Tag: Family

Posts that discuss family life in America.

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood

Waiting to Exhale (or: “Things Always Happen in Threes and I was Waiting on the Third”)

As was reported in my previous blog about dog cruciate surgery and the chimney fire, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks. These things usually come in 3’s, so I’ve been waiting on the other shoe to drop.

I thought it might be my oldest son’s “potentially” sprained tendons (or ligaments, I can never remember) in his hand from holding the ball for his younger brother who was practicing kicking field goals. Yeah, the younger brother kicked more “hand” than “ball” and we feared the worst. But, after a few days in a brace, he’s going to survive apparently.

I’m now thinking that Tragedy #3 was my beloved #AlabamaCrimsonTide losing its starting QB (again, and again) for good this time. Our boy @Tuaamann took, what appeared to be, a garden-variety sack in his game against Miss St. this weekend and dislocated his hip. It’s worse than it sounds and it’s taking him out of the game for likely a year. It’s the same injury that ended Bo Jackson’s career.

I thought it would be pretty cool if Bo (an Auburn alum) reached out to Tua. For those not from the south, there are fewer heated rivalries than Alabama and Auburn. For Bo to reach out, would go a long way to building some respect.

But eh…who needs respect between football rivalries! That’s what makes it fun.

Still though, it’s extremely unlikely our 3-Star QB is going to get us through the CFB playoffs and even TO the NC, even IF the stars aligned and we somehow got in with one loss.

But, it was a lot of fun watching Tua play. My oldest son (MLI) and I got to see him play this year in Tuscaloosa and that’s something neither of us will ever forget. Mostly because it was 115 degrees in the stadium at kickoff, but still.

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Roll Tide Tua. You’ll always be part of the Crimson Nation!

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Dad Blogs Family Marriage

When You Wish Upon a Star

ImageIt’s Spring and that means one thing around my house – baseball! With two boys playing ball, one in “Select” league, it also means that I’m lucky if I’m home two nights during the work week. It also means that CareerMom, who works out of the house, is stuck doing the bulk of the schlepping back and forth. She called me yesterday and–you know how this works–asked if I planned on going to my son’s game last night. I could tell by the sound of her voice that there was an undercurrent of hope that I would not.

What happened was that we had an early game last night, which meant getting there really early (coach wants them there 45 mins early), which meant my wife had to either pick my daughter from DayCare early and be late to the game, OR drop off my son at his game,  and then drive ALLLL the way back to get my daughter.

I made it easy on my wife and skipped the game and picked up my daughter and went home. Throughout the evening, my wife kept me updated via text messages, so I got all the benefits of being there, with little of the nervousness.

But a great thing came out of that–I got to spend quality time with Baby Girl. She’s four now and she’s a talkative spirit. After she fell asleep on the couch and then woke up again around 7:45, we spent 45 wonderful minutes on the back porch, under a blanket, watching the stars and airplanes, and making wishes. With three kids (did I mention my friend has five?) that kind of quality time doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, you have to squeeze every moment out of it.

When we found out we were having our third child, one of my fears was this very issue of spending quality time with that many different children, plus keeping a marriage healthy, plus keeping my career going. I wish I could say that I was wrong and it’s easy to do, but it’s not. Then again, maybe it depends on your definitions of success. All I know is that last night was a success. The first thing she said to me this morning was, “Daddy, do you remember making wishes on the wishing star last night?”

I sure do Baby Girl. I sure do.

 

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood

Thanks for the memories

A bit more than eight years ago, CareerMom and I bought this crib. We went to Toys-R-Us, Babies-R-Us and every other R-Us derivative you can imagine. I think we ended up about 15 miles north of our house in some suburb of the suburbs, in a no-name strip mall containing a high-end baby store.

And thus the Bonavita “Carla” crib came into our home.

Two weeks ago, I dismantled it. Eight years and three kids later it’s finally done. And other than some dried, crusty milk between the vertical slats, it’s in pristine condition. None of my kids “teethed” on the rails. It’s bittersweet letting it go, but it was time Baby-Girl got her own big-girl bed.

Government safety laws prohibit the donation of cribs manufactured prior to 2010 due to some issue with drop-sides on pre-2010 cribs and even though ours doesn’t have a drop-side, we still can’t donate it. Which is a shame. You spend $1200 on a crib, you want to see it not end up in a dumpster somewhere. But I think we have a taker for it (for free). Hope it goes to another good home.

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Life in these United States Society

Gen X – The Guilt Generation?

ImageIt seems that every generation gets a label these days. Kids in the early 20s now are called “Gen Y’ers” and they are the social media age. Apparently, they don’t have the same sense of entitlement that we Gen X’ers supposedly have, though I’m really not sure where that “entitlement” label came from. Gen Y’ers are also supposed to be more driven, crave positive feedback and generally don’t feel the need to slave 50 hours a week at a meaningless job (bully for them!). Interestingly, they also seem less familial-inclined, which is a stark departure from my generation.

But even though my world revolves around my family, I struggle with the line between parent and play-buddy. On the one hand, I look back on my own childhood–one where I was generally an only child and if there was playing to be done, it was usually done alone. My parents just weren’t involved.  On the other hand, I don’t want the same for my own children, so I DO try to do things with them frequently and when you add in Career-Mom’s near-constant need to get out of the house and do something, it seems like we’re always on the go.

I struggle with this balance. For example today…we played outside with the kids for about an hour, then we took them down to the science museum. When we got home, they wanted me to ride bikes with them. Really? After everything we JUST did…?

So back to my quandry…I want to be with my kids and I don’t want them to look back on THEIR childhood–like I do mine–and feel like all their dad ever did was work around the house, but at the same time, I HAD my childhood already. Can I just enjoy my adulthood a bit? And can’t that mean that I don’t have to play with my kids and when I don’t, can I do it without guilt?

I’ll let you know how that works out. So far, I’m riddled with guilt.