Archives for posts with tag: daddyblog
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Rocking Out to 2Pac at 1 Day Old

February 3, 2012 //
0

Can You Hear Me Now?

This is the 3rd hearing test for the Worm.  At the hospital, they will give the hearing test multiple times if one or both sides fail.  Gavin failed the first hearing test on the right side.  (I thought he was only going to have one good ear, but I made amends with it because one good ear is better than none, right?)  The second time he took the test, he failed again.  (I made amends with this again, because it hadn’t quite sunk in that he could be deaf in one ear yet.)  The nurse said that the reason for the hearing test failure was that there could be fluid stuck in his ear, so she gave Gavin some drops and I held him over my shoulder for a few minutes to let the ear solution unclog his ear.  Voila!  She was right and he passed the third test with both ears functional!  Yeah!  He will have no excuse hearing me yell at him!

If you’re wondering about the above setup, the red and blue are the headphones and the electrode on the forehead is the probe.  The baby needs to be sleeping for the test to work properly, hence my dirty finger in his mouth.

Tags , , , , , , ,
Categories GPOD

I’ve Done Something Only a Mother Would Do…

February 2, 2012 //
0

I entered Gavin in a cutest baby contest.  I’m a little sheepish about this.  (SHAMELESS PLUG:  If you read Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, you can vote for the Worm.) I never thought I would ever do such a thing.  I’m a man, for crying out loud!  (Which is something men don’t do, by the way.) So, why would I even think to do this?

I know every mother thinks their kid is the most beautiful thing in the universe, but that’s hormones playing with a woman’s mind!  I’m not a woman and I don’t even have hormones!  (At times, Steph thinks that I barely even have a heart!)  What’s gotten into me?  Does spending too much time with a baby generate estrogens in a man?  (Why is my underwear suddenly more baggy in the front?)

Is my sanity in fatherhood spiraling out of control?  Is SAHD life making me soft?  (Am I growing man boobs?)

I feel like a different man.  Not quite a wo-man, but a more sensitive man…I guess I would say a Wham!-man.  I’m no longer a Bad Boy.  For certain, Last Christmas, I was a manly man.  (How many Wham! song references can I make?) Now, I’m a sopping, photo-taking, face-wiping, diaper-changing shadow of my former self.

Is this going to lead to professional photo shoots in Gavin’s future?  Yes.  Will I be his driver for his future road-trip beauty pageants all over America? Yes!

The ultimate question is….Will I teach him how to toss a baton?  Yes!

We’ll be kicking ass and taking names, my Little Miss Sunshine.  Toddlers and Tiaras?  Hell no, Toddlers and Testicles.

Look out for us on the baby beauty pageant circuit.  We’ll be in the old Land Cruiser.

Photolicious!

 

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Random Thoughts

Summer Infant Best View™ Handheld Color Video Monitor

January 31, 2012 //
3

Summer Infant Best View Color Video Monitor (Silver)

I’m a little old-fashioned.  Not old-fashioned 90’s style, but old-fashioned 70’s style.  There’s a lot of technology that I believe should be left out of parenting.  A video monitor WAS one of them.  I don’t know why, but I guess BC (before child), I thought that I should be able to hear a baby crying through 3 walls and a door no problem.  Silly me.  I learned quickly that the Summer Best View video monitor in the baby’s room was almost as incredible an addition to the family as the baby.

We mounted the video camera about 15″ above the top of baby’s crib.  From that vantage point, I can pan and zoom to any part of the crib without a problem.  In the daytime, the screen is color.  At night, the infrared kicks in automatically (I assume it’s infrared, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong here.) and I’ve got night vision.  The camera has plenty of range of motion as well, which increases the number of mounting options.

I use this camera every day.  It’s another one of the items in my house that gets a lot of use and wear.  So far, the Summer Infant Best View Camera has been holding up very well.  Once I put Gavin to nap, I can see what he’s doing and hear what noises he is making before he falls asleep.  I love it.  Now, I don’t have to run to his room every time I hear a noise.  I can just look at the monitor and avoid waking up the baby.  The silent mode is excellent for when you are watching TV or something and only need a visual sign if the baby makes noise.  The LED’s light up on the monitor according to the sound level in the baby’s room.

