to have a kid someday, these could be helpful in some way.

First of all, being a parent is the easiest and hardest job I'll ever have. No, really. It's easy to love the baby when it comes out of your spouse because YOU helped make it. YOU are a part of this kid's life. This baby is a beautiful sight, but then there's the hard part. YOU now have to put 100% effort into taking care of this kid, making sure it doesn't get hurt and is fed/changed regularly. This kid needs YOU just as much as it needs it's mother. And your spouse needs you now more then ever. Your life is now changed forever. Forever always sounds like a terrible thing to add to something doesn't it? Not in this case, at least for me. I remember the very first night at the hospital. The nurses said "we'll take her to the nursery so you guys can get some much needed sleep" Great. 20 minutes later they brought her back "Um, she woke up all the other kids so we're leaving her with you guys". I don't remember her sleeping the rest of that night. I should have known right there that we didn't get the "easy kid". For the next week, we were averaging 20 minutes of sleep a night.

Which brings me to the next thing I learned. As a parent, you don't sleep as much as you used to. Unless you have one of those "easy kids" that sleeps a lot. I remember when we brought Mia home. I was walking around in circles in the moon-lit kitchen doing the "shhh"ing thing over and over to get her to sleep. When she'd finally pass out, I'd sit back down with her in my arms admiring this adorable baby...till she woke up again. Mommy's turn :) These days she sleeps way better at night, but currently with 3 teeth coming and a stuffy nose, she's waking up throughout the night. Just like OLD times eh?

I don't like to use the words "sacrificing" or "giving up" for this next thing I learned, but as a Dad/parent, you learn that being a responsible parent comes first over everything else. The days of me playing shows every weekend are very missed, but looking at the bigger picture, not as important as being there for both Jill and Mia. It's where I need to be. I'm sure I frustrate some friends that invite me out often for beers, but this is what's going to work for now. When Mia gets older, Jill and I will have some more freedom to do other things. So you'll have to wait a while. In time, I'll be able to play music again.

The littlest things the baby does will make your day. No pun intended :P I remember when she learned to roll over on her own. I thought that was amazing. When she said "Dad". THAT was amazing. The littlest things Mia does, just make me smile. When she holds my fingers to walk around the house, or stores...when she says "hi" to everyone...When she gives hugs and kisses to me. When she chills out during Ted Leo & The Pharmacists "Me and Mia" When she dances while I play my bass guitar...Her laugh and smile...It's amazing how much joy this little girl can bring.

If you're grossed out by poo/baby vomit/changing diapers/etc, you'll get over it real quick. I never had to change a diaper in my life before we had Mia. I practiced once on a stuffed shark. Seems easy when they're not kicking viciously. The fact is, the more you change her, the more you get used to it. The nasty blow outs are as gross as anything, but as the parent, you've got to get that kid clean quickly before she sticks her foot in it. Nasty right? Eh, you get used to it.

Take a lot of photos. Really, because the baby grows REALLY fast and it's actually surreal looking at old pictures and videos of Mia. I know, I know we post a LOT of pictures of her, but with family & friends out of state, we like to keep them updated with new pictures. My mother in law says that every morning before work, she likes to go on Facebook and see if there are new pictures up, which makes her smile before a long day at the school. If I can make that much of a difference, it's totally worth it.

The amount of unsolicited advice you receive is staggering. Just about everyone has an opinion on what you should do, or how you should do things. Some could be beneficial, some, not so much. You know what's best for your kid.

Every kid is different. Simply put, you have to try not to compare your baby to others. They all progress and move at different periods. It can be tough considering how often I hear "well my kid slept in the crib at 2 months and we do real well at night". I find myself resenting these kind of people. Comparing doesn't help.

Lastly, Enjoy parenthood! After a very long day at work, coming home to my family is the greatest feeling in the world. Ever. Going on walks as a family, playing and reading with Mia, it just can't be topped for me. We are so fortunate to have this beautiful baby in our lives and are grateful every day.