We don’t have a need for the A/V output portion of the Summer Infant Best View Monitor, but someone mentioned on another website that they hooked it up to their TV and recorded some of the video from the monitor.  (That’s a great idea, especially if your baby starts to do things alone in his crib before showing it off to the family!)

I used to think that having a video monitor was a lazy man’s way of taking care of his baby.  But, I was very wrong.  It is great for checking on the baby without disturbing him.  I can do it while typing out this blog!  I can do it while hanging out in the garage!  I can do it while watching a movie in the living room!  It’s baby management at my fingertips.  It’s so handy, I may even continue to use the camera well into Gavin’s teenage years…

NOTE:  If you are going to mount the camera above the baby’s crib, you need to find a place to hide or shield the camera’s power cord from the baby’s reach.

———-

Overall Rating:  7 Worms   

Ease of Use:  10 Worms  

Performance:  8 Worms 

Features:  8 Worms 

Durability:  7 Worms 

Manliness:  10 Worms (Come on, it’s a gadget!)

Retail Price:  $199

———-

Pros:

Provides easy monitoring of baby room, both video and audio.  Silent audio mode.  Remote controlled pan, scan, and zoom.  Day and night viewing.  Can add up to 3 extra cameras.  A/V outputs to a TV.

Cons:

Could use more volume control.  Vertical axis movement makes a bit of noise.  Video could be a little more crisp in night mode.  When you are moving the camera, the audio cuts in and out.  Battery life?  (I don’t know, but I’ve heard elsewhere that battery life could be poor.  I’ve been using this product for 9 months now and yes, there’s been a degradation in the battery life, but not much.  If the battery dies within a year or so, I will adjust my rating accordingly.  But, so far, it’s been fine.)

Things I would modify:

Higher resolution night vision.  I guess it would be nice to have a thermometer built into the unit to remotely monitor baby room temperature.

Where to find:

http://www.summerinfant.com/Products/Monitoring/Video-Monitors/Best-View%E2%84%A2-Handheld-Color-Video-Monitor.aspx

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories Product Reviews

Boy, I Feel Like I’ve Been Squeezed Through a Straw

January 31, 2012 //
0

Cleaned Up and Ready to...Sleep

This picture was taken a little while after the incident with the lederhosen and the pitchfork.  What?  I’m trying to make this picture interesting…Ok, he’s napping soon after completing his descent from the warmth of mom’s womb.

Tags , , , ,
Categories GPOD

First there was Steph and I. Then at 12:45am he showed up…

January 26, 2012 //
0

You want me to do what?

Separating mommy from baby was my first job as a father…Does that face say “I’m clueless about fatherhood” or what?

Due to the high demand for baby pictures on this blog, we have started a new category called GPOD – Gavin Pic of the Day.  It’s a way to shamelessly promote the adorability of our son Gavin.  We will be starting from his very first breath of air.

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories GPOD

The Baby Mind Meld…

January 26, 2012 //
2

I work one day during the week.  Let me back up here.  I go play for one day a week at my office and I leave the “work” to a babysitter.  She takes the Worm all day and I get some much needed adult time.  During this glorious day, I carry on conversations with people other than myself!  I see clients and do adult things like speak in full sentences.  I look forward to it.  It’s a brief, but welcome respite from my SAHD duties.  (I just found out that there’s an acronym for me, Stay At Home Dad or SAHD).  In other words, getting a day at the office keeps me sane and able to handle the rest of my week, sort of like what coke does for Charlie Sheen.

Yesterday morning, Gavin was cranky.  Not happy with the rigors of baby life, he wouldn’t stop fussing.  (You know those mornings, right?)  So, I decided to get him over to the babysitter’s early, so that she could deal with him spend more face time with him.  I grabbed everything I needed for his day (car seat, diaper bag, food, formula, toys, stroller) and everything I needed for mine (kit, backpack, laptop, phone, treatment table, travel bin, lunch, tea).  The truck was packed and ready to go.  The only forgotten item was my brain.  Leaving the house was a blur for me.  I could only remember bits of it.  There’s no other valid reason for this except the baby mind meld.  (Has he been watching Star Trek re-runs late at night?)  In that clever Spock-like maneuver, Gavin jostled my mental acuity and I drove away from the house with the garage door open.  A brief moment of clarity made me realize it once I got on the freeway.  I panic and turn around to race home.  All I’m visualizing is a group of neighbors standing in front of my garage, mouths agape, and the Hoarders TV crew filming their next episode.  Luckily, as I approached the house there was no one there.  (What? Am I not good enough for Hoarders?)  I close the garage and leave again…for the second time.

At this point, I’ve lost 30 minutes of my life (actually, I don’t want that 30 minutes back.  Keep it.)  I head back to my original destination, the babysitter’s house.  Of course, once I get there, the babysitter is not home.  Her husband tells me that she’s at my house waiting for me.  Brilliant.  I drive back home and drop Gavin off with the babysitter.  (I probably threw him at her, but he deserved it.)  I leave the house again…for the third time.

After all the morning fracas is sorted and I show up late to work, I conveniently lock myself out on the back patio…Argh!  Blast this mind meld trick!  It’s still working on my brain!

Young grasshopper, you have learned the art of confusing your adversary.  You win again.

Gavin = 5; Dylan = 2

Don't worry, it won't happen again. I'm wearing protection. 😉

Tags , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories MVG Oddities

Purple Nurple? The Dylanobscuro Effect

January 24, 2012 //
4

I’m a new dad.  Of course, you knew that.  So, there are things that I don’t know about babies.  (It’s hard even for me to believe.)  But, I’m learning.

For example, the other day I was changing Gavin’s pajamas.  As a normal routine, I check his body for cuts, scrapes, bruises, redness, rash, etc.  (I’m a medical professional.  It’s a habit.)  I also look at the color (or lack of color) of his skin.  And if you remember from some of my other posts, Gavin’s a little on the white side.  Ok, he’s a lot on the white side.  (For the first 7 months of his life, he had less melanin in his skin than my wife, Steph.)

Since then, Gavin’s gotten some coloration.  His skin is not as light as Steph’s anymore, but it’s definitely not the caramel cinnamon cocoa color of his old man.

Again, the other day I was checking out the Worm’s skin like normal and I was shocked to see that his areolas had darkened.  Now, it doesn’t freak me out or anything because it’s not like his nipples turned purple.  But, they’ve definitely changed color from a pinky pink to a browny pink.  (Ladies, you can translate that to whatever name I’m sure you already have in your color palette.  But, to keep things simple for the guys reading this, pinky pink and browny pink are extremely accurate descriptions.)

I’ve done searches online and I didn’t find anything about baby nipples changing color as they get older.  The only search results that come up for me are for mom’s areolas changing color during and/or after pregnancy.  And the other searches come up with nipple rings and other weird stuff like that. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

So, here I am stating to the world that I have the first documented internet webpage denoting that baby nipples can actually change color as they age.  For the record, Gavin was 9 and 1/2 months when this happened.  In return for sharing such said knowledge to the world, I proudly accept the new term for baby nipple pigmentation, Dylanobscuro.  (Obscuro means darkness in Latin, duh!)

So, if your baby begins to gain more pigmentation as he or she ages, it’s only the Dylanobscuro effect.  (Add it to your MS Word dictionary people!)

My explanation of why this is happening is because Steph and I have a mixed up baby.  Two different species races. We’re seeing different genes and characteristics manifesting at different periods of baby’s growth.  Pretty interesting.  It reminds me of the old saying “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”  (Come on, that movie was 18 years ago!  That’s old!)  And we’re not sure how the Worm is going to turn out.  But, if you are interested, stay tuned to Me vs. Gavin!

And I can’t show you his nipples because then you’d be looking at child pornography (only in America, right?).  So, to save you a trip to jail and to save me from having my website shut down, I leave you with the edited picture below.  It’s safe for you to view now.  It’s safe for America now.

Uh, Dad what are you doing?

Related articles
Tags , , , , , , , ,
Categories MVG Oddities
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »